Enforceable authentic instrument" is the unwieldy name of a new tool that was introduced with the Swiss Code of Civil Procedure (CPC) at the beginning of 2011. It enables the creditor to enforce his claim against a defaulting debtor without prior civil proceedings. The object of the deed can be any type of performance. In addition to monetary claims, other benefits can also be considered, such as benefits in kind or the submission of a declaration of intent. Only certain areas of private social law are excluded from this. For example, for socio-political reasons, a public deed may not be drawn up for claims arising from employment, rental and consumer contracts (such as consumer credit agreements). On the other hand, the deed is possible for maintenance claims under family law. In practice, the deed was previously mainly drawn up if a debtor failed to pay a debt despite it being due and the parties agreed a repayment plan.

The notary is responsible for drawing up the deed. The debtor must pay the costs. These are based on the corresponding cantonal notary fee tariff. In the canton of Zurich, they are based on the amount in dispute. They amount to one per thousand of the amount in dispute, but at least CHF 200.

If the debtor does not pay later, the creditor must enforce the monetary claim by means of debt enforcement. He must therefore initiate debt enforcement proceedings against the debtor like any other creditor. If the debtor defends himself against the payment order with a legal proposal, the creditor must apply for its removal in court proceedings to open legal proceedings. The enforceable public deed has a privileged status compared to an ordinary acknowledgement of debt: it is regarded as a definitive title for the opening of legal proceedings. The debtor can still assert defenses. However, it is not enough for him to make them credible - as in the case of ordinary acknowledgement of debt. He must prove them immediately, with documents. Mere assertions are no longer sufficient. If the debtor fails to provide proof, the court will remove the legal proposal. The creditor can continue the debt enforcement proceedings until bankruptcy proceedings are opened. The debtor then has the option of bringing an action for a negative declaratory judgment or - if he has paid the claim - an action for recovery. In both cases, however, the plaintiff bears the litigation risk because he has to advance the court costs.

The public deed has another advantage: the creditor can use it to place a so-called attachment on the debtor's assets if they do not pay on time. As a result, the debtor can no longer dispose of the assets in question. Seizure is possible at the court at the place of debt enforcement or at the place where the assets are located.
 

Okay, there are fewer and fewer regular media criticism pages or outlets in the printed daily or weekly press. Unfortunately, this is the case. When articles critical of the media appear in the printed press today, they are unfortunately more and more often stories about which one is never sure whether they were only put in the paper to piss off the dear competition, to denigrate the politically differently thinking journalist colleagues or simply to join in the howling of the wolves. Or simply because one wants to fill an extra sheet with statements that don't get any better or truer if one repeats them prayerfully.

But all this does not mean that there is less genuine media criticism. On media sites on the Internet, in media blogs, on Twitter and even on Facebook, which is so hated by the usual cultural pessimists, there are probably more media-critical contributions today than ever before. And not only from Switzerland, but also from abroad.

However, there is a decisive difference between these and the printed version. In contrast to print articles that are critical of the media, which are very rarely responded to, online media criticism is always the starting point for a discussion - in other words, media criticism 2.0.

I can already hear the mutterings of online critics and print fetishists pointing out the often subterranean quality of blog comments. Of course, some of the reactions are beyond any serious content. But dear people, letters to the editor are not always of high quality either. But at least you can throw them away. In addition, there are always excellent comments or food for thought that move the discussion forward. You just have to choose the people you follow on Twitter or count among your friends on Facebook. It's just like in real life: I don't choose the biggest jerk as my evening conversation partner, only to realize indignantly afterwards that a discussion with him or her didn't help me at all. What amazes me is that you read practically nothing about these discussions from the online world in the printed press. I don't exclude myself from that either. In the future, I will increasingly refer to such contributions or comment on them and put them up for discussion. Both online and in print.

Pierre C. Meier, Editor-in-Chief [email protected]
 

The position paper, of which a final draft is available, proposes an advertising surcharge and a data traffic levy to promote the press. "We are looking for a financing solution without tax money, an industry solution," said SP National Councillor Hans-Jürg Fehr (SH) in an interview with the industry newspaper Edito+Klartext, which was published online on Thursday. The SP is considering a subsidy fund that would be fed from two sources.

One source the SP has in mind is an advertising surcharge. A surcharge of one to two percent could be levied on every franc that a medium charges for advertising. Media companies would have to add this advertising surcharge to their advertising prices, similar to VAT. To prevent distortion of competition, the advertising surcharge should also be levied on radio and television advertising.

