Ticino does not want to disappear from the media scene. The Ticino government deeply regrets the decision of the NZZ to eliminate the correspondent position in Ticino. In a letter, it asks the media company to reconsider the measure.
The NZZ was one of the first newspapers to send a correspondent to Ticino half a century ago. The reports in the NZZ were very beneficial for the relations of the north with the southern canton, the Ticino government announced on Wednesday.
Since Ticino will soon be closer to the greater Zurich area thanks to the Neat, it is a pity that the NZZ is now apparently eliminating the correspondent position in Ticino for financial reasons.

After fans had been waiting years for the new Guns n' Roses album, a blogger obviously couldn't wait any longer and posted 9 songs from the new album "Chinese Democracy" online for download. He is now facing a prison sentence for his impatience. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested the blogger known as Skwerl because he offered nine songs from the then unreleased CD "Chinese Democracy" for download on a blog. The 28-year-old Kevin Cogill has now pleaded guilty in a court in Los Angeles on Monday. He faces a year in prison and a hefty fine of around 100,000 dollars. However, Cogill will most likely get off with a suspended sentence as he has agreed to help the authorities find the previously unknown source who provided him with the songs.
Even the soft drink manufacturer Dr. Pepper no longer believed in a release. Because the manufacturer promised to give every American a free can of their sweet drink if the band led by Axl Rose released their album this year. The manufacturer is now not facing a prison sentence, but he won't get off any cheaper. Dr. Pepper is now diligently distributing drinks vouchers, like promised.
The album "Chinese Democracy", which even lemonade manufacturer Dr. Pepper no longer believed would be released, was released on November 23 after the band had been working on it for 17 years. However, Rose has not yet given any interviews about the new work. But as has become known in the last few days, Rose will soon be doing press work. But only at night... Even with Axl Rose as the only remaining member of the band, Guns n' Roses are still a topic of conversation after around 20 years.

The traditional encyclopedia brand Brockhaus will be retained. The Bertelsmann subsidiary Wissenmedia GmbH will take over the publishing house on February 1, 2009. The package includes all brand rights, content and inventory. However, the German Cartel Office still has to approve the purchase. The previous owner, the Mannheim-based Bibliographisches Institut, intends to concentrate on the "successful business areas of the Duden brand and the calendar business" in future. This is a response to "the developments of recent years and a reaction to the sharp decline in the dictionary business in the book trade". A number of jobs will fall victim to these consequences: the Leipzig online editorial team will be dissolved and restructuring will also be necessary in Mannheim, Bertelsmann announced on Wednesday.
The online editorial team had only been set up in April of this year to create a free knowledge portal. A total of 60 employees are affected by the closure. According to the industry service Kress.de, the management and works council will negotiate how many jobs the restructuring in Mannheim will cost in the coming weeks.

Good news for Swisscom employees: They will receive a general wage increase of 3 percent from the beginning of January. This will be supplemented by 0.2 percent individual wage increases. In addition, the minimum basic wages will be increased by 2.5 percent. This was agreed by the company and the communications union after several rounds of negotiations, as the social partners announced on Wednesday. The general share of the wage increase applies to all 14,500 employees with a collective employment contract.
However, full-time employees with salaries that are above market rates for the respective function are exempt. They receive a non-insured one-off payment of CHF 1100. This differentiation would reduce wage differences compared to the market, according to the Swisscom press release.
In its press release, the union expresses its satisfaction with this wage agreement. "However, if the excellent course of business and increased productivity are taken into account, Swisscom's wage increase should be higher," it writes in a communiqué.
For the first time, the communications union is also negotiating a collective labor agreement with Swisscom competitor Sunrise. Negotiations will begin in January, as union vice-president Giorgio Pardini told the news agency SDA on request. Wage decisions are expected in April.

The Swiss Interactive Media and Software Association (SIMSA) and representatives of online marketing and media companies have adopted a joint roadmap for the establishment of IAB Switzerland and formed various working groups. IAB Switzerland is to be founded as an independent non-profit organization on 1 January 2010. In the meantime, the core tasks of IAB Switzerland will be taken over by the industry association SIMSA. The board will be chaired by Urs Flückiger from Ad Link and Stephan Obwegeser from Tamedia.
In future, the Swiss office will be responsible for generic marketing for the online sector. The aim is to promote, standardize, train and professionalize the market. Once the new office has been established, IAB Switzerland will also work with Swiss media research companies to further develop internet research.
Founded in the USA in 1996, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has set itself the goal of representing the economic interests of the online industry together with global partner organizations and promoting the further development of online marketing.

