Community marketing à la Joiz

As is well known, Joiz does not simply make television. The youth channel combines traditional TV with the web, mobile and social media. Young Joiz users log into the programs to actively chat, vote or take part in competitions via the so-called "Red Button" (which is broadcast directly into the program). The company saves everything its registered users do and can thus generate valuable data for its advertising customers. The media company - which is financed almost exclusively through advertising and sponsorship - has so far only used the self-developed community marketing solution for its two in-house Joiz channels in Switzerland and Germany. "We are the European leader in this area," says Gähwiler, Managing Director of Joiz Global. The youth channel is now also selling its technology to corporate customers.

Combining content and e-commerce

With the launch of a community marketing solution for corporate customers, Gähwiler is convinced that the company is in the right place at the right time. "We are seeing a lot of interest from the traditional television sector. Interaction tools are in demand - and customers primarily want to generate sales with our solution. The tools don't just generate costs for media companies, they also create additional advertising inventory for them." With the help of a "red button" like the one from Joiz, Gähwiler explains, it would be possible, for example, for viewers to directly buy a shoe that a professional footballer is wearing during the game. "Content and e-commerce are generally moving ever closer together," says the Joiz Global Managing Director. "But such a strong connection between content and e-commerce can only be found in Switzerland with Joiz."

German publishing house first customer

Joiz Global recently landed its first major customer, the German publishing house M. DuMont Schauberg. The publishing house has licensed the Joiz technology for its big data strategy and intends to transform Köln.tv into an interactive regional TV network in 2015. The websites of three regional newspapers will also be integrated into the new strategy. The interactive program will include sports, lifestyle and news broadcasts and is not only aimed at a young audience. Gähwiler and his team are supporting the process, which will take several months, from conception and development to consulting on the new workflows. However, the company also offers less comprehensive, format-specific products for its customers.

The brains behind Joiz Global

"Many people read and consume completely differently today than they did a few years ago. What attracted me to the media industry right from the start was the innovative power that has to be generated due to this upheaval in user behavior," says Gähwiler. The newly appointed Managing Director entered the publishing and media industry in 2007. After seven years as a consultant at PWC, he followed "the call of implementation orientation" and moved to Orell Füssli, where he held various positions, including setting up a corporate venture within the group. Most recently, as Controller at Tamedia since 2012, he oversaw the further expansion of the digital business. He will benefit enormously from this in his new position. "We support change processes and strategic realignments. As a supplier, it's easier to incorporate the overall environment of a larger media company if you know such a business from the inside."

Proximity to the Joiz production plant

The airy offices of Joiz Global float four floors above the hectic Joiz newsroom on the first floor, and the average age of the new team is also considerably higher. However, the proximity to Joiz production operations is important to Gähwiler. Every employee receives an induction program on the first floor, he emphasizes. "The young target group that Joiz appeals to has a language that we may smile about. But we need to know their user behavior in order to be able to roll out our applications on a large scale later on. " The 40-year-old knows that the interactive television behavior of Joiz users will be the same as that of 35-year-olds in ten years' time.

Simone Isliker