When Italian motorcycle company Ducati wanted to promote its newest Hypermotard motorcycle, it  turned to Cycle World magazine to develop an out-of-the-ordinary campaign that would create some buzz.

“We are the experts on motorcycles so we bring a sense of knowledge and experience that a traditional agency might not have,” says Garrett Kai, associate publisher for marketing at the Bonnier Motorcycle Group, which Cycle World is part of. “Our clients look to us to deliver innovative programs that utilize the strength of our audience to deliver these multi-channel programs directly to the people they are trying to reach in print, online, and digital channels.”

What the magazine came up with was a series of videos featuring stunt riders Aaron Twite and Luke Emmons competing in a game called H-Y-P-E that shows off the maneuverability and power of the bikes. Not coincidentally, the campaign was a deliberate takeoff of a classic 1993 Super Bowl commercial featuring basketball players Larry Bird and Michael Jordan playing the kids’ elimination game H-O-R-S-E to win a hamburger.

“The idea was to increase awareness for the new Ducati Hypermotard as well as to create a viral type video series that would introduce a fun and exciting bike that reaches a broad audience of both motorcycle enthusiasts and non-motorcycle people,” Kai says. And it had to be done in a very compressed timeframe to coincide with the timing of the product launch, with high expectations from Ducati.

And did they succeed?

Some 300,000 views on the Cycle World YouTube channel later, Cycle World and Ducati can definitely claim success. “The response has been amazing,” says Kai. “Aside from the views on our own channel, we got a placement on the Sports Illustrated lifestyle website and hundreds of positive comments.”

Check out the campaign site at Cycle Worldhere, the Facebook page here, or watch the entire video series on YouTube here.

Mats-Eric Nilsson has time after time - as news editor, report and now as an author and blogger - shown a real nose for news. So says Otto Sjöberg, jury chair for the Per Wendel Prize, given out each year since 2005 by Swedish daily Expressen. "He's a very deserving winner," said Sjöberg.

Nilsson is the editor-in-chief for the magazine Hunger and food writer for Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet. He's written about additives to the food we eat, and fraud at restaurants when it comes to raw ingredients and half-processed food, among other things.

"Most of us are more well-informed about the cell phone we buy than the food we'll soon be turning into a part of our own bodies," says Nilsson.

The prize goes for successful news journalism over time and is worth SEK 75,000.

In December, Sara Öhrvall will be leaving Bonnier R&D. After heading research and development at the company since 2008, she has decided to move on. Under Örhvall’s leadership, R&D has had a primary role in projects such as the development of the digital magazine format Mag+, online film-on-demand service Filmnet, the I Am Zlatan app and most recently, Adlibris’ digital book initiative Mondo. She will continue as a board member for Expressen, Adlibris, Mag+ and Bonnier Publications.

“After six inspiring years with responsibility for R&D, it feels like good timing for me to seek new challenges,” says Öhrvall. “During the fall, I’ll finish up my current projects at Bonnier R&D. Over the years, I’ve worked with a large number of colorful and inspiring people, and I’m pleased that I will continue to have a relationship with Bonnier through my board memberships.”

Since March 2013, R&D has been part of Bonnier Growth Media, headed by Ulrika Saxon.

“Sara has made a decisive contribution to increasing and disseminating insights into the possibilities that exist at the intersection of new technology and changing consumer behavior,” says Saxon. “It’s been incredibly inspiring for me personally to work with Sara. The development issues that she is focused on continue to be central for us.”

Today, Bonnier Media Deutschland announced the merger of children’s book publishers Thienemann and Esslinger, set for January 1, 2014. The new Thienemann Esslinger will be housed at Thienemann’s current offices in Stuttgart. The publisher will be a part of Bonnier Media Deutschland’s operations. Esslinger’s current owners, the Klett Group, will serve as a strategic partner, with representation on the board.

Taking over as publisher for the merged company will be Bärbel Dorweiler, who from 2001-2013 was publisher at Querido, the Dutch children’s publishing house. There she worked with authors such as Guus Kuijer, Rebecca Stead and Cornelia Funke. The new commercial director will be Thomas Seng, who became managing director for Esslinger in 2012 after ten years running children’s book publisher Tessloff.

Current Thienemann publisher and managing director Klaus Willberg will be leaving the company under a mutual agreement.

