News Radio 105 goes after the SRG Giuseppe Scaglione, head of the private radio station 105, is not letting up in his fight for better conditions for private radio operators. In an open letter to the Federal Council, he has made his demands for the revision of the RTVG. The most important: The diffuse performance mandate should be replaced by legally clear targets for the SRG. SRG should only provide services that the market cannot provide. Above all, it must be prohibited in the future from developing and broadcasting programs that compete with private offerings. Scaglione makes tough demands regarding the allocation of broadcasting frequencies. The RTVG must stipulate that 50 percent of FM frequencies must be available to private broadcasters. In addition, cable network operators must be obliged to broadcast licensed private radio stations.

On November 23, the curtain goes up at Zurich Opera House for the premiere of "La belle vie", one of Heinz Spoerli's great works set to the music of Jacques Offenbach. La belle vie" is about economic decline, revolution and love. It tells the story of a rich family at the time of the French Revolution. Ruined by the stock market crash, the family loses everything, even their daughters, who hire themselves out to suitors and dance the cancan for them. The historical parallel to the present day inspired Frank Bodin and the creative team at Euro RSCG to create a poster that uses a unique, even historical photograph: Dancing brokers are shown in the old Zurich Stock Exchange when it was closed in 1995. Lion against bear. In the final phase of the championship preliminary round, Zurich Football Club faced Young Boys from Bern at the beginning of December. In order to attract as many fans as possible to the Letzigrund despite an unfortunate season, FCZ is now advertising this crucial match with a poster. At least this poster can be seen as a beautifully scored goal. The creative minds at Hesskiss quickly turned the fight into the animals that adorn the coats of arms of the two cities - the Zurich lion and the Bernese bear. The fact that these beasts could never clash in the wild adds to the appeal of André Willimann's Dürer-style visual. The poster is said to have already achieved cult status among FCZ fans - which is hardly surprising: The bear seems to have already been defeated.
The spoken word counts. Headlines are the newspaper's bread and butter. So it is only logical that newspapers also give preference to the word in advertising. This has already been proven in various campaigns for print products. In a rather cheeky way, Weltwoche is currently doing the same. "After your daily must-read, you deserve the free program", is written in large blue letters on a half-cardboard box enclosed with the Neue Zürcher Zeitung as a "cuckoo ad". The same A4 sheet with the claim "All the facts speak for Weltwoche" has also been inserted into the pockets of Swiss subscribers to the news magazine Der Spiegel. Originally, the mailing was only intended to advertise in Facts for readers willing to switch. "But we thought the text would also work with Der Spiegel," Weltwoche publishing director Uli Rubner told WerbeWoche. I wonder if she wanted to pay a hidden compliment to the Facts editorial team with the synchronization.
Tonhalle is pandering. The Zurich cultural institution Tonhalle wants to become more attractive to a target group that is diffusely understood as "young". Zurich poster artist Ivar Breitenmoser was hired to implement appropriate measures. The result is posters that combine superficial wordplay and outdated techno vocabulary ("rave" was already mega-in in 1992) with provincial flyer graphics. Instead of communicating the cultural offering "live music played by exciting artists", which is perfectly compatible with urban avant-gardists, the posters put the Tonhalle on the same level as the nightlife in noisy large clubs, which is dominated by commerce and tear-up.
Cinecomback. RMB Switzerland and RMB Austria are renamed Cinecom as of January 1, 2003. Even before the name change, the company is launching various initiatives in the areas of strategy, innovation and market presence. Having strengthened the sales and marketing departments in recent months and simplified the corporate structures, CEO Matthias Luchsinger promises "new products and services". The new logo, which was developed by the Zurich design agency Trend World/TBS, will be supplemented with the claim "Advertising in first place", depending on the application.
IGMA joins the BSW collectively. The extraordinary general meeting of the BSW has accepted the ten members of the Interessengemeinschaft Mediaagenturen (IGMA) into the association in corpore after intensive discussions about a merger (see WW 32/02). As BSW board member Christof Kaufmann explained, the ten media agencies will jointly represent their interests under the name "IGMA - Interessengemeinschaft Mediaagenturen im BSW". The IGMA unites the ten leading media agencies in Switzerland with annual billings totaling around 1.2 billion Swiss francs.
A funny nod to the Christ Child. The business press is making a point of being optimistic. If you study the figures closely, you have to ask yourself whether the refrain "The bells never ring sweeter" can really be sung for this year's Christmas business. Experience shows that department stores generate around 30 percent of their sales in the run-up to Christmas. Wyler Werbung translated this idea into a motif for Shoppi & Tivoli. Thanks to its space for lots of presents, the decorated little fir tree gives hope for brightly jingling tills. An advertising style from Wyler that is gaining increasing international recognition. Even at the largest retail trade congress in the USA, his advertisements were reportedly praised this year.
Editorial