As a second source, the SP proposes a so-called data traffic levy: "Search engines such as Google generate an enormous amount of data traffic and profit from journalistic services to which they have contributed nothing," explained Fehr. A levy could be imposed on this data, based on the model of the performance-based heavy vehicle charge.

According to Fehr, Swisscom has already confirmed that such a levy would be technically feasible. "Data traffic is already being measured today. It would be quite possible to allocate it to the respective originators," said Fehr. However, it is important that this levy is not imposed on users, but on "large monopolists such as Google and others". The network operators would have to claim the data traffic levy.

100 million francs per year

According to Fehr, the SP assumes that each of the levies would bring in around CHF 50 million per year. "The tax money currently paid out for indirect press funding would therefore no longer be necessary or would only be needed on a subsidiary basis," said Fehr. However, not everyone should benefit unconditionally from the millions in subsidies: "The subsidy fund concludes a performance mandate with private media, just as the Federal Office of Communications Bakom does today with local radio stations and private regional television stations that want to participate in fee splitting," explained Fehr.

If you want money, you have to adhere to certain guidelines. These include a commitment to training and further education for journalists and a certain share of certain journalistic services, said Fehr. The SP also wants to set conditions regarding wages and working conditions.

Next week, the party's internal media working group will discuss the new position paper on press funding. Fehr expects "at most a few tweaks", as he told the SDA news agency when asked. The paper will then be presented to the party leadership. It should finally be published in January or February 2013. (SDA)
 

A badger as a traffic ambassador is already a little strange in its approach. After all, a badger is neither as clever as a fox, nor as colorful as a parrot with a quasi-natural safety vest, nor as nimble as a weasel that could dart across the often life-threatening Swiss crosswalks. So why Axa Winterthur opted for a badger as the guardian of the golden warning triangle will remain its secret. "The badger is a compact, stocky earth marten with a slender head, a trunk-like snout and strong digging paws," says Wikipe- dia. But that's not all: Max, the badger, is also an idiot. At least on the other side of the Röstigraben.

But first things first: Every child (and every adult) knows Max the badger, the heraldic animal of Axa Winterthur. His job is to encourage children to behave correctly and safely in road traffic. The clever badger appears in commercials and fills posters and books with wisdom from road traffic: "Stop, stop, it's red!" That's a good thing, because kids love and obey Max the badger. The little animal sometimes annoys adults with his super-smart mode. But Max doesn't deserve to be called an idiot.

Is it dawning?

Nevertheless, the badger has now made a monkey of himself in Axa Winterthur's current nationwide "twilight campaign". This is because in the French-speaking part of Switzerland he comes across as "Max le Blaireau", Max the idiot. Of course, Blaireau means "badger", but also "shaving brush" or simply "brush". And anyone who is called that in French is considered an idiot by the person calling them. The supposedly renowned translator from Axa (or, more precisely, from Nord-Süd Verlag, which realized the project for Axa) should have known this. But she didn't! The French translation not only loses rhyme and wit, as is so often the case when translating into another language. It also exposes the mascot and everything it stands for to ridicule. At last, the Romands were once again able to laugh heartily and maliciously at the Suisses toto. And they did so extensively. On Facebook and YouTube, in emails and on the street.

The situation is even more embarrassing because Axa Winterthur has been part of the French Axa Group for a few years now. It's almost unbelievable that no one in the entire company noticed the ambiguity of Max le Blaireau. Presumably there are simply no idiots there. A press spokeswoman points to the Nord-Süd publishing house as the culprit, and in any case they have learned from the mistake and simply deleted "le Blaireau" - at least on the posters. In Welschland, Max is now simply Max. A bit naked for everyone who knows Max the badger. But still better than a jerk as a mascot. In the books, Max remains an idiot until a new edition is due. For ecological reasons. The badgers say thank you. "If you lie, you'll see in the dark," proclaims Max in the current campaign. That's right. And if you know French, you'll also be understood in French-speaking Switzerland. Vous avez compris?
 

