Mail order Can you find the ten small differences between this friendly gentleman in the Wullehus catalog from Konolfingen and Agent Johnson in "The Matrix Reloaded"? That's right - only the model is the same: Daniel Bernhardt from 4114 Hofstetten SO. Man or machine? Hard to say; especially in the Wullehus catalog, the camouflage is almost perfect. My guess for "Matrix III": just like Agent Johnson, every machine man will one day appear before his creator ("The Source") in his underwear, so that his bits are forever assigned to the zeros or the ones. Beat Gloor

Dental hygiene For the Migros chewing gum Candida White, Exxtra Communication looks animals in the mouth - in complete contrast to the usual advertising strategies. "Smiling is the most important social signal of human facial expressions," British anthropologist Desmond Morris is convinced. It's hardly surprising that the human "animal" is spending more and more money to show off a perfect set of teeth to its fellow species: In 2002, the Swiss invested around 163 million francs in dental care. Smiling models are supposed to prove that white teeth are the key to success. In May, Migros also entered the teeth whitening chewing gum market with Candida White. The new launch has to hold its own against the similarly positioned V6 brand. The latter has been active in the whitening sector for some time. While the wholesaler remains true to its "me-too" strategy, in-house agency Exxtra Kommunikation has designed a counterpoint to the usual campaigns: instead of people, representatives of the animal world bleach their teeth on three poster subjects. "Because the product is not new, the only way we can stand out from the competition is through communication," says consultant Barbara Hardmeier, explaining the unusual creative strategy.
The fact that Mr. and Mrs. Schweizer will do (almost) anything for a flawless set of teeth is reflected in the range of treatments offered by aesthetic dentistry. In addition to bleaching and veneers - where thin shells are bonded to the teeth - they also undergo minor surgical procedures to achieve the perfect smile.
Bleaching instead of whitewashingIn Switzerland, there are still no reliable figures for this area of dentistry, as Markus P. Lorch, President of the Swiss Society for Aesthetic Dentistry, explains. In contrast, American surveys show that patients are increasingly visiting the dentist for beauty reasons. According to a study conducted by the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry in 2000, the demand for aesthetic dentistry has risen sharply since 1995. While bleaching treatments have tripled, veneers were requested around twice as often as just five years previously. "I assume that these figures can also be transferred to Swiss conditions with a time lag," says Lorch optimistically.
While dentists pay dearly for their sessions, retail products are available for just a few francs. However, Lorch doubts that these will produce sufficient results. The active substances required for a whitening effect are only contained in low concentrations, as there is a risk of overdosing. "Dark teeth can hardly be visibly whitened with such products," says the aesthetic dentist.
Simone Keller

Agencies Sebastian Turner, CEO of Scholz & Friends, has bought his way out of the Cordiant Group and is optimistic about the future.WW In order to achieve such a buyout in the current crisis
(see also box), you either have to check the situation
or be an incorrigible optimist. Where do you fit in, Mr. Turner?
Sebastian Turner: With the crisis closers. We'll just close them now.
Those involved in the management buyout
(MBO), a private equity company
However, the company wants to
Participation in Scholz & Friends
(S&F) profit in five years
sell profitably. Stand
not now under an enormous
Pressure to succeed?
Yes, just like everyone else.
S&F submitted 154 works to Cannes for around 50,000 euros. What is your track record?
Once gold, twice silver and once bronze, plus 19 shortlist places.
Industry experts want to see a trend towards regional creative agencies because more and more large corporations such as Procter & Gamble - or in your case Coca-Cola and
Siemens - such as the previous
Prefer network agencies. How
How do you assess this development?
Clients are under even greater pressure to succeed. Their budgets are falling, but expectations are rising. In this situation, they recognize that creativity is the lever that demands more intelligence, not more money. This is a great opportunity for all agencies that maintain a high level of creativity. For Scholz & Friends as a creative network, it is a gift. We see the win from Coca-Cola and Siemens as a sign that this path can lead to the goal.
What gives you the certainty that you won't become boring for major clients over time? We have to be very good, which means our clients have to be very successful, and today that means the agency has to implement the right strategy in the right creative way.
Aren't you relying too much on the loyalty of your top creatives, who could be poached by the network agencies at any time?
Employees are more important than customers, as strange as that sounds. You can only win and retain customers if you have good people. With MBO, we are creating a unique network that is owner-managed, creative and entrepreneurial. This is a biotope for top talent that you can't simply breed in every office center.
What motivated them to open an office in Zurich, Switzerland, despite the MBO and shrinking advertising volumes? a great team - Christian Binder, Günther Schneider and Yvonne Hodel as a member of the Board of Directors. Good people make markets.
Speaking of Yvonne Hodel: Why didn't Scholz & Friends look for a suitable and well-positioned agency in Switzerland, such as WHS?
We now have an agency that suits us wonderfully and is very well positioned. Scholz & Friends Zurich was able to win accounts from Coca-Cola and Viva from a standing start. I myself founded a three-person agency in eastern Germany in 1990. We have been the number one in the region for years with around 170 people.
There is currently speculation that, after JvM and S&F, Springer & Jacoby will also make the leap across the Rhine. What makes the small advertising country of Switzerland so interesting for German agencies?
Switzerland is close, prosperous and in the same language area. There is also an emotional side. The good advertising came to Germany via Switzerland with the GGK. With an office in Switzerland, we are where the quality comes from.
After two years of heavy losses, the German Advertising Federation (Zentralverband der Deutschen Werbewirt-
of "a few selective
There were "rays of hope", such as rising advertising budgets and the first growth rates in April for a long time.
You now have one foot
also in Switzerland. Stands for us
is a trend reversal imminent here too?
I don't know enough about that. My mentality is more like: we'll just get started, put in a lot of effort, have a bit of luck and then it will work out.
Which sectors will be the beacons of hope and boost advertising investment again? retail, telephony, fast-moving consumer goods.
Scholz & Friends campaign in Switzerland for Viva.

