Cheated out of 26 million francs
Job advertisements are expensive. Much more expensive than other advertisements. Now advertisers are fighting back.
Job advertisements are expensive. Much more expensive than other advertisements. Now advertisers are fighting back.
"Reasonable prices always result when prices that are too high are not paid... We therefore call on our members to place their job advertisements in 2004 wherever possible where prices have not been increased compared to 2003 - or to switch to other advertising media." The clear appeal by the Swiss Advertising Client Association (SWA), which can be found in its December bulletin SWA-INFO, is the culmination of a dispute between publishers and advertising clients that has lasted several years. The latter have long been annoyed by the fact that job advertisements are "considerably more expensive" than other advertisements.
Unfounded and antiquated To show that this is by no means "peanuts" from the customer's point of view, the SWA does the math: in 2002, according to the Advertising Statistics Foundation, job advertisements were placed in Switzerland for CHF 320 million. As job advertisements were on average 8.9 percent more expensive than advertisements, advertisers paid around CHF 26 million too much in 2002, writes the SWA. The association also criticizes the fact that job advertisements in most Swiss-German titles (in contrast to most newspapers in French-speaking Switzerland) are not eligible for a discount and are only partially discounted.
The arguments put forward by publishers in favor of the higher job advertisement rates (see interview below) are considered by the SWA to be unfounded and antiquated. Last fall, SWA Director Jürg Siegrist therefore demanded that, at least as of 2004, job advertisements "will not be increased. Nowhere. Because they are already overpriced - in the vast majority of cases they cost more than the other advertisements. And there is no plausible explanation for this difference" (WW 38/03).
Running out of patience
Only a few publishers are heeding Siegrist's call. According to a list compiled by the SWA, of the 43 most important Swiss newspapers, just nine have refrained from increasing their advertising rates, partly for performance reasons, while two others have lowered their rates. In the case of 20 Minuten, Siegrist expressed a certain understanding for the rate increase because the paper already has identical rates for jobs and advertisements and recorded a significant increase in reach in 2003.
There was another reason for the call mentioned at the beginning: publishers are currently rethinking their tariff structure. Clearer tariffs have been announced for 2005. However, this deadline is unlikely to be met. Siegrist: "The SWA and its members - who account for 70 percent of Swiss advertising revenue - are slowly losing patience."
"No plausible explanation": The SWA no longer wants to tolerate higher parking tariffs.
Markus Knöpfli
"Reasonable prices always result when prices that are too high are not paid... We therefore call on our members to place their job advertisements in 2004 wherever possible where prices have not been increased compared to 2003 - or to switch to other advertising media." The clear appeal by the Swiss Advertising Client Association (SWA), which can be found in its December bulletin SWA-INFO, is the culmination of a dispute between publishers and advertising clients that has lasted several years. The latter have long been annoyed by the fact that job advertisements are "considerably more expensive" than other advertisements.
Unfounded and antiquated To show that this is by no means "peanuts" from the customer's point of view, the SWA does the math: in 2002, according to the Advertising Statistics Foundation, job advertisements were placed in Switzerland for CHF 320 million. As job advertisements were on average 8.9 percent more expensive than advertisements, advertisers paid around CHF 26 million too much in 2002, writes the SWA. The association also criticizes the fact that job advertisements in most Swiss-German titles (in contrast to most newspapers in French-speaking Switzerland) are not eligible for a discount and are only partially discounted.
The arguments put forward by publishers in favor of the higher job advertisement rates (see interview below) are considered by the SWA to be unfounded and antiquated. Last fall, SWA Director Jürg Siegrist therefore demanded that, at least as of 2004, job advertisements "will not be increased. Nowhere. Because they are already overpriced - in the vast majority of cases they cost more than the other advertisements. And there is no plausible explanation for this difference" (WW 38/03).
Running out of patience
Only a few publishers are heeding Siegrist's call. According to a list compiled by the SWA, of the 43 most important Swiss newspapers, just nine have refrained from increasing their advertising rates, partly for performance reasons, while two others have lowered their rates. In the case of 20 Minuten, Siegrist expressed a certain understanding for the rate increase because the paper already has identical rates for jobs and advertisements and recorded a significant increase in reach in 2003.
There was another reason for the call mentioned at the beginning: publishers are currently rethinking their tariff structure. Clearer tariffs have been announced for 2005. However, this deadline is unlikely to be met. Siegrist: "The SWA and its members - who account for 70 percent of Swiss advertising revenue - are slowly losing patience."
"No plausible explanation": The SWA no longer wants to tolerate higher parking tariffs.
Markus Knöpfli