Radiocontrol In Switzerland, people are listening to the radio a little longer. Because the Radiocontrol panel was expanded with additional clocks at the beginning of 2004, the figures for the first half of 2004 were no longer really comparable with previous years. With the Radiocontrol data now published for the second half of 2004, a (weak) trend can be seen again for the first time. The main message: the medium of radio has lost slightly in reach throughout Switzerland, but radio is being listened to for slightly longer in all parts of the country. It was primarily the SRG and foreign broadcasters that suffered losses in reach, while the private broadcasters made gains. This trend is most clearly expressed in German-speaking Switzerland, where it is even significant, while the ups and downs in reach are in the confidence range everywhere else.2 minutes to 112.1 minutes in French-speaking Switzerland, while in German-speaking Switzerland and Ticino radio only increased by 1 minute to 115.8 and 114.3 minutes respectively. This increase is primarily due to the SRG stations; the private stations only remained on for the same amount of time or slightly longer than in the first half of the year, while the foreign stations stagnated at best.
Despite the significant loss in reach of SRG stations in German-speaking Switzerland, their market share fell by 0.4% to 61.5%. The only individual station to lose listeners significantly is DRS 2; its market share (MA) fell by 0.7% to 4.4%. In contrast, the cable station MW 531 was able to increase its MA by 0.6% to 3.8% at a similar reach level.
Among the private radio stations, Energy Zürich has succeeded in increasing its reach by 14300 listeners, surpassing the 200,000 mark and thus narrowing the lead of Radio 24, which in turn lost 12,300 listeners. Two other stations, Top and Argovia, with 196,100 and 195,000 listeners respectively, are now also on the verge of crossing the 200,000 mark. Another psychologically important change was achieved by BE1, which increased its audience by 8700 to 103200 listeners, while competitor
ExtraBern lost some of its reach. The German-language program of the Biel station Canal 3, which like ExtraBern is now part of the Espace Media Groupe, also suffered.
Basel radios with lossesIt is unclear what exactly happened in Basel, where all radios lost reach. The Tamedia station Basilisk lost the most (minus 12400 listeners), Basel 1 lost almost half as much and Regenbogen had 4300 fewer listeners.
A word about the cable station Eviva: it is the private radio station in German-speaking Switzerland that is currently listened to the longest, with 65 minutes a day. Only DRS 1 has an even longer listening time at 96 minutes per day.
While in German-speaking Switzerland at least the SRG stations MW 531 and Virus were able to increase their reach slightly, all SRG stations in French-speaking Switzerland suffered losses. Nevertheless, they remain within the confidence range.
Among the private stations, Lausanne FM (previously in third place) has now taken the lead, clearly distancing itself from the foreign station Nostalgie: The latter also fell below the psychologically important 100,000 mark. It is also interesting to note that Canal 3's French-language program, of all stations, was able to make significant gains despite last year's hiccup over the Biel station and the dismissal of its editor-in-chief. Even Jura Bernois, which is quite strong in the Canal 3 broadcasting area, was unable to benefit from the difficult situation.
In Ticino, all SRG stations also lost out in terms of reach, while here too a local station, 3iii, was able to take the lead among the few private stations, at the expense of the Italian RTO.
In summary, it can be said that the city pool radios are losing reach. Accordingly, the Swissradio pool in German-speaking Switzerland is also lagging behind, while that in French-speaking Switzerland has been strengthened. The Pool 2000 is leaking in Basel and also a little in the Bernese Oberland, but the One Pool was able to make gains overall.
Listeners turn the knob as they please: SRG and foreign stations have suffered a loss of reach.

