Publicis launches the NZZ am Sonntag with a clear positioningThe NZZ am Sonntag will be launched on March 17. With a print and poster campaign, NZZ's in-house agency Publicis attracts potential advertisers and readers to the new Sunday news platform. The elegant and full-bodied headline product implementation sets itself apart from the competition and combines the journalistic values of the parent newspaper with readers' expectations on Sundays - entertainment and relaxation. The agency Metz oder Vieli also shortened the waiting time until the launch with its countdown competition on the Internet based on viral marketing. page 10

St.Galler Mediax AG launches a new information and communication platform for SMEsBy Daniel Schifferle From March, the SME world will have a new communication platform consisting of a magazine and an Internet site: Kmubusiness and Kmubusiness.ch. With its cross-media project, the St.Gallen company Mediax AG aims to contribute to greater transparency in the fragmented market of small and medium-sized companies.
The world of small and medium-sized enterprises is a huge market. Switzerland has more than 250,000 companies with between 1 and 250 employees - a market that provides over 65% of jobs and thus forms the backbone of the country's economy. "For providers of goods and services, the SME segment is the most important sales market in the economy as a whole," explains Jorges Chaves, owner of Mediax AG. This St.Gallen company is active in the fields of marketing, publishing and new media and already publishes various magazines. The major disadvantage of the widely ramified SME world is the extreme fragmentation of the market and the small size of the individual companies. "A market that is therefore difficult to cultivate," says Chaves.
Mediax AG wants to remedy this situation with an information platform consisting of the magazine Kmubusiness and the online medium Kmubusiness.ch. The cross-media project will be launched in the second week of March. The declared aim of the new B2B platform is "to coordinate communication between SMEs and, as an intermediary, to structure supply and demand in the SME market in a meaningful way".
The idea behind the content of the Kmubusiness magazine, which is designed in four colors throughout, is to provide a broad range of information that addresses the information needs and issues of the SME world. From management topics, checklists and ratings to lifestyle topics, the service-heavy magazine covers everything that moves the SME world. The magazine will be published in six issues this year and nine issues from 2003. Due to this low periodicity, however, the magazine is only of limited use for keeping up to date. The associated site Kmubusiness.ch provides a remedy. The interactive online marketplace supplements the magazine with the latest SME news, also offers various special sections on SME-relevant aspects and creates competence centers on key topics such as information technology, telecommunications, insurance and finance.
Various other special interest securities in the portfolio
Kmubusiness is published in a print run of 50,000 copies, which are sent to SMEs by mail order. New addressees are served with each issue. In this way, publisher Jorges Chaves hopes to generate at least 10,000 subscriptions within a year. Single issues of Kmubusiness are also available at larger kiosks for CHF 7.50 per issue. The subscription price has not yet been set.
Kmubusiness is printed by Weber Druck in Biel. Full-page advertisements are available at a standard price (black and white or four-color) of CHF 1,500. Kmubusiness and Kmubusiness .ch are not the only products from Mediax AG, which is solely owned by Jorges Chaves. The company, which focuses on special interest titles, already publishes the magazines Woman's, Golf Lifestyle and Mex. It acquired a stake in the latter last October. Mex Verlags AG, which is owned by the two companies Mediax AG and Factum AG, was founded at that time. As a reminder, the Zurich-based direct marketing company Factum took over the magazine from Ringier in January 2001.
In addition to these four titles, for which Mediax AG handles everything from editing to advertising sales, the St. Gallen-based company also has marketing contracts for the special interest magazines View and Careerstep in its portfolio. It also holds a strategic consulting mandate for Netzwoche.

AdMobil, a new provider of vehicle advertising from the Federal Republic of Germany, is making inroads into the Swiss market. In cooperation with the car rental company Avis in Glattbrugg, AdMobil offers several thousand passenger cars and vans as advertising platforms and for promotional campaigns. AdMobil has been operating in Germany for two years. Record participation in the 2002 DM Award. With 285 submissions across twelve different categories, the Swiss Dialog Marketing Award (DM Award) has once again set a new record. Twenty percent of the submitted entries came from abroad. The awards will be presented on April 26.
