This year marks the 50th anniversary of Comm-on, the Association for Advertising Communication. The big birthday party will take place on October 7, 2008 at Zurich's Bauschänzli: As an Oktoberfest, or rather the first Swiss "Werber-Wies'n". This was announced by President Christian Staub at last Friday's general meeting. The first partners have already been found for the big party, and more are to be acquired in the coming weeks. At the meeting, Publigroupe Hans-Peter Rohner spontaneously agreed to take over the tapping of the keg; his company will also support the event as a sponsor. Although the anniversary will be an important part of Comm-on's activities, the board also has other plans: they are still in talks with industry associations that are pursuing similar goals and are interested in cooperation, explained Staub. In addition, the repertoire of events will be continued in 2008 with a few exceptions. A whole series of events were also scheduled for 2007: Soirée Française, Smoke Event, Cannes Roll and Curling Tournament are just a few of them. The past year was a good one for Comm-on, as Staub explained. He was able to present a positive annual result for the first time since 2003.
Finally, elections to the Board of Directors were also on the agenda at the General Meeting. Natalie Schneider stepped down from the Board. Stefan Wyss was newly elected as Co-President. Michèle-Claudine Leibacher was re-elected. Alessandra Finazzi and Kim Osinga are new members of the Board.

 SW President Carlo Schmid caused a stir on Friday with critical words about the media business. How does the Association of Leading Advertising and Communication Agencies in Switzerland (BSW), which also includes some of the leading media agencies, respond to the accusations? "We have industry principles for media agencies that clarify our position," explained Managing Director Walter Merz when asked by Werbewoche. The paper, which was adopted in 2005, sets out the working principles for agency evaluation, performance profile and remuneration. However, Schmid explained on Advertising Day that the BSW principle, according to which all commissions and discounts are reimbursed to the client, is no longer always adhered to. "I can say two things about this," continued Merz. "Firstly, there may be agreements between clients and agencies. These may state that the agency receives a lower fee but is allowed to keep the commissions. However, this must be contractually regulated," said Merz. "Secondly, I keep hearing rumors that there are irregularities. But when I ask, no one wants to comment. Until someone says specifically who and what is involved, I don't believe the irregularities exist." Of course, it cannot be ruled out that individual media outlets grant kickbacks that the client knows nothing about. But these tend to be isolated cases, says Merz.
"Different system to Germany" The BSW Managing Director rejects Carlo Schmid's fears that court cases could arise as they do in Germany: "The system is completely different here. Here, the agencies don't buy media as brokers, but book according to order. That is a difference. That's why embezzlement like in the Ruzicka case can't happen with us." The fact that agencies receive freespace from the media probably also exists in Switzerland, but this must be declared and benefit the clients.
Merz also does not entirely agree with the accusation that media agencies lack objectivity and neutrality. "Of course, there is no such thing as objectivity per se anyway. If three agencies create media plans, they will turn out differently - depending on the weighting and preferences of the agencies." Neutrality, on the other hand, is a given, as agencies are not part of the media companies.
Merz was not surprised by Carlo Schmid's words on Advertising Day: "We keep hearing accusations to this effect. It was also known that SWA President Gérard Stalder is skeptical of media agencies and sometimes accuses them of not working properly." For the BSW, however, it is clear that the industry principles are being adhered to. Merz hopes that the working group that has been formed will play with open cards and that constructive solutions will be found. The BSW is also represented in the group, namely with Peter Leutenegger from Draftfcb. Urs Schneider (mediaschneider) and Christof Kaufmann (OMD Switzerland) are expected to join as representatives of the media agencies after consultation with Swiss Advertising.
Carole Scheidegger

Jung von Matt/Limmat is represented with three works on the shortlist of the international Clio Awards 2008. The Zurich-based communications agency has secured a nomination for each of the following works: "Panoramic Panels" for Panasonic in the "Innovative Media" category, "Trash" for Titan AG (MINI) and the "Paris" poster for SBB in the "Print" category. The winners will be announced at the 49th Clio Awards and Festival from May 14 to 17, 2008.

 "A Premium Hot Chocolate Grande and the new Morissette, please!" - It's not just with brown beans, frothy drinks and lots of calories that American coffeehouse giant Starbucks is making a killing. No. Last year, the chain with its 172,000 employees and even in Switzerland soon 40 branches - 15 in Zurich alone - just also sold more than four and a half million records. And although Starbucks is currently struggling with earnings that are well below expectations, sluggish sales and a weakening economy, the music business remains at the heart of the Seattle giant, alongside its return to the bean. However, Starbucks is aiming for a change in strategy in this area: It no longer wants to produce records itself or go in search of new artists to tie up exclusively, but instead focus much more on physical and digital distribution. For example, the soon-to-be-released album by singer Alanis Morissette will be available in all stores. Whether you can buy the group Coldplay's new album there, however, is rather unlikely. The British band, which was the most successful music troupe of 2006 with revenues of over 50 million U.S. dollars, is going the same way as its colleagues from Radiohead (see
), albeit not quite as consistently. The band around frontman and singer Chris Martin is making the first single from their new album available as a free download for a week. The search for good recipes for selling music in the age of the Internet continues. Perhaps coffee machines will soon be playing MP3s, too.

