Analogous to the TVC, a combination of the Ebookers silhouette design with real images was realized for the first time. The work includes all communication channels via TV/Print/Digital/SoM.

In December 2012, Seasons Greetings 2012 was already realized, staging the vacation world of Ebookers.ch in combination with festive elements using stop/motion technology. 450 photos were taken for the Animation used.
 

With the online publication, the publishers want to increase media diversity in Central Switzerland. The magazine is free of charge. It promises background reports and analyses. Additional elements include blogs, an agenda, news tickers and services.

According to a statement from the publisher MMV Online, the users are just as important to the creators as the voices of the editorial team. Dialogue is actively encouraged on the platform. The publication can be accessed via the website as well as via applications for smartphones and tablet computers. According to Nick Mijnssen, Chairman of the Board of Directors of MMV Online, the "long-standing monopoly situation in Central Switzerland has led to a broad need for an alternative".

Zentral+ is financed by advertising revenue, association contributions and donations. According to the news agency SDA, Managing Director Christian Hug did not want to disclose budget figures.

Eight permanent and part-time employees work in the publishing and editorial departments. The editorial team is headed by Yvonne Anliker. She was previously deputy editor-in-chief of the LZ title Neue Zuger Zeitung. A co-editor for Lucerne is still being sought, the press release adds. There are also plans to further expand the staff of freelancers.

 

I'm deliberately referring to the news pages here and leaving all the other opportunities that the Internet offers us for verbal self-expression on the side. So it's not about twittering or likes. It's only about the comments on online articles.

There are different laws. But the basis is always a kind of Pavlovian reflex. It is not the bell that makes the dogs drool, but the stimulus word that forces the reader to write. A few stimulus words are enough and the comments arrive in masses.

These irritant words vary depending on the topic and/or medium. Sometimes the buzzword is speeding, sometimes asylum seeker. Sometimes welfare recipient or banker. Sometimes Blocher, Somm or Köppel. Sometimes public transport or off-roaders. Sometimes FCB, YB etc. Sometimes SVP, Greens or AUNS.

The interesting thing about the comments is that after an estimated ten statements that are more or less directly about the topic, things turn around. Now it is no longer about the topic, but only about individual comments. Tally-ho, the hunt is on. All against all is the name of the game. Everyone corrects everyone, everyone insults everyone - if the moderator allows it - and after the 150th comment no one knows what it's all about anyway. The main thing is that one has contributed to the discussion. In the past, there were also letters to the editor, but that was cumbersome, time-consuming and it cost money. You had to clamp the paper (in the old days), take the paper out of the printer, look for an envelope, find and affix a stamp, and go to the mailbox. All these obstacles are gone today. Now please don't misunderstand me, I'm not against reader comments, not at all. I would only find it better in the sense of the thing if they were more well-founded or - a quite daring suggestion - were more strongly selected. In a sense, a kind of qualitative censorship that already existed in the past purely for reasons of space. But if you now think that things are better on media-related sites, I'm afraid I have to disappoint you. There, too, there are irritant words or author names that have the same effect on the specialist audience. Maybe in a weakened form, but still. A pity, actually.

Pierre C. Meier, Editor-in-Chief [email protected]

Marion Renner's appointment to the operational team is a response to the generally growing volume of orders and the departure of Andreas Feurer on the client side, the agency said in a statement on Thursday. Sandra Gagelmann will take over the increasing areas of responsibility in marketing. These were previously coordinated by Benjamin Hütteroth as Sales & Marketing Manager. He now heads the four-person Sales & Key Account Team as Senior Sales Manager.

Marion Renner completed a four-year business school in St. Gallen. She then gained her first organizational experience as a handling employee at Altenrhein Airport. She then moved to Congress Events St. Gallen. She worked there for five years as a project manager for events and congresses. She spent a further five years as Senior Project Manager Events and was also responsible for Sales/Marketing. At Marbet Switzerland, Renner is Head of Events & Incentives in the Rorschach team.

Sandra Gagelmann studied Applied Media Management in Germany, specializing in media, sports and event management. During this time, she worked as a project assistant in various agencies. She then moved to the communications agency Goos Communication Hamburg, where she was responsible for the media and event business areas as a consultant. Most recently, Gagelmann worked as a freelancer for various projects in the event sector. At Marbet Switzerland, she joins the team as Marketing Manager at the head office in Rorschach.

Sandra Gagelmann (left) and Marion Renner.

 

Both the exterior and numerous interior surfaces of the streetcar are covered with new damage sketches related to winter.

Responsible at Mobiliar: Christoph Ott (Head of Marketing Communications), Marianne Sterchi (Project Manager Advertising). Responsible at Wirz Advertising: Philipp Skrabal (CD), Hanning Beland, Raul Serrat (Art), Paul Labun, Benjamin Staudemann (Graphics), Bianca Kury, Andi Portmann, Marietta Mügge (Text), Urs Hirschi, Yves Rückert, Stefan Schmid (Consulting), Giovanni Bucca, Michael Kohli (Production Consulting). Production: Straumann, Christinger Partner.

