H A R D C O P Y M AY 2 0 0 8

In the test theater at Dansk Reklame Film, old and new equipment stand side by side as a reminder of the

movie commercial development forged by the company.

Egmont’s bumblebeeIt is well known that the bumblebee’s lack of aerodynamic capacity makes it incapable of flight. However, ignorant of this scientific fact, the bumblebee flies anyway. In bum-blebee fashion, the partly owned Egmont company, Dansk Reklame Film, has managed to revolutionize the Danish market for movie commercials.

Niels Almer / Corporate Communications / nal@egmont.com / Photo: Niels Almer

Egmont House in Copenhagen has a server – and not

just any server, but one that saves untold working

hours and expended analog film reels. This server

delivers razor-sharp digital commercials to virtually all

Denmark’s movie theaters.

It is more than four months since Dansk Reklame

Film introduced a digital production environment to

replace the analog film reels.

“In today’s distribution process our advertisers send

us a sound and image file, which I then optimize. It’s

no use if the various clips in a series of commercials

have fluctuating sound levels,” IT coordinator Thomas

Sagnsby explains.

“Durability is the main problem with analog reels.

Commercials are aired far more often and for longer

than movies, which is why digitalizing movie commercials

offers significant short- and long-term advantages,”

assesses Jimmy Hansen, CFO of Dansk Reklame Film.

After four months, most of the usual teething trou-

bles in a project like this have been resolved, and movie

theater audiences are blissfully unaware of the remaining

technical challenges.

Consumers and customers alike have given digital

movie commercials a warm reception. “The next step is

to demonstrate and prove their potential in all theaters

in Denmark. There is a great difference between our dig-

ital movie theaters and some of the provincial theaters,

which still use slides to show local commercials,” Jimmy

Hansen says.

The celluloid crystal ball The advantages of digital commercials can be measured

not only in easier distribution and higher quality, but also

in more precise segmentation. Customers can now target

their commercials at specific audiences, genres and geo-

graphic areas – in theory right down to a single showing.

In the marketing department, one job of analytical coor-

dinator Rasmus Andersen is forecasting box office sales

and target groups for upcoming movies.

“We watch over 150 movies a year and, on ana-

lyzing which and how many moviegoers have actually

seen a given movie, we usually prove to have a 90%

hit rate. As a rule we can spot a blockbuster from a

mile away,” he says.

Trumpet fanfare with extra crisp sound Danish moviegoers know the classic three-note

trumpet flourish that has been the signature fanfare

of Dansk Reklame Film ever since its inception.

Movie commercial distribution enjoys similarly strong

traditions, and bringing the classic fanfare into the

modern digital age was a tough task.

“The project would probably never have got

off the ground without the cooperation of Nordisk

Film’s movie theaters, which were willing to take on

the project, and the extensive expertise of Egmont’s

own Business Consulting department. Without doubt,

the digitalization of movie commercials exemplifies

the kind of successful innovation only possible in a

major corporate concern like Egmont. Innovation is

about taking good ideas to market,” Jimmy Hansen

concludes.

Dating from 1934, the bumblebee story is based

more on incorrect mathematical assumptions than

actual physical circumstances, a fact that should in no

way undermine the achievement of 25 heads and 50

hands at Dansk Reklamefilm, Borgergade, in rethink-

ing and successfully innovating the market.

A strip from the late

showing on screen

9 at BioCity Aalborg

on April 3. From his

office, Jimmy Hansen

now has a full over-

view of all showings of

digital commercials.

H A R D C O P Y M AY 2 0 0 8

Alinea, Cappelen Damm and Carlsen og Sesam

each presented a broad selection of children’s

books on their respective stands, while Egmont’s

main stand represented Egmont UK and Interna-

tional. Showcasing books and magazines from all

Egmont publishers, the main stand acts as a hub

for all members of the Egmont family. The various

Egmont companies offer everything from picture

books for the tiniest tots to humorous tales for

slightly older children and teen stories for the oldest

age group. Some Egmont companies have attended the

Bologna Bookfair since it first began, while others have

come on board later. Norwegian publishers Cappelen

and Damm, which merged in 2007, made its debut at

this year’s fair, as did Carlsen and Sesam. The fair gave

all the various publishers the chance to buy and sell new

licenses for a wealth of children’s books. / AST

Children’s books in BolognaCrowds of people, stacks of books and countless meetings. The annual children’s book fair in Bologna has come to a successful close. But who exactly represented Egmont in Bologna, and what precisely do the various Egmont publishers do in the northern Italian trade fair city?

Anne-Sofie Stampe / Corporate Communications / ast@egmont.com / Photo: Anne-Sofie Stampe

It was Alinea’s eighth year at the northern Italian

book fair. Ulla Malmmose meets representatives of

international publishers to find foreign-language

titles for the company’s series of educational and

independent-reading books.

Alinea’s Easy Reader department sells books in

Denmark and 17 other countries. Collaboration on

selecting the right titles and selling them to customers

abroad is crucial to the Easy Readers business.

