Insurance One like no other: Saatchi & Saatchi Simko Geneva has focused on the individual for Vaudoise. "We are all different from one another, which is why we should also be individually insured." This insight is the basic human idea behind a new commercial for Vaudoise. Saatchi & Saatchi Simko has developed a new communication positioning to better differentiate their insurance from their competitors. This is intended to present Vaudoise as a "partner for personalized solutions". We all live differently, we all have a different risk awareness, we have neither the same projects nor the same needs ... And yet insurance companies, car manufacturers, banks and yoghurt producers continue to offer us standardized products.
But not Vaudoise. To illustrate this eulogy to uniqueness, the agency decided on a trick:
A rupture between two worlds is staged. In the same situation, a person is figuratively transformed into a different individual thanks to a film trick. A young man becomes an older gentleman, a certain type of woman suddenly becomes another.
In order to find an external framework for this other world, the spot was filmed for four days in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
was filmed. It was directed by the Belgian Xavier Mairesse for the production company Keyline. The commercial will be broadcast in Switzerland in three languages. A print version is also being developed.
Vaudoise in figuresThe Vaudoise Insurance Group has annual premium income of CHF 1.8 billion and 1,300 employees in 34 branches. It is one of the ten most important insurers in Switzerland and wants to grow, especially in German-speaking Switzerland. In February, it acquired the motor vehicle, property insurance and liability business of La Suisse. In return, the occupational pensions portfolio went to Swiss Life.
One scene, two people: Saatchi & Saatchi Simko brings individuality into the picture.
Andreas Panzeri

Competitions The jury in Berlin has decided which 100 posters from over 1100 submissions are among the best from Germany, Austria and Switzerland.5 designers from the neighboring country to the east and 73 from the north are up against 22 successful Swiss submissions. Among these award winners are Brugger Hüsser, Zurich; École d'arts appliqués, Geneva; maatjesdesign, Zurich; Niklaus Troxler, Willisau; P'INC, Langenthal; Ruf Lanz, Zurich; Silo, Lucerne; Sputnik Steinemann, Lucerne; Studio Geissbühler, Zurich; TGG Hafen Senn Stieger, St.Gallen; Wirz Werbung, Zurich; Silvia Hugi, Bern; Melchior Imboden, Buochs; Sonja Jenni, Lucerne; Claude Kuhn, Bern; Michael Sigrist, Lucerne; Annik Troxler, Paula Troxler, Willisau.

Fashion Big only dresses young women. Ruf Lanz shows how the envy of the stronger sex can blossom: stagnation is deadly. Fashion requires constant change, without which it would lose acceptance among the target audience. After all, only what sets its wearer apart from everyone else can be fashionable. Just like the rule of constantly changing product aesthetics and sensuality, continuous brand positioning is indispensable in the marketing communication of fashion chains. The Zurich girlie fashion chain Big seems to understand this literally. Since 1997, its owner Sylvie Gablinger has commissioned the creative duo Ruf Lanz to design and implement the advertising for the six stores, which are located in close proximity to international fashion houses for similar audiences.
What H&M, Yendi, Tally Weill, Orsay, Mango and others achieve with advertising print, international top models or permanent discounting for differentiation, awareness and store frequency, Big can only do with unusual fashion advertising. The result: while others are content to present a nicely dressed, "sometimes even a nicely undressed model", according to Markus Ruf, with the latest collection on her body, Danielle Lanz and he try to dramatize the effect of Big fashion: be it with the help of horrified parents, neglected poodles and men who are always entranced. In the 04 campaign, muscle-bound machos were seen dreamily ironing skimpy briefs or even sewing on wafer-thin undergarments.
Everyone wants to be a womanFor the current year, the agency is consistently going one step further and showing what is probably the most unusual implementation to date. Building on the basic idea that big fashion is very attractive but only for girls, the logical conclusion seems to be that everyone wants to be a woman. "We show handsome boys in a plastic surgeon's clinic with the typical surgical marks on their bodies," explains Danielle Lanz. They are about to undergo gender reassignment surgery to become women.
The solution: Big Girls' fashion. Who wouldn't want to be a woman? The beauty craze, which is once again being addressed more frequently by the media, serves as an attention-grabbing motif that is supposed to be professionally staged in a beauty clinic. With its cool aesthetic, the poster campaign is also in line with the trend of booming series about cosmetic surgery such as "Nip/Tuck", according to the creatives.
Gender change, but subito: Since Big only attracts women, men have no other choice.

