The Ringier magazine L'Hebdo has integrated the online dating service Parship into its website, which for Daniel Pillard, Director of Ringier Romandie, is the logical addition to the contacts section in the magazine, which is being continued in parallel. Parship is aimed at an upmarket customer segment; users must sign up for at least six months and pay a fee of CHF 285. The dating agency, which is majority-owned by the German Holtzbrinck publishing group, works with NZZ and Weltwoche, among others, in German-speaking Switzerland.

Digital printing Riso's HC5000 sets benchmarks in semi-professional color printing According to a survey recently presented by IT expert Robert Weiss of Robert Weiss Consulting at a press conference organized by Fritz Schumacher AG (Schumacher), sales of color page printers are developing significantly better than those of mono and black-and-white page printers. Specifically, sales of color printers in Switzerland have increased by 87 percent from 23,000 to 43,000, while sales of mono printers have fallen by over 20 percent from 168,000 to 132,000 units. In other words, documents are becoming more colorful. However, this trend is probably not only due to the fact that color is simply cool and in demand, but is certainly also related to the significant price changes. While mono page printers have had to cope with a shift (= reduction) in average prices of just over 13 percent, color page printers have become almost half as cheap, so it's no wonder that Schumacher also wants to take a slice of the color printer pie in the future. To this end, the company has added a new color page printer from RISO Kagaku (Riso) to its product portfolio.
Now also available in Switzerland
Schumacher wants to score points in Switzerland with the Riso HC5000 color printer. The printer, which caused a sensation among experts at the drupa trade fair in May 2004, is now available and is being launched on the Swiss market by the Zurich-based company. The fast high-speed full-color printing is possible thanks to a joint development by Olympus and Riso - based on a new inkjet technology related to the piezo inkjet process, which Riso calls Forcejet.
105 pages/minute - color
The Riso HC5000 processes paper from DIN A6 format to DIN A3 oversize format (340 x 550 mm) - and at an exhilarating speed. In this way, the color printer advances into areas that were just the benchmark for black and white printers: With its print speed of 105 pages per minute, the HC5000 is the fastest full-color printer in the world in the business segment. The printer achieves this record thanks to its line inkjet head system, which uses print head lines instead of a print head (which usually has to move back and forth). Although this technology is not entirely new, the HC5000 is at least the first high-speed full-color printing system to use this technology for double-sided printing. The speed here is therefore an impressive 74 pages per minute. The figures refer to the standard resolution of 600 dpi; with the finer, maximum resolution of 900 dpi, the print performance is reduced accordingly.
With costs of just 6.25 centimes per page, the operating costs of the HC5000 are between a third and a tenth of the comparable costs of standard color printers, according to Werner Studer, Sales Manager at Schumacher. The ComColor controller, which was also developed by Riso and is based on PostScript 3, is also responsible for the low printing costs and high throughput. This rip allows the printing of changing data sets and enables users to print their documents automatically sorted as required. This saves manual sorting - and ultimately time.
With the optional multifunction finisher, printed documents can be stapled, hole-punched or folded into dossiers, brochures etc. in the future. However, the finisher, which also enables the offset output of documents, is not yet available. Werner Studer expects it to be available this summer.
Copy at high speed
The HC5000 can also be upgraded to a high-performance copier. For this purpose, a high-performance scanner (Epson GT 1500) is connected, which captures the documents to be copied. Scanners, cables etc. are available directly from Schumacher.
All in all, Riso has developed a high-performance workhorse for printing color documents. This is also confirmed by the information on the service life (6 million prints) and the monthly print volume (20000 to 250000 pages). Overall, they lead to very good operating costs (TCO). Schumacher AG has already been able to convince a cantonal authority and two print shops of this and of the Riso HC5000 printing system.
The fully equipped HC5000: color printing system with scanner and multifunction finisher.
Jürgen Franck

Publishing The new version of the MadeToPrint XT output extension from callas software now also accelerates printing and data export from QuarkXPress 6.A Mac OS X version is available immediately, while the version for Windows 2000/XP will be available from the end of April 2005. MadeToPrint XT saves print settings in retrievable jobs and allows the parallel execution of several output commands such as simultaneous printing and PDF export of a QuarkXPress file. With MadeToPrint XT Auto, there is also a new solution that enables automatic operation of the extension by means of monitored folders (hot folders) - both under Mac OS X and under Windows. www.callassoftware.com

Direct mail The "Stop advertising" sticker is spreading According to the new Communications Atlas of Switzerland, only one in five letterboxes had a sticker in 1999. Today it is almost one in three. In some urban communication areas such as Basel, Zurich and St. Gallen, well over half of all people do not want unaddressed direct mail.

