Now that the employees of Publigroupe's "Media Sales" division based in Zurich have moved to "Baslerpark", the marketer has sold the property on Holbeinstrasse in the Seefeld district. The buyer is Züblin Immo AG. The two parties have agreed not to disclose the sale price, as detailed in a press release issued on Wednesday. For Publigroupe, the sale will result in a book profit after tax of around CHF 35 million. Publigroupe intends to retain ownership of the Neumühlequai property, which is in a prominent location right next to Central in Zurich. The property is to be let on a long-term lease.

 
The search engine operator Google has announced Google Ad Planner, a free service for collecting media data on the Internet. According to a report on Ftd.de, the internet giant is hoping that this will give a further boost to its online advertising business. Google Ad Planner compiles statistics on page views, dwell time and user demographic data for customers through direct access to the web server. This is in contrast to Nielsen or Comscore, which collect their usage data using representative control groups and surveys. According to Ftd.de, however, the latter measurement method has often been criticized for being too imprecise. The Swiss internet researcher Net-Metrix, for example, combines both approaches.
The competition is taking Google's announcement in stride. Details of the new measurement service are not yet known, Nielsen Online boss Susan Hickey told the New York Times. However, the company assumes that customers will continue to pay for well-researched data on the behavior of Internet users.
Another critical voice in the Wall Street Journal raised concerns about Google's lack of independence because the company offers analytics and online advertising at the same time. "From our point of view, the last thing we want is for the same company that receives our advertising money to also advise us on media planning," one advertising manager is quoted as saying.

 
Telemarketing and direct sales have a lousy reputation, even though the industry employs around 5,000 people in Switzerland. To promote the image and development of the industry, the Swiss Direct Marketing Association SDV has now initiated certification by the Swiss Association for Quality and Management Systems SQS. In doing so, the association also wants to distinguish itself from "black sheep" in the industry, as stated in a press release. It also wants certified companies to gain a market advantage over non-certified companies, thereby achieving the association's long-standing goal of forcing providers to behave correctly (see:
). The Direct Sales Code of Ethics has been in place since the end of 2005, and the Code of Ethics for Telemarketing in the Private Sector (B2C) was introduced together with the CallNet.ch association on January 1, 2008. However, the SDV wanted more, "because we know that such codes tend to remain paper tigers", says SDV President Jakob Nef. In order to provide comprehensive and rapid information about the benefits of the direct marketing seal of approval, the SDV has worked with
has set up an online platform. It contains, for example, the benefits for clients and ten golden rules for dealing with telemarketing and direct sales. The website also serves as a hub for service providers, clients and end consumers as well as a contact point for questions or any complaints.

 
Caught our eye Korean car manufacturer Kia is the official sponsor of the UEFA Euro 2008, which is why Kia is particularly present on television these days with TV commercials. What caught our eye was not the commercial, but the contribution of a blogger who feels lied to by Kia or rather by the advertising. In the commercial, football fans design the bodies of their cars in the respective national colors of the participating teams. The attentive internet writer noticed that the commercial was not filmed in Italy, as the viewer is led to believe, but on his own doorstep. "Advertising is lying again," he headlines on the Internet. Brief research shows that the commercial was probably filmed in Berlin. We know from film classics such as Winnetou that the authenticity of the locations does not necessarily have to be true. First and foremost, the plot of the movie has to be credible. And Kia, a subsidiary of Hyundai, obviously has no advertising problem with this. According to a study by the media agency Initiative Media, Kia advertises more efficiently than any of the other ten official main Euro sponsors. (cl)

