Media Basler Zeitung Medien acquires stake in ASW agency. "A special situation," says Patrick
Lack from the advertising agency Dialog Lucky Lack. "Very unusual," says
also Peter Frey, owner of CR Basel. "That made me wonder",
says Hinrik Wachsmuth, CD of Favo. And Markus Siegenthaler, consultant
from Basel West, adds: "I was just scratching my head. Otherwise
it doesn't bother me much."

The reason for the astonishment of the four Basel advertisers: The Basler
Zeitung Medien (BZM) acquires a "substantial" stake in the ASW agency
The shipyard. Agency founder Dieter F. Wullschleger also takes over the
publishing management of the BZM free newspaper Baslerstab, but supervises the
Key customers of Die Werft continue.

"This puts Die Werft in a conflict of interest: with BZM as the
It is unlikely to offer its customers solutions that do not involve
print media in the foreground," says Hinrik Wachsmuth, explaining his
Skepticism. "Is the shipyard still independent like this?" asks Patrick Lack.
As a member of the ASW board, Lack immediately informed his association about the
new cooperation. "A collaboration like this is unique.
We will have to discuss what this means in the ASW."

And what consequences await CR Basel, which has been the
Basler Zeitung advertises? "Has advertised," corrects Peter Frey, because the
BaZ terminated the contract last year. "But our relationship with the
BaZ is still good. I therefore assume that we will again be invited
when BaZ does something again," he says.
   

Markus Knöpfli

The Visual Print Reference test form is an instrument based on the ISO 12647-2 standard. It was developed in Switzerland and the path to color accuracy is
rocky. In order to clear the biggest obstacles out of the way, the
Setting up color management workflows in agencies,
prepress companies and print shops developed test forms with which
which PDF/X-3 or PDF/X-plus compliant documents in the print output
can be tested. By printing out such a test form on
a proof or the transfer of the data to a rip, which can be the
documents into output data, the output system can thus be based on
its suitability for data exchange. In addition
the use of a test form provides information as to whether the user is able to
Standard prooft and/or prints.

A well-known representative of this type of test form is the 2002
developed Altona Testsuite (ATS). The ATS, which has since gained a high reputation
is considered an important test instrument. It is a
Joint project of the German Printing and Media Industries Federation (bvdm;
Wiesbaden), the European Color Initiative (ECI), Ugra (St. Gallen)
and Fogra (Munich). With the Visual Print Reference (VPR),
created by the VSD association (Berne), in turn the Ugra, Quality &
More (Teufen), P/B/U Beratungs AG (Rümlang) and others.
specialists from technical commissions, has been available since the end of last
year, a Swiss alternative or supplement is now available. 

Similarly equipped ...
Both test forms see themselves as a reference for color management systems up to
for printing, each based on the ISO standard
12647-2:2004. For this purpose, in addition to control elements on both test forms
delicate subjects. Like the Altona test suite, the
Swiss equivalent from a CD-ROM with PDF-X-plus or -X-3 files,
for testing output devices that print from digital data
(proof systems) as well as conventional (e.g. offset printing,
newspaper printing) and digital printing systems. Both
systems are reference prints on different papers as well as
corresponding instructions are enclosed.

... and yet different
In addition to other production methods for the prints attached in each case and
other paper grades are listed on the Visual Print Reference according to
Co-initiator Eddy Senn, P/B/U Beratungs AG, also developed the test form with
referenced RGB images: "Image data in both color spaces
enable the reliable assessment of the CMS workflow, from saturated
Colors and, above all, skin tones."

Control elements
With digital test forms - in contrast to pure control wedges
- output devices or visual assessments. In addition
Preference is given to delicate subjects with skin tones or subjects that are
difficult to reproduce due to high blue or red components,
used.

Both the Altona test suite and the Visual Print Reference are
thus ideal, complementary tools for the calibration of a
color management workflows and are suitable for securing standards
(e.g. ISO standard 12647-2 or PDF/X-3).

More information:
www.altonatestsuite.de
www.vsd.ch

Jürgen Franck

Two councillors from the Young Greens are calling for a ban on billboard advertising for off-road vehicles in the city of Zurich. They want the city council to amend the contract with APG and ban advertising for heavy off-road vehicles on public property, reports the commuter newspaper "20 Minuten". On Wednesday, Bastien Girod and Markus Knauss from the Young Greens submitted an urgent postulate in support of the Green Party's popular initiative against off-roaders.
The large vehicles have been a thorn in Girod's side for some time now. For months, he and other off-road vehicle opponents have been affixing anti-off-roader stickers to corresponding vehicles in the city of Zurich. As Beat Holenstein, head of APG Zurich, explained to "20 Minuten", the proposed ban is a massive discrimination against the billboard medium and an unheard-of interference in the market economy.

