The Bern-based agency Hofer Kommunikation is redesigning the CI/CD of the Swiss Cableways Association (SBS). The agency won the mandate in a pitch against three competitors. To strengthen its public relations work, which also includes activities in winter sports as well as public and tourist transport, the Swiss Cableways Association will be presenting itself with a contemporary profile from fall 2007. According to a press release, this will clearly reflect the association's core competencies. The Bern-based association has 405 cableway companies as association members and 70 industrial companies as associate members.

The Goldbach Electronic Media Index (GEMI) shows that total media investment rose slightly from 170 to 171 index points in July. Compared to the first half of 2006, electronic media have increased. They recorded a clear increase of 5 index points to 327 (322). TV increased to 332 (327) index points and radio also recorded a significant increase of 3 index points to 250 (247). Internet is growing continuously, i.e. by 4 index points to 220 (216). Teletext grew by 2 points, from 146 to 148. The GEMI is based on the data published by Media Focus for advertising investments in Switzerland.

Technology In the USA, a miracle device is on the market that is already causing critics and advertisers alike to be either thrilled or terrified: the Slingbox, an inconspicuous add-on device for the TV that allows users to take their familiar TV program from home to anywhere in the world and watch it on their laptop or cell phone. A business traveler from Texas, for example, can watch all the NBA basketball games including the Dallas Mavericks - his home team - and keep up with news from his local TV stations. In fact, the manufacturer Sling Media sold over 100,000 devices in the first eight months after the launch in January 2005. The box, which looks like an oversized candy bar, is available for around 200 dollars not only via the Internet, but also in the popular Bestbuy and Circuit City retail chains.
"The shape reminds us how sweet it is to be able to watch familiar television from anywhere in the world," says Slingbox founder Blake Krikorian. The new technology is not only a hit with the public, but was also named one of the "best inventions of 2005" by Time magazine.
Local audience at a distanceThe Slingbox has triggered a less positive reaction in the US advertising industry, which was already nervous due to the Tivo revolution (hard disk recorders). Not only can the modern TV viewer skip a marketer's ad. Companies also have to worry that some of their audience may not be geographically close by when, for example, the local supermarket and its special offer on fresh poultry is advertised.
It is also unclear whether and how quickly the device will spread to the mass market. "I don't think we'll see the same kind of reach as the digital video recorder," says Alex Halavais, professor of computer science at Buffalo University in New York.
He points out that the Tivo and its brothers are already in twelve percent of US households with a TV set. "As long as the big media companies are reluctant to offer this technology, it will only spread slowly." Other industry observers are also concerned that the Slingbox is illegally redistributing content.
If used correctly, the Slingbox could help marketers achieve unimagined success. Sling Media, for example, is making various efforts to convince local companies of the possibilities of reaching customers while they are on vacation. The device can also be used as a replacement television: For example, if dad wants to watch a movie in the living room, the kids can still turn on their cartoon shows on the computer in the children's room.
Targeting additional servicesIt is clear that the potential to work with marketers is there. "In the long run, it has to be more than just selling a box," says Lori Schwartz, Director of New Media at communications company Interpublic Emerging Media Lab. "The opportunities to offer additional services are there."
These additional services could be, for example, that when the viewer watches a sponsored show, they can immediately click through to detailed information about the relevant brand during the sponsorship reference. Engagement is the goal, so that customers engage more closely with the product. "In the future, a target group will no longer be defined geographically, but according to consumer behavior," says Schwartz. "We are gradually moving away from local advertising towards niche markets." A trend that Slingbox is reinforcing.
The device has even found two imitators: Sony recently launched the "LocationFree TV", which makes it possible to receive television using a Playstation. OrbNetworks has also developed similar place-shifting software. The cable industry is already starting to think about its own place-shifting product. "The technology is already moving in the direction of video on demand," believes Halavais. "The Slingbox is just one part of this trend."
"Mobile communication is spreading "Brian Jaquet,
the Communications Director at Sling Media, explains the advantages of the Slingbox.WW: Sling Media has just expanded into the UK. Do you think the Slingbox can also be successful internationally?Brian Jaquet: Yes. The trend towards mobile communication is spreading all over the world. Remember that with the Slingbox you not only have access to your TV program at home, but you can also connect your Tivo there, your satellite radio and even the surveillance cameras in your own home so that you can check what the babysitter is up to from the office. Our system is compatible with over 5000 video distribution devices. WW: Isn't it terribly complicated to install all of this technically?Jaquet: No more than it is to operate a video recorder. The box has input and output connections, so you can connect everything, including the broadband Internet settings at home, provided you have a router. WW: But you can't connect a Mac, only Microsoft products?Jaquet: Yes, we have just launched the first beta version for Apple devices.WW: Are you already working with marketers?Jaquet: Not directly, although the Slingbox is a wonderful medium for advertisers. You can also use it to watch your local commercials while on vacation, and the ratings it generates are also recorded by Nielsen.WW: Are you also planning to conquer the German-speaking market? Jaquet: We announced our launch in the UK in June as the start of our European commitment, so I can't say any more about that yet. But we now also have the option of receiving television in PAL format, which we can then distribute via laptop. Gerti Schön

