November 2008

N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 8

to divisions merging But we don’t expect everyone to hug yet / 02-03

Who is TrustNordisk?

Page 05

Merger Pitfalls

Page 06

Less work for DHL

Page 11

When the letter arrives from

the Egmont Foundation /

Page 08-09

65 years with Easy Readers

Page 12

How Nordisk Film won

Good Morning and Good

Evening Denmark / Page 11

Merging two divisions

In a few weeks Egmont International and Egmont

Kids & teens will become one division. I will use

this opportunity to draw a sketch of what the fu-

ture will bring for everyone in the coming division.

By going for growth we invest in projects

that have great potential. at the moment we

are practicing and getting better at developing

new ideas and transforming them into viable

projects. In norway and sweden we have

created and acquired some interesting online

platform which we will evaluate for a potential

roll out in relevant markets.

With a merged division, an obvious chal-

lenge lies in defining where we can create syn-

ergies and benefits. We will look into successful

products throughout the division and will con-

sider to launch them across the division if they

offer an interesting opportunity. as we are lazy

in profession “not invented here” is not our

attitude. We will look forward to realize these

benefits and synergies to it’s full potential.

the strategy in the new division will con-

tinue to focus on holding strong key positions

within kids media. But when target groups decline

and we see a shift from print to electronic media,

this poses a new situation in many parts of the

new division, where we will have to act like uncle

scrooge on our costs while thinking outside the

box. In order to be in a healthy position to invest in

new projects and innovative ideas we will need to

make even stronger efforts to drive out cost from

our core business.

First of all, we will establish a Chinese hub for

gimmicks, because we want to be in charge of our

sourcing, we want a better control with our code of

conduct and of course we also want to be in control

of pricing and quality assurance. so next year, we

are establishing a hub in Hong Kong and we plan

to achieve substantial savings from this operation.

after all, each year we source 175 million gimmicks

to children all over the world. the hub will have

to work closely with local Egmont companies as

these will continue to be in charge of all creative

decisions.

We also have a challenge with several compa-

nies which are loss making. We need to make these

loss making entities profitable again and we are

working on individual strategies to address this

issue. some organizational changes will happen

in this area.

In the mature markets we have profes-

sionally run and profitable businesses, that

are experiencing a decline in core magazines.

the challenge here lies in stopping the decline

and/or adjust our cost base to be able to earn

money with lower print runs.

Further we will also review our creative

centres around Egmont, and determine how to

increase efficiencies and how to work together

in the future.

so while we see an important challenge in

cutting costs in the new division also in the light of

the economic crises, it is paramount to remember,

that our division will not live from cost savings

long term, but from investing into new and attrac-

tive projects as a sound platform for growth.

Frank KnauExecutive Vice President in Egmont International

gaining an understanding of how the busi-

ness is run.”

Where do you start when faced with all-

new responsibilities and an all-new division that

has more than 1,700 employees and generates

revenue of dKK 3.7 billion?

“For the first months, I will be concentrat-

ing on identifying areas where we can benefit

from being one division rather than two.

For example, the two divisions have worked

together in areas like Egmont Creative, but in

many others Egmont International has stuck

to a single production strategy, while Kids &

teens has taken a different approach.” Henrik

suggests another example whereby the new di-

vision could use serieforlaget’s online expertise

in other parts of the division.

However, financial management is not

simple in a division tackling vastly different

market challenges, as Henrik stresses: “Our

markets in Eastern Europe, south-east Europe

and asia are growing, whereas the markets

in the uK, Germany and the nordic countries

are saturated. so we have to handle two dif-

ferent tasks: keeping the growth markets on

the right track and generating the capital base

for growth while inventing new processes and

optimizing the cost structure in the saturated

markets.”

a united front is vitalThe new division to be launched in January will have a familiar figure at the helm of its financial management. HardCopy met the new division’s future chief financial officer.

