The secret of female slenderness has been revealed. You guessed right! It is directly linked to the eating habits of line-conscious women. However, Hollywood diets and slim-fast delicacies have long been a thing of the past, because today's women digest completely different calibers. She drinks perfume - preferably Roma by Laura Biagiotti - and eats a gold ring from time to time. Delicious. You have to try it. After the first sip of Roma at the latest, you're ready for the Betty Ford clinic. Now it's also clear why women in the duty-free departments or in perfumeries spray themselves tirelessly with perfume. They are thirsty, especially as it is no longer possible to recognize the scent with this confusion of aromas. Is it now clear why women like to adorn themselves with as much jewelry as possible? Exactly: Better safe than sorry Chandra Kurt
PS: The red lips in the Alfa ad (WW 4/02) belong to the Russian top model Tatiana Rudenko and not to the reigning Miss Switzerland, Jennifer Ann Gerber.
Column

Euphoria By Carmelo Buffoli
A typical characteristic of revolutionary changes is that we only realize their true extent later. I must confess that I, too, am subject to these human limits of perception.
But the fact is: my life is becoming more and more beautiful, colorful and simple! At least others are working hard to make me believe that. They also worked hard to launch the new Swiss airline, and I have a certain amount of sympathy for their efforts. "Reduced, simple and clear" is the new look of our airline. And how tempting what it promises sounds: boundless freedom that was previously unthinkable even in democracies. With a new name, outfit and the élan of the seventies, it wants to rise from a heap of rubble to become the fourth-largest airline in Europe! Simply wonderful! It's your own fault if you don't take advantage of this freedom!
The reactions were numerous and often euphoric. Although, to date we have mainly seen packaging from Swiss. The motto is no longer "standing still is a step backwards", but "retro design is progress" - this could be true at best, at least until the next trend!
Now I'm particularly curious about the content of the new airline - and the true extent of the changes.
PS: Something else was forgotten in all the euphoria: The economic situation is bad - worldwide. All airlines worldwide are suffering from the poor economic situation. Economists agree that an improvement is only likely in 2003...!
[email protected]

Carmelo Buffoli is the owner of Buffoli und Partner GmbH, ASW.
Business lunch

Very close to perfection
Beat and Nathalie Caduff have fulfilled a dream with their Wine Loft and tell everyone at www.ca duffs.ch: "We are happy to have found a home for our dreams of hospitality and joie de vivre." That makes surfing fun. But watch out! In the "real" cellar, there are other heavyweight wines lying around, so it's worth going down to the basement. According to the motto "what you see is what you get", you can pass the time between ordering and service by talking shop and selecting the wine for your meal - perhaps making a powerful impression if you want to impress a still undecided business partner with your own (or copied) eloquence in describing aromas. I think little or nothing of this linguistic fruit salad: does this Sauvignon blanc smell like a haystack of alpine grasses or one from the pre-alpine hill zone?
Caduff knows a thing or two about communication. This begins with the menu, which leaves nothing to be desired typographically: Grotesque basic font, reader-friendly. However, the frosted plastic around the 70 gram paper could be dispensed with. On the left are the wines by the glass, impressive in number and price per deciliter (up to over 20 francs). On the right is the culinary offer. This usually matches the mood of the moment - because you've eaten something from it before. Caduff's cuisine is wholesome, light and uses products mostly from local sources. "Only the best basic products, bought fresh from the market early in the morning and in season, are used," he writes on his homepage. I would love to know where the first market for Canadian bison meat is located in Zurich and the surrounding area. Bison meat is delicious, very much so. I've eaten it in Chicago, somewhere south of the Loop area. I wonder if it came to Switzerland fresh from the market or if it was stored frozen.
Communication in gastronomy is a difficult subject. If you don't tell the truth, nosy food critics will come along and find a fly in the ointment that they have cut off their own head. The best thing to do is to reduce your need to communicate to the plates that you give to the serving staff from the kitchen so that they are quickly placed on the guest's table.
In between, enjoy the wonderful bread. Also a piece of communication: take a step back from everyday life and take a look at the everyday, at the bread, the master wants to say. A veal terrine with a convincing texture, rack of lamb (roasted a little too firm) with saffron risotto cooked to near perfection and a tender and juicy guinea fowl on aromatic sauerkraut were served - and were affordable in the end. A coherent price-performance ratio.
It is the attentive attention to detail that makes the visit a worthwhile experience. The unspeakable noise level resulting from the architecture of the room is not a problem. The Caduff is less suitable as a business lunch venue because it makes it almost impossible to concentrate on work (which, depending on your business partner's renitence, you may have to do with a fork, knife and glass). If a cell phone beeps, there are no scowls, because most of the diners here are people who depend on it.
The waitress was attentive (even if she was terribly engrossed in the cash desk when she entered), but she has probably been poached from trendy restaurants and sometimes shows her belly. Of course, I have to see it last - because it has nothing to do with communication. Carlo Bernasconi
Caduff's Wine LoftKanzleistrasse 126
CH-8004 Zurich
Tel. 01 240 22 55
Fax 01 240 22 56
E-mail: [email protected]
Parking spaces are a matter of luck.

