Mirella Schaperkotter, Marketing Specialist at Erwin Hymer Group Netherlands, discusses the role of socialPALS in adapting international campaigns for local markets, improving efficiency and supporting dealer networks.

Mirella Spruijt-Schaperkotter
Communication Specialist | Erwin Hymer Group Netherlands
Mirella, can you tell us a bit about your role at the Erwin Hymer Group and your responsibilities in the Netherlands- Which Brands do you work for?
At Erwin Hymer Group Netherlands, I work as a marketing and communications specialist. To this end, I work a lot with the marketing departments of the brands that fall under the Erwin Hymer Group. Most of the marketing departments are in Germany, so my German has improved a lot since I started working here! We, my marketing colleague Wenda and I, mainly translate the brands’ marketing plans and actions to the Dutch market. We also regularly set up campaigns ourselves. Also in socialPALS we sometimes copy and translate campaigns, or create them ourselves.
We work here for the brands: HYMER, ERIBA, Dethleffs, Carado, Sunlight, Etrusco, Laika, LMC and Bürstner. For some brands we do more than for others.
What does a typical day look like for you when it comes to managing the different brands and their marketing campaigns?
It very much depends on what the brand expects from us and what they like to entrust us with. In the Netherlands, for example, we can do a lot ourselves for Dethleffs, but for a brand like LMC it is mainly translating everything to the Dutch market. Still, everything we do is done in close consultation with the brands themselves. They are largely at the controls. At the same time, we use a lot of marketing tools here in the Netherlands to be able to present the brands’ wishes well in the Netherlands. So you really have to be at home in all markets. Think of press releases, newsletters, Social Media, Google Ads and of course socialPALS – everything goes through Wenda and me.
Anyway, a typical day in a nutshell: All my 14 Dutch EHG colleagues and I work from home. So I grab a cup of coffee and head to my home office upstairs. My mail often primarily determines what I do in a day. After ticking off all the tasks for the day, I start working on my creative assignments. I usually take a walk in the woods first to clear my head before that. The afternoon I usually spend creating texts and beautiful visuals. Or I create a campaign on Meta or in socialPALS. In between, there are always a few team meetings planned, with the different brands. So nice and varied days!
The Erwin Hymer Group in Germany has been working with socialPALS for a few years now, what made you decide to use the platform for your campaign work?
In the Netherlands, we were looking for a marketing tool with which we could better support our dealers. The Erwin Hymer Group’s successful collaboration with socialPALS in Germany demonstrated its effectiveness in engaging a local audience while maintaining brand consistency. The platform’s user-friendly interface and the ability to localise content in different regions played an important role in our decision. Moreover, socialPALS offers valuable addition in supporting our dealers. It was a clear choice to use a proven tool that supports both flexibility and targeted communication.

What advantages has socialPALS brought you in terms of time savings and efficiency, especially when managing campaigns for multiple brands?
Using socialPALS has significantly improved our time management and efficiency, especially when coordinating campaigns for multiple brands. The platform allows us to centralise and streamline our campaign workflows, making it easier to manage content for different dealers. We save time with the platform as we can easily plan, automate and localise content. Overall, socialPALS has made our processes more efficient, allowing us to focus on creative work and strategic planning. That’s very nice.
You adapt centrally created campaigns for the Dutch market. Could you describe how this process works for you? What adjustments do you usually make?
When adapting centrally created campaigns for the Dutch market, we focus on localisation to ensure relevance and resonance with our audience. This process includes translating content, adapting the message to local preferences and including culturally appropriate visuals or examples. We also sometimes tailor offers and promotions to Dutch consumer behaviour and the market here. While the core brand identity remains consistent, these adjustments ensure that our campaigns connect more effectively with Dutch audiences.
How does socialPALS help you ensure that the brand identity (CI) remains consistent across all campaigns, even when they are tailored for different countries?
socialPALS helps us in this by allowing us to run the same campaign for all dealers, with the right brand identity. The writing style, colours, logos and message is the same at every dealer, so there is no contamination for the brand. Without this centrally managed approach, this would be much more difficult for us. Then you would spend a lot more time checking all dealers’ Socials. Every dealer has the freedom to fill his or her social by themselves, and with their own identity. But the identity of the brands must always be maintained.
How do the dealers in the Netherlands respond to the campaigns you provide through socialPALS? What feedback do you receive from them?
They did have to get very used to it in the beginning. Many were even very suspicious of it. It was sometimes really quite a hurdle for them to create an account and simply accept the campaigns. We are still not quite there, but by now most dealers have changed their minds. Above all, they now see the benefits. Moreover, they regularly get a marketing budget for placing regional ads. That always helps! We only often still get the feedback that they find it inconvenient that the socialPALS helpdesk helps them in English or German, and not in Dutch. But we usually find a solution for that too.
Are there any specific successes or examples that demonstrate how using socialPALS has made the dealers' work easier?
In the Netherlands, we have only really been working with socialPALS for about a year. So we are still trying it out. But with the Bürstner brand, we see that all dealers are now participating. They have been working with socialPALS the longest. For that brand we run a month-long special action month twice a year, which should really draw people to the dealer. For such an action, this platform is perfect, because the dealer really has to rely on his or her own environment for this action.
What specific successes have you achieved so far with the campaigns you've implemented through socialPALS? Are there any figures or milestones you can share?
I cannot give a nice answer to that. Indirectly, perhaps, there has been better cooperation in Europe with the brands. A campaign is regularly created by a brand headquarters, which is then copied for all member countries in which that brand supplies and has dealers. So there is also more communication between countries and therefore, in turn, more knowledge and understanding. I do think that is a success for the Erwin Hymer Group itself.
In what ways do you think socialPALS has changed the way you conduct marketing for your all your responsible brands?
Marketing can now be used much more locally. When you create a campaign in META or in Google Ads, it can be done, but it is cumbersome and cumbersome. Now you give dealers something, which they can personalise when needed and distribute in their own circle. And you really ‘give’ something to your dealers. What you give them is almost tangible and instantly accessible. That pays back in trust and enthusiasm from the dealer. And that’s always a win.
What advice would you give to other managers in other countries who want to use socialPALS for their own campaigns?
Use socialPALS to collaborate too! With other countries, but also with dealers – or for those who use the content you prepare in SocialPALS. Marketing Managers can learn from each other, by watching how the other does it.
How do you see the future development of socialPALS in your company? What additional features or improvements would you like to see?
I do see it happening that there will be a small team of socialPALS in the Netherlands. If there are enough users in this country, that is hopefully in the cards. Although I am happy and comfortable working with my contacts in Germany, it would be an added value for our dealers. And I would like a slightly more user-friendly way of posting texts. I hope there is a development in that too.
Maybe even a writing assistant (AI), so you can write your texts directly in socialPALS?
Are there any aspects of the platform that you would particularly highlight, which might be of interest to other markets?
This brings me back to working together. You can see what others Erwin Hymer Group marketeers are doing. I really like that.
Voices from the Trade:

Thanks to Socialpals we can easily use campaigns for our camper brand HYMER. The connection to our social media accounts was easy to make and the support from Socialpals is excellent. The plattform has a professional look, while it costs us little time and effort.
John Lammers
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