Local television Hugo Bigi has written a textbook instead of a commemorative publication to mark the 10th anniversary of TeleZüri. WW: The book "Nahsehen" looks stylistically like a printed "People" program. Nevertheless, it could also be sold as a textbook on TV journalism. Hugo Bigi: One book reviewer said that my "Nahsehen" is a "media analysis as a home story". I would agree with that. The process of making television is related to different people. A concrete story is used to describe how a single video journalist (VJ) can be decisive for a report. What does he bring from his environment, how does he work? I put it in slightly exaggerated terms: "Every VJ is a little program director." I wanted to present this analysis not only as an academic textbook, but also in an entertaining way.
Stories instead of a history book?
Originally, I wanted to focus more on the history, but I soon realized that it's not the history that's important at TeleZüri. It's more about: How are stories made? Every event is wrapped up in a story. You can see that in the way it is implemented in the editorial team and in the way it is perceived by the audience. They are right in the middle of the story because it comes from their regional environment. This is a consistent feature of the editorial work at TeleZüri. That's why we always talk internally about stories instead of reports. With "Nahsehen", I tried to create "TeleZüri in book form", both in terms of language and pace. I wanted to show how such stories are created and what they achieve.
You are also a lecturer in television journalism at the MAZ and at the Institute for Applied Media Studies at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences in Winterthur. How important is this alongside your job as a presenter?
I can well imagine a future in this direction. But I never want to lose touch with journalistic practice. I've been working on the front line for 20 years and am now trying to take something from both sides and perhaps build a bridge. In Switzerland, there is still a deep divide between journalists in the field and the academy.
You also want to complete a degree in communication studies at the Center for Mass Communication Research at the University of Leicester in spring 2005. What motivates you to do this?
The Research Center in Leicester not only researches media academically, but also in a very practice-oriented way. I could well imagine continuing there for a while or expanding my teaching activities in this direction. It's exciting to see how much more media and media reception is taught in the English-speaking world than here. The media are developing rapidly, so it's important to learn how to deal with them.
Your Master's dissertation is entitled "Videojournalism and the Sociology of News Production". What does that mean?
It's about media sociology. I want to analyze video journalism, which TeleZüri was the first to introduce in Switzerland, from the makers' point of view. To find out how and why these VJs work. What constraints are they subject to? Political, legal, economic.
One of these pressures is called advertising. What interests you about it?
Advertising is an important part of our everyday culture. So it was clear that advertising had to feature in the book. Advertising is much closer to TeleZüri than to a newspaper. I wanted to make that visible. On the one hand, we financed the book with around 20 pages of "interstitial advertising". That was a nice side effect. Provocative - but justified in this book.
You also write about commercials. What is your thesis here?
TeleZüri relies on bringing local advertising to television. Our broadcaster has also developed the "Nah-
see in advertising". Ernst Fischer from the bedding factory in Wädenswil is an advertising star. Kenny Eichenberger from Kenny's Autocenter in Wettingen is the trendsetter of this personalized advertising. It's a new advertising language when personalities like Fischer or Eichenberger stand up and say: "Trust me!"
How big is the share of local advertising on TeleZüri? Local advertising accounts for around 15 percent of the total volume. The proportion of national advertising continues to increase steadily. But first we had to develop a new form for local advertising. This is where local television differs from radio. In radio, local advertising has long since established itself as a low-cost medium. In television, everything is much more expensive and you first had to come up with a new style for commercials and develop it, a different kind of creativity. That's why I wanted to introduce these figures in the book and show what this type of advertising can achieve.
"With the book 'Nahsehen', I tried to create TeleZüri in book form in terms of tempo and language."

