Description

Marginitis occurs when a company's protective profit cushion, especially that of an agency, is under attack.

Course

The profit cushion normally consists of one third each of project fees, flat fees and commissions. Inflammations usually begin in the commission layer, which briefly becomes success-based and eventually dissolves completely. Gradually - sometimes over years - cost discussions corrode the other layers as well.

Forms

The most important forms of disease are chronic. Nicotine and alcohol can play a role here, because the long-term loss of corresponding advertising budgets tears sensitive holes. Far more frequently, however, margin inflammation occurs as an autoimmune disease, the pathogenesis of which has not yet been fully clarified: The natural defense system, which normally fights hostile costs such as free coffee and freelancers, forms antibodies against its own principles. Free pitch presentations are the result.

Diagnosis

The only reliable method of analysis is the margin mirroring method. For this purpose, a dedicated line is laid from the corporate center to the branch office. This procedure is not painful and the initial gag reflex quickly subsides. The CFO can now view the cash flow in the new business pipeline in detail on a screen, right up to the top of the production organs.

Published so far:

Success strabismus (strabismus successus)
Gold fever (febre auri)
Platitourette (repetitio nausea)
Visual fetishism (stimulus best practice)

The sea is deep blue, the sand is light and the sky stretches endlessly over the horizon. The culinary offerings are luxurious, the tranquillity relaxing and the diving safaris offered to guests by the hotel's own Ocean Pro diving center unique. The Maldives as we imagine them.

As the campaign is mainly placed in special interests, the first goal was to stand out in the tourism industry. In the abundance of beautiful images that we know and appreciate from such vacation destinations, the providers are often somewhat overlooked. The presentation is bold and straightforward. Maldives lovers, and those who will soon be, have the images in their heads.

Responsible at Mirihi Island: Amy Stierli. Responsible for content&form: Serge Riedener (CD), Karin Estermann (Senior AD), Fabian Zahner (text), Pablo Kunz (graphics), Linda Egloff (consulting).

Amid all the tablet and smartphone hype, it was a real breath of fresh air that, for a change, Apple once again considered the people who don’t just need their devices for communicating, taking photos, and reading the news, but who want to use them for serious work. In March, the electronics giant announced a new MacBook lineup. The laptops are thinner and lighter than ever—a blessing for mobile use. That’s great. Less great: Apple has limited itself to just one USB-C port (not counting the headphone jack). One port for everything (!) you want to connect. So not just external devices like monitors, hard drives, or printers, but also the power cable.

In a nutshell: Cables are a no-go; the cloud and wireless are the way to go. At least in Apple’s vision. The few people who actually wanted to «get serious work done» with these devices still have to come to terms with this new reality. But it’ll surely work out—after all, Apple has always known exactly how to shape the needs of its customers. For those who can only shake their heads at this, the following video by an Apple engineer might offer the explanation they’re looking for as to how this came to be. (hae)

The new concept was created by Havas Worldwide Zurich under the direction of Frank Bodin; art director Chris Burkhard is responsible for the design. The reader-friendly and richly illustrated Knie magazine contains all information about the Knie family as well as the artists and events of the 2015 tour. The new Knie magazine is clearer and more modern. The new magazine will premiere on March 26, 2015, when the Swiss National Circus kicks off its 97th tour in Rapperswil.

Responsible at Gebrüder Knie, Swiss National Circus, Rapperswil (ed.): Franco Knie Jr, Doris Knie, Géraldine Knie, Fredy Knie Jr (overall responsibility). Editors: Peter Küchler, Media Officer Circus Knie; Barbara Lüthi, Media Office Circus Knie. Responsible at Havas Worldwide Zurich: Frank Bodin (overall responsibility); Chris Burkhard (art direction).
 

The #CreativeRevolution of the 1950s gave rise to a new kind of advertising, thanks to pioneers like Bill Bernbach and David Ogilvy—one that respected people’s intelligence. Those who simply rattled off a USP were frowned upon. In vogue were those who used clever ideas to bring humor, irony, wit, and emotion into the mix. Since the 2000s, we’ve been living in the advertising and marketing era of # Digital Disruption. It has brought us the shift from analog to digital and from contacts to connections. Those who tell advertising stories are frowned upon. Those who market themselves using the customer journey, social media, amazing tools, content marketing, engagement marketing, and big data are in vogue.

