Advertising offers A combination of billboards and radio spots is targeting car commuters to and from Zurich. After an eight-week flirtation last summer, Radio 24 and the Zurich branch of APG (Allgemeine Plakatgesellschaft) are now announcing their engagement. Not on a company level, but on a product level. With a new joint product (see box below), which will apply from week 19, advertising customers will primarily be able to target car commuters to and from Zurich. "The linking of the two out-of-home media is exciting because radio, an accompanying medium that can also be received out of town, is combined with the basic medium of posters, which can be used very precisely geographically," says Beat Holenstein, Head of APG Zurich.more posters, fewer spots
The combined offer is based on an initial trial that the two partners carried out last summer. At that time, customers could choose from two options: Combi 1 covered the city of Zurich with 106 posters and Radio 24, Combi 2 targeted the agglomeration, with 293 posters and the Züri pool (Radios 24 and Zürisee). However, neither Belcom sales manager Richi Gasser nor Beat Holenstein want to provide any information about the success of the offer at the time. Nor do they name any customers. Gasser only reveals this much: Radio 24 still receives inquiries today as to whether the combination with APG can still be booked.
As Kombi 2 was hardly in demand, it was dropped completely for the second edition. Kombi 1, on the other hand, was refined by incorporating the experiences and customer reactions from last summer. The new offer includes 50 more posters in the outer belt of the city and on the access roads. "This is where most poster contacts are generated by car commuters because the traffic is heaviest," explains Holenstein. The number of spots, on the other hand, was almost halved compared to the summer trial and broadcasting was reduced to weekdays.
No other cities for the time being
Incidentally, the combi is only available to one customer per week, as the selected poster network is only available once. The two partners do not see this as a disadvantage. "When a customer books the two number one media in the Zurich region, we want to offer them a certain quality and also a certain exclusivity," says Holenstein. And Gasser adds: "Mass is not the decisive factor here. We also want to gain more experience."
So there are no plans to expand the Zurich-style Kombi - for example to the City Pool area with Basel, Bern and Lucerne - at least not this year. "But if it works in Zurich, we are certainly open to offering something similar elsewhere," says Holenstein.
Zurich alliance between APG and Radio 24: The poster catches the eye, the spot catches the ear.
Affichage stable in the Swiss market 2003 was not a brilliant year for the out-of-home advertising group Affichage Holding:
Profit fell to 19.2 million francs (minus 16 percent). The
Turnover fell by 3.2% to 291.9 million. The decline was primarily due to foreign business, which recorded a drop in turnover of
29.2 million Swiss francs (minus 19.2 percent) and a loss of
of CHF 1.8 million (2002: profit of CHF 1.9 million).
This was due to the clean-up of legacy assets and the
Elimination of extraordinary income. As announced at the annual press conference
However, according to reports, international business should soon be growing strongly again. The aim is to increase the share of Group sales from the current 10% to 25% over the next five years.
In Switzerland, Affichage sales fell by just 1 percent to CHF 262.7 million. The Group intends to strengthen its Swiss position with
niche products. In 2003, 20 percent of Swiss sales were already generated with airport, transportation and sports advertising as well as electronic advertising, mountain railway advertising and megaposters. (dse)
Poster-radio comboA total of 155 F-200 spaces can be booked for seven days each and 24 20-second spots can be booked in parallel from Monday to Friday.
be switched to Radio 24.
105 posters are distributed throughout the city, 25 in Zurich's outlying municipalities and 25 more on the city's major arterial roads. The spots are broadcast at busy times in the mornings and evenings. The two providers, APG and Radio 24, promise that a good 290,000 people aged between 15 and 74 can be reached each week via both media, with the posters offering 20 OTS (opportunity to see) per person and the spots 4 OTH (opportunity to hear).
The costs are CHF 39,020 for seven days at the low rate, CHF 65,640 for 14 days and CHF 92,260 for 21 days. In each case, this is 35 percent cheaper than the corresponding individual bookings. The booking office for the Zurich Poster-Radio Combi is always APG Zurich.
Markus Knöpfli

Jingles Radio 24 is starting March with a fresh acoustic layout. The Zurich-based station has modernized or produced new songs and jingles, and the classic Radio 24 melody will once again be heard, and the sound will once again feature vocal elements. The new layout was developed in collaboration with specialists in the Netherlands and the USA and is intended to "match the quality of leading radio stations in Europe", according to a press release. It was produced in the company's own layout and promotion studio, Jingle Factory.

