The 65-year-old has transformed a Swiss publishing house into an international media company with more than 120 newspapers and magazines, various radio and television channels, web platforms and printing plants, "Journalist" publisher Johann Oberauer was quoted as saying in the communiqué sent out on Thursday.

Even in the narrow Swiss market, Michael Ringier, who owns the media company with his two sisters, has repeatedly founded new titles and set new trends. The jury cited the founding of the new magazine Landliebe and the takeover of the French-speaking Swiss quality title Le Temps as current examples.

With the "Publisher of the Year" award, the jury from the media industry honored a personality for the ninth time who, in their opinion, is securing the future of journalism. Last year, Norbert Neininger, editor-in-chief and publisher of Schaffhauser Nachrichten, won the title.

The award was presented at the start of the Publishers' Congress in Interlaken. (SDA)

(Teaser image: Keystone)
 

The starting position is clear: the structural change in the media industry is unstoppable. Technological development is setting the pace. Small Switzerland is losing its creative sovereignty in key areas: Google, Apple, Facebook and the like define the communication channels, set the price for journalistic content and advertising and oblige users to disclose their data. If you want to live in the reality of the 21st century, you have to come to terms with them.

All players are adapting more or less successfully to today's framework conditions. Publishers and media providers are looking for viable business models, media creators are courting the public's favor with stimulating or even exciting journalism and advertisers are looking for potential customers. The easiest way for Mr. and Mrs. Meier to move around - let's give the users a name for once - is in the dynamic world: they put together their own media menu, find the information, entertainment and games they want, enjoy films and series. They exchange information on social platforms, comment and present their own contributions. The Meiers are only marginally interested in who offered what and who paid what price for it.

Political dynamite

If Switzerland does not want to be culturally absorbed into the global media world, it must create a framework for producing its own content, ensuring distribution and access and ensuring the viability of the media system. It is undisputed that the laws, ordinances and regulations of the analog era cannot be transferred one-to-one to the digital era. The question of which new instruments should be used in the future is politically explosive. As with any change, for some it means the loss of achievements, for others the gift of new options.

The FMEC's report is compulsory reading for anyone interested in the media. It is oriented towards media freedom and democratically relevant media services. It introduces the concept of journalistic culture into the political debate and points to the openness of the development of media culture. The EMEK does not spend much time describing the current situation, but quickly becomes specific. It proposes the establishment of foundations for media promotion. The National Fund in the area of research and Pro Helvetia in the area of culture are cited as role models. The first type of funding focuses on ensuring the basic supply of content, the second on promoting the economy. In the first case, the news agency in particular would be strengthened and repositioned, while in the second case a funding foundation would be established.

Democratic decision-making process

Like any activity financed or supported with public funds, media promotion requires a political decision-making process in which the desired objectives and effects are determined. Before the instruments required to achieve these goals are debated, these goals should be clarified democratically. The EMEK formulates ten requirements for media funding, which can be summarized as follows: Earmarking, public interest, media freedom, competitive neutrality, journalism, framework conditions, sustainability/innovation, practical relevance, professional and industry standards, legal complementarity.

The proposed funding instruments are inspired by existing ones in the cultural, film and science sectors: It is about promoting the production of authors or providers, promoting quality and ensuring the infrastructure for production and distribution.

The media debate focuses on the following question: How can Switzerland regain its power to shape and interpret? How can we ensure that interests and identities are negotiated in Switzerland and thus maintain the conditions for a functioning democracy? This requires creative and cognitive achievements: Information, analysis, background, but also fiction, entertainment and art. The debate has been launched, let's get involved in our media future!
 

The Swiss Syndicate of Media Professionals SSM is pleased that the National Council decided today, Thursday, to use part of an unused fee reserve in the private radio and television sector for education and training, among other things. After the Council of States had already taken this decision and the National Council reverted to its first negative decision, this decision is now final. The SSM has already been campaigning for several months for this strengthening of education and training and was able to rely on the cooperation of the associations of private radio stations (VSP, RRR), private television (Telesuisse) and the Swiss Media Publishers Association to convince the National Council, as the SSM writes in a press release.

The matter was dealt with in connection with the overall revision of the Radio and Television Act (RTVA). In the spring session, the National Council rejected the use of these funds for education and training by 96 to 92, whereas in the summer the Council of States gave its clear approval, and today the National Council followed the small chamber's lead by 98 to 90.

According to the press release, it is the private broadcasters that enable a significant proportion of young Swiss journalists to start their careers through costly training and further education and ensure the democratically important task of providing regional information. The decision of the National Council to support this request from the media industry is welcomed.

