Clear Channel soon to posters Bern bus stops

Since November 1, 2000, the management of bus stop billposting has been linked to the construction of bus and streetcar shelters. Due to the expiry of the contract at the end of 2012, the services for the construction of bus shelters will now be separated from the management of billboards and the latter will be put out to tender separately. Two bidders submitted bids: Clear Channel and APG, which had already been awarded the contract for billposting on public property in spring 2010. The contract for the bus and streetcar stops was now awarded to Clear Channel.

Jürg Rötheli (pictured), who as CEO of Clear Channel is committed to ensuring that the outdoor advertising market in cities is divided among several providers, is delighted with the award. Rötheli is convinced that an invitation to tender alone will not bring about genuine competition. The fact that there is not enough competition for billposting on public property was also recently criticized by the Price Supervisor. "Real competition is created in which several or at least two providers are given simultaneous access to the market," Rötheli told Werbewoche.

Like the price supervisor, Rötheli also speaks of pressure on end customer prices from several providers. In addition to price competition, however, the competition also leads to competition in the area of quality - that advertising spaces are clean and well maintained - as well as in technology. Providers are spurred to use modern, environmentally friendly technologies, such as LED technology, he said. "It's a truism that competition stimulates the market, but I'm glad that this conviction is now also taking hold in outdoor advertising," Rötheli continues.

The highest bidder wins

Clear Channel paid a high price for access to the market. For billposting, the outdoor advertiser will have to pay the city of Bern an annual flat-rate fee of around CHF 1.7 million. Clear Channel was prepared to pay this amount for two reasons. On the one hand, it allows the company to offer illuminated F200 advertising spaces for the first time; on the other hand, there is a strategic consideration behind it: "We have broken a monopoly. This win has a symbolic and signal effect for other cities."

Rötheli now wants to convince cities such as Basel, Lausanne, Geneva, St. Gallen, Winterthur, Lucerne, and Lugano of the idea that it makes sense from a competitive point of view to have several providers. Finally, the city of Zurich, where poster panels are divided into lots and awarded, is an exception. To this end, Rötheli is in dialog with representatives of the cities. "In some cases, I had to explain that there is a second company besides APG that is capable of providing such services."

 
Isabel Imper

To the interview with Markus Ehrle from APG: "No new tendering rules are needed in Switzerland".