On August 23, 121 advertising assistants will receive their federal diplomas at the Communication Day of Swiss Advertising SW.The best results were achieved by Sabine Hoffman and Nicole Veser-Leschzyk. A list of the graduates can be found at www.werbewoche.ch/gratulation. The revision of the examination regulations is currently still pending at the Federal Department of Economic Affairs. Once the revision has been approved, the federally certified advertising assistants will also be able to call themselves marketing communications planners. However, the professional qualification will not be changed. (ba)

Tarkan Özküp has been promoted from Managing Director Cinema/Print to Chief Sales Officer at Cinecom "The cross-media area is to be expanded in line with needs "Those who climb the career ladder are often rewarded with a new office. Tarkan Özküp also moved to a new office at Cinecom at the beginning of May. However, the new Chief Sales Officer did not move to a softly padded carpeted floor. The sales director, who has just turned 30, has traded in his formerly very spacious office for a bunk that almost seems small for a CSO. "We are growing at Cinecom," explains Özküp, who has therefore made his potential executive office available as an open-plan office for several newly hired people.
The Swiss branch of the German-Belgian Cinecom on Neugasse in Zurich now employs around 40 people. Tarkan Özküp now takes over key accounting as CSO together with CEO Matthias Luchsinger.
Today, 40 percent of sales are generated by the cinema advertising division at Cinecom. Another 40 percent comes from the sale of TV advertising for
The remaining 20 percent is accounted for by print, with the two magazines close up and Kult. A third print product is to be launched this year.
From all these different media, the creative marketing specialist would like to be able to offer even more new packages in the future in the cross-media department, which is very important for him. For resale to media agencies, for example, a ready-made "output package" could be put together for customers with the target group 14 to 24. This would include "cool cinemas," MTV, cult, and sponsorship with close up.
"In the cross-media area, sponsorship is to be expanded in a targeted manner," explains Özküp, specifying how he could incorporate various events and promotions as well as competitions around a sponsorship carpet of one year.
To ensure that its crews can competently offer the appropriate packages, Cinecom has long attached great importance to ongoing training. All sales people regularly attend the media planner school. Özküp himself is a lecturer at Spok and Sawi as well as at numerous other schools.
The quick-thinking, thoroughbred salesman himself completed a commercial apprenticeship at Publicitas Zurich. He describes his time at the Berner Zeitung and as sales manager for German-speaking Switzerland at Nouveau Quotidien as important experiences. There he learned "from scratch how to respond to customer needs" before the single man with a penchant for 12-hour days began his now stellar career at Cinecom in 1997.
Andreas Panzeri

HESSKISS promotes Christopher Street Day 2000 and Labyrinth PartyThree weeks after the Eurogames, the Rainbow flag will be hoisted over Zurich again on June 24. Because as in almost all metropolises of the world, Christopher Street Day will be celebrated here as well. Unlike the European Gay and Lesbian Championships, Christopher Street Day focuses on political and social issues. With a parade, the gays and lesbians fight against discrimination and thus also commemorate June 25, 1969. 31 years ago, a raid on the Stonewall gay bar in New York's Village had triggered bloody clashes between homosexuals and police. Since then, this day has attracted thousands of gays to Zurich every year to peacefully fight for their rights. But not only politics is on the agenda - fun is also part of it. The real fun starts in the evening, when the clubs of Zurich celebrate parties by every trick in the book. According to the organizers, the hottest gay party this year will take place at the city's famous Labyrinth Club at Pfingstweidstrasse 70.
To promote the party, the two club managers Peter Breitenmoser and Luca Bernardini engaged the creative duo from HESSKISS. AD Rolli Hess and copywriter Tamás Kiss developed a simple, dazzlingly funny implementation: From a thermal image of Switzerland, it is clear that on Christopher Street Day the hottest spot by far will be in Zurich. Why? "Well, because on the one hand the party at the Laby will be the one where the temperatures will easily reach boiling point. And on the other hand, because masses of gays will be partying there, who are also referred to as warm people in the vernacular," Kiss explains. The subject will appear as a double-page ad in scene magazines and will be produced as a flyer.
Luca Aloisi