 

The Goldbach Crossmedia Award will be presented for the ninth time on May 15, 2013. This year, the award returns to its roots: Social media as an integral part of cross-media campaigns will not be honored with a separate award, as in previous years, but will once again be part of the Crossmedia Award, according to a Goldbach release on Thursday. This year, special prizes, so-called Trendsetter Honors, can be awarded by the jury to campaigns with particularly groundbreaking networking of the cross-media sub-areas of mobile, video and social media.

All works published in the period from April 2012 to February 2013 and conceived and developed in Switzerland, Germany or Austria are eligible for the Crossmedia Award. The works can be submitted until March 1, 2013. The Crossmedia Award is endowed with 10'000 Swiss francs. In addition to gold, silver and bronze prizes will also be awarded. The winners will be announced on May 15, 2013 at the Goldbach Award Night at Kaufleuten in Zurich.

 

Since the beginning of the year, a lot has been new in cinema advertising. For Publicitas Cinecom customers, too. For example, it is now possible to bill according to the number of contacts actually reached. This is something that many advertising customers have wanted for some time.

In a nutshell: Christian Wittmer has been Managing Director and Head of Sales Cinema National at Publicitas Cinecom since February 2012. Previously, he worked as a management consultant in various companies and industries.
 
WW: Christian Wittmer, it seems Publicitas Cinecom had to have competition until customer wishes were taken into account.
Christian Wittmer: Of course, tougher competition is forcing Publicitas Cinecom to become more innovative as a provider. Under pressure from the competition - and from advertising customers - we therefore adjusted the pricing model as of 2013. On the supply side, however, not much has changed. The fact that it was previously not possible to book on film, as portrayed in an article (Media Trend Journal, 4-2012), is not true. In addition to geographical choice, we have been offering our customers the option of booking advertising on individual films or genres, i.e. target-group-specific advertising, for several years now.
 
Werbeweischer advertises strongly with the target group approach. Where does Publicitas Cinecom place its focus?
The target group is also a big issue for us. So far, the split has been about 50-50. In the past two years, about half of our customers have taken a geographic approach, and the others have booked on genre or film. In the future, however, I think the target group will play a bigger role than geography. 
 
Target group-specific advertising is the trend. In which cases do you see the geographic approach remaining superior in the future?
The geographic approach is suitable, for example, if a company operates in a limited area and wants to reach all customers there. For a garage owner or optician, it still makes sense to advertise in the cinemas around their location.
 
Let's talk about the pricing model: Why did Publicitas Cinecom stick to the old model, seasonal pricing, for so long?
Price accounting is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it should not be complicated, so that customers and agencies can also book advertising easily who do not deal with cinema advertising every day. On the other hand, there are the major customers and agencies who want performance-based billing. As of this year, we now cover both desires: In the local business, we stick to scale prices. This means that each cinema is divided into a scale according to audience numbers, which costs a fixed amount per month. In national business, we have introduced the thousand-contact price (CPM), which advertising customers already know from other categories.
 
How does the new model work with CPMs?
The model works with two variables: a forecast and the effective visitor numbers. The price for the advertising placement is calculated in advance on the basis of the average number of visitors to a movie theater over the last three years. Billing is then based on the effective contacts.
 
What contact figures do you receive from the cinema operators? After all, the audience figures are not public...
The cinema operators provide us with the audience figures for an auditorium on a weekly basis - in German-speaking Switzerland from Thursday in each case, as the films run.
 
You get the information per film?
The cinema operators decide each week which film will be shown in which auditorium based on their internal audience forecasts. We then receive the figures per auditorium and film every week. In over 90 percent of the cases, one film is shown in one auditorium during one week.
 
The new model is not risk-free. An unexpectedly successful film like "Intouchables" can bring alternative cinemas a lot of viewers one year. The next, such a film is missing, and audiences stay away....
Publicitas Cinecom bears this risk. If a film attracts more viewers than forecast, the advertising customer receives the additional viewers at no extra charge. If the film brings in less, we have a tolerance limit of 10 percent. If the audience figures are lower, we extend the customer's advertising campaign accordingly.
 
Ticket sales say nothing about the buyers. How do advertisers get information about the target group anyway?
To do this, the ticket figures are married with Mach Cinema, WEMF's consumer study. For an action film, for example, we know from Mach Cinema that the audience consists on average of 57.7 percent men between 14 and 29 years of age. If 1000 tickets were sold for an action film, we assume that around 577 of the buyers correspond to this type.
 
In the small Swiss cinema market, several providers could never exist in the longer term. How do you assess the current situation: Is there room for two?
That's difficult to assess from today's perspective. The battle will be fought tooth and nail. Basically, however, I believe that both Publicitas Cinecom and Werbeweischer are interested in cinema gaining ground as a medium, since cinema is undervalued in the advertising pie.
 
