"The next generation to have children will be digital natives"

WW: Nicole Althaus: Who is the typical reader of wir eltern?
Nicole Althaus: There is no such thing as a typical reader. The biggest advantage, but also the most important challenge of our magazine is that the readership changes approximately every three to four years. And with it, the demands on the magazine. When you have a child, that's when the need for information is greatest and people subscribe to wir eltern. Of course, there are also very long-term subscribers - some even across generations - but the vast majority of women feel they have a handle on their new life and new role after three or four years.

What does this mean for the magazine?
Women are changing. They have different problems today than they did 10 years ago. The majority are working. Fathers are also more involved at home. This is creating new everyday experiences. The next generation to have children are digital natives. This is extremely important for the brand.

Hence the relaunch?
Yes, we thought about what we needed to do with the wir eltern brand so that it would meet the needs of this new target group.

What does the relaunch look like?
We are focusing on a multimedia concept and have asked ourselves which needs we need to cover in print and which online. Previously, the brand consisted of the magazine. The same print articles could be found online. The content was very service-oriented. Among other things, readers' questions were answered in the style of "My child is bedwetting, what should I do?". The answer was then given a month later. Of course, this form of reader service no longer works at all with digital natives. They google and find answers to their questions within seconds. So we will move the service to the Internet. And we will also add service to the topics that we have initiated in the print edition.

What does this mean for the print edition?
The magazine must fulfill other functions. It should become the brand's calling card. The reader should be welcomed into the new target group of parents. They should find themselves, their problems, but also their joys in it and have the feeling that yes, that's exactly how it is, that's exactly how I feel. For the first time, the magazine will therefore have a lifestyle section in which we show the beautiful sides of being a parent. But the magazine also needs to become more political and socially relevant. It is important to me that we reflect what is happening in society in the magazine. Politically, women are moving away from the home and into working life (the quota debate) and the opposite is happening to men (the custody battle). We have to do justice to this development. In the past, the magazine should have been called "wir mütter" (laughs). When fathers were featured, it was in the sense of "Dad takes over for a day". The proportion of male readers is relatively high at around 30 percent, but fathers were not picked up editorially. I want to change that. What's more, women are also interested in the fathers' point of view. Hence the monthly column "From the Fatherland" with alternating authors. We are also demonstrating our closeness to our readership with our new cover concept. The families of our readers are depicted. Depending on the cover story, you can see the offspring with mom or dad, alone or with both parents. The whole family then has their say on the last page.

Who was responsible for the new graphic concept?
The visual concept comes from Adrian Hablützel. He realized the first two issues in close collaboration with the editorial team.

Back to the Internet. How important is the idea of community?
This is very important. There are already some parent communities on the Internet. But the important field of education and development is still largely untapped. We have the know-how and the brand to occupy it.

You designed the mommy blog for Tagesanzeiger.ch and ran it successfully. Will there be parallels here?
The mommy blog mainly discussed political topics. The participants were primarily news readers who were also mothers or fathers. On Wireltern.ch, readers are looking for help and guidance. Our blog entries are read the most when they are very close to everyday life. First and foremost, we have to provide tips and tricks for everyday life.

You mentioned a multimedia concept. What is planned for the iPad?
Of course, we are also working on this. As a small team, however, we have to concentrate our resources and unfortunately cannot do everything in one go. We are starting with the relaunch of the print edition. From issue 7/8, readers will have access to additional information and services via the "Paperboy" app. The renewed online presence will then be available in the 4th quarter.

How will the new concept be publicized?
There will be presentations as part of the largest family fair in Switzerland, FamExpo, from May 27 to 29 in the Eulachhalle, Winterthur, as well as promotions in individual sales.
Interview: Pierre C. Meier

Vita
Nicole Althaus studied German philology and art history in Zurich and Berlin. After graduating, she managed the theater and dance program at Boa Lucerne. In 1998 she completed an internship at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. She then began working as a cultural editor at Annabelle. In 2004 she went to Facts as a reporter and in 2007 she returned to Annabelle as deputy head of department. At the beginning of 2009, she became a freelance copywriter and concept developer. She launched and managed the Mama blog for Tagesanzeiger. ch, for which she was voted Journalist of the Year 2010. In the fall of 2010, she took over as editor-in-chief of wir eltern.