The Basel agency Kreisvier Communications is promoting the new Coop Crossimpact advertising platform. The media platform combines various Coop advertising formats to create a concept that is designed to accompany consumers throughout the purchasing decision phases.
Since mid-August, the campaign has been distributed with advertisements, online banners and BtoB mailings.
Coop Crossimpact is a further addition to the portfolio of the Basel-based advertisers, who also advertise for Roche, Standortmarketing Basel, Johnson Controls, Radio Basel 1 and various titles from Axel Springer Verlag Schweiz.
Responsible at Coop: Heino Peier (Head of Advertising), Karlfrieder Fuchs (Head of Coop Advertising Services Acquisition). Responsible at Kreisvier, Basel: Anja Ginter (AD), Nora Donner (graphics), Gerald Mink (text/concept), Christian Jost-Cellarius (consulting), Nannette Graf, Salome Erdin. Photographer: Ralph Lehner.

A look across the border shows: The German online advertising market continues to show double-digit growth. However, not as strongly as predicted at the beginning of the year. According to the German online platform Kress.de, the Online-Vermarkterkreis (OVK) in the Bundesverband Digitale Wirtschaft (BVDW) expects advertising expenditure to amount to EUR 3.6 billion, an increase of 25% compared to the previous year.
In 2007, the growth rate was still at 40 percent, in 2006 at 80 percent. The market share of online in the overall media mix is expected to reach 13.5 percent this year (2005: 4.4 percent). At EUR 1.8 billion, the largest slice of the online advertising pie in Germany is accounted for by classic banners, with the remainder split between search term marketing (EUR 1.5 billion) and affiliate networks (EUR 268 million). According to Kress.de, OVK Chairman Paul Mudter sees the figures as a "definitive establishment of the online segment".
Swiss advertising agencies are also slowly recognizing the opportunities of online marketing, said Andreas Schönenberger, Country Manager Switzerland at Google, at a specialist conference this week according to the Handelszeitung. Currently, only two percent of Swiss advertising budgets flow into the online sector. However, increased growth is foreseeable. In Germany, the proportion is already at 12 percent, in the UK at over 20 percent. It is crucial that offline campaigns are supported by online offerings, as consumers expect further information in addition to print or television advertising, Schönenberger continued.

The staff of the regional television station Tele Bärn are demanding better working conditions. Next week, they want to hand over a petition to the management of Espace Media Groupe for more pay and better training.
As the Swiss Syndicate of Media Professionals (SSM) announced on Thursday, the journalists, technicians and administrative staff agreed on this course of action on Wednesday. The criticism is directed against wage differences within the Espace Media Groupe as well as differences in comparison with the staff of Tele Züri. After the takeover of Espace Media Groupe by Tamedia, the same rules must apply everywhere, the employees concerned demand.
The staff are also demanding better training and further education opportunities and point to the additional fee money of around CHF 2.2 million that the new license will bring. The spokesman for Espace Media Groupe, Christopher Wehrli, confirmed wage differences between Tele Züri and Tele Bärn on request. These are due to the fact that Tele Züri generates more revenue and can therefore pay better wages.
Tele Bärn had already provided training and further education in the past, but simply internally. With the new concession, it will now be possible to offer these courses externally as well. This demand from employees will therefore certainly be met.

In the rooms of the Cosmic advertising agency in Bern, the Bernese graphic designers presented an exhibition of their work together for the first time. There was a "full house" at Uferweg 15 on the Aare. Werbewoche shows impressions from the vernissage on September 12.
The event, which was at the same time an exhibition, auction and performance, had as its theme the fluid boundary between graphic design and art. Project Madonna#Fust exhibited works by renowned Bernese artists and graphic designers such as Claude Kuhn, Stephan Bundi, François Chalet, Büro Destruct, DBMB (the design collective consisting of the four Cosmic graphic designers Thom Pfister, Julien Junghäni, Roland Zenger and Philipp Lüthi), Moiré, Martin Woodtli and Pedä Siegrist in the premises of the Cosmic advertising agency on Uferweg in Bern.
The event was accompanied by a visual performance by Schau (Tamara Janes and Jürgen Waidelich) and wildlife posters by Lorenzo Geiger. During the entire soiree, unique pieces by the exhibiting graphic designers could be auctioned off.
Among the guests were also Nadine Borter (CEO Contexta, picture 1) and Dani Comte (CD Favo, picture 2).

