The German advertising network Scholz & Friends (S&F) merges with the TV production company United Visions Entertainment (UVE), Berlin.news Scholz & Friends merges
To this end, S&F will be listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. UVE shareholders will be paid with shares in S&F AG. The British advertising holding company Cordiant, previously the sole owner of S&F, will remain the majority shareholder with over 80 percent of the shares. Thomas Heilmann and Sebastian Turner will become CEOs of S&F AG.
Omnicom buys Wolff OlinsThe US advertising holding company Omnicom acquires the brand consulting agency Wolff Olins. In future, it will operate as an independent agency within the Diversified Agency Services Group. Wolff Olins employs around 200 people in the UK, Spain, Portugal, Japan and the USA. Its clients include Orange, Apple and Credit Suisse.
WSJ Europe changes agencyThe business newspaper Wall Street Journal (WSJ) Europe has put its European account out to tender. The German agencies Scholz & Friends and Select Communications as well as Strawberryfrog in Amsterdam and the US agency Goodby, Silverstein were invited to pitch. Not included is account holder BBDO, Düsseldorf, which only took over the budget in August 2000 - from Ogilvy & Mather, which in turn had won a pitch for the WSJ just a year earlier.
TBWA Chiat Day retains EnergizerIn a duel with DDB Chicago, TBWA Chiat Day has retained the upper hand. The agency from Los Angeles won the pitch for the rebranding of the Energizer battery brand. TBWA has been in charge of Energizer's main budget for a long time. DDB joined the agency's roster last year when it was awarded the launch budget for the new e2 battery. This is now moving to TBWA along with the 100 million dollar rebranding.

Corporate publishing is on the upswing, as renowned specialists are convinced. Facts and advertising content with tangible benefits should have a greater impact on customers than flashy headlines with artificial emotions. Of course, this recipe is always being discussed as a new trend. Nevertheless, the idea is worth considering. See page 20 to find out whether it can be a bit more when weighing up the arguments

The Basel-based agency Intext Identity AG, a sister company of Intext Communications AG, began operations at the beginning of May, advising companies and organizations on identity and brand development as well as design management. The agency is also an ideal partner for print solutions, online communication measures and multimedia. Reto Ruppeiner is the majority shareholder and managing director of the new company and is currently still working alone.
Ruppeiner, previously Head of Visual Identity Management at Novartis, will continue to oversee this area for the pharmaceutical company. "In addition to Novartis, we are in talks with other customers. Various acquisitions are also in progress," says Ruppeiner about the current customer portfolio. (dz)