Markus Knöpfli

Cleaning products The small Zurich agency Walker is once again making a big noise about the quiet little place. The classic among toilet cleaners has developed the ultimate toilet care with the Pearl line. When the new product was launched, the Walker agency in Zurich gave the sales figures for the cleaning product a new shine. A commercial dramatized the tongue-in-cheek story of a woman paying a lightning visit to her best friend just for her clean toilet. Now Walker is following up with a fresh poster campaign. The cleanly conveyed message: with the WC Duck Pearl, the toilet bowl is "effectively descaled, mercilessly germ-free and squeaky clean" in no time at all, as CD Pius Walker guarantees.
No compromisesThe briefing from Düring to the advertising agency demanded that "the ultimate cleaning performance" of WC-Ente-Pearl be communicated. The new Pearl formula is particularly effective where the WC duck has its strength: under the rim. The product is therefore aimed at people who do not compromise on the cleanliness of their toilet.
This is communicated with images that evoke an association between the toilet and dinnerware. "The WC Duck Pearl makes the toilet bowl so clean that you could actually eat out of it," says Walker, explaining the concept. This idea was dramatized in three different designs in a simple and very impressive way. The "tableware campaign" was created in collaboration with photographer Sophie Broadbridge and other freelancers from Walker's former sphere of activity in London.
The campaign was launched at the beginning of the year and has already been named poster of the week in the APG "Poster of the Week" contest - with 60 percent of the votes, ahead of a subject for Rivella and the film poster for "Ocean 12".
Pius Walker's "smallest advertising agency in the world" is delighted because the three TV commercials for the Powerflame brand (fuel paste for fondue burners, firelighter cubes for the fireplace, wood wool firelighters for the barbecue) for the same client Düring have also been shortlisted in the international "Die Klappe" competition. The winning prizes in the competition organized by the German Communication Association will be awarded in March. Walker's "Gotthard" commercial for the descaling agent Durgol Swiss Espresso has also been launched for the client Düring in Swiss cinemas and on all major TV channels.
Clean message from the new duck: you could eat from this bowl if you wanted to.

Andreas Panzeri

Market research Heinz Ketchup, Mövenpick and Österreich Werbung placed the most popular ads in the Swiss media in 2004.Best of NorthwestAffinity of ads among supporters in "Yuppieland"
Gold (174)
Spanish Tourist Office
Spain shapes you
(Media Planning Group, Madrid/Zurich)
Silver (172) Jean Paul Gaultier
Le Male
Bronze (170) Startklar Reisen AG
Compare exactly ...
(Grafo-Litho GmbH, D-Fellheim)
In cooperation with the market research institute Demoscope, Publimedia presents the readers of Werbewoche with an excerpt of the results from the Advertising Index (AX-Print) five times a year. This index (see below) is a module of the Market Radar and measures the popularity of advertisements. In the boxes on the left and right are ads that achieved the greatest acceptance in the relevant psychographic target group. The three subjects that performed best across the entire sample, i.e., all four target groups combined, are shown under the heading "Top Three." (ww)

Goldbach Media has launched the Crossmedia Award competition, which recognizes demonstrably innovative and successful crossmedia campaigns that were published or used between June 2004 and March 2005. It is endowed with CHF 10,000 and will be awarded at the Mediarena on June 1, 2005. The conditions of participation are now available at www.crossmediaaward.ch. Interested parties can register here and then submit their work. The closing date for entries is April 27, 2005.

Chocolate Lindt makes an impressive leap in sales. The chocolate manufacturer achieved sales of more than two billion Swiss francs for the first time in 2004.12 percent Sales rose by 12.5 percent to 2.016 billion. This is the highest growth ever achieved, explains Lindt & Sprüngli. Analysts had forecast only 1.98 billion Swiss francs. It is to be hoped that the advertising sales analysts could also be surprised by a similarly sweet deception.

Award The Geneva advertising agency Label Communication has won the Swiss national prize at the Mondial de la Pub des Pays Francophones competition. It was the only Swiss agency to score points at the 2004 Mondial for its poster campaign for the Roman Catholic Church in Geneva.

Press Newspaper advertisements are the best way to convey messages and trigger action. This was the result of a survey commissioned by the Presse Romande publishers' association, but publishers should not pat themselves on the back. The respondents - 84 agencies and 68 clients on both sides of the Röstigraben - also criticized the price-performance ratio of newspapers and demanded more flexibility in the placement of advertisements. They also want simpler rate structures, less administrative work, lower prices and more willingness to negotiate.

Online classifieds The Competition Commission (ComCo) has approved the takeover of the real estate portal Homegate by Tamedia and Edipresse. The in-depth review of the transaction was completed without conditions.online classifieds The Competition Commission (ComCo) has approved the takeover of the real estate portal Homegate by Tamedia and Edipresse. The in-depth review of the transaction was concluded without any conditions. End
In its letter of October, the Competition Commission spoke of indications of the creation or strengthening of dominant market positions. However, these have not been confirmed, writes the Competition Commission: "Competition from other real estate platforms and, in particular, the highly dynamic nature of the market ensure that competition will continue."