What is so groundbreaking about this year's Gold campaign?: The last Gold campaigns were and are not really groundbreaking. But at least they are outstanding. The fashion campaign for Big is close to showing the way how it can be done.
How would you rate the level in your category?
Wyler: The standard in my category was good to very good. So we were able to make practical use of the quota. However, I didn't discover any new trends.
How is the quality of this advertising vintage in general?
Wyler: There have been better vintages. But that shouldn't necessarily be down to the creatives.
Your conclusion after 26 years of ADC: Has the standard of the submitted work increased, remained the same, or deteriorated?
Wyler: 26 years ago, people had different expectations than they do today. From that point of view, the standard is certainly higher. But in England or Holland or elsewhere, we have nothing to report, with a few exceptions.
Are there any newcomers to be spotted, or did the ADC habitués win once again?
Wyler: It was more the ADC habitués. They also make up the majority of the club.
Which works do you give a chance for the Cannes advertising festival?
Wyler: Perhaps the "rosary ad" for Laax, perhaps a campaign by Claude Catsky that found no favor here, but will certainly cause a sensation internationally.
Has advertising become bolder?
Wyler: No, on the contrary. But that's hardly down to us.
What importance do you attach to lobbying in such competitions?
Wyler: We all lobby somehow, if only by greeting each other in a particularly friendly way at the judging. However, all the jurors do their best to judge the works fairly.
Based on the advertising, will you now buy one of the award-winning advertised products?
Wyler: Of course, it's not that simple. But there is a causal link between good advertising, brand image and the decision to buy.
Has this competition raised your professional pride as an advertiser to a new high?
Wyler: Are you seriously asking that question?
Has there been any work that has achieved art status for you as an art director?
Wyler: I sometimes thought that it was an art to sell this or that work to a customer.

Jury President Public Ads (individual motifs)What is so groundbreaking about this year's Gold campaign? The snowboard ad for the Alpenarena is a worthy winner. Groundbreaking means that a gold medal should be the benchmark for future work. And that means: a brilliant idea of high relevance - i.e. an idea that communicates a product benefit or advantage in a succinct way; a production that dramatizes this idea as much as possible - i.e. attractive, unique and very, very fast; an implementation that is pleasing to the eye and tickles the brain cells in a pleasant way.
How would you rate the level in your category?
Schweizer: The standard of all the works that made it to bronze was high. Individual ads are generally good playgrounds for creative solutions. Because the task can be approached in a much more focused way than with entire campaigns.
How is the quality of this advertising vintage in general?
Schweizer: In economically uncertain times, solid values become more relevant again. I think that's a good thing, because people don't allow themselves to be led by spectacular gimmicks that don't create sustainability.
Are there any newcomers to be spotted, or did the ADC habitués win once again?
Schweizer: The large amount of excellent work continues to be produced at the same addresses. Because they can attract and employ the good people. But among these good people there are a lot of new maker names. These are the real newcomers.
Which works do you think have a chance at the Cannes Festival?
Swiss: These include the Snöber ad "Halfpipe", Hakle ad "Finger", Big posters, Tibits posters, Güggel ad for Radio DRS, Tibet ad with folklore music and the ad for "Together against violence".
Has advertising become bolder?
Schweizer: What do you mean by braver? She has to get better. And she got better!

