The Altenrhein-based agency at the airport is launching a new campaign for Regus, a provider of innovative workplace solutions. With an acquisition and incentive concept, the most important real estate agents are to be motivated to cooperate. Regus offers fully equipped offices, conference rooms, business lounges and numerous business and concierge services in 70 countries and 400 cities, and The Phone House Telecom from Germany is also having a campaign implemented by Agentur am Flughafen: In order to optimize the direct mailing strategy of its Handyscout platform, which specializes in dialogue measures, specialists from the agency in eastern Switzerland were flown to Hamburg and are now developing various campaign ideas. The first results should already be visible in the Christmas business.
In addition, the agency at the airport designed a ski hut party for Vision Studios in Balgach, Switzerland, for the second time to mark the Austrian national holiday, according to a press release. Celebrities such as multiple ski world champion Marc Girardelli were also in attendance.

 Cablecom does not want to remove any more channels from its analog channel offering in 2008. As of November 27, the cable television provider is also expanding its digital offering with high-definition television (HDTV). Cablecom is waiving the option agreed with the price watchdog to move up to four channels from analog to digital programming next year, the company announced on Tuesday. The company had underestimated the importance of conventional analog television. Digitization was a process that could not be imposed by force and it had now been recognized that analogue television could also be a competitive advantage. Cablecom had caused great indignation each time it switched off TV channels.
The launch of the HDTV service, originally announced for the beginning of October, will now take place on November 27. Initially, customers of the digital service will be able to receive three channels in high-definition quality: Sat.1 HD, Pro7 HD and the SRG channel HD Suisse, where the European Football Championship will also be broadcast next year.
However, according to Head of Marketing Frank Boller, next-generation television is still struggling with teething troubles. Teletext, for example, is faulty and programming marks are lost when the receiver is disconnected from the power supply. In addition, Dolby 5:1 can only be heard in stereo, depending on the channel. Improvement is in sight with the new software version from March.

 As in the previous year, the BBDO agency network is at the top of the Gunn Report industry ranking. 24 different agencies in the global network contributed to this success, including the Swiss agency Wirz. Seven BBDO agencies made it into the top 50 of the Gunn Report, as Wirz announced. The Gunn Report evaluates and summarizes the lists of winners of the most important national and international creative competitions. The important creative ranking has been published every November since 1999. One or two Swiss agencies may also make it onto the prestigious list, but have not yet let the press know - perhaps they are waiting for the official announcement of the Gunn Report?

 The publishing house MetroComm is launching "Talk", a new city magazine for St. Gallen. It will be distributed for the first time in February 2008 with a circulation of 36,000 copies to households in the city and surrounding area of Eastern Switzerland. The magazine aims to show a different side of St. Gallen, as stated in a communiqué: "Talk is not just another magazine in a forest of papers. Talk is genuinely local - the city of St.Gallen is our world. We write about what moves people - and we move people with what we write. Politics, business, society, culture and sport: it all has its place in talk," says publisher Natal Schnetzer, summarizing the aims of the new magazine.
The editorial team includes Stephan Ziegler, Marcel Baumgartner and Stefan Millius. The publisher MetroComm has been publishing the company magazine Leader since 2002. The same crew is now behind Talk.

The generous use of testimonials in advertising does not appear to be without effect: Attention and recall values of celebrity brand ambassadors are declining. This is the result of a survey of consumers on their attitudes to celebrity advertising, commissioned by the current Horizon Communication Trend and conducted by the Munich-based market research company Imas International. While last year almost one in two people noticed advertising with a celebrity factor more than other advertising messages, the figure is currently only 39 percent. The survey also shows that the recall effect of testimonial advertising is declining significantly. According to Imas market researcher Niels Wettermann, these figures are the result of the increasing use of testimonials in recent years. He speaks of a saturation effect. Brand expert and Interbrand boss Jürgen Häusler told Horizont.net that there is also a remarkable lack of ideas when it comes to choosing celebrities. The same faces are always smiling at you from the advertising block, which seems to destroy credibility. As well as being interchangeable, veteran advertising celebrities also run the risk of taking an existing brand image with them into a new partnership. Häusler therefore advises against choosing a celebrity with too strong an image.
With this in mind, let's hope that our Martina stays with the washing machines and doesn't bring the snow-white image to another company due to the enormous lack of ideas on the part of brand managers.

