Wemf Marked loss of circulation in the business press and heavy bloodletting in Tamedia titles A look at this year's Wemf certification is enough to make you rub your eyes - the circulation figures for many print media have plummeted like never before. Tamedia titles in particular suffered massive losses. The Tages-Anzeiger lost 15,482 copies (-6.2 %), the SonntagsZeitung 19,000 copies (-8.2 %). The Tamedia magazines eroded almost dramatically. Facts fell by 23,163 (-22.4%), Annabelle by 26,315 (-26.3 %) and Du by 4,200 copies (-19.3%). Only Schweizer Familie managed to grow by 4276 copies (+2.7 %) - only thanks to the acquisition of the Meyer's subscription base. Tamedia justifies the heavy losses with "new approaches in circulation policy". The individual sales channels were subjected to a cost-benefit analysis and it was found that some channels achieved unsatisfactory results. For this reason, this year's certification will not include those "channels that generate hardly any readers in addition to high costs". This applies in particular to airline and reading circle copies. In addition, "subscription promotions will also be optimized".
Not only Tamedia titles suffered, other newspapers also had to cut back. The Basler Zeitung, for example, reported 5446 fewer copies sold (-5 %). The Bund recorded a loss of 1970 (-2.9 %), and the NZZ also certified 3822 fewer copies (-2.2 %).
Disaster business press
The catastrophic performance of the business press comes as no surprise. Cash lost 7482 (-11 %), HandelsZeitung 2527 (-7.1 %), Bilanz 7975 (-14.6 %) and Stocks 5858 copies (-21.7 %). The results of Finanz und Wirtschaft are still pending.
A welcome change in the Swiss-German magazine market: Weltwoche - certified as a magazine for the first time - increased by 6137 (+7.2 %) to 91094 copies.
In French-speaking Switzerland, Le Matin Dimanche recorded the biggest loss among the daily newspapers with a drop of 11211 copies (-5.2 %). As a consolation, Le Matin Semaine increased by 1033 copies (+1.6 %).
Jürg Brauchli, Head of Tamedia Newspapers.
(dse)

Guest commentary Downtrading (publicity instead of advertising) and uptrading (image instead of advertising) will soon cause the classic full-service agency to disappear: The new doctrine is called "Programming: We save on expensive color ads so that we can offer you lower prices": Bild recently printed this full-page ad for the electronics department store ProMarkt. German consumers were astonished. Are German advertisers now opting for modesty, or are publishers becoming masochistic? For months, agencies and media companies have been reporting epochal slumps in sales, and not only in Germany. And traditional advertising still accounts for just a third of total budgets. Agencies and publishers alike are trying to return to profitability by cutting staff. The unemployment rate for communication professions in Germany currently stands at five percent, with a strong upward trend.
The recession is still obscuring the rules of tomorrow's markets. Commercial communication follows journalistic communication: from general interest to special interest to personal interest. The differentiation of media channels is followed by the involvement of users, individually and interactively. No one medium replaces the other. But purchased attention, called advertising, becomes communication, monologues become dialogs.
And the clients? Fewer brands with more communicative power is their battle cry. Media-Markt, for example, is proclaiming that "stinginess is cool", but at the same time is investing more heavily than last year. Meanwhile, Unilever is reducing its portfolio from 1600 to 400 brands; Kraft Jacobs Suchard will follow suit. In short: the future belongs to the global power brands. What consequences does this have for the agency scene? It is splitting into dirty and noble providers.
Marketers in the low-cost segment will try to conquer new target groups with blitzkriegs: cut-throat competition by lowering the price level, "more through cheaper". The battle for the lowest prices does not stop at the agencies. The order of the day is therefore to reduce costs for all services. One possible counter-strategy is the revival of advertising production; couponing is a step in this direction. In this way, large specialist agencies are being created - along the lines of the low-cost airlines. Basic advertising work is once again becoming a duty, creativity a freestyle activity. All consulting and service work is delegated back to the customer or charged extra. Branding experts are no longer needed, briefings and presentations are sent by e-mail. Water is free at meetings, tea costs one franc - cash.
Marketers in the premium segment, on the other hand, sell communication shells instead of products or services. This summer, for example, Langnese will name its Magnum ice cream after the seven deadly sins (lust tastes like strawberry). The hope: more meaning equals more profit. Advertising agencies are becoming image producers inspired by show business. The role models are entertainers with integrated media strategies such as Dieter Bohlen. The new doctrine is called programming and will not only change TV advertising blocks, but all commercial communication. Agenda setting and media networking will be handled by specialists. This is why clever managers and accountants, as "aggressive accountants" on the client side, will outsource brand management (also in the future) just as they have done with the production of goods and services.
> Peter Wippermann is a book author, founder of the Hamburg Trend Office and Professor of Communication Design at the University of Essen.