The Radio and Television Act as a whole has not yet been finalized. The National Council has decided to differ from the Council of States on the issue of opting out.
 

The financial services provider stands out with its simple answers to all money-related questions, the agency said in a press release. For example, when it comes to a financial overview, everyday payments or the smooth processing of online and mobile payments.

The campaign comprises a series of motifs in which life is pretty difficult. For example, when twin children ask their mother who she likes more. Or the zebra classic: "Is it white with black stripes or black with white stripes?" Fortunately, Post Finance's answers to financial questions always remain the same, according to the agency's campaign.

Multimedia and at the scene of the action

The campaign for private customers is widely communicated in cooperation with Havas Media; the lead media are TV and digital. In addition, advertising will be placed particularly close to where consumers shop. Screens in kiosks, at petrol stations and at Mediamarkt, as well as push posters, rail posters and on ticket vending machines, offer the simple answer for immediate payment. The new positioning can be experienced in many different ways at Post Finance branches and post offices - from screens and banners on Postomats to shop windows and sales aids.

Spot private customers:

The motifs aimed at business customers are mainly used in the environment of small and medium-sized enterprises and complete the entire campaign in TV, digital and print. In addition, a surprising ambient staging in train stations and shopping centers will ensure additional attention and sympathy. With the "easiest mini-golf in the world", Post Finance will allow its customers to experience the quick way to their destination - if they have the Post Finance Card with them.

Spot business customers:

In social media, the campaign takes up further complicated questions from private and business life - cinematically, playfully and in dialog.
The campaign was launched in stages at the beginning of August, will be on display until the end of the fall and will be further developed in the following years.

Responsible at Post Finance: Ursula Käser, Nicole Walker and Martin Hügli (management), Silvan Merki, Sabine Zeilinger, Erich Jans, Katrin Aeschlimann and Pascal Frey (communication concept), Patric Vifian, Susanna Szelyes, Charly Suter and Sonja Homberger (marketing), Rico Löhrer, Rémy Spicher, Ronny Kupferschmid, Maria Kaenel, Lisa Reich and Simon Keller (realization). Responsible at Publicis/Havas Media: Wim Roelfs (CD), David Luebke, Antonio Lopez, Oliver Gisi (Text), Marvin Hugentobler, Bruce Roberts (AD), Karin Lang, Barbara Hasenböhler, Esra Yigit (Consulting), Cem van der Schaar, Benjamin Kägi (Art Buying), Tiago Dias, Andy Günter, Massimo Giannotta (Digital), Tanja Güntert, Flavia Hänni, Phillip Läderach (DTP), Adrian Häni (Production), Adrian van Felsen, Oliver Nater, Stephan Frey (Media). Film, photo and social media production: Wirz Fraefel Paal Productions, Stefan Usteri (director), Markus Mueller (photographer), Shortcuts (social media).

 

Anyone who has children knows what ignorance is. A cumbersome word for an annoying thing: you say something and it's as if you weren't even there. In there, out there. This trait is particularly pronounced in our almost three-year-old at the moment. The crime scene at the dinner table: "Please eat properly" - and the yoghurt smacks out of his wide-open mouth onto his Sunday trousers, garnished with a cheeky grin. Or crime scene playground: "Wait, not so fast down the slope ...!" - and then he's gone and mom is coughing in the cloud of dust left behind. How lucky I am with our son, who is only seven months old! He's not interested in my wishes either and only answers "glglglglglgl" at best, but at least he can't run away from me yet.

What begins in early childhood apparently continues later: children who receive calls from their parents on their cell phones often simply turn the volume down and don't answer the calls. Call back? How does that work?

To be honest: I probably wouldn't have answered the phone if my parents had called. But luckily I didn't have a cell phone as a child. Just like our parents, we weren't always available back then. And so 35 years ago, not only being an adult, but also being a child was a little easier and more carefree. Just imagine that: You've just found the perfect hiding place while playing hide and seek, you're holding your breath to avoid being exposed - and then mommy calls. Great! Or even worse: you're lying in the arms of the best boy in the class - and dad wants to know what you're doing. Disaster!

