The quick decision maker

 
As publishing director, Astrid Kägi wants to give the new htr hotel revue a broader foundation and attract readers. 
She knows what she wants and she also knows how to go about it. But sometimes things turn out differently. After almost six years at Le Temps, where Astrid Kägi looked after customers and sales for German-speaking Switzerland in the Zurich office, she finally wanted to take a well-deserved break after a total of 30 successful years in the publishing business. "Enjoying a nice summer" and thinking about how and where to continue in the crowning phase of her career.
The summer fell through. Not just meteorologically. "My plans were definitely different. But I simply had to accept this opportunity," explains Kägi.
The htr hotel revue wants to become more journalistic, has been given a more modern appearance and, in addition to the 40000 professionals such as hoteliers, restaurateurs and tourism managers, will in future also increasingly address their guests - and thus of course other readers. For this new positioning of the former association newspaper, the journalist Elsbeth Hobmeier from the Berner Zeitung was brought in as publication manager. In addition to this editor-in-chief with overall responsibility, CEO Christoph Juen of the publishing company Hotelleriesuisse wanted a publishing director who would make "the far-reaching change in orientation and management" visible to the outside world. In other words: Why not a duo of experienced power women for the relaunch of the somewhat dusty htr hotel revue?
A concentrated week of wellness in Austria quickly consoled Kägi for the canceled summer vacations. Instead, she traveled to Bern several times for talks, where she and Elsbeth Hobmeier were soon certain: "We want to get the job done together! After all, it's not often that a woman gets the chance to lead an old newspaper into a new future with a lot of goodwill from the publisher.
What was important for Kägi during this quick start was that she was able to find the same wavelength as the editor-in-chief straight away. "When two people join a company at the same time and have to implement radical changes, they need to trust each other. They haven't yet had any shared experience of how collaboration can work even in hectic times." Kägi is also pleased that so far all employees, both in the publishing house and in the editorial department, have been willing to accept the new management with its fresh ideas "and are visibly enjoying the new product".
The content and journalistic focus of htr hotel revue will not be fundamentally changed, but will be deepened and expanded. In a first bundle, current political aspects from the world of tourism will be reported on. Ecological topics or developments in organic cuisine, for example, will appeal not only to restaurateurs but also to a broader readership. In a second "Focus" section, complex topics are presented in comprehensive dossiers. In a new "Dolce Vita" section, the world of lifestyle, previously neglected in htr hotel revue, is brought to life. "Here we also want to look beyond Switzerland's borders and ask: How do other tourism regions do it?"
Tourism is an interesting industry, economically and politically significant for many, and "because everyone likes to read about trendy wellness ideas, new sports opportunities or elegant restaurants", Kägi is confident that she will find new readers and therefore also advertisers for her part of the work.
For the time being, Kägi is working with three office staff and two field staff. This makes her feel more part of a team again than at Le Temps, where she did everything on her own in Zurich. "I liked the newspaper, but I would have had to move to French-speaking Switzerland for new career opportunities." But Astrid Kägi is passionate about Zurich.
She wanted to move to this "big city" when she was 20. Her "ambitious goal" at the time, with her commercial diploma in hand, was to simply get away from St. Gallen, where her parents ran a bakery and a café. Kägi first found a job in the accounts department of a cosmetics company.
An exciting job as a commercial clerk/telephone operator at Offset- und Buchdruck AG at Jean Frey formed the basis for a career in print. At that time, Jean Frey printed Blick, published Weltwoche, Sport and Annabelle. Soon the Winterthur printing plant was also purchased - and Astrid Kägi suddenly found herself in the middle of a large media company. With the new size, a new management constellation had to be formed and, among other things, a personnel director for the entire group had to be hired.
"Perhaps my talent is realizing when an opportunity presents itself. And then having the courage to try it," says Kägi. That's how she got the job as secretary to the HR Director and "learned quite a lot" in the four years that followed. Not just about the media business, but also "how to deal with people - which also helped me later in sales".
After a brief change of industry, the woman born under the sign of Cancer was quickly drawn back to Jean Frey. First in the PR department, then as secretary to the publishing director of Bilanz and Weltwoche and finally in the advertising department for the then hugely successful free newspaper Züri Leu.
Kägi will never forget the job change. "On Friday, I moved from the fourth to the second floor. I was very motivated to be able to start in the advertising department on Monday. Then on Tuesday I had to read in the NZZ that Züri Leu had been sold to Tages-Anzeiger." The rest of the story is well known. Beat Curti, Walter Frei, Jürg Müggenburg and Karl Lüönd as publishers launched Züri Woche seamlessly after the end of the Leu. The new paper was launched in just one month. The team also included Astrid Kägi, who was taken on by publisher and editor-in-chief Karl Lüönd as "editorial secretary for everything".
In the 18 years that followed, Kägi went through all stages of the newspaper business. Always with Karl Lüönd as his boss and "formative figure". Kägi also built up marketing and PR within the editorial secretariat, had to visit many customers, look after the readers' side, organize 20 readers' trips per year, for example several times to China. With the growing success, reader marketing had to be transferred to a separate PR, marketing and advertising department. Kägi recalls how the newspaper organized a charity concert with Placido Domingo within just three weeks. Another project was the free encyclopedia "Who is who in Zurich".
After Züri Woche was discontinued, she worked briefly in the gastro-fashion sector and looked after the rock lady Betty Legler and her loft concerts. Until once again the media beckoned. Kägi took over the publishing management of Boom, a magazine for young entrepreneurs, from Thomas Sterchi until she took over the Zurich office of Le Temps six years ago.
With the htr hotel revue, she is now "returning to a blue title". And Kägi has had the best time of her professional life so far with blue titles.
Andreas Panzeri