Political campaign Moratorium, phase-out or status quo? The battle for every single vote cost the unequally strong supporters and opponents of nuclear energy well over 15 million Swiss francs. It is not only the restraint of the advertisers themselves that is striking, but also the reversed signs in the campaigns. He is said to have turned politicians into presidents and ideas into party programs capable of gaining majority support - with slogans. Advertising professional Jacques Séguéla never made a secret of being a spin doctor. His Swiss colleagues are more discreet when it comes to political advertising. Especially when it comes to the upcoming vote on the two nuclear popular initiatives.
Strong, taciturn nuclear lobby "There's a lot to be said about political advertising, because there's a lot of untapped potential here," says a renowned advertiser who doesn't want to be named. But: "When you work in an international network, corporate policy suggests that you remain neutral in such matters and leave the agency out of it." Officially, no major agency designs political advertising. If a mandate holder nevertheless becomes publicly known, the advertisers, who are otherwise concerned with publicity, function only as graphic design studios. The fact that in such cases "one's own ethical principles are thrown overboard" is the experience of another creative, who compares this cynical behavior with that of the apolitical consumer who claims that his electricity does not come from the nuclear power plant, but from the socket.
Instead of commenting on his work, Christian Bretscher, a member of the management board of the Zurich PR agency Piar - which implemented the campaign for the No camp together with a large Zurich creative agency - also prefers to refer to the strategist and coordinator Economiesuisse. As far as their advertising budget is concerned, which according to NZZ estimates weighs in at 12 to 15 million francs, even communications chief Urs Rellstab is cagey. In view of the great economic damage that would be caused if the initiatives were adopted, the "intensive campaign" is entirely justifiable. In fact, the opponents of the initiative
the voting battle especially
with the media budget. While the proponents are relying primarily on the advertising idea with an investment of around three million francs. Rellstab doubts this amount: "You can choose between our reticence regarding figures and extremely questionable information that is ultimately unverifiable."
New campaign conceptsThe financial balance of power seems to be one of the few parallels to previous voting campaigns on nuclear energy. In order to attract attention for their concerns, nuclear proponents and opponents seem to have swapped signs when implementing their slogans.
Patrick Kupper of ETH Zurich - his dissertation "Atomic Energy and a Divided Society. The History of the Failed Kaiseraugst Nuclear Power Plant Project" has just been published by Chronos Verlag - notes with amusement: "The only demonstration before this vote took place in Gösgen. And it was one by supporters of nuclear power." By contrast, he says, you no longer see the traditional anti-nuclear symbols among opponents. "Much more, the current campaign conveys a positive, forward-looking attitude and goes more in the direction of lifestyle and quality of life," Kupper says. "Reaching voters via less technocratic arguments makes perfect sense. However, it would have to be investigated, for example, whether a campaign whose ad texts are explicitly aimed at women is actually more likely to reach women - and what happens to the men in the process," Daniel Perrin, head of the Institute for Applied Media Studies at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences in Winterthur, points out. Heinz Bonfadelli, full professor of journalism at the University of Zurich, notes a stronger emotionalization, especially among nuclear proponents: "Obviously, both sides have learned from each other."
Ideas instead of argumentsUrs Rellstab is of the opposite opinion: "Overall, the discussion has become more objective." Agency owner Lynn Blattmann of the Pro Committee sees the change as being due to the fact that "there are no longer any new arguments for or against nuclear energy. That's why we decided on a new advertising idea." This presents the nuclear phase-out "in a sensual way" as a desirable way of life. "You no longer have to wear sandals to buy organic products," she says. In addition, she says, she is betting heavily on the target group of female voters. Secondary analysis of the last moratorium initiative showed that, like other environmental and social policy proposals, it was mostly decided with women's votes.
