Meat Our northern neighbors have two traditional strengths that cannot be denied: they have taste and they have pork, but above all they have a Central Marketing Company of the German Agricultural Industry that knows exactly how to express these advantages in everyday life. So let's take a look inside the good German parlor, let's say between "Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten" and "SK Kölsch": During the endless commercial breaks, there's enough time for a juicy piece of meat - and a taste for meat. The hero pulls the sinfully expensive frying pan out of the drawer and his gleaming white shirt out of his pants. On a high heat, he lets the kilo of pork sizzle without fat, but with an unpeeled clove of garlic. While his mouth is already watering, she has stuffed her hottest bib into his décolleté. The blonde impatiently tucks into the savory skewer. However, her bold look already tells us which hard-boiled "piece of meat" she is going to eat during the trailer on the kitchen table: "Pork. Makes you feel like it." And well-mannered advertisers to wild boars, we suspect.
(la)

Online Radio 24 news can now be listened to around the clock, not just on the hour, and can be downloaded from the station's website. The same applies to comedy contributions and the most important reports from the "Info 24" programs. The service called WebReplay is subject to a charge: a download costs 1.80 francs. Payment is made via a 0900 business number. WebReplay will later be integrated into the Tagesanzeiger.ch news service.

Medicine Reverse Idea, the agency founded by former Grey CD Francis Gerber, has won its first international client with Unident, a manufacturer of hygiene products for doctors and dentists.Medicine Reverse Idea, the agency founded by former Grey CD Francis Gerber, has won its first international client with Unident, a manufacturer of hygiene products for doctors and dentists. Reverse Idea is responsible for all communications.

Addiction prevention The Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) must discontinue its campaign against alcohol abuse. The budget of CHF 2.7 million will be cut as of 2005. In future, CHF 250,000,000 will still be available for measures against alcohol abuse.

Public health Polo Hofer and Max Rüdlinger promote more exercise in Viva TV commercials. "It has been medically proven that just 30 minutes of exercise a day has a positive effect on health," says Denise Rudin from Health Promotion Switzerland. And more exercise can easily be added to everyday life. "Just getting off the bus one stop earlier or taking a walk over lunch are the first steps toward a healthier life." This is precisely where the national exercise campaign Allez Hop comes in. The Zurich-based communications agency Viva is responsible for the concept and realization.
Feeding and football
Popular figureheads for "more sport even for the unathletic" are the dialect rocker Polo Hofer, known for his rather self-indulgent lifestyle, and the actor Max Rüdlinger. In a TV commercial, Polo plays a cozy, chips-eating couch potato playing soccer on TV, while his live-in buddy Rüdlinger is hyperactively fooling around with a ball in the living room.
"The spots aim to show people who are inactive in terms of movement in a funny way that more movement is already possible in everyday life and that the Allez Hop courses are an attractive way to improve health," says Roman Gasser, senior consultant and partner of Viva. A second spot shows a father walking a short distance faster than his daughter on the bus. The third "animated film" illustrates the message with a woman doing her "workout" on the side on laundry day with constant stair climbing from the laundry room to her apartment.
The focus of the communication measures was logically placed on TV commercials because, according to Viva, "no medium is better suited to thematizing the movement and broadly conveying the defined messages."
With these three TV commercials, the Swiss health insurance companies and Health Promotion Switzerland want to motivate inactive people to move more and thus make their own contribution to their health. Allez Hop also offers specialized courses for this purpose.
Not only since the World Health Organization (WHO) introduced the
May 10 as "Move for Health" Day is well known: The Swiss population does not move enough. Surveys by the Federal Office of Sport (Baspo), for example, have shown that 37 percent of the population move less than 30 minutes a day and are therefore considered inactive.
This movement passivity has consequences: Baspo estimates that
insufficient activity among the Swiss population leads to 1.4 million illnesses, 2,000 deaths and direct healthcare costs of 1.6 billion Swiss francs each year. "These figures make it clear that a further increase in inactivity must be prevented, both for reasons of public health and costs," says Marc-André Giger, director of Santésuisse, the association of Swiss health insurers.
For this reason, the Swiss health insurance companies have decided to work with Health Promotion Switzerland to intensify efforts to increase the proportion of the population that is active in physical activity and thus contribute to reducing the steadily rising health care costs. Since 1996, Baspo, Health Promotion Switzerland, the Swiss health insurance companies and Swiss Olympic have been getting Switzerland moving under the national brand name Allez Hop. In 2003, more than 1200 trained course instructors got about 30,000 formerly inactive people moving for the first time. Allez Hop exercise courses in walking, Nordic walking, water and FitGym are offered throughout Switzerland and enable people to exercise with like-minded people.
Joint movement
The health insurers' commitment to promoting health is nothing new, as quite a few insurers have been offering their customers discounted fitness and wellness packages for some time now. What is new, however, is that the industry is joining forces for the first time in supporting the Allez Hop exercise campaign.
The TV spots from Viva's creative fitness center were realized together with Abrakadabra Commercials. In parallel, Viva helped conceptually and editorially with the relaunch of Allez Hop's website.
Media relations and promotions round off the integrated communications menu. The pick-me-up spots will be broadcast from mid-May to mid-July on the national TV stations SF DRS, TSR and TSI, in the Swiss advertising windows of Kabel 1, M6 and Sat 1, and on 15 regional TV stations.
Moving duo: couch potato Polo Hofer and his roommate Max Rüdlinger at a European Championship game of televised soccer.

