Cross-media becomes part of everyday life in Aargau

Cross-media The AZ Media Group is stepping up its cross-media activities. An important component of this was and is the Everyday Life project.
Aargauer Zeitung, Wochenzeitung, Radio Argovia, Tele M1/TeleTell and
the Internet platform azonline.ch, has set up a new department
Crossmedia/Key Account was created. Integrated into this is the area
Online and the classifieds marketplace. According to the
successful experiences with the multimedia project Alltag mit
Crossmedia more serious than ever. "You can measure its importance by this,
that this is not just a staff position," explains
Christoph Marty, until recently publishing director of the Aargauer Zeitung and
now head of the newly created division.

This is organizationally subordinate to the company management. According to
Marty, the AZ-Medien Group has a number of media outlets in the Mittelland region.
successful newspaper titles, radio and private television stations. Alone
The cross-media networking of these media was previously open. The
Establishing a division is also the logical extension of the
everyday life project. Conceived as a cross-media experiment, the
Project comes to an end after nine months on February 28. The
Marty sees the results as positive: "The goal of finding advertising customers
new ways of communication to offer appropriate
has been achieved. "Everyday life has a lot of potential," says Marty.

In the everyday project, the creators succeeded in what initially seemed to be a
loss-making business: the company is in the black. Also
Everyday life inventor Jörg Meier, head of the company's own
editorial team, which consists of editors from all over the world.
various AZ media outlets, draws a positive conclusion: "We
have "held out in terms of journalism", and there has even been a slight
profit, he says.

The public response is impressive. The media contributions in the context of
the all-round journalistic support of the five-member Aargau
The Hagenbuch farming family from the hamlet of Werd in Rottenschwil came across the
Aargau has met with a sustained and record-breaking response from the public.
The ratings on Tele M1 alone soared to 70,000 viewers
per consignment and, according to Meier, were still putting in a lot of work before the end of the project.
on: "A strong value for regional TV." Journalistic perseverance
However, it is not only the media professionals who have a role to play. The media family
seemed to suffer badly at times in the crossfire of journalistic curiosity.
"It was very tough for the Hagenbuchs at times," says Meier, whose
pupils over the past nine months to become the best-known Aargau
family at all. Both the mother and the youngest
son had to take a media-free break of one week each.

However, the experiment received little national attention. After 27 of the
The most important contribution to the SonntagsBlick was the
interest on the part of the SoBli editorial team had lapsed. In addition, the
Posts with 1500 characters far too short and not prominent enough
placed in order to achieve the necessary attention, says
Meier.

Aargau flooded Ticino
The cooperation with the ten media partners worked well,
among them Amag, Le Shop, Ikea, SBB and as main partner Charles
Vögele. One of the outstanding events was the "Raus aus
everyday life", an offer from SBB for a trip to the canton of Ticino
at a special price. Thousands of travelers bought a Ticino ticket
in one of the designated branches of the Charles Vögele fashion house, where
they were granted an additional ten percent off the product range. "We
have sent around 12500 people from Aargau to Ticino",
says Jörg Meier. The SBB even had to run extra trains.

In view of such figures, it is not surprising that the Hagenbuch family in the
Aargau now has a broad fan base. But what happens
what happens after the end of the experiment? Of course, the
AZ Media Group earn from cross-media offerings. The considerations
therefore revolve around two questions: Is the experiment of everyday life purely
commercially conceivable, or/and should it be used as a journalistic format?
be continued?

Next edition already in the works
Jörg Meier is currently developing further everyday ideas.
There has already been talk of a setting in the environment of a
small or medium-sized company. But it has to be profitable. "We
try to get hold of the money that the companies in the
rule on communication," says Christoph Marty. We have a lot
learned and will try to do an even better job next time with the media partners.
to be involved. Marty estimates that a further edition of the project with
two to three main partners and five to seven other interested parties.
company could become profitable.

The fact that the project is increasingly voyeuristic from the audience's
needs has not proven to be true. The separation between
journalistic and commercial aspects of reporting
Marty also sees this as unproblematic. "It's not one hundred percent
but we would be making a mistake as a media company if we wanted to
we are teaching a mature audience," he says. By May, the
The project was developed to such an extent that interested
companies as media partners in order to organize a media event next fall.
next version of everyday life in Aargau.

Advertising as if by itself
The focus of the Everyday Life project over the past nine
months the Hagenbuch-Tresch family from Rottenschwil. The
Constant monitoring by the media of the AZ Media Group led to a
A wealth of editorial reports, stories, service contributions and
Public events about everyday family life. Everyday events
such as school problems, tire changes or vacation plans could thus be
practically by itself with commercially motivated advertising intentions of the
partner companies involved in the project.

René Worni