Following a strike by journalists at the Neuchâtel newspapers L'Express and L'Impartial, the publisher Société Neuchâteloise de Presse is withholding pay for one day. The trade union Impressum protested against the sanctions on Thursday. The measure is inappropriate and harassing, Impressum announced in a press release on Thursday. Furthermore, it does not correspond to the agreement reached between the journalists and the publisher the day after the strike.

An initial rapprochement has taken place in the wage talks in the Swiss film industry, according to the Swiss Professional Film Association (SSFV). The representatives of the producers in the equal rights commission have accepted a central demand. According to this, filmmakers are to be granted an inflation adjustment of 3.3 percent for the last two years.
Originally, the SSFV had demanded a wage increase of five percent, but the commission is making this dependent on the federal government increasing the film credit. The ball is now in the court of the executive boards of the three producer associations involved in the wage talks. The situation is currently particularly difficult for advertising and commissioned producers, who are represented by the Swissfilm Association (SFA). According to SSFV Managing Director Karin Vollrath, a separate solution for this sector would be conceivable.
The SSFV represents 280 cameramen, assistant directors, lighting technicians, make-up artists, prop makers, set designers and stunt people. The SSFV also includes film actors from German-speaking Switzerland. However, the outcome of the wage negotiations does not apply to them. However, around 500 other film professionals who are not members of the Syndicat could benefit. The second round of negotiations in the commission is scheduled for the end of January 2009.

The Hanover-based agency Blue Sky Media has conducted an empirical study on the use of podcast offerings in cooperation with the company Podcast.de. The study provides basic data on the target group of users and proves that podcast offers are already established and a fixed part of the daily routine. It also revealed that users who are hardly reached via classic media accept podcasts as an advertising medium.
According to the survey, podcast recipients are young, fully employed and well educated. They use the Internet every day, for an average of over 3.5 hours. The classic media of television and radio, on the other hand, are switched on for just one hour a day. Podcast advertising is tolerated, writes Blue Sky Media, as long as commercials are presented in an entertaining and interesting way, do not last longer than 20 seconds and are placed at the beginning or end of the podcast episode.
The survey is the prelude to a long-term study that aims to identify annual changes in podcast usage. For the first, available results of the survey, 216 people were interviewed between September 8 and 30, 2008. The next field phase is planned for 2009.

Theiler Druck in Wollerau SZ and Walter Feldmann junior acquire equal shares in Walter Feldmann AG in Schwanden in the canton of Glarus. The company publishes the weekly newspaper Fridolin.
Walter Feldmann AG employs 35 people in Schwanden. In addition to publishing Fridolin, the company also runs a customer print shop. Theiler Druck in Wollerau publishes the local newspapers March Anzeiger and Höfner Volksblatt.
Walter Feldmann AG was previously majority-owned by Walter Feldmann senior, while Theiler Druck is wholly owned by Philipp Theiler. Feldmann junior and Theiler Druck acquired the share capital from Feldmann senior, the two new owners announced on Thursday, according to SDA.
The Fridolin, March Anzeiger and Höfner Volksblatt newspapers will continue to be published "independently and unchanged", according to the press release.

The weekly newspaper (Woz) comes up with a special edition for the 3rd extraordinary general meeting of UBS this year. In a fictitious interview, ex-UBS boss Marcel Ospel apologizes and announces a renaming of the bank. Instead of UBS, the big bank is to be called UNS in the future - a name that strengthens the sense of community, the paper quotes its fictitious interview partner as saying. A full-page portrait of Ospel in the style of the current UBS image campaign with the quote "I'm sorry..." covers the normal front page.
Inside the paper, there is a full-page ad for the new UNS bank, with modern security keys instead of the bearded keys of the UBS logo.
A graphic "Return on Female Management" shows social profit with simultaneous risk reduction with more women on the carpet. The Woz also gives the new institute a completely new mission statement with virtues that would suit any company.
In addition, Thursday's Woz analyzes the current financial and banking crisis in Switzerland in a thoroughly serious manner. The latest issue was distributed free of charge. For this purpose, a large print run of 50,000 copies was printed. An ordinary print run comprises 20,000.
The distribution encountered difficulties outside the Lucerne Exhibition Hall, where the UBS AGM was held, according to SDA. Woz editorial director Susan Boos explained that the distribution campaign was initially obstructed with the reference to a missing permit. Only the fact that copies of Finanz und Wirtschaft were also distributed led to the responsible persons giving in.
The weekly newspaper is not only an onlooker at UBS general meetings, but also a shareholder of the big bank. For some time now, the weekly has been buying UBS shares, and now owns around 40 of them, as Boos told the news agency SDA in response to an inquiry.

ASM, an agency for social marketing, has been developing anti-fur campaigns for Zurich Animal Protection for several years. The new 2008 campaign is now being launched just in time for the onset of winter. This time, the topic is being approached from a different angle: Dialogue instead of a threatening finger. The "In Without" style guide conveys the message "Your style is yours - fur is yesterday's news".

Zurich Animal Protection sent a style hunter and a photographer out to find people with good style on the streets of Zurich. Almost a dozen of them are presented in the style guide. They are all completely different types with one thing in common: they ignore the mainstream and don't wear fur.

