From aircraft manufacturer to innovative carmakerSaab (Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget) was founded as an aircraft manufacturer in 1937 before the outbreak of the Second World War. Car production was added in 1946, benefiting from the proud image of the parent company. This relationship was also unmistakably expressed on the outside of the first series-produced car: a veritable robust safety capsule was concealed beneath the sheet metal of the streamlined, chunky Saab 92, which resembled the profile of an airplane wing. Although such safety thinking and the extremely low drag values determined the philosophy and independent design of all subsequent models, it was only the Saab 96 that succeeded in becoming a bestseller. In its 20 years of production up to 1980, it rolled off the production line and into the garages of its buyers around 550000 times. The sales figures for subsequent Saab models hardly caused the industry competitors any stomach ache either. In contrast, thanks to advances in aviation, the carmakers from Trollhättan succeeded in repeatedly astonishing the competition and critics with pioneering innovations in terms of engines, safety, environment and comfort. 1984 saw the launch of the Saab 9000 - the result of a collaboration with Fiat - the brand implemented the positioning plans forged in the 1970s for the first time and entered the premium car segment. Communication was based on the clearly recognizable brand identity. However, the other areas of the parent company, which had grown into a technology group, overshadowed the efforts of the automobile brand of the same name.
In order to survive alongside the Swedish competitor Volvo, the company's strategists had to strike a liberating blow. In 1990, the restructured Saab Automobile AG separated from its parent company and was integrated into General Motors (GM), the world's largest car manufacturer in terms of sales, as an independent brand due to the new ownership structure. Ironically, unlike the original American brands such as the recently discontinued Oldsmobile or Cadillac and Pontiac, which are under severe pressure to succeed, the Swede seems to be increasingly successful in securing its niche. Brand loyalty is also above average and is extended by customer loyalty measures that begin at an early stage.
Repetition over a certain period of time means that people become accustomed to the statements, especially as there is no reason to actively engage with them, such as when buying a car, a high-involvement decision. In such situations, advertising plays an even smaller role and often only causes the brand to be included in the rankings at all. So the marketing managers at Saab seem to be guided by the insight of specialists such as Sutherland and Sylvester: Advertising can persuade consumers to try something new, but the product has to pass the test. The Swede experienced a new upswing in 1997 with the 9 model line, which caused the sales curve to rise again.
The modest model range and the brand positioning mean that Saab hardly does any promotional advertising, but almost exclusively image advertising. In Switzerland, where the niche brand has a market share of just under one percent, growth is to be generated in a narrower niche with more dialog marketing.
Luca Aloisi

For better communication: Swiss Socialists launch a monthly party magazineBy Markus KnöpfliAfter mishaps, bad luck and breakdowns, the SPS is tinkering with its communication. For example, it is currently adopting a new communication concept. This includes the scrapping of the press service and various member information. Instead, a new monthly magazine will be published from May 1.
Today, every child knows that the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (SPS) is not a party of workers, but of the (upper) middle class. But thanks to market research, the SPS knows it even better: 31% of members and supporters have a higher income, 28% a middle income (such as a teacher's salary). In terms of education, 58% of members and 48% of supporters have a high school education. Almost as many sympathizers, namely 47%, are younger than 40, compared to 27% of members.
No wonder, as SPS spokeswoman Ursula Dubois concludes: "SP members and
-sympathizers are a very interesting target audience for advertising." The SPS is therefore only a small step away from being able to market to such a strong purchasing power.
Specifically: from May 1, the SPS wants to publish a monthly newspaper, partly financed by advertising, called SPlinks.ch or links.ch - and in return will discontinue all cantonal and internal party member information. All SPS members and regular donors will automatically receive the new paper with a circulation of 60,000 copies. However, it is also intended to appeal to a wider group of people. Even distribution via newsstands has not been ruled out.
SPS expects "acceptable" advertising revenue
links.ch should be "self-critical and not an ideological party newspaper", says Dubois. The paper should also give a voice to internal party opinions that differ from the views of the party leadership. "The aim is to reflect where the internal party debate stands on a particular topic," says Dubois. This should be done in a journalistic form, links.ch will not simply consist of a series of texts by SPS National Councillors.