This is not a new insight. What is new, however, is "that this time we communicated consistently, conspicuously and professionally in the female direction and not in the usual jekami manner with many postage-stamp-sized advertisements in the rubric markets," explains Tschoff Löw, one of the advertising strategists in the initiators' camp. The opponents of nuclear power - above all Greenpeace and WWF - invested over three million Swiss francs in their campaign, which was primarily managed by the two agencies Blattmann and Spinas Gemperle. Lorenz Spinas, head of the agency, sees a special feature in the fact that "this time, the campaign is based primarily on the idea and the image, instead of propagating the slogan with a big yes or no". This was a reaction to the danger of overwork and dilution that always threatens with a large number of proposals. After a first phase in which no-name testimonials boosted the initiative and fundraising, the second of the three-stage pro-campaign started with a direct approach to the core target group of women. The irritatingly unagitated implementation of the female ambassadors and their sharply formulated life wisdom were not to be overlooked. The choice of personalities, who represented all strata of the population, was also clever.
In the last phase, celebrities in advertisements wore sweaty
T-shirts and the message that several European countries have bid adieu to "nuclear stress." Despite the relatively low budget, the campaign achieved high awareness and audience appeal. These can be attributed to the stringent implementation, the media mix and the fine-tuning that was continuously carried out based on the market research results.
Above all, however, the sovereign manner and the omission of the usual market shouting instruments are likely to have caused a stir. But whether this makes sense in order to reach the third of the population that is undecided on the nuclear issue and thus relevant for communication? Heinz Bonfadelli criticizes the comprehensibility of the intellectualized form and the tactic of addressing only a certain target group and excluding others. "There could be a boomerang effect," he says, not ruling out a similar problem with the nuclear lobby campaign. With the exception of one motif - two cooling towers, which combined with the headline "The End" are ominously reminiscent of the WTC and 9/11 - the use of frightening subjects was more noticeable among supporters of nuclear energy.
In several series of motifs, this camp pulled out all the stops. With the pre-campaign, Economiesuisse first wanted to show the importance of nuclear energy in Switzerland. As an ideal complement to hydropower, the electricity mix message was captured using exemplary everyday situations. "We wanted to show the benefits of nuclear energy for our country's electricity supply," says Rellstab, adding, "I think we succeeded quite well." Except for the blemishes, such as the TV spot that was warned off and thwarted by Bakom, or the motif of a passenger riding a train, which was controversial because of the marginal importance of nuclear power at SBB. Equally questionable was the use of federal councillors, who served as figureheads for both committees, often without being asked.
In the main campaign on the home stretch towards the referendum weekend - i.e. in the past two months - the focus was on proving that a radical phase-out would jeopardize the advantages of current electricity production. In what respect, the ad and poster motifs made clear: With a payment slip, a high chimney and a Switzerland whose plug goes abroad in search of electricity, the pro-nuclear committee wanted to show that electricity would become more expensive, more fossil fuels would produce even more carbon dioxide and dependence on foreign countries would increase. Rellstab counters that there is no question of the campaign strategy being based on fear appeals, the effect of which is rather doubted by communication research (WW 21/01). It is true, he says, that the main campaign is to
negative consequences of a nuclear phase-out and that the arguments for this were not made up, but were taken from the Federal Council's message.
Whether and how the outcome of the vote will be influenced by the political campaigns remains to be seen. Heinz Bonfadelli expresses a fear that is shared by many strategists on both sides: "With so many proposals, the question is rather how many people will even go to the polls."
Proponents of the nuclear initiatives want to appeal mainly to women with their campaign.

