A more reader-friendly layout also for German readersEven wine gazettes are not safe from redesign fever: Vinum, the international wine magazine, has been given a new visual touch by independent designer Peter Jaray: Nose, palate and finish are right. The starting point was the revision of the magazine's content structure. As new column all wine degustations are summarized in a Guide. This practically creates a booklet within a booklet. A new service section at the beginning of the magazine is intended to give readers a clear picture of current offers.
"We tried to lighten up the look of the magazine," Jaray says, "to make it more reader-friendly." Interstitial lead texts in longer articles make cross-reading easier. "That helps people who want to taste through the magazine first to discover something interesting," the designer explains.
More white spaces provide freshness in the layout. The service section ensures clarity thanks to its color design: similar information, for example references to the Internet, are highlighted in the same color. The new Vinum places great emphasis on increased customer service.
Rounded off by the new typeface, the magazine presents itself as a good vintage in the year 2000. "The design is still classic," says Peter Jaray, "but we also hope to appeal to a broader readership through the innovations." Vinum is aiming for an increased presence in the German market in particular. Bruno Amstutz

Grey Advertising is apparently facing a major repositioning.Fax Grey considers rebranding
According to a report by Advertising Age, the board has been running through various scenarios in recent months - including a new name and an initial public offering of Mediacom Worldwide. Initial announcements are expected at the April 19 agency meeting.
Will tm3 stay with Murdoch? Rupert Murdoch is apparently not prepared to part with his shares in German private TV TM3. According to a report in the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), on the contrary, he wants to take over the station entirely. This is according to a letter from Murdoch's company Newscorp, which the SZ has received. The letter also accuses TM3 CEO Herbert Kloiber of falsely giving the public the impression that he could take over Murdoch's shares in the station.
Advertising tax in Austria wobbles The Austrian government is planning to abolish the so-called "advertising tax". This is made up of the advertising tax, which the states levy on print and billboard advertising, and the announcement tax, which is collected by the municipalities for TV and radio spots. The prerequisite for abolition is probably that the loss of revenue from the states and municipalities (around 210 million Swiss francs) is compensated.
Coca-Cola's in-house agency dissolved As part of a broad realignment in sales and marketing, Coca-Cola is closing its in-house store Edge Creative, which had provided creative leadership for Coca-Cola campaigns since 1992. For the next campaign in summer 2000, the remaining roster stores will present ideas, according to the New York Times. On that team are Leo Burnett, Bartle Bogle Hegarty, D'Arcy, Doner, McCann-Erickson, Wieden & Kennedy and Publicis, which handles the European account.

Because the way in which readership figures are surveyed changes in the fall from the so-called K1 to the new LpA value (readers per issue), the current certification of circulation has a very special significance.Those who can maintain the number of printed copies this year and in 2001 are well placed in the choppy waters of the print sea, because circulation is currently the most tangible comparable point of reference for publishers. Which title was subject to which fluctuations can be found on pages 26 to 30.

Zogg Kettiger Gasser lets comedian promote the Japanese car brand MitsubishiThe last business year was marked by a slight decline in sales for Mitsubishi Switzerland. Before the big alliance with DaimlerChrysler unifies the corporate strategy, the Japanese company wants to develop new buyers in the local market. With its Zurich-based in-house agency Zogg Kettiger Gasser, Mitsubishi is returning to the tried and tested without lapsing into dull recycling of ideas. Newly, audience favorite Birgit Steinegger advertises in an amazing double role: as a Bernese and a Zurich suburban brat who always meet at the same bus stop in the commercials and talk about Mitsubishi. The concept is no less unusual: the advertised car appears only in passing - and only in later episodes. page 12

The public relations agency Farner PR & Consulting AG has opened a branch office in Fribourg together with its subsidiary, FTC Farner Teuber Communication SA. It has been operational since March 1 and, according to the agency, is already running at full speed. "Fribourg is the incarnation of the Röstigraben," says Farner CEO Christian König, explaining the choice of location on the banks of the Saane River and hoping for references in two directions: to both German and French-speaking Switzerland. With this branch, Farner is expanding its Swiss network and now has a fifth branch in addition to Zurich, Berne, Lausanne and Geneva. The aim is to attract national and international customers in the booming economic area of Fribourg. The new branch is headed by Klaus Peter Mager (ba).

