Mediafocus The cumulative increase in the advertising market since the beginning of the year is 8.2 percent. Some advertising markets have developed remarkably: The pharmaceutical/healthcare sector was able to avert a negative half-year trend and posted a plus of 1.6 percent compared to the first half of 2006. The key market of beverages shows a slightly negative half-year trend at minus 0.2 percent. The clear winner in the first half of the year, with an increase of 31.6 percent, was the cosmetics/personal care advertising market. The television media group also grew faster than the average.

 Basler Zeitung Medien, Tamedia and Espace Media are planning to launch a new commuter newspaper this year. The name of the new newspaper has not yet been decided. However, it is planned that it will establish a clear link to the three regional newspapers Basler Zeitung, Tages-Anzeiger and Berner Zeitung. According to Tamedia spokesman Christoph Zimmer, a project group headed by Tamedia man Rolf Bollmann is working on the new paper. Zimmer emphasizes, however, that the three titles are equally represented in the project group. Representatives of the Baz editorial team and the publishing house are involved from Basel, as Baz publisher Matthias Hagemann told Werbewoche. According to him, the initiative for the new product came from Tamedia. According to Hagemann, the project has not yet been approved by the boards of directors of the three media companies.
Zimmer cannot give any specific details on the exact launch date, but the market launch should definitely take place before the end of the year. "We are working flat out on it," says Zimmer.
Tamedia is the only one of the three publishing houses involved - Espace Media is not yet officially part of the Zurich publishing house - to be in a competitive situation with its own free title; for all three houses, however, there is of course the risk of competing with their own daily newspaper with the new paper. "The competition is getting tougher with every title," Zimmer admitted.
Like Hagemann, however, he assumes that the existing daily press could even be strengthened by the new commuter newspaper: "The commuter newspaper can inspire readers for the entire newspaper network. We can also make more attractive offers to the advertising market," said the Tamedia spokesperson. There are plans to combine the new title with the existing papers. Beat Meyer, CEO of Basler Zeitung Medien, echoes this sentiment on the Basler Zeitung website: "The new newspaper is also an interesting new offer for the advertising market. The commuter newspaper will be integrated into the "Metropool" advertising network operated by the three publishers.
Zimmer explained that the content of the title should be of a high quality. The focus is on relevant news, which also corresponds to the strengths of the existing daily newspapers. "Sex and crime" reports are not planned. The layout is to be discreet and in the classic daily newspaper style, with longer texts and smaller pictures than competing newspapers such as 20 Minuten and Heute. Background information and commentary as well as information from the region will continue to be found exclusively in the paid daily newspapers.
The new commuter newspaper will be available early in the morning in newspaper boxes in the Basel, Bern and Zurich regions. "We never seriously considered any other distribution concept," explained Baz publisher Hagemann. Distribution in newspaper boxes allows you to reach the "right people": the young, mobile target group. In addition, there is more likely to be multiple use per magazine than with home delivery. "The 20 Minuten distribution system is highly efficient," added Tamedia spokesperson Zimmer.
Zimmer cannot yet say how the editorial team of the planned newspaper will be made up, whether it will be recruited from employees of the existing daily newspapers or newly hired people: "We will communicate this at the appropriate time". As Hagemann told SDA, the editorial team of 20 to 30 people will probably be based in Zurich. Whether regional editorial offices will also be set up is still open, according to Hagemann. 
 
However, it has now been confirmed that the rumored joint online plans of Basler Zeitung Medien, Tamedia and Espace Medien do exist. "Another project group is working on this," explained Zimmer. However, it is too early for further information.
The announcement of the new commuter newspaper can be interpreted as a reaction to the free newspaper .ch initiated by Sacha Wigdorovits. This will be launched on September 19 in the conurbations of Zurich, Basel, Bern, Lucerne and St. Gallen. Wigdorovits had already announced that .ch would be positioned as a "quick-read newspaper with quality" - Tamedia, Basler Zeitung Medien and Espace Media now seem to have a similar positioning in mind for their new commuter paper. However, there is a difference in distribution; a large part of .ch's circulation will be delivered to the home.
 
