Scholz & Friends Zurich is the new above-the-line agency of Sunrise Communications. In a pitch, the agency prevailed over four competitors. Oliver Steil, CEO Sunrise Communications: "Scholz & Friends Zürich convinced us both with its strategic brand understanding and a strong, brand-defining creative concept."

In the future, the agency will be responsible for the development and implementation of classic communication measures and the orchestration of campaigns at the point of sale. The marketing and communications tasks will focus on the strategic and creative recharging of the Sunrise umbrella brand and the profiling of the company's product and pricing policy, as Scholz & Friends announced on Tuesday. The new communication measures will be implemented within the coming months.
 

The poster had initially been put up in several places at the main station by the Allgemeine Plakatgesellschaft (APG) in March 2009 on behalf of a member of the Palestine Solidarity campaign. After three days, SBB had it removed after being made aware of the political content.

Appeal to the Federal Supreme Court possible

The poster is directed against Israel's settlement policy and contains the sentence "Israel: built by force on Palestinian soil" and the call "Injustice demands resistance!". The Federal Administrative Court has now upheld the appeal lodged by the client against SBB's decision.

SBB is instructed to approve the controversial poster display. The decision can still be appealed to the Federal Supreme Court within 30 days. In their ruling, the judges in Bern come to the conclusion that SBB has violated freedom of expression with its ban.

General ban goes too far

The Federal Railways are bound to respect fundamental rights when third parties use the station walls. SBB had justified its refusal with an internal regulation according to which advertisements and messages "on controversial foreign policy topics are excluded for all media".

According to the ruling, this general ban goes too far. Train stations with their many passers-by represent an important space for the exchange of opinions. The provision in question would prevent any expression of opinion relating to foreign countries.

According to the court, a milder but equally suitable measure would be a permit requirement for expressions of opinion that could pose a direct and serious threat to public safety or proper rail traffic. This was not the case with the controversial poster.

No call for violence

It is discreetly designed and contains neither eye-catching nor shocking images. The rather militant tone of the text cannot be seen as a call for violence or other illegal acts. Resistance does not automatically mean violence and there is no call for specific actions.

The fact that the poster has been up for three days without any damage to property or demonstrations shows that it does not pose a serious threat to safety and order. Nor does it hinder the circulation of station users or otherwise disrupt rail operations. (SDA)
 

In view of the limited synergy potential and the uncertainty of being granted a license after the expiry of the current broadcasting licenses, Tamedia could imagine selling the four stations Radio 24, Capital FM, Tele Bärn and Tele Züri. As a consequence, Edipresse Schweiz's stake in La Télé is no longer of strategic importance. Talks with potential buyers are to begin in the next few weeks. The review should be completed by the end of the year.

Over the next few years, Tamedia also intends to grow by investing in its online platforms and further investments in online companies. As early as 2012, 25 percent of earnings are to be generated with digital offerings. The new company's IT operations will be gradually standardized and will be managed entirely in-house from 2013, when the contract with Swisscom IT Services expires.

Edipresse becomes a division

Edipresse Switzerland will continue to operate as a separate division under the management of Serge Reymond. The 47-year-old mathematician and economist has been Managing Director of Edipresse Switzerland since 2009 and was previously Managing Director of Naville S.A. and the Swatch Group. He will also become a member of the Management Board of Tamedia.

With the creation of the new Digital division, the online marketplaces and online services will be managed by Christoph Tonini, Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board. Tonini is also responsible for the Media Switzerland division. Ueli Eckstein will remain responsible for the Espace Media division and Rolf Bollmann for the Media Zurich division.

All prepress and printing activities will be combined in the Publishing Services division. Andreas Schaffner will remain in charge of the Publishing Services division. Under the leadership of Sandro Macciacchini, the Finance division combines all of the company's financial, real estate and IT services. With the Chairman of the Management Board, Martin Kall, the Management Board of Tamedia now comprises seven members.

Overview: To the Tamedia organization chart

Edipresse Managing Director new to the Board of Directors 
 

Karl Dietrich Seikel, a member of the Tamedia Board of Directors since 1996, will not be standing for re-election. The former managing director of the Spiegel publishing house wants to become more involved in the German publishing environment in future. Tibère Adler, Managing Director of Groupe Edipresse since 2005, will be proposed for re-election to the Board of Directors at the Annual General Meeting on May 6, 2011. The lawyer, who was born in Geneva in 1963 and trained in management at the IMD in Lausanne, has worked for Groupe Edipresse since 1993. With his election to the Tamedia Board of Directors, Tibère Adler will relinquish all operational responsibilities at Edipresse Switzerland.

