Publicis Zurich has developed a campaign for the new Renault Clio RS that is being adopted worldwide. For the launch in this country, the Zurich advertising agency Publicis has developed a campaign tailored to Switzerland, which can currently be seen everywhere. Now an additional line has been added to show where the new RS gets its sporty handling from: from Renault's successful Formula 1 commitment.
The RS stands full-size on a shiny surface without any superfluous setting. However, the mirror image does not show the RS, but Fernando Alonso's world champion car.
The result apparently also convinced Renault's headquarters in Paris. They have decided to run a worldwide campaign with the mirror concept. It will be made available to the various Renault agencies for print and poster adaptations. According to the communiqué, numerous countries have already expressed their interest and want to adopt the idea from Publicis Zurich for their RS advertising.

On August 29, TBWA and Tequila are taking on a completely new challenge. That afternoon, all agency members will take part in their first baseball training session under the direction of the Swiss national coach. "After I heard on TV in the sports show that our Tequila team and project manager Christian Palatinus also coaches the Swiss national team, it was clear to me that we had to form our own team," explains TBWA CEO Markus Pekeler. As TBWA Lakers, the agency members want to be able to challenge their clients and competitors in the future, and not just in terms of advertising and marketing.

The new Radio and Television Ordinance (RTVO) has been met with criticism. Comments can be viewed online at www.bakom.admin.ch (see RTVV: Over 120 comments now online). In particular, the provisions on advertising and sponsorship have been criticized. Many speak of over-regulation and the provision on advertising for non-alcoholic beers is particularly criticized. The draft RTVO prohibits the advertising effect of alcoholic beverages by advertising non-alcoholic beer for broadcasters that are subject to an advertising ban on alcoholic beverages. Numerous respondents requested that this article be deleted.
Another point of criticism is the asymmetrical advertising regulations between SRG and private broadcasters. This goes too far, according to the majority. SRG has supported the concept of asymmetry in favor of other Swiss broadcasters and media since the beginning of the legislative process, writes SRG itself. However, on the condition that "this should not fall short of the status quo that has long been accepted by the public".
The Swiss Press Association, on the other hand, welcomes the "relatively tight restrictions on SRG's commercial activities". These are necessary in order to counteract any distortion of competition due to the dominance of the SRG, which is financed by fees. The private radio and TV stations that benefit from this are also satisfied with the asymmetrical advertising regulations. It is now important that the new ordinance comes into force as planned on April 1, 2007, their associations write.

Valora, the internationally active Swiss retail group, tripled its net profit in the first half of 2006 to CHF 26.6 million. The improved first-half result was achieved primarily through efforts on the cost side, the Group reports. The Valora Group reported a slight year-on-year increase in sales from CHF 1.412 billion to CHF 1.432 billion. The increase was mainly attributable to the Valora Trade division. Operating profit amounted to CHF 39.3 million, double the previous year's figure. According to the consumer goods group, these results show that the cost-cutting measures introduced and the restructuring of its retail activities in Switzerland are beginning to bear fruit, with Valora Retail's net revenues declining mainly due to the closure of unprofitable kiosk outlets and the profitability of its wholesale activities. By contrast, the acquisition of six new outlets at Valora Retail Germany boosted sales by CHF 7.1 million. The sale of Panini collector's cards for the World Cup was a sales success in all countries and exceeded all expectations. Valora confirms its previous outlook for this and next year. The operating profit margin is expected to reach between 2.8 and 3 percent in 2006 and 4 percent in 2007.

The Xaver.06 was awarded on Wednesday evening in Zurich as part of the X'06 marketing fair. Three gold, four silver, two bronze and two special prizes were awarded to successful Swiss stand builders and event agencies. According to a press release, the jury made a strict assessment and set the bar high in order to motivate the agencies to achieve top performance in the future.
The winners of a Gold Xaver were X-act in the Event/Business category for the COO Excellence project for UBS, Andreas Messerli Messebau in the Expo/System category for the Caparol exhibition stand at Appli-Tech and Aroma Productions for the Showcase project with clients Danielle Stutz and Rea Eggli in the Expo/Budget category.

Silver went to Impact Unlimited (UBS at Fonds'06), T'nt Events (Flyerline at X'05), Wunderman (Sunrise Webphone world record in continuous calling) and Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett (Mountain Trophy for Swisscom Fixnet).