 
Carole Scheidegger
 

 The Aargau Internet service provider Netzone.ch has launched the canton's first local Internet television under the name Aargau.tv. On the one hand, the site functions as a community portal in the style of Youtube.ch: every user can create their own television program and distribute their own films or music on the Internet. In addition, Aargau.tv produces its own television program with a focus on Aargau. The channel reports on local events such as the Aarau May Parade, the Argovia Festival and sporting events. In the future, programs such as talks, quizzes, concerts and other entertainment programs with a live audience will also be produced in the channel's own television studio in Reinach. Aargau.tv aims to set itself apart from other network platforms through its clarity and regional information. The service seems to have met with a positive response: since the beginning of June, over 25,000 people have visited the platform, according to founder Guido Würsch. An additional launch of the program on conventional cable television is also being planned.

GEMI
According to the Goldbach Electronic Media Index (GEMI), which is based on Mediafocus data from January to June 2007, advertising pressure in the electronic media increased by 22 index points to 377 points in the first half of 2007. All media covered saw an increase of 8 index points to 188 points. Advertising pressure in TV grew the most with 26 index points to 386, followed by radio with a plus of 9 points to 261. After the data deliveries in March, April and May were not complete, all data should be available retroactively by the end of June. According to Media Focus, however, the results require analysis. Teletext reduces advertising pressure by 4 index points to 140. Unfortunately, the ad screen development, which was collected by AIS in 2006, cannot be published in the GEMI for technical reasons.

Fee money Over the past five years, OFCOM has only partially paid out fee money to four out of five private TV stations whose accounts gave rise to complaints. This year, three broadcasters have appealed to the Federal Administrative Court. According to the media magazine Klartext, the appeals are pending. Tele Südostschweiz, Tele Ticino, Canal Alpha, Tele Bielingue and Canal 9 are affected; the first three have appealed. In the case of Tele Ticino, the amount at stake is CHF 100,000. Bielingue has refrained from lodging an appeal because the reduction in fees was minimal. The matter was triggered by random checks of the broadcasters' annual accounts by OFCOM in 2004 (elk).

For Matthias Hagemann, the publisher of Basler Zeitung Medien, the launch of a new free newspaper together with Tamedia and Espace Media marks his entry into the commuter newspaper market. As he told Werbewoche, his company is responding to the difficulties that daily newspapers are currently facing for demographic reasons and in the advertising market. A few years ago, he did not fully realize the extent of the free newspaper boom. However, he does not regret that he did not enter the market earlier with a commuter newspaper: "I would regret it if we had had a real opportunity earlier". Although it would have been possible to start with 20 Minuten a few years ago, "we wouldn't have been able to afford it." Now there is a good option: "We are already working successfully with Espace Media and Tamedia on the magazine and the Metropool advertising network". He is convinced that the new project will also be successful.
However, Hagemann would only enter into collaborations that would strengthen the independence of his publishing house, he continued: "Our independence is the top priority".

