Davos becomes a witches' cauldron between the years:Shortlist: The Davos Trap
By Beat Fritsch
Road traffic is like in Zurich (traffic jams without end), discos and bars are bursting at the seams at night, and the Spengler Cup takes place in the ice hockey stadium - a witches' cauldron within a witches' cauldron, so to speak, especially when the HaCeDe, or Hockey Club Davos, makes an appearance.
The communications industry is not immune to this. That's why the SonntagsZeitung's invitations to the Spengler Cup, including accommodation in the elegant Hotel Seehof as well as various aperitifs and fine dinners, are very popular. For example, Martin Kall, Sandra Geiger and Daniel Pauletto from the Tamedia and SoZ top management were traditionally to be found with guests for drinks and snacks in the "Pöstli" on the day before the final.
As we all know, advertisers and media people are also gamblers - it's the nature of the profession. So the SoZ guests were not satisfied with the simple ice hockey bets organized by Pauletto. The evening's field hockey fans from Zurich were all to be seen in the new Davos casino (unlike the SoZ Gambling Night with their own real money!), with Fredy Weissert feeling particularly at home at the blackjack table and Andy Lehmann and his daughter at the slot machines. Always closely observed by SoZ editor-in-chief Andreas Durisch, who, however, kept a low profile in the game of chance and didn't fall into the gambling trap himself. Incidentally, only the daughter won.
Davos is also a magnet for industry people outside of the Spengler Cup. Sandra Ulrich, Beat Stähli and Matthias Luchsinger, among others, have been spotted in Davos. And even more are likely to find their way through Prättigau to Landwasser Valley in the future. The new Davos Tourism Marketing Manager Barbara Studer, who used to work for Wunderman, among others, and enjoys personally looking after guests from Zurich, will make sure of this.

WellCom Advertising wants to "discover new worlds" for the vacation fair By Andreas PanzeriWellCom Advertising is promoting the four vacation fairs in Switzerland under the motto "Discover new worlds". After Ruf Lanz's exotic poster excursions, the beautiful but not easy task for the Bern, Zurich, Geneva and Basel locations is once again based on the longing for warmth and relaxation.
Everyone talks about vacations, but no one goes! - Well, well, the situation in the tourism industry is not yet that dramatic. However, following the worldwide decline in the desire to travel since the historic events of September 11, 2001 and the general deterioration in the economic situation, the
Vacation industry in the midst of profound structural change. "Increased last-minute bookings" are just one of various trends that tour operators are having to deal with "in a difficult, very fragile market environment and in a harsh economic climate with greatly changed framework conditions," explains Gide Kuhn, agency manager at WellCom Advertising in Zurich.
Emotional, targeted and clearly holiday-oriented
Creating this year's campaign for the four Wigra Expo vacation fairs was therefore "no easy task". "Gesundheit", the trade fair for health and vacations, will take place in Bern from January 9 to 12. "Fespo", the trade fair for vacations & sport, will be held in Zurich from January 23 to 26. "Vacances" is the name of the salon from January 31 to
February 2 in Geneva. The tour will then conclude in Basel from February 21 to 23 under the "Basler Ferienmesse" logo. All four trade fairs have the common claim "Discover new worlds" under their trademark.
With their event character, the exhibitions with their wide range of vacation and travel offers form an information platform and a forum for forming opinions for "all those interested in vacations of any kind". The advertising agency had the task of developing and implementing a "target group-oriented, emotional and clearly holiday-oriented overall appearance for all four exhibitions".
Following an agency evaluation, WellCom Advertising won this contract back from its long-standing client Wigra AG after last year's campaign for the vacation trade fairs was designed by Ruf Lanz. At the time, this agency had worked with so-called foreign worlds and primarily described exotic subjects in correspondingly foreign languages.
Client organized workshop to find consensus
In the current campaign, the message, based on the concept idea of "contrasts", has now been packaged in a vacation atmosphere as an alternative world to everyday working life. The subjects are intended to inform and at the same time motivate visitors to the vacation fair. The claim "Discover new worlds", used for the first time this year, is intended to awaken desires and longings "or simply convey a desire for a vacation", says Gide Kuhn, summarizing the various subjects.
With puns such as "bank secret", "renovation" and "night shift", holiday-appropriate images such as a bench overlooking the open sea, a face mask in a wellness center or a hammock for experiencing a completely different "night shift" on a beach have been combined.
The basic ideas for the campaign were developed in a joint workshop between the advertising agency and the client Wigra. The advertisements and posters developed by WellCom met with the unreserved approval of all project managers at the four vacation fairs. "This is our best campaign to date," says a delighted Daniel Wyss, Managing Director of Wigra Expo AG in Zurich.
Sustained demand from exhibitors
The primary objectives of the campaign are to create an eye-catching and attractive appearance to publicize the exhibition. The aim is also to arouse the interest of potential visitors with other interests who have not previously made the pilgrimage to the vacation fairs in droves.
As a secondary objective, the trade fair organizers want to strengthen their branding with this campaign. The trade fairs should profile themselves as dynamic events and achieve qualitative as well as quantitative growth in visitor numbers. In other words, to generate more bookings for tour operators.
Fespo" is celebrating its 13th edition in Zurich this year. Last year, Switzerland's largest public holiday fair attracted 70,000 visitors.
Interest has thus "consolidated at a higher level", according to organizer Daniel Wyss. On the exhibitor side in particular, demand is pleasing and "very stable". In terms of the public, the vacation professionals hope that the advertising campaign's enticingly warm themes will whet the appetite for upcoming vacations as much as possible during these cold days, because, as we all know, anticipation is the greatest joy.

