For the second time, SRG has published a benefit balance sheet, a 112-page brochure in which the media company uses data and examples to demonstrate the social and economic importance of its public service. The first publication of a benefit balance sheet in 2001 led to fruitful discussions, writes Head of Communications Josefa Haas in the introduction. The Bernese advertising agency Lang Gysi Knoll is responsible for the design, while the illustrations are by graphic artist Daniel Müller. The benefit assessment can be ordered by e-mail: christine.stalder@ srgssrideesuisse.ch and is also available as a PDF document at www.srg.ch.

Print Have you ever tried to put a tube of toothpaste in your mouth? No, don't do it in future, because the foreign body will make you vomit within seconds. Not so much because of its contents as because of its synthetic packaging, which is quite irritating to the palate. This toothpaste advertisement is just as irritating. It may be that candida makes for good breath, but in this case the toothpaste achieves the opposite. Anyone who doesn't feel sick just imitating the subject need only think of how a goose feels when it is being stuffed. Be that as it may, the face is also the advertising platform in the second ad. Francesco Biasia has recently started equipping women with little picture glasses. It's practical, because it means she no longer has to tell her lover what she wants for the season. One look at her veiled eyes is worth a thousand words. (ck)

Corporate magazines Two Zurich teams have made it into the top ranks in the Best of Corporate Publishing 2003 competition. The BCP Best of Corporate Publishing judges corporate magazines in the business-to-consumer and business-to-business categories. The prize, which is being awarded for the first time, is presented jointly by Acquisa, Horizont, W&V and the Forum Corporate Publishing. Due to its evaluation criteria, it is considered "very representative" and is therefore also referred to as the "Oscar for corporate magazines". A total of 326 German-language magazines were submitted to the competition. Among the three winners in the B2B "Money and Consulting" category, Zurich-based Arnold Design and Kurt Schwerzmann and his team were invited to the gala in Cologne on April 2. Urs Arnold has been designing the Bulletin for Credit Suisse since 1998. This magazine is regarded as the oldest periodical banking publication in the world and was first published in 1895 as "Effekten-Kursblatt der Schweizerischen Kreditanstalt in Zürich".
The bulletin, which has now been awarded a silver medal in Cologne, is published six times a year as a stakeholder magazine with over 136,000 copies and has also been available online since 1999. The editorial team is managed in-house at CS. Arnold Design specializes in various forms of visual communication, from editorial design to new media and direct marketing, and employs over ten people in Uerikon.
In the same category, Zurich-based Atelier Schwerzmann + Team can also look forward to a bronze "Oscar" - for its Focus magazine from recruitment consultancy Egon Zehnder International.
(pan)