“The solution we came up together with the Klett Group opens up the two publishing houses to new programs and sales opportunities for authors and their books,” says Hartmut Jedicke, CEO of Bonnier Media Deutschland. “I owe a big thanks to Klaus Willberg, who ran Thienemann for over a decade,  for a valuable and productive cooperation.”

The merger is subject to approval by competition authorities.

The short list for the Swedish Grand Prize for Journalism was released today at a press conference.

Finalists in the category Storyteller of the Year were: Josefine Hökerberg and Roger Turesson, DN Sthlm, Dagens Nyheter for the article series "Tiggarna i Stockholm" (beggars in Stockholm); Randi Mossige-Norheim, P1 Dokumentär, Swedish Radio for the radio documentary "Narkotikalandet" (the land of drugs); and Daniel Velasco, P1 Dokumentär, Swedish Radio for the radio documentary "Den fastspända flickan" (the bound girl).

Finalists in the category Innovator of the Year were:  Lisa Irenius, Upsala Nya Tidning, for e-books and cultural journalism that reaches the farthest margins; Kristoffer Triumf for the podcast Värvet; and Kenan Habul, Natalia Kazmierska and Stefan Mattsson, Aftonbladet for their reportage travel throughout Sweden, #välkommen.

Finalists in the category Scoop of the Year were: Sven Bergman, Joachim Dyfvermark and Fredrik Laurin, Uppdrag Granskning, SVT for the documentary series "TeliaSonera och marknadsandelar till varje pris" (TeliaSonera and marketshares at any cost); Niklas Orrenius, Dagens Nyheter for the article series Skånepolisens hemliga register (Skåne police's secret list); and David Baas and Christian Holmén, Expressen, for their scoop on the Sweden Democrats, iron pipes and zero tolerance.

The finalists received certificates at a lunchtime ceremony. During the ceremony, it was also revealed that TV host Camilla Kvartoft will be the host for the awards ceremony in Stockholm on Nov. 21, where the winners will be announced.

At the November ceremony, the winner of the Lukas Bonnier Grand Prize for Journalism, for lifetime achievement, also will be announced.

The total prize money is worth SEK 100,000 (approximately USD 15,000).

Yesterday, the Nordic Council gave out its annual prestigious culture prizes in literature, music and film as well as the environment prize. For the first time, a fifth prize was added, for children's and young people's literature. Winning the award was Seita Vuorela for her novel Karikko (The Reef), illustrated by Jani Ikonen and published by WSOY. 

The adjudication committee for the prize, in its motivation for the award, wrote: "In a barrier-breaking story built up like a mosaic, the author renders a brotherly saga that affects and touches the reader to the last line."

Kim Leine, who won the Literature Prize for his book Profeterne i Evighedsfjorden, is also published in translation by Bonnier book publishers Cappelen Damm in Norway and Bokförlaget Forum in Sweden.

The winners were announced at a ceremony in Oslo, the first time that all five prizes were given out at the same time. The prizes are worth DKK 350,000 apiece.

Today, kids toy app developer Toca Boca hit a new milestone: 50 million downloads at the App Store of its apps. 

“We create apps that make children smile: fun, creativity, and playfulness are at the very heart of Toca Boca, and 50 million downloads is testament to the fact that both kids and parents love Toca Boca products," says Björn Jeffery, CEO and co-founder. “To have reached this point in two and a half years is an achievement of which we are all incredibly proud, and we are excited about what the future holds.”

Since launching in 2011, Toca Boca has received over 34,000 five star reviews. Its apps have been downloaded in 159 countries worldwide, with the two biggest markets being the U.S. and the U.K. Of the 50 million apps downloaded to date, 18.3 million of these have been downloaded in the U.S., and 3.7 million in the UK. Other countries in the top 10 consumer markets are as follows: Australia, Sweden, Canada, Russia, Denmark, Italy, Mexico and Norway.

Bonnier’s business area News Sweden is on the lookout for interesting digital startups with growth potential. News Sweden includes four of the country’s top dailies – newspapers Dagens Nyheter, Expressen and Sydsvenskan as well as business paper Dagens industri– and the business area is headed by Gunilla Herlitz. The goal is to build a portfolio of digital growth companies that can take advantage of News Sweden’s media channels and traffic, and offer services at readers’ fingertips.