The company Web2com markets the online platform of the new Ringier evening newspaper "heute". Advertising clients can book attractive cross-media and online advertising offers, according to a press release. The advertising formats on "heute-online.ch" have been taken over from Blick Online. Web2com already markets the Blick Online and CASH Online portals.

Paper According to Eugene van As, Chairman
Sappi, the paper group is currently benefiting in its main markets.
from the strong growth in demand. Capacity utilization is at the
highest level. However, the price increases achieved were offset by the
Price increases for wood, energy, chemicals and pulp
reduced. To compensate for this cost increase, a
Price increase of over 3 percent necessary. The paper manufacturer
Sappi also announced that the operating result of USD 59
million by USD 4 million compared to 2005.

Packaging printing In future, K+D AG will only produce at one location - the newly built St. Gallen headquarters. How the
K+D, which is active in the packaging sector, says that this is necessary in order to
remain competitive. In Bern-Liebefeld, the existing
Product development and sales team with the previous
new offices as of June 2006. The merger involved investments of over 5 million
francs, such as in a new automatic punching machine from Bobst and in
prepress with the "Webcenter" technology. As the first Swiss
company, K+D is installing a new six-color offset printing press that will
with two coating units and a device for the application of
cold foils. This system allows for the first time
Ecological inline finishing of cardboard packaging at the highest level
Level.

The Zurich-based production company Snap Film has brought 37-year-old Milanese director Luca Merli on board. He studied "Art in Photography" and "Media & Communications" in England and initially worked as an advertising photographer. Merli began directing music videos in 1996; in the last seven years he has made advertising films for Nike, Gas Jeans, Coca Cola, Persol, Nintendo, Nissan and Telecom.

Publishing Quark finally brings the
Version 7 of its layout classic XPress on the market. On May 31st
the new software generation at an exclusive customer event.
at the "Palais im Zoo" in Frankfurt am Main. Supported
The event is also supported by partners such as Pantone, Extensis, Canto
and HP.

AZ Medien Group can look back on a good financial year and recorded an operating profit of CHF 14.5 million, which corresponds to an increase of 24 percent. Cash flow increased by 15 percent year-on-year to a record CHF 25.9 million. Consolidated net income grew by 26 percent to CHF 8.2 million. As the AZ Medien Group announced on Wednesday, it had pursued the path of qualitative and profitable growth in an extremely difficult market environment and achieved respectable results thanks to the high motivation of its employees, targeted cost management and intensive market cultivation. The operating result was mainly due to the increase in operating income with relatively lower personnel expenses. All areas of the Group contributed to this pleasing development, with Magazines, Meissner Books and Newspaper Printing making a particularly positive contribution. Newspapers accounted for the largest share of operating income at 57 percent, followed by Magazines, Books and Book Retailing at 23 percent and Printing and Distribution at 19 percent. For the first time, investments in the electronic media Radio Argovia, Tele M1 and Tele Tell also made a substantial contribution to the Group result. The losses of the regional television stations were further reduced. The flagship Aargauer Zeitung was able to slightly increase its circulation and readership. In the advertising market, however, the target line was not quite reached. The AZ Medien Group does not expect any major changes for the current year either, as the advertising market was very subdued in the first few months of 2006. The AZ Medien Group therefore intends to occupy as strong a position as possible in the cross-media business, as a new, interesting market segment is growing up for cross-media products and services.
In the 2005 financial year, the AZ Medien Group took important steps to strengthen its market position in the Mittelland economic region. The AZ Medien Group acquired a 17.5 percent stake in Vogt-Schild Holding from Publigroupe, and a second tranche of a further 17.5 percent has been agreed. At the same time, a joint venture in newspaper printing was founded with Vogt-Schild Holding. Furthermore, Mittelland Zeitung - the association of Aargauer Zeitung, Solothurner Zeitung, Oltner Tagblatt and Zofinger Tagblatt - was expanded to include the cooperation partner Basellandschaftliche Zeitung, which will join in September 2006 and strengthen the north-western Switzerland region. The Mittelland Zeitung is thus the third-largest subscribed daily newspaper and reaches a total circulation of 212,000 copies and around 450,000 readers.

Color management I The Flawil print shop has
recently completed the installation of an end-to-end
The standardized and color-accurate color management workflows are completed.
Production of high-quality print products using the offset printing process
is no simple undertaking. The complexity of the reproduction is
different print colors and monitor properties, different
Papers, uneven printing press characteristics, lighting conditions
and the like. The high-quality output becomes even more complex
of image and graphic data, if even different printing processes
must be taken into account. By then at the latest, there will be no way around it.
to deal with color management.

