Food The smoked fish products and salad dressings from Mövenpick Fine Foods are presented in a newly revised packaging design. Mövenpick Fine Foods is thus positioning itself more strongly as a supplier of premium products. The company also launched a completely new product group in fall 2006: premium chocolates. The Lucerne agency Visuelt is responsible for the new design of the three product groups.

According to preliminary figures, the German Axel Springer Verlag exceeded the previous year's record result in the 2006 financial year. The Group increased its EBITA from 338 million euros in the 2005 financial year to 374 million euros. Sales in the core business, the sum of circulation and advertising revenues, rose from EUR 2.165 billion to EUR 2.191 billion. Group sales amounted to EUR 2.376 billion in the past financial year (previous year: EUR 2.392 billion). Compared to the previous year, the loss of revenues from the spin-off of the gravure printing activities to the Prinovis joint venture had an impact here. Axel Springer also significantly improved its net income from EUR 231 million to EUR 291 million. A change in the law and the resulting capitalization of a corporation tax credit also contributed to this. In view of the significant increase in earnings, the Management Board will propose more than doubling the dividend per share from EUR 1.70 in the previous year to EUR 3.50 for the 2006 financial year.
Axel Springer will present the complete annual financial statements and the forecast for the current financial year at the annual press conference in Berlin at the beginning of March.

Paper II Sihl + Eika relies on leaf and blinkSihl + Eika's relaunch of its collection relies on the leaf not only in terms of meaning, but also conceptually. The work of nature is used as the basis for the new collection, thus creating a connection to the paper (sheet). Sihl + Eika's Paper Collection - clearer and more up-to-dateThe new large collection comprises 15 handy individual collections, which in turn combine a wide variety of paper qualities. The "Paper Collection" is geared entirely to the needs of the printing industry, producers, designers and agencies. Sihl + Eika's aim with the new collection is to offer a clear, handy and, above all, attractive standard work that will impress with its simplicity and clarity. To make it even easier to find the papers you are looking for, the range, including all the new products, has been divided into 15 volumes and compiled in a box.
The individual collections organize the paper variety according to coated and uncoated papers (two volumes each), combine the PlanoColor and Falkenkarton ranges as well as Invercote and Incada, and arrange the Chromolux papers and the Römerturm and Zanders ranges, also in one volume each. A separate collection is dedicated to security papers, carbonless, self-adhesive and synthetic papers as well as label papers. Finally, Volume 15 is designed as a reference work and enables quick cross-referencing between the collection and the price list.

In addition to its large collection, the Thalwil-based paper trading company has also designed a collection book series. Blink, the name of this successful series, has already established itself as a collector's item. The sixth edition was recently published and the seventh is planned for the end of April 2007.   
Jürgen Franck

The Biel-based Internet agency Orange8 Interactive has acquired new clients. The agency has new projects in the pharmaceutical, media, watchmaking and technology sectors. In close collaboration with the advertising agency Publicis, Orange8 is developing a comprehensive website for the pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis to provide information about the new drug Acomplia, according to the press release. The agency is also designing a new online magazine for the specialist financial publisher Financialmedia. Two watch companies in Biel, including Milleret, have commissioned the online agency to create a new website. In addition, the Bern-based Ascom Group is having its web strategy rethought by the Biel agency due to a new corporate design. 

GEMI The electronic media had an excellent start to the year, recording growth of 4 index points to 359. The market as a whole also recorded growth of one index point to 182. All the January figures confirm the trend from the previous year: the Internet again recorded the highest growth with an increase of 5 index points to 261. However, TV, up 4 index points to 363, and radio, up 3 index points to 255, are also picking up speed. Teletext maintained its level of 144 index points. The Goldbach Electronic Media Index (GEMI) is based on the data published by Media Focus for published advertising and advertising pressure. As the AIS advertising expenditure statistics will not be continued, current ad screen data will not be published. Since 1993, the GEMI has provided information on the indexed development of the various electronic media in comparison to the market as a whole.

