Own brands The Basel agency MRG designs new Coop magazines about Fine Food and Asia The Basel advertising agency MRG Communications was commissioned to design and produce two magazines for Coop: one to publicize new products from Coop's own Fine Food brand and a themed magazine about Asia. The Coop magazine Fine Moments presents the Fine Food products with atmospheric images and texts as culinary highlights for every day. It also contains recipes, product information and wine tips. It is published in the three national languages with a circulation of 1.6 million copies. Fine Moments is inserted in various magazines and is part of the parallel advertising campaign being realized by KSB/SJ.
With appealing pictures, an editorial section as well as recipes and cooking tips, the Asia magazine underlines Coop's culinary expertise. Asia is published with a circulation of 2.36 million and is enclosed with the Coop newspaper. MRG won the contract in a pitch.
   
Andreas Panzeri

Column The mother of all battles was the takeover of 20 Minuten by the Tages-Anzeiger. Now Zurich is conquering Bern. The press war is in full swing in Switzerland, where he used to sell bananas and now sells books, explained Basel bookseller Philippe Karger. The NZZ's business editorial team hailed the finally free book market and portrayed the colorful bird, who says of himself, "I am primarily an entrepreneur and not a bookseller. Karger and the NZZ explained that the small players in the industry were by no means in danger now that fixed prices had been abolished. They would just have to do a better job of marketing. Just like him. Karger learned with the fruit: because Coop and Migros had the cheaper bananas, Karger always strove to have the best coconuts. Today, his range also includes skeletons for school and white doctors' coats - which is a good thing. No one should take this entrepreneurial freedom away from him. They were too high here in Germany - just like other prices. But the fact that they are being used to combat Switzerland as a price island is strange - especially in view of our country's special cultural situation and its diversity. The measure is also not an adaptation to Europe, on the contrary: it makes us even more of an exception. Neither France nor Germany have free book prices. And fixed prices are not a thorn in the side of the strict anti-trust commission in Brussels. Only here in Germany has the Competition Commission taken out its courage on an economically rather insignificant sector. And it did so with the blessing of the Federal Council, which rejected the "request for clemency" more quickly than would have been necessary.
The cultural policy justification was hair-raising: Just as many books are produced in French-speaking Switzerland - which has long been without fixed prices - as in German-speaking Switzerland. The rapid demise of bookshops between Sion and Geneva, Neuchâtel and Lausanne could have prompted our government to be a little more lenient. Anyone who does not recognize the dangers here in view of the concentration on the wholesale chains is blind.
And our media minister is at least naive. "No danger" was his comment when the Tages-Anzeiger swallowed up the Berner-Zeitung. Diversity is guaranteed by other media and concentration is a prerequisite for journalistic quality. Well then! But the media industry has always been able to count on more leniency. Why has nobody in this country seriously considered banning fixed prices for magazines and newspapers? Why is the NZZ sold at the same price in the farthest Engadine village as at the newsstand next to the print shop?
What did not bother Moritz Leuenberger was described by BaZ publisher Matthias Hagemann as a magnitude twelve earthquake. Mergeritis had once started in Basel with the merger of Basler Nachrichten and National-Zeitung. In St. Gallen and Lucerne, the analogous processes got underway. Where this was refused, the newspapers went it alone - like La Suisse in Geneva. After the Zurich invasion of the capital, the artificial Bernese model is also obsolete. Paradoxically, Basel, where it all began, remains the last bastion of resistance. But the vision of a joint newspaper on the Limmat, Aare and Rhine does not seem all that absurd.
Zurich's hegemony puts an end to the federalism of newspapers. The Kulturkampf and the time when publishers were also editors-in-chief and National Councillors are over. And the Cold War is over. Whether the current concentration is better remains to be seen.
However, it is ultimately just an aftershock. The domestic monopoly position that the Tages-Anzeiger is building up has more to do with the free newspapers - which threatened it and Blick the most. They provoked the earthquake in the press landscape. General Kall reacted militarily: his campaign against 20 Minuten - the paper had to capitulate and was taken over - remains the founding event of our journalistic present. The big bang of the new newspaper scene.
The Tages-Anzeiger led and won the mother of all battles. The victory made it neither better nor more innovative. But it has made it more self-confident and aggressive. After the latest victory in the campaign of conquest, Martin Kall has named one priority in his vague strategy of possible synergies: Free newspaper. When the competition launches its planned new free newspaper with postal delivery in the fall, this can only mean free delivery on Sundays for Kall.
Jürg Altwegg is a correspondent for the Frankfurter Allgemeine in Geneva.

