The SPR +Expert planning tool now includes Google Maps for analyzing the spatial distribution of all poster sites in a campaign. The location and distribution of poster sites can now be analyzed on street, satellite or hybrid maps. In addition, the agglomeration, couronne and core city areas can be switched on.

The Zurich-based agency Heads is promoting this year’s edition of Ewz.selection and, for the first time, designing Scope, the magazine associated with the photography platform. This year, freelance journalist and art critic Sascha Renner of the *Tages-Anzeiger* is responsible for the magazine’s content. In a press release, Heads writes that the magazine’s feel is reminiscent of the U.S. satirical magazine *Mad*. Among others, the former photo editor at *Time* magazine has been invited to contribute to the issue.
Person in charge at d.o.k. Zerbini: Romano Zerbini, Lucia Degonda, Jérôme Bischler. Responsible at Heads: BSW Corporate Communications: Marco Simonetti (Creative Direction), Donovan Szypura (Graphic Design), Ralph Hermann, Nadia Francioso, Karin Kiss (Consulting), Sascha Renner (Text for «Scope”).

This is what it must look like when you wear your heart (literally) on your sleeve. The family in Maggi's German alphabet soup commercial shows what happens when you try too hard. In this country, the advertisement created by Publicis Germany with the amusing "Suppenkaspar" as the father seemed to have been found only partly funny. It was not even broadcast.

The digital marketing provider Nemuk has realized the online campaign "Tropical Forest" for WWF. A tropical forest portal is intended to sensitize website visitors to the protection of tropical forests between March and May 2009. The campaign also aims to generate donations and attract new members to the organization.
An animation guides the users of the website www.wwf.ch to the portal for the tropical forest. There you will find a competition with a viral character and a Facebook link, a database with everyday tips and cell phone ringtones to download. A dynamic donation barometer shows the current status of donations. To draw additional attention to the campaign, banners were placed on relevant websites and Google Adwords.

The iPod has long since won the battle against its digital competitors. Now Apple's ever-popular multimedia player is supposedly going to war in the real world. As the US magazine Newsweek reports in its latest issue, the American army wants to use the iPod Touch as a new all-purpose operating and communication tool. The advantage over conventional military equipment is not only its robustness, but also its ease of use and affordability. The iPods would make it easier for soldiers to use several other devices, writes Newsweek. For example, they could be used in Iraq and Afghanistan as a translation device, to communicate with comrades and intelligence services or to control bomb disposal robots.
The corresponding software is already being developed. Newsweek quotes the manager of a software developer from Florida as saying that the logistics experts in the US army are currently making enormous efforts to develop applications that will be useful in the war effort. How many megabytes each soldier receives for private films, photos and music has not yet been revealed. Gangsta rap will probably fall victim to censorship by the generals, as it is known to be aggressive...

The Zurich agency Scholz & Friends is advertising for the tabloid Blick in an extreme landscape format. From Wednesday, 22 April, CS Media advertising platforms up to 14.4 meters wide and 1.5 meters high can be seen in the parking lots of the Stade de Suisse, the Wankdorf Center in Bern and the Centralbahnparking in Basel. The motif shows a knife thrower in action, whose assistant is reading the view on the target instead of concentrating on her partner. The motif is accompanied by the claim "The most exciting sides of Switzerland".
The landscape-format advertising platforms will be on display until mid-July 2009.
Responsible at Blick Group, Ringier : Thomas Passen (Head of Blick Group), Corina E. Schneider (Head of Reader Market), Marie-Eve Aegerter (Head of Advertising), Mario Kurmann (Advertising Planning). Responsible at Scholz & Friends Zurich: Erich Baumgartner (CEO), Nicolas Vontobel (Creative Director), Markus Hammer (Art Director), Conrad Malcher (Copywriter), Pascal Baumgartner, Mathias Rösch (Consultant), Daniela Berther, Great Pictures (Art Buying). Photographer: Scheffold.vizner.com. Post Production/CGI: [email protected].

