Discounts for subscribers
Press: Under pressure from the rising free press, subscribers to established newspapers are supposed to forget, as much as possible, that their subscription costs money.
Press Under pressure from the up-and-coming free press, subscribers to traditional newspapers should forget that their subscription costs something if at all possible The appearance of another national free newspaper in the media triangle of Basel, Berne, Zurich and the cities of St. Gallen and Lucerne next September is causing quite a stir in the print media industry. Just one week after the official media information from .ch publisher Sacha Wigdorovits, the commuter paper 20 Minuten, which is under direct attack from the newcomer, has increased its circulation to 550,000 copies, and at Tamedia, publishing director (and ex-Mister 20 Minuten) Rolf Bollmann is working on a Tagi light, which - it can be assumed - will be distributed to the public free of charge. This means that as early as this fall, together with Ringier's free titles Cash Daily and Heute, there may be five free newspapers vying for readers and advertisers on the market.
Cumulus card for subscribers It remains to be seen whether the public will also appreciate the boost from the free press, as well as whether this will further strengthen their expectation that journalistic content should be free per se. This is apparently the conclusion drawn in Bern by BZ Verlag (which is part of the Espace Media Groupe and publishes the Berner Zeitung, among others) with a new reader loyalty tool. Lorenz Brügger, the head of reader market at Espace, does not want to know anything about this: "The free newspapers were not the trigger." But the timing for the launch of the "Espace Card", a kind of Cumulus card for subscribers to Espace titles, could not be more appropriate. However, this is also linked to the Swiss market entry of the responsible German software company, with BZ Verlag being the first to use this card system, says Espace spokesperson Christopher Wehrli.
Specifically, BZ Verlag wants to use this electronically readable card in credit card format to strengthen the loyalty of readers of its subscription newspapers, such as the Bund and Berner Zeitung, by offering them added value. The principle is a kind of carousel. With the card, subscribers receive discounts in selected Bernese stores. These in turn are advertisers in the Espace titles.
It is hoped that the discounts on the products will attract some of the readership to the stores as additional customers. Customers can then offset the accumulated percentages against their newspaper subscription or have the amount transferred to their account. In times of the booming free press, subscribers should forget that their favorite paper costs a pretty penny in comparison. It will soon behave like a free newspaper itself. Lorenz Brügger prefers the positive formulation and clearly emphasizes the added value for the readership: "Thanks to my newspaper, I have many advantages."
Brügger does not yet want to say anything about the details. However, it is clear to him that new ways of dealing with subscribers have become necessary. Over the past four to six years, the pressure in the reader and advertising market has increased massively and the "shelf life" of customers has steadily decreased. The publisher therefore introduced its own customer relationship management system last year. Brügger sees the Espace Card as a further development of this, whereby advertising customers are also integrated into the relationship network. "It's about offers for the advertising market as well as the reader market." The project is obviously of great importance within the BZ publishing house, with all departments involved. It is quite likely that the publisher will distribute the cards to all its subscribers as early as this fall.
At Tamedia, which recently became the new owner of Espace Media Groupe, such reader retention tools would hardly make sense, according to media spokesman Christoph Zimmer. "Because many of our titles have a national focus." Some of them have their own offers, such as the Tages-Anzeiger with its long-standing Carte Blanche for discounts in the cultural sector.
René Worni
City paper in partnership subscription
Added value models
such as those currently being devised by BZ Verlag in Berne, have long been known. The busy Vorarlberg publisher Eugen A. Russ is regarded as a pioneer, with readers of his Vorarlberger Nachrichten enjoying a whole range of benefits, from a preferential NZZ subscription to insurance policies. At one time, it even included discounted electricity.
Guido Blumer also
The courageous publisher of the Winterthur Stadtblatt and chairman of the publishers' association, was inspired by Russ. Blumer is following two trends with his Stadtblatt. On the one hand, in line with the imminent movements of the regional Sunday press, he has shifted the publication frequency to reading Sundays and transformed his title into a (Blumer: "reflective") free weekly newspaper, where 5 editors and 40 freelancers fill a paper that sees itself as a deliberately leadless thing between a book and a newspaper. On the other hand, Blumer is introducing a voluntary subscription for 100 francs per year.