Hugo Bigi, Anchorman of TeleZüri
Interview: Andreas Panzeri

At the beginning of November, copywriter Martin Stulz (photo) joins the creative team at advertising agency Advico Young & Rubicam (AY&R), followed by art director Christian Bobst in February. Martin Stulz has worked at Lowe for the last two years and previously at Weber Hodel Schmid, Euro RSCG and Publicis. Christian Bobst previously worked for AY&R before moving to Jung von Matt/Spree in Germany. He has just been accepted into the Art Directors Club Switzerland.
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In February 2005, Rolf Suter takes over the management of the media agency m&m in Glattbrugg. He replaces Wolfgang Mecklenburg
who was previously responsible for the overall management of the two agencies m&m and mm&b in Switzerland. In future, Mecklenburg will concentrate on the European business of the parent holding company m&m media - including in Stuttgart, Paris and Vienna. Claudia Mühlebach's tasks and area of responsibility at mm&b will remain unchanged in the new constellation.
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The former publishing director of the Beobachter, Peter Kümmerli (photo), is the new publishing director of Personalvorsorge und Sozialversicherung (VPS). Kümmerli takes over from Cornelia Maggi-Wirz, who built up and expanded the publishing house over 17 years, at the beginning of November. In future, she will devote herself to strategic tasks on the Board of Directors and Board Committee.
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Andreas C. Englert is stepping down as deputy editor-in-chief of Schweizer Illustrierte (SI). As of February 1, 2005, he will take on a writing position at Blick, but will continue to work as an author for SI on a 20 percent basis.
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Cesare Patella becomes Project Manager in the Media & Research department of Publimedia. He will take over a newly created project manager position at the beginning of April 2005. Patella currently works for Jean Frey as Head of Marketing/Media/Ad Support.

Online The Competition Commission (ComCo) is subjecting the takeover of the online real estate platform Homegate by Tamedia and Edipresse to an in-depth review, and the preliminary review has provided evidence of the creation or strengthening of dominant market positions in the Zurich and Geneva/Vaud areas, according to a press release. In a first step, the two publishing houses want to acquire a minority of Homegate shares from Zürcher Kantonalbank and contribute their own activities to the company. They are expected to acquire a majority stake from 2008. The review will last until February 28, 2005 at the latest.

Sport The Rotkreuz-based software provider Codex is to become the main sponsor of the newly launched JO Alpine Cup of the Central Switzerland Ski Association (ZSSV), which is intended to give young talented skiers the opportunity to try their hand at reaching the national top level. The successful sponsorship of a top athlete at the Swiss Olympic Gigathlon has confirmed Codex's strategy, explains Beat Flüeler, Head of Division ERP. The ZSSV is still looking for a new title sponsor for the Alpine Cup for regional riders, as cable car manufacturer Garaventa wants to shift its sponsorship activities to an international basis in future.

Internet With the relaunch at the end of October, Blick.ch introduced two new, large-format advertising media. The maxi-board with 994×118 pixels and the maxi-skyscraper with 326×600 pixels are particularly suitable for branding campaigns and, according to exclusive marketer P-Webservices, the performance values have increased significantly compared to the previous formats.

Public transport If your dream girl keeps sending you buses instead of her phone number, you should urgently rethink your flirting strategy. Zurich's public transport company (VBZ) and its agency Ruf Lanz agree on this, and have launched a new campaign to encourage Zurich residents to go out without a car and thus avoid costly encounters with the wrong women. The traffic warden theme is the first implementation of the will of the people, which was determined last July: Visitors to the VBZ homepage were allowed to choose their campaign favorite from six proposals. In the end, the "wrong women" won the race with 22 percent.

Tea As part of an international agency evaluation, Saatchi & Saatchi Simko has won Twinings Tea's advertising budget for Switzerland, Austria and Germany. The new advertising and promotion campaigns include TV, print and several below-the-line measures in an initial phase and are to be seen from the beginning of 2005. Twinings is part of Wander AG, a subsidiary of Associated British Foods.