Publishing Adobe Systems announces a new version of its design and publishing environment, Adobe Creative Suite 2 (CS2), scheduled for June 2005.CS2 Premium Edition combines the new full versions of Photoshop CS2, InDesign CS2, Illustrator CS2 and GoLive CS2 as well as Acrobat 7. 0 Professional with the new design process manager Version Cue CS2. A completely new component of CS2 is the Adobe Bridge file browser, which serves as a control center for productivity, image management and creativity. www.adobe.de/products/creativesuite/

Chocolate Toblerone and Ogilvy are having Switzerland's most famous chocolate repackaged in a public competition; it looks like the Matterhorn and is a symbol of Swiss quality. According to the AY&R BrandAsset Valuator, Toblerone was voted the No. 1 power brand by Swiss consumers in 2003 - ahead of Lego, Ovomaltine and Zweifel. The triangular Toblerone was one of the first shapes to be trademarked. The chocolate was developed by Theodor Tobler and Emil Baumann in Bern in 1908. In 1969, the dark Toblerone was launched on the market, followed by the white Toblerone in 1973. Even after the sale to the international Kraft Foods group, Toblerone continues to be produced in Bern. Nine out of ten pieces are exported to over 120 countries. This makes Toblerone an important image bearer for Switzerland and an icon in the tourism sector, so there is no chance or point in ever changing the appearance of Toblerone. Unless you do it as cleverly as the marketing people at Kraft in Zurich Seefeld have now done together with Grendene, Ogilvy & Mather.
The idea is called "Design & Win". In this promotion, consumers are directly involved in the development of the brand with a major design competition. The three best proposals for a new packaging design will be launched on the market in October as a limited edition. Entries are expected from February to May.
Celebrities also like Toblerone
The competition is publicized with traditional advertisements in various media, primarily in Ringier publications. There are regular editorials announcing the eight weekly winners. These are determined by public voting at www.toblerone.ch. For this purpose, an internal jury at Kraft Foods publishes a weekly preselection of the best entries online. Banners on various Ringier sites, such as Blick Online with 200,000 visits per day, provide links to the Toblerone site. Independently of the selection by the online jury there, a celebrity is also allowed to present their favorite for the new design on page 3 of Schweizer Illustrierte every week. So far, Vreny Schneider, Horst Petermann and Miss Switzerland Fiona Hefti have revealed their love for Toblerone as testimonials.
The On Pack competition has been publicized at the POS with 1.5 million chocolates. All Volvo dealers in Switzerland are also involved in the cross-media communication, as the main prize is a Volvo XC90 and other prizes with a total value of CHF 1,200,000,000, which will be raffled off among all participants in the design competition.
A professional jury of experts from Toblerone, Ogilvy and Ringier will select the three subjects for the launch as a limited edition in October 2005. The winning designers will be rewarded with 5000 Swiss francs each and can be celebrated "as the new designers of the Toblerone icon", according to Hermann Crux, Director Marketing at Kraft Foods. This honor naturally explains why a striking number of professional designers have already entered the competition.
The competition is limited to Switzerland. As Toblerone is produced in Switzerland and is often taken abroad as a souvenir, it is seen as a kind of ambassador for Switzerland. "That's why we should only involve Swiss consumers in the competition and the development of the brand," says Kraft Foods.
There is no question that the packaging could undergo a design change beyond the limited edition. Toblerone has become such a famous brand because the chocolate "always has a recognizable design with great consistency". It is also important that the packaging does not feature an illustration of indulgence like other chocolates. The promise is already effective and much more sustainable through the
Recognizing the icon (see also interview on page 10).
Grendene, Ogilvy & Mather, the in-house agency for Kraft Foods' confectionery division, is allowed to change more and even introduce completely new forms for the Suchard brand. Back in February, this traditional brand launched a completely new line of gift pralines in the Swiss retail trade. Suchard Désirs, Suchard Symphonie and Suchard Kirschstängeli are intended to compete with the related products from Cailler and Lindt for a share of the market. Suchard aims to be successful with a modern packaging design featuring top-quality Swiss pralines at attractive prices.
Suchard is the world's first registered trademark in the international trademark register in Geneva. Philippe Suchard started producing chocolate in 1826. Since then, Suchard has been a pioneer in marketing. As early as 1855, the chocolate was exhibited at the World Exhibition in Paris. In 1873, the patron had the words "Chocolat Suchard" inscribed on a rock face next to the Rigi Railway.
For the launch of the new pralines, Ogilvy and its CD Michel Hitz relied on a massive national TV campaign. The commercial was shot by Reto Salimbeni and his Manifesto Films in a designer loft in Milan. A man and a woman independently have the same sweet idea, namely to surprise each other with the new Suchard chocolates - as a token of their appreciation.
Design and win! Attractive prizes await those who repackage the Toblerone.
Incentive for co-design: Every week, Kraft Foods' internal jury publishes a shortlist of the best entries online.
Andreas Panzeri

