Film On May 19, the third and final episode of the "Star Wars" saga was simultaneously released in cinemas around the world. According to estimates by a consulting firm, millions of employees in the USA alone could secretly skip work on the first days of the premiere of "Episode III - Revenge of the Sith". This means a loss of 627 million dollars for the economy. These figures are reinforced by the fact that 9.2 million fans flocked to the cinema in just two days for the premiere of Part 2, which is only possible thanks to daytime visits. The cinematic war between Jedi and Sith is also having a spiritual impact. More than 30,000 pranksters in England have so far filled in "Jedi" as their religion on official forms. With such numbers, this "religion" must be recognized as an official church in England by law.

Branding Three out of four top German and Swiss companies consider internal branding to be crucial to their success and see their employees as "brand ambassadors". 90 percent of the 30 large corporations listed in the German stock index (DAX) are of this opinion. This is the result of a representative study by BBDO Consulting, which is exclusively available to Werbewoche and takes into account the 500 companies with the highest turnover on both sides of the Rhine. According to the study, the marketing managers surveyed see the primary goal of internal company branding as achieving a stable collective identity among their employees, which in turn should serve as the basis for consistent external communication. The intranet (24%) and the employee magazine (22%) are the most common means used for this purpose. These are followed by e-mails, posters, workshops and corporate TV, although the latter instrument is practically only used by DAX companies.
(oc)

Publishing IV A&F Computersysteme AG (A&F) recently held its traditional seminar entitled "The right tools for efficient production" at its annual all-day "monster event" in Sursee. Over a dozen speakers informed more than 300 people about trends and developments in prepress.InDesign CS2 versus XPress 7
As usual at A&F, programs were presented that had not yet been presented anywhere else. One of the highlights was a presentation of Quark's layout program XPress 7, which is currently in the starting blocks. The discussion about the leadership among layout programs was the most important topic among many seminar participants: Will Quark XPress be able to maintain its lead in the market or let Adobe InDesign wrest more share from it? As only a modest proportion of XPress 7 was demonstrated at the seminar, the question of "technical supremacy" still cannot be answered conclusively; what was shown in Sursee by Thomas Neumaier, Quark Product Market Analyst Europe, is hardly enough to motivate InDesign users to make the switch (see article "Alles paletti ...", p. 26).
InDesign made significant gains (see article "A giant leap forward", page 27) - as did the Creative Suite, which is about to be released. In Adobe's new software bundle, which was presented at the seminar for the first time in Europe, the included tools Version Cue (for project-related work) and Adobe Bridge (for file management plus color management and connection to stock photo providers) were particularly appealing. Speaker Patrick Stalder, A&F, also referred to the updated versions of Photoshop and Illustrator. Particularly practical for the prepress workflow: image files can now be linked to vector graphics in Photoshop CS2 and the vector data remains editable. This could make Photoshop more important again for image montage/composition. The vectorization tool formerly known as Streamline has been integrated into Illustrator CS2. This allows pixel data to be traced and converted into editable paths/graphics.
Digital helpersThe "little helpers" presented by Erich Hunkeler and Martin Wicki, both from A&F, were met with great interest. These program extensions from Woodwing, Callas, OneVision and Jo Lauterbach help desktop publishers to complete recurring tasks or to format texts and tables more quickly. This software category also includes the many tools for creating "usable" or output-optimized PDF documents. This is a tiresome topic that has been discussed in detail, especially the ISO standard PDF/X or /X-3. It is tiresome because the output of print-ready documents is about as error-prone as the exposure of page-smooth films with the advent of desktop publishing in the 1980s. In order to anchor the PDF/X standard more firmly in Switzerland, a special association called "PDF/X ready" was founded, whose aims were briefly presented by Kurt Obrist from PrintOnline.
With dbEdix, Guido Steger (A&F) and Karsten Hesse (from the provider Opix) presented a so-called authoring software. This allows data from merchandise management systems (e.g. SAP) to be dynamically compiled from a database into either related elements or entire pages in a layout view. The linking of text elements such as product descriptions, prices etc. enables marketing strategists to set prices shortly before a catalog is published - always with the certainty that only the set prices will be published. The further developed Opix solution MediaCity for cross-media production was also presented.
The renewed Remote Publishing System takes a different direction. This allows business stationery to be created, updated or even personalized over the Internet and via a web browser. The system, which consists of the Quark Document Server, IIS Webserver, Remote Publishing Systems and Acrobat Distiller modules, enables large companies to create their printed matter without any knowledge of layout applications. It is now also possible to exchange image data managed in the Opix asset management solution. The well-known consultant Michael Mittelhaus gave an overview of the networking approach using JDF/JMF. Mittelhaus assumes that the prepress stage will once again undergo enormous changes. He believes that the impositioning of individual pages into printing forms will be a dying activity, because JDF-supported systems can already do this to some extent today and will be able to do it completely in the near future.
Opinions were divided on the presentation by his colleague Hans Georg Wenke, Editor-in-Chief of Druckmarkt Schweiz. With his provocative views, presented as a fictitious retrospective, he tried to draw the industry's attention to today's shortcomings ("Can you negotiate the price of a bread roll at the bakery?"). Despite the many serious predictions, his presentation also allowed for some hearty laughter, which was good for the seminar, but also made it difficult for the closing speaker to reconnect with technical features and functions.
Something for everyoneThe programs and solutions presented at the A&F seminar focused primarily on increasing productivity. The small solutions that made it easy and convenient to reformat texts, for example, were the most popular. The concepts of dbEdix or RPS, on the other hand, first need customers who understand and need these concepts. Once this is the case, however, the potential for savings in the production of advertising material grows thanks to these increasingly browser- and Java-based applications.
Product managers can produce catalogs and flyers with dbEdix.