Jumping on the bandwagon. Maybe Switzerland will still manage to jump on the rattling train of world history after all. In any case, the advertising industry seems to be making it a priority. A goodwill campaign by the Lowe Advertising Agency AG «for a more open Switzerland»
illustrates how, at the very least, one can be accepted into the international community—even as the last in line or the 190th UN member state, ahead of East Timor—with a touch of style. If we’re no longer part of the international ski circus, then at least we’re part of the global political circus.
Not for soup snobs. While liquid soups are being diligently heated in pots throughout French-speaking Switzerland, consumers on this side of the Saane prefer instant soups. Unilever Bestfoods Switzerland aims to use this purchasing and eating behavior to boost sales of Knorr liquid soups. To that end, the communications agency Alex Schmid organized sampling events in February at eleven major train stations in German-speaking Switzerland, giving potential buyers a chance to try the product for the first time. The soups were distributed in the evening, when commuters were already thinking about their evening meal.
«Communicating in Print»—A Great Honor for «Communicating in Print»: The textbook, which introduces advertisers and PR consultants to the processes of print communication, was selected as one of 31 publications for the Federal Office of Culture’s 2001 list of «The Most Beautiful Swiss Books.» It was published by Werd Verlag as the successor to the reference book «Gut zum Druck» by Jürg Trösch, Max Baltis, and Jürg Neuenschwander. Also among the most beautiful books is the «Poster Collection» series, designed by Lars Müller for the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich. Müller, who had already won an ADC Gold Award for the “Freitag” book, was also honored with the Jan Tschichold Prize for creative and exceptional dedication to book design.
No copycat campaign. Just in time for the 2-Rad trade show, Euro RSCG has pedaled its way up the mountain of creativity for Velo.com to win over the cycling community for the MTB Cycletech brand. A weathered wayside cross is protected by an orange mat from the mountain bikers who—as out of touch with reality as it may seem—are racing over the summit at breakneck speed. Anyone who sees similarities in this image to the «Sportplausch» anti-campaign—in which Alpine wildlife protected itself from racers with identical padding—is mistaken in assuming that the Euro creatives might have copied it from Publicis. According to CEO Frank Bodin, the “Wider” ads “were first spotted by Euro RSCG—with the best will in the world—during the ADC judging.” Since we don’t doubt this, here’s a well-intentioned tip among sports fans on how to better protect yourself from such far-fetched accusations: Read *WerbeWoche* every week; the padded marmots were already featured there as early as December 2001.
Revenues in the graphic arts industry continue to decline. The downward trend in the graphic arts industry continued in the fourth quarter of 2001. According to a survey by the KOF/ETH Economic Research Center, revenues declined at 65.1 percent of printing companies (excluding newspaper printing). In prepress and cross-media, 38.9 percent reported a decline.
Annabelle hits the jackpot. A one-shot campaign conceived in just five minutes can truly be called a stroke of genius, highlighting the lifestyle expertise of the women’s magazine Annabelle. The campaign, based on the logo of the new Swiss airline, was created «amid much laughter during a perfectly normal discussion» held at the Annabelle editorial office about Swiss and the person behind its name and design. «Since we have a strong affinity for lifestyle and Tyler Brûlé is the lifestyle guru, the idea suddenly became obvious,» said Editor-in-Chief Christa Loepfe. The campaign elicited hearty smiles from advertisers, private individuals, and even Crossair itself, according to Loepfe.
Editorial

Half of the economy is psychology
When the economy is in crisis, the advertising industry is put to the test and is itself affected. The advertising sector really began to falter last year. According to René R. Hürlimann, president of the Swiss Association of Advertising and Communications Agencies (BSW), 2001 was a difficult year. Revenues for the consulting and creative agencies united under the BSW fell by 5.6 percent (see page 18). Thanks to the addition of seven new members, the industry association’s revenues remained just barely stable compared to the exceptional year of 2000 (up 0.1 percent).
One thing is certain: the operating conditions for agencies will not get any easier this year. Price pressure will continue, and the cautious release of budget allocations will make long-term planning more difficult. In addition, marketing spending by large companies will increasingly shift away from traditional advertising toward direct marketing measures and events. A telling sign of this trend is the fact that BSW agencies were only able to maintain their revenue to some extent thanks to dialogue and specialty agencies. For the current year, traditional advertising agencies expect growth of 1.9 percent, while non-traditional member agencies are much more optimistic about the future, forecasting an increase of 5.1 percent.
