Striking Nothing human is actually alien to humans. That our Italian neighbors on TV like lots of skin, long blond hair and perky breasts is something they prove during prime time. As if they had never gotten over the "Tuttifrutti" phase, they tirelessly ride along with slightly
dressed, dancing-graceful bellezzen. Such U-consistency seems to rub off - even behind the thick red velvet curtains of Catholic morality. One click on www.cofanifunebri.com /sexy-calendario.htm is enough, and one is turned on by very teasing girls. Whether they actually want to do it with or in the coffin remains to be seen. In any case, as an aesthetically stimulating invitation to the execution of the "little death" the selection of the graces is unfortunately not enough. Amen. Chandra Kurt [email protected]
Column

Remote advertisingby Carmelo Buffoli
Direct mails are often costly and the response rates are not always satisfactory. Finally, I have found the solution to this problem: remote advertising!
My service is based on the method of spiritual healing. Together with a team of experts I have matured the method and adapted it to the advertising industry.
In just a few hours, we process 300,000 addresses and save our clients all material, printing and postage costs! From now on, sending direct mails is no longer necessary. As certified remote advertisers, we use our mental powers alone to ensure that advertising messages find their way into the subconscious of our clients' customers in the shortest possible time. With this method, amazing results are achieved and a very high response rate is guaranteed.
Depending on the number of messages that a client wants to suggest to his customers, it is possible to choose between medial or multimedia transmission. By laying hands on the address, we establish a spiritual contact with the client and gain access to his subconscious. This meditative state requires the highest concentration and the greatest medial know-how. That is why our employees are selected very carefully and only professionals are employed. Because: The success of our clients is our highest goal!
Especially in economically rather difficult times we can keep our prices low with this unique method: For only 500 francs we take over the medial transmission of a message to 20000 addresses (for a complex message for 750 francs). In addition, the message to the customers can still be changed during the laying on of hands.
In the shortest time possible largest possible return (with money-back guarantee if the return remains under 20%!)!
[email protected]
Carmelo Buffoli is the owner of Buffoli und Partner, Zurich.
A culinary arcadia in the most beautiful salon in Zurich

Whoever first notices this in this oasis of peace and soigné enjoyment can only be a "stura rökare" (Swedish for heavy smoker): Ashtrays are missing on the tables of the restaurant "Belvoirpark". And although the expansion of smoke-free zones can be perceived as a nuisance to individual life development, here such a thoroughly affectionate restriction is the program: "We are health-conscious," says service instructor Katarina with her strong Grisons accent.
This approach is continued in the preparation of the food: salt is mostly used sparingly - this is also part of the concept and is gladly taken note of, because one thing is more than true here: The food is of excellent quality, and at the end of a midday meal, inexpensive to boot.
For the reception and immediately after ordering, we had a small chicken mousse as an amuse-bouche. Continuation: An autumnal salad with plum wedges, half figs and quail egg was most delightful, especially since the desired Roquefort sauce did not dominate at all.
Main course: a splendor of a saddle of veal, which was accompanied by carrots, kohlrabi and pasta on the plate. The sauce, served separately, also turned out very lush with the chanterelles in cream - nice that the story with the health-conscious food is not told stubbornly and in every detail.
So you dine in one of the most beautiful salons that you are allowed to enter publicly in Zurich, and therefore find enough space between the tables to discuss this and that undisturbed. Per bacco! You almost have to look for so much noble business ambience with a magnifying glass, because this room presents itself stylistically flawless: no unnecessary helper distracts the attention away from the counterpart.
The wine list is impressive, with a nice selection of well-known crus. The treasure hunt is in vain - but that's not a negative, because the ambience and the excellent light cuisine are complemented by the exquisitely polite and discreet service. And the fact that you can order a second helping if your hunger seems insatiable. Book now! Closed on Mondays. Carlo Bernasconi [email protected]
Hotel Management School Belvoirpark Seestr. 141
8002 Zurich
Tel. 01 286 88 11
Fax 01 286 88 10
Parking spaces around the house
Evaluation

