The Südostschweiz Media Group in Chur increased its profit by 11.4 percent to CHF 3.5 million in 2007. Turnover grew by 8.5 percent to just under 136 million francs. The increase in turnover was primarily due to the good advertising business, the company announced on Saturday. The group turnover does not include 18 million francs in newspaper printing, which Südostschweiz operates with partners in Haag SG. The Südostschweiz Media Group employed a total of 1014 people at the end of 2007. According to its own information, it is planning a new media center in the Chur area.

 Change of ownership of the wine magazine Vinum. Hanspeter Detsch, Delegate of the Board of Directors of Intervinum AG, Zurich, sells his share package (approx. 16 percent) to Landwirtschafts GmbH in Münster, the previous majority shareholder.Detsch also steps down as Delegate of the Board of Directors and from operational responsibility with effect from July 1, 2008. However, he will remain associated with the company as a member of the Board of Directors and consultant with special duties. Dr. Maili Wolf, previously a member of the Board of Directors, will assume the role of Delegate of the Board of Directors. Together with Publishing Director Alicia Mettler, she will be responsible for business operations in future.
The new management is relying on the existing team. The acquisition of the gourmet magazine Marmite two years ago has consolidated the company's strong position among gourmet magazines. Further multimedia optimization (expansion of Internet activities and TV) and the expansion of the European network are the most important tasks for the future, the magazine announced in a press release on Friday.

Anyone who has a teenager at home or reads celebrity magazines knows that the so-called Palestinian scarf is experiencing a revival: Many people are currently wrapping the piece of textile known as the "Pali scarf" around their necks - but unlike in its last heyday around fifteen years ago, most of them do not want to make a political statement with it. Now the scarf has brought down an online campaign by the US chain Dunkin' Donuts: in it, TV chef Rachael Ray presented herself with a drink and the ominous piece of fabric around her neck. This rubbed conservative bloggers up the wrong way, as Adage.com reports. They complained that the scarf symbolized the "murderous jihad" of anti-American terrorists. Dunkin' Donut therefore quietly took the campaign offline last weekend. A spokeswoman assured us that the stylist had chosen the scarf during the photo shoot and had certainly not intended to make a symbolic statement. It remains a mystery as to how, in politically over-correct America, an advertising person even came up with the idea of giving this ad a career-damaging green light.

 
Tele Züri presenter Maria Rodriguez will now be working for the news network of Basler Zeitung, Berner Zeitung and Tages-Anzeiger. Rodriguez will work at Newsnetz as a local reporter for Tagesanzeiger.ch and will also continue to work 50 percent for Tele Züri. Before joining Tele Züri four years ago, she worked in various roles for Star TV, TV3 and the former Radio Z. Maria Rodriguez has a degree in Romance studies and journalism and has completed a postgraduate course in corporate communications at SPRI/HWZ.

 To mark this year's World No Tobacco Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) is calling for a comprehensive ban on cigarette advertising. In particular, 1.8 billion young people need to be protected from the dangers of smoking. According to the latest studies, this target group is particularly exposed to tobacco advertising, said Douglas Bettcher from the WHO's anti-tobacco initiative to the press in Geneva on Friday. The motto for World No Tobacco Day 2008 is therefore "Smoke-free youth", and the WHO criticizes that currently only five percent of the world's population is completely protected from cigarette promotion of any kind. In their opinion, a complete ban would be effective: countries that have adapted their laws accordingly could show a reduction in tobacco consumption of almost 16 percent.
Because most young smokers take up the cigarette before the age of 18, the tobacco industry has adapted its campaigns and is now trying to seduce young people in cinemas, on the Internet, at concerts and sporting events. Smoking is advertised as prestige-enhancing and energy-boosting.
As part of a study, the WHO surveyed young people between the ages of 13 and 15 in schools around the world. The result: more than 55 percent of pupils had seen cigarette advertising in the last 30 days. Moreover, one in five of the young people owned an object with a cigarette brand emblem. The WHO is also calling for a complete ban on smoking in public places and the abolition of cigarette vending machines.

 Since January 1, 2007, the law in the canton of Berne has prohibited tobacco advertising on public property and on private property that can be seen from such property. Now a Thun councillor and the commercial police of the municipality of Köniz have filed criminal charges for tobacco advertising at or on SBB railroad stations, as Thun SP councillor Patric Bhend wrote in a press release. He filed his complaint because there are currently posters advertising smoking products outside Thun station. SBB has so far taken the stance that they are fundamentally subject to national law, not cantonal law.
The Bernese Office of Economic Affairs Beco is also putting pressure on SBB and the poster companies. It is of the opinion that tobacco advertising on station squares, as in Thun, is "clearly inadmissible", as management member Stefan Reichen told SDA on request. Beco has informed SBB and the poster companies of this by letter.
SBB has now responded to the pressure. Regardless of Beco's intervention and the criminal charges, the company is considering voluntarily adapting its tobacco advertising practices to communal and cantonal regulations, SBB announced on Friday.
Stricter regulations in the canton of AargauThere is also a lot happening in this area in the canton of Aargau. The Aargau cantonal council wants to significantly strengthen alcohol and tobacco prevention. With a new law, the government plans to ban large-scale advertising for tobacco products and alcoholic beverages. This includes billboard, cinema and perimeter advertising. Company names at the place of business or production are exempt from this.
The law also stipulates that municipalities can order test purchases by young people. Adults who buy alcohol and pass it on to minors will be liable to prosecution in future. It is still unclear how passive smoking protection should be regulated. Two options are under discussion: a general ban on smoking in all enclosed spaces that are open to the public and exceptions for restaurants and bars.

