Column New waves of layoffs in journalism: How to save your head, and possibly even your brainGlad to see you healthy and alive, Mbwana! And this in these dark times! I'm glad you've escaped the bloodbaths in our industry so far - the small but steady massacres from the sacred NZZ to the farthest reaches of Mediacity.high time to talk about two important things: professional survival and personal style. A contradiction at first glance: the battle for survival is rarely won with top marks for attitude. And if you ask around on the carpet floors of publishing houses, there is very little talk of style, let alone daring style, when it comes to employees ("We at Tamtamedia are focusing on more dandyism in the face of the crisis!"), but far more often on efficiency, flexibility and other synonyms for more work, more fear, more adaptation.
On the other hand, two questions arise: 1. is what the company declares to be reasonable also reasonable for you? 2. is it profitable for the company what the company declares to be profitable? (Let's remember: these same carpetbaggers have recently enriched the media world with infallible projects such as Internet portals, private television, news-free news magazines or jokes such as a Sunday newspaper copy entitled NZZ). In contrast to their companies).
Following blindly is rarely advisable, even if the guide dog has a Master of Business Administration. ("You can send a donkey to Harvard - and get a donkey back", as Nicolas Hayek put it). It is certainly an obvious strategy to behave inconspicuously in the crisis of the journalism factories and to deliver precisely tailored goods on time. Professional inconspicuousness is not appreciated for nothing: After all, thousands of pages have to be filled every day. On the other hand, there are three serious objections to this: 1. why from you of all people? After all, your mother gave birth to you in great pain and hope - hardly for the purpose of writing the same routine texts as a thousand others. 2. your job is not safer because you work. Those who produce factory goods are themselves factory goods. And therefore replaceable. 3. why live in the media if you don't broadcast anything?
It is far more crisis-proof if your author line is not a layout element, but a name, an aesthetic, a program. You can fire uniqueness, but you can't replace it. And as far as the market is concerned: how many journalists do you know in this country with their own handwriting? (Exactly. They've been waiting for you. Welcome to the club!) And what's more, the recipe for enchanting an audience is not witchcraft: you just have to have something to say. And leave out everything else.
Sure, you need three things for this: some courage, some craft - and some power in your editorial office. How to write breathtaking articles on a regular basis and how to get them printed, the most important methods will come in six weeks - if you and I, Mbwana, are still healthy and alive then.
> Constantin Seibt is a political and business editor at the weekly newspaper WoZ.

Television Europe's largest TV group, RTL Group, increased its operating profit by more than half last year, thanks in part to the success of the show "Deutschland sucht den Superstar" in Europe. According to the Luxembourg-based subsidiary of the Bertelsmann Group, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose to 424 million euros in 2002 (previous year: 276 million euros).

Free newspapers The Neue Luzerner Zeitung has been looking for additional distribution opportunities in its region for some time now. 20 Minuten is expected to enter its market? Or does it want to launch a commuter newspaper itself? One thing is certain: NLZ - or its parent company LZ Medien - has been looking intensively for some time for additional distribution opportunities in its region, interestingly not only for the daily newspaper, but apparently also for a free paper. Specifically, NLZ has asked the commercial police in Lucerne about additional locations for its own sales boxes. Newspaper sales boxes, including those of other titles, are only available on private property in Lucerne. This will remain the case. Heinrich Hüsler, deputy head of department, gave the NLZ negative feedback. After the "mixed experiences" with the commuter newspaper Metropol, the city no longer wanted to set a precedent.
However, LZ Medien is also interested in dispensers in buses operated by the Lucerne public transport company (VBL) - but for what? One thing is clear: VBL made an offer to LZ Medien at their request and are now waiting for an answer. This is what VBL Marketing Manager Brigitte Herzog told Werbewoche. At first glance, this seems surprising, but an event last week could shed some light on the matter: LZ Medien has acquired a 30 percent stake in Anzeiger Luzern AG, publisher of the free titles Anzeiger Luzern and Luzerner Woche. Read on page 15 to find out whether the two flourishing papers are now to be converted into a commuter newspaper.
If this were the case, it would make sense to apply to SBB Lucerne for newspaper boxes. In fact, SBB spokesperson Ruedi Estermann confirms that they have received "several requests" in recent months. He does not want to say from whom, but announced that SBB will submit a tender for box locations for all SBB stops in Central Switzerland "in the next few weeks".
This also raises the question of whether 20 Minuten will participate. Publishing director Rolf Bollmann is undecided. "I have to discuss this with the BoD first," he says.
Lucerne's public transport: courted distribution channels.
(mk)

