Still irreconcilable
Contract negotiations between Tamedia and Publicitas regarding a new agreement on advertising commissions have stalled.
Contract Negotiations between Tamedia and Publicitas on a new contract for the advertising commission have come to a standstill.a year after Tamedia terminated the commission agreement with Publicitas, there is still no agreement in sight. This is according to written responses that Werbewoche received from both parties in response to its inquiry. "Actual negotiations regarding a commission agreement have not yet taken place. Everything is up in the air," says Jürg Brauchli, Head of Newspapers at Tamedia. Publicitas takes a different view. "As our contract with Tamedia is still valid, the mutual obligations of the basic agreement will be honored," writes Otto Meier, General Director of PubliPresse.
This shows that the two parties have not yet moved beyond the old positions that could ultimately end in a legal dispute. The background: shortly after the announcement of the Zurich press deal between PubliGroupe and NZZ last July, Tamedia terminated the agreement at the end of 2004 - albeit without notice. However, Tamedia took the position that the greatly changed market situation in the greater Zurich area justified this step. Therefore, from their point of view, there has been no contract since January 1, 2005. Tamedia underlined this position at the beginning of the year by offering media agencies a "direct booking compensation" if they booked with Tamedia-
advertise titles directly instead of via Publimedia.
Publicitas, for its part, assumes that the termination is not legal and that the commission agreement will therefore continue until the end of 2005. For this reason, Otto Meier is in no hurry. On the contrary: as Jürg Brauchli now explains for the first time, P only sent Tamedia a proposal last December, "which we were unable to accept". Tamedia then responded with a counter-proposal, also in December. Since then, there has been radio silence. Brauchli: "We are still waiting for a conclusive answer, although we have already made several written and verbal enquiries." P has already verbally promised a new proposal on several occasions. "However, we have still not received it," writes Brauchli.
Meier does not even address this in his e-mail to Werbewoche. He simply points out that P continues to fulfill all its contractual obligations and thus continues to take over the delcredere for Tamedia. Meier had considered cutting back on services on this point if Tamedia were to retain the direct booking compensation for agencies. "I can't answer whether Tamedia will stick to the direct booking discount or the 6.5 percent consultancy commission for large agencies," he says, clueless. Brauchli, on the other hand, leaves no doubt about this and speaks clearly of "direct booking compensation". He continues: "From our point of view, nothing has changed at all."
Although Otto Meier is otherwise silent on the status of the negotiations, he does reveal one controversial point: "We disagree on the bonus part of the commission agreement," he writes. No wonder: in his proposal, Jürg Brauchli had called for a change from bonuses based on turnover to bonuses based on market share. He explained how he envisioned this in an interview with Werbewoche in February as follows: "You jointly define certain market players, and if the market share then changes in our favor, that's worth a bonus. Otherwise not. Simply swinging along with the advertising boom is not an additional effort; the P has the commission for that." However, Meier clearly does not want to get involved in this. He states: "I can't give any information about the structure of the bonus agreement yet, but the performance basis will certainly also be a prerequisite for the future."
Opinions differ on the bonus: Jürg Brauchli, Head of Newspapers at Tamedia (left), Otto Meier, General Manager of PubliPresse.
Markus Knöpfli
This shows that the two parties have not yet moved beyond the old positions that could ultimately end in a legal dispute. The background: shortly after the announcement of the Zurich press deal between PubliGroupe and NZZ last July, Tamedia terminated the agreement at the end of 2004 - albeit without notice. However, Tamedia took the position that the greatly changed market situation in the greater Zurich area justified this step. Therefore, from their point of view, there has been no contract since January 1, 2005. Tamedia underlined this position at the beginning of the year by offering media agencies a "direct booking compensation" if they booked with Tamedia-
advertise titles directly instead of via Publimedia.
Publicitas, for its part, assumes that the termination is not legal and that the commission agreement will therefore continue until the end of 2005. For this reason, Otto Meier is in no hurry. On the contrary: as Jürg Brauchli now explains for the first time, P only sent Tamedia a proposal last December, "which we were unable to accept". Tamedia then responded with a counter-proposal, also in December. Since then, there has been radio silence. Brauchli: "We are still waiting for a conclusive answer, although we have already made several written and verbal enquiries." P has already verbally promised a new proposal on several occasions. "However, we have still not received it," writes Brauchli.
Meier does not even address this in his e-mail to Werbewoche. He simply points out that P continues to fulfill all its contractual obligations and thus continues to take over the delcredere for Tamedia. Meier had considered cutting back on services on this point if Tamedia were to retain the direct booking compensation for agencies. "I can't answer whether Tamedia will stick to the direct booking discount or the 6.5 percent consultancy commission for large agencies," he says, clueless. Brauchli, on the other hand, leaves no doubt about this and speaks clearly of "direct booking compensation". He continues: "From our point of view, nothing has changed at all."
Although Otto Meier is otherwise silent on the status of the negotiations, he does reveal one controversial point: "We disagree on the bonus part of the commission agreement," he writes. No wonder: in his proposal, Jürg Brauchli had called for a change from bonuses based on turnover to bonuses based on market share. He explained how he envisioned this in an interview with Werbewoche in February as follows: "You jointly define certain market players, and if the market share then changes in our favor, that's worth a bonus. Otherwise not. Simply swinging along with the advertising boom is not an additional effort; the P has the commission for that." However, Meier clearly does not want to get involved in this. He states: "I can't give any information about the structure of the bonus agreement yet, but the performance basis will certainly also be a prerequisite for the future."
Opinions differ on the bonus: Jürg Brauchli, Head of Newspapers at Tamedia (left), Otto Meier, General Manager of PubliPresse.
Markus Knöpfli