Surprises all around. President Merz is surprised by the harsh reactions of the German cavalry colonel Steinbrück in the tax dispute. The bona fide magistrate is also surprised that Israel orders its ambassador home for consultations after he, as President of the Swiss Confederation, meets Holocaust denier Ahmadinejad for an official dinner. The Swiss delegation to the UN Conference against Racism is also surprised by the departure of virtually all European delegations after Iran's president, not surprisingly, used the conference as a platform to ridicule Israel.
Surprises can be both positive and negative. You are open to everything and let yourself be surprised. Just like children are surprised by the Easter bunny. But you are also surprised when, due to poor planning, you have to be rescued by air rescue on a mountain tour in equipment that is inadequate for the actual weather conditions.
Business, too, is always good for surprises. Switzerland's biggest advertiser is planning a new advertising campaign. The whole story is preceded by a sophisticated procedure for evaluating the best possible new agency. At the same time, the top Migros executive announces that he doesn't like the existing advertising anyway - actually no surprise, because otherwise there wouldn't be a pitch - that the advertising budget is too big anyway and therefore saving is the order of the day. Not really surprising either.
This, in turn, comes as a surprise to the media industry. For years, the orange giant was a safe and important revenue generator. Just the planned announcement of a budget reduction led to panicked reactions. Is that surprising? Not really.
So it's not surprising that the new Migros ad is being hyped up as a national event. The guest list of the launch event for the new advertising reads like a directory of editors-in-chief. The detailed portrait of the Migros marketing man and his new advertising agency in Schweizer Illustrierte, which appeared on the day of the premiere, also no longer really surprised anyone. Perhaps more surprised were the readers of the magazine, which in its latest issue reproduces the photos of the Migros annual report. On 47 pages, framed by four pages of Migros advertising. TeleZüri viewers would rather be surprised by a Jöh report showing how the chicken in the new Migros commercial was made to obey. Let's be surprised by what's in store for us.
Pierre C. Meier, Editor-in-Chief
[email protected]

The biggest advertising company is not Interpublic, not Omnicom, not Publicis and not WPP, but Google. The widest marketing space is not the movie screen, but the cell phone screen. The most efficient advertising is not direct mail, but Twitter. Everything that happens online is advertising. Self-promotion, third-party advertising, paid or free, consciously or unconsciously, online is advertised for all it's worth.
I'm not talking about banners or some overpriced Flash campaigns. On the contrary. In fact, banners and all the glossy product websites are counter-examples. Banners and online campaigns are actually attempts to rescue a form of communication that has been dead for a long time. To be more precise, the Internet is what advertising used to be. The Internet has replaced advertising. And the laws of online promotion are completely different from those of traditional advertising.
1) While traditional advertising puts all its energy into finding the most targeted message possible and delivering it to the target audience via the appropriate marketing space, on the Internet you simply have to hope that someone will do it for you.
2. whereas traditional advertising was keen to shape the message and control its distribution, on the Internet you have to do everything you can to let the customer write and distribute the message. (Oh yes!)
3. while traditional advertising has a brand-building effect in the pre-sales stage and sometimes helps to sell a product via its tangible value, on the Internet today you have to do everything you can to ensure that communication with the discerning customer runs as smoothly as possible in order to provoke as little bad PR as possible.
Of course, an army of self-proclaimed online marketing specialists have now emerged, promising that they know how to tap into "social media" to get their message out cost-effectively. Most of these online marketers are either desperate marketers trying to dazzle their clientele with a marketing tech-lingo, or some bums who have wasted years of their time with Facebook & Co. and are now going big max.
In fact, there is hardly a more dangerous marketing strategy than what is now being touted everywhere as "social media marketing" and is known on the Internet as "astroturfing". Astroturfing is the attempt to secretly feed commercial messages into the Internet as non-commercial ones. As soon as the user realizes that the message he is supposed to pass on is not authentic, such tapping can be a total disaster. The most famous example of an astroturfing disaster is Edelmann's Wal-Mart blog campaign.
The good news is that there are three forms of internet marketing that work:
1. the most efficient is: a good product and a clear explanation. If you have a really good product and explain it without PR pomp and advertising pomp, you can assume that it will be recommended to others.
2. the most important is: online customer service. Poor customer service today is a dangerous bomb; good customer service, on the other hand, can replace a small advertising campaign. Cutting corners on online customer service is nothing short of suicidal.
3. the ultimate form is: a better product. Companies must learn to link customer feedback with product development. The happiest customer is the one who feels taken seriously.
The Internet has replaced advertising. With anti-advertising. And there's nothing you can do about it other than to use communication to absorb impending disasters and improve your own product with the dissatisfied customer base, come hell or high water.

