In the hands of the creatives at Scholz & Friends Zurich, Maglite flashlights are not toys. According to a press release issued on Tuesday, the current campaign motif is intended to make this clear. It was created on behalf of Tradenet, Maglite's Swiss distribution partner.
The display is intended to show the result of the enormous brightness of Maglite products: A large cargo ship has apparently followed a supposed lighthouse signal in the dark and run aground on a rocky coast. At the bottom of the image, a flashlight indicates the light source and illuminates the warning lettering: "It's not a toy."
Responsible at Tradenet AG, Lachen: Adrian Schmidhäusler (Managing Director). Responsible at Scholz & Friends Zurich: Joerg Jahn (overall responsibility), Jan Leube (CD), Sibylle Moos (AD), Markus Hammer, Mathias Rebmann (AD), Friederike Coninx (graphics), Florian Schwalme (text), Pascal Baumgartner (consulting). 3 Dimensional Retouching: Jens Erbeck.

Tamedia acquired a minority stake in the online boutique Fashion Friends on January 30, 2009. According to the Swiss media group, it has the opportunity to expand the stake in several stages.
From March 2009, the start-up company Fashion Friends will be offering invited members branded clothing and accessories from upmarket fashion and lifestyle labels at "extremely attractive prices", according to a press release issued on Wednesday. The articles will be offered according to the individual fashion tastes of the members within the framework of limited-time shopping opportunities. A combination of automated and personal style advice for registered members complements the online fashion boutique's offering.
The founding team includes Klaus Hommels, Oliver Jung and Peter Schüpbach, various online investors who, as Tamedia writes in its press release, have already supported start-ups such as Skype, StudiVZ, Trigami and Xing. Fashion Friends AG is headquartered in Langenthal in the canton of Bern.

Yves Mäder is to become Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Tamedia's online job market. The 37-year-old, previously Head of Ebay Switzerland, will take up his position on April 1, 2009, according to a press release issued on Wednesday. Together with Urs Hügli, CEO of the real estate platform Homegate.ch and head of the online job market, Mäder will continue to drive forward the development of Jobwinner.ch and Alpha.ch as well as the cooperation with Jobsuchmaschine.ch together with a team of around 30 employees.
After studying business administration at the University of St. Gallen, Yves Mäder worked for Holcim for six years in various strategic and operational e-business functions. In 2004, he moved to Ebay Switzerland, where he was in charge of marketing, among other things. From 2008, as Head of Ebay Switzerland, he was responsible for the strategic realignment of the Swiss marketplace.

