Together with the German company Icom GmbH, the communications agency Mediapolis Zurich has developed a standardized procedure for measuring the success of internal corporate communications, providing customers with individual evaluations and recommendations. In addition, the most important data is condensed into an index, enabling comparisons with other companies. The index is already being used by a number of German companies this fall, such as Deutsche Bahn.

Outdoor advertising Airport billboards continue to lose traffic Fewer and fewer passengers are taking a look at the outdoor advertising at Swiss airports. Only Geneva-Cointrin and Bern-Belp recorded more frequencies. Zurich's Unique Airport recorded six percent fewer passengers between January and September 30 compared to the same period last year (12.9 million). At EuroAirport Basel, passenger volumes were 18.4 percent lower at 1.9 million passengers, while Lugano-Agno handled 13,3526 passengers (-25.1%). In Geneva, the volume rose by 5.8 percent, bringing the total to 6.2 million. Bern also increased by 1.3 percent to 131024 passengers. As passenger volumes fall, most airport advertising providers continue to lose reach. (mk)

Ueli Eckstein, Head of Print Media at the publisher AZ Media Group, now has overall responsibility for the AZ publishing houseThe publishing management of the Aargauer Zeitung (AZ) is being restructured: and is responsible for the reader market and advertising technology. Christoph Marty, Head of Magazines, will also become Deputy Publishing Director of AZ as of November 1. Oscar Meier, previously Publishing Director of the Limmattaler Tagblatt (LT), will take over the Aargau advertising market. ...
The Basel advertising agencies Dialog BFK and Lucky Lack Advertising
merge to form Dialog Lucky Lack and are managed by the owners Paul Känel, Susanne Borer (Dialog) and Patrick Lack (Lucky Lack).
...
Wolfgang Mecklenburg builds the
presence of its media agency group (MM+B/M&M) in France. MM+B Paris was merged with the agency Polka Media in mid-October under the name MM+B (France) agence media SAS. Polka owner Paul Cahienne holds a minority stake in the new company and sits on the Board of Directors (BoD) with Wolfgang and Riccarda Mecklenburg. Claudia
Mühlebach, Head of MM+B Switzerland, was commissioned by the Board of Directors to contact the French sister agency.
...
The Geneva daily newspaper Le Temps has made new appointments to its Board of Directors. Gilbert Coutau, Paul Miskiewicz and
Bénédict Hentsch. New members are publisher Michael
Ringier and Ringier CEO Martin Werfeli. Stéphane Garelli will retain the chairmanship.
...
In 2004, Leo Lüthy joined the editorial team of the TV magazine TR7. Lüthy has been working as an editor at SonntagsBlick for eight years.
...
Even before the announced relaunch, editor-in-chief Hannes Britschgi is leaving the news magazine Facts. The new editor-in-chief ad interim is Stefan Barmettler.
...
Ute Pichorner will become the new Head of Advertising at the Migros Cooperative Zurich at the beginning of November. She takes over from Hannes Schibli, who is retiring.

Some errors were made in the presentation of the new advertising rates in Advertising Week 38/03 ("Sugar for advertisers").Swiss Family increased in Mach Basic 2003 by 98000 readers (+17.1%), not 9800. In Facts, of course, there is no higher rate for the first bundle. The corresponding footnote is to be deleted. According to advertising manager Raphael Jud, the figures for the St.Galler Tagblatt are too high. Correct are 11220 francs (+0,79%) for 1?1 page bw and 15810 francs (+0,56%) for 1?1 page 4f.

Outdoor advertising The canton of Basel-Stadt is to pay seven million francs for 19 new public toilets and the renovation of seven existing ones.outdoor advertising The canton of Basel-Stadt is to pay seven million francs for 19 new public toilets and the renovation of seven existing ones. Originally, the Allgemeine Plakatgesellschaft (APG) was to have financed the new toilet concept and received the rights to new illuminated poster sites in return. However, the Basel parliament rejected this contract in summer 2002.

As part of the relaunch of www.knobel.ch, the Peter P. Knobel agency is providing an online reference work with over 100 PR terms and further practical PR know-how. It also contains useful checklists that provide valuable assistance in the implementation of PR measures, as well as selected case studies from the healthcare, IT, food, financial services and SME sectors. The Knobel agency is one of the top ten BPRA agencies.