The new Migros campaign is here. In TV commercials, online games, advertisements and posters, it focuses on Migros' core values: freshness, regionality, sustainability, value for money and Swissness. In line with the motto "Where Migros is on the label, there is added value inside", the orange M stands for the added value that Migros offers.
"One M better" became the new claim of the campaign. The orange M uses the existing brand capital and further expands the strength of the figurative mark. For example, 92% of the population already "clearly associate an orange M with Migros", as Jung von Matt/Limmat knew and wanted to dramatize as the basis for their campaign.
This orange M is now being played out in all media. The campaign began with posters. Then the films were launched as the second stage. Thirdly, advertisements are now being placed. And because in today's world these are more than just cheap advertising, many publishers have since followed up with topical Migros stories.

Migros advertising: also a media topic
It is striking that Migros and its competitor Coop focus on similar values: closeness to nature, freshness and Swissness. This was the opinion of the Sonntag newspaper, quoting Basel marketing professor Manfred Bruhn: "A little more pep wouldn't have hurt." The Tages-Anzeiger newspaper asks in a play on words whether the advertising is also "a bit more original" and compares the subjects with previous campaigns for the vegetarian restaurant Hiltl. Cary Steinmann, the former advertiser and current lecturer in marketing, is quoted as saying "nicely done" but "somehow warmed up, old ideas packed into a new campaign". Tele Züri saw it more positively, where the campaign was dealt with in a making-of for the spot with the chicken. On Swiss television, the orange M was wittily incorporated into the logo of the satirical program "Giacobbo/Müller", albeit with a media-politically correct reference to Coop.
The fact that Migros is focusing on "Swissness", but having it visualized by a foreign film production, disturbs some well-known filmmakers in the industry. "That would have been an opportunity for us!" However, the Swiss filmmakers who were booted out do not want to be quoted. After all, they also benefit from the Culture Percentage.
And what can be concluded from this media reading? The comments would perhaps have been one M better if marketing director Oskar Sager had not simply put the previous ideas with years of award-winning advertising back on the shelf so cheaply in advance. Perhaps his promises of something completely new have given the industry one M too many. If you shout provocatively into the media forest, it echoes back accordingly. Either way.
Andreas Panzeri