There is a persistent rumor in the industry: Tamedia will decide on the future of the Bund this week, according to reports. But Uli Rubner, the new publishing director of Berner Zeitung (BZ) and Bund, emphatically waves it away. "No," she says, "that would be too early. We still need time, we're certainly not making a quick decision."
And what is the situation on the subscription front? Uli Rubner will not be able to put a figure on the renewals due in January 2009 until around mid-March, after the second reminder runs. In principle, however, the main annual phase of subscription renewals for both the BZ and the Bund has been "within the normal range", she says. "So far, the drop-out rate for both titles has been comparable to that of previous years." Even after Tamedia's announcement that it was examining whether the Bund should cooperate with the Tages-Anzeiger or rather be integrated into the BZ, no "now more than ever" effect was noticeable. "This impression was created for a short time in December, but it proved to be neither significant nor sustainable," says Rubner.
Rubner is currently scrutinizing the two titles in order to assess the situation. "We are currently analyzing the composition of the circulation and the alternative distribution channels," says the publishing director. Rubner is referring to a special feature of the paid circulation of the BZ Stadt & Region Bern split. This so-called BZ city edition has almost 20,000 more copies than the circulation of the city newspaper Bund, which has a total of 54,233 copies. On closer inspection, however, it is clear that the circulation of the BZ-Stadtsplit is higher primarily because almost 18,000 copies are included in "other sales", i.e. copies that are sold at a discount of more than 50 percent. The Bund circulation also contains such heavily discounted copies, but only 2,424, and in contrast to the BZ city split with a strong downward trend (minus 28 percent).
Other titles also have copies in the "other sales" category. In terms of proportion, they are usually around the same size as the Confederation. Other sales" refers to copies that are distributed to restaurants, schools and libraries and generate a relatively high reach due to multiple users. Certain trial subscriptions, target sales and promotional copies also fall into this category. At the Solothurner Tagblatt (ST), another BZ split, such copies account for 40 percent of circulation, as the ST - in order to establish itself in the Solothurn area - offers its subscriptions very cheaply in the first year. However, the fact that the BZ-Stadtsplit also distributes around a quarter of its paid circulation in this way has never been a topic of public discussion, unlike the ST, even though they have been included in the circulation certification since 2007 and even though the BZ-Stadtausgabe has by far the highest proportion of low-cost subscriptions and copies of all subscription newspapers in German-speaking Switzerland - in absolute and percentage terms.
In the discussion about the future of the Bund, however, this part of the paid circulation is now becoming more explosive, as the following question arises: Has Espace Media virtually distorted the situation of the Bund over the years through one-sided marketing in favor of BZ? There are some indications that the almost 18,000 copies are a marketing relic from the time when the Bund and BZ were not part of the same publishing house and were therefore still competitors. The only strange thing is that these marketing copies were retained from 2005 onwards, thus keeping the circulation of the BZ-Stadtsplit high artificially and at great expense, instead of allowing genuine journalistic competition between the Bund and BZ to take place in the city of Berne.
Uli Rubner knows the figures. "After all, circulation is one of the first things you look at when you take responsibility for a title," she says. However, the analysis of how the "other sales" of the BZ city split are made up in detail is still ongoing. Rubner is therefore reluctant to comment. Every publisher decides for itself how it wants to generate its reach; ultimately, every contact with the relevant target group counts for the advertising industry, she says. "In this respect, it is legitimate to open up certain alternative sales channels to generate reach in addition to the fully paid circulation." After all, the two newspapers BZ and Bund have managed to achieve a reach of over 60 percent in Bern. This puts Tamedia's Bernese titles in a top position in terms of penetration rate in their relevant area. And as the more broadly positioned title, the BZ is the locomotive in the Bernese combination, Rubner points out. From a business perspective, however, the question can be asked as to which and to what extent such activities make sense: "These are expensive measures, the subscription revenue is low, and what's more, retail sales and paid subscriptions are cannibalized," adds Rubner. "That's why we have to examine very carefully what should and shouldn't be continued."
Markus Knöpfli

Plausible thesis
Has Espace Media virtually distorted the situation of the Bund over the years through one-sided pro-BZ marketing? This question, together with a breakdown of the circulation figures for BZ and Bund, was also put to Roger Blum by Werbewoche. The Bernese media professor and member of the "Save the Bund" committee was cautious: "I don't have any data to verify your assumption," he writes. "But it is plausible." (mk)

