The Basel-based agency Lucky Lack Communications has created a global campaign for Panalpina to promote the internal "Health, Safety & Environment" program, which focuses on safety in the workplace and the responsible treatment of the environment and nature. Lucky Lack was commissioned by the Panalpina Regional Center AMEC (Africa, Middle East, Central Asia) following a competitive presentation.

As Head of Communications at Swiss Exhibition, Vanessa Flack is now responsible for Züspa, Swiss-Moto and Giardina, and the smell of roasting sausages wafts up to her office. It's Züspa time in Zurich, and her workplace is directly above the main entrance to the glass exhibition palace. However, the numerous visitors are not yet following the communication ideas she has implemented. The PR woman has only been working as Head of Communications at Swiss Exhibition for five weeks. However, her work for the garden and lifestyle trade fair Giardina, which is held annually in March in Zurich and every two years in Geneva, is already in full swing. Her portfolio also includes the Swiss-Moto 2-wheeler trade fair in February. Even though she manages trade fairs in Zurich, Vanessa Flack still has a job in Basel. She finds these "changing worlds exciting", even if you occasionally "have your documents in the wrong place".
Vanessa Flack was selected from 160 applicants for her new job. She is responsible for all communication measures, i.e. advertising and public relations at the same time. At a trade fair, these communication disciplines also have to serve two sides: Exhibitors and visitors. For these campaigns, the Head of Communications works with a wide range of agencies. However, she is also pleased to be able to incorporate many ideas into her strategies for trade fair communication.
She has plenty of experience in this field. After graduating from high school in Wettingen, Flack obtained a diploma in translation for Spanish, English and French at the Zurich School of Interpreting. Shortly after graduating, however, she realized that the solitary, quiet struggle to render a foreign language correctly and elegantly did not quite suit her communicative nature.
She found her first job in the industry at Trimedia. There, as assistant to Aloys Hirzel, she gained "the best insight into the
Get PR". She developed into a PR assistant and honed her specialist knowledge at Spri. In the end, she managed various mandates in the consumer goods sector at Trimedia, for example McDonald's.
After five years in Hirzel's service, she moved to film distributor Buena Vista as press officer. The promotion of "a lot of action films" was part of her program. The work behind the scenes was also exciting, when she looked after actors or directors in Switzerland. How do you deal with a star like Götz George? In the end, she managed the premiere with the ruffian just as easily as the limousine rides with Til Schweiger or the fondue chat with Hollywood legend Sidney Pollak.
Vanessa Flack still talks enthusiastically about the film industry. Why did she switch to trade fairs? In Switzerland, big promotions have become the exception rather than the rule, routine dominates the work because the stars only concentrate on a few major cities. And when in the end "a lot of things started to repeat themselves", the PR woman wanted to go one step further.
She remains a passionate moviegoer at heart and in her free time. She also plays tennis at interclub level and regularly acts as a match manager. Occasionally, she takes a dip in Zurich's City indoor swimming pool - partly because her Tunisian-born husband works there as a lifeguard. Vanessa Flack's busy schedule feeds the dream that one day they could spend a little more time than just their vacations in the North African country. In any case, the renovation of their house in Tunisia is progressing.
Dreams of a future life on the beaches of Tunisia: Vanessa Flack, newly responsible for the
Communication of three public trade fairs.
Andreas Panzeri

Internet The Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) is cooperating in Germany with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) for the marketing of its website and NZZ Online will be marketed by FAZ Electronic Media GmbH with immediate effect. Package offers with FAZ.net are planned to attract international campaigns. According to Kurt Busslinger, Head of Marketing New Media at NZZ, this will almost double the combined reach of the two sites "in the target group of quality-conscious and affluent readers". The print edition of the NZZ has been managed by the FAZ subsidiary Leadermedia in the German advertising market since 2001.

Publishers Ringier has established a centralized Magazine Readership Department for German-speaking Switzerland. The head of the department will be Markus Will, who will take over the position in addition to heading the customer contact center. The aim of this measure is to optimize circulation and readership figures by coordinating title-specific and cross-title reader market campaigns. From 2004, customers who occupy several titles or special editions from the media company will now be looked after by key account managers.