Car marketing Because demand is weakening, new cars are currently being sold primarily on price. Customers are happy, dealers less so.2003 was not an exhilarating year for the car industry. Only 27,1541 new cars found a buyer, 8 percent fewer than in the previous year. A small consolation: compared to other European consumers, the Swiss are willing to pay a little more for their vehicles, investing an average of CHF 35,000 in a new car. The winners among the car models last year were the small and the luxury models. Two outsiders made strong inroads: Daihatsu sold 51 percent more cars and the Korean company Kia, which has only been active in Switzerland for ten years, almost 70 percent more. With less than 2000 cars sold, however, this is a comparatively easy success to achieve. With almost 10,000 cars sold, Citroën's result is even more impressive: the French company sold 23 percent more cars. Disappointing, on the other hand, were the high-volume players VW and Opel, as well as Ford and Mercedes: practically all the big players performed worse than average, with sales down by more than 14 percent. Some of the aristocratic luxury brands, on the other hand, were delighted: Lamborghini, for example, achieved its best annual result ever with 1304 cars sold. How much the entire car industry turned over last year has not yet been definitively determined - but one thing is certain: it is likely to have been around 70 billion Swiss francs in 2003. The industry is cautiously optimistic about the current year. They believe that there will soon be an upturn, albeit a modest one. Stefan Lüscher, editor-in-chief of Auto-Illustrierte, believes that there may well be a good dose of optimism of purpose behind this: "If you add up how many new cars the importers want to sell this year, skepticism is appropriate. Forecasts assume 380,000 to 400,000 sales, while the reality is more likely to be around 280,000 to 300,000 new cars." When asked about their advertising budgets for this year, the marketing managers of the major brands were cautious. "The same" or "an idea lower" were the vague answers. The unanimous tenor was that they would have to wait for the motor show. Renault advertising manager Anne Thorens explains: "The strategy is constantly being adapted, so everything can change very quickly." However, it is to be expected that the downward trend of recent years will continue to be reflected in the advertising budgets. While CHF 290 million was invested in advertising in 2002, according to calculations by the AG für Werbemedienforschung Wemf, the figure for 2003 was CHF 275 million. Nevertheless, the slowdown in car advertising is less pronounced this time than in the previous year, when the decline amounted to 40 million. The winners in the race were once again print products, which accounted for 69 percent of all advertising expenditure. "From the roadside to the street" - advertising managers are convinced of this: slightly more was spent on poster advertising (CHF 38 million compared to CHF 34.7 million in the previous year).
Concert at the car dealership
According to the automotive industry, it is basically up to the manufacturer or importer to promote the brand. The 5400 or so garages operating in Switzerland - small, medium-sized and large brand dealerships and independent businesses - which were involved in 2002 with
39500 employees, are pursuing a different goal: they mainly want to publicize their own name. Advertisements in local newspapers, radio advertising and special events are therefore the means of choice. For large car dealerships, regional trade fairs are also a must. The Zurich Motor Show alone attracts 60,000 interested parties to its halls every year.
The company also comes up with a number of ideas to attract customers to its own showrooms. The Basel-based Kestenholz Group treats its customers to classic car tours, skill tests in the snow of Les Diablerets, a customer magazine and an exclusive theater performance. The Mercedes and Mazda dealership with 260 employees in five branches generates an annual turnover of 260 million francs. One million of this, explains marketing manager Ursula Imber, goes into the advertising budget. According to Willy Egger, section president of the Automobile Trade Association (AGVS) Canton of Zurich and owner of the car dealership of the same name, the rule of thumb is that around one percent of a car dealer's turnover should be spent on advertising. However, he admits that smaller dealers are neither able nor willing to invest that much in the current situation.
In the rain: The small traders
Car shows, customer trips, glossy magazines - smaller companies can only dream of these. "Advertising is incredibly expensive for small businesses," says Guido Suter, AGVS section president for the canton of Zug, who relies primarily on radio advertising, a few advertisements and, above all, the spring exhibition in his own showrooms for his own garage. "Nothing else is of any use to me."
The retailers in Willy Egger's Zurich section are skeptical about events and the like because their success cannot be measured directly. "What's more," says Ursula Imber, "the cheaper items have long since become stale, but customers are now very spoiled. You have to be very creative and come up with better and better ideas."
Jürg Zryd, a car dealership architect and consultant from Aargau, doubts whether events such as classical concerts in the sales hall are of any use at all, quite apart from the fact that "the acoustics are usually miserable". In his opinion, many car dealership owners forget what they actually want to sell: "Namely cars and not lighting concepts or glazed high-tech palaces." What is more important is what directly serves the customer: "A little more hospitality would go a long way, and three marked and free customer parking spaces are better than any spectacular showroom." Willy Egger also relies on a good personal customer relationship, which he achieves primarily through telephone sales and intensive support: "The best advertising is the daily commitment to the customer."
Large car dealerships such as Egger and Kestenholz, as well as smaller dealers such as Suter, agree on one thing: they would like more support from the importers. Willy Egger explains: "Especially when it comes to individual campaigns. Importers tend to lump the whole of Switzerland together, but what works in Lugano,
perhaps not in the Bernese Oberland."
Downward price spiral
The car trade is fundamentally unhappy with discount campaigns dictated by the manufacturers.
"Prices that make us cry" - Nissan's ironic slogan in the campaign for business cars is likely to hit a sensitive nerve in the car industry. The question is, who sheds more tears? The manufacturer or the dealer? Discounts of up to 5,000 francs for the discontinued Opel Astra model, 0% leasing, free maintenance for three years - who can really make any money? The manufacturers only partially subsidize such campaigns. Dealers can make up for the discounts with sales bonuses - provided they meet the sales targets, which is currently rather difficult. Industry insiders suspect that such campaigns are an attempt to bring older models to buyers, while manufacturers such as Citroën see them as an investment. For the PSA Peugeot Citroën Group - Europe's second-largest producer with a market share of 15.6 percent - the calculation has probably worked out. After posting losses in 1998, the turnaround appears to have been successful thanks to last year's aggressive pricing policy. Citroën alone increased its sales by a whopping 23.6 percent.
Nissan also has little cause for tears: after a below-average 2003 (+0.3%), sales rose by 58 percent last month thanks to the business car campaign. However, it remains to be seen at the end of the year whether this does not simply anticipate a considerable proportion of future purchases. And it is also questionable whether customers will abandon their cherished habits in the future: once a discount, always a discount!
New models need advertising
Compared to the automotive industry, the advertising sector has more reason to be happy. There will be no shortage of new launches in the coming years. The pressure on manufacturers to launch more models is increasing because the average age of the vehicle range is one of the critical success factors in the automotive industry. According to a sector study by Bank Leu, only 13 major model launches were reported on the overall car market in 2000 - in 2003, 25 were already announced. Chrysler alone plans to launch 18 new models in Switzerland over the next three years.
Competition is intensifying in two segments in particular: minis and sports cars. And for both, innovation and image aside, price is the trump card.
Daihatsu has obviously understood this. "Bigger is stupid", claims the small Japanese company brashly, whose appearance and price-performance policy almost invites comparison with Ikea: the bare essentials at fair prices. The Cuore model attracts young newcomers in particular. The minimalist economy car, which consumes 4.6 liters per 100 kilometers, has it all - for around 11,000 francs. Fiat is likely to target the same driver segment with the new Fiat Panda. Just like its future owners, it has only just grown up: "Just don't call me baby!" It remains to be seen whether the low-cost all-rounder will fulfill Fiat's hopes, whose sales figures shrank by 6.6 percent in 2003. Mazda, on the other hand, seems to have focused on the right horsepower last year, both in terms of model and advertising. "Zoom-zoom-zoom" is annoying, but obviously works: 15.8 percent more vehicles on the road.
Car advertising is becoming less and less image-driven: Instead, massive discounts and tempting cash payment conditions are very popular.
Renault "Wind": The inflation of concept cars demonstrates the pressure to innovate in the industry.
Katrin Piazza

