The 33-year-old native of Bern, Claudia Schlup, will be the new Head of Entertainment at Schweizer Illustrierte from fall 2008. She replaces Susanne Walder, who recently became a mother, according to a press release issued on Tuesday. René Haenig will remain deputy head of department, but will also take on the role of chief reporter.Schlup studied German and journalism at the University of Berne and then worked as a reporter, editor and columnist at the Berner Zeitung. She spent the last three years building up the entertainment department at 20 Minuten. She was also head of the weekly magazine 20 Minuten Week.

 
Marti & Partner, based in Zurich, is increasing its staff: Uwe Boschina is now responsible for online marketing and communication. In this new constellation, the agency's interdisciplinary team will now be able to cover tasks across topics and areas from a single source, according to a press release issued on Tuesday. Boschina brings with him several years of practical experience as an executive and project manager in the development of online solutions. For example, he worked at Egormet as Marketing Manager, at Ricardo.ch and at Switzerland Travel Center.

 
The internationally active Swiss family-owned company Westiform will transfer the new corporate design for the Schindler Group to over 500 locations worldwide. Westiform will be responsible for the production of logos, illuminated lettering, pylons, steles and signs as well as their installation on the buildings. Work recently began at the Schindler Group headquarters in Ebikon. Schindler has been gradually introducing a new visual identity since spring 2006. According to the press release, the work will extend over a period of two years.

 The Chur-based agency Clus has realized a campaign for the Bündner Kantonalbank. It is intended to publicize the bank's "GKB Contribution Fund" commitment to non-commercial projects and organizations in the canton of Graubünden, according to a statement from the agency. The motifs can be seen on posters and advertisements in July.
 
 

 
 
Responsible at Graubündner Kantonalbank, Chur: Daniel Michel (Head of Marketing), Patrik Gallati (Head of Advertising), Ursina Marx (Advertising Assistant). Responsible at Clus Werbeagentur ASW, Chur: Kajo Bächle (consulting, CD), Olivier Chauliac (AD), Robin Keller (consulting, text). 
 

 The Zurich-based interactive agency Futurecom, which belongs to the Y&R Group, has announced a new client. It has won the mandate to redesign the website of SRG advertising marketer Publisuisse, as detailed in a press release issued on Tuesday. The agency is working on the new mandate with immediate effect.

 
The management of the new online platform of the Aargau publishing house AZ Medien has been determined: Roger Knabenhans has been appointed head of A-z.ch with retroactive effect from July 1, 2008. Other members of the new management team are Reinhard Kronenberg as Editorial Director and Knabenhans' deputy, Ralf Ressmann as Head of Product Management and Peter Meyer as Technical Director, according to a press release issued on Tuesday. The A-z.ch division reports to Christoph Marty, Head of Crossmedia/Key Account. 44-year-old Roger Knabenhans has been Project Manager Classifieds Market at AZ Crossmedia since April 2005. Over the past two years, he has established the cross-media classifieds marketplaces A-zimmo.ch, A-zjobs.ch, A-zauto.ch and A-zpartnersuche.ch. He previously worked at NZZ as Head of Classifieds, at Facts as Head of Advertising and at Publicitas.
Reinhard Kronenberg has been Head of Online at Migros Media since January 2005. The 43-year-old previously worked as Product Manager at Tages-Anzeiger, as Managing Director at Car4you Switzerland, as CEO of Carwinner and as Content Producer at Winner Market in the online classifieds market.
The 40-year-old Ralf Ressmann has been working for AZ Crossmedia as Project Manager Search&Find since June 1, 2008. Previously, he was Head of Internet Press at Coop.
Peter Meyer has been Project Manager Web/IT at AZ Crossmedia since the beginning of May 2008. Prior to this, the 41-year-old worked for Migros Genossenschaftsbund as Online Project Manager. He also worked for Yahoo Germany and in project management for the ARD program directorate in the area of online development.

