Retail The Zurich-based communications agency Viva has announced two new clients. Following an agency evaluation, the Spar Switzerland food retail group opted for Viva. The project-oriented collaboration will begin in January and covers various areas of integrated communication. Viva will also take the communications lead in the information campaign of the "Pro Letzigrund" voting committee. On June 5, 2005, Zurich voters are expected to decide on the construction of the new Letzigrund multi-purpose stadium. Under the leadership of "Pro Sportstadt Zürich", sports and cultural institutions as well as neighborhood representatives and politicians from all major parties have joined forces to form the voting committee. Viva also acts as the business and media office of "Pro Sportstadt Zürich".

Prevention The FOPH, FOSPO, Health Promotion Switzerland and APG are working together to promote more exercise and a balanced diet. Since the third day of the New Year, Switzerland has resembled a giant fitness trail: start and finish banners at several thousand poster sites throughout Switzerland are inviting people to sprint. The national campaign was launched by the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), the Federal Office of Sport (FOSPO), Health Promotion Switzerland and the Allgemeine Plakatgesellschaft (APG). With the slogan "Move more, live better", the campaign partners are calling on the Swiss population to start the new year with more exercise and a balanced diet in order to improve their quality of life and well-being. The timing is anything but random. After all, most people have put on a few extra pounds in the last two weeks of December and are therefore particularly receptive to good intentions.
However, studies show that excess and lack of exercise are by no means limited to the festive season: around 64% of Swiss people are insufficiently active and a good 19% are even completely inactive. This was revealed in 2002 by the Swiss Health Survey, which is conducted every five years by the Federal Statistical Office. The same study also revealed that around 37 percent of the adult population is overweight or obese - and the trend is rising. Last year, a study by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) found that one in four children in this country has too much on their ribs.
Almost three billion in follow-up costs
In addition to the loss of quality of life for those affected, overweight and obesity also cause massive health costs, according to the FOPH. According to the Federal Office, overweight and obesity and their associated diseases cost almost three billion Swiss francs a year. In this year's International Year of Sport, the current start/finish campaign aims to help make a healthy body weight the norm again. To this end, the senders are focusing not only on nutrition but also on exercise in everyday life.
The nationwide poster campaign was initiated by APG and its agency Publicis. "Once or twice a year, we would like to create a charitable
or non-commercial campaign," says APG PR Manager Othmar Casutt and adds: "naturally also to show that a poster campaign can be used to quickly get a message across the whole of Switzerland.
To demonstrate this, the APG is making 6500 posts available nationwide. The federal offices are financing the printing of the posters in various formats. In addition to health promotion and poster impact, the advertising measures are also intended to mediate in the discussion on advertising bans between the APG and the FOPH. Casutt explains: "We want to show that prevention is much more effective than advertising bans." The most recent example of a similarly motivated campaign is the anti-speeding campaign in collaboration with the TCS, which was launched last fall.
Switzerland as a fitness trail: posters encourage people to aim for a healthy body weight.

Simone Keller

Daily newspapersThe daily newspaper Der Bund broke even in the first year after the launch of the "Berner Modell". At the beginning of 2004, the Berner Zeitung (BZ) took over the publishing management of Der Bund. Since then, advertising customers have only been able to book the two titles together ("BZ-Gesamtausgabe"). According to a press release, the initial skepticism in the advertising market has subsided. The BZ-Gesamtausgabe achieved an increase in advertising sales of around 25 percent (as at the end of November). Within the smallest possible booking unit ("BZ-Stadtausgabe" incl. Bund), the increase in revenue even amounted to around 60 percent.

Publicitas and Basler Zeitung Medien (BZM) have been married for years, but they have only been sharing a home and hearth since December - when the staff of P Basel (including Publimedia, Publimag and P International) moved from the city center to BZM on the Wiesen-Ufer. The P offices are now next door to those of the BaZ publishing house, which has also returned from the city center. A "Publicitas" logo is also emblazoned on the BZM building - above that of the Basler Zeitung. In the city, the P left only one counter - in the BaZ editorial office building on Aeschenplatz. The P move not only brings BZM rental income, "primarily we are hoping for more efficiency", says BZM CEO Beat Meyer.
A specific example occurred a few days ago: a major customer wanted to place a full-page advertisement in the BaZ shortly before the editorial deadline. "Because we were able to contact the publisher and prepress directly and the editorial team by phone, we were able to fulfill the request. This would hardly have been possible before," says Otto K. Walter, BaZ advertising manager at P. Incidentally, the new cooperation agreement between P and BZM has not yet been signed; this will take until around May, says Meyer.
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Package Tours: The advertising agency cR Basel has been working with two new clients since the beginning of the year. cR is developing a branding campaign for FTI Touristik. The package tour operator is headquartered at EuroAirPort Basel-Mulhouse. According to Persoenlich.com, the first results of this work will be visible when the summer catalogs hit the market. Following an agency evaluation, Cornèr Bank in Lugano has also chosen cR Basel. The agency was commissioned to handle above-the-line communications for the bank’s Card Center. The first results are expected in mid-2005.