With Thomas Akermann at the helm, the Association of Swiss Free Newspapers (VSGZ) is set to become even more active. The new president’s goals: more members, category marketing, and integration into the Swiss Press Association.
WW: Mr. Akermann, do you enjoy taking it easy? Thomas Akermann: (laughs) What makes you say that? I’m the CEO of Anzeiger Luzern AG and Insider Verlag AG, and now I’m also the president of VSGZ. So there’s certainly no question of taking it easy.
WW: The VSGZ presidency is a ceremonial position that apparently serves no purpose. In any case, it has been vacant since 2002. Thomas Akermann:
But we’ve always had an office in Zurich, headed by Hannes Zaugg. However, Mr. Zaugg is not a publisher and was therefore unable to contribute much in the way of input or experience. So there was leadership, but it came from outside the industry, so to speak. That’s why it makes sense to have a publisher running the show again—someone who’s involved in day-to-day operations. WW: Why did the VSGZ become active again right now? Thomas Akermann:
The initiative came from Guido Schwarz and Stephan Gartenmann—both from Tamedia’s *Tagblatt der Stadt Zürich*—as well as from me. We didn’t just want to go out to eat together and exchange pleasantries; we also wanted to get something done within the VSGZ. WW: Who does the VSGZ represent? And where does the association stand today? Thomas Akermann:
We represent the regional free weekly newspapers, some of which have a very long tradition. Publications that wish to become members of the VSGZ must meet certain minimum quality standards. We have been committed to this business model for decades. However, we are still in the early stages. If we were in a 100-meter race, we would have covered only 10 meters so far. WW: What are you hoping to achieve? Thomas Akermann:
We want to strengthen category marketing efforts toward agencies and larger advertisers and better promote our USPs. We also want to bring together the key players in this market. Today we have only 10 members—but there are about 20 publications that meet our requirements. That’s why we want to recruit more members. The goal is to have the other companies on board within about a year so that we can present ourselves as a unified category. WW: Tamedia’s *Tagblatt der Stadt Zürich* has only been a member of the VSGZ for a few months. Is this perhaps due to the announced free newspaper *.ch*? Thomas Akermann:
Of course, I can’t speak for Tamedia. But I do know that Tamedia’s top management has expressed its support for the VSGZ. In their view, it makes sense to have another association for free newspapers alongside the Swiss Press Association. WW: That’s a new stance. The VSGZ had previously tried to recruit Tamedia, but Tamedia stayed on the sidelines with both the ZürichExpress and the Tagblatt. What was the reason for the change of heart? Thomas Akermann:
As I said, I can’t comment on Tamedia’s motives. But I’m glad to have Tamedia on board. This is a positive sign for the VSGZ. WW: Among the VSGZ’s current ten members, there are otherwise hardly any titles from major publishers. Why is that? Thomas Akermann:
This has to do with the internal strategy of the major publishing houses. Publishers with both a subscription-based daily newspaper and a free newspaper in their portfolio have long generated a higher contribution margin from the subscription-based newspaper. That’s why they deliberately kept the free segment’s pricing somewhat low to protect the profitable daily newspaper. But what they had dismissed as trivial just ten years ago became a serious issue with the launch of 20 Minuten. This also changed the status of free newspapers. WW: You won’t find any newspapers from the Zehnder publishing house at the VSGZ either. Thomas Akermann:
Because Zehnder does not meet quality requirements such as WEMF certification. WW: Zehnder, as well as the publications from Migros and Coop, are members of the Swiss Press Association but not of the VSGZ. Thomas Akermann:
I see this issue in the context of the question of where the VSGZ is headed: In the short term, our goal is to bring together the key players among the free classified ad publishers, represent them nationwide, and grow the association to a reasonable size. Once everything is in order, our medium-term goal is to integrate it into the Swiss Press Association. WW: As a separate subgroup? Thomas Akermann:
Yes. There have been discussions in the past. But we realized that the Publishers’ Association still considers our importance to be too low. That’s why we’re first doing our homework and will then get involved as a group. Individual membership is simply too expensive for small and medium-sized publishers. WW: About seven years ago, the VSGZ tried unsuccessfully to form a free newspaper bundle alongside what was then Swisspool. Are bundles still a goal today?
Thomas Akermann: Yes, we’re actively discussing this topic. It’s possible that we’ll launch something. It’s also possible that we’ll consolidate all our newspapers for certain events. WW: However, the VSGZ still has geographical gaps in Bern, Basel, St. Gallen, Winterthur, Aargau, Solothurn, Graubünden, and the canton of Ticino. Are you in talks with all the relevant publications? Thomas Akermann:
With a few. For example, we’re in contact with the Baslerstab, and the discussions have been positive so far. We’re also keeping an eye on St. Gallen and Aargau, but we haven’t contacted them yet. There’s no need to contact the free publications from Espace Media—that’s handled there by Tamedia. WW: The Stadtblatt Winterthur will soon be published as a free Sunday paper. Is it a potential candidate for the VSGZ? Thomas Akermann:
Yes, absolutely. WW: Back to .ch: The publication could pose a threat to some VSGZ members. How is the VSGZ responding to this project? Thomas Akermann:
Of course, .ch affects our free newspapers to a certain extent. In my opinion, however, the publication will primarily compete with subscription-based daily newspapers. After all, if people receive a daily newspaper for free—one that’s also positioned as higher quality than 20 Minuten—many will wonder whether they even need a subscription-based daily newspaper anymore. WW: That may be true. But so far, VSGZ titles have been the only ones to reach every household in the distribution area at least once a week—including the roughly 15 percent of foreign-language speakers. But .ch is now challenging those advantages—and on top of that, daily and earlier in the morning. That’s a real threat. Thomas Akermann:
It’s certainly true that .ch is closer to our USP than, say, 20 minutes. WW: So what’s left of your USP? Thomas Akermann:
Our USP remains the same, because we make it into mailboxes—even those with “No Mail” stickers. .ch can’t do that. And it will be interesting to see how it solves its distribution challenges. With stands located only in apartment buildings and relying on door-to-door distributors, the publication will hardly come close to our reach. Another point: We will likely continue to offer the more attractive value for money. VSGZ Members and Membership Criteria In German-speaking Switzerland, the VSGZ currently has seven members—the Anzeiger Luzern/Luzerner Woche, the Berner Landbote, the Fridolin, the Obersee Nachrichten, the Schaffhauser Bock, the Tagblatt der Stadt Zürich, and the Wochen-Zeitung für das Emmental und Entlebuch. In French-speaking Switzerland, the association has three members: Biel-Bienne, GHI, and Lausanne Cités. The total circulation is approximately 1.1 million copies. Until recently, the *Uster Nachrichten* was also a member of the VSGZ—until Tamedia discontinued it at the end of May 2007.
To qualify for VSGZ membership, a free publication must have been on the market for at least one year and must be distributed at least once a week to all households in its circulation area. In addition, editorial content should account for at least 20 percent of the publication’s total volume. The publication must have its circulation and reach audited by WEMF and should have at least 0.75 readers per copy.
Interview: Markus Knöpfli

