At first hearing, two radically different stylists make music together. Carl Hänggi comes from the classical guitar. Rino Meyer is a tinkerer in the field of experimental electronics. Their harmonic discovery works like the interplay of TNT. And the best-known formula for explosive detonators also provides the name for their new company: T&Tea. The play on words stands for bombastic dynamics in a creative combination with the calm and serenity of a tea party. T&Tea has been around for a year. Now Carl Hänggi and Rino Meyer want to step out of the credits and into the public eye for the first time with their studio for commissioned music in Zurich. Together they are still unknown. Individually, however, each can boast top-class experience in a wide variety of fields. And this mixture of two CVs also harbors a lot of potential for explosive dynamics. Carl Hänggi and Rino Meyer are not just two musicians from two different generations coming together. They also bring together the sounds of two completely different worlds.

Before Carl Hänggi returned to Zurich, he experienced the sound of the big wide world, from classical concerts in Japan to jazzy productions with stars between Hollywood and New York. At the same time, Rino Meyer searched for his sounds in Zurich by delving deeper and deeper into the innards of his numerous synthesizers. Rino owns a collection of the most interesting synths from the early days, including, for example, a legendary "ARP Quadra". "A sound can be created much more authentically on such still analog instruments than on a digital device," says Meyer. Nevertheless, he can of course work on all the registers of today's technology in the digital domain at the same time.

With this combination, the two can cover the entire sound palette for commissioned music. The most important market for T&Tea is commercials. "Sound alikes" are primarily in demand here. "The trend is towards songs that are already known to have an emotionalizing effect. But because the rights are usually too expensive, you have to compose something that sounds similar," says Hänggi, explaining the recipe. With his background as an academically trained musician, "he can break down a melody into its harmonic parts and reassemble it within a very short space of time," says Rino Meyer enthusiastically about his partner. He is then responsible for creating a big sound like a session with star musicians. Of course, real instruments are also used if required. T&Tea can also draw on a network of proven soloists as well as singers for all the styles in demand. In addition to creative ideas, another quality of T&Tea is that they can respond "very quickly" to their customers' wishes thanks to their combined expertise. "A service that is particularly in demand today in advertising, where everything always has to happen very quickly," says Meyer. In such situations, Carl Hänggi can also replace the music supervisor. "He acts as an intermediary between the advertising company and the composer. Because the client and musician don't always speak the same language, in my role as composer and producer I can understand very quickly and communicate in a generally understandable way," Hänggi is convinced. He has already done all the jobs required to be a music supervisor at some point in his career.

After a degree in chamber music at the conservatory in Lucerne and a few semesters of art history, he moved to Vienna "because the best teacher in the world for my training as a concert guitarist was working there", as Hänggi explains. He attended Karl Scheit's master class at the Academy of Music and Fine Arts and also studied composition. He obtained his concert diploma "with distinction" and was subsequently able to perform as a guitarist in concerts and recordings with Leonard Bernstein and star conductor Claudio Abbado. Carl Hänggi has performed as a soloist in over 100 chamber music concerts throughout Europe and has also toured Asia. He has won various prizes and has also worked as a lecturer at the University of Zurich and later as a guest lecturer for film music at the Munich Film Academy.

A stylistic break followed at the age of 30. Hänggi, who had already played in bands as a teenager, rediscovered his old passion for jazz and pop. He met Richard Schönherz from Supermax by chance and moved to America with him. In the USA, the two worked together on various projects in the areas of film music, theater music and radio drama. Hänggi composed music in Hollywood for stars such as Sam Shepard and Wolfgang Petersen. After returning to Munich from the USA, films for Wolfgang Panzer and the series "Tatort" and "Terra X" followed. Together with Stephan Massimo, Hänggi founded the company Carma Sound to provide soundtracks for commercials. "After 150 compositions, we stopped counting." Clients included McDonald's Europe, Sony Batman, Telekom Deutschland, Deutsche Post, Adidas, Camel and Herz USA. For other projects, which he also supervised for a while from his new adopted home in Stockholm, Hänggi also worked with Gregor Ugovsek, the producer of Kylie Minogue and Atomic Kitten. A special kind of commission was the incidental music for a Disney feature film about the life of the composer of "Silent Night". What else could he add to what is probably mankind's greatest catchy tune? Hänggi's solution was "a very traditional composition". That is why the story of the film "made the title song bigger and bigger" until "Silent Night" was finally sung in the biggest places all over the world. Another film with a historical character is "Berezina". Carl Hänggi was also responsible for the music for this last work by Daniel Schmid. All of these works have earned him a Golden Award at the New York Commercial Festival, an Emmy and a Bronze Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival.