The importance of color management has long been recognized by the printing industry
Flawil AG (DFAG). There, the installation of a new
Switzerland's unique, end-to-end color workflow solution.
Werbewoche was on site and looked beyond the theory to
ICC profiles and Delta-E color distances via the backgrounds and the
informed about the current status. 

Overarching discipline
Color management as a solution for production and control
The use of highly visible printed matter is nothing new at DFAG. Already since
nine years, spectral measurement technology in printing and the corresponding
software is used to produce largely color-accurate products.
can. Even in the past, measurements were taken and
but these were only snapshots of the situation at the time, which
no longer meet today's requirements. "For two years now
Color management has also been "lived" at Druckerei Flawil for years,
as the former head of production and today's head of marketing and
Sales Manager Pascal Schwarz aptly put it.

Color safe throughout
As a quality assurance measure that builds on previous measures
The company from Eastern Switzerland has been
again invested in state-of-the-art measurement technology and software. Thus, from
the necessary products and services from its supplier Heidelberg Switzerland.
modules are ordered in order to check the color accuracy of the delivered or
proof created in-house through to the print run not only to
but also to be able to prove it.

The advantages of this system, marketed by Heidelberg under the name Prinect Color
Solutions are manifold: For example, in order to
to start printing, the printer with the Image Control measuring device
spectrophotometric measurements. This means that during
production on a drawn sheet in a single measuring process alongside
Lab values also include color application densities, dot gain (enlargement of the
screen dot in the print compared to the defined value) and trapping
(color acceptance behavior) in a matter of seconds and compare it with the specifications.
compare.

A device integrated into the company network and connected to the software
Quality Monitor equipped workstation can access this data.
and use them for quality assurance measures or for subsequent
evaluations. Another important element of the Color
Solutions is the Color Assistant, with the help of which the printer can be
optimized color presetting data from the prepress stage faster to the
first good sheet, which saves paper waste, time and costs.

In addition, the Flawil print shop also uses Image Control for measuring and
evaluation of the proofs. This improves quality assurance
again, because the same measurement technology is used. Declared
DFAG's aim is therefore to use only one measuring device, as
different measuring devices from experience gained there
different measurement results. But not only the pressroom,
but also the pre-press stage benefits from the modern
machine control center. The Heidelberg Profile Toolbox software and
the Calibration Manager allow precise profiling and calibration
of the proofing device and the computer-to-plate imagesetter.

ISO component
"For more than two years, we have been relying on process control under
compliance with the ISO 12647-2 standard - and, if required and
customer requirements even more closely. Color management is
the important tool for color reliability - and for satisfied customers.
customers," says Pascal Schwarz, explaining the focus on the end-to-end
Color management.

The importance of a control wedge integrated into a proof, such as the
Ugra/Fogra media wedge, Stephan Traber, a trained printer who has been
a repro specialist for over ten years, cannot emphasize often enough: "A
Media wedge is absolutely necessary to check a delivered proof for its
reproducibility." Unfortunately, however, in practice
printers are often only selected when the already separated
data already existed, Traber adds soberly
added. Whether these image data or proofs exactly match the
printing processes remains questionable. Felix Signer,
Head of the Prepress Department at DFAG, would therefore like to see agencies
the print shops into the production process as early as possible
integrate.

Trust is good ...
The Flawil print shop uses the following quality assurance control elements
the Ugra/Fogra media wedge and the new media wedge developed by Heidelberg.
developed minispots (measuring fields). The latter have the
The advantage of this is that, if they are connected to the
Prinect Signa Station sheet assembly software, they can be placed by
Image Control can be recognized automatically. Evaluation of the minispots
finally provides all relevant measured values. In this way
Druckerei Flawil used both control elements: On the printing plate
the minispots are favored, while the media wedge is favored on the proof.
is used to compare it with the ISO standard 12647-2.
compare. 

The use and acceptance of the media wedge on the part of the
When asked about this, Pascal Schwarz explains: "The importance of the
means of control is increasingly recognized. Just over a third
of our customers are already using the media wedge." Pascal Schwarz
therefore also recommends that the clients and agencies it supports use the
provide prepress data, an Ugra/Fogra media wedge on each proof
place.

A costly affair
Color management is used in many similarly sized and comparable
companies are usually operated by very few people.
carried. The aim in Flawil, however, is that the
sales representative to the printer, all employees are familiar with the
are familiar with the topic. "A difficult undertaking," Schwarz knows,
"because color management is by no means an easy topic." Nevertheless, he is
sure that without the broad support of all employees
color management in print shops will fail in the long term.

