Youth magazine As part of the National Tobacco Prevention Program 2001-2005 approved by the Federal Council, the Federal Office of Public Health also supports the "nix" project, under which a new youth magazine is distributed to around 60000 pupils aged 12 to 17 in 2600 classrooms. The name is derived from "nichtrauchen isch xsünder". The next issues of "nix" will be published in March and June. The magazine goes directly into the classes and is "actively used" there, as the first three issues show. The new youth magazine therefore also offers an advertising platform for a young target audience. One page costs 8000 francs. Information is available at www.ExperimentNichtRau chen.ch or from Hans Jakob Pfister on 0848 0848 01.

Going private Tamedia is considered a candidate for a withdrawal from the stock exchange in market circles, wrote the NZZ on Monday. "This rumor has been circulating in the newspapers for ages," denied Regula Tschopp, responsible for investor relations. Going private is not an issue for the owner family Coninx (see also page 15).

The Swiss National Accident Insurance Fund (Suva) has entrusted Catsky & Partner with the communications budget for New Case Management (NCM), a new form of claims handling for complex cases that focuses on early, comprehensive support for accident victims. Catsky & Partner is supporting the NCM from the strategy to the realization of all advertising materials. As a first concrete measure, the young Zurich agency is realizing a print campaign, a TV commercial, a brochure and a website for the launch of a worldwide assistance service from Suva. The campaign will be shown this summer. Claude Catsky, who opened his own agency in December, previously worked for Suva at McCann-Erickson.

The winners within all four target groups are WWF, H&M and Bank Leu.Gold 64% WWF Born to be wildSilver 56% H&M Blazer
Bronze 53% Bank Leu Löwe/Baum (Matter & Partner)

TV MTV boss Catherine Mühlemann (37) has not forgotten her home country, and with a series of new programs she not only wants to upgrade her channel this year, but also help it to become more Swiss. The "MTV Winter Jam", which will be hosted in Davos this year, will kick things off on March 14. Swiss candidates are also welcome on the new dating show "Dismissed", which is due to start in May, explained Mühlemann at a presentation at Goldbach Media in Küsnacht.

The national airline Swiss has entrusted Mediaedge CIA with its global media planning and buying budget, according to the British industry service Brand Republic, citing Swiss Head of Marketing Markus Rege. The exception is the Swiss home market, where Mediaschneider remains responsible. Brand Republic puts the budget at around 13 million francs. A branding and promotion campaign by Jung von Matt/Limmat is to be launched in April.

Carpet trade The Zurich carpet house Vidal is looking for younger buyers through an image campaign by Felber Kristofori and is using humor to highlight the values of the "old economy". "Better to buy a hand-knotted carpet than to destroy your money by investing in securities" - this has been the motto of the Zurich oriental carpet house Vidal since mid-February. In image advertisements, expensive wool and silk products from the Orient are positioned as "investment objects with genuine old-economy values". So it should come as no surprise to anyone that the carpet beater is outed in Vidal's name as the "most important tool for efficient asset management" and the fairytale collection 1001 Nights is described as the "instruction manual for the production of our investment objects". More knots per square meterThe strategy threads for the communication carpet were woven by the creatives at the Zurich agency Felber Kristofori, which was selected after a pitch among four agencies in the
were awarded the budget last year. One of the reasons for the appearance was the closure of fellow competitor Foster at Bellevue. And the massive emergence of carpet frame cutters in the greater Zurich area. Vidal justifies its higher prices with quality: a larger number of knots per square meter, high-quality material and more elaborate processing during dyeing as well as individual advice are the "old economy" advantages that the carpet retailer on Bahnhofstrasse boasts.
"However, you can hardly express all of this in a campaign; it's best experienced at the point of sale," says FK-CD Rudy Felber, adding: "That's why we wanted to build a big signpost to Vidal with our ads." The "signposts" are ironic for carpet advertising. According to Felber, however, persuasion was not necessary to implement the idea. Right from the start, the customer wanted a "humorous, tongue-in-cheek campaign". No wonder, after all, the FK customer had been filling the Nebelspalter for years with small ads and mini-smile stories about carpets.
The specialist for oriental carpets and Chinese antique furniture felt the time had come to dust off its image and appeal to a younger target group. The target audience is aged between 30 and 79, with a monthly household income of over 6,000 francs. The aim is to attract younger, more affluent customers to the chic store. This is primarily ensured by a corresponding shift in media: The image ads will mainly be placed in the Tages-Anzeiger magazine (full-page) as well as in the Tages-Anzeiger and NZZ am Sonntag (quarter-page). The campaign is not only intended to increase demand for its top products. Vidal also wants to increase its market share in the lower price segment.
Declining trendNot only numerous closures of carpet specialists suggest that the uncertain economic situation is also leaving its mark on the carpet market. Emil Schreyger from the office of the Swiss Carpet Forum also confirms a corresponding negative trend in this sector. Although there are no precise figures on the Swiss market, a downward trend can be seen based on the sales of wholesalers and manufacturers. Although carpet is still the preferred floor covering, as Schreyger explains, it is increasingly being displaced by hard floor coverings such as laminate or parquet as well as resilient floor coverings such as linoleum. (sk)
Felber Kristofori recommends that Vidal cancel his securities account and buy carpets.
Simone Keller