God knows that whining isn’t part of an advertising agency’s craft. Their job is to re-enchant the world and instill optimism in clients and consumers. And that’s as it should be, because half of the economy is psychology. Samuel Helbling, Editor-in-Chief

The advertising agency Scholz & Friends, Berlin, has been awarded the contract for the Europe-wide launch of the new Mercedes-Benz van, which will be launched next year.Etat-News S&F drives Mercedes through Europe
The campaign will be flanked by online advertising, dialog marketing and POS measures.
Ikea does not rely on US networks Swedish furniture retailer Ikea has opted for Crispin Porter & Bogusky in the USA. The independent advertising agency from Miami won the pitch against WPP subsidiary Berlin Cameron/Red Cell and Goodby Silverstein & Partners (Omnicom). According to Advertising Age, Ikea plans to expand its US presence from 15 to 50 furniture stores over the next ten years. Ikea's budget in the USA is estimated at 50 million dollars.

Peter Kettiger on the new structure of OMD SwitzerlandThe former OMD Zürich AG will soon be renamed OMD Switzerland. Christof Kaufmann is the new CEO of the media agency. Marion Wagner remains CFO. Hans Ulrich Schweizer and Hans-Peter Detsch sit on the Board of Directors. The Chairman is Peter Kettiger from Zogg Kettiger Gasser. He analyzes the background to this structural change. Changes are usually improvements and cause for celebration. What do you like about your new structure with OMD Switzerland?
Peter Kettiger: I think the greatest thing is that we have managed to fill all the new positions with excellent people in such a short space of time. We have recruited nine additional employees for the three units in addition to managers. And that was between Christmas and New Year. What also makes me feel positive is the reaction of the media providers. They have recognized the potential of this new structure. The cooperation was therefore maintained without the slightest problem. Thanks to our proactive information policy, the media providers very quickly realized that OMD Zurich should not be punished for what happened in Zollikerberg.
Nevertheless, there is the famous saying that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Has your group experienced any of this?
Kettiger: Of course we have felt the negative effects. When you hear that an OMD Zollikerberg is going bankrupt, it's easy to conclude that the whole OMD is bankrupt. But there is no group, there is only one company, and it is called OMD Zürich AG. It has three units. OMD Zürich See, OMD Zürich City and OMD Genève are divisions of OMD Zürich AG, which will be renamed OMD Schweiz AG in the foreseeable future. Communicating this was the main task I had to take on: making it clear that OMD Zollikerberg and OMD Zürich AG are two completely separate and independent companies.
Malicious tongues are wagging that OMD Switzerland got off lightly because the "Group" perhaps bought too much media before the general mood of crisis. How do you react to such assessments?
Kettiger: When we published the sales figures in the market, we combined them because the two OMDs already had the same resources as OMD in Europe, particularly in terms of international business. However, the companies in Switzerland had been completely separate. It was my job to make sure that customers and providers saw them as two pairs of boots. That was relatively successful and that's why we got off lightly, as they say.
What will happen to the customers of OMD Zollikerberg?
Kettiger: OMD Zollikerberg has had three categories of customers. International clients who have contracts with OMD Europe. Other clients have come from Seiler DDB, where the media part has been subcontracted, so to speak. Thirdly, OMD Zollikerberg looked after its own clients. The international clients were immediately transferred from London to OMD Zurich because OMD Europe was obliged to offer these clients the service in Switzerland. OMD Europe was pleased that it was able to hand over its customers to a second OMD. As far as Seiler DDB's customers are concerned, CEO Kaspar Loeb has decided to have them looked after by OMD Zurich as well. Almost without exception, the direct customers have decided to continue working with OMD. A vote of confidence that is binding.
What will happen to the shares that DDB Zollikerberg held in the Group?
Kettiger: The company Optimum Media Direction AG in Zollikerberg was involved in OMD Zurich. This company offered media services. It is a subsidiary of Seiler Com Holding, a sister company of Seiler DDB. When we founded OMD Zürich AG, we offered Seiler Com Holding a stake because we wanted to incorporate the international network know-how that Herbert Seiler already had. As it stands, DDB Europe will take over this package from the bankruptcy estate and not Seiler DDB. As board member Hans-Peter Detsch said, OMD's concept is that OMD itself does not own any agencies, but generally works with the three local creative agencies from the Omnicom Group, i.e. TBWA, BBDO and DDB, which are the owners or partners of the media agencies, in the local markets.
