The Internet advertising marketer Ad Pepper International is also withdrawing from SwitzerlandBy Clemens HörlerAs of June 1, 2001, Ringier AG is taking over 100 percent of the share capital of the online advertising marketer Ad Pepper Media Switzerland AG. The media company previously held 49 percent of the Swiss company, which was founded in 1999.
"We had hoped that we would benefit more from Ad Pepper International's pan-European network structure," sums up Edwin Dünki, Head of E-Business at Ringier. "The money flows that flowed out of and into Switzerland within the network were rather modest after all."
Ringier wants to rename and reposition the company following the complete takeover of Ad Pepper. The company, which currently also has non-Ringier sites in its portfolio in Switzerland, is to focus on new forms of online advertising such as sponsorship, response elements, revenue-sharing models, co-branding campaigns, publicity reports and cross-marketing for Ringier.
Concentration on a few websites
However, as Dünki emphasized to WerbeWoche, other websites will also be marketed in the future in addition to the Ringier platforms. "But there will only be a few sites, which will be looked after all the more intensively for it," Dünki explained. Exactly which platforms these are is not yet known, nor is the future name of the new company. In addition to the Ringier sites, Ad Pepper Switzerland currently markets MSN, sites of the Basler media group and the Winner platforms, among others.
Most of the employees of Ad Pepper Switzerland will be able to continue working, according to Dünki. However, some layoffs have already been made, he said. Who will manage the successor company in the future will be decided in two to three weeks.
The fact that Ad Pepper is withdrawing from the Swiss market is not entirely surprising given the situation in which the online advertising industry currently finds itself. According to Philip Ellison, media manager of Ad Pepper Media International, Ad Pepper considered Switzerland to be an important market, but the short-term prospects for profitable business were not good. In view of its international orientation, the company therefore decided to withdraw from Switzerland and Austria.
Ad Pepper will also be saying goodbye to the USA in the near future. The strategy is clear: focus on the key European markets where Ad Pepper has been able to capture larger market shares, and consolidate business there.
At the Annual General Meeting on May 9 in Amsterdam, CEO Ulrich Schmidt expressed confidence for the future: Ad Pepper had grown disproportionately compared to other European competitors. The company was continuing to make progress towards profitability and expected to cut costs significantly in 2001. The losses could not have been avoided, he said, as the company expanded into six more countries in 2000 and invested (cautiously) in new products and sales and service structures.
Ad Pepper Media International N. V., which is listed on the Neuer Markt in Frankfurt, had generated sales of 15.3 million euros in fiscal 2000, but posted a loss of 9.6 million euros. Painful for investors, too: the share price, which was quoted at 18.10 euros shortly after the IPO in October 2000, has since settled at values between 2 and 4 euros.

According to W&V, the Cologne Higher Regional Court has ruled that the free newspaper 20 Minuten Köln does not violate competition law.News 20 Minuten Köln appears legally
The decision was made following a lawsuit filed by the Cologne-based publisher DuMont Schauberg, which considers the free operating model to be damaging to its business. DuMont Schauberg now wants to take the suit to the Federal Court of Justice.
Melle Pufe WHS for Green CardThe Berlin advertising agency Melle Pufe WHS is now promoting the US Green Card program in Germany. It secured the budget in the millions in an evaluation process. The program for granting work permits in the USA is handled by The American Dream Services GmbH.
EU targets tobacco advertising againDavid Byrne, EU Consumer Commissioner, wants to make a new attempt to ban tobacco advertising in the EU. He plans to present a draft of a new European Commission directive before the end of May. The draft is to take into account the objections raised by the European Court of Justice against the old tobacco advertising directive. The German government had brought down the directive with a lawsuit.
FCB SF Loses Microsoft Budget FCB's San Francisco office is suffering from a run of bad luck. The latest failure is the loss of the Ultimate TV budget from Microsoft. The computer conglomerate shifted the budget ($50 million) without a pitch to an agency just formed by former Goodby Silverstein & Partners employees. A week earlier, FCB had to lay off 30 employees after AT&T Wireless re-bid their budget. To top it off, fire broke out in the agency offices. Police suspect arson - possibly by a laid-off employee.