Repurchase of control

Decision days in Berlin: Germany's seventh-largest advertising agency group - Scholz & Friends - is acquiring the company together with a
venture capital company for around 50 million euros from the debt-ridden British advertising holding company Cordiant. The new owners intend to control over 95 percent of the share capital after completion of the management buyout and the repurchase of scattered shares. (la)
Interview: Luca Aloisi

Diego Bally, who will continue to chair the ASW until the upcoming anniversary meeting, likes to scratch at encrusted billing models in the industry.WW Do small agencies have more opportunities in these times of crisis because they are not so difficult to steer in the event of a change of course? There is certainly evidence in the market that smaller agencies that maintain a good relationship with their clients come under less pressure as long as their clients themselves do not get into a crisis. With a large agency, clients may be more inclined to play one agency off against another in order to cut costs. The personal relationship between two people plays a lesser role at such times with large agencies. In contrast, we have an advantage as a medium-sized and smaller agency. We are owner-managed and we can guarantee a client the same contact person for years. This leads to friendly relationships, which are now also recognized as success factors in marketing. We can implement long-term strategies, which is a prerequisite for the sustainable development of a brand, for example.
The current trend is for various creatives, CDs and consultants from large BSW agencies to set up their own small agency. Do they join the ASW or do they remain more BSW-oriented?
There are both. Some enjoy the very collegial and friendly world of ASW. Others work more ADC-oriented and want to keep their connection there. The two can coexist very nicely.
An important keyword in the annual report is the so-called Alliance Agreement. How realistic is this rather idealistic idea?
It has been brewing for a long time. There is a desire on the part of certain agencies that already work together in a loose network that a written agreement should now be drawn up on how to work together at all. Such a network will be characterized by very individual personalities. The idea is certainly on trend, even if it remains a little utopian. There are certain prerequisites for a defined agreement to come into play at all.
Without relationships among each other, there's probably not much going on ...If network services are to be provided to a customer, the acquaintance among the partners must be very good. Team solutions are needed to support this network. There should also be transparency within the network and towards the customer. This has just materialized in a project in which we want to establish a system using the latest IT technology and then offer it to our members. Of course, not everyone will take part. But networking is a trend, right up to the idea that a freelancer can work from home or with a virtual agency.
So several ASW agencies work together on the same project? However, it is important that the individual employees within the network are clearly committed to a core competence. Not everyone can offer a full service and want to benefit from the network. The individual members must offer themselves as specialists with different areas of focus.
The ASW no longer participates in the fee structure practiced by the BSW. Why?
There are various billing models with clients, be it a fee on a flat-rate or hourly basis, as engineers or PR consultants usually do. We took an initiative in which we increasingly realized that a fee of 17.65 percent would be utopian. We decided that the old fee structure, which we had developed together with the BSW, was no longer fit for purpose. We approached the BSW and tried to find a new arrangement. For us, this is called the advertising services contract and is based on the contract for work and services. The advertising service contract is now in place and is used very frequently, even by non-ASW members.
Why do you think the BSW didn't support the idea? The BSW probably didn't go along with it for political reasons. I understand that many large agencies would still like to have their percentage fees. As smaller agencies, we can perhaps afford to scratch and break up encrusted billing models. We are convinced that the advertising service agreement is the forward-looking regulation between advertising clients and agencies.
BSW and BPRA discussed a major alliance. This will not happen for the time being. What is the ASW's position on this issue?
In principle, this is a matter for BSW. We have a different stance on this. We believe that an industry association has the task of representing an industry in such a way that it can take a clear position. If an association also appoints players from the market who belong to different categories as members, then the association paralyzes itself because it can no longer represent a clear opinion to the outside world. We have exactly this problem with the Swiss Advertising Association (SW). We have three parties: Advertising agencies, clients and the media. And they all have different interests. A specialized industry association cannot function if the interests of advertising agencies, direct mail, media and now also public relations all want to be represented under the same umbrella. Conflicts of interest are inevitable.
Interview: Andreas Panzeri