Some men have a problem with the fact that Big only attracts women. Thanks to Ruf Lanz, there is a solution >> page 11
Luca Aloisi

Technologie Felber, Kristofori Group shows where and how Siemens Switzerland is behind many everyday conveniences.
An X-ray system in a hospital, the conveyor system for luggage at the airport, the radio network for lifesavers in the mountains, the guidance system for Bahn 2000 in Bern, the air conditioning system in the Masoala Hall at Zurich Zoo, a multimedia telephone for the deaf, robots for logistics in a Migros restaurant: the innovative power of Siemens is behind countless achievements. In 1847, Werner von Siemens developed the pointer telegraph in Berlin, laying the foundations for a global company that is now a leader in electrical engineering and electronics.
Largest high-tech providerThe international company has also had a presence here in Switzerland for over 100 years. With 20 locations for research, production and marketing, Siemens is the largest high-tech employer in Switzerland. With an image campaign, the Zurich agency Felber, Kristofori Group wants to remind us once again what Siemens means for the technical quality of our everyday lives in a wide variety of areas.
"We want our target groups to recognize that Siemens is a global leader in electrical engineering and electronics that deserves the 'Made in Switzerland' seal of quality thanks to its approximately 7,000 Swiss employees," explains CD Rudy Felber.
At Siemens, the principle that developers should always think of people and their needs first when it comes to innovations is ironclad. The agency also wants to prove this maxim in its image campaign with meaningful references.
The image campaign makes it clear that Siemens in Switzerland
is a company that offers innovative solutions in completely different areas that ensure a better quality of life. Thanks to "our" radio systems from Siemens, emergency services can communicate with each other at any time, thanks to "our" baggage sorting system, travelers at Zurich Airport can check in later, thanks to "our" logistics concepts, people are supplied with fresh products faster, thanks to "our" traffic control systems, trains run faster and more often.
With these and other themes of the new campaign, Felber, Kristofori Group wants to bring technical innovations into everyday life and show that Siemens Switzerland is a "local network of innovation. And will remain so."
The offensive is pursuing several goals: Siemens is to be positioned as a company that develops solutions and manufactures products that focus on customer benefits. "We want to make a name for ourselves as a company that takes its economic and social responsibility seriously with innovative solutions," said Charles Breitenfellner, who has overall responsibility on the customer side. Siemens wants to portray itself as a company "that sets trends with new technologies and thus creates added value for the economy and society".
Siemens wants to appear likeableThe agency has implemented this by creating the image of a company "that reaches people's hearts with its services and thus wins their sympathy". Siemens is an innovation leader on the Swiss market that puts its solutions at the service of people. As one of the largest industrial companies, Siemens takes its social responsibility seriously and is committed to improving quality of life. "The new campaign radiates humanity and reliability, thereby gaining sympathy for the company. However, the emotions should be rationally comprehensible," says AD Robert Kristofori.
The campaign's target group is strategic decision-makers and opinion leaders. This campaign reaches its target audience in various ways: Advertisements in the daily and business press, airport posters, posters, postcards.
Watch out: At Siemens, people's needs trigger technical innovations.
Andreas Panzeri

Webpublishing Future Connection was the first Swiss web and multimedia service provider to be certified in accordance with ISO9001:2000 as part of the TQMi project. The cross-company, integrated management systems include customers, suppliers, employees and other stakeholders in the processes and are intended to control the quality of the company's activities. Following the 2000 revision, the certification of management systems according to ISO9001 is now more practice-oriented and less bureaucratic than before. ISO 9001:2000 is the only ISO-certifiable standard for quality management systems. www.fconnection.com