Bronze Xavers went to Creaworld (Rigips at Appli-Tech) and Uniplan Switzerland ("Seile bewegen Basel" for the Basel-Stadt Department of Education). Compresso (Dr. Click / AXE) and Instant Architekten (Inventioneering Architecture / ETH Zurich) received awards for their special projects.

According to the press release, successful projects are neither a question of short-term unusualness nor a large budget. The decisive factors are an optimal cost-benefit ratio and, above all, embedding trade fair appearances and event marketing in an overall concept that generates as much sustainable success as possible for the customer and client.

The fifth Xaver event was once again organized by Expo + Event Swiss Association. According to the organizers, around 800 people attended the event. The members of Trio Eden acted as presenters.

The Swiss-German moderation in the weather program "Meteo" on Schweizer Fernsehen SF does not violate programming law. The Independent Complaints Authority for Radio and Television UBI has rejected a corresponding complaint. Until recently, the program was still presented in High German. Now all "Meteo" presentations are in Swiss German. In a complaint to the UBI, it was argued that fee payers who did not understand dialect were being marginalized as a result.SRG's programming law stipulates that the standard language should generally be used in important information programmes that are of interest beyond linguistic and national borders. It is true that "Meteo" is an important information program. However, the weather magazine does not meet all the criteria set out in the aforementioned licensing provision, writes the UBI. In particular, there is no interest in the weather program that transcends linguistic or even national borders. The UBI also adds that the essential information conveyed by "Meteo" is understandable even if one does not understand the moderation thanks to illustrations. For these reasons, the Swiss-German presentation did not infringe programming law.

In July, almost six percent more advertising pages were placed in the Swiss press than in the same month last year. This was despite the fact that magazines had a poor month overall. On the other hand, the free papers recorded a strong increase. These are the figures from the Swiss Press Association and the Association of Swiss Advertisers.
Expressed in figures, the increase in advertising volume in the free papers compared to the previous year is 83.9%. The main reason for this sharp rise in volume is the launch of the French edition of 20 Minuten, Le Matin Bleu and Abendblatt Heute.  
July was also a good month for daily press sales, mainly due to a marked increase in job advertisements. The cumulative total volume for this year is still up 4 percent on the previous year.

Kids A picture is worth a thousand words. So what is this ad trying to tell me, with just a picture of eight children and no other clear words to communicate to the world? My inner child reminds me that this must have been how we used to look at the world when me and my two brothers had to put on our freshly starched shirts and those stupid but new-fashioned knickerbockers to go to church on Sunday. They scratched and bit my skin so badly. But my father was proud that, in his eyes, all three of his sons were styled like something out of the latest fashion catalog. Fortunately, things are different today. Today's youth no longer knows any fashion dictates. They wear what is comfortable and what they think is cool. And if these eight children in the picture still look so indifferent to the world, it's probably only because they're sad that their parents didn't know such cool labels back then. (pan)

Hardware With its new Mac Pro computer and the new Xserve server, Apple is addressing the needs of Pro users.
With the launch of the Mac Pro and the new Xserve at this year's Apple developer conference WWDC, the hardware and software manufacturer has completed the switch from the Power PC G4/G5 to Intel processors in just over 200 days. This has put an end to the waiting time for Pro users, who have had to watch as Apple's consumer and entry-level iMac and Mac Mini computers have almost outstripped the machines previously known as Power Macs in terms of speed.Tidied up and upgradedAlthough the new Mac Pros come in the same housing as the previous Power Mac G5, according to Apple product manager Rolf Lehmann, hardly a stone has been left unturned: "The new Mac Pros each use two 64-bit dual-core Intel Xeon processors (see box). These chips, which are specially designed for workstations and server systems and run at up to 3 GHz, are based on the Intel Core microarchitecture, which enables high performance with comparably modest energy consumption. Furthermore, eight slots for up to 16 GB of RAM meet the requirements of Pro users. In addition, up to four wirelessly connectable hard disks of up to 500 GB each can now be installed." The latter, adds Lehmann, can also be striped, i.e. connected sequentially one behind the other, or connected to mirror the data and thus increase data security. The "interior designers" at Apple have redesigned the inside of the computers to make room for the bays for the four removable hard disks or for the optional CD/DVD drive (Superdrive), for example. This was made possible, among other things, because air cooling is sufficient for the chips, also known as Woodcrest, and the space-consuming liquid cooling previously required for the Power Mac G5 can be dispensed with.
Even if the basic model, which is already sufficiently equipped for many applications at just under 3600 francs, is available at similar conditions to the previous Power Macs, workstations costing up to over 20000 francs can now be put together. In addition to the choice of RAM and hard disks, the graphics cards are the main factor here. Professional users can now choose between three PCI Express graphics cards (NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500, ATI Radeon X1900 XT or NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT) for different requirements - or even combine them. In maximum configuration, up to eight displays can then be controlled.
Generous upgrade of the XserveThe Xserve servers, which were also presented at WWDC and will be available from October according to Apple, are more than just an update. Their key data: up to 32 GB RAM and up to 2.25 TB memory. Xserve will also be equipped with Xeon processors and the new system architecture and will be delivered with the Tiger Server operating system optimized for Intel processors for an unlimited number of clients.
Apple lets another cat out of the bag in 2007In addition to hardware, Apple presented the new version of the Mac OS X operating system at WWDC, which is scheduled for spring 2007. Highlights of the system, which will be fully ported to 64-bit technology, are the new Time Machine and Spaces technologies. Spaces allows work environments to be combined, as is also known from Unix interfaces, which can then be changed using a key combination. Time Machine can be used to bring deleted data back to life. To do this, Time Machine starts from an original and only saves changes. Thanks to this technology, the backup takes up less space; it should also be possible to bring previous operating system states from the hereafter back to the present if required.
It is an unconfirmed rumor that users can travel back in time with the Time Machine itself - but not that Apple has yet another unreleased arrow in its quiver for the Leopard.