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

Armin Reins submitted ads to fellow advertisers for improvementBy Andreas Panzeri The recipe is simple: CD Armin Reins collected ads and asked colleagues for suggestions for improvement. What they didn't know was that two other advertisers were working on the same job. "Mörderfackel" is the name of the book in which 30 copywriters present arguments on how to make better advertising.
Reins, a freelance CD and member of the board of Texterschmiede Hamburg, is fed up with mediocrity in advertising. The freelance CD asked 30 colleagues to turn a boring ad into a captivating one. The first task was to reconstruct the briefing for the ad and, based on this, to create new proposals. The result was 30 examples in which you learn step by step "how to get away from average solutions".
At the same time, a new teaching tool has been created for the Hamburg copywriting school founded in 1998. There, in 110 days, you learn from the best advertisers in the German agency scene how good advertising is made. Every year, around 2000 people apply for a place on the course. 30 of them are accepted. Of the 90 or so lecturers, 42 are ADC members.
In his book, Reins also asked consultants how to sell such creative advertising to clients. Mörderfackel" is therefore also a textbook for clients who have to approve and evaluate texts. In short: a book "for anyone who needs arguments as to why they should take the risk of achieving real success with something new, different, something that has never been done before," writes Reins.
Interviews with copywriters provide information on the "state of the art"
For example, Matthias Schmidt, CD Text at Scholz & Friends, Berlin, cleans up an ad for frozen chicken fillets from Iglo. Schmidt goes back to the basic idea and develops a main message from it: if frozen food is to be sold as a trendy lifestyle product for young singles, the ad must also be designed graphically differently from a cheap product advertisement for well-behaved mothers.
Marcel Loko from the Zum goldenen Hirschen agency argued in the same advertisement that the reader only gets three seconds for such a chicken ad. "Make something of it!", he said to himself and dispensed with all of the insert texts. He just wrote "This is how people eat today" and depicted a group of young people lying on a bed, probably feeling their hunger in the near future.
Erik Heitmann, Executive CD at DDB Berlin, ultimately only shows the Iglo fork, distorted with the blind symbol. The text for the "cooking blind" says: "There is help: 0800-IGLO".
In addition to their suggestions for improvement and the illustration of the newly designed ad, the copywriters' work is also supplemented with detailed interviews. Reins put the copywriters on the spot and wanted to know from them, among other things: "What advice would you give to a copywriter who wants to improve?" or "Do you have a technique for approaching a problem?"
The answers from the copywriters were correspondingly varied and often surprising, as they revealed a lot of personal information about themselves and their relationship to the profession during these interviews. Some of the featured copywriters also show and discuss their favorite ads or other works that have significantly influenced them in finding their style.
As editor, Reins himself gave extensive consideration to built-in read-away barriers, for example: How do you get the reader of an advertisement to read a text to the end? One insight: "If a copywriter doesn't enjoy writing for a product, no one will enjoy reading it later." Another rule in the book is: "Think about what others are doing in a certain category and do the exact opposite." On the "Be a killer torch" tip, Reins suggests, "Never write an ad that a competitor could make." For headlines, he looks for keywords that "automatically compel the reader to read". And the second-best headline should never be thrown away because it is still "good for copy". In general, the text professional advises that you should put a "So what?" after every headline. "Only really strong headlines stand up to this test. And: a headline that needs a subheadline still needs a little work."
Reins is convinced that 90 percent of all bad ads have one thing in common: They are written from the perspective of the manufacturer. That's why he calls for a change of perspective. The copywriting guru can come up with ideas along the lines of: "How do I describe a pan from the perspective of a fish stick?"
Here is a tip from Burkhart von Scheven, Managing Director of Jung von Matt on the Spree, on the most important role models for advertisers: "Mickey Mouse is just as good a school as Günter Grass," he says. Another important insight comes from Andreas Grabarz from Grabarz & Partner: "Wordplay cannot replace an idea." And another of the 30 copywriters says: "Once you've got your copy to the point where you're really happy, cut it by a third." Finally, the ultimate demand is that someone who writes about "letting your soul dangle" for the thousandth time in a travel brochure should no longer call themselves a copywriter in future. "Copywriting is a game. Like football. You learn it on the street," says Veronika Classen from D'Arcy in Hamburg in a longer text about the art of copywriting.
By the way: in southern Germany, a girl who turns men's heads by the dozen is called a murderer's torch. The killer torch knows from birth how to advertise properly: If you don't stand out, you'll be overlooked.
Armin Reins, Die Mörderfackel, Verlag Hermann Schmidt Mainz, ISBN 3-87439-607-X

"Winterthur" insurance company E-Insurance has commissioned the online marketing agency Planetactive to implement advertising measures for the health insurance Wincare and the household insurance Box.Etat-News Planetactive online for "Winterthur" The aim of the campaign is to generate insurance contracts online.
Converium to Weber Harbeke The reinsurance company Converium has commissioned the Zurich advertising agency Weber Harbeke to design its 2002 annual report. According to Esther Gerster, responsible for Corporate Communications at Converium, Weber Harbeke's analytical strength and targeted use of creativity were decisive factors in the decision. Converium was floated on the stock exchange by Zurich Financial Services in December.

Advertising should be creative, but it must always be subordinate to the marketing objectives." With this sentence, Andres Gruner, co-owner of Gruner & Brenneisen (G&B), revealed the success strategy of his own agency to the BaZ. Andres Gruner and Peter Brenneisen and their team in Basel have been holding their own against the competition on the Limmat for 20 years. Reason enough for Brenneisen to publicize the event in the lion's den. As a full-service agency, the company offers all communication measures. With the founding of G&B Corporate Identity AG in 1997, a competence center for CI projects was also created.
Although the client portfolio of both G&B units includes prestigious names such as Roche, Swatch Group and Zurich Re, the company is hardly known outside the humanist city. Copywriter/concept developer Philipp Gafner attributes this to the fact that G&B does little classic advertising with a broad impact. Despite the clouds in the advertising sky, this "niche strategy" brought G&B 4 million francs in fee income last year and is keeping income stable for the current year. Although Zurich is still "the promised land" for agencies, the founders have remained true to Basel and their own principles since 1982. "Advertising doesn't have to be slick," says Gafner. The team therefore advises its clients "to go their own way instead of copying popular hits". When you're 20, you like to swim against the tide (sk).