Standardization Burki & Scherer is working with print shops to introduce the ISO 12647 standard, and a job is to be produced on a printing press. But even after hours of fine-tuning, the print result does not come close to the color reference proof. The result is perplexed faces and disappointment on the part of the advertiser and customer as well as a dissatisfied printer. Unfortunately, this is not a rare scenario - nor should it be. Standardized production, for example in accordance with ISO standard 12647 (see box), puts an end to this dilemma.
ISO standard versus in-house standardThe visual communication and media technology company Burki & Scherer AG in Oftringen has been working intensively on this topic for almost two years. They know from experience that the majority of print shops today work according to their own, so-called in-house standards. Although this leads to a more or less good control of the processes within the company, it is based on the fallacy that the print results meet absolute quality standards.
Another practical example: partial print runs are printed at different locations for an international campaign. In the end, the customer receives as many different print results as there were print shops involved in the execution. However, none of the contractors involved can provide clear proof that they have produced according to generally recognized and valid rules. This is where it becomes obvious that in-house standards are not enough.
Black art or quality? if the printing industry wants to take the step towards industrialization, it must abandon the idea that it has to continue the legacy of "black art". In view of the internationalization of competition, appropriate measures must be taken not only at an operational level. It is also necessary to take steps to rationalize the understanding of quality and to develop a basis of proof that will lead to the speedy processing of print orders on the one hand, and provide advertising agencies, print shops and customers with the certainty of reproducible and repeatable results on the other. For this reason, a generally applicable standard is desirable that provides clear guidelines from the reproduction of originals and the production of proofs to plate exposure and the printing process.
For the graphic arts industry, this standard is called ISO 12647 and was developed by the German Federal Printing Association, the German research association Fogra, the European Color Initiative ECI and the Swiss competence center for printing technology Ugra. The standard is based on the result on the printing press and defines the press-specific dot gain and the color space to be reproduced, depending on different paper classes (qualities/substance classes, P-quality). These predefined key data provide prepress, proofing, plate exposure and the print shop with an absolutely reliable basis for communication.
Cooperation with print shopsBurki & Scherer sees measurable quality as a holistic process. In order to meet this requirement right through to the printed end product, the prepress company seeks cooperation with print shops that have also aligned their processes with the ISO standard. The Oftring-based image specialists provide the print shops with their know-how and experience in implementing the standard. With specially developed control wedges, they also provide an incorruptible means of quickly detecting deviations from target values visually and verifying them metrologically. At the same time, the company acts as a "trustee" for its customers and monitors strict compliance with the process standard - from the production of the image data to the completed order.
Several print shops have already successfully introduced the standard with the support of Burki & Scherer. Ultimately, the customer benefits because both nationally and internationally active companies can be certain that the printed matter produced at different locations supports the uniform appearance of their brand - and that this is both visually visible and measurably verifiable.
No need to voteWW Mr. Scherer, what does ISO standard 12647 stand for?
Toni Scherer The ISO standard describes a globally recognized standard for the printing process and assumes the function of a means of proof; the colour reference proof is achieved on every printing press that produces within the standard.
Who benefits from the standard - and how is it accepted in Switzerland? Both the graphic arts industry and clients benefit from this standardization. Almost every industry worldwide works according to an ISO standard - the need for this ISO standard is finally being recognized in the Swiss printing industry.
Are other countries ahead of us here? In Germany, the ISO standard has long since been introduced. Here's an impressive example: a well-known car brand only places its print orders with selected print shops that work according to this standard. As a result, this leads to increased production reliability, improved quality and cost-effectiveness for both the client and the agency and print shop.
What is your goal and how do you intend to proceed? ISO standard 12647 must be implemented throughout the industry. We will continue to support print shops with the introduction of the standard and ensure compliance with the standard throughout the entire printing process for our customers. Regardless of whether printed matter is produced locally or partial runs are distributed worldwide, the print results must be measurably identical. This also eliminates the need for time-consuming and nonsensical coordination on the printing press. Interview: Jürg Marti
Burki & Scherer was one of the first prepress companies in Switzerland to introduce the ISO standard. The 25-strong company's customers include companies from the watchmaking industry, the food sector, the machine industry and advertising agencies. For almost two years now, production has been consistently in accordance with the ISO 12647 standard. The company's expertise begins in its own photo studio and ranges from the preparation of image data to advice on plate exposure and production of the print shops involved in order processing. (jm)
Printing standard The ISO 12647 standard is a globally binding standard for assessing print products according to objective quality criteria. This leads to a simple and economical overall process in print reproduction. The standard ensures a rational and reliable working method in the triangular relationship between agency, prepress and printing, as a corresponding proof is achieved on every printing press that produces within the standard. It is a benchmark and an instrument of proof in the production of printed matter. (jm)
Toni Scherer, owner and Managing Director at Burki & Scherer, is pushing the printing process in accordance with ISO 12647.
Jürg Marti

