6:25 PM Mikkel Beha Erichsen goes on screen to present the daily journalistic feature on Good Evening Denmark, aired on Danish TV 2. In June Nordisk Film TV won the contract to produce the program’s morning edition, Good Morning Denmark. Egmont is everywhere all the time. Other companies have a normal 9 to 5 working day. Egmont never shuts down when evening falls. Far from it, in fact. Egmont works at full throttle every hour of the day.
24 hours with Egmont Egmont is everywhere all the time. Other companies have a normal 9 to 5 working day. Egmont never shuts down when evening falls. Far from it, in fact. Egmont works at full throttle every hour of the day. In words and pictures, “24 hours with Egmont” will tell us what is going on when and where in every corner of our organiza- tion. You will discover that Egmont is always on the go – even when you are snug in your bed, fast asleep at home! 8:00 AM Lea Juel Henriksen, press manager at Lindhardt og Ringhof, gets an overview of the books covered by today’s media. The recent publi- cation of I Majestætens Hemmelige Tjeneste [In Her Majesty’s Secret Service] attracted extra attention after the Danish Security and Intel- ligence Service expressed concern about the book. 6:25 PM Mikkel Beha Erichsen goes on screen to present the daily journalistic feature on Good Evening Denmark, aired on Danish TV 2. In June Nordisk Film TV won the contract to produce the program’s morning edition, Good Morning Denmark.
Transcript
24 hours with EgmontEgmont is everywhere all the time. Other companies have a normal 9 to 5 working day. Egmont never shuts down when evening falls. Far from it, in fact. Egmont works at full throttle every hour of the day.
In words and pictures, “24 hours with Egmont” will tell us what is going on when and where in every corner of our organiza-tion. You will discover that Egmont is always on the go – even when you are snug in your bed, fast asleep at home!
8:00 AM
Lea Juel Henriksen, press manager at Lindhardt og Ringhof, gets an
overview of the books covered by today’s media. The recent publi-
cation of I Majestætens Hemmelige Tjeneste [In Her Majesty’s Secret
Service] attracted extra attention after the Danish Security and Intel-
ligence Service expressed concern about the book.
6:25 PM
Mikkel Beha Erichsen goes on screen to present the daily journalistic
feature on Good Evening Denmark, aired on Danish TV 2. In June
Nordisk Film TV won the contract to produce the program’s morning
edition, Good Morning Denmark.
In close contact with
consumers / page 08-09
Template-driven
enthusiasm / page 14
Relay – Peter Aalbæk /
page 19Olivia expands /
page 12-13
A tale of two cities /
page 15-17
Corporate management
takes stock of innovation /
page 04-07
Conventions on their head Theme issue about the innovation process at Egmont / page 11
O C T O B E R 2 0 0 8
How do you work with innovation on a daily basis?
“At Modette.se we work with innovation every day, constantly trying to find new concepts and ways of reaching out
and creating a unique web product that will eventually let us expand beyond Sweden’s borders. Concepts vary in
form, for example, a summer tour combined with activities on Modette.se, ModetteTV. This fall we’ll be launching
an initiative to further broaden Modette.se.”
Eleonore Nygårds, editor at Modette
0 2 / H A R D C O P Y / O C t O b e R 2 0 0 8
Management put innovation on the agenda
of Egmont’s directors’ conference in January.
But at a time when all media groups are
experiencing radical cost-cutting measures,
how can Egmont afford to make innovation
a high priority?
The answer is that innovation is not the
opposite of rationalization. Many areas of
Egmont are also working with drastic cost-
saving programs, because the competition
always compels us to produce our publications
more efficiently than in the past, because they
are sold in smaller editions or print runs, and
because pay and production costs are rising.
This means we must constantly think
through our processes and eliminate anything
that fails to add value. Greater efficiency is the
only way to generate the resources needed to
think creatively, refine existing products and
conceive new ones – and to achieve these ends
using innovative processes.
We are all familiar with new product
innovation. The recipe for success is the ability
to produce and adapt media products that pre-
cisely match consumer needs and preferences.
However, the growing volume of titles on the
market makes it harder for companies to stand
out in the crowd, while the removal of access
barriers is squeezing profitability.
The innovation of new products or
concepts is possibly the principal source of
long-term value growth. Just think of all the
new, fast-growing online media companies. Or
all the social media that have attracted a new
consumer following.
Finally, process innovation is no less impor-
tant than product and concept innovation. For
over a century Egmont had been able to renew,
simplify and rethink production processes. For
example, digitalization has streamlined many
production flows, making them both faster and
cheaper. In the face of massive future compe-
tition, innovating our working processes and
generating savings will be equally important.
It is management’s responsibility to create
the framework for innovation, but everyone
at Egmont has the important role of ensuring
we think resourcefully and act innovatively. In-
novation is reflected in processes, products and
concepts in many Egmont companies as well as
at corporate level.
This issue of Hardcopy gives you an idea
of how Egmont’s various divisions work inno-
vatively and how a cross-divisional project has
spawned ideas for renewal and change.
Quite simply, we cannot afford not to
innovate!
Happy reading!
Steffen KraghPresident and CEO
Can we afford innovation?
What is COSTAR?The COSTAR framework helps you focus
your attention on the key elements that
make an idea a valuable proposition. Start
your pitch with a compelling question,
fact, or statement that generates curiosity
– that is your hook. Then explore and
answer the following:
CUStOMeRWho are your intended customers? What
are their relevant interests, motivations
and needs? Your deep understanding
of customers/ consumers is essential to
develop an idea that is of value to them.
OPPORtUNItYAssess the size and potential of the op-
portunity and clearly describe the market
dynamics surrounding it. What trends
support your thinking?