Watch marketing IV Clever: Thanks to a clever advertising campaign, Omega is riding the wave of Alinghi's success with its new watch, the America's Cup Racing Chronograph.Omega's advertising bag is almost uncanny: After a series of successful advertising appearances - for example as a James Bond watch or as the constant court companion of sexy Anna Kurnikova and model Cindy Crawford - Omega is also skillfully making its mark in the sailing world. And this despite the fact that the Swiss watch company sailed in the America's Cup as official timekeeper with the losing team Newzealand and has New Zealand's skipper Dean Barker under contract as an advertising ambassador. There is no sign of dejection at Omega, on the contrary: with a clever advertising campaign, the Swatch Group subsidiary is putting itself where Alinghi's path led in February: in the spotlight. Firstly, the timing is responsible for this. Omega launched the watch at exactly the right time - on the occasion of the America's Cup in Auckland/New Zealand in February 2003. Secondly, the product: while Alinghi's sponsor Audemars Piguet advertised a 53,000-franc platinum watch that was rather unsuitable for maritime conditions, Omega developed a cheaper and more functional watch - the America's Cup Racing Chronograph (from 5,000 francs) - which, with its red and blue "10 minutes" and "5 minutes" countdown function, was designed to bring the boat to the starting line on time. And thirdly: the advertising material. The poster for the new Omega timepiece is tasteful and suggests that Omega is riding the right wave.
Exciting motif
In the center of the advertisement or poster, the watch presents itself from its best side, behind it two sailing boats are fighting for first place in beautiful blue and white waves, and above it is the headline: "The America's Cup Choice". The fact that the maneuver performed by the two ships in the picture makes little sense (the main thing is that it looks good) and that neither of the boats is Alinghi's (with good reason) should only irritate weather-hardy sailing fans. Typical Hayek: In-house advertising
According to the Omega press office, the target group for the watch is sailing and sports enthusiasts. The watch launch in Switzerland will be accompanied by posters - they have been hanging in various Swiss cities since February 12 - and advertisements. These have appeared in the NZZ, Le Matin dimanche, HandelsZeitung and, since April, in the sailing magazine Skipper. A TV commercial was also shown on Eurosport during the America's Cup. Incidentally, the advertising idea - like all Omega advertising ideas - was developed by the internal advertising department at the headquarters in Biel.
The Omega advertising department won the first race against Audemars Piguet. The outcome of the second race will be revealed in a few months' time. Then it will be time to advertise for the advertising medium. It has still not been decided whether - as usual - the official timekeeper will be the partner of the defending champion in the next America's Cup or the sponsor. Alinghi boss Ernesto Bertarelli has the final say.
Looks good even without Alinghi: Omega motif for the Winner watch.
Annelies Friedli

Relaunch campaign The highly topical subject of economic scandals gave the Publicis creation team the opportunity to realize a provocative campaign, with prominent Swiss CEOs not only making headlines in the business magazine Bilanz itself, but also in the ads for the relaunch campaign. "Attention: your balance sheet has been embellished", reads the warning. Swiss CEO André Dosé had to take the rap for this headline. Filippo Leutenegger also showed some in-house humor to take the rap for "Attention: your balance sheet has been fudged". The campaign for the revamped balance sheet thus combines several effective advertising factors: celebrities as eye-catchers, a topic to which the public is sensitized and an advertising idea with a surprise effect. To kick off the campaign, Publicis also organized mini-demonstrations in Zurich, Basel and Berne against doctored and polished balance sheets. At Zurich's Paradeplatz, the demonstration looked so real that the police intervened.

Antonio Lopez has been a copywriter at Publicis since the beginning of February.Antonio Lopez used to score goals as a striker for a Zurich football club. Today, as a copywriter, he only juggles with words instead of balls: he joined the team at the Zurich agency Publicis in February. "Only a few Swiss agencies match my idea of creative advertising," says Lopez, who quit his job at Springer & Jacoby in Hamburg to move to the Limmat. He has long respected the consistent performance of the team around Jean Etienne Aebi and Markus Gut. The 31-year-old now wants to build on this and produce successful campaigns that also win prizes. "And for big clients," Lopez emphasizes, "because that's more difficult than for the hairdresser around the corner." The Swiss with Spanish roots finds inspiration for this in everyday life: he devours everything - from tabloids to world literature. His (reading) hunger for new things is also reflected in his professional career: the lyricist has already worked as a fitness instructor, journalist, bartender and assistant to ballet director Heinz Spoerli, and studied at the conservatory (piano) and at university (French and German literature).
In his early days as a copywriter at FCB Leutenegger Krüll, the career changer learned the trade and quickly drew parallels with football: "In both disciplines, the better the team is, the easier it is to score goals," says Lopez. So he quickly set his sights on making it into the "Champions League". Two years later, he realized this idea with a copywriting job at Jung von Matt/Alster. A tough but all the more instructive school awaited him there: "In Germany, everything is ten times bigger, ten times faster, the work is ten times harder because you have ten times more competition and obstacles to overcome on the way to realizing a campaign," says Lopez. As a result, he has learned to achieve maximum quality with a certain obsession. Although he had a fascinating time at the Alster, his private life suffered as a result. This did not change when the copywriter moved to Springer & Jacoby after 17 months. "The fight for survival in such agencies is not only external, but also internal, 13 hours a day, 7 days a week," says Lopez. At both agencies, he worked on campaigns for BMW (3 Series), Mini, Bild, Panasonic, Smart and Mercedes-Benz, among others.
Back in Switzerland, Lopez finds everything heavenly - the work at Publicis, the food, the cultural offerings. The only thing he misses a little here is the cosmopolitanism and speed. He now wants to bring the speed he has learned abroad to the Publicis team and reject the "Swiss suckiness" in advertising. "A campaign can sometimes just be intelligent instead of funny," Lopez is convinced - he wants to "dramatize surprisingly, amazingly, wittily, simply and quickly". By "quick", the copywriter means "that everyone has to understand the message immediately without explanation".
Nevertheless, he is not afraid of sinking into Helvetic provincialism. After all, he is now playing in the best team in Switzerland, the FC Basel of advertising, so to speak. And, as we all know, it has also made it far in the lucrative Champions League.
Wants to take the Swiss advertising landscape by storm: Publicis copywriter Antonio Lopez.
Carole Koch