Edipresse expects miracles above all from advertising sales and is holding back on cost-cutting measuresby Anita Vaucher Edipresse's recently published half-year figures show that investing in foreign markets pays off in times of crisis. Nevertheless, Switzerland remains the most important area of activity for the big player in the media market in French-speaking Switzerland. The Lausanne-based company does not believe in linear cutbacks: savings are made on a project-by-project basis, if at all.
The economic crisis has little to do with the fact that the French-speaking Swiss publisher Edipresse has plans to move closer together in the future. The group, which is spread across three buildings, has a seemingly global print operation with magazines in Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Poland, Ukraine, Greece and Romania. And it is bursting at the seams, even though the Edipresse office tower on Avenue de la Gare was completely renovated not so long ago.
The editorial offices of the daily newspapers and magazines in western Switzerland are particularly affected by the lack of space. For this reason, the interior of the generously designed administration building, which also houses the management, is to be completely redistributed.
The first visit is to the Group's carpet floor. Tibère Adler, Deputy General Manager, is happy to do without a suit and tie and prefers to receive his visitors in an uncomplicated shirt and sweater. He is not bothered by the fact that his office is not excluded from spatial planning changes - even though he will be CEO from January 2003.
This attitude is typical of the new generation at the helm of Switzerland's third-largest publishing house. Adler has already held various offices at Edipresse: he was initially Edipresse's legal advisor, became HR Director, headed up the Group's administration and also got a taste of the online world as Managing Director of Edipresse Online.
Adler cultivates an open style, which is greatly appreciated in the company. Employees let it be known that this was not always the case. Just over a year ago, le Patron, Pierre Lamunière, had to put up with public scolding from journalists. He was accused of allowing himself to be influenced too much by the seventy-year-old Marcel Pasche, the former Directeur des publications and the eminence grise of Edipresse.
Foreign commitments flush money into the Edipresse coffers
However, Pierre Lamunière had a keen sense of delegating the operational business at the right time and transferring the necessary level of responsibility to competent employees. Lesson learned: before he boarded the bridge of the French-speaking Swiss media steamer, he had gained an insight into the dossiers of other companies at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
This transparent management style is particularly appreciated by employees at the moment, as cost-cutting measures are being announced everywhere to counter the crisis. "We are very realistic about the current situation within the publishing house, and nothing is being glossed over, but nothing is being dramatized either," says Adler. Unlike Tamedia or Ringier, however, Edipresse does not have a global savings plan for the company, Adler continues.
Edipresse is making project-related savings. The main areas affected are administrative processes, while print products are to be spared as far as possible. Although the editorial teams are also being asked to make savings and their budgets for the coming year will not be increased, there will be no redundancies for the time being. "However, if the advertising volume continues to fall, we will have to go back over the books," explains Adler.
In terms of advertising revenue, Edipresse is currently at the same level as in 1998 - in contrast to costs, which have risen over the same period. However, Edipresse recognized early on that the Swiss market only offers limited potential and that it is easier to continue growing abroad. The figures show that this strategy is paying off in the current crisis.
Thanks to the strong growth of Edipresse in Poland (14.7% more sales than in the first half of 2001), Greece and the Ukraine, the overall result for the first half of 2002 was also quite respectable: Although sales fell by 4% to 350.698 million francs, the bottom line was a net result of 19.650 million francs - only a mini-slump of 2.4% compared to the first half of 2001.
In contrast to Tamedia, which has so far concentrated on Switzerland and wasted millions with its national TV experiment, Edipresse has decided in favor of the foreign strategy option, explains Tibère Adler. At the moment, however, the company is rather reluctant to make new investments in foreign markets.
However, the company is also flirting with acquisitions in German-speaking Switzerland if the opportunity arises. "But Ringier is not up for discussion," jokes Adler. Which is not surprising, as Edipresse currently has another acquisition to digest: The Competition Commission will decide these days whether the purchase of the Corbaz Group in Montreux in spring is approved by the authorities.
What should shine in the print world must begin at home
Different floor, different people to talk to, this time in the editorial offices of Edipresse. What stands out on the tour of the offices in the tower is the politeness of the staff and the pleasant tone. "That's why I like it here so much," says Peter Rothenbühler, editor-in-chief of Le Matin. He also has every other reason to be in a good mood. According to the latest Mach Basic study, the number of readers of Le Matin has risen by 33,000 and that of Matin Dimanche by 31,000.
Rothenbühler really gets going when he talks about "his" newspapers: "There's a spirit of optimism in the editorial team because Le Matin has been very well received with its new formula and small format. With its 300,000 readers, the newspaper has become the basic medium in French-speaking Switzerland." Rothenbühler knows that people want to find out about the current situation quickly in the morning, which is why 20 Minuten, which offers well-packaged short news, is so successful. He is therefore convinced that in ten years' time there will be small, handy morning newspapers such as Le Matin for an initial overview and the more comprehensive newspaper for the evening.
Alain Jeannet, editor-in-chief of Bilan, is similarly optimistic. His business magazine is in the comfortable position of being published in French-speaking Switzerland with virtually no competition. Readership has risen from 137,000 to 143,000. In contrast to the business and finance paper L'Agéfi and the daily newspapers with a strong business section, Bilan has hardly been affected by the decline in financial and job advertisements. Nevertheless, Jeannet and his team want to make even greater efforts in future to surprise readers with quality journalism - after all, a new player, Market Magazine, is entering the market in December.
For Théo Bouchat, responsible for various publications at Edipresse, the current crisis will ultimately hardly change reading habits. "However, readers are becoming more demanding," he notes. As with other consumer goods, newspaper buyers want real value for money. When Edipresse considers the future financing policy for print products, it also has to think about how it wants to communicate the price of the product. "It must be explained what services are behind it so that the erroneous prevailing opinion that information is generally free can be corrected," he emphasizes. He is also considering pointing out the added value of the product in the annual subscription invoices so that consumers don't even have to think about whether they should renew their newspaper subscription or go on vacation.
Yet another floor, other offices, other tasks: The mood in the commercial department is depressed. The department is expecting miracles and, above all, the budget figures for next year. Pierre Buntschu, the director responsible, would need "a crystal ball to make a reasonable market assessment", he says sadly. He sees the much-vaunted silver lining on the horizon only appearing in the distant future, "around the end of 2003".
The same sentiments can be heard at Publicitas Léman, which manages the combination for 24 Heures, Tribune de Genève and Le Matin Semaine. Urs Donatsch, Regional Director of Publicitas, was still quite optimistic before the summer vacations, but the brief recovery phase was "unfortunately only a small bump at the bottom of the trough", he complains.
Nevertheless, the company does not want to make any major concessions to advertisers in order to increase the volume of advertisements. "This is not in line with the company's policy," says Donatsch. He is convinced that if Le Matin definitely becomes the basic medium in French-speaking Switzerland, the local combined landscape will have to be reconsidered in order to follow a certain logic in the market. At the moment, however, the Top3 offer is still working well.
In the job ad market, Buntschu and Donatsch see a shift from print to online. However, these two platforms do not have to compete with each other. Donatsch dreams of a full-page job advertisement that refers to the online platform for details. Ultimately, Buntschu doesn't just want to paint a black picture. And reveals en passant that one of the most important advertising clients has just announced an increase in its print advertising budget for the coming year.

