Reach your company goals with a recognisable brand design

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.

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.

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.

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

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

How iO convinces travelers to choose Brussels Airport for their next trip. Discover the marketing campaigns.

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

The experts at iO made UWV an attractive employer thanks to this multi-channel employer branding campaign.

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.

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.

The modern consumer looks for brands they can connect to. Create brand value that aligns with your DNA – measurable and successful.

Activate your target audience with dynamic online and offline experiences. At iO, we blend marketing, technology, and strategy to create impactful brand activations.

Make the perfect first impression with your booth at any trade show or event. Read on and discover how our expertise helps your business.

Campaigns allow you to generate extra attention for your product, service, event or range. Our experts take care of creation & launch and measure the results.

Brands are built with advertising, and content then adds depth to the brand, right? Not if you ask Aart Lensink. As a content expert, he helped several brands tell strong stories, and now he's sharing his knowledge on building brands with content in this e-book— packed with examples and with a concrete step-by-step plan. 

In episode 5 of the Public Brands series: Iris Reshef from the NS (Dutch railways) and Suzanne Bijkersma from the Social Insurance Bank (SVB) discuss brand and reputation thinking in the public sector.

Your brand identity is your brand's personality, what you stand for and what you want to achieve. It is what sets you apart from your competitors. Astrid Vanwolleghem, design director at iO Antwerp, developed a seven-step plan for designing its outward reflection: the visual brand identity. "Anyone familiar with that step-by-step plan will understand why strong branding does not happen overnight," says Astrid. Take a walk through the plan and, along the way, get rid of some preconceptions about creating your visual brand identity!

Your verbal brand identity is the set of linguistic expressions of your brand. It bundles the tone in which and style with which you communicate to all your target audiences through all mediums. Together with your visual brand expression, your verbal brand expression conveys who you are, what you stand for and what you can do for your customers. In this blog, we will explore your unique voice together.

If you listen closely, you can already hear them. Christmas bells. Seriously. Christmas is coming! By the way, Christmas has already started for me. When I’m lying in my hammock in the South of France, I’m already thinking about Christmas trees, snow and beautifully laid tables. And, of course, I’m thinking about how to win at Christmas, traditionally the busiest commercial period of the year. But how do you make sure that your brand wins at Christmas? And how do you make sure you stand out from all the other Christmas campaigns?

It’s that time again: It’s Christmas commercial season 2023. I’m ready for a wagonload of snow, candy, British stars, and tortured covers of familiar songs. And what did I get? Exactly that. I love it! A (completely objective) overview of the (mostly) British 2023 Christmas commercials. Brace yourself for Rick Astley, kisses, Ryan Reynolds, talking mittens, singing oven gloves, pink flamingos, John Travolta as Santa Claus and... a rediscovered hit from 1965. And... What did John Lewis do?

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.

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

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

The rise of AI, shifts in the social media landscape, and the end of third-party data...2023 was, to say the least, a tumultuous year. But this year, marketers and their organizations are also facing significant challenges. Discover the six digital and marketing trends that will dominate 2024 and, most importantly, how you can successfully tackle them.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Corporate Social Responsibility is more than a trend that all organisations have to jump on. It is a mindset in which everything revolves around the impact you have as an organisation on people, society, and the environment.

A rebranding is a powerful tool to (re)showcase the mission, vision, and values of your brand. We translate the strengths of your brand into a clever brand strategy, an expressive tone of voice, and a recognisable visual identity.

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.

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?

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.

Creating a strong, branded podcast starts with finding the most compelling stories, identifying the right format, and selecting the most convenient release frequency.

Creative concepting nests your brand and message firmly in the minds of your target group. How do you do that? Let our experts get you started!

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.

Use radio and television ads to boost your sales and generate brand awareness. Find out how we can help you.

CLM and loyalty is a win-win situation: customers benefit from their loyalty and you get data flows and a smoothly running business.

A strong brand identity begins with a strong brand name. So determining your brand’s name has a major impact on your success as a company. How then do you come up with a name that conveys your brand values and feels like a household name to consumers? Discover how our research and creation can help you anchor your new name in your customers' hearts.

In episode 1 of the Public Brands series: Tom van Laarhoven (UWV) and Anke Heun (Belastingdienst) on brand thinking in the public sector.

The Police and the CBS (Central Statistical Office). Two household names in the Netherlands. They’re established brands. How do you manage them? Mirjam Otten and Mike Ackermans on brand thinking in the public sector.

The IND (Immigration and Naturalisation Service) and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO). Two public organisations that are also brands. One is known to the general public, the other to a specific group. How do you manage them from a brand and communication perspective?

In episode 4 of the Public Brands series: Jantien Eising from RDW (National Road Administration) and Maureen Wiersma from the CJIB (Central Judicial Collection Agency) on brand- and reputation thinking in the public sector.

iO created a content strategy for Audi that gives the brand values an emotional charge through storytelling.

Humans are not as rational as we think. To protect our brain from structural overload, we make a large part of our daily decisions 'on autopilot'. And by a large part I mean: more than 95%. Believe me, no matter how blue (DISC personality type) you are, this applies to everyone.

