"A striking step is needed"
Jürg Meyer, head at Verlag Meyer, must be successful with the current relaunch
Jürg Meyer, head of the Meyer publishing house, must be successful with the current relaunchJürg Meyer, six years ago, Meyer's Modeblatt was renamed Modeblatt. Aren't you afraid of confusing readers with frequent name changes instead of winning them over?Jürg Meyer: Meyers Modeblatt is a term that women know. I am therefore convinced that the new title Meyer's also has a high recognition value. The name change was inevitable. When Modeblatt was added to the title in 1994, a mistake was made. There is no message in the term. It suggests a lot of fashion. But that only makes up part of our magazine. In addition, Modeblatt sounds old-fashioned and is reminiscent of Mother's sewing table.
What is the message of the new magazine title?
Meyer: Meyer's takes its cue from American magazines like Harper's or Forbes. Such titles imply topicality. And that's also an important step in our magazine: Instead of arbitrary topics, we will focus much more on topicality in the future.
Why is this step coming only now?
Meyer: We have fiddled around a lot in past years, made small changes. But we didn't get where we wanted to go with them. That's why we have now decided to take a striking step.
What are you doing to keep your regular readers loyal to the new magazine?
Meyer: That's the hottest iron in this relaunch, and we're giving it a lot of weight. With supplements in the last issues of the old fashion magazine, we will introduce our regular readers to the new magazine. But we are aware that losses in circulation can never be completely ruled out with a new concept of this dimension. The market will show whether we have done the right thing.
In the past, the fashion magazine had a hard time not only with the audience, but also in the advertising market.
Meyer: When I took the helm in 1996, we had to completely rebuild ad sales. But that is now starting to take hold. Last year, we recorded a positive trend again for the first time.
But in this constellation, profit was hardly possible in the past years?
Meyer: We are just over the threshold. But it's not enough to build up reserves for the further development of our products. But these are absolutely necessary. That's why we have to succeed in the medium term with the new issue. We need this success.
In the worst case, you could still consider a merger of the fashion magazine with the Swiss family. After all, that's been a topic before. Would that be a possible future for you?
Meyer: That's not an issue at the moment. Of course, the idea was already in the air. When you talk to each other as often as you do among publishing managers, all kinds of options come up. But we've never really taken a serious look at merging Modeblatt and Schweizer Familie.
In August, Meyer Publishing moves from Zurich to Jona. Why are you giving up your beautiful and well-located Zurich headquarters?
Meyer: The move is part of the overall restructuring of the Meyer Group. The new premises are located directly next to our print shop. This will allow us to exploit synergies and reduce duplication in administration. The production process of the magazine will also be accelerated. This is important, because with the new issue we want to focus more on topicality. Interview: Daniel Schifferle
What is the message of the new magazine title?
Meyer: Meyer's takes its cue from American magazines like Harper's or Forbes. Such titles imply topicality. And that's also an important step in our magazine: Instead of arbitrary topics, we will focus much more on topicality in the future.
Why is this step coming only now?
Meyer: We have fiddled around a lot in past years, made small changes. But we didn't get where we wanted to go with them. That's why we have now decided to take a striking step.
What are you doing to keep your regular readers loyal to the new magazine?
Meyer: That's the hottest iron in this relaunch, and we're giving it a lot of weight. With supplements in the last issues of the old fashion magazine, we will introduce our regular readers to the new magazine. But we are aware that losses in circulation can never be completely ruled out with a new concept of this dimension. The market will show whether we have done the right thing.
In the past, the fashion magazine had a hard time not only with the audience, but also in the advertising market.
Meyer: When I took the helm in 1996, we had to completely rebuild ad sales. But that is now starting to take hold. Last year, we recorded a positive trend again for the first time.
But in this constellation, profit was hardly possible in the past years?
Meyer: We are just over the threshold. But it's not enough to build up reserves for the further development of our products. But these are absolutely necessary. That's why we have to succeed in the medium term with the new issue. We need this success.
In the worst case, you could still consider a merger of the fashion magazine with the Swiss family. After all, that's been a topic before. Would that be a possible future for you?
Meyer: That's not an issue at the moment. Of course, the idea was already in the air. When you talk to each other as often as you do among publishing managers, all kinds of options come up. But we've never really taken a serious look at merging Modeblatt and Schweizer Familie.
In August, Meyer Publishing moves from Zurich to Jona. Why are you giving up your beautiful and well-located Zurich headquarters?
Meyer: The move is part of the overall restructuring of the Meyer Group. The new premises are located directly next to our print shop. This will allow us to exploit synergies and reduce duplication in administration. The production process of the magazine will also be accelerated. This is important, because with the new issue we want to focus more on topicality. Interview: Daniel Schifferle
