The 31st ADGAR Gala took place on March 12. With three videos, VÖZ looks back at the best speeches of the evening, spoke with key players about competition in the advertising market, with "Spar" CEO Gerhard Drexel about reasons why print works, and with 2nd President of the National Council Karlheinz Kopf about a financing tool that ensures journalistic quality.
"As a food retailer, print advertising is very important for us," emphasized Gerhard Drexel, Chairman of the Management Board of Spar Austria, who was awarded the Honorary ADGAR of the Austrian Newspaper Industry. This is because Spar advertises a great many promotions, as well as new products. "Customers need a little more time to absorb this information. In print advertising, that works wonderfully. If advertising only takes place in electronic media, that flits by. Possibly not as much of a message has stuck then." Kristin Hanusch-Linser, Head of Corporate Communication at ÖBB, emphasized the reflective environment of print. "Print gives the reader orientation. That's quite important in hectic times, where we're bombarded with over 3,000 brand contacts every day." Friedrich Stickler, CEO of Austrian Lotteries, emphasizes above all the higher level of attention of print readers: "Print is something that is perceived with a completely different level of attention than, for example, electronic advertising, where you can do something else in the meantime. But when I look at a newspaper or a magazine, I'm engaged with it. The impression is a much deeper one."
Austria is a print country
"We have very very good cards in this match of media genres because we can address customers in a very targeted way," explained VÖZ President Thomas Kralinger. "Austria is a print country," emphasized VÖZ Vice President Eugen A. Russ, adding, "We have reach like almost no other country in Europe with our dailies, magazines and weeklies." "Die Presse" Editor-in-Chief Rainer Nowak is convinced that the good ones will prevail in the competition. "Quality, which we define exclusively in terms of content, will prevail."
Head for funding tool that ensures journalistic quality
"If we value the fact that media have a controlling function in democracy and that they can also afford a corresponding staff - especially in the journalistic field - then this will be difficult to achieve purely through market funding," said Karlheinz Kopf, Second President of the National Council, underlining the need for a reform of press funding. Therefore, there must be a complementary funding tool that ensures this quality, "also in terms of control of our republic," Kopf said. You can find more statements from the media spokespersons of the ÖVP, the Greens and the Neos, among others, in the videos in the right-hand column.
Source: https://www.voez.at/bl1800