Construction industry After a competitive presentation among four agencies, Batigroup has made its decision: Publicis Factory will manage the communications budget of the listed construction group in future.Batigroup generates annual sales of 1.1 billion Swiss francs with infrastructure construction, tunnel construction and total services for buildings. Publicis Factory's first tasks will be the preparation of the 2004 annual report and the further development of the corporate design.

Free newspapers The Berner Bär has gone into reverse: it left the commuters to 20 Minuten - and turned its attention to households in Bern and the surrounding area.The Berner Bär in reverse gear: around two years ago, the newspaper, which still had a free circulation of 14,000 copies in 2001, began to dismantle its boxes in Bern, withdraw its colporteurs and reduce its circulation first to 136,000 and then even to 124,000 copies. This was done without much ado and for two reasons: Alongside the daily 20 Minuten, the Berner Bär (BB), which was only published twice a day, had a hard time with commuters. In addition, BB's parent company Espace Media Groupe was interested in acquiring a stake in 20 Minuten together with Tamedia. So instead of trying to make it more difficult for its possible future sister paper 20 Minuten (see box) to enter the market, BB withdrew from the commuter front without a fight and made do with households as its readership, explains publishing director Jürg Lehmann. The reduction in boxes was just one consequence of this. A second: a year ago, BB increased its circulation - again without much fanfare. Specifically, in the second half of the week, a large print run with an additional 20,000 copies was introduced in order to serve the nine municipalities of Allmendingen, Biglen, Grosshöchstetten, Konolfingen, Münsingen, Neuenegg, Oberdiessbach, Rubigen and Worb, as Lehmann explains. Around 40,000 BB copies were already being distributed in the communities around Berne, but the large print run will now give them even more weight, says publishing director Lehmann. What is striking is that the BB now covers almost the same area as the official gazette combination ARBplus, which also includes the Anzeiger Region Bern (ARB). The ARB from Bund Verlag and the BB used to be fierce competitors, but with Espace Media's 40 percent stake in Bund Verlag at the beginning of 2004, they became half-sisters. Albert P. Stäheli, CEO of Espace Media, does not want the large BB circulation to be understood as being against ARB or ARBplus. It was only introduced at the request of the retail trade and was geared geographically to its catchment area. A strategy against the ARB would also not make sense because the two publications complement rather than compete with each other in the advertising market. The ARB is primarily strong in real estate advertisements and obituaries, while the BB is the paper for trade and retail.
In short: The BB has been published for a year now with 124,000 copies in the first half of the week and 14,000 copies in the second half of the week. Both circulations have been valid since the beginning of 2004 and, according to Lehmann, will only be confirmed by the next circulation certification. The large print run has not yet been reflected in the advertising rates, so advertisers have received a supplement. However, this will change from 2005: A 1/1 page in 4 colors in normal circulation will now cost 9298 francs, in large circulation 9386 francs.
Incidentally, the BB editions have always been published at different times: The city editions are delivered to mailboxes in Berne by 6 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, while the country editions are delivered early on Wednesdays and Fridays. This is partly due to the evening sale: This traditionally takes place in the city on Thursday and in the country on Friday.
Appeals Commission will decideThe Competition Commission (ComCo) rejected Espace Media's plan to acquire a 17.5 percent stake in 20 Minuten.
As a result, Espace Media filed a complaint with the Appeals Commission for Competition Issues in March. This is still pending, confirmed Jürg Dubs, judge and spokesman for the Appeals Commission. However, he did not want to specify a time limit.
On average, such proceedings take 9 to 15 months. In addition, the appeal can still be taken to the Federal Supreme Court afterwards.
ARB submission in December The ARB is published by the Verein Region Bern (VRB), which consists of 14 municipalities in the canton and city of Bern. It issues the license for the ARB.
