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The Warsaw Voice and Media Box
Since its inception in 1988 The Warsaw Voice has made it its mission to provide reliable, objective and up-to-date information on Poland to English-speaking foreigners in Poland and worldwide. It was neither logistically easy nor cheap to print and distribute the paper internationally. Everything changed during the digital era. Today “print media” are available digitally first and foremost. Digital platforms are also the first choice for readers.
One such platform is Media Box, providing hotel guests and airline passengers world wide with access to several thousand titles – including The Warsaw Voice, of course. Thanks to this collaboration the magazine recently start ed returning, in a digital version, on board LOT Polish Airlines planes. Why? Because Media Box’s operator and PLL LOT signed an agreement on cooperation.
LOT has introduced a number of changes to its passenger service and in-flight products to improve passenger comfort. In addition to technological changes in communication with passengers, LOT was one of the first air carriers in Europe to introduce digital press on board its aircraft. More than 1,000 titles can be downloaded via the mobile app 36 hours before departure and up to six hours after landing.
LOT has responded quickly and flexibly to the challenges posed to the aviation industry by the coronavirus pandemic. This applies not only to the destinations grad ually being restored, which are of interest to passengers after a difficult period of restrictions. In order to meet the expectations of its customers, LOT has introduced a number of facilities for passenger service and in-flight products. One example of this is the replacement of pa per newspapers and magazines on board aircraft and in business lounges with a wide range of Polish and foreign press in a digital version.
“At this difficult time for the aviation industry, we are constantly working on developing our offer to better meet the needs of our passengers. By offering digital press, we not only increase the range of titles to over 1,000 Polish and foreign magazines, but also make them available to a much wider audience, i.e. passengers travelling in LOT Economy Class and on domestic flights. The pro-ecological aspect of this change is also important. Until now, we have been taking parcels with traditional press, weighing up to 45 tonnes, on board our planes every month. Now we offer each of our passengers an environmentally friendly, up
to-date and modern product tailored to individual needs: digital press,” says Michał Fijoł, Chief Commercial Officer at LOT Polish Airlines.
The new service is provided by the technology company Media Carrier, which gives passengers of airlines, cruise ships and guests of more than 1,200 hotels around the world access to digital press on their own mobile devices.
“We are delighted that, with LOT, one more top airline is demonstrating its trust in us and integrating the Media Box into its service offering. Our Media Box can be used with any internet-capable device; it is not nec essary to install an app, register or enter personal data. Each passenger uses only their own mobile device to read their digital newspaper or magazine, and merely touches the display to download their favorite reading, turn pages or scroll. This is of course much more hygienic and safe than using print titles, which often pass through several hands and can therefore be carriers of a variety of germs or viruses,” says Philipp J. Jacke, Managing Director at Media Carrier.
Until now, traditional printed press was available only on LOT’s international flights to passengers of LOT Business Class and LOT Premium Economy Class, and the offering included approximately 20 titles. Currently, LOT offers over 1,000 digital press titles to all passengers, regardless of class and travel destination. The press on offer includes dailies and magazines in several dozen language versions (e.g. Polish, English, Hungarian, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Spanish, Japanese and Korean), as well as LOT’s in-flight magazine Kaleidoscope. Favorite titles can be downloaded 36 hours before departure and up to six hours after landing.
The dailies and magazines can be found on the lot. com/digitalpress website where, after entering their name and booking number, passengers can download the magazine of their choice free of charge. Depending on the travel class, you can download from one to five titles. After using up the allocated limit, passengers can choose from the available free titles or purchase addi tional titles. The prices of dailies start from PLN 1.00, weeklies from about PLN 4.00, and specialist press from a few tens of zlotys. Payment can be made by credit card or via PayPal.
Media Carrier is a technology company providing ho tel guests and air or railway passengers with access to the press in digital form on their own mobile devices. It currently serves over 1,200 locations in 59 countries on six continents. The company’s portfolio includes over 1,500 titles in about 40 languages from some 60 coun tries. Media Boxes (virtual libraries with digital press) are available in over 80,000 rooms, mainly in four- to five-star hotels.
Media Carrier is represented in Poland by the TASK company. “Actually, we have been teamed up with Media Carrier from the very beginning, since its foundation in 2011,” says Tomasz Krysicki, the owner of TASK. “Cur rently we provide more than 50 Polish newspapers and magazines to the Media Box, of course including The War saw Voice,” Krysicki adds.
