What was the last cultural event you attended?Muse & Musse John Leuppi
John Leuppi: "Praia dos Amores", my favorite beach in Brazil. Because it has everything you could wish for.
What are you reading right now?
Leuppi: A children's encyclopedia. Because my boys always want to know everything.
Which CD do you currently prefer to listen to?
Leuppi: Chris Rea, "Best of" ...is always good.
Which movie would you most like to see again?
Leuppi: I can't remember the last time I went to the movies. But I would watch "The War Of The Roses" a third time. Because it's so bitterly funny and tragic.
What TV show did you fall asleep during the other night?
Leuppi:. I think it was the Champions League game between Manchester United and Bayern Munich. I woke up again after the penalty shoot-out.
What is your latest discovery on the Internet?
Leuppi: I can't say that here.
What could you never do without?
Leuppi: To my wife and children.
What do you do in a free minute?
Leuppi: Well, what do you think?
Love is...?
Leuppi: ...beautiful.

Publicis advertised the opening with a matching big bag for bulk purchases, naturally setting the bar pretty high for the opening aperitif. In the end, 500 starting numbers were sent out with the "number" 0.8 on the chest and the corresponding resolution on the back, namely: "We cordially invite you to raise a glass with us." The Tower Sports staff were also "numbered" accordingly, for example with a starting number (or rather a little number) 69 and the resolution: "Many a sports exercise begins with a drink." CD Daniel Krieg, Uwe Schlupp, text Tom Zürcher, AD Flo Wacker, graphics Corinne Stadelmann and advice Caroline Peter. Unfair occultism? The self-regulatory body of the advertising industry, the Swiss Commission for Fair Trading, dealt with 196 complaints in 2001 - the same number as in 2000. Most of the complaints concerned the mail order business, although the trend is downwards. However, there was a significant increase - from 9.1 to 20.7 percent of all cases - in the area of occultism.
Optimedia and Bemberg Gedenk with new domicile. The two Publicis media agencies have moved. Optimedia and its team are moving to premises at Helenastrasse 3, while Bemberg Gedenk Media is setting up camp practically opposite at Korneliusstrasse 9. Both sub-brands remain in place.
Cat out of the bag. As a leading provider of outdoor advertising, APG also wants to be ahead of the game when it comes to consulting, service and the associated tools. The result: maximum transparency for media planners and clients. This is now visualized in a double-page ad with the proverbial pig in a poke and the claim "Not with us". Publicis CD Markus Gut, AD Flavio Meroni, copywriter Markus Tränkle, graphic designer Nadine Geissbühler, consultants Sylvia Sandi and Claude Fischer, art buyer Ines Rimmele and photographer Mathias Zuppiger are all on hand to ensure that the new APG mascot didn't get any hairs pulled during the shoot.
Boasting with self-promotion. Everyone knows that the abbreviation B,H stands for the Zurich communications agency run by Marc Bohnenblust and Joseph Haas. Twelve creative minds have now come up with a postcard campaign with a twinkle in the eye to show that this idea can also be achieved via an eye-catching detour. The appealing self-promotion with the promise: "B,H supports and shapes brands" was created by Joseph Haas (art) and André Benker (text).
Wirz wins gold from ADC New York. At the 81st Annual Awards of the Art Directors Club New York, the TV spot www.fight-violence.ch was awarded gold. The film was created by Wirz Werbung and the production company Blood Sweat & Tears for the Foundation Against Racism and Anti-Semitism. It shows the helpless reactions of passers-by to a (staged) brawl on Zurich's Paradeplatz.
Pretzel for Sweden. The Volvo logo, supplemented with a pretzel, can be found in an advertisement for the new common rail diesel generation from Volvo. Does this have anything to do with safety considerations surrounding the pretzel swallowed by US President George W. Bush? No, says Philip Welti at the responsible agency Dorland in Zurich: "Since 1892, the development of the diesel has been worked on with German thoroughness. "So it's high time for a little Swedish imagination." BMW is not called Bretzel with a joke. Despite Volvo's successes, the Bavarian pastry will not be made from crispbread dough in the future either.
