The plan is to appoint Etienne Jornod as chairman of the board of directors, according to a statement released by the media group on Friday. The decision to appoint Etienne Jornod was made following a careful evaluation by the board of directors of the NZZ Media Group.

Etienne Jornod impressed the Board of Directors with his track record and his personality. The Board of Directors is convinced that Etienne Jornod is ideally qualified to lead the NZZ Media Group through the current structural changes in the media sector. With his broad leadership experience, Jornod possesses the necessary skills to further develop the NZZ Media Group’s products in an increasingly cross-media environment and to expand its digital business. «Etienne Jornod is a proven entrepreneur. He has proven his ability to successfully develop a company. We are convinced that he is the right person to position the NZZ Media Group for sustainable success at the strategic level,» explains Franz Steinegger, Chairman of the Board of Directors of AG für die Neue Zürcher Zeitung.

Etienne Jornod has been Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Galenica Group for 17 years. Galenica is a global leader in the field of iron deficiency treatment, operates Switzerland’s largest pharmacy chain, and is the leading pharmaceutical logistics provider. Under Etienne Jornod’s leadership, the Group has evolved from a cooperative-style organization into an internationally active, publicly traded company. Since Jornod assumed the role of Chairman and CEO of the Group in 1995, the number of employees has risen from 950 to over 7,000, while profits and the stock price have increased more than tenfold.

On January 1, 2012, the operational management of the Galenica Group was transferred to the new CEO David Ebsworth. Since then, Etienne Jornod has concentrated on his role as Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Galenica Group. Jornod is also a member of the Boards of Directors of Alliance Boots and Vaudoise Insurance, of which he will remain a member.  

Due to reaching the statutory age limit, the current Chairman of the Board of Directors, Franz Steinegger, will step down from the Board at the upcoming Annual General Meeting on April 13, 2013. Subject to his election by the Annual General Meeting, Jornod will be appointed Chairman by the Board of Directors in accordance with the Articles of Association.

Picture: Markus Senn

The Blick app is optimized for the new Windows design and allows users to consume the entire variety of Blick.ch in a simple and user-friendly way, whether with a Windows 8 tablet or on a stationary PC. With the Windows 8 app, the Blick Group is expanding its attractive portfolio of applications. Already available are the Blick app for iPhone, Android and Windows Phone 7 as well as the iPad applications Blick HD and Sonntagsblick HD. In the sports sector, the Blick Group has already launched applications for football, tennis, ice hockey and alpine skiing. The new Windows 8 application is available immediately free of charge in the Windows Store.

Martin Fessler, Head Digital Media, talks about the new app in an interview:

How did the Blick Group manage to set up this cooperation with Microsoft and present the new Blick app at the same time as the worldwide launch of the new Windows 8 operating system?
We have had a very good relationship with Microsoft for a long time and were involved in the launch of Windows Phone 7 from the very beginning. Last March, Microsoft approached us. Initial discussions took place on the subject of Windows 8. Shortly after that, I decided to develop an app for the new system in time for the launch.

What are the advantages of this cooperation?
The good cooperation with Microsoft enabled us to be present in the store from the very beginning. Our developers were supported by Microsoft experts throughout the entire implementation process in building up know-how and developing the design and usability, which we greatly appreciated.

Are further collaborations with Microsoft planned?
I look forward to further successful collaborations. Currently, the focus is on the launch of the Windows 8 app.

What are the features of the Blick app for Windows 8? On which devices does it run?
In terms of content, the app offers the entire broad spectrum of Blick.ch. The design of the app is based on the typical Windows 8 tile elements, which gives it a light and clear look. The focus was clearly on simple operation with gestures and swipes, as expected on touch-controlled devices.

The app runs on all devices that use Windows 8 i.e. from desktop PCs to notebooks and the new Windows 8 tablets. It is now available for free download from the Windows Store.

Microsoft is also launching a new tablet with Windows 8 and is competing against Apple's iPad. Is there any chance of success given Apple's enormous market presence?

With Windows 8, Microsoft has developed an operating system that offers new innovative features and has the potential to win over part of the tablet market. I am thinking especially of the seamless integration of Office products, which makes the system very interesting for business users. There are real opportunities in this area, as the possibilities go much further than with an iPad. Microsoft is by far the largest operating system provider and this naturally results in great opportunities as far as the distribution of Windows 8 is concerned. It is the most important launch for Microsoft in its history and probably the last chance to gain a foothold in the mobile sector. The prerequisites are there, now the market has to decide. I hope that Microsoft will succeed and that we will have three big players in the mobile market in the future.

 

"With our new magazine 'driven', we want to show our target groups the fascinating world of drive technology in a completely new way," says Editor-in-Chief Anja Schütz. The wow effect is particularly important. After all, a tablet is something very personal in itself. The aim was to combine these emotions with the magazine and thus offer a unique, interactive Maxon experience.

The tablet design features links to product details in the Maxon e-shop as well as rich media sections in the form of image galleries, videos and infographics. User experience is a top priority, the agency said in a press release on Friday. Guido von Deschwanden, creative director at Infel: "The challenge was to create an interactive magazine that meets both professional and audience-oriented criteria."

The tablet version can also be used as sales support. Featured products are integrated into the Maxon Motor e-shop and are intended to make the purchase decision easier. Stories, interviews with experts and specialist articles on drive technology are intended to provide an insight into the world of micromotors. An area that can be scratched via the touchscreen opens the focus topic of the following issue.

The tablet version of "driven" is published three times a year - in spring, summer and fall. The series is rounded off with a print edition at the end of the year. The printed magazine is a best-of of the stories from the tablet editions. Here, the company focuses less on user experience and much more on reader experience.

The magazine will be published for the first time on October 25, 2012 and can be downloaded for Apple iOS and Android from the App Store and Google Play Store.

Responsible at Maxon Motor: Michel Riedmann (project management), Anja Schütz (editor-in-chief). Responsible at Infel: Michael Frischkopf, Simona Stalder, Alexander Jacobi (editorial team); Guido Von Deschwanden (creative director), Bernadette Schenker (art direction), Diana Ulrich (picture editing), Phil Büchler (technical responsibility).

