TV series Fans will be happy and sad at the same time: From 21 September to mid-December, ProSieben will be showing the last half-season of the US cult series "Sex and the City", and SevenOne Media Switzerland is organizing a farewell tour so that the many regular voyeurs don't have to celebrate the farewell alone. On each of the twelve remaining Tuesday evenings, the action will take place in a trendy city club. The episode will be shown on a big screen as part of a stylish evening. Among others, the German dubbing voice of Carrie and a live band have been announced.

Television Under pressure from regional broadcasters, Cablecom wants to improve its license application.
The application for a programming extension of its info channel license, which the cable network operator Cablecom submitted to Bakom in mid-July (WW 29/04), has caused uncertainty and even outrage in the TV industry.Belcom boss Andreas Meili fears "a conflict of interests, to put it mildly" if the quasi-monopolist were to offer and market its own content in future. Tele-Südostschweiz owner Hanspeter Lebrument, on the other hand, is demanding in the name of equal opportunities that Cablecom "must then switch on all channels at zero cost". And Telesuisse Association President Filippo Lombardi, as a media politician, even wants to anchor a clause in the new RTVA that would prohibit cable and telecom providers from offering their own content. This would also affect Bluewin TV (see page 32).
Only the SRG "does not oppose new Swiss channels in principle", as its spokesperson Josefa Haas stated on request. However, like most of the addressees of the consultation, SRG has also obtained an extension of the deadline from OFCOM until September 17.
A mere "misunderstanding"?
By then, the uproar could have died down again. In a letter received by Bakom this week, Cablecom explains that "to avoid misunderstandings (...) the cooperation with content providers and new TV formats mentioned in the license application will be dispensed with".
"The organization of an editorial program that could compete with national, regional or local television offerings was never planned," the paper continues.
The opinions of those affected will show whether this self-restriction defines precisely enough which activities the infrastructure providers, who are forcing their way into the television business, are allowed to develop there.
Oliver Classen

Books: The Epica Awards Yearbook has been published for the 17th time. Spanning over 380 pages, it showcases the winners and finalists of the European creative competition—including the three winning agencies: JWT+H+F, Lowe, and Advico Young & Rubicam. For more information, visit www.epica-awards.com.Epica on the 17th.

Competitions In March 2005, the industry association Swiss Expo and Event Makers will present the Xaver Award for the fourth time. The award recognizes outstanding achievements in Swiss event marketing and exhibition stand construction and the closing date for entries is December 15. Conditions of participation, information and the application form can be found at www.xaver-award.ch.

Food With its core product Viogerm, the company Multiforsa in Steinhausen ZG is targeting both industry and consumers: the natural essence made from cold-pressed wheat germ is added to numerous foods, but can also be consumed directly as a source of folic acid. Viogerm is marketed nationally and internationally. Metzgerlehner Worldwide Partners is now responsible for the brand's communication budget. The Erlenbach-based agency came out on top in a competitive presentation. The first work will be seen in late fall 2004.

Claudia Kraaz will take over as Head of Corporate Communications at the Vontobel banking group at the beginning of December. She replaces Elisabeth Meyerhans Sarasin, who is moving to the Federal Department of Finance as Head of Communications. Kraaz was most recently Managing Director and Head of Public Relations at the CS Group....
Heinz Eckert is to become editor-in-chief of the magazine Swiss Review, which is published by the Organization of the Swiss Abroad (OSA). He will take over from Gabrielle Keller, who is moving to the Neue Zuger Zeitung, at the beginning of October.
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Marco Gregori has taken over as editor-in-chief of the Geneva daily newspaper Le Courrier with immediate effect. He replaces Manuel Grandjean, who announced his resignation at the end of April. Gregori has been with the newspaper since 1995.
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Zurich-based publishing house Jean Frey has appointed Peter Hert as Head of Sales and Logistics. He will also join the Executive Board. Hert currently works as Head of Reader Market at Tamedia.
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Gregor Doser will join Mediaedge-CIA in Zurich as the new Head of Electronic Media at the beginning of December. Doser currently heads the
Marketing services at SRG marketer Publisuisse.
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Tiziano Obrecht will take over responsibility for the online media planning tool Planad at marketer Adlink Internet Media at the beginning of December. Obrecht is currently Senior Account Manager at Publimedia Webadvertising.
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The Forum Fribourg exhibition and conference center has a new director in Markus Reck. On October 18, he will take over from Claude Membrez, who is moving to Palexpo in Geneva as General Director.

