Since March 1, Markus Ehrle has also been a board delegate of the newly founded Publimedia Webadvertising AGTop-paying 08/15 jobs bore him, he gives headhunters the cold shoulder, because Markus Ehrle knows what he wants: he has worked for PubliGroupe for 19 years, has worked his way up from the commercial pen of Publicitas St.Gallen to project manager and branch trainer to member of the management of Publimedia AG, Zurich, account director and board delegate of the newly founded subsidiary Publimedia Webadvertising. He completed training courses as a marketing planner, advertising manager and marketing manager, obtained the First Certificate and the Certificate of Business Studies and worked on many important projects. "I haven't regretted a second since I started working here," says Ehrle. He feels at home in the company: "I have everything I'm looking for here: an exciting challenge, the opportunity to constantly develop myself, a harmonious working atmosphere and a fair salary." Ehrle hates token jobs and wants to help shape Publimedia. That's why he got involved in the Internet business a month and a half ago when he was appointed delegate of the board of directors of the new Publimedia subsidiary Webadvertising AG. "Of course, I could have tried to muddle through somehow with my basic knowledge of the Internet, but that's not my thing."
Ehrle is not a show-off who has to prove something to himself and others. "It was never about my career," says Ehrle, "I always wanted to be challenged, enjoy what I do and learn new things."
He currently has plenty of opportunities for this at Publimedia: the company is currently looking into setting up an international network. "This project is not yet ready to go," says Ehrle, "we are only at the beginning."
With a turnover of CHF 750 million and 150 employees, Publimedia is one of the largest media companies in Switzerland. "I really can't complain about a lack of challenge and work," laughs the 36-year-old from eastern Switzerland. He doesn't want to reveal how many hours he works per week. "It's quite a few," is all he says. But he practically always devotes the weekend to his wife, his two daughters, his colleagues and his hobbies. "It's important to be able to switch off," he says.
His favorite pastimes include enjoying the American-style veranda of his new house and cycling. "I do four fun races a year," says Ehrle. His goal: "To beat all my colleagues who have a family. I no longer stand a chance against the single guys," laughs Ehrle.
Annelies Friedli

Absolut advertises for a U.S. gay and lesbian organizationBy Thérèse BalduzziAlready 20 years ago, the Swedish liquor distiller Absolut promoted itself to the homosexual audience in America and was a pioneer in niche marketing. What's new is an ad in which the vodka brand demonstrates its support for the American gay and lesbian organization Glaad in the spirit of "cause-related marketing."
The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (Glaad) is fighting back against negative bias in the media's portrayal of lesbians and gays. Thus, the organization recently intervened in the broadcast of the Grammy Awards. In compensation for the appearance of Eminem, whose rap lyrics the organization considers anti-gay and glorifying violence, it asked network broadcaster CBS to air a public service announcement.
The new print ad is based on the "Absolut Citron" ad that first appeared in the mid-1990s. In it, a "lava" lamp is shown in the shape of an Absolut bottle. In the slightly modified version, the yellow bubbles floating in the lamp liquid mimic the Glaad logo.
Absolute advertising in
The Advocate has tradition
The ad was created by the New York branch of the TBWA/Chiat/Day advertising agency, which is responsible for the long-running Absolut campaign. It appears nationally in the gay and lesbian magazine The Advocate, as well as in mainstream magazines such as New York Magazine.
The relationship between the globally distributed vodka brand and the gay and lesbian population has a history and tradition in America. As early as 1981, when it was far from common, Absolut advertised in The Advocate. Since 1989, the vodka brand has supported the Glaad organization and its annual awards ceremony, the Glaad Media Awards. At the time, Absolut was distributed in the U.S. by Carillon Importers, which was quick to recognize the role of the gay and lesbian scene as a trendsetter and the benefits of niche marketing.
For the first time Absolut involves a nonprofit organization
Absolut has been distributed in the USA by the Seagram company since 1994. Since Seagram has since been sold, it will have to cede the distribution license for the Swedish grain distillate later this year. Meanwhile, it is uncertain whether the new distributors will continue to support gay and lesbian organizations.
Absolut ads often revolve around cities, artists, or fashion trends, in addition to ingredients (lemons, for example). Despite the vodka brand's long relationship with the gay and lesbian scene and its years of sponsoring Glaad, this is the first time it has included a nonprofit organization dedicated to a social cause in an ad. This is also the first time Absolut advertising has been on trend.

As is well known, victims are not sacrificed for pleasure, but out of a sense of calling or to satisfy divine desires. As is well known, advertisers primarily sacrifice female subjects by immortalizing them as embodiments of their fantasies in advertisements. Women who model fashion products are particularly affected by such excesses of so-called creative advertising. Such abuse is nothing more than a testament to bad taste (commonly known as a lack of ideas and creative vision) and often gives rise to a guilty conscience—on the part of the advertisers, hopefully. Especially since these two ads only barely touch on the issue of victimization, yet use it as a visual—not moral—lure. For the message of these very pointedly designed ads is not: «Save the women from the fashion industry.» Rather: “Save the women who buy the wrong brands.” And as the Mustang Jeans slogan so unmistakably promises: “True style never dies.” Fine. But who will save the advertisers from their own thoughtlessness?
Chandra Kurt
Column