The license is held by Bund Verlag, which pays the VRB CHF 3.7 million annually. The contract between VRB and Bund Verlag expires at the end of 2005, and VRB is currently preparing a new invitation to tender for the license. VRB Managing Director Isabelle Meyer is holding out the prospect of this in December. According to Albert P. Stäheli, CEO of Espace Media, it remains to be seen whether Bund Verlag or Espace Media will take part in the tender. (mk)
Markus Knöpfli

Retail Migros wants to position itself as a provider of branded toys at attractive prices with a commercial. Accompanied by sugary Christmas carols, the aim is to entice customers into a shopping frenzy two months before Christmas and thus give the stores a good end to the year. The toy trade, which generates its main sales in the fourth quarter, has always benefited in particular from the custom of gift-giving. The industry has almost doubled the value of its marketing activities in the last three years: according to Media Focus, advertising expenditure amounted to around 17 million francs last year. In 2001, the figure was just 9 million. The toy sector of the
While Migros was still among the top 5 most advertising-intensive companies in 2002, it was overtaken last year by manufacturer brands such as Nokia and Hasbro (Switzerland).
With total sales of CHF 400 million (excluding video games), which corresponds to a market share of 21.4 percent, Migros is in second place in the toy trade. However, compared to Manor, which leads the market with 21.8 percent, Migros was able to grow more strongly in 2003 - by 3 percent, as Désirée Strassmann, consultant at Exxtra Kommunikation, knows.
Message to adultsThe Migros agency has been entrusted with the conception of a new TV commercial this year. "Very few adults know that Migros offers a wide range of branded toys at attractive prices," says Strassmann. That's why the message - unlike the usual toy commercials - is aimed primarily at adults.
The plot is correspondingly knitted: a worried mother has her daughter examined by all the specialists because she cannot explain her child's hyperactive euphoria. To no avail: even the Rorschach test does not reveal any abnormalities.
Back at home, the girl rushes into her room and immediately gives free rein to her play instinct. "With Migros toys, a pounding heart, high temperature and shiny eyes are completely normal," says the binder, solving the mystery.
In addition to adults, Migros also wants to appeal directly to children. According to Désirée Strassmann, a brochure, a POP presentation, an Advent calendar and a toy promotion with the Lilibiggs were again designed on the basis of last year's positive experience.
Will the shining eyes of children be able to encourage adults to spend money again this year? At any rate, the current consumer sentiment of minus 13 points is more positive than in the same period last year (-35), which could give Christmas business a boost this year.
Perplexed doctors, clever commercial: What's wrong with the child? Don't worry: it's just play fever, triggered by Migros toys.
Simone Keller

Associations The Swiss Branded Goods Association Promarca has awarded its "Brand Article Prize" to two theses on the subject of brand valuation: Marco Dietrich from the University of Bern developed a new software for brand valuation in his thesis. The other thesis was written by Max Meister and Cyril Zimmermann from the HSW Bern and shows that brand valuation models that combine business management and behavioral science are inferior to one-sided models in terms of corporate brand management. Summaries of the award-winning papers are available on the association's website.

Self-promotion A number of festive days this year fall on days that would be work-free anyway. This unfavorable calendar constellation will weigh more heavily on some people's stomachs than the stuffed Christmas goose, and the Zurich agency Spillmann Felser Leo Burnett has addressed this concern by bringing forward the anticipation of the mini-Christmas vacations to the month of November. To this end, it sent all its clients a power Advent wreath with eight candles.

Budgets The media agency m&m loses Hyundai. Mitsubishi, Suzuki and Hyundai, the car brands of the bankrupt car importer Erb, previously had their media budgets (totaling around 20 million Swiss francs) managed by m&m in Glattbrugg. This did not change when the Belgian Alcopa Group took over Suzuki and Hyundai. However, Alcopa now only has the import and distribution rights for Hyundai in Switzerland - and will now withdraw its media budget from m&m at the end of December. m&m will lose around a third of its former inheritance budget as a result, said m&m owner Wolfgang Mecklenburg, adding that Mitsubishi and Suzuki will remain loyal to Mecklenburg. In the spring, Mitsubishi Europe separated the distribution of Mitsubishi from the Erb bankruptcy estate and transferred it to a distribution company that continues to rely on m&m. And in the middle of the year, Alcopa had to hand over the import and distribution of Suzuki cars to the Emil Frey Group, which already had its Toyota, Jaguar, Lexus, Subaru, Daihatsu, Rover and Kia brands handled by Mecklenburg's second agency mm&b. The Suzuki budget was therefore simply transferred from m&m to mm&b.
