kicker Magazine Opts for vjoon K4™
February 10, 2011
SNAP Innovation deploys the 400th vjoon K4 system, delivering it to Germany’s most revered sports magazine.
From now on, kicker-sportmagazin will be produced using vjoon K4. The magazine's publisher, Nuremberg-based Olympia-Verlag, tasked vjoon's integration partner SNAP Innovation to deliver and install the Cross-Media Publishing Platform. The first iPad edition of kicker has already been created using vjoon K4 and the integrated Adobe® Digital Publishing Suite (DPS). Called "Abenteuer Fußball" (Soccer Adventure), this special edition of kicker is available now in the iTunes store, much to fans' delight.
"The exceedingly complex production conditions at kicker-sportmagazin necessitate great flexibility in configuring the different production processes. With vjoon and SNAP, we have competent partners with considerable experience on our side. What's more, we are building on a future industry standard with the Adobe DPS," notes Alexander Maintok, IT manager at Olympia-Verlag.
The system's integration with Adobe DPS is one of many benefits that vjoon K4 brings to the publishing process. Match results, reports, and statistics are captured and updated in the kicker database. These data are imported automatically to vjoon K4 via an integration developed jointly by Olympia-Verlag and SNAP, and then constantly updated on the pages in production.
"Olympia-Verlag had initially rented vjoon K4 for four months to test extensively the Cross-Media Publishing Platform for the production of kicker. We are delighted that the publishing house has now opted to use the system throughout the company," says Paul Hörbelt of SNAP Innovation. "With vjoon K4, Olympia-Verlag now has a stable and scalable production system that handles all the prevailing channels," notes vjoon® CEO Andreas Schrader. "Of course, the integration with Adobe DPS also plays an important role - after all, the automated processes save time and cut costs when producing tablet apps. We are very thrilled that our 400th installed system has gone to such a distinguished customer."
About kicker-sportmagazin
kicker-sportmagazin, often called kicker or Der Kicker for short, is a semiweekly sports magazine steeped in tradition. Although it focuses mainly on national and international soccer, it also covers all the key events in the world of sports. Some 200,000 copies of the Monday edition are sold every week.
With the head office based in Nuremberg, Olympia-Verlag also employs editors at four other sites. kicker-sportmagazin is printed simultaneously at up to 13 locations to provide ubiquitous coverage. In combination with the kicker online website, kicker-sportmagazin has the greatest reach of any German sports brand.
About SNAP Innovation
Founded in 1996, SNAP Innovation GmbH currently employs a staff of 20 at its Hamburg, Frankfurt, and Munich offices. SNAP is the leading system integrator for Adobe-based publishing solutions in the Germanophone region. The company‘s key solution is the vjoon K4 Cross-Media Publishing Platform. SNAP has rolled out and put into operation more than 3,500 of these workstations since 2004. Publishers currently using SNAP solutions include Hubert Burda Media, DIE ZEIT, WAZ Mediengruppe, DVV Media Group, Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung, Leipziger Volkszeitung, and Schwäbische Zeitung. Its customer base also comprises enterprises such as ADAC, Beiersdorf, HSH Nordbank or Vattenfall Europe.