Never underestimate your mother

Today, however, you simply have to be on reception. Even as a dwarf. Even as a teenager. Even if you don't want to be. Bradley Standifirds' mother thought so too. Annoyed by the fact that her child was not responding to calls or text messages, she quickly programmed an Android app that definitely makes children pick up or call back quickly when mom or dad ask for them. Because "Ignore no more" locks the cell phone after a short time if calls or text messages are ignored. Playing games, sending text messages, surfing, making calls - nothing works anymore. Only the emergency call and contacts selected by the parents still work. And the password for unlocking the cell phone is, of course, given to the older generation. Really nasty. And really effective.

Crash, boom, bang

I could imagine even more practical applications for such an app: For example, if you're a journalist trying to reach a certain person. And he always doesn't answer. Or if you're waiting in vain for your husband to answer when you go out. And the opposite direction is also missing: when your boss has already called you four times on your day off, when your ex won't leave you alone, when a friend doesn't understand that you're no longer her friend, or when the insurance guy is stubbornly nagging at you. It would be great if you could simply blow up the calling cell phone or telephone with a small implosion at the push of a button. Or else: from now on, we won't always be available, we won't be bothered for every little joke and we'll answer the phone again when it rings for something really important. Just think about it. 

Why do advertisers try to persuade non-stupid readers with stupid ads? That is the question. And it's a question I'd like to put to all the bodies involved in inventing and realizing advertising and commissioning it in advertising. Why does the advertising on the back page of editorial articles appear so weak and uneven? There the advertisers pay so much money to be so unnoticed and uninteresting.

The print editorial staff of a daily newspaper has to offer up to 50 pages of attractive content every day. The advertising world takes months of time for briefings, discussions, evaluations, templates and, in the end, unimaginative ideas that - as I said - are published for a lot of money.

Regarding Weltwoche No. 36 - not a Löli issue: I don't feel that all opinions are mine, but the tonality is high, entertaining and interesting. Between pages 46 and 47, the middle, there's a 24-page insert. "Suzuki News Fall/Winter 2014/15" is written there. This supplement is just stitched, otherwise you would file it in the circular file. Please excuse this old-fashioned expression, but unfortunately it can't be deleated either. So let's take a closer look at this 24-page foreign body. "Foreign body" because in contrast to the sensitive and professional design of Weltwoche, this Suzuki News comes across as insensitive, no crude, lacking in ideas and humor. The content of this presentation of the Suzuki model range is a pure information chaos. Special models with the name Suzuki Swift, Piz Sulai or Suzuki Jimny Sergio Cellano are listed. But these tongue twister names are only a detail in this communication confusion. For example, in addition to the 220 Suzuki dealers, one is offered a 20,000 franc Piz Sulai 4×4 with an additional package. 4 winter tires, an exclusive key fob, floor rugs, snowshoes and sturdy aluminum touring poles. To give away these great additions for free and on top of that, they skimped on the photos. The photos are amateurishly copied into emotionless snow landscapes by means of photo store. Dear Mr. Bachmann (managing director Suzuki), you draw with picture and signature for this advertising sales brochure. Surely you have printed a lot of these ugly brochures for a lot of money. And you thought that the readers of the Weltwoche would fall for such an amateurish come-on at a cost of about CHF 35,000.

My theory: Once again, savings were made in the wrong place. Is no one today able to stop such nonsense at an early stage? Ugly advertising is unsuccessful. Successful products produce good advertising: IKEA, H&M, Apple, Audi, Tibits and many more.

The put up of the week was that all the red snails in our garden, after I released them at the snail man road in the woods, did not reappear.

To be clear from the outset, the WEMF does not look back to the year of publication of the first reader study. It leaves it at 10 years. The changes in behavior and profile presented at the Media Research Day relate to the last decade. At this point, we are looking back much further and presenting results from the first readership research. Veteran media experts know that the publication sheets with the readership figures appeared in green, red and blue back then. It was just as easy to get annoyed when the expert opinion was lost. After the first two study publications were limited to the conurbations, the first national readership study appeared in 1967. This heralded a new, professional planning era for the print media. In addition to the total readership figures, expressed in readers per number, week, month or quarter, various breakdowns were also published. More important than income and areas of interest were denominational affiliation, purchasing power classes and subscription type. Even a reader loyalty index was calculated.

Comparisons between the 1967 edition of LF and today's MACH are far-fetched and basically not even permissible. Nevertheless, we dare to do so in the knowledge that at least half a dozen system changes have been made since 1967 and most titles have undergone massive changes as a result of mergers and acquisitions. But there are also some that have remained as they were. Here is a little comparison to amuse you. There are 47 years of media research between the two columns, even back then under the name WEMF: readers per week, those were the days. In the meantime, completely different topics have become topical. Today, it's all about capturing the total audience of media brands. This is because newspapers and magazines have long been used not only on paper but also on very different electronic devices such as PCs, LAPs and smartphones. 20 Minuten, for example, has 574,000 20minuten.ch readers in addition to its 1,571,000 print users. And 237,000 use both sources. In collaboration with NET Metrix, WEMF has developed solutions that take account of changing media usage behavior and show the use of digital offerings in addition to print products. The results of the latest test study will be published on Media Research Day 2014.