Woe betide anyone who is forgottenMassive attempts to put pressure on editorial offices and publishers from politics and business have become less frequent, according to the Swiss Press Council. Nevertheless
subtle forms of influence still exist. The greatest danger to editorial independence lies in the increasing intertwining of media companies and the advertising industry, under the otherwise positive connotation of cross-media. This was the conclusion of three studies commissioned by the Press Council and presented on the occasion of its 25th anniversary.
In his study, Christian Mensch comes to the conclusion (see page 12) that the risk of losing advertisements is lower today than most editors believe. Very few "would-be boycotters" could afford a boycott, because it would cost them twice as much. Those who want to chastise the media by means of illegitimate attempts to exert pressure risk damaging their image if the whole thing becomes public. There is also an economic price to pay if the target audience is reached less effectively. After all, advertising is never an end in itself, it has to sell. And no successful company voluntarily reduces advertising pressure or its media presence with impunity.
Today, ideologically motivated advertising sanctions have become rarer. As a rule, boycotts have a campaign character and are often personally or politically tinged by character heads - such as Karl Schweri or Walter Frey. Pragmatically oriented companies, on the other hand, do not tie their advertising to editorial good behavior. They place their ads in the media where circulation, reach, price and target audience promise an optimal return on the invested funds. In a media society fixated on permanent communication, it is important to maintain a constant presence in order not to be forgotten. And be it, as Fiat recently did, with a four-color car advertisement in an advertising medium that
has hardly had a good word to say about our automotive society like the weekly newspaper WoZ.
Samuel Helbling, Editor-in-Chief

Beat FritschBy BEAT FRITSCHThe festive season is slowly and inexorably approaching. It's no wonder, then, that there are still plenty of parties to be staged before the Christmas rush leaves hardly any time left to attend events.
Media and publishing specialists met for the first time this year at the "Lake Side Casino Zürichhorn" for the annual Publimag publishing conference in the fall. The former
The Kongresshaus conference venue has now been overtaken by the lake for this event too. The guest list was brimming with communications celebrities, as was the list of speakers. Over 150 participants, from representatives of the major publishers
to the editor-in-chief of the local newspaper, accepted the invitation.
In his welcoming address, Hansruedi Bichsel, Managing Director of Publimag, expressed his thanks for the response to last year's questionnaire, which proved the concept of the event right. Handshakes and the latest information can be exchanged at the lunch buffet, which provides refreshments before the presentations. For example, we learned that Sabina Cadalbert has virtually emerged from obscurity. As Head of Marketing at Erdgas Zürich, she is now organizing the energy provider's communication measures. Also present at the event were Christian Rufener and Thomas Stuckert from Publimag, who are also on the board of the Idée-VfW communications association. However, Stuckert will be leaving Publimag soon.
We continued up the lake. Christian Bonnot hosted his customer event at Badi Küsnacht. Bonnot's Event House was also jointly responsible for the WerbeWoche home game "Advertiser of the Year". Vin rouge et blanc" was served in the tents on the shores of Lake Zurich. Matthieu Pallas played his harmonica to provide the musical backdrop, while caricaturist Samy provided plenty of free and unintentional laughter. To ensure that everything came from a single source - Bonnot wants to be an event professional - Kronenbourg and Pernod were served, and the buffet included baguettes and other delicacies ... tout à la Française, in other words.
Incidentally, the whole thing placed considerable demands on the infrastructure and organization of catering and toilet seating. The water is always turned off in winter in the swimming pools on Lake Zurich, which are closed in winter. This also needs to be taken into account for good event organization.
On Friday, some of the advertising and film production celebrities danced their way to Leutschenbach to attend the award ceremony of the
1st TPC Creativity Award. "Not yet another film award so that SRG can have one too", many guests probably secretly thought to themselves on the occasion of the invitation. After all, the Edi.02 awards ceremony had taken place just a week earlier, where SRG's TPC (TV Production Center) came away empty-handed. Fortunately, it wasn't that bad. The TPC crew around Roger Sidler had a very useful idea. The TPC Award is intended as a prize for up-and-coming female filmmakers, video artists and video producers as well as their male classmates. It is organized in collaboration with the universities of art and design in Zurich, Lucerne and Basel for graduating classes.
The presentations also had a rather offbeat touch. It's just one of those things with art, especially hypermodern art with video installations and the like. Some people can't understand it, others don't want to understand it and still others shouldn't understand it. Because such art, since it wants to be elitist, is also partly based on the principle of exclusion. If you don't understand it, you don't belong. It's a bit like advertisers, who like to use creative technical terms to differentiate themselves...
The jury ensured a balanced distribution of prizes. A documentary film about the Lochergut high-rise housing estate in Zurich, which was understood by everyone, the experimental short film "Joshua", which had already won an award in Locarno, and a video installation were honored. All in all, however, the Creativity Award seemed a bit like an extreme sporting event in terms of modern art.
It was all about real extreme sports on Saturday at Eqal on Forchstrasse. Lea Rindlisbacher and Christian Breitschmid hosted the premiere aperitif. The "Sonic Sports" program produced by Eqal went on air for the first time at 5 pm. The magazine, which reports on crazy sports such as base jumping, freeriding and diving, skating and extreme skiing, will be shown in the Swiss Sat-1 window. The new production is intended to fill the gap left by the popular magazine "Powderhausen-TV". Sat-1 Switzerland Managing Director Marc Görtz and his girlfriend Annouk Haimoff were also present at the live screening at Eqal. She will be
December 9 after Star-TV and Tele Züri in Ringier TV productions.
Swiss Trekkies - the (mostly male) fans of Captain Kirk, Commander Spock and the like - will have less fun with the "Sonic Sports" time slot on Saturday afternoon. The program is superimposed on "Star Trek - Starship Voyager", which will now only be flitting around the galaxies on German screens at the same time.

