The question of trust
Guest commentary For the Swiss advertising industry, the upcoming interim certification by Wemf in October has a clear signal effect, warns Urs Schneider.
Guest commentary For the Swiss advertising industry, the upcoming interim certification by Wemf in October has a clear signal effect, warns Urs Schneider. Due to the introduction of a new counting procedure, the next mandatory certification will not take place until October 2005. For some publishers, a year and a half is too long, which is why Wemf, which is financed by them, is offering an interim certification this October. The results would be published for the first time at practically the same time as the readership figures. An extremely sensible move, especially in view of the setting of the new tariffs. The new certification regulations already seem to be having an effect. Various publishers are suddenly paying closer attention to the development of their circulation figures, which is a positive development from the client's point of view. After the recent cases of false declarations, only rapid and complete transparency can restore the necessary trust. For this reason alone, it would be advisable for all major publications that are important for the advertising industry to carry out an interim certification.
Big players have registered their participation. However, if only around 60 titles take part in the interim review, the good Wemf initiative will not be very meaningful. A patchy certification would send the wrong signal to the advertising industry. A collective voluntary clean-up in two months would restore confidence in the print runs. This is especially true for small and medium-sized daily newspapers.
The argument that not much has changed in the past year is not valid. Recently, various titles have developed, in some cases surprisingly. The new Wemf regulations also have an impact on the survey methodology. This step will result in major deviations. This makes the advertising industry's demand for rapid transparency all the more understandable. A delay until October 2005 would be unacceptable. In Germany, the circulation of large publications is even checked on a quarterly basis. This may be a little too much of a good thing, but the logic is sound.
Another excuse is the cost factor. This depends on the print run and amounts to a maximum of CHF 3700 for print runs of over 300,000 copies. Wemf grants a third discount for interim certification. The maximum cost for this proof of confidence in your own product is therefore a mere 2467 francs, and only 1167 francs for publications with a print run of up to 50,000 copies.
The interim certification offers publishers a double opportunity to show the advertising industry that they have recognized the problem of circulation figures and are doing their part to solve it.
> Urs Schneider is the owner of the Zurich agency Media Schneider.
Big players have registered their participation. However, if only around 60 titles take part in the interim review, the good Wemf initiative will not be very meaningful. A patchy certification would send the wrong signal to the advertising industry. A collective voluntary clean-up in two months would restore confidence in the print runs. This is especially true for small and medium-sized daily newspapers.
The argument that not much has changed in the past year is not valid. Recently, various titles have developed, in some cases surprisingly. The new Wemf regulations also have an impact on the survey methodology. This step will result in major deviations. This makes the advertising industry's demand for rapid transparency all the more understandable. A delay until October 2005 would be unacceptable. In Germany, the circulation of large publications is even checked on a quarterly basis. This may be a little too much of a good thing, but the logic is sound.
Another excuse is the cost factor. This depends on the print run and amounts to a maximum of CHF 3700 for print runs of over 300,000 copies. Wemf grants a third discount for interim certification. The maximum cost for this proof of confidence in your own product is therefore a mere 2467 francs, and only 1167 francs for publications with a print run of up to 50,000 copies.
The interim certification offers publishers a double opportunity to show the advertising industry that they have recognized the problem of circulation figures and are doing their part to solve it.
> Urs Schneider is the owner of the Zurich agency Media Schneider.
