The Biel-based agency Erdmannpeisker is publicizing the partnership between Swisscom and Verizon Business. The national campaign is intended to position Swisscom as an international partner for major Swiss customers. The familiar campaign approach "We are there for you" is also used here. With a small adjustment, it is intended to demonstrate the global scope of action. In addition to the campaign motif, a small ad was developed for special interest titles. Responsible at Swisscom:
Judith Krauer (Head of Marketing Communications Swisscom Large Enterprises). Responsible at Erdmannpeisker: Gabriel Peisker (CD), Markus Tränkle (text), Daniel Hesse (AD), Selina Helbling (consulting), Detail AG (image processing).

 Ringier's Forum am Morgen took place for the fifth time on Thursday in Adligenswil. In the year of the 175th anniversary of the Zofingen-based company, renowned guests spoke about the future of the media business. "What will motivate people to read newspapers in the digital future?" was the topic chosen by Forum Chairman and Head of Marketing and Sales at Ringier Print. Prof. Dr. Miriam Meckel, Director of the Institute for Media and Communication Management at the University of St. Gallen, began by making a brilliant plea for reading newspapers. Print media are irreplaceable in their function, said Meckel. She sees a particular opportunity for newspapers in the possibility of involving readers more closely in journalistic services and understanding "news as a collective thought process", as is already being done successfully with Wikipedia, for example.
 
Former National Councillor Edgar Oehler then used his rhetorical skills to emphasize the importance of the media as a driving force for the economy. The entrepreneur drew on his experience as former editor-in-chief of Ostschweiz. After the entrepreneurs Stephan Goetz and Marcel Meier, the Ringier Chairman of the Board of Directors finally took to the lectern in person. Michael Ringier once again proved himself to be a highly competent speaker. He argued in favor of quality journalism that focuses on exclusivity rather than mass-produced goods, which will ensure that an audience can still be found in the coming decades despite competition from the Internet.
 

The succession at the Zurich agency Heads has been arranged at an early stage: Ralph Hermann will take over as CEO. Company founder and Managing Partner Mike Stillhard will become Chairman of the Board of Directors. However, he will remain with the agency operationally until at least 2011 and continue to look after clients. "I won't be cutting back just yet, but the course for the future should be set correctly at an early stage," he commented on the succession plan in a press release. The new CEO Ralph Hermann has been a Managing Partner at Heads for five years. He is also full of praise for the new arrangement: "It's good that Mike Stillhard will remain with us for quite some time in operational and strategic matters." He is looking forward to leading the team and wants to continue the positive agency development of recent years, says Hermann in the press release.
Picture from left: Mike Stillhard and Ralph Hermann

 The relaunch of the Grenzland Zeitung was announced on Wednesday. From June 23, it was to report on the regions of Schaffhausen, Rafzerfeld, Klettgau, Jestetter-Zipfel and Hohentengen (see ). On Thursday, the whole exercise was called off: A terse three-line communiqué stated that the Neue Grenzland Zeitung project would be buried "due to unresolved copyright issues". When asked by Werbewoche, initiator Ulrich Glausen did not want to explain in detail exactly what these issues were. However, he did let slip that the name was one of the issues. And that the other party is the German publishing house that bought the online platform Grenzlandzeitung.com around a year ago. Glausen assured Werbewoche on Wednesday that he had no idea that this could lead to copyright problems. However, the unresolved issues appear to be no small matter if the entire project is now scrapped. The online platform Neuegrenzlandzeitung.com was already offline by midday on Thursday.
"It's possible that I'll make another attempt at some point under a different name and with a new concept," says the publisher who has been stopped. For now, however, he wants to take stock of the situation "and find out who is to blame for this misery". Although he is keeping his head down to the outside world, Glausen's displeasure at "a lot of money being wasted" was clearly noticeable.

 Yesterday on YouTube: An upbeat beat can be heard. Young, good-looking ladies start to move joyfully to it. And because they like the song so much and are in the right mood, they immediately drop all their clothes. Completely uninhibited, they shed their brightly printed T-shirts, slip out of their white underwear and skip through a living room where time seems to have stood still in the seventies. "Great, commune porn with Uschi Obermaier", you think. But what at first looks like a rotten swinger flick turns out to be one of the most original of recent years. Because instead of primary and secondary genitals, the censor bars are dancing here. The performers incessantly form symbols, letters and patterns with their erogenous zones covered by thick black bars - they even imitate computer games. And thus discover censorship as a new art form. Brighton Port Authority, or BPA for short, is the name given to the performers of the piece. Behind it is the music producer and DJ Quentin Leo "Norman" Cook, aka Fat Boy Slim, the most famous son of the English seaside town. He himself appears very briefly in the
up: Towards the end, he swings his sexual organ, naturally covered by a huge censor bar, lasso-like in an anti-clockwise direction. A grand entrance.

The retail chain Volg is launching Hey, a magazine for children aged 7 to 12. It offers 40 pages of "fun, excitement and surprising insights" and is available free of charge in all 570 Volg stores. The children's magazine is published every two months with a print run of 100,000 copies. The Write Now agency is responsible for the concept, content and realization. It has brought journalist Eva Wirth on board as editor. As a trained primary school teacher, she knows the interests of young readers inside out, according to a press release. Hey aims to cater to all tastes with its knowledge, media, exercise, fun and nutrition sections. The mix of topics, the multi-page reports and short articles are intended to appeal to both novice readers and primary school-age bookworms. There is also a platform for kids to contribute their own articles. From June 16, Hey will also be available as an online version at Volg.ch.

