Author: admin
Youngsters and Family
At the Aera in Zurich-Altstetten, the graduates of the PMK course at the School for Practice-Oriented Communication (SPOK) gathered for their internal graduation ceremony.
In addition to the swift presentation of the SPOK diplomas, one group traditionally presents the advertising concept developed in the practical part of the training. The special thing about this is that these are not imaginary cases, but examples taken from everyday advertising life with real customers and plausible tasks. The concepts are implemented together with an experienced advertising consultant as coach and a tried and tested creative team.
The presentations are an absolute pleasure for the following reasons: 1. which agency takes three months for a presentation? 2. the youngsters are still ambitious and have no reservations. 3. because the concepts are case studies despite their practical relevance, they are not shot down by the client.
So there was plenty to smile about when Michelle-Claudine Leibacher and Corinne von Tobel presented their creative solutions for sponsoring Heineken at the Blue Balls Festival. The gadgets and give-aways in particular would have had massive cult potential. Everyone agreed that it was a shame that this concept was only conceived for paper.
The redesign of the Schweizer Familie (SF) magazine is no longer just theory, but has already been put into practice. The party for this took place in the "Triibhuus". The atmosphere there is always great when tower host Toni Navarro and his crew get going. The cabrones make jokes and serve a professionally prepared carajillo - a digestif that is all too aptly described as Spanish and fiery. A very strong coffee is mixed with plenty of Iberian brandy and the whole thing is set alight. But not only the flambéed coffees, but also a large paëlla pan and a huge dessert buffet delighted the eyes and bellies of those present.
The fact that the latest issue of Schweizer Familie was brought to the people by blue bike couriers with tight calves instead of the usual blonde-maned female promoters must have pleased female guests in particular. After all, the new layout of Schweizer Familie is also more feminine than before, as SF editor-in-chief Daniel Dunkel put on record.
Beat Fritsch made his way to Aera last week, a club in Zurich-Altstetten that was previously unknown to him. The School for Practice-oriented Communication, SPOK, hosted the graduation ceremony for marketing communication planners. And because the "Triibhuus", where the Swiss family celebrated their redesign, was practically just around the corner, there was also a short flying visit there.
Where the communications, media and publishing industries meet for their parties, we locate them at the events of the scene. Do you already have something to report? Pick up the phone (01 296 97 98) or hit the keys ([email protected]). Event tips and further shortlist images are available online at www.werbewoche.ch
All respect - the youngsters produced some remarkable work.
Smart bicycle couriers handed over the new Swiss family fresh from the press.
SPOK co-founder and Konnex co-owner Ronny Schmid with Barbara Studer, Head of Marketing at Davos Tourism.
Gerry Flückiger from Blue Spirit, SPOK Head of School Ursula Krebs and Tina Lanz (from left) at the graduation drinks reception.
Corinna Schneider, Optimedia, and Peter Döbeli from Konnex, also one of the co-founders of SPOK.
Stefan Hofmann, BaZ, Bruno Oetterli, Radiotele, business consultant Peter Bächtiger (from left). BaZ and Radiotele sponsored the graduation ceremony.
Nicole Sigg (left) and Patrizia Serra also supported the graduation ceremony and presented all graduates with a HandelsZeitungs subscription.
Patrik Leuenberger (left) from Noise congratulated SPOK graduates Regine Hubler and Roman Louis.
Claudia Schudel (left) from Fisch Meier Direkt and Angela Diaz from Sulzer Sutter were also part of the party at Aera.
Michelle-Claudine Leibacher (l.) and Corinne von Tobel gave a brilliant presentation of their practical Heineken sponsorship case.
Happy that the drudgery has finally come to an end: Natascha Lauber (l.) from Fuchsgroup and Patricia D'Allens, Renzen + Partner.
Yvonne Steiner, JWT, Claudia Camenisch, Blue Spirit, and Bettina Siegenthaler, Freicom, (from left) happily received their diplomas.
Michelle Berger (l.) and Christina Muggli enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere of the SPOK graduation ceremony in the rather dimly lit Aera.