Advertising that appeals to the ecological conscience has been around for over 20 years, so it's time for an in-depth qualitative examination of this trendy type of strategic communication, which plays on the idea of concern and whose success depends one hundred percent on the credibility of the respective message. In this respect, other areas could still learn from ecotainment. The credibility of eco-advertising by Gitte Katz. Westdeutscher Verlag, Wiesbaden 2002. 359 pages, Fr. 57.70.

Anyone paying a virtual visit to the Canadian anti-marketing organization Adbusters these days will first be redirected to the protest site "Boycott Megabrand USA".Anyone paying a virtual visit to the Canadian anti-marketing organization Adbusters these days will first be redirected to the protest site "Boycott Megabrand USA". Anti-war protesters and other capitalism and consumer skeptics can sign an electronic petition there, but at the same time learn the basic concepts of today's unexpectedly hip "culture jamming".
Arguments for activists
Adbusters founder Kalle Lasn explained its motivation and methods three years ago - in a witty, sometimes angry treatise that did not find a German publisher at the time. In view of the current anti-Americanism, this could now change. Until then, you will have to go back to the original to learn that and how the USA has mutated "from a political entity to a multi-billion dollar brand". And how you can use pure consumer power to help steer seemingly uninfluenceable developments - if you want to.
> Culture Jam. The Uncooling of America™ by Kalle Lasn. Harper Collins, New York 2000. 251 pages, Fr. 29.80.
(oc)

