The student from Biel complements the existing German-speaking moderation team, as the station writes in a statement on Friday. Tele Bielingue started broadcasting in 1999. Daily produced and broadcast news with sports, the strong reference to the region as well as other self-produced programs such as "Gesundheitstipp", "Portefeuille", "TelAuto", "Immobiel", "Herzschlag" or "Nachgefragt" make Tele Bielingue the strongest regional TV station for Biel and the Seeland, according to its own information. All programs are produced in German and French.

The main shareholders are the two Biel-based companies Büro Cortesi and W. Gassmann. Around 50 employees from the editorial, technical, marketing/sales and administrative departments work for Tele Bielingue from the Communication Center Biel.
 

The leading group of the top 10 is more stable than ever this year and remains almost unchanged in its composition, apart from the departure of the last European brand - Nokia - from the elite group and Apple's advance to eighth place. Five Swiss brands have made it into the top 100. The most valuable Swiss brand in 2011 is once again Nescafé in 30th place with a value of 12.12 billion US dollars. Nestlé moved up two places to become the second most valuable brand in Switzerland. The food manufacturer ranks 55th with a value of 6.61 billion US dollars. UBS fell six places to 92nd place with a brand value of 3.8 billion US dollars. Credit Suisse and Zurich, the two Swiss newcomers in 2010, held their own and both increased their brand value. Credit Suisse is ranked 82nd with a brand value of 4.1 billion US dollars, while Zurich has increased its brand value by eight percent and is ranked 94th with 3.77 billion US dollars.

WW: Mr. Zanello, you set up the marketing unit for TF1's TV advertising window at Ringier. How has business been going since September 5?
Patrick Zanello: Very good. In September we had around 60 spots - in the first week of October there were already 30 more. It was a big but exciting job, both for us and for TF1. It is the first foreign advertising window for the broadcaster.

How did customers react?
They welcomed it, because TF1 is not a small station in French-speaking Switzerland. If you compare it with German-speaking Switzerland, TF1's market share is as large as that of Sat.1 and RTL combined - i.e. around 13 percent. The media agencies have been waiting for a new player. Because TF1 offers a high-quality environment, we were also able to address sectors that had previously hardly advertised on TV in French-speaking Switzerland. For example, we are in talks with the automotive, watch, jewelry and cosmetics industries. Another reason: TSR and the channels marketed by Goldbach Media don't have much free space, whereas with us it is still possible to book the first or even the only commercial in the advertising block. Customers like that.

How much advertising space do you have available?
In September, we had advertising blocks available for around 60 percent of the program in the evening before and in primetime. The advertising space will be even larger in October and will also have potential later in the evening. However, there are some programs where we don't offer any blocks - for example, rugby, because we don't have the rights for it in Switzerland. TF1 adheres very closely to the broadcasting rights and advertising guidelines.

How do you fill the advertising blocks when they are not full? By giving them free space?
Firstly, we only open advertising blocks at the customer's request. Secondly, TF1 supports non-profit organizations and can offer them special conditions.

Although Ringier and TF1 had a stand at the screen-up, they did not take part in the screening. Why?
You'll have to ask Goldbach and Publisuisse. I think they had already put together the program before we announced the TF1 window. That's not a problem for us. Our goal is to be part of the screening in the future. The advertising market is waiting for our new products.

TF1 is number two with the French-speaking Swiss audience after TSR1, ahead of M6 and TSR2. How does it differ in terms of target group?
TF1's main target group in France and in French-speaking Switzerland is women under 50. TF1 is a large channel with a broad audience. With the reality format "Secret Story", a kind of daily "Big Brother", TF1 appeals to the under-25s, while "20 heures" tends to target executives. However, TF1 also has many family programs.

Where have you positioned TF1 in terms of price?
Our CPMs are just below those of TSR1 - for strategic reasons, because we are not a discounter. On the contrary: TF1 has quality. The station employs around 300 in-house journalists in France for the news programs alone. Quality is important. There are studies that show that advertising spots benefit when they are placed in a high-quality broadcast environment.