Poster research SPR+ has spent seven years collecting contact data for street spaces. However, a separate methodology is required for poster sites in buildings.Swiss Poster Research Plus (SPR+), APG's poster research, has a major goal: the study aims to provide information on the performance data of all around 60,000 F12 and F200 poster sites in Swiss conurbations. This can be read at www.sprplus.ch. It is well understood: The figure of 60,000 includes not only APG's own sites, but also those of other providers, such as Clear Channel Outdoor Plakanda (CCOP) or Star Plakat, but the goal has not yet been reached. SPR+ has completed the data collection with GPS in twelve major Swiss conurbations (see box) and has also extrapolated the performance values for 43 other cities. This data has also been incorporated into the SPR+ Expert planning tool. Nevertheless, SPR+ still has an important gap: So far, only the performance values of street areas have been collected, whereas no values are yet available for poster sites in buildings, train stations, underpasses, shopping centers and parking lots. And according to APG Marketing Manager Roger Möschler, this amounts to 14,000 to 15,000 spaces across Switzerland, or around a quarter of all poster sites.
The reason: GPS can only be used to take measurements as long as the test subjects are virtually outdoors. However, as soon as the test subjects enter heavily shielded buildings, it is no longer possible to track the distances traveled inside and the performance values of the corresponding billboards cannot be determined.
SPR+ now wants to fill this gap - with a pilot study that should be completed by the end of the year. The basis for this is the existing GPS data: "Thanks to this, we know which people entered which building through which entrance and when and where they left the building," explains SPR+ Managing Director Felix Mende. As part of the pilot study, four train stations, a shopping center, a car park, a freeway service station and a petrol station are now being empirically examined. "Various survey methods are being tested in order to identify the best possible method for the main study," says Mende. He is confident that this is possible. In addition, according to the SPR+ Managing Director, "an integrated model" is being developed, which will combine the GPS study and the property study. "The SPR+ Expert planning tool will then have access to this data set."
SPR+ is conducting the pilot study together with the German Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems (IAIS). Fraunhofer, a long-standing research partner of SPR+, already has extensive experience in recording people's mobility in objects, says Mende.
How SPR+ worksOver the past seven years or so, more than 10,000 Swiss people have each worn a GPS mobility meter for a week, which stores the signals from at least four satellites every second. These recorded routes were then transferred to a digital map accurate to the meter, which also contains the positions of the poster sites and their observation areas. This makes it possible to determine when the test subjects passed which spot, how quickly and at what angle. Accordingly, statements can be made about the number of contacts and the quality of contact for each individual area.
However, as soon as a test person was in a covered location, their mobility meter was no longer able to receive the satellite signals, or only to a limited extent. Consequently, no or only incomplete position data was stored during this time.