The room, which is completely enclosed by glass walls, is located on the site of the former trading floor and, in addition to its function as a meeting room, is primarily used for festive events in the context of an initial public offering (IPO) or press conferences. Futurecom, in cooperation with the company Leurocom, installed two innovative LED screens on the glass walls, which can be played individually: With static or animated ads on companies traded on the stock exchange or on the Swiss stock exchange's wide range of infrastructure solutions, with live share prices or with a fireworks film produced by the agency especially for new launches.

When at rest, the LED walls blend into the glass structure. Once activated, they create a stock exchange atmosphere similar to Times Square in New York. In the future, the Swiss stock exchange will use this LED wall to showcase its clients and products to the public.
 

WW: The FOPH's AIDS campaigns have now been running for 25 years. What part has Havas Worldwide Zurich (formerly Euro RSCG) played in this history?
Frank Bodin: We have been in charge of this mandate for eight years, so our share is around a third. From the very beginning, the Stop AIDS campaign has been characterized by popularity, wit and spirit. We are proud to be able to continue a good tradition to this day.
 
With which idea did your team achieve the greatest impact?
With a long-term strategic guiding principle, with which we laid the foundation in 2004: "Protect yourself and your partner for the love of life." In line with this, we evolved the existing, imperative claim "Stop Aids!" into the new brand "Love Life" in conjunction with a condom. The strategy was also the basis for the style: sexuality should be fun, and so should our prevention campaign. You can achieve more with joy, humor and charm than with finger-pointing, fear-mongering and death threats. We have also introduced a new cross-media approach in which online is the central medium.
 
Euro RSCG initiated "Love Life". Was it easy to sell this change of course to a very broad committee?
I remember the pitch in 2004 very well. We only entered the race with this one strategy and only with a campaign based on it because we were convinced of it. The FOPH shared this conviction. Even though there are various committees and even though this campaign can sometimes become a political issue, the decision-making processes at the FOPH are exemplary, lean and very well organized.
 
Has the idea now also been taken up by international campaigns?
Our ideas have also attracted international attention and are regarded as a benchmark for prevention campaigns. There have also been requests to take over campaigns, and one or two campaign elements have certainly inspired people abroad.
 
Preventive measures around the topic of sexual life also harbor taboo zones for some of the population. How did Havas Worldwide Zurich deal with this challenge?
On the one hand, the topic requires a great deal of sensitivity and the perception in the language regions of Switzerland is sometimes very different. On the other hand, we are forced to reach the Swiss population with little advertising money. Two things helped us in this balancing act. Firstly, our prosumer database, which allows us to gain valuable insights and test campaign ideas. Secondly, the fact that we are one of the very few agencies in Switzerland to have a strong branch in French-speaking Switzerland, Havas Worldwide Genève, and can therefore respond better to linguistic and cultural differences. A campaign that pleases everyone is not possible and should never be the goal. Those who position themselves do so with regard to specific campaign priorities and their core target audience, the majority of whom they want to reach. The results achieved with the FOPH are good proof of the effectiveness of the campaigns: not only did they win an enormous number of creative awards, they also won several Effies.
 
Where and why did your agency deliberately want to provoke?
In most campaigns, we tried to achieve maximum prevention impact with a minimum of resources. In these cases, creativity is still the best means of attracting attention, encouraging people to think and, very importantly, to act.
 
Where do you set the limits of what is permitted?
Applicable law must not be violated. And we want to avoid hurting people's feelings whenever possible. We also have a code of ethics, which can be viewed on our website (havasworldwide.ch/werbeagentur-havas- ww-zuerich/ethik). A good example of how we have managed the balancing act between positive provocation and the limits of what is permissible are the shortest commercials "Gings zu schnell, um an Gummis zu denken? ". In these sequences, which only last two and a half seconds, couples are seen making love. There were very few negative reactions. Why? Because the commercials are so funny and well made and get the message across in an absolutely coherent way. There is a difference between using "sex sells" or naked skin to advertise a product in a sexist way and, as in this example, naked skin being part of the message and therefore the idea.
 
How open do you think the Swiss public is to provocative advertising ideas?
The Swiss have a hard time with irony. And black humor is left to the British, unfortunately. Otherwise, Switzerland is open enough as a location for innovation, for provocative and pointed advertising.
 
Which provocations were worthwhile and which were more likely to cause trouble?
There was no campaign that wasn't worthwhile. And there was little trouble. But there were campaigns that will be remembered for a long time and therefore a little more fondly: the campaign with the naked fencers, ice hockey players and motorcyclists with the statement "Here you protect yourself too". Or the campaign with the ultra-short commercials "Went too fast ..." Or the latest campaign, which not only includes AIDS, but also sexually transmitted diseases.
 
The chances of success of prevention can be discussed at length. What is the advertiser's opinion?
Advertising is information plus emotion. Successful prevention knows how to get unpleasant information across to men and women in an attractive way. Thanks to the FOPH campaign, knowledge of the safer sex rules has increased significantly. Condom use has also increased. With continuity and creativity, the FOPH has succeeded in reducing the number of AIDS cases to a very low level compared to other countries. There has been a clear change in behavior in society with regard to the use of condoms. The Check-your-Love-Life website has impressive ratings. If you put the campaign funds in relation to the costs of illnesses, you can quickly calculate how effective and efficient the FOPH campaign is.
 
What do you like about the current campaign?
Firstly, that the strategy developed in 2004 - to only use the claim "Love Life" - is now being applied. Secondly, that the campaign addresses sexually transmitted diseases in addition to AIDS prevention in general. Thirdly, the insight "how do I tell my partner in the event of infection". This is not an eyewash prevention campaign, but rather an expression of the fact that we know that in certain situations the condom may unfortunately not be used. The campaign is more than just information, it is assistance. Fourthly, I think the campaign is also quite successful in its implementation. In three years' time, it will hopefully produce a lot of useful, intelligent and good things.
 
