Andy Hostettler announced on Friday that he is leaving JWT+H+F to become the new CEO of TBWA Switzerland. In an interview with *Werbewoche*, he discusses the reasons for his departure, the new competitive landscape with Remy Fabrikant, and his plans for TBWA. Werbewoche: After 17 years, you’re ending your partnership with Remy Fabrikant. Was there a conflict? Hostettler: No, we didn’t have a falling out. It was a gradual process. There are now market demands that we would be less able to meet credibly as a team.
WW: What does that mean, specifically? Hostettler: We both need to make some changes. I think it would be difficult for us to convey to the market that we’re a new kind of agency if we continued to operate in our current form. JWT+H+F hasn’t been doing just traditional advertising for quite some time now, but conveying that to clients isn’t all that easy. Once a company has established a certain image, it’s difficult to change it again.
WW: Is that why you’re leaving JWT+H+F? Hostettler: Exactly. We can only break away from the way things have been if everyone goes their own way—even though we don’t fundamentally disagree about the future. When the offer from TBWA came, I knew it was the right one.
WW: So now you’ll be competing with Remy Fabrikant. Hostettler: Well, we’ve been competitors from time to time in the past, for example in golf or cycling. It’s probably better for our friendship if we don’t work together anymore—that way, when we have dinner together, we won’t have to talk business. But if our two agencies were to find themselves in direct competition in the future—say, in a pitch—I’ll certainly give it my all to win.
WW: What are your plans for TBWA? Hostettler: TBWA has a global strategy it calls «disruption.» That means you have to break with conventions in order to arrive at new visions and set yourself apart. Internationally, this strategy has borne fruit, but in Switzerland it hasn’t really taken hold yet. That said, TBWA is probably further along than outsiders realize. For example, the agency has a large online division called Tequila—but this is hardly known in the market. I want to use the international strategy to set new standards that are also relevant for major clients in Switzerland.
WW: What will Madeleine von Arx do, having served as Managing Director at TBWA since Markus Pekeler’s departure? Hostettler: Even before it was announced that I was joining, she had decided to leave the agency at the end of the year to focus on her own wellness company. I’ll take up my position on October 1, and from then until the end of the year, Madeleine von Arx will be available to me on a part-time basis in an advisory capacity. This is an ideal solution—while I know how advertising agencies generally work, each one has its own unique characteristics. And above all, I want to quickly and thoroughly familiarize myself with the files of our current clients.
WW: What will you miss about your time at JWT+H+F? Hostettler: I’m sure I’ll miss a lot of people. After all, I hired most of them myself—it’s different when you join an agency where there are already 40 people working. But I’m leaving on a high note. We were also able to win a few new clients recently—I feel like I’m leaving JWT+H+F at a good time. Interview: Carole Scheidegger

 Thanks to the large number of job vacancies, advertising revenues in Switzerland continued to rise in June. According to Wemf, the total volume of the daily and regional weekly press increased by 4.2 percent. Job vacancies have helped the Swiss press to generate more advertising revenue. In terms of francs, the total volume increased by 4.2 percent in June. Compared to the same month last year, job advertisements rose by 36 percent. Commercial advertisements recorded an increase of 0.3 percent, according to the advertising statistics compiled by Wemf. The volume of advertisements in the financial and business press rose by 16.3%, while the Sunday press increased by a total of 10%. The general press even increased by 17.9 percent. In contrast, the page volume of the specialty and trade press decreased. The specialty press recorded a drop of eight percent and the trade press printed 14.8 percent fewer advertisements.

 From Wednesday, Swiss television will be producing the documentary soap "Pfyn Pile Dwellers - Stone Age Live". Until August 21, two families and two individuals will be living in a small pile-dwelling settlement on a pond in the Thurgau municipality of Pfyn. They live in a site that is supposed to correspond to that of the so-called "Pfyn culture" in the Neolithic period from around 4000 to 3500 BC. According to an SF communiqué, the Living Science project is based on finds and the latest scientific findings from this era. It was initially controversial: The WFF had reservations about the program (see ). Life in the pile-dwelling village is documented: Every day, Swiss Television produces around 15 minutes of broadcasting and shows them after "Schweiz aktuell" at 7 pm. The first edition of the program will show how the pile dwellers experience their first hours in the Stone Age and whether they manage to make a fire. Presenter Oliver Bono will report from the studio platform opposite the pile-dwelling village. In addition to the live broadcasts, there will be four weekly summaries, which will be broadcast on Friday at 10.20 pm on SF 1.

 
 
The Swiss Heritage Society would like to place the Beromünster land transmitter under protection as a monument of national importance. In an ideas exchange, it looked for a future form of use. The result was a youth radio station. The Beromünster radio station is to be closed down in 2009. The Heritage Society would like to keep the transmitter as it is a monument of national importance. For this reason, it is calling for Beromünster to be placed under protection and for the transmitter to be repurposed. In an invitation to tender issued in June, it looked for new possibilities for its use. According to the Neue Luzerner Zeitung, the idea of a youth radio station was the best suggestion. The initiator, Cornelia Burkhard, envisioned a station where school classes could produce a radio program under professional guidance during project weeks. This would give the young people an insight into the radio trade and they could produce their own contributions, which could then be broadcast on the station. The station is also to be converted into a museum where old audio documents, techniques and other archive material can be viewed.
The Swiss Heritage Society has forwarded the proposals to Swisscom Broadcast. However, what exactly will happen to the transmitter from 2008 is still up in the air.  

