Increase in earnings thanks to flourishing advertising businessThe NZZ can look back on a good business year in 1999: the media group's total operating income rose by 6.2 percent to CHF 479.2 million. The operating result reached a record level of 46.3 million Swiss francs. According to NZZ, the earnings power can be explained by revenue growth rather than efficiency gains. Only just at the federal government have the restructuring efforts brought a further improvement in the earnings situation. This means that the break-even point has now been approximately reached.
The reason for the Group's growth was the 9.1 percent increase in advertising business. All three titles - NZZ, St. Galler Tagblatt and Bund - would have benefited. One drop of bitterness: the circulation of the St. Galler Tagblatt shrank last year by more than 5000 copies or 4.5 percent to 110485 copies. However, the diver is not to be taken at full face value, says NZZ publishing director Tobias Trevisan. The reason for this is to be found in errors in the calculation of circulation in 1998, when the East Switzerland Newspaper Association was created. Despite the negative trend in circulation, the newspaper was doing well. NZZ publishing director Trevisan went on to explain: "Thanks to volume growth and price increases, it was even able to post a double-digit growth rate in the advertising market" (dse).

Mass mailing of advertising e-mails is temptingly inexpensive. But this so-called spamming also harbors considerable image risks.Surveys show, in fact, that around 90 percent of respondents reject mass advertising mailings by e-mail. The matter is not yet regulated by law in Switzerland. However, angry recipients can take revenge on the sender by sending him e-mails. How marketing experts deal with the medium correctly - in the new form of opt-in or virus marketing - can be found on page 18.

Something caught my eye: What’s James Last up to these days? Anyone who’s actually been wondering about this lately didn’t find the answer in *Schweizer Illustrierte*, but rather in *Wirtschaftswoche*. He remains true to his stereotype as a Germanic orchestra tamer and beams out at you in all his glory on a full-page spread. The musical instruments, however, remain in the background. That’s because the «father of easy listening» isn’t promoting a revival of his soothing sounds, but rather clothing from the brands Boss, Brax, and Atwardson. There would be nothing wrong with that, were it not for the fact that the wardrobe is utterly antiquated—both in its color palette and in the selection of styles. And that feels like a scratch on the currently ultra-trendy Last CDs. Why? Because, alongside Burt Bacharach’s catchy tunes in the style of «I’ll Never Fall in Love Again» or “The Look of Love,” James Last’s music has also managed to appeal to the musical tastes of 30-year-olds. That is, the generation whose parents used to dance to these mellow tunes and dressed back then just like the orchestra conductor in those very same ads. It may well be that the aging Last strolls through the streets dressed like that, and it may also be that Boss is making its first forays into senior marketing. But given James Last’s popularity among the younger generation, a more modern wardrobe certainly wouldn’t have gone unnoticed. The diamond stud earring doesn’t help the situation either. Chandra Kurt
Column

Labels
by Liz Sutter
The game is simple: You send a few people outside, bring them back in one by one, and ask them to count aloud while answering a few questions. A color? A musical instrument? A tool? I can already tell you the most common answers: red, trumpet, hammer. If you asked about composers, painters, and poets, Mozart, Picasso, and Goethe would surely come up. The brain often just thinks as far as the next corner. Even writers and comedians like to stick to this tried-and-true formula. A mega-merger? An «elephant wedding.» Federal Councilor Ogi? «Joy reigns!» The NZZ? “Old Auntie.” Margaret Thatcher? “The Iron Lady.” Nina Hagen? “Punk diva.” Anyone who speaks their mind or otherwise stands out is immediately bestowed with titles and honors. That’s why we’re surrounded by food gurus, media moguls, gurus, and kings. Even cities aren’t spared. Rome is still eternal, Paris is full of lights, and Zurich is nothing but a bank. In an article about art theft in GEO, Switzerland was once again called the “Alpine Republic,” but also—and this was new to me and slightly unsettling—“the black hole of Europe,” into which the stolen goods disappear.
