As reported yesterday, Metzgerlehner ended last year on a positive note. However, the agency has not only grown through new mandates, but also in terms of employees. On the other hand, two people have been appointed as consulting group managers and not just one as reported yesterday: Silvan Metzger and Rebecca Krausse hold this position.

Everyone could live with the new Radio and Television Act (RTVA). The SRG informed the news agency SDA of this on Thursday. For the SRG, however, the fixed fee splitting of 4 percent means a reduction in revenue of CHF 30 million. Above all, the private providers expressed their satisfaction, as the new RTVA brings them improvements. As the Association of Swiss Private Radio Stations writes in a communiqué, it considers the 4 percent fee split on radio reception fees as recognition for the provision of a regional public service. According to SDA, the President of the Swiss Regional Television Association also declared himself "extremely satisfied".

Tobacco II Advertising for cigarettes has shrunk massively. At first glance, everything seems clear:
According to Media Focus, the tobacco industry spent the following amounts on advertising in 2005
of around 50 million francs. That is a good 20 million
less than in the year 2000.
71 million represents a long-term peak. In 1993, when
tobacco advertising ban was not an issue at either cantonal or federal level,
advertising expenditure in the tobacco industry was at a similarly "low" level
as in 2005.

The reason for the trend reversal is therefore less likely to be the restriction
advertising, but rather in the decreased market volume in the
Western Europe (CH: - 9% between 1994 and 2002) and in the concentration
of the national tobacco market, which is now shared by only three groups
becomes. Where the cake is shrinking, the shares -
unlike in the fast-growing markets of Eastern Europe and above all in
Russia - fewer resources are being used, the tobacco companies have to
experience.

This not only applies to traditional advertising media. Also in the other
In channels such as POS or sponsoring, investments are stagnating. The latter
Since the mid-1990s, this area has been increasingly well developed and
seems to have almost exhausted its potential. However
the decline in the visibility of branded cigarettes together with the
Tobacco tax increase to boost sales of cheaper private labels
favor.

From another planet
For their part, brand manufacturers are responding to these market changes with
marketing mix adjustment, i.e. with price reductions, in order to increase their
sales volumes. This makes the new
Parisienne poster campaign in this environment. It is the ninth
classic campaign, which Sulzer Sutter has launched alongside hundreds of other
Measures for the Swiss BAT brand since the budget win twelve years ago
conceived and realized for years.

After the silhouettes and the entertainment packaging promotion
the brand deepens its avant-garde, artistic appeal with
a literally knitted performance. With the knitting artists
Christa Michel and Eva Grimmer-Randegger is a whole planet made of yarn
and wool with many equally fibrous inhabitants and objects on it
was created.

The cinema spot will follow in the same style in May. For this one
a modest budget will suffice. Cooperation with the
film class at the HGKZ nevertheless made a commercial possible that 
the mood of previous Parisienne spot directors such as Polanski, Altman
or the Cohen brothers at the same level, says CD
Francis Sulzer.

The fact that his creative strategy even in a shrinking market
is demonstrated by the fact that Parisienne, despite new, similar
positioned products (such as Brunette and the independent Fred) also in
has been able to gain shares in recent years. Whether Parisienne will be
deliberately opted for a similarly restrictive starting position as in the USA
is questionable. In any case, Sulzer is clear that
"Normally, major brands are able to increase their market share when
consolidate". And: "What is happening in the USA could also happen here.
repeat."

Luca Aloisi

Free press On March 8, 20
minutes, Tamedia's free newspaper, to conquer French-speaking Switzerland. It goes
confrontation with the Edipresse free product Le Matin Bleu.20-minutes editor-in-chief Philippe Favre
is confident of victory: "We can continue with the promising
20 Minuten formula to conquer the market." Otherwise, the Zurich
media company Tamedia is not eating its cherries well at the moment. The publishing house
monitors every detail in connection with the launch of 20
minutes. The statements made by Lausanne editor-in-chief Philippe Favre must be
for authorization on the desk of Zurich media spokeswoman Franziska
Hügli - to "avoid linguistic misunderstandings", it is explained.

