Readers were less and less willing to pay money for information, and the advent of free newspapers only reinforced this trend.

For quite some time, this mistake was noticed and attempts were made to turn things around. Some content was only freely accessible to subscribers or disappeared entirely behind a paywall. However, very few media consumers were willing to pay for something they could have for free. But they felt the need to read media content not only in print form, but also on the screen. And they did so when and where it was convenient for them. The advent of ever better mobile devices reinforced this trend.

After the introduction of the iPhone and later the iPad, media companies began to think about how to meet this need and make money first. Apple was suddenly seen as the savior of the press. Axel Springer CEO Matthias Döpfner even said shortly after the iPad was introduced: "All the publishers in the world should sit down once a day, pray and thank Apple CEO ¬Steve Jobs. He is saving the publishing industry with the iPad. This is the beginning of a new era." Soon it sounded quite different.

The App Store business model, which let Apple earn 30 percent of all content sold, pissed off publishers. The European Newspaper Publishers Association recently called for free access to the iPad. In a statement, it said that Apple should not dictate a business model to publishers; publishers wanted to negotiate directly with customers, present offers on online and print packages, and generally decide independently on payment modalities.

Apple introduced a new subscription service this week. Publishers are to be allowed to offer subscriptions to their content both inside and outside the App Store in the future. They can determine the price and the duration of the subscription. They will also gain theoretical access to customer data, as Apple wants to give customers the choice of submitting their data when they sign up. However, the 30 percent commission remains unchanged. So what now? Should publishers swallow the toad in order to generate revenue rather than lose it thanks to a simple payment system? I think so.

Pierre C. Meier, Editor-in-Chief
[email protected]
 

The big four parties would like to be right in the middle of things when thousands of passengers rush through the train stations at rush hour. With flyer campaigns, croissants and talks, they would like to convince commuters of their election goals and concerns. "We would not stand in anyone's way," FDP Secretary General Stefan Brupbacher told SDA. We don't want to annoy people, after all, we need their vote.

Until now, however, SBB has always put a spoke in the parties' wheel: election advertising was only allowed on posters, but not in the form of campaigns. This is now to change on a trial basis. Brupbacher confirmed an article in the Aargauer Zeitung, according to which SBB allows election advertising at train stations. The big four parties had written a letter to SBB asking for this possibility.

SBB is now launching a trial for the cantonal elections in Lucerne and Zurich in April and will then decide whether the parties will also be allowed to advertise ahead of the national elections in the fall. For the time being, election advertising is only permitted at smaller locations - but not at the Railcity locations in Zurich, Winterthur and Lucerne. However, according to Brupbacher, it is unclear whether the parties will make use of this possibility. They are glad that SBB is allowing the trial. But the whole thing is far too expensive and too bureaucratic.

The biggest problem, he says, is that you have to submit an application several weeks in advance. However, election advertising is often organized spontaneously, says Brupbacher. In addition, SBB wants money for the use of the station. The rates are about the same as those of non-profit organizations. For Brupbacher, these costs are in contradiction to the Swiss political militia system, which is dependent on information. Moreover, non-profit organizations are usually in a better financial position than the "financially strapped parties.

Brupbacher is now demanding that SBB dismantle its "Chinese wall. If SBB wanted money from the politicians, they would also be besieged. It is therefore hoped that SBB will accommodate the parties and present a less bureaucratic solution.

SBB spokesman Reto Kormann believes that SBB has already made enough concessions to the parties. Of course, the parties are welcome to discuss the trial again. But the time for the parties would then become increasingly short. Both the lead time of a few weeks and the tariffs are usual and would also apply to other interested parties. As a politically neutral company, there is no reason to accommodate the parties to any particular extent.

For FDP Secretary General Brupbacher, election advertising with no partner is as difficult as with SBB. Every municipality in Switzerland is less bureaucratic, he says. Which campaigns are allowed where varies from place to place, but at least the municipalities don't charge money for them - at most a writing fee. (sda)
 

Seth Priebatsch describes himself as a "proud dropout" from the renowned Princeton University and has a clear visionary claim: "The last decade was characterized by social networks, the next decade will be the decade of games." He is getting his message across and has found several backers for his start-up, including Google. Online games promise advantages in the increasingly difficult battle for attention. Thanks to smartphones and social networks, they are becoming increasingly ubiquitous and merging with the real world.

