Printing press manufacturer Heidelberger Druck has slipped deep into the red in the first quarter of its 2008/2009 financial year. As the company announced on Tuesday, the consolidated net loss amounted to 39 million euros. Sales fell from 742 to 657 million euros. On the other hand, incoming orders increased from 934 million euros to 1.15 billion euros thanks to impetus from the Drupa trade fair. Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) deteriorated from plus 26 to minus 35 million euros. According to Heidelberger, the decline in sales and earnings was due to the difficult market conditions and customers' reluctance to invest in the run-up to the industry trade fair. For the financial year as a whole, the company expects sales and operating result to remain below the previous year.

 The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs is cutting back on information for the Swiss abroad. From 2009, the magazine Swiss Review will receive half a million francs less from the federal treasury, namely 1.3 million francs instead of the previous 1.8 million francs. Lars Knuchel, spokesman for the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), confirmed a report by Radio DRS on Tuesday. The Organization of the Swiss Abroad (OSA) now fears that in future only four instead of six issues will be sent to the 670,000 registered Swiss nationals abroad. However, FDFA spokesperson Knuchel did not want to confirm this. However, in view of new communication habits, an expansion of the existing website is also being considered. This will be clarified together with the OSA.

 We have definitely reached the summer slump. Some media outlets are trying their hand at celebrity beach stories with titles such as "Carla 'bruni' here" or "Yuck! Rihanna's p(r)icky bathing fun with Chris Brown", or report on President Sarkozy wearing white socks on vacation. The Americans use the uneventful time differently. They censor diligently. For example, in the case of the new
for the Calvin Klein fragrance "Obsession". A beautiful woman - it's actress Eva Mendes - lolls around in white sheets. The whole clip is atmospheric, there's nothing pornographic, nothing indecent, nothing cheap about it. But you do see Ms. Mendes' nipple for a brief moment. And that is enough for the bosses of the major American television stations to ban the clip. The creative director responsible, Fabien Baron, can't understand this at all: "This country really needs a new president. This country is so screwed," he scolded the New York Post. All this at a time of year when you can see more skin in every puddle, ditch and meadow than in this commercial. The whole thing is reminiscent of the fuss that was made a few months ago about the alleged "topless" pictures of 16-year-old actress Miley Cyrus. Once again, it's a shame that beautiful and original advertising is being stopped more and more often.

 Mark Balsiger, founder of the Bern-based communications agency Border Crossing, has launched a virtual election bistro. It is intended to facilitate political debates around the clock. The initiator sees the platform as a response to the almost extinct tradition of politicians and politically interested people discussing issues at the regulars' table or in the "Säli" of the village pub. The Wahlbistro.ch platform cooperates with the online voting aid Smartvote. Candidates can post their key data and a portrait photo on Wahlbistro. With thoughtful comments and their photo, they have the opportunity to make themselves better known, according to a press release. Balsiger moderates the debates in the election bistro together with political scientist Monika Tschumi, who also works at Border Crossing.
The project is to be financed through sponsorship and advertising. A media partner is currently being sought.

 With the third episode of its farming reality show «Farmer, Single, Seeking…,» the Swiss private broadcaster 3+ was able to boost its ratings once again. The Monday night broadcast peaked at over 244,000 viewers, corresponding to a market share of 16.3 percent among 15- to 49-year-olds. That’s another 24,000 more than the week before (see ). As with the second episode, 3+ once again outperformed market leader SF1. Over the course of the entire broadcast, more than 360,000 viewers tuned in to the Swiss private broadcaster’s channel.

