This is the fifth time that the Interessengemeinschaft elektronische Medien (IGEM) and Publica Data AG, which has been part of the Media Pulse Foundation for Media Research since the turn of the year, have conducted the KommTech study. This survey study provides comprehensive data on the ownership and use of communication and entertainment devices in the Swiss population and collects information in the areas of computers and the Internet, television, radio, telephony, gaming, entertainment electronics and the ownership of portable photo, video and organizer devices.
Every year in May, around 2,500 people aged 15 and over are surveyed by telephone. The sample is representative of the Swiss population. The survey is carried out by the Konso AG institute in Basel.
The study concludes that 5.6 percent of the Swiss population already uses traditional television via the Internet (e.g. Zattoo) at least once a week.
More than eleven percent of 15 to 24-year-olds already use Internet TV. Traditional radio is also increasingly being listened to via new devices: listening to the radio on cell phones has almost doubled in the last four years. Around seven percent of the population do so. Four percent of Swiss men and women also surf the Internet on their cell phones, while the figure for men is almost seven percent.
Mobile, location-independent use seems to be becoming increasingly important. Ownership of MP3 players has more than doubled since 2005. Today, 34% of the population own one. A fifth of the population aged 15 and over listen to music on them at least once a week. Mobile Internet on computers and laptops has also risen in popularity from 1% of the population in 2007 to around 5% today. In the target group of 15 to 24-year-olds, the figure is even over 8%.
Popular game consoles
For the first time, the 2008 KommTech study also surveyed the use of portable games consoles. 13% of the population own one, and one in three 15 to 24-year-olds already have one. Around 7 percent of young people play with them once a week or more often.
In the latest KommTech study, new questions were also asked on topics such as wireless, HDTV and IPTV. "Some of the values in the study are significantly higher and therefore more realistic than before," says IGEM Managing Director Ueli Custer about this year's edition. (rw)

Media group Ringier has appointed Peter Hody as a member of the Cash chief editorial team. In this position, he will continue to develop Cash's online platform and Internet applications, Ringier announced on Wednesday.
Hody joined Cash daily as a page-turner on February 1, 2007. Previously, he worked for Handelszeitung, the AP news agency, Tele M1 and RTL/Pro7.
As a former television journalist, Hody brings with him the tools to further advance the multimedia activities of Cash's daily newspaper, online platform and mobile applications, Ringier writes.

On Friday of this week, the fastest Mini of all time, the fastest production model in the small car segment, will hit Swiss roads. With an engine output of 211 hp, the Mini John Cooper Works sprints from 0 to 100 km/h in just 6.5 seconds. And thanks to the Brembo 4-piston brake system, it stops again in less than 3 seconds.
The hot-blooded Mini keeps a cool head even in tricky situations. The Lowe agency, part of the Draftfcb/Lowe Group, has dramatized this double advantage with a wink in side-by-side double posters, follow-up ads and animated web banners. The headline, simple at first glance, ignites in a second stage with a crisp joke: "The fastest Mini ever. - Even when braking."
Lowe in Wallisellen won the budget for Mini two years ago in a pitch. The ads are designed exclusively for the local market "because the Germans tick differently to the Swiss", as CD Florian Birkner explains.
In addition, the broad-based launch campaign will be flanked by individual advertising and posters as well as below-the-line measures and retailer-specific campaigns(pan).