When it comes to the use of games in the advertising and communications environment, a distinction must first be made between two types: On the one hand, video games (so-called core games), which are mainly played on game consoles and computers, and on the other hand, so-called casual games, which also include the category of advertising games (advergames, ad games). These two genres differ in important criteria (cf. chart). Core games are usually huge productions that require special hardware and often take players into other worlds for hours at a time. In-game advertising can be used to book logos and messages (such as perimeter advertising in soccer games), which are displayed to players in suitable scenes.

Casual games (occasional games) are different. They are easy to play and correspondingly cheaper to produce. They offer a quick sense of achievement, are entertaining, and can be played in between games and quickly abandoned. A legendary advertising game is the grouse hunt, with which the Scottish whisky brand Johnnie Walker attracted attention a good decade ago. Advertising games are primarily credited with these advantages: If the brand world is successfully staged with the right target group, such advertising games can be used to positively charge one's own brand. Because popular advertising games are readily recommended to others, the brand messages spread virally. In this way, a company can set itself apart from competitors and win and retain customers. The success of the game can be tracked continuously and usage and contact data can be obtained.

In our country, Migros in particular has repeatedly made an appearance with Advergames in recent years. Since 2008, the collection campaigns (Manias) have been accompanied online by additional information, stories, games or a quiz. "We have noticed that the number of visits to the games on the websites created especially for the Manias increases every time," media spokeswoman Monika Weibel reports when asked. Currently, she says, the number of visits to the current Nanomania website is about the same as to the main Migros.ch site. Not only because of these high visitor numbers, but also because of the feedback on the games that arrives by mail or on Facebook, Migros is clear "that the users are having fun and appreciate the games.

Since advertising games are a new advertising phenomenon, there are hardly any key figures available. The fact that companies like Migros or SBB (see interview) repeatedly use them at least allows the conclusion that they are satisfied with the advertising impact compared to the effort. For example, Weibel reveals that last fall's Oceanmania campaign achieved a total of 1,002,897 visits, with between 35,000 and 40,000 visitors on peak days. The currently running Nanomania has already recorded half a million visits after just 14 days since its launch on January 30, with over 50,000 visits already on the 4th day. 25 659 registered users have saved 53 115 high scores. Remarkable is the average visit time, which is 7:04 minutes.

According to a survey by the market research company Nielsen, American surfers spend ten percent of their time online playing games. The main reasons why games will continue to grow in popularity and attract new segments of the population are as follows:

- The mobile market with smartphones is growing rapidly. With their touch-sensitive user interfaces and motion sensors, these devices are also ideally suited for games. Migros, for example, created an iPhone app for Nanomania for the first time, which has already been downloaded 47,224 times, earning it a place among the top 10 apps in Switzerland.
- Increasingly fast, powerful, and affordable bandwidths make it easy to download games, often on the fly, both on fixed and especially mobile networks.
- Games are increasingly offered via social networks, primarily Facebook, and are linked to them. The best-known example of this is Foursquare, where players use the GPS system in their smartphones to communicate their location and thus collect awards and discounts.

Such location-based services are considered the next big thing in social media. And that brings us back to Seth Priebatsch, who is working with his company SCVNGR to take the Foursquare concept one step further. His vision is clear: Building on the framework concepts now established for social networks, the goal now, he says, is to cover everyday reality with virtual game layers in order to influence behavior. He makes it clear that it is "really important" what basic concepts are created for this.

Christoph J. Walther

Casual games, which include promotional games, differ from video games in key ways, which is why they can be used to good effect in communications. Source: Nothing GmbH; classification into stereotypes based on literature and experience.
 

At the end of the 1990s, Nokia made a name for itself by being easier to use than Motorola. The user-friendliness of Nokia cell phones was not exactly sensational, but compared to all other devices it was good enough to make Nokia a top 10 brand worldwide in a relatively short time.

Yes, Nokia hardware has always been very solid. But solid hardware is no longer a selling point today. In 2011, it goes without saying that the hardware works. What distinguishes a cell phone is not "that" it works, but "how" it works.

The interface is the product, the user experience is the brand. No one has demonstrated this as beautifully as Apple. Apple has taken what made Nokia strong at the end of the 1990s and taken it to the next level. In a very short space of time, the iPhone has conquered a market that was considered a nuclear bomb-proof bunker.

Nokia reacted quickly: at the end of August 2007, the Finnish company presented an insight into the future of its user interfaces. The future looked like a 1:1 copy of the iPhone. When asked that they were just copying Apple, Anssi Vanjoki, General Manager of Multimedia, said quite succinctly: "If there's something good out there in the world, then we'll copy it proudly." Nevertheless, the copy was abandoned and then the company went on to muddle about in other ways.