SOLUtIONWhat’s your proposed solution? Are you
adding existing value, creating new value,
reducing or eliminating costs?
teAMWho needs to be on the team to ensure
the solution’s success? Today’s innovation
typically requires a collection of intelli-
gence, experience and expertise. Consider
the eco-system in which you operate and
look for partners, suppliers, influencers,
etc. beyond the walls of Egmont.
ADVANtAGeWhat is your “unfair” competitive
advantage? There’s always some form of
alternative. What advantage does your
solution have over these alternatives?
ReSULtSWhat results will
be achieved from
your solution?
Specifically, what
are the quanti-
fiable benefits
to the customer
and returns to
your enterprise?
“In a finance department, innovation means continuously thinking about how to
make the individual processes simpler, more streamlined and more transparent
without forgetting that we must never compromise on the final goal.”
Klaus Munch Kjøller, controller at Lindhardt og Ringhof
O C T O B E R 2 0 0 8 / H A R D C O P Y / 0 3
What does innovation mean to you?“The most likely view people have about in-
novation is that it’s about ideas – and I disagree
with that. An idea that doesn’t deliver something
that is experienced as relevant to a customer is
just an invention. Innovation is an idea that solves
a problem or serves a customer need or require-
ment at a level is better than an alternative. Is this
idea interesting (mostly to me) or important to
someone else?”
Why is innovation important?“We live in a digital world – and the reality of this
digital world is that it is based on information being
exchanged at ever greater rates of speed – it’s the
first time in human history that technical develop-
ment continues to evolve at exponential rates.”
What are the major pitfalls to avoid when changing a business’s culture to one that is innovative?
“The key to a successfully innovative culture is
leadership, leadership and leadership. The pitfall in
all cultural changes is when leaders delegate the
cultural change and do not themselves take any
responsibility and are not fully resonant with the shift
in culture themselves. When things start to move
and people start to come up with ideas, leadership
needs to participate in a real way – by putting in
resources, by becoming mentors, sponsors of these
new ideas, going out in the field.”
“The risk is always that daily business will keep
them away and all of a sudden innovation becomes
an ‘initiative,’ a ‘programme’. Innovation needs to
become part of the DNA of the company and leaders
have to make it part of their DNA to think in an in-
novative way.”
How do you keep an innovation culture alive?“Human energy – leaders’ energy but also the in-
novator’s energy. People can come up with lots of
ideas, but more importantly the idea creator has to be
responsible for nurturing the idea from A-Z. You need
to create a culture which is passionate and able to deli-
ver – idea ownership is very important to innovation.
“Every good idea starts as a bad one! It’s the
commitment to make it valuable, staying with it, to
dig deep and find its value and get excited about it
that’s important.”
What are you observations about the cur-rent Egmont culture – how are we doing so far with our innovation process?“Most of what I’ve learnt has been through
working with the International team. It’s been
remarkable what they have achieved so far. They
have shown an international commitment – with
infrastructure and standards – and have a develo-
ped an ongoing learning process that will help to
fix problems in the future. So far, over the past
six months that I’ve been involved, I have seen
some pretty impressive foundations laid down for
creating an innovative culture.”
Dr Herman Gyr is a
founding partner of
the Enterprise De-
velopment Group
and an internatio-
nally renowned
consultant in
innovation.
Every good idea starts as a bad oneDr. Herman Gyr is a master of innovation processes. Herman has specialized in working with enterprises living through periods of dramatic disruption following the digital revolution. During the last six months, Herman has helped several divisions in Eg-mont in focussing their innovations processes.
It is management’s responsibility to create the framework for innovation, but
everyone at Egmont has the important role of ensuring we think resourcefully
and act innovatively. From left to right: Steffen Kragh, Michael Ritto, Kjeld Lucas,
Tommy Melle, Hans Carstensen and Frank Knau. Read about the current status of all
divisions on the following pages.
Egmont Nordisk FilmMichael Ritto, Executive Vice President
1) The innovation process was launched in January 2008 – how has it impacted on your division?Innovation has been part of Nordisk Film’s DNA
ever since the company began back in 1906. Just
think of Ole Olsen, who changed the endings of
his silent movies to match the intended target
audiences. That’s innovative thinking! And neither was
Erik Balling slow to come up with new and different
solutions in his many Matador and Olsen Gang produ-
ctions. So for us it’s not a question of inventing innova-
tion but of rediscovering our culture of innovation.
That said, however, various tools and methods
have inspired us since January 2008. For one thing,
Herman Gyr, one of the world’s most influential
professional coaches and the man who invented the
COSTAR model, visited us in spring to help us with
methods for optimizing both products and proces-
ses. I’d like to stress that when we discuss innova-
tion at Nordisk Film, process optimization is just as
important as new products. Innovation is also about
thinking smarter in order to increase profitability.
2) Which concrete examples of innovation in your division can you highlight? I’d like to draw special attention to Nordisk Film
Operations, which has been innovative in adapting
to customers and the market. NF Operations has
been through a turnaround that has generated
enormous savings, faster delivery times and higher
quality delivery for the benefit of both customers
and our business.
Another example is our movie theaters, which
are doing an excellent job of offering events that
give audiences novel movie-going experiences. In
the coming months, our guests can look forward to
attending a James Bond concert featuring Szhirley
and the Danish Broadcasting Corporation’s Big Band,
Egmont H. Petersen always kept up with developments abroad. Throughout his life he was ahead of his competitors in introducing new printing methods in
Denmark. In 1892, he led the way in printing a picture in graduated shades, and in 1985 he was the first to use only three complementary colours to print
copies of drawing in pastels.
O C T O B E R 2 0 0 8 / H A R D C O P Y / 0 5
hearing Caroline Henderson sing jazz in the Imperial
movie theater and watching stand-up comedian
Jonathan Spang pull out the stops on stage.