Overall, according to the interviewees, the company is
Color management is a complex and costly affair. The
annual costs for test prints, etc., are covered within the company.
recorded separately and are in the five-digit range - in addition
regular training courses. Nevertheless, in Flawil
convinced that the effort is worth it. Because the clear focus of the
company's focus on color management has, in addition to standardization, the
color safety and quality assurance for another reason. One
wants to further increase customer satisfaction in Flawil and
win new, discerning customers by setting a high bar.

Now frees color management from visual controls when everything is
is standardized and color-coded? Schwarz answers in the negative.
"Despite the measurement technology, wedges and evaluations, you can't just
to numbers. But color management helps us to
of production reliability, which ultimately benefits our customers.
benefits. We offer these for specific problems such as
color separation, we also offer additional advice," explains Pascal
Schwarz the range of services offered by Druckerei Flawil AG in this regard.
"That's why," says Pascal Schwarz, "color management as a project
never completed." Further investments are already planned.

Tips for users
Separation, the conversion of RGB to CMYK data with a
Image editing program such as Adobe Photoshop changes the image data.
Incorrect separation settings can irrevocably damage images.
deteriorate. Ideally, the separation is performed shortly before the
Printing or carried out by the print shop.

A proof must be based on the printing process and the material used in the print run.
paper. It must also be equipped with suitable control elements.
otherwise the color accuracy of the proof cannot be guaranteed.
can be checked.

PDF documents, if they are created in-house, should be based on
the printer's recommendations. The settings for
Acrobat Distiller, these can be used as so-called job options for the
make available.

Jürgen Franck

Ethics campaign The social and ecological
Migros' commitment is exemplary, explains its independent
Advertising presence. With a new, entertaining and at the same time informative
Sujet shows what the Eco label actually means within the
ethics program is all about. With a lot of charm, the little
History interesting and unknown details of the blue
quality mark, which for ten years has been synonymous with the
ecological production of clothing and home textiles. 

Newspaper advertising In Berlin, young creative talent met for the "bestYET - best Young European Team" competition. "Only an advertisement can do that ..." - already
In its fourth year, the Swiss Press Association is promoting the
Uniqueness of advertisements. 34 ads from 34 well-known agencies
have been published so far - in a total edition of many
million. In 2006, established advertising agencies were replaced by young
creative people born up to 1977 were invited to take part in the competition. 78
proposals were submitted. 12 award-winning subjects are now available
for publication in the Swiss print media.
From this dozen, the jury selected two of the best advertisements. Their
creators were able to take part in the final in Berlin last Thursday and Friday.
of the European young talent competition on the subject of newspaper advertising
"bestYET - best Young European Team".

Nik Hodel started the journey with his job advertisement for a new
television management. Nik is a graphic designer at Polyconsult in Bern.
Achim Kaufmann and Alain Szerdahelyi were the runners-up.
travel with you. Your idea shows how advertisements can bring dreams closer, to the
example on the wall of a child's room. The two
contestants come from Basel and are stuck in a
Graphic design apprenticeship, Alain at Vittorio Müller, Achim at the WOMM agency.
Switzerland's participation in bestYET for the first time is made possible thanks to
Publimedia. The leading advertising marketer sees this competition
an ideal vessel for generic marketing.

The competition takes place every year in the country hosting the winners.
This year, however, the second-placed Germany was Berlin.
taken into account because the winners in 2005 came from
England. The competition was launched in 2002 by the most important European
marketing organizations of the daily press.
Publimedia has now been the Swiss member of bestYET since 2006 and
will continue to support this idea in the future, as Sabine Tschopp from
Publimedia in Berlin. The selection process for determining
of the participating teams from Switzerland will be organized together with the
Swiss Press Association. This was in Berlin with
Toni Vetterli represented.

No Swiss at the forefrontYoung people
from nine countries took part this year. At one
Measures have been adopted at the 4th Conference of Country Representatives,
how the competition can be implemented even more broadly. "A
Newspaper ad must captivate the reader in less than 2 seconds."
That was the premise on which the Young Creatives started with just a few
pencils and white paper and then search for their ideas in front of the
had to present to the plenum. The briefing was: Nike is a sponsor
of the Brazilian football team at the upcoming World Cup.
What kind of advertisement can Nike place in the world press if
Brazil loses and has to leave the World Cup early?

In the jury under the presidency of Amir Kassaei from DDB Germany
Daniel Comte from Advico Y&R Zurich was also involved. A total of seven
top international advertisers selected two French teams for gold and
Silver. Bronze and a 5th place went to Norway. England
The Swiss have attracted attention with good ideas. For the
However, it was not enough to reach the top ranks. The winning idea from
France - by two young women, by the way: The soccer
personally weeps a bitter tear because the Brazilians
have left the company.

Andreas Panzeri

www.bestyet.ch