The investment company JP Morgan Asset Management has appointed Marc-André Buchter as its new Head of Marketing & Communications for Switzerland. The 44-year-old will succeed Yvonne Reinhard-Baumann. She will continue to be part of the communications team after maternity leave and will support Buchter in implementing the strategy. Buchter was previously responsible for local marketing at DWS Investments and Deutsche Asset Management Switzerland. The business economist and marketing planner has many years of specialist and management experience in the areas of marketing and communication at financial companies and banks, as detailed in a press release.
JP Morgan Asset Management is part of the global financial services group JP Morgan Chase & Co. As at December 31, 2007, the company managed client assets of around 1,200 billion US dollars and had 40 branches worldwide.

 
Nutrition Knorrli turns 60 and Unilever launches a new nutrition and exercise program to celebrate. 
Knorrli has been helping "housewives and mothers" in the kitchen with help and advice since 1948. Since then, the little red man has also become increasingly popular as a children's toy. It is therefore only natural that Unilever, the current owner of Knorr, should celebrate the anniversary with a campaign for children and families. Under the motto "fit & zwäg", Knorrli is encouraging a wide range of activities with the aim of introducing families and mothers in particular to the topic of "healthy eating and exercise". Suisse Balance, the "nutrition movement" of the Swiss Society for Nutrition, welcomes the program "because it offers concrete and easy-to-understand support".
With "fit und zwäg", awareness of a balanced diet is promoted, for example with new recipe ideas on the website www.knorr.ch. Mothers can also share their favorite recipes here. There are also tips for family outings where more and regular exercise can be integrated into the static daily routine with lots of fun and enjoyment. 
The highlight of the program will be the opening of the "Knorrli Adventure Trail" around Lake Trübsee in Engelberg/Titlis in early summer. The entertaining trail introduces families "to the key values of a healthy diet and exercise in nature in a fun way", as project manager Nadia Nabholz at Unilever promises. The concept for the adventure trail was developed internally at Unilever in Thayngen together with medical experts and the Ravensburger agency.
For them, the fact that a third of the Swiss population is overweight is "alarming". For children, the situation is "dramatic" in that around a fifth of children are already overweight. This has devastating consequences: most of them will also be overweight in adulthood. This results in secondary diseases such as diabetes or cardiovascular problems - if these people ever reach Knorrli's age.
The fathers of KnorrliThe Knorrli advertising character was only added to the Knorr brand over the course of its 100-year history. The "friendly mountain spirit" with a round head modeled on a soup plate was conceived in 1948 by the painter and graphic artist Hans Tomamichel on the initiative of Knorr's general management. In future, Knorrli - and no longer Knorr - was to be a likeable figure to promote the new products from the former soup kitchen.
This company was founded by Carl Heinrich Knorr from Heilbronn. The "visionary and thoroughbred entrepreneur" was the first to offer the working class wholesome, quickly prepared, affordable and delicious food.
After early successes, Knorr expanded into Switzerland in 1907. In Thayngen, he converted an empty shoe factory into a production facility for Knorr soup sausage, soup seasoning and bouillon cubes. Ten years later, the company already employed over a hundred people.
Due to a lack of supplies from Germany, the company in Thayngen became independent in the course of the Second World War. Knorr developed into a Swiss quality brand and subsequently became a pioneer in what is now known as the convenience food sector of everyday nutrition.
Andreas Panzeri

Ash Wednesday marked the end of the fifth season for many. In addition to confetti, Guggenmusik and costumes, the carnival revellers in the small Mittelland town of Olten once again had a carnival newspaper to cheer them up this year. But only briefly: the paper is called "30 Sekunden" and its design is based on the Tamedia title, which takes 19 minutes and 30 seconds longer to read. The distribution is also inspired by the commuter newspapers: "30 Sekunden" was available in nine boxes at the start of the carnival celebrations, according to the Olten Tagblatt. Incidentally, the people of Olten have the 16-page "30 Sekunden" to thank for the so-called Fröscheweid guild and some members of the Pfeifer clique as well as old campaigners from the predecessor publication "Biiszange". In terms of advertising, however, the Olten Fasnachtsblatt cannot quite keep up with the cash cow from Tamedia. This may be the reason why the Zurich media company is smiling rather than showing the teeth of its in-house lawyers: "We will not be taking any legal action against the Olten Fasnächtler in this case," says Tamedia spokesperson Christoph Zimmer. However, protecting the copyright and trademark rights of 20 Minuten is still important to the media company. In particular, commercially motivated infringements of these copyright and trademark rights will be combated. So the people of Olten don't have carte blanche either, as Zimmer continued: "If this happens again, we would intervene with Obernaar Adi the First, who has assumed power in Olten according to the carnival newspaper."

