Magazine The first regular issue of the free magazine Schein is published at the beginning of June. It will be distributed with 50,000 copies in trendy bars, hotels, cinemas, boutiques, galleries and fitness centers in German-speaking Switzerland. Initiator Sacha Ercolani was previously mainly active in the music business. With Schein, he now reports six times a year from the world of Swiss celebrities and events. The aim is not to create another "scene magazine", emphasizes Ercolani. Schein is not aimed at party people, but at a broad audience.

Media Around four months after the collapse of the Erb Group, the media agency m&m has all the budgets of former Erb clients under its roof again, and Mitsubishi is the last of three car brands to rely on its former partner. This was stated by m&m owner Wolfgang Mecklenburg on request. The fact that m&m still has Hyundai and Suzuki from the Belgian Alcopa Group in its portfolio (WW 2/04) was no obstacle to the Mitsubishi decision.m&m will also retain the kitchen manufacturer Piatti, the window manufacturer Egon Kiefer and the world's second-largest coffee retailer Volcafe. The latter three media budgets together account for just under ten percent of the former Erb budget.
The commitment from Mitsubishi was made only recently because Mitsubishi Europe is now importing its cars into Switzerland itself and has founded MME Vertriebsgesellschaft Schweiz AG for this purpose. The advertising agency One Stop is also delighted. For its part, it can continue to manage the Mitsubishi advertising budget.
(mk)

Advertising statistics The poster medium, or more precisely the market leader APG, poses a problem for the advertising sales statistics of Media Focus (MF) and Wemf: As agreed, APG only supplies invoiced sales from the previous month. However, as orders are only invoiced after they have been posted, it needs about two weeks more time. But it does not have this time. For this reason, there are always late reports and corrections to the poster figures, resulting in strong monthly fluctuations. The current monthly data for posters is also not comparable with that of other media. The problem is an old one, but since the beginning of the year MF has refrained from publishing monthly statistics (WW 11/04). However, customers can still access the available data. Wemf is different: it still publishes its Advertising Index Switzerland. But with incomplete data on outdoor advertising. Both companies are looking for solutions with the poster providers, as all sides confirm.
(mk)

Private TV U1 is successfully fighting for a presence in the program press. However, the new station is relying primarily on events to build awareness, explains Marketing and Sales Manager Sandra Tuttlies.WW U1 started without the slightest advertising in the public market. No posters, no newspaper ads, no radio spots. Is this advertising still to come? Sandra Tuttlies First of all, we want to ensure that our programs are present in the program guides and the TV program columns of the daily press. There's no point in running a big campaign if people don't know where they can receive us and what content can be seen on U1.
So far, however, only one TV guide has included U1, namely TR7. The station is still completely absent from the TV pages of the Swiss-German daily newspapers. That's no way to be noticed by the public.
Everything takes time. This also has to do with the fact that the program is still developing very quickly in the start-up phase. During this time, we are not yet in a position to communicate definitive content. But now our program is largely fixed. This means that we can only now really begin our efforts to get into the columns of the TV programs. We already have a practical confirmation from the magazine Tele, which wants to include us in April.
The TV programs are one thing. But precisely because U1 is so far behind in the cable network, the station will hardly be able to avoid drawing attention to itself with posters and newspaper advertisements.
I believe that you can do without it. But of course it takes a certain amount of time. Our strategy, with which we want to raise our profile, is primarily aimed at events. We are present at all the major events in Switzerland. These include, for example, the Geneva Motor Show, we will be present at the Zürifest, but also at some important sporting events. When visitors to such events see that they are being filmed, they also want to watch it on TV.
Which U1 programs have the most viewers? Our talk show is very popular. For example, with Klaus Stöhlker, Urs Meier or former editor-in-chief of Bilanz Medard Meier. We already had Filippo Leutenegger and Doris Fiala on the program in the second week of broadcasting. Anyone who zaps past on U1 is bound to get stuck with such personalities.
Nevertheless, it is noticeable that U1 programs are hardly a topic of conversation.
However, the time since our official launch on March 1 is also far too short to have already achieved a high level of awareness. After all, we already reached 434,000 viewers in the last week of March. If you take the daily net reach, we reach a good 134,000 people. It's important to remember that we've only been on air for six weeks and not ten years.
Critics say that the quality of the content that U1 takes over from its partner stations TV.München and TV.Berlin is quite good. However, the professionalism of some of the in-house productions from Switzerland is still inadequate. For example, the
Reporting from the Geneva Motor Show.
We weren't happy with the coverage of the motor show either, I admit that openly. But that contribution was a single slip-up. In general, however, Swiss in-house productions are hardly lagging behind in my opinion. Our aim is to continuously improve the quality of the program.
How is interest from the advertising industry developing? We have been inundated with inquiries from potential customers. Many discussions are already well advanced. We recently signed a contract with Helvetic.com. The new Swiss airline is sponsoring our news watch.
The long road to the program columnsThe days when a new channel was automatically included in the program press are over. Nowadays, a newcomer has to take a lot of initiative to get a wide presence in the TV columns. You will still look in vain for U1 in the major Swiss-German daily newspapers. Things are moving faster with the program magazines. So far, the channel can only be found in TR7. But Tele is also planning to
from the April 10 edition. And TVtäglich has also decided to give the channel space from May at the latest. Finally, TVvier is asking its readers to vote on the inclusion by telephone. The result is still pending. (dse)
U1 will also cover rural areas in futureU1 has signed a contract with Swisscom Broadcast, increasing its technical reach from the current 1.2 million to 1.7 million households. This corresponds to
a future audience potential of around four million people. Until now, the channel was limited to Cablecom's cable network and thus to German-speaking Swiss cities and conurbations. Swisscom Broadcast enables the transport of the U1 program to various additional cable network operators outside the urban centers. (dse)
Interview: Daniel Schifferle

Newspapers Those who are cosmopolitan and tolerant as students are not automatically so years later: many become more conservative and intolerant, some even ignorant, as millionaires like to demonstrate time and again - for example with the victory sign when appearing at a trial. The weekly newspaper WOZ wants to ensure that open-minded, tolerant students retain these qualities in the future with its educational subscription: "So that you never become a rich, ignorant asshole. But only rich. The WOZ with business section." The advertisement by Spillmann Felser Leo Burnett appears in the StudentInnen-Presse and in the WOZ.

