PRINTNEWSPAPER
Internal Communication: Gamification, Podcasts… What If the Real Revolution Was Print?
News room
In an era of all digital, nonstop Slack notifications, and newsletters that end up in spam, internal communication faces a major challenge: the battle for attention. While gamification and podcasts are gaining ground, a deeper trend is emerging to rebuild connection and tangibility: the return of the printed internal newspaper. More than a medium, it becomes a symbol of belonging, able to unite headquarters teams and field teams alike.
You no longer just broadcast information, you shape the employee experience. Whether working remotely, in the office, or on job sites, employees are overloaded with screens. While digital tools (intranets, corporate social networks) deliver speed, they often fall short in two crucial areas: emotion and retention.
That gap is where new formats thrive. Podcasts let people hear leadership voices, and gamification makes learning more engaging, but the printed corporate newspaper is returning strongly to meet the need for disconnection. It offers a different kind of reading time: deliberate, high quality, and away from the constant stream of notifications.
Today, the big challenge for companies is hybrid work and diverse roles. How do you unite office based staff and field technicians who do not have computer access all day?
A printed newspaper is the only truly inclusive answer. It bridges the internal digital divide. Handing out a real newspaper sends a clear signal: This information matters, it deserves to be printed and put in your hands. To showcase major projects, celebrate collective wins, or explain strategic vision, paper delivers unmatched prominence. It makes projects tangible. Seeing your own photo or your team printed on a physical medium recognizes employees far more than an ephemeral post on an internal social feed.
For an internal newspaper to be read, it has to be designed like a real publication. Forget heavy institutional reports, make room for storytelling. The goal is to tell the company story the way you would tell an adventure:
The newspaper then becomes an anticipated rendezvous, an object people are proud to take home or leave on a desk corner. It is a company culture tool that stays, where digital content evaporates.
One objection comes up often: is printing eco friendly? Paradoxically, yes. As part of a broader CSR approach, the printed internal newspaper compares well against the invisible pollution of digital (data storage, heavy emails, video streaming). A newspaper printed on recycled paper from sustainably managed forests is a finished object. Once read, it can be recycled. It does not consume energy to be accessed, unlike an intranet that relies on always on servers. Choosing paper is also choosing more sober, more mindful communication.
For a long time, producing an internal newspaper was seen as complex and expensive. That barrier has now been removed. The trend is agility: today, solutions make it surprisingly easy to create and print a newspaper online, with professional newsstand level results.
This accessibility lets communication teams take back control of their narrative. Whether it is a monthly, a quarterly, or a special event edition, the gazette or tabloid format delivers an authentic vintage feel that is so appealing today.
In short, internal communication is not built only on screens. To engage, move, and unite people over time, companies should be bold enough to invest in paper again. In a virtual era, nothing beats proof through the object.