We have already reported it once: Swiss Post, the general store, is also becoming a publisher and wants to publish newspapers and magazines itself. The people in charge of the Swiss Post subsidiary DMC waved it off. So far, it has only been about a kind of mini-newspaper "in-", which is distributed twice a week but will soon have a circulation of one million copies in households. The potential is enormous.
Together with the Publishers' Association, Swiss Post publishes the 16-page congress newspaper for the annual Publishers' Congress, with practical value in the form of a foldable congress guide enclosed. The newspaper not only highlights the congress agenda, but also provides congruent content: An interview with the LeTemps publishing director on the free press in French-speaking Switzerland, a front-page report on the changing everyday working life of foreign correspondents, expert opinions on the debate about the challenges facing journalism and even clever self-promotion about the advantages of early delivery or about a distribution portal on the Internet. The magazine has been produced in a serious manner, with experienced journalists and photographers at work, and it is clear that Swiss Post has what it takes to be a publisher. It will not hesitate if it is forced to tap into new sources of revenue as a result of the ongoing liberalization of the postal market.

Good design is simple. Simple in design, in production, in logistics, to understand and to handle. Simple is not simple, but "simply good". It fits in with this philosophy of Rolf Widmer that the designer from Ostermundigen has been practicing karate as fitness for mind and body for exactly the same length of time as he has been running his company - for 25 years already. The seemingly simple movements require high concentration, discipline and promote mental strength.
One of the strengths of the design studio team is its ability to recognize and analyze interrelationships and to implement complex tasks in a simple and understandable way. Widmer sees the combination of creativity and methodology as the basis for finding solutions.
The core competence of the design studios in Ostermundigen is the solution of design tasks. The company covers a broad spectrum. Above all, customers who do not want to call in several specialists to solve a problem will find everything they need from a single source at Designstudios. Solutions in the field of corporate design, print media such as brochures, company profiles and annual reports are conceived and realized. In this context, design solutions for the Internet are also implemented. The programming of these projects is done by a partner company in the same house. In recent years, corporate films have also been increasingly realized in cooperation with network partners. The company's core team consists of six employees and is supplemented by qualified freelancers as needed.
Create clear spaces
Rolf Widmer has been managing the fortunes of Designstudios GmbH since 1989 together with his wife and business partner.
Asked about the change in trends over the 25 years of his profession, Widmer sees that today many things have to be freer. In the past, "thick manuals" for the CI would have helped to block the development of a company. Today, a CI must be formulated in such a way that it supports developments. "Clear freedom must be created that promotes a company's potential in addition to the important fixed points. A company must recognize new challenges, changes in the environment and new trends at an early stage so that it can act accordingly."
In this sense, Widmer worked for several years for the client Bauhaus in Germany. During this time, his design studios created up to 400 packs a year for this specialty store. It all started with the "Alpha Tools" product line. The successful concept led to the team eventually managing more than twelve comprehensive product lines. A reorganization at the customer would have required a larger team expansion and a second location in Mannheim. The resulting one-sided focus on a single major customer did not fit in with the strategy of Widmer and his partner. Rolf Widmer does not want to take on primarily management tasks in the future. He still loves the challenge of varied tasks, for which he seeks solutions with new ideas and creativity. To do this, he likes to pick up a pencil, paintbrush and sketchbook before using state-of-the-art technology to bring these ideas to production maturity.
Today, the design studios are looking for creative solutions in the field of packaging design, for example for Chocolats Camille Bloch, and in corporate design for ARA Thunersee or SQS, among others. In the field of industrial design, Rolf Widmer has drawn various seating furniture and tables, won a design competition with a design for the car body of a monorail and was involved in the development of the passenger information system "iQube2 for Précimation SA in Biel. In this context, he designed the signal ethics solution for VBB for the station square in Biel. Currently he is working on the signal ethics project for Verkehrsbetriebe Tübingen (D).