By Niels Almer / Corporate Communications / [email protected]

“although the two division’s markets differ

somewhat, both divisions sell essentially the same

products, and it simply makes good sense to work

together as a single unit,” he says. “One of our

immediate challenges is to manage two divisions,

each with its unique culture. We have to get the

two divisions into synch, so right now I’m spending

my energy on getting to know the management

team and employees in the nordic countries and

When Henrik Højsholt nielsen assumes the role

of chief financial officer of Egmont Internation-

al, the new division to result from the merger

between Kids & teens and Egmont Interna-

tional in January, half the division will already

see him as a familiar face. Henrik will have to

acquaint himself with procedures in the nordic

region, but this will not necessarily cause him

any sleepless nights.

0 2 / H A R D C O P Y / N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 8

N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 8 / H A R D C O P Y / 0 3

It’s thursday morning. a host of nationalities are

assembled at a hotel in downtown Copenha-

gen. On an ordinary day, these people would be

embroiled in a range of marketing challenges

in Egmont International’s various companies.

today, however, everyone has put these jobs

on the back burner and arrived for a creative

session focusing on how to carry out a perfect

consumer interview – and use the results in-

novatively.

“I took a long lunch break to buy a maga-

zine for my son,” says dieter, who lives in a

Hamburg suburb with his wife and two children.

He is a fictitious character played by an actor.

Idea managers from all over the International di-

vision practice conducting the perfect interview

with a consumer. shortly they will be asked to

draw a profile of dieter and use it to imagine

a day in his life and understand his needs and

preferences. What activities are actually associ-

ated with reading magazines?

the purpose of the seminar is to put the

customer at the center of the innovation process

and use this insight to formulate the correct

product missions, from the interview to the final

articulation of the product’s value – a COstaR

pitch.

Geke’s good adviceFacilitator Geke van dijk offers the following

do’s and don’t’s for conducting a productive

consumer interview:

n dO make sure to find participants

that match a special profilen dOn’t interview people you already

know n dO make sure the interview flows

like a regular conversationn dOn’t take constant notes during

the interviewn dO make sure to focus on specific

examples of behavior – not attitudesn dOn’t suggest your own ideas during

the conversation – ask about theirsn dO make sure to take pictures along the

way – that makes it easier to remember

things later

My customers don’t understand me! Do you sometimes feel like a mind reader having to guess what your customers are thinking and what they would like? If so, consumer interviews are the thing for you! Employees from Egmont International took a break from their daily grind to take part in a knowledge exchange session and hone their user survey skills.


The seminar was the first in which colleagues from Kids & Teens took part. This is one of the first hints of the upcoming merger between Egmont International and Egmont Kids & Teens.

Every Egmont International company

has an idea manager. His or her role is

to grab hold of ideas together with the

idea generator and to help qualify the

idea and ask questions that will uncover

its value.

The life of the fictitious interviewee Anja

in words and pictures.


WHEn HR JOIn FORCEsChristine Aalstad Bækkelund is an HR partner at Kids & Teens. Dawn Cordy does the same job at Egmont International. In January they will start working together in the new division. One of their first tasks has been to answer a number of questions about the new organization, and their comments are summarized below.


ing on strengthening our business and making the

most of new opportunities will help the new division

find a common HR understanding.

In terms of HR how do you reconcile a cost-cutting strategy in large parts of the division with the division-wide vision of “going for growth”?as with any successful business aiming for long-

term profitability, we need an organization that

both is cost-effective and actively looks for growth

areas; the two go hand-in-hand. HR strives to help

an organization equip its people for the future by

offering them management tools, training and

development to improve our existing competencies

and acquire new ones. as an organization we need

to be ready to meet the ever-changing demands of

our consumers and B2B customers, which are all the

more challenging right now in light of the worldwide

economic recession.

What seems to be the biggest challenge from supporting twice as many employees as before the merger?actually, since both dawn and Christine will work

on HR issues (both being HR partners), the total HR

capacity will remain unchanged. the new division

will consist of 22-plus countries, so naturally the

challenge will be to meet all the HR needs that help

support all these businesses. Our aim will be to

coordinate work without too much overlap and with

focus on business priorities. We are now looking

more closely into fields of responsibilities, and will

communicate our findings to make them clear to the

divisional team.

