Louis Paquier from Philip Morris Switzerland on advertising for non-smoking and cigarettesThe Swiss Cigarette Industry Association (CISC) is currently discussing two controversial topics: Should cigarette advertising in cinemas be dispensed with altogether in future? And should the CISC launch a cinema campaign for non-smoking? In both cases, the initiative is likely to come from industry leader Philip Morris (PM). Louis Paquier, Director Corporate Affairs at PM Switzerland, comments on this. Mr. Paquier, what effect does cigarette advertising have?
Louis Paquier: Cigarette advertising, like advertising for other products, is a competitive tool designed to move consumers from product A to product B. Contrary to popular belief, however, cigarette advertising does not encourage people to smoke. There are usually social reasons why people smoke. This is also shown by the WHO study "Health and Health Behavior 2000": there are significantly more young smokers in Norway and Finland than in Switzerland, for example. In these countries, all forms of cigarette advertising were banned over 20 years ago.
Cigarette advertising not only shows products and a supposedly corresponding attitude to life, but sometimes also defames non-smokers as uptight, sociable types. That really hits home with young people.
Paquier: I don't buy that. Of course cigarette advertising wants to convey an image, but without discriminating against non-smokers.
In Germany and other countries, PM is now promoting non-smoking in movie theaters. Why?
Paquier: I've heard about it, but I don't know anything more specific about it. However, there is a similar project by the Swiss Cigarette Industry Association (CISC). We will be able to say more about it in the middle of the year. We are in talks with various institutions, including the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH). Because without the FOPH, of course, something like this won't work.
Did Philip Morris also provide the impetus for this?
Paquier: He came from the CISC.
In mid-February, Geoffrey C. Bible, CEO of Philip Morris (PM) International, told the German magazine Focus that Marlboro would be withdrawing almost completely from sponsoring Ferrari and thus from Formula 1. On February 23, however, it was announced that Marlboro would continue to sponsor Ferrari until 2006 with over 500 million Swiss francs. How do these reports fit together?
Paquier: What is certain is that Ferrari's sponsorship will continue. I was also surprised by the Focus report at the time. But as far as I was informed, Focus didn't speak to Bible at all.
Does this mean that the Bible quotes from Focus were made up?
Paquier: I suppose so.
What is certain, however, is that PM Switzerland has applied to the CISC to completely dispense with cinema advertising in Switzerland in future. Why?
Paquier: Firstly, because audiences cannot escape advertising in cinemas. Secondly, there is an agreement between the CISC and the Commission for Fairness in Advertising, according to which cigarette advertising may only be shown after 8pm. This is intended to prevent young people under 18 from being exposed to cigarette advertising. In recent years, however, the audience at evening screenings has become younger. In addition, there are repeated complaints because some operators also show advertising films in the afternoon. All of this led to our proposal. This was very well received within the CISC, but has not yet been fully discussed.
Is the consideration for young people really genuine? Isn't it more about polishing up the image of the cigarette industry?
Paquier: When young people smoke, it's a real social problem. We cigarette manufacturers don't want that. I have two daughters who are now adults. At the time, we agreed a smoking ban with them until the age of 18. I was lucky: neither of them smoked before the age of 20.
It is reported that British American Tobacco in particular is opposing the PM proposal in the CISC.
Paquier: That's their right. Opposing opinions are what make discussions exciting.
What do you think of the theory that PM's proposal to do without cinema advertising is primarily aimed at cementing its own position as the number one cigarette supplier in Switzerland?
Paquier: No, that's not what we're about. For more than three years, PM has generally no longer distributed cigarette burger samples. Nevertheless, our market share in Switzerland has continued to grow. What's more, our proposal is not about a total ban on advertising. But the tobacco industry must decide whether or not it wants to consider rejuvenating the movie-going public. In any case, PM is more in favor of dispensing with cinema advertising.
Could PM imagine withdrawing from cinema advertising on its own?