My last example is Nordisk Film TV, which
is working on a musical project involving several
business areas at Nordisk Film and possibly also
colleagues from other parts of Egmont. Innovation
is also about discovering and cultivating business
opportunities across our far-reaching organization,
which holds such countless possibilities.
3) How do you intend to work with inno-vation in future in your division?Last spring I put innovation on the agenda for our
top 50 executives. We have planned a series of
workshops over the coming months, and earmarked
resources in future to help business areas develop
methods and processes.
Last but not least, I want to integrate innovati-
on into the plans drawn up annually by the business
areas to make sure everyone incorporates innovation
into their daily work.
4) What obstacles hinder innovative work in your division?Obviously, it’s an obstacle if people feel their
ideas are not being treated with respect. If
employees spend time thinking about improve-
ments or new ideas that appeal to our custo-
mers, they must be heard.
Having said that, respect must be mutual;
in other words, before an employee suggests
an idea, he or she should be prepared to run
it through the COSTAR model. That way we
can be sure the idea is worth channeling more
resources into.
5) What do you do to encourage inno-vative behavior in your employees?For me it’s a matter of empathy and participa-
tion. I have to be open and curious and perso-
nally take part in workshops and discussions.
Another must is creating a corporate culture
that values employees who contribute
to original thinking.
Egmont MagazinesKjeld Lucas, Executive Vice President
1) The innovation process was launched in January 2008 – how has it impacted on your division?The innovation process may have been launched
in January this year, but the magazine sector
has long worked with innovation. Since January
Egmont Magazines has relaunched a host of
products for print and web publication.
2) Which concrete examples of inno- vation in your division can you highlight?Specifically, we launched the weekly Ute og
Inne in Norway, and in Denmark we introduced
the lifestyle magazine Fit Living, focusing on
health and wellbeing, and the interior design
magazine RUM. On the digital front we have
relaunched the ALT for Damerne and Eurowo-
man websites. We’ve also pilot-tested several
new business models on the net, including
klikk.no, which brings together a wealth of
magazines under one roof. And we recently
launched a publication called DU – Denne
Uken – in Norway.
3) How do you intend to work with innovation in future in your division?We don’t intend to put more effort into in-
novation than we already do, but will maintain
our focus on the area. We want the innovation
process to keep pace with our capacity.
4) What obstacles hinder innovative behavior in your division? We have a constant commitment to the bottom
line. Innovative projects are investments that
have to show a return, even in a time of zero
growth on the magazine market. That’s why
innovative processes require us to think about
economics at every stage.
5) How do you intend to work with innovation in future in your division?We offer our employees conditions that reward
their innovative efforts. We discuss and consider
their suggestions, and if one of them has poten-
tial, it brings accolades not only to the employee
concerned but also to the entire division.
In 1984, Egmont and Nordisk Film in cooperation with Aller and several Danish newspapers established WeekendTV, in order to help in breaking with the Danish
television monopoly. With the experiences from WeekendTV, Egmont co-founded in 1992 the leading commercial television network in Norway: The TV 2 Group.
Egmont now owns 50 % of the group.
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Egmont International Frank Knau, Executive Vice President
1) The innovation process began in January 2008 – what has happened in your division since then? Since the launch a great deal has happened and
we’ve learnt a terrific amount. We now have
over 270 ideas in our innovation box, many of
which are being developed. We have learnt 4
key things in the process: Ideas need developing,
ideas need the passion and energy of an Idea
Generator to make them happen, we need tools
to help us develop ideas and we need ideas that
offer customers value – really strong ideas will be
those that have focused on customer needs or
better still customers unmet needs.
All this learning has influenced and
shaped a new phase in innovation. Egmont
International’s Innovation Discipline (EIID) is a
refinement of the existing innovation process
to help make ideas happen. We have created a
visual representation of our refined process – a
road map that shows the stages of develop-
ment an idea goes through.
2) Which specific examples on innova-tion in your division will you point out?There are many examples. I’ll just name a few
of these that demonstrate a wide range and
variety of ideas, large and small.
MumMe is a new product and busi-
ness model from Bulgaria. A product that
Lindhardt og Ringhof Anette Wad, managing director
1) The innovation process was launched in January 2008 – how has it impacted on your division? We went through a major merger in 2007
(amalgamation of Aschehoug, Bonnier and For-
lag Malling Beck), which cost a lot of innovative
reserves. We have implemented a structured,
controlled innovation process in our educatio-
nal publishing imprint, L&R undervisning.
2) Which concrete examples of inno-vation at Lindhart og Ringhof can you highlight?Publishing director Ebbe Dam Nielsen participa-
ted in Egmont’s innovation group, which was
tasked with developing ideas and collabora-
tive initiatives across the divisions. A tangible
offshoot of that process, facilitated by Red
Associates, was a dialogue with the minister
for education, Mr Bertel Haarder, regarding
upgrading teachers’ understanding of digital
teaching methods.
After the innovation workshop in Vilnius,
Ebbe Dam Nielsen appointed an innovation
group to look into three specific focus areas in
education, including incorporating IT in tea-
ching and using the Internet and cell phones.
The group examined these issues in May.
3) How do you intend to work with inno-vation in future at Lindhardt og Ringhof?In 2008 our strongest focus was on our post-
merger earnings level, but in 2009 we will work
more systematically with innovation across the
publishing departments, drawing on the construc-
tive lessons learned in the education department.
4) What obstacles hinder innovative work at Lindhart og Ringhof?I don’t feel we at Lindhardt og Ringhof have
come up against any barriers to working with
innovation. Once the dust settles after the
merger, we’ll start working with innovation in a
more structured and targeted way.
5) What do you do to encourage inno-vative behavior in your employees?We do that by delegating responsibility and
acknowledging new ideas. We run department
workshops and provide a high level of internal
communication to keep employees up to date
about the latest innovative and positive influen-
ces on the company.
