The food industry spent 29.6 million Swiss francs on advertising in July, increasing advertising pressure by 16.8 percent compared with the same month last year. A closer look at the advertising data reveals that the "frozen products" product group in particular stands out. Despite the lousy summer weather, or perhaps because of it, there was plenty of advertising for the "ice cream" product segment in the month of July. In the lead are "Glace Cornets" with an advertising print increase of 107.5 percent (643′000 Swiss francs) and "Premiumglace und Bidons" with an advertising print increase of even 339.5 percent (457′000 Swiss francs) compared to the same month last year.

Apple determines the advertising development of the IT industry

With a decline of 55.5 percent in July, the IT sector also recorded a decline in the month of July, which is in line with the overall year development of -19 percent. The exor-bitant decline in July can be explained by the discontinuation of the "Designed by Apple in California" image campaign, which was on air in the same month last year. Overall, the advertising print for "IT Image" fell by a whopping 3.1 million Swiss francs (-87.1 percent). The development of the desktop computer and tablet product areas was more positive. With an increase of 113.2 percent and 44.5 percent respectively compared to the same month last year, these are the current advertising growth drivers in the IT sector. The manufacturer with the highest advertising spend in these categories: Apple.

High advertising presence in July: That's the Post, too

Thanks to the campaign launched under the slogan "That too is Swiss Post. campaign launched by Swiss Post, the "transport companies" sector appeared on the radar of the July advertising month with growth of 95.8% (+3.1 million Swiss francs). A detailed analysis of the sector reveals that this development was driven almost exclusively by the "Couriers & Postal Services" category. And thus by the advertising offensive of Swiss Post.

The Media Focus Advertising Market Trend Report July 2014 (PDF)
 

The creators of Mirus say that this digital magazine is aimed at the global nomad with a local attitude. While the first issue documents an exciting and little-known neighborhood in Barcelona, the second issue will "explore" a district in Sarajevo. The last 12 months have been spent working intensively on the concept, design and technology on which Mirus is based. The first edition is ready for launch and has been fully self-financed. To secure its future, Mirus is now launching a crowdfunding campaign to show its potential audience what is worth waiting for and to raise funds to cover part of the ongoing production costs. Mirus focuses on exclusively produced stories on location and on strong photography, film contributions and independent journalism.

The English-language magazine is launching its crowdfunding campaign today on Indiegogo.
 

Traditional media planning still operates predominantly with quantitative figures. This is based on the reach or the number of contacts of a medium. At best, consumption data of the users of this medium are also taken into account, but that is all. In particular, the quality of contact is not taken into account. Whether a user turns to the medium intensively or only incidentally, what significance it has in his everyday life, what credibility its content has, whether he finds the advertising entertaining, informative or disturbing - such qualitative factors are excluded from the reach thinking. Although the extent to which the editorial environment of a medium influences the advertising impact is disputed in advertising research, this also has to do with the fact that advertising impact as a whole is a highly complex phenomenon that largely defies simple causal explanations. What is certain, however, is that people have a qualitative perception of the media they use. This is directly related to the form and content of this medium, and advertising is a part of this.

Advertising on smartphones also bothers young people

Since last year, the MediaBrands intermedia study has been tracking how differentiated the perception of media brands is. In this study, 3200 Swiss-German citizens are periodically asked about the use and qualitative perception of Swiss media brands. The study not only helps media companies to develop their brands, but also provides advertisers with decision-making aids for qualitative media planning. One of the findings is that advertising in the various media meets with very different levels of acceptance: In print media, advertising is predominantly perceived as informative, while advertising on smartphones annoys most people. Surprisingly, age hardly plays a role in this assessment: even the generation that grew up with cell phones appreciates advertising on smartphones almost as little as older people. However, there are indications that a certain habituation effect is spreading. Acceptance of mobile advertising has improved somewhat since 2013. However, the gap to other media, especially print, is still enormous.

Consumers put together media menus according to their personal taste
The study also shows that modern media consumers not only combine different media to create a "menu", but that there are also clear hierarchies within this menu. More than three quarters state that they have a favorite medium. Not only is this medium used particularly intensively, but it is also held in high esteem. In addition to this indispensable core medium, most media consumers combine other media brands that they also use regularly and that fulfill complementary functions. These "relevant sets" are of particular interest to media planners, as the advertising impact can be significantly increased by using a complete set and the resulting synergies. MediaBrands 2014 identifies around 20 relevant sets in German-speaking Switzerland and six economic regions that represent specific target groups.