Office supplies Biella wants to position itself as an innovative brand. Digitalization and mobile workplaces would lead to a paperless office. A survey of over 600 Swiss companies conducted by the Zurich research institute GfS in 2005 shows just how wrong these predictions were. In these companies, paper consumption has actually increased by a good 20 percent in recent years. At the same time, changing job profiles and increased efficiency have led to a rise in demand for simple but attractive organization tools that enable temporary filing, quick retrieval and professional presentation.
Biella has responded to the new requirements with the "designed for the mobile office" product line. The patented "Backflip" stapler, which won the iF Product Design Award, is representative of the modern product range. It was chosen for the launch of the line as it has the greatest potential for differentiation and image enhancement.
"Folders and filing systems are usually not specifically purchased and requested by consumers," says Biella Managing Director Stefan Bigler, summing up the office supplies market. It is correspondingly difficult to make newly developed items known to potential users.
As the target audience is hardly a walk-in customer of a stationery store, it has to be addressed via other channels. "How, where and with what measures can products be advertised in an oversaturated market that appear less spectacular at first glance?" was therefore the challenge facing Stefan Bigler and the team from Bern-based Polyconsult before the market launch.
Although the product can serve a wide range of consumers well, those responsible focused their measures in the first phase on the attractive target group of schoolchildren and students.
The actual backflip of an athlete, which ends abruptly in a daring fall, serves as the creative hook for the campaign. Like the well-known Ovomaltine commercials, Biella uses the pulling power of the trend sports of snowboarding and BMX to implement the key visual. In the case of Biella, you can't do it any longer, but, according to the message, right away: "Biella brings the backflip to everyone."
In the run-up to the campaign, broad-based VF measures had already prepared resellers and attracted the attention of customers. In classic advertising, Biella worked with Polyconsult to create two commercials that build a symbolic bridge between the athletes and the functionality of the saddle stitcher - both in action. After the first wave, which includes e-board spots, cards for free and posters, the measures will be shifted to the POS and probably to post TV in the fall.  
 
Luca Aloisi

The President of the Swiss Press Association and publisher of Südostschweiz comments on the megatrends in the media industry in the Handelszeitung. First the figures: Advertisers and households invested CHF 14.5 billion in the media last year. Of this, 10.3 billion came from households and the remaining 4.2 billion from advertising. The advertising industry's share has fallen continuously since 2000, totaling 15 percent. Swiss families, on the other hand, spent around 300 million more last year than in the previous year (see
"Verband Schweizer Presse publishes study on media expenditure") Such figures have only been collected since 2004. Hanspeter Lebrument points out in the current Handelszeitung that earlier omissions are now taking revenge. There has always been talk of the death of the press, but it has never been analyzed. For a long time, the media industry considered it unnecessary to carry out evaluations and analyses.
But now the figures from the studies by the Swiss Press Association and the Swiss Advertising Statistics Foundation are providing facts. One megatrend that can be derived from all the statistics is a shift in investment, writes Lebrument. Today, people are no longer investing in content - neither on the consumer side nor on the business side. Households and businesses prefer to spend their money on electronic access to media and hardware.
For Lebrument, this does not mean that people no longer value quality - private households have remained loyal to the printed word. If the media industry wants to continue to grow, the association president concludes, it must make changes in its core business, i.e. content. The traditional houses in particular must hurry up, as the suppliers of access and hardware have long since expanded into the content business.   