The label «new,» on the other hand, is nothing new and yet refuses to die. It seems particularly out of place when applied to people. How often have we been promised a new Callas, a new Monroe, or a new Piaf? As a strategy, it’s rather clumsy, but completely harmless compared to the attempt to portray Haider or Blocher as a new Hitler. That’s not only wrong, but a terrible trivialization of the real Hitler. We’ve seen the consequences of this in recent weeks: Blocher simply turns the tables. I wouldn’t be surprised if the SVP agency soon surprised us with a particularly original ad: participants in a May 1 parade giving the Nazi salute.
Language Observer

l / 0
There are digital jokes now, too. One programmer says to another, «Have you heard? They’re going to simplify the digital system.» The other replies, «I don’t believe it. What could be simpler than zero and one?» – «Zero and non-zero.»
Digital jokes are either funny or they aren't—just like any other jokes. A car or a radio is digital, too (it either works or it doesn't), and even aspects of human interaction: Are you for it or against it? Do we have enough money? Are you coming over this Sunday? She loves me, she loves me not …
Has the world gone digital? Not quite. Many questions can't be answered with a simple yes or no. Where did you go on vacation last summer? Are you still doing drugs?
The world depicted here is already entirely digital. There are practical reasons for this: information based on zeros and ones is easier to store, process, convert, and transmit. Breaking an image down into individual pixels makes it possible to transmit it instantly to any location on Earth. The small dots are either black or white—that is, strictly speaking, they are either black or not black. The transfer code looks like this: 01001101001010010100011…
When transmitting an A4 page, my fax machine generates—depending on the resolution—between 900,000 (normal) to 14.8 million (superfine) tiny “yes” and “no” signals and sends them down the line, whereupon a second device uses color separation to reproduce the sequence on paper, resulting in an identical image when the transmission is error-free. The process takes longer the more often the read and write units have to switch between “yes” and “no.” While a white or black page is transmitted in an instant, the sending device is slow to feed in a document with grayscale values, and the output device works more slowly the finer the output is supposed to be.
The representation of reality is a forgery. Gray doesn’t even exist. Gray is merely simulated through the arbitrarily fine screening of the original into «yes» and “no.” Not to mention the colors… “You have to hurry if you still want to see anything. Everything is disappearing,” said Cézanne at the beginning of the century. He would be amazed at how right he was, if he hadn’t disappeared himself first.
P.S.: I didn't submit a single letter to the editorial office—instead, I submitted about 24,000 little "yes" and "no"s. And because I submitted them in the right order, this text came together. Miracles like this happen every day. Beat Gloor, www.textcontrol.ch

Muba Communications Manager Mario Neuhaus on the new marketing strategy50000 square meters of exhibition space, over 1200 exhibitors: these are the key data for Muba 2000 (28. 4. to 7. 5.). But the 84th edition of Muba caused a stir with its campaign, in which a naked, pregnant woman advertises the "mother of all trade fairs" (see p. 13). WerbeWoche spoke to Muba Communications Manager Mario Neuhaus about Muba marketing.Mr. Neuhaus, did you expect the media reports about the new Muba campaign?
Mario Neuhaus: We assumed that the campaign would be polarizing and that the media would react accordingly. But we also did very active media work.
Have you calculated how much free advertising space you have been given by the media?
Neuhaus: No. But of course I'm pleased that we're getting a predominantly positive response. We had already given some thought to our image and hoped that it would go in the right direction. Now we are surprised. But we haven't cut our advertising budget because of it.
So your marketing strategy has been a complete success.
Neuhaus: With this campaign, it was clear from the start that we had to plan it meticulously. At the same time, it also involved extra work: We had to inform the exhibitors, the employees and external dialog groups, such as women's organizations - because we were expecting reactions. Because of the 1999 campaign, we didn't have one phone call; this year, on the other hand, the telephone network almost collapsed. There was everything from positive reactions to poster orders to criticism. This campaign could be a good example for the interaction of advertising and PR, because such a campaign is not possible without a good PR concept.