Big Data was a hot topic at this year’s Marketing Day. It was described as the “oil” of the economy—and of Obama’s election campaign. Using insights from supporter data, lifestyle data, voter registration data, and social media data, the campaign team led by speaker Julius van de Laar created the perfect campaign. He called it “Data & Microtargeting.” Equally crucial: “Test & Track Everything.” A/B testing for email subject lines, for example. The KPI was the total amount of donations generated per subject line. Data was indispensable in the Obama campaign. According to van de Laar, however, the decisive factor was the message—which also addressed the opponent’s weaknesses—as well as its sender, who always came across as authentic. With Christian Rätsch, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Germany, the big data journey takes us from the election campaign to the bathroom for now: Monitoring children’s toothbrushing with the Oral-B app. We continue into the kitchen to the refrigerator, which detects its fill level and contents and immediately makes ordering suggestions. Greater convenience, more personalization, and an ever-present community thanks to big data. With KLM’s Meet & Seat, for example, you can use profile data from Facebook, Google+, or LinkedIn to find out who on your flight is attending the same event at your destination. Wow! Hilton offers discounts based on your Klout score, and in Japan, Bayer uses flu detection to warn of emerging viral threats.

There were also skeptics. Prof. Dr. Gerd Gigerenzer of the Max Planck Institute appealed to gut instinct and heuristics, a concept he advocates as, in a sense, an alternative to big data. He advises us to act according to simple and intelligent rules, even if these occasionally lead to decisions that run counter to data logic. Hanspeter Thür is the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner. He says, «The mountain of data is growing.» And: «You can deduce probabilities, but when it comes to causality, things get tricky.» People can be prejudged based on data. It must be possible to regain self-control. «Anyone who wants to protect their privacy must be able to do so,» says Thür.

Karin Frick of the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute addressed the dilemma facing consumers. Big Data is a constant balancing act between convenience, connectivity, and self-control. These are deals that people make—or choose not to make—with companies like Google, Facebook, and others, either because trust is lacking or because the value in return doesn’t seem attractive enough. Keith Reinhard, Chairman Emeritus of DDB Worldwide, set the stage for Marketing Day 2016 via a pre-recorded video message. He spoke about the dawning marketing era of the #UltimateRevelation as the «best of» the #CreativeRevolution and the #DigitalDisruption. At the heart of it all: The Power of Stories. Humorous, witty, and meaningful storytelling combined with the strengths of great digital tools and valuable data. Not just delivering everyday buzz, but launching and continuing meaningful stories. Don’t coldly and calculatingly tailor content to algorithms; instead, empathetically address needs and provide people with valuable decision-making guidance through stories. Don’t use big data to feign interest; instead, build trusting relationships with big-idea creations. Keith Reinhard is a guest speaker at Marketing Day 2016 on the topic of “The Power of Stories.” A perfect choice at the right time. A693047

You can find more quotes about Marketing Day 2015 at huerlimanncc.com.
 

The Geneva Motor Show is without doubt the world's most prestigious motor show. But that's not all: in addition to the pimped-up cars, you will of course also find lots of digital gadgets, accessories, attractions and pretty women, which make a tour of the show an experience not only for doting car fans. Geneva is sure to provide beautiful design, elegance and plenty of glamor.

Yes, the car is and remains one of mankind's favorite toys - even in the virtual world, of course. So I think it is justified to ask ourselves how active our car brands actually are online and what influence their social media marketing has on our car purchases. One thing is clear: car brands have also jumped on the social media bandwagon in recent years and now offer original and targeted online marketing, which I have taken a closer look at - in keeping with the context of the Motor Show. So, how do you go about buying a new car? We all know that most people search the World Wide Web beforehand and do a lot of research on the car brand in question. It's no longer necessary to go to a car salesman; in the best case scenario, you can put together your dream car yourself online within three minutes. We have become accustomed to scouring the internet for alternatives relevant to our purchase. Review portals, blogs and, of course, social media such as Twitter and Facebook help us to do this. And according to a study, 91 percent of buyers between the ages of 18 and 34 already use social networks when researching before buying a car. What do we conclude from this?

