Ruf Lanz makes fundraising TV spots for a Zurich home for the blind with cheerful and subtle ironyActually, only the Anglo-Saxons advertise so cheerfully and at the same time ironically for more attention and cash for the disabled. Ruf Lanz proves that it can be done differently here in Switzerland, too, with two spots for the Mühlehalde home for the blind in Zurich. The advertising agency had two blind old ladies plop into the cool waters of Lake Zurich or buy a T-shirt with the inscription "Sex Bomb" in the cool clothing store. And while it's a lot of slapstick, there's method to it. At the end, both spots explain to sighted people: "Without your donation, the blind will soon be left to fend for themselves. To prevent this from happening, Ruf Lanz has swept away the sob stories that are told in the run-up to Christmas. "The consternation ploy no longer works," says Markus Ruf, explaining the tactic. He wanted to implement a campaign that is not interchangeable. This now consists of an ad subject, which was also produced as a streetcar hanger, as well as the two TV spots produced free of charge by Condorfilms. The core message is unmistakable: nursing home residents are urgently dependent on the help of third parties in their daily lives. And that costs money. A lot of money.
This year, there is a gaping hole of 1.5 million francs in the company's coffers. In this emergency, he asked Ruf Lanz for a donation in the form of an advertising campaign, explains Bruno Guglielmetti, who is responsible for fundraising, how the collaboration with the Zurich-based creative agency came about.
"A melancholy performance would not have done justice to the Mühlehalde. Some of the residents really exude charm and mischievousness," explains Markus Ruf. And thus also justifies the choice for the tone of irony.
Danielle Lanz was also impressed by the blind people
Most of the 78 blind and visually impaired people between the ages of 50 and 99 who have found a loving place to stay at Witikonerstrasse 100 in Zurich have not lost their sight until they are of AHV age. This is all the more difficult because people suffering from late blindness or late vision impairment fall through the cracks of the disability insurance (IV). The IV primarily covers loss of earnings. Due to this legal loophole, only 19 residents of the home receive support from the IV.
The blind and visually impaired people are cared for by 97 employees, who share 68 positions. The primary nursing goals are to overcome the crisis triggered by the disease and to enable people to shape their lives in a self-determined way that is appropriate for their age.
The residents can find activities in a textile workshop and a woodworking shop, for example. The activities offered also include singing together and reading aloud from newspapers. "The nursing staff treat these people very lovingly," says Danielle Lanz, who is impressed.
The home for the blind is supported by the Mühlehalde Foundation, which was founded at the beginning of July 1979 by the Dankesberg Women's Home for the Blind Association and the Zurich Lighthouse for the Blind Cooperative.
Ernst Weber
AD Rating

Professional or amateur models?
The ad raters did not share the retro trend toward nature. The main thing is debate - it has to happen. Now it's about the use of amateur versus professional models. Please click your opinion on www.werbewoche.ch /adrating
Advertising naturalism
Top: 36,72%
Flop: 63,28%
Praise and criticism of ad-raters summarized at www.werbewoche .ch/adrating/comments

