Publishers What more and more European newspaper publishers see as a way out of the industry structure crisis is not yet an issue in Switzerland, nor is the Tages-Anzeiger following the business example of its German sales and advertising partner for the time being. The Süddeutsche Zeitung will already generate sales of around 30 million euros this year with its editorially accompanied book and CD series (see page 21).When asked, Tagi publishing director Maili Wolf cites three reasons for this reluctance: the Swiss market is too small for such a mass business, double the postage costs compared to Germany and other internal priorities. "We want to finish our homework first before opening new sites." On the part of the chief and
However, the cultural editorial team has "no fundamental reservations" about such activities, which is why, in principle, ancillary business areas can be cultivated at any time.
In any case, Tagi publishing director Maili Wolf only expects any additional business to boost her image and not sales or even circulation.
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Theater marketing Commerce and art are moving ever closer together for Swiss theaters.
Since last month, Swiss theaters have been presenting their new repertoires. Classical or contemporary stage productions should attract as many spectators as possible. However, this is becoming increasingly difficult in an age of oversupply of commercial and cultural events. With an increasingly heterogeneous range of leisure activities and fragmented target groups, the competitive environment for spoken word theaters is also shifting. They have long been competing against clubs, bars and cinemas in the battle for the favor of the entertainment-hungry. However, the use of extensive advertising campaigns would go beyond the financial scope of most theaters. Although they are seen as cultural
institutions are subsidized by the state, but many theatres are not
under increased pressure to maximize income. While the people of Zurich granted the Schauspielhaus an increase in subsidies in 2002, the canton of Basel wants to cut its theater's contributions from next summer.
Commercial art or art commerce: in contrast to a purely commercial enterprise, a theater is not only committed to maximizing profits - or minimizing losses - but above all to artistic standards, which often forces those responsible to walk a tightrope: "We want to offer a high-quality artistic programme, but at the end of the year we want to at least break even," says Christoph Stuehn, Head of Sales at the Zurich Schauspielhaus, explaining the conflict.
Contact with the audienceHowever, the breadth of the balancing act between artistic and commercial performance varies from stage to stage, as Dietmar Seiler, Head of Dramaturgy and Communication at Theater am Neumarkt, explains: "A small, intimate theater that is much less dependent on its box office results does not have to focus on the needs of the audience." He is convinced that any market research would be dangerous for a theater. "Conversely, we should try to make our program consistently and uncompromisingly and then win people over to it," he continues. This is easier for the experimental theater at Zurich's Neumarkt 5, as its more intimate atmosphere allows it to retain a regular audience.
Although capacity utilization is not and cannot be the only target at the Schauspielhaus either, the management always tries to get in touch with the audience and find out their wishes and needs - most recently in a major visitor survey in the 2003/04 season. Those responsible at the Lucerne Theatre also made use of this marketing instrument. One of the findings of both surveys was that the theater consumer cannot be pigeonholed: They come from all demographic segments.
The fact is, however, that audience loyalty to a theater is heavily dependent on the respective artistic director. The 2004/05 season has started under new management at several Swiss theaters, including the Theater Luzern, the Theater am Neumarkt and the Schauspielhaus, which will be managed by commercial director Andreas Spillmann until Matthias Harmann takes office. With
A new beginning increases curiosity about the program, but also raises expectations of the new artistic directors. The Schauspielhaus is very satisfied with the start of the season after the Marthaler era, and subscription sales have also increased again, according to Christoph Stuehn.
In-house communicationDietmar Seiler is also satisfied with the results of the first production under his and Wolfgang Reiter's direction. With the departure of the artistic duo Otto Kukla and Crescentia Dünsser, the collaboration with the Wallisell agency FCB Leutenegger Krüll also came to an end. Today, the Theater am Neumarkt develops its communication in-house. According to Seiler, the aim is to communicate the program offered in the theatre to the outside world "without any loss of friction". This is also the reason why he himself is in charge of both dramaturgy and communication.
This is handled in a similar way at the Schauspielhaus: everything to do with the program is developed in close collaboration between the graphic design, direction and dramaturgy departments. Only for image campaigns and launches, such as those for Theater Monday, does the larger
Switzerland's largest spoken-word theater on the in-house agency Publicis.
The Lucerne theater's entire communication package, on the other hand, comes from a single source. For the start of the season under the new management of Dominique Mentha, the theater on the Reuss had a completely new look created by the Zurich agency TBS Identity - from the corporate design to the new program booklet. Commercial Director Adrian Balmer explains the fact that all advertising material was designed by the agency by saying that the theater is dependent on experts due to its "size". During implementation, however, the advertising professionals were also faced with the problem that the language of the market is not necessarily the one that suits the identity of the theater.
Without the generous cooperation of communications agencies, often based on sponsorship, hardly any theater could afford a visible presence. This is because the already limited communication budget must not only accommodate play posters and advertisements. All printed materials such as monthly schedules, season brochures or program flyers must be financed through this budget. Added to this is the not cheap publication of the program in the daily newspapers, such as the "Theater-Magnet" in NZZ and Tagi.
The latter is also a focal point in the marketing mix of Zurich's Theater an der Winkelwiese. The "Winkel" season brochure is also one of its most important communication tools. For the current season, the theatre, which specializes in contemporary auteur theater, had its play posters and season brochure designed by the Zurich agency Viznerborel. According to Ste-phan Roppel, director of Winkelwiese, this was also only possible because the creative minds worked for the theater on favorable terms. In terms of advertising, the theater is at the upper limit of what it can afford with its tight budget. "Ultimately," Roppel is convinced, "the quality of an artistic production determines its success and this is spread most efficiently by word of mouth." Accordingly, classic PR enjoys a high priority at the speaking stages. A review or a feature article often brings many more visitors to the theaters than they could ever achieve with traditional advertising. Adrian Balmer also confirms this: "Our audience survey has shown that most people are attracted to the theater because of newspaper reviews.
decide to go to the theater."
As with Goethe's young Werther, there are two souls in the chest of theater communicators. As a result, they sometimes have to rely on their instincts as to when and in what form they present themselves to the public. Christoph Stuehn: "Among the many external influences to which we are exposed, it is a great challenge, especially in terms of advertising, to take measures that have a positive influence on capacity utilization and address the right target audience as directly as possible."
Each theater pursues its own communication strategy in order to attract as many audience members as possible.
Every Swiss theater pursues its own communication strategy to attract as many audiences as possible >> page 8
Simone Keller