In terms of HR what can the Nordic coun-tries learn from the rest of Egmont, and vice-versa?as for innovation – sharing experiences and learning

from best practice. Keeping an open mind and focus-

In short, what will be HR’s guiding light in the new division?as Egmont’s vision and mission state: people

matter! the new division is a great team of great

people, and by joining forces, we believe we can

handle the challenges ahead of us.

It seems as though Egmont Interna-tional has spent a great deal of time working with innovation processes – how will you work with innovation in the new merged division?Both divisions have made a lot of progress on

innovation in different ways - we’ll be looking to

learn from each other and use the best of both

approaches to strengthen our existing products,

processes and businesses as well as looking out

for new opportunities for growth and profit-

ability.


TRuSTNORDISK: THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDSThe international sales company TrustNordisk is one of the first tangible results of the new collaboration between Nordisk Film and Zentropa. About six months have passed since the amalgamation of Trust Film Sales and Nordisk Film International Sales became a reality. HardCopy asked the managing director of TrustNordisk, Rikke Ennis, four pointed questions about the two competitors’ early days as colleagues.

Why did two former “rivals” in the sales market merge? “there’s no doubt that merging the two

companies is the right way forward. In an in-

creasingly competitive market driven by falling

prices, and demanding power and visibility, we

are stronger together. nordisk Film has been

a leader in sales of tV productions and family

movies, while trust has commanded a strong

position in selling arthouse movies. Being able

to use each other’s strengths and experience

is a gift.”

What challenges have you met?“Because the merger has gone so well, our

challenges are primarily sector-related: For ex-

ample, how do we make sure that our myriad

movies don’t drown among each other and the

host of others on the market? Our answer is

to categorize them under different labels. an

artistic film will typically be launched at a film festival

as an ‘arthouse movie’. If it’s more mainstream and

better suited to a television launch, it will appear un-

der our ‘mainstream’ label and be sold on the major

European tV markets. nordisk Film has always been

very strong as regards family movies, which would

be marketed under the ‘family’ label.”

What challenges will you face in future?“We have to acknowledge that not all movies

will make it to international movie theaters, so at

the moment we’re looking at how to open other

international doors for our titles. We have a strong

focus on electronic distribution via Vod (Video

on demand), which we believe will replace dVds

before long. It’s thought-provoking that many nordic

movies have gained popularity in places like India,

now that Indians can access them via Vod. We are

way ahead of our competitors and will soon have a

catalog of 500 movies for 50 platforms. Our close

collaboration with amazon.com is one reason

for this lead.”

Your offices are located in Filmbyen in Avedøre – does that mean your main links are with Zentropa?“Let me dispel all doubts about the merger:

trustnordisk is a JOInt sales company owned

by Zentropa and nordisk Film. Both co-owners

have our complete loyalty. although our offices

are in Filmbyen, we are involved with everything

that goes on in Valby. We enjoy visiting a slew of

new colleagues, whose contented smiles show

that nordisk Film is a pleasant place to work.

In future we will do even more to highlight our

affiliation with both companies by putting news

items about our work on Insight. you should

also keep an eye open for the presentation of

trustnordisk’s employees, to be published shortly

on Insight,” Rikke Ennis concludes.

TrustNordisk consists of (back row, left to right): Lene Bokelund (CFO), Lene Ulrich (CSI), Signe Rasmussen (Legal assistant) and Ditte Hollesen (PR & Market-

ing Manager) Front row, left to right: Marie-Louise Rasmussen (Sales Executive), Lissy Bellaiche (Festival Consultant), Rikke Ennis (CEO), Frederik Stege (Legal

Manager), Susan Wendt (Head of Sales), Nancy Kjær (Sales Assistant), Thomas Mai (New Business) and Tine Klint (Head of Projects & Business Development)

Absent: Nicolai Korsgaard (Sales Manager), Lise Harder (CSI), Helle Christensen (Accounting), Torben Smith (Procurement) and Ann-Sofi Hansen (Procurement)


Merger pitfallsA year after the merger that led to the new Lindhardt og Ringhof, HardCopy met managing director Anette Wad and HR consultant Sophie Dam, who both played key roles in the process. How did the merger go and have they got any good advice to pass on to the rest of Egmont?