 
Distribution Thanks to Blick, Swiss Post can offer comprehensive, addressed early-morning delivery throughout German-speaking Switzerland. Is it now trying to force publishers to their knees? Michel Kunz, Head of PostLogistics/PostMail and thus Swiss Post’s chief logistics officer, weighs in. 
WW: After Ringier was awarded the contract for *Blick*’s early-morning delivery, Swiss Post solicited bids from various early-morning delivery companies affiliated with the publishers. Will there be collaboration with some of them? Michel Kunz: Not in the initial phase. We will launch the Blick early-morning delivery service ourselves. We can also rely on our own staff from the daytime delivery service—at least as a temporary solution. However, collaborations with individual distribution organizations of the publishers are possible at a later stage.
What's the situation in Bern—will Bevo, the 50-percent Swiss Post subsidiary, be included in the *Blick* early-morning delivery service from the start? Yes, Bevo will handle early-morning delivery in the Bern area.
Some publishers are outraged by the postal service’s new addressed early-morning delivery service. They say it’s unacceptable for the postal service to first raise newspaper delivery rates and then use the additional revenue to compete with publishers in early-morning delivery—and to do so with federal subsidies, no less.(laughs) It would be too good to be true if we had a financial cushion from newspaper transportation. But that’s not the case. We raised the rates because, as is well known, the federal government reduced its subsidy for newspaper transportation rates from 80 million to 30 million francs. But the rate increase doesn’t even make up for 40 percent of the 50 million francs we’re losing. In short: Despite the rate increase, we’re now earning less than before.
What do you think of the following theory: With its addressed early delivery service, the Post aims to make life difficult for Zuvo and its partners until they give in, agree to cooperate with the Post, and, for example, acquire a minority stake in Postmail AG. Power games are not our intention. The reason we’re entering the addressed early-delivery market is different: With the elimination of some subsidies, standard daytime delivery is becoming more expensive. Consequently, the price difference between same-day delivery and the more expensive early delivery will narrow. However, this will make it more attractive for publishers to include magazines in their own early delivery services in the future—volumes that will then be lost to the Post’s same-day delivery service. It is this development that prompted us to move into addressed early delivery. Our goal is to be able to offer a comprehensive distribution service from a single source—addressed and unaddressed early delivery as well as daytime delivery.
Let me put it another way: Is Deutsche Post generally open to publishers taking a stake in Postmail AG? We haven’t gotten that far in our thinking yet. For now, we’re waiting to see how the publishers react. After all, we can imagine including other titles in the early delivery service in addition to *Der Blick*. We’re currently in talks with various publishers.
How large has the price difference been so far between addressed early delivery and same-day delivery? And how large has it been since New Year’s Day? It’s impossible to generalize. This is because, under Swiss Post’s previously subsidized pricing, the weight of the shipment had a much greater impact on the rate for same-day delivery than for early delivery. However, in many cases, early delivery cost about 10 rappen more per item. The price, which is no longer subsidized, has now approached that level.
Interview with Markus Knöpfli
 
 
 
 
 
Not new territory for the Post—except for Bevo
In Bern, Swiss Post also provides early-morning delivery services in other areas. For example, it supplies the «Urschweiz» newspaper to its delivery personnel as part of its early-morning delivery service. “And we’ve been organizing early-morning deliveries for individual publishers for years now, for example in the canton of Aargau,” says Michel Kunz. In French-speaking Switzerland, Swiss Post holds a majority stake in Epsilon, a company that offers early-morning delivery services to publishers from La Chaux-de-Fonds to Geneva. (mk)

