Around 3 full-time equivalents (financial year 2025).

Review: Zinnig

Q: What is Zinnig specialised in?

Storytelling & narrative, Content strategy & editorial, Copywriting & long-form content, Translations & localisation, SEO & GEO, Email marketing.

Q: Who are the clients of Zinnig?

Among others Atlas Copco, Trivec, Nationaal Park Bosland, UNIZO Limburg, Printcity, H.Essers, Jessa, KMSKA, Kolmont, Ebema, Febe, Stad Bilzen, Gallo-Romeins Museum, POM Limburg, Cent Pur Cent.

ZINNIG is een tekstbureau met uitvalsbasis in hartje Hasselt. Vijfkoppig en af en toe vierpotig dankzij fluffy kantoorhond Charlie. Een ervaren copywritingbureau waarin twee vennoten – Evi Maquoi en Hilde Neven – hun schrijfkrachten bundelen met een vast team en een veilig vangnet van freelance copywriters, eindredacteurs en vertalers.

ZINNIG is een tekstbureau met uitvalsbasis in hartje Hasselt. Vijfkoppig en af en toe vierpotig dankzij fluffy kantoorhond Charlie. Een ervaren copywritingbureau waarin twee vennoten – Evi Maquoi en Hilde Neven – hun schrijfkrachten bundelen met een vast team en een veilig vangnet van freelance copywriters, eindredacteurs en vertalers. Yes, please. Merci!
Onze zinspelers gaan voor niets minder dan teksten (in het Nederlands, Frans en Engels) die tot in de kleinste komma’s en punten kloppen. Die er knal op zitten. Die vlammen, vuren en veroveren. Dagelijks grasduinen we in taaluithoeken om de juiste woorden te vinden. Voor een baseline, blog, persbericht, speech, webtekst, interview, magazine, socialmediapost, jaarverslag, vacaturetekst, videoscript …

2 paar ogen, 2 paar handen
Al van voor het een modewoord werd, waren we hevige fans van cocreatie: hoe meer ogen een tekst hebben gezien, hoe beter die wordt. Onze filosofie: ‘2 paar ogen, 2 paar handen’. Elke tekst wordt ondergedompeld in de deskundigheid van minimaal twee copywriters voor die in jouw mailbox belandt. Nog een troef? De continuïteit die we verzekeren. Bij ZINNIG ben je niet afhankelijk van één iemand. Onvoorziene omstandigheden strooien nooit roet in je project.

ZINNIGe werkwijze
Betrek je ons van in het begin? Dan maken we een sprongetje. We doen niets liever dan meedenken, ideeën kaatsen en op onderzoek trekken. Met respect voor de klant en de doelgroep. Overgoten met een talige liefde voor sterke verhalen. Want we weten het: tekst, da’s altijd mét gevoel. En met creatieve, rake en heldere boodschappen. Vlotte doorlooptijden en strakke deadlines? Uiteraard. Inclusief heldere communicatie voor een we-toveren-een-lach-op-je-gezicht-look. Tevreden klanten werken aanstekelijk. Én inspirerend.

Schrijven is schrappen. Pingpongen. Alle ballen in de lucht houden. Maar schrijven is vooral op zoek gaan naar de essentie. Om te blijven boeien, van kopregel tot voetnoot.

Copywriting & vertalingen
Nederlands, Frans, Engels
Online (blogs, some, SEO/GEO webcopy, cases, vacatures, whitepapers ...)
Offline (magazines, brochures, affiches, flyers ...)
Creatief (baselines, speeches, voice-overs ...)
Strategisch (beleidsnota's, jaarverslagen, corporate copy)

1

How this agency makes money

Revenue, margin and what an hour of work brings in. Everything on the earning side sits together here.

Revenue trendgross margin per financial year

20212022202320242025

Latest year: € 190.540 gross margin, growth +11,8% against a sector median of -14,9%.

At or above sector pace

MarginEBITDA / gross margin · value-added coverage

20212022202320242025

ZinnigSector median

EBITDA margin 32,5%, sector median 20,9%. Value-added coverage 1,49 (median 1,21).

Healthy margin

Revenue per headGross margin per FTE, against payroll cost

€ 68.050

Median (2025) € 69.584

Against a payroll cost of € 45.440 per FTE. The ratio between the two is the coverage rate above.

Around the median

Yield levelYield per hour worked, against payroll cost

€ 40

Median (2025) € 47

4.824 hours worked, 1.723 per FTE. Against that sits € 26 of payroll cost per hour worked, leaving € 13 for premises, equipment, depreciation and profit.

Below the median

No hourly rate follows from this. Gross margin is already net of services and sundry goods, which mixes rebilled production with the agency's own overhead, and the accounts do not say how many hours were billable. Deriving a rate from this systematically understates it.

2

Can the agency take a hit

Buffer, cash position and payment behaviour side by side, so you can see where they disagree.

Bufferequity in months of payroll

Buffer: 9,5 months (median 6,7 mo). Equity in the latest year: € 100.708.

Adequate buffer

Cash positionAvailable cash, and whether it covers short-term debt

Cash € 116.045. Liquidity ratio 2,03: current assets cover short-term debt in full. Solvency 46,8%.

Amply covered

Payment behaviourTowards suppliers and towards the NBB

Trade payables correspond to 21 days of supplier credit, sector median 78. The accounts were filed 208 days after closing; the legal deadline is seven months.

