Christoph Bauer, Head of New Media and member of the Executive Board of Ringier Switzerland, has been appointed new CEO by the Board of Directors of AZ Medien. In this role, he will be responsible for the implementation of the Group strategy and will head the management of AZ Medien. The 38-year-old will take up his new position on January 1, 2010 at the latest. As CEO, he succeeds Peter Wanner, who will concentrate more on his publishing activities and strategic issues.
After studying business administration at the University of Mannheim and Arizona State University, Christoph Bauer began his career as an assistant to the Executive Board at Bertelsmann Fachinformation and came to Switzerland as Managing Director of Bertelsmann-Springer's trade magazine publishing division. In 2001, he moved to NZZ as Head of Marketing, where he was most recently Head of Advertising Market, before being appointed Managing Director of the multimedia platform Cash at Ringier in 2006. From 2007 he was Head of Business Media and a member of the Ringier Switzerland Executive Board, and since 2008 Head of New Media.
He wrote his dissertation (Dr. rer. pol.) at the University of Oldenburg on the topic of "The daily newspaper business model in the Internet context" while working. He is a member of various committees of the Swiss Press Association and a lecturer at the University of Zurich.

Getting young people interested in politics these days requires a wealth of ideas. The advertisers at Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett were inspired by a well-known casting format for their latest campaign to motivate teenagers to take part in the youth session. For once, however, it's not singing but talking. The young people interpret the legendary speech by former Federal Councillor Adolf Ogi - the 2000 New Year's address in front of the Lötschberg portal in Kanderstag, the speech with the little fir tree.
For the recordings, 30 completely different young people were hired to deliver Ogi's speech in front of a casting wall. They read from the teleprompter - just like Ogi did back then - and occasionally have difficulties with it, just like he did. The result is proof that politics can also be fun for young people and doesn't have to come across as bone-dry, say the SFLB advertisers. The film is being used online and can be seen on the Politstars.ch website. As a bonus, there is also a movie with the mistakes and blunders. The website and other advertising materials such as posters and flyers also come in the Musicstar format.

The campaign was designed by the Zurich creative agency Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett and the film was produced by Plan B and directed by Chris Niemeyer. "Switzerland is looking for the political stars of tomorrow" is a campaign by the Youth Session and the Swiss Association of Youth Organizations (SAJV) and is supported by Swisscom and the Federal Social Insurance Office.

Responsible for the youth session: Geo Taglioni (project manager). Responsible at Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett: Moritz Stillhard, Maren Beck, Simon Staub, Peter Brönnimann, Martin Spillmann (creation), Andy Stäheli, Mirjam Eberle (consulting). Film production: Plan B. HC Vogel (production), Chris Niemeyer (director).

Zurich Financial Services Group has appointed Mindshare, a media agency belonging to GroupM, to manage its Group-wide media budget with immediate effect. This includes services such as media strategy, planning and buying, as well as services for the Farmers brand in the USA.
The Publicis Group will continue to provide creative services for the insurance and financial services provider worldwide, according to a press release issued on Tuesday. Publicis has held this creative account since the launch of the international brand campaign "Because change happenz" in 2005 and also developed the "Zurich Help Point" campaign, which was launched in fall 2008.

The situation for journalists in Iran has deteriorated massively following the controversial presidential elections. Since the riots in the capital Tehran began around two weeks ago, the number of imprisoned journalists has risen from just eight to more than 33, according to the media service Presstext. The country has thus clearly overtaken the previous leaders in the global ranking of offenders in the area of press freedom, such as China and Cuba.
The organization Reporters Without Borders (ROG), which compiles the list, also refers to the fact that journalists in prisons are subjected to "systematic torture and ill-treatment". The organization now has several eyewitness reports that confirm the use of such practices. Amnesty International is also concerned about the situation of media representatives. The human rights organization has now officially called on the Iranian authorities to release all journalists arrested since the elections.

Don't panic, what's hanging down here is just a new idea for advertising on the Internet without disturbing the user too much. Only when the user moves the mouse to the top right-hand edge of the screen does the dog-ear fold over completely and reveal an offer from Autoscout 24. Found on - nomen est omen - Funny-funny-advertising.com. Smart.
(afw)

Publicitas Publimag is rethinking its structures. The marketer of the general, trade and specialty press has recently relinquished some important management mandates and the volume has decreased as a result of the economic environment, the company explains. Executive Board member Olivier Steiner, who was in charge of the unit on an interim basis, is leaving the company at the end of the year. Steiner only recently took over from Darko Panic.

Tele Top is making some programming changes as of July 1. The number of talk shows has been increased from two to four. Programmes such as "Swissdate" and "Lifestyle" have been removed from the program. A new addition is the event magazine "Top-Events", presented by Matthias Fröhlich, which will be broadcast on Fridays from 6.30 pm. From July 5, the private broadcaster will be presenting the new program "Zoogflüschter" in collaboration with Zurich Zoo on Sundays from 6.20 pm. The early evening program has also changed. The programs "Sara macht's", "Motorshow", "Tierisch" and "GlobeTV" will be on between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.