Discretion is an important factor in the world of banking, but it should by no means mean anonymity. On the contrary: a personal customer relationship is the be-all and end-all for a financial institution like Schwyzer Kantonalbank. "The customer is a person and not just an account number" is therefore the philosophy of Schwyzer Kantonalbank. The small but fine financial institution has now wanted to express this promise, which is also the bank's attitude, in a comprehensive campaign. An attitude that focuses on the customer and their individual needs.
Following an agency evaluation last summer, Spillmann Felser Leo Burnett was entrusted with the development of a brand positioning as well as the implementation and realization in internal and external media. "You can only give good advice to someone you know well" is now the newly formulated brand promise of Schwyzer Kantonalbank. An attitude that conveys that the strengths of Schwyzer Kantonalbank are personal relationships, trust and customer-oriented advisory expertise.
In the creative implementation, SFLB shows with a wink that the Schwyzer Kantonalbank not only knows its customers by name, but also knows all about their preferences, tics and hobbies. That's why Mr. Meier is not anonymous in a caption, but Mr. Meier, who likes to drink his coffee black, for example. Or the bank also knows that Tamara von Euw will definitely manage to improve her handicap to under 30 during her next game of golf. The bank's customer advisors know that Patrizia Reichlin still hasn't come up with an idea for a wedding present.
Generous and expansive images convey the feeling of a leading bank thanks to a strong and independent visual language. This can be seen on posters, advertisements and in various internal and external publications. For the launch of the campaign in the Schwyz newspapers, a special appearance was devised. The first advertisement in the first Bund was prominently placed as a real Zenter-Pano with text around the advertisement. An effective half-page ad with an impact across the double-page spread - or an appearance that had never been seen before in these newspapers.
The same image motifs were also used for a completely new look for all internal and external publications. Dozens of brochures and leaflets as well as the annual report were also developed by SFLB and are now visible in the counter halls of Schwyzer Kantonalbank.
For the internal launch of the new brand promise, each employee received a small box with a campaign brochure, labeled with their name and the title "Kundenkenner" or "Kundenkennerin". In addition, a microsite was developed on which Schwyz Bank employees could demonstrate their knowledge of the inhabitants of their canton in a competition.
Andreas Panzeri

Strong images from the region for a strong bank in the region.

Recognition value: The images from the campaign also form the basis for the design of numerous brochures and internal communication materials.

The same photos in the advertisements, but here with more text than on the posters.

