Lab

How do you make interesting a promotional magazine?

100 or more products per month, dozens of approval rounds, same amount of mutations delivered to hundreds of places around the country. All of this - let's face it - means a lot of toil work. It's not an easy task, but we knew the solution by the time we ran for making of Kulcs Patitkák magazine. Actually, we knew it years before.

The task was complicated and burdensome: collecting and using precise data on 100 products. The legal environment defines the mandatory elements and formats. Usually, countless factors from the client and fragmented workflow that defines a project like this. There are numerous opportunities for error and it often involves repetitive tasks. We wanted to increase efficiency, and to do this we automated most of the workflows. 

The novelty: mindset

It's all about understanding our clients: our toolkit is primarily based on communication, but we also understand our partners operational and business problems. This defines us since the early years of our agency. We provide a solution, not just a tool to adapt to. As a result, we've developed a new way to create a magazine instead of time-consuming manual upload with lots of potential error.

Years ago, we realized that there are projects with some characteristics: if many people on the client side have significant influence we need to manage it in a specific way. Understandably, these are the projects that really need close control. All we needed was some coding knowledge, a clear workflow and some hardcore project management, of course.

There was a strong need for innovation from the client, which is also characteristic of Kulcs Patikák in general, whether in partnerships, production or even promotion. From the first moment we clearly saw the pain points: in the case of multi-product, multi-partner magazines, the number of errors during traditional publication preparation is too high, and we have to prepare for a huge number of approval rounds every single month.

Safe and fast

Our solution has made a difference in both areas. On the one hand, it used to require more approval rounds, and although the process still requires a lot of attention, now we are able to save time and effort.

Efficiency is also important from a quality assurance perspective: we validate the data for products in a semi-automated way. Thanks to automation, all aspects, whether technical or visual, are handled with minimal human intervention. Once validated, we guarantee that we have impeccable data. We log all changes, making the client’s job easier during data entry tasks.

In practice, this means far fewer resources are required to enter the data and there is less chance for error, and we can offer a professional quality guarantee. Also, at a lower cost we can offer flexibility: the customer has more room for maneuver to change products without increasing the chance of errors.

The working method

The solution seems technical, but that is not the most important aspect. The workflow and the attitude are actually the innovation. What is really unique is that a significant part of the work is focused on preparation, rather than repetitive tasks and modifications. It is the way of working that is so special. We have been able to bring a technology-based solution to the problem that makes life easier for the client and for us as well. We really like solutions like this. However, it is also important that such a development also opens up new opportunities for Kulcs Patikák. The current results will be a tremendous help in terms of the monthly publication and the collaboration. However, there are further results to be expected, which may not even be predictable today.

Taking advantage of the new system may provide opportunities for years. There is considerable potential in the system, albeit with less investment. This is what we have been able to offer by working with complex systems for many years and always looking for even better solutions.