Challenger Stories: Hands Off wants to make plant-based chocolate the norm

Blended agency iO gives history an extra dimension for visitors to M Leuven thanks to AI-driven web app.

A content strategy is often based on your own insights and those of the client. At iO, we like to link data to this that confirms or corrects those assumptions. In this webinar, data expert Michael will show how he generates the right data to build his strategy based on keyword and competition analyses and content dashboards, and what a data-driven content strategy will look like in the future.

Do you remember when ... the invention of the computer caused a seismic shift in the job market? People unwilling to work with computers were quickly replaced by people who were; and today everyone carries a laptop. Today the same thing is happening with AI. In this webinar, Rodger Werkhoven will share his passion for Artificial Intelligence and introduce you to OpenAI as a love brand.

Watch the webinar now.

How can you effectively utilize content to promote your brand? How can you ensure that your brand stands out with persuasive creations across the appropriate platforms? These questions will be answered in our complimentary webinar, where you'll gain insights on developing a content strategy that seamlessly aligns with your marketing channels and target audiences.  Watch the recording below.

Learn how to move from merely being present on social media to making an impact with an effective social strategy.

A solid employer brand appeals to the employees of today, tomorrow, and yesterday. You attract the right candidates and retain talent. In this whitepaper you will learn how to approach employer branding campaigns from scratch — from strategy to concept and implementation.

An easy way to increase the impact of your advertising is to advertise on the radio. Radio advertising stimulates online search behaviour and has a greater reach than through other media.

Do you know when UX research can be useful? Here's a hint: it's not just when you're developing a new platform. Investing in UX research is also a good idea for existing websites and apps. After all, it gives you a better picture of your users and can lead to higher conversion.

Making and distributing fun and striking videos isn’t just for the wealthy, happy few. Today, creating quality video content is technologically and financially feasible for every budget and every message. In a market that’s overflowing with content, where smartphones have high quality, film-worthy cameras and on the back of the positive inspiration from YouTube and TikTok, any barriers that people might have felt that held back their video creativity were blown away. Discover everything there is to know about video in our white paper.

Does it look as if your organisation is losing the war for talent? Does it start to seem like the right talents consistently prefer to join other companies? Today, unemployment rates in Belgium have hit an historic low (3%). This presents us with opportunities, as well as challenges. Less job seekers, more vacancies, increased competition in the war for talent.

Just about every brand has a mission and a vision. They know very well what they want to stand for. The only problem? They often don't know how to convey that message. How best to translate their brand story into actions.

Interactive content engages people with choices, questions, and options. That’s no different with interactive video — in stark contrast to traditional video, which is linear and forces the viewer to watch passively.

When was the last time you felt truly touched by an advertisement? Pure, raw creativity in the streets, in a magazine, or a heartwarming commercial. In short: a (rare) moment when a brand boldly entered your comfort zone through emotion. Sounds familiar?

Spoiler alert: video is at home in your marketing mix,ideally with its own unique approach – video marketing. Video stands out, you can do a lot with it and the information it carries sticks better. It doesn’t just grab your target group’s attention, it also has an inherent credibility. For these reasons and more, video offers endless possibilities and should be more than 'just' an element in your content marketing strategy.

With cyber week (starting Friday, Nov. 29) and the end-of-year period upon us, there are some great opportunities ahead to give sales another boost, whether you're in B2C or B2B. With this guide and checklist of no less than 61 pages (!), we help you fine-tune your marketing, communication and advertising strategy so that you catch the eye of your target audience. With this guide & checklist, compiled by our +2000 experts from different departments, you'll roll out the digital red carpet for your customers in the year-end period. Download it now.

Data help the marketeer implement digital marketing techniques in customer communication. But how do you use that data, exactly? And how can you enjoy the full force of data? In this whitepaper, we will show you how to optimise your customer and prospect communication through segmentation and personalisation. Moreover, we’ll show you how AI supports these processes.

SEO, or Search Engine Optimisation, is omnipresent and indispensable to the modern marketer. Because paid ads are fleeting, because you always want to findable, or because up to 80% of internet users don’t look beyond the first page of search results. This includes a wide range of factors, from your website structure to the content and links.

