The Futur(e)s est Franglais
Agefi publisher Alain Fabarez launched Futur(e)s and got into quite a bit of trouble with his promotional campaign
Agefi publisher Alain Fabarez launched Futur(e)s and got into quite a bit of trouble with his introductory advertisementBy Christophe BüchiThe publishing group L'Agefi in Western Switzerland is launching a monthly magazine - specialized entirely in the New Economy. It is called Futur(e)s and also has great typographical ambitions.
The long-awaited and repeatedly announced monthly magazine of the Agefi Group is finally here. It was launched with a remarkably vulgar advertising campaign in France and Switzerland, which promptly caught the eye of French law enforcement officials. A subject in which a man drops his pants and stretches out his plump, naked rear end to passers-by was withheld from the French on the instructions of the authorities. But at least this got the product talked about. And as we all know, that costs nothing...
Strictly speaking, it is actually two magazines, because the new title is published in a French and a Swiss edition. Around 60 percent of the content can be found in both papers. The main part of the production is located in Paris. Four editors of the Lausanne offshoot are mainly occupied with Swissizing the content produced in the French metropolis.
Futur(e)s is the peculiar, half-French, half-English name of the new business magazine, of which one does not quite know whose brainchild it is. So it's not quite clear whether the inclined buyer should ask for a "Fütür" or a "Fjuutscher" or even a "Fjuutschers" at the kiosk. No future...
Futur(istic) becomes fast-food journalism
The first Futur(e)s comprises 178 pages. Many photos, intentionally skewed graphics, LED typography: the magazine wants to break with the past and align itself with modern aesthetics derived from the computer world. The topics are entirely focused on the new economy and, above all, on the new applications in information technology. Goodbye to the old business journalism: No long articles, no business figures and no turnover curves are served.
As a substitute, you get a lot of human touch and a lot of small fodder. The magazine in balance sheet format comes across as quite pleasing, but also somewhat arbitrary. The old-fashioned reader, who also likes to read a bit, has to be patient and turn to page 34 before he finally gets some solid fare between his teeth. And even at the end, his stomach is likely to growl. Fast-food journalism.
Futur(e)s does not want to be a second Bilan
The magazine deliberately wants to overcome the rules of traditional French business journalism, says Danielle Hennard, the 49-year-old editor-in-chief of the Swiss edition. For Agefi publisher Alain Fabarez, it's not even a question of countering the established magazines like Bilan with something of the same kind, but rather of giving the New Economy and the culture associated with it broad space.
Fabarez also doesn't want to simply address the classic audience of the business press, but to reach out further: "We're thinking of the 18-year-old student who doesn't yet know what he wants to do later, but also the 55-year-old executive who wants to keep up to date. The reader we don't get is the white-collar worker who is glued to his armchair."
Futur(e)s made by Agefi is available in France for 20 French francs and in Switzerland for 8.50 Swiss francs. It is published on the first Monday of the month. Fabarez has set itself the goal of acquiring fifty pages of advertising per issue. In France, they want to sell between 70,000 and 100,000 copies; in Switzerland, they would be satisfied with 30,000 copies sold.
The competition in French-speaking Switzerland - above all Bilan from Edipresse and PME Magazine from the HandelsZeitung group - is keeping calm for the time being. Bilan editor-in-chief Alain Jeannet calls Futur(e)s a late remake of Wired: "This graphic is already out of fashion. Futur(e)s won't even sell 10,000 copies. Equating the New Economy only with start-ups is passé. The New Economy, that includes Migros and Swiss Post."
Fabarez is not put off by the friendly words of the competition. He has invested between five and seven million (Swiss) francs in the project. If he were to lose this investment, he could take it in stride. After all, he made a killing on the Agefi Group's IPO. And the shareholders - so far at least - have nothing to complain about. The Agefi share was floated on the stock market in July 1999 at 227.50 francs and has almost tripled in value.
So what's the problem?
The long-awaited and repeatedly announced monthly magazine of the Agefi Group is finally here. It was launched with a remarkably vulgar advertising campaign in France and Switzerland, which promptly caught the eye of French law enforcement officials. A subject in which a man drops his pants and stretches out his plump, naked rear end to passers-by was withheld from the French on the instructions of the authorities. But at least this got the product talked about. And as we all know, that costs nothing...
Strictly speaking, it is actually two magazines, because the new title is published in a French and a Swiss edition. Around 60 percent of the content can be found in both papers. The main part of the production is located in Paris. Four editors of the Lausanne offshoot are mainly occupied with Swissizing the content produced in the French metropolis.
Futur(e)s is the peculiar, half-French, half-English name of the new business magazine, of which one does not quite know whose brainchild it is. So it's not quite clear whether the inclined buyer should ask for a "Fütür" or a "Fjuutscher" or even a "Fjuutschers" at the kiosk. No future...
Futur(istic) becomes fast-food journalism
The first Futur(e)s comprises 178 pages. Many photos, intentionally skewed graphics, LED typography: the magazine wants to break with the past and align itself with modern aesthetics derived from the computer world. The topics are entirely focused on the new economy and, above all, on the new applications in information technology. Goodbye to the old business journalism: No long articles, no business figures and no turnover curves are served.
As a substitute, you get a lot of human touch and a lot of small fodder. The magazine in balance sheet format comes across as quite pleasing, but also somewhat arbitrary. The old-fashioned reader, who also likes to read a bit, has to be patient and turn to page 34 before he finally gets some solid fare between his teeth. And even at the end, his stomach is likely to growl. Fast-food journalism.
Futur(e)s does not want to be a second Bilan
The magazine deliberately wants to overcome the rules of traditional French business journalism, says Danielle Hennard, the 49-year-old editor-in-chief of the Swiss edition. For Agefi publisher Alain Fabarez, it's not even a question of countering the established magazines like Bilan with something of the same kind, but rather of giving the New Economy and the culture associated with it broad space.
Fabarez also doesn't want to simply address the classic audience of the business press, but to reach out further: "We're thinking of the 18-year-old student who doesn't yet know what he wants to do later, but also the 55-year-old executive who wants to keep up to date. The reader we don't get is the white-collar worker who is glued to his armchair."
Futur(e)s made by Agefi is available in France for 20 French francs and in Switzerland for 8.50 Swiss francs. It is published on the first Monday of the month. Fabarez has set itself the goal of acquiring fifty pages of advertising per issue. In France, they want to sell between 70,000 and 100,000 copies; in Switzerland, they would be satisfied with 30,000 copies sold.
The competition in French-speaking Switzerland - above all Bilan from Edipresse and PME Magazine from the HandelsZeitung group - is keeping calm for the time being. Bilan editor-in-chief Alain Jeannet calls Futur(e)s a late remake of Wired: "This graphic is already out of fashion. Futur(e)s won't even sell 10,000 copies. Equating the New Economy only with start-ups is passé. The New Economy, that includes Migros and Swiss Post."
Fabarez is not put off by the friendly words of the competition. He has invested between five and seven million (Swiss) francs in the project. If he were to lose this investment, he could take it in stride. After all, he made a killing on the Agefi Group's IPO. And the shareholders - so far at least - have nothing to complain about. The Agefi share was floated on the stock market in July 1999 at 227.50 francs and has almost tripled in value.
So what's the problem?