This is precisely why it is advantageous - I would even say a must - for every car brand today to have professional and original online (and especially social media) marketing. Many international luxury car manufacturers do this too, running campaigns and various competitions. But the market leaders are not automatically leaders in social media. My personal favorite at the moment is the German car brand Opel. Compared to the other manufacturers, Opel publishes significantly less content, but it is particularly popular and frequently shared online by users. For example, the simple picture confession "Yes, I drive an Opel!" generated more than 30,000 likes on Facebook. Especially likeable: Opel CEO Dr. Karl-Thomas Neumann himself is actively involved on Twitter and has already answered questions from interested parties and customers - all marked with the hashtag #askKTN. Incidentally, Opel won't do badly at the "real" motor show either: That's where the German car brand will be presenting its latest invention "Opel OnStar", a car with an integrated WLAN hotspot and high-speed cell phone connection.

Manuel P. Nappo, Head of Studies CAS Social Media Management HWZ (Zurich University of Applied Sciences). www.fh-hwz.ch/smm

My gas station on Bergstrasse in Zurich has risked losing its good image thanks to the ClubSmart card. Shell still has a gas station attendant there, in addition to this liquor kiosk, who puts the right stogie in the tank, cleans the windows, and even checks the oil level. Combined with a little chat about the weather or something, filling up the tank is not an impersonal, anonymous process, but a charming experience. But there was once such a nice gas station attendant, who could persuade me against a signature for such a Shell ClubSmart card and thus for this membership. Except for air miles, I don't own any Coop, Cumulus or other cards. Since I had this personal, non-transferable plastic piece, the respective Shell gas station attendants asked me to have points credited to it for gasoline. Over time, these points accumulated, so that I was able to choose something suitable from a SmartClub catalog.

Among the unnecessary and rather cheap-looking so-called great offers, the family council decided on an electric Philips sonic toothbrush for 4999 points for the bathroom in the country house in Tuscany. This corresponds to about 0.5 percent of the retail value. Such a brush can be bought online for CHF 44. What this decision then triggered is best described by my wife Inge Steiger herself.

Per login in mid-September to the personal account of the ClubSmart card, we were able to debit the object. Then confirmation with note "delivery within 15 days". The unimportant matter was forgotten until we informed ClubSmart in writing in December that the object had not yet arrived. An email (without attachment) 10 days after that asked us to declare under oath that nothing of the sort had arrived, which was done by letter. ClubSmart asked us again at the end of January to fill out the form, which was not in the attachment at the time. The reshipment was subsequently confirmed to us with a request for patience on February 9. Eureka! The "object of desire" arrived addressed to the wrong house number on March 18.

My theory: If you want to retain your customers, then what you give them must not be of cheap quality. Every time I used this also ergonomically wrong toothbrush, I was annoyed Shell. That has now come to an end, see photo. The magazine Bilanz once gifted me (of all things) with a ceramic knife. I will never forget the cut I gave myself with it. On the other hand, I still have fond memories of the original gifts from Stefan Merz, such as fire extinguishers painted with his CI at Christmas.

If you do not create a good idea, you should not give anything away. How often do you get a gift useless nonsense. Fortunately, quickly forgotten who was the donor. Conclusion: It is better to do nothing than something unoriginal, inconspicuous and inexplicable. This precept also applies to any advertising. My put-upon: Tinger, my wife, gave me a brand-new Oral B black from Braun, with no points deducted.

Theophil Butz, graphic designer, advertising agency owner, inspirer and, for more than four years now, mothballs for Werbewoche readers. Please send any relevant information to [email protected].
 

Last fall, the topic of simulcasting suddenly made waves: In mid-September, the radio stations Basilisk and Bern1 publicly sounded the alarm and accused Mediapulse of "inertia" and "cover-up". They also put political pressure on the research foundation: a parliamentary question was put to Media Minister Doris Leuthard. But what was it about? If two or more stations broadcast the same program at the same time - a phenomenon known as simulcasting - the Mediapulse measurement system must assign the measured usage to the correct station. Simulcasting has occurred frequently in the past and was not a problem for short sequences (news, music) - Mediapulse even carried out a review in 2013. The Research Foundation only recognized major differences at the beginning of 2014 after local radio stations repeatedly drew its attention to them. The reason: Ringier radios Energy Zurich and Energy Bern were the first to increasingly expand their simulcasting from around 2012, and Energy Basel was also included from March 2014. Initially, this only happened from time to time, then for two hours a day and since 2014 for four or more hours a day. However, the SRF and RTS radio stations as well as the French-speaking Swiss stations RFJ, RJB and RTN from Pierre Steulet (Groupe BNJ) also frequently broadcast longer program sections synchronously. As a result, the station groups with extensive simulcasting were reported by Mediapulse as having more listeners than they actually had.

