"The future of the paid daily newspaper was particularly important to us for our joint project." Tamedia CEO Martin Kall made this statement four times at the press conference of Tamedia and Edipresse on March 3. But one should not delude oneself. Kall neither spoke in favor of maintaining the structure, nor did he present a new business model for paid newspapers. His only idea: size creates synergies, which enable savings that may prolong survival. Kall wants to save 50 million a year with Espace Media and Edipresse. Not much in view of rapidly declining advertising revenues. It will hardly help the Berner Bund, for example, as long as Tamedia keeps the circulation of the Berner Zeitung artificially high. Kall only has ideas for the Internet. These are not new either. And they will be of little use to his newspapers, because cross-subsidies are taboo. Each title is looked at individually. That is Kall's credo. So don't get your hopes up!

Moritz Leuenberger on the Edipresse takeover
Moritz Leuenberger hopes and expects the Zurich-based group to assume its new responsibility in terms of state and media policy. He is concerned about the cultural dominance of German-speaking Switzerland over French-speaking Switzerland, said the Media Minister during question time in the National Council. On the other hand, such mergers in the media landscape are also a means of surviving and remaining viable in the face of giants such as Google. Media concentration is not bad in itself, Leuenberger continued. The aim cannot be for as many newspapers as possible to actually print the same news agency reports.
Frank A. Meyer on the Edipresse takeover
For the first time, a representative of the Ringier publishing house has commented on the takeover of Edipresse by Tamedia. Frank A. Meyer sharply criticized the impending deal. He considers the increasing domination of the Zurich media to be a cause for concern, as he told Sonntag in response to the question of whether the deal was good or bad. In addition, Edipresse would have been a better fit for Ringier in terms of products anyway, Meyer continued.

Writing references is a tricky task, especially if the departing employee did not perform well in all respects or the working relationship was difficult. As a general rule, references should be complete, truthful and benevolent.
Complete means that the reference - in its function as proof of employment and competence - must provide comprehensive information about the nature and duration of the employment relationship as well as the employee's performance and conduct. The reference should also include transfers, promotions and completed further training. In the performance appraisal, the work attitude, commitment and work successes should be recognized. Behavior is about the relationship with employees, superiors, customers and business partners. In the case of superiors, leadership qualities should also be assessed.
The following also applies: truth comes before goodwill. Employees cannot demand a "good" reference in every case. Negative assessments are permissible if they are true and essential to the employee's performance or conduct. An employer who issues a completely incompetent or even dishonest employee with a whitewashed reference may be prosecuted by a future employer. However, individual episodes or performance weaknesses that have long since been overcome do not belong in a reference. Illnesses also have no place in a reference. According to the Zurich Labor Court, there may be an exception if the illness had a serious impact on the employee's performance or conduct or was an objective reason for terminating the employment relationship.
But what does benevolent mean? Employers have a legal duty of care towards their employees. They should therefore not make it unnecessarily difficult for the departing employee to progress in their career. In concrete terms, this means
- Think about the specific strengths and skills of the departing employee. What successes has he or she achieved? What makes them stand out?
- Focus the performance and behavioral appraisal on the things where the employee is good and thus support them in their professional development.
- If possible, substantiate the reference with convincing examples.
- If you were satisfied with the employee, indicate that you (very) regret his or her departure - or give a personal recommendation.
Please note: Well-written references are letters of recommendation for the departing employee. However, they are also a business card for your company. References not only say something about the employee, but also about the person who wrote them.
You can request a checklist from the Observer on the assessment of employment references at: [email protected]. Enter "Advertising week" in the subject line.

New for SMEs: legal advice on issues affecting your company. The new Beobachter service: expert legal advice for SMEs and their employees. 6 months for only CHF 99 (introductory price).
You can reach the legal experts Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on 043 444 54 09. You also have full access to the advice platform Helponline.ch and an Beobachter magazine every 14 days. The price also includes a gift: the standard work for SMEs from Beobachter-Buchverlag,
"How to get your money", worth CHF 48.
Order the consulting subscription for SMEs at: www.werbewoche.ch/werbewoche/kmu-beratung.html or by phone: 0800 83 0800.

