The forest of free newspapers is getting denser and denser. In Denmark and London, the markets are in turmoil following announcements of further new free newspapers. First of all in Denmark, there is a huge stir. Following the announcement of an afternoon edition of the most popular free newspaper MetroXpress (see
"Metro launches afternoon newspaper in Copenhagen") the publishers Berlingske and J.P./Politiken are following suit. As reported by the Austrian Standard, Berlingske is now distributing the free newspaper Dato to half a million households in urban centers. The free newspaper "24timer" from Denmark's largest newspaper publisher J.P./Politiken will even be delivered to letterboxes nationwide from the end of the week. The background to these extremely costly distribution measures for the publishers is the Icelandic media group Dagsbrun. This company will enter the Danish market in the fall with the free newspaper Nyhedsavisen, which will also be distributed to all households.
According to experts, the appearance of the new papers will revolutionize the Danish newspaper market in general. The traditional subscription newspapers have cut their advertising rates by up to 50 percent in order to avoid a migration to the new free newspapers.
Meanwhile, media mogul Rupert Murdoch is launching the free newspaper The London Paper in London in mid-September. London's fifth free paper will have an initial circulation of 400,000 and is aimed at a young readership of 17 to 35-year-olds. With this new publication, Murdoch has set his sights on the publishing house Associated Newspaper, which publishes the Evening Standard and Metro, among others. As in almost all urban centers in Europe, free newspapers are experiencing an unbroken boom in London. The largest free newspaper CityAM is already said to be more widely distributed than the Financial Times.

A Bernese court today acquitted Weltwoche journalist Urs Paul Engeler in full of the accusation that he had published official secrets. He will receive compensation of 200 francs. Exactly one year ago, Engeler had published a preliminary draft of the new State Protection Act and commented on it in his caustic manner. The public prosecutor's office then filed a criminal complaint for breach of official secrecy, and Engeler was sentenced to a fine of CHF 600 in the first instance. Engeler appealed the verdict and was acquitted today by Bernese single criminal court judge Andrea Müller. The draft law in question was neither classified as secret nor confidential.
Urs Paul Engeler told sda that he was relieved by the decision, but also disappointed, as he had hoped for a "democratic political justification". It is still unclear whether he will take the ruling any further. The media union Comedia echoes this sentiment in its press release today. Although it welcomes the decision itself, it criticizes "the fact that the court did not take a clearer stance against the applicability of Article 293 of the Swiss Criminal Code". According to Comedia, this article "undermines the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of the media". A parliamentary motion to abolish this criminal article has already been submitted (see
"Motion against legal articles on the violation of journalistic secrecy").  