Bilanz Editor-in-Chief Medard Meier on the competition and the image crisis of the business pressBy Markus Knöpfli According to Editor-in-Chief Medard Meier, the 25-year-old Bilanz has maneuvered itself quite well through the online euphoria and a changed competitive environment. In view of the looming loss of confidence in the business press, however, he (still) seems somewhat perplexed.
Mr. Meier, how is the birthday boy?
Medard Meier: (smiles) The birthday boy is positioned in a segment that is under pressure - after everything that has happened in the economy. However, the balance sheet remains very well positioned. The readership figures are pleasing. Although we have also lost readers, the others have lost much more. After four great years, we now find ourselves in a not very good environment, which also defines our condition.
Would you describe your condition as not very good?
Meier: It is better than that of the Business Press segment. The financial statements of Wirtschaftsmedien AG (WM AG) at the end of June were in the black. Excluding the online segment, we actually performed extremely well. The current, shortened financial year (July to December 02) will also be absolutely acceptable.
Bilanz has several pillars: The main magazine, books and special editions (including Manager-Bilanz), the "Bilanz Business Talk" on Press TV and the online area. Which areas are profitable?
Meier: Online is of course red. But we accept that because we don't want to do without the Internet as a marketing or archiving tool. The "Business Talk" is supported by our partner Sunrise, we don't have to earn any money here. But it is a good event platform. The special editions and the main magazine generate a profit, while the manager's report is paid for by a sponsor - Arthur Andersen Switzerland for the last five years.
This company no longer exists, who will be the new sponsor?
Meier: We have three to four candidates, but the decision won't be made for another month or so.
In 1997/98 you are said to have made a profit of 750000 francs again after a long red phase. How black are the figures really?
Meier: No, we were only in the red once in the main magazine and the special editions, in the 1995/96 financial year. At that time, we broke away from Senger Annoncen and invested in our own advertising department. In the online sector, however, we lost a total of at least two million francs over three years, which dragged down WM AG's income statement each time.
In the turmoil surrounding Jean Frey AG, the balance sheet remained remarkably quiet.
Meier: Because we already had experience with changes of ownership, I recommended that we keep quiet so as not to break any dishes from the outset. Things are going well now, I feel very comfortable. Filippo Leutenegger may have taken an unconventional approach to his task, but the success is already impressive.
The last two years have been quiet for the balance sheet. There were hardly any innovations.
Meier: Our ratings - from the 300 richest to the best hotels - are becoming increasingly popular. Our Swissair book became a bestseller. We have launched the Special range with twelve special issues a year, and the Manager Balance and, for the last two years, the Fund Balance have also been published four times a year. We achieve this with a 14-strong editorial team.
Nevertheless, some balance sheet offers have also gone quiet: nothing more is heard from the share leader.
Meier: That's right, it was scaled back to a pure service. The guide was probably a great idea, but it simply couldn't be financed.
The New Market balance sheet...
Meier: ...has vanished into thin air. But we're doing other things in its place, such as a wine special soon.
Almost ten years ago, Bilanz merged with Politik & Wirtschaft magazine, and the special editions were launched in the mid-nineties. But there were also missed opportunities: instead of launching a weekly business publication alongside the flagship itself, you let Cash take the lead. Then Borsalino and Moneycab competed with the stock leader, and finally you were overtaken by Stocks. Why did you not occupy these fields, or only half-heartedly?
Meier: We were unable to counter Cash. We also had ideas for a weekly publication, but we never had a publisher with enough money. We also wanted to do something like Borsalino online, but in retrospect it turned out to be almost impossible to finance, even without competitors. I'm therefore glad that a stop came in time. On the other hand, when Stocks came out, I was disappointed at first because it beat us to it. We also had a ready-to-go project with a German publisher as licensor and another Swiss publisher. But today I'm delighted that we didn't get the chance, because the German publisher's magazine has since been discontinued. And it's an open question whether Stocks, with its current 59,000 readers, will survive in today's advertising slump. In short, what you describe as missed opportunities would have been nothing but detours that would have caused us financial problems.
Do you see it the same way with Annabelle Business and Cash Enterprise, which have recently been trying to steal your thunder with women and SMEs respectively - Cash, of course, with an ex-balance sheet man.
Meier: Cash Enterprise will probably not be a business for the time being, but thanks to an estimated 500,000 sponsorship francs per year, it will be a break-even event for the reader benefit alone. And Annabelle Business is not a missed opportunity either. I don't want to segment balance sheet readers. I want a single balance sheet, which is doing very well with a 32 percent share of female readers.
So you're not worried about losing readers?
Meier: No, because business women don't want to be served in a special way, they want to be fully involved in the balance sheet. Of course, we could, indeed should, do more on the subject of women and business. But I don't think it's a good idea to write articles that are all about women.
Is the balance sheet now more of an aircraft carrier, against which all attacks bounce off practically unscathed, or is it more of a little garden, where others eat ever more cheekily over the fence?
Meier: More like an aircraft carrier. However, when Cash came along, we were afraid that we would fall behind because of the different publication rhythms. Instead, the business press segment became really interesting. Finanz&Wirtschaft and HandelsZeitung improved. And they all grew. As a result, the daily newspapers in the business section also grew. Today we even have two Sunday newspapers with a strong focus on the economy. Now that this strong expansion of business reporting has taken place in the Swiss-German media, I can't imagine that everyone is getting away unscathed.
But will the balance sheet escape unscathed?
Meier: I think so, because it is the only monthly magazine in Switzerland, and the circulation figures of the competition from abroad are marginal. But we have to keep the core of Bilanz up to date, be innovative and keep it at the top in terms of quality. After the last three years, we have to give readers a new compass of sorts, because they are frustrated about what has happened to them, especially on the stock markets, and how they have been lied to by banks, asset managers and analysts. This has led to a massive loss of confidence. It will therefore be a major task for the business press to keep these people on board as readers.
You're thinking of the Swissair debacle, the Internet euphoria...
Meier: ...to CS, insurance companies, Ebner - all disasters...
...the discussion about managers' salaries, and now the surprisingly persistent recession - all of this has not only put managers, but also business journalists, in a difficult position. What conclusions have you drawn for the balance sheet?
Meier: You're right, we need to go over the books. Some publishing houses were obviously not prepared enough in terms of training. We, too, didn't cover the basics enough and paid too little attention to what really characterizes a sustainably successful business. The current correction is all the more brutal, which will be a lesson to us business journalists in the future.
What will the specific consequences be?
Meier: Further training certainly needs to be intensified. And we need to take a closer look at the rucksack when hiring new staff. However, the balance sheet is not comparatively bad. Most of our employees have a degree. But the real shame of the analysts and business journalists was that they were too impressed by "new" values. And they dismissed what they had been taught at university as outdated. In the end, they came back to the simple truths: to do business, you have to have equity and make a profit. In short: we were swimming along too much and were not independent enough.
In recent years, Bilanz has lost 21,000 readers and the magazine's circulation is at its lowest level in the last ten years. Is this a consequence of the loss of trust?
Meier: You can see it that way to a certain extent, although our reach is still high by international standards.
How will the balance sheet tackle the next five years?
Meier: In March, we will relaunch the balance sheet and also take into account what we have just discussed. The details have not yet been finalized, but there will be visible changes, including to the content.
Will the journalistic concept with its four pillars be retained?
Meier: That has proved its worth, yes.
You are now 51 years old. How much longer will you be at the helm?
Meier: (hesitates, laughs) I've been with the company since 1984 and editor-in-chief since 1990, and I enjoy the job. It remains fascinating to produce a new balance sheet every month. Ultimately, however, my superiors have to judge me.
Are you thinking about quitting of your own accord?
Meier: No.