Muted optimistic trends. The advertising climate remains subdued in the first half of the year. However, clients and agencies expect a warm front in the second half of the year. These are the findings of the Advertising Trends 2002 study conducted by the Media Research Group on behalf of HandelsZeitung. 41.1 percent of the clients surveyed expect an increase in advertising volume from July; among agencies, 59.4 percent even expect better times. For the first time, the study asked directly about the assessment of market development, as the forecast based on budgets proved to be unreliable last year. Among other things, the question about the lead medium yielded interesting results: while 32.4 percent of clients consider the daily newspaper to be the most important advertising medium in their strategy, 40.6 percent of agencies believe that TV is preferred by their clients. Posters and the Sunday press (28.1 percent each) are also ahead of daily newspapers for the agencies. The Advertising Trends 2002 study is available for CHF 20 from the Media Research Group on 01 491 80 55.
Editorial Learning from Shell - and Greenpeace
With the battle cry "To hell with Shell", Greenpeace boarded the Brent Spar oil rig in the summer of 1995 after it became known that the oil multinational was planning to sink it in the North Sea. It was only under massive public pressure that the company decided to dismantle the platform instead of sinking it. The tabloid Bild also celebrated Shell's decision to give in with the headline "Victory!
Months later, the Brent Spar victory was nothing but embarrassing. For Greenpeace: independent experts came to the conclusion that there were no toxic barrels stored on the Brent Spar and that the oil platform had never posed an environmental threat. Shell had to experience that it is not facts but opinions about facts that determine our coexistence. The case was therefore instructive not only for Shell, but also for the public. It proves that the most important function of organizations such as Greenpeace and other system-critical NGOs (non-governmental organizations) is to keep our society capable of learning. Shell is now regarded as a role model when it comes to ecology.
The Brent Spar case also shows that the order in which we live is not the result of human reason, but the result of cultural evolution. Ultimately, politics and economics are based on the individual ability of people to constantly adapt to changing processes without ever being able to recognize or plan them in their entirety. Find out what else companies can learn from the rainbow campaigners in the interview with campaigner Peter Metzinger on pages 37 and 38. Samuel Helbling, Editor-in-Chief

Lucky Lack was named the best Swiss newcomer agency in 2001Brun Bruno AmstutzFounding his own agency in 1999 was a happy moment for Patrick Lack. Luck and success have been with him ever since: Lucky Lack was named the third best newcomer agency in the German-speaking world in 2001.
Agency founder Lack is naturally delighted with the bronze award, but his great love belongs to another metal: copper. "Talk is silver, silence is gold, and copper makes you happy," is the agency motto that needs explaining, coupled with a penchant for dark tunnels and underground mines.
"Advertising and mining have a lot in common," explains Lack, "you work a lot and hard, at night and at weekends, and you never get to see the sun." For the Basel native, the craft of advertising has more to do with sweaty hard work than with aesthetic creativity. And when the result is a dull, shiny utility metal, happiness is perfect.
"We're not a champagne agency," adds Lack, "which is why Basel is a good location for us." In 1999, Lack and his founding partner Bruno Steiger set out to breathe new life into the Basel advertising landscape, far enough away from the apparently champagne-soaked advertising scene in Zurich. This was because it was "actually already clinically dead", the two explained in the Basler Zeitung when they were named New Entrepreneur of the Month by BaZ and Helvetia Patria in January 2001. Too many agencies had migrated to Zurich or had missed the boat to the Internet age, Lack added.
15 employees now ride with Patrick Lack through the Basel advertising desert. He is no longer a lone cowboy like his agency's namesake. The workforce is divided into four units: Advertising, Cybernetics, Exhibition & Events and Health Care. However, the internal boundaries are extremely porous, and Lack says that his staff diffuse easily: "People work where they need to. This allows us to remain flexible and offer clients tailor-made services."
