Online market The ranks of marketers are thinning out: Adlink becomes number 1 A year and a half ago, Adlink Switzerland swallowed up its competitor Qualiclick, and now the company is being merged with the online division of Goldbach Media. Specifically, the international Adlink Holding and Goldbach are merging their online advertising marketing and agency services in Switzerland as of January 1, 2004. Adlink Holding and Goldbach will each hold a 50 percent stake in the new company, which will operate under the name Adlink. The Goldbach brands ActiveAgent, MediaAgent and Suchtreffer will not be continued in Switzerland, but in Austria the two groups will continue to operate separately. However, there is also an option to merge there if the Swiss operation goes well.
Martin Radelfinger, previously Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of Adlink Switzerland, will become Managing Director. Klaus Kappeler, CEO of Goldbach, will become Chairman of the Board of Directors, which is made up of equal numbers of directors. Marcel Bossard will also join the Board of Directors on the Goldbach side, while the Adlink representatives have yet to be appointed. According to his own statements, Radelfinger is leaving the Board of Directors, but it is unclear whether this also applies to Guy Challen, who has been Chairman of the Board of Directors of Adlink Switzerland since July.
In the next 14 days, the current Adlink crew will move to the shared location in the Goldbach Center in Küsnacht, and it will be announced this week whether people will be made redundant. However, there is hardly any overlap in personnel, said Radelfinger. The merged company offers a network of over 100 sites and
expects a profit for 2004.
Radelfinger estimates the market share of total online advertising expenditure at 45 percent and that of Publimedia Webadvertising, now the industry runner-up, at 20 percent.
Markus Knöpfli

Euro RSCG Balladur & Giger has won the pitch for Pernod Ricard Swiss SA, for whose sparkling wine Café de Paris - according to the producer the market leader in flavored sparkling wines - the Geneva agency will launch the first advertising measures before the end of the year.

TV markets Despite the Internet, TV consumption continues to grow unabated. Nevertheless, new channels are finding it extremely difficult - especially in such spoiled TV regions as German-speaking Switzerland.TV broadcasters' fears that the Internet and interactivity would increase at the expense of TV usage can definitely be dismissed as unfounded. On the contrary: even in the recent past, audiences have increased the amount of time they spend in front of the television with each passing year. This is one of the findings of the "International Television Key Facts" study, which the IP Network conducts every year in collaboration with the RTL Group. The report provides meticulous information on the development of TV markets in 37 countries (see box). It was presented and discussed last week at the Institute for Journalism and Media Studies at the University of Zurich (IPMZ).
If we look at the last eight years of development, the public has spent at least a few additional minutes of its daily media time budget on TV every year. In Germany, for example, daily usage increased by ten minutes between 2001 and 2002 alone. Even greater growth rates were observed in Eastern Europe, where the population has spent an additional 15 minutes in front of the television since 2000. Above all, the Poles made a name for themselves as frequent viewers. In the last five years alone, their daily TV usage has increased by a whole 28 minutes.
Despite the respectable advance, from which no other traditional media could even come close to benefiting, optimism is not appropriate for the medium of television. At the same time as the increase in usage, the offerings on the TV market have literally exploded. "However, this expansion has by no means been translated into a corresponding increase in demand," explained journalism professor Heinz Bonfadelli.
This has already been painfully felt in Switzerland by the two failed channels Tele24 and TV 3. The TV experts present doubted that U1, which is about to launch, would be any luckier. The fact is: German-speaking Switzerland is spoiled like no other region in Europe with top programs from financially strong broadcasters. According to Giordano Giordani, "the high level of news expertise of the SRG stations combined with the high-quality competition from the German channels" represents "an almost insurmountable hurdle."
Spoiled TV audienceThis quality offering also sets the standard for the professionalism expected. "Viewers will only accept certain compromises in quality if there is a local connection, as is the case with regional private broadcasters," explained Bonfadelli. "I hardly think that people will be prepared to do the same with a national service like U1." There were also doubts as to whether the strong emphasis on interactivity promised by the new channel would lead to success. "Although a certain desire for interactivity can be observed, this phenomenon is limited to young viewers. Overall, TV remains a passive medium," said Gior-dani. Bonfadelli added that this characteristic will become even more pronounced in the future. "In line with the US model, television consumption will also change from intensive to extensive use here. This fact also stands in the way of interactive TV."
Other big question marks were raised about the staying power of new TV offerings. Bonfadelli recalled the start-up time of today's successful broadcaster RTL. "This program had to spend ten years building up to generate sufficient audience loyalty." In comparison, TV 3 did not have enough patience, "even though the financially strong Tamedia Group was behind it", said Bonfadelli.
Feel-good content dominatesIf the IP study "International Television Key Facts" is to be believed, the current program trends will continue for a while yet. According to the study, the reality, casting and dating formats that have dominated in recent years will remain successful.
In general, the study identifies a trend towards "more entertainment, more audience proximity and more fun" in 2003 and 2004. "Feel-good TV" is the keyword for the needs of today's
audience, also in the sense of a response to the bleak economic and global political situation. The current high significance of nostalgia programs ("Seventies, Eighties and
Nineties shows"). "In a difficult environment, people want to
be reminded of better times." (dse)
According to an IP study, casting formats are among the current TV hits - and will remain so.
Daniel Schifferle