The new circulation figures for the Swiss press - an overview of circulation winners and losersBy Markus Knöpfli Large circulation jumps are also rare this year. But they do occur, especially among customer magazines and special interest titles. Overall, however, the German-speaking Swiss market is less subject to strong (percentage) fluctuations than the titles in western and southern Switzerland.
Because the method of calculating readership figures will change in the fall from the so-called K1 to the new LpA value (readers per issue), this year's and next year's circulation figures will have a special significance: in the churning print sea, they will remain the only point of reference for publishers and media planners for two years. Those who do not suffer a loss in circulation this year and in 2001 therefore not only have a trump card, but at least still have the nell in their hands.
The Old Aunt from Falcon Street makes big leaps
Among the Swiss-German newspapers, the NZZ was again among the biggest winners, as was the Bund. The NZZ increased by 2593 copies or 1.6 percent, which Tobias Trevisan, Head of Newspapers, attributes to the "permanent work on content quality". Other reasons include the new sports association, intensified marketing, increasing interest in business topics and the growing proportion of the population with a good education. "Our target group is growing," adds the publishing manager.
The Bund gained 2121 copies, which corresponds to an increase of 3.2 percent. Three quarters of this increase was due to the expansion in Biel, says publishing director J. Pepe Wiss, while in the city of Bern the Bund only increased slightly.
Also noteworthy is the Berner Zeitung, which never makes big leaps, but according to BZ Managing Director Franziska von Weissenfluh has regularly increased its circulation by between 600 and 1,200 copies for at least twelve years. This time, too, the figure is 1074.
On the losing side, the St. Galler Tagblatt (SGT) and, for the first time, Cash stand out. The SGT justified last year's loss of 3.2 percent with "adjustments after the merger" and announced better figures for this year.
But the paper lost another 4.4 percent. The reason given by SGT Publishing Director Daniel Ehrat: "At last year's certification, the title had not yet been adjusted." The figures the publisher received from merger partner Ostschweiz before the merger had not met expectations. For example, the reader structure had turned out to be relatively old, and there had also been many duplicates.
Cash loses readers and subscribers for the first time
The business paper Cash reached its temporary peak last year and has now fallen back by 2.6 percent or 1880 copies even below the level of the Wemf certification basis 1997 - allegedly because of last year's price increase. Nevertheless, Ringier is optimistic. "We are convinced that Cash, with its new concept and layout, will again exceed 72,000 copies, or even reach 8,000," says Group spokesman Fridolin Luchsinger.
The changes at most other newspapers are in the range of plus or minus one percent. Nevertheless, some are worth mentioning. Like Cash, Blick lost more circulation in 1999 (minus 2971 copies) than it gained in 1998 - despite a revised concept. "Blick is in a stagnation phase, the losses are spread over the whole year and cannot be attributed to the new commuter newspapers," says Luchsinger.
TA-Media also denies the influence of the Zürich Express, newly launched in 1999, even though the Tages-Anzeiger lost a good three times more copies than in the previous year, with a drop of 1,880. The Sonntagszeitung, on the other hand, continues to make steady progress, gaining 0.72 percent, while the SonntagsBlick, albeit at a higher level, only recorded an increase of 0.05 percent.
Weltwoche has also been growing since 1998, in small steps but steadily. At the current certification, there are again 700 copies more. The reintroduction of the Wirtschaftsbund has obviously paid off.
The Aargauer Zeitung, on the other hand, performed disappointingly: The increase of 0.25 percent or 299 copies is not only weaker than a year ago, it is also significantly below what could have been expected from the "Added Value AZ" project and the expansion from five to nine regional splits.
The Neue Luzerner Zeitung has also slowed its growth: While it increased by around 1,500 copies in each of the two previous years, it has now probably reached its ceiling with an increase of only 169 copies. The changes at the newspapers in French-speaking Switzerland and Ticino were much more pronounced than in German-speaking Switzerland - and positive with only three exceptions. The Nouvelliste recorded the biggest gain with 6.2 percent, followed by Mattino della Domenica (up 5.1 percent) and La Presse Riviera-Chablais (up 4.7 percent). The Ringier paper Il Caffè, launched in 1998, increased its circulation by 898 copies.