Manuel P. Nappo and his Zurich-based agency Creative Assets want to pioneer entertainment marketing in Switzerland and Europe.product placements in films and TV series, film sponsorship, entertainment events and celebrity marketing: for Manuel P. Nappo, these are the important new forms of advertising of the future. Over 4 billion dollars are already being generated in this market worldwide. Annual growth is estimated at 300 percent. The largest advertiser in the USA, Procter & Gamble, "is already fully committed to this trend", says Nappo. While entertainment marketing has developed rapidly in the USA since the 1980s, this form of communication is only gradually gaining in importance in Europe. "However, the need for it is latent and has existed for some time," Nappo recognized early on. Together with two other partners, he founded the company Creative Assets a year ago. At first, they operated "small and on a shoestring". In January 2006, the young company moved into larger offices on Zurich's Bellevue. With the name Creative Assets, which roughly means "creative assets", Nappo wants to express the fact that "in economic terms, creativity, like other goods, represents an asset that needs to be actively managed".
The agency sees itself as an interface between industry and entertainment. The interest in his company's services is "very high, comparable to the interest in the Internet in its early days. There is enthusiasm, but nobody knows how to go about it yet. That's what we're here for," says Nappo. 
The idea for his new company arose from his work at Red Bull. As a sampling manager, he supervised and managed the promotional teams and at the same time built up Red Bull's entertainment marketing division for Switzerland. Nappo realized music and film sponsoring as well as specific product placements for films such as "Achtung, fertig, Charlie" and "Snow White", in which drinking Red Bull was integrated into the film plot right from the script stage. Almost all Swiss films of the last three years, including "Mein Name ist Eugen" and "Grounding", were supported by and with Red Bull for the crew. In the area of music, Nappo was in charge of the Red Bull Music Academy.
"Red Bull is a very good school, very progressive when it comes to marketing. Cultural marketing is an important topic," says Nappo.
The recent discussion about product placement has led the industry to take a more professional approach. This form of advertising is permitted in the USA. As these films also come to us on television and in cinemas, Nappo and his industry are therefore calling for "equal conditions for all".
Since "Mein Name ist Eugen", the current prime example, interest in product placement and film sponsorship has also grown in Switzerland. Many people now think they can do a bit of "Eugen" too. "But a story like that, where everything was just right, can't be repeated so easily," says the head of Creative Assets.
In principle, however, the following applies to Nappo in any case: the quality of the films must be on a par with the quality of the advertised brands.
Creative Assets' business model covers four areas: Product Integration, Celebrity Marketing, Entertainment Events and Special Projects. As the term suggests, product integration is about integrating a product into the plot of a film. "The product has to become its own actor, so to speak, and have a role in the script, otherwise it won't fit," explains Nappo. Creative Assets is currently working on the new Swiss feature film "Marcello, Marcello", which is being produced by C-Films.
In the area of celebrity marketing, Creative Assets offers a hotel chain in Germany, for example, the opportunity for the film crew to stay at these hotels with great publicity. Stars can check in with a special VIP card.
The Entertainment Events area is aimed at companies that want to present themselves in connection with a premiere, festival or vernissage, for example. Here, Creative Assets ensures that "the placement is in the spirit of the brand".
The Special Projects area includes new measures such as the development of "Presenting Sponsor" packages and tie-in promotions.
And the costs? A good placement starts at 30,000 francs. A "presenting sponsor" can expect to pay around 10 percent of the film budget.
Creative Assets analyzes the marketing strategies of companies and assesses whether their products or brands are strong and differentiated enough for entertainment marketing. And which companies or sectors are predestined for film sponsorship and product placements? "It's more a question of attitude than industry," says Nappo. "Companies that want to try out new approaches are always interesting."
Together with "Grounding" and "Eugen" director Michael Steiner, Nappo has organized the first unofficial Festival Club at the Grand Hotel in Locarno. "It can't be that a festival like Locarno has no party and no glamor," he says about this event, which used to be the unofficial opening of the festival on the first weekend, but could no longer take place this year due to the closure of the Grand Hotel. Nappo was also behind the "Jeunesse Dorée" New Year's Eve party at the Dolder Grand Hotel for several years. For him, such events were "a balance so that I don't get bored".
Manuel P. Nappo was born in Zurich, grew up in Italy and came to Switzerland to study at the age of 19. After university in St. Gallen, he started his career at the Zurich film distributor Rialto. In 2001, Nappo joined Red Bull in Baar as Sampling and Entertainment Marketing Manager. It was there that he finally learned an important part of his craft from entertainment marketing.
Andreas Panzeri

The sponsorship association FASPO and the Central Association of the German Advertising Industry ZAW warn against further advertising bans. Particularly in the sports sector, political efforts can be observed throughout Europe to increasingly restrict or even prohibit advertising and sponsorship. The current debate was prompted by the question of the permissibility of sponsorship measures by private sports betting operators. This renewed discussion has alarmed the industry associations.  
The Managing Director of ZAW, Manfred Parteina, explains that the association has received information that the EU intends to enforce a complete ban on sports sponsorship by alcohol producers from 2010. Such a ban is already a fact in the case of tobacco: cross-border sponsorship activities by tobacco companies are prohibited in the EU - which completely prevented commercial communication in Formula 1 in particular.
Industry representatives consider this development to be extremely worrying. The FASPO President therefore appeals to all market partners to keep a closer eye on political developments and to take a united and decisive stance against the planned restrictions.

