Telecom An advertising sitcom by Contexta aims to polish Swisscom Fixnet's image to a high gloss The census in 2000 triggered conflicting feelings. In order to motivate the people to participate, the Federal Statistical Office broke new ground at the time and had the exaggeratedly portrayed Volkerts successfully campaign for understanding in an advertising sitcom.Today, four years later, the creatives at Bern-based Contexta are also resorting to the tried-and-tested but expensive sitcom communication concept for their client Swisscom Fixnet. This is intended to help improve Swisscom Fixnet's weakening emotional image, especially among the younger and more price-sensitive segments.
Beck and Bondi in everyday stress
In order to make up for its below-average market share compared to the competition, the landline provider now also wants to emphasize image factors such as human proximity, sympathy and solidarity.
For this reason, the decision was made to address the target group with an integrated sitcom campaign instead of the usual commercials. Every Wednesday after "Meteo", the 90-second episodes entertain viewers, who are immediately courted in the following product tag-on. At the center of the new monthly stories and the print and below-the-line campaigns running in parallel are two neighboring families of four, who also give the series its name: Beck and Bondi.
The eight Swiss contemporaries experience situations and conflicts that are familiar to everyone, giving Swisscom several new faces. Content such as the fight for promotion between the two family fathers or the competition for the nicer balcony make indirect reference to a Swisscom topic in a very amusing way. After the three-minute teaser and the first two episodes - further episodes are planned until the end of 2005 - Bene Abegglen, CD and co-owner of Contexta, looks back: "It was a long road with many stops and detours to the finished films. But I think it was worth it."
The sitcom commercials show the great trust that he and the team around Jürg Brechbühl and Paolo Tonti enjoy with the client. "It takes courage to make commercials in which no product names appear for 90 seconds," confirms Thomas Ulrich, responsible at Swisscom Fixnet. However, the makers are keeping quiet about the budget, which is likely to be in the seven figures with Optimedia's deployment plans. "The overall budget has remained unchanged," reveals Jürg Brechbühl.
Amusing and yet image-enhancing: a new episode of the sitcom commercials is to be broadcast every month until the end of 2005.
Luca Aloisi

Guest commentary The new Basler Zeitung has a perfectly acceptable layout, but with pitiful content, says Jürg Altwegg.
Was all the resistance in vain? Basel personalities have protested several times against the cultural cutbacks in "their" newspaper and the discontinuation of the magazine. Now the new "baz" is here. "And it is," writes its editor-in-chief Ivo Bachmann in an effort to convince not only the critics but also himself, "look, it's still a newspaper." The fact that the protests met with a broad response far beyond Basel has to do with the uniqueness of the event and the importance of the newspaper. Compared to much larger regional newspapers, the Basler Zeitung was not provincial. The feuilleton and magazine were held in high esteem throughout the German-speaking world, and in some cases were revered like a cult.
"Those who remain stuck in the past will perish," says publisher Matthias Hagemann, explaining the new concept. This reflects the shock of recent years. A 50 percent drop in advertising revenue, new competitors, catastrophic "framework conditions": SRG gets one billion francs, the press is deprived of 500 million. Switzerland is pursuing a policy "against the reading media" and for the "illiterate media".
Does the Basler Zeitung have to become one in order to survive? Lots of purple and lots of air, colorful photos, infographics, penetrating "reader guidance": Compared to the BaZ, the baz opens up a brave new world. Unfortunately, the texts are bumpier than the layout. There is no longer a feature section, but there is a culture magazine. They started with Madonna of all people! And the first - daily? - cultural reportage is dedicated to the bridges of Basel. This magazine is not about cultural criticism, but about lifestyle in the area of cultural consumption - with a philosopher as an advisor. DVDs and CDs are as important as books. Finally, the whole thing flows seamlessly into the television and nightlife program: Basel Today. Daily Züri-Tip.
The imprint lists five "authors". Two of them are the last two feature editors. Their names are printed in italics. This means "permanent editorial collaboration". More precisely: they are allowed to write, but have nothing to say. Others have an asterisk by their name: "*=member of extended editorial board". And there are other bizarre features in this paper: above small ads in the text it says - wonderfully old-fashioned - "advertising section".
Finally, for the premiere, the obligatory survey about life in the region, page title: "Hobbies and work are uplifting, politics are frustrating". This almost sounds like the program of a newspaper that - as its editor-in-chief constantly emphasizes - wants to listen to its readers. (You can grade the articles on the Internet!) Life in and around Basel is better than the national average. Headline on the next page: "One fifth are even super happy." After living, reading is now even more super. Perhaps the new baz really is the newspaper that Basel needs. We can only wish it for Hagemann and the non-illiterate population.
However, no one outside Basel will have to read them.
> Jürg Altwegg is a cultural and
FaZ media correspondent for Switzerland and France.

