Column The third leg of our journey into the last remaining journalism reserves takes us to red-light districts. What is needed there is not expertise, but uncompromising idealism.ah Mbwana, the problem with most journalists is that they have not properly understood the brothel system of the media. After all, we media professionals are all prostitutes: dependent on the next kick as well as the next customer. So it's not a nice trade, but no reason to lose your mind either. Even if it's neither speed nor coolness that sells particularly well and sustainably in brothels, but innocence of all things, innocence is a delicate resource - especially if you have to earn money with it for the rest of your life. Its absence is nevertheless fatal. Whether it's routine commentaries, thesis articles with a half-life of 24 hours or the fake orgasms of hyping and anti-hyping - all of this bores our customers. No wonder the media are in crisis.
After all, the time for change seems more favorable than ever. There are plenty of unanswered questions. Nobody has the slightest idea what will happen after the stock market crash and economic scandals, after the US attack or in their own industry. Chaos, fog and prophecies everywhere. So it's the best of times for us - smart, half-educated and uninhibited as we are.
The prerequisite, however, is to avoid routine answers. Where even experts disagree and are confused, all that remains are excursions into the unknown. This makes the simplest form of orientation attractive again: the expedition report. A classic case for dilettantes, ergo journalists. And a perfectly solvable one, as long as you follow a few simple rules:
1. to hell with the clarifications and smart alecks. Experience reports from the desert of "uncertainty" only become credible through reporters who, after conscientious research, admit that they still have no idea. (Counter-example: the host of Swiss experts.)
2. no expertise of your own! Never again write about an area in which you are competent, knowledgeable and in the know. Chewing the cud of our own (pre)judgments turns us into immobile oxen. Change the area and enjoy risk and
Panic. (The WoZ added a music journalist, a layout artist and an ex-fighter pilot to its domestic section the year before last: successfully!)
3. report dirty. 90 percent of all news is plasticized nonsense. It can't be avoided (otherwise the newspapers would be empty), but it can be countered. Or why is Jean-Martin Büttner's description of press conferences at the Federal Palace so much better than that of the competition? Because he attaches importance not only to the statements, but also to the gestures and promises.
4 Don't be afraid of boring topics. Served with passion, even the most boring things become a hit. Example: Max Frenkel's NZZ philatelic page. "People read what interests them - sometimes it's an advertisement," wrote the advertiser Howard Gossage.
5 To hell with compromises. If Gossage is right - and he is - there is only one strategy for reader retention in the wild: Fascination. And
There is only one key to being fascinating: You have to be fascinated yourself. Don't deceive yourself: journalism is existentialism. No one is more credible, no one is more attractive than someone who is fascinated by their subject.
So, Mbwana, if you want to be successful in the media red light district, just follow these rules: 1. only do what really interests you. 2. do nothing else. And remain pure of heart.
Constantin Seibt is editor for politics and economics at WochenZeitung (WoZ).

Retail marketing With the opening of "Globus am Bellevue", the Migros family department store group aims to further strengthen its brand. Meanwhile, it is quietly developing and expanding its own brands.Tina Turner cannot resist Peter Rosenberger's sausages at Zurich's Bellevue. That is a fact. It remains to be seen whether her culinary route will still lead to the "Vorderer Sternen" from May 8. On this day, the Globus department store will open a branch in a prime location with a new store concept based entirely on food and cuisine. According to Managing Director Manfred Wittler, "the house of indulgence" wants to set new standards. This also makes it clear how the Globus chain, which recorded a 2.3 percent drop in sales in 2002, intends to respond to the crisis: the core competencies of Home & Household and Delicatessa are to be deepened, expanded and supplemented with courage and creativity.
In addition to the exquisite goods, the courteous service also comes to the fore in the three product areas, which are located on just as many floors. While the world of cuisine and tableware is celebrated on the second floor with a view of the Sechseläutenwiese and the Soussol comestibles and wine cellar attract customers with "new trends and surprising events", upmarket take-aways and bars - new territory for Globus - share the first floor. Very urban and late into the night
inside.
Much more is happening behind the scenes, which should help to strengthen the Globus brand in the food sector: In the wake of the international trendsetters (see also box), the proportion of own brands in the higher price segment is to be increased to 30 to 40 percent. Globus does not want to increase footfall with price promotions, but with its sophisticated appearance. This CI, developed by Heiri Scherer, will be carried through accurately and effectively into the new cookbook, which will be published to coincide with the store opening. The headline of the launch campaign from Spillmann Felser Leo Burnett is rather snobbish and in contrast to the otherwise typical understatement. There's no doubt about it: the snacks on the opening day and the twelve-page newspaper supplement should also be more to the taste of those who used to shop at Delicatessa more often due to reduced bonuses.
The route leads from the seaside to the Gold Coast via Globus.

