Big leaf for a big canton
Edipresse Merges "24 Heures" with "La Presse" — and Claims the Entire Canton of Vaud for Itself.
Daily newspapers Edipresse merges 24 Heures with La Presse - and claims the whole of Vaud for itself Loud cries of protest in the summer put a stop to the proposal by consultancy firm Publicom to expand economic area 12 around Lausanne at the expense of Fribourg and Valais. Wemf, as the client, decided to review the reclassification of the economic areas (EAs) and put it on hold for the time being. Smaller publishers in particular had opposed the reclassification. They suspected that the Lausanne media group Edipresse was plotting to give its titles more weight in the advertising market, but in March 2005 Edipresse embarked on a different strategy to conquer the Veveyse, Broye and Monthey. The publisher is expanding its Lausanne daily newspaper 24 Heures into a newspaper for the Greater Vaud region. To this end, the regional papers La Presse Riviera-Chablais and La Presse Nord-vaudoise-Broye are integrated into 24 Heures. Edipresse already took over their publisher Corbaz in 2002.
Publishing director Pierre Buntschu emphasizes that the papers will not simply be merged. Rather, a completely new newspaper is being created, which will be launched under the well-established 24 Heures brand. The new 24 Heures will be published with four regional split editions. Two will replace the La Presse titles in Riviera-Chablais and Nord-Vaudoise-Broye. As before, 24 Heures will dedicate a third to the cantonal capital Lausanne. The fourth is a completely new launch. It will cover the La Côte region west of Lausanne up to the cantonal border with Geneva.
Edipresse is thus even reaching beyond the controversial large WG 12. Nyon, the westernmost tip of Vaud, belongs to Geneva's WG 11 both currently and in the Publicom proposal. At the same time, 24 Heures is poaching on the territory of its competitor Hersant. The French publishing group publishes the regional newspaper La Côte, based in Nyon. Editor-in-chief Jacques Poget, however, denies that 24 Heures is seeking a confrontation with Hersant. But the paper feels just as committed to its readers in the Côte as to those in the other regions, he writes in the announcement of the relaunch.
Critical voices
Edipresse tries to parry criticism of its expansionist ambitions by pointing to its proximity to readers. Critical voices were quick to emerge - especially in the Fribourg daily La Liberté, which had already taken the sharpest shots at the new WG division. "Our region is losing something that united us," La Liberté quotes the district prefect of Yverdon, Pierrette Roulet-Grin. René Perdrix, honorary prefect of Grandson, regrets that after the merger of the newspapers, there is now only one interlocutor in addition to local radio and TV.
Pascal Broulis, Vaud's Director of Finance, is concerned about the interregional aspect. He fears that readers will have to limit themselves to information from their region in future if they only receive the respective split edition. Roulet-Grin also expects that cantonal cohesion will now be more difficult to achieve. "But I hope that the necessary resources will be made available to provide genuine regional information."
Edipresse wants to leave no doubt about this. The publishing house has endowed each split edition - including the one in Lausanne - with its own local editorial team, including editor-in-chief, sports reporters and photographers. The local editorial team is responsible for the second edition of the new 24 Heures. The central editorial team at Edipresse's headquarters in Lausanne, which will continue to be headed by Jacques Poget, will provide the general editorial content. This structure means that no jobs will have to be cut despite the merger. On the contrary, a number of new appointments are possible, writes Poget.
New design for 24 Heures
Of course, more reader service is not the entire background to the relaunch. According to Poget, the decision was based on an in-depth study into the future of the regional press. This came to the conclusion that a merger of the strengths of 24 Heures and the La Presse titles offered the best opportunities - both in the reader market and with local and national advertisers.
The new 24 Heures will also have a new design. The existing red logo will be retained. However, it will probably change color in the editions for Riviera-Chablais and Nord-vaudoise-Broye. According to the online service Largeur.com, tests have shown that blue - La Presse's corporate color - is very popular with the public. The new layout is being developed by newspaper designer Martin Dixon together with art director Marc Borden; a first draft is already available. The Briton Dixon was already responsible for the design of 24 Heures in 1999. Numerous publications in French-speaking Switzerland bear his signature, including L'Illustré, Bilan and Le Matin.
24 Heures will not only share the designer with its sister newspaper Le Matin, but also the editorial system in future. Edipresse will be introducing a joint IT solution for all its titles next spring. This is also the reason why the Vaud region will have to wait until March for the launch of its new, large daily newspaper.
The newspaper for the WG 12 plusBack in 1999, 24 Heures underwent a relaunch with the aim of establishing itself as the newspaper for the entire canton of Vaud. However, this was only partially successful. The main distribution area remained the Lausanne region, where the paper now has a reach of 52.8 percent. The figure for the whole of WG 12 is 45.7 percent.
The new 24 Heures is breaking up the WG 12 in several places. With Nyon and La Broye, it gnaws at the catchment area of Geneva and Fribourg. However, these regions are politically part of Vaud. In Veveyse, on the other hand, the newspaper extends into the canton of Fribourg, and in the Monthey area into Valais.