Interview: Andreas Panzeri

The fact that we have to negotiate online advertising for Swiss sites over the phone, book it using an Excel order file and, when the chips are down, confirm it by fax and signature is beyond inefficient, almost absurd in fact. This is how Philipp Semmler, Head of Interactive at Mediaschneider, complains about today's circumstances in Werbewoche's digital advertising trend survey. And he has good reason: By their own admission, the Mediaschneider and Serranetga agencies are the pioneers when it comes to automating the trade for digital advertising in Switzerland. They operate their own DSP (demand-side platform), which is controlled by trading desk software and makes automated bookings with SSP (supply-side platform), with real-time pricing thanks to RTB (real time bidding) (cf. WW 17/2011, p. 22ff). This type of advertising space trading is particularly widespread in the USA and is now getting off the ground in Europe - in Switzerland, as usual, hesitantly.

Prices stable at a high level - pressure from abroad

The defining feature of the Swiss digital advertising landscape in the fall of 2012 is actually how differently these new techniques are assessed and applied. This can be seen when assessing the price development. On one side, for example, is Remo Prinz, partner at Serranetga: "Since we've been consistently handling media buying via Real Time Bidding, prices have become massively cheaper." While customers still had to pay an effective price per thousand contacts (CPM) of around 25 Swiss francs for an online media plan in 2010, today CPMs can be offered that are five to ten times cheaper, depending on the performance target. On the other hand, the majority of survey participants report stable prices, both in the display and performance areas, as volumes continue to rise. Some even mention slightly rising prices in individual areas. It is acknowledged that prices in Switzerland are high compared with European benchmark markets, which is why a downward adjustment is expected. There is an important argument why both prices will continue to come under pressure and automated trading platforms will prevail: Cross Border Traffic, especially from Germany. Because there are no or only a few offers on various niche topics in Switzerland, Swiss surfers with a corresponding need for information soon end up on foreign sites. However, these sites are not equipped to actively market traffic from Switzerland themselves, which is why it is sold via automated trading platforms. Since, from the point of view of these publishers, a little money is better than no money at all, the prices are comparatively low. Swiss publishers with a high-quality and well-known brand can, as before, refer to the high quality and also defend the higher prices against cross-border traffic via automated RTB sales. Thus, especially platforms with easily replaceable target groups and a weak brand suffer from foreign competition. It is reported that prices for cross boarder traffic are between 30 percent and 80 percent below Swiss price levels, depending on the environment and size of formats and placement. "The volume going abroad will certainly be around 10 to 20 million," estimates Roger Baur of NetProfit GmbH. For the large ad networks and media agencies, this often involves a profitable arbitrage business, which is now disappearing as modern trading systems become more widespread. Because, as Philipp Semmler of Mediaschneider points out, cross-border traffic can also be qualified on the basis of data-based real-time targeting, visibility measurement and heatmap analyses. In this way, the wheat can be separated from the chaff, and good traffic on foreign sites will be on a par with domestic sites in terms of quality - and thus depress their prices.
 
 
Swiss publishers fear RTB
 
And that is exactly the fear of many publishers when it comes to the topic of RTB. Very few have opened up their online inventory to automated trading by means of an SSP solution. One example of this is the Premium Publishers Network, PPN, launched by the major publishers in Zurich (see box). The technical system used for this is easily capable of handling automated bidding, but the PPN operators do not want to make use of it. They claim not to want their high-quality inventory to be associated with questionable low-cost inventory, as is often associated with RTB. But in fact, fears that prices could erode uncontrollably will be at least as decisive. But the RTB wave is rolling, and Hans-Georg Bardohl, Head of Digital Buying at OmnicomMediaGroup, sums up the possible dimensions: "Theoretically, it would be possible to sell all traffic automatically, specifying the minimum price."

Mobile still in its infancy

When it comes to mobile, all survey participants agree: although mobile penetration in Switzerland has exceeded the population for years, the use of this channel for advertising is still in its infancy. The mobile advertising market is unanimously judged to have a very promising future. At the same time, it is acknowledged that the associated requirements are significantly higher than for classic online advertising, which is why development comparatively (still) requires more time. Reasons for the slow implementation are the more difficult technical integration, especially the lack of mobile landing pages, as well as the lack of know-how, which also explains why mobile is still rarely included in marketing concepts. Hendrik van Dyck, Head of Online at Mediaxis-MPG, analyzes it like this: "In the mobile sector, we have to pay for the fact that we still haven't managed to generate trust in the online sector." Thus, even in mobile advertising, the vast majority of available advertising space comes from abroad, as Remo Prinz of Serranetga confirms. For him, it is clear that this form of digital advertising will also develop in the direction of RTB in the future. For the time being, it seems likely that many companies are now focusing more on online advertising and want to get a complete grip on the stationary elements before they are ready to take the step to mobile.

Investing in training and young talent

This addresses one of the crucial success factors that was also asked about in the survey: The industry needs to educate itself with open communication and confidence-building measures for digital advertising. This includes investing in research and case studies to show advertising clients that branding also has its place in digital media. In addition, everyone agrees that there is an urgent need to invest in training and young talent. This is because the increasing complexity of online advertising is placing ever greater demands on market players and their employees. This leads to a high demand for specialized workers, who are very difficult to find in the Swiss market. Remo Prinz of Serranetga sums up the situation: "There is a clear 'run of talents'. Only those who recruit the 'fittest' people for the digitalized advertising market will play at the front in the future." As a result of digitization, he said, the advertising market is increasingly determined by technological progress, so that today's communications planner will soon be replaced by the communications engineer. Hans-Georg Bardohl of OmnicomMediaGroup has a specific demand in this regard: "The efforts on the part of one or the other association are certainly very welcome, but they should also be implemented and massively deepened at the major marketing academies and even universities."
 
