After the association was able to report an increase in sales of 6.3 percent in 2010, the result again developed positively in the 2011 reporting year. Calculated on the basis of 100 percent full-time positions, the association members employed 284 people, 17 more than in the previous year. Based on the sales figures from the Promosuisse survey, association president Marcel Spiess puts the total volume of the promotional products market in Switzerland at around CHF 560 million. Promosuisse wrote this in a statement on Thursday.

Market assessment for 2012 cautiously optimistic

Order intake for 2012 gives cause for confidence. The market trends surveyed for the current year show that 36 percent of members expect sales to increase, 40 percent expect sales to remain constant, and 24 percent anticipate a decline. In terms of earnings expectations, the picture is as follows: 33 percent expect earnings to rise, 40 percent expect them to remain the same, and 27 percent expect them to fall.

Around 50 percent of members now carry out credit checks on their customers. One positive consequence of this is likely to be that bad debt losses fell again in the year under review. The majority of members expect payment behavior to remain unchanged in 2012.

Sales by industry:
- Textile: 26.88 percent - previous year: 26.85 percent
- Stationery: 16.54 percent - previous year: 15.47 percent
- Lighters: 3.48 percent - previous year: 3.70 percent
- Bags, etc.: 16.47 percent - previous year: 14.26 v
- Electronics: 11.24 percent - previous year: 10.84 percent
- Other: 25.39 percent - previous year: 28.89 percent
 

As always, this week's WEMF figures have been interpreted like school grades and commented on like a casting call. Commentators have been saying the same thing for years, and it's true: the user figures for our media are more stable than their circulation trends and are moving straight ahead or gently downwards at an enviably high level. What is becoming increasingly annoying is the gap in data collection on the electronic use of newspaper offerings. For some titles - such as the NZZ - it has now reached respectable levels.

Once again, I have noticed that a title category that has been growing slightly but steadily for years, contrary to the industry trend, has hardly been noticed: the cooperative free press from Coop and Migros. Migros Magazin (formerly Brückenbauer) has 2.384 million weekly readers in German-speaking Switzerland, while Coop-Zeitung even has 2.679 million. In a ten-year comparison, the two titles show increases of 12 and 18 percent respectively, while the majority of daily and weekly newspapers have to struggle to explain their negative figures or zero growth. So the editors and publishers in the pay of Coop and Migros must be doing something right. Even considering the size and reach of the two titles, the acceptance test is convincing.

I took a look at the latest issues of both magazines and came to the conclusion that both titles score highly because they contain exactly what they say on the tin: Coop and Migros respectively. Week after week, the customers who read them derive direct benefit from their reading. I bet that the promotional ads are among the most popular pages. But the editorial program also revolves to a large extent and with a strong seasonal accent around the respective events in the Coop or Migros world. Popular categories such as cooking, wine, sport, travel, etc. are unabashedly linked to the respective offers. The Coop newspaper pushes the mushroom season, while the Migros magazine goes for a making of from the shooting of the new Migros Bio commercial. The editorial content is not shy about satisfying the commercial interests behind it. Not only does this not bother anyone; I would even go so far as to say that anyone who picks up a magazine with the title Coop-Zeitung or Migros Magazin expects this.

Journalism as a service and benefit brokerage in the everyday sphere of shopping and households, mixed up with celebrity stories that are closely linked to Supercard or Cumulus activities. The seven-hundredth Udo Jürgens interview in the Coop newspaper also gains new appeal, because you also find out how to get into the new musical at a discount. Yes, here journalism does not disguise its auxiliary function for marketing in any way. It is straightforward and honest and delivers what it promises. Conflict and politics are largely excluded - unless the interests of the major distributors are directly affected, such as in the case of store opening hours. It is not the enlightening approach that counts, but the service-providing, seductive, entertaining one.