The Swiss online advertising industry needs a strong voice to publicize the opportunitiesBy Clemens HörlerThe online advertising industry is ailing. What is needed now is strong generic marketing and educational work. But the industry has no audible common voice. The Swiss Internet Advertising Bureau has so far been able to achieve little.
The fact that the online advertising industry is not doing as well as it should has been whistling from the rooftops for a long time. But numerous case studies have shown that online marketing can lead to success. So why, despite a growing online community, does advertising on the Internet account for only a measly one percent of the advertising pie?
One reason is probably that many advertisers are not yet properly aware of the possibilities available on the Internet. "Many decision-makers and consultants from the traditional advertising industry are still too little educated about the possibilities of online marketing," observes Christoph Morach, Managing Director of Qualiclick Switzerland.
This situation is exacerbated by the fact that representatives of the online advertising industry often speak in terminologies that are unfamiliar to traditional marketers, advertisers and media planners.
"Peter Strassmann, Managing Director of ActiveAgent Switzerland, is convinced that "strong generic marketing is needed to boost the online advertising industry. In Switzerland, however, there have been only rudimentary signs of generic marketing supported by the entire industry, including educational work. Instead, intermediaries and marketers are fighting tooth and nail for market share.
Are the Swiss copying the German model?
The Internet Advertising Bureau Switzerland (IAB), actually predestined and created for a unified appearance of the
industry, has so far been able to attract little attention. The board of the IAB (www.iab. schweiz.ch) is overloaded. "We have far too few financial and human resources," explains Martin Radelfinger, President of IAB Switzerland and Managing Director of AdLink Internet Media Switzerland. After all, he says, most of the board members and members of the working groups are more than 100 percent busy at work. For Morach, too, the double workload of many members is an important reason why the Swiss IAB has so far achieved hardly anything worth counting.
For the future of the IAB, Radelfinger sees greater opportunities under the umbrella of a stronger association. Soon, the IAB's General Assembly will vote on whether to join the Swiss Interactive Media Association (Sima). Radelfinger: "The model of an IAB working group with representation on the Sima board corresponds to the German IAB model, which works very well."
Radelfinger and Morach see light on the horizon in the relationship between marketers and intermediaries: they sit down together and discuss measures for generic marketing.
Interest in a thriving online advertising market has already driven individual marketers and intermediaries to raise their voices for digital marketing beyond corporate and product advertising.
Real Media, for example, teamed up with Borsalino.ch and Search.ch and other website operators. In November 2000, they held the New Media Circle, which was aimed primarily at representatives of media agencies.
Already the first moves for generic marketing
The event was intended to promote greater integration of new media into the advertising and media planning of traditional agencies. Due in part to personnel changes at Borsalino and a fundamental restructuring at Real Media, there has not yet been a new edition. Above all, the co-organizer Search
.ch continues to be active
and organizes seminars on the subject of online advertising, for example, as part of trade fairs, which are not simply advertisements for its own platform.
Qualiclick also wants to take the classic advertisers to task and, together with the BSW, offer advertising agencies help and tips on advertising on the Internet and seminars at bswjobs.com. At present one is still in the process of generating contents for the Website, explains Morach. The first seminars are scheduled to take place from June 6 to 8. The high number of registrations so far speaks for the need for information. According to Morach, Qualiclick is endeavoring to place the events at the service of generic marketing and not simply to promote itself.
In mid-May, ActiveAgent also made its mark as an organizer for the first time: According to Strassmann, ActiveTalk is to become an information and discussion platform for new trends and technologies as well as successful case studies. Strassmann: "In traditional advertising, a lot of money is thrown out the window - but no one can measure it. Online, things are different. The many bad examples spoil the reputation of the medium rather than that of the online advertiser. And that's why it's so important to do outreach and education to get many more successful examples."
Self-interest can always be seen behind these individual and small alliance initiatives. However, this need not be negative if the entire industry were to have a strong common voice. Not only marketers and intermediaries are called upon, but also website operators. The activities of research companies that collect data on Internet usage also ultimately serve the industry.

Nike musically expands the advertising zone for basketball in its new TV commercialBy Thérèse BalduzziOnce again, the sporting goods manufacturer Nike surprises America with a highly creative and innovative commercial. A rhythmic purgatory in which stars of the National Basketball Association, breakdancers and streetball players perform a musical dance.
The 60-second Nike spot "Freestyle" by Wieden & Kennedy from Portland (Oregon) builds on the elegance of the basketball game, the rhythmic sound of the balls and the squeaking of sneakers on the gym floor.
Picture by picture, the elegant ball tricks of basketball stars Vince Carter, Rasheed Wallace, Jason Williams, Darius Miles and Lamar Odom are combined with rhythmic ball percussion and breakdancing interludes by streetball players from New York and Los Angeles.
The spot is reminiscent of a
Successful musical
The basketball stars and break dancers appear one after the other, alone or in pairs, in front of a black background on a stage. Instead of music, there is a soundtrack based solely on the sounds of the balls and shoes. The quality of the performances is further emphasized by the absence of any other visual or acoustic distractions.
The commercial is reminiscent of the successful Broadway musical "Bring in da Noise, bring in da Funk", in which tap dance is traced back to its origins in the dance and percussion art of African-American slaves. In addition to the basketball stars, it also stars Savion Glover, who won a Tony Award for his dance performances and choreography in the aforementioned musical.
He is also the one who choreographed the streetball players and breakdancers. The soundtrack was recorded by Steve Brown and Afrika Bombaataa. The sounds were then replaced with the sounds of the game. Finally, director Paul Hunter, who is known for directing music videos for Jennifer Lopez, Lenny Kravitz, Detones and Will Smith, edited the image and soundtrack.
"Basketball is wonderfully fluid and stylish," explains Dan Jones, the Business Director responsible for basketball at Nike. "The inspiration for 'Feestyle' came from the fact that basketball lovers, whether players or fans, tune into the rhythm and music of the sport."

