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Fast facts:
Funke Mediengruppe
• Germany’s third largest newspaper and
magazine publisher, privately held by
the Funke family.
• Headquartered in Essen, North Rhine-
Westphalia.
• Founded 3 April 1948 by Jakob Funke
and Erich Brost.
• Its first title, Westdeutsche Allgemeine
Zeitung (WAZ), was a six-page newspaper
published three times a week.
• In 1976 it was renamed Zeitungsgruppe
WAZ following the acquisition of other
newspaper titles.
• After further expansion into electronic
media, it became WAZ Mediengruppe
in 1997.
• The company adopted its current name
in 2013 after the Brost family sold its
stake to the Funke family. Afterwards,
the company has been renamed into
Funke Mediengruppe.
• Funke Mediengruppe publishes over 700
titles, specializing in regional newspapers,
women’s titles and TV guides.
• Employs 1,500 journalists and 4,000
other media experts.
But one thing is clear: “We definite-
ly don’t want to give up on print in fa-
vour of online.” In fact, Funke Medi-
engruppe has not only developed its
digital business in the last few years,
but it has also made a huge investment
in print. In 2014, the company signif-
icantly scaled up its core business in
printed media in Germany with the ac-
quisition of regional daily newspapers
as well as TV, radio and women’s titles
from Axel Springer SE.
The tactile dimension
And there are good reasons for this
move. In terms of the most impor-
tant asset that journalism has to offer
– credibility – Schwieger believes that
print continues to be the market lead-
er. The more confusing the growing
glut of internet publications becomes,
the more readers appreciate the guar-
anteed integrity and transparency of
sources provided by traditional prod-
ucts.
Schwieger sees signs of a coun-
ter-trend moving back towards ana-
logue in other areas as well. As an ex-
ample, the German business magazine
brand eins recently shared news about
a digital agency which, while profes-
sionally designing websites for com-
panies, increasingly relies on analogue
solutions in its own work process-
es. Having a large ‘to do’ task sheet
pinned up on the wall is reportedly not
only more tangible but also more effi-
cient than the equivalent digital tools.
Tangibility plays an enormous role in
advertising as well, Schwieger affirms.
The marketing message of a perfume,
for example, is conveyed significantly
better by paper than by a technical plat-
form. The feel is of great importance –
which also applies to the papers sup-
plied by UPM, of course.
“UPM is one of the giants”
“We purchase nearly a third of our pa-
per from UPM,” Schwieger explains.
He speaks enthusiastically about
Funke’s excellent long-standing rela-
tionship with the paper manufacturer.
“I’ve been at Funke for thirty years;
twenty of them in paper purchasing.
UPM is one of the giants and they have
become one of our most strategically
important partners,” he says.
Currently, Funke Mediengruppe reg-
ularly sources paper from 12 different
UPM plants, for which Schwieger has
nothing but praise. He appreciates the
consistency and reliability he enjoys in
all his dealings with UPM.
“Regardless of how UPM is organ-
ized internally, we have always had a
competent contact partner for every is-
sue over the years – and that’s a great
advantage.” And that goes not just for
the company, but ultimately also for the
readers.
UPM NEWS 11