Living in a safe, sustainable and pleasant environment

Eigen Huis Magazine is a members-only magazine published by the Netherlands-based association Vereniging Eigen Huis which has been printed at Roularta Printing for more than 10 years. With its 800,000 members, the Eigen Huis Association has a significant share of a market counting 4.5 million owner-occupied houses. “I actually had no clear idea of what a circulation of 800,000 exactly represents,” Elvira Spoelstra, editor-in-chief of Eigen Huis Magazine, confides. “Our commercial contact at Roularta Printing, Matthias Heimerdinger, made a video to visualise the whole process, and it turns out that 800,000 copies is the equivalent of six large trucks brimming with magazines. So that’s really quite a lot.”

All about buying, selling, remodelling and sustainability 

“Our magazine has three main objectives,” Elvira outlines. “First, it provides information. The magazine shares all the information you need to live in a safe, sustainable and pleasant way. A second aspect of what we do is advocacy. We lobby the government and keep an eye on real estate agents so that homeowners can sell their homes in a correct way. Thirdly, we offer services and products that help to reduce housing costs. These include, for example, collective purchasing of solar panels, energy or heat pumps. We even have our own painting and insulation service.”

All these aspects are covered in the magazine in a deliberate mix of ‘need to know’ and ‘nice to know’. “We bring in extensive interviews, vision and background stories as well as practical tips such as ’10 things you definitely need to know when insulating your home’. In addition, we offer our readers the opportunity to look inside other people’s homes. How does that other Dutch person live?”

The magazine offers a unique moment to be in contact with our members and an important part of their membership

A direct hotline

Elvira describes working with Roularta Printing as pleasant and particularly efficient. “A while ago, we found ourselves in a predicament and a press stop was looming. I started to stress out and immediately called Kathy Platteau, our order supervisor at Roularta Printing, to discuss our options. How many copies have already been printed? What happens if we shut down the press? What is needed for a restart… At such times, Kathy and I have a real ‘hotline’.” Cooperation is also outstanding with commercial representative Matthias Heimerdinger. “For the magazine, we were looking to print on a paper that was slightly whiter at the same cost. Matthias helped with the search and provided excellent advice.”

Clear images & environmentally conscious choices

Clear image reproduction and high-quality printing are fundamental for an image-intensive publication like Eigen Huis Magazine. “The intense colour strength of Roularta Printing’s heatset rotary printer combined with our professionally retouched images means that the colour quality and clarity in our images meets a high standard.” Another special feature of Eigen Huis Magazine is that the address is not printed on a plastic film but directly on the back cover. “We try to make sustainable choices, and we have an extremely helpful partner with Roularta Printing. Avoiding environmentally harmful plastic film for mailers is a good example of this. Our paper is also invariably FSC certified.”

A unique contact moment

Elvira rates the added value of a printed magazine particularly highly. “We have no intention of going completely digital. The magazine is available in our app for those who want it there; and we also send out electronic newsletters. But with the magazine, we are guaranteed to reach all our members. The magazine is a unique moment to be in contact with our members and an important part of their membership.”