On Thursday, the Lucerne High Court ruled that Emmi must pay 20,000 francs for a guerrilla marketing campaign at the Lucerne Water Tower. The company, however, argued that the extensive media coverage of the campaign had actually damaged its image. Yet Emmi successfully achieved exactly what many companies are currently trying to do: generate a lot of publicity in the editorial sections of the media with a single, relatively low-cost campaign. ’In terms of media coverage, the campaign was effective quantitatively, but not qualitatively,« Emmi spokesperson Stephan Wehrle told Werbewoche. »Many comments were rather negative, so editorial coverage can also be counterproductive.« The campaign was planned rather spontaneously and was not developed in collaboration with an advertising agency. The partner was Movingposter.ch, a producer of advertising media.
According to Wehrle, the tower wrap didn’t do much for the Lacto Tab product. «The campaign took place in April, but the drink didn’t hit the shelves until June,» the spokesperson said. «If the launch had been on the same day, things might have turned out differently.» The tower billboard was merely a kind of kickoff for the launch campaign. «We never intended to forego the traditional advertising campaign because of it. Otherwise, we would have carried out the promotion at a completely different time.».
Despite the huge media buzz surrounding the water tower poster, consumers are showing «a certain degree of reluctance» toward Lacto Tab, according to Wehrle. The drink was relaunched again this spring. It no longer needs to be stored in the refrigerated section but can now be found on store shelves alongside other energy drinks. Wehrle attributes the lack of enthusiasm to the fact that it is a «complex product»: The drink is based on the active ingredient Q10, which is still unknown in Switzerland. Despite a guerrilla marketing campaign that generated a lot of buzz and an advertising campaign featuring Roger Federer, the Emmi product has not yet been a resounding success.

 The Independent Complaints Authority for Radio and Television (UBI) has upheld a complaint against Tele Züri for showing a fur shop owner on television without his consent. On October 30, 2006, the private broadcaster Tele Züri aired a report on the launch of the "Pelz frei" label by the Zurich Animal Protection Association. The film report shows how animal welfare activists visit three fashion stores to promote the label. The owner and staff of one of these stores were clearly recognizable on television. The off-screen commentary mentions that the owner did not enjoy the visit from the animal rights activists and asked them to leave the store immediately. The owner of the fur store then lodged a complaint against the broadcast.
The UBI announced on Wednesday that the broadcasting of images of a person on television is generally prohibited if no consent has been given or if there are no overriding public interests. If necessary, the persons must be anonymized by making their faces unrecognizable.
Tele Züri had broadcast the offending images against the express wishes of the persons concerned, it continued. The UBI ruled that there were no overriding public interests in showing the images. The impact and message of the report would have remained the same if the faces of the owner and sales staff had been made unrecognizable. In another clothing store, where those responsible also did not wish to make a statement, the faces of the sales staff were also made unrecognizable by Tele Züri. The broadcaster must now take the necessary precautions to avoid the same or similar infringements in the future.

 From September 3 to 7, 20007, the third edition of the Talent Screen Festival will take place at Zurich's Gessnerallee - or rather on the big screen. In the first two years of its existence, over 1000 film talents have taken part in the festival for young talent. Now the call for entries for the various events has been reopened: The Movie Marathon requires young filmmakers to prove their skills under extreme conditions. The task is to shoot a short film within 48 hours. The submitted works are pre-selected by a jury of experts and the ten best films are shown to the public. The jury, chaired by screenwriter Micha Lewinsky, consists of Urs Augstburger (TV film SF Schweizer Fernsehen), Matthias Freuler (Creative Director Wirz Werbung), Marc Görtz (Managing Director Ringier TV), Peter Luisi (director), Mohan Mani (film journalist) and Claudia Wick (producer Abrakadabra Films).
In the pitch events, the screenwriters take center stage. In the Pitch Battle, eight finalists have to prove on stage that their ideas resonate with the audience. The jury, which will make a shortlist, consists of David Keller (screenwriter), Lilian Räber (TV film SF Schweizer Fernsehen), Susann Rüdlinger (producer Cobra Film) and Eva Vitija (screenwriter).
The Pitch Café is a quieter place. Here, authors can get to know top-class producers in an efficient speed-dating style. Cooking takes place in the Pitch Kitchen, where recipes for screenwriting are also passed on.
The audience decides the winners of the Movie Marathon and Pitch Battle by applause. Once again this year, numerous prizes are up for grabs. The winners of the Movie Marathon will receive the main prize, which the festival organizers affectionately call "The Great Stag 2007": A camera worth 12,000 francs. The ten final films will be broadcast exclusively as part of the "CH:Filmszene" program on SF 1. The winners of the Pitch Battle can look forward to the SF Promotion Prize of CHF 7,000.
The Talent Screen Festival is supported by the Federal Office of Culture and the Zurich Film Foundation, among others. The main partner is Ringier TV.

