There will be a change in the Group Management of the Swiss milk processor Emmi. Erich Kienle, Head of Marketing and Fresh Products International, is leaving the company. The reason for this decision is a difference of opinion regarding the future organizational direction of the marketing division, as the Lucerne-based company announced.
Kienle had been with Emmi since 1987. Matthias Kunz will take over the management of the international business. The transition will be managed internally until a successor is chosen for the Marketing division.

The French-speaking part of Switzerland is considering merging Television Suisse Romande (TSR) and Radio Suisse Romande (RSR). A definitive decision is to be made in April. According to TSR boss Gilles Marchand, the aim of the merger is not to make savings, but to strengthen program content by exploiting synergies.
As Marchand told the Tribune de Genève and 24 Heures newspapers, the boards of directors of SRG and RTSR will have to make an initial decision in principle in April. He himself is convinced that it is right to merge the two companies. According to Marchand, the target horizon is next year. The merger would not simply involve radio being "absorbed" by television. "We want to create a new multimedia company with several locations," the television boss was quoted as saying in the Welsche Presse on Monday.
Specifically, the aim is to build a strong company that is capable of producing radio, television and web content. The synergies should free up funds that can then be reinvested in the program offering. The merger is also necessary due to increased competition in the media sector. The project is associated with changes for employees. "It is quite possible that we will cut some positions in order to create new ones in another area," Marchand continued. It is possible that some employees will have to change jobs. However, this should be seen as an opportunity for their professional careers. He believes that it is possible to merge the corporate cultures of television and radio "without creating psychodramas".
Regarding the circulating rumor that all information programs will be produced in Geneva in the future, Marchand explained that nothing has been decided yet. The news could also be based in Lausanne.

The Bernese agency Cosmic has given the Bernese Galleries Association a new look. A modular visual world with various subjects defines the association's new image. Cosmic created posters, banners, advertisements, a brochure and a new website for the art exhibitors' event. The new image is currently being used for the first time in the advertising measures for the annual Bern Gallery Weekend, which takes place on January 17/18.

The Bern-based agency By the way Communications is strengthening its management with Marc Wälti. He joined the management team at the beginning of the year. The PR consultant has spent the last seven years as head of communications at Swiss Ski, where he built up its communications department. Before that, he worked for a communications agency in Zurich as well as for Radio Extra Bern and Radio Freiburg.
A collaboration with Wälti had already begun in October, the agency said. On a mandate basis, Marc Wälti helped to set up the new online fan club of the Swiss Football Association SFV. In addition to the SFV, the Swiss Ice Hockey Association is also one of the agency's clients.

China has extended its censorship of the internet. On Saturday, the state portal China announced the closure of 91 websites between Thursday and Saturday. The leadership in Beijing had relaxed its Internet censorship before the Olympic Games. The tightening, which has been increasing again for weeks, also affected Google, MSN and Baidu, the domestic search engine operator, among others.
Among others, Luo Yonghao's political website Bullog.cn was also banned, on which signatories of the 08 Charter - in which 303 Chinese citizens had called for more democracy - had written. The reason for the ban on his project was the publication of "politically harmful information", writes the blog's founder. Further closures were justified with "pornographic and vulgar content".

The Press Council has not accepted a complaint against an SDA chronicle on the military accident on the Kander in June 2008. By publishing an incomplete list, the SDA had violated paragraphs 1 and 3 - truth and concealment of important information - according to the complainant. A serious accident in 1981 with four dead recruits was not listed.
Editorial offices have a great deal of discretion in the selection and weighting of information, the Press Council wrote on Monday. Neither does the omission of individual events make a chronicle untrue, nor is the complete mention of the accidents criticized by the complainant as missing essential for the readership's understanding, the reasoning continues.

As in the previous year, the agency, which is located in the immediate vicinity of the airport in Altenrhein, is once again providing communications support for the national congress of Spar Handels AG in 2009.

A new client: After a multi-stage competitive presentation, Vizner Borel prevailed against two competitors and secured the communications mandate from health product manufacturer Weleda. Vizner Borel understood the brand very well and presented a strategy and implementation that was in line with Weleda's philosophy, said Weleda marketing manager Elena Zavatta in a press release issued by the Zurich-based agency on Monday.
The first works are to be shown as early as spring 2009. Weleda has awarded the media budget to M&M Media.

The submission phase for the Best of Corporate Publishing Award 2009 began on Monday. Applicants have until February 22 to submit their work to Europe's largest CP competition. The trophies will be awarded in 27 categories and three special prizes.
The categories have been restructured this year to give electronic publications greater prominence. E-magazines, e-newsletters and audio and video projects will be honored in the electronic publishing category. There is now a separate prize for electronic publications in the employee media category. In addition, there is no distinction between employee newspapers and magazines as before, but rather according to circulation size.
The prizes will be awarded on June 24, 2009 in Berlin, following the international BCP Congress. Application forms, conditions of participation and further information are available at www.bcp-award.com to find.

The market research company Innofact, based in Düsseldorf, has appointed a new managing director for its branch in Switzerland. Mirco Marrone took over this function on January 1, 2009. He previously worked for several years in the advertising and marketing sector. In the last two years, he worked as a project manager at Wemf for advertising media research and at Net-Metrix. Among other things, he was responsible for their internet study.
The German company Innofact is an institute for market and social research, including online-based market research. The company's main areas of expertise are branded goods, telecommunications and media/publishing. Innofact has also been present in Switzerland since November 2007.

Every year, the advertising yearbook published by the German publishing house Econ selects the best agencies and newcomers of the year alongside the best campaigns. The Zurich agency Rod will be represented in the upcoming edition as Newcomer of the Year. The jury of the advertising yearbook came to the unanimous conclusion that Rod deserves the title of Newcomer of the Year due to the quality of its creative work and its entrepreneurial success.
The name Rod is made up of the first names of the founders Regula Fecker, Oliver Fennel and David Schärer. Rod was founded in July 2007. Today, 12 people already work at the agency. Rod's board of directors is illustrious and includes former MTV boss Catherine Mühlemann. After Ikea, Knorr, Sanitas, 20 Minuten and Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders, Switzerland's largest meat producer, Bell, has also recently started relying on the Zurich-based advertising agency. More on this in a large portrait in the next print edition.
At the end of 2008, a jury also selected the best 40 entries from over 1000 submissions. These will now be awarded the silver megaphone or as sector or industry winners.
The winners will be honored at the Megaphon event on February 17, 2009 at the Postbahnhof Berlin. The award-winning works will be exhibited during the event. A detailed overview of the sector and industry winners will be available from January 12, 2009 at www.jdw.de to find.

The American fast food chain Burger King is currently attracting attention with an unusual campaign: Anyone who says goodbye to ten of their "friends" on the Facebook community platform will receive a meal voucher worth 3.69 dollars in return. A campaign that will probably not only cause bad blood among online "friends", but also a lot of publicity for the parent company of the Whopper.
As 20 Minuten reported on Monday, Burger King wants to give away 25,000 burgers for the PR campaign in the USA. This corresponds to the deletion of 250,000 Facebook contacts. In this way, many people can shed some human baggage, delete some unloved contacts and be rewarded with a tasty burger. However, there is a catch: if you are interested, you first have to set up a Burger King application on your personal Facebook profile. Once this is installed, unlike usual, it is clearly displayed who you have removed from your friends list for the meaty treat.