Out-of-home advertising Airports are proving to be gold mines: thanks to higher passenger numbers, traffic at airport poster sites continued to increase in the first half of 2006. EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse recorded the largest percentage increase compared to the first half of 2005, rising by 31 percent to a total of 1.8 million passengers, while Bern-Belp Airport also recorded an increase of 31 percent, albeit at a very low level (57,200 passengers). Geneva-Cointrin, which has not suffered a decline in passenger numbers in recent years, increased by 5.5% to 5.2 million passengers.
The increase at Unique Airport was 6 percent, with almost 9 million travelers between January and June 2006. The upward trend benefits Clear Channel Outdoor Plakanda, which manages Kloten Airport and parts of EuroAirport, APG, which is present in Basel and Geneva, JCDecaux at EuroAirport and Baracom and Publiscreen in Bern-Belp.
Markus Knöpfli

From August 21, the presenter of the "Tagesschau" will be the first figurehead for the new Swiss television channel SF (see "'SF Börse' changes advertising blocks"). As SF announced on Wednesday, he will report on stock market events until the team has been put together. It will consist of three to four presenters.
Gredig has been presenter and editor of "Tagesschau" since December 2005. He joined Swiss television in 2003 and, after a year in the entertainment department, became producer and presenter of the night-time edition of "Tagesschau".

Events Comedians Helmi Sigg, Midi Gottet and Guy Landolt from Trio Eden will host the X'06 awards ceremony. The Xaver Awards will be presented at a gala ceremony at Messe Zürich on August 23. Around 800 guests are expected to attend. The trade fair for marketing, communication and events runs from August 22 to 24 and is expected to attract over 10,000 visitors to its worlds of experience. The Xongress will focus on a wide range of topics relating to "Consumption of tomorrow in the now generation".