 Alcohol can change your life dramatically: Love turns into abuse, happiness into despair, success into ostracism. AY&R has translated these transformations into four new radio commercials. The agency draws attention to the Blue Cross, where alcoholics and their families can find free help and support. Responsible at the Blue Cross Zurich:

Stephan Kunz (management), Henrik Viertel (communication and fundraising). Responsible at AY&R: Markus Gut (CCO), Philipp Skrabal (CD), Martin Stulz (Text), Marietta Albinus (AD), Hastings Zürich (Production).

 Radio marketer Mediasense is launching a new combined offer for French-speaking Switzerland. It combines radio advertising in the Swiss Radio Pool (SRP) City Romandie with radio sponsorship around the "Info Trafic" program on the RSR stations La Première and Option Musique. The SRP City Romandie includes the two major cities of Geneva and Lausanne with the radio stations One FM and LFM. The new combined service is expected to reach around one million listeners, Mediasense writes in a press release.

 SRG is thinking about organizing further theme weeks in the style of the one on integration. In his view, the theme weeks should not be launched too often, but at certain intervals, said Director General Armin Walpen on Thursday at an event organized by the Forum Helveticum in Bern. A theme week should address a relevant topic that moves people and is part of their everyday experience. The idea of a European theme week within the framework of the European Broadcasting Union, the association of public broadcasters in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, is also worth considering. Walpen was satisfied with the last theme week on integration entitled "The rest of us". A survey had shown that every second respondent remembered it. Contributions on television and radio were particularly memorable, rather than those on SRG's online platforms. Over 60 percent of respondents would welcome further theme weeks.

 
Packaging Milchzentrale Bad Ragaz launches the Diamond Pure-Pak Curve carton. 
With "Milk from the Heidiland vacation region", the dairy promises to process only high-quality, fresh milk from Bad Ragaz and the surrounding area and to produce it ecologically and sustainably. The new Elopak packs are characterized by the large screw cap and the ergonomically designed fifth panel, which can be optimally used for advertising messages.
The new packaging is produced and filled on an Elopak RG21 system with an integrated closure applicator with an output of 1200 cartons/h. The packaging, designed by Zweidler & Partner from Bad Ragaz and printed using the UV flexo process, shows the numerous natural beauties of the Bad Ragaz recreational landscape and promotes the Heidiland vacation region.
(sf)

 
The Saatchi & Saatchi Simko agency has been awarded silver at the New York Festivals for its "Plugs" campaign for Fribourg-based Groupe E. The idea, developed in collaboration with media agency Mediatonic, involves transforming the poster into a power socket and connecting the power cable to a nearby object to remind consumers of the importance of electricity in everyday life, according to a statement from the agency. And that energy producers such as Groupe E make an important contribution to quality of life.
 
 
 
 
Responsible at Groupe E:
Adrian Ackermann, Annette Zunzer, Patrick Koller. Responsible at Saatchi & Saatchi Simko: Olivier Girard (CD), Gabriel Mauron, Fred Doms (AD), Sandrine Llopis (Text), Stéphanie Rossier (Account Manager). Photos: Studio Habousha. Media: Chris Flückiger, Mediatonic.  

 
Publishers Did publisher Roger Köppel really set up a holding company just for his Weltwoche? 
Weltwoche publisher Roger Köppel founded a new company in mid-May - Köppel Holding AG, based in Zurich. It has a share capital of 100,000 Swiss francs and absorbed Weltwoche Verlags AG (share capital: just under two million Swiss francs) on the day it was founded. As with Weltwoche Verlags AG, the commercial register also shows two members of the Board of Directors at Köppel Holding - Köppel himself and lawyer Martin Wagner. However, the roles are now reversed: at Weltwoche, Wagner is Chairman of the Board of Directors and Köppel is a delegate; at the holding company, Köppel is Chairman of the Board of Directors and Wagner is a simple member.A holding company makes sense above all when expansion is imminent or other companies are to be united under the same roof. Köppel, however, says: "I have no expansion plans." On the other hand, he has debts from the Weltwoche purchase. That's why he founded the holding company, says Köppel. Because debt repayments can be handled more tax-efficiently via a holding company. The holding company is not a precursor to a corporate transaction. In concrete terms: Köppel and Wagner do not want to park their shares in Radio Basilisk under the holding company umbrella.
Although the holding company is currently primarily intended to fulfill an accounting function, Köppel is not ruling out future acquisitions. "However, my strategic focus is on Weltwoche. The first thing is to make it debt-free," says the publisher.
Köppel hints that his Weltwoche closed 2007 with an operating profit. According to VSW advertising statistics, the paper was one of the titles that was able to gain market share slightly. In 2006, when Köppel took over Weltwoche from Tito Tettamanti, it still had an operating deficit of three million francs. A hole that Köppel himself did not have to make up for. "I was able to start from scratch," he says.
Markus Knöpfli