 
Company The Lande-Regia-Langenbach Group organized a special event of a special kind. 
It was only in January that the Lande-Langenbach Group, which has plants in Rupperswil and Schafisheim, Switzerland, announced the acquisition of Regia HighPack AG in Oensingen. "We are demonstrating our intention of sustainable development and our long-term commitment by also planning significant investments in the Swiss location for the entire Group in the future," said Beat M. Schelling, Chairman of the Board of Directors and owner, in this context. With the inauguration of the new 6-color high-tech Rapida 162-6 sheetfed offset press with double coating unit at the Schafisheim site on July 11, 2008, he immediately followed up his words with action. Investments for customers "We are a service company and invest for our customers. They make demands that we have not yet been able to fully meet," said Beat M. Schelling, Chairman of the Board of Directors, at the inauguration of the new 6-color printing press. "Environmental protection and resource conservation are just as important to us as packaging costs. All these factors contribute to the fact that we have to continue to invest," explained Schelling. He appealed to the numerous guests in attendance to avoid a "cheap is cool" development in Switzerland, as is currently still being propagated in Germany. A renaissance of industrial production is currently taking place here. Sales of packaging have increased further in recent months. "This," said Schelling, "encourages investment in new technology, employees and new companies." As an example, he cited the acquisition of Regia HighPack AG, which makes it possible to offer an even broader range from a single source. "Challenge us, we are ready to take on the challenge," he said to the participants.
Swiss premiereIn his specialist presentation on the topic of the Reptile Brain, Martin Amann from Amann & Partner Designagentur Reinach showed participants how packaging design influences purchasing decisions via the limbic system. Peter Rickenmann, Managing Director Print Assistant Rapida Large Format, KBA, then explained the specifications of the high-tech Rapida 162-6 sheetfed offset press, which is making its debut in Switzerland. With its dimensions of 35 meters long, 6 meters wide and 4 meters high, the press is already very special. But the technical possibilities also leave nothing to be desired. For example, 6 inking units with double coating units and automatic plate changing ensure efficiency. A camera that measures each sheet individually and compares the values with the target sheet contributes to quality control. Packaging is becoming increasingly sophisticated. Finishes such as matt/gloss effects and special coatings are now a must, and not just for premium product packaging. The Rapida 162-6 offers the ideal technical prerequisites for this. The special event at Lenzburg Castle ended with an entertaining evening program and the presentation of the European Championship group match between Switzerland and Turkey on the big screen.
Sabine Flaxman

 
Pharma The Swiss Advertising Agency is presenting Sandoz mineral products in a new light with a new campaign.  
Many people in Switzerland suffer from calcium and magnesium deficiency and are not even aware of it. Sandoz's current advertising campaign, created by the Zurich advertising agency, is intended to draw attention to this problem throughout Switzerland. "Not with a warning finger and not in the usual way for pharmaceutical advertising", as strategist Reto Dürrenberger explains.the advertising agency's communication is based on three phases. First, strategically with a TV commercial. It could just as easily be a scene from "The Mummy" or "Indiana Jones". And perhaps quite cleverly, because the latter is currently in theaters with a new film. In any case, the story in the commercial has interesting echoes: A pair of explorers are on a treasure hunt. The scene shows how the scientist and adventurer, accompanied by his assistant, steps into an old burial chamber. Here he has finally arrived at the destination of his dreams. A golden sarcophagus lies before them. However, the explorers are startled out of it by a skeleton that has come to life. Fortunately for the adventurers, however, the skeleton suffers from a calcium deficiency: the bone structure crumbles to dust before it can become really dangerous.
This cinematic parody "quite courageously" shows what the consequences of calcium deficiency have been since ancient times, namely brittle bones.
 
 

Michael Steiner was recruited to realize this elaborate production by Peek GmbH. The director of feature films such as "Grounding" and "Mein Name ist Eugen" has his office just one floor above the advertising agency's offices. While this may have saved a little on travel expenses for the PPM, the film was otherwise made with a rather elaborate trowel. For over a week, a burial chamber was set up in the studio in Uster that looked like a large movie theater. Filming took two to three days. In addition, sophisticated animations were created in London's Elephant Studios.
The film is followed by a tactical level in the campaign. Here, the individual product benefits of Sandoz mineral products are highlighted with the usual clarity, honesty and focus on "The Product is the Hero". To this end, the team led by CD Sarah Hiltebrand designed market segment-specific advertisements and internet banners. These are aimed specifically at people who suffer most from calcium and magnesium deficiency. In a third level, the evidence is finally provided on the specially created website with a calcium and magnesium test. This automatically takes you to the relevant information pages
The Sandoz range is also communicated in an integrated manner at the POS. The mineral products have only been part of the Sandoz range since January 2008. Before that, the mineral products were still part of Novartis. The advertising agency has been working for Sandoz for three years. In the first campaigns, the advertisers "paid into the branding account", as Dürrenberger says. This work in a style that was previously unfamiliar and unconventional for pharmaceuticals has now helped Sandoz to achieve market leadership in the generics market, as Robin Koenig, Head of Marketing & Branding at Sandoz Pharmaceuticals, is pleased to report. The advertising agency was also delighted to win the Marketing Trophy this year with its ideas for Sandoz. As a result of this success, the Swiss advertising agency has now also been asked for adaptations in other Sandoz countries. However, Dürrenberger and Hiltebrand have certainly turned down an offer for China.
 