Decline in retail sales of Swiss print media

Retail sales of Swiss print media have been declining for years, as a long-term comparison by the K Group shows. Newsstand sales of print media have been declining for a long time, which caused a shock at the annual meeting of the Swiss Advertisers Association (SWA). According to Valora CEO Reto Hartmann, press sales have fallen sharply in recent years. The volume of sales of press products fell from over CHF 530 million in 1995 to just under CHF 490 million in 2002, a decline of CHF 40 million or eight percent.

Kiosk as a popular shopping destination

Despite the decline in press sales, the K Group was able to increase its total turnover from CHF 1.39 billion in 1995 to CHF 1.64 billion in 2002, thanks to growth in tobacco products and confectionery. Sales of the largest daily newspapers have fallen particularly sharply. Since 1998, the number of copies sold daily has fallen by 80 percent. Without "Blick", which traditionally sells many copies via the newsstand, this figure would be even lower.

Strategies against the loss of sales

To counteract the loss of sales, Hartmann recommends optimizing the cover story and the design of the front page. Publishers should also set the first day of sales of a title on a day with high customer frequency, such as Wednesday, which attracts many customers due to the Wednesday lottery. This strategy enabled "HandelsZeitung" to double its newsstand sales.

Share of print media sales at newsstands

The share of newspapers in newsstand sales remains the highest at 32.7%, but fell by 3.96% last year. The share of sales accounted for by novels and puzzle magazines developed positively, growing by 3.78%. The variety of press titles makes newsstands attractive, but only a small number of titles generate the majority of sales. Around 49 titles account for 50 percent of press sales, while the remaining 3,512 titles only contribute 20 percent.

SWA reduces membership fees

The SWA gained 26 new members last year, including Roche and Ford Motor Company. Due to the growing number of members, membership fees can be reduced by five percent from 2004. The number of participants at the annual meeting also rose to 187.