Segment reporting broken down by market

At the same time as the publication of the half-year results on August 31, 2011, Tamedia is introducing segment reporting broken down by market. The Print regional business division comprises all regional newspapers and advertisers. The Print national business division comprises all newspapers and magazines with a national focus. All areas previously reported in the Publishing Services business division will be integrated into the Print regional business division.
 

Merger as early as 2011

As the companies announced last week, the Merger as early as 2011 - The merger will create the fourth-largest media company after SRG, Publigroupe and Ringier, with sales of around CHF 1,170 million and a result of CHF 152 million at EBIT level (both based on 2010). The company employs a total of 3,398 people (full-time equivalents as at December 31, 2010). Its main locations are Berne, Geneva, Lausanne and Zurich.

More on the subject:
Tamedia with profit jump in 2010

(Teaser image: Keystone)

Further proof that Floralp is irresistible not only to dough animals, but to everyone else as well, comments the agency. The new subjects can be seen immediately in German- and French-speaking Switzerland.

Responsible at Floralp: Peter Ryser (Managing Director BO Butter), Martin Rüst (Head of Advertising + Media SMP), Angela Perniola, Daniela Schmutz (Project Management SMP), Matthias Glauser (AMS Media). Responsible at SFLB: Martin Spillmann, Patrick Suter (CD), Oli Kreienbühl (AD), Reto Vogler (text), Béa Weilenmann, Pam Hügli (consulting), Suzana Kovacevic (art buying); special poster format (APG, Clear Channel) Photographer: David Willen, image editing: Tanja Willen, 3D conversions: Philipe Chrétien.

It is no secret that Ringier is interested in expanding its activities in the TV sector, spokesman Edi Estermann told news agency SDA on Tuesday. However, nothing has been decided yet, he added. "There are several TV stations we are looking at," Estermann said. He did not want to comment specifically on Tele Bärn, but on Capital FM he simply said that the station was "not on our radar at the moment". After all, the company is already well anchored in Bern with Radio Energy. 

Ringier already has various holdings: The media group holds 50 percent of Sat1 (Switzerland), 33.3 percent of Teleclub and 35 percent of the production company Grundy Schweiz. In addition, there are Presse TV, Ringier TV Productions and Ringier Web TV.

The 40-page Barbie Journal has a two-part design and, in addition to Barbie and her world, presents the new stars from Mattel - the clique around Frankie Stein from Monster High School. The Barbie Journal, with a large competition, is published semi-annually in a print run of 49'500 copies and has been available free of charge since the end of March from specialist toy retailers, Manor, Migros and other POS outlets.

Responsible at Mattel, Bern: Stefan Bertschi (Marketing Manager), Corinne Ehrsam (Brand Manager). Responsible at Ogilvy & Mather: Thomas Bolliger (Creative Direction), Stephanie van Ophuisen (Art Direction), Krasso Lindwurm (Text), Patricia Ottinger (Consulting).

With the election newspaper and the party slogan "RP - We make pressure", the newspaper printing company wants to make potential parliamentary candidates aware of the advertising impact of the communication medium "newspaper" and show how Ringier Print can contribute to electoral success. Using a Swiss map, interested parties can see how many voters they can reach in which cantons. By means of concrete calculation examples, the candidates learn what an election newspaper costs. With the slogan "Those who vote for the Ringier Print Party know what they have", the newspaper printing company wants to launch the election autumn 2011 already today. The print shop is supported in this by the Zurich agency Evoq Communications.

Responsible at Ringier Print: Michael B. Norton (Head of Marketing and Sales), Nadine Zuberbühler (Design). Responsible at Evoq Communications: Adrian Schaffner (mandate management), Judith Knapp (concept), Nadine Burri (text).

Profit climbed by 137.3 percent to CHF 110.8 million. Sales of the Tamedia Group rose by 7.6 percent to CHF 806.3 million. The operating result at EBIT level increased by 121.5 percent to CHF 112.4 million, the corresponding margin improved from 6.8 percent to 13.9 percent. All divisions were in the black at EBIT level.

