TR7 magazines have had their day. When TR7 was launched more than 30 years ago, the name said it all: Television and Radio for Seven Days. But the radio has long since disappeared from the magazine. The abbreviation remained meaningless as a relic of days gone by. But that's over now. Publisher Jean Frey AG is making the name a program again. Since January 19, the magazine has been called TV-Star. The new brand exudes a glamor that the letter abbreviation lacked.
On the surface, there was no reason for Jean Frey to change the name. TR7 has developed very positively in recent times. In the past two years, circulation has increased by 5684 to 173720 copies, readership by 55000 to 441000. According to editor-in-chief René Hildbrand, TR7 has also bucked the trend in the advertising market. "So you could say: the brand is not sexy, but the success is there. TR7 is well-known, why change anything?" he concedes.
But Hildbrand is not one to rest on his laurels. In the two years or so that he has been in charge of the TR7 editorial team, he has continuously reorganized and expanded the magazine. The new name is the consequence of this development - "the dot on the i," says Hildbrand. Therefore, the renaming does not bring any major changes to the visual appearance. Only the cover is being redesigned to convey the intended glamour.
Nevertheless, the development of TR7 and TV-Star is not yet complete. "We'll keep at it and keep optimizing," promises Hildbrand. In doing so, it is important to him not to scare off the readers. The editor-in-chief warns that it is particularly dangerous to make changes to the program section, because this is the heart of a TV magazine. "We have constantly optimized this section, but we are not making any radical changes," he says.
The magazine's Swiss positioning is not to change either. For Hildbrand, it is one of the reasons for the success in the reader market. "It makes sense when you consider that despite 50 receivable channels, SF 1 and SF 2 achieve over 40 percent market share in prime time," Hildbrand explains. That's why TV Star features Swiss women on the cover as often as possible. That's not limited to presenters. "When Roger Federer plays tennis, it takes place on TV," says Hildbrand, explaining the concept. Foreign stars only make it onto the cover from the front row: "They have to be people you know," Hildbrand emphasizes, "Nicole Kidman, for example, or Brad Pitt, not second-rate celebrities." In this way, TV-Star sets itself apart from the German competitor titles, which also focus on glamour, but try to create it primarily through blonde starlets on the cover.
The fact that the first edition of TV Star features blonde Michelle Hunziker, of all people, is not something Hildbrand wants to be understood as an imitation of German methods: "We wanted a Swiss star in the first number who radiates glamour. Michelle Hunziker fits the bill, especially since she has new TV plans, is now starring in a musical in Italy and is hosting a show with 10 million viewers."
TV-Star informs the public about the name change with an advertising campaign. TV spots are broadcast on all regional stations in German-speaking Switzerland. To appeal to younger target groups, the spots also run in cinemas. The daily newspapers of the partner publishers, which offer combined subscriptions with TV-Star, will run ads. An ad campaign is also running in the trade press. "We are being economical with funds," adds Hildbrand. "We don't have the money to fill billboards in major cities, although of course I'd like to see that happen."
New look: The name and cover design of TR7 change, but in terms of content the successful concept of the TV magazine remains largely unchanged.
Stefano Monachesi