In January two Egmont divisions will be amalga-

mated. In a large media corporation, mergers are

daily fare, but bringing two companies together and

integrating different cultures and different systems is

no easy task. Over half of all mergers fail. Last year,

Egmont’s danish book publisher aschehoug faced a

challenging merger after its acquisition of the Bon-

nier publishing company.

Books are still square, but that is about the

only constant after the merger became effective.

Lindhardt og Ringhof has become a much larger

company, which means more executive levels.

“We come from two companies with smaller

cultures where quick workarounds were easier

to implement because everyone knew everyone

else. that just doesn’t work in a large organiza-

tion like ours. It might sound dull, but you have

to stick to routines more rigidly to generate more

time for creativity. that’s been a real challenge so

far,” feels anette Wad.

On the plus side anette Wad believes the

intensive internal communication has paid off.

“Of course I don’t hear everything, but I have

the clear impression that people throughout the

company see Lindhardt og Ringhof as a joint

project. the speed at which the two cultures

could be made to interlock came as a great

surprise to me,” she admits.

sophie dam adds: “We prepared a multi-

stage plan for HR that started with making man-

agers the ambassadors for the merger. We took

them on courses where they learned all about

Egmont’s values, what we expect from manag-

ers, and good leadership principles. I visited the

departments regularly to hold one- or two-day

seminars focusing on such topics as cooperation,

communication and well-being.”

Comprehensive planning is impossiblethe two HR partners believe a merger must be

thoroughly planned if it is to succeed. “during the

planning stage, we have to map both the commu-

nication strategy and the HR perspective in great

detail. It took ages to plan, but once the merger

was underway, our time proved well-spent,” anette

explains.

“A merger is only a success once it earns money.”

“I belong to the past,” Otto Lindhardt claimed when Anette Wad met him before the merger. Together with Gert Ringhof, Otto co-founded the company whose name continues in Denmark’s second-largest book publishing company.


From 2.0 to 3.0 – a better intranet under the heading “Insight makes me work smarter” the present in-tranet has been examined from all angles, and a range of new initiatives and improvements have taken shape. HardCopy made the rounds of the test environment to see what is in store.

By Thomas Sønderstrup / Corporate Communications / [email protected]

However, minute planning is impossible

because all the elements and consequences

are hard to foresee at the outset. “We have

just completed a series of minor adjustments

that I consider post-merger adjustments.

although you can plan a lot, there is a limit.

In the post-merger phase you do the things

that weren’t fully planned from the start or

that actually need to be rectified,” anette

Wad concedes.

Integrating the It systems was especially

problematic, requiring a lot of manual work:

“We were surprised at how complicated

it was to integrate the various systems. In

our day-to-day work this lack of integration

forced us to spend a lot of time on manual

routine tasks. Many tasks have been done by

hand, and we have actually lost information.

When two employees in the same depart-

ment register things differently, data can

get lost.”

Hard to measure successso, has the merger at Lindhardt og Ringhof been

a success? “a merger is only a success once it

earns money,” says anette Wad. to date, the

merger has had a negative impact on Lindhardt

og Ringhof’s bottomline because of the high

expenses related to staff, It and external consult-

ants. Furthermore, the Eu’s sluggish approval

process slowed down the publisher up to the

important fall season. anette Wad assesses that

the company will have merger-related expenses

until the end of 2009. “We have to view every

merger in a long-term perspective. We will only

reap the full benefits after three years,” she says.

sophie dam adds that employee satis-

faction should also be included in an assess-

ment of the merger. For the same reason, the

results of the first corporate analysis in the

new company will be an interesting litmus

test for Lindhardt og Ringhof.

Beware of internal mergers anette Wad and sophie dam conclude with

a piece of good advice about future mergers

in the group: “If possible, delay system integra-

tion. analyze what needs to be integrated and

what doesn’t. you don’t need to worry about

integrating everything at lightning speed.”

anette Wad also believes it is best to

tackle internal mergers as though they were

competitive mergers attracting worldwide

attention. “I’ve been involved with merg-

ers before, and what’s remarkable about

this merger is the speed at which it was

implemented. It’s far easier to merge with a

competitor than with a company within your

own group. the fact that it was an acquisi-

tion gave us more influence on the process.

you could compare it to whether two friends

or two siblings are moving in together. Even

though we were buying a competitor, we

had a professional friendship. as with sibling

rivalries, jealousy and hidden agendas may

play a role in internal mergers. It’s difficult

to merge if the parties feel they are equally

right.”

a group of programmers, business consult-

ants and communications people are gathered

round a computer, staring intently at the

screen. the new Insight 3.0 is taking shape,

and the project group is testing that everything

is as it should be. Is the calendar working?

should we have a video on the homepage?

and what about the new online People Finder?