Kiosk subscriptions In order to boost retail sales, Tamedia and Valora's K kiosks conducted a trial in the fall with the sale of coupon booklets for Facts, Annabelle, Schweizer Familie and SonntagsZeitung. The test lasted until the end of 2006, but customers can redeem the vouchers until mid-2007. "This new offer did not trigger an avalanche, but they could be very exciting as an offer for commuters, for example," says Markus Will, Head of Magazine Readership Market at Tamedia, summing up the interim results. He does not say how many voucher booklets have been sold. But he emphasizes that such a voucher system places high demands on communication, kiosk staff and distribution logistics.
Tamedia's coupon booklets each contained six vouchers for the price of five issues of the selected title. The vouchers could be redeemed at any K-Kiosk at any time.
Markus Knöpfli

Lifestyle Publicis advertises the magazine Z for the NZZ for the beautiful sides of life. "New life in old walls". This is how a story about "The new generation" is announced on the cover of the new Z magazine. On page 28 of the magazine, it says that a young guard of designers is dealing with the issues of interior design in an experimental, undogmatic and humorous way. The article about the "new life in old walls" could also apply to "the new generation" of newspaper designers in the traditional building on Zurich's Falkenstrasse.The launch of the lifestyle magazine Z is part of a restructuring announced in the fall. Among other things, the nightlife magazine NZZ Ticket was discontinued and replaced by an Internet platform. The newsrooms of the newspaper and online portal were brought closer together. And as the most striking modernization, the magazine Z is now included in the Saturday edition of the NZZ and the NZZ am Sonntag. The concept is not just fashionable lifestyle, but trendy, elegant living with style. Ten times a year, Z is dedicated to "the beautiful side of life", as editorial directors Philipp Meier and Jeroen van Rooijen write in their editorial (see also page 17 in this Advertising Week).
The art direction for Z was created by Simon Esterson and Hans-Peter Hösli, who were also responsible for the NZZ am Sonntag. This style naturally had a direct influence on the Publicis launch campaign - and vice versa. "Working with the colors purple and silver was intended to give the ads for Z a touch of this English elegance. This color code then retroactively flowed back into the graphic design of the magazine," explains Markus Gut. The CD at Publicis is proud that after the blue pencil for the weekday NZZ and the olive for the newspaper on Sunday, he now also knew how to determine the characteristic colors for Z magazine.
However, the advertisements for Z should not only be based on the magazine in terms of color, but also in terms of content. The outstanding element - or rather, the in-depth element - is the letter "Z", which is carved into various beautiful things in life. For the creative team, this idea symbolizes the fact that the new Z magazine is not only intended to depict beautiful things, but also to "scratch the surface of lifestyle". Z goes deeper. The scratched Z is therefore deliberately irritating on a golf club, fashionable sunglasses, a designer chair from Vitra or a silver Aston Martin. These images were photographed by Thomas de Monaco, who also works for the editorial team. In terms of subject matter, the advertising with these objects has also picked up on themes that are reflected in the content of Z.
The Z - for the new magazine, not Zorro - will also be used in other advertising materials. The invitation for the launch party has already been designed with a punched-out Z. Markus Gut is also thinking about stickers that can be used in a guerrilla campaign like scratches everywhere.
The current issue is dedicated to the topic of living. Further issues are planned on the subject of advertising ideas such as wine, watches, jewelry and fashion.
Andreas Panzeri