Cash Enterprise is targeting a new, lucrative reader segment as an additional Cash bundleAfter accounting fraudsters on a grand scale, rip-off artists from the Gold Coast and CEOs who have fallen from grace in the matted carpet, Cash publishing director Thomas Passen has discovered a new love - that of small and medium-sized enterprises, or SMEs. He notes that the problems and needs of small and medium-sized enterprises have so far been neglected in the media and is taking action: Cash Enterprise is to fill this apparently badly neglected gap on a monthly basis. "Business newspapers mainly focus on large companies. The few titles that already focus on SMEs are either too PR-heavy or too industry-specific," explains Passen. An approach that focuses on SMEs as a whole and as an industry has been lacking until now.
The 16-page report focuses on the following topics: Presenting and discussing financing models, innovations, business models and start-up companies. Passen is particularly proud of the columnists, Federal Councillor Pascal Couchepin and Heliane Canepa. "They will provide us with excellent support in drawing attention to the new Confederation."
Ex-Cash man Klaus Niedermann was brought back to produce the new bundle. The SME specialist was already involved in the early years of Cash, but then switched to Bilanz. Now he is back, albeit as a freelancer, as he produces Cash Enterprise on a contract basis.
However, the SME association is not enough. According to Passen, SMEs should generally be given more weight in Cash in future. "We will also increasingly cover SME topics in every issue on the normal pages." In addition, clarifications are underway as to whether a weekly SME feature - also with partners - is feasible. Talks are being held with SME associations, says Passen.
Cash Enterprise is not primarily targeting the advertising market. The main aim is to reach new readers. However, provisions have already been made for advertisements. Passen has brought in three partners for Cash Enterprise: Swisscom Enterprise Solutions, Cisco Systems and SAP. "At a price that roughly corresponds to the advertising space provided," he says. In return, the three companies receive a fixed presence on the front page plus a full-page ad space inside the magazine.
However, Passen is not very optimistic about additional ad bookings. "SMEs simply don't have the budget for large-scale advertisements. That's why this is certainly not a promising advertising market."
According to Passen, they don't want to take anything away from anyone. HandelsZeitung, with its special SME supplements, pursues a different strategy. While the latter addresses sectors and sub-sectors of the SME world, Cash Enterprise will generally choose topics that affect the entire industry, the publishing director explains.
HandelsZeitung publisher Ralph Büchi is therefore relaxed about the new competition. "SMEs are the target group of all Swiss business newspapers. Because with the flattening of organizational structures, the same topics are often of interest to large companies." However, Büchi does see one advantage in such special pages and supplements: "In terms of advertising, they are often more stable than the main titles."
Daniel Schifferle

