East of England England Co-op

The East of England Co-op is more than just a regional supermarket, it’s also a community-led co-operative with services that reach into everyday local life. The retailer needed a printed magazine to reinforce the Co-op difference while still doing the day job: driving footfall, spend and engagement through clear, seasonal retail messaging to its members and customers.

Dialogue created Your East of England Co-op Magazine – a bright, bold member publication designed to do two things at once: carry clear retail messaging and tell the bigger story of a local co-op built on community as much as commerce.

We treated the magazine as a storytelling platform, not a leaflet. That meant an editorial identity members would actually spend time with: confident design, a warm local tone of voice and content that balanced practical value (offers, seasonal prompts, vouchers) with pride-of-place stories that reinforced what makes East of England Co-op different.

The magazine was distributed across the East of England Co-op stores, helping connect the brand to customers at the point of sale. It was also mailed to homes, providing brand messaging and retail discounts that encouraged in store visits.

The remit

Design
Editorial
Art Direction
Photography
Advertising

Storytelling highlights

From our regular Meet the Producer features (spotlighting young local makers – like an Ipswich smallholder turning home-grown fruit into ice cream) to community-led pieces celebrating volunteers and charities supported by the Co-op, the editorial always kept things grounded in real lives and real places. We marked ten years of Sourced Locally with a bespoke illustration and a round-up of the local heroes behind the initiative and made space for projects like Men in Sheds – a brilliant example of community connection in action.

The magazine experience mattered, too: it was printed on a sustainable uncoated paper stock for tactility and eco-credentials that align with the brand, plus the back cover featured money-off vouchers – a practical reward that supported in-store purchase.

This work sits in the sweet spot between brand and retail: helping the East of England Co-op differentiate, build membership value and support trading through editorial craft. The magazine was designed around clear drivers – sustaining engagement with members, keeping the brand’s local community purpose visible and giving customers practical reasons to visit and buy.