Publicitas: New "Print National" unit headed by Moreno Cavaliere

Moreno Cavaliere will head the new Print National business unit at P, which aims to serve all national print clients from a single source. Stephan Gartenmann, head of Publimedia, is leaving the company.

Publicitas is further streamlining its management structure and consolidating all units responsible for serving national print clients under one roof. The newly established «Print National» unit will be led by Moreno Cavaliere (photo on the left), whose responsibilities include Publicitas Publimedia. At the same time, long-time executive Stephan Gartenmann (photo below), who has led Publicitas Publimedia since 2008, is leaving the company, as P announced on Wednesday.
As head of Print National, Cavaliere assumes responsibility for Publicitas Publimedia, Publicitas Publimag, Publicitas Mosse, Publicitas Publiconnect, and Publicitas SwissPress. He had already been in charge of P Publimag and P Mosse since last summer, which allowed him to familiarize himself with these units as well. Cavaliere, 46, has been with Publicitas since 1982 and has held management positions since 1988.
Cavaliere, together with Tim Dührkoop (Electronic & Interactive), Stefan Bai (Eastern Region), René Gehrig (Central Region), Patrick Cuénoud (Romandie Region), Walter Vontobel (NZZ Media), and Séverine Lago (Project Horizon), as well as the six members of the Media Sales Executive Board, form the management team led by CEO Robert Schmidli, which manages and further develops Publicitas’s business in Switzerland.

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Over a third free of charge

With a decline of 111,000 readers, the drop in print media readership compared to the previous year was the sharpest it has been in a long time. However, there is a shortfall of nearly 400,000 paid subscribers.

Free contacts (excluding regional free titles) increased by 287,000, mainly thanks to the first-time inclusion of .ch and News titles, and now account for over a third of all contacts. In total, 7 titles have significantly increased their reach compared to the previous year, 4 of which are distributed free of charge. In the daily press, there were 3 winners and 5 losers. In the general and business press there is 1 winner and 13 losers and in the special press there are 3 winners and 14 losers.
News before .ch?
For the first time, values for .ch are shown in Mach Basic. However, with a reach of 5.0 percent and 214,000 readers, only the situation before the relaunch last fall is shown. A few days before the official publication of the data (and therefore too late for the accompanying special edition of Media Trend Journal), there are also figures for News, which are shown in a special table. With a reach of 6.5 percent and 276,000 readers, the free newspaper is ranked 8th in German-speaking Switzerland between NZZ (6.9%) and Neue Luzerner Zeitung (6.3%) and thus ahead of .ch. However, due to the tripling of distribution boxes in the public sector, .ch is already likely to achieve higher values. Assuming 0.9 readers per copy, as with News, the figure is 333,000 readers.
Blick am Abend is shown for the first time (and also as part of a special table) with a reach of 7.4 percent and 313,000 readers. However, the figures are only based on the third quarter of 2008, one month after the relaunch. Based on observations on public transport, the "Brombeer-Blick" is now likely to have around 400,000 readers. This results in a total of around 3.7 million daily free contacts in German-speaking Switzerland (excluding the discontinued Cash). This results in an estimated market share of 44 percent throughout Switzerland and almost 37 percent in German-speaking Switzerland. In French-speaking Switzerland, the two commuter newspapers effectively hold 46.8 percent after further significant gains. If the Competition Commission approves the takeover of Edipresse's domestic business by Tamedia, this share will shrink to around 30 percent. Around half a million free contacts will then be lost. However, it is unlikely that the figures for paid daily newspapers will subsequently recover.
Le Matin and 24 heures continued to lose significantly compared to 2008-1. In German-speaking Switzerland, only the Tages-Anzeiger suffered a significant drop in reach for once. Blick lost slightly - but not significantly.
Sunday, the two major titles in German-speaking and French-speaking Switzerland lost significant ground. The continuous decline of the unrivaled Matin Dimanche, which has lost significant reach compared to both 2008-1 and 2008-2, is particularly astonishing. In German-speaking Switzerland, SonntagsBlick has been hit hard. It appears to be the main victim of the new competitor Sonntag, which immediately achieved a reach of 8.3 percent. And incidentally, the new Sonntagsblatt also seems to be helping the Catholic magazine of the same name to soar, as this title, which has been stable for years, has suddenly made significant gains after hitting a low point a year ago. Of course, no figures are yet available for Zentralschweiz am Sonntag, which was only launched after the current survey period.
A thirsty winner
By far the highest increase in reach was achieved by someone who was dying of thirst, so to speak. The print edition of Cash, which was discontinued before the data was published, increased its reach by no less than 60 percent. With a reach of 2.8 percent (excluding screen usage via Livepaper), the paper was probably still behind the Handelszeitung (3.4%) and Finanz und Wirtschaft (3.1%). However, if the trend had continued, it could have been number two behind Bilanz (5.0%) in six months' time. The printed Cash is still at the beginning of its dry spell due to the abrupt advertising slump (-34 percent adjusted for expenditure in the first two months of 2009).
Once again, the losers in the popular press come from all title groups. And there is no winner. Weltwoche has lost significant reach compared to both 2008-1 and 2008-2 and is now at 8.1 percent. Geo and NZZ Folio also lost significant ground in the news and themed press. Among the magazines, four titles lost significant coverage: Beo-b¬achter, Paris Match, Reader's Digest Suisse and Illustrazione Ticinese. In the program press, only Tele and TV täglich suffered significant losses this time. Among the women's titles, two German titles (Brigitte and Freundin) as well as Annabelle and Femina are on a mini-trip.
Ueli Custer

