"We want to become the talk of the town and cult again."

Markus Wolf

July marked the 30th anniversary of a city magazine without which Chemnitz would be hard to imagine today: reason enough to dedicate the Macher der Woche interview to Markus Wolf from Stadtstreicher. He talks about metamorphosis, the interactions between analogue and digital and dares to take a look into the crystal ball.

Why is the Stadtstreicher actually called Stadtstreicher?
Markus Wolf: We started looking for a name in 1991. At the time, my editorial partner said: Why don't we call the magazine Stadtstreicher? We slept on it for a night and then thought: "Okay, cool name." We thought of those who roam the city, perhaps bringing in new colour somewhere, recording a lot and knowing where there are fires and what's happening. At some point, the Chemnitz locals started to trivialise them. Stadtstreicher became Streicher, which was also shorter and easier to grasp.

If you had to summarise Stadtstreicher in three words, what would they be?
Regional, surprising, positive.

And would you also say innovative?
Some people might look at the Streicher and think: "What new shit are you doing here?" Then we say: That's our benchmark! That's where we locate our business. Among other things, we want to emotionally charge a brand. And because we are creative, there is of course a lot of creativity behind it. Is that innovative? I'm rather cautious about that.

Nevertheless, the 30th anniversary is accompanied by all kinds of changes. How did that come about?
The idea of fundamentally changing something hasn't just been around since this year. It's been on our minds for at least five years: That a metamorphosis has to happen in some way, simply due to the fact that people are consuming much more digitally. And Covid-19 has certainly helped us a little too, giving us time. In the beginning, we had an established product: why should you change something if it works commercially, if you can manage it well? Can we stand the test of time with something traditional and stable? That was the question we had to answer - and that it most likely wouldn't happen that way. We then set out our own credos and those of the string section as a team. What are we? What are we no longer? One of these was "The prankster is no longer the talk of the town and no longer a cult". I stood up and asked: "Why don't we turn that around? Why don't we change things?" We want to become the talk of the town and cult again! More cross-media, played out across various channels and social media.

And what happened?
We said: "Okay, we don't want to lose what we have - namely the brand, familiarity and distribution network - we just want to shorten it so that perhaps something new can grow." The idea: The Streicher is now only published quarterly. But won't the brand also lose presence as a result? How do we compensate for this? We'll publish something weekly in electronic form, which will allow us to publicise events more precisely, even for those who plan at short notice, and which will keep up with the times, ultimately picking up people who almost exclusively communicate and consume electronically. The "Chemnitz Kiosk" app. And a podcast.

How has it been received so far?
We currently have around 800 users a week. The demand is there. Our goal is to have perhaps 10,000 permanent users in a year. And I think that's an ambitious goal. However, even the print stringer took years to penetrate the market. It didn't happen in two or three years, on the contrary. At peak times, market penetration was 85 to 90 per cent. But that was in times when Instagram, Facebook and the like didn't yet exist. With a different way of obtaining information, far removed from even the internet. Today, the mindset is different: you used to go to the company and ask about the next month, but nowadays it's more of a weekly thing. It's all about figures, what can you do better, how can more hits be generated for this new medium?

Wouldn't it be easier to let print die and just work purely digitally?
Of course, we also asked ourselves this question. And if you think it through - it's simply not necessary to do away with the magazine. After all, publishing in print still brings us into new markets, among other things. It has its raison d'être, its presence, its brand impact. How many years have we been talking about print being dead? But it's still here. But what we need to rethink and reconsider is the interplay between analogue and digital. Let's be honest: even those who use the Stadtstreicher and always take it with them - the magazines have never been left behind - still no longer think "I'm lying on the couch now, what can I do at the weekend, I'll have a look at my Stadtstreicher." We have to think about our stories differently and break them down three-dimensionally. What added value can we draw from this and how can we build it up for our weekly magazine? Do we need moving images? What can we learn from the podcast story? What is the teaser for our social media channels? And yes, the effort will be greater, but you will also be the beneficiary afterwards.

Where will the Streicher be in five years' time?
I always enjoy looking into the crystal ball. It stands for visions, perspectives. But I have to say that the path we have now taken is already a pre-sketched vision. We always call it a treasure trove here. No matter who you talk to, they all tell you a story that they associate with the Streicher. They were picked up with a certain thing and connected it with the string. For example, we once had a booklet with a haptic Esse including the skyline of Chemnitz. These are experiences, things that happened. Why shouldn't we be able to bring that back? Whether we can do that is another question.

And will there be another big party?
The days of monster parties are somehow over. I can still remember. For our 15th anniversary, the motto was: 15 years, 15 floors (laughs). But the charm of old factory halls is unfortunately over. 30 years is 30 years. We are now entering a new era. Everything has its time. And we're really looking forward to it!

Streicher basics

The Streicher team consists of a total of
eight editors. Since July 1991
more than 350 issues have been published.

The editorial of the first issue reads:
"[...] are you one of those people who have been really fed up with magazines for a long time?"

An omen?