proves that you don't necessarily need summer and sunshine to loll around in a deckchair. The baths are just as suitable in winter - and above all, they are much less crowded. Christian Bonnot, who held his customer event at Badi Küsnacht, agreed. Also on the agenda last week: the Publimag publishing conference, the TPC Creativity Award and Eqal's premiere aperitif to mark the launch of the new extreme sports magazine "Sonic Sports" on the Swiss Sat-1 channel.
We find out who meets in the communications scene at parties and aperitifs at various events in the industry. Do you already have something exciting to report? Pick up the phone (01 296 97 98) or hit the keyboard (info@werbewo che.ch). For event tips and occasional shortlist images: www. werbewoche.ch

After initial fantastic readership figures, the NZZ am Sonntag is facing the acid test of subscription conversionThe initial readership figures for the NZZ am Sonntag (NZZaS) leave no doubt: Sunday newspapers are and will remain in vogue. According to the first interim evaluation by Mach Basic, the Sunday paper from Zurich's Falkenstrasse has 427,000 readers - just over half of the audience that reads the SonntagsZeitung (SoZ) (783,000). The NZZ is satisfied with the result. "We are pretty much in line with our expectations," explains publishing director Tobias Trevisan. the acid test for the NZZaS is still to come. The switch from free delivery to the paid subscription phase will not take place until the end of the year. For the time being, however, the reported figures are unlikely to change much because the transition will not be abrupt and will be spread over the whole of next year.
The last subscription invoices, with which the additional amount of CHF 67 for the combined subscription (NZZ and NZZaS) will be requested for the first time, will be sent out in October 2003. "Not all previous free recipients will opt for the combined subscription," Trevisan calculates, not entirely unrealistically. During the long conversion phase, the publisher will therefore also try to attract subscribers outside the existing NZZ regular clientele.
Shutting down the introductory phase step by step
The publishing director expects additional potential in retail sales. With the introductory phase now coming to an end, trial subscriptions, of which there are still between 25,000 and 40,000 on the market, will be gradually reduced: "This will have a positive impact on newsstand sales," Trevisan assumes.
Of the 170000 to 180000 copies that are currently sold per issue, only a small proportion has been paid for. According to the publishing director, an average of between 22,000 and 25,000 copies can be sold at newsstands. The threshold of 50,000 paid subscriptions has been reached.
Regardless of how quickly and to what extent the conversion of free readers into paying readers takes place, it is already possible to speak of one on the Swiss-German Sunday newspaper market. Last September's Mach Basic 2002 already showed that holiday reading is gaining in popularity: While the SonntagsBlick was able to maintain its audience, the SoZ was even able to gain 29,000 new readers - although the NZZaS was not included in this survey.
However, it remains to be seen whether and how many people will now subscribe to the newspaper at Falkenstrasse instead of Werdstrasse. According to industry estimates, SoZ is considered strong and resistant in the market. The chances are therefore good that its departures will be limited. If this is indeed the case, we can already look forward to Mach Basic 2003, which could easily add half a million additional Sunday readers in German-speaking Switzerland. And that within a single year - a huge step.
Daniel Schifferle