You can turn up your journalistic nose at this. But the enormous and stable readership figures over the years prove that this type of interest-based consumer journalism is gladly accepted as a supplement and contrast to the rest of the program and is also correctly classified - I maintain: precisely because people know that you want to sell them something on every page.

In terms of publishing, the two battleships are also sailing in the slipstream of the supposedly big players. It is interesting to note that some sectors, such as travel agencies with special offers, are happy to take advantage of the enormous displacement of these battleships. All in all, a simple mental calculation shows that both Migros Magazin and Coop-Zeitung would easily be listed among the top ten companies in the Swiss publishing industry if they were not always forgotten. Which is probably fine with them, because otherwise people would start talking about the buying power and influence of the major distributors. After all, they are not only advertising customers, but also the biggest print buyers - and important publishers.

When summer and fall come together, it's time for the graduation ceremony for sales professionals. This year, 304 newly qualified masters of their trade were welcomed to the Grand Casino Lucerne. A total of 376 candidates took part; 80.9 percent of them graduated successfully. The graduation ceremony has been repositioned and upgraded; TV personality Kurt Aeschbacher hosted the event for the first time. According to Hans-Jürg Gehri, President of the Examination Board, the award was given to talented people "who are not overly intellectual, but have acquired theory and practice in a dual way." Examination director Nicole Beck-Taubenest aimed in the same direction: "This in-service training creates real knowledge."

13 best in their field honored

The Swiss Marketing Junior Sales Manager Award was presented for the first time at a sales specialist graduation ceremony. The statuette by Swiss artist Ivo Soldini, which honors the best graduate of the entire year, went to Corinne Meyer from Emmenbrücke, who graduated with an average grade of 5.1. Other top performers in the written subjects were: Ivan Bandel (sales planning); Melanie Müller (sales promotion/advertising); Maria Impellizzeri (marketing); Daniel Aebischer (distribution); Sibylle Wagner (accounting/controlling); Stefan Merz (business statistics) and Jasmin Taskiran (legal studies for sales staff). The following were honored in the oral subjects: Valentina Helfenstein (presentation and sales techniques/ sales talk); Cyliana Bachmann (personal leadership skills); Nicole Späni (market research); Leila Zwyer (rhetoric/ product presentation and merchandising): Philippe Cattin (self-management) and Patrick Moser (sales process). Finally, the evening's musical entertainers, boogie dwarves Chris & Mike, hit the keys once again. The graduation ceremony then came to a fitting end with an aperitif.
 

Fiber optic connections have been continuously expanded since 2008. Over 90 percent of the population is already connected to the neighborhoods (Fiber to the Curb). Swisscom already covers several areas in over 40 cities and municipalities with fiber optic connections to homes and businesses (Fiber to the Home), including: Berne, Zurich, Basel, Geneva, Lausanne, St. Gallen, Bellinzona as well as Meilen, Pfyn and Gland. Swisscom has currently connected more than 420,000 homes with fiber optics. By the end of 2015, this figure will be over one million.

This fiber optic hybrid technology enables bandwidths of up to 100 Mbit/s. In the next three to four years, even up to 400 Mbit/s. This will not only make ultra-fast Internet with up to 100,000 kbit/s possible for customers. Because the bandwidth is far from exhausted and does not have to be shared with other users with a Swisscom connection, the new technology opens up almost unlimited possibilities. Several TV programs in HD quality can be watched simultaneously on different TV sets in the same household. Other programs can be recorded at the same time and you can still surf the net in parallel at ultra-fast speeds. Swisscom offers all these advantages with its Vivo Casa 2 to 5 packages. Numéro 10 by Gilles Aeby has been entrusted with the task of communicating this news precisely in the "affected" neighborhoods following an agency evaluation. The posters are accompanied by banners directing people to a page where they can check their connection.