Christa de Carouge dressed warmly for the supporters of the anti-nuclear initiatives.
Relying on the normative power of the factual and on emotional images: Campaign of nuclear energy advocates.
A campaign that uses the classic device of caricature comes from the Aktion für vernünftige Energiepolitik Schweiz.
Opponents of nuclear power plants drew lifestyle registers and gave the energy debate new values and content with their unagitated campaign.
Luca Aloisi

Consumer magazines The publishing house Editions Plus, which already publishes the consumer magazine Bon à savoir, is launching a new magazine for money topics, the counterpart to the Swiss-German K-Geld, which is published eleven times a year under the title Tout Compte Fait and is aimed at readers with higher incomes or assets, according to marketer KI Media. Between 20000 and 25000 subscribers are targeted. The first issue will be published on May 21. There is also a change at sister publisher Konsumenteninfo AG: the previous magazine K-Spezial is now being published in book form. The new format, which will also appear four times a year, will be somewhere between a magazine and the dossier series published by Konsumenteninfo AG.

Karl Lüönd encourages Swiss publishers to exploit their brand potential, but warns of credibility problems.WW In the wake of the advertising crisis, German newspaper companies are increasingly turning to merchandising products. Why are Swiss publishers not using this alternative source of income?
Karl Lüönd They do, albeit a little more cautiously, which I find understandable. The fact that line extensions that
The special publications of Bilanz as well as the fee-based
Beobachter's online consulting service or the profitable seminar event subsidiary of HandelsZeitung.
However, none of the well-known media brands are venturing into non-product areas.
I can't think of any sales argument that could persuade the average reader to buy their wine or CDs from their newspaper in future. But perhaps some Swiss publishers also have very old-fashioned ethical concerns about such brand stretching, which often results from non-transparent cooperation deals with advertising customers. In addition, the danger of overstretching and the associated loss of credibility should not be underestimated.
Large publishers such as Holtzbrinck or Springer obviously consider this risk to be calculable.
Nevertheless, anyone who wants to turn media brands into department stores will fail. But ultimately, our media market always works according to the principle of
"Trial and error" or "no risk, no fun". However, such image transfers for prestigious brands such as NZZ or Weltwoche always represent a far greater risk than for Blick or a regional newspaper, for example.
Could one reason for the Swiss shyness not also be the fear of losing existing advertising customers with their own store structures?
compete?
Absolutely. The smaller the market, the greater the interdependencies. Another, no less important delaying factor seems to me to be the local fixed-price mentality. Commission-based cost-per-order solutions can only be found in the Swiss advertising industry in art mail order at best. Even under the current pressure, this mild form of merchandising is unlikely to develop into a viable business model for the majority.
Interview: Oliver Classen

Radio usage Simultaneous broadcasts on Virus and DRS 3 are a sticking point for Radiocontrol.Virus has changed its weekend programming: Instead of Saturdays as before, the youth station broadcasts the four-hour "Hit Parade" on Sundays since Mother's Day, which it has recently taken over simultaneously from DRS 3. What the Federal Office of Communications finds "problematic" and is therefore examining legally, poses a challenge for the SRG Research Service (FD): In the case of simultaneous broadcasting of the same content, the Radiocontrol system cannot always identify the station switched on by the listener. According to a preliminary agreement between Radio DRS and FD, the "Hitparade" usage of those listeners who listen to Virus or DRS 3 immediately before or after the broadcast is therefore assigned to the corresponding station. Listeners who tune in and out during the broadcast, however, are assigned to the "Hit Parade" producer DRS 3. Its reach and market share will hardly be affected by this, says Manuel Dähler, responsible for radio control at the FD. However, there is still no regulation at all for the two-hour program "Sounds", which DRS 3 wants to take over from Virus from June 2, also simultaneously and on weekdays. In this case, however, the allocation will be much more relevant. Because if the listeners tuning in and switching over were also assigned to the producer - in this case Virus - the ten "Sounds" hours per week could significantly and artificially boost the cable station's market shares. "We are looking for the scientifically and metrologically correct solution, we don't want any market distortion," say both Dähler and Ursula Kottmann, press spokeswoman for Radio DRS.
Markus Knöpfli

The innocence of business journalism is long gone, long gone are the days when the NZZ was the sole court reporter from the carpet floors and the few other journalists submissively adhered to the embargo periods and wishes of strictly regulated business communication. Campaign and thesis journalism are just as much the order of the day as the personification of companies. CEOs take part in the election for the most beautiful manager (Cash). The fact that more and more journalists are chasing after the topic of business these days, who cannot tell the difference between
Not understanding macro- and microeconomics exacerbates the problem - the seriousness and credibility of a profession are put to the test.
This is leading to a more tense climate between journalism and business. Mutual accusations are piling up and so-called media victims are becoming more numerous. At the same time, criticism of companies that are unable to communicate and want to instrumentalize the media is also increasing - according to the findings of a panel discussion held by the International Advertising Association (see page 16).
The fate of business journalism is more directly linked to economic developments than any other media sector. This was drastically demonstrated by the end of the stock market hype: With the crash of the New Economy, business newspapers were hit by a cold shower - the loss of confidence in companies and their leaders resulted in a loss of trust in business journalism. Business newspapers and magazines paid for this loss of trust with falling circulations.
Despite all this, economic reporting has become more diverse and richer in perspective - making topics that are often difficult to understand attractive and comprehensible for broad sections of the population.
Daniel Schifferle, Editor

