The crew of the agency at the airport can add a new budget to its portfolio - from a pilot school, it makes sense: the St. Gallen-Altenrhein Flying School (FSA) offers training courses for private pilots, commercial pilots and even airline pilots. Certified as an FTO (Flight Training Organization) by the Federal Office of Civil Aviation, the flying school would like to actively communicate this unique position in the Lake Constance region. The agency located in the immediate vicinity of the airport is now being used for this project.

 The Internet marketer Adlink Group recorded rising sales in the first half of 2008, but also a decline in profits. Consolidated sales rose from 104.4 million euros in the previous year to 113.8 million euros, an increase of 9 percent. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), on the other hand, fell by 21.3 percent from 12.7 million euros to 10.0 million euros. Consolidated net income fell by 13.8% to 5.0 million euros. In the previous year, it was still at 5.8 million euros. According to Andreas Janssen, CFO of Adlink Internet Media, sales in the domain marketing segment (Sedo) were down on the previous year. In addition, the continuing weakness of the dollar and the British pound was reflected in the figures. Adlink Internet Media expects sales growth of 10 percent for 2008. As online advertising is not unaffected by economic fluctuations, the Adlink Group is strengthening its performance marketing solutions, which are less dependent on economic cycles.

The shoe and sports retailer Dosenbach-Ochsner becomes a national sponsor and thus the name giver of the second national football league. It is now called the "Dosenbach Challenge League". In contrast to Nati A, which has had a sponsor in Axpo since 2003, this position has remained vacant in the second division for the last five years. The contract was concluded with the International Sports Agency (ISA), which will now also oversee the implementation. The Dosenbach Challenge League matches will be shown on Swiss Sports Television (SSF), as detailed in a press release, and the core services of the contract include the right for Dosenbach to act as name sponsor and appear in the official logo. The logo will be displayed on the teams' jerseys as a badge on the sleeves and chest. The Dosenbach brand will also be advertised on the perimeter boards in all stadiums. A ticket contingent will also ensure that the company can invite customers and partners to the matches. The amount of the sponsorship was not disclosed.
"For Dosenbach-Ochsner, the naming of the Dosenbach Challenge League is an important step in brand communication," said Steve Schennach, Head of Corporate Communications at Dosenbach-Ochsner AG. The Challenge League has a national presence, but still has strong regional roots. As a youth and training league, it is also associated with image components that Dosenbach would also cover with the products in its range, said Schennach.

 Bzm.online, the online business subsidiary of Basler Zeitung Medien, is making some changes: it is taking over the blog aggregator Logcut, entering into a partnership with the party site Festzeit.ch and changing the rules of the game in online marketing. The agency discount will generally be reduced to 15 percent. Bzm.online's Head of Marketing Peer Dittmar told Werbewoche that the aim is to put an end to the "commission madness". "We are of the opinion that the mere placement of a budget does not have to be rewarded with a high commission." In future, the focus will be on partnerships that are subject to different conditions depending on turnover. Based on well-known credit card types, there are now silver, gold and platinum partners. The aim is to reward those who generate a lot of sales for bzm.online. "We see brokers and agencies as sales channels. And as with all sales channels, if you perform well, you get paid well." The new rules apply with immediate effect; existing contracts will be terminated subject to the notice period. Dittmar will find out in the coming weeks how the market will react to the - in some cases severe - discount cuts when he holds talks with the brokers. The new conditions apply to all Bzm.online media offerings, including the newly launched Bazonline.ch portal. According to Dittmar, the Basel model will probably not be applied to the other two Newsnetz partners Tamedia and Espace Media. The central sale of all three Newsnetz offerings is the responsibility of the sales team at Tamedia, headed by Dominik Lämmler. Tamedia, for its part, announced in May that it intended to gradually reduce agency commissions over a period of three years.
Bzm.online takes over Dittmar's child Logcut The new marketing model is not the only news from Bzm.online: The wholly-owned BZM subsidiary has just decided to take over the blog portal and network Logcut, which was founded by Peer Dittmar himself a few years ago. And the Basel-based company is entering into a partnership with the party site Festzeit.ch. "We no longer want to and can no longer just provide content for our readers, we have to be a central part of a community. A community that feels connected to Basel - even if the users are based in Hong Kong or New York, just a new local www," says Dittmar, explaining these steps. "We are looking to talk to our community and therefore integrate it, and these two sites are very well suited to this."
However, there are still few interactive elements on the new Bazonline.ch site, which caused a stir among bloggers. "I've also noticed that there are still few opportunities for dialog on the new site. But these are gradually being implemented. With a relaunch of this magnitude, not everything that you would like to offer is there at the beginning," says Dittmar. However, dialog-oriented offers are very important for Bzm.online, which motivated the takeover of Logcut and the partnership with Festzeit.ch. In future, both services will be marketed in the same way as bazonline.ch.
Bzm.online was founded at the beginning of June and is to plan "a comprehensive and implementation-oriented online strategy" for the entire Basler Zeitung Medien company (see
). In addition to CEO Manfred Messmer, Baz.online editor-in-chief Andrea Müller and Peer Dittmar as Head of Marketing form the management team. Bzm.online currently employs around ten people, including the editorial staff of Bazonline.ch. Carole Scheidegger

The themed blogs of the Zurich-based online publisher Blogwerk achieved a total of 1.126 million page impressions in July 2008, an increase of 25.4 percent compared to the previous month. This is the first time that the million mark has been exceeded, according to a press release issued on Monday. According to the latest Net-Metrix figures, unique clients increased from around 246,000 to 295,000 (+19.7 percent).Blogwerk is currently gradually converting all themed blogs to a new design. This should provide readers with a better overview and more comprehensible entry points.

