Publicitas upgrades in Northwestern Switzerland
René Gehrig, formerly part of Tamedia’s executive leadership, is taking over the Basel branch of Publicitas, and Daniel Sommer, a long-time member of the executive board at Basler Zeitung Medien (BZM), will soon head the Liestal branch. These new appointments are particularly interesting given that the Basler Zeitung (BaZ) has terminated its management contract with «P.».
Publicitas is bringing in reinforcements for the greater Basel area. René Gehrig, formerly a senior executive at Tamedia, is taking over the Basel branch. Daniel Sommer, a long-standing member of the Executive Board of Basler Zeitung Medien (BZM), will soon be in charge of the Liestal branch. These new appointments are interesting in view of the fact that Basler Zeitung (BaZ) has terminated its management contract with "P" and has been operating independently since the beginning of the year. However, the intermediary obviously does not want to bury its head in the sand: "We want to send a signal that we are by no means closing up store in Basel, but are continuing to work this market very actively," says Thomas Bargetzi, CEO Sales Switzerland at the reorganized Publicitas.
However, Bargetzi added that he did not want the new appointments to be seen as a challenge to BZM: "We are simply adapting to the changed conditions. He does not want to make negative comments about the former partner on the market, "but I am not afraid of competition. May the best man win!". It had already been announced in December that Publicitas was participating in the RBB radio project, with which Christian Heeb is competing against the BZM station Basel 1, among others, in the current concession award.
René Gehrig, who will be at the helm in Basel, will take over as branch manager from February 1, initially on a part-time basis. He will be in office full-time from May. Gehrig was a member of the Tamedia management board until 2002 and has worked independently for the last five years. Daniel Sommer will also be working in Liestal from February 1. He replaces Peter Kaiser, the previous branch manager in the capital of Basel-Landschaft, who is retiring. With Sommer, Publicitas is bringing a BaZ expert on board: he was the paper's publishing director for nine years. He then worked at the Zehnder media house for almost a year. He is also already familiar with Publicitas, having worked for them before moving to BaZ, including as Publimag Director.
However, Bargetzi added that he did not want the new appointments to be seen as a challenge to BZM: "We are simply adapting to the changed conditions. He does not want to make negative comments about the former partner on the market, "but I am not afraid of competition. May the best man win!". It had already been announced in December that Publicitas was participating in the RBB radio project, with which Christian Heeb is competing against the BZM station Basel 1, among others, in the current concession award.
René Gehrig, who will be at the helm in Basel, will take over as branch manager from February 1, initially on a part-time basis. He will be in office full-time from May. Gehrig was a member of the Tamedia management board until 2002 and has worked independently for the last five years. Daniel Sommer will also be working in Liestal from February 1. He replaces Peter Kaiser, the previous branch manager in the capital of Basel-Landschaft, who is retiring. With Sommer, Publicitas is bringing a BaZ expert on board: he was the paper's publishing director for nine years. He then worked at the Zehnder media house for almost a year. He is also already familiar with Publicitas, having worked for them before moving to BaZ, including as Publimag Director.
