The nightlife portal Tilllate.com is launching a new online radio station. Tilllate.com Nightlife Radio will provide clubbers at home with DJ sets from a wide range of musical genres. "Music is probably the most important part of clubbing culture. We have now found a way to integrate this element into our offering," said Tilllate management board member André Schraner in a press release on Thursday, adding that the radio station builds on the network of event organizers and DJs maintained by the portal. In addition to well-known names from the international nightlife scene, they will be the main contributors to the program with their mixes.
The first three music channels to choose from are Urban, Trance/Progressive and House/Electro.

Euro RSCG Zurich was commissioned by Peugeot (Suisse) with the conception and realization of a launch campaign for the new Peugeot 4007 4×4. The campaign has now been launched throughout Switzerland. The campaign theme focuses on the Peugeot design. It puts all other comparable vehicles in the shade and makes them look cumbersome, according to a press release. The advertisements can be seen in the Sunday press, daily newspapers, magazines and selected special interest titles. In October, the campaign will be supplemented by megaposters and e-boards. There will also be an Internet campaign as well as flanking measures at the POS, direct mails and dealer advertisements. According to the press release, Peugeot (Suisse)'s declared aim is to quickly build awareness of the new model. Responsible at Peugeot (Suisse):
Nicolas Perrin, Director Marketing; Maya Hitz, Head of Advertising & Promotion; Philipp Marquard, Head of Advertising. Responsible at Euro RSCG Zurich: Jürg Aemmer (CD), Claude Catsky (CD/concept), Regine Cavicchioli (graphics), Maya Iseli (art buying), Eveline Fasser, Niklaus Huwyler, Fiona Gottwald (consulting), Frank Bodin (overall responsibility), Hannes Kutzler (photo, image editing).

New colors, a fresh website and a simplified price structure are at the beginning of Sunrise's new brand identity. As part of the company's reorientation - away from the blue and yellow cheap image to a quality brand - the Sunrise.ch website has now also been redesigned. The Zurich agency Rosa was responsible for this. The main thrust was to focus on the essentials and support with strong customer service. Rosa developed the entire online CI and implemented it on the Sunrise web and mobile portal. According to a press release, the most important features are the new appearance, improved user guidance, scalability, modularity and development capability: Following the design of the new corporate identity (see
), the company opened the first redesigned Sunrise Center at Zurich Airport on Thursday. All of its own stores are to be redesigned by the middle of next year.

No sooner had he switched from Weltwoche to Blick than society reporter Gion Mathias Cavelty had to fear for his manhood: A Piero Esteriore, boiling with rage, drove his black Mercedes with all his might into the entrance area of the Ringier glass front on Thursday afternoon. According to media reports, he then waved the current issue of Blick around and shouted: "I'll rip the balls off whoever wrote this!" - No doubt he was referring to Cavelty, who had reported on Esteriore's milestone birthday in a rather moderately funny text by Cavelty standards. "Almost everyone invited is wearing black. But what looks like a Mafia funeral is actually Piero Esteriore's (30) birthday party," the text began. Apparently, the comparison with the Mafia was particularly offensive to the singer. "Piero's birthday was a lovely celebration with his family and lots of celebrities. You can't associate that with the mafia. What Mr. Cavelty wrote goes a bit far," explained Claude Bravi from Esteriore's record company Musikvertrieb. At the same time, he denied rumors that the assault on Ringier property had been staged.
The Blick online editorial team reacted quickly: a Blick employee with a camera was immediately on the spot. A short time later, the film was posted on the website. However, the Ringier servers were initially barely able to cope with the huge onslaught. By switching on an emergency server, the one-minute film could be shown again in the course of the afternoon.
The other media initially reacted very suspiciously and cautiously to the news. Many probably suspected that it was a cleverly devised advertising campaign. The whole thing was certainly absurd: after Esteriore had smashed the glass entrance door, he allegedly started ranting like a rabbit, then talked to representatives of the Blick and then opened the boot of his only slightly battered vehicle to dump dozens of copies of his CD "Io vivo" in front of the entrance area. He then allowed himself to be arrested by the police without resistance. "Lui vive" - he's alive - but what a tragic life.
However, various Blick online users questioned the authenticity of the action: "Well, I work just opposite and watched the whole thing. It's all an act," wrote Danny from Zurich, for example. At the time of going to press, Esteriore was still in custody.