Saatchi & Saatchi and Brot und Spiele rely on the visual power of words in campaigns for World Aids DayThe reversal is ingenious and comes across as a spiritual antibody: "To stop Aids, please tell three people that Aids concerns us all", reads the text in a speech bubble. Translated into an image, the advertisement shows the miraculous multiplication of this message as the text bubbles multiply ad infinitum. In the run-up to World AIDS Day on December 1, 2002, the Nyon-based agency Saatchi & Saatchi Switzerland is launching a multimedia campaign "that aims to be no less infectious than AIDS itself," explains CD Ed Jones. The Aids Antistigma Campaign unites all the important Swiss efforts for World Aids Day 2002. The campaign, developed as a goodwill campaign, is supported by Swiss Aids Aid (Stop Aids), the Swiss Red Cross, Groupe Sida Genève and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRCRC). This is the first time that these organizations have worked together on the same campaign.
Saatchi & Saatchi did not want to focus on the usual clichés about AIDS prevention and protection, but rather on the stigmatization associated with AIDS. According to researchers, this is the biggest obstacle in the fight against the global pandemic.
Cell division of a basic statement with rapid effect
"Aids is about blood, sex, drugs and death," Jones recognized. "That's why many people don't want to talk about it. But as long as people don't talk about Aids as openly as any other disease, we'll never really get to grips with the issue."
The aim of the campaign under the motto "The truth about Aids. Please spread the word..." is thus to counter the myths surrounding the subject of Aids, which among other things lead to the stigmatization of people suffering from Aids, with a series of truths. And to dispel such myths: "The campaign asks its readers to pass on these truths to three people, who in turn pass them on to three people each," says Ed Jones, summarizing the basic idea implemented as an image.
The broadest possible use of advertising media will ensure that the campaign reaches the majority of the Swiss population. These include advertisements in the print media, e-cards, posters in 30 percent of inner-city bus vehicles throughout Switzerland, tens of thousands of condom leaflets, placemats in restaurants and cards for free. TV presenter Dani Forler was also involved in the cinema and radio spots.
One of the most spectacular measures of the ideas developed in French-speaking Switzerland is the inclusion of three Geneva streetcars, which will be covered on the outside and inside with images and texts from the campaign.
The Swiss anti-stigma campaign is part of an anti-AIDS program that was originally developed for the Red Crescent and is now being implemented in various forms in over 90 countries worldwide.
Even after 15 years, there is still a need for information
At local level, a special campaign is also planned for World Aids Day 2002 in Zug. Here, Aids-Hilfe has put together a three-part action package with a large number of like-minded helpers from various sectors: an exhibition with pictures by young people on the subject of sex, a special coming-out event in the open air and a church service for living solidarity.
All of these ideas are based around the official motto of this year's World AIDS Day "Live and let live". The advertising measures for the campaigns in Zug were also designed by the Zurich agency Brot und Spiele. "Donating professional communication for a good cause can simply be good for the agency spirit and your own heart," says Markus Läubli from Brot und Spiele about his involvement.
Achieving maximum impact at minimum cost is also a task "that is well known from everyday advertising". The small campaign comprises posters and cards for free for the three Zug events and for once only uses text - which is particularly striking, as previous Aids campaigns have so far been dominated by images.
The fact that Aids-Hilfe Zug wanted to make a greater effort in the 15th year of its existence was not the result of an anniversary. The effort is based on the realization that even after 15 years, there can never be enough information about AIDS. According to statistics, today's young people already believe they have a dangerously false sense of security when it comes to AIDS.
The lustful vegetables will be followed by a new idea in 2003
The cR DDB agency in Basel, which is responsible for the official year-round campaign of Swiss Aids Aid, has decided not to run a special campaign around World Aids Day on December 1. Instead of solidarity ads, the focus will be on prevention. "We don't want to be misunderstood. But it seems to us that HIV-positive people are no longer marginalized by society these days," says Urs Mangold, consultant at cR DDB.
Together with Aids-Hilfe Schweiz, the Basel agency therefore wants to go one step further and focus its new ideas on prevention in future. The campaign with the vegetables, which focuses on the omnipresence of erotic thoughts, is currently being phased out. A new campaign is being developed at cR DDB. However, they don't want to say anything about it yet, "because the campaign will mainly live from the surprise".
Andreas Panzeri

