Newspapers The Tages-Anzeiger is cutting 15 percent of its budget, relying on its core departments and hoping to find customers in the millions in Zurich: At any rate, this is the conclusion that can be drawn from the diet officially imposed on the Tages-Anzeiger a week ago. Its editorial program is to strengthen (in terms of content, not personnel) the domestic, foreign, business, sports, culture and special topics sections - with the latter two being cut particularly painfully by 25 percent. According to the press release, this commitment to the overall competence is intended to create "the basis for cooperation opportunities with other Swiss-German publishing houses". However, the lavishly endowed Blauer Bund, which is being developed in the direction of the Zurich split, is almost spared from the red pencil. No wonder, since the second journalistic focus of the new concept is urban and regional reporting. The only question is how long even a slimmed-down Tages-Anzeiger will manage this balancing act between (inter)national and local aspirations, and how quickly paying customers will be found for what is perhaps the best, but certainly the most expensive newspaper. "We now have plenty of time and patience," says Tagi boss Peter Hartmeier. "Unless the economy goes completely crazy, we shouldn't have to go over the books again for the next three years." As a reminder: the editorial budget (including support) was slashed from just under CHF 49 million to CHF 42 million for 2004, which means, among other things, the loss of 1,400 full-time jobs.
Consequently, there is great uncertainty among the journalists at Werdstrasse. It has now been announced which colleagues will have to leave. However, it is unclear whether and how the paper, which until now has been "a hair's breadth to the left of the center" (former editor-in-chief Peter Studer), will be made compatible in terms of content after its formal adjustment to the prevailing headline system. In any case, it is hard to imagine that the voice from downtown Switzerland would be politically viable, let alone capable of winning a majority, in the rather conservative Zurich area. Fears that the job cuts could therefore be made not only in line with the new journalistic but also political guidelines have so far proved unfounded.
Oliver Classen

Last Wednesday, the Castors met at the Wings Bar, where the informal community around Jean-Christophe Francet, Philippe Meyer, Julien Vogel and Michael Seiler organizes an after-work party for people from the communications industry before Christmas. Jenny Best (who only returned from her vacations the following day) and Claudia Wilden (in bed with food poisoning) were absent from the Castor management team, and Natalie Schneider from the Idée-VfW board also had to do a lot of organizational work. Finding sponsors for the traditional event was more difficult than ever, she said. Nevertheless, the event was crowned with success and many familiar faces from the industry came to the "Herb". For example, Yvonne Müller sponsored one of the two bands performing with the radio magazine represented by KI-Media. With the second music sponsor, Beppo Genovese from Starplakat, it was not jazz that was discussed, but rather golf. It seems that Genovese can't stop putting even in winter.
Among the guests from food sponsor Publisuisse, represented by Carlo Steiner, was PR consultant Christian K. Schneider, Managing Director of PR agency Karl F. Schneider. In addition to tapas from Papa's restaurant, there was also a delicious green Thai curry.
Dani Stierli from aperitif sponsor Linkgroup had a lot of fun with the music. Jürg Trösch, co-owner of Linkgroup, gave the shortlisted author some good tips for his upcoming trip to Morocco. Unfortunately, Beat Sulzer from Clear Channel Plakanda was unable to attend himself, but he once again made a generous financial contribution to the event's infrastructure. And last but not least, the digestifs offered by Leos Gerteis, together with the espressos paid for by Bongusto Kommunikation, were very well received and found their way down various throats.
Beat Fritsch had a good laugh last week. Les Castors, a loose association of francophile copains and copines from the communications and publishing industry, hosted an after-work party at "Wings". The Idée-VfW (Association for Advertising Communication) held its traditional jazz event at the "Herb" bar-club in Zurich's Seefeld district, also featuring many familiar faces.
Where the communications, media and publishing industries meet for their parties is where we can be found at the various events in the scene. Do you already have something to report? Pick up the phone (01 296 97 98) or get in touch (info@ werbewoche.ch). Event tips and more shortlist pictures are available online at www.werbewoche.ch
It's impossible to imagine a good jazz evening without the double bass.
The brains behind "Les Castors": Jean-Christophe Francet, Philippe Meyer, Julien Vogel and Michael Seiler (from left).
The next generation is already in the starting blocks: Deniz (r.) and Cumi Karagülle arrived with their son Luiz-Aara.

Also seen at the Castors event: Michael Hermann from Weltwoche and Monika Schneider, Berner Zeitung.