The circulation of 24 Heures is 88500 copies. La Presse Riviera-Chablais sells 24,000 copies and La Presse Nord-vaudoise 12,600 copies (excluding large print runs). Its competitor La Côte, into whose territory 24 Heures is entering with a new split edition, sells just under 14,000 copies.
The new distribution area of 24 Heures is called "WG 12 plus".
The regions marked in yellow are those where Edipresse reaches beyond the Lausanne economic area.
Stefano Monachesi
Publishing director Pierre Buntschu emphasizes that the papers will not simply be merged. Rather, a completely new newspaper is being created, which will be launched under the well-established 24 Heures brand. The new 24 Heures will be published with four regional split editions. Two will replace the La Presse titles in Riviera-Chablais and Nord-Vaudoise-Broye. As before, 24 Heures will dedicate a third to the cantonal capital Lausanne. The fourth is a completely new launch. It will cover the La Côte region west of Lausanne up to the cantonal border with Geneva.
Edipresse is thus even reaching beyond the controversial large WG 12. Nyon, the westernmost tip of Vaud, belongs to Geneva's WG 11 both currently and in the Publicom proposal. At the same time, 24 Heures is poaching on the territory of its competitor Hersant. The French publishing group publishes the regional newspaper La Côte, based in Nyon. Editor-in-chief Jacques Poget, however, denies that 24 Heures is seeking a confrontation with Hersant. But the paper feels just as committed to its readers in the Côte as to those in the other regions, he writes in the announcement of the relaunch.
Critical voices
Edipresse tries to parry criticism of its expansionist ambitions by pointing to its proximity to readers. Critical voices were quick to emerge - especially in the Fribourg daily La Liberté, which had already taken the sharpest shots at the new WG division. "Our region is losing something that united us," La Liberté quotes the district prefect of Yverdon, Pierrette Roulet-Grin. René Perdrix, honorary prefect of Grandson, regrets that after the merger of the newspapers, there is now only one interlocutor in addition to local radio and TV.
Pascal Broulis, Vaud's Director of Finance, is concerned about the interregional aspect. He fears that readers will have to limit themselves to information from their region in future if they only receive the respective split edition. Roulet-Grin also expects that cantonal cohesion will now be more difficult to achieve. "But I hope that the necessary resources will be made available to provide genuine regional information."
Edipresse wants to leave no doubt about this. The publishing house has endowed each split edition - including the one in Lausanne - with its own local editorial team, including editor-in-chief, sports reporters and photographers. The local editorial team is responsible for the second edition of the new 24 Heures. The central editorial team at Edipresse's headquarters in Lausanne, which will continue to be headed by Jacques Poget, will provide the general editorial content. This structure means that no jobs will have to be cut despite the merger. On the contrary, a number of new appointments are possible, writes Poget.
New design for 24 Heures
Of course, more reader service is not the entire background to the relaunch. According to Poget, the decision was based on an in-depth study into the future of the regional press. This came to the conclusion that a merger of the strengths of 24 Heures and the La Presse titles offered the best opportunities - both in the reader market and with local and national advertisers.
The new 24 Heures will also have a new design. The existing red logo will be retained. However, it will probably change color in the editions for Riviera-Chablais and Nord-vaudoise-Broye. According to the online service Largeur.com, tests have shown that blue - La Presse's corporate color - is very popular with the public. The new layout is being developed by newspaper designer Martin Dixon together with art director Marc Borden; a first draft is already available. The Briton Dixon was already responsible for the design of 24 Heures in 1999. Numerous publications in French-speaking Switzerland bear his signature, including L'Illustré, Bilan and Le Matin.
24 Heures will not only share the designer with its sister newspaper Le Matin, but also the editorial system in future. Edipresse will be introducing a joint IT solution for all its titles next spring. This is also the reason why the Vaud region will have to wait until March for the launch of its new, large daily newspaper.
The newspaper for the WG 12 plusBack in 1999, 24 Heures underwent a relaunch with the aim of establishing itself as the newspaper for the entire canton of Vaud. However, this was only partially successful. The main distribution area remained the Lausanne region, where the paper now has a reach of 52.8 percent. The figure for the whole of WG 12 is 45.7 percent.
The new 24 Heures is breaking up the WG 12 in several places. With Nyon and La Broye, it gnaws at the catchment area of Geneva and Fribourg. However, these regions are politically part of Vaud. In Veveyse, on the other hand, the newspaper extends into the canton of Fribourg, and in the Monthey area into Valais.
The circulation of 24 Heures is 88500 copies. La Presse Riviera-Chablais sells 24,000 copies and La Presse Nord-vaudoise 12,600 copies (excluding large print runs). Its competitor La Côte, into whose territory 24 Heures is entering with a new split edition, sells just under 14,000 copies.
The new distribution area of 24 Heures is called "WG 12 plus".
The regions marked in yellow are those where Edipresse reaches beyond the Lausanne economic area.
Stefano Monachesi
