Sara Öhrvall Takes on the U.S.

Digital changes and successes in the magazine world have meant a change for Sara Öhrvall, head of Bonnier R&D at Bonnier AB in Stockholm. She will be leaving Stockholm behind temporarily to run a new R&D department for Bonnier Corporation in the U.S., based at Bonnier's San Francisco office.

Öhrvall has been the driving force in the development of Mag+ and key to the recent release of the acclaimed Popular Science+, the first Bonnier title on the Mag+ platform for the iPad.

"The move to the U.S. is really a continuation of my work with Mag+ so far," says Öhrvall. "The launch was very positive and right now it's important to build on that success, so we're pushing hard to release other digital magazine titles as well."

Öhrvall will be working in the U.S. throughout 2010, and her plans for the upcoming months for R&D at Bonnier Corp. include elevated development and upgrades for the Mag+ platform as more of Bonnier's magazines in the U.S., Sweden and Denmark are rolled out on the iPad and other tablet computers.

"The addition of Sara full-time to Bonnier here in the U.S. enhances our dedication to emerging media," says Terry Snow, CEO of Bonnier Corp. "Her insight and vision made the launch of Popular Science+ a huge success, and we expect the same for the rest of our brands."

In addition to Öhrvall's focus on the Mag+ project for the U.S. titles, the new R&D department will be responsible for selected digital media projects focusing on future business opportunities for Bonnier Corp. The R&D office in San Francisco will be recruiting additional staff in order to better handle many ongoing projects at once, she says.

"The biggest challenge in the U.S. is that the market is incredibly sensitive to competition, and consumer changes in digital media have had such a big impact," says Öhrvall. "It's a challenge to find unique digital media products. But if we succeed, the potential is so much greater with a market as big as that of the U.S. Our focus will be to repackage our current strong niche brands with their loyal users and clear content."

Öhrvall says she is looking forward to the move. "It will be exciting to see the iPad with our strong niche titles with visually attractive articles, for instance Skateboarding, Islands and Ski," she says.

In Stockholm, CEO Jonas Bonnier will be taking over as head of Bonnier R&D's operations while Sara Öhrvall is in the U.S. Bonnier R&D in Sweden will continue to focus as well on rolling out magazines on the Mag+ platform in Sweden and Denmark throughout 2010 and beyond. In addition, the Stockholm-based R&D team will be looking at broadening the Mag+ platform by providing development support for additional products and working closely with various Bonnier subsidiaries on a range of applications in other media channels.