A change at the top of the Board of Directors of Media Punkt, which publishes the free newspaper .ch: Chairman Hans Ziegler is stepping down from the board. According to a press release, this is due to professional reasons in connection with a consultancy mandate abroad. Ziegler, who has chaired the Board of Directors since it was founded in June 2007, will remain an investor in Media Punkt. Until a new Chairman of the Board of Directors is elected, Vice Chairman Ernst Buob, a lawyer in St. Gallen, will manage the business of the Media Punkt Board of Directors.

 The Branded Entertainent Circle interest group has welcomed two new members. The new members are Karl Spörri, Festival Director of the Zurich Film Festival, and Marc Werner, Head of Marketing & Sales, Swisscom Private Customers. The Branded Entertainment Circle deals with collaborations in the entertainment and communications industry. As all interests, ideologies, professions and economic sectors relating to the topic should be represented, the new additions from the film and telecommunications sectors are welcomed as a "substantial enrichment", according to a press release.

Success for the 32-year-old director Bernie Forster from Winterthur: he won the main prize "Grand Prix Victoria" at the 23rd International Business Film Festival in Vienna with his film "Selma!
The film, which the young director produced on behalf of the Geneva-based "Association mondiale pour l'école instrument de paix (EIP)" for a DVD on the subject of human rights, is about a young woman who is unable to find an apprenticeship. According to the jury, the film impresses with the "lively and lively verbal interludes" of the lead actress Selma, played by Nadine Landert. Director Bernie Forster also succeeded in drawing attention to the Charter of Human Rights with his wit and quick wit. The editing and music also impressed the jury. "Selma!" had already won gold at the Swiss Edi commissioned film award last November.
The 23rd edition of the International Business Film Festival took place in Vienna on April 8 and 9, 2008. Among the nominated films were 41 German productions, five films from Switzerland and 18 Austrian business films.

 Markus Presta, Head of History at Radio Energy Zurich at IP Multimedia, is leaving the company at the end of June to set up his own business. Presta began his career in March 1990 at the former Radio Z as a customer consultant. Over the past 18 years, he has held almost all functions and has seen the company grow into today's Goldbach Media Group, according to a press release from the marketer. He has been Head of Sales at IP Multimedia for Radio Energy Zurich since August 2005.
He has now decided on a new direction in his professional life: as of July 1, 2008, Presta is founding his own company in which he will make his experience in the media industry available as a consultant. He will also continue to work as a project manager in sales and as a senior customer consultant directly at Energy Zurich.

 
The Lowe agency, part of the Draftfcb/Lowe Groupe, has staged the relocation of the Söhner car dealership to Adliswil, where the Mini dealership is now operating under the name Autocenter Zürich-Süd. According to the agency's press release, a mega poster has been hanging on the scaffolding of the new building since the beginning of this week, advertising the imminent arrival of the premium small car. The mega poster is the prelude to a launch campaign that will start at the beginning of July on the occasion of the new opening.
Responsible at Mini:
Patrick Cupelin (Head of Mini Switzerland), Daniel Weber, Nadia Izzo (Autocenter Zürich-Süd AG). Responsible at Lowe: Keith Loell, Frédéric Nogier, Ivan Madeo (creation), Melanie J. Auerbach (art buying), Marc Ziegler, Nina Marti (consulting), Sandro Diener (photography). 

 What's wrong with Swiss courting men - are they too shy, too cool or too cowardly? In any case, there are no men for the planned courtship special in the matchmaking show "Swissdate". This means that the "courting date" falls through. Last week, the last of the potential main candidates also threw in the towel: "I just got cold feet". The "Swissdate" show on April 26 will take place and there will also be a communicator in the chair. But TBWA Switzerland, which organized the event for the Zurich advertising club, announced that there were simply not enough determined types to stage a gala.
Nevertheless, the advertising club and TBWA are calling the campaign a "semi-success". According to the press release, more than 900 site visitors enjoyed themselves on Fertigeinsam.ch. During the campaign period, 14 new members joined, including three company memberships and 15 trial memberships. This exceeded the quantitative expectations of the Zurich advertising club.
What is the reason for the reticence among the gentlemen of creation? They have basically become more reserved, more hesitant, more effeminate, says TBWA in the press release. Even the quality of Swiss men's semen has decreased drastically over the last 20 years. So it's hardly surprising that men want to stay lonely for longer. But perhaps the female advertisers will find the right partners at an event organized by the advertising club, hopes Andy Hostettler from TBWA. And ones who take less time to do their make-up than they do.

 The National Tobacco Program 2008 - 2012 from the Federal Office of Public Health has met with divided opinions among the political parties in the consultation process. The program stipulates, for example, that an increase in tobacco tax should be examined. Advertising bans and the creation of a national law to protect passive smokers are also on the agenda. The SVP is not at all enthusiastic about the tobacco program. It is a "sectarian bill", writes the party. In particular, it does not agree with the program's goal that non-smoking should be considered the norm in society. Smokers are not second-class citizens.
The FDP is more moderate. However, it also rejects the "standardization" of society. On the other hand, the party has nothing against prevention campaigns. The FDP rejects advertising bans.
The SP is behind the National Tobacco Program 2008 - 2012. Further efforts are needed, as a third of the Swiss population still smokes. The CVP and the Greens had not commented by Thursday. Swiss Advertising had already expressed criticism of the tobacco program (see
).

 The major bank Credit Suisse is currently distributing thousands of soccer balls in its branches as part of a promotional campaign. As the program "10 vor 10" reported on Wednesday, children were also involved in the production of these balls in Pakistan, and under extremely poor conditions. Credit Suisse expressed surprise at this fact in the report. The manufacturer had guaranteed that no children were employed, and this had been verified. A ball apparently costs Credit Suisse 3 francs and 75 centimes.