Commentary Following the legal absolution of the German "Fernsehfee", Swiss TV providers are also likely to soon need alternative financing models, writes Oliver Classen. "There is neither an actual nor a potential competitive relationship between the manufacturers of devices that can fade out commercials from television programs and the TV providers financed by advertising": This core sentence of a landmark ruling by the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court is likely to be a heavy burden on the heads of broadcasters in Munich, Cologne and probably also Zurich. After all, it states nothing less than the legal harmlessness and - even worse - unassailability of the so-called "TV fairy." Although the private TV broadcasters ProSiebenSat1 and RTL can still take their lawsuits against the stop-the-spots software to the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe on the grounds of "unfair and existence-threatening obstructive competition," this is unlikely to change the clean bill of health for the advertising wizard, who now goes by the name of Tivion. Only time will tell whether and to what extent this German legal situation can be transferred to local conditions.
However, it is already certain that the main product of the small Koblenz-based company TC Unterhaltungselektronik AG will not stop at the border. Firstly, Swiss TV customers also want to enjoy unadulterated movie enjoyment (again). And secondly, they can afford the necessary small change (currently 69 euros) even more easily than their northern neighbors.
Against this background, the new Swiss-German private television companies can only be congratulated on their unorthodox financing models. Both Züri Plus and the newly licensed U1 TV station rely mainly on non-advertising sources of income. What sponsorship already is for Hasli-TV's successor, interactive teleshopping is soon to become for the new private station in Schlieren.
In addition to the already hard-pressed regional broadcasters, the official Swiss color television, which is increasingly speculating on advertising money, could end up looking down the tubes. And that would undoubtedly be a particular irony of recent (media) history.
> Oliver Classen, Editor

Internet Following a reorganization of the Webinformatics and Webpublishing departments, the Aargauer Zeitung (AZ) is now planning a paid online edition.Internet Following a reorganization of the Webinformatics and Webpublishing departments, the Aargauer Zeitung (AZ) is now planning a paid online edition. Various so-called "e-paper" systems are currently being evaluated, explained co-editor-in-chief Peter Buri to Werbewoche. They enable the complete AZ to be read online in the original newspaper layout. An archive of the AZ will be integrated into the service. The newspaper has been available in PDF format since 1997.