The editorial offices of the Rhaeto-Romanic news agency ANR and the daily newspaper La Quotidiana are to move closer together. The aim is to gain synergies, as the agency's Board of Trustees announced on Thursday. The decision was taken after publisher Hanspeter Lebrument threatened to publish the Romansh daily newspaper only once a week from 2009 if the paper could not be produced more cheaply.
It has now been agreed to bring the two editorial teams closer together organizationally.
A four-member committee of the Board of Trustees is to examine how this could be implemented in practice, as President Jon Domenic Parolini said. This involves fundamental and legal questions, as the ANR must be organizationally independent of its customers in accordance with the basic concept.
The Rhaeto-Romanic daily newspaper La Quotidiana, which has been published since 1997, is the main customer of ANR, which is subsidized by the federal government and the canton of Graubünden with a total of around one million francs per year. In return, the agency provides the Rhaeto-Romanic media with an article service free of charge.

The English-language magazine Gatsby for is produced and distributed starting from in the middle of September again at the Zurich lake. It will be available at newsstands, in various boutiques and bookstores, as well as in good hotels, writes the agency Paroli in a press release on Wednesday. The first issue on September 18 will have the motto "Swiss Bits Issue".
With content on fashion, travel, features, art, design and architecture, Gatsby is aimed at men and women between 30 and 55. Published four times a year, the lifestyle magazine has a circulation of 40,000 copies. Gatsby is published in Europe and in over 40 other countries.
As publisher and editor-in-chief, Stefan Hottinger-Behmer publishes the magazine together with Lynda Real as advertising director and art director Raimond Henning Radtke.

His rise to become the top marketer for outdoor advertising in the Alpine region began with a side job. Burkhard Strasser, who studied media economics at the University of Vienna after finishing film school, financed his second education by teaching skiing in winter. While doing so, he was interviewed by a market researcher about "advertising in ski resorts" one day at the mountain station in Zell am See. Although he moved between the mountain and valley stations every day, he was "not aware that there is advertising up here". He could "not name a single brand.
For that, he discovered a gap in the market that day. As he worked in another part-time job as a recording manager at ORF, among other things for the program "Top Spots", where the best commercials are awarded every year, he was no stranger to the world of marketing. So Strasser asked himself: What is being done wrong around the mountain railroads? His idea: advertising needs to be placed differently. "There, where the guest really spends a lot of time, namely at the chairlift or in the gondola." A few weeks later, Strasser saw "his" idea confirmed at a ski weekend in Åre, Sweden.
Now more of a media economist than a ski instructor, Strasser worked out a business model and in 1997 put his entire savings of 40,000 shillings into the project. He had an injection molding tool made. With this, he was able to produce the advertising sleeves with which the advertising is screwed to the chairlift bracket. He said he jumped into the cold snow at the time. But the investment paid off. "Today, ALP Media is a highly profitable company with strong opportunities for expansion; I say the pearl of alpine outdoor advertising," Strasser says. Because ALP Media was an early adopter of the trend, the pioneer was able to grow quickly. Today, the company is present in five countries: Austria, Switzerland, Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. In Switzerland, ALP Media has been the market leader in bracket advertising and checkpoint posters since 2002. Strasser now generates almost 80 percent of its sales in the Helvetic Alps.
On the market at the right time
At the start in Austria, ALP Media was helped by the fact that Nivea was the first customer to jump on the ski lift with Sun Alpin. That was a valuable reference. Otherwise, a rather cold wind blew against the newcomer on the mountain peaks, "to put it diplomatically." Advertising in the white arena was dominated by an actual monopoly. "I tried it anyway and probably entered the market at a favorable time," Strasser analyzes today.
The fact was: He could detect a "certain dissatisfaction" of the ropeway operators with their long-established provider. As a result, many were willing to sign a new contract with ALP Media. Of course, this was fought legally, because the old competition claimed exclusive contracts. But Strasser was the smarter one. The newcomer was able to claim that these exclusive rights were only applicable to existing forms of advertising in the area of the valley and mountain stations. There was nothing in the fine print about ski lift hangers and various other forms of advertising developed by ALP Media - this was Strasser's big chance.
Fillet piece of alpine outdoor advertising
The ski landscape has changed a lot in recent years. Faster and faster lifts are melting away the long queues at the valley station. So there's no time to read another poster. At the top of the slopes, there is less and less space to hang posters. The architecture tends toward open and quickly accessible head stations, next to which there is at most a small container for the slope attendant. This leaves the hanger as a particularly effective advertising space. This is not only where the guest spends most of his time. Holding the hanger also creates a very strong quality of contact. "That's the recipe. We have the fillet piece in alpine outdoor advertising. And I have been able to secure that for the long term," Strasser can be justifiably proud.
For the idea, the innovative start-up company was named top 24 of the 100 most successful young entrepreneurs in Austria in 1999. This generated corresponding press coverage, and ALP Media quickly enjoyed a positive image in the industry. For this reason, the company Skidata also wanted to do business with Strasser. This company introduced the electronic ticketing system for the ski lifts and mountain railroads in the year 2,000. A keycard, which can also be integrated in a Swatch watch, replaced the old ski pass. The contactless access system to the lifts works via large antennas that you have to pass through when boarding. An ideal advertising space, Skidata said to itself - and supported ALP Media as a young, innovative marketer in setting up a corresponding network of posts. "This partnership for the checkpoint posters was a great compliment for us," says Strasser happily.
Since then, he has been able to successively expand his offerings, including cabin advertising. In each case, the legal situation had to be clarified very clearly. "We have never gone poaching into other territories. Because that ultimately only unsettles the market." Of course, in the meantime, the idea with the hanger advertising is also copied. But Strasser can take it calmly: "That just shows that our business model is right." Currently, according to research data from March 08, the pioneer can reach 31 million people net in the entire Alpine region. This is possible thanks to 118890 advertising spaces on 1,344 gondola lifts, chairlifts and ski lifts in five countries. And further expansion of the network is in full swing.

