Media usage Quantum leap in market research: Matthias Steinmann measures five media simultaneously with a new device One year before his retirement as head of the SRG research service, Matthias Steinmann (photo) wants to turn key aspects of media usage research on their head. Within a year, he, also CEO of the Telecontrol Group, had Mediacontrol, a new generation of the Radiocontrol clock, developed. In addition to radio and TV, this device will now also be able to measure the contact opportunities of cinema advertising, posters and print usage - all with a single sample for the first time. Steinmann is thus competing internationally with Mach Basic (Switzerland), AWA (Germany) and Swiss Poster Research.
And this is how it works: the device continues to measure radio and TV usage as a watch on the wrist using a built-in microphone. Steinmann helps with poster and cinema surveys by using (solar-powered) transmitters the size of a chip. These are placed at the individual poster sites or in the cinemas and constantly transmit an individual signal. If a Mediacontrol panelist comes near, its clock recognizes the signals and stores them together with the corresponding time. The transmitter can also be combined with radio and TV measurement: If the panelist attaches a chip to the car radio and the stereo system, usage is differentiated by device.
Measuring print usage requires active cooperation: if a test person reads a newspaper, they should scroll through 200 titles using a wheel on the watch display and enter the corresponding title. Regularly read titles appear at the top of the list. In the evening, the test person is asked whether their entries are complete. Steinmann describes this as a kind of daily survey à la Mach Basic. He has little doubt about the panelists' discipline.
The investment in the new system is said to be 50 percent cheaper than with Radiocontrol. In addition, the costs can be split across five media. Steinmann plans to launch Mediacontrol internationally in six months.
Markus Knöpfli

After a difficult 2001, all companies hoped that 2002 would be a better year economically. For many, however, this expectation was not fulfilled. The brochure "HandelsZeitung Top 2003", which has now been published, reveals which companies had to close the year with a loss. The compilation lists over 1400 industrial, trading and service companies as well as banks and insurance companies. Only 300 industrial companies reported a higher turnover in 2002 than in 2001, while the number of companies reporting a loss rose from 60 in 2001 to 80. More details in the brochure, which is available for CHF 69 from HandelsZeitung (phone 01 288 35 00).
can be ordered.

The industry magazine PR Report will once again be honoring the best campaigns, projects and strategies as well as the most successful people and teams in the PR industry next year. The application deadline for the PR Report Awards 2004 is November 21. There are 23 different categories. More information can be found at www.prreport.de. The competition is supported by the German Association of PR Agencies and renowned sponsors from the industry. The awards ceremony will take place on April 29, 2004 at the Grand Hyatt in Berlin.

SwisscomTop 78,44%Flop 21,56%
Spillmann can do that: simply put footballers or CEOs in a ski outfit - and the image campaign for Swisscom is complete. For opinions, please visit www.werbewoche.ch/adrating
Swica
Red-cheeked girls make a health insurance company really sexy - if they look healthy. Well done, AA&I.

Marketing fair The organizers of X'03 are satisfied. Around 10500 visitors found their way to the Zurich exhibition halls. This represents a decrease of 7.1 percent compared to 2002. However, the Xongress trade congress, which was organized at the same time, attracted over 800 guests and recorded growth of a good 15 percent.

Internet The Internet community continues to grow enormously in 2003. Users prefer to click on car and real estate markets and travel planning sites, and the Internet remains by far the fastest growing medium in 2003. As the latest survey by MA Comis shows, a full 12.8 percent or 29,000 more people in German-speaking Switzerland went online between 2002 and 2003. According to the Wemf study, this makes the web a regularly used medium for 2581,000 German-speaking Swiss (aged 14 and over). The success story of the Internet is even more impressive if you look at the development since 1999, when the MA Comis was launched. In these four years, the number of users has practically doubled.
The net helps against wanderlust
The Internet is proving to be an increasingly attractive tool for certain activities and tasks. For example, when it comes to planning and booking trips and excursions on the computer. Last year, 67% of respondents consulted "city maps, route plans, maps", but this figure has now risen to 71%. The proportion of those who "plan trips" on the Internet also grew significantly - from 54 to 58 percent. The travel industry as a whole will increasingly rely on the speed and convenience of the Internet in the future. Take Swiss Air Limited, for example, which sells its low-cost flights online.
The same applies to electronic payment transactions, to which 40% of users now subscribe (previously 36%). Insurance is also in particularly good hands on the Internet. The proportion of surfers accessing relevant information has increased from 25% to 30%.
It is not just the practical benefits alone that are bringing further audience growth to the Internet. The entertainment sector was also on the rise, with 52% now going online for this purpose, up from 48% in the previous year. Even listening to the radio online is now a regular activity for more and more users - their share has risen from 16 to 20 percent (see also WW 30/03).
The fact that searches for cars and apartments are rapidly shifting to the Internet is something that print media are unlikely to be happy about. The retrieval of car and vehicle advertisements has once again risen sharply from 28 to 33 percent. Real estate and housing advertisements were on the rise online at a similar rate, increasing from 28 to 32 percent.
In contrast, other previous core functions of the Internet are becoming less important: only 55% of respondents were still interested in accessing daily news, compared to 59% in the previous year. This was directly felt by media sites, only a few of which still generated growth. Blick.ch is one of the latter. Its narrower user group (ENK = people aged 14 and over who use the website in question at least once a week, either at home or away from home) grew by far the most to 366,000 people (plus 111,000). Followed by 20min.ch with 192000 new regular visitors (plus 50000) and Sonntagszeitung.ch, which is now regularly consulted by 91000 users (plus 31000).
Daniel Schifferle