Corporate publishing is becoming the "king of advertising" because it offers more benefits than gimmicks and emotionsBy Roger BoulleMany brand owners and brand makers in Germany are increasingly seeing the future of advertising and communication in the communication of content. Corporate publishing (CP) is intended to help customers solve their big and small problems. In Switzerland, this trend is still being observed with reservations.
"To stand out from the competition today, you need really good content," Volker Lindemann is convinced. The marketing director of the consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers in Germany has studied the market long enough to discover: "There is an abundance of irrelevant information, and on the surface everyone is working with the same buzzwords."
Lindemann's credo is that concrete content can therefore achieve significantly better results in communication than conventional campaigns: "Slogans are not enough, customers want to know exactly what the benefits are for them."
Lindemann and the management consultancy sector in Germany are no longer alone in calling for more useful content in advertising and communication. Content that is as intelligent as possible and the networking of content across all media should be the new concepts in the battle for customers' money and loyalty.
That sounds familiar. Is that really the case this time? After years of emotional communication as the trump card of every advertisement, is the pendulum swinging back in the other direction towards more sober information?
"This is definitely the big trend in advertising in the coming years," says Peter Mentner, Partner at the communications agency Ahrens & Behrent, Mentner in Hamburg. Customers can no longer be gripped by emotions, which is why "relevant content will be the decisive factor in future communication". Consumers in the Internet society are demanding "more and more information and less and less trash".
Emotion and content can also complement each other
CP specialists in Switzerland are not quite so convinced that emotional advertising will soon be on the wane when it comes to this trend in Germany. "Corporate communications, which strategically aims at integrated corporate communication, uses classic advertising as an instrument in a coordinated, harmonized overall communication mix," differentiates Maja Amrein, Head of Corporate Communications at Migros-Genossenschafts-Bund.
Viviane Egli from Frontpage AG comments: "Emotion versus content: I don't quite agree." She sees "content and focus statements" as opposing terms "and complementary measures". It is a fact that in the legendary and real information overload, we all thirst for an overview, for guides, for clarifying explanations and for dialogical exchange, regardless of which target group we belong to. "This is where corporate publishing helps, whether in a sober or more emotional form," says Viviane Egli. Corporate publishing will therefore "become even more important".
But which content can retain customers? "It can't be the countless republication of old print content if consumers are to be won over," analyzes Manfred Hasenbeck, head of the content company Yukom in Munich and President of the industry association Forum Corporate Publishing (FCP). He calls for target group-specific content, prepared in a media-specific way and, whenever possible, with individually accessible additional information: "We are building a buffet that the target group can help themselves to with relish."
The trend towards more information requires a massive rethink from companies in almost all sectors. "The additional challenge," explains Dieter Schweer, spokesman for Rheinisch-Westfälische Elektrizitätswerke AG in Essen, "is that companies have to serve a whole universe of target groups: Customers, employees, suppliers, but also shareholders and investors."
Content replaces advertising for customer loyalty
Two well-known buzzwords are therefore sailing in the slipstream of IT-based customer loyalty: One-to-one marketing and integrated communication.
In the new world of customer orientation, an integrated concept can actually bring the best results: The customer is won over through content. A continuous stream of information from many sources binds the customer. Cross-references take them from the store to the magazine, from print to the Internet and from there to the order form. The end result is the concept of lifelong cooperation between the salesperson and "his" customers - and on all channels.
The trend is therefore: the implementation of integrated communication could soon become a bare necessity in the competition between brands in markets flooded with goods and pumped full of advertising. The easy way - 50 million marks advertising investment, one campaign and you have a ten percent market share - has long been controversial. In the future, it will lead to the sidelines.
"In a service-oriented economy," confirms business administration professor Horst Wildemann from the Technical University of Munich, "the winners will communicate directly with their customers. They will offer them the best content and the most attractive solutions for their individual problems."
The decisive factor will be convincing the customer with clear information and maintaining it in the long term. "The customer relationship should become a lifelong relationship," says Wildemann, "for the provider it becomes an investment project in which high expenditure on content is amortized over time through a correspondingly high level of customer loyalty."
Corporate publishing will play an important role in such a concept of integrated customer care. Viviane Egli says: "Corporate publishing is predestined to function as the strategic nerve center of an integrated communication concept." Depending on the situation or target group characteristics, however, another communication discipline such as classic public relations could also take center stage. "Communication specialists need to have a broad horizon and an open attitude in this regard."
Only the first can count on great success
In the future, companies will be able to rely less and less on the traction of their advertising agencies' creations. In fact, multichannel communication of information is already highly valued among advertisers, management consultants and brand makers.
This focus on customer orientation and service will lead to a race for the best content. Companies must occupy subject areas in which the consumer trusts them to be competent. By constantly updating their content, companies will gain new credibility.
This is demonstrated in practice by the example of Mercedes. The luxury brand is already competing with tourism companies for the favor of Mercedes drivers during vacation shopping via a customer magazine. The coffee roaster Tchibo delights its customers with a TV program booklet that is bound into the customer magazine free of charge. VW wants to oust the ADAC from the "yellow angels" business with its mobile emergency call pillar, which is installed in every car via cell phone. Useful content is the bait for customers everywhere.
Resourceful entrepreneurs have long recognized the strategic importance of additional content for their business. They know that in any field, only the first can be the most successful. This is because content cannot be used by any number of providers at the same time to increase their own credibility.
Companies need to rethink. They need content that fits their image and is valuable to the customer. Only good content attracts customers.
Properly communicated information is not mass advertising on TV
Industries such as management consultants, insurers and car manufacturers have long since entered the competition for the best content. In contrast, emotional mass advertising for detergents and chocolate bars will still be around in a hundred years' time. But that doesn't change the fact that the service trend now has powerful allies:
- The Internet will establish itself as an information medium for precisely defined content. It is changing people's information and communication behavior more in the direction of information and less in the direction of emotional appeal.
- The public's interest in companies and their activities is growing. Whether due to the BSE crisis, genetic research or genetic manipulation, consumers want clarity about processes that no one was previously interested in.
- Private pension provision, which is forcing a mass audience to look for suitable investment objects on the stock market, is rapidly increasing interest in companies.
All three trends reinforce the demand for better content. The company encounters a demand on the market for information which, if communicated correctly, can promote its own image and business. Certainly better than mass advertising on TV.
It can be concluded from this that the Internet is shaping a different information behavior. Consumers are learning to orient themselves towards content and information through the new medium. "Old-school emotional advertising can no longer achieve much in the online world," say the German CP specialists. Viviane Egli adds: "Which medium will be the most important for corporate publishing in the future - the printed magazine, the Internet or the audiovisual form - is a question of the mix, target group needs, target group habits and budgets." In any case, the main thing is that this content is told using journalistic means.
Such informative communication also plays a major role in how companies present themselves. Consumers want information from companies about their production methods, about the value of the company in the future and increasingly also about the fairness of the company as a breadwinner, because: The image of the company will help shape the acceptance of products and brands in the future.
Pure image campaigns do not attract enough attention
Recently, marketing has also been shaken up by the share fever among more and more investors. What does the stock market interest of broad sections of the population mean for the value of the brand and the corporate image? How can stock market communication be integrated into marketing? Does the image of shares have an impact on the acceptance of products? Suddenly, questions upon questions have arisen that can only be answered with intensive communication.
Advertising manager Johannes C. Röhr wants to put marketing on a new footing. "Companies should make the shift from traditional corporate communication to stock market communication," demands the Managing Director of Customer Consulting at KNSK Slagman Werbeagentur GmbH in Hamburg. For him, this "simply replaces traditional image advertising".
For Röhr, it is obvious that the interest of the general public in financial information is now overwhelming other topics. Pure image campaigns and their rather non-binding content, such as the environment or jobs, can no longer attract much attention. "Share and stock market information arouses the stronger emotions in consumers today," Röhr believes.
Following the Telekom, Infineon and Aktie Gelb campaigns and the dramatic development of technology indices, financial issues have become real topics for the public. In Germany, this change in consumer values has been reinforced by the pension reform. In future, politicians want consumers to build up their own retirement provision as an additional pension. Participation in productive assets via shares is currently considered the best recommendation.
Companies must participate in the public discourse
The new topic was probably spurred on most by the popularization of the quick riches that could be made with shares in high-tech companies from Siemens to Yahoo. The stock market became a regular topic. New print magazines and TV formats are reinforcing the trend. In the meantime, stock market information has also infected the most important news programs. ZDF and ARD broadcast "popular stock market reports" every evening. In Switzerland, in addition to the "Tagesschau", we will soon even have our own stock market channel, Money 24, with such price-relevant "image advertisements".
The makers of relevant special titles also recognize that customers are lured by the communication surrounding the investment. "More and more stock corporations know this: If they want to be really successful, they not only have to fight for Kunde König, but also for Kaiser Aktionär," explains Hans Linder, publisher of Börse Online. "Many a customer then becomes a shareholder, and shareholders become customers at the same time."
For such customers
The delivery of valuable information is a core element of the "service to success" concept, in which the provider focuses more on the customer's wishes than on its own core competencies: "The customer must not be bombarded with information, but must be provided with the right information.
We need an interesting mix of entertainment and information that consumers can access at any time," says Horst Wildemann from
of the Technical University of Munich.
Whether this is done via a print object, a TV program or a site on the Internet is unimportant. The only decisive factor is the interesting presentation of relevant material.
Communications consultant Peter Mentner recommends that companies focus on the major public issues. "The social environment provides the topics, companies have to make them their own."
Ideally, the corporate image then outshines that of the individual products: The company presents itself as a partner to the customer. When supplying products, investing in shares and looking for a job - and always with a place in its own ranks. Editing: Andreas Panzeri