Media law expert Denis Barrelet focuses on advertising pitfalls at a conferenceOn June 7, the University of Neuchâtel will hold its first conference on "Advertising and the Law" (see also page 35). Denis Barrelet, professor of communications law at the Universities of Fribourg and Neuchâtel, wants to give advertising professionals a practical understanding of the legal principles relevant to their day-to-day work.What are the most important legal problems currently facing the communications industry?
Denis Barrelet: We are addressing four important topics at our meeting. Regarding comparative advertising, there is the currently very tough fight in the telephone industry as an example. We have to ask ourselves what is allowed and what is not. But copyright on the Internet is also highly topical. There is also the issue of data protection. Advertisers want to avoid wastage as far as possible. It's relatively easy for them to get addresses. However, the question arises as to what is permissible under data protection law in this context. Another hot topic is the advertising regulations in the revision of the Radio and Television Act.
Relatively little comparative advertising is done in Switzerland. Is a lack of knowledge of the legislation one reason for this?
Barrelet: Sure. The second reason is that the Swiss are always on the side of the one being attacked. So there's a corresponding inhibition in the advertising industry to do comparative advertising. It's actually astonishing when you know that Switzerland led the way with its legislation on comparative advertising for a very long time. In the surrounding European countries, comparative advertising was prohibited for a long time.
About the conference: How many participants do you expect?
Barrelet: I estimate that we will have around a hundred listeners. Of course, we hope for many participants from German-speaking Switzerland, even though the event will take place in Neuchâtel. We believe that such an event must be held on a national level. With the newly founded Institute of Journalism and Communication at the University of Neuchâtel, we want to approach communication holistically, and consequently advertising must be included. We believe that advertising is a fully entitled part of communication. Until now, however, advertising has been regarded more as an appendage.
Who should attend this event and why?
Barrelet: Of course, we expect advertising practitioners who are confronted with legal issues in their everyday lives, but also media journalists. Of course, we are well aware that the law is often perceived as something unpleasant. Journalists don't like to deal with it either. But if you permanently push the law aside, a system weakens its position, which in this case means the position of the advertiser or the journalist.
And the reactions from that?
Barrelet: Either one goes too far out of ignorance, which may be expensive. Or rigorous self-censorship is exercised, and the scope is not exploited. For the advertiser, who should be creative in his work, it's therefore a shame if he can't exploit his potential. I would even say it's an actual loss.
How hands-on can your event be?
Barrelet: If a speaker has only 25 minutes to address a topic, he must get to the essentials immediately. The second part of the event is devoted to answering questions from the audience. During two hours, criminal law, competition law, radio and television law and data protection law will be addressed. Here, specific court decisions will be discussed.
What is the benefit for advertisers who have to struggle with ad design and TV spots on a daily basis?
Barrelet: Copyright issues may arise during spot production. Not all conference topics will appeal to all participants equally. Part of the event should also be seen as continuing education.
What is currently the biggest challenge for advertisers?
Barrelet: They should know their limits, including the ethical ones. But this is an ongoing issue. What I see as very positive in the advertising industry, on the other hand, is the strengthening of the Fair Trading Commission, which has become very dynamic.
The law often lags behind reality. In your opinion, where is the greatest need for action at the moment?
Barrelet: I don't think we need a lot of new laws and new restrictions. I rather believe in certain liberalizations, especially in the radio and television sector. On the other hand, we should take a closer look and clarify to what extent advertising restrictions still make sense.
You are also the president of the supervisory authority that examines complaints regarding radio and television. What are the most frequent ones?
Barrelet: The most frequent complaints concern the factual accuracy of the information. Increasingly, we also have to deal with the portrayal of violence and sex in entertainment programs. And from time to time we are also concerned with so-called surreptitious advertising.
Private TVs want to bring forward the revision of the Radio and Television Act because they are up to their necks in water. Where do you stand on this?
Barrelet: It's more of a political question whether, for example, the article on interrupt advertising could be relaxed in a first phase. It seems important to me that existing law is applied. And someone who publicly declares that he will not apply this law discredits himself.
What fascinates you personally about communication?
Barrelet: I started my career in 1972 with a dissertation on "La liberté d'information," and I have been interested in issues related to this ever since. There is a lot at stake for our society with information. In our country, one is not thrown into prison for certain statements, the punishment is more subtle. But we also have private and public ostracism. Interview: Anita Vaucher