Otto Meier

PS: In addition to the green, red and blue tables of the LF 67/68, there were also the yellow ones. They showed the double readers. Even back then!

 

The Federal Media Commission (Emek) presented its plans for media funding at the beginning of September. This is to be put on a new footing (in a departure from the previous postal tax reduction). The 13-member committee of experts elected by the Federal Council last spring proposes financially supporting "a news agency", promoting journalistic training and further education and launching innovation projects in the media sector. The opposite would be right - and above all much cheaper.

In the Internet age, news agencies have long been an anachronism. With the advent of electric telegraph connections, they were founded by publishers in the century before last (Associated Press: 1846, Reuters: 1851, in Switzerland: 1895) in order to save costs. Telecommunications services were horrendously expensive, especially when operated around the clock and around the globe. When the Internet emerged in the mid-1990s and spanned the globe, suddenly everyone had the same and now far better telecommunications options for a comparative pittance, for which news agencies were still paying six to seven-figure sums a year just a few years previously. And when publishers began to use the Internet commercially, they set up their own editorial offices for the new online services, which function in the same way as news agencies, namely reporting around the clock without fixed closing times. Because the professional communications departments in companies, organizations and public authorities have been greatly expanded at the same time, we typically have this news process today: Operating under the name of Chief Communication Officer, a former journalist writes a press release, even though he would be perfectly capable of writing the same message in the style of a news article. This press release is widely distributed electronically, reaching all editorial offices and news agencies simultaneously. Before the announcement is forwarded to the public, it has to be rewritten from PR-speak into news-speak. This was and is the main task of news agencies, especially in Germany. Such nonsensical duplication can easily be dispensed with: Anyone who wants to know something communicated provides the editorial offices with media-specific content from the outset and without detours, which can be adopted with as little effort as possible, provided it is not fed directly to the interested public via social media from the outset (posts about unexpected news events, such as earthquakes, etc., can also be found here, and usually faster than via any news agency). This also makes it clear that pure news distribution is no longer suitable as a journalistic business model - more is needed. In order to make this possible, the cost of the pure news business must be reduced to a minimum. The media industry could have agreed on such processes long ago - but it has not. Like smokers to nicotine, editors and journalists have become accustomed to agency reports. Although they receive most information at the same time, they often prefer to wait and see what the agency reports before processing it. Once this signal from the pre-drummer has arrived, editors know they are on the safe side and can write their own version (or publish the agency text straight away). As you can see, agencies today are not only an unnecessary and costly detour, but also promote uniformity and thus contribute significantly to the loss of media diversity. If you want better media, the first step is to do without news agencies.

No Geri-Gate without an agency

There are other idealizations that persistently circulate in connection with news agencies in Switzerland and can be used to hunt for subsidies. One of these is that financial support for the news agency contributes to language understanding in the country. Numerous reports have always been translated via this channel and distributed to other parts of the country. And in the vast majority of cases, these have always been ignored in the editorial offices on the other side of the French-speaking divide - a Swiss idle time. And thanks to the Internet, the flow of information between the different parts of the country has long and easily been ensured. The original source and media reports from other parts of the country can be accessed at any time. News agencies are also not the repository of pure and objective information and are therefore not suitable as an antidote to the (alleged) declining quality of the media. The Geri-Gate case has just shown how the news agency functions as part of the media mob. Without a news agency's report, which is quickly disseminated by the media simply out of a sense of competition, other editorial offices could have reacted more thoughtfully. But because the news agency picked up on the topic and used it as a lever, all the media were forced to take up the topic too, even if only by publishing the agency report. What's more, in this case the agency's most conspicuous contribution was not exactly praiseworthy: the widely circulated false report that the chat partner was 21 years old and not 33, as was later corrected, came from the news agency.