Declining advertising volumes could no longer be compensated for with jobsBy Daniel SchifferleA lack of weekend editions had a negative impact on the advertising volumes of the Swiss print media in April. They also registered an increasing decline in bookings of job advertisements. In recent months, they had largely been able to compensate for the weak growth in commercial advertising.
For the first time in a good three and a half years of uninterrupted upward trend, job advertisements in Swiss-German newspapers were down 7.4 percent. If the 7.2 percent drop in commercial advertisements is added to this, the total decline for Swiss-German newspapers was 7.3 percent.
In the other two language regions, however, job advertisements continued to support the overall result. In French-speaking Switzerland, they were up by 9.5 percent and at least cushioned the overall result to minus 5.7 percent. In Ticino, jobs grew by 8.6% and cushioned the dip to minus 5.1%.
However, the unsatisfactory results of the Swiss-German daily newspapers were also negatively influenced by mergers. In particular, the group of medium-sized daily newspapers (circulations between 10,000 and 50,000 copies) benefited at the expense of the smallest title category (circulations of less than 10,000 copies).
Restraint is concentrated in some sectors
Job advertisements in weekly newspapers plummeted almost catastrophically, falling by almost a third. Magazines fared far less dramatically, but not entirely satisfactorily either. They were down by 0.8 percent, although one issue less was published than in the same month last year.
The Publicitas index fell by 0.3 points to 135.8 points in April - the biggest drop since August 1997, when negative results were last recorded. The job advertisements sub-index only rose by 0.1 points, whereas in previous months the increase had regularly been several points.
Publicitas puts the poor result into perspective: April 2001 had one less Saturday and therefore had one less weekday with a high number of advertisements than the same month in the previous year. This was probably a major reason for the poor result. According to Publicitas, however, the slowdown does not extend to the entire market: in addition to a continuing decline in real estate advertising, it has noted a particular reluctance on the part of automobile importers, major distributors and telecommunications companies.