The pilot study is now attempting to "reconstruct" these hidden routes empirically, so to speak.
Markus Knöpfli

Customer loyalty The Migros Genossenschafts Bund thanked its customers for the 10th anniversary of the Cumulus card with a band of superlatives: The Rolling Stones played live at the Stade de la Pontaise in Lausanne on August 11 for 30,000 Cumulus customers. Art & Work was commissioned by the FMC to design a stylish brochure about the show and the Stones so that they would not forget the event in a hurry.

Awards On August 15, the Swiss Effie 08 site (www.effie.ch) will be launched and the online submission of cases will be released. To make the participants' work a little easier and to remind them once again of the most important rules for effective and efficient submission to Swiss Effie, BSW Leading Swiss Agencies is once again organizing a workshop on Thursday, August 23 on the topic of "Submitting Effie Cases Effectively". The aim of the workshop is to use the 12 golden Effie tips and case studies to show agency staff how to prepare their information and data effectively, how to convince the jury of the effectiveness of their campaign and how to have the best chance of winning an Effie. Register by August 17, 2007 to [email protected]. Cost: 80 Swiss francs.

Promoting young talent BMW had students design the employee magazine. With great success. Employee magazines don't have to be filled with internal information or product news every month. The July issue of BMW's employee magazine Teamwork proves this. In the summer issue, Oliver Aeschlimann's communications team shows the courage to experiment. Together with the Zurich University of the Arts, BMW embarked on the path of art. Students from the Visual Communication department put the car manufacturer in the picture on around 20 pages. Project manager Oliver Aeschlimann: "We wanted to use this to offer young people a platform and introduce our employees to new impressions, other views and people behind the products." For Aeschlimann, such input is important. The view from the outside comes up short during work, he says. The students' ideas were therefore very welcome.Artistic freedomOriginally, Aeschlimann planned to have the students design only the cover page. However, at the request of the lecturers, the assignment was changed. During the month-long project, the creative youngsters were allowed to fiddle around with the entire magazine. BMW was very open about the topics. The only guard rail was that the work had to have something to do with BMW, Mini or mobility. Oliver Aeschlimann admits to being a bit skeptical at first. He feared that the students would think too critically about BMW. But censoring or interfering with artistic creation was out of the question for BMW. Aeschlimann is pleased with the final result. "We included all the works in the booklet. The works are diverse and turned out well."
The collaboration with the university was not without remuneration. BMW compensated the students for their work, organized an exhibition and placed the project in the media. Aeschlimann: "We also want to use it to offer the young people a springboard into the professional world." And how did the Swiss BMW workforce react to the project? They responded very positively to the experiment. "The feedback was great. I've never received so much feedback since I started working at BMW," says Aeschlimann. His team and he are already incubating other concepts on how to use students and their ideas for BMW. "Currently, we're thinking about working with students again, but I can't say anything about specific projects yet."
Promoting young talent is close to the German car manufacturer's heart. For example, BMW supports young filmmakers at many small festivals and regularly awards various prizes for film and design. Incidentally, all the works of the students of the Zurich University of the Arts can be seen at the BMW headquarters in Dielsdorf. The employee magazine Teamwork is published monthly and has a circulation of 550 copies.
Christian Lüscher

