To be or not to be with the stars is not a question
Magazines For the third time in a row, Schweizer Illustrierte is dramatizing its good relationships with Swiss celebrities with a campaign designed by Wirz.
Magazines For the third time in a row, Schweizer Illustrierte is dramatizing its good relationships with Swiss celebrities with a campaign designed by Wirz.
Paparazzi: a painful topic for celebrities, but the basis of scandal stories for many a people magazine. But not for Schweizer Illustrierte (SI), which has positioned itself as "the only Swiss people magazine" (self-declaration) on the market for around ten years.
The use of such images is not an issue for the Ringier weekly magazine. SI doesn't even need them - at least that's what the campaign claim "Closer to the stars" introduced two years ago by the Wirz agency claims. Because SI photographers don't need a super telephoto lens - much to the frustration of the paparazzi. When launching the claim in 2001, the Wirz creatives visually exploited the paparazzi's displeasure at the lack of proximity to "their" stars by showing an SI reporter next to celebrities in blurred snapshots.
While this concept worked very well on advertisements, as Wirz CD Matthias Freuler explains, the public lacked a reference for the posters. A new visual language was therefore agreed for last year's campaign: The star lets the SI reporter take part in his activities. This concept should also support the magazine this year in order to "retain its approximately one million readers and continuously increase circulation", as publishing director Urs Heller comments.
Good contacts used
After ex-Miss Switzerland Mahara McKay and goalie Martin Zuberbühler, this year Gold-Simi (Amman) is competing with the SI reporter on the ski jump and Melanie Winiger is splashing around in the bath with the photographer. "When we started with this creative strategy, it wasn't imperative for us to depict 'real' celebrities," explains Matthias Freuler. Nevertheless, those responsible on the customer side were of the opinion that the existing good contacts should be used for the appearance. Freuler: "It's great to work with stars, especially professionals like Melanie Winiger, but the campaign also works without famous faces."
This was already proven last year: The subjects "Yoga" and "Ballet" lived solely from the respective synchronicity of the models - but were no less popular as poster motifs than McKay or Zuberbühler, Freuler is pleased to report. This year too, a (still) unknown South African mermaid shows off her water-skiing skills next to the obligatory SI reporter, while another SI employee has his head cut off in order to be "inconspicuously" close to the Hamlet actor.
Freuler makes sure that the reporters are seen as companions and not as friends of the "stars". The outfit should make this clear: While the person portrayed is dressed appropriately for the respective activity, the SI man always presents himself in a reporter's outfit - even on water skis or in the bathtub. The impression that the two people are connected should be avoided at all costs, emphasizes the Wirz creative.
Freuler attributes the success of the two-year campaign strategy - the appearances won national and international awards - to the easy-to-understand visual language. This communication with few words also pleases the publishing director: "Even on the advertisement there are only four words and these are the same words that the editor-in-chief says to his editorial team.
Even in close proximity to celebrities, the SI reporter keeps his classic outfit.
Simone Keller
Paparazzi: a painful topic for celebrities, but the basis of scandal stories for many a people magazine. But not for Schweizer Illustrierte (SI), which has positioned itself as "the only Swiss people magazine" (self-declaration) on the market for around ten years.
The use of such images is not an issue for the Ringier weekly magazine. SI doesn't even need them - at least that's what the campaign claim "Closer to the stars" introduced two years ago by the Wirz agency claims. Because SI photographers don't need a super telephoto lens - much to the frustration of the paparazzi. When launching the claim in 2001, the Wirz creatives visually exploited the paparazzi's displeasure at the lack of proximity to "their" stars by showing an SI reporter next to celebrities in blurred snapshots.
While this concept worked very well on advertisements, as Wirz CD Matthias Freuler explains, the public lacked a reference for the posters. A new visual language was therefore agreed for last year's campaign: The star lets the SI reporter take part in his activities. This concept should also support the magazine this year in order to "retain its approximately one million readers and continuously increase circulation", as publishing director Urs Heller comments.
Good contacts used
After ex-Miss Switzerland Mahara McKay and goalie Martin Zuberbühler, this year Gold-Simi (Amman) is competing with the SI reporter on the ski jump and Melanie Winiger is splashing around in the bath with the photographer. "When we started with this creative strategy, it wasn't imperative for us to depict 'real' celebrities," explains Matthias Freuler. Nevertheless, those responsible on the customer side were of the opinion that the existing good contacts should be used for the appearance. Freuler: "It's great to work with stars, especially professionals like Melanie Winiger, but the campaign also works without famous faces."
This was already proven last year: The subjects "Yoga" and "Ballet" lived solely from the respective synchronicity of the models - but were no less popular as poster motifs than McKay or Zuberbühler, Freuler is pleased to report. This year too, a (still) unknown South African mermaid shows off her water-skiing skills next to the obligatory SI reporter, while another SI employee has his head cut off in order to be "inconspicuously" close to the Hamlet actor.
Freuler makes sure that the reporters are seen as companions and not as friends of the "stars". The outfit should make this clear: While the person portrayed is dressed appropriately for the respective activity, the SI man always presents himself in a reporter's outfit - even on water skis or in the bathtub. The impression that the two people are connected should be avoided at all costs, emphasizes the Wirz creative.
Freuler attributes the success of the two-year campaign strategy - the appearances won national and international awards - to the easy-to-understand visual language. This communication with few words also pleases the publishing director: "Even on the advertisement there are only four words and these are the same words that the editor-in-chief says to his editorial team.
Even in close proximity to celebrities, the SI reporter keeps his classic outfit.
Simone Keller
