Berlin courage and mobilization
German press In addition to political and economic panaceas to combat the newspaper depression, this year's Publishers' Congress also featured innovative editorial thinking. And this came from an advertiser of all people.
German press In addition to political and economic panaceas to combat the newspaper depression, this year's Publishers' Congress also featured innovative editorial thinking. And this came from an advertiser of all people.
We have no chance, but we are using it all the more resolutely and efficiently: The paradox of the 49th annual meeting of the Federal Association of German Newspaper Publishers (BDZV) was not only its "subdued mood of optimism" (Springer boss Matthias Döpfner). Many of the analyses and concerns exchanged by the 600 or so participants at the capital city meeting, most of whom came from the media provinces, were also contradictory. "We are not consensus fetishists," BDZV President Helmut Heinen made clear right at the start. And provided Gerhard Schröder, who rushed here on foot from the nearby Chancellery to encourage the publishers, with an unintentional steep template. The German head of government spoke out in favor of a revision of the 1976 press merger law, which was "long outdated by market reality". However, Schröder failed to provide the binding time commitment that the major publishers in particular had hoped for (see WochenInterview page 29). The reason for this was that the parties concerned would first have to agree on a common position.
The industry representatives also disagreed on the question of whether and, if so, how the industry cash cow "classified ad" should be integrated into
can be kept in their paper stable, the newspapers. While Heinen considers the ongoing shrinkage of the car, real estate and job markets to be "largely cyclical and quite reversible", star advertiser Sebastian Turner sees the small commercial cattle as nothing more than "uncreative ballast" that sustainable newspapers will have to discard anyway. Friedhelm Haak, on the other hand, does not welcome the trend towards migration to the Internet, but believes it is unstoppable. For the CEO of the Hanover-based Madsack Group, newspapers that continue to simply rent out millimeters instead of upgrading online are "in principle no longer competitive today".
Digital workflow magic formula
According to Haak, consistent digital workflows in advertising and subscription management not only enable medium-sized publishers to stand up to classified advertising giants such as eBay, but also to reduce their personnel costs from an average of almost 50 percent to a "reasonable 30 percent". Madsack, for example, has been able to halve its workforce since the start of the changeover ten years ago and - despite high initial investments and the current advertising recession - is now back in the black. "After all, there have long been a few robots on the assembly lines of car factories instead of hundreds of craftsmen," he said, explaining the role model function of those industries that have already undergone structural change.
Like the (association) political ones, such entrepreneurial patent remedies also met with a divided response and - as is usual with self-presentations - largely fizzled out without effect. No wonder, since the audience included newspaper group managers alongside local publishers and advertising managers alongside editors-in-chief. Sebastian Turner's answer to the panel question "Do we have to reinvent the number one advertising medium?" made the latter in particular sit up and take notice. The CEO of Scholz & Friends did not call for sexy special forms of advertising as expected, but for editorial reforms. The most important: In order to stand out more clearly from the online journalism search engine, the newspaper must be understood and designed even more as a "search engine".
"In the German cultural sphere, it has so far been criminally ignored that readers are usually already partially informed by 'Tagesschau' or radio before they pick up their favorite newspaper," says the advertiser. Which is why even good articles often contain "30 to 60 percent redundancy, i.e. boredom", which could be elegantly eliminated through content management. The current ADC President used the English-language Montréal Gazette as an example. Wherever possible, its articles are divided into the three consecutive categories "background", "news" and "outlook". Turner denies that such radical reader guidance inevitably results in agency-like snack journalism. "It finally gives us direct access to the fillet pieces of your products."
Called for a joint publishing position: Gerhard Schröder.
Oliver Classen
We have no chance, but we are using it all the more resolutely and efficiently: The paradox of the 49th annual meeting of the Federal Association of German Newspaper Publishers (BDZV) was not only its "subdued mood of optimism" (Springer boss Matthias Döpfner). Many of the analyses and concerns exchanged by the 600 or so participants at the capital city meeting, most of whom came from the media provinces, were also contradictory. "We are not consensus fetishists," BDZV President Helmut Heinen made clear right at the start. And provided Gerhard Schröder, who rushed here on foot from the nearby Chancellery to encourage the publishers, with an unintentional steep template. The German head of government spoke out in favor of a revision of the 1976 press merger law, which was "long outdated by market reality". However, Schröder failed to provide the binding time commitment that the major publishers in particular had hoped for (see WochenInterview page 29). The reason for this was that the parties concerned would first have to agree on a common position.
The industry representatives also disagreed on the question of whether and, if so, how the industry cash cow "classified ad" should be integrated into
can be kept in their paper stable, the newspapers. While Heinen considers the ongoing shrinkage of the car, real estate and job markets to be "largely cyclical and quite reversible", star advertiser Sebastian Turner sees the small commercial cattle as nothing more than "uncreative ballast" that sustainable newspapers will have to discard anyway. Friedhelm Haak, on the other hand, does not welcome the trend towards migration to the Internet, but believes it is unstoppable. For the CEO of the Hanover-based Madsack Group, newspapers that continue to simply rent out millimeters instead of upgrading online are "in principle no longer competitive today".
Digital workflow magic formula
According to Haak, consistent digital workflows in advertising and subscription management not only enable medium-sized publishers to stand up to classified advertising giants such as eBay, but also to reduce their personnel costs from an average of almost 50 percent to a "reasonable 30 percent". Madsack, for example, has been able to halve its workforce since the start of the changeover ten years ago and - despite high initial investments and the current advertising recession - is now back in the black. "After all, there have long been a few robots on the assembly lines of car factories instead of hundreds of craftsmen," he said, explaining the role model function of those industries that have already undergone structural change.
Like the (association) political ones, such entrepreneurial patent remedies also met with a divided response and - as is usual with self-presentations - largely fizzled out without effect. No wonder, since the audience included newspaper group managers alongside local publishers and advertising managers alongside editors-in-chief. Sebastian Turner's answer to the panel question "Do we have to reinvent the number one advertising medium?" made the latter in particular sit up and take notice. The CEO of Scholz & Friends did not call for sexy special forms of advertising as expected, but for editorial reforms. The most important: In order to stand out more clearly from the online journalism search engine, the newspaper must be understood and designed even more as a "search engine".
"In the German cultural sphere, it has so far been criminally ignored that readers are usually already partially informed by 'Tagesschau' or radio before they pick up their favorite newspaper," says the advertiser. Which is why even good articles often contain "30 to 60 percent redundancy, i.e. boredom", which could be elegantly eliminated through content management. The current ADC President used the English-language Montréal Gazette as an example. Wherever possible, its articles are divided into the three consecutive categories "background", "news" and "outlook". Turner denies that such radical reader guidance inevitably results in agency-like snack journalism. "It finally gives us direct access to the fillet pieces of your products."
Called for a joint publishing position: Gerhard Schröder.
Oliver Classen