On the other hand, Dubois says that the SPS, as publisher, will also bear some of the costs, because "links.ch is also a PR tool for the party to communicate with its members". In addition, the SP spokeswoman will be editor-in-chief of the new newspaper in an initial phase. It will therefore be exciting to see how Dubois will manage the balancing act between announcements and journalism.
The party spokeswoman does not yet want to say anything about the budget or the business plan for the SPS title in tabloid format. But apart from the SPS, the cantonal parties and some subscribers are also expected to contribute their mite. And of course the advertisers. "Even in the first phase, we are expecting an acceptable income," says Dubois. However, the rates have not yet been set. However, she stresses that it will be possible to advertise in four colors, even if links.ch will only be in two colors.
Resuscitation attempts
on a newspaper corpse
The party press has been dead for years. But why does Dubois still believe in the chances of links.ch? She evades the question and explains why the SPS wants its own organ: most forum newspapers, which allow different positions to be heard, are under pressure. Most of them are apolitical monopoly papers that "only present extreme positions". For this reason, parties around the world must once again rely on their own information channels.
But what impact will links.ch have on the Schaffhausen AZ, the WochenZeitung (WoZ) or the SP intellectual paper Rote Revue? "The AZ is too local and therefore hardly affected. Rote Revue will have the chance to reposition itself. And the WoZ will at best be stimulated by an additional debate," says Dubois. WoZ publishing director Verena Mühlberger does not sense any danger from the Red Review either. "A little competition is good for us. But I don't fear that we will lose subscribers or advertisers," she says.

Martin Spieler, head of Money 24, on the development work for the new channelThe Chief Operating Officer of the Belcom Group, Martin Spieler, relies on his good network of relationships with business journalists as head of Money 24.You are both editor-in-chief and commercial director of Money 24. Is that an advantage?
Martin Spieler: I can already see the advantages in project work: I can say what is feasible in terms of content and what is not. You can save yourself a lot of idle time with partners if you don't have to consult the editorial team first.
An important keyword for Money 24 is to use synergies with other channels in the Schawinski conglomerate, which Tele 24 and TeleZüri already do extensively. Does Money 24 rely on synergies to a similar extent?
Spieler: We use synergies, because without them the development of the new channel would hardly succeed.
You still have to recruit and train around 15 journalists before the start of broadcasting on October 1. Where do you get so many people in just seven months?
Spieler: My good network of contacts among business journalists will help me. But we will also be looking for people who are not (yet) business journalists but already have expertise in the financial sector.
The channel design of Money 24 has not yet been decided. Where will it go?
Spieler: We will largely take over the brand for Money 24 from "Money", that is already clear. The brand has an excellent reputation, so it would be awkward if we were to do something completely new.
Are you still looking for a banking partner for Money 24?
Spieler: We are about to sign contracts with several partners from the financial sector. There is enormous interest from top companies in becoming involved with Money 24. This interest is also linked to our performance: The "Money" program has an excellent image in the financial sector, and Money 24 is also very welcomed by the financial world.
Interview: Daniel Schifferle

The press releases of up-and-coming IT companies are all too often an impositionBy Clemens HörlerThe companies in the IT and Internet industry are almost all young and inexperienced in communication. In addition, many are under enormous pressure to become known as quickly as possible and seek their salvation in a flood of press releases, often written by themselves. The result is news that often does not even meet minimum requirements.
"The best, the leaders, the greatest!" Superlatives like these are just being bandied about by IT journalists. Because in the IT and Internet market, many companies are fighting for survival and attention, and for many of them, excessive press work seems to be the most adequate means of achieving this. At least at first glance, this is cheaper than advertising. And, according to a widespread view, media releases can be managed by oneself without expensive agency costs.
In the process, some companies obviously confuse advertising and press texts. Or they regard press relations as free advertising. "Companies often do not see PR as a long-term instrument, but think that their press releases should primarily support sales," analyzes Urs Jenni, owner of Jenni Kommunikation, Zurich, which specializes in IT. Self-praise is often exaggerated: "Just one year old and already the world's leading provider..." begins the recently published media release of a Swiss company about its success at the Internet Expo.