The same applies to the church: cheeky, honest and creative
The founder does not yet consider the young agency to be fully grown. In his opinion, it could do with around ten more employees. However, Lack is not speculating on offshoots in London, Paris and Tokyo. A base has already been set up in Dubai, where an employee is working on Internet projects for the client Emirates Airlines. Lack could also imagine an outpost in Chile. After all, the world's largest copper mines are located there. In any case, the Basel native prefers to rely on his intuition rather than strategic planning when expanding the agency.
In addition to the airline of the United Arab Emirates, Lucky Lack currently looks after clients such as Helvetia Patria, Bakom, Ziegler Papier and the pastoral association of the Roman Catholic Church Allschwil-Schönenbuch (Sevas). The agency designed a provocative campaign for the religious client at the end of 1999, which garnered media coverage from the Basler Zeitung to Facts. There was talk of the church being sold as a product and of an impious appearance. "You have to reduce things to the essential, rationally comprehensible - in other words, to the product," says Lack, defending his position. The church association obviously liked this approach, and a follow-up campaign is already underway. This too, a Lucky Lack version of the ten commandments, does not quite correspond to the usual image of church advertising. "We are not saints," confirms Lack, "there are certainly ethical boundaries, but we try to be as cheeky, honest and provocative as possible."
This motto brought Lucky Lack not only new customers but also awards last year: a Creative Excellence Award at the International Web Page Awards in San José, an Intermedia Globe Finalist Diploma at the Worldmediafestival in Hamburg and third place in the Facts web design competition.
The new year has already brought significant changes to the young agency. Co-founder Bruno Steiger has left the agency and has been replaced by management consultant Peter Sorg, who until recently was Head of Group Relations at Ciba Specialty Chemicals. Together, the new management team now wants to drive the gallery even deeper into the Swiss advertising massif.

Private TV makers around the Viennese Kronen Zeitung are putting out feelers in SwitzerlandWhile there is a hangover in Switzerland with regard to national private TV stations, big plans are being made in Austria: A new broadcaster wants to cover the entire German-speaking region. The fathers of the project are the brothers Hanno and Erwin Soravia, sons of a Carinthian construction industry family, and Christoph Dichand, son of the powerful boss of the Viennese Kronen Zeitung.
The trio had already applied for the first and so far only nationwide broadcasting license for private stations in Austria in autumn 2001 under the name Kanal 1. The buzzword of the planned Kronen-TV made the rounds. This has now come to nothing: The media authority KommAustria granted the broadcasting license to the station ATV, which was already broadcasting on Austrian cable networks.
Now the entrepreneurs have apparently developed alternative plans and want to set up a channel that serves Austria, Germany and Switzerland. A third of the program is to be produced in Zurich, as reported by SonntagsBlick. Project manager Peter Kölbel is currently sounding out the situation in Switzerland.
He is negotiating with Cablecom for a place in the cable network and is also putting out feelers to Tamedia and Ringier. However, Hans Jürg Deutsch, Head of Television at Ringier, has turned a deaf ear to the idea of a transnational private TV channel: "Who would pay for something like that? Ringier has never been interested." Deutsch knows that Kölbel was already negotiating with Jürg Wildberger during the final phase of TV 3. Is the failed Swiss private channel ultimately to be resurrected under the Austrian flag?
According to Kölbel, decisions will be made by mid-April. For the time being, however, the project manager is keeping a low profile. The Federal Office of Communications has not yet received a license application. Bruno Amstutz

The circle of potential investors for Jean Frey AG is thinning out: on Tuesday, Ringier definitively withdrew from the contract negotiations due to "excessive purchase price demands by Swissfirst". Ringier will not say how high the maximum offer was. However, Ringier spokeswoman Myrta Bugini confirmed to WerbeWoche that the bid had amounted to over 70 million francs, and for Walter Bosch, who represents the GMT fund (London) and individual private investors, the ship seems to have sailed. The reason: time is running out. "We should at least be able to carry out an abbreviated version of due diligence," he explains. But Swissfirst boss Thomas Matter waves it off. "If we were to postpone the announcement of the investors again, we would be dead as a bank." Nevertheless, Bosch leaves the door open. "If the shares cannot be placed, we would still be interested in the entire package," he says.