With immediate effect, political poster advertising is also permitted on the premises of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), and SBB concession partner Impacta AG (an Affichage subsidiary) has announced that all previous restrictions have been lifted. In addition to traditional posters, the liberalization also affects electronic "poster" advertising, namely the e-boards in Zurich, Bern and Geneva stations. The necessary adjustments are currently being made. The verified poster networks will be available for political advertising from mid-July, while the e-boards will be available immediately. The use of political advertising on locomotives remains taboo.

Velotaxi The idea has already proven itself abroad. 110 Velotaxis transport more than 250,000 passengers a year in Berlin, for example. Now the trendy tricycles are set to become popular in Switzerland too. The Zurich-based operator CityWings has stationed a total of 20 bicycle cabs in the cities of Baden, Romanshorn, St.Gallen, Wil and Winterthur. The environmentally friendly means of transport are intended to "open up the first and last mile of public transport", as CityWings propagates. And as these eye-catching cabs are mainly used on busy squares and streets in the city center, the hip vehicle is naturally also suitable as an advertising medium. Contact 01 401 55 46 or www.city wings.ch to find out that a "banner" on a strut for two seasons costs CHF 20,000 for all 20 vehicles. Individual "billboards" on the back of the bikes can also be rented for days, weeks or months.

Market research SRG wants to integrate its research service into Publica Data and bring private companies on board The SRG research service, which collects market data for SRG media and private radio and TV broadcasters, is now an SRG service center. However, the marketing of the data is the responsibility of the wholly-owned SRG subsidiary Publica Data AG. This is now set to change. According to a proposal by SRG management, the research service will be integrated into PDAG and the shareholders of this new PDAG will also be opened up to private providers, advertising clients and agencies. SRG has no concrete ideas about the number of shareholders, but their shares should "roughly reflect market conditions", said DRS Director Walter Rüegg, also a member of the SRG Executive Board. What is certain is that SRG wants to retain a clear majority. The PDAG Board of Directors, which consists of three SRG representatives and two private representatives (one customer representative and one media representative), will not be changed. However, similar to a bicameral parliament, it is to be supported by a Board of Trustees that represents the individual interest groups and not their market strength. There are also plans to merge the user commissions (one for SRG media and one for private media) into a single body.
The new PDAG will buy the existing radio and TV measurement panels (Radiocontrol, Telecontrol) from SRG, operate them and market the data. "This will bring a certain gain in efficiency," emphasizes Rüegg.
The head of DRS invites all interested groups to a briefing in Zurich on July 9. Rüegg should receive the comments of those affected by the end of August. According to the SRG plan, the new structure is to be decided by the SRG management in September. The search for a successor to the Head of Research Matthias Steinmann can then begin.
Steinmann's impending retirement in mid-2004 was the trigger for the planned restructuring. However, the private providers had protested against this in the spring because they had neither been informed nor included in the project group.
(mk)

