Trendtagung 2025: Insights into the future of trade and specialty media - Q-Award to Das Wandern
At the Swiss Media Association’s 2025 Trend Conference, approximately 80 representatives from trade and specialty media gathered at Westhive Zurich. They discussed innovation, AI, and community building—and celebrated the presentation of the Q Award to the magazine *Das Wandern*.
At the Trend Conference 2025 at Westhive Zurich, around 80 experts from publishing houses, editorial offices and media companies shed light on the most important developments in the trade and specialty media industry. The focus was on user-centered innovations, the responsible use of AI and the role of communities and print products in a digital media world.
Pia Guggenbühl opened the conference with an update from the Swiss Media Publishers Association - including on the "Credibility works better" campaign, ancillary copyright, media funding and ongoing regulatory issues surrounding artificial intelligence.
Courage for the niche
In her keynote speech, media expert Anita Zielina showed how specialist media are moving from pure reporting to service-oriented ecosystems. The decisive factor is the "courage to niche": a clear focus, proximity to the community and a consistently user-centered understanding of innovation.
AI cannot tell the truth, only probability
Reto Vogt from MAZ gave a comprehensive overview of the opportunities and risks of AI in editorial offices. AI can support processes and increase quality, but requires clear guidelines, transparency and careful control - especially in specialized fields. Truths cannot be expected when querying AI, only probabilities. As the AI is fed by humans, their biases are adopted by the AI.
Print for girls aged 8 to 13
Martina Polek, Co-Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief of Kaleio, attracted particular attention with an inspiring best practice. She showed why a print magazine for girls aged between 8 and 13 is more important today than ever: Kaleio expands role models, boosts self-confidence and consciously focuses on attitude, design and freedom from advertising. A reader survey confirmed the effect - 80 percent of girls feel more courageous after reading the magazine.
Corsin Zander offered further insights with the success story of the cycling magazine Gruppetto, which has been able to establish itself sustainably thanks to community development and a clear identity.
The event was rounded off by a lively panel discussion, moderated by Matthias Ackeret, in which representatives of specialist journalism and the Swiss Association of Specialist Journalists (SFJ) took part. It became clear that the development of target groups for niche products, as represented by specialist and specialized media, offers enormous potential. In this context, the value of print publications as a tangible product was emphasized - as were the opportunities of cross-media offerings.
Jury spoiled for choice: two special prizes needed
The conference was crowned with the prestigious Q-Award 2025. The expert jury named "Das Wandern / La Randonnée" the outstanding specialist publication of the year. The magazine impressed with its holistic concept in terms of content, design and strategy, which engages and inspires readers with a content-first approach across all channels - print, online and community. Two other trade and specialty media were also honored with innovation awards: the car magazine "radical" in XXL format and the girls' magazine "Kaleio".