Swiss cross inlay
An exhibition pavilion designed by Widmer and its partners on behalf of the Federal Office of Transport for the Neat information campaign has provided information on the Alpine transversals in Munich, Dortmund, Hamburg and Vienna. This pavilion, which Widmer designed as a three-dimensional version of the Neat logo with two mountain peaks and the two tunnels, demonstrates how the design studios know how to create an impressive overall work, from architecture to furniture to multimedia with three films as well as graphics, information panels and print media. The effect on a large scale is perfected by the attention to detail - for example with a luminous Swiss cross as an inlay in the counters or as a handle for cabinet doors. The realization of this order had to be completed just as quickly as the job for Switzerland Tourism, where within five weeks 24 tables from 6 to 14 meters in diameter in the shape of the well-known Edelweiss logo had to be developed, built and transported to the Jungfraujoch for the event marking the opening of the winter season. In such moments, where the planning before the budget decision took much longer than the time for the realization, a solution on schedule can only be realized thanks to an excellent and well-rehearsed network.
His 25 years of experience flow into such projects. "I was lucky enough to do my apprenticeship as a graphic designer in a company where, in addition to classic advertising, they also designed exhibitions and worked in trade show construction," he says. And because there are always seasonal peaks with tight deadlines in trade show construction, the graphic designer was also regularly employed in trade show construction during this time. "In addition to my design skills, I was also able to use my manual skills." For the designer, that meant, "It taught me a lot in the three-dimensional area and how to work with a wide variety of materials." These assignments awakened Widmer's interest in the third dimension, so he supplemented his graphic design training with a part-time degree in industrial design in Germany.
However, Rolf Widmer is not only storm-tested as a designer and project manager. Five years before founding his company, he had already sought out the challenge of sailing on the world's oceans. Alongside his job and family, he still regularly finds time to pursue this passion for recreation.
Andreas Panzeri

A visit to friends in Germany is on the agenda. And as always, the Germans had made a few requests in advance: something sweet. So just before the train departs, a quick trip to Sprüngli. To get a box of Luxemburgerli. As we stand in front of the display case, looking at the different colored mini burgers and dictating our order to the nice waitress, we suddenly think: "What an incredibly great job this lady has. Playing around with these delicacies all day, that would be something!" - And then we tell her exactly the same thing. The answer is a rather distraught, suffering look. It seems as if her interest wanes with more intensive involvement with the matter. It can't be down to the quality of the product, we have to conclude after eating the goods produced according to a secret recipe. It is therefore understandable that companies such as Sprüngli, Coca Cola and Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) want to preserve this at all costs. As the Boston Herald reported this week, KFC's most closely guarded trade secret was moved to another location on Tuesday for the first time in decades. The recipe, handwritten by company founder Colonel Harland Sanders 68 years ago and containing eleven special herbs and spices, was moved from the company's headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky, to an even more secure safe. "I don't want to be the president who loses this recipe," said KFC boss Roger Eaton, personally chaining the travel safe to the wrist of his head of security. Not all chicken wings are the same, and they are apparently only "fingerlicking good" at KFC.

"From now on there will be merciless transparency" was the title of a communiqué issued by out-of-home advertiser APG this week announcing that it will be switching its tariff system to reach values from the SPR+ measurement system from 2009. The switch from surveyed to GPS-measured performance values will lead to "fair" tariffs from 2009 and will be "price-neutral" across the entire range, APG Head of Marketing Roger Möschler continued.
At first glance, however, what APG is now serving up to the advertising market looks like a price increase. This is because it is raising the weekly rate by up to 20 percent for 27 of the 38 poster networks presented, although only three poster networks will have a higher reach in future. The price reductions, on the other hand, amount to a maximum of 7.2 percent, in some cases with massively lower reach.
