Free postilla for house residents
Free Press: Former Jean Frey CEO Filippo Leutenegger is launching a new glossy free magazine focused on home and lifestyle and aims to boost its reach.
Gratispresse Ex-Jean Frey CEO Filippo Leutenegger launches a new glossy free magazine around the house and wants to boost reach When the representatives of Axel Springer and Jean Frey announced the takeover deal from the podium at the Hyatt Hotel in December, Jean Frey CEO Filippo Leutenegger was sitting in the front row of the audience. Main shareholder Tettamanti had decided against his CEO's attack strategy and sold JF to Springer. Leutenegger therefore had to vacate his chair. He took his magazine project with him, along with its project manager Rehné Herzig, who had already been working on it for eight months, and is now realizing it on his own. The new owners probably didn't want to pursue the project any further, which was only in the starting blocks. Leutenegger has since founded a new public limited company called Medienarena and appointed Herzig as CEO. Herzig held various management positions at Ringier for many years and previously worked for the Swedish media group Bonnier. Born in Denmark, Herzig has experience with the free press of Scandinavian provenance and ambitious plans. The new magazine with the title "Neue Ideen" (New Ideas) is to be distributed to all private homes in Switzerland with a circulation of 722,000 copies by the postal service and reach 1.2 million readers in the medium term. "We are not producing a real estate magazine, as has been erroneously reported in various media," says Herzig. Neue Ideen is aimed at all homeowners and residents. This target group has a wide range of interests. The content should therefore range from interior decoration and design to cooking, people and lifestyle. Home stories with celebrities exhibiting themselves in their own living spaces are a matter of course.
Herzig's reasoning is very simple. There are around 950,000 homeowners and residents in Switzerland, around 22 percent of whom use stop stickers to block unwanted advertising mail. The rest make up the circulation. Around half of the 90,000 or so planning applications submitted in Switzerland each year concern private individuals who prefer to invest their money in a new kitchen or a conservatory. According to Herzig, his target group invests around 13 billion Swiss francs a year. This market is highly interesting for advertisers, but hardly tapped into. When Electrolux advertises, for example, they don't just want to sell fridges, they also want to sell emotions. Ads of this type are best displayed visually in the 17 special interest titles in question.
However, none of them have a circulation of more than 30,000 and their publication rhythm is completely different. To compensate for the lack of reach, advertisers switch to the less suitable daily and Sunday press. Herzig sees his niche there and is convinced that he can easily achieve the expected reach. This would make the paper number three in the market after Migros Magazin and Coop Zeitung. In addition, the construction industry is booming; according to the Advertising Index, advertising in this segment increased by up to 28 percent between 2003 and 2005. Herzig's idea is not new. Ringier had already discussed the idea 15 years ago, based on Scandinavian models. But the time was not yet ripe for the free press in Switzerland.
If the advertisers really get on board with Neue Ideen, Rehné Herzig would like his magazine, which he sees as a new genre on the market, to be published 24 times a year. So far, ten issues per year are planned. The Dane does not see his magazine as a competitor to the Swiss Homeowners' Association's Hauspostille. This is more of a political organ and comes across as somewhat lackluster. "Many advertising customers not only need coverage, but also good print quality." An issue should have at least 64 pages - with no upper limit. Some advertisers are likely to jump at the chance of so much gloss.
René Worni
Herzig's reasoning is very simple. There are around 950,000 homeowners and residents in Switzerland, around 22 percent of whom use stop stickers to block unwanted advertising mail. The rest make up the circulation. Around half of the 90,000 or so planning applications submitted in Switzerland each year concern private individuals who prefer to invest their money in a new kitchen or a conservatory. According to Herzig, his target group invests around 13 billion Swiss francs a year. This market is highly interesting for advertisers, but hardly tapped into. When Electrolux advertises, for example, they don't just want to sell fridges, they also want to sell emotions. Ads of this type are best displayed visually in the 17 special interest titles in question.
However, none of them have a circulation of more than 30,000 and their publication rhythm is completely different. To compensate for the lack of reach, advertisers switch to the less suitable daily and Sunday press. Herzig sees his niche there and is convinced that he can easily achieve the expected reach. This would make the paper number three in the market after Migros Magazin and Coop Zeitung. In addition, the construction industry is booming; according to the Advertising Index, advertising in this segment increased by up to 28 percent between 2003 and 2005. Herzig's idea is not new. Ringier had already discussed the idea 15 years ago, based on Scandinavian models. But the time was not yet ripe for the free press in Switzerland.
If the advertisers really get on board with Neue Ideen, Rehné Herzig would like his magazine, which he sees as a new genre on the market, to be published 24 times a year. So far, ten issues per year are planned. The Dane does not see his magazine as a competitor to the Swiss Homeowners' Association's Hauspostille. This is more of a political organ and comes across as somewhat lackluster. "Many advertising customers not only need coverage, but also good print quality." An issue should have at least 64 pages - with no upper limit. Some advertisers are likely to jump at the chance of so much gloss.
René Worni