 
Recycling ViznerBorel appeals for the Igora cooperative with new power to collect aluminum. 
"What is our goal?" asks the team boss. And his team answers like a shot: "One hundred percent aluminum recycling!" Lajos Vizner and Guillaume Borel are also fully committed to victory in the latest season of this long-standing campaign, which started with a "world championship" in collecting cans. "If you want 100% aluminum recycling, you have to show 100% commitment," is their appeal.
Igora is also doing this with a nationally and widely distributed poster campaign. This is complemented by a follow-up spot to last year's successful series. There, ViznerBorel showed funny training situations in which the collectors practise for their deployment for the Igora. Now the apparently well-trained task force goes out to check whether the people outside are also recycling the aluminum properly. Of course, the chief collectors come across black sheep, who are given a short lesson in aluminum collection on the spot in a funny way.
The commercial, created by Reto Salimbeni and his Manifesto Films, will be shown at various events this year and on TV from spring 2008.
Switzerland is not undeservedly the world leader in aluminum collection. In addition to numerous campaigns, there is also an actual "Prix Alu-Recycling". This has been awarded since 2000, with an additional category for municipalities and waste associations. Twenty-one local authorities have already been awarded a "Swiss Champion in Aluminum Collection" diploma by Igora.
Andreas Panzeri

Advertising windows The Federal Supreme Court has overturned the decision of the Cantonal Court of Fribourg and granted SRG the right to sue in the M6 advertising window case. Nevertheless, French private TV will remain on cable networks in French-speaking Switzerland for the time being. The two largest network operators, Naxoo (Geneva) and CityTV (Lausanne), do not want to stop the distribution of the M6 signal and are keeping the channel in distribution. "This is a matter between SRG and M6, we don't have to react," says Martine Favre, Head of Service at CityTV. And Naxoo director Antoni Mayer adds: "We will continue until the matter has been legally settled." Naxoo switched on the M6 advertising window in March, CityTV in June, and elsewhere, such as in Freiburg, it has been on cable for longer. (mk)

 
For Oliver Reichenstein, Internet usability comes before design when it comes to Tamedia websites. 
Tamedia wants to realize the largest Swiss news platform by next May. Little is yet known about what it will look like. However, we can already guess in which direction the website will be heading. The publishing house has invested heavily in the Internet this year, overhauling the magazine's online presence and launching the Facts 2.0 community portal (WW 32/07).The man behind these Internet activities is Oliver Reichenstein. The information designer, who lives in Japan, has been studying the behavior of Internet users for the Zurich publishing house since the beginning of the year: how they read, how they comment, how they react to advertising ... The findings flow into the development of the news network, which includes the commuter newspaper of the same name, News. For the time being, he is part of Cyrill Treptow's marketing team. Although he does not yet have a contract for the development of the new network, his design sketches are on the desk of Tamedia's management.
Reichenstein's unmistakable simplicity characterizes Facts 2.0 and the magazine's website: "The readability of the texts must be the focus." The clear presentation of the texts is very well received by users, he says. The Tokyo-based information designer rates statistics and usability tests higher than his own taste: "It doesn't determine the design."
The two sites also serve as an experimental kitchen for new forms of advertising. The small-format online advertising that is common on the Internet is a thorn in Reichenstein's side: "Too small, too gruesome, it gets on the nerves of all readers." This is mainly due to the poor implementation of many advertising banners. It's different in print, where a lot of money and effort is spent on designing advertisements to make them look attractive. This is why Reichenstein made generous space on the magazine's website for advertisements of the kind we are used to seeing in newspapers. Obviously the experiment works and readers don't mind the large format. In any case, the examples were clicked on just as often as the banners designed for the Internet. Reichenstein: "The approach of placing image advertising is the right one." But unexpected difficulties arose. For example, the magazine's sales team showed reservations about online advertising. But since the web-savvy online team at Tagesanzeiger.ch took over sales, business has been booming. According to Treptow, Reichenstein's advertising approaches will be incorporated into the development of the new news portal.
In addition to design and new forms of advertising, Reichenstein also wants to find out more about communities for Tamedia. With the future news network, the Zurich-based publishing house is seeking a dialog with its audience. A sticking point. "Many comments on the net are often just superficial trumpet bluster from busybodies who don't really have anything to say," says Reichenstein. He sees the anonymity of users as the fundamental problem. While Facts 2.0 allows anonymous commenting, the magazine's website follows a so-called Citizendium model, whereby users have to prove their identity. The result: Facts 2.0 is experiencing rapid growth in the number of users who comment a lot. In contrast, the magazine's community is only growing slowly and linearly. However, the level of discussion is high.
How the portal will seek dialog with users remains to be seen. However, Reichenstein's insight into how print journalists seek dialog with users is interesting - namely not at all. "Journalists are neither interested in technology nor in dialog," says Reichenstein. For example, it is common for many journalists to withhold their private opinions. He assumes that it is a generational issue until journalists open up to the online audience. Until then, a collective of journalists cannot be entrusted with the management of a website. Those responsible at Tamedia are taking this into account. Project manager Res Strehle wants to staff the online editorial team with people from the "Internet native generation", not least to demonstrate web competence.
Christian Lüscher
 