Muse & Musse Cornelia BrunschwilerWhat was the last cultural event you attended?
Cornelia Brunschwiler: Expo.02 - because I wanted to see for myself.
What are you reading right now?
Brunschwiler: "How to be good" by Nick Hornby.
Which CD do you currently prefer to listen to?
Brunschwiler: "Frisch - Michael von der Heide" - I like his duets.
Which movie would you most like to see again?
Brunschwiler: There are too many good movies.
What TV show did you fall asleep during the other night?
Brunschwiler: I don't sleep in front of the TV.
What is your latest discovery on the Internet?
Brunschwiler: www.beobachter.ch - always good.
What could you never do without?
Brunschwiler: To my free space.
What do you do in a free minute?
Brunschwiler: Reading or "doing nothing" - one of my favorite pastimes.
Love is...?
Brunschwiler: ...sometimes quite grueling - but always wonderful.

A small symbolism of the primary colors red, blue, yellow and greenSighted and not color-blind people experience the colors every day in nature. Accustomed to them, we think nothing of them when we encounter them. But colors are more than just present. Constance theologian, philologist and psychologist Ingrid Riedel, for example, argues that colors have a symbolic meaning for the observer that is related to the experience in nature. Some of her interpretations of the three primary colors and the color green, based on scientific tests and investigations, provide an insight into the impact of colors.Talking the Blue of the Sky
Dark blue represents the mind, thus the satisfied or unsatisfied need for tranquility, contentment, peace, human or professional bond, attachment, loyalty and unity. For example, the stars of the flag of the United Europe are on a blue background, and the flag of the United Nations is also blue. Ultramarine and indigo are called the colors of dreams, mysticism and the unconscious. Cobalt conveys clarity, rationality and spirituality, whereas the light sky blue stands for reverie and unreality. According to Goethe, blue emanates a restless soft, yearning sensation. He speaks of a "charming nothingness" that draws one into itself. Max Lüscher observed an increased need for blue in exhaustion and illness. Wassily Kandinsky sees in blue a deepening color that calls man, the deeper it is, the more into the infinite and awakens in him the longing for the pure and the supersensible.
Red with rage
The scale of red ranges in its emotional expressiveness from aggression, destruction and death to love, devotion and sacrifice. To vermilion, for example, fire and Eros (sexual driving force) is presented. To carmine: Blood, strength, power and love. To purple - the according to Goethe "true, pure, neither into the yellow nor into the violet pulling red" - royalty, right, justice, distance as well as reverence for the sublime. Red warns and means danger (traffic signs), but also stands for help (fire department). "In the morning red reflects the tender awakening of feelings." In blood red, the will to change the world is expressed through violence and terror. Sensations such as warm, hot and restless are associated with red. Other expressive values are freshness, vitality, increase of life, closeness, sensuality, (blind) passion, excitement, turmoil and threat to life. Red is also the color of vice. And: Red is the favorite color of childhood.
Green behind the ears
Green is most often associated with meadow, vegetation and forest. Green is perceived as a color that flows into the eyes with a mild fullness that is positively calming. Green is experienced as gentle, friendly and peaceful. There is talk of a meadow feeling that invites one to rest, rest and daydream. Goethe described the harmonizing effect with the words, "One cannot go on, one does not want to go on." The primal experience is that after each winter, with the new green of the meadows comes at the same time the hope of warmer days, the coming harvest, consequently the preservation of life. Green generally stands for growth, development and fullness of life. This development is expressed in expressions such as "greenhorn". However, the color green also symbolizes the ability of inner restraint, accumulation and accumulation of stimuli.
Yellow with envy
Yellow tends to be particularly ambivalent: the scale of tones ranges from warm golden yellow, the (sun)yellow of life, to pale and broken yellow
of disease and death. (Jaundice, kidney disease, nausea and symptoms of poisoning are expressed in the yellowing of the skin). "In yellow," Goethe said, "light triumphs in color. It carries with it the nature of light," of the sun, of light, of serenity, and of knowledge. The robe of the Greek sun god Helios was yellow. Buddhist monks and nuns wear a saffron yellow robe as a sign of their quest for light and enlightenment. Yellow, awakens associations
such as the hope for happiness. On the other hand, it is associated with experiential terms such as exaggeration, frivolity, excitement, expenditure, wastefulness and importunity, as well as medical terms such as jaundice. Max Lüscher has observed that yellow is rejected whenever it is overstimulated, and blue is then often preferred. As a garish signal color, yellow warns of radioactivity. In the Third Reich, Jews were marked with a yellow star.
Ernst Weber
Ingrid Riedel, "Colors in Religion, Society, Art and Psychotherapy," Kreuz Verlag, ISBN 3-7831-0700-8.