Why do you think cinema advertising is underrated?
Cinema is a niche medium due to its low reach. But reach should not be the criterion. What speaks for cinema advertising is the quality of the contact. Moviegoers can remember the advertising very well. The viewer is in a receptive state. Cinema advertising is an intensive experience, which is also enjoyable if the advertising is good. Moreover, the visitor can be reached additionally in the cinema - for example with samplings or give-aways. After a perfume advertisement, a sample is distributed at the exit. Or a car manufacturer displays a model in the foyer. Such opportunities are still underutilized.
 
Werbeweischer has snatched a valuable customer away from Publicitas Cinecom with the Kitag cinemas. How is Publicitas Cinecom coping with this loss?
This loss is painful. However, Publicitas Cinecom remains a major player. We still have a monopoly in Ticino and French-speaking Switzerland. In German-speaking Switzerland, we have a market share of 57 percent. I admit that there are a few blank spots on the map, for example in eastern Switzerland. And it's not all that easy in central Switzerland either. Otherwise, we have a good offering everywhere and still have a leading cinema portfolio throughout Switzerland. With Pathé, we currently have the largest cinema operator on board. For historical reasons, the cinema chain has a stronger presence in western Switzerland. However, Pathé is now also well positioned in German-speaking Switzerland, with the Westside in Bern, the cinemas in Basel, and in Dietlikon near Zurich.
 
Due to the existing monopoly in French and Italian-speaking Switzerland, Publicitas Cinecom promotes national campaigns in particular. How many advertisers run national campaigns at all?
Unfortunately, Ticino is often neglected. Western Switzerland, however, is very much in demand. Nationally active clients are keen to advertise in French-speaking Switzerland as well. More than 50 percent of all campaigns that do not come from local business are present in at least two language regions. For these customers, we remain the first point of contact.
 
National is unlikely to be booked by film in the future either - given the different film preferences in the language regions...
That's right. A film can perform differently in different parts of the country. This is further complicated by the different start dates. It's entirely possible for a film to be released two months earlier or later in French-speaking Switzerland. The differences are becoming smaller and smaller, because film distributors are trying to keep start dates as close together as possible due to piracy. However, certain differences remain.
 
How do you get around this problem?
In national campaigns, we don't define individual films, but a target group and look in the individual regions to see which films appeal to this target group in the time period.
 
Werbeweischer advertises with 3D campaigns and interactive screens. What ideas does Publicitas Cinecom have?
I don't think there will be many 3D campaigns in Switzerland any time soon - the production costs are simply too high for such a small market. Our idea is to network the cinema with other media. We combine the big screen with the ad screens in the cinema, with events, promotions or television.
 
For example, Star TV...
Exactly. Everyone who books cinema with us can also show their advertising for free on Star TV. Star TV is a cinema-affiliated channel and now shows movies every evening from 8 o'clock.
 
Are there cross-media offerings for the online sector?
Negotiations are currently underway with a major cinema portal. The idea is that moviegoers will come into contact with advertising twice: the first time on the online portal when they decide to see a film, and the second time in the theater. However, this is not yet ready to be announced.

Interview: Isabel Imper

Michael Sokoll sees too few opportunities to realize the program development desired by himself and the management. This was announced by Radio Argovia on Thursday. Until a successor is found for the program director, editor-in-chief Jürgen Sahli will step in. (SDA)

Image: Argovia.ch

More than 60 media articles have appeared on the "Yearbook Quality of the Media 2012" since its presentation in October. In particular, the trade press has taken up the quality study of the "fög - Forschungsbereich Öffentlichkeit und Gesellschaft / Universität Zürich". More than in the previous year, Mark Eisenegger, member of the fög management and co-author of the yearbook, is pleased to report. An additional success: Austria is interested in the Yearbook and wants to launch an analogous project. The response, however, does not hide the fact that this time, too, a rough wind blew against the scientists. The publishers' association pre-emptively dug up the hatchet and criticized - before the publication appeared - the lack of a "serious and comprehensible definition of the term quality". Roger Köppel took offense at Weltwoche being counted among the "Weltanschauungspresse." The NZZ am Sonntag saw in the fact that the weekly newspaper (WOZ) came out on top in terms of objectivity as proof that "by Imhof's standards, the left is still the best. And the scholars' media-policy demand that information journalism be supported by a foundation outside the state caused a particular stir.

