Awards Urs J. Knobel, who runs a creative studio for communication and graphic design in Baar, has been awarded a Certificate of Merit (Bronze) by the Society of Illustrators New York for his illustration "Dragonfly". This is a key component of the advertising campaign created by Knobel for Vabene Shoes.

Newspapers "Enjoy your lifestyle. Until climate change." This was the headline of a full-page advertisement in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. What at first glance appears to be an advertisement for a luxury watch is revealed after reading the small print to be a subscription advertisement for the daily newspaper. Irritation is part of the program at the cooperative taz. Left-wing circles first dreamed of such a newspaper in 1977, the year of the RAF. The project became a reality in 1999 and has since developed into an institution with regular irritations. The printing of 9251 Stasi addresses or Bush's speech on 9/11 as a cheeky speech bubble turned the taz into a left-wing cult object. But has the newspaper changed anything politically? It is also irritating that the environmental sinner from the jet is obviously also a taz reader. Or is that just a mistake in the art direction? Or is the taz inflight magazine on this jet?

It's up to the woman: Boutique Sensuelle stands for sophisticated erotic shopping for discerning ladies. McCann Erickson entices with an advertisement for visual foreplay. In the small boutique on Kasernenstrasse in Zurich, you will find toys for making love alone or as a couple. McCann Erickson came up with this seductive ad to raise awareness of Boutique Sensuelle. Yes, Yes, Yesss - that was the reaction of the Werbewoche editor.

TV Billag is going for entertainment. Instead of reminding viewers of their obligation to pay fees with a serious face and a reminder finger, the SRG's collection agency launched a quirky but funny TV series on March 25. The three-minute stories tell the adventures of Bill the TV and his friends, who come together in "Bill AG", the "breakout company". Like Bill, Dabbie the radio and Sandy the lamp stand are in constant danger of being thrown away. The friends come up with the most unusual ideas to get out of the apartment and into freedom. With this campaign, Billag wants to remind people of their obligation to register or to inform Billag of their new address when moving house. The commercials are produced by peek GmbH, which specializes in advertising formats with a serial character. With "Beck & Bondi", it won all the major Swiss advertising film awards.

René Worni on the end of the equilibrium in the media business. late this summer, it will be two years since NZZ and PubliGroupe sealed their joint venture. The upheaval in Zurich and the neighboring cantons is still reverberating, with two publishers battling it out for supremacy in the regional business. Since this paradigm shift, P (as the industry calls the Lausanne-based group with a slightly mafia-like air) is no longer the guardian of balance in the Swiss-German press landscape. The Group itself has become an active player and freed itself from its self-imposed passive role as a service provider. Over the years, it had - by the way and without a declared strategy - acquired shareholdings in this or that publisher when they were not liquid. P became a bank, so to speak. The group was thus in a tolerated position of power, which the publishing houses had and still have to incorporate into their strategies for better or worse. Wolfgang Mecklenburg, one of the first founders of a media agency in Switzerland, recently expressed his fears in Werbewoche: If PubliGroupe sets up a kind of agency of its own with its range of media, then there will be major restructuring in the advertising industry. How right he was. In future, the group wants to offer the marketing of print, online, TV, radio, cinema, ad screens and mobile - including cross-media - from a single source. The new electronic media in particular, which are constantly evolving and come up with new features practically every day, are complex and require explanation. In addition, the media are becoming increasingly intertwined, with target groups becoming blurred and the audience breaking down into its constituent parts. As a result, Lausanne anticipates that advertising customers will have a growing need for advice. The Group wants to be seen as a competent marketing partner for agencies and advertising clients. At the same time, however, the Lausanne-based company wants to expand its business in a direction that was previously the domain of media agencies. It is therefore also clear that a strong wind will soon be blowing in their faces.
René Worni, Editor