At last: PIN data for the TV advertising market will be available from the summer." This is how the Swiss Advertisers Association (SWA) rejoiced on its homepage when Mediapulse AG and its marketing partner Publica Data AG (PDAG) launched their PIN data offer in October. The SWA had long been calling for the release of so-called personalized usage data. PIN data is the raw material from TV research: a mix of socio-demographic information from the Telecontrol panel lists, usage data collected to the second and the broadcast logs containing the advertising blocks.
Agencies and TV providers already have access to this data via today's evaluation and planning tools, but it is already bundled according to target groups or time periods. This bundling - also known as aggregation - makes handling clearer, simpler and, above all, more uniform.
At the end of January, PDAG followed up its announcement with action and made a concrete offer to media agencies and TV marketers. This provides for the delivery of PIN data at a lower aggregation level from summer 2009. For example, whereas the advertising block ratings could previously only be analyzed by target group, ratings by person (or more precisely, by each individual panel member) will now be available, as PDAG Managing Director Rolf Müller explains.
However, he warns against the "PIN data myth". Firstly, because they remain aggregated at ad unit level. "Unlike in Italy, we still don't have any ratings available at ad unit level, but the market hasn't demanded this yet," says Müller. In addition, it will not be possible to track zapping behavior to the second in the future either. "After all, we don't want any Jekami in TV research," says Müller.
EvoAd makes data analyzable
But back to the offer: in addition to the extended PIN data submission, this also provides for the submission of standard software for advertising planning called EvoAd (working title), with which the data can be analyzed. Data and software must be purchased as a package. "EvoAd will lead to a quantum leap in TV planning," predicts Müller. The main advantage: anyone working with EvoAd in future will be able to dispense with the previous planning and evaluation tools, the NewMediaReporter from Mediapulse and the Media Optimizer from Publisuisse. "You can't calculate campaign reach with the Media Optimizer, and campaigns can only be optimized with the NewMediaReporter using the trial-and-error principle, which takes a lot of time," says Müller. Furthermore, the agencies were previously dependent on the marketers' performance forecasts.
"With EvoAd, however, media agencies can for the first time create their own forecasts for all advertising-relevant channels in Switzerland," emphasizes Müller. However, they can also import external forecasts, such as those of an (exclusive) marketer, and compare them with their own. This should make TV planning more transparent in the future, as any conflicts of interest on the part of marketers will be more easily recognizable as such. EvoAd also includes an optimization module that makes it much easier for agencies to meet the client's requirements. Not only can a maximum campaign reach corresponding to the budget be calculated, it can also be defined according to contact classes, a minimum thousand contact price (CPM) or the highest possible reach in large conurbations. Incidentally, the same tool is also to be introduced in Germany and Austria this summer. This is a further advantage, particularly for internationally networked agencies, as it will enable standardized reporting across the entire German-speaking region.
Direct booking is not possible
As flexible as the new software is, two key planning processes are still closed, at least at the beginning: it will not initially be possible to see whether a particular advertising block is available at all. And direct booking is also not possible. "In a second phase, however, interfaces to the various booking tools are planned," says Müller. The data marketer also points out another point: "You have to learn how to use EvoAd." The agencies therefore need to invest in additional staff, training and IT, the latter in order to be able to process the daily increase in data volumes.
Of course, the PDAG offer also includes price details: the license for software and data access is CHF 26,000 per customer per year. Agencies, marketers and advertising clients can register their interest until the end of February. "We need at least seven customers to cover the costs," says Müller. Otherwise, the exercise will be canceled for Switzerland or postponed until later. However, one thing is clear: because not all agencies can or want to keep up, the existing planning tools will be retained. Agencies will continue to pay a total of CHF 2,300 per year for these, including data.
Markus Knöpfli

What else the new tool can do
The target groups can be formed in a similar way to before. However, flexible comparison periods (last 4 weeks, previous year) can be set when forecasting performance data. The data is based on the actual historical values of advertising blocks, but these can be evaluated according to factors (season, weekly average, daily sections or individual blocks). Strategic components such as the selection of channels or time periods can also be entered, as can specifications regarding the advertising environment, performance or budget. Another major advantage is that the values achieved so far in an ongoing campaign can be compared with the planned target and the rest of the campaign can be optimized if necessary. And, of course, performance can also be monitored retrospectively. Agencies can also manage their entire workflow and all campaign data via the new tool. (mk)

Thanks to personalized usage data (PIN), TV planning becomes more differentiated.

