Thriller from the executive floor
Media: Despite a rising stock market, business publications are struggling. *Bilanz* is striking an optimistic note with a new campaign.
Media Despite the rising stock market, business titles are performing poorly. Bilanz is optimistic with a new campaign and Jean Frey was the only major publisher to grow from existing titles. The decisive factor here, however, was the increase in advertising at Weltwoche, which compensated for the losses at Beobachter and Bilanz. The latter not only suffered an eleven percent drop in advertising in 2003 (according to VSW advertising statistics, the loss excluding job advertisements was as high as -27.6%), but also a further drop in circulation of 7000 copies (-14.6% to 47402 in 2002). The extent of the malaise of the business titles despite the rising stock markets and economy is reflected in the sex ads - officially "personal ads" - that Cash has been publishing in the "Invest" bundle alongside securities and real estate since the beginning of the year or in the fact that Stocks continues to maintain its halved cadence. So a pessimistic outlook for the balance sheet? Not quite, if you want to read the many changes in the magazine, which continues to be the strongest advertiser in German-speaking Switzerland, as an indicator of recovery. "After all, we were able to increase our advertising business slightly in January 2004 compared to the previous year," says publishing director Uli Rubner. In order to increase the number of subscribers, the publisher is planning additional subscription measures such as large distribution campaigns with a mini Bilanz for trial reading or cooperation with advertising customers in the distribution of the specials, which will now only be published seven times (for the first time a women's Bilanz). Thanks to its distribution partners, Bilanz aims to tap into new reader segments that are difficult to reach with mailings and conventional methods.
Balance sheet as the hero of the investigation
René Lüchinger, Editor-in-Chief of Bilanz since last December, sees the general crisis of confidence in executives as both a challenge and an opportunity for the magazine and is focusing more on captivating and stirring business stories. This can already be seen in the first two issues under his leadership. In doing so, the magazine seems to be responding to society's need for more justice in the business world. His aim is to make Bilanz read like a "true business thriller". And since the crime novel is one of the most popular genres in literature, Bilanz's positioning is exactly right. As an analytical "armchair detective agency", the editorial team is supposed to defy the hurdles of the system in order to uncover explosive content and real connections. According to Rubner, initial copy tests confirm the innovations: The reading intensity has increased, the pick-up rate has risen.
René Lüchinger and Uli Rubner also wanted to bring the new direction to life in communications and held a brand workshop with the long-standing in-house agency Publicis to define the joint platform. The advertising strategy is based on Bilanz's new self-image and was "tailored to the editor-in-chief, so to speak", says CD Markus Gut. On the basis that
Since the thriller economy is nowhere else described in such an exciting and high-quality way as in Bilanz, his team developed a concept that builds on this style of revelation and makes it recognizable through the new regularity.
Since February, the Bilanz cover stories have been landing on the desks of bosses and business lawyers every month as "revelatory works". In January, the test run was rehearsed with Joe Ackermann's "Catch Me if You Can". The leaked book, DVD or video with the explosive content is skillfully placed in the center like a piece of evidence.
Get it quickerWith its March issue, the Bilanz audio CD is definitely going into series production after the pilot last October. With each issue, the Wirtschaftsblatt provides its subscribers with an audio CD on which some of the highlights from the current issue are read aloud by professional speakers. In addition to the texts from the print edition, the audio CD contains an interview with Editor-in-Chief René Lüchinger on current issues. The disk is aimed at readers who want to save time by having the magazine read aloud at home, while commuting or doing sport. The listening time of 70 minutes is only interrupted by an important message from the sponsor Sunrise. (la)
The new Bilanz stories: Caution, explosive! Magazines If you like reading gripping thrillers, you should take a look at the cover stories of Bilanz >> page 7
Luca Aloisi
Balance sheet as the hero of the investigation
René Lüchinger, Editor-in-Chief of Bilanz since last December, sees the general crisis of confidence in executives as both a challenge and an opportunity for the magazine and is focusing more on captivating and stirring business stories. This can already be seen in the first two issues under his leadership. In doing so, the magazine seems to be responding to society's need for more justice in the business world. His aim is to make Bilanz read like a "true business thriller". And since the crime novel is one of the most popular genres in literature, Bilanz's positioning is exactly right. As an analytical "armchair detective agency", the editorial team is supposed to defy the hurdles of the system in order to uncover explosive content and real connections. According to Rubner, initial copy tests confirm the innovations: The reading intensity has increased, the pick-up rate has risen.
René Lüchinger and Uli Rubner also wanted to bring the new direction to life in communications and held a brand workshop with the long-standing in-house agency Publicis to define the joint platform. The advertising strategy is based on Bilanz's new self-image and was "tailored to the editor-in-chief, so to speak", says CD Markus Gut. On the basis that
Since the thriller economy is nowhere else described in such an exciting and high-quality way as in Bilanz, his team developed a concept that builds on this style of revelation and makes it recognizable through the new regularity.
Since February, the Bilanz cover stories have been landing on the desks of bosses and business lawyers every month as "revelatory works". In January, the test run was rehearsed with Joe Ackermann's "Catch Me if You Can". The leaked book, DVD or video with the explosive content is skillfully placed in the center like a piece of evidence.
Get it quickerWith its March issue, the Bilanz audio CD is definitely going into series production after the pilot last October. With each issue, the Wirtschaftsblatt provides its subscribers with an audio CD on which some of the highlights from the current issue are read aloud by professional speakers. In addition to the texts from the print edition, the audio CD contains an interview with Editor-in-Chief René Lüchinger on current issues. The disk is aimed at readers who want to save time by having the magazine read aloud at home, while commuting or doing sport. The listening time of 70 minutes is only interrupted by an important message from the sponsor Sunrise. (la)
The new Bilanz stories: Caution, explosive! Magazines If you like reading gripping thrillers, you should take a look at the cover stories of Bilanz >> page 7
Luca Aloisi
