Cautious optimism
The BSW agencies were only able to maintain a stable result thanks to seven new members
The 74 consulting and creative agencies that are members of the Swiss Association of Advertising and Communication Agencies (BSW) have clearly felt the effects of the crisis year 2001. Thanks to the inclusion of seven new members (two media agencies, three dialog marketing agencies and two advertising agencies), however, the statistics could be "glossed over" a little: Total BBE grew by 0.1 percent to CHF 436.2 million compared to the exceptional year 2000.
However, the association is equipped for the tasks ahead and the expected upturn. This "cautious optimism" gives hope above all for the coming fall, when the budgets for 2003 will be discussed. Hürlimann therefore spoke of "small victories" and "gradual recovery".
For 2002, the traditional advertising agencies in the BSW expect growth of 1.9 percent, while the non-traditional member agencies expect stronger growth of 5.1 percent. The Board of Directors is convinced that it was the right decision to open the association to such non-traditional agencies from both the media and dialog marketing groups.
As far as general trends are concerned, Hürlimann sees two tendencies in the future. One is towards specialization with small groups. The second trend is one-stop shopping with full-service agencies that can offer customers all services from a single source. "The specialist agencies are growing faster than the old full-service agencies," analyzed the BSW
President the statistics.
In 2001, a difficult year for the advertising industry worldwide, the BSW, as the leading industry association for the Swiss
Advertising and communications agencies, but satisfactory in summary.
For the first time, the association has broken down the annual ranking of its members, which is awaited with great interest, into the individual agency categories and has also created a separate ranking for agency groups. This provides a better overview of the structure of the association. The communication agencies that are members of the BSW account for around 70 percent of the total advertising business generated by agencies in Switzerland.
Promising future with modular schools
"Education in Switzerland is an international showpiece. Nowhere else is second-chance education as developed as it is here," said the President, proudly referring to another focus of the association's activities.
The BSW is very committed to training and further education in order to continue to create the basis for high-quality work for its members. For example, many of the leading people in BSW agencies pass on their knowledge at public colleges and seminars, while the association also organizes its own training courses and seminars exclusively for its members' employees at various levels: ADC/BSW creative school for young graphic designers and copywriters; seminar for strategic planning; Marbach Academy for managers, together with the German Association of Communication Agencies, GWA; management tools seminars for agency managers, financial managers and consultants and, together with the ADC (Art Directors Club) and the IAA (International Advertising Association), the management seminar 03 for the top management bodies of agencies.
The new Vocational Training Act brings with it new requirements for training. Here too, the BSW is actively working on the realignment of industry training modules and is in contact with interested associations and training centers. BSW Managing Director Merz is "out and about somewhere on training policy issues" at least once a week. The attractive appeal of modular training in the future will be that the various parts of the examination for a diploma can also be taken at different schools.
One unsolved problem for SME agencies in particular, however, will be that apprentices will not only have to take more time off school in future. According to the upcoming concepts, master trainers should also regularly attend school again, as otherwise they will no longer be allowed to supervise apprentices.
As an association, the BSW is also concerned about creating optimal framework conditions for its member agencies. In this context, the association's working principles are currently being revised. The paper, whose predecessor has achieved the status of an industry statement, is to be adopted at the members' meeting on April 11 in Lucerne.
The online job placement service bswjobs.com, which was launched last year, has initially developed less dynamically than planned as a result of the general economic situation. The service was actively used in the first six months. Since September 11, however, "nothing has been working at all", explained Merz. However, project manager Evelyne Masson is confident that bsw jobs.com can be continuously expanded again this year as a confidential point of contact for communications professionals and agencies looking for jobs and personnel. "We are hoping for spring."
The new ranking does not yet permit any comparative figures
This year, the official tables of the new ranking deliberately omit the comparative figures from the year 2000 because many agencies have been restructured or otherwise changed. "You would have had to compare apples with pears here," Merz calculated and specified: "You could only have explained the figures with around 40 footnotes." Advertising Week has nevertheless printed the comparative figures for clever statisticians with the appropriate extrapolators.
The figures in AdAge are different once again, as non-BSW members (individual subsidiaries) of the groups are also included here. On the other hand, it is clear that the industry leaders in dialog marketing and specialty agencies can be seen for the first time.
70 percent of all BSW agencies took part in the monitor survey, 90 percent of which were the top 20 agencies. From the figures obtained, it can be calculated that the top 10 realize around 45% of the total annual budget.
Almost half of the agencies expect more income in 2003. Here too, the traditional agencies expect less growth than the dialog and specialist agencies. In the growth sectors, banks and telecommunications have swapped the top two places. The pharmaceutical industry has slipped to the top and IT to the bottom.
Good news for employees: 70 percent of agencies have announced a pay rise for this year. The average increase is 2.5 percent. 95 new jobs were created in 2001 compared to 160 in the previous year.
