Values

Those “founding fathers” are the
photographers Rolf Gillhausen and Rolf
Winter. Both men were working for G+J
when, in 1976, they had the idea for a
magazine that would offer readers a
“survey of the Earth,” in all its diversity.
At the time, Gillhausen and Winter were
working at “Stern,” which then had the
largest circulation of any European
magazine. It was a magazine that spared
no effort in delivering to its 8.2 million
readers the most spectacular photos
and the best, most current features from
all ends of the Earth, week after week.
The countless reporters regularly fi ling
stories from around the globe could only
fi t a fraction of their work into “Stern.”
Why not communicate their extensive
knowledge in the form of longer, more
in-depth articles and photo spreads, the
two photographers asked? And with
that, “Geo” was born.
1 2
AN INTERNATIONAL BRAND
1 | “Geo” has won many loyal fans in India
since the launch of a country edition in
2008, published in English
2 | Cover of the very first issue of “Geo,”
October 1976
3 | Within a short time, “Geo” was able
to bring other products under its
brand umbrella and establish
successful magazine lines, including
a title for children – “Geolino”
3
The publishing managers liked the
idea, but what would potential buyers
think? In a “Stern” supplement, the
publishers introduced the “Geo”
concept and included order forms for
subscriptions. “Back then, it was a
revolutionary approach to testing the
market,” says Jürgen Althans, who
joined the “Geo” group in 1986, serving
as publishing manager for 14 years. The
response was overwhelming: More
than 100,000 people subscribed to the
new magazine without ever having
seen a copy.
The high cost of allowing prize-winning
journalists to work for weeks or
even months at a time in remote locations
was refl ected in the magazine’s
cover price. At eight German marks
(four euros), “Geo” cost three times as
much as the news magazine “Der
Spiegel”. But readers were in- >
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