 With its July 3 issue, *Die Weltwoche* underwent a subtle refresh of its design. «We’ve made an effort to make the layout even clearer and more reader-friendly,» the editorial team writes in its introductory notes on the contents, referring primarily to the expanded «Style & Luxury» section. In addition to extra layout bells and whistles, cultural content in particular has been scaled back. Music guru Albert Kuhn, with his lively descriptions of sound, is being pushed further and further toward the end of the magazine, and the hiking column—which is actually the true embodiment of style and luxury—has disappeared entirely. Some of the exaggerated images even give the magazine a tabloid-like feel. What particularly caught our attention, however, was a paragraph in the «Names» section, which has also been moved toward the back. Without any apparent hook, it describes a visit to Europapark in Rust in sixteen lines that could hardly be more brimming with enthusiasm. Watching the iconic «Silver Star» roller coaster is described as «incredibly thrilling,» the shows are excellent, and the Tyrolean whitewater ride is «top-notch.» Good PR.

 
The group around owner Barbla C. Schaerer has been strengthened: Saskia Röthlisberger has joined The Gate Communication agency as a Junior Consultant. During her studies in German language and literature, journalism and social psychology, she worked as a journalist and editor and supplemented her experience in a commercial law firm. Pia Wälti joined the agency as a consultant as part of a mandate in the field of corporate social responsibility. She was most recently responsible for marketing and communication activities at a private bank, has broad professional experience in personnel management and has held project management positions in the cultural environment. She holds a MAS in Communication Management.
The communications and PR agency The Gate Communication has just turned two years old and has moved into a new location on Uraniastrasse in Zurich. It advises and supports the Raiffeisen Group in its communications activities. The international airline Finnair and three other, unnamed companies have also joined the agency.
Pia Wälti

 
Most people are aware of the various television offerings on the Internet, and all age groups are almost equally well informed. However, the situation is different when it comes to usage: A survey in Germany revealed that - unsurprisingly - significantly more young consumers watch moving images on the web. The 30 to 49 age group is more reserved. This applies to all areas surveyed, such as watching television on the Internet, ordering films, watching series on demand or user-generated content. The generational difference is most obvious in the latter. Overall, self-made videos, articles and clips are the most popular, followed by news and current short articles, followed by live streaming. Despite the new reception options, usage behavior has hardly changed so far. 74% of those surveyed stated that they continue to watch television at their usual times, regardless of the end device. For the survey, 1000 people between the ages of 14 and 49 were questioned.

 Since July 1, the consulting team at Zurich-based communications agency DD Com has had a new leader: 32-year-old Laurence Bolinger has moved to the Seefeld-based agency after three years at KSB/SJ. She now looks after clients such as Manor, Skoda, Confiserie Sprüngli, Beldona, Piatti and Meister Schmuck. Before joining KSB/SJ, she worked for Advico Young & Rubicam.DD Com has been working for various clients in the fashion and lifestyle sector for 6 years. Under the leadership of Daniel Müri (creation) and Jean Pierre Kuhn (consulting), the agency has grown steadily over the last two years and now has around 20 employees.

 
In order to send out a signal against the attempted release of genetically modified wheat, the GMO-free Zurich North Committee came up with a successful PR campaign. During a protest walk, the group released 100 yellow balloons into the sky as symbolic GM pollen. The aim was to draw attention to and visualize the danger posed to humans, animals and the environment by pollen from fields of genetically modified plants. Once the pollen has been released, it can no longer be retrieved, according to the message. The finders of the symbolic wheat pollen are kindly asked to report the location where they were found, according to the message. 

 
According to a survey conducted by Jupiter Research in the USA, marketing agencies see Facebook as having the greatest potential for viral marketing. 25 percent of respondents consider the social network to be the most important starting point for viral campaigns on the Internet, followed by Google with 21 percent. On Facebook, fan pages are mainly used as a starting point, for example for films, music or consumer goods. Surprisingly, the video platform YouTube is only in third place with just 14%. Myspace, Yahoo and Open Social are attributed little importance, as Pressetext.ch reports. MSN is even named as number one for viral campaigns by only three percent.