Austria's capital city discovers gay tourists who are willing to spend moneyThe Vienna Tourist Board recently published two catalogs that for once do not invite visitors to family weekends, Mozart festivals or Schubertiades. Vienna Gay Guide" and "G-Vienna Guide" are the names of the two publications that promote Vienna as a gay-friendly travel destination. As the Vienna Tourist Board explains, various surveys have shown that homosexual consumers are particularly eager to travel, interested in culture and also have a particularly high purchasing power.
For example, the study commissioned by the association concluded that 29 percent of all heterosexuals and 43 percent of homosexuals spend a large portion of their money exclusively on their vacations.
Another motivating reason for this special action is this year's Europride, which will take place in Vienna for the first time. The culture-heavy event, which will span the entire month of July, will attract thousands of gay-friendly visitors.
But that is not enough by a long shot. Especially since Vienna's fringe friendliness is being promoted not only in the country itself, but also abroad. Scattered throughout the year, advertising and poster campaigns are to be placed in the target markets of England, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands. Kudos. What Austria's capital city is doing with these campaigns, despite its right-wing conservative state government, is twofold: money is a welcome guest, and sometimes it does pay to jump over the fence of antiquated prejudices so that one can also enjoy the healthy grass on untouched meadows.
The Vienna Gay catalogs can be ordered from: Österreich Werbung, Zurlindenstrasse 60, 8036 Zurich, Tel. 01 451 15 51, Fax 01 451 11 80. Chandra Kurt

Peter Böckle and Marc Wissmann have fulfilled an old dream with Infobox GmbH, a studio for communication on the Internet, whose core competencies lie in screen and web design, content management, content production and database applications. "The company has already existed as a 'leisure company' for five years, but the customer base has become so large that we decided to run the studio professionally with immediate effect," says Böckle, who previously worked as a director and webmaster at SF DRS. Together with Wissmann, a former TV journalist and founder of a video and internet workshop, the web studio is located in Zurich's Kreis 5 district. In addition to the two owners, the team consists of a freelance web designer and two programmers. "Customer service is our top priority. That's why we want controlled growth," says Böckle. The portfolio includes TV Productioncenter AG and Migros Kulturprozent, among others. (dz)

At this year's International Advertising Festival in Cannes, Gerald Levin, CEO of AOL Time Warner, will be presented with the Media Man of the Year Award, which honors leading personalities from the global media industry and will be presented to Levin on June 20.

Hans Ueli Keller is Goldbach Media's board delegate for integrated cross-media strategies / After more than twenty years, something had to be done: "Since I started working as a part-time trainee at the former SKA in 1978, I've kept a short beard. Now it's gone," says Hans Ueli Keller, stroking his freshly shaved chin. His job is also fresh. Since May 10, Hans Ueli Keller has been a delegate of the Board of Directors of Goldbach Media, the newly founded service center for electronic media in Küsnacht, Zurich.
After completing his education at the University of St. Gallen and two years of research at the university's own Institute for Banking, Keller moved to SKA full-time in 1981, where
he worked in marketing and project management. As Head of Marketing, Advertising and Sponsorship, he developed the Tour de Suisse into a textbook example of sports sponsorship, until the Tour's image no longer suited the newly formed Credit Suisse. Keller, a classical flugelhorn player and jazz trumpeter, later introduced cultural sponsorship to the bank alongside golf sponsorship.
In 1993, he moved within CS to the Retail Banking department. There he built up the CS Firstphone telephone bank and later introduced the bank's first Internet platform.
As a member of the Executive Board from 1997 to 2000 and now Head of Communications, Keller played a key role in shaping Credit Suisse's fresh image and the rebranding of the CS Group.
The bearded man could have stayed on the bench for the rest of his life. "But I didn't want just one employer in my professional life," he says, delighted with the new prospects - and not just of Lake Zurich, which glistens directly in front of his office in Goldbach. "We have every opportunity to develop a good position, and not just in Switzerland." The Delegate of the Board of Directors of the 220-strong media company has ambitions to "grow Goldbach Media in Europe too".
Keller has also gained experience abroad through his work as a part-time lecturer at the International Banking School in New York. Last fall, he himself attended a two-month course at Harvard Business School in Boston. "He still feels closely connected" to the University of St.Gallen. Keller was a lecturer in Business Administration there.
His commitment as financial director of the Sonnenberg School for the Blind in Baar is important to him. Keller took over this job from his father. He enjoys his own role as the father of two "boys" aged 16 and 19, for example when he can take his sons to a joint concert by funk trumpeter Maceo Parker. Andreas Panzeri

