Marketing to senior citizens Silver surfers, master consumers, best agers - people over 50 are becoming increasingly important. According to a study by Axel Springer, 82 percent of all Germans today own and use a cell phone. That is probably everyone who can and wants to make mobile calls. With such market penetration, providers can only steal cherries from their neighbor's garden. Or they are courting what they call mature customers. People over 50 are a target group with a future, and not just for mobile phone providers. Demographics prove this: in Western Europe today, one sixth of all people are 64 years old or older; by 2040, it will be a quarter. And these people have comparatively high purchasing power. No wonder, then, that more and more companies are courting them.
But are they advertising it properly? No, say Hanne and Gundolf Meyer-Hentschel. The two German market researchers, who are regarded as pioneers of senior citizen marketing in Europe, criticize retailers, service providers, marketers and advertisers alike. Their criticism in a nutshell: products, services and the advertising for them are not appropriate for the target group.
But they also show who does it better and how. Take Beiersdorf, for example. The German cosmetics manufacturer recognized as early as the mid-1990s that older people not only shop more frequently than before, but also know exactly what they want. Beiersdorf therefore launched a skincare range for people with "mature skin" - a big hit, especially with women.
Not only manufacturers, but also retailers can learn a lot. For example from Adeg, an Austrian supermarket chain that has two stores called "50plus". There, the price tags are larger, there are magnifying glasses or reading glasses at the entrance and the shopping carts have brakes. In addition, all employees are over 50 and therefore understand the concerns of their customers.
According to the Meyer-Hentschels, this is the key to success: if you understand your target group, you can serve them properly. This is because older people are more experienced and therefore more demanding; they want to be informed in an understandable way and only buy what is useful to them. They place less value on image and corresponding campaigns.
Anyone interested in the topic (and the trend) will be well served by this guide. On 56 pages, the authors summarize the most important knowledge from practice, theory and their 824-page "Handbuch Seniorenmarketing". The booklet looks like
a diploma thesis, but the content is convincing.
> Senior marketing by Hanne and Gundolf Meyer-Hentschel. Business Village, Göttingen 2004. 56 pages, 35 francs.

Roger Hausmann

Oliver Classen on Carlo Schmid's illiberal understanding of journalismThe main media ethics front of the recent RTVG deliberations in the Council of States has remained strangely quiet. No wonder, one might think, with all the clamoring about fees and lobbyists. Nevertheless, we find it astonishing - not least in view of the applicant for the correction of Article 94bis, which called for nothing less than the creation of a central register for radio and TV professionals, in which their "vested interests" and those of their partners would be stored. The originator of this narrowly failed attempt by the state to intrude into journalistic privacy was not a hardliner on the left or right, but Carlo Schmid, a CVP member who is otherwise considered liberal.
It's bad enough that one of Switzerland's longest-serving elected representatives still believes in the childish ideal of journalism that can depict politics without necessarily influencing it. But Schmid's counter-right argument is almost grotesque. "Anyone who never tires of demanding disclosure from us should not be complaining about spying here," said the Appenzell native in Bern. And deliberately concealed the fact that many of our militia parliamentarians are lobbyists paid by the private sector. You can say all sorts of things about our journalists, but certainly not this.
The episode is also embarrassing for the Swiss Advertising Association (SW), which Schmid has chaired since 1998. Because in this capacity - keyword advertising bans - he rails against encroachments on the market freedoms of commercial communicators. However, when it comes to their journalistic brothers and sisters, a deeply rooted, statist reflex seems to take hold.
We can only hope that the Janus-faced nature of its chief lobbyist will not ultimately harm the SW. After all, its basic resources are credibility and argumentative consistency - also and especially in the upcoming battles for the free advertising word.
> Oliver Classen, Editor

Zoo After an interruption of three years, Lesch + Frei (L+F) is once again the advertising agency for Zurich Zoo. L+F had already looked after the client from 1993 to 2002 and is now realizing a campaign that will be seen on billboards in the Zurich agglomeration from May with three subjects.

Newspapers The Valais daily newspaper Le Nouvelliste is getting a new editorial concept, announced Jean-Yves Bonvin, General Director of the publisher Groupe Rhône Média, in an interview with his own paper. Le Nouvelliste will move even closer to its readers. Bonvin has set the launch date for the end of spring.

Exhibitions Environmental protection posters from Japan - a must for graphic design fans. Until mid-July, the poster collection of the Zurich Museum of Design is presenting the sensually perfect imagery of Japanese environmental protection posters, whose aesthetics still provoke Western viewers today in view of the many environmental scandals. In Japan, the open depiction of social and political problems is still frowned upon in many cases.