Le Matin Dimanche and l'Impartial have again lost circulation, albeit at very different levels. The loss of 906 copies for l'Impartial represents a drop of 4.03 percent, while Le Matin Dimanche lost "only" 1.4 percent with 3111 copies. L'Express also suffered a loss of the same percentage.
Swiss Illustrated over 250000 copies
The changes in the German-language magazines in Switzerland can be summarized as follows: Health titles continue to make massive gains (Gesundheit-Sprechstunde: plus 11552, Puls-Tip: plus 7854 copies), while women's titles are losing ground (Modeblatt: minus 7322, Annabelle: minus 6196, Glückspost: minus 5295, d'Chuchi: minus 695 copies), and two previous outliers seem to have reached their limit (Facts: plus 136, K-Tip: plus 857 copies).
The different developments at Schweizer Illustrierte (SI) and Schweizer Familie (SF) are also striking. While SI, with an increase of 3003 copies, "easily" made the leap over the mark of a quarter of a million copies according to Luchsinger, SF fell back again by ten percent (minus 17301 copies).
This is all the more serious because in 1999, after a clearly flattening loss curve, TA-Media had expected to have finally stopped the decline of the paper, which had been going on for years. René Gehrig, who is responsible for the marketing of all TA-Media magazines, explains the new hole with the large proportion of quarterly subscriptions. Every time an invoice is issued, three percent of subscribers are lost, which amounts to twelve percent annually, he says. Still, he is confident about the coming year. "The new concept is going down well, as evidenced by the conversion rate from acquaintance to fixed subscriptions," Gehrig says. And then he adds, "I'm looking forward to the next certification."
The loss at Glückspost was due to the first half of 1999, says Ringier spokesman Luchsinger, but since Helmut Maria Glogger took the reins as editor-in-chief, there has been an increase again at the newsstand.
There is no end in sight to the negative trend over several years at Das Beste (Reader's Digest) - incidentally also in French-speaking Switzerland. The paper has again lost a good 12,000 copies and is now well below the 200,000 mark. The seemingly terse reason given by publishing director Beat Stalder: One concentrates on the "core target group 40 plus". The TV magazine TR 7 from the Basler Medien Group, on the other hand, made a leap of 3.5 percent and thus increased its circulation by almost 9,000 copies in two years.
Record 1: Welscher K-Tip with plus 34.8 percent
In French-speaking Switzerland, for example, the K-Tip counterpart Bon à savoir increased its circulation by an impressive 24528 copies (plus 34.8 percent) and is the leader among all Swiss print titles sold in terms of growth. Générations is also doing well, with an increase of 12.47 percent, and Vinum, which is also growing by 7.2 percent in German-speaking Switzerland.
Ringier's L'Illustré (plus 4266) again made gains, reaching almost 100,000 copies. The lifestyle magazine Edelweiss, on the other hand, gained only 25 copies in its second year.
With the exception of the new, not yet certified commuter newspapers in Zurich, not much has changed in the free titles. After an uncertified year, the Zürich Express now has 19,1937 copies, while Lausanne-Cités (up 4.2 percent), Winterthurer Woche (up 2.9 percent) and Anzeiger St. Gallen/Appenzell (up 2 percent) recorded larger increases. The Schaffhauser Bock, on the other hand, lost considerably (minus 2.3 percent).
Record 2: PC-Tip increases 95 percent
Among the special interest titles, there are two that stand out: Homeowner is up 22287 copies (up 9.26 percent) in the past year alone, following a 10.27 percent increase in 1999.
The former Tagi supplement PC-Tip also set a percentage record: It jumped by 95.78 percent to 44652 copies. Manuela Van Audenhove, responsible for sales and marketing at the publisher IDG Communications, explains the giant leap like this: PC-Tip brings news to the public in a simple and understandable way, and the subscription price of 29 francs is relatively low (12 issues per year).
Handelszeitung stagnated at 36596 copies, while Finanz und Wirtschaft increased by 4.4 percent. Among the professional magazines, the agricultural title Die Grüne stands out, having lost 15 percent since 1997, while the other agricultural titles have stagnated. Among customer magazines, CoopZeitung (1879660) and Brückenbauer (1808000) (Migros) are neck-and-neck in terms of total circulation. Brückenbauer made a big splash in 1999, selling half a million copies more in German-speaking Switzerland alone. In French-speaking Switzerland, Construire has already outstripped Coopération by 20,000 copies.
Also to be mentioned is Strom, which had to reduce its circulation by 252000 copies (18.7 percent). The children's magazine Junior, which is distributed primarily in cantonal banks, also lost 10.69 percent because the Zürcher Kantonalbank opted for its own, advertising-free magazine, also from Hug Verlag.
How to read the new circulation figures