Table: Securities with significant changes compared to January 2008

Table: Securities with significant changes compared to February 2008

Love goes through the brand

Anyone looking for a USP in these times of tight budgets and interchangeable brands—one that will ignite consumers« passion for their product now and forever—might want to try love—and turn their brand into a »Lovemark.”.

Love is fantastic. So is doing things with love. And why have only a few companies come up with the idea of not only manufacturing their product with love, but also charging it with love and making consumers fall in love with their goods? There is a lot to be said for building a "Lovemark". After all, love is closely linked to trust - and those who love and trust can also forgive. UBS could have used such an emotional stirring recently: If its clients had been more in love, they would not have immediately withdrawn their money from the big bank. Perhaps UBS could now recover more quickly, which would also have benefited investors. A missed opportunity.
Lovers are often unreasonable; no argument, no matter how clever, can compete with their strong emotions. The same applies to consumers: If they love a brand, statements against it don't impress them at all. However, the aim of a Lovemark is not to fleece love-blind customers. It's about building emotional loyalty to a brand that can even survive crises. "80 percent of all purchasing decisions are made emotionally," emphasizes Kevin Roberts*, CEO Worldwide at Saatchi + Saatchi. "Lovemarks grow far away from reasons." A good example of a solid Lovemark is Red Bull. A research laboratory attested to the drink: "Completely unappetizing, disgusting." Dietrich Mateschitz trusted his gut feeling in the 1980s and nevertheless decided to bring the drink from Japan to Europe. No one could have imagined that the drink would be so successful.
Even today, many people find the stuff horrible. In Switzerland, there are even initiatives to ban the sticky drink because they consider it unhealthy. You never know where else you might grow wings. But: 15 percent of Europeans idolize the bull potion, and that's enough for an impressive annual turnover of 3.32 billion euros or around four billion units sold.
Cans. Mateschitz acted against all reason - like a lover. His passion was transferred to the consumers, buyers became friends.
If you love your car, you push it
It is also unreasonable to buy a Hublot. Because a watch like that costs more than a month's salary. Even more than two. Nevertheless, many people buy such a luxury watch. Or two. In 2008, the company reported annual sales of 250 million francs. Why? Jean-Claude Biver*, CEO of Hublot, explains: "A Hublot is not a timepiece, you can find the time on your cell phone, in your car, in all churches, in public buildings and on your computer. A Hublot is culture, art, past and future all in one." Biver knows his customers inside out. He earns 14,900 francs each with a watch on which the time is barely visible - because the case, dial and hands are completely black. You have to copy that first. Biver's business with love is going well.
But how do you build a Lovemark? Is it all down to a brilliant advertiser who comes up with an incorruptible advertising message? Or can the idea for a Lovemark be worked out? If you compare Red Bull and Hublot, you'll see that it takes absolute uncompromisingness. And authenticity. Successful brand makers believe that their idea, their product, works and stubbornly follow this belief. Consumers love those who stand behind their product and bring it to life. There is no market for your product? Great. Then there are no rules.
Anne-Friederike Wilhelm
* Spoke at the IAA Forum 2009 on the subject of "Lovemarks".
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The advertising industry determines the future of journalism in the print sector

