No ban on sexist advertising in the canton of Bern. On Thursday, a non-partisan motion for the drafting of a corresponding bill was defeated by 79 votes to 42. Sexist advertising must be prevented through social ostracism, said Andreas Rickenbacher, Director of Economic Affairs of the Canton of Bern. The government also considers sexist advertising to be inadmissible. However, it is difficult to define and can only be prevented by the canton on public property anyway. Overall, the parliamentary discussion was characterized by opposing views on the work of the Fairness Commission. Only the EPP and EDU were fully behind a ban, the Greens were divided, while the SP, SVP and FDP were mostly against.

 
Despite his looks, busy businessman and rapper Sean Combs, aka P. Diddy, has once again managed to polish up his image as a sex symbol. A commercial for his "bold" fragrance "Unforgivable" has even been rejected by the music channel MTV for being too explicit. The station demanded that Combs recut the commercial, in which the Bad Boy Entertainment boss slips his hand under model Jessica Gomez's dress, and sent him a list of requested changes. But Diddy - probably still befuddled by his own fragrance created with Estée Lauder, which supposedly blends power, chemistry and emotion and "stimulates the senses in a way never seen before" - steadfastly refuses to comply. Last year, the city of New York rejected the advertising photos for "Unforgivable" as too sexy for the city's bus shelters. The parent company Estée Lauder has now produced a harmless clip for the stores itself. At least bad boy Diddy had fun during the shoot.

 Basel journalist Marc Tschudin has been awarded the Prix Media 2007 by the Swiss Academy of Sciences (SCNAT). Tschudin received the award for his short film series "NaTour de Suisse". With his short films for the now discontinued program MTW, Tschudin made the television audience rediscover seemingly everyday events, the SCNAT announced on Thursday. Tschudin thus succeeded in introducing the audience to scientific questions. The series is "as amusing as it is exciting". The science journalists Mathias Plüss and Thomas Häusler also received a recognition award.

 Although jersey advertising in football is one of the most image-boosting sponsorship measures, this marketing tool does not achieve the usual successful results in Switzerland compared to other European markets. A study conducted by Sport + Markt among Swiss football fans aged between 15 and 69 shows that the presence on the chest of a Super League footballer does not necessarily lead to a high level of brand awareness, even among football fans. In the study, 600 Swiss people with an interest in football were asked whether they knew the shirt sponsor of a club mentioned to them. The results were largely sobering. When looking at the club-based survey of shirt sponsors, Novartis, sponsor of cup winners FC Basel, is the lone leader with 19 percent awareness. Novartis is followed by TUI, the shirt sponsor of champions FC Zurich, with a low nine percent awareness. The situation is different when it comes to awareness of the sponsors of foreign clubs: The shirt sponsors of FC Barcelona or Liverpool, for example, each achieved eleven percent awareness in the survey. The weaker quality of the national league means that fans tend to look abroad, and Swiss clubs often lack even the national team players as crowd pullers.
In Switzerland, however, with its high sponsorship density, the large number of sponsorship commitments in the Swiss football scene also seems to put a spanner in the works for jersey sponsors. In the run-up to Euro 08, the main sponsors, who are present on several sponsorship channels, are currently attracting a lot of attention. "In addition, new international brands such as Carlsberg have joined Swiss football in the last three or four years. These big brands advertise in a network, not just with jersey advertising," says Boris Hedde, Senior Consultant at Sport + Markt, to Pressetext.ch.