Mastro Lorenzo from Kraft Foods Switzerland is one of the leading brands in the Italian specialty coffee segment. Luca Aloisi's in-house agency JWT+H+F is now to position it as a competence brand for Italo coffee with a broad range.
Coffee culture and Switzerland - at first glance, they don't seem to go together. Mistake! According to the Swiss Cafetier Association, the Swiss sip around 137 liters of coffee per year. That puts them in the middle of the pack in Europe. And compared to their neighbor to the south, where most specialty coffees originate, the Swiss actually consume around 60 percent more coffee.
Switzerland is also far ahead of the Italians in the manufacture and sale of household coffee machines, with sales of around 125 million Swiss francs in 2001. The expansion drive of the coffee house chains is a further indication of the Swiss' growing love of the Turkish drink.
Convenience positioning versus Italo brand world
Kraft Foods Switzerland also wants to profit from this boom. It has already laid the groundwork for this: Twenty years ago, the food and beverage group, which also owns Jacobs, Café Hag, Onko, and Carte Noire, expanded the Swiss bean world to include coffee in convenient portion sachets for piston machines: the Mastro Lorenzo convenience brand.
Whereas at the time of market launch the advertising message focused primarily on simple, clean application, in the campaigns of the nineties the creamy foam came to the fore as an added value. And it continued to dominate Mastro Lorenzo's ads until the first quarter of this year.
However, the course correction - away from application and portion system, towards enjoyment - was not followed by the target group to the extent expected. Although a palate-tingling coffee foam in the simple split-screen implementation built the emotional bridge to the portraits of people in black and white, the brand continued to be associated with portioned coffee. In other words, it was far from promising a sense of genuine Italian art of living.
Even though Marketing Manager Peter Gmünder can look forward to "steady growth," the Kraft brand does not want to rest on its laurels. "Two years ago, we additionally started to intensively support Mastro Lorenzo in the gastronomy sector," says Gmünder about the distribution strategy.
Ordinary people with names of Italian stars
Above the line, Kraft Foods used the launch of the "Crema" bean variety as an opportunity to launch a positioning campaign with the support of JWT+H+F. In three TV commercials, Mastro Lorenzo is to stand even more strongly as the brand for the Italian coffee experience in general.
The massive TV presence will be accompanied by tastings and other promotions in the retail sector. Gmünder says the goal of the new presence is to more than double Mastro Lorenzo's market share of around 5 percent of the total roasted coffee market within three years. "The move beyond portioned coffee to a brand for Italian coffee is crucial for us," he says, referring to its biggest competitors, Migros' own brands.
As in previous campaigns, the client and the agency are focusing on the portion range. The more important areas of 'beans and ground' in terms of volume are to be expanded from the strong image of the bag submarket, the tactic can be explained. The coffee roaster already has a market share of around 40 percent there.
In line with the ambitious quantitative and qualitative goals, CD Remy Fabrikant brewed up three TV spots that "do not correspond to today's zeitgeist", but revive the charm of the Italian dialogue film in the style of "Don Camillo and Peppone".
To do this, he enlisted director Alessandro Cappelletti and cinematographer Ekkehard Pollack, who knew how to direct their amateur actors against a Tuscan backdrop. The spots, shot in feature film quality with German subtitles, are based on stories of mistaken identity with ordinary citizens who happen to bear the names of Italian stars. Like Alberto Tomba, a lawyer from Friuli, Roberto Baggio, a journalist from Venice, and Al Capone, a bar owner in Naples, are also mistaken for their namesakes.
"When it becomes clear at the end of the story that the protagonists are not the real stars, they at least drink the right espresso together: a Mastro Lorenzo," says consultant Pascal Winkler, summarizing the plot.
Of course, they were also on the lookout for female stars, consultant Manuela Zwald tells us. "We found neither a second Sofia Loren nor a Gina Lollobrigida. And 83-year-old Ornella Muti, whom we discovered, would have joined in, but her famous namesake showed little understanding for our desire," Zwald smiles.

I’ve noticed that Christmas seems to be taking a particularly long time to get going this year. Or were the stores already decorated with glittering Christmas decorations in early November in previous years as well? Maybe. But that’s not the point: Retailers across the country are joining forces and making a last-ditch effort to ensure a prosperous Christmas season, in the hope of perhaps making up for some of this year’s lost revenue. And they’ll settle for any ad, no matter how bizarre, to lure customers into the stores. That can backfire, as an example from the American press shows. The question remains: Who’s being discriminated against here—the dog or its owner? But the main point remains: On
By December 25, it will all be over.
Chandra Kurt
[email protected]
Column

Cave Canem by Thomas Lüber As I was once again dabbing Merfen on my bleeding lower legs yesterday, one question kept running through my mind: Why do so many advertisers have to have their dogs around them all the time?
Okay, they love him dearly, which in and of itself is entirely their problem. Unlike the fact that they bring him to the agency, even though it’s generally not a living environment tailored to the Canis familiaris species. His space to run around is blocked by agency management wandering about, playing fetch without a stick is only somewhat fun, and his owner doesn’t have time for his drooling little face anyway. Which is why he has to figure out how to spend his ten hours in the office on his own, coming up with all sorts of outlandish ideas in the process. For lack of a tree, he marks his territory on the media assistant’s leg; instead of the mail carrier, he snatches the copywriter’s sandwich; and in the absence of joggers, he scares the now-rare clientele to death because he’s decided that the customer restroom is an object worth guarding. And when he still gets bored, he turns his attention to my pant legs. He chews them to a pulp while growling, carefully making sure to carve a pattern into my lower legs with his fangs—one that would fill any tattoo artist with envy. The worst part is that I’m so scared I’m wetting my pants, even though there’s really no need. Because this beast is a veeeery goooood little doggie who just wants to play. And I don’t have to be afraaaid of him at all, since he wouldn’t hurt a fly.
What do I take away from this? Maybe that it's time to visit a dog park again.
[email protected]
Thomas Lüber is Managing Director Creation at Lesch+Frei Zurich.
Business lunch

