Cannes Last week, the members of the Swiss ADC met to determine the best ideas of the past year. But as strict as our ADC judging is, it is always an open question as to how far the precious metal won in Switzerland can also attract attention at the world championship in Cannes. The jury there is known to be the most critical in the world. Matter & Gretener used this insight to promote Publimedia's latest "Best of Press". This book brings together all the advertisements that won a Lion in Cannes last year. The idea behind the subject: after the judging, only the "Best of Press" is left on the table and a pile of yearbooks from various national and international creative competitions on the floor - the fate of all works that did not attract enough attention, which are eliminated in this way according to the old ADC custom. (pan)

Eva Grundl, a political scientist from Constance, is taking over the reins of the women's magazine. Until now, the online magazine Ostschweizerinnen.ch was jointly managed by her and Yvette Anhorn. As can be seen from a press release from the publication, Yvette Anhorn is stepping down due to time constraints, but will remain with the online platform as a writer. She would like to turn Ostschweizerinnen.ch even more towards the new feminism, campaign for greater equality and give more space to violence against women. The collaboration with Terre des Femmes, Louise Pusch's women's database, Emma, FRAZ and the international daily and weekly media will therefore be continued. 

Swiss man of the year Köbi Kuhn is back in front of the camera for Axpo. Director Michael Steiner (Grounding, Mein Name ist Eugen) is responsible for the electricity supplier's new commercial. According to his statements to the TV magazine Tele, the national team coach is very attentive in front of the camera and acts naturally without pretending. The commercial can already be seen on the Internet (Energiedialog.ch) and will be broadcast on television from February 26. Axpo is not the first company to realize that a product with Köbi Kuhn can be marketed well, because the likeable national team coach is well received by the public with his natural manner. Nestlé and Crédit Suisse have also put the popular figure in front of the camera in the past.

Job market Wirz took off into space for the Jobwinner campaign and shot a commercial there. Wirz's advertising for Jobwinner has just been awarded three bronze cubes from the ADC in the categories of advertising, outdoor advertising and illustration as well as a shortlist award for the Sandwichman in the direct/POS category. Nevertheless, the award-winning creative team did not crash the party at Kaufleuten last Sunday and, according to research, went home at one o'clock. The position of CD in charge at Wirz will therefore remain with Matthias Freuler until further notice. And after the poor zookeeper who fell under a hippopotamus and the vegetable farmer who was hit by a satellite, he is already looking for new people willing to change jobs. The campaign for job winners from Tamedia's portfolio will be continued this year with a film. The style remains just as fresh and unconventional.fatal key lossThe spot presents us with a pitiful astronaut who has just returned from repairing his space capsule. Outside the door of his capsule, which is hovering high above the earth, he realizes that he has accidentally left the key to the space station inside. "Houston, we have a problem ..." is all you can say. And another job becomes available, because the nearest locksmith on Earth is at least 35,000 kilometers away.
The new Jobwinner commercial premiered in February. It was shot by Heinrich Reinacher's Markenfilm (Switzerland). Director Marc Schöllermann was able to work with a spaceship over eight meters tall in a large studio hall in Germany. The astronaut was suspended from wires during filming, which were later retouched away on the image computer. The basic idea is based on the fact that the astronaut has the same chip key to his capsule that you find in hotels on Earth and sometimes forget in your room. But in space there is unfortunately no helpful reception desk with a replacement.
The subjects for Jobwinner with their tongue-in-cheek messages have already won many fans in the first season in addition to the ADC awards. There have also been a few nasty letters, says Freuler. However, the exaggerated style of the comics and their black humor have been understood by the majority. In addition to the film, further advertisements and posters are therefore to follow this year.