Beer The hippopotamus from the TV commercial is stepping down. Eichhof beer is now relying on the symbolic power of Pilatus to differentiate itself more clearly than before through its origins.
Eichhof beers are foaming with success: Despite years of declining demand for beer, Eichhof, Switzerland's largest independent brewery, has also been able to improve its profitability in this area in recent years. Among other things, thanks to optimization of the product range and a focus on high-quality, high-margin beers. This was possible thanks to the right product positioning and the expansion of the sales market in Ticino and German-speaking Switzerland, which enabled the company to displace competing products and capture a good eighth of the Swiss beer market. The Lucerne-based holding company is meeting the ongoing challenge in this business area with long-term supply contracts and a constant build-up of the strong brand value. Eichhof beers should not be perceived as banal thirst quenchers, but as cultural beverages with attention to detail right down to the bottle label.
Whereas Eichhof previously promoted the image and awareness of its ten beers by communicating their authenticity and tradition as well as the wide range of specialties, the fresh spring water from Pilatus is now being brought to the fore.
For the in-house agency Lesch + Frei (L+F) as well as for the brewery, it was clear that the chain reaction spot used so far, in which a beer thief is crushed by a hippopotamus, did not communicate the origin-related taste experience enough, despite its originality. A new implementation is now being considered. Although work has been underway for six months to establish the brand's unique position with Pilatus water, Calanda - also for the national brand strategy - has recently placed the origin aspect and pure mountain water at the center of its advertising presence.
Patrick Naef, consultant at L+F, asks the crucial question himself: "Who was there first? We only knew that Calanda would also be using mountain spring water in its advertising, but not in what form. After all, the water still has a function in our Eichhof TV commercial."
The film shows a group of young people going for a hike in the Pilatus region on a hot day. The protagonist believes he has found the refreshment he deserves in the fresh water of a babbling spring.
But just as he is about to take a sip, the spring dries up and then, to everyone's surprise, gushes forth again. Every attempt he makes is a slapstick failure. Because, as the story goes, every time the spring dries up, a pub taps an Eichhof beer brewed with fresh Pilatus water.
In the medium term, all measures will be aligned with the new positioning.
The world of the Alps vouches for the taste: spring water bubbles up in the spot for Eichhof beers.
Luca Aloisi

Copywriting What separates the wheat from the chaff? A plea for the most misunderstood member of the advertising family: "Copywriting is perhaps only so difficult because everyone has learned to write. And hardly anyone writes copy." With this statement, Francis Sulzer, Creative Director of Sulzer Sutter, hits the nail on the head. If you ask ten copywriters about their career, you will get ten different answers because there is no recognized training. Most of them are self-taught: many are former German teachers or writers in disguise, some are patterers. They have one thing in common: the value of their work is barely recognized and only moderately rewarded, and the profession itself is to blame: Only a few can prove their qualifications and the quality of their work with letter and seal. Of the estimated 500 or so copywriters in Switzerland, only 13 are listed in the professional register of their professional association, Script. This is hardly surprising, as admission is demanding: BR members have to submit three new pieces of work every three years, which are reviewed by an independent commission. Their criteria range from linguistic craftsmanship, dramaturgy and congruence to the concept.
So a good text is by no means a good advertising text; it takes more than a feel for language and a few original ideas. The value of our work is underestimated, even in agencies. In the past, the CD as creative head was at least on a par with the art director, today the AD decides. This has led to a serious shift in weighting and resources from words to images.
A copywriter contributes a great deal to the success of a campaign and other communication projects. Their creative multi-fight begins with the strategic groundwork and ends with the battle for the right word. Anyone who knows the difference between modern and fashionable or brain and brain knows how important the right word is. Language is often the core of a brand and conveys its culture, essence and values better than any image. The agency Ogilvy & Mather, for example, owes its success to the cultivation of this knowledge.
Jörn Winter, co-owner of an advertising agency and lecturer at the Corporate Text Institute and the Texterschmiede Hamburg, takes up the cudgels for copywriters with his "Handbuch Werbetext". Together with 20 renowned experts, all highly decorated creatives and strategists, he shows from A to Z what makes a good copywriter, what makes good copy. However, the book is more of a basic guide than a handbook: anyone who wants to learn how to write (better) copy will find one or two valuable tips here, but there are books that are better suited to this.
Winter's opus offers a comprehensive overview: starting with the question of what a copywriter actually is and does, through technical and strategic skills to looking beyond the end of one's nose. This book is therefore aimed at anyone interested in copywriting. Be it because they write it themselves or because they have it written (for themselves or their clients).
The second, expanded edition weighs an impressive 1.4 kilograms. Nevertheless, the book is not heavy fare. The essays are comprehensible, entertaining and in some cases brilliantly written. Particularly recommended are "Wie der alte Mann zum Regenschirm kam" by Armin Reims (the author of "Mörderfackel"), "Der Texter als Ideen-Lieferant" by Sebastian Turner (Scholz & Friends) and "Alles neu, alles anders?" by Anette Scholz (Scholz & Volkmer). The compulsory material is not exactly cheap, but well worth the price. The only fly in the ointment is the lack of a bibliography.
(Copywriter with entry in the professional register)
> Handbook of advertising copy by Jörn Winter. Deutscher Fachverlag, Frankfurt am Main 2004. 450 pages, 115 francs.
Too bad for the creative potential: Some agencies simply leave their copywriters hanging.
Roger Hausmann