But how do you get started with a first-party data strategy? What do you pay attention to? Can you still rely on third-party data? And which stakeholders do you best involve in this 'new' phase? In this whitepaper, we help you out.

Visual storytelling and video hit the right notes with your target audience – using words, images, and sounds. With an approach of 'less selling, more telling' you transcend the product level and tell your audience a story. This makes visual storytelling an intuitive and attractive format to create authentic bonds with your customers, employees, or prospects.

“Create ridiculously good content”, an undeniably strong mantra for everyone in the business of content creation. After all, content is a unique way to share relevant and interesting stories with others and therefore forms a bridge between the company and the audience.

Whether you’re a small business or a large multinational, it’s worth considering email marketing.

When setting goals for social content campaigns, it's crucial to ensure they are achievable and have a tangible foundation. The iO Social Benchmark Report provides you with valuable insights into the world of social content performance, so that you can make data-driven choices to optimise your social content strategy.

A tight job market and a short attention span from your target audience, who are also bombarded with content on a daily basis. Does recruiting new talent sometimes feel like a lost battle to you? We believe it doesn't have to be! Break through your target audience's content overload: invest in in-depth content to reach them and strengthen your employer brand. How can you successfully recruit and retain new talent for your brand? Discover it in "From Employer Branding to Recruitment - Insights 2024".

Branded podcasts offer organisations the opportunity to reach and stand out to their target audience in a unique way. Learn more about creating a successful branded podcast in this whitepaper, and discover inspiring examples from the market.

Do you want to rebrand your organisation? Is an acquisition or merger imminent? Or do you want to improve your customer experience, and does this require an organisational change?  For these types of digital transformations, changing technology is often a challenging and crucial part for organisations of all sizes. Whether you need to upgrade the CMS system to a newer version, or you want to increase your innovation speed with a headless CMS, there is often one element that receives little attention: the content migration. Far too often, a content migration is nothing more than the last thing on the list, because it’s the technology that requires a lot of attention and budget, isn’t it? How complex can it be to lift and shift the content from the old system to the new? 

Consumers are increasingly used to communication that is tailored to them. An ad for 30% discount on cat food after you searched for the best kibble is an example. But so is the online purchase process of those kibbles. After all, today we want an online purchase to feel just like its physical counterpart. Online configurators are a great way to replace the eager shop assistant.

Effective communication between government and citizens is crucial in these rapidly-changing times. This whitepaper reveals five essential insights from some leading public communication professionals. Get inspired by these top leaders in the field and learn how to use branding techniques to powerfully communicate your story as a public organisation. After reading this whitepaper, you will know

“Create ridiculously good content”, an undeniably strong mantra for everyone in the business of content creation. After all, content is a unique way to share relevant and interesting stories with others and therefore forms a bridge between the company and the audience.

In 2025, the challenge for businesses is clear: deliver seamless, meaningful interactions throughout the entire customer journey.   Every interaction, every touchpoint, and every moment matters.   Discover in this paper how customer focus, digital excellence and business growth are key to delivering outstanding customer experiences. Get actionable advice and concrete next steps from a wide range of experts about content, AI, data, innovation, and more, to integrate in your strategy for 2025. 

The digital revolution is gaining momentum, but it is nothing new. Over the last twenty years, technology has drastically changed our daily lives and business models. Today, the pressure to get started with technological transformation is greater than ever before. How do you tackle this? You will find the answer to this question and more in Digital Revolution: learning to surf the waves of technological change. 

Seriously, it's done in no time. And we're about to show you how. The question is: is this what you want? In this blog post, you'll read how we do it at iO, you'll find some tips and tricks to apply on your own work and you'll start to grasp the added value of the human factor.