Magazine If Cash is now calling time on its life, the end of Facts is not far off: The Tamedia title's revenues are at a similarly low level.It has been clear for a few days now: Cash has been in the red for five years. A look at the VSW statistics shows: In 2002, the weekly newspaper reported 1246 advertising pages, from then on things became precarious. In the last two years, the erosion of advertisements seemed to slow down - but in the first third of this year, the title lost a similar amount (-20 percent) as in previous years. The launch of Cash Daily, which is by no means brilliant with around two pages per issue at present, has further accentuated this development. Even if the current figures in the VSW statistics cannot be compared with those prior to 2004: Cash's advertising volume has fallen by around 70 percent since 2000. No other business or news title in German-speaking Switzerland has suffered to the same extent. Stocks, which has a lower volume in absolute terms, still has 18.5 advertising pages thanks to its fortnightly publication frequency (Cash: 10).While the end of Cash came as a surprise despite the significant development in the advertising market, the end of Facts has been expected for some time. In fact, Facts, which as a weekly magazine is likely to have a similar cost structure to Cash, is only slightly better off than the Ringier paper in absolute figures and also in terms of percentage growth - despite its higher reach. Based on Ringier's figures for Cash, it can be concluded that Tamedia's magazine has probably also been in the red since 2002 at the latest. The current 14 advertising pages per issue suggest that it will come to a halt in the coming weeks. No wonder that speculation is currently running rampant, such as the suggestion that Facts could become a supplement to the German Spiegel. Tamedia spokesperson Christoph Zimmer comments: "Talks have taken place between us and Der Spiegel. However, a definitive decision is still pending." Which probably means that a cooperation with Der Spiegel is being kept open as an emergency exit.
For the time being, however, Tamedia is still pinning all its hopes on the May 2006 relaunch, especially as Facts readership figures have stabilized over the last two years. Zimmer explains the strategy with Facts as follows: "First we invested in good new people and in the editorial team, which must now have a positive effect on the readership figures. After that, advertising must continue to pick up." This suggests that the deadline for Facts will expire in the fall: Everything depends on Mach Basic 2007-2. This will show for the first time how the relaunch has affected the reach figures. The development is obviously positive, otherwise Tamedia would hardly wait. Since cash will soon be eliminated and therefore one less title will be nibbling at the advertising pie, the Zurich Werdstrasse is hoping for a growing Facts advertising volume.
Incidentally, Weltwoche is just as bad as Facts when it comes to advertising. It is hardly enough. Finanz und Wirtschaft is also barely keeping its head above water with 20 advertising pages per issue. The Handelszeitung (26 pages) and - despite a loss of reach - the Bilanz (35 pages) are doing better.
Markus Knöpfli

The advertising film festival Die Klappe will take place again in 2007 after a one-year break. As the organizer, the German Communications Association wants to make the new advertising film competition "an international benchmark". The jury has now determined the shortlist. The 99 nominees were selected from 438 submissions from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Three agencies from Switzerland made it onto the shortlist once each: Jung von Matt/Limmat for BMW, Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnet for Mammut and Publicis for the Schauspielhaus. The Walker advertising agency received four nominations for Fleurop.