Watch marketing I Analysts assume that watch brands invest around a quarter of their turnover in their image. It should come as no surprise that their advertising appears monotonous at first glance. The familiar knitting pattern - product, style and hedonistic attitude to life - guarantees a tangible brand soul - and therefore also success: Bentley and Breitling. Not only do they both have a "B" in their logo, both brands are also adorned with eagle wings. At the Geneva Motor Show, the watch brand from Grenchen presented two new watches, one for the dashboard of the racing version of the British luxury car, the other for the wrist. In a media-effective move, the manufacturer of the timepiece presented itself as a sponsor of the Bentley team for the 2003 Le Mans race. A textbook example of luxury brand management. Because with the "Bentley leverage effect", Breitling makes itself even more desirable and at the same time more unapproachable. Even if this example might make you think so, the outstanding reputation of the Swiss watch is not just an empty marketing phrase. Its good reputation is based on almost 500 years of tradition, dynamism and creativity - and this can be precisely quantified. In the middle of the 16th century, the reformer Jean Calvin in Geneva forbade the wearing of jewelry in public and forced goldsmiths to reorient themselves for a short time - which turned out to be a real blessing for the craftsmen, with consequences for the export industry right up to the present day: according to the Federal Statistical Office, one in six Swiss francs from exports in 2000 was accounted for by the domestic watch industry (17.1 % of total exports).
"The watch industry has managed to pursue a stable brand policy for generations," attests Thomas Otte, owner of Dr. Otte Brand Consulting. "In contrast to American clones such as Zobel, Bruggisser or Mühlemann, the Swiss watch industry has remained true to itself and has largely closed itself off to ideas in brand and company management that are alien to its nature," says Otte, explaining its success. As is so often the case, a certain "patronal inertia" has had a positive effect here.
This self-similarity, which acts as a normative bracket both internally and externally, also influenced the development of average gross value added: while this has declined in the higher-turnover export sectors of machinery/electronics and chemicals in recent years, it has risen steadily in the watch sector. And this with increasing employment. While only just under 27,000 people were employed in the watch industry during the crisis of the 1980s, the figure today is around 3,9500. In addition to the enormous technological and rationalization push, Swatch's revolutionary marketing strategy played a key role in the renaissance of the Swiss watch and its image. The days when the watch industry still employed over 90000 people may well be over for good. But Switzerland has been defending its title as the world's largest watch exporter in terms of value for almost two decades now. The industry generates just under five percent of its turnover in its Alpine republic.
Revitalizations à gogo
The Swiss watch industry also weathered the past year - characterized by the global economic slump and the high Swiss franc exchange rate - well. The Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FH) recently announced that exports in 2002 had reached a value of 10.64 billion Swiss francs (+0.4 % in value terms compared with 2001). When it comes to forecasts for the current year, the
Jean Daniel Pasche, President of the FH, is cautious: "Our fears of a decline in sales in the first half of the year have been confirmed." Looking further into the future is currently difficult due to the geopolitical situation and the global economic situation. "We were expecting a recovery in the second half of the year, even though we sense a great deal of uncertainty in the industry," adds Pasche.
However, he rules out the possibility of his association launching an industry campaign, as it did 20 years ago. In any case, the opinion has prevailed among watch companies that they benefit more from in-house marketing, says Pasche. The FH only supports their activities with PR. Apparently, the watch groups and independent manufacturers have learned a lot from the crisis. At least as far as marketing is concerned, where, according to industry experts - the individual brand managers are extremely discreet - more has been invested in recent years than in genuine product innovations.
Thus, forgotten, inactive brands were kissed awake from their hibernation (Panerai, Blancpain), licensed brands (Bally, Calvin Klein) were pushed from the "drawing board" to success with marketing strategies worth millions or models were turned into absolute bestsellers through partnerships with luxury brands from outside the industry (Breitling with Bentley). Traditions with strong images and emotions were revived for certain target groups with utopian brand worlds. If these brands radiate their value portfolio credibly and in a unique style, it is irrelevant to the consumer whether the tradition was actually uninterrupted. The highly segmented and well-informed market has also responded very positively to these timepieces, even if they are decried as pure marketing products by watch enthusiasts.
In reality, however, the question arises as to how long the gold-rush mood in the luxury watch segment will last and whether more brands will be able to position themselves here. Much also depends on whether the king of watches, Nicolas Hayek, carries out his threat to stop supplying raw movements to watch manufacturers and assembly companies from 2006.