The Basellandschaftliche Zeitung (circulation: 25,136 copies) is introducing early delivery: from November 2, the paper from the Lüdin publishing house in Liestal (turnover: CHF 16 million) will be distributed by the BaZ subsidiary Prevag in both Basel, parts of Fricktal and Solothurn (Thierstein/Dorneck). Publisher Mathis Lüdin, who is expecting 2,500 new subscribers within six months, says that the deterioration in the postal delivery service has forced him to do this. 50% of the additional costs of 1.5 million francs will be borne by the publisher itself, the rest will be passed on to the subscribers. Asked about his anti-cyclical behavior, Lüdin says: "This will bring advantages when things pick up again." Although he is now "close to being in the red", "thanks to our reserves, we can easily endure three bad years." (mk)

Spots and bitches! By Beat Fritsch
Last week was all about the Cannes reel and tennis. In the in-house cinema of Zurich-based Andromeda-Film, the industry association Idée-VfW (Association for Advertising Communication) hosted the visioning of the Cannes reel, which is starting its tour of Switzerland these days. The small and cozy screening room was filled to capacity. About forty rather curious people did not want to miss the screening of the award-winning spots.
The lions roared in Geneva last week, too. Actually, agency owner Pedro Simko only wanted to demonstrate the role internally. But the interest was so huge that the event was expanded into a happening with around 200 visitors. According to reports, none of the agencies in French-speaking Switzerland had traveled to Cannes this spring except Simko, so the opportunity to see the spot was naturally seized in large numbers. Publisuisse boss Ingrid Deltenre was also in the audience, who is already very interested in the spots for professional reasons.
"Game - set - match!" was the motto throughout the week in Zurich-Kloten. At the Swisscom Challenge, the best women tennis players in the world could be admired, even if the tournament organizers had some bad luck with the cancellations this year. The absence of tennis darling Anna Kurnikova naturally disappointed male fans in particular. The Tages-Anzeiger, under the leadership of advertising manager Fridolin Holdener as co-sponsor, invites the female tennis gladiators to the tennis tournament every evening. And anyone who knows Holdener knows that a visit is worthwhile just for the good hospitality. The passionate wine lover is in the habit of decanting very fine wines. During the visit on Thursday, however, one had to exercise a little patience. The individual games lasted so long that the schedule was thrown into confusion. The main course could only be served around midnight, after the brilliant quarterfinal match of the eventual tournament winner Patty Schnyder. The self-employed media specialist Thomas Rüttimann and Oliver Pel from The Eyecatcher were a bit luckier. They had been invited by another magazine and were served dinner much earlier. However, although Gault Millau boss Urs Heller was at the table, they certainly couldn't indulge in the same bacchanalian delights as Holdener's guests.
Sunday also brought the expected excitement. Before the match, an extended Sunday brunch was served, which made every gourmet's heart beat faster. With Patty Schnyder, a Swiss player was in the final, which made the audience go wild. The Basel player was literally whipped to victory by the cheers. The action on center court is always extremely exciting anyway, even when there are no top ten players on court. The tennis ladies can behave quite unpleasantly towards referees and line judges, so that one is directly reminded of the good old days of John McEnroe. Against the tennis bitches of the WTA Tour, even the most conceited of all the advertising assistants and other front office dragons are quite well-behaved and affable lambs.
Beat Fritsch

as president of the Idée-VfW communications association, invited members and guests to the annual screening of the Cannes reel in Zurich. In Geneva, too, the award-winning advertising films were eagerly admired. Sports were the order of the day at Schluefweg in Kloten. Otherwise the home arena of the Kloten Flyers ice hockey club, the world's best female tennis players meet there once a year. They compete for exorbitant prize money that even the highly decorated creatives in Cannes can only dream of.
We locate who meets in the communications industry at parties and aperitifs at a wide variety of events on the scene. Do you already have something exciting to report? Pick up the phone (01 296 97 98) or type on the keyboard (info@werbewo che.ch). For event tips and more shortlist pictures: www.werbewoche.ch