Merchandising German publishers are increasingly using their brand power for ancillary businesses. Since 1996, when the Stuttgart-based media group Holtzbrinck took over the traditional Hamburg newspaper, the clocks have been ticking differently at Die Zeit. Within a few years, the black and white bedspread for liberal boffins has become a colorful opinion forum with award-winning design and innovative marketing. Its latest coup is the creation of the "ancillary business" division, where partnerships with wine, book and watch companies, which came about by chance, are now bundled and further developed in terms of brand strategy. The current diversification products have catchy names such as "Schreibkultur", "Wein-Zeit", "Zeit-Reisen" or "Uhr-Zeit" and, according to ancillary business manager Anke Brack, serve "firstly to crisis-proof cross-financing of journalistic premium quality and secondly to systematic reader loyalty". According to Andreas Arntzen, deputy managing director of Die Zeit, this attempt at emancipation from the advertising industry - eagerly copied by financially troubled competitors such as Süddeutsche Zeitung - already contributed four percent to sales of a good 70 million euros and an impressive 24 percent to profits (!) in 2002.
Die Zeit itself functions as a kind of brochure for the in-house e-shop, where educated citizens have been able to stock up on relevant status symbols and luxury items for over a year. There is no doubt in Brack's mind that this strengthens rather than weakens the journalistic brand essence. "That's why all our offers have such a strong recommendation character." In other words: Anyone who shops online in the Zeit store receives the same high quality and exclusive goods as a subscriber to the newspaper in journalistic terms.
Sensitive newspaper brandsAt the other end of the German newspaper spectrum, these signs of the times - similar to private TV - were recognized five years ago. Since the first cooperation experiments, merchandising at Bild, the mega-brand of Axel Springer Verlag, has become increasingly important and professional. Today, the electronic Bild store stocks everything from jackets, cell phones and notebooks to the "Volks-Spüler" (people's dishwasher) that has just been added to the range - everything that is affordable and suitable for the masses. One can only assume that this cheap store boosts the Bild Group's turnover rather than its profits: The publisher and its various partner companies are mutually silent about figures and margins.
The question remains as to how transferable such merchandising models are to Switzerland. According to Bruno Blaser, the fact that Blick has not yet made any further use of its brand power is mainly due to the market being 15 times smaller: "If Bild sold 10,000 C&A jackets to its readers, we would only get rid of 500 here," calculates the Blick publishing director.
What may not seem worthwhile in terms of sales for the time being could, however, pay off twice over in terms of brand management and reader loyalty. Blaser's colleague from the NZZ is also aware of this. Tobias Trevisan is therefore keeping a wary eye on Zeit's activities. "Due to
the high initial costs and
Due to a "lack of management capacity", merchandising plans that had been in place for some time had not yet been realized. Trevisan is well aware that such teething troubles could easily be circumvented by cooperating with German pioneers. However, he has not yet put out feelers to Hamburg.
Zeit and Bild show how it's done: Brand stretching helps to retain readers in times of crisis and flush extra euros into the coffers.

Oliver Classen

Radio Suisse Romande (RSR) has submitted a license application to the Federal Office of Communications for an additional radio information channel on FM and DAB. The channel will broadcast 24-hour news and information from RSR and private radio stations in French-speaking Switzerland. The French-speaking Swiss private radio association RRR can imagine participating, but not unconditionally, explained its president Pierre Steulet. The question remains open as to whether RSR wants to be the sole licensee and operator or whether a broader sponsorship is possible, while the Association of Swiss Private Radio Stations (VSP) has announced its opposition to the project. According to VSP President Günter Heuberger, it is unacceptable for SRG to continue its expansion strategy during the parliamentary debate on the new RTVA, which has only just begun.
(mk)