Please explain to me why Muba is now also advertising with a naked woman?
Neuhaus: What do you mean by "also still"? You can't look at the picture in isolation, the slogan "Visit the mother of all trade fairs" is part of it. And that means that our company, with 20 to 25 trade fairs a year, grew out of the Mustermesse of 1917, which was our only trade fair at the time. This is precisely the symbolism we wanted to communicate, as well as the statement that every trade fair is created in a long process, similar to that of a growing child. We wanted people to realize that the 84th Muba is completely new. We had to do something to make people ask themselves: What happened to Muba?
No question, the picture is first class. But in the context of Muba, the nudity of the pregnant woman merely serves as an eye-catcher. What do you say to the accusation that the Muba advertising is sexist?
Neuhaus: We were concerned that it should not come across as sexist and smutty. That was also the content of the briefing. The photo had to have a symbolic statement: Self-confidence, coupled with confidence. It was clear to us that if there was a photographer who could express that, it was only Avedon. Apart from the fact that the implementation was within Avedon's artistic freedom, I think it needed a naked woman to make this statement credible.
What about the image of Muba?
Neuhaus: If you ask someone how old the average Muba visitor is, they're sure to quote a figure between 50 and 60. Yet the average age is 37. That's part of our problem. Another: people could no longer identify with Muba. Many said: I get a ten percent discount from my dealer anyway, I don't need to go to Muba for that.
Muba used to be a trade show, then it was called a consumer goods show and finally a public and experience show. In which environment does it want to position itself in the future?
Neuhaus: Public and experience fair we said three years ago, only we think we really offer that only this year.
Where is the big difference?
Neuhaus: Because people no longer identified with Muba, we had to create worlds of experience. But to do that, we also had to talk to the exhibitors - and that takes time. The army, for example, will present 29 worlds of experience this year alone. It is not simply exhibiting an F/A-18; visitors can expose themselves to a wind of 200 kilometers per hour in a wind tunnel. This also applies to the guest country Brazil: we have beach volleyball facilities with 13 tons of sand, Brazilian star volleyball players, a representative of the Brazilian national team, the Brasil Night, then also the Move Night, Andy Hug... Especially with the Brasil and the Move Night, Muba also breaks its opening hours. And there are innovations in all areas. If people now notice this and are amazed by it, we have made a giant leap of several years. If they also say that they actually have to spend two days at Muba to see all the offerings, then we've reached our goal.
This year, Bea in Bern and Luga in Lucerne will be held at the same time as Muba. Do you still expect 400,000 visitors again?
Neuhaus: Yes.
What was the argument you used to get the exhibitors to come to Basel?
Neuhaus: We are the largest trade show for the general public. That's why SF DRS, for example, has chosen Muba, as has the army, for which it would have been more attractive in terms of space in Bern. The acquisition among the exhibitors is going very well, we even have waiting lists.
Basel has only recently had an official city marketing department. What significance does that have for Muba and Messe Basel?
Neuhaus: A great deal of importance, simply because we also do city marketing all the time. We offer many services that should actually be offered by the city. For example, hotel reservations. The employees of this service are paid by us. We generate a million visitors a year, whether they visit a trade fair or not. But the city tends to put the brakes on new events. One example of this is the ticket tax. But we hope that cooperation with the city marketing department will become more intensive.
Some skepticism can be heard there.