The Jung von Matt/Limmat agency has developed a radio campaign for Vögele-Shoes' Advent sales. For once, the new spots have a gentle tone. Good people have their say, reflecting on the time just before Christmas, writes the agency in a press release.
The radio spots can be heard throughout Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia from December 17.
Responsible at Karl Vögele/Vögele-Shoes: Carmela Vetsch (Head of Communications), Daniel Widmer (Head of Marketing). Responsible at Jung von Matt/Limmat: Alexander Jaggy, Lukas Frei, Michael Rottmann (Creative Direction), Samuel Christ (Text), Martin Samsel, Petra Gayko, Jasmin Schmid (Consulting), Ilonka Galliard, Jil Rottmann (Art Buying). Production: Jingle Jungle AG. Sound engineering: Christoph Benz.
Vögele radio commercial
Vögele radio commercial

Publicitas now wants to make its three-fold logo stand out in public spaces: The signage company Westiform has developed an illuminated lettering in which the marketer's logo alternately glows red, green and blue. It can be seen from Thursday at the Haus der P at Neumühlequai 6 in Zurich city center. The project on the former Publimedia building was conceived and realized by Westiform in close cooperation with the Zurich Office for Permits, according to the press release.
When designing the neon sign, it had to be checked for potential dangers to road traffic. For example, care had to be taken to ensure that drivers at nearby traffic lights in particular were not distracted by the play of colors on the Publicitas logo. This was to be ensured by a gradual color change and emphatically soft color transitions. The signage company adds that the architectural design principles of old cities must also be respected. The authorities involved have attested to the pioneering function of the illuminated lettering in its design.

IP Multimedia is strengthening its sales division with Tobias Fehrlin. Fehrlin will take up his position at the Goldbach Media Group subsidiary in March 2009. He will support the IP Multimedia team as Head of Strategic Sales and take over from Sales Director Raoul Gerber.
Tobias Fehrlin joined the former Goldbach Media subsidiary Active Mobile in 2004 as a product manager in the cross-media sector. Two years later, the business economist moved to the marketing organization for private electronic media as TV Account Manager. With him, IP Multimedia has strengthened its customer service and the team responsible for planning, handling and monitoring TV, radio and ad screen campaigns.

The outrage over Billag's long advertising gimmick is making further waves. After Blick made the story its cover story on Tuesday, the Campaign for Media Freedom is now demanding more transparency from the fee office. A corresponding proposal by National Councillor Natalie Rickli - Vice President of the Campaign for Media Freedom - has still not been answered, the group wrote in a press release on Wednesday.
Swiss fee payers are rightly complaining more and more frequently about the immensely high compulsory fees for radio and television. The situation is particularly annoying because nobody knows exactly where the fee money goes, she continues. For example, it is not clear what Billag needs over CHF 55 million a year for. As the Swisscom and Accarda subsidiary does not publish its accounts, it is not known how the individual expense items are presented in the annual financial statements, what profit Billag reports and how many employees the company has.
"Taxes and license fee money must be used responsibly. The fact that the Swiss have to pay such high radio and television fees and nobody knows what this money is actually used for is absolutely unsatisfactory," Filippo Leutenegger, President of the Campaign for Media Freedom, is quoted as saying in the press release. The Campaign for Media Freedom now intends to pursue the matter persistently.

The Lausanne branch of Bluespirit is taking over the advertising agency Publicité Zufferey from Montreux. As Bluespirit writes in a press release on Wednesday, the aim is to drive forward the growth of the French-speaking Swiss branch, which has existed since the beginning of 2008.
This expansion should make it possible to deploy independent teams in the Lausanne branch. In mid-December 2008, the agency moved into larger offices in the center of Lausanne. As a result of the takeover, clients such as Coop (French-speaking Switzerland, Renens), Pharmacies Capitole (Villars sur Glâne) and Vacherin Mont'Dor have joined the advertising agency's portfolio.

On Tuesday evening, the contracting parties concluded negotiations on the collective labor agreement (CLA) in the graphic arts industry and reached an agreement for the years 2009 to 2012. The employers' association for visual communication Viscom and the trade unions Comedia and Syna agreed on an increase in minimum wages of between 3 and 9 percent, depending on the wage category. A new wage category for further processing has been defined and lower minimum wages are possible for professional staff in craft bookbinderies. The contracting parties now meet once a year in the fourth quarter.
The CLA provides for a reduction in night and shift bonuses from 100 percent today to 75 percent in 2009. From January 2010, the bonuses will be reduced by a further 5 percentage points. However, Viscom announced on Tuesday that bonuses of up to 100 percent could still be agreed at company level in the future. In newspaper printing, a night and shift allowance of 100 percent will continue to apply until the end of 2011. In addition, Viscom, Comedia and Syna have agreed to continue the absolute peace obligation.
According to Viscom, the new CLA takes account of the extremely tense economic and structural situation in the graphic arts industry. In response to an inquiry from SDA, the trade union Comedia was pleased that the CLA continues to stipulate minimum wages. On the other hand, the reduction in night allowances and the lack of general applicability are a downer.
An overall result has been drawn up by the Viscom negotiating delegation. Viscom members will now vote on the results of the negotiations in a ballot at the end of January 2009.

The Affichage Holding subsidiary APG has expanded its range of services in the Poster Performance Index (PPI). Customers can use this index to analyze the success of booked poster campaigns. The PPI has been expanded to include an updated sample and new data analysis options.
APG has reclassified the age structure and divided the surveys into three age groups. The aim of the qualitative analysis is to evaluate individual sectors and differentiate poster campaigns according to target groups. With a database of 600 poster campaigns, a representative comparison of the various sectors and customer groups is possible, APG writes in a press release.