Christoph J. Walther

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Hesitant printers

One of the most striking developments in the digital advertising market in Switzerland is the launch of the Premium Publishers Network, PPN, in March 2012. With it, the NZZ Media Group, Ringier and Tamedia want to market their advertising spaces in a joint performance and targeting network and thus build a counterweight to the global advertising networks, especially against Google. Business has gotten off to an "excellent start," PPN management member Marco Billeter told Werbewoche. The partner circle has already been expanded, with Axel Springer Schweiz titles also having access to PPN. And talks are also underway with AZ Medien and a solution is being sought by the beginning of next year. In addition, there are numerous other inquiries from sites that would like to sell via PPN. Currently, 48 sites are marketing their inventory on PPN, including Blick. ch, 20Minuten.ch, Lematin.ch, NZZ.ch, Homegate.ch and Beobachter.ch. According to NET-Metrix Profile, PPN reaches 4.27 million unique users per month in Switzerland, which corresponds to a national certified net reach of 80.6 percent. In August, PPN analyzed around 1.2 billion different page impressions and delivered over 350 million banners. About 70 percent of sales now come via media agencies, Billeter estimates. The rest is sold directly, with bookings in both cases being made manually via an online tool. When asked about RTB in particular and connecting to automated trading platforms in general, Billeter is cautious: "We currently want to focus on the existing product range and the associated direct sales." The company is monitoring market trends very closely and regularly exchanges information with foreign media houses and advertising networks that have had different experiences with RTB. And if needed, they would be technologically "very quickly in a position" to offer the inventory via automated bidding. But Billeter makes no secret of his preference to stay away from such methods for as long as possible. So all those automated trading platform operators who want to resell the PPN residual inventory through their networks will get a discount. Billeter admits to leaving money behind, but considers it more important not to bring PPN into the vicinity of low-quality cheap traffic. And with this attitude, he knows that he is in agreement with his customers, who appreciate being able to operate in a high-quality environment without having to set up fundamentally new processes. The top priority on the development roadmap is the implementation of targeting displays on mobile devices, for which a mobile offering is to be launched in the next few weeks "due to strong demand".

Only Tamedia is fully committed to PPN

In the digital advertising trend survey conducted by Werbewoche, the assessments of PPN are mixed. The protectionist or monopolistic aspects of the project are criticized in various cases. Concrete experiences do not yet seem to be widespread or are not communicated or (in one case) are negative. Hendrik van Dyck, Head of Online at Mediaxis-MPG, puts it this way: "The question arises whether the offer is not based more on the wishes of the publishers and less on the needs of the market." And Andreas Nigg of Adwebster, which claims to be the largest Swiss display ad network, concludes, "The market response regarding PPN is not really positive." He states that his partners (NZZ, Blick, Pro Sieben, Sat 1, GMX, Scout24, Axel Springer, etc.) continue to use various tools within a yield management process, which leads to considerable additional revenues. Meanwhile, only Tamedia (as the driver behind PPN) uses this tool exclusively and thus forgoes additional revenues.

Others move forward

Stailamedia AG, which describes itself as Switzerland's largest independent online marketer, is taking a different approach to PPN. Managing Director Michael Baum emphasizes: "For us, there is no doubt that the future belongs to automated media buying. " Thus, the company recently announced that it is cooperating with App Nexus, the world market leader in real-time advertising technology. And a few days ago, Publicitas also fleshed out its strategy around an automated advertising inventory marketplace. It had already announced a corresponding initiative in June of this year. Now Publigroupe, the parent company of Publicitas, has announced the purchase of a majority stake in the Dutch company Improve Digital. According to a press release, the latter has "multiple award-winning sell-side platform (SSP) technology" and is a "leading European provider in this field." "Together with our partners, we will take a leading role in the creation of a new marketplace where premium advertising inventory is traded," the Publigroupe release continues. Publicitas plans to launch such a marketplace for premium media providers this year.

 

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Is there a need for a Swiss-RTB?

cjw. The RTB wave will be unstoppable. The only thing that remains to be seen is which parts of the market will be handled in this way and by when. The decisive question is therefore how such practices will be widely introduced in the Swiss market. Whether simply foreign companies and their models will be able to spread, or whether there will be a "Swiss-RTB" variety that refers to local conditions. First of all, it will be a matter of promoting understanding for such modern processes. After all, publishers in Switzerland are very cautious about the topic, mainly because they don't know exactly how to deal with it. And that's understandable. The techniques associated with RTB are new, very complex, and require expertise that is typically not available in the advertising business, for example, regarding computer science or mathematics. Add to that the fact that RTB techniques have grown and continue to grow in practice, with failures and mishaps inevitable. These are exploited with relish by counterparts, usually involving the automated placement of advertising messages in unfavorable environments or double bookings across different trading channels. This can be largely avoided if the possibilities of RTB standards (such as those described in the OpenRTB standard of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, IAB) are fully exploited and, at most, supplemented by local aspects. Here, the companies that want to ride the RTB wave first and foremost are called upon not only to engage in market communication, but also to promote the level of knowledge in the industry and thus confidence in the new techniques. In order for RTB technology to function in line with Swiss quality thinking, publishers in particular need to invest in new technology and processes (for example, to ensure that metadata on content is complete and correct). Used correctly and sensibly, RTB can be a good opportunity for publishers to tap into new customer segments (not least abroad or in mobile) and thus increase sales.

 

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PARTICIPANTS

Werbewoche's digital advertising trend survey is based on the assessments of these industry experts (in alphabetical order):

Hans-Georg BARDOHL, Omnicom
Media Group Switzerland AG
Michael BAUM, Stailamedia AG
Roger BAUR, NetProfit GmbH
Alexander HORROLT, Goldbach Audience
Andreas JORGELLA, The House Agency AG
Dominik LÄMMLER, Adextra AG
Andreas NIGG, Adwebster AG
Remo PRINZ, Serranetga AG
Christoph SCHNEIDER, Axel Springer Schweiz AG
Philipp SEMMLER, Mediaschneider AG
Stephan SUTER, Adkey GmbH
Lukas STUBER, Yourposition GmbH
Hendrik VAN DYCK, Mediaxis-MPG AG
Ueli WEBER, Publimedia AG and IAB (Switzerland)

Plagiarism seems to be booming. The new iPad watch is strongly reminiscent of the Swiss train station clock, and the fashion label "Alprausch" is apparently now also offering sweets. While the iPad watch issue is over, the fashion label "Alprausch" is sharpening its knives. The company is not prepared to tolerate a confectionery manufacturer branding its latest creations with the name and look of the fashion label without being asked. While the Tages-Anzeiger accuses the confectionery manufacturer of intellectual theft, the latter says he is not a copyist, but a creative one. He was "inspired" by the Alpine ethno style. The Tages-Anzeiger also speculates that the fashion label is probably struggling to enforce its rights against the confectionery manufacturer. Is that the case?

