Admeira AG, Ringier AG and Ringier Axel Springer Switzerland terminate business relationship with Publicitas

Ringier's latest press release states: "Due to the unsatisfactory payment behavior of the advertising marketer Publicitas for some time, Admeira AG together with Ringier AG and Ringier Axel Springer Schweiz AG have decided to terminate the business relationship with the advertising intermediary with immediate effect. The main reason for this decision is the unsatisfactory financial flow and the resulting payment obligations of Publicitas.Alexander Theobald, COO Ringier Switzerland: "From a business point of view, it was no longer justifiable to continue the cooperation with Publicitas via Admeira. We regret that developments in recent months have forced us to take this step. "All customers and agencies that have booked their advertising via Publicitas will be contacted directly by Admeira, informed of the next steps and asked to make payments only directly to Admeira.Admeira is the direct contact for campaign planning and order processing for all Ringier print titles and online platforms as well as Ringier Axel Springer Switzerland."

Tamedia leads the way - Ringier follows suit

Ringier is thus acting identically to Tamedia - The media company announced yesterday that it would no longer be cooperating with Publicitas. It is doubtful how and whether the advertising intermediary will be able to recover from the loss of two important partners in such a short space of time, and it remains questionable whether advertising clients can continue to work with Publicitas if two of Switzerland's most important media houses now only place their ads via their own intermediaries (Admeira at Ringier and Goldbach at Tamedia).

What does this mean for advertisers?

The fact that both Tamedia and Ringier and Ringier Axel Springer Switzerland respectively are asking to pay advertising costs directly to the media companies adds to the uncertainty. In view of the Tamedia announcement, Publicitas quickly announced that customers should not comply with this request - the money should continue to flow to Publicitas. The attitude of Publicitas is likely to be similar in the case of Ringier, and it stands to reason that advertising clients will initially stop making any transactions at all until the fog has lifted. SWA Director Roland Ehrler takes a critical view of the situation: "With Tamedia and now Admeira terminating their cooperation, it is now very difficult for Publicitas, as an intermediary for print advertising, to remain a credible partner for advertising clients and the remaining publishers," says Ehrler.