Werbewoche: What does the NZZ mean to you?
Veit Dengler: For me, the NZZ has always been a beacon in the German-language press landscape. A newspaper with a high standard of journalism that knows how to curate and classify content in the best possible way and convey it with a high level of dossier competence.
 
Are you satisfied with the current online presence of the NZZ?
By and large, yes, but there is still room for improvement.
 
Where do you see room for improvement?
The structure and also the layout of the page can certainly be improved.
 
What has the paywall done?
The principle that quality journalism must be paid for is correct. We can't live on advertising alone in times of constantly declining ad volumes. But our paywall today is very rigid and doesn't allow us to make different products for different customer groups. Here we can learn a lot from the consumer goods industry, which strongly differentiates its offerings. For the NZZ, for example, I can imagine special subscriptions for people who are only interested in one part of our newspaper, for example culture or business. Perhaps an offer for students - cheaper, but not with all the content. Or premium offers that include access to conferences or other of our services in addition to the printed and digital newspaper.
 
Who is developing these new products, and when will we see the first ones?
We first have to create the foundations. In other words, an IT infrastructure that allows us to put together and sell customer-specific products. Today, customers who order a digital subscription from us still receive a paper invoice. We have a lot of catching up to do there. That's why we won't be able to launch new products until 2015. Until then, there will be one or two pilots at most.
 
In an interview with the Austrian newspaper Die Presse, you said, "We actually have to act more like a technology company than like a classic newspaper company." What exactly do you mean by that, how strong is the willingness in-house to make this change?
That was a bit tongue-in-cheek (ironic, with ulterior motives, not entirely serious), as they would say in English. Of course, we are a media company, but in the digital age, technology competence is an essential prerequisite for being able to make attractive differentiated offers on online or mobile platformers. Media companies don't have that in their genes, because to become a technology company, we also have to change our behavior. Become more agile, faster, more daring. There is a lot of willingness for this change. Starting from the Board of Directors to the employees. Everyone knows that our traditional business model is no longer sustainable and we need to change many things that we may not have questioned for decades. Concrete example: We have a great many dossier experts here in house. Their specialist knowledge, combined with the ability to express it in excellent journalistic style, is one of our mainstays. That's why, in the future, we will free these dossier experts from the burden of production so that they can do as much research and writing as possible. Downstream teams will then take care of editing and channel-specific production.
 
What changes then?
In the old publishing world, we lived off the subscribers to our newspaper and even more off the advertisers. We offered one or two products and earned very well from them. In the new world, we have to expand our product range, have all kinds of payment models and be able to offer cross-media advertising. We can't do that yet. And that's really difficult. The restructuring on the commercial side is very demanding. The transformation in journalism is fundamental in terms of working methods, time presence and the ability to think in terms of multiple forms of offering. But what must not change in this process is the preservation of the quality of the content.
 
An organizational unbundling between content production, editing and production of the NZZ editorial office is planned. The online producers - to give them a name - will have to work closely with marketing and sales, in addition to the actual editorial staff, in order to find or exploit new advertising opportunities, for example. An endless potential for conflict....
It's not that big. We sell advertising, for which our journalistic offering is the right vehicle. But we don't base our journalistic offering on advertising. One of our core brand values is journalistic independence. You read the NZZ because you trust that it doesn't just represent certain interests and that it can't be bought. That has to be the same in the new world as in the old world. That's why there are clear limits to commercialization. Native advertising, for example. That is unthinkable at the NZZ. Where marketing and sales drive editorial work is in the area of self-promotion. We have some of the best journalists in the German-speaking world in our ranks. These are brands that exude a high level of appeal. If they only research and write articles and don't go out and talk about their work - or tweet about it - then we're leaving revenue potential untapped. But here, too, there is no potential for conflict between journalism and business; I'm preaching to the choir at NZZ editor-in-chief Markus Spillmann.
 
In the same interview, you said, "Just because we've had strong brands and loyal readers in the past doesn't mean we'll keep those forever. The difficulty is figuring out how the new media should be designed." Sounds good, but who is taking on this task at NZZ today? Where do the ideas come from? Is it the CR, the department heads, the editorial staff, the newly hired management consultants or, in the end, even you?
It's the job of our "Marketing and Product" department to analyze customer data and draw conclusions from it - for example, where there's a need for new products, and how high the acceptance and market potential for them are. Then we have to decide whether we can and want to offer such a product within the framework of our journalistic independence. Journalism has a decisive say in this. If we then say, yes, we will do that, then we have to think together about when, how and with what investment. And we have to set ourselves commercial goals right from the start. If only to clearly define when we pull the emergency brake if a product doesn't live up to our expectations.
 
Who has the lead?
Both of them, they have to do it together. We deliberately have a dual leadership for the NZZ division. Journalism is very important to us, and the editor-in-chief sits on the management board - that will continue to be the case. I may have been socialized differently, but I think we have to learn to work more as a team. You can't run a company today the way you did 20 years ago. It has to be the same today as it is in soccer. It doesn't matter who wins the ball from the opponent. The crucial thing is that everyone in the team knows when to pass the ball and when to pass it so that someone scores the goal at the end of the relay.
 
I agree with you, but there are still differences in a media company. Ideas can be developed that may be commercially interesting, but bring nothing in terms of journalism or are even harmful. Conversely, there can be ideas that are very interesting from a journalistic point of view, but cost a lot of money and bring in nothing.
I'll take Frame, the new film supplement of the NZZ am Sonntag, as an example. The idea was very much shaped by Felix Müller, the editor-in-chief of NZZ am Sonntag, and Christian Jungen, the film editor, for whom this was a real concern. Then there was the Zurich Film Festival (ZFF), which offered itself as a partner because it had always wanted a publication like this. That's how the idea for Frame came about. Of course, we discussed it in our management committees. We critically calculated the project and considered what success depended on and what the criteria for success were. On this basis, we decided to go ahead with it. Without the entrepreneurial initiative of Felix Müller and Christian Jungen, this would never have happened. But now the ball is in our court, and everyone knows their role in the game. That's my understanding of teamwork.
 
I'll come back to the organizational disentanglement between writing, editing and producers. What does the editorial team actually think about this?
We don't call them producers, but they are called, a bit unwieldily, journalistic product managers. We are currently in the process of recruiting them. The important thing is that they will be deputy editors-in-chief. After all, they have to decide what content is refined and how. They have to ask themselves the question, how do I design my channel so that it meets the demands of the NZZ, but also the logic of this channel. That's an extremely important role, with a lot of commercial responsibility that goes far beyond the classic role of producer.
 
Precisely because this position is so important, it can lead to discussions...
That's certainly the case. The editorial processes have to settle in again. We have to work hard on that. But I am very confident. There is a broad understanding in the editorial team that the various channels have to be used successfully.
 
Why is the entire media industry having such a hard time with the switch to digital?
(laughs) That's not just the case in this industry. Just think of Kodak or Universal Music. Big brands disappear in every industry where digitization strikes. New brands are emerging. That's dramatic, but it can't be changed. Those who are not prepared to permanently adapt their business model to changing social or technological conditions will disappear. When I make my rounds through the houses in St. Gallen, Lucerne and here, I keep hearing the story of how, just twelve years ago, advertising had to be rejected because the staples in the print shop couldn't hold any more pages. As I said, that was only twelve years ago! But in those twelve years, the media world has changed so much that our old business model - print advertising and print subscribers - simply doesn't work anymore. Of course, I understand the reaction, "Does it really have to? After all, it was working just fine." It's not like media companies used to be that much more profitable. But they had to be much less efficient because newspapers had little competition relative to their respective clientele, and thus had correspondingly good revenues. I sometimes use the image: We came from a very fertile land and have now crossed a river to the other bank. The bridges back no longer exist; they have burned down. Now we have to make a new fertile land out of what we find.
 
There are two ways to do this. You can do it the way some of your competitors are doing it. You can diversify into other areas, diversify in the actual product, by buying back for expensive money what you have lost, such as the job or other portals. Or you can try to take a middle course, as NZZ does. They expand into areas that have a connection to the NZZ product (conferences, economic data, etc.). What other areas can an NZZ expand into?
The NZZ is only one part of the NZZ Media Group. The other part is the regional media and our journalism-related services. One fundamental decision we have made for the Group is that our raison d'être is journalism. Our aspiration is to develop new products to increase our customer base in this core. We will only pursue additional business if it has at least a reasonable link to journalism. I'll take conferences as an example. There is a natural "fit" with the NZZ. But it can also be a classifieds business, for example. We have some, but we don't buy them as expensively (laughs). It can also be health services, personal finance, business information. It all suits us. We understand these businesses.
 