There is a great deal of uncertainty - not only among publishers here, but also around the world, operators of ad-financed websites are faced with the question of how to deal with automated trading processes (often referred to as real-time bidding/advertising, RTA/RTB). Even those who have not yet fully grasped the topic realize that this is accompanied by far-reaching changes in the advertising industry. It is therefore not surprising that the Werbewoche survey of publishers in Switzerland on RTA was far from being met with a response everywhere (including from a nationally known company with a lavishly expanded media office) and that the other responses (see separate text) were markedly different. It is hardly a question of whether RTA should be introduced in Switzerland or not. After all, a significant proportion of the advertising space available on the Internet has long been traded in this way: Google certainly does, but also foreign providers with a Swiss presence, such as Microsoft's MSN platform. In addition, there is the so-called cross-border traffic, i.e. all the hits from Switzerland on websites abroad that are monetized via RTA. Media agencies in particular are hoping that this will lead to more efficient purchasing processes (see WW 20/ 9.11.2012, p. 30 f.) However, it remains to be seen how prices and revenues will develop if advertising space is allocated to the best bid within fractions of a second across a wide area.
 
When it comes to RTAs, publishers can be divided into these categories:

The conservatives: They fear that RTA methods are not sufficiently geared towards marketing their premium placements, but that they are primarily used to sell off remaining seats at low prices. This is often influenced by past experience, as investments in online solutions failed to achieve the hoped-for success, if not leading to steep losses and falling prices. These publishers secretly hope that if enough publishers fail to adopt RTA, this trend will collapse and the status quo with the familiar processes will continue to thrive. If they can no longer do without the earnings potential of RTA trading, they risk having to act hastily and disadvantageously if they change their strategy due to a lack of experience and knowledge.
 
The exclusives: They have what many conservatives dream of: they are positioned in a vertical niche in such a way that they can not only promise advertisers that they will reach their target groups accurately, but can also deliver this at good prices. Those who pursue this strategy and achieve sustainable good returns are not dependent on RTAs. This group includes the Economist, for example, whose online boss says (see "Advertisers make content") that he has not yet tried RTA because no inventory remains unsold. Due to the curse of the small market, such a strategy can hardly be implemented on a large scale in Switzerland.
 
The progressives: Where conservatives shy away from risk, they venture forth. They invest in infrastructure and build up expertise with the intention of taking a leading role from the outset and thus defending and expanding their position. They hope for higher sales at higher prices and are willing to accept the risk of cannibalizing their direct sales and selling premium seats at low prices.
 
The pragmatists: They try to find a middle way in order to be able to use RTA as controlled as possible. However, this requires considerable investment in time and management resources and the absolute intention to be successful. According to the American specialist literature, these success methods are at the forefront:
 
1 Optimize blocking: One of the biggest fears publishers have is around protecting premium inventory and preventing conflicts with their own sales team's direct sales. This can be prevented by entering blacklists in your own RTA system (a so-called sales-side platform, SSP). However, this is not enough, as these lists must be constantly maintained so that they are always up to date and reflect your own deals with new customers, for example.
 
2 Evaluate reports. RTA systems provide extensive amounts of data, the analysis of which can lead to market advantages. For example, if new customers can be identified who book in via RTA and can be approached directly by your own sales team. Sellers can also recognize what prices buyers are willing to offer and possibly adjust their own prices accordingly.
 
3 Test prices. Before parts of the inventory are released for RTA trading, trials can be run with deliberately high prices. As a rule, this will hardly lead to large sales, but price sensitivity can be sounded out and it can be recognized which advertising customers are willing to buy at which prices. In this way, the pricing policy and blacklists can be optimized.
 
4 Explore closed trading platforms. Anyone who has gained experience in the open RTA landscape will be able to draw conclusions from this in order to set up or participate in closed trading platforms. In this way, market participants and the traded inventory can be well controlled and the efficiency benefits of automated trading can be realized for all participants. Obviously, this step is reserved for the heavyweights of the industry. One example of such an approach is French publishers, who announced the founding of "La Place Media" at the beginning of September, through which more than 80 media sites can currently be booked using RTA methods.

Ultimately, publishers are not interested in preventing RTA. Above all, they want to ensure that they do not cannibalize their direct sales. And ultimately, they want RTA to become a seller's market rather than a buyer's market.
 
Christoph J. Walther

Thomas Moll, Head of Online Development/Projects Tamedia AG:

Swiss market participants are increasingly talking about real-time advertising instead of real-time bidding with regard to automated trading in online advertising. Tamedia very much welcomes this development. We are also very interested in more efficient order processing. We can also imagine opening up to automated buying and selling of online advertising in the near future, with the focus on process optimization rather than price dumping, and would also be prepared to pass on transaction cost savings to advertising customers. However, we would demand a concession from media agencies and intermediaries, to whom we currently pay 15 percent commission for each order for the additional work involved in booking online advertising. In any case, Tamedia's role as an active marketer of its own advertising space remains central, as we are not aiming for a market in which third parties trade Tamedia's advertising inventory in their own name and put together their own products.

