Automobile Volvo Switzerland wants to set new standards for the launch of its new model. Volvo has courage: instead of the usual images of sleek cars, the Swedish car manufacturer is using a mysterious advertising message in its current campaign, which focuses on four teaser advertisements with unusual subjects: an old, dented caravan, a dark street with the town sign Dalarö, an old rowing boat filled with water, a telephone booth and strange texts. There is also a mysterious cinema spot in which an off-screen voice tells of inexplicable occurrences in the small Swedish village of Dalarö, while images of an unknown coastline flicker across the screen.
"Breaking new ground" "We want to make people curious and get them to discover the secret behind our campaign," explains Georg Redlhammer, Marketing Director of Volvo Automobile (Schweiz) AG. Afraid that the unusual advertising would not be well received? "No," says Redlhammer, "we're not. On the contrary".
Even though this campaign is unusually complex and sophisticated for a car advertisement, he and his colleagues are convinced that the new advertising idea meets the wishes of the public. "Consumers have had enough of the same old advertising with a moving car, a blurred background and a nice-sounding sentence," says Redlhammer.
The campaign was created in collaboration with OgilvyOne. The Zurich agency has been working for Volvo Switzerland for over a year and a half. "OgilvyOne knows how to implement an advertising idea not only creatively, but also in various new channels," says Redlhammer, explaining the choice.
It was precisely these modern channels - one of Ogilvy-One's specialties - that were in demand this time. "We also wanted to break new ground in terms of advertising channels," says Redlhammer: Internet, SMS information service in conjunction with voicebox messaging, a 3-step mailing, print ads, cinema spot and teletext were specifically coordinated.
Swiss as pioneers
The original advertising idea of the Swedish parent company and the agency MVBMS (Amsterdam) was not only adapted, but completely revised, modernized and adapted to the Swiss market. "With this advertising idea, we are clearly a pioneer, even within the Volvo organization," Redlhammer is convinced.
The campaign's target group is 25 to 35-year-olds, "who have not yet experienced Volvo as an alternative", says Guido Wietlisbach, Chief Creative Officer at Ogilvy-One and responsible for the campaign. "To reach this target group, we had to polarize," says Redlhammer.
The campaign is relatively expensive in relation to the targeted sales figures for the sporty S40 model ("we want to sell around 500 units in 2004"). "But the costs are okay. They are an investment in the future."
This advertising project is a statement for the Volvo brand. "We want to prove that the brand is different, that we are young and trendy, and this advertising project is ideal for this purpose," says the Volvo marketing boss.
VOLVO SWITZERLANDWith a market share of 2.55
percent and 6806 cars sold, Volvo occupies 15th place in the Swiss ranking of car brands. Volkswagen is in first place with 27,651 cars sold and a market share of 10.4 percent.
Like many other car brands, however, Volkswagen suffered a significant drop in sales in 2003. In contrast to Volvo Switzerland. The Swedes recorded an increase of 13.5 percent compared to 2002
and were therefore among the few winners in 2003.
Volvo Automobile (Switzerland) AG (VASAG) is the importer for all
Volvo cars in Switzerland. VASAG is wholly owned by VCC, Volvo Car Corporation, i.e. the parent company. Volvo Cars is part of the Ford Group and is managed under the umbrella of PAG (Premier Automotive Group). Land Rover, Aston Martin and Jaguar also belong to PAG. (af)
Interactive Volvo campaign by OgilvyOne: SMS and www.dalaroe.ch help unravel the mystery.
Car Those who like the computer game Myst will love the new, mysterious Volvo campaign >> page 7
Annelies Friedli

Men's issues In the United Kingdom, political incorrectness is currently celebrating its journalistic heyday. Two new weekly men's magazines were launched last week. Compared to the bizarre Zoo Weekly launched by Emap, which promises its readers "100 pages of girls, football and funny stuff", Nuts, published by IPC Media, looks downright well-behaved. This is not only due to the covered breasts, but above all the lack of shock images (such as decomposition and accident victims), with which Zoo Weekly wants to make hardened "lads and blokes" buy and smile. The initial print run of the two magazines is 150000 copies each, the normal price is £ 1.20.

Merchandising Dairy cow Lovely takes a new step in her career as a media star: the Swiss Milk Producers (SMP) publish a read-aloud book for children entitled "Ene mene Muh - so lebt die kleine Lovely Kuh". 15 self-contained stories of Lovely's adventures can be told in the evening before going to sleep, in kindergarten or on a rainy Sunday. The
Stories are by children's book author Elias Raabe. Timo
Albiez illustrated the book. Lovely's latest prank costs 19
francs plus shipping costs and can be ordered at www.swissmilk.ch
or by telephone on 031 359 57 28.