News Sweden is working together with Bonnier AB’s Corporate Development and M&A department, which is helping to identify, evaluate and make the actual acquisitions and follow up the investments.

“We are looking for dedicated and impressive entrepreneurs,” says Carlos Lorente, project manager at Corporate Development and M&A who is working with News Sweden on the investments. “The criteria for choosing companies include businesses with digital products or services that have a business model that leverages transaction volumes and that can benefit from strong media placements. The companies should also show a positive cash flow within 12 months.”

News Sweden can invest up to SEK 15 million per company, but the biggest value will be the possibilities of media space that the various channels provide. News Sweden is looking to become a minority owner as a shareholder with 10-40 percent.

Entrepreneurs who are interested should contact newssweden@bonnier.se for more information.

Why is the TV4 Group making this reorganization?

Up until now, we’ve had a business area that focused solely on digital business and development. It’s worked well while it’s been in the process of being built. Now that the market is changing and everything is moving toward digital consumption, it’s time to take the next step. With the new flexible organization designed to adapt to change, we’ll be able to ensure that both traditional TV and new digital business have the best opportunity to grow. We’ll take advantage of the competence we have and strengthen the digital agenda throughout the entire company.

What are the digital challenges the TV industry is facing right now?

TV has a strong position, both in its traditional format and in the new media landscape, which is a good starting point. The challenge for us and other TV and media players is to dare to develop for the future and dare to question old truisms, and to a degree, dare to compete against our earlier business. If we don’t do this, someone else will do it. The number of players, both globally and locally, as well as competitors and new partners changes at a rapid pace. TV4 is in the forefront and has a strong digital position, but we need to constantly adapt our offering and business model in order to meet viewers’ new habits of consumption and strengthen our position and business.

What are you most looking forward to?

In my new role I’ll be responsible for business as well as technical development, and ensure that we continue to be open to change as we continue to transform digitally. We have many great ideas and plans, and there is huge potential. It’s also important to be better at clarifying and prioritizing. I really look forward, together with my colleagues, to defining, planning and above all carrying out and building up new long-term operations with a focus on the digital potential, both through our own development and through acquisitions. TV4 is a strong brand with a strong position, that we will protect and further develop.

“It’s a real honor.” So says Lukas Björkman, editor-in-chief for venerable children’s magazine Kamratposten, which is the partner for the hugely popular Gingerbread House 2013 competition and show of the Sweden Center for Architecture and Design museum.

The contest has been a beloved Christmas tradition among Swedes since 1990, and each year a different partner is chosen. For 2013, Kamratposten has come up with a unique addition to the contest’s usual format: a national photo contest for kids, KPepparkakan.

“They asked us in the summer if we were interested in being this year’s partner,” says Björkman. “It’s an honor to be asked and join previous partners from a lot of different well-known organizations, so of course we were interested. The problem was that the contest has always been Stockholm-based and Kamratposten is a national magazine. We went back and forth, but when I came up with the idea for KPepparkakan earlier this fall, we quickly got the go-ahead.”

All it takes to be part of the KPepparkakan is to send in a photo – so kids from anywhere in Sweden can join the contest with gingerbread houses that they’ve created. All the photos will be shown on a screen as part of the show at the architecture museum. And the top ten entries will receive prizes that include a trip to Stockholm, subscriptions to Kamratposten and more.

As in every year of the competition, there is a theme that contestants need to reflect in their creations – this year it’s Future Forms. “One of the good things about this year’s theme is that it’s easy to include an environmental aspect in your creation,” says Björkman. “Maybe there will be some smart environmental solutions for the future among the gingerbread houses submitted!”

Björkman has high expectations for KPepparkakan. “Kamratposten readers are often both creative and funny, so it’s going to be really exciting to collect the entries.”

The deadline for photo entries to KPepparkakan is Nov. 24 – you can read more about how to submit a photo here. The show at the Swedish Center for Architecture and Design, which is open to the public for free, runs Nov. 27 through Jan. 5 at the museum on Skeppsholmen in Stockholm.

Researcher Jonas Forsslund knows first-hand the challenges medical students face. And as an entrepreneur in the Bonnier Accelerator, he’s come up with a unique business idea that gives them easy access to virtual surgery they can practice with.