Winter sports The Laax snowboarding school kicks off the winter season with a wittily repurposed personality test Small budgets call for unusual ideas - as the Laax snowboarding school (SF) and its former agency Publicis have proven for several years. Whether with veteran ski bunnies, camasutra tubes or halfpipe hospital beds: There were hardly any limits to the imagination of the creative minds. This year's winter campaign from Krieg Schlupp Springer & Jacoby also focuses on humor and provocation. After all, co-owner Daniel Krieg is very familiar with the client's wishes, having already written the SF copy at Publicis.
For the new appearance, the creative team used the famous personality test by psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach. In the test, the test subject has to describe what they see using inkblot pictures on the same page. Five such pictures - all showing snowboarders - have been testing the psyche of snowboard freaks since December. The baselines refer to the shapes that emerge between the mirror images and comment, for example: "If you see the G-spot here, you definitely need some tutoring". This is intended to suggest to snowboarders that the SF in Laax has something for everyone - whether beginner, all-rounder or freestyler.
With inkblot pictures, SF addresses its core target group: snowboard freaks.
Simone Keller

Press TV The "Fussballtalk" program from Basler Zeitung Medien achieved its best result to date on New Year's Day (including a repeat), with over 250,000,000 viewers watching the show, which replaced the "BaZ-Standpunkte" discussion show on SF 2 at the beginning of October. This means that the Basler Zeitung has reached its target: at the launch, producer Mike Helmy told Werbewoche that the target was 200,000 to 250,000,000 viewers. The "Standpunkte" had only attracted 20,000 to 30,000 people each time. "Fussballtalk" is usually produced every three weeks.

Gerry Stadler is to optimize APG's client offerings and support the consultants Marriage in September and a completely new job three months later: "Sometimes you have to turn your life upside down," says Gerry Stadler. Since January, the media specialist has been working at APG in a newly created position as Head of Client Services. Stadler is delighted to be able to build up a completely redefined service. The media professional is currently undergoing an internal training program at APG. He will visit all departments and analyze how the existing synergies between the individual areas can be used even better.
The Head of Client Services will not be active on the sales front. Instead, his role will be to act as an interface between the market partners and APG's Sales, Marketing and Procurement departments. In addition to sales-specific presentations and the development of
training of sales staff with regard to research data will be a focal point.
Gerry Stadler's involvement with APG arose from many years of working together when he was still at Mediaplanning. A lively exchange of views led to his experience being put to good use at APG.
Before entering the world of advertising, the current media specialist completed an apprenticeship as a salesman in his father's car garage. Twelve years ago, Gerry Stadler started as a junior consultant at Publicitas in Zurich. After acquiring extensive knowledge in the print sector, he rounded off his knowledge at Radio-tele. "That was the exciting era when regional television was being rebuilt," he recalls. He later returned to the media department of the newly merged Publimedia.
His valuable experience in print and electronic media formed the ideal basis for a further development phase in the media agencies. Stadler first worked at Initiativ Media, then at Innomedia, which later became Media Planning. Here he was mainly responsible for the major client Orange.
When asked about his successes, Stadler is proud of the fact that he was able to achieve
to have built up a very high profile in Switzerland. "How can a completely new provider be successfully and correctly positioned in the telecoms market?" was the exciting question for both the creatives and the media professionals.
Customers' desire for special formats in all media will increase. This means moving away from the run-of-the-mill campaign with a mix of TV commercials, advertisements and posters. "Everyone wants something eye-catching and special," says Stadler. He sees potential here at APG in particular and wants to analyze these needs: What can outdoor advertising offer the customer additionally and beneficially at an optimal price-performance ratio?
New offers in the poster sector require more advice. The constant, innovative product expansion - the Rolling Star in the most important railroad stations is a current example - leads to developments that need to be launched and explained to customers.
The new Head of Client Services at APG finds the poster "a very exciting medium" with almost unlimited application possibilities at completely surprising locations. With the poster as both a basic and complementary medium, a rapid level of awareness can be achieved.
Switzerland is considered the poster country worldwide. With a market share of over 15 percent in traditional media, out-of-home advertising is a European leader, ranking second behind print, but still ahead of TV advertising. "You can't zap or skip over posters," Stadler notes.
Stadler regularly recovers from his professional challenges at a fitness club or occasionally plays tennis and squash. The newly-wed husband enjoys cooking, just like Jamie Oliver in the TV show "The Naked Chef". Once a week, he goes shopping in bulk. Then, after work, the fridge is inspected in search of ingredients for a creative kitchen.
Andreas Panzeri

Trade publications The Swiss industry magazine Fotointern is launching a monthly French-language edition in January in response to "the increasing demand from French-speaking Switzerland", according to a press release. The content will not be identical to that of the German-language edition, which is published twenty times a year and is only available by subscription.