Advertising clients prefer mass pitches to serious briefing processesBy Annelies Friedli There is no good advertising without a professional briefing: it is an essential prerequisite for a creative campaign. But anyone who believes that advertising clients pay special attention to briefings is mistaken. On the contrary, client briefings are getting worse and worse. This is also proven by a survey conducted by WerbeWoche.
"Briefings have become more uncertain, anxious and restrictive in recent years," says Jean Etienne Aebi, Chief Creative Officer at Publicis. And Hansjörg Zürcher, Creative Coach at Advico Young & Rubicam, adds: "Although many clients fulfill the important principles - just as they are taught in marketing and advertising schools today - their briefings often lack that certain something, the necessary creativity and foresight."
The poor state of the briefing culture is also demonstrated by the reaction of advertisers to the question of which briefings impress them. Many were unable to name a single example. And the few that were mentioned were from years ago.
Like that of Hansjörg Zürcher: he still raves about the briefing from the Central Association of Swiss Milk Producers (ZVSM), from which the advertising campaign with the Lovely cow emerged in 1992. "Cornelia Harder, then head of advertising at the ZVSM, knew exactly what was needed for good advertising and had the necessary courage and foresight," he recalls. Harder, now Managing Director at Publicis, still remembers the initial situation: "I put together a detailed briefing with all the market analyses and background information, but left enough freedom to develop a new advertising idea."
The new direction taken by companies as a result of the recession is partly to blame for the current briefing plight. Advertisers agree on this at any rate. "Many companies are currently fixated on short-term sales," says Dominique von Matt, co-owner of Jung von Matt/Limmat. Bold, new, unusual briefings are rare. Instead, more and more companies are being invited to briefings in which vague claims are made with meaningless buzzwords.
This is also confirmed by Markus Ruf, Creative Director and co-owner of Ruf Lanz. "The word 'salesy' or 'sales-oriented' appears remarkably often - usually with an exclamation mark."
The briefings of mass pitches are a thorn in the side of advertisers. With good reason, as Pascal Schaub, Head of Strategic Planning at Publicis, knows: "Mass pitches make the most important part of the briefing impossible - the serious de-briefing and thus the development of the best advertising idea."
The most recent and most prominent example of this is the case of Zurich Zoo. Eight agencies competed for the budget. Markus Ruf recalls: "In this pitch, in which we were not involved, one agency presented a campaign in which, among other things, a woman is casually lifting a car into the air, with the headline above it: The ant can do it." The advertising manager told a newspaper that although this idea was original, it did not conform to the briefing. If a briefing rules out an idea like this, Ruf argues, and instead favors an advertising campaign with irrelevant animal pictures, that says it all.
Conclusion: Those who can afford it do without such pitches. Everyone else tries to make the impossible possible. With the result - as Aebi knows - "that every briefing gets the solution it deserves."
A good briefing is the be-all and end-all of every campaign
No mass pitches, but careful briefings are at the top of SBB's agenda. Fritz Zimmermann, consultant and head of SBB's media department, says: "We attach great importance to serious briefings. Because they are the be-all and end-all of every campaign." The top priority in the SBB briefing is "the content and the dialog between the customer and the advertising agency".
Adolf Wirz already knew what was important
Adolf Wirz and Ralph E. Hartleben already preached the importance of time and dialog. Wirz states in his book "Marginalien zur Werbung": "At briefings, you communicate with each other, exchange insights and views. And have patience." Ralph E. Hartleben advises in "Werbekonzeption und Briefing": "The basic briefing must be supplemented by a detailed or additional briefing." Hartleben even indirectly warns against mass pitches in his book and appeals to the client: "Give the recipient of the briefing the feeling that it depends on them."
To enable advertisers to implement advertising ideas far away from any briefing constraints for once, the Portuguese creative director of the agency CP Proximity, Rubens Portella, and the editor of the advertising magazine Prisma, James Lanham, have now come up with something special: a festival at which prizes will only be awarded to submitted work that has never been published and whose clients must be purely fictitious. It's called Ghostfestival and will take place in Lisbon on October 31.
Trust and the right amount of freedom are important. Schaub also emphasizes this: "A good advertising idea can only be created if the client has trust in us and if the culture of dialogue allows it." Ruf immediately provides a fitting example: "I once received a briefing that called for a realization with a pet, one with a baby and one with a happy family - preferably frolicking in a meadow." If a company has such fixed ideas, it doesn't need an advertising agency, but an image bank book. A good briefing explains above all what you want to say to whom. And how much money is available for this. "But it doesn't tell you how to package the message so that it gets across."
Even if babies or happy families are a "must" in many briefings and briefings often hinder rather than inspire creatives, the advertising elite agree: a bad briefing cannot be an excuse for a failed campaign. "It's our job to ask the right questions and find out which aspect is the most important. We alone have to stand up for the advertising idea," says von Matt.
To achieve the best solution, every agency has one or more de-briefing forms. These include questions about the company's key data or the client's ideology. The tonality, media philosophy and advertising idea are also evaluated. "This form is one of our most important tools," says von Matt. Accordingly, the de-briefings are guarded like the apple of one's eye. Schaub answered the request to print such a form in WerbeWoche succinctly: "No agency gives away such a working tool."
For clients: The dos and don'ts