The media scientists also ranted. On Twitter and online portals, they defended their project and sometimes lashed out. "I'll admit it bluntly: I have a quarrel with the profession of journalism. There is too much anxiety in the woodwork," wrote media sociologist Kurt Imhof, the figurehead of the study, on Medienspiegel. ch. What really infuriated the scientists was the lack of criticism. Specifically, the media company Tamedia, for which the quality study was worth virtually no news this year. With the exception of a revised SDA report on Newsnet, there was nothing to read about the yearbook, which not only did not give Tamedia's free paper 20 Minuten a good quality report card. "I have no hard evidence, but it is my suspicion that an order came from above at Tamedia," Eisenegger speculates. They don't want to know anything about that at Tamedia. The decisions on whether to report on the yearbook were made in the respective editorial offices, says Christoph Zimmer, head of corporate communications. "In the context of the general current news situation and the news value of the yearbook." There had been no directive. Eisenegger, on the other hand, finds it "implausible" that the yearbook was not discussed by all titles due to its lack of news value. It contradicts contrary to the experiences, which he makes in personal discussions with journalists. "Off-the-record, there is regret that the quality problems and resource weaknesses in journalism are not more strongly addressed. "

Lumped together

However, the yearbook did not fall on deaf ears with all media that remained silent in public. Radio Argovia, for example, to which the yearbook attested only low quality performance, sought a discussion with the fög after the publication. The classification of the researchers (a lot of human interest, low objectivity, little classification and relevance) did not want to let editor-in-chief Jürgen Sahli sit on his hands. "We take the study seriously," Sahli told Werbewoche. The findings of the yearbook had stimulated internal discussions and the questioning of the own program. However, the editor-in-chief does not agree with the fög's definition of quality. He criticizes that only the selection of topics is taken into account. But not, for example, the comprehensibility of how the news is conveyed to the listeners. And with this criticism, Sahli is in good company. While media scholars measure the function - and thus the quality - of journalism by its social function in democracy, many practitioners take a less normative view or a market-oriented concept of quality. The academics apply four quality dimensions: relevance, diversity, topicality and professionalism (objectivity). For the practitioner, however, it is just as important whether something is interesting for the reader, listener or viewer. Whether it is understandable.

Sahli also considers it tricky that the news of a regional station is compared to the news compartments of Radio SRF. "Our core topic is not foreign political reporting. " The first priority for the regional station is the local. If something happens in Aargau that moves or is worth talking about, Argovia reports on it. And that can also be the description of a spectacular self-inflicted accident of a young driver. But the radio station doesn't get any quality points from the fög for that (episodic instead of classifying, entertainment-centered).

Tabloid not bad per se in terms of quality

The fact that the yearbook does not take into account the individuality of media titles or media types is also generally criticized. According to the Publishers Association, free newspapers and tabloid journalism are equated with low quality. Mark Eisenegger of fög disagrees: "The tabloids definitely have a good chance of doing well. It's just that today it's too entertainment-oriented and neglects socio-political topics. Blick, for example, which used to launch explosive topics and stimulate discussions on economic policy (the debate about the rip-off) or the Holocaust, has largely lost its pre-topic function. Eisenegger demands that the tabloid should once again focus more on socio-political topics. Also, in order to distinguish itself from the free press, which is already heavily involved in entertainment. "Of course, entertainment and sports have a right to exist. But it's the overall cocktail that makes it, and that used to include socio-political topics much more in the tabloids."

Ringier is not interested in such criticism, at least officially. They do not want to comment on the assessments, they say on request. A (public) debate is also not foreseeable elsewhere. At least the scientists are willing to make their research transparent. The fög offers more detailed evaluations to media outlets. And this is free of charge, as long as no costly additional analyses are carried out. Eisenegger considers monetization of the previously foundation-financed yearbook with additional analyses to be problematic for reasons of independence.

For Swiss Radio, for example, fög has already scrutinized foreign reporting. The Swiss Dispatch Agency (SDA) had its reporting qualitatively prescribed and was shown in which newspapers the SDA reports are reflected. Practitioners gained an insight even without additional analyses. For by far not all results from the annual research can be represented in the yearbook (journalistic coverage: 144 media titles, quality validation: 46 media titles). Although the work is a "thick ham". 480 pages - probably not least the reason why one or the other journalist may not take on the findings (or limits himself to the summary). The fög is aware of this and promises to improve. In the future, the annual research will be published in four stages (spring, summer, fall, winter) with the goal of increasing the response throughout the year and ensuring a continuing debate about media quality. And things will also change in terms of reader-friendliness. Says Eisenegger, "We can communicate our research more engagingly. That's what we're working on."

It remains to be seen whether the two largest media companies, Tamedia and Ringier, will show more interest in a discussion in the future. After all, media managers don't miss the opportunity to point out their democratic function. At any rate, Christoph Tonini, the new CEO of Tamedia, said at the Epiphany conference: "Newspapers have a future. No other medium can better meet the needs of democracy and federalism."

Isabel Imper
 

The printing presses are gradually falling silent, as will soon be the case in Basel. Print is under pressure. The starting point for today's new media story is the old lady of Swiss print, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung. It is looking particularly sprightly these days, in my opinion.
 