"I can't keep up with so many stations yet. But I can bring the drive of youth to the table," jokes Rino Meyer as he goes through Hänggi's CV. He himself based his musical career on his fascination with sound. With the idea that "a sound is already a melody", Rino Meyer developed both synthetic and natural soundscapes. Brian Eno was an inspiration at the time. Under the name "Test Tube", Meyer performed his own ideas at various concerts from 1995 onwards. At first, the sound tinkerer only worked with synthesizers, later increasingly with acoustic instrumentalists and guest singers. This ultimately enabled his music to reach a majority audience. "But that also meant the end of this avant-garde project," says the convinced artist.

As a replacement, Rino Meyer became increasingly active as an event organizer in the cultural segment. For the "Long Night of Museums" in Zurich, he helped organize three extraordinary series of events at the Migros Museum of Contemporary Art. For two years, he also stylishly furnished the "1st floor lounge" and made it available for cultural events with catering. During this time, Rino Meyer traded in vintage and designer furniture and opened two stores in Zurich with a business partner - Sugus and Individum. He has since sold these. The annual event radio station "Rundfunk.fm" was launched in 1999 under the co-initiation of Rino Meyer. During this time, Phonogen.com was also founded, a label for upmarket music that is currently undergoing change. Meyer was also significantly involved as co-producer of various music productions. Since 2005, he has worked as an advertising music producer for film, television and the Internet. His clients include Ikea, Phonak (Hear the World), Emmi, Siemens (USA), Smart, Jura with Roger Federer and the Schauspielhaus Zurich.

Andreas Panzeri

Lady Gaga has noticed: she has had a profile on Google Plus since January 16, where she has been posting regularly ever since. This is remarkable because the pop icon is a real social media heavyweight: she is at the top of Twitter with 18 million followers, and her Facebook page also has almost 47 million fans. However, she has taken six months since the launch of Google Plus, which is why she has yet to catch up with frontrunner Britney Spears on this platform, who has been accepted into her circle by 1.6 million users. Above all, the "mother of monsters" reacted swiftly to the realignment that the search engine giant announced or already introduced in the first few weeks of the year.

The fact that the wind is blowing against Google is not as noticeable in Germany, where the search engine giant has a market share of well over 90 percent, as it is in the US home market, where the figure is only 65 percent. And Google seems to have fallen behind: Last May, Microsoft and Facebook set out to rival Google with the concept of "social search". To this end, Microsoft's search engine Bing and the Facebook platform were more closely interlinked in order to take greater account of the opinions of a user's Facebook friends in the results. Google has now countered this by launching "Search Plus Your World", or SPYW for short, which is sometimes pronounced SPEW (spit), on January 10. Since then, registered Google users have also been shown results that can be derived from their usage behavior, Internet contacts and information stored online. The aim is to be able to deliver better search results with more meaningful signals about the user and, above all, to be able to display advertisements more accurately.

Companies should push Google Plus
That's why Lady Gaga didn't miss a beat: If you want to appear at the top of as many search queries as possible in future, you need to be included in the circles of as many Google Plus users as possible. And there are more and more of them: at the presentation of the quarterly results for the last quarter of 2011, CEO Larry Page reported 90 million Google Plus users worldwide on January 19. Compared to Facebook (800 million active users), this is still a small number, especially as many have set up their profiles but hardly seem to use them actively. To get things moving, Google is helping out by giving everyone who signs up for a new service a Google Plus account. Not only should Google users become active on Google Plus, but above all they should remain logged in to Google at all times. This is because frequent users of Google services leave a huge trail of data: search queries, of course, but also email messages, videos viewed, location data and now also social contacts on Google Plus. All these signals can be registered and analyzed in order to optimize the search results and, above all, the advertisements for each user.