Direct Marketing VIII If you want to master the tools of direct marketing, there is no way around a well-founded training course. The Swiss Direct Marketing Association has developed the DM Planner and DM
Master's degree course provides a basis for targeted dialog marketing.
The Swiss Direct Marketing Association (SDV) has been addressing the issue of training for fourteen years. Professionals working in direct marketing need to know the mechanisms and have practical knowledge. Training has not lost its original purpose. Even today, it is important to consolidate and strengthen the status of direct marketing with trained specialists. An industry can only establish itself if it has qualified personnel who understand its business and know how to take advantage of the opportunities.DM planner as a solid basisThe one-year direct marketing planner course forms the basis for entering the industry. The essential elements of direct marketing such as database marketing, creation, media or production are learned in 380 lessons. The lessons provide theoretical background knowledge as well as practical relevance and contacts to the top companies in the industry. This mix produces specialists who can plan and implement stringent DM concepts and DM campaigns.
The DM planner is a professional who has the necessary knowledge and skills in all areas of direct marketing to independently solve target-oriented direct advertising tasks. He or she places orders with third parties and organizes the execution of the campaigns in a professional and timely manner. He also monitors the budget. His profile also includes creative skills, organizational flair and conceptual strength. As the hub between consumer, provider and external bodies, the DM planner must be a sociable person and a competent contact for external specialists.
Certified DM planners are on the same level as marketing planners. The difference is that specializing in one topic allows them to look in depth, which is based on
is applicable to all other areas in the marketing mix.
For professionals: the DM MasterThe training cycle in direct marketing will be completed next spring with the launch of the Direct Marketing Master course. This course is aimed at people who pursue DM strategies at departmental level and have to plan and implement complex communication and sales concepts. They have already acquired the basic DM know-how.
Anyone who has completed a DM Master's course writes complex DM concepts, manages the department in a lean and profit-oriented manner and knows the laws of integrated communication. This enables the optimal integration of direct marketing into a company's communication and advertising activities.
At agency level, the DM master is a professional consultant who knows the finer points of DM and knows how to apply this knowledge in projects with customers. Thanks to their business knowledge, they can assess the relevant aspects in their own company and manage their department operationally.
Short courses for beginnersIn addition to the two comprehensive courses, short courses and one-day workshops offer curious marketers an insight into the world of direct marketing. Participants are also introduced to the subject with simple lessons based on the latest learning techniques. Learning should also be fun. The philosophy is called "edutainment": stimulating all the senses in a playful way, conveying the joy of learning and communication and moving away from stubborn, outdated forms of learning.
The DM taster courses briefly outline the fundamental advantages of direct marketing and teach the most important basic skills: rapid reinvestment of financial resources, precise analysis and accurate testing, knowledge of the most attractive and profitable customer segment.
*Timo Albiez is course manager DM plannerEuropean certified DM courses
The European direct marketing association FEDMA (Federation of
European Direct Marketing Association) certified the DM Planner course in March 2003. Only a few courses pass this hurdle and are able to convince the FEDMA board in Brussels. This certificate allows more intensive cooperation with the various schools in Europe. Contacts with other students, exchange programs or
Interdisciplinary work projects open up the boundaries and thus the learning field. Further information on the DM training courses: www.sdv-academy.ch or [email protected]
Scenes from the creative week during the DM Planner training: "Stimulating all the senses in a playful way, conveying the joy of learning and communication."
Timo Albiez*