In December, it launched a teaser vessel in newsletter format with the NZZ am Morgen. The approach is exemplary. Pilot projects are used to test new communication and business models for new media. In his bestseller "The Conversation Company", Steven Van Belleghem provides us with what I consider to be a mature and practical strategic approach with which we can move from the initial trial to a business-ready new media solution. The title of the book implies what is important: New media captures companies as a whole, and willingness to talk is the most important driver of success. A willingness to talk cannot be imposed by means of directives, laid down in strategies or enforced by measures. It is a cultural achievement. Starting points are values that are visibly practiced. Points of proof are product and service experiences that create added value. Van Belleghem's "4C approach" comprises four fields: Customer Experience, Conversation, Content and Collaboration. They are the result of a survey of marketers. This revealed that companies grow faster than their rivals if they take the following four components equally into account.
 
1. customer experience: Positive experiences offer the best conditions for starting dialogs with customers and keeping the conversation going. Customers who feel they have been treated well will talk about it with others. Top starters are experiences that exceed expectations and are placed in the right place (touchpoint) at the right time with the most valuable customers. There are customers who are financially valuable because they make frequent purchases. And there are customers who are valuable for communication because they tell others about positive experiences of their own accord. With NZZ am Morgen, the Old Lady has created a new touchpoint. With the electronic newsletter, she is addressing her modern readership, who are particularly keen to share their stories. I buy the NZZ sporadically and visit the online portal. Thanks to NZZ am Morgen, it is now part of my daily information network. I comment on it and publish content from it in my networks. Many others will do the same. New readerships are opening up for the NZZ.
 
2nd Conversation: New media communication is live communication, and it is communication between people. This form of personal, real-time communication differs from what we are used to from advertising and PR. Customers come with questions and concerns and expect answers straight away. They welcome valuable tips and advice, which we actively post in their channels and forums, and they are always open to attractive bargains. Provided they come from people, are written in their language, can be quickly checked and shared with their own network and channel inhabitants without any obstacles and appear at a relevant moment. The NZZ newsletter bears the name of the editor in charge and is, in my opinion, formulated appropriately for the target group and channel. The style differs from the somewhat sober style of the print edition. It is colloquial, entertaining to mischievous and actually invites you to join in the discussion. It is a pity that the necessary feedback channel as a starting point for active discussion is missing. Direct replies to the mail end up with Mr. No-Reply. No-reply is a new media no-go. Every channel must be equipped with a one-click return channel. In the case of email, this is the reply button, on websites it is links to your own forums, and anyone who wants to post a comment must be able to use their social media login to do so. Links to further content are not return channels.
 
3. content: The NZZ offers high-quality content, is an opinion leader in economic issues and its readership is above average in terms of education, income and networks. These are the best prerequisites for getting into conversation with interesting people as an expert with substantial content. The third strategy area deals with content management. It is the guide for the planning, creation and distribution of content. According to an analysis of 770,000 Facebook and 246,000 Twitter conversations conducted by Belleghem, positive messages spread significantly more often and faster than negative ones. The shitstorm hysteria that is rampant in many places is unfounded. Successful content strategists play their way to the top of the click, comment, like and retweet rankings with positively charged content. A new media nod to a media crowd fixated on spreading scandals and crises? Once the - predominantly - positive messages have been determined, the next step is to plan the content intelligently. Belleghem provides a structure with three content categories that deliver different target results:
 
Updates provide facts, figures, news, background reports and how-to guides. They are disseminated daily via blog posts, newsletters, Facebook updates or Twitter messages. Updates bring relationships to life.
Projects provide content from medium to long-term activities. They are linked to product launches, the development of new customer segments and markets or the establishment of new areas of expertise. They are regularly disseminated via online media, accompanied by offline activities.
Campaigns provide content that delivers results very quickly. The goals are reach and sales. They are distributed with targeted offline advertising pressure, accompanied by activities from the company's own online channels.
 
4. collaboration: The journalistic expertise of the NZZ is world-renowned. Not jeopardizing this is an important task. Hence the reluctance to involve the increasingly (co-)writer-friendly readership. This is where a conflict arises. A new generation of consumers is demanding the right to help shape the future. This trend cannot be stopped. It affects all companies. Belleghem provides an exciting approach, "structural collaboration". At its core is the question of how helpful, communicative, competent and creative people from outside can be harnessed for value creation in an organized way. Three functions are in the foreground: the creator, who provides ideas, the communicator, who influences the opinions of others, and the consultant, who accompanies decision-making processes. Behind the idea of "Sructural Collaboration" is a concept with sophisticated recruitment, remuneration and management models. New media makes it possible: more and more companies can count on the helpfulness of their customers. The final question: When will the Old Lady of Print invite us to her next New Media audience?  

Beat Hürlimann

I am interested in your thoughts, concepts, ideas and experiences on the subject of social media strategy. Spark a conversation with a post on www.huerlimanncc.com exciting discussion rounds.