News: Hersant Increases Printing Volume in Neuchâtel
The French media group Hersant is relocating part of its printing operations to Neuchâtel. This move follows the acquisition of the publishing house Société neuchâteloise de presse (SNP) by Hersant’s subsidiary France Antilles. The company is investing a total of 8 million Swiss francs in the expansion of SNP’s printing center. Hersant is now printing around 20 publications in Neuchâtel.
Scout24 Reaches Break-Even The Scout24 Group, which operates online marketplaces across Europe for cars, real estate, jobs, and other sectors, turned a profit for the first time in the fourth quarter of 2002. Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Baar, the company is generating revenue of approximately 65 million euros in the current fiscal year. It expects earnings growth and double-digit EBITDA margins in the future.

Matthias Luchsinger on the loss of MTV to Goldbach MediaCinecom boss Matthias Luchsinger, who lost MTV marketing to Goldbach Media on January 1, is not crying any tears for the music channel.Cinecom has no luck with youth-oriented media: MTV is already leaving Cinecom again.
Matthias Luchsinger: First of all, this statement needs to be put into perspective. With Kino and Close-up magazine, we still have a great deal of expertise in young media. That's why you can't say we have no luck with young media.
What do you think prompted MTV to switch to Goldbach Media?
Luchsinger: We were not prepared to make any financial guarantees to MTV. Especially in these times, it makes no sense to get involved in such risks. It is also not necessarily a sign of partnership thinking to demand overly far-reaching guarantees in such difficult times. In my view, MTV has done far too little for station marketing in Switzerland. The win-win constellation, which is necessary for a collaboration to be attractive at all, is also lost.
Cinecom seems to be struggling to position itself with other media besides cinema: Kult left in October 2001, followed by Radio 105 a year ago and Toaster in February 2002, which was discontinued at the time.
Luchsinger: In 2001, we made the strategic decision to concentrate on our core business, on the marketing of cinema and TV as well as the cinema magazine Close-up. In this context, we also broke away from Radio 105. The decision taken at that time in favor of the core business has already had a positive effect. With a lean organization, we succeeded in achieving a very good result in the cinema sector in 2002. We are also proud of the fact that we were able to keep all the major cinema owners under contract - despite Mediavision, which is competing with us from western Switzerland. We also managed to sign contracts with all the new multiplex cinemas in Switzerland.
On the other hand, Cinecom wants to promote its second core business, TV marketing. With the departure of MTV, TV sales are now shrinking again.
Luchsinger: We only lose 0.5 percent of our total sales with MTV. And we can more than compensate for this with Sat 1. Because we are experiencing very strong growth with Sat 1 - thanks to football and an expansion of the program window. Of course, we are also looking around for new potential TV partners.
Is Cinecom now forced to reduce its TV sales staff?
Luchsinger: No, because we haven't been cooking on a high heat for MTV for the past three or four months.
Interview: Daniel Schifferle

What was the last cultural event you attended? Musse & Musse:Alexander Jaggy
Alexander Jaggy: The children's Christmas story in Illnau. Before that, the exhibition "Wonderful Advertising Worlds" in Hamburg.
What are you reading right now?
Jaggy: The diaries of Kurt Cobain, because he shaped the nineties like hardly any other artist.
Which CD do you currently prefer to listen to?
Jaggy: Bob the Builder. But not really by choice.
Which movie would you most like to see again?
Jaggy: "Cube", which I saw at the short film festival in Edinburgh. A group of people are trapped in a cube and try to break out.
What TV show did you fall asleep during the other night?
Jaggy: I always switch off before I fall asleep. But I switch off during "Benissimo".
What is your latest discovery on the Internet?
Jaggy: A neat pair of men's trousers at www.bluewin.ch.
What could you never do without?
Jaggy: On the Internet.
What do you do in a free minute?
Jaggy: Work, sport and play.
Love is...?
Jaggy: ...also indispensable.

