Swiss media company Ringier masters Blended Media as it switches to WoodWing

March 14, 2008

DETROIT MICHIGAN — 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 WoodWing’s editorial solution.

Ringier has already installed WoodWing’s Smart Connection Enterprise solution at several of its publications including CASH daily (Switzerland’s largest economics publication) and Sonntags Blick (the country’s 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 Ringier’s 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 they’ve installed WoodWing’s 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. “That’s one of the biggest improvements they’ve noticed since switching to WoodWing and it’s what the concept of ‘blended media’ is all about.”

In Ringier’s internal publication DOMO company officials rave about the improvements they’ve 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 it’s 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 Ringier’s publications on board there are now six newspapers in Switzerland that have made the switch to WoodWing.

About WoodWing
WoodWing Software excels in innovative and flexible editorial solutions that help efficiently produce print and online publications. Customers are served through select partners and in the U.S. through WoodWing USA an expert in corporate workflow efficiency. Visit http://www.woodwing.com.

Contact
Shawn Duffy
shawn.duffy@woodwing.com
313-212-7711