Publishers The Pro Juventute Foundation is handing over its publishing activities to Zurich-based Orell Füssli Verlag (OF) at the beginning of April. According to a press release, the Foundation's management has come to the conclusion that the publishing program can be better developed and positioned on the market in the long term under the umbrella of OF.

Fashion With a planned investment of over 15 million euros, textile manufacturer Benetton's new advertising campaign in more than 30 countries around the world this year aims to highlight the sombre issue of hunger alongside colorful fashion. For the current campaign, Benetton is working together with the World Food Programme, the United Nations organization that is at the forefront of the fight against hunger in the world.

Petrol stations BP (Switzerland) has opened a new car wash at Zurich Airport just in time for spring cleaning, and the aim of the launch campaign from Alex Schmid AG is to ensure that the ultra-modern facility is evenly utilized. "I couldn't get the splashes, those annoying traces of winter on my car, out of my head," says concept developer Thomas Engeli about his campaign idea. The visual implementation gets to the heart of the matter: it's time for a spring wash. The lively B12 posters will catch the eye of drivers in the towns and villages around the airport from March 24. At the same time, advertisements and 20,000 vouchers support the clean advertising idea.

Commentary The provocation works, but Mecca-Cola flops in the blind test. This is not the only reason why the anti-brand is likely to have a short life - it lacks any credibility: "When you no longer see a Coca-Cola sign, you have reached the limits of human civilization," claimed a Coca-Cola poster in the 1960s. American-style individualistic civilization seems to have achieved what no religion has so far. Despite bigoted devotion to itinerant preachers and soul catchers, the secularized society of the USA has successfully exported its liberal-capitalist world view in times of war and peace. Its missionaries carried brand names such as Marlboro, Coca-Cola, Walt Disney and McDonald's out into the world. And what they proclaimed were not pious messages of salvation, but the simple peacemaking effect of consumption. In the meantime, their democratic empire - to use war jargon - has become almost global, and their Western value system has proven its worth.
Only in a few corners of the world do dictators and fundamentalist regimes still oppose the will of their people with inhuman cruelty in the name of their prophets and religious founders.
Their unchallenged position of power is probably mainly explained by the historically shaken self-image of radical fundamentalists, who want to blame the West for their economic inability and the erosion of their cultural identity.
The fact that before the outbreak of another war in Iraq, a businessman of Islamic faith has found a bubbling source of income with his Mecca-Cola, with which he wants to quench the thirst of peace activists and no-globals, is not to be taken lightly. What is questionable about his opportunistic business model is the underlying marketing strategy. According to this, the Mecca, Qibla or Vita-Cola consumer expresses his peaceful, anti-American ideology. It is not without irony that the subversive brand makes use of Western standards and thus fails miserably in its attempt at social criticism and denial.
Nevertheless, the inconsistencies hardly seem to bother the gullible, "enlightened" West. In contrast to Muslim countries, where genuine US brands are still preferred, business with the "ideological" anti-brand is flourishing in the West. Even the support for local and Palestinian aid organizations promised on the bottle, for the time being only a meagre promise by the businessman, is hardly questioned. Perhaps Mecca-Cola is simply proving what many have always been waiting for: Even the most critical consumers can be seduced by contrived marketing promises if they can use them to make a statement. And: drinking Mecca-Cola does not mean being for peace.
> Luca Aloisi Deputy Editor-in-Chief

