17 media spokespersons have successfully completed the CAS course "Professional Media Relations" at the MAZ. They learned and trained technical, practical and strategic media skills at the Swiss School of Journalism, as detailed in a press release issued on Monday. The CAS course "Professional Media Relations" is offered by the Swiss School of Journalism MAZ in cooperation with the Zurich University of Applied Sciences HWZ and the Swiss Public Relations Institute SPRI. Certificates received:
Brigitte Amherd (Odlo International); Christa Arnet (SRG); Bernhard Bürki (Bakom); Gerhard Enggist (Schweizerischer Gewerbeverband); Sandra Frauenfelder (Stadtmarketing & Wirtschaftsförderung Dietikon); Daniel Graf; Karin Grundböck (SBB Cargo); Isabelle Guggenheim (Bâloise Group); Karin Leemann (Natur- und Tierpark Goldau); Reinhold Meier (journalist and pastor); Martina Mittler (Seed Sustainability); Astrid Nakhostin (St. Gallen-Bodensee Tourismus); Michaela Schäfer (Axpo Holding AG); Anton Schmutz (FROMARTE); Sonia Siegismund (Swiss Exhibition); Fabienne Stalder (SR DRS); Gerhard Tubandt (SDA).

The curtain is falling on the «Bruno Bondi Show» as Swisscom winds down its «Beck & Bondi» campaign. «It would be enough to make you cry if the show weren’t so funny,» writes Contexta, the agency behind the show, in a press release. With the disappearance of the Swisscom brand, good old Bruno is also losing his only sponsor, bringing a success story to an abrupt end, the statement continues. In his farewell performance, however, the «Podfather» is once again at the top of his game. He explains to radio legend Reeto von Gunten in the studio and to his online fan base how he—Bruno Bondi himself—came up with the idea for the new, animated Swisscom logo. And he shares with us how he sees his professional future. Also worth watching is Bondi’s interpretation of Sinead O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U.” Watch it and have a laugh.
About the «Bruno Bondi Show»

Person in charge at Swisscom (Switzerland) AG, Bern:
Thomas Ulrich (Overall Responsibility), Roger Renfer, Patrizio Pivirotto (Advertising Management). Responsible at Contexta AG, Bern: Nadine Borter (Overall Responsibility), Bene Abegglen (CD), Daniel Müller (Copy), Sarah Dovlo (Consulting). Responsible at Peek GmbH (Production): Verena Zollinger (Producer), Tobias Fueter, Reeto von Gunten, Fabian Sturzenegger (Concept/Direction/Editing), Adrian Frutiger (Production).

The Swiss business magazine Bilanz is getting a new deputy editor-in-chief. As of June 1, 37-year-old Marc Kowalsky will join the editorial team. Kowalsky already worked at Bilanz from 1997 to 2006, most recently as a member of the editor-in-chief. He currently works in the economics department of Weltwoche and was previously a member of the editorial board and head of the economics department at the news magazine Facts. At Bilanz, he replaces Pierre-André Schmitt, who is moving to the editorial department of Fachmedien Mobil in the Tamedia publishing house, and will become second deputy editor-in-chief alongside Stefan Barmettler. This was announced by Bilanz parent company Axel Springer Schweiz in a statement on Monday.  
Bilanz also has a new art director. Wernie Baumeler, 44, was previously Art Director and member of the management board at Archithema-Verlag in Zurich for four years, where he was responsible for the design magazines Ideales Heim and Atrium, among others.

Not only the University of Zurich is celebrating its 175th anniversary this year, but also Ringier, Switzerland's largest media company. Of course, this does not go without comment. Long-time Blick employee Karl Lüönd wrote about the company's history on behalf of the company in the thick volume "Ringier bei den Leuten" ("Ringier with the people"), while the other media companies have published commentaries and anniversary publications in their newspapers in the last few days - shortly before the relaunch of Blick, by the way. In the NZZ am Sonntag, Peter Rothenbühler, the former editor-in-chief of Schweizer Illustrierte, shed light on the structures and figures of the company, which is very profitable in Eastern Europe but only moderately successful in Switzerland. Michael Ringier himself is not a real doer or visionary, but has always had the grace to gather talented people around him, Rothenbühler wrote, for example, and described the publishing house as a circus-like royal court. He also pointed out that Lüönd's book, in which "a laudable attempt" is made to "attribute far-sightedness to the publishing activities of the respective management team", exclusively praises the merits of the Ringier carpet floor. For this reason, the current editor-in-chief of Le Matin takes the liberty of naming some important shadow men from the editorial offices of the Ringier company. However, in addition to names such as TV doctor Samuel Stutz, Urs Heller, head of the magazine department, or Formula 1 expert Roger Benoit, Rothenbühler does not forget to praise himself several times in the text in the NZZ am Sonntag, which is well worth reading. Good PR work.

For a long time, it was a mystery who was behind the "Free Internet" campaign with its wild promotions and omnipresent posters. But even after the whole thing turned out to be an advertising campaign by the telecommunications company Sunrise and the agency Advico Young & Rubicam revealed itself as the creator of the campaign, it is still making headlines. It has now been announced that the poster with the Che Guevara motif will be on display from October 31 in the exhibition "Head to Head - Portraits of Politicians" at the Museum für Gestaltung in Zurich. The exhibition sheds light on historical roots, epoch-making election campaigns, recurring patterns of political public relations and influential figures such as Lenin, Che Guevara, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Yulia Tymoshenko. It will be produced in collaboration with the Institute for Journalism Studies and Media Research at the University of Zurich.