In November 2007, the Federal Council submitted a proposal to Parliament for the continuation of the Media Agreement with the EU. The aim was for Swiss films to continue to benefit from European film funding.
The reason for the rejection by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Council of States (AK-SR) was that Switzerland would have to adopt the "Television without Borders" directive. In particular, this directive stipulates that advertising windows that foreign broadcasters set up for the Swiss market now only have to comply with the law at the broadcaster's headquarters. As not all EU states prohibit alcohol and political advertising, beer advertising, for example, could now also be directed at Swiss consumers. The AK referred the matter back to the Federal Council with the instruction to "look for possibilities with the EU that would take better account of Switzerland's media policy interests".
In January 2009, the same commission accepted the lifting of the ban on advertising wine and beer for foreign advertising windows and for local Swiss television stations, but not for the SRG and national Swiss stations. An idiotic and completely illogical decision. Different yardsticks are used in one and the same medium. That is one thing. The fact that advertising money flows abroad is another.
The antics continued this week: the Telecommunications Committee of the Council of States (KVF) is unanimously in favor of the media-film promotion agreement with the EU. However, contrary to the Federal Council's proposal, it does not want to lift all alcohol advertising bans in the electronic media. For reasons of prevention and the protection of minors, it wants to retain the ban on alcohol advertising. By 8 votes to 5, it decided to ban all broadcasters aimed at the Swiss public from advertising alcoholic beverages on television. This would not change anything for the SRG compared to the current law. However, local broadcasters would again be prohibited from advertising beer and wine in future. This is the current status of the consultations.
The matter will be discussed again in the Council of States in the spring and in the National Council in the summer. We can prepare ourselves for a lot. Prevention fundies and representatives of the free market will be at loggerheads. The sparks will fly. It's nice that our representatives have time to deal with such things. After all, it's all about prevention, so common sense can fall by the wayside.
The hither and thither of political authorities is one thing, but people forget that television advertising does not stop at national borders. Even if it's just the beer sponsorship of the Tatort crime series on ARD.

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

The Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of the Tibetan Buddhists, received the German Media Prize awarded by the market research company Media Control in Baden-Baden this week. Dalai Lama biographer Colin Goldner criticizes this decision. Goldner accuses the media of court reporting: the widespread image of the Dalai Lama as a "man of peace" and "ocean of wisdom" is based less on his own achievements than on his presentation in the media. Where it would have been necessary to ask critical questions, all too often songs of praise were sung. By awarding the German Media Prize to the Dalai Lama at the suggestion of the editors-in-chief of the "most influential media with the widest reach in Germany", their own "one-sided and manipulative presentation of the situation in Tibet, especially during the riots in March 2008" was retrospectively given a clean bill of health.

CR Basel has been the lead agency for Cornèrcard, the credit card institution of Cornèr Bank in Lugano, for five years. In a competitive presentation, CR Basel has now also won the banking mandate of the Ticino-based private bank.
This includes the development of a completely new visual and verbal identity, as well as the launch of an image campaign in the first phase, which will initially be seen in Ticino.

Lovebugs Drive Alfa Mito
The Basel-based Lovebugs aren't just taking on the challenge of representing Switzerland at the Eurovision Song Contest. The Lovebugs are also now ambassadors for Alfa Romeo. On their Lovebugs Tour this coming spring, the band will be on the road in a Mito.

A Successful Fight Against Cholesterol
In 2008, Emmi and TBWA\Health successfully launched the Emmi-Benecol «Celebrity Ambassadors» campaign, featuring Beat Schlatter and Denise Biellmann as brand ambassadors. The response rate to the campaign mailing was approximately 24 percent. This year’s Benecol communication campaign is now being promoted primarily through pharmacies in order to link awareness-raising efforts with screening. Beat Schlatter and Denise Biellmann remain the ambassadors.