But beware, this first impression is deceptive. It is true that most weekly poster networks will actually cost more in future. However, a direct comparison of performance, price or CPM is not permissible because there will be a currency break in terms of reach. In addition, two- and three-week network assignments will be cheaper in many cases. Thirdly, APG has completely reorganized its networks. And fourthly, it has reduced their number: Whereas half of APG's approximately 30,000 street spaces were previously integrated into networks, from 2009 this will only be 40 percent. The large remainder will be sold as individual sites. According to Möschler, the majority of these will be cheaper, with the exception of those in top positions that generate more than 100,000 weighted poster contacts per week (four percent of all spaces).
Where is the transparency here?
In view of this multipack of changes, some APG customers will ask themselves what is supposed to be "fair", "price-neutral" or even "transparent" about the new tariff system. The cart may have been overloaded. But APG has one thing to its credit: The new currency according to SPR+ is markedly better. A comparison of the previous and the new survey methodology shows this.
Previously, Switzerland's largest out-of-home advertiser used the Copland method to survey poster reach: people were asked about the distances they had traveled in the last seven days. Based on this, it was determined which poster sites they must have passed. Each of these areas was then credited with one contact, regardless of whether it was actually observed. The reach was then extrapolated based on the size of the town (population). It was therefore assumed that all poster sites within the same locality were regularly visited by all residents.
The SPR+ (Swiss Poster Research plus) measurement system also tracks routes, but using small GPS devices that record the distances travelled by the test subjects every second for a week. If the routes are transferred to digital maps, it is possible to determine which poster sites the test person has passed. It is true that SPR+ does not provide any information as to whether a particular poster was actually seen. Quite apart from the fact that the quality of contact is also influenced by the direction of movement, the speed of passage, the time of day, the poster format or the number of posters at the same location. However, the SPR+ measurement system takes precisely these factors into account by defining a visibility space for each poster. For example, if a test person moves at 10 kilometers per hour and in daylight in the visibility space of a single poster, and approaches it head-on, this is weighted as one contact. If, on the other hand, the person passes the poster at night, this results in one contact for illuminated posters, but no contact for non-illuminated surfaces. And if the person walks past the individual poster at the same time during the day, this still counts as half a contact. In other words: Whereas with SPR+ several hurdles prevent a passage from being prematurely counted as a contact, according to Copland every passage, however fleeting, was counted as a contact.
However, APG goes even further when calculating the reach of its networks: it also takes into account the fact that the contact quality also depends on the poster design (art work). Its network design is therefore such that an average advertising message on F12 must generate at least three full contacts in order to count as reach at all (= contact class KK 3). An F200 even requires four contacts (= CC 4). This has an impact on the reported reach: The current "City200 Big9" network, for example, which covers the nine largest cities with 482 areas, generates 80 percent reach according to Copland. The evaluation of the same 482 areas according to SPR+ and with KK 4, on the other hand, results in a reach of only 72 percent. However, if the CC is set to >0, which means that a contact is still weighted more heavily than with Copland, the reach of "City200 Big9" increases to over 80 percent. This shows that SPR+ results in significantly higher range values. In general, APG is setting a new standard with this range calculation. Presumably worldwide. Because hardly any other medium sets the bar so high.
More expensive Bahnhofstrasse Zurich
However, a direct comparison makes no sense, not only because of the new reach currency, but also because APG is completely reorganizing its networks as of 2009: some networks, such as the "Big Cities F12", will include up to 65 more posters than today, but there are also some with fewer spaces. The fact that APG is nevertheless retaining the previous network designations is somewhat unfortunate, at least from the customer's point of view.
Pricing is also not as transparent as Roger Möschler claims. He is happy to believe "that the individually measured performance is the new price basis for the F12, F24 and F200". It is therefore understandable that a poster on Zurich's Bahnhofstrasse will cost more in future than one in Altstetten. However, it is unclear what proportion of the sales price is attributable to the contact performance of the poster space. The only thing that is certain is that it is one of five price components. "We don't provide any information on the percentage distribution," Möschler simply says.