Neuhaus: We are happy that the whole thing is now emerging, that's why we want to give it a chance. But you sense our desire that the city should take over certain things. But what Basel doesn't offer, we simply do. Interview: Markus Knöpfli

Zurich agency Fam. Müller relies on Teen Spirit for Escolette's campaignEscolette is in the process of establishing itself as the trendiest tour operator for teens this year with five new offer fields. The brand, which is part of the Hotelplan Group, is supported by an uncompromising campaign that perfectly reflects the culture of teens and twens with its fresh, cheeky language and tone. Its creator is the young Zurich-based small agency called Fam. Müller. The fact that the self-deprecating name says it all and has rubbed off on Escolette's appearance is evident in the comprehensive communications package. The creative family of three, together with "adopted family members", produced everything on their own: from the concept to the outrageously freaky gorilla cinema spot, from the homepage to the magazine-like travel catalogs such as Der Strand and Die Stadt.Through the comic implementation, which is unusual in the industry, and the abstracted USP of Escolette, Fam. Müller succeeds in two things. On the one hand, the childlike comic characters build up a community that increases Escolette's credibility with its teen codes. On the other hand, Fam. Müller skillfully plays with its double identity: as an advertising agency and as a comic figure in the realizations. In these, the animated video game icons experience awesome vacations with black humor. page 11

Jürg Meyer, head of the Meyer publishing house, must be successful with the current relaunchJürg Meyer, six years ago, Meyer's Modeblatt was renamed Modeblatt. Aren't you afraid of confusing readers with frequent name changes instead of winning them over?Jürg Meyer: Meyers Modeblatt is a term that women know. I am therefore convinced that the new title Meyer's also has a high recognition value. The name change was inevitable. When Modeblatt was added to the title in 1994, a mistake was made. There is no message in the term. It suggests a lot of fashion. But that only makes up part of our magazine. In addition, Modeblatt sounds old-fashioned and is reminiscent of Mother's sewing table.
What is the message of the new magazine title?
Meyer: Meyer's takes its cue from American magazines like Harper's or Forbes. Such titles imply topicality. And that's also an important step in our magazine: Instead of arbitrary topics, we will focus much more on topicality in the future.
Why is this step coming only now?
Meyer: We have fiddled around a lot in past years, made small changes. But we didn't get where we wanted to go with them. That's why we have now decided to take a striking step.
What are you doing to keep your regular readers loyal to the new magazine?
Meyer: That's the hottest iron in this relaunch, and we're giving it a lot of weight. With supplements in the last issues of the old fashion magazine, we will introduce our regular readers to the new magazine. But we are aware that losses in circulation can never be completely ruled out with a new concept of this dimension. The market will show whether we have done the right thing.
In the past, the fashion magazine had a hard time not only with the audience, but also in the advertising market.
Meyer: When I took the helm in 1996, we had to completely rebuild ad sales. But that is now starting to take hold. Last year, we recorded a positive trend again for the first time.
But in this constellation, profit was hardly possible in the past years?
Meyer: We are just over the threshold. But it's not enough to build up reserves for the further development of our products. But these are absolutely necessary. That's why we have to succeed in the medium term with the new issue. We need this success.
In the worst case, you could still consider a merger of the fashion magazine with the Swiss family. After all, that's been a topic before. Would that be a possible future for you?
Meyer: That's not an issue at the moment. Of course, the idea was already in the air. When you talk to each other as often as you do among publishing managers, all kinds of options come up. But we've never really taken a serious look at merging Modeblatt and Schweizer Familie.
In August, Meyer Publishing moves from Zurich to Jona. Why are you giving up your beautiful and well-located Zurich headquarters?
Meyer: The move is part of the overall restructuring of the Meyer Group. The new premises are located directly next to our print shop. This will allow us to exploit synergies and reduce duplication in administration. The production process of the magazine will also be accelerated. This is important, because with the new issue we want to focus more on topicality. Interview: Daniel Schifferle

Before Frank Bodin, Creative Director at McCann-Erickson in Geneva, decided to pursue a career in advertising, he was at home in the world of music. After graduating from the conservatory, he worked as an assistant director to Giancarlo del Monaco and Bob Wilson at the Hamburg State Opera. Twelve years later, he created an advertisement for the Zurich Opera House. He was hired by ballet director Heinz Spörli to promote the new choreographic production of Sergei Prokofiev’s *Cinderella*. By dramatizing the lost slipper in the key scene, the Geneva resident succeeded in conveying the art of pointe work in a sophisticated way. Publicis is giving Facts an Easter egg. The weekly magazine Facts aims to evolve from a «tabloid» into a magazine «that cultivates an intelligent tabloid style.» A thorough redesign, which the magazine has just undergone, supports this journalistic goal (see WerbeWoche 13/00). Now the Zurich advertising agency Publicis has translated the magazine’s optimized clarity—resulting from the redesign—into a striking visual concept: The fact that the new Facts layout was launched during the month of Easter inspired the creative team on Theaterstrasse to create a motif based on the tradition of the Easter egg hunt. The design, which is certainly nothing to be ashamed of, was also produced as an advertisement.