Jürgen Franck
Dual Core XenonApple's new 64-bit computer and server generation
has two dual-core Intel Xeon processors with a clock speed of up to 3 GHz. Intel uses the term Xeon for its server and workstation processors; Dual Core indicates that the chip has two processor cores. In addition to the 4 GB shared L2 cache (accelerates access to memory content), a 1.33 GHz frontside bus (connection between system components), the 667 MHz DDR 2 memory modules and the 256-bit wide memory architecture ensure an increase in performance for both devices. In standard benchmarks
Apple's new computers and servers should be around twice (Mac Pro compared to Power Mac Quad G5) or five times (comparison of old vs. new Xserve; however, the Xserve G5 was never offered as a dual core) as fast as their predecessors. (jf)More on the topic in
Interview with Apple Product Manager Rolf Lehmann
.

Marketing Ikea is one of the strongest brands in the world. And this despite the fact that the furniture store spends little on advertising compared to Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Nike. Ronald Jungbluth explains why: Are you still living or are you already living? More and more people are answering this question with a resounding "I'm alive!" In the 2005/2006 financial year, which ended at the end of July, 454 million Ikea fans made a pilgrimage to one of the 221 blue and yellow cathedrals to pay homage to the brightly painted chipboard and light-colored solid wood furniture. After McDonald's, Ikea is the world's most successful franchise model. Year after year, sales have increased against the industry trend to almost 24 billion francs. It all started very modestly 63 years ago.Sweden's Scrooge McDuck1943. Because his parents' farm was so remote, 17-year-old schoolboy Ingvar Kamprad set up a mail order business in Elmtaryd near Agunnaryd. An uncle had to sign the company entry for him because Ingvar was still a minor. Ikea was initially a general store: Kamprad shipped everything from fountain pens to wallets. But when the first piece of furniture, an armchair, triggered a lively demand, he proved his business acumen, quickly expanded the business and limited himself to furniture. With success.
This success has never gone to Kamprad's head. Although, according to Forbes, only five people are richer than him, he doesn't behave like one. On the contrary: he is considered modest, thrifty, even stingy. The mayor of Epalinges in Vaud, where Kamprad has lived for many years, has also been annoyed by this. His childhood as a small farmer, somehow reminiscent of Astrid Lindgren's Bullerbü idyll, left its mark on the 80-year-old billionaire. For Rüdiger Jungbluth, this is one of the reasons why Kamprad was and is so successful with Ikea.
Analysis instead of biographyRüdiger Jungbluth has written more than just another biography of Ingvar Kamprad. In "The 11 Secrets of Ikea's Success", he attempts to analyze why Ikea is not only an extraordinary furniture store, but above all an extraordinarily successful one. He succeeds in this because, as a business journalist, he is good with words as well as figures and knows a thing or two about marketing. Nevertheless, he doesn't reveal any real secrets in his book - not because he can't, no, because there aren't any.
The factors that decide between successful and less successful people, brands or companies are always the same.
And yet there is something different about the crazy furniture store from Sweden: no other brand in the world is so strongly linked to the person behind it. Ikea is Ingvar Kamprad, Ingvar Kamprad is Ikea. That is what others can learn from Kamprad. The man is credible, even though - or precisely because - he is so contradictory. Jungbluth describes him as a capitalist with social democratic ideals.
Roger Hausmann
> The 11 secrets of IKEA's success by Rüdiger Jungbluth; Campus Verlag, Frankfurt, 2006, 288 pages, 43.70 francs.