Media study An analysis shows: Journalistic originality is increasingly becoming the exception.intertextuality" is a central working concept for literary studies. How much Flaubert is there in Thomas Mann, for example? More generally: what (reading) traces of one work can be reconstructed in another? On the other hand, one would rather not apply it to journalistic texts, as it would scratch the varnish of journalists' independence, but this is exactly what a research group led by Harald Burger, Professor of Linguistics at the University of Zurich, has done in the study "Media texts between author and audience". Conclusion: News journalists copy each other without restraint. "The author's share of a media text is minimal, but intertextuality is the order of the day." The image of reality created in this way becomes an inextricable construct for the recipient, which does not reveal sources of information but systematically obscures them.
The study examined reporting and evaluation in daily and weekly newspapers as well as in public and private radio and television programs on the topics of genetic engineering and social insurance. It made sense to compare not only articles and broadcasts, but also their everyday origins.
This usually means that the agencies start reporting. As the linguists point out, "agencies only seem to provide neutral information", even though they claim to do so. Their texts already contain assessments of the so-called pre-text, i.e. the wording used at the press conference. The electronic media are the next in the news utilization chain to attempt to differentiate their reporting by interviewing experts or those affected. However, the original evaluation remains the same, because "during their work, journalists constantly compare their reports with those of other media".
But it's not just the up-to-the-minute reporting of current affairs that tends to create a uniform mishmash; the print media on the following day also provide only minimal differentiation. National newspapers in particular take a stand in commentaries, but there is often no time to do the necessary research. Their texts are therefore again based on (agency) urtext - which closes the circle.
In a sober style, this analysis pursues and proves the dismantling of journalists as authors. Instead, they appear as "text composers" - and the mass media are portrayed as institutions that are kept on their toes by a well-oiled PR machine. This makes the unshakeable trust of the recipients all the more alarming. A parallel, non-representative survey shows that the public rates the influence of agencies as low and the proportion of self-research as high.
The explosive finding for all media professionals - including commercial ones - that editorial offices are increasingly turning into copy agencies means a creeping loss of credibility and uniqueness for their journalistic products. The erosion of these two pillars will not only be noticed by the audience, but also by the advertising industry at some point and acknowledged accordingly.
> Media texts between author and audience. Intertextuality in the press, radio and television by Martin Luginbühl, Thomas Baumberger, Kathrine Schwab and Harald Burger. Seismo-Verlag, Zurich 2002. 248 pages, Fr. 42.-.

Mari Serrano

Privat-TV Jean Frey AG is now involved in publisher television The general meeting of Presse-TV (PTV) has accepted Jean Frey AG as a shareholder. It holds a ten percent stake. This was ceded by the Basler Mediengruppe (BM), which previously held 20 percent. CEO Filippo Leutenegger was elected to the PTV Board of Directors as Jean Frey's representative. BM remains represented by CEO Beat Meyer. PTV membership is a prerequisite for Jean Frey AG to be able to continue to make the "business talk" of the balance sheet. (mk)

Polit-Plausch It is a patriotic fact that the most beautiful bikes on Swiss roads are made abroad.Polit-Plausch It is a patriotic fact that the most beautiful bikes on Swiss roads are made abroad. Shimano, Cinelli, Mavic, Cannondale, Scott and Leggero are the trendiest brands. The infiltration of Swiss bike culture with foreign products is now being communicated by Markus Ruf and Markus Gut with an advertisement that is graphically almost unmistakably based on the style of SVP advertising. "SPW" for Sportplausch Wider Wallisellen is cheekily emblazoned as a logo underneath the laughing SVP snood. Incidentally, Christoph Blocher also laughed. According to the creative team, the great SVP communicator was contacted in advance for this parody and found "the idea very funny". Even Blocher found it funny: SPW.

The St.Gallen agency Ammarkt Marketing Consulting has been entrusted by Credit Suisse with the marketing and advertising budget for the personal loan sector. according to co-owner Michael Schmid, Ammarkt was able to secure the contract during an agency evaluation. "Credit Suisse gave us a chance to present our concept before a pitch was put out to tender," says Schmid. Ammarkt seized the opportunity and is now implementing classic print advertising, direct marketing and POS measures as well as other communication media, which Schmid did not want to reveal at this stage. The campaign is based on Credit Suisse's overall image.

BSW If you take a look at the current ranking of advertising agencies in Italy, you will be amazed: apart from Armando Testa in first place, there are hardly any well-known names in the top ten, thanks to a new law in the USA known as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. This law threatens managers of listed companies with prison sentences if subsidiaries publish false business figures. The major advertising holding companies have therefore banned their local agencies from disclosing sales figures to industry associations as they have done in the past. The order also applies in Switzerland, as confirmed by Managing Director Walter Merz of the industry association Schweizer Werbe- und Kommunikationsagenturen (BSW). There will therefore be no BSW ranking next year, as a ranking with gaps makes little sense. The board and the European umbrella organization EACA are currently discussing alternatives to the current rankings, said Merz.