Magazines On April 7, 2005, the news magazine Facts is celebrating its tenth birthday. A four-color advertising page will be offered to all (still existing) customers of the first edition from 1995 for 8100 francs net. Other advertisers will pay a flat rate of 10,000 instead of the standard rate of 1,830 francs. 40 pages have already been reserved or booked, according to Sandro Rüegger, Head of Advertising Market Magazines. In addition, the print run will be increased to 120,000 copies, and the first decade of the news magazine will be continued in a knowledge game in the ten follow-up issues to the anniversary issue. The presenting partner of this "very tricky quiz" (Rüegger), in which questions from all Facts departments are posed on two pages, is a major Swiss bank. The main prize of the quiz, devised by the Festland agency, is fund shares worth a total of CHF 40,000.
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Marketer Intermag is now representing the publishers of Spiegel and Manager Magazin in French-speaking Switzerland, adding KulturSpiegel, UniSpiegel and Harvard Businessmanager to the portfolio of the Publicitas subsidiary specializing in lifestyle and news magazines.

Succession Until the RTVG is in place, Radio Sunshine is on stand-by.Markus Ruoss had received over a dozen purchase or cooperation offers for his Radio Sunshine by the end of November, but he has now rejected all but three. He won't say who is still in the running. In addition, he has suspended all negotiations anyway because he wants to wait for the RTVA, but he says he is keeping three other options open beyond the three offers: a management buyout, a "Central Switzerland version" and "everything stays the same". The last option, he notes in a letter to Werbewoche, would require a new business plan and a relocation.
Regarding the "Central Switzerland version", he only briefly specifies: "At least produce and market the programs centrally". The plural form is interesting! Is he considering cooperation or even merger talks with Radio Central and/or Pilatus?
This would not be far-fetched, as the three radios' broadcasting areas are almost identical, the music formats of Sunshine and Central at least are similar and the economic situation is no easier. Ruoss also feels the latter, although he emphasizes that he is in no way under economic pressure. However, he adds that he would like to see "significantly better results" in order to be able to invest in his "product".
How are the competitors reacting? At Pilatus, Managing Director Joachim Freiberg could not be reached by the editorial deadline. And at Central, Alfons Spirig said that he had already had similar thoughts: "Ruoss and I are certainly talking to each other." The talks have not progressed as far as the Sunshine boss suggested. There has also been no three-way deal with Pilatus so far.
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Fashion With as much care and love as the sought-after fashion photographer Terry Richardson drapes his bunnies in front of the lens, model Sandy H. raises her royal poodles in the family circle. 16-year-old stud with doe eyes and a plump mouth betrays her upper-class origins in the grace of her lascivious poses. Sandy's weakness for pink, which even her pedigree dogs are allowed to share, is also no secret: for the day of the shoot, which coincidentally coincided with the covering of her beloved Gwendy Fleur de Cerise, Sandy chose a light Sisley fumble for herself and the champion Korsaro de Papillon for Gwendy's litter. A dream pair, she enthuses. When asked if her love of animals wasn't taking on somewhat grotesque traits, the look in her eyes only expresses pity and the photographer enthusiastically presses the shutter release.
She explains that her cuddly pets should be as fluffy as her favorite clothes. And so we are not surprised when Sandy reveals her biggest secret: "I have a tattoo of Gwendy as a puppy on my left breast, at heart level." We would never have dared to doubt her sense of style or Richardson's photography skills.
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Although spring - at least in terms of the calendar - shouldn't be long in coming, last week was dominated by snow and ice, and we were almost snowed in at the beginning of the week when we visited the Central Switzerland Advertising Club in Lucerne. The journey from the train station to the Adagio venue had to be made in the thickest snow flurries. A lecture on the fusion of media, information technology and telecommunications had been announced with speaker Ueli Weber, Managing Director of Publicitas Web Services. He managed to convey the rather dry topic well in an entertaining presentation.