 

   
Mark Forster (left) is the founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Adello. Sandor Laczko works in Zurich as Managing Director.
 
WW: What is Swiss Mobile Tool/AdCTRL? Mark Forster: In this IT project, an analytics team evaluates success factors from historical data sets and in real time, enabling a statistically relevant prediction of how recipients will react to future advertising campaigns. For the first time, user interests can be compared with the targeted advertising. From the user's point of view, the number of unwanted advertisements can be significantly reduced. "AdCTRL" is being developed by a leading international team of experts in Switzerland, Germany and the USA with considerable financial and human resources and is unique to date. We will be ready to launch it at Adello in February. Tests are currently underway on hundreds of millions of data records. In technological terms, it's all about "big data". Companies such as Facebook rely on similar architecture.
 
What idea is this tool based on? AdCTRL originated from our "Swiss Mobile Tool". We developed this in 2011 and started using it internally in 2012. The idea was that we wanted to have a way to measure: How do users react to different campaigns? We recorded and evaluated a few hundred campaigns until we could say: This particular campaign was better than the average or performed better in a particular week than the rest of the time. This allowed us to optimize campaigns manually. Then we saw: We could actually do a lot more with the whole topic. This is how AdCTRL was born.
 
So how can success be measured? There are different types of measurement. There is the hard and fact-based measurement. A click is a fact that the consumer has done something. It is also a fact that we can see which device a user is using, what screen size they have viewed something on and for how long. These are all hard facts that we can measure. The complexity lies in the fact that we move around digitally and leave behind different traces. And change certain parameters in the process. With AdCTRL, we are constantly developing our algorithms in order to predict where we can pick up which target group with which reaction.
 
What added value does the further development offer? We asked ourselves: What is the future of mobile advertising? Is it the case that the traditional standard advertising formats - as we know them in print and online - will be reproduced on mobile? Or simply more advertising faster, but cheaper? In our view, quality is the key to the customer. On the one hand, this is defined by the advertising environment, relevance and an understanding of the situation and needs. With AdCTRL, we know what the consumer is doing and why. We also see certain trends in their usage behavior. This allows us to try to involve the consumer in the advertising. On the one hand, we give them a tool that allows them to say what kind of advertising they are interested in and what advertising they are not interested in at all. In other words, for the first time, consumers have the opportunity to say what they want. Until now, they have seen advertising everywhere, regardless of whether they wanted to or not. As a result, certain companies launched ad blockers. This made it possible to turn off advertising completely. All advertising, in fact. However, we believe that this is not the ideal way to deal with advertising, that you either have to choose everything or nothing. I may not be interested in detergent advertising, for example. But I am interested in advertising for cars, investments or a new cell phone. Advertising can certainly be desirable. That's why we said: At this point, it would make sense for us to give consumers a tool that allows them to have a say and decide for themselves which advertising they want to receive in the future.
 
How do I benefit from AdCTRL?
There are two elements to this. As a consumer, I can exert influence via an AdCTRL app. I can use it to set which advertising I want to see and which I don't. We will first test the offer abroad with our partners before launching it in Switzerland. Independently of this, we have been running our analytics for some time now. This already allows us to make certain statements and optimizations. If someone also happens to download the application, then you can match it perfectly.
 
If I never click on a certain product group,
then the advertising no longer appears?
In principle, yes, that's what our models are designed for. AdCTRL represents a departure from the watering can principle. We can also largely rule out misclicks. In return, we try to display advertising that is carefully optimized to the interests and situation of the user. Just as Google optimizes the search results displayed to the individual person, we do the same for advertising.
 
How can this work?
This is a very complex project. We are working with the latest technologies such as Hadoop, Cassandra, Pig. These allow us to run analyses in real time in order to understand: Are there certain patterns of behavior? Can we form segmentations and clusters? With such analyses, we can ultimately not only say what a consumer has done in the past, but we can also observe their current interests and even predict the likelihood of a consumer doing this or that while browsing. In order to be able to calculate this in real time, we are moving into the area of "big data". This requires not only a very high performance infrastructure, which we had to build up, but also the appropriate specialists. At the moment, we have designed AdCTRL for a performance of around one billion unique clients. We don't need that in Switzerland. We have developed a technology that we say must be able to hold its own internationally. In other words, we have to be able to compete with international players.
 
What are the chances here?
We were surprised to discover that even the large, internationally active companies do not see mobile analytics as a priority and mostly outsource it. Presumably because it is enormously cost-intensive and only brings returns in the medium term. We are really breaking new ground here. To be able to do this, we have had to put together a multinational team.
 