With circulation numbers on the decline, advertisers hold the future of journalism in the print industry in their hands. Will they give the critical public a chance, or is it really all about ratings?

Print media circulations are declining under pressure from the Internet, and with them the revenues of publishing houses. According to Wemf advertising statistics, 11.5 percent fewer advertisements were placed in the Swiss press in December 2008 than in the same period the previous year. All publishing houses have to make savings - the time that newspapers are supposed to have left is constantly being shortened. Marc Fisher, editor of the Washington Post (in an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung) no longer gives them ten years, but only five.
Online, where everyone is pushing and where the future of many print products will be decided, there is not yet much to earn. The competition is no longer the other newspapers in the region, but all the websites in the world. Online, payment is no longer based on circulation, reach or readership, but on unique clients, visitors and page impressions. The clicks are measured. Up to now, the advertising money has gone to the portals with the best figures, i.e. quotas. However, due to the constant analysis of ratings and the resulting adjustment of content, these portals are inevitably becoming more tabloid-like - it is no longer journalistic relevance that counts, but the click rate, which threatens to become the sole yardstick. "The readers want it that way", is what online editorial teams like to say. But just because click rates can now be measured, should every publication revolve around sex, celebrities and monsters, which, as has been shown, is what the readers of newspaper portals prefer to click on?
Tyler Brûlé, successful publisher of the English-language luxury magazine Monocle, predicts (in the magazine) a future with only two market segments in the print sector, namely (expensive) elite daily newspapers and magazines with intelligent analysis and opinions on the one hand and (free) tabloid trash with a gigantic circulation on the other. In order to achieve the gigantic circulation, the free products have to be aggressively marketed to the reader, because the competition for attention is fierce. This happens on paper in the form of free newspapers and on the Internet with tabloid portals. It is becoming apparent that both forms will have less and less to do with serious journalism for cost reasons.
Mostly just a bad copy
Unsettled by the rapidly changing income situation, publishers such as Ringier and Tamedia, previously known as reliable journalism producers, are increasingly taking this route. But the advertising effect is not at all certain. More constantly clicking, unfocused readers may load more advertising banners and read more pages, but it has not been proven which advertising actually interests readers or even leads to a purchase.
In a desperate effort to make money online, and to do so immediately, more and more portals are becoming a poor imitation of the (long lucrative) pioneer Spiegel Online. This is destroying journalistic diversity - an abrupt end to a writing culture and reader loyalty that has been built up over decades. One could despair at the unimaginativeness of the local publishers - but soon one has become so accustomed to it that the bad news reported at ever shorter intervals hardly affect one anymore. If you are a patient for too long, at some point you will no longer receive a visit.
The future of serious journalism lies to a large extent in the hands of the advertising industry. After all, it is the advertisers and media planners who decide in which environment they want to place their products. Because there has been little or very imprecise measurement in the print sector to date, the private sector has been able to perform tasks that offer added value to society without the help of the state. With an exclusive fixation on quotas, many forms of presentation that have evolved over decades are in danger of dying out: Reports, investigative research, critical reviews of current culture, historical observations, in short: the in-depth examination of topics that are not tabloid fare is under threat.
Advertisers' desire to mix content and advertising is growing from year to year. But independent journalism cannot exist like this. Those who are convinced that they are advertising a good product have no need to intervene in editorial processes. They rely on the presence of their product not in, but alongside the journalistic content. And has it reviewed by independent publicists without interfering. This is done one way or another on the Internet; the fantasy of controlled reporting on a product is a thing of the past thanks to the democratization of the media, for example through the existence of blogs.
Advertising money for critical media
If journalism, this valuable asset of the critical public, is not to become a privilege of the wealthy class (as it once was), then advertising money must also flow to places where readers are not baited with sex and sensationalism, where outrage management does not reign. Then advertising money must flow to those media that are consumed by critical readers. People buy products because they are convinced of them and not because they have been persuaded to do so. Whether online, on paper or portable will no longer matter in the future. Mobility will not stop at content or advertising.
Ronnie Grob