Triple Play The Competition Commission (ComCo) has approved Swisscom's acquisition of a stake in film rights marketer Cinetrade without imposing any conditions. According to a press release, the indications of the creation or strengthening of a dominant market position, which the ComCo identified in November, have not been confirmed in the in-depth review - neither in the market for pay-TV nor for the acquisition of first broadcasting rights to film and sports broadcasts.

Sanitary facilities GFS Communications flushes the Balena name and presents the shower toilet under the Geberit brand. Since January 2005, Balena shower toilets have been offered uniformly throughout Europe under the Geberit brand. Since the end of February, a new TV commercial from GFS Communications has also been running on this topic, following on from the flowery promises of cleanliness thanks to the WC duck, another major offensive for more hygiene in the loo has been launched. What both campaigns have in common is that they have not shamefacedly banished their advertising to the quiet little room, but have realized it stylishly for viewing in the living room.
While Pius Walker works with artistic image manipulation for his duck, St. Gallen-based GFS Communications aims to achieve a similarly hygienically packaged effect with the stylistic device of action.
"Everyone has probably had the urgent feeling of needing to relieve themselves," believe Dani Egger and Andreas Felder at GFS. When using a shower toilet, however, inveterate wet-sitters are picky. This is not an advertising exaggeration, but a fact: customer surveys conducted by Geberit Balena AG confirm that shower toilet users no longer want to do without this convenience. Cleaning with water and the good feeling of complete cleanliness "seem to have a certain addictive potential," says Marketing Manager Sabine Widmann.
Together with Zurich-based film production company Beck & Friends, GFS Communications has now packaged this initial situation into a commercial concept with a built-in surprise effect. It begins with a romantic tête-à-tête in a restaurant, turns into an action sequence when the protagonist Milena sets off on a sprint through the whole city, and ends in a chamber play with a psychologically relieving catharsis when Milena is able to open the door to her own shower toilet at home in front of the audience.
The studio recordings took place at Swissstudio in Bürglen and the outdoor recordings in a friendly atmosphere at various locations in Barcelona.
Vizeum's media planning department booked airtime for the spot for several weeks on SF 1, SF 2 and RTL Switzerland.
Phew, that's going to be close: despite having to urinate, the lady in the GFS Communications commercial walks miles for her shower toilet.

Andreas Panzeri

Car Not for a crash test, but to attract attention to Renault's stand at the Geneva Motor Show, the creative minds at Zurich-based Publicis covered the outside of a bus with "mattresses" and "cushions", using the padded bus to highlight the French car manufacturer's ever-improving safety standards and its model range, which is by far the largest and safest in Europe.

Advertising market In February, the Publicitas index fell by 0.2 points to 94.2 points. It has been stuck between 94 and 94.4 points since October, and the fact that there are no votes at national level is having a negative impact on occasional ads in the daily press, Publicitas comments. In addition, commercial advertising is not receiving sufficient impetus despite the economic growth.

Travel The Manta Reisen campaign shows diving vacation expertise - without dream beaches. Palm trees and coral reefs don't always have to advertise travel providers in exotic destinations. Especially not after the catastrophic seaquake in the Indian Ocean. Due to the high level of concern among the population, many tour operators and airlines have removed such clichéd images from their advertising, but it is difficult to attract attention to vacation paradises with other images. After all, the escape from everyday life thrives on emotional images. To publicize the new program offered by the Swiss market leader for underwater paradises and the Maldives, the agency Inhalt & Form appealed to both target groups "above" and "under water" in a playful way that is unusual for the travel industry: with a drinking straw as the ad subject.
Depending on how you look at it, it changes into a different symbol. The copy provides information about where and how you can experience the blue wonder: Be it dream vacations where you can "indulge yourself endlessly" and "toast to a new time of enjoyment", be it eventful diving vacations. The specialist with the manta ray as its logo is recommended in the public and Sunday press as well as in the specialist media for both types of vacation.
Sea slurped up: Manta ad by the agency Inhalt & Form.
Luca Aloisi