Ally McBeal striking
Law firms The Zurich Bar Association (ZAV) is exploring new marketing channels and advertising its services on posters. A revolution in the discreet guild? No problem.
Law firms The Zurich Bar Association (ZAV) is exploring new marketing channels and advertising its services on posters. A revolution in the discreet guild? No problem.
"Does your wife send her regards through the judge?" or "Is the public prosecutor looking for a quiet place for you?" are just two of eight poster headlines that have been advertising a discreet profession with a wink for a few days now. The sender reveals himself with the preventive advice: "Better come before you have to. Your lawyer. Your lawyer." The Zurich Bar Association (ZAV) is behind the two-week poster campaign, which aims to make the wide range of services offered by its members known to the general public. The plea for early legal advice was necessary because "most people see lawyers as tough fighters in court who box their clients out of difficulties," says CD Markus Gut of the Publicis agency. He is thinking of the image of lawyers that has been cemented in part by American trial thrillers. In addition, the media's coverage of trials paints an incomplete picture of the legal profession. According to a ZAV study conducted in 2000, the non-litigation area - legal advice - accounted for two thirds of lawyers' fees.
With a poster campaign - Publicis won the pitch last summer - the ZAV therefore wants to counterbalance this perception. At the press conference, Mirko Ros, President of the ZAV, cited further reasons that led to the relaxation of the code of conduct: in addition to liberalization abroad, the revision of the Cartel Act and the new Federal Act on the Free Movement of Lawyers, there is competition on the legal advice market - fiduciary offices and legal departments of companies - which do not have to adhere to the guidelines that previously applied to lawyers.
Does the generic campaign with the catalog of services really represent a breach of taboo for the legal profession? Are the ironic Publicis texts by Johannes Jost - himself an advocate - and Albert Matzinger actually breaking down a previously advertising-free bastion, and does this jeopardize the dignity of the profession? Bruno Pellegrini, spokesman for the Swiss Bar Association (SAV) in Bern, waves the question away: "There was already association advertising in 1986," he recalls. "Your lawyer knows what to do" was the copy of the advertisements at the time, which described various situations. As part of the opening up of the EU services directives, the communication practices of Swiss lawyers also underwent a gradual adjustment: in the 1990s, practice brochures appeared with lists of services but without reference lists, law firms distributed so-called "in-house newspapers", target-specific PR events such as themed podiums were organized, and finally "tombstone" advertisements for mergers and acquisitions found their way into the business pages of major newspapers, in which the law firms presented their advisory services to readers.
Unlike in the USA, where law firms use TV commercials to acquire clients, Pellegrini says that lawyers do not represent a major market potential for the traditional advertising industry in Switzerland. Advertising messages from law firms on billboards or on the radio are hardly associated with credibility and seriousness by the Swiss public. This is also reflected in marketing studies, according to which more than 95 percent of relevant new client contacts are gained through verbal recommendations. "That's why I don't think there will be more advertising, but rather target group-specific PR," says Pellegrini.
Poster campaign by Zurich lawyers: Call your lawyer first if things get dicey.
Luca Aloisi
"Does your wife send her regards through the judge?" or "Is the public prosecutor looking for a quiet place for you?" are just two of eight poster headlines that have been advertising a discreet profession with a wink for a few days now. The sender reveals himself with the preventive advice: "Better come before you have to. Your lawyer. Your lawyer." The Zurich Bar Association (ZAV) is behind the two-week poster campaign, which aims to make the wide range of services offered by its members known to the general public. The plea for early legal advice was necessary because "most people see lawyers as tough fighters in court who box their clients out of difficulties," says CD Markus Gut of the Publicis agency. He is thinking of the image of lawyers that has been cemented in part by American trial thrillers. In addition, the media's coverage of trials paints an incomplete picture of the legal profession. According to a ZAV study conducted in 2000, the non-litigation area - legal advice - accounted for two thirds of lawyers' fees.
With a poster campaign - Publicis won the pitch last summer - the ZAV therefore wants to counterbalance this perception. At the press conference, Mirko Ros, President of the ZAV, cited further reasons that led to the relaxation of the code of conduct: in addition to liberalization abroad, the revision of the Cartel Act and the new Federal Act on the Free Movement of Lawyers, there is competition on the legal advice market - fiduciary offices and legal departments of companies - which do not have to adhere to the guidelines that previously applied to lawyers.
Does the generic campaign with the catalog of services really represent a breach of taboo for the legal profession? Are the ironic Publicis texts by Johannes Jost - himself an advocate - and Albert Matzinger actually breaking down a previously advertising-free bastion, and does this jeopardize the dignity of the profession? Bruno Pellegrini, spokesman for the Swiss Bar Association (SAV) in Bern, waves the question away: "There was already association advertising in 1986," he recalls. "Your lawyer knows what to do" was the copy of the advertisements at the time, which described various situations. As part of the opening up of the EU services directives, the communication practices of Swiss lawyers also underwent a gradual adjustment: in the 1990s, practice brochures appeared with lists of services but without reference lists, law firms distributed so-called "in-house newspapers", target-specific PR events such as themed podiums were organized, and finally "tombstone" advertisements for mergers and acquisitions found their way into the business pages of major newspapers, in which the law firms presented their advisory services to readers.
Unlike in the USA, where law firms use TV commercials to acquire clients, Pellegrini says that lawyers do not represent a major market potential for the traditional advertising industry in Switzerland. Advertising messages from law firms on billboards or on the radio are hardly associated with credibility and seriousness by the Swiss public. This is also reflected in marketing studies, according to which more than 95 percent of relevant new client contacts are gained through verbal recommendations. "That's why I don't think there will be more advertising, but rather target group-specific PR," says Pellegrini.
Poster campaign by Zurich lawyers: Call your lawyer first if things get dicey.
Luca Aloisi