Direct Marketing IV The St.Gallen-based DM service provider Trendcommerce has given itself a market-oriented group structure and expanded its range of services. Fisch Meier Direkt accompanied the
entrepreneurial development in an integrated campaign.
Trendcommerce responded to the needs of the market by expanding and restructuring its group. As a result, it has defied the slump in the communications industry this year and increased its order volume and market share. The Trendcommerce Group now comprises three areas of expertise and offers - according to the claim - "genuine full service for direct marketing". The comprehensive range of services has not been put together by chance or grown from historical roots. Rather, it follows the claim to offer every client tailor-made solutions for their direct marketing needs, explains consultant Gabriele Knus. "The Trendcommerce Group positions itself accordingly with the promise: 'Customization for your direct communication'."
When developing a creative advertising idea, the aim was to kill several birds with one stone: advertising agencies, direct clients, existing customers and prospects were to be approached. The relevant contact persons were identified by means of telephone pre-qualification in order to ensure the communication chain with the target group. The declared aim was to introduce the company to the companies contacted in a personal presentation.
The creative team around CD duo Gilbert Fisch and Remo Bachmann from Fisch Meier Direkt took the communication brief "made-to-measure" quite literally. And so they came up with a solution centered around a very real pair of briefs. The one-size-fits-all unisex underpants ironically dramatize the impossibility of achieving a solution with a perfect fit using standard products.
A step above the beltThe advertisers paid no less attention to sending the unusual intimate mail: the briefs were packaged in a transparent envelope. "As a result, hardly any of these envelopes are likely to have remained unopened," says Gabriele Knus with a grin.
Surprised or amused by the unusual mail, the next step - making an appointment with Trendcommerce by telephone through the Group's own CallWorld - was already pre-programmed. Those who were not reached in the follow-up campaign subsequently received a corresponding reminder card, punched in the unisex brief shape. "Once the appointment had been successfully arranged, the next step was to get above the belt," explains Strategic Planner Ellen Gundrum. This was achieved by sending an appointment confirmation with a sewing kit and the motto "So that everything fits and lasts".
The DM campaign was supported with advertisements in the advertising week that communicated the "one size fits all" advertising idea in the same style - with one-size-fits-all latex gloves glued in. In other specialist titles, the idea was realized photorealistically with the subjects "latex gloves" and "briefs".
One pair of briefs for all: daring image play with intimacy.

Luca Aloisi

Commuter newspaper 20 Minuten is increasing its circulation from January 1, 2004 by 20,000 to 3,400,000 copies, primarily to meet the increased demand in the Zurich area, explained publishing director Rolf Bollmann to Werbewoche. The going-out agenda 20 Minuten Week will also be published with an increased circulation from 50,000 to 70,000 copies from 2004. Once a month, Week will be supplemented by The Guide, a brochure in A6 format, which will cover the same range of topics as Week but, according to Bollmann, will go "even more in depth". The Guide is produced by the Zurich-based company The Guide Company (formerly Hello Visitors).

Internet The Moneycab .com financial portal now also offers its services on Vodafone Live, the name under which Swisscom Mobile is launching an information platform for cell phones. Economic news and stock market reports from Moneycab can now be accessed via mobile phone.
The prerequisite is the possession of special cell phones offered by Swisscom.
The platform is already operated by Swisscom Mobile's minority shareholder Vodafone in 13 countries.

Advertisements The Publicitas index fell by 0.1 points to 95.2 points in October. This is the weakest decline since June 2001, when the index, which shows the development of advertising expenditure in the daily press, stood at 135.1 and thus only one point below the record value of March 2001.

