«Never before has the idea of using rear windows as advertising space been implemented as professionally, convincingly, and efficiently as with You-AD,» raved Walter Bosch, a member of You-AD’s board of directors, in *WerbeWoche*. A study by the Ernest-Dichter Institute lent weight to this statement. Legs photographed by Michel Jaussi now give the campaign a face. Starting next week, the young startup plans to make a splash in Zurich with its in-house developed campaign and prove just how effective the mobile advertising space is. «A deliberate and sexy nod to the advertising industry,» said co-owner Thomas Gfeller about the ad promoting their own business. A tribute to Troxler. Although the Allgemeine Plakatgesellschaft (APG) and the Federal Department of Home Affairs (EDI) have suspended this year’s «Swiss Posters of the Year» competition—which has been held for 60 years—because they are working on a reorientation of the awards program, Nevertheless, the APG did not want to let the traditional exhibition fade away without a trace. As a consolation, the Lucerne branch of the APG organized a special exhibition featuring the poster artist Niklaus Troxler. His posters—which have been exhibited at venues including New York’s MoMA—are going on tour alongside the «Poster Gems of Central Switzerland 2000» and will be on display in nine municipalities.
A SUCCESSFUL PITCH. «It’s with great pleasure,» says Markus Gut of Publicis, «that I can announce his team has won the entire Migros advertising contract for its Expo presence in a competitive pitch.» Publicis’ “surprising and straightforward idea” prevailed over the competitors’ proposals as early as the first round of the pitch. At the orange-branded cultural sponsor, Beat Mühlemann is in charge of the Expo budget.
The era of advertising assistants is over. 105 candidates have successfully completed their training as marketing communications planners. For the first time, the exams were held in accordance with the new 2000 regulations. These regulations replace the previous professional examination for advertising assistants. At 56 percent, the pass rate was «not exactly impressive,» as Schweizer Werbung (SW) reports. It attributes this to the greater weight given to the written portion and the new major subject of communication planning.
The new «Chairman.» To mark his debut as the new chairman of Euro RSCG, Frank Bodin surprised clients and employees with a postcard campaign of his own design and immediately signaled a fresh creative direction. Featuring a wide variety of seating options (from the electric chair to the orange Panton chair as a tribute to client Orange) and bold statements, he highlights what matters most to him in good advertising. Internally, the CEO has also launched a contest to find out which chair the staff would like to see him in. But he’s already anticipated the cynics: «The ejector seat isn’t among the options,» Bodin says mischievously.
COOKED IN THE FOUNDRY FURNACE. Following an agency evaluation, the Oerlikon Foundry commissioned the Zurich-based agency Bonaparte to develop its communication strategy. The first step is to let nearby companies know that the restaurant—which had previously been open three evenings a week—now also serves lunch daily. The advertising team aims to achieve this goal with a free pass. The eye-catching design contrasts the foundry’s—so to speak—archaic charm with its culinary experience. The «cutlery» depicted comes from the remaining tool inventory of the decommissioned industrial facility; the plate was photographed on the facility’s floor. «But that doesn’t mean guests dine here sitting on the floor,» says copywriter Adrian Sulzer.
Editorial
Not the last casualty yet… Just recently, SwissOnline had to announce the end of its customer magazine Netlife, which had just turned one year old. Now the same bad news is coming from Internet Standard, which was launched at the same time. Of the three print publications on the New Economy that hit the market last year full of optimism, only the B2B publication Netzwoche remains.
All three publications have one thing in common: they were planned during the boom and relied on the hype surrounding the New Economy to fuel their growth. After the crash—which wasn’t entirely unexpected—the cleanup began. Instead of covering all the predicted success stories, they soon found themselves having to report only on the treacherous and money-wasting dot-com companies. It goes without saying that advertisers and readers alike would flee from an environment that had become so hostile.
Netzwoche is in a somewhat more comfortable position, because its target audience—corporate decision-makers—will continue to have to deal with the Internet, whether they like it or not.
But Internet Standard certainly won’t be the last media victim of the burst New Economy bubble. In addition to various other sites and portals that will join those that have already closed (see also page 1), one major project is under serious threat: Roger Schawinski’s Money 24, with its planned financial portal as its main source of revenue. The stock market channel now finds itself facing a double whammy: the stock market crash and the collapse of Internet illusions. These are exactly the right conditions for yet another debacle. Daniel Schifferle
