Until then, the neck-and-neck race between Obama and Romney will be widely reported on, but the actual means by which it is being fought will be overlooked. After all, an election campaign is ultimately also marketing and the latest and most sophisticated methods are used, as described by political journalist Sasha Issenberg in his book "The Victory Lab: The Secret Science of Winning Campaigns".

Just as one would hardly want to sell refrigerators to Eskimos, it does not make much sense for the Democrats and Republicans to invest heavily in their communication in states that they already have on the safe side based on experience and polls. The race for the White House will be decided in the states where the outcome is open because voters are still undecided. These non-voters and swing voters make up less than ten percent and the real race is about finding and convincing them. The keywords here are "microtargeting" and "data mining". The most diverse mountains of data are used, which improve in both camps with every election campaign. Statistical methods (regression analyses) are used to try to identify common characteristics of these target groups, whereby hundreds, sometimes thousands of data points (someone drinks gin and drives a Subaru) are compared with each other. This is by no means an exact science, but rather empirical trial and error. But if it works, it creates far more precise target groups than is possible with conventional characteristics (such as democratically oriented rural men of Latin American descent or white senior citizens without a high school education). In order to find out which messages resonate best with whom, they are first sent out randomly and the effect tested. And in the next contact with more addressees, an even more targeted approach can be taken. For example, mailings are sent out asking whether someone is going to vote and what they are thinking about before and after. The trick is that such questions increase the likelihood that someone will actually vote.

These methods remain hidden from political reporting, which is often fixated on appearances, but are becoming increasingly match-critical. They are based on the same principles as behavioral targeting in online advertising, for example. However, in their concrete form, they remain limited to the political arena, which is focused on individual votes, and are therefore not directly transferable to the business world.

Christoph J. Walther

(Teaser image: Cover excerpt of the book "The Victory Lab: The Secret Science of Winning Campaigns")
 

When it comes to advertising bans, people often overlook the fact that they can also have negative consequences: for the companies doing the advertising, for the advertising industry, and, not least, for the media, according to SW in a statement released Wednesday. To that end, SW Schweizer Werbung’s current print, billboard, and online campaign featuring the clipped peacock is intended to raise awareness among political forces and the general public.  

The slogan «Ad bans hurt everyone» and an image of a sad-looking peacock whose magnificent plumage has been clipped are intended to highlight that advertising is, in and of itself, a completely natural thing. Advertising bans therefore constitute a significant encroachment on individual sovereignty, the SW press release continues. Sometimes with fatal consequences. Applied to commercial communication, this means, among other things:
– limited information for consumers
– reduced revenue for the media, thereby threatening media freedom
– reduced brand awareness and, as a result, declining brand value
– less economic freedom
– jobs at risk

The campaign, created by the advertising agency Euro RSCG, was supported by various association members and media companies. The clipped peacock will appear in the following media outlets during the current fall session of the Federal Assembly, from September 10 to 28:
 
Online on Tamedia and Goldbach Audience: so-called house ads on more than 130 websites. Also at 100 APG billboard locations in Bern, Basel, and Zurich, as well as in the following newspapers:

– AZ Medien: Aargauer Zeitung, Mittellandzeitung
– Basler Zeitung
– Corriere del Ticino
– The Ticino Region
– LZ Media: Neue Luzerner Zeitung, Zentralschweiz am Sonntag
– NZZ: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, NZZ am Sonntag
– Ringier: Blick, Blick am Abend, SonntagsBlick
– Südostschweiz Media: *Die Südostschweiz*, *Die Südostschweiz am Sonntag*
– St. Galler Tagblatt
– Tamedia: Tages-Anzeiger, Berner Zeitung, SonntagsZeitung, 20 Minuten, Le Matin, Le Matin Dimanche, Tribune de Genève, 24 Heures

«Ad bans hurt everyone»
It is far from clear to what extent advertising bans can solve social problems. Even decisions such as that by Australian authorities to allow only plain packaging for cigarettes cannot obscure this fact. This raises the question of cost versus benefit. SW Schweizer Werbung, as the umbrella organization for advertisers, advertising agencies, and media companies in the field of commercial communication, believes that in many cases the benefits are overstated, while the costs are ignored. SW Schweizer Werbung’s current campaign highlights this misconception.  