A positive aspect from the customer's point of view is that APG is introducing a performance guarantee. "The media data per network are now defined as guaranteed minimum values and the prices are fixed across the board," says Möschler. Customers can rely on this, even if, for example, poster spaces are temporarily unavailable due to roadworks. Möschler: "In such cases, we guarantee customers at least an equivalent replacement."
Incidentally, APG will also be granting a group discount from 2009. In doing so, it is following the example of other media categories and meeting a long-standing demand of the Swiss Advertisers Association (SWA).
Markus KnöpfliAlthough Clear Channel Outdoor Plakanda (CCOP) left the former SPR three years ago, the successor system SPR+ is still able to show the reach of the CCOP areas. Although these values are not listed anywhere, they are available: you can have SPR+, a wholly-owned Affichage subsidiary, evaluate a CCOP offer or order confirmation. However, APG marketing manager Möschler emphasizes that he does not know the CCOP performance values. He has also never commissioned an evaluation, not even via a friendly agency.
At the time of going to press, CCOP itself was unable to comment on the question of whether its own services or tariffs will be based on the new range values.
At Star Plakat, on the other hand, owner Roberto Schena will not be changing anything for the time being. Firstly, because SPR+ can only identify Star Plakat's 800 street sites, but not the 800 (covered) petrol station sites. In addition, he first wants to observe exactly what APG is doing as the market leader. (mk)

The Internet company Google is planning a digital newspaper archive that anyone can access free of charge. This would give users direct access to publishers' archives, writes the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in its Wednesday edition.
This service is not new. Comparable archives, also managed by Google, are already in operation in America and Canada. However, as the Frankfurter Ztg. explains, full access to some article content will be subject to a fee.
The internet company is now focusing on cooperation with newspaper publishers. A large proportion of the revenue generated from advertising for the digital project is to go to the newspaper publishers.

The little Heidi on the newly designed label gives an impression of where the journey is heading: it looks out over the reflective surface of Lake Walen and the Churfirsten mountain range into the distance. Where is it looking? As far as Japan and Australia? The new Heidiland mineral water does not want to hide its international ambitions. Now that this brand has been very well received in various countries in Asia, Australia, America and Russia, these markets are to be targeted much more specifically. Heidi is going out into the world.
The mineral water brand with the famous Heidi has an international focus and is intended to convey authentic Swiss qualities of upscale hospitality, pure nature and safety. The new management team with Patrick A. Widmer and Kurt Müller is sending out a clear signal. The brand documents this premium claim with a completely new look, which was developed and implemented by the advertising agency By Heart.
Surveys set guard rails
But what exactly is it that the various markets expect from a Swiss premium mineral water? Does the image of the little girl support the high standards or is it more of a hindrance? The design process was guided by surveys in the target markets. "The Heidiland mineral water was to become an ambassador for the Heidi myth and Swiss hospitality. From the screw cap to the label," explains Peter Krebs from By Heart. The Edelweiss emblem - a symbol from the very beginning of this brand - has also been redesigned and its meaning enhanced. It stands for the naturalness and purity of the water. This high-quality mineral water, with its balanced mineral content and extreme purity, repeatedly comes top in blind tastings with international competitors.
Over many years, the original rainwater in the mountains that line the valley slowly seeps down into the depths through various layers of rock. In the process, the water is carefully filtered and enriched with valuable minerals. Around 170 meters below the earth's surface, the water is finally collected and then bubbles up to the earth's surface under its own pressure. This is called an artesian spring. While many other mineral waters in the world have to be pumped out of the earth with a great deal of energy and effort, Heidiland mineral water bubbles up all by itself. It is not wrested from nature, it is its voluntary gift, so to speak.
The market potential is also expanded in the home country with the introduction of a low-carbonated water. A 20-liter KEG container is also being offered for the first time for professional dispensing. Heidiland mineral water is now also being gradually developed on the Swiss market, primarily targeting the upmarket restaurant and hotel sector and discerning corporate customers. Initial marketing activities will focus on the Heidiland vacation region, the neighboring tourist centers of Graubünden and the Zurich economic area. Other regions will then follow. The brand is also relying on a second pillar that has already developed well: private labels. This offers companies the opportunity to obtain their own mineral water, a bottle with a label in their own corporate design. This offer is already being used extensively. Orders of 1,000 bottles or more in single-variety pallets are already included.
