Constructive pressure in the glass box
A sentiment report from Tamedia that is not entirely independent of economic conditions
A report on the mood at Tamedia that is not entirely independent of the economyBy Oliver Classen Anyone who makes transparency a corporate doctrine and gives it an architectural face could not help but be enthusiastic about our request. "A day in the life of Tamedia" by means of random interviews: Company spokesman Peter Hartmeier spontaneously took over the coordination of the appointments, we took over the formulation of the working thesis: The general economic situation corresponds with the internal mood - and vice versa.
Visitors are welcomed by a monument that is as tall as a man, but only as wide as a hand. This does not refer to the architectural testimony to the euphoria of growth, the glass palace glistening in the late summer sun, but to the gigantic screen that grins at us, almost a little maliciously, in the entrance lobby on Werdstrasse.
Compared to this flat screen decorated with the Tamedia logo, on which SF 1 is usually shown instead of Tele Züri, the editions of Facts, Annabelle, SonntagsZeitung and of course Tages-Anzeiger displayed on small smoking tables all around seem almost discreet. "If the monster hadn't been so expensive, we would have banished it to the junk room long ago": Peter Hartmeier is clearly not a fan of this symbolic remnant of the multimedia fantasies that were trimmed back to normal after the TV 3 adventure. And on the way up to his office, he doesn't forget to add: "We've learned a lot since then".
Listening too much to marketers and external consultants
He has just cooked up a distillation of recent Tamedia experiences and the resulting consequences at the exclusive "European Forum" in Alpbach, Austria. There, where the media elite (this year including Roger de Weck) meet every year, the Chief Communicator spoke about "Saving and maximizing profits after the Golden Age". The quintessence in the original quote: "We have thought too much about packaging and marketing, allowed ourselves to be blinded too much by decorative accessories and bluff, listened too long to consultants from outside the industry."
Remarkable insights that have been followed by action since late fall last year under the title "Focus" - which probably means based on facts, facts, facts. In contrast to some competitors, Hartmeier says that the company has by no means gone into a cost-cutting frenzy. Nevertheless, redundancies for operational reasons can no longer be ruled out in principle. "In future, we will employ fewer staff, but more non-conformists at all hierarchical levels," said the manager in Alpbach. When asked about this in Zurich, he immediately added that the editorial teams need not fear for their job percentages as a result.
The "Tagi" easily cleared the five percent hurdle
Who then? Internally, it is an open secret that the Tages-Anzeiger, as the most personnel-intensive and at the same time most declining Tamedia title - according to the latest Mach, the 30 percent drop in sales in the first half of 2002 is now accompanied by a loss of 35,000 readers - is currently under the greatest cost pressure.
If you believe the commercial captains of the faltering flagship, Hans Jürg Klöti (Advertising Market Director) and Fridolin Holdener (Sales Director), the situation is serious, but far from dramatic. "We have overcome the five per cent hurdle set by Focus last year through standardization measures, process optimization and the odd early retirement," Holdener proudly states.
A second wave of rationalization, during which operating costs were reduced by a further 10 percent, was recently rolled out. This time, however, it was no longer possible without redundancies. "The back office area was particularly affected," says Klöti. However, the doyen of the Swiss-German advertising business does not want to know anything about growing uncertainty, let alone a change of climate in his department, which is called a "protected workshop" by malicious tongues. The new organizational structure has simply made synergies possible and streamlining necessary. "This process has now been completed and employee morale has not been permanently dampened," says Klöti with conviction.
The Tagi reporting days are much less optimistic with regard to medium-term improvements in earnings. In a telephone survey conducted last week with some key clients, there were hopes of the first brighter signs on the advertising horizon, but they were "sent home with their pants sawed off". Despite this, Klöti and Holdener believe that the economic downturn has bottomed out. One indicator of this is the pleasing fact that last week, the Tages-Anzeiger was once again up on the previous year for three days in a row for commercial campaigns "for the first time in a very long time".
"Constructive pressure conditions"
Forecasts and projections aside, full commitment on the sales front without corresponding turnover harbors a high potential for frustration. Reto Feurer and his colleagues can tell you a thing or two about this. "The relationship between my workload and income has been completely reversed over the past two years," says the Sales Manager for the "Zurich South" region, which includes Central Switzerland and, politically incorrectly, even Ticino. Where they used to open doors, the customer advisors involved in the success often barely make it to the doorstep these days.
When the phone does ring, it is more often than ever requests for special conditions. "This shows that someone on the other side is also under the hammer," Feurer analyzes. And he sympathizes with advertisers who consider it ethically unacceptable to run big image campaigns during their own restructuring measures.