Mineral water II Die Bündner wants to strengthen the pride of the people of Graubünden with Valser Wasser. Nomen est omen: The advertising agency Die Bündner, which has offices in Zurich and Chur, has launched an image campaign for Graubünden with Valser Wasser. At the heart of the campaign is a competition on Radio Grischa. Every day, the Valser service dispatcher will announce himself over the airwaves and describe the area through which he is currently driving to deliver drinks. The radio listeners who know "their Graubünden" best and are the first to guess where the delivery van is will receive two cups of Valser delivered to their home or two entries to the famous thermal baths in Vals. The campaign is accompanied by a poster display. These posters are intended to involve the population of the canton and thus communicate the message - "Proud to be from Graubünden" - in a credible way. The real protagonists on the posters illustrate how great the solidarity of the population in the Surselva and in the canton of Graubünden is with "their" water, even though it now belongs to the Coca-Cola group. The new owner is currently investing millions in the expansion of the spring. The Rhaetian Railway is also depicted in a motif, as it has been transporting the Valser from Ilanz to Zizers to the distribution center for over twenty years. Every day, 400,000 liters roll through the Ruinalta in five trips with the Valser freight cars, on their way from the spring in the mountain village to the consumers of the premium water throughout Switzerland.Andreas Panzeri

Mode Jung von Matt/Limmat evokes a sense of nostalgia with Manor’s spring promotion. These days, the theme at Manor is «Glamour toujours.» That’s the motto of the campaign for the new spring promotion. For one month, everything revolves around the southern French way of life. The promotion showcases the lifestyle of the 1950s and 1960s, the so-called «années d’or.» This was the era when style icons like Brigitte Bardot and Gunter Sachs transformed the fishing village of Saint-Tropez into the global hub of the beautiful and privileged. Manor is bringing this legendary era back to life. However, the concept—featuring the Côte d’Azur—was developed on the banks of the Limmat by Jung von Matt. At the heart of the campaign by the team of Tom Seinige and Alexander Jaggy are images that extravagantly showcase the collection. They show models posing in typical Saint-Tropez scenarios. A black-and-white visual style evokes the glamour of that era. But today’s glamour also takes center stage, thanks to eye-catching colorful garments and accessories. Furthermore, the images are peppered with numerous details: here, the iconic “youngtimer” Citroën DS; there, the famous Saint-Tropez button on a headscarf.
The promotional campaign includes posters, advertisements, the website, a catalog, a contest, and numerous activities at Manor stores. One example is the «Belles de Saint-Tropez,» which transforms Manor into a fashion show on certain days.
Andreas Panzeri

 The Swiss Competition Commission has no objections to Swisscom's planned acquisition of Fastweb as part of the voluntary public takeover bid. As Swisscom announced on Thursday, the Competition Commission has given it the green light to acquire the Italian company Fastweb. Swisscom will now acquire the 78,128,095 outstanding shares of the company. As the acquisition will not result in a dominant market position, the Competition Commission has no reason to conduct an in-depth review of the merger under the Cartel Act. This fulfills a further condition of the takeover bid.

Mineral Water I Exxtra promotes Aproz's newly flavored mineral water with a print offensive that builds on last year's campaign with portraits. Exxtra Kommunikation staged last year's Aproz campaign with natural and credible-looking people of various ages posing against the imposing backdrop of the Valais mountains. The refreshing style also gave Migros' strategic own brand a fresh makeover, emotionally enriching the mineral water "without losing sight of the values of family, naturalness, originality and health," as CD Dieter Hofmann explains the brief. To publicize Aproz Plus, the advertising agency Exxtra Kommunikation is now visibly picking up on the values of this first campaign - with new protagonists in front of new views of the Alps and their sources of life.
The fruits of the three flavors in the new product line are also consistently brought into the mountains and integrated into the subjects as "splashes of color. The fruits "all thrive in Valais, mind you," says consultant Jochen Hennecke, pointing out an important detail.
As with the first season, the images were designed more in the style of real portraits than advertising shots by Swiss photographer Stefan Schacher and edited by Süsstrunk & Jericke. The intention was "a cool freshness". This should emphasize what the new beverage is ultimately about: the mineral water Aproz, the primeval rock from the Valais Alps.
With its particularly high mineral content and reasonable prices, Aproz from Migros has been holding its own at the top of the Swiss mineral water market for years and is regarded as the refreshing, tasty and healthy mineral water from the Valais Alps. For the well-being of the whole family. That is why it is the most drunk and most popular mineral water in Switzerland.
With Aproz Plus, health-conscious people as well as those who previously tended to consume less mineral water can now find an interesting, great-tasting alternative in three flavors. In addition, for younger members of the family, the new Aproz Plus product line with 4 percent fruit content made from 100 percent natural apples, pears or apricots is a welcome change for overly sugary sweet drinks.
Andreas Panzeri