Who will suffer most from TF1 - TSR, the local stations, M6 or even the newspapers or the poster medium?
By the end of August, CHF 16 million more had been spent on TV advertising throughout French-speaking Switzerland than in the same period last year. By the end of the year, it should be 20 million more. So if the entire market grows like this, there will be something left over for us without us taking anything away from others. In short: we are not working against others, but with others. And we also bring in new customers. By the way, did you know that half of the richest Swiss live in French-speaking Switzerland? Many of them come from France and like French brands.

When it became known that Ringier wanted to market TF1, there were protests from other publishers in French-speaking Switzerland. But you say that there is nothing to fear.
That's not quite right. The French-speaking Swiss Press Association criticized Publisuisse for making the Publiplan booking tool available to our advertising window. This was not directed against Ringier. Then La Télé, a local TV station, reacted, but it was also primarily directed against Publisuisse and RTS. We are not working against the publishers, because Ringier is also a publisher. We are also not looking for short-term sales, but are focused on the French-speaking Swiss market in the long term.

Nevertheless, has the climate calmed down?
I think so. Ringier works professionally in the service of its partners, and that is basically the answer we give to such polemics. As you know, there is also jealousy in the business world ...

As you mentioned, TF1 can be booked via Publisuisse's Publiplan. Does Publisuisse also share in your sales?
No. They have nothing to do with each other. We are also not the first to use the Publisuisse tool. Publisuisse already existed at Cinecom or Belcom in the past. That's not a problem. Publisuisse doesn't get an insight into our turnover either.

In the TV sector, Ringier dances at different levels. Sometimes it works together with the SRG - for example with PresseTV or Publiplan, other times Ringier works against the SRG - as the marketer of TF1 or in German-speaking Switzerland as a partner in Sat.1 (Switzerland) or Teleclub. How does that work?
That's the case, yes. But the SRG does the same thing: sometimes it works with us, other times against us. Switzerland is small, we play in the B league internationally. One example: TF1 invests a billion euros a year in programming, nobody in Switzerland has that much, not even SRG. That's why we - publishers, SRG and broadcasters - have to be pragmatic. Conversely, TF1 has nothing against Ringier producing the cooking show "al dente" for TSR, where it generates a market share of around 27%.

How many people work in your TF1 sales team now?
There are seven of them - one sales manager, three key account managers, two people in media planning in Zurich and one person in marketing and communications. The team also works together with the print department.

It is rumored that you poached your crew from Goldbach in particular - with higher wages.
(laughs) No, that's wrong. Only the person in Lausanne previously worked for Goldbach, and next week someone who also comes from Goldbach will start in the back office. No, Ringier has set up a completely new team: The key account manager comes from Frankfurt, where he looked after CNBC Switzerland, Austria and Germany, and the sales manager comes from Publigroupe. In short, the majority of us don't have a Goldbach background.

You yourself come from the print sector.
That's right, and I'm staying there too.

What percentage of your working time do you devote to print and how much to TV?
Since January 2011, about fifty-fifty - with an 18-hour day. I'm lucky: my print and TV teams are very competent.

Interview: Markus Knöpfli
 

The season opens with the Swiss premiere of the play "Empty City", directed by theater director Stephan Roppel. This will be followed by further productions, readings and panel discussions. Theater Winkelwiese, the house for contemporary drama in the heart of Zurich, will once again provide theatrical surprises this autumn.

Responsible at Theater Winkelwiese: Stephan Roppel (overall responsibility), Andrea Schmid (dramaturgy). Responsible at Vizner Borel: Lajos Vizner, Guillaume Borel (overall responsibility), Florian Steiner (art direction), Andrea Vizzarro. (consulting). Photography: Ursula Markus (angle), Jonas Kuhn (poster).
 

It is the first significant decline since the Nielsen Global Ad View Pulse Q3 2009, when ad spend fell in more than half of the markets tracked due to the global recession. While quarterly spending increased 5.7 percent year-over-year to a total of $127 billion - based primarily on published ad rates and four major media groups - there was definitely a slowdown compared to the 8.9 percent growth rate in the first quarter of the year, according to Randall Beard, Global Head of Advertiser Solutions Nielsen. Overall, the global advertising market closed the first half of 2011 up 7.2 percent year-on-year.

