Much new in the southeast
Starting at the end of March, the four divisions of Chur-based Somedia—print, radio, TV, and online—will operate under a single brand, Medienfamilie Südostschweiz. Externally, they will also be united under one roof: the new media center in Chur.
After seven years of hard work, a diverse media portfolio in the southeast of the country has formed a convergent media brand with daily and weekly newspapers, radio, TV and online: Südostschweiz. From January 20, the daily newspaper "Südostschweiz" will appear in a completely new layout, on February 17 "Radio Grischa" will become "Radio Südostschweiz" and on March 24 "Tele Südostschweiz" will become "TV Südostschweiz ". Online Südostschweiz" is also to be relaunched on March 17.
The new media family will also share a logo in the future: the blue "Südostschweiz " lettering with four small circles representing print, online, radio and TV. For better differentiation, each division is marked by a color. Blue stands for print, green for online, red for radio and orange for TV.
The changes at the daily newspaper "Südostschweiz" are also striking. It has been completely revamped: In the future, the focus will be even more on regional issues, ticker news will lose its central role, larger narrative sections will illuminate topics from all sides, and the layout will be equal to the text. In initial tests, the relaunched Südostschweiz was very well received: representative focus groups judged the design and content layout to be very appealing and reader-friendly.
Four media, one brand
Convergence only works if it is lived. The new media house in Chur, for example, offers the right conditions for turning five locations into one and moving closer together in terms of both space and content: The editorial teams of newspaper, radio, television and online remain independent of each other, but work together in the new media house in the common newszone and at the newsdesk. The newszone is the area where all the editorial teams of the four divisions are located. The newsdesk is the daily command and decision center, where the four service chiefs of the sub-media decide how individual topics of the day will be handled. A new spirit also prevails at the Somedia service brands: Advertising in Somedia media has been sold since spring 2014 via the cross-media sales organization "Somedia Promotion," Switzerland's only advertising sale across four media genres. The service brand "Somedia Production" for media services from printing to video solutions has been in existence for several months. And the marketing department will also work across divisions in the future. This means that customers will have just one contact for print, TV, radio and online.
Already at the end of December, some departments of Somedia moved into the new media house. These "pilots" have already settled into the new building. "Life on the construction site is fascinating," writes Silvio Lebrument, Managing Director Media at Somedia, in his blog. "For work that requires quiet, however, it is a challenge. There is drilling, hammering, screwing and vacuuming. Still, the La Quotidiana editorial team has managed to put out a good newspaper." Soon the banging will be over: The main move will take place on February 6 and 7, and the media house will then be officially opened on April 24 in the presence of Media Minister Doris Leuthard. After that, Somedia's management team still has to take care of dismantling the old sites.
Anne-Friederike Heinrich
Interview with CEO Andrea Masüger
Background: Somedia
Somedia comprises various companies active in the newspaper, printing, advertising, publishing, electronic media and Internet sectors. The main product is the daily newspaper "Südostschweiz" with regional editions in the cantons of Graubünden, Glarus, St. Gallen and Schwyz. Somedia also publishes the daily newspapers Bündner Tagblatt and La Quotidiana as well as the weekly newspapers Bündner Woche/Engadiner Woche, Glarner Woche, Obersee Nachrichten, Davoser Zeitung, Klosterser Zeitung and various local newspapers. Somedia operates Radio Grischa and Tele Südostschweiz, offers video and web productions, and unites various book publishers, a print shop, and diverse trade and consumer magazines under its roof. The media & medicine publishing house MMV with Werbewoche also belongs to Somedia.