New regional television formats from private providers are currently being launched in French-speaking Switzerland. In Vaud and Fribourg, La Télé wants to compete with the SRG stations. La Télé is the result of the merger of the former Vaud regional broadcasters ICI TV, Canal Nord Vaudois and TVRL. The award of the license means that the station, which is mainly supported by Edipresse and the publisher of the Fribourg daily newspaper La Liberté, will go beyond the Vaud region and will also be active in the canton of Fribourg. According to its own information, the station has 800,000 potential viewers in the concession area and thus covers a considerable part of the main broadcasting area of the SRG channels TSR1 and TSR2. In the first phase, the focus is now on convincing the population in Vaud and Fribourg of the benefits of the cross-cantonal channel.
For the time being, 40 employees - including 15 journalists - and CHF 6.4 million are available for the production of the programs. The budgeted income is only 5.5 million. Of this, 3.2 million will come from license fees. The structural deficit is to be reduced in the medium term by increasing advertising income.

Canal 9 wants to break down the language barrier in the Upper Valais
In Valais, the Canal 9 channel is now also broadcasting programs in German for the Upper Valais. The station, which until now has only been anchored in the French-speaking part of the canton, broadcast a half-hour information program in German for the first time today, Monday. The program will include news, a weather report and current affairs pictures without commentary. In two years' time, the program for the Upper Valais should last an hour.
According to the license application, Canal 9 sees itself as a bridge builder between the two parts of the canton. In order to live up to this intention, both the German and French editorial teams are required to cover a topic from the other part of the canton every day.

The Tagesanzeiger is looking for new readers with anti-advertising. This calls into question the information service provided by free newspapers. "Short is usually too short," reads the leaflet. The message is made clear by the words "Steibrü, Guantmo, Couchpn, Hedfu, Hoolgn". The enclosed letter states that although free and commuter newspapers are still in vogue, they are unlikely to provide answers to crucial questions. The Tagesanzeiger, on the other hand, wants to position itself as a substantial, "comprehensively informative" newspaper - despite editorial cutbacks. As news topics are becoming more complex from day to day, more information is needed. The Tagesanzeiger therefore provides comprehensive and professional information and offers real reading comfort.

Advertising budgets are cut back in times of recession. These austerity tactics are not likely to stop at the political parties either. Nevertheless, federal elections - and thus election campaigns - are coming up in Germany. Who can sell themselves best and will ultimately win the race for the chancellorship? Will Angela Merkel of the CDU remain at the helm, or will she be replaced by the SPD's Frank-Walter Steinmeier or FDP candidate Guido Westerwelle? How much money actually needs to be spent on a decent election campaign? At least the politicians don't have to worry about that this year, because the candidates are receiving support from the media industry - more specifically from the Bild newspaper.
The tabloid is organizing its current reader advertising competition under the motto "Bild Dir deinen Kanzler" (Picture your chancellor) and is calling on all readers and creative minds to design convincing election advertising for the leading candidates in this year's Bundestag election campaign. The ideas submitted will be presented in the newspaper or on the Internet. Users can also post their suggestions online themselves.
It remains unclear whether the three candidates are relying on creative ideas from the public or whether they are nevertheless relying on professional advertising strategies. But they can certainly benefit. Bild editor-in-chief Kai Diekmann sees the main advantage of the competition for the politicians in the fact that they can find out what the voters really like.

> Create your own chancellor

The Kuoni Switzerland website has a new look for the start of the summer. Both the design and the structure of the site have been adapted. Users are to be inspired to travel by different categories: For romantics there is the category "Romantic for two", for sporting experiences interested parties can choose the category "Sport". In the editorial section, stories and pictures should invite you to dream.
Offers for specific travel ideas can be found via the quick access "Search & Book". Special criteria - for example the vacation budget - can be entered in a "Travel Finder". Under "MyKuoni", visitors also have the option of creating their own profile in which, for example, preferred hotels can be compared or forwarded to friends.
The new website was realized by the internet agency Ray Sono.

Over 100 guests came to Zurich's MetaHaus, where the branding agency celebrated its traditional summer party with its clients. The theme of this year's party was "Brand Poetry". Alexander Haldemann welcomed the guests with a speech consisting solely of claims from well-known brands. Claims were hidden in the MetaHaus and in the garden and had to be guessed. And it turned out that even the many brand managers present had to crack many a nut. The guests were able to relax in the balmy summer air and enjoy the pleasant music, maintain existing connections and make new contacts.

Stephan Howeg (Adecco), Bruno Schmidt (MetaDesign)

Roger Kriz (NZZ Fretz), Michael Dier, André Stauffer (MetaDesign)

Loredana Zacchi, Bindella, Katarina van der Laan, Bindella, Bruno Schmidt, MetaDesign

Michèle Durrer, Patricia Bogesits (MetaDesign), Sarah Vogt (Alpiq), Ulrike Plonka (Adecco)

Anita Affentranger, Michael Dier (MetaDesign)

Anton Schaller, Alexander Haldemann (MetaDesign)

Manuel Kellenberger, Hans Christian Preuss (Neidhart + Schön Group)

André Stauffer (MetaDesign), Yusuf Akpinar (Druckmanufaktur), David Grossmann (Basler & Hofmann)

:
Fabio Vareni (Frontwork), Michael Dier (MetaDesign), Sarah Vogt (Alpiq)

Sarah Früh (Alpiq)

Bruno Schmidt (MetaDesign), Brigit Wehrli (City of Zurich), Peter Labba (Zürcher Kantonalbank) and company, Benno Seiler (City of Zurich), Lukas Eiselin (MetaDesign)

(Captions from left to right)