Things were also icy at Design Foto in Basel. Under the motto Cool Pictures, Sabina Kocherhans invited guests to the St. Jakob Arena, where the men of EHC Basel usually skate across the smooth ice. And on a side note: perhaps even in the National League A next year, which would be highly desirable, as this would at least allow the Zurich team to adequately return the favor on the ice for various humiliations on the football pitch. The reason for the design photo party was, on the one hand, the one and a half year anniversary and, on the other, the owner simply wanted to say thank you to all her customers and friends.
Finally, the Red Bull Hike & Ride Night, long awaited by all snow fans, concluded the event. Six two-man combos of snowboard and free-ski pros as well as a public team compete for the audience's favor. They spent three days in the Bernese Oberland to shoot a ready-made video clip in just 72 hours, which was judged by the audience at the Hike & Ride Night. The winning prize at the hot party in the EWZ substation in Selnau went to
the two US free ski legends Shane McConkey and Chris Davenport ahead of Team Switzerland with Dany Kistler and snowboard event entrepreneur Daniel Costandaché.
The Red Bull Hike & Ride, although actually a pure PR event, was extremely well received by the mostly young guests. Only the queue at the entrance, or rather the somewhat unfortunate
Entry management (it was said that all ski and chairlifts in Switzerland were faster) was criticized. Because it was also snowing in Zurich, and a stiff, icy breeze was blowing through the air.
Beat Fritsch operated almost all over Switzerland last week. He traveled to Lucerne to the Central Switzerland Advertising Club, where he gave a talk on the Internet at Club Adagio - with aperitifs, of course. In Basel, the company Design Foto invited advertisers and marketing people to a photo vernissage with a big party in the St. Jakob Arena ice stadium, and in Zurich, snowboarders rounded off the weekend at the Red Bull Hike & Ride with hot films and a party.
WCZ President Gyula Sövegjarto, speaker Ueli Weber, Managing Director of P-Webservices, and Lex Ambühl, Simakom (from left).
Internet enthusiasts: Nicole Krummenacher from Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Markus Kaufmann, Lowa, and Andrea Schilter from Swidro (from left).
Table neighbors: Kurt Vogt (l.), former Vice Director of Publicitas Lucerne, with Margrit and Theo von Moos from the advertising agency Theo d'Or.
Advertising Club board member Ivo Knüsel (l.) and Bruno Birrer, a Simakom graduate, enjoying a well-earned beer after work.
Good acquaintances: Christa Sövegjarto-Steger (left), wife of the WCZ President, with Sandra Kilchmann, Product Manager at Insider Verlag.
Made a pilgrimage to Lucerne especially for the WCZ: René Renggli (left) from Beobachter and Josef Nietlispach, agency manager at Search.ch.
Aperitif time: Alain Martinet (l.), Head of Sales at Webstyle, and Markus Gähwiler from Audatex Systems at the Adagio Bar.
Adrian Imbach from KK Xundheit, Sabine Sergio, Biogen Dompe, and Sylvia Hueber from the advertising agency Touch Design (from left).
Happy: Fabienne Hunziker from ANA Marketing & Communication with Sasha Geritsen and Sonja Honauer from Screenimage (from left).
Great party launched: Daniel Kallay (l.), General Manager at Red Bull, and event mastermind Manuel Nappo.
Jennifer Best, Marcom Manager at Apple Switzerland, with Jürg Oetterli, designer of the Hike & Ride prize treasure chests.
Snöber-Chicks in a party frenzy: Gabi Koller, Nicole Steinegger from Cinecom and Tanja Flütsch from Red Bull (from left) with Cüplis.
Host Sabina Kocherhans with Karlfrieder Fuchs (l.) and Thomas Schönenberger from Coop Marketing Services.
Urs Kofmel (right) from Coop looked after the team from the Basel advertising agency Schenk, Müller & Partner.
André Hasse (l.) and Andrew Picker from Goldader Productions with Kathrin Beer from the agency IPW-Marketing.
The crowd of guests crowded onto the red carpet, which had exceptionally been laid over the ice of the St. Jakob Arena.
In the freezing cold: Roger Berthoud from Schneider Berthoud with Natascha Motsch from Puls and Kathrin Beer (from left).
Pascal Fischer (left), member of the Executive Board of IPW-Marketing, with the team from the Kohlenberg press office in Basel.
Star guests of the evening: Christina Surer-Bönzli and radio presenter and entertainer Jochen Kneifeld alias Heiner Knallinger.
Full throttle behind the bar: the two trendy barmen Seigi (left) from Soda and Bruno from B&G.
Enjoying the hot films at the Red Bull Snöber event: Daniela Bossard (l.), Tectron, and Sibylle Prestel, Primeur Public Relations.
Speaking: Bar legend Christian "Bossi" Bosshard (l.) with Lionel Vincent Baldenweg from outlet agency The GCGroup.
Director Daniel Cherbuin was taken to the EWZ by Jeannette Kuster of the Swiss family (because he was good).

