The Walker advertising agency has won the advertising budget from Bernina Euroflex and has been awarded the contract for the first communication measures. The collaboration is already in full swing, writes the Zurich-based agency in a press release on Tuesday. Among other things, the naming of the new Bernina product family and the basic imagery have already been developed.
Euroflex, a subsidiary of Bernina, is responsible for the distribution of specialized steam and ironing products in Switzerland and Austria. The new ironing products will be launched in Bernina specialist shops and Fust stores throughout Switzerland from February 2009.

Armin Walpen, the Director General of SRG, remains on the eleven-member Administrative Board of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The General Assembly confirmed the Valais native for the 2009/2010 term of office. In this function, Walpen will be able to bring SRG's concerns more strongly into the EBU, SRG told SDA on Tuesday. These concerns include, for example, the quadrilingualism of the television and radio programs as well as the online offerings. Walpen has been a member of the executive committee since the structural change in December 2007. The EBU's president is Jean-Paul Philippot of Belgium's RTBF.
According to SRG, the Geneva-based EBU is the world's largest association of radio and television broadcasters. The body consists of 75 active members from 56 European countries and 43 non-European organizations. The EBU's tasks include organization around new technologies, the daily exchange of news stories, and the distribution of coverage of major events - from the Vienna Opera Ball to the Olympic Games.
(Image: Keystone)

Different country - different customs. True to this motto, India's AIDS prevention program is using other means in the fight against the immune disease. A condom cell phone ringtone is intended to combat Indians' reluctance to use condoms. When a call is received, the "Condom a capella" and promotes the use of condoms. The ringtone is primarily intended to help overcome inhibitions and taboos in this context, announced a representative of the campaign organization BBC World Service Trust.
According to NZZ Online, the initiative is financed by the foundation of Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda. And what Bill is doing is working. Sales of condoms have increased by 85 million within six months. However, the health authorities have set their sights even higher: in the fight against AIDS, they plan to increase condom sales in the country from the current 1.7 billion units to three billion annually. A new "taboo" advertising campaign, whose star is a dog called "Condom", will be launched on Friday. It will be interesting to see what New Delhi comes up with next.

According to the latest Net-Metrix Profile figures, 20 Minuten Online is the fastest growing news website in Switzerland, with growth of 44 percent over the last two years. This is despite the fact that the online portal of the free newspaper suffered a slight decline to 692,000 unique users in the last survey period from April to June 2008, the company wrote in a press release on Tuesday. The decline in unique users compared to the previous period can primarily be explained by the 2007 Federal Council elections, during which the platform recorded an exceptionally high number of hits.
During extraordinary news events such as the economic crisis or the forthcoming Federal Council elections, the portal sees above-average growth in hits. According to its own figures, 20 Minuten Online grew by 5.4 percent in September 2008 compared to the previous month and by 10.8 percent in October compared to the previous month to currently 1,614,000 unique clients.

As previously announced, the Swiss private channel U1 TV will be renamed Switzerland 5 as of December 1, 2008. A Swiss cross with the signature "Schweiz" and a "5" on the side is to become the station's new logo. Peter Heeb, spokesman for the station, also confirmed a report in the Mittelland Zeitung that he himself will be the new program director and member of the board of directors.
In addition to the existing programs, the TV station will focus on business, trend sports and culture. Program blocks of three to four hours are planned, which will be repeated throughout the day, Peter Heeb told SDA. In addition, programs on Swiss politics and regular news are also planned.

Jung von Matt/Limmat has created new subjects for the already launched Sonntagsblick print campaign. The aim of the large-scale reader campaign is to position the newspaper as the "most emotional Sunday newspaper in Switzerland", writes the Zurich agency in a press release on Tuesday. The new motifs are intended to demonstrate that Sonntagsblick brings everything a little more intensively than other newspapers, it continues.
Under the motto "No one does it like us", you can see a frozen Mike Horn, a spectacular corrida in Pamplona, an imposing warship, the most loyal of fans and, last but not least, the bravest of all sumo wrestlers. The subjects will be on display throughout Switzerland.

Responsible at Sonntagsblick: Corina E. Schneider (Head of Reader Market Blick Group), Marie-Eve Aegerter (Head of Advertising Blick Group). Responsible at Jung von Matt/Limmat: Alexander Jaggy, Tom Seinige (CD), Livio Dainese (text), Fernando Perez (AD), Christina Baeriswyl (graphics), Rolf Helfenstein, Felix Schroeder, Dominic Daeppen, Ariane Sonderegger (consulting), Erasmo Palomba, Simone Gruber (art buying).

The interactive agency Futurecom has realized an online campaign for the association Tibetan Youth in Europe (VTJE), which draws the attention of people in Switzerland to the violent occupation of Tibet and the human rights violations there. The aim is also to call for donations. To this end, the agency has created an interactive banner: A dark green field in the center of the homepage with the statement "Experience for yourself what everyday life in Tibet means.", is designed to get visitors to move their mouse over the banner. Once there, the mouse pointer is immediately greeted and followed by clenched fists. This should allow potential donors to experience first-hand what it means to be restricted in their own freedom of movement and to experience arbitrary violence, writes the agency in a press release on Tuesday. By clicking on the "Donate now." banner, the violence can be stopped, at least on the banner.