Drinks In addition to Liverpool and the England national team, Carlsberg is now also the sponsor of the Swiss national team. One team, one spirit, one beer. The saying, which could have originated in our northern neighboring country, became nationally valid on April 27, when Feldschlösschen CEO Erwin Flückiger sealed the sponsorship agreement with the Swiss national football team for four years. "Now Carlsberg is also positioned as a football beer in Switzerland," said a delighted Flückiger.
The EM as an ideal platform
And with good reason: the perfectly concerted profiling strategy was already under a good star even before the actual start of the cooperation on July 1 and despite the ambivalent experience of our footballers at the European Championships: as the official main sponsor of all European Championship tournaments since 1984
and partner of several football clubs throughout Europe, the
Danish beer brand is highly relevant and credible in this image and audience-rich sport - especially among football fans. "Euro 2004 was an ideal platform for us to address Swiss football fans with the Carlsberg brand. With the Swiss national team, we now have a vehicle to share our passion for football with fans in the long term," explains Senior Brand Manager Massimo Di Dia.
Thanks to a full package of European Championship measures, awareness and sales of the brand launched in Switzerland in 2001 skyrocketed within just a few weeks. In the brand track, spontaneous mentions have doubled since the beginning of the year to a good 24% at the end of August, while sales are 25% above budget despite the stagnating beer market. After the European Championship hype, the question therefore had to be: How can this pleasing development be sustainably implemented for the aggressive growth policy without having to significantly increase the share of voice (13%)? After all, Feldschlösschen Getränke AG is pursuing an ambitious goal with its premium brand: "By Euro 2008, which will be held here in
in Switzerland, of which we are the main sponsor, to come as close as possible to Heineken's market share," says Di Dia. By way of comparison, Carlsberg is currently experiencing almost triple-digit growth. Heineken, which has been in Switzerland for twelve years, is the strongest international beer brand and currently controls 6.4 percent of the local market.
The initial situation made it clear that a continuation of the side-by-side campaign was out of the question. This campaign, like the Lorry campaigns before it, was unable to emotionalize the brand enough with its sub-optimal media strategies - print and posters. Carlsberg's image remained diffuse and led to a level of relevance (consideration) that lagged far behind Heineken. In contrast, the Euro 2004 measures very quickly had a positive impact. The brand's relevance doubled to 35 within two quarters.
TV as a basic medium
With the sponsorship commitment, the media key was also adapted. "In order to make Carlsberg widely and quickly known as the official beer of the Swiss national football team and thus benefit from the image transfer, we decided on TV as the basic medium," says Di Dia. This also sets Carlsberg apart from Heineken, which concentrates its media spending heavily on posters. This was accompanied by posters in the major cities and information on secondary packaging.
The recent start of qualifying for the World Cup in Germany heralded the launch of the football image campaign last Saturday: Two TV commercials, the 15-second reminder, in which the Swiss national team advertises a branded product for the first time. Based on the international campaign idea "Enjoying alone is impossible", the Saatchi & Saatchi Simko creatives have dramatized the shared moment of enjoyment. In one strip, Murat Yakin, Johann Vogel, Patrick Müller and national team coach Köbi Kuhn abruptly interrupt the game because they and a horde of football fans storm the home of a TV viewer who was about to enjoy a cool Carlsberg.
Great future predicted
But that's just it: Wherever you are in the world - it is impossible to drink Carlsberg without attracting friends, according to the implemented brand essence "Drink with a world of friends". "Production was a real challenge," says Pedro Simko, CEO of the Geneva agency, looking back. "Due to the short availability of the footballers, the two TV commercials and the two print subjects had to be in the can on the same day." Even if there are doubts about the symbolic effect of the fixed spot production and the first six qualifying goals against the Faroe Islands, those responsible predict a great future for the sponsorship commitment, which is broadly supported by the media with joint promotions (Blick, Le Matin and the new Carlsberg-Football.ch homepage). Even the criticism that has been voiced about the alliance between beer and sport has been well countered by the Rheinfeld-based company: Carlsberg's positioning clearly envisages a "grown-up" beer with a strong anchor in football. Everything else is yesterday's beer.
Carlsberg is now also sponsoring the Swiss national team and is focusing on the "we-feeling" with TV commercials >> page 7
With Saatchi & Saatchi Simko and the Swiss national team, beer group Carlsberg lets all Markom funds flow.
Transferring the sense of togetherness from football to beer: Carlsberg pours beer with new commercials.
Luca Aloisi

