A "pimped-out" barbecue is used to advertise Ziknet on posters, advertisements, public transport hangers and mailings. The mailing in the form of a cardboard plate is intended to stand out among the daily mail and can be used as a sausage plate at the next barbecue. On the various advertising spaces, attention is also drawn to a competition in which the ingredients for the perfect summer can be won.

Inter-Punkt realized all communication measures for Ziknet for the third time in a row.

Responsible at Ziknet: Gian Franco Prozzillo, Sabrina Zehnder. Responsible at Inter-Punkt: Fabian Koch (Management), Chantal Bard (Consulting), Christoph Zimmermann (Graphics), Carla Wilhelm (Text), Christian Birnbaumer (Programming), Manuela Riedl (Web). 3D graphics: Linus Schneider.

The study’s findings show that agencies invest an average of 10 percent of their revenue in new business. Most of the money goes toward pitches and initial meetings, while the least goes toward participating in awards. At the same time, the majority of respondents report increasing competition among the various disciplines.

One-quarter of the agencies surveyed invest an average of over 25,000 euros in preparing for and conducting a pitch—that’s as much as a good mid-range car costs. Generally speaking, the larger the agency, the higher the cost per pitch. Agencies in German-speaking countries handle an average of 41 new business inquiries per year. Of these, 24 inquiries are brought directly to the agencies by clients. On average, agencies actively reach out to potential clients 17 times.
The ratio of new business leads to acquired customers is 19.9 percent. Design agencies are particularly successful, with a conversion rate of 22.0 percent. Digital agencies bring up the rear, converting only 11.8 percent of new business leads into customers.

Last but not least, Cherrypicker wanted to know who is in charge of new business at the agencies. The picture that emerges is clear: At nearly all of the agencies surveyed, senior management is in charge. Additionally, 35 percent of the agencies have their own new business manager.

According to Cherrypicker, two key conclusions can be drawn from the results: First, the blurring of the lines between individual agency disciplines is leading to increasing opacity in the agency market. Second, an unprecedented wave of cutthroat financial competition is on the horizon in the battle for new clients.

Oliver Klein, owner of Cherrypicker, commented: «There is a risk that, in the future, an agency’s financial strength will play a greater role in a client’s decision to award a budget than the agency’s creative performance. All market participants must work to counteract this trend if the creative diversity of the agency market in Germany is to be preserved.» Given that smaller agencies cannot always afford to participate in a pitch, clients should carefully consider whether a pitch is truly the right approach. At the same time, agencies must ask themselves whether other new business strategies might lead to greater success. Oliver Klein sums it up: «Ultimately, with a success rate of 20 percent, agencies» investment in new business is and remains a speculative venture.”

About the Cherrypicker Industry Monitor

The Cherrypicker Industry Monitor «New Business Investment» is based on the results of an online survey conducted from April through May 2012. A total of 108 representatives from German-speaking agencies in the fields of full-service, dialogue, online/digital, PR, design, and events participated in this unprecedented study. The results thus reflect a cross-section of the entire communications landscape.
 

In particular, DPA employees and their boss were praised for developing an interactive customer news portal. This enables their agency to work closely with publishers of both online and print newspapers, EANA announced in a communiqué on Thursday. The prize, worth 1,000 euros, will be presented to DPA at the EANA General Assembly in Lisbon, Portugal, at the end of September.

DPA employs 1,200 people worldwide and has offices in over 100 countries around the world. It offers its news service in German, English, Spanish and Arabic. (SDA)
 

She said she was glad that the Swiss Media Forum wasn’t focusing on the question, «Will newspapers survive?» She’d much rather focus on the digital revolution. For Abramson, one thing is clear: The internet isn’t a threat—it’s the future. According to Abramson, online media and quality journalism are not mutually exclusive. On the contrary. She loves the stories behind the stories; she wants to shed light on political processes in the U.S. And above all: «I want to spread our quality journalism globally,» she said.

To achieve this goal, The New York Times employs 1,150 journalists in its newsroom—where print and online editorial teams work together. ‘We publish stories when they’re ready, on the platform that works best,« said Abramson.

NZZ Also Launches a «Paywall»

Abramson had launched the payment system for the online edition of The New York Times, known as the paywall. Readers get 10 articles per month for free; after that, they have to pay. The system has attracted attention worldwide, including in Switzerland. The NZZ, for example, recently announced that it would implement a paywall this fall.

But Abramson does not see making the entire content of the online edition paywalled as a solution: «It’s important to remain part of the open web.» With a closed paywall, you’re no longer part of the public discourse, said the investigative journalist, who remains the only woman to date at the helm of a major U.S. newspaper

In addition to Jill Abramson, speakers at the second Swiss Media Forum—which runs through Friday—include Swiss CEO Harry Hohmeister and Germany’s former Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer. 340 people from the media, business, and politics are attending the conference. (SDA)
 

In a video banner, a TCS patrolman provides shopping assistance and repairs a shopping cart in a shopping center parking lot. In addition to a direct mailing to TCS members with an affinity for credit cards and advertisements in the TCS member magazine Touring, Serranetga also designed and implemented video banners and a landing page. A give-away was also developed to make shopping easier: a key fob with an integrated shopping cart jeton.