Titles such as This Side of Paradise, La vie à

reculons and Keine Angst already number among

the books from which pupils of many nationalities

can choose.

“This year I’ve made agreements with English,

German, French, Spanish and Italian publishers to

send me reading copies. We typically publish the best

titles. Our connection with these publishers is impor-

tant because it assures us that we are being offered

the right titles,” Ulla Malmmose explains.

At the same time Gitte Thiesen from Alinea’s

Danish department is looking to buy and sell

independent-reading books to Sweden, Norway,

Finland, the Faeroe Isles and Iceland. She attends the

fair to create new contacts, nurture relations with

business partners the world over and generally attract

attention to Alinea.

“We would like to establish contact with

Finland, so I had meetings with several Finnish

publishing companies, Otava and Tammi for example.

This year we primarily focused on what international

publishers could offer the kindergarten and parenting

markets,” says Thiesen. / AST

Gitte Thiesen, editor-in-chief of the Danish department, and Ulla Malmmose, editor-in-chief of the Easy Reader

department, attended this year’s children’s book fair to buy and sell easy readers in a host of world languages.

Easy-reading in all languagesUlla Malmmose, editor-in-chief of the Easy Reader department, and Gitte Thiesen, editor-in-chief of the Danish department, manned Alinea’s show stand, buying and selling easy readers in all languages from Danish and Norwegian to German and Spanish.

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Discovering Carlsen and SesamBooks with titles like Derfor prutter man, Hej Hr. Løve and Pedes uhyrer adorn the walls of Carlsen and Sesam’s exhibition stand. Carlsen and Sesam have each independently attended the Bologna Bookfair for about 18 years. This was the first time the two publishers – which have since merged – shared the same space at the bookfair.

På messen i Bologna er der tid til både networking og at lave aftaler om køb og salg

af nye børnebøger. I år har særligt Carlsen/Sesams billedbøger og seriebøger tiltrukket

meget opmærksomhed.

Buying, selling and networkingEgmont publishes almost all pre-school books in England. One reason Egmont UK attends the Bologna bookfair is to buy and sell rights for new children’s books.

Egmont UK comprises three divisions: Egmont Magazines,

Egmont Press and Egmont Publishing. Forty percent of all

licensed characters in England come from Egmont Publish-

ing. Together, Egmont Press and Egmont Publishing rank

as the second-largest children’s publisher in the English

market (the third-largest when successful bestsellers like

Harry Potter are published).

“Normally we sell between three and four million

Mr. Men books. New agreements, several made in

Bologna, will lift this figure into the 10-million region

in 2008,” says David Riley, who heads up Egmont

Publishing.

A lot of time is also spent meeting employees

from other parts of Egmont as well as existing business

partners from a number of other companies.

“During the fair, we meet representatives

from companies such as Nickleodeon, Dreamworks,

Disney and Hit Entertainment to discuss the ongoing

development of our various children’s character

books – Thomas the Tank Engine and Mr. Men for

example,” explains David Riley.

According to David Riley networking is the

most important activity at the four-day Bologna

Bookfair. Meeting co-workers from Egmont and

sharing ideas with them means a lot for both busi-

ness and cooperation, he says. / AST

At the Bologna fair, there’s time both for networking and for making sales and purchase agreements

for new children’s books. This year Carlsen/Sesam’s picture books and book series have attracted

special interest.

Carlsen/Sesam had two reasons for attending the

bookfair in Bologna: to acquire the rights to publish

books in Danish and to sell rights to its own titles to

foreign publishers. For the first time, Carlsen/Sesam

held meetings with South American publishers from

Brazil and Mexico.

Susanne Gribfeldt, Foreign Rights Manager

at Lindhardt og Ringhof, explains: “This is a

whole new market that has shown great interest

in European publications. I have great faith in Da

Emma blev Emma, a book about how babies are

made that has attracted a lot of interest.”

Both Carlsen/Sesam and its authors need to be

associated with a publishing company to present their

books at the fair. This allows them to show the world

a vast range of titles to the whole world. Several

books from Carlsen/Sesam have generally enjoyed

great attention.

“We don’t know whether they’ll sell yet, but

we’ve seen great interest in our picture books and

book series. It’s really important that foreign publish-

ers become aware of Carlsen/Sesam and our titles,”

Susanne Gribfeldt concludes. / AST

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Prize winnerIn 2007 the Egmont-owned publisher Damm merged with the Bonnier-owned company Cappelen in Norway. The new publishing company marked its pres-ence with a large stand at the Bologna Bookfair, the most important of the year for the editorial team of the children’s and youth books section.

The amalgamation of the two publishers has been

fruitful. Two editorial offices have been rolled into

one, opening up opportunities to draw on each oth-

er’s competencies and create new work routines. At

the children’s bookfair in Bologna, Kristin Jobraaten,

editor-in-chief for children’s and youth publications,

explains that the two companies make a good match.

“We like being together. The children’s books

from Cappelen and Damm supplement each other

well, so we cover a broad market. This year, our name

is on 230 titles in bookstores,” says Kristin Jobraaten.

