Telephony Contexta takes aim at election advertising for Swisscom Mobile. 
Almost every day, the market comes up with a new advertising gimmick for marketing new cell phones. In England, for example, the first ad-financed cell phone offer was recently launched for the provider Blyk. Anyone who subscribes to Blyk receives six picture messages with advertising every day. In return, the "subscriber" can make 43 minutes of free calls and send 217 text messages. in an environment like this, even Swiss providers cannot stick to the good old classic way of promoting their offers. Swisscom Mobile, for example, is breaking new ground in its cell phone pricing policy and allowing customers to vote by SMS on which cell phone should be available at the unbeatable price of one franc. There are six Nokia Natels to choose from. The device that receives the most votes by October 21, 2007 will be offered for one franc in all Swisscom stores from October 25.
The unusual idea also needs an unconventional campaign. The Bern-based agency Contexta is taking the mickey out of the National Council election advertising that is running at the same time with its monotony of heads and statements. 
CD Bene Abegglen promises that "the shrewd observer of the National Council election can already imagine what the actual offer advertisement with the lucky winner of the SMS voting will look like".
Andreas Panzeri

 
Health insurance companies I The Neue Lgk from Berne and Zurich advertises the Trainer Max of the online insurance company KPT with a firm hand. 
The online insurance company KPT is currently using unconventional advertising to find new customers for its health insurance. Around 70,000 interested people have already signed up for "training" with Trainer Max. The quirky posters, completely off the beaten track of standard health insurance communication, are clearly being understood in the age of viral and cross-media advertising. Together with KPT, Neue Lgk under CD André Benker developed a cross-media concept that allows the insurance company to demonstrate its online expertise in a playful way. The core of this cross-media campaign is www.einzeltraining.ch, an independent microsite that aims to keep the Swiss healthy and fit. It features 250 video modules with Trainer Max. These, as well as a TV commercial for the campaign, were produced by Solid & Hallerfilm under the direction of Rainer Binz. Netvertising from Zurich was responsible for the technical implementation.
Anyone who wants to can now do something for their fitness and health free of charge at einzeltraining.ch. Trainer Max puts together an individual, tailor-made fitness program for everyone and accompanies them through the entire training session. You are greeted by Trainer Max by name and regularly reminded by e-mail not to miss a training session. The training program was developed in collaboration with sports physicians from Berlin. Stiftung Warentest recently awarded the underlying training tool the rating "unreservedly recommendable".
To ensure that as many people as possible want to train with Coach Max, he is being presented and introduced nationwide with posters, a TV commercial, bus posters, banners and much more.
KPT is the leading online health insurance company in Switzerland. Over 100,000 customers already communicate with KPT Insurance online. It will be interesting to see how many of the 70,000 fitness enthusiasts who have been getting a free workout from the evil trainer Max will become real KPT customers in the future.
Andreas Panzeri

 
Health insurance II The agency at the airport has rediscovered the medical effects of laughter for the health insurance company Provita. 
The health insurance company Provita wants to grow. And at an above-average rate. But to achieve this, the health insurance company must first massively increase its level of awareness. The independent Internet comparison service comparis.ch has now named Provita health insurance the "most customer-friendly health insurance company in Switzerland" for the second time. For the agency at the airport, this is of course a good reason to make the award the most important argument for a new campaign. 30 seconds of laughterThe airmen from Altenrhein have developed a TV commercial that focuses on people who like to give a laugh. "Laughter is proven to be healthy," says CD René Eugster. And as the "most customer-friendly health insurance company in Switzerland", Provita is giving the whole of German-speaking Switzerland a 30-second laugh several times a day with its new TV commercial.
The film was produced by Wirz & Fraefel and directed by Tobias Weber. It is currently being broadcast on SF1 and SF2. It remains to be seen whether the presenter will follow up his salmon seminars in Switzerland with a tour of the "Säli" in the city and country.
Provita Health Insurance emerged from the former Sulzer company health insurance fund in 1997. At that time, it was one of the smaller health insurance companies in Switzerland. Today, with almost 60,000 insured persons, Provita is one of the 20 health insurance companies with the largest number of members in our country. The goals are ambitious: Provita wants to grow and establish itself in rural areas throughout German-speaking Switzerland.
Brand to be strengthenedThe agency at the airport in Altenrhein has been communicating for the Winterthur-based health insurance company for four years. After more or less action-like communication in the first few years of cooperation, clear guidelines are now to show the communicative path for the future and turn the good name Provita into an unmistakable brand - "the most customer-friendly health insurance company in Switzerland", according to Marketing Manager Herbert Strasser.
Of course, the insurance company is also doing everything it can internally to build on this strength in order to remain the friendliest insurance company in Switzerland, as Enrico Giovanoli promises as Delegate of the Board of Directors.
Andreas Panzeri