Paquier: We are not ruling that out, but we would prefer an industry solution. Another option would be to only allow cigarette advertising to be shown after 10 p.m. in future, if we could then really guarantee that we would only be targeting adults.
Does PM only make such considerations in Switzerland, or are they made on a European or even global scale?
Paquier: As far as I know, such considerations are only being made in Switzerland, but it is quite possible that this will spread to other countries. But it should be noted that we are not against cinema advertising per se, but against young people being exposed to cigarette advertising in cinemas.
However, it is now being reported that not only PM, but the entire CISC is discussing the possibility of doing without any kind of advertising in future. The impetus for this is said to come from Germany.
Paquier: That is clearly wrong. The CISC is of the opinion that cigarette advertising should continue to be permitted and also
is an important competitive tool. But it should be aimed at adults, not young people. And it should only reach adults.
And PM alone is not aiming to do away with advertising completely?
Paquier: No. A total renunciation of advertising is not the way our company sees it. The market continues to develop and new products, including those from PM, should be able to be shown. But we are always ready to discuss the issue of cigarette advertising with interested parties.
Interview: Markus Knöpfli

If the Basler Mediengruppe (BMG) wants to retain the lucrative printing contract for Switzerland's largest weekly newspaper CoopZeitung, it will have to invest around 100 million francs in its existing newspaper press in Basel by the end of 2003. The reason: CoopZeitung wants to run in full color from 2004 at the latest. Its printing contract with BMG expires at the end of 2003. This was confirmed on request by both Karl J. Vögeli, Head of Coop Press, and BMG CEO Beat Meyer, who said that only 50 percent of the CoopZeitung is currently four-color. "That's why we have to turn down a lot of Coop's own and third-party advertisements, which is frustrating over time," says Vögeli, explaining Coop's expectations. In addition, the editorial section is currently too small with just seven four-color pages. Another thing that annoys him is that the Migros Brückenbauer newspaper is in four colors throughout.
Coop has the same problem as with the CoopZeitung (1500,000 copies) with Cooperazione (11,000,000 copies) and Coopération (400,000), its counterparts in Ticino and French-speaking Switzerland. While Cooperazione is also printed by BMG, Coopération has a contract with Edipresse. There, the continuous four-color printing will be completed in a year and a half.
BMG, on the other hand, is reportedly struggling with the investment decision. Is there a lack of money? Is that why the sale of Weltwoche and Druckerei Winterthur is being considered? BMG would have two problem children less and therefore enough liquid funds to invest in Coop. "I can't support this thesis," says Meyer. The fact that BMG needs money to finance the newspaper rotation is "not true". Meyer also tries to dispel doubts about the sale of Weltwoche. There is "no direct link" between any sales of the Winterthur printing plant and Weltwoche, he says. According to BMG's own strategy, the money saved in Winterthur could ultimately also be invested in Weltwoche. (mk)

The Art Directors Club Switzerland (ADC) has appointed Michael Conrad, Uli Wiesendanger, Hans Ulrich Schweizer and Christian Jaquet as honorary members. "We are proud to have these four on board," announces ADC President Jean Etienne Aebi. This brings the number of big names in the club of creatives to five. Gebi Schregenberger was the first advertiser to receive this honor in 1985, and all ADC members deserve recognition "because they have attracted attention more than once with outstanding work," continues Jean Etienne Aebi. But to be awarded honoris causa in the ADC, someone has to be a creative super-mother or a creative super-father.
The ADC, which decided to activate this form of membership at its last general meeting, honors the work of the five heavyweights with honorary membership (ew).

The Association of Swiss Advertising Companies (VSW) has published the new Swiss Press Catalog.ServiceVSW Swiss Press Catalog
It contains the basic data of all publications known to the VSW. The book can be ordered for 30 francs by calling 021 213 61 41.
Media data 2001The media agency Covermedia presents the 2001 radio and TV media data. The reference work provides an overview of the rate structures of Swiss radio and TV stations as well as foreign stations. It can be ordered at covermedia@
covermedia.ch or fax: 061
366 92 93 can be ordered.