Political advertising The National Council wants to give the parties free airtime on TV and radio before votes and, at the request of the Political Institutions Committee, has referred a proposal that aims to ensure the parties have a significant influence on the formation of public opinion. The Commission believes that this can be achieved without taxpayers' money by providing free one-minute spots for each parliamentary group in the Federal Assembly. It does not specify which broadcasters it has in mind.

Fundraising The Basel-based agency Favo has launched a fundraising campaign and a solidarity day for Unicef. Last summer, the Favo advertising agency worked with IMD, Lausanne, and Accenture to develop the future growth and donor strategy with and for Unicef Switzerland. Favo focused primarily on the topics of positioning, donor segmentation and new forms of donation generation. In December 2004, Unicef Switzerland once again entrusted Favo with two tasks. The classic spring 2005 campaign will focus on the issue of female genital mutilation. The second campaign launches 8 March as the new Unicef Solidarity Day for disadvantaged girls.Within Unicef, the individual country organizations act with a high degree of autonomy, particularly in the selection, planning and communication of projects that they initiate or support in individual countries.
As a first step for the Swiss campaigns, Favo has
developed a marketing plan that combines the PR measures and activities already initiated by Unicef with the new campaign goals and identifies possible strategic partnerships and project multipliers.
Symbols of solidarityThe aim of this campaign is to raise awareness of human rights violations in the form of genital mutilation of little girls and to generate donations for specific Unicef projects to combat this cruel ritual. The challenge was to show neither "blood" nor the traumatic situation of the victims and yet to trigger understanding and genuine outrage in the viewer - so that the desire arises to support the project work. Together they decided on the "tools" concept. The subjects form the advertising campaign in daily newspapers and magazines as well as the introduction to the
E-boards, cinema and TV commercials.
The second idea is for Unicef Switzerland to mark International Women's Day on March 8 as Girls' Day in future. An important element of this campaign is the symbol that will be worn every year from 2005 as a sign of solidarity on March 8. Favo has chosen a pearl and a shell as its symbol. These symbols are intended to trigger a positive feeling when viewed or worn. The pearl and shell can also serve as a small piece of jewelry on the lapel. It was therefore important to have this symbol available as a 3D pin within a few weeks. Favo was responsible for the entire project, from design to production and delivery.
Favo's fundraising campaign addresses the trauma of genital mutilation without chilling images, but is nevertheless emotionally moving.
Andreas Panzeri

Publishers Südostschweiz Presse AG has founded Südostschweiz Buchverlag. At the inauguration ceremony, publisher Hanspeter Lebrument said that in view of the increasing marginalization of Graubünden as a business location, the initiative to increase publishing activities had become a necessity. The canton in particular is massively hindering competition with its awarding practices in the printing and publishing sector (to external providers).

