Corporate Communication: Who produces the most beautiful annual report in the country? The magazine *Bilanz* recently named the best ones once again. For the winners of this beauty contest, there are no advertising or sponsorship contracts, no car, and no opportunity to participate in global events to prove themselves to an international audience. The selection of the best annual report of the year is unspectacular. And unlike beauty pageants, this competition has, from the very beginning, been more about inner values than visual appeal. Like almost no other printed publication, an annual report conveys a company’s culture to the world—to all stakeholders. The means are images and typography; the tools are design, text, and, above all, numbers in the form of tables.For the past six years, *Die Bilanz* has sought to get to the bottom of this and has therefore conducted its own annual rating of annual reports. This year, too, annual reports (along with their websites) from companies based in Switzerland competed for the top spot in the October issue and underwent a three-stage evaluation. The companies that made it into the top 100 were featured in a ranking table, while the rest (ranks 101 through 186) had to settle for a box at the end of the article.
Eighteen experts from the fields of design and finance evaluated the 186 annual reports and websites. The specialists from Swiss communications agencies, who were responsible for evaluating the design, assessed a wide range of parameters such as «first impression,» «transparency,» «layout,» «visual concept,» «graphics,» «design of financial tables,» «typography,» and «technical implementation.».
The evaluation of the financial section—the value reporting—was conducted by a team from the Swiss Banking Institute. Under the direction of Professor Rudolf Volkart, five advanced economics students and a research assistant assessed the content based on 35 business management criteria. The evaluations of the annual report and the website were conducted independently of one another. The website ratings were performed by two experts in new media.
Honor to Whom Honor Is Due: Surprisingly, even the top-ranked companies failed to achieve a score of 4.5 in the category evaluations: With a score of 4.28, Swiss Re took first place in the «Most Informative» (Value Reporting) category. The jury was more generous in the «Most Visually Appealing» (Design) category: The energy company Axpo earned a score of 5.
Ultimately, what matters most is the overall ranking. Success here depends not only on the overall impression and the presentation of the report itself, but on a combination of both. Topping the podium in the overall ranking is the annual report of the pharmaceutical company Novartis. Although it ranked only 14th in design, its second-place finish in Value Reporting was decisive for the top spot. Furthermore, Novartis was the only company to rank in the top 15 in both categories.
The secret to the successful technical production of an annual report lies in the collaboration among the partners involved—namely, the company, the printing and post-press facility, and the agency. It is therefore conceivable that the success of the overall winner, Novartis, stemmed from the fact that all the companies are based in the same region: The printing company was Birkhäuser + GBC AG in Reinach, Basel-Landschaft, which specializes in producing annual reports; Com-Factory in Basel served as the agency; and even the paper came from nearby, from Ziegler Papier AG in Grellingen. Only in the case of the photographer—Nikos Economopoulos, a native of Greece who studied in Italy—does the globally active client appear to have made an exception to the concept of close collaboration.
Annual Reports: (Too) Often More Style Than Substance.
Gold for Novartis: The annual reports from Axpo, SBB, and Valora were named among the three best-designed reports in the 2004 Bilanz rating, all receiving the same grade. Swiss Re, Novartis, and Roche were apparently the most informative. The top three companies for their websites are Roche, Nestlé, and Unaxis.
Bronze in the overall standings went to the Valora Group, silver to Swiss Re, and gold to Novartis—if Olympic medals had been awarded.
The jury responsible for the design category was composed as follows: Jury Chair: Peter Vetter, Coande, Zurich; Jiri Chmelik, Hilda Design Matters, Zurich; Fritz Gottschalk, Gottschalk + Ash, Zurich; Gernot Honsel, Interbrand, Zurich; Flavia Mosele, Reflektor Visuelle Gestaltung, Lucerne; André Schneiter, Külling Partner Identity, Zurich; Thomas Wolfram, Wirz Identity, Zurich; Daniel Zehntner, Eclat, Erlenbach; Megi Zumstein, Bringolf Irion Vögeli, Zurich, and HGKL, Lucerne.
Jürgen Franck

Orientation is needed in the legal jungle, especially in the communications professions, which are confronted with an ever-increasing number of special regulations.> Whether personality or consumer protection, usage or liability issues: this compendium has a differentiated and yet practical answer to every question.> Media, marketing and advertising law by Bruno Glaus. Personal
Verlag, Rapperswil 2004. 265 pages, 78 francs.

The Fintan Foundation, which took over the Rheinau estate from the Canton of Zurich in 1998 for a 30-year lease, is a new client of the Zurich agency TBS Identity.Fintan's four independent farms produce organic seedlings and seeds, operate a biodynamic farm, offer sheltered housing, training and jobs as well as opportunities for artistic work. TBS Identity was entrusted with the realization of the basic documentation about the foundation and its farms, the annual report as well as the Fintan newspaper and website.

