In the shadow of the cavaliers

 
Shadow economy The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) has launched a major campaign against undeclared work with cR Basel. 
The student from Romania is very nice and uncomplicated. She spruced up the apartment on the Zürichberg for the expected guests in three hours. The sprightly pensioner from Emmental knows a thing or two about nature. He cuts the trees for the whole neighborhood every autumn.
Such subtle but not always small-scale undeclared work is part of the shadow economy, with which around CHF 39 billion or 9 percent of Switzerland's gross domestic product is smuggled past the tax authorities and social security funds every year. Too much, says the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco). This is why the law to combat undeclared work is needed. This will come into force on January 1, 2008.
The new law will be introduced and then accompanied for at least three years by a broad-based awareness and information campaign. This was personally recommended to the media at the beginning of this week by the Federal Councillor responsible, Doris Leuthard. The cantons, associations and trade unions are also actively involved in the information campaign. The campaign is being designed by cR Basel. The agency won the contract following a multi-stage pitch in which Seco initially invited 20 agencies. The budget for the three-year plan is CHF 3.5 million. Thanks to the federal government's 50 percent discount with the Swiss media, the campaign will have a projected value of around CHF 5 million. The strategy also requires the campaign to use the media as a multiplier. The advertisers at cR Basel have therefore not only "invested extremely heavily in PR", but have also designed their ideas in such a way that they can trigger suggestions for further reports in the press and on radio and television. This is expected to have an informative effect similar to the major Stop AIDS campaign. With this combination of social marketing and "marketing thinking", cR Basel probably has the best reference for this federal mandate. "We sell education against undeclared work like a product," say Managing Directors Peter Frey and Daniel Bürgi. In this case, this product is called "legality" for the advertisers.
cR Basel is responsible for the concept, editing and web design of the campaign against undeclared work. Various posters, advertisements, banners, brochures and logos were realized. The website www.keine-schwarzarbeit.ch serves as the central hub for all further activities relating to the campaign. This was realized in collaboration with the Federal Office of Technology.
Undeclared work is not a trivial offense, although it is practiced in all circles. Those who work illegally are cheating themselves, as they are forgoing the wages they are entitled to and the protection of social insurance, said Leuthard. Anyone who works illegally or employs illegal workers is also defrauding the state, society and legitimate competitors.
Despite this explosive issue, the campaign does not want to point a warning finger. The law works with a mixture of incentives, repression and education and obliges the cantons to set up a cantonal control body. For example, a simplified accounting procedure is introduced for small salaried incomes. This is intended to lower the inhibition threshold for whitewashing undeclared work. The campaign also aims to build a bridge to new action. To this end, cR Basel works on three levels: Raising awareness, education, action.
It was clear early on that the complex problem could not be solved with a visual idea. The creative team therefore opted for purely textual communication, concentrating on the poster. Concise, but without slogans. A "freestyle language" must be able to transcend all forms. Printed on numerous gadgets such as caps, double meters or pencils, the texts should also find their way to the audience.
It is also important that associations such as Unia or Gastrosuisse can click into the campaign. For them and for Seco, cR is not just an advertising agency, but also a strategic partner.
Andreas Panzeri