New with SPOK diploma: Marc Capeder, Publicis, Simone Beck, Suter Global Communications, Beat Staege from A + T Hausgeräte (from left).
Christof Hotz from APG came with student Caroline Wicky, who is writing a university thesis on poster advertising.
Kilian Berger (left) from Nussbaumer AG and Gerda Schröck from Wirz with their "attractive companion" Eugen Carisch.
Roli Wahrenberger, new publishing director at Reader's Digest, with Bruno Bötschi and SF editor-in-chief Daniel Dunkel (from left).
A hothouse atmosphere for presenter Susanne Kunz and Daniel Schnüriger from Schweizer Familie.
Goran Vukota (l.), Tamedia Magazines, with Andrea Gallati from Initiative Media and Gregor Eschle from Facts.
Sari Simola, Head of Reader Market for Tamedia Magazines, with Carlo Steiner (l.) from Publisuisse and Edi Perret, Valora.
High marks for the revamped magazine: Tagi editor-in-chief Peter Hartmeier, CEO Martin Kall and media specialist Röbi Baier (from left).
Maya Kaufmann, Tamedia, with former field hockey star (HC Ambri-Piotta) and Swiss pilot Dani Eicher (l.) and Jean-Claude Plüss.
Building bridges to the normals
Member Magazine: The new Migros magazine keeps its distance from celebrities. Its heroes are ordinary people.
"Normalos" instead of celebrities
But this is only one of the content innovations. The most important of these is that the MM stories - unlike those in the Coop newspaper, which was also recently upgraded - will in future focus less on celebrities and more on "ordinary" people with special characteristics: they have a large family, an unusual hobby, a good idea. Whether it's the cover story or topics such as health, politics, business, sports, culture, cooking, travel - real ordinary people always form the hook, with expert opinions or tips at the end. Marius Hagger, Head of Migros Press, puts it this way: "Our stories generally get in through people and thus lead to the topic. At the same time, the service character is very important to us: readers should get a concrete benefit from each article."
The two new sections "Single of the week" and "Just a question" are also tailored to normal people. The former is a kind of oversized contact ad in words and pictures. "Just one question" reflects the result of a survey: 42 Migros customers (with photo) answer an everyday question.
Nevertheless, the MM will not completely dispense with celebrities. "Personalities whose names are familiar serve as fixed points or points of reference and make the mix of topics attractive," says Hagger. They have their say, for example, in a three-page interview, but also in a factual story or one of the numerous columns.
Box of two with the Romands
Another new feature is that the editorial team of the German-language MM now works closely with that of Migros Magazine in French-speaking Switzerland. As a result, the two editions will in future also contain stories from the other part of the country. Ticino is not included because the Migros cooperative there is taking a completely different course: For example, it already carried out a refresh last September, but retained the title Azione and also the newspaper format. "There is certainly potential for cooperation here," says Monica Glisenti, Head of Corporate Communication at Migros (see interview on page 25). It has not yet been decided whether MM will spread the weekly campaign ads throughout the magazine as before or whether it will bundle them in a removable center section, following the example of the Coop newspaper. In any case, this decision will only be made after the relaunch.
The Zurich-based Studio Achermann also broke new ground in the graphic design of the magazine's interior: the three-column pagination, a much larger basic typeface, the more generous imagery and an idiosyncratic scroll font for section titles are striking.
When the relaunch was announced six months ago, the Migros press talked about a closer connection between MM, the Migros portal www.migros.ch and the cooking magazine Saisonküche. According to Hagger, "Saisonküche does the cooking advice and recipes for MM. But the cooperation is still expandable." And in the Internet area, a new website (www.migrosmagazin.ch) will be launched for the relaunch - designed by Ringier subsidiary Previon. The closer connection to the Migros portal, on the other hand, will not take place until next year, as this is also undergoing a relaunch.
Cover of the new Migros magazine: the massive logo stands out.
Large base type, bold flourishes: page from the MM.