Starting this week, Blick Online has a new look. Thomas Huwiler, Head of Online Newspapers at Ringier, explains why the website now displays only one ad per page and what options are available to advertisers. Huwiler explains in an interview that he isn’t worried about competition from 20minuten.ch. Ringier is already working on its next project: The Sonntagsblick and Blick websites will be merged this Sunday.  
Werbewoche: Starting this week, Blick.ch has a new look. It’s striking that there’s hardly any advertising visible on the front page anymore—why? Huwiler: Reducing the number of ad units from four to just one may have created the subjective impression that fewer ads are being displayed. In addition, unlike before the relaunch, we no longer have fixed weekly placements; instead, we offer advertisers hourly placements and standard CPM billing.
You have announced that you will better meet the needs of advertisers, agencies, and direct clients. What does that mean specifically? A better and more balanced mix of content and advertising. We have decided to display only ONE advertising element per page. This simultaneously meets readers’ demands for less advertising, the advertising market’s demand for optimized advertising effectiveness, and agencies’ requirements for the availability of standardized advertising materials.
Can you generate enough revenue with just one ad per page? Yes, we’re in the fortunate position of having a very high number of page views on Blick.ch and, as a result, a large amount of ad inventory that can be utilized on the site.
From an advertising perspective, they now primarily adhere to the IAB standards. Why? In addition to special ad formats—which are, of course, still available—we want to comply with the IAB standards for standard ad formats. Many clients and agencies produce their advertising materials according to this standard, which makes it easy and hassle-free to book ad space on blick.ch, even with smaller budgets.
What advertising standards are important for Blick Online? We assume that skyscrapers, rectangles, leaderboards, and roadblocks/wallpapers will be the most commonly booked formats, and we are convinced that many clients and agencies—in addition to specially produced ad formats (advertorials, sponsorships, DHTML, etc.—which, of course, are still available—they will always produce a standard set of IAB ad formats to ensure a presence on various platforms that can only support these formats.
Is the relaunch of *Blick* a sign that Ringier is shifting toward a more digital focus? Yes, we want to take a more proactive approach in the multimedia sector.
Your competitor, 20minuten.ch, has expanded its web TV offerings at the same time. Does that concern you? No, users will choose the format they prefer. The two offerings aren't comparable—we'll have to wait and see how users and the market react to them.
20 Minuten has a team of about 50 people working online and has greatly expanded its offerings. Do you feel threatened by this competition? No, Blick.ch is the undisputed leader among media portals and is very well positioned. In the last three months, our page impressions have actually risen even more significantly than those of our competitors. That’s a reason to be happy, not worried.
Should the online presence of Sonntagsblick and Heute also be expanded? The Sonntagsblick and Blick websites will be merged this Sunday. So anyone visiting www.sonntagsblick.ch will be directed to the Blick site, though the content on Sundays will be tailored to the focus topics of Sonntagsblick. This will provide even more impact and make things easier for users. Seven days—one link. For the evening newspaper Heute, we have two websites: www.heute-online.ch and www.heute-abend.ch. We will also merge these two. However, no decision has yet been made on how the Heute website will be further developed. The collaboration between www.blick.ch and www.heute-online.ch is also being continuously expanded, but this is unrelated to the relaunch of blick.ch.
Have you expanded the editorial staff at Blick.ch? Yes, we’ve hired five new people for the Web Center and the editorial department. The editorial staff now totals about 25 people. We’re also planning to expand the content on Blick.ch: We want to cover topics in even greater depth, such as sports. There will also be more interaction with users and more multimedia elements.

Blick.ch has moved away from the visual style of its print edition toward a more open layout.
Today, Blick.ch is no further removed from the print edition of Blick than the previous version was. The old version had a different navigation, design, and color scheme. The content of the print and online editions will continue to be coordinated as before, but will be even better aligned in the future. The layout of a website and a print publication cannot be 100 percent aligned, as they serve different functions. The new website has been optimized for online needs. However, the sections (e.g., «Entertainment») will be aligned with the naming conventions of the print edition of Blick as needed.
 What were the key reasons for launching a web TV magazine? We wanted to expand our text-and-image-only offering into a multimedia experience for our readers. Thanks to high broadband penetration, video content is becoming increasingly popular and allows consumers to quickly access a wealth of information and entertainment without needing a TV set. The idea was to present readers with a wide variety of infotainment content, presented by a host, in 5–10-minute segments at any time.
Are there plans to further expand the «BlickPunkt» web TV program? It has not yet been decided whether the frequency of «BlickPunkt» will be increased in the near future.
Why is Swiss German spoken in all the segments? As a tabloid media outlet, we want to connect with our audience. Part of that involves addressing viewers in their native language, which in Switzerland is Swiss German.
Will there be more web TV shows soon? For now, we'll see how «BlickPunkt» is received by the audience. I'm assuming that appetite comes with eating.
 
