Eddie Profile: BMW Magazine

By FOLIO: Magazine Staff
10/30/2007

Just as BMW owners are passionate about their cars, the people who put together BMW Magazine are passionate about their magazine. Based in Munich, Germany, editor-in-chief Bernd Zerelles—who has been with the quarterly publication for five years—says the June 2007 issue, which he submitted to the Folio: Awards competition, was one of the magazine’s best so far.

“We have an interesting mixture of topics in that issue, so every reader, whether technical, cultural, or interested in travel, has stories to read,” he says. “We showed the wide world of the BMW brand in all facets.”

Zerelles says that he and his team aim to have a minimum of three stories or elements in each issue that truly stand out for their readers.

Black and White a First
Zerelles’ favorite element in the June 2007 issue was called “Chasing the big happiness,” a black-and-white photo session of the BMW 1 Series. The photos follow a woman wearing white and driving a black BMW, and a man wearing black and driving a black BMW, as they race around Munich. “It’s a black-and-white shooting, which is quite uncommon for car photography,” Zerelles says. “It tells a nice short story in the pictures without a lot of text. It really fits the young character of the car. Shooting in only black and white is something we’ve never done before.”

Another piece that resonated with readers, according to Zerelles, followed motorbike racing instructor Marc-Oliver Nemeth for a day with a group of riders at BMW’s Enduro Park. It offered an inside look at braking on gravel, managing 60-degree inclines and tips on the right way to fall from a bike. “I was particularly impressed with this piece because it’s a perfect example of how we see the connection of print and online,” Zerelles says. A downloadable companion video of the day was posted on the magazine’s Web site.

Zerelles says that production of the issue went off mostly without a hitch. “For the story ‘Cotton wool, yogurt and cat litter,’ it was very hard for our culture writer, Silke Hohmann, to get ahold of the artists,” he says. “But, she managed it. It was a pleasure putting this issue together.”