"Our goal is not to shoot down Media Focus"
Wemf CEO René Schmutz on Monica, his planned rival product to Media Focus
Wemf CEO René Schmutz on Monica, his planned rival product to Media FocusBy Daniel Schifferle Wemf is launching its Monitor of Investments in Classic Advertising (Monica) at the beginning of 2003. With this, Wemf wants to add the money side to its existing tools. Wemf CEO René Schmutz does not rule out a cooperation with Media Focus, but he does not see any concrete possibilities at the moment.
Monica is a clear challenge to Media Focus. Does Wemf want to shoot down Media Focus?
René Schmutz: You could perhaps interpret it that way. But it is not our aim to attack Media Focus. I have informed IHA-Gfk Managing Director Peter Hofer about what we are going to do. And I told him that we are open to collaborations - if they are possible.
Where would cooperation be conceivable? Wemf is planning a completely different type of data collection than Media Focus does.
Dirt: At the moment, I also have no idea what a collaboration could consist of. But I don't want to rule it out in advance. Our aim is not to shoot down Media Focus. The aim is to offer our customers a good service. If we can do that together with Media Focus, all the better.
Did you poach Hans-Jürg Gränicher from Media Focus?
Schmutz: No. We only talked about our latest project when Gränicher had already resigned from Media Focus.
Up to now, Wemf has surveyed net advertising expenditure once a year on behalf of the Advertising Statistics Foundation. Is that obviously no longer enough?
Schmutz: All our studies and statistics are intended for the advertising market. We create transparency through circulation figures and reader numbers. So it's only logical to show how much money flows into advertising more frequently than before. Statistics on advertising expenditure, which are updated weekly or daily, are an excellent addition to our studies on the money side.
What target group are you aiming for with Monica?
Dirt: media and advertising clients. Perhaps others as well, as will become clear in the course of the detailed work that now lies ahead. The advantage of frequent statistics on advertising expenditure: You can systematize the monitoring of the competition. This is an extremely interesting prospect, both for advertising clients and for the acquisition departments of the media.
How is Monica positioned in the other Wemf studies and statistics?
Schmutz: Monica should be compatible with the other studies. The possibility of networking is very important. For example, with Mach Basic. This compatibility will probably not be available from day one, but it remains our goal.
What costs do Monica users have to expect?
Dirt: There will probably be a subscription for access to the entire database. Access to a reduced data set that costs less is also conceivable. Differentiation according to time criteria is also a possibility. This would mean that up-to-date data would cost more than data from further back. We will now develop a model that is attractive to the market and enables us to generate the necessary revenue.
What does Monica show? Net or gross advertising sales?
Schmutz: That hasn't been definitively decided yet either. It will probably be gross sales for the advertising market. When comparing the media with each other, it would be net sales - the hardest measure of business success.
Why will Monica be better than Media Focus?
Schmutz: Media Focus records the advertisements, commercials etc. directly in the relevant media. We have a different concept. With us, nobody will add up advertisements, and nobody will sit in front of the TV and add up the spots. The basic idea is to transfer the available scheduling data directly from the publishers, TV and radio stations or poster companies into a database. This technology is cheaper because you can use existing data. In contrast to Media Focus, our data will also be more precise - because we will differentiate between paid advertising media and fillers. We already do this today with our advertising statistics.
It would make sense to combine it with the annual study on advertising expenditure published by Wemf on behalf of the Advertising Statistics Foundation. Is this planned?
Schmutz: That is not the main focus. Our study on advertising expenditure has a completely different concept. For the time being, it will continue as before. However, a collaboration with Monica is certainly conceivable at a later date.
What will the organization that you are now setting up for Monica look like?
Dirt: During the development phase, there will be at least three people. We will probably need more for operations. At the moment we are in the process of hiring someone for the back office. Together with this person, Hans-Jürg Gränicher, Stephan Wyss and I will then build the boat so that it can float. But it certainly doesn't need a huge organization.
The timing of the launch of Monica is surprising: while the advertising slump is forcing cutbacks all around, Wemf is expanding massively.
