A new position for Ralph Büchi, Chief Executive Officer of Axel Springer Switzerland: In addition to his previous function, he will become President Axel Springer International with immediate effect. He will thus assume responsibility for Axel Springer's activities in Spain, France, Russia, the Czech Republic, Romania and Asia. The managing directors of the subsidiaries in these countries will report directly to Büchi. The changes are part of a reorganization of the Axel Springer International division, as the media group announced. There are also other personnel changes: Julian Deutz, previously CFO of the PIN Group, will be appointed CFO Axel Springer International in February 2008 and will be responsible for the commercial management of all of Axel Springer's international activities. Ralph Büchi and Julian Deutz will report to CEO Mathias Döpfner. According to Döpfner, "internationalization and digitization" are the driving forces behind the growth of his Group.
Patrick Wehrmann, previously CFO/COO of the Magazines and International division, will become Commercial Publishing Director of the new Bild Group and Magazines division as of February 1, 2008.
 

  Out-of-home advertiser APG opens the competition for Poster of the Year. Last year, 36 different poster subjects were chosen as "Poster of the Week" in e-votings. Now it's time to vote for the "Poster of the Year". Votes can be cast at Apg.ch. The competition runs from January 23 to February 22, 2008, and the creator of the winning poster will receive a trophy. Participants in the e-voting will not go away empty-handed either: The first prize is a wellness weekend at the Panorama Resort & Spa in Feusisberg, the second prize is a meal at the Kunststuben restaurant in Küsnacht ZH, and the third prize is a Kuoni voucher worth CHF 300.
APG has been showing all major Swiss poster campaigns on the Internet since 2002. There are now around 6,500 subjects in the collection.

Promotion The Publisuissini collection campaign ends on January 31, 2008. Publisuisse is giving away a full HD TV flat screen, a table football set and other football prizes for full albums. For all those who have not yet completed the album: Publisuisse invites you to the online auction. Anyone who logs on to Publisuissini.ch at lunchtime on January 31 can bid live for the stickers they are looking for. The important thing is to collect Publisuissini-Euros. These have been available on the Publisuisse website since January 17. It's worth taking part.

Football
FC Basel wants to become champions once again with professional marketing and is working with Favo to achieve this. 
Football is a very emotional affair. Hinrik Wachsmuth has also realized this "as never before with an assignment" since the CD of Basel-based Favo has been working for FC Basel. The agency has been supporting its city club with smaller services for some time. Favo has now been the official agency of FC Basel since January. This is a novelty in Switzerland, because although the matches of the top professional clubs, including participation in the Champions League, involve annual budgets of 30 million Swiss francs, their spectacles have so far mostly been marketed in a more or less amateurish manner. Although the clubs have full-time marketing staff, the expertise of advertising strategists and creatives has been dispensed with. FCB, together with its marketing manager Numa Frosshard, now wants to change this. Football as an event for everyoneWith 20,000 annual tickets, the "Joggeli" is already well utilized by Swiss standards. But the new stadium would also have room for more people. Favo has therefore launched an initial campaign with the headline "Reserve your regular seat". The idea is that football matches are exciting sporting events. But they could also be stylized as a social event. The club around the illustrious patron Gisela Oeri should thus be opened up to other groups than just sports fans. To this end, Hinrik Wachsmuth and his creative team want to "strengthen FCB as a brand" and develop various measures to make the matches even more of an event for everyone.
 
Favo already has various ideas on how the two large screens in the stadium could create more atmosphere. The players' run-in is accompanied by an animated team line-up. At a free kick, there are musical and visual jingles.
Another task is the emotional connection to the team. In the past, FCB players with real local names like Karli Odermatt or Hakan Yakin had an "innate" relationship with their city. Today, almost all players are bought in from abroad. So that they not only score goals but also attract more fans, these stars have to be "sold" to their fans as local favorites. 
The agency relies on an "attitude", which is also implemented visually in the various advertising subjects. "We are number 1" is the proud claim. This is not quite true in the current championship, but advertising thrives on beautiful promises. The positioning also goes back to the fact that FC Basel was one of the first clubs in Switzerland to be founded in 1893, two years before the Swiss Football Association.
The positioning as "number 1" is made easier in Basel because, unlike in Zurich, for example, the club can unite all its fans behind it, whereas GC and FCZ have to share their supporters on the Limmat.
Zurich "strangers "The fact that 1,500 people from Zurich have an annual pass for Basel as "strangers" is a joke, which the Favo also honored with a special poster "in the forbidden city". The provocation in Zurich was picked up by the commuter newspaper 20 Minuten and has since been a topic on the internet forums of both FCB and the Zurich clubs. However, FCZ does not want to counter with a similar poster campaign in Basel. On the other hand, the reigning champions are also considering calling in an agency, but then for a national campaign.
The posters were also particularly well received by the players pictured: all of them wanted to order prints for their own use. There is a special offer for fans with three posters. This is sold for 25 francs in a limited edition of 1,893 copies - the year FCB was founded. "On the first day, we received an order every four minutes," says Wachsmuth, delighted with this initial success for FC Basel. And the championship is far from over. In any case, the agency already has a very special idea ready in case the customer becomes champion.
Andreas Panzeri