 
Since Swiss National Day, one of Switzerland's best-known hip-hop websites has been presented in a completely new guise: the relaunch of Aightgenossen.ch not only brings with it a completely revised layout and design, but also a full facelift. Eight years after its launch, the Nation Music product has thus undergone its first major overhaul, and one of the most important innovations in the multimedia sector is the Aight.fm channel, which was developed in collaboration with Radio Energy. Based on NRJ Black, black music will be available there around the clock in future. With their own web TV player Aight.tv, the makers want to bring their users even closer to the stars. The linked tool Kyte-TV even allows live images and short film content to be sent directly from the cell phone to the website (see also
)The lively community area remains an important part of the website. The revised forum is intended to make it easier for users to exchange ideas. In future, the editorial section will provide even clearer and more comprehensive information on music, culture, the hip-hop lifestyle and urban events, the Aightgenossen makers write in a press release. From August 1, a major interview will also be published daily.
The "Lifestyle" section is mainly dedicated to fashion, artists, city reports, galleries, exhibitions, games and new trends and gadgets in the urban playground.
Aightgenossen.ch is currently visited by over 6,500 unique users per day and, according to its own information, records an average of 1 million hits per month.

 One is currently causing a stir among automobile fans, advertisers and agencies. Allegedly, Porsche caused the production of the Opel Manta to be halted. In the short film, a "former Porsche salesman" named Herbert R. appears as a key witness to the allegedly dubious machinations of his employer. On camera, he recalls the Opel Manta as "one of the best sports cars in Germany" and a major threat to rival Porsche. In his position, he had to "do everything" to disrupt the success of the Manta. In order to prevent the unthinkable and damage the reputation of the competition from Rüsselsheim, Herbert R. devised a perfidious plan: The Mantawitz was to discredit the driver and the car! He was to be helped by none other than Karl Dall. In the video, the comedian explains that he received the Manta joke offer at a time when he was having financial problems. The entertainment business wasn't going so well at the time, he says. In addition, a house purchase had put him in financial difficulties. At the end of the short film, which lasts just under five minutes, Dall finally asks for forgiveness for driving the Manta's demise with his jokes.
But of course the Manta conspiracy didn't really exist. Porsche never had to feel pressured by Opel and the Manta was by no means a competitor for the sports cars from Stuttgart. Karl Dall did not invent the Mantawitz and Herbert R. was never a salesman at Porsche.
The two film students Johannes Kümmel and Max Penk are behind the whole conspiracy theory. They created the
for her studies at the Baden-Württemberg Film Academy. The commercial was actually only supposed to be an experiment and show "where advertising could go", producer Penk told Spiegel. Now the two are watching with interest as a discussion develops on the Internet about the truth of the Manta conspiracy.

 Deutsche Telekom plans to launch the first test run for an electronic version of a daily newspaper in Germany this fall. As reported by Der Spiegel, the company is initially planning to equip a few dozen selected test customers in Berlin with a portable reader as part of the "News4Me" project. This will then enable users to access an electronic newspaper tailored to their personal needs and thematic interests. However, the telecommunications company does not intend to offer its own editorial content, as Telekom's Head of Research Peter Möckel told the German news magazine. Cooperation partners for the content must therefore still be engaged: They are still looking for partners among publishers, Möckel continued. A special feature of the News4Me platform is the ability to continuously adapt content and layout. "News4Me learns every time the user reads its articles," Telekom technician Dávid Kapitáni explained to Pressetext. For example, changes in users' preferences are constantly registered and the range of articles for the next issue is adapted accordingly. "This is also interesting for publishers, for example, with regard to the targeted placement of advertising aimed at the respective reader," says Kapitáni.
Deutsche Telekom is not the first company to carry out tests with electronic versions of daily newspapers. For example, it has been possible for some time to subscribe to newspapers in digital form using Amazon's Kindle e-book reader. France Telecom also recently launched a similar project in France with "Read & Go".