 
Andreas Panzeri

 
News Drupa has shown the beginnings of where the prepress sector and networked production and process integration are heading. 
Drupa 2008 is over. Even after visiting the trade fair, it is difficult to say whether it was an "inkjet drupa". One thing is certain: Inkjet printing and digital printing as a whole have visibly consolidated their position in Düsseldorf and are now indispensable. It is therefore hardly surprising that the control of digital printing systems was an important topic. Post-Script was demystified at Drupa 2008. The Portable Document Format (PDF) redefined the significance of the page description language developed by Adobe in 1985, which subsequently changed the entire typesetting process as an important component - as well as the visualization and handling of documents. For many years, however, everything had remained more or less the same in terms of output and PostScript was the output channel of choice for the graphic arts industry until the release of the Adobe PDF Print Engine 1 (APPE 1). The new Adobe Print Engine 2, presented at Drupa, now combines the PDF and JDF standards as an important innovation. The Job Definition Format handles the transport of administrative data and imposition information and describes the key data of the print product (paper type, production colors, finishing, etc.) together with the characteristics for output/exposure (including trapping and imposition) or transports these parameters to the RIP or output device. Technically, the APPE 2 supports all "normal" PDF formats, as well as PDF/X-1, PDF/X-3, PDF/X-4, PDF/X-5 and the new PDF/VT format, which has been specially developed for the needs of variable data printing (V) and for the transactional printing segment (T). The APPE 2 is compatible with the Acrobat 9 software, which was also presented at Drupa, as well as with the JDF specifications 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3 and the current ICC color profiles (v4).
Web-2-Print and JDFWeb-2-Print was not a new topic, but one that came to the fore at Drupa. This is no longer (just) about a print media service provider putting a solution on the web so that its customers can order business cards, for example. Rather, modern Web-2-Print models include so-called storefront systems, which enable the mapping of relevant processes on the Internet. This includes support for the production of print templates, including administrative and commercial processing (calculation, post-calculation), both in conventional printing and for the production of printed matter, documents, mailings and the like in digital printing. Another important topic, even if it was difficult to recognize or see as such, was the extended possibilities for process integration. Following the consolidation of the JDF hype at Drupa 2004, both exhibitors and users are taking a more differentiated approach to the subject: networking is taking place where it makes sense. And these are more and more areas. For example, the Job Definition Format also enables consistent networking with the corresponding downstream processes in Web-2-Print scenarios right from the start.
As previously announced, Agfa has reorganized its workflow solutions into four areas and combined them into the Apogee Suite. The new suite includes Apogee Publish (with Apogee Media and Securseal), Apogee Portal (Web Approval and Project Manager), Prepress (Render, Control, Manage, Automate, Platemaker) and Apogee Color (Proof, PDF&Proof, Colortune), covering all areas from the creative design process to output on proofing devices and platesetters as well as digital printing systems from Agfa or other supported systems. At the heart of the suite are Apogee Portal and Apogee Prepress, solutions for integrating the customer into the print process and for data processing and output control. The new Apogee Media is particularly interesting. "Apogee Media, part of Apogee Publish, contains two main elements: asset management based on an SQL server and a publication engine that works closely with Adobe InDesign," explains Thomas Häuptli from Agfa Graphics. An integrated J2EE server allows external employees to access content via the Internet (in addition to text and images, multimedia content is also managed). The Java applet provides users with web-based applications such as text and image editing programs with which the individual content components can be created, edited and changed. Apogee Media relies internally on the XML marking language. Group-specific access can be set up for photographers (image upload only) or editors (text access and/or layout access only).