“It’s exciting watching everything

we’ve discussed over the past year now

materializing on the screen,” recounts ter-

ese nathan, Online specialist at Corporate

Communications.

Inspired by Facebook a cornerstone of Insight 3.0 is that the intranet

should be a tool to support business proc-

ess, promote the exchange of knowledge

and strengthen the ties between professional

groups and competencies at Egmont.

“We have refined the phone book and

improved ‘My site’, employees’ personal page.

What’s new?n a new and more intuitive top navigation

bar makes it easier to find your way around n newspaper websites inspired the feature

that allows you to comment on news

articles n suggestions pop up when you key

in search words in the phone book’s

search fieldn you can set up networks and blog

– a little like on Facebook

this is where employees will be able to make

internal contacts within Egmont in the familiar

Facebook format. the idea is for Insight 3.0 to

create a framework for various fora such as a

forum for graphic artists, one for Pas and one

for managers.”

A natural next stepWe expect to launch Insight 3.0 just before

Christmas, and although it will have loads of

new features, we thought the tried-and-true

elements from the current Insight 2.0 should

be retained.

“Insight 3.0 is not a revolution but a

natural and constructive development of

our intranet. We’ve taken the best from

Insight 2.0 and enhanced it in a new and

better format,” explains terese, referring

to the nomination of Insight 2.0 in 2006 as

denmark’s second-best intranet. now we

want to make it even better so everyone at

Egmont can “work smarter”.

n sales figures can be presented in sim-

ple, graphically attractive user interfaces n you can easily recover documents

deleted by mistake n you can keep favorite pages in

a personal collection of links n Work processes can be automated

with approvals and messages n Everyone can set up and use project

pages


Located on a hilltop near Karup river valley, Hilltop is the name of

the hotel housed by the building for nearly 40 years. The hotel was

put up for sale, which solved two problems: finding a suitable place

for the planned youth program and finding a name for the school.

Every year the Egmont Foundation grants funds to projects to improve the quality of children’s and young people’s lives. the recipients of the grants are a mix

of organizations, volunteers and local people dedicated to a cause. HardCopy visited a project shelved for want of support until a letter arrived from the aid

and Grants administration of the Egmont Foundation.

When the Egmont Foundation sends a letterIn two years, nine young people will join the adult ranks. They are the first to have taken part in the three-year Hilltop youth program for young autists. The school gives young people tools enabling them to be active in the labor market or take a supplementary continuing education program. The project originators had abandoned the idea because no-one would support the groundwork required to realize such an initiative But then a letter arrived from the Aid and Grants Administration of the Egmont Foundation along with a DKK 900,000 donation.

By Jan Sturm / Corporate Communications / [email protected]


young autists a stepping stone to adult life. the

idea was conceived in cooperation with an existing

primary school for autistic children.

“I could see there was a need. and I got

stubborn. We would have done this even if it

meant starting out with a tent and three students.

Because for many of these young people the alter-

native is an occupational therapy program where

they carry out various routine tasks. and baking

biscuits in a bakery is terribly demotivating for a

17-year-old keen about quantum mechanics,” says

Jeppe Østergaard Hansen, principal of the Hilltop

center. two years ago he joined the project as daily

project manager. He holds a degree in philosophy

but, after working with autistic children for several

years, he could help realize the dream of creating

an education program for young autistic people

with normal intelligence.

Support from the Egmont Foundation as usually happens when local people are passion-

ately committed to a cause, good projects never

make it past the drawing board. Lack of funds,

insufficient time and inability to provide the right

conditions for all the well-intentioned initiatives

are usually enough to kill the good ideas. so it was

with Hilltop.