Jean Etienne Aebi - new ADC Honorary President - is succeeded by Andreas ProkeschAt the 26th Annual General Meeting of the Art Directors Club (ADC), Andreas Prokesch was elected to succeed Jean Etienne Aebi as Chairman of the Board. "Because there weren't that many people vying for it," admits the previous ADC Chairman with a grin. The Art Directors Club (ADC) Switzerland has elected you as the successor to President Jean Etienne Aebi. Rumor has it that you had to be kneecapped for a long time. Did you find the honorable office so difficult?
Andreas Prokesch: It was never my goal to become anything in particular - not even ADC President, especially as it involves a lot of voluntary work. Like the other board members who were considered as candidates, I had a natural fear of the time commitment and the pressure of expectations - and of the idea of having to stand in the shop window and take the rap at every opportunity. So at first we joined forces to try and get Jean Etienne Aebi around for a few more years. We then thought about how we could perhaps tackle and distribute the task differently than before.
What made you decide to take on the top post in the creative association?
Prokesch: The discussion in the decisive meeting went round in circles, as in the previous ones - because not too many people were vying for the position. As the open-ended date announced on the invitation approached, I said at some point, "OK, I'll do it" - much to the astonishment of those present and, above all, myself. But I also said yes because I was fully
can count on the Board of Directors and ADC Managing Director Helen Müller.
That doesn't sound like a long term of office.
Prokesch: Like all Board members, I have to stand for re-election every year and will probably do so four or five times, provided the ADC members want this by a large majority.
As ADC Chairman, who always stands aside during the judging process, you were regarded as the club's calming influence. Will people now get to know your combative side?
Prokesch: I have always tried to take a neutral position and have a balancing effect. This is more important to me than ever. That's why I won't be actively participating in the ADC judging process now, even though I would be qualified to do so according to our statutes.
In order to reflect the principle of collegiality of the ADC Board of Directors, you have chosen to replace the previous title of "President" with that of Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Prokesch: (laughs) Yes, that was the only condition I asked of the Board of Directors and the Annual General Meeting.
Apparently not all members understood this.
Prokesch: When I took over the judging department, the first thing I did was to replace "Jury President" with "Chairman" and deprive him of his voice on the jury. Now I'm also doing a little verbal retouching and want to make it clear that I feel I'm primus inter pares - even if the change of name doesn't change anything in purely functional terms.
Over the past five years, Jean Etienne Aebi has strongly shaped the image of the ADC and communicated it to the outside world in particular. Will a phase of internal consolidation now follow?
Prokesch: Jean Etienne Aebi has done everything to ensure that the ADC increases in value day by day like no other blue chip. I will devote myself to maintaining the share price and call on Jean Etienne Aebi as a spokesman when necessary. Otherwise, the focus will be on the intrinsic values. The ADC now consists of 130 members. They no longer all know each other as well as they did in the early days of the ADC.
Is the ADC too big for you?
Prokesch: No, no. But for the quality assurance of ADC judging, it is important that we talk and argue even more with each other about what good advertising is, that the ADC recognizes it. This is only possible if we know, respect and like each other. Equally important to me are the entrants who face our strict judging process and whom I regard as customers, the sponsors, the press, the other clubs and associations. I want to work even more closely with them.
What other priorities and topics do you want to set for the Swiss ADC?
Prokesch: I have the same goal as my predecessors and all ADC members: we want to improve advertising by judging it. Apart from that, I want to take care of the many details and thus improve the ADC. For example, there will only be one board meeting at the office. After that, we will go on tour and always meet at another board member's home.
Where do you see the ADC in five years' time?
Prokesch: I have called the Board of Directors together for the next possible date. Then we will first allocate the departments and discuss the objectives together. Interview: Luca Aloisi

