PubliGroupe: Resignation from the Board of Directors

Michaela Stöckli has announced her resignation from the Board of Directors of PubliGroupe. She had been a member of the Board since the end of April 2010.

Michaela Stöckli will be stepping down at the forthcoming General Meeting at the end of April 2010 due to new professional commitments. According to a press release issued on Tuesday, the Board of Directors will submit a proposal for a successor to the General Meeting in due course.

Axel Springer: Magazine for good style launched

On March 26, 2010, "First - The magazine for good style" will be published for the first time. The 68-page publication will be enclosed with the business titles Bilanz and Handelszeitung published by Axel Springer Switzerland and the PME Magazine published in French-speaking Switzerland.

First will be published four times a year with a circulation of 130,000 copies. The magazine is a joint production of the Zurich and Geneva offices of Axel Springer Switzerland. Olivier Toublan, Editor-in-Chief of PME Magazine and Private Banking, is responsible for the editorial management. The advertising manager is Sandra Bruderer, Advertising Market Manager Bilanz.
Ralph Büchi, CEO of Axel Springer Switzerland, was quoted in a press release on Tuesday as saying that First is the publisher's response to its readers' need for inspiration for high-quality consumption and enjoyment. The content of each issue follows a theme. The first issue presents various trends, including from the areas of fashion, watches, cars and society. The other issues will focus on "Avantgarde", "Classic" and "Surprise".

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Ticketcorner and Infront: Early contract extension until 2012

Ticketcorner and the international sports marketing agency Infront Sports & Media are extending their strategic partnership ahead of schedule through the end of 2012. The goal is to leverage synergies in the area of ticketing for international sporting events.

Infront is a partner to around 130 sports rights holders and manages an average of around five major sporting events worldwide every day. As part of this collaboration, Ticketcorner handled the ticketing for the 2009 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Switzerland, for example.

AY&R: Visiting dinosaur country with Danone

Advico Young & Rubicam produced a 2D and 3D computer-animated TV commercial for Danone. The commercial features the dinosaur mascot Danonino to promote a new collectible campaign.

There are currently trading cards on Danone quark packs showing various dinosaurs with a dark thermal dot. If you press on it with your thumb, the dot disappears and you can see what the respective dinosaur likes to eat underneath. The TV commercial from Advico Young & Rubicam now demonstrates how the cards work.
The TV commercial will be broadcast until March 7. The main target group is 3 to 7-year-old children.

> To the spot

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Responsible at Danone: David Willems (Marketing Director), Regina Schläpfer (Senior Brand Manager Activia Switzerland), Dieter Fotino (Junior Brand Manager Switzerland). Responsible at Advico Young & Rubicam: Dominik Oberwiler (CD/AD), Andi Portmann (conceptioner/lyricist), Laurie Morard (graphics) Pablo Koerfer, Julia Kull (consulting), Cem van der Schaar (agency producer), Uli Scheper (executive producer brand film), sound (Jingle Jungle).

DDP Switzerland: Editorial team calls for generous social plan

Following the closure of its service announced at short notice, the editorial team of DDP Switzerland is calling for negotiations to begin on a generous social plan. It has asked the DDP management in Berlin to appoint a delegation capable of making decisions.

The editorial team is demanding a first round of negotiations on February 8, 2010 and has also determined that the 16 dismissals made last week were abusive, according to a press release issued on Tuesday. The editorial team has called in the media union Comedia, the journalists' association Impressum and the Swiss Media Syndicate SSM and can count on their support. Since the surprisingly announced closure of the offices in Berne and Zurich, including the dismissal of the entire editorial team, there has been radio silence on the part of those responsible at DDP, the press release continues. No talks or negotiations have taken place to date. The editorial team is still appalled by the actions of the DDP in Germany and sharply criticizes the decision, which has serious consequences in terms of media policy.

AP: Partnership with Yahoo News renewed

The U.S. internet company Yahoo and the Associated Press (AP) have renewed their long-standing partnership. This partnership allows Yahoo to feature the agency's articles, photos, and videos in its news section.

Both sides are still keeping a low profile and are not disclosing any details of the agreement. The two companies have been working together for over ten years and the Yahoo News site is mostly dominated by content from the international agency. According to the press release, the Yahoo site also receives far more hits than Google News, although Google search is actually more popular.

Nebelspalter: Satirical magazine launches extra issue

The Swiss satirical magazine Nebelspalter is doubling the number of annual issues. Ten additional "Nebelspalter Extra" issues are intended to shorten waiting times between the main issues and increase topicality.

With the new 16-page editions, Nebelspalter is responding to the widespread demand for more topical political satire and commentary, the launch is explained in a communiqué. The focus of the individual content sections is the satirical treatment of the latest news from politics to the tabloids. The Extra crew includes satirist Simon Enzler and Sunday cartoonist Silvan Wegmann. The Extra issues are an integral part of the regular annual subscription, which now comprises 20 issues per year. With a circulation of 80,000 copies, the Extra edition is intended to reach new target groups in addition to the existing subscriber base. The first Nebelspalter Extra will be published on February 18.
Founded in 1875, Nebelspalter is, by its own account, the world's longest-serving satirical magazine. Since 1998, the title has belonged to the Thurgau-based publishing house Engeli & Partner. Marco Ratschiller has been editor-in-chief since 2005. According to Mach Basic 2009-02, the magazine reaches an average of 254,000 readers per issue. Regular contributors include cartoonists such as Miroslav Bartàk and Oliver Schopf, as well as satirists and writers such as Andreas Thiel and Gion M. Cavelty.

