Marketer Spot Promotion is not waiting for PubliGroupe, but is going full steam ahead - albeit under new auspices.
In August, Hansruedi Kölliker, sole owner of Spot Promotion, announced that he would be quitting radio marketing at the end of the year and would be taking a new direction. Now he has changed his mind. "Many customers, radio operators and even competitors asked me to continue," says the 55-year-old. Kölliker, who has held a stake in Zug-based Euphony Holding AG since the beginning of 2003, actually wanted to devote himself to the telephony pre-selection business in future. But now he and his business partner Peter Hänggi are selling the company, which operates in Germany, as of December 1. "A good offer for Euphony as well as the reactions from the radio and advertising market were the deciding factors for me to turn my full attention back to spot promotion," he says.
However, the philosophy has changed. Kölliker: "Up to now, we have represented the medium of radio to advertising customers, but now we will present our customers' interests to the radios." Spot Promotion remains independent, a joint venture with PubliGroupe is no longer under discussion for Kölliker (see WW 27/04). "We haven't heard anything more from Lausanne either," he says.
He is not alone in this. Bruno Oetterli, owner of Radiotele, also signaled a certain openness to the P in the summer, but says there has been no serious contact since then.
(mk)

Newspapers Since September, an entry in the "Ausgehen heute" events calendar of the Basler Zeitung (BaZ) has been subject to a charge.5 to 20 francs per entry has led to an outcry among local event organizers and threats of boycott. Last Friday, BaZ publisher Matthias Hagemann and publishing director Daniel Sommer therefore met with representatives of the cultural scene. They brought a new offer with them: Anyone who places advertisements in the BaZ for more than 20,000 francs a year will not have to pay for "Ausgehen heute". However, only very few organizers could benefit from the new free offer.

Insurance company Winterthur Insurance has entrusted Angelink Yourposition with the search engine marketing for its Winteam sales force network following a multi-stage pitch.Angelink Yourposition will be responsible for keyword analysis as well as technical and content consulting for the optimization of the network of over 120 Winteam agency sites. It will also provide support in monitoring success.

Pharmaceuticals French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi Aventis has entrusted Euro RSCG Life with the global communications budgets for three drugs, with the healthcare agency handling advertising, public relations, medical education, direct marketing and online activities for the thrombosis drug Lovenox and the diabetes drugs Lantus and Apidra. The size of the budgets was not disclosed. Sanofi Aventis is now one of the five largest clients of the Euro-RSCG parent holding company Havas.