Four years later: Stephen Elop, the first non-Finnish CEO of Nokia, sends an internal email with the strangely poetic message that they are on a burning platform that they must leave as soon as possible by jumping into the ice water. Literally: "... we have more than just a single explosion - we have several scorching fires feeding the fire that is blazing up around us."

The burning platform: Symbian, Nokia's operating system. What reads like "cluelessness" or "lunacy" from a PR perspective - according to Tomi T. Ahonen, an ex-Nokia manager - and sounds like "a hoax" from an Internet perspective - Ahonen again - is nothing more than a complete PR and management failure: When the CEO of a company trumpets to the world that the core element of the user experience of its products is like a burning oil rig that you have to leave by jumping into ice water, it also means that millions of Nokia customers are traveling with a burning oil rig in the bag (under ordinary circumstances, the metaphor would choke here, but ...) and are probably being thrown directly or indirectly into the deep end with the company.

One day later, Elop announces that Nokia will leave its own platform and will now rely on Windows Phone as its operating system in future. I see. As the former Director of Microsoft's Business Division, Elop was of course immediately exposed to rumors that he had probably been sent by Microsoft to push this deal through at Nokia. To counter this, he emphasized: "I am not a Trojan horse." A-ha. Nokia's share price immediately plummeted.

One day later, Elop announced that Microsoft had not put 0 billion on the table for this deal, but a couple of billion. Aha. ¬Google had bid, but ultimately lost out to Microsoft's higher bid. The whole action is reminiscent of the strange move by Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz, who decided a few years ago to hand over Yahoo!'s prime asset (search) to Microsoft. She, too, was anything but a PR genius.

And now the whole thing again in fast motion:
1. Nokia neglects the interface of its cell phones
2. Nokia copies Apple 1:1 and then muddles on in some other way
3. Nokia gives up control of the software and sells the cell phone file to a software house that rarely shines through user-friendliness and always through sales strategy

I know ... Maybe everything will work out. Selling is also important. Maybe Nokia customers won't realize that ice cubes will soon be melting in their pockets. Maybe the Windows Phone really isn't an ice thing, but really is much better than anything we've seen from Microsoft so far. But perhaps Nokia's days are just as numbered as those of Yahoo! or Macromedia: Because Elop was at the helm there until Adobe took over. You have to give him credit for one thing: The man has a clear profile.

 

The problem was quickly identified. When Mirjam Suter, 27, started the marketing specialist course at KV Aarau in 2008, she already knew that accounting would be a tough nut to crack. Although the trained polygraphist was able to enter the demanding course with a broad background in the world of graphic design, the overwhelming majority of the initial class of 20 at KV Aarau had a commercial background and therefore a better basis for the world of debits and credits. "When I started," says the Aargau native, "I had the feeling that I could stick with the subject if I put my mind to it. But then I realized that wouldn't be enough."

Today, she attributes the fact that Suter still managed to pass the exam to one fact in particular: "The fact that I had also prepared for the exam in a study group in private." Together with two fellow students, they usually met once a week - less at the beginning of the course and more towards the end - and often discussed marketing concepts, compared corrected work or looked at solutions. In the final stretch before the exam, we also quizzed each other on the exam material. Even though it is sometimes said in schools that privately formed study groups are viewed by the rest of the class as a kind of clandestine secret society, this was not a problem at all at KV Aarau. For one simple reason: "Practically everyone in our class had organized themselves into study groups."

Half-knowledge can incite

The popularity of this "learning by teamwork" is not only evident in the class that Mirjam Suter was in. "Learning groups are very widespread," says Rolf R. Eicher, who has been in charge of all marketing/sales courses at the KV Aarau adult education commercial college since 1995: "Around three quarters of all students organize themselves in learning groups." From his experience - Eicher has probably accompanied an estimated 2,000 marketing talents over the years - learning in a group is a real success factor: "The chances of passing the exam in this way increase by 50 percent compared to going it alone." This is also because most marketing disciplines are not about a digital right/wrong, but usually lead to several paths to the goal: "In the group, you train the diversity of variants, can discuss different scenarios, get to know other tactics and acquire the routine that is needed especially when solving case studies."