The fashion label does not use the term "Alprausch" in its name. However, one of its stores is operated by an "Alprausch" company. As the confectionery manufacturer runs its website under the name "Alprausch", the "Alprausch" company could object that this leads to confusion under company law. The fashion label "Alprausch" owns various "Alprausch" brands for various goods and services. The managing director of the fashion label told the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper that it had registered the name "Alprausch" "as far away as the Indies" for various products, but not for the confectionery now produced by its competitors. All goods and services protected by a trademark can only be claimed during the first five years. After that, the trademark only enjoys protection for goods and services that are actually offered on the market. As a glance at the fashion label's website shows, it obviously does not sell confectionery. Consequently, trademark protection is unlikely to apply in this specific case.

Furthermore, the term "Alprausch" is probably not protected by copyright. If the term "Alprausch" were an original neologism, the word itself could be protected by copyright. However, "Alp" is a synonym for "Alm", and "Almrausch" is an alpine rose according to Duden.

In its report, the Tages-Anzeiger claims that the confectionery manufacturer has "copied the design and graphic appearance from the fashion label to an extent that goes far beyond the usual". If this were the case, the fashion label could take action against the confectionery manufacturer based on copyright and/or unfair competition law. The Tages-Anzeiger primarily cites the "Alprausch" lettering, which is "almost identical to the original". However, a comparison of the opponents' homepages shows that the fashion label has not chosen a special and therefore not particularly original lettering. It simply adds a cross in front of the name "Alprausch", which is not particularly distinctive. It is therefore irrelevant that the confectionery manufacturer also uses a Swiss cross in its "Alprausch" logo. The product and advertising designs of the model label and confectionery manufacturer are based on the elements of wood, rock and, in some cases, the typical check pattern of tablecloths. As the Tages-Anzeiger notes, these are often found in hotels, restaurants and stores in tourist resorts in the Alps and are therefore not particularly individualizing. The case shows: If intellectual property is to be successfully defended against third parties, the following are also required from a legal perspective: 1. originality, 2. originality and 3. originality. Just noise in the Alps is not enough.

Ueli Grüter, LL.M., attorney at law, Grüter Schneider & Partner AG, Zurich, is a lecturer in communications law and co-editor of the book Kommunikationsrecht.ch. He comments on current legal issues in advertising once a month in Werbewoche. Questions for the Werbewoche legal expert at [email protected].
 

André Béchir took over Good News Productions in 1972 and sold it on in 2000. Today, 52 percent of Good News is owned by Deutsche Entertainment DEAG and 48 percent by the media company Ringier. The company organizes around 100 events with a total of around 700,000 visitors per year and currently employs 32 people. The managing director since spring 2012 is Gérard Jenni (Werbewoche.ch reported).

André Béchir will not be renewing his contract as Senior Advisor with Good News Productions, which expires at the end of the year. He had already announced his resignation from the operational business earlier and now wishes to take this step, the company said in a statement on Thursday. Béchir will continue to handle the events he has booked in 2013 and will also devote himself to his own projects. He will also remain responsible for the Moon and Stars Open Air (5 to 14 July 2013 on the Piazza Grande in Locarno), which Good News is organizing.

Good News loses its exclusivity in the Hallenstadion
 
According to Ticketino, the exclusive contract of Good News (Ringier/DEAG Beteiligungsgesellschaft) as the sole organizer for rock and pop in the Hallenstadion will be terminated at the end of 2013. This means that third-party promoters will also be able to reserve a slot in the Hallenstadion and stage a concert from 2014. This would mean that 50 percent of tickets would no longer have to be handled by ticket marketer Ticketcorner (50 percent owned by Ringier Beteiligungsgesellschaft). Just a few weeks ago, the Federal Administrative Court rejected the appeal lodged by the three Ticketcorner competitors Ticketino, Starticket and Ticketportal against the Weko ruling.

WW: "I've Never Been to New York" is breaking all records as a musical. What is behind this success? Freddy Burger: In the history of our company, we have never prepared a musical so long and so professionally. We exhaust all the possibilities that can be used in the broad field of marketing. Advertisements and posters are no longer enough. We also need cross-marketing in channels where we can reach people who we can no longer reach with such intensity through traditional channels.
  
How does this kind of commitment show up in advance sales?
We are making very good progress. We can expect to sell 50,000 tickets at the premiere in Zurich. If we achieve that, it will be extraordinary. We are playing until February 10 for the time being. Once we've started and see how sales develop, I'll have to take the option at some point and extend it. That's what we did with "We Will Rock You" in 2006/2007.
  
What is in the script for communication?
The strategy is: We have a good product and a good location. We want to publicize this with a good communication mix and good, solid partnerships. This is the first time that we have been able to plan for so long. That's why we sat down with all sponsors and partners at an early stage and analyzed the situation: Who can communicate what and where?
  
What kind of partners do you have?
We have Ringier as our media partner and Coop as our main sponsor. Coop has been our partner in almost all major and long-running productions for almost 20 years. "I've never been to New York" is now also a key project for Coop. For example, window displays in all Coop City stores in German-speaking Switzerland will draw attention to the musical. Another partner is Kuoni. The travel agency offers trips to New York in the area where it acquires its customers. These are linked to the theme of our musical. Hapag-Lloyd Cruises is also doing a mailing with an offer to all its customers.
 
This means a very broad coverage of the target audience.
We have the breadth and depth thanks to our partner Raiffeisenbank, through which we reach 1.5 million customers. At Coop, we reach even more through the Coop newspaper alone. We are featured on the front page of this newspaper, which has the highest circulation in our country, and are launching a campaign offering Coop customers a 30% discount on selected performances.
  