System "invents" additional listeners

To understand this, you need to know how radio measurement works at Mediapulse. This is done with the Mediawatch and is based on audio matching. The wristwatch uses an integrated microphone to record and encode the sounds in the test person's surroundings. Mediapulse later compares this data with around 150 domestic and foreign radio stations whose programs it has also recorded and coded. If the codes on the Mediawatch match the code of a program at the same time, it is established that the test person listened to this station during the time in question.

With simulcasting, however, at least two stations have the same code at the same time. Which one can the respondent be assigned to as a listener? With short sequences, this is relatively easy because clear indications before or after (such as trailers, announcements, etc.) allow the correct assignment. However, if several radios broadcast an absolutely identical program for hours on end, even a longer listening sequence does not contain any clear indication of the station tuned in. If the test subject listens to the station with interruptions during this time - for example because he leaves the room from time to time - the system has to find the correct assignment one after the other, but without any clear indication of the station. The following happened: Although Energy Zurich, for example, was switched on, the system also assigned the same listener to the same-sounding Energy Bern and Energy Basel in between. As a result, the stations in Bern and Basel each received one listener and thus a higher reach - and the entire Energy group received a total of three listeners, two more than in reality. Of course, these represent several thousand listeners each due to the extrapolation. Incidentally, it was not quite the same the other way round: Energy Zurich benefited less from its sister stations in Berne and Basel, as the measurement system tends to favor the smaller station at the expense of the larger one.

A solution has been found

However, not all "multiple" listeners of simulcasting stations have to be wrong. If, for example, a driver travels from Zurich to Bern, listens to Energy Zurich at the beginning and then switches to the same-sounding Energy Bern later, a listener must logically be assigned to both stations. Mediapulse's problem now is to distinguish plausible multiple listeners from implausible ones. Mediapulse and the radio industry have now optimized the measurement system so that the data from the second half of 2014 could be corrected retroactively to a certain extent and, above all, similar errors can be avoided in the future - even if simulcasting increases. The solution works as follows: Mediapulse first compares the codes of all 150 recorded stations with each other to determine when which stations were simulcasting. So that listeners can then be assigned to the correct station, the system now "draws on additional plausibility checks and previous usage sequences of the listener".

However, only the figures for Energy radios and Steulet stations could be corrected retrospectively; those for SRF and RTS stations could not be corrected for technical reasons. For this reason, the RTS and SRF stations were not shown individually in the 2014-2 semester publication, but only as a group. The simulcasting effect is canceled out in the group. From the 2015-1 publication onwards, however, the SRF and RTS stations will be shown individually again.

Up to 15 percent too many listeners per station

However, one question remains: How much of an impact did the misattributions in the 2014-1 semester publication (and earlier) have? Opinions differ. Last summer, Mediapulse cited an example in which the Energy stations "gained" a total of 13,000 additional listeners or 12% more reach in the first half of 2014 thanks to simulcasting. In contrast, the radio stations Basilisk and Bern1 spoke of 50,000 to 100,000 double or triple listeners at times in September 2014. They criticized that this had given Energy an undeserved advantage in the advertising market. An approximation based on the 2013-1 to 2014-2 semester figures gives more of an average value and should also indicate the extent for Energy Bern and Basel and their direct competitors. The procedure (see charts): First, the reach trend for all stations is drawn as a curve based on the official figures, including reach 2014-1, which was most clearly too high for Energy radios (we ignore earlier errors at Energy Bern for the sake of simplicity). If we now connect the values for 2013-2 and 2014-2 directly in the curve (without 2014-1), this indicates the lowest possible reach curve without the simulcasting effect. It can be deduced from this that simulcasting provided the stations Energy Basel and Bern with 11% and 14% additional reach per day respectively in the first half of 2014, and thus a significant increase of 26,800 listeners in total. However, it should be noted that this approach does not take into account other factors such as programming or listener behavior, which also influence the development of reach: The simulcasting effect is therefore more likely to be smaller. But precise figures are not possible.