 
Kultur Ruf Lanz visualizes why fans at Club Abart are closer to the rock stars. 
The Zurich club Abart at Giesshübel station is the living room of Swiss rock lovers. Even Campino and the legendary Toten Hosen have rocked the small stage at Abart. To mark the club's 10th anniversary, Ruf Lanz is dramatizing the fact that you can get much closer to the stars at Abart than at concerts in the big stadiums with a visually compelling campaign.
Andreas Panzeri

 
Market research SBB, Exelcat and Swissfruit placed the most popular advertisements in the Swiss print media last year. 
In collaboration with the market research institute Demoscope, Publimedia presents readers of Werbewoche with an extract of the results from the Advertising Index (AX-Print) five times a year. This index is a module of the Market Radar and measures the popularity of advertisements. The three subjects that performed best in the entire sample, i.e. in all four target groups, are shown under the title "Top Three". (ww)The Advertising Index for print advertising provides binding performance data on advertising as a whole year after year. The 500 interviewees per survey wave are psychographically calibrated. Their value orientations range from north (progressive) to south (conservative) and from west (outward-looking, materialistic) to east (inward-looking, idealistic). This shows time and time again that the different target groups are addressed very differently by the advertising campaigns. Further information on the Advertising Index and the Market Radar can be obtained from Demoscope by calling 041 375 40 00 or via www.demoscope.ch, which provides planning support with the Advertising Index, the Market Radar and the Print Advertising Monitor (PAM)
Publimedia. (ww)

 
In Geneva, 20,000 households had to do without Swiss television channels between Monday evening and Wednesday afternoon. Due to a problem with the transmitter on Geneva's local mountain, the Salève, the digital signal normally transmitted over the airwaves from there was not broadcast. This affected those households that only had DVB-T, digital terrestrial reception. Swiss channels could still be received via satellite and cable. As television announced on Wednesday, numerous complaints were received.

 The alleged interest group "Free Internet" is causing a stir among bloggers. The group wants to campaign for free Internet access, it writes on its website. Every Swiss person spends 600 francs a year on an Internet connection, which is too much. The group wants to emphasize this demand, for example, with a speeding campaign in Zurich's Niederdorf district, which is said to have taken place last Saturday (). However, the blogger is now speculating that it could be a viral campaign by a company. The bloggers suspect Sunrise. Incidentally, the first hint that it could be the telecoms company was given by Klartext editor-in-chief Nick Lüthi. When asked by Werbewoche, Sunrise spokesman Konrad Stokar said that he "couldn't say anything" about the whole matter. When asked explicitly whether Sunrise could deny that it had anything to do with "Free Internet", the answer was the same: "We can't say anything about it". The Swiss Metablog received similar information. The fact that Sunrise neither denies nor confirms this naturally fuels speculation in the blogosphere.
An inquiry by Werbewoche to "Free Internet" remained unanswered for the time being.  
It has since been established by bloggers that the website used to belong to Sunrise and is now run by an employee of the advertising agency Futurecom. The matter therefore appears to be clear.
This may not please everyone. A mail from "Free Internet" to various bloggers sees the
Swiss Metablog as "spam" and therefore unfair competition. The verdict on this is devastating: "And don't give me 'guerrilla' or 'viral' or even 'social' marketing. No, dear people, this is neither guerrilla nor viral and certainly not social marketing, but quite simply spam. Lies and fraud." And the Sauglattismus blogger poses the following question in a comment on the Metablog: "But don't these advertisers realize that consumers don't like being taken for a ride?".  
 