Newspapers The Zurich publishing house Lokalinfo is reorganizing the distribution of its free newspapers: the neighbourhood newspaper Zürich West, previously distributed in districts 3 and 9, will also be distributed in district 5 and parts of district 4 from January. The Affoltemer/Käferberg is withdrawing from district 5 and expanding to Oerlikon instead. According to editorial coordinator Andreas J. Minor, Lokalinfo wants to compensate for the drop in circulation resulting from a change in distribution. The free newspapers have been distributed by Swiss Post since the beginning of 2004. This is due to image problems that arose because the previous distributor simply deposited the newspapers in doorways. Swiss Post now delivers directly to letterboxes, but not to those with stop stickers.

Even if the Metropool replaces the Swisspool on January 1, 2005 and the St. Galler Tagblatt (SGT) and the Neue Luzerner Zeitung (LZ) are left behind, they are looking to join a national combined newspaper, which is why they are working with other titles on a modular pool (see WW 41/04). But until this comes to fruition, they are continuing the Swisspool philosophy and from 2005 are offering existing Swisspool customers a six percent discount if they book SGT or Neue LZ for the Metropool. This is called the "Swisspool loyalty discount" in Lucerne and the "docking model" at SGT. Module 8 of the Bern newspaper pool (Walliser Bote, Bieler Tagblatt, Freiburger Nachrichten) is also "docking": It has already docked with the Swisspool and will also try to do so with the Metropool (with a 14.65 percent discount). And even the Mittelland Zeitung has a docking variant in its quiver as one of several options for its future market presence, according to Ueli Eckstein of AZ Medien. Südostschweiz, on the other hand, has no docking plans, according to reports from Chur.
(mk)

Simone Keller on the power of negative forecasts and positive thinking. "Have things actually improved since you started moaning?" asked the agency Hochspannung in its recent self-promotion. In fact, there is a lot to complain about. For example, the fact that frozen budgets took their toll on both agencies and the media as the year drew to a close. Of course, a number of bright spots brightened up the gloom on the Swiss economic horizon in 2004. But it seems that negative events stick better in the collective memory.
In its last issue of the year, Werbewoche traditionally devotes several pages to the industry highlights and low points of the previous months. Not this time. True to the well-worn motto "recovery begins in the mind", we too prefer to look to the future on the threshold of 2005.
After all, the industry newspaper itself has been suffering for some time from the insidious consumption that is currently rampant in the Swiss press. Not even the doctors know whether the cupping cures prescribed in many places will contribute to long-term recovery. Ultimately, recovery depends on the will of the patient. In view of the bitter pills prescribed by so many specialists, the question arises: Do we perhaps not want to get well?
Only a month ago, the major bank UBS revised its economic forecast for 2005 downwards. This is anything but optimistic. It may sound presumptuous: But what potential could the UBS experts have unleashed if they had embellished their forecasts in favor of the long-awaited economic upturn? This instrument is used from time to time in balance sheets. And there is plenty of evidence in the annals that untruths often have a greater effect than the truth itself.
In the case of the economic forecasts, the effects could be very positive: Investing instead of saving. Look ahead instead of looking back.
With this in mind, the Werbewoche team would like to wish everyone a happy Easter and take a well-deserved summer break.
> Simone Keller, Editor

Radio For years, the Basler Mediengruppe held an 8.5 percent stake in Radio Berner Oberland, but as Media Trend Journal, which is published by the same publishing house as Werbewoche, will report next week, these shares have now been sold. But to whom? Basel does not want to say, and Radio BeO knows nothing about it. Although according to Article 6 of the BeO statutes, a legally valid sale of shares is only possible with the approval of the Board of Directors.
In the search for a possible buyer, suspicion naturally falls on Espace Media Groupe. It already holds 1.7 percent through its stake in Schaer Thun AG, which was increased from 66.6 to 100 percent this year. Together with the 8.5 percent from Basel, Espace Media would hold a total of 10.2 percent, making it the second-largest single shareholder after the Radio BeO development association. When asked whether there was any truth to these speculations, Espace CEO Polo Stäheli simply replied that he would not comment on rumors. Which is not a denial.
(cu)