What is Adello's job?
We had the idea in Switzerland, developed the concept and secured the funding. However, we quickly realized that we couldn't find the people here who could actually implement our project. AdCTRL is complex. It involves a lot of hypotheses, mathematical illustrations and modeling. For example, we have three specialists who have doctorates in statistics, machine learning and physics. A typical data set that we analyze comprises 10 GB. In addition to specialists who can handle this, we also need the right machines. This cannot be processed on a notebook with Excel. That means investments on a completely different scale.
 
Which partners has Adello found?
We have searched accordingly, especially in the USA. They are much further ahead on the subject there. I was in Silicon Valley and spoke to various specialized companies. We then put together a project team consisting of Americans with developers in Germany and here in Zurich. We are now working on this international basis. We decided against completely outsourcing the development. And we didn't want to have it done in Eastern Europe or Asia either. Due to the complexity, it has to be absolutely top people, otherwise we won't achieve the quality we want.
 
But the lead is with Adello in Zurich?
Absolutely. We have full control, not only financially, but also in terms of the structure.
 
How big is the budget?
We're talking about several man-years. AdCTRL is never completely finished. We have already invested five man-years in the initial phase, and we will have two people working on the project internally each year, as well as at least one permanent external employee. We are investing a good seven-figure sum in this project on our own initiative. Outsourced, it would be around ten million francs. These are dimensions that a single publisher or agency cannot afford. Let alone bring together the necessary expertise.
 
Will it be worth it?
Most publishers simply try to display as much advertising as possible, even if this is not in the customer's interest. We want to prevent that. Just as Google limits searches to the essential minimum, our aim is to achieve the same on mobile. This is in the interest of the customer and therefore also the publisher. The higher relevance and the lower number of ads mean that we can sell individual ads at a higher price. In our view, increasing quality for consumers, publishers and us is the best way forward for mobile advertising in the long term.
 
How to proceed?
We have developed the basic features of AdCTRL, conducted analyses and we know that we can deliver. Now we have to ramp it up with individual partners. We use it in all countries in which Adello is already active today and wants to be active in the future. The major providers in the mobile sector have nothing comparable at the moment. We are trying to extend our lead.
 
Not afraid of a copy?
We have talked to many companies and most of them are optimizing by increasing the number of ad impressions and simple retargeting. A two-man team can build such a technology in a month. A banner that changes three times within ten seconds in order to generate more advertising is nice, but it doesn't interest the customer at all. With AdCTRL, we are moving in the direction of quality. The development costs are so high that there is little chance of anyone catching up with us nationally. We also work on an international level.
 
A Swiss invention will also influence advertising in the USA?
That would be our goal. We are completely self-financed. Every franc that goes into development is no longer available to me privately. I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't believe that we could significantly improve advertising. We are currently focusing on Europe, but in the medium term we will go global. There is nothing comparable in this area so far.
 
Interview: Andreas Panzeri

Since the beginning of the year, a lot has been new in cinema advertising. For Publicitas Cinecom customers, too. For example, it is now possible to bill according to the number of contacts actually reached. This is something that many advertising customers have wanted for some time.

In a nutshell: Christian Wittmer has been Managing Director and Head of Sales Cinema National at Publicitas Cinecom since February 2012. Previously, he was a management consultant in
different companies and industries.
 
WW: Christian Wittmer, it seems Publicitas Cinecom had to have competition until customer wishes were taken into account.
Christian Wittmer: Of course, tougher competition is forcing Publicitas Cinecom to become more innovative as a provider. Under pressure from the competition - and from advertising customers - we therefore adjusted the pricing model as of 2013. On the supply side, however, not much has changed. The fact that it was previously not possible to book on film, as portrayed in an article (Media Trend Journal, 4-2012), is not true. In addition to geographical choice, we have been offering our customers the option of booking advertising on individual films or genres, i.e. target-group-specific advertising, for several years now.
 
Werbeweischer advertises strongly with the target group approach. Where does Publicitas Cinecom place its focus?
The target group is also a big issue for us. So far, the split has been about 50-50. In the past two years, about half of our customers have taken a geographic approach, and the others have booked on genre or film. In the future, however, I think the target group will play a bigger role than geography. 
 
Target group-specific advertising is the trend. In which cases do you see the geographic approach remaining superior in the future?
The geographic approach is suitable, for example, if a company operates in a limited area and wants to reach all customers there. For a garage owner or optician, it still makes sense to advertise in the cinemas around their location.
 
Let's talk about the pricing model: Why did Publicitas Cinecom stick to the old model, seasonal pricing, for so long?
Price accounting is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it should not be complicated, so that customers and agencies can also book advertising easily who do not deal with cinema advertising every day. On the other hand, there are the major customers and agencies who want performance-based billing. As of this year, we now cover both desires: In the local business, we stick to scale prices. This means that each cinema is divided into a scale according to audience numbers, which costs a fixed amount per month. In national business, we have introduced the thousand-contact price (CPM), which advertising customers already know from other categories.
 
