NPO AY&R has developed the first legacy campaign in Swiss fundraising for Greenpeace. Or even longer. With a view to the environment for future generations, what could be more obvious than taking responsibility for it in the long term? Even if you are already dead. The topic is a sensitive one. Charitable organizations have long accepted voluntary bequests, known as legacies, which they donate to specific projects in accordance with the wishes of the deceased. Nevertheless, unlike donations, foundations or sponsorships, there is something irreverent about this type of money acquisition. And although 15 to 20 billion Swiss francs are bequeathed in Switzerland every year, hardly anyone addresses the subject. Reverent and yet agitative
For Thomas Städeli, Head of Consulting at Advico Young & Rubicam (AY&R), and the creative team, this is reason enough to demonstrate with the necessary respect, but still with the usual Greenpeace agitative undertone, the possibility of including the organization in one's will. "A legacy for Greenpeace is a special kind of act of will," says Städeli. "It is a politically incorrect last will and testament in which I decide with the stroke of a pen to stop the destruction of the environment beyond my lifetime."
The creatives around CD André Benker and AD Valentina Herrmann, for whom this is their farewell work at AY&R, have translated this idea into a striking advertising campaign: under the handwritten headline "My last will and testament" are crossed-out images of environmental destruction. For the organization, which became known worldwide with orange inflatable boats, five subjects dramatize the need for action in important areas of Greenpeace Switzerland's work: nuclear power, toxic waste, rainforest, air and water pollution. "With this campaign, we are launching the topic of legacies in Switzerland and making it accessible to everyone via the term 'my last will'," says Benker. At the same time, he hopes to build on the brand essence of resistance to make the topic unmistakable for Greenpeace.
Greenpeace campaign: environmental protection even after death.
Reverent yet agitative: Advico Young & Rubicam has developed the first campaign in Swiss fundraising history to target legacies for Greenpeace >> page 10
Luca Aloisi

Budgets The pharmaceutical company Pfizer has entrusted McCann Erickson with the US advertising budget for its erectile dysfunction aid Viagra. The agency prevailed against three competitors in a multi-stage process and McCann has already been responsible for Viagra outside North America. Advertising Age puts the US budget at 100 million dollars.

Advertising expenditure Advertising sales dipped in 2003. TV, directories and cinema were in the black, and the survey by the Advertising Statistics Foundation now shows in unsparing detail just how difficult 2003 was for many media. With a drop of five percent or CHF 267 million, the downward slide in net advertising sales continued unabated last year. In total, they amounted to CHF 5.123 billion, only slightly more than in 1998, but even in a market characterized by negative developments, there are winners. Address books were once again in full swing. After having already stood out in previous years with high growth rates, they again achieved a proud plus of 13 million francs (+7.3%) in 2003. However, the advertising market crisis has also left its mark on the high-flyer. Growth in 2002 had been twice as high.
In addition to directories, only two other media categories recorded rising sales: television and cinema advertising. At just 0.8 percent, the increase in the latter is in the rounding range. Television, on the other hand, posted a significant gain of CHF 6 million (+1%).
However, this growth is solely attributable to advertising windows, which increased their revenues by nine million (+7.2%). SRG broadcasters remained just at the previous year's level with a drop of one million francs (-0.5TP3T). By contrast, private Swiss TV stations suffered more, with revenues falling by 4.8% to CHF 31 million.
Teletext, whose advertising revenues have been stagnating for many years, fared very similarly. With a drop of 7.9 percent, it has now fallen back to the level of 1999. Among the electronic media, radio advertising also suffered a small loss of two million francs (-1.8%). The fat years are also over for direct advertising for the time being. After lush growth rates in previous years, the trend has now reversed, even if the loss of 2.5 percent was comparatively moderate.
Business press in the basement
The press accounted for the largest share of the total loss of all media, namely CHF 245 million (-9.6%). The financial and business press was by far the hardest hit, with sales plummeting by CHF 19 million (-23.3%). However, the daily press also had an extraordinarily difficult time with a drop of CHF 177 million (-12.6%). This was particularly true of the major titles, where losses were above average (see box). Business was also tough for the regional weekly press, which lost CHF 54 million (-8.7%). The Sunday press, which was one of the rare winners in the previous year, was also on the losing side. It lost CHF 14 million (-7.6%). By contrast, consumer magazines fared comparatively well, "only" losing CHF 8 million (-3.4%).
The only positive result among the press titles was reported by the category of specialty and hobby magazines, whose sales rose by three million francs (+1.1%). However, the increase is exclusively attributable to various scene, party and youth magazines launched in previous years, which have only now started to report their advertising revenues to the Advertising Statistics Foundation. The delay in reporting is the main reason for the unusually high increase of 59.7 percent or four million francs for these titles.
Net advertising revenue does not yet provide any information on the development of the Internet. This gap could be closed as early as next year. "The final decision has not yet been made, but the Internet market is now structured to such an extent that integration is within sight," explains Rolf Blum, project manager at the Advertising Statistics Foundation.
Address books were the top-selling advertising product in 2003.

