Prepress
Swiss media company Ringier masters “Blended Media” as it switches to WoodWing
Wednesday 12. March 2008 - WoodWing Software calls it "blended media," the concept that publishers can seamlessly reach their audience using all forms of media print, Web, audio and video. Ringier AG, the largest publisher in Switzerland, has mastered the concept while switching its titles over to WoodWings editorial solution.
Ringier has already installed WoodWings Smart Connection Enterprise solution at several of its publications, including CASH daily (Switzerlands largest economics publication) and Sonntags Blick (the countrys largest Sunday newspaper, with a circulation of more than 265,000), along with Schweizer Illustrierte, al dente, Shopping and Sport Blick.
Later this year, all of Ringiers publications will have made the switch to WoodWing, including Blick (the No. 1 of paid daily newspapers in Switzerland) and SPORTMagazin.
With the assistance of WoodWing integrator A&F Computersysteme, the switch has been smooth and seamless. And officials at Ringier are noticing immediate gains in workflow efficiency.
“Now that theyve installed WoodWings solutions, Ringier has seen how easy it is for them to publish content to the Web or print,” said Jeroen Sonnemans, Managing Director of WoodWing Europe. “Thats one of the biggest improvements theyve noticed since switching to WoodWing, and its what the concept of blended media is all about.”
In Ringiers internal publication, DOMO, company officials rave about the improvements theyve seen in the publications that have already switched to WoodWing.
“The biggest plus is that the principle of Web first can be adhered to,” the article said. “Whether a story will appear in print or on the Web, its a matter of a push of the button. In the WoodWing setup, a status has been introduced that will publish the content of an article on the internet. The author can directly continue to work on the same article to finish it for print, which will appear later
the online editor is very enthusiastic about this feature.”
Ringier officials give high marks to the automation provided by WoodWing, noting that time-consuming, manual tasks have now been fully automated. Planning has been improved with the introduction of JournalDesigner, which has been tightly integrated into the WoodWing solution.
With Ringiers publications on board, there are now six newspapers in Switzerland that have made the switch to WoodWing.