Andreas Panzeri

Discounts Media agencies welcome the new handling fee from NZZ and Publimedia. Urs Schneider, owner of the media agency MediaSchneider, welcomes the handling fee (HE) that NZZ and Publimedia have decided on for booking NZZ titles (see box). "Like the direct booking fee, it helps to cover our expenses," he says. Nevertheless, he is "somewhat irritated". "Why is the HE only granted for NZZ titles and not for all publishers with Publicitas management?" asks the media strategist, speaking from the hearts of many media agencies. After all, a solely NZZ-related HE cannot be the last word in wisdom. Chris Flückiger, Managing Director of Mediatonic, therefore speaks of a "first step in the right direction". "It shows that the P is slowly understanding what is really at stake." However, he notes critically that the HE is "in principle nothing more than a price discount", which Mediatonic will pass on to customers - just like other discounts. The direct booking allowance (DBE) is different: Mediatonic is allowed to keep it.
Konnex is completely different: the agency is paid by its clients on a time and material basis, not by volume percentage, which is why it passes on all discounts, the DBE and now also the new HE to its clients. "That's why HE doesn't play a role for us. But for agencies that are paid by percentage, it is certainly an additional source of income," acknowledges Konnex co-owner Ronny Schmid.
It is still completely unclear how the Association of Swiss Advertisers will react. Director Jürg Siegrist now wants to "take a global look at the issue of compensation".
Publishers with Publicitas management are of course particularly interested in the new HE. They also assume that the HE cannot be limited to the NZZ. They all want a level playing field with the independent publishers with DBE. "HE is of course pushing our considerations, but we still know too little about it," says Beat Meyer, CEO of Basler Zeitung Medien, which was the first P-directed publisher to study a form of compensation. Erwin Bachmann, CEO of LZ Medien, which belongs to the NZZ Group, also finds HE "an interesting approach", but he will now discuss it with P first. AZ Medien, Biel-based Gassman AG and publisher president Hanspeter Lebrument, head of Südostschweiz, have a similar view. "But what is customary in Zurich is usually followed with some delay here too," says Lebrument.
Marcel Siegenthaler, Head of Advertising Market at Edipresse Switzerland, is more cautious. He also expects a solution for the Edipresse newspapers, all of which are P-leased, "especially for Matin bleu, as it is in direct competition with Tamedia's 20 minutes, where a DBE is granted". Nevertheless, he first wants to know how HE will be financed in detail: Does the P pay, does the publisher pay - or both? A question that NZZ and P have so far left unanswered (see WW 3/07). "In any case, we are not willing to bear these costs," says Siegenthaler. A HE is a matter for the P, because the agencies relieve it of work with professional preliminary work. "That's why the P should take the HE from the advertising commission that we pay it."
 

 
 
The handling compensation in a nutshellLast week Publimedia and the NZZ Group agreed on the following,
to grant major customers and media agencies a "handling fee" of one percent from the beginning of the year, provided they book at least CHF 0.5 million worth of advertisements annually with NZZ, NZZ am Sonntag and the new Z magazine. This is in response to the direct booking compensation offered by most independent publishers to agencies that book directly with the publisher, bypassing the P. Markus Knöpfli

The University of Geneva is offering a master's degree in journalism from the coming summer semester. According to the Tribune de Genève, the two-year program will be led by Professor Ueli Windisch, who will supervise the students with a team of eight. In addition, the course - whose funding has been secured for the next three years - works together with the international group of professors from the Department of Communication and Media, which has been in existence at the University of Geneva for ten years.a second project by Windisch also received the green light from the Rectorate at the beginning of the week. This is a multilingual school of journalism. It will be taught in collaboration with the Department of Communication and Media at the University of Fribourg and the Journalism and Organizational Communication course at Zurich University of Applied Sciences Winterthur.

The traditional Bernese company Benteli Hallwag is acquiring 20 percent of the share capital of the Internet service provider Dynamic Solution. With this strategic partnership, Benteli Hallwag is expanding its cross-media expertise. Customers of both companies will benefit from simplified production processes and cost advantages, according to the company's press release. Dynamic Solution supports the printing company in developing the Internet publication channel. In return, it receives the exclusive realization rights for Internet orders. With 160 employees, Bentelli Hallwag is the fourth-largest commercial printer in Switzerland and is part of the Espace Media Group. Dynamic Solution specializes in online communication and employs 15 people. The company designs and implements web solutions for companies, organizations and administrations.