The industry breathes a sigh of relief

But no matter how strong the simulcasting effect was - what do the radios, especially Energy competitors Bern1 and Basilisk, have to say about the solution? "I am satisfied with the current state of affairs and am confident that we will not experience any surprises here," writes Peter Scheurer, Managing Director of Radio Bern1. The errors have been localized and intercepted with new filter rules. "The audience corrections, such as those made at the Energy stations, make sense. Unusual effects, such as excessively high hourly reach during simulcasting phases, can no longer be identified." Matthias Hagemann, owner of Radio Basilisk, takes a similar view, although he criticizes Mediapulse's behaviour. For a long time, the company did not really help to clarify the matter. This only changed when Franziska von Weissenfluh took over the chairmanship of the Board of Directors and Foundation Board.

The private radio association VSP and the SRG also agree with the solution that has been found. It is important that trust in the radio currency is maintained, they say in unison. This view was also shared by the Interessengemeinschaft Elektronische Medien (IGEM).

Markus Knöpfli

"Nobody is perfect": other research systems also have flaws

Mediapulse's radio research is not the only media research system to be (temporarily) flawed. The best-known example of a measurement error was provided two years ago by Mediapulse's new TV measurement system: here, too, there were initial allocation mishaps, which led to legal wrangling and a data blockade lasting a good six months. But it didn't stop there: in April 2014, the media science commission, which regularly reviews the panel, found a few more "intolerable" flaws, which have since been "significantly" improved. However, another small but embarrassing error recently emerged: Kantar Media, the operator of the TV panel, had "discovered a misadjustment" at the end of January 2015: The panel, which measures the TV usage of people aged 3 and over, had indeed taken full measurements, but had never fed the data of 3-year-old TV viewers into the analysis. According to Mediapulse, this meant that "around 0.3% of total TV consumption was lost". The error has been corrected since January 30, 2015. Until recently, the internet researcher NET-Metrix, a subsidiary of WEMF and Mediapulse, was also struggling with problems: It was only able to publish the data for January 2015 on March 5 - due to "defects in the hardware responsible for calculating the unique client values", as stated on the NET-Metrix website under the title "Nobody is perfect". A fourth research project that is currently struggling is the poster research SPR+. Although reach data on urban poster sites is still available, the announced expansion to rural poster sites and residents (SPR+ Mob Nat) is already more than a year behind schedule. The reason: checking the huge amounts of data in the single-digit terabyte range is more time-consuming than expected. After postponements to fall 2014 and then to December 2014, SPR+ Managing Director Felix Mende now expects that the validation phase "can be completed during the second quarter of 2015 at the latest". Defects are not always rectified. For example, double counting in the WEMF's circulation certification is deliberately part of the system: the regulations allow publishers to have e-paper subscriptions that are part of a paid print subscription shown as free e-papers, provided the e-papers are used regularly. This means that the same subscription is included twice in the circulation and the latter is therefore inflated (see Werbewoche 19/24.10.2014, p. 47). A survey conducted by Werbewoche among 40 newspaper titles with designated free e-papers shows that some newspapers actively make use of the option to boost their circulation, but there is no transparency: most of them did not provide any information on this.
 

Media policy is therefore not very attractive even for politicians and journalists, but in the coming weeks and months this topic will be on the agenda several times.

1. how do the people decide?

On June 14, the Swiss people will have to vote on the revision of the Federal Radio and Television Act (RTVA). The focus is on the current device-dependent reception fee, which is to be replaced by a mandatory fee per household for all. The Swiss Trade Association has launched a referendum against this, which is why the people will now have the final say. It will be interesting to see how the supporters of the referendum intend to convince voters in the referendum campaign to forgo a lower fee (CHF 400) and stick with the old system (CHF 462). The argument put forward by the business community that it is wrong to force companies (with a turnover of more than half a million francs) to pay RTV levies of 200 million francs instead of the previous total of 40 million francs is also unlikely to be a convincing argument. For better or worse, arguments for or against SRG will be put forward in the referendum campaign. As SRG still appears to be well established among the general public, most parties will hardly want to campaign for changes to the state broadcaster, especially in the 2015 election year. The "Yes to the RTVA" committee is led by Media Minister Leuthard's party, the CVP; it also includes representatives of the SP, the BDP and the Greens, as well as the FDP, which is divided on this issue. If the referendum is approved, the mandatory household levy will be off the table for the time being. Parliament will have to tackle the funding issue again, but will probably first hold a fundamental debate on the public service, which is currently being prepared. If the referendum is rejected, the new media tax will be collected from 2017.

