Specter, the Swiss image archive and service center for visual content and resources belonging to Ringier, is discontinuing its image transmission department at the end of 2008. This will lead to a reduction of three full-time and two part-time positions, Ringier announced on Tuesday. A social plan will be implemented for the employees affected.
The Image Transmission department was the main hub for receiving and forwarding image material. As a result of technological change and the use of the Internet and e-mail, the department's core task increasingly disappeared, according to the statement. Following the reorganization, Specter's range of services remains fully intact. In particular, the services in the areas of text proofreading, image processing and resale/archiving of images are to be further professionalized.

The seventh edition of Südostschweiz, Südostschweiz am Sonntag, is joining the Sonntagspool. This consists of the Sunday titles Sonntag from the Aargauer Zeitung and the seventh edition of the Neue Luzerner Zeitung called Zentralschweiz am Sonntag, which will be published for the first time on September 7. The Chur-based publisher is thus launching a new discount offer called Südostschweiz am Sonntag Plus. Anyone who advertises in the Sonntagspool will receive a 15 percent discount in the SOaS. The SO already increased the circulation of its Sunday edition to 55,000 copies in July thanks to an extended delivery. As a result, Südostschweiz will be able to keep up with the thousand-reader price of the Sonntagspool in the medium term, explains Susanne Lebrument, Managing Director of Südostschweiz Publicitas, in a press release. The new offer replaces the previous one with AZ's Sonntag. SOaS is apparently well on course. According to Lebrument, the advertising volume almost doubled in the first half of 2008.
Those responsible at SOaS also want to work together with Zentralschweiz am Sonntag on an editorial level.

The Young & Rubicam Group has acquired the Cash Group as a new client. The Cash Group is announcing changes to Cash Daily for the fall, and the online portal is also to be given a new look. A campaign by the Y&R Group is intended to communicate these changes, among other things, according to a press release issued on Monday. The focus is on dynamic advertising media and display subjects for online presences and multimedia campaigns. The campaign will be supplemented with subjects for the print sector.

Inhalte.ch announces a new addition to its staff: The company for editorial services, which was initiated two years ago as a sole proprietorship by Daniel Meierhans, is now being strengthened by technology and business journalists Claudia Bardola and Boris Schneider.
Claudia Bardola was an editor at Computerworld in Zurich from 2002 to 2008, most recently as Head of Communications & Network Technology. Before that, she was editor at Züri-Nachrichten in Horgen and editor-in-chief of Seerundschau in Richterswil.
Boris Schneider is editor-in-chief of the customer magazine of a major Swiss bank. Since 1995, he has worked regularly as an IT and technology editor for various consumer, online and specialist media, including Blick and Blick Online, Computerworld and IT Restseller. He was also co-founder of the Internet start-up Linktrail.
Inhalt.ch focuses on providing editorial services and overall editorial support for publications for media, agencies and companies and continues to work with a network of specialist journalists. Inhalt.ch has now been renamed as a limited company with three managing partners.

At the beginning of January, the SWX Group, Telekurs Group and SIS Group merged to form Swiss Financial Market Services, which has now also become a joint brand: with immediate effect, the company will operate as the Six Group, with Six standing for Swiss Infrastructure and Exchange. The Group was advised by the branding agency Scholtysik Niederberger Kraft (SNK), which designed the brand strategy and created the new image together with the brand strategy consultancy Prophet.
According to the press release, the new brand is intended to emphasize the Group's commitment to customer needs and its expertise, which aims to provide impetus with its forward-looking strategy. It will also stand for traditional Swiss values such as stability, trust and precision, as well as for openness to the world and technological expertise. The new Six Group logo can already be seen on the building of the Swiss Stock Exchange in Zurich. The Six Group is a cornerstone of the Swiss financial center infrastructure and offers its services worldwide.

Over 100 people attended the warm-up event of the ADC Young Creatives Award on August 21 at Studio Bellerive. Michael Gasser from the OC was there and took photos, which we would like to share with you.
This year, the young talent competition is for a campaign for Migros under the motto "Migros is committed to a healthy Switzerland". The detailed briefing can be downloaded from the ADC website. The deadline for entries is October 17, with the awards ceremony and party taking place on October 31.

The advertising slump during the Euro 2008 and the economic slowdown hit Publigroupe hard in the first half of 2008. Net profit plummeted by 24.8 percent to CHF 43.9 million. According to a press release issued by the advertising marketer on Monday, many companies refrained from placing press advertisements during the major event. Group sales still grew by 3.1 percent overall to 1.11 billion Swiss francs. Adjusted for acquisitions, however, there was a decrease of 7.2 percent.
The operating result (EBIT) improved by 65.5 percent to CHF 61.9 million. However, this includes extraordinary income from the sale of an office property in Zurich (CHF 42.5 million). Excluding one-off special effects and changes to the scope of consolidation, EBIT fell by CHF 11.6 million compared to the same period of the previous year.
Since the spring, the financial crisis has begun to have a negative impact on the international advertising markets, explained Publigroupe Group CEO Hans-Peter Rohner in a telephone conference, according to SDA. The largest division, Media Sales, which covers all traditional media marketing, suffered a 7.1 percent drop in sales to CHF 925 million in the first half of the year. In Switzerland, the decline even amounted to 8.1 percent.
Savings programs planned - better result expected for the second half of the year
Publigroupe now intends to take various measures to counteract the slump in profits. According to the conference call, three cost-cutting programs - one for administration and two in the Media Sales segment - are in preparation across the Group. For next year, these programs should result in savings of CHF 10 million, CFO Andreas Schmidt specified the targets. He expects a positive effect of around CHF 2.5 million in the current period.
For the second half of the year, Publigroupe expects to achieve a better operating result than in the first half. Previously, the Group expected to achieve double-digit sales and earnings growth for the year as a whole, excluding any further acquisitions.
Publigroup shares recorded losses. Investors were not convinced by the half-year figures. In the meantime, the shares were up. By midday, however, the shares were down 1.7 percent at CHF 243.
(Hans-Peter Rohner, CEO Publigroupe / Keystone, Laurent Gillieron)

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The Bern-based agency Hofer Kommunikation has realized a national campaign and created a new corporate design for Login, the Swiss training association in the world of transport. The aim of the advertising campaign, which will be launched at the end of August, is to publicize the training opportunities on offer and recruit Login apprentices.

According to a press release from the agency, a varied profession, the quality of the training and the career prospects are decisive factors for the target group when choosing an apprenticeship. Based on the idea of corporate storytelling, various success stories were developed for the campaign. Motivating learning experiences or outstanding experiences have been dramatized and are intended to arouse emotions in the target group.
The campaign consists of posters, flyers, brochures, trade fair appearances, SMS services and give-aways.
Responsible for login: Stephanie Kriesel (Head of Corporate Communications). Responsible at Hofer Communication: Hofer Kommunikation is responsible for the campaign as a whole.

The Swiss private broadcaster 3+ has actually managed to get Bruce Darnell for the show "Supermodel 2008". The former Germany's Next Topmodel judge and secret star of the show will not be sitting on the jury, no, his job is different: he is to teach the girls the perfect catwalk - hard but heartfelt, according to the station's press release. The German-American knows how to swing his hips like no other - after all, he has been in the modeling business for over 25 years and has already appeared on the catwalk for renowned designers such as Kenzo, Issey Miyake and Calvin Klein at fashion shows in Paris, Milan, Tokyo and New York. Since the 90s, he has concentrated on his talent as a choreographer. His American accent, with which he urges his protégés to do more "drama, baby, drama", for example, is legendary. It will be interesting to see what he creates with the Swiss girls - let's hit the catwalk!