Advertising budgets are shrinking, the advertising market is ailing. High time to ask someone who knows advertising and media for advice. In February, Otto Meier (57) founded his consulting firm Otto Meier Medienmarketing. "I support media companies throughout Switzerland in positioning themselves in the advertising market, optimally structuring their advertising offers, prices and discount systems and adapting them to changing market requirements," explains Meier. In doing so, he is filling a gap in the market. "I think I can show approaches on how to retain existing advertising and generate new advertising and how to convince customers that they are making the right investment when they advertise. Even during the crisis." Meier is not afraid of challenges - he prefers to face them. At the age of 54, he did the same as James Bond in the Verzasca Valley in Ticino: his bungee jump a la Goldeneye from the 220-metre-high dam is a vivid memory for the advertising guru. "Look straight ahead and jump," his daughter advised him by text message. This motto has accompanied Meier ever since, even with other jumps.
Meier's core topic is pricing and offer design: "In the coming months, media companies will have to come up with new, creative advertising models. Traditional advertisements will not disappear, but we need new and more cross-media offerings," he says. "Swiss media are still very traditional. Abroad, for example in Ireland, I have seen what else is possible. Above all, print-based cross
media offers have good chances." Meier made the decision to offer his expertise to media companies as an independent consultant during an extended break in Ireland, Spain and Austria. When someone takes a trip.
Crises and construction
Meier has gained the knowledge he needs to advise media companies in 36 years of professional experience. After school, Meier actually wanted to become a sports teacher. But then he spots an advertisement in the window of the Lucerne Publicitas branch: "Apprentice wanted." That sounds good - even though Meier has no idea what Publicitas is. He applies, completes a commercial apprenticeship and discovers his passion for the media business. After his apprenticeship, Meier went to Paris and London for two years. When he returned, he was drawn back to Pub¬licitas. "I trained to become a qualified communications manager while working," says Meier. From 1979, he also worked "on the side" as a lecturer, head of the Media department and examination expert at Sawi, and for ten years he was a member of the school board. Meier is also a member of several boards of directors, for example of Basler Zeitung, Südostschweiz, Wemf and PrintOnline.
In 1981, Meier moved from Publicitas to Ringier. He held various positions there until 1992. Among other things, he headed the advertising department of Luzerner Neueste Nachrichten and was Head of Advertising Market at Ringier Magazines for two years. In 1993, Meier returned to his roots: at Publicitas he took over the management of the Lucerne branch, and a year later he became Head of Publicitas Zurich. In the same year, Meier was also involved in the founding of Zurich-based Publimedia and took over the management of the company until 2002. Within two years, the advertising professional positioned Publimedia as a strong print media planner for major clients and agencies - at a time when the effects of the 1991/92 economic crisis were still being felt. Meier's last career move as an employee was also marked by a crisis: in 2002, he became General Manager of the Publipresse division of Publigroupe in Lausanne and a member of Publigroupe's Group Management. Publipresse was shaken to the core by the depression following the attack on the Twin Towers in New York. Meier leads it through the trough. As General Manager, he is responsible for 1500 people and 100 branches. He is constantly on the move, traveling from Lugano to Basel, from Chur to Geneva. "This time was very stressful. Even though I love traveling: I'm glad that this back and forth is over," says Meier. Publigroupe embarked on its major reorganization at the end of 2007. "P wanted to position itself as an all-media marketer," explains Meier. "The Board of Directors had different ideas to me. I didn't find it credible to be a print media marketer until December 31 and then suddenly an all-media marketer from January 1. That's why we parted company."
Time out and rounding off
What follows: nothing at first. Meier allows himself to rest. "In 2008, I paid little attention to my job," he says. "I was still a member of various boards of directors until mid-2008, when this commitment also ended." Traveling in Europe gives Meier time for new thoughts and ideas. "I was waiting for an inspiration. But I quickly knew that I was preparing for self-employment," he reveals. "I felt that with my 57 years of life, my 35 years of professional experience and my knowledge of human nature, I would use my knowledge most wisely as a self-employed person. I see the step into self-employment as rounding off my professional career."
Meier speaks of inspiration. But the idea of founding a company has actually been maturing in him for a long time: "I've been collecting ideas for self-employment for a long time and now the decision has been made to realize them." He knows that he is starting with nothing, Meier flirts. "Nothing" is an exaggeration, but it is at least a typical Meier understatement. After all, the media dinosaur has plenty of experience and a tightly woven network of contacts. He also benefits from the tense economic situation. More than ever, media companies are currently facing the challenge of developing concepts and strategies that will not only help them make ends meet despite tight budgets, but also fulfill their information mandate in the best possible way, secure jobs and, on top of that, master the future. One example of this is the takeover of Edipresse by Tamedi h in Zukunft Medienmarketing. Since then, a number of companies have approached me," says Meier happily. "I'm currently holding lots of interesting talks and have already taken on my first mandates from medium-sized and small media companies. But I won't mention any names."
Prices and evidence
