France, the country with probably the most beautiful president's wife in the world. La grande nation, land of good table manners, culinary delicacies, cultivated language. But there is one thing France is certainly not: a country of newspaper readers. The seven national daily newspapers together sell just under one million copies per day - and that with a population of almost 65 million people. Why is that? On the one hand, the almost traditional French aversion to newspapers - even many cultivated citizens consider reading the daily press a waste of time and prefer to devote themselves to their croque monsieur. On the other hand, there are free newspapers such as 20 Minutes or Direct Matin, which, just like in Switzerland, are taking away the traditional titles.
Le Monde, still the country's largest and most important opinion-forming newspaper with a circulation of over 350,000 copies, must therefore continue to downsize. After 90 journalists lost their jobs three years ago, a further 130 jobs are now to be cut. The French press is at its end, writes cultural journalist Sylvain Bourmeau in the FAZ. Quality journalism seems to be in danger. A group of 26 former high-ranking writers have now taken up the cause of saving it. Their magic formula: the Internet. For a month now, they have been producing a daily online newspaper with quality standards at Mediapart.fr. It is to be financed mainly through subscriptions. For nine euros a month, you're in. Perhaps our neighboring country will find its way back to reading newspapers in the age of the iPhone.

 Internet giant Google remains the undisputed number one in the "Brandz Top 100" brand ranking by market research group Millward Brown with a value of around 86 billion dollars. Google's brand value increased by a whopping 30 percent compared to the previous year. The US company General Electrics follows in second place with 41.4 billion dollars, with software giant Microsoft in third place (55 billion dollars). In fourth place with a brand value of 58.2 billion dollars is Coca-Cola, and in fifth place with 57.2 billion dollars is China Mobile. The first European brand is the Finnish company Nokia (with a value of 44 billion dollars) in 9th place. The most valuable Swiss brand is UBS in 64th place. The major bank dropped 13 places compared to the previous year, with its brand value falling by 3 percent to 11.2 billion dollars. In contrast, the Swatch luxury brand Cartier worked its way up to 80th place, its brand value climbing by 32 percent to 9.3 billion dollars.
According to Millward Brown, public financial data was combined with consumer statements for the study. More than one million people worldwide were surveyed on over 50,000 brands.
In addition to Millward Brown, Young & Rubicam also compile brand rankings using the Brand Asset Valuator and the market research company AC Nielsen. Google also holds the top position in the British study "Superbrands" (see
).

Ringier subsidiary Specter in Zurich is cutting 10.5 full-time positions in its image and text archive. Affected are 15 of a total of 72 employees, the company announced Monday. Specter, like Keystone, is a service center for visual content and resources. It operates one of the largest image archives in Switzerland. The company is headquartered on Dufourstrasse in Zurich.
Eleven of those now affected by the cutbacks are part-time employees, four are working 100 percent, a Ringier spokesperson explained to SDA. A social plan will be implemented for them. The job cuts will take place over the next three to four months.
The job cuts are a result of digitization and automation. Manual text input, for example, has become practically unnecessary, the statement says. In addition, most journalists and photo editors now do their own research online.

 Fewer advertisements were sold by the daily press in March due to the Easter holiday: The Publicitas index fell by 1.3 points compared to February to 97.0 points. All advertising categories were affected by the decline. Both commercial advertisements and occasional and real estate advertisements fell considerably, Publicitas announced on Monday evening. The index is three issues down on the same month last year.
Even job advertisements suffered a considerable drop in March. The index of job advertisements fell from 199.5 to 197.4 points in March. The index for real estate advertisements fell from 87.6 to 83.8 points.
The month of April will benefit from the lack of expenditure in March. Last year, Easter fell in April. According to Publicitas, the next index will fully or at least partially compensate for the current downward trend.

 At the European Newspaper Congress in Vienna on Monday evening, Europe's Newspaper Makers of the Year were honored. According to the jury, the best national newspaper is the Athens newspaper Elefteros Tipos. This year's winner in the weekly newspaper category is Welt am Sonntag from Berlin. The award for the best local newspaper goes to The Mayo News in Westport, Ireland. Finally, the best regional newspaper is El Periódico de Catalunya in Barcelona. From Switzerland, the St. Galler Tagblatt and the Basler Zeitung won awards for the design of individual pages, with the Baz taking home several honors. A total of 288 newspapers from 26 countries competed for the awards. The jury noted a clear trend towards the tabloid format, with "magazine-style newspapers" also in vogue - so the Swiss media house Ringier does not seem to be alone in this recipe.
The European Newspaper Congress is being held in Vienna for the fifth time this year. More than 500 editors-in-chief and executives from publishing houses will gather information about the European newspaper landscape. According to the organizers, interest from Eastern and South-Eastern Europe has increased significantly. On Tuesday, the last day of the congress, reporting on the Olympic Games in China and the Tibet issue in particular will also be on the agenda.

 
Imagine you have two tickets for the Euro 08 final, but no one who wants to come along. Unbelievable, isn't it? Well, that's exactly what seven football-mad fans are doing. They are looking for people on Coke.ch to come with them to Vienna for the European Championship final. On the website, anyone can choose one of the seven and apply to them. There is only one criterion: you have to be totally football mad. Each of the seven football freaks then chooses their companion for the final from all the applicants. The campaign, developed by JWT+H+F together with the web agency Pulse in Zurich's Maag Areal, will be publicized with a broad-based banner campaign. It will be launched at the same time as Coca-Cola's new TV commercials:
Alessandra Nicoletti (Senior Brand Manager Sparkling Beverages), Christoph Reitmeir (Junior Brand Manager). Responsible at JWT+H+F: Mike Krüll (Creative Director/Text/Concept), Isa McInnes (Art Director), Vanessa Lehmann-Spalleck, Franco Elsener (Consulting). Responsible at Pulse: Imre Sinka (concept/technical support).