Use of a medium is not synonymous with appreciation
Strong, valuable brands are primarily characterized by the appreciation that customers have for them. This appreciation determines whether customers remain loyal to a brand and whether they are prepared to pay a premium over a competitor brand. This is just as true for media brands - even or especially in the age of free media. MediaBrands shows very impressively how differentiated consumers assess media brands: Frequent use of a medium does not necessarily mean that it is considered particularly credible or competent.

Around three million German-speaking Swiss have tuned into the RTL television channel at least once in the course of a quarter, but this does not mean that its audience considers the channel to be particularly likeable. Although it scores highly in terms of entertainment value, it is below average in terms of likeability and criteria such as credibility and relevance. NZZ am Sonntag, on the other hand, only reaches just under 800,000 people in German-speaking Switzerland in one quarter. However, its readers almost unanimously find the brand likeable, credible and competent.

Contact quality highest with print media

Qualitative dimensions such as likeability, solidarity, credibility, etc. determine the strength of a brand. Strong media brands achieve a high rating on as many quality dimensions as possible and users feel connected to them. As a result, the brands are held in high esteem by their audience. The advertising content also benefits from this, as it is perceived as part of the media product. MediaBrands expresses this quality of contact in the form of the "Brand Performance Value" (BPV). This is an index value that summarizes brand strength and loyalty as well as acceptance of advertising in one value. In media planning, the BPV can be used as a qualitative value in addition to the pure consideration of reach.

If the BPV of media brands is converted to their distribution channels, a clear picture emerges (see chart below): The printed daily or weekly newspaper has a clear advantage over digital media in particular. This is not only due to the fact that advertising acceptance is greater in print, but also that printed media are generally held in higher esteem. In addition, the bond with the print medium is stronger than with a digital medium. In the case of weekly newspapers, which have the highest BPV, there is also the fact that people have more time and leisure to read at the weekend than during the week. This also benefits contact with advertisements, which are more likely to be noticed in a relaxed atmosphere.

In view of the millions of advertising dollars that have been shifted from print to electronic and digital advertising media in recent years, it almost seems as if the advertising industry has overshot the mark here. And this is doubly annoying for the media companies: not only have lucrative advertising segments such as classifieds moved irretrievably to the Internet, but they can only develop their brand values to a limited extent in their own digital channels. The advantage of a print brand disappears when its content is consumed via a digital channel. Whether this changes in the future will depend not least on whether media companies succeed in maintaining proven journalistic quality standards in the digital space. In view of the increasing number of journalistic errors in online media, doubts in this regard are justified.

René Grossenbacher
 

The runners and companions of the multi-marathon equipped with collection stickers thus become the starting point for mobile online donations.

Ruedi races is a running project that has already been carried out for the umpteenth time, always for a good cause. In 2014, the runners Ruedi Frehner and Reto Hunziger will collect donations for the following organizations under the motto "Moving borders together":
● Doctors without Borders
● Cancer League Zurich and Grisons
● Children's home Therapeion Zizers

From August 12 - 17, 2014, the European Athletics Championships will be held in Zurich. The two runners started on Saturday, August 9, 2014 in Zurich with the goal of circumnavigating the Swiss national border at a scale of 1:5 and will arrive back in Zurich on August 17, after exactly 379.8 kilometers and 9100 meters of altitude.

Starting on Wednesday, August 13, donations for the vacation week for children and young people affected by cancer of the two cancer leagues will be collected with the use of NFC stickers. On this occasion, the Cancer Leagues of Zurich and Graubünden are relying for the first time on mobile fundraising with NFC technology (Near Field Communication) and QR code (Quick Response). Collection stickers are attached to the clothing of runners and companions. Anyone who is in their vicinity can easily donate a small amount with their smartphone.

(Image: NFC sticker of the campaign).

Several donation channels are open to the user. Firstly, they can briefly touch the NFC contact surface of the collection sticker (NFC tag) with an integrated chip, which enables wireless data transmission from a very short distance, with an NFC-enabled cell phone. He is then taken directly to the donation page of the Cancer Leagues of Zurich and Grisons. There he can choose the amount of his support. The great advantage of this solution is that the user does not have to install or launch an app. Alternatively, he can "scan" the printed QR code with an app installed on his smartphone. As with NFC, the donation page then opens automatically.

