KM Keymedia is opening another consulting and sales location in Berne on July 1, 2008. The subsidiary of Basler Zeitung Medien at the new address is headed by Michael Seiler. According to BZM, the aim of the representation in Berne is to communicate the advantages and range of services offered by KM Keymedia in the entire print sector in personal contact with customers and partners. In addition, BZM Werbe AG will also be present at the new location with its specific marketing services on behalf of Basler Zeitung, and the two subsidiaries of Basler Zeitung Medien will also be represented in Aarau from June 1 under the management of Nadja Oberhänsli (see
). In addition to the activities of KM Keymedia, the main focus here is on the marketing of the commuter newspaper News Mittelland, for which BZM Werbe AG has taken over the mandate.

 The new television station City Channel 1 goes on air in Meggen on Sunday. The aim is to reach young people between the ages of 14 and 28. At night, the station wants to do without eroticism and quiz shows. Instead, it will show the latest game trailers and broadcast live lan parties, Marc Blind, Managing Director of City Channel 1 operator Blind Media, told the Neue Luzerner Zeitung. In addition, various reports, for example on skydiving, movie making-ofs or smaller open airs from all over Switzerland will be shown. The station can be received in around 2,600 households in the municipality of Meggen as well as online and on cell phones. We will have to wait and see how the program is received, Blind continues. However, he hopes that City Channel 1 will be available via cable throughout Switzerland from the beginning of 2010.  
The station will be financed by Blind himself for the first few months. After that, it hopes to generate advertising revenue.

 Pumpkin Film, based in Zurich, is acquiring a stake in Snap Film, also based in Zurich, at the beginning of June 2008. Pumpkin owner Sonja Brand intends to respond to current trends in the advertising film industry and make better use of joint strengths, according to a press release. Snap Film will move into the immediate vicinity of Pumpkin Film in June. Online specialist Götz Hudelmaier from Pumpkin Stream will also be moving his workplace to Snap.

 
Peter Schibli will take over the interim management of Swissinfo.ch, SRG's news and information platform for the Swiss abroad and international audiences, on August 4. The 51-year-old is currently Editor-in-Chief and Deputy Director and replaces Beat Witschi. The latter is leaving the company at the end of August to take up another challenge abroad, according to a press release issued on Thursday. Witschi has been director of Swissinfo since 2005, and the Swissinfo committee decided on Tuesday that Schibli will remain in office until a new director is found. The procedure for finding a successor has been initiated, it added.
Schibli has been working at Swissinfo since the beginning of March 2007 and has been editor-in-chief since January 1, 2008. He took over from Christoph Heri, who retired at the end of April 2008.
 

 Radio 1's morning show is being expanded. From Monday, the first news bulletin will be broadcast at five o'clock. In addition, a service desk will be set up to provide weather and traffic reports as well as pollen reports, ozone levels and bathing temperatures. The program will continue to be presented by Marc Jäggi. Irina Hollander is no longer part of the morning show team due to a serious slipped disc. However, she will continue to work for Radio 1 in a different capacity, as the station announced.

MTV Networks International has quickly found a replacement for the departing Catherine Mühlemann: Dan Ligtvoet will take over the management of MTV Networks Germany as of June 1. The Dutchman is already in the management of the TV group and will retain his current post with the long title "Executive Vice President/Managing Director MTV Networks North". In this function, he has been responsible for Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands since the beginning of 2007, as MTV announced on Thursday. Before joining MTV Networks in 2002, Ligtvoet worked as Managing Director of Initiative Media Netherlands.
Mühlemann, who was born in Bern, surprisingly announced on Monday that she was leaving the station (see
).

On Wednesday, it was reported on the radio that the toilet on the International Space Station (ISS) was blocked - on Thursday, the sanitary system manufacturer Toi Toi offered its help via an advertisement in the free newspaper News: The ISS can pick up a portable toilet from the company's premises in Buchs ZH.
The agency behind the humorous offer is TBWA, which was quick to act. "A friend of mine heard the news about the ISS on the radio. I then passed the idea on to our CD Urs Schrepfer," explains agency CEO Andy Hostettler. Then it all happened in quick succession: the client arrived at 4 p.m. for a meeting that was planned anyway. At half past five, Toi Toi gave the OK, after which the crew at TBWA ran at full speed: "We called the people at News, had to organize the image rights and finalize the creation," says Hostettler, describing the hectic evening. Thanks to a flexible team and overtime, the ad was in the box at News at exactly 9.21 pm.
The blitz campaign is TBWA's first work for the new client Toi Toi. A comprehensive campaign is scheduled to start in the fall at the earliest. Hostettler believes it is possible that there will be another Sponti ad in between.
Responsible at Toi Toi:
Mike Kägi (CEO). Responsible at TBWA\Zurich: Andy Hostettler (CEO), Urs Schrepfer (Executive Creative Director), Adrian Egger (AD), Tobias Bühlmann (Text), Daniel Rickert (Strategy), Production: Toni Rubera, E-graphics.