 The daily newspaper Luzerner Nachrichten, which was launched by the Zofinger Tagblatt last September, has no longer had its own front page since Monday. It is published as the fifth edition of the Zofinger Tagblatt and has its own logo on the front page. "The reasons are mainly logistical," said Editor-in-Chief Beat Kirchhofer when asked by Werbewoche. "In the past few months, we have sometimes had quite a few problems with timeliness due to printing and distribution logistics. This should now improve." Like the Zofinger Tagblatt, the Luzerner Nachrichten is part of the Mittelland Zeitung association and has to fit into its distribution structure. Sonntag LN", the Sunday edition of Luzerner Nachrichten, will continue to appear with its own front page. Luzerner Nachrichten was launched last September with a circulation of 1,300 copies and a five-person editorial team (see
). The newspaper is aimed at residents in the Willisau district. According to Kirchhofer, the aim is to expand coverage of the entire canton of Lucerne in future. "We already cover the regional area of Willisau, but we still need to increase our cantonal coverage," says the editor-in-chief.

 Interest in the Summer Olympics has fallen significantly in Europe compared to the Olympic year 2004. In Germany, only 58% of Germans currently say they are interested in the Summer Games. In the run-up to the 2004 Games in Athens, the figure was 70 percent of 16 to 69-year-old Germans. This is the sobering result of the international study "Sponsoring 21+" by the consulting and research company Sport+Markt. "The events in Tibet this spring and the protests surrounding the torch relay were a very negative PR campaign for the Olympic Games in Beijing worldwide. This has put a strong damper on the anticipation of the Olympics," explains Sport+Markt CEO Hartmut Zastrow to Pressetext. Another interesting result of the study: at the same time as interest in the Olympics has declined, the majority of official sponsors of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Western Europe have become better known. However, Zastrow went on to say that it is questionable whether this type of increase in awareness is desirable. Some IOC partners, on the other hand, were virtually unnoticed internationally despite the media frenzy, although some of them are aimed at end consumers.
In Germany, according to the latest survey conducted before the Summer Games in Beijing, McDonald's, Panasonic and above all Samsung are known to many more Germans as IOC sponsors than four years ago in the run-up to Athens. Samsung, for example, was able to increase its supported awareness from 35 to 58 percent. Coca-Cola remains the leader, with 82% of Germans recognizing it as an Olympic sponsor.

The travel company M-Travel Switzerland has appointed Barbara Lanz to the position of Deputy Head of Corporate Communications & Media, effective August 1, 2008. Barbara Lanz earned a degree in journalism and organizational communication from the Zurich University of Applied Sciences. Prior to this, she worked for five years as deputy branch manager at Hotelplan in Schaffhausen. During her studies, the 28-year-old worked as a freelancer for various media outlets, according to M-Travel. Lanz reports directly to the Head of Corporate Communications & Media, Prisca Huguenin-dit-Lenoir. Huguenin-dit-Lenoir took over as head of corporate communications at the subsidiary of Hotelplan Switzerland and Travelhouse in early June (see ).

 The US advertising market is in the grip of the red pen: after Coca-Cola, General Motors and Ford, consumer goods companies are now also reducing their marketing expenditure. As the German industry magazine Horizont.net reports, industry giant Procter & Gamble cut its advertising expenditure by 19.6 percent, or 135 million US dollars, in the last quarter. But it is not only the world's largest advertiser that is making substantial savings compared to the previous year. P&G's competitors Johnson & Johnson (8.6 percent), L'Oréal (6.6 percent) and Unilever (4.1 percent) also cut back on marketing. The reasons for the cuts include the rise in raw material prices, high inflation rates and lower consumer spending, writes the American industry magazine AdAge.
P&G has made substantial savings in the magazine and TV segments in particular: compared to the same quarter of the previous year, the company saved USD 44 million in advertising money for magazines, and USD 144 million for TV advertising in May of this year alone.
The poor state of the US advertising market is also confirmed by the recently published "Insider's Report on Advertising Expenditures", an annual outlook on the advertising economy. Bob Coen, on whose research the report is based, has reduced his forecast for the US market from 3.7 percent to 2 percent. The negative mood is also spreading to the global market: Growth expectations of 4.6 percent in December 2007 had to be scaled back to 4.4 percent.