Advertising investment in Fast Moving Consumer Goods FMCG has declined in Europe and North America and, together with the continued loss of newspaper advertising in these regions, this has led to slower growth. FMCG advertising investment recorded its slowest quarterly growth since the Global Ad View Pulse Q1 2009: down 4.0 percent globally with sharp declines of minus 3.6 percent in Europe and minus 3.0 percent in North America. The advertising reductions in the FMCG sector came as a surprise, particularly at Easter time - traditionally an important occasion for advertising placements in the FMCG sector and confectionery industry in Europe and North America. For the late Easter at the end of April this year, higher advertising sales would have been expected at the beginning of the second quarter, notes Beard. Within the FMCG industry, the cosmetics and personal care sectors recorded the most stable growth with an increase of 6.9 percent, accounting for almost one in ten dollars invested worldwide. The FMCG industry has proven to be one of the most resilient and recession-tested advertising sectors in recent years, but renewed concerns about another global recession and expected consumer retrenchment have prompted advertisers to pull back from the most crowded regions in Western Europe and North America, Beard added.

Interestingly, apparel and accessories, the areas hardest hit by the recession in 2009, posted the highest quarterly results year-on-year, with a global increase of 17.9%. This increase was driven by a strong rise of 27.9 percent in Asia-Pacific and a 39.8 percent increase in China.

In Western Europe, quarterly advertising expenditure remained almost identical to the previous year with a minimal decrease of 0.3%, although seven of the twelve European markets surveyed recorded declines. Advertising expenditure in the USA, the world's largest advertising market, and in Germany, Europe's largest economy, both saw an increase of 3.1% in the second quarter of 2011.

Asia-Pacific recorded the strongest regional growth in the second quarter of 2011 with an increase of 9.3 percent, with double-digit percentage growth rates from Indonesia (18.9 percent), China (14.8 percent), Hong Kong (13.4 percent) and the Philippines (12.6 percent). Of the 36 global markets covered in the Nielsen Global Ad View Pulse report, Argentina recorded the highest quarterly year-on-year growth at 28.5%.

Worldwide, the worst affected market in the second quarter of 2011 compared to the previous year was Egypt (-51.7%), where advertisers were cautious due to the uncertain political and economic climate in the wake of the Arab Spring. Further double-digit percentage reductions were recorded in Turkey (-12.9%), Taiwan (-11.0%) and southern European markets such as Spain (-12.6%) and Greece (-13.7%).

While radio recorded the most stable percentage growth across all traditional media in the second quarter of 2011 with an increase of 8.2%, television continued to dominate global advertising overall and increased its market share and advertising expenditure. In the first half of 2011, television advertising accounted for 65 dollars of every 100 dollars invested in advertising worldwide, compared to 63.70 dollars the year before. According to Nielsen, the overall TV audience continues to grow, Beard continued. In the USA, television usage has increased by 22 minutes per month and per person compared to last year. This means that this medium remains the dominant source of video content across all demographics.
 

The Italian website of the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia has been unavailable since Tuesday. The reason for this is the "DDL intercettazioni" (interception measures) law, which is currently being debated in parliament. Should parliament pass the law, this could mean the end of Wikipedia Italy, as Netzwoche writes on Thursday. The law envisages obliging website operators to make any corrections to content within 48 hours without comment. There is no provision for marking the change or for an independent body to check the facts of the case. Wikipedians are now protesting against this by hiding Wikipedia. If you go to the homepage, you will be redirected to the Wikipedians' statement. However, the reactions to this action have not gone unnoticed. An online petition to save Wikipedia has already been launched.
 

With 78 offices in 51 countries, Millward Brown counts the providers of 90 percent of the top 100 global brands among its clients. "Thus, we have a comprehensive understanding of the importance of a global and local focus," explains Sana Carlton, Managing Director of Millward Brown Switzerland. The world-renowned market researchers have been operating in Switzerland from Geneva since 2006. The opening of a Zurich office is "the natural result of the expansion of our clients such as Feldschlösschen and Kraft Foods Europe, for whom Millward Brown acts as a global market research agency."

After 23 years abroad, Max Weber has returned to his home country for the first time to take on a job as head of the business unit in Zurich. This is an ideal appointment, because Weber not only has the international background that is indispensable at Millward Brown. He also has many years of experience in all areas of market research, in particular quantitative brand evaluation and econometric marketing research for global consumer goods brands in the consumer durables sector. Max Weber is also considered a specialist in social media research. He has helped well-known global brands "better understand" the impact of social media on their local marketing plans and implement marketing communications tailored to these channels. Earlier in his career, Weber led Accenture's communications department in Sydney and implemented global CRM initiatives for Fortune 500 companies at Logica-CMG in San Francisco.

