Representatives of the communications industry have also found their way to the mountains in large numbers at Easter. It's no surprise, since the weather forecasts for the holiday enticed them to go to their balconies instead of skiing in the fresh snow: The Jakobshorn is the home mountain of the young fun people in Davos. The start is always at the "Jatzhütte", where the loudest music is heard and the guests mutate into fight drinkers. It makes sense that the pub is within sight of the mountain railroad. The airy means of transport has already saved many a drunkard from falling into the valley.The "Güggel" chalet is where you meet most of the people from Zurich. The former scene host and hotelier Philipp Charles focuses on good cuisine and fine wines. The next stop before the descent is called Fuxägufer and is an appropriate name for a place where snowboard foxes hunt ski bunnies. Dinner is at the "Zauberberg", one of the best Chinese restaurants in Switzerland. This is also where the crew around Sandra Ulrich and Beat Stähli, badly affected by UV rays, met for dinner on Good Friday. Since many at the table were from the automotive industry, the pace was set accordingly. In the piano bar of the Hotel Europe, on the other hand, Jonathan Cesar sat at the grand piano, a musician who could often be heard in the former Zurich advertising meeting place "Splendid Bar".
Piazza, Gina and Lorenz (from left to right) were responsible for the well-being of guests at the Fux for a whole winter season.
Meanwhile, Chrysler marketing manager Claudia Meyer dutifully made sure the sun loungers were replenished.
Sandra Kaspar (l.), ex-DDB, and Lilian Brunner from Knaus+Knaus, lolling in a sunny deck chair.
Fuxägufer site meeting: Stefan Schmidweber (l.) with Sandra Ulrich, Pickpay, and Beat Stähli, Clear Channel.
Saw over the Easter days barely even a blanket of snow from above: The (wet) snowboard.
Beat Fritsch

The management consultancy Cap Gemini Ernst & Young has entrusted Euro RSCG Wnek Gosper in London with its global advertising budget.Euro RSCG prevailed against TBWA, McCann-Erickson and Grey Worldwide. The previous account manager, Strawberry Frog, did not compete to defend the CHF 55 million budget. The Amsterdam agency had only won the client in 2002 and had only realized a single campaign. The separation of the consultancy sectors from the large auditing firms in the wake of the Enron scandal has shaken up the market. Most of these spin-offs have given themselves new names, such as Accenture (from Andersen Consulting) and IBM Business Consulting (originally PricewaterhouseCoopers, now Monday). The French company Cap Gemini took over Ernst & Young's consulting business three years ago.