In September 2009, Schreibszene Schweiz is launching a new course of study in Zurich: Corporate Publishing - Print & Online. The course is aimed at communication specialists, copywriters and journalists who want to learn corporate publishing in theory and practice.
From practice for practice
The practical days are special: Steven Schneider, known as a columnist for the Coop newspaper, gives students an insight into the work of a newspaper editorial office, a corporate publishing agency and a client. The students discuss with the professionals on site and develop concepts and case studies. With Christa Löpfe-Feldmann as the main lecturer, another personality from journalism and publishing has signed up.
The theoretical modules teach participants all the disciplines of corporate journalism: conception, production and budgeting of corporate publications, journalistic forms and rules, storytelling, magazine dramaturgy and layout. Digital corporate publishing products such as the Internet, weblogs, podcasts and web TV are just as much a part of the course as traditional print products.
Fatima Vidal/Cathrin Moser

Writing scene Switzerland
In addition to courses and seminars with literary content, Schreibszene Schweiz offers training and further education in all aspects of professional writing, such as writing workshops, writing for the web, ghostwriting, advertising letters and professional editing. Since October 2007, Schreibszene Schweiz has been offering the "Certified Copywriter" course in Zurich and Bern. Schreibszene Schweiz is the initiator and organizer of the November writing competition. This is a unique competition for writers that attracts hundreds of writers every year: 50?,000 words must be written within 30 days. Schreibszene Schweiz runs the free portal for writers at
www.schreibszenenetz.ch

The German media group Axel Springer achieved record profits in 2008. The surplus of the publisher of newspapers such as Bild and Die Welt rose to 571.1 million euros, as the group announced on Wednesday. In the previous year, a loss of 288.4 million euros was reported. Revenues increased by 5.8 percent to 2.73 billion euros. However, Axel Springer did not issue a forecast for 2009. The Group also reduced its debt: Net debt fell from 743.1 to 369.5 million euros. At 4.40 euros per share, shareholders are to receive 0.40 euros more and thus a record dividend.
In the current year, the Group believes it will feel the effects of the economic crisis to a greater extent. "Of course we will not be able to achieve record results like last year in this environment," explained publishing director Mathias Döpfner. The Group is preparing for an extremely difficult advertising business, for example. "A more precise forecast is out of the question, as it would be dubious in this extremely volatile environment," added Döpfner. However, the CEO was optimistic that Springer would gain market share and emerge stronger from the crisis. The Group will continue to focus on its core brands and invest in online activities.

The Swiss corporate landscape is dominated by SMEs. Small companies with fewer than twenty employees make up the largest group in terms of numbers. These companies are usually highly specialized and often masters of their trade. However, even master craftsmen are not spared a wealth of administrative tasks that are almost always "outside their field". For example, the head of a painting business is often also a financier and legal expert at the same time. This is why well-founded information, concrete benefits and reliable support in matters of pensions, taxes, insurance and finance are particularly welcome for smaller businesses. AXA Winterthur meets this need with My Company. The magazine is the first medium to explicitly serve the target group of Swiss micro-enterprises.
Using our wealth of experience
"My company offers companies that are not otherwise in the media spotlight a stage," explains Lorenz Heinzer, Head of Internal Communications & Publications at AXA Winterthur. "Here they can show what makes them strong, unique and successful, but also share their personal experiences. The aim of Meine Firma is to transfer knowledge between small companies." To this end, complex questions from the everyday life of entrepreneurs are highlighted in a clear way, providing information with high utility value. This makes the magazine an inspiration, a catalyst and, last but not least, an interesting read for its readers. As the publisher, AXA Winterthur is positioning itself as a reliable and competent partner for corporate pension and insurance issues.
Online presence to complement
My Company is published four times a year with a print run of 100,000 copies. The 32-page publication is available in German, French and Italian; some of the language editions are regionalized. Four to five advertisements per issue help to refinance the publication, which is supplemented by an independent online presence on www.meine-firma.ch.
The "service magazine for entrepreneurs with big goals" - the subtitle of Meine Firma - receives praise across the board. Even from the competition, who also read the magazine carefully: "As a competitor, we need to get our act together," reads an appreciative letter from a reader in the financial sector.
Daniel Hofmann