Herbert Winkler, former art director of Wallpaper, has settled in LausanneHead of the week "There is a very cultivated form of graphic design in Switzerland"
Herbert Winkler freely admits that his knowledge of French is not at all good. However, the former colleague of Tyler Brûlé dared to settle in Lausanne six months ago. Together with Caroline Brabeck-Letmathe, daughter of Nestlé CEO Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, the 35-year-old native of Linz manages the Swiss branch of Section.d, which is currently located in his business partner's private apartment in Lausanne.
After returning from London, AD, who specializes in magazine design, did not stay in Vienna for long. There were too few international customers in the Austrian metropolis, he explains his move to Lake Geneva. At best, Vorarlberg would have been an alternative. And the designer is quite serious about this, as Winkler has identified an impressive collection of internationally active companies there.
For him, Switzerland is like a big city and Lausanne is a part of it, the designer said recently. Winkler sees great potential here in the "Bassin lémanique" and in the Geneva area with its international organizations and companies. He wants to maintain direct contact with potential clients and not be a supplier to the local advertising agencies. Nevertheless, he has great respect for Swiss creativity: "There is a very cultivated form of graphic design in Switzerland," he acknowledges.
He would also not be averse to getting involved in training and further education, he admits. At the moment, however, he will probably have to give it up due to a lack of time. In the meantime, he has to look after the Section.d agencies in Germany, Austria and Australia. The group comprises a total of four divisions: Section.d stands for design.communication, Section.e for newmedia.solutions, Section.p for corporate content & publishing and Section.a for art consulting.
Winkler and his business partners have committed themselves to an ambitious mission statement: They want to create uncompromising premium communication and correspondingly uncompromising communication design out of the aspiration to make life richer. You can get an idea of what Winkler means by this by leafing through the new brochure for the Lausanne luxury hotel Beaurivage-Palace. Beau, as the magazine is called, aims to be more than just a conventional hotel magazine. This prestigious entry into the business made in Switzerland may have pleased him just as much as the award for Best Art Director from the Society of Publication Designers in New York in 1998.
Anita Vaucher

