Die Papier
Client: Die Papier and Novus Media
Period: 2026
Publishing
01 — The sneak-peek
The paper that came back
As Afrikaans community titles were folding, Novus Media backed a new weekly. BBA Liminal created its brand — the masthead, the identity and the reason it exists — and drove the campaign that carried Die Papier onto the shelf and into readers' hands.
02 — The liminal moment
For years South Africa's Afrikaans print had been thinning, as titles closed and readers drifted online. Print looked like a receding tide. Novus Media chose to move against it, backing a new middle-of-the-road Afrikaans weekly, Die Papier, and putting ink on paper again.
They asked BBA Liminal to create the brand and help bring the paper to print: a masthead, an identity, and a launch that would give readers a reason to pick it up. The deeper problem sat beneath the brief. A newspaper is only worth printing if a community agrees it should exist. The work was to make the case for the paper — to readers, advertisers and partners at once — and to give a hopeful, fragile launch the confidence of something built to last.
03 — The transformation
We gave the paper its face. We cut the masthead from the Constantia letterform, tuned for trademark distinctiveness and tested until the wordmark held as clearly on a phone screen as on a broadsheet, then fixed the fonts, colour and tone in a brand guide that could carry across every touchpoint.
We built its presence before its first issue. A one-page site went live with FAQs, a subscribe button and a form to gather readers' questions, alongside new Facebook, X, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok channels. The paper had a public before it reached the shelf.
We drove the launch, then stayed. Print ads, flyers, airport stickers, an "Ontmoet die redaksie" team countdown and a bi-weekly social campaign carried the paper to its 6 March debut. On a retainer since, BBA Liminal stewards the brand, marketing and partnerships month to month.
04 — The craft
Led by the reader's question
The campaign turns on one idea: start with what the reader wants to know. Wat lesers vra — what readers ask — became the spine of the marketing: a single bold Afrikaans question running across print ads and social. It is how we drive engagement and carry the brand into the market. The masthead, cut for black ink on newsprint, works just as well on an airport sticker or a social profile picture, so every surface points back to the paper in the hand.
Editorial posts
Marketing carousel
Print ads
Die Papier Praat podcast
05 — The validation of purpose
Launched 6 March 2026
~19,000 social media followers in five months
~70% early reader satisfaction
Brand & communications strategy
Typography
Copywriting
Brand identity design
Positioning & narrative
Purpose architecture