Quick overviewIn practice, an editor or corporate publisher can enter a text using the integrated word processing program or in Word. Uploading is done by drag & drop into the Apogee Media Desktop. Texts are automatically converted into an XML file in the background and prepared for further processing in InDesign. The layout designer can use a plug-in to access the approved content directly from InDesign and insert it into the page. From this point on, the XML content and InDesign document are linked. Once the page has been completed, the layout artist/graphic designer can define the corresponding status of the page or document. These statuses can be defined and added to in advance by the administrator. For example, statuses for "Proofreading" or "Ready for print" are conceivable. As a special feature, the pages of publications can be displayed at any time as a PDF or in the form of a JPEG preview, without the need for a local InDesign. However, the functionality of Apogee Media goes far beyond a classic preview; the individual contents of a page, the so-called "XML containers", can be clicked on and edited via the WebClient. This allows text changes to be made or the cropping of images to be corrected, again without the need for a local InDesign. An extension to QuarkXPress, version 8 of which was released at Drupa, could apparently be realized; Agfa has not yet announced whether and when XPress will be supported. Agfa's Apogee Media is therefore a production management tool that not only organizes data management, but also the publication and correction process.
Softproof is a term that is unclear to many. Strictly speaking, one can only speak of a soft proof if the displaying monitor is calibrated; but this is known to be no simple undertaking. This is one of the reasons why Agfa has integrated the topic of color into the new Apogee Suite. "Apogee Color", as the integrated component is called, takes a particularly interesting approach. The user, who is to issue the good for printing, sees how "good" his monitor currently is by means of a percentage value and a corresponding icon (for this, however, the monitor must be defined with an appropriate measuring device and calibrated with the Agfa Color Tune Display software the first time it is used). Once this has been done, the software can read out the color profile used for the corresponding monitor and uses Color Management to calculate a soft proof that is designed for these viewing conditions.
Extended output optionsNew to Apogee Prepress 5.0, the classic prepress workflow, are the extended output options. In addition to computer-to-plate systems, digital printing systems from Canon and HP can now also be controlled. The advantage of this hybrid workflow is that Agfa can control the output systems in such a way that, for example, the digital print output takes place within the (smaller) offset printing color space. Companies benefit from not having to deal with multiple workflows for their different output and printing systems. Apogee Prepress 5.0 now also offers the option of transferring presets to post-press systems - such as Polar-Mohr machines - via JDF. Agfa offers an Inksave function within the Apogee Suite - more precisely in the Apogee Prepress area. At Agfa, the "color saving measure" takes place during the rendering process (rip process) within the Adobe PDF Print Engine. The specification of the printing press (i.e. dot gain and other technical machine characteristics) is taken into account. "Inksave primarily saves ink in web offset, while in sheetfed offset the focus is on the more stable grey balance that can be achieved," says Thomas Häuptli, summarizing the advantages. In the Platemaker module, formerly Print-Drive, Agfa has incorporated an interesting function called "versioning". This allows better account to be taken of the language versions/language changes that often occur in Switzerland in particular, as the print result can be simulated on the screen beforehand - and therefore before a printing plate has even been output.
Jürgen Franck
The article will be continued in the next issue of w&p.