And now in his prime, a comeback in Switzerland on the outskirts of Zurich? Max Weber laughs. Admittedly, the area around Binzmühlestrasse is considered Switzerland's new "city of the future. Nevertheless, the skyline of modern concrete buildings still offers little that is cosmopolitan like a cityscape from Shanghai, San Francisco or Sydney. "I don't need that anymore either," Weber is convinced.

There would have been "various alternatives" for his professional future in exciting metropolises in Asia or in the USA. "Nevertheless, it won't be too cramped for me in Oerlikon, because I'll still be connected to the whole world through Millward Brown's network. Whether I'm based in Zurich or Shanghai, my day will be very international," says Weber. He will live in Winterthur. "Here, the distances are so small - I don't see any difference to Zurich," believes the well-traveled man. However, it will be of great importance to him that after so many years of wandering, he will finally know his parents and relatives a little closer to his surroundings again. "This private aspect was an important factor in my decision to return.

Cosmopolitan biography

Max Weber had already emigrated at the young age of 20. Because there were few opportunities to study marketing in Switzerland at the time, he wanted to try his luck in the USA. "The Americans were a long way ahead of us back then," his professional dreams were confirmed. Max Weber earned an MBA in marketing and an MBA in finance. He would have liked to complete a third degree in business administration after already having a bachelor's degree. "At the time, I was downright addicted to absorbing as much knowledge as possible," he looks back.

He was first able to put his findings into practice in San Francisco in the telecom sector. At Logica-CMG, the task was to get to grips with customer relationship management using tools that had just been developed, "so that the customer remains loyal and becomes profitable.

After this start, Weber moved to Australia via Malaysia. He has worked there for the last 14 years, first for Accenture in Strategic Consulting and later as Head of Communications and Media.

Market Research as Human Science

A move to a small but fine marketing boutique also brought him into contact with consumer goods ranging from refrigerators to shampoo. Max Weber was able to specialize in econometric market research and also discovered the possibilities of social media, which were already more appreciated in Asia than here at the time. "This channel is very strong in Asia because social media is an expression of freedom." Especially in China, where many things are still not allowed to be said publicly in the media, such communities play an important role. These res¬ources are naturally also used for marketing and brand development.
Max Weber spent around a third of his time in Australia with regular excursions to China and India. There he set up and managed joint ventures. This was an irretrievable experience, because Weber was able to follow how the markets in these emerging countries had to develop from a retail focus to a first marketing focus.

"If growth is automatically up to 20 percent per year, you don't need to do any marketing yet. But when growth falters or even declines, our services become vital to the economy." In China, consumption has been in such a phase for some time. "That's when you need well-founded market research," Weber analyzes. During this time, he himself was able to learn a great deal about marketing as a "human science" - because the sophisticated strategies of international brands could not simply be transferred to a completely different cultural world with "copy paste.

Max Weber wants to be able to benefit further from this awareness of local conditions in Zurich as well. He brings experience from outside Switzerland, which is very valuable for Swiss companies. But also for international brands in Switzerland or Swiss brands that want to expand abroad.

Max Weber has shared his knowledge in a variety of places throughout his career. He still lectures at universities and technical schools in Sydney, London and Zurich. The marketing specialist is considered a sought-after keynote speaker.

As a balance to his concentrated hours behind the computer and statistics, nature lures him. Here, Max Weber finds his work-life balance while climbing and diving. The underwater adventures in Zurich will probably have to be a little drier. But now the mountains are closer to his grasp than they have been for a long time.
Andreas Panzeri

 

Millward Brown started in Switzerland in 2006 with a branch in Geneva. What do you now expect from a second branch in Zurich?
Tim Wragg: Switzerland is a very exciting market for us within Europe - and I am responsible for Europe at Millward Brown. I don't see many places that are growing at this rate. Switzerland is therefore a very important market for us - in these difficult economic times. We want to contribute to this growth in Switzerland, and we also have some important clients in this region. It makes sense for us to move our offices closer to these customers so that we can serve them better.