Jury President Public Service and DesignWhat is so groundbreaking about this year's Gold campaign? The Big campaign does not focus on the product, but on the consumer effect - a witty implementation.
How is the quality of this advertising vintage in general?
Voser: There are hardly any big campaigns for big brands in Switzerland anymore. That's a shame.
Your conclusion after 26 years of ADC: Has the standard of the submitted work increased, remained the same, or deteriorated?
Voser: The standard has clearly improved. Modern means of communication and international competition have clearly brought about an increase. I very much hope that this trend continues so that Swiss advertisers are also in demand for international budgets.
Can newcomers be spotted, or did the ADC habitués win once again?
Voser: Highly creative advertising is no coincidence. That's why there are actually no ADC habitués, but simply outstanding creatives and less good ones.
Which works do you give a chance for the Cannes advertising festival?
Voser: Flims Laax Falera, Big and Radio DRS.
What did you pay particular attention to during the evaluation?
Voser: What is particularly important to me is the originality of the idea, which presents the product in an advantageous and above all differentiated way, so that it is not interchangeable. And if it comes across with a smile, all the better.
Has advertising itself become bolder?
Voser: Unfortunately not.
What importance do you attach to lobbying in such competitions?
Voser: "The common assessment criteria and the continuous improvement of the jury's approach provide an objective picture of annual Swiss advertising.
Has there been any work that has achieved art status for you as an art director?
Voser: First we would have to define art again. But advertising is basically created on behalf of a client and for commercial purposes.

AY&R, Publicis, Wirz and RufLanz were showered with gold at the ADC 2002By Luca Aloisi Despite a slight decline in entries, nine works were awarded gold, just like last year, thanks to the cube contingent. In general, it was noted that creativity unfortunately did not behave anti-cyclically to the economy. Among the top disciplines, only the overall campaign came away empty-handed. All in all, a good year.
Andreas Prokesch welcomed the jury members in his usual mischievous manner, as if he wanted to gently instruct all the gold jurors that this was unlikely to be a year in which the barometer for creative advertising would be recalibrated. To get the men's panel in the mood, ADC Chairman Prokesch, who was also acting as jury director for the last time, read out the rules for winners and losers - a list of guiding principles that he had borrowed from the EHC Frauenfeld Piccolo team's association booklet. There, his nine-year-old son had already learned that a winner blames luck for his victory, even if it is not always luck; while a loser describes his loss as bad luck, even if it is not bad luck. Prokesch took the wind out of the sails of potential complainers by saying that winners and losers refer to the type and that the gold judging team is made up exclusively of winners.
The glorious two defended their first places
The ADC Board responded to the "over-regulation" that was frequently criticized last year by making significant changes to the judging process: on the one hand, this year those whose ADC award was more than three years old could once again sit on the jury, and on the other hand, the jury groups went from work to work again according to the old custom. This was intended to minimize the anonymous ticking of boxes in the first round of voting, which often led to questionable judgments.
Nevertheless, it was not possible to prevent works that had won several international awards from being overlooked in the first round at ADC Switzerland, noted the visibly irritated Chairman Daniel Matter. ADC Chairman Prokesch tried to correct the picture with the somewhat obsolete explanation that every jury comes to slightly different conclusions.
This was not the only point on which the panel struggled. More than the works to be judged themselves, the definition problems of the gold jury often gave rise to discussion. Because some of the advertisements that appeared in the specialist advertising category were also placed in the general press, the jury split into two camps, debating where to look for the special interest groups and how to define them.
In general, the ADC management stated that almost a third of all entries were submitted in the incorrect categories. "Perhaps we should introduce a seminar," joked Andreas Prokesch. Nevertheless, the creative elite went to great lengths to respect the decisions of the category juries and did not dismiss any silver work.
Instead, it applied the splitting rule in favor of the entrants, which at least helped the rooster from Advico Young & Rubicam's (AY&R) Radio DRS commercial series to win gold. The jury generously saw the fact that the concept idea was somewhat exhausted as the lesser evil. Although the other AY&R client, the Kuoni Group, was denied the golden hat-trick in the overall campaign category - it "only" won silver - the Gockhausen agency can count itself lucky with gold cubes in three supreme disciplines, as it landed in second place with 56 points.
This year, it ceded first place to Publicis, which took the honors in 2001. Despite being one gold cube behind AY&R, Jean Etienne Aebi's Publicis team, which has the winner of the season in the ZVV campaign, managed to swing onto the top step of the podium with enough silver and bronze. The two top agencies have not been displaced from the top spot for three years.
Upscale mediocrity, but few blockbusters
Markus Ruf and Danielle Lanz returned with verve - for the first time in a new agency constellation; their productive creative agency came in fourth place behind Wirz Werbung. Thanks to ground-breaking work, Wirz - with a Tibet spot that pioneeringly dispenses with oppressive implementations and moralizing, and the successful continuation of the Tibits campaign - and RufLanz - which advertises for the fashion house Big in a communications outfit that is unusual for the industry - were the other two golden hamsters.
In the 15 categories (2001: 20, including the Press Prize, which was not awarded this year), 1140 (1159) works were judged. Nine were awarded gold, 39 (56) silver and 184 (220) bronze diplomas. There was a high level of mediocrity on show, which is why even good works had a difficult time in various categories. There were fewer absolute highlights than ever before.
In the ailing market situation, loud statements and provocation have given way to proven concepts and majority-coded implementations. The winning motto for many advertising platforms that can be used in the long term was to be offputting, but with calculation. The performances of the otherwise courageous publishing industry were disappointing. In the medal table this year, the media companies were conspicuous only by their absence.
ADC 2002: The gold winners