Press distribution In Germany, publishing houses are now passing on some of their losses to the intermediate trade. In the current year alone, wholesalers are forgoing 26 million euros in revenue, and this figure is set to rise. As German publishers' sales continue to plummet, German press wholesalers are having to accept hefty margin cuts. Negotiations in this respect are always fraught with conflict - after all, a lot of money is at stake. In principle, even the existence of the German press distribution system, which essentially consists of area-wide supply by regional monopolists, is at stake.
After months of bickering, the expired contracts between the publishers and Grosso have now been renewed. A happy ending - at least for the publishers. Because the wholesalers will have to tighten their belts considerably over the next five years. In the current year alone, the press wholesalers are cutting 26 million euros. This is money that the more or less ailing publishers can now use to compensate for part of their lost advertising business.
Rabid methods
Hamburg-based Axel Springer Verlag (ASV) is one of the big winners in the margin battle. Instead of the previous 13.3 percent, wholesalers will only receive a discount of 10.6 percent from January onwards. The discount scale will increase by 0.2 percent annually during the term of the contract (until the end of 2008). Nevertheless, insiders estimate that the new Grosso contract will save Germany's highest-selling publishing house a whopping 5.5 million euros this year alone. In the case of Bild, however, the wholesalers are also hoping for additional sales as a result of the price increase from 40 to 50 cents, which will be successively implemented in the western part of Germany by May. The agreement process was difficult, but ultimately constructive, explains a visibly satisfied Rudolf Knepper from the ASV board.
In addition to Springer (newspapers), the Bauer publishing group (magazines) has also been the second leading negotiator, persistently and vigorously tightening the price screws. The industry service Medien aktuell even speaks of "the biggest discount tug-of-war of all time". As the disputes dragged on for months, Bauer even cut its margins unilaterally in the meantime. The Hamburg-based magazine multinational (TV Movie, Bravo, Neue Revue) responded to protests and invoice cuts with harsh warnings. "A lot of china has been smashed," according to negotiating circles.
"Yes, the talks about the new conditions were conducted with an unprecedented relentlessness," confirms Gerd Kapp, Managing Director of the Cologne-based Federal Association of German Book, Newspaper and Magazine Wholesalers. Ways must now be found to cope with the high losses. The Grosso managing director is therefore announcing the "discontinuation of certain services" to publishers. Kapp is not yet willing or able to specify exactly what this means. One thing is certain: Grosso has so far provided publishers with regular, up-to-date and, above all, extremely precise market data. Bauer & Co. have almost real-time access to sales quotas via the data systems of the wholesalers - when and where which magazine is sold in stores across Germany. "Wholesalers are important partners, especially in the strategic area," says Lutz Zimmermann from Milchstrasse-Verlag in Hamburg. So it remains to be seen what new fee regulations publishers will soon be faced with.
Back together again
80 Grosso companies currently supply just under 117,000 points of sale in the German market, and the trend is downwards. Three years ago, there were 91 wholesalers with around 200,000 sales outlets (see box "Grosso"). As a consequence of the new discount rules, not only the association of wholesalers is expecting further mergers and cooperations. "The severe slump in advertising and circulation in recent years has also forced us to make many compromises," the publishing bosses have so far countered. Now they are suddenly saying in unison that "we can only master the future together". Bauer announced that it would work with Grosso to "tap into the existing sales and revenue potential for publishers and wholesalers". And according to reports, Springer wants to set up a working group to optimize quality and performance in press distribution.
Joining forces to get even closer to the customer. Not an easy task. According to Ludwig von Jagow from the Association of German Magazine Publishers (VDZ), Germany still holds a leading position in Europe with a retailer density of 1.4 leading stores per 1,000 inhabitants. But perhaps Aldi, Lidl & Co. can help. The discounters have been the model students in the ailing German retail trade for years. The only thing you can't buy from them so far is reading. The reasons: Margins too low, personnel costs too high, costly accounting.
This is now set to change. Springer, together with Grosso, has concluded an agreement with the Tengelmann subsidiary Plus. According to this agreement, the Bild newspaper will be available in special containers at the checkouts of the 2,500 Plus stores from the beginning of May. A second foray into the low-cost realm is currently being launched from a press container in the Aldi parking lot in Neu-Wulmstorf (see box "Aldi").
The German system of so-called "everywhere availability" of press products has therefore survived its most difficult test to date. A hearing before the Committee for Culture and Media of the German Bundestag also came to this pleasing conclusion. The structure and fulfillment of the Presse-Grosso's tasks met with recognition and approval in Berlin. A spokesperson for the Association of German Magazine Publishers (VDZ) then declared that there were no efforts on the part of publishers to buy up Grosso operations - thus indirectly confirming the independence of this distribution system. Jörg Laskowski, Managing Director of the Federal Association of German Newspaper Publishers, also assured: "There is no reason whatsoever to interfere in this functioning economic cycle." The only thing missing for perfect happiness is an upturn in circulation and advertising business.
The press container next to the highly frequented German retailer Aldi is intended to help cushion the advertising misery.
Magazines from the Aldi containerIn their search for new sales opportunities, publishers and wholesalers have landed at Aldi and other discounters: In Neu-Wulmstorf near Hamburg, Germany's first press container is located in a parking lot in front of Aldi. The publishing houses Heinrich Bauer, Axel Springer and Gruner+Jahr are behind the pilot project. They offer around 130 magazines there. The official operator is Bauer's own wholesaler Verlagsvertriebs KG (VKG). After a difficult start-up phase, the project is considered a success internally. VKG manager Jens Wegener speaks of "a system that generates good sales".
Accordingly, four more test locations are planned for this year. On May 6, the second press container will open its doors in a Lidl parking lot near Kassel (Hessisch-Lichtenau). This time there will be 150 magazines from six publishers (plus Burda, Spiegel and Milchstrasse) to choose from. With the kiosk container, Wegener wants to take into account the changed consumer behavior of the population: "The proximity to the discounters is very attractive due to their high customer frequency in these markets." (pe)
The German press wholesalersThe 80 German newspaper and magazine wholesalers achieved a turnover of 3.05 billion euros in 2002. Three years ago, this figure (calculated as selling prices to retailers excluding VAT) was 70 million euros higher. The current East-West ratio is interesting: only 447 million of last year's turnover was achieved in the new federal states.
The German Grosso has committed to nationwide distribution for all press products, therefore provides territorial monopolists and receives discounts from the publishers when purchasing. The publishers Bauer (for magazines) and Springer (for newspapers) play the main role in these negotiations. The products of these major publishers account for around 50 percent of sales. Gruner+Jahr and Burda are in second place. The rest follow far behind. Accordingly, there is an unwritten industry law: what the big two negotiate applies to everyone.
Thanks to its network, Grosso is now Germany's largest press seller with a market share of 52 percent. It is followed by station bookstores (the majority of which are owned by the Valora Group), book and magazine retailers, subscription sales and reading circles. Grosso currently supplies almost 117,000 sales outlets and sold almost 3.6 billion newspapers and magazines in 2002, around six percent less than in the previous year. The order assortment includes over 4000 titles. In contrast, the average range of newspapers and magazines on sale comprises around 1850 titles. (pe)
Peter Ehm

