After a long period of deliberation, the professional journalists' association Impressum has agreed to employers joining the Press Council. The delegates actually wanted to decide on this in November last year (see ), but only now, just in time for the 125th anniversary of the association, have they been able to come to a decision. Impressum wants this step to be seen as a demonstration of its trust in the social partnership. It is a great concession to a publishing house that has so far refused to sign a collective labor agreement for press journalists in German-speaking Switzerland and Ticino. The journalists are now finally expecting decisive steps towards a new CLA in the negotiations that have already begun, while at the same time formulating further challenges for the future at their congress, which ended on Friday in Lugano. They mentioned better working conditions for employees in the private electronic media and increasing transparency and promoting training opportunities for journalists.
The delegates have accepted the result of the CLA negotiations with the Union des Radios Régionales Romandes for the targeted improvement of working conditions. This collective labor agreement is the fruit of years of efforts by Impressum to bring social partnership regulations to the electronic media sector, the association writes in its press release. The next goal is a similar result for the private television stations.
Great progress has also been made in terms of training. Although the goal of a uniform diploma is still a long way off, the recommendations of those responsible for the preliminary project, which has now been completed, could soon lead to partial results, such as the establishment of a training standard, the definition of the professional profile and the further development of the professional register.

 
A few days ago, Swiss telecommunications market leader Swisscom announced the successful conclusion of negotiations with iPhone manufacturer Apple (see ). Now that the contract has been signed and sealed, the multi-purpose cell phone for design freaks should finally be available in Switzerland this year. However, Swisscom will not remain the sole provider of the iPhone. On Friday, competitor Orange announced in a press release that it will also be offering the American product to its customers. In addition to Switzerland, the Orange cooperation also includes countries such as Austria, Belgium, Egypt, Poland, Portugal, the Dominican Republic and various African countries. Orange said that it had agreed with Apple not to provide any further details on the price, the version of the device or the time of market launch for the time being. It is not yet clear whether Sunrise is also still in negotiations with the computer manufacturer Apple. Sunrise spokespersons told the Tages-Anzeiger that they are still interested in the device.