French-speaking Switzerland has another young publisher with a nose for the English-speaking niche: Addison Holmes realized that Geneva's native English speakers do not receive enough information about local events - both political and cultural. He also sees his Geneva English Speaking Magazine (GEM) as a platform for encounters between the people of Geneva and their English-speaking fellow citizens. The first issue in January 2003, for example, will deal with the various religions practiced in the city on the Rhone, says the publisher. Ten issues of GEM are planned per year. The initial print run will be 5000 copies, later to be increased to 15000. The magazine will have a planned 60 pages, cost four francs and will also be available at newsstands. Holmes is counting on 60,000 to 100,000 potential readers in Geneva, whose hunger for local information he wants to satisfy with his magazine.
The fact that other publishers have already tried their luck with English-language titles in Geneva in vain does not deter Holmes. Not long ago, the Geneva Post had to cease publication. It had the same objectives and the same audience in mind. Holmes, however, believes in his concept and is also confident that GEM will be a welcome alternative for local advertisers. In any case, this was the result of an initial preliminary investigation, he told WerbeWoche.
Noble restraint when it comes to money
Charly Schwarz from XL Media is not quite as optimistic about the opportunities for new print products in this reader segment. Because local TVs and local radio stations have grown enormously in terms of viewer and listener numbers, the competitive situation has become much tougher. A lot also depends on whether a new product has the funds for the necessarily high investments, he points out.
But Holmes doesn't like to talk about it. If you ask him how much money he wants to spend to enable his youngest baby to take its first steps into the Geneva newspaper landscape, he remains stubbornly silent. Of course, the 33-year-old Australian has already launched various magazines in Melbourne and worked for the United Nations in Geneva. He is anything but a greenhorn from the Aussie jungle. In the industry, he is described as smart and intelligent.
Gabriel Sigrist, co-editor of the magazine Violet, another start-up in search of English-language readers in Switzerland, says of the young publisher: "Addison Holmes is a brilliant guy. We are not ruling out the possibility of working with him on a one-off basis." However, there are no concrete plans for this as yet. Anita Vaucher

Asta Baumöller has been Managing Director of Viva Swizz for four monthsHead of the week "Music television is and remains my element"
Asta Baumöller is in a spirit of optimism. She took over as managing director of Viva Swizz in July - and now the music channel already has a new identity: "We have changed the design and revised the program structures and content," explains the 35-year-old. The station was previously too sweet, too well-behaved, too neutral. Baumöller, however, wants to position Viva Swizz as a youth brand with a strong character that is allowed to have rough edges. "To achieve this, the channel needs to become even bolder and cheekier," she is convinced.
Courage, a willingness to take risks and the luck of being in the right place at the right time also characterize her own career: after graduating from high school, the German moved to New York for a year, worked as an au pair and took design courses. Her focus has always been on advertising campaigns and packaging design. Back in Germany, Baumöller applied to several art colleges on the "shotgun principle". With success: she was able to continue her studies in Stuttgart and Düsseldorf. At the same time, she began working as a freelancer in on-air promotion at RTL. "RTL was the horror channel for design students back then," Baumöller laughs today, "but I found the medium super exciting." As an assistant to the CD, she was later able to incorporate her studies into her career - even if the station's corporate design put limits on her creativity.
This changed abruptly when Baumöller became assistant AD at Viva after graduating: "Much more was possible in the creative field. As a big music lover, I was also able to identify totally with the then young and small store." The fact that Viva was still in its infancy gave her additional insights into the entrepreneurial side of the media.
This enthusiasm has turned into a success story: Baumöller worked her way up to become CD of Viva and Viva Zwei, was involved in the content and strategic development of Viva Italy in Milan and was most recently responsible for international Viva design activities. Her creative work for both channels has also earned her a dozen prizes and awards from the German ADC.
Despite her career, Baumöller has not lost her drive and passion for the job: "Music television is and remains my element." The fun of creative development work that leaves room for visions is what ultimately led her from Cologne to Zurich. "Here I have the opportunity to make a difference and create something new. And I've found a good team." Carole Koch