Where do you see OMD Switzerland in the ranking?
Kettiger: Unfortunately, the published figures are not comparable. With our CHF 125 million turnover, we see ourselves in 3rd or 4th place. That is where we are today and of course cannot yet be the goal. I think that by the end of the year we can be number 3 for sure.
Your agency Zogg Kettiger Gasser also seems to be busy at the moment. You are looking for staff. Do you have a lot of new business to report?
Kettiger: We have Orangina, Philips with the entire household sector and Personal Care as new clients. There have been additional mandates from existing clients such as Merck Sharp & Dohme-Chibret. We are now handling corporate communication in Switzerland for this international pharmaceutical group. Swisslos entrusted us with additional mandates, as did our major client Masterfoods.
BSW is publishing its new figures this week. Is your agency in line with the general trend?
Kettiger: 2001 was not a brilliant year for us, as it was for many companies in the communications sector. The figures are roughly comparable with the previous year, slightly worse. This year things are looking very positive.
How important is international business for ZKG?
Kettiger: This is becoming increasingly important because more and more large brand manufacturers are no longer allowing many small kingdoms to exist in the various markets. But you have to know that: An agency that is not firmly anchored locally has no chance in international business.
How important is the office in Biel?
Kettiger: This is the ex-agency of our partner Max Winiger. The office is currently inactive. However, we have certain projects with which we would like to reactivate the Biel office in the future, as a gateway to French-speaking Switzerland, so to speak. Interview: Andreas Panzeri

SF DRS attracts the most children and young people, but the ceiling seems to have been reachedBy Daniel Schifferle Swiss children and young people are not only difficult to reach with television, they are also more dispersed among the numerous channels available than any other segment. This will remain the case, as SF DRS has neither plans nor recipes for a further effort in the two youngest target groups.
Children and young people watch little television and have low channel retention. This is shown by an analysis recently presented by SF DRS. Of a total of 737,000 children (3 to 14-year-olds) in German-speaking Switzerland, only 43,000 could be found in front of the television on an average day. Young people (15 to 24-year-olds) were similarly abstinent. Out of a total of 626,000, only 42,000 watched television on an average day.
Television abstinence is also clearly visible when comparing the daily TV usage of the different age groups. According to SF DRS, children only watch an average of 84 minutes, while the figure for young people is only slightly higher at 96 minutes a day. Compared to the older target groups, these are modest figures. The next highest age group, 25 to 45-year-olds, already invests significantly more time in TV at 133 minutes per day. The trend towards frequent viewing is further accentuated with increasing age. For example, 45- to 64-year-olds spend 153 minutes a day in front of the television and the over-65s even 194 minutes.
Despite these difficult conditions, SF DRS has made gains in the children's segment. Between 1995 and 2001, the cumulative market share (SF 1 and SF 2) in this target group increased from 17 to 21 percent. Things only really started to pick up in autumn 1998, when SF 2 made Nickelodeon its children's program. As a result, the market share, which had previously hovered around 2 to 3 percent, climbed to 6 percent in 1999 and even to 9 percent in the following two years.
The desired stronger connection with young people did not materialize to the same extent. While SF DRS only just missed the 20 percent mark in this target group in 1998, it fell back by around two market share points in the following years. Even with this setback, however, SF DRS remains the market leader among the stations available in German-speaking Switzerland among young people and children.
Overall program attracts more young people than target group programs
Nevertheless, the fact remains that around 80% of daily TV viewing by children and young people is attributable to foreign channels. The two young age groups with as yet little channel loyalty are the most international TV viewers of all. Among children, 13 percent watched SuperRTL, 8 percent each watched the Arte children's channel or the RTL 2 children's program, and Pro 7 and RTL each caught 7 percent of children watching TV, while Sat 1 came in at 3 percent. The discontinued TV 3 was also strong in the children's segment with 8 percent.