Interview: Michael Koller and Carole Scheidegger
 

 Ringier Print Adligenswil is cutting 40 of today's 300 full-time jobs in newspaper printing. The cutbacks will be staggered until the end of 2009 and are to be carried out in a socially responsible manner. Ringier Print announced on Thursday that 32 people will be made redundant or will take early retirement. The remaining eight jobs will be cut through natural fluctuation.
At the same time, Ringier Print is investing CHF 65 million in new production facilities, as has been known since the end of June. This is "a commitment to the newspaper medium and to the Adligenswil site
", reads the press release.

 The Council of States is calling a halt to cable network operator Cablecom. As it decided on Thursday by 24 votes to 9, Cablecom should no longer earn money in future from television channels that it obtains free of charge from the airwaves. The Small Council thus approved a motion by consumer protector Simonette Sommaruga (SP/BE). The encryption of free television channels from Switzerland and abroad is economically scandalous and dubious in terms of media policy, Sommaruga was quoted as saying in an SDA report. It forces customers to purchase the set-top box from Cablecom, which is inadmissible customer loyalty, she continued.

 
Winter tire Wirz advertising shows with Mrs. Holle that winter is coming soon for Pneu Egger. 
Every year, not only does the beautiful Christmas season arrive, but also winter. But how is it possible to prevent Swiss motorists from all coming to Pneu Egger for their winter tires on the same day - the day of the first snowfall? Quite simply: by teaching them with wit and charm that the Advent season is called Pneu-Egger-Zeit in advertising German. It's a nice tradition at Egger that they don't talk about tires in these commercials, but only about the time to change tires. Wirz showed this in the last commercial with two sets of teeth. These are stored in a tooth jar on the bedside table and then - whoosh - itch towards each other in the jar. After winning the pitch in 2004, the fourth film in this series is now available. This time, Wirz and CD Hanspeter Schweizer are focusing on Frau Holle. She puts a young man on the street in a romantic mood with a poetic snowfall. Then, in a nasty twist, Mrs. Holle only brushes her hair - which should make the scales fall from the driver's eyes. The commercial was produced by Markenfilm Schweiz and directed by Andreas Hoffmann.
Andreas Panzeri

 
Column Away from political developments, a process is taking place in everyday consumer life that threatens to make access to water more exclusive: the basic element of water is increasingly becoming a branded product. 
Our world consists largely of water. We humans are also known to consist of two thirds water. Water is therefore fundamentally important for survival. Water is life. Water scarcity, on the other hand, leads to catastrophes. For Peter Brabeck, "the water crisis is far more threatening" than climate change. Free access to water must therefore surely be one of the unrestricted human rights. Of course, there is already an alarming inequality in the distribution of water in the global context, most recently discussed at the annual World Water Week in Stockholm. What are the reasons for a further worsening of this situation? Most obviously geopolitical circumstances. Global water reserves are distributed very unevenly from region to region. In some of the regions that possess them, people are already speculating about the rosy days of blue gold. It is therefore only logical that companies involved in the utilization of blue gold along the entire "water value chain" (according to the investment company SAM) are becoming attractive investment objects: "US investors in search of water" is the headline in the NZZ. There is also an impressive, or rather frightening, geopolitical power potential here. There are fears of wars over water worldwide.
At first glance, very far removed from these highly political developments, another process is taking place rather inconspicuously in everyday consumer life that threatens to make access to water more exclusive. The basic element of water is increasingly becoming a branded product. The obvious perversions of this development make us sit up and take notice: Bottles enhanced with crystals from Swarovsky contain mineral water which, at a price of almost 50 US dollars per liter, should no longer be affordable for everyone. It is not quite so perverse, but nonetheless at least ecological nonsense, that international branded mineral waters are also increasingly successful in markets that could certainly be served by domestic mineral waters (or even tap water that is completely harmless to health).
In such obviously irrational consumer decisions, brands demonstrate their power, which is based on emotionally motivated purchasing behavior. "Show me what water you drink and I'll tell you who you are." The water brand as an anchor of identification and social differentiation. Madonna drinks Voss, Whoopi Goldberg and Janet Jackson drink Fiji. Volvic announces the water brand "dedicated entirely to men". The world's leading food companies have long been relying on the purchase-increasing and demand-securing effect of brands, including water, investing large sums in the development of this market and securing the largest possible market shares for their portfolio of water brands. Nestlé, for example, the global market leader with around 20 billion liters bottled, now has 75 brands in 36 countries around the world.
It is important to remember that the brand is one of the few legitimate monopolies in our economic world. Unlimited in time and space, an efficiently and effectively managed brand can effectively prevent other manufacturers from offering a comparable product competitively. Strong brands represent very effective barriers to entry for potential competitors. Water brands can therefore restrict access to water in the long term. Following on from the considerations mentioned at the beginning, this raises the question of whether brands should legitimately have this restrictive effect on water, which is such a vital element. In principle, certainly not. Political resistance to this is likely to arise very quickly. And this resistance should at least prevent or at least limit overly grotesque developments in the marketing of water.
Jürgen Häusler is CEO of the Interbrand, Zintzmeyer and Lux Group and an honorary professor at the University of Leipzig.