Responsible at TCS: Nicole Zingg (Marketing Project Manager). Responsible at Serranetga: Nadine Rapp (overall responsibility), Samuel Textor, Pascal Deville (creative direction), Thomas Blumer (text), Sibylle Moos (art direction), Philippe Lehmann (screen design), Jessica Bernhagen (project coordination), Fabian Keller (strategy), Christos Margaris, Erwan Eydt (programming), Jonathan Heyer (photography), Tobi Bühler (video production).

 

The 30-second clip is intended to invite companies and agencies to submit their communication concepts by July 15, 2012. For the past eight years, the leading industry award in the Swiss communications and PR scene has been recognizing the best work, campaigns, and communication concepts. Information on the rules for participation and the award can be found at Award-CC.com to find.

Person in charge at Award-CC: Roland Bieri (Project Manager). Person in charge at Gvision Movie: Mike Hauser (Concept, Camera, Production).
 

The website relaunch is planned for fall 2012, Previon writes in a press release. The relaunch concept now in place ensures that tried-and-tested editorial workflows are maintained as well as possible, while optimizations can be implemented quickly if required. Right from the start, attention was paid to ensuring that the system could be easily expanded.

Previon develops the website concept together with the Folio team and is responsible for the screen design and technical implementation.

 

Hiltl is hosting a public viewing with space for over 1,000 people at the Güterbahnhof in Zurich's Kreis 4 district. Reason enough for Hiltl and Ruf Lanz to continue the multiple award-winning campaign "There's a Vegetarian in Every Footballer" with fresh subjects. The three new motifs draw attention to the public viewing on advertisements, posters, postcards, online measures, and on the backs of Feldschlösschen trucks.

Responsible at Hiltl House: Rolf Hiltl (overall responsibility), Marsha Lehmann (marketing). Responsible at Ruf Lanz: Markus Ruf, Danielle Lanz (Creative Direction), Marcel Schläfle (Art Direction), Torsten Maas (Text), Doelkar Monkhar (Consulting).

Robert Vego has held the position of Head of Key Accounts at APG/SGA in Zurich since 2008, as detailed in a press release on Wednesday. He also worked for six years as Brand Manager Romandie at Publicitas International. Vego will join Neo Advertising on June 1. He will be based in Zurich and will have a dual role: managing the national and local sales teams in Geneva and Zurich and representing the media agency in the German-speaking market.

Florian Maas, who has held the position of Head of Sales Neo Advertising since summer 2010, has been appointed COO, it is reported. His task will be to manage Neo Advertising's operational business and accelerate innovation in order to improve the range of services in the areas of digital communication and information.
 

New must be the iPad edition no longer has to be purchased in addition to the newspaper subscription, but is included in it at no extra charge, Tamedia said in a statement on Wednesday. Subscribers to the print edition will thus in future have free access to the content of the Tages-Anzeiger specially prepared for the iPad every day from 3 a.m. at the latest. However, it will still be possible to purchase only the iPad edition of the Tages-Anzeiger with a weekly, monthly or annual subscription without subscribing to the print edition.

Evening edition canceled

The online platform of Tagesanzeiger.ch/Newsnet is integrated directly into the app. This replaces the previous evening edition of the Tages-Anzeiger on iPad, which, according to the announcement, was little used in contrast to the morning edition. As another frequently requested improvement, the revised version of the app includes the daily edition of the Tages-Anzeiger in newspaper layout as an e-paper. The iPad app was launched in mid-July 2011.

The subtle design of the logo is also intended to evoke the jewelry, which is made of 750 yellow gold and produced exclusively in Switzerland. The signature piece of Unit38's implementation is the 20-page brochure, for which Sarina Arnold herself posed for photographer Sven Bänziger. The jewelry was put in the right light by Patrik Fuchs. In addition to the logo and brochure, Unit38 also designed all the stationery, various postcards and the jewelry boxes for Sarina Arnold - Jewels For You.

Responsible: Alexandra Aberli Management (Marketing/Communications), Sarina Arnold. Responsible at Unit38 Communications: Martin Meyer (CD), Nadja Meier (AD), Marisa Bürgi (graphics); Sven Bänziger (photography people), Patrik Fuchs (photography products).

"It is possible that from 2013, parts of the services in Geneva and Lausanne will no longer be provided in-house but will be outsourced," Tamedia spokesperson Christoph Zimmer told the news agency SDA on Tuesday. "Job cuts have not been ruled out, but have not been decided either."

Last Saturday, the co-president of the editorial and staff association of the Tribune de Genève confirmed reports from the newspapers Courrier and La Liberté that Tamedia was laying off 21 cleaning and maintenance staff in French-speaking Switzerland
(> Tamedia lays off 21 employees). The Tamedia spokesperson denied this on Tuesday: "No redundancies have been announced or announced." (SDA)