The balance sheet remains good

 
Business press The Swiss business magazine Bilanz improves its layout and page architecture. The recipe for success remains unchanged.  
The relaunch of Switzerland's largest business title Bilanz, scheduled for May 23, is not a revolution. With subtle adjustments to the signs of the times, with a revised paper architecture, with new sections and new journalistic vessels, the successful title wants to set off into the next decade. The relaunch at Bilanz is primarily a visual matter. The core competence must not be touched. "People want to see stories and interviews with the top shots in the Swiss economy and read well-researched stories," says Editor-in-Chief Dirk Schütz. So far, the quality of the paper is already at 80 percent. With the relaunch, Schütz and his crew want to reach the 100 percent mark, and Wernie Baumeler, the new art director responsible for the new look, has joined Bilanz. The creators have opted for an in-house solution. This guarantees continuous support. The elegant look of the glossy magazine has been retained, but the dramaturgy of the new Bilanz has been improved and is more varied, modern and fresh.
"We want to strengthen the balance sheet as a brand," says Schütz. Even the front page of the magazine makes it clear what it is all about: more flexibility. The title lettering has been significantly enlarged and the restrictive graphic grid has been broken up. The cover image has been freed up and the content references can be freely positioned. This creates more dynamism.
New page structureThe main feature of the gentle change, which has already been perceived by test readers here and there as a striking intervention in the previous appearance of the paper, is the change in the page structure. Previously, there was the Top Stories section, which featured a wide variety of stories. "In recent years, Bilanz has increasingly had the reputation in the industry of having moved away from business and more towards lifestyle," says Dirk Schütz. Schütz blames the accentuation in the previous magazine structure for this. The main aim of the redesign is therefore to break up this block in the middle and introduce the new "Luxury" section. "In my opinion, a business magazine has to ask what the economy actually does, and that's the companies," says Schütz. The new Bilanz therefore has its own corporate section, where you can see what role companies play. They have always played a role, but until now you had to search for them in the paper. The paper is thus further expanding its reporting on international and Swiss companies.
The "Trends" section is also new, covering economic policy, the economy and careers, which Schütz sees as a kind of mixed department. The "Invest" section has been slightly expanded and the previous "Savoir vivre" has been renamed "Luxury", which deals with lifestyle topics.
The proportions have also changed somewhat in terms of content: more investment topics, while start-ups are covered as before. There are also new, smaller sections, such as a double-page Society with business events. This was previously missing, says Schütz.
To structure the magazine, the sections have their own opening pages with short reading material, "because people always like to read short texts". This is followed by the story section, which is then lavishly laid out. "The clear structure will make Bilanz feel more like a business magazine again," Dirk Schütz is convinced.
René Worni
 
 
 
Number one among the top leadersAt the end of 2007, Bilanz celebrated its 30th anniversary
. Today, the paper has a certified circulation of 38,660 copies with 223,000 readers, making it the most widely read publication in the Swiss business press. Among the top leaders, Bilanz is number one. 30 percent of Swiss business leaders read the paper. Over 50 percent of readers have a high level of education and 44 percent have a gross monthly household income of more than CHF 10,000. Bilanz has been published fortnightly since 2007. (red)