Jacoby, Schirner and Turner discuss Michael Schirner, Konstantin Jacoby, Sebastian Turner gathered Cordt Schnibben around a table. In the March issue of SpiegelReporter, they discuss the rules and recipes of good advertising.
New PR and Media Directory The new, 28th edition of the Swiss PR and Media Directory from Edition Renteria includes over 4000 entries and is now also offered with an update service via e-mail. The CD-ROM version has also been improved. The directory costs 135 francs. Orders to the fax number 01 451 36 38.

Wirz underpins the humanity of the real estate company LivitMany real estate management companies treat the people they depend on from above: Tenants and investors. The real estate management company Livit sets itself apart from this in a new print campaign designed by Wirz Werbung, Zurich. The campaign consists of six subtly designed advertisement subjects. "We wanted to show that we are normal people who try to treat people decently and humanely," says Samuel Gerber, CEO of Livit. With its classic communication presence, the market-leading Swiss real estate manager is also an exception in the industry, as most of its competitors limit themselves to small classified advertisements in the real estate market of the daily and Sunday press. page 10

The MMXI Internet Panel shows other top ten domains than the MA ComisBy Markus KnöpfliWhen the Swiss use the Internet privately, they hardly ever visit media domains. In any case, not a single media provider appears among the top 20 domains, but all the more search engines, mail providers - and SBB.
In terms of methodology, MA Comis and the MMXI Internet Panel are completely different: the former is based on surveys of all Internet use (private and professional), while the latter collects data online using software that is currently installed exclusively on the home PC of a total of 4863 people. The MA Comis 2000 data also relate to a completely different survey period than those of MMXI, which only reflect Internet use in January 2001.
One would actually expect MMXI's top ten domains to be somewhat similar to those of MA Comis 2000 (narrower user group). This is all the more true as MMXI had previously always claimed that there was hardly any difference between Internet use at home and at work.
Apart from Bluewin.ch, which both MMXI and MA Comis rank as the leader by a wide margin, only Search.ch (MMXI rank 6/MA rank 2), Microsoft.com/ch (3/4) and Hotmail.com or MSN.com (2/5) are ranked in the top 10 by both. However, while MA Comis still lists the websites of Blick (6), Tages-Anzeiger (9) and SF DRS (10) among the first ten domains, these are not even in the top 20 at MMXI. And Sunrise, ranked 7th in MA, is only in 16th place in MMXI. In contrast, search engines such as Yahoo.de or Altavista.com and mail providers play a significant role in private use, as expected, according to MMXI. The same applies to SBB services.
The overall Swiss MMXI ranking also roughly corresponds to that of German-speaking Switzerland. In French-speaking Switzerland, however, according to the MMXI, Bluewin.ch is pushed into 4th place by Yahoo.fr, Yahoo.com and MSN.com. In Ticino, Bluewin is even in 7th place, with MSN.com, Alta
vista.com. and Microsoft.com.
Another panel, ACNielsen/Netrating, will report Swiss data in mid-April. The type of survey is practically identical, which is why the results collected abroad to date have hardly differed.
MA Comis becomes internationally comparable

Basic studies in the field of Internet research, such as the MA Comis of the AG für Werbemedienforschung (Wemf), are coordinated at European level with regard to reporting, methods and definitions. In the medium term, comparable data will be available. Coordination is carried out by the Euro Joint Industry Committees, an international non-profit organization to which Austria, Belgium, Germany, England, France and Spain belong in addition to Switzerland (represented by the Wemf).

The restructured rural service wants to acquire a younger imageBy Luca AloisiThe placement figures for the rural service have been stagnating at a moderate level for years. The situation is not as alarming as it was in the 1980s, when voluntary service struggled to survive. Nevertheless, a change in style is necessary. If the original Helvetian institution wants to regain popularity, a new strategy is needed to lure the young audience.