Jean Frey AG strongly denies statements in the NZZ am Sonntag. "TR7 is in no way a turnaround case," states CEO Filippo Leutenegger. He has also never spoken of job cuts. "Not for any of the titles. That is absolute nonsense."
The fact remains, however, that the Beobachter problem has not been solved. Editor-in-chief Ivo Bachmann confirmed to WerbeWoche that the Beobachter crew had not deviated from its dissident stance. This means that the threat of mass redundancies if Jean Frey AG is not sold to Ringier is likely to become reality. Chairman of the Board of Directors Christoph Richterich qualifies: "It is possible that some employees will not accept the new situation, which I regret. I can't force anyone to accept Jean Frey AG in its new form."
Regarding his future as Chairman of the Board of Directors, Richterich says he has already been asked by investors to extend his mandate. "I will consider the offer," he said. Swissfirst intends to announce the investors after Easter (dse).

The direct marketing agency One & On will become part of Peter Marti's Marti Group on April 1, where it will operate as Marti Direct, the third unit alongside Marti Communications and Marti Management Consultants. The staff of One & On will be retained: Jürg Erhart will continue to manage the business. Urs Obrist will act as the creative head of the unit, and the Marti Group already held a majority stake in One&On. The complete takeover represents a further step towards integrated communication for the company. Erhart also sees advantages: "As part of the group, we can offer a much broader range of services." The only downer: Erhart has to give up the company name, which he considers meaningful.
The customers, however, remain. These currently include Tamedia, Ringier, Betty Bossi and Supra. "By winning new mandates, we will also grow in terms of personnel," says Erhart, outlining his outlook. (ba)

Affinity of advertisements among supporters in the "Christian camp "Best of Print Advertising 2001 The 2001 advertising hits from the advertising index of the Demoscope market research institute
In cooperation with the market research institute Demoscope, Publimedia presents the readers of WerbeWoche with an excerpt of the results from the Advertising Index (AX Print) five times a year. This index (see box) is a module of the Market Radar and measures the popularity of advertising subjects. In the top two rows are those subjects that achieved the greatest acceptance in the relevant psychographic target group (see wind rose). The three subjects that performed best in the entire sample, i.e. in all four target groups, in the past year are shown under the heading "Top three".
Advertising Index For the Advertising Index ad tests, a representative sample of around 800 people is surveyed in 8 waves. The respondent first completes a psychological test (50-item test) and then leafs through a magazine with 45 advertisements. As with reading a magazine, the respondent is free to spend as much time as he or she likes on each ad in the test. Before turning the page, she rates the ad on a scale of 5 ("appeals to me a lot") to 1 ("doesn't appeal to me at all"). Supporters" are people who are "very" or "fairly" appealed to by an ad. The acceptance of advertising determined in this way correlates strongly with other functions of advertising impact and is therefore suitable for benchmarking.
For the segmentation of the sample according to target groups, Market Radar uses a psychographic test, the so-called 50-item test. With the help of this test, the value orientations of the respondent are determined and assigned to one of the psychogram fields (see wind rose). The value orientations range from South (conservative) to North (progressive) and from West (outward-looking, materialistic) to East (inward-looking, idealistic).
Further information on the Advertising Index and the Market Radar is available from Demoscope. Publimedia provides planning support with the Advertising Index, the Radar and now the Print Advertising Monitor (PAM).

Media Focus reports negative figuresAfter an initial glimmer of hope at the start of the year, the February figures from Media Focus speak a gloomy language again: gross advertising expenditure fell by 7.6 percent.
Although the various media types started the new year very differently in January, they were able to increase their gross advertising income by a total of 0.5% compared to the same month last year. This was primarily thanks to the financial driving forces of posters and consumer magazines.
The tide turned again in February. All media genres except the
Consumer magazines are posting declining figures, with the overall loss of gross advertising revenue amounting to minus 7.6 percent.