 
Mach Basic The downward trend in cinema admissions continues - suddenly at a rapid pace. For the first time in six months, the Wemf figures show a significant decline (see table at the bottom of the page). 
The reach figures presented by Wemf in Mach Basic 2007-2 for the medium of cinema must give the industry food for thought. Not only has the total weekly audience of 384,000 people fallen below the psychologically important 400,000 mark, but the reach has also really collapsed for the first time - within just six months it has fallen by 40,000 people per week. Calculated over a year, i.e. for the survey period from April 2006 to March 2007, Wemf thus reports a total of 20 million visitors, compared with a good 2 million more in Mach Basic 2006-1 (September 2005 to August 2006). The number of visitors therefore fell by a significant 9.4 percent. Compared to Mach Basic 2006-2, the drop is almost 12 percent. Since the changeover to the LpA value in 2000, cinema admissions had fallen by no more than 4.5 percent, even in year-round increments. If one also compares the new figures with the previous peak year of 2003, the medium of cinema has lost 5.3 million viewers or a whole fifth of its former audience throughout Switzerland.
Uniformly gloomy pictureThe waning interest is evident in all parts of the country, but the decline compared to 2007-1 is only significant in German-speaking Switzerland. In French-speaking Switzerland, on the other hand, it is comparatively moderate at minus 3.3 percent. Broken down to the centers, the picture is by and large the same bleak as at national level. The development in Eastern Switzerland and Lucerne is impressive, with cinemas losing 28% and 15% of their reach respectively compared to 2007-1. Although these changes are still all within the confidence range, there is nothing more to interpret here either: At least in a multi-year comparison, Lucerne is the first individual region to show a significant decline: In central Switzerland, where the third oldest Swiss multiplex cinema is located, only half as many people go to the movies today as in 2004.
The situation is only positive in Basel and Lugano, where visitor numbers remain stable or are even trending slightly upwards. The trend reversal in Basel, where figures were previously in sharp decline, can probably be attributed to the opening of the Pathé Küchlin multiplex last November, although only a small proportion of its visitor figures are included in the current study. It remains to be seen how long this trend on the Rhine knee will last. However, experience in other regions with large cinemas shows that even multiplex cinemas do not really make a sustainable contribution to supporting cinema attendance.
Young people are staying awayThe trend among young people is even more dramatic than in terms of general reach. Since 2004, a third of 14 to 24-year-olds have turned their backs on the cinema - at the language region level, the drop is at least 30 percent everywhere. This loss is significant - and measured against the peak year of 2003, it would be even more pronounced. Although the decline is slightly less pronounced among 14 to 34-year-olds, 27% fewer of this age group are now going to the cinema than three years ago.
And yet there is a very slight glimmer of hope: despite a general decline in reach, it is no longer young people who are mainly running away from the cinema. Their share of moviegoers is stable or even increasing again. Today, 52% of moviegoers are between 14 and 34 years old - the same as a year ago. The proportion of 14 to 24-year-olds is 29%, compared to 28% a year ago. Whether this is an effect of the multiplex cinemas remains to be seen.
 
Markus Knöpfli
Wemf does not charge for adult movie theatersSince July 1
PubliGroup subsidiary Cinecom also markets cinema advertising in eleven erotic cinemas with a total of 23 screens in six cities (Zurich, Basel, Berne, Fribourg, Lausanne, Geneva). In this way, "over 450,000 predominantly male visitors aged 18 and over" can be reached each year, writes Cinecom.
not from Wemf, as it does not currently collect data on the reach of adult movie theaters. This is confirmed by Wemf spokesperson Carine Lins. "We have not yet received an order from Cinecom," says Lins. It is therefore clear that the reach of adult cinemas will not be included in Mach Basic 2009-1 at the earliest - if at all. This is because there would be a risk that respondents would conceal their visits to adult movie theaters. "In any case, we would first have to test whether the reach of this cinema sector could be reliably surveyed," says Lins. (mk)Erosion of cinema magazinesDwindling interest
The decline in the medium of cinema is also reflected in the falling reach of free movie magazines. Since 2004, their contacts have fallen from a total of 750,000 per month to 645,000 (-14%). The readership figures for the two Swiss-German monthly magazines Close-up and Film demnächst have now converged: the former has increased slightly since 2004 and now has 191,000 readers, while the latter has lost a significant 20 percent of its readership in the same period and still reaches 204,000 people. A significant loss in reach
The French-speaking Swiss magazine Live, which had 125,000 readers in 2004 and now has 75,000. The magazine was discontinued three weeks ago (see WW 29/07). Its place has now been taken by Avant Première from the same publishing house, which could certainly do with a boost in readership: For the time being, it has 175,000 readers, compared to 193,000 in better times. (mk)Mach Basic supplementDetailed analysis of the new Mach Basic
can be found in the special edition of Media Trend Journal, which is enclosed with this issue of Werbewoche. Additional copies can be obtained from the publisher. Telephone 044 724 78 50 or e-mail [email protected].
 