 The statutory part of the SW General Assembly on Advertising Day in Lucerne included elections to replace members of the association's Board of Directors. The five long-standing board members Henri Robyr, Albert P. Stäheli, Otto Meier, Claudio Rollini and Diego Bally stepped down. The following were newly elected: Michael Waldvogel (ASW), Michel Repond (FRP), Hans-Peter Hess (SWA), Norbert Neininger (Schweizer Presse) and Thomas Bargetzi (Publicitas). President Carlo Schmid, who himself has been in office for ten years, bid farewell to the previous members of the Board and welcomed the new members to the SW Board following their unanimous election. Schweizer Werbung closed the annual accounts with a "black zero". Despite this "precision landing", according to Carlo Schmid, it is imperative that membership fees be increased by ten percent. Those present approved the increase without discussion.
With regard to the organization of the association, Schmid held out the prospect of a discussion. A few years ago, there was already talk of becoming an "association of associations", which would have no individual members but only associations. According to Schmid, this idea, which was rejected at the time, should be brought up again.

 The free newspaper .ch is expanding its online offering in collaboration with Moneycab: With its Storyspots.com service, Moneycab provides aggregated news from six Swiss regions, namely Zurich/Schaffhausen, Aargau/Solothurn, Bern/Freiburg/Wallis, Basel, Central Switzerland and Eastern Switzerland. In addition, Moneycab supplies Punkt.ch with a newsfeed for six topic areas relating to the economy. Storyspots.com is based on mash-up technology. The aim is to combine various news sources and present them in an up-to-date manner. According to the press release, the regionalization of the website is intended to continue the regional reporting in the print editions of .ch.

 
Trouble again under the roof of the renowned German weekly magazine Der Spiegel. After editor-in-chief Stefan Aust was forced to resign in a very unpleasant dismissal scenario (see ), the agitator of the Aust affair is now under fire. Allegedly, Spiegel managing director Mario Frank's days are numbered. According to the German magazine Kontakter, the powerful Mitarbeiter KG has turned its back on Frank. Publishing director Matthias Schmolz, who has served alongside Fried von Bismarck as publishing director of Spiegel-Verlag since 2003, is rumored to be his successor. Schmolz is currently responsible for sales marketing, general administration, production and project development. Frank succeeded Karl-Dietrich Seikel at the beginning of 2007 and Spiegel Verlag has not yet officially commented on a change of management. However, Frank's relationship with Mitarbeiter KG is said to have deteriorated rapidly in recent months. Economically, the Spiegel publishing house is doing well, and Frank's critics do not deny his commercial competence.
The publishing house Gruner + Jahr has so far denied the rumors. The co-owner wants Frank to remain in office, G+J CEO Bernd Kundrun told DPA in Hamburg on Monday. Mario Frank enjoys full confidence and is in no way up for discussion, explained G+J CEO Bernd Kundrun on Monday. How much weight this statement carries, however, is unclear in view of Spiegel's special ownership structure. Mitarbeiter KG holds 50.5 percent, G+J 25.5 percent and the Augstein heirs 24 percent of Spiegel-Verlag

Nike makes a big splash in a new commercial: Directed by English star director Guy Ritchie, the two-minute ad features some of the world's best footballers such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Cesc Fabregas, Ronaldinho, Wayne Rooney, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Marco Materazzi, Rafael Marquez and coaching legend Arsene Wenger.
The message conveyed by the clip, launched in time for Euro 08: "Reach your next level". The story is told from the first-person perspective of a young footballer. The viewer experiences how the footballer goes through all the highs and lows of a footballer's life.
The commercial will celebrate its European premiere on April 29 and will be shown on TV and in selected cinemas in Switzerland from April 29. In addition to the TV commercial, from April 28th on
some of the top stars from the commercial will be seen as testimonials.
The "Evolution" commercial was produced by Nike and the 72andSunny agency. It was directed by Guy Ritchie. The music comes from Eagles of Death Metal. The commercial will be shown in 120, 90, 60 and 30-second versions on TV and online at www.nikefootball.com.