Anyone who spends money on advertising and marketing wants to see clear results: increased sales or a stronger impact of their brand. Preferably both. But when do consumers buy? And why do they go for certain brands and spurn others? In the search for the buy button in the buyer's mind, brain research provides important insights. The Munich-based media agency Mediaplus uses these findings in its new "Neuro Impact" division. "We investigate how and why communication measures work," says Barbara Evans (37), Head of Neuro Impact. "For example, we can find out whether a campaign is better placed on TV, radio, in print or online, how long an advertisement works best and how strongly sponsorship elements are or are not received by different target groups." Evans and her team of four researchers rely on the Steady State Topography (SST, see box) research method for the development of communication measures and brands and for media planning. In this method, which was developed by Australian brain researcher Richard Silberstein, the test subjects wear a cap with electrodes and special glasses while they are shown a TV commercial, for example. "The electrodes record to the millisecond what happens in which region of the brain during the reception of the commercial," explains Barbara Evans.
The irritated areas of the brain light up deep red on the screen: If it lights up at the back, the viewer perceives the visual stimuli in the TV commercial particularly strongly. If it lights up a little further forward, laterally, the viewer's emotions are in turmoil. And if the prefrontal cortex directly behind the forehead is colored with activity, the viewer perceives something as highly relevant to them personally - a very good prerequisite for storing the images or messages shown in their long-term memory and remembering them later.
Advertising with intuition
And why doesn't Barbara Evans simply ask her test subjects what they particularly like or dislike about the commercial, whether they feel more rationally or emotionally addressed and whether they intend to buy the products shown? Quite simply: because they don't know. Because a large part of stimulus processing in the human brain takes place unconsciously. The brain is able to send impressions directly from the eyes into long-term memory without them ever reaching conscious perception. This also explains why thoughts or memories sometimes pop up in our head that we can't tell where they actually come from. In addition, decisions and judgments made by our intellect are often the exact opposite of intuitive decisions. Suppose a smoker sees a TV advertisement against smoking: In the first few seconds, someone lights up a cigarette, followed by an evil-evil text. At the sight of the burning cigarette, the average smoker immediately receives the message from their mirror neurons: "Smoke! You too!" It blocks all other reactions. The warning about the consequences of cigarette consumption no longer reaches the smoker, even if they have wanted to stop smoking for a long time. If you want to learn about the deeper mechanisms of action in the brain and use them for yourself, you have to leave the conscious mind out of it. This is possible with SST.
Marmalade in the test
Richard Silberstein wanted to test the effect of a jam commercial. To do this, he asked 200 women to choose one brand from each of various food segments and put them in a bag. In addition to other products, there were also various jams to choose from. The test subjects were then asked to hand over the bags of food and, equipped with an electrode cap and special glasses, watch a number of commercials - including the jam commercial to be tested. The bags with the selected products would then be returned to them. After the commercial screening, however, Silberstein tricked the ladies into believing that he had mixed up the bags and asked them to select the products again. Silberstein had already observed what he now saw confirmed in the recordings of the brain reactions during the broadcast of the commercials: the women who had reacted to the brand message in the jam commercial to be tested with strong brain activity chose different products in the second round of jam selection. "The branding and the core message must be placed correctly along the storytelling," Barbara Evans explains the result. "This leads to a consumer remaining loyal to a brand or switching, depending on the goal the company wants to achieve."
Using similar tests, Silberstein also found that the effect of a brand logo fizzles out if it is placed in a commercial after conceptual closure. Conceptual closure is the moment when the brain registers the conclusion of a message or action, signaled for example by applause or two people shaking hands. Our brain then stores what we have perceived so far and cannot take in anything new for a few fractions of a second. This is a bad thing if the key visual or slogan of the advertising company is displayed at this very moment. However, this is exactly what is standard today. Do a short self-test: How many funny commercials can you remember - without knowing which product they were advertising and which companies were behind them?
Even with sponsorship, it makes a difference whether the sponsor's logo is placed on the ground, on the board or on a player's shoulder. It is therefore advisable to carefully examine how and in which environment communication measures have the greatest impact on which consumers.
Memory through emotions
Barbara Evans and her team can use SST to measure various factors: whether a message is stored and remembered in long-term memory (long-term memory encoding), how relevant it is to the individual recipient (engagement), how strongly they feel when receiving it (emotional intensity), whether the content of the message attracts, repels or saddens them (approach/withdraw), how strongly it is perceived visually (visual attention) and whether the brand wins or loses (brand salience). "It is important to test different factors and link the measurement results with each other," says Evans. "For example, if a respondent remembers a key visual well, this initially appears to be positive - but it can also be because they feel repelled. Even then, the brain reacts very strongly. In this case, we need to correlate engagement, emotional intensity and approach/withdrawal. Only then do we really know what the observed reaction of the brain means." So a fire in the brain is not always a good thing. Sometimes it is better to extinguish it immediately.
The measurement results of the electrode cap also reveal whether viewers perceive and process a commercial more rationally or more emotionally. This is crucial for the selection of the environment in which a TV commercial or advertisement is subsequently placed. "We know from Richard Silberstein's research that emotionally decoded ads should be placed in emotionally decoded environments and rationally decoded ads in rationally decoded environments," says Evans. "That's why we also examined some potential environments for advertising placements with SST." Silberstein analyzed, for example, the American TV series "Desparate Housewives", which pokes fun at the everyday torments of the perfect housewife. How do you think the series is perceived by TV viewers? Emotionally or rationally? Wrong. You probably answered "emotional" spontaneously, like most respondents. But the correct answer is "rational", as Barbara Evans and her team found out. This means that media planners who place an emotionally decoded commercial during the commercial breaks of "Desperate Housewives" are giving away a large part of the impact of their commercial. Sounds like gray theory, but Silberstein has already been able to verify these research results in practice. Neurocommunication planning can therefore save money.
Less is more
This was also the experience of Neuro Impact's first client, the car brand Mini, which belongs to the BMW Group. Mediaplus is already advising Mini on its media planning. At the end of 2008, the marketing department had two commercials available for the new convertible, a seven-second and a twenty-second spot. However, there was no clear preference in marketing as to which of the two commercials should be placed. A case for SST. "I suggested to our client that we test the effectiveness of the two spots using our new measurement method," reports Evans. Max Kalbfell, Head of Marketing Mini Germany, was enthusiastic about the idea. "We wanted to increase the efficiency of our communication, but not at the expense of creation. SST seemed to us to be a suitable measure to achieve this goal." So Neuro Impact put 150 test subjects under the electrode hood and presented them with both commercials. The result: the longer spot came out on top. "We were able to show that the short TV spot had significantly more potential in terms of remembering the core message and branding than the long one," reports Evans. "The channel planners were also pleased, as they can now create a longer on-air presence with the short but high-impact spot."
Max Kalbfell is also satisfied with the study: "The results were clear. We decided to show the shorter spot and target it at more people in order to create a greater presence. And we can even use such a short spot - it has been slightly revised and is now eleven seconds long - online, on mobile devices or as a vodcast." Mini Germany and Mini Switzerland are currently advertising with the short film. All other Mini locations have opted for the longer spot. The neuron-tested film is therefore not only a test of whether neurocommunication planning really works, but also a kind of precedent for Mini, to which many eager eyes within the Group are turning.
A future with nerves of steel
Despite the positive experience, Mini does not want to send its entire communication through the Neuro Impact test. Other companies are sensing an opportunity: media companies have already expressed their interest in initial projects with Neuro Impact. Evans is also holding talks with national and international companies from various sectors. For ethical reasons, Neuro Impact rejects commissions to check communication measures aimed at children under the age of 14 and to carry out studies for the cigarette and arms industries.
One thing is clear: neurocommunication has potential. So much so that it could permanently change advertising and marketing. Neuro Impact is therefore continuing to refine its analysis tools. The role of mirror neurons, which generate feelings in the viewer when observing a process as if they were carrying out the action themselves, could also become significant for neurocommunicators in the future.
"The Mini example shows something else," adds Barbara Evans, "namely that creation and media planning have to work hand in hand. At present, media planners often don't even know the commercials or advertisements they are placing. But only if communication measures are precisely tailored to their media target environment can they have an optimal effect - and only then will the company save money. Reach and costs are not everything." When commercials and campaigns strike a chord with consumers, it's not just the brain that sparks.
Anne-Friederike Wilhelm