Advertising Art embodies prosperity. It is therefore ideally suited to ensnaring consumers.
Bettina Richter has selected art quotes from the poster collection of the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich for an exhibition at the Swiss National Bank. She spoke to Werbewoche about the déjà vu effect of such advertising motifs.
WW Warhol's motifs as window decorations for a fashion chain or his style for car advertising - art quotations are always booming in advertising. As an art historian, when does it make sense for you to borrow from art, and when does it come across as pandering?
Bettina Richter Advertising has to be a bit ingratiating; after all, it has to entice and confirm consumers. Art quotations in advertising are hardly based on hobby, but solely on the commercial interest of the client. In my opinion, an art quote is successful if it is multi-layered and works with embedded memories of certain images and codes. If the quote is too superficial, it becomes flat and loses its impact.
Where can you draw the line to banality? This can only be judged by looking at the specific poster. Basically, it can be said that the more frequently images are used - statistically, the "Mona Lisa" and the "David" are among these - the greater the demands on the advertiser to make up for signs of wear and tear with an innovative idea.
Works of art that are part of the cultural public domain are highly recognizable and attract attention more quickly. If creative people do not help themselves with such
images to disguise their own lack of ideas?
Today, many advertisers operate skillfully with such worn-out images. They use the déjà vu effect, which only works if an image is stored deep in our subconscious, deliberately and purposefully. The viewer is most likely to notice a change in the familiar image.
Does it serve a work of art and its public recognition if it is frequently quoted? Whether art quotations in advertising serve or harm the work of art depends very much on each individual's concept of art. For some, dressing David in jeans is a sophisticated eye-catcher because his biblical role and thus values such as beauty and spiritual strength unconsciously resonate and radiate onto the jeans brand. For those who see art as something auratic, detached from everyday life, on the other hand, a David in jeans borders on blasphemy. Conversely, works of art in advertising would hardly stand out if they were not alienated, but simply quoted one-to-one.
Otto Kern advertised its jeans in a scandalous way in the 1990s. The poster restaged da Vinci's "Last Supper of Jesus" for marketing purposes, with Jesus dressed only in jeans and the twelve disciples replaced by women who also wore only jeans. Can it be said that advertising can also destroy art?
The disenchantment of works of art also depends very much on the recipient's concept of art and their idea of values and the world. Despite our expanded concept of art and the intertwining of high art and everyday culture, for the masses art still embodies the classic panel painting in the museum with its aura. It is understandable that the image of Leonardo da Vinci is distorted for such an audience by this use in advertising.
For other people, as well as for me personally, art in every era is a reflection of everyday life and is connected to life and therefore cannot be disenchanted by such an image. However, advertisers have to show a certain sensitivity when using symbol-laden works. This is a constant, difficult balancing act between attracting attention to a specific medium and targeted provocation that crosses boundaries. The question of consideration for certain religious, ethical or cultural sensitivities arose in a similar way with the famous Benetton posters.
Many contemporary artists have no reservations about advertising and commerce and even believe they can use this system to their own ends. How credible are they and their works with this "uncritical" attitude?
This is a complex question that cannot be answered in a generally valid way because so many aspects come together here. It is simply a fact that the boundaries between art and everyday culture have been blurred. On the one hand, this has very positive components. On the other hand, it also harbours great dangers, namely the diminishing stability of value and the commercialization and appropriation of even critical artists.
Don't brands that present themselves to a critical public with artistic advertising appearances also make themselves vulnerable?
If a quote is quoted - déjà vu effect - the only way to make yourself vulnerable is if, as mentioned, the quote is blasphemous or if the boundaries of morality are crossed. Sometimes, however, the client and the advertising agency also aim to provoke a scandal - but then there is often a hard-hitting commercial interest behind it ...
... which then quickly wears off again. Of course. Advertising and art are becoming more and more similar in their rapid shock effect and aggressive appearance, which often fade just as quickly.
Since the 1990s, contemporary art has been part of the corporate identity strategy of luxury goods companies in particular, according to the motto that the accumulation of cultural capital serves to consolidate the hierarchical position in the market. Doesn't this also lead to art inflation and wear and tear?
I am convinced of that. But it's a phenomenon of our time, a trend that can no longer be stopped. Many artists, without wanting to generalize, sell themselves like a branded product.
The traditional image of the artistic genius, working in seclusion in his studio, his name inscribed in posterity, is a thing of the past, but it is still a cliché that many still cling to. Art itself is becoming increasingly commercialized and treated like an advertising product. We live in a time of sensory overload - not just visual overload - and this inevitably leads to excessive demands and signs of wear and tear.
So if the déjà vu experience is reserved for classical works of art and modern art remains difficult to access, what chance do you give contemporary works of art of being quoted in advertising in the future? As a result, fewer specific names and images are anchored in the general consciousness. There may be a few exceptions, such as Georg Baselitz, for example, when everyone quickly thinks of head-over-heels pictures.
But then his work is limited to this phase alone, and everything he did afterwards is erased from the public consciousness. When advertising borrows from contemporary art, it is less about directly quoting individual works and more about adopting certain codes, visual languages and certain attitudes. However, this is happening faster and faster today - again a phenomenon of the blurring of boundaries between high art and everyday culture with all its complex positive and negative consequences.
Michael EngelmannIn a joint production with the Kunstbibliothek, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin and Lars Müller Publishers, the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich is dedicating the upcoming exhibition to the German graphic designer Michael Engelmann (1928 to 1966). With his unadorned photography, decisive use of color and laconic texts, he made a name for himself in the 1950s.
a dense sign language in matter-of-fact typography, which attempted to dispel the bland advertising from German advertising.
With his work for Roth-Händle, Pirellio and Renault, Engelmann became a trendsetter in the aesthetic reorientation between functionalism and pop. (la)
November 9, 2004 to February 25, 2005 in the poster room, Limmatstrasse 55, Tuesday to Friday, 1 to 5 pm.
Eye-catcher or blasphemy? Whether art classics such as "David" and "Mona Lisa" can be alienated as advertising subjects is controversial.
Van Gogh and Warhol: advertising with art subjects is a balancing act between attracting attention and provocation.
Typical Michael Engelmann.
Interview: Luca Aloisi