Not all of the available figures are certified; some are based on self-declaration. The reason for this is that Wemf's customer base has increased fourfold this year to around 2,500 titles, since only certified titles are eligible for reduced postage rates. This year's certification will therefore take until around March 2001. According to Christel Plöger, project manager at Wemf, although the titles relevant to advertising are certified first, the introduction of additional staff has also caused a delay here. "The self-declared circulation is therefore valid until proven otherwise," explains Plöger.

After Weber Hodel Schmid, Honegger von Matt will be the new lead agency of Zurich Insurance.The collaboration came about through a competitive presentation and will start on July 1. "The change of agency had content-related reasons," explains Christian Merk, Head of Corporate Communications at Zurich Insurance. "Our product landscape is difficult to present, which is why you should always have it looked at from different angles." The strategic positioning is not changing.
The parties involved are keeping quiet about what Honegger von Matt wants to contribute: "I don't want to waste any powder at this point," says David Honegger. No concrete statements are being made about the size of the budget either, but according to Honegger, it is within the previous range. Mediafocus shows a media budget of CHF 4.4 million for Zurich Insurance in 1999, and CHF 5.7 million for Zurich Invest.
WHS has lost out. "It hurts us because we were strongly committed to Zurich's business structure," comments Urs Läubli, responsible for operations at WHS International. Apparently, Zurich Insurance is striving for a uniform appearance of the various business units. "We would even have sacrificed the successful little animals for this," Läubli regrets. As lead agency, HvM is now responsible for an umbrella campaign that creates an identity that transcends business units. (ba)

The Zurich media multinational says goodbye to the portal ideaAt about the same time that Blue Window and TA-Media reached agreement on their cooperation in the online business and the development of joint portals, TA-Media abolished the central entry page to its online titles. Previously, when users entered facts.ch or annabelle.ch, they were directed to a portal where the desired brand had a strong presence, but where content from the other publishing products was also prominently featured. Now the presences of the individual TA media brands have been separated more strongly from one another.
The individual online titles can be accessed directly by entering the corresponding URL and are once again pushed more strongly by their own online editorial teams. "These changes are only indirectly related to the cooperation with Blue Window," says Kurt W. Zimmermann, member of the management of TA-Media AG, when asked. On the Internet, you have to reassess your presence every six months. Even before the alliance with Blue Window, the company realized that it would be pointless to build a "real" portal entirely on its own.
The purpose of bundling the brands in the initial phase was to generate traffic and market the portal as an ideal advertising platform. Now the flow of visitors to the individual sites has increased, and TA-Media is once again relying more heavily on the brands' own power on the Internet. The outsourcing of the classifieds business to Winner Market AG had also contributed to the individual brands being able to concentrate more on their core competencies again. Clemens Hörler
Corrigendum

Internet Medien AG, Muttenz, holds a ten percent stake in the new Swiss online marketer adMaster Swiss AG, and not Internet Partner AG, as reported in the interview with Beat Alder (WW13/00).