With Star Games, Paul Grau wants to promote the multimedia channel throughout EuropeBy Daniel Schifferle Paul Grau is fully committed to interactivity with his new program Star Games. The program, which will be broadcast throughout Europe via satellite, is scheduled to go on air by summer 2003 at the latest. However, Grau is not expecting any advertising revenue for the time being.
There is a crisis. Now of all times, you are announcing a game channel. Is this really the right time for such a hedonistic and narrowly focused offering?
Paul Grau: We are not primarily interested in video games. We want to further develop digital interactive television. The television of the future will be digital and interactive. Our aim is to develop the necessary know-how for this. Why did we choose the world of video games? Gamers are not afraid of new technologies.
What TV future will Star Games lead us into?
Grau: We want to take interactive television a big step further. If we can get the game application to work the way we want it to, it will also work with any other interactive television. In other words, we will be able to upgrade any other content with interactive services. If we succeed, Star Games will have achieved its goal.
The program project appeals to an extremely narrow target group: The majority of gamers are likely to be under 20, with a tight consumer budget to boot. As an advertising platform, Star Games will not make a name for itself.
Grau: As far as age is concerned, the statement is only true for the past. When the Sony Playstation was launched seven years ago, it was initially all very young people who were playing. But today, the range of games is much more diversified. There are now offers for a much broader age group. Today it goes up to 50.
What role does advertising revenue play in your budget?
Grau: In the start-up phase, we didn't plan any commercial breaks. The reason is as follows: if you have commercial breaks, you immediately have to work with clear program structures. But we don't want that, because the start-up phase should also be an experimental phase, from which we want to break new ground and gain experience. This phase will last up to twelve months. Only then do we want to move forward and make offers to the advertising industry.
Can you say a bit more about the program structure?
Grau: The games track will certainly be the main focus. We will also set up an e-commerce channel. People will be able to order games and other multimedia products here. Program content that goes with games will also have an important place. For example, we will be transferring our multimedia program, which runs on Fridays on Star TV, to Star Games. Around half of this program already consists of video game presentations.
Star Games will hardly be able to count on an overly large budget. Surely lower than that of Star TV, which has six million francs a year at its disposal?
Gray: It will be deeper. But that's all I'll say about that.
Who bears the costs? Is the TME Group, your technical partner in the development of Star Games, involved in the channel?
Grau: The TME Group is involved. But I can't give any details at the moment.
You don't count on advertising revenue, so how do you refinance the program?
Grau: There are two areas in particular: E-commerce, i.e. the sale of DVDs, video games and other multimedia products. The other source of income: playing along costs something. This means that the caller to an interactive story dials a chargeable number. But sponsoring partners are also welcome at Star Games.
Playing does not need a local connection, nor does it know borders. In terms of subject matter, such a channel would be perfect for turning it into an international platform. That was actually the plan for Star TV, but it hasn't been realized yet. Is that still to come?
Grau: That is exactly what we are now doing with Star Games. We will broadcast the program throughout Europe via satellite. We have to implement the will to go abroad where we are most successful. With Star Games, we are on the right track. As far as Star TV is concerned, this program is less suitable as an international platform. It has too much local content, such as our cinema channel, which has a national focus.
When you think of the millions in license fees that the local TVs will receive in a few years, but Star TV as a national broadcaster will go away empty-handed: Do you get nostalgic or angry or both?
Grau: The fact that Star TV will go away empty-handed is not yet set in stone. For me, it's like a court decision that can be contested. First you have to explain to me why regional language channels should be excluded. That is undemocratic.
How will you proceed?
Gray: Give me some time.
Interactivity with Star Games

By summer 2003 at the latest, Star-TV will launch Star Games, a new channel focusing on interactivity. In addition to the main program, an additional channel with interactive games and services will be operated. The project manager is Gregory Turkawka.
With Star Games, viewers can take part in collective video games on the screen from their living room via telephone or the Internet. According to legal clarifications by Star-TV, the legal conditions for a three-year license "for trials with new technologies" have been met. Star Games is being developed by Star-TV in collaboration with the TME Group, Schlieren, which is responsible for technical coordination. The aim of the new channel is to give viewers access to interactive services, including information, entertainment and commerce content.
Because the new channel will benefit from synergies with Star-TV, the number of staff can be kept low. The existing multimedia editorial team is to be expanded by a maximum of twelve people (dse).