1001 Night Shifts
By Jan Krohn
I got up as the mailbox lid clattered in time with the steady stream of collection notices, took a shower, wrapped myself in soft towels, and headed out. At the reception desk, a sweet-as-sugar blonde greeted me and directed me to the creaking black leather sofa. I was served fragrant coffee and crispy croissants, had Doberman dogs lick my Nappa leather shoes, and was led into a room to a sinfully expensive precious-wood desk: «What do you desire?» asked the handsome man behind it. I swallowed hard and blurted out, «I want to become a member of your auspicious cult.»
The handsome man stretched his beautifully curved lips into an amused smile, gave me a moist, sparkling look, and slid the contract toward me. «Avec plaisir!» he whispered with the air of a man of the world, pressing a platinum-plated fountain pen into my trembling fingers.
«Wait, don’t I have to kill a dragon that’s spreading fear and terror first?» I asked, puzzled. The Handsome One smiled. «Oh, no. Our CD got lost in the international network. It won’t find its way out of there anytime soon.» «And what about the test administered by the giant gnome who sows confusion and bewilderment?» «That’s out too,» my future guru assured me. «Our strategist stabbed himself in the brain with a PowerPoint slide and has fallen into a 100-year slumber.» «So all that’s left is to marry the princess,» I joked boldly. The master’s smile turned sour as he said, «That, my dear freelancer, will only become clear after the pitch is won…»
I signed the document and pressed a seal-kiss to the ruler’s mouth. At that moment, he turned into a hideous, drooling toad; the dragon burst through the glass door, roaring; and the giant gnome awoke from his coma with a bone-chilling yawn. I shuddered. Things were about to get interesting again…
Jan Krohn, 38, writes advertising concepts and copy, screenplays and other scripts, as well as song lyrics.
Language Observer

The Dust of the Sixties (II)
Certain words (there it is again) are simply no longer considered proper these days. If you don’t want to come across as bold, brave, or even cute, don’t go overboard when using the following expressions:
away
hold
recently
cheeky
clothing
sideboards
Delivery Room
bold
knowledgeable
refresh
Body
Reputation
commendable
manly
if I may say so
not at all
only
be the responsibility of
often
as of the end of the year
to charge
cute
appropriate
absolutely
shamefully
feast
jewelry
dashing
sleek
contemptible
get ready
to dare
to train oneself
hurry up
frolic
be appropriate
then
Spotlight
great
sound
excellent
pile up
Adversity
unbutchered
impeccable
Undertaking
damned
necessary
sturdy
imagine
to govern
formerly
to hesitate
draw
early
in droves
to be angry
sometimes
But soon, what's out will be in again. Some of the terms on this list are ripe for a comeback. I'm thinking, for example, of "flott," "toll," or "kess.".
Beat Gloor, www.textcontrol.ch

In addition, the industry association Expo + Event—which was formed a year ago by Swiss trade show booth builders and event professionals—is now chaired by Roland Köppel. He succeeds Beat Montanus.
The communications agency C-Matrix Group, based in Baar, is expanding. Peter Kuster is taking over as head of the newly formed Marketing Communications unit. Romi Zimmermann will be the new office manager. Also joining the team are Simone Lauper as project manager in Issues Management, Petra Felder as junior project manager in New Media Communications, and Yvonne Raudzus as an assistant in Corporate Communications.
The Solothurn-based communications consultancy S-Presso has added Stefan Haas to its team. Haas, most recently a business editor at the Berner Zeitung, will become the agency’s fourth consultant and a member of its executive board.
Ringier Romandie has appointed Patrick Chabbey as the new editor-in-chief of the TV guide TV 8. He succeeds Corinne Badoux.
Steff Schneider, who has been editor-in-chief of the agricultural weekly *Die Grüne* since early 2000, has been relieved of his duties. Stefan Kohler, who was previously an editor at *Landfreund*, will succeed him on April 1.
Christian Stärkle, head of the E-Media Department at the AZ Media Group, will be leaving the company at his own request. Until a successor is found, Stärkle will
his duties as head of
Continue to serve as head of digital media and managing director of Radio Argovia.

