October 2008

24 hours with Egmont Egmont is everywhere all the time. Other companies have a normal 9 to 5 working day. Egmont never shuts down when evening falls. Far from it, in fact. Egmont works at full throttle every hour of the day.

In words and pictures, “24 hours with Egmont” will tell us what is going on when and where in every corner of our organization. You will discover that Egmont is always on the go – even when you are snug in your bed, fast asleep at home!

8:00 AM Lea Juel Henriksen, press manager at Lindhardt og Ringhof, gets an overview of the books covered by today’s media. The recent publication of I Majestætens Hemmelige Tjeneste [In Her Majesty’s Secret Service] attracted extra attention after the Danish Security and Intelligence Service expressed concern about the book.

6:25 PM Mikkel Beha Erichsen goes on screen to present the daily journalistic feature on Good Evening Denmark, aired on Danish TV 2. In June Nordisk Film TV won the contract to produce the program’s morning edition, Good Morning Denmark.

OCTOBER 2008

Conventions on their head Theme issue about the innovation process at Egmont / page 11

In close contact with consumers / page 08-09 Template-driven enthusiasm / page 14 Relay – Peter AalbÌk /

Corporate management

Olivia expands /

A tale of two cities /

page 19

takes stock of innovation /

page 12-13

page 15-17

page 04-07

How do you work with innovation on a daily basis?

“At Modette.se we work with innovation every day, constantly trying to find new concepts and ways of reaching out and creating a unique web product that will eventually let us expand beyond Sweden’s borders. Concepts vary in form, for example, a summer tour combined with activities on Modette.se, ModetteTV. This fall we’ll be launching an initiative to further broaden Modette.se.”

Eleonore Nygårds, editor at Modette

What is COSTAR? The COSTAR framework helps you focus your attention on the key elements that make an idea a valuable proposition. Start your pitch with a compelling question, fact, or statement that generates curiosity – that is your hook. Then explore and answer the following:

CUSTOMER Who are your intended customers? What are their relevant interests, motivations and needs? Your deep understanding of customers/ consumers is essential to develop an idea that is of value to them.

OPPORTUNITY

Can we afford innovation?

Management put innovation on the agenda of Egmont’s directors’ conference in January.

But at a time when all media groups are experiencing radical cost-cutting measures, how can Egmont afford to make innovation a high priority?

The answer is that innovation is not the opposite of rationalization. Many areas of Egmont are also working with drastic costsaving programs, because the competition always compels us to produce our publications more efficiently than in the past, because they are sold in smaller editions or print runs, and because pay and production costs are rising.

This means we must constantly think through our processes and eliminate anything that fails to add value. Greater efficiency is the only way to generate the resources needed to think creatively, refine existing products and conceive new ones – and to achieve these ends using innovative processes.

We are all familiar with new product innovation. The recipe for success is the ability to produce and adapt media products that precisely match consumer needs and preferences.

However, the growing volume of titles on the market makes it harder for companies to stand out in the crowd, while the removal of access barriers is squeezing profitability.

The innovation of new products or concepts is possibly the principal source of

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long-term value growth. Just think of all the new, fast-growing online media companies. Or all the social media that have attracted a new consumer following.

Finally, process innovation is no less important than product and concept innovation. For over a century Egmont had been able to renew, simplify and rethink production processes. For example, digitalization has streamlined many production flows, making them both faster and cheaper. In the face of massive future competition, innovating our working processes and generating savings will be equally important.

It is management’s responsibility to create the framework for innovation, but everyone at Egmont has the important role of ensuring we think resourcefully and act innovatively. Innovation is reflected in processes, products and concepts in many Egmont companies as well as at corporate level.

This issue of Hardcopy gives you an idea of how Egmont’s various divisions work innovatively and how a cross-divisional project has spawned ideas for renewal and change.

Quite simply, we cannot afford not to innovate!

Happy reading!

Steffen Kragh President and CEO

Assess the size and potential of the opportunity and clearly describe the market dynamics surrounding it. What trends support your thinking?

SOLUTION What’s your proposed solution? Are you adding existing value, creating new value, reducing or eliminating costs?

TEAM Who needs to be on the team to ensure the solution’s success? Today’s innovation typically requires a collection of intelligence, experience and expertise. Consider the eco-system in which you operate and look for partners, suppliers, influencers, etc. beyond the walls of Egmont.

ADVANTAGE What is your “unfair” competitive advantage? There’s always some form of alternative. What advantage does your solution have over these alternatives?

RESULTS What results will be achieved from your solution?

Specifically, what are the quantifiable benefits to the customer and returns to your enterprise?

“In a finance department, innovation means continuously thinking about how to make the individual processes simpler, more streamlined and more transparent without forgetting that we must never compromise on the final goal.”

Klaus Munch Kjøller, controller at Lindhardt og Ringhof

Every good idea starts as a bad one Dr. Herman Gyr is a master of innovation processes. Herman has specialized in working with enterprises living through periods of dramatic disruption following the digital revolution. During the last six months, Herman has helped several divisions in Egmont in focussing their innovations processes.

Claire Greaves / Egmont International / cgreaves@euk.egmont.com

Dr Herman Gyr is a founding partner of the Enterprise Development Group and an internationally renowned consultant in innovation.

“The key to a successfully innovative culture is leadership, leadership and leadership. The pitfall in all cultural changes is when leaders delegate the cultural change and do not themselves take any responsibility and are not fully resonant with the shift in culture themselves. When things start to move and people start to come up with ideas, leadership needs to participate in a real way – by putting in resources, by becoming mentors, sponsors of these new ideas, going out in the field.”

“The risk is always that daily business will keep them away and all of a sudden innovation becomes an ‘initiative,’ a ‘programme’. Innovation needs to become part of the DNA of the company and leaders have to make it part of their DNA to think in an innovative way.”

How do you keep an innovation culture alive?