 

Mach Basic Whichever way Ringier looks at it, the reach of Cash Daily is only half that of Cash.Ringier's young free business newspaper Cash Daily is not yet included in Mach Basic 2007-2 (see page 24). However, a special Wemf study conducted from September 2006 to March 2007 shows respectable figures: The free title reached 67000 readers in the first semester. Half of them had a high level of education and a monthly income of over 8,000 francs, 39 percent had a management position, but instead of sticking to these figures, Ringier communicated an extrapolation on September 11: based on the special study and the average of 52,000 copies of Cash Daily distributed at the time, Christoph Bauer, Head of Business Media, arrived at 1.3 readers per copy (LPE). He then makes a leap in time: since the end of May 2007, Cash Daily has been selling 98,000 copies a day, he writes. 98,000 times 1.3 LPE therefore equals 127,000 current readers. Bauer also reports that 31,500 people have registered for the online edition. He assumes that just under half of them are readers. This gives him a current reach of around 140,000 readers.
Bauer's calculation may or may not be correct. He assumes that the LPE value remains the same after doubling the circulation. However, a higher circulation density could also reduce the LPE value. The question arises as to why Ringier feels compelled to make such calculations. Probably because they are disappointed. After all, Cash Weekly selig last reported 279,000 readers. Cash Daily must be measured against this figure. But even with a bold extrapolation and assumed online readers, the free paper only reaches half of this figure today. Ringier also knows that the other half is lost.
Something else must also have unsettled Ringier internally: In February, an initial survey conducted by the Publicom Institute for Cash Daily revealed a 40 percent share of women. At the time, Ringier triumphed over "the highest proportion of women of all business media". Now, however, the Wemf shows only 26 percent female readers, which puts the Ringier title in last place among the business papers. Incidentally, the proportion of women at Cash Weekly was recently 33 percent.
Markus Knöpfli

 
As national advertising manager for the new .ch, Stefan H. Böni also wants to act as a bridge builder between customers, publishers and editors. 
 