You are now investing ten million. Where is the emphasis?
In journalism. In sales and marketing and in new products. We need to build up skills there that we didn't need before. For example, in data analysis. We have to get much better at that. We need to understand what our customers really want. And then develop and test new products accordingly. Acquisitions of publishing-related services are also conceivable - if they suit us.

 
At the Epiphany conference, you caused a stir by announcing that you would conquer the German and Austrian markets. After all, the NZZ has had an international edition for years, which is important but has a relatively modest circulation of around 10,000 copies. Where then do you see effective opportunities, which target groups should be addressed?
What I said - if I remember correctly - was not that we will conquer Germany and Austria, but that we will not leave these markets to others without a fight. There is a certain difference. Our product is a niche product for certain customer groups. But when you have a 90-million market - Germany and Austria combined - that's a highly attractive market even for a niche product. There's the famous phrase, "Nobody waited for the NZZ." But that's only partly true. First, the NZZ already exists in these markets, and historically it has played a relatively important role there. My father was a diplomat, and the NZZ is still part of the basic equipment for many Austrian diplomats. Because it offers the best foreign reporting in German. The same can justifiably be said about the arts section and the business section.
 
But how big is this market?
If our niche was only 0.5 percent of the total market, that would mean a readership of half a million. So it's big enough for us. The question is, can we offer it cheaply enough or profitably enough or not?
 
Online resp. digitally you can offer it cheap...
That's true, but customer acquisition is expensive. Online, too. We already have the content. In this respect, digitization is easier today than it was twenty years ago.
 
Could this expansion into Germany and Austria also be done with cooperations?
Could be.
 
We've talked a lot about the NZZ now. Everyone only reports on the flagship NZZ. But the regional newspapers bring and brought good money. There were times when Falkenstrasse was glad that the regional newspapers existed. Somehow, one gets the feeling that neither you nor your chairman of the board are very interested in the regional newspapers...
(laughs) I have four children and I say with conviction: I love them all. But there is a very banal reason why that seems to be the case. We are a relatively small company. We couldn't do the strategies for all the business units at the same time. That's why we started with the Group and then with the NZZ division. We talk about that a lot now. And so the image is created that the regional media are not important. The opposite is true. More than half of our sales and profits come from the regional media. But it's not just about the financial contribution. We have newspapers, TV stations, radio stations there, we have a whole ecosystem of media that are important for Central Switzerland and for Eastern Switzerland. We are aware of the responsibility for this system and want to do justice to it. There are many areas where we can get better. Online is certainly one of them. And another thing: We can probably improve significantly as a group, both journalistically and commercially, if we interweave the media better. For example, if I'm the first to have pictures of the F18 crash in central Switzerland, they should actually appear almost simultaneously in all our media. We have to learn to do that. In addition, we are looking at synergies. If you have two complete editorial teams that do regional reporting, you have to ask yourself whether you have to do the national topics twice. We are investigating that at the moment. Decisively, but also with due diligence.
 
There are certainly synergies that have an immediate financial impact. But it can also be more expensive, of course - especially for editorial teams with a lean structure.
Many people mistakenly use the term synergy as a synonym for the word save. My wife is Greek: synergismós means to work together. That is the point for me. Where can you collaborate in a meaningful way? If you do it right, better or cheaper products often result automatically.
 
This requires tools, systems and the will to do it...
Right!
 
Could such cooperation also go further with the Sunday press, for example?
You have to be careful there. If you look at Ostschweiz am Sonntag, it's practically all regional topics.
 
But probably no reader would object to receiving the foreign and national section of the NZZ am Sonntag...
My first job in business was in marketing. What I took away from there is that different people want different things. You shouldn't try to squeeze all needs into the same product. Our regional Sunday newspapers are successful and well done. They are also different. Ostschweiz am Sonntag is further away from a seventh edition of the daily newspaper than Zentralschweiz am Sonntag. They fit in well. Problems should be solved when they arise. Not before.
 
You mentioned online with the regional titles. There is certainly still a need for optimization there. But can a regional online strategy be financed at all?
Unreservedly, yes. You can see this, for example, in Vorarlberg or in the German Saarland. There, there are successful regional media houses that earn money online. Styria is also successful in its own way with regional media. I'm personally optimistic that we'll be able to do the same.
 
When you took the job, did you imagine there would be so many problems to solve?
You don't go into the media industry from the outside without having done your homework. In that respect, I'd say it's as expected. But what makes me feel very positive is, first of all, that there really are a lot of good people in the house. That's a cliché that people often say, but it's really true here. There are ideas and competence. The second thing is that we are a healthy company with a very strong brand. These are excellent starting conditions for success.
 
Interview: Pierre C. Meier (The interview took place on February 25)

Current media information from mid-March

NZZ again suffered from declining revenues from the print advertising market and the print reader market in 2013. Although the digital market grew, it could only partially compensate for these losses. Nevertheless, the company intends to continue investing in publishing. The NZZ Media Group made significantly less revenue and profit in 2013 than in the previous year. Sales fell by 36.5 million to 482.4 million Swiss francs. This corresponds to a decline of 7 percent, as NZZ announced on Friday. The figures also show a downward trend in profit: The operating result before interest and taxes fell by 7.4 milllions to 30.6 million francs. The NZZ Group still earned 24.9 million francs on the bottom line last year - a drop of 6 million francs compared to 2012. Although the digital advertising and reader market achieved an 8 percent increase in sales, this was not enough to compensate for the massive drop in earnings from the print sector. The print advertising market lost 6.8 million Swiss francs, the print reader market 2.5 million. The number of employees was reduced significantly last year, from 1639 to 1514. This corresponds to a reduction of 8 percent of all employees. Despite these unpleasant figures, the NZZ Media Group is sticking to its decision to invest around 10 million francs in journalism in the coming years. "We are facing the change in the media world with its declining subscription and advertising revenues by going on the offensive," NZZ CEO Veit Dengler is quoted as saying in the statement. The first step is an expansion into neighboring German-speaking countries, initially into Austria, where NZZ CEO Dengler is from. The NZZ is convinced that there are enough customers in Austria who appreciate the offer of liberal quality journalism. Austrian journalist Michael Fleischhacker, former editor-in-chief of the daily Die Presse, will examine the possibilities in Austria on behalf of the NZZ Media Group. According to the NZZ, there is no concrete project. The media channel has also not yet been defined. (SDA)

In early summer, Andrea Vetsch will move from "Tagesschau" to the news magazine "10vor10" as presenter and editor. Andrea Vetsch will cover a moderation workload of around 20 percent. Andrea Vetsch said in a press release on Friday: "I am very much looking forward to the new challenge at '10vor10' - especially to the opportunity to delve even deeper into topics in future, to develop further as a journalist and presenter and to work with a committed and competent team." Christian Dütschler, Editorial Director of "10vor10": "Andrea Vetsch is a first-class newswoman with a wealth of experience. I am convinced that she will master her new role as '10vor10' presenter with aplomb and quickly become a trademark of the program."

Andrea Vetsch has been working for Swiss radio and television since 1999. The 38-year-old began her career at the company as a production assistant at "10vor10" and moved to "Tagesschau" as an editor and presenter in 2001. Until 2003, she also presented the magazine program "Schweizweit" on 3sat. Andrea Vetsch graduated from the University of Zurich with a degree in German studies, social pedagogy and journalism in spring 2003.

pharmacom is also on the move online. Around the claim "Communication that works." the agency has developed a new web presence which addresses the core target group of pharmaceutical companies.

Under the leadership of editor-in-chief Inga Griese and Bilanz lifestyle expert Pierre-André Schmitt, Icon reports in detail on trends in fashion, jewelry, beauty and travel. Celebrities and insiders from the world of fashion also have their say. The style magazine is aimed at a particularly brand-conscious readership. Visually, Icon also focuses on sensuality and opulence. Its design trademark is a mix of photography and illustration. German Icon has won the "european newspaper award" several times for its journalistic style.