Formal deficiencies make reading a pain
Strong incense in the tone of the communiqués is not everything. Many IT press releases fail to meet even the most minimal requirements of professional communication, which apply to the IT industry just as they do to everyone else. Time and again, editors receive messages by e-mail that contain meaningless information in the subject line, such as "Info from company X" or nothing at all. They end up unread in the trash.
There are also problems with the language and structure of media releases, which have been defaced with Anglicisms. A small example? "User-friendly in the offer of virtual markets" writes a Lugano-based company about its latest product, which is hopefully better than the language in which it is advertised. With many texts, the journalist can't even detect the beginnings of a story after three sentences. "If you beat around the bush for too long, you have little chance of being noticed," says Jolanda Brühwiler, managing director of In Marketing GmbH, Schwerzenbach, which specializes in IT.
The problem with many reports, however, is that there is no nutritious porridge at all. "As a journalist, you are often served old wine in new bottles," observes Matthias Zehnder, journalist and editor-in-chief of the Internet magazine Smile. Many press releases generate attention that cannot be fed.
Jenni agrees with the demand for press releases with content that open up story perspectives for journalists: "You should supply the media with information on a continuous basis, but only if it has content. Those who simply stuff the editorial offices or adulate themselves increasingly lose credibility." Young start-ups in particular find it difficult to be convinced by such theories, especially if they want to gain notoriety as quickly as possible at any cost.
The deal without style around the
Reprint of press releases
Professional PR agencies tell their employees to refrain from adding a reprint request to the media release. This is exactly what happens very often, especially with companies that write their own press releases.
Some companies - probably out of inexperience - go one step further and, in return for the "publication of a small PR report", wave the placement of advertisements or contributions to printing costs.
"With this kind of approach, the companies in question are clearly cutting their own throats," says Serge Steiner, PR editor with a focus on IT at Trimedia Communications, Zurich. However, Steiner relativizes, one cannot put the entire blame on the companies. He, too, occasionally receives a response to a press release that first asks for an advertisement or for contributions to expenses. This is especially true for smaller publications.
The fact that hot air or relatively insignificant reports also repeatedly find their way into newspapers and trade journals is not only due to the "PR-heavy" nature of certain publications. Recently, more and more pages have been reserved for the fashionable topic of the Internet, which absolutely had to be printed, if necessary also with filler material from the amateur communicators in the companies.
Even PR agencies slip up when it comes to conveying information
However, the start-ups are not solely responsible for inflated media releases; sometimes these are also penned by PR firms: "Not only the IT companies themselves, but also certain PR agencies send us downright junk," says Wolfgang Böhler, long-time editor at Computerworld. Not infrequently, even the names of the products or references to what kind of offer - hardware or software - are missing.
In the Internet age, this would actually be only half as bad, after all, the corporate website is available for quick research, but even companies with an affinity for the Internet often have problems in this area. On many corporate sites, one searches in vain for up-to-date information or even high-resolution images.
But Böhler sees the biggest problem in the increasing Europeanization of press relations. More and more often, international media releases are being sent out from European metropolises, the content of which the respective country offices in Switzerland do not even have a clue about.
IT PR - a still dry job market
Even for professional PR firms, media work in the technology industry means a special challenge, because writing-savvy people with IT skills are not easy to find at the moment. The dilemma is well known: Many articulate communicators don't have a clue about technology, and many specialists can't express themselves in a way that a journalist, let alone John Q. Public, can understand.
For Jenni, it's not years of professional experience in the IT industry, but an interest in the subject and an understanding of communication that are the basic requirements for a PR editor in the IT industry; an opinion that Brühwiler also shares. After all, specialists are available for technical details.
Nevertheless, a certain degree of expertise is part of the armamentarium for a PR editor. Most of the larger PR agencies have therefore formed units that deal specifically with the IT industry. Some agencies, such as Jenni Kommunikation or In Marketing, have even specialized entirely in this area. According to Jenni, this is also what many clients want: After all, in such a fast-moving industry, they don't want to have to explain everything to their PR agency from scratch for every assignment.