He was born in a cab in the middle of the '68 riots in Basel. "My mother didn't make it to the hospital." Nevertheless, everything turned out well. Stefan Böni is therefore exhilarated, but relaxed, that he can now be present once again at a similarly quick birth in the middle of the newspaper riots of 2007. This time, however, no longer in a cab, but in an open-plan office of 1100 square meters. Here, on the night of September 19, the first cry of the youngest child in the Swiss newspaper world will be accompanied by the joyful cries of 60 employees. Sacha Wigdorovits is the proud father of .ch. As midwife or publishing manager, Caroline Thoma has been taking care of everything necessary at Thurgauerstrasse 60 in Zurich since the beginning of the summer. "I think it's cool that we can start something new here in a completely empty space," says Böni happily. When we interviewed him, the room didn't look very furnished - but it was full of eager anticipation. The first employees, such as Sales Manager Peter Kümmerli, are rushing through the rows with their cell phones, as if the first newspaper had to be delivered tomorrow to the 430000 households from St. Gallen via Zurich, Bern and Basel to Lucerne. The birth pangs here are nothing new for Kümmerli either. He organized the installation of the newspaper vending machines for the first SonntagsBlick 30 years ago.
Kümmerli, like Böni, the 40 members of the editorial team who will soon be arriving and the 20 from the publishing house, some of whom are already active, all work at the same wooden tables, which were supplied by a carpenter exactly as required. "The furnishings here are simple but practical. The complete openness between all workstations also enables extremely short communication channels," explains Böni. With such a start from 0 to 100, the responsibility of each individual is great, so that everyone "not only gets their little garden up and running, but also manages to adapt it to the other gardens".
As advertising manager, Böni has been in the process of contacting all possible customers and large agencies since the beginning of August. In his presentations, he shows that many new ideas are also possible with the new publishing property. The initial three appointments per week have now become at least fifteen. Nine out of ten are positive. "We have reservations, bookings and discussions for collaborations over a longer period of time."
Böni believes that the advertising industry is "extremely interested in new alternatives". The sales manager also sees the fact that he can offer .ch not only as a newspaper but also as an online medium from day one as a great opportunity for his work. Böni also sees the 100 colporteurs who distribute .ch over several weeks and the newspaper stands as new "media" that can be used creatively. "We can reach customers on different and very specific levels. We can create something new and provide advertisers with a platform for unusual ideas."
Böni previously sold the ads for the NZZ Folio. "A dream job. I worked around the most beautiful pearl of the Swiss advertising industry." But somehow he just felt like a stoker on the "Queen Mary". Böni had to make sure things moved forward. "But I couldn't help set the course." Böni therefore sent off his application the day after the first concrete report in the NZZ am Sonntag about Sacha Wigdorovits' new project. "I was tempted by the adventure again."
In addition to the NZZ Folio and a diploma in marketing planning, Böni also had two successful years in management at Publimedia. From the very beginning, he was responsible for an annual budget of CHF 40 million in the upper accounting department. During this "great time", he was also able to learn "a lot of essential things" for his trade. "I saw the presentations of almost every print title in Switzerland. I not only learned how to do it - but also how not to do it." Böni sees a newspaper title as "something very lively, where a lot of love and commitment goes into it, from the layout designer to the reporter". And an advertising salesperson should also be able to convey this to their customers. "Sales is my passion. I like to get other people excited about a product."
But Böni not only has a wealth of experience in publishing, but also in the general development of various new companies. In 1998, he was involved in the founding of Jobpilot in Switzerland and witnessed how the Swiss start-up with a turnover of CHF 35,000,000 per year grew to CHF 6 million and was ultimately sold internationally to Monster via Adecco. What Böni liked about Monster was how he was able to experience "American entrepreneurial spirit with a lot of enthusiasm, freedom and creativity" in a Swiss company.
Böni entered the world of work with an apprenticeship as an electroplater at Swissair. However, he never worked in this profession. Perhaps the fact that he spent the first four years of his childhood on a Rhine ship between Basel and Rotterdam and the rest of his youth on a farm in the Bernese Oberland had a lasting impact on his life. In any case, the electroplater quickly switched to the more varied catering and tourism industry with guest appearances in Turkey, France, Spain and the Philippines. At 21, Böni "really wanted to do something creative" and founded his first event company. He organized parties, brought the legendary band Steppenwolf to the Bärenmatte in Suhr for one last concert in Switzerland and also organized DJ Bobo's first big concert with MTV at Halle 36 in Baden. Overnight, Böni managed the logistics for the catering services at Zurich Airport for all those affected around Halifax. In the south of Turkey, he was enticed to set up the entertainment with lots of action and fashion shows for a large hotel. In the Philippines, Böni founded his own diving school and taught there himself for a year.
When he had had enough of the daily walk on the white sandy beach and the sun always shining the same way, at 27 he felt the time had come for a new phase in his life. In Switzerland, Böni caught up on his KV, became a marketing planner and then taught at a computer school instead of underwater, until his path led him to Jobpilot.
What the passionate cook and tango dancer particularly likes about .ch is that the new newspaper wants to broadcast a lifestyle similar to that of the NZZ am Sonntag. Böni is also pleased that the editorial team wants to research its own stories and not simply print the same SDA reports everywhere. "As a reader, you can ultimately tell whether the newspaper wants to offer me something or simply sell advertisements," says the advertising manager, who also wants to be a bridge builder between customers, publishers and editors at .ch.