2. will anti-SRG initiatives come about?

However, the SRG and the associated fees are not well received everywhere. The frequency with which initiatives to abolish them are being launched is increasing. Signatures are currently being collected for two such referendums. The collection period for the "Radio and television - without Billag" initiative runs until May 12, 2015. This is backed by the organization "Solidarische Schweiz" (SOS), which already failed at the collection stage with a similar initiative in 2012. The initiative committee "No Billag - Yes to the abolition of radio and television fees" has until December 11, 2015 to collect the 100,000 signatures required for the initiative to come to fruition. The Young SVP and Jungfreisinn circles are leading the way. According to a statement on the committee's website, 50,000 signatures had been collected by January 21, which means that 46% of the collection target had been met.

3. what does parliament do?

The term "press concentration" was already making the rounds in the Federal Parliament in 1967, and a postulate by "Vaterland" editor Alfons Müller-Marzohl was the beginning of a long series of reports and proposals, all of which fell by the wayside. Concerns, especially on the part of publishers, about state interference in the media sector always found a majority in parliament. The defining feature of press promotion in Switzerland is therefore that there is no constitutional basis for it today. It is therefore not surprising that the national government does not want to expose itself here, sees no immediate need for action and wants to give the industry time to overcome these challenges on its own. However, as Parliament has called for a funding concept, the Federal Council published a report on safeguarding the state and democratic functions of the media at the beginning of December last year. This report also refers to the proposals of the Federal Media Commission (Emek) on media promotion from September 2014. However, without a constitutional basis, the Federal Council cannot present or revise an effective media promotion law, but is forced to propose a raft of different and less coherent measures that could be implemented in the short term, i.e. without amending the law, in order to mitigate the consequences of structural change. It is now up to Parliament to initiate concrete measures to promote the media, especially the press. As history shows, the chances of this happening are slim.
 
- Reduction in postal tax: Since the founding of the federal state, the press in Switzerland has been indirectly supported by the state through postal prices that do not cover costs. Today, the federal government spends CHF 50 million annually to support 1222 publications. The vast majority of these, 1082, are newspapers and magazines published by non-profit organizations. In addition, there are 140 daily and weekly newspapers from the local and regional press. Titles with a circulation of more than 100,000 copies are excluded, and only daily delivery and not early delivery is compensated. With the consolidation and task review package, the Federal Council put the abolition of the delivery allowance up for discussion, but came to the conclusion in its report last December that "media policy interests currently justify retaining the delivery allowance for the time being". The effect of indirect press subsidies has always been controversial. In its statement on media subsidies at the beginning of September last year, the Emek also judged these measures to be "outdated", saying they were "no longer necessary and hardly effective". On the same day, the Swiss Media Publishers Association defended itself and warned that the end of the postal tax reduction posed an "existential threat" to newspaper publishers.
 
- Adjust VAT: A reduced VAT rate of 2.5 percent applies to radio and television as well as printed newspapers and magazines, while the standard rate of 8 percent is applied to online media. This reduction is a significant indirect subsidy for the press, resulting in losses of around CHF 60 million (as of 2008). A lower tax rate for online editions of newspapers would currently result in an annual loss of revenue of around one million francs, although this could increase significantly due to developments in the digital sector.
 
- Promote news agency: Because the basic services in French and Italian are loss-making, the dispatch agency has traditionally cross-financed these losses with income from German-speaking Switzerland. These losses are now to be taken over by the Confederation - the corresponding provisions in the Languages Act provide for this. The Federal Council is proposing that this financial support be linked to a performance mandate and limited to five to seven years. In doing so, the government is overlooking the fact that this will bring a new, state-run medium onto the market. After all, in the Internet age, it can hardly be the case that the reports of a state-funded agency service are not accessible to everyone, but are only read by one or two dozen news directors in the respective editorial offices and in most cases, due to a lack of space or airtime, are consigned to the (electronic) wastepaper basket.
 
