TPG and TL become TP Pub

For the past eight years, Schmalz has been general manager of TPG Publicité, the advertising arm of Geneva's public transportation company. "This merger comes at the best moment, because the Lausanne transport network is in full development. The most important elements are the multiplication of commuter trains on the Lausanne-Echallens-Bercher Railway (LEB), growth on the M1 and M2 metro lines, and the future M3."

According to the statement, the decisive factor for the merger was the success of Geneva's public transport operators: "Our colleagues in Lausanne admired our success with advertising space on billboards, full panels and interior surfaces, and recognized the opportunity to also increase their revenues based on our relationships and know-how," says Schmalz.

The new alliance was preceded by extensive preparations, as the requirements and expectations of both national and local advertising customers had to be met in the best possible way. "We hired two new sales consultants to serve customers throughout the conurbation from Lausanne. National sales are handled by our branches in Geneva and Zurich," says Schmalz.

TP Pub's new offering is also aimed at meeting the wishes of advertising customers from German-speaking Switzerland. "These prefer a single point of contact with a uniform rate and uniform coordination. With TP Pub as their partner, they can reach millions of bus, streetcar, train and metro passengers in the two Lake Geneva cities and conurbations, as well as in neighboring France. Of course, they can promote one or the other region individually or all together."

"The new organization reduces the advertising costs per contact," assures Jean-Claude Schmalz: "The standardization of the formats for the means of transport as well as for the transit zones makes a significant contribution to this."

On the way to the national platform

"This alliance is just the first step towards a joint advertising platform for the public transport operators of the most important Swiss cities," Jean-Claude Schmalz is convinced. "For national clients, there is clear added value from mergers. With clearly less effort, they can advertise larger coherent regions. In this sense, the Geneva-Lausanne convergence is a full-scale test in a market of over one million participants. Of course, local clients are also close to our hearts. They will continue to benefit from a wide range of offers for local advertising." (hae/pd)