VBZ expands cooperation with APG-Traffic

2009 Zurich Public Transportation (VBZ) transfers the sale of advertising space outside the Zurich region to APG-SGA Traffic. The arrangement takes effect on April 1.

Verkehrsbetriebe Zürich (VBZ) is largely transferring the sale of advertising space on its vehicles to advertisers outside the VBZ concession area (Zurich region) to the specialized public transport media company APG-SGA Traffic, which operates throughout Switzerland. According to a press release issued by APG on Wednesday, customers operating nationwide as well as advertising and media agencies will now have a single point of contact for national campaigns in and on public transportation. Both companies expect synergies and increased sales of public transport advertising formats in the Swiss business metropolis from this division of labor, which will take effect on April 1, 2009.

Eyekon: Karolin Maaske joins the design team

Karolin Maaske has been working in the design department of the cross-media lab Eyekon since early March. Previously, the German native worked for Axel Springer and Ullstein in Berlin.

31-year-old Karolin Maaske joined the Eyekon design team at the beginning of March. She previously worked for three years as a screen designer at Elephant Seven in Berlin and most recently as an art director at A&B Face2Net, an online communications agency. Born in Germany, she also worked as a freelance web designer for Axel Springer and Ullstein. Her assignments have included online advertising for the Berliner Morgenpost and the Welt Group. Karolin Maaske has a degree in communication design from the Hamburg Technical School of Art. The new appointment is Eyekon's response to a good order situation and is intended to further strengthen its position in the field of online communication, according to a press release.

Euro RSCG advertises Peugeot with driving pleasure

Euro RSCG has developed a new campaign for Peugeot. The aim is to publicize the Peugeot 207 "Swiss Edition" with extended equipment. The campaign can be seen on TV, in various magazines, daily and Sunday newspapers and on the Internet.

Euro RSCG has developed a new campaign for Peugeot. The aim is to publicize the Peugeot 207 "Swiss Edition" with extended equipment. The campaign can be seen on TV, in various magazines, daily and Sunday newspapers and on the Internet.
In the advertisements, the campaign subject is equipped with a key fob that reads: "Don't even think about picking up the keys. The subject is underlaid with the slogan "Driving fun that you are reluctant to share". In the TV commercial, friendship ends where an exciting stretch of road begins, as the agency writes in a press release.
Responsible at Euro RSCG Zurich: Frank Bodin (overall responsibility), Axel Eckstein (CD), Nemi Gajic (text), Rob Hartmann (art direction), Isabelle Buehler (graphics), Anna Colby (art buying), Niklaus Huwyler, Marianne Sauter (consulting). Photography and image processing: Patrick Rohner. Responsible at Peugeot Switzerland: Aymeric Duval (Marketing Director), Marcus Brugger (Advertising and Promotion Manager), Marion Pfäffli (Advertising Manager).
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The voice of the customer

A sociologist reveals what advertising needs to be like today to score points with consumers.

