MARCH 2011 / THE YEAR IN REVIEW / HOW TO GET A BETTER BOSS! / FRONT ROW SEATS TO THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION / PROFITS IN KIEV / KIDS MEDIA FOR ADULTS! / BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE / TAKING THE FIRST STEPS INTO VIRGIN MEDIA TERRITORY / FAIRYTALES AND ADVENTURES IN NEW FORMATS / CAPPELEN DAMM FIRES UP THE NORWEGIAN E-BOOK MARKET / MAKING PALE SKIN HOT / WHEN THE WINDS OF CHANGE BLOW
2010 flashback
Content 4
2010 proved to be a good year
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Egmont facts and figures 2010 A quick overview.
8
How to get a better boss!
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The year in review – Kids Media
14
Front row seats to the digital revolution
15
Profits in Kiev
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Kids Media for adults! Duck calling all mature Duckburg fans – new strategies from Serieforlaget and Ehapa.
18
Security and learning for sale
19
Two journalists take on a super power
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The year in review – TV 2
22
Barclays Premier League TV 2 invested heavily in football in 2010 when it secured the broadcasting rights to the Premier League. And success was waiting right round the corner.
24
The year in review – Magazines
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Insert text here... Several years of working with the template-based layout system Page Planner have made Egmont Hjemmet Mortensen expert users. They spent part of 2010 sharing their knowledge with other Egmont companies.
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Taking the first steps in new media territory
30
The year in review – Books
32
Fairytales and adventures in new formats Children’s books are practically made for new platforms like iPad and iPhone. Lindhardt og Ringhof and Egmont UK launched their first children’s book apps in 2010.
34
Cappelen Damm fires up the Norwegian e-book market
35
Pop-up shop
36
Professional continuing education
38
The year in review – Nordisk Film
40
Interactive moves into goal
42
Making pale skin HOT... Twilight fever raged in 2010, and Nordisk Film’s marketing campaigns did their best to fire up the many fans.
44
When the winds of change blow...
46
The year in review – the Charitable Activities of the Egmont Foundation
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22
32
42
Dear colleague
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We have put an image of an iPad on the front cover of this issue as a symbol of 2010. Obviously, this does not fairly reflect the full extent of all Egmont’s digital initiatives from apps to publications for iPad. Nor is it fair to let digital activities be our company’s ambassador, when analogue media generate the majority of our revenue. We have nonetheless decided to let a tablet computer grace the cover because in 2010 we started truly playing with new ways of publishing our content – one being on iPad. Numerous initiatives have been launched – some of which will founder and a few capsize, but experiments are important as we strive to learn about new media habits. As you will read in this issue of Hardcopy, these experiments are not restricted to the digital arena. We are also testing new ways of creating stories and using rights. In this special ‘Year in Review’ edition of Hardcopy, you can read more about how the various divisions tackled their challenges and opportunities in 2010. And although you are holding the largest Hardcopy to date, it offers but a set of small window panes that give a glimpse of our various business areas – panes that put together form a picture window with a view to a company strongly anchored in outstanding content. You are probably reading this issue as an employee of Egmont, but you may also be one of our business partners, a prospective employee or a reader who simply has a general interest in what we do. If you are an employee, you are sure to have noticed our pilot issue of Hardcopy online: ‘eCopy’. We are testing out how Egmont’s employee magazine works when published online. We are experimenting with form and distribution to accommodate your media habits, and are therefore keen to receive your comments on the new online version. Click on eCopy to read it on your computer or iPad! Happy reading – on- and offline!
Colophon
Mika Bildsøe Lassen, Vice Presidsent, Corporate Communications
EDITOR RESPONSIBLE UNDER DANISH PRESS LAW Mika Bildsøe Lassen mbl@egmont.com EDITOR Niels Almer almer@egmont.com
PRINTING Rosendahls Bogtrykkeri A/S CIRCULATION Nordic languages: 4.200 English: 1.000 PUBLICATION DATE 15. marts 2011
PHOTO Petter Berg Steen Brogaard Kristian Krogh Thomas Fredberg LAYOUT Ole Jensen
Corporate Communications Vognmagergade 11 1148 Copenhagen K Denmark Telephone +45 33 30 55 50
2010 proved to be
a good year 2010 WAS A STRONG YEAR FOR CREATIVITY AND PRODUCTS. THE PROFITABILITY PROGRAMMES IMPLEMENTED IN RECENT YEARS PAID OFF. EGMONT ENTERED 2011 BACKED BY A ROBUST PROFIT AND WITH A SOLID PLATFORM FOR LAUNCHING NEW INVESTMENTS. By Niels Almer
E
gmont recorded the highest operating profit to date in 2010, with signs of improvement in almost all business areas. So it was a satisfied Steffen Kragh who welcomed me into his office at the Egmont House to set 2010 in place and draw a broad outline of Egmont’s plans for 2011. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF 2010? We were able to produce strong creative productions that generated extra earnings. Recent film successes are very much in mind right now, with In a Better World recording high box office sales and winning both an Oscar and a Golden Globe, but we can equally boast a number of outstanding books, Meyer’s Almanak, for example. Our magazines have also performed significantly better than other market players, while sales of PlayStation 3 are growing and marketing initiatives throughout the Group are excellent.
In addition to strong products, we can see increased advertising sales following the downturn during the financial crisis, and most of our media are developing well. Coupled with the ongoing profitability initiatives, this has generated a satisfactory profit for Egmont. The results are particularly good because so many companies have contributed to boosting profit. WHAT HAS SURPRISED YOU MOST? At the outset of 2010 no one knew how the immediate future would develop. But each month was slightly better than expected. We have actually only had a few areas that did not develop to Egmont’s advantage. Our part-owned Norwegian TV 2 is a good example of a company that has been a very positive surprise, recording the best profit ever after several years of profitability initiatives and major investments. TV 2 boosted its advertising sales, and the Norwegian economy is strong.
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WHAT DID WE DO BETTER THAN OUR COMPETITORS? A number of our media have certainly performed well. However, many media companies made headway. We were particularly quick to adapt after the crisis in 2009, because we already had plans in place in 2008. WHAT IS YOUR OVERALL GOAL FOR EGMONT? Our overall goal for companies in the Group is to create strong, relevant media and experiences for consumers, this way building solid media companies in every market. At the same time, we must prepare ourselves for the media market of the future. HOW WILL WE ACHIEVE THESE GOALS? We must experiment with publications for the wide range of mobile tablets, for example. Our aim is still to create the best
President and CEO Steffen Kragh
content, and good content starts with a good story – regardless of platform and technology. So we have to be creative. WHAT SHOULD WE IMPROVE IN 2011? We must forge more and closer ties with consumers and familiarise ourselves with mobile platforms so we can create content on a wide variety of screens. This is where much of the media battle for consumer favour will be fought. HOW CLOSE ARE WE TO THE TARGET OF A DIGITAL BILLION? At the start of 2010 Group Management set the goal of being part of the transformation to the media market of the future. We formulated a digital strategy. One of its targets is to increase digital revenue to a billion Danish kroner. In addition, we have intensified our management focus on creating digital business by establishing digital centres in Denmark and Norway and
At the outset of 2010 no one knew how the immediate future would develop. But each month was slightly better than expected. appointing digital managers for Nordisk Film, Magazines and Kids Media. We have almost reached the halfway mark in the race to generate a billion kroner of revenue in the digital area, but numerous experiments are underway, and many skilled colleagues are working to adapt our existing products to the new media landscape. We have continued developing digital media products throughout 2010, with online film and TV streaming and books and magazines for tablet computers being just a few examples. We must be able to meet our readers and viewers wherever they happen to be, as long as we have a sensible underlying business model, which is the hard part of the equation. We are thus striving to drive the transformation to the new media land-
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scape at a reasonable speed while ensuring equal focus on creative content and good, relevant products. WHAT IMPACT WILL THE RESULTS HAVE ON 2011? Combined with our debt-free status, the increase in operating profit gives us a good platform for continuing the pace of our investment in both traditional and digital media. HOW MUCH DIVERSITY CAN THE GROUP EMBRACE? We must be diverse with regard to our employees. Being ‘rummelig’ is in fact also one of our core values. Indeed, we make our living from good, original ideas, which do not spring from conformity. We must be able to think innovatively and couple this ability with strong media craftsmanship. These are some of our most valuable assets, and I would like to thank everyone at Egmont for their hard works.
Egmont facts and figures COMPANIES ARE WHOLLY OWNED UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED. The enterprises marked with * are owned directly by the Egmont Foundation. OWNERSHIP
SUBSIDIARIES Enterprise
Registered office
DENMARK Egmont International Holding A/S * Copenhagen Egmont Holding A/S Copenhagen Egmont Magasiner A/S Gentofte Egmont Specialblade A/S Gentofte Go-Card A/S Gentofte Egmont Serieforlaget A/S Copenhagen Egmont Creative Center A/S Copenhagen Lindhardt og Ringhof Forlag A/S Copenhagen Nordisk Film A/S Copenhagen Nordisk Film Distribution A/S Copenhagen Nordisk Film Shortcut A/S Copenhagen Nordisk Film Production A/S Copenhagen Nordisk Film Biografer A/S Copenhagen Scala Bio Center Aalborg ApS 80 % Aalborg BioCenter Kolding A/S 50 % Kolding Victoria Film Rights A/S Copenhagen Kino.dk A/S 74 % Copenhagen Vild med underholdning A/S Copenhagen Dansk Reklame Film A/S Copenhagen Fine & Mellow A/S 60 % Copenhagen Nordisk Trading Company A/S Kolding Nordisk Special Marketing A/S Aalborg Egmont Administration A/S Copenhagen Ejendomsselskabet Vognmagergade 11 ApS * Copenhagen Ejendomsselskabet Gothersgade 55 ApS * Copenhagen Ejendomsaktieselskabet Lygten 47-49 Copenhagen NORWAY Egmont AS Oslo Egmont Holding AS Oslo Egmont Serieforlaget AS Oslo Nordisk Film AS Oslo Nordisk Film Produksjon AS Oslo Nordisk Film Post Production AS Oslo Nordisk Film Distribusjon AS Oslo Nordisk Film Production AS Oslo Nordisk Film ShortCut AS Oslo Drammen Kino AS 66,7 % Drammen Neofilm AS 66,7 % Oslo Sportskort AS 96,25 % Oslo Hjemmet Mortensen AS Oslo Hjemmet Mortensen Trykkeri AS Oslo Hjemmet Mortensen Fagmedia AS Oslo SWEDEN Egmont Holding AB Egmont Tidskrifter AB Auto, Motor och Sport Sverige AB Egmont Tidskrifter BM AB Vagabond Media AB Egmont Kärnan AB Egmont Editions AB Sudd AB 60 % Sören och Anders Interessenter AB Änglatroll AB Skandinaviske Skoledagböcker AB Nordisk Film Sverige AB
Malmö Malmö Stockholm Stockholm Stockholm Malmö Malmö Stockholm Malmö Malmö Stockholm Stockholm
Nordisk Film Produktion Sverige AB Nordisk Film Post Produktion AB Nordisk Film Distribution AB Spiderbox Entertainment AB
Stockholm Stockholm Stockholm Stockholm
FINLAND Egmont Holding Oy/Egmont Holding Ab Oy Nordisk Film Ab Dominova Oy/Ab BK Pro Fitness Oy
Helsinki Helsinki Helsinki Vasa
GERMANY Egmont Holding GmbH Egmont Ehapa Verlag GmbH Egmont Verlagsgesellschaften mbH Mitte-Editionen GmbH
Berlin Berlin Cologne Berlin
UNITED KINGDOM Egmont Holding Ltd. Egmont UK Ltd.
London London
POLAND Egmont Polska sp. z o.o.
Warsaw
CZECH REP. Egmont CR s.r.o.
Prague
HUNGARY Egmont Hungary Kft. RUSSIA ZAO Egmont Russia Ltd.
Mediehuset Nettavisen AS Outside Broadcast Team AS Eventyrkanalen AS TV 2 Torget AS Kanal 24 Norge AS TV 2 Zebra AS TV 2 Gruppen AS ejer Mosart Medialab AS TV 2 Gruppen AS ejer Cappelen Damm Holding AS Cappelen Damm AS Cappelen Damm Salg AS Tanum AS Map Solutions AS Sentraldistribusjion ANS Larsforlaget AS Cappelen Damm Holding AS ejer Barnemagasinet AS Maipo AS
50 % 50 % 50 % 50 % 50 %
Oslo Bergen Bergen Bergen Fredrikstad Bergen
55 % Bergen 84,5 % 50 % 50 % 50 % 50 % 50 % 50 %
Oslo Oslo Oslo Oslo Oslo Oslo Oslo
66 % 50 % Oslo 55,1 % Oslo
SWEDEN Fladen Film AB
50 %
Budapest
FINLAND Solar Films Oy Egmont Kustannus Oy Ab
50,1 % Helsinki 50 % Helsinki
Moscow
TURKEY Dogan ve Egmont Yayincilik A.S.