 
Job portals Whether you're a tradesman, salesperson or office worker, why are you happy to have just quit your old job? The reason is obvious: Job-Scout24 offers a large selection of attractive new jobs. Advertisements in Blick, 20 Minuten, L'Hebdo, Le Matin Bleu, Railposter and online banners advertise the JobScout24 job portal with the claim "Quit now". The Maxomedia agency is responsible for the design and implementation of all print and online advertising material for the "Quit now" campaign.

 
Online The Internet is foreign to advertising agencies. This is shown by an analysis of their web presences. Conclusion: disappointing.  
"Many advertising agencies maintain the worst websites we see," Christoph Glauser from Argyou told the industry service persoenlich.com in December. And indeed: Swiss advertising agencies communicate anything but proven Internet competence. Long loading times, annoying Flash animations, misleading links, pixelated logos, sudden construction noise from the loudspeakers or non-updated agency information make for irritating looks from visitors. "Should I really be buying online expertise here?" many a worried marketing manager has probably asked themselves. It is not uncommon for people in his profession to have to click through complex navigation menus to find the right information. Anyone can try it out for themselves and see that advertising agencies are often left guessing on the Internet. Werbewoche took a close look at twelve local agency websites and pitted them against each other in several categories (see table). The result is surprising. Creative heavyweights such as Publicis or Ruf Lanz, which occupy top positions in the Werbewoche creative ranking, are disappointing across the board. Oliver Reichenstein, a proven usability expert and founder of the company iA, summarizes the desolate situation: "No agency manages the balancing act between usability and brand. Either the site is usable, but not brand-compliant, or it naively reproduces the paper design in Flash and tries to mime interactivity with meaningless animation nonsense."
 
 

The editorial team and Oliver Reichenstein noticed the extensive use of Flash-based websites. Reichenstein: "Very few of them are good. In terms of concept, most of them are rather weak." Criticisms of most Flash experiments include the long waiting times when loading the website and the gimmicks that are anything but media-compliant. The inappropriate use of Flash is symptomatic for the Japan-based information designer, but it is not the only problem. "The media misunderstanding of advertisers is also evident in the unmotivated use of sounds. The Internet is not a television. Control over image, sound and text must be placed entirely in the hands of the user."
Although most Swiss agencies leave an overwhelmed impression on the Internet, they are by no means alone. Even in the USA, the lousy websites annoy marketing managers, who recently expressed their displeasure in the trade journal Advertising Age. The basic tenor: most agency websites are no good. The managers surveyed attested to the agencies' self-indulgence. Instead of offering added value, the websites resemble colorful playgrounds where the creatives simply want to be as hip as possible and are far removed from being serious business partners. In the USA, this development now even has a name: "digital masturbation".
However, things are not yet that bad in Switzerland. Werbewoche was impressed by the two websites of the Zurich agency JWT+H+F and the Bern-based creative think tank Contexta. Jung von Matt/Limmat, Wirz, Publicis and Ruf Lanz were surprisingly disappointing. Not only do they struggle with updating the content, but they are also barely convincing in the categories of media conformity, brand proximity, usability and information design. Lowe has to go completely over the books.
Christian Lüscher

 The French-speaking Swiss daily newspaper Le Matin is closing its regional offices. The cost-cutting measure is being taken because free newspapers and the declining advertising market are taking their toll on the newspaper title. The offices in Sion, Fribourg, Geneva, Delsberg, Biel and Zurich will be closed, as Le Matin editor-in-chief Peter Rothenbühler told SDA in response to a report in the Fribourg daily La Liberté. According to Rothenbühler, the affected correspondents will be stationed at the Lausanne headquarters or work from their homes. As French-speaking Switzerland is not that big, this would not cause any major problems. In future, the newspaper intends to cover major events flexibly with additional staff.