“Human energy – leaders’ energy but also the innovator’s energy. People can come up with lots of ideas, but more importantly the idea creator has to be responsible for nurturing the idea from A-Z. You need to create a culture which is passionate and able to deliver – idea ownership is very important to innovation.

“Every good idea starts as a bad one! It’s the commitment to make it valuable, staying with it, to dig deep and find its value and get excited about it that’s important.”

What are you observations about the current Egmont culture – how are we doing so far with our innovation process?

What does innovation mean to you?

Why is innovation important?

“The most likely view people have about innovation is that it’s about ideas – and I disagree with that. An idea that doesn’t deliver something that is experienced as relevant to a customer is just an invention. Innovation is an idea that solves a problem or serves a customer need or requirement at a level is better than an alternative. Is this idea interesting (mostly to me) or important to someone else?”

“We live in a digital world – and the reality of this digital world is that it is based on information being exchanged at ever greater rates of speed – it’s the first time in human history that technical development continues to evolve at exponential rates.”

What are the major pitfalls to avoid when changing a business’s culture to one that is innovative?

“Most of what I’ve learnt has been through working with the International team. It’s been remarkable what they have achieved so far. They have shown an international commitment – with infrastructure and standards – and have a developed an ongoing learning process that will help to fix problems in the future. So far, over the past six months that I’ve been involved, I have seen some pretty impressive foundations laid down for creating an innovative culture.”

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Egmont H. Petersen always kept up with developments abroad. Throughout his life he was ahead of his competitors in introducing new printing methods in Denmark. In 1892, he led the way in printing a picture in graduated shades, and in 1985 he was the first to use only three complementary colours to print copies of drawing in pastels.

It is management’s responsibility to create the framework for innovation, but everyone at Egmont has the important role of ensuring we think resourcefully and act innovatively. From left to right: Steffen Kragh, Michael Ritto, Kjeld Lucas, Tommy Melle, Hans Carstensen and Frank Knau. Read about the current status of all divisions on the following pages.

Egmont Nordisk Film Michael Ritto, Executive Vice President 1) The innovation process was launched in January 2008 – how has it impacted on your division?

Innovation has been part of Nordisk Film’s DNA ever since the company began back in 1906. Just think of Ole Olsen, who changed the endings of his silent movies to match the intended target

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audiences. That’s innovative thinking! And neither was Erik Balling slow to come up with new and different solutions in his many Matador and Olsen Gang productions. So for us it’s not a question of inventing innovation but of rediscovering our culture of innovation.

That said, however, various tools and methods have inspired us since January 2008. For one thing, Herman Gyr, one of the world’s most influential professional coaches and the man who invented the COSTAR model, visited us in spring to help us with methods for optimizing both products and processes. I’d like to stress that when we discuss innovation at Nordisk Film, process optimization is just as important as new products. Innovation is also about thinking smarter in order to increase profitability.

2) Which concrete examples of innovation in your division can you highlight?

I’d like to draw special attention to Nordisk Film Operations, which has been innovative in adapting to customers and the market. NF Operations has been through a turnaround that has generated enormous savings, faster delivery times and higher quality delivery for the benefit of both customers and our business.

Another example is our movie theaters, which are doing an excellent job of offering events that give audiences novel movie-going experiences. In the coming months, our guests can look forward to attending a James Bond concert featuring Szhirley and the Danish Broadcasting Corporation’s Big Band,

In 1984, Egmont and Nordisk Film in cooperation with Aller and several Danish newspapers established WeekendTV, in order to help in breaking with the Danish television monopoly. With the experiences from WeekendTV, Egmont co-founded in 1992 the leading commercial television network in Norway: The TV 2 Group.

Egmont now owns 50 % of the group.

Egmont Magazines Kjeld Lucas, Executive Vice President

3) How do you intend to work with innovation in future in your division?

1) The innovation process was launched in January 2008 – how has it impacted on your division?

We don’t intend to put more effort into innovation than we already do, but will maintain our focus on the area. We want the innovation process to keep pace with our capacity.

The innovation process may have been launched in January this year, but the magazine sector has long worked with innovation. Since January Egmont Magazines has relaunched a host of products for print and web publication.

2) Which concrete examples of inno­­vation in your division can you highlight?

Specifically, we launched the weekly Ute og Inne in Norway, and in Denmark we introduced the lifestyle magazine Fit Living, focusing on health and wellbeing, and the interior design magazine RUM. On the digital front we have relaunched the ALT for Damerne and Eurowoman websites. We’ve also pilot-tested several new business models on the net, including

hearing Caroline Henderson sing jazz in the Imperial movie theater and watching stand-up comedian Jonathan Spang pull out the stops on stage.

My last example is Nordisk Film TV, which is working on a musical project involving several business areas at Nordisk Film and possibly also colleagues from other parts of Egmont. Innovation is also about discovering and cultivating business opportunities across our far-reaching organization, which holds such countless possibilities.

3) How do you intend to work with innovation in future in your division?

Last spring I put innovation on the agenda for our top 50 executives. We have planned a series of

klikk.no, which brings together a wealth of magazines under one roof. And we recently launched a publication called DU – Denne Uken – in Norway.

workshops over the coming months, and earmarked resources in future to help business areas develop methods and processes.

Last but not least, I want to integrate innovation into the plans drawn up annually by the business areas to make sure everyone incorporates innovation into their daily work.

4) What obstacles hinder innovative work in your division?

Obviously, it’s an obstacle if people feel their ideas are not being treated with respect. If employees spend time thinking about improvements or new ideas that appeal to our customers, they must be heard.

4) What obstacles hinder innovative behavior in your division?

We have a constant commitment to the bottom line. Innovative projects are investments that have to show a return, even in a time of zero growth on the magazine market. That’s why innovative processes require us to think about economics at every stage.

5) How do you intend to work with innovation in future in your division?

We offer our employees conditions that reward their innovative efforts. We discuss and consider their suggestions, and if one of them has potential, it brings accolades not only to the employee concerned but also to the entire division.