For the payment process, the new payment platform Easypay 3.0 from Swisscom The donation is debited directly to the monthly cell phone bill, making the mobile phone a payment method per se. Customers of other mobile phone providers are currently still directed to a Paypal donation page. Easypay 3.0 will, however, be made available to other mobile phone providers in the near future, according to reports.

(Image: Mobile donation page of the Cancer Leagues Zurich and Grisons)

The project was supported by Twingle (Switzerland), the provider of this innovation on the Swiss donation market. Their services include the provision of the mobile donation pages, the NFC stickers, the technical connection of the donation process and the campaign software for controlling and monitoring the donation campaign. The technical integration with Easypay 3.0 was provided by the company MNC.

Here is a video of a similar example from Hong Kong that explains the process well:

 

Alain Duménil is alleged to have withheld nearly 54 million francs from the taxman, the French Swiss magazine L'Hebdo and the Tages-Anzeiger reported Thursday. The French-Swiss businessman, who lives in Crans-Montana in the Valais, allegedly failed to report dividends from Paris-based real estate company Acanthe Développement, in which he is a majority shareholder, to tax authorities. The unpaid federal, cantonal and municipal taxes amounted to more than 20 million francs.

The tax evasion is said to relate to the period from 2003 to 2011. The existence of proceedings against Duménil emerges from several rulings made public last week by the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona. These rulings show that Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf gave her consent last November to open a special tax investigation against the French-Swiss businessman.

House searches and seizures

In this context, house searches were also carried out, in particular at the suspect's place of residence. In parallel, the Federal Tax Administration ordered the seizure of Duménil's real estate and accounts.

In its decision of July 22, the Federal Criminal Court granted a request by the tax administration to lift the seal on documents seized from a bank. Duménil had defended himself to no avail. He had based his request on the diplomatic immunity he enjoyed as a representative of Madagascar's permanent mission to the UN. It also emerges from the decisions of the Federal Criminal Court that the suspect had submitted a request to be able to withdraw 100'000 francs a month to cover his living expenses. This request was also not granted.

With reference to press reports about "a suspected case of tax evasion in Valais", the Valais tax administration also took a stand on Thursday. It has taken the necessary measures in this dossier and is working closely with the Department for Criminal Matters and Investigations (ASU) of the Federal Tax Administration (FTA), it says in a statement.

Valais tax administration demanded investigation

The cantonal tax administration (KSV) had requested the FTA's Criminal Affairs and Investigations Department to conduct an investigation against a taxpayer residing in Valais. The cantons are authorized to do so in cases of suspected serious tax offenses. The investigation would be carried out by the Department of Criminal Matters and Investigations (ASU) in cooperation with the FTA. The ASU has various means of coercion and investigation at its disposal, such as seizure, searches, lifting of banking secrecy, questioning of witnesses and others, which the cantonal tax administrations do not have.

As it is bound by tax secrecy, the cantonal tax administration cannot provide any further information on this dossier, the statement continues.

The wealth of Alain Duménil, who has been based in Switzerland since 1987, was estimated by the business magazine Bilanz in 2012 at between 100 and 200 million francs. In the meantime, he is no longer listed in the ranking of the 300 richest people in Switzerland because his fortune is said to have fallen below the CHF 100 million mark.

In 2009, the businessman acquired a majority stake in the business newspaper L'Agefi. He holds a 51 percent stake. The co-owner is Antoine Hubert, founder of the Genolier hospital group. In October 2013, the two businessmen had expressed interest in a possible purchase of the daily newspaper Le Temps, before Ringier bought the shares from Tamedia last April

Appeal announced

Alain Duménil's lawyer, Alexandre Faltin, pointed out that the investigation was still at the very beginning. His client has arguments that he will use against the attitude of the tax authorities. Without getting to the bottom of the matter, the Federal Criminal Court had issued several decisions. Appeals against some of them have been filed with the Federal Supreme Court, Faltin said.

L'Agefi editor-in-chief François Schaller wrote in a reaction published Thursday that the episode did not call into question the newspaper's development, goals, projects or shareholder support. (SDA)

 

Furthermore, the Bernese city government wants to make the website accessible for people with disabilities. Campaign websites, which are currently operated externally, are also to be integrated into the central infrastructure in future. This was announced by Bern's municipal council on Thursday.