The most international of the Swiss media groups wants to continue to grow, especially abroadBy Christophe Büchi At this year's annual media conference of Edipresse, publisher Pierre Lamunière was very critical of the Swiss Federal Competition Commission. Lamunière also reiterated that his family has no intention of relinquishing control of the listed group.
Not the (good) business figures for 1999, but a broadside fired by Lamunière across the bow of the Swiss Federal Competition Commission (Comco) was the strong moment of this year's balance sheet meeting at Edipresse (see also p. 5).
At a time when international media giants such as Time Warner were embarking on mega-mergers, the Weko was not above employing dozens of civil servants to prevent a structural shake-up in the Swiss media landscape, raged Edipresse boss Pierre Lamunière. And: While the TA-Media Group is forging alliances with Swisscom that could completely turn the Helvetic media scene upside down, Edipresse is being harassed by the red tape when it wants to take over three Geneva neighborhood newspapers. At the same time, our country should have four to five large media groups that are strong enough to hold their own on the international market.
In other respects, of course, there was little talk of Switzerland and a lot of talk of foreign countries at Edipresse headquarters.
Edipresse is present in seven countries
Once again, the Lausanne media conference turned into an exciting seminar on European media. For although the Edipresse Group still generates 59 percent of its consolidated sales in Switzerland, it is now the least Swiss of the major Swiss media groups - now present in seven countries with 79 publications. And in the coming months, too
the commitment abroad - in Spain, Portugal, Poland, France, Greece and Romania - will be steadily strengthened.
Particular attention is being paid to France, where Edipresse has so far had a rather difficult time. As reported by WerbeWoche, the Saturday newspaper Tribune-Montblanc is expected to cover the French border area around Geneva from September.
Spain remains market number two
But this is just one front line among many. As announced at the Bilanz-MK, three more launches are planned in Spain alone, where Edipresse already publishes twenty titles. On average, Edipresse plans to launch a new product somewhere every six weeks in the future, Lamunière assures.
Edipresse intends to finance most of its growth itself. It is in good health, especially as it benefited strongly from the good economic situation in the media and advertising sector in the last financial year. As a result, the Group increased its sales by 11.7 percent to 677.7 million Swiss francs. The pre-tax result was 69.9 million Swiss francs (+35.7 percent). However, this includes the proceeds from the sale of the Métrociné cinema chain in western Switzerland and a commercial building in Lisbon.
Delight at the IPO of the TA Media Group
However, as Lamunière explains, he does not rule out the possibility that a possible major acquisition could be financed via the stock exchange. This would be easy, because Edipresse has been listed on the stock exchange for decades.
Commenting on the announced IPO of the TA-Media Group, Lamunière says: "I am pleased that our German-speaking Swiss colleagues are also going public, 30 years late. So we are no longer the only ones who have to disclose our figures according to international standards." It is also possible that the subholding EOL (Edipresse Online), in which the Group's Internet activities will be combined in the future, will go public on occasion, as Lamunière explained in response to a question from WerbeWoche.
For Lamunière, on the other hand, the single share is not an issue. At present, Edipresse's registered shareholders control just under 30 percent of the capital, a good two-thirds of the votes. The Lamunière family thus holds the reins firmly in its hands.
This is to remain so, says the boss: "Our shareholders approved the new structure practically unanimously two years ago. Because we have to protect ourselves against a hostile takeover, that's also a moral duty."
Edipresse in figures(monetary values in CHF million)
1999 1998 %
Group sales 677.7 607.0 11.7
Cash flow 76.3 67.4 13.2
Net income 36.8 25.4 45.4