Having said that, respect must be mutual; in other words, before an employee suggests an idea, he or she should be prepared to run it through the COSTAR model. That way we can be sure the idea is worth channeling more resources into.

5) What do you do to encourage innovative behavior in your employees?

For me it’s a matter of empathy and participation. I have to be open and curious and personally take part in workshops and discussions.

Another must is creating a corporate culture that values employees who contribute to original thinking.

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In 1901, Egmont took over Damernes Blad (Ladies’ Magazine) with poor sales and advertising revenue. He changed the profile of the magazine from a women’s magazine to a family magazine and hired the strong woman Valborg Andersen as editor-in-chief. After two and half year, circulation had multiplied six times.

Lindhardt og Ringhof

After the innovation workshop in Vilnius, Ebbe Dam Nielsen appointed an innovation group to look into three specific focus areas in education, including incorporating IT in teaching and using the Internet and cell phones.

The group examined these issues in May.

Anette Wad, managing director 1) The innovation process was launched in January 2008 – how has it impacted on your division?

We went through a major merger in 2007 (amalgamation of Aschehoug, Bonnier and Forlag Malling Beck), which cost a lot of innovative reserves. We have implemented a structured, controlled innovation process in our educational publishing imprint, L&R undervisning.

2) Which concrete examples of inno­ vation at Lindhart og Ringhof can you highlight?

Publishing director Ebbe Dam Nielsen participated in Egmont’s innovation group, which was tasked with developing ideas and collaborative initiatives across the divisions. A tangible offshoot of that process, facilitated by Red Associates, was a dialogue with the minister for education, Mr Bertel Haarder, regarding upgrading teachers’ understanding of digital teaching methods.

3) How do you intend to work with innovation in future at Lindhardt og Ringhof?

In 2008 our strongest focus was on our postmerger earnings level, but in 2009 we will work more systematically with innovation across the publishing departments, drawing on the constructive lessons learned in the education department.

4) What obstacles hinder innovative work at Lindhart og Ringhof?

I don’t feel we at Lindhardt og Ringhof have come up against any barriers to working with innovation. Once the dust settles after the merger, we’ll start working with innovation in a more structured and targeted way.

5) What do you do to encourage innovative behavior in your employees?

We do that by delegating responsibility and acknowledging new ideas. We run department workshops and provide a high level of internal communication to keep employees up to date about the latest innovative and positive influences on the company.

Egmont International Frank Knau, Executive Vice President 1) The innovation process began in January 2008 – what has happened in your division since then?

Since the launch a great deal has happened and we’ve learnt a terrific amount. We now have over 270 ideas in our innovation box, many of which are being developed. We have learnt 4 key things in the process: Ideas need developing, ideas need the passion and energy of an Idea Generator to make them happen, we need tools to help us develop ideas and we need ideas that offer customers value – really strong ideas will be those that have focused on customer needs or better still customers unmet needs.

All this learning has influenced and shaped a new phase in innovation. Egmont International’s Innovation Discipline (EIID) is a refinement of the existing innovation process to help make ideas happen. We have created a visual representation of our refined process – a road map that shows the stages of development an idea goes through.

2) Which specific examples on innovation in your division will you point out?

There are many examples. I’ll just name a few of these that demonstrate a wide range and variety of ideas, large and small.

MumMe is a new product and business model from Bulgaria. A product that

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Egmont Kids & Teens Tommy Melle, Executive Vice President 1) The innovation process was launched in January 2008 – how has it impacted on your decision?

As well as making innovation more systematic and basing it to a greater extent on processes, we have hired business developers for the division. All countries work continuously on growth lists, brand extension and new business areas.

2) Which concrete examples of inno­vation in your division can you highlight? combines two pull out magazines – one for kids and the other one for their mothers.

It launches in October. Egmont Estonia has developed a simple and effective approach to qualitative customer research carried out at the Estonian Publishers Annual Books Event. A range of great new board games which appeal to both adults and children has been created in Poland. And in Thailand games and comics available as mobile downloads is a growing business in Thailand.

3) What are you planning to do in the future to keep working with innovation in your division?

We have plenty of good examples of inventive thinking and innovation in the division, but I’d like to draw special attention to the Rasmus Klump project initiated by Serieforlaget. We have acquired the rights to Rasmus Klump and we’ve made a lot of progress licensing related products. Rasmus Klump will feature on shoe and clothing collections, jam and ice cream.

Here our focus is on exploiting the value of the brand name to enter new areas where we own the rights ourselves.

We have also acquired a youth community website called Biip.no. Here our focus is on refining the service and identifying synergies that we can add. This has already

resulted in a new free print magazine, a new website called biipmag.no and a new games community called spillmagasinet.no. We also plan to launch Biip abroad.

In Sweden we bought the rights to Sune og Bert through the company Sören og Anders.

This has propelled Kärnan into the world of Swedish children’s publishing. We have also launched our new web store, Univers.no, thus consolidating all our direct sales products in one place.

3) How do you intend to work with innovation in future in your division?

We will implement cross-departmental growth seminars and work on streamlining innovationrelated processes. We are going to implement a web support tool for all employees, which will allow them, among other things, to comment on the ideas and development projects suggested by their colleagues.

4) What obstacles hinder innovative work in your division?

We see no specific barriers, but rely on all employees getting involved and on the organization allocating time for planning and followup. We want to hear our employees’ opinions and we want to encourage good initiatives.

5) What do you do to encourage innovative behavior in your employees?

As we’ve always done: listen to our employees; focus on creativity, spaciousness and openness; and be willing to take new avenues.

We have just started our new phase of innovation so we will focus on using our Egmont International Innovation Discipline framework to develop ideas and help make ideas happen.

Basically our 3 year plan looks like this: First year is set-up, second year we’ll focus on developing ideas and in year 3 we’ll see the results.

4) Which barriers are there in your division to work in an innovative manner?