At this year’s fair, Kristin Jobraaten had a spe-

cial focus on non-fiction, a new area for the editorial

team since the two companies merged. She spends

the days at the fair selecting titles of current interest

for publication in 2009, getting acquainted with

publishers from other countries and flushing out

interesting areas of inspiration for Cappelen Damm.

“When we meet other publishers, they present

between 10 and 30 titles, two or three of which we

select for closer scrutiny. When we get home, we

decide which titles we want to buy the rights for,”

Kristin Jobraaten explains.

This year one of the publisher’s authors,

Øivind Torseter, won the BolognaRagazzi Award for

his book Avstikkere. The prize is one of the most

prestigious international awards for both author and

publisher. / AST

Cappelen and Damm merged in 2007 and this year’s children’s bookfair was the first time they shared a stand. One of the publisher’s author/illustrators won the prestigious BolognaRagazzi Award.

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It’s a matter of human worth

What has a film project about homeless people to do with the Norwegian King Harald? And what do petty criminals and alcohol abusers have in common with happy, skilled employees? According to Hans Bitsch, managing director of Nordisk Film Post Production, the connection is logical: You can go a long way by giving people a little attention.

Nanna Lindhardt / Nordisk Film / nanna.lindhardt@nordiskfilm.com / Photo: Halvard Bræin and Nanna Lindhardt.

He says it’s all due to genes. “It’s the way we’ve always

done things in my family.” Nonetheless, for Hans Bitsch,

involvement has become a philosophy that pervades

both his private life and his day-to-day work as company

head. Because having extra energy lets “you see whether

anyone around you is somehow needy,” as he puts it.

“I don’t think people have to make much of a sacrifice

if only they can be bothered.”

Hans can be bothered. For example, over the past

couple of years he has spent some of his free time as

executive producer on a screen version of Ibsen’s Peer Gynt.

The cast of Gatas Gynt is a group of destitute substance

abusers that the film crew contacted through the Salvation

Army. Why does a managing director choose to spend time

working with a bunch of losers who returned to their bot-

tles as soon as the cameras were turned off? Hans explains:

“Every day is hell for them, but we (the film crew,

ed.) were impressed at how much these people con-

tained – they were so proud to be noticed.”

And noticed they were. When Norway’s King Harald

heard about the project, he insisted on attending the

first night and meeting these vagabonds. Although fairly

informal, his appearance had an unmistakable impact:

“For a long time afterwards, several of the partici-

pants went days without needing a fix. If you can give

people like this a sense of human worth that culminates

in a meeting with the king, that’s a huge thing,” says

Hans, stressing that it was also a big moment for him.

Remember the person behind the exterior Hans Bitsch has learnt from experience that it quite

simply pays to invest in human beings, and that also

includes employees when the company is laboring to

generate a profit as Nordisk Film is at the moment. Hans

is well aware that human values generally take a back

seat when a company is trying to get into the black.

Sometimes, however, salary is not the only work reward.

“I really like not always having to put profit first.

I actually believe you have to give something in order to

create something. I don’t mean dishing out money, but

giving friendliness and a little attention. These qualities

often get pushed into the background because we are

so eager to see results.”

According to Hans, as a manager you have to

remember to put your employees first. You have to

delegate to give yourself time to listen to them:

“In reality lack of time is lack of ability to let others

do things. Use your time to listen to what your employ-

ees want to tell you. Because they won’t tell you a damn

thing if your door is always closed!”

Hans believes it’s important that his employees

come to work not just to do their jobs but also because

they like the respect that exists between manager and

colleagues. For one thing, this means not giving up on

people who have fallen by the wayside:

“I want time to help people who seem like losers.

I’m proud there are no losers in my company. Some of

my employees are alcohol abusers who are doing really

well today. We’ve picked up employees’ children from

children’s homes, where the police had taken them, and

have helped get the whole family back on track.”

Involvement counteracts loser tendencies Hans believes that the return on investing in fellow hu-

man beings is a good social working environment and

minimum employee absence due to illness. It also means

more energy to devote attention to even more people

who need it.

Nordisk Film Post Production, Norway, has a scheme

by which the prison authorities send maladjusted young

petty criminals to work. Finding jobs for these young peo-

ple and making sure they hold them down is a challenge,

but Hans has had good experiences with the scheme:

“We don’t let them shirk their duties here. I expect

a lot and praise them a lot. This builds character and

counteracts loser tendencies. These young people have

never abused the situation, and many end up in good

jobs, at NRK, the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation,

for example.”

Ultimately the recipe is the same whether the ingre-

dients are destitute people or employees. You can go far

by giving something, even if only for a brief period. The

Gatas Gynt project was not a decisive turning point in

the vagabonds’ lives, Hans points out:

“I might as well say it: The effect doesn’t last long –

these people are too far gone. But we helped them enjoy

a few moments of human dignity. In the hell that is their

home it doesn’t take much to make a big moment.”

So what is the main message that Hans Bitsch

wants this story to get across?

“Spend a little time on other people – it doesn’t

cost much!”