"We work according to modern methods," Bruno Pfeuti, Landdienst managing director for 14 years, is convinced and describes how he wants to make the "educationally valuable offer" more palatable again to the young audience - especially 14- and 15-year-olds. Because: Good public relations for fundraising this way, funny advertising appearances for recruitment that way: the popularity of the 55-year-old Landdienst (LD) - "incidentally also a credible and meaningful PR instrument of agriculture," says Pfeuti - which was dynamic in the first nineties, has become lame as a wing.
The change in leisure time behavior and the offer of vacation jobs in recent years reduced the number of placements (2000: 3302). Nevertheless, this is still a considerable number for the five full-time positions added up over the year and the extremely low placement costs of LD. However, given the average of around 9,900,000 young people per year, there still seems to be a lot of untapped market potential for the niche product of LD.
Pfeuti remains realistic when he doesn't even try to return to the club's heyday. In the sixties and seventies, entire school classes would fly out to help with the grape harvest, for example. Conquering a place in the commercialized leisure time of fun-oriented young people is becoming increasingly difficult, he knows.
A colorful bouquet of noble ideals....
A new organizational mission statement and more youth-oriented communication tactics are needed. At a closed meeting at the end of 1999, those responsible for the LD were already thinking about the range of non-profit activities in order to reprofile the positioning of the private association, which is subsidized on the basis of performance.
Based on the positioning in relation to society, agriculture, youth and school as well as various future scenarios - from worst to best case - they derived possible developments on the one hand. On the other hand, they noted that although the land service is an offer for a minority, it is well anchored among various population groups and could exploit its high credibility even better economically. They also said that the potential for growth looks positive with positioning aimed at education (schools) and the cultural sector. For example, recent placements in nearby foreign countries make the offer more attractive.
Instead of investing in more advertising and campaigns, the association must invest more in product design through upgrading and in cooperations. At the same time, he said, the direct as well as inherent benefits for young people must be precisely formulated and communicated. "The young person learns in the land service in many cases a multiple of what in it in the school abhockt", means Pfeuti. It is also motivating for young people to feel that they are needed. The experience of making a valuable contribution helps build self-esteem.
In order to support the temporary educational authority, the farm family, in this role, the LD has recently introduced a quality program to eliminate the weak points. Fine words for noble ideals. But how have these values been communicated so far? One notes that the LD has so far only partially pinned its resolutions to the banner of its public relations work. After all, the LD does not shy away from criticism or transparency.
...awaits a fresher
Communication Tactics
Let's start with the brand: Bruno Pfeuti is well aware that the name Landdienst is not ideal for attracting young people to the service. In fact, you can see in the new umbrella campaign that the name actually only appears on the homepage. And in the other advertising media, the word mark "Power beim Bauer" (Power at the Farmer) has now become established, which should bring about a lasting image revival.
The LD must also be used against the
Be able to stand competition
In 1997, not only the logo was redesigned by freelancer/cartoonist Beat Sigel. A new brand was also proposed: Agristage. This was dynamic, young, clear, expressive, concise and would fit better with the slogan "Power beim Bauer" (Power at the Farmer) in terms of language groups, argued Managing Director Pfeuti at the time.
But since the new brand would mean a disconnection from the historical and meaningful term, one fears losing the support of the farming families. And so the brand still has a somewhat stuffy zeitgeist flavor, reminiscent of the "blood and soil" terminology and Friedrich Traugott Wahlen's "Anbauschlacht".
Bruno Pfeuti can only spare a weary smile for such concerns. He is much more concerned with the crisis- and scandal-ridden image of the agricultural industry, which inevitably radiates to the LD. No positive headline seems to be granted to the farming industry at the moment.
