Internet The Zurich-based company Audiolink launches Audiolinks for digital direct marketing. These links are designed to give advertisers the opportunity to use audio streams for their banner advertising at low cost. The customer supplies image and sound material and receives a banner with a link to Audiolink's streaming servers within 24 hours. Thanks to a tracking system, the customer knows how many users have listened to the audio stream and clicked on the link. Audiolink is primarily aimed at music distributors and stores that want to boost their online sales.

The first Polycom course starts in Zurich on October 27. The three-year, comprehensive training course to become a communications consultant is offered by the Sawi and SPRI institutes and has been running in Lausanne since 1996. The school is aimed at high school graduates or holders of a commercial diploma. Two classes are planned, each with around 30 students. An initial information event for interested parties will be held at Technopark Zurich on March 4. Further details can be found at www.polycom-switzerland.ch.

Publisher TV Thanks to the establishment of a separate broadcasting channel for SF info, the repeat channel becomes the second channel of press TV: with its own moderated programs including advertising blocks.
The SF 2 playground has become too small for the publisher television station Presse-TV (PTV). "We need an opportunity to expand," demands PTV Managing Director Hans Jürg Deutsch - and he knows where: On SF info, where information programs from SF DRS and PTV were previously repeated free of advertising and sponsorship.PTV has in fact had the opportunity to use SF info as a kind of second channel via its concession for two years. Live broadcasts, direct transmissions, moderations, sponsorship announcements, advertising blocks or even the updating of repeated info programs - PTV would be permitted to do all of this. However, the station has not yet been technically equipped for this.
Technical requirements
Since February 4, this has changed: SF info has its own broadcasting line with a control desk, monitors and a moderation booth. "This is
The technical requirements for program expansion are in place," says Deutsch. The piquant thing is that it can only be used by PTV, not by SF DRS. Although the concession for SF info provides for channel sharing between PTV and SF DRS, SF DRS is still only allowed to repeat info programs free of advertising.
The expansion to SF info not only opens up new game variants for PTV, but also additional advertising revenue. Publisuisse is responsible for the acquisition. However, the money it collects for SF info goes to PTV, while Publisuisse receives a commission. This model is more interesting for both parties than the one on SF 2: there, the advertising revenue from the PTV programs goes into the SRG pot, from which PTV receives an annual lump sum of CHF 7 million.
It is obvious that PTV is not exactly euphoric about the possibilities of the second channel despite the new technologies: SF info has been able to increase its reach in the last two years. However, it only achieved a market share of 0.3 percent in prime time last year, with an average of 0.6 percent for the whole day. In addition, SF info can only be received via cable and satellite; 20 percent of households with terrestrial reception cannot watch the program. And of the remainder, a quarter do not have the channel programmed on their remote control. If PTV wants to be as successful with future programs on SF info as on SF 2, this will require communicative efforts. SF DRS is unlikely to offer any help here, as it has nothing to gain from SF info.
The framework is tight
Hans Jürg Deutsch himself also dampens the expectations of all those who already want to identify a future PTV 2. "We are indeed trying to take SF info under our wing, and we also have a greater interest in this channel because of the more far-reaching license. But with the repetitions of SF DRS info programs in the main evening program, the framework is set," he says. Any expansion would also have to be agreed with SF DRS. Furthermore, it is not to be expected that the publishers will invest too much in the expansion at present.
"The broadcast of a National Council debate is probably the highest of all feelings for the time being," says Deutsch. However, the specific way forward will be discussed at the PTV Board of Directors meeting on March 14. One suggestion, according to the Ringier man, is that the German publishing group DCTP initially broadcasts docs produced by Spiegel-TV for a Berlin station on SF info - but not until the fall at the earliest. Ringier and NZZ each hold a 30 percent stake in PTV, while the German publishing group DCTP and the Basler Mediengruppe (BM) each hold 20 percent.
Opens the door to PTV-2, because SF DRS is only allowed to repeat its own info programs on SF info.
Successful PTVPTV programs are among the most successful contributions on SF 2, which achieved a market share of 8.4 percent in prime time last year. The following PTV programs achieved a higher average: "Al dente" (16 to 17 percent, depending on the day of the week), "GesundheitSprechstunde" (15), "Konsum.TV" (11) and "Cash-TV" (9). (mk)
Steady growth at a low levelMarket shares and reach in the all-day average of SF info in the
18-month comparison.
Markus Knöpfli

