Consumers are taking control of marketing, advertising and content on the World Wide Web. Viewers created ads for the Super Bowl intermission and the commercial breaks of the Academy Awards. Is this the future? Many agency managers say no... Beat Fritsch reports from Cannes on a seminar that dealt with the topic of "consumer generated marketing". What was announced somewhat grandly as a debate unfortunately turned out to be a round of mutually agreeing panel guests. Nevertheless, the lessons learned were interesting.
What began with the creation of personal stylings of Pepsi cans or Nike sneakers continues in YouTube and other user-generated content stories. There are new rules on a new playing field, said USA Today reporter and panel moderator Theresa Howard at the beginning of the discussion. Of the millennial generation (13- to 24-year-olds), 50 percent use the WWW daily, compared to only 35 percent of Generation X (24- to 40-year-olds).
Millennials and Generation X dominate the web. Campaigns such as Join the Chain or Create your own Spot by Nike, in which you could build your own spot from film set pieces, achieved sensational impact values in the USA.
The Dove Evolution campaign (campaignforrealbeauty.com), WWW advertising for Dorito chips, for Axe (Game Killers), the in-the-motherhood blog by Pampers are examples of successful user-generated campaigns by large companies. Nike's Ronaldinho clip has even been downloaded 30 million times on YouTube. It's nothing new, but it's exploding at the moment, said Stefan Olander, Global Director, Digital & Content at Nike. Babs Rangaiah, Director, Media & Entertainment at Unilever USA, even expressed the opinion that this type of marketing works for every product and knows no preferences. But you have to have absolute confidence in your own product, replied Stefan Olander.
Ann Mukherjee, Vice President Marketing at chips and junk food producer Frito-Lay, even considers user-generated content campaigns suitable for brand equity building. It is a two-way dialog. Consumers tell us what is good for them. And the PR effect is currently very high. Moreover, if consumers identify with the brand, they will defend it more strongly than any marketing department.
Mark Wnek, Chairman & Chief Creative Officer of Lowe New York, was particularly enthusiastic about the low production costs for such campaigns and the good impact-cost ratio. And there is even some sensational stuff underneath. UG content stories are particularly successful in the USA/Canada and South America. This is of course due to the pool size of the single language area, which extends beyond national borders.
The whole thing has a lot of upsides - but there are also downsides in the form of commercial parodies such as Slob Evolution or the VW terror commercials. Theresa Howard concluded the discussion by saying that marketing control could be lost. Ann Mukherjee's conclusion was that consumers today no longer want to be discovered, they want to discover themselves. It's no longer about "fifteen seconds", but about "fifteen megabytes of fame". After all, there are 15,000 video uploads per day on YouTube.
Picture, from left to right):
Ann Mukherjee, Vice President, Marketing, Frito-Lay
Stefan Olander, Global Director, Digital & Content, Nike
Theresa Howard, Reporter, USA Today, Discussion Leader
Babs Rangaiah, Director, Media & Entertainment, Unilever USA
Mark Wnek, Chairman & Chief Creative Officer, Lowe New York

 The Internet Briefing association is expanding and splitting into three areas. From July, the three subgroups Bank/Finance, B2B and Online Marketing will be available. Internet Briefing is a forum for the exchange of experiences, covering all aspects of the Internet in everyday business life in monthly meetings. The members discuss case studies for management, marketing, communication and IT. Topics include the strategic importance of the Internet for companies, related technologies and processes as well as mistakes and recommendations. The group, which was founded by Reto Hartinger in March 2005, now has 400 members.
One member presents a project for 30 minutes and discusses the learning experiences. The group then discusses the case. The aim is for practitioners, consultants and scientists to learn from each other and gain new ideas without making the same mistakes. The membership fee for Internet Briefing is CHF 250 per year. At the next meeting, which will take place on July 3, the topic of "Google's top ranking: what matters" will be discussed.