In 1901, Egmont took over Damernes Blad (Ladies’ Magazine) with poor sales and advertising revenue. He changed the profile of the magazine from a wo-
men’s magazine to a family magazine and hired the strong woman Valborg Andersen as editor-in-chief. After two and half year, circulation had multiplied six
times.
O C T O B E R 2 0 0 8 / H A R D C O P Y / 0 7
Egmont Kids & Teens Tommy Melle, Executive Vice President
1) The innovation process was launched in January 2008 – how has it impacted on your decision?As well as making innovation more systematic
and basing it to a greater extent on processes,
we have hired business developers for the divi-
sion. All countries work continuously on growth
lists, brand extension and new business areas.
2) Which concrete examples of inno - vation in your division can you high-light?We have plenty of good examples of inventive
thinking and innovation in the division, but I’d
like to draw special attention to the Rasmus
Klump project initiated by Serieforlaget. We
have acquired the rights to Rasmus Klump and
we’ve made a lot of progress licensing related
products. Rasmus Klump will feature on shoe
and clothing collections, jam and ice cream.
Here our focus is on exploiting the value of the
brand name to enter new areas where we own
the rights ourselves.
We have also acquired a youth commu-
nity website called Biip.no. Here our focus
is on refining the service and identifying
synergies that we can add. This has already
resulted in a new free print magazine, a new
website called biipmag.no and a new games
community called spillmagasinet.no. We also
plan to launch Biip abroad.
In Sweden we bought the rights to Sune
og Bert through the company Sören og Anders.
This has propelled Kärnan into the world of
Swedish children’s publishing. We have also
launched our new web store, Univers.no, thus
consolidating all our direct sales products in
one place.
3) How do you intend to work with innovation in future in your division?We will implement cross-departmental growth
seminars and work on streamlining innovation-
related processes. We are going to implement a
web support tool for all employees, which will
allow them, among other things, to comment
on the ideas and development projects sug-
gested by their colleagues.
4) What obstacles hinder innovative work in your division?We see no specific barriers, but rely on all
employees getting involved and on the organi-
zation allocating time for planning and follow-
up. We want to hear our employees’ opinions
and we want to encourage good initiatives.
5) What do you do to encourage inno-vative behavior in your employees? As we’ve always done: listen to our employees;
focus on creativity, spaciousness and openness;
and be willing to take new avenues.
combines two pull out magazines – one for
kids and the other one for their mothers.
It launches in October. Egmont Estonia has
developed a simple and effective approach to
qualitative customer research carried out at
the Estonian Publishers Annual Books Event. A
range of great new board games which appeal
to both adults and children has been created
in Poland. And in Thailand games and comics
available as mobile downloads is a growing
business in Thailand.
3) What are you planning to do in the future to keep working with innova-tion in your division?We have just started our new phase of in-
novation so we will focus on using our Egmont
International Innovation Discipline framework
to develop ideas and help make ideas happen.
Basically our 3 year plan looks like this: First year
is set-up, second year we’ll focus on developing
ideas and in year 3 we’ll see the results.
4) Which barriers are there in your divi-sion to work in an innovative manner?There are many but most of these are barriers we
create in our own minds - so for me it’s about en-
couraging, nurturing, supporting and developing
people to realize their ideas. It will take time. In
our first year we have come along way and over
the next two years we will travel even further.
5) What do you do to encourage inno-vative behavior among employees?We have an Idea Manager in each International
company whose role is to coach and facilitate
ideas in their organization. Furthermore, we
have a ‘recognition and reward scheme’.
How do you work with innovation on a daily basis?
“I try to push the limits of the typical and traditional as often as possible. Role play with a Lego figure can lighten a heavy message, wri-
ting in paper speech bubbles can get the creative juices flowing, and playing and thinking like a child can simplify and clarify an idea.
They are just a few of the methods I use to generate new, better ways of doing things.”
John Præstegaard, IT editor at Alinea
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Consumers – up close and personal Egmont’s customers are used to getting things on a silver platter. They don’t want to pay for their media consumption. Their technological know-how is limited, and they’ve given up books, newspapers and magazines. Egmont has been up close and personal with its customers.
Nordisk Filmn Anders Hansen, project manager, MBOn Peter Hansen, creative director, Nordisk
Film TV productionn Louise Stenbjerre, editor-in-chief, Sirene n Susanne Dam, marketing manager,
ALT for Damernen Maria Torshall-Ayris, editor-in-chief, Hennesn Ebbe Dam Nielsen, publishing director,
Alinea n Rikke Crosby and Michael Juul, Corporate
Strategy & Development
The qualitative method is based on close
observation of consumers, and the insight it
generates differs from that gained by conducting
other types of market survey. “Starting with the
target group rather than the product we want to
produce was quite a new concept for most of us.
It was exciting to delve into the target group and
get really deep into their hearts and minds, and
once we understood their needs, we could try to
develop a product based on them,” explains editor
Cecilia Sandbring from Egmont Kärnan. She took
part in the project along with the other members
of the multidisciplinary group.
Louise Stenbjerre, editor-in-chief of Sirene,
was another member of the group. “I knew quite
a bit about the target group through my previous
work with girls’ magazines at Serieforlaget, but this
was an all-new and fascinating way of learning by
actually being with these girls from the moment they
open their eyes till they go to bed.”
Cross-frontier innovation “At Egmont, the individual business units have tradi-
tionally driven innovation at local level, so appointing
an innovation group was an interesting experiment
in itself,” says Rikke.
“It was highly rewarding to work with collea-
gues from other divisions and countries. Having such
diverse backgrounds, views and experience added an
extra dimension to the project,” Cecilia comments.