Specialist optician Ramstein Optik in Basel dares to change agencies with White Room and (temporarily) shows its own glasses in advertising again.advertising for an optician without showing its core competence, glasses? The Basel-based company Ramstein Optik and its in-house agency Favo proved for years that this concept works. Despite this tradition, or perhaps because of it, Ramstein business owner Andreas Bichweiler was looking for new ideas for the current campaign and had agencies pitch for the communications budget. The concept from the White Room agency won out. Graphic designers Natascha Stauffer and Dani Schoeneck visualized the designer "nose bikes" in an unusual way. Photographer Martin Hemmi used his camera to zoom in on otherwise unspectacular eyewear details and create his own microcosm. Another novelty: the pictures are in color. This is a clear break with Favo's campaign strategy, which used black and white celebrity portraits by photographer Christian Vogt to promote the optician.
Focus on eyewear as a design object
"It was very appealing for us to return to glasses," says Andreas Bichweiler, but hints that a return is conceivable. For Schoeneck and Stauffer, moving away from "glasses wearers" and towards the design of fashion accessories was a must. The reason for this is that White Room is basically not an advertising agency, but a graphic design studio, says Schoeneck. They suggested to the client, for whom they had already completed smaller jobs such as stationery, that they bring color back into play and showcase the glasses as a design object. While low-cost providers such as Fielmann are clearly defined by price, Ramstein focuses on the sophisticated appearance of its visual aids and therefore also appeals to a more upmarket clientele.
The posters will be hung in Basel from March and will be used for a period of two years. However, Bichweiler is already convinced that we will then return to communication without glasses.
Martin Hemmi photographed eyewear details for the latest Ramstein campaign.
Simone Keller

Internet Following a pilot phase, the Baloise Group has commissioned the content provider Swisscontent to produce up-to-date stock market reports for its Internet platform.German and French-speaking users will in future receive daily pre-market, morning, afternoon and closing reports from the Swiss stock markets as well as reports from the USA and Europe.

TV A new clip rotation will be running on the music channel Viva Swizz between midnight and 6 a.m. from March 7, with a focus on progressive music and innovative imagery to complement the chart-oriented daytime programming. According to the station, the night program called "Schlaflos" will in future be aimed primarily at the over 20s with a distinct taste in music and high visual standards.

Magazines Procap, the Swiss Disability Association, is launching a bilingual magazine for people with disabilities. The magazine, which is also called Procap, offers life advice and positions itself as a forum for living with a disability. It is primarily aimed at the 20000 members of the association. Advertising marketing is handled by the publisher Jean Frey Fachmedien. Procap's communications department is responsible for the content.

OviesseMelanie Winiger takes her clothes off - for Oviesse. And what happens to the ad rater when they see the campaign? We invite you to send us your serious comments: www.werbewoche.ch/adratingMigros
Understand that, whoever can: The ad raters hardly had a good word to say about Aebi's humorous image polishing for the orange giant.
Top 39,73%
Flop 60,27%

Advertising Festival After Switzerland was able to provide a second juror at the International Advertising Festival in Cannes for the first time in 2002 with Gilbert Fisch, it is represented with three seats in 2003, with Christian Hansen (Lowe Direct) and Guido Wietlisbach (OgilvyOne) being nominated for a second place on the jury of the direct marketing competition. David Honegger (McCann-Erickson) is a member of the film jury.