- Define the objectives of the briefing.
- Subject the briefing to an internal check before awarding it to an advertising agency.
- Use forms, checklists and communication matrices. This will shorten the procedure.
- Avoid "briefing conferences" - i.e. mass pitches. You cannot do justice to different agencies and their ideas at the same time.
- Try to familiarize the advertising agency with your company as well as the product and market. Inspire the advertisers not only for your goals and means, but also for the identity of your company.
- Do not use phrases such as "We make the best sweet cider" or "Our products are simply top". Instead, provide information about your company's special services or products.
- Remember: The briefing is not a wish list. Words like "sales-promoting" say nothing.
- Pay attention to the essentials: Deadlines, budget size, target group.
- Discuss the briefing in a "briefing meeting" with the agency representatives. Also conduct one-on-one meetings.
- Give agency staff the opportunity to discuss internal working papers with you. In this way, jointly agreed guidelines are created without misunderstandings.
- Make it clear in your briefing which services you expect from the agency and in what form. Schedule the individual service levels in agreement with the agency.
- Stand by the briefing. Don't suddenly change your attitude to the briefing before the presentation (af).
for agencies:

the dos and don'ts
- Find out more about the company. Write down what you think is special about this company.
- Summarize the most important points. Formulate common goals. Narrow down the target group. Describe the current situation. Think about the right media strategy.
- Use visual aids.
- Use logos, company and product brochures and other reference materials.
- Maintain a dialog with the client. Allow sufficient time for an exchange of ideas.
- Pay attention to the nuances of the client. Take them seriously.
- Put yourself in his and his (potential) customer's shoes.
- Involve the client in the maturing process. Give them the feeling that they are "co-decisive". (af)

The Federation of Migros Cooperatives (FMC) has reorganized its relationships with media agencies. Accordingly, Optimedia will replace Carat Switzerland on the agency list from the beginning of the year, with Mediaedge|CIA remaining on it. Carat had previously managed the majority of Migros' budgets. In the new constellation, both agencies will receive roughly equal budgets. The reallocation was made without a pitch.
Marengo beats the drum for BDO Visura PR agency Marengo has won a mandate from auditing firm BDO Visura. The Zurich-based agency is responsible for communicating a study that examines the board of directors situation in medium-sized Swiss companies. It will be presented in mid-October.
Sony chooses OMD as its European agency The electronics group Sony has awarded its entire media buying account in Europe to OMD. The Play Station games console and the cell phone joint venture with Ericsson are excluded, reported Brand Republic. In Switzerland, Sony was already being looked after by OMD.