Posters are subject to different laws of effect than radio or TV... and again, nobody is looking hereBy Wolfgang KoschnickThe third and final article on the subject of poster research is about the fundamentals: Research methods with or without technical measuring devices are still controversial. Poster sites are perceived by "everyone". Impact research must therefore be based on a mass medium without a defined target audience.
For poster researchers, the real problems start where the problems of other media researchers have already been solved. And that is why poster research has to answer questions that do not exist in "normal" media research. This has to do with the special features of outdoor advertising:
The "normal" advertising media have "normal" users (readers, TV viewers, radio listeners, moviegoers) who also come into contact with advertising during their media consumption. This is not the case with posters. The advertising medium "billboard" per se has no audience at all. Nobody uses a billboard if there is no poster on it. The advertising medium is worth nothing for advertising if there is no advertising medium. With "normal" advertising media, the opposite is the case. In poster research, therefore, no evidence whatsoever can be gained for the use of the advertising medium "poster" from the use of the advertising medium "billboard".
A daily newspaper is the same paper wherever it is published. A magazine is the same everywhere, regardless of whether you read it in Zurich, Lucerne, Bern or Basel. The program of a radio or television station is received by every listener and every viewer in the same way as by every other listener or viewer. The similarity of the advertising media is their characteristic. That is why their audiences are relatively easy to measure and compare.
Diversity as a basic characteristic
It's different with posters. One poster site is located in the middle of the hustle and bustle of Zurich Airport. Hundreds of thousands of people pass by there every day. The other is in a small town where there isn't much going on, but a few thousand people still pass by.
No two poster sites are the same. The diversity of advertising media is the hallmark of outdoor advertising. However, the same values are needed for the advertising medium "poster site" as for any other advertising medium. Above all, you need contacts and, on the basis of the selected contact definition, reach and contact frequencies that are collected at the same level.
But how can this be done when the advertising medium "billboard" is so radically different from all other advertising media? The answer is as simple as the solution is difficult: by agreeing on a series of conventions and compromises. This is how media research works for all genres. There are no flawless solutions that meet all the purists' requirements in commercial research anyway.
Equality of the poster site with other media
In poster research, too, we must therefore first agree on a key concept of media research: the contact definition. It is used to isolate all those for whom it is absolutely clear that they are guaranteed not to see or hear an advertisement or commercial. All others have a high or low chance of contact, depending on the situation. For print media, for example, the chance of contact with an advertisement in Switzerland is defined as anyone who states in a survey that they have "read or leafed through" a magazine XY.
A contact definition must therefore be found for poster research that can exist at the same measurement level as the contact definition used in readership research. Which definition of contact fulfills this purpose? Is it enough if someone stands two hundred meters in front of a billboard? Or does it have to be one hundred meters? Or even just twenty? Is a five-second contact better than one that lasts just half a second? Or is the duration of contact irrelevant?
Different definitions of the term contact
Whenever the term "poster research" is used lightly, what is really meant is "billboard research". This is because it is exclusively about researching the communication performance of the advertising medium "billboard" in intermedia competition. And the central question here is: How do the various poster sites differ from one another in terms of the advertising media contacts they generate?
Some differences are so obvious that you don't have to think much about them. Of course, a huge illuminated surface covering the whole of Times Square is much easier to see than a small piece of paper stuck to a wall somewhere on a dark side street. But does a billboard that faces the flow of traffic really communicate more effectively than one that is parallel to the traffic and that you might just be able to see out of the far corner of your eye as you drive past?
These detailed questions deal with different aspects of one and the same problem: How do you define "contact" in poster research? Various approaches have been found in practice. The simplest approach is taken by Plakatwertung Österreich (PWÖ). It says: If someone passes a poster at a distance of less than 80 meters and at an angle of more than 30 degrees, they have made contact. Period. It doesn't matter whether a person walking or driving past it actually has this contact or not.
Poster research models from simple to sophisticated
You can make it that simple. The definition of contact in readership or television research is no more complicated than that. And the Austrians have said to themselves: it doesn't really matter which definition of contact you use. The main thing is that the same standard is applied to all poster sites throughout the country.
Other research projects have made things a little more difficult for themselves and found an empirically supported definition of contact. The German Plakatmediaanalyse (PMA) has chosen the narrowest definition with its "poster survey based on remembered paths" in a personal interview with memory aids. As already shown in the second installment of this article series (WW 7/01), it has even been shown that the empirical data collected by the PMA is incorrect and needs to be corrected.
That's the crux of the matter anyway. Empirical findings often emerge that cannot be objectively true. Swiss private radio stations sometimes make a joke of it and ask passers-by how they voted on this or that issue in the last referendum. However, they ask about an issue that was not voted on at all. And lo and behold: in their answers, people nevertheless provide very precise information about their voting behavior.
As an aside, reader research has not empirically tested its concept of contact any more than any other advertising medium. Why should it? So why should the poor poster researchers be any more Catholic than the Pope? The concept of contact has been defined by consensus everywhere in media research. And the same consideration was always the basis worldwide: the only thing to be examined is how the concept of contact is to be defined. Should it be completely "hard" or rather "soft"? A soft definition of contact, in which even the gentlest hint of contact is included, is particularly popular with providers of contact points. This allows them to show that their sites generate a particularly high number of hard-hitting contacts and achieve a particularly high reach. They can then charge higher prices for this. Advertisers and their agencies naturally prefer a hard contact definition. After all, they have to pay for every contact. For really "hard" contacts, they can still see that. But for the really flabby ones, they would prefer not to pay anything at all.
Contact duration is often overestimated in poster research
Between the two extremes of PWÖ and PMA lies the whole variety of realistic poster research in many countries: in the UK, eye-tracking cameras have been used to record how passers-by let their gaze wander in the vicinity of poster sites; after all, it is quite clear that a passer-by who walks three meters past a poster site has a higher chance of contact than someone who drives past at top speed and possibly on the opposite side of the road in a car and looks neither to the right nor to the left.
The same applies to the influence of the number of attachment points. It is possible that contact is affected if an attachment point stands alone somewhere in a wide open space or in a group with five others. But it is impossible to know exactly what effect this will have. It is possible that the passers-by have contact with every single one of them. But they may not. It's impossible to know without empirical research.
However, the importance of contact duration is often overestimated: whether someone strolls past a poster site in five minutes or rushes past in just five seconds. The first person has 300 seconds of contact, sixty times as much as the second. But the five seconds are enough to be reached by the advertising message on the poster.
However, the following facts need to be clarified: What duration is sufficient for contact? The average attention time for advertisements is only 1.7 seconds. In the case of posters, it should be possible to assume an even shorter attention time. This can probably only be determined with the help of an empirical study.