"Everyone would probably have problems if their employer cut jobs but at the same time had money left over for advertising." Nevertheless, he would more than welcome anti-cyclical investment behavior from his own employer. This would give him and his peers a compelling sales argument, along the lines of "What we can do, other companies have been doing for a long time". However, Feurer is not complaining and sums up his situation with the memorable words: "We are under constructive pressure."
Schawinski already left behind lean structures
Richi Gasser at Limmatstrasse is also feeling the effects of this, albeit in a much less pronounced form. "As an ex-Schawinski station, we didn't bring any excess capacity with us to Tamedia last year," remarks the Head of Marketing at Radio 24 with a wink. In the current budget negotiations for 2003, the man who now reports directly to Andreas Meili (Head of Electronic Media) following the departure of Christian Stärkle wants to achieve a zero round if possible. "Actually, we should even increase our staff in view of our anniversary next year," says Gasser at the weekly team meeting, at which - in a surprisingly tidy atmosphere - eight employees are present.
Among other things, the new pool policy, current customer contacts and cross-media campaigns with other Tamedia products are discussed. "Although these have achieved little so far, they are still desired," Gasser informs the group.
Radio 24 unanimously identifies the greatest potential for synergy with the new parent company as the spatial integration discussed for next year. "In order to be even closer to the pulse of the city, we would like to move geographically closer to the center," says program director Peter Brun, explaining the interests of the 13-member editorial team in this regard.
In terms of sales and studio technology, however, a move to Tele Züri in the Steinfels area would be much closer, especially as the Glashaus is already threatening to burst. "We have always worked closely with our TV colleagues: When Tele Züri, for example, has a reporter on site, he usually reports for us at the same time," says Brun, describing the modus cooperandi of the two Belcom broadcasters. From his point of view, these staffing scenarios have "no influence whatsoever" on the respective staffing levels, which is why no one under their roof has to fear for their job.
Back at the Werdstrasse headquarters, we are assured that editorial job cuts are not an issue at the Tages-Anzeiger either. Over lunch, editor-in-chief Philipp Löpfe expresses surprise at the fears that WerbeWoche has heard. "The Tagi is still highly profitable and has long contributed to the Focus program with the earlier printing of the fifth and sixth bundles."
This two-hour postponement to optimize the capacity utilization of the printing presses resulted in savings of half a million francs and was a major editorial sacrifice. Löpfe, who had chaired the ritual department head retreat the day before ("that wasn't a savings round, but a modification round"), also believes that the potential for synergies in terms of content has been "pretty much exhausted". They are happy to share the car editor with Facts and SonntagsZeitung, but the sisterly incest will not go any further in the future. Specifically: "If Durisch demands next Sunday that Marthaler should take his floppy hat, the Monday Tagi will still say Marthaler must stay."
Visitors are welcomed by a monument that is as tall as a man, but only as wide as a hand. This does not refer to the architectural testimony to the euphoria of growth, the glass palace glistening in the late summer sun, but to the gigantic screen that grins at us, almost a little maliciously, in the entrance lobby on Werdstrasse.
Compared to this flat screen decorated with the Tamedia logo, on which SF 1 is usually shown instead of Tele Züri, the editions of Facts, Annabelle, SonntagsZeitung and of course Tages-Anzeiger displayed on small smoking tables all around seem almost discreet. "If the monster hadn't been so expensive, we would have banished it to the junk room long ago": Peter Hartmeier is clearly not a fan of this symbolic remnant of the multimedia fantasies that were trimmed back to normal after the TV 3 adventure. And on the way up to his office, he doesn't forget to add: "We've learned a lot since then".
Listening too much to marketers and external consultants
He has just cooked up a distillation of recent Tamedia experiences and the resulting consequences at the exclusive "European Forum" in Alpbach, Austria. There, where the media elite (this year including Roger de Weck) meet every year, the Chief Communicator spoke about "Saving and maximizing profits after the Golden Age". The quintessence in the original quote: "We have thought too much about packaging and marketing, allowed ourselves to be blinded too much by decorative accessories and bluff, listened too long to consultants from outside the industry."
Remarkable insights that have been followed by action since late fall last year under the title "Focus" - which probably means based on facts, facts, facts. In contrast to some competitors, Hartmeier says that the company has by no means gone into a cost-cutting frenzy. Nevertheless, redundancies for operational reasons can no longer be ruled out in principle. "In future, we will employ fewer staff, but more non-conformists at all hierarchical levels," said the manager in Alpbach. When asked about this in Zurich, he immediately added that the editorial teams need not fear for their job percentages as a result.
The "Tagi" easily cleared the five percent hurdle
Who then? Internally, it is an open secret that the Tages-Anzeiger, as the most personnel-intensive and at the same time most declining Tamedia title - according to the latest Mach, the 30 percent drop in sales in the first half of 2002 is now accompanied by a loss of 35,000 readers - is currently under the greatest cost pressure.