Cash always wants to be there for its readers in multimedia formCash has recently become more than just an umbrella brand: with the restructured Cash Group, Ringier is pursuing a multimedia concept that is more consistently focused and permanently available. The strategy is still in its infancy. The first step was the reorganization of the management of the Cash Group, which now also includes Cash TV. The Executive Board now consists of Thomas Trüb, Head of the Business Media Division, Cash Publishing Director Thomas Passen, Editor-in-Chief Fred David, his deputies André Michel and Hans Schneeberger, Dani Terzoni (Controlling) and Fritz Spring, Editor-in-Chief of Cash-TV.
The multimedia strategy includes a new website, which will be completely different from the current collection of articles in Online Cash from the fall. An in-house editorial team and a daily service are planned. The launch of a weekly supplement is also planned for the fall. According to Passen, it will provide Cash readers with "additional services". A second monthly supplement is also already in the Ringier quiver. Passen does not want to reveal anything about the content yet, as both projects still have to be approved by the journalistic committee. Internally at Ringier, however, there is talk of an investment magazine and a lifestyle magazine.
Passen sums up all these activities with the words "Cash around the clock": Cash partner Borsalino provides constantly updated stock market data virtually every minute, the new Cash homepage will be updated daily, Cash, the newspaper, will be published weekly and Cash TV will be broadcast on Sundays. And finally, readers will also receive additional information with the new supplements on a weekly or monthly basis.
While editorial synergies are to be exploited in the Cash Group, advertising sales for the individual media will remain largely decentralized. Whether this makes sense in the long term is questionable.
For the time being, however, this is still a long way off. At the moment, Cash is still busy with smaller things: Next week, Casual, the third Cash bundle, will be published with a slightly different structure. The aim is to focus the magazine even more strongly on the younger audience and women it has already reached. Markus Knöpfli

The fashion industry periodically rediscovers lesbian attraction and devotes entire ad campaigns to it. Right now, it’s happening again: Eva’s daughters are getting up close and personal or touching each other’s breasts. Fortunately, the current ads don’t come across as tacky or voyeuristic. This holds true whether they come from the creative teams at Gucci, Jil Sander, or Costume National. Although the scenes are staged, they exude a successful blend of innocent clarity and avant-garde allure.The American vodka brand Skyy Vodka has also recently begun dedicating one of its advertising spaces to depictions of female sexual arousal. This is understandable, given that the label is one of the best-known advertisers in the gay press. Chandra Kurt
Column

Dot, dot …
by Liz Sutter
«The old castle with its cellars…,» I wrote in an article about the fascination of Harry Potter—or rather, I tried to write. Because no matter how many times I typed «its,» the computer always turned it into «ist.» Until a dear friend let me in on the secrets of autocorrect and how to undo it. It’s nice that my manuscripts no longer contain so many «nihcts» and “mnas.” But it’s also comforting to know that no spell-checker could have saved me from my most embarrassing typo. In a recipe for summer picnic food, I once wrote: “Put the potato salad in a well-sealing butt.”
Typos can sometimes be amusing. But digital slip-ups can also give rise to new creations. An unconscious slip of the little finger on the right hand—and a narrow-minded «bü» becomes an ethereal «b¨.» That’s how someone’s subconscious created the new logo for the Grisons. And what are the delighted Grisons doing? Instead of humbly accepting this miracle born of the twists and turns of the human brain and, in sheer amazement,
To avoid getting those little round, dot-eyed looks, they shower it with scorn and derision and call it «pathetic, bleak, and banal.» And this, of all things, in the very same week that the burned-out firm Interbrand Zintzmeyer & Lux has to watch and listen as its dessert cup, SAirGroup, melts away like Icarus’s wax wings in the sun—and is now once again called Swissair, just as it was before.
Customers are philistines and, deep down, ungrateful. Do you know what Tamedia’s rank-and-file staff were supposed to have muttered when they were presented with two red, not-quite-round dots as the new logo? “Did someone have a nosebleed or something?”
[email protected]
Liz Sutter is a journalist.
Language Observer