- Offer innovation support: The Federal Council recommends that the media industry make greater use of the services offered by the Commission for Technology and Innovation (CTI), which promotes application-oriented research and development as well as entrepreneurship. This is despite the fact that the major media companies have long been active in the start-up sector (see Werbewoche 13/ 18.7.2014, p. 18 f.), in that new companies are not set up from the outset, but are (partially or fully) bought in as soon as they have passed the initial tests.
 
- Prices double: The Federal Office of Communications, Bakom, has been supporting training and further education institutions for media professionals for years; in recent years, around one million Swiss francs have been spent annually on this. The Federal Council is proposing to double this amount, although companies' training budgets are not always fully utilized today.

- Improve media literacy: Under the auspices of the Federal Social Insurance Office, the national Youth and Media program has been running since 2011 to promote the media skills of children and young people and their caregivers in dealing with digital media. Three million Swiss francs have been made available for the program, which comes to an end this year. It will be continued depending on the experience gained.

4. will there be a fundamental debate on media policy?

However, it is unlikely that the Federal Council's proposals will result in the Federal Parliament adopting mandates to draw up concrete media policy proposals this year. On the one hand, this has to do with the upcoming general elections in the fall. On the other hand, questions about the future definition of the public service are looming like an elephant in the room. At the end of April 2014, the Council of States' Committee for Transport and Telecommunications adopted a postulate calling for the Federal Council to produce a "Report on SRG's public service provision", which was adopted in the summer session. As the Federal Council normally has two years to respond to postulates, the debate on new approaches to media promotion has been postponed until 2016. The Emek also intends to address public service issues in its next report and has already held several hearings on the subject.
 
Christoph J. Walther

Almost every adult under 60 now carries a smartphone with them at all times, and more and more people can hardly imagine a minute of their lives without one. Thanks to their multi-functional nature, these devices are constantly being reached for throughout the day to manage, improve and make our lives easier. A recent study by Tecmark found that the average user looks at their smartphone over 200 times a day - from the moment they get up until they fall back into bed.

For marketers, this means an "always on" opportunity to leverage mobile to improve targeting and audience engagement, whether users are at home, at work, in the store or on the move. Not only can the mobile channel be used as such, there is now great potential to use mobile as a bridge (also known as mobile bridging) to link the physical, real world with the digital, virtual one.

The challenge for implementing mobile bridging lies in how to get the smartphone-equipped target group to stop, take out their device and interact with your brand. We've put together the 4Ps for mobile bridging that every marketer should consider when planning. These are Push, Pull, Participation and Purchase.

Push

Marketers can push messages directly to mobile users to encourage them to take action wherever they are. For those users who are being contacted for the very first time, paid, location-based text messages or banner ads can be used. For users who have already downloaded a provider's app, there is also the option of delivering location-based messages via in-app push notifications. These can be triggered by proximity to so-called BLE beacons.

This push tactic can be especially useful if you are trying to redirect the customer's path to get them to take an action in the store, showroom or venue. However, it's important to remember that reach and data accuracy are still a challenge when planning location-based advertising campaigns. In addition, the customer must give their consent once for in-app push notifications.

Pull

Marketing managers can integrate a mobile call to action in addition to existing communications in the real world. Be it through radio advertising, posters, packaging or at the point of sale to directly encourage the customer to use the mobile channel. Even though this potential has been around for a while, there are now more options than ever to choose from. Marketers can choose from simple text response, the discredited QR code, augmented reality, near field communication (NFC), through to automatic content recognition (such as music recognition on Shazam) and even GPS apps (think real-world treasure hunts). This tactic can be helpful when you want to add the mobile channel to an existing communication or experience in the real world. To implement the right pull tactic, marketers should examine what they want the target audience to think, feel and do at that moment and why. They also need to ensure that the experience is smooth, seamless and rewarding. Marketing planners should remember to optimize their own digital media for mobile search, as more and more customers are targeting mobile content through search engines based on a specific contextual need.

Participation

As social media usage is becoming increasingly smartphone-based, marketers have a greater opportunity to encourage mobile audiences to participate in a time, place and content-specific way.