Andreas Panzeri

Daniel Schifferle on the fatal consequences of the ups and downs of radio research.
Withholding research results is almost as bad as a listed company postponing the publication of its balance sheet. Add to this a half-hearted information policy, as in the case of the repeatedly postponed publication of radiocontrol figures, and the damage is perfect. Withheld facts are not only poison for any market research. They are an ideal breeding ground for the dubious arguments of eternal critics to run riot. Rapid and comprehensive transparency by Publica Data would have been imperative in order to put a stop to such effects from the outset.
Critical voices are part of the normal background music of any market research, and they also emerged time and again in connection with Radiocontrol. And they also make sense as a counterweight to the blind trust that the recipients of research results have to place in the data providers. However, when none other than publisher president Hanspeter Lebrument now casts doubt on the results of radio research, the matter takes on a new dimension.
Lebrument's objections are understandable. If a research system suddenly delivers figures that are up to 30% lower after the sample has been increased, then there is something wrong with this system. The statement by Matthias Steinmann, CEO of the Telecontrol Group, that the new figures are more accurate (see page 18) sounds cynical. In any case, the statement is the opposite of a consolation, because it unmasks previous radio research as highly imprecise. At least in the case of the three radios, which were confronted with very large deviations without any announcement or explanation.
SRG Director General Armin Walpen also put his foot in his mouth. Although it was not up to him to prevent the publication of the radio figures according to the statutes, he took the lead. In doing so, he gave fuel to the unjustified impression that the SRG was influencing radio and TV research.
> Daniel Schifferle, Head of Media & Information

Sport The Bern-based agency Contexta is entering the boxing business via its below-the-line subsidiary 141 Worldwide. A Swiss tour for national and international professional boxers is planned. "In Germany, boxing is one of the sports markets with the highest growth rates in the sponsorship sector," says Contexta CEO Daniel Hartmann.

Aviation The airline alliance Star Alliance has agreed a cooperation with the advertising holding company WPP, whose two agency networks Mindshare and Mediaedge CIA buy media services worldwide for Star Alliance and aim to achieve the largest possible discounts. The alliance expects to save tens of millions of euros. It is up to the individual members to decide whether and to what extent they use the services of Mindshare and Mediaedge CIA or continue to work with their own agencies. So far, eight of the 15 star airlines are involved, including Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines.

Hug launches the new portions of Dar-Vida with advertisements made by Jung von Matt/Limmat.crèche, board meeting or tennis match - more and more has to fit into less and less time. Anything that can be done on the go is therefore welcome. This also includes satisfying hunger pangs: the suitability of a food for transportation is a factor in the purchasing decision. To meet this need, more and more food companies are responding by introducing new packaging units and sizes. Since the beginning of April, the entire Dar Vida range has been available in portion packs. The 250-gram cardboard box is still being sold, but now contains six protective pouches instead of the previous two.
Broad target group diversification
To publicize the new portion size to existing and, above all, potential customers, Hug entrusted Jung von Matt/Limmat with the conception of an advertising campaign. As Dar-Vida is already very well known, as consultant Rolf Helfenstein knows, the aim was to expand the consumer base. The target group was to be addressed as broadly as possible, as Dar-Vida itself is aimed at health-conscious people of all backgrounds and ages.
Hanger Packaging size
In line with the motto "A good double-page spread must also work as a poster", the creative team led by CD Alexander Jaggy designed a reduced print presentation. The size of the packaging served as a hook: "We have included the new Pocketsize in the containers in which Dar-Vida is transported," says Jaggy, explaining the campaign style. Accordingly, the creative team shrunk the rucksack, briefcase and toolbox to the new Dar-Vida format.
In addition to Dar Vida crackers, the company sells Guetsli, crackers, catering bakery products and frozen snacks under its own brand Hug. Hug AG, based in Malters, has been a family business since it was founded in 1877 - the share capital of three million Swiss francs is wholly owned by the two managing directors Werner and Andreas Hug. The company employs a total of 252 people, who generated sales of around 75 million Swiss francs in 2003.
At 57%, the retail trade is the biggest buyer of Hug products. Accordingly, the pocket-size launch of Dar-Vida includes various POS measures in addition to the advertisements. In addition, loyal Dar-Vida eaters receive a metal box in the look of a briefcase for the receipts they collect on the packaging - in Dar-Vida size, of course.
Smaller, but still great: the campaign takes Dar-Vida's new portions at their word.
Dar-Vida is responding to changing consumer needs with smaller packaging units for its crackers. Jung von Matt/Limmat takes this literally >> page 10
Simone Keller

