Guest commentary For the first time, the recent recession has not led to an inflation of hard-sell promotions. And rightly so,
finds Dominique von Matt.
At first glance, you might think that this recession has been like any other. After all, the marketing mantra this time too was "advertise anti-cyclically now". Clearly, the voice of a brand is more audible when the overall concert is quieter. You can achieve more with the same amount of advertising. Nevertheless, counter-cyclical advertising remains a phantom: everyone talks about it, but no one has seen it, and once again the issue of quality was completely lost in the heated discussion about costs. Do we waste money with boring mainstream advertising or do we use it efficiently with high-profile communication? That is the key question. Investing in the quality of communication is the most efficient way of all. And it's also usually free. Because an average campaign costs the same as an outstanding one. In short: better advertising quality does not require more budget, but more professionalism, creativity and courage.
Especially in economic crises, creative courage is rewarded by the market, as a look at this year's Effie winners shows. The award-winning productions were anything but bold and risk-free recession campaigns. Many finalists took the central marketing principle for recessions to heart. For once, this was neither Domizlaff's nor Kotler's, but dates back to the early 17th century by Friederich von Logau: "In danger and great adversity, the middle way brings death."
And this brings us to the most pleasing result of this recession: for the first time, the brand did not suffer. Obviously, the realization that serious brand management should not be dependent on the economy is gradually gaining ground. In the slump from 1991 to 1993, a lot of resources were frantically shifted into hard-selling promotions; this time, there was largely no such overexploitation of brand capital.
Perhaps those responsible were already thinking that brand value would also become an issue for listed companies in Switzerland from 2005. A survey of 400 German companies by PricewaterhouseCoopers shows that brands account for an average of 56 percent of the company's value and are therefore very often the most important asset
represent. This means that brand management has very clear rules and - more importantly - tangible economic consequences. Branding and brand value are now also becoming a key issue for CFOs. This gives rise to the hope that the next recession will see a real increase in anti-cyclical advertising for the first time.
> Dominique von Matt is President of the Swiss ADC and co-owner of the advertising agency Jung von Matt/Limmat.

