Armed with words
Agora has unveiled its latest weapon-an encyclopedia-in the brutal circulation battle that has engulfed the country's daily titles.
Agora's respected Gazeta Wyborcza was king of the hill until the German Axel Springer's Fakt, which launched in October 2003, stole the crown.
Third-quarter figures released by Agora last year show that in September Gazeta grew by 11.3 percent on August to reach an average of 436,800 daily sales, while paid circulation of Fakt dropped 4.9 percent to 525,500 copies.
Gazeta bosses are hoping last week's launch may help regain valuable ground. The first volume appeared free-of-charge in a huge 700,000 circulation run, with further issues being released at a cost of zł.37 every Wednesday for 19 weeks. The whole set will cost zł.700.
The project is the result of Agora's agreement with the publishing company Mediasat, which has cooperated on similar projects with other national dailies, including El Pais, the Daily Mail, Le Figaro, and La Republica.
Mediasat's commercial director, Szymon Jędrusiak, said books are proving to be a popular tie-in.
"Paper is in favor again. Books have been effective promotional tools in the West since 2002," said Jedrusiak. He added that other giveaways, such as CDs, DVDs and jewelery, were perceived as cheapening the product they were intended to endorse, whereas books increased a newspaper's value.
The Gazeta Wyborcza Encyclopedia is the second project conducted together with Mediasat publishing company. The first was the Gazeta Wyborcza Collection-a canon of contemporary literature.
Details concerning costs of the encyclopedia have not been released. "We cannot reveal the commercial details," said Agora's director of the project, Robert Kijak. Commenting on the influence of the previous publishing series on the paper's sales, Kijak says: "The effect is noticeable."
The company's plans and prognosis for 2005 will be revealed on February 14.
Agora's respected Gazeta Wyborcza was king of the hill until the German Axel Springer's Fakt, which launched in October 2003, stole the crown.
Third-quarter figures released by Agora last year show that in September Gazeta grew by 11.3 percent on August to reach an average of 436,800 daily sales, while paid circulation of Fakt dropped 4.9 percent to 525,500 copies.
Gazeta bosses are hoping last week's launch may help regain valuable ground. The first volume appeared free-of-charge in a huge 700,000 circulation run, with further issues being released at a cost of zł.37 every Wednesday for 19 weeks. The whole set will cost zł.700.
The project is the result of Agora's agreement with the publishing company Mediasat, which has cooperated on similar projects with other national dailies, including El Pais, the Daily Mail, Le Figaro, and La Republica.
Mediasat's commercial director, Szymon Jędrusiak, said books are proving to be a popular tie-in.
"Paper is in favor again. Books have been effective promotional tools in the West since 2002," said Jedrusiak. He added that other giveaways, such as CDs, DVDs and jewelery, were perceived as cheapening the product they were intended to endorse, whereas books increased a newspaper's value.
The Gazeta Wyborcza Encyclopedia is the second project conducted together with Mediasat publishing company. The first was the Gazeta Wyborcza Collection-a canon of contemporary literature.
Details concerning costs of the encyclopedia have not been released. "We cannot reveal the commercial details," said Agora's director of the project, Robert Kijak. Commenting on the influence of the previous publishing series on the paper's sales, Kijak says: "The effect is noticeable."
The company's plans and prognosis for 2005 will be revealed on February 14.