Jonas, what are you working on at the moment?
I’m working with a prototype that I’ll be demonstrating at Swedental, the Swedish Dental Congress organized by the Swedish Dental Association on Nov. 14-16. It’s a great opportunity to get feedback on our new concept. At the same time I’m working on the business plan, to produce the best possible concept – even when it comes to the business aspect.

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned so far?
That we need more marketing preparation than I initially estimated.

Bonnier Corporation has combined the book publishing operations of Weldon Owen with its own branded book operations to create Bonnier Brands, a new division focused on books and other potential extensions to the Bonnier portfolio.

In a related announcement, Dave Freygang, president and CEO of Bonnier Corp., and David Zinczenko, president and CEO of Galvanized LLC, announced the companies had agreed to a five-year management consulting agreement. Under the agreement, Galvanized will help oversee the expansion of the Bonnier branded book business and other branded efforts.

As a division of Bonnier since 2009, Weldon Owen has already produced several Bonnier branded books, including Field & Stream’s The Total Outdoorsman Manual and Saveur: The New Comfort Food. The new Bonnier division will also continue to produce Weldon Owen’s book-publishing project with retailer Williams-Sonoma.

“The new venture with David Zinczenko’s Galvanized group makes Bonnier Brands’ future even more promising. Zinczenko’s success at building new book franchises is without equal. His best-selling Eat This, Not That! is a new standard-bearer for health and wellness,” says Freygang.

“Combining our book operations into Bonnier Brands builds on our strength in special-interest magazine publishing as well as Weldon Owen’s reputation for producing high-quality books." 

Yesterday, some 40 digital talents from within Bonnier met together to network, workshop and be inspired at “TV Breaks Free,” the third meeting of the Bonnier Digital Forum. 

“One of the most surprising things about the forum is how much we all have in common,” says Sean Holzman, chief brand development officer at magazine publisher Bonnier Corporation in the U.S. “We’re facing the same issues and worried about the same things.”

The idea behind the forum is to look at some of these key issues through different lenses and give those attending a chance to look at them together, hear how others are facing them and brainstorm with others from throughout Bonnier. The meetings are run by Bonnier R&D and are part of Bonnier's Decide to Develop initiative for digital talents.

The forum kicked off with Lance Weiler, innovative film producer who talked about taking storytelling to another level with film projects that involve a new level of interaction with the audiences to create a whole. Following his talk, Weiler led a workshop that gave forum members a framework to do their own brainstorming.

“One group had really interesting ideas, like how to personalize the content and catch people, for example first thing when wake up and take up their cell phones,” says Mari Rasimus of MTV3 in Finland. “Like what kind of news and social media content we could offer.”

Rasimus was also one of the speakers, joined by Martti Lindholm, talking about how MTV3 works with second screen TV viewers. Holzman also spoke, on how Bonnier Corporation is leveraging web TV. Other speakers included Jennifer Corbett of Discovery Digital Networks; Brian O’Kelley and Chris Baum, Futuredraft; Niklas Janson of TV4 in Sweden; Calle Bonnier of Nordic video-on-demand service Filmnet; and Oscar Höglund of United Screens, the YouTube network.

The day ended with a second workshop on questions that the participants brought themselves to the Bonnier Digital Forum, leaving everyone with plenty to think about as the meeting ended.

“What really inspired me was the thinking in a disruptive way,” says Annika Järund Larsson, head of TV4 Play Premium. 

The winners of the Swedish Grand Prize for Journalism were announced at a prize ceremony tonight. Some 200 of the country’s leading media personalities from newspapers, magazines, TV, radio and the web gathered at the Opera Rotunda in Stockholm. The ceremony was broadcast live on Sweden’s top media websites.

The host for the evening was Camilla Kvartoft, currently host of public affairs program Agenda and viewer favorite Veckans brott (crime of the week) on Swedish state television. During the ceremony, she interviewed the year’s international guest of the awards, Duncan Campbell, longtime Guardian journalist and one of the United Kingdom’s top crime reporters. He talked about the trials of journalists during the recent phone hacking scandal and his opinion of Edward Snowden’s disclosures, from the Guardian’s unique position as both publisher and participant.