Airlines The Art Directors Club Switzerland awarded this magazine advertisement by Advico Young & Rubicam bronze in 1998, and if the jury had known back then how topical and factual this subject would be in 2003, a silver, if not a gold cube would have been appropriate. Only in the copy are there a few
Inconsistencies. For example, it says: "We have just
Our fleet has been rejuvenated; on average, our jets are six years young. The competition is happy to take them because we look after them lovingly..." Well,
I doubt whether good care is really the best selling point from today's perspective. But what is the
as the saying goes: "Pride goeth before a fall"
or before the "grounding". So be careful with overly bold prophecies, because they could actually come true. And in the meantime
we all know that a "paint job" and a few billion taxpayers' money are enough to launch the jets under a new flag
to leave.
(ck)

Confectionery market With humor, Exxtra wants to position Migros' own brand of chocolate bar among the young public as an anti-frustration bar with two TV commercials.The chocolate market in Switzerland apparently defies all diet appeals. Once you've had a quick nibble, all resistance collapses in the face of rising serotonin release. The growing sales (+2.2%) and turnover figures (+2.7% to over 295.6 million Swiss francs) of the entire bar market - excluding impulse channels - are mainly thanks to chocolate bars, whose turnover increased by over
8 percent.
By contrast, growth in filled bars - still the largest product group - such as Mars, Blox and Twix was flat at 2 percent. The reason for this is the introduction of new variations in mini pouches and multipacks, which are mainly marketed by wholesalers and discounters.
On the other hand, advertising spend for the tasty nibbles has fallen drastically, from almost 15 to just over 10 million Swiss francs last year. This is the market environment for Migros' seven-year-old chocolate bar family, which has now approached its saturation point, as Exxtra client service director Stefan Erhart explains.
In order to boost the business with the small seducers, a qualitative study was conducted to evaluate the development possibilities for Blox. And this was not without consequences: First, a redesign of the packaging was undertaken, which placed greater emphasis on product quality. Based on this, Exxtra designed the campaign that has now been launched, which consistently focuses on a central consumption motif.
Happy is he who eatsWhile most brands recommend themselves only just for the small hunger or as an energy boost, the strategists have located a need for happiness among the younger target group to set themselves apart from the other brands. "Apparently, no brand has ever felt really comfortable making inroads in this field. Although frustration is as much a part of everyday life as humor is to advertising," Erhart chuckles. It's obvious that "not all kids are happy all the time and might not want to see overjoyed people in advertising," adds CD Dieter Hofmann.
That's exactly where he and his team want to pick up the young target audience with two spots. In "Jukebox" and "Boy or Girl," two very self-confident but thoroughly normal boys experience the embarrassment of their lives. While one of them blows the chance to prove his musical competence in a rock shed, the other one has serious doubts about his "knowledge of women". Fortunately, there are friends and girlfriends who stand by you - and Blox is one of them.
With four graduates of the Bulgarian State Drama School, the young German director Manuel Werner realized two dialogue-free flicks, which with their subtlety should appeal to the young cinema and music channel audience.
Bulgarian actors served as archetypes of Swiss youth for the Migros agency Exxtra in two TV commercials for Blox.

Declining Spendings and Slowing Revenue Growth.
Luca Aloisi

Sponsoring With 7,000 posters all over Switzerland, the Basel agency cR DDB is currently drawing attention to the dangers of aids. among the many witty and sometimes provocative slogans on a yellow background are the texts "to all directors, bring condoms into play in love scenes" or "to all filmmakers, how about a big mouth on the subject of aids? One film production has already taken the hint. In the recently shot movie "Achtung, fertig, Charlie!" with Marco Rima, Melanie Winiger, Mike Müller and Mia Aegerter, director Mike Eschmann has also staged a tangible condom scene around a love adventure. The hot action takes place in a recruit school. Rubber manufacturer Ceylor not only supplies the props, but also acts as an important sponsor of this "first Swiss teen comedy".

The advertising agency Weber Harbeke and the design agency Nose Applied Intelligence are now working together for Telekurs Financial, a company based in Zurich that distributes financial data for analysts, traders and investment advisors. In a two-stage pitch for the launch of the new Telekurs iD product, the agencies prevailed against three competitors. Weber Harbeke is responsible for the concept and design of the launch campaign, while Nose is responsible for the web application. The first works can be seen from summer 2003.