Print The acquisition of Ziegler Druck will hardly help the Tages-Anzeiger, but should prevent it from weakening The Tages-Anzeiger has a problem: in the canton of Zurich, it has a household coverage of just 25 percent. It is clear that it is trying to solve this shortcoming with additional splits - or by tying existing newspapers closely to itself. However, the entry of the Landbote with a mere 20 percent can by no means be seen as a close connection. In addition, although it solves a technical printing problem of Tamedia magazines, it does not solve the Tagi's lack of depth of focus. Only the reach of the Stellenanzeiger will receive a slight boost. In return, the Tagi will refrain from launching a split in the Winterthur area. In short: Tamedia's triumph in Winterthur appears to be little more than a kick in the teeth from the Tagi's point of view. Especially as a subsequent increase in the Landbote stake will only be of any use if the transfer restriction provisions, which limit the voting rights of each shareholder to a maximum of 20 percent, are lifted. On closer inspection, however, the Tamedia move is of greater benefit to Tagi. With the new deal, Tamedia's strategists are thwarting two NZZ plans at once, which could weaken Tagi further in the short or long term.
On the one hand, there is the plan to combine the four Zurich rural newspapers Zürisee-Zeitung (ZSZ), Zürcher Unterländer (ZU) and Zürcher Oberländer (ZO) as well as the Landbote to form a kind of "Züriland-Zeitung", either by swapping articles or by means of a headline system. The Neue Luzerner Zeitung, the St. Galler Tagblatt and the Südostschweiz are also in the process of setting up a new newspaper pool as an alternative to the Metropool (WW 41/04). The newspapers of the Züriland-Kombi (ZSZ, ZO and ZU) and possibly also the Kombi 1 (Landbote, Thurgauer Zeitung, Schaffhauser Nachrichten) are being discussed for coverage in the Zurich area.
Sensible solutions are neededAre the two projects now at risk? Beat Lauber, Head of Regional Newspapers at NZZ: "There is no doubt that these options are now more difficult. But it would be premature to conclude that an exchange of articles would no longer be possible." It is also not yet certain how the Tamedia stake will affect Landbote marketing. "We now have to take a close look at this and analyze it," says Lauber. The NZZ is interested in strengthening established structures on the one hand and creating market-oriented offers that are as customer-oriented as possible on the other.
A friend-foe scheme is of no use to anyone. "We publishers have to learn to look at problems from a market perspective rather than from a publishing strategy perspective anyway," says Lauber. And: "We continue to hope for sensible solutions. But if Tamedia and Landbote don't want to cooperate, then that would really be a new component."
A blessing for the Tagi: Tamedia joins Landbote.

Markus Knöpfli

Didier Zanone Zanone has been responsible for strategic planning and the coordination of assignments at the Geneva-based advertising agency Label Communication since October.Didier Zanone Zanone managed the Transphère agency in Geneva for 15 years. Pierre-André Bonjour (photo) joins Label as a consultant and brand strategist. He was most recently a partner in the branding agency The Creative Factory. ...
Thomas Städeli (photo) will become Managing Director at Wirz Werbung in the middle of the year. He joins from Advico Young & Rubicam, where he is currently
consulting manager and member of the management board. At the same time as Städeli joins Wirz, Client Service Director Manfred Hager is leaving the agency to take on a new professional challenge.
...
Maurice A. Nyffeler (picture) joins Publimedia Webadvertising as Senior Account Manager on February 14. Nyffeler has worked for IP Multimedia (Switzerland) for the past three years as Deputy Sales Director of the Suisse romande and International office.
...
Editor-in-chief Beat Glogger is leaving Kommunalmagazin at the end of April 2005, having managed the trade journal published by FachMediaCom for a good two years.
...
Markus Will will take over from Sari Simola as head of the magazine reader market at Tamedia at the beginning of February. Simola, who has held the position since fall 2003 and was previously Publishing Director of Facts, is leaving the Zurich-based media group. Will most recently held the same position at Ringier.