Samuel Helbling on good stock market news and the crisis-ridden business press Swiss investors are currently not only unhappy with the bear and the bull, but also with numerous accompanying phenomena in the stock market world. The industry is complaining that business publications are stuck in a long, dark tunnel, abandoned by readers and advertisers. The circulation of the five Swiss-German business titles Cash, HandelsZeitung, Bilanz, Stocks, Finanz und Wirtschaft fell by a total of 30,000 copies in 2002 - more than ten percent of the total circulation (Wemf 2002). Advertising revenues also fell at an above-average rate. Paralyzed by the crisis, financial institutions are cutting their advertising budgets and leaving their customers to fend for themselves in the ongoing economic downturn. According to the advertising statistics of the Swiss press, the slump in advertisements in the first eight months amounted to
between 16 (HandelsZeitung) and 40 percent (Stocks).
It is a truism that the health of business publications, and investor magazines in particular, depends on the stock market. The circulation curve generally corresponds to share prices, which means that buyers of the business press react pro-cyclically. That
The first glimmers of light at the end of the tunnel will therefore fill the industry with joy: Prices on the major stock exchanges have risen again and the Swiss share index SMI has also increased by over 30 percent since March. However, three years of bear markets have left their mark. Shaken by the longest bear market in history
For the first time in recent stock market history, investors' speculative fever will not rise so quickly. Risk aversion is considerable.
It will be some time before the business press can lure new subscribers with hot stock market news again. Their readers and advertisers will only return when the economy is back in full swing. Investors, and therefore the stock market, only know two emotional states: fear or greed - depending on whether bears or bulls rule.
> Samuel Helbling, Editor-in-Chief

Publishers The Swiss media group Ringier, already the largest newspaper publisher in Hungary, has entered into a joint venture with the German Heinrich Bauer Verlag, as the in-house magazine Domo writes. The two partners each hold 50 percent of the Hungarian company Euromedia. Bauer produces the licenses for the titles Bravo, Bravo Girl, Tina and Buci Maci (Bussi Bär). Ringier is responsible for the operational business.

Advertising agency Pucci Sulzer has successfully defended the Northern European advertising budget of sparkling wine brand Freixenet.Agencies After a pitch against Kolle Rebbe, Hamburg, German beverage company Eckes opted for the previous supervisors from Zurich. Eckes sells the Spanish sparkling wine in Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Scandinavia.

Ice hockey Polyconsult gives SCB majority shareholder Valora a clear profile with a new sponsorship concept No other ice hockey club in Europe is able to inspire its fans more than the Schlittschuh-Club Bern (SCB). As the largest Swiss sports club, SCB is one of the top clubs in Europe with an average of 12500 fans per home game. Only the American National Hockey League is able to attract more spectators. Every SCB home game becomes a social event in front of this crowd in the Bern Arena. The catering concept and the VIP area of the field hockey stadium are also unparalleled in Switzerland. No wonder, then, that the list of SCB sponsors reads like a "Who's Who" of Swiss business. All conventional advertising options for sponsor presence have been exhausted, which naturally pleases the Valora Group, the SCB's majority shareholder - and pains them at the same time. Very few viewers associate the national brands Kiosk, Merkur, Roland, Kägifret, Café Spettacolo and Fotolabo Club with the retail group. This is one of the reasons why Polyconsult was commissioned by Valora to develop a new concept for its SCB sponsorship presence in Bern.
Head protection as a key visual
The new concept "scores two goals with one puck", says CD René Maeder from Polyconsult. It enables the public to make the connection between Valora and its brands at first glance and thus identify the group as an SCB sponsor. And because Valora has already acted as the SCB's helmet sponsor in the past, the head protection was used as the key visual for the new concept. In all communication measures, it becomes the eye-catcher and brand carrier of one Valora brand at a time. The motto: "Valora. Won."
With its six retail brands, the internationally active group can no longer be overlooked in the SCB environment in the ice hockey season that has already begun. Valora brands appear as presenting sponsors in advertisements before SCB home games. F12 posters accompany fans into the stadium. There they can expect advertisements in the match program and a mega poster in the VIP area. Consistent below-the-line measures round off the concept. These range from VIP invitations to 3D table cards in the catering area and seat cushions.
Partner Espace Media
With this assignment, Polyconsult also implemented a concept for new approaches to ice hockey promotion and developed new platforms for sponsor presence. The motto "We will light the fire" is the common thread running through all measures. The associated media concept is based on a partnership with Telebärn and Berner Bär from Espace Media Groupe and works in two phases.
In the first phase, the aim was to bring ice hockey back into the spotlight during the summer heat. This was ensured by a PR concept based on the Berner Bär. At the same time, advertisements were placed to promote advance season ticket sales.
Phase two began at the start of the season in September. TV commercials and advertisements announce the individual home games with a strong presence. The SCB sponsors have the opportunity to appear as presenting sponsors. The spots are offered in packages for three games. The presenting sponsor awakens the gambling instinct, which finds its way through the city into the Bern Arena. "Before the first puck was played, the winners had already been decided," says Polyconsult happily. The SCB significantly increased the sale of season tickets compared to previous years.
Recovery on the stock marketThe turbulence surrounding the departure of former CEO Reto Hartmann and the review of the portfolio have helped the
Valora's share price has been given a new boost. On March 17, the share price reached a low of 204 francs, six months later and after the separation from Hartmann, on September 19, the share price reached its highest level to date of 304 francs, closing at 293 francs on October 6. (cb)
Used by the Valora Group as a means of transportation for its retail brands: SCB ice hockey players' helmets.
Andreas Panzeri