IntegrationIn his presentation, Urs Felber, Managing Director of A&F, presented the advantages of centralized information management (Managed Client) over individual workstation management. The installation and support of workstations can thus be considerably simplified. It is also possible for every user to find their familiar environment at any station. The integration of an Open Directory system (OS X) into an Active Directory environment (Windows) was also discussed. Felber sees this as an important challenge for medium-sized and larger agencies, publishers and printers. (jf)
Jürgen Franck

Urs Peter Stebler is the new Head of Corporate Communications at Neue Aargauer Bank. Stebler held the same position at the Bern-based power plant group BKW FMB until last fall. ...
At the beginning of July, Gianni Huber will take over as editor-in-chief of the private radio station Radio Top in Eastern Switzerland. He replaces Oliver Steffen, who is taking on a new challenge in the media sector. Huber is currently working for Radio Top as head of service.
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The new location marketing organization for Gossau SG and Andwil starts operations at the beginning of June. Independent strategy developer and communications consultant Max Nadig has been appointed to head the organization. He is a local councillor in Herisau and former tourism director of the Appenzellerland region.
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Christoph Meinen joined the PR agency Piar Bern as a consultant at the beginning of May. The trained graphic designer and marketing planner previously worked for the Solothurn marketing agency Pomcany's.
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Art Director Sascha Fanetti (photo) is joining the advertising agency Lesch + Frei. He most recently worked for Ruf Lanz. Karin Hauser will be his assistant. She joins from Seiler Zurich, where she has worked as Junior Art Director for the last four years.
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The German-Swiss Association for Sponsoring (Faspo)
has appointed Oskar Gut to the extended Board of Directors. Gut is a member of the management of Erdgas Ostschweiz. Together with Jean-Baptiste Felten, he will represent the interests of Faspo in Switzerland in future.