After ten years, Christoph Stähli continues to run the Boxx agency on his own and is looking forward to even more of his own style.
It would have been the ideal moment to give up everything, find a new partner, do something completely different, merge or even move to Bern with the agency. "It was quite a special situation when Gaudenz Zemp sat in front of me and said that he wanted to accept a newly created position as marketing manager for the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts," muses Christoph Stähli. They spent ten years together building up their Boxx. Many more years they were friends. And now? "I was immediately able to accept that Gaudenz wants to give his life another turn. After all, he has been talking about leaving advertising for some time. We will continue to be friends," says Stähli. But the agency? Everything went through Stähli's mind. But then it only took a few hours for the newly crowned sole owner to turn the new burden of responsibility into a new desire. No more compromises. Bringing his own signature to play even more clearly in the work. Discussing the future only with himself. "I felt full of enthusiasm, like starting a new company," Stähli reveals. And the longer he thought like that, the more certain he became: nothing will change in the direction and structure of Boxx.
In terms of personnel, a few percentage positions will be increased. Graphics and consulting will be strengthened. A new team is being built up. And with a young specialist for the web, Boxx also wants to be prepared for the future in this area. The new sole owner envisions this with ideally six people. Currently there are four. The administration is completely outsourced. "We work like on a chessboard. The Boxx has no pawns. Instead, it has bishops, knights and rooks," says Stähli, describing his owner-managed company.
In this, the boss often answers the phone himself. Customers appreciate this - because even in these the owner usually negotiates directly with the agency. Boxx has been and continues to be specialized as a service provider for advertising and communication in the SME sector.
Stähli and Zemp started their self-employment ten years ago without a single client. Before that, the duo led a team at Zurich-based Euro RSCG. They wanted to bring the professionalism they could deliver there to large companies to the market for small and medium-sized enterprises as well. One of the first customers to show interest was the Zurich airport restaurants. They were soon followed by the Hotel Montana in Lucerne with its affiliated hotel management school, Intertime and Krebsliga. Mobitare became a groundbreaking customer, as the furniture fair subsequently opened up the entire sector of more beautiful living to Boxx. The general contractor Peikert, a wood trading company, Belcolor, Piatti Kitchens and early on also the magazine Ideales Heim - "because we were able to place many advertisements there". For the curtain fabrics of Création Baumann in Langenthal, Boxx is still allowed to advertise for the whole world. For linoleum, Stähli looked after the whole of Europe and South America.
The former graphic designer has a very special relationship with Glas Trösch. Even when he was young, Stähli was able to design the logo for this market leader "while still an employee." 20 years later, as an independent, he won the pitch for the redesign. Boxx developed a new corporate design and identity, which are now binding for Trösch manuals all over the world.
Stähli is also proud of his new client Swissolar. It excites him to design forward-looking public relations work for this working group that promotes the use of solar energy.
Design and furniture are a grateful niche for Boxx. Another important branch, however, are regional partial mandates for product launches of international corporations. Sony was served in Switzerland in the early days. Likewise Bally, Ciba Vision and now DHL. Such global companies appreciate having a competent partner at Boxx, who knows the regional market, but also has experience with international brands. "We can quickly feel comfortable within a brand," Stähli is convinced. Another argument for international clients: "With us, the boss himself takes over the work on such partial mandates. At a large agency, this is shunted off to the assistant."
If Boxx also needs such assistants at some point, the freelancers prefer to be employed at the agency's premises for longer periods of time. "The daily exchange within a team is very important for me," says Stähli.
He prefers to formulate his suggestions, ideas and assignments on the train during his daily commutes to Bern. "By hand. But in the meantime, everyone in the Boxx can read my writing without any problems," he laughs. The fact that he could also move the agency away from the advertising mecca to the federal capital after the structural change "was only an issue for a short time." Stähli feels "very comfortable" in the loft on Zurich's Grubenstrasse. That's why he'd rather freshen up the agency with new furniture "on its tenth anniversary" than start all over again in Bern. He also finds it enriching to be able to live in two worlds at the same time - in his own home in Bern with his wife and twins and plenty of home decor and garden, and as a contrast to the barren gray of Zurich's industrial district.
Christoph Stähli experienced his youth in Bern. After finishing school for design, he did an apprenticeship as a graphic designer in an advertising agency. After years of travel in various "smaller and larger" agencies, the first move to Zurich followed in 1990. First Benker and Steiner, before the merger with Matter. Then a shorter period with Hermann Strittmatter. Once again back to Atelier Jaquet in Bern. Then Zurich again, where Stähli worked at Euro RSCG for just over two years before going independent in 1998.
Andreas Panzeri

 A major blow for the Swiss Marketing Association (SMC) and Sawi: SMC announced its resignation to the Sawi management on April 4. According to a press release, the SMC board had been considering for some time to what extent its membership of the Sawi school board was compatible with the association's purpose and educational activities. In recent years, the association has developed into Switzerland's largest examination organization in higher vocational education and training. The MarKom admission examination, the professional examinations for marketing and sales specialists and the higher professional examinations for sales and marketing managers are supervised by SMC. In 2007, more than 2,650 candidates were supervised. In 2008, the number of candidates will rise again, and with the growing importance of the examination system for SMC, its direct involvement on the board of a school has become questionable. An examination organizer must adopt a neutral position towards all education providers. Taking sides in favor of any one school is problematic. It cannot be objectively justified that the association that conducts examinations is only involved in one school that prepares for these examinations. There is a suspicion in the market that this one school has an information advantage with regard to the examinations.
SMC Central President Uwe Tännler told Werbewoche that only the changing education market and the increasing number of candidates were decisive factors: "There was no conflict with the Sawi. We simply find it cleaner if we, as an industry association that conducts examinations, are not involved in a school. The Sawi is not entirely happy about it at the moment. But I think it's better for the training center in the medium term: the circumstances are more transparent if we are no longer involved." Of course, as a co-founder of Sawi, SMC has a long tradition with the training institute, which was not dissolved lightly. Tännler believes it is possible that other institutions in the same position as SMC will now also come under pressure. He emphasizes that the solution from Sawi was amicable: SMC discussed the decision in detail with Sawi President Hans-Peter Rohner and Director Pia Kasper.
What does the SMC decision mean for Sawi? "SMC was one of the 14 supporting associations of Sawi. Until now, it has had a dual role: as an industry-wide examination organizer and as a co-sponsor of Sawi. It has now relinquished this role, which I fundamentally welcome," explained Sawi President Hans-Peter Rohner when asked by Werbewoche. It is an "act of common sense". The withdrawal of the SMC would hardly have any financial disadvantages for Sawi. Sawi Director Pia Kasper would have welcomed it if SMC had remained as a kind of "associate member". In the coming weeks and months, the SAWI will in any case have to conduct a fundamental structural discussion at sponsor level in order to give the SAWI management structures that are better adapted to today's market conditions. According to Rohner, this is his priority goal before he approaches the issue of a successor to the SAWI presidency. The umbrella organization Schweizer Werbung will also put its position within SAWI up for discussion, as it also performs a similar (but not directly comparable) dual function as audit organizer and supporting association.