The Emil Frey Group has now also taken over Auto Koch AG in Ebikon (LU), which sells Opel, Saab, Chevrolet and Cadillac. And their media budgets have already been transferred to Mecklenburg's mm&b. But that's not all: m&m will also soon be able to plug its Hyundai hole again - with a new car brand that Mecklenburg has yet to name.
Despite the departure of Alcopa, m&m will soon be managing two brands again. Nevertheless, Mecklenburg is thinking about streamlining structures. "Although we are keeping the two companies, we will move in the spring and merge the entire infrastructure," he says. mm&b was founded as a second agency at the time to avoid conflicts of interest in managing the Erb and Emil Frey accounts.
Markus Knöpfli

Opticians Spectacle queues are finally over. At least, that's what the latest posters and advertisements from Eye-Light are proclaiming, as the contact lens specialist from Zurich recommends its existing and potential customers to leave their glasses in peace in favor of lenses. To dramatize this message in a striking way, the advertising professionals at McCann Erickson paid their last respects to the outdated nose velos and designed a new case for them: The spectacle coffin.

Anyone whose head was spinning last weekend knew exactly why. The past week can simply be summarized as the big cigar tasting week, and it goes without saying that the fine puros could not be missed at the 10th anniversary of TeleZüri. The birthday child wanted to be celebrated accordingly - but the other events also showed an unusually generous side with rolled tobacco à discretion.the birthday party of the (almost) first Swiss private television station was perfectly organized (because - nota bene - Star TV must be correctly described as the first private station). Those responsible made the right decision when they decided to dispense with tables and seating and hold the party as a standing gala. The opportunity to switch at will was eagerly seized.
A gigantic line-up awaited the guests at Lakeside. In addition to the captivating music stars Baschi and Daniela Brun and ex-Publicis advertiser Marc Sway, Maja Brunner and Monika Kälin, two queens of the moderately soft Swiss cultural genre, also took to the stage. And singer Suzanne Klee provided a real trucker feeling afterwards. The guests included a wide range of celebrities from the executive floors of the communications and business sectors, such as Publicis CEO Fredy Collioud, Phonak boss Andy Rihs and Jean Frey CEO Filippo Leutenegger; from the world of politics, regular Sunday Talk guests Doris Fiala and Daniel Vischer, as well as the eternally beatific Ruth Genner and professional expert and psychologist Alan Guggenbühl. And just as few people from the cervelat department missed out on the festival, which is why many stars and starlets could be admired on stage and even close enough to touch in the audience.
But the absolute highlight was undoubtedly the Miss Switzerland Choir under the direction of Conférencière France Delon with former Misses Anita Hodel-Buri, Jennifer Ann Gerber and Mahara McKay as well as the current most beautiful Swiss girl Fiona Hefti. They belted out their flawless Happy Birthday to the audience without a hitch, who cheered their performance vigorously. Another sign of the excellent party quality: when there is as much dancing at the end as there was at Lakeside, the guests want to show that they really, really enjoyed themselves. And so, in addition to the TeleZüri team, Tina Näf and the Aegis TV team as well as Josi Baur, Roman Auer and Jenni Best also danced the night away.
The guests at SonntagsZeitung's traditional gambling night, this year held at "Besame Mucho" in Zurich's Westend, were just as smoky as at Lakeside. The long night of gambling has actually followed a familiar ritual for years: aperitif, welcome by the SonntagsZeitungs notables - for the first time by Pauletto's successor Diego Quintarelli - and event organizer Ronnie Scholom from ShowConnection. This is followed by a game of roulette and blackjack until (usually soon) bankruptcy and then hanging out at the bar.
As the SonntagsZeitung's Gambling Night enjoys absolute cult status, you can also see guests there who don't usually frequent advertising events, such as Claudine Gut or Adi Erni - and with new mom Sandra Haldi, a long-lost acquaintance was finally back at the event. Incidentally, the big pot was won by Piero Schäfer thanks to System Behring and lucky fairy Jacqueline Gervasi, who oracled the right numbers for the SW Head of Communications with frightening accuracy.