Internet The party portal Usgang.ch is growing beyond Zurich. The aim: national advertising campaigns People like to party just as much in Bern as in Zurich. The nightlife platform Usgang.ch, founded on the Limmat in 2000, is taking this into account and expanding into the most important German-speaking cities in Switzerland. A dedicated page for St. Gallen was launched on May 7, followed by Lucerne, Basel and Bern on a weekly basis. "Each of these cities has its own strong party scene," says Karim Zekri, explaining the expansion. Zekri is in charge of business development for the platform, which has long since grown from a student project into a flourishing company. Expansion beyond the Zurich region
should ensure further economic growth. "We are only really interesting for the advertising market when we cover German-speaking Switzerland," says Zekri. In the longer term, there are even plans to expand into French-speaking Switzerland.
However, Zekri believes that users are not interested in a national portal: "A person from Basel is not interested in what's going on in Lucerne." That's why each regional Usgang.ch page has its own local event information and party photos and is managed by local scene experts. Usgang.ch offers advertising customers both regional and national bookings, as well as the combination of individual sites.
Usgang.ch generates part of its income through event promotion. "I compare this to the classified advertising business of newspapers, which they often manage themselves," explains Zekri. The second mainstay has always been online advertising campaigns, which are brokered for the platform by the exclusive marketer Publicitas webservices. According to Zekri, the clientele ranges "from B for BMW to Z for Zurich Insurance". According to its own information, Usgang.ch has so far recorded around 130000 unique visitors per month and over 10 million page impressions. From May, usage will be measured by Wemf's Net Audit so that customers can be provided with reliable figures.
Usgang.ch is financing its expansion entirely from its own funds. According to Karim Zekri, the party portal is in the black and has almost doubled its turnover in recent years. The company employs eight permanent staff in Zurich, and is now adding two per regional site. The 50 party photographers receive an expense allowance.
Over the next few weeks, the expansion, which will be accompanied by a redesign of the site, will be publicized to the party people. Instead of traditional advertising, Usgang.ch is relying on word of mouth and guerrilla measures. For example, Chinese fortune cookies were recently distributed in front of selected clubs, which contained an advertising slogan for the portal instead of an oracle saying. But the best advertising is probably still the party photos themselves, which bring the party from the night before back to life.
Stefano Monachesi

TV On June 1, SRG officially launches terrestrial digital television (DVB-T) in the Lake Geneva region.Initial tests have been running since early spring. According to the timetable given to the SRG by the Swiss Confederation with the concession, the Bassin Lémanique should have been able to enjoy DVB-T as early as autumn 2004. The technology is already established in the Engadine and Ticino. DVB-T makes it possible to receive more channels than before via indoor or indoor antennas. This is primarily intended to ensure coverage of SRG's national stations in other languages. The whole of Switzerland is to be covered by 2009.