50 %
Istanbul
ESTONIA Aktsiaselts Egmont Estonia
Tallinn
AUSTRALIA Hardie Grant Egmont Pty Ltd
50 %
Melbourne
LETVIA Egmont Latvija SIA
Riga
LITHUANIA UAB Egmont Lietuva
CHINA Children’s Fun Publishing Company Ltd.
49 %
Beijing
Vilnius
UKRAINE Egmont Ukraine LLC
Kiev
THAILAND Nation Egmont Edutainment Company Ltd.
50 %
Bangkok
RUMANIA Egmont Romania S.R.L.
Bucharest
BULGARIA Egmont Bulgaria EAD
Sofia
CROATIA Egmont d.o.o.
Zagreb
USA Egmont US Inc. The Student Planner LLC
New York 50,5 % Denver
CHINA Egmont Hong Kong Ltd. Egmont Sourcing (HK) Ltd.
Hong Kong Hong Kong
JOINT VENTURES Enterprise
Registered office
DENMARK Scandinavian Media Alliance A/S Zentropa Folket ApS MBO Group A/S NORGE AE-TV Holding AS TV 2 Gruppen AS TV 2 AS Nydalen Studios AS OB-Team AS Nordic World AS TV 2 AS ejer
50 % Copenhagen 50 % Hvidovre 50,1 % Aalborg 50 % 50 % 50 % 50 % 50 % 50 %
6
Bergen Bergen Bergen Oslo Oslo Oslo
Stockholm
ASSOCIATES Enterprise DENMARK Ugebladenes Fælles Opkrævningskontor I/S I/S Ugebladsdistributionen * Copenhagen Bombay Holding ApS Publizon A/S NORWAY Motor ANS Filmweb AS Biip.no AS Egmont Serieforlaget AS ejer TV 2 AS ejer Phonofile AS TV 2 Gruppen AS ejer RiksTV AS TV 2 Gruppen AS ejer
Registered office
50 % 50 %
Albertslund Albertslund
33,3 % Copenhagen 36 % Aarhus 50 % 34 %
Oslo Oslo Oslo
45 % 45 % Oslo 33,3 % Oslo 33,3 %
SWEDEN Golfresan AB
24,7 % Stockholm
FINLAND Matila Röhr-Nordisk Oy HD-Post Oy
30 % 40 %
Helsinki Helsinki
UNITED KINGDOM Wendy Promotion Ltd.
50 %
London
27%
20%
Egmont Nordisk Film
Egmont Magazines
12% TV 2
30%
11%
Egmont Kids Media
Egmont Books
BUSINESS AREA SHARE OF REVENUE
GROUP PERFORMANCE 2010-2009 (mio. EUR)
Revenue
2010
KEY FIGURES 2010 FROM EACH BUSINESS AREA 2009
1,420
1,440
136
125
60
47
Equity
442
415
Grants
6
6
Profit (EBITDA) before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization
Profit (EBT) before tax
Employees (head count)
6,500
6,800
Revenue .
(Mio EUR)
Profit (EBITDA) Earnings before before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization
interest and taxes
Employees (head count)
(EBIT)
Kids Media
418
27
22
1,497
Nordisk Film
383
38
12
1,672
Magazines
284
38
20
1,058
Books
157
8
3
1,221
TV 2 Group
172
27
17
904
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How to get
a better boss! By Niels Almer
Philosophy for managers AT EGMONT GOOD MANAGEMENT HAS MANY FACES. HERE ARE WORDS FROM SOME OF THE BEST. ‘Leadership isn’t just a cloak you put on from 9 to 5. You have to dare to be yourself. You must also have chosen a management position for the right reasons – your goal must be greater than your personal career. You have to be deeply committed to doing things better for your team and company. You have to enjoy working with people, even those who are different from you. The success of your employees must be your goal. You have to have the courage to hire employees who are smarter than you and then give them elbowroom. Then you have to set clear, unambiguous goals and remember to draw conclusions, both positive and negative,’ says Helle Bach. Those managers who, according to their employees’ response to the questionnaire, are best at personnel management, offer their take on good management. According to them good management is about…
Jannicke Apelgren, Egmont Serieforlaget
Maj-Lis Stordal, Egmont Hjemmet Mortensen
Setting a clear direction, having the courage to make unpopular decisions and getting the best out of each individual. Don’t forget communication. Do what you say and say what you do!
Through involvement, knowledge and inspiration to make vision and goals come true, and thus making the most of my own resources at all times, both the human and the financial.
Thomas Rehling, Nordisk Film
Lev Yelin, Egmont Russia
Is many things, but among them are setting clear goals and strategies, acting as one team, having one agenda, making clear choices even when it’s tough, knowing yourself, being yourself, striking a good work-life balance and keeping things simple.
To me, good leadership is about building the right team, a team whose members come up with great ideas as naturally as they ask for another coffee. And, yes, your own ideas should be even better. At least sometimes...
Valizara Dobreva, Egmont Bulgaria Knowing yourself and others, having a clear vision and sharing it, building trust and providing the information, knowledge and methods that your employees need to realise that vision.
Egmont’s HR director Helle Bach.
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E
very year you are asked to fill in a questionnaire for Egmont’s corporate analysis. Corporate Human Resources uses the results to build the competencies of Egmont Group managers.
issue of good management by offering new managers an introduction to management, follow-up on corporate analysis results and a general leadership training course as well as offering employees exit interviews when they leave us,’ says Helle Bach, Vice President, Corporate HR.
When Egmont’s corporate analysis first appeared in 2004, it showed that ‘immediate superiors’ could score better and that ‘good management’ increases job motivation.
We can see the results today: the general assessment of immediate superiors has risen dramatically since 2004.
Six years on, the analysis has come to play a key role in the development of managers and departments in the individual companies.
‘Overall Egmont has excellent managers, but we can still make improvements in certain areas. For example, setting targets and consistently following up on them heads our agenda for 2011 and the years beyond,’ Helle explains.
‘Time and again the corporate analysis shows that our immediate superiors have the greatest impact on our desire to go to work at Egmont. Over the past few years, we have therefore tackled the
Read ab out good managem on Insigh ent princ t under ‘p iples eople’ an d ‘HR po licies’. Read mo re about the Gene Training ral Lead course o ership n Insight and ‘train under ‘p ing and eople’ developm ent’. Anatolij Shishkin, Egmont Romania The ability to motivate each team member to work towards common goals. Ivana Krnic, Egmont Croatia A way of finding and bringing out the best in people in order to reach a common goal. And making everyone feel good in the process.
Tina Jacobsen, Egmont Financial Services Having your door open so employees have access to you whenever they need to, and having the empathy to understand their situations and put yourself in their shoes.
Katharina Braun, Egmont Verlagsgesellschaft Inspiring confidence, bringing out employees’ skills and encouraging them – without demanding things you aren’t prepared to do yourself.
Lise Nerlov, Alinea Being open and honest, expressing myself clearly and arguing for what I do. So my employees know where they have me and hopefully feel secure about me as a manager and a person.
OTHER MANAGERS AMONG THE TOP 25 Gyorgy Babos, Egmont Hungary Katalin Vas, Egmont Hungary Magdalena Kosch-Mackowiak, Egmont Poland Martin Dusseldorp, Egmont Poland John Tønnes, Nordisk Film Cinemas Louise Stenbjerre, Egmont Magasiner
Asger Flygare Bech-Thomsen, Nordisk Film Kerstin Werner, Egmont Ehapa Stanislav Kadlec, Egmont Czech Republic Susanne Bent Andersen, Lindhardt og Ringhof Espen Christiansen, Egmont Hjemmet Mortensen Helle Bach, Egmont Human Resources
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Mirka Vobecka, Egmont Czech Republic The ability to create a mutually supportive atmosphere that motivates the team to give its all to achieving the goals and still have fun together!
Kerrie Culff, Egmont UK Treating others the way that you would like to be treated yourself.
Camilla Preben Andersen, Lindhardt og Ringhof Setting clear, common goals; providing structure and the opportunity for flexibility; having decision-making ability; and being a good communicator and role model. A good manager must remember that treating employees equally actually means treating them differently.
THE BILLIE B BROWN SERIES SOARED TO BESTSELLER STATUS IN AUSTRALIA – 130,607 copies sold in just nine months!
ew i v e r n i r The yea
Egmont Kids Me dia
Frank Knau, Executive Vice President
WENDY FANTASY LAUNCHED
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE 2010? 2010 was quite a good year, even though we were affected by the global financial crisis and the initial shift from print to digital media. Kids Media managed the challenges well by tight cost management and a satisfactory development of our core portfolio books and magazines as well as investments in new launches and digital offerings such as 3til7.no.
An addition to the popular Wendy series was launched in Germany in the autumn.
WHAT WAS YOUR GREATEST CHALLENGE? The Nordic countries were in a turnaround process last year. A trimming and standardization of the portfolio as well as a focus on improving transparency and processes have delivered healthy results. Serieforlaget in Denmark has a first time profit in five years. Unfortunately, these changes meant some organizational adjustments. Many teams had to be downsized and the office in Tampere was consolidated in Helsinki. I wish the best for the future, for those that had to leave us, and I congratulate all the Nordic teams that have done a tremendously big effort in challenging times. HAPPY GOAT PUBLISHED EVERY OTHER WEEK
WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR 2011? In 2011, we will grow our business in the English Language Areas, in China and in Eastern Europe. We will focus on attracting, retaining and exploiting the right rights and we will revitalize our portfolio and invest in new rights in order to strengthen our markets. And with our new digital manager, we will take advantage of our knowledge about children’s online behavior, and we will learn about and experiment with new digital initiatives and business models.
The Happy Goat magazine is now to be published every other week and features a range of fun games and gifts for children.
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Steven Spielberg produces two films based on Warhorse and Tintin Egmont UK prepares for the film release...
Children’s Fun Publishing donates RMB 1 million to Chinese districts
LÖWENZAHN MAGAZINE CELEBRATES A DECADE IN GERMANY
This year marked the 30th anniversary of the popular TV show and 10 years since Egmont Ehapa first published the Löwenzahn magazine. A decade of magazines amounts to 4,428 pages of brain-teasers, exciting games, amazing articles, fun stories and other features for young children.
EGMONT CROATIA – SUPERBRAND 2010
Egmont Croatia has achieved Superbrand status. Consumers select Superbrands on the basis of their quality, reliability, differentiation and sensitivity.
RASMUS KLUMP IN TIVOLI
Last summer Tivoli opened a new play zone, “Klump Island”, in Tivoli (based on the Rasmus Klump/Petzi character). Children of all ages can now try out more than 40 activities in this setting themed to the Rasmus Klump stories. The joint venture between Egmont and Tivoli has been a resounding success that continues to acquaint more and more people with Rasmus Klump.
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HELLO KITTY AWARD FOR EGMONT CREATIVE CENTRE
Anne Sofie Sternberg from Egmont Creative Centre (centre left) and Charlotte Linde from Egmont Kärnan (centre right) received Hello Kitty’s licence holder award on behalf of the Scandinavian Kids Media companies.
KIDS MEDIA AWARDS PRESENTED IN ISTANBUL
Erdal Karakya was nominated Kids Media employee of the year for his hard work collecting concrete evidence for and working with the police on book piracy. The operation, which involved 9 towns, 7 bookdealers, 26 printing works, 24 warehouses and 45 flats, led to 57 arrests. Over 5 million pirated books were seized.
POPULAR PONDUS
Norwegian pondus has more than 140,000 friends on Facebook. 40 % of the traffic on www.Pondus.no is generated by its Facebook page.
CHILDREN’S FUN PUBLISHING IN CHINA CREATES A PHOTO STUDIO
The publishing company introduced a new service that gives club members a unique opportunity to be photographed as a prince or princess.
SWEDISH BAMSE BECOMES A MOVIE STAR
Egmont Kärnan and Bamseförlaget signed an agreement with Nordisk Film to produce an animated film featuring the popular children’s character Bamse. Charlotta Borelius, Joakim Gunnarsson and Lise Jörgensen from Kärnan will help write the screenplay for the film, to be released in 2013.
DOGAN EGMONT WON CHILDREN’S BOOK OF THE YEAR
Nazli Eray, a pre-eminent Turkish author, was presented with the award for best children’s book of 2009 for her novel, Frej Apartmani’nin Esrari. The novel also won the award for best cover.
SUCCESS FOR THE PERCY JACKSON BOOKS
Egmont Bulgaria launched the first title in the series, The Lightning Thief, in February. Published just days before the film release, the book proved a great success. By the end of the year Egmont Bulgaria had published four titles in the series, all of which ranked among the top five bestsellers in Bulgaria for several weeks.
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DISNEY PRINCESS BALL
Every year Egmont Czech Rep. organise a spectacular Disney princess ball, which has been proclaimed best practice throughout Europe.