The man who has managed to improve the operating margin even during the economic downturn should therefore continue to make headlines even after handing over the reins to his son. Apart from the PR on his own behalf, which works like clockwork, the "marketing work" for all of his 18 watch brands (from Blancpain and Jaquet Droz to Glashütte, Rado, Omega, cK and Certina) is going so well that profitability has increased. And without cutting back on marketing expenditure. Anything else would have been surprising for the "Advertiser of the Year 2001".
Beatrice Howald, Head of Public Relations at Swatch Group, has a simple and plausible explanation: "Especially in times when consumers are 'reluctant to buy', it is important to convince them by various means. We want to show them that they can still treat themselves now." To this end, each Swatch Group brand puts together its marketing and, in particular, its communication mix in a very target group-oriented way: While Swatch focuses primarily on the expansion of retail activities as well as PR and high-profile events, the prestige brand Breguet, for example, which was taken under the Swatch wing in 1999, makes greater use of traditional advertising, exclusive retail and customer service. The watch manufacturers do not allow themselves to look deeper into their books. Although media visibility is often celebrated, it must follow the precise rules of the brand managers.
Discretion is not only the mother of exclusivity at the Swatch Group in Biel. Also at Rolex, the Zug-based Richemont - among others
A. Lange & Söhne, Cartier, Piaget, IWC and Panerai - and the Paris-based LVMH Group - Ebel, Zenith and TAG Heuer - are buttoned up. Even in communication, aloofness is practiced and distance is maintained. But even without an official statement from the marketing or PR departments, it is clear that traditional watch advertising has become very similar again since the Swatch revolution, which began to develop completely new markets. And this despite the large number of brands and noticeable stagnation in some segments.
Across all ranges, the product is king. The humorous nature of positive provocation is no longer exclusive to Swatch. Even among the few exceptions in the middle and higher segments, where brands with unusual strategic concepts danced out of line, we are increasingly seeing a return to déjà vu and interchangeability. For just under two years, Maurice Lacroix, for example, presented itself as a brand for uncompromising people with an instinct for classics with an independent campaign - a mix of wilderness and luxury.
Farewell to surrealism
The luxury brand Ebel also became increasingly erratic and less experimental in its advertising: after abandoning the spectacular surrealism campaign, it tried to boost sales again with a celebrity endorsement - hands of image bearers such as Madonna or Harrison Ford. After that, La Chaux-de-Fonds also opted for a product-oriented approach. However, there are only a few cases where the international visual language can be used in such an image-defining way as in the case of Jaeger Le Coultre, which does indeed have extraordinary features thanks to its rotating case.
IWC, with its provocatively ironic macho attitude to life, is still the exception across the board. Roland Ott, Head of PR at the Schaffhausen-based watch company, is well aware of the watch's huge brand capital and recognizable personality. That's why he swiftly brushes aside doubts that the concept would be aborted. "We are testing the polarizing campaign in other cultural circles," explains Ott. But that doesn't mean that the pointedly male-friendly headlines will disappear - on the contrary. The popularity of the tongue-in-cheek plea for masculinity is reflected in the sales figures and the fact that IWC is the only watch campaign for which posters are available. This is not the only way in which the manufactory on the Rhine differs from other watch companies. After all, it has a customer magazine in its communication mix, which it can use to cultivate a stylish image transfer in the luxury segment.
However, the fact that many brands - not just young ones - paid too little attention to a dense semantic network in their communication presence during the upswing could take its revenge. It is questionable whether such brands will survive a future wave of concentration. "There are only a few watches that have managed to sustainably build a unique, utopian and at the same time value-rich world," says brand strategist Otte.
Style, luxury and a hedonistic attitude to life are the campaign characteristics of a few watch brands.
The Basel Trade Fair WarUnder the new name Basel World, the World Watch and Jewelry Show opens its doors today for the 30th time. Not only its appearance has changed. The trade fair, which aims to attract over 80,000 visitors with around 2,200 exhibitors, has relocated a third of its exhibitors - more than 20 country pavilions - to the Zurich exhibition center. Despite the upgrading of Zurich, the industry's most important rendezvous - which usually generates billions in sales - is under a bad star. Not only because of the war in Iraq, which is deterring importers and traders from the Middle East, Asia and the USA from making the trip. A fact that is also causing problems for Zurich's luxury hoteliers: rows and rows of empty beds instead of full occupancy. The home-baked feud between Basel World and the 13th Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie is also likely to be met with incomprehension by the target audience - even if the Geneva Salon has succeeded in winning over the Richemont brand family exclusively for itself. (la)