Vibeke Nylykke, executive assistant at Nordisk
Film, is also a participant in the multidisciplinary
innovation group. “The project has enabled us to
follow our target groups at much closer range. It has
given us amazing insight into their lives and needs,
which we can apply directly to our businesses,” she
explains.
From video to actionReD Associates identified a number of patterns in
the girls’ survey responses, which can be summa-
rized as six different insights all related to different
areas of Egmont’s business.
The project also produced a series of concrete
business cases, all of which have been subjected to
the COSTAR model. These real-life cases come with
hours of video footage that can be used to inspire
original business development ideas. Vibeke explains:
“Along with the rest of the innovation group, my role
is to teach others about the method we learned at
ReD Associates and to discuss the knowledge and the
innovation platforms that the study has generated.”
“Our task was to create a product that wasn’t
to be a newspaper, an Internet service, a movie or a
book at all – but something that could be anything
at all. The main thing was that it had to be a product
the target group needed. I’ve taken this method
back with me to Egmont Kärnan and intend to
implement it in our own innovation processes.”
“I’m doing a brief tour of Nordisk Film, where
the company’s vast film archives give me the op-
portunity to focus on areas of specific interest to
the business. For example, it’s useful for our movie
theater unit to get young people’s take on the social
events the theaters offer. We then work together to
identify what sort of possibilities this produces,” says
Vibeke Nylykke.
“Now comes the tough part, implementation,
which will show us whether the project is viable,”
Louise concludes.
Read more about the project insights on the
next page.
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How do you work with innovation on a daily basis?
“On a day-to-day basis, innovation is about creating added value for ourselves and generating brand loyalty in a fiercely competitive
market. It can be anything from generating text-message income from recipes to improving our subscription process and developing
events like ALT for damerne’s women’s run and ALT for damerne Live.”
Susanne Dam, marketing manager of ALT for Damerne and RUM Interiør Design at Egmont Magazines
Outlook to insightProject manager Charlotte Kinimond Hassøe summarizes the insights from the pilot project that ReD Associates conducted with Egmont.
Insight #1: Families mean somethingThe media can engage families and bring them closer together.
The truth is that families actually miss each other. They only see one another at mealtimes and maybe watch some TV together, but they live increasingly frag-
mented lives. All the girls made a point of their holidays because they gave them time to be with their families.
Insight #2: No one wants to payWe need new business models.
Magazines are cozy reading, but many
girls said they had never spent a single
dollar on a magazine. This generation is
used to being able to download every-
thing and get news for free. Media for
social purposes are one area where young
girls are prepared to pay for a product.
While the girls will use free media alone
in their rooms, they will pay to go to a
concert with their friends.
Insight #3: You don’t go to school to learn Digital media could be better integrated
into school teaching.
Apathetic students are nothing new, but
the use of digital media has drastically
increased the phenomenon. The survey
turned up the interesting finding that,
although young people use electronic
communication extensively, they use the
Internet not to broaden their horizons but
rather to strengthen their networks. “They
use websites like Arto and MSN, but don’t
venture into the world at large. School
is a cool place to hang out with friends,
but they don’t actually go there to learn
anything.”
Insight #4: Tough decisionsThe media can help girls make big decisions.
It’s hard to decide what you want to do when you leave school, and the range of choices poses a
huge challenge for girls, who think they have to make the right decision first off. “Girls tend to use
two decision-making strategies: Either they postpone the decision by going traveling, or else they
search intensely for information. In this way, the media play an important role in guiding young
people through a process where they create the content themselves rather than merely offering pas-
sive identity labels.
Insight #6: Gossip and celebritiesFame is multifaceted and the media support this.
Some girls hanker to be well known, and we realized that a category of girls has materialized that
we could term “micro-celebrities”. They are local celebrities because they have a popular profile on
an online community, for example. With this knowledge under our belts, Egmont has a real chance
to play a key role in young girls’ lives.
Insight #5: Cell phones are a lifeline! The huge potential of cell phones has yet to be exhausted.
Everyone can see teenagers walking around with their cell phones, but we were amazed at just how
big a role these electronic devices play in their everyday lives. They send up to 200 text messages a
day. The first thing the girls do in the morning is check their cell phones. There might easily be as
many as 10 ‘Good morning!’ messages waiting for them! Cell phones have become an important
lifeline. Another interesting observation was the way the girls conducted a conversation on several
platforms in the course of a day. They switch between face-to-face, text messaging and online
communities. New ways of activating their networks have emerged … and the girls use them.
O C T O B E R 2 0 0 8 / H A R D C O P Y / 1 1
“I integrate innovation into my daily routines by inspiring my employees and col-
leagues to behave proactively and focus on how we as an IT department can offer
maximum value to our users in a highly dynamic and creative organization.”
Bettina Enggaard, IT service manager at Nordisk Film IT
Conventions turned on their headThe team behind the drama series ”2900 Happiness” has discovered that tight time schedules and budget limitations can change ingrained habits so radically that innovative production methods can actually set new industrial standards.
Nanna Lindhardt / Nordisk Film / [email protected] / Photo: Kristian Septimius Krogh
Last year Nordisk Film TV started working on a new
Danish drama series on a shoestring budget and
with a TV3 deadline looming only months away.
Original thinking was needed – and fast!
Producers Thomas Lydholm and Henrik “Bul-
ler” Jongdahl and postproduction manager Steffen
Addington describe the awesome challenge. No-one
was prepared to compromise on quality – but there
was no money and no time. Ergo the team had to
come up with a new way of working and threw
convention to the winds.
Process before artAccording to Thomas Lydholm, part of the solu-
tion lay in throwing the tightly controlled auteur
style well-known from movie productions. Rather
than letting an artistic leader’s vision dictate all
the processes, the team opted for an industrial
method based on a strict set of rules.“We simply
agree on a fixed number of scenes, script pages
and locations per episode, and tailor the story
accordingly. Putting process before art is normally
unheard of in TV drama – but it worked,” Lyd-
holm affirms.
