Gygi gets angry

Delivery organization Now the head of Swiss Post is taking the AZO seriously In the past, Swiss Post had no interest in participating in the Alternative Delivery Organization for Magazines (AZO) despite several invitations. However, the fact that the publishing houses Ringier, Tamedia, NZZ and Südostschweiz as well as the retail giant Valora gave the project the green light on December 21 seems to have knocked Swiss Post off its feet. In any case, Swiss Post CEO Ulrich Gygi will meet with the heads of the four publishers this week. No wonder: the project, which is independent of the publishers' association, would take 180 million of the 700 million magazines distributed annually and a turnover of 150 million Swiss francs out of Swiss Post's hands.On January 11, the AZO committee also decided that potential major customers such as Schweizer Illustrierte, Touring, Migros Magazin and Coop Zeitung will now be approached and, if possible, integrated into the project. "We want to expand the committee considerably over the next few months," says Walter Lütolf, Head of Sales at Ringier and AZO spokesperson. It is also planned that project manager Wolfgang Schickli will continue in his role, although he will take over the Press & Book Switzerland division at Valora.
(mk)