Food Coop is making an image correction with the new "Prix Garantie" low price line. On January 10, Coop introduced the permanently low price line "Prix Garantie" with an eye-catching appearance all in pink. The advertisements in pork belly style praise specific products. At the same time, the motifs could of course also be seen as advertising for a new Coop image. All Coop supermarkets are now stocking around 150 products in the "Prix Garantie" range. The new line offers these products permanently up to 50 percent cheaper. On average, the reduction amounts to 25 percent. "Anyone who wants to can cover their basic needs with it," explains Coop boss Hansueli Loosli. Whether meat, mineral water, potatoes or detergent: the discounted products are guaranteed not to be of inferior quality. He is not saying that prix-guarantee products are of the same quality as the rest of the Coop range. "But they are of a quality that people are already buying today," explains Hansueli Loosli.
Chicken from the conservatoryThe same applies to the "Prix Garantie": wherever possible, Coop differentiates itself from cheap products, for example through animal-friendly husbandry or Suisse Garantie instead of anonymous imported goods. The fish sticks in Coop's "Prix Garantie" range also consist of pollock fillets and are not made from fishmeat. The discounted ham is "not a cooked pork product" and the chicken comes from animal-friendly stables in Switzerland "with a winter garden". This is possible because Coop passes on cost savings and efficiency improvements from the "CoopForte" merger process to customers. In addition, many international brand manufacturers in Switzerland would take advantage of the high price level and optimize returns. "We won't allow that," said Loosli, explaining the background to the new line.
The "Prix Garantie" products are particularly popular everyday items, the reduction in price of which greatly relieves the consumer's budget.
Savings stockings - literallyIn the Coop City department stores, around 50 additional "Prix
guarantee" non-food items such as underwear, hosiery and tableware. With this new price performance, Coop is responding to increasingly price-oriented customer needs and thus realizing a significant improvement in its product range. This fits in with the spirit of the times. Whereas 50 years ago a Swiss family still had to spend around 50 percent of its household costs on food, today the figure is 16 percent. "However, prices will never fall as low as in the EU," Coop knows: even the German discounters Aldi and Lidl will soon realize that the quality level in Switzerland is higher.
"Prix Garantie" for all those who don't give a damn about the price of salami.
Andreas Panzeri