Financial and business press After a breather, readership figures took a massive dive in 2004, and after the heavy losses in readership in 2001 and 2002, the downward trend in the financial and business press seemed to have been overcome last year. All titles were able to increase their readership slightly or at least no longer recorded any significant losses. However, this has not turned into a sustainable stabilization, as the current Mach-Basic figures now show. On the contrary, the German-speaking Swiss titles in particular slipped deep into the red once again, although this development is not surprising: the circulation figures from last April, which saw the financial and business press suffer massive slumps almost across the board, had already anticipated the losses in readership (see box).
Positive figures only for StocksOnly the HandelsZeitung publishing group managed to get by reasonably well. For Stocks, which announced a brutal loss of more than a quarter of its circulation last spring
even recorded a (non-significant) small gain of 5,000 readers (+8.8 percent), contrary to expectations. However, HandelsZeitung also held up comparatively well with a (likewise non-significant) loss of "only" 12,000 readers (-7.9 percent).
By contrast, the three German-speaking Swiss titles Bilanz, Cash and Finanz und Wirtschaft suffered a much more painful decline, losing a total of 13,000,000 readers. Bilanz made the biggest contribution to this with a drop of 58,000 readers (-12.2 percent). It was followed by Cash, which had to cope with the highest percentage loss among the business papers with 51,000 fewer readers (-14.7 percent). Finanz und Wirtschaft also suffered a massive drop, with 21,000 fewer readers (-13.5 percent).
On the other hand, Agefi in French-speaking Switzerland has held its own. However, the daily business newspaper has been stagnating for several years with a not exactly intoxicating 20000 readers.
Readership figures usually follow circulation figuresIf circulation figures fall in the spring, losses in readership figures in the fall are the logical consequence. At least this is usually the case.
However, Stocks is a major exception this year. The stock market and investor magazine was deep in the red when it was certified in April.
Minus: More than a quarter (-26.8 percent) of the circulation was lost. Despite this, the magazine now has a small increase in readership. (dse)
Tough times: The Swiss-German business newspapers in particular are still in the doldrums.
Daniel Schifferle

Internet According to MA Comis, more and more Internet users not only want to surf the globe virtually, but also to travel physically.Since MA Comis 2003, the number of people in Switzerland who use the Internet has again increased by around 120000. No less than two-thirds of all German-speaking Swiss now belong to the so-called Weitesten Nutzerkreis (WNK), i.e., they use the Internet at least once every six months.Those who do so from home increasingly prefer a broadband connection: With an increase from 30 to 48 percent, the market share of broadband connections has risen significantly compared with the previous year. The most widely used Internet provider is Bluewin, with a market share of 47 percent. Sunrise and Cablecom follow with 17 and 16 percent respectively, and all other providers together account for 20 percent.
E-mail traffic front runner
As in previous years, the Internet is primarily used for e-mail correspondence, closely followed by the use of search engines (see also chart). There has been a marked increase in travel preparations made via the Internet: 6 percent more people are consulting online timetables and flight schedules, and the proportion of people making other travel plans (choosing destinations and hotels) on their PCs has grown just as strongly. There has also been a 5 percent increase in those who consult online city maps and other maps. Downloading programs, which was still in sixth place last year, has continued to grow slightly in terms of share, but other activities have overtaken it.
An increasing number of people are inclined to shop online - according to MA Comis, 74 percent of all Internet users do so, compared with 43 percent six years ago. However, only those who "have already bought or ordered something online at least once" are counted. More revealing is how much individual users have spent on purchased goods or services when shopping online - and this within the last six months: 44 percent of online shoppers (763000 people) said they had spent more than CHF 500 on purchases during this period. For 40 percent, spending was between 100 and 500 francs, and for the remaining 14 percent it was less than 100 francs.
Books remain the products most frequently ordered over the Internet (58 percent), ahead of admission tickets (54 percent) and the purchase of sound recordings (48 percent). Hotel reservations are made by 47 percent of users. Most products increased, with flight bookings (plus 8 percent) and hotel reservations (plus 5 percent) showing the greatest growth.
The willingness to pay for services and content on the Internet remains relatively low. At 49 percent, the greatest willingness exists for music downloads, but only 9 percent have already paid for it. The willingness to pay for downloading programs is only slightly lower (42 percent), but the number of those who have already paid for them is higher at 24 percent. When it comes to paying for information from archives and databases, between 8 and 10 percent have already paid for it, and around 40 percent are prepared to do so in principle.
Google.ch and SBB.ch are accessed by the majority of web users at least once every six months. They increased their reach by around 10 percent. However, the biggest leap forward among the ten reach giants was made by the online shopping center Ebay.ch (plus 15 percent).
The MA Comis also surveyed Internet users' attitudes to online advertising. 74 percent find it annoying, but 53 percent think that advertising on the Internet goes well with contemporary products.
MA Comis in profileFor the MA Comis 2004, a total of 2080 interviews were conducted between April 26 and June 20, 2004. People aged 14 and over in German-speaking Switzerland who had used the Internet privately, in education or professionally in the last six months were surveyed. The 2004 population of Internet users is 2.7 million (66 percent of the German-speaking population), compared with 2.58 million (64 percent) in the 2003 MA Comis. (mk)
Strong increase: Two-thirds of the population in German-speaking Switzerland now use the Internet.
Markus Knöpfli