We have been present in the field of Internet advertising in Switzerland for several years. But we have been running these activities with very few resources of our own," Daniel Moschin looks back in history. Previously, Microsoft worked together with AdLink. The marketing strategy was remote from abroad. But when the growth potential in online became increasingly clear, the time came for Wallisellen to act. The contract with AdLink was terminated, and Microsoft started marketing itself in the summer of 2007 with three newly recruited specialists. Just one year later, the office was expanded into a separate organization called Consumer & Online. A step that Microsoft took simultaneously in 22 of its most important countries worldwide.
Today, the unit headed by Daniel Moschin employs ten people in online advertising sales and around 20 in the entire Consumer & Online area. Advertising sales increased by 67 percent in the first six months. For the current fiscal year, which changes at Microsoft in July, Moschin still expects growth of 35 percent, despite the general advertising slump that has been noticeable since November.
Online is growing. Everyone agrees on that. "Anyone who has a third less budget available and still needs to communicate can find their solution here," Sales Director Arend Hendriks and General Manager Daniel Moschin see the potential of their offerings. "What has been unchanged for years is suddenly being questioned. We can see that even very large companies are interested in taking a closer look at our online offerings. We are in talks with institutions about projects that would have been completely impossible just a few months ago."
To make its ideas and products even better known, the Consumer & Online unit is now hosting a "Microsoft Today Event" in Switzerland for the first time. At Zurich's Cabaret Voltaire on March 26, top-class international key note speakers will examine the topic of online creativity from different angles. The focus will also be on a study on the marketing of luxury brands on the Internet and "Creative approaches to the development of innovative advertising campaigns" with the social networking platform Windows Live. The booming possibilities of dynamically switched in-game advertising on Windows games and Xbox games are also likely to arouse interest.
39 million visitors per month
Microsoft Advertising is a new participant in the Net-Metrix Audit web statistics and, with the user figures from January 2009 published for the first time, immediately achieves second place among the top Swiss websites. For technical reasons, only data from the mns.ch and Windows Live Hotmail portals will be collected for the time being. However, Messenger and Spaces are also to be integrated in the course of the year. The first published figures show 3.2 million unique users per month and a dwell time of 8.43 minutes per visitor. Total visits, at 39 million visitors per month, are also well above the market average. "The positive values show that our services are very popular with the Swiss. And they give our advertising customers the certainty that they are reaching their target groups via Microsoft's platforms," says a delighted Arend Hendriks. One example of this is Migros' regular branding campaigns on msn.ch, which are mainly used to attract customers to the points of sale for Cumulus promotion days.
"The Internet is now so integrated into the daily lives of all of us that it would be a big mistake not to reach out to people there," Moschin says. "You'd be missing a real opportunity, because most consumers now connect to the Net several times a day."
Women over 50 ensure growth
Microsoft has the most users in the service area - Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger. Here, advertisers place classic e-commerce ads, such as Ricardo. Increasingly, however, branding is also found on these sites. Larger customers at Microsoft include Mars, Migros, Kleenex, Sunrise. "Everything that a broad audience is looking for," Hendriks explains. The spectrum ranges through all social and age groups. However, Microsoft can see the strongest growth among women over 50. "That's where many are playing catch-up online." Many women are discovering a desire for small games or "casual gaming" in between. Or they exchange ideas among like-minded people and chat in communities. Here, however, Facebook's co-owners are aware that advertising is only accepted if it can offer users added value.
As an exclusive tool, Microsoft offers the so-called "Homepage Takeover" on the MSN portal. The entire page is surrounded by an advertisement. "Ikea has been able to measure a threefold increase in awareness for its textile campaign," reveal the specialists at Microsoft.
Andreas Panzeri

(Daniel Moschin (l.), Arend Hendriks)
Daniel muslin
has been General Manager Switzerland in the then newly created Consumer & Online division at Microsoft since July 2008. He has "found his dream job" in this function because he can bring all his previous experience to bear here. In addition, Moschin is attracted by "the entrepreneurial opportunities. In addition to consumer PCs with the Windows Vista operating system, his area of responsibility also includes mobile telephony with Windows Mobile as well as Windows Live Internet Services with msn.ch, Live Messenger and Hotmail. Previously, Moschin spent five years at Microsoft as Business & Marketing Officer, where he made a significant contribution to the growth of the Swiss subsidiary. He was responsible for Windows PC operating systems and Live Services Western Europe.
Moschin studied marketing in St.Gallen and entered the professional world at Procter & Gamble. Over eight years, he progressed from brand assistant to marketing director in various countries. For four years he was responsible for the Swiss personal care market in Geneva, two years in Brussels for detergents Western Europe, and two years in Rome for laundry and home care products. Because he wanted to get to know "other aspects as well," he then worked for three years in strategy consulting at the Boston Consulting Group in Zurich. Then came his entry into the online business as General Manager of Jobpilot. After Adecco joined the company (and was later sold to Monster.com), Moschin moved to Microsoft in 2002.
Arend Hendriks
joined Microsoft in 2003. Initially, he was responsible for building up online services at the Central & Eastern Europe level. Hendriks pioneered the establishment of MSN platforms in Portugal, Russia, Greece, Poland, Switzerland and Austria. In Zurich, as Sales Director, he is now primarily responsible for "more growth" in the advertising market. Hendriks developed a professional interest in advertising during his studies. At Erasmus University in Rottterdam, where the native Dutchman studied marketing, he wrote a monthly column about advertising in a student newspaper. He then found the soon-to-be-booming Internet and the new possibilities of telecommunications just as exciting. Hendriks became a specialist in value-added numbers and set up various electronic stores for Dutch KPN. This earned him a contract to set up the same services at Swisscom.
In the meantime, the Internet was becoming more and more up-to-date, and Hendriks switched to AT&T. For this American company, he had to launch providers in various European countries from Switzerland. Hendriks is convinced that online will become the most important means of marketing in the future. "Obama showed the importance in his election campaign. We will also feel that in Switzerland in the next few years."