Zeitschriften Matter & Partner have been advertising for the Beobachter for eight years - and are now changing the advertising style. The new campaign is "very bold and very fast", says Beobachter publishing director Peter Kümmerli about the concept of the Zurich creatives. The new campaign for the weekly magazine uses only typography and text. Elaborate photo shoots are a thing of the past. The idea has two advantages: it is cheaper to implement and can react more quickly to trends in society. The campaign for new readers is supported by the claim "Take the reins". The eight years in which Matter & Partner has been realizing advertising for Beobachter have also left their mark on Switzerland's leading consumer and advice magazine. The Beobachter underwent a relaunch in two stages, most recently in 2000 - because "you can't just turn such a big steamer around like that," says Kümmerli.
The publishing director joined the paper in 1995. At that time, Jean Frey AG, the publisher of the Beobachter, had just been taken over by the Basler Mediengruppe. A development that was followed with excitement by the industry also arose last year, when Ringier no longer wanted to remain a mere observer of the temporarily explosive constellation at Jean Frey AG, but started thinking about launching a competing product.
A value that remainsWith so much change behind the scenes and at the same time almost record-breaking loyalty on the customer side, it is worth taking a closer look at how advertising from the same agency has changed in all these phases.
It was a development aimed at making readers more self-confident and pointing them more actively towards solutions to their problems. The campaign with the initially passive "Beobachter als Typ" worked with real readers such as "Lukretia Müller, Beobachterin". Under her portrait, the claim was reassuring: "Good, there's the Observer."
"There are enough spectators," was the motto of the next development phase in 1997, when quirky originals and outsiders from a society that was only watching were quoted with their testimonials. What all the characters had in common was the courage to resist: they didn't put up with everything. 1997 was also the year in which Daniel Matter joined the agency and was able to take on responsibility for this client, which had already existed since 1995, "as a fine inheritance", as he says.
The campaign that followed was even more committed, with people who actively "do something when they're being driven at", explains Matter. The idea of the "Prix Courage" resonates in this advertising campaign with people who not only look on but also achieve something. This prize is awarded annually by the Beobachter for courageous action in the service of our society.
In 2000, the advertising agency wanted to take some of the seriousness out of the Beobachter's themes. With a little wink in the visual design, they showed how the Beobachter helps to "minimize problems". In this way, the advertising also wanted to adapt a little to the younger generation.
The agency and client went one step further in 2001, with a woman "hanging" from a washing line to illustrate that a problem no longer had to be seen as so threatening - it was all a question of visuals. The figures in the subjects of the 2002 campaign were able to solve problems themselves. For example, a woman repaired her car in front of the bewildered garage owner.
Against this backdrop, it is logical that the latest campaign was no longer able to drive forward this emancipation of the readership. The often multi-layered staging is therefore being replaced by a reduction to a purely typographic implementation.
Campaign extension possibleThese subjects, which have only the red background color and the white letters as a common stylistic device, can be adapted for the various "by-products" of Beobachter. For example, a subject can also be used to advertise the non-fiction books published by Beobachter. For example, a bookmark can be used to publicize the fact that Beobachter is the largest publisher of how-to books in Switzerland.
The new campaign will also focus on the advisory service. Subscribers already request over 100,000 free advisory services every year. This additional service will be highlighted in the new campaign with the text "Lawyer: CHF 69.50 per year".
The Internet is also to be anchored more firmly in consumer awareness. In the first three months of this year, 25,000 subscribers with problems in the areas of housing, family, work or consumption have already used a fee-based advice tool on the Beobachter.ch website. The SOS Beobachter foundation can also be a worthwhile advertising subject in the new concept. Here, 3,000 applicants per year can count on financial help for people in need.
"We are happy that we can now take a very bold approach," says Daniel Matter, summarizing his thoughts. The advertiser is convinced that "the most underestimated medium" could also be given a little more attention by advertisers in future.
White typography on a red background: Matter & Partner's new campaign for Beobachter dispenses with elaborate photo shoots.

Beobachter campaigns from the Matter & Partner kitchen always integrated the joys and concerns of its readers.
Andreas Panzeri