Florenz Schaffner, Head of Electronic Media at AZ-Medien Group, on the new round of savingsBy Daniel Schifferle Another slimming down at Tele Tell: the three-member management team is being replaced. However, the future of the local broadcaster is not in danger, says Florenz Schaffner, Head of Electronic Media at the AZ Media Group. The Board of Directors has just confirmed that Tele Tell and Tele M1 will go ahead - unless losses continue to increase massively.
They have put the knives to Tele Tell - that doesn't sound like a strategy correction, but rather like abandoning the exercise.
Florenz Schaffner: By no means does this mean that the exercise has been abandoned. We have taken measures that the current management could not stand by. We have been forced to do so because income is not flowing as we had hoped when budgeting. That's why we had to introduce massive cost-cutting measures, first at Tele M1 and now at Tele Tell. People were not made redundant. Two have resigned on a staggered basis, and the editorial manager has received an offer to move to Tele M1, which she is still considering.
Tele-Tell managing director Hansruedi Hottiger has been with Tele M1 since the start. What did he do wrong?
Schaffner: Hottiger was of the opinion that the measures now being taken at Tele Tell were the wrong ones. Therefore, he could not support them. That's why he left us.
There is still a long lean period before the announced fee splitting comes into effect, which will not happen until 2005 at the earliest. How great is the danger that Tele Tell will have to close before it is rescued?
Schaffner: Tele Tell is not on the brink of closure. Better to save than to close, we told ourselves. At its last meeting, the Board of Directors of the AZ Medien Group confirmed to me once again that Tele M1 and Tele Tell would be kept going. At least as long as the losses remain within the range of recent years and do not continue to rise massively. With the current step, we are well on the way to reducing our losses. I am therefore very optimistic.
The current cost-cutting exercise is not the first within a year. Can you count on one hand all the rounds of savings that Tele M1 and Tele Tell have recently undergone?
Schaffner: The current round of cuts is the third since I took up my post in September 2001 and I hope it will be the last for the time being. With these rounds of savings, Tele M1 and Tele Tell have cut around 20 percent of their jobs.
In view of these successive slimming cures, the question arises as to whether the line between slim and anorexic has not already been crossed at Tele M1 and Tele Tell.
Schaffner: We still have a daily program that we can stand by. We have even improved in the area of "information". But I think we have now reached the absolute minimum if we still want to be taken seriously as a regional broadcaster. Of course, it always depends on what demands you place on a program. Intro-TV in Solothurn, for example, makes a TV program with only three to four permanent employees. We still employ over 50 people.
Regardless of the number of employees: Are viewers still on board with this round of cost-cutting?
Schaffner: One indicator that shows us that we have not yet fallen below the limit is our audience numbers, which are still rising. The bigger problem with such tight budgets, however, is the lack of reserves. If the slightest extraordinary thing happens, we are immediately running on empty. That's not professional in the long run.
How dramatic is the gap between costs and income at Tele Tell?
Schaffner: Both Tele Tell and Tele M1 have been making losses for years, that's nothing new. While we are able to refinance around 80% of our expenses at Tele M1 through advertising and sponsorship, this ratio will only be around 65% at Tele Tell in the current year.
Since the beginning of the collaboration between Tele M1 and Tele Tell, the accusation of an Aargauization of Central Switzerland has not been silenced. This constant criticism is likely to become even louder. Aren't you worried about this image?
Schaffner: I don't think we really have this image with the general public. The audience figures say the opposite.
But the balancing act between the two very different cultural regions of the Central Plateau and Central Switzerland is now even greater.
Schaffner: We've done this balancing act before. Now we may have to push it a little further. The program of both stations will probably become a little more tabloid in the future because we are increasingly looking for topics that apply to both regions.
New squad for Tele Tell

Managing Director Hansruedi Hottiger, Editorial Manager Monika Senn and Marketing Manager Esther Infanger are leaving Central Switzerland Local Television in corpore. In future, the sales management and marketing of the two stations will be merged. There will now only be one Head of Marketing & Communications for Tele M1 and Tele Tell. This task will be taken over by Kurt Schudel, who is currently still working as Head of Sales at Business Guide to Switzerland (GTS-Verlag), by the beginning of 2003 at the latest. Michele Macaluso, previously Head of Sales at Tele M1, has been promoted as the new Head of Sales for both channels. Ernst Meier, currently head of azonline.ch, will take over the management of the Tele Tell editorial team from mid-November. The journalistic management of Tele M1 and Tele Tell will remain with program director Heinz Lang.
Costs are to be reduced thanks to better utilization of synergies between the two stations. However, the aim of the restructuring is also to create the conditions for a further increase in quality at both Tele Tell and Tele M1. (dse)

New premises and an original trailer attract short film fans to WinterthurFriends of ambitious short films will be making a pilgrimage to their new Mecca from November 14 to 17: Winterthur is hosting the International Short Film Festival for the sixth time. And because there are more and more fans of this cinematic discipline, the festival has moved to a new and larger center. In addition to the international competition and various special shows, the "South Korea" program is a major highlight this year. There will also be a retrospective of Austrian experimental filmmaker Peter Tscherkassky, short comedies by Jacques Tati and a children's program. David Landolf from the Lichtspiel Bern will also be a guest in Winterthur. He will be showing old film gems from the Walter A. Ritschard collection, the largest private cinema collection in Europe. After midnight, German music videos flicker across the screen in the Casinotheater. The program speaks for itself: the short film festival in Winterthur aims to become a cinematic event.
Young filmmaker realizes cinema spot for the Film Days
Winterthur is promoting these cinematic delicacies with a festival trailer that will be shown in over 60 Swiss cinemas over the next few weeks. Two TV spot versions will also flicker across the screen on SF 1 and SF 2 from the end of October. The concept is to give a young filmmaker "carte blanche". After Chris Niemeyer last year, this year's trailer and TV spots have been realized by Winterthur filmmaker Tobi Fueter. The budget just covers the production costs thanks to a lot of goodwill and free work from everyone involved.
In Fueter's spot, a certain Pablo G. Bananas is up to mischief as a shortener. Wherever he can, he cuts something off. In keeping with the idea, all the scenes in the trailer are strikingly short and edited with immediately effective images. The trailer and the festival program can be downloaded from the homepage www.kurzfilmtage.ch.
With the relocation of the festival center to the Casinotheater, the Short Film Festival now has a new meeting place for festival visitors and filmmakers. The sofa lounge offers a stimulating atmosphere for gossip and drinks. During the day, the space will be enlivened by video installations by Zurich-based artist group Filter Alice. In the evening, the same artists provide sound and live visuals. Kyros Kikos from Hamburg offer trash-appasionados
a lively program. Festival visitors can also view all films at video stations. Andreas Panzeri