Kaspar Loeb, new Chief Executive Officer at Publicis, explains why he prefers being an advertiser to being a journalist.
The newly appointed Managing Director at Publicis is delighted with his new-found prospects. To the left of his desk, "news junkie" and ex-journalist Kaspar Loeb can look out over the editorial office of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung. To the right, the view falls on the execution site of Zurich's "Böög". The field near Bellevue, which still looks rather uncultivated after the Knie guest performance, almost provokes the hope that this winter will be driven away by warmer moods, also in economic terms, by Sechseläuten at the latest. "If things go well, the Swiss advertising industry will grow by four to five percent in 2004," predicted Kaspar Leob in his first interview as CEO of Publicis in the HandelsZeitung. There will be agencies that will "suffer a lot" this year. Those who were able to experience the infectious dynamism in Kaspar Loeb's new office early in the morning during the interview do not even have to ask which category Publicis should belong to in the coming year.
The most exciting job on the scene
Kaspar Loeb commented that he had been offered "the most exciting job in the Swiss agency scene" when he was surprisingly appointed as Fredy Collioud's successor shortly before Christmas, although some had been reporting this for some time. Cornelia Harder had been regarded as the sure crown princess for this important job. However, her promotion was blocked - no less surprisingly for some - because her partner is CEO at McCann-Erickson and therefore at the competition. Competition has obviously become tougher. However, Kaspar Loeb formulates his goals in a tone that still sounds sporty: "Fredy and I are delighted together that we can shake up this market a little."
With Publicis Werbeagentur, Fisch.Meier.Direkt and the media agency Optimedia, the Publicis Group unites the three leading companies in advertising, dialog marketing and media in Switzerland. The group serves clients such as UBS, Coca-Cola, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Nestlé, Migros and Swisscom Mobile. The agency not only regularly tops the creative rankings of the most awarded agencies, but also dominated the 2003 awards ceremony for "Efficient Advertising" with three Effie Gold Awards.
He is aware that he is "stepping into a pair of very big shoes", said Kaspar Loeb in his inaugural speech at Theaterstrasse. For Fredy Collioud, the "team player with extensive brand and management experience" also embodies the ideal "rejuvenation of the management team". Kaspar Loeb enables "an important step into the future of the agency at the right time".
Loeb will combine the previously split roles of Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. "But I don't want to put on a one-man show," explains the new Chief Executive Officer, who can continue to rely on "a strong back-up" with Fredy Collioud as Chairman and President of the Board of Directors.
Kaspar Loeb knows that he can "start from a strong position" at Publicis and he is pleased that he can rely on the creative ideas of many "sensational people" in his new job. And where does he see problems or challenges? "If you started in advertising in December 2000 and you survived until December 2003, then nothing scares you anymore," he says.
Taking responsibility
Such a lightning career in advertising was not on the cards for Kaspar Loeb right from the start. After studying law in Basel, he had little enthusiasm for a career as a lawyer despite his degree. The young lawyer first worked as a commercial teacher. Then, at the age of 26, the media lured him in for the first time. Loeb was accepted into the Ringier School of Journalism. "A lucky choice," he says today. He was able to complete various stages, "the most important of which" was a six-month stint on the Blick editorial team at "Heisse Draht". It was there that he gained the decisive distance from the more academic world of university. "People with really real problems would call there," he recalls of this life experience.
The young journalist went on to work on the planning and launch of the SonntagsZeitung newspaper. He later switched to Politics and Economics, where the declared political man wrote about economics for the first time. This new specialization led him to Weltwoche and finally to Cash-TV. Reflex magazine might have been a further journalistic challenge. However, the rival project to Facts from Ringier was stopped at the last moment.
"As luck would have it", Kaspar Loeb received his first offer from the advertising industry at precisely this time. The Zurich agency Zintzmeyer & Lux wanted to test the proven journalist as a branding specialist. The communications expert succeeded. After just one and a half years, he was appointed to the management of the branding agency. "Can a journalist do successful advertising?" was the suspicious question asked in the industry when Loeb moved directly to the traditional agency Seiler DDB as CEO after five years with the brand specialists.
Advertising, branding and journalism - Kaspar Loeb doesn't see them as separate disciplines. "I'm interested in communication in all its forms," he says. However, being a copywriter was never a desirable option for him. "Then I would have preferred to remain a journalist," he muses.
Today, he does not regret that he did not stay. A journalist can exert a lot of influence without having to bear much responsibility for it. "But I've always been interested in taking the rap for what I do," says Loeb proudly. As an advertiser, he has much more responsibility because customers have very clear expectations. And if you don't meet these expectations, you have a problem. "This challenge attracts me," reveals the new manager in the highest chair on the Swiss agency scene.
Kaspar Loeb is married to a cultural journalist, so he loves culture in all its forms and enjoys relaxing in the south of France.
On the Olympus of the Swiss agency scene: Kaspar Loeb, new Managing Director of Publicis
Andreas Panzeri

Five European news agencies are developing information services for mobile communications. The aim is to increase the attractiveness of media offerings in the UMTS standard.Around a dozen services are to be developed by mid-2005 as part of the MINDS project. Close cooperation with network operators, newspaper and magazine publishers, television and radio stations, and Internet portals is planned. The consortium, led by DPA's service subsidiary Infocom, includes the Swiss Dispatch Agency (SDA), ANP (Netherlands), APA (Austria), MTI (Hungary) and the World Association of the Publishing Industry (Ifra).

The cooperation with the Berner Zeitung (BZ) in the publishing sector (the "Bern model") has also brought changes to the paper architecture of the daily newspaper Der Bund, which had to be restructured in order to accommodate the joint advertising section in the paper. Since the beginning of the year, BZ and Bund can only be published together. Among other things, the local section has been moved to the third Bund, and the weekly media page has also been dispensed with - for the time being. The fee-based eBund Plus Internet service has also been discontinued. Furthermore, Bund Verlag and the media union Comedia have agreed on a social plan for those employees affected by the implementation of the Bern model. The social plan, which is valid until the end of 2005, provides for an extension of the notice periods as well as compensation payments for those dismissed who become unemployed or take up a new position with a lower basic salary.

In 2004, 26 % of Swiss companies will increase their communications budget.communications market This was the result of a survey of the country's 500 largest companies conducted by the Isopublic Institute on behalf of the Farner PR agency. 48.8 % are leaving their budgets at the status quo, while 23 % are budgeting less than in 2003. Increased investments are being made in marketing in particular: 17.2 % of the companies surveyed are talking about higher budgets. For 46.8 % they will remain the same, while 9.2 % expect a reduction. In the area of advertising, 13.2 % want to increase, 12 % want to reduce and 46.8 % want to maintain the same level. The budgets for investor and financial relations will remain practically stable. In public relations, there is a stronger emphasis on external over internal communication.