Women, Economy, Fashion

By celebrating the beautiful and pleasurable things in life, Icon ideally complements Bilanz and Handelszeitung, says Thomas Garms, Managing Director of Business Media. The topic of lifestyle has only limited space in these classic business titles. Due to the ongoing increase in female readers, there is a growing interest in the topic of fashion and style. The publication is to cover this in the future. Icon is "even more female than First," says Garms. In addition to Bilanz and Handelszeitung, the magazine has another central distribution channel through a cooperation with fashion retailer Bongénie Grieder. Their top customers receive the magazine by mail. Icon is also distributed in fashion stores.

One editorial office for two countries

With the launch of the title, which has already won an award in Germany, Axel Springer Schweiz is expecting strong editorial synergy effects. "In a small country like Switzerland, the editorial resources for a lifestyle supplement are limited," explains Garms. The cross-national cooperation enables a higher quality, he adds. It is particularly suitable for an internationally oriented business like fashion.

Oversized format

The format of Icon is eye-catching. With its 260 mm × 365 mm, it offers "the stage with the largest magazine format in the German-language magazine space," emphasizes Axel Springer. It would be a pity to have to fold the oversize format in order to send it out. Fortunately, the publisher has found a way to deliver Icon unfolded.
 
Simone Isliker

After completing a Master's degree in industrial engineering at ETH Zurich, Marco de Stoppani (born 1944) began his professional career at Hayek Engineering AG. He then held management positions at various companies in Switzerland and abroad for several years. From 1994 to 2006, he was a member of the management of Neue Zürcher Zeitung AG and the NZZ Group management. After his retirement, de Stoppani was appointed the first President of the Mediapulse Research Foundation in 2006, which he has headed ever since.

When problems with the new TV measurement system arose last year and a legal dispute blocked the industry, the President of the Foundation was suddenly called upon to act as crisis manager. In the meantime, however, the industry is considering the organizational consequences of last year's crisis. Even parliament is currently discussing this - as part of the RTVG revision. De Stoppani himself wants one thing above all: Mediapulse should become more crisis-resistant. Reason enough to ask him about the restructuring plans.

WW: Mr. de Stoppani, you have announced that you will be stepping down at the end of the year. Why?
Marco de Stoppani: I think when you reach the age of 70, it's time to hand over your mandates. I was with Mediapulse for almost eight years.

You set up Mediapulse and had a difficult year last year due to problems with TV research. Did you get to know the industry in a new way?
The first six years were constructive and quite harmonious. But in the last year there were tensions, including on the Board of Directors (BoD). The experience of having to manage the BoD in a tight and consensus-oriented manner was new to me. I think I largely succeeded.

And on a human level?
I was surprised that the ability to set aside their own particular interests in favor of the whole was not very pronounced among some of the players.

What did you learn from last year's problems?
A lot. For example, that we underestimated the industry's inflated expectations. They had hoped for better usage figures from the new TV system, which measures in a broader and more differentiated way, which did not happen. We also deliberately chose a very short transition period from the old to the new TV measurement system. That was a bold move. Thirdly, when tensions flared up in March 2013, we didn't take a clear enough stance on the accusations. And fourthly, we didn't think it was possible for a single market participant to block an entire industry for months using legal means.

Radio research is also on the verge of renewal. What specifically are you doing differently from television?
Even before a new measurement system is evaluated, we involve the radio industry as much as possible - not only the broadcasters, marketers and advertising clients, but now also the advertising and media agencies. A second conference was recently held at which we will inform the industry not only about the list of requirements for the new research, but also about the available measurement systems - together with the respective providers. We are also planning a longer test and transition phase - in the knowledge that there will then be two currencies on the market, which can also be problematic.

And who will decide?
This is the crux of the matter: although the industry players want to be involved in decision-making, they do not bear any entrepreneurial responsibility; this lies with the BoD. The decision-making authority therefore remains with the BoD. However, we want to involve the industry more closely in the run-up.

When Mediapulse discovered at the beginning of 2013 that there were problems with the allocation of the new measurement data, it issued a communiqué. Shouldn't you and CEO Manuel Dähler have stood up and explained sooner?
Perhaps. However, there was one problem: the Chairman of a Joint Industry Committee (JIC), such as Mediapulse, primarily represents the opinion of the BoD, in which the most important stakeholders in the industry are represented. However, the BoD already had differing opinions on the data collected at the time. It was therefore virtually impossible to reach a common opinion at that time.

There is talk in the industry that although Mediapulse is communicating more actively, it is still not transparent enough. Is this to do with Kantar's business secrets?
Over the last twelve months, we have put all the documents relating to the chosen system on the table and explained the details of the usage research in many places. But the fact is that it is based on algorithms that Kantar does not want to simply disclose for competitive reasons, which I understand.

At your press conference in February 2013, you said that you would clarify the "question of guilt" for the allocation error later. Has that now happened?
Yes, we made this analysis in the BoD: ultimately, we did not exercise our supervisory function enough in the detailed implementation. Kantar, in turn, should have given us more access at an operational level. Today, the collaboration is more intensive and closer. And after negotiations, Kantar has taken on some of the additional costs. It is also important to note that when we recognized the inconsistencies in data collection and allocation at the beginning of 2013, we optimized some things, but the algorithm, the devices and the panel - with the exception of PC-only households - remained unchanged.

At the same press conference, you responded to the question of whether you believe that the data is now correct following the error correction: "Based on the statements and the quality of the people responsible, I say yes." You were proved right. However, you were putting yourself before your staff, Manuel Dähler and Kantar, even before the expert reports were available. What made this statement possible?
Every Chairman of the Board of Directors must rely on people who have the necessary know-how. In all my years at Mediapulse, I have come to know and appreciate the quality of our employees, especially that of Manuel Dähler, whom I still support 100% today. He is one of the outstanding experts in Switzerland when it comes to media usage research. That's why I was able to make this statement with a clear conscience.

Were there any claims for damages?
No, we never had any.

Has Mediapulse itself offered compensation?
No. But because small broadcasters can only use the usage data to a limited extent in their day-to-day business due to the high variability, which was already the case with the old measurement system, the BoD has now made them a new price offer. We hope that this will bring them back to Mediapulse's TV research.

Have there been any changes to the contracts?
We have thoroughly revised the contracts with SRG and Goldbach Media; they are about to be concluded. They also contain new general terms and conditions that will soon apply to the entire industry. They now also include a dispute resolution procedure.

So that in future one individual can no longer paralyze the entire industry?
Of course, legal recourse remains open to everyone. However, disputes with companies with which we have contracts must now first be settled in arbitration proceedings. It is more difficult where we have no direct contracts, e.g. with broadcasters who are represented by marketers. We are still looking for a solution here.

In terms of client structure, Mediapulse has a cluster risk: in 2007, SRG payments accounted for 71% of revenues. What is the situation today?
I don't disclose figures, but the situation is more balanced than it used to be. This is because Goldbach now has more stations under contract, which is why its share of Mediapulse sales has increased. SRG and Goldbach together account for over 90% of our TV sales. As a result, there is still a clear dominance of these major clients. This can hardly be avoided in the local TV landscape.

Mediapulse is currently also a topic in politics: in February, the Federal Office of Communications (Bakom) invited the industry to Biel for a debate on future TV and radio research. I understand that there are plans to privatize research.
As far as I could gather, Bakom can imagine privatizing research in the longer term. The consequences of such a radical system change are still completely unclear.

You have made some basic considerations. Which ones?
I see four models. The first is a total nationalization of radio and TV research: the state defines the mandate, carries out the research itself and also finances it - and the market participants receive the data free of charge. The second model is privatization: the state withdraws from research and the industry organizes and finances it itself. There are two hybrid forms in between. In the first, the state defines and finances the task, but has it carried out by a third party who could also provide the data free of charge. And the fourth is the current situation: the state formulates the mandate, commissions the foundation, which may only charge prices that cover costs for the data. And it makes a limited contribution to financing the mandate. In concrete terms: with a cost of around CHF 20 million, the federal government pays CHF 2.5 million for developments and investments; the rest comes from the market.

The current situation can be explained by history: SRG used to be responsible for research. To make it independent, the foundation was created and regulated in the RTVA. However, all other media conduct research at their own expense and without a legal mandate. So Bakom is right: today's regulation is an old tangle.
Not quite. As a liberal-minded person, I would have to be in favour of privatization. But such a radical change also harbors dangers.