Migros pays for its own advertisementsAbout the annual budget of the Migros magazine, Marius Hagger does not want any
details. Only this much: "The magazine must be profitable. Migros' own advertisements are charged to the company at the usual rates. So far, the bridge builder has generated around 30 percent of its advertising revenue through third-party ads.
A four-color ad page continues to cost 28,000 Swiss francs, and a b/w ad 16,158 Swiss francs. The introduction of a standard rate was deliberately avoided. "We would otherwise have lost a large proportion of our third-party ads," says Hagger. The German- and French-language editions can be combined (2.67 million readers in total), but Azione still has to be booked separately. As before, it is also possible to book inserts that can be distributed via the magazine according to postal codes or Cumulus data. However, the latter are only available from those Migros customers who have expressly released this data for commercial purposes, says Hagger. "The data can be selected by consumption habits for this purpose." (mk)
Markus Knöpfli
Bowie brings the message in a bottle
Nestlé Waters, a key player in the global water market, still sees opportunities for growth in Switzerland.
Nestlé Waters Switzerland markets 77 water brands worldwide. Five of them - S. Pellegrino, Acqua Panna, Vittel, Perrier and Contrex - position themselves as international premium brands and are also among Nestlé's strongest mineral waters in Switzerland. Although consumption of bottled water is on the rise here at home, Swiss consumers are far behind their southern neighbors: in Italy, annual consumption is around 190 liters per person, while in Switzerland it is only 113 liters. "The overall market still has growth potential," Pierre-Alessandro Heyd is convinced.
In order not to cannibalize its own brands, Nestlé Waters uses different positioning. The top brand S. Pellegrino and its still counterpart Acqua Panna are strongly anchored in the restaurant trade. Perrier is to be perceived as water for festive occasions, and Contrex aims to appeal to line-conscious women. Vittel, on the other hand, is aiming for a broader target group. Says Heyd, "With Vittel, we are targeting active 25- to 45-year-olds."
In contrast to the five premium brands, Nestlé Waters Switzerland distributes the other 70 brands only locally. They are only available in one country - Levissima in Italy, for example - or in a specific region of a country. In addition, the company carries three own brands, Nestlé Acquarel, Nestlé Pure Life and, more recently, Nestlé Wellness, which, however, do not belong to the mineral water category due to their origin, production or taste.
Ziggy Stardust drinks Vittel
In Switzerland, S. Pellegrino and Vittel are the frontrunners in terms of sales volume. Strategists at Ogilvy Worldwide recently introduced a testimonial for Vittel, the French water from the Vosges Mountains: The singer David Bowie is to use a TV spot to encourage German, French, Japanese and Swiss consumers to drink Vittel. "We didn't want to just talk about the product, we wanted to dramatize the benefits of Vittel," says Heyd, specifying, "The mineral combination allows consumers to live out more sides of themselves."
In order to convey this message in a credible way, the marketing manager continues, a strong and well-known personality was needed. The person Bowie was ideal for this, after all, he had also embodied different characters again and again in the course of his career. The creatives in the spot also play with these: Today's David Bowie meets figures from his past in his house and discovers that they are also diligent Vittel drinkers, as the bottle in the fridge is almost empty.
In Switzerland, communications for Vittel, S. Pellegrino, Acqua Panna and Perrier are being handled or adapted by Grendene Ogilvy & Mather in Zurich. The Lausanne agency Bilateral is responsible for Contrex appearances. In addition to the measures for Vittel, posters recently promoted the introduction of pet bottles at Acqua Panna. Just in time for the bikini season, various poster campaigns are currently aimed at drawing the attention of line-conscious women to Contrex. Although mineral water is consumed all year round, it is important to be top of mind at the beginning of the warm season, explains Heyd. That's why a new appearance for S. Pellegrino is also starting "very soon".
Vittel makes you versatile: David Bowie is the ideal ambassador for this as a veteran pop chameleon.