Customer magazines Schneider Berthoud also dramatizes the broad impact of the Coop Press in the media The Coop Press is strong at a high level and reaches more readers than any other print medium in Switzerland. This is confirmed by the Mach-Basic-1 study of March 2007. 3304,000 people read the Coop Press in total. It is the clear No. 1 in all important sociographic characteristics. The Coop Press is also "the measure of all things" in terms of broad impact, according to Schneider Berthoud. In advertising, this is dramatized with a pictorial wink. The broad impact was also effectively staged in the media: with a fold-out advertisement in the inside section of the trade press titles. The paper format even had to be adapted for the seven-part advertisement, which posed a challenge in terms of production and technology.
Andreas Panzeri

Food Zurich-based advertising agency Reinhold gives food wholesaler Bianchi a fresh new look. With the new client Bianchi and its previous budgets for Malbuner, Annemarie Wildeisen's cooking, Rivella and the publishing house Gourmedia with the magazines "Zürich", "Basel" and "Tessin geht aus", the Reinhold agency is "slowly but surely positioning itself in the gourmet corner of Switzerland", as Reini Weber notes with relish. Founded by Giuseppe Bianchi in 1881 in Zurich's Niederdorf district, the Bianchi Comestibles store has grown over four generations into today's G. Bianchi AG, which spoils Switzerland with quality products from its headquarters in Zufikon AG. There is hardly a top chef that Bianchi does not supply.
Bianchi, now a major player in the wholesale food trade, supplies restaurants, hotels and bulk consumers with over 3000 top-quality products: fish, shellfish, mussels, game, meat, poultry and much more.
G. Bianchi AG now wants to present itself in line with its market significance and has therefore commissioned the Reinhold advertising agency to develop a new overall image: Logo, corporate design, sales literature, website as well as PR, promotion and advertising measures.
The new Bianchi slogan, which from now on will always appear next to the graphically refreshed company logo, has a double meaning: "Bianchi. Smells fresh here."
The first advertisement has just appeared in the third edition of the bestselling magazine "Zürich geht aus". The subject shows portraits of Bianchi people over four pages. These were photographed by Federico Naef and are intended to stand for two things: "For freshness. And for fun in their profession", as consultant Marco Schönenberger explains the concept of the campaign.
For fans of good fish cuisine, it has also become known in recent days that Bianchi and Bindella will be opening the Bianchi restaurant together in Zurich in November. "There hasn't been a really good fish and seafood restaurant in Zurich until now," says gourmet Reini Weber happily.   
 
Andreas Panzeri

A Swiss team took third place in Paris at the European competition for young talent, «best YET – best Young European Team»: Isabelle Hauser (Advico Young & Rubicam) and Iris Alder (Jung von Matt/Limmat) took home the bronze medal. This year’s competition sought the best advertisement for a new eco-label called Eco2, commissioned by Renault. Thirty-six young creatives from a total of nine European countries took on the challenging brief. In addition to Hauser and Alder, Martin Arnold (Felser/Spillmann/Leo Burnett) and Beni Haslimeier (Wirz) represented Switzerland. These up-and-coming talents were the winners of the «Das kann nur ein Inserat» (Only an Ad Can Do That) category marketing campaign organized by the Swiss Press Association. They were invited to Paris by Publimedia. Luigi Del Medico, a freelance creative director, served on the jury representing Switzerland. According to a press release, this competition was launched by leading European marketing organizations in the daily press sector. Since last year, Switzerland has also been participating in «best YET» with Publimedia as a partner and main sponsor, together with the Swiss Press Association. The winning entry, the briefing, the jury members, and all images can now be found at www.bestyet.ch.
Read more about «best YET» in *Werbewoche* No. 22/2007:
The Swiss are at the forefront
 

Photo: The Swiss team: from left to right, Beni Haslimeier, Isabelle Hauser, Iris Alder, and Martin Arnold