Zurich is also sensitive in other respects: when the French-speaking part of Switzerland
satirical magazine La Distinction last December under the logo "00
minutes" free newspapers as fads, threatened
Tamedia with legal action. And when the electoral alliance
LausannEnsemble with the election newspaper "02 minutes" for their candidates
in the municipal elections, the publisher also stepped in with
legal threats against the apparently dangerous competition from
the French-speaking part of Switzerland.

But Tamedia is not the only one to use heavy artillery. The defense strategy
of Edipresse plays on the well-known resentment of many French-speaking
of the German-speaking Swiss majority and tries to find appropriate
To tickle defensive reflexes: Only Le Matin Bleu is "Romand d'esprit",
have the right French-Swiss attitude. And anyway, that's how we
further instructed, "the Romands simply prefer the French", period!
 
To put the fear of God into the cheeky intruder from the Wild East
Edipresse increased the size of the "Bleu" editorial team in February
around 20 journalists, has recently opened a Geneva and a
Lausanne regional edition and with Tristan Cerf also a new
Editor-in-chief - the interim head Catherine Maret has, as planned,
back to the television magazine Télétop after the launch phase
changed. The 32-year-old Cerf took his first steps in the profession as a
Zurich correspondent for Le Temps and then worked at the
Migros-Presse - he is convinced that the editorial
Quality and regional sensitivity in a competitive environment
will be decisive. He has further expansion plans for the "Bleu",
which has so far been aimed at a young target audience: "We will
more topical issues that affect a majority of the population.
interest."

At the same time, he announces that he will also address all those groups that
did not feel affected by traditional newspapers, such as the
"Secondos". "Making a free newspaper is simply great because we
break up the traditional patterns of the press and
who can't afford newspapers." The accusation that the
Cerf rejects the idea of playing on the defensive reflexes of the Romands: "Put
imagine that we had done nothing against the plans of Tamedia AG
and all advertising money would have gone to the German-speaking part of Switzerland at 20 minutes.
gone! That is exactly what would have increased the resentment of the Romands,
not our advertising."
The fact that 20 minutes is an export product from the German-speaking part of Switzerland
39-year-old editor-in-chief Philippe Favre does not agree: "The concept
is based on the 20-minute formula, which also works well in other countries.
works. We tailored it to the needs of French-speaking Switzerland.
adapted."

 
The team of around 30 employees in Lausanne and Geneva are all
Romands, and the budget for translations is minimal. Articles that
not produced in French-speaking Switzerland would be "regionalized",
i.e. adapted for an audience in French-speaking Switzerland. Especially
Favre is proud of the focus on local journalism - two pages
Local info for the two regional editions in Lausanne and Geneva - and
a "People" section, which is not only characterized by international stars, but also by
and starlets, but also about young talents in French-speaking Switzerland
reports.
 
Favre is a specialist in local journalism. From 1994 he was in
various functions at the local newspaper Presse Riviera Chablais
on the upper shores of Lake Geneva. When the "Presse" was taken over by Edipresse
and merged with 24 Heures, he took over as editor-in-chief
of the split edition of 24 Heures for this region. He shies away from the
competition with the Edipresse free paper: "We don't have to compete with the
how Le Matin Bleu takes into account other titles from the same publisher.
and have a free hand to conquer a new market."  
 

Newspaper crisis worsens
Fear the announced conquest of the market by 20 minutes
Regional newspapers such as the Fribourg "Liberté". Roger de Diesbach
is worried. He has become an investigative journalist and
editor-in-chief of the Fribourg daily La Liberté made a name for himself as a
incorruptible observer of the media scene. He fears that the
The advertising crisis of daily newspapers is being exacerbated by free newspapers
tightened: "Free newspapers bring no more than the summary
of agency reports. It doesn't seem very responsible to me,
to launch such papers and accept the death of real newspapers.
to take."

De Diesbach gets annoyed when he hears the word free newspaper -
it would be more correct to speak of newspapers financed by advertising.
"I believe that a newspaper does not derive its legitimacy from the advertiser,
but from the reader." A newspaper receives the order from the reader,
to search for the truth and to write the truth: "In this
sense, the press is democracy's little sister." Theoretically
free newspapers could also do a good job, but that is not
their goal: "The goal is distraction. The content must not be important
otherwise it distracts from the advertising message."