Andreas Panzeri

 

Only one feature film a year, but one that really interests me!" is his motto, which is also compatible with his family life. The rest of the time he works on commercials and other shorter engagements. Filip Zumbrunn is one of the few names in the Swiss film scene who doesn't have to constantly chase a dream job, but can afford something like a regular everyday life with a sensible "career plan". The key to this is called "proof of performance". His name as a cameraman is already emblazoned on more than half a dozen posters for Swiss cinema films. Productions such as Stories, WirzFraefelPaal, Chocolate, Rosas`n`Co, Markenfilm, Condor, Eqal and Solid & Hallerfilm have placed their trust in his images for countless commercials. Many of these spots have been awarded ADC cubes or an Edi. "The Photographer" with director Ernst Wirz for Mobiliar even won a Bronze Lion in Cannes. "Advertising is great," says Filip Zumbrunn, "because I can cover the most diverse needs of my profession here." Artistically, the cameraman likes to be challenged by advertising because he has to make a statement in two seconds with images alone. "In just 20 or 30 seconds, that can happen less in a narrative dramaturgy. " Technically, working in advertising is interesting because, as a cameraman, he can constantly try out the latest equipment, techniques and styles. Finally, a third argument in favor of advertising is family life. His wife has also been working as a director since 2007 - for example at Rosas`n`Co, Condor or Stories. Christine Wiederkehr used to work as a marketing assistant at Swatch, studied at the Film Academy in Lausanne and then completed her degree in film at the Zurich University of Art and Design. Today they have two daughters, aged nine and six. The parents want to bring them up together - just as they both want to pursue their film work on an equal footing. A job as a freelancer in advertising offers the best opportunities for this, "because commercials are usually about manageable projects". Preparation, filming, break. "It's much more compatible with family life than a feature film. " With a feature film, the cameraman is on the road for months and often abroad. An artist's life out of a suitcase, but one that Filip Zumbrunn also feels drawn to. "Going away and then coming back - it keeps your eyes open for all the beauty, but also for the problems in this world." Even as a teenager, Filip wanted to make observing the world from behind a camera his profession.

The "intense moviegoer" was already making Super 8 films at secondary school. He won the main prize at the Swiss Youth Film Festival in 1987 with his work "Timeless". "It was a surrealist film in the style of Bunûel," Zumbrunn recalls. He was completely out of the ordinary because most of his competitors at the time "somehow wanted to imitate Derrick". Filip's talent was also encouraged early on by his father. He was an advertising and fashion photographer in the 1970s, before achieving international renown with his books and photos of cars. Filip repeatedly assisted his father "voluntarily and with great passion". After graduating from high school, he made a career out of being an "assistant" and continuously "worked his way up from lighting to camera". Filip Zumbrunn then worked as a first assistant for more than ten years. For example, he assisted Renato Berta on "Beresina" by Daniel Schmid. He worked with Pio Corradi on "Vollmond" by Fredi Murer and "Gripsholm" by Xavier Koller. Then came the moment when he wanted to do it himself. "As a regularly employed assistant, that wasn't so easy. The roles are distributed. And who trusts you to be able to produce the required images yourself?" Filip Zumbrunn, who chose "learning by doing" as his path, sees this as probably the only disadvantage compared to film school graduates. "At film school, directors and technicians mature into the professional world together and develop corresponding networks. As an assistant, I also don't have a graduation film to show for it." During this phase, the filmmaker took a creative break. Zumbrunn founded the "Acapulco" bar on Zurich's Neugasse with friends and waited for jobs as a cameraman while serving. The opportunity came from Dschoint Ventschr. Samir's film production company entrusted him with the camera for "Strähl" in 2004, for which Zumbrunn immediately won a special award for camera and lighting at the Swiss Film Awards. His style, in which almost everything was filmed "handheld", was convincing. This technique gave director Manuel Flurin Hendry's film a very dynamic look, making the cops movie look rather un-Swiss and more like an independent movie from New York. Accordingly, in addition to the Swiss Film Award for "Best Actor" Roeland Wiesnekker and Johanna Bantzer, it also won an acting award at the Max Ophüls Film Festival in Saarbrücken as well as directing awards in Schwerin and Hamburg.