In addition, the new management of Euro RSCG Switzerland is further strengthening its team. Roland Weiss, previously Managing Director of Seiler DDB Corporate, will be joining the Zurich branch at the beginning of June. As Client Service Director, he will strengthen the agency, particularly in strategic terms.
The cultural magazine du has a new publishing director in Eva Tobler. She succeeds René Moser, who is taking on a new professional challenge.
From June 1, Martin Bohli will be the new Sales Director of online marketer Banner.ch. He most recently worked as Sales Director for Weltwoche Verlag.
With the departure of Bruno Barth, who has become the new director of the Swiss Sports Aid Foundation, the marketing agency FastBreak has been reorganized. Co-founder Fridolin Stauffacher is now the sole managing director.
From the beginning of June, co-owner Michèle Frey becomes the sole managing director of the Fruitcake Lucerne advertising agency. CD Dany Bucher concentrates on his core competencies and sets up his own business as a creative consultant.
Eric W. Zeller, former media spokesman at Cablecom, is moving to Zurich-based marketing agency Additiv as of June 1. He will be succeeded at Cablecom by Mina Dello Buono.
André Gstettenhofer has taken over the press office of Scalo Verlag. He succeeds Eveline Sievi.
Albert Oehler joined the sales promotion team at Baumgartner Papier AG at the beginning of May.

