About bochum macht spaß

bochum macht spaß

bochum macht spaß — "Das Magazin für Bochum" — is the free city magazine for Bochum, published every two months by Wunderbar Marketing. Appearing six times a year and reaching more than 60,000 readers in print and online, it is available at over 390 locations across the city: free and "überall erhältlich, wo auch etwas los ist" — everywhere where something's happening. The magazine contains the interviews with interesting people, the entertaining and exciting reports, the news from culture and sport, and the event tips and trends from Bochum and surroundings. Under publisher and editor Oliver Bartkowski, the magazine practices the local patriotism as the business model: "Wir sind Bochumer, wir lieben Bochum" — we are Bochumers, we love Bochum.

Overview

The free city magazine is the local leisure economy's advertising medium: the restaurants, the cultural venues, the retailers, and the event organizers reaching the city's readers through the free distribution. bochum macht spaß addresses this market with the city magazine's program: the people interviews, the city reports, the culture and sport news, and the event calendar. The bimonthly frequency — six issues a year — follows the city's event rhythm: the seasons' programs, the festivals, and the cultural highlights.

The 390-location distribution deserves its logistical portrait. The free magazine's distribution is the physical network: the Sparkasse Bochum branches — the savings bank's citywide branches as the civic distribution backbone; the Bermuda3Eck — the nightlife district's pubs and clubs reaching the young evening readers; the public institutions — the libraries, the citizens' bureaus, the hospitals, the music schools, the kindergartens — reaching the everyday city; the selected retail at the checkout — the purchase moment's impulse take; the affluent districts — the purchasing-power targeting; the cultural and meeting places, the senior homes, the leisure facilities — the demographic breadth; and the public events, the sport and culture events — the occasion distribution. The "kaum Streuverluste" (hardly any waste) claim — the target-group-precise distribution in Bochum and surroundings — is the free press's efficiency argument: every copy placed where its reader passes. The logistics — the bimonthly delivery to the 390 points — is the publisher's operational core: the magazine as the distribution business. The "two formats, one price" — the print ad automatically in the online edition without surcharge — is the local free press's digital answer. The small advertisers — the restaurants, the retailers, the event organizers — buy the print insertion and get the digital presence free: the online issue carrying the same ad to the digital readers. The model's honesty — no digital upsell, no hidden costs — fits the local business relationship: the publisher who loves Bochum selling to the businesses that serve Bochum. The online archive — the past issues' PDFs freely accessible — extends the ads' lifespan: the 2019 and 2023 issues still readable, the advertisers' messages still visible. The bimonthly rhythm — the six issues' yearly cycle — gives the local advertisers the campaign planning: the seasons' promotions, the events' announcements, the Christmas business. In the Ruhr's free-press landscape, the Bochum magazine's 60,000 readers and 390 locations remain the local reach the digital platforms cannot replace: the physical magazine in the physical city. The readership — the 60,000-plus print and online readers — is the city's active population.

History

bochum macht spaß grew as the Wunderbar Marketing's city-magazine project: the publisher Oliver Bartkowski — Bongardstraße 22, 44787 Bochum — building the free Bochum magazine with the local team. The issue numbering — issue 23 in 02/2019, issue 49 in 04/2023 — documents the bimonthly continuity: six issues a year through the late 2010s into the 2020s. The editorial team — Oliver Bartkowski's editorship with the permanent contributors Cindy Sue Bartkowski, Michael Petersen, Maik Schöneborn, Ralf Wohlbrecht, Frank Bieberschulte, Werner Wiegand, Norbert Fiedler, Manfred Linken, David Wienandt, and Sonja Lang, the design by bewolf design and urfunk U.G. — produces the local journalism.

The magazine's development tracked Bochum's transformation: the Ruhr city's shift from the coal and steel to the culture and services — the Bermuda3Eck nightlife, the Schauspielhaus theater, the Bergbau-Museum, the Starlight Express. The interview program — the magazine's signature — deserves its editorial portrait. The "Interviews mit interessanten Menschen" lead the media data's content description: the conversations with the Bochumers who shape the city's public life. The range documented in the archive — the author Frank Goosen on his new book, Bochum, Berlin, and the Ruhrpott; the comedian Helmut Sanftenschneider, the nationally successful Bochum native and trained professional guitarist; the VfL Euro-legend Peter Közle on the Bayern Munich years, the Grasshoppers Zurich, the MSV, and the VfL; the VfL Bochum e-sport stars for the younger generation; the motivation coach and TV presenter Thomas Gerres; the mayor Thomas Eiskirch — shows the editorial method: the long-form local conversation, the city's voices in depth. The football thread — the VfL Bochum as the city's emotional center — runs through the issues: the former professionals, the current stars, the e-sport generation. The interviews make the magazine the city's living room: the Bochumers talking to the Bochumers. The free-magazine model — the advertisers funding the 390-location distribution — sustained the title through the print crises.

Coverage and Content

Each bimonthly issue follows the city's agenda. The people interviews present the interesting Bochumers: the authors, the comedians, the footballers, the coaches, and the local celebrities — from Frank Goosen's books to the VfL Euro-legends to the e-sport stars. The city reports cover the entertaining and exciting topics: the local stories, the investigations, and the portraits. The culture news follows the theaters, the museums, and the music: the Schauspielhaus, the Bergbau-Museum, the concerts. The sport news covers the VfL Bochum and the local sports. The event tips and trends guide the readers: what's on in Bochum and surroundings.

The magazine's local patriotism — the "lokalpatriotische Leser" (local-patriotic readers) the media data celebrates — shapes the editorial voice: the Bochum love as the journalistic program. The interviews' range — from the comedian Helmut Sanftenschneider to the Euro-legend Peter Közle to the mayor — shows the city's public sphere in the one magazine. The free distribution — the magazine where the life happens — makes each issue the city's companion: the two months' Bochum in the one free magazine.

Organization and Ownership

bochum macht spaß is published by Wunderbar Marketing, Oliver Bartkowski, Bongardstraße 22, 44787 Bochum (telephone 0234-54463717, info@wunderbarmarketing.de). The editor is Oliver Bartkowski; the permanent contributors include Cindy Sue Bartkowski, Michael Petersen, Maik Schöneborn, Ralf Wohlbrecht, Frank Bieberschulte, Werner Wiegand, Norbert Fiedler, Manfred Linken, David Wienandt, and Sonja Lang; the design: bewolf design and urfunk U.G.

Commercially, the magazine follows the free-press model: the advertisers — the local businesses, the cultural venues, the restaurants, the retailers, and the event organizers — funding the free distribution at the 390 locations. The media data's selling points — "we are Bochumers, we love Bochum," the closeness to the city, the minimal waste through the target-group-precise distribution, the high ad acceptance through the trust and the reader bond, the strong identification with the local-patriotic readers — name the local free press's business logic: the city love as the advertising argument.

Digital Presence

The brand's digital home is bochummachtspass.de (also reachable via bochum-macht-spass.de), the portal carrying the magazine's content and the online edition: every print advertisement included in the online issue without surcharge — two formats, one price. The digital issues — the PDF editions from the archive — document the back catalog: the 2019, 2023, and earlier issues freely accessible.

The digital strategy follows the free-magazine logic: the print bimonthly for the curated city reading — six issues a year at the 390 locations — the online edition for the digital readers and the advertisers' extended reach. As Bochum's free city magazine — from the Wunderbar Marketing founding through the bimonthly continuity to the 60,000 readers — bochum macht spaß remains the city's companion: the interviews, the reports, and the event tips — free where the life happens, always on bochummachtspass.de.