Are you keeping the branch in Geneva?
In any case. Both locations are set to become very important for us. We employ around 15 people in Sana Carlton, Managing Director Millward Brown Switzerland (l.), at the opening in Zurich. Geneva and are planning six more in Zurich. We will start with four.

There are already some very competent market research companies operating in Switzerland. What else can Millward Brown bring to the table?
Our history shows that in 30 years we have grown into an established agency around the globe. Our founders started the company because they had an absolute passion for creating great advertising. Since then, we have done a lot of research and are considered one of the leading market research companies in the world. We know the impact that campaigns and media can have. We are convinced that no one in Switzerland can analyze the functioning of advertising and media in such depth as our specialists.

Will there be more Swiss or international specialists working in Zurich?
Mainly our international specialists. But with Max Weber, a Swiss national who wants to return to his home country after 20 years in exciting jobs all over the world, we have found a locally rooted office manager for our team in Zurich.
What are your expansion plans? We want to grow. Quantitatively, with an annual doubling of turnover for the foreseeable future, but also in terms of service for our customers. We are looking for very close partnerships. We are very ambitious when it comes to growing our qualitative research offering.

Where are the technical developments happening?
Digital brand building is becoming increasingly important. We have invested heavily in researching new technologies such as online and digital. We want to know how digital displays or social media work. We have methods for measuring the impact. We have also gained valuable insights into how consumers experience a brand. Of course, everyone always wants to know how much a brand is worth and how much should be invested in a campaign. This is where we can offer advice with our "new thinking". I am convinced that our industry is on the verge of a major new development. There is a need for big innovations instead of just small developments. Interview: Andreas Panzeri
 

My theory: We have all learned that continuity is one of the most efficient communication measures. However, our company, Swisscom, has been zigzagging for years, changing logos, agencies and communication channels. And now this banal campaign that is supposed to inspire us consumers with emotions? When happy people carry a rubber heart (which looks more like an ass) bouncing across lush meadows, lakes and mountains, it certainly doesn't trigger any emotions. I'm of the opinion that, apart from the makers, nobody likes these hearty and, for me, unemotional Mickey Mouse stories that aren't stories at all.

Swisscom will not achieve any image optimization with the false statement that it will improve my everyday life because it simply never believes this Lovemarks philosophy. Insanely, Sunrise and Orange are also trying to be responsible for my daily well-being. Readers who grew up without a cell phone will surely remember how miserable our cell phone-less lives were back then. Thanks to the telecommunications providers, we now have a paradise for our hearts on earth.

Swisscom could improve its image if it offered a more customer-friendly and efficient service. I had to wait three weeks for an answer to my inquiry about the identical amount of data that was downloaded 10 times within 10 minutes to my deactivated iPhone (on vacation abroad), which is quite expensive, but the answer was that I was charged correctly for the data download. I had my 8-year-old car phone removed and reinstalled for 500 francs because Swisscom had supplied me with a SIM card with a smaller field instead of the old one, which had been in existence since 2008. The Swisscom store manager claimed that this old SIM card no longer existed, but two days later sent me an existing one. Chaos. And now you have to be bored by the Swisscom commercials before or after the flying red single bricks of SF1. A pure deterioration in the quality of life. For example, why don't they show old Laurel & Hardy sketches sponsored by Swisscom? That would be much funnier.

My stand-up this week was that Peter Marti reads my columns but tells me that the two Cruz birds have not yet been shot down. Sorry Peter.

Theophil Butz, once a star advertiser (quote Ringier), now an inspirer and, as of now, a mothballer. "Not an easy role, but a necessary one, which I perform here every fortnight." Please send any relevant information to [email protected].
 

"We create intelligent strategies and implement them in a way that people understand. Intelligent, not in the sense of being out of touch," says Peter Lesch, explaining one of the core competencies of his advertising boutique. With twelve people on Zurich's Weinbergstrasse, his agency is not one of the big ones. Nevertheless, he has been venturing into the big shark tank for years, as a look at the work for many well-known clients from the history of Lesch + Frei shows.

> To the article (PDF)
 

Not only are the news media reaching the Swiss population less effectively, but they are also characterized by a decline in hard news in favor of soft news (human interest and sports). The FÖG study goes on to note that the entertainment function of the media examined is gaining ground, while the informational function is losing importance.

