Hard times for the German private television group ProSiebenSat.1: Due to massive problems with the sale of advertising time, the company surprisingly slipped into the red at the beginning of the year. The Munich-based group's shares plummeted by up to 28 percent. The pre-tax loss in the first quarter of 2008 amounted to 8.5 million euros. Turnover fell by 2 percent to a good 729 million euros. Group CEO Guillaume de Posch blamed the misery on a new sales model for advertising time enforced by the cartel office and the weak ratings of the Sat.1 channel, and experts spoke of disastrous figures and construction sites in all areas of the company. The management announced a new savings program late Thursday evening. They now want to cut 70 million euros from the original budget for
save in 2008.

 Despite weak quarterly figures, software giant Microsoft is increasing the pressure on Yahoo. Shortly before its ultimatum expired, the company from Redmond in the state of Washington once again ruled out an increase in the billion-euro offer. Microsoft will announce its next course of action at the beginning of next week, said Microsoft CFO Chris Liddell. He contradicted Yahoo boss Jerry Yang, who sees his company on the upswing. The value of Yahoo is not increasing, but on the contrary is currently falling. However, Yahoo reported a surprisingly high quarterly profit this week. The company is definitely open to a takeover by Microsoft. However, the management rejects the current offer as too low.Microsoft originally wanted to take over rival Yahoo for just under 45 billion dollars and shares in order to break the dominance of rival Google in online search and Internet advertising. Yahoo considers the price too low so far, but no longer generally rules out a takeover (see
). If no agreement can be reached with Yahoo's management by this weekend, Microsoft will either turn directly to the shareholders in a hostile takeover or withdraw its offer, Liddell confirmed. Yahoo's demands for a higher offer were based on "unrealistic expectations." At the same time, the world's largest software company Microsoft announced a strong increase in earnings of around 15 percent for the new financial year from July, following an expected fall in profits in the last quarter due to special effects. Microsoft's net profit fell by around 11 percent to 4.39 billion dollars from January to March. Turnover increased only slightly by 0.4 percent to 14.45 billion dollars. In the same quarter of the previous year, however, special effects from the sale of the new Windows Vista operating system had boosted revenues.

 
A lot of work for Metadesign: the Swiss branch of the international agency for branding and corporate identity has already produced five major annual reports this year. In addition to the existing clients Ascom, Bucher, Rieter and Dufry, the personnel service provider Adecco was also acquired. In a multi-stage selection process, the Zurich-based agency was able to prevail with its draft report. The Adecco Group's annual report is intended to serve as an integral instrument of corporate communication. In addition to analysts and investors, customers and employees are also addressed. The main theme of the report is the 700,000 external employees who are in contact with customers around the globe every day on behalf of the company. Seven selected stories, told in short reports, are intended to illustrate the individual situation and opportunities that have arisen for them through Adecco.

 
The canton of Glarus has had two new free newspapers since Friday. As Werbewoche reported at the beginning of March (see ), the new free weekly newspapers "GlarusMitte-Anzeiger" and "GlarusSüd-Anzeiger" have been in circulation since April 25, 2008. Together with the "GlarusNord-Anzeiger", which has been published since the beginning of 2007, this covers the entire cantonal area. 20,000 copies of the three newspapers are distributed to all Glarus households. This makes the canton the "best-covered area in the world in terms of newspapers", according to the publishing company Südostschweiz Presse und Print, quoting Andrea Masüger, Delegate of the Board of Directors. A three-person editorial team and freelance journalists provide the content. The three newspapers want to actively accompany the municipal reform process in the canton and focus on local events, according to a press release from Südostschweiz Publicitas.

 
Bern-based creative agency Cosmic has won the Johann Jacobs Museum in Zurich as a new client. Cosmic won a pitch against several competitors and has now been awarded the contract to design the new exhibition poster. The subject for the upcoming exhibition "Echt Kaffee? The amazing world of coffee surrogates" was a hit and can now be found on posters, exhibition flyers, invitation cards and advertisements. Individual visual elements from the design concept can also be found in the exhibition. Responsible at the Museum Johann Jacobs:
Monika Imboden (curator), Cornelia Luchsinger (research assistant). Responsible at Cosmic: Thom Pfister (CD), Tamara Janes (graphics), Simon Schatzmann (head of consulting), Jsabelle Arni (assistance).

