"The communicative idea is central"

WW: What is Axel Springer Switzerland aiming to achieve with the new Corporate Media division?
Thomas Garms: We are a large publishing house that has all the resources it needs to create media. This applies to both print and digital media. We are already active as a service provider in certain areas. For example, in the marketing of advertising space for other publishers and for corporate media products.

From corporate publishing products that were produced here?
Publications that were produced by Swiss agencies but do not have their own marketing units and then have this done by Axel Springer Switzerland. For example, we market Raiffeisen's Panorama magazine and Swiss Post's private customer magazine.

Have you set yourself any sales targets?
No, not yet. Corporate Media is a new business division for Axel Springer Switzerland. We first have to carve out a place for ourselves as a service provider, so we won't be able to set a concrete sales target until next year at the earliest.

Aren't there already enough corporate publishing agencies in Switzerland?
There are many excellent competitors, but they primarily come from the design sector. They are traditional consulting and advertising agencies. We, on the other hand, are a journalist-driven publishing house and can offer the entire value chain, from editing to distribution, market research and marketing. I would like to add something at this point: The topic of the effectiveness of corporate media products in particular is still a largely untapped field. Many companies spend a lot of money on corporate media without knowing exactly whether their product is being noticed and read at all and whether it is having any kind of lasting effect. We can offer our customers tools for monitoring success from the toolbox of a publishing house.

In Germany, there are a number of spin-offs from large publishing houses in the field of corporate publishing. Is Springer also active in this area in Germany?
Yes, there has also been a "New Business Areas" division in Berlin for a few months now, which also provides corporate media services, among other things.

So Switzerland is a bit of a test market for Springer.
You can't say that like that. It is an interesting market, as there is still a high print affinity here and there are many companies that do corporate publishing.

As a large publishing house, you offer the entire value chain. Let's move on to the editorial services. Are there any sticking points to be solved there? Do you work with freelance journalists or do you use the existing pool of journalists at Springer magazines?
The independence of Axel Springer Switzerland's publications must remain unaffected. Both the Handelszeitung and the Bilanz and Beobachter have a very strong position in the market and are critical companions of Swiss economic events. This must remain the case. We will work within our own infrastructure, which means that, depending on the size of the activity, we will either hire the people we need or work with freelance teams.

Can there still be conflicts of interest?
It can certainly happen that we are fighting for one or two customers and at the same time one of our newspapers reports critically on the company in question. That cannot be avoided.

How important is cross-media in corporate publishing today?
Very important.

Theoretically, it is important. But is cross-media being used effectively?
In many cases, the industry is still at the beginning of this development. Multichannel publishing requires a different approach. The example of the Bild brand or the iPad-only magazine Iconist is a good example of how the intuitive reader experience of a print product can be combined with the speed and multi-layered utility of online. The iPad in particular has not yet reached the point where the full potential of tablets can be exploited. This applies in particular to the B-to-B sector. Sales representatives are still fiddling around with thick price lists, brochures and order folders. The iPad would be a living tool with access to presentations, images, films, sound elements, databases, price and address lists. Buyers, for example, have long been able to place their pre-orders at trade fairs using tablets if trade fair companies and exhibitors were to provide a corresponding virtual infrastructure. I believe that these possibilities will give rise to a completely new type of multimedia branded content.

Are there people who can do that?
Yes, of course there are. The problem is the interlocking between the programmers and the editors. The technical platform not only has to be right, but also have sensible ergonomics that are derived from the needs of storytelling. Moderating such development processes is not always easy. There are already an incredible number of technical possibilities. Journalists have to learn to use these possibilities to stage their content. In my opinion, journalists have not yet practiced this sufficiently.

Does the customer even participate in these cross-media stories?
There are some companies that are very open to innovation. This becomes clear to me time and again in conversations with potential customers. The companies have already tried out a lot of things through their internet and social media activities and have gathered the relevant experience. The problem is actually first and foremost the attention that I have to arouse in the consumer. This is where it often becomes difficult. I can put a magazine somewhere, send it in the post or give it to someone personally. An app first has to be actively downloaded.

What does this mean for communication?
A very high level of brand awareness is required for consumers to become active. And you have to point out to the interested public elsewhere that there are corresponding offers. There are already a lot of really great offers, but people still can't find them or don't want to find them. There is still a lot to be done here. The question arises as to whether traditional advertising doesn't need to change a little in order to integrate the possibilities of cross-media. A QR code on the ad that opens a movie on a smartphone is not enough in the long term.

