Celebrities for SF zwei

Corporate Identity Swiss Television has commissioned the production of a series of new trailers for SF zwei, with the aim of giving the channel a youthful styling.the red blocks, which float through the Swiss landscape to a spherical sound and are condensed in the SF logo, are to have competition. Alex Hefter, who has been responsible for CD design at Schweizer Fernsehen since October 2004, wants to contrast the red blocks with even more colorful celebrities from Swiss showbiz. The celebrities with their statements are the new identities for SF zwei. The blocks will remain the identifying mark for SF 1, giving the two channels an even more independent look in future. SF zwei naturally "younger". Hefter is convinced: "Today, the packaging is just as important for a media brand as the program." In a first series for the new station Idents, the ten celebrities DJ Bobo, Roger Federer, Tanja Frieden, Baschi, Melanie Winiger, Carlos Leal, DJ Tatana, Nadine Strittmatter, Miss Switzerland Lauriane Gilliéron and Stress appeared in front of the camera. The film was directed by Michel Comte. The short films were produced externally by Lea Rindlisbacher and her Zurich-based company Eqal.
"The shape of this staging at 35 millimetres would not have been typical for the tpc," says Hefter, explaining why the contract was awarded externally. In addition, he also "found the best price-performance ratio" with Eqal. They did business together because Eqal had already worked with Michel Comte several times - and for Alex Hefter it was important "to realize this story with an established Swiss star". The CD was struck, for example, by the "outstanding artwork" in Michel Comte's Jaguar commercials.
The campaign idea for the new idents was developed by Alex Hefter. On the set, the team also spontaneously put into practice an idea for new image clips that had been dormant for some time.
As the stars were already in front of the camera, Comte simply placed them in front of a white wall and staged an additional series of black and white image clips in this simple setting. These clips were dubbed with off-screen voices of the respective celebrities. All clips culminate in the claim: "My Switzerland, my television". Thanks to this dual use, the 30-strong team was able to work very efficiently. Up to four commercials were produced per day.

Rapid success in a short space of timeA dozen or so statuettes with design awards from all over the world are stacked on a shelf behind the desk of new CD Alex Hefter. "We've won at least one prize at every competition in the past twelve months," says Hefter happily. He denies the question of whether the budgets have also increased for this yield. "My budget is the same as my predecessor's." The prices are therefore based more on the conceptual nature of the work and the quality of the design. "We make more out of less budget here," calculates the former head of design at ZDF.
Swiss television in New York was also recently recognized for the "Tagesschau" studio and "10 to 10". "If we want to compare this work internationally, there is a clarity in the lines, a refreshing reduction, while the Americans in particular are currently becoming very baroque, with a lot of wood and emotional background," says the CD, explaining the style of his work.
Overall, he feels that the appearance of Swiss television is "modern, reduced to the essentials and necessary". Hefter wants to see his work in the world-famous tradition of Swiss design. He developed the look of the new studios together with the Swiss furniture designer and architect Hannes Wettstein.
In terms of idents and image clips, Hefter is also planning versions with Frank Baumann, Marco Rima, Trudi Gerster, Peach Weber and other identification figures for SF 1, but the landscape images with the red cubes are to remain. The series for SF 2 can also be continued with new faces that are currently in the spotlight.
In an initial phase, the idents on SF zwei will now be broadcast very intensively. The makers were therefore aware during filming: "You have to be able to watch the story several times."
Alex Hefter, CD Design SFStudy as a graduate designer
at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart. Freelance designer for various German TV stations. 1994 permanently employed as conceptual designer at ZDF. Assigned to the Corporate Design department from 1996. 2001 Head of the ZDF Corporate Design department. In addition, teaching assignments as a visiting professor at the University of Applied Sciences in Mainz and at the Ravensburg University of Cooperative Education for media design. Since September 2004 Creative Director Design for Swiss Television.
Andreas Panzeri