The women's newspaper Fraz, the former mouthpiece of the Swiss women's movement, is discontinued after 35 years. At the end, the newspaper still had a circulation of 2,500 copies. Only 1,200 readers had a subscription, many of whom were between 40 and 60 years old and had been loyal to the paper since its beginnings. In 1987, Fraz still had a circulation of up to 4,500 copies. From the mid-1990s onwards, the numbers went steadily downhill.
This is due to the steadily declining interest in women's issues. Younger women in particular have little interest in such topics these days, co-managing director Monica Vanoni told the SDA news agency. Monica Jeggli, former managing director of the newspaper, also sees the reason in the fact that women's issues have found a place in many other media.

Originally intended as an internal communication organ
Fraz appeared for the first time in 1975, at that time still under the name Frauezitig. It was intended as an internal communication organ of the autonomous women's movement and only later was it aimed at a wider audience.
There was a rescue attempt in 2008, when a new, modern layout was designed to appeal to young women. "Unfortunately, this measure came too late," said Vanoni. Three part-time employees are losing their jobs, as well as several freelance journalists and photographers who are also affected. So far, the Fraz editorial team still lacks several thousand francs to produce a farewell issue. There are also plans to publish the Fraz articles from the beginning to the present day on the Internet.

The online marketer Publicitas Web2com is strengthening its technical and sales team with Francesco De Nardo and Amir Ferhatbegovic. As the new Campaign Manager, 25-year-old Francesco De Nardo is responsible for the technical handling of campaigns. The business graduate and marketing assistant has worked for Tamedia and Adlink, among others, where he most recently worked as a media planner and campaign manager. Amir Ferhatbegovic is the new Account Executive responsible for clients and agencies in online marketing. The 24-year-old business graduate is also studying marketing, communication and PR in his final semester at the Swiss Training Center for Marketing, Advertising and Communication (Sawi). He recently completed an internship in consulting at Wundermann.

Picture: Francesco De Nardo and Amir Ferhatbegovic.

Worldwide access to the Internet brings with it a new problem: knowledge theft. How big is this problem and can we protect ourselves against it? This will be discussed at the conference "Knowledge theft, inability or paradigm shift", which will take place at the University of Applied Sciences HTW Chur from September 6 to 9, 2009. Experts from Germany, Austria, Italy and Switzerland will speak about the opportunities and risks of the Internet, including plagiarism and the credibility of Wikipedia content.
The event is aimed not only at librarians and lecturers, but also at e-learning and software specialists, media professionals, representatives of academic book and journal publishers and other interested parties. Further information can be found at

Former Bund editor-in-chief Paul Schaffroth is dead. He died on July 18 at the age of 88, his family announced on Tuesday. Schaffroth managed the Bund from 1964 to 1984. In addition, the doctor of history was also politically active, for example on the Biel municipal council. Schaffroth was mayor of Biel/Bienne from 1961 to 1964. He was a member of the FDP.

Valerio Camardella is the new Marketing Director and member of the Board of Directors at Qnective (QNTV), an American software company based in Zurich. He took up the newly created position of Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) on July 13, 2009. Camardella has held various key positions over the past five years, including CEO of Motorola Italy and Switzerland. Prior to that, he was responsible for Motorola Austria and Benelux operations for two years.
Qnective is active in the design, development and distribution of telecommunications software and services for VoIP communication (Voice over IP). The company offers all its products under the brand name "Qtalk".

The Spinas Gemperle agency has realized the current campaign for WWF Switzerland. With the message "Every individual can be the solution for our planet. We just have to start", the organization wants to inspire the population to live more sustainably. It is supported by WWF Group partners such as Coop, Migros, Ikea, Pfister, Swiss Post and Swisscom.
The integrated campaign will take place in several waves. The agency has designed posters, print ads and an e-board movie. One Landing page also provides information on sustainable living. A database provides inspiration for everyday life. Online tests calculate your own ecological footprint. In addition, the Facebook application "face one planet" invites you to network virtually.