This affects 51 people, 25 of whom are being made redundant. Journalists are also affected, most of them at the Lausanne daily newspaper 24 heures. On Monday, Edipresse employees staged a protest sit-in in front of the publishing house.
In April, Edipresse announced that the publisher had increased its net profit by 7.3 percent to 32.3 million francs last year. Barely six months later, the publisher has hit the brakes: it has generated CHF 10 million less advertising revenue in the current year than in the previous year. In order to take account of developments in the advertising market and the weakened economic situation, savings of CHF 20 million are necessary.
The redundancies are only part of the program. In just a few weeks, the paid tabloid Le Matin and the Vaud daily 24 heures will be repositioned. There are also changes on the management floor: All Edipresse Switzerland products will be placed under the management of Eric Hoesli, who was previously responsible for the regional newspapers. His deputy will be Peter Rothenbühler, who is relinquishing his position as editor-in-chief of Le Matin.
The changes raise questions, such as the repositioning of Le Matin. It was originally announced for the spring, then for the end of the summer vacation. Now it is said that the relaunch will take place at the end of September or beginning of October. At the same time, it is announced that Rothenbühler will step down as editor-in-chief at the end of the year and become deputy head of Swiss Edipresse products. The big maneuvers show: This could be the "relaunch of the last chance" for the paid Le Matin - it must finally bring a clear demarcation between paid and free paper. Although Rothenbühler was able to score points with the switch to the tabloid format, he was not able to stop the bleeding of the orange paper in favor of the blue free paper Matin. Internally, Ariane Dayer is being touted as Rothenbühler's successor. She was heavily involved in the concept for the relaunch, is the former editor-in-chief of the Ringier news magazine L'Hebdo, founded the satirical magazine Saturne and has been deputy editor-in-chief of Le Matin for a year.
Disappointed readers
Another question: why are the cost-cutting measures particularly affecting the Lausanne daily 24 heures, which is losing ten journalist jobs? Just four years ago, Edipresse triumphantly announced that it had squared the circle with the four regional split editions. The readers of a large canton with very different regions could now be offered a full newspaper and a fully-fledged local newspaper at the same time. But the concept of split editions obviously never really worked. "Too little local information, too much centralization in Lausanne, too much paper in readers' letterboxes," was the early criticism from Isidore Raposo, for example, who threw in the towel as editor-in-chief of one of the split editions and founded his own local newspaper. The disappointed local readers on the one hand were obviously the disappointed readers of a full regional newspaper, as 24-heures editor-in-chief Thierry Meyer admits today: "Readers want a newspaper that promotes the cohesion of the canton and reports on all the diversity and wealth of the canton," he tells his paper. The relaunch announced for October 11 must satisfy this need. This means the end for the regional editions.
A debate between Eric Hoesli, the new man in charge of Edipresse Switzerland products, and Nicolas Willemin, editor-in-chief of the two Neuchâtel newspapers L'Impartial and l'Express, which are owned by French press magnate Philippe Hersant, was illuminating on the situation of the regional press in French-speaking Switzerland. The two exponents of the two largest publishing houses in French-speaking Switzerland invoked cooperation and exchange in front of the cameras on French-speaking Swiss television - the two publishing houses had previously fought each other to the death. And Hoesli formulated his credo on the future of regional newspapers, which in French-speaking Switzerland are still anchored in their cantonal strongholds: "Mergers no, cooperation yes, the time of cantonal strongholds is over." An exciting statement, especially when you know that there is a study on the feasibility of a joint federation for the six French-speaking regional newspapers of the Romandie Combi Roc group, two of which belong to Hersant. One of the options being examined is for Edipresse to produce the jacket section. However, the study is still on hold for the time being.
Helen Brügger

In the past, when people needed a transport vehicle, they automatically referred to a VW bus. This is still the case today for many tradesmen and other people who need transportation. Only now people talk about the VW Crafter. The new universal transporter from VW is the ultimate workhorse for professionals. Whether painter, butcher, courier or gardener: with all its advantages, the Crafter supports every company when it comes to doing its job perfectly. This assessment also provides the basic idea for the Crafter launch campaign.
The team around Lajos Vizner and Guillaume Borel made a point of getting real workers in front of the camera for the photos. Because only real professionals, as ambassadors for the Crafter, can give the right verdict on a good commercial vehicle: the new Crafter has to be strong, reliable and flexible. Just like a work buddy. The national campaign is also posted on the VW intranet and has a "good chance" of being adopted internationally in individual countries. An earlier motif can already be seen in Portugal. Just one year after winning the budget, ViznerBorel is already creating its own designs for VW commercial vehicles instead of adapting them.
Andreas Panzeri

Climate change and its consequences have definitely entered the Swiss public’s consciousness. So now is the right time to show the public that Switzerland already has a well-functioning solution in the form of the “climate cent.”.
Anyone who fills up with gasoline or diesel in Switzerland today contributes 1.5 rappen per liter purchased to support effective CO2 reduction projects. The Klimarappen Foundation has been coordinating these projects in Switzerland and around the world since 2005. Yet very few people are still aware of the Klimarappen. That’s why the Klimarappen Foundation is now launching a nationwide campaign to raise awareness.
The Weissgrund agency in Zurich is responsible for the print and poster campaign. The visuals feature images of people who work on or benefit from the supported projects. At the same time, the question of how the Klimarappen in Davos or India protects our climate immediately catches the eye. The mystery is solved upon reading the short text: it introduces the project, its contribution to CO2 reduction, and the Klimarappen Foundation.
The campaign aims to create «a positive atmosphere» through powerful images and reliable factual information, as Christian Toberer, the campaign’s director at Weissgrund, explains. This refreshingly different campaign will run through mid-October in German-speaking, French-speaking, and Italian-speaking Switzerland.
Andreas Panzeri

Compared to the previous year, advertising pressure fell by 1.8% to CHF 205 million. Nevertheless, the cumulative increase since the beginning of the year is 6.2%. With an increase of 33.4%, the key market of beverages made the negative trend from the euro month of June a thing of the past (-56.3%). With growth of 48.1% (CHF +1.0 million), watches/jewelry demonstrated its positive advertising pressure trend. With growth of 53.7%, the negative trend in the tobacco products sector was halted. Political campaigns (+183.1%), consumer electronics/photo/film (+22.4%) and household articles/appliances (+18.9%) also recorded growth.

The Kloten-based service company Real Clean cleans offices, surgeries, restaurants, factories and businesses of all kinds with its 110 part-time and full-time employees. The company was founded by Toni Romano. The boss of Real Clean was born in Naples and later emigrated to Switzerland to ensure cleanliness here.
Ruf Lanz used this fact as the hook for the first image campaign for Real Clean. The motifs allude to the problem of dirt in Naples. True to the motto: since Real Clean boss Toni Romano emigrated to Switzerland, the city of Naples is simply no longer the same.
The subjects appear in double-page and half-page spreads in selected business and SME magazines.
Responsible at Real Clean: Toni Romano (overall responsibility). Responsible at Ruf Lanz: Markus Ruf, Danielle Lanz (Creative Direction), Marcel Schläfle (Art Direction), Markus Ruf (Text), Michael Gassler (Consulting). Photos: Keystone.

Presence Switzerland is to take on a stronger role if the country is threatened with an image crisis. This was decided by the Federal Council on Wednesday as part of the discussion on the overall strategy for Switzerland's communication abroad. The specifications of the Confederation's own "advertising agency" were expanded accordingly.
Presence Switzerland will continue to increase Switzerland's "visibility", bring Switzerland's political concerns and positions closer to the foreign public, build networks and manage appearances at world exhibitions and other major events.
The "image-relevant aspects of Switzerland's communication abroad in extraordinary situations" have now been added as a new task. If Switzerland is threatened by sustained image crises, Presence Switzerland will monitor the perception of the country abroad more closely so that it can react quickly and comprehensively.
The Federal Council's decision, approved by Parliament, to dissolve the Presence Switzerland Commission and place the organization entirely under the care of the FDFA will now also be implemented. As of January 1, 2009, the Presence Switzerland office will be integrated into the FDFA General Secretariat.

Nobody wants them and yet everyone watches: animal fights have been as frowned upon as they have been popular since time immemorial. The new Swiss documentary "The Beast in Us" by Zurich filmmaker Yves Scagliola explores what drives people to pit animals against each other. In a press release, the filmmaker writes that it is a search for clues that leads us on the trail of our martial instincts in various cultures.
In the Swiss tradition of observational documentaries, "The Beast Within" takes a neutral view of a subject that rightly divides opinion. For example, the audience is given an insight into the life of a young Mexican who lets his pit bull terrier take part in illegal fights, while viewers can form their own opinion about the dubious machinations of a member of this very difficult to access and illegal scene, Scagliola continues.
The almost 80-minute film, a Maximage Filmproduktion production, will be shown in Swiss cinemas from tomorrow.