Reto's go-kart bash or "racing like Amir" was the motto for the weekend - in the right region, of course, namely the canton of Aargau. For the fourth time, touring advertisers were able to compete with selected celebrities on the groovy circuit of the Spreitenbach kart track. With Sauber test driver Neel Jani, organizer Reto Kammermann even brought in a real racer. The fact that the mini racers wore the colors of Formula 1 teams spurred on the ambition of the little Schumis and Alonsos - both men and women gave it full throttle. After all, they wanted to take as little time as possible from the professionals - Christina Surer was another crack driver at the start. And because the little speedsters run on electricity from the socket, the big smoke was also reserved for cigar-smoking contemporaries at the Rock 'n' Race Night.
Beat Fritsch looks back on a pretty smoky week, because in addition to the usual industry events, there was also something to celebrate.
The 10th anniversary of TeleZüri was celebrated at the Lakeside Casino Zürichhorn with great fanfare and a star-studded line-up - and, of course, the finest cigars. This year's Gambling Night of the SonntagsZeitung in the "Besame Mucho" was again held under the motto "Noches locas tropicanas" - so, how could it be otherwise, there were the finest cigars. Lap records were then on the agenda for the weekend. At the indoor karting track in Spreitenbach, Touring Magazine hosted a hunt for hundredths of a second, accompanied by delicious food and plenty of drinks. And what do you think, dear reader, was also served there? That's right - cognac and ...
Unforgettable moderation: travesty star France Delon.
Plastic pineapples gave the "Besame Mucho" a touch of Tropicana.
The winner or loser was decided in the roulette wheel.
Smart-Kart: Not to be underestimated, although "only" with an electric motor.
Tamedia press spokeswoman Franziska Hügli with Andreas Meili (left), Head of Electronic Media, and Belcom Sales Manager Tarkan Özküp.
Celebrating the cheerful birthday party at the front line: Rita Meyer (l.) and Sari Steiner from TeleZüri marketer Belcom.
Team spirit: Daniela and Dietmar Bemberg with Andreas Gedenk (l.), who put their heads together for most of the evening.
Finally a broadcasting slot again: VIP TV from Peter Wyss and Simone Zikmund is now available on TeleZüri.
Unfortunately, it was not possible to find out whether ex-AZ editor-in-chief Markus Gisler was serving Hans Heinrich Coninx (left).
Dressed up at very short notice, but nevertheless skillfully: TeleZüri advertiser Markus Cavegn and girlfriend Nicole Bohn.
Old acquaintances: Glamorous couple Silvia Affolter and Siro Barino (l.) in front of the lens with Euro-RSCG CEO Frank Bodin.
Did Piero Schäfer (right) ask celebrity chef Jacky Donatz about the latest recipes at Restaurant Sonnenberg?
Two tailors in one go: Josi Baur from Starcom with Martin Schneider (l.), Publisuisse, and Urs Schneider, Mediaschneider.
Didn't want to miss out on the gala party on the shores of Lake Zurich: Media specialists Danilo Crisetig and Jennifer Best.
The editors-in-chief of TR7 and Schweizer Familie, René Hildbrand (left) and Dani Dunkel (right), with SoZ head of news Philippe Pfister.
Seen discussing for a long time in a somewhat quieter corner of the ballroom: Sandro Rüegger (l.) and Claudio Zanetti.
Cüplilaune with the ladies: Caroline Nünlist from Zip-Media with Cinzia Sartorio (l.), Migrosbank, and Caroline Röösli (r.) from PKZ.
Not a miss, but a miss serenade: France Delon (center) with the most beautiful singing quartet in all of Switzerland.
Tina Näf (l.) and the rest of the Aegis Media TV department did a great job on the dance floor at the TeleZüri party.
Welcoming committee of SonntagsZeitung: Christine Lesniak and Editor-in-Chief Andreas Durisch (right) with Stefan Böni from Publimedia.
Un professionel: Diego Quintarelli, head of sales at SonntagsZeitung, showed no weakness at the blackjack table.
Maike Juchler, newly designated Weltwoche publishing director, with Thomas Lang (l.) and Filippo Giarratana from Disc. Dipl. Ing. Fust.
No luck in the game: Thomas Auer from Novasys with the MGB ladies Silvia Girtanner (l.) and Rebecca Krausse.