 
TV advertising The most expensive commercials are shown during the TV broadcast of the Super Bowl. 
Companies paid an average of 2.7 million dollars to be able to broadcast their 30-second advertising messages on US television during the Super Bowl football final. Every year, countless US companies vie for the opportunity to broadcast their advertising messages during the eight hours of live coverage. This is despite the fact that the price of a 30-second spot has risen by around 100,000 dollars a year since 1999. The background to this is the reach of the nation's biggest sporting event, which is estimated to have attracted 90 million viewers to the screen again this year. In an attempt to outdo each other, advertisers spare neither expense nor effort to put themselves in the limelight. The lavishly produced commercials therefore often trump the actual show on the pitch. Some of the Super Bowl commercials of recent years have now achieved cult status and are passed around as hot commodities. The online sector is also trying to capitalize on this phenomenon. The film portal iFilm, for example, attracts users to its site by providing what it claims is the largest collection of Super Bowl spots.
"The best thing that can happen to a commercial is for it to achieve cult status," says Volker Nickel from the German Advertising Association. However, such phenomena are almost exclusively limited to the US advertising landscape; the TV sector in Germany - very similar to that in Switzerland - is not as dominant as in the United States, says Nickel. In terms of prices, the situation here in Germany is also still far removed from the US price level, despite the concentration on major events: "In the case of such major events, we have to pay around 160,000 to 180,000 euros for a 21-second spot". (elk)

 Lighting artist Gerry Hofstetter, commissioned by Credit Suisse, will illuminate landmarks and nearby Credit Suisse buildings in all 26 cantons for 45 minutes—similar to halftime in a soccer game. According to the press release, the campaign will run through March 7 under the slogan «Soccer Makes Switzerland Shine.» During the first few minutes, the structures will be illuminated in the colors and coats of arms of their respective cantons, followed by colorful soccer images.As a long-standing partner of the Swiss national soccer teams, Credit Suisse aims to use this campaign to get the public in the spirit of the upcoming European Championship and to encourage them to support the national team, the press release adds.
Credit Suisse is organizing a variety of other activities in the coming weeks leading up to the kickoff of the European Championship on June 7. For example, starting April 16, it will be giving away around 200,000 soccer balls at its branches, and on May 18, it will give fans the opportunity to meet national team players and the coach in person.

 
The pre-election marathon on "Super Tuesday" is the preliminary climax of an unprecedented material battle for the US presidential elections. Last year, the candidates and the nominee raised a total of 582 million dollars in donations. Four years ago, the total at the same time was 257 million dollars, eight years ago it was "only" 171 million dollars. These are the figures from the financial reports that the candidates had to submit to the US Federal Election Commission (FEC). The majority of these sums were spent on expensive television advertising. The Democrats now have a clear advantage: by the end of 2007, their candidates had received a total of 317 million dollars in donations, while the Republicans had received 265 million dollars. The uncrowned fundraising kings of this election season are the Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Clinton raised a total of 115 million dollars in 2007, Obama 102 million dollars. By comparison, the Republicans: Mitt Romney raised the highest sum with 88 million dollars, including 35 million dollars from his personal fortune, followed by Rudolph Giuliani in second place with 61 million dollars and John McCain in third place with just 41 million dollars.
However, the submitted financial reports also reveal a few nice details from the election campaign. For example, Hillary Clinton spent 54,800 dollars on parking fees alone in 2007, and Barack Obama invested 997,000 dollars in letter postage. However, the material battle does not end there. Experts estimate that the candidates will have spent one to two billion dollars by the time of the presidential election on November 4, 2008. Did someone say plutocracy?

In the eyes of the Brüngger Bachmann Dialog agency, communication in the automotive industry in Switzerland is hardly any different, and consumers are not given a clear and differentiating image of the brand. The agency therefore developed a campaign for Saab Switzerland that avoids placing the vehicles at the center as usual. The focus is on the dramatization of specific model characteristics such as thrust, grip or biopower, which clearly differentiate the new model from other cars. The entire campaign underlines Saab's innovative strength, according to a press release from Brüngger Bachmann Dialog. 
The subjects, which for the first time include advertisements with inserts, contain calls to action that are intended to lead to dialog. For example, the consumer is asked to arrange a test drive or order model literature.
The print subjects are accompanied online by landing pages and banner advertising. Mailings to interested parties and customers as well as activities at the POS support the new appearance.
 
 
 
 

Responsible at Saab Switzerland:
Mario Klaus (Marketing Manager), Nathalie Busslinger (Advertising Manager). Responsible at Brüngger Bachmann Dialog: Remo Bachmann (CD), Martin Steiner (Strategic Planning), Manuela Eigenmann (Graphics), Mathias Zimmermann (Text), Liv Bianchet (Consulting).