The usage habits of young people are similarly dispersed, albeit with different preferences. Right behind SF DRS is Pro 7 with a 16% market share in the youth segment. Third place goes to RTL with 11%. RTL 2, ORF 1 and Sat 1 each achieved 6% and Vox 3%. Among the music channels specifically positioned in the youth segment, VivaSwizz still managed to gain 3 percent, while MTV lagged far behind with a market share of 1 percent. On the other hand, the discontinued TV 3 was also strong, achieving a market share of 8% among young people.
Additional efforts to attract more young viewers are not planned at SF DRS at the moment, says SFDRS press officer René Bardet. "We attract most young viewers with the overall program. The target group programs are an additional minority-oriented offer."
The calculation is simple: programs with high viewer numbers always have a relatively high number of children and young people. This is because most programs have a broadly diversified audience in terms of age. Bardet also does not believe that further expansion of the station's own children's and youth programs in order to become even more competitive is promising. "The big numbers among young people are mainly achieved with new series and sitcoms. We simply can't keep up with the extremely financially strong, youth-oriented broadcasters in Germany."

January data from the NetRatings and MMXI Internet panelsAccording to MMXI, 2.595 million people surfed the Internet from home for an average of 308 minutes in January, visiting 294 sites. According to the data from NetRatings, on the other hand, 2.059 million people surfed for 381 minutes each on their home computer and visited 541 sites. What is striking is that while the monthly surfing time previously differed by a maximum of around half an hour, this time it differs by a whole 73 minutes. This sudden and massive outlier cannot be explained, at least on the basis of the other data, and shows once again how much the two panels must differ in their systems. So far, however, MMXI and AC Nielsen have made no serious attempt to clarify such differences together.
This is likely to remain the case for the time being. The two internet research companies NetRatings (operator of the Nielsen/NetRatings panel) and Jupiter Media Metrix (operator of the MMXI panel) have surprisingly canceled their planned merger. This is due to unofficial objections from the US regulatory authority, the Federal Trade Commission. It has not yet been decided whether NetRatings will also abandon its planned takeover of ACNielsen eRatings.
Conversely, it is also questionable how long Jupiter and NetRatings will be able to coexist: Both reported rather weak results for last year, and a patent lawsuit by Jupiter against NetRatings is still ongoing following the collapse of the merger.
Back to the data: Despite all the serious differences, the two panels at least converged in one detail in January. For the first time, both show the first two ranks identically: Microsoft.com takes the silver medal behind Bluewin.ch. There is also a similarity in 20th place: TVSpielfilm.de can be found in both tables, not for the first time, but for the first time in both panels. Blick.ch, on the other hand, dropped out of the top 20 in MMXI and fell back to 18th place in AC Nielsen. Markus Knöpfli
Top 20 domains january 2002

Nielsen/NetRatings MMXI
Rank Domain Number Reach Domain Visitors Reach
Visitors in % in 1000 in %
 1 bluewin.ch 995 268 48.33 bluewin.ch 1 400 53.8
 2 microsoft.com 715 357 34.73 microsoft.com 803 30.9
 3 msn.com 692 805 33.64 msn.ch 796 30.6
 4 passport.com 563 839 27.38 msn.com 774 29.7
 5 google.ch 507 539 24.64 passport.com 671 25.8
 6 search.ch 451 113 21.90 google.ch 664 25.5
 7 yahoo.com 417 400 20.27 yahoo.com 617 23.7
 8 msn.ch 401 687 19.50 search.ch 579 22.2
 9 sunrise.ch 376 117 18.26 sbb.ch 479 18.4
10 sbb.ch 308 324 14.97 sunrise.ch 461 17.7
11 yahoo.de 281 054 13.65 gmx.de 382 14.7
12 google.com 212 058 10.30 yahoo.de 362 13.9
13 gmx.net 199 726 9.70 google.com 347 13.3
14 yahoo.fr 194 010 9.42 msn.de 336 12.9
15 geocities.com 185 560 9.01 ubs.com 286 11.0
16 gmx.net 177 774 8.63 microsoft.de 264 10.1
17 netscape.com 169 763 8.24 yahoo.fr 234 9.0
18 blick.ch 166 131 8.07 microsoft.fr 208 8.0
19 yellownet.ch 146 683 7.12 real.com 204 7.8
20 tvspielfilm.de 140 498 6.82 tvspielfilm.de 201 7.7
Source: AC Nielsen/MMXI

The HGKK in Bern is offering a unique course in signage design across EuropeBy Simone Keller The University of Art, Design and Conservation (HGKK) in Bern is the first school in Europe to offer a postgraduate course in signage design. The new course is designed to take account of the growing complexity of urban space in terms of planning and implementation.