The new Jewish weekly magazine will be published on April 6By Markus KnöpfliBoth the Israelitisches Wochenblatt and the Jüdische Rundschau have suffered losses in the last two years. This is why both titles are now being merged to form the new magazine Tachles (WW 5/01). The publisher is the newly founded Jüdische Medien AG, which is owned equally by the Basler Mediengruppe (BMG) and Serenada-Verlag.
The publishing house Manfred Marx AG, which belongs to BMG, and Jüdische Rundschau Medien AG are currently being merged to form Jüdische Medien AG (JM) and will launch the new weekly magazine Tachles (Hebrew: aim, purpose) on April 6. In return, the Israelitisches Wochenblatt (IWB) and the Jüdische Rundschau (JR) will be discontinued. The IW's sister publication Revue Juive is also transferred to the JM and is continued.
There are economic reasons for the merger: Both publishers have been in the red for the last two years. "A consequence of the Holocaust debate," says Yves Kugelmann, JR editor-in-chief and designated editor-in-chief of Tachles. The JR alone had to accept a 30 percent drop in advertising. The majority of bookings had always come from non-Jewish advertisers, who had bailed out of the two independent titles when Switzerland was under international pressure. However, Kugelmann does not want to see this as anti-Semitic behavior. "This reaction was understandable from a human point of view, although perhaps not the right one," says Kugelmann. After all, the JR was very critical of the World Jewish Congress at the time.
However, the merger also makes sense for other reasons, says Kugelmann. For one thing, the Holocaust debate in particular showed that it is "important for Swiss Jews to speak with an independent voice". In addition, almost 50 percent of IW and JR subscribers are double readers. A merger of the two titles has therefore been a recurring theme in the past.
Jewish Media AG relies on the Braginsky connection
Nevertheless, the merger alone will not get Tachles off the hook. But Kugelmann is confident: the magazine has a strong sales team under publishing director Bruno Guggenheim, and JM now has two publishers behind it: BMG and Serenada-Verlag. The latter publishes a guide to Jewish organizations and only recently took over JR from its owner family Ungar and then conducted the merger talks - incidentally on the initiative of BMG. The Chairman of Serenada is Susanne Braginsky, the wife of René Braginsky, who wants to take over and restructure the Sulzer Group with his InCentive Capital AG.
The Braginskys also sit on the Board of Directors of the new Jüdische Medien AG - he as Chairman - and hold two thirds of the voting rights. Also represented on the Board of Directors are BMG Chairman Matthias Hagemann, Peter Urs Naef, Chairman of the Executive Board of Jean Frey AG, Esther Girsberger, former Editor-in-Chief of Tages-Anzeiger, as well as former IW Managing Director Joseph Wormser and lawyer Björn Bajan.
Tachles will be published in tabloid format every Friday with a circulation of 5000 copies. The magazine, which will have at least 64 pages, will contain background reports as well as separate articles on Switzerland, Israel, International, Culture and Life. The Inside section also offers services and information for Jewish organizations and communities in Switzerland. Kiosk distribution is currently being considered. The subscription costs 164 francs, a full-page, four-color advertisement 5010 francs.

The Vienna office of Weber Hodel Schmid was the most successful agency at the Venus Awards ceremony of the Creativ Club Austria (CCA), where WHS received nine trophies: three gold, two silver and three bronze. A total of 51 works were honored. WHS came top in the categories of newspaper ads, trade ads and promotions.WHO attacks alcohol advertising
The World Health Organization (WHO) accuses the alcohol industry of deliberately turning young people into habitual drinkers. By advertising with a young lifestyle, sex, sport and fun, the companies are trying to establish regular drinking among very young people. National advertising bans on alcohol are being circumvented via satellite TV and the internet. The websites for alcoholic drinks are "a clear attempt to attract young people with computer games, competitions, bonuses and teenage fashion shows".
Diesel does it withKessels Kramer
Kessels Kramer, Amsterdam, won the pitch for the European advertising budget of fashion label Diesel. Also involved were the long-standing budget holder Paradiset DDB, Stockholm, and Cave Anholt Jonason in London. The latter was the favorite, as co-founder Joakim Jonason had been in charge of the Diesel account at Paradiset DDB for a long time. The Londoners had recently won a rival budget with the US brand Timberland.