Despite all the joy over Switzerland's good performance in Cannes - sometimes there has to be a little schadenfreude. The Global Marketing Disasters seminar, which was held by the global brand consulting and text and cultural translation agency Textappeal, promised to provide this. "Local disasters are global disasters", it was made clear right at the beginning - thanks to today's information technologies, we will learn very quickly, long live schadenfreude. So where are the traps hidden in global marketing communication? A few examples were presented: Electrolux once actually launched a new vacuum cleaner with the headline "Nothing sucks like Electrolux" - that may still work in British English. But the American reads: "Nothing sucks more than Electrolux."
Great brand names that go down well in their respective countries become an involuntary laughing stock in other markets. Want some examples? Homo Soap (homo for man), the sweet toast rolls called Jussi-Pussi and, as the icing on the cake, the "Cock Flavored Bouillon", where cock refers to the cock and not the male genitals.
However, cultural pitfalls also lurk on the path to marketing success. A Nike Air cartoon ad showed a manga-style fight between Air-Jordan and an old monk of the Lotus Order, in the style of Tarantino's "Kill Bill". An unforgivable mistake - the Chinese saw it as a disregard for their traditional culture. Even worse - the commercial was shown worldwide, which is an absolute disgrace.
In Malaysia, on the other hand, people don't like Western actors in commercials who let Malaysians serve them or order them around the office. If the car is then driven on the wrong side of the road, the disaster is complete, even if the main actor in the commercial is called Brad Pitt, as Toyota had to painfully discover.
The French Coca-Cola commercial, which uses only American actors and American fast food as its visuals, also turned out to be a complete flop. Nick Strauss from Mather Communications summed up the cultural difference as follows: When he moved from New York to an agency in London at a young age, the CEO came to the morning meeting and greeted people with the words: "I had a good night, I was completely drunk and out of bounds", and everyone said "Oh you had a great time then". In the States, someone would have taken the CEO aside and said: "I think you have a problem, here's the number of the helpline".
According to the panelists, the reasons for global disasters arise because people at the agency and the client don't listen to each other properly. Ian Ewart touched on the framework conditions that need to be set for creatives. Creatives sometimes build the campaign of their dreams, just as an architect would build his dream house without a brief, and not the client's house.
The costs and consequences of marketing disasters are difficult to measure. It is important to own up to mistakes. You always get a second chance, said Mainardo de Nardis from Aegis. But how do you come up with ideas in America or Europe that also work in Asia? Chris Mendola from 180: "Of course, we have a network that can be consulted, because we attach great importance to looking at the consumer locally. And there are international commonalities that always work: A love of money, sport or health. Every customer has their international aspects as well as their local aspects." Nick Strauss added: "We don't have exactly the same campaigns in every country, just the same idea behind them. We take into account that people drink coffee in different ways in different countries, or that Americans prefer their mineral water non-carbonated."
Nevertheless, the decoding of the advertising message by the consumer is different everywhere and sometimes unpredictable. The global advertising campaign by Barclay Wealth was cited as a good example. A subject intended to symbolize freedom shows a woman on a white horse riding across a landscape for European countries. For the Arab world, a man was placed on a black horse on a beach and a different riding style was chosen for the shoot. Even the globally applicable baby picture was given a more differentiated visual language for China. The baby was given a lucky hat.
As a quintessence, the panel participants finally presented three theses on cross-cultural marketing communication:
1) All cultures don't necessarily relate to your brand the same way.
2) A global campaign doesn't always mean a single execution globally.
3) Cost savings on a single global ad will be wasted if the ad fails at the local level.
Picture, from left to right.
Mainardo de Nardis, CEO Aegis Media Global
Ian Ewart, Head of Marketing, Barclay Wealth
Chris Mendola Managing Director, 180
Nick Strauss, Executive Planning Director, Mather Communications

 On Thursday evening, the German-language Canal 3 editorial team accepted the radio prize from the Bern Foundation for Radio and Television. In the eyes of the jury, the Biel-based private radio station earned the CHF 4,000 award for the high quality of last year's summer series "Berndeutsch".  
According to an announcement from Espace Medien, owner of Canal 3, the 30-part series stood out in particular for its diverse insights and perspectives, varied presentation and relaxed use of dialect. The fact that the prize for above-average radio and television programs, which has been awarded for 25 years, goes to a local radio station is the exception rather than the rule. As a rule, SRG media win, as the other winners this year also show: In addition to the small Canal 3, one program each from "Dok", "Fensterplatz" from Schweizer Fernsehen and a contribution from the regional journal Bern/Freiburg/Wallis were awarded.

  Six annual reports are currently being produced by Zurich-based design and communications agency Inform. Inform has designed the annual reports for ETH Zurich, Aids-Hilfe Schweiz, the Federal Office for Agriculture, Aarau Cantonal Hospital, Triemli City Hospital and the Outcome association, some of which have been produced in several languages. As the agency announced on Friday, the work included content conception, design, layout, photo and illustration concepts as well as online adaptations and project management.

 The festival in Cannes is drawing to a close. The nominations have now been awarded in all categories. The Zurich creatives from Walker are continuing their successful run and have also been shortlisted in the "Titanium and Intergrated Lions" category for Amnesty International. They were the only Swiss agency to receive a nomination. The Lions for this category are awarded in the same way as those for the commercials on Saturday evening.

 The commuter newspaper 20 Minuten is increasing its circulation in German-speaking Switzerland by 25 percent. This has been decided by the Tamedia Board of Directors. The circulation of the successful commuter newspaper is to increase to 550,000 copies by the fall of this year. Currently 431,000 copies are printed. The higher circulation is to be achieved on the one hand through the use of double boxes. These can be filled with over 600 copies, around 200 more than before. The distribution network will also be further expanded with new box locations.
According to the communiqué, 20 Minuten is benefiting from its experience with the French-language commuter newspaper 20 minutes in French-speaking Switzerland in increasing its circulation. In this much smaller market in terms of population, 220,000 copies are already distributed. With the circulation increase in German-speaking Switzerland, the total national circulation will rise to 770,000 copies.
The main reason for the increase in circulation is "the continuing success of 20 Minuten", according to a press release. Demand has increased steadily in recent years. However, the free newspaper is also facing competition from the new commuter newspaper .ch at precisely the time of the circulation increase. Tamedia probably also wants to prepare itself for the new market situation by increasing its circulation.