US elections Three winners have already been determined: the major TV networks. The most money flows into swing states - regions with unclear majorities. Election campaigns in the USA are primarily run via one medium: television. The overwhelming majority of Americans receive political information via TV anyway, and every four years another aspect is added: 70 percent of all eligible voters form their opinion of the presidential candidates through party advertising, says Karen Cartee, professor of journalism at the University of Alabama and author of "Manipulation of the American Voter". This is not a new phenomenon, but has been observed since 1978. "These people are passive, pay little attention to politics and only know political positions in buzzwords. "How to appeal to such an indolent clientele is of little concern to the strategists of Bush and Kerry: Both sides bombard them with election ads as often and as long as they can. And preferably in the context of primetime news shows, because viewers are then (even) less able to distinguish between fact and fiction, says Cartee.
Up to ten spots per hour ...
As in many states - which play a decisive role in the US electoral system - the majorities for one candidate or another have long been determined, the focus is on a handful of so-called "swing states". In these states, either the ratio of Democratic and Republican voters is relatively balanced or the number of undecided voters is high. These include Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin and Nevada.
TV providers in these states can rub their hands with glee, as election advertising is bringing them record revenues. According to Joel Rivlin, Vice Director of the Wisconsin Advertising Project at the University of Madison, these stations are "currently making the highest profits in their history". But the dollars are distributed unevenly. According to Rivlin, only 27 percent of all US voters live in the top 50 television markets. However, 87 percent of all commercials were and are broadcast here. According to the current project study, Miami was at the top in a two-week period in September and October (see table). During prime time, that can be as many as ten commercials per hour.
Especially those regional or city stations that belong to the ratings-strong networks ABC, NBC and CBS can hardly save themselves from party advertising at the moment. Nevertheless, they have to find a balance between the needs of their regular customers and the political advertisers, Rivlin points out. "Because after November 2, this income will disappear just as suddenly as it came."
The profiteers themselves are stingy with information about their additional revenues. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in Wisconsin, for example, which owns seven TV stations, reports additional income of 136 percent from TV advertising. According to Advertising Age, the stations in Philadelphia, the TV market that spends the most money on election ads after Cleveland, will receive a total of 160 million extra dollars - the highest sum in the history of election advertising. ABC is expected to receive
10 million dollars, NBC 7 million and CBS 6.5 million.
Election advertising by independent political groups is particularly welcome to the regional network offshoots. According to the new funding laws, they are called "527 Committees". These include, for example, Moveon.org and The Media Fund, which are close to the Democrats, or Progress for America and Veterans for Truth on the Republican side.
... but ad-free debates
Since the beginning of July, they alone have collected 55 million dollars (Kerry faction) and 45 million dollars (Bushists) respectively, the lion's share of which was immediately invested in television advertising.
However, the immense influence of the presidential elections on the US media industry can also have a negative impact. According to a calculation by analyst Jack Myers, the three national networks ABC, CBS and NBC lost a total of around 150 million dollars during the three debates because they are required by law to broadcast them uninterrupted and free of advertising.
In addition, even in times of Michael Moore and Fox News, media companies must be careful not to show their political colors too clearly. Sinclair Broadcast, for example, whose top managers are among the biggest donors to the Republicans, announced the broadcast of an anti-Kerry documentary a few weeks ago. As a result, the share price of the listed company plummeted and individual major customers canceled their bookings ad hoc. The share price only recovered when Sinclair clarified that it "naturally" only wanted to show short excerpts from the propaganda film.
TV political advertising and debates shape the climate of opinion in the USA.
Gerti Schön

Awards The creative competition of the Art Directors Club of Europe (ADCE) will in future also be open to non-members, with all works that have been awarded gold, silver and bronze in the 13 national juries of the member associations being automatically entered as before. Winners of important national awards from countries that do not yet have full ADCE membership can now also be entered. In the medium term, ADCE President Johannes Newrkla says that the aim is of course to gain even more full members. The club's mission will only be fulfilled when all European countries are involved.