Switzerland has a very high level of corporate publishing products. Some of them are established agencies, but there are also a lot of lone fighters, i.e. former colleagues of ours, who are now doing this very successfully. In contrast, you offer the entire value chain. What is the most important point?
For me, the central point is the communicative idea of the product. I believe that you can only score points in the market if you have a really good and possibly better idea than the competition. This market is very competitive and customers are now also looking at the price. Especially in tenders, where points systems are used. The quality of the content often suffers later during implementation. Innovation and quality have their price. This makes it all the more important firstly to have a unique idea and secondly to have expertise in linking all media, i.e. the overall cross-media picture.

I would like to briefly address a point that you mentioned at the beginning: performance monitoring. How do you see this in concrete terms?
Publishers have a classic toolbox with which they can use conventional market research methods to see how something is read, how long it is used and what the qualitative assessment is. All of this can also be applied to corporate publishing products. Of course, it is a problem in cases where the product is left to chance. In other words, it is displayed in some dispensers and you don't know exactly who is accessing it at the end. Was the leaflet taken to wrap fish in or to actually read something? At this point, it is indeed difficult to gather valid findings.

Many corporate publishing products try to gain insights by means of questionnaires. However, this does not produce valid results...
Questionnaires are certainly not representative, as responses are mainly received from fans. Nevertheless, they provide a certain picture of the mood and also one or two quantitative indications. However, it is also possible to generate a better response rate through a personally addressed approach or telephone surveys. It is crucial that the right methodology is used for the task at hand. Focus groups can be used to find out one thing or another in terms of quality. It is often shocking how the self-image of the company is presented in corporate publishing products and how the recipient ultimately judges it. There is sometimes a big gap. And it's always difficult for the service provider to be critical and say that it's all well and good what you do and you always win lots of prizes, but in the end nobody really cares.

The idea of a company having heaven on earth with corporate publishing - you can communicate exactly what you want - is nice, but it doesn't work. The consumer sees the CP product as just any medium, and it has to exist in this environment, otherwise it won't be viewed.
A lot still needs to happen in terms of staging at this point. There are plenty of CEOs who allow themselves space in their own publications for tawdry interviews and don't ask whether anyone is interested in this form. We will also learn from this. I agree with Helmut Thoma, who said that the bait has to taste good to the fish and not to the angler. Due to the size of our properties and our experience in the tabloids, we at Axel Springer have developed a good feeling for how media must be staged in order to reach their audience. You asked at the beginning what sets us apart from our competitors - this experience is a key point.
I was responsible for the weekly TV guides at Axel Springer Germany for several years, and there is no more heterogeneous target group than that of a TV guide: rich, poor, old, young, clever, stupid, men, women, young people, pensioners - you have it all. And it's difficult to do this in such a way that as many people as possible have fun with such a pleasure steamer. Of course, you can't be too specific. You have to find the greatest possible common denominator. It's similar with one corporate publishing product or another. Companies also often have very heterogeneous target groups. For example, large banks, insurance companies, retailers or local public transport: they have to appeal to as many as possible and define content that is interesting for everyone. And they do exist.

To date, there are roughly two large groups in corporate publishing. On the one hand, there are high-end publications for private banks, luxury cars or watches, and then there are very broad-based publications for major distributors, the postal service, telecoms and so on. Can I take it from your comments that you are aiming more at the second group?
Both groups are interesting for us. You just have to approach things differently depending on the customer group. The smaller, more pointed products are interesting from a journalistic point of view in that you can perhaps dare to experiment more than in traditional sales media. There are a number of excellently produced corporate publishing products that are much more interesting, lively and varied than sales magazines.

Do you have any examples?
I personally like the magazine for the Mini, for example. It's an international lifestyle magazine that presents an urban lifestyle that is highly interesting. I enjoy reading it and find a lot of new things in it. The car is subtly anchored in the image of a hedonistic, design-oriented target audience. The same is true of the Nespresso magazine, which takes pleasure in international travel destinations. Utility value and reading enjoyment are successfully combined. The brand, i.e. the sender, is brought closer to me in its core competence in a likeable way. And as a Nespresso customer, I get a magazine for which I would have to pay six sixty francs at the newsstand for free. That's a nice thing.
Interview: Pierre C. Meier