Every year at the end of the year, a few advertisers have something special to look forward to. The graduation ceremony for the new heads of marketing communications is coming up, and those responsible chose the city of Bern as the venue, more precisely the trendy Cinématte restaurant on the beautiful River Aare - just around the corner from Contexta. The graduates brought their partners, friends or parents with them, and relaxed and relieved faces could be seen everywhere. The lucky ones were able to receive their professional certificates from the President of the Examination Board, René Schmutz, almost individually. A procedure that is hard to beat in terms of drama and excitement, which is just the nature of things. However, the diploma ceremony was shorter than ever, as the failure rate was higher than ever before.
We heard that one of the two Sawi classes had been a bit difficult anyway. A veteran Sawi lecturer is even said to have announced that he would stop lecturing if the next class behaved so rudely again.
There was also a scandal in this course block - it had something to do with "forged" signatures on the attendance list and caused quite a stir among the Sawi superiors. In the end, however, all was forgiven and forgotten at the closing ceremony. What was on offer in the Cinématte was top class - after all, the pub is run by a former advertiser. The Spanish-style tapas buffet was amazing, and the butter-tender oxtail ragout is still a dream to this day.
In the last week of the year, various advertisers make a pilgrimage to the Landwasser Valley in Davos. In addition to skiing, the Spengler Cup is also on the agenda. The tournament sponsor APG is always generous and invites advertisers to spend a night in a luxury hotel, including match attendance, breakfast cocktails, lunch, aperitif, dinner and an extended nightcap in the VIP tent. APG CEO Christian Kauter, PR Director Othmar Casutt and Ivan Schultheiss, Head of Key Account Management, had their hands full welcoming the many guests. They were ably assisted by Casutt's charming partner Ruth Schmid, who helped with looking after the guests and was on hand to answer their every wish.
The atmosphere and excitement at the Cup were top-class. There were plenty of goals to cheer for, and HC Davos was the team of choice for almost all spectators. At the Spengler Cup, the local team enjoys the sympathy of even the most die-hard HCL, ZSC, EVZ or Ambri fans, as Davos always plays alongside the best players from other Nati A teams. A word about the supporters of these teams: statistically speaking, HCD became Swiss champions very often when they won the Spengler Cup, ugh. Hopp HCD!
The Straight Friday parties are as legendary and traditional as the popping of champagne corks on New Year's Eve. Michel Pernet, Pete Kurath and barkeeper Christian "Bossi" Bosshard have ensured that the parties have been
The Grandhotel Dolder for hot New Year's Eve nights. However, as the luxury hotel is currently being renovated by star architect Sir Norman Foster, the party had to take place in the lowlands of the city. The party was held in a wonderfully decorated tent on Hechtplatz for a glittering night with a table barbecue for discerning guests. The organizers hit the bull's eye again this year - this year's New Year's Eve was in no way inferior to previous Dolder parties. Happy New Year, by the way!
Beat Fritsch quickly turned one of the funny New Year's Eve hats into a long nose to say goodbye to the old year, which we would like to forget as quickly as possible. The last advertising event of the year was the graduation ceremony for the newly qualified heads of marketing communications at the trendy Cinématte cinema in Bern. APG then invited the tough ice hockey men to the Spengler Cup in Davos, before the end of the year was traditionally celebrated with the boys from Straight Friday. Due to the lack of the Grandhotel Dolder, which is currently undergoing a facelift, a large tent with a classy interior was set up on Hechtplatz this year.
The first well-wishers: Publisuisse director Martin Schneider (l.) and Wemf boss René Schmutz, head of the audit committee.
Three generations of examination supervisors: Robert Bleuer, Fritz Merki, who is stepping down, and Heinz Egli (from left), who has taken up the position.
The Sawi delegation at the examination ceremony in Bern's trendy Cinématte restaurant: Claudia Facchinetti and Manfred Kranich.
Finally, the hard work has come to an end: Silke Heinzelmann (left) and Claudia Geissmann were among the lucky ones.
Beaming faces: Jacqueline Schütz (left), the newly graduated Sabine Kaufmann from Polyconsult, and Ernst-Peter Walther.
Can now also call themselves federally certified marketing communication managers: Sandra Genge and Judith Falusi (right).
Three more advertising professionals: Pascal Frei, Euro RSCG, Marco Serratore, Contexta, and Charlotte Blum, Touch Design (from left).
Big finish at the Cinématte: Reto Meissner (l.), SBB, with partner Yvonne, and Timucin Pekgücer from John Lay Electronics.
SMP advertising team: Daniela Beutler (left) and Matthias Glauser, now both with diplomas, and advertising manager Charlotte Hofstetter.
Invited to ice hockey by Christoph Marti from UBS: Andreas Gedenk (l.) and Dietmar Bemberg (r.).
APG also arrived with a large group of guests: Ivan Schultheiss (l.) with Markus Kesselring from SC Johnson.
Delighted with the high-scoring field hockey games: APG Director Daniel Ettlinger with Moni and Sandro Prezzi (from left).
Everything under control: Othmar Casutt, APG's PR man, with his partner Ruth Schmid, who actively helped with the organization.
Pilgrims to the Landwasser Valley: Hanspeter Lebrument and Myriam Engler with Claudia and Christian Kauter (from left).
Also seated at the table with APG: Mr. Swisscom Mobile Roland Ehrler came with his wife Monika.
The final match critique was delivered by PubliGroupe General Director Otto Meier (l.) and Urs Schneider, Mediaschneider.
Onlookers in the VIP tent: Barbara Studer, Head of Marketing Davos Tourism, Beat Krebs, OMD, and Claudia Spalinger (from left).
Of course, they were not to be missed in Davos: Roger Baur from Cinecom and partner Raphaela Höhn, Jobsource.
Regulars at the Straight Friday New Year's Eve parties: Sabrina Arthur, Patricia Oliveira and Pascal Baumann (from left).
At the turn of the year in the elegant tent at Hechtplatz: Marcel Bosshard, IPM, and Jacqueline Zygmont, Publicitas/NZZ Media.
Dominik Lämmler and Nadine Andres (right) from 20 Minuten kept Corinna Sarasin from Ringier company at the table barbecue.

Soft drinks The Granador fruit juice brand has undergone a makeover. First, the "No. 1" product line was renamed "100% fruit juice" and given a new design, and then Jung von Matt/Limmat was commissioned to find a way to make the drink memorable for retailers. This was done using an unusual method. Granador made a bet with Swiss retailers: "Bet that Granador 100% fruit juice will be on the shelves by the end of the year." To this end, passers-by were encouraged to smuggle the fruit juice into the stores - and they did. With a lot of self-irony, the agency and Granador finally provided evidence of the winning bet in the form of a film, which was distributed to retailers following the campaign.