Andreas Panzeri

The TCS is the largest club in Switzerland. Like many clubs, however, the club is plagued by recruitment problems. Yet the TCS has a lot to offer young drivers in particular. For many young people, their first car is usually a second-hand car. Used cars are cheaper - but also more prone to breakdowns. Conversely, TCS patrols are the safest rescue when it comes to repairing such a breakdown. However, the TCS, with its proximity to safety and caution, is not sexy for young people. In a pitch, the breakdown service was therefore looking for a new image. Gilles Aeby came up with the solution with his Numéro 10. "Cooldown Club" not only sounds cool, it also has a message: cool down if you have a breakdown. Because then TCS will help you.
New media are integrated
Membership of this new section of the traditional helpers' club is aimed at young people aged 16 to 25. The costs are just as tailored to the target group as the advertising and offers. "New media must be integrated," demanded Gilles Aeby, who also runs Buzzilla in his agency as a specialized department for viral marketing, buzz and guerrilla.
The idea was launched at the end of August with a teaser campaign. Posters and advertisements, for example in 20 Minuten, called for help for a certain Jenny. A teaser spot on young television channels such as Viva showed Jenny getting lost in her car. At night, alone and in a forest. All these signs were intended to direct the target group to a website Cooldownclub.ch.
In just under two weeks, Jenny's pleading eyes attracted 15,000 visitors to the website. 3000 of them took part in the "search campaign" or the competition. "The competition was only on air for six days in the second week," says a delighted Cendrine Gafner at Numéro 10 about the huge success.
The website contains information that does not initially refer to the sender, TCS. Only the product campaign that is now being launched with the resolution shows those interested in the club five funny films in which the breakdown service is discussed. However, to avoid any mishaps with misunderstood advertising, the Cooldown Club naturally offers real added value for young customers. A discount when filling up with Tamoil, discounted cinema tickets at Pathée and various special services at Ticketcorner are just a few of the gadgets that make this TCS youth club attractive off the road too. It's not just those who have the damage who should be able to benefit from the club. And anyone who turns 18 and is finally allowed to drive can have their first car checked by TCS free of charge.
Numéro 10 conceived and designed the name, the logo and the entire visual identity for this new idea. In a guerrilla campaign, 50 bars and youth clubs were also hit with "Help Jenny" stickers. A further wave of new ideas is to make the club even better known for the snow season.
Andreas Panzeri

The Lausanne-based media company Edipresse increased its profit from 22 to 24.2 million francs in the first half of the year. In Switzerland, Edipresse is feeling the effects of the weakening advertising market and the success of free newspapers. On the other hand, business with publications in Eastern Europe and Asia continues to grow well, with the media group posting 13 and 20 percent growth respectively.
Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) fell from CHF 39.6 million to CHF 37.6 million. With sales of 358.3 million francs, Edipresse sold around 10 percent less than in the same period last year, as the Group announced on Wednesday.
However, the sales figures can only be compared with the previous year to a limited extent because the Edipresse holdings in Spain were reorganized and their income is no longer included in the overall figures. Without this effect, the Edipresse Group's turnover would have remained at the same level as in the previous year.
In the Newspapers and Internet division, Edipresse increased sales by 3.2 percent thanks to the integration of the online platforms jobup and homegate. The sale of the 50 percent stake in the Portuguese company Edimprensa also helped to keep the tills ringing.
Edipresse invested a total of CHF 8.5 million in the first half of the year, 22 percent more than in the previous year. The Group wants to continue to grow with magazines for luxury goods, particularly in Asia.