Online advertising With a jump of 4.6 points, the PWA Index reached a level of 128.6 points in September, meaning that the summer slump in Swiss online advertising from May to July (with a decline of 2.8 points) has apparently been overcome. August had already brought an increase of 1.9 points. According to Publimedia Webadvertising (PWA), online advertising owes this positive result not least to current developments in the USA and Germany. In America, comparisons are even being made with the boom times at the end of the 1990s.

Delizio coffee is the new capsule system from Migros. Exxtra launches the brand in a sensual way about the performance benefits. The damper came shortly before the promising market launch from Leutschenbach: in a blind test for Kassensturz, coffee experts relegated the Migros coffee system to second last place.Annette Bernath, Head of Product Management at Migros Birsfelden, where over 13,000 tons of coffee are roasted every year - around half of Swiss consumption - reacted to the result with the calmness of an experienced person: "Several independent tastings have come to the opposite conclusion," she says and makes it clear, probably not for the last time, that Migros will not be joining the battle against the previous capsule system monopolist Nespresso. Strictly speaking, this assessment is correct, because Delizio, as the system is called, brews more than just a "high-quality" coffee and is therefore not simply a me-too product. Delizio also stands for high-quality tea enjoyment. Hence the visually welded brand name suffix: Non solo caffè.
Boom market coffee capsulesThe Federation of Migros Cooperatives took over a year and a half to develop its own system - and even recruited Eric Favre, one of the Nespresso developers, for the project.
The aim was to make up for the crumbling market share in the stagnating coffee market by expanding into the higher-margin gourmet segment and to regain brand authority over the competition. While the orange giant controlled over 50 percent of the coffee bean market until a few years ago, according to ACNielsen's retail trade panel, this market declined at an above-average rate in terms of both value and volume between 2000 and 2002. And this despite half-price promotions.
The picture was similar for shares in the coffee machine market, which grew by over 15 percent in the same period - mainly thanks to fully automatic machines and capsule systems. Here, too, Migros' figures went against the positive trend, which was mainly characterized by Nespresso. In 2002, there were four Nespresso machines among the top five coffee machines. With the focus of the premium coffee niche market on households, licensed machine and capsule manufacturers continuously generated double-digit growth rates, with capsule rather than machine sales being profitable for Nespresso.
While bean coffee sales have remained relatively constant over the years, the consumption of capsules and pods has risen rapidly. No figures are currently available from market leader Nespresso (ahead of global leader Lavazza in Switzerland). However, Eric Favre estimates that the spoiled Swiss consumer is becoming increasingly fond of the more expensive convenience products and assumes that Nespresso's capsule sales will grow by a further 30 percent in 2005 compared to the current year.
Its forecasts and market research show that the potential of the ongoing espresso trend has not yet been exhausted. Coop's efforts to develop its own system have also been leaked. Apparently, both wholesalers assume that many consumers have been waiting for a cheaper competitor offering, even in younger segments. "For Migros, it was clear from the outset that it wanted to sell a capsule system that was not compatible with Nespresso," says Michael Broglin, consultant at advertising mandate holder Exxtra. It is therefore clear that Delizio's launch in the pre-Christmas market is intended to exploit its lead over Coop, but above all to shake up the entire industry. Migros is breaking through two important marketing pillars in Nespresso's home market: the distribution channels and the pricing policy.
High-profile competitive strategyThe motivational campaign for the 85,000 Migros employees, in which they could each buy two Delizio machines at a bargain price, met with an enormous response. Orders for over 60,000 units were received within a few weeks. Interest in Delizio was sparked by media reports (PR: Burson Marsteller) back in the summer, when the new brand name was still unknown.
To prevent bottlenecks at launch, machine manufacturer Gaggia had to increase its production capacity. Those responsible are therefore likely to be euphoric about the sales curve for the five Delizio coffee and initially two tea varieties.
In order to stand out from the elitist, cultivated market leader, the Exxtra creative team developed a campaign in which the performance benefits - wide availability, value for money and multifunctionality - are communicated. This added value is communicated in two TV commercials in a sensual and ironic way: Just as Delizio not only brews coffee but also tea, the femme fatale in one commercial wants to keep all her options open when choosing her dates - sometimes Claudio, sometimes someone else. The tonality of the copy ads is similarly differentiating, linking the benefits with Delizio's uncomplicated and charming brand personality. This was also consistently developed further on the Internet, in the packaging design and in the below-the-line measures - from the two tasting waves to the Delizio points and the special shelf. Not to mention new Delizio products that are still in the pipeline.
Traditional brandIn 1938, Achille Gaggia invented the modern coffee machine, which uses water pressure rather than steam to produce espresso with the typical foam. Since 1977, the company in Robecco near Milan has been producing not only catering machines but also household appliances. Gaggia produces the Delizio machines for Migros. (la)
Delizio TV commercial: Sometimes this man, sometimes that man - sometimes coffee, sometimes tea.
Luca Aloisi