TV 3 promises strong daily viewer numbers with program offensive in fallBy Daniel Schifferle Six times a week "Big Brother," a new adventure show and the continuation of "Millionaire": This is how TV 3 wants to offer continuity and stability in viewer numbers starting in the fall.
"Good ratings every day" - this is the goal TV-3 boss Jürg Wildberger wants to achieve with the fall program. The main ingredient for this ambitious recipe is "Big Brother," with the adventure show "Nur einer kommt durch" and once-weekly "Millionär" as the crowd-pleasing garnish. Of the previous offerings, "Fohrler live" remains in the program, which contrary to earlier statements now invites viewers to talk five times a week as before, but already at 4 pm.
"Cinderella" also continues, albeit with host Nubya in place of Michelle Hunziker starting in the fall. In the early evening, TV 3 is focusing on the series "Futurama" and "Simpsons," and in the film segment, highlights such as "Titanic," "The Full Monty" and "Home Alone 3" are expected to lure viewers in front of the box.
This restructuring of the program was not without its drawbacks. The shows "Liebe auf den ersten Blick" and "Lust und Liebe," previously praised by TV 3 as forward-looking formats, had to jump ship.
Reality shows promise the big ratings
Because the recipe for success for the fall program is called reality shows. Under this title, Lava-TV is now producing the ten-part series "Nur einer kommt durch" for the station. In it, five men and five women battle it out for victory with top athletic performances, skill and stamina.
But TV 3 is aiming for a big hit with "Big Brother," Endemol's most successful format to date, which, after Holland, Germany and now Switzerland, has already been bought by more than fifteen other TV stations around the globe. The Swiss premiere is on September 3, and from then on there will be intimate insights into life in the "Big Brother" house in Glattbrugg, Zurich, from 8 p.m. every Monday to Friday.
Ample offer for sponsoring and product placement
The advertising clients are invited to present themselves as well. This gives five products or brands the opportunity to appear as main sponsors. A rotation principle ensures that during the 15-week duration of the series, each main sponsor is present alternately on each weekday and additionally on three Sundays on "Best of Big Brother" and "Big Brother Talk.
Also on offer: product placement, an advertising option that has so far been neglected in Swiss TV programs. Products of everyday use are conceivable, ranging from food and drink, care products to furnishings. For the rate calculation
TV 3 is based on the audience figures that RTL 2 generated with "Big Brother" in Switzerland.

The Vogt-Schild Group is seeking to improve the marketing of its range of trade magazines in Germany and is founding the magazine publisher GFI in Cologne. To this end, the Solothurn publishing house is taking over GFI Gesellschaft für Information mbH, which already publishes the weapons magazine Caliber and the B2B magazine Chemie Industrie. According to Rudolf Rentsch, company director at Vogt-Schild, the search for a publishing partner for the company's own international weapons magazine was the impetus for the expansion. With the new subsidiary, however, Vogt-Schild is also aiming to improve the marketing of its range of trade journals in Germany. This includes the titles Chemische Rundschau, Precision and Transportrundschau.GFI now employs eight people and generated annual sales of around two million marks before the takeover by Vogt-Schild. (dse)

Until now, Femina took a break from the beginning of July to the beginning of August.Service Femina now also in the summer
This year, for the first time, the magazine will be published continuously throughout the summer. Four special issues have been designed for the summer months. Additional incentive for advertisers: For these four issues, additional discounts are granted for as little as two insertions: 2 times: 5 percent, 3 times: 10 percent and 4 times: 15 percent.
Comprehensive docu Regional-TVDhe advertising time marketer Radiotele has published a comprehensive overview of the regional television market in Switzerland. In addition to updated tariff data, the booklet contains detailed information on distribution, program grid and contact persons for the stations shown. The Regional TV Documentation 2000 can be ordered from Radiotele, Zollikon, telephone 01 396 14 14.
Sponsorship documentation at TSRFrench-speaking Swiss radio (RSR) and television (TSR) have published their rich sponsorship offerings for this year and next. The documentation can be obtained from Télévision Suisse Romande, Sponsoring, 20, Quai Ernest Ansermet, c.p. 234, 1211 Genève, or by phone: 022 708 97 27.
Ragion book for Borsalino users Ringier's borsalino.ch stock exchange platform now gives its customers online access to the Swiss Ragion Book from Orell Füssli. The Ragionenbuch contains daily updated data from the Swiss Commercial Register. Thanks to this cooperation, information on listed companies can be retrieved directly from Borsalino's stock market pages. The service is subject to a fee.
SME online factory from Publicitas BaselUnder the name Ad4you.ch, Publicitas Basel is launching an online service company on May 27, aimed primarily at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The service includes planning, conception and realization of e-business projects as well as marketing measures. Ad4you's web design is by Lucky Lack, as is the launch campaign in Basel's print media. In the start-up phase, Ad4you will concentrate on Basel; later on, an expansion to the whole of Switzerland is planned.