 
Music Swisscom has found its karaoke star. The makers are delighted. They can look back on a successful campaign.  
The participants in the Swisscom competition had one advantage over other candidates in conventional karaoke shows. The amateur singers were able to practice until they were satisfied with their performance and only then send in their film. Despite the opportunity to avoid vocal embarrassment, the majority of the participants sang straight from the horse's mouth, which must have made the audience smile. Whether as soloists, in duets or as a group: the singers in the Swisscom karaoke competition were an amusing bunch of musicians. Looking back: Before Christmas, Swisscom launched an online karaoke competition. The aim: to promote the new Bluewin DSL 20 000 Internet access, which allows users to surf the Internet at express speed. Streams such as videos on YouTube should no longer stutter, music and e-mail attachments should be downloaded promptly. And of course: Online karaoke should also be child's play. Amateur singers could take part in the competition until January 15. The creators of the campaign chose the disco classic "Love is in the Air" (1978) by John Paul Young as the song.
Swisscom mobilizes the masses The karaoke idea was very well received by the target audience in German-speaking Switzerland. According to Swisscom, a total of 750 videos had been uploaded to the specially created karaoke platform Swisscom-karaoke.ch by the closing date. 260,000 people watched the films. The site was accessed two million times.
To conclude the campaign, the Bern-based advertising agency Contexta created a TV commercial that summarized the performance of the "love singers". The final film is entirely "user-generated", i.e. it consists of footage of the users who immortalized their performance with the help of webcams and cell phones. The spot is accompanied by an advertising campaign with a hidden object picture showing the many karaoke singers in action. The campaign is very similar to the autograph card of the Federal Council, which did not take part in the popular competition, even though Federal Councillor Micheline Calmy-Rey is a talented singer in the government.
The Jöö factor is decisiveThe winners of the competition have been announced. An expert jury consisting of Roman Camenzind (music producer), Jubeira Bachmann (Viva presenter), the singer Gustave and Bruno Bondi awarded prizes to the best videos. In addition to originality and vocal quality, attention was also paid to the cinematic realization. The winner was "Sandymove" ahead of "Los Ballerinos" and "The Heart". The Audience Award went to "Playmobil Love Story". Those interested can find out more about the judging and watch a best-of of the karaoke videos on Bruno Bondi's podcast. In it, the self-proclaimed Podfather explains why the Jöö effect was decisive for the win.
Christian Lüscher

 The two organizations Berne Declaration (EvB) and Pro Natura have presented their anti-award and chosen what they consider to be the most irresponsible companies of the year. With the Public Eye, the organizations want to create a "counter-publicity to the World Economic Forum (WEF)" in Davos, they write in a press release. The so-called "Public Eye Global Award" went to the nuclear company Areva S.A. The French state-owned company mines uranium in northern Niger under "scandalous conditions", according to the accusation by EvB and Pro Natura. Glencore International received the Swiss award. The two organizations accuse the commodities group of "unscrupulous and non-transparent" conduct and castigate its activities in Colombia.
This year, for the first time, an audience award was presented via the Internet. This anti-award also went to Areva. EvB and Pro Natura also awarded a positive prize: it went to Hess Natur for an organic cotton project in Burkina Faso carried out jointly with Helvetas.