Survey Due to the current situation, Werbewoche is publishing an excerpt from the new KommTech study 2007.
The KommTech study, which has been conducted annually since 2004, documents the ongoing digitalization of communication and entertainment technologies in Switzerland. An excerpt from the forthcoming results of this year's study is presented here as an example for 15 to 24-year-olds in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. Playstation preferredThe young Swiss live in relatively large multi-person households with a high density of technological equipment. A key finding of the KommTech study is therefore: be careful with electronic gifts for young people. Many have several TV sets at home and conceivably one of their own in their room. The use of games by young Swiss people has continued to increase: 43% already play video games from time to time (2006: 35%), compared to one in five of the total population aged 15 and over (2006: 12%). Like most Swiss people, the majority of young people also own a Playstation. Although Xbox is less widespread, young people are much more interested in it than in Playstation. This is followed by Nintendo. The manufacturer may be able to catch up with the Xbox with a new generation of devices.
In addition to consoles, 15 percent of young people also play games online. No wonder video and online games are now also being discovered as an advertising medium. With dynamically deployable advertising directly in the games, young people can be reached in a targeted manner and with maximum attention.
85% of young people use the Internet at home almost every day (2006: 68%). The most popular activities of young people on the Internet (after e-mail and searching for information) are communication tools such as instant messaging and chatting. Around 40 percent of young people use the Internet for instant communication with their peers. With a doubling compared to last year, these two Internet features are manifesting their final breakthrough.
Downloading music via the Internet is becoming increasingly popular: More than one in three young Swiss people use the Internet for this purpose (2006: 24%). At the same time, the prevalence of iPods and other MP3 players has also skyrocketed: at 66%, two thirds of young Swiss people now own an iPod or MP3 player (2006: 49%).
The KommTech study also shows movement in the area of newer Internet trends such as blogging, podcasting, Internet TV and Skype. The current hype surrounding YouTube and the like is reflected in a significant jump in the data: Last year, only 6 percent of young German-speaking Swiss watched videos on the net, while currently 26 percent already do so. 14% are dedicated to blogging and almost as many use the Internet for TV services such as Zattoo. Podcasting and Internet telephony (11% each) have also made it over the 10% mark among young Swiss people. Blogging, Internet television, podcasting and telephony are predominantly a matter for young people and are disproportionately popular and widespread among them. However, they are still far from being a mass phenomenon among the population as a whole.
99% own a mobile phoneMore than one in three young Swiss people use radio streaming, which involves listening to a radio station live over the Internet. Practically one in four young people do this at least once or several times a week (2006: 15 percent). In view of these rising usage figures, it is not surprising that practically all Swiss radio stations also broadcast their programs online.
Young people, but also the population as a whole, prefer to listen to Swiss private radio via the internet. 20 percent of young people tune in to Swiss private radio stations, while SRG radio stations are used by 8 percent. Swiss private radio stations were thus able to further extend their lead over other radio offerings on the internet.
At 99%, the vast majority of young people have their own cell phone (total population: 85%). Sunrise stagnated behind the market leader Swissom, with the result that Orange is now in second place thanks to growth among young people. Nokia was able to extend its market leadership among young people again. Samsung is the most youth-oriented cell phone and is three times more widespread among young people than among the population as a whole, which is why Sony Ericsson slipped to third place.
Making phone calls and texting are the main functions of cell phones for young people. Photography and video recording, as well as listening to music on a cell phone, have continued to increase significantly. Although photography has increased significantly, sending MMS seems to have reached its peak. Radio, on the other hand, has found a new distribution channel via the cell phone, which is being used more and more by young people. Newer services such as surfing the Internet, television or e-mail via cell phone are still hardly used by young people. Only surfing via cell phone shows a positive trend.
The latest KommTech data reveals various technological developments in Switzerland. At the same time, the study raises all kinds of questions for next year: What will happen with blogging, podcasting, Internet TV and Skype? Will all Swiss people continue to listen to Swiss private radio stations over the Internet? Will surfing the Internet, writing e-mails or watching TV on a cell phone boom next year? Can the iPhone repeat the success of the iPod in the cell phone segment, or will it still be possible to give a young person a Samsung cell phone next year, or will it already be out of fashion again?

Siri Fischer, IP Multimedia (Switzerland) AG