A lovely inn for «all sorts of people»—as we learn from Christian Mensch’s well-worth-reading article on page 12—gastronomy journalists are particularly susceptible to pressure of all kinds. Of course, this is all about human nature. So what do you do to avoid giving off the whiff of being for sale? You go all out once again, but end up missing the mark—even though you were aiming for the donkey.
When it comes to the new «Kindli» under Gisela Lacher’s direction, I don’t need to prove my independence by offering negative criticism just for the sake of it. I enjoyed my time there. Quite a lot, actually. Admittedly, I don’t know what to make of that lovely term “vintage cooking.” Because I’ll never understand what purpose such labels are supposed to serve, and I can’t help but suspect that the kitchen is using them to camouflage its lack of creativity. Wrong: The marinated tuna with cucumber slices was quite delicious, even though my dining companion—who has dined in many kitchens—initially remarked that the freshness of the fish seemed to be competing with the age of the interior. Fortunately, this fear proved unfounded. The fish was beautifully plated and had been seared for no more than a second. The braised beef on savoy cabbage, served with horseradish on the side, was solid—tender in texture and flavorful. A little marrowbone would have added a nice finishing touch to the whole dish. That said, the portion was just right in both size and weight.
For dessert, a chocolate cake with a liquid chocolate center was a real treat—I’ve rarely had anything so delicious.
Well, the «Kindli» is no longer called «Opus» and is one of Zurich’s most beautiful restaurants, thanks to the abundance of wood and the paintings by Hanny Fries, which exude a lot of charm. What’s more, the tables are spaced well, so you can chat in peace without disturbing your neighbors or being disturbed by them.
One last word about the wine list: The «Kindli» recommends a special cru to go with every dish. You can trust their suggestions. It’s classy and is sure to become a tradition. Incidentally, tradition has it that the restaurant—first mentioned in 1774—was run at that time by an innkeeper who «hosted all manner of people.» It’s nice to know that the «exceedingly pious» man has now made way for a female innkeeper.
Carlo Bernasconi
[email protected]
Hotel and Restaurant Zum Kindli, Pfalzgasse 1
8001 Zurich
Tel. 01 211 59 17
Evaluation

Food .......................4
Drinks ..................4
Operation ................3
Business Factor ……..3
5=top, 4=very good, 3=o.k., 2=naja, 1=flop

Leasehold publishers feel they are in an uncomfortable position because of the VSW guidelines criticized by the WekoBy Markus Knöpfli Thanks to the forthcoming investigation by the Competition Commission (Weko), there is now a debate about the standards by which PubliGroupe ("P") remunerates (or not) its competitors. The fact is: in-house publishers handle the matter more liberally. And some leased titles are not exactly in a comfortable position - partly because the "P" guidelines deny them income.
The Association of Swiss Advertising Companies (VSW), an association of the wholly-owned PubliGroup subsidiaries Publimedia, Publicitas, Publimag and Mosse, has a whole range of criteria. It uses these criteria to assess whether or not a competitor intermediary receives the agency commission (VK) for its services. For the individual intermediary, VSW authorization plays an important, sometimes even existential role: PubliGroupe determines who is paid for its intermediary services for around 500 of the approximately 2000 Swiss press titles - including several large daily newspapers. Not even the Swiss Press Association has as much influence (see box). As a result, those who are not authorized by the VSW do not receive compensation for any PubliGroup leased title (see also WW 41/02).
However, the ComCo's criticism is not directed against the VSW triage in principle, but against individual criteria. These could constitute "objectively unjustified obstacles to competition". The criticized regulations include, for example, the fact that an intermediary must place all categories of advertisements and cannot limit itself to individual sectors. The ComCo also disagrees with the fact that they must be legally independent of their clients and have a business volume of at least CHF 1 million or CHF 100,000 in the case of VSW titles. Nor does it agree with the guideline that an advertising volume should consist of at least 50 percent commercial advertisements and that the advertising rates must also be compliant.
Regardless of the decision that the Competition Commission still has to make: What is certain is that no one else in Switzerland takes such a restrictive approach to the triage of intermediaries. The Swiss Press Association also recommends selection criteria to its members. However, it only contains one provision. This stipulates that the agent must be legally independent of the client, and this could also be affected by the Weko criticism. In addition, independent publishers handle triage more liberally than recommended anyway.
For example, Hansjürg Klöti, Head of Newspaper Advertising at Tamedia, pays particular attention to the fact that advertising is the main activity of the companies entitled to VK. Other criteria include adherence to rates and independence from clients. "In principle, however, we don't want to prevent anyone from doing business with us," he adds. NZZ Publishing Director Tobias Trevisan, on the other hand, is of the opinion that the ownership structure of intermediaries cannot be prescribed. What is important is that the broker does his job professionally, he says. Ueli Eckstein, Head of Print Media at AZ Medien Group, agrees: "As long as an agent works professionally and tries to position himself broadly in terms of customer numbers, we will pay him the commission," he says.
The monopoly protects against possible advertising losses
This makes it clear that intermediaries who are not authorized by VSW will tend to try to avoid VSW leased titles in their media planning and book their own titles wherever possible. The VSW leased titles are likely to lose income as a result. This is also known in the industry. "There is certainly no incentive to advertise in titles that don't pay a commission," says Trevisan - with a view to the VSW leased titles Der Bund, Neue Luzerner Zeitung (NLZ) and St.Galler Tagblatt (SGT), which belong to the NZZ Group.
"Circumventions cannot be ruled out completely," says Jürg Weber, Publishing Director of NLZ. But he adds reassuringly: "The matter is not so dramatic for us, because there are hardly any alternative options in our area. Despite the VSW guidelines, we are therefore missing out on relatively little." In other words: the company's own quasi-monopoly protects it from major problems.
It seems to be no different in Basel. In any case, Daniel Sommer, publishing director of Basler Zeitung, says: "I've never had the impression that we've been circumvented because of the VSW guidelines."
There is no monopoly in Bern, which is why the VSW guidelines could be a particular handicap for the leased title Der Bund. But Bund publishing director J. Pepe Wiss initially reveals himself to be a VSW hardliner: "The VSW guidelines only hinder the agents, never the customers. The latter can always come to us." Moreover, it is not his business to review the VSW criteria, which should bring order to the industry. "We have a bigger loss if every second person who comes along with an advertisement receives the VK," adds Wiss - confirming that the VSW guidelines are causing him at least a small loss.
The Solothurner Zeitung (SZ) makes the same point. There, the matter is not disputed, but merely relativized. "The bigger problem for us is the dumping prices with which the Espace Media Group offers its Solothurner Tagblatt", says Rudolf Rentsch, Director of Vogt-Schild/Habegger. To which he immediately adds: "We also have open channels via the MittellandZeitung." With which Rentsch immediately shows the non-commissioned intermediaries how they can still occupy the SZ by bypassing the "P". Sommer is obviously also aware of such loopholes when he says with a wink: "An agent is more likely to look for detours in order to obtain the VK anyway."
Marcel Suter, Managing Director of AZ Wochenzeitungen AG, is one person who sometimes offers his hand in this regard. Although the Aargauer Woche and other titles from his company are leased by VSW, they have never given up selling them themselves. That's why he has been approached directly by specialist brokers. Suter speaks of two to three local customers - not even professional brokers! "These are exceptions, but we do them," says Suter, who can certainly understand the "hard-hitting" line of the "P". The result of his approach: "The 'P' and I are always at loggerheads, partly because the invoicing always goes through the 'P'." It's clear that they don't pay out sales, that's just a matter for AZ Wochenzeitungen AG. The main thing is that the ads come in.
Back to the publishing directors of large leased titles: the longer you talk to them, the more clearly some of them express their scruples about the VSW guidelines. Even hardliner Wiss admits: "There are individual cases that the 'P' sees differently to us, and we have to talk about them." Sommer also thinks it is wrong to punish those who acquire advertisements professionally. Weber from the NLZ takes a similar view. He considers it "sensible", at least from the publisher's point of view, for an intermediary to be compensated for "professional preparatory work". However, SGT publishing director Daniel Ehrat is the most outspoken. "In my view, solutions must be sought. Discrimination against individual professional brokers is at the very least critical. After all, the quality of a brokerage is not dependent on whether it only works in one sector or whether it covers all sectors." It is obvious that "P" has a different opinion on this, as can be read in the interview on page 33.
The verdict of the Competition Commission is therefore also awaited with great interest. Weber: "I am curious to see what will come out of this investigation."
Piquant association recommendations