There are many but most of these are barriers we create in our own minds - so for me it’s about encouraging, nurturing, supporting and developing people to realize their ideas. It will take time. In our first year we have come along way and over the next two years we will travel even further.

5) What do you do to encourage innovative behavior among employees?

We have an Idea Manager in each International company whose role is to coach and facilitate ideas in their organization. Furthermore, we have a ‘recognition and reward scheme’.

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How do you work with innovation on a daily basis?

“I try to push the limits of the typical and traditional as often as possible. Role play with a Lego figure can lighten a heavy message, writing in paper speech bubbles can get the creative juices flowing, and playing and thinking like a child can simplify and clarify an idea.

They are just a few of the methods I use to generate new, better ways of doing things.”

John Præstegaard, IT editor at Alinea

ReD Associates employs about 50 consultants from many different countries. They are pictured here presenting the results of the pilot project to Egmont. On the right, Rikke Crosby from Egmont and behind her Charlotte Kinimond Hassøe from ReD.

Consumers – up close and personal Egmont’s customers are used to getting things on a silver platter. They don’t want to pay for their media consumption. Their technological know-how is limited, and they’ve given up books, newspapers and magazines. Egmont has been up close and personal with its customers.

Niels Almer / Corporate Communications / nal@egmont.com / Photo: ReD Associates

For two weeks, consultants from the innovation agency ReD Associates infiltrated girls’ rooms, classrooms, riding schools and young people’s parties. Their mission: to find out what role the media play in the lives of young Danish women.

“The girls in the survey come from different

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groups, for example, the team handball girls, the horsey set, the university students and the au-pair girls in Paris. The common denominator is their age, between 13 and 23,” explains Charlotte Kinimond Hassø, project manager at ReD Associates.

New methods are a must “If we are to keep up with the exponential development in the sector, as Herman Gyr describes it, we need to be more savvy about our customers than ever before,” explains Rikke Crosby from Corporate Strategy & Development, and Egmont’s prime mover in the project.

“For me innovation is largely about having an open mind and about considering all ideas, whether my own or those of my employees or readers – or even ones snapped up from competitors! In purely practical terms, I file away all these ideas as part of my daily work as editor-in-chief – and bring them out on appropriate occasions! I consider automatically saying ‘no’ a virtual mortal sin, as is the expression ‘we’ve always done it like that’ or, alternatively, ‘we’ve never done it like that’.”

Diana Thylin, editor-in-chief of Får Jag Lov at Egmont Tidskrifter

Innovation group members: Christian Jensen, digital manager, Serieforlaget n Cecilia Sandbring, editor, Egmont Kärnan n Vibeke Nylykke, executive assistant, Nordisk Film n Anders Hansen, project manager, MBO n Peter Hansen, creative director, Nordisk Film TV production n Louise Stenbjerre, editor-in-chief, Sirene n Susanne Dam, marketing manager, ALT for Damerne n Maria Torshall-Ayris, editor-in-chief, Hennes n Ebbe Dam Nielsen, publishing director, Alinea n Rikke Crosby and Michael Juul, Corporate Strategy & Development n

given us amazing insight into their lives and needs, which we can apply directly to our businesses,” she explains.

From video to action

The qualitative method is based on close observation of consumers, and the insight it generates differs from that gained by conducting other types of market survey. “Starting with the target group rather than the product we want to produce was quite a new concept for most of us.

It was exciting to delve into the target group and get really deep into their hearts and minds, and once we understood their needs, we could try to develop a product based on them,” explains editor Cecilia Sandbring from Egmont Kärnan. She took part in the project along with the other members of the multidisciplinary group.

Louise Stenbjerre, editor-in-chief of Sirene, was another member of the group. “I knew quite a bit about the target group through my previous work with girls’ magazines at Serieforlaget, but this

was an all-new and fascinating way of learning by actually being with these girls from the moment they open their eyes till they go to bed.”

Cross-frontier innovation “At Egmont, the individual business units have traditionally driven innovation at local level, so appointing an innovation group was an interesting experiment in itself,” says Rikke.

“It was highly rewarding to work with colleagues from other divisions and countries. Having such diverse backgrounds, views and experience added an extra dimension to the project,” Cecilia comments.

Vibeke Nylykke, executive assistant at Nordisk Film, is also a participant in the multidisciplinary innovation group. “The project has enabled us to follow our target groups at much closer range. It has

ReD Associates identified a number of patterns in the girls’ survey responses, which can be summarized as six different insights all related to different areas of Egmont’s business.

The project also produced a series of concrete business cases, all of which have been subjected to the COSTAR model. These real-life cases come with hours of video footage that can be used to inspire original business development ideas. Vibeke explains: “Along with the rest of the innovation group, my role is to teach others about the method we learned at ReD Associates and to discuss the knowledge and the innovation platforms that the study has generated.”

“Our task was to create a product that wasn’t to be a newspaper, an Internet service, a movie or a book at all – but something that could be anything at all. The main thing was that it had to be a product the target group needed. I’ve taken this method back with me to Egmont Kärnan and intend to implement it in our own innovation processes.”

“I’m doing a brief tour of Nordisk Film, where the company’s vast film archives give me the opportunity to focus on areas of specific interest to the business. For example, it’s useful for our movie theater unit to get young people’s take on the social events the theaters offer. We then work together to identify what sort of possibilities this produces,” says Vibeke Nylykke.

“Now comes the tough part, implementation, which will show us whether the project is viable,” Louise concludes.

Read more about the project insights on the next page.

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How do you work with innovation on a daily basis?

“On a day-to-day basis, innovation is about creating added value for ourselves and generating brand loyalty in a fiercely competitive market. It can be anything from generating text-message income from recipes to improving our subscription process and developing events like ALT for damerne’s women’s run and ALT for damerne Live.”

Susanne Dam, marketing manager of ALT for Damerne and RUM Interiør Design at Egmont Magazines

Outlook to insight Project manager Charlotte Kinimond Hassøe summarizes the insights from the pilot project that ReD Associates conducted with Egmont.