Watch marketing III Ruedi Külling was one of the most successful advertisers until he threw in the towel in 1989, invented the watch brand Xemex - and sold it again a few days ago. WW Ruedi Külling, have you ever regretted ending your advertising career for the dream of having your own watch brand? On the contrary: I am very happy that I took this step. It still gives me great pleasure to be able to go through the whole process of watch development from the first sketch to its launch, even though a lot has changed since September 11 and, in addition to the many good experiences of the past year and a half, there have also been some bad ones.
Which are...
...that business partners with whom I have worked very well for years suddenly have very poor payment behavior and do not pay invoices for months.
These are not good times for advertising or for the watch industry. Why do you still believe in the success of your watch brand Xemex?
Firstly, because the Xemex brand was taken over a few days ago by a subsidiary of the traditional German company Osco, and with Osco there is now a company at the helm that has a lot of power and a strong financial background. And secondly, because Xemex is a credible brand with a unique appearance and perfect workmanship.
You have sold Xemex as a brand. Will it have to manage without you in the future?
No. I will continue to design watches for Xemex and represent the brand abroad. But the day-to-day business stuff will have to do without me (smiles). Instead, I will create new design objects - if I have time. I have lots of ideas.
The sale is a little surprising. Firstly, because you are closely associated with the brand and the brand with you. Secondly, because it seemed that Xemex was doing quite well in your hands.
It's not that I'm selling Xemex because I haven't had any success. On the contrary, everything I put into Xemex came back: we won numerous awards and conquered Zurich's Bahnhofstrasse. However, in order to secure a long-term future for Xemex, it was necessary to develop the brand in
a larger company.
You had to get by for years without any major advertising appearances. As a successful advertising professional, that must have hurt you a lot...
It did. Especially when I see how much potential is lying idle in the watch industry...
...because advertising in the watch segment is so bad?
Yes, when you think of good watch advertising, the only thing that comes to mind is IWC advertising and maybe Rolex.
Rolex?
Yes, Rolex may not have as extraordinary an advertising presence as IWC, but Rolex does exactly what suits its brand: The advertising presence is stylish and impresses with continuity.
Speaking of advertising: In your opinion, what advertising materials make sense for a watch brand?
If I had had enough money, I would have advertised for Xemex with advertisements and PR articles in specialist journals and with posters and touchscreens at Zurich Airport, among other places.
And what does the Xemex advertising actually look like?
I designed advertising templates, layouts, displays, posters and PR material, which we made available to our distributors in a manual. We did very little advertising ourselves, mainly in trade journals. Our concessionaires, on the other hand, spent two million francs a year on advertising. Because we didn't have the money, we also looked for other channels, such as the Grammy Awards. At this event, we auctioned off a dozen Xemex watches, the proceeds of which were used to support young musicians.
Will you continue to take a look at Xemex advertising in the future - under the new company management - before it is realized?
Yes, Osco has its own advertising and marketing department, but I will still have my hands in the Xemex advertising.
Keyword watch and jewelry fair Basel: How important do you consider the fair in terms of advertising?
As very important. But I'm also a little worried about this year: there are rumors that some important major customers will stay away from the trade fair this year because they don't want to get on a plane due to the current critical world situation and the associated fears of terrorism. If this is true, it would be fatal for some watch manufacturers.
Also for Xemex?
Xemex would also suffer from this, yes.
Graphic artist, advertiser, designer - watchmakerRuedi Külling has a successful advertising career behind him: the trained graphic artist joined the Victor N. Cohen agency at the age of 21, worked his way up from graphic artist to AD (1963) to member of the management (1966) and - after the death of agency founder Victor Cohen - took over the Advico agency in 1976 together with Bruno Widmer and Jean Girard. In 1989, one year after the merger with Young & Rubicam, he sold his shares in Young & Rubicam and founded Külling+Partner Design, specializing in CD and CI.
In 1994, at the age of 60, he fulfilled a long-awaited wish: together with Hanspeter Hanschick, he founded the company Xemex Swiss Watch, designed the logo, sketched out case shapes, produced prototypes and launched a watch series. Today, Xemex has three collections and sells around 10,000 watches a year in over 20 countries.
Xemex has received numerous awards: in 1996, the trade magazine Uhren Welt named one of Külling's watches as one of the eight best watches in the world. In 1997, Xemex was included in the catalog of the MoMA New York, in 1998 it received the Red Dot of the Design Museum North Rhine-Westphalia, in 2000 the model "Avenue Chrono" was chosen as watch of the year by the watch magazine Chronos, in 2001 the model "Offroad GMT" was chosen as watch of the year by the US magazine Watchtime - and in 2002 Külling received silver in the ADC judging in the product and package design category. Beyer has been selling Xemex watches on Bahnhofstrasse since 2002.
Külling and Hanschick have recently sold their watch brand to Osco. However, both continue to work for Xemex. (af)
Interview: Annelies Friedli