Losses with job advertisementsAmong the daily press, the major newspapers suffered above-average losses. Category I titles (circulation over 50,000) were down by 13.9 percent or 138 million francs. The daily newspapers in category II (circulations between 10,000 and 50,000) fell by 9.4 percent or 29 million francs. The smallest category (circulation under 10,000) lost 10.1 percent or eight million francs. Job advertisements contributed significantly to the marked losses: these shrank by no less than 34.3 percent or 109 million francs across Switzerland as a whole. (dse)
Daniel Schifferle

Newspapers The manipulation of the Landbote's circulation is a warning: sanctions are threatened from July 1 In the current Wemf circulation bulletin, the normal circulation of the Landbote is given as 48,448 copies and the large circulation as 9,3812 copies. According to editor-in-chief Rudolf Gerber, however, these figures are "inflated by several thousand copies due to manipulation". The exact extent is not known. "We only know that the figures for 2003 are not correct, but we suspect that the manipulations go back further," says Gerber. An external auditing company has now been commissioned to review the regulatory documents. Gerber: "We want things to be clear again." As soon as the results are available, an application will be made to the Wemf for interim certification." Landbote publisher Ziegler Druck- und Verlags-AG has filed a criminal complaint with the Winterthur District Court against a former employee who worked at Landbote for 15 years and, according to Gerber, "was the only person in the publishing house responsible for the circulation certification dossier." It was only after he left Ziegler Druck in March 2004 that the inconsistencies were discovered.
At Landbote leaseholder Publicitas, CEO Otto Meier regrets the manipulation, but is not considering legal action against "the good and long-standing partner". And the Nordostschweiz-Kombi (NOS), to which the Landbote belongs, is taking the matter calmly. "The only thing that matters for the advertising market and also for the Kombi's internal distribution key is the reach," says Konrad Müller from NOS member Zürcher Oberländer.
And how does the Wemf react? "In our inspections, we look for errors, not fraud and forgeries," says Christel Plöger, the chief certifier, explaining her role. This will not change with the new regulations that come into force on July 1, 2004. "But we can now impose sanctions," says Plöger. "Manipulation of conditions will be fined 50000 francs."
Markus Knöpfli

Private TV The US media group Viacom is acquiring 75.8% of the shares in the German music television company Viva Media AG.Viacom has signed a corresponding agreement with the Viva shareholders Time Warner, Universal Music, the management and other shareholders. The US company will submit a public tender offer for the outstanding shares. If the antitrust authorities give their approval, the competitors Viva and MTV will come under one roof. According to the news agency SDA, Viacom wants to reposition the four German channels (Viva, Viva plus, MTV and MTV2 Pop).

Television Instead of one program on two channels as before, SF DRS intends to operate two clearly distinguishable channels from September onwards.Television Instead of one program on two channels as before, SF DRS intends to operate two clearly distinguishable channels from September onwards. To this end, new visuals will be introduced for SF 1 and SF 2 by autumn 2005 and the latter will be repositioned as a children's and youth program. In addition, the proportion of 16:9 transmission volume is to increase to around 30 percent in the medium term.

Public transport Wemako Kommunikation has won the advertising budget for Bambus, the new transport association between the cities of Kreuzlingen and Constance Public transport Wemako Kommunikation has won the advertising budget for Bambus, the new transport association between the cities of Kreuzlingen and Constance. The Kreuzlingen-based agency came out on top in a pitch against three competitors. The communication strategy is set to run for three years. The first measures planned are logo development and vehicle lettering.

Banks The Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) has entrusted Publicis with its entire advertising budget. The SBA brings together almost 370 banks and around 9,200 individual members.banks The Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) has entrusted Publicis with its entire advertising budget. The SBA brings together almost 370 banks and around 9,200 individual members. Publicis will realize an image campaign starting this summer.