Pierre C. Meier on the choice of advertiser and campaign of the year.For 28 years, the readers of Werbewoche have chosen the "Advertiser of the Year" at the beginning of January. The outcome of this election is always eagerly awaited.
This
year, the result was clearer than it had been for a long time. With
Beat Mühlemann won a record 33 percent of all votes,
Head of Marketing Communications at the Federation of Migros Cooperatives (MGB)
was voted Advertiser of the Year 2005. Second place went to Bene
Abegglen from the advertising agency Contexta with 20 percent, bronze goes with
16 percent of all votes cast to Markus Gut of Publicis. More
Read about the 2005 Advertiser of the Year in the portrait on pages 11
and 12.
It was a clear but extraordinary choice. Since
In 1977, only three personalities who were not members of the
advertising agencies or graphic studios worked, the award
"Advertiser of the Year". In 1977, André Hofer, then director of the
AG für das Werbefernsehen (today Publisuisse), and in 1985 elected Fredy
Collioud. Collioud received the coveted award for a then
revolutionary advertising strategy: as head of advertising at Migros, he distinguished
the orange giant as a brand. Twenty years later, Collioud's
Post-successor Advertiser of the Year. Coincidence? No. But rather a
Confirmation of the fact that Migros, with always outstanding
campaigns are shaping advertising culture in Switzerland. And this in an otherwise
not known for heady creative advertising.
Go to
The "Campaign of the Year" will be awarded for the sixth time this year. To
There were 17 works to choose from. In addition to the readers of the
Advertising Week, this year also the readers of the
Program guide TV-Star (until yesterday TR7) in the election
participated. With 19 percent of the votes, the campaign of Pneu
Egger was chosen as the winner. It was realized by Wirz Werbung. More
you will find on page 9.
> Pierre C. Meier, Editor-in-Chief

Car The car importer Honda Switzerland has entrusted Reverse Idea with the mandate for its "Happy Days" promotional events. The young Geneva-based creative agency came out on top in a pitch, with media and POS strategies forming part of Reverse Idea's first car account.

Out-of-home advertising More passengers at Zurich and Basel airports: the turnaround is also good news for billposters The operators of billposting sites at Zurich and Basel airports are breathing a sigh of relief: Passenger frequencies at these airports are on the up again for the first time after years of losses. Zurich Airport can report a total of 17.3 million passengers for 2004, which is 300,000 people or 1.3 percent more than in 2003, while EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse recorded 2.5 million passengers in 2004, an increase of 2.4 percent on the previous year. It increased last year by 6.2 percent to 8.6 million passengers. No figures are yet available for Lugano-Agno and Bern-Belp, but according to the respective airport operators, frequencies are still declining at both locations.
Zurich Airport is managed by the outdoor advertising company Clear Channel Plakanda (CCP), Geneva and Lugano by Allgemeine Plakatgesellschaft (APG), Basel by both CCP and APG and JCDecaux, and Bern-Belp by Publiscreen and Baracom.
(mk)