Insight #1: Families mean something The media can engage families and bring them closer together.

The truth is that families actually miss each other. They only see one another at mealtimes and maybe watch some TV together, but they live increasingly fragmented lives. All the girls made a point of their holidays because they gave them time to be with their families.

Insight #2: No one wants to pay

Insight #4: Tough decisions

We need new business models.

The media can help girls make big decisions.

Magazines are cozy reading, but many girls said they had never spent a single dollar on a magazine. This generation is used to being able to download everything and get news for free. Media for social purposes are one area where young girls are prepared to pay for a product.

While the girls will use free media alone in their rooms, they will pay to go to a concert with their friends.

It’s hard to decide what you want to do when you leave school, and the range of choices poses a huge challenge for girls, who think they have to make the right decision first off. “Girls tend to use two decision-making strategies: Either they postpone the decision by going traveling, or else they search intensely for information. In this way, the media play an important role in guiding young people through a process where they create the content themselves rather than merely offering passive identity labels.

Insight #5: Cell phones are a lifeline!

The huge potential of cell phones has yet to be exhausted.

Insight #3: You don’t go to school to learn Digital media could be better integrated into school teaching.

Apathetic students are nothing new, but the use of digital media has drastically increased the phenomenon. The survey turned up the interesting finding that, although young people use electronic communication extensively, they use the Internet not to broaden their horizons but rather to strengthen their networks. “They use websites like Arto and MSN, but don’t venture into the world at large. School is a cool place to hang out with friends, but they don’t actually go there to learn anything.”

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Everyone can see teenagers walking around with their cell phones, but we were amazed at just how big a role these electronic devices play in their everyday lives. They send up to 200 text messages a day. The first thing the girls do in the morning is check their cell phones. There might easily be as many as 10 ‘Good morning!’ messages waiting for them! Cell phones have become an important lifeline. Another interesting observation was the way the girls conducted a conversation on several platforms in the course of a day. They switch between face-to-face, text messaging and online communities. New ways of activating their networks have emerged … and the girls use them.

Insight #6: Gossip and celebrities Fame is multifaceted and the media support this.

Some girls hanker to be well known, and we realized that a category of girls has materialized that we could term “micro-celebrities”. They are local celebrities because they have a popular profile on an online community, for example. With this knowledge under our belts, Egmont has a real chance to play a key role in young girls’ lives.

“I integrate innovation into my daily routines by inspiring my employees and colleagues to behave proactively and focus on how we as an IT department can offer maximum value to our users in a highly dynamic and creative organization.”

Bettina Enggaard, IT service manager at Nordisk Film IT

Conventions turned on their head The team behind the drama series ”2900 Happiness” has discovered that tight time schedules and budget limitations can change ingrained habits so radically that innovative production methods can actually set new industrial standards.

Nanna Lindhardt / Nordisk Film / nanna.lindhardt@nordiskfilm.com / Photo: Kristian Septimius Krogh

The trio on set. Henrik “Buller” Jongdahl (left), Steffen Addington (center) and Thomas Lydholm have rationalized the production of the drama series “2900 Happiness”.

Last year Nordisk Film TV started working on a new Danish drama series on a shoestring budget and with a TV3 deadline looming only months away.

Original thinking was needed – and fast!

Producers Thomas Lydholm and Henrik “Buller” Jongdahl and postproduction manager Steffen Addington describe the awesome challenge. No-one was prepared to compromise on quality – but there was no money and no time. Ergo the team had to come up with a new way of working and threw convention to the winds.

Process before art According to Thomas Lydholm, part of the solution lay in throwing the tightly controlled auteur style well-known from movie productions. Rather than letting an artistic leader’s vision dictate all the processes, the team opted for an industrial method based on a strict set of rules.“We simply agree on a fixed number of scenes, script pages and locations per episode, and tailor the story

accordingly. Putting process before art is normally unheard of in TV drama – but it worked,” Lydholm affirms.

Readjustment means swallowing some big pills The flat organizational structure was another departure from the norm. On “2900 Happiness” responsibility for the separate production elements is in the hands of whoever actually does the work – which means, for example, that the sound supervisor, not the director, finally approves the sound. Henrik Jongdahl describes it as optimal lean management:“People concentrate on what they’re best at. That benefits the process enormously and significantly shortens the work cycles. But it also requires great confidence in others and managers who aren’t afraid to surround themselves with people smarter than they are in certain professional areas. They swallowed some big pills along the way!” he smiles.

Innovation with future potential The result is a working culture where “Can we do this better?” is not only a positive but an absolutely critical question. The technical side is a case in point, where the 2900 team invented ingenious new methods of recording and editing raw footage. Steffen Addington offers a lengthy technical explanation, but essentially the new methods save both time and money. According to Addington, pioneer work requires steady nerves: “As a first mover you sometimes have to invent original working methods as the production process progresses. All that hi-tech equipment has raised some blood pressure on occasion. On the other hand, being able to set new standards puts us at the vanguard for the rest of the industry,” he emphasises. Lydholm, Jongdahl and Addington see the hard work as an investment in the future. The trio hope this production will not be the only one to benefit from the innovative methods, and they predict a further development of a change-readiness concept that can be used for other TV productions.

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How do you work with innovation on a daily basis?

“All new ideas are welcome at work, but innovation doesn’t necessarily have to happen only throughout your working day. You don’t have to look for innovation it will find you, as long as you want to.”

Ewa Gucewicz-Mooney, Product Manager i Egmont Poland

The Olivia Universe team are (from left to right): Anne Ingevold, digital/Internet; Svend Skytte, editorial; Mirit Bisholt, marketing; Michael Benzon, licensing manager and Rikke Schmidt, design.

Innovative minds behind the Olivia universe The secret behind the expansion of the Olivia universe to ever-new platforms is unshakeable confidence, interdisciplinary cooperation, management support and the desire to drop restrictive routines.

