Mensch!Westend: the newspaper at the service of society
“70% of our current advertisers have never placed an ad in a newspaper before.”
The German newspaper Wiesbadener Kurier, member of the VRM group, has decided to set in motion a project which is creating a great deal of interest: the launch of Mensch!Westend, a free monthly newspaper designed for the significant number of immigrants who live in Westend, a multicultural area in the city of Wiesbaden. Like the Wiesbadener Kurier, Mensch!Westend is produced using Protecmedia’s MILENIUM solution.
Erdal Aslan, editor-in-chief of Mensch!Westend, tells us more about this project and how it came about.
The main aim of the newspaper has been clear since it first came into existence, as Erdal Aslan makes clear: “Mensch!Westend tackles an issue which has been left untouched by the German media: bringing the newspaper closer to readers with foreign roots. This publication, in cooperation with our newspaper, Wiesbadener Kurier, looks to integrate the immigrants of Westend, giving them new coverage. It should not be forgotten that in this area 17,000 people from more than 100 different countries live.”
The fact that this newspaper is also made using MILENIUM has greatly facilitated the work and has been of great use. “Being able to create the Mensch!Westend newspaper in the same way as we do with Wiesbadener Kurier has proved to be a great advantage, above all for editors, since they already know the MILENIUM editorial system”, notes Aslan, who also points out the simplicity and functionality of MILENIUM: “We can transfer to the editorial system all of the preconceived design demos in Adobe InDesign during the preparation phase of the project, since Mensch!Westend has a completely different design to that of Wiesbadener Kurier”.
The launch of this newspaper has been very well received by advertisers. “As things stand, we can feel fortunate about the number of advertisers. Above all we have attracted foreign clients from the Westend area. In fact, it is worth noting that 70% of our current advertisers have never placed an ad in a newspaper before,“ explains the editor-in-chief.
The Mensch!Westend newspaper project is proving to be a great success and this fact has not gone unnoticed in any part of Germany. “Our readers have given the new publication a very positive reception. The same can be said as regards media interest, with our project being analysed in German media such as Süddeutsche Zeitung, Deutschlandradio or Bild”, says Erdal Aslan.