As the new ASW President, Claude Hitz from Ergo Communication sees good times for owner-managed agencies. He does not see himself as an association bully. But he is convinced of the necessity of this association. Claude Hitz has been on the board of the Alliance of Swiss Advertising Agencies for five years. "The contacts, further training and tools provided by the ASW have been a valuable help in setting up my own agency," says the owner of Ergo. It was therefore not only an honor for him, but also a meaningful challenge when he was elected President at the end of May. Since then, Andy Ruf has served as Past President and Michael Waldvogel is the new Vice President. In the coming term of office, the trio wants to guide the professional base of around 80 ASW members in the right direction. "Happiness is often just a definition of perspective." Claude Hitz has learned this from his travels to various foreign cultures. With this philosophy of life, his career could also have led him in different directions to happiness. The new President of the ASW was also once an award-winning comic artist. Later, he almost found his fortune in an advertising agency in Munich. His own business in Zurich once employed ten people in turbulent times. Today, with a new perspective, Hitz defines four permanent employees and a proven base of freelancers as "an ideal size".
Ergo is the name of the agency at Zurich's Schaffhauserplatz. The name is derived from René Descartes. As early as 1641, the French philosopher formulated a fundamental truth of human knowledge with the sentence "cogito ergo sum" - "I think, therefore I am". Although Hitz does not want this world-famous phrase to be understood as the branding of his agency in purely philosophical terms, he sees himself as being more in tune with the spirit and less with the market criers. Translated into modern times, "Ergo" stands for Hitz today as a link - the "therefore" between knowledge and idea and thus also the connection between the assignment and execution with the - ergo - right people.
They work for clients such as Biomed, Solida-Versicherungen, the CruiseCenter Group and Robert Bosch. For this company from the tool industry, Ergo designed and implemented the new concept for 8,000 different packaging items in the accessories sector as well as various communication measures. This major contract "helped the agency to achieve a breakthrough in business terms". Other important clients were the FDP Switzerland, which not only had a new logo created with the help of Ergo in 1998, but also had its new program under the then President Steinegger accompanied by communications. Ergo has managed several major campaigns for Economiesuisse, such as the AHV proposals and the tax initiative. On the other side of the political spectrum, Ergo also worked for the Alternative Bank, repeatedly for NGOs such as Greenpeace or WWF and, for example, for the disability initiative.
So much diversity in Claude Hitz also suggests that his educational path was not a straightforward one. Even as a child, he enjoyed drawing and was good at it, Hitz recalls. He started with an apprenticeship as a graphic designer at the former Looser advertising agency, shortly before it was taken over by Publicis. There he got to know the whole spectrum from campaigns to design and worked on the first Swatch budgets.
During all this time, Hitz has drawn many comics on the side: for the Tagblatt der Stadt Zürich, Züritipp and Weltwoche. He won a prize in French-speaking Switzerland for one of his comic stories.
During a further phase as junior art director at the Wirz agency, Hitz graduated from creative school. This gave him the impetus to want to gain new experience abroad once again. "Unfortunately, it didn't work out with the work permit in Munich," he regrets today. Without being sure, however, that his path in Munich would have been any happier - in the sense of the view quoted above. Sent back to Switzerland, he founded Ergo together with two friends - out of this hole and "outlawed". The rest is a twelve-year success story.
It took some time before Ergo was able to become known under its own name. During the start-up phase, the company took on many freelance jobs for agencies such as Euro RSCG, Matter Leo Burnett, Benker und Steiner and WHS. "We were popular freelancers. But of course we had to remain anonymous. Until we were finally able to advertise ourselves thanks to the major contract for Bosch," says Hitz - who, thanks to his own history, naturally knows all the worries, hardships and joys of today's medium-sized and small agencies, which form the core of ASW.
As the new president of this association, Hitz wants to continue working on tools that are as useful as possible for the entire industry. With the advertising service contract, ASW has already created an industry standard that regulates the contractual basis of cooperation between advertising clients and communication agencies "comprehensively and fairly in every respect". The ASW Media idea, launched in 2006, is also becoming increasingly important. ASW and the M&M media agency have agreed on an independent, long-term and close cooperation for the planning and purchasing of media space. Thanks to this agreement, ASW agencies can now plan on the basis of an annual purchasing volume and benefit from better prices.
An important goal for Hitz in the current presidential term is the recruitment of new members. However, despite its interest in growth - for even more political influence - ASW should remain a quality label that guarantees a certain standard for customers. Therefore, not every "kitchen table agency" will be accepted, and full service should remain a condition. However, the association is open to new developments. The size of an agency is no longer so important today, when more and more new disciplines are in demand, which can best be provided by appropriate specialists. Hitz therefore has a number of names on the ASW's "watch list" with whom the new president would like to "seek intensive discussions" in the near future.   
 