Automobil Matter & Partner promotes the new used car magazine Car4you by directly addressing the needs of the target audience.
Car4you, Tamedia's used car magazine, was launched in mid-October. The weekly newspaper in tabloid format wants to establish itself as the largest and most up-to-date vehicle market in Switzerland and combines online with print in the classifieds section. For this new project, Matter & Partner came up with a launch campaign that deliberately addresses the large segment of used car buyers in a simple and striking way. With the intention of making a difference in the market as quickly and efficiently as possible, it shows people in life situations who could use a second-hand car right now. The newspaper is around 100 pages thick and supplements the latest of the 60,000 offers on the online platform with around 8,000 advertisements, some of which are illustrated.
The campaign thus highlights the wide range of offers. Car4you, for example, can offer a perky young woman "1620 convertibles with a comfortable back seat" and, when she has children, "2410 station wagons with storage space for the baby carriage". Another subject promises a musician before his breakthrough "1830 vans for the long way to the top" and "710 stretch limos for the short way to the luxury suite" once he has made it as a star.
The campaign can be seen in German-speaking Switzerland on F200 and F12 posters respectively, as well as on 1/1 and 1/2 pages in the German-language press.
Buy me: ad for Car4you.
Andreas Panzeri

Cab Advertising Switzerland (TWS), based in Windisch, and Swisstaximedia in Geneva-Carouge have agreed to intensify their cooperation.TWS offers cab advertising in German-speaking Switzerland and Ticino, while Swisstaximedia markets cabs in French-speaking Switzerland. As a first step, the cooperation will harmonize the prices and formats of the advertising spaces. National campaigns can thus be booked more efficiently across all three language regions.

Newspapers At the end of September, the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper reported under the title "A new perspective" that the tabloid project "Frontal" - equipped "with a 50-strong editorial team" - would be launched next spring. Ex-20-Minuten editor-in-chief Markus Eisenhut, who created the concept for Jean Frey Verlag, denies this time horizon. "It will be a while before the financing is secured. The earliest launch date is therefore fall 2005. "For JF CEO Filippo Leutenegger, on the other hand, the right-wing alternative to Blick will only take on the character of a project once a financial backer has been found and the Board of Directors has been informed. Neither has happened yet and the matter is therefore "still not ready for discussion".
Serious financiers wanted
For Eisenhut, the postponement also has positive aspects: "Thanks to the reduced time pressure, we can now look all the more carefully for serious, long-term financiers." As he is working as an editorial coach for the Vorarlberg publisher Eugen Russ until the end of the year and in March at the MAZ in Lucerne (course title: "Big tricks for small newspapers"), there is probably no reason for him personally to rush.
(oc)