Among the classic magazines in German-speaking Switzerland, only Schweizer Familie and the conservative Leben&Glauben stood out with (non-significant) upward movements. The Tamedia magazine, which had already seen strong growth in the previous year, added another 29,000 readers (+4.3 percent), while Beobachter and Facts saw a clear downward trend in German-speaking Switzerland. The Jean Frey title lost 68,000 readers (-5.9 percent), almost as many as the advice magazine had gained in the previous year. In terms of share, however, Facts suffered even greater losses, losing 52,000 readers.
(-9.9 percent). In the previous year, when the news magazine attracted 37,000 new readers, it had already looked like a trend reversal. However, the hoped-for return to sustained growth in readership figures has come to nothing for the time being. This is particularly unpleasant for Facts: The gap to its competitor Weltwoche has shrunk to 32,000 readers. In the previous year, the Tamedia magazine was still 68,000 ahead. However, Weltwoche also fell (not significantly) by 16,000 readers (-3.5 percent).
Women's magazines, on the other hand, brought positive momentum to the print media market. In French-speaking Switzerland in particular, the steep upward trend of the titles Edelweiss and Elle made people sit up and take notice. With their soaring sales, the two made it to first and third place among the 18 top gainers. In absolute terms, Edelweiss performed best, gaining 20,000 readers (+28.6 percent) compared to the previous year. However, the remaining gains went to French titles. Elle benefited in particular, with its readership increasing by 14,000 readers (+31.8 percent) as a result of the current Mach Basic. But Marie Claire was also able to at least maintain its readership, while Femina, the supplement to Le Matin Dimanche, reported slightly fewer readers.
Among the Swiss-German women's titles, only Bolero performed positively with a (non-significant) gain of 8,000 readers (+8.2 percent). The remaining growth was attributable to German women's magazines: Cosmopolitan increased by 15,000 readers (+7.7 percent), Brigitte gained 4,000 (+2.1 percent).
On the losing side, however, were Freundin, which lost 9,000 readers (-4.8 percent), and Annabelle, which reported 17,000 fewer readers (-4.6 percent).
Beste and its counterpart in French-speaking Switzerland, both of which have been in decline for years, also suffered further losses. Sélection lost 15,000 readers (-12.1 percent). Although the drop for Das Beste was even more dramatic with 24,000 readers lost (-5.1 percent), the loss here is not significant.
On the other hand, there is a ray of hope in the French-speaking Swiss program press. TV 8, which had already enjoyed a stable readership in previous years, was able to increase its readership significantly this time by 33,000 (+18.4 percent). Among the Swiss-German TV program guides, TR7 performed better than Tele, with readership figures remaining the same.
a (non-significant) loss of 24,000 readers (-3.4 percent)
is somewhat weaker.
Women's magazines created momentum in the media market, particularly in French-speaking Switzerland.
Daniel Schifferle