Does the name Leonhard Huizinga still ring a bell for anyone? Once a popular Dutch writer, now forgotten. He made his debut in 1936 with the book 'De Gestroomlijnde Wereld'. Already a wanderer at a young age, Huizinga's book opened an unknown world to many readers. An exotic world, which seemed to be getting smaller and smaller, because it was more accessible by car, train, boat, and airplane. Faster, more comfortable and with more and more streamlining — quite literally. Curious, boundless, full of wonder. Not realising, as early as 1936, that over that same world lay the shadows of tomorrow.

The end of December is list time. My colleagues at iO invited me to fill the last square of 24till24 with an inspiring list. December 24 is the last day of work before the Christmas holidays for many. That magical time of the year when the professional merry-go-round comes to a complete standstill. It isn’t just the time for family celebrations, it’s also the perfect moment to curl up on the sofa with a good book, a podcast, or a film. So, get into my personal list of the very best viewing, reading, and listening tips. Slide into the holiday season and keep the boredom at bay. Enjoy!

There is a digital divide between the personas we use in marketing and the population. In Belgium, this gap is large: almost 50% of the population are considered to be digitally vulnerable. How do you deal with this as an organisation? And how do you ensure that your products and services do not exclude anyone digitally? This blog contains nine practical tips to help you on your way to digital inclusion.

With the podcast campaign The Missing SS Commander, iO and National Monument Camp Amersfoort succeeded in creating the branded podcast of 2023. Staggering download figures, rave reviews from listeners, an important contribution to Dutch war history and a 30% increase in visitors. Here are the important lessons we learned making the most celebrated Dutch branded podcast of 2023 in a long read.

Users are becoming increasingly mobile: they're freely moving from channel to channel, looking for the content they want to consume. So keeping an eye on trends and taking full advantage of them is more important than ever. After all, trends offer a perfect opportunity to be creative. But what can we expect in 2024? In this blog, you'll discover three trends you can address to increase your impact with your target groups.

Does content marketing still serve a purpose in 2024? Patrick Severein (Head of Content and Strategist) raises some questions.

As a writer, should you embrace or fear generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Copilot and Gemini? The former for sure, the latter perhaps too. In any case, they make you an offer you can't refuse. So, hoist these rambunctious AI sailors on board and put them to work, but above all remain the captain of your ship.

Conversational search in the form of an AI chatbot lets your website visitors interact with your content, resulting in a better customer experience.

Do you want to capture your target audience’s hearts? Well, great content is one way to achieve that. After all, positive content experiences are an essential part of the customer experience. They strengthen your brand and increase your growth opportunities. Find out how to build brand loyalty with consistent, quality content.

Did you know that the copy on a single button in your online shop can determine your conversion rate, even if it only contains one word? Few people think about this kind of microcopy, even though it can hugely impact the performance of your online platform or app. In this first blog post of our microcopy series, you will learn what microcopy is and why it matters. 

Your brand’s story may be great, but if you tell it in a way that puts everyone to sleep, you won’t leave a lasting impression. That’s why your brand needs an appealing and fitting tone of voice. In this blog post, you’ll learn why a tone of voice is important and how to outline one for your brand. 

There is a lot to consider when creating a content strategy. From determining your goals, and researching your target groups, to spotting content opportunities and measuring your results.  How do you get started? And what should you consider?  You'll find out in this blog. 

Today, personalisation and omnichannel marketing are essential. Businesses need a presence on multiple channels so that they can tailor their messages to each of their target groups in a hyper-personalised way. But how do you communicate your brand message consistently and clearly in this fragmented environment? The answer is simple: with a Message House. In this blog post, we explain why this model is essential, how to apply it, and the skills you need to get the most out of it. 

I already demonstrated in my first blog post of this series on microcopy how the smallest words on your website or app can have a huge impact. In this second part, I want to show you some best practices for writing strong microcopy. Because even though these pieces of text may be unassuming, it can be challenging to write them. 

A call to action is the determining step between a visitor and a conversion. Still, many companies hardly think about these pieces of text, which is a shame. Because a call to action with the right microcopy can increase your revenue and get you new leads. How? I’ll explain in this blog post.

Everyone wants their website or app to bring in conversions. But how far will you go to get your user to act? What kind of copywriting techniques should you use, and which should you abandon? In this blog post, we’ll look at one of the most popular dark patterns in copywriting: confirmshaming.