INVENTION OF A NEW GENRE - ‘ROMANTIC THRILL’ Egmont Verlagsgesellschaften invented a new genre based on strong characters and exciting romance. Policemen, secret agents and firemen have replaced creatures of the night to create a new sub-genre, ‘romantic thrill’.
EGMONT PARTICIPATED IN THE IPAD LAUNCH.
RUTETID IS A NEW LOCAL NORWEGIAN COMIC
The iPad was launched with a copy of the original Winnie the Pooh story from Egmont UK.
Egmont Serieforlaget launched yet another series by the well-known creator of the Pondus comic strip, Frode Øverli. Rutetid has enjoyed huge success and is the only single-panel cartoon series in Norway (think of the Gary Larsson series The Far Side). There is still a market for local content.
THOMAS 65
In 2010 Thomas the Tank Engine has entertained children for 65 years
A SINGLE PRINT SUPPLIER FOR EASTERN EUROPE
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As part of a project to exploit economies of scale, Egmont’s Eastern European companies are now using the services of a single print supplier.
Digging for the
Digital Dollar AS EGMONT USA PREPARES TO CELEBRATE ITS SECOND BIRTHDAY IN 2011, DOUG POCOCK DESCRIBES THE HIGHLIGHTS AND CHALLENGES OF BUILDING A NEW PUBLISHING BUSINESS IN AN ERA OF DIGITAL REVOLUTION by Reeta Bhatiani
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Doug Pocock, Executive Vice President, Egmont USA
010 was a year of great milestones for Egmont USA. The company’s first full year of trading, excellent sales from key franchises in Young adult and Middle Grade Fiction and ebook sales breaking the $100,000 sales mark. A new player in the world’s biggest children’s market, the company has seen first hand how the growth of digital platforms is affecting the print market. “We’ve had a lot to celebrate this year,” says Executive Vice President, Doug Pocock, “but it’s been a very tough market and economy to launch a business in. Bricks and mortar retailers like Borders are struggling, unemployment is high and consumer spending stagnant which has been a real challenge in growing revenue. But, at the same time, we’re seeing faster and faster growth in e-books which is hugely exciting.” Like other markets, publishers in the USA are exploring new digital business models and Doug believes the proliferation of multi function devices like the iPad and e-readers like the Kindle are fuelling the demand for eBooks and apps. “Device prices are heading down which will mean e-books and enhanced e-books will come down the age range. For us, this is great news.” Alongside exploiting digital opportunities the goal for Egmont USA is to acquire the right- rights, build the number of high revenue titles on the list, build on the publishing franchises established in the last year and to continue to work closely with the Egmont English Language Network which includes Egmont UK, Hardie Grant Egmont and VGS. “Our goal is to be a top 10 player in the children’s publishing market.”
Two popular titles from Egmont USA
AND WHAT ARE DOUG’S PREDICTIONS FOR DIGITAL PUBLISHING? “I’m not getting caught out on that one! For every ebook sold there are four pundits with predictions,” he laughs. “There’s no doubt that digital has changed the way we do business. This is an exciting place to be, with fantastic opportunities and our flexibility as a business means we’re ready to make the most of them – in any format.”
ABOUT EGMONT USA Based in New York Staff of nine full-time employees + freelancers First publication: 2009 E-book sales topped USD 125,000 in December 2010 Revenue 2009/2010: USD 3.15 million www.egmontusa.com
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Profits in Kiev EGMONT UKRAINE WAS FOUNDED ONLY FOUR YEARS AGO. ACCORDING TO THE PLAN, 2010 WAS THE FIRST YEAR WITH PROFIT. By Maria Alsted Junget
T
oday, Egmont Ukraine share the leading position in the kids’ magazine market with their most important competitor, Comics Ukraine. 7 out of 10 best selling kids’ magazines in Ukraine are from Egmont. The startup for one of Kids Media’s newest companies has not been without its rumble and tumble. The fact, that profit has been reached for the first time in three years, was planned from the very beginning, but the financial crisis delayed the process a bit. “During the financial crisis we found many ways for cost saving and performance improvement. To meet the main challenges of distributors payment discipline failure and bankruptcy fear, we turned to direct distribution system. This allowed increasing profitability with the former distributors’ mark up and built close and sincere relationship with outlets of all our retailers,” says Managing Director of Egmont Ukraine Olga Kravchuk. A new initiative for Egmont Ukraine is the publishing of two teen magazines (Hello Kitty and B2B) where the percentage of local editorial part is more than 50 %. Successful cooperation with local licensors and toy distributors have lead the company in the right direction. Olga Kravchuk is also praising the help and support from the Egmont family as a reason to the company’s success. “All our success stories have been possible because of great help which we always had with our friends and colleagues from all parts of the great Egmont family. We learned a lot from their experiences and support and now we are proud to become one profitable player among a great, successful Egmont team!”
Olga Kravchuk, is Managing Director of Egmont Ukraine.
FACTS EGMONT UKRAINE Founded: 2007 Staff count: 17 Number of magazines: 14 Position in domestic children’s books market: Top 5 Bestselling publications: Cars and Princess products Key licenses: Disney, DreamWorks, HIT, Mattel and Sanrio Key business areas: New brands and franchises for magazines and books, retail books and Disney Book Club.
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Kids Media
for adults KIDS ARE NOT THE ONLY ONES TO DELIGHT IN THE DUCKBURG STORIES THAT EGMONT CREATES AND PUBLISHES EVERY WEEK. IN 2010 KIDS MEDIA BROUGHT OUT THE INNER CHILD IN MANY ADULT READERS. By Niels Almer
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dults in Germany, Norway and Denmark adore the Duckburg universe. This discovery spurred the marketing departments of Serieforlaget and Egmont Ehapa to set their sights on more mature target groups in 2010. A German market survey confirmed a few facts: 2 million children read at least one Disney Pocket Book a year … and so do 2.4 million adults! ‘An entire generation of Germans has grown up with Disney Pocket Books, which have been published for more than 40 years. Many revisit the product after dropping it in their teens,’ says Jörg Risken, manager of Disney Magazines at Ehapa. At about the same time, Serieforlaget analysed a number of focus groups as it strived to revive the beloved and wellknown Donald Duck comic, whose sales are dwindling in Denmark. ‘We realised that children would rather save up for bigger things, and that it could pay to try and reach their parents, who often buy the comic on impulse,’ explains Thomas Bundgaard, marketing manager at Serieforlaget. FIRST EVER HAND-OUT FROM UNCLE SCROOGE … At Ehapa Jörg and his team lost no time seizing the opportunity to launch a campaign aimed at the adult target group. To be promoted in universities, a chain of gym clubs and launderettes, the campaign is intended to reach urbane, well-educated Germans. German university students got word that Uncle Scrooge will be opening up his treasure chest and handing out three grants of EUR 3,000 each. ‘We wanted to organise
DISNEY POCKET BOOKS IN GERMANY 256 pages Out every four weeks Has been published for more than 40 years Was never published in former GDR and has therefore gained the strongest foothold in West Germany 65,000 subscribers – 75 % sold as counter sales Total sales of Pocket Book range is more than 6 million each year Product range makes a 50 % contribution to Ehapa’s results Ehapa has produced spin-offs such as Englishlanguage editions
a grant competition that would appeal to students and involve them in the campaign while generating masses of content for the social media,’ says Jörg Risken. At the time of writing, the winner is still to be announced, but almost 300 highly creative applications have landed on Jörg’s desk, and the campaign returned excellent hit rates on the Disney Pocket Books’ German website. QUIRKY LOCAL CONTENT While the campaign in Germany counted on alternative advertising platforms to reach older German hearts, in Denmark an opportunity to work with the cartoon stories themselves drove the campaign. ‘We knew we’d have to create off-beat stories to capture the Danes’ imagination. We worked closely with script writer Gorm Transgaard and the famous Danish TV and radio host and Donald Duck fan Anders Lund Madsen on the stories to be produced by our colleagues at Egmont Creative Center. The tales generated lots of public-
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ity in many media from local papers to the nationwide TV show “The Evening Show”,’ Thomas Bundgaard says. During the autumn, Serieforlaget published three special-content comics. First, the comic publisher sent Donald Duck on a tour of Denmark to meet such celebrities as the country’s prime minister and Danish reality star Sidney Lee. In the next issue he met the Olsen Gang – right when Nordisk Film launched its first 3D animation featuring the gang – and finally, readers got a taste of Anders Lund Madsen’s idiosyncratic universe. Having scripts custom-written for a specific market is an expensive business in the cartoon world because the script costs are divided among so few. ‘On the other hand, all three issues ended up recouping their costs many times over,’ Thomas explains. The results of the campaign in Germany are not yet available, but if you want to browse one of the special issues of Donald Duck, you will have to drop by Egmont House, because all three publications are completely sold out. Now, a couple of months down the road, Serieforlaget can report that the love affair with Donald Duck has been rekindled and the drop in readership checked. Jörg Risken (left) together with Matthias Maier and Peter Höpfner, Egmont Ehapa
Duckburg’s leading men’s magazine In 2010 Serieforlaget Norway launched a glossy lifestyle magazine for adults, inspired by the Duckburg universe. The magazine features 144 pages packed with editorial content including interviews with and informative portraits of prominent Norwegians, fashion series for both men and women, travelogues from locations as far off as Tokyo and the moon, and a quintessentially classic Carl Barks Donald Duck cartoon series.
STILL FOCUS ON CHILDREN The focus on adult readers does not, however, mean that children have been forgotten. Ehapa will keep producing TV spots for children’s programming, and Serieforlaget has already tested 2D codes with Donald Duck to get in touch with kids on mobile platforms.
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Security and learning
FOR SALE
IN 2010 TWO OF EGMONT’S NORWEGIAN COMPANIES LAUNCHED A SERIES OF ONLINE LEARNING GAMES FOR CHILDREN ENTITLED ‘3TIL7’. THE RELEASE MARKS THE FIRST STEP OF A MAJOR PRODUCT ROLL-OUT, ALSO SLATED TO INCLUDE LAUNCHES IN POLAND, GERMANY AND SWEDEN IN 2011. By Pernille Krogh
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he average age at which children make their Internet debut is steadily falling. Parents face whole new challenges when their children first encounter the wonders of the worldwide web. ‘We have noted this trend in which children are younger and younger when they start using the Internet. At the same time, parental concern at what children are being exposed to is increasing, and no proper alternative safe, fun and educational game platform was available for this age group,’ explains Vibeke Kittilsen, Digital Coordinator at Serieforlaget Norge. This is exactly why the Norwegian comics publisher decided to launch the edutainment platform 3til7.no, a collection of educational games for preschool children. Serieforlaget bought the licence to distribute the game platform KizzTV from the innovative French company CogniK, which started versionising a solution for Norway: ‘At an early stage in the process we decided to develop a local brand based on the KizzTV concept. The name did not have the right ring for a Norwegian children’s Vibeke Kittilsen, Digital Coordinator, Serieforlaget, Norway.
product, and we wanted to link the concept to an existing strong brand, the Norwegian parenting magazine Foreldre & Barn,’ says Vibeke Kittilsen.
ABOUT 3TIL7.NO: 3til7 is a collection of games that does more than teach children important skills while allowing parents to follow their development. French cognitive learning researchers have developed a system that selects games and levels based on the child’s existing skills. When the child improves, he or she automatically advances to the next level.
USERS COMMENT: ‘My son loves 3til7. Brilliant!’ ‘We’re very happy with this product for our two girls. “Pusekatten 2” is their favourite.’ ‘Extremely good product! My four-year-old loves it:-) At last, a secure, good learning platform for children on the net!’ ‘Fantastic games! Very pleased, and my son loves it! Very user-friendly, top marks!’
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COOPERATION LOWERS RISK Along with the development of 3til7.no Serieforlaget established a partnership with Egmont Hjemmet Mortensen’s magazine Foreldre & Barn. ‘As 3til7.no is aimed at both parents and children and Egmont Hjemmet Mortensen has extensive know-how about this precise group, it made sense to involve them, and their magazine Foreldre & Barn was an obvious place to start collaborating. The partnership makes it less risky for both companies to launch an innovative product on the market – in other words, we link two names to the product, which means both companies share the expenses and the income. Our cooperation means we can potentially reach all Hjemmet Mortensen readers and the users of their klikk.no portal,’ Vibeke concludes.