Andreas Panzeri

Vegetarian politics Ruf Lanz has used an SVP advertising idea for Hiltl. 
Last week, Ruf Lanz surprised viewers with a trenchant advertisement for the vegetarian restaurant Hiltl in Zurich. It featured the now infamous SVP mascot Zottel over a fire on a spit - with the headline: "For once, even we would like to offer a meat menu: Zottel on a spit."
The media enjoyed the well-seasoned subject. For example, 20 Minuten, Tages-Anzeiger, NZZ am Sonntag and numerous online platforms reported extensively and positively on the fate of Zottel. And TeleZüri filmed a report lasting several minutes in which Rolf Hiltl served SVP representative Mauro Tuena a symbolic Zottel on a skewer with a meat substitute. The politician showed humor - and praised both the subject and the cuisine.
Creative Director Markus Ruf comments: "A great example of how you can achieve a lot with a small budget. All you need is an apt idea - and above all a client who plays along."
Andreas Panzeri

 
Art
Parallel to the new international contemporary art fair in Asia, "Shanghai Contemporary07", the latest art project by Littmann Kulturprojekte, Public Viewing, has been successfully launched on the forecourt of the Shanghai Exhibition Center. Public Viewing is the first art intervention in China's public space with images by Western and Chinese artists. Among the Swiss artists are Peti Brunner, Hanspeter Hofmann, Daniele Buetti and Beat Keusch.

 
Business press A young publisher from French-speaking Switzerland is expanding - into German-speaking Switzerland and worldwide. In this country, Axel Springer (Switzerland) in particular has to adapt to the motivated newcomers from French-speaking Switzerland. 
On September 4, the time had come: the glossy business magazine Market.ch, which has been on the market in French-speaking Switzerland for five years, crossed the Röstigraben as announced with a German-language edition and its own editorial office in Glattbrugg. The publisher is Publibrands SA in Carouge, which until recently was still called Market Publishing SA. However, as the company now publishes two other titles in addition to Market.ch, it was renamed at the end of July. However, the majority of shares in the young publishing house are still held by the entrepreneurs Patrick Sikias, Raphael Dana and John Hartung.
Interesting distribution systemMarket.ch, which is published eleven times a year, started with a print run of 25,000 copies and regularly sells 21,000 copies in French-speaking Switzerland, has a sophisticated distribution concept: thanks to an exclusive partnership with TGV operator Lyria, 9,000 copies of the German-language edition are available in First and Business Class on high-speed trains, and a further 4,000 copies have been subscribed to by large companies for customers and employees. In western Switzerland, on the other hand, Market.ch already has 7,000 private subscribers, and the magazine is also the only Swiss business magazine available at Geneva Airport and on board seven airlines (including Air France).
In terms of its style and focus, Market.ch is likely to compete primarily with Bilanz and Stocks in German-speaking Switzerland. However, advertising manager John Hartung believes that he has benefited from the end of Facts in terms of advertising acquisition. At Market.ch, a 1/1 page in four colors in both language regions costs CHF 9,000 each, while the combination costs CHF 15,840. Hartung takes care of the acquisition himself, in German-speaking Switzerland he is supported by advertising manager Anna Lang.
A Market.ch issue currently comprises around 100 pages, a fifth of which is advertising. In terms of content, the magazine is divided into the sections Current Affairs, Marketing, Dossier, Saga, Innovation, Leaders, Finance and Lifestyle. Editor-in-chief Doris Gottstein is responsible for both editions, but separate teams work on the regional language editions - in French-speaking Switzerland under the direction of Muriel Delucinge. Gottstein and Delucinge each have the task of writing their own independent reports. However, when it comes to national topics and economic policy, they work together - the articles are then translated into the other language. For international economic topics, Market.ch has entered into a cooperation with the London-based business magazine The Economist, from which the magazine can take over a good dozen articles each year.
Internationally networkedUntil recently, the publishing house produced a daily business program in French-speaking Switzerland on the local TV station Léman Bleu. This had to be discontinued due to a lack of sponsors. Nevertheless, the company has new plans in the electronic sector - both nationally and internationally. "We have various ideas, but they are not yet ready to go," says Hartung.
At the beginning of the year, Publibrands also launched an English-language edition of Lineextension under the title Market500.eu. The magazine, which is published four times a year, is distributed by the Brussels-based organization Europe 500, which brings together around 500 companies. However, this concept does not seem to be working quite yet. In any case, the entrepreneurs are already considering publishing the magazine only once a year in book form and opening an online platform to supplement it, the content of which would be updated weekly.
That leaves Sur la Terre, the third title in the Publibrands portfolio: Expansion is also on the cards for this luxury and lifestyle magazine - initially in Switzerland, as a third edition for Gstaad will be launched at the end of the year following the existing editions for Zurich and Geneva.
This brand is also gaining momentum worldwide through the company Sur La Terre International SA, which has already published corresponding editions in nine capital cities and glamorous metropolitan areas as part of a franchising system. According to John Hartung, there are now two new editions in Greece, four editions in China and one each in Dublin and Marrakesh.
Markus Knöpfli