Eicher does not see the danger of half-knowledge spreading in a private group - on the contrary: "If uncertainties and questions arise, this usually spurs students on to approach the lecturer with these ambiguities straight away." The formation of private study groups is a matter for the students. But the project is also pushed by the school management: "We definitely recommend forming private study groups. If you get involved in a study group, you help to achieve that often crucial little bit better and therefore still pass the exam." In fact, statistics show that many exams are only narrowly failed, with an average grade of 3.9, for example, or because three unsatisfactory grades were achieved instead of the permitted two. If you tackle a personal problem subject in the group and can turn it around from red to green, you dramatically increase your chances of passing the exam.

Geography, background, age

What makes a good learning group? Of course, there are the basics, a certain level of sympathy among the private learners is a prerequisite, and geographical proximity is also desirable so that the individual members do not have to plan hours of travel to and from work. "Additional success," says Eicher, "can be achieved if the participants in the learning groups come from different industries, which broadens the thematic background." What the education professional notices: "As a rule, it tends to be women who cram in learning groups; lone wolves are even more common among men."

Mirjam Suter's women's group was diverse in terms of industries. In addition to her expertise from the graphic design sector, she also had the knowledge of a colleague from the ribbon weaving industry, while the third lady in the group contributed know-how from the shopfitting sector. It was also a good thing that Suter often had professional contact with customers from the automotive industry - because case studies are often devised from this sector. Mixed-age learning groups can also bring further benefits on the way to the summit. "That wasn't the case for us," says Suter, "but it could certainly be helpful if people with different experiences take part."

Of course, anyone who wants to work in study groups in addition to their professional, private and school life has to keep motivating themselves. Mirjam Suter, who is now responsible for event coordination/communication on the board of the Aargau/Solothurn Headline Communications Club alongside her job in marketing at Möbel Hubacher AG, often scheduled the study group sessions on Saturdays: "We had school until midday and then added one or two private sessions. But then we also met up during the week, in the evenings, alternately at home with one of our fellow students. But there is also an end to this, says Suter: "In my opinion, it makes less sense to have more than one meeting a week in the study group, because you often have a busy professional life alongside school and also want to maintain your private environment. In her case, however, the former study group is now also part of her private environment: "It has resulted in a close friendship."

Together with her friends Dominique Cerullo and Milena Hunziker, Mirjam Suter reached the summit. They had all passed. Not even accounting could change that for the graphics specialist. Learning in a group had saved Suter from getting into trouble. She also toasted this achievement with her friends from the study group at the marketing specialist graduation ceremony in the Kursaal Bern in summer 2009.

Mirjam Suter.
 

A product campaign by Maxomedia aims to raise awareness of Finecom's product range - in particular the interactive TV product QuickLine Verte! Cross-media measures are planned, including guerrilla measures. Finecom chose Maxomedia after a comprehensive agency evaluation.
 
The first works will already be on show in the spring.

The surf travel provider Sudden Rush helps - not against ageing, but thanks to exciting surf trips around the world, you have a few better stories to tell when you're old and doddering, as the agency describes its customers. Or what would you rather tell your grandchildren: "My hard-working path to becoming an authorized signatory" or "How I laughed in death's face off Lombok"?

The ads appear in various snowboard and surf magazines such as 7Sky, TIDE, BlueMag, SurfersMag and Whiteout-SkateboardMag.

Responsible at Sudden Rush: Jürg Eggenberger (overall responsibility). Responsible at Advico: Dominik Oberwiler, Thomas Schöb (CD), Martin Stulz (text), Isabelle Hauser (AD), Sandro Breu (consulting).

Zisyadis wants to ban non-national languages - such as English, which dominates the music business - from being represented in music programs by more than 20 percent. The Vaud native wants to take action against the "cultural dominance" of English.

However, the Federal Council believes that the SRG's programming autonomy enshrined in the constitution would be disproportionately restricted by the required quotas. In addition, the Federal Council believes that the national languages are already adequately represented in SRG radio programs, as it writes in its response to the motion published on Thursday.

According to the latest program analysis, 56 percent of the songs played on DRS 1.56 were in English, 9 percent in French, 9 percent in Swiss German dialect, 6 percent in German and 5 percent in Italian. The Rhaeto-Romansh and Welsch speakers are somewhat more reserved with English-language songs: On Radio Rumantsch, around 33 percent of songs were in English. 13 percent of the titles were Rhaeto-Romanic songs. The first program on French-speaking Swiss radio broadcast 32 percent English songs. 35 percent were French songs. On Rete Uno, the proportion of English songs was 54 percent. Italian songs accounted for 36 percent.
 