Local press In its fifth year of life, the Jungfrau Zeitung has already grown up - at least in terms of its visual appearance. Meanwhile, its success in the readership and advertising market continues.
Editor-in-chief Stefan Regez calls the new look of his micro-newspaper "sophisticated, dignified and unobtrusive" in the editorial of January 4. Indeed, Micha Krautwasser has given the paper (with a paid circulation of 10,500 copies) from the tranquil Bernese Oberland an almost sophisticated appearance. This is less due to the Hamburg origins of the alpine art director than to the ambitions of the publisher of Jungfrau Zeitung, Der Oberhasler, Der Brienzer and Echo von Grindelwald. According to Urs Gossweiler, this is not just a redesign, but "the creation of a model that can and should set the trend for other local newspapers" (see interview).
For the average reader of the Vierbund newspaper, this might sound a little presumptuous, as apart from the change from the previous six-column to a five-column layout, they will at most notice a few typographical modifications. In terms of content and dramaturgy, everything has remained the same. With 200 new subscriptions in December alone, he sees "no need for any editorial changes", says Gossweiler. In addition, the first (and still only) micro-newspaper only shows the journalistic tip of his concept pyramid.
The redesign and the optimization of the underlying marketing and communication processes, which ultimately form the copyable core of the concept, were financed "almost entirely" by the profits from Gossweiler Media AG's newspaper business. And these should of course continue to rise. This should be helped by the alignment of the editorial and advertising layout, which was already designed in five columns when it was launched in fall 2000. Interlaken hopes that this will not only harmonize the aesthetics of the small, twice-weekly newspaper, but also streamline the digital workflow.
Key partner for tabloid supplementThe magazine for TV, radio, events and church(!) called 7 Tage, which is enclosed with the Jungfrau Zeitung on Fridays, has also lost its visual and commercial innocence. With Rugenbräu, the agenda in tabloid format has gained a key partner for the whole year for the first time, which is present in print and online as a sponsor and exclusively placed advertiser with its two products Mountain Twister and Jungfrau Wasser. Gossweiler is proud of this local partnership of convenience and denies any conflict with the journalistic independence of his titles. "Unlike our colleagues in the city of Bern (the Berner Zeitung recently started printing and distributing the Kulturagenda, editor's note), at least we don't have our event newspaper supported by taxpayers' money, but by the private sector."
New solidity: Jungfrau Zeitung with 7 days supplement.
"End of the training camp "Urs Gossweiler, publisher of the Jungfrau Zeitung, on its new outfit and its role as the prototype of the micro-newspaper.
WW: Mr. Gossweiler, on the front page of the first issue, your in-house cartoonist says that the Jungfrau Zeitung still has to grow into its new clothes. Do you agree?
Urs Gossweiler: No, with their journalistic expertise, our editorial team also fills the new layout perfectly. What's more, this relaunch was extremely well prepared, which is why there have been no teething troubles so far. The whole process began two years ago with the complete overhaul of our editorial system.
It is therefore a software-based relaunch.
That's right. That's why the further development of our digital workflow only became visible in the design late last summer. The thoroughness of this approach is of course related to the function of our paper as a prototype of the micro-newspaper. In parallel to the newspaper and website relaunch, very detailed manuals were created for future users of our modular concept.
Does this mean that the domestic or foreign licensees of the micro newspaper that have been announced for some time have been found? first of all, the duplicability and therefore the attractiveness of our system are now even better guaranteed. Our business partners also appreciate this very much. In other words, the search is over and negotiations are ongoing. Unfortunately, I can't tell you any more yet. Just this much: the entire relaunch project symbolizes the fact that after four years in training camp, we have now entered the playing field.
How are advertisers reacting to the new solidity of the enfant terrible? It's not for nothing that we've been able to achieve another double-digit increase in earnings this year compared to last January. And this is despite the fact that our main customer Migros has reduced its order volume by sixty percent this year. Interview: Oliver Classen
Oliver Classen

Food The Zurich-based advertising agency Matter & Partner has won the entire account of Pasta Premium, a pasta company that owns the Swiss quality brands Ami, Bschüssig, La Chinoise, Trattoria and Ernst-Teigwaren. It was created in mid-2004 through a management buyout from the pasta division of the Hero food group. Pasta Premium now wants to establish itself more firmly in the Swiss market. The results of Matter & Partner's strategic and conceptual work will be on display from spring 2005.

WW Mr. Hildbrand, why does TR7 need a new name? René Hildbrand The name change rounds off two years of development. A lot has happened at TR7 since 2002.WW Mr. Hildbrand, why does TR7 need a new name?René Hildbrand The name change rounds off two years of development. A lot has happened at TR7 since 2002. The magazine has been further developed and optimized from A to Z in terms of content and appearance. The name TR7 (Tele Radio 7 Tage) was never sexy and was also outdated. The radio program has not been in the magazine for years. Our most popular content now includes the people and party pages. TV-Star now has two additional pages with pictures and stories from the world of stars and starlets. That's also why TV-Star. The name says it all.
How was the new name chosen?
I sat down on a rainy Sunday afternoon and wrote down possible brands. TV star was the fourth one that came to mind. Probably because I've used this term so often in the decades I've been writing and writing about television.
have: "TV star Gottschalk", "TV star Thurnheer" and so on.
Have you tested whether the name TV star resonates with the public?
We presented the title to a number of people we trusted, including brand specialists and experts from the advertising market. I was prepared for critical voices and warnings about rebranding. But not a single voice was skeptical. Everyone said: That's sexy, it sounds better than TR7.
What goals have you set yourself for TV-Star?
We are now number two behind Tele. It's like in sport: if you're number two, you have to have the ambition to become number one. We're still some way off that, but nowhere near as far as we used to be.
Interview: Stefano Monachesi

Publishing The content provider Swisscontent celebrated its 5th birthday on January 18 and seems to have overcome the difficult times following the bursting of the Internet hype: After concentrating on business and financial journalism, Swisscontent posted a six-figure net profit for 2004 on sales of CHF 2.6 million.

