The 3+ program "The 10 ...", which was launched with much fanfare at the beginning of April 2009, is already disappearing from the screen after six episodes. According to Newsnetz, the last episode will be broadcast on May 12. A decision on whether and how to continue with the format will not be made until the fall. The reason for the production stop: over the next few months, the channel wants to focus all its energies on the season of "Bauer, ledig, sucht ...", which will be broadcast this summer, and on the new format "Bumann, der Restauranttester", which will start in late summer.
In addition, 3+ has been nominated for the Swiss Economic Award 2009. The broadcaster made it into the final three in the services category alongside River Advice LTD. and Swiss Smile Holding, according to a press release issued on Thursday. The business award honors outstanding young companies based in Switzerland. The award will be presented on May 15 at the 11th Swiss Economic Forum.

Unsteady leadership: CEO Erich Baumgartner and CD Nicolas Vontobel have already left the Scholz & Friends agency. They only took over as the new management duo last September.
Group CEO Frank-Michael Schmidt announced the separation internally at the beginning of the week, according to the German industry service Horizont. He justified the move by citing differences of opinion about the direction of the agency, which is why they had jointly decided to go their separate ways. According to insiders, there was resistance within the agency to Baumgartner and his management style.
Uli Geiger (consulting) and Joerg Jahn (creation) have now taken over the management of S&F Zurich. Jahn was already Creative Director at the agency before Vontobel's appointment. The Basel office of S&F, which emerged from the takeover of the Favo agency at the beginning of the year, is not affected. It will continue to be managed by Hinrik Wachsmuth. In total, Scholz & Friends employs around 40 people in Switzerland, with the Basel office being slightly larger.
"With his appointment, we will initiate a new phase of our market presence in which S&F will gain an independent Swiss profile and strive for growth that corresponds to the importance and economic strength of the country," Schmidt explained last August on the appointment of Baumgartner.
Previous stations in Baumgartner's career include Neutral, Philipps, Publicis, DDB, McCann, GGK and Ogilvy.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. is suffering badly from the economic crisis. According to SDA, the operating result almost halved to 755 million dollars in the third quarter ended March. Sales slumped by almost 16 percent to just under 7.4 billion dollars. Murdoch expects operating profit to fall by almost a third in the financial year to the end of June. On the bottom line, however, the Group was recently able to slightly increase its surplus to 2.7 billion thanks to the sale of shares and a tax effect.
The traditional television business (Fox) and the news division (Times and Wall Street Journal) only narrowly missed being in the red. In contrast, the film business around the Hollywood studio Twentieth Century Fox and cable TV performed better than a year earlier. The movie business is booming, says Murdoch. The Group benefited from the success of "Slumdog Milionaire", for example, and superhero Wolverine alia Hugh Jackman is currently storming the charts.
News Corp. suffered the same fate as its competitors with the latest decline in earnings: Walt Disney, Time Warner and Viacom also suffered losses in the past quarter. The German Bertelsmann Group, Europe's leading media company, has just imposed the biggest cost-cutting program in the company's history and even warned of a possible loss below the bottom line for the current year.

Europe's largest television group is feeling the effects of the economic crisis: RTL Group earned only half as much in the first quarter of this year as it did a year ago. Against the backdrop of declining advertising markets throughout Europe, operating profit (Ebita) fell by almost 54 percent to 87 million euros, the Group reported in Luxembourg on Thursday, according to SDA. Turnover fell by 11.1 percent to just under 1.2 billion euros. A reliable forecast for 2009 as a whole is not possible, it said. However, it can be assumed that the level of profitability will be significantly lower than in 2008.
The Group is not plagued by ratings problems. RTL Group's flagships - the German TV channels, M6 in France and RTL 4 in the Netherlands - had a strong start to 2009: "All channels were able to increase their audience shares in the respective target groups compared to the same quarter last year."
In 2008 as a whole, the entertainment group posted a record operating profit of 916 million euros. The group with 45 television and 32 radio stations in eleven European countries and the production arm Freemantle Media generated revenues of 5.77 billion euros last year (up 1.2 percent). Around 90 percent of RTL Group is owned by the Bertelsmann media group.