Gasche and Räz Launch "Geld-Update." The publishers of K-Tip and Puls-Tip, Urs P. Gasche and Hans Räz, plan to launch a magazine titled "Geld-Update" in June. According to the SonntagsZeitung, six to eight issues are planned per year. In it, readers will find information on investment funds, real estate prices, taxes, and inheritance. The magazine is expected to launch with a circulation of around 45,000 copies. The project manager for Geld-Update is Fredy Hämmerli, a former member of the editorial board at K-Tip. In addition, Löpfe Benz in Rorschach is losing the printing contracts for K-Tip, Puls-Tip, and Bon à Savoir. Starting in August, the three magazines will be printed by AZ Grafische Betriebe in Aarau.
Zürich Express and 20 Minuten Continue Their Dispute. In the dispute between 20 Minuten Schweiz AG and Tagblatt der Stadt Zürich AG, the publisher of Zürich Express, no agreement was reached before the justice of the peace. According to consistent reports, both sides stood their ground. The dispute centers on whether the new commuter newspaper 20 Minuten was justified in claiming, in early March, to be the number two newspaper title in the Zurich market. In its statement at the time, however, 20 Minuten did not take the Zürich Express into account because no comparable figures were available for it. Tagblatt AG, which is part of TA-Media, is now considering filing a lawsuit against 20 Minuten in commercial court for violating competition law (UWG).
Only three radio stations are vying for the ravers« attention. From August 1 through 30, the cable station Radio 105 Network will once again be granted an FM frequency by the Federal Office of Communications. This will allow the youth radio station to broadcast a local program in addition to its national one. The centerpiece of this programming will be the Streetparade 2000. This means that this year, »only« three private stations (Radio 24, Z, 105) will be vying for coverage of the Streetparade. Radio 24 has decided not to apply for a special license for a three-day »Streetparadio” as well.
Bond hunts down environmental offenders. With the phrase «words are not enough,» Pierce Brosnan is promoting the environmental organization Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) for free, advocating for environmentally and socially responsible forest management. In addition to the FSC, WWF Switzerland is also pleased about this: As a member of the FSC, the Swiss environmental organization can publish the ad featuring the charismatic Bond in its own newspaper.
RTL2 is planning a new season of «Big Brother.» RTL2 is planning another season of «Big Brother» for next winter. The show is expected to continue in a similar style. In Switzerland, TV3 is negotiating with TV producer Endemol for the license to air «Big Brother.» A decision is expected in May. Endemol has launched another show in the Netherlands with a more extreme concept: In the TV show «Gefesselt,» five people are chained together for a week. It is also set to air on German-language television.
«Bibi-Balù» Coming Soon to the Big Screen. With this announcement, Turnus Film AG in Gutenswil surprised the industry and the media. The successful heist musical by Hans Gmür and Karl Suter—a long-running theater hit in the groovy «60s starring Ines Torelli—is set to hit theaters in a new, revamped version. The budget is 7.5 million Swiss francs (by comparison, Beat Schlatter’s mega-hit »Komiker« cost 2.6 million Swiss francs). In addition to Hans G. Syz and his Turnus company, Swiss Television and the Motion Picture Corporation of Europe are also involved. Since »Bibi Balù,« as a film with an un-Swiss, commercially oriented approach, is unlikely to receive any subsidies, the comedy is to be designed for the international market. Hollywood-based Swiss cinematographer Ueli Steiger is set to handle the camera work. »Tatort” veteran Daniel Helfer will direct. In addition to Gmür, who provided the concept, the screenplay is being written primarily by cabaret artist Lorenz Keiser and the young Hollywood-based filmmaker Jann Preuss. Erich Vock and Marco Rima have been announced as the lead actors playing the two crooks who, in the story, organize a national fundraising campaign and promptly pocket the collected money for themselves. Filming is scheduled to begin in April 2001. As a symbol of the transformation of the Swiss film landscape brought about by this major project, the participating companies have launched a reader in a handy card format.
