With social communities being the place to be in 2011, we chose Facebook to become the biggest editorial office ever seen. We brought the editorial staff of MAX magazine to Facebook, built a social network around the brand MAX - and invited our target audience to willingly join the new brand universe of The Beetle. As a member of the editorial team, they were engaged to give ideas and vote for proposals interactively. Simply, they were engaged to be part of the whole creative editorial process, thus being enabled to lead MAX’s audience. The resulting print issue was the first lifestyle magazine which was directly shaped by our core audience. Within the issue the participating members were named individually, honouring them for their urge in public.The Beetle of course was a strong editorial part of this issue, now providing an ideal frame for communicating the brand´s altered image.

Supported by print, online and Facebook advertising, we gave birth to the first lifestyle magazine that was directly edited from the astonishing number of 1,800 content shapers, directly recruited from our main target audience.

Throughout the entire process, The Beetle was part of the event. From the first editorial gathering on Facebook to an enormous 34 page long Beetle cover special in the final print issue, giving our key audience the opportunity to learn about The Beetle as the icon.This one-shot was a tremendous success: Outnumbering former MAX issues, it shot into the TOP 3 of German lifestyle magazines.