SW Schweizer Werbung has summarized all the arguments against advertising bans—and many more in favor of commercial communication—in its brochure «Stop Advertising Bans.».

The theater newspaper will appear for the first time today at the start of the 2012/2013 season as an additional bundle in the large print runs of BZ Basel and BZ Basellandschaftliche Zeitung. According to a press release issued by AZ Medien on Wednesday, Theater Basel will provide information on program highlights and news on 12 to 16 pages every month (10 times a year). Thanks to the large circulation of 140,000 copies of the two newspapers, a broad population in the entire Basel region can be informed about what Theater Basel has to offer.

It will be redesigned and repositioned as of October 2012. With its new orientation, the bulletin aims to promote sophisticated debates on economically and socio-politically relevant topics, as the agency writes in a statement on Wednesday. In this way, the bank wants to contribute to diversity of opinion in Switzerland.

The magazine is published six times a year in German, English, French and Italian with a circulation of 160,000 copies. An iPad version with multimedia added value is also available. The Bulletin has won various corporate publishing awards in recent years, most notably gold twice in the European Best of Corporate Publishing competition.

Published by Corporate Communications of Credit Suisse. Editorial responsibility lies with Ammann, Brunner & Krobath, which is based in Zurich. The Zurich agency Crafft Kommunikation is responsible for conception, design and realization.

The mediawoman congratulated the graduates on their special achievement, focusing on the great importance of professional communications work. "We live in challenging and exciting times. Never before have we had so many opportunities and also constraints to communicate," explained Sylvia Egli von Matt. That's why no company - and certainly no government - can keep quiet about a significant event these days. "One thing is therefore certain," the MAZ director assured the successful graduates, "the media and society need communications professionals to provide first-hand, professional and comprehensive information."

The 18 new communication professionals were able to receive their HWZ diploma on September 11, 2012. Sonja Kramer was awarded the best degree of the year with a grade of 5.2.

The 17 2012 graduates of the Master of Advanced Studies in Business Communications:

Cassandra Buri, Katja Corino, Luca D'Alessandro, Barbara Deucher, Mark Hauser, Ursula Keel, Sonja Kramer, David Meili, Ondrej Menousek, Bigna Pallioppi, Sandra Peiti, Simone Reinmann, Cornelia Richter, Nicole Roemmel, Reto Schaller, Philipp Schubiger, Cora Spycher.

Graduate of the Master of Advanced Studies in Live Communication:

Stefanie Strauss.

Graduates work on the client or agency side in roles as PR consultants, project managers, managing directors, product managers, advertising managers, communications, marketing or information managers. They cover a broad mix of sectors from publishing, industry, finance, service companies, public administration and agencies. The next Master of Advandced Studies in Business Communications program starts on January 24, 2013.
 

However, it is not simply implemented in the form of technical diagrams and technical papers. In the campaign, the technical aspect is conveyed through those worlds that Bernafon opens up to the wearer of the hearing aid with the individual features, the agency said in a statement on Wednesday. Be this with feedback-free hearing comfort during conversations, wider sound spectrum at live concerts or exact adaptation of the device to the individual hearing values. Access to these worlds, which are staged in the head of the hearing aid user, is the hearing aid, so to speak as an artificial ear.

The total of five subjects, which will be used worldwide, are intended to dramatize the individual benefits. This appearance is complemented by text advertisements that specifically refer to new publications and studies on technical innovations from Bernafon.

Responsible at Bernafon: Patrik Zurbach (Project Leader Corporate Communication), Rolf Gerber (Head of Marketing Support). Responsible at Ogilvy & Mather advertising agency: Thomas Bolliger, Tino Heuter, Markus Sidler (concept, creation), Gaby Zimmerli (consulting). Responsible at Red Works: Marcel Kohler (ildbeabeitung).