Asbjørn Olsen and Jens Christian Nørve
Two journalists take on a super power
IN NOVEMBER LAST YEAR, TV 2 REVEALED HOW US AUTHORITIES HAD SYSTEMATICALLY KEPT HUNDREDS OF NORWEGIAN CITIZENS UNDER SURVEILLANCE. By Håvard Solem
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V 2 journalists Asbjørn Olsen and Jens Christian Nørve broke what can only be called the biggest news story in the Norwegian media last year. Together, they discovered that for ten years, 15 to 20 individuals, including retired Norwegian police officers, had closely observed Norwegians on Norwegian soil for American authorities – a story the two journalists had been investigating for almost 1½ years. It started when they each got independent leads on the story two years ago. At the time, Olsen worked for TV 2’s documentary department and Nørve for the news department. When Olsen later switched to the news office, he realised that Nørve was on the same trail. ‘We held a small piece of the puzzle, but were met with a wall of silence. These people are truly not the talkative type,’ said Nørve in an interview on the TV 2 news channel. BREAKTHROUGH But the TV 2 reporters went about their task methodically. They got office premises near the American embassy in Oslo, from which they observed the members of the surveillance group. Nørve and Olsen also used a variety of disguises for their investigation. As they gradually collected mounting information, the picture began to come together. The breakthrough came when they discovered that the group had a name, the Surveillance Detection Unit.
‘That was when we realised the surveillance activities were part of a bigger system,’ they explained to the TV 2 news channel Nyhetskanalen. UNKNOWN TO AUTHORITIES AND POLITICIANS A few days before the news went public, the reporters presented a preliminary version of their findings to the Norwegian authorities for comment. ‘Their eyes almost popped out of their heads. No one had an inkling about this. The counter-intelligence service, for example, admitted they had no clue,’ Olsen explains. The journalists’ first report on the surveillance activities was televised in a TV 2 newscast on 3 November last year, attracting massive publicity – in the media as well as among politicians and the general public. Although the Americans maintained that the intelligence activities had been cleared with the Norwegian authorities, both the current and the former Norwegian ministers of foreign affairs and justice denied any knowledge of the claim. After TV 2 uncovered the surveillance in Norway, it emerged that similar activities had been going on in a number of other countries including Sweden, Denmark and probably Germany. UNUSUALLY COURAGEOUS The news editor of Nyhetskanalen is proud of his employees. ‘What they did was not only an unusu-
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ally courageous piece of journalism. It also reflects a unique determination and a burning desire to expose a secret many would go to great lengths to keep,’ says news editor Jan Ove Årsæther. Earlier in 2010 Årsæther announced that an investigative grant would be awarded to journalists wanting to spend time working with investigative journalism. The surveillance case was among those awarded this grant. ‘I don’t think we dared to hope for so sensational a revelation from this story, but we knew they were smart guys,’ the news editor confesses. INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM He believes that support for investigative journalism is more important then ever, particularly with today’s highly fragmented media landscape. For this reason, we need to keep offering the investigative grant to employees who want to work with this form of journalism. The surveillance story is one of six TV 2 cases for which method reports were submitted to the Norwegian Foundation for Investigative Journalism (SKUP). Every year, the foundation presents a SKUP award, which could aptly be described as the Norwegian journalism championship. The SKUP award for 2010 will be presented in April this year. Sixty-six journalists have been nominated for the award. ‘We got the SKUP diploma last year and hope to win it every year,’ says news editor Jan Ove Årsæther.
iew v e r n i r a The ye
TV 2 Group Alf Hildrum, Managing Director
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE 2010? 2010 was a year of major contrasts for TV 2. In terms of operating profit, 2010 was TV 2’s best financial year ever. We increased our advertising market share in the second half of the year, and contributed to growth in revenue and operating profit. We also recorded significant growth on new media platforms. However, our main channel is still losing market shares. Competition for viewers has become much fiercer, and, as in other Scandinavian markets, viewers are becoming dispersed across numerous channels. To meet this challenge, we have successfully launched a new advertising channel targeted at women and younger viewing audiences. We also acquired the broadcasting rights to the three upcoming Premier League seasons, and the project got off to a promising start. Despite the drop in viewing figures on the main channel, we did extremely well on the news front, covering major news stories on important social issues in the Norwegian media.
X FACTOR ‌
attracted more viewers than last year. Here is the hardcore jury panel.
WORLD CUP FOOTBALL IN SOUTH AFRICA
TV 2 broadcast half of the world cup games. Carsten and Julie helped to boost viewing figures.
WHAT WAS YOUR GREATEST CHALLENGE? Our main challenge was dealing with the consequences of the sweeping cost-cutting measures implemented in 2008 and 2009. I am impressed at the way employees tackled their tougher working days, but the process has taken its toll on the organisation. We have therefore taken some serious steps to improve the working environment and teamwork at TV 2, which I hope will produce results this year. WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR 2011? We are working intensively to curb the downturn in the main channel, which may be our biggest challenge this year. The advertising business is continuing its upward trend, giving us reason to believe that our financial results will be fairly good in 2011 as well. I am also expecting sustained growth in new media platforms. We have launched a number of apps and are laying the groundwork for a breakthrough in mobile terminals. Soon 25 % of Norwegians will have access to iPads and other media tablets, and media consumption will grow rapidly. TV 2 must keep pace, almost exclusively through pay services. We also expect to see an increase in income streams from customers on new platforms.
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TV 2 NYHEDSKANAL
The news channel set a new record, capturing a 10 % market share during the Chilean mine crisis.
TOUR DE FRANCE TV 2 BLISS
A new entertainment channel was launched in October. Mainly for chicks, but guys might like it too!
THE FARM
Huge success for the Norwegian reality programme.
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TV 2 has built a strong Tour de France profile so all Norwegians can take the world-famous cycle race with them on summer holiday.
Barclays Premier League DEDICATION IN THE STUDIO: programme manger Jon Hartvig Børrestad (right) follows the game with enthusiasm between transmissions. He is seen here with Claus Lundekvam (former Southampton player), Glenn Hysén (former Liverpool player) and Erik Thorstvedt (former Tottenham player).
IN SPRING 2010 TV 2 SECURED THE RIGHTS TO THE NEXT THREE YEARS OF BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE GAMES. THAT STARTED A RACE AGAINST THE CLOCK TO MAKE THE SERIES KICK-OFF ON 14 AUGUST 2010. IT MARKED THE BEGINNING OF AN AMAZING SUCCESS STORY. By Anne Martha Leidland
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great many viewers were dissatisfied when TV 2 bought the rights to the Barclays Premier League. They were very happy with the product Canal + had given them for several years, and feared TV 2 would be unable to match it. Thus, from the moment it acquired the rights, TV 2 knew the importance of humbly approaching the weighty task of broadcasting English football, and of taking its dedicated followers seriously while creating TV 2’s own product and not simply copying Canal +. ‘Working with Premier League is a dream come true. For years we’ve been pressing our noses against our competitors’
windows, ravenously watching this feast of all feasts with envy and a ferocious appetite. At last we’ve been let inside, and our desire to showcase this product has galvanised everyone in the organisation,’ says sports editor Vegard Jansen Hagen. A PREMIUM CONTENT PRODUCT TAKES SHAPE TV 2 set up three new HD channels exclusively for the Barclays Premier League. TV 2 Barclays Premier League 1 covers the Barclays Premier League 24x7, broadcasting live games and English-produced magazine features as well as HD material produced inhouse by TV 2 Sport. TV 2 Barclays Premier
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League 2 and 3 are pure events channels transmitting games live in HD. Games not broadcast on any of these channels can be seen on TV 2’s web TV channel, tv2sumo. no. TV 2 built a new HD studio in Bergen dedicated to Premier League coverage. The studio has five cameras and is fully equipped with state-of-the-art broadcasting technology. Transmissions before, during and after the matches are sent from this studio. ‘Sport is not the only genre to be inspired by the benefits of the Premier League – it has enhanced TV 2 as a whole. This means we’ve managed to put together an extremely popular product in record time,
KEY SUCCESS FACTORS FOR TV 2’S BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE PROJECT WERE: • • • • •
Making the Barclays Premier League more accessible to the general public, with a far broader distribution than before We show ALL the matches – the fans get everything Higher quality: all matches are broadcast in HD Cheaper for consumers Accessibility
DREAM TEAM: From left to right: Aleksander Schau, Morten Langli, Øyvind Alsaker, Erik Thorstvedt, Jon Hartvig Børrestad, Lars Bohinen and Thomas Aune.
one that we’re very proud of. The wizards in the systems department and our house carpenters deserve as much credit as the sports experts and commentators. Our joint sense of pride gives the Premier League project a unique identity – it belongs to all of us!’ says Jansen Hagen. FACTORS FOR SUCCESS Key watchwords for TV 2’s Premier League broadcasts are expertise, love of the sport, credibility and presence. TV 2 aims to give its viewers programmes with a good balance between football technicalities and passion for ‘the beautiful game’. Viewers are going to be treated to in-depth, serious analyses from our experts after the game as well as
locker-room anecdotes told from the studio by former Tottenham player Erik Thorstvedt and an interview with an unusual security guard at Blackpool’s home ground, Bloomfield Road. Other Premier League celebrities have also guested the studio: Kevin Phillips (Birmingham), Ian Rush (former Liverpool player), John Aldridge (former Liverpool player) and Phil Thompson (former Liverpool/Sky Sports player). All this gives us a special opportunity to bring viewers close to the Barclays Premier League. It was important for TV 2 to give viewers access to the Barclays Premier League on multiple platforms. We set up our own three HD channels dedicated to English football. Viewers can also watch the games
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via web TV, mobile phones, iPads and Android devices. TV 2’s live centre makes it easy to navigate among the various games, latest news and interactive features such as chat rooms for the individual games. ‘Subscription sales for the Barclays Premier League on all platforms are on target,’ says digital manager Hege Kosberg. After transmitting our own Barclays Premier League programmes for six months, we have received almost exclusively positive feedback from viewers, the supporters’ union in particular. The Barclays Premier League is a product of which not only TV 2 Sporten but all of TV 2 can be extremely proud, and we hope to continue this trend for a long time to come.
The year in review
s e n i z a g a M t n o Egm Torsten Bjerre Rasmussen, Executive Vice President
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE 2010? 2010 brought many positive developments. Our focus was on reaping the benefits of the restructuring initiatives implemented earlier and we have finally recorded improvements in the advertising market. Establishing a new digital strategy was another focus for the year, with the arrival of iPad becoming the news event that swept the entire media industry. It is gratifying to see digital revenue on the increase, so we can now start generating significant revenue in new areas, e-commerce, for instance. We have also achieved good results in Denmark and Norway, and in Sweden we have initiated a number of structural changes that give us cause for optimism here as we enter a new year. I personally believe that establishing a proper divisional management was a crucial step towards ensuring closer cooperation throughout the division. I am also pleased that the close collaboration between various countries’ editorial offices means our cross-border magazine launches are already in full swing.
WOMEN’S RUN
In 2010 the ALT for damerne women’s run attracted 37,000 participants in six cities. And this year ALT for damerne organised the event itself.
NEW SWEDISH TITLES
WHAT WAS YOUR GREATEST CHALLENGE? The greatest challenge by far and away was the general decline of 5-7 % in the weeklies market. The unrelenting pressure on circulation meant – and still means – we constantly had to find ways of streamlining the business and thus carving space to develop new products. We also have to forge new types of relations with customers via our strong brand names.
Swedes found new magazines from Egmont on the racks: the fitness magazine Blossom with the well-known fitness coach Blossom Tainton-Lindquist as editor-in-chief and Vinderkryds, which Egmont hopes will help clinch it a good position on the growing market for crossword magazines.
WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR 2011? Our competitors will constantly push our market positions just as we challenge theirs. Whether or not we are challenged, quality content will always be our bedrock. After several sluggish years, we must expect more print launches in the short term, and we must be prepared to defend and to challenge. I foresee that 2011 will be the year in which we truly lay the cornerstones for selected verticals in Norway, in other words, whole topic areas that we want to ‘own’ on multiple media platforms. I also anticipate that 2011 will bring us significant experience with iPad and a clearer picture of its business potential.
MOVING DAY
Egmont Tidskrifter is now grouped together in two offices. In Stockholm they moved in with Nordisk Film, and in Malmö Egmont Kärnan moved into the Västra Hamnen office.
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BOLIGDRØM LAUNCH
BoligDrøm was launched, further underpinning Egmont Hjemmet Mortensen’s strong position on the market for house-and-home magazines. The concept is based on the Danish publication Bolig Liv.
KAMILLE TURNS 5
A smooth launch into a rough women’s magazine market has come out trumps.
SEX & THE CITY EVENT
Egmont’s Danish women’s magazines ALT for Damerne, Eurowoman and Sirene joined forces for the preview of the popular film at Nordisk Film’s largest cinema, Imperial.
VAGABOND ACCLAIMED
as best one-shot (a single issue published outside the normal publishing schedule) for its special issue on Africa. The Swedish Magazine Publishers Association also awarded the prize for journalist of the year to Per J. Andersson.
SUPPORT FOR BREASTS
The ALT for damerne ‘Breast cancer women’s run’ was held for the first time in September. The event raised about DKK 100,000 for the Danish Cancer Society’s breast cancer campaign.