 
Event On October 25 and 26, the results of Ifra's "Where News?" will be presented in Lisbon. 
Ifra is the leading organization for newspaper publishers and media companies with ten locations around the world. The results of Ifra's "Where News?" research initiative will be presented to a broad audience at its "Business Models for the Future" conference, which will take place in Lisbon on October 25 and 26, 2007. The aim of the project is to identify changes in media usage over the next few years and thus provide assistance in the development of business strategies. Scenarios are developed from the identified influencing factors and possible future situations are described in concrete terms. In this case, future means a situation that is highly probable in five years' time. The forecasts are made on the basis of analyses of the development of social and technological conditions in saturated newspaper markets. Signposts to the futureIn a second step, the conference establishes a link between research and the future on the one hand and the current state of the media industry on the other. On the one hand, it offers signposts and a toolbox for the development of the future and, on the other, presents solutions that colleagues have already found today. Speakers from companies such as Agora, Chicago Tribune, Le Figaro, Jordan United Press, Wegener and Yahoo will explain how they have already successfully set the course for the future. Niko Ruokosuo, President of Sanoma Kaupunkilehdet from Finland, will lead through the two days. Today, he is at the forefront of one of the fastest developing sectors in the industry, free newspapers.
Sabine Flaxman
 

 
 
Ifra conference: "Business models for newspaper publishers" Date:
25 and 26 October 2007 in LisbonIfra is the leading organization
for newspaper publishers and media companies with ten locations around the world. Headquartered in Darmstadt, the association has been the platform for decision-makers in the newspaper industry since 1961. A board made up of publishers as well as central, regional and specialist member committees steer the association's work. The trade journal zeitungstechnik is published monthly in five languages (www.ifra-nt.com). The IfraExpo trade fair, which is held annually in major European cities, is regarded as the world's most important trade exhibition for newspaper companies and their partners.

Lindt & Sprüngli Switzerland has entrusted its media activities to the Schlieren-based agency Mediaxis, which was founded in 2000. It was only in July of this year that the agency, which currently employs 15 people, announced the acquisition of the cleaning products company Reckitt-Benckiser.

 
Druck Sun Chemical, the world's largest manufacturer of printing inks and pigments, has announced price increases for Europe. Depending on the product, an increase of 6 to 12 percent is to be expected. The company justifies its decision with the continuing and rapid rise in raw material prices and the shortage of important input materials for the production of pigments. The price increases will come into effect on November 1, 2007 and will affect the entire portfolio in all market segments in which the company operates.

 
Labels An innovative label system is currently being launched on the Swiss market. 
The company On Product Publishing launches the "magazine on packaging" in Switzerland. This innovative advertising and information medium was conceived in Australia two years ago. It utilizes synergies from the joint distribution channels of beverages and magazines. The idea came from an Australian student who launched her own lifestyle magazine, iLove, as a message in a bottle on mineral water bottles. The 32-page iLove magazine is now published six times a month and already has a circulation of over 150,000 per issue. The system is very simple: a publication is integrated into a label that can be easily attached to various products and completely removed by consumers. What is new about the magazine on the packaging is that it is available in different formats and with 8 to 32 pages. Because it can be attached to all types of packaging, it is also possible to create an individual and target group-specific design.
Today, On Product Publishing has the world patent for the production of labels with an integrated magazine. These are produced in cooperation with the British company Fix-a-Form International Ltd. and supplied on rolls. They are applied using standard labeling machines. On Product Publishing's customers include the drinks manufacturer Coca Cola and the Belgian fashion and trend magazine GLAM*IT. In Switzerland, the first "magazine on packaging" is currently appearing on Tetra Pak's 4×1 liter milk cartons. It provides information about the environment and sustainability in the production of beverage cartons.
Sabine Flaxman
 

Since June, the St. Gallen communications agency Complecta has been exploring the marketing and communications potential of the virtual world Second Life (see ). After a short time, Complecta was able to draw on a network of various Swiss Second Life entrepreneurs, and the blog is also enjoying a growing readership, according to a press release, adding that the blog and the good network were the decisive factors for expanding the company's involvement in the virtual world. The new form of public relations consists primarily of arousing interest in the virtual platform in the real world, Grob explains in the press release. The press release goes on to say that while the initial orders were smaller, Complecta's clientele now includes renowned companies such as the Winterthur media agency Konnex and the Finance Forum Zurich.
The agency's virtual office is currently under construction. The PR agency will soon be officially opened in Second Life.

Problems with user-friendliness continue to prevent the emergence of a lively online comment culture in Switzerland. This was the result of a study commissioned by Netzwoche and carried out by Zeix partner Peter Hogenkamp. The results show that concrete implementation is still in its infancy, as Netzwoche reported on Wednesday. Only NZZ Online now allows commenting on every article. However, there can be no talk of any productive handling of the content obtained in this way. Perhaps this is also due to the unchanged attitude in the media business towards non-journalistically produced content, according to Netzwoche. Another problem is that young people in particular seem to have no desire to comment on political issues online.