The 20 best-known brands in Switzerland now include coffee capsules from Nespresso and the internet company Google, according to the representative Brand Asset Valuator brand study by the Young & Rubicam Group. Kellogg's cereal, the Nutella spread and Swatch watches also rose to the top of the list. The newcomers pushed traditional Swiss brands such as Sugus and the two cheese varieties Appenzeller and Tilsiter out of the top 20.
Because more and more people in Switzerland are using digital media, young, innovative brands such as Nespresso and Google are attracting the attention of consumers, Young & Rubicam wrote in a press release on Thursday. The brand hierarchy is being shaken.
However, the majority of the best-known brands are still traditional Swiss products. The list includes Emmentaler, Gruyère, Rivella, Thomy, Toblerone, Zweifel, Ragusa, Ovomaltine, Migros and Ricola. M-Budget is also on the list. Of foreign origin are Coca-Cola, Ikea, Lego and Nivea. There are major differences depending on the part of the country: In French-speaking Switzerland, for example, Cailler, Caran d'Ache, San Pellegrino and Nestlé are popular, while Zweifel, Ovomaltine and Rivella are among the favorites in German-speaking Switzerland.
In the survey, 55% of respondents thought that the economic situation in Switzerland would deteriorate in the coming year (2007: 22%). The answers have been this pessimistic since the survey began
Never before in 1995, writes Young & Rubicam. However, there is less pessimism when it comes to their own wallets: 83% believe that their personal financial situation will not deteriorate (2007: 89%).

In the first quarter of 2009, Sunrise increased sales by 8.1 percent to CHF 483 million compared to the same quarter of the previous year. In the same period, EBITDA rose by 13.8 percent to CHF 157 million. At the same time, the company continues to invest heavily in customer growth and was able to unbundle around 70,000 home connections by May, according to a press release issued on Thursday. Including the integration of Tele 2, the total customer base increased by 23.7 percent to 2.82 million. The number of mobile customers rose by 15.1 percent to 1.78 million.

The more diverse the media landscape becomes, the greater the desire of marketing experts, PR specialists and media planners for simple working principles. Under the name "Top 150 Swiss Media", the two Swiss specialist publishers Media-Daten AG and Edition Renteria SA have therefore created a concentrated and clear reference work for the communications industry. An enclosed CD lists all the relevant contacts both on the editorial side and in the publishing house, supplemented by all the technical details, prices and discount options in the advertising sector. Thanks to various search and display options, the data can be easily prepared for daily media work. Media plans, for example, can be quickly calculated using rough costing and integrated directly into office documents. The user-friendly tool lists all relevant data on the more than 100 most important print titles and the 40 most important electronic media in Switzerland.
The cross-media section was further expanded in the 2009 edition: with suggestions and comments on Swiss cross-media documentation. Representatives of the most important providers as well as representatives of the relevant associations indicate what criteria must be met in order to present the increasingly important cross-media campaigns in a meaningful way. In addition, a case database is presented as well as the current view of Swiss cross-media offerings.
Order this informative and practical resource for the Swiss media industry now directly from Edition Renteria SA. Members of the patron associations BSW, SWA and Schweizer Presse receive the book with integrated CD at a special price (CHF 98 instead of 148).
Edition Renteria SA, 8045 Zurich, 044/ 451 46 47, Fax 044/ 451 36 38.
www.renteria.ch
[email protected]

Heusser Communicates has designed SRG's 2008 annual report with this year's main theme "A journey through the world of information, sport, music, film, entertainment and education". According to the Zurich-based agency, double-page photos form the visual core of the report. Contributions from the radio and television program as well as from the online offering are presented, such as the live broadcast of the opera La Traviata at Zurich main station, the Label Suisse music festival in Lausanne and the Locarno film festival.
Heusser Communicates is also responsible for SRG's Idée Suisse magazine.
Responsible at SRG SSR idée suisse, Bern: Max Gurtner (overall responsibility), Dominic Witschi (project management), Jürg U. Schäffler and Christian Baeriswyl (finances). Contact at Heusser Communicates, Zurich: Thomas Heusser (consulting, CD), Gina Orsatti (AD/graphics/layout), Roman von Arx (typography/polygraphy/realization), Benjamin Barmettler (image processing), Pablo Faccinetto (photography).

Publicis has realized a poster campaign for Findus. The campaign promotes the new Gusto del Mondo product line, which will soon make it possible to conjure up dishes from all over the world. Findus will take the individual illustrations of the packaging and place them in the freezer compartment, it continues. In this way, the dish is presented ready to cook and within easy reach for the customer.
The subjects will hang from May 4 to 17, 2009.
Responsible at Nestlé: Roger Matter (Marketing Director Frozen Food), Stefanie de Buhr (Brand Manager Frozen Food). Responsible at Publicis: Sacha Moser (CD), Lori Fischer (AD), Muriel Asté, Judith Hoeck (consulting), Vera Schmid, Deborah Herzig (art buying), Federico Naef (photography), Patrick Rohner (retouching), Ertugrul Edirne (illustration).