Edipresse reduces losses - merger with Tamedia already in 2011

The positive sales development is primarily due to the first-time inclusion of the regional newspapers Zürcher Unterländer and Zürichsee-Zeitung, the commuter newspapers 20 Minuten and 20 Minutes, the Jobup job platforms and the Search.ch platform acquired at the beginning of 2010, Tamedia writes in a communiqué. The Electronic Media division grew by 23.6 percent. Magazines, in particular 20 Minuten Friday and Schweizer Familie, have also become an important source of income thanks to their high profitability.

Based on the economic forecasts of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco), Tamedia expects moderate growth in advertising investments and rising sales of job advertisements over the course of the year.

More on the subject:
Tamedia examines sale of radio and TV stations

The proportion of households with at least one TV set for receiving programming remained stable compared with 2009 at 92 percent (TV households). Around three-quarters of all TV households still receive their TV programming via a cable connection. A good 17 percent receive their programs via satellite dish and around 7 percent via a digital reception antenna (DVB-T). IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) accounts for 12 percent. A good one in eight TV households has access to more than one distribution channel.

Of all TV households, 55 percent can now receive TV programming in digital quality. Compared with the previous year, this figure increased by 3 percentage points. However, certain regional differences are apparent. Latin Switzerland (62 percent in Suisse romande and 59 percent in Svizzera italiana) is ahead of German-speaking Switzerland (53 percent) in terms of digital TV access. One in five TV households can already enjoy TV in HD quality, regardless of the reception path. This figure has thus increased by more than a third compared to the previous year's study.

Only slightly more digital radios

95 percent of all Swiss households have a radio (excluding computers). Conventional radios are still very popular. The penetration of households with DAB/DAB+-capable devices has increased slightly and is now around 9 percent in Switzerland as a whole. Here, the regional picture is reversed in comparison to television. 10 percent of all German-speaking households in Switzerland can receive radio in digital quality terrestrially with this device. In the other two language regions, these figures are slightly lower.

Additional information on the study, which is marketed by Publica Data, can be found at. Publicadata.ch can be called.
 

With The Collection, Ringier is targeting "globally interested people who appreciate digital information media with great entertainment value. The tablet magazine was developed by Ringier's journalists, graphic designers and technicians in Switzerland and Vietnam. 

In about half a year, the Collection crew around Editor-in-Chief Peter Hossli and Creative Director Stéphane Carpentier, led by CEO Thomas Trüb, took the first issue from prototype to full version - in collaboration between Zurich, Lausanne and Ho Chi Min City. "We want to launch more issues regularly and are already in production of the next issues," says CEO Thomas Trüb. Initially available only for iPads, The Collection will additionally be available for Android-based tablets in the second quarter of 2011. Additional language versions are also planned.

The theme of the first issue is "Prince William - The Hopeful of the British Monarchy". It uses interactive special effects to provide an insight into the life and work of the young prince. After the wedding at the end of April, it will be expanded with current images and information - free of charge for all those who have already downloaded the app. The first edition is supported by sponsoring partner Switzerland Tourism. The price is 3.99 euros in Europe and 5.50 francs in Switzerland.

Itunes.apple.com

As Head of Marketing Classified Online, Fabian Marbot is responsible for all marketing activities of the real estate platform Homegate.ch and the job portals Alpha.ch, Jobup.ch and Jobwinner.ch. As part of this role, he sits on the management boards of Homegate AG and Jobup AG. For the dating site Sswissfriends.ch and the vehicle platform Car4you.ch, Fabian Marbot is active in an advisory capacity in the area of marketing.

The 31-year-old business economist has several years of online and marketing experience. He was Head of Marketing at fashion house Bayard Wartmann before moving to auction platform Ricardo.ch as Category Manager for Fashion and Lifestyle. From 2008 to 2010, Fabian Marbot worked at Espace Media as Product Manager Online and later as Head of Online Media. Most recently he worked as Director at Omnimedia, the marketing organization of the Scout Group.

On April 8, the March traffic data from 202 sites and 15 pools measured by Net-Metrix were published as part of the Net-Metrix Audit measurement statistics. The majority of websites showed an increase in traffic in March compared to the previous month, which is hardly surprising given the short February. However, the news sites in particular saw above-average growth: The major news titles in the top ten all show an increase in visits of 20 percent or more. Unique clients also increased, often by double-digit percentages. The need for information about the situation in Japan in particular, but also about the crisis in Libya, was clearly reflected in traffic, as Net-Metrix announced on Monday.

Tables: Traffic development of the top ten compared to the previous month

The entire Net-Metrix-Audit publication is published on the 6th working day after the end of each month and is freely accessible: Net-metrix.ch.