SBB cooperates with Red Bull Media House - and raises questions in the process

The new hiking and outdoor magazine Bergwelten, which costs nine francs at the newsstand and appeared for the first time in April (Werbewoche.ch reported)is available free of charge on SBB trains. Or hangs on the coat hooks, as is otherwise reserved for the company's own magazine Via. This is reported by Schweiz am Wochenende in its current issue.

The cooperation came about at the request of the magazine, say the Federal Railways in response to an inquiry from the newspaper. However, financial details of the "special campaign" are not disclosed.

From the passengers' point of view, the attractively presented magazine is certainly a welcome change. Many magazines have already disappeared from the cars and been taken away by passengers.

Other publications, on the other hand, are annoyed by the distribution campaign in a privileged location, because they would also like to make use of it. SBB states that it is open to cooperation, provided that a "travel DNA is given". The Switzerland Tourism catalog was already published in the fall of 2016, and there is no other known interest from other publishers.

However, as Schweiz am Wochenende writes, this interest did exist in the past. Thus, the magazine Transhelvetica five years ago regarding a marketing cooperation. At that time, the SBB refused to put up a poster, stating that it was "not possible. Transhelvetica-chief editor Jon Bollmann - besides Via, there would be no place for it on the trains. Also the SAC magazine The Alps would be interested in cooperation, but did not even know until the "Bergwelten case" that SBB suddenly seems to be open to cooperation.

So it's quite possible that more titles will be hung in SBB cars in the future. Whether Swiss publishers can offer the same conditions as the financially strong Red Bull Group, however, remains to be seen. (hae)