Wirz illustrates the effect of Snickers in winter sports resortsThey are young, dynamic and have pockets full of money (from their parents). Snowboarders are currently one of the winter sports holidaymakers preferred by advertisers. The energy bar Snickers has now also set its sights on them. With the help of Wirz, Zurich, the bar manufacturer is offering Snickers and skiers special mental and physical benefits - provided they bite into the right product first. Although it retains Snickers' previous positioning as an energy bar, the term, borrowed from computer games, brings the product closer to the core target group of 14 to 25-year-olds. At the same time, the bar moves off the pitch and onto the slopes, separating itself from football. This is where it was previously located due to various sponsorship commitments (European Championship 2000, National League A games on Sat 1).
We were not visible enough, says Marc Schmidlin. In addition, the target group was not quite right, says the Market Development Manager at Masterfoods: "In this environment, we reached a much more passive audience. That wasn't in line with the positioning." So Schmidlin changed the type of sport and advertised the performance-enhancing bar with posters in the Klosters/Davos ski region in the winter of 2001/02.
Feedback and sales figures from the Grisons region completely convinced the Zug-based manufacturer. It repeated the billboard campaign with a new look and expanded its activities to the Valais ski resort of Saas Fee.
Replacing the verbal joke with the illustrated one
While the previous year's campaign was a headline campaign - we remember the witty diminutives such as the line "And now for the black pistol" - this year, a campaign consisting of 20 illustrated motifs conveys the USP. "On the slopes, the viewer passes our advertising several times a day. It makes sense to use images because they leave more room for interpretation than a text solution," says Schmidlin.
As the budget did not allow for a photographic realization of the witty before-and-after situations, the Amsterdam-based Robert Vulkers was commissioned to illustrate the motifs after an evaluation. "His style captures the spirit of the times, because he characterizes people and objects in a simple way, but doesn't miss any crucial details," says Wirz-CD Matthias Freuler. And AD Marietta Albinus adds: "We wanted a type of illustration that has not yet been seen everywhere." Ernst Weber

Pascal Schaub, Head of Strategic Planning at Publicis, on briefing culturePascal Schaub, has a briefing ever put you in a bad mood?Pascal Schaub: On the contrary. Briefings always give me a new boost of motivation.
So only good briefings end up on your desk?
Schaub: (laughs) Unfortunately, that's not the case: All kinds of briefings end up with me.
Even the poorly worded ones?
Schaub: For me, there are no lousy briefings. For me, a briefing is paper on which the customer's concern is recorded.
Many of your colleagues complain that the quality of briefings has declined.
Schaub: I can agree with that: Briefings today have become more interchangeable. Many are written more professionally today, but that doesn't mean they are more inspiring.
Their standards don't seem to be very high....
Schaub: It's about being able to read between the lines and understand the customer's actual concerns. Facts and figures are crucial.
How detailed should a briefing be?
Schaub: The more open it is, the better I can work with it.
How much time do you spend evaluating the briefings?
Schaub: We often spend a week working on the de-briefing. We look for consumer insights, work out basic ideas, create visual platforms and make initial media considerations.
With every customer?
Schaub: For all major projects, product launches and, of course, pitches.
What conditions must a serious briefing meet for you?
Schaub: They must be based on openness, trust and good cooperation.
Do you have an example of a good brief?
Schaub: One of the best briefings I can remember was the one from Swisscom Mobile for Natel Skyline four years ago. I can still remember how annoyed I was because the briefing was imprecise, too short and not meaningful enough. It wasn't until weeks later that I realized that Simon Hofmann, who was responsible for the briefing at Swisscom Mobile at the time, was one of the first to recognize that telecom advertising works in a similar way to cigarette advertising - namely via emotions.
And the example of the worst briefing?
Schaub: The one on the occasion of our agency presentation. I received 120 briefings from all employees, and they were all bad. In order to make good advertising, you need someone to hold up a mirror - in other words, an agency.
How much impact do briefings have on advertising ideas and advertising?
Schaub: Decisive for the advertising idea is the de-briefing and the culture of dialog between the client and the agency.
"The advertising idea is bad because the briefing was bad" - that doesn't count as an excuse?
Schaub: No, absolutely not. I always have to develop the best possible advertising idea together with my colleagues.
Annelies Friedli