Women's Magazines The German women's press is also booming in Switzerland. The German papers are making quite a splash in the Swiss market for women's magazines. Their readerships are growing much faster than those of Annabelle and Bolero, the two women's magazines left in German-speaking Switzerland after the demise of Orella (discontinued in 1998) and Meyers (discontinued in 2002). In the past three years, these magazines have also managed to increase their readership by 38,000 readers. In the same period, however, Cosmopolitan, Freundin and Brigitte, the three most successful German magazines in Switzerland, increased their combined readership by 66,000, almost twice as much.But that's just the tip of the iceberg. But that's just the tip of the iceberg, because the results of the unprecedented start-up fever that has gripped the German women's press market in recent years are also largely available at newsstands here. Glamour, Joy, Lola and their numerous sisters, most of them in handy pocket format, are eagerly bought. However, none of them appear in the Mach Basic readership study. That's why the number of people who actually leaf through German women's magazines remains a mystery.
Meanwhile, the pressure from Germany continues to increase rapidly. Marquard Media is already pushing its next title, Joy Celebrity, onto the Swiss market. The monthly people magazine is now available at Swiss newsstands with 20,000 copies.
Back in March 2003, the two Marquard titles Joy and Shape were brought closer to Swiss readers with a Switzerland split. After just over a year, Ruth Mumenthaler, responsible for consulting and sales at Raverta Marketing, takes positive stock: "Joy is also an absolute trend title in Switzerland. Within a year, the Swiss circulation grew massively and now amounts to 45000 copies." Next fall, the magazine will be reported by Mach Basic for the first time. "This is a prerequisite for being taken seriously as an advertising medium as well," says Mumenthaler.
Splits weak in the ad market
Fortunately for the Swiss women's press, the success of the German competition in the advertising market still lags well behind that in the reader market. This is shown by a comparison of gross ad sales for the months January to April compiled by Annabelle. According to this comparison, the Swiss splits of the German magazines took only 7.5 percent of the total Swiss advertising sales in the women's magazine segment in the first four months of 2004. In the same period last year, the figure was 8.3 percent. By contrast, the two Swiss-German magazines emerged as winners in the fierce battle for advertising, significantly increasing their market share: Annabelle increased to 72.7 percent in the first four months of the current year (2003: 65.3 percent), Bolero to 19.8 percent (2003: 17.4 percent).
Total sales decrease
The reason for the sobering ad sales of the Swiss splits is to be found in the international nature of the cosmetics and beauty products heavily advertised in women's magazines. Because these are all already included in the German editions, there is no need for special ads for the Swiss market.
Nevertheless, Annabelle and Bolero have nothing to laugh about. Because even without an additional outflow of advertising money to the splits from Germany, the total gross sales of the Swiss-German women's press shrank by 1.5 million to 11.2 million Swiss francs in the first four months of 2004. "The reason for this is television, which is increasingly emerging as our direct competition, especially in the cosmetics and body care sector," explains Marcel Tappeiner, interim head of advertising market magazines at Tamedia.
Western Switzerland in better shape
A look at the titles in western Switzerland shows that the markets in German and French-speaking Switzerland also tick differently when it comes to women's magazines. Edelweiss and Femina have succeeded there in putting the splits of the French magazines Marie Claire and Elle on the defensive. The two magazines lost a combined 26,000 readers in the past three years, while at the same time Edelweiss and Femina were able to increase their readership by 23,000.
In German-speaking Switzerland, however, the attack is far from over. The Swiss split of the magazine Für Sie, announced in February 2003, has not yet been implemented. But this step has only been postponed "because the Jahreszeiten Verlag is currently setting its priorities in the highly competitive domestic market," explains Alain Lamy, Sales Director of Intermag in Basel. As soon as resources are free, not only Für Sie but also Petra from the same publishing house will consider a Switzerland split. Brigitte is also planning the same with its line extension Brigitte Woman.
50 and still going strongBrigitte, the mother of the German-language women's press, has lost none of its popularity with the Swiss public, even in the fiftieth year of its existence. Between 2001 and 2003 alone, this classic among women's magazines increased its readership in Switzerland by 19,000 (+11.4 percent).
In the advertising market, the peak for the Switzerland split, which has already existed for 26 years, lies far back in time. In the 1980s, this was a proud 2 million Swiss francs, as Hans H. Otto, Director of the Swiss branch of Gruner + Jahr, explains. Currently, Brigitte generates around 800,000 Swiss francs in net advertising sales in Switzerland. (dse)
The Swiss titles (front) are being squeezed by existing and new German competition.
Daniel Schifferle

Sponsoring The Keystone photo agency and Sporthilfe are producing a calendar for the UN Year of Sport and Physical Education 2005, with the proceeds from sales benefiting performance-oriented young athletes. Keystone ensures the quality and professionalism of the calendar and provides the award-winning photographer Martin Rütschi.

Banks After a sensational pitch in which parent holding companies competed instead of agencies, the British financial group HSBC opted for the advertising group WPP, with a total budget estimated at 600 million dollars.