Theater marketing I The Zurich Schauspielhaus heralds its last season of the Marthaler era with a Theater Monday. When the curtain rises on the 2003/04 season on September 27 at the Schiffbau and a week later at the Pfauen, Switzerland's largest spoken theater will not only be vying for the public's favor with classics and blockbuster revues. In order to attract large numbers again, additional measures are required in addition to classic subscriptions. However, no subscription sales figures are expected as in the Marthaler hype of 2000/01, when sales soared to over 4800 subscriptions in line with the high expectations. Today, Schauspielhaus sales manager Christoph Stuehn puts the peak figure at that time down to a large proportion of temporary adopters - in his view, many theatergoers also bought a subscription in that peak year who subsequently found out that they were not real "Abotypes". However, since the massive slump to 3124 paid subscriptions purchased for the 2001/02 season, the situation only recovered slightly last season (3396 subscriptions). For the last season of the Marthaler era, Stuehn expects a stable to slightly increasing trend.
No price increaseSubscription sales at cultural institutions have been declining for years. Consumers are no longer willing to make long-term commitments to the theater either. This also affects the multi-award-winning Schauspielhaus, under Marthaler of all people, who dared to make a political break into the world. But counterculture and subculture, even if they are presented by renowned ensembles in Zurich, have a hard time. Especially during the economic crisis.
Various efforts were made to get the finances back on track. Stuehn: "The Schauspielhaus still has a high revenue target compared to German-speaking theaters." Consequently, a large proportion of the income has to be generated at the box office. "We were looking for a mechanism to attract people to the theater more cheaply without undermining the price structure or cannibalizing other offers," adds Stuehn. The sales manager found the solution in the theater Monday, the day of the week with the fewest subscriptions. In consultation with Migros, one of the two subscriptions was canceled and, with the massive support of the Migros Culture Percentage, the new offer is now being introduced, in which standard prices apply.
Although those responsible at the Schauspielhaus are modest about this innovation, the Publicis crew led by Markus Gut saw something revolutionary in the new offer. As the original campaign was likely to trigger a strong image effect, the creatives wanted to implement it in line with the uncomfortable appearance of the Schauspielhaus.
Peace to the cash registers!
Based on the slogan of the Russian Futurists - "All art - for all the people!" - the launch campaign takes up the visual language of Russian Constructivism and exaggerates the revolutionary motifs of Lissitzky or Rodchenko in a theatrical way. The red flag was retained, but the hammer and sickle were removed and replaced with the familiar shipbuilding chair. However, it is not members of the cultural elite who sit on them, but workers, peasants and soldiers of equal status. In three motifs, the cultural experience is elevated to a collective act. In the style of propaganda, Markus Gut adds with a grin: "The class system of prices has been abolished, the Schauspielhaus is looking forward to the storm at the box office!" We can only hope that the introduction of Theater Monday will bring the next artistic director an auditorium bursting at the seams.
The crowbar is used to advertise for the Monday audience.
Theater marketing The Schauspielhaus Zürich introduces aTheatermondag with standard tickets - Markus Gut plundered Russian revolutionary poetry for the launch campaign >> p. 7
Luca Aloisi