Editorial

The Fundamental Forms of Our World The storm of indignation among German writers and intellectuals over the spelling reform was immense. In their righteous anger, they overlooked the fact that the reform concerned spelling, not the language itself; the two are not equivalent. As if the written form of a language were the language itself, they doggedly opposed the reform, which undoubtedly brought a welcome simplification to an overly complicated set of rules. It was about form, not the medium or even the fundamentals of language. In their zeal, the language’s guardians failed to realize that even Goethe’s or Hölderlin’s idiosyncratic spelling had long since been carefully adapted and updated without damaging their substance. Language development is an organic process that cannot be halted. In contrast to the purists, who suspect linguistic degradation and cultural decay in buzzwords, Anglicisms, or neologisms coined by advertising copywriters, let us therefore echo Goethe: «The power of a language lies not in its rejection of the foreign, but in its absorption of it.»
«The limits of my language are the limits of my world,» writes the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein in his *Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus*. To this, one need only add that human beings have an innate drive to push against the boundaries of language and thereby contribute to its renewal.
Recognizing that language is a living thing, we are once again publishing a weekly language column by Beat Gloor. After a sabbatical year, the German editor is back with his observations on language. Last week he wrote about the conservative typewriter; this time, he’s focusing on the basic forms of the world (see page 8). Welcome back! Samuel Helbling
P.S.: 81 linguistic commentaries by Beat Gloor were recently published in book form under the title *Staat Sex Amen*. (ISBN 3-9521287-5-9)

Professor Heinz Bonfadelli on the future of the Swiss print mediaIf you only look at the circulation figures for one year, you quickly lose sight of the big picture. In an interview with WerbeWoche, Heinz Bonfadelli, Professor of Journalism at the University of Zurich, puts the current figures into a broader context.What is the development of the press over a longer period of time?
Heinz Bonfadelli: According to the figures from the U.S. and Germany, there is a noticeable decline in the number of readers, which is not yet as visible in Switzerland. This is most noticeable among younger people. The reasons for this are information overload and increasing mobility, which means that local integration is weakening.
Is it a decline or more segmentation?
Bonfadelli: Both. The trend is moving away from mass to individual communication. While special-interest titles are growing strongly, general-interest magazines and tabloids have been declining for some time. Another trend is that titles are subject to ever shorter product cycles; they have to be lifted or even repositioned after a short time. Some are also emerging and disappearing more quickly.
In the advertising market, print is losing out to the electronic media. Is the extent of the loss justified when measured against the loyalty of print users?
Bonfadelli: In 1997, print still accounted for about 74 percent of the total advertising volume in Switzerland; in Europe, this figure is less than 60 percent. TV, on the other hand, accounted for just under 10 percent in Switzerland at that time, but over 30 percent in Europe. We still have some catching up to do. However, this development has been overly optimistic so far, see TV 3 or RTL/Pro7 windows. But the two media should not be played off against each other. You can position a brand or a product with TV advertising, but you can only communicate in-depth information with print. This is often not seen enough.
What role does the Internet play?
Bonfadelli: In the longer term, some advertising will certainly be shifted to the Internet. Or to put it another way, advertising budgets in the traditional media are often stagnating at the moment because more money is being put into the interactive platforms. It's still unclear how effective advertising on the Internet actually is. In addition, you have to resort to print advertising if you want to make a homepage known. That's why the print media have even benefited from the Internet boom, which was not expected.