Branko Radosevic Russo, Head of Advertising Market Digital Media Blick Group:

We at the Blick Group consider RTB in Switzerland to be problematic. In particular, we find it negative that the focus is no longer on quality, but only on price. Also, RTB cannot generate additional income from abroad in the long term. Although additional budget will be generated in the short term through one or two customers, in the long term RTB in its traditional form will lead to a price collapse of the thousand-contact price (CPM) in the Swiss market. This is because RTB providers will be able to book more and more cheap crossboarder websites in order to reduce their purchase price. The logo of the Swiss premium publishers would merely be used to give customers the impression of better quality. However, the campaigns could still be delivered on cheap, international websites. If RTB is ever to be an issue for the Blick Group, then only in a closed network without various other (foreign) sites. We cannot support the current system in this way, as it does not provide the quality that is decisive for the customer, but only focuses on quantity at a low CPM. In order to optimize RTB and networks accordingly, we have been successfully working closely with media agencies (e.g. Omnicom Media AG) for years.

Michael Baum, Stailamedia, on behalf of the Sportal Group:

We see the development towards real-time advertising as a groundbreaking opportunity for the entire online display market. The direct line between advertiser and publisher and the automated handling of booking processes reduce transaction costs. This means that online display advertising money will be invested more efficiently in the future. This will increase the demand for display advertising, which is ultimately in the interests of publishers. Of course, cross-border traffic and the trend towards automated buying via RTB are influencing the price structure in Switzerland. However, we firmly believe that high-quality Swiss environments are essential for Swiss campaigns and that the associated higher prices are justified. With RTB, publishers can establish their own networks. As soon as the demand side is fully equipped with DSPs, intermediary networks will become superfluous. Publishers take back control of their own inventory.

Remo Baumeler, Head of Advertising Market NZZ-Net:

The importance of RTB is still low in Switzerland, as the most important publishers have not yet offered their advertising inventory via such systems. In addition, there is still too little know-how in the industry. RTB will certainly become more important, but it won't happen overnight. It is important that we are very familiar with all market-relevant technologies, which is why building up expertise is a priority for us. As mainly behavioral advertising is booked on RTB platforms, the environment no longer has the same significance. As a result, price pressure is increasing, as most Swiss sites cannot keep up with the cheap inventory from abroad. Indirectly, therefore, quality news sites in particular are weakened, which can have an overall negative impact on the perception of online advertising. An international RTB system for premium sites is one possible solution. Publicitas is moving in this direction with its marketplace, and we will examine this possibility more closely. I see the real advantage of RTB systems above all in the efficient booking process, which is why we prefer to speak of real-time advertising rather than real-time bidding. A self-booking process reduces administrative costs and justifies slightly lower CPMs. At the same time, however, there is also a trend towards qualitative online advertising. The demand for complex site integrations, individual branding formats and various PR opportunities is increasing. However, these campaigns cannot be traded with RTB systems.

In practice, there are an increasing number of cases in which photo agencies and their lawyers hunt down images by their photographers that are used without a license. The users are warned and demanded to pay high fines. However, the suspected perpetrators include not only small business owners, who often copy an image from the Internet without thinking and use it to embellish their homepage, but increasingly also advertising and marketing agencies. In recent days, even the IT giant Apple has hit the headlines for using an image by a Swiss photographer in a way that was not in accordance with the agreement. In such cases, the first question that arises is whether an image is protected by copyright at all. The Federal Supreme Court has practically discussed the question of copyright protection for photographs on the basis of two lawsuits. In the first case, the Federal Supreme Court had to assess the copyright protection of a picture taken by Swiss photographer Max Messerli at an open-air concert in California by reggae singer Bob Marley in 1978. The image was used by a Swiss company to print posters, among other things.