 
Insurance war Schlupp Bürge/Springer & Jacoby has restaged the "Asphalt Cowboy" for AXA. 
The commercial evokes memories and therefore quickly brings "a lot of warmth into every living room", according to KSB/SJ. In their advertising film for motor vehicle insurance, several stories of very different people are told in the style of a road movie. These are wrapped up in entertaining cinematic vignette tidbits.
The overarching idea provides the new and already extremely popular brand message: "You love it. We insure it." Director Christian Aeby focuses on a special kind of relationship: people and their cars. Naturally. As different as the people are, so are the situations and cars that are embraced out of love.
The upbeat film is accompanied by the catchy tune "Everybody's talkin'" by Fred Neil, known from the movie "Asphalt Cowboy". There is also a national poster and print campaign with the same content. Online subjects are also appearing, and all the shop windows of AXA Winterthur's Swiss agencies are also "hugging".
Andreas Panzeri

 
Printing The MAN Roland Cromoman installed at Zofinger Tagblatt AG last year is giving the publishing house great pleasure. The ultra-modern press is precisely tailored to the needs of the regional publishing house. The installation in Zofingen was the backdrop for an event organized by MAN Roland Swiss AG that focused on the newspaper medium.

 
Advertising industry This year's New York Advertising Week was dedicated entirely to the good cause. 
Modesty is not exactly a strong point among American advertising professionals. Traffic chaos in Manhattan? Clogged sidewalks, overcrowded restaurants, jostling pedestrians - by no means an outgrowth of the annual opening of the UN General Assembly or the visit of the Iranian president. No, according to the industry, Manhattan is so crowded because "Advertising Week" was also held here in the last week of September. 60,000 people attended the week-long industry event, according to the organizers, which was founded in 2004 with the intention of boosting the industry, which was suffering from the onset of the recession at the time. The city of New York earns over 50 million dollars a year from the spectacle. Visitors to the 80 or so events and networking events are happy to spend a lot of money.
This year's Advertising Week focused on cause marketing, i.e. campaigns and efforts that benefit the environment and social causes. "Cause marketing plays a hugely important role today, if only because consumers don't trust social institutions and companies," says Samantha Taylor, one of the visitors and founder of the communications agency Reputation Dynamics. "Companies have no choice but to bow to this, and advertising is following suit."
Advertising Week also tried to convince visitors and itself that it is possible to do good with the help of advertising. This was most vividly demonstrated on a panel presenting the "Save Darfur" campaign. Human rights activist John Prendergast probably expressed the feelings of some of the representatives of aid organizations present, such as the UN and Amnesty International, when he called the combination of marketing and human rights "strange bedfellows". Nevertheless, "advertising is the element in our work that is missing the most", he said, pointing out that it is only the commitment of Hollywood stars such as George Clooney or Don Cheadle that can shake up the public.
The campaign was commissioned by the non-profit organization "Save Darfur" with the aim of "making itself obsolete," said David Tobey, creative director of the agency responsible, GMMB. "Not exactly a good client". The campaign consisted of print and internet ads, TV and radio spots as well as a poster component and a guerrilla action and primarily showed those affected in the refugee camps. "Genocide is not easy to communicate," summarized GMMB partner David Mitchell. The greatest success for him was when the Sudanese government complained that the campaign had "turned the world against us".
Another part of the Advertising Week initiative was the "Act Responsibly" exhibition, which brought together motifs from a wide range of international cause marketing activities, including Young & Rubicam's "Bread for All" campaign in Zurich. "Together, the advertising industry can really make a difference," says Hervé de Clerck, initiator of the exhibition and founder of the Adforum. The typical cycle first became visible in the dynamics of global warming: "It started with the scientists, then came the NGOs, then the media, the public, the governments and finally the brand companies, and they brought advertising on board."
One of the oldest campaigns for a good cause in the USA is the "Pink Ribbon", the pink ribbon symbolizing the fight against breast cancer. The pioneer here is the cosmetics company Avon, which has been committed to the cause for 17 years and is considered a dinosaur among marketing philanthropists. For Avon, the aim of the campaign is to remain relevant in the growing clutter of good deeds. "I can only advise those responsible at other companies to focus on one cause instead of getting lost in the general din with a multitude of initiatives," says Carol Kurzig, Director of the Avon Foundation. "The best thing is to be fully committed to one cause."
Gerti Schön, New York