The title is moderately original, the characters are childlike, and the story is a mix of *The Little Mermaid*, *Superman*, and *Star Trek*. Nevertheless, the comic *In the Land That Invented the Future* is a respectable hodgepodge. Where else can you find explanations of the climate, instructions for making fondue, and background information on Switzerland all in one place? The magazine was developed by Trio Communication Marketing SA on behalf of Präsenz Schweiz, an agency of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. The purpose of the comic is to educate people abroad about Switzerland. The 350,000 copies of the first edition are being distributed through diplomatic missions abroad. The Old Guard. Lowe’s new campaign for Orange, featured in WerbeWoche No. 41 dated November 14, has also caught the attention of Daniel Matter of Matter & Partner. «I am incredibly pleased that the ideas of the old guard are apparently still relevant today,» he writes to us—and encloses an advertisement from 1988 with his letter. Back then, exactly the same motifs were awarded a bronze prize by the ADC. The idea was created at Wirz, where Matter was a copywriter at the time. In fact, the ad promoted Eurocard over ten years ago using the exact same concept and nearly identical copy. Of course, Orange didn’t even exist back then.
Swiss tobacco advertising ban to go into public consultation in 2004. Advertising for tobacco products is also to be partially banned in Switzerland. Following the decision by EU health ministers, the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) now intends to launch the corresponding reform of the Food Act. The FOPH has been monitoring developments in the EU for years but waited to see how the ban would ultimately be implemented in practice, explained FOPH Director Thomas Zeltner. The adoption of the EU directive marked the starting point for tackling the legislative change. It is scheduled to enter the consultation phase by 2004. «Advertising at the point of sale should remain permitted so that customers can also learn about new brands and products,» said Zeltner, thereby refuting the argument that, following tobacco, even less harmful products could fall under the ban. Tobacco is a special case, he said, because it is the most harmful product freely available.
Destination Extravagance. Resizing does not necessarily mean downsizing; in fact, it is sometimes interpreted quite the opposite way—especially by advertisers. Anyone who picked up the NZZ, Bund, Basler Zeitung, Corriere del Ticino, or Le Temps last Tuesday understood this. These five daily newspapers included a twelve-page special supplement from Swiss, a company that saves taxpayer money at every turn. With this signature brochure—for which the publishers, incidentally, charged the full price—6,000 Swiss employees, under the direction of the agency Jung von Matt/Limmat, sought to thank the Swiss public for their support. The result was the exact opposite: for some taxpayers, this extravagant campaign might constitute embezzlement of public funds. But that is purely a matter of interpretation.
Ringier is heading to the hair salon with Glückspost. The Ringier media group has entered into a partnership with Top Guide AG in Sempach. Top Guide will launch the lifestyle magazine Hair & Trends (H&T) this coming March, focusing on hairstyle trends, information about skin and hair, as well as wellness and celebrities. Ringier’s magazine GlücksPost will handle part of the editorial work for H&T on behalf of Top Guide, as well as ad sales, production, and distribution. H&T is scheduled to be published twice a year with a minimum of 76 pages and will be included as a supplement with GlücksPost. In addition, the magazine will be sold individually at newsstands and via direct mail. Of the total print run, which project manager Sari Simola says will amount to 168,000 copies, 138,000 are intended for bundled distribution, while 10,000 will be mailed directly to target audience addresses. The remaining 20,000 copies will be sold at newsstands, where H&T will be available for 8.50 francs. The four-color magazine will not be printed on Ringier’s rotary presses, but rather at the Oberdorfer Druckerei in Austria.
Light comes from the East. Oriental motifs fascinate not only children and artists. Aladdin’s magic lamp and Rimsky-Korsakov’s lavish musical adaptation of the Scheherazade story from *One Thousand and One Nights* are just a few of the many interpretations. But advertising, too, drew inspiration from the colors of the Orient. A look back at history proves this: From the Belle Époque through the 1930s, caravans, concubines, caliphs, and camels populated countless posters. The Museum für Gestaltung in Zurich is dedicating its exhibition «Orientalist Posters» to this theme. The exhibition is on view at the Swiss National Bank, Fraumünsterstrasse/Stadthausquai in Zurich—through February 2003.
Stromgerecht. Not everything has to change, but much can be improved. Under this motto, the Zurich-based communications agency Infel AG has revamped the concept for *Strom*, the customer magazine it publishes. The magazine is a joint publication of various energy providers in German-speaking Switzerland and is published in more than 24 different versions, each featuring regional pages. The goal of the relaunch is to «bring more entertainment, more service, and more energy-related topics to the magazine,» as Infel’s editor-in-chief Peter Christoph explains. The revamped magazine features a new header and a slightly larger format. *Strom* is published four times a year with a total circulation of 1,136,450 copies.
Switzerland Forms Alliance Against Advertising Bans. The Swiss Advertising Association (SW) has taken note of the EU’s advertising ban on tobacco products «without too much surprise.» According to a press release, it was foreseeable that this ban would be enforced sooner or later. To prevent a similar development in Switzerland, an «Alliance Against Advertising Bans» is currently being formed. The initiative comes from the SW and the Swiss Trade Association. Official details about the alliance will not be released until after the board meeting on December 11, SW spokesperson Piero Schäfer told WerbeWoche. It will comprise around 20 member associations. These include the Swiss Association for Outdoor Advertising (SVA), the Electronic Media Interest Group (Igem), the two advertising agency associations ASW and BSW, the International Advertising Association (IAA), the Swiss Press Association, the Swiss Hotel and Restaurant Association (Gastrosuisse), and the umbrella business organization Economiesuisse.

The Basler Zeitung (BaZ) is renewing its fifth edition on February 6, replacing the previous "Journal" with a broad range of topics with a concept that focuses on AutoMobil, Digital, LebensArt and Knowledge. "We are thus offering customers a thematic environment," says BaZ Publishing Director Daniel Sommer. You can read about the other projects with which the Basel media group is steering through the sluggish economy from page 16 onwards. (mk)

With Boxx, Glas Trösch emphasizes its market-leading positionDramatic evening atmosphere in Tuscany. A window flashes. The surprise is perfect when the viewer of the advertisement learns that the sensual glass comes from Switzerland. More precisely: from Glas Trösch. In keeping with the grandiose motifs of the image campaign, the claim "More light. More life" radiates the expertise of the domestic market leader. In contrast to the usual, technically cool showcase in the form of skyscrapers made of steel and glass and more glass, the Boxx agency chose an emotional advertising language that spreads a cozy atmosphere. Strengthening soul food for the ailing construction industry. page 6

