Long live print

Flipping through the notebook under the covers with a flashlight, following the stories of the frog mascot and collecting new knowledge in folders: Quite a few Swiss people are likely to associate the Spick with fond childhood memories. Even today, the magazine for 8- to 15-year-old girls and boys is still in mailboxes ten times a year. Many of the things that were read back then can also be read by today's children in the magazine.

"Most of the sections that existed when the magazine was founded are still there today," says Hans Schödel, editor-in-chief of Spick for 13 years. "That ranges from 'Life and People' with reports on children from faraway countries to 'Do Something' with original game and craft tips, from 'How What Why' and 'Animals' with great background stories to jokes and comics." The first pages of the issue also feature witty submissions from readers, as they did when the magazine first appeared in 1982.

Shrinking Circulation

The golden age of the Swiss children's magazine is over. Circulation shrinks by an average of one to two percent every year. The fate of print magazines in the 21st century has not spared those with little ones as their target group. Still, the Spick is not doing badly. "Fortunately, circulation is not declining as dramatically as elsewhere," says Schödel. In 2016, the Spick still had just under 30,000 subscribers and 45,000 readers. "Still, we have to watch to maintain profitability in times of dwindling circulation."

When Künzler Bachmann Verlag bought Spick from the media company Tamedia in 2004, the management took initial measures to remain profitable in the long term. First and foremost, they said goodbye to a unique selling point of the magazine: the perforated and perforated pages that could be filed in folders. For years, subscribers collected the magazine pages in folders in this way. Online, you can still find offers from collectors today. "That was a publishing decision at the time, and at first I had serious concerns about how readers would react," Schödel explains. "Teachers in particular appreciated the collecting system. But the punched and perforated pages represented a logistical effort that could no longer be managed as print runs became smaller."

After initial misgivings, Schödel quickly took a liking to the new format: "Now we are no longer bound by rigid structures and can tell stories in a much more meaningful way. This includes playing references within the issue or bringing an edge-to-edge image that pulls into an animal theme across a double page spread." Today, Spick is dominated by a generous layout with large photos. "Yet we still expect our readers to read 7,000-character stories," Schödel says, laughing. "I'm convinced that even today, enough children still tuck themselves into bed with the Spick and immerse themselves in a longer story. Which doesn't mean that these kids aren't chatting on their smartphones three hours later; they're not mutually exclusive."

Hidden advertising

In order to create another source of revenue in addition to subscription income, the publisher decided to drop another feature of the old Spick: the consistent absence of advertising. Today, readers can find ads on the back of the newly added poster. "That wouldn't have existed in the old Spick," says Hans Schödel. "That would have been far too commercial for the editors." They probably would have also rejected the game or movie tips, he adds, which are now a natural part of every issue. After being booked by companies, the tips appear editorially on the "Szene" pages.

Personally, Schödel would not even be bothered by classic advertising in the magazine. Every magazine today, even in the children's segment, lives from advertising revenue. "But of course it's a good selling point if the magazine is (almost) free of ads.

The former self-proclaimed ban on advertising has been relaxed today, but not discarded. The editorial team has a say in who can book ads on the poster back or tips. "We would never run a McDonalds campaign," Schödel says. "Especially not next to an article that says it helps the world to eat vegetarian - that's what the Spick stands for much more." In the past, for example, the nutrition portal Swiss Milk, the health promotion program for schools, Gorilla, and a drinking water campaign by the Federal Office of Public Health have advertised.

On Spick.ch, on the other hand, the ads of various companies are blinking in competition. "We couldn't finance online without advertising," says Schödel. The publisher is currently working on a relaunch of its website. "Online is an important sales channel for us, because we are taking out more and more subscriptions online," says Schödel. "But when a potential donor visits Spick.ch today, he doesn't get the right impression of how the Spick comes across as a printed magazine." In the future, the online presence will therefore be adapted to the appearance of the magazine in order to better appeal to grandmothers, parents and godparents.

Bright covers and singing whales

In addition, Spick also uses the website for cross-media content. When a story about humpback whales appears in the magazine, the editorial team refers to the website, where children can listen to the whales' songs. But, Schödel qualifies, print clearly has priority. He refrains from trying to market the Spick as a digital product. If anything, he says, a completely rethought digital product with Spick themes would be conceivable. "But that would require investments and fundamental decisions that no one has yet set in motion."

A compromise solution is out of the question for Schödel. "I don't believe that we could generate any significant revenue with a 1:1 digital implementation of our magazine, for example as an app." Sure, he says, an app would be nice to have, for example, for people who want to enable their children abroad to read the magazine. "But if you put an electronic medium in a child's hand and expect them to use it to read long texts, that's like putting a child in front of the TV with a remote control, turning on Teletext and saying, 'But you're not allowed to zap!' No, I don't believe in that."
Instead, the Spick team is focusing on emphasizing the strengths of print. These include posters in every issue and cover pages that smell when rubbed over or glow at night. Advent calendars that can be scratched free and high-quality production are also part of the mix. "These sensory elements mean that people enjoy holding the magazine in their hands," Schödel says. "I very much believe that such a strong print product will survive." The appearance and content of the printed magazine remain his focus. Unlike in the past, the magazine now includes, for example, a page with tips about the digital world, as well as an English page. "We are turning adjusting screws, but we are not thinking in radical steps."

Whatever the future will bring: For the time being, Künzler Bachmann Verlag is using this year as an opportunity to catch new customers and strengthen the loyalty of existing customers. New subscribers will receive free Circus Knie tickets, and competitions will include a trip in a hot air balloon or a flight with Swiss. The children who congratulate the Spick on its 35th birthday in a particularly original way are to win. Editor-in-chief Schödel is looking forward to paper mache cups, video clips and painted pictures.

Text: Ann-Kathrin Schäfer

Notice: This article was already published in the printed Werbewoche 12/2017 of July 14. Nothing more to miss? To the subscriptions.

The Spick Makers

The Bucher-Waldis couple launched Spick in 1982 with the frog mascot Flitz Flosch, who cannot pronounce the "R". In 2005, Künzler Bachmann Verlag from St. Gallen bought the Swiss children's magazine from the previous publisher Tamedia. A year earlier, in 2004, the Swiss publishing house had already outsourced the editorial work to Sailer Verlag from Nuremberg in Germany. The editor-in-chief there, Hans Schödel (photo), graphics and back office were taken over by Künzler Bachmann Verlag. Today, therefore, part of the editorial team is based in Nuremberg and part in St. Gallen. "It doesn't matter whether I write about penguins in Antarctica from Nuremberg or St. Gallen," comments Schödel, "or hire a reporter in Zurich to accompany a blind boy during mobility training." The collaboration is going well, he says. Everyone involved meets at least once a month.