Why are kiosk sales running sluggishly?
Bonfadelli: In German-speaking Switzerland, 70 to 80 percent of daily newspapers - with the exception of Blick and Sunday newspapers - are subscribed to. This is still increasing, not least because early delivery has been improved. With the new commuter newspapers, some people, at least in the greater Zurich area, could do without going to the kiosk. The publishers say the opposite, but I don't take their figures at full face value.
How will the change from K1 to LpA (readers per issue) in the Wemf Readership Study affect the image of print media?
Bonfadelli: As a member of the Wemf Research Commission, I am of course somewhat biased. But it is certainly necessary to switch to a harder currency, because there has long been a harder currency in the TV sector with Telecontrol. On the other hand, publishers are a bit unsettled because they don't know how much the numbers will go down. In addition, not all titles will be affected to the same extent by the declines. It has always been known that with a relatively soft value like the K1 value, titles that are less well-known or appear less frequently are disadvantaged in the memory, while on the other hand certain prestigious titles also benefit. Interview: Markus Knöpfli

In the new Vilsmaier film, Aigner presents itself at the side of the chic LolaThese days, Joseph Vilsmaier's new film "Marlene" hits theaters. In addition to the revival of the blonde diva, one also experiences the revival of some luxury brand articles, first and foremost the leather goods manufacturer Aigner.Product placement belongs to cinema like Billy Christal to the Oscars, and for many a regular Kion visitor, the search for these inconspicuously placed labels has advanced to a small spectator sport. In Joseph Vilsmaier's new film "Marlene," with Katja Flint in the role of the cool Germanic cult figure, numerous clothing companies get a turn, or rather, the cash register. Among them are Escada, Wolford and the lingerie brand La Perla.
The Aigner company has secured itself a special appearance. With the help of Marlene Dietrich's magical powers of attraction, they want to revamp the now dusty image of leather goods, so for the first time they deliberately decided to appear in a feature film. So now Katja Flint alias Marlene wears an Aigner bag from the Metropolitan collection under her arm.
The main goal of Aigner's film commitment: rejuvenation of the conservative, sometimes staid-looking collection. In addition, the company wants to sell more lifestyle and not just leather accessories and clothes in the future. For this reason, Aigner has significantly increased its advertising budget and announced that it will pursue a new communication strategy. But for the time being, the company is hoping for more market presence among 30- to 40-year-old women, who unfortunately are not yet completely tuned in to Aigner from head to toe at the moment. But Marlene will do the trick. Chandra Kurt

In 600 sales outlets in German-speaking Switzerland, posters advertise World Book DayBy Carlo Bernasconi With a campaign by Felber Kristofori & Pinzon, the Booksellers Association of German-speaking Switzerland (BVDS) is supporting its members with advertising for World Book Day on April 23. The motto of this year's World Book Day: "Pro Book Price Fixation".
For Harry Heusser, the responsible advertising and trade show manager at the Publishers Association of German-speaking Switzerland (VVDS), this year's campaign is "a poetic realization of a dry subject matter. After all, the aim is to convince the population of the blessings of the bound store price. For example, Rudy Felber provided the dry but correct reasoning for the film shots with Laurel & Hardy and Groucho Marx for the headline: "The fixed store price guarantees the versatile promotion of culture. Therefore, join us in supporting fixed book prices."
This has been on shaky legal ground since the Competition Commission rejected price fixing among booksellers and publishers in the spring. At present, the lawyers of the Appeals Commission are busy finding out whether the fixed book price should definitely be abolished in Switzerland. And the Federal Council is competently examining the value of the book.
BVDS is using the favorable political hour to inform the book-buying public about the advantages of fixed retail prices by April 23. For BVDS board member Christine Ris, it is "important that price fixing is discussed at the point of sale.