Felix Walder, currently Publishing Director of Schaffhauser Nachrichten (SHN), is leaving the publisher Meier+Cie AG at the end of February. In March, he will open a multimedia marketing and communications consultancy in Zurich under the name W. P. Wyss & Partner AG. His successor has not yet been appointed.
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The Bern-based PR agency By the way Communications is now a public limited company. The former limited company announced that it was thus taking account of the development in turnover and earnings. The main shareholders of By the way Communications AG are company founder Richard Hurni and Stefan Herrmann, who joined the agency from Farner PR. Together with CFO Ruth Eugster, they form the Board of Directors. Consultant Cla-Martin Caflisch, who has been working for By the way for several years, has also subscribed to part of the share capital. The still young events division under Adrian Fluri will later be integrated into the AG through a shareholding.
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Oliver Bernheim took over as Head of Media/Marketing Services for Ringier Magazines at the beginning of February. He succeeds Nick Hösli, who is now Head of Advertising Market Magazines at Ringier. Bernheim was previously Head of Product Management at Publisuisse.
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Bernie Kron joined RBC Consulting AG in Meilen as a consultant at the beginning of March. The customer relationship management (CRM) specialist will help the agency to expand its consulting expertise in customer loyalty and dialog marketing.
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Patrick Senn, Editor-in-Chief of Tele Ostschweiz (TVO), will be leaving the station at the end of May. Claudio Agustoni, previously producer and presenter at TVO, has been appointed as the new editorial director. The change in editorial management will take place on March 1, 2003.
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Iwan Santoro will become the new editorial director of Radio 24 on May 1, taking over from Pascal Scherrer, who is moving to the commuter newspaper Express. Until then, program director Peter Brun will take over as head of the Info 24 editorial team.

Wine trade The Beaujolais winegrowers want to convince the Swiss that they produce a fine wine, not with a flood of wine, but with a flood of 400 B12 posters in Zurich, Berne and Basel. after malicious tongues once blasphemed that the French still mainly use their Beaujolais to make vinegar, this rumor is to be massively shaken up. The winegrowers have chosen the proud painting "La Liberté guidant le Peuple" by Eugène Delacroix as the subject for their noble battle for image. The bare-breasted Marianne is supposed to show us where Bartli will get his grape must in future. As a reminder: Brouilly, Fleurie, Moulin-à-Vent and Saint-Amour are the names of the finest Beaujolais crus.

The young Zurich-based marketing and communications agency ID-Segmentmarketing has won the advertising budget of the Swiss Youth Hostels (SJH).ID-Segmentmarketing is realizing a guest campaign for the German market, which will also be used in Switzerland in a slightly adapted form. The first works are due to be seen in May. The two-man agency ID-Segmentmarketing was founded a few months ago by Daniel Izquierdo and Reto Dürrenberger.

The agency Marketing Advertising & Design AG (MAD) is redesigning Migros' own brand Body Shape. The full-service agency based in Basel and Zurich won the contract in a pitch, and the fitness product line comprising around 50 products will be available in all SportXX and M-Sports stores in Switzerland as a partial or full range from fall 2003.

The Zurich-based advertising agency Metzgerlehner Worldwide Partners is launching the new Ignis Sport model as a world premiere for Suzuki Japan at the Geneva Motor Show.Metzgerlehner was awarded the contract following a presentation to senior representatives of the Japanese car manufacturer. The contact came about because the agency has already been working for the importer Suzuki Automobile Schweiz for several years. The project includes brand identity, video production, stage show and press documentation.