Andreas Panzeri

Marketers Many had expected Bruno Oetterli to leave Radiotele soon. But not "with immediate effect", as the PubliGroupe communiqué of June 5 suggests. But one contradiction makes you wonder. Bruno Oetterli's resignation has been "planned for a year", it says. Nevertheless, a successor is still being sought. Christian Gartmann, responsible for electronic, digital and interactive media on the PubliGroup Executive Board, is only taking over the management of Radiotele "ad interim", indicating a conflict between the veteran Oetterli and his younger superior Gartmann. Behind closed doors, this is confirmed internally at PubliGroup. Oetterli himself cannot be reached. And Gartmann denies it: "We have always been able to talk constructively together." The fact that the succession has not yet been settled has to do with the upheaval in the media industry and the hectic day-to-day business. "However, I will now take a proactive approach to succession planning," he says.
But what's next for Radiotele? Since the takeover by PubliGroupe and at the latest when the Swiss Radio Pool (SRP) and Tele Romandie Combi transferred the marketing mandate to the SRG marketer Publisuisse, frustration has been spreading in the Radiotele team. After Oetterli's departure, the mood barometer is likely to drop even further. Gartmann disagrees: "That's speculation. Our crew is highly motivated. I see the people every day and have enough management experience to be able to judge this."
Something else is depressing the mood: radio advertising is declining overall, but competitor IP Multimedia has reported steadily rising sales in the last six months. And Radiotele? Gartmann does not want to give any half-year trends out of consideration for PubliGroupe, which is listed on the stock exchange. But he does say one thing: "The advertising market has been unsettled since Publisuisse was chosen as SRP marketer. Some customers have cut their radio budgets or switched to other media."
And there is a further threat: Tele News Combi (TNC), which Radiotele and Publisuisse market jointly, could be terminated at the end of the year and Publisuisse could then be given the mandate alone - similar to SRP and Tele Romandie Combi. This scenario was previously considered possible in the industry, but is now considered likely following Oetterli's departure. Gartmann takes a different view: "Bruno Oetterli was undeniably an integrative figure, but it was our outstanding TV crew that has generated two thirds of TNC's turnover to date. Publisuisse only generated five percent." TNC members are well aware of this. "I therefore do not believe there is an increased risk of dismissal." However, he will soon be meeting with the TNC partners.
Markus Knöpfli

Business press On the same day that Ringier announced the end of Cash, Tamedia promptly launched a new offer: "New: a daily page of derivatives and structured products in the Tages-Anzeiger business section", read the headline of the mytamedia newsletter. Since June 1, 2007, the Tages-Anzeiger has expanded its coverage of events on the financial markets to include a fourth daily stock market page. Naturally, there is also space for two half-page advertisements. 
It would be unfair to suspect vulture-like marketing behavior behind this. After all, Tamedia had already sent out the same email two days before the cash-out - unfortunately without functioning links to the detailed information. The decision was therefore made to send a second mailing. The fact that this took place shortly after the cash outage is pure coincidence.
The end of cash also brings some relief on the advertising front for other titles - they could benefit. Facts and Weltwoche, however, are likely to lose out.

The Bernese communications agency Nothing from outer Space has created a poster for Tellvetia on one of the most prominent advertising spaces in Switzerland: the front of the Federal Palace. Tellvetia is the Flash presentation with which the parliamentary services want to sensitize a younger audience for the federal elections in October 2007. Both the Flash application and the poster were developed by Nothing. Figures and scenes were taken from Tellvetia and rendered in high resolution. The giant poster measuring 16 x 12.5 meters was printed by Lettra Design.

Roberto Blank will take over responsibility for the Südostschweiz complete edition and national sales at Südostschweiz Publicitas AG as a member of the Executive Board on June 15, 2007. The 46-year-old succeeds Karin Waltenspühl. Roberto Blank most recently worked for Ringier as head of sales for the evening newspaper Heute. In previous years, Blank worked as Key Account Manager for Mittelland-Zeitung, NZZ and Weltwoche, among others. Südostschweiz Publicitas AG is also considering opening a branch office in Zurich in connection with the appointment of a new advertising manager.