Against this background, the idyllic LD appearance almost comes across as an anachronism. "Of course, the image of our association is also suffering from the excesses of industrial animal production," says Pfeuti. The continuing demise of genuine full-time and family farms makes his task just as difficult as the growing competition at home and abroad - Holidays on the Farm, Bio Terra, Swiss Mountain Homes, Working Guest Program or Willing Workers on Organic Farms (WWOF) - which, if not positioned in the same way, nevertheless offer a similar range of products.
At last the campaign gains authenticity
With which advertising implementations does the LD now defend itself against these tendencies? "We don't claim to have extremely original advertising," admits Pfeuti. It is also necessary to take into account the rather conservative clientele. On the other hand, he is convinced that the LD advertising presence, which has seemed somewhat handmade up to now, has achieved a certain success thanks to continuity. "But we wouldn't be unhappy if an established advertising agency approached us and, on the basis of our preliminary work, gave us a hand," he says emphatically.
But the fact that he sets tight parameters as a client, and not just financially, becomes clear at the latest when Pfeuti comes to talk about the LD's annual magazine. In favor of a qualitative and serious style and layout, he turned down an offer from a PR agency that offered him a magazine that would have been financed by advertisements. Too cheap, judged Pfeuti, who also wants to use the four-page publication as a fundraising tool.
At least with the umbrella campaign, a fresher wind is blowing: On the one hand, the "biggest vacation job mediator" (self-advertisement) replaced the visual of the charmless pitchfork (2000) with the colorful snapshot picture sheet, and on the other hand, it deepens the headline - "The colorful experience".
To raise awareness of the summer offer at an early stage, an initial posting took place on several private railroads during the skiing vacations, which is now being continued by poster companies at favorable conditions on other larger surfaces. Only after the billposting period of other large NPOs will the second wave follow during the summer vacations - then no longer effective in recruiting - which will at least coincide in an image-promoting and confirming way with the farmers' brunch on August 1 and the time when most participants are in action. To increase the response even further, a competition and giveaways will be used this year, which will increase the direct marketing share in the advertising media split.
The organic fad pulls at the
Yogurt, but not with LD
As a further marketing element, in addition to sponsoring partners who facilitate media access, public relations are also intended to help the LD achieve a more contemporary image and self-image. With good reason: the change is coming from within. For 40 years, the LD was a decentralized agency in the cantonal administrations, mostly in the employment offices. But as a private association, recourse to public structures was untenable in view of the future. Two years ago, therefore, an organizational reform was decided.
The previously created supracantonal regional offices attached to the farmers' secretariats have the advantage that they know the clients and can better control them. Externally, the LD hopes to be able to generate more goodwill in the broadest circles - such as public administrations, politicians, media circles - with the leaner infrastructure.
Furthermore, the LD consciously strives for networking with other NPOs in order to sensitize young people to the topic of agriculture. Projects such as "School on the Farm," a one-day teaching unit that could be part of the curriculum in compulsory school levels and vocational schools across the board in a few years, lists Pfeuti, who incidentally has gained experience in dealing with young people in youth work.
Paradoxically, he will continue to do without a promotionally effective trump card: The fact that the mediation of the LD cannot explicitly play off the emotional buzzword "organic" is due to the fact that Switzerland simply has too few organic farms. Pfeuti puts it into perspective: "When it comes to the quality of experience in the countryside service, the production method is not as decisive as eating an organic yogurt anyway."

The Keystone and Plakanda/AWI poster competition for young talent is set to become a traditionBy Andreas Panzeri2400 potential advertising stars have clicked on the competition conditions on the website www.cannes-open.ch, but only a few have implemented a creative idea. However, the quality of the 20 entries encourages Keystone to make the competition a permanent tradition. The winner of this year's premiere was junior AD Marietta Albinus.
Plundering the archive the creative way: more than 10 million images from the collected treasure trove of the Keystone photo agency could be used and altered as desired to create a poster. All graphic designers, copywriters, ADs or CDs up to the age of 30 were eligible to take part in this new Cannes Open competition. The winning team received a poster sponsored by Plakanda/AWI as well as an "educational trip" to Cannes, including participation in the competition of international stars there.