Over one million people visit Bern.ch per year. This site was last renewed in 2005. The Bern City Council decides on the loan. (SDA)
 

Marc Jäggi has already demonstrated his passion for similar formats at Radio 1: He invented the Roger versus Roger debate. As the first guest on "24 Minuten", Jäggi welcomes the Mayor of Zurich, Corine Mauch, as the station writes in a press release.

According to the press release, the new format is not a highly political talk show - rather, it is a lively discussion that is intended to be surprising and entertaining. Marc Jäggi discusses with his guests for 24 minutes: people who are known in Zurich and who move Zurich. "Corine Mauch as the first guest is the ideal start for the new format, as it underlines the basic idea of "24 Minuten" - to bring exciting Zurich residents to the station", says program director Marc Jäggi.

Other guests include Patrick Magyar, CEO of the 2014 European Athletics Championships and Meeting Director of Weltklasse Zürich, and Alexander Jaggy, Advertiser of the Year 2014 and Creative Director at Jung von Matt/Limmat. Even more illustrious, committed, polarizing and fascinating personalities will follow.

Marc Jäggi's new talk show airs every Sunday at 12.30 p.m. on Radio 24. "Zurich's number 1 station wants to set the tone in terms of content as well as the best music. "24 Minuten" can and should set a further accent in this respect," says Jäggi. In future, Radio 24's program will focus even more strongly on the city of Zurich.
 

Researchers from Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the market research company Affectiva conducted an online experiment with 178 American consumers to find out how entertainment elements affect advertising. The consumers were each shown a sequence of 20 randomly selected TV commercials from a set of 82 commercials in total. The commercials came from three product areas: confectionery, non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages. Consumers had the option of skipping the individual commercials at any time during the experiment. During the presentation of the commercials, the facial expressions of the study participants were analyzed via webcam using software. The entertainment level of the commercials was determined based on the facial expressions of the test subjects - e.g. smiling, grinning or laughing. After the videos were shown, the participants were asked to what extent they intended to buy the advertised brands.

First of all, the experiment shows that humor, entertaining beats etc. increase consumer interest in the TV commercials. A linear relationship applies here: the higher the average entertainment level on the consumer side, the higher the probability that consumers will watch a commercial in full (effect size = 0.987). An example: The commercial with the highest average entertainment level (37% on a scale of 0 to 100%) was watched to the end in 86% of cases, while the commercial with the lowest entertainment value (16%) was only watched in 57% of cases. The increased interest in the commercials in turn leads to an increased purchase intention for the advertised brands (effect size = 0.220). Entertainment therefore has an indirect positive effect on purchase intention via interest in the commercial. In addition to this indirect effect mechanism, however, there is also a direct effect of the entertainment level on consumers' purchase intention. Here, a positive linear (effect size = 0.905) and a negative non-linear (effect size = -1.014) effect interact. As a result, this leads to a correlation between entertainment level and purchase intention that can be described figuratively as an inverted U-curve: A medium level of entertainment leads to a higher purchase intention than a low or high level of entertainment. The second part of the study investigated at which point in a TV commercial entertainment elements should best be integrated in order to achieve an optimal advertising effect: before or after the advertised brand is presented for the first time?

According to the study, a higher level of humor, music or similar features has a positive effect on consumers' purchase intention if the entertainment effects are used after the presentation of the brand (effect size = 0.698). Entertainment before the presentation of the brand, on the other hand, tends to have a negative influence on purchase intention. Of course, this does not necessarily mean that entertainment should be dispensed with before the brand is presented or that the brand should be shown earlier in the commercial. If the initial aim of a commercial - for a new product, for example - is to arouse interest in the commercial itself and to ensure that it is watched to the end, the early use of entertainment components can make sense in order to increase the attractiveness of the commercial.

Clemens Koob

Key Facts
 
- Entertaining TV advertising is more interesting. The higher the average entertainment level among consumers, the more likely it is that they will watch a commercial in its entirety.  Higher interest in commercials in turn leads to a higher purchase intention for the advertised brands; entertainment has an indirect positive effect on purchase intention.
- However, the direct effect of the entertainment level on the purchase intention consists of a positive linear and a negative non-linear part.
- Overall, this means that a medium entertainment level leads to a higher purchase intention than a low or high entertainment level.
- Entertainment features after the first presentation of the brand in the TV commercial increase the purchase intention, features before do not.