Audience ads: Publicis with the "One ticket for everything" campaign for the Zurich Transport Association (ZVV).
Public advertisements (individual motifs): AY&R with "Alpenarena Monsterpipe" for Flims Laax Falera.
Specialist advertisement: AY&R with "Downhill Biking" for Flims Laax Falera.
Outdoor advertising: RufLanz with "Warten auf die Girls" for Big and Wirz with "Pouletschenkel" for Tibits.
Advertising film: AY&R with "Güggel" for Swiss Radio DRS.
Editorials and book design: Integral Lars Müller with the "Freitag" book.
Illustration: Publicis with its own Christmas mailing "Memory".
Public Service: Wirz with the TV commercial "Keep Tibet Alive" for the Swiss Tibetan community.

Lowe, Zurich, wipes the last speck of dust from Möbel Pfister's imageThe fact that Möbel Pfister had an image problem was already recognized towards the end of the 1970s. However, an initial attempt at correction by the then GGK was stopped after a short time. After that, brand management fell somewhat behind due to the development of the Mobitare and Top Tip subsidiaries. Since Lowe took over the management of the budget at the end of 1995, the modernization of the image has once again been a focus of communication.
In the latest umbrella campaign, the market-leading Swiss furnishing brand, which according to the NZZ achieved sales of CHF 546.2 million last year, clearly states the current market rate.
When the most Swiss of all Swiss furniture stores suddenly gives preference to aggressive communication over the previously cultivated restrained self-presentation, it can hardly be pigeonholed as a dusty company any longer. Especially not when the campaign takes a hearty stab at the take-away market with a Swedish matter-of-factness. page 10

Petra Dreyfus What was the last cultural event you attended?
Petra Dreyfus: The Basel Museum Night. It was a great opportunity to discover new museums.
What are you reading right now?
Dreyfus: "Girl with a pearl earring" by Tracy Chevalier. A novel about the painting of the same name by Johannes Vermeer. Beautifully written and much more interesting than the title suggests.
Which CD do you currently prefer to listen to?
Dreyfus: Various, but I always like "The K&D Sessions" by Kruder & Dorfmeister.
Which movie would you most like to see again?
Dreyfus: "Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain" - because it is so light and refreshing.
What TV show did you fall asleep during the other night?
Dreyfus: There are many ways to fall asleep, but luckily there is a remote control.
What is your latest discovery on the Internet?
Dreyfus: dict.leo.org - not very spectacular, but helpful...
What could you never do without?
Dreyfus: During the week - for a Schoggiweggli and Coca-Cola light for breakfast.
What do you do in a free minute?
Dreyfus: Meeting friends.
Love is...?
Dreyfus: ...fortunately not explainable.