Even billboards, which still led the advertising field in January with a gain of 13%, suffered a loss of 7.8% in February compared to the same month last year.
The downturn in Internet advertising also proved to be only a brief stopover. After increasing by 2.6 percent or CHF 30,000 in January, banners lost 54.9 percent again in February, generating just CHF 676,000 in gross advertising revenue. Radio stations also had to cope with a slump: their figures fell from plus 12.3% in January to minus 17.4% in February.
After the first two months of 2002, cumulative gross advertising expenditure is already CHF 21.4 million or 3.8 percent below the previous year's figure and does not bode well for the coming months. Bruno Amstutz
Gross advertising expenditure by mediaJanuary 2001/January 2002 in comparison
in 1000 Fr. 2001 in 1000 Fr. 2002 +/- in %
Daily newspapers 126 709 117 487 - 7.3
Consumer magazines 45 958 48 141 4.7
Trade journals 17 615 15 141 - 14.0
TV 57 614 50 720 - 12.0
Radio 9 553 7 894 - 17.4
Cinema 3 421 2 454 - 28.3
Teletext 1 554 1 467 - 5.6
Poster 33 925 31 279 - 7.8
Internet banner 1 500 676 - 54.9
Total 297 849 275 259 - 7.6
Source: Media Focus

In addition, the Board of Directors of Radio Fribourg/Freiburg has appointed Markus Reck as its new director and board delegate. He replaces René Meuwly, who has stepped down. Reck will continue to run his communications agency, MCC.
Iwan Weidmann will take over as creative director at the Zurich-based advertising agency Grey Worldwide in early April. He will succeed Remo Garbini. Garbini will remain a partner at Grey Worldwide and will serve as a concept developer/art director.
Weber Hodel Schmid has hired AD Christan Bircher to succeed Michael Rottmann, who is moving to Jung von Matt. In addition, Thomas Meyer will once again join the copywriting team at the Zurich-based agency.
Hansjörg Zürcher, the former chief creative officer of Advico Young & Rubicam (AY&R), will serve as creative coach until a successor is named to the executive board. Zürcher, who is already on the board of directors at JvM/Limmat, had been working for AY&R on a freelance basis from time to time.

Kurt Schmid, CEO Lowe, Zurich, on his unease with the Swiss advertising culture "Comparative advertising should be allowed here too" Around 100 people met at the Lowe Forum 2002 in Zurich last week to discuss the topic of "growth". Kurt Schmid had invited them. He heads the Zurich branch of Lowe, the fourth-largest communications group in the world.
Agencies in an international network are currently groaning under the tough conditions imposed by corporate headquarters. Instead of cowering, the management of Advico Young & Rubicam (AY&R) recently resigned as one. Last week you had a visit from Sir Frank Lowe, the chairman of your network. Were you also put under pressure?
Kurt Schmid: There's no question of that. Of course, every agency group has margin targets that are not always easy to achieve. We have no problems at all in this respect. We find dealing with people from Lowe's head office very inspiring.
Can you understand the AY&R management's desire for more entrepreneurial freedom?
Schmid: I can understand that. I have a lot of sympathy for AY&R people who want to go their own way. Our situation is very different. We have a lot of autonomy.
Swissness is in demand all over the world. Swiss consumer products have sex appeal abroad. But young Swiss people prefer to wear Calvin Klein and disdain Calida. They prefer to drink Starbucks coffee from paper cups rather than good old Merkur coffee. Adidas and Nike are popular, Raichle is disappearing. Do Swiss marketing people no longer understand their business?
Schmid: Advertising works far too much with stereotypes and clichés instead of focusing on diversity. We use the same four archetypes of people over and over again. Our advertising is far too well-behaved, too uniform, too cautious. This has to do with the fact that we are all so nice to each other. Calida is trying to copy Calvin Klein. But people are not stupid and prefer to buy the original. What's more, Swissness has no sex appeal in Switzerland, whereas abroad it is part of multiculturalism.