BVDS is doing this with a low-budget campaign borrowed from the Berlin booksellers, designed by the Zurich advertising agency and based on the couple idea: "Price fixing belongs to the book," says Heusser, alluding to the image motifs from the silent film era. Felber Pinzon & Kristofori had already supported booksellers last year in their efforts to anchor the Unesco-designated World Book Day in shoppers' minds.

The Basel-based advertising agency Favo has founded two subsidiaries in the Internet sector: Webdotcom and Stormvision (Switzerland).Thus, the Favo Group expands to a new five companies. "I don't see the future of the agency in growth, but in individual competence units," explains Werner Vogel, owner of Favo. Webdotcom deals with e-commerce, web design and internet conception, Stormvision is responsible for animations and computer films. Vogel attaches great importance to a clear separation of tasks among the five companies.Since its founding in February, business has developed rapidly at Webdotcom. Practically without any self-promotion, Vogel says, a large number of customers have been acquired, including companies such as Manor, Migros and FC Basel. At the moment, Webdotcom employs five people, but "that's not enough," says Favo boss Vogel, "at the back and front." New computer scientists are constantly being sought. (ba)

Of the major ISPs, only Datacomm has not yet committed itself to a media partnerBy Clemens Hörler An initial consolidation has taken place in the cooperation between Internet service providers and media companies as content providers. They now also want to attract "foreign" Internet users to their portals.
Blue Window with TA-Media AG, SwissOnline with Swiss Txt, Sunrise with News.ch and the Swiss Confederation - more and more negotiations between major Internet service providers (ISPs) and Swiss media companies are bearing fruit in the form of strategic partnerships in which the providers and their portals benefit from the content of the media houses and the media houses from the traffic of the ISPs.
Of the very large providers with over 100,000 visitors per day, only Datacomm has not yet announced a cooperation partner in the news area. They are still in the middle of negotiations with content suppliers from various areas, for example general news, financial information or travel, explains Angelika Trovato, Marketing Manager at Datacomm. For this reason, the relaunch of the portal, which was announced for April 1, has been postponed until next month.
The Basler Medien Gruppe (BMG), for example, could be considered as a possible strategic partner. Myriam Mathys, Head of New Media at BMG (see also WW 13/00), said in response to a question only that they were open to all sensible possibilities offered by the Internet. Cooperation with providers is also being examined.
However, the planned massive expenditures will primarily be used to expand the company's own offerings. Ringier has been in talks with various providers, but has massive traffic on Blick.ch in particular, even without outside help. With ZHOL, the publisher is already active in the local portal business and, as in the case of Cash and Borsalino, is trying to participate in specific channels with individual brands (see WW 6/00).
Sunrise has already won the Bund, News.ch (Internet Medien AG) and Borsalino as news partners for its Go.Sunrise portal. But the platform is open to other content providers, including local ones, emphasized spokesman Stephan Howeg. Go.Sunrise is to become a national portal on which the regions are also well served. Unlike Datacomm and SwissOnline, Sunrise is gradually expanding its portal. The relaunch announced for the beginning of April has been delayed because not all negotiations on strategic alliances have been concluded yet, explained Howeg.
Prestige property Real Video joins SRI for now
ISPs can no longer afford to offer only technological solutions. They also have to offer customers attractive content and are looking beyond their own customer base. "In the medium term, an ISP cannot survive if it only focuses on registered customers," says Eric W. Zeller, Head of Corporate Communications at SwissOnline AG. The website must also be made interesting for non-customers. After all, more visitors mean more revenue from e-commerce participations and banner advertising.
For the time being, the portals will be filled primarily with texts and photos. However, it is only a question of time and bandwidth before radio and TV stations also appear as content providers for the big portals. SF DRS would apparently be particularly in demand as a prestige partner. According to Markus J. Ragginger, head of marketing and communications at SF DRS online, SF DRS online has held talks with almost all major ISPs. For the time being, however, the TV station is only providing non-company platforms with information related to its programming. Only Swissinfo.org, the platform of the SRG SSR company Schweizer Radio International, will receive real video news.