"Online advertising today is more than just below-the-line. In the old days, you'd place ads online when you had a little bit of budget left over. You did T-shirts, pens, or just online. That's gone with planners who are looking at today's market. "

Barack Obama set trends with his election campaign and activated millions with the use of advertising on the Internet. Here, for example, with in-game advertising.

In-game advertising is accepted by users because cleverly placed logos and posters make games seem even more like real life.

Windows Live Messenger or, for example, the weather on msn.ch are often clicked on by a user several times a day.

The Swiss private channel 3+ has to defend itself against a lawsuit over its TV show "Bauer, ledig, sucht...". The broadcaster is accused of having copied the format from England. The English production company Fremantle Media Limited claims that the matchmaking show for farmers is too similar to the English program "The Farmer wants a wife", as 3+ announced on Tuesday evening.
The English company has therefore filed a lawsuit against 3+ with the Aargau Commercial Court. The television station from Zurich is defending itself against the accusations: They are completely unfounded. 3+ has developed its own format of the show and is about to offer it to other broadcasters.

The advertising marketer Goldbach Media remains on course despite the crisis. The group, which is active in Switzerland with the companies IP Multimedia, Adlink, OnEmotion and orange8 interactive, reported double-digit growth in sales and profits for 2008. Turnover rose by 11.8 percent to CHF 264.9 million and net profit for the year even increased by over 50 percent from CHF 6.7 million to CHF 10.3 million. However, the latter figure only applies if the proceeds from the sale of Radio Z and Radio Ri in 2007 are not taken into account. The Küsnacht-based advertising logistics company is therefore doing extremely well, which is why it distributed a third of its profit to its shareholders as a dividend.
The marketing of private TV remained the dominant business last year, accounting for 56% of total sales. However, offline media together lost 7.6% of sales to online media, which already accounted for 30.3% of sales in 2008. A large part of this growth is attributable to the Group's acquisitions in Eastern Europe. International business grew by 79.3 percent in 2008. Meanwhile, 13.7 percent of total revenue was generated abroad.
In the online segment (display, search, mobile, in-game), the advertising logistics company recorded sales totaling CHF 80.2 million and thus a significant, partly acquisition-related sales growth of 48.8 percent. This figure includes all activities in Germany and Austria, those of the online marketing companies in Croatia and Slovenia acquired in March 2008 and the online business in Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania and Russia acquired with the takeover of Arbomedia in September 2008. Adjusted for the acquisitions made in 2008, however, the increase in sales in the online segment still amounts to an impressive 15.2 percent.
In the offline segment (TV, teletext, radio and AdScreen), Goldbach achieved sales of CHF 185.8 million, primarily in Switzerland. Sales of advertising on private television clearly outperformed the industry trend, increasing by 5.9% to CHF 148.21 million. In the fourth quarter of 2008, sales of TV advertising remained constant, confirming its status as a stable source of income for Goldbach Media.
Goldbach predicts another difficult year for the radio business in 2009. However, the order backlog in the online segment is developing positively in line with expectations, although negative currency effects must be expected, particularly in the Eastern European international business. Goldbach Media intends to continue to grow organically in 2009 with a focus on the online business, possibly also through acquisitions, and to increase the share of online and international business again in 2009. Goldbach Media expects the online segment to account for between 35 and 40 percent and the international business for between 20 and 25 percent.
Overall, Goldbach expects sales growth and a further increase in EBIT of around ten percent for the 2009 financial year.
Michael Koller