If the news agency is shut down and discontinued instead of being ballenbergized with federal funds, two further concerns of the Media Commission can be fulfilled without the need to spend taxpayers' money. It wants to promote innovation, both through the Commission for Technology and Innovation (CTI) and with additional start-up funding for media start-ups. And it wants to set up a media fund to promote "outstanding editorial or journalistic achievements". Research funds are also to be promoted. Once there is no longer a news agency, it will be like a forest: once a decades-old giant tree has been felled, numerous new plants can sprout in its place. These are the desired media start-ups that are looking for opportunities in the new media ecosystem. The fact that media companies are doing well in the start-up world was documented by Werbewoche in issue 13 (page 18) before the summer vacations. And once editorial offices no longer have to hand over large budget items to the news agency, these funds (around CHF 20 million annually across the industry) can be used for research projects - preferably not to produce more Geri-Gates or simply to save them out of necessity.

Such steps are not the task of the Media Commission (which may call into question its raison d'être), but of the publishers (and the SRG). As long as their suffering is not great enough, they will hardly find a common approach to modern cooperation models (and will be forced to keep outdated and expensive structures alive due to this industry-wide inertia). However, if media companies continue to have such significant and untapped rationalization potential, they do not need to be supported with state funds.

Christoph J. Walther

(Disclosure: The author held various positions at a news agency between 1979 and 2004).

Business bosses complain about the generally anti-business attitude of journalists, and alternative groups denounce the interconnectedness of the media houses. All complain about journalists' dwindling or even non-existent dossier competence. Media researchers warn of ever-increasing tabloidization and the personification that goes with it, and self-appointed media ethicists complain in general. Print journalists complain about the superficiality of their online colleagues, and online journalists smile at the eternal arguments of the print dinosaurs.

Much is exaggerated and in some cases very interest-driven, but the countless cost-cutting measures have already left certain traces in the editorial offices. In some cases, these have clearly led to a drop in quality. Producers are being cut back, proofreading is being cut back, and time for in-depth research is also becoming increasingly scarce. Instead of sitting back and reflecting, it's online first. More and more critical comments about the media's performance are appearing in the comment columns, and not just from the usual petty cholerics and trolls, mind you. I have never had to defend my profession as often as I have in recent months. That's not easy when you don't have the arguments.

The media, for their part, do little to pack the quality club again. They show mangled victims of plane crashes and shot prisoners of war in the Middle East, and if they can't show it, then they at least point out that the video of the execution can be found on YouTube ... Everything is either not pixelated at all or then in such a way that it only piques the reader's curiosity even more. Every smallest story becomes a national outrage (porn selfie from the Bundeshaus, Geri-Gate), privacy rights are no longer taken into account or at least only in parts. Meanwhile, practically every reader can identify H. X. in Y. with little effort - thanks to Facebook.

The "Stifterverein Medienqualität Schweiz" wants to establish a foundation that evaluates the quality of the Swiss media neutrally and fairly by setting up and operating an independent evaluation institution and that creates a rating of the Swiss media. Things are moving, and that in itself is good.

Pierre C. Meier, Editor-in-Chief

[email protected]
 

 
WW: What headline about Supertext would you like to read in the next advertising week?
Rinaldo Dieziger: Ten fantastic reasons why 95 percent of all marketing managers worldwide rely on the online language service provider Supertext. Number 7 brought tears to my eyes.
 
When did you first realize what Supertext could be today since its founding in late 2005?
That was already before the foundation. When the idea for Supertext came to me. It was the same awesome feeling I had as a copywriter. You write slogan after slogan. And at some point, your stomach tingles. Your fingers tremble. Then you know you've got something that could make a big impact.
 
How large is the volume processed daily, and from which sectors do the orders for Supertext come?
We process 60 to 120 jobs a day. To date, more than 2340 corporate customers from all industries have processed text and translation orders online, benefiting from state-of-the-art language technologies and online workflow connections.
 
How are the inquiries distributed: Are there more orders from agencies or from direct clients?
For many direct clients, we are the fast, flexible and cost-effective partner for outsourcing the entire range of language services. We offer exciting framework contracts for this. Advertising agencies use us mainly for creative localization of their campaigns in French, Italian and English. With web agencies - and more and more often together with the client in a triangle - we handle the text work for web presences. Or for the creation of content for content marketing. We have thus worked on the web projects of Swiss, Migipedia, Swissmilk, Zweifel, Wander and many others.
 
How many professionals does it take to handle it all?
We work with more than 500 contracted copywriters, authors, technical translators, editors and proofreaders worldwide. For the most important languages, we have employed language managers for quality control purposes. They distribute the orders to the freelancers and control their work. The project managers act as a single point of contact for our clients. We work according to a defined workflow supported by our system.
 