 
Oliver ReichensteinFour years ago, Oliver Reichenstein
emigrated to Japan and founded Information Architects AG in Tokyo. Reichenstein is 36 years old and studied philosophy, German literature and history in Paris and Basel. After his studies, he worked for the globally active agency Interbrand Zintzmeyer & Lux, where he was primarily responsible for Internet brands such as T-Online. Born in Basel, he is the author of the Web Trend Map, a map that ranks the 300 most successful Internet companies according to category, proximity and success with the help of the Tokyo metro map. Reichenstein is also writing a book on brands and user interfaces, which will be published in May 2008. (cl)

Research What do publishers' cross-media offerings look like? And what obstacles do they encounter when implementing campaigns? 
Crossmedia is very important - today and in the future. The vast majority of representatives of major Swiss publishers who took part in the survey agree on this. The survey, which was conducted between July and September of this year, is only partially representative. But it does provide an insight into what Swiss publishers understand by crossmedia and what role crossmedia plays in their day-to-day business. The answers can therefore be read as a sign of a trend: crossmedia is seen as an important topic: It has been talked about for several years, but many of those surveyed now want to get serious about it. The fact that this is not just lip service is evident in two respects. More than 80 percent of publishers state that they actually have a cross-media offering. And almost a quarter of publishing houses employ a cross-media manager, although only a few of them work full-time.
The representatives of the publishing houses do not see cross-media as a mere marketing gimmick. Crossmedia is intended to increase the impact of the advertising message by linking different media in a target group-oriented way. When designing cross-media offerings, the focus is on the individual wishes of the customer. None of the publishers surveyed offer exclusively fixed media packages. The media mix is put together depending on the campaign, and a good 30 percent can draw on all the media available in-house.
What significance does cross-media have in day-to-day business? This shows that we are probably only at the beginning of a development. On average, seven campaigns were booked by publishing houses last year. The turnover generated by the individual campaigns amounted to less than CHF 250,000 in the majority of cases. The survey provides some clues as to the reasons for this. From the publishers' point of view, the clients do not appear to lack faith in the impact of cross-media, but a greater degree of uncertainty, which has to do with the complexity of the matter, can be seen among them. They also cite a lack of structures and a lack of financial resources as problems that arise when implementing cross-media campaigns.
Samuel Wegmann
 
 
Top 150 supplementsThe detailed results
The results of the cross-media survey will be published in the "Top 150 Swiss Media" by the two specialist publishers Media-Daten AG and Edition Renteria SA at the beginning of next year. "Top 150 Swiss Media" is a reference work that provides an overview of the most important media in Switzerland, this time with a special "Crossmedia" section. This is the first time a map of the cross-media landscape has been presented. (bw)  
 