Revlon also has a new agency
The cosmetics group Revlon entrusts two New York agencies with worldwide accounts. Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners receives the advertising budget and media planning for all Revlon brand products. Interpublic subsidiary Deutsch will handle advertising and planning for the Almay brand as well as media buying for all of the Group's brands. The budgets, which together are estimated at over 100 million dollars, were previously managed in-house.

The stock market slump can't dampen Schawinski's optimism for his financial broadcasterThe stock market slump can't dampen Schawinski's optimism for his financial broadcasterBy Daniel Schifferle
Roger Schawinski wants to launch his new channel Money 24 in just seven months. However, the fact that the two main driving forces - the stock market and the Internet - are no longer as popular as they were six months ago does not worry the Swiss champion in launching new TV channels.
Obtaining the license was a comparatively easy matter for Money 24. Nobody was really seriously opposed to it. Not even the SRG had any objections. The main reason: no one is afraid that Money 24 could take anything away from them in the advertising market.
Shouldn't this lack of concern on the part of the competition towards the new financial broadcaster be all the more reason for pessimism about its chances? Belcom boss Roger Schawinski waves it off. He sees the reason for the SRG's liberal attitude. Now that the revision of the Radio and Television Act (RTVA) is in the hot phase, it has to behave in a politically correct manner and "act as if they were model boys so that they can get their version of the RTVA through. That's the real reason why they had nothing against Money 24," says Schawinski.
What is certain is that the market reality for the new broadcaster will hardly be as friendly as the political environment. The stock market has been rocking low for months. In this environment, the newcomers who usually start buying shares during boom times will naturally stay away. But it was precisely this expansion of the public that Money 24 was counting on when it was announced last summer (WW 31/00). But the stock market crisis does not worry Schawinski. "Every low is followed by the next high, that's a truism," he is convinced.
Money 24 wants to be
Be present on all channels
The current uncertainty about the future role of the Internet is also of little concern to the Belcom boss. The Internet started with completely wrong premises. "At first, the focus was entirely on banner advertising and we were convinced that this was the way forward. Then came the visions with the
E-commerce, and that won't work either," he says, "but the interactive possibilities in connection with securities trading have a future; everyone agrees on that."
Which transmission channels will be most in demand in the future, whether Internet or UMTS technology, is not decisive for Schawinski. "We offer our programming on both analog and digital TV and on the Internet. Whether and how usage will shift between the different platforms is therefore not a priority for us, as we will be represented on all channels."
However, he is optimistic that the Internet and UMTS will prevail. "Banks are currently investing huge sums in Internet platforms. In the future, banking transactions will no longer be conceivable without the Internet," he is convinced.
For the same reason, he is also optimistic about UMTS, which has so far only existed as a vision and speculation. "Hundreds of billions of francs are now being invested in Europe, so it's logical that something will emerge," says Schawinski. He is even convinced that Money 24 will be indispensable for new transmission technologies in particular. "These new technologies need killer content to get off the ground. And that's exactly what we will be able to offer with Money 24," he says.
The Belcom Group has not yet provided any news on the key figures for the new channel (see box). It does not want to communicate any detailed figures at this time because everything is currently being calculated. Only this much: the annual budget will deviate insignificantly from the CHF 12 million originally mentioned.
Regarding the partners from the banking sector that Money 24 still needs alongside Cablecom and its Internet subsidiary Swissonline, Schawinski explains that preliminary contracts are already in place. "That will make for a strong package," he says.
The Money 24 editorial team has a huge task ahead of it, with a target of 20 journalists. However, the "Money" program currently only employs five people; 15 additional employees still need to be recruited. Not an easy task in a dried-up job market. Will the remaining seven months until the launch on October 1 be enough to implement the concept? "We have always met our deadlines," says Schawinski, but qualifies: "If it is still a month late, then the world won't fall apart."
Money 24 relies on the InternetMoney 24 aims to cover stock market events around the clock, with background reports, live broadcasts from national and international trading centers, direct broadcasts of media conferences and interviews. The main broadcasts start at 6 a.m. with reports from the USA and Asia as well as a national and an international daily preview. The program is continuously updated throughout the day.