Advertising marketer Goldbach Media is merging its Active Mobile and Game Mediarep business units under the umbrella of Adlink Media from the beginning of January 2009. While retaining the brands, the two units will provide consulting services for mobile and interactive media in advertising marketing. By offering Internet display, search engine marketing, mobile and game advertising, the customer base and the range of customer solutions "from a single source" are to be expanded, Goldbach Media informed SDA on Tuesday. The merger to form the subsidiary Adlink Media will take place without any reduction in personnel and is intended to generate operational synergies.

A major change in Nestlé's management: as the food group announced on Tuesday, Head of Strategy and Marketing Lars Olofsson is leaving the company at the end of the month.
Olofsson becomes the new head of the French retail group Carrefour. He worked for Nestle for 32 years, first as Managing Director of France Glaces Findus, then as Head of Northern European Markets and Head of Nestlé France.
In 2001, he became Managing Director, initially as Head of European Business and from 2005 as Head of Strategic Business Units, Marketing and Sales. Head of Technology Werner Bauer will temporarily take over the role of Head of Marketing. He already held this position in 2004 and 2005.
Olofsson replaces José Luis Durán as CEO of Carrefour. In the first half of 2008, Carrefour increased its global sales by 8 percent to 42 billion euros, while the profit from continuing operations rose by 1.2 percent to 750 million euros.

The Aargau media company AZ Medien is cutting 30 jobs. The cuts will be made through vacancies, early retirements and reduced workloads. In addition, around ten people are to be made redundant. The job cuts will be completed by spring 2009. All business areas will be affected, said Eva Keller, Head of Communications, when asked by SDA. Eight jobs will be cut in the editorial department of the Aargauer Zeitung.
The cost-cutting measures are justified by the financial market crisis, which is also affecting the media industry. Revenues from the advertising business are declining for publishing and media companies, the statement continues. AZ Medien is expecting an "unsatisfactory result" for the current year. The company management has therefore decided on cost-cutting measures for all business areas. At the same time, efficiency improvements are being sought in various areas through reorganization and the exploitation of synergies.
The media company is going on the offensive in the Internet and multimedia sector, said Keller. New jobs had already been created for this purpose at the beginning of the year. The online portal A-z.ch will be further expanded. In addition, the content of the event magazine Live will be split into new products from spring 2009. Among other things, a weekly "cultural calendar" in the AZ and a new online and mobile events database are planned.
The new multimedia center in Aarau will also go into operation in autumn 2009. The newspaper, radio, TV and online editorial teams will be brought together in a large newsroom for cantonal and regional reporting. According to the media company, this will allow synergies to be exploited and multimedia offerings to be realized. The project is headed by Peter Buri, who will be replaced by Christian Dorer as Editor-in-Chief on February 1.
The media union Comedia immediately took a stand on the cutbacks. It appeals to AZ Medien's social and journalistic responsibility. Companies that achieved record profits in 2007 and the first half of 2008 cannot justify such rigorous restructuring measures with temporary declines in advertising and job market revenues alone. Comedia writes in its press release that media companies have to focus on quality, especially in a difficult environment. The staff affected and the trade unions must be involved so that acceptable solutions can be found in the interests of the employees.

Nicolas Noth will be the new Director Business Development at Planetactive Zurich. He will support the digital marketing agency's management team as of November 1, 2008, and in this position will be responsible for the strategic development and expansion of the Swiss market, the agency wrote in a press release on Tuesday.
Nicolas Noth studied economics and political science at the University of
Bern, holds a degree in business informatics and media management and since 1994 has been
in various management positions in the fields of marketing, consulting and media
active. He first worked at Vontobel EC Consulting, Ecoprocess and Pragmatica.
In 2004, he became head of Blick Online and a member of the management of the
Ringier newspaper group. Most recently, Noth headed the Corporate Film & New Media division at Condor Films and was a member of the Executive Board.

Jerry Yang, the head of the crisis-ridden internet company Yahoo, has announced his resignation. The 40-year-old co-founder is drawing the consequences of the massive pressure following the failed takeover by Microsoft. Yang will continue to perform important tasks for Yahoo in the future and remain a member of the Board of Directors, the US company announced on Monday evening at its headquarters in Sunnyvale, California. Together with the Board of Directors, he will look for a successor and remain in office during this time. Yang co-founded Yahoo in 1994 and only took the helm again in June 2007 in order to lead the company back on the road to success.
Yang's withdrawal immediately fueled new takeover speculation. Numerous shareholders, such as the major investor Carl Icahn, sharply criticized Yang for his course, according to an SDA press release on Tuesday. Many shareholders lost large sums of money as a result of the failed takeover by Microsoft, as the company's share price has plummeted significantly since then. The Internet company is suffering above all from competition from rival Google. Around ten percent of jobs at Yahoo are currently being cut worldwide.