Neue Zürcher Zeitung AG has decided to initiate a comprehensive restructuring and cost-cutting program due to declining revenues in the advertising and job market and the poor economic forecasts for 2009. The shocks on the international financial markets and the significant deterioration in the real economy have now also affected the business performance of NZZ AG, according to an NZZ communiqué.
The planned measures involve job cuts "in the low double-digit range", as NZZ CEO Albert P. Stäheli told Werbewoche when asked. All areas of the parent company are affected, but not those publishing houses in which NZZ AG holds a significant stake. All areas will be scoured for savings potential immediately in order to be able to present the Board of Directors with a budget for 2009 that is as close to reality as possible. "We don't just want to react, but also anticipate what we might have to face next year," said Stäheli.
Anticipate instead of just reacting
At first glance, the measures appear somewhat hasty, as the NZZ AG titles reported a stable advertising volume overall in 2008. This is deceptive, says Stäheli, as the VSW statistics do not include financial advertisements. "And we are quite exposed in that respect." The CEO goes on to say that he was not surprised that he had to make a reduction as almost his first official act at NZZ. After all, he had already been observing the market from Bern. "But I was surprised by the extent of the slump this fall." For the NZZ, on the other hand, it is probably new "to react early instead of waiting until it is too late."
The job cuts will be achieved through natural fluctuation, early retirement and the elimination of vacant positions. In some cases, however, redundancies are unavoidable, the NZZ communiqué continues. The NZZ has around 600 employees. Albert P. Stäheli only took over the management of the AG for the Neue Zürcher Zeitung at the beginning of October.
Comedia: Temporary drop in sales no reason for layoffs
The media union Comedia warns against hasty job cuts and cost-cutting programs in the publishing and media industry. The reactions of companies - such as Publigroupe and NZZ on Tuesday - to the drop in turnover as a result of the global financial and banking crisis are questionable. The groups, which achieved record profits in 2007 and the first half of 2008, have a duty to fulfill their social, entrepreneurial and journalistic responsibility towards their employees and readership. Rigorous restructuring measures cannot be justified solely on the basis of temporarily declining revenues in the advertising and job market.
The media trade association Impressum also criticizes the NZZ's "unclear communication". It demands that redundancies be clearly communicated and that an appropriate social plan be drawn up for those affected. Impressum is "very concerned", said central secretary Salva Leutenegger at the request of SDA. It is very worrying that the NZZ, "a flagship of quality", is now starting to cut back on quality for economic reasons. One also wonders what signal effect this could have on other publishers.
Inquiries: Markus Knöpfli, Text: Markus Knöpfli/elk/SDA

Agentur am Flughafen has launched the magazine "Büroarchitektur und Wohnkultur" for office furnishers Rüegg-Naegeli. The reason for this is the trend for office and living areas to move closer together, meaning that the company's office furniture, USM Haller and Vitra, can increasingly be found in the living room. This is why Rüegg-Naegeli, which has focused on furnishing offices since 1968, wants to expand its range in the living area and reposition itself at the same time. The magazine in retroversal format is intended to showcase the furniture manufacturer's new expertise.
The magazine was created together with the Viennese lifestyle journalist Liane Seitz and will be a regular supplement to Seesicht magazine in future.

Responsible at Rüegg-Naegeli Zurich: Stefan Stieffel (Managing Director), Priska Bauer (Member of the Executive Board). Responsible at the agency at the airport: René Eugstair (CD), Dominique Rutishausair (AD), Miriam Egli (consulting), Liane Seitz (text), Ammann + Siebrecht Fotografen, St. Gallen (photography).

Swiss television broadcast all 18 Formula 1 Grand Prix live last season, attracting an average of 282,000 viewers. This corresponds to a market share of 39.6 percent. This represents an increase in average viewing figures compared to the previous year. In 2007, around 248,000 people watched the broadcasts, giving a market share of 37.3%. The last Formula 1 GP in Brazil attracted a particularly large audience. Up to 677,000 people watched the live broadcast of the race in São Paolo.

The Oswald Siegfried advertising agency (OSW) in Basel has designed a concert poster for the pianist Marianne Schroeder under the motto "New Music" - as it did last year. The subject chosen was a frowning Johann Sebastian Bach, who is having a headache with the "new music" of Berio, Britten, Stockhausen and Scelsi. But it is precisely this music that will be performed by the interpreter of contemporary compositions together with star cellist Rohan de Saram in a special concert at the Probebühne für Hören und Sehen. The critical baroque composer will be featured on posters and program booklets in November.
Responsible for hearing and seeing at the rehearsal stage: Marianne Schroeder. Responsible at Oswald Siegfried: Michael Oswald (AD), Nadine Siegfried (consulting), René Fisch (text).

The US media company Viacom, operator of the music television channel MTV and the Paramount film studios, has recorded a 37 percent drop in profits. The quarterly figures published this week are seen as evidence that advertising revenues in the media industry are falling noticeably as a result of the financial crisis and economic downturn. In the third quarter, Viacom achieved a net profit of 401 million dollars compared to 641 million dollars in the same period last year. Turnover was four percent higher at 3.4 billion dollars.