> About the film

Responsible at WWF: Gian-Reto Raselli (Marketing Manager), Franziska Zoller (Project Manager). Responsible at Spinas Gemperle: Lorenz Spinas (CD), Beat Egger, Tom Malecha (concept/text), Miriam Fischer (concept/AD), Reto Coaz (graphics), Tullio Tomasini (consultant), Christine Wiederkehr (director), Kerstin Reulen (producer at Rosas'n'co Films).

Primus Communications, a communications agency with a focus on the travel industry, has a new owner. The previous managing director Vanessa Bay has acquired the company from the former shareholders Muriel Bassin and Travel Media. The agency employs four people and has been offering a full service for around four years. The offices at the previous address in Zurich's Seefeld district will be retained.

These days, one or two passers-by must have been almost struck dumb when they walked into the station shop arcade in Bern, exhausted by the summer heat. Glittering snow crystals with tinsel, stars and Christmas baubles everywhere. What had happened there? Hallucinations, heatstroke? Or a publicity stunt, a guerrilla campaign? No, for once we can't blame the advertisers. The City of Bern's real estate management is responsible for the seasonal interlude. It wanted to test the decorations for the coming Christmas season in a "natural environment" with the sampling - in the middle of July. However, according to the SDA, the hangings disappeared again on Wednesday. It's a shame, as we're used to the Christmas decoration craze starting earlier every year - after all, you need months to mentally prepare for the festival of love. All that's missing are the oh-so-wonderful Christmas carols.

TBWA\Zurich has added the Sibir Group to its client portfolio. The creative agency in Zurich's Seefeld district will work on the strategic brand development for Sibir. The foundations for this were jointly developed in disruption workshops. The aim is to reposition and revitalize the Sibir brand. The redesign of the corporate design is one of the first tasks. This will be followed by BtB and, at a later stage, BtC measures.
The Sibir Group focuses on the household technology sector. Through the integration of companies such as Gehrig, Novelan, Esco Schönmann and the V-Zug container business, the portfolio and services in the replacement market have been further expanded.

Responsible at Sibir Group: Roger Weidmann (Head of Marketing). Responsible at TBWA\Zurich: Andy Hostettler, Daniel Rickert/Caroline Breitenmoser (Strategic Planning), Manuela Zwald (Consulting), Frederick Rossmann (CD), Werner Schellenberg (AD), Peter Bietenholz (Text).

Frontwork was involved in the one-year renovation of the Bellevue pharmacy in Zurich. The Wallisell-based advertising technology company embellished the temporary building with printed grids, refreshed the neon signs and created a new LED illuminated sign in the shape of the green pharmacist's cross. The window lettering was gilded behind glass. Frontwork used glass with digital printing on foil for the overview board, while a digitally printed backlit foil was chosen for the shop window display. The 24-hour operation had to be fully maintained during the entire work.

Together with Gbanga, a Swiss game developer, Affichage Holding has launched a location-based game for cell phones. In the game developed for Zurich Zoo, virtual animals can be rescued and returned to the zoo or to APG poster sites. The campaign is intended to show how flexibly and specifically the medium of outdoor advertising can be used and combined with other advertising media, writes Affichage in a press release on Monday. The project was developed as part of current innovation projects.
The game only requires a mobile data connection and can be played on conventional cell phones. The campaign runs from July 20 to August 16, 2009. For every animal saved, the player receives virtual seeds that can be used to create virtual nature conservation zones. The e-Board at Zurich main station also shows the game procedure. The winner is the player who has saved the most animals. The game is free of charge and can be accessed via SMS at the relevant APG poster sites. It is also available on the Gbanga.com and Zoo.ch websites.

The Adliswil agency CP9 Advanced Marketing Soluctions has developed the new umbrella campaign for SBB Immobilien Railcity on behalf of SBB Immobilien Bewirtschaftung. The focus is on the wide range of products and services offered by the shopping and service concept. The subjects can be seen on F12 posters and rail posters since July 20.

Responsible at CP9 Advanced Marketing Solutions, Adliswil: Christian Buchli (head of consulting), Heike Thalheim, Katja Sauerwein (consulting), Angela Walti (assistance), Stephan Dübi (CD), Gilbert Neukom (AD), Sebastian Huber, Stephan Bretscher (graphics), Anja Böhme, Gila Poltéra (text/concept).