Migros Magazine

Migros Magazine is a weekly free newspaper of the Swiss retail group Migros. Previously, the magazine Wir Brückenbauer, founded by Migros founder Gottlieb Duttweiler in 1942 and published by the Federation of Migros Cooperatives, was subtitled "Wochenblatt des Sozialkapital" (also called: Bridge Builder).

Gottlieb Duttweiler established publishing channels for Migros early on. It started in 1925 with a leaflet titled Migros – die Brücke ("Migros – the Bridge"), which appeared every three to four weeks. From December 1927, Duttweiler placed text advertisements in several newspapers. This "newspaper within a newspaper" appeared a total of 727 times. In November 1935, Duttweiler founded the newspaper Die Tat, which was first published weekly and, from October 1939, as an evening newspaper.

When Duttweiler converted Migros into a cooperative in 1941, he applied to the Federal Department of Justice and Police to establish a weekly newspaper for the cooperative members. The launch was not approved until 21 July 1942. Shortly thereafter, on 30 July 1942, the first issue of Wir Brückenbauer was published. Duttweiler was a member of the editorial committee of the new newspaper.

With this publication, Migros could better convey a "Migros spirit" to members than through the "newspaper within a newspaper." During World War II, this meant, among other things, that the federal government's supply policies were commented on from its own perspective, and a sense of community was built and maintained. In his editorial in the first issue, Duttweiler wrote: "A state of everyday life must be created that will be in accordance with the words: 'We are one single people of brothers.' Back to federal principles, up to a Christianity in everyday life—that is the task of material and spiritual social capital and especially of our organ 'Wir Brückenbauer.'."

In the following years, Brückenbauer expanded reader engagement with various sections such as letters to the editor, competitions, advisory services, reader trips, and surveys. Different social classes were portrayed, and the marketing of Migros products, which remained inexpensive even during the war, contributed to reader loyalty during the crisis period. Particularly popular were the advisory service and competitions, where readers could submit text and image contributions The circulation increased in the first years from 110,000 copies in the summer of 1942 to 200,000 copies in 1950. The most important growth factor, besides reader loyalty, was the free membership in the cooperative.

In 1987, the newspaper was redesigned: Brückenbauer now appeared in full color and in tabloid format. Content changes were also made. On 25 March 1987, a new section called the "Search Corner" was introduced, initially under the title "He who seeks, finds." Later, it was called "One of you surely knows...". The Search Corner became a "real hit" with the audience, as the newspaper wrote in May 1987: "So many people and things from the past want to be found again—and in our large readership, surely someone remembers in each case".

Over 1,000 search queries appeared per year. Most concerned friends lost from sight from school, vocational training, or military service, but also forgotten song lyrics, poems, or hobby items. The submissions, which were published with or without photos, often expressed a return to the supposedly lost village way of life. The introduction of a conservative section for reader engagement corresponded to the dominant marketing theme at the time, the "value change," as mentioned in the Migros annual report of 1987. These changes were perceived by Migros as both an opportunity and a threat. On one hand, the section provided an identity-forming memory depot in times of new crises; on the other, the return to the past also strengthened individual learning for the future.

On May 25, 2004, the name of the newspaper was changed to Migros magazine in order to clarify the relationship to Migros again after the old symbolism of the retailer as a “bridge builder” between producers and consumers was forgotten. The "we" made the community clear and was supposed to build the “bridge” between producer and consumer. [11]