 
In-store radio After Coop, Coop Pronto is now also relying on in-store radio to stimulate customers' desire to buy. 
A year ago, Coop, IP Multimedia and Ringiers Radio Energy launched the first in-store radio for the entire Coop store network. Since then, customers in over 850 sales outlets have been treated to a mix of music and commercials while they shop. According to Coop, this generates around 3.7 million gross advertising contacts per week.Coop Pronto, which is 51 percent owned by Coop and 49 percent by ConocoPhillips, is now following suit from July 1, 2008 and will also install the sound produced by Radio Energy in its 195 sales outlets. As with Coop's in-store radio, Goldbach subsidiary IP Multimedia (IPM) will be responsible for exclusive marketing. The new service joins the three Coop in-store radio networks already available: Retail (801 locations), Bau+Hobby (68) and City (63). Sandrine Pituctin, responsible for the in-store radio product at IPM, is delighted: "Coop Pronto expands the potential of our young advertising medium enormously." Coop Pronto, which currently operates 41 of its stores as standalone outlets and 154 combined with Coop petrol stations, is the number one in the Swiss convenience market and is continuing to expand.
"We are constantly creating new jobs in various regions of Switzerland - up to 20 new stores a year, with and without filling stations," says the homepage. In 2007, Coop Pronto stores alone recorded 58.7 million customer visits, ten million more than in the previous year. In addition, there were another 20 million people who simply filled up their cars. In order to attract these fuel customers into the stores, Coop Pronto's in-store radio will therefore also be heard outside the stores at the pumps.
Although Coop Pronto is based on the parent company Coop in terms of sound and marketing, two things are handled differently, according to Pituctin: because customer visits to the Pronto stores are usually short in duration, the loops are also four times shorter than in the Coop stores, with a duration of 15 minutes. "However, this means that an advertising spot is broadcast four times an hour," says Pituctin. Secondly, Coop Pronto's in-store radio can also be used to advertise products that have nothing to do with the store range, such as cars or travel. In Coop sales outlets, however, only listed products may be advertised via the in-store radio. A 20-second spot that is broadcast for a week in all Coop Pronto stores costs CHF 11,000 gross.
According to Andreas Hofer, Head of Convenience at Coop, Coop Pronto opted for in-store radio primarily for two reasons: firstly, after the experiences in the Coop stores, Coop Pronto also hoped for "additional impulses directly at the POS". Secondly, the company has also given some thought to its corporate identity. "Until now, different styles could be heard in our stores depending on the store manager's taste in music, from church music to folk music and heavy metal," reports Hofer. The sound of Radio Energy should now help the convenience chain to achieve a more uniform appearance.
Markus Knöpfli
Always open for advertisingAt Coop Pronto points of sale
there are several advertising options: In addition to the new in-store radio, advertising can also be placed on billboards, small posters and AdScreens. According to Andreas Hofer, Clear Channel Outdoor is in charge of marketing the billboards, Coop Pronto is responsible for the small posters on the petrol pumps, and Cinecom (PubliGroupe) was responsible for acquiring AdScreen. According to Hofer, the AdScreen network has been shut down for six months for technical reasons, but the plan is to put it back into operation soon. However, it has not yet been decided which marketer will take over, he says. (mk)

 
Beat Meyer, CEO of Basler Zeitung Medien (BZM), explains why his company sold Prevag to Swiss Post. 
WW: When Ringier recently commissioned Swiss Post to handle early delivery of *Blick*, you expressed concern that Swiss Post might keep pressuring publishers until they handed over the early delivery contract to it. Now BZM is the first publisher to back down. Why? Beat Meyer: There was no “wearing us down,” but rather very constructive discussions with Swiss Post. We had come to the conclusion that it made no sense to continue competing with Swiss Post. If we’re running a business, we should be able to expand. However, we no longer saw such prospects for Prevag after Swiss Post decided to ramp up its early-morning delivery operations. Swiss Post certainly has enough resources to shift market share in its favor. The early-morning delivery of the *Blick* was just the first example. Another example would be if they were to win over the *Basellandschaftliche Zeitung* (bz)—which is currently distributed by Prevag—as a client. That’s why we decided to strike a deal with Swiss Post: They guarantee us high-quality contract terms, and in return, we’re divesting ourselves of this business segment.How likely is it that the bz will switch to Swiss Post? Although the contract between the bz and Prevag extends beyond 2008, we know that AZ-Medien has already sounded out Swiss Post.
You sold Prevag in its entirety. Did you receive a stake in Postmail AG—the Swiss Post’s new early-morning delivery company—in exchange? No, that wasn’t an option from our perspective.
Why not? Because logistics and distribution, by definition, are not part of our core business.
It wasn’t just Swiss Post; Zuvo, the distribution subsidiary of Tamedia and NZZ, was also interested in Prevag. Why did you award the contract to Swiss Post and not to Zuvo? Our primary goal is to ensure our independence. We do have very good and lucrative projects with Tamedia, which holds a 50 percent stake in Zuvo. However, we do not necessarily want to give Tamedia an even stronger foothold in northwestern Switzerland by establishing Zuvo as a distribution channel for our publication. That is why we believe Swiss Post is the more neutral partner in this area than Zuvo.
You still have Distriba, which, however, specializes in unaddressed daytime delivery. Is it being sold as well? No, because unlike with early-morning delivery, we still see growth potential in the brochure business.
Interview: Markus Knöpfli