There are plenty of them: billboards, banners and advertisements. They all suggest to the consumer which product to buy. Some do it skillfully - others less so. It is well known that there is a little bit of psychology behind every advertisement. Advertising psychologists use behavioral and increasingly also brain research to find out when, where and why customers buy. At marketing seminars or workshops, however, advertising often only speaks from the perspective of the advertiser. Prof. Dr. Peter Gross, professor emeritus of sociology at the University of St. Gallen and author, turns the tables. He represents the voice of the customer and says what the consumer really thinks. First of all: "Advertising that wants to stand out at all costs is annoying and unsuccessful." The sociologist reveals how advertising should be in order to achieve the desired effect on the advertiser.
According to Gross, today's customers are older, smarter, more female and more international. The smart customer in particular is more critical of advertising than ever before. He cites neoclassical advertising as the latest form of advertising to better cater to them. This can be divided into three categories:
1. reasonable and tolerable advertising
The sociologist also speaks of soft advertising. Advertising that is as factual and pleasant as possible. This is because the information content and advertising recall contribute significantly to the sales success of a product. A flashy design should be avoided. Therefore, only use colors that create the desired effect. The wrong choice of color can have a devastating effect on the product and therefore on sales. The right color leads to a strong orientation reaction and improved absorption of information.
2. funny and paradoxically interesting advertising
Advertising that triggers negative feelings is less effective than that which leaves pleasant feelings, because memories with positive emotions are better memorized. This particularly applies to advertising with amusing content and paradoxical features, as the viewer can identify particularly well with humor. Gross: "Advertising should and must stimulate thought and be decidedly different from others." He cites the current Mercedes-Benz TV advertisement as an example of funny advertising: a cute guardian angel insults his fellow angel as a "lazy pig" because he is protecting a Mercedes driver.
3. advertising without system errors
"Advertising in the 21st century is narcissistic and therefore has a systemic flaw," says the sociologist. Companies advertise themselves and their products too much instead of focusing on the customer as the decisive factor for the company. Particularly on the Internet, the mistake is made of only talking about one's own product. Too rarely is the customer's problem addressed and solutions shown (source: Amitra.com ). Consumers are best involved in communities (social networks or family) in which people tell each other about new achievements. The sociologist refers to the German management consultancy Absolit, which has identified the use of social media in marketing (SMM, a form of online marketing) as a current trend. By participating in social platforms - blogs, wikis, etc. - companies can position their brands more strongly and expand communication with customers.
A considerable proportion of consumers no longer buy products because their advertising sells recipients for fools or is dull and annoying.
Adriana Zilic
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High voltage for Big: I show you my style

Once again, Hochspannung and the Fashion Store Big send exhibitionists to show what's underneath in the Zurich scene. The goal is the announcement of the spring collection and the announcement of the label.

Once again, the fashion store Big wants to cause a stir with an advertising campaign and sends "exhibitionists" into trendy Zurich bars. For example, in the Alte Börse, where the girls allow a glimpse under their coats according to the motto: Show your Style, just like exhibitionists. You can see what the young women are hiding under their coats if you go to the Big now - but in any case, the trendy spring collections.
The advertising concept was developed by the Zurich advertising agency Hochspannung. The media plan includes posters, advertisements, an e-board at the main train station and cinema slides. Furthermore, one-to-one campaigns are planned around the Big and at Zurich scene locations.
Responsible at Big: Sylvie Gablinger and Martin Muff. Responsible for high voltage: Matthew Katumba, Alex Taiganidis, Tom Fäh, Andrea Huber, Marco Huber and Stefanie Fricker. Photography: Oliver Nanzig.

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Striking

Among other things, *Werbewoche* was struck by Cosmic’s burnout posters for a play at the Schlachthaus Theater in Bern. With their direct style and authentic impact, the images grab attention and inevitably engage passersby in a dialogue.

Open Dialogue
The Schlachthaus Theater in Bern tackles a controversial topic, staging a harrowing production. In the play *Burn Out*, five actors and actresses engage in intense dialogues on a sparsely furnished stage that speak directly to the audience. The Cosmic Bern agency picks up on the theme and, through the play’s posters, offers the actors a sort of extended platform. With their equally direct style and authentic impact, the images grab attention and inevitably engage passersby in a dialogue.
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Creativity
Hot-Airitis, Anonymitis, Chatteritis: Almost everyone who’s ever dealt with an insurance advisor is familiar with these ailments. But protection against them is simple: Switch to ÖKK. Here, both private and business customers receive serious and dedicated advice that «truly lives up to its name,» according to the advertising team at the Y&R Group. The quarterly magazine ÖKK-Club reveals what you can do to combat Slothitis.