Events Karl Spoerri and Tim Geser bring Onedotzero, the world's most important digital film festival, to Switzerland. WW: From October 29 to 31, Onedotzero will take place for the first time in Switzerland at the Zurich University of Art and Design, just three weeks before the similar festival Viper in Basel. Karl Spoerri: No, especially since we are presenting a completely different program that we did not conceive and generate ourselves.
Tim Geser: Our aim was to bring the internationally successful platform, the ready-made digital film program, from London to Zurich, where there has been nothing comparable to date. I don't think Onedotzero will divert the audience away from the Viper; those interested will certainly continue to go to Basel.
From the domestic self
her, your program could be compared to the Cannes reel screenings.
Geser: In terms of content composition, organization and tour logistics, which happen in London, the comparison is quite permissible. At Onedotzero, too, there is no franchise concept that restricts us. In terms of content, on the other hand, our event, which showcases the state of the art of artificial film, has little in common with the Cannes role, which, for all its originality even with new media, is always close to the
remains committed to basic commercial ideas. That's why instead of a cinema, the classic festival location, we sought out the university as a partner, because we want to showcase the creative concept in a place where creativity is lived. Accordingly, we offer a packed program - Music Video Directors' Clash, where international VJs compete, a documentary about the sneaker cult and the fusion of fashion with the animated graphics, a visual ideas laboratory of several artists.
Spoerri: With us, the spectrum is broader. You don't just see works that were produced with huge budgets, but also smaller works: Great ideas that were created on the home computer or implemented with completely new animation techniques that serve as sources of inspiration for the commercial context and are used in conventional advertising clips.
Are there also Swiss contributions?
Spoerri: Not this year.
What are your target groups?Geser: People from the creative industries such as advertising, photography, film or art. In terms of content and technology, we also appeal to the broad masses who can easily consume the program.
In London, the film festival attracts a good 12000 spectators. You're expecting over 3,000 visitors at the first Swiss edition. Where does this optimism come from?
Spoerri: On the one hand, the importance and audience acceptance of digital film have grown in recent years. On the other hand, we can benefit from the festival's several years of advance and its constantly expanding package. In addition, with the School of Art and Design behind us, we automatically generate an interested audience.
Geser: We won't settle the accounts until after the three days, but the response from all sides has already been positive and motivating.
Artists such as Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation), Tim Hope (REM, Coldplay) or Chris Cunningham (Madonna, Björk) were discovered by Onedotzero, which is now considered a hotbed of talent for up-and-coming directors. How do you assess the potential in Switzerland?
Geser: From the e-mail correspondence with London, it's clear that they know many creatives from Switzerland there. And: Swiss graphic art - even of more recent origin like François Chalet - still has a very good reputation abroad. There are always people who manage to make it big from the frolicking meadow of digital film, but it's
it is also obvious that high-flyers like Michel Gondry cannot be discovered every year.
In the small Swiss market, however, the conditions for success are not promising.
Spoerri: Film is a very expensive medium, and if the audience for it is not there, financing rarely works out. You have to be able to deal with that.
Geser: But the problem is exacerbated by the very conservative advertising clientele in Switzerland, although advertising would have more possibilities because it is not as language-oriented as classic film. The talent and potential therefore usually have to be exported. The Bernese office Destruct, for example, is enjoying great success abroad, especially in Japan.
"Float: In digital film, fashion and graphic design enter into previously unseen symbioses.
"Take me out": Onedotzero presents a laboratory full of creativity.
"River": Even in the digital world, there is room for dreams.
Interview: Luca Aloisi

