One workflow for two products. In addition to its daily newspaper edition, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (F.A.Z.) now plans and produces all its magazines and magazine-like products with PlanPag from ppi Media, a subsidiary of manroland. In future, it will use Content-X to edit cross-media content in its magazines.

Newspapers and magazines are still highly attractive advertising media. The F.A.Z. will use this potential through new ad spaces and design options, in addition to standardizing and automating its production processes. In the spring of 2011, the F.A.Z. will therefore upgrade its central planning tool. On the familiar PlanPag GUI, it will be possible to place ads in the bleed, for instance, without having to use additional applications or interfaces for different systems. “Two separate, yet automated workflows – one for magazines and one for newspapers – would be just as uneconomical as our current workflow, which entails planning and producing our magazines manually,” says Stephan Puls, Director of Prepress Production at the F.A.Z. “One workflow will save time, staff and costs.”

Streamlined, cross-media editing workflow
The editorial solution, which complements the new magazine workflow, will also use synergies. Content-X, a joint solution developed by ppi Media and Digital Collections, combines Print and Online into one unit. Editorial content is entered on one GUI and, depending on the media, is automatically assigned the correct formatting just before the editorial deadline or before being published on the internet. In contrast to many classic, comprehensive editorial systems, Content-X concentrates on the essentials. A strategy which is clearly the key to success.  “The profitability of this product was decisive. This, and the fact that it is easy to learn and requires little administration, makes this streamlined, efficient editorial solution just right for our magazines such as “Z”, “Piazza” or “Australien – einfach unvergleichlich”, which we produced by customer request,” says Stephan Puls, summing up.