SST - How does advertising really work?
Steady State Topography (SST) is the patented research method used by the Australian market research institute Neuro Insight to measure the effectiveness of communication measures. It was developed by Richard Silberstein, brain researcher and Professor of Neurophysiology at Swinburne University. Silberstein has been researching the impact of marketing and advertising for 30 years. In the SST analysis, the test subjects wear caps with electrodes that measure their brain activity, as well as special glasses. They are shown commercials, campaigns, campaign elements or logos and the brain's reactions are recorded during reception. Based on the activity of the individual brain regions, the researchers can read which campaign elements have an effect in which form in which media and on which consumers. Richard Silberstein has been using SST to analyze communication measures for around five years. He has already conducted studies for Allianz, Ferrero and Vodafone.
The Neuro Impact division of Mediaplus now offers the method exclusively in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The Neuro-Check is suitable for the entire range of communication: from POS and packaging measures to commercials, campaigns and sponsoring activities to the testing of media channels and environments. As a result, SST can also be used to optimize strategic media planning. Neuro Impact works together with Silberstein's company Neuro Insight, particularly in the evaluation of research results. However, Neuro Impact also has its own research department. The analyses are carried out with at least 50 people; depending on the complexity of the question, more test subjects can be tested. A simple study takes one to two weeks, a complex one up to four weeks. The costs are in the five-figure range.
Anne-Friederike Wilhelm