Fundraising A GGK campaign shows at first hand what the Swiss Red Cross can achieve with donations. 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Swiss Red Cross (SRC) is launching a cross-media fundraising campaign on 15 September, which is being realized by the GGK agency. It aims to show first-hand what the aid organization does with the donations. At the beginning of September, two SRC employees traveled to Mali, where many aid projects are currently being carried out. Every morning from Saturday, footage of the situation will be taken on site for the new campaign and the SRC employees will report on how the Red Cross is combating misery there. These images will be transmitted to Switzerland by satellite, where they will be processed into a spot that can be seen on e-boards in train stations and on the internet in the afternoon. In the evening, the commercials are shown on Swiss television.
These daily clips are supported by full-page advertisements. At the end of the eight-day reportage, a summarizing spot is shown on the Postcanal - a flyer with a payment slip is of course available. The campaign aims to make people aware that there is need and misery every day. Donation barometers show that donations during acute disasters are massively higher than normal. The Red Cross, on the other hand, helps to alleviate suffering every day - this is what the campaign aims to convey.
The SRC is accompanying a mailing with an advertising campaign for the first time. It is not expected that donors will react negatively to this, SRC advertising manager Martin Grossenbacher told Werbewoche: "The SRC is jumping on the bandwagon relatively late. Numerous aid organizations have been advertising very actively for years, so the acceptance is there today." In addition to its advertising function, the campaign also fulfills a second task: it can make transparent how the Red Cross helps on the ground, Grossenbacher continued.
The concept for the cross-media campaign was developed by GGK,
with which the SRC has been working for two years. It is a further development of a campaign platform that also comes from GGK. However, the aid organization does not send an expensive camera team to Mali; the SRC employees shoot the footage for the commercials with a digital camera; in Switzerland, the material is built into a prefabricated framework.
Carole Scheidegger

 
Action
Some Indian politicians made a big election promise in 2003: Land reforms. These politicians were promptly elected to the Indian government. However, the promise was never implemented. "Land for life" is now calling on the government in New Delhi to keep its election promise. The Swiss organization is campaigning for the rights of the landless, untouchables and indigenous people in India - and is calling on the Swiss population to show solidarity with the landless and to take part in a protest march from Bern to Geneva. McCann Erickson is supporting this protest action with a campaign that was launched at the beginning of September.