The 10th Trend Conference of the Society for Marketing explores the InternetBy Andreas Panzeri The focus of the presentations at the 10th GfM Marketing Trend Conference was the search for new growth options. In the Zurich Kongresshaus, Roy Simmonds of Cablecom, among others, impressed with his "apocalyptic scenarios" of e-commerce. Jean Etienne Aebi offered a quirky critique of today's websites, which are still completely devoid of magic, and explained his vision of future advertising on the Net.
Increased competitive pressure and stagnating markets make growth difficult for many companies. In order to be successful in spite of this, a company must work with promising instruments. Buzzwords such as cooperative performance systems, category management, multichannel distribution, e-commerce and database marketing dominated the presentations at the well-attended GfM conference.
Hans G. Güldenberg, CEO of Nestlé Germany, showed how Nestlé reduces advertising costs and generates brand value with its global brand policy. "Concentrating on international umbrella brands brings many advantages," he said. Nestlé has now reduced its brands to just six "Worldwide Brand Umbrellas."
Globalization of markets using the example of Nestlé
Using the example of Maggi Salsa, which is now sold more successfully as ketchup in the U.S., Güldenberg showed how Nestlé has adapted its salsa idea from America for Germany as well. There, the label now dominates 20 percent of the local condiment market.
To be able to generate such successes, Nestlé invests CHF 800 million annually in 17 regional development centers worldwide. There, with international data exchange, research is conducted into both new products and new marketing ideas.
Using the example of Smarties ice cream, which is already being sold with a "four-digit tonnage" through the McDonalds chain, the Nestlé manager showed how growth can also be achieved with surprisingly new brand combinations.
E-commerce as the marketplace of the 21st century
Roy Simmonds described his remarks as "apocalyptic scenarios" that will, however, already be reality tomorrow. For the Director of Interactive Services on the Executive Board of Cablecom Holding AG, "e-commerce is not just a growth option, but simply the question of survival". Specifically, Simmonds provoked: "Fifty percent of all participants at this conference will have changed completely with their companies in five years - or will no longer be able to participate here."
The Internet prophet showed how, with the broadband technology offered by Cablecom in the future, the market - and thus also marketing - will run along completely new paths. "Forget all relationships," Simmonds said, because in the future, buyers will no longer purchase their goods over a nice lunch with their long-standing and mostly local suppliers, but anonymously and worldwide via the Internet. "Price will be the only deciding factor," he opined, daring to promise, "Even ten Ferrari luxury cars will be offered to you at a discount by a dealer anywhere in the world if you start a worldwide search for them on the Internet."
Specifically, the persuasive @-missionary confirmed that Ford and General Motors want to reduce the manufacturing costs of a car by 7000 dollars thanks to a joint platform. The best purchasing conditions would be determined via the Internet.
"Globalization of purchasing and consolidation of volumes" are therefore possible growth options in the eyes of Roy Simmonds, who believes that "cooperation and competition will go hand in hand in the future. And since more and more suppliers will also sell their goods directly in the future thanks to the Internet, resellers "will have to be better with additional services.
"Be first and win" - the motto of successful companies
Beat Curti has increased his sales from the original 80 million francs he generated with Prodega to 3.5 billion francs today. The group is now called Bon appétit and owes its growth in each case to "business models that were not yet known in Switzerland," as Beat Curti emphasized. 104 pick-pay discounters (which, however, were founded by Bruno Gideon and later sold to Curti), 350 primo and 1,000 vis-à-vis retail outlets now belong to Curti's empire.
Bon appétit is now supplying more and more customers via a new channel. This refers to gas station stores. In the meantime, all gas stations, except those of Migros and Coop, are doing business with Bon appétit. Curti was even able to sign an exclusive contract with Shell a few days ago. 15 percent annual growth has been the norm for Bon appétit in recent years. Taking British Prime Minister Tony Blair at his word ("My Web is my Castle,") Beat Curti also wants to continue to open up new markets. Hungry for growth, his Bon appétit is investing "like crazy" in several Internet projects.
Howeg Online serves restaurants, canteens and hospitals via the Internet with offers for paperless food ordering. According to Curti, the service is growing by more than 30 percent per month.
Also via the Internet, its fresh & net GastroLogik AG supplies major buyers such as Mövenpick and SAir-Group. With both Internet services together, Bon appétit is now the largest business-to-business platform in Europe - and the Internet pioneer is already in the process of building up a network with US partners as well. The prospects are rosy, because in the USA, according to Curti, already 60 percent of all
B-to-B purchases made over the network.
Starting from the general Internet euphoria, Jean Etienne Aebi tried to bring a few details from this brave new Internet world back to the ground of everyday reality. "If Persil promised to wash your laundry clean, it did!" opined the Chief Creative Officer of Publicis Zurich. "But anyone who lights up a Marlboro by no means immediately experiences an adventure," Aebi philosophized further, ultimately also pointing out the gap between promises and facts in his presentation.
On the way from the information society to the dream society, various products have become actual cult brands, according to Aebi's comments. The Diesel campaign created a fan base that ultimately became a decisive market factor for the jeans brand.
"Nike's triumph over Adidas, Puma and the others in the first half of the 1990s was a pure communications victory." Likewise, the systems battle between Apple and IBM at the time was fought as a "pure battle of faith." In a comparison between Pepsi and Coca-Cola, 50 percent of the test subjects guessed wrong; in reality, they are either sworn Pepsi fans or equally convinced Coke fans.
Information on the web is not advertising
"The magic and myth of brands are the result of communication strategies," was thus Aebi's conclusion. But advertising on the Internet today is still absolutely boring and unimaginative. The "I-am-also-there website" is the only message conveyed, according to the advertising expert's judgment.
But the more the Internet industry booms, the less this will be enough. Original quote from Jean Etienne Aebi: "Triviality will have had its day. Creative ideas will be the order of the day. Information is not advertising. Suggestion determines the competition."
The advertising expert is therefore convinced that the still spartan advertising presence on the Internet will develop into more emotionally charged forms in the near future - which in turn will result in corresponding growth for the advertising world as well. A reassuring final sentence in Aebi's reflections on the growth of the Internet: "Creativity creates and celebrates success." Or in a slightly varied version based on David Ogilvy: "It's not selling unless it's creative."