Advertising time Goldbach Media will also sell radio advertising time in Austria in future. Goldbach Media Vienna is the first to take over the exclusive marketing of the radio stations HitFM and PartyFM.advertising time Goldbach Media will also sell radio advertising time in Austria in future. Goldbach Media Vienna is the first to take over the exclusive marketing of the radio stations HitFM and PartyFM. As a "scene combination", they reach 86,000 people daily in the target group of 10 to 39-year-olds in the regions of Lower Austria and Burgenland, according to a press release.

TV As Tele M1's license is about to expire, the Aargau local TV station has submitted a new application to the Federal Office of Communications (Bakom) and at the same time applied for a larger broadcasting area, aiming to expand northwards over the Hauenstein to the Rhine and westwards to Biel. Specifically, the AZ Media Group broadcaster wants to serve the Basel area east of the Pratteln-Liestal-Waldenburg line as well as southwest of Olten as far as Langenthal and Herzogenbuchsee,
Solothurn and Grenchen. Bakom will continue until
On November 8, the Federal Office of Communications will hold a hearing with competitors, affected cantonal governments and associations, as Alfred Hostettler, the responsible officer at the Federal Office of Communications, confirmed on request.
With the extensions applied for, the new M1 transmission area would overlap considerably with those of Tele-basel, NordWest 5, TeleBärn and also TeleBielingue. The IntroTV area would even be completely covered. No comment was available from most of the broadcasters affected by the editorial deadline. Telebasel merely stated that it was not jubilant about the M1 competition. Beat Alder from NordWest 5, on the other hand, welcomed the M1 expansion and wants to take it as an opportunity to "once again talk about cooperation" with those responsible in Baden. Nobody could be reached at M1 itself.
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TV Anti-Semitic contestants cause problems for the reality show "Big Brother": in the live broadcast on Pay-TV Premiere, a contestant was seen telling Jewish jokes and earning laughs. The media minister of the state of Bavaria is now calling for consequences. Premiere should stop broadcasting "Big Brother". Around 50,000 people subscribe to the container channel. The anti-Semitic jokes were not broadcast on RTL 2. At Premiere, two editors who were supposed to monitor the live program were dismissed.