Mikkel Løndahl / Corporate Communications / ml@egmont.com / Photo: Kristian Septimius Krogh

In just a short space of time, the Olivia magazine has grown into far more than a mere print publication.

Creative minds at Serieforlaget in Denmark have successfully moved the universe to a growing number of new platforms.

As a result, Danish 8-12-year-old girls can also be part of the universe at Olivianet.dk when they listen to the Olivia Volume #1 CD or dress in the smart Olivia fashions sold by Coops stores. Magazine rea-

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dership has topped 50,000, the website boasts over a million page views a month while 11,500 copies of the CD have been sold and almost 70 different clothing designs have been launched.

This achievement – beginning with a magazine concept already developed and tested in the rest of the Nordic region – has called for innovation, or in other words one of the hottest themes of Egmont management strategy for the future.

Multidisciplinary teamwork “The team’s overarching goal has been to center all innovation on strengthening our core business – the Olivia magazine. The target group’s activities on multiple platforms today represent latent potential, and our aim is to use our business sense to realize ideas that increase either profitability or brand awareness,” says Michael Benzon. As licensing manager at Egmont Serieforlaget, he has been responsible in recent years for leveraging the ownership rights

Art director Rikke Schmidt from Serieforlaget met the demanding challenge of creating fashion design alongside magazine design by leveraging her knowledge of the target group and the Olivia brand.

to the Olivia license on platforms other than those already in-house: the cell phone, Internet and magazine platforms.

In his view, a key innovation that helped propel the Olivia universe to new platforms is the teamwork between various Egmont companies.

“I particularly like the Olivia CD project. The record company NSM from MBO under Nordisk Film produced it. The digital department hosted the cell phone competition where Olivia readers were asked to select the tracks, while the Olivia editorial team approved the resulting product and ensured brand consistency,” Michael Benzon explains.

Without missing a beat he pinpoints the qualities he believes it took to create the innovation that is the secret to broadening Olivia into other platforms.

“For me, the crucial factor was the way Serieforlaget’s management, spearheaded by Jan Neiiendam, communicated the direction and dared take a risk with an unconventional publishing guy like me while giving the go-ahead for everyone else to devote time to it as well,” says Michael Benzon.

Egmont offers huge possibilities He also stresses the importance of change readiness in the organization. “A single committed employee is not enough. Many people have to believe in the

idea and be willing to drop familiar routines. Serieforlaget has been fortunate to have these employees. We don’t all have the same knack for spotting potential – but all of us can. And if we dare to fight for the cause and keep the faith, we can go far,” Michael Benzon points out.

He believes Egmont holds huge potential for repeating Olivia’s success with other brands and for using licensers on new platforms across its companies.

“But it can’t be done without management backing and focused employees. And generally we need to talk a lot more together across the divisions.”

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How do you work with innovation on a daily basis?

“Sometimes it is not what you really do but what you are able to do. Innovation box gave me possibility to share my dreams. Even if I was not sure they will ever come true. Few months ago I had just a simple idea. Now, after many levels of innovation process and weeks of discussion, we have a plan how to discover new market.”

Joanna Kuzincow, Egmont Poland

Template-driven enthusiasm Ute og Inne is the first magazine at Hjemmet Mortensen to be published using template production methods. The pace is high, as is enthusiasm for the new system.

Alexander Berg Jr. / Hjemmet Mortensen / alexander.berg@hm-media.no / Photo: Alexander Berg Jr.

Everyone on the “Ute og Inne” editorial team does it all. Front: Grethe Rønningen, editor responsible under press law (left) and Cathrine Barland Jensen. Behind: Eva Glorvigen (left) and Marte Dorthea Heidel Røren. Together these seven people produce 80 pages every week.

“It’s cool. A fun way to work!”

Reporter Eva Glorvigen is convinced that template-driven production is the future for publishing and that this way of working will bring journalists closer to their material.

“Feature articles are the most fun because you get a completely different feel for the assignment. You see instantly what it will look like in print, and you think about the copy in a different way, for instance, you have to decide where to position the subheadings.”

Grethe Rønningen, editor responsible under press law, explains that the introduction of template-based publishing resulted from a decision to make Ute og Inne a cheap magazine to produce.

“We wanted to experiment with a new organizational form, and as a team of seven, we each produce an average of ten pages a week.”

In comparison, an editorial assistant on a traditional weekly produces three to four pages a week.

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True multitaskers Template-driven production means that the pages are produced according to predefined layouts. In turn, this means that the journalists enter their copy directly into predefined templates. As a result, layout and desktopping have become an integrated part of the journalists’ job. Super desktoppers are thus a new concept.

“A super desktopper is basically an all-in-one person who produces a story from scratch and prints it out before sending it to be quality checked and proofread,” says editor-in-chief Grethe Rønningen.

She has found that template-driven production reduces the margin of error because the production process entails fewer steps. However, it also means each employee has greater responsibility. There’s nowhere left to hide if you make a mistake!

Helping each other improve Naturally, Ute og Inne has a flat organizational structure partly because the team is so small, but equally because responsibility is evenly distributed among them. Everyone can influence the end product,

which has created a strong team spirit where everyone steps in for each other.

“We help each other to improve,” says Eva Glorvigen, who originally worked for Hjemmet and did not believe working like this was possible.

“But it definitely does work, and it gives you a stronger sense of ownership for your work. This is the way forward!”

Spreading to other editorial departments Vice President Kjetil Opaas is certain that template-driven production will spread to other Hjemmet Mortensen editorial departments. He has already noted many editors’ interest in introducing the system. Grethe Rønningen believes template-based production will work well for departments that produce many pages with a predefined appearance. In any case, she is extremely satisfied with the way the system works for her publication, and particularly for the editorial team.

“The editorial team consists of people with a wide variety of skills that can overlap. The atmosphere is good, and we have a lot of fun.”

“I would really recommend the swap to everyone who has the option to do it. It’s a really positive experience for your working life and your personal biography as well,” Ayse Nacak says.