 
Company Koelliker AG is a new Value Added Reseller of Xerox. The Xerox partner status gives Koelliker customers access to all output solutions from the office sector to high-end production systems. They receive the entire process from data preparation to the finished packaged and franked envelope from a single source, have a single point of contact and ensure that all paper management processes interact efficiently for their orders. With this cooperation, Xerox is setting another milestone in the expansion of its partner network.

 
The legal dispute between Copiepresse, the association of Belgian newspapers, and Google, which has been ongoing since 2006, is continuing. Copiepresse is demanding compensation of 49 million euros from the search engine giant because it links to newspaper articles in its news search and, according to the plaintiff, is therefore in breach of copyright.Google considers the claims to be unjustified and intends to defend itself. He is firmly convinced that Google is acting within the legal framework, company spokesman Kay Oberbeck told Pressetext.de. In January 2007, a Belgian court upheld a lawsuit launched by Copiepresse in 2006, which forced Google to remove the cache links. The proceedings are still pending due to Google's appeal. This dispute is said to involve 34 million euros.
 

 Even though the satirical show "Giacobbo/Müller" is already on its summer break and will not return until the second season in the fall, Swiss television is not losing its laughs: it is digging out old funny shows from the archive for the summer months, as the TV magazines Tele and TV-Star report. The title of the series is "Sommerlacher" (summer laughs). It includes Swiss evergreens such as Emil, Die Schmirinski's, Peach Weber, Ces Keiser and Margrit Läubli, Franz Hohler, Cabaret Rotstift, Fredy Lienhard, Cabaret Götterspass and Marco Rima.

 
René Worni on a looming standstill. 
Shortly after the publication of this issue of Werbewoche, something will/has changed again in the local free newspaper market. We are only talking about the transformation of Ringier's free evening paper today into the "Brombeeri-Blick", the pink free evening paper. But the move can certainly be read as a sign that the people at Dufourstrasse believe unwaveringly in the continued existence of the free press. Barely three years ago, Michael Ringier described himself in front of the assembled industry in Interlaken as a publisher without a free newspaper, only to launch his first free paper, 24 hodin, in the Czech Republic just weeks later. Today, the publisher already publishes six free titles in Europe. Good times, fast times for free newspapers - at least until now - but now we are hearing that in Scandinavia, the birthplace of the genre, the signs are pointing to stagnation. In particular, the Icelandic publisher Baugur, which just two years ago was aiming to become the number one free publisher in Europe, has pulled up stakes in the wake of the financial crisis and retreated to the island. Baugur parted with its prestigious titles, the Danish Nyhetsavisen and the American Boston Now, "a bottomless pit", as the Bund's correspondent recently reported from Stockholm. It also became known that 20-Minuten inventor Schibsted recently acquired a 35 percent stake in Metro, the world's largest free publisher. Apparently, the company is focusing on synergies and wants to downsize in the free market.
Elsewhere, such as in Italy and Switzerland, the circulation of the free press is now approaching the 50 percent mark of all published titles, and advertising is growing faster than in the paid press. It remains to be seen whether the new pace of the Nordic free press will spread to Central and Southern Europe.
The local public is becoming increasingly weary of the flood of free newspapers. Meanwhile, every child realizes this, except the publishers. That's why AZ boss Peter Wanner is once again being advised: No more free newspapers, please! Instead, a little more marketing for his journalistically well-made Sonntag, which now - not every child knows this yet - Zurich residents can also receive directly in their letterboxes.
 
René Worni, Editor

The Republica communications agency is strengthening its management team with Alexander Jaquet and Andy Caradonna. Jaquet has been a communications consultant and Head of Events at the Bern-based agency since 2005. The 39-year-old, who in addition to managing medium-sized and large event projects has also been in charge of the entire consulting team for several months, earned his spurs in various advertising agencies and in pharmaceutical marketing. Before joining Republica, he worked as Event Manager at Eventicum.
Since mid-May, cross-media specialist Andy Caradonna has been supporting the Republica consulting team as Senior Consultant and member of the management board. The 32-year-old previously worked as Project Director at Maxomedia. During Expo.02, he looked after national and international media and then worked as team leader for moderation at the Biel-based ideas factory Brainstore. According to the agency, Caradonna has a degree in communication sciences and works part-time as a media trainer.
Picture above: Alexander Jaquet
Picture below: Andy Caradonna