Schmutz: Additional studies make it cheaper to obtain the data. The reason: you can use the same data for different studies. When we launched Mach at the time, three studies were combined. The rationalization potential was around one million francs. One of our ongoing tasks is to continuously rationalize the expensive procurement of data. Monica is a further step in this direction.
Monica is a clear challenge to Media Focus. Does Wemf want to shoot down Media Focus?
René Schmutz: You could perhaps interpret it that way. But it is not our aim to attack Media Focus. I have informed IHA-Gfk Managing Director Peter Hofer about what we are going to do. And I told him that we are open to collaborations - if they are possible.
Where would cooperation be conceivable? Wemf is planning a completely different type of data collection than Media Focus does.
Dirt: At the moment, I also have no idea what a collaboration could consist of. But I don't want to rule it out in advance. Our aim is not to shoot down Media Focus. The aim is to offer our customers a good service. If we can do that together with Media Focus, all the better.
Did you poach Hans-Jürg Gränicher from Media Focus?
Schmutz: No. We only talked about our latest project when Gränicher had already resigned from Media Focus.
Up to now, Wemf has surveyed net advertising expenditure once a year on behalf of the Advertising Statistics Foundation. Is that obviously no longer enough?
Schmutz: All our studies and statistics are intended for the advertising market. We create transparency through circulation figures and reader numbers. So it's only logical to show how much money flows into advertising more frequently than before. Statistics on advertising expenditure, which are updated weekly or daily, are an excellent addition to our studies on the money side.
What target group are you aiming for with Monica?
Dirt: media and advertising clients. Perhaps others as well, as will become clear in the course of the detailed work that now lies ahead. The advantage of frequent statistics on advertising expenditure: You can systematize the monitoring of the competition. This is an extremely interesting prospect, both for advertising clients and for the acquisition departments of the media.
How is Monica positioned in the other Wemf studies and statistics?
Schmutz: Monica should be compatible with the other studies. The possibility of networking is very important. For example, with Mach Basic. This compatibility will probably not be available from day one, but it remains our goal.
What costs do Monica users have to expect?
Dirt: There will probably be a subscription for access to the entire database. Access to a reduced data set that costs less is also conceivable. Differentiation according to time criteria is also a possibility. This would mean that up-to-date data would cost more than data from further back. We will now develop a model that is attractive to the market and enables us to generate the necessary revenue.
What does Monica show? Net or gross advertising sales?
Schmutz: That hasn't been definitively decided yet either. It will probably be gross sales for the advertising market. When comparing the media with each other, it would be net sales - the hardest measure of business success.
Why will Monica be better than Media Focus?
Schmutz: Media Focus records the advertisements, commercials etc. directly in the relevant media. We have a different concept. With us, nobody will add up advertisements, and nobody will sit in front of the TV and add up the spots. The basic idea is to transfer the available scheduling data directly from the publishers, TV and radio stations or poster companies into a database. This technology is cheaper because you can use existing data. In contrast to Media Focus, our data will also be more precise - because we will differentiate between paid advertising media and fillers. We already do this today with our advertising statistics.
It would make sense to combine it with the annual study on advertising expenditure published by Wemf on behalf of the Advertising Statistics Foundation. Is this planned?
Schmutz: That is not the main focus. Our study on advertising expenditure has a completely different concept. For the time being, it will continue as before. However, a collaboration with Monica is certainly conceivable at a later date.
What will the organization that you are now setting up for Monica look like?
Dirt: During the development phase, there will be at least three people. We will probably need more for operations. At the moment we are in the process of hiring someone for the back office. Together with this person, Hans-Jürg Gränicher, Stephan Wyss and I will then build the boat so that it can float. But it certainly doesn't need a huge organization.
The timing of the launch of Monica is surprising: while the advertising slump is forcing cutbacks all around, Wemf is expanding massively.
Schmutz: Additional studies make it cheaper to obtain the data. The reason: you can use the same data for different studies. When we launched Mach at the time, three studies were combined. The rationalization potential was around one million francs. One of our ongoing tasks is to continuously rationalize the expensive procurement of data. Monica is a further step in this direction.