With T'Sign in Basel, Marco Trüeb and Andy Strässle want to break out of the realm of graphic design studios and offer the services of a real agency.Zurich is considered the Mecca of advertising in Switzerland. It is a fact - with typical Basel humor - that many of the most successful agencies in the economic metropolis have their creative roots in Basel. However, since GGK vacated its agency on Aeschengraben and also focused on Mecca, "the whole scene here has fallen apart a bit," says designer Marco Trüeb. The founding of Novartis also contributed to this development. With the merger of the Basel-based chemical companies into an even more global player, many advertising budgets from Basel were increasingly allocated to the wider world. The result: "The creative people fled to Zurich. Conversely, the entire chemical industry went to London for every business card. That was a tough time. Everything was restructured in Basel. People either went to Zurich or continued to work as small studios on a scattered basis."
Now Trüeb believes he can sense a new structure. "People are regrouping. But for the time being, a lot of things are still mainly B2B." This means that Basel is not as "hype-oriented" as Zurich. They are working more on a craft basis.
Trüeb also founded his own studio in 1987. Since then, T'Sign has functioned successfully as a one-man office with specialized freelancers and two partner companies with a total of ten employees, with whom T'Sign shares a converted Swisscom loft in Allschwil. Trüeb was able to "do great design jobs" very quickly, developing logos for the Pharmacy History Museum in Basel and catalogs for LC Systems. This early client has remained with T'Sign to this day. Others, for whom Trüeb created effective advertising, have dropped out as the company has grown. "Although they were very satisfied with my work, new managers wanted the security of a larger agency," Trüeb realized. And that's why he took action.
Since the beginning of this year, his former freelance copywriter has been a permanent fixture in the T'Sign loft. Together, Andy Strässle and Marco Trüeb agree: "We are the beginning of a real agency." The two have had the tools to make this promise for a long time.
After his apprenticeship as a set designer, Marco Trüeb first joined the Basel Theater. Under the directorship of Horst Statkus, he worked as a personal assistant to the stage designer. In order to be able to take over the design himself one day, he wanted to complete further training at the School of Arts and Crafts. However, he was even more fascinated by graphic design than theater. Trüeb continued his training and then found a job in Stuttgart as a graphic designer for trick scenes in a film production.
Back in Basel, he worked as AD at Allcom. This was Ciba's in-house agency until Novartis was founded. When Allcom became independent, Trüeb moved to the advertising agency Dialog before also becoming self-employed.
Andy Strässle, who has now joined the team, initially traveled a lot after completing his commercial apprenticeship. "That was the era when you could still afford such blank spots in your biography," he says, summarizing his time in Asia and South America. But at the age of 25, he also wanted to know about theory. Strässle studied journalism, German and English in Zurich. His first journalistic work for student newspapers soon followed. He later worked as a correspondent for the Tages-Anzeiger. As an editor for the Basler Zeitung, he not only had himself pushed around Basel in a wheelchair as a test driver, wrote about child pornography or researched the best websites in Switzerland, but also took on editorial responsibility for supplements such as the Stellenfant. "You can see my connection to commercial thinking and writing in these supplements."
In order to find a freer framework for his passion for writing, Strässle founded the street magazine Surprise in 1997 and was editor-in-chief for several years. To date, over 2,000 people in precarious living conditions have found a new job with this project and a total of around two million issues have been sold. For Strässle, Surprise was "a rewarding field for journalistic experimentation" until he left.
Experimental" could also be used to describe the character of his first book. "The Sea without Water" is the name of the philosophical work for which Strässle finally found a publisher after a long struggle. His second book, "a more entertaining crime novel", is due to be published soon. However, they are still arguing about the title. After Strässle first thought of "Sperma", but found this idea too radical, he decided on the title "Der Krishna Effekt". However, the publisher wants to print the book as "Vodka ohne Boden". So the question of branding for this novel project is still open.
Marco Trüeb also finds relaxation and artistic inspiration in such job-related side projects. In the National Iranian Graphic Design magazine, he proudly shows a stamp that he was able to create for Swiss Post to mark the 150th anniversary of Zurich's ETH.
For their agency T'Sign, which is currently being set up, designer Trüeb and word artist Strässle want to "combine high-quality design with content" as their USP. Their philosophy is that nobody reads poorly designed texts and that design without content is just as useless. With these premises in mind, corporate publishing will also play an important role at T'Sign.
A complete infrastructure for graphics and pre-press is available in their loft. Customers such as the insurance company Nationale Suisse, Basler Aids Stiftung or Haecky Fine Food, for whom the entire catalog production as well as new packaging is produced, already benefit from this.
Trüeb and Strässle see customers from the B2B sector as their most important target group - "which of course also has to do with our past." And certainly also with the still special situation in Basel.   
Andreas Panzeri

Just in time for the new spring/summer 2007 fashion season, the website of the family business Modekeller has been given a new look. The relaunch was implemented by the Zurich agency Tequila, adapting the fashion colors of the new season. In addition to posters, flyers, brochures and POS material, the integrated communication concept also includes an e-newsletter tailored to the campaign.