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Insert text here … TEMPLATE-BASED MAGAZINE PRODUCTION IS THE WAY TO EFFICIENCY IMPROVEMENTS FOR ALL EGMONT’S MAGAZINE COMPANIES. IN 2010 EGMONT HJEMMET MORTENSEN SHARED ITS EXPERIENCE WITH THIS SOLUTION AS MORE AND MORE DANISH AND SWEDISH TITLES STARTED WORKING WITH THE PLATFORM. By Niels Almer
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his article was produced in the old-fashioned way. I have held interviews and written and sent my article to the editor, who discussed its layout with the graphics artist. I have then adjusted it, checking with my sources a second time before the Hardcopy team finally approved the article as a whole along with the rest of the magazine. And Hardcopy is actually produced by a very small team. Egmont’s magazine companies work on slightly smarter premises. Their publications are based on templates, which means that journalists enter text direct into pre-defined templates. This brings with it frustration, new roles, fewer errors and more efficient work routines. In fact, this is not a news item that rightly belongs in the ‘Year in Review’ issue of Hardcopy, because Egmont Hjemmet Mortensen started using templates three years ago to produce the former Ute & Inne, and now creates all its monthly and weekly magazines in the Page Planner programme. Nonetheless, 2010 was the year
when Egmont Hjemmet Mortensen shared the lessons it had learned, and the Danish and Swedish magazine companies took their first steps in template-based magazine production. IMPLEMENTATION ON ALL SCALES Page Planner was introduced as a pilot project with the weekly Ute & Inne, and the programme has since been rolled out, magazine by magazine, with the help of an internal flying squad. Kari Romøren has played a key role in the work of reorganising production at Egmont Hjemmet Mortensen. ‘Page Planner was just a small part of
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the organisational overhaul undergone at Egmont Hjemmet Mortensen, which has now grouped the various editorial teams together in content areas. Page Planner works perfectly for this set-up because staff can easily switch from one editorial area to another without having to change work routines,’ Kari explains. The new routines allow the magazine’s art director and editor to be involved in decisions about the angle to put on illustrations and the template. This reduces the risk of articles getting caught in a pingpong process between people. The aim of using Page Planner is to produce entire magazines digitally and catch errors at an early stage. The programme also shortens waiting time during the production flow, as material can be located faster. Egmont Hjemmet Mortensen’s extensive EUR 16 million re-organisation project has not been replicated in Denmark and Sweden, where the primary concern in 2010 was to let the first magazines try their hand at the new system.
FACTS
Egmont Tidskrifter expects to be able to integrate their current colouring and image-processing programmes with Page Planner. The members of the Ute & Inne editorial team used to produce an average of 10 pages every week. The comparable figure for traditional weeklies is three to four pages per editorial assistant.
(STATUS IN 2010) Denmark: Weekly magazines are produced using template-based technology Sweden: Hemmets Journal and Näre are created in Page Planner Norway: All publications are produced in Page Planner
LARGE MAGAZINES AS TRIAL BALLOONS In Sweden the largest magazine was chosen for the pilot project. ‘It was natural to start with Hemmets Journal, which is our biggest publication. If we could get Page Planner to work with this magazine, it would work with all our products,’ says Anders Lundberg, prepress supervisor at Egmont Tidskrifter. In Denmark too, Hjemmet is one of the first magazines to try out the new production approach. According to Kari Romøren large editorial teams get the most out of using Page Planner because more team members can cover for each other. With her experience from Egmont Hjemmet Mortensen, Kari has helped its sister companies in Denmark and Sweden to learn to use the platform. Lærke Ribergaard, who works for Hjemmet in Denmark, is one of the colleagues who have enjoyed the benefit of her support. TEETHING TROUBLES As with most other IT projects, introducing Page Planner involved some initial blood, sweat and tears. ‘Working with Page Planner begins with creating templates, an important task that requires the proper time because it is the basis of all the other work,’ says Lærke Ribergaard. ‘Having constant support on hand was a great advantage. And it’s a good idea to test as much as possible before implementation.’ However, there is light at the end of the tunnel and definite advantages in the
offing for magazines in both Denmark and Sweden. ‘We have already changed our routines,’ explains Anders Lundberg, who works in an industry from which plastic folders and printouts are gradually disappearing. ‘Well-organised files and folders are no longer so important, because all the action takes place on the Page Planner interface. Simply not having to search for files saves a lot of time.’ Hjemmet is also aiming to go paperless, but admits that it will take time. On the other hand, Lærke Ribergaard, who has overall responsibility for Hjemmet’s layout, points out the advantages of being able to get an overview of the entire publication without having to reserve a whole office wall for printed magazine pages. NEW ROLES Page Planner enables more staff to cover for each other when they are ill. ‘Our letters pages, for example, usually contain about the same amount of text every time. These pages are much easier to work on using Page Planner, and changes to the text can definitely be made direct in a layout,’ Lærke explains. In Norway the major restructuring
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project has brought new roles. ‘Our biggest challenge was creating the new “superdesker” role,’ explains Kari Romøren. As well as being able to carry out basic copywriting, editing and layout jobs, a superdesker also specialises in specific fields. The Danish counterpart will not be reorganised in this way, but rather focus on integrating Page Planner into its existing routines. This will give the editorial secretary at Hjemmet in Denmark more to do, and template managers, like Lærke Ribergaard, will be busy updating the magazine’s templates so everyone can use them. Page Planner will be introduced for all magazines in 2011. Also for Hardcopy!
Kari Romøren, product development manager at Egmont Hjemmet Mortensen
Anders Lundberg, prepress manager at Egmont Tidskrifter
Lærke Ribergaard, layout manager at Hjemmet, Denmark
Taking
the first steps into new media territory APPLE HAS SOLD IPADS IN THE NORDIC REGIONS SINCE DECEMBER 2010. HOWEVER, EGMONT’S NORDIC MAGAZINE ARM HAD ALREADY LAUNCHED ITS FIRST PUBLICATION FOR THE NEW PLATFORM IN OCTOBER, AND ADDED A FURTHER THREE MAGAZINES BY NEW YEAR. By Pernille Krogh
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lthough Norwegian consumers could not start buying iPads until the run-up to Christmas, the Norwegian magazine publisher Egmont Hjemmet Mortensen decided to launch the iPad magazine Bonytt Bad in October. And a magazine in the national language definitely found favour with Norwegian readers, a fact confirmed when Bonytt Bad topped the list of most frequently downloaded pay apps just two days after the release. Nonetheless, one is tempted to ask why magazines even have to be published on iPad? ‘An iPad magazine signals that we are an innovative business in the know about the latest trends and how to exploit the opportunities offered by the various plat-
Thomas Bertram, technical manager, kino.dk
forms,’ explains Thomas Bertram, technical manager of kino.dk, which launched its iPad magazine right before Christmas. MORE OPPORTUNITIES ON MORE PLATFORMS On 1 January Danish men could nurse their hangovers with a free trial iPad version of the Danish lifestyle magazine Euroman, and just a week later the Norwegian men’s magazine MANN made a successful debut on the digital shelves of Apples App Store. ‘MANN’s target group encompasses those of today’s young lions with an above average interest in new technology. Thus it was natural for us to blaze the trail for the Norwegian media world and pioneer the development of Norwegian magazines for iPad. We are currently [January, ed.] the
Lars Bernt, managing director, kino.dk
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bestselling magazine app in Norway. For comparison, according to British national The Guardian, the latest iPad edition of a big international title like Men’s Health recorded an equal number of downloads, and it reaches a far bigger market. We are very satisfied with the figures so far,’ explains Knut Christian Moeng, MANN’s editor-in-chief. ADVERTISING CHALLENGES The latest addition to the family is the iPad magazine for the film site kino. dk. Originally, kino.dk intended to wait with an iPad solution. However, at the end of November the site got the chance to create a free trial version on Adobe’s beta platform, also used by Condé Nast’s magazine Wired and scheduled for a
Knut Christian Moeng, editor-in-chief of Mann
NEW FEATURES
KINO.DK:
The chief editors of the various magazines agree that their content is well-suited to the tablet format. For example, Bonytt Bad shows a bathtub that can be viewed from different angles, Euroman expands its articles with photo galleries, and kino.dk’s readers can see trailers for upcoming films and links to social media.
Christmas release, when the iPad would be available in Denmark. The kino.dk team had to act fast. With the deadline looming just a week ahead, the content had to be redefined and laid out for implementation on the new platform. A new advertising structure also had to be considered, as producing an iPad magazine is costly when published alongside a print magazine. The fact that the magazine is free was – and still is – a problem for kino.dk, which covers the costs through advertising sales. Either advertisers advertising in the print magazine had to pay for additional space in the iPad magazine, or kino.dk had to find new advertisers for the pilot project. With just a week’s notice, Nordisk Film ended up buying all the advertising space in the iPad magazine. ‘We are rarely faced with completely virgin media territory without knowing how many readers we can reasonably expect, or what a full-page ad should cost. So we were extremely grateful to Nordisk Film Distribution for backing us by buying all the advertising space in the first edition,’ says Lars Bernt, managing director of kino.dk. SUPPLEMENT OR INDEPENDENT MAGAZINE? Whereas both Bonytt Bad and Mann’s travel magazine are independent, special theme issues of the print publications, the Danish iPad kino.dk can be seen as a version of the print magazine, which comes out monthly and can be picked up free in cinemas. The iPad magazine is slated to come out four times a year and will feature articles also published in its print counterpart. Nonethe-
Kino.dk is a joint venture between Nordisk Film and the cinema chain CineMaxx. Kino.dk is a Danish film site where users can order cinema tickets, check film reviews and read articles about old, new and upcoming films and actors. Kino.dk publishes a free monthly magazine featuring all the latest film news and interviews with movie stars.
BONYTT:
Bonytt is Egmont Hjemmet Mortensen’s interior design magazine, published 14 times a year. It offers its readers an on-trend range of house-and-home decorating articles. As well as showcasing new arrivals and trends, Bonytt offers its readers practical tips, advice and ideas for house and home.
EUROMAN:
Euroman is Egmont Magasiner’s Danish monthly for Danish men interested in lifestyle, fashion, design and culture but equally into current affairs and social issues.
MANN:
MANN is Egmont Hjemmet Mortensen’s monthly lifestyle magazine for men. The publication combines interviews, documentaries, reports and light news with features on cars, films, music, technology and other topics.
less, the existence of an iPad magazine can certainly be justified: ‘Our print magazine content concentrates on films, which are usually linked to a trailer. In the iPad magazine, we show the trailers alongside the text, which gives an extra dimension,’ Thomas Bertram points out. WILL ‘FREE’ WORK? A final decision has yet to be made about the structure of kino.dk’s iPad magazine, as
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the business can still draw on the agreement made with Adobe for the free use of the beta magazine platform. When the structure changes, it may be necessary to charge for the iPad magazine, as both Adobe and Apple will demand their cut. The question is whether kino.dk’s readers are willing to pay for an iPad magazine when they can get the print magazine free in cinemas, but Thomas Bertram is confident they will do so if the content is interesting enough and adds an extra dimension
The yea r in rev iew
s k o o B t Egmon
Tom Harald Jenssen, Managing Director
Lindhardt og Ringhof
Cappelen Damm HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE 2010? 2010 was quite a good year for Cappelen Damm and a great year for the Norwegian book trade although mega-bestsellers were conspicuous by their absence. After many prosperous years at a very high level overall, the book market in Norway showed a decline in 2010. The system of free school books for secondary school students has significantly reduced book sales, and the similar decline in book clubs has negatively impacted the market as a whole even though membership figures seem now to have stabilised. Against this backdrop Cappelen Damm again recorded profit growth in 2010, achieving a profit margin of 7.5 % for the first time. Otherwise 2010 was characterised by intense activity and future-oriented investments in digitalisation as well as new logistics solutions for physical books. The publisher’s authors once more won prestigious national and international awards in 2010. The Cappelen Damm author Beate Grimsrud has been nominated for the Nordic Council’s Literature Prize.
2010 saw digital experiments and alternative marketing initiatives for Lindhardt og Ringhof, which can look back at a year whose highlights included a children’s title topping an app store list, a physical pop-up shop focusing on a single book only and book clubs that reversed the negative development trend. You can read more about this elsewhere in this issue of Hardcopy. Lindhardt og Ringhof established Alinea Akademi, a continuing education initiative providing professional development courses for teachers. The first courses were held in December, and those planned for the next two years are hoped to generate several million kroner in revenue. The Danish publishing industry is changing shape radically, creating new business conditions for Lindhardt og Ringhof. Both the liberalisation of the book market and increasing digitalisation are pressuring the company’s traditional publishing activities. Free book prices will further restrict the sales price of any given title. As bestsellers will account for an ever-growing percentage of book sales in Denmark, in 2011 Lindhardt og Ringhof will intensify its focus on a smaller range of titles. This strategy will enable the company to offer authors a 360-degree service pack and forge closer relationships with them. Lars Boesgaard will steer Lindhardt og Ringhof into its future, as Anette Wad resigned in 2011 after 11 years as managing director of Lindhardt og Ringhof and the former Aschehoug. Lars Boesgaard takes up his new position at Egmont on 1 April.
