There are also alternatives to Class
Online Sections: What Class plans to offer in a year is already up and running elsewhere—and independently of PubliGroupe, no less.
Online classifieds What Class wants to offer in a year's time is already running elsewhere - and PubliGroup-independent at that.Class is also eliciting reactions from software companies. "We are more than just an alternative to Class. What is only on paper with Class is already successfully implemented and in operation with us. Tamedia recently entered into a cooperation with us, and we are in negotiations with other publishers," says Peter B. Müller, CEO of Unio AG, a solution provider for cross-media advertising and print management. "Today, we are the only independent alternative to Class and Tamedia," doubles Patrick C. Price, Chief Marketing Officer of Scout24 Schweiz AG, adds. "We have been supplying 300 newspapers and online platforms with real estate, job, car and dating ads for two years now. Everything that Class wants to do in a year's time at the earliest, we already have - and successfully at that." In fact, the websites of the Scout24 family are among the top five in terms of reach in the MA Comis 2004, and in some cases even in first place.
Unio and Scout24 see themselves as partners of the publishers. "It would be easy for us to publish our own print product or launch regional Scout24 websites with, for example, 80,000 car advertisements every day. But we don't do that, firstly because that is the publishers' strength and not ours, and secondly because we want to support the publishers and not compete with them," says Price.
At Unio, the partnership with publishers looks different: The company offers publishers advertising solutions that enable an ad workflow without media discontinuity on the one hand, while also taking into account advertisers' need for simple ad handling on the other. If a publisher opts for a customized Unio solution, it can pass the advertising tool on to its advertising clients free of charge. This gives them a standardized booking option for all print titles and online providers, as all rates, publication dates, discounts and combinations are stored in an associated media database that is always kept up to date. "Instead of us selling the tool to advertising customers, we chose the publishers as partners and multipliers because they already have the contacts to their customers," says Müller. However, both providers are independent of PubliGroupe.
Nevertheless, there are of course differences between Class, Unio and Scout24. First of all, Class and Scout24 and their technology partner Xmedia are both tool providers and (online) marketplaces, while Unio concentrates on the development of cross-media publishing solutions. Class and Unio also differ in two respects: Although both offer advertisers similarly easy access to print titles and online providers, that of Unio is more open because the Unio database includes all Swiss as well as the most important European titles and online marketplaces, whereas Class only stores network members. Conversely, Class offers the searcher access to all advertisements available in the network, while Unio has no such metadatabase. Müller justifies this with a recent Federal Court ruling (see WW 15/05), according to which it is permitted to search the Internet for advertisements and exploit them commercially on one's own website. "It makes no sense to invest in a metadatabase today," says Müller.
Scout24 differs from the two other providers in that access for advertisers is not completely open: anyone booking via Scout24 must first place an online advertisement; a pure print or mobile booking is not yet possible, whereas Unio and Class provide for this. As with Class, the advertiser only has access to those online providers that are Scout24 partners, whereas all Swiss print titles can be booked. Conversely, the searcher has direct access via Scout24 to the entire Scout24 advertising pool, and to the advertisements of the currently around 70 white label partners - and also to their advertisements thanks to cooperation with other online providers.
Markus Knöpfli
Unio and Scout24 see themselves as partners of the publishers. "It would be easy for us to publish our own print product or launch regional Scout24 websites with, for example, 80,000 car advertisements every day. But we don't do that, firstly because that is the publishers' strength and not ours, and secondly because we want to support the publishers and not compete with them," says Price.
At Unio, the partnership with publishers looks different: The company offers publishers advertising solutions that enable an ad workflow without media discontinuity on the one hand, while also taking into account advertisers' need for simple ad handling on the other. If a publisher opts for a customized Unio solution, it can pass the advertising tool on to its advertising clients free of charge. This gives them a standardized booking option for all print titles and online providers, as all rates, publication dates, discounts and combinations are stored in an associated media database that is always kept up to date. "Instead of us selling the tool to advertising customers, we chose the publishers as partners and multipliers because they already have the contacts to their customers," says Müller. However, both providers are independent of PubliGroupe.
Nevertheless, there are of course differences between Class, Unio and Scout24. First of all, Class and Scout24 and their technology partner Xmedia are both tool providers and (online) marketplaces, while Unio concentrates on the development of cross-media publishing solutions. Class and Unio also differ in two respects: Although both offer advertisers similarly easy access to print titles and online providers, that of Unio is more open because the Unio database includes all Swiss as well as the most important European titles and online marketplaces, whereas Class only stores network members. Conversely, Class offers the searcher access to all advertisements available in the network, while Unio has no such metadatabase. Müller justifies this with a recent Federal Court ruling (see WW 15/05), according to which it is permitted to search the Internet for advertisements and exploit them commercially on one's own website. "It makes no sense to invest in a metadatabase today," says Müller.
Scout24 differs from the two other providers in that access for advertisers is not completely open: anyone booking via Scout24 must first place an online advertisement; a pure print or mobile booking is not yet possible, whereas Unio and Class provide for this. As with Class, the advertiser only has access to those online providers that are Scout24 partners, whereas all Swiss print titles can be booked. Conversely, the searcher has direct access via Scout24 to the entire Scout24 advertising pool, and to the advertisements of the currently around 70 white label partners - and also to their advertisements thanks to cooperation with other online providers.
Markus Knöpfli