Newspapers With the relaunch on April 13 (see Advertising Week 12/05), Le Temps is halving its stock market section, and on April 18 the Geneva daily newspaper will be launching an information platform for financial issues on its website as a replacement. It will provide access to all markets, according to a press release. It will also be possible to follow the performance of standard stocks or selected portfolios and subscribe to various SMS services. Le Temps is working together with the financial information service Infotec (an Edipresse subsidiary) and the mobile service provider Echovox.

The PR agency Photopress is now supporting Carlsberg, Adelboden Tourism and the Osec Business Network Switzerland in the area of media relations. The subsidiary of the photo agency Keystone, which primarily offers press photo services, has set up a database with navigation for Carlsberg, where images of the beer brand's sports sponsorship commitments can be found. For Adelboden, Photopress presents photos of the Ski World Cup as well as pictures of the tourist atmosphere. Osec's export promoters use Photopress to provide up-to-date images of conferences and events as well as portraits of the management and background images.

Media design The Zurich design duo Ulrike Beling and Nina Thoenen have been commissioned to produce a new catalog for Ligne Roset for the whole world. The Zurich-based studio Beling Thoenen Design is responsible not only for the layout of the Swiss magazine Ideales Heim but also for its German edition, Atrium. This magazine is read by the marketing people at Ligne Roset in Freiburg. They find Beling Thoenen listed in the masthead and are therefore interested in kibitzing at www.belingthoenen.com. This link earned the two designers Ulrike Beling and Nina Thoenen an invitation to pitch to three well-known agencies and ultimately the commission for a new world catalog for Ligne Roset. The furniture store's headquarters are in Paris, where it still produces its own catalog in French. For all other countries, however, the German edition serves as a template. This is translated into eight languages, including Japanese and Cyrillic. The total print run for Beling Thoenen's largest work to date is estimated at 500,000 copies.
The two women take on the entire job, from the design of the magazine to the editorial conclusion. A database of 10,000 images from Ligne Roset International can be accessed for the design. Around 70 percent of the illustrations are still composed of old material. However, the idea is that Beling Thoenen will gradually have all the new furniture photographed according to her own conceptual ideas. "Clarity, sensuality and warmth" are the terms with which the Zurich designers want to present Ligne Roset's previously rather cool-styled furniture in a more inviting way for a female world. "In times of a poor economy, the zeitgeist is experiencing a longing for more warmth," says Ulrike Beling.
The new word "magalog", which originated in the USA, is being used to describe the brochure concept - the term stands for a combination of editorial magazine and catalog.
As Ligne Roset in Germany worked with the same agency for 15 years for the old catalog, they are also hoping for a longer-term collaboration with Beling Thoenen Design.
Successful team: Ulrike Beling (left) and Nina Thoenen have been running Beling Thoenen Design in Zurich's Seefeld district since the beginning of 2004.
Beling Thoenen Design's portfolio ranges from Bolero and sport to the Zurich ballet magazine Position five.
Andreas Panzeri