Volvo Switzerland: The Volvo Mystery—An irresistible brainteaser for all the Sherlocks out there, or a dud that fizzles out unheard in the wilderness? Share your unvarnished opinions at www.werbewoche.ch/adratingKuoni
The concept of a luxury travel brochure instead of a run-of-the-mill catalog was rejected by the advertising consultants.
Top 17.2 % Flop 82.8 %

The Zurich-based advertising agency Inhalt & Form (I&F) is supporting the tenth anniversary of Media Markt Switzerland and was awarded the account after a competitive presentation against Demner Merlicek & Bergmann (Vienna), which manages the advertising budget for the electronics store chain in Switzerland, Austria and other European countries. The anniversary celebrations will last for a month. I&F is realizing TV and radio spots, advertisements in daily newspapers, POS advertising and local campaigns, which will be used from the end of March.

Awards The Zurich agencies Publicis and Ruf Lanz are awarded a "Klappe" by the German Communications Association.Publicis is nominated with the "Ball" spot for Die Mobiliar, Ruf Lanz convinced the jury with the film "Stevie Wonder" for the Mühlehalde home for the blind. A total of 13 prizes will be awarded at the end of March.

Column Staged events not only guarantee exclusivity, but also generate ratings and circulation. Provided they are suitable for scandalization and moral self-assurance.
If there's nothing going on, you have to do something," my mentor at the long-dead "Luzerner Tagblatt", the outstanding journalist Hans Peter Jaeger, used to say when there was once again a yawning lack of events. That was a long time ago, as can be seen from the fact that older colleagues were still communicating with junior reporters on a first-name basis back then, not that we set fire to such teachings. But we have learned our lesson. And so have others in the meantime, such as the operators of "Music Star": You're inventing the second oldest pattern of competition there is. In Jaeger's day, it was called "JeKaMi" and took place on Saturday evenings on a dreary provincial stage. Today, a format like "Music Star" is a ratings hit thanks to media duplication and a perfected form of presentation.
The production develops an admirable momentum of its own. The old rascal H. Elias Fröhlich is exchanged for a conflict of interest from the recording industry, the headlines are guaranteed. Big questions pile up: How violent are Piero's fans? Why did the milk face refuse his new girlfriend a friendship ticket? Does the full-figured girl from the Rhine Valley believe in God and why? The news machine is running at full speed and constantly spitting out new stories. It's inconsequential, it's idle time, but it doesn't harm anyone and it's fun. It's also distracting, and that's what it's supposed to do. And what you invent yourself is guaranteed to be exclusive, as is the denial. Old master Jaeger would never have given such advice; cynicism was not part of his business. Nevertheless, the tip could have come from him. The self-fabrication of events has long been part of everyday media life. You lock a few crazy people in a container and film what goes on between them. You transfer some washed-up celebrity bonsais to the Australian bush, make them wade through shit and kiss cockroaches and declare it a mega-event. In the meantime, a whole camarilla of PR friars has mastered the trick that the chimney-climbing do-gooders from Greenpeace were the first to use industrially.
applied. Symbolic actions frozen into images convey banal content for an audience that finds it difficult to read coherent texts.
Of course, everyone finds such shows horrible; after all, the viewers - not the performers - are grown-up, sensible and politically correct people. However, instead of pressing the miraculous button on the remote control, these enlightened and illusionless contemporaries watch intently until the last minute. After all, they want to be righteously indignant. They draw their certainty of their own superiority from their anger at the tastelessness of others. In this way, even the shabbiest cockroach show still generates moral added value in the end.
On top of this, Günther Jauch's quiz show, for example, is an intellectual nine-question test at elementary school level to the dear old tune "Did you know?". What, the idiot doesn't even know what a howitzer is? And what, please, is the difference between the categorical imperative and the categorical aperitif?
Gawking, I confirm my status as a brainiac, provide my partner and children with the solution and together we amuse ourselves with the poor worm who agonizes for minutes over the right answer. The only thing that disturbs the family peace is the youngest's disarming question: "Daddy, why aren't you going out?"
Karl Lüönd smiles at "Music Star" and its ilk.

> Karl Lüönd is an author, publicist and head of the Media Institute of the Swiss Press Association.