The second case involved a photograph of Christoph Meili, a security guard at a Swiss bank who became famous for rescuing bank files relating to so-called dormant assets from the shredder, which he shows in a photograph. This picture of the Swiss journalist Gisela Blau was shown by the BBC without being asked in the documentary "Nazi Gold". According to Art. 2 of the Copyright Act (URG), the protection of photographs requires that they have an "individual character". According to the case law of the Federal Supreme Court, individuality is achieved in photographs through the use of photographic techniques, through the design of the photographed object or through tension in the image. Photo-technical means are, for example, the choice of the angle of view, the image section, the focal length of the lens, the aperture, the brightness or the coloring. A photographed object can be designed in the sense of this case law insofar as the photographer determines the pose of a portrayed person, the selection and spatial arrangement of a still life, the lighting or the choice of the surroundings of an object. The third element, the tension in the image, leaves the door open to interpretation and makes it practically impossible to judge in advance whether a photograph is entitled to copyright protection. In the case of the photograph of Bob Marley, for example, the Federal Supreme Court found that the shadow cast by the Rasta curl on Bob Marley's cheek created a particular tension and granted the image copyright protection. In contrast, the Federal Supreme Court found Christoph Meili's image to be banal and therefore did not consider it to be protected by copyright.

Ueli Grüter*
 

Uncertainty is forbidden in advertising. All creatives feel under great pressure in this situation. "In order to create something beautiful and impressive, you need a human and therefore natural uncertainty. This is the only way to create something new. If you don't have the courage to be uncertain, you get stuck in a rut." Directors Rainer Binz and Benjamin Kempf Siemens have long been convinced of this thesis. "If you want to copy a movie that already exists, that's no problem. But if you want to try something new and are looking for something new, uncertainty must also be allowed." Based on this idea, the two have been working as a directing duo under the label "Regie Pack" since January 2012. Working as a team not only guarantees twice the power. "You also have constant support: there's someone else behind you. You know more as a pair. One searches, the other protects. Then there's the creative ping-pong. You're also constantly working with a second opinion." Customers also appreciate this. "They get added value because they know: Two people are on fire for us!"

A commercial for Notenstein Private Bank is currently being shown by Regie Pack on Swiss television. The new "Future Agency" Short Cuts is behind the film. In the fall, "Out of conviction" was shown for Bio Suisse by the convinced duo. The campaign is being handled by the agency Spillmann Felser Leo Burnett. Other commercials with the Regie Pack signature have been created for Allianz and Hirz yoghurt. All of these films were produced by Rudi Haller and his Solid & Hallerfilm. "Rudi and I founded Solid & Hallerfilm together and this cooperation has proved its worth," reveals Rainer Binz.

Same school, same dreams

The two directors met when they were still younger, as high school students at boarding school in Immensee. Binz as an internal, Kempf as an external. It was during this time that Benjamin Kempf began to realize that he wanted to work in a creative profession later on. At Santa Monica College in Los Angeles, he attended a specialist class for fashion photography for a year. This led to the opportunity to assist an advertising photographer when he returned to Central Switzerland. He then worked at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich as a "stage left lighting technician". Back in Switzerland, this experience opened the door to film for him. Kempf worked as a second camera assistant for feature films and commercials. He then enrolled at the Zurich Academy of Art and Design. He studied film and video there for five years from 1995. During the first few years, he also worked as a freelance lighting technician for Swiss television. Even before graduating, he was already working with Rainer Binz and other directors as a camera operator.

Parallel to his experience in the camera, Benjamin Kempf also developed his directing skills. His first short film "Broke" was invited to various film festivals and screened in Swiss cinemas as the supporting film for Jim Jarmush's "Ghost Dog". Kempf's graduation film "Ade" was also shown at numerous international festivals. Benjamin Kempf's short film "Exit", produced by Samir's Dschoint Ventschr, won several national and international awards. The film with Walo Lüönd and Stephanie Glaser deals sensitively with the subject of euthanasia. Kempf is currently following a tennis pro and a female racing driver on the Formula 1 circuit for a documentary about the power of the will.

Rainer Binz's cinematic development also took a detour via photography. He was already fascinated by this art after graduating from high school and did an internship with a photographer in Lucerne. This led to his first job in the local press. "But that wasn't my world," he sums up the brief detour. Rainer Binz switched to studying law and worked as a surf instructor on Lake Como in his spare time. When a torn cruciate ligament forced him to sit still, "it would have been a good opportunity to study for the final exam". However, Rainer preferred to "tinker with a graphic collage" and applied for a job with an advertising agency on Lake Zurich. At the agency, however, he was put into the consulting department. Nevertheless, Binz "kept sneaking into graphics" and when a graphic design agency in the neighborhood discovered after six weeks that the newcomer was "always the first one in the agency in the morning and the last one in the evening", this company finally made him an offer as a desktop operator. He learned "a lot of practical things" there. After
After a year at the graphic computer, however, Binz felt it was time for something new. Binz contacted Christian Breitschmid, another colleague from his boarding school days in Immensee. Together with another friend, the trio founded Eqal Visual Production in 1995, which is still successful today.