Design The world-renowned designer Philippe Starck has created a new beer can, a bottle and a matching beer glass for the Alsace beer brand 1664 by Kronenbourg. Starck's design gives beer drinking a new aesthetic that elevates the ordinary act of quenching thirst to a noble lifestyle act. "I wanted to give beer back the honor it deserves, a little more noblesse," says Starck, who has been working on the embellishment of everyday objects for 20 years.

Column Newspaper content could be marketed in a more differentiated way online than offline. Newspaper publishers may have reason to complain because their current business model is no longer working since job advertisements and classified ads have migrated to the Internet and readers are increasingly turning to the Internet instead of consuming news in paper form. But part of the problem - at least in the case of online newspapers - is simply marketing failure: why do newspaper publishers offer content on the Internet for free that they want to sell in printed form? It's as if Mercedes were giving away its new A-Class with all the electronic bells and whistles and at the same time trying to sell shoplifters from the last model series at the highest price.
However, normal newspaper subscription prices for online offerings, as some publishing houses are now trying to push through, seem no less absurd. Reading newspapers online is not an additional benefit, but for many people - especially young people - it is a real alternative to the printed version, and usually a more up-to-date one at that. So why not pass on price advantages to online users if the publishers don't offer them a paper version?
buy, not print a newspaper and no longer have to deliver the paper?
And why can't you just subscribe to the business section, the sports section, the local section or the media page on the web at a lower price instead of the complete work of art that is a newspaper or magazine? As a professor of journalism, I don't have enough time to read ten different papers every day. But I would like to receive ten different media pages, even for a reasonable fee.
In this respect, bankers, doctors and lawyers are hardly any different: they too would like to have access to more information that is important for their respective professional fields without having to subscribe to ten sports, cultural and local sections.
And why do publishers sell individual articles from their archives at such astronomical prices that I think three times about whether I should really afford this luxury? Joey Anuff from the online magazine Suck once scoffed that only newspaper publishers could afford to sell an old movie review at a higher price than the video store next door charges for renting the whole movie.
Long story short: On the one hand, information, especially journalistically researched information, is of course worth something and there is no reason to offer it for free. On the other hand, prices should be in line with the market.
For their printed core product, many newspaper publishers use the four basic tools of marketing quite virtuously: they make decent products - readable, colorful and now also increasingly handy. The price of the print product is surprisingly low in relation to the information value. Publishers also have distribution under control as long as they use conventional distribution channels (i.e. delivery, newsstands, silent sales).
They have even learned a lot in terms of communication: many newspaper publishers produce first-class advertising and maintain their
Brands. Some media groups now operate PR just as professionally as car manufacturers or pharmaceutical companies.
This makes the adventurous marketing concepts with which most publishers still operate on the Internet all the more surprising. Many could learn a lot from discounters such as Denner and Aldi when it comes to pricing their online subsidiaries.
> Stephan Russ-Mohl is a professor of journalism at the University of Lugano.

Fashion Since 1999, the Ticino-based family business Monn has been trying to link the image in advertising with the image in art in its catalogs.fashion Since 1999, the Ticino-based family business Monn has been trying to link the image in advertising with the image in art in its catalogs. This is also the case in the current issue, which also pays homage to the expressionist "Red-Blue" group of artists. The group was active between Ticino and Basel in the 1920s. Monn has a good reason for building bridges between the two regions: for the past year, the fashion store has been operating a branch in Basel in addition to Bellinzona, Lugano, Locarno and Chiasso. The initiator and conceptual designer of the artistic fashion catalogs is the photographer and creative Adriano Heitmann.