We can bet that the show will continue to flicker across our screens even after Gottschalk's retirement! Internet TV pioneer Zattoo is now making it easier than ever to record, find and play back TV programs. With the world first "Recall", every Swiss Zattoo user can record the entire program of a whole month. "Recall" is a word mix of "record everything" and "remember". With "Recall", Zattoo is turning recording on its head. Instead of the user having to painstakingly program each individual recording, they simply press "Recall" once and record the entire TV program for the following 30 days. The almost endless content can be easily found again later - for example after returning from vacation - using the electronic program guide or the search function.

The one-month trial of this service is free of charge. To participate, Zattoo users must start the service for the first time, as the recordings are not stocked. "In legal terms, Recall works like a room full of video recorders that are started once per channel and then record with endless tape," Zattoo explains this instruction manual. The user can play the recorded content immediately after an advertisement appears or store it in a list of favorite shows. After 30 days, the recordings are no longer visible to free users. Subscribers to the Zattoo premium service "HiQ" can keep their favorite shows as long as their subscription is active. Subscribers see the content without pre-recorded channel change advertising. The price of 6.60 per month or 45 francs per year remains unchanged, as the competition is sure to react. Andreas Panzeri

 

According to their own information, they received a total of 5814 US dispatches from Julian Assange's whistleblowing portal. The documents shed light on Switzerland's relations with the USA and contained assessments of Swiss policy by American diplomats. Most of the documents were sent in the last ten years, writes the NZZ. According to Le Temps, the data set includes all dispatches sent to Washington by the US embassies in Bern and Geneva. It also includes all documents bearing the name Swiss or Switzerland.

Over the next few days, the editorial teams of the two newspapers plan to analyze the data collection and publish the key statements. Links brought to light by Wikileaks, such as those between the UBS agreement with the USA and the admission of Uyghurs from the US torture camp in Guantánamo, Cuba, have already caused a stir in the Federal Council.
 

An agency could hardly ask for a better assignment. «All we had to work with at the start was a simple, three-centimeter-tall plastic capsule sitting on the table—with the unique feature that a metal ball rolled around inside it.» That’s how CD Hanspeter Schweizer describes the start of the Nanomania adventure. There was no specific product to promote, no specific message, and no restrictive briefing to speak of. «Make Migros customers—young and old alike—happy. Awaken their playful spirit, spark their imagination, and fuel their passion for collecting,» read the assignment, which was as vague as it was rewarding. The only certainty was this: For every 20 francs spent, Migros would give its customers one such capsule along with a sticker for six weeks.

Ever since then, Wirz has been all about Nano. «We’ve become true Ravensburgers,» explains Schweizer. In a playful process—in the truest sense of the word—creatives and consultants have once again awakened the child within themselves. This led first to the creation of a fantasy universe of 48 characters. For these characters, they came up with names and then created a home on the planet Nanonia. Since then, the six family clans—the Banditos, Monstros, Animalos, Pinkies, Roboz, and the mysterious Spuukies—have lived there. The art direction team not only designed beautiful costumes for each group but also had to figure out how to print belly bands on a massive number of Nanos within a reasonable timeframe. Finally, six different games featuring these new characters were developed to kick off the campaign. This was followed in a second phase by a cross-media campaign to promote the entire initiative across print, TV, POS, and the internet. Since then, Nanomania has been unstoppable—and not just online. Film students are posting Disney-worthy animated films featuring the characters on YouTube; for example, you can find them under «Nanomania Dancing Nanos.» Thousands of children are posting photos of their Nanos or games they’ve invented themselves on Facebook. They’re encouraged to do so through roadshows, where various ways to play with marble runs for the Nanos are demonstrated at retail locations throughout Switzerland. In addition, Migros Magazine is launching a contest to see who can build the coolest Nano track. Assai has also developed a smartphone app for adult fans that lets them «stack» the Nanos. In just three days, it reached number one among free apps in the iTunes Store. And this mega-trend is just getting started. Andreas Panzeri

 

Frontwork produced five energy calculators and a print station on behalf of CKW. The know-how for the 2.4 meter high steles was developed by the city of Zurich and supplemented by CKW. Fabritastika designed them and had them built by Frontwork. The shell is made of sheet steel painted in two colors and labeled with foil. Hidden inside are power and data cables, lighting and electronics - in short, all the technology programmed by "Defekt Gmbh".

Responsible at Centralschweizerische Kraftwerke CWK, Lucerne: Walter Piller. Responsible at Frontwork, Wallisellen: René Amport. Responsible at Fabritastika Gestaltungsatelier, Brüttisellen: Eveline Moser.