Listlessly on hold
Under the aegis of Larry Page, co-founder of Google and CEO for nine months, the Google empire is being focused. In recent months, the hodgepodge of services that had been created through acquisitions or own initiatives has been cleared out. His vision: Google products should have a uniform and attractive appearance and be perceived accordingly - just like its rivals Apple and Facebook. Central to this is the announcement that the user data of all services will be merged from 1 March, for which the terms and conditions and data protection rules have been standardized. Google wants to treat its (registered) users as a single user across all services in future, as Alma Whitten, the Google manager responsible for privacy and data protection, explained in a blog post. Just how serious Google's management is about the new strategy was demonstrated at an employee meeting, where Larry Page responded to critical comments by saying that anyone who doesn't understand SPYW should look for a job elsewhere. This statement by the Google boss seems symptomatic of the clumsy communication culture at Google, and the online giant could do with more elegance when it comes to market communication. A wave of enthusiasm (think of all the fuss surrounding the Apple iPhone) for Google Plus and for SPYW is nowhere to be seen. As a survey of social media practitioners conducted by Werbewoche showed, there is hardly any enthusiasm for Google Plus in Switzerland either. Many companies have only registered Google Plus accounts in order to secure a presence for their own company, and sometimes a few entries can be found that are now long out of date - regularly and strategically maintained presences are a rarity.

So far, it seems realistic to wait and see, as SPYW is only in use on Google.com and only for search queries in English. If the new Google era is also ushered in here one day, the question arises as to how widespread it is among the local online audience to be constantly logged in with their Google account when surfing. In Switzerland, this share can be estimated to be in the single-digit percentage range, especially if we look at isolated analyses from the USA. Google will have to be prepared for a long race to catch up and a dry spell before Google Plus is anywhere near as important as arch-rival Facebook. What's more, there is a headwind blowing: the new strategy will certainly be received critically by data protectionists, but also by some users, and it will take a lot of good efforts to avoid a PR disaster (remember Streetview).

SEO forces you to participate
The new Google strategy is basically associated with the chance that a company presence on Google Plus will be seen as more trustworthy than on Facebook, which was geared towards people from the outset. And because Google's SPYW strategy is now aimed at companies pushing the Google network, they will have no choice but to set themselves up on Google Plus. Because if you want to appear in a top position in the search results in the future, you can no longer achieve this with good content and a few rules for search engine optimization (SEO) alone, but must also have a good presence on Google Plus that is accepted into a circle by as many people as possible. SPYW therefore primarily affects SEO consultants, whose business is now subject to new and more difficult rules on Google. Google Plus and SPYW are still construction sites: On average, a new feature has been added every day since the launch, reported Larry Page, not without pride. And when it comes to the question of how to deal with social media data in search queries, practical findings are constantly being incorporated into the highly complex search algorithms. Another opportunity for companies lies in the internal use of the various Google tools in order to apply the concepts of social networking to internal communication (keywords: Social Enterprise or Enterprise 2.0).

However Google Plus develops, it will not completely replace any existing social network. This is also confirmed by the Werbewoche survey: Facebook is the clear favorite almost everywhere, as it is almost impossible to get past it, mainly due to its wide distribution. Twitter is in second place. The short message service is frequently used to achieve additional reach with references to new content and often serves as a customer service tool. Because not all social media users can be found on all networks or use them differently depending on the time of day or situation, it seems appropriate to be present on all major channels - and there is every indication that Google Plus will also establish itself in Switzerland this year.