Paper I The three major paper wholesalers are coming up with new collections. The three leading paper wholesalers in Switzerland - Biber/Baumgartner, Sihl + Eika (see next page) and Antalis - are currently or will soon be putting their new paper collections in the spotlight. This refers to the launch of new paper collections or extensions that are intended to support both the producer and the0 creative in their choice of paper. Unfortunately, the concepts of the paper collections have become increasingly similar. There are hardly any differences between the Baumgartner/Biber and Sihl + Eika collections in terms of design and layout. More about their new collections on the following page.
Antalis' new vision
This is not the case at Antalis, which continues to take a different approach in this respect. Anyone familiar with the "Paper Vision" paper collection from Antalis knows how to present paper patterns attractively. The whole concept of the collection was an eye-catcher. It was - because with the launch of the new "Paper Vision II" collection on February 15, the Lupfig-based offshoot of the Antalis Group is once again treading a more traditional path despite its independence. Packaged in up to three slipcases with up to twelve folders, paper enthusiasts will find quick access to different papers and grammages, not least thanks to a practical insert card.
Form follows function
What was missing from the first edition of Paper Vision has now been corrected. The new concept impresses with its significantly improved practicality. "We have listened to our customers and designed the new collection to be particularly user-friendly," said Print Sales Manager Andreas Schraner at the launch event, pointing in particular to the larger paper samples. In fact, as in most other collections, the paper samples are now at least 14 ¥ 10 cm in size, which makes them easy to work with in practice.
An insert card in German and French that matches the collections has a lot to offer. This tool can be used to search for categories or brands or - and this is unique to date - to select the paper according to its surface texture. All this on just one double-folded overview sheet.
Newly introduced symbols within the collection are practical. At a glance, the prospective buyer can see whether the selected quality is suitable for the copier, for example, or whether it has been produced according to ecological criteria - i.e. FSC-certified.
Papers for creatives and digital printers
The eight binders are just the beginning - even if they already cover the majority of the Antalis range. Antalis will be supplying interested customers with two more ring binders containing the Thalo range, which Antalis has been selling since the takeover of Thalo Papier at the beginning of 2005. The update, which is to be delivered in May of this year, will replace the previous Thalo collection.
Antalis is treading a new path in the digital printing segment. Antalis has tested papers in cooperation with machine manufacturers and finishing companies in order to be able to offer companies operating in this business segment a paper tool. Initially for the six most popular systems, including the Xerox Docucolor iGen3 and HP-Indigo systems, two further collections will be produced and supplied to the relevant companies by around the middle of the year. This will enable the companies to show their customers real print results and advise them accordingly.
Paper Vision IIThe completely new collection
Paper Vision II is the new work tool for creative professionals, designers and printers. The basic collection of eight folders is presented in stackable units, each containing 4 folders. Ring binders 1-4 contain coated/uncoated papers, white/colored uncoated papers and cardboard, binders 5-7 contain creative papers and binder 8 contains self-adhesive papers.
In addition, the Thalo range, which will be available separately and at a later date, is divided into two further folders. Folders on standard digital printing papers and specials for digital printing expand the range.
Jürgen Franck

