Subscription marketing The "Great Swiss Press Show" subscription campaign has ended with record figures, with around 378,000 people in German- and French-speaking Switzerland taking part in the competition organized by the Swiss Press Association (CHP). 115595 trial subscriptions were ordered, 40.5 percent more than in the previous year. Schweizer Illustrierte attracted the most interest. It gained 9061 new trial subscribers through the campaign.

Internet Since the beginning of the year, the Publimedia Web Advertising Index (PWA) has shown record growth, and the development of online advertising gives cause for optimism. In March, the PWA index rose by 12.4 points to 121.8 points. The index had previously only reached such a high level at the end of the first quarter in the launch year 1998 (back then as the Real Media Index). The last time it jumped more than ten points was in December 2000, after which it never exceeded 105 points again until January of this year. If the positive developments in online job exchanges are taken into account, there are signs of increasingly intensive demand for the Internet. However, it remains to be seen whether the recent growth rates are already a sign of a continuous upward trend. Laurence Bidaud, Head of Communications at Publimedia Webadvertising, cites various reasons for the growth in online advertising: firstly, the more positive overall economic situation, in which advertising expenditure is stabilizing. Secondly, online advertising is being taken more and more seriously by clients. "And thirdly, there is a growing cross-media effect from which the internet is benefiting," explains Bidaud. Despite a stable upward trend in the current year, however, she is cautious about making forecasts: "This was a sensational increase in the first three months of this year. It is unlikely to continue at this pace." However, certain minor slumps must also be expected, as the index is very volatile. "In contrast to print, for example," says Bidau, "the fluctuations there tend to be smaller."
Daniel Schifferle

According to initial observations, the tabloid format of Blick has been well received by the public. The Mittelland Zeitung also reports a good response to the newly introduced mini format of the regional section.28 m2Tabloid Rather bucking the trend was therefore a record-breaking edition of Magyar Hirlap in Hungary. This was produced in a 4 by 7 meter format. However, only once on the occasion of the EU enlargement on May 1. The newspaper had to be opened with the help of a crane.

Laundry detergent This is how women like to be pampered. Mr. Proper, who is on tour with the first mobile launderette, washes the players' shirts at women's football matches, with the "original Mr. Proper" traveling all the way from Germany. The clean man has already been used at the women's national team's European Championship qualifier in Zuchwil. The campaign is managed by the proper FM-Projects.

Newspapers The Ticino daily newspaper Giornale del Popolo was relaunched on Monday, with the competitor Corriere del Ticino acquiring a 49% stake in the publishing house in mid-March in order to preserve the ailing Giornale. In the meantime, the workforce has been reduced from 56 to 43. The Giornale del Popolo intends to make further savings by printing in Ticino again from the beginning of October. Since the end of 2002, the printing order has been placed with Ringier Print Adligenswil.

Party press The SPD takes over 90 percent of the Frankfurter Rundschau. The purchase agreement stipulates that the Rundschau is to remain national, independent and left-liberal. The Social Democrats emphasized that they did not want to remain the majority shareholder in the long term.