The contact definition determines under what circumstances and under what conditions how many people come into contact with advertising messages on billboards. If the sole task of poster research were to investigate the communication performance of the billboard as an advertising medium, one could be satisfied with the evaluation of individual sites.
The characteristics of poster sites that are conducive to generating poster contacts must be identified and quantified for each individual site. This would provide precise data on the communication performance of all outdoor advertising media. That's all you really need to evaluate the communication performance of the advertising medium.
However, if you also want to find out which people have contact with attack sites - i.e. if you want to collect personal data about contact with attack sites - you have to collect this additional data separately.
Young people are mobile
and has a lot of money
One can argue about how high - or low - the insight value of personal data on poster usage is. It can even be argued that its insight value - and in media planning this means its relevance to planning - is rather low.
Why? Only people who are out of the house have contact with poster sites. And who is that? Pretty much everyone. Everyone is outside from time to time. Only the very old and the very young - neither of whom are particularly relevant to the communication performance of advertising media - spend less time outdoors. This amounts to a tautological definition: the mobile are outside more often than the immobile. There is actually no need to laboriously investigate this.
All poster research worldwide confirms the same truism: posters primarily appeal to mobile sections of the population. And in the demographic characteristics associated with mobility - more likely to be male, more likely to be young, more likely to have a higher household income and a higher level of education - higher reach and GRP values can therefore be achieved. Do we really need laborious research - which, to make matters worse, is also really expensive - to bring such truisms to light again and again?
The PMA in Germany goes to great lengths to differentiate personal data according to the three media large format, full-page and city light poster (CLP). And what was the result? There are no significant target group differences between the three advertising media types. The poster reaches the same people everywhere, regardless of the form it takes (the
CLP achieve higher performance values in cities, but this is exclusively due to the fact that they do not occur at all in the countryside).
The whole event serves to collect target group-related data. And of all things, it does not provide any differentiation when it comes to target group-oriented information. And it does not do so because it cannot do so. The target audience for outdoor advertising is the same everywhere.
Out-of-home advertising media are, after all, a classic mass medium without a target group. In principle, their audience is "everyone". This is precisely what distinguishes it from many other advertising media: a magazine for hobby gardeners or for goldfish breeders, as well as a men's magazine or a women's magazine, is simply an ideal advertising medium for messages aimed at precisely defined target groups. This is precisely what outdoor advertising media are not.
However, if you still want to collect personal data, it will definitely be a rather complicated matter. The international poster research community has come up with a lot of collection models to obtain personal data. The only thing that is fairly certain is that the huge effort involved hardly justifies the data yield. The big mountain is circling and yet only a few measly data mice have been born.
Technical devices are not beyond all doubt
In principle, three different methods can be used: (1) surveys, (2) observations (technical measurements) and (3) the use of existing traffic count data. None of these methods has so far led to really convincing results.
Surveys in the past have shown this in many cases: People give false information about whether and how they see posters. They often cannot reliably remember whether they have actually had contact with an outdoor advertising site.
The great advantage of surveys is precisely the almost limitless flexibility of the instruments. If overly restrictive questions lead to distortions, the questions can be varied until better results are obtained.
The instrument of the survey has the undeniable advantage that it is extremely cost-effective. If one question measures incorrectly, then you just use another one. If, on the other hand, you use technical equipment and then discover that the expensive devices do not measure properly, you are stuck with the high costs.
The trend in the more modern methods of mobility analysis, as in media research in general, is clearly moving towards observation through technical measurement. There are two main reasons for this.
Firstly: Observation by technical measurement is a procedure at the same level of accuracy as that practiced by audience research with Telecontrol or, more recently, listener research with Radiocontrol. The real problems with this method only arise beyond the measuring accuracy of these devices. However, this has not yet affected their acceptance.
Secondly, technical measurement using methods such as the Geographical Positioning System (GPS) has had little experience - positive or negative - in the field of poster research. In navigation, however, it has proven its worth. Today, the technology is only used in the British Postar research model. So far, virtually nothing is known about the pitfalls of the system in media research.
The procedure is easy to understand. Each interviewee is given a GPS device, which they carry with them wherever they go. It can be attached to their clothing or in their car. The navigation system determines his or her location or movements at all times and can thus determine when a person makes contact with posters, as the locations of all poster sites are already known.
However, we can already say that there are two major problem areas with GPS and other technical measurement methods: Firstly, they do not work in large buildings such as train stations and similar buildings. These are, after all, the most frequented and contact-intensive locations in all outdoor advertising. And secondly, there are often problems in urban canyons, i.e. wherever the walls of a building prevent the GPS device from making contact with its satellites. And house walls are found in cities, where outdoor advertising is particularly effective.
Traffic count data is more reliable and cheaper
Unfortunately, the more precise the measurement needs to be, the greater the problem. If you only need to determine a location approximately and with an accuracy of a few hundred meters, it is still reasonably easy to do. But if you want to be more precise, then every house, every tree and every shrub will interfere ...
Years ago, the German Outdoor Advertising Association (FAW) attempted to use data from spatial planning for outdoor advertising. To this end, the "Braunschweig model for determining traffic frequencies" was developed using data from traffic counts. In contrast, other methods work with frequency samples that are collected directly at the poster sites and are therefore independent of the availability of suitable traffic count data from public authorities. Experience has shown that traffic count data available for individual cities varies greatly in terms of quality, completeness and timeliness.
The practical benefits of the Dutch Buitenreclame also result primarily from the fortunate circumstance that the Dutch have access to data from the official traffic counts of the Dutch Spatial Planning and Surveying Agency for mobility analysis.
It collects relevant data on the traffic behavior of the Dutch with 120000 respondents every year. From these counts, the start and end points of the journeys made are known - but not the journey itself.
As the census data on the "route choice behavior" of the population cannot be used directly for
The market research institute Intomart developed a model that can be used for poster research. It is based on a sample of 7000 people. For the people in
of this sample, routes are calculated using a complicated procedure, which they are likely to take and assuming that they differ from
The traffic will choose the "easiest" route from a certain starting point. In simpler terms, the traffic flows from the official traffic counts are used to calculate probabilities for poster site contacts. These routes are then transferred to a digital map.
There is actually no greater ideal than being able to use data from a traffic census or a population census. Admittedly, these were not collected specifically for the very special needs of poster research. But they can be used for this purpose without much hesitation. And they are an incredibly cost-effective way of collecting data.