The editor-in-chief and project manager of Money 24 is Martin Spieler, COO (Chief Operating Officer) of the Belcom Group. The new channel anticipates annual revenues of CHF 10 to 12 million. The break-even point should be reached in the third year.
It will be financed primarily through income from the planned Internet finance portal and from contracts with Internet providers. Money 24's strategic partners on the Internet are Cablecom and its Internet subsidiary Swissonline. According to Schawinski, further strategic partnerships with companies from the financial sector are about to be concluded and will be communicated in the coming weeks. Money 24 is produced in the studios of Tele 24 and TeleZüri.

Ralph Hermann, Head of Communications Tages-Anzeiger, becomes Head of Consulting and Managing Director at WHS, Zurich.I won't take off my client glasses on the agency side either / RALPH HERMANN, Head of Communications Tages-Anzeiger, becomes Head of Consulting and Managing Director at WHS, Zurich.In June, Ralph Hermann takes over as Managing Director of WHS, Zurich. This will be the first time that he will take on outside (agency)
He wants to get a breath of fresh air. Until then, Tamedia AG had been his second home: As a teenager, he completed a commercial apprenticeship at the Tages-Anzeiger. Hermann then moved to the PR department, where he worked as an assistant on various projects.
He faced his first new challenge at the age of 25. At the time, he took up his position as head of marketing for the video division at Warner Brothers. But after just two years, the then TA-Media AG had him back - Hermann became Head of PR for the Tages-Anzeiger as well as the magazine. From 1998, he was also responsible for the advertising management of both products. Because WHS was already in charge of the Tagi budget, he had regular and intensive dealings with the agency.
In June, the Zurich native will change fronts and take over the management of consulting as well as the management of WHS. He thus replaces Urs Läubli, who is moving to a communications consulting firm as a partner. Reinhold Weber will also transfer his management duties to Hermann and will primarily take care of creation.
What draws the Zurich native from the client side to the agency side? "Reini Weber's offer was very tempting and came just at the right time. In the summer, I will have completed my MBA and will be ready for something new," says Hermann. And he emphasizes: "The fact that conditions in the newspaper market have become tougher was not the reason for my decision. On the contrary. Positioning the Tagi more sharply in this environment is an exciting task that's fun."
Even greater, however, was the appeal of mobilizing the potential of WHS. Hermann wants to actively contribute "to WHS being perceived even more strongly as a creative agency for surprising and apt advertising. The agency can still grow, I'm sure of that." He knows its strengths and weaknesses all too well as a long-standing customer. "I won't take off these customer glasses either," Hermann promises. He sees the greatest need for action in strengthening consulting: "The high turnover of recent times is causing too much loss of know-how.
Whether on the client or agency side, Ralph Hermann is guided by the motto "You can't bore people into buying." Or to put it another way: boring advertising doesn't get anyone into a buying frenzy. Top performance demands 100 percent commitment. So Hermann enjoys the limited time he has in his private life with his wife Ana, their son Lucas and "a few good friends. Quality before quantity is therefore his motto in his private life as well.
Carole Koch

For the past six years, Cédric Chollet has been responsible for market assessment, portfolio management, and offer and pricing management as head of marketing and corporate development at IP Multimedia. Now the 50-year-old feels fit for a new start and is setting up his own agency for media and media consulting called Chollet Media Expert. "The step enables me to use my know-how in a more targeted way," he says, explaining his decision. "I offer conceptual and strategic executions, analyses of the market, positioning and offer-
definition of media products, support for research projects and practice-oriented media training," he explains his offering. He primarily wants to address media providers, marketers, advertising and media agencies, as well as advertising customers and other interested parties. (ko)

Which cultural event did you last attend and why this one in particular? Emanuel Scheidegger: Neues vom Räuber Hotzenplotz. Because it was a nice reunion.
What are you reading right now and why?
Scheidegger: A biography of Thomas Mann. Because he was a good lyricist.
Which CD do you currently prefer to listen to?
Scheidegger: "Curtis" by Curtis Mayfield. Because he was a good musician.
Which movie would you most like to see again and why?
Scheidegger: The same as fellow consultant Marco Catini: "Fargo". But not because of Steve Buscemi like Marco, but because of the final scene with the shredding machine.