Just like a real job
in an advertising agency
"It's a shame that so few have followed through with their ideas. I know many more young talents. They probably forgot about the competition, which was announced back in December, in the everyday hustle and bustle of their agencies," lamented jury member Markus Ruf.
In fact, the yield of 20 submissions from more than 2,400 interested parties who, following a call for tenders in AdvertisingWeek, were able to meet the conditions on
The competition was ultimately a little short on entries, according to the website www.cannes-open.ch. One possible inhibition threshold was probably the fact that the competition participants were not allowed to submit posters with purely imaginative ideas, but only concepts for actually existing products.
And these creative solutions also had to be approved by the real "customers", even if the products were only advertised in appearance. "These conditions make the competition very realistic. The young talents also have to learn how to sell their ideas," said jury member Matthias Freuler.
In a first round, the four-member jury, which included the Advertiser of the Year 2000 Markus Ruf and Wirz CD Matthias Freuler as well as Daniel Comte, CD at McCann-Erickson, and the freelance AD Simone Fennel, rated all the ideas submitted with spontaneous scores between 1 and 5. The resulting shortlist was then discussed at some length. The aim was to select a winning poster that could also attract positive attention in the competition under the international conditions of Cannes.
Of course, in the course of the dynamic group discussion - which always occurs in creative competitions of this kind - the jury came up with various winners at short notice. Nevertheless, they were soon able to unanimously agree on "More Hair" by Marietta Albinus. "You can see that someone started with a clear brief and then looked for the best pictures to go with it," said Daniel Comte.
In the case of other, equally witty ideas, the jury suspected that an eye-catching image was available first and only then did a suitable idea have to be constructed. They also praised the fact that the image for the "More Hair" or "Lust auf mehr Mähne" poster was not just used 1:1, but was visibly creatively edited.
For Simone Fennel, however, it was too visible, as this alienation could have been a little more professional for her taste. "Such image montages have to look completely real. Here it still looks too cut out," she said. Matthias Freuler promised that Wirz Werbung, where the winner Marietta Albinus works as a junior AD, would therefore slightly revise the design before leaving for Cannes. After the judging, Wirz's CD testified that he had known nothing about his employees' participation. Accordingly, he kept a low profile during the discussion of the works.
Archive images enjoy increasing demand
According to CEO Walter Grolimund, Keystone, which is increasingly including general subjects in its collection alongside current photos, has noticed a growing trend for archive images in advertising. Many art directors are working with existing images, especially for initial presentations of their ideas. Depending on the budget, the selected layouts are then photographed again or altered using the computer with increasingly sophisticated effects.
Grolimund also expects demand for his archive to grow with the development of websites. "There is a huge demand for images here, and we have a wide variety of rights at Keystone," says the administrator of Switzerland's largest image archive.
If you want to work with Keystone professionally, you can search freely in the archive via the Internet for a monthly subscription fee of CHF 50. Those with occasional needs can get advice accordingly. In addition to promoting talent, an important aim of the Cannes Open competition was to make advertisers aware of these opportunities. The creative and organizational support for the campaign was provided by the Honegger von Matt agency under CD Daniel Meier.
The award-winning works can be found on the website www.cannes-open.ch.
Shortlist

The jury, consisting of Daniel Comte (CD McCann-Erickson), Matthias Freuler (CD Wirz Werbung), Simone Fennel (freelance AD) and Markus Ruf (freelance concept designer), selected five works for the shortlist.
