Bio
Erwin van der Zande (1971) is an editor slash concepter slash copywriter aka all-round contentmeister. He really digs new media, popular culture, and, well, basically everything in between.
Starting out writing for lifestyle magazines Erwin switched to the internet in 1994. He launched e-Wave, the first Dutch electronic newsletter covering the online world. He continued his reporting at Planet Internet as the sole editor of Shift for two years. Early 1998 his netzine made national headlines offering music downloads for free legally. Erwin went on to co-found BitMagic with Michiel Frackers and Francisco van Jole among others. At the time of his departure in the fall of 2000 the netcaster had 250,000 subscribers in 170 countries. A year later he teamed up with publisher Frank Bierens to create teenage we-zine Spunk, which partnered with NRC Handelsblad in 2003, Vassallucci in 2004, and was a launching pad for succesful young writers such as Renske de Greef.
Around the turn of the millennium Erwin was a creative duo with Edo Schoonbeek for a few years. They specialised in online productions, both editorial and commercial. Among their projects were the one-page website of the Volkskrant section Dag in Dag uit which led to a booklet called Hey, da’s mijn mok!, a viral website for the Dutch Postbank called Langzaldielenen.nl, and the editorial content at the late e-cards network Grapes which excelled in short format media. Edo is currently part of Buro Renkema.
Individually Erwin is or was a columnist for WebWereld, @Home, Dzone, DAG and Villamedia, and a contributor to newspaper De Volkskrant, webportal Planet Internet, and magazines like Emerce, Carp, Torch, PC Zone, Blvd., Net, and De Journalist. Here you’ll find a small archive of some of his articles, they’re all in Dutch though. He also wrote creative copy for bureaus and studios such as Submarine, Draft, Allegro, and Tribal DDB. As writer he contributed to Geek Chic the Ultimate Guide to Geek Culture which was published in June 2005. As juror he has been a chairman at the ADCN Reclame Jaarprijzen, and a member at the Dutch Bloggies, the Spin Awards celebrating creativity in interactive communication, the Hacking Ikea competition by Platform 21, and most recent at Upload Cinema.
Nowadays Erwin is editor-in-chief of Bright, a crossmedia media brand covering digital lifestyle. Its bi-monthly magazine he co-founded with publisher Oscar Kneppers was first published in February 2005 and is distributed in the Netherlands and Belgium. Its award-winning daily news site Bright.nl, video site Bright.tv and mobile apps combined generate two million pageviews per month. Next to future fest BrightLive Erwin initiated the bi-monthly event Bright Night in 2009. Bright syndicates its content to Nu.nl, BNR Nieuwsradio, BNN, AT5, and several other media. In June 2008 Dutch publishing house NDC|VBK acquired a majority stake in Bright’s publisher TechMedia. In April 2009 Bright was licensed to Veen Magazines, also a member of the NDC|VBK group.
After appearing as ‘techlifestyle’ expert at the tv show RTL Boulevard for a brief period in the fall of 2007 Erwin starred in In the Ban van het Ding, a weekly 8-episode Dutch tv show which gave viewers a glimpse of cutting edge technology on its way into their lives. The show was broadcasted nationwide by the VPRO between December 2007 and February 2008 and was produced by Dahl TV and Bright. In 2009 Erwin appeared weekly on Amsterdam’s local tv station AT5 in its news show Amsterdam Inc..
Both in 2008 and in 2009 Erwin was nominated for the Mercur Editor-in-chief of the Year by the Nederlands Uitgeversverbond, the highest award in the Dutch magazine industry.
As a side project Erwin started Screenzine in September 2009, together with artdirector Luis Mendo and the Goodfellas Network. The aim of the project is to upgrade digital magazines to the next level. Follow their progress at www.screenzine.com.
For kicks he occasionally acted in commercials of which the one for Unox is most renown. He lives in Amsterdam together with graphic designer Yke Bartels, their daughter Eve and two Norwegian forest cats. They love to go on a trip.
