The new company will offer the following services: Independent online financial and online economic information, online banking and transaction functionalities, combined with personal support on all aspects of saving, investing and retirement planning. The main target group is customers with small and medium-sized assets. For direct customers of Bank Zweiplus and for users of the Cash.ch business and finance platform, this is an ideal addition to the existing range of services. Existing bank customers will have access to an integrated, free information platform - the Cash.ch information platform can continue to be used to the usual extent without any additional obligations.

Ringier and Bank Zweiplus each hold 50 percent of the shares in the new company. The new company will start with more than 170,000 unique users on the financial information platform and over 30,000 bank customers.

Christoph Hartgens has been appointed CEO of the new company. He was also responsible as CEO of Tradejet. André Michel, current Managing Director of Cash, Marcel Gamper, Head of Advisory Direct Clients at Bank Zweiplus and Urban Scherrer, Management Consultant and Head of Special Projects at cash, will complete the management team. The company employs around 45 people from both parties. No redundancies are planned, as the business areas are exclusively complementary, according to a statement from Ringier and Bank Zweiplus.
 

This is shown by the current study "Brands and private labels 2011", conducted by GfK on behalf of the branded goods association Promarca among 1,000 Swiss people. For Swiss consumers, brands clearly stand out from retailers' own brands, as the GfK study shows, according to the branded goods association Promarca on Presseportal.ch. Brands would particularly stand out in the following characteristics: unmistakable (76%, +30 percentage points compared to own brands), emotional (51%; +25 percentage points) and high quality (83%; +19 percentage points). In addition, brands are preferred because they are more innovative and the population trusts them.

Own brands benefit from brands

Private labels, on the other hand, know how to gain an advantage from the consumer's point of view, mainly through price, as the Promarca association writes. Accordingly, the respondents rate them as suitable for everyone (76%; +27 percentage points compared to brands). However, it should be borne in mind that in many cases a lower price level is only possible because private labels act as free riders for brands, says Anastasia Li-Treyer, Director of the Swiss branded goods association Promarca. It has been observed time and again that copycat products are strongly based on the originals and thus benefit from the excellent reputation of branded products. In this way, they avoid the costs of product development and advertising.

Retailers are business partners and competitors at the same time

Private labels have a positive impact on consumer welfare when they occupy areas in which brand manufacturers are not active - which requires genuine innovation. If, on the other hand, private labels attempt to compete directly with branded products, they are primarily a means of increasing the buying power of retailers, the association continues. The dual function of retailers as customers of brand manufacturers on the one hand and as their competitors on the other opens up opportunities for abuse.
 

The online guide offers a comprehensive planning aid for sending offline mailings on a microsite and is part of Swiss Post's direct marketing activities. It will be available free of charge on the Swiss Post website from the fall. The aim is to make it easier for SMEs to create mailings. The new solution makes it possible to configure an advertising mailing throughout the entire creation process and bring it to life: from situation analysis and target group selection to the calculation of shipping costs. As a result, the user ends up with a concept that serves as a budget and decision-making basis for the mailing to be sent.
 

Radio performed better than television, with around 70 percent of the audience "very and fairly satisfied". This was announced by study director Heinz Bonfadelli at a media conference organized by the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM) in Biel on Tuesday. A good 3,600 people were surveyed last fall.

Only 44% were satisfied with the programs on private television, 9 percentage points less than in spring 2009. 64% are very or fairly satisfied with SRG television programs. Since the last survey, ratings of the content and variety of information as well as local relevance have fallen, while ratings of entertainment value have risen.

As many as three quarters are very or fairly satisfied with SRG radio programs. The professionalism of the journalists and their contributions, the credibility, the sense of responsibility of the program makers and the diversity of information are described as strengths.

The local radio stations are rated as satisfactory by two thirds. Comprehensibility and local-regional reporting scored particularly highly here. In contrast, the variety of information on politics, business and culture is clearly below average.

Diverse radios in Zurich

The private radio stations in the greater Zurich area were analyzed in particular. Radio Energy (16.8 percent) and Radio 24 (16.1 percent) are at the top of the list in terms of listenership, followed by Radio Zürisee (9.5 percent). Radio 1, Radio Top and Radio Munot are below 5 percent. Energy scored well in the survey for entertainment, professionalism and general satisfaction. In the view of its listeners, Radio 24 has strengths not only in terms of professionalism but also in the local relevance and balance of its programming.