Boarders Know No Borders
Team: Schwarzmaler
Client: Eleven, Zurich
AD: Dominique Wittwer
Text: Thomas Mischler
Pupil with a red ear
Team: Alda
Client: Lernstudio, Zurich
AD: Alan Castioni
Text: Daniel Etzel
Kebab campaign
Team: Moll-Schmid
Client: Nova Bar, Zurich
AD: Denise Moll
Text: Lukas Schmid
Beautiful Life
Team: Albinus
Client: Intercoiffure Eveline Morf, Zurich
AD/Text: Marietta Albinus
Sugo
Team: Rubinick
Client: Rest. Michelangelo, Zurich
AD/Text: Grischa Rubinick

U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer has awarded WWAV Rapp Collins, London, the European direct marketing budget for the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra.NewsRapp Collins wins Viagra
The agency beat out Bates subsidiary 141 and McCann Relationship Marketing in the pitch. WWAV will draw on the resources of the Rapp Collins network on the continent.
Springer & Jacoby acquires stake in ItalyThe German agency group Springer & Jacoby (S&J) acquires a stake in the Italian advertising agency Colnaghi & Manciani. The amount of the investment was not disclosed. The Milan-based advertising agency's ten years of experience with the Mercedes-Benz brand in particular is likely to have persuaded S&J to take a stake. Colnaghi & Manciani has 14 employees. The agency's gross income in 2000 was around four million Swiss francs. Colnaghi & Manciani is S&J's third foreign agency after London and Barcelona.
Xerox chooses Impiric for EuropeCopier manufacturer Xerox has consolidated its European direct marketing with Impiric. The agency beat out WWAV Rapp Collins, Claydon Heeley Jones Mason and Lowe Direct in the pitch for the CHF20 million budget. Impiric already worked for Xerox in the UK.
Jung von Matt soon on the Danube On July 1 of this year, Jung von Matt is opening a subsidiary agency in Vienna. Partners and managing directors of the Austrian offshoot are Josef Koinig (managing director consulting) and Andreas Putz (managing director creation). Both were responsible for setting up Weber Hodel Schmid in Vienna over the past two years. Through the Vienna location and the fraternization with the Swiss agency Honegger von Matt, Jung von Matt will be represented in the entire German-speaking region.

The Internet Advertising Bureau has standardized seven new Interactive Marketing Unitsby clemens hörlerLarger advertising spaces should increase the effectiveness of internet advertising and give creatives more leeway. A few days ago, the IAB standardized seven new formats. These are also to be pushed in Switzerland.
The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) has expanded the number of standardized online advertising formats. Two vertical formats, the skyscraper (120 x 600 pixels) and the wide skyscraper (160 x 600 pixels), a square pop-up (250 x 250 pixels) and four rectangular advertising spaces have been added to the existing banner formats.
"The new Interactive Marketing Units (IMU) should help to increase the creative possibilities of online advertising and make online advertising a more effective marketing tool," emphasizes Richy Glassberg, Vice-Chairman of the IAB.
A large number of the IMUs presented are already in use on American websites in particular, in some cases with considerable success: the news service Cnet was able to significantly increase its click rate thanks to the large-format and still unfamiliar ads. This certainly has a lot to do with the fact that the unfamiliar advertising space still arouses users' curiosity.
The "wrong" formats were introduced in Switzerland
Only the skyscrapers can be seen on Swiss sites, but in a size other than that standardized by the IAB, namely 148 x 800 or 148 x 400 pixels. Martin Radelfinger, President of the IAB Switzerland and Managing Director of AdLink Switzerland: "AdLink has completed the implementation of the 'wrong' formats on all Winner and some Tamedia platforms. We just assumed that the format of NYT.com and Forbes. com would prevail." Other Swiss advertising companies and website operators have also jumped on the bandwagon.
Fortunately, however, you could say that the Skyscraper has not yet found its way onto too many Swiss platforms. The changeover only has to take place on a few platforms of the Basel Media Group and Tamedia and a few other sites. Radelfinger is convinced that the problem can be solved together with marketers, intermediaries and website operators and that the new IAB banner formats will spread quickly here too. An IAB Switzerland working group with advertising intermediaries, marketers and platform operators will support the second round of standardization.