Ranting Through the Centuries
Schopenhauer sometimes spoke plainly: «Arch-fool, pseudo-philosopher, madhouse inmate, pub-keeper’s face, spouter of nonsense, clown, waster of paper, time, and minds, teacher of absurdities with a highly pernicious, truly mind-numbing—one might even say pestilential—influence,» he wrote about his colleague Hegel.
But our century, too, has dealt its share of blows. Take Karl Kraus, for example: aesthete, barricade mouse, blood speculator, die-hard, electrically lit barbarian, general, habitual criminal of world history, “Koofmich,” resume-chaser, luxury rabble, magazine columnist, psychoanalyst, slaughterhouse banker, celebrity, petty-bourgeois mayor, middleman of the mind.
Or H. C. Artmann: «Silk-clad Pentecost pimp, one-eyed urinal worm, drooling asshole fucker, salon Tyrolean, horse-dung sniffer, retired orangutan, sleazy sports moron, drunkard from Viertelcaballero, dapper roulette rat, patented cheesy grinner, lamentable dimwit, ravaged horny loach, Neanderthal par excellence, damish goatee-wrecker, a whiner of a latrine hunk, a total moron with a mushy brain, the dumbest of all kiss-hand throwers, a foot-sick lagoon corpse.»
These days, we’re more likely to be «looking for ways to express our concern in an appropriate manner.» Is my perception clouded, or is everyone really this nice? Who knows the new insults people use these days? Dino? Ätzi? Breitgrins? My little one calls me «Blödschnabel» or “Dummflöte,” but that’s all still very much in the experimental stage. Or then there are the standard insults like “Warmduscher,” “Gelbbremser,” or “Komplettsystemkäufer.” (A “Best of Warmdushing” will follow next week.)
But even after Artmann, German slang has produced some truly wild creations, as a look back over the last few decades shows: Battery moron, corner pee-er, Your Excellency, furrow-shitter, chicken-fucker, jazz kid, armchair fart-er, war profiteer, show-off, armchair Marxist, after-work revolutionary, narrow-gauge Tarzan, party bigwig, Webstübler, Ass-cheek Tony, Fire-alarm-face, Weed-monkey, Pumpi, Square-horned idiot, eight-engine steppe wild boar, Sheep’s head, Gwagglichopf, Pants-shitter, Scumbag, Lappi, Löli, stupid wretch, Laggel, Schlabi, brainless idiot, sidekick, East Frisian, credit junkie, optimist finch, Manta driver, talk show host, justice of the peace, toxic waste dealer, sexual harasser, Liechtensteiner, Brussels pig, corporal, Austrian, flexible little guy, zero-sum guy, Konzi, prole, snail shit, careerist, article writer, board member…
Beat Gloor, www.textcontrol.ch
P.S.: Funnily enough, swear words say more about the people who use them than anything else: «Riffraff!» the nobility would shout; «Prolet, loser!» the middle class; while the hippies used «Exploiter, bloodsucker, capitalist!» «Christ» was a swear word in ancient Rome. The Swiss, who are so particular about cleanliness, hurl insults like «filthy pig, asshole, shitter, bastard!» And who else but the prudish Americans could have specialized in «fucking’ to such an extent? ’Motherfucker! Cocksucker! What the fuck are those goddamn fuckin» fuckheads fuckin’ on over there!?”