Muse & MusseIngrid Monnard
Which cultural event did you attend last and why this one in particular?
Ingrid Monnard: No-Angels-Kitschparty.
What are you reading right now?
Monnard: "Leo Kaplan" by Leon de Winter.
Which CD do you currently prefer to listen to?
Monnard: Costes, "La Suite".
Which movie would you most like to see again and why?
Monnard: "Together/Tillsammans" by Lukas Moodysson.
What TV show did you fall asleep during the other night?
Monnard: "Lüthi & Blanc".
What is your latest discovery on the Internet?
Monnard: www.cede.ch
Love is...?
Monnard: ...When my favorite copywriter gives me the book "Leo Kaplan"...When my favorite AD recommends the movie "Together"...When I can talk about "Lüthi & Blanc" with my favorite PR consultant every Monday morning...When I discover a new site with relevant benefits through my favorite web unit manager...When my favorite team serenades me on Friday evening.

HvM develops a new brand positioning for the watch company Maurice LacroixFor some years now, the Maurice Lacroix (ML) brand has no longer been one of the "little ones" in the watch industry. To do justice to this development, Honegger von Matt designed a positioning for the Basel Watch and Jewelry Fair that gives the watch brand a high-class aura of value. With the Triple A value system - authentic, sophisticated and open-minded - ML is taking a bold step away from the usual motifs of the life of luxury towards a brand that wants to anchor itself with uncompromising independence.Derived from this brand value, the creatives designed a print campaign that dispensed with large-format product shots, but instead focused on instincts as a classic of innate behavior. Incorporating the brand staple "Tomorrow's Classics", AD Simon Staub and copywriter/concept designer Christoph Hess developed an unusual combination of wilderness and luxury that generates the desired excitement in the viewer. To achieve this, the creatives chose animals that do not meet the criteria for cuddly toys suitable for advertising. Instead, they purposefully followed their instinct for classics. page 7

Interpublic Group of Companies replaces WPP as the world's largest advertising holding company.NewsInterpublic buys True North
Interpublic acquires rival True North for $2.1 billion in stock. Together, the two companies reported revenues of $7.2 billion in 2000. The acquisition is expected to provide cost savings of about $25 million. True North had been looking for a buyer after its FCB Worldwide agency lost Chrysler, the auto company, as a customer. As a result, True North's sales fell by about 9 percent.
WPP Coordinates Media UnitsThe British advertising holding company WPP has founded a new subsidiary called The Channel, which is to serve as a coordination point between its media agencies. Since its acquisition of Young & Rubicam, WPP has owned two complete international media networks, Mindshare and Media Edge. WPP refrained from a merger in order to avoid client conflicts. Through The Channel, however, the agencies are now to communicate better with each other.
WCRS strengthens the CNN brand
London-based advertising agency WCRS has been commissioned by CNN with an international branding campaign. The budget is estimated at over 50 million Swiss francs and covers Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Latin America. CNN has so far limited itself to campaigns in regional markets. WCRS, a Havas agency, had already won the European launch budget for the CNN website last August.
MediaCom wins Glaxo SmithKlineThe pharmaceutical group Glaxo SmithKline consolidates its media buying with MediaCom. The media subsidiary of Grey Global Group beat out The Media Edge, Media Direct Partners and Media Planning. All pitch participants had handled a portion of the now combined $600 million media buy prior to the merger of Glaxo Wellcome and Smithkline Beecham.