Fast "learning by doing"

The first order came from Nissan. The dealers wanted to show a modern clip with the most spectacular snowboard shots possible to liven up their stand at the Geneva Motor Show. "With zero skill and 100 percent creativity, we managed to get into the film business." As a result, Eqal used her snowboard films to create the "Freestyle" program on Star TV for several years. It was then a logical step from stylistically confident clips to directing commercials. The old boarding school colleagues Kempf and Binz briefly got together again in a shared flat. There, Rainer employed the film student Beni as a cameraman at the start of his career. Eqal produced a TV commercial for a Smart campaign. The spot "Reduce to the Max" realized by Binz and Breitschmid immediately won silver at the ADC Germany. This also aroused the interest of Condor Film. Martin Fueter became aware of Rainer Binz. This was followed by an ADC Gold campaign with Helvetic Tours. This finally led to the start of a very successful career as an advertising film director. Rainer Binz, who today describes "learning by doing" as his most important influence, was awarded bronze at the New York Festivals with "Elan" for Migros. Later, he also regularly picked up prizes at the Edi and ADC. During this phase, Benjamin Kempf temporarily relocated to London. Today he works from Berlin. "An inspiring metropolis with lots of opportunities for art and at the same time an ideal place for my family life with two children."

Rainer Binz moved to Hamburg six years ago. "I wanted to work in the German stronghold of advertising and film." However, despite his success as a commercial filmmaker in Switzerland, the Hamburg native had to start from scratch in the north. "I had to pitch for two years until I actually had my first contract in the bag. The competition in Germany is very tough and the market is incredibly competitive." But Binz made it there too. He staged the European campaigns for BASF for three years. Siemens also became an important client. For Dr. Oetker, he shot commercials for a wide variety of products. Rainer Binz and Benjamin Kempf have been working as the Regie Pack duo since 2012. In Switzerland, they are exclusively represented by the production company Solid & Hallerfilm.

Andreas Panzeri

The message was simple: "Radio and television are self-financing. Receiving contributions is voluntary; receiving broadcasts does not constitute an obligation to pay contributions." In other words, the anti-SRG regulars' table, cast in legal prose, as frequently nurtured by many right-wing politicians in recent years, be it cold warriors (Walther Hofer, SVP), market economy ideologues (Filippo Leutenegger, FDP) or lobbyists (Nathalie Rickli, SVP).
 
And now: the failure is huge. Not even 20,000 men and women entitled to vote have signed the popular initiative in the past 16 months. But the initiators of the Solidarity Switzerland (SOS) association refuse to give up. SOS President This Bürge, St. Gallen, is even spreading esoteric hope: "Like a small snowball getting bigger and bigger, the second initiative will be more successful than the first." He forgets that the snow melts every spring. So it is of little use that the failures want to start again next February. If necessary, a third, fourth, fifth time: "If we 'only' reach 20,000 or 30,000 signatures in the second run, we'll do a third. We'll get there!" So it will still take a while, Bürge calls it "battering ram tactics".
 
It may or may not be successful. In the city of Bern, the SVP and other right-wing politicians have already wanted to grind down the indoor riding arena five times by referendum. Supported by regulars' table slogans, of course. The result: last week, the council majority confirmed the service contract with the Reitschule cultural center for the next three years. And Bern's mayor Alexander Tschäppät (SP), a constant defender of the Reitschule, will be able to retain his office in next weekend's elections. His two bourgeois opponents are too weak. Even the left-wingers at Weltwoche could not avoid publishing a sympathetic portrait of Tschäppät last week, although they had it written by a "former WOZ columnist" (Weltwoche). Even Weltwoche opportunism has its limits.
 