Bank marketing II An image campaign by SFLB for the cantonal banks consistently focuses on one card: customer proximity.
According to the renowned corporate strategists Treacy and Wiersema, there are three ways to become a market leader: operational excellence, product leadership or customer intimacy. The customer magazine of the Association of Swiss Cantonal Banks (SVKB) made the latter the subject of an issue a year ago. For a good five years now, the cantonal banks have been using the argument of customer proximity as a core competence to position themselves as market leaders: Slogans such as "Die nahe Bank" (ZKB) or "Meine Bank" (LUKB) make this just as clear as the local color in "Ich bin ein Glarner" of GLKB. Parallel to the various advertising appearances of the 24 independent institutions, the SVKB in Basel had the tireless money trick character work for the image of the banking group and the accounts of its customers. In the second edition, the industrious figure, who was supposed to represent the staff, was given a helper role to bring her closer to the customers. But after ten successful years (the market share of domestic business is now around one third), she is stepping down from the advertising stage of the universal bank - and with her the inventor Wirz Werbung.
Practiced strategy pays off
This does not mean that the Group should abandon its tried-and-tested
strategy of customer proximity, explains Elisabeth Bürgin, Head of Marketing Communication at SVKB. After all, according to the image barometer, consumers rate the bank highly in terms of likeability, trustworthiness and sustainability. "However, we wanted to implement these in a more emotional way, which is why we decided on the new campaign by Spillmann Felser Leo Burnett in a pitch." Bürgin does not want to name the budget, but the prestige and the three commercials now available in 40- and 60-second versions suggest that this is a long-term and substantial order. Especially as it will be supplemented with a "basket of additional activities such as advertisements and posters, provided that the member institutions, which are also autonomous in terms of communication, decide on one or other accompanying measure," says Bürgin. The ASCB wants to address customers from the retail sector first and foremost with the stories, and investment and corporate customers as a second priority.
In all the films, we meet children who earn their first money, for example by selling bunches of flowers they have picked themselves or by collecting empty Depot bottles at the football stadium after a match. "Stories that we all know and have experienced ourselves in one form or another," is how consultant Rolf Zimmermann sums up the idea with its high identification potential. Using the legendary KB "Kässeli", the commercials lead the viewer into the present of the former children, to the flower store, their own home or the transport company. They have all remained KB customers. "The aim is to express 'growing together' not in terms of quantity, but in terms of quality," emphasizes Elisabeth Bürgin. This inevitably led to a similar positioning to the current Raiffeisen banks campaign. Nevertheless, she sees the subtle difference: "The cantonal banks are characterized by high professional standards across the entire universal banking offering, combined with a pronounced customer proximity. As a result, they achieve above-average customer loyalty."
Likeable stories from the new Cantonal Bank campaign are reminiscent of the graceful Citterio commercials.
Luca Aloisi

Rates Advertisers can rejoice: more performance at the same price is the motto of numerous print media. "Despite a massive increase in readership of 51,000 readers or 13.2 percent, we are keeping our rates at the same level in 2004 as this year," says TR7 advertising manager Patrick M. Knecht. Even though not all print titles have been able to increase their reach as much as the program guide from Jean Frey, Knecht is not alone in his pricing strategy. Compared to the rate rounds of previous years, there are certainly more titles at the turn of the year that are improving their performance and not changing their prices. Two titles stand out in particular: Facts and Cash. For the fourth time in a row, the Tamedia magazine is not changing its rates, even though its reach has increased significantly over the last two years. It may be that the price restraint this year has to do with the upcoming relaunch of the news magazine. Cash, on the other hand, froze its price while readership continued to erode, which effectively amounted to an increase. An increase in rates due to the slight recovery in reach this fall would therefore hardly have been appreciated by advertisers.
Espace Media keeps its promiseThe higher tariffs for the coming year will be paid by the publishers in
generally justified by increases in performance. However, the increases are usually in the range of up to one percent. Bon à savoir once again holds the top spot in terms of rate increases (plus 9.4 percent). However, the paper remains below its growth in reach of 13.5 percent. Weltwoche, on the other hand, which reported a 40 percent increase in readership, only raised its rates by 8.5 percent, putting it in second place in the print media market behind the consumer magazine. Schweizer Familie, which gained 9800 readers, increased its prices by 6 percent.
Among the daily newspapers, the rates of the Berner Zeitung stand out positively. Despite a 40 percent increase in reach, the daily newspaper is only raising its prices by 31 percent. The BZ is thus keeping the promise it made in the summer on the occasion of the planned takeover of the Bund. Provided, of course, that the Competition Commission approves the merger with the daily newspaper Der Bund.
Uniform tariffs in French-speaking Switzerland
Even if the majority of advertising managers behave in an almost exemplary manner when using the calculator, there are titles which
worsen their price-performance ratio. These include above all French-speaking Swiss titles, such as the Ringier magazines TV 8, L'Hebdo and Illustré, which are introducing the standard rate. This will lead to price increases of 70 to 80 percent, at least for black-and-white advertisements. In view of the unchanged - or in the case of L'Hebdo even reduced - output, this is a significant price adjustment. Speaking of uniform rates, the Beobachter also considered introducing them, but decided against it in favor of a separate evaluation. However, the price for black and white advertisements rose by 9.3 percent, a much more significant increase than the four-color rate (plus one percent).
The price of their advertising space increased by 8.5 percent (Weltwoche) and 6 percent (Schweizer Familie).