Both in terms of content and visuals, Coca-Cola is taking a distinctly Swiss approach to its advertising this year. As part of the international «Life tastes good» concept, the new campaign by McCann-Erickson, Zurich, conveys that it’s absolutely cool to spend the summer in Switzerland and just let your mind wander, as one ad suggests: «Leave being on time to the rest of the world.» IWC’s ad is ironic, not misogynistic. A newspaper reader found the tagline «Almost as complicated as a woman. But punctual» on a poster by the watchmaker IWC to be misogynistic and filed a complaint with the Swiss Fair Trading Commission. The Commission ruled that the advertisement, created by the agency Wirz, was intended as an ironic punchline. Furthermore, the headline was not misogynistic, but rather “man-friendly.” The complainant filed an appeal but lost again: The Fair Trading Commission dismissed the appeal because another element of the campaign ironically poked fun at men.
AN AMAZING RANGE FOR A DIRECT MAIL PIECE. A real eagle with an even sharper eye—namely, a crystal-clear pair of binoculars—astonishes the recipient when he or she opens the latest direct mail piece from Panasonic. The message is easy to unfold and, thanks to special lenses that eliminate blurring, immediately delves into the details with a sense of discovery: Panasonic is also a leader in the video surveillance systems segment. In fact, Panasonic is the number one brand in Switzerland in this sector, the mail explains. The proud bird was designed by the Fruitcake agency in Lucerne, with consultant Michèle Frey, Creative Director Dany Bucher, Art Director Susanne Unselt, and DTP Petra Richli. To the young eagle’s delight, a teaser ad and three follow-up ads will also be published in special-interest publications, creating a psychologically effective impact.
The market research industry is booming. The market, opinion, and social research institutes united under the collective brand Swiss Interview generated revenue of 195 million francs last year. This represents an increase of 30.5 million francs, or 18.6 percent. Swiss Interview has 25 members; 16 of them publish their figures. Of these 16, only Ernest Dichter, Zurich, reported a decline (down 9.8 percent). Seven institutes achieved growth of 20 percent or more. Industry leader IHA.GfM grew by 20 percent to 70.89 million Swiss francs. Further details can be found in the 2001 Yearbook of the Association of Swiss Marketing and Social Researchers, which can be ordered on the association’s website (www.swissresearch.org).
Cycling until your teeth rattle. Just in time for the beautiful weather, Sportplausch Wider’s annual spring campaign kicked off in early May. Markus Ruf and Markus Gut are building on the successful strategy of the past seven years with three new ad concepts. A woman’s flawless mouth, complete with insects on her teeth and a gap, illustrates the variety of bikes available at Wider. A racing bike not only keeps you fit, the sports store promises, but also makes facial wrinkles disappear in no time. If superstar Jackson had known that riding a Wider downhill bike would make even Black people turn pale with fear, he would have been spared quite a few ordeals. The campaign is once again supported by new adventures featuring the legendary test rider Walti.

Econ Verlag presents the Advertising Yearbook. The 2001 Advertising Yearbook, published by Econ Verlag (ISBN 3-430-15023-X), offers an overview of German-language advertising from the past year. The highlights of the Swiss advertising year are presented by Sarah Rieder (former editor-in-chief of WerbeWoche). Among the campaigns featured in the yearbook are a few from Swiss agencies. Weber Hodel Schmid tops the list, followed by Seiler DDB. Also represented are Freiburghaus & Banderini (twice), as well as Grey and Ckdt. The yearbook costs 168 marks.
Editorial

Advertising that plays on fear often backfires. In mid-May, the EU announced that it intended to tighten the Tobacco Products Directive: Under the new rules, cigarette packs are to feature photos of festering smokers’ legs and cancer-ravaged lungs. We featured examples of such images—which have been mandatory in Canada since June—in issue No. 6 of WerbeWoche this year.
International studies also show that education and appeals to reason are of little use when dealing with people suffering from addiction. Habits and addictions are resistant to facts and arguments.
The EU’s frantic actions are reminiscent of the futile efforts of the medieval clergy: the more ominously the monks tended to portray the devil’s spawn, the more popular became the legends that ridiculed these goat-footed creatures.
Adolescents are not easily swayed by advertising—especially not when they are accused of misbehavior such as smoking, alcohol abuse, and drug abuse. The younger the target audience, the less effective fear-mongering tactics are. For many young people targeted by anti-drug campaigns, these campaigns often backfire.
Research shows that it is more effective to address target audiences with positive messages (see page 14). A good example is the Swiss Stop AIDS campaign. The World Health Organization (WHO) also takes an innovative approach:
with art rather than with appeals.
A traveling exhibition featuring works by contemporary artists aims to improve the image of smoking prevention. I bet this will motivate more people who are fed up with cigarettes to quit than the EU’s heavy-handed approach. Samuel Helbling

Prices for online advertising have fallen by around 30 percent in Europe over the past year.news Online advertising prices continue to fall
According to forecasts by online market researcher Jupiter MMXI, they will continue to fall over the next six months. In June 2000, advertisers paid 30 euros for 1000 page impressions. Today they only pay 20 euros. According to Jupiter MMXI, the reasons for the fall in prices lie in the highly competitive market with a large supply overhang. The company estimates that the surplus of unsold advertising space each month corresponds to a value of 60 to 70 million euros. The majority of European marketers have free capacity of over 60 percent. Despite the decline, a survey by Jupiter MMXI shows that 25 percent of traditional advertisers consider the online medium to be too expensive.