Outdoor advertising Affichage Holding apparently wants to change its name. The out-of-home advertising group has formed a task force called "Brand new", reports the business newspaper Cash, which is to draw up proposals to replace the old name within a year. "We also want to unite our subsidiaries visually under one roof," Affichage CEO Christian Kauter is quoted as saying by Cash. Kauter also wants to keep the pressure on costs. The merger or closure of further regional agencies of Allgemeine Plakatgesellschaft (APG) is under discussion.

Publishers he Jean Frey publishing house set up an ombudsman's office for its consumer magazines at the beginning of September. At the beginning of September, Jean Frey Verlag set up an ombudsman's office for its consumer magazines. Its purpose is to ensure journalistic quality and compliance with professional ethics rules. Karl Lüönd was appointed ombudsman. The journalist and head of the Media Institute of the Swiss Press will initially hold the position for one year on a freelance basis. According to the communiqué, the ombudsman will deal with complaints from the public in an unbureaucratic manner and mediate between complainants and the editorial team in cases of conflict.

Press The Winterthur daily newspaper Der Landbote has massively revised its circulation downwards. Instead of 48,448 copies as before, the normal circulation in the post-certification is now 38,689 copies, which means that the previous figures were inflated by 25.2 percent. In June, manipulations of the Wemf certification by the former publishing director came to light.

Ambient Media With "Orange Lightscape", Orange Switzerland is breaking new ground in communication Orange Switzerland is moving to Zurich Airport: after Swisscom Mobile and Sunrise, the third major mobile communications provider is also renting a total area of 700 square meters at the coveted location. The largest three-dimensional advertising installation in Switzerland to date comprises several architectural elements and is located in the middle of the renovated airport shopping area. For the mobile phone provider, the focus was on high visibility, uniqueness and the connection with the claim "The future's bright, the future's orange".
Catching glances unobtrusively
"With the Lightscape, we want to create a new dimension of advertising, add value to the space and make our message more visible.
communicate intrusively," says Sven Jasper, project manager at Orange Switzerland. The company currently expects the placement to last at least three years. The project comes from Zurich-based 3D communication specialist The GCGroup, which is managing the branding as general contractor from conception to implementation and has realized all Orange 3D projects in the last four years.
The light installation uses 475 LED light rods clamped between the floor and ceiling. They can be controlled individually and give the viewer the impression of a rectangle floating in space, bathed in pulsating light. This is an attempt to set a counter-trend to the megaposters and arouse emotions, says Patrick Gubser, Managing Director of the GCGroup.
Further branding opportunities Clear Channel Switzerland markets around 825 advertisements at Zurich Airport.
beflächen: "The annual rental costs for the brandings amount to
between CHF 150000 and 1 million," says Luzia Tellenbach from Clear Channel Switzerland. The opportunities for other companies to also implement large-scale branding are intact: "There are always changes in the use of these zones as well as new branding opportunities in the Airside Center," says Tellenbach.
Orange wants to create new dimensions with the 3D light installation.
Boris Schneider

Transport A popular part of Ruf Lanz's advertising campaign for Zurich's public transport company is the use of images to promote the transport service at events in Zurich, the latest of which is for the Knabenschiessen and shows how close VBZ brings passengers to the action. So close that only one hand with a white flag remains visible in the driver's cab: the well-known request not to shoot. The small print then recommends not spending the money until the Knabenschiessen.