Reading tips
Martin Lindstrom: Buy-ology. Truth and Lies About Why We Buy.
Bantam Dell Pub Group.
Gerald Traufetter: Intuition. The wisdom of feelings. Rowohlt-Verlag.

Scene from the TV commercial optimized using electroencephalography (EEG). Its message: Always open.

The rights of airline passengers in the event of long delays, overbooking or cancellation are governed by EU Regulation No. 261/2004, which has also applied to Switzerland since December 2006. It applies to all airlines departing from an airport in Switzerland or the EU and all flights operated by a Swiss or EU airline to Switzerland or EU countries. The type of flight and the price are irrelevant.
Compensation in the following three cases requires a confirmed booking and that you are at the check-in counter at the specified time or - if no time has been specified - at least 45 minutes before departure.
- In the event of a long delay: A long delay is defined as two hours for flights up to 1500 kilometers, three hours for flights up to 3500 kilometers and four hours for even longer distances. In these cases, you are entitled to meals, two telephone calls or e-mails and an overnight stay in a hotel if the flight is operated the next day. If the flight is delayed by five hours or more, you are entitled to skip the flight; the ticket costs must be reimbursed.
- In the event of overbooking: you are immediately entitled to meals, two telephone calls or emails and, if necessary, hotel accommodation. You can voluntarily waive the booking - the conditions must be negotiated with the airline. You also have the choice of flying on a different aircraft or giving up the flight and having the ticket costs refunded. If you do not forgo the booked flight, you are also entitled to compensation: 250 euros for routes up to 1500 kilometers, 400 or 600 euros for distances up to or over 3500 kilometers. If the journey is delayed by less than two, three or four hours, you will only receive half the compensation.
- Cancellation: The same applies as for overbooking. However, there is no compensation if the cancellation was announced at least 14 days in advance, if the alternative flight offered - in the event of a short-term cancellation - is within the agreed flight times or if the airline can prove that the flight was canceled due to extraordinary, unavoidable circumstances.
If you are entitled to compensation, you must claim this from the airline. If the airline does not pay, you can lodge a complaint with the Federal Office of Civil Aviation (Bazl) (www.bazl.admin.ch). The Bazl is not a court and therefore cannot force the airline to pay compensation. However, as a supervisory authority, it has the option of fining the offending airline up to CHF 20,000. This sanction option appears to be impressive, as to date all airlines have paid up if the Bazl has come to the conclusion that the compensation is justified.

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You can reach the legal experts Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on 043 444 54 09. You also receive full access to the Helponline.ch consulting platform and an Beobachter magazine every 14 days. The price also includes a gift: the standard work for SMEs from Beobachter-Buchverlag, "So kommen Sie zu Ihrem Geld", worth CHF 48.
Order the consulting subscription for SMEs here or by phone: 0800 83 0800.

Agentur am Flughafen has launched a newsletter for the eastern Swiss textile logistics specialist, Scherrer Transport from St. Margrethen. It is printed directly on truck tarpaulins instead of normal paper. It will appear regularly from January.
Responsible at Alois Scherrer AG, St. Margrethen: Andreas Scherrer (owner), Roger Trösch (marketing). Responsible at the agency at the airport, Altenrhein: René Eugstair (CD), Dominique Rutishauser (AD), Benita Sutter (graphics), Miriam Egli (consulting), Désirée Schmid (text).