What TV show did you fall asleep during the other night?
Scheidegger: At Eva Wannenmacher's "Big Brother" talk.
What is your latest development?
coverage on the Internet?
Scheidegger: www.indianrecipes
.com
Love is...?
Scheidegger:...my beer.

Fisch Meier Direkt positions Saab as an absolute niche brand with dialog marketingby luca aloisiOnly 7 percent of the Swiss population knows Saab. Although the Swedish car manufacturer has come to terms with this fact, it is now relying on a new communication tactic with the DM agency Fisch Meier Direkt. Clearly focused on the potential segment, dialog marketing becomes the most important weapon against the competition.
In view of the various award-winning campaigns that McCann-Erickson, Geneva, had designed for Saab Switzerland and the above-average sales rates for several years, the surprise in the advertising industry was well-founded when the Swedish car manufacturer decided last summer to withdraw its communications budget from the in-house agency of parent company General Motors (GM) without a pitch. As the Geneva-based agency also looks after GM's sister company Opel, it was assumed that McCann-Erickson was being cut out of the competition.
However, the decision to entrust communications to the Adliswil-based direct marketing agency Fisch Meier Direkt had other reasons and was not premeditated at General Motors, but at Saab headquarters back in 1998. At that time, the Swedes transferred the communications budget to the Stockholm agency Lowe Brindfors. After a period of awareness-raising and strategy development, the centralized marketing efforts in Switzerland were also replaced by a federalist model designed to better address local market situations.
The fact that the Adliswil-based DM specialists were part of the Lowe-Lintas network until recently was not a decisive factor in the evaluation, because otherwise Arno Gunsch, Marketing Manager at Saab, would now be facing another agency change. Publicis, which recently took over Fisch Meier Direkt, is now advertising for Renault.
Arno Gunsch, who moved from BMW to Saab almost a year ago, was aware of the challenge: building up the unsupported market awareness of 7 percent with the classic understanding of marketing communication solutions for mainstream premium brands is almost impossible in view of the modest advertising budget. Gunsch metaphorically: "Don Quixote's fight against windmills." Saab will continue to maintain the necessary publicity for a brand through basic communication in the mass media. However, a different budget allocation - especially in direct communication - should improve profitability.
High-speed advertising engine only ran at idle for a long time
A look back and across the border illustrates the dilemma: in Germany, Saab's advertising expenditure in 1998 amounted to 2775 Deutschmarks per car sold - almost four times as much as the average for all brands. It was completely absurd to continue to cultivate the market in this way. The advertising engine was running at full speed - but idling, because the effect was disproportionately low.
In Switzerland, where the communication budget amounted to around CHF 4 million last year, the brand paid around CHF 1,800 for each unit sold. This was not the only indication that the new tactic, which was also based on dialog marketing, was beginning to take effect.
Saab was also on the winning side of the Swiss car market in 2000: while total new registrations fell by 0.8 percent according to the Association of Swiss Automobile Importers (VSAI), sales of Saab cars rose by 2.5 percent. Even the recall of 1,300,000 95 models due to electronic defects did nothing to dampen the upturn in demand.
The contact begins with a latent interest in Saab
This favorable development almost makes us forget "that Saab lags far behind its direct competitors Audi, BMW, Mercedes and Volvo in terms of share of voice," says Gilbert Fisch, co-owner and managing director of Fisch Meier Direkt. That is why the company wants to make even more efficient use of the available resources: On the one hand, to tailor the campaigns to the specific customer segments and place them accordingly in order to support or build brand awareness and loyalty, and on the other hand, to trigger a good feeling in the stomach of potential customers through dialog marketing that starts early.
This emotional approach should be carefully ammunitioned with a well-dosed set of arguments that can withstand any criticism. From now on, the dialog with prospective customers will be conducted in the same way as with existing customers, is the motto. The first product to emerge from this new approach was the simple Welcome Package 2000, which cannot simply be torn open. The unusual direct mail requires the addressee to be more interested in the brand, because: You need a screwdriver to open the box.
Arno Gunsch is aiming high with his new communication policy: In the medium term, he wants to reach the 6000-unit mark. However, his handicap lies in the small model range of two lines that are visually very similar. Gunsch is self-critical: "It's clear that you can never generate the same sales with two lines as competitors who have seven or eight." However, this circumstance also works to the brand's advantage, as the given size offers a different marketing approach.