Instead, Meier talks about goals. If you want to position yourself well in the future, you have to justify your prices better. Up to now, they have mostly been based on the past and, at best, on circulation and readership figures. However, clients are demanding a direct performance-based approach and more certainty regarding the impact of advertising. "The impact of advertising depends on a number of factors, the design, the message and, of course, the sender," says Meier. "That's why it's difficult to suddenly give clients precise information about the impact of their advertising. But we have to approach this request step by step. When the head of Migros was asked at the Publishers' Conference why he was in favor of advertising
50 million francs too much, then that is very worrying. You have to show them that advertising is not an expense, but an investment that paves the way for success. And you have to provide evidence that advertising works. I have a few ideas on how this can be achieved in the future." Meier wants to work closely with his clients on this mission, as well as with market and opinion research institutes.
Will media in future no longer be made for readers, viewers or listeners, but for advertisers? A fatal prospect from a journalistic point of view. Meier is reassuring: "Media must continue to focus on their recipients, because only if they have them can they acquire advertising at all. Of course there are borderline cases - but the focus of every medium must be on the reader, without being directed against the advertising market. Cooperation between the journalistic and commercial sides of the media must become more intensive." The first signs of this change can be seen at the Tages-Anzeiger, for example: For some time now, the newspaper has been placing two small advertising spaces to the left and right of its title. And that is just one example. The front page of the NZZ now also features an advertising space. Five years ago, this would have been unthinkable. For a long time, the NZZ did not place any advertisements at all on its first three pages. Today, the advertising space no longer bothers anyone. Meier also says: "The two advertising spaces at the top of the Tagi don't rape readers. Nor do they mix advertising and editorial work. It must always be clear what is editorial content and what is advertising."
Pope or foreign minister
It is primarily economic pressure that is driving the media to create new advertising spaces and forms of content. However, filling as many pages of a newspaper as possible with advertising in order to finance the editorial section cannot be the be-all and end-all. "The agency, client and medium must work together to find creative forms of advertising," says Meier. "There are no 08/15 approaches that can be read off the rate card and generalized for all media. The age of traditional advertising is not over. A double-page advertisement in the newspaper is still the most striking way to advertise and therefore also the most vital vein for a medium." However, the form in which advertisements are offered to customers needs to be reconsidered.
Meier suggests not only selling the double-page ad, but also putting together a package that includes print, TV, radio and the Internet. This is because newspaper publishers have developed into regional and national media providers. "Only the combination of all channels is really effective. Fixed prices are also becoming less and less popular. Sure, everyone wants a discount. But that's not my point. I'm talking about
of added value and advocate a scale of added value.
The classic advertisement must be marketed in conjunction with other offers."
Meier has many ideas that could promise success. He is not afraid of his young start-up being caught up in the storm of crisis. "If my business doesn't work, I'll be out of luck. Then I'll just become pope or foreign minister," he jokes. "Seriously, I think it's the right time to take this step. Because it's ripe for new offers. Someone now has to show that advertising still works, both in print and online." Typical Meier. He believes in his cause. What he does if it fails, he thinks about when it actually happens. But he thinks that's unlikely anyway.
Freedom and education
Of course, Meier's fresh approach could also help the ailing Publigroupe back on track. But for him, that is a thing of the past. "At P, I always had to reconcile many different interests, even if I thought differently myself," explains Meier. "The special thing about the P is that so many competing interests converge there. As an outsider, I can now take a much stronger position, contribute my entire wealth of experience and take full account of my client's interests. The result is the best solution for a medium, not just any compromise."
Mr. Meier's latest coup is his candidacy for President of Sawi. He is to succeed the retiring Hans-Peter Rohner, and the decision will be made at the general meeting on May 15. "I didn't expect to be put forward as Sawi President," says Meier. "A year ago, the general meeting gave me honorary membership of Sawi and the board. And as a self-employed person, I'm also not an employee of a Sawi sponsoring company, so there was little to be said for a candidacy. But I've had a close connection to the institute since my advertising assistant course in 1974, so Rohner's suggestion didn't catch me completely off guard." As Sawi President, Meier would be responsible for the entire training and further education program offered by the institute, which is supported by several associations in the advertising and communications industry. "I would be delighted to take on this role," he says. "Sawi should remain the leading training and further education institute in the field of advertising, marketing and communication. I would like to play a decisive role in this and have an integrating effect." That's him: Otto Meier, 57, and not a bit quiet.
Anne-Friederike Wilhelm

It seems that Google is completely unfamiliar with the term "crisis". Good for the search engine operator, which was able to increase its profits by nine percent in the first quarter and thus generate a surplus of a whopping 1.42 billion dollars. In addition, turnover grew by six percent to 5.51 billion dollars compared to 2008. The good figures even surprised analysts, who had previously expected lower profits.
had.
For CEO Eric Schmidt, his company's strong performance is no reason to lose his composure just yet. In view of the severity of the recession, Google has had a good quarter, according to the boss. The Google share price was far more enthusiastic. It climbed significantly after the good news. Perhaps Schmidt's modesty was also due to the fact that the advertising slump slowed the company's growth. The harshness of the recession is undoubtedly being felt. Schmidt is not so rosy about the future either: "The current economic environment remains tough."