René Worni on the fine-talking: In England, the public BBC is free of advertising, while private broadcasters are allowed to do anything. The British model is the ultimate lesson when it comes to the distinction between private and public media. Here in Germany, however, the model is no good. Financed solely by fees, there would be public radio in French-speaking Switzerland and Ticino, but no public television. Too expensive. Anyone who questions this would also have to take issue with the fact that it costs the same to send a letter from Zurich to the Calanca Valley as it does to Schlieren or Wollishofen. That is nothing more than a public service.
The changes brought about by the Radio and Television Ordinance and the new RTV Act are therefore not fundamental.
The fans of certain SF entertainment programs will feel it the most. For example, when the Schoggisoap "Lüthi und Blanc" disappears from the program after 250 episodes without a follow-up series. SF could obviously launch a successor if SRG did not have to forego income from what is known internally as "prop placement" in future.
The disappearance of other programs such as the cooking show "al dente" is conceivable. The fee-paying but clueless public would certainly like to know more about the amount and significance of this income, if only to understand why their favorite show is disappearing from the program.
When the Federal Council talks about asymmetric financing of the media, wants to slow down the commercialization of programme content of national broadcasters and liberalize the regulations for private broadcasters, it borders on fine-talking. It pretends that liberalization will give private broadcasters a secure economic basis in the narrow Swiss market.
However, SRG is merely being deprived of some of its fees and advertising, and interstitial advertising and product placement are being banned. On the other hand, the cake is not getting much bigger for the private broadcasters.
René Worni

Succession plan Radio Sunshine's future is still open The ownership structure at Radio Sunshine remains as it is. "I have put the matter of 'succession' on the back burner for some time," writes majority shareholder Markus Ruoss to Werbewoche. Neither "the right 'strategic' partnership" nor a good purchase offer had been made to him. Ruoss regrets both. "It would have been nice to find a good long-term involvement," he writes, adding that Ruoss had sent a letter at the end of 2003 in search of a buyer or partner. He always emphasized that Sunshine was not under pressure. "In 2005, we had the best result for around eight years!" he emphasizes again. A good dozen purchase or cooperation offers, including one from LZ Medien, were received, but he soon turned most of them down. He put three on hold until the RTVA had been finalized. Now he has turned this one down too.
Markus Knöpfli