Column Advertisers discover PR agencies - usually without any idea of how successful press relations really work. Business is tough. That's why advertisers and PR people are thinking ahead and looking for interesting cooperation opportunities. Why not work together, some think, and team up with PR agencies. The idea seems simple: a new product is launched, the campaign is created. A "little PR" should steer the ship into the right waters. The customer reacts enthusiastically. The advertiser has one more stone in the client's coffin. Soon things get underway. They meet once or twice more to coordinate the campaign with the media work. After that, everyone does their job. However, expectations are never discussed. Because for the advertising agency, one thing is clear: the whole media world is just waiting for the launch of this "incredibly innovative" product.
The PR man warns: "The media are oversaturated. Journalists know very well how to distinguish between a real story and the marketing of an advertising campaign."
The advertisers wave it off. Just don't get too pessimistic.
Advertiser: "This thing will be a big hit. The world has never seen anything like it."
PR person: "What is it actually about?"
Advertiser: "A new type of cheese. New texture in the spread. Super!"
PR person: "I see, but that doesn't blow my mind. What else is special?"
Advertiser: "Hey. A brilliant product. The world will go wild for this cheese. I can already see the sales figures. In the millions."
PR person: "Ok. Can this cheese dance? Does it have a fast digestion supplement? Does it contain an anti-fattening protein or anything else special?"
Advertiser: "Hey girl. Stay cool, you'll see, we're planning a total guerrilla attack. First we'll send a Pic-Nic blanket to the editorial offices. That will arouse curiosity. That will be the full advertising hammer!"
PR woman, is still skeptical: "It's also possible that the blanket will be thrown away immediately or that Fifi will be used as a blanket in the car in future. But then the message hasn't gotten through yet."
Werber: "Three days later, he receives a lovely basket with the cheese, a knife and crispbread. It hits like a bomb."
PR woman: "The editors will be delighted. The cheese is devoured in no time. The dry crackers choked down. Another free mini lunch. But something like that doesn't end up in the newspaper for a long time."
Advertiser: "Hey girl, just believe in the guerrilla strategy. Write the press release. The content has to come across as juicy as possible. You know what I mean, don't you?"
PR woman: "Logo, all right. Short, crisp and easier to digest than the cheese itself. Let's go for it."
Three weeks later. The advertiser is slightly ill-tempered. Sends mail after mail. "What about the media clippings? Have you asked the editors? When will the article about this insane cheese be published?"
That's exactly the problem: for the journalists, it's all a mad cheese, far too staged, far too little on the bacon, er cheese. The advertiser is disappointed. The cheese producer no longer understands the world. He seriously thought that the media world had been waiting for this product, so he cleared page one in the paper and made the product photo as large as possible.
Unfortunately, many advertisers have no idea how successful press relations really work. They are used to their campaigns actually appearing. Their customers believe that it is the same with editorial content. This is exactly where the mistake lies.

Karin Müller, a former journalist, now runs her own communications company in Zurich.

The Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM) received over 120 comments on the new Radio and Television Ordinance (RTVO) within the deadline. The evaluation phase has begun and the next steps have been announced.
As reported by OFCOM on Wednesday, the statements are available on the Internet at
www.bakom.admin.ch can be viewed.
The draft RTVO contains the planned performance provisions
on the new Radio and Television Act (RTVA), which comes into force next April.
should enter into force. Most of the comments triggered the new provisions on
the areas of advertising and sponsoring, but also the
Licensing of private event organizers (especially the
fee splitting) and the technical transmission of programs were
The subject of numerous statements.
The evaluation of the comments - the result of the consultation - is incorporated into the revision of the draft RTVO. The revision will be carried out by the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC).

The draft ordinance does not yet include the definition of coverage areas for local-regional radio and television broadcasters with fee splitting or the level of the reception fee. DETEC intends to present these proposals at a public hearing in October. The aim is for the Federal Council to be able to adopt the coverage areas in the second half of 2007. Following their adoption, the coverage areas will be put out to tender. The amount of the fee shares will also be announced in this tender.