 
Column Green is the color of hope, even in advertising. Entire industries are now trying to save their reputation and sales with increasingly brazen greenwashing. But environmental organizations and critical consumers can smell it from afar and are demanding legal consequences. 
Andreas Beinat, "Marketing Manager from Baden-Dättwil" and thus apparently representative of the trend-conscious average Swiss, likes to drive. And he does so with a clear conscience. Because "modern engine technology reduces more than 95 percent of pollutants", he says enthusiastically in the current NZZ Folio, which is dedicated to the "car of the future" and claims in the subtitle that "an industry is on the move." What is undoubtedly on the move are advertisers who have been put in a bind by the climate crisis and growing eco-awareness - often in the direction of misleading messages and strategically preferred in special editions on environmental topics. With over ten pages of green product and image advertising, the October issue of Folio is a "green issue" cleverly disguised by its parent publisher. Incidentally, this magazine trend, which even politically unsuspicious magazines such as Annabelle have recently jumped on, was started by the American Vanity Fair, which translates as "Vanity Fair".
But back to Mr. Beinat. Of course, he does not testify to his post-pubescent "joy of driving" in the editorial section or - despite a deceptively similar claim - in a BMW campaign. (Instead, the Bavarians flirt on a panorama page in the aforementioned folio that the earth is white and blue like their logo when viewed from space). Instead, the harmless and good-humored Biedermann advertises Cleverunterwegs.ch, a concerted "information platform" of Swiss car importers. What you would otherwise have to search for in the various we-have-recognized-the-signs-of-the-times subjects of the members can be found there at a glance: The entire industry arsenal of wind-soft arguments as to why free citizens can and should confidently continue to demand and practice free driving thanks to progress in minimizing emissions.
For commercial communicators, climate change in the automotive industry and this campaign in particular are probably just examples of somewhat clumsy "cause-related marketing". For environmental organizations, however, such eco-pornography constitutes targeted disinformation and should be legally actionable. Corresponding investigations are also underway in many places: in Brussels, for example, an EU investigation is underway against ExxonMobil (www.exxon-files.eu), the world's largest company in terms of turnover. And Greenpeace Switzerland recently appealed to the Commission on Fair Trading because of a multi-million euro campaign by the oil association suggesting that oil consumption is climate-friendly.
In view of the scale and urgency of the problem (underlined once again by the Nobel Peace Prize), however, toothless self-regulatory bodies in the advertising industry are hopelessly out of their depth. What is needed are tough, legally binding sanctions against all those clients and agencies that knowingly spread environmentally and climate-relevant misinformation. At the same time, a company that really handles resources and emissions responsibly must be allowed to continue to communicate this competitive advantage.
The answer to ecopornography does not lie in the establishment of an eco-dictatorship. The state simply has to make shameless greenwashing recognizable as such and enforceable, then social ostracism and purchase boycotts will follow as if by magic.
Oliver Classen is press spokesman for the development policy organization Berne Declaration (EvB) and previously worked as a media journalist.

 
Competition The Swiss Packaging Institute SVI awards the Swiss Star packaging prize every year. The award goes to companies that bring well thought-out solutions to the market. The assessment is based on the criteria of protection, logistics, marketing, economy, ecology and design. A total of 34 packaging solutions were submitted for this year's competition. The jury nominated 14 of them. The award ceremony will take place on October 25 in Zurich. In parallel with the Swiss Star, consumers can choose their favorite packaging via e-voting.