Video games The gaming industry is in a state of upheaval. On the threshold of the next hardware cycle, new market shares need to be conquered, and anyone leafing through the relevant video game magazines will inevitably ask themselves the question: How many more wars can we wage? On page after page, trolls and elves bash each other's skulls in, machine guns mow down Nazi henchmen, and in various futuristic scenarios, mankind simply fights for survival. The video game industry itself seems to be cementing the prejudices that exist against it. When asked, representatives of the interactive entertainment industry sometimes react with a somewhat perplexed shrug of the shoulders and the remark: "That's what the market wants." The market. For some years now, global sales of video games and the associated hardware have outstripped Hollywood's box office takings. Last year, this amounted to 29.14 billion dollars (+8%), while US film studios had to make do with 23.24 billion dollars (-7.9%), according to the Motion Picture Association of America. The Swiss market shows the same trend: The cinema industry generated CHF 222 million in 2005 (-12.5% compared to 2004), while the entire video game market grew to CHF 271 million (+4%).
The reason for the current upgrade with martial content is a well-known and little-loved one: the video game industry is in a transitional phase. The current generation of consoles may not have had its day, but the next one is either already here (Xbox 360) or waiting in the wings: Nintendo Wii is expected in the fall, Sony's high-tech behemoth Playstation 3 on November 17.
In these difficult times, when sales are slipping and share prices are plummeting because video gamers are not investing money in "outdated" hardware and are therefore hardly making any purchases, it is important to occupy the terrain in a fresh way.
Hardcore gamers are being targeted, those players who play far more games per week than they watch TV. The first wave of titles is geared towards their tastes: "Have you seen 'Gears of War' yet?" a visitor to the Electronic Entertainment Expo E3 in Los Angeles, the biggest video game show in the world, promptly asked his colleague and immediately added: "If you don't have an Xbox 360 yet, then you'll buy one once you've played this hammer."
This first-person shooter is of the nastier variety, but offers superlative graphical sophistication on the very same day that the Playstation 3 is launched on the market.
Delicate price positioningHowever, once the shrapnel from the initial skirmishes for gamers' favor has faded, it is time to broaden the field of vision and ask: Which platform brings what to the table? While this question was comparatively easy to answer in the past, even during transition phases, various unknowns have emerged in 2006.
With a global market share of around 70 percent, Sony is still the undisputed market leader. Its Playstation 2 has sold over 100 million units, and independent game producers such as Electronic Arts, Ubisoft and Konami have a correspondingly strong connection (more on this next week in: The players in the video game industry). When Sony announced the prices of the successor model, the Playstation 3, at 749 francs (20 gigabyte hard disk) and 899 francs (60 GB HD) in May, a crack went through the woodwork.
After postponing the market launch of the hardware, the Japanese company made negative headlines with a new price cap. Certainly, with a Blue-ray player, high-definition capability and the brand new cell chip technology, there is a lot of high-tech in the box, but many are already singing the song: "Who is going to pay for this? Who has that kind of money?"
In its market analysis, the US research institute DFC Intelligence concludes that the high price of the PS3 will lead to a slowdown in industry growth and that Sony could fall behind Microsoft and Nintendo in terms of hardware units sold. DFC is not alone in this assessment. Gerhard Florin, General Manager International Publishing at Electronic Arts, also told Werbewoche: "Nintendo also used to have a market share of 80 percent." Today it is around 10 percent.
When two people argue ...While the top dog will probably soon stop roaring, Microsoft - to stay with the image - has successfully locked horns with the Xbox and has been confidently trumpeting the Xbox 360 for almost a year now. This head start in terms of time does not only mean units sold - according to Bill Gates himself, ten million units are to be sold this year. On the programming level, the second generation of games is already coming onto the market at the start of the competition, which will be even more visually impressive. In addition, a price correction from the US software giant is also to be expected; the Xbox 360 with 20 Giga-HD currently costs 579 francs.
It's a well-known fact that when two people fight, the third is happy. This one is called Nintendo and doesn't give a damn about the high-tech hype of the other two console providers. With their next-generation hardware, unconventionally called Wii, they are neither focusing on high-definition resolution nor on an upcoming carrier format such as Blue-ray or HD-DVD. It's too early for that, say the men behind Super Mario and co. Instead, the focus should be on the feel, and to this end they have developed a new type of control system that has very little in common with the previous ones.
In view of this unstable starting position, turbulent battles for market share are to be expected, from which Sony may well emerge as the loser. Nobody wants to shout this away, the video games industry and not least Sony itself are too dependent on the success of the Playstation 3.
If it does not become the desired hit, things will also look bad for the Blue-ray format and therefore for the future of the Japanese consumer electronics company in general - or as Chris Reeves, head of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, said optimistically in an interview with Werbewoche: "The PS3 plays a decisive role. There is pressure of expectation, but we will succeed."   
Marc Bodmer

Television No product placement, no more interruptive advertising for SRG: That's what the draft of the Radio and Television Ordinance says. Swiss Television sees its in-house soap production at risk.The end of this week marks the end of the hearing period for the ordinance on the new Radio and Television Act (RTVG), which is expected to come into force in spring 2007. The ordinance regulates the details of the law, which was passed by parliament in March. So far, the main topic of discussion has been fee-splitting. But the draft of the Radio and Television Ordinance (RTVO) also contains some dynamite in another area: it restricts advertising opportunities in SRG SSR's television programs. Even during the legislative process, the Federal Council intended to find the most liberal regulation possible for private radio and television broadcasters. The situation is different for the fee-financed broadcaster: The draft ordinance goes further than the restrictions currently in force. It bans SRG from interruptive advertising in feature films and prohibits it in principle from any form of product placement.
"This is intended to curb the commercialization of programming content," writes the Federal Office of Communications in its explanatory notes to the RTVO. The draft also explicitly prohibits advertising on SRG websites for the first time.
It is true that the draft RTVV defines individual exceptions, such as for the broadcasting of sporting events or the sponsors of competition prizes, which may still be mentioned. But overall, SRG will have to accept revenue losses if the ordinance enters into force as the draft stands.
Affected are broadcasting channels in which revenue is generated from product placement: at Schweizer Fernsehen (SF), namely the soap opera "Lüthi und Blanc" and in-house produced TV films. Not affected by the advertising restrictions, however, is PresseTV, which has its own license for its programs on SF 2 and will benefit from the liberal rules for private broadcasters in the future.
SF soap in jeopardyAs long as the hearing period is still running, SRG will not officially comment on the matter, according to Max Gurtner, Head of Corporate Communications. However, SF director Ingrid Deltenre already said at the end of June that the "financial framework conditions" will decide whether there will be a follow-up series for the Schogg soap "Lüthi und Blanc" when it is discontinued next year after more than 250 episodes. It's not hard to guess that Deltenre was referring to the legal framework for product placement.
 