Christoph J. Walther

The current social media high-flyers:

Werbewoche asked social media practitioners how they use Google Plus
and the other social networks. Here is a selection:

"I believe that Google Plus has very good chances of establishing itself strongly in the corporate environment and will also spread from there to the private sector." Markus Gabriel, Angelink AG, crossover agency, Zurich

"Google Plus hardly offers us any new opportunities that we can't already cover with Facebook." Philipp Furrer, web editor, Swiss Olympic, Ittigen near Bern

"Google Plus certainly still has the greatest potential and could maneuver itself into an eminently important role - but there is still a long way to go." Stefanie Hynek, Public Relations Manager, Digitec AG|Galaxus AG, Zurich

"We are not pursuing a strategy of being present on all platforms wherever possible. Rather, it is important to us to maintain our existing channels in the long term." Manuela Gallati, Communication & Media, Destination Davos Klosters, Davos Platz

"We could do without many of the many networks at the moment, but not Facebook." Sabrina Gubler, Marketing Switzerland, Interhome AG, Glattbrugg

"Facebook and Google Plus are aimed at a broad, interested public. Twitter is good for reaching journalists." Simon Rindlisbacher, Communications and Marketing, Alternative Bank Schweiz AG, Olten

"We use all three platforms as an image platform. This is where we tell the stories of everyday university life." Adrian Stitzel, Marketing & Communication, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Lucerne

"The question for an SME is: How do I serve all the social networks without getting bogged down in useless work?" Frank Huber, ADOLA-Trading GmbH, Thalwil

"I like the quality of the discussions on Google Plus." Marie-Christine Schindler, mcschindler.com, Zurich

"Twitter is not a mainstream product like Facebook, especially not in Switzerland." Cendrine Gafner, Client Service Direction & Board Member, Numéro10 AG, Bern

"We're not pushing Google Plus into a corner - there could still be exciting developments there too - especially if Google Shopping were integrated." Evelyn Schneider, Marketing Manager, FashionFriends AG, Langenthal

"For brand protection and SEO reasons, we have created a company page on Google Plus. However, the network is not a strategic priority for us at the moment." Marcel Härtlein, Head of Online Properties, KPMG AG, Zurich

"We are active in that we have integrated the Google Plus buttons on our products, as this also influences the organic ranking." Zeynep Sayin, Head of www.books.ch, Orell Füssli Book Retailing Ltd, Zurich

"We want to be where our customers are. That's why we certainly can't do without Facebook." Jens Wiesenhütter, Group Communications Consultant, Social Media Manager, Raiffeisen Switzerland, St.Gallen

"We see social media as a paradigm shift in the creation of the public sphere - the specific technical platforms are of secondary importance and depend on the time and the way in which users bend these networks to suit their purposes." Daniel Rei, PR Manager, Brack Electronics AG, Mägenwil

"Google Plus has a high level of credibility, Facebook is still often ridiculed as a platform for teenagers." Sandra Albisser, Managing Director & Consultant, SocialCom GmbH, Lucerne

"I consider Google Plus to be an important social media platform, also because of the Plus 1 button and the connection to SEO ranking, which will become more and more social in the future." Tanja Adis, Heartbeatmedia, Rümlang

"Under no circumstances should you rush headlong into all the networks that are springing up everywhere. Behind every commitment there must be a concrete idea with a clear concept for content, form and maintenance." Dominique Locher, Marketing & Sales Director, LeShop SA, Ecublens

"Two years ago, accounts were springing up like mushrooms at Ringier. We've since learned that unkempt accounts don't create any added value - they can even damage our reputation." Jonathan Sejnoha, Social Media Manager, Ringier AG, Zurich.

At PubliGroupe's annual press conference a year ago, CEO Hanspeter Rohner reported that Publicitas (P) had adjusted its business model and "extended almost all of its partnerships with Swiss publishers on this basis" as of January 1, 2011. But shortly thereafter, Werbewoche revealed something else: For the first time, two in-house newspaper publishers, W. Gassmann (Bieler Tagblatt/Journal du Jura) and Mengis Druck und Verlag (Walliser Bote), decided not to cooperate with P. The reason: they could not agree on the new P pricing model, which bases placement agreements on a fixed base amount per placed ad plus a commission based on sales. The consequence of the break: P announced that it was deleting the titles mentioned in its system and would no longer place ads for them, not even at the express request of the customer. In short: P broke with the universal agency.