The television program "NZZ Format" will be broadcast on the new channel XXP in Berlin from June. XXP has been broadcast on the Berlin cable network since May 7.News "NZZ Format" starts on Berlin TV
The broadcaster is Spiegel TV and the production company DCTP. As a "metropolitan channel", XXP is aimed at an educated and high-income audience with information and feature films. The programs from the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) will be shown on Saturdays at 10 pm as part of themed evenings entitled "Society". After Berlin, XXP will soon be produced for other cities.
Radio Edelweiss makes a profitThe local radio station Edelweiss in Basel is in the black for the first time. Last year, Edelweiss made a loss of 1,200,000 francs on a turnover of 1.9 million francs. A turnover of 2.35 million and a profit of 26,000 francs are budgeted for 2001. However, the first quarter of 2001 looks even better. Operating income rose by 85 percent compared to the same period last year to 94,170 francs, resulting in a positive quarterly result of 145,80 francs. Edelweiss now expects an annual profit of between 80,000 and 100,000 francs.
Radio 105 popular with Swizz fans The youth cable station Radio 105 leads the popularity scale of the Swizz Youth Barometer study by a large margin. 29 percent of respondents named 105 as their favorite station. In contrast, second-placed DRS 3 only achieved 17 percent. Radio Pilatus came third with 6.9 percent. The study should be treated with caution. It was conducted by IHA-GfM. However, only members of the Swizz Club were surveyed. Of the 1000 young people who were sent an invitation to take part, 259 completed the web questionnaire. This means that the youth barometer is not representative. For example, the regional distribution was not taken into account, meaning that the figures for local stations are not very meaningful. The question of the motivation of those who took part also remains unanswered.
New activities at RingierA number of new projects are in the pipeline at the Ringier publishing house. For example, cooking programs from Betty Bossi are being planned. Preparations are in full swing, with four pilot shows already planned for the fall.
InfoWeek with new format and new pricesInfoWeek, the Swiss weekly magazine for computing, Internet and e-business, is now published in tabloid format 235 x 325 mm. According to a press release from the Compress Information Group, the publisher is responding to readers' requests for a more manageable publication. The format change also entails a
adjustment of the advertising prices.
New look for siFrom June, Schweizer Illustrierte (SI) will be presented in a revised layout. According to editor-in-chief Marc Walder, SI will have a more modern and powerful appearance. The most important changes include a new basic font and
the increased use of the color red. In terms of content, there will be new containers at the start of the magazine and expanded party reporting. The new layout was created by Hamburg magazine designer Wolf Dammann.
Sunrise and Basler Mediengruppe cooperateThe Basler Mediengruppe and the telecom provider Sunrise want to mutually expand their core competencies in the area of new media. The cooperation is intended to strategically strengthen both companies in the area of content and media management. Sunrise is pushing ahead with the expansion of its services, in particular customer-friendly portal applications. Through the cooperation, the Basler Mediengruppe is expanding the range of its online services and supplementing its content offering with additional services such as e-mail and chat forums. In addition to exploiting existing synergies, Sunrise and Basler Mediengruppe also want to examine the joint realization of new services such as UMTS, broadband and unified messaging.