Publicis advertises Schauspielhaus subscriptions with performers at a special priceWhat is cheap for every Hörnli dealer should be expensive for the Schauspielhaus: Multipack or low-price offers are now also available in Zurich's theater culture. Thanks to a cunning idea from Publicis CD Markus Gut, who wants to encourage Zurich residents to buy theater subscriptions for the badly shaken Pfauenbühne with three TV commercials. In fact, audience numbers have never been as low in the last ten years as they were last season. The performances were able to attract just 1,190,40 people interested in culture to the various stages - around 13 percent less than in the previous year. The number of subscriptions sold also plummeted from 4,776 to 3,001 last season. Theater heute may vote the Pfauenbühne "Theatre of the Year" for a long time, but the figures speak for themselves.
The poor utilization of the performance venues has sent income plummeting, while contributions from the public purse have risen dramatically. The Board of Directors of Schauspielhaus AG is therefore calling for the funding gap of around CHF 4 million to be closed. No easy task for the star in the cultural firmament.
Buy the actor from the department store
The Zurich agency has devised a surprising strategy to ensure that the theater, as a moral institution, can still avert bankruptcy: "Why shouldn't advertising for culture with classic retail sales mechanisms also help the Schauspielhaus to attract more spectators?", asked the creatives around CD Markus Gut and set the three new commercials in a department store environment.
The protagonists of the commercials are also "real" actors from the Schauspielhaus, but they are degraded to a product. Since October, astonished Tele-Züri viewers have seen the actor Marcus Burkhard lying in the freezer between oven fries and Brussels sprouts, with a sign reading "Tiefpreis" (low price). Jean-Pierre Cornu sits behind a "Get it now" sign on the shelf.
The third spot shows Raphael Clamer's barcode being scanned by a cashier. The claim promises "Cheaper with a subscription", ironically dramatizing the advantages of culture in multipacks. In addition to the existing offers such as the general subscription or the Abo Plus, a "Marthaler stays subscription" has also recently become available. The latter also fills the solidarity fund for the artistic director. So that he does not have to follow the call of the lark and does not fall victim to his planned motto for the coming season: The new poverty.
Incidentally, the management justifies the "exorbitant admission prices" on its homepage with "previous cultural policy failures of this community". The high prices are "structurally necessary" in order to "secure the income of the impoverished public limited company." Simone Keller

The ideal world is finding its way back into advertising campaignsBy Luca Aloisi After the bursting of the new economy bubble, nostalgic natural aesthetics are once again in demand in advertising. Romantic values in familiar stagings are intended to create confidence and make people forget the crisis. The hypes, the pull marketing approaches and the cool business touch of the cyberspace age have faded.
"Listen to the sky, can you hear the clouds sing?" purrs a male voice over a soft carpet of sound in the new co-op commercial "Dream" for Naturaline. A flock of geese pass by under a sky full of fleecy clouds. People dressed in white revel in the untouched nature. The set for the butter is no less harmonious: surrounded by lush green meadows and graceful wildflowers, a dreamy natural beauty in a romantic cream-colored dress walks in the warm sunlight and tells viewers about the benefits of butter in Uri dialect.
Current campaigns that evoke the image of an ideal world can currently be found in abundance: Zurich Transport Association, Toni yogurt, Canon, even Porsche. Whether fashion, watch or car advertising, the motto is "back to nature". The family idyll is preferred to CEO coolness. Soulless skylines give way to alpenglow. The main thing is that everything looks "authentic". As the campaign for Carl F. Bucherer and others prove, the iconoclasm has been in the air for some time because the impact of modern icons has waned. A new iconoclasm is sweeping across the country and immersing the world in pastel shades and major tones.
Straightforward information is in demand
In the depressed economy, the barometer for creative advertising is not being recalibrated. There's hardly any offense being taken, and if there is, then at most with well-calculated consequences. While a veritable glut of testimonials was the first clear reaction of an ailing advertising industry, a further increase has been observed in recent weeks: the return of advertising motifs from the ideal world.
Unlike testimonials, romantic appearances are somewhat better protected from drowning in banality. What would have passed for kitsch in the nineties is now seen as a welcome comfort to the soul. In contrast to previous years, we are seeing more and more campaigns that do not caricature idyllic worlds and romantic myths, but use them at face value as visual pathfinders.
"After the future euphoria of the new economy hype, we are seeing a certain innovation overload, which is now being compensated for by a longing for normality and simplicity, for warmth and security," explains Karin Frick, Head of Research at the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute (GDI). Even among early adopters, an oversaturation and slowdown cannot be overlooked. The general disillusionment has been exacerbated by the wave of terrorism and the negative economic development.
In this mood of uncertainty, people are no longer looking for the extraordinary, but rather the reassuring and familiar, emphasizes Frick. In advertising, too, there is currently an unraveling of complexities. "People no longer want to decipher puzzles. They want simple messages. If people are confused and looking for comfort and security, you have to offer them more familiar things again," recommends Frick.
In view of this change in sentiment, the GDI sent marketers two recommendations from the USA back in March in order to overcome the lack of direction in marketing: In times of crisis, people don't want irony, sarcasm or exaggeration, but straightforward, concrete information and messaging.
Adbusters, the media and advertising-critical magazine from Canada, advises: "When the news of the day is shocking, advertising can serve as comfort food that warms the heart and promises hope. The US branch of the international network Euro RSCG is more specific: "Send messages of security and recollection via nostalgic images, music or words. Reassure your customers that better times are coming."
"The images and myths that are now being increasingly revived correspond to the longing for the familiar - but not to reality," says Frick and sees this as the reason why they will only work as a medium-term consolation. As soon as a saturation point is reached, this cycle will also tip again.
Increase in motifs from own childhood
Hamburg-based trend researcher Peter Wippermann is convinced that "all these movements are actually taking much longer than people realize in the media". He attributes this to consumers' unwillingness to really absorb changes emotionally. It takes a certain amount of time to get this new, simulated, non-ironic, ideal world into people's heads and hearts.
"Today's images are very different from those of the 1990s," says Wippermann. The images of the purism and eco-wave of the time were mostly spiritually exaggerated, whereas today we are going back to the "idealized romanticism of Hollywood".
The idea of moving in a "perfect past" and staging the past even better than in memory already existed for the younger generations in the seventies and eighties. What is new is that this nostalgic romanticism is now also being used for the older, conservative generation. There is an increase in motifs that tie in with childhood memories and an ideal world.
This calming strategy of advertising will only be replaced by more experimentation and humour when the uncertainty, dynamism and chaotic trends in the economy and society subside, summarizes Wippermann.
The trend office in Hamburg has identified indications of the longing for poetry and romance in various details of youth culture. For example, the longer hair of male models, who also look more lyrical than in the heyday of techno culture. Back then, balding young men were seen as the ideal image of a generation storming into the future.
One sector that underwent this change particularly early on is the watch industry, says Wippermann. "It's always interesting to observe because it reacts quickly and sensitively. In advertisements for the top brands, you now mainly see reinterpreted old themes such as 'Romeo and Juliet' or father and child, which brings back the idea of the romantic love affair or the dynasty," says the trend researcher.
In Italy, the birthplace of the purism and naturalism wave in design, the return to familiar motifs and moods of childhood has also penetrated advertising, says Emilio Genovesi, Director Education Area at Domus Academy, a renowned Milanese institute for trend research. However, Genovesi specifies: "The return to harmlessness and naturalness in advertising is due to the considerable reduction in budgets alone. On the one hand, this has led to a healthy selection of ideas and implementations in our TV-heavy country. On the other hand, there is a trend towards more solid values, but it is not as pronounced, because advertising here does not declare Catholic morality, but it is still characterized by it."
This canon of images is only opposed by fashion advertising, where - even during the crisis - the transgression of conventions and excess continue to be exploited to the full. Here, too, the natural backdrop is increasingly being brought to the fore, but only to break its innocence and romanticism with cynical irony. A good example of this can be found on page 8 of this issue.
low-tech games are in the Usa in