Local TV The Hersant media group wants to acquire at least 35 percent of the Geneva television station Léman Bleu (LB), Hersant delegate Jacques Richard told Le Temps, saying that publisher Philippe Hersant had met with LB president Antoni Mayer. Mayer has been entrusted by the Bianco family with the sale of their 30 percent stake. According to Le Temps, the LB shareholders, which also include Edipresse, have a right of first refusal.

When someone like Thomas Ramseier goes into business for himself, he doesn't fire off a quick shot; he makes a well-considered move. When someone like that also chooses the notorious Kurt W. Zimmermann as his office partner, you can almost speak of a system. And when the two of them finally invite each other to the official opening of the office space, the guest list presents itself as a kind of "little industry who's who". After all, both Thomi and Zimmi are more than blessed with excellent connections in the communications, media and business world.
Every guest entering the premises at Scheuchzerstrasse 64 (opposite In-Beiz Kreis 6) in the university quarter quickly realized that no small buns would be baked in future. The offices of Brandpulse (and Zimmermann!), which were remodeled under the direction of interior designer Claudia Silberschmidt, clearly exude a highly executive atmosphere - just like the company sign. Ramseier wants to position himself in the top league of communications consulting. And he seems to know how to achieve this. (Quote from Ramseier when inviting the shortlist author by telephone: "The usual binge drinkers will all be there at the opening.")
It goes without saying that only the most explosive atmosphere and thick air could prevail. Many a guest greeted the event with a bottle of champagne or prosecco loaded to the brim, and the
Media analyst Zimmermann generously distributed fog bombs (Partagas Series D No. 4) created an enjoyable atmosphere to soak in.
Everyone had a great time and everyone was already looking forward to the office community's next party. Some of those who seemed to be in the know already reported that they would certainly be able to indulge in even more luxury on Scheuchzerstrasse in the future.
But only if they are invited back - and business is definitely developing positively. Good luck there anyway, Brandpulse and Zimmi!
Beat Fritschat one of the favorite pastimes of advertisers and other communicators - smoking cigars. There was plenty of opportunity to do so at the official office opening of Thomas Ramseier's company Brandpulse in Zurich's university quarter. And as journalist and PR consultant Kurt W. Zimmermann is also based in the same premises at Scheuchzerstrasse 64, the freshly renovated offices will have plenty of smokers - as well as a well-stocked humidor - for the time being.
Good-humored hosts in the new Brandpulse offices: Thomas Ramseier (right) and Kurt W. Zimmermann.
Delighted with the cigar fans in attendance: Reto Cina (right), Oettinger Davidoff Group, and Romeo Brodmann from Cigar magazine.

Unequal brothers at the Brandpulse opening aperitif: Frank Seelig (l.) from Smart Books and Ralf Seelig, CEO of Sindovis.