Pays and files on time

3

Signals and strengths

Events from the CBE and the Official Gazette over the past 24 months, plus positive markers derived from the figures.

Continuity

No serious signals

Signals in the last 24 months

Registered office moved · 12 Feb 2025 · Staatsblad
The registered office relocated. Usually just a new office.

Click a signal for a plain-language explanation. Each signal is a fact from a public source, without the agency's own context. Best to ask them directly.

What this agency does well

Gross margin grew 4 years in a row
Outgrew the sector median 4 years running
EBITDA margin above the sector median (32,5%)
Profitable in every one of the last 5 years
Strong buffer: 9,5 months of payroll in equity
Value-added per euro of payroll above the sector median (1,49)
Healthy working capital (current ratio 2,03)
Equity was earned, not injected (reserves 15,2× the capital contributed)
Comfortable cash position: 333 days of payroll
Turnover below the median (35,7%)

Each point is a fact from the filed annual accounts, measured against the same thresholds and sector medians as the signals above.

4

All the figures

Reference material, not a starting point. Expand it if you want to read the series yourself.

5 financial years, 2021 to 2025Result, staff and balance sheet

	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
Result
Gross margin	€ 66.310	€ 112.491+69,6%	€ 163.870+45,7%	€ 170.397+4%	€ 190.540+11,8%
EBITDA	€ 46.948	€ 52.556	€ 2.218	€ 41.773	€ 61.874
EBITDA margin	70,8%	46,7%	1,4%	24,5%	32,5%
Staff
FTE	0,5	1,7+240%	3,2+88,2%	-	2,8
Gross margin per FTE	€ 132.620	€ 66.171	€ 51.210	-	€ 68.050
Payroll cost per FTE	€ 37.905	€ 34.328	€ 49.977	-	€ 45.440
Balance sheet
Equity	€ 81.136	€ 83.480	€ 83.516	€ 88.368	€ 100.708
Cash	€ 74.552	€ 79.423	€ 30.783	€ 64.052	€ 116.045
Liquidity ratio	2,37	2,48	2,96	2,05	2,03

Payroll cost per FTE comes from the social report where available, otherwise from the Remuneration line. Both are gross costs including employer contributions.

What this factsheet does not know

How good the work is. Figures do not measure creativity, strategy or chemistry.
How the client portfolio is spread. Concentration is not in the accounts.
Freelancers and subcontractors are not in the FTE figures. An agency with 40 staff may in practice run with 70 people.
The figures cover financial year 2025, filed on 27/07/2026. At a fast-moving agency reality today may differ.

Based on publicly filed annual accounts (NBB) and official records (CBE, Belgian Official Gazette). An indication, not financial advice. Sector medians calculated on 2 Nov 2026. Sector medians based on financial year 2025: the last year for which nearly all accounts have been filed.

What the agency actually does 8 services

Branding & Design

Storytelling & narrative

Content & Production

Content strategy & editorial Copywriting & long-form content Translations & localisation

Digital Experience & Tech

SEO & GEO

CRM, Email & Loyalty

Email marketing

PR & Reputation

Corporate communication

Employer Brand & Internal

Recruitment campaigns

Sector focus

B2B servicesPublic sector & governmentMedia & entertainmentReal estate & constructionHealth & pharma

Publicly known clients

Atlas Copco, Trivec, Nationaal Park Bosland, UNIZO Limburg, Printcity, H.Essers, Jessa, KMSKA, Kolmont, Ebema, Febe, Stad Bilzen, Gallo-Romeins Museum, POM Limburg, Cent Pur Cent

Based on IKAg research and public sources. Incomplete or outdated? Let us know.

1

People 6 people mapped

The heart of this team is creative: 3 of 6 profiles are makers. A specialist, not a generalist: the expertise is narrow but deep.

EM

Evi Maquoi

Zinnig zaakvoerder

HN

Hilde Neven

Zinnig zaakvoerder

2F

20-tal freelancers

copywriting & vertalingen

AV

Astrid Vanlingen

Junior copywriter

JV

Jolien Vanhoof

Copywriter & redacteur

SV

Saskia Vancoppenolle

Copywriter & eindredacteur

Based on public profiles. Something wrong? Let us know.

2

Seniors or juniors?

Payroll cost per FTE is the best public proxy for a team's experience level. Higher is not automatically better, but it says something about who sits at the table.

Payroll cost per FTE

€ 45.440

-21% versus the median

Team composition

2,8 FTE

€ 45.440

Median Contentbureau (2025) € 57.167All agencies (2025) € 62.294

Read with care. Directors and partners invoicing through a management company are not in the payroll cost. At small agencies this skews the picture downwards considerably.

3

Will your team stay?

Inflow and outflow from the social report. This series only counts people on the payroll: freelancers who invoice do not appear in it. A low figure therefore means two very different things, a stable permanent team or a small core with heavy outsourcing. A high figure usually points to short contracts. Compare only within the same type of agency.

Exits 2025

35,7%

Median for this type of agency (2025): 43,9%

Inflow 2025

35,7%

1,0 FTE in, 1,0 FTE out

Net team change

0,0 FTE

2021202220232025

Source: annual accounts and social reports (NBB), collected by IKAg. Financial year 2025. Calculations by IKAg; an indication, not financial advice. Sector medians based on financial year 2025: the last year for which nearly all accounts have been filed.