Calvin Klein also knows how to provoke and polarize. Why does almost nobody in this country dare to do that?
Schmid: We lack open communication. Occasionally we are startled by the grounding of Swissair or attacks on our banking secrecy. Such irritations rarely last longer than a few weeks, after which we return to our leisurely daily routine. We forget that a fierce cut-throat competition is raging around us, which will also fundamentally change our markets.
That sounds like a curtain sermon. Are the Swiss too nice and don't realize what's going on around them?
Schmid: I miss the fighting spirit of Richard Branson, who sees his business as a crusade. The Englishman raises his pirate flag to hit the competition at its most sensitive point on the battlefield. He would never be satisfied with 1.5 percent growth, as our augurs are forecasting for the current year.
Are you calling for a marketing war?
Schmid: No, not exactly. I want to rouse the Swiss to vigilance, because marketing is something very combative. Under pressure from international providers, Swiss brands are increasingly losing ground. People in this country don't want to take note of this because we are so addicted to harmony. We have too many agreements and gentlemen's agreements. Instead of cowering and haggling, we should analyze our competitors more intensively and be more self-confident.
Do you see Switzerland as an island of the blessed, surrounded by business sharks?
Schmid: Foreign entrepreneurs are out to conquer, and those who can't oppose them will sooner or later fall by the wayside. Aggressive foreign brands such as Starbucks meet with almost no resistance in Switzerland. Ikea is putting pressure on Micasa and Interio, Smirnoff vodka on Zuger Kirsch. Swiss companies are far too cautious in their marketing and are lulled into a false sense of security.
The SVP is showing how aggressive political marketing can be used to become the leading force in the conservative camp. Are you proposing a corresponding cultural change for marketing communication?
Schmid: What bothers me about the SVP campaigns is their doggedness. I would put it like Andy Warhol: "Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art."
But that's a fancy way of describing what marketing is supposed to do.
Schmid: I would argue that advertising should become more direct and aggressive, which has nothing to do with doggedness. Comparative advertising should also finally be allowed. The economic battle for market share in Switzerland is still not being fought hard enough. Our marketing people watch almost idly as one brand after another comes under pressure.
What you are criticizing happened to you yourself: Your agency, GGK Basel, was taken over by Lowe and recently even said goodbye to its Swiss agency name, which was closely associated with Swissair. Instead of Lowe/GGK, you are now just called Lowe. How much brand value have you sacrificed?
Schmid: I don't know. I don't think very much. GGK is a myth that unfortunately can no longer be revived. GGK is now Swiss advertising history. No agency can live on the past alone - no matter how glorious it may be.
Having mythical qualities is the best thing that can happen to a brand. Myths are long-lived by nature. Didn't you ring the death knell for the GGK too soon?
Schmid: No. With the retirement of Paul Gredinger, the name GGK faded irrevocably. The name no longer has any appeal. It wasn't so hard for me to say goodbye because the Lowe agency group embodies many of the values of the good old GGK.
A bid of 1.2 billion was recently made for the Swissair brand name. Has no foreign investor shown any interest in the GGK name?
Schmid: As far as I know, no one has come forward yet. If I get a good offer, I'm happy to negotiate, because we still own the trademark rights for GGK Basel. Interview: Samuel Helbling

According to MMXI, 2.637 million people in Switzerland spent an average of 316 minutes surfing the Internet from home in February, visiting 256 pages. 2.126 million people, on the other hand, spent 337 minutes surfing on their home computers, visiting 502 pages, according to NetRatings data.It is noteworthy that both panels show the lowest reach value to date for leader Bluewin, although the number of Internet users from home computers rose again in both cases. At MMXI, where Bluewin previously achieved between 51 and 54.5 percent, the site now only has a good 50 percent. At AC Nielsen, Bluewin.ch dropped from 48.3 to 44.4 percent. Whether this is already an effect of the reduced portal concept? It's possible, but almost all providers in the top ranks have lost ground.