Which ones?
Firstly, no other industry has such a strong bipolar structure as the radio and TV sector - which is why the state has a stabilizing effect, especially in crisis situations such as last year. If you privatize, the laws of the market prevail: Goldbach and SRG would determine how and what is measured, and small providers could be disadvantaged. I also believe that these broadcasters and advertisers would hardly be able to agree on targets, requirements or measurement methods without a legal framework. Finally, Mediapulse is currently researching both the use of advertising blocks (advertising media research) and the general use of TV as a medium. In the event of privatization, the latter would probably cease to exist. SRG, which is most interested in this for programming, would then have to organize this separately, which would lead to different currencies. As you can see, the state has an organizing power for us.

Was this also the basic tenor in Biel?
Yes, the majority of the representatives of associations and individual companies present were positive about the role of the state.

So you are arguing in favor of retaining the existing model?
Yes, at least for the next phase. However, with changes at a normative level: the mandate should be interpreted more flexibly. Changes are also necessary at the organizational and management level: the foundation should be retained and the Board of Trustees should remain a reflection of the industry. At Mediapulse AG and Publica Data AG, both wholly owned subsidiaries of the foundation, the composition of the boards of directors should be more flexible.

Parliament is also currently discussing this as part of the revision of the RTVA. Until now, SRG and the other broadcasters had to be equally represented on the boards of directors. The Federal Council proposed abolishing this regulation. But why?
As I said, Mediapulse is organized as a JIC and is therefore geared towards balancing interests. However, in crisis situations such as last year, in which tight operational management is necessary, this model is not ideal, because in extreme cases it leads to an inhibition of operational decision-making processes.

Today, the Board of Trustees consists of 19 people and the Boards of Directors of the subsidiaries each consist of 7 people. All members of the Board of Directors are also on the Foundation Board. In addition, some of these people are also on the User Commission, which represents the interests of the industry. So there is no separation of powers. Is that also the issue?
Yes, from a corporate governance perspective, supervisory, executive and advisory functions must be separated. The Board of Trustees must supervise the work of the BoD, which is why a member of the Board of Trustees should not be on the BoD at the same time. The existing regulations also stipulate that SRG, the private sector and the advertising industry can each have two representatives on the Board of Directors. However, the Board of Trustees should have the option of electing external experts, including international experts, to the Board of Directors.

SRG, advertising clients and Goldbach are now represented on all three committees. Should it stay that way?
It will not be possible to separate them completely because there is a lack of suitable people. And you have to be realistic: a Board of Directors without representatives from Goldbach and SRG is hardly effective. I am thinking more of supplementing this body with independent personalities.

The User Commission (UC) is not regulated by law or ordinance. Nevertheless, is a personal union with foundation or administrative boards compatible here?
Although separation would be necessary, it cannot be completely avoided here either.

Should everything stay the same here?
No, we are discussing the idea of forming two committees: a rather small technical committee to deal with survey methods, socio-demographic issues and technological elements, and a UC to organize and weight the interests of the industry. It remains to be seen whether these committees should have a purely advisory function, the right to submit proposals or even decision-making powers. In my opinion, the latter should remain with the BoD.

The outcome of the parliamentary discussion is open. But what would be the worst case scenario from Mediapulse's point of view?
(studies for a long time) Maintaining the status quo. Because that would lead to a stagnation. Last year, the current system reached its limits. There is a need for action.

You said that the mandate should also be formulated more flexibly. According to the RTVA, Mediapulse must be independent and committed to science, and provide data for small broadcasters "in comparable quality" to that of large broadcasters. What should be changed?
Here are just three examples: If "comparable quality" were replaced by "fit-for-purpose quality", this would come closer to reality - and the corset would be less tight. Secondly, today the Foundation can only transfer its activities to subsidiaries that it "controls". This hinders institutional cooperation with other research organizations in the field of intermedia research. I would therefore welcome the removal of this restriction. A third point: the foundation currently receives money from the federal government for investments and developments. I would find it helpful if it could also finance the operation of the panel.

The Federal Council's proposal makes no mention of alternative models, the separation of powers or the User Commission. In this respect, the ball is therefore in the court of Mediapulse and the industry.
Yes, the Foundation Board and Board of Directors will probably - hopefully - deal with these issues conclusively in the summer.

The Federal Council also said nothing about the mandate.
We will therefore have to reach an agreement with the supervisory authority on the interpretation of the legal text.

Will all this last until the end of the year?
That is my firm intention and also DETEC's mandate: my successor should find a situation that is as orderly as possible.

A lot is still open. Nevertheless, how satisfied are you with the company that you will soon be leaving?
Last year, Mediapulse succeeded in collecting usage data daily and without interruption from mid-February onwards. This required a huge effort, for which all employees deserve credit. The situation has calmed down in the meantime, but we are still facing major challenges. That's why I won't be able to say whether I'm satisfied or not until the fall.

Interview: Markus Knöpfli

The Migros Culture Percentage Dance Festival "Steps" celebrates its premiere on April 24 - for the first time at the Zurich Opera House with the world premiere of an evening created especially for "Steps" for the Zurich Ballet. Twelve international companies will then tour 35 Swiss cities and present 86 performances in 39 theaters.

The 14th edition of Switzerland's largest contemporary dance biennial is once again taking place this year under the motto "The world dances on". The well-known slogan and a consistent further development of the visual language are intended to achieve the greatest possible recognition effect among the public, even though the festival only takes place every two years, as Barbara Salm and Gerda Treml, who are responsible for communication at Migros Culture Percentage, explain.

The overall concept for "Die Welt tanzt an" and the design of the communication were realized by SCC Sennhauser Creative Consulting. René Sennhauser's agency already developed "Steps 2010". In 2012, the creative team introduced the CD with the typography as the central theme. A wide range of measures have now been created for the third implementation: Posters, program booklet, advertisements, film trailers for the cinema, postcards, online presence, commercials, regional measures at the POS, T-shirts, carrier bags in Migros stores and even sugar bags.

The motifs for the campaign visually showcase the dance explorations of contemporary choreographers that can be seen at this year's festival. "Internationality and individuality overlap in the moment of movement, sometimes clearly recognizable, sometimes as a fleeting trace. This creates fascinatingly multi-layered images, as relevant to the present and everyday life as the choreographies themselves," say the designers. The composing comes from Fluxs Artwork. The photos are by Stefan Jermann. Film camera Tim Emmenegger. The dancers were (among others): Azusa Nishimura, Irene Andreetto, Eugene Rodes, Bert Uyttenhove and Marcel Leemann.

Andreas Panzeri

 

"Momentum" is the name of the book by two advertising popes. Advertising creations that Holger Jung and Jean-Remy von Matt must have explicitly thought of in 2004: And what they implicitly advised: to deliver relevant content to the right target group via the right channel to the right device at the right time. 20 years later, we can see that what has remained are Hüppi, Sutter, Lovely and, according to the Nielsen 2013 Global Survey, a confirmed consumer preference for advertising with humor and topicality. Otherwise, the tide has turned. Influential users now hold the levers of media and opinion power. They post, like, comment, rate and tweet their experiences about people, brands and products in real time on the social web. They do it more and more frequently, increasingly constantly. According to the 2011 Nielsen Report, the credibility of their actions is twice as high as that of companies. If we want to stay in business, we have to follow them on their social tours and engage in the decision-making process with the right arguments and incentives at the right momentum. And this is where professional monitoring and management tools come into play: they help us to bring individuals and trends together systematically, i.e., recurrently, in a well-dosed manner, but at the most receptive moment. The management and measurement of this new form of individual marketing, interspersed with many different messages, sent at completely different times to users with varying media habits, is only possible thanks to such tools. How does it work?

The process

Monitoring and managing social media activities is a demanding process with four clearly defined steps.
 
#1 Monitoring (listening, tracking): Whether on Google, Facebook, Twitter, online portals, blogs or sharing platforms - the goal is to capture all relevant discussions, content and results on the social web as seamlessly as possible and bring them to the screen in real time via a dashboard.
 
#2 Analysis (measuring): This is followed by the search for conspicuous features and insights. At best, these are positive statements (sentiments), opinion leaders who come out as supporters, top issues, favorable competitor comparisons, and results from ongoing campaigns that could provide impetus for interventions and the material for new stories.
 
#3 Reporting: This is followed by the visualization of the data in charts. They create transparency and serve the management as a basis for decision-making for continuous optimization of activities.
 
#4 Engagement: We now know who the influential users (key influencers) are, what makes them tick, what their interests are, and what impulses and topics we can use to activate them in the momentum. They are what social media is all about: Third-party influencers who share their positive experiences in their networks.