Enjoying the canapés in the meeting room: Consultant Peter W. Bächtiger (left) and APG Sales Manager Ivan Schultheiss.

The dear planners, always up for a joke: Simon Walter (l.), Planning Director at Wirz, and Cary Steinmann from TBWA.

Placed in the same photo thanks to a little persuasion: SonntagsZeitung editor-in-chief Andreas Durisch (left) and Jürg Wildberger.

Tagi publishing director Maili Wolf was joined by magazine editor-in-chief Res Strehle (right) and media lawyer Christoph Born.

Futurecom CEO Andreas Widmer (l.), Claudia Stülten, Communications Manager Zurich Financial Services, and architect Egon Meier.

Peter Hofstetter and partner Cornelia Kristoffy brought champagne as a gift for their colleagues Zimmermann and Ramseier.

Jackie Wenger, akissforthefrog.com, interior designer Claudia Silberschmidt and Katja Immendorf, designer at Brandpulse (from left).

Good acquaintances from the wide world of banking: Markus Witta from CSFB and consultant Patricia Turk, Headaway & Stone.

Even more bankers: Robert Hangartner (l.), Head of Marketing at Bank Linth, and Thomas Tanner, Brand Management at UBS.

Daniel Kaczynski, Managing Director of VSP, gives Thomi's family a warm welcome: mommy Anita Ramseier (l.) and wife Barbara Ryffel Ramseier.

Jolanda and Dominique von Matt, advertising agency Jung von Matt/Limmat, also came to the university quarter for a quick flying visit.