NZZ Ticket and Züritipp, the NZZ and Tages-Anzeiger supplements for going out, are currently being revised. NZZ Ticket, which previously came in a hip magazine format, is switching to tabloid format as of February. NZZ publishing director Tobias Trevisan justified this with "disadvantages in the upheaval". He does not see the format change as a reaction to the weekly magazine What's up planned by 20 Minuten. There can be no talk of a relaunch either, he says. Only minor optimizations will be made. "According to our reader study, Ticket has been very well received," says Trevisan, adding that major changes are planned for Züritipp. The new Tagi editor-in-chief Peter Hartmeier only reveals that the name Züritipp will be retained, otherwise he speaks of a "further development that better reflects the groove of the big city newspaper" and that the new Züritipp will be "one of the most exciting publications of its kind". He cites the "good ideas available at Tamedia" as the reason for the relaunch, but he also denies any reaction to What's up. (mk)

Media Focus to offer more flexible advertising expenditure statistics from mid-2003Even before Wemf has announced details of its advertising expenditure statistics for 2003, its competitor is already responding with a significant upgrade to its offering: Media Focus subscribers will be able to benefit from greatly improved services from mid-2003.Compared to current services, the expanded offering presented by Media Focus in Zurich promises greater flexibility and much additional convenience. Customized reports - with any parameters defined by the customer - can be ordered directly online. And in a matter of minutes. "We offer the facts - customers can work freely according to their own wishes and needs," says Jens Windel, Board Delegate of Media Focus, summarizing the innovation.
Wemf's AIS is predicted to have a difficult time
With this highly-equipped offering, Media Focus is pre-empting AG für Werbemedienforschung (Wemf). In July, Wemf announced its Advertising Index Switzerland (AIS), its own regular statistics on advertising expenditure. With more frequent and faster data publication, Wemf promised a trump card over the monthly Media Focus. At the Zurich presentation, the announced improvements to Media Focus's offering were greeted all the more favorably. The overwhelming opinion of the industry representatives present was that Wemf had a tough task ahead of it if it wanted to stand up to such a user-friendly system.
Media Focus customers will be able to choose between three versions of the data subscription: An expert solution (for intensive daily users), a standard version (equivalent to the current offering) and a light version (cheapest version). CEO Lukas Zihlmann was not yet able to say how much customers will have to pay for one or other of these versions.
The introduction of the various versions - now also available in French and English as well as German - will be staggered. The Expert version should be on the market by the end of the first semester of 2003 at the latest. The standard and light versions will have to wait until the end of 2003. Until then, the old version will remain available in its usual form.
Media Focus also wants to focus on shorter publication cycles from next year. But initially only for TV and a limited range of daily newspapers (the 35 largest titles), whose figures will be published weekly from next year. At a later date, outdoor advertising will also be included in the weekly publication.
Wemf and Media Focus talk about cooperation
Despite the new competitive situation, the air between Wemf and Media Focus is not thick. On the contrary: Media Focus welcomes the cooperation offered by Wemf in the context of advertising expenditure statistics (WW 26/02). Talks have already taken place at management level. "Harmonization and compatibility of the studies were important topics, but we are not ruling out cooperation in data collection," said Zihlmann. Wemf CEO René Schmutz confirmed these talks. However, no concrete decisions have yet been made.
Jens Windel was confident in the face of the announced competition from Wemf. "We have over ten years of data in Switzerland. Wemf, on the other hand, is starting from scratch." Nevertheless, Windel takes the competition from Wemf very seriously. "Wemf is in an excellent starting position because it already has a strong position in the market with its products."
Daniel Schifferle
Timetable for the Wemf competition

It will be 2004 before the Advertising Index Switzerland (AIS), the new advertising expenditure statistics announced by Wemf, can be widely used. That's how much time is needed to ramp up this complex system. According to Wemf boss René Schmutz, data collection will start in January 2003. Publication will begin in the middle of the year. However, only the media and media agencies will be served during the first six months. "The data will only really make sense if it can be compared over at least one year. We will not be able to offer this until January 2004 at the earliest," says Schmutz (dse).
New forecasting tool

Media Focus, which has previously limited its advertising sales statistics to the past, now wants to look to the future. To this end, the company is launching a forecasting tool at the beginning of the year that aims to predict gross advertising expenditure. Like the new concept for advertising sales statistics, this tool was also developed by Nielsen Media Research in Germany, where it is already available on the market. (dse)

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