Community apps keep citizens up to date

In many municipalities, the printed official gazette still shapes communication today. Metaprint24 and Fink Verlag wanted to carry this strength into the digital world and make local news available where people read anyway: on their smartphones.

Keeping citizens informed at all times was just as important as the wish to modernise communication within the municipalities.

From this aim grew the vision of a digital platform that makes local content fast, simple and accessible to everyone.

The existing print model was increasingly reaching its limits. Information only appeared at fixed intervals, short-notice changes could hardly be reflected, and younger target groups were ever harder to reach with printed editions.

At the same time, producing and distributing the printed content involved considerable effort and corresponding costs.

For Metaprint24 and Fink Verlag, this raised a fundamental question: how can the established model be turned into a contemporary digital solution?

A digital platform had to do more than serve readers. It also had to support the many authors working behind the scenes.

Club committees, town halls and local institutions needed to be able to publish their content independently, without technical knowledge and with as little effort as possible.

The real task was to create a system that works simply and intuitively both for thousands of content creators and for end users.

Werkdigital took on the design and implementation of the entire solution, from the first idea to the launch in the app stores.

At the centre are modern smartphone apps that citizens can use to access all relevant information about their municipality at any time. This is complemented by a purpose-built editorial system tailored specifically to the needs of the approx. 3,000 authors.

It lets content be created, managed and published quickly and easily, directly from within the municipalities.

The combination of user-friendly apps and an efficient backend provides an end-to-end digital communication solution.

With the introduction of the municipal apps, the business model of Metaprint24 and Fink Verlag has changed for good.

In the very first year, revenue rose noticeably, while savings in the six-figure range were achieved in print.

For citizens, the solution above all means one thing: up-to-date information, available at any time and easy to access.

This is how local communication moves into the digital world: more efficient, faster and closer to people's everyday lives.