Silver gray is inIn the UK, the Harvey Nichols' Foodmarket department store has been demonstrating for some time how private labels can be sold successfully. Around 50 percent of the food sold, including drinks, is packaged in specially created packaging with the HN logo. The corporate color is silver-grey. Food Director Dominic Ford is confident: "We believe there is enormous growth potential, especially as we combine a trendy appearance with quality." (ck)
Luca Aloisi

Tabloids With its new layout, Blick is breaking with its own traditions. At the same time as the redesign, the Ringier paper wants to better appeal to women and young readers from May 12 onwards - the page 3 girl has been retired for good.For the genre of tabloid newspaper, the current redesign of Blick is a small revolution: Where previously a little chaos in the page layout was definitely part of the program and an atmospheric ingredient, order and calm have been introduced. The new structure in justified type, however, is not the only break with typographic and design conventions of many years: The gaudy look-red is pushed back by a whole palette of soft pastel tones, with which texts and boxes are underlaid. They, too, are committed to the credo of the current redesign - better orientation: Blue refers to opinion, olive green stands for "Facts and Figures" and pink for lifestyle topics. Behind the spring cleaning at Blick is the busy newspaper designer Kurt Schwerzmann, who is currently working on a new look for the travel magazine Via. Schwerzmann has given the redesigned Blick not only soft colors and more white space, but also a strict vertical line - with strikingly thick black dividing lines.
Eight instead of five front topicsThe enlarged Blick logo is also more striking. In the redesign of the front page, special efforts were made to increase the appetizing effect: Instead of five, there are now eight topics on the front to attract the (reading) attention of the audience.
The look has decades behind it, during which its visual appearance has hardly changed. There have been cautious redesigns in between, the last one about four years ago. But they were not sustainable. "For fear of really changing something about the dress, people quickly returned to the conventional," says Blick editor-in-chief Werner De Schepper. As a result, Blick still has a layout "that dates back to the seventies and eighties.
De Schepper, who has been editor-in-chief for a good three months, is also aiming to position his paper more closely to its target group with the new concept. Women, in particular, should feel more at home in what has traditionally been a male-heavy publication. The elimination of the naked girl is only a side issue. Far more attractive are to be regular new thematic focuses around being a woman today. "We will deliberately focus more on the real lives of our readers between 25 and 40. For example, on the financial problems of patchwork families or the social situation of single women.
raising mothers and fathers," announces De Schepper.
He specifies this partial reorientation in terms of content as follows: "Broken lives, professional and private choices, changes in partnership - these are topics that affect a great many people today and therefore belong in a newspaper with the claim to look."
The new newspaper head with renovated Blick logo (below).

Everything is new in May: The new Blick wants to appeal to more women and young readers.
Daniel Schifferle

"There is no doubt that we are currently going through turbulent times." This is the conclusion reached by trend researcher Matthias Horx in the foreword to his Zukunftsinstitut's new dossier. Apparently, this is not a temporary irritation caused by the war in Iraq, but a substantial restructuring of the consumer markets. According to Horx, we are experiencing a radical polarization into a discount sector, where stinginess remains "mega-awesome" in the long term, and a sector of "obsessive crisis luxury", where things are downright decadent. The rise of new areas such as security markets and care communities is also a factor. The dossier "30 trend opportunities for marketing and management in times of global turbulence" is intended to present the most important developments in the new crisis landscape. It can be ordered for 60 euros at www.zukunftsinstitut.de.

Remedies With two new commercials, Exxtra continues to build the brand image of Perskindol Since the budget takeover in 2001 by Exxtra Kommunikation, the retail unit of the Advico Young & Rubicam Group, Perskindol has relied on humor - and hit the bull's eye. The ointment became the market leader among self-medication liniments, the level of awareness doubled and the competition was left behind. Now two new commercials are intended to raise the profile of the Perskindol brand even further with humor and honest promises of effectiveness. Not an easy undertaking. After all, Swiss advertising for therapeutic products is subject to strict guidelines. This is one of the reasons why commercials and advertisements for ointments and pills often lack creativity. Perskindol is an exception. The strictly controlled guidelines stipulate that advertising for remedies must exclusively present the preparation and its properties - a rather humorless, direct implementation is therefore customary in the industry. However, Pharma-Singer and Exxtra Kommunikation show how you can break out of the mold without getting bruised by the campaign controllers. This unusual approach for the industry should also prove to be a recipe for success in the new campaign starting this May.
Continuing in styleHumor and honesty are the key features of Perskindol advertising. The two new commercials as well as advertisements, POS posters and dispensers in the new campaign continue along the same stylish path. In addition to the multi-award-winning "Parachute" commercial for Perskindol Cool, which is effective against sprains and bruises, the other two product lines Perskindol Classic and Dolo are now also being advertised with one commercial each.
The new film for the Classic flagship product shows a man cutting down a tree, who briefly interrupts his work to apply ointment to his aching arm. Just at that moment, the tree falls onto the beautiful new boat next to his vacation home.
The film for Dolo shows an elderly mushroom picker picking some
meters away, he discovers some real gems. Tormented by the constant bending over, he rubs himself briefly
at the exact moment a satellite falls from the sky and crashes into the beautiful mushrooms.
Although not quite as macabre as in the parachute commercial, humor is also characteristic of the new films. With a smile, Exxtra wants to attract a lot of attention to the liniment for muscle and joint pain. The aim is also to communicate the specific area of application of the products. The message of both commercials is: Perskindol unfortunately only helps with joint pain and tension or with rheumatism and arthritis. The restriction that Perskindol "unfortunately only" helps with pain is "thoroughly honest", as Exxtra mischievously puts it. The commercials surprisingly underline the credibility of a brand whose products - in line with the guidelines - do not present themselves as miracle cures but as remedies.
to understand.
The films from Exxtra's creative kitchen were realized by Trigger Happy Productions in Berlin.
Unfortunately, it only helps with pain of the body and not of the soul: TV commercial images for Perskindol.