Gross advertising rates for a full page black/white four-color
Newspapers 2004 Change in % 2004 Change in %
Aargauer Zeitung 13 332.- - 18 819.- -
24 heures 8 880.- + 0.9 15 800.- + 0.6
Basler Zeitung 12 012.- - 16 512.- -
Basellandschaftliche Zeitung N 5 500.- - 7 012.- -
Berner Zeitung (incl. Bund)* 19 140.- + 31 26 871.- + 31
View 21 516.- + 0.6 31 614.- + 0.4
Cash 12 920.- - 17 000.- -
CASHvalue 17 000.- - 17 000.- -
Der Landbote 5 808.- + 2.3 7 938.- + 1.7
Finance & Economy 9 900.- - 13 440.- -
Freiburger Nachrichten N 3 740.- + 1.2 4 990.- + 0.9
HandelsZeitung 8 847.60 - 12 483.60 -
La Liberté 5 236.- + 0.9 7 486.- + 0.6
La Presse Riviera-Chablais N 5 104.- + 1.8 6 754.- + 2.2
La Presse Nord Vaudois N 3 784.- + 2.4 5 684.- + 1.6
Le Matin dimanche 19 520.- + 0,6 34 700.- + 0,6
Le Matin semaine 6 650.- + 2,3 13 600.- + 2,3
Le Monde diplomatique CH 4 550.- - 5750.- - 9,4
Le Nouvelliste 5 456.- - 9 328.- + 1
Le Temps 9 300.- + 1,1 15 100.- + 1,3
L'Express 6 030.- - 9 930.- -
L'Impartial 5 490.- - 8 730.- -
Mittelland Zeitung 20 460.- - 28 794.- -
Neue Luzerner Zeitung 13 244.- + 0.7 18 554.- + 0.5
Neue Zürcher Zeitung 13 156.- + 1.7 19 756.- + 1.6
NZZ am Sonntag 13 728.- + 2.3 20 628.- + 2.2
SonntagsBlick 14 352.- - 25 468.- -
SonntagsZeitung** 18 530.- - 27 518.- -
St. Galler Tagblatt GES 11 322.- + 1.7 15 912.- + 1.2
Tages-Anzeiger 15 609.- + 0.6 24 687.- + 0.6
Thurgauer Zeitung GES 6 116.- + 1.5 8 126.- + 1.1
Tribune de Genève 8 800.- + 1,2 15 300.- + 0,7
Walliser Bote 4 455.- + 2 6 815.- + 1.3
WochenZeitung 4 550.- - 5750.- - 9,4
Free newspapersAargauer Woche GES 10 692.- - 11 465.- -
Basler rod GES 10 692.- - 16 062.- -
GHI 9 548.- + 0.5 15 276.80 + 0.5
Lausanne Cités 8 194.- + 0.7 13 094.40 + 0.5
Tagblatt der Stadt Zürich 8 632.- + 1.5 9 622.80 + 1.4
SupplementsAlpha 25 741.- + 0.7 30 682.- + 0.6
The magazine 14 984.- - 14 984.- -
Télé Top Matin 19 150.- + 1 19 150.- + 1
TV Guide 13 000.- + 0,2 13 000.- + 0,2
* subject to approval by the Competition Commission
** only applies to 2nd to 9th bundle. The 1st bundle is more expensive. Source: Werbewoche survey
Markus Knöpfli

Media ads in which TV celebrities look in the mirror early in the morning and are told that "everything looks better on TV" have already been seen, but only in small circles has there been talk of a supporting guerrilla campaign by the advertising time marketer Publisuisse, with which it haunted the premises of potential customers. The agency Publicis had discreetly selected V-men and women secretly affix stickers with the claim on mirrors, fridges and toilet lids of various creative and media agencies. Now the originators of the cloak-and-dagger campaign have thanked them with a genuine guerrilla cap and a matching cigar. "With this reward at the latest, Publisuisse became the talk of the agency," revealed numerous V-Männer afterwards....