After the last meeting of the Federation of Swiss Advertising Agencies in Crans-Montana had ended rather chaotically due to the snow conditions, this year's meeting in Berne could be taken more leisurely by Beat Fritsch. In fact, it was downright civilized. And the long night of the advertisers, a reminder of the snow-covered Valais, did not occur.
After the AGM, at which members of the press had to stay outside, the party streetcar invited them to a city tour. After a U-turn at the exhibition center, a sightseeing tour through the diplomatic quarter followed, where not only the apartment of Federal Councillor Ruth Dreyfuss is domiciled, but also the Lang Gysi Knoll agency.
Fritz Kobi from the Bernese agency Contexta was responsible for the supporting program. For the evening, he also put a musical treat on the program with the a cappella band The little big Men - in addition to delicacies from the Bernese patrician and parliamentary canteen "Du Théâtre".
Diana Strebel was pleased to be able to pass on the presidency to Cornelia Harder. The representatives of the USC/BSW agencies in French-speaking Switzerland were enthusiastic about this, above all Christopher Cordey from ABC Publiconseil. As Managing Director of Publicis Lausanne, the French consider Cornelia Harder to be one of their own. After being ruled by women for two years in a row, the BSW has now failed to achieve a hat trick: In the next term of office, René Hürlimann of Euro RSCG is to become the new BSW president.
As is customary, representatives of other industry associations paid their respects to the new president. From SW came President Carlo Schmid-Sutter, Managing Director Monika Luck and Press Officer Piero Schäfer; from the advertising clients SWA Managing Director Fredy Schwab and from ASW the outgoing Managing Director Erik Sörensen with his wife Rose, his successor Karl-Heinrich von Grote and ASW President Diego Bally.
BSW was sponsored by the Swiss Confederation and its publishing director J. Pepe Wyss, by Publisuisse, which sent four representatives - Jean Lazega, Carmen Theiler, Carlo Steiner and Martin Schneider - and by Publicitas general manager Jean-Jacques Zaugg. He was also present for a personal inspection.
There was a lot of fun at the individual tables. At the table of the BSW ladies of honor Monika Stocker, Eva Dinner, Katalin Gall-Gabulya, and Iris Lenherr, Jean-Marie Schaller delivered bawdy bon mots. The women, however, not only kept their composure, but also offered a shrewd challenge to the patterer. Heiner Zogg's blue hair also caused a stir. Although he has long been known in the industry as a colorful dog.
A juicy side note: The admission of special agencies is to move forward now, after the decision was made a year ago to open up the association. Walter Merz expects the first new members to join in early summer. Nevertheless, in the run-up to the AGM, Eric Müller, Managing Director of the Seiler-DDB media agency OMD, was politely but firmly disinvited. He was not authorized to represent his boss Herbert Seiler because he was on the payroll of the media agency and not of the traditional agency. The statutes are actually still being followed as hard as nails.
Beat Fritsch