For this reason, de Diesbach is joining the "Info en
danger", which was organized by a group of concerned journalists.
circulates. "Certain publishers are about to turn the press into a
to degrade it into a trivial product. This is how they prepare their own
downfall," says de Diesbach. For him, it is clear that this
development must be stopped. How? "A lot would already be gained,
if the Swiss Press Council not only intervenes when journalists
violate their professional ethical obligations, but also when publishers
by granting ever greater concessions to advertisers, the
violate the duty to inform."

Helen Brügger

Thanks to good new business and the acquisition of considerable budgets in competitive presentations, Metzgerlehner Worldwide Partners recorded growth of 11 percent in 2005. Among others, Emmi Switzerland, Phonak and Kägi Söhne were acquired. Not only the client portfolio, but also the know-how of the Erlenbach agency was strengthened last year: with Rebecca Krausse as consulting group manager and Felix Dammann as creative director.

The registration deadline for the event organized by Forum Corporate
Publishing competition "BCP Best of Corporate Publishing
2006" only runs until March 10. To apply for participation
companies and corporate publishing service providers with
their publications. Application documents, participation requirements and
Further information can be found at www.bcp-award.com.

Advertising intermediaries The P has adapted its guidelines - after lengthy negotiations with the Competition Commission.
services that PubliGroupe settles with the Mediation Commission should be
soon become larger. However, if PubliGroupe is taken over by the
Competition Commission (ComCo) condemned or not? This question depends
since November 2002. At that time, the Competition Commission Secretariat announced after
of a one-year preliminary investigation that there were indications that the
PubliGroupe has found that the competition among the
ad intermediaries "inadmissibly restricted".

The Competition Commission therefore opened an investigation to clarify "whether the
PubliGroupe abused its dominant market position" by
discriminated against some competitors and restricted their access to the market by
blocked by "artificial barriers to market entry". Barriers are defined as
the ComCo Secretariat issued the so-called VSW guidelines, according to which the
PubliGroupe recognizes other advertising agencies as professional intermediaries and
their efforts with a so-called mediation commission.
VSW stands for Verband Schweizerischer Werbegesellschaften, an association,
which consists exclusively of the four wholly-owned PubliGroup subsidiaries
Publicitas, Publimedia, Publimag and Mosse Media.

First consequence apparent
Today, almost three and a half years later, the Weko proceedings against the
PubliGroupe has not yet been completed. But an initial
The consequence of the lengthy investigation is clear: the
mentioned VSW guidelines - they date back to the year 2000 - were
recently quietly removed from the Internet and replaced on February 8 by
replaced by a new, completely revised version, which is retroactively
is valid from January 1, 2006 (
www.vsw-assp.ch/d/berufsv.htm).
"We have adopted the new guidelines at the request of the ComCo Secretariat.
is now online," says Georges von Csernatony, member of the management board of
PubliGroupe, on request.

Competition Commission spokesman Patrik Ducrey confirms: The new version was approved by the
Competition Commission Secretariat actually approved as "compliant with antitrust law"
been made. However, both Ducrey and von Csernatony make a
clear reservation: the new version had only been approved by the ComCo Secretariat.
The decision has been approved, but it is only final if the higher-level Competition Commission also agrees. Theoretically
changes are still conceivable, which is why nothing has been communicated (yet).
When the "final disposition" exists and whether it is an actual
condemnation of PubliGroupe remains to be seen.
However, it is more likely that PubliGroupe's concession
was able to avert damage to its image.

Because this much is certain: with the new guidelines, the
PubliGroupe is moving away from the previous strategy in one respect in particular
position. On the other hand, the Competition Commission Secretariat obviously also
some points of criticism. And these are the main changes:
Until now, PubliGroupe has only granted the agency commission (AC) to
Intermediaries with an annual business volume of one million
francs in print media or 100,000 francs in VSW leased titles
were identified. The intermediaries also had to be universal intermediaries, i.e.
both commercial advertisements and classified advertisements
in a mix of 50 percent each. This means, for example
a pure employment agency never a UK from a VSW lease title,
despite delivered ads.

Generate more sales
These restrictions are now largely no longer applicable, only the
Business volume of CHF 100,000 in VSW leasehold securities remains as
However, this is no longer a prerequisite,
but must be achieved in the third year after recognition.
"This means that it is now also possible to commission
possible," confirms von Csernatony. The preamble to the new
guidelines explicitly state for the first time that VSW members may participate in the
cooperation with recruitment agencies, "in order to improve the
advertising market and thus generate additional sales in the
print media of their publishing partners".

