German armed forces

Y – Das Magazin der Bundeswehr: how an employee magazine becomes a print medium for the digital generation.

01 The goal

Y – Das Magazin der Bundeswehr is the magazine for young soldiers and members of the German armed forces. But it’s more than an employee magazine – it fulfils an educational mandate and educates on the work of all members of the German armed forces. It also builds identity and fosters pride in one’s work and troops. Since young people with fast-media usage patterns are increasingly joining the German armed forces, the goal is to introduce these young soldiers to the print medium, arouse their interest through low-threshold communication and also do justice to the educational mandate.

02 The strategy

Y brings the digital display format to paper – like an Instastory in magazine form. The magazine is consistently concentrated on the young, digital core target group. The personally moving content is at the front of every issue; things of everyday relevance follow. Later, it turns to background and the big picture. Finally, there’s a look at free time after duty. That makes the magazine immediately useful and usable for the “digital in their DNA” target groups.

“The agency C3 has the publishing expertise to present military content in a magazine-appropriate way.”

Sylvia Börner, Chefin vom Dienst Y & Leitende Redaktion Y (komm.)

03 The implementation

Traditional magazine formats? Not for the young target group of the Y magazine. Narrative models are sought where the core target group find theirs – on YouTube and Instagram. Linear storytelling as we know it from the internet and social media replaces multi-dimensional stories. Photo spreads with strong imagery and emphatically snappy texts with activating calls to action underline the modern design. Stories are created out of individual, self-contained elements. That’s still unusual for print but works surprisingly well, even for complex topics.