An analysis by media researcher Publicom in the first week of October 2010 shows that the stations position themselves most clearly in terms of music formats. The differences lie less in the style than in the age of the music. The Zurich radio landscape is diverse, summarized Publicom Managing Director René Grossenbacher. However, the importance of information is very different, the weighting of topics is station-specific and reporting on the broadcasting areas also varies greatly. During prime time, for example, the proportion of information on Radio 1 was 21 percent, while on Radio 105 it was only 7 percent.

Pole parties often at the microphone

In general, the diversity of opinions and perspectives was well implemented. However, the political parties SP and above all the SVP had their say far more often than the other parties. However, this was partly due to the fact that the referendum campaign on the deportation initiative was underway at the beginning of October 2010.

According to Bakom Director Martin Dumermuth, the final reports on the audience survey will be published at the end of the year. Of a total of 47 event organizers, 13 have so far met 80 percent or more of the requirements. The quality assurance process is ongoing. OFCOM is basing this on the performance mandates, as the Federal Constitution requires radio and television to contribute to education, cultural development, the free formation of opinion and entertainment. (SDA)
 

The term PR has an image problem throughout Europe, while corporate communications is establishing itself as a new industry term. Social media is still seen as the biggest strategic challenge. This is shown by the latest edition of the European Communication Monitor, according to Grayling in a press release. The European Communication Monitor shows that the majority of communication professionals are responsible for an extremely broad operational, thematic and strategic spectrum - and usually have direct access to the top management level of companies.

Grayling is an official partner and sponsor of the global study in the field of public relations and communications management, in which a total of 2,209 senior-level PR consultants from 43 countries took part. The annual survey is conducted by professors at universities in eleven countries under the direction of Ansgar Zerfass. The research group is supported by Grayling, the global public relations agency. "Communication and PR are becoming increasingly important for the success of companies," explains Hanning Kempe, CEO of Grayling Germany and Switzerland. The European Communication Monitor is a key barometer for the entire industry.

Key findings from this year's study

According to the study, the influence of PR is increasing. In three out of four companies, the management level takes communications consulting very seriously and actively incorporates it into its strategic planning. Many communication managers have direct contact with top management: 18 percent are members of the board themselves, 60 percent report directly to the CEO. However, according to the study, this hierarchical position does not necessarily have an impact on other areas of the company. Cooperation with the respective departments for internal strategy is rather weak. In addition, only a minority of respondents (48%) believe that the PR department generates financially measurable or immaterial benefits for the company.

Nevertheless, PR now has a remit that goes far beyond traditional media relations. In eight out of ten organizations, the PR department communicates with a wide range of stakeholders, including consumers, employees, investors and politicians.

According to the study, the strategic challenges are currently: digitalization, business orientation, sustainability & CSR, transparency and trust. In the future, PR work will mainly be dominated by the following topics: The targeted and systematic use of online and social media remains in first place (55 percent agreement). This is followed by the direct strategic linking of communication work with corporate objectives (44 percent approval). Sustainability & CSR, transparency and dialog orientation as well as building and securing trust are further focal points.

Corporate communications remains the most important PR discipline in companies, ahead of marketing and consumer communications. With regard to the communication channels used, online is becoming increasingly important in the media mix. However, experience shows that communications professionals of all people tend to overestimate the development of PR disciplines and especially the online channel.

According to the study, social media is on the rise. However, the corresponding management and governance structures are not keeping pace with developments. Only four out of ten communications departments have social media guidelines, and only one in three companies has tools for monitoring the social web. In addition, the know-how of many of those affected regarding the initiation of web-based dialogue measures and knowledge of the legal framework for social media also shows considerable potential for optimization.

According to the study participants, the five skills that will be most important in the future are the combination of traditional and new media (83% approval), relationship building (82% approval) and the use of communication technologies (80% approval), followed by practical skills such as public speaking and presenting (79% approval) and coaching (75% approval). However, a direct comparison with the actual training programs currently offered for PR managers reveals a large gap between the actual need and the current situation.

As many as 42% of study participants believe that the term PR or public relations has a negative image. Around half of the respondents believe that the reasons for this lie primarily in reporting by the mass media. As a result, many study participants would welcome the use of other terms such as 'corporate communications' (68 percent approval), 'strategic communication' (61 percent approval) or 'communication management' (56 percent approval).

To the graphics

The Jobup company comprises the job platforms Alpha.ch, Jobwinner.ch and Jobup.ch. Stephan Bischof has many years of experience in acquisitions, the company said in a press release. Most recently, he worked for six years as Sales Manager at Dun & Bradstreet. Among other things, he was responsible for the strategic development of business-to-business sales and the restructuring of two sales channels. His responsibilities also included managing the internal and external sales teams and trainees. Other important positions for the business economist were as Sales Executive at Dell Computer and as Account & Sales Manager at Galileo Switzerland.

