The Swiss private channel 3+ closed the fourth quarter of 2008 with a 25% increase in market share compared to the previous year. In the prime time between 8 p.m. and 10.30 p.m., the station's share rose from 3.2 percent in 2007 to 4 percent. 3+ thus reached more viewers than RTL2, Vox, Kabel, ARD, ZDF and ORF1.
With a mixture of purchased series and blockbuster feature films, 3+ was able to increase viewer ratings in its relevant target group of 19-49-year-olds, the station writes in a statement. "Bauer, ledig, sucht..." continued to be the most successful program. For 2009, station boss Dominik Kaiser is planning a gradual expansion of the program with additional Swiss shows and further series.

Basel West won a number of new mandates last year. New clients in the area of corporate publishing include Bürgi Sicherheitsanlagen and the sliding hardware company Hawa. New websites were created for the Aargauer Maler und Gipser-Verein AMGV and the international Blue Cross. Basel West developed the corporate design for the start-up company Pro Berufsbildung.
In the area of marketing communications, the agency now supports the pump and plant manufacturer Catag, Roser Furniere und Holzwerkstoffe, the company Rudolf Wirz Strassen- und Tiefbau and the 100th anniversary of Banque CIC Suisse SA.

Swiss television can look back on a successful year. SF recorded a 0.7 percent increase in market share for 2008 and achieved an average market share of 34.2 percent for the whole day. The reason for the increase from the previous year is major sporting events.
Last year, the opening match of the Uefa Euro 2008 and the Switzerland-Turkey game aroused a great deal of public interest. The Euro opening match was the second most successful football match broadcast on Swiss television, SF reports. The annual balance of the SF Internet offering was also positive.

The Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC) of the Council of States accepts the lifting of the ban on advertising wine and beer for foreign advertising windows, but not for the SRG. In doing so, it wants to secure access to the EU's Media film promotion program.
The relaxation of the ban on alcohol advertising in the Radio and Television Act is intended to enable Switzerland's definitive participation in the media program and prevent Switzerland from being placed at a disadvantage compared to foreign TV advertising windows. The matter was referred back to the Federal Council by Parliament in December 2007. The councillors wanted to retain the ban on advertising for alcohol, politics and religion. However, the ban clashes with the current EU "Television without Frontiers" Directive, the adoption of which is a condition for Media participation.
As the parliamentary services announced on Tuesday, the APK supports the conclusion of the media agreement and approves the financing of Switzerland's participation with CHF 41 million for the years 2010-2013. The agreement is an important part of Switzerland's European and cultural policy. According to the press release, the APK welcomes the fact that political and religious advertising as well as advertising for spirits and alcopops can continue to be banned from foreign advertising windows. However, it requested by 6 votes to 5 that the ban on alcohol advertising in SRG programs be retained.

Migros is cleaning up. The orange giant is currently not only looking for a new advertising agency, it is also turning a few other things upside down: As part of the integrated marketing strategy 2009-2011, the Migros Cooperative Alliance has decided to merge the two business areas of near-food and non-food into one organizational unit by the end of this year in order to exploit synergy effects. The new business unit will have around 200 employees.
The merger will result in 15 job cuts, twelve redundancies and three early retirements. As Migros announced on Tuesday, a social plan has been drawn up for the employees affected and a mobility management system has been established.

The ADC Awards Ceremony will take place on Monday, February 2 in the Schiffbauhalle Zurich. Before that, however, the ADC invites you to visit the World Trade Center in Oerlikon. From 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Monday, January 26, all 775 works submitted for judging can be viewed. The viewing is open to the public and free of charge.

The Lausanne agency Agence Trio has designed a campaign for Banque de Dépôts et de Gestion BDG to illustrate the bank's steadfastness and composure in the face of the financial crisis. The print campaign aims to secure the trust of its customers through efficient communication. In line with BDG's long-standing motto "A bank on a human scale", the text advertisements are accompanied by the slogan: "Because you are our topicality".
The concept is a dialog between BDG and its customers, which focuses attention on the customer. The campaign should stand for the quality of the customer relationship, characterized more by content than form.
From December to February, text advertisements appear in the daily press and in various magazines.
Responsible at Agence Trio: Amélie Kittel (customer service), Sabine Dufaux (media planning), Aline Di Silvestro (concept/text), Jérôme Bardin (graphics). Responsible at BDG: Vincent Hort.