Magazines Writer Sibylle Berg and advertiser Frank Bodin have acquired minority stakes in Kultproductions GmbH as a sign of their commitment to Kult, Kult publisher Rainer Kuhn told Werbewoche. Both had already played a key role in changing the concept from a party magazine to a lifestyle magazine. "With Sibylle and Frank, I now have a band again," said Kuhn, who was previously the sole owner. "With their high-caliber expertise, we are now making rock 'n' roll!" Sibylle Berg becomes head of copywriting and is to recruit new authors for the magazine. There are no plans for Bodin to use his contacts as CEO of Euro RSCG for advertising sales: "Frank is involved as a private individual," emphasizes Rainer Kuhn.

Internet advertising expenditure plummets by more than half in January At the beginning of the year, Media Focus put the survey of gross advertising expenditure on the Internet on a new footing. Among other things, an agreement was reached with marketers and self-marketers on uniform recording principles (WW 7/03). This has not been good for the medium: In January, online sales figures plummeted by 66.4 percent. In contrast, radio and cinema provided surprises in January. After an already excellent December (+37 %), cinema advertising even doubled (+102 %). Radio advertising (+16.8 %) achieved the highest January result since Media Focus began its surveys in 1990. Overall, gross advertising expenditure fell by 5.2% in January, with out-of-home advertising (-23.8 %), trade magazines (-7.8 %) and daily newspapers (-6.4 %) suffering the most. (dse)

Men's magazines With the first of two issues this year, Bo-Bolero occupies the "Swiss men's magazine" niche on March 12.The time for playing hide-and-seek is over: men who used to secretly read their partner's women's magazines will now be served by Bolero with its own magazine. What remains hidden, however, are the future plans of Bolero Zeitschriften Verlag AG. For the time being, two issues of Bo (Bolero for men in the subtitle) will appear in March and September as part of a new special series. And after that? Managing Director Martina Allenspach acknowledges the question with a smile. She leaves open the question of whether Bo will continue as a biannual special or even expand into a stand-alone magazine with greater frequency. "You see, we are a small publisher. With big media houses, a title might be pushed into the market with millions. With us, smaller rolls are baked."
The intention to make Bo more than a one-shot is nevertheless obvious when Allenspach talks about the market opportunities. The trend that Bo wants to jump on is called "grooming": beauty care for men. A trend with huge potential. The market for women's cosmetics is 99 percent saturated, Allenspach quotes her customers in the cosmetics industry, while the market for men's cosmetics only covers two percent. To boost demand among the stronger sex and get the products to men, targeted advertising channels are now needed. "There is room for a men's magazine in German-speaking Switzerland," Allenspach says. "For Bo."
No Sucklattism
So far, Swiss men have mainly found German versions of British "lad's magazines" like GQ and FHM on the newsstands, which make their mark with sex, sports and raunchy humor. Bo, on the other hand, is aimed at "men with brains," emphasizes Allenspach. "Suckiness doesn't happen in Bo." Each issue has a theme - "Heroes" in the first issue on March 12, "Clans & Clubs" in the second on September 7. The content is in line with Bolero's core expertise: fashion, beauty, style, design. Eroticism is not missing, but it remains platonic. Thus, the first issue contains an erotic short story, for which illustrations were completely dispensed with. With a man on the cover and a photo series on beautiful secondo men, Bo sets itself even further apart from the usual men's magazine mix.
One could almost believe that Bo is aiming for a similar mix of readers as Bolero already has. Around a quarter of the women's magazine is read by men. Martina Allenspach sees no problem in such a mix of target groups: "According to trend researcher Faith Popcorn, the vast majority of all purchasing decisions are influenced by women anyway," she says with a laugh. As a special from Bolero, Bo is sent to all (around 13,000) subscribers. It will be on sale at newsstands for three months. A third of the print run of 35,000 copies will be distributed through other channels, such as partnerships with labels or events.
By the way, the male target group is not new territory for Bolero Zeitschriften Verlag. So far, Bolero has published specials twice a year with up to 36 pages aimed at the gentlemen of creation.
Eroticism in Bo-Bolero? There is also, but only very restrained.
Martina Allenspach offers men new reading fun with Bo-Bolero.
Stefano Monachesi