Television The German TV channel RTL 2 plans to open a program window in Switzerland in the spring. This was announced by Managing Director Josef Andorfer at the "screen-up", where the window will broadcast Swiss content and be marketed by IP Multimedia. RTL 2 is currently awaiting approval from the Hesse State Media Authority, where the channel has applied for a license. Whether approval from the German side will be sufficient is disputed.

Television Bluewin CEO Urs Schmidig on his TV project, program packaging and the end of interruptive advertising.WW Mr. Schmidig, has Bluewin TV got off to a good start? The first of a total of 630 set-top boxes are being sent out to the trial participants these days - one of them to me. The starting blocks in your question suggest that this market launch is a sprint. However, we are expecting a marathon and are dividing our resources accordingly.
Its boss Jens Alder recently said that "we are newcomers to the TV business and will therefore make mistakes". One of the first is probably the name: Bluewin stands for Internet ...
... which also functions in the background as the basic technology of our new TV service. What would be the alternative?
Swisscom TV. Finally, the channels come to the home via telephone cable.
good parlor.
However, we do not want to emphasize the "tube" through which our TV offering ultimately reaches the customer. Our marketing focus is clearly on the interactivity bundled in the Electronic Program Guide (EPG) and Personal Video Recorder (PVR). This is our central USP. In addition, most people know that we belong to Swisscom.
Bluewin TV therefore sees itself purely as an infrastructure player that wants to compete with satellite and cable providers, but not with existing broadcasters.
I would say that we are an infrastructure and service player. We offer customers the opportunity to watch television in a new way via the telephone line. The broadcasters play an important role in this offering and also have new opportunities to present their services.
Is a license extension, as Cablecom is seeking for the Infochannel, not an issue for Bluewin?
As I said, access providing is also the most important thing for us in the TV business. We see a central function for the Bluewin EPG, similar to the Bluewin portal on the Internet. However, the production and distribution of Swisscom's own content was and is not up for discussion. Instead, we see our opportunity in intelligent, i.e. interactive packaging and bundling of the variety of programs available today. This is where we want to establish ourselves and earn money...
... after all, Jens Alder also expects his second TV adventure - after Swisscom Broadcast - to be in the black at some point. When are you aiming to break even?
We are now starting the trial. We will gain insights from this that will allow us to plan the business and calculate the case.
How important is advertising revenue in Bluewin TV's business plan?
None so far. For us, advertising is currently just something we offer our suppliers so that they can advertise in the form of traditional trailers, as well as interactive links to certain broadcasting channels or current rental offers.
video offers.
You are unlikely to offer these opportunities for self-promotion free of charge.
The first phase is about promoting the new offer. Until we have 100,000 customers, I don't see a commercial product as a priority. At best, we'll do a few showcases with possible new forms of advertising. Because we have learned a lesson from Internet advertising: only confront the market with advertising offers when they are understood by agencies and clients and, more importantly, when your service has reached a critical mass of users.
How seriously do you take the fears of TV broadcasters regarding the integrated advertising skip function of Bluewin TV?
Very seriously. However, what some of our suppliers fear is not the "live pause" feature of our service, but the new technology on which it is based. But that's coming anyway. Now we are the television experts who are introducing it to the market and therefore have to make it understandable first. Although time shifting potentially jeopardizes interruption advertising as it is practiced today, point-to
Point television also opens up completely new communication horizons. We would like to look at these together with the providers and then develop them.
What do these new options look like? Advertising can be placed in a segment-oriented manner, for example, or interactive elements can be incorporated into the commercials or programs. In addition, the potential for content providers increases fundamentally thanks to the recycling of programs.
Interview:
Oliver Classen