A project worth billions: With extensive investments, the Chinese leadership wants to make the state news agency Xinhua and state television better known internationally. The government plans to invest huge sums in the restructuring of the national media.
"It is an urgent strategic priority to make our communication capability commensurate with our international standing," wrote propaganda chief Liu Yunshan in an article for the party organ Qiushi. According to media policy circles, the Chinese leadership is willing to invest the equivalent of about 5.4 billion francs to restructure the state media.
According to media expert and government advisor Steven Dong of Tsinghua University, the state news agency's overseas offices have already been better equipped technically to produce television and radio reports as well as reports for Internet blogs in the future, in addition to text news.
It is very likely that Xinhua will receive a television license this year or next, Dong said. The state agency would thus also compete with the state television station CCTV.
Intellectuals call for TV boycott
A group of 22 intellectuals is currently taking action against this. They accuse the state television CCTV of broadcasting propaganda. Especially the news of CCTV are essentially propaganda of the government, they say in an open letter with the title "Boycott CCTV, defend yourself against brainwashing", which was published on the Internet on Tuesday. More critical issues are either completely ignored or not sufficiently addressed in the broadcasts, it said.
The term "propaganda broadcast" is more appropriate for CCTV's programming than the term news broadcast, the signatories further explained. One of them, lawyer Tang Jitian, told the AP news agency that CCTV is supported by taxpayers, but the broadcaster does not work for taxpayers. In many cases, he said, it has deceived taxpayers. The Chinese-language website Boxun.com, where the open letter was published, is banned in China.
The broadcaster rejected the accusations. CCTV had, for example, reported on the unrest in Tibet last year or the scandal over melamine-tested dairy products "in a timely and sufficient manner," Wang Jianhong, deputy head of the department responsible for editing the reports, said in a fax to the AP.

With the two new additions Reto Baumann and Enrico Bachmann, the Zurich agency JWT+H+F has also been able to expand its client portfolio. Baumann and Bachmann most recently managed the business of Grey in Baden. With their move to Zurich, Client Service Director Baumann and Creative Director Bachmann will be joined by the new clients they have acquired over the last two years, all of whom are not part of the network. New clients on the JWT+H+F client list include Sony Overseas, Teo Jakob, Ferrero, Canon Business Solutions, das Magazin, Läser, Stiftung Wunderlampe and others.
Reto Baumann and Enrico Bachmann joined the agency's management team on January 5.

Reto Baumann, a qualified marketing and communications manager, previously worked for agencies such as GGK Zurich, Publicis, TBWA and Grey.

Erico Bachmann is a member of ADC. He started out as a junior copywriter at GGK Basel. He then worked at Scholz & Friends in Hamburg and at Lintas before writing copy for the Zurich agency Weber, Hodel, Schmid.

The Zurich agency Four. developed a campaign to mark the opening of various Sunrise centers in Switzerland. At the center of the posters is a compound word made up of a place name and the name Sunrise. This is intended to attract attention and create a regional reference. In addition to the posters, Sunrise is advertising with advertisements and a direct mailing. When this mailing is delivered, a tab is placed in such a way that it is visible to the recipient even before they open their letterbox.
The telecommunications company opened 18 new Sunrise Centers last year and is now represented at a total of 54 locations nationwide.
Responsible at Sunrise Communications: Priska Heger (Director Residential Communication), Silvana Suvarato (MarCom Manager). Responsible at Four. Werbeagentur: Björn Brinkmann, Philipp Sträuli (CD), Raphael Schoen (JAD), Christian Hansen, Daniel Gerber (Consulting). Media: Mediatonic Geneva.