 
Capital FM is planning to report extensively on this year's European Championships. Not only do they want to follow the Swiss footballers up close from the preparation phase to winning the title, they have also invited an Austrian guest presenter. Alex Scheurer from ORF radio station Hitradio Ö3 will be supporting the Bernese team in June. Scheurer is well-known in Austria both as a radio and television presenter. Since last year, he has presented two of his own programs on the television station ATV, among others. With his temporary engagement, Capital FM wants to build a bridge between the host countries Austria and Switzerland.
The station's team of presenters will receive further support on the Dutch national football team's match days. A Dutch commentator will provide the Capital FM morning show with exciting background information on the "Oranjes".

Football fans like to drink beer. Be it in the stadium, at home in front of the TV or at the regulars' table. Since the beginning of March, Feldschlösschen has been presenting itself on posters and in advertisements as the beer of choice for local football fans. Whether left-back, striker or playmaker - according to the advertising message developed by Intensive Communications, Feldschlösschen should be able to impress in any position. And the brewery also has something to offer football fans: As the official main sponsor and beverage partner of the UBS Arena, Feldschlösschen will welcome thousands of fans to the football festival match after match free of charge. From the end of April, consumers will also have the opportunity to create their own football ABC. Customers can enter their suggestions in the form of text or a picture with a corresponding title directly on Feldschloesschen.ch. The best suggestions are awarded prizes every week and published on the homepage. In this way, a football ABC is created step by step by the fans themselves. The competition will be accompanied by a major online campaign to ensure a correspondingly high frequency on the brand homepage.
The poster subjects also take up the central idea of the football ABCs and present the promotional packs under the title "the top favorite" and "the direct hit" in a football-appropriate way.
Responsible at Feldschlösschen:
Marlis Ackermann (Head of Marketing), Dominik Nyffenegger (Brand Manager). Responsible at Intensive Communications: Raffaella Iten Metzger (Managing Director), Stephanie Mosimann (Consultant), Lisa Behmel (Graphic Designer).

There are very impressive sums to be won in the Euro Millions: The record jackpot is 288 million francs. This sum is difficult to imagine - it is easier to imagine the dreams that could be realized with it. In its new image campaign, the Bern-based creative company Contexta wants to get to the heart of this fact. Thanks to a clever arrangement, the winning numbers become the dreams they make come true. From a dream villa to a trip around the world to a "vacation forever": with Euro Millions, numbers make dreams come true.
The campaign can be seen on F12 poster sites and is supported by advertisements and banners that emphasize the respective jackpot amount.
Responsible at Swisslos, Basel:
Rolf Kunz (Head of Marketing & Distribution), Markus Fischer (Head of Product Management Lottos). Responsible at Contexta, Bern: Nadine Borter, Bene Abegglen (overall responsibility), Moritz Staehelin (CD), Frederick Rossmann (AD), Patrick Fawer (graphics), Moritz Staehelin, Samuel Wyss (text), Philipp Tinguely, Michel Sulser (consulting), media agency: Mediaplus AG, Bern.

 

The Erlenbach-based agency Eclat has created a campaign for the Swisscom subsidiary Comit in which employees personally search for their new colleagues. Comit offers IT solutions for the financial industry and wants to attract the highly sought-after IT talent with advertisements that emphasize human attributes. According to the press release, the campaign is currently running in NZZ Executive, Finanz & Wirtschaft and Le Temps. By placing one advertisement on the left and one on the right, the portrayed employees communicate across the entire double-page spread. Among others, they are looking for a "gut person with brains", a "bundle of energy with a sense of humor", a "straightforward lateral thinker" or a "strategist with a gift for improvisation". The agency Eclat, which specializes in brand consulting and communication design, has been implementing employee recruitment and retention measures for Comit for over a year.

SRG and Günter Netzer's TV rights company Infront have reached a settlement in the dispute over broadcasting rights for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. SRG spokesman Daniel Steiner confirmed a report in the Sonntagszeitung newspaper to SDA. SRG and the company of the former world-class German footballer agreed not to disclose the amount. SRG had sued Infront for damages two years ago because it felt its exclusive agreements with the Zug-based company had been breached. This was because the German broadcaster RTL and the French chain M6 broadcast World Cup matches in their Swiss windows, which were framed with Swiss advertising. SRG therefore claimed a loss of advertising revenue (see
).

 In view of Euro 2008, Uefa has so far intervened with around 430 companies that are alleged to have engaged in ambush marketing. Euro 2008 spokeswoman Pascale Vögeli told SDA. The football association seems to have stepped on the gas again in the last month to punish kickboard advertising: by mid-March, Uefa had put its foot down with 300 companies, as the Sonntag newspaper reported at the time (see ). In the course of the last 30 days, another 130 companies have been targeted by Uefa. The association has gone to court in ten cases, five of which have so far been decided in its favor. The name, logo etc. may only be used for promotional and advertising purposes by Uefa partners, as Vögeli emphasized. From the association's point of view, ambush marketing also applies to anyone who advertises the tournament in any way. Uefa will continue to take action against ambushers until the end of Euro 2008.