SF press officer Urs Durrer confirms this: "Of course, a ban on prop placement would have an impact on SF's programming. It's likely that we would have to do without individual shows." The domestic production of fictional series and films would probably be most affected. Whether entertainment programs will also be affected is unclear for the time being. The cooking quiz "Al dente," which is closely linked to the Betty Bossi brand, is to remain in the program next year. SF has no plans to make any changes to the Monday evening program. In addition, the show, which is produced by RingierTV on behalf of SF, is blithely expanding into French-speaking Switzerland. From the end of August, it will also run on TSR.
Millions in lossesSRG Director General Armin Walpen has also made himself heard unofficially in recent days: In a position paper that was sent to selected media and which, according to Gurtner, is not SRG's official position, Walpen estimates losses of 8 to 11 million francs if interruptions and product placement were banned. There is also talk in the Leutschenbach TV studio that savings would have to be made elsewhere in the program if the programs affected by the product placement ban were to remain in the program.
In view of this starting position, one can probably expect the SRG to express its opposition to the ban on product placement in its programs in its statement on the draft RTVO. In addition to the financial losses, there is another argument that comes to mind: Product placement is a widespread international practice. Accordingly, product placement would continue to be seen in foreign film and television productions purchased by SRG. The legislator can only ban product placement if the SRG receives a monetary consideration from the client.
No TV fees for companiesWho owns a radio or TV set ready to receive,
must pay fees. This is what the legislator wants. The draft of the RTVV now clarifies for the first time the question of when the reception of radio and television programs on the computer is subject to fees. For many companies, this could theoretically mean steep fees. The draft RTVV explicitly states that fees must be paid for multifunctional devices - such as PCs - if they are "equivalent to conventional devices in terms of the diversity of the receivable program range and reception quality". In plain language: Most companies will probably get off scot-free with regard to television fees. A PC without additional equipment cannot yet replace a television set. However, anyone who listens to background music in the office via Internet streaming will have to register the PC as a radio receiver in the future.

Adrian Schärr

Editorial The summer break is over and Werbewoche is starting the second half of the year with a packed issue. The video game market is booming. Worldwide sales of video games amounted to 29 billion dollars in 2005, almost 6 billion more than the box office takings of the major US film studios. The new generation of high-tech consoles is already here (Microsoft) or will be launched in the fall (Sony and Nintendo). We begin with a series on video games, which will be continued in the next two issues, and the peaceful and paradisiacal times in economic area 31 are finally a thing of the past. When it was announced that the Basellandschaftliche Zeitung was to cooperate with the Mitteland Zeitung, it was a slap in the face for Basel newspaper publisher Matthias Hagemann. BaZ is now launching a major offensive. Local reporting will be massively expanded and the new large circulation will be distributed primarily in areas where the Basellandschaftliche Zeitung is particularly strong. You can find out more here. Our US correspondent introduces a new miracle device that has given rise to heated debate in the States and is now also targeting the European market with England. The Slingbox allows you to take your local television program with you wherever you go via the Internet with little effort.Grégoire Schnegg, CEO of Pathé Suisse, is our interview partner in this week's interview. In it, the lone fighter comments on the current concentration trends in the cinema industry and the Cinecom monopoly, among other things.
Pierre C. Meier, Editor-in-Chief