Packaging originality and naturalness. At least that's what the visual presentation of the Heidi line on the Migros shelves promises.
"In 90 percent of all cases, we no longer buy the product, but its packaging," says packaging expert John Webb-Jenkins. As shoppers only see the product directly for one in ten items, they now have to trust the packaging. This also applies to the new product line that Migros recently launched under the name Heidi. The associations that the character from Johan-na Spyri's children's book creates here in Switzerland - Switzerland, mountains, nature and tradition - are intended to emphasize the high quality of mountain milk products in the minds of consumers.
Not all milk that foams
For Armando Rutelli, owner of Atelier Rutelli in Bassersdorf, there was no question that the depiction of the traditional Heidi world would pave the way for the new own brand in consumers' shopping baskets. The design agency's concept won the competition against two competitors: Each product is printed with a scene from the Heidi book illustrated by Tomi Ungerer. In addition, excerpts from the original text are used where space permits.
"I wanted to revive the world of Heidi in the design in order to do justice to the mountain milk products," says Rutelli, explaining the elaborate design. The Heidi story illustrated by Ungerer gives the mountain milk product a tangible, genuine Swiss quality. "What's more," adds Walter Dworschak, Marketing Dairy Products at FMC, "the packaging takes on greater significance thanks to the linear character."
Heidi is to be developed into a strong Swiss brand that forms a counterbalance to cheap imported products in view of the opening of borders in the agricultural sector. Migros also wants to make a contribution to the sustainable marketing of Swiss mountain milk products and to securing jobs in agriculture and downstream businesses. Although this commitment is welcomed by the majority, the practical implementation is criticized as "half-hearted". The Foundation for Consumer Protection (SKS), for example, accuses Migros of only just fulfilling the origin criterion "despite the pretty pictures on the packaging". The mountain farmers do not receive a share of the higher sales price, nor does the milk come from organic or particularly animal-friendly farming. Heidi products could therefore also be made from the milk of overbred high-performance cows. In fact, the milk for Heidi production only has to meet the requirement that it comes from a mountain zone defined by the authorities.
Migros' Heidi to go abroad
Migros rejects such accusations. They do not use preservatives and pay attention to gentle processing in order to preserve the naturalness of the products. Heidi offers mountain farmers new, attractive market opportunities and thus helps to secure sales. Migros has clearly communicated from the outset that Heidi is not an organic label. Walter Dworschak comments: "Organic is and will remain a niche product. In contrast, Heidi appeals to a broader target group." Namely, people aged 25 and over who have high expectations in terms of product quality and properties.
According to the critics, the idyllic Heidi world on the packaging makes consumers believe that they are supporting mountain farming when they buy the product and that they have received a sustainable product from species-appropriate animal husbandry in return. If Walter Dworschak is to be believed, the SKS's reservations do not seem to be affecting the sale of Heidi products: "The launch has been an excellent success". This means that the city dwellers seem to have welcomed the mountain child and its products with open arms - at least in the domestic market. The global diaspora of the Heidi figure has also helped to spread the Swissness image. The globally known and positively connoted name should make it easier for Migros to position its mountain milk products abroad. In addition to brand development in the domestic market, the retailer is clearly focusing on opening up new export markets with Heidi.
From orphan ...

... that set out to conquer the world: Johanna Spyri's Heidi story has been translated into over 50 languages since its publication in 1880. With a print run of around 50 million copies, the book is one of the best-selling in the world. The numerous film adaptations of the story have also contributed to the character's fame.
The Japanese cartoon series produced in the early 1970s triggered a Heidi boom. Thanks to successful
marketing and merchandising strategies, the cartoon heroine is now one of the dominant Heidi characters worldwide. Despite outward changes, Heidi continues to embody values such as joie de vivre, unspoiled nature, authenticity - and Swissness. A large number of Swiss tourism and gastronomy businesses are now taking advantage of the positive perception and high profile of the mountain child.
But Heidi is also finding her way into other areas of the economy. The traditionally anchored figure is increasingly becoming a lifestyle icon that is intended to sell fashion, cosmetics and even cars to women and men. As the name Heidi cannot be protected under trademark law, the marketing potential of her image is far from exhausted. (sk)
Homely: The packaging of Heidi products entices you to enjoy them.
Heidi conquers the Migros shelves - she provides the major distributor with a name and image for high-quality dairy products. How packaging designers stage the Alpine world and more about the TV commercial >> page 8
Simone Keller