The Swiss Press Association is also involved when it comes to the eligibility of advertisers for VC, but only in the form of non-binding recommendations to publishers. These can be found in the "Basics in the Swiss print advertising market". According to this, the decision to commission an intermediary is the responsibility of the individual publisher. "There is no central recognition procedure," it clearly states.
What is piquant, however, is that PubliGroupe should not actually be recognized as an intermediary according to the association's recommendations. This is because it literally states: "The intermediary company is a legally independent company and therefore independent of clients and contractors." PubliGroupe clearly does not fulfill the latter requirement: it holds a stake of up to 37 percent in numerous contractors (publishers).
Other criteria, however, are similar to those of VSW: an intermediary should work for several customers, take various ad titles into account when booking, handle the transaction on its own account and also take on the del credere. And - last but not least - adhere to the publisher's rates. Unlike VSW, however, the volume mix or the size of the business volume are not criteria (mk).

Markus Gisler wants to remain on the Jean Frey Board of Directors Two new bosses replace Hans Fahrländer in BadenMarkus Gisler wants to remain on the Jean Frey Board of Directors Two new bosses replace Hans Fahrländer in Baden
There was a standing ovation for Hans Fahrländer, who is moving from editor-in-chief to author, and a few questions about the future on Monday afternoon in Baden when publisher Peter Wanner announced the two new editors-in-chief for his Mittelland Zeitung/ Aargauer Zeitung (AZ) at an editorial conference. Ex-Cash editor-in-chief and ex-Moneycab CEO Markus Gisler (50) will in future manage Switzerland's third-largest daily newspaper in a team with Peter Buri (44). Buri was previously Head of
of online activities and also responsible for communications at the AZ Medien Group.
The media group is making this dual appointment to its flagship "in order to strengthen its national presence and consistently implement its multimedia strategy". In addition, the AZ Medien Group is "adapting to emerging developments in the media industry", is how it justifies the choice.
Gisler will take up his post on February 1 and will have overall responsibility for journalism as well as managing AZ's supra-regional general departments. Buri will now be responsible for the "Aargau/Regions" and "Content/Multimedia" editorial departments. In the hustle and bustle of the long-awaited, yet surprising changes, one of the questions that arose was what such an editorial team would look like in the future.
Of course, there was also speculation about how much Markus Gisler was paid for his job. Insiders could easily work out that he must have earned more than three times as much as the previous head of AZ, Hans Fahrländer, as CEO of Goldbach and member of the Board of Directors of Jean Frey. These calculations also led to the question of whether Gisler will remain on the Board of Directors of Filippo Leutenegger's Jean Frey AG. Official comment: "That is still open," Markus Gisler told WerbeWoche. The question would have to be discussed by the Board of Directors, "but there is no pressure". From a journalistic point of view, it makes perfect sense that Gisler, as head of MZ/AZ, would also remain a board member of the politically similar Jean Frey AG publications. (pan)