Email campaigns during December are always a challenge. The volume of email increases steadily every month of the year and reaches a peak during the festive season. For example, MailChimp, the leading email service (according to their 2023 annual report) sends no less than 21.3 billion emails in December. Do you want to know how to make sure your festive emails reach your target audiences?

It's the most wonderful time of the year again! Christmas! Or no, better still: it’s time to feast our eyes on the spectacular (British) Christmas commercials. They’ve released a tidal wave of clichés (snow, turkey, tears, Santa Claus/women in all shapes and sizes and gifts, lots of gifts). What’s striking about this year: the brands you expect a lot from are disappointing (spoiler 1: Disney...) (spoiler 2: John Lewis...) and brands that you don't expect much from after years of misery and gloom, excel (spoiler 3: Etsy). Let’s get into the festive spirit with 2024’s Christmas offerings.

There is no denying that language is an important part of our lives. We use it to express ourselves, to communicate with others, to think and to learn. But language is more than a tool. It also helps, often unconsciously, to shape our thoughts and perceptions. With this in mind, gender-neutral writing is receiving more and more attention. But what exactly is it? And why should you, as a brand or organisation, consider gender-neutral writing? 

Is it ‘My favourites’ or ‘Your favourites’? And would you rather start ‘Your free trial’ or ‘My free trial’? Even though they don’t always stand out, pronouns play an important role on a platform. They influence how users feel when reading the text on your website or app — and how they perceive your brand or product. That way, ‘I’ or ‘you’, ‘your’ or ‘my’, could mean the difference between buying and not buying. But how do you make the right decision?

The Mazda LaPuta. A tiny car with a cute name. Unless you speak Spanish. If only Mazda's marketing team had checked that before launching it in Spain.  Sure, Deepl and similar tools win you a lot of time. But do you also win in terms of quality? Using translation tools on automatic pilot is risky business. This blog post covers 7 pitfalls when using translation tools. By the way, the most powerful combo in our opinion? A native copywriter or translator who makes clever use of these tools. 

ChatGPT is writing texts at a rapid pace, images are generated in an instant by Midjourney or Dall-E, videos can be created via Runway and with Google's recent Notebook LM you can create a podcast at the touch of a button: AI is changing everything in the world of content. It also brings opportunities: about 60% of today's jobs did not exist 80 years ago, so luckily for us, historically technological developments have also created new jobs. If, as a content specialist, you devote a significant part of your work to an AI tool, what do you do with the time you’ve got left over to demonstrate your skills and relevance?

Pim Verras is an Online Marketer at iO, recently attended Brighton SEO, the search marketing conference that’s held annually in the United Kingdom. Let’s dive into his learnings and take aways.

Bye Saint Nicholas! See you next year, safe travels back to Spain! Welcome Mariah, come on in. At long last, Christmas commercials are finally 'allowed' again in the Netherlands (in England they have been loose for some time). To that end, here is my deep dive into the Dutch commercial harvest so far. Drum roll: check out the Dutch Christmas commercials of 2024.

Creativity isn't just useful for building a strong campaign — it's essential. Daan Simonis (Global Media & Digital Marketing Director at Perfetti Van Melle) explains why this is the case and how a creative idea has a strong impact, especially on paid media platforms.

"With digital transformation, you can deliver added value to your customers," says Steven De Deyne, Head of Media and Production Competence Center Proximus), it in this video.

How do we make our content accessible, so that every Belgian can find the information they need quickly and easily? The question came from the Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs and the answer? That came from iO. The result: a website that focuses on accessibility and presents the most important information in a crystal clear way.

BenBits is ambitious, and that's not a secret. The brand stands for plant-based chewing gum without plastic — the first in the Netherlands. But the ambitions don't stop there.

Circular economy: it's not just a matter of using shared cars and collecting batteries. There is room for sustainable initiatives in the baby market too, and Tiny Library is here to prove it. The team works every day on the mission to make the baby market more sustainable — that's better for the world and for parents' wallets. 