is racing from one general meeting to the next at the moment. At the beginning of the month it was the turn of the direct marketers, last week the BSW and soon the ASW.
Those who otherwise gather in the advertising scene are located at the most diverse events in the industry. But who makes the definitive leap onto the coveted shortlist places is decided by the editorial team. Do you actually already have something to report? Then grab times fast to the listener (01 296 97 98), or mail you to [email protected]. Online, you can find event tips at www.werbewoche.ch.

Muse & Musse Gebi BischoffWhich cultural event did you attend last and why this one in particular?
Gebi Bischoff: The comic opera "Il matrimonio segreto". Because I always enjoy going to the opera, and because it's very funny.
What are you reading right now and why?
Bischoff: The SonntagsZeitung and the SonntagsBlick. Because today is Sunday. That way I get the most important information in a short time.
Which CD do you currently prefer to listen to?
Bischoff: Milva, "Mia bella Napoli". She relaxes while driving, and I feel like I'm on vacation in southern Italy.
Which movie would you most like to see again and why?
Bischoff: I can't think of any off the top of my head.
What TV show did you fall asleep during the other night?
Bischoff: I can't remember this broadcast. Must have been asleep.
What is your latest discovery on the Internet?
Bischoff: Netscape 6 Browser and the US Police Radio.
Love is ...?
Bischoff: The relationship with my family.

Fancy a vacation? Of course. Always. Then this ad will definitely appeal to you. Doesn't it? Understandably, because this image awakens long-repressed experiences associated with mass tourism, brings back memories of hot sand, a crowd of German-speaking holidaymakers, restless children and terribly long, hot days. Memories based on the uniformity of everyday beach life, where the respective highlight is to get the best seat morning after morning and sweat through the long hours until aperitif time.
And that's exactly the image this ad conveys - the direct route from domestic uniformity to the Portuguese vacation order. We leave our vertical, square apartments to relax for a week or two under square, horizontally positioned umbrellas, each umbrella and the shade it provides marking a clear territorial boundary. Whether this is "inherently cordial," as Copy promises, I dare to doubt. And I further doubt that we'll love the beaches of the Algarve as much as these nice kids do. But I'm sure that on such a beach, after the first hour of communal sunbathing, I'd give everything I had to get back to my office.
And this is the crux of the matter - I'm not part of the target group for this child-friendly ad. It is clearly aimed at small families with medium incomes who are forced to travel south during the high season. But unfortunately, this ad was not placed in Swiss Familie or Wir Eltern, but in the German Wirtschaftswoche, a publication whose readers are in the mood for anything but uniformity in their free time. Chandra Kurt
Column