 
Interview: Basler Zeitung Medien (BZM) is not pleased with the new account bonus and is considering legal action. CEO Beat Meyer explains why this issue affects more than just BZM. 
WW: Mr. Meyer, does the term «account credit» mean anything to you? Beat Meyer: Yes, it’s a new discount that P Basel is offering its customers. Advertisers brought it to our attention.
And what about P itself? Not yet.
What is the BZM’s position on the rebate? We naturally oppose it, because this rebate reduces our official rate for customers. However, since P Basel grants the rebate for bookings in all categories, including leasehold properties, the measure does not affect only the BZM.
In principle, though, the publishers might not care. That’s because P Basel pays the bonus out of its own pocket—more specifically, from the brokerage commission (VK) it receives from the publishers. So the publishers receive the same amount from P. Correct. But this means it will be cheaper for customers to make arrangements through P Basel in the future. Now that BZM has become an independent entity, we therefore view the bonus as a countermeasure by P Basel: It wants to prevent customers from switching channels—away from P and toward our BZM Werbe AG.
At least this way, BZM can save on the 1.5 percent direct booking commission (DBE) it offers to customers who book directly.True, but the commission we pay to P for the ads it acquires is considerably higher than the DBE we offer our customers.
 
Even higher than the 3 percent account bonus? Yes.
Has the account bonus had any noticeable effect yet? That’s hard to say at the moment. However, we had commitments from customers who wanted to book directly with us as soon as we started operating independently—but who ultimately didn’t switch. To us, that’s an indication that the account bonus is having an effect. So far, though, no customer has cited this as a direct reason for their decision.
PubliGroupe holds a 37 percent stake in BZM and is therefore interested in BZM performing well…. You'd think so, yes.
At the same time, the bonus reduces BZM’s earnings. Has this discrepancy already been discussed by the BZM Board of Directors? Yes. We asked P for a statement weeks ago, but have not yet received a response.
So how is BZM responding? With customer-specific offers on the market. And we are considering legal action.
Will you undercut the 3 percent bonus? Of course, we don’t want to do that. But we tailor our services to individual customer needs and offer cross-media packages that P cannot provide. In any case, we’re very interested in encouraging customers to switch to BZM Werbe AG.
Regarding the legal aspects: There is a contract between P and BZM regarding the advertising commission. Does this contract require P to apply the original rates for BZM publications in the market? Yes, that is correct.
So, are you considering filing a civil lawsuit for breach of contract? That's one option.
Is the Competition Commission also an issue? We're looking into it.
Interview: Markus Knöpfli
 