Television The marketing agency Unimark is planning two infotainment programs on the announced private channel U1 TV Station from March 2004.Television The marketing agency Unimark is planning two infotainment programs on the announced private channel U1 TV Station from March 2004
Station. For the "Personalities" talk show, one person each from the media and entertainment, from the business world and "from the street" will be invited, as Unimark spokesperson Christian Grass explains. Unimark embeds special forms of advertising such as product placement, trailers and references to further Internet offers into this framework. "Weekend Feelings" visits company events, sales shows and similar occasions. A print magazine will be launched to accompany the program, which will be included with an "established magazine".

Column The last species of journalist to be hit by the red pen is now also the noble feathers. The re-dimensioning of many of the complacent feature pages is overdue and also an opportunity for a fresh start. Some excited feature writers, who are currently complaining about a new "structural change in the public sphere", would like us to believe that a central place of intellectual debate is in danger. If the cultural supplements of the quality newspapers only offer half the length of six to eight pages a day, the self-understanding of the republic is at stake, they cry out. Despite all understanding for the attempt of colleagues to elevate the crisis-related threat to their own jobs to the status of a challenge for society as a whole, one should not take the culturally critical whining seriously. After all, the crisis of the feuilleton did not just begin when job and page cuts were implemented in the protected zones of newspaper culture. Long before it became a victim of cost-calculators, the feuilleton in the German quality press had ruined itself.
In sovereign ignorance of the business model, the expansion of the scope beyond any reasonable measure was seen as a gain in reflective competence, whereas in reality only the once booming advertising market required editorial additions. The newly gained space was filled with those elitist distinguishing features that had made the leading feuilletons unreadable on some days. In often embarrassing overestimation of themselves, authors stylized themselves as generalists who liked to shrilly contradict the leading article or the business section from the back pages of their paper. It is not the contradiction that is inappropriate, but the cluelessness with which the "J'accuse" pose is struck here. Opinion on everything was and is the order of the day, not informed analysis. What counts is the effective gesture that secures "discourse sovereignty" for a few days. Thus was born the "debate feuilleton", which has damaged the reputation and significance of intellectual debate more than the spitfire resentment ever could.
Because in order to set the topics of public discussion for a few days, people were prepared to betray what feuilletonism actually stands for. The pinnacle of this disrepute was marked by a Frankfurt newspaper which, in this noisy competition for attention, did not even shy away from denouncing a writer: the inability to read was combined in a frightening way with the will to go as far as the journalistic execution of an author. This infamy, defiantly justified by its authors to this day, has permanently disenchanted the new feuilleton: it was nothing other than a brazen attempt to subject cultural life to the principles of tabloid journalism. Today, you can learn more about the state of society from advertising than from detached feuilletons. Anyone interested in reliable cultural reporting has therefore long since turned away in disgust from the riotous feuilletons. And even services such as literary criticism are hardly accepted any more. A few sentences with subjective judgments of taste are enough if they are spoken on television by a credible figure. And we are supposed to worry when the still page-long remnants of pretentious trivia are trimmed down? Let's wish them all to hell so that we can think again about what newspapers have to do with culture.
> Heribert Seifert writes
regularly for the NZZ about the
German media landscape.

This week, Bund Verlag is making redundancies as part of the planned cooperation with the Berner Zeitung (BZ).Print This week, Bund Verlag is making redundancies as part of the planned cooperation with the Berner Zeitung (BZ). These measures have been approved by the Board of Directors. 35 employees will lose their jobs, as publishing director Pepe Wiss confirmed to the SonntagsZeitung. 29 of those made redundant work in publishing, six in technology. According to Wiss, 15 publishing employees will move to BZ at the beginning of 2004, while a dozen will continue to work for the Swiss Confederation.