You are flooded with applications. Are there too many copywriters, or is Supertext a welcome sideline for many?
We have so many applications that we have set up an online registration for copywriters and translators. As soon as a need arises in a specialist area, we check the profiles and invite them to test assignments. Anyone who does not have at least five years of professional experience and appropriate references must draw attention to themselves with an exceptional application text.
 
How do you find the right professional for a particular job?
The system suggests, the language manager decides. We create a detailed profile for each freelancer. We have algorithms for matching language combinations, industries, specialties, text types, tonality and customer feedback.
 
Soon ten years after Supertext was founded, what is more in demand: texts or translations?
The demand for good content for content marketing as well as the globalization and digitalization of the world have resulted in both more text and translation jobs for us. However, translations now account for the greater share. The lion's share is French, followed by Italian and English with a similar share. All other languages - we offer 30 languages from Arabic to Thai - account for barely 10 percent of the volume.
 
Expansion to Berlin: Why does an Internet service need physical representation on site?
All business is local. Although we handle all orders with our web-based tool, most customer relationships and even many larger projects are preceded by a personal meeting or briefing.
 
Why is your concept not easy to copy by competitors?
The concept can be copied. And perhaps also the system, which we have continuously improved over the years and programmed completely in-house. But not the experience we have gained since 2005. Nor the trust that customers have come to place in us.
 
You have annual sales growth of 61 percent. How long can that continue?
That is an average value. There were years when growth was lower. And there were years when it was higher. With systematic online processing, we have achieved a certain degree of scaling. With our expansion into new markets, we are trying to increase this again. We also want to recommend ourselves to global companies.
 
You write a column yourself in the Tages-Anzeiger. Is the rest of your time spent managing?
I contribute to several blogs to stay in shape. If I couldn't coo a straight sentence as a supertext boss, it would be pretty implausible. And I still find filling a blank screen with words one of the most exciting challenges there is.
 
You are involved in the professional association of copywriters: What do you want to achieve there?
On the board, I am committed to ensuring that the profession of copywriting remains an honorable craft.
 
On September 24, you'll be moderating a workshop called "New! Now even funnier!" with Domenico Blass, head writer of "Giacobbo/Müller": Can humor be learned?
You'll have to ask Domenico.
 
Interview: Andreas Panzeri

The election of Somm will continue the Basel tradition in the presidency, said publisher president Hanspeter Lebrument at the association's general meeting in Interlaken. There were two votes against and one abstention in Somm's election.

He knows what independence means for a journalist, said Somm, referring to Christoph Blocher's involvement with the Basler Zeitung. Two things were important to him: the fight against the further advance of the SRG and skepticism about the growing influence of the state in the media.

Leutenegger said goodbye to the publishers with a tear in his eye. He had worked in the media industry for 33 years. And he had very much enjoyed working for the media. He will remain connected to the media as a Zurich city councillor. (SDA)

 

The processes for developing web presences, the technologies for implementation and the marketing instruments are diverse and the interplay is complex. Even for us web specialists, it is time-consuming to keep track of and assess all the options; non-specialists have long since lost the overview. Nevertheless, the knowledge of web specialists is little used in the tendering process for a new website.

Cheap is not always good

I observe that again and again briefings for a new web presence are distributed without prior reflection with potential partners and the cheapest offer is awarded the contract. This procedure often leads to unpleasant surprises: Relevant requirements are not recognized and not explicitly requested for the bidding. When these requirements emerge during the course of the project, costly rework and, not infrequently, disputes arise between the client and the service provider.

Reflection broadens the horizon

My experience is that companies that collect the functional and non-functional requirements for their web presence and reflect on them with specialists before finally approving the briefing get an optimal final result. The reflection broadens the client's horizon, helps to identify possible weak points of the briefing at an early stage and to uncover new aspects for the implementation. Quite often, the added value of the findings has a striking influence on the project direction. With the findings of the reflection, they formulate a precise briefing with which they can request structured, comparable offers. A reflection conveys security: In the discussion of the requirements, you recognize how fit your discussion partner is in dealing with the web and online marketing instruments, how he assesses the requirements and how he approaches the task. After three interviews at the latest, you will be in a position to assess the quality of the potential partners, their briefing, and the budget ideas.

Specialists pay off

Even if the briefing requirements have been discussed in detail in your company, you do not have the certainty of having recognized all essential aspects. That's why it pays to discuss your requirements and ideas with specialists before the briefing for the relaunch of a website is created and distributed. This will save you a lot of time and trouble in the course of the project.

Imre Sinka