Financial services, food retailing, transportation, automotive and the hotel industry are the sectors from which he can imagine new clients: now that Tyler Brûlé has bought back all shares in Wink Media from AOL Time Warner, he wants to take off. For the time being, however, the changes do not concern the client portfolio, but his agency, which was founded in 1998: the Winkreative, Winkoncept and Winkontent units are grouped under the holding umbrella of the new company Winkorp AG, based in Zurich. The range of services is comprehensive and extends from branding and advertising, corporate design and architectural consulting to PR, publishing consulting, the development of Wink products and media formats, with the latter no longer including a glossy Swiss magazine, but rather projects for a magazine and a radio format in English with a pan-European focus. "There are no business plans yet," Brûlé specified at his sparsely attended press conference in Zurich's prestigious "Baur au Lac" hotel.
The Anglo-Canadian will remain CEO of Winkorp. The "Darling of the Über-Stylish" (The Guardian) will lead the group with 28 employees and the branches in London - the creative heart of the holding company - and New York together with Managing Director Matthew Warren and Finance Director Anna Nunziata.
In addition to flagship client Swiss, Winkorp also works for Selfridges (UK), Pottery Barn (USA), Puma and Strenesse (D), Ferré (I) and Esas, a new men's fashion line. Brûlé describes the added value of the journalistic approach as the USP of his independent agency. His mission: "Winkreative is dedicated to refining the way of life and developing products, experiences and content that fulfill this mission." (la)

(Values = "Supporters" index of the ad compared to the average of all ads in the industry; 1.00 = average = 100%)Best of Print Advertising The ad hits 2002 from the Advertising Index of the market research institute Demoscope
In cooperation with the market research institute Demoscope, Publimedia presents the readers of WerbeWoche five times a year with an excerpt from the
Results from the Advertising Index (AX Print). This index (see box) is a module of the Market Radar and measures the popularity of advertising subjects. The top two rows contain the subjects that achieved the greatest acceptance among the relevant psychographic target group (see compass rose). The three subjects that performed best among the entire sample, i.e. all four target groups, in the third quarter of 2002 are shown under the title "Top Three".
Car Smart Crossblade 1.3

(Weber Hodel Schmid)
Health insurance companies/ ÖKK wins the race 1.5
Insurance Schmid Riedmann & Partner
Advertising Index

For the Advertising Index ad tests, a representative sample of around 800 people is surveyed in 8 survey waves. The respondent first completes a psychological test (50-item test) and then leafs through a booklet containing 45 advertisements. As when reading a magazine, they are free to linger over each advertisement for as long as they wish. Before turning the page, she rates the ad on a scale from 5 ("appeals to me a lot") to 1 ("doesn't appeal to me at all"). Supporters" are people who are "very" or "fairly" attracted by an ad. The acceptance of advertising determined in this way correlates strongly with other functions of advertising impact and is therefore suitable for benchmarking.
For the segmentation of the sample according to target groups, Market Radar uses a psychographic test, the so-called 50-item test. With the help of this test, the value orientations of the respondent are determined and assigned to one of the psychogram fields (see wind rose). The value orientations range from South (conservative) to North (progressive) and from West (outward-looking, materialistic) to East (inward-looking, idealistic).
Further information on the Advertising Index and the Market Radar is available from Demoscope. Planning support with the Advertising Index, the Radar and new
with the Print Advertising Monitor (PAM), Publimedia.

Muse & Musse Remo ChristenWhat was the last event you attended?
Remo Christen: The last three quarters of an hour of the Fun Lovin' Criminals' concert in Zurich. To get a taste of New York air.
What are you reading right now?
Christians: Textbooks; economics, business studies, law. The first exam is at the beginning of February.
Which CD do you currently prefer to listen to?
Christen: Schiller, "Weltreise".
Which movie would you most like to see again?
Christians: "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" Hilarious and then the soundtrack!
What TV show did you fall asleep during the other night?
Christen: On "Swiss Watch" on SF 2.
What is your latest discovery on the Internet?
Christians: www.neu-neu.com
What could you never do without?
Christians: coffee, books and brioches (and unfortunately also smokes).
Love is...?
Christen: ...like warm summer rain.