Saab intends to develop in a still
position a narrower niche
As the broadly effective advertising channels were not the only real transmission belt for Saab's message in the future, a change of style was made. "We have come to terms with the fact that we have reached certain limits in the area of perception in mass communication. We have moved away from this level in order to cultivate the awareness of a niche brand instead," says Gunsch. This means that we are not targeting the broad masses, but rather a limited group of interested people who are looked after from the very first contact. The marketing manager knows where these people are disproportionately represented and what psychological characteristics they have - progressive, inward-looking, higher education and income class, interested in culture. This is why he wants to use DemoScope's crosshairs to define this market more precisely than before.
Saab wants to differentiate itself more clearly from the competition as a niche brand. "Aspects that characterize Saab, such as the innovation that the brand embodies, the entire Scandinavian background, the simple, clear lines and the safety standard are topics that cannot be conveyed in any other way with generic marketing communication and in the tough environment with our budget," Marketing Manager Gunsch is convinced.
To make up for this deficit, Saab Switzerland was therefore looking for an agency that knew the core business of customer relationship management (CRM). Gunsch wants to expand this through customer and leads management in the focused segment. This means that as soon as someone is interested in the brand, they are to be intensified to a dialog period in order to build up the basis for decision-making. This does not expose the potential customer to a flood of information, assures Fisch, as the customer determines the further processing themselves.
Other communication for
Different levels of awareness
Since last summer, Fisch Meier Direkt has derived its advertising efforts from the restrictions in the target audience and media mix, ranging from the strategic brand management campaign - until recently designed and coordinated in Sweden - to model advertising, most of which is designed in Adliswil.
The fact that Fisch's team is even responsible for the brand-leading implementations is due to the fact that Saab has completely different basic requirements in Scandinavia, the USA and England: up to 70 percent brand awareness and up to 20 percent market share. There, the well-known "Versus" approach of classic advertising, in which there is a lot of style and very little car, also makes sense. In Switzerland, the top-of-mind position cannot be achieved.
"That's why we do a balancing act," says Gilbert Fisch. "Between strategic and tactical communication, we concentrate primarily on the latter." This is where he sees the better potential impact per franc invested. The four brand pillars of control, performance, safety and design will continue to be built upon. However, the aim is to move away from elitist, reserved communication and to encourage the 50 or so dealers to engage more consciously in dialog with potential customers. "Courteous, but not pushy", as Fisch puts it. This is far easier than having a dealer network of over 100 garages. This results in a quality of dialog that gives prospective Saab customers a good feeling.
The best prerequisite for bringing technical features such as the turbocharger closer. After all, such features can hardly be explained verbally, "this is a sensory element that we can present much better as a component in dialog," says Fisch and concludes all too truthfully: "A single bad salesperson can ruin even the best multimillion-dollar campaign."

Markus Halper has taken over as managing director of the online media agency First Internet Marketing in Zollikerberg. He previously served as head of marketing at Swissca Holding in Bern. The former managing director, Noel Boller, will become chairman of the board of directors at First Internet Marketing. Peter Plan, CEO of the Wigra Group, will step down in the middle of the year. Daniel Wyss, previously sales manager at Wigra Expo, will become managing director of Wigra Expo effective March 1. Willi Gyger will assume overall management of the Wigra Group on an interim basis as chairman of the board of directors.
Peter Ziegler, a member of the executive board of the Berner-Tagblatt Media Group, has been appointed Executive Director of the Swiss Foundation for World Affairs.
IP Multimedia (Switzerland) has appointed Claudia Faeh as its new Marketing Director. Since February 1, she has been responsible for events, communications, product management, and media and market research.
Paloma Szathmary, the former head of public relations at Reed Messen (Switzerland) AG, is leaving the company after six years and will join Blue Spirit Communications in Schlieren.
Effective February 1, Stefan Beuttner, previously a partner and member of the executive board at Advertising Art & Ideas, has left the company. He will now assume sole leadership of Stanley, Winston & Millingham, which is located in the same building.