A small Basel agency advertises Swiss cultural events in AustriaAdvertising often aims to amuse, at best to provoke, but less often to create misunderstandings. A small Basel advertising agency consciously accepts the latter when advertising Swiss cultural events in Austria.At first glance, you see the poster headline "This yellow", with "CHinA 2001" underneath. Who wouldn't first think of yellow-skinned Asians? No one associates this with a "cultural offensive" in which Swiss artists from the fields of visual arts, film, literature, music, cartoons, dance and theater will be performing at around 70 events in Austria, primarily in Vienna, starting in April and running for a year. This association does not arise when one discovers the addition "Switzerland in Austria". On the contrary.
Fredy Hadorn, owner of the Basel advertising agency Hadorn and creator of the above-mentioned poster and other subjects, readily explains: "This Yellow" is the title of a painting by a Swiss artist, the headline "Untitled" is likewise, and "The Pollen Room" is a title from Swiss literature. But do the Austrians also know this? Or do the headlines at least make them curious enough to quickly surf to the homepage www.china2001.at as desired? Hadorn is convinced that "the headlines are quickly recognizable for insiders". However, the fact that they only leave the general public with question marks "is entirely desirable".
The Austrian media should resolve question marks
What he doesn't say is that perhaps he is deliberately including a lot of question marks so that the Austrian media will feel compelled to dissolve them in the editorial section. In any case, the Chinese embassy in Vienna has already got wind of the matter and suspected abuse of its country. "We don't want to rule out the possibility of confusion," says Hadorn, "but we are willing to take that risk."
But how did Hadorn get this advertising commission? In the last two years, he has triggered a very broad response in Basel with two art projects. The artist and advertiser was then promptly asked by the Viennese initiators to implement the campaign.
Markus Knöpfli

A poster design created by the Bonaparte agency in Zurich provocatively announces Peter Blasband’s play «A Pornographic Relationship,» which will run from March 23 to April 12 at Zurich’s Theater an der Winkelwiese. The plot: A woman and a man, both looking for a no-strings-attached sexual encounter, meet through a personal ad. Their first date takes place in a café. After several hardcore encounters, feelings begin to creep in. The poster deliberately does not address this development in the story but instead dramatizes the first meeting. Regarding the use of rubber dolls, copywriter Adrian Sulzer says: «Because the other person’s personality plays a secondary role at the beginning of the relationship, we tried to reduce the message to the physical.» OMD handles media for Sunrise. The media budget for the telecommunications group Sunrise is now
handled by OMD Zurich. OMD prevailed in the pitch against Bemberg Gedenk Media and the incumbent agency, Universal McCann. The budget amounts to a double-digit million figure; agency head Peter Kettiger called it «probably the biggest media pitch of the year.».
BODIN’S LATEST CREATION. Former McCann-Erickson Creative Director Frank Bodin has taken up his new role as Executive Chairman of Euro RSCG. He isn’t talking about that just yet, preferring instead to discuss his latest work—the poster for the ballet «Sacré du Printemps» at the Zurich Opera House. The storyline sounds dramatic: «The ballet is about a girl who dances herself to death surrounded by men,» Bodin explains. The subject matter is no less dramatic: two bleeding knife tips driven into wood symbolize the ballerina’s dance of death. The design was created before Bodin joined Euro. His move has no impact on this commission: «I will continue to work directly with the Zurich Opera House in the future,» says Bodin.
COCA-COLA IS THE STRONGEST BRAND. The advertising agency Zogg Kettiger Gasser commissioned DemoScope to survey 300 marketing and advertising executives in Switzerland to determine which company owns Switzerland’s strongest brand. The survey ranks Coca-Cola in first place, followed by Nestlé. A year ago, the ranking was exactly the opposite. Experts believe that Coca-Cola, as a single-product brand, would find it easier to establish a clear profile. Under the Nestlé brand, a wide variety of products are advertised in a wide variety of advertising styles. Migros takes third place, just as it did last year. According to the analysis, Migros not only does a lot of advertising but also engages in «lively advertising.» Swatch also benefits from a certain consistency. Despite a relatively low-key advertising presence, this brand ranks fourth. «Among other factors, Nicolas Hayek’s frequent media appearances have a strong influence here,» comments Oskar Gasser on the study.
Federal Supreme Court Justifies Ban on Lovely Advertising. Food products may be advertised as beneficial to health, but not as preventive or curative for diseases. The Federal Supreme Court states this in the reasoning for its ruling against the advertising by the Swiss Milk Producers (SMP). In January, the Federal Supreme Court had ruled that advertising claims stating that milk helps prevent bone fragility in old age (osteoporosis) were inadmissible. However, it would have been permissible, for example, to state that milk is good for one’s health because it provides the body with calcium, which is important for bone development.
Profit Surge for Highlight Communications. Highlight Communications, based in Pfäffikon SZ and active in the marketing and sale of film and television rights, increased its consolidated revenue by 74 percent to 170.9 million Swiss francs in fiscal year 2000. Operating income rose by 135 percent to 42.6 million Swiss francs. With consolidated net income after taxes of 26 million Swiss francs, the company even surpassed the previous year’s figure by 162 percent.
To each celebrity, their own Zurich. For the Spring/Summer issue of Adress, the customer magazine published by Feldpausch and PKZ, the in-house agency By Heart came up with something very special: Among features on Betty Barclay, Joop, and others, readers will find a city special on Downtown Switzerland. «What do you love about Zurich?» the creative team asked 19 celebrities from around the world and visually brought their answers to life. The Hardbrücke inspires the Freitag brothers; Cecilia Bartoli enjoys the intimacy, while Yves Netzhammer admires the swans’ vanity. Vivienne Westwood is fascinated by Andy Stutz’s fine fabrics; for Wallpaper editor-in-chief Tyler Brûlé, Zurich is anything but provincial; while Hugo Loetscher feels sorry for the Sihl River, whose course has been marred.