I have digressed. The "SRG grinding" project is as much a part of Swiss political folklore as SVP complaints about the media. Currently in the nationally circulated Extra-Blatt. There, party president Toni Brunner claims that his party feels that "the goals, activities and successes" of his party are "often concealed". Does the loud man from Toggenburg not read newspapers, listen to the radio or watch television? Or does he think that the media should broadcast all SVP communiqués in full? And interview him every day? And if not him, then certainly a Christoph. And by the way, the SVP extra complains - rightly - about media concentration. However, it makes no mention of the emerging SVP media conglomerate: Basler Zeitung (BaZ or should we soon say Bazli due to falling circulation?) and Weltwoche and Ulrich Schlüer's Schweizerzeit and the Zürcher Bote and Blocher's television. And the Neue Luzerner Zeitung has also been the mouthpiece of the national conservatives for years. Why is Toni Brunner complaining? Is he striving for dominance? However, the Extra-Blatt also highlights the limits of the SVP: in the last elections, the party won a seat in the National Council in twenty (out of 26) cantons, but has only five members of the Council of States (in four cantons) and is only represented in government in eleven cantons. In other words: the SVP is the party with the most voters, but its candidates are rarely capable of winning a majority. Too much of the regulars' table damages credibility. Not only in media politics. P.S. SRG ratings still far exceed those of private broadcasters. The public broadcasters are obviously meeting a need. 

The Passenger TV program can be seen on the double screens in the buses of the STI transport company in Thun and the region. In the coming months, all vehicles in the entire region around Thun, Spiez, right Lake Thun, Interlaken, West and East Amt will be equipped with this TV for on the road. One screen in the bus will display information from the STI transport company on connection times, routes and disruptions. On the other screen, Passenger TV provides continuously updated news on sports, politics, economy, meteo and culture.

Up to a maximum of 25 percent advertising can be inserted between the news blocks. This is particularly interesting for local SMEs because they can focus their information precisely on route and time from their own PC, Passenger TV said in a statement on Thursday. The public transport company participates in the revenue from advertising and can thus improve the self-financing ratio. The focus is on the approximately 15 million passengers that STI transports each year.

The double screens are already present in numerous regional as well as national public transport companies such as Postbus. Today, Passenger TV reaches over 685,000 viewers daily in 22 cantons. Passenger TV is a product of the Bernese company Livesystems and won the Swiss Economic Award this year.

In the past, 185 farmers drove up to deliver their milk to the site on St. Jakobs-Strasse in Basel. Since 1988, the former office of the Miba milk association, a former manufacturer's villa, has been the home - or rather the residence - of cr basel. The 22 employees of the Basel agency have set up shop on three floors. Reception and the conference room are on the first floor, with the creative department on the top floor and consulting and management in between.

With cr basel, a company with tradition has moved in. Founded in 1968, the communications agency repeatedly attracted national attention in the 1980s with campaigns for the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH). For 18 years, it promoted protection against HIV and solidarity with those affected. Her Stop Aids posters from the 1980s and 1990s with the pink condoms, the slogan "Ohne Dings kein Bums" ("Without a thing, no bang") or the copulating stick figures or couples on a yellow background have become classics. The alcohol prevention campaign "Look at yourself and don't drink too much" has also been on billboards for years. Prevention and awareness campaigns are still among the agency's specialties. For the health department of Basel-Stadt, the agency realized a campaign on the topic of depression. To visualize the oppressive, the condition of a depression sufferer, people were put into boxes and thus spatially confined. The idea of the subject attracted attention beyond the country's borders and even graced the cover of the news magazine Der Spiegel in early 2011.

Without reminder finger

In the prevention campaign against gambling addiction launched in the spring, cr basel used catchwords from the gambling scene, "Play," "Game over," or "Rien ne va plus. Typographically inspired by bright neon signs like those in Las Vegas, the subjects were intended to attract the attention and sympathy of gamblers and, without raising an admonishing finger, to point out the addictive nature of gambling. Gambling yes, but "without addiction," is the message. The awareness and information campaign for the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) aims in a similar direction. With slogans such as "Below the belt is below the belt," "Your boss is giving you cash on the nail," and "Black money stinks! Before the public campaign was on posters and gadgets - and in the press thanks to PR work - cr basel consulted the industry associations concerned together with the client. This was to ensure that the campaign was supported by the representatives. "We brought the associations together at a round table, which not only ensured we had a direct line to those affected, but also provided pointers for campaign implementation," explains Creative Director Gabriel Heuberger. For example, as far as the wording was concerned. Which words should be used? Which expressions resonate? Prevention campaigns require a precise address, says Heuberger, a specific tone. "They have to touch people on a different level than an ad for a cleaning product." Nevertheless, assignments of the latter kind are also part of everyday life at cr basel. For Henkel, for example, the basel team washed FCB's jerseys with Persil and made them shine. For the Cornèrcard of Lugano's Cornèr Banca, which cr basel has been fully managing for years, an above-the-line campaign is designed every year.