In addition to rail-based freight transport, BLS is responsible for regional passenger transport and shipping on Lakes Thun and Brienz in the Bernese Oberland. The best-known section of the BLS network is the Lötschberg axis with the Lötschberg Base Tunnel. But there is also the almost century-old mountain route with its 14.6-kilometer tunnel between Kandersteg and Goppenstein. The BLS "Lötschberger" regional express has been running there since December 2007. In order to draw attention to the attractions and exciting leisure activities along the Bern-Spiez-Kandersteg-Brig and Bern-Spiez-Zweisimmen connections, BLS has developed a cross-destination and cross-cantonal excursion concept, which is now being presented in a campaign. "The construction of the Lötschberg Base Tunnel was the trigger for our Lötschberger excursion concept," says Martin Gäggeler, Lötschberger Project Manager at BLS in Bern. "Since transit traffic between Bern and Valais has mainly been moving through the base tunnel, excursion traffic has become more important on the Lötschberg mountain route."
In-depth guide
The key visual of the campaign designed by Erdmannpeisker is the "hidden object" picture à la "Where is Walter?" drawn by Felix Reidenbach in Tintin style, combined with the claim "Simply great excursions". It will appear from May 8 as an advertisement in various Swiss media and as a poster. The campaign also includes a panoramic map, a travel guide and the website www.loetschberger.ch, which is already live. The panoramic map was drawn by cartographer and illustrator Arne Rohweder. It gives day-trippers a quick overview of the region and provides information on the most important excursion destinations. The map was printed in a print run of 140,000 copies and is being distributed as a promotional item. The 134-page travel guide is intended as an in-depth guide for a smaller target group. It was printed in a run of 30,000 copies. "Where others produce a brochure, we offer a paperback," explains Gäggeler. "It's a classy, high-quality travel companion that offers real added value with lots of exciting information and insider tips." The free guide offers impressive pictures, exciting texts and the most important information in a nutshell. Anyone interested in the region can either browse through it with pleasure or quickly compile the aspects that are relevant to them. Further campaigns will follow from mid-May, for example POS activities and a trade fair appearance. From June, the campaign will also be supplemented by banners on the Internet.
Internet presence at the heart of the company
Advertisements, posters, panoramic maps and travel guides draw attention to the excursion region independently, but also promote the website www.loetschberger.ch, which was developed by Orange8 interactive. The website is the heart of the new marketing platform and also the centerpiece of the campaign. It is backed by BLS as coordinator, Coop as strategic partner and 40 tourism partners. "Anyone who wants to go 'lötschbergling' will find all the information they need on our website, from the weather, webcams and timetables to events to the left and right of the route, across all regions," says project manager Gäggeler. "The website is an informative and simple planning tool for day trips in the Lötschberger region between Bern-Brig and Zweisimmen. Visitors no longer have to laboriously search for information."
For example, the website provides suggestions on what to do on a sunny public holiday or a rainy weekend, what could be on the program when accompanied by a grandparent, with a visitor from abroad or with a small child in a baby carriage. BLS already provides its customers with excursion tips on its company website and advertises its own selected partners along its routes. However, in order to do justice to the wide range of offers in the Lötschberg region, it wanted to provide leisure recommendations that do not stop at city or cantonal borders - a first in the Swiss tourism landscape. "The website has a completely different quality to our excursion tips on the BLS website," emphasizes Gäggeler. "Our tourism partners are now more responsible themselves and support the Lötschberger excursion concept both ideally and financially."
Anne-Friederike Wilhelm

The travel guide summarizes all the tips for day-trippers in pictures and text in a pocket book.

The publishing house Salis announces the book "Früher im Licht" as an "unusual, literary and dark crime novel debut". The crime novel was penned by Tamás Kiss, who is also co-owner, managing director and chief copywriter of the Zurich advertising agency Hesskiss.
The starting point for the second crime thriller in the "sel noir" series: the young president of a Swiss far-right party is found murdered. A hot lead leads from Zurich to Havana. Inspector Varga from the Zurich criminal investigation department is the only one who can solve the case. But the investigator is shot on the very first page and from then on is hospitalized with locked-in syndrome. The crime thriller has already received excellent reviews in the Swiss in-flight magazine. For the campaign accompanying the launch of the thriller, Hesskiss is working with none other than Death as a poster character on posters, advertisements, flyers and placemats. "Früher im Licht" is available in all bookshops. pan

Mediafocus With a decline of 3% compared to the same month last year, the free fall in advertising pressure was slowed for the time being in March. In February, it was still 9.5% behind the previous year's figure. The radio, Internet and teletext media continued to develop unimpressed by the negative trend, with double-digit growth rates in the first quarter. The media cinema, consumer, financial and business press and posters form the opposite pole with negative trends in the double-digit range. The following key markets showed anti-cyclical advertising behavior: Watches/jewelry (+25.2 percent), vehicles (13.4 percent) and cosmetics/personal care (+23.2 percent).