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Dream Castle
Anyone who has ever dreamed of owning a historic castle, a magnificent palace, or an impressive ship can now make that dream come true. «Become a castle owner for 5 francs» is the promise of a campaign created by Euro RSCG Zurich for Pro Patria. Founded 100 years ago, the foundation is dedicated to preserving Switzerland’s most beautiful cultural heritage sites and landscapes. According to Euro RSCG, with a donation of 5 francs or more, «anyone can become a symbolic co-owner» of these unique cultural treasures. The campaign is broad in scope, featuring print, TV, and radio. The communication is based on striking photographs of cultural sites throughout Switzerland. In just 20 seconds, the commercials show how people go about their daily lives as «co-owners» of a castle. To the surprise of those around them, they appear as a lady-in-waiting, a knight, or a prince.

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You'd have to be born in 1993
Maxomedia has created a cross-media campaign for SBB to raise awareness among teenagers born in 1993 about the Halbtax pass. Sixteen-year-olds need this pass to continue using public transportation at half price. One month before their big birthday, these teens receive an email informing them of a special offer: The «Jahrgänger-Halbtax» costs them just 93 francs instead of 150. Anyone who purchases a pass can get a discounted T-shirt online featuring the “93” logo. At www.gleis7.ch/16, teens can actively explore their mobility needs. Testimonial videos show why other teens have purchased a pass. On Facebook, social ads inform all 15- and 16-year-olds about the offer.

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Benign Virus
Médecins Sans Frontières, in collaboration with the Zurich-based agency Rod Kommunikation, is launching the viral campaign «I have MSF.» With the idea that «Commitment is contagious,» the Nobel Prize-winning organization aims to show people how easy it is to get involved with Doctors Without Borders—whether through money, time, or talent. The campaign aims to operate without paid advertising space. Public figures are invited to wear a T-shirt during their public appearances to promote the website www.i-have-msf.ch.

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A concentration of power - and everyone looks the other way?

For the first time in Switzerland, the “mega-merger” between Tamedia and Edipresse is creating a publishing behemoth whose empire stretches from Eastern Switzerland to Lake Geneva. However, other cases have shown that corporate cultures that are too different often fail to harmonize—and such giants also distort competition. Guest commentary by Stephan Russ-Mohl, director of the European Journalism Observatory at the University of Lugano.