Due to a dramatic fall in demand in the Media Sales division, Publigroupe is cutting a total of 250 jobs in Switzerland and abroad. The economic downturn triggered by the crisis on the financial and capital markets has evidently hit the economically sensitive advertising marketer harder than previously expected. As a result, costs will be reduced by a total of around CHF 40 million instead of the CHF 10 million planned in summer 2008. This corresponds to a Group-wide reduction of around 10 percent. At the beginning of 2008, the Group had 3000 employees.
The cost-cutting measures are affecting the Media Sales division and central services in particular. The results of the Search & Find, Custom Publishing, and Digital & Marketing Services divisions have so far been in line with expectations, but this is not the case for the key Media Sales segment, which markets print, television, radio, cinema, and online advertising under the Publicitas brand, as Publigroupe announced on Tuesday. In 2007, Media Sales accounted for three-quarters of the group’s revenue—that is, 1.5 billion of a total of 2.16 billion Swiss francs.
Anticipatory adaptation
The consumer climate has deteriorated abruptly since September, said Group CEO Hans-Peter Rohner in a telephone conference on Tuesday. This is associated with a "veritable" slump in demand for advertising. Rohner explained that the Media Sales division is currently recording a double-digit drop in sales every month compared to the previous year. Job advertisements and commercial advertising in key customer segments such as retail and the automotive industry are particularly affected. If the demand for advertising does not recover by the end of the year, particularly during the Christmas period, Rohner fears that the Media Sales segment will be in the red.
In Switzerland, most of the staff reductions have already taken place or are in progress, mainly by taking advantage of natural fluctuation, but in around 50 cases there will still be redundancies, the advertising marketer writes. Implementation at international level will take place over the next few months. The reduction in the workforce will primarily affect back-office services, while sales capacities are to be maintained as far as possible.
Publicitas business model under review
The profound changes in the media market, accentuated by the current financial crisis, are also prompting Publigroupe to review the Media Sales business model. Publigroupe sees the current difficult business situation not only as an economic problem, but also as a structural one. The analysis is intended to provide the basis for a comprehensive assessment of Publicitas' current business model as a partner to the national and international publishing and advertising industry. The results should be available in spring 2009.
Publigroupe's business performance and the gloomy outlook due to the economic downturn have had a significant impact on the Publigroupe share price this year. At the beginning of 2008, the share was still trading at CHF 369.75. Shortly before midday on Tuesday, it was trading at CHF 110, down 1.8 percent on the previous day.

The world of bits and bytes has recently been enriched by a service in the form of a virtual aid program for real-life smoking cessation. The self-help game "My Stop Smoking Coach with Allen Carr" guides the user playfully into the smoke-free zone with the non-smoking pope Carr. Apparently a hit in America, the game is due to come to Europe in November. For the time being, the program is only available for the Gameboy-like Nintendo DS.
In the future, self-help games should enable players to get rid of all kinds of vices, iron out weaknesses and generally achieve something. Video games today are more than just entertainment; they offer players the opportunity to achieve a concrete goal in their lives, said a marketing manager from Ubisoft, the production company. In the coming months, there will also be a cooking trainer, a vocabulary trainer, a yoga course and, of course, a weight loss trainer. All well and good, but we'll stick with Trainer Max for now.

Proud Mary is supporting Swisscom with a telecommunications project that is to be launched abroad and rolled out worldwide. The agency, which specializes in "women-oriented communication", was called in by the telecoms provider for the strategic issues relating to brand and naming. The focus of the project is clearly on the target group of women, according to a statement from the agency. The next step is to develop the communication measures for the product launch.

The web and communications agency Future Connection strengthens its team with Kilian Hann and Davor Radisic. Kilian Hann has many years of experience with PHP and TYPO3 developments and will also contribute his expertise as a technical consultant. Davor Radisic, who according to his new employer knows his way around Web 2.0, will support the agency as a new web designer and web publisher.

(Image: Kilian Hann, Davor Radisic)

Both the Zurich radio station Radio Energy and the Geneva station One FM are receiving political support. The stations came away empty-handed in last Friday's license awards.
The private broadcaster Radio Energy, which belongs to the Ringier media house, is receiving political support across party lines. The SP submitted a postulate to the cantonal council on Monday. But representatives of the FDP and SVP are also campaigning for Radio Energy. In the postulate, Nicolas Galladé, head of the SP parliamentary group in the cantonal council, calls on the cantonal government to lobby Bakom for a fourth frequency in the Zurich-Glarus radio coverage area. According to the SP, the continued existence of Radio Energy would "enrich the media landscape". There is room for four private radio stations in the Zurich area.
SVP National Councillor Natalie Rickli and FDP National Councillor Filippo Leutenegger from the "Campaign for Media Freedom" had already made their opinions known on Friday. They are also calling for a fourth license for Radio Energy. Their suggestion is that the station should be allowed to continue broadcasting at the expense of DRS 3.
Politicians in Geneva showed their solidarity with the entertainment station One FM by visiting the editorial office on Monday. This station was also left empty-handed when the license was awarded on Friday. The politicians also want to fight to keep the station with its 40 employees.