Do you remember?
By Michael Barney
There are a few images that are irrevocably imprinted. As soon as you see them again, the memories are already there. A story about Roman Polanski in reporter magazine. The photo of his wedding with Sharon Tate: she in a mini with beautiful long legs, he in an unflattering frock coat. How I envied him at that time for that woman! Suddenly I remembered. Or smells. All those school days come back when you enter gyms. The smell of Nivea suntan oil makes a bathhouse appear in my mind's eye. And that of Clerasil the first kiss. How great new books smell when you remove the foil and open the first pages. Do we still know today how ink smells? The fixogum from the days when layouts were still snipped and glued? And no computer yet made the customer judge the printed ad in the draft. Scribbles were still spread out on the confi table. And since the body copies were still serpentine, they were read out loud, nicely with emphasis. But today? In the age of e-mail, ink is no longer needed. No one reads anything or dances movies anymore. Over and out. Instead, people want everything to be faster and more perfect. And with that, the imagination grows cold, at least in part. Where are the images in our heads? The ones you had when radio reporters reported on football matches? When love letters were still written by hand? Even if people laugh at me now: I still do it! Everything I'm saying here, a bit wistfully, is not meant to make you sad, but to encourage you: After all, advertising also has something to do with images in the mind. Let's cultivate this fine old virtue before we squat down at the computer again. Or run to the printer.
Language Observer

From left to right
The basic shapes of the world are symmetrical. Sphere and circle, rectangle and square, cross and star. Even the real appearances of these geometric shapes - the sun, the tree, the house, the window, the flower, the face - seem clear and simple. Symmetrical shapes evoke feelings of harmony, tranquility and security.
The moon, on the other hand, holds a secret - already because of its shape. An arrow threatens us (weapon) or irritates us (hint), makes us restless or curious. The equals sign = also leaves us in balance, while the signs < oder > We can't rest until we don't know which is bigger or smaller.
Man is a symmetrically predisposed being. Our body is outwardly symmetrical, and so is our sense of time: behind us the past, in front of us the future, in the middle ourselves. Yet we are continually forced into asymmetry: A door opens only to the inside or to the outside, to the left or to the right, in a car we sit on the left but steer the car on the right side of the road, etc. Man has lost his center, and that makes him nervous.
This nervousness is not primarily a result of civilization, but is already inherent in our blueprint: The heart beats on the left, we mostly work with the right hand, and almost every gesture, every movement has a direction: from left to right or vice versa.
Writing is already disconcerting for geometric reasons. Even symmetrical letters (A, H, V ...), if they are not stamped straight, are created in an asymmetrical way: Somewhere we have to put the pen.
The fact that we usually do this on the left and draw the line on the right is related to our general right-handedness. If we were to use the pen on the right, we would not be able to draw the line, we would have to push it. This is still possible with a pencil or ballpoint pen. The goose quill, however, under which the writing of the Occident originated (and which triggered a writing surge, since its reservoir in the keel made it possible to string several letters together without settling), would scratch the paper and produce splashes.
The direction of writing and reading became so important over the centuries that it has become determinative for our perception of the world. We call an incline from the bottom left to the top right an ascent, while the same incline from the top left to the bottom right is considered a descent - with a matter of course that would make a Hebrew shake his head. The Hebrews read from right to left and have timepieces whose hands turn "against the clock".
From left to right. That is as natural as day and night.
trhekegmu se nnew ,riw bO ?nedrüw nesel tpuahrebü ,eräw
Beat Gloor, www.textcontrol.ch