Ellen Ringier and Sabine Danuser launch a non-profit parenting magazine in the fallParents with school-age children lacked
a periodical that they have used as an advisor and companion in their
difficult task. This gap in the market is filled from mid
September Fritz and Fränzi, a company founded by the publisher's wife Ellen Ringier
initiated, not-for-profit magazine. But only if the two
first issues achieve their goals, the magazine is to be definitively
Parents do not understand their children and vice versa.
Parenting is often also overtaxing. Particularly conflictual is the
phase of life when children go to school. During this time
The problems come in heaps: the conflict between the generations, like
is the way to deal with drugs, violence, or sexuality. Sensible
Answers are often scarce. One thing is clear above all else: one's own knowledge and
the parents' own experience is usually far from sufficient
sufficient to be able to answer all questions that arise.
At
Parents seeking advice cannot fall back on written information either,
because there is no regular market for this product on the Swiss market.
Publication dedicated to school-age children. While there is the
We Parents, which is published monthly, but only addresses the issue of
the section from pregnancy to kindergarten. Come
children to school, parents are left without the support of a
print medium there. This will change from mid-September. Then appears
the new magazine Fritz und Fränzi for the first time.

Ellen Ringier ventures into the market nicheInitiator
of Fritz and Fränzi is the dedicated publisher's wife Ellen Ringier.
As a sponsor of the booklet it has at the end of March the Foundation Parenthood
which she also presides. Her task is limited
but focuses on organizing the funding for the magazine and
to manage. With the contents of the booklets themselves neither they themselves will
nor the Ringier publishing house have anything to do with it. And also printed
not on their own presses, but at Zollikofer AG in
St.Gallen, which also handles advertising sales.
The production
and the design of the magazine are in the hands of Sabine
Danuser, who joined Erich Grasdorf at the end of last year after leaving
year her own company Sabine Danuser Editorial Service in Zurich
founded. Together with a small team, she will produce a bi-monthly
80-page booklet on its feet.
"When I'm a father.
or mother questions about psychological or medical
or to the school and education system, I ran to the
from Pontius to Pilate, had to take a detour through social welfare offices,
Education Directorate, school and sports departments to make to the
the answers we are looking for," says Danuser.
unsatisfactory current situation. The purpose of Fritz and Fränzi was,
to create a platform on which this scattered information can be
can flow together. However, the booklet is not only intended as a
service-oriented guidebook for parents, but also as a forum on which to
which the school and education system, offices and authorities, institutions,
associations and clubs can exchange.

Fritz and Fränzi need patrons and advertisersFor
the content design Fritz and Fränzi works with a number of
of traditional Swiss institutions that are active in the
are at home in the subject areas addressed: Pro Juventute, the
Marie Meierhofer Institute for the Child, the Association School and
Elternhaus as well as the Swiss Association of
Parent Organizations (Sveo).
But not just as an editorial board member,
but also in the search for subscribers for the exclusively in the
The magazine, which is available by subscription, plays an important role for the above-mentioned institutions.
function: Their address files are available for sending to target groups.
Available. Main channel for the first two issues, which were published in a
Circulation of 100000 copies printed and distributed free of charge,
But it is the schools themselves that are the most important. As many schoolchildren as possible should have a
copy to take home and recommend to their parents.
Fritz
and Fränzi sees itself as a charitable, not-for-profit
magazine that relies on patron contributions. That is why the
Advertising rate with 8000 Swiss francs for 1/1 page (b/w or 4-color) in
an area that is not solely concerned with media performance.
can be justified. And on repeat discounts and advisory commission
advertisers also have to do without for the sake of a good cause.
So that the funding and thus the future of the magazine are secured,
According to Danuser, one million Swiss francs per year must be raised through sponsorship and
the same amount again via ad sales.
Succeeds
this is not the case or is the response from potential subscribers too
If the results are poor, the first two issues will remain. But if the thing runs
well from the pile, it continues in 2002 with six regular issues.
If surpluses can even be generated in the following years, the
Fritz and Fränzi later expand into French-speaking Switzerland and Ticino.

Daniel Schifferle