What does Ringier offer as a media partner?
We have already been able to enclose a 32-page special supplement with the SonntagsBlick. Ringier has never done anything like this before. Other effective contributions are also planned for Radio Zürisee as a media partner.  
 
Special actions?
Every visitor receives a boarding pass in which our partners have had the opportunity to place a special offer. There is also a competition with prizes worth 22,000 francs, the main prize being a cruise sponsored by Hapag-Lloyd Cruises. In the Coop supermarkets, 20 million portions of coffee cream with the scenes from "I've never been to New York" will be sold. We distribute printed sugar sachets in our own restaurants. In Zurich, there is a fully painted streetcar that embodies the theme both inside and out. The Cardinal beer trucks are decorated with the poster. We are also working with a car company that has covered an entire car with the poster.
 
Have all these advertising materials been realized by your FBM Communications?
The logo and the templates for the design were created by an agency in Germany when the musical was launched in Hamburg. We at FBM Communications have now adapted all formats and optimized them for Zurich based on our experience. We also came up with the entire marketing strategy and the concept for cross-marketing with the sponsors. Everyone is integrated into the partnership and it's the high school of today that this added value comes into play for everyone involved.
 
The musical "Ich war noch niemals in New York" has already reached 2.5 million visitors in Germany and Austria. When did you realize that this project could become something more?
As Udo Jürgens' manager, I have already received many offers from major producers who wanted to realize a musical. The Theater an der Wien, a big player in this field, made us an offer. But the idea of what could be done with Udo's music was not right for us. In this garden here on Carmenstrasse in Zurich, where we are now conducting our interview, Stage Entertainment from Germany then made us a concrete and serious proposal. That must have been around ten years ago. Udo and I liked the idea. But we still had a long way to go before it was realized on stage. It wasn't until about four years later that we were all completely satisfied with the result and we subsequently acquired the music rights.  

What were your specific expectations of a musical like this?
I have always been fascinated by "Mamma Mia". In my opinion, it is probably the most perfect musical that combines an independent story with the music of Abba. The story has to form a unity with the song lyrics. That was also my idea. You can't make a musical for which Udo's hits are underlaid with dances. You don't win with that. The story of "I've Never Been to New York" - I was convinced of that - is a story that has to go through three generations. That fascinated me. It's also taken from modern life and therefore fits perfectly into our times.
 
Can you summarize the story in your own words?
The musical tells of longings, dreams and the search for a fulfilled life. We have the old couple who live in a retirement home. People today prefer not to go there because they want to age in such a way that they can die where they have spent their lives so far. Few succeed in doing so. The story begins there with two old people who meet and fall in love in an old people's home and run away from it. They want to make a dream come true once again, one day even saying "I do" to each other under the Statue of Liberty in New York. To get there, they secretly board a cruise ship.
 
And the younger generation?
She is embodied by a successful television presenter. She is busy with her job and career plans and neglects her mother as a result. Her counterpart is a freedom-loving wildlife photographer. Together they take up the pursuit of the couple who have disappeared from the retirement home - because it is their own parents who have run away. An adolescent boy, the photographer's son, also plays an important role. He interprets the hit "Mit 66 Jahren ..." on stage, but interestingly not in Udo's usual version, but as a cool rap.

 Is content just as important a factor as the music, especially when Udo is not on stage himself?
That is the most important factor. When the story was ready, we looked at which hits could fit into the story. We have a collection of over 900 songs that Udo Jürgens composed and that are in our publishing house. We were able to use 20 of them to create a common thread without having to change a single word of the text. Both the original music and the original lyrics are integrated into the story.
 
Udo's music is known to an audience of millions. Is that enough for the promotion of a musical or do you need additional marketing activities?
There are many stars who have sold more records than Udo Jürgens and have not managed to have their work turned into a musical. Bonny M have sold an infinite number of records worldwide. Their producer Frank Farian also tried to launch a musical. It premiered in London, but it was a flop. Music alone is not enough. You also have to have content.
 
And the connection to Udo?
People always had the feeling that he was performing there. But that's impossible. What's more, that would be completely wrong. The interesting thing about our musical is that it focuses on Udo Jürgens' audience. A woman who is in an old people's home sings Udo's songs. Udo's words express his longing for her husband. The same goes for the two other generations, who put their experiences, wishes and dreams into Udo's songs. The audience is mirrored. The story has absolutely nothing to do with the life of Udo Jürgens, except that he composed and wrote the songs.
 
How do you explain the secret of this success?
I've probably seen "I've Never Been to New York" ten times and wherever I've been, there's been a standing ovation every night. You go home exhilarated. Especially in this day and age, when we are bombarded with negative news from morning to night, it's like a liberation. You go to the musical, immerse yourself in another world and go home happy with Udo's beautiful songs and the beautiful images of the production in your head.
 
How important is the choice of a suitable city for the launch?
I would never have had the courage to do a world premiere in Zurich. Our country is far too small for that. We have a catchment area of just over 1.2 million people in the Zurich area. In Hamburg and its catchment area, we are talking about 6 million. Hamburg is the third largest musical city in the world and the city that presents the most musicals in Europe. Vienna is also an established musical city, where many tourists travel to see a musical. This is not the case in Zurich. In Hamburg, we recorded an occupancy rate of over 95 percent in the first 18 months. In Vienna, "New York" ran at 99 percent for two years. We were more successful with "New York" than "Cats", which was the first musical ever to come to Vienna from England and has become a huge story there. In the meantime, "I've Never Been to New York" has even been performed in Tokyo, translated into Japanese and sold out every night for six weeks.
 
What role did Zurich play in the planning?
When we went to Vienna, we had already clearly planned that Zurich would follow after Vienna. That was the deal. The stage set in Vienna has therefore already been built in such a way that it can be easily adopted in Theater 11. That is also very important for the budget.
 
In Hollywood, 40 percent of a film production is invested in marketing. What about a musical? When we launched "New York" in Germany, we had to cover the whole of Germany for marketing purposes. The production, including marketing, cost almost 20 million francs at the launch in Hamburg. A lot of money. We could never have managed that in Switzerland.