Papier Sihl + Eika expands its paper management offering to the office sector - and soon becomes part of a larger whole.Paper wholesalers cannot survive on their core business of paper trading alone in the long term - this realization prompted Sihl+Eika Papier AG (Sihl+Eika) to look for a strong, reliable partner in 1997. With the German paper trading group G. Schneider & Söhne (Schneidersöhne), Sihl+Eika found this partner. Schneidersöhne has held an 80 percent stake in Sihl+Eika, which is based in Thalwil, since 1998. Thinner margins and a long period of sluggish economic activity have made life difficult for the pure paper trading business in recent years, explained Daniel Meier, Delegate of the Board of Directors of Sihl+Eika, at a recent press conference.Sihl+Eika increases profit Although the Sihl+Eika Group suffered from a price collapse in the last financial year, just like its competitors, Switzerland's second-largest paper wholesaler was able to sell more paper again in 2004 after three weaker years. Despite higher sales, however, turnover fell by 0.7 percent. However, Daniel Meier continued, the company was able to increase profits thanks to more profitable service business. The company was able to offset the ongoing price erosion with services. With growth of 4.2 percent, Sihl+Eika outperformed the paper wholesalers organized in the VSPG association (including Antalis, Sihl+Eika, Inapa Switzerland and Fischer Papier), which sold "only" 2.4 percent more paper on average than in the previous year. This success of Sihl+Eika can be attributed, among other things, to the consistent shift away from drop shipment business (deliveries from the producer directly to the customer) in favor of the more lucrative stock business, explained Meier.
Stockless print shops Sihl+Eika is also very successful in the service sector. Daniel Meier describes the paper management service introduced by the paper trading company in 2000 as the "showpiece" of an overall offering that focuses on logistical services. The company delivers the required quantity of paper to the printing machine ready for processing on a fixed date. Sihl+Eika is now expanding this area with the paper management package.
Office continues to expand. As Peter Meier, responsible for organization, IT and controlling, explained, Sihl+Eika has a total of 7,000 items in stock. These also include customer-specific consumables. Orders - as well as invoices if required - are processed electronically. Sihl+Eika takes care of the storage, management, picking and delivery of items ordered by customers via the website and delivers them to customers.
Consolidation in the European market Rainer Köster, Managing Director
of the German parent company Schneidersöhne, spoke about changes in paper wholesale. This has long since changed from a national to a continental business. The consolidation that has been going on for years is continuing. Like Sihl+Eika at the time, the Schneidersöhne family business has finally gone on the hunt for a new owner. In a due diligence process, the company StoraEnso, which is active in both paper production and paper trading (as "Papyrus"), has won the bid and now wants to take over Schneidersöhne (and thus indirectly also the Sihl+Eika Group). If the European Competition Commission approves the merger, the five-member owner family will sell the majority of Schneidersöhne to the Swedish-Finnish StoraEnso Group. StoraEnso, the world's largest paper and cardboard manufacturer, is itself a product of a 1998 merger between the cardboard manufacturer Stora and the paper manufacturer Enzo. Due to shifts in the paper trade and the acquisition of the German Claasen-Papier by Schneidersöhne, the merger of the two dealers Papyrus and Schneidersöhne creates the second-largest paper wholesale group in Europe with a market share of 23 percent.
However, nothing should change for Sihl+Eika's Swiss customers: "StoraEnso is not expected to make any major changes in Switzerland," explain both Rainer Köster and Daniel Meier in unison.
Jürgen Franck