Food The Zurich branch of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide has won the PR account of Kraft Foods Switzerland, the biggest project being the launch of Tassimo, a new portion system for preparing various hot drinks. It will be launched at Coop, Carrefour and Interdiscount at the beginning of March. Ogilvy PR is also supporting the food group with the relaunch of the Suchard brand.

Picture agencies The Retna agency, founded in 1978 by photographer Michael Putland, has offices in New York and London and is now one of the world's largest independent picture agencies, offering portraits and pictures of celebrities and stars as well as stock images. New pictures from Retna are now also available at Keystone in Zurich.

Submission A new model for the official gazette Anzeiger Region Bern: advertising management, prepress, printing and distribution could be outsourced to different companies.
The concentration process among (major) publishers also has consequences for the public sector: it is now almost impossible to obtain competitive bids for major publishing contracts such as the publication of official gazettes. The situation of the Anzeiger Region Bern (ARB), the official organ of the city of Bern and 14 surrounding municipalities, illustrates this: In the last tender five years ago, Bund Verlag AG (BVA) and Espace Media were still bidding, with BVA ultimately winning the contract. However, since Espace Media has a 40 percent stake in BVA, will soon be printing the Bund itself and is selling the Bund printing presses, a tender like five years ago would be pointless. Nevertheless, a tender took place in December and January, in which the Verein Region Bern (VRB), a publishing association of the city of Bern and the 14 municipalities, took a new approach that could become a model for this situation. "We no longer delegate the publication of official notices to a general contractor, but instead award four partial lots and retain responsibility for publishing," explains VRB Managing Director Isabelle Meyer. Specifically, advertising management, prepress, printing and forwarding/dispatch were put out to tender. A complete package could also be offered. In plain language: In future, up to four independent companies could take care of the ARB. A product manager will assume the necessary bracketing function in the mandate, but one has not yet been appointed, according to Meyer.
While BVA and Espace Media had to offer an annual concession fee at the time, this time it's all about the best value-for-money offers. For example, the advertising management may not exceed 20 percent of the gross revenue. For distribution, the city copies must be in the mailboxes on the evening of the day of publication. A four-year contract is envisaged for the management, while the contracts for the other areas last two years.
According to the tender documents, the ARB will essentially remain as it is: neither the appearance nor the newspaper format will be changed; as before, it will only be 40 percent four-color, with a circulation of 140,000 copies. From 2006, however, only one complete edition will be published on Wednesdays and Fridays, and the division into three city and two regional splits will be discontinued. "This is in line with the political will of the participating municipalities, which want to grow together into a single region," says Isabelle Meyer. Certain losses in turnover are accepted, but these will remain small. Meyer: "The overall edition is also in line with the trend among advertising customers."
According to documents, the VRB assumes around 1400 advertising pages per year. For comparison: last year the city edition had 1576 pages (plus 2.5 percent), the regional edition 1809 pages (plus 0.6 percent), in 2001 the ARB had 2682 pages in the city and 2049 pages in the region. Net sales of the ARB (including supplements) fell from 13 million francs in 2001 to around 9 million francs in 2004.
The decision to award the contract has not yet been made. Meyer does not want to say how many companies have submitted bids. What is certain is that BVA - i.e. NZZ, Espace Media and PubliGroupe together - has submitted bids for two areas. BVA has a chip on its shoulder when it comes to ARB: due to the decline in advertising and the relatively high, but self-bid fee of CHF 3.7 million per year, the Anzeiger has caused it to run high deficits in recent years.
The contract model of the scoreboard is changing and the splits are being dropped.
Markus Knöpfli

Job market The Jobpilot index rose by 11 points to 76 in January. This is the first jump of more than 10 points since the index of online job advertisements was launched in 2001 and is now at the same level as in spring 2002. This quarter's record growth is mainly due to the recruitment sites of companies. They increased by 19 to 97 points. Job boards improved less strongly by 7 points to 66.