Corporate sounds lend identity to brands and companies. Digital sounds open up new possibilities. "Dududududidu", "Däärätärätäräräräää" is the lilting melody we hear when a brand presents its signature tune. Usually on the radio or together with the visual logo at the end of a TV commercial. Now and again we hear the melody in a video or in the telephone waiting loop. However, if the company presents its product at an event or at a trade fair stand, sets up a multimedia station or its website, the brand is usually muted again because there are still few meaningful acoustic design solutions outside the audiovisual media. In the areas of multimedia, trade fair presentations and product design in particular, we have remained stuck in the 1970s in terms of both sound aesthetics and technology, but today there is a lot going on in the field of digitized audiovisual communication, especially in acoustic communication. Modern technologies and innovative content approaches are opening up new possibilities in sound design; indeed, we can speak of an actual revolution in terms of marketing, branding, communication and costs.
There are no more new soundsMusic no longer offers any new solutions in the field of innovation. Until around 1950, all possible tone sequences and melodies were played, including the dissonant "inharmonic" tone sequences of modern music. Musically, we are in a constant state of repetition. New listening experiences and never-before-heard melodies are no longer possible. Especially not in the area of pleasing melodies, which are always a little reminiscent of already
remember what you have heard and have the effect of "déjà-écouté".
New auditory impressions are possible above all in the non-musical area; in the dimension of sounds, noises, sound design and soundscapes - consisting of thematic noise atmospheres and surprising special effects. The new sound effects
elements can be used outside the
audiovisual media. The acoustic presence of these areas will become increasingly important in the future: Internet, telecommunications, trade fairs, point of sales and product design.
On the internet, subtle ambient sounds can evoke a third dimension of the screen. At trade fairs, where there is usually a high level of noise, soundscapes create a magnetic effect and still blend harmoniously into the soundscape.
In product design, deliberately designed sounds via small loudspeakers provide orientation as well as aesthetics and branding. In addition to feedback sounds, new applications can be developed: speaking instructions and help, for example. Of course, customers must always be able to switch these on or off themselves.
Acoustic identity today is undergoing a similar development to that of corporate design in the 1950s and 1960s, which at that time moved away from imagery with photos/products towards abstract symbols/logos. The area of corporate sound will develop in a similar way from melody to sound symbol with specially designed sounds and soundscapes.
The voice of a companyThe acoustic forms of expression of a brand or a company are now so diverse in their areas of application (advertising, multimedia, product design, architecture, Internet and so on) that the entire acoustic appearance requires systematization and structuring analogous to corporate design. For this purpose, a modular corporate sound system is used, which consists of different, combinable components and dynamically adapts to the various requirements.
A corporate sound gives a company and its product brands a voice that can be used in all areas. This means everything from the telephone waiting loop to the feedback sound of a networked ticket machine.
Branding is already one of the most important strategic instruments of corporate communication. With networked electronic media and products, branding will become even more important in the future. To get a brand into the minds of customers, the acoustic dimension with its various application possibilities is becoming increasingly important.
Each of the thousands of acoustic manifestations of a brand every day should convey an emotional experience. Every sound, no matter how small, can support the brand and make it resonate in the minds of customers in the truest sense of the word.
Managing Director / Sound Director at Corporate Sound AG in Basel.
Catchy tunes and more: corporate sound is no longer just about memorable melodies. Non-musical elements are setting the trend.
Peter Philippe Weiss

Online The weekly newspaper (WOZ) has completely redesigned its website. It is now more user-friendly and offers more services, with selected articles and dossiers designed to whet your appetite for the WOZ. The concept was developed internally, while the Bern-based web agency Nothing is responsible for the graphic design.