The government uses insights from behavioural science to guide its communication with citizens. This sometimes involves trial and error. DUO's 'tick box' is a well-known example.  But first, let’s start with a bit of theory: the 'paradox of choice' briefly implies that we like choice, but don't like to choose. (Viewing tip: watch this TEDTalk by psychologist Barry Schwartz who coined this term).  The more choices our brain has to process, the harder it becomes to choose. Sometimes it even leads to us making no choice at all. Anyone who has ever stood in front of the dessert shelf in a French Hypermarché can relate to this. There is even a scientific term for this phenomenon: choice paralysis. 

Companies are unaware of the enormous the cost of bad customer experiences. Out-of-pocket costs such as customer service are being pushed up, at a time when it’s becoming more difficult and expensive to find new customers.And this is happening while the brand credibility is declining and there is erosion in terms of new business development. In the video below, Steven Van Belleghem calls for more investment in customer focus, as a driver for a successful 2025.

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.

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.

In 60 historical windows, the Canon van Vlaanderen depicts Flemish culture - and we provided the interactive website.

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.

Two microphones, a recording device, a little jingle to top it off. Your branded podcast is ready to go viral, right? Not quite. Let’s discuss several pitfalls that come with creating a branded podcast, along with tips on how to avoid them.

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.

Is a podcast one of the content assets in your campaign? It's easy. Exploit the podcast’s special qualities: a chance to go deeper.

You’ve made a cool podcast, but it is completely overshadowed by podcasts made by the big media companies. How do you avoid your branded podcast online dying a slow death, ignored in its own lonely corner of the internet?

For Port of Antwerp-Bruges, we brought a brand-new job platform to the market with a creative, multimedia campaign. Read more.

In episode 6 of the Public Brands series: Inge Rohde from CBR and Leonie van der Mark from AVROTROS talk about brand and reputation thinking in the public sector. Read the interview here or listen to the podcast. 

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

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.

Generation Z is one of the first generations to grow up in the digital world – have they already found their way to your brand? Flash forward to April 21st: iO Creative Director Clarck Masschelein’s webinar will take you on a tour of the world of Generation Z. Prepare to meet an entire generation of digital natives – we’ll teach you how to reach them through meaningful connections.

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.

Gen Z is known as the most inaccessible generation ever. For brands and their commercial messages, at least. Gen Z grew up in the digital world, and the average member of Gen Z has a strong radar for brands with misleading messages or brands that communicate inauthentically.

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.

Amnesty International shines a light on issues that would otherwise remain in darkness. According to Wies De Graeve (Director Amnesty International) creativity is essential for this. It helps people see that there are solutions to the world's problems —and how they can help.

Take control of your brand story with a sophisticated brand and marketing strategy. Power to the people, right? Get to know iO's take on things.

Build a strong strategy for your business communication. iO experts will help you get your message to your target audience.

Add a little spice to your campaigns with interactive minigames. Excite your audience and collect valuable data!

Creativity in B2B communication is an important way to engage and connect with your audience. The era of the pure sales pitch is long gone, and today B2B communication is also looking for new ways to add value in the long term. Creativity builds the bridge between story, feeling and individuality. And this translates into positive business results.

The battle for talent – in other words, valuable, talented, and motivated employees – is raging harder than ever before. And that's not surprising. For every organisation, the key to success lies with the right talent. Young and old, highly educated, and self-taught, native and immigrant. How do you get them on board? And how do you stop them from looking elsewhere? Instead of using recruitment as a means to attract talent that’s based on financial promises and incentives,  in the long term it’s wise to have a sustainable approach that starts from within your own organisation. In this whitepaper we will analyse the importance of your employer value proposition and take you through the recruitment do's and don'ts. Peppered with facts, figures and statistics that are relevant to the Belgian jobs market, and concrete tips, tricks, and trends.

How to build a multi-site, multi-language, global B2B platform for lead generation and online branding - 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.

The added value of social media is sometimes difficult for marketers to determine, apart from the results it has to offer the sales team. As a result, some tend to consider a 'must do', while it actually offers a wonderful way to gain a place in people's lives. The key is to identify your brand with the culture of your target audience, and for that, social works best. However, this requires a certain amount of courage from your brand.

Social media is the virtual landscape where people go to share, ask questions, and complain. Webcare offers companies the possibility to monitor online messages and provide service where necessary. But how can you give someone a pleasant surprise someone using webcare? And build positivity towards your brand at the same time? The answer: Random Acts of Kindness.

The 2024 summer holidays are behind us and it's time for organisations to set their budgets for 2025. And that is often a more difficult task than we would like to admit.   We wouldn't be iO if we hadn't come up with anything to help you with that tedious task... Get 16 tips to make your marketing and digitisation budget for 2025 smarter

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".

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

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

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

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

With the recent launch of iOS 18, the messaging service Rich Communication Services, or RCS, is finally widely available. This can have a huge impact on how brands and marketers reach their customers. In this article, we dive deeper into the ins and outs of RCS and why at iO, we believe that it will provide better experiences. 

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

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.

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?