Another controversial point, however, was included in the new directives
not only left in place, but in Csernatony's opinion even
strengthened. PubliGroupe therefore still only has to pay those intermediaries
which are "legally and economically independent" of all their advertising customers. With this
They prevent major customers such as Migros or Coop from having their own
set up advertising agencies in order to collect the UK through them -
in addition to the annual sales bonus. Should PubliGroupe nevertheless
If there are doubts about the independence of an agency, it can now
Request proof from a neutral body (lawyer or trustee).
"We didn't have this option before. The agencies decided
that it was none of our business," says von
Csernatony.    

David and Goliath
The impetus for the Weko investigation against PubliGroupe and thus also
on the new version of the guidelines was announced by the small intermediary AdX in
Zollikon. In 2001, the latter applied to the VSW for recognition as a
professional mediator and thus for the granting of the UK, which, however
was rejected. The reason given: AdX is a specialty broker, its
Sales mix of classifieds/commercial too one-sided, and the VSW also suspected that the
a connection to the major customer Mercuri Urval. AdX then filed a complaint with
of the Weko.

We learned of the publication of the updated VSW guidelines
AdX Managing Director Werner Baumann on Advertising Week. "Compared to the
The version that has now been published is a clear step forward compared to the previous guidelines," he acknowledges. He suspects,
that AdX should now be accepted by the VSW as a professional mediator.
However, he left it open as to whether and when he would submit a new application. Because
He still sees some need for correction. "I am certainly surprised,
that the new guidelines were published so quietly," says
Baumann. In December, he and other P-independent mediators had still
on a draft directive of the Competition Commission, which is now
However, AdX was no longer asked for the current version.
COMCO spokesman Ducrey confirms the "market test" at the time. Of this
still a lot has been incorporated, he says, "but now we don't do any
Consultation more."

Markus Knöpfli

(pr) On March 3, 2006, Publimedia AG once again organized the MediaRepetito-rium - MediaRep for short - for all candidates of this year's marketing communication planner examination. The MediaRep took place on the premises of Publimedia Zurich. In various workshops, specialist lecturers from APG, Cinecom, Publisuisse, Radiotele, web2com and Publimedia prepared the media exam topics in the areas of outdoor advertising, cinema, TV, radio, online and print. This refresher course is an important preparation for the written exam and is very popular every year. Over 115 participants show that there is a great need for this "media fitness test" shortly before the exam. Impressions of the event can be found at www.publimedia.ch/mediarep/06

Integration Process integration is the old and new magic formula of the print media industry.
automatically or at least automatically. The promise
Workflow systems such as those presented by Heidelberg at Ipex. We have
with Jörg Bauer, Head of Product Management Prinect at Heidelberg, about
the new possibilities.
 

WW: A significantly enhanced version of the Prinect system will be presented at Ipex. What's new?
Jörg Bauer: Primarily that
Prinect Integration System and the Prinect Pressroom Manager. With
these products, all processes in a print shop can be
completely based on the Job Definition Format (JDF).
Starting with the incoming order, the PDF upload and automatic
Checking, ripping and impositioning in the prepress stage via the transfer of
job and ink zone information to the printing press up to the
Presetting on folding, cutting or folder-gluer machines
processes can be activated and status messages made visible at all times.
be made.

WW: Do agencies or print buyers also benefit from such systems?
Jörg Bauer: Yes, because still
There has never been more transparency about the processing of a
Even if in practice it is primarily the customer advisor who is responsible for
status information, for example, in order to provide the customer with quick
to provide an overview of the order, it would be conceivable that
agencies and print buyers can also get an online overview of a
order. The possibilities depend on this, among other things,
which information the print shop releases.

WW: Where is the greatest automation potential currently to be expected from process integration?
Jörg Bauer: The biggest
Potential lies not least in the cost structure of the
faster ink presetting on the printing presses. Also in the
Prepress allows all the processes required to produce a printing form
automate the necessary processes. And not to forget the
subsequent evaluation of print jobs, which enables print shops to
significantly facilitated, on the basis of the
their offerings and their business management data
optimize production steps.