Night Train to Hollywood

All these palmarès also got Zumbrunn's "talking pictures" up and running. The requests became more and more interesting. Last year, for example, Filip Zumbrunn was Director of Photography and responsible for the entire camera technology for the first Swiss 3D film "One Way Trip" by HesseGreutert Film. More for a wider audience was "Giulias Verschwinden", a comedy film about growing old based on a book by Martin Suter. This film by Christoph Schaub won the Audience Award in Locarno in 2009 and was also honored with the Zurich Film Prize in the same year. Zumbrunn was once again able to film with Bruno Ganz in Lisbon from March to May this year. In "Night Train to Lisbon", Jeremy Irons, Mélanie Laurent, Jack Huston, Martina Gedeck, August Diehl, Lena Olin, Christopher Lee and Charlotte Rampling also appeared in front of his camera.
Zumbrunn's most expensive film to date is a co-production of Studio Hamburg and Zurich-based C-Films, based on the bestseller by Pascal Mercier. It is directed by Bille August. He has also worked with Meryl Streep and Antonio Banderas in his "The House of Spirits" and with Max von Sidow in "Pelle the Conquerer", for which he won an Oscar in 1989. What impressed Filip Zumbrunn about working with such international names was the way they showed no airs and graces at all. "One difference to Swiss productions, on the other hand, was that the stars were much more protected from the technology." They wait in their caravans and only come onto the set when the director can call for "action". "This allows the actors to concentrate fully on their feelings in the art of acting." And now? After his journeyman's piece with international stars, will Zumbrunn also be one step closer to Hollywood? "I like working in Switzerland," he laughs. But the Zurich native is a little proud that Bille August might also want to take him along on his next project. For the time being, however, the Zumbrunn Wiederkehr family are not packing their bags for overseas just yet.

Andreas Panzeri

This was intended to give the Mini a strong appearance at the event at Sihlberg Castle. On Tuesday afternoon, the ghetto blaster was also set up as part of a guerrilla campaign in Zurich. It was intended to attract people to the International Radio Festival. The Ghettoblaster also provided content on the Mini Switzerland Facebook page.

The campaign is accompanied by a video with its own soundtrack and a competition in which you can win mini ghetto blaster cushions. The ghetto blaster installation can be seen until Sunday at the International Radio Festival at Sihlberg Castle.

Responsible at Mini: Carol Hochuli (Head of Mini), Daniela Geiger (Sponsoring & Events Mini). Responsible at Draftfcb/Lowe Zurich: Dennis Lück (ECD), Tizian Walti (Concept/Text), Stephanie Lang (Senior AD), Ranja Issa (Junior AD), Sandra Kopplin (Consulting), Bartek Elsner (Paper-Stuff).
 

"Ping will no longer be available as of September 30," Apple announced on the network on Thursday night. With Ping, Apple wanted to create a platform through which artists could communicate with fans and users could exchange information about music. However, the lack of integration with Facebook, the world's largest online network, meant that the service remained a little-used niche offering.

Ping was originally supposed to have a Facebook link, but this was cut shortly before the launch in 2010. Facebook had set unacceptable conditions, Apple founder Steve Jobs told the blog "All Things D" at the time, without providing further details. One million users signed up in the first two days, but interest quickly waned.

The new Apple CEO Tim Cook hinted at the end of Ping back in May. Users had made it clear that they did not want to invest much energy in Ping. "Will we discontinue it? I don't know. I will think about it," Cook said at the time. Apple does not need to have its own online network to be active on the social internet.