Rohner himself had publicly stated on the day of the advertisement that the role of the Sawi sponsoring associations needed to be reconsidered. At the time, he was aware of the SMC's deliberations regarding a possible withdrawal, he told Werbewoche.

 News from Falkenstrasse: NZZ appoints Gerhard Schwarz as deputy editor-in-chief, René Zeller as head of news and adds Fredy Greuter, head of online, to the executive committee. Schwarz, currently head of the NZZ's business editorial team, is promoted to second deputy editor-in-chief. He has headed the NZZ's business and stock market editorial team since 1994 and, together with the current deputy editor-in-chief and head of foreign affairs, Hansrudolf Kamer, will support the editor-in-chief in fundamental journalistic issues and conceptual work, according to a press release.
René Zeller, currently a member of the management team at Farner Consulting, is returning to the NZZ. As a member of the editorial board, Zeller will take over the newly created position of head of news/editor-in-chief. He will also work as an author, specializing in domestic politics. Before becoming a consultant, the 46-year-old gained many years of journalistic experience as an editor in the Zurich and domestic sections of the NZZ, as head of the NZZ federal parliament editorial department, as head of the domestic section at the NZZ am Sonntag and as head of the federal parliament at Swiss television.
In addition, the editorial team, which also includes Beat Brenner as coordinator, will be expanded to include Fredy Greuter, the editorial director of NZZ Online. This is intended to further strengthen cross-media cooperation between print and online.
The Project Development staff unit will be attached directly to the Editor-in-Chief and will be taken over by the Head of News Editing, Nicoletta Wagner.
According to the press release, the expansion of the editorial team is part of the company's ongoing journalistic development and to strengthen cross-media cooperation between print and online.

 At the 61st Cannes Film Festival on Saturday, Jean-Frédéric Jauslin, Director of the Federal Office of Culture, signed a new co-production agreement in the film sector with the French Community of Belgium. The agreement aims to promote and expand co-productions with Belgium, with two Swiss-Belgian films being shown at this year's Cannes Festival: "Home" by Ursula Meier and "Le Sel de la Mer" by Annemarie Jacir: Good conditions for concluding a new co-production agreement between Switzerland and the French Community of Belgium. The provisions of the agreement, which comes into force on July 1, stipulate a minimum financial contribution of 10 percent for a minority shareholding and a maximum majority shareholding of 90 percent. The artistic and technical participations will also be divided proportionally.

 
Catching the eye Niki de Saint Phalle's angel in Zurich's main station has a new companion. A cute but gigantic cupid has made himself at home in the hall, covering an area of over 300 square meters. Opposite the meeting point, of all places, the bringer of love floats in front of a romantic evening sky. Instead of the classic bow and arrow, however, the cute little angel features a fully automatic machine gun. "The messenger of love has had to be upgraded since he started working for the dating agency Swissfriends.ch," says Pius Walker, who brought the angel to Zurich. With almost 100,000 members, his new client's website is the largest dating site in Switzerland. Little Cupid can also be proud that ten babies are already born every week from Swissfriends partnerships. Cupid can be less pleased that a motif has now appeared with which Y&R Singapore advertised a dating platform okcupid.com back in 2007. But this Cupid with a machine gun also needs a helicopter for his services, while the Zurich man hits the target in free flight. Besides, what could be more universal than love - and therefore Cupid as the omnipresent god of interpersonal encounters. (pan)

 
30-year-old communications specialist Aileen Zumstein is taking over as Head of Corporate Communications at Tally Weijl with immediate effect. In this role, she will be responsible for the media in the 32 countries in which the Basel-based fashion company is represented. She also manages strategic projects in the area of communications. Zumstein previously worked as an editor and presenter at Radio Basilisk. She studied journalism, economics and employment law in Basel and Zurich.