Television advertising The Psychometer checks advertising blocks on Swiss television. The results for 2003/04. "Marketing without a performance review is like racing without a stopwatch" is a well-known rule in the media business. These days, the Interdata research institute in Lucerne is once again presenting the most popular and best TV commercials in Switzerland. Such quality is measured using a so-called psychometer. The system from the Interdata Research Institute is a standardized measuring instrument for TV commercials and regularly reviews advertising blocks from Swiss TV. In cooperation with IMAS International, Linz, the Interdata Research Institute in Lucerne has tested 400 to 500 commercials a year since 1992, a total of around 6500 to date. 120 test subjects, half men and half women aged 16 to 50, are tested.After playing the block once, the test measures spontaneous recall, aided recall, awareness of the commercial before the test, four response values (liked, worth watching, opinion improved, motivation to buy) and finally the detailed action based on a list (likeable, entertaining, interesting, good product presentation, convincing, average, boring, exaggerated).
The current analysis of the 20 best commercials examined 840 commercials from 2003 and 2004 and shows which commercials achieved the best response and, above all, why. The study looked at 19 dimensions in order to find answers to the question: Who did what better than the producers of less successful commercials?
The result is that the commercials that attract the most attention are "entertaining" as an important criterion. In addition, the best commercials are also those that improve the opinion of a product the most. They are therefore "interesting" because they tell something new or different about the product. In terms of the incentive to buy, the commercials that performed best were those in which the product was "well shown" and explained in an understandable way. The product is the hero" still applies here.
"It may come as a surprise," says Interdata, that the commercials with the highest purchase appeal are also described as average. This is due to the fact that the population is not aware that it is precisely this rather intensive product presentation that leads to a purchase. Viewers therefore still expect entertainment from a popular commercial. This results in the difficult task for the creatives of designing the commercials in such a way that the product presentation - which is shown several times - is packaged in an entertaining way and at the same time conveys something interesting.
With the help of Interdata and its storyboard test, customers can quickly eliminate the weak points in a spot through technical optimization such as editing or fade-ins. The standard values, based on 300,000 spots that have been tested internationally to date, take into account factors such as spot length, position in the block, awareness of the film or the frequency with which it has been shown to date, as well as the industry. Branding has also proven to be a very important rule. The brand must appear early and often - preferably in the first five seconds and then at least three more times. "The consumer must know immediately what it's about, otherwise they don't think about it and learn too little from the commercial," the impact researchers are convinced.
Andreas Panzeri

Magazines From the beginning of March, the original Musenalp Express will be back in print after a 15-year hiatus. Othmar Beerli, founder of the youth magazine, has regained the trademark rights to the title, which were previously held by the St. Gallen communications company Mediax, which took them over after an odyssey through several publishing houses. As the magazine has since become a trend magazine and now only appears under the name Mex, publisher Jorge Chaves has now returned the old name to Beerli. It was agreed that Chaves would continue to publish Mex for adults and Beerli would once again publish the original Musenalp Express for the younger generation.

Magazines The lesbian magazine L-Mag, which has been available at newsstands since the beginning of the year, fits in every handbag The fact that handbags are a hated female cliché for many lesbians fits into the concept: L-Mag is not a fighting magazine. There is room for everything: lifestyle, sex, politics. The L stands for lesbian joie de vivre, for a relaxed approach to lesbianism, according to the editorial. Editor-in-chief Manuela Kay also wants to make advertising customers aware that lesbian women today are relaxed: "Some people think we are aliens. You have to explain that lesbians go to work, smoke cigarettes and drink coffee." L-Mag is published bimonthly with a print run of 30,000 copies by Berlin-based Jackwerth-Verlag.