Packaging design Hermann Crux, Director Marketing, and Natalia Sanz, Marketing Manager at Kraft Foods, on their strategies.WW Toblerone is the most famous packaging in Switzerland. Why a new design? Hermann Crux We try to reach consumers in a variety of ways. The standard Toblerone product will always remain the same and nothing will change in the near future. Nevertheless, we want to bring movement to the brand. With this competition, we are attracting a lot of attention on several occasions. First when the competition was announced, then for eight weeks around the voting and finally again in the fall with the publication of the limited edition with the three award-winning packaging. Our concept is 360-degree communication: as broad as possible in all media, but with a very focused message. You can communicate 360 degrees wonderfully with a brand positioned in this way. With a less broad brand and a less focused message, this could be dangerous.
How much interest is there in taking part in the "Design & Win?" competition?
Natalia Sanz The response has been very good. After one month, we have already received over a thousand design proposals for the Swiss chocolate icon. We receive ideas that are relatively close to the original, while others present the world of mountains and cows in an ethnic style. Retro motifs and pop art are also well represented. Of course, many children also take part.
What is the idea behind involving the public in the design?
Sanz The idea behind the competition is to further increase the appeal of the brand and to further activate the consumer's connection with the brand. Toblerone should not just be seen as an untouchable icon.
What is the agency's role in this competition?
Crux The competition is a joint process. The brief was to find a communication for this year that would achieve the objective of bringing the brand closer to the consumer again. To achieve this, we didn't want to launch a one-way communication, as happens when you run TV advertising. We were looking for something with greater consumer participation. But we also didn't want a competition with 50 cars to be won. Our idea was to deal very intelligently with the brand and address the points that are important to the Swiss population in connection with Toblerone. The concrete proposal for a design competition then came from Ogilvy, our in-house agency in the confectionery sector.
What are Kraft Foods' plans for Suchard?
Crux We have three big chocolatier names in Switzerland that are strongly associated with history. Lindt, Cailler and Suchard. Our aim is to turn the somewhat neglected Suchard brand back into a major brand. This is very much through the gift praline route.
In other words, genuine chocolatier art. That is why, in addition to the launch of the exclusive Suchard Sensations chocolate bar line with a high cocoa content, the placement of a very high-quality range of pralines and cherry sticks or Easter eggs is an important offensive to win over consumers for Suchard - the premium chocolatier - with convincing Swiss quality. To this end, we have designed a completely new product line.
What role does pricing policy play in positioning?
Sanz The important thing is that we are once again strongly represented in the supreme discipline of chocolate, gift chocolates. This market is very traditional. However, we want to position ourselves with a more modern image. Against the background of the
In view of consumers' increasing price sensitivity, price has also become a key selling point for premium products.
Interview: Andreas Panzeri

Society Eight years after its launch in 1997, Surprise has conquered a regular place on the streets of all major Swiss cities, with two different poster subjects by Zurich advertising agency Publicis appearing in the cities of Berne, Basel and Zurich in time for the launch of the anniversary edition of the 100th street magazine. The focus is on the people who have to eke out an existence on the streets. Culminating in the provocative statement "Not everyone can make it to 100 on the street", the subjects visualize the typical crime scene situation. Chalk outlines indicate that another person has been "involuntarily" taken off the road. In a nutshell, the anniversary posters are not only a tribute to the countless known and unknown heroes of the street, but also show those who are pushed to the margins of society a concrete way out of a precarious life situation.

Lukas Tenger (pictured) will take over the role of Client Service Director at Advico Young & Rubicam in the course of the summer. Tenger has spent the past six years as Unit Head at Publicis. ...
Copywriter Michael Rüegg (pictured) is going freelance. He previously worked at Jung von Matt/Limmat for two years and then at McCann Erickson for a few months.
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At the beginning of May, Frederik Stucki will take over the overall management of Radio Extra Bern and Canal 3 as the Espace Media Groupe's Head of Radio Journalism, where he was previously Program Director.
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The Factory communication group has elected Dominique Vonbun (photo) as its new president. Vonbun is Managing Director of Lacoray Promotion in Zurich. As a general contractor for communication, Factory unites seven independent companies from different disciplines under one roof.
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Marketing expert Andy Andresen and PR specialist Michèle Graf have founded the Graf Andresen communications agency in Bern-Belp. It is active in the areas of brand marketing, corporate identity, advertising and communication as well as design.
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Adrian Heuss has joined the life sciences and science communication division of the PR agency Advocacy. Heuss studied molecular biology and attended the Ringier School of Journalism. He then gained experience in science communication at Burson-Marsteller in Bern.