The Russians are coming

Foreign Press: Let the rubles roll: A new newspaper targets Russians in Switzerland. «Russkaya Shveizaria» is the name given to numerous regions in Russia with picturesque landscapes. «Russkaya Shveitseriya»—Russian Switzerland—is also the name of the monthly newspaper that Alexandr Peske and Serguei Sander have been publishing in Zurich since early May. It is published entirely in Russian and in the Cyrillic alphabet. More and more people from Ufa, Chelyabinsk, or Krasnaya Polyana are living in Switzerland or spending their vacations here. There are no exact figures. Peske and Sander estimate the number of Russian-speaking immigrants at around 25,000. In the Zurich area alone, there are over 4,000. Many who moved here during the Soviet era now have Swiss passports. The publishers of *Russkaya Shveizaria* consider them an excellent target audience. They are primarily 30- to 50-year-olds “with college degrees, high purchasing power, cosmopolitan, and with a keen interest in lifestyle and luxury goods.” Businesspeople and tourists from the CIS countries also have high incomes and social status, according to the media documentation.
Russkaja Schwejzarija offers these people feature stories and interviews on society, the economy, integration, culture, and lifestyle. Its services include statistics, legal information, and reports on the lives of the Russian diaspora in Switzerland.
Online forum as a foundation
The monthly magazine grew out of the online forum Ruswiss.ch, which Serguei Sander launched four years ago. At the time, the mathematician and IT expert was working as a web developer at Tamedia and was responsible, among other things, for the websites of TV 3 and Du.
Ruswiss.ch currently has 3,000 registered users and 1,000 visitors per day, figures that Sander has had certified by WEMF’s Net-Audit. He is launching the newspaper with a circulation of 6,000 copies. It is published as a tabloid with 16 to 20 pages so far and can be subscribed to or purchased for 3.50 francs at newsstands and in Russian stores. It is also available for free as a PDF on the website.
The Zurich-based agency PubliFine is handling the ad sales. According to Managing Director Werner Marthaler, the campaign is primarily targeting hotels and tourist centers, as well as Russian businesses. In addition, the agency is also seeking clients in the luxury segment—Marthaler cites beauty clinics as an example. Upon request, existing ads can be translated into Russian.
Russkaya Shveizaria: The monthly newspaper is targeting an attractive niche market.

Neglected Foreigners: "Russkaya Shveizaria" is the first Russian-language newspaper in Switzerland.
Other foreign-language communities also have their own media outlets. The Swiss Press Database lists ten Italian, nine Portuguese, six Spanish, and three Turkish publications. Two daily newspapers are published in Albanian.
These publications are struggling in the advertising market. «Agencies aren’t even familiar with our media,» laments Antonio Campanile, who, along with
Through his company, Mediapresse, he handles Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese newspapers. Foreign-language newspapers are rarely accepted. On average, Mediapresse’s publications have only five to ten percent Swiss customers.
«The foreign press is not very well known as a genre,» agrees Urs Schneider of the Mediaschneider agency. The titles are rare
It’s certified and not of interest to the mass market. Ronny Schmid of Konnex can envision it being used primarily as a goodwill gesture. The fact that the advertising environment is difficult to assess due to the foreign language is an additional complication for him. (sm)
Stefano Monachesi