A hearty meal for the gamblers: Astrid Gartenmann and Markus Bien from Publimedia fortified themselves with goulash soup.
Monika Nievergelt (l.), Sunrise, and Brigitte Egloff from Christ with Ivan Scotti, who, just like in life, really stepped on the gas at the gaming table.
They were reluctant to gamble, but still had a lot of fun: Joy Wildbolz and Rudolf Voegeli from Markenplan.
A visit from the Vizeum agency (often referred to as the Lehmann family): Sonja Erb (l.) and Maja Kuhn with charmer Roman Auer.
Relatively unimpressed by the hectic activity at the gaming tables: Urs Renner (l.) and Markus Ehrle.
The hardened gambler's joy and envy: Adi Erni celebrates a blackjack while Roman Auer peers over his shoulder.
They, too, made good use of their basic capital: Stefan Maegli (left), Corinna Compostella-Bürli and Lajos Vizner.
Sarah Hildebrand, Fisch Meier Direkt, Tobias Thut, Swiss Youth Hostels, and Reto Dürrenberger from id-Segmentmarketing (from left).
The players' world was still in order here: Bettina Fürst from Carat proudly showed Marco Reale from the Metropool her winnings.
Rip-off: Piero Schäfer broke the bank with lucky fairy Jacqueline Gervasi and was congratulated by Andreas Durisch (right).
Ripped off: After a brief interim high, Sandra Haldi (l.) and Claudine Gut went all out and unfortunately came away empty-handed.
Very fast guests: Touring Marketing Manager Reto Kammermann (right) with the professionals Christina Surer and Neel Jani.
Advertiser Peter Frank with Verena Nicole Giese, who had already declared a forfeit in the warm-up and did not take part in the race.
The touring team Alfred Blaser (l.) and Reto Mürner (r.) with former go-kart owner Julien Witt from the JBW media agency.
"Well, if they hadn't kept cutting us off..." - Oliver Huber (l.) and Yves Keller analyzing the race.
A little chat during the coffee break: Stefano Cester from Koller Della Piana Consulting with country singer Suzanne Klee.
"And swing a little to the left in the corner," Dominic Ott (left) and Daniel Roznovjak explained the pitfalls of the route.

Food The new MetzgerLehner campaign aims to set Coop subsidiary Bell apart from the competition through its competence dimension "enjoyment". "Buying meat is a matter of trust," says Davide Elia, Head of Marketing at Bell. Whereas the butcher used to advise the consumer, today the brand on the packaging has to take on this role. And depending on the region, this accounts for 40 to 60 percent of meat sales in the retail trade. The acceptance of self-service packaging has risen in the diametrically opposite direction to the number of butchers. In the last twenty years, the number of butchers has shrunk from 4,000 to around 1,000. In contrast, expectations of meat have risen significantly: in addition to the best quality, consumers expect animals to be kept and fed in a manner appropriate to their species. Stagnating consumption (2003: 52 kilos per capita or -1.2% compared to 2002) contrasts with a more conscious consumption of pre-processed meat.
This trend, as well as Coop's dynamization process in recent years, has benefited Bell due to its awareness of tradition, quality and innovation: in 2003, Bell shares achieved a double-digit performance of 17.6 percent - their value has increased eightfold since the IPO. However, brand management was neglected in the 1990s due to the strong brand personality. The meat competence brand is now making up for this at Markom level. The timing seems favorable, as the current financial year presents Bell with new challenges such as positioning itself as a full-service supplier in the B-to-B sector.
Profiling brand value Enjoyment
The prerequisite for the uniform brand presence was developed a year ago with the new brand strategy for the Bell Group. This provides for a concentration and promotion of the Bell brand as the corporate and umbrella brand of the brand drivers Meat, Poultry and Charcuterie as well as Bell Catering and Bell Gastro Service. As a first step, Bell had the new logo developed in 2003, which was gradually introduced with the new CD. The adaptation of the product packaging, which was all changed within a new concept, was particularly challenging. By the end of the year, over 400 products in total will bear the new look.
A single claim
After a good three almost "meatless" years in traditional advertising, this alone contributes to the increased visibility of the Bell brand. In sponsorship, on the other hand, Bell supports highly resonant projects as an exclusive caterer and sponsor in the areas of sport and culture. The Erlenbach-based advertising agency has chosen the profiling consumer benefit of enjoyment as the platform for Bell's new image campaign.