Dee Dee Gordon's US agency, LookLook, has noticed that although computer games are becoming faster and more realistic, more and more kids and teens are putting down their joysticks in favor of traditional, low-tech games: card and board games such as Uno or Monopoly are all the rage. Gordon's domain look look.com cites technology oversaturation, a lack of human components, the high price of games and the limited mobility of games consoles as reasons for this. In addition, the old games have a "retro cool" quality.
Marketing in times of uncertainty

Lars Feldmann from the GDI's TrendLab compiled the following US recipes (Euro RSGC Worldwide, USA, and Adbusters March/April 02) for marketers:
Be real and authentic! Genuineness and authenticity have never been more valuable than right now.
Avoid any form of hype! People feel vulnerable and insecure. They want straightforward, concrete information. Avoid irony, sarcasm or exaggeration when addressing your customers.
Convey a feeling of togetherness! More than ever, consumers want security and a sense of belonging through an emotional connection to a brand.
Remind customers of your charitable commitments! Show them in a subtle way how you are committed to the common good.
Offer little rays of hope! Send messages of security and reflection via nostalgic images, music or words. Reassure your customers that better times will come. Focus on messages of peace.
Simplify the message! During a crisis, people are not willing to look for meaning in complicated advertising messages.
Make "advertainment"! When the news of the day is shocking, advertising can serve as "comfort food" that warms the heart and promises hope.
Make people laugh! Gentle jokes and "life is funny sometimes" humor are the order of the day. Irony is frowned upon.

The Association Against Animal Factories (VgT) is suing Radio Grischa and Radio 32 because they cut four seconds from the 45-second original, while Grischa cut ten seconds. Pauses between speech passages fell victim to the scissors. The VgT was neither asked for approval nor informed afterwards. As the full price was charged, the animal rights activists see fraudulent intent at work. Both stations justified their actions as normal. The VgT believes that local radio stations are trying to fit more spots into the statutory advertising time. Radio sales manager Felix Kirchsperger from Radiotele believes this is unlikely, as hardly any stations are fully booked these days. However, arbitrary cuts are of course not permitted (sm).