Our attention spans are shorter, we skip commercials, and we click from video to video all the time. When consumers are bombarded with an avalanche of content every day, how can your brand stand out? Ruth Nys explains how to do creative content marketing without falling into the same old boring marketing tactics trap. Expert:Ruth Nys, Strategy Director Content

On average, people buy five products before they find the right beauty product for them. That's a problem. A problem that We Are Eves wants to eliminate from the world. It's a cosmetics platform with hundreds of thousands of honest product reviews, written by real people. In this video, Esther Leloux, Founder & CEO, tells you all about the platform.

It's time to harness the primal power of Mother Ocean to end animal suffering and offer delicious food that regenerates itself — at least, if it's up to The Dutch Weed Burger. They stand for delicious, plant-based burgers made from seaweed, and in this video, Mark Kulsdom, Co-Founder & Managing Director, tells you all about it.

Social media as a marketing tool is often overlooked, despite their potential, they are frequently underutilised. Nevertheless, a strong social strategy and a brand-oriented focus are the keys to success on social media platforms.

Do you remember when ... the invention of the computer caused a seismic shift in the job market? People unwilling to work with computers were quickly replaced by people who were; and today everyone carries a laptop. Today the same thing is happening with AI. In this webinar, Rodger Werkhoven will share his passion for Artificial Intelligence and introduce you to OpenAI as a love brand.

From Van Eyck’s brothers' Ghent Altarpiece to Rock Werchter: the Canon of Flanders is finally here. The much-discussed list resulted in a bulky book of more than 300 pages and includes an overview of the Flemish language, culture, and history from the end of the last ice age to today. But there is also an online version: www.canonvanvlaanderen.be . iO developed this on behalf of the Commission Canon of Flanders, which received a mandate from the Flemish Government, Department of Education & Training.

Discover the fruitful collaboration between Primagaz and iO in this 'Walk and Talk' video. In this video, you'll get a behind-the-scenes look at the collaborative dynamics between Primagaz and iO. We discuss how we dealt with challenges, how we exploited opportunities and what strategies we developed. We'll take you through our shared journey of growth and success, where trust and a commitment to excellence are central. This Walk and Talk is more than just a conversation - it is a celebration of a collaboration that has stood the test of time. It is a story of mutual growth, of learning and evolving, and of creating value for both organizations.

Social media extends way beyond performance and direct conversion. It's about building brands, building relationships with the target group and strategically distributing content on relevant platforms. Success requires belief in the power of social media and investment in knowledge building and daring to experiment.

It is sometimes difficult to estimate which content is valuable and which is not because of the influence of subjectivity and different opinions in your marketing team. Fortunately, that responsibility lies entirely with the consumer. All you have to do is create a lot of content that is in line with your organisation’s values.

Less is more? Not when it comes to social media content. You need a lot of contact moments to get on the radar and stay there. Then the algorithm decides who sees which content.

Sometimes content marketers suffer from a content burnout: they don't know what to post or how to come up with creative content. The drip model offers a solution: take a look at the 'low-hanging fruit' within your organisation, sector and above all: your target group environment. With social posts that you write from the perspective of your target group, you always deliver engaging content.

Many young people are on Snapchat and TikTok today. In spite of that, Facebook, with 70% active users, remains the largest social network in Flanders. Do you want to reach your audience? Then consider using Reels. Facebook can also deliver strong results for B2B marketing, especially in combination with LinkedIn.

TikTok offers unprecedented potential for organic reach, but also brings challenges: privacy issues, diverse content and users; and a powerful algorithm. Post multiple times a day and focus on native content instead of your own campaign materials.

Since TikTok boosted vertical videos, they have dominated all platforms. Using reels strengthens the bond with your video first users and gives you more organic reach and improves your marketing results.

Conversation management is a shift from webcare to webdare. Where in the past, brands mainly responded to negative experiences and complaints on their own channels, now you join conversations with your consumers on your own and other channels. This increases your visibility and positions you in the market.