Among other things, the relationship with Facebook has now improved significantly. Apple also wants to give musicians the opportunity to share photos with their fans directly in the next version of the iTunes multimedia software. (sda)
 

The aim is to strengthen the future-oriented areas of digital brand management, brand communities and storytelling, according to a press release issued on Wednesday. Tobias Stahel worked at X-TRA Production for seven years. For the last three years, he was Head of Marketing and a member of the Executive Board of the company's largest division and was responsible for the programming and marketing of all public events at Club X-TRA. The trained journalist and communicator is completing his Master's degree in Communication Management at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts this November, where he studied digital brand management in depth.

At Coundco, Tobias Stahel will take over the social media and community team with four employees and will be responsible for the expansion of services in the area of content and community, the agency continues. In particular, the areas of "brand telling" and "content marketing" will be driven forward and adapted to Switzerland.

The Box Network, co-founded by Coundco, is also expanding its agency network into the USA. The previously European network is thus building a bridge across the pond. According to the press release, this will enable its clients to implement international projects and campaigns with local roots.

In this new constellation, the agency is rolling out its first project for Victorinox Fragrances globally.

The agency has been Rosatom's public relations and public affairs consultant for Germany and Switzerland for five years. Now Stratinvest, founded by Leonid Sevastianov and Emmanuel Gout, is planning closer cooperation between Russia and Western Europe, according to the agency. Stöhlker advises a number of companies that run production and sales companies in Eastern Europe.

The advertising material will take the form of posters, program booklets, flyers and tickets. The campaign will begin in October 2012 and this year the Speranza Foundation will receive financial support from Benefiz Circus Night Luzern.

Responsible for Benefiz Circus Night, Lucerne: Peter Fischer (President), Oliver Vogt (Marketing, Sponsoring, Raffle). Responsible for Ideart Design & Advertising, Lucerne: Ludek Martschini (creation, consulting), Peter Martschini (production, organization).

The US investment company Tiger Global Management had acquired a majority stake in Jobs.ch from its founders in 2007. The cooperation between Ringier and Tamedia brings Jobs.ch Holding back into Swiss hands, the two media companies said in a statement Wednesday. Together, they want to further expand the job platforms in the face of increasingly international competition and develop cross-language solutions for job seekers and corporate clients.

Ringier and Tamedia will each hold a 50 percent stake in Jobs.ch Holding. Tamedia will also contribute its online job market subsidiary Jobup to the partnership. Jobup operates Jobup.ch, a job portal in French-speaking Switzerland, as well as the job platforms Jobwinner.ch and Alpha.ch. Following the takeover, jobs.ch Holding is to be continued by the existing management team under the leadership of CEO Mark Sandmeier. The transaction is subject to approval by the Swiss Federal Competition Commission and the Austrian Federal Competition Authority.
 
Jobs.ch Holding looks back on a history of more than 10 years in the Swiss job market. In 2011, Jobs.ch Holding generated net sales of CHF 45.9 million and a result of CHF 20.2 million at EBIT level. The enterprise value of 100 percent of the share capital of Jobs.ch Holding, which is decisive for the purchase, is CHF 390 million. Jobsup, which is to be contributed by Tamedia to the partnership, is valued at CHF 120 million. In addition, the two partners have agreed on call and put options that allow Ringier to consolidate proportionately according to Swiss Gaap Fer and Tamedia to consolidate according to IFRS.

The stories were documented in four countries with the support of photographers Horst Diekgerdes - and Raphael Zubler. The book is a reil of the rebranding of Rüegg Cheminée this year. The aim is to put fire lovers and their products in the right light.

Responsible at Rüegg Cheminée: Matthias Rüegg (CEO Rüegg Cheminée AG), Christoph Rutschmann (Managing Director), Jasminka Kocev (Head of Marketing). Responsible for content&form: Serge Riedener (CD), Claudia Fuchs (AD), Fabian Zahner (text), Aurelio Burgdorfer (graphics), Matthias Städeli and Vera Fetz (consulting). Photography: Horst Diekgerdes (People), Raphael Zubler (Cheminées), Tina Aich (Production).