Public transport The ZVV wants to anchor its "One ticket for everything" concept even more firmly with new implementations The campaign of the Zurich Transport Association (ZVV) is already entering its fifth round this fall with the same content in new packaging. The agency Publicis, which successfully defended its annual budget of one million Swiss francs for another three years in a bidding process, is still responsible for the communication measures. "We were able to convince those responsible at ZVV that the 'Ich bin auch ...' concept has cult status and is far from over," explains Publicis consultant Lukas Tenger. In order to dramatize the networking of public transport in the ZVV once again, the creative team around CD Jean Etienne Aebi had children work for them this year. As a result, colorful streetcars, buses and boats have recently started to appear on Zurich's billboards. However, the three-year-olds are already so influenced by the advertising of recent years that they scribble over a streetcar - still labeled as such for older generations: "Deborah's (6) ship". For the Publicis advertisers, this is proof of the success of their concept.
A new subscription networkThe team also wants to prove that this is not only suitable for conveying the image message of "networking" with specific product messages. The most recent example is the introduction of the Z-Pass. Thanks to the new travelcard network, which will merge the ZVV with the neighboring fare networks from December 12, "one ticket for everything" will be valid beyond Zurich's cantonal borders in future. At the same time, the ZVV is increasing ticket prices by an average of 5.8 percent for the first time in over eight years. For the introduction of the Z-Pass, Aebi and his team are using the cantonal flags of the network partners and adding the headline "I'm a Zurich resident too".
Interesting segmentThe package of measures also includes small advertisements in the real estate environment. As newcomers are more willing to think about their habits and possibly switch to public transport, they are an interesting segment for ZVV. To draw their attention to the extensive range of public transport services, the advertisements play with floor plans of apartments and floors. In the space adjacent to the kitchen or bedroom, they show the opera house, the zoo or the Türlersee lake. The subscription covers and various ZVV brochures were also adapted to the concept and redesigned by Publicis.
Advertising with cult character is being further expanded: Publicis lets children draw colorful streetcars and ships.
Simone Keller

Magazines The free magazine Pro is to be discontinued at the end of the year for economic reasons and a poor outlook for the coming year, editor-in-chief Annemarie Frey told the news service Klein Report. Pro claims to be "the biggest family magazine in Switzerland". The Wemf-approved, bimonthly free circulation is 856,000 copies and around 8,000 issues are sold. The magazine has been published for over 50 years and has been produced by Annemarie Frey's communications agency Sorpresa for around 20 years. It is published by Verlagsgesellschaft Pro, which is backed by Publimag.

Press The competitor of the Zürichsee-Zeitung (ZSZ), Tamedia, participates in the advertising combination 27.
Publisher Tamedia is now taking the first steps after announcing its regional strategy for the Tages-Anzeiger at the end of September: the new Tagi regional supplement, which will be produced by its own editorial team in the Horgen district from March, will become part of the advertising combination 27 in the Lake Zurich, Schwyz, Walensee and Glarus regions. Tamedia is teaming up with the Südostschweiz Media Group for this purpose, thus dispelling any remaining doubts about the seriousness of the seven to ten-year growth strategy in the regional and local area of its flagship. Within the combination 27, the Tages-Anzeiger takes the place previously held by the ZSZ for almost four years until the end of 2003.
Module Horgen-Ausserschwyz
Nevertheless, Theodor Gut, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Zürichsee-Presse AG, is not worried about the latest development. "Our analysis has shown that the combination with the Tages-Anzeiger is not a hit offer for advertisers that we would have to fear," he emphasizes. We are talking about the Horgen-Ausserschwyz combination module, which reaches 71,000 readers in the region with the titles Höfner Volksblatt, March-Anzeiger and the new Tagi regional split in large circulation. The entire advertising combination 27 with the additional titles Bote der Urschweiz, Südostschweiz Gaster und See, Südostschweiz Glarus and the Sarganserländer reaches a daily readership of 131,000 people. Tamedia emphasizes the importance of the cooperation at advertising level: "It is a perfect combination and important for us," says Eta Pavlovic, deputy Tamedia media spokeswoman. Südostschweiz publisher Hanspeter Lebrument is also happy with the new replacement for the ZSZ, as his publishing house is now present on the left bank of the lake right up to the gates of Zurich - albeit far away from its core business. "For me, this is the ideal solution," says Hanspeter Lebrument.
Combi was not worth it
Zürichsee-Presse AG pulled out at the end of 2003 because Kombi 27 had not paid off. Some advertisements had merely shifted from the Zürichsee-Zeitung to the Kombi, "a zero-sum game for us", explains Gut. On the other hand, the ZSZ pursues its own strategies and cooperates with the Glarus weekly newspaper "Fridolin", which is based in Schwanden, and the "Einsiedler Anzeiger". The cooperation with Fridolin Verlag, the former owner of the March Höfe Zeitung (MHZ), was an obvious choice. On the condition that the ZSZ did not enter into any cooperation agreements with other publishing houses between Glarus and Lake Zurich, it was able to take over the MHZ and thus close the last major gap in its catchment area around the lake. Nevertheless, Gut wants to respond to the changes at Kombi 27. "We have so far been cautious on Obersee, in the Linth plain and in Glarnerland, but we will examine alternatives together with Fridolin."
Working together: Tamedia and the Südostschweiz Media Group.
René Worni