Newspapers Large circulation, price war and editorial expansion - BaZ goes on the offensive In principle, the Basler Zeitung (BaZ), the Basellandschaftliche Zeitung (bz), the Neue Fricktaler Zeitung (NFZ) and the Sissacher Volksstimme coexisted peacefully and at a reasonable distance in north-western Switzerland. Each title had its home territory, and they shared the regional advertising market: for 35 years, the three smaller newspapers have therefore been united in the Hattrick advertising combination in order to be able to exist alongside the large BaZ. Those responsible at BaZ not only approved of this, they also partially linked two papers to the national advertising market: there is an advertising combination with the newspaper in Fricktal, in which BaZ holds a 21 percent stake, and for two years the bz has included the Stellefant, BaZ's Saturday job market. In addition, the BaZ distribution company Prevag takes care of the early delivery of the bz.
Declaration of war on BaselHowever, the motto "Live and let live" is now a thing of the past in economic area 31. As of September 16, the bz is cooperating with the Mittelland Zeitung - for BaZ publisher Matthias Hagemann, this is a declaration of war par excellence. Basler Zeitung Medien (BZM) is now responding with appropriate measures. From August 18, the BaZ is increasingly encroaching on the territory of the bz in terms of publishing, but also by means of a large weekly circulation.
Specifically, it is again increasing its regional editorial team by around 10 to 30 positions, thereby partially reversing the cost-cutting measures of 2003. It is also dividing the regional section into two sections: One will focus on Basel city and macro-regional topics including Alsace and South Baden, while an additional fret will report from the Basel area and the neighboring districts of Solothurn and Aargau. This makes BaZ a five-bundle newspaper.
From the point of view of the bz managers, the new BaZ large print run of 90000 copies in the Basel area and Schwarzbubenland is Hagemann's biggest coup: BaZ will distribute its free copies on Fridays primarily in those districts where the bz is particularly strong or which it covers with its own Wednesday large print run. In the district of Sissach, however, where the bz is also present, no BaZ free copies are distributed, not even in Fricktal. The attack is directed against bz; NFZ and Volksstimme are spared.
From this it can be deduced that BZM is pursuing a strategy that goes beyond its announcements: In the battle against Peter Wanner's Mittelland Zeitung, it wants to bind the NFZ and Volksstimme to itself as allies and visibly isolate the bz.
The Hattrick advertising combination has been terminated at the end of 2006 and would have to be renegotiated. However, as no date has yet been set for talks, even bz publisher Mathis Lüdin is expecting the end of the combination - despite declarations of intent to the contrary from his combination partners in Fricktal and Sissach.
There is a reason for their hesitation: they received an offer from BZM that they can hardly refuse. It is a combination of the new BaZ large circulation and the normal circulations of NFZ and Volksstimme. In contrast to the Hattrick, this would also cover the canton of Basel-Stadt and the neighboring Baselbieter municipalities, i.e. the entire economic area 31. The offer is all the more attractive because the BaZ wants to move the Stellefant job advertisement into the large circulation published on Fridays and offer it as a supplement to the NFZ and Volksstimme from 2007 - instead of the bz, of course.
On request, BZM CEO Beat Meyer confirmed corresponding ideas and negotiations - as well as that the job agreement with bz will be terminated. "It expires at the end of November and will definitely not be extended," he says. BZM is also considering crossing national borders with the Stellefant next year - to Alsace and South Baden. "We are holding talks in this direction," says Meyer, without giving any further details.
bz publisher Mathis Lüdin is not surprised by the steps taken by BZM. He finds it positive that BZM has not terminated his early delivery contract. However, he has no regrets about the job combination with BaZ. "We will be joining the Mittelland Zeitung (MZ) job market," he says. Nevertheless, he does not understand the costly approach of the strategists on the Rhine bend. His cooperation with the MZ has the sole aim of strengthening the bz editorially and linking it to the national advertising market, he says. "This is not directed against BaZ."
Lüdin therefore does not want to react to BZM's latest activities for the time being. However, it is noticeable that the bz has been looking for employees again and again for months - most recently an unspecified number of freelance journalists for the sports and local editorial offices. It is therefore possible that expansion is also being considered here.
New tariffs at MZ and BaZSince this week
The new rates for Mittelland Zeitung and BaZ are now known. There will therefore be a novelty at the MZ: Due to the bz large circulation, there will be two different rates at the MZ from September 16 - MZ large circulation (Wednesdays) and MZ normal circulation on the other days of the week. The price reduction compared to today (MZ and bz each mono) is 14 to 18 percent. BaZ also has a special feature: its 90000 free copies can now be booked in two variants - either together with the BaZ normal circulation (total 188000 copies) or separately as "BaZ BL mono". It also shows that BaZ is attacking bz head-on in terms of price: the 1000-reader price of the BaZ supplementary circulation is around 40 percent cheaper than that of the smaller bz large circulation.
BaZ free circulation by postThe BaZ free circulation in the Basel region
will not include all the services of the BaZ subscription. For example, recipients will miss out on the daily culture magazine, the BaZplus offers and early delivery. The latter is because the free edition is sent by post, for three reasons. Firstly, distribution by post is slightly cheaper than with BZM's own distribution company Prevag, says BZM CEO Beat Meyer. Firstly, the post office also serves letterboxes with stop stickers. "Thirdly, we are deliberately creating a differentiation from subscriptions," says Meyer. "Because one of the main aims of the free edition is to attract subscribers - and of course we also hope to attract additional advertisements."
Markus Knöpfli

The advertising measures for the Swiss private channel 3+, which launches on August 31, have begun. At the same time as the casting campaign (see 3+ advertises with figureheads of Swiss television), the business-to-business campaign on behalf of Cinecom has also been launched in the current advertising week. Markus Ruf from creative agency Ruf Lanz revealed some additional details to Werbewoche.