WHAT WAS YOUR GREATEST CHALLENGE? We noted with great satisfaction that the intense efforts from many quarters led the Norwegian government to extend the book agreement for another four years, before Christmas. The book agreement regulates terms of trade in the publishing industry, and one of the things that the extension secured was fixed book prices in Norway. Increased profitability in a declining market proves that the efficiency measures after Cappelen and Damm merged have been successful.
ABOUT LARS BOESGAARD
WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR 2011? The market as a whole will stabilise at the 2010 level. Although digital product sales will increase, they will still account for only a modest proportion of total revenue. I furthermore expect that Cappelen Damm will carve out a clearer e-commerce position by the end of the year. In this connection investments in a new logistics solution could play an important strategic role. Cappelen Damm must further improve its profit margin in 2011.
Born 1966 MSc (Biology) 1993 Chief editor, Gads Forlag 1995-2000 Chief editor, Gyldendal 2000-03 Managing director, Gyldendal Fakta (nonfiction, children’s books, business, audio books, dictionaries, e-books and encyclopaedias) 2003-11 Has published several books about Provence
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LINDHARDT OG RINGHOF NOW IN ONE LOCATION
The educational publishing companies joined the rest of Lindhardt og Ringhof at Egmont House.
JULEKULER
Cappelen Damm publishes Arne og Carlos Julekuler by the Norwegian designer duo. This alternative knitting book was Norway’s bestselling non-fiction work in 2010.
NORDIC COUNCIL’S LITERATURE PRIZE
Beate Grimrud’s En dåre fri (A Fool, Free) was nominated for the Nordic Council’s Literature Prize by both Sweden and Norway. She writes her books in Swedish and Norwegian.
COPENHAGEN BOOK FAIR
Lindhardt og Ringhof recorded the highest sales ever at the Copenhagen book fair Fay Weldon was one of the crowd pullers that attracted 26,000 visitors.
NORWEGIAN RIKSMÅL PRIZE Anna Bache-Wiig received the Norwegian Riksmål Prize for her children’s book, Don Fridtjof.
TANUM OPENS THREE NEW BOOK STORES
Tanum Flesland (Bergen airport), Tanum Storo and Tanum Colosseum.
APP EXPERIMENTS
Lindhardt og Ringhof threw itself into digital experiments, launching apps for Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales and other Danish book titles.
POLICE COMMISSIONER WRITES DETECTIVE NOVEL
Former Commissioner of the Copenhagen Police, Hanne Bech Hansen, debuted with Lasten.
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Fairytales and adventures
in new formats TWO OF THE APPS EGMONT PUBLISHED IN 2010 WERE CHILDREN’S BOOKS ADAPTED FOR THE NEW POPULAR TABLETS IPAD AND IPHONE. HARDCOPY HAS SPOKEN TO TWO OF THE APP DEVELOPERS ABOUT HOW CHILDREN ADOPT NEW TECHNOLOGY. By Lotte Ilsøe
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oth Egmont UK and Lindhardt og Ringhof dug down into the treasure chest of already well established content to find some goodies to fit the new tablet formats iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. Egmont UK published a new book from the popular series Sir Charlie Stinky Socks and in Denmark Lindhardt og Ringhof published eight of Hans Christian Andersen’s world renowned fairytales. “Sir Charlie Stinky Socks is one of our most successful picture book at the moment. We felt that it is a great story and the illustration style is engaging and attractive looking for kids and the author was really enthusiastic about trying this. So it seemed like the obvious choice for nonlicensed material,” says James Ball, Web Designer, Egmont UK. THE ADAPTABLE CHILDREN’S BOOKS Egmont’s first book apps have been of children’s books. While Lindhardt og Ringhof publishes books for both adults and children, a children’s book was the obvious choice for their first experiments on the iPad and iPhone. “Children’s books are better fitted to utilize the features a smart phone offers. Illustrations moved from print to screen generates value and possibilities,” says Jakob Larsen, Manager Lindhardt og Ringhof Digital. James Ball agrees and adds: “Some of the most popular apps
are child centric which has proven to be a key driver to the success of the tablet. The market for the device has proven very popular with parents, giving their kids something to do, on the go on the plane, in the train. There are many levels of entertainment in such a device and it is very family friendly.” INTERACTION AND HOOKS James Ball emphasizes the focus on interaction in the Sir Charlie Stinky Socks app. It features living illustrations for children to interact with. Utilizing the many touch- and tilt functions of the iPad, the story and the characters come to life while a hearty voice reads the story out loud. “To activate the read out loud function the reader must follow the text with their finger. There is an option to tap each word and the reader will read that particular word out loud. In the new apps we are working on you can tap each word and the reader will spell it out to you. These features help children understand the correlation between sounds and letters and makes it a fun learning activity,” says James Ball. “I think of our H.C. Andersen app as a great example of how much you can achieve with relatively simple means. In terms of business, most important is our unique in-app-purchase function, which allows the user to buy more stories within the same app. This means that once we have hooked the consumer, it is relatiely easy to turn up on her radar again like communi-
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cating through updates of the app,” says Jakob Larsen. THE TREASURE CHEST IS OPEN The H.C. Andersen app has been downloaded more than 35,000 times since the launch in the beginning of November and was very well reviewed in App Store. The H.C. Andersen app is currently being exported to Sweden, Norway, Germany and as far away as China and Japan. “Since the launch of the Sir Charlie Stinky Socks app (ed: December 15th), it has generated a lot of interest for Egmont UK and it has made us and others begin to think products in a different and new way,” concludes James Ball. Both companies are currently working on more children’s book apps. James Ball, webdesigner at Egmont UK
Jakob Larsen, Manager, Lindhardt og Ringhof Digital
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Cappelen Damm fires up the Norwegian
e-book market NORWAY SELLS MORE BOOKS PER INHABITANT THAN ANY OTHER COUNTRY IN THE WORLD. NOW IT IS THE TURN OF E-BOOKS, AND IN 2010 CAPPELEN DAMM ACQUIRED AND RELAUNCHED THE DIGITALBOK.NO PLATFORM – NORWAY’S FIRST AND LARGEST E-BOOK STORE. By Pernille Krogh
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t the end of 2009 Cappelen Damm kickstarted the Norwegian e-book market when it acquired the online e-book platform digitalbok.no from Elittera. As the sole owner, Cappelen Damm had a free hand to create a perfect digital solution for handling the increasing demand for e-books. Co-owned by Egmont, Cappelen Damm already runs several actual shops for print books in the form of the Tanum chain as well as the online book store tanum. no, so from the outside the necessity of an online e-book outlet might be hard to spot. Cappelen Damm director Øisten Wahl explains: ‘We wanted to set up an independent platform for e-books that wasn’t merely a sub-business of tanum.no, and when the issue of VAT on e-books was finally resolved, we realised the time was ripe for an ebook store,’
recounts Øisten Wahl, Tanum’s e-commerce and book club director. In spring 2010 the Norwegian government finally decided that e-books were not to be VAT-exempt, thus putting all the conditions for selling Norwegian e-books in place. While other Norwegian publishers tried to agree on how far to establish a collective solution, Cappelen Damm decided to go it alone and get a head start with digitalbok.no. ‘Having long been the only sales channel for Norwegian e-books, digitalbok.no had already positioned itself in the market. Even so, the site had to contend with having only a small selection of titles, about 60-70, and technologically it was not particularly customer friendly – a problem that had drawn heavy criticism. To bring the site up to date after we acquired it, we therefore chose to revamp it, add more titles and make it more user friendly,’ Øisten Wahl explains. MASSIVE NORWEGIAN INTEREST IN E-BOOKS The long-term strategy for digitalbok.no is to create a platform from which readers can download newspapers and journals onto their tablet computers. A pilot project offering the national daily, Aftenposten, for Norwegians to read
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on their e-readers has already proved highly popular. A large question mark hangs over the price of e-books. Are customers willing to pay the same as for a printed book? Cappelen Damm conducted a survey showing that the costs saved by electronic distribution make e-books 40-50 % cheaper, so even after the addition of VAT, e-books can still be sold about 30 % cheaper while generating the same mark-up. And interest in e-books is high in Norway. When digitalbok.no officially relaunched the site, more than 50,000 people clicked onto it. However, it is still too early to predict how e-book sales will develop in future. But Øisten Wahl is optimistic. Indeed, an American survey from 2010 showed that 9 out of 10 e-book buyers return to buy more e-books. ‘We must bear in mind that it took 10 years before Internet book stores captured just a 10 % market share of book sales. I don’t think e-books will take that long,’ Øisten Wahl concludes. Øisten Wahl, manager of Tanum book clubs and online sales
In December an old glove shop in Copenhagen was transformed into a pop-up shop dedicated to Claus Meyer’s cookbook, Almanak.
Pop up! IN DECEMBER LINDHARDT OG RINGHOF OPENED DENMARK’S FIRST POP-UP SHOP AS PART OF ITS PROMOTIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR THE ‘ALMANAK’ COOKBOOK BY NATIONALLY ACCLAIMED CULINARY ENTREPRENEUR CLAUS MEYER. By Lotte Ilsøe
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he editorial staff at Lindhardt og Ringhof had spent over two years working with the author to compile the cookbook, published on 29 October 2010. The company had put substantial resources into the cookbook, whose first edition ran to 30,000 copies. With all that time and money invested in the book, a spectacular marketing campaign was necessary to ensure good sales. Lindhardt og Ringhof had never previously opened a ‘pop-up shop’ but the publication of Claus Meyer’s Almanak was
POP-UP SHOP
A pop-up shop is a shop that is open for a short period to sell a single product or brand. A pop-up shop does not necessarily open to increase sales, but to raise awareness and demand.
ALMANAK
Based on the natural cycle of the year and changes in seasonal products, the book contains over 1,000 recipes for main courses, side dishes, desserts, pickles and preserves, bread and cakes. Almanak brings Claus Meyer’s dream of the perfect food year to life.
a perfect opportunity [for readers outside Denmark Claus Meyer is the Danish Jamie Oliver, ed.]. ‘If any author could carry a pop-up shop, it’s Claus Meyer. He is a brand in his own right, and a name everyone associates with Nordic food and quality. And the book itself has unique features,’ explains Sophia Ohrbeck, marketing coordinator at Lindhardt og Ringhof. WARM WINTER DISHES It was an old glove shop in central Copenhagen that for 23 days in December provided the setting for the pop-up shop, an entire shop dedicated exclusively to selling Almanak and creating a universe and ambiance inspired by the cookbook. Besides the book, the shop featured events, including visits by chefs and authors, organised by Lindhardt og Ringhof in association with Meyer’s company, Meyers Madhus. Other celebrity Danish cooks – for example, the food-impassioned brothers Adam and James Price – dropped by with hot appetizers that frozen Christmas shop-
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pers could sample while visiting the Almanak shop. ‘People were most enthusiastic when Claus Meyer was there. He had brought an assistant to cook the food so he could concentrate on talking to customers and signing their books. And the Price brothers were a natural hit because they are the “rock stars” of the Danish cooking world and people want to meet them,’ says Sophia Ohrbeck. The Almanak shop was open to more than just casual passers-by. In the months up to the opening, Lindhardt og Ringhof had run advertising campaigns aimed at attracting customers into the Almanak shop, while Meyers Madhus and the celebrity chefs promoted the event through their own personal networks. Sophia Orhbæk, marketing coordinator at Lindhardt og Ringhof.
Professional continuing education IN FUTURE, DANISH SCHOOLS WILL HAVE LESS MONEY TO SPEND ON EDUCATIONAL MEDIA. WITH THE PROSPECT OF A SHRINKING MARKET, THE ALINEA PUBLISHING COMPANY IS NOW PINNING ITS HOPES ON A BUSINESS EXPANSION, A NEW COMPANY, ALINEA AKADEMI, WHICH HELD ITS FIRST CONFERENCES AND COURSES FOR TEACHERS IN 2010. FEEDBACK HAS BEEN POSITIVE AND WITH THE ESTABLISHMENT OF NEW CLASSROOMS AT EGMONT HOUSE AND AN EXTENSIVE COURSE PROGRAMME, THE INITIATIVE SHOULD MAKE AN IMPACT ON THE BOTTOM LINE IN 2011. By Jan Sturm
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linea is Denmark’s largest educational publisher and thus in close contact with the best textbook authors in the country. And as part of the Egmont Group, Alinea also has access to a range of specialists in other companies and publishers. Now experience is about to be exchanged both ways. The new company, Alinea Akademi, offers courses, conferences and continuing education programmes – but will also nurture the parent company. It will scout out promising new authors and offer the publisher’s best authors the opportunity to become course instructors. Alinea Akademi’s speakers will thus include people whose educational materials will later be published by an Egmont company. Three publications are already in the pipeline from authors who caught Alinea’s attention in connection with Alinea Akademi courses. ‘Our courses are characterised by dealing both theoretically and practically with the teaching challenges we face today. Our instructors and authors possess amazing knowledge and experience in pedagogical methods and teaching approaches. Many of them work hands-on with teaching every
day, and therefore provide a wonderful source of inspiration and ideas for teachers and other educators in tackling their daily teaching,’ explains programme manager Lise Mayland. ‘We ran a course last week, for example, about reading and writing. The instructor was an experienced teacher from a progressive school. She brought loads of specific sample materials and ideas from her own school, which she exhibited and used for the course. This gave the participants
ALINEA Alinea is part of Lindhardt og Ringhof and Denmark’s largest educational publisher, producing textbooks in almost all subjects. Other Alinea publishing houses include L&R Uddannelse, Alfabeta, Easy Readers and Akademisk Forlag.