Anyone involved in marketing, advertising and creation should know that there shouldn't be this difference. "If you choose the work you like to do, you never have to work a day in your life." This saying is of course very theoretical and "wishful thinking", but not at all unrealistic. I'm currently in Italy in our country house, which we deliberately don't call a vacation home, but Office South. Taking a vacation can be incredibly boring. Doing nothing all day is exhausting. That's why I'm happy to be writing this column, keeping order in the vineyard, collecting the tax bill at the municipality, designing a poster for the opponents of the reactivation of a quarry, developing a launch concept for a new client in Zurich, designing a birthday ad for an acquaintance, harvesting and preparing lettuce, uncorking Theo- phil red wine, creating an olive oil CI for good friends, making phone calls and having discussions with craftsmen, and getting a combination of yoga/ tai chi/ body balance taught by Tinger together with our neighbor Ruth Kimche at 11 a.m. on the dot, and much more. Work that is fun and not the seriousness of life.

My theory: There are certainly professions and tasks that are interesting in different ways. But when I look at the jobs in our industry, they're all vacation jobs: the media planner, the copywriter, the editor, the polygraph, the photographer, the typographer, the illustrator, the lighting technician, the director and all the exciting creative tasks.

Unfortunately, I'm not the only one who gets the feeling that the advertising and communications industry is no longer any fun, and important people in the industry agree with me. If you look at all the bad advertising, you certainly don't get a vacation feeling, but the seriousness of everyday life.

The ulterior motive of my grumbling is also to motivate. I therefore ask everyone who is involved in making services and products interesting and desirable: Stop this uptight advertising. Be relaxed and enjoy good ideas. Consumers also take it easy and want to have fun. I would like to give the clients the message that they should not let out scaremongering briefings, but demand a vacation mood. One of the success stories of advertising is not to bore anyone, but to reflect to them the fun of life. Finito, punto, basta.

The put-upon of the week is that working is like being on vacation.

Theophil Butz, graphic designer, advertising agency owner, inspirer and, for more than three years now, also mothballs for Werbewoche readers. Please send any relevant information to [email protected].

Tomorrow, Thursday, August 14, Sarah Huwiler will host the "Kinowetter" format on S1 for the first time, as announced in a press release on Wednesday. The 27-year-old previously worked for Tele M1 for over four years. After a two-year detour to the airline Swiss, she is now back in the media. Sarah Huwiler has been part of the editorial team for the program since July and will now present it regularly. She forms a team with the previous presenter Melina Roshard (32). Assignments as a reporter are also planned.

According to program director Mike Gut, this expansion was necessary because the show's content is increasingly being produced outside of Zurich. For the August 14 edition of the program, for example, filming took place with actress Scarlett Johansson in Toronto, with the filmmakers of "Planes 2" in Munich and with director Luc Besson in Locarno.

 

How can a poster be staged? The Soirée graphique provides the answer. At the invitation of Komet, 28 graphic designers each created a poster. 28 visual artists from Switzerland and abroad have subsequently reinterpreted these works in their own works. All works were created especially for the exhibition.

All those interested in culture are cordially invited to the event at Uferweg 15 in Bern; the bar and exhibition are open from 6 p.m. to midnight. The works of the Soirée graphique can be purchased at the exhibition. Accompanying the exhibition is a limited edition exhibition catalog with all originals and interpretations. The catalog is available on site and can be ordered online.
 

Some get on before the others have got off. Stop at the entrance door, making it difficult for the next passengers to board. Occupying free seats with bags and rucksacks. - The plight of commuters on public transport is manifold.

With its campaign, Bernmobil wants to motivate passengers to behave correctly on streetcars and buses. The focus is not on the threatening finger, but on learning through play. The centerpiece of the campaign is a Online memory game on the Bernmobil website. 

Players are challenged to uncover the matching symbols in as little time as possible. Of course, there is also something to be won: Annual Libero fare network passes await the fastest players. The campaign started at the end of the summer vacation and will run until the beginning of September.

Responsible at Bernmobil: Monika Scheiwiller (Head of Marketing Communications), Didier Buchmann (Online Media), Monika Ryf (Social Media & Marketing Communications). Responsible at We Serve: Philipp Klauser (consulting), Tim Heiniger (programming). Responsible at Casalini: Felix Zulauf (consulting), Michael Lemp (graphics), Andrea Grob (animation).