 
Launched in April 2004, the digital newsletter Ron Orp's Mail already has over 20,000 subscribers, with an average of 1,000 more joining every month. To date, Ron Orp has been published daily from Monday to Friday in Zurich and Basel, with Winterthur now also benefiting from the service and other cities in the pipeline. According to the company, the html newsletter offers "inspiration for an exciting cultural life in the city" and ensures that people are networked locally. Recipients receive tips on clubs, restaurants, bars, art, theater, literature, concerts, web, TV, radio, shopping and community. Discussions on questions such as "At what point am I boring?" or the sections "The legacy of the Crèmschnitte" on Ronorp.net complete the offer. Last but not least, Ron Orp's Mail opens up an attractive advertising target group for banners and text ads: 60 percent of the readership is between 25 and 34 years old, 27 percent are older than 34.

 From next year, Yvon Duboule will be Head of Administration and Finance at Edipresse and will join the General Management of the publishing house. He succeeds Nour Avrany, who will take on new responsibilities within the Edipresse finance department. The 46-year-old Duboule holds a federal diploma in finance and accounting. He has been responsible for accounting at Edipresse since 2003 and previously gained ten years of relevant experience in management positions at the pharmaceutical company Groupe Corbaz.
Nour Avrany was a member of the General Management of Edipresse for six years. He was Head of Administration and Finance as well as Head of Human Resources and Corporate Services for several years. In future, he will take over controlling at Edipresse and will be responsible for various projects.

 In a press release, the Swiss Press Association welcomes the parliament's decision on Thursday to maintain indirect press subsidies. However, it is critical of the fact that the federal contribution to Swiss Post will fall from CHF 80 million to CHF 30 million and that only small-circulation titles and the non-profit member press will benefit from the special subsidy. According to the Publishers Association, large-circulation titles can negotiate special conditions thanks to their market position. However, there is a risk that medium-sized press titles will have to foot the bill for the reduced subsidy amount. Swiss Post has repeatedly announced that it will make newspaper delivery more expensive if the contributions to indirect press subsidies are reduced. However, the association fears that further price increases would place an additional burden on the already strained financial situation of publishers and thus further exacerbate media concentration. Since the end of the 1990s, publishers have already had to bear around CHF 120 million in additional costs. If delivery were to become even more expensive, this could lead to a "cost increase that would threaten the existence" of many media companies.
Publishers therefore expect Swiss Post to take cost-cutting measures to compensate for a large part of the loss of federal subsidies. According to the association, the press contributes significantly to the capacity utilization of the postal network and to Swiss Post's good financial result. Postal rates should therefore be reduced and not increased again. The monopoly-protected dominance of Swiss Post in the area of newspaper delivery prevents alternative providers from being able to deliver newspapers nationwide. As the publishers' appeal goes on to say, this situation must not lead to Swiss Post simply being able to pass on its costs to the publishers. The publishers' association is therefore calling for rapid liberalization of the postal market

 
The globally controversial computer game "Manhunt 2" will not be released on the Swiss market. Following bans in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Italy, the Swiss industry association SIEA has also come to the conclusion that the game exceeds a tolerable level of violence. But what exactly does that mean? What distinguishes "Manhunt 2" from games such as the no less brutal "FarCry"? Why does this game, of all games, suddenly make the otherwise so diffuse line between artistic freedom and what is publicly acceptable so clear? Manhunt" brings together three factors on which the censorship authorities were able to agree:
 
Virtual violence against people has not only been frowned upon since "Manhunt". As early as 1997, it led to a total ban in England in the car racing game "Carmageddon", in the first version of which you could run over pedestrians. This was only lifted when the producers replaced the humans with zombies and aliens and colored the spurting blood green. Of course, there are many games in which you kill people that are still not banned. But unlike "Manhunt", where you sneak up on your victims as a psychopath and strangle them with a plastic bag, in the vast majority of these games there is a kind of moral justification: You kill the bad guy, in "Call Of Duty", for example, Nazis. If it were the other way around, the game would probably be banned. What's more, "Manhunt" lacks any ironic twist. While in "Mortal Combat", for example, violence is depicted through comic exaggeration, at the end of the fight you are transformed into a snarling dragon that bites off the upper half of your opponent's body. In "Manhunt", on the other hand, the assassinations are as realistic as possible.

 The new culinary magazine Bossi from Betty Bossi, which was launched in April 2007 and is aimed specifically at male gourmets, has got off to a good start, according to the publisher. The cross-media services of the online platform with invitation manager, menu planner, MMS shopping list and newsletter are particularly popular, writes Betty Bossi in a press release. The magazine itself has also met with a good response, with the second issue being published in June/July. Among other things, it features salmon nailed to a board and cooked on a Finnish candle. There is also a trip to a vineyard and tips on how to enjoy strawberries.