Hans Klaus has opened a branch office for Wirz Corporate in Bern and wants to be close to politics there.his trademark is cowboy boots. "So old-fashioned that they're almost back in fashion," the creative minds at Wirz Advertising sometimes smile. Hans Klaus has the archaic foot tools for a confident appearance sent to him from his personal supplier in the USA. Somehow, the new man for Wirz in Zurich and Berne has to come to terms with the fact that he spent the most formative time of his life in the land of opportunity. Two days a week on a short trip somewhere in the world, then a whole year in Halifax and across America - that was Hans Klaus' workplace when he worked as a media spokesman for the former Swissair.
"At the center of power": this phrase also elicits a smile from Hans Klaus when he is asked about his time as an advisor to Federal Councillor Ruth Metzler. He had to be elected by the entire Federal Council and the job at the FDJP was actually a step up from Swissair. Being up close and personal with all the decisions - as well as on state visits to Africa, Asia and the USA - hardly made it any easier for the communications expert than it was for his boss when the Metzler era and its formula were demystified.
What now? "This situation was one of the most difficult I have ever experienced professionally." Continuing to communicate for Christoph Blocher in Bern "would not have been particularly credible". And going back to an ordinary company didn't seem very appealing. Hans Klaus finally found a new challenge at Wirz. "The creative spirit of the largest independent communications agency in Switzerland, successful advertising, a PR department with potential, a leading brand identity department, well-known clients from all sectors - it's a very exciting structure." And Klaus now feels challenged again.
It was his suggestion that Wirz Corporate could expand to Bern. "There's a lot going on in Bern in terms of communication, and we want to take advantage of that." Since January 20, 2005, the Wirz Corporate branch has been offering its expertise in the field of communication for politics, administration and companies from Bern and French-speaking Switzerland. The second key employee is Susanne Aebersold, former spokesperson and head of national referendum campaigns for the FDJP. "We want to offer less lobbying and public affairs in the traditional sense, but see our strengths in awareness-raising and referendum campaigns as well as advising politicians and the administration."
For the time being, the small branch office is mainly occupied during session times and is located on Hallerstrasse in a shared office with the AMG law practice of Ruth Metzler's husband Lukas. The lawyers enjoy reciprocal rights for their Zurich branch at Wirz on Üetlibergstrasse. Klaus, who is responsible for Wirz's Bern office, will also be offering his experience in crisis communication and crisis management at Wirz Corporate's headquarters.
In the area of crisis management, Klaus has developed an audit tool for Wirz that stands out because of its "somewhat cheeky nature. We don't talk down to our customers, but confront them with their problems and warn them where necessary." Especially in a crisis, such an "unvarnished second opinion" is sometimes needed.
Hans Klaus came into the consulting business via a winding path. He started out as a textile merchant. He was soon managing PR and advertising for a large fashion company. After professional detours to England and the USA, he switched completely to PR. In a small agency on Lake Zurich, the qualified PR consultant and marketing planner managed mandates for luxury goods and tourism. He later worked for the SIS financial group. Klaus soon became Head of Public Relations and worked for the clearing company for almost a year at SICOVAM on the Paris stock exchange. While working on registered shares, Klaus, who had since trained in the world of finance, met the CFO of Swissair.
His first job at the national airline in 1994 was in charge of PR for a spin-off of the IT subsidiary Swissair Information Systems and he later headed up communications for all Swissair Services operations such as ground services, technology, aircraft leasing and associated companies. This earned him a call to join Beatrice Tschanz's legendary press team.
When it happened with Halifax, there was not much discussion. The tasks were distributed at a hastily convened morning meeting and Klaus had to fly off to Canada just two hours later. There and in the USA, he was responsible for crisis communication at Swiss-
air for the whole of North America and occasionally accompanied relatives to the crash site. "That's when I got to know the American dimensions of PR. And all this 'on the job'," he recalls. Back in Zurich, Klaus was appointed media spokesman for Swissair Airline and looked after CEO Jeff Katz before applying for the position of press officer for Federal Councillor Ruth Metzler six months before the grounding.
He really enjoyed working in the team of the youngest female Federal Councillor. Klaus is convinced that Ruth Metzler's merits will also be better appreciated by her opponents in a few years' time. The political "big picture" would not have allowed an objective assessment of the Federal Councillor at the time. Klaus considers himself politically liberal. He wants to work as a PR consultant for various political colors and not actively participate in a party. However, he could well imagine taking up a political office one day.
The new member of the Wirz Corporate Executive Board lives with a consulting group manager from Wirz Advertising. Private life is much easier today than in the Swissair days, when traveling was the order of the day. But he still flies, now "hopefully more in gliders again", because Hans Klaus is also a passionate hobby pilot.
Feels challenged again at Wirz Corporate: Communications expert Hans Klaus.
Andreas Panzeri

Inkjet printing With the Stylus Photo R1800, Epson is launching a borderless photo printer on the market. Whether sheet or roll paper, velvet fine art or water color paper: the Epson R1800 can print on anything, even CDs or DVD blanks. Exhibition-quality art prints are also possible with the R1800. With tiny ink droplets, the Epson Stylus Photo R1800 brings the finest details and perfectly graduated transitions to paper in a print resolution of up to 5760 x 1440 optimized dpi. www.epson.ch

TV advertising With the aim of making TV advertising even more attractive, Publisuisse launched the TV commercial quiz publiQuiz on March 7 in the commercial breaks of SF DRS, TSR and TSI, in which a well-known TV commercial is described in one sentence and viewers have the opportunity to guess the correct product or brand from four given answers. The quiz is hosted in German-speaking Switzerland by Mascha Santschi. The prize in the March round is a trendy Seat Toledo Reference 1.6. This new form of advertising offers prize sponsors attractive appearances at attractive prices. "Without additional production costs, prize sponsors have a national presence in a positive game situation," Publisuisse advertises. This idea was developed to mark the 40th anniversary of TV advertising and also offers advertising customers interesting opportunities to win. Click on publiQuiz at www.publisuisse.ch for more information.

