Happy is as happy gets. And although I try to take back a little bit of happiness from every show I visit (Fespa, drupa), sometimes it takes an extra special - or should I say happy - surprise to keep the feeling going.

Last week I received a intriguing enveloppe with my address details written by hand. Hand written snailmail? Consider me pleased as punch. Would it be a wedding invite, a ‘new baby in the framily‘ announcement or a party invite? None of the above. Turns out it was one of the best DM I have received in years.

Hand written address details - the personal touch does the trick.

At drupa, Ed Boogaard introduced 2 figurines he kept as a memento from drupa 1982. He now took them back to the future, aka the Messe fairgrounds of drupa 2016. He captured their key visits in quirky snapshots that got posted on Twitter alongside the #happydrupa hashtag. Their arrival, first German food, meeting Mr. PrintPakt, meeting Mr. Landa, work hard party hard – you name it. 2 weeks of little Playmobil people fun.

Cute. I confess I tuned in regularly to follow their adventures during the show.

So what a wonderful surprise to see that Ed had turned their social wanderings into a small printed booklet that he sent individually to the #happydrupa followers. How’s that for keeping the social online conversation going?

The boys took the #happydrupa followers on a tour of #drupa2016 highlights.

I’m a big fan of repurposing on site and on the spot generated content. It will have served its purpose ad hoc, but that does not mean its meaning should remain confined within that moment. Repurposing your social content in a digital or print manner afterwards is a wonderful way of stretching your communication momentum just a little bit longer. A good quote, a fine image or a fun story in this case, can last longer than its 140 character life on Twitter.

Keep good content alive. The #happydrupa was generated on social, repurposed in print. And now promoted online in this blog.

The only remaining question is: did they touch the future? What did the Marty McFly’s think of the future of print? Stay tuned...

Maya Staels