After a total of 40 years at SF DRS and 15 years as its top boss, "Schälli" is now handing over his power to Ingrid Deltenre on January 1, 2004. But nobody likes to give up a dream job. No wonder the white eminence of Swiss television wanted to set the course for the coming year's budget - even if he is unlikely to see the program in his chosen retirement home in Marseille. A comedy star friend should also be signed quickly. But the television studio is not the Federal Palace. The young Ms. Deltenre knows how to defy the old generation of men. Anyone who had expected the deserving Publisuisse director to start out in January 2004 as the sidekick of Schellenberg's intimate and SRG boss Armin Walpen was already mistaken. Although Schellenberg has spoken out strongly against casting shows on his station, "MusicStar" has nevertheless become a great success with the public. Insiders are already attributing the fact that they did not miss the attractive advertising train to the work of Ingrid Deltenre. And as the SonntagsBlick reported without contradiction, the future director will soon be submitting explosive plans to the SF DRS regional committee. Program director Adrian Marthaler is to be appointed dual head of the culture and entertainment departments. This is an indication that the departments could be reorganized after the retirement of entertainment director Max Sieber and could perhaps be staffed completely differently. Deltenre's idea is also to move the future culture magazine from Sunday to Wednesday. She wants to make Sunday evenings more attractive with a comedy program. With her plans, the future head of DRS, who also wants to set up a modern communications department, makes one thing very clear: she does not want to be a breakfast director. (pan)Just don't become a breakfast director: Ingrid Deltenre.

Local radio station Markus Ruoss, the founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Central Swiss local radio station Radio Sunshine, is arranging his succession: Ruoss is looking for "new partnerships, a new owner or new shareholders", the SonntagsZeitung (SoZ) quotes from a letter to "colleagues and business partners". He owns 79 percent of Radio Sunshine. 16 percent is held by Neue Luzerner Zeitung AG, which according to SoZ has expressed interest in Ruoss' offer. The French NRJ radio group, Tamedia and other parties have also responded to the letter. Radio Sunshine was launched 20 years ago and has been profitable for the last five years.

The orderly "realignment" is unlikely to come to fruition after the cryptic media release was sent out at the end of November, in which Reinhold Weber (48, photo), owner of the legendary Zurich advertising agency Weber Hodel Schmid (WHS), announced upcoming changes, namely the termination of all contracts with employees and business partners and the possible cooperation with GGK Zurich, through which he wanted to save half of the 20 jobs. Shortly afterwards, GGK boss Hermann Strittmatter qualified these plans to the media: whether, when and how a merger would take place would first have to be discussed. Strittmatter would not be founding a new agency, nor could there be any talk of a merger. If anything, GGK wants to integrate Weber and his team. What is likely to be the last episode of the WHS grounding marks the end of a special chapter in Swiss advertising history. It was opened in 1991 by the other co-founders Yvonne Hodel and John Schmid. Large accounts such as Smart, "Zürich", Tages-Anzeiger, MediaMarkt and Switzerland Tourism soon led to awards, recognition and even more commissions. WHS expanded to Vienna and Berlin and grew to over 100 employees. The steady decline began with the loss of substantial budgets and was accelerated by the crash of the new economy, especially in the dotcom-heavy international offices. The departure of strategists contributed to the rest. (la)