Contextual journalism has lost ground to episodic reporting. This means that, at the expense of contextual journalism, the course of events is being portrayed—even more so than last year—as a sequence of individual events. The extent to which episodic journalism is responsible for the audience’s growing disengagement from informational journalism remains to be investigated.

Once again this year, free media—both online and offline—score particularly poorly in terms of journalistic quality. A look at news sites reveals that the accelerated pace of news production on the Internet comes at the expense of journalistic quality. Among online news sites, events are covered the least, the proportion of soft news is above average, and there is a high degree of reliance on content produced by third parties.

Furthermore, the research shows that spending on political advertising campaigns («paid media») is asymmetrical and that the influence of political campaigns on editorial content depends on their provocative nature.

Lack of Transparency and »Copy-Paste»—The Practice of Reposting Agency News Reports

The in-depth analyses also show that some of the SDA agency reports are not transparently labeled. The quantitative and qualitative influence of PR on corporate reporting is significant, while transparency is low. This obscures particular interests, according to a FÖG statement on Presseportal.ch. The researchers conclude that 40 percent of the reprints were not labeled transparently enough. Some of these reprints were not identified as agency reports, even though they were reproduced in their entirety. In some cases, the texts were even presented as original editorial content, as the study notes. The researchers consider this practice by editorial teams to be «problematic.».

Since the spring of 2010, the Swiss News Agency (SDA) has held a de facto monopoly on agency reporting for domestic news. This not only reduces journalistic diversity but also places greater demands on individual media outlets to transparently identify SDA as the source, the FÖG adds.

There is also little transparency when it comes to identifying those passages of text that are based on corporate public relations. A mere 25 percent of articles transparently disclose the use of PR information in a prominent location. This quality standard is rarely or never found, particularly in Sunday, tabloid, and free newspapers. At the same time, the influence of PR is high in both quantitative and qualitative terms: on the one hand, no less than 40 percent of the corporate coverage examined is triggered by PR activities; on the other hand, in 56 percent of cases, the companies’ interpretive perspective is simply adopted.

Press Market

Concentration in the newspaper market took a quantum leap in 2010. Tamedia has now reached a market share of 43 percent, placing it far ahead of its nearest competitors, Ringier and the NZZ Group. In French-speaking Switzerland, Tamedia controls as much as 74 percent of the newspaper market following its acquisition of Edipresse. With the launch of *20 minuti* in Ticino, Tamedia is now reshaping the Ticino newspaper market as well and, with *20 Minuten* and *20 minutes* in Switzerland, has established a national advertising platform.

 

Swiss aircraft and their tail fin with the Swiss cross are at the center of photographer Tom Nagy's idealizing imagery. This symbol is intended to embody attributes of Switzerland such as authenticity, quality and friendliness, Swiss said in a statement on Thursday. The headlines play with these values as well as with typical Swiss clichés. The new claim "Our sign is a promise" is intended to summarize the service and quality promise of the Swiss airline.

In Switzerland, the campaign will start with the kickoff in the Sunday press on October 9, 2011. In a first wave, posters, ads, megaposters, eBoards, ePanels, and online banners will be used until October 30, 2011. These will be used throughout Switzerland and in the border regions of Basel and Geneva.

The appearance was realized in cooperation with the advertising agencies Publicis / Publicis Modem (microsite) and Plan.net (digital OOH & online banner). The new CI/CD and the new logo were developed with the brand agency Nose.

In the course of the new appearance, two new landing pages were designed, in Swiss German and Rhaeto-Romanic.

Swiss Swiss German
Swiss Romansh

Responsible at Swiss: Holger Hätty (Chief Commercial Officer), Markus Binkert (Head of Marketing), Marcel Benz (Head of Marketing Communications), Christine Moch (Manager Advertising). Responsible at Publicis: Curdin Janett (CEO), Tim Hoppin (Creative Director), Swen Morath (Art Director), Barbara Lagger (Senior Brand Director), Silvia Holend (Brand Director), Achill Prakash (Director of Planning). Responsible at Nose: Walter Stulzer (Managing Partner), Borries Schwesinger (Design Director), Türker Cengiz (Junior Consultant).