In the meantime, the situation has become more acute: In the last six months, Basler Zeitung Medien and Ziegler Druck (Der Landbote and Winterhurer Stadtanzeiger) have also terminated their cooperation with P. Now Werbewoche wanted to find out more. Now Werbewoche wanted to know more about this and asked 40 direct and in-house publishers what their contractual relationship with P was like. The result: 15 of the publishers questioned will remain under Publicitas management in 2012, but in one case the contract has been terminated. All the other publishers contacted are independent publishers, but only seven of them have a new contract with P - five with and two without (!) a basic amount per advertisement. Four publishers are currently in the middle of renegotiations, four are without a contract, as mentioned above, and the P has not yet made any representations to nine others. And in one case (Migros Media) Werbewoche received no information.

15 publishers are in P-direction
The 15 publishers that will remain under P management in 2012 are essentially known: In addition to the NZZ Group with St. Galler Tagblatt and Neuer Luzerner Zeitung, these are Anzeiger Region Bern, Touring, Le Temps, Le Nouvelliste, La Liberté, the Hersant titles Express, Impartial and Le Quotidien Jurassien as well as the Ticino newspapers Corriere del Ticino, La Regione Ticino and the Giornale del Po¬polo. Werbewoche has no information on the duration of the contracts or whether the (newer) management contracts also provide for basic amounts for advertisements. The only thing that is clear is that changes are imminent at the Neue Fricktaler Zeitung. "We have terminated our management contract with the P, and negotiations about further cooperation are underway," said publisher Walter Herzog. He left open the direction in which things will go.

More moderate performance in the second half of 2011?
It is also known that the large independent publishers Tamedia, Edipresse, Ringier and Axel Springer Switzerland concluded new contracts with P as of 2011 and also accepted the new price model including a base amount per advertisement. Zehnder Verlag in Wil (SG) has apparently also agreed to this. Publisher Rolf Zehnder indicated that he had recently renegotiated the contract and found the new pricing model including the base amount "reasonable" for his 25 free titles, but had difficulties with P's price expectations.

The fact that four publishing houses in Basel, Winterthur, Biel and Visp broke up within a short space of time in 2011 did not seem to leave P cold. At the end of the year, it began to adopt a more moderate approach. In December, it was also able to announce a new contract with AZ Medien, albeit with one major difference: AZ Medien did not agree to the P model with the basic amount. "We have jointly developed a fair model that offers good value for money," says CEO Christoph Bauer on request.

This is consistent with the experience of FMM Fachmedien Mobil. The publishing house, which publishes Automobil Revue and Revue automobile, was spun off from Tamedia last summer. As a result, a new contract was needed. However, as Werbewoche knows from a confidential source, there is now a pure commissioning contract which - in contrast to the contract with Tamedia - no longer includes a basic amount for advertisements!

Five are in negotiations, some of which are difficult...
It is also interesting to note that five independent publishers are only now deciding whether and how they want to use the P in future. Freiburger Nachrichten has been negotiating for months. Although the publisher does not wish to comment at present, it has previously expressed criticism of the new pricing model. Kimedia, which markets nine Konsumenteninfo AG magazines (including K-Tipp), has been in discussions with P for two years. "We are still interested in working with P, but not on their terms," says management board member Peter Salvisberg, referring to the base amount and commission rate. In any case, Kimedia is "not dependent on P for better or worse". The expired commission contract with the Geneva-based business newspaper Agefi (own management) was extended by one year. Renegotiations are therefore due in 2012. "But I'm not interested in the basic amount," says Martin Schaedel, Head of Sales. The situation is special for the independent title Schaffhauser Nachrichten, which has been more closely aligned with the St. Galler Tagblatt (under P management) since the new year: there are still some unanswered questions regarding the relationship with P, according to the Munot town. The same probably applies to the Olten Tagblatt, which switched to its own management in 2011 and concluded a one-year commissioning contract with P - without a basic amount. This has now been extended by one year.