In collaboration with the branding agency Branders, Seed has developed and produced five emotional short films for Swiss Post to welcome visitors to the Jobs & Careers website. In addition to the five short clips on the Swiss Post slogan "People who move", the Zurich-based agency has also produced an integrated longer version, which will be used at trade fairs and in the entrance area of Swiss Post headquarters, among other places.
Seed's clients include ABB, Bâloise, Credit Suisse, Geberit, Schulthess Klinik, Swiss Post, Swiss Re and Swisscom.
>> to the clips

Billag has been under fire for quite some time. First it was about the Billag spot on television, which triggered the bashing in the tabloid press. It was very expensive (1.5 million Swiss francs) and bad. Viewers would only be frightened and would have to pay for the whole nonsense.
Then Aktion Medienfreiheit jumped on the Billag-bashing bandwagon and said in a press release that Swiss fee payers are justifiably complaining more and more about the immensely high compulsory fees for radio and television. The situation is particularly annoying because no one knows exactly where the fee money goes, it continues. For example, it is not clear what Billag needs over 55 million francs per year for. Since the Swisscom or Accarda subsidiary does not publish its accounts, it is unknown how the individual expense items are presented in the annual financial statements, what profit Billag reports and how many employees the company has.
A community of over 29,000 people has formed on the Internet site Facebook under the title "Bye-Bye Billag" to abolish it. A popular initiative of the same name is being prepared.
There was more or less silence for two months, then price supervisor Stefan Meierhans and consumer advocate Simonetta Sommaruga jumped on the bashing bandwagon. Both no longer see any justification for a separate company that collects reception fees on behalf of the federal government. The Foundation for Consumer Protection (SKS) has sent the relevant committee of the National Council a paper calling for the abolition of Billag. The 55 million francs Billag receives from the federal government for collecting the fees should be used for fee reductions, Meierhans said in an interview with the Sonntagszeitung.
Billag, of course, is defending itself against accusations of squandering taxpayers' money. The company won its mandate twice in a competitive process in 1999 and 2006, Billag spokesman Jonny Kopp told SDA. Meanwhile, the Federal Council no longer rules out a change in the collection system for radio and television fees.
Media Minister Moritz Leuenberger now told the National Council that the 9,800 SRG employees would not have to pay a Billag bill. Cost point 2.3 million per year.
It's clear that our media minister's statement adds fuel to the fire. Or was it even intentional? We are curious.
Pierre C. Meier, Editor-in-Chief
[email protected]

Hint AG is a growing IT company in the healthcare sector with around forty employees. Thanks to specialized solutions, especially in the outsourcing sector, Hint is knocking down open doors with its customers: Hospitals and nursing homes are better and more easily concerned with patient care than with maintaining servers and databases.
Hint not only tells its customers that successful solutions require a partner with expertise; the company also takes this philosophy to heart in its own communications. This is how the collaboration with the Zurich-based corporate publishing house Infel came about. "For a service provider like Hint, the technological know-how must be matched by an equal level of communication expertise," explains Peter Bösiger, Head of Customer Management at Hint. "So I was looking for a partner who could support me in analyzing and integrating the existing communication tools."
Better together
Within a year, all content, timing and formal aspects of the Hint communication world were harmonized. Because Hint is strongly connected to the Internet per se, a relaunch of the website was the logical starting point. However, this could not be an isolated measure: Right at the beginning, an overarching guiding idea, image and brand world for all media, was developed and a master plan was drawn up, which included all communication channels.
structured aspects.
Only then did the printed newsletter also undergo a change of identity: The next issue reached its readers as "HINTergrund". The case studies it contained were included and continued on the new website. The performance report was also included in the cross-media concept, as was a trade fair appearance, the associated invitation and the mailing afterwards. In this way, every contact reinforced the brand message, made the Hint world unmistakable and the communication as a whole more effective.
Peter Bösiger is convinced that the process has brought the company forward and contributed to the good course of business. For example, as a welcome side effect of the information structuring, Hint has recognized how its entire range of services can be formulated in a coherent offer consisting of three parts. And Bösiger expects that what has been achieved will also pay off in the future: "Hint now has an integrated communication strategy that adapts to the constantly growing structures and is no longer in danger of falling apart."
Daniel Hofmann