Market statistics Gross advertising expenditure in Switzerland has risen again after three years of decline.Media Focus puts total expenditure in 2004 at CHF 3.728 billion. This is 1.17 percent more than in the previous year. Television benefited in particular, increasing its market share from 18.8 to 20.2 percent. Radio increased by 0.3 percentage points to 4.2 percent. Online spending accounted for 0.8% of expenditure (also up 0.3 points). Poster advertising (from 11.5% to 10.8%) and the daily press (from 39.8% to 38.6%) suffered significant losses.

FKG is convinced that there is still potential in sports sponsorship tools Return on sponsorship investment. Even today, investment decisions in sports sponsorship are often made on the basis of the CEO's personal preferences, the supposed popularity of a sport or because of private connections with the athletes or association members. "Sponsorship is often still seen as a fun part of the company because the focus is on the fun factor rather than the branding factor," says consultant Adrian Sonderegger, exaggerating the practice. In such cases, those responsible tend to avoid questions about the long-term effects on brand and product range perception among the target group, preferring instead to point to successful accompanying communication and hospitality activities. Evaluation can't do everythingWhat are the target markets, target groups and competitors, how are they weighted, which media are to be reached locally, which image attributes are to be anchored and with what budget limit? These are questions that companies cannot answer completely, even in an analytical sponsorship evaluation: Be it because there is a lack of objectivity in the assessment, because the properties cannot be compared with each other, because market research data in a country portfolio is not available or only rudimentary, or because a systematic, holistic approach is rarely possible.
FKG's answer to this is a web-based tool for transparent decision support called SportsMaxx, which integrates brand management, media buying and investment concepts. It is already being used successfully in the largest sports sponsorship market, the USA, says Thomas Stalder, Managing Partner of Sports Consulting at FKG. The consulting firm generates 70 percent of its business volume there.
Actively looking for sponsorships "It's not just the tool that represents a paradigm shift, but also the fact that we are proactively looking for the best sponsorships and not passively checking the offers," says Thomas Stalder. And this is increasingly in line with the pursuit of performance that prevails in other Markom disciplines, he adds. Using the tool already makes sense for medium-sized sponsorship commitments and (with activation and networking) is in principle essential from half a million francs. Because: "No matter how well you activate a sponsorship, if it is not the optimal platform, the brand can hardly achieve its performance targets," Thomas Stalder claims.
But how does it work? The brand owner defines the market portfolio and all relevant target dimensions as well as their sub-criteria and weights them according to their respective importance. The result is the brand's target profile. A multidimensional matching algorithm then determines the optimal sponsorship opportunities from the comprehensive sports database. For this purpose, the target profile created is compared with the thoroughly and independently collected and researched profiles of the most important sports and events and the property with the highest match is identified. As a result, the user receives a ranking list of sponsorship opportunities with the best strategic fit. With the exception of the negotiation of rights, where the consultancy firm can help if required, all subsequent steps from implementation to controlling and optimization are carried out by the client. Stalder sees the advantages for the agencies in the more efficient value creation of a property, the improved strategic advice and thus greater credibility with the client.
High expectationsMore than one in two sponsorship francs in Switzerland is spent on sport; however, the European average is much higher - 74%. The search for the sports sponsorship with the best brand relevance and the greatest potential for raising awareness, improving image or cultivating contacts is becoming increasingly difficult. On the one hand, because four out of five sponsoring companies are already active in this area. Secondly, because around a quarter of them do not have their own sponsorship department. (la)
fkg Sports ConsultingFritz Kaiser founded his company in 1981 in Vaduz as a manager of sports stars from Formula 1, tennis and skiing. By trading in marketing rights, the company developed into a globally active holding company whose largest business share is now held by
asset management
is generated.
The Sports Consulting division has been operating in Zurich since 2002 and offers global brands or their communications agencies a tool called SportsMaxx, which, according to Managing Partner Thomas Stalder, is "an analogy to the media planning tools for traditional advertising".
This software tool with the world's largest sports business database is designed to enable companies to make a neutral, comprehensible choice of sports sponsorship that has a positive impact on brand perception. A demo tool is available at www.fkgsportsmaxx.com. (la)
FKG Sports Consulting offers the world's largest sports business database on its website.
Luca Aloisi