Car market Vehicles should become more and more individual. The car is an object of identification and comparison like no other object. It is carefully selected and furnished," claims the German Trendbüro in its study "Future Market Mobility". In the future, we can expect even more personalization and high-tech from cars. "We meet your dreams," claims Mercedes-Benz, and Daihatsu is also making an effort to fulfill secret wishes: This year, the Japanese company is not only sending a sportier version of the Cuore into the race, but is doubling down with a right-hand drive roadster. With this rather impractical steering system, one goal has definitely been achieved: drivers of this car will not have to complain about a lack of attention and, at a price of 26,000 francs, will also have to dig less deep into their pockets than elsewhere.The car industry is obviously well intentioned to make boys' dreams come true. What about girls' dreams? The industry says that sporty, fast cars are also popular with women. But marketing managers and advertising experts have not yet really discovered female drivers. Unfortunately, it is not possible to determine how many Swiss women actually own a car, as the Federal Road Traffic Office collects its data based on vehicles and not owners. Nevertheless, it is clear that women are also taking their place on the road: Over the last twenty years, the number of women who have a driver's license has risen faster than that of men. In 1980, only 41 percent of women drove a car (compared to 67% men); in 2003, the figure was already 71 percent (89%). While the niche market of tuning and accessories is still dominated by guys and is almost always advertised with bare female breasts, the rest of the automotive market seems to be content with at least not scaring away potential female buyers with the campaigns. However, the idea of tailoring a car entirely to the wishes of women seems all too foreign to the manufacturers. At least for now. Nevertheless, the younger ladies among us can look forward to more exciting campaigns. By 2030 at the latest, when futurologist Matthias Horx predicts that income parity between European men and women will be achieved, the male hood ornament is likely to be established as an incentive to buy.
The key to the dream car in your hand: Mercedes-Benz is targeting women.
Current car advertising: For families and carnivore tamers.
Katrin Piazza