In any case, one thing is certain: In February, providers outside the top 20 domains were able to profit overall, albeit fanned out over many individuals. If this trend continues, it is probably due to Internet frustration: Leading providers cannot or do not want to maintain their (free) standards, are downsizing or charging money, which leads to less traffic. However, this makes it easier for the previous "backbenchers" to catch up. We will see. Markus Knöpfli
Top 20 domains february 2002 Nielsen/NetRatings MMXI
Rank Domain Visitors Reach Domain Visitors Reach
in 1000 in % in 1000 in %
 1 bluewin.ch 944 44.4 bluewin.ch 1 338 50.7
 2 msn.com 740 34.8 msn.ch 784 29.7
 3 microsoft.com 711 33.4 msn.com 783 29.7
 4 passport.com 515 24.2 microsoft.com 725 27.5
 5 google.ch 499 23.5 passport.com 666 25.3
 6 search.ch 404 19.0 google.ch 639 24.2
 7 msn.ch 379 17.8 yahoo.com 569 21.6
 8 yahoo.com 340 16.0 search.ch 552 20.9
 9 sunrise.ch 325 15.3 sunrise.ch 470 17.8
10 sbb.ch 265 12.5 sbb.ch 404 15.3
11 google.com 252 11.9 gmx.de 339 12.9
12 yahoo.com 233 11.0 google.com 321 12.2
13 gmx.net 195 9.2 msn.de 304 11.5
14 gmx.ch 174 8.2 yahoo.de 304 11.5
15 netscape.com 174 8.2 microsoft.com 260 9.9
16 yahoo.fr 161 7.5 ubs.com 235 8.9
17 yellownet.ch 155 7.3 microsoft.fr 219 8.3
18 windowsmedia.com 153 7.2 real.com 214 8.1
19 ubs.com 139 6.6 yahoo.fr 202 7.7
20 amazon.de 139 6.5 admin.ch 200 7.6
Source: AC Nielsen/MMXI

Sari Simola has been the new Publishing Director at Ringier's Glückspost magazine since JanuaryHead of the week "Glückspost still has a lot of potential "Sari Simola wanted to take some time out when she came to Switzerland from Finland in 1989. And to learn German, of course, although Germany would have been better suited to this: "I found Switzerland much more exciting because of the cultural diversity. What's more, everything is smaller and more manageable here," recalls the native Finn. Simola stayed here and began to study German, history and journalism in Zurich, working various jobs to finance her studies. As a teacher, she taught children whose mother tongue is Finnish. After gaining journalistic experience in her home country, she started writing again. Her goal at the time was to gain a foothold as an editor during her studies.
In 1997, the now 35-year-old came into contact with Ringier Publishing for the first time as part of an internship. This was followed by further positions at Ringier, where Simola mainly worked as a project manager in international business. In 1998, she joined the German subsidiary Ringier Publishing and from then on commuted between Zurich and Munich. Simola felt more and more at home in the publishing world and therefore decided to swap her studies for the real world of work.
After dropping out of university, she took over the management of marketing and sales for the travel magazine Globo in Munich, which was published by Ringier Publishing. From April 2001, she headed the Munich subsidiary as Publishing Director in collaboration with Martin Kall. For personal reasons, she expressed her wish to return to Switzerland last year: "However, it was very important to me to be able to remain active in publishing in Zurich," says Simola, so she did not hesitate to accept the position of Glückspost Publishing Director. Now it's time for her to tackle the new challenge: "I'm aware that a tabloid magazine is very different from a travel magazine. But it is precisely this contrast that makes the new task particularly exciting," says Simola, who until recently was also involved in the closure of the publishing house in Munich. But now she wants to devote all her energy to Glückspost. In her opinion, the magazine has untapped potential in various areas: "I am convinced that we can expand our target group even further and gain new readers. With creative ideas, we will certainly also expand the advertising business. "However, she believes it is still a little premature to formulate concrete goals at this stage. She has one clear goal in mind: "Glückspost is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, and both readers and advertisers should recognize this." Daniela Zivadinovic