See also
An Incentive for Direct Bookers

 
Advertisements: With a new «account credit,» P pays its customers up to 3 percent for all ads they book through the P branch in Basel. 
Over the past two years, numerous publishers have turned their backs on Publicitas and switched to managing their own advertising. Many also followed Tamedia’s example and offered their clients a direct booking fee (DBE). Their aim is to encourage clients to place their ad orders directly rather than through Publicitas. By doing so, self-managed publishers save on the brokerage commission they would otherwise have to pay to Publicitas. But Publicitas struck back. The 1.5 percent handling fee it introduced with the NZZ a year ago was a first counteroffensive. Now it is launching a second, more far-reaching attack: In Basel, where Basler Zeitung Medien (BZM) will transition fully to in-house management at the start of the new year, the local P branch has been signing new «cooperation agreements» with its clients since the fall; Werbewoche has obtained a copy of these agreements. In these agreements, P Basel promises its clients an «account bonus» of up to 3 percent if they place their 2008 ad orders «at the same level as before—similar to 2007» through the Basel P branch. The bonus is based on revenue: Those who place more than 80,000 Swiss francs net annually through P Basel receive 0.5 percent; those who place orders exceeding 100,000 Swiss francs receive 1 percent; for a net client volume of 250’000 francs or more, the bonus is already 2 percent, and for half a million francs or more, it is 3 percent. In short: The bonus is more attractive than any DBE.
«The account bonus is a new product for our loyal customers,» says Jürg Räber, director of P Basel. He won’t say how many customers have signed up. He’ll only say this much: His branch is responding to the «fierce competition in Basel» with the «loyalty bonus.» His superior, Thomas Bargetzi, Head of Sales Switzerland, is more explicit: BZM is attempting to win over as many advertising clients as possible «with massive price concessions» and to «drive Publicitas out of the market through discriminatory measures.» For example, Bargetzi says, BZM abruptly stopped offering free subscriptions to major advertisers with budgets over P without prior notice.
What’s particularly interesting about the new offer: According to the agreement, P Basel bases the rebate on the total volume of print advertising booked through it. In other words: Anyone who was already a P Basel customer and now places ads through them totaling at least 80,000 Swiss francs net per year in any (Swiss) print publication or any ad package is eligible for the bonus. It does not matter whether the placements are in in-house titles or P-leased titles. Räber expressly confirms this. However, there appear to be differing opinions on this within P. ’The P offer applies to placements in the BaZ and the Baslerstab and is the competitive response to similar offers from the publisher,« explains Bargetzi. »Placements through P Basel are therefore not generally cheaper than elsewhere.« It should be noted, however, that the text of the agreement contains no restriction to BZM titles.
That is precisely why this offer raises questions. For example, whether the bonus is still offered by other P-regions. Bargetzi, who heads the Zurich region himself, does not provide a concrete answer to this. Urs Donatsch and Moreno Cavaliere, the directors of the P-regions in Western Switzerland and the Mittelland, on the other hand, are unfamiliar with the term «account bonus.» Both assure us that they do not offer any other type of (loyalty) discount, regardless of its name. «We represent the publishers» official prices and offers in the market,« Donatsch asserts. And Cavaliere adds: »We grant any special conditions only in consultation with the publishers, because otherwise P would have to pay for them. However, today’s commissions no longer allow for such practices, and it would never occur to me to give up any of that.”
This raises the question of whether the bonus was agreed upon with the publishers; after all, they have the final say on rates. One thing is clear: BZM was not informed by P (see interview). Bargetzi comments: «If the publisher wants to change or make its rate structure more flexible, Publicitas is free to follow this market trend and submit a corresponding offer.» In any case, the bonus is «fully covered by P Basel.» And Bargetzi does not consider it necessary to inform the other independently operated and leased publishers, since, in his view, the bonus applies only to orders in BZM titles.
But the text of the agreement is clear: The bonus applies to «all advertising orders» booked through P Basel. Bargetzi either seems unaware of this or does not want to openly communicate this aspect. He dismisses the notion that existing P Basel clients might, due to the new attractive terms, choose to allocate their entire print budget through the branch at the «Knee of the Rhine» in the future. «Pure price-based enticements are not enough to optimally meet customers» growing needs,” he reassures. And he certainly wants nothing to do with the idea of a deliberate strategy to turn P Basel—in response to the in-house production and DBE trend among publishers—into a kind of P-internal clearing house for major clients and a national advertising discounter. “P Basel is not a national classifieds discounter and will not become one,” he states. The recently announced expansion of P Basel’s staff—notably despite the loss of the BZM in-house production contract—has a different reason.
It remains to be seen whether customers and publishers see it that way. And what do independent recruitment agencies think of P’s 3 percent commission? It has been less than a year since the Competition Commission fined PubliGroupe 2.5 million francs for «abusing its dominant market position» and «hindered and discriminated against» other agencies (in the Commission’s own words). The commission could now be viewed as a new tool for discrimination.
Markus Knöpfli
 
 
 
See also 
«We are considering legal action»
 

