DPG Media sought a partner to create a new central website that prioritizes user experience, brand awareness, and employer branding.
DPG Media is an international media group with operations in Belgium, The Netherlands, and Denmark active in radio, television, news media, online services and magazines. With over 80 media brands, DPG Media serves over 15 million viewers, readers and listeners daily. With a commitment to innovation and adapting to the ever-evolving digital media landscape, DPG Media continuously seeks new ways to engage and connect with its audiences.
DPG Media sought a partner to create a new central website that prioritizes user experience, brand awareness, and employer branding. Prior to the project, anyone looking to advertise on DPG Media's channels or apply for a job at the media group had to navigate multiple local websites.
The new website needed to provide their stakeholders with the ability to find relevant information in a pleasant and personal way, and to capture and convert information when needed. Additionally, the website had to meet strict security requirements to ensure the safety and privacy of user data.
To address this challenge, we brought all stakeholders in Belgium and The Netherlands together in a brand-new corporate website. Through its design and technology choices, the website now emphasizes the international aspect of the media group while also showcasing the company's forward-thinking vision.
The website was built using Contentful, as a headless Content Platform that is user-friendly both on the front-end and back-end, providing the necessary options for managing features and content. This allows DPG Media to confidently face the future.
Thanks to the future-oriented approach proposed by The Reference with a composable technology architecture, we now enjoy a future-proof platform that not only looks good for the visitor, but also allows us to quickly respond to changes associated with our ambition as an innovative media group.
Before the technical discovery, we began with a strategic pre-project to develop a new branding. This happened in close collaboration with the studio team of DPG Media. Together, we created a design on the visitors' side that fits in seamlessly with the leading image of the international media group.
The new design of the corporate website prioritizes a seamless user experience, enabling visitors to quickly find relevant information.
When designing a new website, our goal is to create a digital experience that not only captures the essence of our client's brand, but also meets their business objectives and serves the user's needs.
Thanks to our target group analysis and technical discovery we were able to map the needs of DPG Media and come to some valuable insights. We used these insights to prioritize which features (or jobs-to-be done) were most important for the platform and set up some specific project requirements.
The last step before implementation was to form the shape of the customer portal by setting-up an information- and technology architecture, creating wireframes etc. After this conceptual sprint, we were ready to implement the portal through an agile methodology.
DPG Media resolutely opted for digital innovation with a composable technology architecture. A central role was reserved for the headless Content Platform Contentful, which centralizes content in a hub for use on various digital channels.
We connected this to the Salesforce applications Sales Cloud and Pardot for managing leads and marketing automation campaigns. On the front-end side, we opted for Next.js, a JavaScript framework for building server-rendered React applications.
Our choice of Next.js powered by Contentful has resulted in a superior developer experience and a positive atmosphere within our development team. Onboarding new team members is a breeze as setting up the project only requires getting the source code, installing dependencies, and running it.
Deploying changes is quick and easy, which allows our customers to validate changes quickly, resulting in a shorter feedback loop. Our developers work in a lightweight and low-complexity local environment, making the development process incredibly fast.
By using a composable technology architecture, DPG Media can swiftly integrate new technologies and adapt to changing needs. This approach also enables employees in marketing, sales, and HR in both Belgium and the Netherlands to collaborate seamlessly within a unified digital environment.
Our partnership with The Reference has flourished while creating the new website of DPG Media. As a headless Content Platform, we provided the flexibility DPG Media needed, and we're proud to contribute to their future vision.
We implemented Agile scrum methodology which allowed us to quickly adapt to changing requirements and deliver working software on a regular basis.
By working according to the MVP (minimal viable product) principle, we were able to focus on delivering the most important features to the customer as soon as possible, while continuously adjusting the scope to prioritize the most important needs of the DPG media stakeholders.
By starting with a concrete strategy, we were able to mitigate the risks that came with the digital project and ensure the business outcome(s) that DPG Media put forward.
By setting up a composable architecture that defined which technologies to use and how they relate to each other, we were able to create an effective solution that aligned with the business goals of DPG Media.
We created a user-friendly design on the visitors' side that fits in seamlessly with the leading image of the international media group.
Looking for a partner for your next digital project? Feel free to get in touch. We would love to hear how we can support you!
With our sustainable approach & smart integrations, we were able to revamp the digital presence of Europe's second largest port.
Mennens, a company that specializes in steel wire rope, lifting and hoisting equipment, and fall protection, partnered with us to further develop their brand and online presence.
Find out how we helped Carglass reduce the data entry burden with Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology
