Roche Holding's Head of Corporate Communications, Rolf Schläpfer, is leaving the Basel-based pharmaceutical group at the end of the year. He has decided to take on a new challenge outside the company, Roche announced on Monday. His successor is to be announced later.
Schläpfer, 52, joined Roche in 1997 as Head of Corporate Communications. As CEO of a consulting firm, the business economist had already worked for the Group before. In 2006, Schläpfer was appointed a member of Roche's extended Corporate Executive Committee.
Schläpfer has "made a great contribution to the professionalization and internationalization of Roche's communications," the statement continues, according to SDA. Roche thanks him "for his many years of successful service. Schläpfer will continue to oversee important projects on a transitional basis even after his resignation.

The global PR agency Burson-Marsteller is expanding its partnership with the University of Lugano. The cooperation provides comprehensive support for the postgraduate programme "Executive Master of Science in Communication Management" (MScom) and the associated alumni organization. To date, the company has sponsored the MScom Excellence in Communications lecture series in Zurich and the MScom Communications Forum in Geneva. The cooperation with the University of Lugano will come into effect in January 2009.

The new national radio station "Rock Nation" launches on October 8. It is the latest baby from Giuseppe Scaglione, founder and CEO of Music First Network, which operates the national radio stations "105" and "Monte Carlo" as well as the web TV "105TV". Switzerland's first rock station will be broadcast via cable, satellite and the Internet, as detailed in a press release issued on Monday.
"We will play music that is completely ignored by the other radio stations," Scaglione says in the press release. The program ranges from the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Clash, Van Halen, David Bowie, Pink Floyd, The Who, AC/DC and Deep Purple to the Kaiser Chiefs, Fratellis, We Are Scientists and Editors. According to Scaglione, everything that has written or will write rock or music history in the future will be played.
Initially, "Rock Nation" will be broadcast purely as a music program, i.e. without a presenter. From the beginning of 2009, contributions as well as special and news programs will be added. According to Scaglione, Swiss rock bands will be given a lot of space. However, the station should also become a new mouthpiece for young and established bands.

The Limmattal Sewage Treatment Plant Association (KVL) has commissioned the Zurich agency Schneiter Meier Külling with a branding project, as announced in a press release on Monday. The Dietikon-based environmental services provider operates a combined heat and power plant and the third-largest wastewater treatment plant in the canton of Zurich.
Schneiter Meier Külling is responsible for strategy consulting, developing the mission statement and brand values and redesigning the corporate image. The agency is also responsible for implementing the measures. The first works will be on display from March 2009.

According to a report in Cash Daily, Migros is currently putting its 250 or so brands through their paces and trying to identify a few core brands. According to Head of Marketing Oskar Sager, the retail giant can no longer afford to advertise as many of its own brands as before. According to the free newspaper, there is even talk within Migros of only three or four brands that are to be heavily advertised.
The new brand and communication strategy, which Migros has been working on for a few months, should be defined in the first half of 2009. Until now, the orange giant has spent 350 million francs a year on advertising. In 2009, 70 million francs are to be saved.
The new shake-up fits in with the measures taken since Oskar Sager took office. Migros terminated existing contracts with advertising agencies and canceled all image campaigns for the time being in the fourth quarter of 2008. However, a fundamental problem for Migros could remain despite the new strategy, as can be seen from the report in Cash Daily: Its own brands, such as Candida or Anna's Best, do not harmonize enough with the umbrella brand.

Following an agency evaluation, Theaterverein Basel has chosen the Zurich agency Sulzer, Sutter. The mandate includes the conception and design of a completely new appearance for the Theaterverein Basel as well as advertising measures for the 2009/2010 theater season. The first works for the Theaterverein Basel will appear this year.

There are many stars in the United States. Sure, because that's where they are made. So it's nothing special when TV series star Jerry Seinfeld and Microsoft founder Bill Gates meet by chance in a shopping mall. This encounter is documented in the new commercial for the software giant. A churro-munching Seinfeld discovers Gates in a branch of the shoe discounter "Shoe Circus", goes inside and offers his help with the purchase. He gives him a few important tips - knead the shoes vigorously or take them into the shower - and finally finds the right shoe for the billionaire's foot. Gates pulls out his discount card - he is a proud platinum member of the Shoe Circus Clown Club - and the two stroll off chatting. Seinfeld then casually asks Gates whether there will one day be edible computers. The answer comes from the hip.... And our puzzlement about the actual meaning of this surely expensive little movie is certainly intentional.

Christoph Vollenweider is stepping down as editor-in-chief of the Zürcher Oberländer (ZO) and the Anzeiger von Uster (AvU) at the end of September. Until Vollenweider's successor is settled, the current deputy editor-in-chief Christian Müller will take over as interim editor-in-chief, as Zürcher Oberland Medien AG announced on Saturday, according to SDA. The board of directors will deal with the appointment of the editor-in-chief at its next meeting.
The 54-year-old Vollenweider said of his departure that he wanted to reorient himself and was looking for a new professional challenge. He had been a member of the editorial team of the Zürcher Oberländer since 1984 and had been a member of the editorial board since 1992. Under his leadership, the newspaper was given a new look in 2005. He was also involved in the creation of the Zürcher Landzeitung, the cover section of the three regional newspapers ZO/AvU, Zürichsee-Zeitung and Zürcher Unterländer with the national pages.

Lilo Pulver was honored for her life's work at the first Swiss Television Awards held in Zurich on Friday. She has appeared in around 70 films, including such legendary movies as "Ueli der Knecht" and "Ueli der Pächter". Walter Roderer ("Buchhalter Nötzli") and Walo Lüönd ("Die Schweizermacher") were also nominated. Pulver was chosen by the readers of the programme magazines Tele and TV-Star, the organizers of the award. The new television prize combines the two previous awards "Tele-Preis" and "TV-Star".
Further prizes were awarded in a total of four categories. The prize in the Star category went to Swiss sports presenter Rainer Maria Salzgeber. The best TV program was the satire format "Giacobbo/Müller - Late service public". The winner in the "Film" category was 18-year-old Joel Basmann, shooting star of this year's Berlinale. The Tele-Züri flagship "Talk täglich" with Hugo Bigi and Markus Gilli won in the "Regional" category.

The award winners

Hugo Bigi (2nd from left), Markus Gilli (4th from left), to the right Rainer Maria Salzgeber, Liselotte Pulver, Joel Basmann and Mike Müller.

The Comedia trade union is demanding a general real wage increase of CHF 100 per month for 2008 and 2009 for the press, media, book and media trade sectors. In addition, inflation should be fully compensated. For the current year, the union is expecting an average annual inflation rate of 2.5 percent, the central executive committee of the media union announced according to SDA. "With the highest inflation for 15 years, the improvements granted at the beginning of 2008 have long since melted away for most wage earners". Full compensation for inflation and an inflation-adjusted wage increase are therefore urgently needed in order to maintain purchasing power, the central executive board explained its demands.

At the end of last week, the renowned business news agency Bloomberg accidentally announced the death of Apple CEO Steve Jobs. The editorial team had only wanted to update the 17-page obituary, but an error caused it to be posted on the agency's website for everyone to see. Although the state of health of the former cancer patient is by no means a cause for concern, Apple fans have now started to create wish lists addressed to Jobs. They have listed technical developments that the Apple founder should bring to market before his demise. What is on this list, they ask? The tablet PC, for example. A touch-intensive notebook that can be used like a notepad. Or a ready-to-use digital book, which - like an iPod in the music sector - makes it possible to browse through a file anytime and anywhere. The Apple TV was also mentioned many times. A TV that allows you to transfer content from the iTunes online store to your TV screen via a set-top box. And we still hope that Apple will not neglect the improvement of its computers in the face of the development of all these peripherals. Then maybe we could present ourselves to the boss and demand the scrapping of our unloved PCs.
(Pictures: Keystone)

Former Skyguide spokesman Patrick Herr is the new head of the Riehener Zeitung (RZ). Herr replaces Editor-in-Chief and Managing Director Dieter Wüthrich, who had headed the paper for 18 years.
Herr worked for several years as media spokesman for the Swiss air traffic control company Skyguide. As SDA announced on Friday, he has now taken over the management of the newspaper division of the Friedrich Reinhardt publishing house in Basel and thus also the management of RZ.