Anastazja Dimitri (l.), ace director at Jean Frey, Weltwoche advertising manager Christophe Waeber and Stefanie Filippou.

Newly appointed marketing managers: Stefan Märki (l.), Zweifel, Sonja Hürlimann, Euro RSCG, and Pascal Urscheler, Nemos agency.

Highlight of the Idée VfW jazz evening: singer Marion Denzler with her band Round Corner.

Taking a seat on the sofa: Susann Fankhauser from Pazzo with Matthias Lopian (l.) and René Schuhmacher, KI-Media.

Likes to play cock of the walk: Leos Gerteis, NJP Tonstudio, with Sandra Genge (l.) and Diana Magnaguagno from Lowe Direct.

Billposters in the jazz bar: Marco Spadacini, Paron, Luca Schena and Dieter Zachmann (from left) from Idée Jazz sponsor Starplakat.

Best entertainment on the jazz evening: Ashra Iodino with Danilo Monteduro from Adlink.

Loyal Idée event visitor: Erika Jud (right), with Ursi Grob, Managing Director of Idée-VfW.

Jazz fans: Daniela Spadaro from Optimedia and Mario Buchmann from BG Media.

Co-owner Beat Aeschlimann is leaving the cR Kommunikation agency at the end of the year. His shares will be taken over by the remaining owners Stefan Batzli and Thomas Löhrer.
...
Daniel Pillard becomes Director of Ringier at the beginning of December
Romandie and successor to the late Gérard Geiger.
...
Marius Hagger replaces Michel Danthe as Head of Migros-
Medien as of December 1 and joins the management of Limmatdruck AG. Most recently, Hagger was Managing Director of Zürich Express at Tamedia.
...
Manuel Dähler will succeed Matthias Steinmann as
Head of the SRG Research Service. The Head of Radio Research
takes office at the beginning of March. Dähler's current function
Stephanie Weiss takes over.

Metzgerlehner Worldwide Partners is now responsible for the generics manufacturer Mepha.Metzgerlehner Worldwide Partners is now responsible for the generics manufacturer Mepha. The advertising agency from Erlenbach ZH won a pitch against three competitors and was commissioned to develop a new communication presence for the Mepha brand with a focus on TV and print. The first results of the image campaign will be seen in February 2004.

Market research The Swiss Council for Fire Prevention, Swiss milk producers and Credit Suisse placed the most popular advertisements in the Swiss media in the third quarter. In collaboration with the market research institute Demoscope, Publimedia presents readers of Werbewoche with an extract of the results from the Advertising Index (AX-Print) five times a year. This index (see above) is a module of the Market Radar and measures the popularity of advertisements. The boxes on the left and right show the ads that were most popular with the relevant psychographic target group. The three subjects that performed best among the entire sample, i.e. all four target groups as a whole, are shown under the title "Top Three".Best of NorthwestAffinity of ads among supporters in "Yuppieland"
Gold (149) MaseratiSpyder (Art & Work, Germany)
Silver (143) H&M Sale
Bronze (140) Passoa/Dettling & Marmott Passion Drink (Scarlett, Paris)
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Market research The Swiss Council for Fire Prevention, Swiss milk producers and Credit Suisse placed the most popular advertisements in the Swiss media in the third quarter. In collaboration with the market research institute Demoscope, Publimedia presents readers of Werbewoche with an extract of the results from the Advertising Index (AX-Print) five times a year. This index (see above) is a module of the Market Radar and measures the popularity of advertisements. The boxes on the left and right show the ads that were most popular with the relevant psychographic target group. The three subjects that performed best among the entire sample, i.e. among all four target groups as a whole, are shown under the title "Top Three".Best of NortheastAffinity of ads among supporters in "alternative culture"
Gold (131) Du Zwinglis Zürich (Wirz) Silver (123) Fujifilm Perfekt abgehoben (The Agency)
Bronze (114) Feldschlösschen Tour de Suisse (Spillmann Felser Leo Burnett)
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Art Buying The picture agency Zefa Visual Media - represented in Switzerland by Zefa Blueplanet - has redesigned its website. The image search has been made faster and more efficient and the number of selected images is no longer limited and can be gradually refined using a "Search in search" function. In addition to the Zefa collection, other image collections are also available. The agency's royalty-free offer is also accessible at www.zefablueplanet.ch.