Readjustment means swallowing some big pillsThe flat organizational structure was another
departure from the norm. On “2900 Happi-
ness” responsibility for the separate production
elements is in the hands of whoever actually
does the work – which means, for example, that
the sound supervisor, not the director, finally ap-
proves the sound. Henrik Jongdahl describes it as
optimal lean management:“People concentrate
on what they’re best at. That benefits the process
enormously and significantly shortens the work
cycles. But it also requires great confidence in
others and managers who aren’t afraid to sur-
round themselves with people smarter than they
are in certain professional areas. They swallowed
some big pills along the way!” he smiles.
Innovation with future potentialThe result is a working culture where “Can we do
this better?” is not only a positive but an absolutely
critical question. The technical side is a case in point,
where the 2900 team invented ingenious new met-
hods of recording and editing raw footage. Steffen
Addington offers a lengthy technical explanation, but
essentially the new methods save both time and mo-
ney. According to Addington, pioneer work requires
steady nerves: “As a first mover you sometimes have
to invent original working methods as the produc-
tion process progresses. All that hi-tech equipment
has raised some blood pressure on occasion. On the
other hand, being able to set new standards puts
us at the vanguard for the rest of the industry,” he
emphasises. Lydholm, Jongdahl and Addington see
the hard work as an investment in the future. The trio
hope this production will not be the only one to be-
nefit from the innovative methods, and they predict a
further development of a change-readiness concept
that can be used for other TV productions.
The trio on set. Henrik “Buller” Jongdahl (left), Steffen
Addington (center) and Thomas Lydholm have rationali-
zed the production of the drama series “2900 Happiness”.
1 2 / H A R D C O P Y / O C T O B E R 2 0 0 8
How do you work with innovation on a daily basis?
“All new ideas are welcome at work, but innovation doesn’t necessarily have to happen only throughout your working day. You don’t
have to look for innovation it will find you, as long as you want to.”
Ewa Gucewicz-Mooney, Product Manager i Egmont Poland
Innovative minds behind the Olivia universeThe secret behind the expansion of the Olivia universe to ever-new platforms is unshakeable confidence, interdisciplinary cooperation, management support and the desire to drop restrictive routines.
reduces the margin of error because the production
process entails fewer steps. However, it also means
each employee has greater responsibility. There’s
nowhere left to hide if you make a mistake!
Helping each other improveNaturally, Ute og Inne has a flat organizational struc-
ture partly because the team is so small, but equally
because responsibility is evenly distributed among
them. Everyone can influence the end product,
which has created a strong team spirit where
everyone steps in for each other.
“We help each other to improve,” says Eva
Glorvigen, who originally worked for Hjemmet
and did not believe working like this was possible.
“But it definitely does work, and it gives you
a stronger sense of ownership for your work. This
is the way forward!”
Spreading to other editorial departments Vice President Kjetil Opaas is certain that templa-
te-driven production will spread to other Hjemmet
Mortensen editorial departments. He has already
noted many editors’ interest in introducing the sy-
stem. Grethe Rønningen believes template-based
production will work well for departments that
produce many pages with a predefined appe-
arance. In any case, she is extremely satisfied with
the way the system works for her publication, and
particularly for the editorial team.
“The editorial team consists of people with a
wide variety of skills that can overlap. The atmos-
phere is good, and we have a lot of fun.”
Everyone on the “Ute og Inne” editorial team
does it all. Front: Grethe Rønningen, editor
responsible under press law (left) and Cathrine
Barland Jensen. Behind: Eva Glorvigen (left) and
Marte Dorthea Heidel Røren. Together these
seven people produce 80 pages every week.
Template-driven enthusiasmUte og Inne is the first magazine at Hjemmet Mortensen to be published using template production methods. The pace is high, as is enthusiasm for the new system.
Alexander Berg Jr. / Hjemmet Mortensen / [email protected] / Photo: Alexander Berg Jr.
“Sometimes it is not what you really do but what you are able to do. Innovation box gave me possibility to share my dreams. Even if I was
not sure they will ever come true. Few months ago I had just a simple idea. Now, after many levels of innovation process and weeks of
discussion, we have a plan how to discover new market.”
Joanna Kuzincow, Egmont Poland
O C T O B E R 2 0 0 8 / H A R D C O P Y / 1 5
“I would really recommend the swap to
everyone who has the option to do it. It’s a
really positive experience for your working
life and your personal biography as well,”
Ayse Nacak says.
A tale of two citiesWhat do you do when you would like to try working with something else, but you want to stay within Egmont? Two art editors, Phil Williams from Egmont Creative in London and Ayse Nacak from Egmont Ehapa in Berlin found a solution by swapping job, apartment and cat for half a year.
How did the idea of a knowledge exchange abroad come about?Phil: “Peter Schlecht, Managing Director of
Egmont Creative, came to visit Egmont Creative in
London and mentioned the international culture
in Egmont and the possibility of us being able
to work for other countries. When I suggested
it to Keith Ralph, Director of Egmont Creative in
London, he agreed. It took about year and a half
to sort out.”
Ayse: Keith asked my manager, Joerg Risken,
if Egmont Ehapa would be interested in doing
this swap. Coincidently I had asked Joerg some
months before if a swap with another Egmont
country would be possible. And so he asked me
one day if I would be interested to go to London –
and I agreed from the first moment.
How did you organize the apartment swap?Ayse: “From the beginning it was clear that it
would be the easiest solution just to swap the
apartments. Phil was so kind to offer not to swap
1 6 / H A R D C O P Y / O C T O B E R 2 0 0 8
How do you work with innovation on a daily basis?