Nestlé Waters Switzerland Nestlé entered the water business in 1969 with a 30 percent stake in Société Générale des Eaux Minérales (SGEMV) de Vittel. In 1992, the Vevey-based company took control of SGEMV and spun off the Perrier Group. That same year, Nestlé launched Valvert water in five different countries simultaneously. Just five years later, the group was present on every continent. With the acquisition of S. Pellegrino, Nestlé also acquired the leading position in the Italian mineral water market. In 1998, the company launched the Nestlé Pure Life brand in Pakistan, and other third-world and emerging markets followed. With the spring water Nestlé Aquarel and the latest creation Nestlé Wellness, the multinational has two other own brands. Since April 2002, Nestlé's water division has been operating under the name Nestlé Waters Switzerland. (sk)
Simone Keller
Calcio al Dente
European Soccer Championship: The Bern-based venues «Lorenzini» and its affiliated lounge «Dû Théâtre» hope to draw all of Bern to «DüDü» with live broadcasts of the European Championship.
FCBLK gets hot ovens going
Motorcycles: The importer Harley-Davidson Switzerland has entrusted FCB Leutenegger Krüll (FCBLK) in Wallisellen with the communications tasks for both of the group's brands, Harley-Davidson and Buell.
The losers allow themselves doubts
Radio Research Not everyone trusts the new data from Radiocontrol. And they certainly don't trust its ties to the SRG.
Lebrument not only doubts the independence of the FD, he also questions the radio research. If the 2004 data that has now been checked is indeed correct, then the FD has consistently reported too high figures for its radio over the years, he argues. "Overall, the RC system is a flop. Credibility is lost if the FD constantly comes up with different figures," he said on request. Pierre Steulet, owner of RJB and RFB, expressed a similar view.
However, this opinion is not shared everywhere. "Radiocontrol is one hundred percent trustworthy, compared to the earlier SRG media study anyway," says Michi Frank, Head of Advertising Sales at IP Multimedia. And Bruno Oetterli from radio marketer Radiotele recalls that the RC system was tested with Telecontrol before it was introduced, and the results of both systems "matched surprisingly well".
Agencies and advertising clients are also calm. "RC is still a relatively new method, nobody expects everything to be OK straight away," says Hanna H. Kaminski, Co-Managing Director at Dreimediateam, reassuringly. "But of course we expect the FD to explain the sudden loss of reach of the three radios," she says. However, claims for reimbursement against Grischa are not an issue. Thorsten Stutzmann, responsible for media planning at Charles Vögele Mode, agrees; he considers the RC data to be "tough", but also finds the matter "extremely irritating".
"Our trust is unbroken," says Jürg Siegrist, Director of the Swiss Advertising Association (SWA). What happened to Grischa, RJB and RFJ requires an explanation, but not fundamental skepticism. And he recalls: "It was the SWA that vehemently pushed for an enlarged sample." However, according to Siegrist, the events surrounding the RC data last week showed one thing, namely "that the RTVG demand for an outsourcing of the FD from the SRG is correct".
"Improvement, not error "Matthias Steinmann, CEO of the Telecontrol Group, rejects the doubts about the Radiocontrol system: "It wasn't the clocks that measured incorrectly, but the IHA GfK institute made a mistake when processing the data: it simply forgot to weight the new disproportionate sample when it was increased." The weighting error could also have happened in an interview study. However, as head of the FD at the time, he took political responsibility.
Steinmann does not know the reasons for the sharp drop in reach of three radios identified by the new weighting method. However, he believes that neither the figures for 2001 to 2003 nor the verified data for 2004 are incorrect. "This is not a mistake, but an improvement", he says. The 2004 data is more accurate due to the refined weighting. However, he emphasizes: "The data collection was always carried out according to the state of the art at the time, now there is a new state of the art. In addition, to my knowledge, the collection and weighting have always been discussed by the Scientific Control Commission - an independent expert committee - and found to be correct," he says. (mk)
Armin Walpen: Statute violated.
Markus Knöpfli
In doubt for Lombardi
Associations Despite circulation fraud, Filippo Lombardi does not have to fear for Telesuisse's presidency.
Hardly. Markus Ruoss and Claude Alain Stettler from the Telesuisse Board of Directors see "no need for action". And top boss Günter Heuberger is even "unreservedly" behind him. Jean-Pierre Pastori from the Lausanne TVRL expressed a similar view.