Newspapers The Hagemann family has learned from the NZZ-PubliGroup deal: the main shareholder wants a right of first refusal for the P-share in BaZ An astonishing annual result presented by Basler Zeitung Medien (BZM) last week: although consolidated sales fell below the 300 million mark for the first time in the 2003/04 financial year by 3.2 percent, operating income was more than nine times higher than in the previous period. However, BZM is under no illusions. "The result is not so much a result of increased income, but rather the consequence of some drastic measures in the cost area," admits BZM CEO Beat Meyer. 5.5 million francs were saved in the past financial year alone, most of which was in the parent company. The first-time savings at the BaZ editorial office, whose annual budget was cut by 5 million to 20 million francs, are not even fully reflected in the figures, and despite falling revenues, the printing center with the new newspaper press was implemented (investment costs: 85 million francs) as was the BaZ relaunch. Both with initial successes: Thanks to various new orders, the web press that went into operation in the summer is already running at 80 percent capacity. And since the BaZ relaunch on September 4, the 645 subscriptions canceled so far have been offset by around 1,100 new fixed subscriptions and a good 5,000 trial subscriptions. "That's more than we expected," comments Meyer.
He is optimistic about the conflict over the new cultural advertisements (WW 36/04): "At least people are talking to each other again," he says. In the meantime, however, the matter has come to a head: on November 1, cultural workers largely boycotted the BaZ agenda. In addition, a new committee is calling for an NZZ split for Basel via a petition.
While the parent company had to accept a decline in turnover of 11 million francs, BZM remained stable in terms of customer pressure at 118 million francs. The free newspaper Baslerstab reduced its turnover by 600,000 francs to 28.6 million francs and, according to Meyer, Radio Basel One is on budget with a turnover of 2.4 million francs, but is still in the red.
Concerned about rumors surrounding PS Negotiations between PubliGroupe and BZM about a new cooperation agreement have been ongoing since the middle of the year. Where do they stand today? "We are in the middle of discussions," says Meyer. He doesn't want to say any more. However, he confirms that the deal between P and NZZ was also "very surprising" in Basel. And the rumors that P could sell its BZM shares (currently 37 percent) in return for a further lease are "troublesome and worrying" for Meyer. However, P has clearly stated its commitment to BZM "and we have no reason to doubt this." In the contract negotiations, however, "this important point will be addressed and a clause will be requested that secures the Hagemann family a right of first refusal as the majority shareholder. Meyer did not want to say whether there was already a pre-emptive right to the P shares.
Markus Knöpfli

Competition At the international Cresta Awards, all Swiss agencies that make it onto the shortlist can take home a prize, and the winning subjects are old acquaintances: Publicis takes home honors with the "Bauch" poster for Sportplausch Wider (bronze at NY Festivals, Clio shortlist). Lesch + Frei impressed the jury with the "Safety Line" ad for Road Cross (silver at NY Festivals). And Ruf Lanz once again took top honors with the TV spot "Stevie Wonder" for the Mühlehalde home for the blind (Cannes Shortlist, Die Klappe, Ad Spot Award). A total of 64 awards were distributed among 209 finalists.