Custom publishing 2009 – difficult but good

In 2009 we didn’t succumb to the catastrophic visions of the global crisis and we managed to gain new clients, to convince the existing ones to extend their portfolio and to build our team successfully. – says Urszula Radzińska, President at the Aude Custom Publishing House. Our challenge for 2010 is an intensive development, not only with regard to printed publications but also some new and interactive marketing tools for our clients.

This year was all about the global economic crisis. Companies were cutting their budgets and, as it always happens in such situations, marketing budgets were cut in the first place. Luckily, our partners perceived catastrophic visions more as an opportunity rather than a threat and they decided to use this difficult time to communicate with their customers and employees even more. – says Urszula Radzińska.

BNP Paribas Fortis decided to publish the exclusive BANKnotes magazine addressed to its customers. Aude prepared content and layout for the quarterly. We wanted this magazine to be associated with prestige and sophisticated style. Therefore, we came up with a classic and design paste-up. – says Marcin Rutkowski, Creative Director at Aude. The magazine combines the content which is directly connected with the bank’s life with more general subjects such as economy and lifestyle.

Aude also developed and prepares a magazine for employees of BNP Paribas Fortis. The Echo monthly is not only a source of the latest information about the company and its development but also a great communication platform within the bank.

In autumn 2009 a new version of the Farmacja i Ja (Pharmacy and me) magazine published by US Pharmacia was distributed in pharmacies. We won a tender for the re-launch of the magazine for pharmacists. We proposed some changes in the magazine’s formula – we came up with a modern mock-up and very professional content that answers the readers’ needs. – explains Urszula Radzińska. The results of a readership survey prove that our concept for this magazine was spot-on. – she adds. The survey conducted by Millward Brown SMG KRC in autumn 2009 shows that after the re-launch the Farmacja i Ja magazine is regularly read by 80% of pharmacists. At the moment there is also a website being developed (www.farmacjaija.pl). We can already see major changes and in spring pharmacists will be able to fully use the possibilities that this website will give them. I cannot reveal any secrets now but I can assure everyone that it will be even more practical and functional. – convinces Urszula Radzińska.

In 2009 Aude and Nestlē Nutrition continued their cooperation. The programme called Zdrowy Start w Przyszłość (Healthy Start into the Future) has now a new and refreshed formula. We hope that in 2010 our cooperation will intensify. We have prepared a few proposals. We will see if we manage to put them into practice. – says Urszula Radzińska.

We attach a lot of attention to the visual side of our products. We want the magazines we make for our clients to reflect the latest trends. Our aim is to make our publications different from one another. The paste-up, the language and the content have to be closely connected but also adjusted to the audience. Target groups of custom publishing are often more precisely defined than those of commercial press. Unfortunately, not all publishing agencies understand this yet. – says Marcin Rutkowski. However, our objective is not only to publish nice-looking magazines. We want our publications to be marketing tools that are a fixed element of a company’s marketing strategy. We have managed to achieve this by making the magazines that are addressed to employees but also created by them. – stresses Urszula Radzińska. Such an approach to custom publishing has been recognised many times. Nasza Biedronka, the magazine published by Aude for Jeronimo Martins Dystrybucja S.A., was awarded in the Szpalty Roku competition organised by Stowarzyszenie Prasy Firmowej (Company Press Association). Act as One, the magazine prepared by Aude for Fortis Bank, received an award in the Złote Spinacze competition organised by Związek Firm Public Relations (PR Companies Association).

2009 was also the year of an intensive development of the interactive department. Aude invests in new technologies and it encourages its clients to use them in promotion and communication. Bestever, the internal magazine published for Unilever, gained a new formula and it became an online bulletin called e-Bestever.

Aude prepared Pepsi’s employer’s profile for the portal addressed to people looking for a job, www.pracuj.pl.

We developed a very functional tool for recruiting employees. – says Urszula Radzińska.

In 2009 Aude Custom Publishing House also invested in the Sales Department that deals not only with selling advertising space in the magazines published by Aude but also with new business activities.

In 2010 we not only want to improve our existing offer but we also want to propose a completely new marketing tool to our clients. Our team is growing and it’s just the beginning. – says Urszula Radzińska. At the end of 2009 Bożena Makowska joined the Aude team. For many years she was connected with the Gruner&Jahr Publishing House, where she was responsible for such monthlies as Claudia and Rodzice, and later with Murator and Agora. At Aude she runs the Farmacja i Ja monthly. Magda Kozińska, who used to work for PAP (Polish Press Agency) and such publishing houses as Gruner&Jahr and Bauer, was appointed Publishing Director. Artur Maciorowski, the owner of a consulting and training company eCode, which realised projects for PKN Orlen, HP Polska, BPH, Fortis Bank, DnB NORD Bank and INFOR Publishing House, assumed the position of E-Marketing Manager. The new Advertising Department at Aude is managed by Jolanta Zbieg (recently connected with Migut Media). At present Aude Custom Publishing House has 20 employees and cooperates with 40 people.

Aude has been operating on the custom publishing market since 2002. It has a multi-task character and it combines the features of an advertising agency, a graphic studio, a press publishing house and an interactive agency.