“We knew we’d have to put in a lot of work to

realize our idea. starting a new school in denmark is

not easy, and particularly an independent institution

for children with special needs. unfortunately there

weren’t really any foundations that wanted to sup-

port us during the early stages, so the idea came to

nothing,” Jeppe Østergaard Hansen explains. Many

danish foundations would rather support established

projects that already have a certain guarantee of suc-

cess. this makes it extra difficult to build something

completely from scratch.

“But the letter from the Egmont Foundation

meant that I and the rest of the initiative group could

devote all our time to getting the million-kroner

project together. Our total budget was almost dKK

24 million, and the donation from the Egmont Foun-

dation gave me seven months to raise the money,

get all the necessary public approvals and then hire

teachers – plus find lots of suitable students,” recalls

Jeppe Østergaard Hansen.

From drawing board to realityas skive already has a local primary school for

autistic children and the local authority is aware

of the problem, the town was an obvious location

for the school. On 1 august 2007, the first nine

students moved into the new school. “In theory, we

had a plan on the drawing board but nothing at all

tangible. We were anxious to see whether we could

achieve our goal – whether the idea was right,” says

Jeppe Østergaard Hansen.

From the beginning, as the school’s principal,

he has met teary-eyed parents describing how they

have waited 10 years for a place like Hilltop. He has

also met young people who have found a haven

after constantly changing schools, being bullied and

made to feel like failures throughout their young

lives.

Read more at:

www.ungdomsuddannelsen.dk

Factsn today Hilltop is run by a private founda-

tion and has 31 resident students.n during the three-year program, young

people aged 16-25 learn how to cope

with adult life. n Egmont has donated dKK 900,000

to the project.

Egmont’s charitable workWorking to ensure good conditions

for children and young people was a

cause dear to the heart of Egmont’s

founder Egmont H. Petersen. His will

stipulated that his company should

support charitable causes after his

death. thus, the Egmont Foundation

was established as a business founda-

tion operating a media business whose

profits are reinvested in media activities

and donated to charitable purposes. In

practice, the donations are granted via

the aid and Grants administration. For

the past three years, the aid and Grants

administration has successfully held

networking events for ongoing projects

where participants can exchange

experiences and learn from each other’s

projects. this year Hilltop was one of

the projects on the agenda.

Hilltopthe students at Hilltop have been diag-

nosed with either asperger’s syndrome or

autism. they often have high innate intel-

ligence but lack emotional and social skills.

they have difficulty forging relationships

and are usually unable to empathise or

interact constructively with other children.

these conditions cause heartache, anxiety

and loneliness throughout their school

lives, as well as numerous defeats.

It is lunchtime in the town of skive in northern

Jutland. a flock of boisterous teenagers are eating in

the local grill bar. their cell phones beep incessantly

with text messages and the sound of their banter

comes in blasts.

about 500 meters away another group of

teenagers is eating. the menu is salmon lasagna with

salad. But the text beeps are eerily absent and the con-

versation is more subdued. these teenagers are eating

in the dining room at Hilltop, an education program

for young autists. and they dislike unstructured noise.

although many of the students are only 16,

they have experienced more failure in their young

lives at kindergarten and school than most people.

Hilltop is a ray of sunshine in their lives. they

meet other young people with the same problems

and get a chance to acquire academic skills without

the denigrating eyes of others on them.

A good initiativeFor some years the association autism denmark

had dreamed about creating a place that could give

“And baking biscuits in a bakery is terribly demo-tivating for a 17-year-old keen about quantum mechanics.”


Interdisciplinary cooperation brings rusty octopus to lifeFor 20 years the Norwegian cartoon universe Blekkulf has entertained five-to-eight-year-olds with quirky stories about life in the seas off the Norwegian coast. The universe has led a sheltered existence in a book series, a short animation and a book club. Serieforlaget and Nordisk Film have now joined forces to establish a company to attract a larger audience for Blekkulf.