The free guide is now being distributed in Zurich and Winterthur. Orders and further information on www.pelzinfo.ch.

Swisscom has agreed to cooperate with four partners in the marketing of fiber-optic services. Internet service providers VTX, Green, Netstream and Init7 are initially testing Swisscom's newly constructed fiber optic infrastructure and offering their own services to private customers and SMEs, as detailed in a press release issued on Thursday. The partners are free to design their own end customer and resale offers.
In the pilot phase, which will start at the beginning of March 2009 and will lead to a commercial offer in autumn 2009, the offer will focus on the areas in Zurich, Basel and Geneva that already have fiber optic lines, according to a press release issued on Thursday. Swisscom plans to supply around 100,000 households with fiber optic connections by the end of 2009.

The Bluespirit agency has redesigned the Marionnaud magazine. New sections have also been created, such as "Look of the Month" with DIY styling tips and "News" with the latest trends from the world of beauty.
Following the extremely positive response to the test run of the zero issue in summer, the Marionnaud magazine was officially launched this month, according to a press release issued on Thursday. The magazine is available free of charge in every Marionnaud perfumery. Customers will also receive it in their letterboxes. The next issue will be published on January 1, 2009.
Responsible at Marionnaud Parfumeries Switzerland: Marc Berg, Peder Casanova, Marco Guarino. Responsible at Bluespirit: Gerry Flückiger (CEO, overall responsibility), Anne Ohlendorf, Kathleen Rieger (consulting/production), Tizian Walti (text/concept), Fritz Kreis (AD), Manuel Griestock (graphics), Manuel Wagner, Claude Weber (DTP).

Journalists from the European trade press gathered in Paris last week to judge 4945 entries from 51 countries for the 2008 Epica Awards, and three Swiss agencies won an award.
Advico Young & Rubicam were honored with an award in the Print category for their Rowen musical instruments. The agency also received one silver in the Film category ("Bush" for Sonntagszeitung) and one bronze in the Press category ("The insight story" for Sonntagszeitung).
Also winning in the print category was Saatchi & Saatchi Simko won an award with the subject "Hounds" for Otrivin. The Geneva agency was also honored with silver in the Press category ("Perspective" for Voltaren).
A third award went to Call Lanz for its engineering recruitment idea commissioned by McKinsey & Company. The agency also received two bronze awards, once in the Film category ("Sound Designer" for Hiltl Vegetarian Restaurant) and once in the Press category ("Farmer's Wife" for Fashion Outlet Zurich). In addition, the Zurich-based agency was awarded silver in the Press category ("Football Players" for Hiltl Vegetarian Restaurant).

Three other Swiss agencies did not win an Epica Award, but received silver or bronze: Euro RSCG Group Switzerland won silver in the film category ("Roller Coaster" for Zürich Chamber Orchestra ZKO). Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett was awarded silver in the Tech category ("Singles" for Migros Mode). In the Poster category, the Zurich advertisers were awarded bronze ("Slice" for Swiss Milk Producers). Walker Zurich finally, was awarded bronze for her work for Amnesty International: in the Film category for "Not here, but now. Cattle market." and in the Web category for "Stop slavery. Ebay attack.".

The Thalia Switzerland book group is the new sponsor of the "Literaturclub" program on Swiss television. On February 9, 2009, the show will be recorded for the first time in the 3,200 square meter main store in Basel.
The "Literature Club", which has been broadcast since 1990, discusses four new book releases every Tuesday evening. The show has been hosted by literary journalist Iris Radisch since 2006. The team of critics consists of Gabriele von Arnim, Corina Caduff, Peter Hamm, Urs Schau and Stefan Zweifel.
The Thalia Switzerland book group consists of Thalia Bücher, Stauffacher Buchhandlungen, ZAP zur Alten Post and Meissner Bücher. It has a total of 23 locations in Switzerland and employs over 650 people.

The Zurich agency KSB/SJ is producing a series of advertisements for the fifth issue of the music magazine Finger, which is published every six months. According to the press release, the first motifs are intended to make it clear that a single song in particular and music in general can be viewed almost scientifically - just as Finger does.
The advertisements appear in various scene and music magazines as well as in the advertised magazine itself.
Subject 1
Subject 2
Responsible at Finger Magazine: Lina Selmani and Tom Müller (editors). Responsible at KSB/SJ: Adrian Hoenicke (text/concept), Charles Blunier (AD), Andrea Heierli (graphics), Marco Serratore (consulting).

People are currently being teased again on the streets of major Swiss cities by posters featuring the likenesses of Frank Baumann, Gilbert Gress, Lolita Morena, Stéphane Lambiel and Mike Shiva. APG will not reveal who launched the campaign. All they will say is that it is a national campaign in all language areas. It was also advertised in newspapers, for example in Blick. It was also revealed that it began on November 24th and will end on December 1st. A surprise for the 1st Advent? Do these celebrities lack the bite without the advertised product? We don't know. But there seems to be something wrong with the teeth of both celebrities. You can guess.
Frank Baumann didn't tell 20 Minuten anything more than that his wife found the picture with the retouched gap in her teeth horrible.

(Pictures: Markus Knöpfli)