The winners are:

Storyteller of the Year

Josefine Hökerberg and Roger Turesson, DN Sthlm, Dagens Nyheter for the article series  Tiggarna i Stockholm (the beggars in Stockholm).

“Because they told of the life stories that can be hidden behind a begging hand.”

Innovator of the Year

Lisa Irenius, Upsala Nya Tidningfor e-books and cultural journalism that reaches the farthest margins.

“With minimal resources but a lot of fantasy and invention, she’s succeeded in revitalizing one of the most conservative areas of journalism – literary criticism.”

Scoop of the Year

Sven Bergman, Joachim Dyfvermark and Fredrik Laurin, Uppdrag Granskning, SVT for the documentary series "TeliaSonera och marknadsandelar till varje pris" (TeliaSonera and marketshares at any cost).

“Because they exposed a culture of cover-ups and questionable business deals in TeliaSonera's quest for market share.”

The Lukas Bonnier Grand Prize for Journalism

Lasse Granqvist, Sports journalist, C More, previously Radiosporten, Swedish Radio.

”With engagement, knowledge and distinctive musicality, he makes us all feel and understand what’s happening on the playing field.”

The Swedish Grand Journalism Prize was founded by Bonnier in 1966 to promote strong efforts in journalism. It is Sweden's most prestigious journalism award. The prize money is SEK 100,000 (approximately USD 15,000) per category.

“I’m extremely pleased to be bringing in Tomas Franzén, who has a solid and very successful background as a CEO,” says Carl-Johan Bonnier, board chair for Bonnier AB. “He has led companies with challenges that are similar in many ways to those that Bonnier companies face: distribution, digitalization and understanding and facing changes in how media is consumed. I’m convinced that Tomas has everything it takes to successfully lead Bonnier.”

Franzén, 51, has been CEO of Com Hem, a leading cable operator and provider of broadband services in the Swedish market, since 2008. Before that, he was CEO of Eniro for four years and between 2002 and 2004, was CEO for Internet provider Song Networks. He has some 20 years of experience as a CEO in both publicly traded and private companies.

“I’m very excited about the new position,” says Franzén. “Bonnier is an international company, with a powerful base in Sweden, strong positioning and brands, and long-term thinking that’s appealing. My experience from Com Hem among others means that I’m well-versed in many of the challenges the company faces, and I look forward to getting to know the company from the inside.”

Franzén succeeds current CEO Jonas Bonnier, who leaves at the start of 2014.

About Tomas Franzén

2008 – CEO, Com Hem
2004-2008, CEO, Eniro
2002-2004, CEO, Song Networks
1999-2002, CEO, AU-System
1995-1999, CEO, AU-System Network
1989-1995 Trainee, Sales and Director of Sales for Nokia Data, later ICL Data

Tomas Franzén studied engineering and industrial economics at the University of Linköping. He is a board member for Com Hem and Zenterio.

Earlier this month, Bonnier's business area News Sweden announced it was looking for digital startups to invest in. In an article in Swedish business daily Dagens industri, the fifth and most recent investment was announced: real estate aggregator site HittaHem.se. The purchase was made jointly by Swedish dailies Dagens industri, Dagens Nyheter and Sydsvenskan.

We talked to Henrik Stangel, CEO of Dagens industri, about the investment.

Why is News Sweden investing in HittaHem.se?

We've seen that the market for real estate sales has evolved and the needs of real estate brokers as well as sellers have changed. An ever larger share of houses and apartments on the market are sold before they're even advertised. There are real estate brokers who say that 20-40 percent of properties are never even advertised but sold directly through contacts the brokers have in their waiting lists of people interested in buying.

HittaHem.se has all the listings that today are found on Swedish real estate aggregator Hemnet, but will also have properties that brokers choose to market via their own websites. HittaHem.se has even developed a way for sellers to test the interest in their properties before they decide to list with a broker. That HittaHem.se is being built as a marketplace with a "pre-market" section is something new for the industry. HittaHem.se can work as an effective bridge for sellers, buyers and brokers.

How do you see HittaHem.se developing?

It's all about growing with profitability. The model works by letting brokers use HittaHem.se as a lead-generating platform where they, as well as sellers, can test and build interest in objects and then buy the leads from HittaHem.se. The site is free for the sellers and the brokers will pay for the actual leads that are being generated through the site.