Promoting young talent The Cannes Open has established itself. 66 entries were judged this year. The winners were Martin Stauch and Armin Arnold from the Lowe Direct agency. After 29 works in the first year and 47 in the second edition, the Cannes Open 03 has now "obviously been able to position itself as a coveted competition for young talent", according to Walter Grolimund from Keystone. The Zurich-based photo agency launched the Cannes Open three years ago and continues to sponsor the first prize: a trip to Cannes for the winning team to attend the World Advertising Championships, including all fees for the participation of the winning work in the official competition. Plakanda reaches into its wallet for the winner and finances a poster display on Weinbergstrasse in Zurich. Werbewoche acts as media partner. The young talent competition, in which all subjects must be designed using photos from the Keystone archive, was conceived by the Jung von Matt/Limmat agency. The brief was to use this poster competition to sensitize creative designers to working with photos from the Keystone archive.
"It is not yet possible to assess the extent to which a rethink has taken place in this regard," believes Walter Grolimund. Although interest in archive images has visibly increased, this could also be due to tighter budgets everywhere. Conversely, there is a known tendency for fees for freelance photographers to plummet on the market.
During the judging process, it was noticeable that many up-and-coming photographers would obviously like to work with celebrities. But buying a photograph of Michael Schumacher from Keystone does not, of course, cover the racing driver's personal rights. Pictures of George W. Bush or the Pope are more of a gray area. The American president had to compete with his dog for Duke's dog school under the headline "not even my dog listens to me...". The Pope was used three times,
for BlackSocks.com, Hitradio Z and an anti-Aids campaign for the lifestyle magazine Faces.
It was also noticeable that many young advertisers "have a fairly pronounced tendency towards cynicism", as Urs Schrepfer from Jung von Matt remarked when looking at the works on display. Jesus on the cross had to advertise Vive Maria brand underpants. A Xenix cinema that was destroyed by a bomb and no longer has a roof after the explosion is intended to create an atmosphere for its open-air films.
In practice, it is the other way around
Nevertheless, it was positive for the jury to see how the young creatives, some of whom were still apprentices, "approached an idea with a completely open mind". However, this playful approach to ideas also meant that many participants in the competition first chose an attractive or particularly quirky image and only looked for the right advertising client for it in a second step. "In practice, of course, it works the other way around," says jury member Daniel Comte.
The fact that a good idea alone is not enough was the decisive argument for Matthias Freuler as to why he voted for the "very beautifully and strikingly realized subject" by the Stauch/Arnold team. Markus Ruf and Simone Fennel were also impressed by the winning work because "a brief was first formulated, which was then implemented with a good idea and a great deal of professionalism". The curtain cord in the archive image from Keystone was disassembled into individual parts using Photoshop on the computer and then reassembled in a "souped-up" way.
The winning duo Martin Stauch and Armin Arnold (l.) with their ad for a theater coiffeur. Raul Serrat and Patrik Rohner follow in second place with a Tabasco truck and Frederick Rossmann in third place
and Daniel Roznovjak with the theme "The Wall" for Laurastar AG.
Jurors Markus Ruf, Urs Schrepfer and Daniel Comte (from left).
Andreas Panzeri