Corinne Blaser has been marketing the World Cup on Sat 1 for RMB since December 2001Head of the week "Television and the World Cup are a great challenge for me"
Zapping during movie breaks to avoid the TV commercials? That's certainly not an issue for Corinne Blaser, who loved watching commercials as a child. "I also remember that I used to cut out and collect the particularly beautiful advertisements while reading various magazines," she says with a laugh. So it was clear to the 26-year-old after secondary school that her future career would be in advertising.
She completed her apprenticeship as a commercial clerk at Publimedia and then moved to Belcom, where she worked as a sales and program assistant. After six months, she returned to Publimedia as a sales assistant for Espace Pub and Le Nouveau Quotidien. At the same time, she took the opportunity to improve her French and obtain her Delf diploma.
When Le Nouveau Quotidien and the Journal de Genève merged, the time came for Blaser to take on a new challenge, which she found at what was then Cinecom and is now RMB. Her career began as Sales Manager Cinema: "It was the perfect position for me as an advertising and cinema enthusiast," she says today, explaining the reason for the move. After just one year, she took on the role of Deputy Division Manager Cinema and Print.
At the same time, she trained as a marketing planner, which she completed in the spring of last year. Six months later, she began teaching cinema advertising in the media department at Sawi, Spok and BVS: "I find teaching the subject a perfect complement to my practical work. It's also very nice to be able to pass on some of my 'cinema lifeblood'," enthuses Blaser.
After four years in the Cinema and Print division, she was promoted to Chief Sales Officer National at the end of last year. In this role, she is now responsible for the marketing of RMB's entire media portfolio. In addition to cinema and the cinema magazine Close-up, this also includes the two television channels Sat 1 and MTV - a huge challenge for Blaser in connection with the upcoming World Cup on Sat 1.
How does she intend to tackle this? "I'm working closely with our media department, which has a lot of expertise in television." She has already been able to draw on the existing TV experience of her team, with whom she has put together various "advertising packages" over the last two months, for which she is trying to find as many buyers as possible. The fact that Swiss television will not be broadcasting the World Cup for cost reasons is of course convenient for her. Daniela Zivadinovic

Many private radio broadcasters believe that the distribution issue has also been resolved with the concessionCablecom is being forced to clarify its product range policy due to the demand from secondary channels for a cable network slot. However, according to Paul Winiker, neither the claim to a connection nor cost neutrality are realistic.the planned cable radios will not get into the cable networks so easily? Where is the problem?
Paul Winiker: We were virtually bombarded with applications for second, third and fourth radio stations. However, some of these requests are made for purely tactical reasons, because they are hoping for a better starting position when it comes to frequency allocation. But that's not the only reason why we don't simply switch off existing radio stations. We are very, very restrictive in this respect.
Around 40 radio stations can be received on the cable network. Why is it so difficult to replace some of these mostly foreign stations with the new applicants from Switzerland?
Winiker: Shutting down programs is very unpopular. This is never possible without upsetting a large number of customers. For Cablecom, this means: Does the activation of a new program justify taking a program away from a certain customer group? A sensible product range policy that takes the wishes of its customers seriously is of the utmost importance to Cablecom.
The wishes of cable customers are also the subject of a cable radio study published last fall (see also WW 46/01). The study, initiated by Swisscable, SRG, Radiotele and various radio stations, sets out clear priorities for the broadcasting of radio programs.
Winiker: We are aware of the study, but it gives us little more information than we already had. Around a year ago, we asked over 20,000 cablecom customers about their priorities when using radio stations on the cable network. In that survey, 96 percent said they were "satisfied" to "very satisfied" with the cable radio offering.
Several of the projected cable radios seem to have miscalculated in terms of distribution. What was their miscalculation?
Winiker: Distribution is a very important issue for all media. Unfortunately, this fact is totally neglected by some broadcasters. These broadcasters believe that they can apply for a license from the Federal Office of Communications and then have distribution in the bag with the license. But this is not the case. On the other hand, distribution is not free either. Every program activation requires the use of the technical and personnel infrastructure of the cable networks. Of course, the question is always who pays these costs.
Broadcasters want the cable network operators to provide the activation as free of charge as possible. What can you offer them?
Winiker: That is a matter for negotiation. There is no generally applicable rule here. However, the key factor in the assessment will always be whether a program offers real added value in the existing range. If this is the case, we will not focus on the cost issue. Another question, however, is how the cable networks that do not belong to Cablecom will react. We have no influence there. Interview: Daniel Schifferle