 The Tages-Anzeiger is discontinuing its coverage of the Tour de France. Due to the doping scandal surrounding the cycling race, the Zurich daily newspaper will no longer be publishing race reports on the individual stages, as the editorial team reported on Wednesday in response to an SDA inquiry. The Tagi will limit itself to the results tables and background reports on the subject of doping. Martin Born, the Tages-Anzeiger's Tour de France reporter, reacted to the sports information correspondent with incomprehension at the decision of the editors-in-chief, the SDA further reports. The Tages-Anzeiger is thus following in the footsteps of the German television stations ARD and ZDF, which have refrained from broadcasting direct coverage of the cycling race since last week. Last Saturday, the Valais daily newspaper Le Nouvelliste also discontinued its coverage of the world's most famous cycling race.
Various sponsors are also considering pulling out: according to Werben & Verkaufen, the sponsors of the T-Mobile, Gerolsteiner and Milram teams want to decide after the end of the Tour de France whether they want to remain among the sponsors. The Astana team is already completely out of the race.

 Two giants join forces: The software company Microsoft and the video game manufacturer Electronic Arts (EA) are cooperating on advertising in computer games. In future, ads will be shown in games such as Madden, Nascar and Tiger Woods. These are dynamic and can be changed for new products. The two companies did not disclose any financial details of their agreement. According to SDA, in-game advertising was only worth around 50 million dollars in 2005, but many experts expect the amount to exceed the billion-dollar threshold in the coming years. A recent survey by media research company Publicom also revealed that Swiss industry professionals believe in the growth of in-game advertising (see
).

 Swiss cinema films are struggling with declining interest this year; the market share in the first half of 2007 was around 7 percent with 500,000 admissions; in 2006 it was comparatively much higher with 950,000 admissions and 11 percent, according to Handelszeitung's research with the umbrella organization for cinema and film distribution, Procinema, which sees the reason for the decline compared to 2006 in the absence of audience magnets such as last year's film "Die Herbstzeitlosen" and other successful films. Apparently, four Swiss productions made it into the top 20 in 2006, which is said to have given Swiss films a record market share of 9.62 percent over the year as a whole.
Total admissions to cinemas also fell compared to the previous year; the 1.621 million admissions in the first half of 2007 were 15 percent below the previous year's figures, as reported by the Handelszeitung.

 The readership of daily newspapers in Germany continues to decline: according to figures published on Wednesday by the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Media-Analyse, newspapers reach 47.46 million readers. This corresponds to a year-on-year loss of almost 500,000 readers or 0.5 percent. The readership of magazines remained almost constant at around 60.5 million. The analysis revealed that 73.2 percent of all Germans over the age of 14 read at least one newspaper every day. Within the daily newspapers, the group of newspapers for sale recorded slight gains. The group of national subscription newspapers showed the same level of reach as in the previous year.
Among the newspapers for sale, the tabloid Bild increased its readership by 150,000 to 11.64 million. The Süddeutsche Zeitung gained 40,000 readers to reach 1.15 million. In contrast, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung lost 60,000 readers and now has a reach of 890,000 readers.
The daily newspaper Die Welt reached 690,000 readers, an increase of 40,000, while the Frankfurter Rundschau increased its readership by 10,000 to 360,000. In percentage terms, the daily newspaper saw the strongest growth, increasing its readership by 30 percent to 260,000.
Among the weekly titles, Bild am Sonntag gained 270,000 readers and now has a reach of 10.89 million. Die Zeit lost 60,000 readers with a reach of 1.44 million. Stern reached 7.41 million, a drop of 160,000 readers. Focus only reached 5.65 million, a loss of 590,000 readers. In contrast, Spiegel was able to slightly increase its readership to 6.01 million (plus 10,000).