Because only quality guarantees enjoyment and only innovation guarantees enjoyable discoveries, according to consultant Andreas Meier. AD Susanne Gehrig: "We dramatize this in two ways: on the one hand, by illustrating the popularity of Bell products that are so good that they are eaten as soon as you see them. On the other hand, the two TV and cinema commercials show how irresistible Bell meat is." In one film, for example, a piranha crashes into the aquarium glass three times and with an ever greater "run-up". The reason only becomes clear when the camera reveals the plate on which a fillet of beef is lying. Alternating tag-ons show various Bell products on it, which immediately disappear from the plate again. In the final shot, the piranha leaps out of the water. Like the basic idea integrated into all Markom instruments, a single claim is now used for the first time: 'Bell - Irresistible'. "We didn't have a single overarching claim before, but about a dozen claims," says Davide Elia. The objectives of the campaign, which was planned with high GRPs and targeted at the Swiss household population, are to increase awareness, communicate the brand values and anchor the main product groups.
Tradition and quality In 1869, Samuel Bell-Roth opened a small "Ochsenmetzg" butcher's shop in Basel, laying the foundations for what is now Switzerland's largest meat company. In 1907, the sole proprietorship became a public limited company, which expanded rapidly thanks to innovative processing and logistics as well as acquisitions.
One year before the alliance with the VSK in 1913, Bell AG was already the largest meat producer in Switzerland, surpassed only by large American and British companies. The company had its largest distribution in 1962, when it owned 172 branches. Due to the growing importance of the major distributors - Migros and Coop now control almost 80 percent of the Swiss meat market - this fell to 19 specialty stores, which were spun off in 2003 by means of a management buyout.
In two tranches, Coop floated 40 percent of the shares in its subsidiary Bell on the stock exchange in the 1990s and retained a majority stake of 60 percent. According to its own information, Bell has a supported brand awareness of around 80 percent and is the best-known brand for meat and meat products.
Meat products in Switzerland.
In 2002, the Bell Group broke through the CHF 1.5 billion sales barrier for the first time. In 2003, all group companies merged to form the
Bell Ltd, which also launched a new logo with the new CD. Today, the Bell Group employs around 4000 people. (la)
Irresistible meat from the Bell butchery: the piranha in the aquarium is magically attracted >> page 7
Irresistibly good: there's no stopping the piranha in the aquarium when it sees Bell's beef fillet on the plate.
Luca Aloisi

Advertisements Whether hidden or blatant - most of the larger titles are at least raising the price per thousand readers. It is understandable that newspapers and magazines that increased their reach in 2004 according to Mach Basic will also charge higher advertising rates next year. This category includes papers such as 20 Minuten, Le Matin semaine and dimanche, Bieler Tagblatt, Basellandschaftliche Zeitung, Le Temps, Edelweiss, Bolero, Bon à savoir and TV8. A special situation arises with 24 Heures: The Edipresse-owned paper is increasing its rate only slightly as of January 1, but will then become a good 50 percent more expensive as of February 26, 2005, because it will integrate the papers La Presse Riviera-Chablais and La Presse Nord Vaudois as of that date (see WW 32/04). The magazine, previously the weekend supplement of the Tages-Anzeiger, will also cost massively more from January 1, namely just under 23,000 francs per page, because it will increase its reach to a total of 500,000 copies and will now also be enclosed with the Basler Zeitung (BaZ), the Berner Zeitung (BZ) and the Solothurner Tagblatt, which belongs to the BZ.facts and balance sheet cheaper
Conversely, if performance-related price increases are accepted, price reductions are also expected in the event of a loss of range. But only Bilanz and Facts are taking this step. Facts even reduced its tariffs by 10 percent shortly after the publication of Mach Basic 04, so there will be no further reduction at the turn of the year. Bilanz, on the other hand, is reducing its rates by 13.1 percent from January 1, even exceeding the 12.2 percent reduction in coverage. This probably indicates that the decline in circulation and readership has become even more pronounced.