A tale of two cities What do you do when you would like to try working with something else, but you want to stay within Egmont? Two art editors, Phil Williams from Egmont Creative in London and Ayse Nacak from Egmont Ehapa in Berlin found a solution by swapping job, apartment and cat for half a year.

Claire Greaves and Niels Almer / Corporate Communications / nal@egmont.com / Photo: Neila

How did the idea of a knowledge exchange abroad come about?

London, he agreed. It took about year and a half to sort out.”

one day if I would be interested to go to London – and I agreed from the first moment.

Phil: “Peter Schlecht, Managing Director of Egmont Creative, came to visit Egmont Creative in London and mentioned the international culture in Egmont and the possibility of us being able to work for other countries. When I suggested it to Keith Ralph, Director of Egmont Creative in

Ayse: Keith asked my manager, Joerg Risken, if Egmont Ehapa would be interested in doing this swap. Coincidently I had asked Joerg some months before if a swap with another Egmont country would be possible. And so he asked me

How did you organize the apartment swap?

Ayse: “From the beginning it was clear that it would be the easiest solution just to swap the apartments. Phil was so kind to offer not to swap

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How do you work with innovation on a daily basis? ”With the innovation process in place more formally and as a clear agenda, the main difference that we observe is that the ideas are more valued. Idea generation became a part of daily routine – sometimes we are able to see open brainstorming sessions in the office!”

Neyran Akyildiz, Brand Manager, Dogan Egmont

“Once you know the city, it’s brilliant.” Phil Williams from Egmont Creative experienced a change of scenery for half a year when moving from London to Berlin.

the rent. Otherwise it would have been difficult for me. So we sent each other photographs and information about the area we live in. And Phil told me everything I would need to know about his cat!”

Phil: ”Myself and Ayse arranged it between ourselves by email. Ayse hadn’t been to London before, so we organized a weekend visit for her to meet me and to come the Egmont Creative office.

This was funded by the company and really gave her a good introduction to London. I had visited Berlin on a number of occasions before, so no introductory visit was organized before I went on the actual exchange.”

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What do you think are the major differences between working for Egmont Creative in London and Egmont Ehapa in Berlin?

Phil: “People are very friendly here, but they do have a different way of working. There is a different process involved because there are more people to deal with and that might also be a cultural difference. It can also be more informal at Egmont Creative because it’s a smaller team. Also, at Egmont Creative we are always providing materials for other countries so we are reminded of the international aspect, whereas over here they are working specifically for the German market and have a closer association with the magazines they work on.”

Egmont Creative Egmont Creative is a company in Egmont’s Kids & Teens division. The company has developed Disney stories during the last 40 years. Today, Egmont Creative possesses a unique position as the second largest producer after the Disney Corporation.

Each day, Egmont Creative delivers content for Disney magazines all over the world, such as the Disney Weekly, Pocket Donald, Princess and Winnie the Pooh. More than 6.000 pages are being produced each year – from idea to final coloring – in cooperation with 100 authors and colorists in Europe, South America and USA.

Egmont International Knowledge Exchange Scheme Egmont International now has a recognised Knowledge Exchange Scheme where employees can more easily and quickly organise similar exchanges to this, and also for shorter time periods. Please contact Dawn Cordy or visit the Knowledge Exchange page on Insight. The scheme is currently only available within Egmont International, but please feel free to contact Dawn for more information on how the exchange was set up.

Read more about the International Knowledge Exchange Scheme on Insight.

Egmont Ehapa

Ayse: ”Ehapa is a publishing company with about 100 employees working in different departments like marketing, editorial, sales and production. Egmont Creative is much smaller. It is a creative office with 12 people where only editors and designers are employed. Their main topic is to create international Disney pre-school content for the Egmont publishers, and to develop new ideas and products.

The working atmosphere is really nice and familial.”

How has your job been structured?

Ayse: “I only work for Egmont Creative. Phil has to do both, because his role with Playhouse is so important that it wouldn’t be possible to displace him at Egmont Creative.”

Phil: “It’s been a really positive experience in most ways. However, the workload can be very demanding. It wasn’t really possible to simply stop my work for Egmont Creative, and initially I did feel that this made it a little more difficult to integrate myself with my colleagues here. Since then, I have taken on Ehapa work as well, which makes me feel more part of the team, but it can be difficult to keep on top of everything. Jörg and Keith agreed that I’d do three weeks of ECN work and one week of work for Ehapa, although to be honest it works out that I need to be flexible.”

What is the social life like in Berlin and London?

Ayse: ”The atmosphere in town is really nice and lively. Everybody is friendly and kind. It’s easy to

have a little chat in a pub. The colleagues and neighbours are really nice and social. There are some after-work activities as well.”

Phil: “Berlin has a great social life – but you have to know where to go and to avoid the tourist traps. You have to make a few trips to see how it works, but once you know it’s brilliant. During the week, you usually just go home, although there are some work organised social events. Also, I’ve sort of been adopted by Ayse’s boyfriend which has been a great help! And I’ve got to know Ayse – she’s come back a few times to see family and friends since we started the exchange and we regularly email.”

How have you coped with language issues?

Phil: “Although my German has improved, on a day-to-day basis with work and friends, it’s simply not good enough. I try to study a few evenings a week, but my original plan to do an evening class whilst I was here ground to a halt when I realised how demanding the workload was. It’s a real shame, but German is notoriously difficult to learn. However, everyone has been very friendly, helpful and welcoming – and of course their English is fantastic.”

Ayse: “In the beginning it was difficult to understand people while they were talking to each other quite quickly. It was ok when they talked to me directly. After one month it began to get easier. It’s a good help that I have a flatmate to

Egmont Ehapa started 57 years ago, when the first “Mickey Mouse” magazine was published in Western Germany in September 1951. Mickey Mouse was an immediate success in postwar Germany and soon became the synonym for comic magazines in general, with continuously rising print runs. Over the years, the small publishing house with 5 employees developed into being the German market leader in the kids’ magazine segment with 100 employees.

speak to in German. Now, after 3 months it’s much easier, especially understanding colloquial language or speaking on the phone.”