 The BSW general meeting was held on Wednesday with no surprises and no skeletons in the closet. "A good year in general", BSW President Frank Bodin was able to summarize positively and quickly in his speech. The milestones for 2007 have been achieved. There was satisfaction with the further training provided, for example with negotiation training, but also the profiling of Switzerland as an advertising location, the BSW ranking 2007, more contact with colleagues in Switzerland and a commitment to advertising freedom and fairness. The budget for the Effie was concluded "more positively than expected". There were no resignations from the Board of Directors. It was re-elected in corpore for the next two years with Frank Bodin as President and Peter Felser as Vice President. Urs Beer has made himself available as the future ombudsman for conflicts between BSW members, which are not to be expected. Krieg, Schlupp, Bürge / Springer & Jacoby was accepted into the association as a new agency.
The venue for the 73rd BSW members' meeting was "no coincidence". The Cabaret Voltaire was founded at Spiegelgasse 1 in Zurich in 1916, laying the foundations for Dadaism - "a Swiss creative export hit", as Bodin said with a few witty allusions, without wanting to compare the advertisers with Dadaists.
For 2008, the board sees a further "fight for usage rights and ideas", a "trend reversal in fee negotiations" in response to a "dangerous tendency in our cheap age", where more and more agencies are being judged on price and not on ideas and quality of work. The definition of BSW membership for specialist agencies and agency groups is currently under development. Media remuneration will continue to give rise to discussion.
Thomas Bargetzi, CEO of Publicitas Sales Switzerland, also joined the group for dinner at the Giesserei. "Publicitas will not become a media agency!" he tried to reassure us in a guest speech. But in future, his sales staff should approach potential customers "more actively" and not just wait for the advertisements.
Andreas Panzeri

 
Freedom of advertising The alliance against advertising bans is no more, it lacked unity. Three new groups have therefore been formed. 
The websites www.stopp-werbeverbote.ch and the Alliance Against Advertising Bans are orphaned: both sites were last updated over a year ago. This is despite the fact that the debate about advertising bans has by no means died down. But the organization, which united producers, advertising clients, agencies and the media for around three years and campaigned "for freedom in communication" with two advertising campaigns, has gone quiet. "The Alliance is currently in a deep sleep," says Pierre Triponez, who was in charge as Director of the Swiss Trade Association (SGV). "It's not dead, but it's relatively inactive," says Hanspeter Kellermüller, Managing Director of the Swiss Press Association. Elsewhere, one hears clearer words. "The Alliance has lost its current significance," states Piero Schäfer, spokesman for Schweizer Werbung (SW) and the Alliance. And BSW Managing Director Walter Merz adds: "Allianz no longer exists in its original form." Of course, because SW and BSW left last summer. They were followed by the Interessengemeinschaft Elektronische Medien and the Verband Schweizerischer Werbeauftraggeber (SWA). SWA Director Jürg Siegrist, for example, stated in his 2007 annual report: "Unfortunately, the alliance against advertising bans disagrees on the path to take - the advertising campaigns were a disaster. We will therefore continue the fight for advertising freedom with other interested organizations - above all with the media, which are in the same boat."
Even if the representatives of SW, BSW, SGV and the publishers' association who were asked would prefer to describe the matter differently, they ultimately confirm the desolate situation. The frustration stems from two lost referendums in the fall of 2006. In the cantons of Baselland and Solothurn, the alliance had campaigned against new advertising and sponsorship restrictions with an advertising campaign (by DraftFCB/Lowe Group) - but these were approved by 71 and 56 percent of voters respectively. The two defeats became the Waterloo for Allianz: they went over the books. In April 2007, it still looked like an agreement would be reached. In APG's in-house newspaper Plakativ, Othmar Casutt, PR manager at APG, noted: "At a meeting of the existing members of the Alliance in April 2007, it was agreed that the fight had to be intensified. And no longer under the negative label 'Alliance against advertising bans', but with a positive message, for example 'Alliance for freedom of communication and trade'. Next July, the Alliance intends to go public with a new name and new objectives. In addition to the already committed advertising and media circles, the Alliance also wants to get the retail trade, service providers, the food industry, drinks producers, the car industry, the telecommunications sector, the farmers' association, etc. on board."
A common enemyThe alliance succeeded in broadening, but broke down on July 5, 2007. The reason: the business community focused on the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) and declared it a common enemy because of its national programs on tobacco, alcohol and nutrition. The SWA, agencies and media, on the other hand, are not fundamentally opposed to politicians restricting or increasing the price of individual products for prevention reasons. "We want to cooperate with the FOPH, but we will resist if legal products are no longer allowed to be advertised," says Piero Schäfer.
Even if SGV director Triponez today says reassuringly that they are "not at loggerheads", they are no longer pulling in the same direction. In the meantime, several new groups have formed: Under the leadership of SGV and Economiesuisse, a "Committee of the Economy for a Sensible Alcohol Policy" and an "IG Freiheit", which aims to "strengthen the idea of freedom in Switzerland and its implementation in legislation and application", have been formed. However, neither the SWA, agencies nor the media are involved in either of these institutions. The latter have formed a third, as yet unnamed group, which is expected to be constituted at the end of May. Whether this will succeed depends largely on Hanspeter Kellermüller from the Publishers Association. He has the task of developing a new concept. He does not want to reveal too much yet: "We are trying to sensitize people to the fact that freedom of communication - including in the area of commercial communication - is an important value in our society." However, Kellermüller also seems to be focusing on cooperation rather than confrontation: Instead of fighting against BAG and social trends, he can imagine offering a hand in a joint prevention campaign. As a demonstration of goodwill. And as prevention against further advertising bans.
Markus Knöpfli
 
