Argovia logo: Schawinski considers legal action

"Embarrassing and unimaginative" - this is how Roger Schawinski commented on Thursday on the new Argovia logo presented at the beginning of January to 20 minutes. "Obviously they wanted to copy the good idea of our new logo". The reason for the annoyance: in Schawinski's eyes, one of the presentation options presented - a white logo on a black circle - is reminiscent of the Planet Radio logo. The station, which was called Radio 105 until mid-2014 and was saved from closure by Schawinski at the last second. saved was. In August, listeners were able to vote for the new Planet Radio logo, and the two finalists were selected in a design competition (Werbewoche.ch reported). The winning proposal was submitted by the Zurich agency Resign.

Schawinski has now announced that Planet 105 is considering legal action. Lawyers are to clarify "whether this is legal". The media pioneer sees a possible risk of confusion, particularly in connection with media partnerships - namely when the logos are shown on posters or flyers.

The agency responsible, Schaerer und Partner, considers Schawinski's accusations to be "absolutely unfounded", as owner Andy Schaerer explained to Werbewoche.ch. The new logo is based on the previous elements of star and lettering, black on white, without a circle. The black circle is only used for marketing visualization - and then always together with the colored elements, which take up the "old" colors of the Argovia logo.

And like Argovia Managing Director Roland Baumgartner, Schaerer also emphasizes that the logo process was already started at the beginning of 2014 and that the new design had been in place long before the relaunch of Planet 105. As Baumgartner told 20 Minuten, the campaign was only launched now because the company had previously been involved in a legal dispute over radio licenses. With Roger Schawinski, who announced in June that he would not accept the ruling of the Federal Administrative Court and would file a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights. In October 2013, Schawinski had the Confirmation of the concession by the Uvek as the "next chapter in the Aargau radio license farce". In the dispute over radio licenses, Schawinski and his partners claimed that they wanted to crack the media monopolies in Graubünden (Somedia) and Aargau (AZ Medien).

In Baden, where the full-service agency Schaerer und Partner is based, the current discussion about the logos is taken with humor: "We thank Roger Schawinski for this PR wave," says Schaerer. "The logo would not have achieved so much publicity on its own. With or without the circle." (hae)