The fields of application

Thanks to social media applications, more and more areas of business are being offered opportunities to increase efficiency. In communication with a more favorable "reach" through more targeted addressing at the moment of need as an alternative to watering can advertising. In sales with more favorable "visitors" as an alternative to SEA traffic or more favorable "leads" as an alternative to classic direct mailings. In service through shorter processing times, because inquiries end up directly with the right specialist - which also has a positive effect on customer satisfaction. In development, because the range of products and services can be kept attractive and at a high price level by constantly receiving suggestions for improvement. Recording these ROI parameters is the task of the monitoring team.

The most important parameters

New platforms with new parameters are entering the social web at an ever faster pace. In addition, the established players around Facebook are having the performance of their growing advertising offerings evaluated down to the last click and like. One can divide the many metrics into 6 Ws: What are the content and topics that keep people engaged and around which the most animated discussions revolve? Are there new "trending topics" that are slowly spreading, that bring up new terminologies and views, and that you should definitely not miss the start of? Is your own brand itself the subject of discussion?

What is used to convey the content? Most social media networks give preference to visually prepared content. Whether presentations via Slideshare, videos via YouTube, infographics via Pinterest or photos via Instagram - visual content, especially that generated directly by users, performs excellently. When do most discussions take place and with what intensity? Are there particularly suitable times of day, days of the week, events, or current events? To what extent is real-time communication an issue - for example, during live events? Where are the users' preferred discussion spaces? Where - geographically - can exciting topics of conversation be identified? In which social networks do the posts and likes go off? Who is discussing and expressing themselves? Are users with a lot of influence, i.e. many dedicated followers, involved? These include important authors, bloggers and Twitter users, always with a strong connection to certain topics, brands or key terms. Tracking them down and providing them with exclusive insights is an exciting approach, especially for your own new launches. Especially if the dream of a viral campaign is finally to come true, tracking down potent influencers is at the top of the monitoring list. Who tends to be passive, following the discussions but not engaging? Their activation can also be a goal.

Why do discussions take place at all? Are they positive or negative? How do they influence the perception of one's own brand, or how do they influence the climate in the market in general? Being able to recognize the origin and direction of discussions at an early stage can lead to major competitive advantages.

To answer all these questions, we have an arsenal of tools at our disposal. At www.goldbachinteracitve. com you can find the Social Media Monitoring Tool Report 2013 with quite a few recommendations. The tools can generally be divided into three categories:

1. there are the social media platforms' own tools with in-depth analysis and tracking options. Some well-known ones are Facebook Insights, Twitter Analytics, Webstagram for Instagram images or LinkedIn Directory for groups, plus of course all the tools from Google. They all belong to the standard equipment, provided that one has the corresponding tool actively in use.

2) There are tools specialized in monitoring. As a rule - and this applies to all tools - there are free versions with basic functions and paid subscriptions with extended functions. The amounts vary depending on the tool and the possibilities between 20 francs per month and several thousand francs per year. In the low four-digit range, we find two domestic offers. Those of the traditional brands Argus and Mediafocus, both of which are making quite a splash with new offerings. Argus.ch's Social Media Package Switzerland allows users to search Twitter, blogs, Facebook and YouTube for content. A foreign version is being planned. Mediafocus' online monitoring measures content that spreads within the web. This allows trends to be identified as well as places and people with frequently shared content on specific topics. The sampling includes 250 million sources worldwide and around 50,000 in Switzerland. My personal favorite is Topsy. On Topsy.com, all content shared on Twitter since the beginning can be accessed with a click. Comparisons among brands and tracking trends are exciting. It's a gimmick, but it shows the dimension, scope, and real-time and simplicity of the brave new world of analytics.

The third and last category are the all-in-one tools. Adobe's Marketing Cloud is representative of this. With these tools, you can, as Adobe puts it: "(...) measure, personalize and optimize campaigns and digital content". The future belongs to these cloud solutions, because with the shift in media use from paper and plasma to pads and smartphones, the forms of delivery are also changing. Smaller, more compact content that is above all adapted to the usage situation is in demand.

Beat Hürlimann

What tools do you have in use? Discussed at www.huerlimanncc.com.

At the General Meeting held on March 13, 2014 at Lucerne Railway Station, 56 members were present and took the opportunity to elect the members of the Board of Directors for the coming term of office. Mitja Ruggle from Tamedia was elected as the new Vice Chairman. Ursina Mögerle of Publitest - mafoconcept was confirmed as a member of the Board for a further two years.

Peter Meyer from GFK and Dorothea Schaffner from the Institute for Communication and Marketing at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts were newly elected to the Board. At the same time, Marcel Zbinden from Emmi was bidden farewell from the Board.

 

The two major distributors Migros and Coop have increased their reader market share by 0.3 points to 18.2% since last fall. Together with Tamedia and Ringier, they account for 50.9 percent of all contacts of the titles covered by the Media Trend Journal. As Ringier gained 0.1 point and Tamedia lost 0.1, this also corresponds to the growth of the three largest publishing groups in Switzerland. Fourth place goes to the NZZ Group with 5.2 percent. It has thus overtaken Axel Springer, which, like Konsumenteninfo, holds 4.9 percent each. This is followed by AZ Medien with 3.3 percent. The remaining 30.8 percent is distributed among a large number of titles from smaller publishers (see chart "Market shares Switzerland"). The main loser is Axel Springer Switzerland. Four of its seven titles listed in MACH Basic lost significant ground, losing a total of 184,000 contacts. Only the three business titles Bilanz, Handelszeitung and PME Magazine escaped unscathed. Tamedia's free share remained unchanged at around 52 percent, while Ringier's share fell by 0.7 points to 19.2 percent thanks to the new paid contacts of Landliebe. The NZZ Group recorded the sharpest decline, with its free share falling by 1.6 points to 28.6 percent thanks to the additional titles purchased from St. Galler Tagblatt and Neue Luzerner Zeitung and the non-significant loss of titles distributed free of charge.

Axel Springer loses

In German-speaking Switzerland, Tamedia, Ringier and the two major distributors increased their market share by 0.4 points to 48.8%. As the chart "Market share German-speaking Switzerland" shows, three of the four medium-sized publishers play a larger role here, as they are heavily or entirely active in this language area. As a result, the NZZ Group has outperformed Axel Springer even more clearly here than in Switzerland as a whole. While they were practically on a par in the fall, the NZZ Group is now 0.6 points ahead with a 6.5 percent share of the reader market. The two major distributors and Ringier have each gained 0.2 points. Coop and Migros together have 17.2 percent and Ringier 13.7 percent.

In French-speaking Switzerland, the major titles listed in MACH Basic generated 64.2% of all contacts, virtually unchanged from the previous year. At 30.9%, Tamedia is clearly in the lead despite a fall of 0.5 points. Konsumenteninfo increased from 6.3% to 7.4% and continues to be significantly stronger in French-speaking Switzerland than in German-speaking Switzerland.

Highly concentrated

If we focus on the daily and Sunday press market, the picture becomes much more extreme. Tamedia, Ringier and the NZZ Group continue to hold over 80 percent of the market throughout Switzerland and in German-speaking Switzerland. Tamedia dominates - especially in French-speaking Switzerland, where it holds more than three quarters of all contacts. Here, however, it lost 0.5 points - not least due to the significant loss of Le Matin. However, at 76.8%, it still generates more than three quarters of all contacts. In German-speaking Switzerland, on the other hand, it gained 0.5 points to 39.3 percent. And this is only because its daily and Sunday newspapers have lost fewer contacts than those of the other publishers. As announced here six months ago, the NZZ Group even increased its reader market share by 0.7 points to 18.8 percent. This was due to the aforementioned additional front pages of its regional newspapers. AZ Medien, on the other hand, lost ground due to its significant loss of Schweiz am Sonntag and now only holds 9.4 instead of 9.9 percent of the reader market. And this still includes the contacts of the Graubünden edition, which is published by Südostschweiz Medien.

Ueli Custer

 

With 702 (692) index points, Digital out of Home was able to continue its positive development and gain another 10 points. Advertising pressure for TV also remains positive, rising by a full 8 index points to 640 (632) in February.

In comparison, the other media performed less strongly: at 419 (423), radio lost 4 index points, teletext lost 1 index point at 58 (59) and the internet lost a full 9 index points at 733 (742). However, the overall market remained stable at 235 index points, while electronic media gained 5 index points at 641 (636).