You can encourage mobile engagement through photo/selfie contests on Facebook or Instagram, through hashtag campaigns on Twitter or asking the target audience to check-in when they are at a specific location. This tactic helps to generate mobile user-generated content and spread local promotions to a large online target audience via social networks. It can also lead to good word-of-mouth advertising and advocacy for the brand. Marketers should ensure that they always offer some kind of direct reward for participation, be it something tangible (e.g. in the form of a free product) or intangible (e.g. in the form of social network recognition).

Purchase

As mobile payments become more widespread in 2015, marketers have a greater opportunity to increase direct purchases via mobile in the real world.

They can encourage mobile payments on the spot by offering all sorts of promotions, such as mobile coupons, promotional offers, point of sale calls to action, payment systems and mobile loyalty cards. The type of businesses that have been early adopters of the 4Ps of mobile bridging are those with a high street presence, specifically quick-serve restaurants. McDonald's, Subway, Starbucks, etc. already regularly take advantage of many of the 4Ps' opportunities. Opportunities for companies or brands to utilize one or more of the Ps will become increasingly common and as such should already be regularly included in their integrative communication plans.

Melina Ex

In a nutshell

Melina Ex is Managing Director of the mobile marketing agency Fetch in Berlin, which provides its clients with strategy, media planning & buying, creative and analytics for mobile. Fetch is part of the Dentsu Aegis Network. Melina Ex has experience in China, Africa and the UK. Most recently she was CMO at a mobile service for music, games, apps and e-books in Beijing. Prior to that, she worked at Human Digital (M&C Saatchi Group), where she advised clients on digital strategy, customer insights and monitoring.

www.wearefetch.com

Glosar:

Mobile bridging: linking the digital, virtual world with the physical, real world.
In-app push notifications: Messages that can be sent to users of an app on their smartphone.
BLE Beacons (Bluetooth Low Energy Beacons): Transmitter of a radio technology that
Bluetooth works.
QR Code (Quick Response Code): a machine-readable code consisting of black and white boxes similar to a barcode.
Augmented Reality: a technology that enhances the perception of reality with a computer-generated image.
Near Field Communication: wireless communication technology.
 

This becomes all the more scary when you know how many mistakes can happen in reach measurement - as recently with Mediapulse's Mediawatches.

Tragedies on television, too: Really high-quality, smart and beautiful films achieve lower ratings than Bohlen, Blut, Büsi and Busen. So they are relegated to off-air times or removed from the program altogether. The dumbing down of viewers continues. And now Jeremy Clarkson, recently suspended host of the British cult car show "Top Gear," is also said to have punched one of the show's producers. Of course, letting your fists circle is no solution. But I can understand Clarkson somehow.

In online journalism: speed takes precedence over depth, salading over factual knowledge, copy-paste over creative thinking. And the whole world complains about superficial reporting that is the same on all channels. But how could it be otherwise given the conditions under which online journalists work? They are under high time pressure, usually earn less than print journalists and enjoy a lower reputation. Yet they do a tough job. Staying on top of things takes brains and wears you out. We should finally honor that. Readers, too, by the way.

In book publishing: Publishers try to ferret out what is readable and worth reading in a pile of junk after clever minds have brought new worlds to life in the enclave. But books have degenerated into a cheap article with which money can no longer be earned, certainly not from Switzerland in other European countries. But do we really want to have only Swiss magazines and Mickey Mouse on our bedside tables? The federal government promotes the creation of culture. That is good. But what about its dissemination?

My dream: It would be so nice if media politicians and media companies could finally ensure that the writing guild, the professional thinkers, sharp-tongued observers and clever entertainers have their backs free to do a good job, to really fill their role as the fourth power in the state. Because as long as journalists have to worry about Ebitda and reception fees, printing costs and postal rates, well-founded research, follow-up and probing, pizzazz and punch lines fall by the wayside. And with that, interested readers, listeners and viewers move into the unattainable distance. If writers with lateral and upright thinking and publishers with a program beyond the mainstream no longer earn a single centime, soon there will only be market-conforming, dull writing - in the worst case sponsored, i.e. infiltrated, by business enterprises that pay the printing and distribution costs out of petty cash. Is that what we want?

It takes courage to be brave.

Anne-Friederike Heinrich, Editor-in-Chief
[email protected]