 
For editor-in-chief Philippe Pfister of the new commuter paper News, the name says it all. The competition doesn't worry him, and he will be doing a lot of dry runs before the launch in December.  
Not many journalists can take a completely new newspaper from 0 to 100. "This challenge is the most exciting moment of my career so far," says Philippe Pfister. Up to now, the News Editor-in-Chief has mainly worked as a page maker. He has "observed news flows, assessed stories, developed stories with people, written headlines". Now he can "experience all facets of a newspaper project at first hand". This presents him with new and exciting questions every day. This week, for example, he assessed an advertising campaign for the first time, which he is allowed to accompany as Editor-in-Chief in order to properly convey the image and identity of his new paper.
In the editorial department, where the key positions have been filled, Philippe Pfister meets daily to develop new ideas almost two months before the launch. The core team includes Christian Maurer as editor (previously editor at Tages-Anzeiger), Stefan Regez (former editor-in-chief of Jungfrau Zeitung) as head of news, Rolf Hürzeler (Facts) as head of culture, Ruth Cipriani (Facts) as head of photography and Tobias Schär (SonntagsZeitung) as art director. "We talk about people, technical framework conditions and schedules," explains Pfister. Of course, the news situation is analyzed creatively: "How would News do it? What headline would we formulate? What would be on the front page?"
With such "dry runs", Pfister wants to develop his own editorial style, which should produce an independent form of news communication. "This daily mixing and matching will lead to a few zero numbers over the next few weeks before we hit the ground running at the beginning of December."
A day of truth that will cause sleepless nights for some? "Many observers believe that we have our eyes fixed on the competition. But that's not the case," says the News boss when asked whether he is bothered by the fact that he is now the last "latecomer" (for the time being) in the already hotly contested race for free newspapers.
Of course, .ch was a further incentive for Tamedia to expand the free commuter newspaper sector. "But that wasn't the deciding factor. It had long been clear in our company that there was room for a second newspaper alongside 20 Minuten."
And the internal competition? Is it even possible to find a genuinely independent journalistic line between the partner newspapers involved (Tages-Anzeiger, Basler Zeitung, Berner Zeitung) on the one hand and 20 Minuten on the other?
Anyone looking at the zero number lying around in the still half-empty editorial offices dares to answer the question with "yes".
News: This is a design that arouses curiosity and a concept where the name says it all. "We do three things: firstly news, secondly news, thirdly news. That may seem banal at first glance. But we believe that commuters prefer to be supplied with catchy, short and to the point news," says Pfister. With an extremely focused paper, where "the relevant news is absolutely central", it is possible to "beat the competition in the most important field for a newspaper".
To do this, News will have to provide more than just well-known agency reports. "Rewriting, bringing in other aspects, researching, adding an interview," are further possibilities for Pfister. News also wants to generate its own news. "We also want to use our paper to determine the headlines of others." An ambition that does not seem too ambitious to Pfister, as he is convinced: "After the commercial success of free newspapers, journalism will follow this trend. When we face national elections in four years' time, free media will be launching more decisive stories than they do today, which will feed into the political arena."
Pfister predicts a similar development for commuter newspapers as for cell phones. "Ten years ago, nobody would have thought how comprehensively mobile communication would penetrate all the capillaries of life." For the time being, Pfister only comments with a smile on whether subscription newspapers will suffer a similar fate to landlines. What is certain is that with the success of 20 Minuten, the "journalistic possibilities have not yet been exhausted. The commuter newspaper market is an incredibly interesting field in which to develop newspaper ideas, bring news to the people and launch stories in a new form. 20 Minuten is leading the way and has already tried out a lot. But we haven't reached the end of the road yet."
To produce such an ambitious newspaper, you need the right people. Pfister considers himself well endowed with over 26 full-time positions. That's nine editors including the head of the news desk for the traditional domestic, foreign and business sections. There are also three on the culture desk and three on the sports desk, as well as seven people in production and two in photo editing.
Pfister is convinced of his new task "with every last fiber of my being". When he saw the first drafts in July, News was the provisional title on one of the front pages. Pfister said: "If that's how you do it, then I'll accept the challenge. News has to be above it, and News has to be in the paper. You can pick people up in the morning with that."
It's not just since this journalistically hot summer that he has come to this realization. At the age of 17, Philippe Pfister already wanted to become a journalist as a high school student in Sursee. His parents were less than pleased. They sent their offspring to a careers advisor. When the counselor thought "cultural engineer" was more serious, Pfister waved goodbye and decided to study microbiology and molecular biology. "I was very interested in the natural sciences and would certainly have been right in my assessment of future developments." After two semesters "in a white coat and with protective goggles on my head", he realized that he would rather write journalistic texts. He enrolled in history and journalism, worked as a freelancer at the Willisauer Boten and the Luzerner Vaterland while studying and finally financed his time at university as a rewriter at Blick. "Rewriting news, getting to the heart of stories, that was second nature to me."
After three and a half years, Pfister was professional enough to manage the field office of the Luzerner Neuste Nachrichten in Sursee. In 1992, after completing his studies, he was drawn back to Blick until he moved to Tamedia in 1999. He worked as a reporter at SonntagsZeitung, as head of the multimedia department and for the last six years as head of news before being appointed to the editorial board of Facts in January 2007.
And the news from his personal environment: Philippe Pfister wants to get married next year "at the blessed age of 45", has bought a house in Adligenswil LU and is studying for a postgraduate degree in "Philosophy and Management". For the news junkie, reading philosophy - formerly Nietzsche, now Blumenberg - is an "absolutely necessary balance to keep calibrating his thinking". Getting out of the world of short-windedness and reflecting - that will certainly have an impact on the selection of news in News. Pfister also enjoys running marathons. He plans to skip the New York in November this time. He will be able to prove his stamina even without this race.
Andreas Panzeri