Cultural marketing The Lucerne Festival wants to exploit the opportunities of brand expansion by introducing new concert cycles. It was on the eve of the Second World War: the artistic and cultural elite of half of Europe had found refuge from the brown terror in Switzerland. When Arturo Toscanini, director of the NBC Orchestra - himself a fugitive from fascist Italy - conducted his "Concert de Gala" in front of Wagner's former residence on Tribschen, he laid the foundation stone for the Lucerne Festival in 1938. His concert made history and set the standards for a globally recognized, historically grown musical institution. It has made (and continues to make) a significant contribution to the image and popularity of the picturesque region on Lake Lucerne and, as a result, keeps the cash register ringing.
The Swiss Festival Orchestra and famous guest orchestras - from the Berlin Philharmonic to the Vienna Philharmonic - as well as star conductors from Otto Klemperer to Herbert von Karajan and Claudio Abbado continued the success story in the following decades. After a ten-year break, the latter reestablished the festival's own orchestra, which he will conduct for the first time this year.
It comes as no surprise that the event, now known as the Lucerne Festival, is seizing the opportunity and harnessing the darling of critics and audiences, Abbado, as an image-boosting driving force. Thanks to the star conductor and his new ensemble, Artistic Director Michael Haefliger has less to worry about in terms of audience numbers than he does about revitalizing and rebranding the expanded Lucerne Festival. According to initial estimates, the traditionally well-heeled audience remains loyal to the festival even in economically difficult times.
"Generally speaking, there are no signs that we will suffer a major slump. I think we will be able to maintain last year's result," says Haefliger. This in turn would mean an occupancy rate for the concerts of between 80 and 85 percent - which would mean well over 100,000 visitors flocking to the city of lights. It is too early to give a reason for this forecast, says Haefliger. He sees the festival program, which is sent out to 24,000 addresses, as well as advertisements and posters, which quickly boost ticket sales, as the most important factors. The stronger media presence abroad - this year increasingly in northern Italy, England, Japan and the USA - was also rewarded with a veritable booking boom (+360 percent) in 2002.
Haefliger, the festival's artistic director since 1999, has made a significant contribution to the festival's stronger positioning. In an interview, he explained the great popularity with audiences with the concept of networking and the fact that "communication and marketing are important in order to sell difficult works - as in the retail trade". With his economic understanding of the festival and the expertise of his friend Hans Ulrich Schweizer, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Wirz Werbung, the conditions for repositioning the Lucerne Festival umbrella brand were ideal.
This was also necessary: the diversification strategy - intensified concert cycles and the "Piano" classical and jazz festival with films, workshops and exhibitions - should also contribute to strengthening the core brand with a transfer of goodwill from the established brand to the extension products.
Although the more recent Festwochen events fit coherently into the emotional prestige and traditional image of the established festival, "the previous appearance consisted of individual posters that advertised each festival on its own," says Wirz CD Hanspeter Schweizer. In addition, certain motifs such as the David Hockney-style grand piano had been used for years, so that the image threatened to gather dust.
Supraregional seal of quality
Now the three festivals are to be brought closer to the umbrella brand. A single leitmotif was to emerge from the three different advertising motifs. The aim was to present the contemporary, the festival theme and the roots in the world of classical music in the same euphony. The Lucerne Festival brand should also act as a seal of quality for the new events beyond the region.
Together with Zurich artist Max Grüter, poster motifs were developed with the courage to be freely realized, which, despite their formal bracketing function, symbolically implement each of the three festivals in an unusual and independent way. From the broad pool of associations, globally quickly decodable subjects emerged, which should also appeal to younger festival visitors in addition to the regular audience (60 percent of the audience). "We wanted to convey openness, not the image of an exclusive circle," says Schweizer.
Globally decodable subjects for the new Lucerne campaign from Wirz Werbung.
Lucerne Festival as an economic factorAn analysis of the 2000 Summer Festival carried out by the University of St.Gallen revealed some surprising results: The festival generated
in the city and agglomeration of Lucerne generated income of 18 million francs. Together with the "Easter" and "Piano" festivals, this amounted to a total of over 30 million francs - not including the immaterial contribution to Lucerne's image and name recognition. In an international comparison, this result stands out because public subsidies amount to just 2.6 percent of the budget. Converted, one "subsidy franc" results in 215 francs of economic income for Lucerne. (la)
Luca Aloisi

Magazines Ringier Romandie's weekly magazine L'Hebdo will be relaunched on May 1.L'Hebdo is to be positioned as the leading news magazine for political debates, social issues, business and culture in French-speaking Switzerland. The relaunch is being supported by the graphic design agency Kurt Schwerzmann, which has already worked for Facts, Le Nouveau Quotidien and HandelsZeitung. The advertising agency Rive Gauche was selected for the launch campaign.

After a year's break, the European Association of Communication Agencies is once again awarding the Euro-Effies in 2003. We are looking for advertising campaigns that can demonstrate success in two or more European markets. The closing date for entries is May 30. The prizes will be awarded on October 2 in Brussels. Further information and entry forms can be found on the website www.euro-effie.com.

Youth radio From March 20, Pulse Radio wants to fight "against the state-imposed boredom on Swiss FM channels" for two weeks. Zurich radio producer Andrej Voina and his team don't want to let the Federal Office of Communications take the sound out of the airwaves and "broadcast" via the Internet due to the lack of a short-term license. The pulse-radio.ch project is made possible thanks to the lifestyle deodorant brand Axe.