 According to a survey commissioned by Tamedia, 59 percent of the population surveyed in the Zurich-Schaffhausen-Thurgau region would award a TV license to Tele Züri and only 16 percent to Tele Top. The picture is different if you only look at those surveyed in Thurgau: Of them, 59 percent want Tele Top. Interestingly, this was not reported by a Tamedia newspaper, but by Sonntagsblick, which apparently received the survey. One can speculate whether Tamedia is trying to avoid the accusation of "corporate journalism" that has been frequently made recently. In March and April, the research institute GFS Bern, which was commissioned to carry out the survey, also found out what the population thinks about radio: If it were up to the population of the greater Zurich area to allocate the three licenses for the Zurich-Glarus area, 55 percent would opt for Radio 24 and 51 percent for Radio Zürisee. 46 percent wanted the station Energy Zürich, which, like Sonntagsblick, belongs to Ringier. Radio 1 received the green light from 30 percent and Radio 105 from 12 percent.
The situation is somewhat different among respondents in Glarus: Here, 72 percent want to see Radio Zürisee licensed, 58 percent Radio 24, 51 percent Energy Zürich, 22 percent Radio 105 and 20 percent Radio 1.
As the survey took place in March and April, there was probably not enough time for the newly launched Radio 1 to become known to the general public. In addition, precisely defined criteria play a role in the tender for the licenses; popularity among listeners or viewers is not one of them. Radio 1 founder Roger Schawinski, interviewed by Sonntagsblick, echoes this sentiment: "The survey is nonsensical. Popularity is not a criterion, otherwise a new station would have no chance at all."

 Federal Councillor Samuel Schmid addressed the assembled members of the industry on Advertising Day and impressed them with a humorous speech. The Minister of Defense skilfully parried the announcement by moderator Frank Baumann, who welcomed Schmid as "half a Federal Councillor": Baumann should allow himself to be elected to the Federal Council, because then he would not even be a second, but only a seventh. Schmid wittily wondered whether he had perhaps only been invited to find out the secret of his party's political posters. His comment was brief: "These posters are striking. That's why they're called that. That's all I'm going to say." He wanted intelligent and clever advertising from the "glamorous advertisers", where he felt he was being taken seriously. As an example, he cited a headline from M&C Saatchi London for the travel agency Lastminute.com: "Surprise the girl in your life. Take her sister to Paris".
Less well received by the Federal Councillor is the advertising for the car he drives privately: On the BMW website it says: "Whatever questions you may have in the course of a day, the new BMW 5 Series Sedan offers an answer." Schmid explained that he asks himself many questions every day: "Which new fighter plane should I buy? How can I get the Swiss to do more sport? Have I done what is necessary to ensure security in our country?" He does not know who is responsible for the BMW advertising - but he can assure you that his car has not yet provided him with the answers to these questions.
Schmid did not just talk about advertising, however, but used the occasion elegantly for a bit of advertising on matters close to his own heart: For Euro 08, for example. But also for a reminder that Parliament and the Federal Council have rejected the initiative "Popular sovereignty instead of propaganda by the authorities". At this point, the Federal Council and advertisers would also meet: Both should start from the responsible citizen. And for advertisers, it is important to bribe the consumer "briefly and truly and legally".

 
Rivella has had a new advertising figure in Germany since Monday. As Werbewoche reported in February (see ), the Swiss cabaret artist Emil Steinberger, who is well-known throughout the German-speaking world, has recently started advertising the milk serum-infused soft drink. The associated campaign was created by Jung von Matt/Limmat. The advertising campaign is designed to be as much about the advertising medium as it is about the product. The backdrop is spartan, the rest is Emil. He also penned the texts for the TV commercials. This is the first time that Emil Steinberger himself has appeared as an advertising medium. However, he has experience as a concept developer and author of TV commercials, and the fact that he is still appearing publicly for a product at the age of 75 is due to the concept of the campaign. "I can get fully involved. I don't have to be an actor, I have to be myself," he is quoted as saying in a Rivella press release. The second reason is simply the product: "Rivella has always accompanied me. On my tour with cabaret readings, however, I realize that Rivella is far too little known in German restaurants."
The campaign is limited to southern Germany, with a focus on Munich and Stuttgart, and is intended to make Rivella better known.

Responsible at Rivella International AG:

Cornelia Marending (Head of International Department), Patrik Marty (Product Manager International). Responsible at Jung von Matt/Limmat: Michael Rottmann, Alexander Jaggy (Creative Direction), Bruce Roberts (Art Direction), Emil Steinberger, Alexander Holtz (Text), Conny Jäger (Graphics), Fabian Röthlisberger, Claudio Gentili (Consulting), Didi Knall, Erasmo Palomba (Art Buying). Production: Peter Hebeisen, Patrick Rohner (photography). Film Production: Peacock, Elena Pedrazzoli. Director: Rolando Colla, camera: Tomi Albrecht. Postproduction: Frame 11. Sound: Jingle Jungle.

  
Swisscom is trying to make full use of the possibilities of Web 2.0: The trilingual business customer platform Swisscom.ch/dialogue was created entirely with the widely used open source blog software "Wordpress" instead of a conventional CMS. As a result, it is equipped with the usual Web 2.0 standards such as categorization, tagging, time-stamp archiving, commenting, RSS, trackback, ping, URL rewrite, widgets and more. The platform serves as a cross-media hub between the customer magazine "Dialogue" and the electronic newsletter and offers interested parties further information and audiovisual content. The digital communications agency Nemuk was responsible for the concept, design and content maintenance. The project was technically implemented by the crossover agency Angelink.