Using location as an advantage

cr basel's roots in the city on the Rhine can be seen in two ways. On the one hand, through local clients such as the pharmaceutical companies Mepha, Roche or Novartis or the Basel "Zolli," for whose new ape facility the agency recently advertised with a poster campaign and, in order to dramatize the enlargement of the space, had the primates wander out of the subjects. On the other hand, Heuberger sees the attractiveness of the Basel location confirmed by the low turnover. "We manage to keep the good people." Continuity is a given at cr basel, not least in the creative and management teams. The 36-year-old Heuberger started at the Basel agency as a graphics apprentice and has remained loyal to it. From junior AD to AD, until he was appointed CD at the age of 28. Managing Director Peter Frey has been on board since the beginning, Daniel Bürgi, Client Service & Strategic Director, for 13 years. Despite tradition - just as large developments have sprung up around the old factory owner's villa, there is also a lot going on within the company. In the area of new media, the previously classically oriented agency has taken on Adrian Zumbrunnen as Strategic Planner & New Media Manager. The 26-year-old business informatics specialist brings a new way of thinking and ensures that the new media idea resonates in campaigns right from the start. Zumbrunnen's signature is evident, for example, in the online campaign developed for Swiss Post for "WebStamp easy," a tool that allows customers to create stamps with their own image. The same applies to the current image campaign of bz Basel, which belongs to AZ Medien and is aimed at getting feedback from readers. For example, on Bzbasel. ch/meineStimme, readers can tell the paper what they expect from a "cosmopolitan Basel forum newspaper.

Zumbrunnen is currently busy developing cr basel's new corporate website. "In the US, most restaurants already have a mobile-optimized website. This mindset and attitude towards user-friendliness underlies the new website and should also establish itself as a new standard in Switzerland," says Zumbrunnen. "After all, the website is the business card of any company." The new spirit, however, is not only intended to affect the appearance, but at the same time to bring about a change in thinking within the agency. "We don't want to become the first port of call for technical realization, but we do want to use the related know-how in conception and consulting," comments Heuberger. "Do you have Flash experience?", after all, such questions shouldn't make a communications consultant break out in a sweat.

Isabel Imper

The Maz felt snubbed by the canton of Lucerne. In March of this year, the cantonal council removed the operating contribution of CHF 50,000 from the 2012 budget to save money. This decision to make savings caused a stir among the Maz management. Not least because the Canton of Lucerne is the founding canton of the School of Journalism and is represented on the Board of Trustees. The Maz therefore felt that Lucerne was no longer properly committed to the institution. It thought about moving away. Several regions expressed interest.

However, the Department of Education and Culture of the Canton of Lucerne has now indicated ways in which the loss of the annual lump sum compensation for the duration of the cantonal relief program could be partially compensated for by service contracts, among other things, the Maz announced on Thursday. The decision on the location was not an easy one, said Foundation Board President Iwan Rickenbacher on request. It had been difficult to check out all possible options. However, they have now made a conscious decision in favor of the Lucerne location. Rickenbacher emphasized that the city of Lucerne as well as numerous institutions and personalities had also campaigned for the School of Journalism to remain in Lucerne. And: the students rated the infrastructure, environment and accessibility in Lucerne very positively. In connection with the relocation considerations, Maz has made "intensive clarifications" with representatives from Basel and Aargau in recent weeks.

The focus was on cooperation with university institutions, which "can flourish until the realization of an external partial location of the Maz", according to the press release. This is also because cooperation with the University of Lucerne, for example, is "not easy", said Rickenbacher. (SDA)
 

Over 100 print titles and 60 websites are united under its umbrella. They reach six million readers and seven million online users every week. The Daily Mail publishing house, which will receive the equivalent of 78.6 million Swiss francs (52.5 million pounds) for its regional newspapers, is involved in the newly founded group called Local World. The Yattendon Group is contributing 36 titles to the publishing giant, as was announced on Wednesday.

Third on board is competitor Trinity Mirror, which has secured a 20 percent stake in Local World for 14 million pounds. However, Trinity will keep its titles for itself. The Daily Mail publisher will receive 39 percent and the Yattendon Group 21 percent of Local World, which will be headed by David Montgomery, a newspaper manager experienced in restructuring.

Falling advertising revenues are not only causing problems for the British press: In Hamburg, the Financial Times Deutschland is on the verge of going out of business, and only recently the Frankfurter Rundschau filed for insolvency. (SDA)

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