Since the beginning of this week, Swiss cities can now also be explored virtually with Google Street View. However, numerous images with easily identifiable faces and car numbers have already appeared. Now it is no longer just data protectionists who are fighting back against the online service, but increasingly also citizens. Despite the 300 complaints that have already been received in the last few days, Google is talking about isolated cases. Switzerland's top data protection official Hanspeter Thür had approved the service for the time being, but is now threatening to take the internet company to the Federal Administrative Court if Google does not meet the requirements for the protection of privacy.
Google Street View: complaints are piling up
Google has now been given a reprieve. After the two-day meeting with the Swiss Federal Data Protection Commissioner Hanspeter Thür, Google has promised to clarify within a week how and whether improvements can be implemented, as Tagesschau.sf.tv writes. The company also undertook not to activate any further areas for the time being.
Google is also responding to the complaints. In a recent statement on Tuesday, a Google spokesperson said: "We had constructive discussions with Federal Data Protection Commissioner Hanspeter Thür yesterday and today and look forward to continuing the dialog. We are committed to working with the Federal Data Protection Commissioner to show him the effectiveness of our blurring technology and to discuss his further concerns. Since the launch last week, we have seen an 80 percent increase in usage volume, demonstrating the popularity of this feature with the Swiss population." Google is already assuring people online that they can be asked to remove images from Street View. It is now encouraging anyone who finds an image that they feel needs further blurring to use Google's easily accessible reporting tool. There is no need to call a toll-free number, nor does a nerve-wracking tape-recorder voice record the complaint. No, all you have to do is click on the "Report a problem" button at the bottom left of the Street View image and you can fill in a short form. Only the last two sentences on the subject of complaints about Google Street View sound unpleasant: "That's it. We will process your report as soon as possible."

www.google.ch
tagesschau.sf.tv

The technology company Helveting commissioned the BSSM advertising agency to develop a completely new image. The corporate design, claim, website and printed matter were all adapted to the new positioning. BSSM positioned the company under the new term "Cross-Engineering". According to the agency in a press release, this is intended to get to the heart of the engineers' thinking strategy. A classic example of so-called cross-engineering is the spacesuit. Its development later made the invention of the PET bottle possible. This is reflected in the subject of the new image.
Responsible at Helveting Hünenberg: Ugur Bastas (overall responsibility). Responsible at BSSM, Basel: Urs Schneider (CD), Hans Peter Brugger, Hannes Müller (text), Eveline Spitz (graphics), Markus Binggeli (consulting). Photography: Emanuel Ammon (archive). Programming: Zephir, Münchenstein.

www.bssm.ch

Digicomp Academy has decided to work with Jenni Kommunikation in the area of media relations. The agency, which focuses on companies in the ICT sector, is taking on the mandate with immediate effect.
Digicomp offers public courses, training courses and company courses in all areas of information and communication technology for 14,000 course participants every year. Jenni Kommunikation's main task is media relations for Digicomp Academy.

www.digicomp.ch
www.jeko.com

The Willisauer Bote is expanding its electronic offering. The regional newspaper, which is published twice a week, is launching an information service on Tuesday with constantly updated regional news. The website is also being updated. The information service produced by the editorial team will be available on screens at nine different locations such as stores, cafés and fitness centers. In addition, a service for Internet-enabled cell phones is to follow soon, as the media company announced on Monday.
announced.
The aim is not only to keep the population better informed about local events. The aim is also to offer new opportunities for advertisers to promote their products and services.

www.sda.ch

www.willisauerbote.ch

SuisseEMEX'09 starts on Tuesday. 400 exhibitors will be presenting their products and business solutions in four halls at Messe Zürich from August 25 to 27, 2009 at Switzerland's largest marketing and event trade fair. The focus will be on specialist knowledge, trends and a trade fair experience for new ideas and business contacts. There will also be numerous specialist forums and the Emex Forum by Swiss Marketing (SMC). Over 12,000 trade visitors are expected to attend.

You can find the latest information on Suisse-emex.ch.

In future, Richner, a specialist interior design company, will be relying on the ideas of the Walker advertising agency. Its sister company Getaz in French-speaking Switzerland will also be looked after by the advertising agency with immediate effect. The agency won the two mandates as part of an agency evaluation without a pitch. The first results of the collaboration can be seen this fall.
Richner offers a range of products for bathrooms, kitchens, parquet flooring and wall and floor tiles in around 20 showrooms in German-speaking Switzerland. Since the end of 2000, the interior design specialist has been part of the globally active
Irish building materials group CRH. The CRH Getaz Group generated annual sales of 1.7 billion Swiss francs in Switzerland in 2008 and employs 2,600 people.

Responsible at Richner: Urban Braun (Head of Marketing CRH Getaz Group), Bettina Eyholzer (Head of Marketing Richner).

Hesskiss has designed an ad for FC Zurich. The creative team crammed a medium-sized group of FCZ fans into their copywriter's 78 Lancia Beta Coupé. The motif is intended to encourage fans of the Zurich city club to take a short trip to eastern Switzerland: As the "Letzi" is being set up for the athletics meeting, the Zurich footballers will not be playing in their home stadium for once on August 25, but in the Arena St. Gallen. The advertisement in 1/2-page format will appear three times in the Tagesanzeiger.