Marketer P slows down small intermediaries and has to pick them. This is what the Competition Commission Secretariat wants. The Secretariat of the Competition Commission (ComCo) has concluded a two-year investigation against PubliGroupe (P) and sent it the still confidential request for a statement (WW 40/04). The Secretariat is not revealing anything in terms of content, but P is. "The Competition Commission Secretariat sees its suspicions from the preliminary investigation of 2002 confirmed and is demanding that we also commission the small intermediaries", says Georges von Csernatony, a member of the P management. The now apparently confirmed suspicions from 2002 state that P "unlawfully restricts competition and abuses its dominant market position" by "discriminating" against some competitors and blocking their access to the market through unjustified guidelines.
The investigation was prompted by a complaint from the small advertising broker AdX. In 2001, it had applied for authorization as a professional intermediary and thus for the granting of the Intermediary Commission (IC). While AdX received the VK from its own titles, it was denied it by the Association of Swiss Advertising Companies (VSW) - all P subsidiaries. The reason given: AdX did not fulfill the VSW guidelines. The consequence of the rejection: he was not commissioned for advertisements that AdX placed with P-Pacht titles. So he filed a lawsuit.
The P now has a few weeks to comment on the 60-page report and application. The application will then be submitted to the entire Competition Commission.
Markus Knöpfli

Pet food Premium food for pets conquers market share. TBWA launches Perfect Fit for Masterfoods. dogs and cats are part of the family for their owners. The health and well-being of their four-legged friends are correspondingly important. The increase in the number of brands reflects the growing importance of the pet food product group. According to ACNielsen, between October 2003 and September 2004, food (including snacks) worth CHF 223 million ended up in cats' bowls and around CHF 78 million in dogs' bowls. While the overall market stagnated, the dry food range, especially for cats, has seen strong growth of around twelve percent over the last two years. The market research institute even speaks of a boom in the super-premium dry food market for dogs and cats, where sales have increased tenfold in five years. Today, several hundred dry foods are vying for the favor of pet owners - and practically only on the shelves. There is hardly any advertising support for them. Despite this, Swiss dog owners, for example, pay the highest price for dry food in the world thanks to their high purchasing power. "We are seeing trends towards convenience and functional food among pet owners, as well as a willingness to spend more on it," explains Marco Zanetti, Product Group Manager at Masterfoods. For the group of famous wet food brands such as Whiskas, Sheba, Cesar and Chappi, the question therefore arose as to whether it could cover the trends well with its portfolio and expertise. "We had to find a brand
that also focus on health aspects in line with the increasing segmentation," says Zanetti. In fact, expensive food brands that have had their product lines developed by veterinarians, nutritionists and behavioral specialists to suit the individual characteristics of the animals have been the main growth drivers. Masterfoods is now responding to this with Perfect Fit and, unlike other brands, supplies not only specialist retailers but also retailers.
Masterfoods commissioned the in-house agency TBWA with the market launch, which developed an integrated and comprehensive communication concept - from strategic market analysis and communication strategy through to implementation: packaging, advertisements and DM, selling-in, roadshow and online presence. Animal characters with their individual characteristics and needs are at the heart of the concept. Although most pet owners feed two dry brands and are guided in their purchasing decisions by promotional prices, those responsible are convinced that their target group has an affinity for the "accessible science" positioning of Perfect Fit and will not affect the existing wet portfolio. They are discerning animal lovers who do not want to get lost in nutritional details, but trust in the manufacturer's expertise. For the launch of the new umbrella brand, an easy-to-understand to emotional implementation was chosen, which is also massively supported with a broad media mix.
On the move: Perfect Fit is launched in Switzerland, the first European country to do so.
Luca Aloisi

People At the beginning of May 2005, Marco Castellaneta will take over as Head of Corporate Communications at Ringier, while at the same time becoming the Group's media spokesman. Castellaneta has worked for Ringier TV since 1996, currently as editor-in-chief of the program "konsum.tv" on SF 2. Until he takes up his post, Myrta Bugini will remain interim head of the corporate staff department. She is also intended to be Castellaneta's deputy.

Unfortunately, errors have crept into this year's creative ranking: Euro RSCG omitted 2 shortlist places in Cannes and 4 finalists at the New York Festival. As a result, the agency achieved 134 points and moved up to eighth place. Second-placed Ruf Lanz is missing 1 Edi and 4 Poster of the Year shortlists. With 403 points, the agency is now even closer to Publicis. The corrected ranking can be downloaded as a PDF file from www.werbewoche.ch.

Donation campaign Last year, the Zodiac animal charity used a mini-budget and crucified animals to generate maximum media hype, a few nasty letters and - according to CDs Daniel Krieg and Uwe Schlupp - "many new supporters." This year, the appeal for help for homeless animals ahead of the festive season is somewhat softer. The KSSJ agency has come up with a mailing that uses the bitten payment slip and envelopes to show that the animals urgently need food.