Deutsche Telekom has reached an agreement with the public television channels ARD and ZDF to broadcast their programs on the Internet. From autumn, the programs will be transmitted via the new high-speed VDSL network. VDSL will be available in 10 metropolitan areas and will transmit a total of over 100 television channels - from CNN to regional television. Among the private broadcasters, Pro Sieben Sat.1 is already on board and negotiations are still ongoing with RTL. The agreement is expected to be signed in the next few days.
With the VDSL network, Deutsche Telekom is creating a bundled offer that includes telephony, Internet and media content in equal measure. Six million households are to be covered by the infrastructure by the end of the year. By the middle of next year, 50 cities are to be supplied with VDSL.

Television Red Bull owner Mateschitz wants to get into the TV business and launch his own channel. "A TV satellite can't cost that much anymore ...", Dietrich Mateschitz is quoted as saying in the Austrian TV guide TV Media. The founder and owner of Red Bull reveals that he is toying with the idea of his own TV channel. The two TV professionals Matthias Schweger (ORF and DoRo Film) and Teddy Podgorski (the son of a former ORF general) are working on concepts and pilot programs for the still secret project in a loft in Vienna. Bernie Ecclestone's daughter Tamara has also appeared on the Formula 1 circuits as a reporter for such test broadcasts. "Tamara has proven herself to be talented and also very technically adept, but no master has yet fallen from the sky," says Mateschitz.
However, the internationally available Red Bull TV channel will not only provide background reports on Mateschitz's second expensive hobby. Mateschitz reveals that his planned channel - like television in general - will have an even clearer focus on entertainment, as "pure information will mainly take place on the Internet in future".
Mateschitz has already been spotted negotiating with various TV broadcasters - including Swiss companies - for his project. However, the millionaire Austrian does not want to participate in these, but sees such broadcasters at most "as partners that we supply with content as a content provider".
Andreas Panzeri

Prevention Ruf Lanz has stayed on the ball for Suva with a fair play spot Since the mid-1980s, there have been more leisure accidents in Switzerland than occupational accidents. Almost a third of all leisure accidents are sports accidents. This is why SuvaLiv is committed to safe leisure time with broad-based prevention campaigns. These have been designed by Ruf Lanz since 2002. The campaign for the bicycle helmet ("So that accidents don't become a horror") won an award. Another was aimed at speeding on the ski slopes.
The most popular sport in Switzerland is football. Ruf Lanz has therefore created a commercial for fair play for the new campaign.
In the film - as is customary before big games - a team is slowly filmed while a pompous anthem plays. Only at the end, when the camera pulls back, do the viewers realize that it is not a football team. The final image shows a complete team of surgeons, including assistants and nurses. A voice from the off breaks up the commercial: "To all footballers: play fair. So that this team doesn't get to play."
The TV commercial is specifically used before football broadcasts, as this is when a particularly large number of amateur footballers are sitting in front of the television. The film was shot by Condor in Budapest at the beginning of April because the weather in Switzerland at that time would only have permitted a winter sports commercial.
Warning for the sensitiveIn addition to the official TV commercial, Ruf Lanz has also kept the ball rolling with an unusual typo commercial from Treibhaus for the good cause. Immediately before important football broadcasts, a warning sign appears on TV, as is usually shown late at night before hard-hitting action flicks or thrillers. The text warns sensitive minds of the harshness of the following program and states that it is not suitable for young people under the age of 16. Unless the footballers stick to fair play ...
The Swiss Football Association and Suva have also launched a Fair Play Trophy as part of this prevention program. Amateur clubs that have registered for the trophy are visited by regional fair play and safety officers and assessed according to a standardized list of criteria. The top five teams will receive prizes of up to CHF 10,000.
SuvaLiv also supports around 100 grassroots tournaments throughout Switzerland with equipment and services. "The commitment pays off, because half as many accidents occur at Suva tournaments than at other amateur football tournaments," the insurer has calculated.
Andreas Panzeri