 
Gambling: The Zurich-based advertising agency Bluespirit is promoting the new «Benissimo» lottery ticket.
We all know that feeling when you buy a «Benissimo» ticket: that tingling sensation in your stomach. Even if the ticket turns out to be a loser, it doesn’t matter. While there’s no instant prize ranging from 10 to 250,000 francs, the chances of winning the grand prize are still intact for all ’Benissimo« entry tickets. Forty percent of all tickets qualify for participation in the »Benissimo« TV show on Swiss television. If you’re selected, the odds of winning aren’t half bad. Yet the »Benissimo« ticket has lost favor with buyers in recent years. Although it remains one of the most popular games of chance in Switzerland alongside Swiss Lotto, the market has stagnated. EuroMillions is very popular, partly because the prize amounts are significantly higher. The national lottery operator Swisslos has now launched a comprehensive campaign aimed at raising awareness of the »Benissimo« ticket. In addition to the chance to win instant prizes and the top prize of one million francs, there’s now even a new bonus prize of 350,000 francs up for grabs. The Zurich-based advertising agency Bluespirit captures this lucky twist with a simple idea. In two TV commercials, »Benissimo’ ticket buyers are given a task: If you want to win more, you have to carry more.
In its strategic planning for the campaign, Bluespirit drew on the psychological insights of communication researchers John Rossiter and Larry Percy. In short, the two psychologists« theory posits that behavior is strongly driven by the positive or negative experience one might expect. The lottery ticket is a special case in this regard. As Alban Haas of Bluespirit explains, the positive motivation to buy outweighs the negative one. »The buyer is willing to accept a negative outcome. A losing ticket has no negative impact on the buyer’s behavior,” says Haas.
Together with the Viennese marketing and advertising psychologists at Resiæ Psychology, Bluespirit has further refined the underlying factors and triggers for both initial and repeat purchases of lottery tickets. Based on the theory and data provided by the specialists from Vienna, the company decided to avoid certain stereotypes. Messages such as «You’ll get cars and houses if you hit the jackpot» or «No more early mornings if you hit the jackpot» were omitted. Alban Haas: «With Benissimo, visualizing winnings is less effective because the EuroMillions prize amounts are higher. Highlighting emotions is more likely to lead to success.»
The surprising presentation of oversized tickets is intended to highlight the now-higher prize amount. The ticket format is a central element of the campaign and is consistently implemented across all channels, from TV and print to over 6,000 point-of-sale locations. In addition to the campaign, Bluespirit has also given the tickets a new design. The TV commercials were produced by Plan B and directed by Chris Niemeyer. The campaign launched immediately following the 79th episode of ’Benissimo« on January 19.
Christian Lüscher
Ratings Hit with «Benissimo» Flops
You can still become a millionaire. And you can do it on Swiss TV’s Saturday night show «Benissimo.» All you have to do is mail in your entry form. Seven winning tickets are drawn during each episode. Host Beni Thurnherr calls the lucky winners directly from the set. The surprise, the thrill, and ultimately the joy of the winners on the phone are among the show’s main attractions. The entertainment show «Benissimo» reaches about one million viewers (60 percent market share) and has thus been SF’s most successful ratings hit since 1992. One million Swiss francs are raffled off five times a year. (cl)

 
Branding Ramstein Ehinger Associates supported ÖKK Basel in the development of the Sympany umbrella brand. 
Effective January 2008, ÖKK Basel sold its rights to the ÖKK brand to its former partner and adopted an entirely new brand and corporate strategy. The newly formed insurance group now operates throughout Switzerland under the umbrella brand Sympany. The advertising campaign to launch the new name was created by Spillmann Felser Leo Burnett. The conceptual foundations and brand design were developed by the branding and corporate identity experts at Ramstein Ehinger Associates (REA), who served as the lead agency responsible for the development and implementation process. As a first step, REA worked with group management to develop a forward-looking positioning and three brand values critical to success. At its core, Sympany is intended to represent a personable, target-group-oriented, and straightforward insurance group that is «committed to the values of partnership, dynamism, and value creation.».
When customers are asked, the name Sympany evokes the intended associations and perfectly combines «Symphony» and «Company.» The name, which is available worldwide and eligible for registration, was developed through a multi-stage process. The circle, derived from the logo, serves as the fundamental design motif for the entire visual brand identity.
Andreas Panzeri

Direct Marketing: Swiss Post’s Advertising Agencies Consulting department organizes agency-specific initiatives twice a year as part of its self-promotion efforts. In a guerrilla marketing campaign, Swiss Post employees visited advertising agencies this time with a mobile chestnut stand, in keeping with the season and the occasion. Swiss Post believes that chestnuts are considered very healthy and are therefore the ideal snack for stressed-out advertising professionals. A total of 15 Zurich advertising agencies were visited, and a chestnut stand was set up on short notice in front of each one. The 30-year-old charcoal-fired chestnut roaster was fired up, chestnuts were roasted with plenty of patience and care, and then handed out for an hour. The agency employees were thrilled: 70 kilograms of chestnuts, 150 contacts, and 4 burned fingers are the results of this extraordinary Swiss Post campaign.

 The Council of States’ Committee on Political Affairs (SPK) does not want to dictate to political parties how much they may spend on advertising ahead of national elections. In its view, this would constitute overregulation and paternalism. The committee therefore rejected a motion by former Council of States member Pierre Bonhôte (SP/NE). Bonhôte had justified his parliamentary initiative by arguing that limiting spending on election advertising would be easier to enforce than setting a cap on party donations.
However, the majority of the commission believes that such a restriction would be patronizing toward those voters who are not swayed by excessive campaigning. The influence of election campaigns should not be overestimated, the SPK announced on Wednesday.
The minority of the SPK that supports the measure believes that a cap could prevent the free formation of opinion from being undermined because individual parties have a disproportionate amount of money at their disposal for elections.