Fernsehen Ringier, Schaffhauser Medien, Südostschweiz and Goldbach Media are sounding the alarm against TeleZüri - with the small station ZüriPlus in the lead. A future Zurich regional television station with a federal license, performance mandate, fee-splitting share and guaranteed analogue broadcasting should not only cover the canton of Zurich, but also the cantons of Schaffhausen and Glarus. This is the proposal of the Federal Office of Communications (Bakom). TeleZüri has already expressed interest in this area and has held out the prospect of operating a separate program window for each of the additional regions, as requested by Bakom.Daily news from ZüriPlusHowever, the Tamedia station is now facing serious competition from the small Zurich regional TV station ZüriPlus. This can currently only be received in twelve Glattal municipalities and only produces one hour of programming per week. However, its operator, HTV AG, based in Wallisellen, has joined forces with the media companies Ringier, Südostschweiz, Meier + Cie (Schaffhauser Nachrichten) and the TV marketer Goldbach Media and is planning a daily Zurich television channel. The quintet of companies is already in the process of preparing a license application for the new Zurich TV coverage area. This is clear from the statement that HTV has sent to Bakom as part of the consultation on the new TV coverage areas. The letter is accompanied by a statement in which HTV and the TV subsidiaries of the three media companies confirm that they want to establish a joint company in Wallisellen.
It remains to be seen whether they will set up a new company or expand the existing HTV. Goldbach Media, for its part, has declared its interest in marketing the channel. The paper is signed by Fibo Deutsch, Managing Director of Ringier TV, Südostschweiz CEO Hanspeter Lebrument, Norbert Neininger, publisher of Schaffhauser Nachrichten, Goldbach CEO Klaus Kappeler and HTV Managing Director Peter Steinmann.
The latter is the driving force behind the new project, but Lebrument and Neininger are now pulling the Zurich TV rope just as strongly. This is because they have recognized the opportunity of the new project: While ZüriPlus would be responsible for the Zurich program, Lebrument's Tele Südostschweiz (TSO) and Neininger's Schaffhauser Fernsehen (SHTV) could provide the content for the Glarus and Schaffhausen program windows respectively. In short: everyone wants to contribute their strengths. This also applies to Ringier-TV and Goldbach.
ZüriPlus finally goes analogNaturally, the project is also based on financial and strategic considerations: a license would finally give ZüriPlus analogue transmission throughout the canton of Zurich - a right that the broadcaster has long been entitled to based on its previous license, but has been denied by Cablecom. Furthermore, the broadcaster would also receive money from fee splitting.
The situation is different for Neininger: he does not want to give up his SHTV, which will hardly receive any more license fee money in future. However, having a foothold in the Zurich project would not completely dry up the official source of money. It would also allow Neininger to rejoin the national TV advertising market. Lebrument is taking a similar approach: Even if the canton of Glarus were to be knocked away from the TSO area to the Zurich coverage area, it would not lose it completely with its participation in ZüriPlus - it would also gain a direct connection to the economic metropolis. "The Zurich service area is large and densely populated. According to Bakom's plans, however, it would be so large that we simply have to participate," he says.
However, both publishers also feel resentment towards Tamedia. Neininger resents the fact that the Zurich-based group lobbied the Schaffhausen government (in vain) for its own large-scale TeleZüri. "Tamedia never spoke to us, which would have been an option," says Neininger. And Lebrument is annoyed that TeleZüri now claims more than 50 percent of TNC's income from the TV advertising pool TeleNewsCombi (TNC) - because of its reach. The rest has to be distributed among the other TNC members. "Tamedia has never offered its support for a balanced distribution formula," says Lebrument.
Good chances against TeleZüriIn contrast to Lebrument and Neininger, Ringier's interest in ZüriPlus is primarily based on pragmatic reasons: "Our strategy is: We produce for everyone who pays," says Ringier TV Managing Director Fibo Deutsch. With this in mind, Ringier is prepared to support the project. Whether Ringier will also participate in the project one day, however, is not yet certain. "Perhaps we will only be involved as a contractor," says Deutsch.
However, everyone involved is convinced that ZüriPlus can hold its own against TeleZüri and has a good chance of winning a Zurich license. "In terms of quality, we are in no way inferior to TeleZüri, and we also have the regional expertise," says Steinmann. Secondly, his project has a broader base and is therefore more independent. And thirdly, there is no reason why the Uvek should give Tamedia a license with a fee component. "Tamedia has shown that they can do it without," he says. But the race is not yet officially open. First, Bakom and Uvek have to consider the consultation responses and definitively determine the coverage areas. The concession tenders will take place in the summer at the earliest, probably later. Until then, further TV projects are likely to be registered for the Zurich coverage area.
 