Daniel Schifferle on unexpectedly ageing readerships Demographics played the biggest trick on the Swiss print media this year: The readership of newspapers and magazines has aged statistically without even a single title actually attracting additional readers of a more mature age.The reason for this problematic development is the adjustment of Mach Basic to the data from the 2000 census; previously, the 1990 census formed the basis for the calculations. With this step, the ageing of society over the last ten years, which is actually a gradual process, is now becoming visible in one fell swoop. The young target group segments coveted by the advertising industry are thus becoming fewer in number, while the less popular old ones are swelling more and more.
This has drastic consequences for the individual titles. Newspapers with predominantly young target groups are clearly in a weaker position, as the example of 20 Minuten shows. Instead of 720,000 readers, there are now only 692,000 in the reweighted previous year's figures. This is due to the massive shrinkage in the 20 to 29 age segment, which has fallen by a whole quarter or almost 200,000 people in German-speaking Switzerland.
In contrast, the opposite has happened with titles with older target groups. Their readership has increased practically overnight, which is particularly evident in the case of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung: Instead of 324,000 readers in the previous year, the title actually had 343,000. The unexpected increase is primarily the result of the strong increase in the 50 to 59 age segment, which has grown by more than 16 percent.
In view of an advertising industry that primarily targets young audiences, this is not a welcome development. A small consolation: it is not only the press that is suffering, but the media in general. Because wherever audience research is carried out, the new age structure of society has the same negative consequences.
> Daniel Schifferle, Head of Department
Media & Media.

Publishers The Zurich-based specialist publisher Weka has commissioned the young St. Gallen advertising agency Kraftwerk to implement its DM measures. The Zurich-based specialist publisher Weka has commissioned the young St. Gallen advertising agency Kraftwerk to implement its DM measures. It designs campaigns, mailings and advertisements. As
Firstly, a mailing is used to attract subscribers to the internet platform on Swiss labor law
should. In addition, K+D AG in St. Gallen, a packaging manufacturer, commissioned Kraftwerk to redesign its website.

Furniture retailer Micasa wants to be top of mind with a new communications package.
When the leaves on the trees change color in September, the mailbox also becomes more colorful: The catalogs from the furniture stores flutter into the mailbox. This fall, Micasa's home decor book has a new look. The completely revised layout is intended to improve reader guidance and present the range with modern imagery. The catalog is a harbinger of the communication concept, which is now being implemented by Wirz Werbung. The Zurich-based agency won the pitch against two competitors last December and won the Micasa account from Rüegg Fontana Heiderich. The background to the realignment is, on the one hand, the poor financial year 2003 - for the entire furnishing industry: Micasa's turnover plummeted from 356 million in 2002 to 320 million. On the other hand, market research revealed that the Migros unit has a significant deficit in terms of brand awareness. "Our spontaneous awareness is only around 11 and 13 percent," says Micasa Head of Communications Caesar Keller. "When consumers need something from the furnishing sector, they spontaneously think of three to four suppliers and we want to be one of them in the future." In Switzerland, these are first and foremost market leader Möbel Pfister and number two Ikea. However, Interio and Top Tip, which are behind third-placed Micasa in terms of sales, also have a higher level of spontaneous awareness.
The package of measures put together by Wirz is intended to change this in the long term. To this end, the advertising budget was increased by around 20 percent, enabling the production of a TV commercial for the first time in Micasa's history. With a special kind of vacation experience, it documents that there is no better place to be than at home - especially when the
The film is equipped with Micasa furniture and accessories. The short film will be used nationally from 2005. Micasa is breaking new ground dramaturgically with this witty plot. Caesar Keller comments: "We
have neglected the entertainment value of advertising in the past. In the good old Migros tradition, we also want to go down a funny route in future.
This affiliation is no coincidence: after Micasa was clearly separated from Migros a few years ago, the aim is to re-emphasize the affiliation and thus benefit from customers' trust in the retailer. According to Keller, they want to emphasize the typical Migros price-performance ratio. Accordingly, the product range is to be
correct. However, the positioning should remain the same: Micasa sees itself behind Möbel Pfister in terms of design, but clearly ahead of Ikea in terms of quality.
Life planning à la PfisterThe industry leader Möbel Pfister has also ordered some witty advertising this fall. With humorous headlines, some of which refer to current events, the furniture store is targeting a younger target group.
audience. According to the slogans, Möbel Pfister makes a contribution to family planning or entices people to curl up on sofas. The advertising campaign was designed by the agency Publicis, which has been working with the company for two years.
Last year, Möbel Pfister also lost a good three percent of its sales, but remained at the top of the league with around CHF 519 million.
Top of the Swiss furniture market. (sk)
For the first time in its more than 20-year history, Micasa is making a TV commercial.
Möbel Pfister targets a young audience with humorous headlines.
Micasa's new living book features a revised concept.
Simone Keller