 The official sponsors of Euro 08 pay millions to Uefa for their appearances. Their backs are kept free for their investments. Uefa spokeswoman Pascale Vögeli told 20 Minuten that Uefa reserves the right to intervene as soon as groups appear that compete with the official sponsors with their clothing or engage in ambush marketing. Fan groups who, for example, visually compete with Carlsberg's Euro beer by wearing Heineken hats would have to hand in their accessories. This is to apply to all clothing if it appears too dominant to Uefa officials, and controls are to be carried out not only in and around the stadiums, but also in the official fan zones. There too, advertising space is reserved for the official Uefa sponsors. However, the responsibility for enforcing Uefa regulations there lies primarily in the hands of the host cities. However, a very pragmatic approach will be taken, Marcel Brülhart, project manager of Host City Bern, assured 20 Minuten. In case of doubt, the fans would be let in. However, if it was a large crowd of people engaged in targeted ambush marketing, they would have to stay outside.
 
 

 
The Sponsoring Interest Group is now supported by an advisory board consisting of René C. Jäggi, Marco Solari and Prof. Dr. Torsten Tomczak. Dr. Torsten Tomczak is a professor at the University of St. Gallen and Director of the Institute for Marketing and Commerce, with whom IG Sponsoring published a study on the relevance of sponsorship last year. The Basel entrepreneur René C. Jäggi was president of FC Basel and chairman of the board of 1. FC Kaiserslautern. Marco Solari is President of the Locarno International Film Festival and of Ticino Tourism. The Advisory Board advises the Board of Directors on technical issues and will represent the ideas of the association. According to the communiqué, all three advisory boards will work to ensure that sponsorship also achieves greater acceptance at management level in Swiss companies.
The representatives of the members of IG Sponsoring are operationally active in the core areas of sponsorship and act as ambassadors for the cause of sponsorship. The association counts 50 companies, event organizers and specialist consultants among its members. It is managed by a five-member board.

 At the beginning of March 2008, the Tamedia subsidiary Espace Media sold the Bernese printing company Benteli Hallwag to Bieler Farbendruck Weber AG. The staff affected have agreed to the social plan negotiated by the media trade union Comedia in several rounds of talks. This was announced by Comedia on Thursday afternoon. Around 60 Benteli Hallwag employees have been made redundant as a result of the sale, it added. Around 70 will be transferred from Bern to Biel-Brügg. While various issues have been resolved in the social plan, the media union believes that one issue remains unresolved: Farbendruck Weber, the new owner of Benteli, is not subject to the collective labor agreement (CLA) for the graphic arts industry. The union intends to do "everything it can" to ensure that the newly established company Weber Benteli is subject to the CLA, as the press release goes on to say. It received the corresponding mandate from the employees at the works meeting on Thursday.

 
Women's magazine Sandra Stella Triebl, initiator and publisher of Ladies Drive, the first car magazine for women, provides information. 
WW: For years, readership figures for automotive magazines have been trending downwards. Despite this, you launched Ladies Drive, a women's magazine "for business, cars & lifestyle", at the end of February. Why now? Sandra Stella Triebl:
Actually, one should ask why only now. Because women decide on 70 percent of car purchases - not only on the color, but also on the brand. Too little attention has been paid to this so far. What's more, many women enjoy cars differently than men, who are more interested in technology. I like to compare this to Saint-Exupéry's Little Prince, who wonders why people so often ask for a name, profession, title and age when they meet a new person. For the prince, the sound of the voice is more important. Women have a similar approach to cars: they ask about the design, whether they feel comfortable in the car, whether it meets their needs. They are more detail-oriented and less technical. More look and feel. How do you distribute the magazine? We distribute 4,500 copies free of charge via garages and dealers, 1,000 via newsstands, 1,500 via Continental, 2,500 via women's business organizations such as Nefu (Network of One-Woman Entrepreneurs), Wirtschaftsfrauen or BPW (Business Professional Women), and the rest via direct sales. This is how we are slowly building up the subscription base. So far, we have received around 400 subscription orders - more than I expected.
Was the magazine really sold out after three weeks? But all the other magazines are gone. I receive orders every day, but I can no longer deliver.
What does this mean for the future? I think we will print up to 2,000 more copies in future. We are also considering a bi-monthly publication. But we can't do any more than that - out of consideration for the time budget of our target group. We are also discussing this with our advertisers. One thing is clear: Ladies Drive should not cause any stress. We deliberately made a high-quality magazine that people like to pick up several times. It's no use to anyone if it's just lying around.
How is Ladies Drive doing in terms of advertisements? The first issue had 13 advertisements, and there will be around 20 in the next issue. Many people from the automotive industry told me that they currently prefer fashion or lifestyle media to classic automotive magazines. Ladies Drive is building a bridge here.
In fact, all expenses for printing, office rent, freelancers and photographers are covered - for the whole year. But only because the core team, the family, worked for free. Now it would be nice if we could make a profit too.
Interview: Markus Knöpfli
Key data on Ladies DriveThe Ladies Drive magazine
was published at the end of February with 124 pages and a print run of 11,000 copies. It is aimed primarily at working women executives and entrepreneurs with an affinity for cars. Around 60 percent of the magazine's content deals with car-related topics, with the remainder covering design, fashion, beauty, architecture, art and culture - always with a focus on business women. Ladies Drive is published four times a year. Price per issue: 9 francs. The subscription costs 30 francs and a 1/1 page gross costs 4,800 francs. (mk)