Banks GE Money Bank brashly predicts a new era for Swiss retail banking. They are often seen as a litmus test for the attractiveness of the Swiss financial center: the approximately 150 foreign banks. Since March 2, this number has risen by another mark. With GE Money Bank, a new brand has entered the Swiss banking market with big plans. Unlike most foreign banks, which are primarily active in wealth management for private clients, securities trading or corporate finance, the American bank sees its future in Switzerland in the private client business. "GE has already been successfully active in retail banking in Switzerland for years with a specialized range of products such as private financing, leasing and deposits. GE Money Bank is continuing this successful strategy and expanding its focus to a broader customer base and new services," says Ulrike Guigui, Managing Director of GE Money Bank.
Close to people
After rebranding as GE Money Bank, the next step is to conquer the Swiss retail market. "Because Swiss bank customers are particularly demanding," explains Caspar Coppetti, strategist at Advico Young & Rubicam, the advertising agency responsible, "we had to develop a completely new communication platform for Swiss customers". The central concern was to do justice to the bank's innovative products and services with a correspondingly independent appearance. "We wanted to create a new banking world: Close to people and forward-looking," explains Coppetti.
Advico Young & Rubicam has been working closely with the management of GE Money Bank on the strategy since 2003. Advico Young & Rubicam designed the implementation across all disciplines together with its sister agencies Wunderman, Futurecom and Burson-Marsteller from the Young & Rubicam Brands Group.
There were two starting points for the attack on the Swiss banking market: the competition and the customers. Market research showed that the typical bank is perceived by the Swiss as an ossified institution that would have little innovation in store for its ordinary customers apart from fee increases. At the same time, the surveys showed that there is growing resistance to this imbalance of power on the part of customers. In May 2004, the study "Swiss banking in 2010" by management service provider Accenture and the Institute for Banking and Finance at the University of St. Gallen came to similar conclusions.
Among other things, it stated that the price, the product
innovation while streamlining the product range and continuity of service will become increasingly important as competitive factors. The risk of losing customers will not lie in the termination of the overall relationship, but in the migration of individual customers, among other things.
Innovative banking communicationThis is GE Money Bank's opportunity. With innovative and needs-oriented products, it wants to appeal to the broad consumer group that is not interested in either the big banks or the retail banks.
regional banks. "GE Money Bank is for an up-and-coming urban audience that wants to realize its own plans far away from convention," says Coppetti. "These people are looking for a bank that can keep up with their pace of life."
For the launch of GE Money Bank, the team led by CD Urs Schrepfer, AD Roland Scotoni and copywriter Martin Stulz developed a new type of banking communication. Roland Scotoni explains: "This generation of customers doesn't want paternalism or artificial hurdles, but a personal bank that is on their side." The campaign is based on consumers' perception that time seems to have stood still at many Swiss banks. "In a comparison of then and now, of old and new thinking, we show how much things have changed everywhere," explains Scotoni, "and thus ask our future customers why they are still using yesterday's banking services."
Changed banking businessThis was implemented with a five-day TV spot teaser that used an alarm clock to announce the shake-up of the banking market: "Hey, the world is changing. GE Money Bank". The alarm clock can also be seen in the first product spot that follows the teaser: When the father presents his old car to his son, who has come of age, as a valuable heirloom, the alarm clock promptly rings. The world is changing, today anyone can drive a new car, because GE Money Bank is offering a special leasing offer at 4.9 percent for the Geneva Motor Show.
The print campaigns also work with this juxtaposition of old and new thinking. In the leasing area, GE Money Bank uses classic and modern cars to show how much things have changed. In the campaign for equipment financing, the change is illustrated using design classics. With the basic mechanism "Hey, the world is changing", GE Money encourages potential customers to change too: by choosing a new, contemporary bank. Ulrike Guigui comments: "The saying 'Hey, the world is changing' also applies to the banking business. We can offer customers a range of services developed on the basis of internationally proven expertise, which is geared towards the best service, innovative offers and security for the customer."
AY&R is setting the pace: time stands still at some banks, but not at GE Money Bank.
In the TV spot teaser: an alarm clock is supposed to shake up the Swiss banking market.
The new product spot signals the constant change.
Luca Aloisi