In contrast to BZ Verlag
in Bern, the subscription cards are signed by Blumer himself. "I'm a print fanatic." With this so-called partnership subscription, its owners currently receive discounts of 3 to 35 percent in 27 stores in Winterthur. Of course, the retailers are also advertisers in Blumer's magazine, which brings us full circle. From January 6, 2008, he will distribute his flagship publication to all households in Winterthur and have it marketed by Kretz AG in Feldmeilen. How many partnership subscriptions he has already taken out remains his secret for the time being. What is certain, however, is that the Winterthur trade is very interested in his model. Blumer is convinced of his idea, and if it were possible, he would also be selling green electricity with his city paper tomorrow. (rw)
Cumulus card for subscribers It remains to be seen whether the public will also appreciate the boost from the free press, as well as whether this will further strengthen their expectation that journalistic content should be free per se. This is apparently the conclusion drawn in Bern by BZ Verlag (which is part of the Espace Media Groupe and publishes the Berner Zeitung, among others) with a new reader loyalty tool. Lorenz Brügger, the head of reader market at Espace, does not want to know anything about this: "The free newspapers were not the trigger." But the timing for the launch of the "Espace Card", a kind of Cumulus card for subscribers to Espace titles, could not be more appropriate. However, this is also linked to the Swiss market entry of the responsible German software company, with BZ Verlag being the first to use this card system, says Espace spokesperson Christopher Wehrli.
Specifically, BZ Verlag wants to use this electronically readable card in credit card format to strengthen the loyalty of readers of its subscription newspapers, such as the Bund and Berner Zeitung, by offering them added value. The principle is a kind of carousel. With the card, subscribers receive discounts in selected Bernese stores. These in turn are advertisers in the Espace titles.
It is hoped that the discounts on the products will attract some of the readership to the stores as additional customers. Customers can then offset the accumulated percentages against their newspaper subscription or have the amount transferred to their account. In times of the booming free press, subscribers should forget that their favorite paper costs a pretty penny in comparison. It will soon behave like a free newspaper itself. Lorenz Brügger prefers the positive formulation and clearly emphasizes the added value for the readership: "Thanks to my newspaper, I have many advantages."
Brügger does not yet want to say anything about the details. However, it is clear to him that new ways of dealing with subscribers have become necessary. Over the past four to six years, the pressure in the reader and advertising market has increased massively and the "shelf life" of customers has steadily decreased. The publisher therefore introduced its own customer relationship management system last year. Brügger sees the Espace Card as a further development of this, whereby advertising customers are also integrated into the relationship network. "It's about offers for the advertising market as well as the reader market." The project is obviously of great importance within the BZ publishing house, with all departments involved. It is quite likely that the publisher will distribute the cards to all its subscribers as early as this fall.
At Tamedia, which recently became the new owner of Espace Media Groupe, such reader retention tools would hardly make sense, according to media spokesman Christoph Zimmer. "Because many of our titles have a national focus." Some of them have their own offers, such as the Tages-Anzeiger with its long-standing Carte Blanche for discounts in the cultural sector.
René Worni
City paper in partnership subscription
Added value models
such as those currently being devised by BZ Verlag in Berne, have long been known. The busy Vorarlberg publisher Eugen A. Russ is regarded as a pioneer, with readers of his Vorarlberger Nachrichten enjoying a whole range of benefits, from a preferential NZZ subscription to insurance policies. At one time, it even included discounted electricity.
Guido Blumer also
The courageous publisher of the Winterthur Stadtblatt and chairman of the publishers' association, was inspired by Russ. Blumer is following two trends with his Stadtblatt. On the one hand, in line with the imminent movements of the regional Sunday press, he has shifted the publication frequency to reading Sundays and transformed his title into a (Blumer: "reflective") free weekly newspaper, where 5 editors and 40 freelancers fill a paper that sees itself as a deliberately leadless thing between a book and a newspaper. On the other hand, Blumer is introducing a voluntary subscription for 100 francs per year.
In contrast to BZ Verlag
in Bern, the subscription cards are signed by Blumer himself. "I'm a print fanatic." With this so-called partnership subscription, its owners currently receive discounts of 3 to 35 percent in 27 stores in Winterthur. Of course, the retailers are also advertisers in Blumer's magazine, which brings us full circle. From January 6, 2008, he will distribute his flagship publication to all households in Winterthur and have it marketed by Kretz AG in Feldmeilen. How many partnership subscriptions he has already taken out remains his secret for the time being. What is certain, however, is that the Winterthur trade is very interested in his model. Blumer is convinced of his idea, and if it were possible, he would also be selling green electricity with his city paper tomorrow. (rw)