ILLUSTRE READERS. The word «illustre» appears to be derived from the name “Uster,” as shown in a campaign by the Honegger von Matt (HvM) agency. Using illustrations taken around Uster featuring such illustrious figures as former President Bill Clinton and Pope John Paul II, the agency is promoting the Anzeiger von Uster. The latest image shows Prince Charles in front of Uster Castle. With this humorous concept, HvM aims to rebrand the provincial paper as a “regional newspaper of world-class stature.” Unfortunately, due to scheduling constraints, a photomontage had to be used for both Clinton and the Prince. But you wouldn’t know it. As Prince Charles’s majestic gaze in the picture impressively shows, the royal—in the style of a true castle regular—is far more interested in the cosmopolitan openness next to a simple tree from the Zürcher Oberland than in the Uster castle, which is probably a bit too unroyal by his standards.
Editorial

Opponents of Equality
The adoration and rejection of luxury are as much a part of business as supply and demand. The aversion to
Luxury has a long tradition. Countless preachers and moralists throughout history have spoken out against ostentation and waste. Yet luxury has always been a driving force behind the development of consumerism. Reflecting on luxury, the French philosopher Georges Bataille came to this conclusion: «The history of life on Earth is, above all, the result of a mad exuberance. The dominant outcome is the development of luxury—the creation of ever more costly ways of life.» Even if one does not share Bataille’s metaphysics of luxury, one must acknowledge that, despite all poverty, there has hardly been a human society that could live without luxury. This is also evident in the changing forms it takes. It was not so long ago that shrimp, salmon, and many tropical fruits were reserved for a privileged minority.
Even though luxury serves as a model for many new products, it cannot be democratized. Ultimately, luxury is not suited for the masses: exclusivity simply cannot be «mass-produced» without losing its status as something exclusive. After all, luxury has always remained «a stubborn adversary of equality,» as Hans Magnus Enzensberger once defined it.
Swiss watches are luxury products and are more sought after worldwide than ever before. The mechanical luxury watch is at the heart of the Swiss watch industry. It consists of up to 700 individual parts and is largely assembled by hand. Luxury takes time, and time is needed to establish traditions. The magic of a luxury item lies in its cultural qualities—that is, those tied to history. The fact that modern quartz watches are much more accurate is no argument against mechanical luxury watches, which are crafted through painstaking handwork.
Such mechanical marvels (along with other watches) will be on display from the 22nd to
March 29 at the World Watch and Jewelry Fair in Basel. How these status symbols are marketed,
See pages 7 and 8.
Samuel Helbling

Peter Wanner's Aargauer Zeitung (AZ) becomes the journalistic benchmark for the Mittelland regionPublisher Peter Wanner has achieved an important goal of his expansion strategy: The Aargauer Zeitung has not only succeeded in unifying the print advertising market between Baden and Solothurn, it is also taking the journalistic reins for the entire region.The Aargauer Zeitung is the main winner of the new cooperation. The Aarauer Zeitung is the main winner of the new cooperation, especially in the journalistic sense, because as the producer of the jacket for all the newspapers involved, its editorial staff will be serving a circulation that is almost twice as large as it is today, starting next year.
Peter Wanner: Of course, I'm enormously pleased when the Aargauer Zeitung (AZ) receives a larger journalistic forum. This development is also recognition for us. After all, we have invested a lot in the AZ editorial team in recent years and continuously improved its performance. The partner publishers have honored this, they wanted our coat and no other. But they also benefit. With an attractive cover, they can build on their strength with their readership.
Above all, advertising customers are also to benefit, for example by reducing the price per thousand readers (TLP). At the press orientation, you failed to give a weighting of the reduction. How high will the reduction be?
Wanner: We don't yet know in detail exactly how high it will be. In relation to the Aargauer Zeitung, the reduction compared to the current rates will be between five and ten percent. Compared to the Neue Mittelland-Zeitung, however, the TLP will go down even further, because it has a higher TLP than the Aargauer Zeitung.
A new challenge lies ahead in the handling of the advertising market, because the two marketers, Publicitas and AZ Media, have to reorganize their cooperation - a rather complicated matter.
Wanner: We already have a comparable model at the Aargauer Zeitung that works well. We will set up this model, slightly modified, for the Mittelland Zeitung as well. It involves double market cultivation. But I assume that customers will soon decide with which sales staff and via which channel they want to place their ads.
Why do you think this cooperation is a better solution than if the publishers in Berne or Zurich had had their say?
Wanner: If the Bernese had been successful with their advertising in Solothurn, the way to the Mittelland would still have been blocked for them. Because Zofingen, as an Aargau district, would have joined us, I'm sure of that. And Olten, which is economically intertwined with Aarau and Zofingen, would also have tended to cooperate with us. But by convincing the people of Solothurn as well, the case became completely clear. We have now created a barrier and a bulwark in the Mittelland, which the Zurich or Bernese publishing houses will have difficulty penetrating.
Is the area now complete for you, or do you leave further integrations open, for example to the east in the direction of Winterthur?
Wanner: We're certainly open to the idea of other publishers knocking on our door. But consolidating what we've achieved is our priority at the moment. After all, this is a huge project that still requires a lot of detailed work. Interview: Daniel Schifferle