 
Werbewoche: What does the NZZ mean to you?
Veit Dengler: For me, the NZZ has always been a beacon in the German-language press landscape. A newspaper with a high standard of journalism that knows how to curate and classify content in the best possible way and convey it with a high level of dossier competence.
 
Are you satisfied with the current online presence of the NZZ?
By and large, yes, but there is still room for improvement.
 
Where do you see room for improvement?
The structure and also the layout of the page can certainly be improved.
 
What has the paywall done?
The principle that quality journalism must be paid for is correct. We can't live on advertising alone in times of constantly declining ad volumes. But our paywall today is very rigid and doesn't allow us to make different products for different customer groups. Here we can learn a lot from the consumer goods industry, which strongly differentiates its offerings. For the NZZ, for example, I can imagine special subscriptions for people who are only interested in one part of our newspaper, for example culture or business. Perhaps an offer for students - cheaper, but not with all the content. Or premium offers that include access to conferences or other of our services in addition to the printed and digital newspaper.
 
Who is developing these new products, and when will we see the first ones?
We first have to create the foundations. In other words, an IT infrastructure that allows us to put together and sell customer-specific products. Today, customers who order a digital subscription from us still receive a paper invoice. We have a lot of catching up to do there. That's why we won't be able to launch new products until 2015. Until then, there will be one or two pilots at most.
 
In an interview with the Austrian newspaper Die Presse, you said, "We actually have to act more like a technology company than like a classic newspaper company." What exactly do you mean by that, how strong is the willingness in-house to make this change?
That was a bit tongue-in-cheek (ironic, with ulterior motives, not entirely serious), as they would say in English. Of course, we are a media company, but in the digital age, technology competence is an essential prerequisite for being able to make attractive differentiated offers on online or mobile platformers. Media companies don't have that in their genes, because to become a technology company, we also have to change our behavior. Become more agile, faster, more daring. There is a lot of willingness for this change. Starting from the Board of Directors to the employees. Everyone knows that our traditional business model is no longer sustainable and we need to change many things that we may not have questioned for decades. Concrete example: We have a great many dossier experts here in house. Their specialist knowledge, combined with the ability to express it in excellent journalistic style, is one of our mainstays. That's why, in the future, we will free these dossier experts from the burden of production so that they can do as much research and writing as possible. Downstream teams will then take care of editing and channel-specific production.
 
What changes then?
In the old publishing world, we lived off the subscribers to our newspaper and even more off the advertisers. We offered one or two products and earned very well from them. In the new world, we have to expand our product range, have all kinds of payment models and be able to offer cross-media advertising. We can't do that yet. And that's really difficult. The restructuring on the commercial side is very demanding. The transformation in journalism is fundamental in terms of working methods, time presence and the ability to think in terms of multiple forms of offering. But what must not change in this process is the preservation of the quality of the content.
 
An organizational unbundling between content production, editing and production of the NZZ editorial office is planned. The online producers - to give them a name - will have to work closely with marketing and sales, in addition to the actual editorial staff, in order to find or exploit new advertising opportunities, for example. An endless potential for conflict....
It's not that big. We sell advertising, for which our journalistic offering is the right vehicle. But we don't base our journalistic offering on advertising. One of our core brand values is journalistic independence. You read the NZZ because you trust that it doesn't just represent certain interests and that it can't be bought. That has to be the same in the new world as in the old world. That's why there are clear limits to commercialization. Native advertising, for example. That is unthinkable at the NZZ. Where marketing and sales drive editorial work is in the area of self-promotion. We have some of the best journalists in the German-speaking world in our ranks. These are brands that exude a high level of appeal. If they only research and write articles and don't go out and talk about their work - or tweet about it - then we're leaving revenue potential untapped. But here, too, there is no potential for conflict between journalism and business; I'm preaching to the choir at NZZ editor-in-chief Markus Spillmann.
 
In the same interview, you said, "Just because we've had strong brands and loyal readers in the past doesn't mean we'll keep those forever. The difficulty is figuring out how the new media should be designed." Sounds good, but who is taking on this task at NZZ today? Where do the ideas come from? Is it the CR, the department heads, the editorial staff, the newly hired management consultants or, in the end, even you?
It's the job of our "Marketing and Product" department to analyze customer data and draw conclusions from it - for example, where there's a need for new products, and how high the acceptance and market potential for them are. Then we have to decide whether we can and want to offer such a product within the framework of our journalistic independence. Journalism has a decisive say in this. If we then say, yes, we will do that, then we have to think together about when, how and with what investment. And we have to set ourselves commercial goals right from the start. If only to clearly define when we pull the emergency brake if a product doesn't live up to our expectations.
 
Who has the lead?
Both of them, they have to do it together. We deliberately have a dual leadership for the NZZ division. Journalism is very important to us, and the editor-in-chief sits on the management board - that will continue to be the case. I may have been socialized differently, but I think we have to learn to work more as a team. You can't run a company today the way you did 20 years ago. It has to be the same today as it is in soccer. It doesn't matter who wins the ball from the opponent. The crucial thing is that everyone in the team knows when to pass the ball and when to pass it so that someone scores the goal at the end of the relay.
 
I agree with you, but there are still differences in a media company. Ideas can be developed that may be commercially interesting, but bring nothing in terms of journalism or are even harmful. Conversely, there can be ideas that are very interesting from a journalistic point of view, but cost a lot of money and bring in nothing.
I'll take Frame, the new film supplement of the NZZ am Sonntag, as an example. The idea was very much shaped by Felix Müller, the editor-in-chief of NZZ am Sonntag, and Christian Jungen, the film editor, for whom this was a real concern. Then there was the Zurich Film Festival (ZFF), which offered itself as a partner because it had always wanted a publication like this. That's how the idea for Frame came about. Of course, we discussed it in our management committees. We critically calculated the project and considered what success depended on and what the criteria for success were. On this basis, we decided to go ahead with it. Without the entrepreneurial initiative of Felix Müller and Christian Jungen, this would never have happened. But now the ball is in our court, and everyone knows their role in the game. That's my understanding of teamwork.
 
I'll come back to the organizational disentanglement between writing, editing and producers. What does the editorial team actually think about this?
We don't call them producers, but they are called, a bit unwieldily, journalistic product managers. We are currently in the process of recruiting them. The important thing is that they will be deputy editors-in-chief. After all, they have to decide what content is refined and how. They have to ask themselves the question, how do I design my channel so that it meets the demands of the NZZ, but also the logic of this channel. That's an extremely important role, with a lot of commercial responsibility that goes far beyond the classic role of producer.
 
Precisely because this position is so important, it can lead to discussions...
That's certainly the case. The editorial processes have to settle in again. We have to work hard on that. But I am very confident. There is a broad understanding in the editorial team that the various channels have to be used successfully.
 
Why is the entire media industry having such a hard time with the switch to digital?
(laughs) That's not just the case in this industry. Just think of Kodak or Universal Music. Big brands disappear in every industry where digitization strikes. New brands are emerging. That's dramatic, but it can't be changed. Those who are not prepared to permanently adapt their business model to changing social or technological conditions will disappear. When I make my rounds through the houses in St. Gallen, Lucerne and here, I keep hearing the story of how, just twelve years ago, advertising had to be rejected because the staples in the print shop couldn't hold any more pages. As I said, that was only twelve years ago! But in those twelve years, the media world has changed so much that our old business model - print advertising and print subscribers - simply doesn't work anymore. Of course, I understand the reaction, "Does it really have to? After all, it was working just fine." It's not like media companies used to be that much more profitable. But they had to be much less efficient because newspapers had little competition relative to their respective clientele, and thus had correspondingly good revenues. I sometimes use the image: We came from a very fertile land and have now crossed a river to the other bank. The bridges back no longer exist; they have burned down. Now we have to make a new fertile land out of what we find.
 
There are two ways to do this. You can do it the way some of your competitors are doing it. You can diversify into other areas, diversify in the actual product, by buying back for expensive money what you have lost, such as the job or other portals. Or you can try to take a middle course, as NZZ does. They expand into areas that have a connection to the NZZ product (conferences, economic data, etc.). What other areas can an NZZ expand into?
The NZZ is only one part of the NZZ Media Group. The other part is the regional media and our journalism-related services. One fundamental decision we have made for the Group is that our raison d'être is journalism. Our aspiration is to develop new products to increase our customer base in this core. We will only pursue additional business if it has at least a reasonable link to journalism. I'll take conferences as an example. There is a natural "fit" with the NZZ. But it can also be a classifieds business, for example. We have some, but we don't buy them as expensively (laughs). It can also be health services, personal finance, business information. It all suits us. We understand these businesses.
 