Measurability is a central concern
With the first customer, Nivea, Strasser still had a certain amount of luck. "Nivea had a small residual budget, and I came in at the right time." But even with that notice, Strasser sought to back up his promise with accurate research data. Measurability of advertising media is a key concern for Strasser and his ALP Media. Quantitative measurements result from passenger frequencies on the railroads. For qualitative studies, ALP Media works with "the guru of Austrian market research," Professor Günter Schweiger's Institute for Advertising Science and Market Research at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration. The surveys for ALP Media are not conducted in the visible vicinity of the advertising media, but with in-depth interviews in a ski lodge. Together with the institute, Strasser has worked out a questionnaire that both the research and his clients are convinced "reflects reality relatively well".
As far as the definition of target groups is concerned, ALP Media can rely on the preliminary work of its serviced regions. It is known which ski resorts are predestined for which guests. "The ski resorts have positioned themselves very well. There are popular resorts for the family like Bettmeralp, then top destinations for an upscale buying class like Arosa, Gstaad or St. Moritz. Laax for the trendy snowboarders. Then you know clearly defined catchment areas like the Flumserberge, where ALP Media can attract 220,000 day trippers a year from the catchment areas of Zurich, St. Gallen and Winterthur."
For marketing, Strasser relies on an online reservation system, for which he received the State Prize Multimedia & eBusiness in 2003. In 1997, he started as a one-man operation. More than ten years later, he still manages a large part of the work alone - the sophisticated online reservation system "ALP Media Plan" makes it possible. Production is completely outsourced. "You can call me for a campaign, and an hour later the quote with the schematic is on your desk," he promises. At ALP Media, everything runs on fixed inventory contracts. This means that a ski resort secures advertising space for ALP Media on a long-term basis. All the spots are entered into the ALP Media plan on a daily basis and online. Then the order is forwarded to the external producers.
ALP Media is considered very attractive in the industry
One relief for Strasser's planning is that there has been a great deal of concentration in the media sector in recent years. In each country managed by ALP Media, "important media agencies are active, which hold the majority of the budgets. In addition, there are more and more companies where a single agency books in several countries at once." With these, Strasser completes two to three rounds of presentations each year, where he presents his news and the latest market research results. For example, he tours for a week in London, Zurich or other centers where the big agencies are based. "The number of contacts is manageable," he says, explaining how such a successful business as ALP Media can still be run single-handedly. "With its highly profitable, lean and straightforward business model, ALP Media is considered a very attractive bride in the industry." It has secured an extremely attractive international market for the long term, which has attracted major billboard companies to the fold.
Andreas Panzeri

Burkhard Strasser's company ALP Media is the market leader in Switzerland for bracket advertising and checkpoint posters in ski resorts.