The Young Pioneers event takes a look at visual trendsBy Bruno Amstutz Our viewing habits have changed decisively under the influence of new media. The boundaries between art objects and consumer goods, between elite high culture and mass entertainment are becoming increasingly blurred.
In this gray area, creative minds are looking for a new way of dealing with visual perception, brands and images. Three young pioneers will be presented by the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute together with the trend agency Pepper on June 7.
Open borders promote the connection of different influences to a new whole. With the lounges Substrate, Granulate and Stratos, Philipp Meier seeks a border crossing between gallery, installation, bar, nightclub and concert stage.
At Substrat, until recently located in the Rohstofflager on the Escher Wyss site, electro tinkerers performed their sound experiments, video artists projected their creations and DJs dug unknown discs out of the record crate - all on the same evening. Granules operates on a similar concept, Stratos is a club within a club. "Cinema is too linear for me, and at concerts I often feel underwhelmed," Meier says, explaining his search for new forms of nightlife. "I don't want to patronize people, but use visual and acoustic stimuli to create an environment where everyone can create their own images." He sees himself as a curator who provides a platform for artists, DJs and musicians where they can unfold without restrictive guidelines.
The diversity of Meiers Events is also appreciated by the public: The lounges attract guests from all directions - from art lovers to party people to music freaks.
Black Box and White Box - the art comes from the pedestal
"Philipp Meier plays the black box of the nightclub, I play the white box of the museum," explains Rein Wolfs, curator of the Migros Museum of Contemporary Art. He and Meier know each other from co-productions at both the Substrat and the Migros Museum.
Wolfs also sees the blurring of classic demarcations: "Art has come off its pedestal. It dissolves the tension between high and low, between high and mass culture." While art pretends to be playful, advertising, for example, is taking itself more and more seriously. "In the future, art could also go into areas that advertising has already entered," Wolfs says. For example, the esoteric track on which the advertising of the mobile network operator Orange is riding.
But ideas about art are always also concepts of reality or perception. Or as the curator puts it: "Art is to a certain extent also lifestyle."
Where old art forms lose their position, new ones can establish themselves in the slipstream of new media. Conny E. Voester, as artistic director of VIPER, offers a platform for this. The international fes-tival for video, film and new media is considered Switzerland's most important media art festival. "The VIPER pursues a cross-border concept," explains Voester, "we are flexible and can respond to current developments."
Net art is invented first
In her opinion, a specific net art is currently only being invented. But as an art form, it sets itself apart from mass culture with the classic definition: art should critically question and irritate, it can create utopian spaces, and it eludes easy consumption.
At the VIPER, technicians, experts from the art market and interested young people meet. It is above all these young people who are developing new viewing habits through their playful use of the Internet and video games.

Swiss won one silver and three bronze at the Clio Awards Show in New YorkBy Thérèse Balduzzi At the 41st Clio Awards Show, three Swiss agencies won one silver and three bronze in the print and TV commercial categories. In addition to these categories, this year's Clio also introduced a separate de-sign award.
Advico Young & Rubicam won two prizes at the Clio Awards in New York: Silver for the TV spot for Kuoni Travel and Bronze for the print campaign for Hakle Kimberly. McCann-Erickson, Geneva, won for its already more-
fach award-winning ICRC Poster Bronze, Publicis, Zurich, for their print ad for Arge Kipro. Due to time constraints, the bronze winners' entries were not presented. The Kuoni spot received much applause from the rather reserved audience.
The agency network BBDO Worldwide, with its offices in London, São Paulo and Melbourne, won the most awards and thus the "Agency of the Year" honor, with a total of seven gold, four silver and two bronze statuettes. Abbott Mead Vickers/BBDO, London, won gold three times and silver once for its Guinness spot "Surfer." Another spot in the series, "Bet on Black," won gold once and silver twice. DDB Worldwide won almost as many Clios as BBDO Worldwide.
Grand Clios for Budweiser
and Volkswagen
The biggest prize of the TV commercial awards (Grand Clio) went to DDB, Chicago, for its Budweiser commercial "Whassup True": Four young African-Americans give endless variations of the colloquial greeting, "What's up?" The men have since achieved fame as "What's-up Guys" and are often invited on talk shows.
In print, DDB, Paris, won the top prize (Grand Clio) with its campaign for Volkswagen Lupo. The ads depict the Lupo's particularly low fuel consumption based on the distance the car could travel with the amount of gasoline in a lighter, a lantern and a can of paint thinner.
The Interactive grand prize went to Arnold Communications of Boston for its turbo nium.com website for Volkswagen North America. The site is based on a TV commercial that continues on the Web. Other Interactive gold winners were Columbia TriStar Interactive for the film "The Messenger," DM9 DDB Publicidade of São Paulo for its sex chat campaign for Internet provider UOL; Blast Radius of Vancouver and Los Angeles for Casio G-Shock watches; Red Sky Interactive, San Francisco, for Nike; and Deepend, London, for its site for the London Design Museum.
In the first design award, Wickens Tutt Southgate and Blackburn's Ltd. of London, AAA School of Advertising Cape Town, Turner Duckworth and Cahan & Associates, San Francisco, and Springer & Jacoby, London, each received gold. Although the Clio has previously awarded prizes for packaging design, the newly introduced category is more comprehensive and also awards prizes for graphic design.
Adidas was named Advertising Client of the Year. The award honored the work of Adidas' two main agencies, Leagas Delaney in London and San Francisco, and 180 in Amsterdam, which have brought Adidas out of its shadowy existence and elevated it to a global brand.
In total, five juries distributed 255 Clios (48 gold, 65 silver, 137 bronze). The winners were selected from 18,000 entries from 67 countries.