In Poland, customized Media Boxes are available at hotels by the InterContinental Group, Radisson Blu, Zdrojowa Hotels, Hilton, Leonardo Hotels, Golden Tulip, Vienna House, as well as in the executive lounges of the Warsaw Chopin and Kraków-Balice airports.
The second vast area of the company’s activity is the air travel market. The entire Lufthansa Group uses a spe cial platform (Media Box eJournals): Lufthansa, Austrian, Swiss, Eurowings, Edelweiss, Air Dolomiti. So do several other airlines; the company’s aviation operations are conducted by Virgin Atlantic, Etihad, Finnair, Amer ican Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines, Aurora, S7, Atlantic Airways, Volotea, and SunExpress - in total creating potential of over 270 million passengers
Philipp J. Jacke, Managing Director at Media Carrier.
per year.
OUR UPGRADED MEDIA BOX MEETS THIS CHANGED TREND IN DEMAND, ENABLING US TO PROVIDE OUR CUSTOMERS WITH A COMPREHENSIVE AND HIGHLY USER-FRIENDLY MULTIMEDIA LIBRARY. Philipp J. Jacke
Media Box is an extremely easy-to-use website fully integrated graphically with local WiFi networks. The user can download and read the available titles (as PDFs they are identical to the printed version) and keep them to read later (e.g. during travel) on a mo bile device. The Media Box system is programmed in responsive technology – Responsive Web Design (RWD). The purpose of using RWD is to build univer sal modules with digital press, which will be highly legible and visually attractive on any equipment, whether desktop computer, laptop, notebook, tablet or smart phone. Websites designed in RWD adjust dynamically (i.e. in real time) to all resolutions and screen sizes, and even the current orientation of the device (hori zontal or vertical).
The service works smoothly with every device usually taken on the road: iPad, iPhone, tablet, smartphone, net book or laptop. It is independent of the installed operating system (Android, iOS, Windows, etc.). Moreover, abso lutely no special application is required, no registration, configuration or other potentially tricky procedure. Prac tically one click opens the hotel or airline library with current press. Foreign newspapers are available early in the
morning on the day of release, and all users can access the has therefore grown exponentially, regardless of format, system simultaneously. be it digital papers or podcasts,” says Media Carrier man
Media Boxes operate in Germany, Austria, Switzer aging director Philipp J. Jacke. “Our upgraded Media Box land, Italy, France, Spain, Greece, Turkey, Scandinavia, meets this changed trend in demand, enabling us to pro the UK, the United States, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Thai vide our customers with a comprehensive and highly usland, Australia, Egypt, Morocco, Qatar and the UAE, and er-friendly multimedia library.” in the CEE region in Poland, Introducing a new design, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Media Carrier aims to make the Baltic republics, Hungary the experience of digital and the Russian Federation. Recently Media Box went MEDIA CARRIER media consumption as at tractive and easy as possible more multimedia, becoming AIMS TO MAKE THE for Media Box users. This fit for the new decade and beyond. EXPERIENCE OF DIGITAL includes a full text search en abling users to quickly find A few days ago Media Carrier launched its pre mium product with a modMEDIA CONSUMPTION AS ATTRACTIVE AND their favorite publications. The media library now also integrates games, podcasts, ernized look and feel, optimized user-friendliness and EASY AS POSSIBLE FOR videos, live TV or streaming services as well as custom a significantly expanded con tent offer: Alongside more MEDIA BOX USERS. er-specific content such as promotional flyers or cus than 1,500 newspapers and tomer publications, which magazines in a wide range of languages, other types of can all be easily accessed by users without a cumbersome content including games, podcasts, videos, streaming registration process. services and live TV can now also be integrated into the The new Media Box enables airlines, hotels and transMedia Box. port companies but also gyms or health centers that have
“The coronavirus crisis has changed people’s media beintegrated Media Carrier’s Media Box into their service havior. Because of quarantines and self-isolation they now offering to provide their members, passengers or guests largely consume digital media. Demand for digital media with enormous added value.
More than 1,000 titles can be downloaded via the mobile app 36 hours before departure and up to six hours after landing.