Due to the economic slowdown, Edipresse is not venturing any clear forecasts for the immediate future. However, the weakening advertising market in Switzerland and Spain will have an impact on sales. In contrast, the media company expects good business in the Internet division.
Edipresse has announced further cost optimization measures for the current year. In August, Edipresse announced that around 50 jobs would be cut in response to the uncertain outlook for the Swiss media market. This also affects 17 journalists.
The media union Comedia strongly criticized this and accused Epipresse of "greed". Edipresse is the largest media company in French-speaking Switzerland and publishes Le Matin, 24 heures and the Tribune de Genève, among others.

The "Only an advertisement can do this" ads launched by the Swiss press appeared in over 100 newspapers and magazines in German- and French-speaking Switzerland. According to the Swiss press, no other campaign came close to reaching as many readers.
The campaign is now to be expanded. Instead of a single subject, it will now comprise 4-6 advertising subjects. A jury - consisting of eight well-known representatives of the Swiss marketing and advertising world - will then select two winning teams according to the seven-plus system. The results will then be shown as full-page fillers in spring and fall 2009.
The target group of the campaign are managing directors, marketing and advertising managers of companies and associations, agency heads, consultants and creatives. The campaign subjects are to be printed primarily in titles of general interest.

Thanks to the summer slump. Even the experimental Zeit magazine probably only makes room for twelve pages for such a cover story in mid-August. Three uncelebrated but all the more interesting gentlemen in their prime talk about their image and their farewell to their own father. "When I walk in my father's footsteps, it scares me to death", sings Bob Dylan. The three conversations vary this eternal male theme in a touching, at times depressing manner. You witness an intimate atmosphere full of existential honesty that resonates far beyond the reading.
The intensity of these soft tones almost made me write my first letter to the editor out of gratitude. Okay, I'm probably biographically mature and therefore particularly receptive to the father-son motif. As we all know, washing machine advertising is of particular interest to those contemporaries who are currently considering buying one. However, the way interviewer Herlinde Koelbl dresses human trials and tribulations in subtle question-and-answer texts has already moved and convinced many people. Her high number of book editions and the many awards won by the well-known author and documentary filmmaker testify to this.
Koelbl is a grand master of empathy and intuition. Anyone who thinks these qualities are specifically female - even in journalism - has been proven wrong by André Müller for more than 30 years. The Austrian, not unjustly praised by his clients (Weltwoche, Die Zeit, Der Spiegel) as the "most important interviewer in the German language", dissects his prominent counterparts with a rhetorical scalpel. His horrendous claim that not only the reader but also the interviewee should learn something new in the process is often fulfilled. He elicited from Elfriede Jelinek, for example, that she, like one of her novel characters, cut her own vagina with a razor blade. The Nobel Prize winner would never have dared to have so much courage to expose herself, as she later admitted.
But it doesn't have to be such emotional extremism. Genuine curiosity about the other person, more courage to take risks and knowledge of human nature would alleviate the yawning boredom that 90 percent of all interview texts spread, especially those with tie or functionaries. The argument that political and economic discussions serve to convey factual information is a purely protective claim by uninspired journalists. After all, party manifestos and corporate figures would be far more precise and reliable sources than ministers and CEOs. There is often a lack of empathy and preparation behind the mindless chatter that fills more and more columns, but even more often a simple lack of awareness of the potential of this genre. Interviews are not treated as an art form, but all too often merely as an editorial stopgap: if you can't think of anything else, you just do a quick "Inti".
Good conversations are always a stroke of luck - both privately and in the media. Which is why they cannot be (re)produced on an assembly line. Müller, for example, never organizes more than two or three of his meticulously prepared soul stripteases every year. Galore, which was launched in 2003 as a pure interview magazine, has also realized that quantity is detrimental to quality. Since this year, the pioneering title has also been publishing reports, features and columns. The official reason: in order to be even more effective in the future, the interviews as the "journalistic supreme discipline" are now surrounded by a court of other genres. I have never regretted renewing my subscription immediately after this announcement.