Andreas Panzeri

Sports sponsorship The Swiss Football Association (SFV) has gained Swisscom as its fifth sponsorship partner, joining main sponsor Credit Suisse and co-sponsors Opel (Suisse), Swisslos and Winterthur Insurance. According to a press release, Swisscom is committed to promoting top-class and popular sport as well as young talent. The sponsorship agreement runs until June 2004 with an option to extend.

Advertising bans With an advertising campaign conceived by Publicis, the alliance wants to create a mood against the introduction of advertising bans.The idea is simple: using existing campaigns, censored with bars, the alliance against advertising bans promotes "freedom of opinion". The advertising idea was conceived by Publicis. It won the pitch against two other agencies. "We opted for this campaign because it is apt and versatile," explains Piero Schäfer, Communications Officer at Schweizer Werbung. CD Markus Gut, the consulting duo Christian Siegrist and Sylvia Goetschel as well as Cornelia Harder in project management were responsible for the implementation.
It is not yet clear when the campaign, which consists of posters, advertisements, TV and radio spots, will be launched. "We're expecting June," says Harder. She has already received the green light from six companies whose advertising will be "misused" in the campaign: Swisscom, Heineken, Mobiliar, Renault, Migros and Coca-Cola.
The Alliance also wants to exert pressure on the political terrain: it decided to fight the efforts of some cantons to enact a cantonal ban on tobacco advertising, similar to that in Geneva, by means of referendums. Thanks to the involvement of the Swiss
trade association, the
Allianz has the necessary structures in place. There are currently no further legislative proposals. However, initiatives calling for a ban on tobacco advertising are still pending in various cantons. In Bern, the government has also called on outdoor advertisers to voluntarily refrain from tobacco advertising before any legislation is passed. This proposal will also be opposed by the
Alliance lobbying. Alliance campaign: advertising bans are "censorship".
(mk/af)

Agencies After a competitive presentation, the Swiss Cancer League has decided to work with Catsky & Partner, a young Zurich advertising agency that will be the first to handle the Cancer League's 2003 annual collection. A poster campaign, an advertising campaign and a TV commercial will be launched in June.

Customer magazines The free SBB travel magazine Via will have a new look and new content from the beginning of May and will be published ten times a year instead of eight. Kurt Schwerzmann is responsible for the new design. Via is to have a more urban look with a larger format and a sturdier cover, according to the SDA news agency. In terms of content, Via is also to be tailored more closely to the interests of business travelers. Via has been published since 1993 with a circulation of 230000 copies.

Education The postgraduate course for communications professionals at the Università della Svizzera Italiana has been given a new brand: instead of MPR, the "Executive Master of Science in Communications Management" course will now be abbreviated to "Executive MScom". This is intended to emphasize its orientation as a management program with a strategic focus. The name change also includes a new logo. The course was developed by the university in 1998 together with the Swiss Public Relations Institute and was first offered in 1999.

SRG Television and Radio of Italian-speaking Switzerland (RTSI) closed the 2002 financial year with a profit of CHF 2.7 million. 68.8 percent of the Ticino radio station's market share was achieved. Those who tuned in to the station listened to the programs for an average of 74 minutes per day. Ticino television achieved a market share of 36.5 percent during prime time. The average daily figure was 29.6%, as reported by the RTSI Regional Council in a press release.

TV The Swiss offshoot of the German music television network Viva is dropping its previous Swizz name suffix as of May 5.As part of an alignment with the parent company, which increased its stake to 96 percent at the end of 2002, the international blue-and-yellow station logo will also represent Viva Switzerland in the future.