Following Andy Hostettler’s departure from JWT+H+F, Remy Fabrikant has become the new CEO of the agency, which he led alongside Hostettler for 10 years. *Werbewoche* asked Remy Fabrikant about his plans for the reorganized agency. *Werbewoche*: What are your plans for JWT+H+F following Andy Hostettler’s departure? Fabrikant: I want to continue developing the agency in a creative direction. That’s where I see the market. Since I come from a creative background myself, I can advocate for this credibly. WW: So you’re fully committed to the creative side? Fabrikant: Yes, but our goal isn’t simply to produce creative work for creativity’s sake, but to communicate as effectively as possible for the client. There are agencies that take on unpaid jobs just so they can submit the results to competitions. We want to focus on creativity within the framework of a normal client relationship. We’ve also recently been able to win a few new clients with whom we plan to implement our strategy: You can do the usual kind of communication, or you can do something a little different. I think the time is ripe for this—the writing is on the wall, so to speak. WW: Now that you’re CEO of JWT+H+F, aren’t you worried that you’ll be too busy with management tasks and won’t have any time left for creative work? Fabrikant: No, the agency is now structured in such a way that I’m in very good hands when it comes to management tasks: Vanessa Lehmann-Spalleck serves as Client Service Director, Rainer Bühler as Strategic Planning Director, and Mike Krüll, who recently joined us, is responsible for creative work as Creative Director. Of course, I myself can’t deny my heart and my roots as a creative. WW: Andy Hostettler said that the agency’s image can only be changed if the two of you go your separate ways. Do you agree with that? Fabrikant: To bring about change, everyone has to be able to do their own thing—that’s true. Up until now, with our dual-leadership structure, we’ve sometimes had to make compromises. Now we both have our own opportunities to make our mark. WW: But there was no conflict between you? Fabrikant: No, even if that may sound surprising—our friendship continues. The solution we’ve now chosen makes a lot of sense for both of us. WW: Still, you’re now in a competitive relationship—how does that make you feel? Fabrikant: The advantage is that each of us knows the other’s strengths and weaknesses. If we face each other as competitors in a pitch, it’ll be a great challenge—just as every real pitch is a good challenge. Unfortunately, there have been quite a few recently that were nothing more than a token effort. If Andy Hostettler and I end up participating in the same pitch, we’ll make sure it’s more than just a token event. WW: Will you miss Andy Hostettler? Fabrikant: Yes, of course! I hope he misses us, too. After all, he’ll still be with us through the «H» in the agency’s name.
 
Interview: Carole Scheidegger 

 The fifth edition of the brochure "What is advertising?" from the Swiss Advertising Association has been published. The booklet provides information on all aspects of advertising, sheds light on the context and answers questions such as "Is advertising art?". It contains a list of the largest advertising clients of 2006, a glossary and the addresses of the various associations and organizations. The professions associated with advertising are presented in detail. As reported by Schweizer Werbung, all job descriptions have been adapted to the new situation. The picture street has also been updated with photo material from the jeans manufacturer Diesel. The brochure can be ordered from Schweizer Werbung for a symbolic CHF 1 per copy plus postage.

 On Tuesday, the Internet group AOL bought the company Tacoda, which specializes in user-specific Internet advertising; the Time Warner subsidiary has thus positioned itself for the expected boom in new forms of online advertising, according to an SDA report. Founded in 2001, Tacoda specializes in tailor-made Internet advertising. This involves storing the habits of Internet users and placing advertising accordingly: For example, if someone often surfs on pages of car providers, they will soon receive advertisements for cars.
According to the industry agency Emarketer, sales from targeted online advertising are set to increase tenfold to around 3.8 billion dollars by 2011. To date, this form of advertising accounts for only one percent of the approximately 40 billion dollars generated annually by online advertising.
The purchase of Tacoda joins other major acquisitions in recent months; a few months ago Google bought the provider Doubleclick, Microsoft took over the online advertiser Aquantive, and Yahoo strengthened its position in the field by acquiring the company Right Media.

 Community platforms, blogs and podcasts are currently causing quite a stir in the media and are summarized under the keyword Web 2.0. However, these technologies do not yet have much influence in German press offices: although the majority of their employees have heard a lot about Web 2.0 and its applications, they are not familiar with these technologies. This is the result of the latest PR trend monitor by News Aktuell and Faktenkontor. At 53 percent, more than half of the press offices surveyed stated that they had heard of blogs, podcasts and social software, but were not familiar with these technologies. Just under seven percent of the employees surveyed in corporate press offices work with Web 2.0 on a daily basis and are very familiar with it. PR agencies are somewhat better equipped for the current trends on the Internet: The majority of employees in agencies, namely 42.3 percent, use blogs, podcasts & co. at least "occasionally" and feel "reasonably confident" with these applications.

 If a product does not deliver what it promises, the fault lies neither with the product nor with the promise, but with poor communication. At least that's what the French cosmetics company L'Oréal seems to have thought when it took a creative approach to the facts in a recent campaign and used good communication instead. The new advertisement for the mascara "Telescopic" - nomen est omen - promised buyers up to 60 percent longer eyelashes. However, as this was not true, the Iberian beauty Penelope Cruz had false eyelashes glued on for the commercial and photos, which the British Advertising Standards Authority did not find funny at all; it accused the company of misleading consumers because it had exaggerated the effect of its new mascara. Not only was Cruz wearing false eyelashes, but the advertisement did not make it clear that the mascara would only make the eyelashes fuller and longer.
but in reality they are not. Here, too, L'Oréal demonstrated its nose for good communication and creativity; it defended its approach by saying that tools are used everywhere in advertising. How true, how true.