With Christian Stärkle's move to Belcom AG, the unified association recedes into the distanceBy Markus knöpfliThe fact that Christian Stärkle has turned his back on his plans as an independent media consultant and is now becoming head of Belcom AG is causing a stir in the industry. Above all, however, his Pool 2000 mandate is no longer valid. And a united radio association seems to have moved into the distant future.
By July 1 at the latest, 46-year-old Christian Stärkle, who was previously responsible for Radio Argovia and Tele M1 at AZ Medien AG, will start his new job at Roger Schawinski's Belcom Group. There he will become head of Belcom AG, the marketing and sales organization of Radio 24, Tele 24, Tele Züri and Radio 24plus. At the same time, the trained lawyer will become a member of the Belcom Group's management and hopes to be able to perform important functions in several industry associations in parallel. For example, a letter of intent has already been signed that virtually secures him the management of the Radio Advertising Pool 2000. Stärkle is also counting on a mandate from the TeleNewsCombi. And contrary to what was announced a few months ago, he now remains president of the Radio Association Privatradio Suisse (PRS) (WW 15/01).
But Stärkle also knows that his surprising move to Belcom has caused some turmoil in the industry. At least some of Stärkle's existing partners in Pool 2000, where Radio 24 competitor Z, BE 1 (previously Förderband), Argovia, Regenbogen, Sunshine, BeO, Edelweiss and Canal 3 are grouped together, are surprised. "My change will still lead to some wrangling there," says Stärkle, who nevertheless expects approval.
Stärkle dreams of an umbrella organization
Most of the pool members (including Radio Z), however, are only speaking on the quiet, pointing out that the new situation has not yet been discussed. Only BeO program director Martin Muerner speaks plainly: The letter of intent with Stärkle contains a competition exclusion clause, which is why the Belcom management is not compatible with the pool management. "Therefore, Christian Stärkle will definitely not remain GL of Pool 2000," says Muerner.
Opinions differ on the question of whether Stärkle's Belcom job is now hindering talks about a united Swiss-German radio association. Günter Heuberger, President of the competitor association Swiss Private Radio (VSP), and VSP member Muerner are of the opinion that Stärkle's Belcom involvement does not change the status quo. Both still assume that an agreement of some kind will be possible by the end of the year. Hansruedi Koelliker of radio marketer Spot Promotion (see "Set-up" on this page) takes a similar view.
PRS member Roger Schawinski does not want to give an assessment of the new situation. In contrast, Felix Kilchsperger, radio manager at PRS member Radiotele, paints the association's future in rather gloomy colors: "Stärkle's independence would have opened up a certain opportunity. But now, at Belcom, he will act even closer to Radio Top, which is why the situation is likely to get worse," he says. The chance of a united association by the end of the year is therefore over for Kilchsperger.
And what does Stärkle himself think? He presents a new proposal: Instead of a kind of merger of PRS and VSP, he suggests an umbrella association of the electronic media, in which VSP, PRS, the French RRR and the private TV association Telesuisse could become members. The intention is clear: this would allow everyone to save face.
But Heuberger just shrugs his shoulders. And Kilchsperger also shakes his head: "That would be almost identical to the interest group for electronic media (IGEM). I can't see the point of a second organization that is so similar."
The new GL of the Belcom Group

The Executive Board of the Belcom Group now consists of Roger Schawinski (CEO), Martin Spieler (COO), Markus Gilli (Program Director Tele 24/ Tele Züri), Brigitte Aeschlimann (CFO), Peter Canale (Technical Director), Richi Gasser (Advertising Director), Peter Brun (Program Director Radio 24) and Christian Stärkle (Head of Belcom).

Christian Stärkle moves from Radio Argovia and Tele M1 to Belcom AG.Aufsteller "A guy with a clear line".
A set-up or a set-down?
Hansruedi Koelliker: More of a set-up man. But it all depends on what freedoms and competencies Stärkle is given. He can only develop his full potential if he can realize his philosophy for the radio and TV world. If he is given all the freedoms, he is the right man. But I'm afraid that Schawinski's philosophy is not necessarily identical with Stärkle's.
Since Michael Frank left Belcom AG, it has been weakened. Will it become stronger again with Stärkle?
Koelliker: With Frank's departure, Belcom was rather strengthened. Frank had introduced many bonus levels, which brought unrest. With him, it was like a Turkish bazaar. Belcom used to have a clear line, which was watered down by Frank.
Can Stärkle do anything about it?
Koelliker: Not right away either. But Stärkle is a guy with a clear line. He calculates prices clearly and sells them that way.
Stärkle is expected to remain PRS president. Does the unified association have to be buried?
Koelliker: No. The situation has not changed. I, too, would very much welcome a single association. Whether it will be possible by the end of the year is written in the stars.
Stärkle was intended to be the managing director of Pool 2000. Will he now be able to keep this rival mandate?
Koelliker: (laughs) For sure. But I'm sure that soon it will be said that Radio Z is dropping out and Radio 24 is coming into the pool. That's a matter of a few weeks. Interview: Markus Knöpfli