Even more popular with advertising customers are newspapers and magazines, which maintain the rate despite higher performance and
This will reduce the thousand-reader price (TLP). Schweizer Familie and Radiomagazin are setting a good example here. They are sticking with the 2004 price, even though they have significantly increased their reach. The Aargauer Zeitung, Mittelland Zeitung, L'Illustré, Stocks, L'Express, Kochen and Teleclub Magazin are behaving in a similar way, albeit without significant gains in readership.
However, advertisers would prefer titles that lower their rates despite increased reach. But that doesn't happen. The reverse, however, is true - and in an astonishingly large number: papers that are raising their rates despite sometimes significant losses in reach. These include first and foremost the Beobachter and all Swiss-German Sunday papers, as well as the Tages-Anzeiger, BaZ, BZ, Neue LZ, WochenZeitung (WOZ), Fémina, Le Nouvelliste, La Regione and Bilan.
Few justifications
In most of these cases, the publishing and advertising managers did not even consider it necessary to justify their decision. An explanation was only given for two titles: At the Nouvelliste, circulation and paper and distribution costs had risen, and the b/w rate had not been increased in 2003, wrote Olivier Debons of Publicitas Sion. And at the WOZ, publishing director Kilian Gasser stated that his paper had not increased its rates for eight years, even though the WOZ's overall reach had grown - as had inflation. The NZZ is also increasing its rates despite a significant loss in reach, but only for the b/w rate. On the other hand, it is reducing the four-color price by 5.5 percent - "because it wants to pass on the opportunities of the new rotation to its advertisers," as advertising manager Marcel Kohler explains.
However, the vast majority of titles are once again increasing their rates in a hidden manner by leaving the absolute price at the previous level despite a drop in reach. Cash, Finanz und Wirtschaft, Schweizer Illustrierte, NZZ Folio and Sélection are setting such a bad example. But HandelsZeitung, Glückspost, K-Tipp, Weltwoche, L'Hebdo, Südostschweiz, das Beste, Gesundheit Sprechstunde, L'Impartial, Il Giornale del Popolo, Annabelle, Tele and La Liberté are also among them.
And what does the Landbote, which revealed its circulation manipulation in June, do? It is juggling with arguments: A year ago, Markus Wenger, Head of Director Newspapers at Publicitas Winterthur, justified the price increase at the time by saying that the Landbote circulation had "increased significantly by 2.8 percent to 48016 copies". At the time, he knew nothing about the circulation slump. In fact, circulation had fallen once again. In view of this swindle and above all on the basis of last year's argumentation, a rate reduction would now be in order. But Winterthur doesn't seem to have a musical ear for this. On the contrary, they are pretending that they are being accommodating by not raising prices again.
In any case, Wenger wrote: The readership figures of the Landbote "have only changed as a result of the new survey by Wemf and therefore do not justify any price increases in the normal and large circulation". In other words: This year we are basing our rate policy not on circulation, but for once on reach - and because these are relatively stable, we are for better or worse foregoing a rate increase.
Markus Knöpfli

Newspapers The Tribune de Genève (TdG) is undergoing a relaunch. While the changes to the layout are rather subtle, the concept in particular has been overhauled, with the TdG focusing primarily on local reporting in future. "Today, the majority of our readers start with the regional edition and then flip backwards through the first edition to find out about world events," believes Editor-in-Chief Dominique von Burg. In future, page two will offer "the latest news in five minutes", i.e. brief information on the most important events of the last 24 hours. The previous seven-page sections International, Switzerland and Economy will be condensed into the five-page section "Les enjeux" ("The stakes"). According to von Burg, the local newsroom will no longer serve as a career stopover, but will be staffed by particularly experienced journalists.

Events The St. Jakob operators' association in Basel is launching a three-day festival next year from 9 to 11 September with more than 25 attractions for 200,000 visitors, with the communications and event agency Peter-PR being commissioned to plan, organize and implement the event. The festival is intended to showcase the variety of sporting and cultural events in the sports and event city of St. Jakob. The operator community includes the St. Jakob-Park football stadium, the St. Jakob-Arena, the "Schänzli" equestrian stadium, the St. Jakobshalle, the sports facilities, Merian Park Brüglingen, the St. Jakob swimming pool, the St. Jakob multi-storey parking lot and the Park im Grünen.