 Ringier is celebrating the forthcoming tenth anniversary of its French-speaking Swiss women's magazine Edelweiss by launching a partner magazine. Edelweiss Men, a high-class French-language men's magazine to be published in collaboration with Bolero Men and with a circulation of 80,000 copies, is to be launched in the fall. Edelweiss Men is the third additional publication from Edelweiss after the Trendguide and the fashion trend magazine Edelgirls, which is published four times a year. The editorial offices of the magazines were all recently relocated from Lausanne to Geneva. Ringier Romandie announced on Friday that it plans to celebrate the anniversary with events in Zurich and Geneva.

McCann Erickson has won a place on the shortlist at the One Show Festival. A work for Fantasia Flowers was honored in the "Outdoor" category. The agency was also shortlisted in Cannes and is now in the running for precious metal in New York. The award ceremony will take place during the One Show Festival from May 5 to 9.

The Walliseller Draftfcb/Lowe Group has won a silver medal at the New York Festivals with its "Any Shape" campaign for Artesanos Camiseros. The advertising campaign was honored at the Innovative Advertising Awards in the "Guerilla Marketing" category. Artesanos Camiseros offers the possibility of having shirts or blouses made to personal wishes and measurements. Under the motto "Every figure looks good in our made-to-measure shirts", the advertising agency dressed fire hydrants, fountains and trees in Zurich city center with custom-made shirts.

 Ruf Lanz is delighted to have been nominated for the Clio Awards. In the Corporate/Institutional category, the print ad "Computers Engineers Recruiting" for McKinsey & Company has made it onto the shortlist. Whether it will go on to win precious metal will be decided in mid-May. The Clio Award is regarded as hard currency in the advertising industry and counts for the creative ranking of Werbewoche with the same factor as Cannes, D & AD or One Show.

 Radio Pilatus announces personnel changes: Andy Wolf is taking over as Head of Presentation, Roman Unternäher as his deputy. Matthias Röthlisberger joins the station as deputy head of music.40-year-old Andy Wolf started his career at Radio Pilatus in 1990 as an advertising consultant and switched to presenting four years later. Since 2002, he has been waking up Central Switzerland every morning from Monday to Friday in the morning show "Andyamo". As Head of Presentation, he will pass on his radio experience to the presenters and play an active role in shaping the further development of the station's programming.
Roman Unternäher has been working as a part-time presenter at Radio Pilatus since 2001. The 24-year-old will take up the position of deputy head of presentation on August 1 and will contribute to the qualitative development of the station.
Matthias Röthlisberger is currently working as a presenter and music editor at the BE 1 radio station in Bern. The 24-year-old will take up his position as deputy head of music and presenter at Radio Pilatus on September 1 and help shape the future of the station.

 A bitter dispute has broken out in Basel over the charges for posters during Euro 08. The city not only wants to spend money during the major event, it also wants to earn money from advertising posters. The fact that local companies also have to pay three times the usual maximum fee annoys the independent Basel microbrewery "Unser Bier", which would have a city façade at its disposal. The brewery would like to advertise on the old Volksbank building, which is now used by various companies under the name "Unternehmen Mitte". As a kind of privilege among friends, "Unser Bier" would be allowed to display a 60 m2 poster during the European Championships.
The necessary general use permit was also granted. But instead of the usual fee of CHF 1.10 to 3.30 per square meter for large posters, the canton is charging CHF 9.90/m2 - three times as much, as brewery boss Istvan Akos outraged in a communiqué on Thursday.
Tariff applies to all The lavish tariff is not a beer idea, as the Basel Euro project manager Christoph Bosshardt assures SDA: The cantonal government had issued a special Euro ordinance with this maximum rate. The "center" is extremely central, and it is not about own advertising, but about third-party commercial advertising. The rate applies to "Unser Bier" in the same way as it does to Carlsberg, for example.
Bosshardt argues, shaking his head, that the canton only pays for the Euro and the private sector collects the money. Akos, on the other hand, feels at a disadvantage compared to global corporations. They probably want to prevent his locally patriotic poster. He is now looking for sponsors who want to see his defiant local slogan in the middle above the fan mile: "Beer from here instead of beer from there."
This is what the poster should look like:

 The PR agency Farner Consulting, with offices in Zurich, Bern, Basel, Lausanne and Geneva, is strengthening its presence in French-speaking Switzerland. Dr. Marc Comina will become a partner of the agency and head its activities in French-speaking Switzerland, according to a statement issued on Thursday. 
Comina founded a communications agency in Lausanne in 2005, focusing on strategic consulting, media relations, public affairs, crisis communications and corporate communications. Previously, he worked as a journalist for various media in French- and German-speaking Switzerland. Among others, he worked for Le Temps, Télévision Suisse Romande and Facts.