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New sales team at VBZ Traffic Media

At the beginning of February, the additional business team at Verkehrsbetriebe Zürich was finally completed. The new head is Dani Andres.

In his role, Dani Andres is responsible for Traffic Media (transport advertising) and extra trips. The Zurich public transport company has more than 13,000 hanging boxes, 4,000 window banners and more than 7.5 kilometers of car roof advertising on rails and tires in Zurich.

Futurecom: New products from IWC Schaffhausen presented online

To coincide with the opening of the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) watch fair, Futurecom launched the new additions to IWC’s Portugieser collection online. The agency is responsible for the design, programming, and overall project management.

The website also features the new IWC film "The Spirit of Navigation" with Hollywood actor Jean Reno, which focuses on the origins and fascination of navigation. The full-flash microsite is available in German and English, with French and Chinese to follow shortly.

Responsible at IWC Schaffhausen: Jasmin Beirer (project management). Responsible at Futurecom: Marc Maresch (project management), Sina Wiederkehr (production), Katja Gradenegger (design), Rafael Hostettler (IT, Flash) .

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Start of transmission for Tele 1

The new Central Swiss regional television station, Tele 1, has been on the air since Monday evening. Tele 1’s programming focuses on news, culture, and regional reporting.

The editor-in-chief of the new channel is Oliver Kuhn. Once a week, he will host the program "Kontrovers" and discuss topics from politics, business and society with guests. The topic of business will now have its own broadcast format. Local news will be on the program every day at 6 pm. The "Fokus" program following the news will feature an interview on the topic of the day. RegioTalk" will continue to be broadcast, albeit in a slightly different format. Tele 1 took over this format from Tele Tell.
A total of 53 employees work for Tele 1, 40 of whom are permanently employed by Central Swiss Television. In order to fulfill Bakom's performance mandate, Tele 1 places great importance on the training of its employees, the broadcaster writes in a press release. For example, they are supervised by experts - including news presenter Franz Fischlin, Urs Leuthard, presenter of "Rundschau" SF DRS and media professional Patrik Rohr. The MAZ is a partner in matters of training and young talent.
CHF 5 million was invested in the technology and a further CHF 4 million in the construction of the Central Switzerland television station. The station's annual budget amounts to a good eight million francs. CHF 2.3 million of this is concession money, the rest has to be earned through advertising money, as Managing Director Bruno Hollenweger emphasizes.
In October 2008, Tele 1 AG, part of the LZ Group, was awarded a license by the Federal Office of Communications (Bakom) to operate a new regional television station in Central Switzerland. The TV station Tele Tell, which belongs to AZ Medien and had previously held this license, was left behind. In April 2009, Tele 1 AG then took over the Tele Tell TV station and with it all employees and the technical infrastructure. An open-plan office and a new news studio were built in the LZ Medien Zentrum in Lucerne.

Swiss advertising: Hanspeter Lebrument is communicator of the month

Hanspeter Lebrument, president of Schweizer Presse and publisher of the Suedostschweiz, has been named “Communicator of the Month” for January by Schweizer Werbung (SW). Lebrument earned the award for his speech at the Epiphany Conference on January 5.

Hanspeter Lebrument had finally delivered a presidential speech for once. And this after he had incomprehensibly taken on the role of entrepreneur in recent years and talked about the sensitivities in his company. According to the association in a communiqué on Monday, this naturally did not interest the audience, even alienating them and repeatedly causing them to shake their heads. It is not the job of the publisher president to point out his own needs, but to speak "for his clientele", the press. And he has done this clearly and unambiguously this year. He castigated the masochism of the publishers, who cheered on a Federal Councillor at their annual congress after the latter had given them a terrible dressing down in advance. "Even if, conversely, this appointment means that Lebrument's previous speeches have in no way done justice to his role as publisher president; this year he got it right - finally, one would like to shout - and showed his colleagues that it is grotesque to applaud a Federal Councillor guest who has previously accused you of how unspeakably unprofessional the Swiss media are..."
In fact, the agencies that collected their ADC cubes last Saturday also deserved to be named "Communicators of the Month". However, since the awards are given to individuals, a man from the media industry was honored.

(Pictures: Keystone)

Last but not least: Heineken knows what men dream of

Commercials like to play with gender stereotypes. Women are crazy about fashion, men can't keep their hands off a bottle of beer. While women want a walk-in closet, men want an equally large fridge - filled with their favorite drink, of course - at the top of their wish list. All just advertising? No, as a fan group on Facebook shows: many really long for the oversized fridge.

The group called "I want the fridge from the Heineken ad" was launched last December. After just 50 days, it already had 26,500 members. And new fans are joining every day. It is not only beer fans who are enthusiastic. The brewers are also delighted with the viral effect of their campaign. "We are thrilled with the response that the ad has triggered without us having to do anything," says Frank Wilde from Heineken Switzerland. Whether the members of the Facebook group are really all men, or whether there are also some women - who don't dream of a walk-in closet after all - is unfortunately unknown. What is clear, however, is that the commercial will be broadcast in Schwyzerdütsch on Swiss television from the beginning of February. From then on, there will probably be even more people dreaming of the special refrigerator.

> To the spot

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