Cinema Oh, what an uplifting sight. The urban hunter's heart rejoices and calls out: "Open fire on the tramp stamp!" It is true that disdainful trackers of the trend business claim that such tattoos are on the brink of extinction and should make way for subcutaneous implants made of surgical steel and more. But until such metropolitan Darwinism prevails, Hollywood's lure machinery can still confidently rely on the voyeuristic primal instinct of the school-going male and his older conspecifics, the studiosi odiosi (hateful students), and lay out attractive bitches (any dead animal with which to lure predators and predatory animals).
"John Tucker Must Die", a 08/15 - not meaning a caliber - teen comedy gives the top dog of a college, the aforementioned Tucker, a free shot because he wants to go after various doe-eyed defectors (adolescents) at the same time (female genitals). Revenge is blood sausage, is the motto from then on, and the cuckolds spring various traps into which the buck usually slips blindly, but wriggles out again with a slick routine.
But this is not about content, but form, and the Hollywood-like lure appeals not only to future bucks. In this sense: "Thanks to Weidmann."
Marc Bodmer

Cinema Hardly noticed by the public, Pathé Suisse grew from a one-man company to the largest Swiss cinema chain within six years When the Australian cinema chain Village Roadshow withdrew from Switzerland in 2000 and sold the largest multiplex cinema in Switzerland, Balexert in Geneva (13 screens, 2,900 seats), to the newly founded company Pathé Suisse, hardly anyone paid any attention. Pathé Suisse, an offshoot of the French cinema operator Pathé, and its CEO Grégoire Schnegg were only noticed by a wider public in 2004, when the cinema operator opened its second multiplex in Zurich-Dietlikon (10 screens, 2500 seats), making it the third largest player in the industry in terms of seating capacity - after Kitag and Europlex. However, when Pathé announced the takeover of Europlex in May 2006, little notice was taken of it.
This is actually astonishing, as Pathé has become the largest Swiss cinema operator in terms of seats and audience market share - and this only shortly after the previous market leader Kitag took over the Dietrich Group with the Zurich multiplex Cinemax/ Abaton (12 screens, 2,350 seats) in 2005 and significantly extended its lead.
Power play in French-speaking SwitzerlandThanks to the Europlex takeover, Pathé now has a third multiplex, the Flon in Lausanne (7 screens, 1900 seats), as well as three so-called multisalles in Geneva and Lausanne. Multisalles are large cinemas with three to eight screens, but without integrated stores or restaurants as is the case with multiplexes. Pathé is also taking over three Europlex single-screen cinemas, but will dispose of these as soon as possible because the company is concentrating on large cinemas.
Pathé will open its fourth multiplex with 8 screens and 2,400 seats in Basel's Steinenvorstadt entertainment district in October. There, Grégoire Schnegg will also enter into a partnership with two neighboring cinema operators, so that eleven screens can ultimately be coordinated with each other in terms of programming at the Rheinknie.
From the fall, Pathé will therefore be present in four key cities, with the company achieving market shares of 70 to 80 percent in Geneva and Lausanne and around 50 percent in Basel. Grégoire Schnegg looks back on the last six years with pride: "I started out on my own in 2000 and we now have four multiplex cinemas, 300 employees and a good CHF 50 million in sales," he says.
It will now be exciting to see how Pathé will play its new role as market leader and most important multiplex operator. The race between Kitag and Pathé to win numerous other Swiss multiplex projects is already underway. As market leader, Pathé also has a completely different weight in the negotiations with the cinema advertising marketer Cinecom, as the cinema operator could open its doors to a new marketer at any time.
In France, for example, Pathé cooperates with the marketer Mediavision. The latter already had a guest appearance in French-speaking Switzerland from 1999 to 2004, but was unable to gain a foothold in German-speaking Switzerland and had to give up.
Basel as a touchstoneSince then, Cinecom has once again held the cinema marketing monopoly, but this is showing the first cracks due to the dissatisfaction of some small cinema operators (WW 27/06). Cinecom will have to act more cautiously in future to prevent these cracks from getting bigger. Especially with Pathé, as the market leader could give a potential Cinecom competitor access to both German-speaking and French-speaking Switzerland. The negotiations with Pathé for the multiplex lease in Basel are therefore the first touchstone for the PubliGroupe subsidiary.
Number 1 in EuropePathé is a subsidiary of the French Europalaces,
the largest cinema operator in Europe. It was formed in 2001 from the merger of Pathé and Gaumont, the two most important and long-established cinema chains in France. The Europalaces Group, which owns over 780 cinemas in France, the Netherlands, Italy and Switzerland, today generates a turnover of around 700 million euros. Markus Knöpfli