By Jan Sturm / Corporate Communications / [email protected] / Photos: Jens Andreas Huseby

until recently Berit steen worked for nordisk

Film’s norwegian tV production department.

then she went to an anniversary party at her

old grade school. “I got talking to Blekkulf’s

creator, Bente Roestad. twenty-five years ago

we were classmates. since then, she has cre-

ated Blekkulf, and I’ve started producing televi-

sion. during the party we talked about what

fun it would be to do something more with the

universe,” Berit steen explains.

she talked serieforlaget into the idea,

and together with the Bergen akvarium the

two companies have established Blekkulf as

to kick-start the development of the universe.

“although this universe is about combating

pollution, it is above all a good story with

characters who simply want to have fun,” says

Berit steen.

she is now the daily manager of the newly

established company, which plans to launch a

comic, games, books, a tV series and a feature film

in the course of the next two years. alongside the

products, a children’s theatre show will be staged

at the aquarium in Bergen, which will also house an

independent Blekkulf center. the center will give kids

the chance to learn about animation, do tasks and

learn about the problems of pollution. “We don’t

write doomsday stories – but want to tell children

how they can get involved,” Berit explains. However,

she believes the universe can have an immense

indirect impact:

“We want to do something for the environ-

ment, and by using an existing character we also

communicate basic environmental values that influ-

ence the adults who buy the magazines and pass on

ecological awareness.”

Read more about Blekkulf, or Inky as the

octopus is known in English, and friends at:

www.blekkulf.no

The creators of the new company Blekkulf AS were present

at a big launch party in Bergen in September. Pictured from

left to right are: Rune H. Trondsen (Nordisk Film), Berit Steen

(daily manager leder, Blekkulf AS), Kees O. Ekeli (the Bergen

Aquarium), Blekkulf and the universe originator, Bente Roes-

tad and Anita Tveten from Egmont Serieforlaget.


Less work for dHLEgmont Serieforlaget has introduced a new and innovative electronic alternative in its Kids department that streamlines procedures and, not least, saves time.

By Birgitte Haj / Corporate Communications / [email protected]

new job, the filing clerk is on vacation or the user

has forgotten the exact title of the book. It is easier

to add data to the individual titles. they are easy to

search for, and users can quickly locate new produc-

tions based on old data. Perhaps a new Christmas

book featuring Winnie-the-Pooh is being planned.

“Cumulus contains all the information, so a search

for ‘Christmas’ and ‘Winnie-the-Pooh’ will turn up all

the options, and an order can quickly be dispatched

to the printers,” explains Esben stage, production

manager at Egmont Kids.

Side-benefits“It’s far simpler for us and our publishers to find any

given material or to produce a new title based on

previously published material. It’s highly satisfying

to be able to give our ‘customers’ better condi-

tions while easing our working day by eliminating

outmoded routines,” Esben concludes.

Where’s the CD?In the old days – just a year ago! – a finished

book was burned on a Cd and filed in the

basement. Whenever one of the company’s

many business partners contacted the produc-

tion department, the filing clerk had to go

down to the basement, find the Cd, copy it

and send it by dHL. In time, the idea is that

partners like Coop and disney as well as the

company’s own subsidiaries will be able to log

on to the new software system and, searching

by characters, formats and number of pages,

quickly start the process of ordering a new title.

Egmont Kids has a group of 10 to 15

permanently affiliated freelancers who act as

an external graphics office. now having an

electronic system that everyone can access is

thus an important step. Help will always be

close at hand even if the editor has left for a

2009 everyone is welcome to visit nordisk Film’s tV

department to see the concept in all its glory – or

turn on the tV at 6.30 aM and 6.30 PM! It was a

tremendous process, frustrating at times but above

all incredibly constructive and instructive.

How did you design the pitch that won both Good Morning and Good Evening Denmark?I think the key to our success was our absolute deter-

mination to win the order. We wanted to defend and

repeat our success with Good Evening and we were

fired up about the new Good Morning denmark

challenge. the first step was to figure out what we

were prepared to invest to win an order of this size.

next we put together a group of the best

capacities from all of nordisk Film’s departments and

hired a number of professional outside consultants

to help with both form and content. Hundreds of

conceptual ideas, meetings, mails and opinions con-

verged to create an outline of visions and specific

content suggestions as well as ideas for mood, set

design and program hosts. all presented in a glossy

graphic design to tV2 at a large “Good Morning

set-up pitch” with a chef, actors and hosts.

a single article is not long enough to do

justice to three hours’ live television on denmark’s

most viewed tV channel with more than 200

broadcast days a year. However, come 1 January

double whammy

stafetten er en artikelserie, hvor medarbejdere fra alle dele af Egmont besvarer et fagligt spørgsmål fra en kollega. I dette nummer svarer Lykke neiiendam, på spørgsmålet fra oktober måned: “Hvordan laver man en pitch der vinder både Go’ morgen og Go’ aften danmark?”