Advertising market Despite a drop in sales, PubliGroupe almost tripled its net profit in the first half of 2003.
"Although the worst seems to be over in the USA, we see no signs that an upturn is on the horizon in Switzerland next year," said PubliGroupe CEO Hans-Peter Rohner at Monday's press conference. He therefore did not give the all-clear for his group.
On the contrary: the continuing decline in press advertising is reducing the results of PubliPresse (Swiss market) and Publicitas Promotion Network (international markets). "These two divisions and the Group's management must therefore continue the strict cost-cutting programs", Rohner stated (see interview).
No wonder, as the savings made so far had only had a slight braking effect: In the first half of 2003, the operating result fell by a further 17 percent compared with the same period in the previous year - due to the largest division, PubliPresse, which alone lost 13 percent of its sales. It was particularly hard hit by the cost-cutting measures: of the 136 employees who have left PubliGroupe since the beginning of the year, 104 worked at PubliPresse.
There are three reasons why PubliGroupe was nevertheless able to increase its consolidated result to CHF 32.5 million in the first half of the year, almost tripling it compared with the same period last year: The group achieved a financial result of CHF 19.1 million, which is 193 percent higher than in the same period last year. In addition, high expenses and write-downs in connection with the American online subsidiary Panoramic Communications were eliminated this year, and finally PubliDirect (telephone directories) was once again the only division to post a significant increase in sales (+7%).
No recovery in the print sector
The group is also expecting a positive result in the second half of 2003, but at a lower level. The financial income is no longer expected to be as high, most PubliDirect products were published in the first half of the year and there is no recovery in sight in press advertising, said Rohner. For the future, PubliGroupe expects sales to fall even at PubliDirect, as the effects of the recession will also be felt in this area with a time lag.
"Even if the crisis should result in structural changes on the advertising market, a large part of the lost ground can be made up again thanks to the growth potential associated with the recovery," PubliGroupe says confidently for 2004.
Only PubliDirect closed the first half of 2003 with an increase in sales.
Markus Knöpfli

Kiosks Press distribution is under pressure, including in Switzerland. Valora Wholesale, the division in which the conglomerate's international press distribution operations are located, reported an eight percent drop in sales between January and June compared with the same period last year. The main reason for this: Fewer and fewer people are buying print products at newsstands. In Switzerland, the situation is as follows: Newspaper sales fell by five percent since January 1, 2003 alone, while magazine sales fell by 1.5 percent. "We assume that press sales will continue to decline over the next five years, albeit at a decreasing rate. After that, it should find firm ground," says Valora spokeswoman Stefania Misteli.
In response, Valora Wholesale will continue to cut costs and optimize its processes. A new press control system, a new picking and returns system, additional scanner checkouts and a redelivery service are planned or already in place. And the offer to publishers for promotional activities at the kiosk will remain in place. Misteli: "We have noticed that this tool is being used more and more frequently."
(mk)

Samuel Helbling on MA Comis 2003 and the second spring of the InternetThe digital revolution may have failed to materialize. But after a steep upswing and an equally steep downswing, the Internet industry has now returned to a stable growth path. As a basic technology, the network of networks has become indispensable. And with a few years' delay, some of the promises of the wild early days have even come true. The Internet has established itself as a mass medium alongside TV, radio and the press. Around 600 million
people use it worldwide. When the MA Comis online study was first conducted in 1999, only one in three German-speaking Swiss people surfed the Internet. Today, the figure is around twice as high. And the trend is still rising (see page 20).
The Internet is in a phase of consolidation. Gradually, it is becoming clear what is here to stay. While the web was used primarily for information, communication and entertainment in the initial phase, transactions are now playing an increasingly important role as the fourth component. Over the last five years, the proportion of German-speaking Swiss web users who have made purchases via the Internet has risen steadily from 43% to 68%. Compared to the previous year, this corresponds to an increase of 34,000
People. In the travel industry, the auction business and the book, ticket and music trade, the internet has long since become indispensable. However, these success stories are offset by many promises that could not be kept. Insurance and new cars have so far proved unsuitable for sale via the Internet. Food, online
Broking and telephoning have a miserable existence. And the Internet is also a poor advertising medium.
still at the beginning.
The euphoria about the network economy has now given way to sober calculation in a mature industry. This open-ended
However, the process does not have to be Darwinian. After all, it is people who ultimately decide how they want to use the Internet: as future consumers who spend money on it. It is not nature that decides who survives, but the customer.
> Samuel Helbling, Editor-in-Chief

On September 18, the Bernhard Theater in Zurich will start the 2003/04 theater season with new management and a new repertoire, and has chosen a neighborly solution for advertising: Publicis will accompany the boulevard theater into its new era. The agency launches the opening and takes care of the theater's image in the long term.

Under the title "DirectPoint", Swiss Post now offers tips, tools and services relating to direct marketing (DM) on its website in addition to its own services. Under the heading "Process", visitors are guided step by step through the DM process. The "Service providers" section contains a directory of Swiss DM providers. DM is an important source of revenue for Swiss Post. Around 60 percent of all letters are currently sent with a DM background, writes Swiss Post in a press release.