Column Publishers and editors-in-chief who freeze their budgets for education in times of crisis are signaling self-abandonment.
Last week was the final exams for publishing specialists. When I told a colleague about this, he said: "Oh yes, you're producing new unemployed people again!" At first I was annoyed by this remark, but then I was grateful, because the man with knowledge of the industry described with his reflexive remark pretty much exactly the mood that incorrigible people like me encounter today when they unflinchingly promote the training and further education of publishing professionals and journalists. What is meant by such dismissive remarks is, for example: "Take care of those who are already on the market first." Some will also think: "We've just been missing better-trained competition." And everyone thinks: "We really have other things to worry about now!"
It is a fact that the educational offerings in commercial and - to a limited extent - also in journalistic communication are in some cases in sharp decline. This was particularly noticeable in 2003, when the consequences of the infamous second budget rounds became brutally apparent. "All external training courses canceled!" was the message from many prominent publishing houses - even those whose business was still going well.
The seminars were hit particularly hard; the federal diploma courses, such as our ninth for publishing specialists, were much less affected. The reason is obvious: most of the costs of the qualifying courses are borne by the junior staff. They invest time and money in themselves because they think long-term. Companies, on the other hand - fortunately not all of them - are increasingly thinking in the short term.
Investing in training and further education is particularly worthwhile in bad times. It is fundamentally wrong to make such a project, which is planned for the entire working life, dependent on economic fluctuations. Postponing is also pointless. Young people rightly demand their opportunities now and not in three or five years' time. Today more than ever, they are willing to make their own significant contributions. At the Media Institute and at the MAZ, I am always impressed by the seriousness and discipline of the participants.
In addition, the market sometimes behaves more favorably than is generally believed. In the current diploma course, for example, up to 4 out of 25 colleagues were temporarily unemployed. Two have since found something new, which incidentally corresponds to my experience from previous courses. Usually, half of the successful candidates are able to take on new areas of responsibility within a year, which almost invariably corresponds to a promotion. Incidentally, this is not only due to a change of job, but also, pleasingly often, within the original company.
The MAZ, the Swiss School of Journalism in Lucerne, provides a mirror image confirmation of this encouraging finding: 80 percent of the 54 women and men who graduated in the spring have found a job. A closer look even revealed that a surprisingly large number were able to take up not just any job, but the one they really wanted.
Conclusion: Our young publishers and journalists have opted for training and further education, even under difficult conditions. Now, before budgets are cut again, it is up to the bosses to send the right signals. Those who invest in education right now are demonstrating their belief in their own future.
Karl Lüönd pleads for publishing investment in education.

> Karl Lüönd is a journalist and head of the Media Institute of the Swiss Press Association.

Automotive Stuttgart-based Porsche AG has awarded its global dialog marketing account to Chromedia Dialogmarketing, the Munich-based agency that won out over the previous account holder Proximity Group Germany from Hamburg, among others, following an extensive competitive presentation. In future, Chromedia will be responsible for the entire conception and implementation of the sports car manufacturer's dialog marketing activities

Pierre C. Meier on the change of baton in the editorial office of Werbewoche Samuel Helbling worked for Werbewoche for almost ten years. First as editor for five years, then as editor-in-chief from November 1999.
During this time, he has played a key role in the development of Werbewoche into an indispensable weekly newspaper for the Swiss advertising, marketing, PR and media industry. Most recently with the successful relaunch at the beginning of 2003.
Samuel Helbling is committed to serious quality journalism. Together with his team, he has fought tirelessly for a journalistically well-made newspaper that reports on all areas of commercial communication in an up-to-date and competent manner week after week. He succeeded and I would like to thank him for that. I wish him the best of luck in his new role as Publishing Director of Media-Daten AG, the publisher of Werbewoche.
My election as the new Editor-in-Chief of Werbewoche is both a challenge and an ambition. I have known the advertising and media scene from my own practical experience for more than 30 years. It is therefore fascinating for me to incorporate these many years of industry experience into my daily work for Werbewoche. Just as I have been able to do in the last two and a half years as Editor-in-Chief of Media Trend Journal.
Our industry is in a deep economic and structural crisis. The past three years have been extremely difficult.
There have always been crises in the past, but never
they lasted so long and rarely did they have such drastic
changes as a result. Fortunately, the worst now seems to be over.
I am looking forward to the challenge of further developing Werbewoche together with my colleagues on the editorial team during this exciting time and offering you, dear readers, a newspaper that is worth reading and exciting every week.
Independent, critical and with a clear opinion.
> Pierre C. Meier, Editor-in-Chief