Why did Nordisk Film win?Below is tV2’s own evaluation of why

nordisk ran away with the order:

On balance nordisk Film tV’s proposal was

the best all-round proposal on several counts:n Competitive price although not the

cheapestn the ideas for a brand concept on

all platforms were the most original

and coherent n the overall quality of the program ideas

for both Good Morning and Good

Evening was the bestn nordisk Film had the best solution to

the challenge of combining innovation

with internal change n nordisk Film struck the best balance

between coolness and popular appealn nordisk Film had the team in which we

had most confidence – the editorial and

the studio team behind Good Evening

denmarkn nordisk Film had the highest ambitions

What is Good Morning Denmark? about 40 people produce three hours of

live television daily 200 days a year. Good

Evening denmark is denmark’s most

viewed daily talk show, seen by around

450,000 viewers

Egmont Kids develops character-based

books for children – Winnie-the-Pooh,

Bob the Builder, Postman Pat, High

school Musical, Camp Rock and many,

many more.

“We save both time and money and

our work is easier now that we don’t

have to delve into the basement to

search the archives,” Esben Stage

explains.

Rel

ay /

Easy REadERs tuRns 65The first books in the Easy Readers series were printed in 1943 in protest against the prohibition of English-language literature by the German occupying forces. Today the series enjoys international success, with titles read by children and adults in 19 countries. This year Easy Readers celebrates its 65th anniversary – with no fear of impending retirement.

By Louise Tuborgh / Reflekt

during the second World War, windows and street

lighting were not the only victims of the German-

imposed blackout. the Germans also prohibited

all English-language literature. the danes had a

voracious appetite for English books, however,

which spurred Birger schmith, managing director

of Grafisk Forlag, and English teacher aage salling

to devise an ingenious way around the problem.

they launched the Easy Readers series of English-

language books stamped with the words ‘For edu-

cational use’ – and sold them to private individuals

as well as schools.

today, 65 years on, alinea publishes the Easy

Readers series, which includes 300 titles in English,

German, French, spanish, Italian and Russian read in

19 countries the world over.

“the Easy Readers series was based on the idea of

abridging literary classics in the hope that students and

others who read great authors at an early stage would

be inspired to read the original editions later in life. this

remains our aim, and there is great demand for this

type of book,” explains ulla Malmmose, editor-in-chief

of Easy Readers. she has worked with Easy Readers for

32 years and believes the series’ success is due partly to

the respect with which the original works are treated.

“Because we rarely choose books longer than

200 pages, we can avoid chopping them up com-

pletely,” she points out.

German appealalthough the Easy Readers’ portfolio includes many

old classics, the book series format, layout and fonts

are regularly updated, and new contemporary titles

are added every year.

“Every year we publish at least 12 new titles, and

in 1992 we developed the teen Readers series for the

10–17-year-olds. teen Readers are books specially written

for the target group. some are also available as audio-

books, so the book series does not require the same lan-

guage skill level as Easy Readers,” ulla Malmmose points

out. she gets ideas for new titles from such sources

as the Frankfurt and Bologna book fairs and through

alinea’s external editors and collaboration partners.

“Our German collaboration partner is particu-

larly forthcoming with input, and Germany is our

largest export market,” says the editor-in-chief with a

wry smile: “that’s a little ironic when you think about

why the series came into being in the first place!”

Classics like The Hound of the Baskervilles and

The Scarlet Pimpernel were some of the first

titles published in the Easy Readers series.

Today there are over 300 titles published in

languages such as German, English, French,

Spanish, Italian and Russian.

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November 2008

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