Direct Marketing III With the Signum model and new design, Opel wants to give itself a modern and dynamic image. MRM's accompanying DM launch measure was geared to this. "The new Opel Signum is waiting for you. And not just anywhere. But directly in front of your door", was announced to selected recipients of a mailing in the summer. It makes nice reading, but it's not the right thing to do in order to regain market share in the hard-fought and declining Swiss car market. Apart from that, GM's premium brand Saab already invited customers to a test drive in a similar campaign in 2001. This type of invitation to an experience suited Saab perfectly and made perfect sense in its niche because of the disproportionate advertising expenditure per car sold.
If the Swedish carmakers were primarily concerned with increasing the efficiency of their advertising franchises, the DM campaign carried out by MRM for the Signum starts at the image level: With the new model - a hybrid of sedan and station wagon - the marketing strategists in Rüsselsheim are going to reposition their solid but well-behaved mainstream brand. The goal at the end of the journey: Opel wants to win a proud 40 percent of new customers.
In order to advance to a dynamic, innovative brand (brand claim: "Fresh thinking for better cars"), the logistic
The DM measure in favor of the new Opel model for the number two among the car brands in Switzerland will be nothing more than a small matter. All the more so if you put it in relation to the model offensive - around 20 new passenger cars are to be realized by 2006 - and the prestigious, luxuriously furnished brand and communication center on Berlin's showpiece street Unter den Linden.
Opel, with over 30,000 new cars sold in 2002 and almost 400 dealers in the MRM portfolio, is an important customer for the Swiss relationship marketing agency MRM from the McCann-Erickson Worldgroup. The task was to support classic advertising media with a dialog campaign. The purpose of the exercise: to generate 500 test drives among the target group of 30- to 50-year-old men with upscale purchasing power throughout Switzerland. To support the premium idea, Group Account Director Martin Bauer agreed with marketing managers Jacques Hansel and Samir Saydjari at Opel in Biel to allow a 24-hour test drive. "Dialog measures often achieve a high recall value and make it possible to have a more targeted and personal effect on the potential customer," says Saydjari.
Complex DM campaignBetween July and September, 14 cars were made available along a "roadshow" route for the targeted 500 test drives. In addition to the usual brochure and price list, MRM added 30000 mailings, the online booking tool - including administration system - and the promotion teams as well as a follow-up mailing with a purchase voucher. On the trade side, MRM handled the prospect and test drive leads with the results of the questionnaire via email. Bauer looks back with satisfaction on the successful DM campaign, which is likely to have significantly supported the planned sales of 1,300 units by the end of 2003. At least in Biel, they seem to be convinced of this, because "the campaign will be repeated with new addresses in spring 2004," says Bauer.
DM in car choiceIn a recent study, the consulting firm Cap Gemini Ernst Young examined the influence of different communication media on car purchases. According to the study, only 17 percent of 700 U.S. citizens surveyed were persuaded to choose a particular model by TV commercials.
move. Nearly three times as many (45%), on the other hand, reported moving from
Direct mail to have been influenced. Verbal recommendations perform best (71%).
30000 mailings were to push sales and the image of the Opel brand in Switzerland.
Luca Aloisi

Lifestyle The design magazine Sign has two mothers: Bolero and Ideales Heim open the door to their own markets When Bolero approached Ringier in the summer, it was clear to the industry that sales talks had to take place. However, the fact that the women's title had been in talks with the publisher Archithema for a long time received little response. The result of these meetings was not a merger, but a rare event: Sign, a joint magazine from two publishers. "Actually, Emil Bisig from Archithema and I have been in regular contact since 2000," adds Bolero publishing director Martina Allenspach. About a year ago, the idea of the design magazine Sign was born. Commercial interests were at the forefront. Both magazines wanted to tap into new customer groups. Bolero was looking for a way into interior design, while Ideales Heim wanted to become more fashionable. The credibility of the brands in their respective markets was to be transferred to the partner. Ideales Heim and Bolero therefore appear together as the sender of Sign.
Close cooperation between two publishers requires a cautious approach. For example, sensitive data is involved in the area of advertising acquisition. Allenspach therefore emphasizes the "great basic trust" that prevailed between the partners as a special feature of the cooperation. Coordination over the course of a year and across two companies was a major communication task. But "overall, the story is like a love story," enthuses Allenspach.
Cautious fashion customersHowever, there was only limited cooperation in the advertising business. The two sales managers went through the customer lists together. However, they then divided the list up by sector and acquired them separately. Sign was less well received by fashion customers than hoped. Allenspach explains that the poor economic situation of the Italian labels put a spanner in the works. The industry is not expecting an upturn until 2005 and is currently not ready for experiments.
"The commercial success was okay," says the publishing director cautiously. Sign is financed by advertising revenue, but does not generate a large profit. Allenspach is expecting a second issue next November to be more successful. Whether this will happen depends on the sales figures at the kiosk.
No further collaborations are planned at Bolero for the time being. First up is the collaboration with the new Ringier sister magazine Edelweiss. "We will integrate our product as much as necessary," says Allenspach. Perhaps a new love story will develop despite the different positioning and language boundaries.
Sign was produced by Andrea Cavegn and AD Ulrike Beling.

Stefano Monachesi