Online platform The Zurich advertising agency Hesskiss has won Homegate.ch as a new client. Homegate.ch is a subsidiary of Zürcher Kantonalbank and was launched at the end of 2001. In addition to more than 25,000 listings, the online platform also offers other services and information relating to the real estate market.

Swiss Post has awarded the budget for its "Letter image advertising" project to Euro RSCG Switzerland. The Zurich-based advertising agency won the contract in a competitive presentation. "We want to show in an appealing way how relevant and valuable the classic letter still is in the age of e-mail and SMS," explained Max Leuenberger, responsible for the project at PostMail.

Daniel Pauletto is moving from Tamedia to Cinecom at the beginning of August. The former sales manager of SonntagsZeitung will assume overall responsibility for the Cinema National (advertising film campaigns) and Promotions & Events divisions, the cinema magazine Close-up and the Lucerne adventure cinema Imax at the media marketing company. In his role, Pauletto supports the sales managers Corinne Blaser and Roger Baur and is a member of the Cinecom management board. ...
At the end of February, Marco Plüss left his position as Head of Marketing at Cybernet, an Internet provider specializing in SMEs. He is setting up his own company, Creative Marketing Service, which he founded back in 1996.
...
Andrea Leu is the new Managing Partner at the Zurich PR agency Senarclens Leu + Partner. At the beginning of April, she replaced the founder
Marina de Senarclens replaced,
who, however, continues to actively support the company, including as Chairwoman of the Board of Directors.
...
Roland Oetterli, Head of Group Marketing and Projects at AZ Medien Group, has resigned and is leaving the Aargau-based media group at the end of April. Oetterli, who has worked for the company since 1999, had only taken over the newly created Group Marketing division last fall.
and managed various special projects for the publisher (see p. 14).
...
Tele editor-in-chief Klaus Kriesel, who has held the position since 1995, is leaving Ringier's program guide. Until a successor is chosen, Klaus Kriesel's former deputy Stephan Sutter will take over as interim editor-in-chief.

Sponsorship Swiss Post will continue to sponsor the Swiss Ice Hockey Association (SEHV) for the next three seasons and the existing contract has been extended until 2006/07. Swiss Post will now appear exclusively under the PostFinance brand.

Private radio The six members of the City Pool have turned their backs on the Swiss Private Radio Association: Not only Tamedia radio stations 24 and Basilisk have left the Swiss Private Radio Association (VSP) as announced. The other City Pool members ExtraBern, Pilatus, Aktuell and Zürisee, all publisher radio stations, have also followed the example of their advertising combination partners.
The wave of resignations was triggered by the debate on the licensing requirements (Art. 54 and 55) and the "media concentration articles" (Art. 82 and 83) in the draft of the new Radio and Television Act (RTVA). "We are no longer prepared to support the attacks against publishers voiced by the VSP," explained Andreas Meili, Head of Electronic Media at Tamedia, to Werbewoche. The radios that have now left have been pointing out the grievances for a long time. "This step is the consequence of the association's inability to represent the interests of all members", says Andreas Meili.
Meili rules out a return to the VSP "under the current association management". New ways are being considered as to how the six affected radios will safeguard their interests in the future. "In principle," says Meili confidently, "the City Pool is perfectly capable of representing its own interests."
Resignation as a concerted action.

Daniel Schifferle

New media Switzerland has had its first MMS newspaper since the beginning of April. Bex Media, the operator of the SMS information service 468, is thus expanding its range of services. The MMS newspaper is sent to subscribers' cell phones twice a day, shortly before midday and in the early evening. It is intended to cover all important news areas. The editorial team condenses the day's events into a compact, multimedia information package. The MMS should reach the reader just under half an hour after the editorial deadline. If you wish, you can also limit receipt to certain days of the week. In April, the MMS newspaper costs CHF 1 per issue, thereafter CHF 1.50.

Marketer Goldbach Media broke even in 2003. Despite the decline in the overall advertising market, Goldbach Media broke even in its third year of existence. Thanks to the refocusing on the marketing of online and offline media, the company even made a small profit of CHF 46,000 in 2003 (2002: loss of CHF 16.8 million). Gross revenues rose by CHF 3.9 million to CHF 145.6 million. Adjusted for the deconsolidated companies Swisscontent, Finanzfachmarkt and ActiveAgent Germany, sales even jumped by CHF 12.3 million, and the divestments already initiated in 2002 are also responsible for the reduction in operating costs by a striking 40 percent to CHF 34 million. Personnel expenses were practically halved to CHF 15.2 million. In addition, 2003 was the first year in which no special effects had a negative impact on the business result. "The concentration on pure marketing and placement business in the four core areas of TV, radio, adScreens and Internet has proven to be the right decision", explains Goldbach CEO Klaus Kappeler. The company has been able to increase its market share in television as well as radio and online media.
Goldbach Media in Austria has also achieved a turnaround. The branch, which according to Kappeler is developing into "a duplication of the Swiss business model", is expected to break even this year.
"Business is going indecently well," comments Kappeler on the trend. The first quarter of 2004 brought sales growth of a fantastic 21 percent: "We expect this dynamic to continue in the second half of the year."
Daniel Schifferle