If you believe the commercial captains of the faltering flagship, Hans Jürg Klöti (Advertising Market Director) and Fridolin Holdener (Sales Director), the situation is serious, but far from dramatic. "We have overcome the five per cent hurdle set by Focus last year through standardization measures, process optimization and the odd early retirement," Holdener proudly states.
A second wave of rationalization, during which operating costs were reduced by a further 10 percent, was recently rolled out. This time, however, it was no longer possible without redundancies. "The back office area was particularly affected," says Klöti. However, the doyen of the Swiss-German advertising business does not want to know anything about growing uncertainty, let alone a change of climate in his department, which is called a "protected workshop" by malicious tongues. The new organizational structure has simply made synergies possible and streamlining necessary. "This process has now been completed and employee morale has not been permanently dampened," says Klöti with conviction.
The Tagi reporting days are much less optimistic with regard to medium-term improvements in earnings. In a telephone survey conducted last week with some key clients, there were hopes of the first brighter signs on the advertising horizon, but they were "sent home with their pants sawed off". Despite this, Klöti and Holdener believe that the economic downturn has bottomed out. One indicator of this is the pleasing fact that last week, the Tages-Anzeiger was once again up on the previous year for three days in a row for commercial campaigns "for the first time in a very long time".
"Constructive pressure conditions"
Forecasts and projections aside, full commitment on the sales front without corresponding turnover harbors a high potential for frustration. Reto Feurer and his colleagues can tell you a thing or two about this. "The relationship between my workload and income has been completely reversed over the past two years," says the Sales Manager for the "Zurich South" region, which includes Central Switzerland and, politically incorrectly, even Ticino. Where they used to open doors, the customer advisors involved in the success often barely make it to the doorstep these days.
When the phone does ring, it is more often than ever requests for special conditions. "This shows that someone on the other side is also under the hammer," Feurer analyzes. And he sympathizes with advertisers who consider it ethically unacceptable to run big image campaigns during their own restructuring measures.
"Everyone would probably have problems if their employer cut jobs but at the same time had money left over for advertising." Nevertheless, he would more than welcome anti-cyclical investment behavior from his own employer. This would give him and his peers a compelling sales argument, along the lines of "What we can do, other companies have been doing for a long time". However, Feurer is not complaining and sums up his situation with the memorable words: "We are under constructive pressure."
Schawinski already left behind lean structures
Richi Gasser at Limmatstrasse is also feeling the effects of this, albeit in a much less pronounced form. "As an ex-Schawinski station, we didn't bring any excess capacity with us to Tamedia last year," remarks the Head of Marketing at Radio 24 with a wink. In the current budget negotiations for 2003, the man who now reports directly to Andreas Meili (Head of Electronic Media) following the departure of Christian Stärkle wants to achieve a zero round if possible. "Actually, we should even increase our staff in view of our anniversary next year," says Gasser at the weekly team meeting, at which - in a surprisingly tidy atmosphere - eight employees are present.
Among other things, the new pool policy, current customer contacts and cross-media campaigns with other Tamedia products are discussed. "Although these have achieved little so far, they are still desired," Gasser informs the group.
Radio 24 unanimously identifies the greatest potential for synergy with the new parent company as the spatial integration discussed for next year. "In order to be even closer to the pulse of the city, we would like to move geographically closer to the center," says program director Peter Brun, explaining the interests of the 13-member editorial team in this regard.
In terms of sales and studio technology, however, a move to Tele Züri in the Steinfels area would be much closer, especially as the Glashaus is already threatening to burst. "We have always worked closely with our TV colleagues: When Tele Züri, for example, has a reporter on site, he usually reports for us at the same time," says Brun, describing the modus cooperandi of the two Belcom broadcasters. From his point of view, these staffing scenarios have "no influence whatsoever" on the respective staffing levels, which is why no one under their roof has to fear for their job.
Back at the Werdstrasse headquarters, we are assured that editorial job cuts are not an issue at the Tages-Anzeiger either. Over lunch, editor-in-chief Philipp Löpfe expresses surprise at the fears that WerbeWoche has heard. "The Tagi is still highly profitable and has long contributed to the Focus program with the earlier printing of the fifth and sixth bundles."
This two-hour postponement to optimize the capacity utilization of the printing presses resulted in savings of half a million francs and was a major editorial sacrifice. Löpfe, who had chaired the ritual department head retreat the day before ("that wasn't a savings round, but a modification round"), also believes that the potential for synergies in terms of content has been "pretty much exhausted". They are happy to share the car editor with Facts and SonntagsZeitung, but the sisterly incest will not go any further in the future. Specifically: "If Durisch demands next Sunday that Marthaler should take his floppy hat, the Monday Tagi will still say Marthaler must stay."