New York, with its Broadway, is also a mecca for musicals. Is it also possible that "I've never been ..." will go to New York itself?
That could be a logical consequence. But if this consideration is there, then the producer Stage Entertainment will decide. They have the book rights and music rights. There is currently a concrete offer to make a cinema film. If everything goes smoothly, the premiere could be celebrated on Udo's 80th birthday.

Everyone is talking about the crisis. But you invite people to the show. How does that work?
That's the interesting thing about this industry. We are currently experiencing a crisis situation and no one knows where the path will lead. People are feeling more uncertainty than ever before. We, on the other hand, are more active with our group as an investor than ever before. We are also coming to Basel in December with "We Will Rock You". In December, we are producing a world premiere of "Viva Verdi" in the Hallenstadion and on November 1, we will start with "New York" in Theater 11. That means an investment volume of over 20 million from our company. I have never taken so many risks in my entire career of almost 50 years.

 What prompted you to take so much risk?
What moved me were the figures. In 2011, we experienced our best financial year to date in the Entertainment division since we have been active in this business. And I realized that: People are looking for distraction. Whenever there is a crisis, you have to act anti-cyclically, I thought. I hope I'm right and that the risk pays off.

You started investing the profits from showbiz in gastronomy early on. A logical step?
Everything was created differently. I didn't invest profit from here to there, but tried to generate profit from all areas. Today, the Freddy Burger Management Group is divided into three divisions: FBM Entertainment, FBM Communications, FBM Gastronomy. In total, more than 30 companies with 350 employees are bundled under the Freddy Burger Management umbrella. That has grown again and again. I also used to manage the general agency for Puma Switzerland for nine years.

How did it come about?
I was approached. I always got offers from people who approached me.

FBM is also active in Germany: What's going on at Adagio and in the theater?
We only run the Adagio in Berlin. It's almost impossible to organize this from Switzerland. You need partners again who can do what we do in Switzerland locally. In the area of theater, I was in discussion about participating in two stages. But then I decided that it was better to concentrate on our own things. We have two theaters in Switzerland, the Musical Theater Basel and Theater 11 in Zurich. We have also been managing the St. Jakobs-Halle in Basel for two years.

How does B&B Endemol work?
Very good. We are the largest private television production company in Switzerland. It has to be said that there is only one major customer in this country. That is SRF. In this constellation, you always have to find your way. Ringier TV has withdrawn and dissolved the department. We have a very good basis. We know that we have to be active in Internet TV. We produced the daily program "m-cooking" for Migros for almost two years. This was discontinued at the end of 2009. But we want to expand this web area further. At the same time, we will continue to produce the quiz shows created by Endemol on SRF.

How are the areas of gastronomy and entertainment weighted in your group?
In terms of turnover, we are similar. In gastronomy, which also includes nightlife and, until two years ago, the Hotel Flora in Lucerne, we generate roughly the same turnover as in entertainment. We make a total of 120 million a year in the Group. In the entertainment sector and in gastronomy, which is a service sector, this is considered an above-average turnover.

Can you still control this yourself?
No. There is a structure in place. I have a responsible CEO and a CFO in each division, who perform their duties with absolute trust and are extremely committed and motivated. We also have our own fiduciary department, where we also employ lawyers for contractual situations. I am certainly still the strategist and continue to be involved in operations in certain areas, but logically I want to take a step back.

Back to the musical: How often have you been to New York?
I visited New York for the first time when I was 20, 46 years ago. I was very impressed by the city. Almost overwhelmed. But after a week, I had an intense desire to go back home to Switzerland because I realized: This would never be the city I want as my place to live. I didn't see any trees, only skyscrapers. It's a city with an insane pulse and drive. I'm glad I live in Switzerland. I'm a clod-bound person and I'm happiest when I can sleep in my own bed. We don't even realize that we live in paradise in Switzerland. I'm also the most efficient at work in Switzerland.

Udo Jürgens in the USA: What was that like exactly?
During one of my visits to New York, we discussed a recording contract for Udo Jürgens. I conducted the negotiations. But I told Udo: "If you want to be successful in America, then you have to get another manager! Then you need someone who lives in the USA and knows the whole business there. But you also have to be prepared to spend at least half the year in America. Then you run the risk of losing the market in German-speaking countries." And it was very clear to Udo that he didn't want that. That's why he decided that I should continue to manage him and we signed a contract with Bertelsmann, our partner in the record industry. Bertelsmann then merged with Sony - which is also a global company.

Needless to ask: How would your career have gone without Udo?
You can't define that. Before I became Udo's manager, I was already successful myself, had already built my house and was able to pay for it. So I wasn't dependent, which was important and good for both of us. The synergies that then arose helped us both immensely. It was almost a coincidence that we met. Where else in the world can you find a partnership like the one Udo and I had, in which we walked a common path together for 37 years. And it has endured. It's fair to say that Udo is celebrating the most successful tour of his life this year. We sold out all the big venues in spring 2012 and the repeat concerts are also going great. We've never done as well as we are now.

You once said you wanted to take it easy. What happened to that?
My approach to this is that I no longer have appointments booked for Friday and Monday and can decide freely: Do I want to go to the office or can I go away for once and enjoy my private life in a different way? That is something very central for me. I have three boys. The eldest is in the catering industry and has his own restaurant. The middle one has a degree in economics and is now looking after the second part of Udo's tour as deputy tour manager. He will then go to the Theater an der Wien, where he will do a one-year stint in all departments. If everything goes as planned, he will return to our company at the end of 2013 and will then logically have to earn his spurs there too. So that when the time comes, he can take over and continue to run the business. The youngest has completed his first year of law school and has already indicated to me that he is also interested in joining the company. We'll see what happens.

So everything is perfectly secured with a trio: lawyer, restaurateur, theater man?
Probably not secured. But it looks good.

Interview: Andreas Panzeri

The magazine features content on all aspects of industrial and service packaging. Interviews with customers and specialists are also used to liven up the technical content. The customer magazine is published three times a year and is produced in several languages.