Cross-media—a key concept in PubliGroupe’s new strategy. CEO Hanspeter Rohner explains what he means by it, what his company is missing to achieve complete “all-media” success, and how he plans to position the group in the market. WW: Mr. Rohner, everyone is talking about cross-media—including you. But everyone understands it differently. Can you give some examples that come closest to what you have in mind? Hanspeter Rohner: In Japan, there’s a very interesting development taking place between newspapers and cell phones: Advertisements include a code that you can enter into your cell phone. After that, you hear a voicemail, receive a text message, or can access visual content. There, it’s moved beyond the project stage; major Japanese newspapers are already generating significant double-digit percentages of their revenue this way. You’ll find other genuine cross-media approaches in Scandinavia and South America. In Switzerland, Goldbach Media has conducted the most pilot tests in the digital sector—though always without print. But in my opinion—and many advertisers agree—cross-media without print is inconceivable in the long run. That would be like a multi-course gourmet meal without a main course.WW: By the end of the year, you want to restructure Publipresse so that print, cinema, online, TV, radio, mobile, and AdScreen are offered from a single source.Rohner: It’s incorrect to speak of a restructuring of Publipresse. We are establishing a new strategic division called Media Sales, which will include all Publipresse companies, Publicitas Promotion Network, and the marketing companies Web2Com, Cinecom, and Radiotele. With this comprehensive reorganization, we aim to eliminate the current divisions between Switzerland and international markets, as well as between print media and electronic-interactive media, in order to tap into new synergies and achieve greater market efficiency in our sales operations. Of course, each medium will continue to be marketed individually in accordance with the responsibilities assigned to us.WW: Will the company names Cinecom, Radiotele, Publimedia, or Web2Com disappear? Rohner: This is one of the questions—though not the most important one—that the various project groups must clarify by the third quarter of 2007. WW: Will PubliGroupe now also develop new cross-media planning or booking tools? Rohner: A lot has already happened in this area—just think of Publisherconnect for the classifieds market in online and print. The key development, however, will be the gradual implementation of a fully digitized order-processing platform that will offer all market partners a significantly broader range of services than is available today. While not everything will be ready by January 1, 2008, all activities will be geared toward this coordinated marketing concept from now on.WW: Billboards are missing from your all-media offering. Do you regret that PubliGroupe withdrew from Affichage in 1999? Rohner: That’s just nostalgia (laughs). We had acquired a stake in APG in the hope of implementing a joint international strategy. However, this wasn’t possible with the people in charge there at the time. That’s why we had no choice but to realize a huge financial gain and exit. From today’s perspective, it’s a shame, of course. WW: Clear Channel Outdoor could soon be split up, and some of its national subsidiaries sold off. Is that an option for PubliGroupe to re-enter the outdoor advertising market in Switzerland or elsewhere? Rohner: We will always consider acquisitions that strengthen our media marketing capabilities in markets that align with our strategy. But, logically, the target must be of a certain size. We don’t want to play just a minor role. WW: At least in the local TV and radio sector, you’re facing a new, strong competitor in Publisuisse, the SRG’s marketing arm. Rohner: We don’t fear competition; internationally, we’re more than used to it. And as long as Publisuisse and other competitors play on a level playing field, we’re happy to take on the challenge. But if the battle were to be fought with cross-subsidized weapons, we would defend ourselves. Incidentally, I’m very confident about our prospects, because things are developing faster in the digital sector than the various providers would like. That’s why completely new opportunities are constantly opening up for us. Moreover, we’re only just getting started: We’ve only developed or acquired the various companies in the radio, TV, and online sectors ourselves over the past three years—and yet we already generated just over 150 million in revenue in fiscal year 2006. While this isn’t a huge amount relative to our total revenue, it’s still quite respectable in relation to the Swiss market volume for this segment.WW: Publimedia is increasingly offering print clients services that are actually traditional tasks of media agencies. Will this service now also be expanded to include cross-media offerings? Are you moving toward building or acquiring an all-media agency? Rohner: Publimedia acts as a category marketer and offers many services designed to make working with print media more attractive. Nothing will change in this regard within the Media Sales division. However, we plan to develop services and planning solutions within the new strategic division, Marketing and Digital Services, in order to become a provider in this area on a pan-European level. It is still too early to provide more specific details, though. WW: The strategy paper mentions expanding the consulting offering. So much seems certain. Will PubliGroupe compete with media agencies across all media formats in the future? Rohner: Our assessment of market developments is that all players in the value chain between advertisers and media publishers—that is, advertising agencies, media agencies, intermediaries, and marketers—will have to fundamentally rethink their roles. Large media agency chains are already positioned today as market makers in the field of commercial communication. And in this emerging environment, we clearly intend to play a role from a European perspective as well. WW: Do media companies and clients actually trust P’s cross-media consulting expertise—despite its focus on print? Rohner: Like everything else we’ve achieved so far, we’ll have to earn that trust in the market. It’s also a huge challenge in terms of training and continuing education—at least in Europe. In China, on the other hand, we already have employees who sell a wide variety of media from a single source. They wouldn’t even understand your question; for them, it’s completely normal. WW: Among publishers, PubliGroupe currently operates print—and, at most, online—sales divisions. Instead of these individual media sales divisions, are you aiming for group-wide sales divisions in the future so you can market a multimedia company as a whole? Rohner: It’s only natural that we need to develop new forms of cooperation with media companies. The main question, after all, is how to design the most successful marketing strategy. I don’t think the most successful approach is to market each medium as independently as possible, without any connection to the others. It would be better to offer package solutions, although each medium will still need to be marketed individually in the future.WW: Aren’t you a little late to the cross-media game? Basler Zeitung Medien, for example, has already established its own cross-media marketing strategy despite the P-Pacht agreement. And AZ Medien is now doing something very similar. Rohner: So far, the share of cross-media in Swiss advertising spending has been negligible. Moreover, we’ve been moving in this direction for quite some time. When I took over as Group CEO five years ago, about 300 of our 3,200 employees worked in the non-print sector. Today, out of 2,900 employees, about 1,000 work in the non-print sector. So our profile has changed and will continue to change. That said, print will always remain very important. WW: Cross-media requires intermedia research, but this is still in its infancy. Rohner: So far, we’ve actually failed to reconcile the various research methods. This will also require greater international efforts. Because one thing is clear: the capabilities of all internet-based media—where impact can be measured immediately—are becoming the benchmark for all media, even if this benchmark cannot be applied uniformly everywhere. We’ll have to find new approaches, in the interest of the entire market. I’m also thinking of disciplines like media auditing and media research, as these will clearly continue to grow in importance. Interview: Markus Knöpfli

