Oliver Wirtz is the new publishing director

Mr Wirtz, you have mainly worked digitally in recent years. As a digital expert, what attracts you to a print title?

The media world, journalism and the many possibilities of communication in general have fascinated me since I was a teenager. The job as Publishing Director at Fritz+Fränzi is a dream position for me. It takes me back to my roots in the publishing world and symbolises the most important value for me today: being able to lead a happy family life. I want to enable other parents and their children to do the same.

More than 20 years ago, I started at the news magazine FACTS as an online producer and journalist. I got to know the entire publishing process - from the raw text, the scheduling of adverts, the selection of the cover to the printed or online edition. My other positions at Spick, annabelle, Schweizer Familie, SonntagsBlick and PCtipp have had a strong influence on me to this day. This was followed by an intensive but instructive time at various digitally orientated start-ups.

My main focus in my last job was on generating sales leads, optimising performance campaigns and analysing vast amounts of data. Unfortunately, the human element and the knowledge to satisfy a real customer need or help solve a problem were often missing.

What I really like about Fritz+Fränzi is that every member of staff puts their heart and soul into the product and identifies strongly with the content. What particularly appeals to me is the challenge of how an established, classic print magazine can present the existing bundled knowledge on all relevant topics from the areas of parenting, children, school, education, etc. in the digital environment in the right format for users. I am particularly interested in an answer to the key question of whether it is possible to create a modern, contemporary vehicle with real added value on social channels such as Facebook or Instagram that enables the communication of parenting knowledge to the general public in a way that covers costs.

What are your professional goals for the first 100 days? Where will you focus your efforts?

In the first few months, I'm primarily interested in getting to know the team and the way they work, and understanding the processes and peculiarities of Switzerland's biggest parents' magazine. I want to internalise the entire DNA of Fritz+Fränzi. During this learning phase, I will certainly ask a lot of questions and get just as many answers. This will create a solid basis for all further steps and considerations in order to define business-relevant goals down the line.

Of course, general entrepreneurial aspects are also high on my agenda, such as ensuring successful growth in readership, generating sustainable advertising revenue, speedy and reliable distribution and logistics, and evaluating interesting partnerships that serve the foundation's purpose.

I am convinced that we can make an important contribution for many mothers and fathers in Switzerland at the right time with the valuable, cross-media content of the ElternMagazin.

Corona has hit the advertising industry hard in recent years, and paper prices have also risen significantly. These are just two of the challenges you face at Fritz+Fränzi. Where do you see opportunities and difficulties for print titles?

The paper cycle has become completely unbalanced during coronavirus because people have shopped much more frequently and intensively online during lockdown and quarantine. The Swiss waste paper was therefore not turned back into normal paper, but into cardboard for parcels. But: disposed cardboard can no longer be processed into paper.

In addition, the only Swiss paper mill burned to the ground at the end of 2021 and was also paralysed by a cyber attack in January 2022 - with far-reaching consequences: There was an even greater shortage of paper in our country. As a result, paper prices are up to three times higher than they were before the pandemic, which is hitting us as a publishing house particularly hard.

Many sectors of the economy have suffered badly in the last two years of the pandemic. Many things had to be reorganised overnight, and the digitalisation boom has unsettled many companies. I still see the situation in the advertising world as a real rollercoaster ride.

Fortunately, we were able to start the new year stronger in 2022 and it is to be hoped that the market will stabilise again. As a result of the factors mentioned above, media spending has once again shifted heavily towards the internet in the past and current year. 49% of all measures in the overall market are now planned exclusively with Google Search, Display, Facebook or YouTube in mind - with an increasing focus on mobile devices. As the head of a traditional Swiss publishing house, I find the fact that Swiss companies are investing a large proportion of their advertising dollars in American companies such as Google and Co. to be a major challenge.

What makes me very happy and confident, however, is the fact that the Swiss parents' magazine Fritz+Fränzi is bucking the current market trend and reaching more readers than ever before. The latest Mach-Basic study by WEMF AG revealed a few days ago that our parents' magazine now reaches 225,000 people. In the past year alone, 14,000 new readers were gained. Readership has therefore increased by a total of 78,000 readers since 2016. This makes Fritz+Fränzi one of the few print titles in Switzerland whose readership has been growing constantly for years.

The www.fritzundfraenzi.chplatform was completely revampedlast autumn. The newly introduced ElternPass supports parents with discounts in the leisure and education sectors. What plans do you have online?

The ElternPass is a good tool for offering parents support in the areas of leisure and family life in addition to the classic parenting topics. With the ElternPass, families benefit from significant discounts and free services for over 80 offers. This eases the strain on the family budget and also contributes to a harmonious everyday family life. With the help of parallel data-supported analyses, it is now possible to better understand potential customers' user journeys using modern tools. Depending on the customer's location in the sales process or the characteristics of the next possible touchpoint, the customer can be informed individually and based on their interests. Data transparency is still lacking at many points in this complex lead nurturing process - because this is the only way we can understand the needs of our customers.

In an initial phase, I therefore believe it is crucial that we use the existing tools to create the most consistent measurability possible of all important actions of our users on our digital channels. Even more importantly, the individual data sets should be linked and synchronised with each other. Collecting data is one thing - being able to draw intelligent conclusions from it is another. Many companies already have an almost inexhaustible amount of data at their disposal, i.e. they have «big data resources» - mostly still distributed in various separate silos. However, it would be much more important to transform this data into «smart data» that is in constant communication with each other. Only then will we get closer to our goal and be able to draw smart conclusions from our data and offer our readers the help that is relevant to their individual life situation.

Finally, a personal question. You are the father of two sons aged 6 and 10. What would you like to pass on to your children?

Faithfulness, honesty, loyalty and sincerity are important human character traits for me. It is important to me that my sons live these traditional values in their everyday lives.

Welcome, dear Oliver Wirtz, and a good start at ElternMagazin Fritz+Fränzi!

You can reach Oliver Wirtz at: o.wirtz@fritzundfraenzi.ch or 044 / 277 70 34