How does the new model work with CPMs?
The model works with two variables: a forecast and the effective visitor numbers. The price for the advertising placement is calculated in advance on the basis of the average number of visitors to a movie theater over the last three years. Billing is then based on the effective contacts.
 
What contact figures do you receive from the cinema operators? After all, the audience figures are not public...
The cinema operators provide us with the audience figures for an auditorium on a weekly basis - in German-speaking Switzerland from Thursday in each case, as the films run.
 
You get the information per film?
The cinema operators decide each week which film will be shown in which auditorium based on their internal audience forecasts. We then receive the figures per auditorium and film every week. In over 90 percent of the cases, one film is shown in one auditorium during one week.
 
The new model is not risk-free. An unexpectedly successful film like "Intouchables" can bring alternative cinemas a lot of viewers one year. The next, such a film is missing, and audiences stay away....
Publicitas Cinecom bears this risk. If a film attracts more viewers than forecast, the advertising customer receives the additional viewers at no extra charge. If the film brings in less, we have a tolerance limit of 10 percent. If the audience figures are lower, we extend the customer's advertising campaign accordingly.
 
Ticket sales say nothing about the buyers. How do advertisers get information about the target group anyway?
To do this, the ticket figures are married with Mach Cinema, WEMF's consumer study. For an action film, for example, we know from Mach Cinema that the audience consists on average of 57.7 percent men between 14 and 29 years of age. If 1000 tickets were sold for an action film, we assume that around 577 of the buyers correspond to this type.
 
In the small Swiss cinema market, several providers could never exist in the longer term. How do you assess the current situation: Is there room for two?
That's difficult to assess from today's perspective. The battle will be fought tooth and nail. Basically, however, I believe that both Publicitas Cinecom and Werbeweischer are interested in cinema gaining ground as a medium, since cinema is undervalued in the advertising pie.
 
Why do you think cinema advertising is underrated?
Cinema is a niche medium due to its low reach. But reach should not be the criterion. What speaks for cinema advertising is the quality of the contact. Moviegoers can remember the advertising very well. The viewer is in a receptive state. Cinema advertising is an intensive experience, which is also enjoyable if the advertising is good. Moreover, the visitor can be reached additionally in the cinema - for example with samplings or give-aways. After a perfume advertisement, a sample is distributed at the exit. Or a car manufacturer displays a model in the foyer. Such opportunities are still underutilized.
 
Werbeweischer has snatched a valuable customer away from Publicitas Cinecom with the Kitag cinemas. How is Publicitas Cinecom coping with this loss?
This loss is painful. However, Publicitas Cinecom remains a major player. We still have a monopoly in Ticino and French-speaking Switzerland. In German-speaking Switzerland, we have a market share of 57 percent. I admit that there are a few blank spots on the map, for example in eastern Switzerland. And it's not all that easy in central Switzerland either. Otherwise, we have a good offering everywhere and still have a leading cinema portfolio throughout Switzerland. With Pathé, we currently have the largest cinema operator on board. For historical reasons, the cinema chain has a stronger presence in western Switzerland. However, Pathé is now also well positioned in German-speaking Switzerland, with the Westside in Bern, the cinemas in Basel, and in Dietlikon near Zurich.
 
Due to the existing monopoly in French and Italian-speaking Switzerland, Publicitas Cinecom promotes national campaigns in particular. How many advertisers run national campaigns at all?
Unfortunately, Ticino is often neglected. Western Switzerland, however, is very much in demand. Nationally active clients are keen to advertise in French-speaking Switzerland as well. More than 50 percent of all campaigns that do not come from local business are present in at least two language regions. For these customers, we remain the first point of contact.
 
National is unlikely to be booked by film in the future either - given the different film preferences in the language regions...
That's right. A film can perform differently in different parts of the country. This is further complicated by the different start dates. It's entirely possible for a film to be released two months earlier or later in French-speaking Switzerland. The differences are becoming smaller and smaller, because film distributors are trying to keep start dates as close together as possible due to piracy. However, certain differences remain.
 
How do you get around this problem?
In national campaigns, we don't define individual films, but a target group and look in the individual regions to see which films appeal to this target group in the time period.
 
Werbeweischer advertises with 3D campaigns and interactive screens. What ideas does Publicitas Cinecom have?
I don't think there will be many 3D campaigns in Switzerland any time soon - the production costs are simply too high for such a small market. Our idea is to network the cinema with other media. We combine the big screen with the ad screens in the cinema, with events, promotions or television.
 
For example, Star TV...
Exactly. Everyone who books cinema with us can also show their advertising for free on Star TV. Star TV is a cinema-affiliated channel and now shows movies every evening from 8 o'clock.
 
Are there cross-media offerings for the online sector?
Negotiations are currently underway with a major cinema portal. The idea is that moviegoers will come into contact with advertising twice: the first time on the online portal when they decide to see a film, and the second time in the theater. However, this is not yet ready to be announced.
 
Interview: Isabel Imper