Comedy Alex Rümmel is now not only available to listen to, but also to read.comedy Alex Rümmel is now not only available to listen to, but also to read. The fictional zoo director previously appeared on Radio 24's "Morgeshow", where he told his zoo stories every Tuesday. Now the comedy character penned by Viktor Baumgartner has his own column in the venerable Tagblatt newspaper of the city of Zurich. Every Friday, Rümmel answers questions about the secrets of the animal world. The two Tamedia media are thus expanding their cooperation in the comedy sector. The Tagblatt der Stadt Zürich has already appeared as a partner on Radio 24's first comedy CD.

Award The independent Zug-based advertiser Josef Sacchi is delighted to receive a special award: his work for GMG Albuville Rapperswil is included in the 2004 Advertising Yearbook as the winner in the "Shopping Center" category. The Yearbook of Advertising is published by the German publishing house Econ. Sacchi and his team submitted the campaign via the German partner agency Zeller Rossmann Stoelker, Freiburg i. B.

Shoes As we all know, preferences are debatable, or at least arguable, and one way to avoid this rhetorical waste of time is to introduce equal rights, for example. This gives all parties the freedom to let their imagination run wild. However, as the following ads show, a female mind tends to harbor somewhat more unbridled desires than a male one. While Adonis demonstrates his riding skills in the traditional sense, she has changed direction when it comes to penetration. The motto here is: off to S/M paradise. As lightly clothed as possible and with pointy high heels. Women are no worse for wear. They just use "it" differently. (ck)

Web services The dating platform Swissfriends.ch recorded over 40,000 active members for the first time at the end of February 2004.In order to increase its reach even more, the contact exchange is entering into two new strategic alliances. In German-speaking Switzerland, the services of Swissfriends.ch will be integrated into the website of the market-leading commuter newspaper 20 Minuten. And in French-speaking Switzerland, the platform is cooperating with the daily newspaper Le Matin. The first to be launched was a joint chat, which can be accessed from both Lematin.ch and Swissfriends.ch. Swissfriends.ch also announced success figures: According to a survey conducted in February, the platform brokered 4339 serious relationships and 248 marriages in the past two years, resulting in a total of 129 births.

Promotional gifts Mouse producer Patrick Strumpf promises that sensual hours on the PC are now guaranteed, at least where Triumph underwear is available to buy. The company has equipped all sales outlets with a "Triumph Mouse" in the shape of a woman's body. The highlight: the fully functional mouse is clothed, i.e. printed, with Triumph lingerie. The mouse, which was intended as an advertising stunt, is also being sold online due to the great interest. "It is possible that the hot desk racer will even bring Triumph a similar success to the wobbly Elvis from the Audi advertisement some time ago," hopes Strumpf.

Media policy The National Council has to work through 119 articles, 51 minority and around 70 individual motions on the new Radio and TV Act after rejecting the rejection motions of the SVP, FDP and PdA fossil Josef Zisyadis, the Council made it as far as Article 9 on Tuesday, following the Commission with one exception: the specifications on how much of the SRG program must come from Switzerland or Europe and from independent producers were softened and relegated to the ordinance level. The debate will continue until Thursday afternoon.