BSW Ranking 2001 Advertising Agencies
(Figures not always comparable with 2000)
BBE in € million
Rank Agency Location 2001 2000 1999
1 Publicis Werbeagentur AG 1) Zurich 31,743 33,108 32,097
2 Advico Young & Rubicam AG Zurich 30,800 31,317 26,630
3 Wirz Werbung AG Zurich 25,070 24,850 23,100
4 Lowe AG 2) Zurich 21,097 20,338 14,300
5 McCann-Erickson SA Geneva/Zurich 19,562 39,014 40,223
6 TBWA Switzerland AG 3) Zurich/Bern 15,500 15,550 14,400
7 Euro RSCG Switzerland Zurich/Genève/ 14,551 14,862 14,314
Basel
8 Contexta AG Berne 13,620 10,350 7,300
9 Grey Worldwide AG Zurich/Genève 13,100 14,800 11,300
10 FCB Leutenegger Krüll AG Wallisellen 12,650 10,546 6,420
11 Burson-Marsteller AG Berne 10,800 9,870 8,465
12 Jung von Matt/Limmat AG 4) Zurich 10,205 8,484 6,321
13 JWT+H+F Werbeagentur AG 5) Zurich 8,890 8,341 7,971
14 Young & Rubicam Business Genève 8,475 8,008 7,200
Communications SA
15 Grendene, Ogilvy & Mather AG Zurich 8,315 7,586 8,037
16 Lang Gysi Knoll Werbeagentur AG Berne 8,115 7,150 6,750
17 Favo Corporate Communications Arlesheim 6,425 7,279 5,610
18 Saatchi & Saatchi Nyon/Zurich 6,126 5,360 5,055
19 Metzgerlehner AG 6) Erlenbach 5,400 5,900 6,000
20 Cosmic Werbeagentur AG Zurich 5,400 4,900 4,500
21 GGK Zurich Zurich 4,800 5,400 5,200
22 Lesch + Frei Werbeagentur AG Zurich 4,710 5,061
23 cR DDB Basel cR Werbeagentur AG Basel 4,440 3,860 3,217
24 Polyconsult Bern AG 7) Bern 4,000 2,600 3,665
25 Matter & Partner AG Zurich 3,900 3,300 2,960
26 Sulzer, Sutter AG Zurich 3,857 3,362 3,082
27 Erat, Thoma & Herzog Werbeagentur AG Rorschach 3,750 4,120 3,543
28 Schneider, Berthoud Werbeagentur AG Basel 3,620 2,942 3,024
29 Zogg.Kettiger.Gasser. Werbeagentur AG 8) Zurich 3,600 4,600 4,880
30 Pucci Sulzer Werbeagentur AG 9) Zurich 3,299
31 Schmid Riedmann & Partner Lucerne 3,165
32 Guye Benker Werbeagentur AG 10) Zurich 3,018 4,438 3,711
33 Ottiger & Partner AG Reussbühl 2,900 2,650
34 Scotti Werbeagentur AG Zurich 2,740 3,200 2,595
35 Heads Corporate Communication AG Zurich 2,530 2,230 1,521
36 FKP&Partner AG, Zurich 11) Dietikon 2,400 4,300 4,250
37 Hilfiker AG Lucerne 2,380
38 Wyss & Partner AG Zurich 2,320 2,308 2,315
39 S&W Werbeagentur AG Baden-Dättwil 2,022 2,200 2,115
40 Trio Communication marketing SA Lausanne 1,865 1,980 2,253
41 Bonaparte Werbeagentur AG 12) Zurich 1,650 3,100 3,560
42 Synthèse SA Ecublens 1,480 1,400 1,200
43 Kobalt AG 13) Lucerne 740
44 Thomas Vetter Advertising Agency Zurich 398 0.500 0.570
BSW Ranking 2001 Media Agencies
(Figures not always comparable with 2000)
BBE in € million
Rank Agency Location 2001
1 Optimedia Switzerland 1) Zurich 5,162
2 Universal McCann SA 2) Geneva/Zurich 5,011
4 MediaCom Zurich 2) Zurich 2,800
3 OMD Zürich AG 3) Zurich 2,500
5 The Media Edge Zurich 1,534
BSW ranking 2001 dialog marketing and special agencies
(Figures not always comparable with 2000)
BBE in € million
Rank Agency Location 2001 2000
1 Fisch Meier Direkt AG Adliswil 14,651 14,251
2 Futurecom Interactive AG 1) Zurich 10,855
3 Alex Schmid AG 2) Zollikon 5,528 10,300
4 WBO OgilvyOne AG 1) Zurich 4,152
5 Grey Direct Concept AG 1) Baden 2,900
6 Target Group AG Zurich 2,322 2,260
7 Catapult AG Zurich 2,229 3,514
BSW ranking 2001 agency groups
BBE in € million
Rank Agency Location 2001 2000
1 Young & Rubicam Group Switzerland 62,464 50,812
Advico Young & Rubicam AG Zurich 30,800 31,317
Futurecom Interactive AG Zurich 10,855
Burson-Marsteller AG Berne 10,800 9,870
Young & Rubicam Business Communications SA Genève 8,475 8,008
The Media Edge Zurich 1,534 1,617
2 Publicis Group Switzerland 57,682 42,981
Publicis Werbeagentur AG Zurich 31,743 33,108
Fisch Meier Direkt AG Adliswil 14,651 14,251
Saatchi & Saatchi Nyon/Zurich 6,126 5,360
Optimedia Switzerland Zurich 5,162 et al.
3 McCann Group Switzerland 26,895 41,274
McCann-Erickson SA Geneva/Zurich 19,562 39,014
Universal McCann SA Geneva/Zurich 5,011
Target Group AG Zurich 2,322 2,260
4 Grey Group Switzerland 18,800
Grey Worldwide AG Zurich/Genève 13,100 14,800
Grey Direct Concept AG Baden 2,900
MediaCom Zurich Zurich 2,800
5 Euro RSCG Switzerland Group 16,780 18,376
Euro RSCG Switzerland Zurich/Genève 14,551 14,862
Catapult AG Zurich 2,229 3,514
6 Ogilvy Group Switzerland 12,467
Grendene, Ogilvy & Mather AG Zurich 8,315 7,586
WBO OgilvyOne AG Zurich 4,152