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materials that they could transfer direct to their own teaching situation.’ NEW INITIATIVE IN A GROWING MARKET There is a huge market for training courses and conferences. Denmark has more than 90,000 teachers, and the government is keen to encourage more teachers to pursue professional development opportunities. To date, the public sector has been the primary provider of courses for teachers, but Lise Mayland sees no roadblocks to entering the market. ‘The product we offer is different because we aim both to make the courses tangibly relevant in the sense that teachers can return home with materials immediately useful in their daily work and to create a continuing education built on the concept of maximising course participants’ development,’ Lise Mayland explains, demonstrating Alinea Akademi’s competency enhancement model, which is based on identifying one’s own abilities, acquiring new experience, developing personal qualities and practising skills.
Lise Mayland, Trine Trampe, Annette Berlin Eriksson and Eva Bayer make up the four-woman team that will lead Alinea Akademi to success.
ALINEA AKADEMI Alinea Akademi was launched and started offering courses last year. Its programme range includes open courses available to everyone as well as customised courses for individual schools and local authorities.
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Nordisk Film produced Denmark’s first 3D animation, The Olsen Gang Gets Polished. The film was a mega hit.
iew v e r n i r a The ye
Egmont Nordisk Film Allan Hansen, Executive Vice President
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE 2010? The year focused to a great extent on implementing our ‘walk the talk’ strategy. After a period of transformation and focus on stabilising our business, we could start looking ahead and channelling our energy into new initiatives aimed to generate profitable growth. We turned our full attention on our goals, and all staff have worked ambitiously to attain them. I am pleased to be able to say that our efforts have paid off.
The two Finnish documentaries Steam of Life and Reindeer Spotting set new standards in Finland for box office sales and DVDs in the documentary genre. Steam of Life won numerous awards the world over, as well as the Finnish ‘Oscar’, the Jussi, for best documentary. The two films recorded the highest ever viewing rates for documentaries in Finland.
WHAT WAS YOUR GREATEST CHALLENGE? 2010 was another year entailing a struggle to meet film production budgets. Despite the poor odds, we nonetheless managed to produce several solid successes such as The Olsen Gang Gets Polished, In a Better World and Klovn – The Movie.
Nordisk Film Distribution in Norway won six impressive prizes at the Video Festival in Oslo. The Blu-Ray and DVD releases of the popular feature film, Max Manus, were the clear winners.
WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR 2011? First and foremost I expect another year of profit. The outlook for films, games and cinemas is promising, provided we can also reduce the risks existing in the other business areas, which are financially hard pressed. In 2011 we must consolidate our digital strategy in our existing business and in new initiatives. To this end, we have launched a project that will give us more insight into consumer behaviour and thus give us an edge in the competition for consumers’ time. We also have a wide range of development projects and new initiatives on the drawing board, which I am looking forward to telling you about a little later in the year.
Live entertainment in cinemas has caught on. Here is a glimpse of the Denmark-Netherlands World Cup game. Unfortunately the final score eludes us…
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Nordisk Film sold PlayStation 3 number one million in 2010. The popular Swedish singer Agnes, signed at Egmont owned Roxy Music, sang at the wedding of the Swedish crown princess.
In a Better World was a blockbuster in Denmark and Sweden, won a Golden Globe and an Oscar in the category for best foreign-language film.
The documentary ‘Armadillo‘ won the Grand Prix de la Semaine de la Critique at the Cannes Film Festival. Klovn – the movie was one of the most viewed movies in Danish cinemas
COPENHAGEN BETA Copenhagen Records launched its own video channel, Copenhagen Beta, for releasing unique content by its artists. Its ‘artist-fan-chat’ will give fans exclusive opportunities to get closely acquainted with their idols, sign up for intimate concerts, pre-book tour tickets and much more.
Nordisk Film ShortCut visited Mali with Zentropa. The teams helped the country produce its first feature film for 17 years – from shooting to post production.
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Himlen är oskyldigt blå was a huge cinema success in Sweden.
PS3 Move: The Move controller was stripped from the shelves in 2010
Interactive
moves into goal ON THE FACE OF IT 2010 WAS NOT A BANNER YEAR FOR NORDISK FILM INTERACTIVE, WHICH FACED CHALLENGES FROM STRONG GAME CONSOLE RIVALS, AN ESCALATING PARALLEL IMPORT MARKET AND, INDEED, SONY ITSELF. READ HERE ABOUT HOW NORDISK FILM INTERACTIVE NONETHELESS EMERGED FROM ITS TRIALS WITH A SPECTACULAR PROFIT FOR THE YEAR. By Mika Sun Black
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THE OPEN INTERNET BATTLEFIELD Consumers’ growing tendency to compare distributors’ retail prices across the Internet is another big challenge. In this case parallel importers hold the upper hand against the loyal customers who buy the product via Nordisk Film. Parallel imports account for an estimated 25 % of the market. Rather than trying to compete with parallel importers on price, Interactive pursues the strategy of making it as attractive as possible to deal with Nordisk Film Interactive: ‘Parallel importers’ only selling point is price. We, on the other hand, can offer more reliable delivery, a potentially crucial factor at the Christmas peak season. In addition, we provide a marketing programme and promotional materials for shops, we train our employees and involve key accounts when designing media campaigns.’
s sole distributor of Sony PlayStation products in the Nordic region, it’s important that Sony gives us proper working conditions. In 2010 we were struck with a number of challenges.’ These words come from Christian Noer, Nordic Marketing Director at Nordisk Film Interactive. He elaborates: ‘For example, right before our long-awaited software release, Gran Turismo 5, we suddenly got a message from Sony: “We do not know when the game will be ready. We hope it arrives before Christmas.” We tried to reassure our customer, but for several weeks we didn’t know what was going on, and had to reschedule our media campaign without knowing the actual date of the release. If the game didn’t arrive until 2011, it would impact our annual profit extremely adversely, but fortunately the game was ready before Christmas. When we launched the new Move Motion controller [competing product to Nintendo’s Wii, ed.], we ran into another problem. Sony couldn’t fill European demand for the product, which far exceeded expectations. We have currently sold more than 100,000 Move controllers, but could have doubled or tripled this figure if Sony had been able to deliver.’
FULL SPEED AHEAD FOR INVENTIVE MARKETING Interactive’s special focus in 2010 was ambitious campaigns for selected software titles. In connection with the Gran Turismo 5 launch, for example, they went to a car trade fair in Oslo:
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Suman Rath, Commercial Director, Interactive Finland
WHAT WAS INTERACTIVE’S GREATEST CHALLENGE IN 2010? Parallel imports. Both consumers and our dealers are increasingly starting to compare our prices with international online stores, and they’re willing to shop around for the best price.
Trade fair: GT5 fans test the new game
WHAT WAS INTERACTIVE’S BIGGEST SUCCESS IN 2010? Our PlayStation 3 strategy with its focus on strong software titles like the all-Finnish SingStar Suomi Hitit and Gran Turismo 5. And the Move Motion controller, which has brought dancing, high spirits and sports fun into the homes of 100,000 Nordic families.
2010 STATISTICS: 300,000 PS3 machines sold
More than 1 million PS3 machines sold since 2007 200,000 GT5 games sold 100,000 Move Motion controllers sold
WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR INTERACTIVE IN 2011? I expect the Move Motion controller to extend the PlayStation 3 target group even further, attracting those consumers who have previously considered gaming as nerdy or ‘only for guys’.
‘All the stands at the fair looked alike, but ours featured the Solberg brothers, two of the world’s best rally drivers. When they were present, all the Norwegian media came flocking! All the car maniacs could then come and try their hand at the long-awaited GT5 that hadn’t even been released yet. We hit our target group spot-on!’
Finn Robøle, Commercial Director, Interactive Norway
NO DOWN-SHIFTING And over 200,000 GT5 games have been sold in just two months. Along with strong 2010 software titles like Heavy Rain, God of War III and SingStar Suomi Hitit, not to mention the one-million mark for PlayStation3 sales since 2007, this impressive figure means Interactive can rightly be very satisfied with the year’s performance. However, this does not mean the business area can relax in 2011: ‘We’re working on re-introducing a VOD service for PlayStation 3 in the Nordic regions, which lets people rent films direct using the machine. It’s an exploding market! This means Interactive is opening its own publishing department so we can publish and develop our own games for digital platforms. And the PS3 now finally ties with Nintendo Wii at Nordic level. The Wii has held a commanding lead in recent years, but we’ve caught up and intend to maintain our position! I hope and believe we will be number one in 2011,’ Noer states.
WHAT WAS INTERACTIVE’S GREATEST CHALLENGE IN 2010? Competing parallel importers that exploit fluctuating exchange rates were a major challenge, as was maintaining customer loyalty. WHAT WAS INTERACTIVE’S BIGGEST SUCCESS IN 2010? Actually managing to retain customer loyalty! This year I believe we succeeded in maintaining close relations with our customers. They know we are concerned about their success. And if they succeed, so do we.
Christian Noer, Nordic Marketing Director, Nordisk Film Interactive
WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR INTERACTIVE IN 2011? My team put in a great performance in 2010, and I’m looking forward to working and achieving success with them in 2011 as well. It will take a lot of hard work, but we know Sony will give us the right tools so we can supply consumers once again.
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Making pale skin and sharp fangs
HOT... By Mika Sun Black
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WHICH MARKETING STRATEGY DID YOU CHOOSE? ‘We wanted to avoid people finding out that vampires were involved at any price. We were simply terrified about the supernatural, because it wasn’t selling particularly well at the time. There is a scene in Twilight where Bella discovers Edward is a vampire, and he wants her to say it: “Say it, I’m a vampire!” We discussed at great length whether to include that particular sequence in the trailer or not. Would the audience get the wrong impression if they heard the word “vampire”? We decided to use it. We produced a completely traditional launch campaign with advertising and trailers to promote the film.’
ot to mention hairy werewolves! Nordisk Film’s Nordic Marketing Director, Klaus Odegaard, was deeply sceptical when presented with the ’Twilight’ series’ idea of a modern first love and his rival. However, hundreds of teenage girls soon convinced him of the enormous potential of ’Twilight’. AN OLD MAN AND A WEREWOLF ... THAT SOUNDS CREEPY. WHAT MAKES TWILIGHT A MEGAHIT? ‘That’s a good question. We had the rights to the films via an output agreement [agreement with a film company regarding the distribution of all its productions in a two-year period, ed.] so it came to us automatically. Our first thought was: ‘This is doomed to failure!’, but I think it has been so big because it speaks to its audience, teenage girls, totally on their terms and deals seriously with subjects they find important – first love, and the virtual willingness to jump off a cliff if they don’t get their chosen one. There’s no patronising parental talk like ‘you’ll get over it soon, you’ll find someone else’. And the main character, Edward, aged 108, is very popular. He’s a born gentleman who treats girls properly and doesn’t have sex before marriage. I think many girls actually dream about a knight on a white horse and want to be swept off their feet. He is the modern equivalent. And many girls think he’s hot. But I won’t venture to comment!’
AND TWILIGHT MANIA STARTED RAGING... ‘Yes, and the figures that the first film recorded far exceeded our expectations. But in comparison with the other countries, we had actually significantly under-performed. I believe we normally hold 2.1 % of the world market, but a look at the box office figures showed that our level was about 1.5 %. Our problem was that we didn’t take the universe seriously. For instance, actually discussing whether to say the word vampire in the trailer, but also failing to leverage the franchise enough before the release, via our collaboration with the book publisher and others. But we learnt from our mistakes. In the lead-up to the premiere of New Moon, the second film in the series, we opened a Twilight page on Facebook where
Sanne Hyun Jacobsen, manager of the Twilight Facebook page: ‘A very positive quality of Twilight is the way it brings people together. For example, one of our competitions invited participants to bake the most extravagant Twilight cake and take a photo of it and the cake-baker. We received 45 serious submissions. It was great to see how much fun the girls had had together on this project. And the main character, Bella, is a slightly quiet outsider, something many teenagers can identify with if they aren’t the most popular person in the class. Through the Facebook page they can meet others like them, and they’re actually starting to write: “If you like, you can add me if you want to talk about Twilight.” That’s really cool!’
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New Moon: Fans included. Social media activities, competitions and deluxe DVD releases in connection with red-letter days, an actor’s birthday, for example.
Twilight: Traditional campaign like other films.