Nine still know nothing
P has not even made any representations to a whole series of other independent publishers: "We have a contract with Publicitas under the old model. I have no intention of changing this," writes Konrad Müller, publishing director of the Zürcher Oberländer. Zürichsee Werbe AG, which markets a good 30 magazines, the weekly WoZ, Zeitlupe, Zofinger Tagblatt, Weltwoche, CoopZeitung and Verlag Medien & Medizin, which also publishes Werbewoche, have also "not yet heard anything about the P". According to advertising manager Thomas Stuckert, there is no de facto contract with the latter anyway; P is simply paid the standard industry commission of 5 percent. It is also worth noting that even Irmgard Ritz from the management of Südostschweiz Publicitas "does not know the new P model in detail" - after all, P holds a 50 percent stake in the Chur-based advertising company. Either way, it is clear to Ritz: "We see no need for action to adopt the new rate model."

Far from your own goal
Conclusion: Even today, P is a long way from what it sold as "done" just under a year ago. In addition, one gets the impression that it has been less brash since fall 2011; the base amount per advertisement no longer seems to be a mandatory component of a new contract. Officially, however, P does not want to know anything about this. It did not respond to a request for an interview. Beat Werder, Head of Corporate Communications at PubliGroupe, simply commented as follows: "The tariff model presented will be applied. We cannot comment on specific contractual details. From our point of view, there is no need for further details."

Markus Knöpfli

Mediated to publishers without a contract
Some media agencies traditionally process (large) parts of their print orders - including those for their own titles - via Publicitas Publimedia. The advantage for agencies and customers: less effort and a collective invoice. As long as P acted as a universal intermediary, this ran smoothly. However, this has been a thing of the past for a year now. However, as the OMD, ZipMedia and m&m agencies surveyed all agreed, the consequences for them have so far been minimal, as P continues to pass on all orders, including those to independent publishers with whom it no longer officially cooperates and from whom it no longer receives commission. The only disadvantage is that some of these orders no longer appear on the collective invoice, but are often invoiced separately by P. In some cases, the agencies have therefore switched to booking such orders directly. (mk)

(Teaser image: Keystone)
 

After the Zurich-based design firm Beling Thoenen Design won an international competitive pitch, the editorial and visual concept for Play—formerly the Swisscom TV magazine—was implemented at the beginning of 2012. Beling Thoenen won over the new client with a well-thought-out comprehensive package, as well as an emotional interpretation and further development of Swisscom’s corporate design. Play now features a versatile editorial concept with a reader-friendly, journalistic feel. The engaging name «Play» and the dynamic cover design encourage readers to pick up the magazine, and a flip cover featuring sports ensures that the target audience is reached even more effectively. For movie fans, the main cover always features a still from the month’s featured film. The new layout inside the magazine uses large, widescreen-format images to credibly anchor Play in the world of cinema. The introduction of an editorial board and new sections—News, Star Interview, Cover Film Report, and Topics of the Month—serves the same purpose. The magazine has a circulation of 400,000 copies.

Last year, the Adweek award-winning "Global Media Agency of the Year" won seven out of eight global competitions, including clients such as Levi's, Groupe Bel and Tourism Australia. In addition to winning new clients, OMD also enjoyed great success at Cannes; in June, it won eight Media Lions, including a Golden Lion in the Best Use of Branded Content category for its support at Nissan's GT Academy. That made it the most awarded media agency network of the 2011 festival.

As successfully introduced last year, submissions can also be made via Facebook in 2012. "We are making the submission procedure as simple and efficient as possible. It's a small step for the participating agencies and clients, but it has a big impact. Because whoever takes home a Columbus at the DMVÖ Award has prevailed against the best in the German-speaking world," says Jürgen Polterauer, DMVÖ Vice President and Managing Director of Dialogschmiede.

This year, the DMVÖ Award is themed around economic sustainability and will be presented in 22 categories: two integrated campaigns (B2B and B2C), nine media and nine industry categories as well as two special categories.

Further information can be found at facebook.com/DMVOE.award or under dmvoe.at/award.