Survey: Class, the planned large-scale project for an online classifieds marketplace, is garnering a lot of support. But that’s not all. About 40 people, primarily from the ranks of editorial directors and publishers, attended the Class presentation in Zurich on May 4. They now have until June 30 to sign up as investors—a short window. Werbewoche therefore asked about 20 people for their views on Class. Fourteen responded. The result comes as no surprise: Class is viewed clearly positively only by companies that are also represented in the project group or on the steering committee. So far, only Espace Media Groupe, PubliGroupe, Basler Zeitung Medien (BZM), and Südostschweizer Mediengruppe have signed the memorandum of understanding. That said, a final decision in Chur, for example, won’t be made until the end of May. And it won’t come without conditions: «If the industry gets involved, Südostschweiz will get involved too,» says Lukas Joos, managing director of Südostschweiz Newmedia. The reasons for supporting Class vary. BZM CEO Beat Meyer explains his support as follows: «Improving our position in the online sector can only succeed if we can offer our customers cross-media solutions in the classifieds business—that is, a combination of print and online ads.» Albert P. Stäheli, Board Delegate of Espace Media, raises another point: «Class will sensibly steer competition back to where it belongs—namely, to the level of media services (print and online features)—rather than to the unproductive battle over customer interfaces!»The initiative for an open industry solution that also includes non-publishers and P-independent intermediaries is generally praised. But even those with a positive outlook see risks for Class. Meyer, for example, warns that »corporate-political or financial concerns on the part of individual publishers« could jeopardize the project. The example of Homegate.ch illustrates what this might mean. Its head of real estate services, Heinz M. Schwyter, writes: »Homegate is currently reviewing the documents and therefore cannot answer your questions.” Not a word, however, about the fact that Homegate has recently been acquired by Tamedia and Edipresse. Nor is there any mention that Tamedia entered into a partnership a few weeks ago with Unio, which offers a tool that competes with Class (see accompanying article). Jürg Brauchli, Head of Newspapers at Tamedia, did not respond to *Werbewoche*’s inquiry. And Edipresse simply stated that no decision had yet been made.
AZ Medien (AZM) faces a similar dilemma: «Since we are currently in the middle of the decision-making process,» Roger Knabenhans stated, “I cannot comment at this time.” Interestingly, Knabenhans is the project manager for an AZM-owned classifieds marketplace, which he does not yet wish to discuss in detail. He, too, is in contact with Unio.
But there are other hurdles. For instance, PubliGroupe’s dominance (65 percent stake) is being criticized here and there. Stäheli, head of one of the last independently owned newspapers, counters this by arguing that the collaboration model grants minority shareholders «substantial veto rights.» Christan Müller, CEO of Vogt-Schild, sees it differently. «The rights of minority shareholders are very limited. Small publishers, in particular, should therefore think very carefully about joining and, at the very least, explore alternatives.» Werner Baumann, managing director of the intermediary AdX, echoes this sentiment.
Concerns are also being raised regarding the mid-2006 launch date. Norbert Neininger fears «that too much time will pass before the project gets off the ground—time that our competitors can use to their advantage.» The publisher of the Schaffhauser Nachrichten also raises «one of the most important questions,» namely, «how the revenue from those ads that end up in the large industry pool will be distributed.» And Ludwig Turkavka, owner of Schmid Annoncen, criticizes Class’s connection and service fees as «too high for an independent broker.» Albert P. Stäheli disagrees: «The pricing policy is designed and contractually stipulated in such a way that the benefits resulting from the total number of participants are passed back to the participants through lower transaction prices. We consider this a fair pricing policy.»
Consulting Remains Important: In their statement on Class, Unio & Co., the two P-independent brokers, Werner Baumann (AdX) and Ludwig Turkavka (Schmid Annoncen), highlight a point that could easily be overlooked in the discussion of systems and technology. No matter what the technical details of a future industry solution may look like, «the independent broker, who offers expert advice and impeccable customer service, will always have a place,» writes Turkavka. And Baumann adds: «The increasingly complex multimedia classifieds market requires intermediaries with specialized expertise who can support clients in their buying policies, strategy, and consulting across all media channels,» says Baumann. (mk)
Markus Knöpfli

NPOs The Berne Declaration has been campaigning for global justice since 1968, and the non-profit organization's demands include minimum social standards for workers around the world, fair trade, respectful treatment of people and animals, medicines for all and tax justice. The new campaign by Spinas Gemperle for the EvB makes it clear that people without any sense of responsibility are often behind the injustices. The message is implemented with fictitious, sarcastic job advertisements that show how the profiteers of globalization increase their profits at the expense of the poorest. Advertising materials include advertisements with coupons and inserts in weekly titles to attract members.

Triple Play The Federal Supreme Court has issued a super-provisional injunction against Swisscom's entry into Cinetrade, following a request from Cablecom, which feared a distortion of competition if Swisscom's nationwide network was combined with Cinetrade's market power in the cinema film sector. After the Competition Commission approved the deal without conditions, Cablecom appealed to the Appeals Commission. The latter refused to grant a suspensive effect, whereupon the cable company turned to the Federal Supreme Court. Both parties now have until June 9 to comment on the question of suspensive effect.

Inks The merged companies ANI Printing Inks and BASF Drucksysteme have a new name: XSYS Print Solutions.The group of companies develops, produces and distributes printing inks, printing plates as well as pigments and resins for the printing and packaging industry. The company has 65 locations in 30 countries and an extensive distribution network in a further 50 countries. This makes XSYS Print Solutions the largest European supplier of system solutions for the printing and packaging industry. The company is headquartered in Stuttgart.

The multifunctional 19-inch TFT from Samsung is a PC monitor and TV in one: the new SyncMaster 930MP is equipped with a TV and radio tuner as well as stereo speakers with Dolby sound as standard.