The Jobup AG sales team has also recently been strengthened by three key account managers. Alexandra Schantl is responsible for the Zurich region, Priska Peter looks after customers from the whole of German-speaking Switzerland and Roger Wolf is the contact person for all personnel service providers.
 

"Zurich WestLink" is a major project by SBB Real Estate. In a few weeks, the foundation stone will be laid for "Bern Wankdorf", a similar construction project in the city of Bern. Republica will design and implement the celebrations and communication measures surrounding the project milestones of these two construction projects under the motto "moving in together". In particular, this includes the topping-out ceremonies, the processions and the inauguration celebrations, which will take place at the end of 2013 (Zurich) and 2014 (Bern). Republica was awarded the contract for this mandate following a pitch.

According to the agency, an important task of Republica is to promote acceptance of their future place of work among employees at the various locations and their willingness to embrace a new, shared working culture. As a symbolic act, a large chest containing the concerns and wishes of the employees at the seven existing Zurich locations was buried at the laying of the foundation stone for "Zurich West Link". They are to form the basis on which "Zürich WestLink" will stand.
 

After several strategy workshops with the management of Werkheim Uster, the agency developed the new brand concept. The complete CI/CD, including the new claim and the uniform division names, was derived from this. All layout templates were then designed in accordance with the new guidelines, including for business stationery, image and divisional brochures, the annual report and the customer magazine.

Responsible at Werkheim Uster: Patrick Stark, Anita Kupper. Responsible at Walder,Werber: Sandro Walder (overall management), Tobias Fluck (CD), Sascha Völki (AD), Gregor Szabo (graphics), Corsin Kessler (DTP), Valentina Röschli (consulting/text), Philipp Ammeter (text).
 

Instead, they should once again use poster advertising to increase the circulation of their newspapers, according to the advertisement. The advertisement appears in the magazine Flash Extra, which is published exclusively for the Swiss Media Congress 2011.

APG is addressing all advertisers with a second advertisement in the trade press. In it, Publicis lets two former print people have their say. The two explain with a wink that although they used to sell advertisements, today they prefer the medium with the highest return on investment: the poster. Advertisement number 2 appears in Werbewoche and Persönlich.

Responsible at APG: Markus Ehrle (Marketing & Business Development) Slavica Lecic (Marketing / Head of Communications). Responsible at Publicis: Peter Rettinghausen (Creative Director), Grischa Rubinick (Senior Art Director), Nicolo Giunta (Junior Art Director), Cyrill Wirz (Copywriter), Margrit Weber (Senior Brand Director), Jennifer Meier (Account Executive), Eliane Dürst (Photo).
 

An initial tweet spoke of shots being fired at Obama in a restaurant in the state of Iowa, where the president was campaigning. Then came the "breaking news" that Obama was dead: two gunshot wounds had proved to be too many. And further: "It's a sad 4th of July for America." Finally, Vice President Joe Biden was also wished good luck in office as "our new president".
The broadcaster confirmed the attack early Monday morning. Hackers had sent out several malicious and false tweets claiming that there had been an assassination attempt on President Obama, the Fox News statement said. Of course, these reports are false and the President is spending the 4th of July holiday with his family. The station also expressed regret for any fears that may have been triggered by the tweets.
This story leads back to the old question: "If it wasn't written about in all the newspapers, did it really happen? And if it was written about, did it really happen?" Which, in plain English, means the reader should have asked himself: If it wasn't written about in any other American newspaper, how can it be true? But one could also ask: If Fox News hadn't cleaned up the story, how long would it have been before other media outlets picked up on the fictitious rumors?
Incidentally, a group called "Scriptkiddies" claimed responsibility for the hacker attack on the political news account @foxnewspolitcs, according to SDA.
 

Michael B. Norton has worked in sales for over 20 years and has many years of industry experience in various positions. This was reported by the NZZ in a press release on Tuesday. He has a basic graphic design education and has completed various further training courses, including an Executive MBA at the GSBA (Graduate School of Business Administration Zurich) and SUNY (State University of New York).
 

With the renewal of the contract in Geneva, the Affichage subsidiary will remain in possession of all major city contracts in Switzerland. This was announced by APG on Tuesday. In Geneva, there are 1,600 spaces for billboards on public land.