People can find their way around their familiar surroundings almost blindly. But if they leave their familiar streetscapes or visit a different city or even a different country, the new contexts have to be explained to them so that they can find their way around. The development of an efficient orientation system for navigating through a terrain is the subject of signaling.
From this fall, the HGKK in Bern will be a European pioneer in offering a comprehensive, practice-oriented postgraduate course (NDS) in this field. "We are living in a time in which the need for information in public spaces is increasing because the environment is becoming increasingly complex with larger buildings and more complicated systems," explains Christian Jaquet, Head of Visual Communication Studies at the HGKK. The main initiator and head of the NDS study program is Basel designer Theo Ballmer, who is also responsible for the signage concept at Frankfurt Airport.
In order for visitors or users of public spaces to find their way around, they need to be explained to them. A signage concept breaks down spatial information - of a cultural, historical or social nature - in order to present it visually. The term signage was introduced to distinguish information systems that convey content from "simple" signage systems.
Intensive communication between the planning and implementation specialists plays an important role in the conception of urban space. Coordinating their concerns is one of the central tasks of the signaller. According to Theo Ballmer, such an exchange did not take place in the case of the station square in his home town of Basel. When planning the streetcar system, all other road users were forgotten, he says.
The two-year, part-time course is primarily aimed at architects, planners and engineers. However, the postgraduate course is also open to sociologists, economists and tourism experts as well as people from administration and transport companies. Accordingly, the lecturing specialists include not only designers and architects, but also psychologists, urbanists and lawyers, who supervise the individual study units under the direction of Theo Ballmer.
Great interest in the unique training
While the first semester focuses on building up the theoretical foundation, students then work in groups to develop signage concepts for specific clients, such as the city of Burgdorf or Geneva Airport. Classes take place every second week on Fridays and Saturdays at the HGKK premises in Bern-Bümpliz.
Although there has been widespread interest in the new training course since it was announced, only 6 out of 90 interested parties had decided to register by the end of January. The HGKK therefore suspects that the registration deadline was set too soon after the course was announced. The registration deadline was therefore extended from January to March and then to the end of June, and the start of the course was postponed to September 27.

PubliGroupe reported a profit of 140 million francs for the year 2000, but the Lausanne-based advertising and media group is in the red in 2001: The loss amounted to around 185 million francs. Although PubliGroupe had announced a "substantial loss" in November as a precautionary measure, this has now turned into a record loss. There are two reasons for this. The slump in online business has torn a hole of CHF 84 million in PubliGroupe's coffers. This figure was already mentioned when the loss warning was issued in November. At the time, however, this also gave the impression that this was the main source of losses. But this was not the case. Far greater is the loss incurred by the
The takeover of the US advertising agency group Panoramic Communications has had a negative impact on PubliGroupe's cash flow: Firstly, Panoramic posted an annual loss of CHF 30 million, and secondly PubliGroupe fully wrote off the CHF 75 million investment made for Panoramic last year. Together, these two factors amounted to 105 million francs. A piquant fact: PubliGroupe only mentioned the problems surrounding Panoramic in passing in November, without providing any figures.
Heinz Wägeli, CFO of PubliGroupe, justifies the communication at the time by stating that the CHF 75 million was not an actual loss, but a goodwill write-off. Wägeli also emphasized that the annual loss of CHF 30 million also included restructuring costs: PubliGroupe has reduced the former ten Panoramic companies to four today and cut 274 jobs (40 percent). For 2002, it expects the four remaining Panoramic companies to generate sales of CHF 100 million. Last year, the Panoramic Group achieved "only" 121 million Swiss francs (mk).

Raoul Gerber will become Managing Director of IP Multimedia in French-speaking Switzerland on May 1Raoul Gerber doesn't like to let anyone look at his cards. As the future Managing Director for French-speaking Switzerland of advertising time marketer IP Multimedia, but currently still in the pay of Force Promotion, the marketing company for private television stations in French-speaking Switzerland, he is very cautious when it comes to making statements about the development of the French-speaking Swiss TV market. Even if he doesn't say so explicitly, you can sense his desire to shake up this market and really shake up the entrenched TSR monopoly. That is why he is also quite happy that M6 has ventured into French-speaking Switzerland with its advertising window and hopes that other providers such as TF 1 will follow suit. This is actually a little surprising, as the two local television stations Léman bleu and TVRL, marketed by Force Promotion, are among the channel operators that do not show the M6 advertising window out of solidarity with Télévision Suisse Romande.