Smoking rooms, protection against secondhand smoke, health risks, … The arguments for and against the popular initiative are all well known and have long been thoroughly debated. But now, an argument is being unexpectedly revisited by Zigarren Mangeng in Rheineck. The company published an ad in the NZZ today, Wednesday, advocating a «No» vote against the «cigar clause,» using an interesting argument:

«Smoke offerings have always had something sacred, even ritualistic, about them. That will continue to be the case.» That might even be true. According to Wednesday’s *Tagesanzeiger*, a SRG poll found that just 41 percent of voters would vote «yes» on the popular initiative. Should the initiative nevertheless be approved, we’ll likely soon read in the newspapers: “More smoke sacrifices in a Zurich bar—several patrons involuntarily took part in an unauthorized ritual after enjoying a glass of warm milk.” (uma)

Bernhard Landolt and Roger Elmer from Läderach travel to Japan on business. But those they meet are not the ones they wanted to meet. Which does not prevent Bernhard and Roger from expressing the advantages of Läderach in the most beautiful images... With the comedy of confusion, Läderach wants to convey, with emotion and a wink, first and foremost "pure joy" - the company's claim. Secondarily, the film is also intended to convey information.

The film will be shown at events, in the new Läderach Schoggi experience in Bilten, before visitor tours and on the web. Seed realized the film as general contractor. Filming took place in Tokyo and in Glarnerland.

Responsible at Seed: Luki Frieden (script, direction, editing), Michael Saxer (camera), Fredrik Strömberg (music), Tony Sieber (sound design, mixing), Bettina Frymerman, Claudio Garovi (production management), Felix Courvoisier (producer).

About the film

The latest subject of the AZ Medien umbrella campaign is intended to make an extremely topical contribution to this controversial issue. This writes the agency in a message of Wednesday. It shows the former German chancellor and self-confessed smoker Helmut Schmidt in the surroundings of a village pub. In it, the daily newspaper "as an opinion-forming medium and basis for engaged discussions" often ensures smoking heads, the agency says.

The agency is responsible for everything from the text and the design of the renderings to overseeing production.

Contact at Bombardier Transportation: Jonas Hill (Head of Communications)
Propulsion & Controls). Contact at Adam&Adam: Verena Buri (Creative Director), Willi Adam (Project Manager). Text: Michael Johnson. Production: FO, Fotorotar.

The 44-year-old, who had been missing since Sunday, was killed by several blows to the head, presumably with an axe, a high-ranking police officer said on Wednesday. The reporter’s car was discovered near a plantation in the northern province of Ratanakiri. The editor-in-chief of his newspaper, Rin Ratanak, said the journalist had been writing about illegal logging operations in which powerful government officials were also involved.

According to UN data, the country’s forest cover in Southeast Asia declined from 73 to 57 percent between 1990 and 2010 due to illegal logging. Critics accuse the government of allowing corporations to clear hundreds of thousands of hectares of land in its efforts to develop the impoverished country. In late April, environmental activist Chhut Vuthy was shot and killed by a police officer after he refused to hand over aerial photographs documenting logging activities in Koh Kong Province. In light of the outrage over the murder, Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered a freeze on land grants. (sda)

The rocket glacé (since 1969), the Vespa (since 1946), the Nivea cream (since 1911), the Adidas trainer jacket (since 1972), the Moonboots (since 1970), the Converse sneakers (since 1923) or the Ovo Sport bar (since 1937). All of these objects have remained young despite their sometimes advanced age and have therefore been attractive to young people for generations, the agency writes in a statement. Since classics are currently back in fashion among young people, the agency wants to point out that the youth offerings UBS Generation and UBS Campus (since 1994) have also become classics in the meantime.

As of this week, the campaign can be seen in media tailored for young people. In the cinema and on TV, online and in print. In addition to the classic channels, a road show is on the road in Switzerland. Here, young people can have their passport or fun photos taken for free in another classic, the photo booth, get information and take part in the competition.

Responsible at UBS: Tom Ackermann (Head of Marketing, UBS Switzerland), Daniela Ciotto, Andy Greil, Patrick Kirchhofer (Swiss Marketing Initiatives, UBS Switzerland), Gianmarco Timpanaro, Olivier Senn, Laurent Dumont (Marketing Key Account Management Private Clients, UBS Switzerland). Responsible at KSB: Uwe Schlupp (Managing Director Creation), Charles Blunier, Samuel Knaus (Creative Director), Rea Ammann (Graphics), Carole Räber (Text), Christoph Bürge (Managing Director Consulting), Audrey Isaak Ileanna Davanzo (Consulting), Bettina Beyeler, Roman Limacher, (DTP). Photography: Tom Schierlitz. Film production: Onfilm. Image processing and lithography: Detail.