How it all started
On 4 December 1924, founder Martien Jonkers was born in Helmond, the Netherlands. In 1945, at the age of 21, Martien started his own business. With Jonkers’ Handelsonderneming (commercial enterprise) he laid the foundation of our organisation. He was one of the first people to introduce pens imprinted with advertisements, named Clipper, to the Dutch (and European) market.
The 60s
Martien's ambitions quickly extended beyond the Dutch borders. In 1961, he decided to found IGO: Internationale Geschenken Organisatie. With IGO, he focused on providing promotional gifts to businesses, foundations, institutions, and government entities.
In the years that followed, Martien discovered the innovative concept of "direct marketing." This brought about a significant change: personal sales were replaced with sales through catalogues. As a result, IGO transformed into IGO-POST: the International Gifts Organization via postal delivery!
The 80s and 90s
In the 1980s, IGO-POST took its first steps towards internationalization with the establishment of a location in Belgium. This expansion continued in the 1990s with the opening of a location in France. This international growth continued with the opening of sales offices in England, Germany, Denmark and Austria. From these locations we served markets in Luxembourg, Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Ireland, Norway, Finland and Sweden.
After several relocations, the headquarters found its permanent home at the Haverdijk in Helmond in 1992—the city where our story began.
In memoriam
Until the end of his eventful life, Martien still worked diligently at the Helmond office every day, determined to get the best out of the organisation. On 22 June 2007, he died at the age of 82. Besides a wonderful, thriving international business, he left a lasting impression as a human being above all - because of who he was and what he meant to others.
Expansion of 10,000 m2
In 2015, our logistics centre expanded by an impressive 10,000 square meters. This allowed us to significantly increase our production capacity and prepare for the future. With the rapid advancements in printing technology and the additional storage space in our warehouse, we are perfectly positioned to achieve further growth.
Brand developments
Due to our growth and ongoing developments as a company, the name IGO-POST was no longer suitable. Therefore, in 2017, we changed our name to Plato Group B.V. That same year, we also took an important step by acquiring a majority stake in Compacon B.V., bringing Compacon into the Plato Group. Since then, the brands Clipper Interall, Compacon, and IGO have all operated under the Plato Group umbrella.
Acquisitions
In June 2020, Plato Group further expanded its Compacon brand by acquiring the operations of Supremia B.V. in the Netherlands. This was followed in August by Compacon Germany, which continued the operations of Supremia GmbH in Germany.
In December 2021, Clipper acquired Interall Group, a specialist in sustainable and circular promotional products. This acquisition enabled Clipper and Plato Group to work together to make the promotional industry greener and create greater impact. With the integration of Interall, Clipper changed its name to Clipper Interall in 2023.