 
Somehow Second Life can't get out of the media. First the media promised Second Life as the new miracle, dozens of companies opened virtual branches and sold their products and now the internet platform is supposed to help autistic people to make contacts. According to a report by Pressetext, the Internet and especially virtual worlds such as Second Life help autistic people or people with other social contact problems to find an important place to communicate. In Second Life, for example, there are various islands for people suffering from autism where they can make contact with healthy people and those with the same illness. The virtual space can thus be used as a training ground for real-life situations. The report mentions autism expert Brita Schrimer, who rates the internet positively for autistic people. In her opinion, autistic people not only search the internet for information, but also see it as an opportunity to interact socially and exchange ideas with others. This means that even autistic people who do not use verbal language can be equal communication partners on the Internet.

 More and more means of public transportation are selling advertising space. Since the beginning of 2007, SBB has been placing advertising in its S-Bahn trains. According to Cash Daily, the Swiss Federal Railways is generating additional revenue worth half a million. It would like to double this income next year. SBB has a target of three million Swiss francs in mind. Now BLS also wants to jump on this bandwagon and will be offering advertising space from fall 2007, as the Berner Zeitung writes on Tuesday.

 Swiss television announces a new format: On January 8, 2008, the new dating show "Lovecheck" will start on SF 2. According to a press release, it will be about more than just flirting. In ten episodes, a single woman is given the opportunity to find her potential dream partner through a variety of tests. In each of the playful check rounds, one of the initial five candidates is eliminated. As other dating shows have done, the participants are not supposed to see each other at first: Only in the fourth round - during a date with a home-cooked dinner - do the two remaining finalists show their faces. According to SF, questions such as "Does he smell good? Does he smell good? How does he feel? How does he move? What does his home look like? What do his best friends say about him? You can win a romantic vacation for two. Lovecheck" will be broadcast from January 8, 2008 on Tuesdays in the evening program. The production company B&B Endemol will produce the ten episodes in the fall on behalf of SF. Those looking for a partner can apply to Swiss Television until August 13, 2007.

 On Tuesday, Uefa will begin the licensing process for the public broadcasting of Euro 08 matches. A license is only required if the screen size exceeds a diagonal of three meters or if the event is commercially oriented. Since Tuesday, Uefa has been issuing licenses for the public broadcasting of the 2008 European Football Championships. A license is now required if the diagonal screen size exceeds three meters, writes the press release. Uefa issues licenses according to the "first come - first served" principle. In this way, the organizers want to ensure that potential organizers register as early as possible. If two organizers apply for the same place, the first one received will be considered.

 The Bern-based agency Nothing from outer Space has overhauled the website for the CS credit card bonus program and added new features. It had already revamped the Pointup.ch website two years ago. Nothing designed the four-language website in its entirety and implemented its technical and design aspects. All holders of a Credit Suisse credit card can participate in Pointup, a bonus program that awards points per franc spent, which can be exchanged for rewards. Swisscard, a joint venture company of Credit Suisse and American Express, manages the bonus program. According to a press release, Swisscard can easily keep promotions, available rewards and image material up to date at all times via a backend interface. Pointup.ch also has an RSS feed for new rewards.

 Jörg Tobuschat will become the new Publishing Director of the TV guide division at Jean Frey as of September 1, 2007. This division was recently expanded following the acquisition of three Ringier program guides and now includes the two weekly magazines Tele and TVStar, the bi-weekly publications TV2 and TV Digital Schweiz as well as the monthly magazine TV4. The magazines Tele, TV2 and TV4 were purchased from Ringier by Jean Frey Verlag, which belongs to Axel Springer, on July 1, 2007. Jean-Orphée Reuter, who was previously Publishing Director at Jean Frey for TVStar, will be leaving the company at the end of August, according to a press release. The new publishing director Tobuschat was most recently deputy publishing director at Axel Springer in Hamburg, responsible for the publications Hörzu, Funkuhr, Bildwoche, TVneu, TVGuide and the central program editorial department.

 In Germany, the advertising industry spent 474 million euros on the online sector in the first six months of this year. According to Nielsen Media Research, online service providers invested the most with 81.1 million euros, followed by the telecommunications industry with 41.7 million euros, financial service providers (34.4 million euros), retail organizations (33.1 million euros) and the e-commerce sector with 26.5 million euros. These five sectors accounted for 45.7 percent of total online advertising expenditure. The most popular form of online advertising in the first six months of 2007 was the super banner with 16%, which utilizes the entire page width of a website. Other frequently used forms were the skyscraper (seven percent), rectangle (six percent), wallpaper (six percent) and medium rectangle (four percent).

 The Zurich advertising agency Sulzer, Sutter is promoting the "Centurion" credit card from American Express. According to a communiqué, myths and legends surround the exclusive Black Card. The credit card with an extensive lifestyle and concierge service is issued by invitation only. American Express in Switzerland has authorized Credit Suisse Private Banking to extend this invitation to selected clients from the "Service Seeking Super Affluents" segment. Sulzer, Sutter developed the communication material for this, namely training presentations for Credit Suisse Private Banking advisors, various sales documents as well as sales brochures, card applications and corresponding packaging.