Saatchi & Saatchi developed the cross-media collection campaign "Swisscom Mobile Aid" for the return program of old cell phones within JRZ. This is because every cell phone at Swisscom also has a Zusazt function. Through Swisscom's sustainable and socially just initiative, the cell phones are collected and refurbished. They are then sold again at affordable prices in countries with low purchasing power. This enables people to have mobile communications without undermining local trade. The proceeds go to the Swiss Solidarity projects Mothers in Need.

Saatchi & Saatchi developed the Mobile Aid key visual for advertisements, flyers and social media as part of the new communications presence. Likewise, a "Swisscom Mobile Aid" promotion was launched with TV presenter Marco Fritsche to make the campaign known and tangible to the general public. On his short tour de Suisse, he spontaneously visited Swiss homes, stores, school buildings and even the Federal Palace to collect old cell phones and distribute Mobile Aid collection bags.

By the end of the JRZ donation week, over 10,000 old cell phones had already been collected. Swisscom will continue to collect old, no longer used cell phones with various measures in 2012.

Responsible at Swisscom: Kathrin Amacker (Head of Corporate Communications), Olivier Quillet (Head of Strategic Marketing), Tom Hauk (Head of Brand Communications), Florian Birchmeier (Project Manager JRZ), Diana Busch (Project Manager Communications JRZ), Sascha Weisshaupt (Head of Corporate Identity). Responsible at Saatchi & Saatchi: Petar Dakovic (Managing Director), Dino Ceccato, Sonia Ducu (Consulting), Jürg Aemmer (Creative Director), Pascal Schaub (Strategy Director), Urs Schrepfer, Mark Stahel (Text/Concept), Guido Masson, Christian Bobst (Art Direction), Ilija Gautschi (Graphic Design), Stephan Schacher (Photo).
 

In the guise of the well-known brand symbol Meister Proper, Lebrument sends a squeaky-clean message: "Südostschweiz makes your brand shine." In other words: Switzerland's daily newspaper with a 98 percent subscription share belongs in every national media plan. After all, it not only covers a third of German-speaking Switzerland. The household spending of consumers here amounts to 45 billion francs per year, more than that of the Basel, Bern or Geneva regions. And: 237,000 of these consumers are readers of Südostschweiz.

The brand campaign of the media service provider SOP is part of the new communication concept of the Südostschweiz newspaper network. Südostschweiz is innovative, confident and can therefore afford to be self-deprecating. Other well-known Südostschweiz heads in the bodies of real power figures are to follow.

Behind the brand campaign is Viva, a Zurich-based communications agency with roots in Graubünden.

Responsible at SOP: Irmgard Ritz (Head of National Advertising Marketing). Responsible at Viva: Claude Catsky (Creative Director), Georg Gasser (Senior Consultant), Christina Dotzel (Junior Consultant), Heini Schmid and Robert Knopf (Art Directors), Remo Poletti (Illustrator), Roni Langauer (Image Combination).
 

Over 120,000 Swiss people suffer from sleep apnoea without knowing it, reads the headline on one of the posters. The disease, which causes breathing difficulties at night and makes patients feel tired during the day, has recently been advertised by the Bern-based agency Numéro 10. In keeping with the grey January, two bright contrasting colors were chosen to make the motifs by English artist Noma Bar stand out. In classic fashion, a poster campaign was again launched to ensure that the Lung League's target group was addressed. However, Numéro 10 - which prevailed in a pitch against two other competitors - wanted to deliberately separate itself from the photographic world and graphically translate the suffering of those affected. In collaboration with Noma Bar, several subjects were created that shine through their ambiguity. At first glance, the viewer only sees a man with a tie, but only on closer inspection does one realize that the tie can also be seen as a face. The ambiguity can also be found in the cushion and moon motifs. At second glance, silhouettes can be seen in both motifs, sleeping and snoring. These are intended to represent daytime sleepiness and snoring as two side effects of sleep apnea. With these previous motifs, the Lung League wants to draw attention to its online test. With just a few questions, sufferers can find out whether they belong to the risk group and what they can do about it.