 
 
SW is the linkNo matter how many strings you end up pulling
... but they will not march completely separately against new advertising bans. Because one association is ensuring minimal coordination: Schweizer Werbung (SW). Its president, Carlo Schmid, is on the board of IG Freiheit and has also signed up to the "Business Committee for a sensible alcohol policy". SW is also a member of the still loose group that is trying to form under the leadership of the Publishers' Association. Former CVP Councillor of States Schmid is also doing everything he can to fulfill this role. For example, he recently spoke out vehemently against advertising bans and against the Federal Office of Public Health, with a broadside on Advertising Day. (mk)

 
The Faspo Sponsorship Association is setting up a Faspo Alumni. Individuals can now become members. Previously, only company memberships were possible. The network is open to professional employees in the sponsorship industry as well as students and young professionals. According to the press release on Thursday, the aim is to create a platform that promotes the interdisciplinary exchange of experience between alumni members and the companies represented in Faspo. Among other things, alumni members have exclusive access to the newly established Faspo job exchange, which is intended to facilitate career entry and job changes in the sponsoring industry. Members can also obtain advice on sponsorship topics via a service hotline.

 Gottlieb F. Höpfli , Editor-in-Chief of the St. Galler Tagblatt, presented the "Tagblatt 2008" renewal project at the General Meeting, which is to be implemented in the fall of the current year. The reorganization will entail a joint desk and a central newsroom. Departmental boundaries are to be broken down and a more flexible way of working made possible, as the St. Galler Tagblatt reported on Thursday.  
 
Tagblatt Medien achieved a good business result in 2007. The operating result increased to CHF 11 million and Group sales to CHF 150 million. According to Adrian Rüesch, Chairman of the Board of Directors, the job market was the main contributor to this. This had boosted advertising revenue.
Tagblatt Medien got off to a good start in 2008, according to the St. Galler Tagblatt. At CHF 13.9 million, advertising sales in the 1st quarter were slightly up on the previous year. The acquisition of "Toggenburger Nachrichten" contributed to this. According to CEO Hans-Peter Klauser, there are also statistical reasons why the Group result of CHF 2.6 million was lower than in the same period last year: Due to the early Easter, advertising income had shifted from March to April.