 Nat Bächtold, consultant at Richterich & Partner, is moving to the Presidential Department of the City of Zurich. On June 1, 2007, he will become the new Head of Communications of the Presidential Department.  
Nat Bächtold has worked for Richterich & Partner since 2001, interrupted by a ten-month postgraduate course. As a consultant, he advised clients and mandates in the service, healthcare, financial, consumer goods and information technology sectors and was centrally involved in the development and establishment of the Intelligence Partners - Research & Analysis service area. Bächtold studied history at the University of Zurich and holds a Diplôme de Trosième Cycle (Masters) in Information Management and Communication Management from the École Supérieure Libre des Sciences Commerciales Appliquées in Paris.

 The French version of Reflex magazine got off to a successful start. Now the launch of the magazine for science and innovation is being extended to the rest of Switzerland. From this week, the English edition of Reflex will be distributed by Valora, a wholesaler that supplies more than 7,000 points of sale in the German-speaking cantons of Switzerland.  
Pierre Grosjean, co-founder of the press agency Largeur.com, which produces the magazine on behalf of EPFL, wants to build on the success of the French edition in German-speaking Switzerland. It is a risk to present a magazine in English on the German-speaking market. But readers who are enthusiastic about science usually understand English. In addition, the largely Swiss topics would arouse their interest, says Grosjean.
 
According to a press release from Largeur.com, the second issue of Reflex will be published in French at the beginning of June and in English at the end of June.