The ball is in the
Website operators
The IAB suggests that website operators accept a maximum weight of 15 to 20 kilobytes (KB) for the new banners. This is only a few KB more than for full banners (468 x 60 pixels). However, with the considerable size of a wide skyscraper or a large rectangle (336 by 280 pixels), creativity has only limited freedom. Various Internet agencies tend to set the reasonable weight for creatives at 25 KB.
The website operators will probably not be able to avoid making slight concessions to advertising customers in terms of weight. BaZ Online, for example, accepts a maximum weight of 25 KB for a skyscraper of 148 x 800 pixels and 23 KB for 148 x 400 pixels.
Which new interactive marketing units will establish themselves and how quickly depends largely on the website operators. "So far, too few platforms in Switzerland have enabled large-scale advertising," observes Peter Strassmann, Managing Director of ActiveAgent Switzerland AG. "Under these circumstances, it is often not worthwhile for clients to create a large advertising format. The ball is now in the websites' court." According to initial surveys in the USA, many advertisers are convinced by the new formats, not only because of their size, but also because of their visual similarity to print ads.
The new banner formats can be found in their original size on the IAB website: www.iab.net/ advertise/adsource.html

M&M/Mars incorporated the silliest sayings of the year 2000 into their Snickers campaignBy Thérèse BalduzziFor the launch of their new product Snickers Cruncher, the company M&M/Mars advertised in America with two completely absurd spots. Not only the product is new, but also the creation of the spots. Thanks to an interactive website, the audience was allowed to help determine their content.
The first spot seems right on cue for noise-plagued New Yorkers: First, the alarm of a car parked on the street at night goes crazy - an all too familiar test of nerves for American city dwellers. Suddenly a sofa falls onto the car and destroys it. The camera moves up the wall of the house, and the perpetrator, an elderly woman in a nightgown, is seen rubbing her hands in satisfaction. Surprising is the voice from off-screen. She says, without reference to car or sofa: "Need to crunch something? Grab a Snickers Cruncher."
The woman's exaggerated reaction to the nocturnal disturbance as well as the absurd connection between a crushed car and a crunchy chocolate bar provide humor. Finally, the sofa slips off the car and touches the next one, whose alarm also goes off.
An even more absurd scene is depicted in the "Toys" spot: A street vendor sells small talking dolls that utter everyday phrases from American slang. One by one, people come to the booth and buy the doll that recites the phrase they hate the most, and stomp it.
At the beginning, the street vendor praises the slogans like items: "Don't go there" (don't start it), "Get a life" (take care of your own crap), "I love you, but I'm not in love with you" (I can't be in a relationship right now). A young woman asks for "I think your sister is pretty" (your sister is pretty). Another man asks for "What's up," the statement no one has wanted to hear since Budweiser's "Whassup" campaign.
One after the other, various people stomp on different puppets or sayings. At the end of the spot, a man asks for "Don't worry, happens to a lot of guys," the American cliché slogan that is always used in the case of premature ejaculation.
The spots were first introduced during the Superbowl, the annual football match staged as a huge media event. Visitors to the Snickers website www.snickers.com voted on which were the silliest sayings of 2000. The votes were collected up until the night before the Superbowl at the end of January, after which the BBDO New York agency, which was responsible for the commercials, cut the final version of "Toys".

Many years of brainstorming have turned into reality: In January, AD Roland Hess and copywriter Tamás Kiss founded Hesskiss Werbeagentur AG.Werberteam Hesskiss founds eponymousagency Under the same name, the two were previously known as a creative freelance duo. "Now Hesskiss will tailor ideas to its customers as an agency," Hess and Kiss promise. Quality, creativity, personal customer proximity and many years of experience in the business are among the strengths that the world of Hesskiss has to offer.
The well-established team now has a new female member. From mid-March, Nicole Mayer, who has been in advertising for ten years, will support Hesskiss as a consultant. Hess and Kiss already worked together with the 29-year-old in 1993, back then at WHS. Mayer most recently worked at JWT+H+F as unit manager. The small agency has now moved into its domicile on Zurich's Köchlistrasse. (ko)