The revenue model is built, in other words, not with banner ads on the site but by connecting sellers, buyers and brokers. Given that some 200,000 properties are out for sale yearly in Sweden even a small portion of this should be able to generate meaningful income. We definitely believe that we can develop Sweden's biggest and best digital meeting place for real estate within 2-3 years.

Tyler Crowley knows startups. From Mahalo to ThisWeekIn.com, plus his own Skweal, he has plenty of firsthand experience on the startup scene. And as a producer with TechCrunch50 and Open Angel Forum, he has long experience giving advice to others. “I try to help people communicate their wonderful ideas and passion more efficiently to investors,” Crowley says.

Earlier this week, he spent the day with the entrepreneurs from Bonnier Accelerator, helping them work on their pitches.  We talked to Crowley and asked, what are the three most common mistakes people make when pitching to investors? Here’s his advice:

Perspective. The default perspective for entrepreneurs is egocentric. Instead they need to take the perspective of the person listening to their pitch.

Attention. People wrongly assume they have the full attention of the person they’re pitching to. In reality, you’re competing with their cell phones, Twitter, Facebook, e-mail and more. You actually have only 20 seconds – “15 if they’re hungry,” says Crowley– to hook your audience, that’s the time etiquette requires them to give you their full attention.

Emotion. Don’t go with an overly rational pitch with bullet points. Emotion is what works. Crowley recommends a character with a story with drama, a problem that is solved by your idea. “The human brain wants to know what happens in a story.”

November is the big month for book prizes in the Nordic region. In Finland, the Finlandia Prize is awarded, in Norway it's the Brage Prize and in Sweden, the August Prize. Each is the most prestigious for the book industry in the respective country. And authors from Bonnier companies won in every country.

Ville Kivimäki's Broken Minds (Murtuneet mielet) was awarded the Finlandia Non-Fiction Prize, published by WSOY. In Norway, the Brage Prize for Children's and Young Adult Literature went to Brynjulf Jung Tjønn for You Are So Beautiful (Så vakker du er), published by Cappelen Damm. In Sweden, the August Prize for Swedish Fiction Book of the Year went to columnist Lena Andersson from daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter for her novel Arbitary Conduct (Egenmäktigt förfarande).

GROW is all about trading knowledge, gaining new experience, learning new markets and getting to know another company and country. And this year, Bonnier’s popular exchange program has taken a new twist and become GROW Digital. With 14 positions where people are ready to make the switch, anyone within Bonnier can apply to swap positions with them for three months.

“Before the program was announced, I was talking with my boss, Markus Doemer, about GROW and said: ‘I would like to do it – if it were digital.’ And then a week later I read that GROW was now GROW Digital!” says Mareike Hermes, who works at children’s book publisher Carlsen Verlag in Germany.

Hermes, who works with digital business development, was hooked and her keen interest helped her get chosen as one of the 14 people in positions that anyone else within Bonnier can apply for to make an exchange with her.

“We’ve listed what I do on my job quite specifically in our description of what we’re looking for, but we know that those who apply won’t have experience with everything there,” says Hermes, who will be helping Doemer decide from among the applicants on who they would like to make the exchange with. “While of course you need some of the skills, what we’re looking for is someone motivated to learn new things – whether it’s hardware and software or new products and markets.”

One of the differences between the previous GROW groups is that those taking part in 2014 will literally be swapping positions for three months. “What’s great about trading places is that it means my team at home here gets to be part of it,” says Hermes. “I need to prepare more, but the person who is taking my place and doing what I usually do can contribute to the team in a different way from me that can give people new insights. There’s so much we can learn from each other. And in the digital world where we have a huge global digital platform, it’s even more important that we get a chance to learn from each other and see how other people and markets are dealing with the same issues.”

In mid-January 2014, Frida Westerberg will start as COO for film and TV production company Svensk Filmindustri, a subsidiary of Bonnier AB. Frida Westerberg has been at Bonnier AB since 2006 and has been VP Corporate Development and Mergers & Acquisitions since 2008.

“It’s been a great pleasure and challenge to work with Bonnier AB, where I’ve worked so closely with many of our subsidiary companies,” says Frida Westerberg. “So it’s especially exciting to be continuing within Bonnier but with a new position and a part of the industry that I’ve spent a lot of time working with in the past year.”