In addition, Jörg Rindlisbacher is scaling back his role: The founder and CEO of the Zurich-based advertising agency Wunderman AG will—as he puts it—become a part-time coach.
New organizational structure at the Basel-based printing and publishing house Schwabe & Co. Owners Ruedi Bienz and Urs Breitenstein are handing over operational management to a three-member executive board. David Marc Hoffmann is the new publishing director; Erich Käser is in charge of the printing plant; and Michael Düblin heads the IT department.
Zurich-based Weka Verlag has appointed Martin Lütscher as its new head of marketing and sales. Previously, he served as founding managing director of the online bookseller Bertelsmann Online (BOL) Schweiz AG from 1999 to 2001 and worked at Reader’s Digest for nearly 20 years.
Corinne Scarpi has been working in the advertising sales department at Meyer AG since the beginning of the year. As regional sales manager for the women’s magazine *Meyer’s* and the cooking magazine *Chuchi*, she is responsible for the regions of Aargau, Basel, Bern, and Solothurn.
The Swiss Press Association (VSP) has appointed Daniel Kaczynski as its new legal counsel. He succeeds Antje Ruckstuhl.
Ueli Haldimann is taking over as interim editorial director of SF DRS effective immediately.
The advertising time marketer IP Multimedia Switzerland (IPM) has created a new position, Director of TV/Radio Sales, which will be filled by Mehmet Inan. Urs-Werner Merkli, Senior Sales Manager for German- and French-speaking Switzerland, will serve as his deputy. Patricia Vanek is joining the company as Media Planning Manager. The TV/Radio account management team is being strengthened by Evi Jossi in German-speaking Switzerland and by Raoul Gerber in French-speaking Switzerland.
Claude Bürki, editor-in-chief of the trade magazine *Tara verpacken + verkaufen*, is returning to the PR scene. He will join the Ebenberger Public Relations agency in Stäfa on March 1.
The Zurich-based communications agency Wunderman is expanding its below-the-line services. André Parsic, who previously served as Director of Customer Contact at Japan Tobacco International, will take on the role of Director of Promotions, overseeing the strategic development and execution of BTL initiatives both domestically and internationally.
Rudolf Widmer is the new marketing manager and a member of the executive board at networking equipment manufacturer Sun Microsystems (Switzerland). He succeeds Nicole Tanner, who had been serving as interim head of marketing since July. Widmer most recently served as manager of marketing communications at Compaq Computer (Switzerland).
Peter Hof, the former owner and managing director of the Basel-based printing and new media company Linsenmann AG, is handing over the reins to Otto Kunz. In addition to serving as managing director, Kunz will also oversee the Online and New Media division. Thomas Kneuss, as a member of the executive board, will head the Design and Print division.