You are now investing ten million. Where is the emphasis?
In journalism. In sales and marketing and in new products. We need to build up skills there that we didn't need before. For example, in data analysis. We have to get much better at that. We need to understand what our customers really want. And then develop and test new products accordingly. Acquisitions of publishing-related services are also conceivable - if they suit us.
 
At the Epiphany conference, you caused a stir by announcing that you would conquer the German and Austrian markets. After all, the NZZ has had an international edition for years, which is important but has a relatively modest circulation of around 10,000 copies. Where then do you see effective opportunities, which target groups should be addressed?
What I said - if I remember correctly - was not that we will conquer Germany and Austria, but that we will not leave these markets to others without a fight. There is a certain difference. Our product is a niche product for certain customer groups. But when you have a 90-million market - Germany and Austria combined - that's a highly attractive market even for a niche product. There's the famous phrase, "Nobody waited for the NZZ." But that's only partly true. First, the NZZ already exists in these markets, and historically it has played a relatively important role there. My father was a diplomat, and the NZZ is still part of the basic equipment for many Austrian diplomats. Because it offers the best foreign reporting in German. The same can justifiably be said about the arts section and the business section.
 
But how big is this market?
If our niche was only 0.5 percent of the total market, that would mean a readership of half a million. So it's big enough for us. The question is, can we offer it cheaply enough or profitably enough or not?
 
Online resp. digitally you can offer it cheap...
That's true, but customer acquisition is expensive. Online, too. We already have the content. In this respect, digitization is easier today than it was twenty years ago.
 
Could this expansion into Germany and Austria also be done with cooperations?
Could be.
 
We've talked a lot about the NZZ now. Everyone only reports on the flagship NZZ. But the regional newspapers bring and brought good money. There were times when Falkenstrasse was glad that the regional newspapers existed. Somehow, one gets the feeling that neither you nor your chairman of the board are very interested in the regional newspapers...
(laughs) I have four children and I say with conviction: I love them all. But there is a very banal reason why that seems to be the case. We are a relatively small company. We couldn't do the strategies for all the business units at the same time. That's why we started with the Group and then with the NZZ division. We talk about that a lot now. And so the image is created that the regional media are not important. The opposite is true. More than half of our sales and profits come from the regional media. But it's not just about the financial contribution. We have newspapers, TV stations, radio stations there, we have a whole ecosystem of media that are important for Central Switzerland and for Eastern Switzerland. We are aware of the responsibility for this system and want to do justice to it. There are many areas where we can get better. Online is certainly one of them. And another thing: We can probably improve significantly as a group, both journalistically and commercially, if we interweave the media better. For example, if I'm the first to have pictures of the F18 crash in central Switzerland, they should actually appear almost simultaneously in all our media. We have to learn to do that. In addition, we are looking at synergies. If you have two complete editorial teams that do regional reporting, you have to ask yourself whether you have to do the national topics twice. We are investigating that at the moment. Decisively, but also with due diligence.
 
There are certainly synergies that have an immediate financial impact. But it can also be more expensive, of course - especially for editorial teams with a lean structure.
Many people mistakenly use the term synergy as a synonym for the word save. My wife is Greek: synergismós means to work together. That is the point for me. Where can you collaborate in a meaningful way? If you do it right, better or cheaper products often result automatically.
 
This requires tools, systems and the will to do it...
Right!
 
Could such cooperation also go further with the Sunday press, for example?
You have to be careful there. If you look at Ostschweiz am Sonntag, it's practically all regional topics.
 
But probably no reader would object to receiving the foreign and national section of the NZZ am Sonntag...
My first job in business was in marketing. What I took away from there is that different people want different things. You shouldn't try to squeeze all needs into the same product. Our regional Sunday newspapers are successful and well done. They are also different. Ostschweiz am Sonntag is further away from a seventh edition of the daily newspaper than Zentralschweiz am Sonntag. They fit in well. Problems should be solved when they arise. Not before.
 
You mentioned online with the regional titles. There is certainly still a need for optimization there. But can a regional online strategy be financed at all?
Unreservedly, yes. You can see this, for example, in Vorarlberg or in the German Saarland. There, there are successful regional media houses that earn money online. Styria is also successful in its own way with regional media. I'm personally optimistic that we'll be able to do the same.
 
When you took the job, did you imagine there would be so many problems to solve?
You don't go into the media industry from the outside without having done your homework. In that respect, I'd say it's as expected. But what makes me feel very positive is, first of all, that there really are a lot of good people in the house. That's a cliché that people often say, but it's really true here. There are ideas and competence. The second thing is that we are a healthy company with a very strong brand. These are excellent starting conditions for success.
 
Interview: Pierre C. Meier (The interview took place on February 25)

Current media inform ation from mid-March
NZZ again suffered from declining revenues from the print advertising market and the print reader market in 2013. Although the digital market grew, it could only partially compensate for these losses. Nevertheless, the company intends to continue investing in publishing. The NZZ Media Group made significantly less revenue and profit in 2013 than in the previous year. Sales fell by 36.5 million to 482.4 million Swiss francs. This corresponds to a decline of 7 percent, as NZZ announced on Friday. The figures also show a downward trend in profit: The operating result before interest and taxes fell by 7.4 milllions to 30.6 million francs. The NZZ Group still earned 24.9 million francs on the bottom line last year - a drop of 6 million francs compared to 2012. Although the digital advertising and reader market achieved an 8 percent increase in sales, this was not enough to compensate for the massive drop in earnings from the print sector. The print advertising market lost 6.8 million Swiss francs, the print reader market 2.5 million. The number of employees was reduced significantly last year, from 1639 to 1514. This corresponds to a reduction of 8 percent of all employees. Despite these unpleasant figures, the NZZ Media Group is sticking to its decision to invest around 10 million francs in journalism in the coming years. "We are facing the change in the media world with its declining subscription and advertising revenues by going on the offensive," NZZ CEO Veit Dengler is quoted as saying in the statement. The first step is an expansion into neighboring German-speaking countries, initially into Austria, where NZZ CEO Dengler is from. The NZZ is convinced that there are enough customers in Austria who appreciate the offer of liberal quality journalism. Austrian journalist Michael Fleischhacker, former editor-in-chief of the daily Die Presse, will examine the possibilities in Austria on behalf of the NZZ Media Group. According to the NZZ, there is no concrete project. The media channel has also not yet been defined. (SDA)

 
WW: Why does Kieser Training need an image adjustment?
Werner Kieser: They don't even wear knickerbockers anymore. They used to be fashionable. Or the long hair in the 70s. When I look at old photos like these, I realize that you need a new haircut from time to time. That's relatively independent of the content. Our product is just as convincing today as it was when the company was founded in 1967.
 
Your company has carried out extensive research for this "haircut". What insights is the new image based on?
Patrik Meier: There have always been small adjustments in advertising. But for the actual positioning, we now wanted to take a self-critical look at the brand image, our marketing concept and our corporate identity. To do this, we surveyed 5,000 customers and 500 former customers, employees, business partners, doctors, physiotherapists and 2,000 non-customers. In addition to the advertising style, we also examined the core of the brand, the internal culture and the behavior towards customers. The evaluation showed that our offer has a lot of potential, but that the image of Kieser Training tends to be associated with "training for old and sick people". So we don't need to change anything about the product or the offer. The preconception that "you only go to Kieser if you are old and ill" is of course nonsense. We now need to revise this with the change of image, because our offer is aimed at a much broader range of customers. Our customer benefits lie in three areas: strong body, strong back, beautiful life. Our customers know this and are convinced by our offer. We only need to change our image among those who do not yet train with us.
Kieser: The core task of the image adjustment is now to modernize the brand visually while highlighting the proven range. The quintessence is: "Strong body. Strong attitude." Together with the advertising agency Kunde & Co, we derived the new guiding principle from this: "Yes to a strong body." We also analyzed the fact that our corporate identity with its grey and yellow looks a little outdated. In the German market, the color yellow is also strongly identified with a well-known discounter. That's why we removed the yellow from the logo completely. Instead, we are now working with blue. Blue was already an important color for Kieser Training in the past. Our machines were also blue for a while. Originally they were even black and white. Even our advertisements and the first logo were once black and white. But that's just it: It's not just the hair that changes.
Meier: The association with the discounter particularly disturbed us. One could conclude from this that we offer less. In fact, we clearly offer less than the competition. But our range is of a much higher quality.
Kieser: For us, the "less" refers to the breadth. We are not a conventional fitness club where you can mainly maintain your lifestyle, but we have a medical focus. This came about almost 20 years ago. At the very beginning, it was mainly athletes who trained with us. Then more and more older people came and I realized that we couldn't just leave them to their training. That would be irresponsible because it could lead to health problems. This is how medically based training came about. And because the focus here is on back problems, this image of "Oh dear, if you're in pain, you have to go to Kieser. Or when you're old". Originally, it was the other way around: Zurich was mentioned in Playboy magazine as the "pick-up place for the most beautiful girls" in Switzerland. And they all came to us.
 
