About WILLI

WILLI

WILLI is the city magazine of Bruchsal in Baden-Württemberg — a monthly title that has chronicled the life of the baroque city and the surrounding Kraichgau region for a quarter of a century. Published by egghead Medien GmbH of Bruchsal, it appears at the beginning of each month with a circulation of over 12,000 copies, covering local politics and society, culture, events, business and the region's history. Distributed free or by subscription across Bruchsal and neighbouring communities, WILLI functions as the city's collective memory and noticeboard: its pages carry everything from theatre programmes and book tips to portraits of local figures and reports on two hundred years of democracy history. Current issues are also published online through the landfunker.de platform.

Overview

City magazines are the connective tissue of German local life, and WILLI has played that role in Bruchsal for 25 years. Each monthly issue, appearing at the start of the month, assembles the region's agenda: cultural events, theatre and concert programmes, local business news, portraits, service topics and the debates of the city. The magazine's subtitle describes it as the Stadtmagazin — and increasingly the Regio-Magazin — for Bruchsal, the Kraichgau and the district of Karlsruhe.

The editorial concept blends journalism with service. Alongside reports and interviews, WILLI carries standing service sections: book and CD tips, event calendars, infomercial features on local trades and professions, and advertising that is itself a local business directory. The magazine's publisher, egghead Medien GmbH, presents the title as an established advertising medium — "in 25 Jahren bestens etabliert" — recognised by the region's businesses as the way to reach Bruchsal households. With over 12,000 copies per issue, it achieves a household penetration that regional dailies in the area can no longer match.

The digital extension through landfunker.de, where current WILLI issues can be read online page by page, has made the magazine's archive of local reporting accessible beyond the print distribution area.

What distinguishes WILLI from a mere events calendar is its editorial memory. A city magazine that has published monthly for 25 years becomes, almost inevitably, a chronicle: its back issues record which shops opened and closed on the Kaiserstrasse, which festivals filled the Schlosspark, which local politicians shaped the cityscape. For Bruchsal — a baroque residence city with a layered history from the prince-bishops to the railway age — that continuity matters. WILLI's long-serving editors and contributors have given the title a recognisable voice, and its covers and photo spreads form a visual record of a quarter-century of local life that no other medium in the city provides.

History

WILLI was founded in Bruchsal around 1998 — the publisher's job advertisements in the early 2020s describe the title as established "in 25 Jahren". The magazine was created by egghead, the Bruchsal media company that has remained its publisher and producer ever since, growing from a city magazine into a regional medium for Bruchsal, the Kraichgau and the Karlsruhe district.

The masthead of the mid-2000s issues documents the operation: publisher egghead Medien GmbH, Bruchsal; Ulrich Konrad as publisher responsible under press law (v.i.S.d.P.); Iris Weindel as overall manager and layout lead with a design team; Ingo Gießmann — also known as a KraichgauTV presenter — among the editors; Sabine Schirra in media consulting; printing by Hirsch GmbH Printmedien in Bretten; a circulation stated as over 12,000 copies with monthly publication. The editorial and advertising deadline was the 15th of the preceding month, a rhythm the monthly title has kept.

Through two and a half decades WILLI has accompanied Bruchsal's transformation: the city's cultural life, its festivals and theatre, local politics and the region's economic development. The magazine's pages preserve the texture of local history — from carnival reports to the commemoration of the city's past — and its journalists have included long-serving local editors whose names are familiar to Bruchsal readers. The move to online readability via landfunker.de brought the title into the digital age without abandoning its print core.

The publisher behind the title, egghead Medien GmbH, is itself a Bruchsal media business: a full-service media company offering print, web design and media consulting, for whom WILLI is both flagship product and calling card. The company's media consultants sell the magazine's advertising space in cross-media packages, and its job advertisements describe WILLI as a recognised advertising medium — evidence that the title's business model, built on local commerce rather than subscriptions alone, has held for a quarter of a century.

Content and Sections

A typical WILLI issue opens with the month's local agenda and moves through culture, society, business and service. Theatre and event coverage is a pillar: the magazine previews and reviews productions, concerts and festivals in Bruchsal and the region, and its pages have long carried the programmes of local stages. Book and CD tips, curated with local booksellers, give the culture sections a personal voice.

Local reporting covers the city's institutions, associations and personalities — from the democracy-history work of local societies, such as the coverage of Offenburg's Salmen memorial in the June issue, to portraits of craftspeople, entrepreneurs and volunteers. Service journalism addresses the reader's daily life: the "Freie Berufe" (liberal professions) information column, infomercial features on trades from kitchens to taxis, and practical guides. Regular features have included "Aus der Reihe" series, reader greetings, and the "Schaufenster" showcase for local commerce.

The advertising sections are integral to the concept: local businesses present themselves in an environment of trusted local journalism, and the publisher's media consulting actively builds cross-media packages around the print title. The result is a magazine that reads as a portrait of its city — useful, familiar and rooted. Readers find not only what is happening, but who is behind it: the shopkeepers, restaurateurs, artists and volunteers whose names recur month after month, giving the magazine the character of a community talking to itself.

Publisher and Organization

WILLI is published by egghead Medien GmbH of Bruchsal (Zeiloch 6, 76646 Bruchsal; media contact medien@egghead.de, phone 07251 387828). The magazine appears monthly, at the beginning of each month, with a stated circulation of over 12,000 copies. Ulrich Konrad is named as the publisher responsible under press law (v.i.S.d.P.), with Iris Weindel in overall management and layout leadership; the editorial team has included Andrea Bacher-Schäfer, Martin Stock, Hartmut Schönherr, Heiko P. Wacker, Ingo Gießmann and others, with Sabine Schirra in media consulting. Printing is by Hirsch GmbH Printmedien, Bretten, and the magazine's production — from concept and page design to layout — has remained in Bruchsal hands throughout its history. Current issues are additionally published online via landfunker.de. Individual current circulation audits and the present editor-in-chief have not been publicly confirmed beyond the publisher's own statements.

Digital Presence

WILLI's digital home is willi-online.de, complemented by the full-issue online reading experience on landfunker.de, where the current WILLI — "das Bruchsal-Kraichgau-Regio-Magazin" — can be read page by page. The online editions extend the print magazine's reach to former residents, commuters and anyone interested in the region, and they preserve the title's local reporting as a searchable archive.

The publisher's contact channels — medien@egghead.de and the Bruchsal phone lines — serve both readers and the regional advertisers who form the magazine's economic base. Through its combination of a 25-year-old print monthly and its online readability, WILLI remains what it set out to be: Bruchsal's own magazine, the place where the city reads about itself, month after month.