Status symbol customer magazineOnly a few watch manufacturers today can afford the luxury of a customer magazine. IWC's Watch International is one of these special cases in the industry, as is the international magazine Patek Philippe. While the latter, in keeping with the philosophy of a luxury and connoisseur brand - apart from advertising for the in-house museum - manages entirely without advertisements, Watch International indulges in an excessively hedonistic lifestyle with all its trappings. Here, where polo, sports cars, tennis, fashion and golf find their editorial place alongside the high art of watchmaking, the corresponding advertisers are also happy to make a rendezvous for their own and for the benefit of cross-marketing. This encourages imitators: Omega has such a project in the drawer, we were told on request. For most other luxury brands, this customer loyalty tool does not seem to pay off, as PR articles in trade journals can reach a broader but equally interested target audience. This option is significantly cheaper, practically risk-free and easier to handle. Also, more and more newspapers and magazines are covering the topic of watches. (la)
I do it my way...
Watch Marketing II Spillmann Felser Leo Burnett developed a new global brand identity for Carl F. Bucherer for the Basel Watch and Jewelry Fair, which implements the company's philosophy.
While a large number of high-quality watch brands had found their niches and clientele fairly quickly in the 1990s thanks to the good economic situation, the environment and forecasts in the sector looked completely different again a year and a half ago. The launch of the Carl F. Bucherer brand was therefore tantamount to a pioneering act, and the Lucerne watch and jewelry specialist had a financial cushion ready for its positioning. The aim of Marcel Hossli, Executive Vice President Marketing, was to use Bucherer's more than eighty years of expertise to revive a brand and establish a second sales pillar for the Group.
Like few other brands that also communicate product-related values to customers through independent appearances, Hossli focused on a brand experience with differentiation potential. After Euro RSCG Switzerland built up the brand internationally with a high-quality but synthetic lifestyle look in parks, pitch winner Spillmann Felser Leo Burnett (SFLB) is now continuing the successful work, particularly in the Far East, where Bucherer already has a good distribution network. "We have retained the brand essence, but have made the appearance and staging more natural and concrete," says Bucherer marketing man Hossli.
It was clear that the values of the family business founded in 1919 - independence and sovereignty - could hardly be dramatized with a product-oriented implementation. "Our platform of ideas found expression in the claim 'For people who don't move with the times', because the target group doesn't swim with the mainstream," says copywriter Jürg Brechbühl. The ambiguous statement is indeed surprising, especially for a watch brand. Consulting Group Manager Peter Schäfer: "The company has remained true to this philosophy - going its own way - to this day. We are in the fortunate position of being able to advertise for a company that is not part of a huge corporation, but one where you are in direct contact with the CEO."
In line with the demand for authenticity, CD Martin Spillmann's team staged three subjects featuring real people who buck the trends. For example, the 40-year-old entrepreneur Mark Ray, who runs his company without a consultant, or the wine merchant Elisabeth Sykes, who always takes time to write letters by hand, and finally the Dutchwoman Josie de Wolf, who has turned her passion into a profession and advises customers on buying clothes as a stylist. The location and styling help to support the cultivated brand values as well as the person. These are cosmopolitan people without glamor; people who have the luxury of taking unconventional paths. The new concept no longer includes a TV commercial. On the other hand, marketing will focus on expanding the product family, which will also be further developed in terms of design. (la)
Luca Aloisi

The Association of Swiss Advertising Companies (VSW) has published the 2003 edition of the Swiss Press - Magazines Edition catalog, a handy reference work containing all the essential basic data for placing advertisements in consumer magazines, special interest, hobby and trade magazines. Information on circulation, publication frequency, type area, column layout, unit rates and page prices are published for each title. The catalog can be ordered via www.vsw-assp.ch.

Subscription advertising When an idea is in the air, it can no longer be stopped. "An embellished balance sheet: one year for just 20 francs" is the slogan - as with the real balance sheet - for the feminine edition, recently launched as Annabelle Business. The Swiss business and lifestyle magazine for women is published quarterly and already reached 94,000 readers after the second issue - without embellishment. The third issue with the cover story "Successful with tact & tactics" is being published these days.

Private radio stations The radio marketer Radiotele is launching a cross-media package called "Young Impact 03", which includes the music TV Viva Swizz, the youth cable station Radio 105 and the outdoor advertising service Wildplakat by PGB from Plakatiergemeinschaft Bern. The target group is 12 to 29-year-olds in German-speaking Switzerland.