Egmont CreativeEgmont Creative is a company in Egmont’s
Kids & Teens division. The company has
developed Disney stories during the last 40
years. Today, Egmont Creative possesses
a unique position as the second largest
producer after the Disney Corporation.
Each day, Egmont Creative delivers content
for Disney magazines all over the world,
such as the Disney Weekly, Pocket Donald,
Princess and Winnie the Pooh. More than
6.000 pages are being produced each
year – from idea to final coloring – in
cooperation with 100 authors and colorists
in Europe, South America and USA.
the rent. Otherwise it would have been difficult
for me. So we sent each other photographs and
information about the area we live in. And Phil
told me everything I would need to know about
his cat!”
Phil: ”Myself and Ayse arranged it between
ourselves by email. Ayse hadn’t been to London
before, so we organized a weekend visit for her to
meet me and to come the Egmont Creative office.
This was funded by the company and really gave
her a good introduction to London. I had visited
Berlin on a number of occasions before, so no
introductory visit was organized before I went on
the actual exchange.”
What do you think are the major differen-ces between working for Egmont Creative in London and Egmont Ehapa in Berlin?Phil: “People are very friendly here, but they do
have a different way of working. There is a dif-
ferent process involved because there are more
people to deal with and that might also be a
cultural difference. It can also be more informal at
Egmont Creative because it’s a smaller team. Also,
at Egmont Creative we are always providing mate-
rials for other countries so we are reminded of the
international aspect, whereas over here they are
working specifically for the German market and
have a closer association with the magazines they
work on.”
“Once you know the city, it’s bril-
liant.” Phil Williams from Egmont
Creative experienced a change of
scenery for half a year when moving
from London to Berlin.
”With the innovation process in place more formally and as a clear agenda, the main difference that we observe is that the ideas are
more valued. Idea generation became a part of daily routine – sometimes we are able to see open brainstorming sessions in the office!”
Neyran Akyildiz, Brand Manager, Dogan Egmont
O C T O B E R 2 0 0 8 / H A R D C O P Y / 1 7
Ayse: ”Ehapa is a publishing company with about
100 employees working in different departments
like marketing, editorial, sales and production. Eg-
mont Creative is much smaller. It is a creative office
with 12 people where only editors and designers
are employed. Their main topic is to create inter-
national Disney pre-school content for the Egmont
publishers, and to develop new ideas and products.
The working atmosphere is really nice and familial.”
How has your job been structured?Ayse: “I only work for Egmont Creative. Phil has
to do both, because his role with Playhouse is so
important that it wouldn’t be possible to displace
him at Egmont Creative.”
Phil: “It’s been a really positive experience in
most ways. However, the workload can be very
demanding. It wasn’t really possible to simply
stop my work for Egmont Creative, and initially
I did feel that this made it a little more difficult to
integrate myself with my colleagues here. Since
then, I have taken on Ehapa work as well, which
makes me feel more part of the team, but it can
be difficult to keep on top of everything. Jörg and
Keith agreed that I’d do three weeks of ECN work
and one week of work for Ehapa, although to be
honest it works out that I need to be flexible.”
What is the social life like in Berlin and London?Ayse: ”The atmosphere in town is really nice and
lively. Everybody is friendly and kind. It’s easy to
have a little chat in a pub. The colleagues and
neighbours are really nice and social. There are
some after-work activities as well.”
Phil: “Berlin has a great social life – but you have
to know where to go and to avoid the tourist
traps. You have to make a few trips to see how it
works, but once you know it’s brilliant. During the
week, you usually just go home, although there
are some work organised social events. Also, I’ve
sort of been adopted by Ayse’s boyfriend which
has been a great help! And I’ve got to know
Ayse – she’s come back a few times to see family
and friends since we started the exchange and we
regularly email.”
How have you coped with language issues?Phil: “Although my German has improved, on a
day-to-day basis with work and friends, it’s simply
not good enough. I try to study a few evenings
a week, but my original plan to do an evening
class whilst I was here ground to a halt when I
realised how demanding the workload was. It’s a
real shame, but German is notoriously difficult to
learn. However, everyone has been very friendly,
helpful and welcoming – and of course their
English is fantastic.”
Ayse: “In the beginning it was difficult to un-
derstand people while they were talking to each
other quite quickly. It was ok when they talked
to me directly. After one month it began to get
easier. It’s a good help that I have a flatmate to
speak to in German. Now, after 3 months it’s
much easier, especially understanding colloquial
language or speaking on the phone.”
Do you have any general advice for so-meone thinking of doing an exchange?Ayse: ”I would always advise to go over for
a weekend before the swap should begin. It’s
helpful to see the flat and the colleagues before,
so I wasn’t too excited to come over. Then I
would advise to do the flat swap because it is
the easiest and best solution for both parts.
Moreover I think it’s nice to live together with
a flat mate. It’s good for your social life and for
learning the language.”
Phil: “General advice would be typical things
such as getting a European bank account so you
don’t get charged when you withdraw money.
Make sure you’ve got internet access so you can
Skype your family and friends. Also, chose a big
football tournament year, because it’s always a
uniting conversational topic, and an excuse for
a party!”
Egmont International Knowledge Exchange SchemeEgmont International now has a recogni-
sed Knowledge Exchange Scheme where
employees can more easily and quickly
organise similar exchanges to this, and
also for shorter time periods. Please con-
tact Dawn Cordy or visit the Knowledge
Exchange page on Insight. The scheme is
currently only available within Egmont In-
ternational, but please feel free to contact
Dawn for more information on how the
exchange was set up.
Read more about the International
Knowledge Exchange Scheme on Insight.
