In December 2023, Maison Moderne will celebrate its 30th anniversary. What were you doing in December 1993?

Mélanie De Lima: It's hard to remember... I was barely 4 years old! My two sisters and I grew up with Portuguese parents, respecting the richness of cultural diversity, which helped us to be open-minded. These are values that I find very much here in Luxembourg.

What article, magazine cover or event at Maison Moderne has marked you and why?

I remember perfectly the Maison Moderne Show in 2015. At the time, I had just arrived in Luxembourg after my professional experience in the communication sector in France. I was impressed by the power of the Maison Moderne eco-system and the complementarity of the different media. The event challenged marketing as a strategic element integrated into corporate policies. Maison Moderne's position as a publishing house, adopting a critical approach to its own business and focusing on its client-advertisers by questioning their needs, pleasantly surprised me.

Are you more digital or print oriented in your media consumption?

The Marketing Manager will tell you both of course! They complement each other well, depending on the needs, the messages, the targets... But as a book lover, I have to admit that I prefer paper. The immediacy and flexibility of digital are great and necessary in my job and for our fast-paced society, but paper has the magic of forcing us to pause. You don't scroll through pages like you do on a screen. When I read a magazine or a book, time is suspended for a few minutes or a few hours and I concentrate more on the words, their nuances, their subtleties.

What does your office look like, and what does it say about you?

I work in an open space, with part of the sales team dedicated to professional property transactions. It's a dynamic and lively place. Coming from outside the real estate sector, this working environment helped me to immerse myself in the language and codes specific to this environment. Between my cup of coffee, stacks of magazines that I promise myself to consult "when I have time" and my numerous notebooks, my office itself is rather "impersonal". It doesn't really reflect my energetic personality or my affection for decoration and colour. But I like to think of it as a different space, dedicated to work, which contrasts with my private life and immerses me in another world.

What are your morning habits and rituals at work?

A coffee and off we go! In the morning, things have to go fast. I like to be launched into the dynamics of a new day. On the way to the office, I'm already thinking about my to-do list in the car. I have time to think about it, the journey has become particularly long when you go to Luxembourg City from the border

And in the evening... what project keeps you awake at night?

At the crossroads of many issues, notably economic, environmental and social, real estate is constantly evolving. It requires constant renewal and constant monitoring to find new approaches. Marketing must reflect these current concerns and support future challenges. In the current, particularly tense environment, where the market is being disrupted by inflation, rising interest rates and a shortage of materials, being creative is vital to being resilient. Fortunately, this situation does not keep me awake at night, but I must admit that it occupies a lot of my thoughts.

What is a good practice you have learned recently that you would like to share with our readers, your colleagues?

It's not a practice per se, more a personality trait, but I have always allowed myself to be curious. Questioning, researching, observing are all ways for me to better understand the environment in which I evolve, to apprehend potential opportunities, to live new experiences, while gaining knowledge and skills and, ultimately, to make the best possible decisions. It is this curiosity, this thirst for learning, that generates creativity and new ideas.

A CEO who is sensitive to communication and marketing is crucial. How would you rate your CEO's vision of the strategic role of your department?

Since the restructuring of INOWAI in 2020, the group has undergone significant changes, which have led to new impulses and thinking around the corporate strategy and, more broadly, a different view of the real estate sector.

The marketing strategy has followed - not to say carried - this renewal, and has therefore also been renewed. This was possible thanks to the trust, collaboration and open-mindedness of the members of the Management. With a CEO, Jean-Nicolas Montrieux, who is convinced that the revolution of the sector will come through its digitalisation and its ability to grasp ESG issues, dialogue is easy. He recognises the essential role of marketing in corporate strategy.

Share with us three favourite campaigns!

I have to admit that I like some (not all) of Burger King's campaigns. I'm not a fan of fast food, but I find their actions often funny and punchy. With an offbeat and provocative tone, they cleverly exploit cross-media (social networks, street marketing, etc.) with a strong digital axis, which allows them to be both close and reactive. But it is above all their commitment that I like. I'm thinking for example of a campaign in which waiters 'mistreated' burgers before serving them to customers to denounce harassment, or their ads encouraging their communities to order food from competitors to support the restaurant sector during the confinements imposed by the health crisis.

In Luxembourg, I was touched by the Ministry of Health's latest "Boobies" campaign, which raised awareness of breast cancer prevention and screening. With one in eight women affected by breast cancer, the campaign included a large-scale distribution of breast-shaped boxes of chocolates, containing eight chocolates, seven "good" ones and one "surprise". I found the idea both striking, effective and playful in tackling a subject that is still too little highlighted.

Within INOWAI, we launched the real estate magazine NOW in 2016. It is a medium that aims to be the showcase of the sector in Luxembourg. We take the temperature through market reports, we question trends with interviews with public and political figures, and we present emblematic projects that transform the country's urban landscape. Between territorial development, economy, architecture, environment and new technologies, NOW magazine is a concentrate of what is happening in Luxembourg today and for the future. Through this magazine, INOWAI actively contributes to the enhancement of the national heritage and participates in responding to the social, environmental and economic issues of the country.

You have been appointed editor-in-chief. Who will you put on the cover of the next Paperjam or Delano?

What a responsibility! And what a difficult choice! I find that magazine covers regularly feature personalities who are already known and recognised in the financial and/or political world. I would therefore turn to more discreet figures, who work in the "shadow".

I recently came across an article dedicated to Dr Bernard Thill, whom one media outlet called "the Luxembourg doctor for the poor". He is the President of Médecins du Monde, an organisation that works not only to fight poverty, but also to provide access to health care for the country's poorest citizens. The organisation deploys teams of volunteers on the streets and offers free medical consultations. While the COVID19 pandemic revealed the difficult working conditions of health professionals and plunged some families into great precariousness, I found its dedication and the work of the volunteers formidable. It is this kind of action, this kind of profile that inspires me.