Local TV TeleBasel Managing Director Willy Surbeck on the miraculous increase in advertising revenue, the competition and expansion plans.WW In 2004, TeleBasel almost doubled its advertising revenue compared to 2003 (see box). How was this possible? Willy Surbeck Firstly, the TeleNewsCombi (TNC), like the other TNC stations, brought in double the revenue. Secondly, we benefited from the growing interest in local TV as a medium. Thirdly, TeleBasel has made much more out of the local market since we started working it ourselves. Until a year ago, TeleBasel was tied to an exclusive external booking agency.
... to Medag, which belongs to Tamedia and also markets Radio Basilisk. You terminated the contract at the end of 2003 because Medag's performance was clearly below budget.
How do you know that? Medag works excellently for TeleBasel, but it is no longer the exclusive booking office. Nevertheless, its share of our sales success in 2004 was well above our expectations.
Has she pulled herself together?
She didn't have to get her act together, just clean up the range. Its success confirms the old rule that radio and TV can often not be sold by the same people. That's the nature of the business. People in Berne and Zurich have known this for a long time.
How big is TeleBasel's own sales team now?
In-house, sales professional Walter Liechti and a scheduler manage the business. Externally, three independent spot producers operate on the sales front.
Will the price change?
It could be that we adjust it slightly upwards in the spring. Nothing has been decided yet. It also depends on how things go with our new market partner NW1.
What part did NW1 (formerly Nordwest 5) play in your success? The expansion of this station to Basel and the arrival of Basilisk co-founder Christian Heeb has certainly spurred you on.
We had already given our all before. But the attacks by the new broadcaster have brought us into the media so often that TeleBasel has steadily gained in importance. We were even able to cancel a planned advertising campaign.
But NW1 also prompted you to open an outside studio in Liestal.
Yes, we do. But we're bursting at the seams in Basel anyway and can't rent enough space in the neighborhood. We also had the fiber optic cable from Basel to Liestal built back in 2003.
Now Tele M1 also wants to enter northwestern Switzerland ...
Tele M1 already reaches as far as Pratteln, in the middle of our broadcasting area, because cable networks cannot be split. That is why we have spoken out against the expansion plan, otherwise there will suddenly be no more room for TeleBasel.
When is the expansion to Germany coming? the mayor of Lörrach wants TeleBasel to be broadcast, although we have never spoken to her. She wants the 50,000 daily cross-border commuters from Alsace and South Baden to be able to see what is happening in Basel, their economic center. Kabel Baden-Württemberg also wants to put us on near the border. But we don't yet know when that will be.
However, TeleBasel has had plans across borders for a long time.
Plans? No. We inquired about the legal situation and the interest of a cable network operator years ago. That is all.
From a journalistic point of view, we can hardly extend our radius of action further than the border towns of Weil am Rhein and Lörrach.
Do you anticipate additional advertising potential? The southern German retail trade already advertises extensively and with great success on TeleBasel.
Swiss advertising customers will receive a supplement that cannot even be shown using Publica Data figures.
Yes, we do. But we trust the advertisers. They are good at abstracting this.
According to a press release, TeleBasel has had its "most successful year to date". In 2004, it recorded an average of 110,500 viewers per day, which corresponds to a reach of 21.7 percent.
The station was able to increase its advertising income from CHF 700,000 to CHF 1.3 million, which is CHF 300,000 more than budgeted. Revenue from local advertising has doubled.
The sponsorship brought in another 1.3 million francs. The additional income will be invested in modern IMX camera and editing equipment to improve image quality.
For 2005, TeleBasel is again expecting advertising and sponsorship income of CHF 1.3 million each. In addition, the broadcaster will receive CHF 1.5 million from the Cablecom subsidiary Balcab, giving it an annual budget of CHF 4.1 million. (mk)
2004 brought TeleBasel record sales in advertising and sponsorship. Willy Surbeck wants to at least match the previous year's figures in 2005.
Interview: Markus Knöpfli