To celebrate the start of the Olympic Games, Adidas presents a global print campaign under the name "Gold is not a given". The stars of the ad are Olympic favorites Tyson Gay, Allyson Felix, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Jeremy Wariner, Yelena Isinbayeva and Haile Gebrselassie. In February 2008, these six athletes flew to Beijing - six months before the Olympic Games began. The contenders for Olympic gold know that winning is never guaranteed, according to a press release. That is why the athletes trained under the appropriate conditions in the country. The result is twelve unique excerpts from the athletes' training. The agency responsible for the campaign is 180 Amsterdam, which is part of the TBWA network.
 
 

 

Exxtra Kommunikation brings exotic flair to Switzerland for Migros. The agency has developed a campaign on behalf of the retailer with the aim of emphasizing Migros' product diversity. The focus is on foods from Asia, overseas and southern Europe. The range will be advertised for 45 days with the claim "Everything that whets the appetite for the wide world" via advertisements, posters, eboards and Cards for Free. The images were taken at authentic locations in Asia and Italy. The respective market vendors wore the clothing of Migros employees, according to the agency. To give consumers a better understanding of what can be prepared with these foods, virtual show cooking with the M-Cooking chefs will be shown on folding screens for the first time. Tasting sessions will also be held in the largest Migros stores. A competition rounds off the campaign. The campaign runs until 25.08.08 in all participating Migros stores.
Responsible at Migros:
Conradin Schaad. Responsible at Exxtra: Dieter Hoffmann (Creative Direction), Andrea Dübendorfer (Art Direction), Sascha Borsai (Text), Markus Brink (Consulting), Stefan Minder (Photo).  

 Two Swiss agencies made it to the finalists of the Cresta Awards this year: Euro RSCG and Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett. On the film shortlist is Euro RSCG with the roller coaster spot for the Zurich Chamber Orchestra. SFLB is nominated in the "Integrated Campaigns" category with its "FC Münchwilen" campaign for Helvepharm. In total, the jury has shortlisted 283 entries from 30 countries. The award ceremony will take place on October 27, 2008 and can be followed at.

 On Friday, August 15 and Saturday, August 16, Radio Sunshine in Central Switzerland will be celebrating its 25th anniversary. The "Radio Sunshine Top 880" will start on Thursday evening. Over 4,000 listeners have chosen their 880 favorite hits from a list of 1,983 songs in advance, which will then be played in the hit marathon. Sunshine presenters are live on air for 70 hours and welcome various guests to the studio. These include former Sunshine employee Patrick Hässig, comedian Marco Rima, musician Marc Sway and footballer Dave Zibung, and the station is also organizing an anniversary celebration. On Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. there will be entertainment, food and music at Radio Sunshine in Rotkreuz.
Finally, the anniversary weekend will be rounded off on Sunday between 2 pm and 4 pm with the biggest hits from Central Switzerland. Marco Thomann and Thomas Zesiger will present the secret top 25 of the "Radio Sunshine Top 880" with live guests in the studio.

The second season of the casting show "Supermodel" will start this fall on the private channel 3+. The show will be hosted by international top model Franziska Kuppe. Castings are currently being held to find candidates who want to follow in the footsteps of Nathalie Güdel, the winner of the first season. In the advertisement, "Supermodel" presenter Knuppe shows what the model candidates can expect in the contest. The motif, developed by Zurich advertising agency Fast Track, was realized by Paris-based fashion photographer Leo Krumbacher during a photo shoot in Hamburg. The closing date for applications for the castings is August 20, 2008. 3+ is responsible:
Dominik Kaiser (overall responsibility), Cindy Muff (Head of Communications). Responsible at Fast Track: Florian Beck (CD), Thomas Berger (AD), Dominic Siegrist (consulting), Vera Schmid (art buying), Leo Krumbacher (photography), Connie Eisenmann (styling).

 The add-on programs for the iPhone are bringing in a lot of money for Apple: the company expects sales of around half a billion dollars per year. Since the launch of the software offers via the "App Store" a month ago, more than 60 million programs have been downloaded, Apple boss Steve Jobs told the Wall Street Journal. Annual revenues of one billion dollars are also possible, Jobs said. The programs developed by third-party providers include games, GPS applications and communication tools. On average, Apple has so far earned around one million dollars per day from downloads. The US company keeps 30 percent of the revenue, while the developers receive 70 percent. The majority of the mostly small software applications are also free of charge.

Lukas Tenger, head of the consulting department and member of the AY&R management team, is stepping down from the agency. In view of the reorganization within Y&R, he has decided to seek a new challenge, according to a press release. Tenger joined the agency three and a half years ago as Client Service Director and was promoted to Managing Partner in 2006. In addition to maintaining existing client relationships, he has successfully contributed to the acquisition of new budgets and the expansion of existing mandates within the Group during this time.