Advertising on the mountain
ALP Media is one of the leading networks in the Alpine region with well over 100,000 advertising spaces. These can be found on 1344 gondola lifts, chairlifts and ski lifts in the five countries Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia.

A lot has changed since the three brothers Harley and Arthur Davidson designed the first model of their motorcycles in 1903. The design, the technology and also the riders. But one thing has remained the same over the decades: the special feeling of riding towards the horizon on a Harley-Davidson.
In the campaign designed by AY&R, the traditional US brand focuses precisely on this feeling. The two subjects realized are aimed specifically at the target group of "sleeping licenses". These are mostly men who obtained a driver's license for large motorcycles at a young age and drove for a while, but then stopped because of family and career - advertisers, for example, but also lawyers, doctors and the many businessmen who are under constant stress.
Years later, these people feel a growing need to upgrade their everyday lives and afford something in return. "Harley-Davidson invites them all to take a seat, start the engine and experience a ride that makes you forget everything for a while," says CD Christian Bobst, explaining the idea behind the campaign. He was on location when the subjects were realized in New York by top Swiss photographer Stephan Schacher. The landscape photos come from the archive of Stephan Schacher, who has long enjoyed traveling the USA on his Harley.
Y&R also wanted to evoke that American feeling with the nightmare images in the rear-view mirror. Christian Bobst and Stephan Schacher finally found the desired cubical office in New York "with a little help" from a few friends in the film business. Jim Jarmush also had a styled scene shot on the 25th floor of a skyscraper at 1 State Street. Nicole Kidman was in front of the camera in this office for "The Interpreter". For the photos for the Harley campaign, however, the creative team from Gockhausen wanted to focus more on "real life people". Bobst found them through a casting on Craigslist.org.
Harley-Davidson Switzerland works with various agencies on a project-by-project basis. AY&R's campaign is aimed less at everyday bikers and more at the special target group of "escapees". For this reason, it was also important for the idea to be implemented in America. "After all, the product is based in the USA and reflects this American dream for many people," says Bobst.
Andreas Panzeri

Donation barometers show that donations are massively increased during acute disasters. However, there is need and misery every day. That is why the Swiss Red Cross believes that every day is also an opportunity to donate. Based on this idea, the Red Cross is launching a cross-media fundraising campaign tomorrow.
The innovative campaign by the GGK agency uses various examples to show what the SRC does with donations on a daily basis. At the beginning of the week, two SRC employees traveled to Nepal, where many aid projects are currently being carried out. Every morning, footage is taken on location of the situation in the needy areas of Nepal, and the SRC employees report on how the Red Cross is combating misery there.
These recordings are then transmitted to Switzerland by satellite, where they are processed into a commercial and can be seen in the afternoon on video screens in train stations and on the SRC and GGK websites and on Youtube.com. The spots are then broadcast on Swiss television in the evening.
These spots, which are produced daily, are supported by full-page advertisements. According to the agency, Julien Witt from JBW Media played a key role in the creative development of the campaign concept with ideas for cross-media implementation.

Admittedly, you can only spot it with a little practice and fairly narrowed eyes. Nevertheless, Eva Keigel Markous saw it at Sunrise in Geneva. In the French translation of the headline for the "Only an advertisement can do this" campaign by the Swiss Press Association, "Pouvoir unique d'une annonce" has become "Puvoir unique" in the 3D fixed image created by Nik Hodel and Martin Arnold. Such spelling mistakes can really only occur in an advertisement, says Eva Keigel.