Publishers Protests from politicians have had an effect: the Aargauer Zeitung is abandoning its election specialThe election special could have been quite a good thing - the Aargauer Zeitung was convinced of this. The plan was to publish the supplement in the Aargauer Zeitung and the Zofinger Tagblatt at the beginning of next week as a preview of the National Council and Council of States elections. Now a "no" has come from the top. The reason for the management's U-turn was the many negative reactions from politicians. They were asked to place an advertisement in order to be portrayed in the special. The fact that this advertisement would have cost only CHF 1,500 instead of the usual CHF 6,000 was of no use.
"The way we wrote to the politicians is unfortunate. I can imagine that the politicians felt under pressure," says Ueli Eckstein, publishing director of the Aargauer Zeitung, to Werbewoche, adding: "It's a shame that I didn't see the letter beforehand." According to the publishing director, some politicians had taken part. However, as fewer than half of the candidates took part, "it didn't make sense to publish the special", says Eckstein.
(af)

Film awards Ten percent more films were submitted to the competition for the best commissioned and advertising films The die is cast, the winners will be announced on November 6: The competition for the best commissioned films was very popular. The number of films submitted rose to 154, ten percent more than last year. Video clips, movie trailers and other sales trailers as well as e-boards were also judged for the first time. In the case of trailers for Hollywood films or international music clips, the director or production company must be Swiss, and last week the jury awarded the prizes. It is made up of experts from the world of film and advertising, including CDs Bene Abegglen, Oliver Girard and Mathias Freuler as well as PR consultant Andreas Jäggi. The award ceremony will take place in a glamorous setting at the Schiffbau in Zurich. The shortlist will soon be available on www .edinet.ch.
(pan)

Column As the economic crisis grows, so does the pressure to conform. But not everyone in the media industry is suffering. Many SMEs and freelancers are actually benefiting directly from the rapid rise in cost awareness." In our circles, the question of greeting and embarrassment has recently taken on a lurking quality. The unspoken resonates: "You're probably not doing so well either, just admit it!" The most elegant answer I heard in Interlaken was: "Personally very good". It came from one of the many people who complain in these times without really suffering, but who no longer dare to oppose the general pessimism, because the truth is: there are still good results. Newspaper publishers with 12 or 15 percent cash flow, magazines in profitable niches, publishers who have done their homework and cut costs in good time. But nobody wants to hear that at the moment.
The industry has decided that it is in a bad way; the pressure to conform is correspondingly high. For example, no one talks about the fact that many well-connected freelancers and SMEs are now able to secure mandates that in better times would have ended up with the large firms with their high fixed costs.
In short: as an extremely cyclical industry, publishing tends to generalize, sometimes to rush and almost always to exaggerate, in bad times and in good times anyway. When the economy coughs, we have pneumonia. That's logical - as long as we allow 70 percent or more of daily newspaper revenues to come from the advertising business. This is because many drivers of the advertising industry simply cannot be influenced. The job market, for example, reflects business decisions and thus the economic expectations of hundreds of companies in all sectors. And if there is famine on the stock market, even those who have always made a good living from financial advertisements have no bread.
But there is something else. Anyone who has ever had to comb through a budget knows the temptation to do what is urgent rather than what is important. As a result, you don't cut back where it will pay off the most in the long term, but where you can make the quickest impact. ("Show", not "achieve": after all, the main aim is to convince the Board of Directors of what a capable manager I am and how quickly I can turn things around). Consequently, the hunt is on for those cost items that are only tied up in the short term. Cutting jobs, closing sites or replacing suppliers worsen the figures because contracts and notice periods have to be observed and other extraordinary costs are incurred.
How much more convenient it is to cut ad hoc revocable orders. And then what hurts us so much happens: by the second budget round at the latest, everything that has always been presented to the outside world as an essential, long-term investment is under the knife: New projects, training and further education, communication and brand management.
Oh yes, the communication! The marketing director decides simply not to release the budget this month and next. The boost from the last campaign will probably still be enough, and besides, Christmas is coming soon... The CEO nods it off and is happy about the cost savings. Agencies and publishers are annoyed by the decision, but have no counter-arguments. Curse this wretched cyclical herd instinct! But what's the point: we also have to go over the budget again.
Okay, but only the second half of the afternoon! Before that, we go to the Efficiency Club. A presentation on an exciting, topical subject: "Gaining market share in the crisis through anti-cyclical behavior."
> Karl Lüönd is a journalist, author and head of the Media Institute of the Swiss Press Association.

Following a pitch, the tour operator Helvetic Tours has chosen Ruf Lanz, Zurich. The first results of the collaboration will be seen in January 2004. Helvetic Tours, a subsidiary of the Kuoni Group, was previously managed by Spillmann Felser Leo Burnett (SFLB). Only last August, Kuoni transferred both the budget of its parent brand and that of Helvetic Tours from AY&R to SFLB.