Responsible at FC Zurich: Ancillo Canepa (President), Christian Müller (Head of Marketing). Responsible at Hesskiss: Roland Hess (CD), Dieter Boller (text), Meo Giger (photography and graphics), Nathalie Zeller (consulting).

As previously announced, Swiss television recently launched a video portal on which all programs can be watched free of charge. In addition to the video contributions, users can also find information on which programs have been watched the most and which have received the highest ratings. The Tagesschau can also be broken down into contributions, with the number of views being calculated for each one. According to research by Tagesanzeiger.ch, weather reports and criminal cases were at the top of the popularity scale in recent days. Users, on the other hand, were less keen on top-heavy topics.
While the key figures are interesting for viewers but only of limited use, Swiss television is all the more interested. User behavior influences the design of TV programmes, admits SF press spokesman David Affentranger. Online users therefore have a certain amount of power over TV content - in line with the motto: give the audience what it wants. Mind you, this is not just about which feature films are shown, but which topics the newsroom will deal with in future - and this at a broadcaster with a public service remit. All right, if we get to choose what we get to see from the world: more celebrities and even more scandals!

Basler Zeitung Medien and Medien für Erwachsene AG (MFE), represented by Christian Heeb, signed the purchase agreement for Radio Basel 1 last Friday, August 21, 2009. The formal transfer of business will take place on September 30, 2009, which means that operational responsibility for Radio Basel 1 will remain with Basler Zeitung Medien until September 30, as the media company announced on Monday. At the same time, MFE have withdrawn their appeal against the licensing of Radio Basel 1 and Radio Basilisk.

Since Monday, the Newsnetz websites Tagesanzeiger.ch, Bernerzeitung.ch and Thurgauerzeitung.ch now also feature news from the respective regions. A total of around 700 communities have been divided into 21 regions. The local offering of the portal is to be continuously expanded in terms of content. A next step is to lead into the urban neighborhoods, according to a press release on Monday.
With the help of Google Maps, residential communities can be located, with the corresponding local news displayed by clicking on the desired location. The name of the municipality can also be entered directly into the web address: Horgen residents, for example, can find the local news via horgen.tagesanzeiger.ch, Burgdorf residents via burgdorf.bernerzeitung.ch.

local.tagesanzeiger.ch
local.bernerzeitung.ch
local.berneroberlaender.ch
local.thunertagblatt.ch
lokal.solothurnertagblatt.ch
lokal.thurgauerzeitung.ch

On September 15, 2009, Publicitas, official Swiss representative of the International Advertising Festival (IAF), together with its partners, invites you to the award ceremony for the Swiss Lion winners and the premiere of the "Cannes Film Winners". Swiss advertisers won 5 bronze, 1 silver and 1 PR Lion at this year's Cannes Advertising Festival. In total, they made it onto the shortlist 23 times. The event will take place from 6 pm in the Arena Filmcity in Sihlcity, Zurich. Registrations are possible at Publicitas.ch/canneslions possible.

The Vaud-based advertising broker Publigroupe is facing its worst crisis in 50 years and continues to make a loss. In the first half of 2009, it suffered a 28 percent drop in sales to CHF 798.4 million. At the bottom line, the company posted a loss of CHF 8.5 million after a profit of CHF 43.9 million in the same period last year. According to a press release issued on Monday, the economic trend is hitting the advertising markets ever harder and accelerating their structural changes.
The operating loss (EBIT) amounted to CHF 3.5 million after a plus of CHF 61.9 million in the previous year. At that time, Publigroupe had benefited from a pre-tax profit of CHF 42.5 million from a real estate sale, according to the statement.

Media Sales-Publicitas hardest hit
The main reason for the decline in sales is the advertising business in the print media. The Media Sales-Publicitas segment recorded a 28.8% drop in sales to CHF 658.3 million. Sales generated in press advertising (CHF 530 million) fell by 27%, with the slump affecting all regions and advertising categories. Commercial advertising fell by 20.3 percent. Job advertisements, which are dependent on the economy and the labor market, continue their downward slide. At the end of the first half of the year, the decline amounted to 41%.
Income from internet advertising is also declining - but less sharply than in the print sector. Display online advertising sold by Media Sales in Switzerland - including category ads on the Internet - fell by 8% to CHF 7.6 million. Television advertising fell by 4% to CHF 15.9 million, while radio advertising remained stable at CHF 3.1 million. Sales of advertising for cinemas are 32% below the previous year's figure (CHF 8.1 million).

Continued austerity measures
Publigroupe intends to get to grips with the problems in print with continued cost-cutting measures and a new business model. After expenses were already reduced by CHF 22 million in 2008 compared to 2007, the savings in the first half of 2009 amounted to a further CHF 23 million. The new business model is to be introduced at the end of the year. The idea is that customers will no longer be paid exclusively according to turnover. Depending on the service, performance or transaction-based tariffs will also be charged.
Publigroupe, which has lost its major customers Edipresse and AZ Medien in recent months, does not expect the economy to recover in the current year. For this reason, more than 40 million francs are to be saved in print for 2009 as a whole. In the "Search & Find" and "Digital & Marketing Services" segments, the decline is only due to the economic situation. Thanks to solid business models, the Group is well positioned to benefit from the growth in online services.
The figures were viewed negatively on the stock market. They fell short of analysts' expectations in terms of turnover and exceeded them in terms of profitability. With low trading volumes and a slightly positive overall market, the shares traded at
11.30 a.m. two percent down at 98 francs.