Oliver Classen is press spokesman for the development policy organization Berne Declaration and was previously media editor.

"Juice creates strength" is an old saying that we would like to quote again here. The slogan that the Küsnachter agency Unikat developed for the Swiss Fruit Association when it took on the mandate five years ago goes in a similar direction. Back then, the association entered the race with "Apple juice looks fabulous" and, according to a press release issued by the agency on Wednesday, was able to continuously increase juice sales.
The reason for this is the naturalness of the product and the emergence of apple spritzer, apple juice diluted with water, the agency continues. And it is precisely this fact that the new TV commercial now takes into account: it focuses on the mixing ratio of the apple spritzer. In Italian- and French-speaking Switzerland in particular, neither the diluted apple juice nor the name is particularly well known. In the commercial, the mixture (40 percent water and 60 percent apple juice) is conveyed on the basis of the surprising effect that apple spritzer supposedly has. The slogan: "Apple spritzer is also fabulous."
Responsible at the Swiss Fruit Association: Bernadette Galliker (Marketing Manager). Responsible at the Unikat agency: Simone Jung (Consultant), Jan Maurer (Managing Director), Doris Herger (Art Direction), Daniel Meier (Creative Direction), Film production: Mican Film.

The competition is probably the best opportunity for young talents to make themselves known as creative designers or suppliers of ideas in Switzerland. The winners of the young talent competition "Only an advertisement can do that" will see their work printed in over 100 newspapers and magazines in German- and French-speaking Switzerland. "No other campaign has reached anywhere near as many readers," say the organizers from the Swiss Press Association.
In the past, advertisements were designed by professionals in the best agencies. For some years now, young creatives have been just as popular. Anyone who lives in Switzerland and was born after January 1, 1980, i.e. is under 28 years old, can take part. You can enter as an "individual mask" or in a team of up to four people. The task of creating generic advertising with advertisements for the effect of the advertisements remains the same. What is new, however, is that it is no longer just a single advertisement that has to convey the arguments, but a "real" campaign with four to six advertisement subjects. These should be based on an identical basic idea.
The association logo is part of it
We are looking for ideas that need no explanation. No great effort is required. Scribbles or presentation photos are welcome. The format for the submission is A3, paper printout, not mounted. Language German or French. This means that the campaign must also be realizable in the other language. The logo of the Swiss Press Association must be integrated into the advertisement. Only full-page advertisements are accepted. Double pages or special placements such as submarine ads are not possible, nor can the advertisements be designed for specific publication days, as they are placed free of charge by the participating publishers and therefore as "fillers", as project managers Pepi Burch and Toni Vetterli from the Swiss Press Association explain. It should also be noted that for monthly titles, the idea must also work with just two or three subjects.
You can use your own pictures for the design. Another attractive offer is that all participants can use the digital archive of the Keystone photo agency free of charge. The selection there currently comprises almost three million images. The log to the database can be ordered by sending an e-mail to [email protected] with the keyword "Only an advertisement can do this".
Big prizes and a trip
The jury is made up of Andreas Prokesch, Petra Koerfer-Bottiognole, Markus Ehrle, Michael Gassler, Reto Meissner, Tom Seinige, Philipp Skrabal and Patrick Suter. The works will be presented to the jury without the sender being disclosed. The jury will select two winning campaigns from the entries submitted. They will be judged according to Michael Conrad's "Seven-plus" system, just like the ADC. The two winning teams will each receive CHF 10,000 in cash and a winner's certificate. In addition, there is the commission for the realization of the prize-winning work. A further CHF 30,000 contribution towards expenses per team is available for this. The winning campaigns will be published in spring and fall 2009. Two members of each team will travel to the "bestYET" final for young creatives at European level in London in May 2009. This participation is sponsored by Publicitas Publimedia. So let's get going, because the closing date for entries is January 12, 2009. More information and the logo for downloading can be found at www.schweizerpresse.ch
Andreas Panzeri