"Läb wohl, liebs Beromünster", warbles folklore noodle Maja Brunner to the neo-rustic four-quarters intoned by composer Carlo Brunner and his Superländlerkapelle. He wrote the folk song especially for Radio DRS. Because on December 28, SRG wants to, or rather has to, shut down the broadcasting tower on the Blosenberg near Beromünster, which at 215 meters is the tallest building in Switzerland. Apart from the fact that medium wave has steadily lost importance with the advent of ultra-short wave, the electrosmog limits of the transmitters were also far too high. "But what was so beautiful there will never be lost. Digital radio will be born again...", sings Brunner optimistically and expediently in the spirit of the SRG communicators. To date, the station with its folkloristic Musigwälle 531 still had 300,000 listeners, but many of them are at an age where switching to a DAB device is no longer a small matter.
Far more interesting than the SRG's challenge of explaining the procedure to its homeless listeners is a look at a few curiosities about the so-called "Landessender", which is marked Beromünster on the dials of older transistor radios and is considered by the older generation to be synonymous with a free and independent Switzerland during the Second World War.
When the farewell party takes place on the weekend of 11 October in the neighboring municipality of Gunzwil, where the transmitter is located, the people of Gunzwil will do so with a smile and a tear in their eye. Because when the transmitter went into operation in May 1931, the PTT considered the place name Gunzwil ("Gunzbu" in local dialect) to be too unrepresentative for a national transmitter, too "bünzlig" to be used internationally on the radio transmitter dials. But the neighboring community, then called Münster (today still "Möischter"), was out of the question because there was already a station in the German city of Münster and confusion would have been inevitable. So the "Möischterer" remembered their history and the name Beromünster, which the former market town bore until 1798. The Lucerne Grand Council approved the official renaming in 1934, and Beromünster went around the world. If the renaming had gone wrong, the PTT would have named the station - far less exotic - after the neighboring town of Sursee.
Incidentally, the farewell party in "Gunzbu" in mid-October will be a kind of late recognition of the local community by those responsible for the station. The people of Gunzwil had always regarded the station as their own and have felt painfully ignored since the name was given. But that's not all: the recognition is short-lived, because on January 1, 2009, the municipality finally merges with Beromünster ...
René Worni
Listen here: Läb wohl dear Beromünster

NZZ has nominated its CEO, Ringier has made further fine-tuning in the Switzerland department, Tamedia wants to take legal action against NLZ's Zentralschweiz am Sonntag because the paper is going to headline the fifth Bund with "Piazza", Edipresse has to save ten million, is cutting 50 jobs and wants to work with arch-competitor Philippe Hersant in future, Axel Springer Switzerland is making new acquisitions via its subsidiary Amiado Group (Partyguide.ch and Usgang.ch) to market leadership among 16- to 34-year-olds - this is just a small selection of recent movements in the Swiss media landscape. Each of the events requires - depending on the case - a greater or lesser communication effort.
Exponents of war communication are currently demonstrating what communication is capable of in the Caucasus conflict. In a report, the Süddeutsche Zeitung moved the scene of this conflict between Georgia and Russia to Brussels, where it tracked down two professionals in times of crisis who were enlisted by the opposing sides in order to gain the power of interpretation in the public eye as to who ultimately attacked whom. Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili is currently the winner of this media battle. "The Russians have won on the ground, but not in the media," wrote the New York Times. Apparently, James Hunt, who was hired by Georgia, managed to turn the tide with a barrage of media releases in favor of his clients, who are paying almost one million euros a year for his services. The Russians are far removed from such achievements, only stating a month after the outbreak of war that the world public needed to know what had actually happened. Communication has to be learned. Süddeutsche Zeitung also scored points and received 197 online comments for its report.