WW: Will old machines such as letterpresses be left out?
Jörg Bauer: In addition to the
fully automatic and semi-automatic integration, individual
processes on old letterpress machines, for example, via a terminal
be recorded. A simple but networked PC can be used for this purpose.
and thus parameters such as time expenditure, rejects or the time of
The order completion date can be entered manually.

WW: In addition to JDF, there is also the predecessor format PPF. What is the significance of this print production format?
Jörg Bauer: We see it
as our obligation to support existing formats as well. In
a consistent JDF scenario, a link to a JDF file links to a
corresponding PPF file with the workflow. Although we at Ipex
a completely JDF-based solution, machines can be
also in the future via the existing Prepress Interface and Data
Control with both MIS, i.e. order preparation systems, and
pre-stage systems.

Interview: Jürgen Franck

Ipex I At the Ipex 2006 trade fair in
Birmingham will become the Koenig & Bauer Group's (KBA) most modern
Sheetfed offset in small, half and medium format including integrated
JDF workflows. The new JDF workflows presented for the first time at the drupa 2004 trade fair
Rapida 105 medium-format press will also be presented in Birmingham.
will be a much-noticed highlight in sheetfed offset. Exhibited will be
one of which is a ten-color system with roll feeder for straight printing with
up to ten colors and 5/5-color perfecting printing. In the
B2 format, KBA will use the Performa 74 from its subsidiary KBA-Grafitec
in the five-color version with anilox paint tower. The Performa 74
and its sister machine Performa 66 offer, according to KBA, for
Half-format printers with a limited budget or for newcomers to
The half-size format offers an excellent price/performance ratio.
The exhibits on the KBA stand will be rounded off by the
KBA-Metronic AG in the UV version with coater and extended delivery
Genius 52 in B3 format. This is a five-color machine
shown. The Genius 52 was presented four years ago at Ipex 2002 as the
presented as a prototype for the first time. Ipex visitors who are interested in the
leading KBA large format technology, KBA offers the
Possibility of using various large-format Rapida presses with non
users located too far from Birmingham.

Pierre C. Meier on strategies in the wake of Ringier's daily baby.
It is not yet the free newspaper, about
which Ringier's heads are brooding over and with which the publishing strategists
at Dufourstrasse against Tamedia's successful sheet 20 minutes into the
want to throw into battle.

With the launch of Ringier's latest baby, Cash Daily, the
Publisher first of all his title Cash. The new
media network, consisting of the daily tabloid free newspaper am
tomorrow, audio and video applications on the Internet and on
mobile platforms, will perhaps revitalize the Cash brand. Man
hopes that this will attract new, young readers to Cash.
can. The editorial team can increasingly rely on broadly researched
stories and the current morsels from the wheelhouse
of the economy to the free sister. So far so good.

It would be nothing more than logical to take this undeniably logical setting
cloning for the problem child Blick, with regard to the intended
Launch of a high-circulation Ringier free newspaper. Here are
Theoretically, there are two options. On the one hand, a real
(not an emancipated!) free tabloid, the free Blick am
Tomorrow, with broad distribution, but with a clear, urban
emphasis and the focus on a younger audience, notabene 
expanded with multimedia offerings on the Internet and mobile devices
- in direct competition with the established free newspaper 20 Minuten.

Consequently, further expansion in the advertising network together with
Le Matin Bleu in French-speaking Switzerland. Edipresse would thus - after
everything went wrong with Tamedia on Lake Geneva last fall -
an advertising partner in German-speaking Switzerland for Le Matin Bleu
(cleverly baited, Peter Rothenbühler!). Whether with this "Blick-Bleu"
but introduced a new, more urban readership to the mothership
can be achieved is questionable.

And a free view in the evening? That way you would no longer be up against the competition
Face to face. This is by no means the style of the house, where
man - Attack is the best defense - with a big ladle
to prepare.

Pierre C. Meier, Editor-in-Chief

How can a successful
customer magazine be improved according to journalistic criteria? In
In a two-day advanced training seminar, professionals provide answers and
Tips on questions relating to the conception and production of
customer magazines. Participants learn, among other things, what a
successful customer magazine and which are the decisive factors for
The principles of the page structure and layout are. Date: 28/29.
6. 2006; Location: MAZ - Swiss School of Journalism, www.maz.ch