"The storm has calmed down" - this was the title of a report in Werbewoche six months ago on Mach Basic Kino 2008-1. At the time, it did indeed look as if the movie theater had been able to somewhat stem the decline in reach and even reverse the trend. But now the industry has been hit hard once again. In the Mach Basic 2008-2 survey period (April 07 to March 08), the Wemf study found that cinema attendance across Switzerland fell again, by a significant 44,000 people per week. Extrapolated over twelve months, 17.5 million people still went to the cinema, almost 2.3 million or 11.5 percent fewer than during the survey period for Mach 2008-1.
Particularly bad: this is - in absolute and percentage terms - the sharpest decline within six months since the record number of moviegoers in 2003 (then a total of 25.3 million).
According to Mach Basic 2008-2, only two cinema regions were stable: Italian-speaking Switzerland and the Lucerne region, which, as in the previous study, was the only one to see a slight increase. All other regions show downward trends that are still within the confidence range compared to the previous period. But there should be no illusions: In a year-on-year comparison (Mach Basic 2007-2), the decline in German-speaking Switzerland and in the center pools is also significant. Compared to 2004, all regions except the canton of Vaud and the cities of Basel and Lugano show significant losses, often between 30 and 40 percent. (2004 must serve as a reference figure because in the record year of 2003, two cinema marketers were still active and the regions were still organized differently). However, the figures in north-western Switzerland are also disappointing: Basel's first multiplex cinema, which opened in the fall, was able to slow down the downward trend, but not stop it.
Advertising Week has to retract the all-clear it gave six months ago regarding teenagers and young adults. Mach Basic 2008-1 looked like a slight upward trend, but the interim high was deceptive: with the exception of Ticino, young audiences are going to the cinema even less often than according to the 2007-2 study - a historic low for the supposed medium of young people.
Markus KnöpfliCinema magazines also in declineAs with cinema attendance, the reach of free cinema magazines is also continuing to decline. Compared to Mach Basic 2008-1, all titles remain in the confidence range, but in a comparison over twelve months, the loss of readership for Avant Première is significant (-8.6 percent to 160,000 readers). However, this does not reflect the reality: a year ago, the cinema magazine Live was discontinued in French-speaking Switzerland, whereupon Avant Première took its place and increased its circulation by 20 percent. The impact of this expansion is not yet fully reflected in Mach Basic 2008-2.
In German-speaking Switzerland, Close-up is losing somewhat less rapidly (minus 50,000 readers compared to the previous year) than Film Demnächst (-14,000 readers), which is why the two are now in a neck-and-neck race, so to speak, with 190,000 readers (Film demnächst) and 186,000 readers (Close-up). (mk)

A sales coordinator is expected to be able to manage an internal sales force efficiently and economically in accordance with the company's objectives and marketing guidelines so that the sales force receives optimum support.
The written and oral examination, which is organized by Swiss Marketing (SMC), was completed by 586 candidates. The oldest participant was 52 years old and the youngest was 21 years old. The 357 diploma candidates who passed represent 60.9 percent, which is also the best result in the last 20 years. This means that 39.1 percent did not pass. The overall average grade of 4.0 is in line with previous years.
Top performances were achieved by Diego Bundi (Schattdorf, grade 5.2), Carmen Strub (Hausen a. A., 5.1), Dominik Baumann (Wil SG, 5.0), Christine Dubach (Oensingen, 5.0) and Hans-Peter Trachsler (Herisau, 5.0). They were specially honored at the graduation ceremony.
Hans-Jürg Gehri, President of the examination board and delegate of Swiss Marketing (SMC), welcomed more than 600 cheerful guests in the festive setting of the Hotel Casino in Lucerne. In his speech, he made it clear: "Especially in the current economic situation, it is particularly important to underpin practical professional experience with a solid theoretical foundation. The slogan of continuous professional development is not an empty formula either. You are among those who have recognized that even the best basic professional training will not get you through to retirement."
Examination director Walter Zeller noted that this brings the number of qualified sales coordinators in Switzerland to 4092. This figure corresponds to 195 people per year. Certainly a healthy number that the economy can cope with.
The ceremonial presentation of the federal certificates was rounded off with an aperitif with a view of the Lucerne mountains.

Hans-Jörg Gehri, Chairman of the Audit Committee.

This success deserves a toast.