Advertising criticism The legendary American columnist Bob Garfield has distilled a divine industry code from his now over one thousand "Ad Reviews".And now a few words from our sponsors": the fact that and how Bob Garfield - who is to commercial communication in the USA roughly what Marcel Reich-Ranicki is to literary communication here at home - alienates the standard announcement for advertising interruptions in the title of his new book is proof of three of his undisputed qualities: self-irony, sharp-tonguedness and a business-promoting dash of megalomania. As a tongue-in-cheek representative of God in the world of marketing, he flirts with the latter to particular effect this time around. The idea for his very personal, yet of course universally valid ten commandments came to the "sage from the land of advertising" (self-declaration) between heaven and earth, or more precisely: on a flight back from the Cannes Festival. For Garfield, the annual lion hunt under palm trees is not part of the solution, but part of the (image) problem that advertisers have on both sides of the Atlantic. "In terms of integrity and reputation, you, my dear readers, still rank behind the comparatively respectable guild of insurance agents," is one of the side blows wielded with a foil by the "Pope of advertising" (USA Today), who, nota bene, has no industry experience himself.
"Advertrocities" à discretion
However, this has not stopped Garfield from raising or lowering his golden thumb over current campaigns in the central organ Advertising Age every week for over 20 years. His "neither old nor new, but absolutely timeless testament in his lifetime" can therefore be read as a kind of post-filed catalog of criteria for his Caesarian judgments. Its first and most important chapter is entitled "Rules are made to be observed" and begins with two Shakespeare sonnets that are as identical in form as they are different in content. This by no means the only excursion into literature is intended to illustrate that great art often succeeds not despite, but precisely because of external constraints and restrictions. According to Garfield, this also applies to "great communication" such as his declared favorite Apple commercial "1984".
The remaining chapters are then devoted - unsurprisingly, but as befits a critic - to more or less obvious and heinous breaches of the rules, so-called "advertrocities" (from "atrocity"). However, anyone hoping or even expecting the other nine commandments to be derived from this ludicrous collection of relevant and exotic case studies will be disappointed when they close the amusing indictment. For even in book form, Garfield is thankfully more entertainer than educator, more buffoon than priest. The fact that he occasionally makes the same mistake that he tries to exorcise from his readers - namely viewing and practising his own consumer product as literature or art - is something that the charming causeur is happy to forgive.
Watch out, trap!
What is annoying, however, are the sometimes insistent references to his "godlike non-partisanship". Whether Saatchi & Saatchi, Leo Burnett, Publicis or Cordiant: none of the global agency networks is supposed to be
feel they are being pulled through the cocoa more or deeper than the lurking competition. The reason given for this questionable precautionary measure was once stated with an ironic undertone: "Sorry, but my influence on the Big Spender's choice of agency is now simply too great." As if books were now also covered by the absurd American legislation on product liability...
In Hermann Vaske's "The Ten Commandments of Creativity", Peter Ustinov (God) hands laptops instead of stone tablets to Dennis Hopper (Moses).
"Even brilliant advertising can't sell what people don't really want."
> And Now a Few Words from Me. Advertising's Leading Critic Lays Down the Law, Once and for All by Bob Garfield. McGraw-Hill Publishers, New York 2003. 204 pages, Fr. 54.50.
Oliver Classen

Images of women The intention is honorable, but the execution is too academic: a Germanist deciphers and interprets female "body codes" in advertising If you believe Nicole Wilk, the emancipation movement has left art directors unscathed. Her diagnosis: although clearly sexist advertisements have largely disappeared, the female body has become so independent as a symbolic hollow form that any meaning can now be implanted in it. Wilk considers this subtilization to be more dangerous than hurtful, but at least vulnerable discrimination, and in her study of 100 relevant advertisements from German-speaking countries published in 2000, she discovered a real system of paradoxes. The family woman is pitted against the career woman or the skinny girl against the high achiever. A few identifying features are enough: Deuxpièces and cell phone are synonymous with "business woman", regardless of whether the setting is a Venetian gondola or a boardroom. And in the case of childlike women, being visibly underweight is enough to send the message that being thin is beautiful. According to "body codes", the fact that those who are spindly are also weak-willed and powerless forms the backbone of an "ideal of weakness" concealed as an ideal of beauty.
Wilk wants to raise awareness of the power of (female) body signs. And offers a heavy conceptual armory that is fed with insights from Ferdinand de Saussure, the forefather of sign systems, to Roland Barthes and psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan. However, the Germanist and social psychologist's main mentor is the US philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce (1839 - 1914). In contrast to de Saussure's dualistic theory of signs, Peirce developed a triadic model that includes a real object shaped by experience in addition to the sign and its meaning. Using the philosopher's semiotic triangle, Wilk attempts to show that and how advertisers stage the female body: A woman's hand gliding gently over a car emphasizes its desirable form; a laptop tattooed on a female restraint lends a sexy fetish character to technical equipment.
So far, so plausible. It's just a shame that the academic jargon makes the book rather unreadable. In addition, there are only six illustrations of analyzed advertising subjects on the 300-plus pages. So for the remaining 96 motifs, you have to rely on their descriptions and (re)construct the image mentally.
This is doubly annoying because the deliberate decision not to reproduce the motifs analyzed is completely disavowed by the provocative book cover. What is unforgivable, however, is the complete lack of positive examples or at least alternative suggestions. As a result, feminist advertising research at best benefits from this treatise; communicative emancipation, however, has not taken a single step forward.
> Body codes. The many faces of femininity in advertising by Nicole M. Wilk. Campus Verlag, Frankfurt/Main. 2002.
324 pages, Fr. 50.50.
Mari Serrano

Lang Gysi Knoll (LGK) has won the Swiss budget of Fisherman's Friend in a pitch. LGK will be the first to launch a new flavor of the British throat cleanser in June. While Fisherman's Friend has tended to be consumed in winter and has a macho image, says LGK co-owner Silvano Spezia, the new line will be refreshingly summery and also appeal to women.

