Margriet won the Mercurs for the best Magazine Brand of the year at the beginning of November. In this podcast, editor-in-chief Helene van Santen talks about Margriet’s new direction, which has not only led to winning this professional award, but also to more traffic, a stable subscriber base, higher newsstand sales and more advertising income.
In the podcast, Helene van Santen, in conversation with Carolien Vader from Bladendokter, provides insight into Margriet’s new course. While many media brands focus their arrows on rejuvenation, Margriet clearly opts for color in the choice to become a brand for the over-60s. The 60+ target group has traditionally been fairly invisible in the media. After the age of 50, old people automatically disappeared from the scene. Yet today’s 60+ people are digitally skilled and this target group likes to see themselves represented in the media.
The choice did Margriet no harm. The reach of the magazine brand increased by 163% in the past year, newsstand sales continued to increase and advertising revenues increased. In addition, Van Santen also implemented major changes in her own team. Margriet’s editorial team no longer consists of an online and a print team, but all employees work together on all channels. This has resulted in an efficiency boost and at the same time Margriet’s employees have had the opportunity to develop and learn new, often digital skills.
In the podcast, Helene van Santen talks about the new course, the reorganization of her team and about the successes she has achieved in the eighteen months that she has been editor-in-chief.
Want to read more about why Margriet is the best magazine brand of the year? Read the Mercurs jury report here.
About Helene van Santen
Helene van Santen has been editor-in-chief of Margriet since May 2021. Before that, she was editor-in-chief of Kek Mama, where she worked from June 2019. Before that, she worked as a digital manager at Libelle, where she was responsible, among other things, for the digital strategy of the weekly magazine and the growth of Libelle.tv.