Content strategist Sam talks to Vanessa Loose, marketing manager at Dewaele. For Belgium's largest independent estate agent, social media are incredibly important. With a healthy mix of trends and evergreen topics, they always stay on the radar as a life partner in living and business through social media.

When Yorick Bruins lived in Tanzania, he saw a problem: there are too many unnecessary links in the coffee supply chain, preventing coffee farmers from getting a fair price for their beans. He founded Wakuli: an organisation that brings quality coffee from the farmer to the consumer — in the shortest possible chain.

Hendrik Kramer is an Amsterdam-based fisherman and entrepreneur who wants to show that sustainable fishing pays off in the Netherlands. He does this by selling his fish directly to consumers with Wild 'n Zilt.

Research shows that not many people have a positive perception of plant-based cheese. Brad Vanstone wants to change that with his brand Willicroft on Amsterdam's Spiegelgracht.

With BayaBaya, founders Dirk Taselaar and Leon Daggenvoorde aim to take the plastic bottle out of the bathroom. Founded in 2021, the brand sells powdered concentrate for body wash with natural, vegan ingredients. Combine that concentrate with tap water and pour it into the aluminium refill bottle, and you've done your part, too.

iO helps Torfs, the Flemish shoe giant, to position itself better in the Walloon market and as a fashion player. Read more about this case.

Optimizing Content and Presentation: How iO Transformed Proximus' Newsletter Engagement. Read the case here.

Enhancing Digital Content Management for D'Ieteren Automotive's Websites? Read the full story here;

Creating a Cohesive Platform: Assuralia's Rebranding and Site Redesign for Enhanced User Experience Read the story here.

Modernizing Automotive Digital Communications: Unleashing the Potential of Social Networks. Read the story here.

YER is already big but aspired to double their presence in the world of recruitment and selection and secondment. iO helped them with creating a new brand, internal branding, external activation online and offline and bringing 3 websites into 1 site for all target groups.

Entopic/iO rewrote all content to a new tone of voice for the launch of the Odido brand and managed content migration from 2 websites to the new website. Want to know more? Find out in this case.

With creative always-on and ad hoc campaigns, our experts help Manna Sauzen grow into a leading Belgian brand.

Embark on a thrilling train adventure across the Netherlands with ‘Het Spoor Bijster’, a fuction podcast by the NS and iO.

Read how we worked with Brunswick to create a full branding and international go-to-market strategy to launch their latest brand Navan.

Discover how awareness, behaviour change, and hyper-local personalization lead to cost efficiency and relevance at the right moment.

How do you tell a clear online story that pulls traffic towards your website if you represent multiple businesses? Read the case and find out.

Find out how we helped cheese brand CAMBOZOLA reactivate its existing customers and attract younger generations. Read the case.

For Prowise, an interactive display and educational software expert, iO designed a new WordPress website complemented by a new brand voice and copy.

Discover how iO made the websites and the personal admin portal of High Profile Locaties more manageable, findable and scalable. Read the case study.

Discover how iO helped Imperial transform into a future-proof food brand

How do you develop a digital and internationally deployable retailer concept that takes your customer experience to the next level?

Discover how Avans University of Applied Sciences and iO attracted over 20,000 new student choosers with creative, data-driven campaigns. Learn strategies that hold Gen Z's attention and create strong brand connections. Get inspired and discover how to entice your target audience.

Brussels Airport: In this case story, read how iO has become an extension of the airport.

Discover what iO does for airport & travelers: from branding to creative campaigns and content creation.

Communication, internal & external, is important for Brussels Airport. Read here how iO supports the airport in this.

iO takes Brussels Airport to new heights with influencer marketing. Read how we did it.

iO helped Landal Greenparks create a hospitality experience that seamlessly integrates top personal service with digital convenience. Discover the case.

What it takes to make booking as easy as possible for you? Discover the power of a strong management vision, a streamlined work process, and long-term, open, and transparent collaboration between Landal GreenParks and iO.

iO experts built a brand new D2C website with an advanced Adobe Experience Manager e-commerce platform for lighting specialists Signify. The result: happy users and satisfied teams. Read the full case here.