Publishers According to Cash, the publishing house Jean Frey AG (JF) reported a half-year profit of 1.4 million Swiss francs at the end of 2002.Publishers According to Cash, the publishing house Jean Frey AG (JF) reported a half-year profit of 1.4 million Swiss francs at the end of 2002. A loss of 600,000 francs had been budgeted. The turnaround was achieved thanks to savings of 12 million francs, JF Chairman of the Board Adriano Agosti told the business newspaper. Four million were saved through newly negotiated printing contracts, three million in the
online area and the rest by outsourcing and reducing administrative costs.

The PR agency Karl F. Schneider (PR-KFS) was entrusted by Divina Food AG with the launch of the Italian ice cream brand Sanson in Switzerland.PR-KFS works together with the advertising agency Publiartis, with which it is associated in the Factory Group.

Sunday newspapers FCB Leutenegger Krüll designs the new advertising campaign for SonntagsBlick as a satire of quiz show inflation The new campaign for Switzerland's largest Sunday newspaper aims to demonstrate both its expertise and entertainment value by intelligently and playfully combining serious news topics with those of the sports section and the magazine. Malicious tongues could claim prima vista that this is the same picture puzzle campaign as for the NZZ am Sonntag. The client also noticed "a certain affinity" when the advertisers from FCB Leutenegger Krüll (FCBLK) presented their designs at almost the same time as the NZZ am Sonntag posters appeared. Nevertheless, the agency prevailed because, apart from the basic idea for the new campaign for SonntagsBlick, the further design of the picture puzzles points in a different direction.
"We illustrate words with crazy interpretations," CD Mike Krüll explains the concept. "As SonntagsBlick reveals puzzling processes in an understandable way, the solution is provided to the viewer of the puzzle at the same time," says Krüll about the interpretation of the new idea. There is no long search for hidden content. A relevant newspaper topic is clearly split into three further topics - just as they can appear in the three volumes of the SoBli. The resulting fourth term also results in a current headline. "This way, we kill four birds with one stone," Krüll believes.
Mysterious TV and cinema commercials
The TV and cinema commercials are a bit more of a puzzle. Here, the candidates have to guess a topic relevant to a Sunday newspaper by putting three words together to form a term. The three words have to be found using three pictures that appear one after the other on the reels of a slot machine. The whole quiz only plays acoustically in the background. However, the link between the picture and the word is so abstruse that the candidates have no chance of guessing the correct word. The show host finally provides the correct solution.
In addition to these image spots, there will also be themed spots on the three reels of a slot machine, which will publicize Sunday's headlines every Saturday. This new campaign is intended to correct the image of the SonntagsBlick. "But not too far up. Because the SoBli is and remains tabloid, albeit at a high level," Krüll explains.
The new campaign is very different from the one used a year ago to position SonntagsBlick as a serious, fun Sunday newspaper with a high level of expertise. "Today, it is no longer necessary to emphasize text expertise so strongly, because the individual Sunday papers have found their target groups," Krüll is convinced.
Sunday newspapers Sunday is half as nice without a riddle. This seems to be the campaign solution for Sunday papers, including FCB Leutenegger Krüll for the SoBli. >> S. 7
Andreas Panzeri

The cross-media agency Station was commissioned by the Art Directors Club Switzerland (ADC) to completely overhaul the website, with the design concept being developed by Simone Fennel, freelance AD and member of the ADC. Station, whose co-founder Patrick Spahr alias Patman is also an ADC member, is responsible for the implementation.

The Fribourg-based company Chloronag has commissioned Lesch+Frei in Zurich with an advertising budget; until now, the flooring technology company has realized its own advertising measures. Lesch + Frei is the first to revise its CI and CD.