Market research At the end of January, market leader Cinecom wants to decide whether it will use the Radiocontrol clock to collect cinema ratings in future or combine Wemf and Procinema data.Wemf's current cinema ratings have two disadvantages: It is only available once a year, as part of Mach Basic, and only in the form of a weekly average. "That's too static for us. We always have to compensate for seasonal fluctuations using seasonal prices in order to obtain a realistic CPM," explains Cinecom Marketing Manager Jean-Claude Bruhin. Cinecom therefore looked for a new research method. According to Bruhin, there are now two options: Either you have the cinema attendance figures collected via Radiocontrol. Or the admission figures from the cinema owners' and film distributors' association Procinema could be combined with the Wemf data.visitor data via ADSL
Both methods have their advantages and disadvantages. The advantages of Radiocontrol: cinema reach would be measured rather than surveyed. In addition, the cinema industry would only need to connect to the existing Radiocontrol panel. The disadvantages: In order for the Radiocontrol control center to recognize the cinema film sounds stored on the clock, it must simultaneously record the film sound of each individual screening in each of the approximately 500 Swiss cinemas. However, this requires the installation of microphones in the theaters and the transfer of the data via ADSL. "That's relatively expensive," Bruhin concedes. Nevertheless, according to the Head of Marketing, a joint trial with Publica Data in the summer led to the realization that this measurement method is technically feasible. Matthias Steinmann, Head of the SRG Research Service, is more cautious - mainly for political reasons. He does not want to burden the recently expanded panel with additional survey rooms. The approach of merging the Procinema and Wemf data would have the advantage of being able to draw on two existing data sources. The monthly sales figures from Procinema would become the new reach basis, while the target group structure by gender, age and perhaps now also film genre would be added from the Mach interviews from Wemf. The 23,000 Mach interviews would still be sufficient for this, says Harald Amschler, Wemf research manager. The disadvantage of this solution is that the Procinema figures are based on self-declarations by the cinema operators and do not include free admissions, for example. It is quite possible that some kind of admission certification (similar to print circulation certification) will be required. However, this is not an issue at the moment. Cinecom is currently waiting for offers from Wemf and Publica Data. The cinema marketer wants to make a decision at the end of January. Time is pressing: The contract with Wemf has been terminated. Since April of this year, the advertising researcher has only been collecting cinema reach data in the form required for the MA Strategy.
If the lady had a Radiocontrol or Mediawatch watch, the cinema operator would know which movie she had chosen.
The Mediawatch, which can also register radio signals that are imperceptible to the human ear, could be used for cinema research more easily than the Radiocontrol clock. The only prerequisite for this would be permanently installed mini transmitters with individual signals in the cinemas. "The Mediawatch would be predestined for cinema research, so to speak," says SRG research service provider Matthias Steinmann. But Cinecom marketing manager Bruhin waves it off: firstly, Mediawatch is not even on the market yet, and secondly, a Mediawatch panel would be too expensive for the medium of cinema alone. And it is uncertain whether the SRG research service will switch to Mediawatch one day. On the other hand, it is certain that the cinema industry will need a new currency by September 2004. (mk)
Current data is not enoughNot only Cinecom wants tougher cinema data, the Swiss Advertising Association (SWA) is also pushing for it. SWA Director Jürg Siegrist (picture): "Although the number of visitors and contact figures serve as a basis for media planning, they are not sufficient on their own for detailed planning. We finally need performance figures that are reliable and can be clearly evaluated. In this respect, cinema operators have a duty to deliver. In short: the quality and thus also the informative value of the research results is crucial." (mk)
Markus Knöpfli

TV research The American advertising observer Nielsen Media Research is now also recording product placement. 100 employees examined video recordings and noted which products were shown and for how long, reports the Los Angeles Times. The data is to be sold to advertisers from February 2004, together with information on viewer numbers. At present, only prime time on the major broadcast networks is recorded.

He wouldn't be called Roger Schawinski if he had attracted attention by cuddling instead of provoking, but it was very surprising that his installation as Sat-1 boss was accompanied by such a fireworks display of greetings and presumed misfires. The channel's cult comedian, Harald Schmidt, will be stepping down at the end of the year. What remains are disappointed fans, who have outed themselves in even the noblest feature columns. The ProSieben-Sat-1 share price plunges. Whether Schawinski was brought in just to elegantly dispose of Harald Schmidt, who had become too expensive, will hardly ever be known. Nevertheless, we are already watching more Sat 1, because we know that Roschee is at the levers and will not be content to simply twiddle his thumbs. We expect his ghost to appear on the channel, HE, in the flesh. Somehow. Coming soon. Sat 1 turmoil in Advent: Roger came, Harald went.
(dse)

This year, campaigns from Switzerland rarely made it further than the shortlist or finalist round at international advertising festivals, and contrary to the general trend, local agencies even sent six percent more work to the Advertising Olympics in Cannes, which recorded five percent fewer entries worldwide. For Switzerland, Frank Bodin's Euro RSCG got hold of the only coveted lion - a silver one - with an ingenious DM campaign for the high-priced Zurich fitness studio Arena 225: the measuring tape, which always indicates a few centimetres too much, was distributed in front of expensive restaurants and nearby parking garages. The last golden cat of prey from the Riviera was brought to Switzerland by AY&R in 2001 for the "Médecins sans Frontières" commercial. The silver lion was won by Frank Bodin for Euro RSCG and Arena 225 in Cannes.
(la)