Do you have any general advice for someone thinking of doing an exchange?

Ayse: ”I would always advise to go over for a weekend before the swap should begin. It’s helpful to see the flat and the colleagues before, so I wasn’t too excited to come over. Then I would advise to do the flat swap because it is the easiest and best solution for both parts.

Moreover I think it’s nice to live together with a flat mate. It’s good for your social life and for learning the language.”

Phil: “General advice would be typical things such as getting a European bank account so you don’t get charged when you withdraw money.

Make sure you’ve got internet access so you can Skype your family and friends. Also, chose a big football tournament year, because it’s always a uniting conversational topic, and an excuse for a party!”

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How do you work with innovation on a daily basis?

“Innovation is an essential part of my normal work. As a webmaster I have to quickly react to new requirements and technical demands and often find new innovative ways to cope with the challenges. Continuous exchange with the Egmont IT and regular revisions of our local processes keep us moving.”

David Obando, Webmaster hos Egmont Ehapa

Passionately artistic colleagues Egmont is brimming with passionately committed employees. Sometimes they also have hidden artistic talents. Egmont’s art society lets these talents shine through the initiative “Colleague Art” in which colleagues exhibit their own art works.

Lisbeth Sahl, Dansk Reklame Film, has had her paintings exhibited for the first time at Egmont Magazines and in Egmont House.

“I’ve had loads of feedback about my participation and my work. Being part of this initiative has been a very positive experience that has spurred me to do even more with my interest,” Lisbeth explains.

She has created her own website and jotted down several other exhibit dates in her calendar, one at the Kalejdoroom gallery in Copenhagen. Lisbeth points out that the initiatives have boosted sales of her paintings.

“I will definitely take part again if the initiative is repeated next year,” Lisbeth stresses. / NA You can read more about the art society and join it through the Danish edition of Insight.

Visit Lisbeth’s website at www.sahlart.dk.

”The traditional role of the editor is changing. Today it’s far more like a producer’s role, launching a universe on multiple platforms and reaching readers through the media of the Internet, cell phones and magazines. That exacts heavy demands on editors.”

Jan Neiiendam, managing director of Serieforlaget, to Mediawatch, September 2, 2008 “I think everyone already familiar with the universe will find it cool to re-encounter all the buildings, landscapes and characters in the print version. As such, it’s an extension of the game, and the comic starts where the last ‘quest’ ends on the beach in the country of Durotar.”

Martin Oesten, product manager, Egmont Serieforlaget, commenting in MetroXpress, September 10, 2008, on the new initiative to publish the popular computer game “World of Warcraft” as a comic.

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“Looking at the international market lets us see that we still have plenty of niches we can enter here in Denmark.”

Kjeld Lucas, managing director of Egmont Magazines, commenting in Børsen, September 10, 2008, on the future of the magazine business in a recession.

“My strategy for Egmont is market-leading positions. That’s also why Hjemmet Mortensen is so interesting. Our primary focus is to achieve the best possible in the different areas. That will generate cross-synergies, but the idea is not to super-integrate our various activities.”

Steffen Kragh, President and CEO, commenting on Egmont’s position in Norway, Berlingske Tidende, August 5, 2008.

Relay is a series of articles in which employees from all areas of Egmont answer a professional question from a colleague. In this issue, Peter Aalbæk, managing director of Zentropa, answers September’s question: “Why should the bad boy of Danish moviemaking be part of Uncle Scrooge’s Danish conglomerate?”

Why should the bad boy of Danish movie-making be part of Uncle Scrooge’s Danish conglomerate?

Despite the apparently wide cultural gap between Zentropa and Nordisk Film, Peter Aalbæk has always had an affable relationship with Nordisk Film. Peter is shown here with Michael Ritto, managing director of Nordisk Film, at the spring press conference held to announce Nordisk Film’s co-ownership of Zentropa.

The blunt response is: Because we’ve always been involved! Sometimes operationally, but always emotionally.

When I was young, sensitive and insufferably ambitious, Nordisk Film was the worst place to be.

You’d find all the trendy, avant-garde moviemakers in the government film studios in Lyngby north of Copenhagen, the former ASA Film Studier. They served vegetables with meals and put exotic spices in the sauce.

At Nordisk Film Marianne ruled the kitchen and the only salad that ever made its way to the buffet was pickled cucumber salad. The sheer unsexiness of Valby was exactly what made it madly interesting for us to explore the red barracks and discover secret places like Valdemar Psilander’s dressing room [Da-

nish silent movie celebrity, murdered, presumably by a Russian fan in his dressing room at Nordisk Film in 1917, ed.] and Niels Peter’s projection room (stinking rich building manager and contortionist).

I quickly landed a job as production assistant on a TV series by Edward Fleming entitled Station 13, and was equally quickly fired because I was really bad at the job and incredibly busy starting up countless projects of my own, on Nordisk Film’s telephone account.

My firing was inevitable and threw me straight into the arms of my partner, Lars von Trier, who needed a producer. We made a great comeback to Nordisk Film, because production designer Henning Bahs was an obvious choice for Trier’s next movie. We produced Europa in Valby in a beautiful partnership with Bo Christensen, who was a producer at the time.

After the movie, we decided to launch Zentropa and survived the first many years because we could always depend on the goodwill of the Nordisk Film laboratorium Johan Ankerstjerne A/S [now Nordisk Film Lab, ed.] whenever we were short of cash. As for distribution, we got used to Jan Lehmann and Peter Philipsen’s comforting set-up at Nordisk Film Distribution, and only left “home” a couple of times in a fit of teenage furor.

So the leap wasn’t that big, then? No – deep down, we had a quiet but refreshing sense of having come home!

Written with deep humility and spectacular honesty..

Peter Aalbæk Jensen, movie businessman

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