A study by Pro Active compares Internet behavior in Switzerland with that in European countriesBy Clemens Hörler The first Pan European Internet Monitor by Pro Active International shows: In Switzerland, fewer Internet users click on advertising banners than the European average. On the other hand, the Swiss occupy the top position in Europe in the area of online shopping.
The research company Pro Active International, headquartered in Amsterdam, collected qualitative and quantitative data on Internet users in 15 Western European countries in March and April of this year, surveying 15,000 people by telephone and 10,000 with online forms. The study focused on the demographic structure of Internet users, their behavior online, and attitudes toward advertising.
The results show that online advertising is viewed in a highly ambivalent light throughout Europe: In Switzerland, 34.4 percent of respondents described Internet advertising as informative, 29.8 percent as useful and 26.9 percent as entertaining. On the other hand, 27.9 percent of users feel irritated or disturbed by Internet advertising, 21.5 percent believe online advertising is a waste of time, and 19.3 percent brand it as intrusive.
Clicks are not everything, purchases must also be made
If we look not only at the attitude but also the actual behavior of users, we find that the Swiss are a rather advertising-resistant online audience. Only 27.6 percent of Internet users here said they had clicked on online advertising in the two weeks before the survey. In France, the figure was 53.3 percent, while the European average was 34.4 percent. Only 32.9 percent of Swiss Internet users left their profile on their website. The European average is 48.9 percent.
One ray of hope for advertisers is that Internet users in Switzerland are quite willing to buy. After all, 8.2 percent of respondents said they had ordered something in the last two weeks in response to Internet advertising. 3.5 percent bought the advertised product in a real store, which is roughly in line with the European average. So if you get a Swiss user to click, you have an above-average chance of getting them to buy something. This fact shows that Internet advertisers should not only aim for the highest possible click-through rate, but should also think about the behavior after the click.
Swiss are European champions in online shopping
In any case, the Swiss are extremely eager online shoppers. In terms of per capita spending, they even lead the field in Europe. 473 euros per inhabitant over the age of 15 will be spent on online purchases in Switzerland this year. The European average is 164 euros. Apart from the Swiss, only the Swedes (438 euros) and the Danes (323 euros) spend more than 300 euros online. According to a forecast by Pro Interactive International, the Spanish spend just 33 euros.
In absolute terms, Switzerland still ranks third in e-commerce sales, behind Germany and the UK. Together, these two European Internet giants are responsible for almost two-thirds of the 49 billion euros spent via the Internet in Scandinavia, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, France, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland in 2000. Switzerland accounts for around 6 percent. The fact that Switzerland cuts such a good figure in e-commerce is also due to its high connection density: 49.2 percent of the population over the age of 15 has access to the Internet. This figure is only higher in the four Scandinavian countries.
Cultural diversity also
during payment
In Switzerland and most European countries, B2B transactions account for the largest share of e-commerce. In Switzerland, the figure is 274 euros compared with 199 euros from B2C commerce. Credit cards are used as a means of payment in only 34 percent of all business purchases and in 40 percent of private orders. The European average is 44 percent and 50 percent respectively. The most credit card-friendly country is the UK, where 90 percent of all online purchases are paid for by card.
It is not only in the use of credit cards that there are considerable cultural differences between European countries. Acceptance of the euro as a means of payment and the need to be addressed on the Internet in one's own native language also differ from country to country. In Spain and France in particular, users value websites in their native language. "We have identified many cultural differences that are fundamental to commercial success in Europe," notes Liesbeth Hop, CEO of Pro Active International. "This is certainly where Europeans are in a good position when it comes to competing with American companies."