 
 
Ringier's déjà vuRingier has been involved in regional TV before
- At TeleZüri: until the beginning of 1999, the Zurich-based group held 33 percent, as did Tamedia and TeleZüri founder Roger Schawinski. But because the latter always retained the majority of votes, the publishers were unable to push through their strategies. This led to a row on the TeleZüri Board of Directors, whereupon Ringier left the board and sold half of its stake to Schawinski and half to Tamedia. Markus Knöpfli

With Manfred Eggenschwiler, UD Print, the parent company of the Lucerne-based UD Media Group, is strengthening its sales team in the area of corporate publishing as of February 1. Eggenschwiler is a trained printer and a graduate of various management and sales schools. He is currently attending the two-year Skugra diploma course "Marketing and Sales Manager" and most recently worked for nine years as a customer consultant in sales in the graphic arts industry. The companies in the UD Media Group include UD Print, Sticher Printing, UD Neue Medien, Anzeiger Luzern, Insider Verlag and Kalender+Werbe.

Guest commentary Frank Bodin noticed seven things at the Gold Cube awards ceremony.1. Swiss advertising is world class: If the film "Hochzeitstag" (Wedding Day) for Fleurop by the Walker advertising agency had gone platinum or won a Grand Prix, it would have been awarded by the jury. "Hochzeitstag" can be counted as one of the big favorites from Switzerland at the major international festivals.2 Switzerland is also a film country: The fact that 2006 is one of Switzerland's best film years ever is shown by the two other film gold cubes. In total, only eleven spots made it onto the film shortlist - which means that even a shortlist placement is something to be proud of.  
3. quality beats quantity: When quality criteria based on international standards were demanded for ADC Switzerland a few years ago, there was an outcry. Today, almost every creative person knows them by heart: judging primarily according to quality criteria instead of quotas has positive consequences. The very good work can be more clearly distinguished from the good. And the level of top creation from Switzerland has risen. This means that Martin Suter's statement years ago that "ADC improves advertising by judging it" is perhaps correct after all. The quality criteria have another consequence: the agencies are more self-critical - even with the entries. Hardly any agency submits work that has no chance of being represented by a client. This explains why 141 fewer entries were submitted this year than last year.
4. more excellent advertising with more relevance: Well-known clients and brands are represented among the winners. Even though the ADC primarily judges creativity and innovation, the relevance of the advertising is also a criterion when awarding the precious metal - handicrafts and fakes have a hard time.
5th Award-winning work for award-winning clients from award-winning agencies: 35 agencies and their clients can look forward to at least one shortlist. With five gold cubes, the Walker advertising agency is safe
the big winner of this year. Most of the awards were won by a creative octet: Walker, SFLB, Wirz, Publicis, Ruf Lanz, AY&R, Euro RSCG Switzerland, Jung von Matt.  
6. definition difficulties in the categories New Media, Overall Campaign, Low-'n'-now-Budget, POS, Sales Promotion: The fact that underpants should also be outdoor advertising is already evident in the creativity of the submissions. In some categories, the interpretations are almost adventurous - the ADC board will tackle the problem.  
7 The Spirit of ADC: The jury members often agreed on the gold and silver level, while the one or other bronze was the subject of some discussion: the differentiation ranges, at least verbally, from "bad bronze" to "feel-good bronze". What is certain, however, is that with the new judging system, every agency submitting an entry has an equal chance - the fact that small agencies with few or no ADC members are not at a disadvantage is illustrated by this year's result, which is the best advertising for the best advertising in Switzerland.
Frank Bodin is President and CEO of the advertising agency Euro RSCG.