takes over as head of the "Communication and Marketing" department at Schweizer Radio DRS. She replaces Regula Weyermann, who left SR DRS in mid-May.Ariane Ehrat takes over as head of the "Communications and Marketing" department at Schweizer Radio DRS. She replaces Regula Weyermann, who left SR DRS in mid-May. Ehrat was previously Head of Corporate Communications for Alpenarena.ch of the tourist destination Flims Laax Falera. She will take up her new post at the beginning of September. Head of Corporate Communications and
The contact person for the media remains Ursula Kottmann, who has headed this department since November 2002.
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Hans Lackner becomes Head of Administration Radio at marketer IP Multimedia (IPM). He will take over as Head of Internal Sales from August. Astrid Tellenbach has been entrusted with sales management.
Together they are responsible for IPM's radio business under the overall management of Michi Frank. Hans Lackner is currently a member of the management board at Spotpromotion AG.
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Rolf Blaser is to become editor-in-chief of Radio Extra Bern. He will take up the newly created position in October. The editor-in-chief will be directly
program director Reto Wüthrich. Blaser is currently head of music and editor at local competitor Radio BE1.
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Deputy Editor-in-Chief Clemens Hörler is leaving the IT trade magazine Netzwoche at the end of June. He wants to pursue a new career outside of journalism. His duties will be taken over by Alessandro Monachesi, who has been working for Netzwoche since its launch in spring 2000.
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After nine years of marketing management in the Wella Group, Christian Loosli set up his own business in Basel and offers his services as a freelance concept designer/copywriter.
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Maria Rodriguez will replace Anna Maier as anchor of TeleZüri's news at the beginning of October. Rodriguez is currently co-editor-in-chief of local radio station Energy Zürich. She has gained television experience at Sputnik TV, Star TV and in the newsroom of TV 3.

Shopping Centers The marketing agency Second Opinion has been commissioned with the marketing of the Telli shopping center in Aarau The tenants' association of the center opted for Second Opinion after a competitive presentation, which will take over the budget from the previous account manager Müller & Partner from 2005. The new advertising measures are to be built around sales-promoting and entertaining events. According to Second Opinion's concept, the focus will be on people from the Telli shopping center.

Public transport Ruf Lanz and the Zurich public transport company send a streetcar driver and journalists as columnists on an advertising tour A few days ago, the Zurich public transport company (VBZ) rolled out a new campaign from the depot as part of the single-subject campaign that has been running since 2001. While the first campaign ironically dramatizes a wide range of customer benefits - from the densest timetable in Europe and the wide range of services to punctuality and reliability - the aim now is to complement the customer visuals by giving passengers a better understanding of the view from the cab.During a brainstorming session with VBZ Corporate Communications a year ago, the in-house agency Ruf Lanz realized that although a lot is written about public transport and even more people travel on it - 800,000 every day with VBZ - the "overview" of the approximately 1,300 VBZ drivers is still largely unknown. This idea gave the CDs Danielle Lanz and Markus Ruf an advertising idea and the necessary luck to realize it. With Thomas Schenk, VBZ has had a streetcar driver on duty for some time who can not only drive, but also write. "Part-time driver Thomas Schenk is a journalist in his day job," says Ruf enthusiastically about this happy coincidence.
Driver's cab and poet's lairThanks to this coincidence and the ideal starting position at the commuter newspaper 20 Minuten, a fortnightly column was soon set up, which started on the last Monday in June. In it, Thomas Schenk, who has also written for the NZZ Folio, describes his impressions and experiences from his perspective as a driver.
Heinz Vögeli, Astrid Rappel and Manu Wüest hope that his texts will arouse interest and understanding for the drivers' profession and convey a sympathetic image of VBZ. The columnist says of his new task that he sees himself less as an advertising figure for VBZ and certainly not as Mr. VBZ, but "as a storyteller, in the manner of a tram-driving city writer".
The VBZ response to Bänz Friedli's commuter rules column shows the author in a driver's cab converted into a poet's hut with a mechanical typewriter. In keeping with the launch, the first column dealt with the streetcar drivers' greeting ritual, a topic that, according to Markus Ruf, would otherwise have little reason to exist in traditional advertising.
In fact, the column stands out from the usual publicity reports thanks to its unpretentious and entertaining style. VBZ has already been using this form of customer care for several years as a dialog campaign, which it runs itself on a weekly basis. In contrast to this, the new column is not thematically limited by customer questions, although there is a feedback option via e-mail. The two campaigns will therefore alternate.
Column promotes awareness Schenk, who after his studies and ten years as a journalist found the long-sought fixed structure and clear separation between work and leisure time in his new profession, is looking forward to the feedback, criticism, praise and suggestions. "This column gives me the opportunity to take a more conscious approach to my work as a streetcar driver, i.e. to observe even more closely, to listen and to follow my own thoughts while driving," he says.
We are now eagerly awaiting his contribution about how streetcar drivers experience it when they can no longer let people who are rushing to get on because the doors are blocked. "Perhaps the free newspaper should be renamed 25 minutes on Mondays," jokes Markus Ruf, promising good entertainment.
At the wheel of the typewriter: inside view of a VBZ streetcar driver.

Luca Aloisi

With a spectacular bet, electronics giant Mediamarkt took a big gamble in Germany—and won. Soccer: Anyone who bought a TV at Mediamarkt on a Tuesday before the European Soccer Championship was supposed to get their money back if Germany won the championship. That didn’t happen. As a consolation, all TV buyers will now receive a DVD of «The Miracle of Bern.» The film shows how the Germans became world champions in 1954—back when Mediamarkt didn’t exist yet.