Telecom The literal interpretation of Maslow's pyramid causes product managers much unhappiness and grief as long as they do not accept that even well-off people sometimes voluntarily fall back to the lowest need level. So before we continue, a few words of warning and reflection are in order. They seem advisable when you consider that Ariel Clementine was the last person in our hemisphere to make us believe that only a washing powder would give us access to higher levels of need. Since then, despite wars and crises, our cortex has evolved and paved the way to the top of the pyramid. Far from it! Forget the higher human needs for variety, evolution and participation. Anyone who sees the beaming faces and the pleading hand in the Swisscom showcase will land back on the hard ground of reality - in other words: the brain stem. For the Schweizer family, happiness on earth remains cordless, user-friendly and has soft buttons. And who could combine desire and fulfillment more easily if not the company that has always maintained the nerve cords of our communication?
(la)

Marketers The stock market reacted differently to the merger of Adlink Switzerland and the online units of Goldbach Media announced on November 24 (see page 17), with Adlink shares recording only small gains on German trading venues on the same day; in Berlin/Bremen, however, they closed at EUR 2.63, well above the morning's value and the high for the year to date of EUR 2.55. On
November 25, the share was already trading at EUR 2.40 again.

Value-added numbers With a poster campaign in major cities and an innovative SMS Advent calendar, the aid organization Heks is testing new channels to reach a younger target group: anyone who sends the word XMAS to 95005 will receive a saying on the subject of peace every day from 1 December until Christmas. The cost is two francs per SMS. Around 60 percent of this - or more with some telephone companies - will be donated to Heks. The idea and implementation came from One Marketing Services, Zurich, in collaboration with Bruna Fossati, Head of Communications at Heks.

Media policy The capital should have a calendar of events again as soon as possible.media policy The capital should have a calendar of events again as soon as possible. This is urgently needed from a cultural policy perspective, according to the city council, which passed a corresponding postulate from the Young Socialists. Bern has lacked a cultural agenda since the discontinuation of the Ansager entertainment supplement by the Berner Zeitung and the Bund in May. A working group is to draw up proposals for the creation and financing of a cultural agenda.

Guest commentary Instead of real innovation, Swiss tourism is focusing on karaoke marketing, writes Hansruedi Schiesser Every society goes through its spasms. The fun society has priceitis. And so the Swiss tourism industry has also had its "Milestone" for some years now. In November, this award for entrepreneurial innovation was presented to the brand entrepreneur Hanspeter Danuser, St. Moritz, and to the Mystery Park in Interlaken. And rightly so? I, too, am a little "milestoned" every November. Intoxicated, inspired by the hope that something is still going on in Swiss tourism. This unfounded elation allows us to briefly forget some of the inconveniences: the existential pressure on countless businesses and the fear of cooperation, the marketing flatulence of many tourism directors, but also the eternal wellness fuss about every renovated bathtub. Of course, an innovation is only as good as its implementation. Everyone also knows that the economic performance of Milestone-nominated new hotels is inversely proportional to the PR avalanche that is unleashed. It is also not unknown: The quality and originality of the implementation determines that of the service chain. It still depends on what you make of it. Is the umpteenth adventure rösti hiking trail innovative? Or the Swiss iso-certification of adventures? The fiftieth friendliness campaign of a mountain railroad? And the fifth lifestyle hotel in Zurich? Well, the latest is not always good and the good is often not new. But the problem remains: Swiss tourism has given up its innovative spirit. (Accordingly, Seco will probably subsidize the prefabricated Lego innovation in the near future). Instead, there is karaoke marketing: singing old crooners and becoming a star for 15 minutes.
Nevertheless, I am there at the award ceremony, proud and stoned, intoxicated by my own lack of originality and eavesdropping on the envious gossip in the next compartment on the SBB journey home. This is how the Milestone makes its rounds, reviving old questions and attracting attention - like a fart in a perfumery. The magic word pulls us out of our invention slump, every prizewinner is elevated to the status of creativity guru in the local press, and the mountain railway director regains air supremacy over the regulars' table.
It's quite remarkable how the Milestone no-bilitates itself as navel-gazing: We are all mighty milestoned. Admittedly, not always through innovative quantum leaps. Sometimes, striving marketing hops have to suffice. That's what the communications industry shows us. It doesn't matter, the main thing is that they help us have a big party. And that's what our apathetic tourist country needs, because that's what our legends and our offspring live on. And that's why I sing along with Bob Dylan - without fear of a hangover: "Everybody must get (mile)stoned."
> Hansruedi Schiesser is the owner of Trimarca Kommunikation, Chur.