The agency Ferris Bühler Communications, based in Baden, will market the winner of the SF show "MusicStar" on behalf of Sony BMG Music. The experts will also be looking after the candidates in the Mister Switzerland competition from the week after next. As the communications agency of Marquard Event Promotion, they will prepare the beaus for the media and accompany the election of the most beautiful Swiss nationally with various media stories. Ferris Bühler has been marketing Mister Switzerland 2005 Renzo Blumenthal since he relinquished his beauty title. According to Cash daily, Blumenthal is now one of Switzerland's top personality brands alongside Michelle Hunziker and Roger Federer. Ferris Bühler welcomes Jana Zahradnik, a trained PR specialist and journalist, on board. She has been supporting the team since mid-January.

After a good six years of discussion, the time has finally come in French-speaking Switzerland: the seven larger local TV stations are joining forces to form a simple company called Groupement des Télévisions Régionales Romandes (GTRR) and are launching Télé Romandie Combi (TRC), a nationwide advertising network. From the point of view of the advertising industry, this finally gives the Swiss-German TeleNewsCombi (TNC) a private counterpart in French-speaking Switzerland. Also on board are Geneva's TV Léman Bleu, TVRL in Lausanne, ICI-TV in Vevey, Canal 9 in Sierre VS, Canal Nord-Vaudois in Yverdon, Tele Bielingue in Biel and Canal Alpha in Cortaillod NE.TRC is due to launch in March or April - with SRG subsidiary Publisuisse as the exclusive marketer. However, the broadcasters themselves will remain responsible for local and regional advertising. "Publisuisse made us the best offer," says Pierre-André Léchot, GTRR President and head of Canal Alpha. The PubliGroupe subsidiary Radiotele and the Goldbach subsidiary IP Multimedia have lost out.
The fact that Publisuisse has been awarded the contract is a real eye-opener, as it also markets the TNC in German-speaking Switzerland, albeit not alone, but together with Radiotele. However, this cooperation goes back to the time when Radiotele was still independent. For Radiotele founder Bruno Oetterli in particular, who could not be reached at the time, the decision in French-speaking Switzerland is certainly a bitter pill to swallow, as he campaigned tirelessly for years for the combined idea and tried to bring the local TV stations in French-speaking Switzerland together. Now Publisuisse is reaping the rewards. For the print giant PubliGroupe, the decision is a big slap in the face.
Nevertheless, this is hardly surprising. This is because Publisuisse was already successful in German-speaking Switzerland, not least because it offered to include the TNC in its Publiplan booking tool. Since then, the TNC can be planned and booked in the same place as SRG's market-leading channels - which greatly simplifies handling for agencies. Publisuisse also made the same offer to TRC. P and IP cannot really offer anything comparable.
As in German-speaking Switzerland, Publisuisse is also planning joint advertising offers between French-speaking Swiss television (TSR) and TRC. "French-speaking Swiss content for a French-speaking Swiss audience," says François Besençon, Head of French-speaking Switzerland at Publisuisse.
A second reason probably also played a role: TSR and the private TVs have been united for years in the Communauté Télé Romande, which deals with training issues and selective editorial cooperation. The Communauté has also been described as a standstill agreement between TSR and local TVs, which the latter are certainly not happy to jeopardize. Besençon emphasizes that TRC and the Communauté have nothing to do with each other. But he confirms that "the good atmosphere between local TVs and TSR certainly forms a good basis for the new commercial cooperation".
Markus Knöpfli