Eclipse: A grand-scale event in Stockholm gave 10,000 fans the chance to see two of the Twilight stars. Lots of activity in the social media.
we could chat direct with fans and run loads of competition activities. We also invited some fans to the studios in Valby and asked them for ideas on New Moon. Their thoughts and suggestions were pretty mundane, but necessary because we simply didn’t grasp the universe ourselves. This was one of the occasions that showed us how seriously they really took it all.’
ings for 2010. New Moon came number four and Eclipse number five. That’s fantastic! They were beaten only by Avatar and our two Millennium films. We aimed high, but we never dreamt it would be so big.’ THERE ARE STILL TWO FILMS LEFT IN THE SERIES. WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN? ‘The next Twilight film won’t be in the cinemas for almost a year. The first was released in November 2008, which means three years have passed and the audience has of course grown older. We’re a bit nervous about how they’ll receive Breaking Dawn, which has been turned into two films to be released 12 months apart. We’ve got to keep the pot bubbling so they don’t lose interest. We must certainly talk to the Facebook group about where they are right now and where they’re headed.’
HOW DID YOU CHANGE THE MARKETING STRATEGY FOR THE NEXT TWO FILMS? ‘It was very fan-oriented. We persuaded two of the three lead actors to come to Stockholm for 24 hours. It all cost a small fortune, because they arrived by private jet with their entourage, etc. We had rented an ice hockey rink in Stockholm that could accommodate an audience of 10,000. After a traditional press conference during the first part of the day we simply staged a small concert with bands, MC and audience. We wanted to thank the fans in the true spirit of Twilight, so attendance was free. We gave away tickets via competitions and so on and got publicity that way, so it was worth it. I knew it was going to be big and hysterical, but even so it was way beyond my wildest dreams! There was so much screaming my ears ached for three days afterwards. Such dedication is wonderful.’
BUT THE FANTASY UNIVERSE DOESN’T END WITH TWILIGHT? ‘No. Our next big project is the Hunger Games series of books by Suzanne Collins, which will also be adapted for film and to which we’ve acquired the film rights. It’s a heady mix of Twilight and Harry Potter. We’ve made our move in plenty of time – the film hasn’t even started production yet, so our main job right now is to help the publisher sell the titles. We’ll do that through Facebook, competitions and by inviting fans to come and talk to us. The more we can spread the word about the Hunger Games phenomenon now, the better.’
DID THE NEW STRATEGY WORK? ‘Absolutely! When the fans are that dedicated they are also willing to pay for it. For example, we’ve produced exclusive fan and deluxe DVD editions containing Twilight merchandise such as postcards or the ring Bella wore in the film. We’ve just received the chart rank-
Hysteria at the big Stockholm fan event
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Klaus Odegaard, Nordic Marketing Director, Nordisk Film Distribution
When the winds of change
blow… NORDISK FILM HAS A BUSINESS AREA FEW KNOW ABOUT: POST PRODUCTION, THE LAST, IMPORTANT STAGE IN THE FILM PRODUCTION PROCESS. IT IS ALSO A BUSINESS AREA THAT HAS HAD DIFFICULTY EARNING MONEY AND IS UNDER CONSTANT PRESSURE IN A TOUGH MARKET. IN 2010 NORDISK FILM SHORTCUT TOOK A BIG STEP INTO THE SUNLIGHT. By Irene Brandt
W
hen people in a film audience let the magic of the silver screen sweep them away, only a handful realise that a group of passionate souls is involved with bringing them this spellbinding experience – those who work with post production, the final processing of a film. Nordisk Film’s post production companies, now known collectively as Nordisk Film ShortCut, deliver both digital and analogue post production for feature films, commercials, TV programmes and music videos. Nordisk Film ShortCut has activities in the three Scandinavian countries, but over the past couple of years, the organisation has been heavily trimmed, and in 2010 the closure of the Swedish company was announced. The Norwegian company had its turn to shut down the year before. The order book is simply not full enough to provide laboratory facilities in three countries. These were hard decisions to make, with personal consequences for a lot of people who had put their hearts into their work for many years. But closures were neces-
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sary for the future profitability of the business. In 2010, the film equipment rental company Euro Broadcast Hire was sold off. THE DIGITAL FUTURE LOOMS The transition to digital cinemas has long been underway, but the trend has surged, and the Nordic cinema market is expected to be fully digitalised by the end of 2012, with Norway already expected to reach this stage at end-2011. These are the hard facts and some of the main reasons for the major changes Nordisk Film ShortCut has undergone during the past couple of years. If you expect to meet an organisation daunted by the threatening digital storm on the horizon, you will be disappointed. ‘Everyone who works at Nordisk Film ShortCut today is driven by enormous passion. They are the best in the industry, both technically and creatively, and they are totally committed to what they do. The employees of ShortCut are made of incredible stuff. Despite big changes in all countries, they have done their utmost each and every day to deliver the best product. They have said
A LOOK AT SOME OF SHORTCUT’S WORK R was shot on RED (digital video format), and edited, graded and finally transferred to the film medium at ShortCut. Rosa Morena and Skyskraper, both produced by Fine& Mellow and due shortly for release, were processed by ShortCut. Susanne Bier’s In a Better World has also been in ShortCut’s hands, with the analogue laboratory digitally formatting the film for international cinemas, for example. The laboratory does a fair number of restoration jobs, in Denmark as well as in countries such as the Baltic States and Norway, where the National Library of Norway is a customer.
Once a film has been shot, it enters the post production stage. It has to be edited, the sound side processed, visual effects added to enhance the images, and so on. The team at Nordisk Film ShortCut work closely with producers and directors to create a perfect end product.
goodbye to many good colleagues whom they have known and worked with for many years. They have worked under the uncertainty that comes from being in a turbulent situation, and yet have remained loyal. Many have offered suggestions for saving costs and improving efficiency that have put ShortCut in much better stead today. And most important of all: customers have experienced the same high level of professionalism and creativity as always. Although we’ve been through financial difficulties, the praise and acknowledgement of our customers have given us plenty of bright moments. That helps keep up our spirits and morale,’ explains Pia Tellefsen, finance manager at Nordisk Film ShortCut. WELL ON THE WAY TO ITS GOAL Nordisk Film ShortCut is rapidly regaining its financial health, which gives some breathing space to look ahead and strengthen the business. When the Norwegian company was closed down, a new company was established with a strong local partner.
This company is concentrated on digital post production, and after just 12 months has already generated satisfactory results and gained a firm toehold in the market. Opportunities for continuing a presence in Sweden are already being investigated. In Denmark the company managed to maintain an extremely high market share in a turbulent market. It continues to be a technical and creative leader, and can now handle every link in the digital value chain, from digital film shooting to digital screening in cinemas. These services are attracting a growing number of foreign customers. ‘The situation at Nordisk Film Post Production a couple of years ago called for drastic measures if the company was to survive. No one believed we would succeed. We had to focus intensely on what creates value and we knew the process would be painful. We command a strong market position and have some wonderfully committed employees with which to build our future. We are not out of the woods yet, but we’re well on the way, thanks especially
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to the attitude of our staff, who have been quite incredible throughout this process, giving us their full support, confident that we were doing the best we possibly could. I am both proud and honoured to be responsible for an organisation that embraces such true passion. Without it, we could never have implemented such far-reaching changes,’ says Ulrik Rasch, general manager of Nordisk Film Shortcut.
Pia Tellefsen, finance manager, Nordisk Film Shortcut
Ulrik Rasch, general manager, Nordisk Film Shortcut.
ew i v e r n ar i e y e h T
n o i t a d n u o F t n o m g E the
charitable activities Henriette Christiansen, Director of the Egmont Foundation’s Aid and Grant Administration
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE 2010? The year was focused on strategic work. We have undergone a useful clarification process that has resulted in a five-year framework for the professional running of the Egmont Foundation’s charitable activities. We also said farewell to Løvehjerte, the counselling centre that helps children and young people who have lost a close relative or experienced serious illness in the family, and which has been part of the Egmont Foundation for 10 years. Løvehjerte has been merged with the ‘Børn, Unge & Sorg’ organisation. For the first time, this means that bereaved children can get help wherever in Denmark they live. It also means that the staff of the Egmont Foundation’s Aid and Grant Administration have moved to new premises on the fifth floor of Egmont House. So we’ve moved even closer to our colleagues in the commercial part of the company, which we’re very happy about.
HR. BERG
Hr. Berg is a haven for young people receiving treatment at Copenhagen University Hospital. The programme is one of seven initiatives launched by the Egmont Foundation as part of the new strategic collaboration with the Danish Red Cross Youth. The four-year initiative has received a grant of almost more than EUR 1 million, which will go to projects that help marginalised children and young people develop in a positive direction.
GRØNHØJSKOLEN
Grønhøjskolen introduced outdoor teaching for all pupils. The school wants to find out whether teaching children in a natural environment can help create an innovative learning culture that underpins pupils’ personal and academic development.
WHAT WAS YOUR GREATEST CHALLENGE? In 2010 it was important to make sure that the Foundation grants had the best possible impact and that our charitable activities were visible, and these will continue to be our goals in future. We are confident that highlighting the results achieved by Foundation grants will attract more good projects, while also encouraging others to apply the positive results elsewhere in Denmark. The effect of the grants can thus be increased and benefit even more children and young people.
LION HEART
In 2010 the Egmont project ‘Lion Heart’ merged with ‘Unge & Sorg’ to create an organisation that provides help nationwide to children and young people who have been bereaved or have close relatives who are seriously ill.
WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR 2011? Children and youth are our future. We must stren gthen and inspire them, particularly the most vulnerable. For this reason, in 2011 we at the Egmont Foundation will continue to focus on our collective responsibility for giving children and young people in Denmark a good life.
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IN 2010 THE EGMONT FOUNDATION AWARDED GRANTS AMOUNTING TO: EUR 5 million to 26 projects EUR 0,5 million in individual support to more than 500 families EUR 0,5 million to film-making via the Nordisk Film Foundation
KVINFO
The Egmont Foundation granted EUR 320,000 to ‘Min egen vej’ (‘My Own Way’), KVINFO’s mentor scheme for young women aged 16-24 from ethnic minority backgrounds. The project focuses on the potential and resources represented by young people living in the Vollsmose district (a socially marginalized area) of Odense and supports the inclusion of this large group in the education system and society in general.
TEAM SUCCESS
The Egmont Foundation donated EUR 227,000 to Team Success, an organisation that helps young people take active responsibility for their own development. The support is intended to expand the concept, enabling the organisation to carry on its good work throughout Denmark.
NORDISK FILM FOUNDATION
In 2010 the Nordisk Film Foundation’s film award – the Nordisk Film Prize – became a talent award. It went to Tobias Lindholm and Michael Noer, the two young gifted directors who produced the arresting film R.
CHRISTMAS PARCELS
Close on 100 Egmont employees set aside time to help pack and deliver the Egmont Foundation’s Christmas parcels. Families in need received gifts direct from the Foundation, while crisis centres in the Copenhagen area received large boxes of books, magazines, films and other products donated by the divisions. The gifts are part of the support that the Egmont Foundation gives direct to disadvantaged families with children.
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VOXPOP
Egmont is… ‘To me, Egmont is an inspiring, solid and, above all, a fun organization. If it were up to me, I will be a part of Egmont for a long time ahead.’ Zandra Lantz, PA, Egmont Tidskrifter, Stockholm
‘To me, Egmont is: my work and my partner for more than 10 years with joy and laughter. Love being part of it with so many different challenges and more to come – bring them on!’ Ida Sandberg, Executive Secretary, Egmont Serieforlaget, Copenhagen
‘Egmont is one of the best places to work. You can have fun, make your wishes come true and rediscover the child in you.’
‘...a solid supertanker that sails majestically ahead but which also launches lots of small, fast speedboats that discover new countries and help set a course for the future.’
Feyza Güven, Brand Manager, Dogan Egmont Publishing, Istanbul
Jacob Bøegh, Technical Development Director at Egmont Digital Centre, Copenhagen
‘To me, Egmont abounds not just in great people, but in great sharers, which in turn gives rise to great ideas. Egmont recognises that its people and the right working culture are essential to turning thoughts and discussions into action, and to linking together a wealth of countries, cultures and concepts into a continually expanding, yet cohesive dynamic. It is this wonderful sense of possibility, generated by the collective creative input of everyone here, that attracts so many of the best authors, illustrators and licensed properties to join the Egmont group.’ Alice Grigg, International Sales Assistant, Egmont UK, London
‘Egmont is Donald Duck! And a proud and devoted mother who let her son sell her pots and pans – which were her livelihood – in order to raise the capital to realise his dream: the story-telling dream.’ Katrine Sæverud, Communication Assistant, TV 2 communication department, Bergen
‘To me, Egmont is a place where creativity and business come together to create books that children will cherish and remember long after they have grown up.’ Charlotte Bodman, Rights Manager, Hardie Grant Egmont, Melbourne