Press Nine years ago, the Geneva daily newspaper Le Journal de Genève was published for the last time. Now former members of the Board of Directors want to revive the paper. The last issue of Le Journal de Genève was published in February 1998. It was lost in the merger with the Lausanne-based Nouveau Quotidien. The newspaper Le Temps was created, with the ambitious goal of becoming the "NZZ of French-speaking Switzerland". However, when the first cost-cutting plans at Le Temps began and the newspaper was redimensioned, there was disappointment, especially among the left-liberal Geneva bourgeoisie and in intellectual circles in French-speaking Switzerland. And in the "Association of Friends of the Journal de Genève et Gazette de Lausanne", a hard core of loyal readers of the lost, proudly traditional paper gathered. This association with its 650 members now has an unusual project: the Journal de Genève is to be given a new chance in the form of a weekly letter to interested parties. The first issue of the four to eight-page letter will be published in mid-March. It is aimed at a readership that demands more than mainstream journalism. The project, which is reminiscent of its famous predecessor in terms of its title, color and layout, will be launched in mid-April.
One of the most important personalities behind the project is former Geneva law professor Pierre Engel, who, as a member of the Journal de Genève Board of Directors, fought in vain against the merger and in 2006 won the right to use the name of the merged newspaper again in the Federal Court. Also involved is a former editor of the "Journal", Christian Campiche, who is taking over the editorial management. Dominique Flaux, the former marketing manager, is also involved. He came up with the idea of starting with a simple letter instead of a weekly or fortnightly magazine. "A weekly newspaper would have been the quickest way to disaster," says Flaux, who is keen to point out that the project is neither nostalgic nor an unrealistic adventure. "We have raised the necessary funds to publish the letter for at least a year." And this will be done completely without advertising, without distribution at newsstands and with low production costs - according to Flaux, 85 percent of the funds will go to the editorial team. He cautiously expects to start with around 300 subscribers, which, if they grow to 800 to 1000, will be able to support the publication. Everything else is still up in the air - but the desire to revive the venerable "Journal" as a newspaper is still the driving force behind the project.
The annual subscription costs a hefty 750 francs. "That's the price of independence!" says editor-in-chief Christian Campiche. The current business editor at the regional newspaper La Liberté works 60 percent for the project, while 40 percent of the job is earmarked for another person. Journalistically, the letter will be supported by a large network of freelancers and informants. It will provide information from the worlds of business and politics, which Campiche believes is all too often overlooked or suppressed today. And the editorial line? The editorial charter states that the Brief will be a "reference publication for information, analysis, reflection and commentary", completely independent and accountable only to the public and society. "Our publication is open to all opinions, as long as it respects and promotes human dignity in all its cultural, social, economic and spiritual dimensions," says Campiche. The letter is addressed to the members of the Association of Friends of the Journal de Genève, but also to companies, institutions, lawyers and decision-makers in French-speaking Switzerland who need independent and reliable information.
And what does Le Temps think about this project? "We are proud of our predecessor, the Journal de Genève," says Valérie Boagno, deputy director. Le Temps is trying to maintain the tradition of the "Journal". Pierre Engel, on the other hand, never accepted the merger and is now taking on the responsibility of relaunching the venerable paper in the form of a magazine. "We are a little sad that things are now going this way." Boagno points out that Le Temps intends to complete the digitization of the entire Journal de Genève archive this year. This is a large-scale project in collaboration with the University of Geneva and the Swiss National Library: 600,000 pages of "Journal" in various formats - all volumes of the newspaper over two centuries - will be recorded and then made accessible to the public. "This is our way of reviving the Journal and making it accessible to the people who loved it," says Boagno.
Helen Brügger

Supplements McCann Erickson has had a few free thoughts on advertising for Das Magazin. The basic idea: Every Saturday, the magazine takes up stories that are not intended to reach their audience as short-lived news, but as new ideas that surprise and amaze. The recipe for success is therefore: Free choice of topics and the form in which something is tackled. Renowned authors put their curiosity and thoughts at the service of an equally interested and open-minded readership. Their reports, interviews and columns are accompanied by pictures taken by internationally renowned photographers. As a result, Das Magazin is read "longer and more intensively than any other magazine", as the magazine's own advertising proclaims. McCann Erickson dramatized the fact that the figures are good in a previous campaign with the idea of "bets". Hans Heinrich Coninx bet his bow tie, Res Strehle his best suit and (still) columnist Martin Suter a flight ticket in business class. The gamblers did not have to pay: Wemf has now confirmed 650,000 readers in Zurich, Bern and Basel for Das Magazin. McCann Erickson has now developed a new campaign. It is called "Thoughts are free. Das Magazin." CD Peter Rettinghausen hopes that the campaign will also stimulate viewers' thoughts, as the scenes can be interpreted in one way or another. The images were created by magazine photographer Nathan Beck.
Potential advertisers should be the first to get their thoughts flowing. A similar reader campaign will follow later.   
Andreas Panzeri