Retail Four crazy Publicis commercials continue the campaign for Migros. Price arguments alone no longer create a sustainable image. Today, consumers expect companies to assume social responsibility. Consequently, the second new TV commercial season of the popular Migros image campaign was launched these days - in the middle of the M-budget wave - and with the unconventional and attention-grabbing commercials from Publicis, Switzerland's largest retailer succeeded within a few months in conveying to the public that Migros does much more than just sell products and services.
High want-to-see factor Without being embarrassingly ingratiating or tipping over into pathetic adulation, the first part of the campaign conveyed the image of a responsible company that shapes the economic, social and cultural life of Switzerland like no other.
The team led by Publicis CCO Jean Etienne Aebi had Migros customers themselves perform and dream about their commitment to public health, the environment and ethics. According to the Art Directors Club, the concept set more than just a new standard in its category: thanks to the amazing script and the perfect staging and direction, the commercial series achieved cult status right from the start.
It was to be expected that the "want to see again" effect would not fail to materialize. In an IHA-GfK study, private individuals and communication professionals generally gave the retailer the best marks in terms of communication performance. This brilliant result is primarily due to the positive direct customer contact in the stores. However, the newly anchored brand promise "either way" was able to benefit from this situation. This is because these humorous commercials also hit the right strategic chord and combine with Migros' other measures and values to create an atmospheric overall picture.
Will there be a third season?
Just how eagerly audiences must have been waiting for the sequel can be seen from the fact that the new spots were already being eagerly previewed on the Migros website days before the official TV and cinema release.
And it was worth the wait. What director Kasper Wedendahl and Pumpkin Film have made together with Publicis exceeds the wildest expectations. The laughs are guaranteed: Social worker Sonja Riklin advertises the club schools' further training for women - especially the self-defense course - in Migros branches and lets the sparks fly. Or Fundi Boris Felder paints a somewhat literal picture of the freshness of Migros products. From the casting to the design and the sound effects - the commercials are coherent down to the last detail. The ironically exuberant advertising ideas of an engineer for quality and those of the righteous pensioner Emma Luchsinger for low prices also show how fresh and self-deprecating self-praise can be.
The obligatory cliffhanger is provided by Beat Mühlemann, Head of
Marketing Communications at the Federation of Migros Cooperatives. He now wants to have three more monumental commercials filmed so that they can then alternate with the existing commercials for the next three or four years. So the suspense remains.
Image advertising with impact: The "Self-defense" spot is about the continuing education courses offered by Migros Club Schools.

Red heads and a laugh: Publicis spot on the subject of quality.
Luca Aloisi

Luxury foods JWT+H+F aims to make up ground with spoiled coffee drinkers for the Medaille d'or "Grand Cru" Medaille d'or is one of the market leaders in the "traditional" coffee brand segment, but is constantly losing ground to the "Italo coffees". In addition, this segment is increasingly dominated by private label brands. The brand is now to be guided towards a premium positioning through a vertical line extension, thereby achieving greater differentiation from its competitors. "Grand Cru" is the name of the new premium solution: Kraft Foods is therefore launching a new sub-brand for discerning connoisseurs under the umbrella brand "Jacobs Medaille d'or".
JWT+H+F has been commissioned to develop a launch campaign for the new premium product. The TV commercial is intended to create a brand world and anchor the positioning of "Grand Cru" with consumers: "Grand Cru" stands for the highest level of coffee enjoyment without compromise, because "Grand Cru" is made from 100% premium Arabica beans.
Recommended by the boss
"The campaign is based on the insight that everyone has to make compromises in life from time to time," says Remy Fabrikant, CD of the agency JWT+H+F. Even the target group - people with the highest standards when it comes to culinary delights - are not exempt from this. Except when it comes to coffee: only the best is good enough, namely Medaille d'or "Grand Cru".
In the TV commercial "Meisterkoch", the protagonist is the head chef in a top restaurant. He is confronted with the rather complicated order of a very demanding female guest. However, he cannot resist the charm of her ordering furioso. In the end, he agrees to prepare the unusual dish, which is diametrically opposed to his idea of haute cuisine. When it comes to coffee, however, there is no more compromise for the master: "Grand Cru" from Medaille d'or.
The TV commercial was produced by Hochkant Film Munich, 33 seconds long, the reminder 10 seconds. It can be seen in German and French until further notice.
Andreas Panzeri

Fashion What a teddy bear has to put up with: first it is used by the offspring as a cuddly bear, throwing object and chew toy, until it is degraded to a dust collector and mothballs in a box for years. But at a time when even the smallest fringe group has its own association, teddy bears are not missing out. The fashion label Indian Rose - Native Rights has created an ad that puts a new spin on the childhood symbol. Cool, isn't it? After years of her being allowed to nuzzle him, now it's his turn. The only question is where he can start with male teddy owners. Or is this ad not about the teddy's needs at all? Please clarify.
(ck)

Direct marketing The majority of German consumers have a positive attitude towards direct mail: in a study conducted by the GfK research institute, more than half of respondents wanted more mailings in their letterboxes. Exceptions: the automotive, banking and insurance sectors as well as donation letters. Mailings for food and beverages generated the most orders. Concerns about guarantees and service were cited as inhibiting factors in responding to direct mail (76%). Over 70 percent fear increased advertising. 76% expect a free contact number in a mailing, 64% product samples and only 16% competitions. The study can be downloaded from
German Direct Marketing Association (www.ddv.de).

Print media Ringier Verlag's in-house magazine has become a modern magazine. Domo has been published with a new concept since Feb-ruary.print media Ringier Verlag's in-house magazine has become a modern magazine. Domo has been published with a new concept since Feb-ruary. It is clearly divided into the sections Company, People and Service. Personal details and company events are now only covered on the intranet. The relaxed layout bears the unmistakable signature of Tele Art Director Stéphane Carpentier. He realized the redesign together with the Domo graphics team. With the new
A new editor-in-chief is also joining the company. Rolf Gebele is moving to
31 years and will be replaced by Andi Kämmerling. The publication rhythm is also changed: Domo will now only be published eight times a year instead of ten.