From January 2002, the print advertising market between Baden and Solothurn is integrated - without SwisspoolBy Daniel SchifferleFrom January 2002, the Mittelland Zeitung unites four titles under one newspaper roof and, with a circulation of around 200,000 copies, becomes the third largest newspaper in German-speaking Switzerland. The latest addition in the history of Swiss press mergers will provide the advertising market with a nourishing piece of market coverage between Baden and Solothurn. However, membership of Swisspool is not up for discussion.
The tug-of-war surrounding the Mittelland Zeitung was tough and protracted. Negotiations with various sides went on for more than a year and a half. This was because the Berner Zeitung and the Bund/ NZZ were also eager to expand their territory into the Mittelland. A cooperation with the Solothurner Zeitung would have been an attractive step in this direction for both. But, as expected, the Aargauer Zeitung (AZ) won the day. From January 2002, it will appear together with the Solothurner Zeitung (SZ), the Oltner Tagblatt (OT) and the Zofinger Tagblatt (ZT) under the Mittelland Zeitung label, a joint newspaper umbrella covering the entire Mittelland region between Baden and Solothurn. The basic recipe for the cooperation - the partners retain their legal independence - follows the successful examples of Südostschweiz and St. Galler Tagblatt, which created comparable structures in recent years.
Together, the combined titles along the Aare will reach a circulation of around 200,000 copies and a daily readership of around 374,000. This puts the Mittelland Zeitung in third place among the top ten German-language newspapers in Switzerland, just behind Blick and Tages-Anzeiger and ahead of the Berner Zeitung. In terms of advertising marketing, Publicitas and AZ Media, the marketing unit of the Aargauer Zeitung, are continuing their already well-established "dual market approach" in a modified form (see page 5).
Journalistic dominance of the Aargauer Zeitung
The Aargauer Zeitung will assume the role of journalistic heavyweight in the network. From 2002, its editorial office in Baden will be responsible for the cover section of all four titles. This means that of the five newspaper bundles, four will be supplied by the Aargauer Zeitung. Only the responsibility for the fifth bundle, reserved for cantonal and regional issues, will still lie with the regions. However, savings opportunities will be exploited here as well: AZ and ZT, on the one hand, and SZ and OT, on the other, will be teaming up for their cantonal and regional pages in the future.
The cooperation is a big step for the Solothurner Zeitung, which is moving from being a jacket supplier of the Neue Mittelland Zeitung, which is still valid until the end of the year, to being a jacket subscriber in the new structure.
In the advertising market, from whose additional revenues the main benefit for the new newspaper system is expected, the Mittelland Zeitung offers attractive performance data: Household coverage of over 50 percent, 32 percent of readers have a household income of more than 8000 Swiss francs, nearly two-thirds live in a city or agglomeration, one in five has a university degree, and one in four is in a management position or self-employed.
With this concentrated market power, the Mittelland Zeitung feels strong enough to be successful even without Swisspool. According to Ueli Eckstein, publishing director of the Aargauer Zeitung and project manager and spiritus rector of the merger, membership is "not an issue at the moment. Already four years ago, no solution was found with the Aargauer Zeitung for a participation in Swisspool. The reason: the cost-benefit ratio was not attractive. Eckstein says the priority at the moment is to implement the new newspaper cooperation. "Later, Swisspool could be an option," he adds.
Hansjürg Klöti, Director Advertising Market at Tamedia and Head of Swisspool, said on request that he would not seek talks with Mittelland Zeitung either. Despite the circulation of 200000 copies, because the Swisspool unites the newspapers of the larger agglomerations. "And we don't want to dilute this offer with a title that has a very broad coverage after all."
The synergy opportunities that give the Mittelland Zeitung its meaning remain limited for the time being to the advertising market and certain savings in the editorial offices. Even in printing, where central solutions bring simplifications and savings, nothing can be done in the long term. Each of the newspapers involved has printing presses that will continue to function for years to come. And they want to be utilized to capacity. "As long as the presses are not written off and are doing their job, our partners are very likely to use them," says Eckstein. That's why each of the participating newspapers will print its own edition for the time being. A small exception: The Zofinger Zeitung will only run its regional section on its own press; everything else will be done for it by the Aargauer Zeitung printing plant.
Old partners return to
Family quarrel strengthened back
The partners involved in the Mittelland Zeitung already bring cooperation experience from earlier and ongoing cooperations. As early as 1994, OT, ZT and Aargauer Tagblatt (later merged to form Aargauer Zeitung) had started a headline system with the subtitle Mittelland-Zeitung (with hyphen!). But already in 1996, only two years later, the Aargauer Tagblatt turned its back on the triple alliance to found the Aargauer Zeitung together with Peter Wanner's Badener Tagblatt - and thus enter the magic 100,000 circulation league. The partners of the Mittelland-Zeitung, left alone, needed a replacement. They found it in the West with the Solothurner Zeitung (SZ), which also took over the orphaned role of mantle producer in the cooperation now named Neue Mittelland Zeitung. Now the Aargauer Zeitung returns and lands in the new system Mittelland Zeitung (without hyphen!) with the proud circulation of 200000 copies. To sum up: the row surrounding the merger of the Aargauer Zeitung thoroughly broke up the family in 1996, but now they are all returning, bringing with them plenty of additional market coverage: The new area extends as far as Solothurn and Baden. An explosion compared to the Aarau-Olten-Zofingen cooperation region that existed until October 1996.