Egmont EhapaEgmont Ehapa started 57 years ago,
when the first “Mickey Mouse” magazine
was published in Western Germany in
September 1951. Mickey Mouse was an
immediate success in postwar Germany
and soon became the synonym for comic
magazines in general, with continuously
rising print runs. Over the years, the
small publishing house with 5 employees
developed into being the German market
leader in the kids’ magazine segment with
100 employees.
1 8 / H A R D C O P Y / O C T O B E R 2 0 0 8
How do you work with innovation on a daily basis?
”The traditional role of the editor is changing. Today it’s far more
like a producer’s role, launching a universe on multiple platforms
and reaching readers through the media of the Internet, cell
phones and magazines. That exacts heavy demands on editors.”
Jan Neiiendam, managing director of Serieforlaget, to Mediawatch,
September 2, 2008
“I think everyone already familiar with the universe will find it
cool to re-encounter all the buildings, landscapes and characters
in the print version. As such, it’s an extension of the game, and
the comic starts where the last ‘quest’ ends on the beach in the
country of Durotar.”
Martin Oesten, product manager, Egmont Serieforlaget, commen-
ting in MetroXpress, September 10, 2008, on the new initiative to
publish the popular computer game “World of Warcraft” as a comic.
“Looking at the international market lets us see that we still have
plenty of niches we can enter here in Denmark.”
Kjeld Lucas, managing director of Egmont Magazines, commenting
in Børsen, September 10, 2008, on the future of the magazine
business in a recession.
“My strategy for Egmont is market-leading positions. That’s also
why Hjemmet Mortensen is so interesting. Our primary focus is to
achieve the best possible in the different areas. That will generate
cross-synergies, but the idea is not to super-integrate our various
activities.”
Steffen Kragh, President and CEO, commenting on Egmont’s
position in Norway, Berlingske Tidende, August 5, 2008.
Passionately artistic colleaguesEgmont is brimming with passionately committed employees. Sometimes they also have hidden artistic talents. Egmont’s art society lets these talents shine through the initiative “Colleague Art” in which colleagues exhibit their own art works.
“Innovation is an essential part of my normal work. As a webmaster I have to quickly react to new requirements and technical demands
and often find new innovative ways to cope with the challenges. Continuous exchange with the Egmont IT and regular revisions of our
local processes keep us moving.”
David Obando, Webmaster hos Egmont Ehapa
Lisbeth Sahl, Dansk Reklame Film, has had her
paintings exhibited for the first time at Egmont
Magazines and in Egmont House.
“I’ve had loads of feedback about my
participation and my work. Being part of this
initiative has been a very positive experience
that has spurred me to do even more with my
interest,” Lisbeth explains.
She has created her own website and
jotted down several other exhibit dates in her
calendar, one at the Kalejdoroom gallery in Co-
penhagen. Lisbeth points out that the initiatives
have boosted sales of her paintings.
“I will definitely take part again if the
initiative is repeated next year,” Lisbeth
stresses. / NA
You can read more about the art society and
join it through the Danish edition of Insight.
Visit Lisbeth’s website at www.sahlart.dk.
O C T O B E R 2 0 0 8 / H A R D C O P Y / 1 9
Why should the bad boy of Danish movie-making be part of Uncle Scrooge’s Danish conglomerate?
Relay is a series of articles in which employees from all areas of Egmont answer a professional question from a colleague. In this issue, Peter Aalbæk, managing director of Zentropa, answers September’s question: “Why should the bad boy of Danish moviemaking be part of Uncle Scrooge’s Danish conglomerate?”
The blunt response is: Because we’ve always been
involved! Sometimes operationally, but always
emotionally.
When I was young, sensitive and insufferably
ambitious, Nordisk Film was the worst place to be.
You’d find all the trendy, avant-garde moviemakers
in the government film studios in Lyngby north of
Copenhagen, the former ASA Film Studier. They
served vegetables with meals and put exotic spices
in the sauce.
At Nordisk Film Marianne ruled the kitchen and the
only salad that ever made its way to the buffet was
pickled cucumber salad. The sheer unsexiness of
Valby was exactly what made it madly interesting for
us to explore the red barracks and discover secret
places like Valdemar Psilander’s dressing room [Da-
nish silent movie celebrity, murdered, presumably by
a Russian fan in his dressing room at Nordisk Film in
1917, ed.] and Niels Peter’s projection room (stinking
rich building manager and contortionist).
I quickly landed a job as production assistant on a TV
series by Edward Fleming entitled Station 13, and was
equally quickly fired because I was really bad at the
job and incredibly busy starting up countless projects
of my own, on Nordisk Film’s telephone account.
My firing was inevitable and threw me straight into
the arms of my partner, Lars von Trier, who needed
a producer. We made a great comeback to Nordisk
Film, because production designer Henning Bahs was
an obvious choice for Trier’s next movie. We produ-
ced Europa in Valby in a beautiful partnership with
Bo Christensen, who was a producer at the time.
After the movie, we decided to launch Zentropa
and survived the first many years because we could
always depend on the goodwill of the Nordisk Film
laboratorium Johan Ankerstjerne A/S [now Nordisk
Film Lab, ed.] whenever we were short of cash. As
for distribution, we got used to Jan Lehmann and
Peter Philipsen’s comforting set-up at Nordisk Film
Distribution, and only left “home” a couple of times
in a fit of teenage furor.
So the leap wasn’t that big, then? No – deep
down, we had a quiet but refreshing sense of
having come home!
Written with deep humility and spectacular
honesty..
Peter Aalbæk Jensen, movie businessman
Despite the apparently wide cultural gap between Zentropa and Nordisk Film, Peter Aalbæk has always
had an affable relationship with Nordisk Film. Peter is shown here with Michael Ritto, managing director
of Nordisk Film, at the spring press conference held to announce Nordisk Film’s co-ownership of Zentropa.