Television Ringier TV is around ten years old, is in the black and wants to be among the format sellers.
While the operators of private TVs are generating deep red figures and hoping for fee money, Ringier is in the black with its TV activities for the third time in a row. Since 2001, when turnover amounted to just under CHF 37 million and Ringier TV entered the profit zone for the first time, the operating result has grown in one-million-franc increments to CHF 39 million last year (including internal Ringier services). "We made a good profit," says Hans Jürg Deutsch, still Managing Director, who will hand over operational responsibility to his deputy Marc Görtz on April 1 (but will continue to represent the TV division at Group level). For his part, Görtz has budgeted a further increase in earnings for the current year in line with previous growth.
Broadly diversified income
Sponsorship income accounted for around a quarter of last year's total revenue, with around 3.5 million francs coming from the Presse-TV (PTV) publishing television channel. The remainder came from TV and commercial productions for third parties, expanded media training and advertising income from the Sat 1 program window. Cinecom is responsible for advertising acquisition for Sat 1 (Switzerland).
Ringier is undoubtedly in a comfortable position compared to other private TV producers, as the Group does not have to operate its own channel. Ringier TV can limit itself to developing and producing programs for SF 2 as part of PTV and for Sat 1's program window. And without any pressure: the space available at Sat 1 (Switzerland), for example, can be covered step by step. If no strong sponsor can be found - as was the case for the Blick sports talk show with Roman Kilchsperger planned last year - the German program will simply be left in the corresponding slot. Nevertheless, Ringier-TV, which was launched ten years ago as Rincivision, now employs 75 people. The division includes Ringier's 30 percent stake in PTV, its 50 percent share in Sat 1 (Switzerland), its stake in Teleclub (33.3 percent) and its subsidiary Addictive, an advertising agency for television commercials.
Görtz is pursuing a two-pillar strategy at Ringier TV: he wants to retain information programs such as "Cash-TV" as the first pillar, but is expanding the entertainment channel. "The fate show 'Celebrations', which started last Friday on Sat 1, is heading in exactly this direction," he says. He has something else in mind: He wants to sell broadcast formats, for example to Germany, the largest European TV market. Görtz: "German TVs develop relatively few formats of their own, but usually buy them in from abroad. Why not do the same in Switzerland?" It would be possible, for example, to license successful formats such as "Gesundheit Sprechstunde". "In this case, the TV/print combination idea is particularly exciting," he says. And: "We will become active here in the future."
There are also plans abroad
But he is also considering new format developments. First of all, of course, for Sat 1 (Switzerland), where so far only the Sunday afternoon with the three-hour "live ran" and the Monday primetime have been "Swissized". But Görtz does not want to talk about further projects at Sat 1. Platform two is SF 1 and SF 2, although SF 2 is as good as plastered over. But Ringier-TV is currently discussing with SF-DRS director Ingrid Deltenre about moving the successful cooking show "Al dente" to SF 1 (see box). And that's not all: Deltenre, who until recently sold advertising for the SRG stations, knows only too well that advertisers primarily want to appeal to 15 to 49-year-olds. It is likely to be interested in corresponding new formats in the medium term. The second wave of "MusicStar" points in this direction. Görtz senses an opportunity here: if Ringier TV presents good ideas, its order books will also get bigger.
News in the pots soon: The cooking show "Al dente" is to be remodeled.
"Al Dente" plans relaunchFormat and studio of the cooking show "Al Dente" are being revamped for the fall: "Above all, we want to involve the audience more," says Hans Jürg Deutsch. The basic idea, a quiz on the subject of
Cooking, however, will not change. There will also be no changes to the moderation. (mk)
Relaxations and clarificationsRingier-TV does not agree with the current draft of the RTVA. Hans Jürg Deutsch would like to see a relaxation of the regulations on advertising and media concentration as well as more precise regulations on distribution and digitization. He regrets that the National Council's preliminary consultation committee did not speak to Ringier-TV or Presse-TV. "We made an offer, but they preferred to talk to all kinds of interest groups. Of all people, those private broadcasters who
TV sector were the only viable constructions they didn't want to listen to," criticizes Deutsch. (mk)
Ringier TV achieves top ratings Average ratings 2003 (3+) (including repeats)
Broadcast Ø Ratings Ø Market share* Peak values
SF 2
Al dente 350,490 18.1 % 457,400
CASH-TV 150,300 9.3 % 341,000
CASH-Talk 48,800 6.5 % 118,000
Health Consultation 333,864 14.4 % 432,000
konsum.tv 280,300 10.6 % 386,000
MotorShow tcs 149,714 5.6 % 252,400
SonntagsBlick Viewpoints 87,857 3.6 % 153,000
SF 1
Better safe than sorry 472,222 33.3 % 609,000
Sat 1 Switzerland
live ran 247,050 25.9 % 347,100
people 136,622 4.3 % 172,500
people style 111,961 4.0 % 158,400
Joya runs 105,493 4.0 % 134,200
Joya travels 104,987 3.9 % 136,900
* Market share first broadcast Source: Ringier-TV
Markus Knöpfli

The Brand Excellence Swiss Trophy (BEST) is being announced for the second time, and brands that cultivate Swiss values and thus contribute to the debate on national identity can be nominated for the award at www.best2004.ch until March 21. The categories are "Reputation" (national or global appeal), "Evolution" (young brands with potential) and "Tradition" (decades of shaping the Swiss image). An expert committee will select five brands per category from the nominations and a jury will choose the three winners. They will receive their awards on June 23.