 The reorganization of Publicitas as a whole has resulted in another personnel change. Hansruedi Bichsel, CEO of Publicitas Publimag, is leaving the company at the end of November after 18 years with the company, Publicitas announced on Friday.Bichsel began his career at Publigroupe in 1990 as an assistant manager at Ofa Orell Füssli Werbe AG in Zurich. He then held various management positions at Ofa Zeitschriften. He was already heavily involved in the birth of today's Publicitas Publimag as Head of Sales and took over overall responsibility as CEO on January 1, 2002.  
"Hansruedi Bichsel, a pioneer of the magazine genre, is leaving us," said Thomas Bargetzi, CEO/Sales Director Switzerland at Publicitas, in a press release. He has led and developed the company branch with great commitment. No details were given about the succession plan.

 The Swiss Association for Visual Communication, Viscom, and the Association of Suppliers to the Graphic Arts Industry, Ligraf, provided an update on the current state of the local industry during Swiss Day at Drupa, the world’s leading trade fair for the graphic arts industry, in Düsseldorf.In Düsseldorf, Viscom and Ligraf particularly advocated for what they view as a «modern social partnership.» In a press release issued on Friday, the association stated that working conditions agreed upon by employers and employees must be based on changing market conditions and allow for wage and working-hour arrangements that reflect operational realities, without opening the door to wage and social dumping. In this spirit, the collective bargaining negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement scheduled for this coming fall should aim to strengthen the international competitiveness of the Swiss graphic arts industry and consolidate industrial peace as a guarantee for growth and employment in the sector, the association added.
Buoyed by the strong domestic economy in Switzerland, the graphic arts industry enjoyed two years of strong sales in 2006 and 2007; however, these were not enough to offset profitability issues stemming from low profit margins and rising production costs.
In 2007, the Swiss graphic arts industry comprised approximately 2,600 companies with a total of 30,000 employees. More than 80 percent are small businesses with up to 9 employees. The industry generated revenue of 6.2 billion Swiss francs in 2007. Although exports have risen steadily since 2004 to 876 million Swiss francs, the trade balance showed a deficit of over 1.3 billion Swiss francs in 2007. Accounting for 28 percent of revenue, the advertising market is the most important customer for graphic products in Switzerland. 78 percent of print jobs are produced using offset printing, and 11 percent using digital printing.

 
Doodle AG, based in Zurich's Technopark, has been strengthened as of the beginning of June: the founding team of Michael Näf and Paul E. Sevinç has brought a sales and marketing expert on board. Stefan Wirth has been Product Manager for Business Development and Marketing at Tagesanzeiger.ch for the past three years. Following strong user growth in Switzerland and abroad, Doodle would also like to increase its presence in the advertising market and take advantage of the good starting position. The site claims to have over half a million unique clients per month. This reach and the targeting options based on survey categories offer a good basis for marketing and for targeted cooperation with good partners, newcomer Stefan Wirth announced on Friday.

 
The book retailer Orell Füssli is moving into the Westside shopping center in Bern-Brünnen in October. The Bernese agency Republica has created a campaign to recruit the necessary specialist staff, with the aim of attracting a large number of applications. In addition, the people of Berne are to be made aware of the first two Orell Füssli branches in the canton. At the heart of the campaign are fictitious book titles designed to address potential job candidates bluntly and encourage them to find out more about the advertised positions via eBook.  
From now on, advertisements, posters, web banners and eBooks will be used.
Responsible at Orell Füssli:
Andras Németh (Head of Management), Leonie Simmen (Project Manager). Responsible at Republica: Re Wilk (CD), Katja Dürig and Kasper Kobel (Junior-AD), Rita Steinauer (Text), Marc Bissig (Consulting), Nadja Rohr (Web-Consulting), Barbara Trachsel (Overall responsibility), Photo: Masato Yokoyama / Seven Pictures.

 After months of searching and a multi-stage selection process, the airline Swiss has a new agency: Publicis has secured the prestigious account, as Swiss spokeswoman Andrea Kreuzer confirmed in a report by Persönlich.com. The decisive factor for the choice was that the Zurich agency's strategy was clearly based on the Swiss positioning and that the proposed continuation of the campaign launched in 2006 was coherent. A completely new Swiss advertising presence is therefore not to be expected. Kreuzer added that the professional team at Publicis and the fact that the global agency network made local adaptations of the advertising possible were also convincing.

 During Euro 08, the vegetarian restaurant Hiltl will be running a festival restaurant with live broadcasts in the Zurich fan zone. Reason enough for the restaurant to prepare for Euro 08. To this end, Ruf Lanz has designed a radio commercial campaign and brought in chef Rolf Hiltl as a spokesman. In the spots, Rolf Hiltl tirelessly tries to explain the offside rule correctly. Not an easy task, especially when you are constantly interrupted by an impatient coach in the style of Gilbert Gress. The commercials are now being broadcast on Radio Energy Zurich and were also produced in the Energy Zurich recording studios.

Responsible at Hiltl:
Rolf Hiltl (overall responsibility). Responsible at Ruf Lanz: Markus Ruf, Danielle Lanz (Creative Direction), Thomas Schöb, Torsten Maas (Text), Gian Marco Juon (Consulting). Production: Energy Zurich. Recording director: Andy Mejuto. Speakers: Rolf Hiltl, Patric Schäfler. Off-voice: Ajana Calugar.