Fees Following the splitting for TV, Bakom has now also revised the splitting for radios. Following a consultation among broadcasters, it has revised the criteria for radios entitled to fee-splitting and has now published them. The registration deadline for fee-splitting 2005 is November 5, and a number of changes have been made to the criteria. According to the Radio and TV Ordinance (RTVO), radios with a coverage area of less than 150000 people over the age of 15 were eligible for fee-splitting. In practice, however, Bakom also granted licence fees to bilingual or advertising-free radio stations, as well as those with a high proportion of mountain areas. What is considered a mountain area is determined by the Investment Aid Act for Mountain Areas.
Many criteria redefined
The new criteria dispense with the limit of 50,000,000 people over the age of 15; even a high proportion of mountain areas is not sufficient. Instead, FM stations whose coverage area consists "predominantly" of mountain areas are eligible, as are those whose coverage area does not include any municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants over the age of 15. Fee money also flows to areas where foreign broadcasters with a "major market influence" broadcast. And bilingual broadcasters and commercial-free radio stations are now also clearly listed as eligible fee recipients.
The available funds - CHF 7.4 million was distributed in 2004 - are allocated according to specific items. The technical distribution of the radios and the journalistic quality are each subsidized with 30 percent of the funds. The latter is measured according to the number of journalists employed and entered in the professional register (BR) of the journalists' associations, but support is also provided for expenses for external further training. The remaining 40 percent is earmarked for radio operating costs (15 percent), for commercial-free stations (15 percent), for compensation for particularly strong foreign competition and for audience response (based on market share).
Bakom also recently awarded the 2004 fee splitting for TV stations according to partially new criteria (see table). For the first time, quality criteria were also included, which, as with radio, are based on the number of BR journalists employed. While the new criteria for TV fee-splitting were swallowed almost uncritically, those for radio fee-splitting did not go down so easily. According to reports, Radio Grischa is said to have written an angry letter to Bakom via the Graubünden government. However, the broadcaster will neither confirm nor deny this. The situation is different at
Radio Central. There, managing director Alfons Spirig confirms a request to the Federal Council via a member of the National Council of Schwyz. Radio Emme is said to have chosen a similar route.
Mountain radios fare worseThe reason: according to the new criteria, all these mountain radios are threatened with significantly lower splitting percentages in some cases. According to an initial model calculation, Central, for example, will receive around 45% less next year than in 2004, which is why the association of mountain radios made its voice heard during the consultation process. In the meantime, however, certain provisions have been revised once again, which is why the radios are now awaiting the post from Bakom with great interest and, here and there, also with trepidation. After all, it is not yet possible to predict exactly what effect the new criteria will have.
One criticism arose here and there due to the current situation: Bilingual broadcasters have already benefited in the past and will hardly be worse off under the new model. This annoys all those who oppose the takeover of Canal 3 in Biel (see above) by Espace Media Goupe. Some people are still asking behind closed doors whether the Bern-based group should actually be supported with around half a million francs a year in future.
And there is another circumstance that has repeatedly led to criticism from the German-speaking part of Switzerland: both TV and radio stations in French-speaking Switzerland receive relatively more money than those in German-speaking Switzerland. Marcel Regnotto from Bakom explains this "imbalance" as follows: For years, broadcasters in French-speaking Switzerland have been organizing their further training externally, as required, while most of the radio stations in German-speaking Switzerland that are entitled to fees still do this in-house. However, external courses are mandatory to ensure that only high-quality training is subsidized, says Regnotto. "That's why the stations in French-speaking Switzerland fare relatively better."
Snap: In future, radio license fees will be distributed according to different rules.

Markus Knöpfli

TV RTL-2 boss Josef Andorfer's plans for a Swiss program window have met with little enthusiasm from his own shareholders, who have not yet been presented with the project, RTL boss Gerhard Zeiler told TR7. For this reason, no approval has been granted. RTL Group holds 35.9 percent of RTL 2.

Stellenanzeiger The labor market is the social battleground of our postmodern age. No one knows this better than our suffering and hard-pressed northern neighbors.Stellenanzeiger The labor market is the social battlefield of our postmodern age.no one knows this better than our suffering and hard-pressed northern neighbors. And no one knows how to illustrate this fact with more gravitas than the notoriously history-conscious Frankfurter Allgemeine. However, the newspaper has outdone itself for Germany with this oil ham advertisement for its job market, which is in the doldrums everywhere. The implicit call to the educated middle-class target audience to take a cheerful guess at history (is this Waterloo or Trafalgar?) is already outdated. Even more antiquated and embarrassing, however, is the palm-armored business Amazon in the Gianna Nannini look. Because both - the Italo
Rockers and deux-pièce feminism are relics from the Roaring Eighties. And as we all know, nothing is older than yesterday's trends. But what won't you do to make leader figures socially acceptable again in Germany, which has a history of this.
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