The ex-teletext provider is eager to expand - owner NTL provides the financial cushionIn the past few years, SwissOnline has lagged far behind the general growth of the industry. The initial capital of 100,000 teletext customers has been joined by just 40,000 Internet customers since the company was founded in 1994. Competitors such as Sunrise, Blue Window or Datacomm grew considerably faster in the same period. However, SwissOnline is currently catching up enormously. In April, the portal was relaunched and a new job platform was launched, which combines the job offerings of Swissclick, Human Line, Top Jobs and Jobs&Adverts. At the beginning of May, a cooperation agreement was signed with the Swedish co-shopping site Letsbuyit.com.
But SwissOnline landed the hammer in mid-May. In one week, the provider announced two takeovers: Mediatex and Swissguide. Mediatex operates Swisstalk, the largest Swiss chat platform with over 200,000 registered users. The Internet directory Swissguide is also impressive with 11000 visitors daily. Swissguide is now to be turned into the Electronic Commerce Directory (ECD), which, according to Dangel, will cover as many providers as possible who offer products or services online in Switzerland. The ECD is to be launched this fall.
Focus on the local SME sector
Unlike Swissguide, where only customers and technology were taken over, but not the employees, Mediatex is to be fully integrated into SwissOnline. Mediatex co-owner Rudolf Neff will presumably take care of content and advertising management: "I see a large advertising volume in the local SME sector. It is conceivable that we will place advertising banners according to the zip code of SwissOnline users, a targeting strategy from Swisstalk."
It is hard to believe that SwissOnline's hunger for takeovers has been satisfied with Swissguide and Mediatex: at the last press conference in mid-May, it was announced that the American cablecom owner NTL wanted to invest CHF 1.4 billion in the Swiss market. SwissOnline, which is 51 percent owned by NTL, should also benefit from this.
is controlled by Cablecom. It is still unclear what content strategy NTL will pursue. It cannot be ruled out that Cablecom will take over the publisher's share in SwissTXT and thus increase its own block of shares in the SRG subsidiary from 3 to 27 percent.
Thomas Brenzikofer

The Medien-Forum, formerly the Swiss Television and Radio Association (SFRV) and known as the SRG-hostile "Hofer Club," is now publishing the member magazine Medien-Forum.Fax "Hofer Club" launches new magazine
The publication replaces the information sheet Medienpick and is published four times a year with a circulation of 10000 copies.
TV 3 violates licenseBakom has ruled: Following the mid-May replacement of "News um 7" with a short news program, TV 3 no longer fulfills its license in the area of information. Although Bakom admits that other formats such as "Fohrler" or "Hautnah" have an informational value in addition to their entertainment value, this is not sufficient to set the focus on information as stipulated in the license. In its order, Bakom gave TV 3 until September 1 to either bring its information offering back into line with the license or to submit an application for a change in the license. However, TV 3 is not planning to do either, according to spokeswoman Andrea Hemmi. The broadcaster will appeal the Bakom ruling to the Uvek, she said. Hemmi: "Bakom has defined the concept of information too narrowly, and there are also errors in the ruling."
Edipresse acquires a stake in Midi LibreThe Edipresse Group has acquired seven percent of the French newspaper Midi Libre. The French-speaking Swiss publisher thus joins Le Monde and the Italian media group La Stampa, each of which has a 15 percent stake in Midi Libre. The Spanish daily El Pais is also planning to take a stake of around five percent in Midi Libre.
L'Agefi turns 50The daily business newspaper in western Switzerland, L'Agefi, celebrates its 50th birthday. The Lausanne-based company has been listed on the stock exchange since 1999. In August, the group plans to launch a monthly magazine on information technologies.