In Switzerland, it was a mega event that even regional papers such as the Mittelland-Zeitung reported on over two pages. In neighboring Germany, on the other hand, the merger of Tamedia and Edipresse was only reported as a single column in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. In retrospect, it is not the merger of the two publishing giants from German-speaking Switzerland and Suisse Romande that is the big surprise, but how it was handled in Switzerland. The country really does have other worries at the moment. So the players were spared an outcry of indignation. After all, such a concentration of media power is not at all in keeping with the Swiss Confederation, which prides itself on its direct democracy and has perhaps the most sophisticated system of reciprocal balance of power that Western democracies have to offer.
For the first time, a publishing colossus is being created in Switzerland, which enjoys a media diversity that hardly any other European country can match, whose newspaper empire stretches from eastern Switzerland to the western corner of Lake Geneva: in St. Gallen, Tamedia is on the market with the free newspaper 20 Minuten, while in the neighbouring canton of Thurgau it owns the Thurgauer Zeitung. In Geneva and Lausanne, Edipresse owns Le Temps, Tribune de Genève, Le Matin, 24 heures and the free title Le Matin Bleu. The latter is to be merged with 20 minutes. And at its headquarters in Zurich, Tamedia is already the top dog in the multimedia business - with 20 Minuten, Tages-Anzeiger, SonntagsZeitung, TeleZüri and Radio 24.
The Röstigraben prevents harmony
At first glance, this is a powerful boost to concentration, and is accompanied by fears that the pluralism of opinion in Switzerland could be damaged. On closer inspection, such fears are, at least for the time being, unfounded: For one thing, Tamedia has so far facilitated a great deal of pluralism internally. A political conformity of the media empire, as can be observed time and again with Berlusconi or Murdoch, is not to be expected from Pietro Supino and Martin Kall, the two top people at Tamedia.
On the other hand, the Röstigraben between Suisse Romande and German-speaking Switzerland will prevent too much harmony. The language barrier makes it unlikely that Le Temps will in future be supplied by the same correspondents as the Tages-Anzeiger. Even the translation costs for individual articles are higher for contributions that an editorial team orders directly from a freelance journalist who works in his native language.
Synergies will therefore be achieved less in the editorial offices and more "backstage", as the management jargon goes. Backstage, Tamedia CEO Martin Kall has calculated that around 30 million francs can be saved annually by purchasing paper together, better utilizing printing plants, jointly operating the advertising business and merging other areas, such as information technology. Compared to the billions of taxpayers' money that our politicians are currently so generously distributing to banks, car manufacturers and other "needy" people all over Europe, this sounds more like "peanuts". Measured against the two companies' turnover of 1.5 billion Swiss francs, this represents a savings potential of 2 percent. This, in turn, seems solid and realistically calculated.
Above all, however, a company with a presence in almost the entire country is better equipped to deal with giants such as Google or Microsoft, but also the telecoms groups and even the postal service, which are making powerful inroads into the media business.
Despite such obvious opportunities arising from the elephant wedding, the move by Tamedia and Edipresse is courageous. After all, not only Daimler and Chrysler or Dresdner Bank and Allianz have realized after a short honeymoon that their corporate cultures do not harmonize very well. The mergers of numerous large media companies were also bound to be marital disputes and cost shareholders a lot of money. Robert Picard, one of Europe's most prominent media economists, recently listed the places where dreams of synergies have vanished into thin air at a symposium in Switzerland: He recalled AOL-Time Warner, Vivendi Universal and Bertelsmann as particularly spectacular cases. The list could easily be extended. Picard pleaded for more "coopetition" - a neologism made up of "cooperation" and "competition". This involves close, selective cooperation between competitors, who nevertheless remain independent. It remains to be seen whether this would have been the better approach for Tamedia and Edipresse.
For Switzerland as a media location, however, the answer is a clear yes. "Concentrations of power," says Hugo Triner, publisher of the Boten der Urschweiz/Südostschweiz, "are not only questionable from a political point of view, but also economically." He finds it "naïve" to allow them. Advertisers and journalists in particular, but also readers, would become dependent. Large companies distort competition, for example by dumping prices in order to drive competitors out of the market. Afterwards, "when a monopoly or quasi-monopoly has been created, editorial services are significantly reduced and prices are raised". In fact, there are already numerous examples of this in Switzerland.

Last but not least: Golden Windbag for Actimel

"Actimel strengthens the immune system and helps against colds": an advertising phrase that still rings in the ears of every regular TV consumer. Now Foodwatch has awarded the manufacturer Danone the Golden Windbag 2009 for the most audacious advertising lie of the year.

"Actimel strengthens the immune system and helps against colds": an advertising phrase that still rings in the ears of every regular TV consumer. But a true one, as the company announces on the Actimel.de website. The Öko-Test gave Actimel a good rating, ten years of clinical research and over 30 studies have proven that Actimel activates the immune system. And yet the consumer organization Foodwatch awarded the manufacturer Danone the Golden Windbag 2009 for the most audacious advertising lie of the year. According to Anne Markwardt, head of the Foodwatch campaign Abgespeist.de, Actimel as a miracle cure for colds is a "big probiotic fairy tale", as quoted in an OTS report. The drinking yoghurt not only strengthens the immune system just as well as conventional natural yoghurts, it is also four times as expensive.
More than 35,000 consumers saw it the same way in the online vote for the Golden Windbag. Around 47 percent of those who voted saw Actimel as the most brazen case of fraudulent labeling. The aim of the Foodwatch campaign is to expose the legal advertising lies of food manufacturers and to give consumers the opportunity to express their anger about fraudulent labeling. The aim is to get these companies to stop their advertising practices.
However, Actimel does not entirely agree with this, as the drinking yogurt manufacturer is convinced on its homepage: "Our advertising is correct in terms of content. That was the case in the past. And that also applies to the future". Abgespeist.de is nevertheless generous: on www.abgespeist.de the consumer has the option of sending Danone a ready-made "congratulatory telegram".
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