The fast food chain Burger King has appointed Young & Rubicam (Y&R) as its new lead agency. In addition to creative management, Y&R, together with its WPP sister companies Wunderman and Mindshare, will also be responsible for promotion, media planning and buying. Amoeba Marketing and the Interpublic agency Deutsch will be replaced. The special budgets for the children's, African-American and Hispanic markets will remain with the existing account managers. Burger King chose Y&R after a pitch that also involved Deutsch, children's advertising agency Campbell Mithun and Grey Worldwide. According to Advertising Age, Burger King spends around 340 million dollars a year on marketing in the USA.

Private radio station Radio 105 managing director Giuseppe Sacglione wants to make representations to Bakom in order to "block a back door to terrestrial broadcasting" of cable radio Virus, and he has corresponding fears following a statement by DRS-3 and Virus boss Bendicht Luginbühl in the SonntagsZeitung that the two stations will generally "strengthen networking internally and externally".

The Zurich-based advertising agency Ruf Lanz is to bring Face's advertising spaces into the spotlight. The Frauenfeld-based company became known for its "toilet communication" in toilets and urinals and launched a range of marketing campaigns in beauty salons last July. Ruf Lanz won the task of awakening the desire for advertising off the beaten track among creatives and clients in an agency presentation. The first measures are planned for this summer.

Private TV fans of bad taste have fond memories of "Eden TV". The sequences between the contributions turned Helmi Sigg, Midi Gottet and Guy Landolt into comedy stars, and now the original team wants to do it again: Helmi Sigg, Piero Schäfer and Paul Grau want to resurrect the "weird magazine" on Star TV this summer.

MobitareNice and cheeky how JvM/Limmat has furnished the young designers from Mobitare in the commercial. Everyone who clicks on www.werbe woche.ch/adrating will know whether they fit in.Credit Suisse
An ad rater confused the CS campaign with the appearance of a private clinic. Probably a little exaggerated. But clean.
Top 47,67%
Flop 52,33%

Newspapers The Ringier business newspaper Cash is now published in its entirety on the Internet, with all articles available online in their original layout on Thursday mornings, one day before the print edition. The service, called e-Cash, is subject to a charge. An annual subscription to e-Cash costs the same as the printed newspaper. Cash subscribers receive access to the online edition for CHF 20 per year. According to Ringier, e-Cash marks the start of a closer collaboration between Cash.ch and the financial service Borsalino.ch, which is also part of the Ringier business media.

Inflight magazines Although the national airline Swiss is canceling more flights, its own in-flight magazine is increasing its circulation.The April issue of Swiss Magazine was published with a circulation of 130000 copies. That is 30000 more than in previous months. It also has 30 more pages. The double issues even reach the proud number of 180,000 copies. Thus the edition, which sank in the letzen half year continuously, lies even still more highly than one year ago with the maiden flight of the Inflight magazine. The reason for the seemingly anti-cyclical increase in circulation is that since April, Swiss has not published a separate entertainment guide (radio and TV programs on board). This is now integrated into the Swiss Magazine, which means that passengers pick it up more often. As a result, the magazine has to be replaced much more frequently.
Despite increases in circulation and pickup, ad prices are not rising in tandem as reach continues to decline. "We are also struggling," says Roger D. Müller, Managing Director of the independent agency Swiss Inflight Media, which markets ads and advertising opportunities on on-board items exclusively for Swiss. After all, last year the magazine was still in the black, but this year they are likely to turn red, according to Müller. A small consolation remains: It's hardly the quality that's to blame, since Swiss Magazine was named best German-language customer magazine in the Best of Corporate Publishing competition in the tourism and lifestyle industry group.
(mk)

SF Info, the SF DRS repeat channel, now has its own teletext service, which provides a maximum of 250 pages of information about the SF Info program and the latest news from the domestic, international, meteo and sports sectors. Like the SF Info channel itself, Info-Teletext is free of advertising. An exception is the selective advertising of individual services such as corresponding SMS services.

The Zurich advertising agency Zahnzimmermannfankhauser is creating a new advertising presence for Pedrazzini, a yacht and boatyard based in Bäch SZ, Switzerland, which chose the agency following an evaluation. Pedrazzini's mahogany runabouts are regarded as the Rolls-Royce of motorboats.