Advice and action from Bilan's editor-in-chiefAlain Jeannet, editor-in-chief of Bilan, warned at the Publimedia breakfast meeting in Lausanne that the media should also seize the opportunity presented by the crisis and set positive signals for the future. Le Temps opened the series of cost-cutting measures in late fall. At the beginning of the new year, however, the competition also joined the bean counters among the media houses. Redundancies, early retirements, the deletion of entire supplements or individual pages are the recipes used to at least partially compensate for the lack of advertising revenue. The cost-cutting exercises have even gone so far that L'Hebdo, for example, switched to cheaper paper at the beginning of the year and 24 Heures closed its Geneva office without further ado. These are all unpleasant, if not frightening, developments.
However, Bilan editor-in-chief Jeannet may not be joining in the general swan song. This became immediately clear at the Publimedia breakfast meeting on the shores of Lake Geneva. In his presentation, Jeannet also identified opportunities in the crisis. Both for media companies and for their newspapers and magazines. However, courage is also needed to exploit these opportunities.
Suddenly there are more top people on the market again
Jeannet went on to list various cases in which it was possible to profit from the crisis. For example, Ringier did not hesitate to take over Jean Frey AG during this critical time. And Cash recently launched the Value business supplement together with L'Hebdo - despite the crisis. But Jeannet also added encouraging rays of hope from outside the media scene.
For example, during this difficult time, Kudelski provided its customer Eurostar with one billion Swiss francs so that the latter could buy out its competitor. And someone even profited from the Swissair debacle. The small but successful Easy Jet used the opportunity to take over market share from Swissair.
To put the current difficulties into perspective, Jeannet drew comparisons with the economic crisis at the beginning of the 1990s. It was precisely then that Edipresse set out to massively increase its involvement abroad. Numerous small and medium-sized companies were also founded during that time of crisis.
According to Jeannet, this is another opportunity that can be attributed to the crisis: top employees who were being sought in vain just six months ago are now suddenly available. Anita Vaucher

Newsstand sales pick up, but the postponed relaunch unsettles advertising customersBy Markus Knöpfli The announced takeover by Ringier is causing problems for Weltwoche: Editorial staff members are jumping ship again, advertisers are holding back. Despite the first silver lining on the horizon.
When Weltwoche co-editor-in-chief Roger Köppel was asked at the Epiphany conference how the editorial team had reacted to the takeover by Ringier, the usually quick-witted Köppel dodged the question. Because of the postponed relaunch, motivation was now necessary, he said only.
Two weeks later, more can be said about the state of affairs at Weltwoche: Esther Girsberger and Matthias Baer are leaving the editorial team, and Urs Paul Engeler is abandoning his planned move from SonntagsZeitung to Weltwoche.
The postponement of the relaunch also left advertisers partly in the lurch. "We had a big lull in January," says publishing director Uli Rubner. Many potential advertisers would wait for the relaunch, and some who had booked for the originally planned first issue of the new magazine on January 31 had withdrawn orders for that date.
Several spring campaigns, on the other hand, remained on schedule. "With good reason," says Rubner, because Weltwoche's realignment under the new editors-in-chief is beginning to bear fruit. Although she is cautious about absolute figures, she does provide index values for newsstand sales (see chart): According to this, newsstand sales have been rising steadily since July, almost without any advertising efforts (excluding the extraordinary peaks in September and October). In November, it was about 50 percent higher than in the same month of the previous year, even though massive TV ads were run at the time.
According to a copy test conducted in November 2001, around 60 percent of subscribers said they had noticed a change at Weltwoche in recent months. A good 30 percent describe the new course as "more provocative, more courageous, more varied and more interesting," while around 14 percent dislike it.
According to Rubner, the shelf life across all subscription types has increased by 2 percent, and the number of student subscriptions (40 percent discount) is also rising. The conversion rate from trial to fixed subscriptions, on the other hand, has not changed significantly. Rubner does, however, expect that certified circulation in the spring will be slightly higher than a year ago (84206 copies).
The hesitation of advertisers is not only due to the postponement of the relaunch, but also to the zigzag course that the Basel media group took with Weltwoche last year. As recently as May, publisher Matthias Hagemann wanted to hold on to both Weltwoche and editor-in-chief Fredy Gsteiger, and merely "position the paper higher" and target it at high-earning and well-educated people (See also WW 18/01).
Since then, everything has changed. According to Rubner, under Köppel/Angst, the paper is once again aimed at a broader audience and is now "less conceited and less academic, but does not dilute the high level of ambition. As a result, Weltwoche is once again more attractive to younger readers.
But Weltwoche's main problem at the moment - and thus also that of its advertising customers - is now the uncertainty as to whether and how long the initial success will last. Because with the sale to Ringier, the concept slalom is probably entering its third run.