The 38-year-old began his professional career far away from the media business. After studying humanities in German, French and philosophy, he taught for a short time.
However, despite the four-month vacation and guaranteed employment for life, he found teaching too monotonous. He is convinced that his desire to impart knowledge was not overly appreciated by the pupils.
As a translator at the Journal du Jura in Biel, the son of an Aargau native and an Austrian got his first taste of newspaper work. And when he was asked to help set up the first private local radio station in French-speaking Switzerland, Raoul Gerber didn't have to think twice before seizing the opportunity.
Later, it was the Geneva local TV station Léman bleu that he helped launch. Yes, he loves doing pioneering work and being a little provocative, he admits. Back then, electronic media was still uncharted territory for advertisers in French-speaking Switzerland, Gerber recalls. He is a passionate advocate of local television, which is becoming increasingly professionalized. The strength of local television is the local news, which offers real added value. However, Gerber is convinced that the programs of the various stations should be aligned in terms of subject matter and content. The appeal of local television is its proximity. And the attractiveness of IP Multimedia will lie in even greater customer proximity in the future, argues Raoul Gerber and, as a shrewd marketer, places another commercial on his own behalf. Anita Vaucher

Ueli Anken, President of the PR Association of French-speaking Switzerland, on the market in French-speaking SwitzerlandFarner has opened an office in Fribourg and two agencies in German-speaking Switzerland have entered into partnerships with PR agencies in French-speaking Switzerland. PR in French-speaking Switzerland is booming, but it's not easy for PR consultants to get a handle on it, says Ueli Anken, President of the PR Association of Western Switzerland. Where does the sudden interest in the French-speaking Swiss market come from?
Ueli Anken: Word has probably gotten around that French-speaking Switzerland is not simply a compact unit that can be easily integrated into a package of measures. On the contrary, French-speaking Switzerland is a diverse market. There is already a barrier between Geneva and Lausanne; the two markets function independently of each other. Then there are the economic centers with different cultural contexts. In the canton of Valais, for example, you can't do anything if you're not there. In the Jura, it would be difficult to operate from Lausanne. A Swiss-German agency that wants to offer national services to international clients is only credible if it can demonstrate solid connections in French-speaking Switzerland.
So the market in French-speaking Switzerland is difficult to serve from German-speaking Switzerland?
Anken: There are examples that prove the opposite. But the fact is that PR is a métier de proximité. A good example of this is Geneva with its international organizations. There are several international PR providers in Geneva, but they are not known at all in Lausanne. And if you look at little Switzerland from America or England, it is "one among the other countries". The first location is often Geneva, followed by Zurich and Basel. From this perspective, it is quite understandable that international organizations and companies from the West choose Geneva.
Companies in French-speaking Switzerland are still reluctant to use PR services. Why is that?
Anken: Over 80 percent of businesses in western Switzerland are small and medium-sized enterprises. And for them it's simply a question of budget. Instead of permanent support, they often come to us for one-off tasks.
But SMEs in particular urgently need PR?
Anken: Without a doubt. The core problem here is also to make the PR industry transparent to these companies and to explain to them what we can offer.
How do you respond to the frequently heard accusation that the PR industry itself needs PR?
Anken: That's not an accusation, but a statement with which I completely agree. We certainly need to fight even better on the various fronts so that the understanding of PR grows. We in the PR Association of French-speaking Switzerland will now join forces with other communication organizations and exchange experiences. We want to address the question of who is responsible for what. On the other hand, I don't believe that one-sided advertisements saying "PR is when..." will achieve anything. We need to seek dialog with decision-makers from the business world, the public sector and our potential clients and use concrete examples to show what PR is. The digital revolution, i.e. the whole technological change, gives us the opportunity to do this. PR is a profession that emerged from the industrial revolution 130 years ago. Today, we find ourselves in the same situation, which has an impact on society as a whole. And what is happening in this context with all the changes, from technological processes to democratic processes, requires an enormous amount of information and explanation. The demands and expectations placed on the economic and political players are enormous. And in this context, public relations work aimed at creating transparency will become increasingly important.