Others are more cautious. Norbert Neininger from Schaffhauser TV wants to speak to Lombardi first, Südostschweiz boss Hanspeter Lebrument is waiting for the next Telesuisse members' meeting and Tele Züri boss Andreas Meili is waiting for the outcome of the Ticino investigation. Hanspeter Klauser, Chairman of the Board of Directors of TeleOstschweiz: "As long as Lombardi is still acceptable in other public offices or he himself does not draw any consequences, we see no reason to suspend him as Telesuisse President." There were no calls for his resignation; on the contrary, Lombardi's commitment to private TV was praised.
Markus Knöpfli
Scotti makes Sunday newspaper readers
Media: Zurich-based Scotti has won the SonntagsZeitung account. It prevailed against five competitors in a two-stage pitch. The agency’s first work is expected to be unveiled soon.
Newspapers continue to decline
Advertising Statistics: According to WEMF advertising statistics, Swiss daily, weekly, and Sunday newspapers recorded 6.1% less advertising volume in April than a year earlier.
20 Minuten is not afraid of the tabloid gaze
Newspapers: The smaller format of *Der Blick* does not take readers away from the commuter newspaper *20 Minuten*. *20 Minuten* CEO Rolf Bollmann expressed his conviction of this in an interview with the *Aargauer Zeitung*.
Under high pressure
As head of Multicolor Print in Baar, Anton Schaller has increased revenue, bucking the industry trend.
Schaller never wanted to be a circus director. Since the beginning of 2000
But every day he successfully performs high-wire acts, juggling, magic and occasionally dressage exercises at Multicolor Print.
Schaller completed an apprenticeship as an offset printer. He later worked in Australia for four years, most recently in a print shop for Rupert Murdoch. "I didn't always want to just talk about such dreams," he says proudly of this time. He explains why he didn't stay forever with his further training at the Techniker Schule in Zurich. "You can get ahead with this kind of training, otherwise you have to start all over again." His path led him to the Union Printing House in Lucerne, where he worked as Managing Director for 15 years before the opportunity with Multicolor opened up.
As an important pillar of LZ Medien, Multicolor Print is successful in a difficult market. Sales increased by 18.2 percent last year. Cash flow is even in double figures. The order backlog in the first quarter is already higher than in the previous year.
Central Switzerland has the highest density of print shops. In this competitive environment, more and more companies have had to upgrade from eight- to ten-color presses. "We're used to the competition, now it's simply one level higher," Schaller comments on the situation. For him, the concentration also has something good: "Central Switzerland is becoming a metropolis in the printing industry."
Although Multicolor Print was founded in 1987, it was created in its current form in 1999 from a merger of the companies Kündig Druck in Zug, Maihof Druck and Räber Druck. Today, the company is part of LZ Medien, publisher of the Neue Luzerner Zeitung, among others. A total of 108 "print artists" print 2600 tons of paper per year. With 43 million sheets, "not much is missing and we could cover an area as large as the whole of Lake Zug".
Multicolor specializes in printed advertising materials, catalogs and magazines, some of which are published by its own LZ Fachverlag publishing house, such as Der Schweizer Optiker and Pack Aktuell.
Schaller sees intensive project support from data transfer to printing as one of his company's strengths. "Many people have the same machines. But you can offer more through consulting." Until the image processing data can be transferred one-to-one to the printing press, you have to "always stay in contact with the customer" for coordination purposes. To this end, sales consulting is to be further expanded.
Last year, Multicolor Print invested 7 million Swiss francs in conversions and developments. A large sum for a company with a turnover of 25 million. "Money well spent," says Schaller, who also wants to improve prepress next.
Anton Schaller gets in shape for his job by cycling. He covers 6000 kilometers a year on his racing bike, preferably on mountain passes. This year he also wants to do the Dolomites Marathon. Eight hours in the saddle. But if you have to prove yourself in a circus every day, you will also have enough training for this challenge.
"Don't just talk about dreams": Anton Schaller, Director Multicolor Print.
Andreas Panzeri