The aim of Numéro 10 was to choose an independent graphic language to differentiate it from other posters. They are intended to appeal not only to sufferers, but also to many people who are not yet aware that they suffer from the condition, as it occurs during sleep. Sleep apnoea can lead to up to a hundred breathing stops at night, and sufferers are often tired during the day as a result. The headline figure of 120,000 Swiss people affected is intended to draw attention to the need for help from the Lung League.

So that people suffering from the disease are not confronted with their suffering in an unpleasant way, Numéro 10 is happy to draw attention to the disease in a playful way without forgetting the seriousness of the situation. This conceptual mix led to the agency being commissioned with the sleep apnea campaign.

Monica Danuser

The refreshed Website contains information on the entire portfolio of print, online, mobile, social media and events. In addition to a clear and content-sorted overview, updated information on offers, tariffs, studies and factsheets are also available for download, as is the brand new IT Media Guide 2012.

Responsible at IDG Communications: Roland von Aesch (Head of Webdevelopment), André Reichenbach (Sales Director), Hansjörg Honegger (Editor-in-Chief).

Let's assume you are interested in advertising, then you read that Denner, i.e. Migros, is guaranteed to be small in the Prix and that the poster is in front of a Coop branch. Up until my editorial deadline on January 16 - I'm in the USA - I've seen such a poster in front of the Aldi with the unspeakable and incomprehensible sentence "Für ALDI rechnen können". There is probably a stand in front of the Spar with the text "Spar besser bei uns" or "Wir können ein Lidl singen".

There are certain puzzles called "Thinking around the corner". This advertisement, a full page, 4-color, is doubly thought around the corner for the consumer who shops at Denner. My analysis: The fact that Coop has grouped its cheaper products under the heading "Prix Garantie" should be known immediately. This gives me the opportunity to understand what Denner is trying to tell me with this statement on the street display "Prix Garantie small". Aha, what's the difference? At first I thought it was comparative advertising. But as you can see, Denner is only suggesting that it is cheaper. But the prices aren't lower, they're just lower.

We have learned from an older example of detergent advertising that "Persil, nobody washes whiter" was intended to make consumers believe that the competition does not wash as white. Legally, however, this is not the case. Rather: Everyone washes as white as Persil and no one washes whiter. Accordingly, this was not comparative advertising in legal terms.

Actually, I've already let my moth out, but I've discovered another one.

Coop says that they are a store for me and you, i.e. one for everyone, just as Denner is one for everyone. Migros does this at least one M better. Incidentally, Jägermeister was also an A420812 for everyone. Whether Spar, Aldi, Lidl and our three Swiss grocers in print advertising: all are about as boring with crossed-out prices, percentage signs, discounts, packshots and banging headlines). Migros is ahead in the TV commercials.
Consumers who are looking for a prix guaranteed smaller will cross the border anyway. They are not stupid. New advertising concepts with more content for a psychological preference are now required. The upshot is that Blocher has probably shot himself in the foot.

Theophil Butz, once a star advertiser (Ringier), now an inspirer and, from now on, a mocker. "Not an easy role, but a necessary one, which I perform here every 14 days." Please send any relevant information to [email protected].
 

This is the 46th anniversary of the Super Bowl. This year, the best football teams from the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC) will once again meet to compete for the coveted Vince Lombardi Trophy at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

The match-up between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants is a repeat of the Super Bowl title fight from 2008. The Giants, who won the title in 2008, beat the San Francisco 49ers 20:17 after overtime in the semi-final on the road this year. The Patriots, for their part, won the AFC 23:20 against the Baltimore Ravens to reach the final for the seventh time. The supporting program also has a lot to offer: Pop legend Madonna will perform in the famous half-time show and the US national anthem will be sung by YouTube stars "The Cactus Cuties". The spectacle will be broadcast in over 230 countries. Gabriel Oldham will be commentating live from the studio in Zurich for SSF. He will be joined by Phil Hofstetter from the Zurich Renegades, among others, as an expert.