Is the skewed image of the PR industry also linked to the fact that, despite having a professional diploma, it is still possible for anyone to do PR?
Anken: This circumstance may indeed contribute to this. But for me, these are excuses. Jazz musician is also not a protected title, anyone can strum around as they please, but that doesn't mean that the music genre of jazz has a worse or better reputation. However, we have done a poor job in recent years in that we have concentrated too little on profiling via our core competencies. We should complain less about the black sheep and those from other sectors who graze under the hag in the PR sector, and instead make a name for ourselves through our work.
But it's always amazing how discreet PR people are when it comes to marketing their own services?
Anken: I believe that we as providers, each agency for itself, are not so bad at marketing our own services. On the other hand, there is a lack of transparency as an industry. We don't know how to distinguish ourselves in the overall concert of communication professions. And when I use the word "distinguish", I mean it in the noblest sense of the word. We need to be careful not to mix things up and to have the courage to explain clearly to our clients what PR is and what it is not.
However, it is a fact that more and more customers want a complete communication package. Accordingly, advertising and marketing agencies are also offering PR services. Does it still make sense from the client's point of view to contact a PR agency?
Anken: Offering clearly defined PR services certainly makes sense. For example, when it comes to explaining what joining the UN means for Switzerland in a democratic process or accompanying the introduction of e-voting, to name two current examples, the core competencies of public relations come into play. On the other hand, I am not at all opposed to an advertising agency writing a single press release in connection with a product promotion; there are some who do this quite well. In every profession, the requirements are constantly changing, and it would be boring if the profession of PR consultant didn't change too. Interview: Anita Vaucher

Comments from media experts on the discontinuation of Metropol mainly criticize the zigzag courseIt is not enough to want to push international "recipes for success" into the Swiss market, is the tenor after the decision to discontinue Metropol. Not the hoped-for advertising money, but the consumers should be placed at the beginning of all considerations, is the criticism of the media experts.
Petra Kreussler: Bitter. Another end for a Swiss media company, and in hindsight it is of course clear to everyone that three titles could not possibly have survived in the highly competitive Zurich market. However, it is now time to realize that more responsibility must be taken on all sides when launching new media projects and that, for a change, consumers and not just the hoped-for advertising money should be placed at the forefront of all considerations. Only those who have clear goals, recognize the potential early on and can react to the accelerated market dynamics will gain attention today.
Andy Lehmann: In my view, it is simply untenable and ultimately damaging when media are simply taken out of the market again according to an inscrutable "opportunity system". The only regrettable fact about this tragedy is probably the realization that it is obviously not enough to try to push international "recipes for success" into the Swiss market. If a publishing house is not in a position to implement such know-how in a positive way, then the discontinuation of Metropol is definitely not to be regretted.
Röbi Baier: The end of Metropol is neither a surprise nor a loss for the media industry. The market opportunities were predicted far too naively. The "ear to the market" did not work. 20 Minuten will certainly be the No. 1 beneficiary, but the legacy will be limited.
Urs Renner: The advertising world will hardly mourn Metropol. The zigzag course (geographical expansion was suddenly followed by a concentration on Zurich again) made the title difficult to plan. 20 Minuten will undoubtedly benefit in the reader market from the discontinuation of Metropol. Whether this will also be the case in the advertising market depends heavily on
This is related to whether the title can overcome the generally negative image of free titles among many media decision-makers.
Peter Döbeli: The end of Metropol came as no surprise to us. The publisher had been saying between the lines for some time that the end was imminent. It was also to be feared from the outset that not both titles would be able to survive in the medium to long term. In my opinion, the Swiss market was of strategic importance in this case because 20 Minuten, as a copy of the already successfully launched Metro concept, made its first launch attempt outside its home market. If 20 Minuten had failed in Switzerland, life would have been easier for Metro in other markets. In the Swiss market, the more aggressive, active and innovative publisher won the race, and unlike Metropol, 20 Minuten is not just a newspaper, but a multimedia platform. This has probably also contributed to its success. Survey: Daniel Schifferle