 
 
 

The Swiss Commission for Fair Trading has ruled that an advertising message from the Petroleum Association violates the provisions of fair trading. Greenpeace had filed a complaint against the advertisement with the claim "Heating with oil: for more climate protection". According to Wednesday's decision by the advertising industry's self-regulatory body, the petroleum association must refrain from making a total of three advertising claims in future. The slogan "Heating with oil - for more climate protection" is incorrect or at least misleading. This was the title of a newspaper advertisement placed by the Lesch+Frei agency this spring. Greenpeace fought back against this (see
). "Modern oil heating is the most convincing solution in the long term, as its high efficiency contributes to climate protection," read another passage. The Commission criticized the fact that this advertising slogan was neither justified nor proven.
With the same reasoning, the Commission also criticized the statement that it was worth sticking with oil from the point of view of climate protection, especially in the case of refurbishment. In order to use such statements, convincing evidence based on generally accepted scientific methods is required, the Commission stated in its reasoning.
The decision of the Fair Trading Commission is not yet final: the Petroleum Association has 20 days to appeal against the ruling.

 Wolfram Eberhardt from ABB has been voted Swiss company spokesperson of the year by business journalists. This is the result of a ranking compiled by the Handelszeitung together with the magazine Schweizer Journalist. The journalists surveyed attested to the winner's "competent and unobtrusive work". Last year's winner Urs Ackermann from ZKB came second in the ranking. Third place went to Dominik Werner from Lonza.
The overall results for 2007 were also broken down into individual sectors. Andreas Hildenbrand from Swiss Life leads the "Insurance" sector. Eva-Maria Bauer from Denner wins in "Retail". First place in "Services" goes to Sonja Zöchling-Stucki from Unique.
François-Xavier Perroud from Nestlé brought up the rear, with Matthias Graf from Google in second-last place. A total of 64 speakers were evaluated.

 
Airline Swiss is going guerrilla. The airline went on the hunt for customers in three major German cities.  
Traditional advertising recipes no longer appeal to customers. That's what the airline Swiss thinks and is therefore turning to guerrilla marketing. The idea behind it: Using unconventional campaigns to appeal to the target group in a way they don't expect. The important thing is to achieve the greatest possible effect with the least possible resources. Guerrilla marketing campaigns deliberately push the boundaries, as could be seen in Germany about a month ago. The guerrillas from the Conceptbakery agency launched the "Cheeky parking is half the battle" campaign for Switzerland's quality airline under the slogan "Snowflakes, white skirts".
The mission: In the three cities of Berlin, Hamburg and Stuttgart, passers-by, commuters and tourists encountered red Daihatsu Copen compact cars covered in deceptively real-looking artificial snow. The vehicles were parked in prominent locations in the cities and attracted attention.
Advertising as an attractionThe campaign was obviously very well received by passers-by. They stopped and spontaneously took pictures of the cars. According to Swiss, thousands of pictures were taken in this way, turning the Swiss advertising into a real sight.
 
Swiss considers the campaign to be a complete success, which was received positively across the board. Felix Holzapfel from the Conceptbakery agency: "The values of our customer Swiss International Air Lines were presented in the desired charming way without provoking or overstepping legal boundaries."
The fact that the entire campaign was an advertisement apparently didn't bother anyone. Quite the opposite. The slogans "Schaffe, Schaffe, Urlaub mache" and "Schweizer Mitfliegzentrale", which were displayed in the side windows of the cars alongside offers to various destinations while parked, caused a smile or two. The offers from Swiss International Air Lines also met with interest and were very well received, writes Swiss in a press release.
Contrary to the widespread opinion that guerrilla marketing is often disruptive or against the law, the campaign in Germany proves that you don't have to go to the limits of provocation with the right amount of "Swissness". Incidentally, the campaign is documented in a film called "Guerilla Marketing Film - Swiss Made" on the YouTube video community.
Christian Lüscher