Should it now go more in the direction of lifestyle?
Meier: Lifestyle is too hackneyed. I like it better: Kieser Training is an iconic brand. We are extremely focused. When everyone else is offering a thousand different things, we stick solely to what works. Everything else is of little interest to us. If it works, it's good. If it doesn't work, we don't need it.
Kieser: That's the minimalism that has developed over time. I've been part of the whole development. I was the first in the Zurich area to offer a fitness program. Then John Valentine came along and the club in Nova Park. In the face of this competition, I felt I had to keep up. So I also added a sauna and bar. Until I realized that people were no longer training at all. They were just lying around. So I wanted to get back to the original concept. It turned out that science had come to meet us. We realized more and more that we were on the right track with our medical services. Today, I'm glad that I drew the right conclusions from my investment detour back then. I tore the saunas out again because I realized: People want to look different and feel better after a year. If they lie in the sauna for a year, they may be cleaner, but not better trained. So we have consistently pursued our own concept ever since.
Meier: However, this offer becomes a problem if we are simply summarized without reflection among the wider fitness scene. Those who don't know Kieser Training then see us as an unattractive fitness club. We cost a little more and offer less. But anyone who knows us knows what our customers get. There are people who say: "I never go to a fitness club. I go to Kieser."
 
Did everything work with word-of-mouth propaganda in the past?
Kieser: Up to 90 percent of clients have come to us on recommendation. The rest through press reports. Then I said to myself: if I don't advertise, I don't know how many more would come. So we started a bit with advertising. But even then we realized: the most important thing is the product. If it's good, then it does relatively well. However, at every stage there are people who come to training for a while and then stop coming. You can then replace this estimated quarter of customers with advertising.
 
Which channels are used for advertising?
Meier: Following the launch of the print campaign in January and February, there will be another wave nationally in the fall. Our communication is ongoing on the website, in social media and with our customer magazine every three months as well as with Werner Kieser's blog.
 
What target audience is the campaign now aimed at?
Meier: Our image communication is aimed at people aged 30 to 55, but younger and older people can also come. But it was important to us that our imagery does not show people exercising on machines. That's more like advertising for the fitness scene. For us, it should be people in everyday or leisure situations. People who are focused and doing something. Kieser should not be the purpose of life for these people. Kieser Training helps to promote their purpose in life. That was the idea. For the bodybuilder, bodybuilding is life. They go to the gym every day. With us, people come once or twice a week. They do something because they know: The muscles are rebuilding. It's simply part of human nature. That's why you have to do something about it.
Kieser: It is a hygiene measure. It's not so much fun and pleasure. Nor is it a way of getting to know people, although you can do that too. I always compare it to dental hygiene. It's also something that has a huge impact on your health, tripling the lifespan of your teeth. But it's not fun and it's not particularly attractive. I have nothing against fun. But I want to emphasize the necessity of what we offer. Anyone who trains with us will no longer have back pain afterwards and will experience a whole range of positive changes. Unlike with teeth, however, the public is not yet sufficiently aware of this when it comes to the musculoskeletal system. We don't just do sport. Sport is maximization. What we do is optimization. And that requires a slightly different approach to advertising. We can't advertise with beautiful girls or bring in sex appeal like others do.
 
Kieser Training is represented in 8 countries with 140 branches. How widespread is the campaign?
Meier: We conducted our analysis in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The first phase of our campaign also ran in the DACH region. The campaign will later be continuously expanded to the international market. We are taking print media, online media and now also social media into account. Employer branding is also very important. It is important that we also properly introduce our own people to the new brand. The new marketing concept was presented to the workforce at an internal kick-off in Cologne's Musical Dome in September 2013. Each company then prepared itself for January 2014, when we launched the image campaign.
Kieser: We are a franchising system. We have our business partners. There is a national promotion in each country, which is made up of elected representatives from the system headquarters and the franchisees. With the budget managed here, we ensure that the national marketing activities are covered. Based on this, each company has its own task to work on the marketing plan in the area around its location. Local and regional marketing activities are therefore carried out by our business partners.
 
Do you offer print on demand?
Meier: Yes, our advertising agency Kunde & Co created an ordering system for advertising elements for all 140 Kieser Training studios in the DACH region. With the new print-on-demand system, the studios can make their own adjustments to the predefined advertising elements, have them produced at minimal cost and then place them accordingly.
 
How did you come across Kunde & Co?
Meier: It was a pitch. Although there are rumors, because Kunde & Co are our neighbors in the Prime Tower in Zurich. There's a story about that. I saw an advertisement in the Handelszeitung that a Danish agency owner had written a book. My wife is Danish, so I have an affinity with the country. So I ordered this book by Jesper Kunde by fax - and the very next morning a gentleman was standing in front of the door to our system headquarters and wanted to hand over the book. I thought: Wow, a super service. Then it turned out that the gentleman was our new neighbor. When the philosophy described in the book was a perfect fit for us, we also invited the agency to our pitch. The philosophy is about the constellation of "young people with energy who want to give their all, working together with older people who can contribute their experience and decide what is good and bad". This is just as true for Kunde & Co as it is for Kieser Training.
 
They used to have 19 branches in Zurich. The franchise was not renewed in 2010, and in 2011 Kieser started with six new branches of its own. Are you now planning to grow again?
Kieser: Yes, we do. But we have limited resources and don't want to just go ahead and expand. The franchisee at the time adopted our concept. In this respect, there is no emergency in Zurich. So we prefer to invest in development. We have developed three new types of machine, which are now also causing a lot of international discussion. Our job as a franchisor is to be ahead of the game. That costs millions. A research project to solve a problem quickly becomes very expensive. We did this for our ankle and pelvic floor machine. The pelvic floor is a huge problem, including incontinence in men over 50, but it can be solved and we are the first in the world to do so.
 
Will the business with the machines soon be bigger than the training offers?
Kieser: So far, we are happy if we can supply all our own businesses on time. The fitness industry doesn't do what we need. It is geared towards the gym owners. They are only interested in legs, stomach and bottom. So it's the purely cosmetic aspect. But there are muscles that are very important, but you can't see them. And they cause people problems after a certain age. We have concentrated on that. No other fitness studio takes care of the pelvic floor. There are a lot of pelvic floor schools, but only women go there. But it's just as important for men. You have to look after your body. I have constantly pursued this approach. In the meantime, 'high intensity' has suddenly become fashionable. Something we've been talking about for 40 years. This development confirms my conviction: If you recognize something correctly, then you have to consistently continue in that direction.
 
How big a part does your wife, who is a doctor, play in the company's success?
Kieser: I got to know her when she was doing her A-levels. Then came her medical studies and her dissertation on postoperative strength training after cruciate ligament operations. My wife grew into the business and became very important. She has more of a clinical view than I do. We now have a doctor in every studio. For the doctors, everyone is ill. On the other hand, we have instructors and sports teachers. For them, everyone has to get fit. These are two different worlds of thinking.
 
Can we say they are united in the new slogan: "Yes to a strong body"?
Kieser: The body must be at the center. Muscle and strength. What we sell must be honest. We don't need a dream image. That would be harmful. People come to us and have to move heavy loads here. They need to make an effort. And that's what we sell. That's why we put the body at the center. The core of the brand is the efficiency of the method. We've been saying for years that one or two 30 to 40-minute workouts a week are absolutely enough. We can guarantee this because we have machine technology that is designed for efficiency. We have a method that is geared towards efficiency, and that's why we can say: that's enough.
 
Interview: Andreas Panzeri