People swarm through Nathan Road in Hong Kong's Kowloon district around the clock, many are in a hurry, others are strolling, and most are glued to their cell phones. Above the sea of heads, the neon storm of countless neon signs rages. Even during the day, the main shopping street of the Asian metropolis seems overcrowded, but when the tropical night falls, the crowds swell even further. Most Hong Kong residents do not live in the city, but commute to work in the city center from the uniform satellite towns in the New Territories, which are called Tai Wo Hau, Tsuen Wan or Tuen Mun. In 1898, the New Territories were leased by the Chinese to the British crown colony of Hong Kong for 99 years. In 1997, Hong Kong reverted to China - with a special status - and has since flourished economically more than ever before, as the huge Chinese market has given the city an unexpected boost. Together with the New Territories, Hong Kong is barely larger than the canton of Thurgau, but is extremely densely populated with around 7 million inhabitants. The satellite cities, with their dam-like housing estates, appear barren, making Kowloon and the other inner-city districts all the more colorful.

Tourists and commuters

After work, commuters do their shopping in the city and then travel back to the residential silos in the New Territories on crowded MRT trains. The 42 million tourists who visited Hong Kong in 2011, including many day visitors from nearby Mainland China, also liven up the city and generate revenue. Hong Kong is a city "that never sleeps", promises the Hong Kong Tourism Board, and that is almost an understatement. Most of the smaller stores and the huge shopping centers are open seven days a week until 9.30 p.m., but it is also possible to go shopping at two in the morning. You can eat on the fly at one of the countless street stalls or in a classy Cantonese restaurant until long after midnight, for example, and many bars and clubs are open until dawn. Under the glistening neon signs, the night owls mingle with the early risers heading for the offices or getting fit for the working day with Tai Chi gymnastics in the parks.

Hong Kong has a lot to offer culturally with its museums and the cultural center at Victoria Harbour, and fascinates racing enthusiasts with its racecourse, but shopping is the strongest magnet of the former British crown colony alongside culinary delights, a unique skyline and the west-eastern ambience. Vendors who want to stand out from the enormous competition have to offer everything visually, right down to the Chinese neon kite. The mix of Cantonese lettering and Western advertising makes for a fascinating show in the city's urban canyons. The highlight is currently an advertisement for the Italian luxury tailor Ermenegildo Zegna, which covers an entire wall of skyscrapers and can even be seen from the other side of Victoria Harbour.

The labels of all the well-known brands, which are also present on Zurich's Bahnhofstrasse or on Kursfürstendamm in Berlin, vie for attention among the flickering Chinese lettering. Rolex, Dior, Gucci, Omega, Maserati and IWC can be found at every turn on Nathan Road, in the Ocean Center or Causeway Bay shopping meccas.

So you don't have to jet to London to buy a fur-lined Burberry coat, you can also buy this fine garment for cold days in subtropical Hong Kong in a discreetly chilled store. However, it is mainly the Mainland Chinese who are storming the brand stores - often as day tourists.

Hong Kong Chinese, however, prefer to buy their Omega as a status symbol in Lucerne or on the Jungfraujoch rather than in one of the distinguished stores on Nathan Road. Swiss army knives are on display in the brand store here as if you were in Gstaad, Toblerone ditto in the neighborhood of dried snakes and tiger penises. The city is a melting pot of globalization, but the advertising show above the heads of passers-by has retained its unmistakable local flair and is part of Hong Kong's fascination.

Werner Catrina

E ne of the most popular examples in Switzerland is SBB's customer magazine Via. With a circulation of 250,000, this public magazine is published ten times a year. Via is also available as an app. And on www. via.ch, the magazine enjoys a strong dialog presence: it is of course possible to read Via online as an e-paper and download it as a pdf. And the "Most important topics" are already teased on the web.
 
 
Interactive and dialog-oriented
 
But Via is also interactive. A simple navigation prompts us to write a letter to the editor. It is also possible to send in a reader photo via an input mask. And just one click further is the reader crossword puzzle with a corresponding competition. It is possible to enter into an almost playful dialog with Via or SBB.
 
Via does online and offline what makes a strong customer magazine: it establishes a dialog between the company and its customers. Magazines with a strong dialog enjoy stronger reader loyalty than monological media. And stronger reader loyalty increases the audience's loyalty to the company.
 
 "At SBB, we attach great importance to a lively dialog with our customers, not just at the counter and on the trains," says Reto Kormann, SBB Group Spokesman. "Our Via is therefore another door opener to the company. This makes SBB transparent and approachable for the public."
 
 
Via in the audio version
 
The audio version is another cross-media extension of Via. It is the result of an initiative by the SBS Swiss Library for the Blind, Visually Impaired and Reading Impaired. The audio version is easy to find and makes the text acoustically accessible. "We are doing everything we can to give visually impaired and reading disabled people as much access to important print and online media as possible. We are very pleased about the cooperation with SBB," says Ursula Vogt from SBS. In fact, SBB is considering making the audio version available as a podcast in the coming weeks. Via is thus making use of four channels: the printed magazine, the website, the app and the audio text.

Go! and Export, Osec's cross-media mix

Go!, Osec's foreign trade magazine, is published four times a year in German and French with a circulation of 19,000. The last eight issues can be downloaded from the website as pdf files. Osec is currently evaluating the possibility of making Go! available as an e-zine, enriched with rich media. Go! is flanked by the online magazine Export. While the print magazine Go! provides in-depth background reports on Swiss foreign trade topics, Export primarily highlights Osec's range of services. It informs around 8,000 subscribers about current developments in the export markets and about Osec's customer-oriented events and trade fairs.
 
Every two weeks, SMEs that either already export or want to do so receive a free update on relevant topics. The news is easy to subscribe to via an RSS feed. Georeferencing of the information on the website is also about to be implemented. This means that each geographical area in which Osec is active will provide asynchronously updated country-specific content. "We always deliver fresh content directly to our members' mailboxes via our online magazine. We are also looking into expanding Go! into an online magazine, with additional content in the form of films, photo galleries and animations," says Sibylle Zumstein, Content and Public Relations Manager.
 
 Martin Fritsche