Customer press Coop still clearly has the upper hand in the media duel between the major distributors. For the Swiss customer and member press, 2004 was not a good year for Wemf. The majority of the titles surveyed lost readership, even if this was not statistically significant in most cases. In French-speaking Switzerland, only one title was able to increase its readership, namely Coopération.publisher Coop was the winner in all three language regions. Coopération recorded 16,000 new readers (+2.9 percent), Cooperazione in Ticino 7,000 (+5.0 percent) and the Coop-Zeitung 58,000 (+2.3 percent). At the same time, arch-rival Migros lost almost as many readers in German-speaking Switzerland: Brückenbauer, which was completely relaunched as a Migros magazine this May, lost 54,000 readers (-2.5 percent). The gap to the Coop newspaper grew
to 511,000 readers. Last year's apparent turnaround, when Brückenbauer was able to increase its readership by 1.7 percent, thus turned out to be a flash in the pan and the relaunch (carried out after the end of the Mach survey) was sorely needed. The Migros newspaper Construire in French-speaking Switzerland was at least able to maintain the previous year's level (-0.2 percent) and is still at the top of the French-language customer press. However, the gap to Coopération has shrunk to a mere 6000 readers. The development in Ticino gives Migros cause for hope. Azione, which was relaunched in September 2003, has made massive gains there. Readership grew by 13,000 or 14.9 percent.
Overall, the Coop press is in the lead with 3.32 million readers. Migros magazines are used by 2.77 million readers.
Readers leave Optima The pharmacy magazine Optima suffered the heaviest losses in this segment. In German-speaking Switzerland, 63,000 readers left (-15.9 percent), in French-speaking Switzerland the figure was 36,000 (-10.8 percent). The downward trend of recent years is thus accelerating. Optima changed hands during the Mach Basic survey period: The publishing house Edipresse sold the title to Agora Retail at the beginning of 2004. It will be interesting to see whether the Geneva-based pharmaceutical and cosmetics marketing company can turn things around this year.
The French edition of Optima is likely to have an easier time than the German edition. This is because some readers in German-speaking Switzerland appear to have found a new home with competitor titles. The Swiss Hausapotheke increased by 27,000 (+4.9 percent), the Drogistenstern by just under 8,000 (+0.8 percent). In contrast, its French competitors were also read less. Tribune du Droguiste lost 8,000 readers (-5.4 percent), Pharmacie chez soi 4000 readers (-1.5 percent). Both titles were still growing last year.
Touring has also gone into reverse. The member magazine of the Touring Club Switzerland (TCS) lost readers throughout Switzerland. However, the changes are neither dramatic nor statistically significant. In German-speaking Switzerland, Touring is used by 8,000 fewer readers (-0.8 percent), in French-speaking Switzerland by 7,000 readers (-1.5 percent) and in Ticino by 4,000 readers (-4.4 percent). The decline contrasts with a 0.72 percent increase in TCS members.
Duel of the cinema magazinesFor the first time, Close-up is taking part in Mach Basic. The cinema magazine, which was launched seven years ago, has 177,000 readers. Its reach in German-speaking Switzerland is 4.3 percent. Despite its higher circulation, the Teleclub AG title is therefore lagging behind its competitor Film imnächst. However, the latter has lost 9,000 readers (-3.4 percent). Its counterpart in French-speaking Switzerland, Avant Première, even had to cope with a decline of 13.1 percent or 29,000 readers. Meanwhile, Teleclub's subscriber magazine grew minimally (by 3,000 readers or 1.25 percent).
Stefano Monachesi

Insurance Mobiliar's advertising budget is switching from Publicis to Wirz at the beginning of 2005 due to a client conflict: Publicis Zurich was appointed international lead agency by Zurich Financial Services in May. Wirz Advertising - in cooperation with Wirz Corporate - is to further develop the existing Mobiliar campaign with the damage sketches. The campaign was launched in 1998 under the direction of Jean Etienne Aebi. The former Publicis chief creative officer is to ensure continuity in the future under a consultancy contract. Wirz was selected from 15 agencies in a three-month process.