Werbeanstalt Schweiz is giving itself a present for its third anniversary: three new employees. Sigrid Baumann and Tina Kempf are joining the consultancy team with immediate effect, while Mike Surovka is joining the creative team. This means that the advertising agency now has 12 employees.  
The expansion in personnel is set to continue. An additional senior consultant is currently being sought for the consultancy.

 The Swiss press recorded more advertising revenue in January 2008 than a year ago. According to the latest Wemf advertising statistics, income amounted to CHF 137.1 million. This represents an increase of 2.1 percent compared to January 2007. Job advertisements accounted for 26.4 million francs of this income. With an increase of 10.7 percent, these saw the strongest growth. At CHF 5.4 million, real estate advertising was down 16.1 percent compared to January 2007, while commercial advertising (CHF 97.0 million) increased by 0.7 percent. Leaflet inserts (CHF 8.8 million) recorded an increase of 8.8 percent.
The Sunday press (+23.1 percent), the financial and business press (+26.2 percent) and the trade press (+15.2 percent) again received more of the advertising pie. By contrast, the daily press, which accounts for the largest share of advertising revenue at CHF 84.3 million, was down (-0.8%).
The regional weekly press (-3.2 percent) and the general press (-10.2 percent) also recorded lower revenues than a year ago. Since this year, Wemf has been reporting net customer revenues in Swiss francs in its advertising statistics.

 
The French media and telecommunications giant Vivendi increased its profits in the past financial year. Adjusted net income rose from 2.61 to 2.83 billion euros compared to the previous year. Earnings before interest, taxes and goodwill amortization (EBITA) increased from 4.37 to 4.72 billion euros, as the company announced on Friday, according to SDA. The result was supported by the Moroccan telecommunications and pay-TV division. Vivendi achieved a turnover of around 19.5 billion euros. Shareholders are to participate in the profit increase in the form of a dividend increased by 8.3 percent to 1.30 euros per share. The Group believes that it will be able to increase earnings once again in the current year. Vivendi owns the world's largest record companyUniversal Music Group and the French television channel Canal+, among others. Vivendi also controls France's second-largest mobile phone provider SFR.

 
Thomas Schaller is to become the new Head of the Communications Department at ETH Zurich. The 51-year-old will take over in mid-June from Norbert Staub, who held the position on an interim basis following the departure of Verena Schmid Bagdasarjanz in December 2007 (see: ). Schaller will support the expansion of ETH Zurich's international relations in terms of communication, as the ETH announced according to SDA. He will also further develop internal university communications. Schaller studied mechanical engineering at ETH Zurich. He also worked as a science journalist for Swiss television and has been Head of Communications at the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland since the beginning of 2006.

 
The Compresso communications network looked after the guests, VIPs and presenters in the run-up to and at the presentation of the 1st Swiss Music Awards at the Kaufleuten in Zurich. At the same time, Compresso was in charge of media relations for the event. The awards were organized by IFPI Switzerland, the umbrella organization for producers of sound and audiovisual recordings in Switzerland. Prizes were awarded in ten categories. The Compresso network consists of the six Zurich agencies Fastbreak, Vogel Szenenmarketing, ID Event, Primeur, Eye Media and Uniqueworld.

 A possible merger has been rumored for some time, but now the topic appears to be becoming more concrete: The Communication Union (GeKo), the Association of Public Service Employees (VPOD) and the media union Comedia are launching a debate on a merger in their committees. An initial project outline was approved by the heads of the three organizations on 25 February. According to this, an inter-professional trade union with currently around 84,000 members is to be formed in the public and private service sector and in communications by 2011, as the three organizations announced on Friday. The responsible bodies of the three trade unions will now have until next June to decide whether they wish to pursue the merger on the basis of the project outline. The merger of GeKo, VPOD and Comedia is intended to "utilize the existing synergies" and combine forces within and outside of the Swiss Federation of Trade Unions (SGB), as the press release explains further. The new trade union is "open to other interested organizations".
The declared aim of the project is to strengthen the position in the traditional sectors, organize new sectors and further improve the ability to mobilize. By joining forces, the aim is to build an innovative trade union that represents the interests of employees with strong negotiating power and close ties to its members. The new union will focus in particular on the living conditions of its members and take their professional and social situation into account in its collective representation of interests and individual service offerings.
If the three associations approve the outlined project and give the green light by June, the merger will be worked out in detail as part of a basic paper. The timetable envisages that the congresses of the three unions will decide on the implementation of the project in November 2009. The joint merger congress is planned for June 2010, with operations commencing on January 1, 2011.

 The commuter newspaper 20 Minuten wants to join in the celebrations at Euro 08. It is launching four Saturday editions in German- and French-speaking Switzerland. The extra editions, which will appear from June 7 to 29, 2008, will be devoted entirely to Euro 08. 20 Minuten already published Saturday editions during the 2006 World Cup (see ). In addition, there will be an online TV format for Euro 08 on 20minuten.ch plus live reports and online dossiers, as can be seen from the commuter newspaper's newsletter. It has already been announced that the paper will be cooperating with Radio 11, which will be broadcasting during the European Championships. Thanks to this cooperation, it will be present in "trendy locations" in Berne, Basel, Zurich and Geneva, it continues. The Euro 08 offer is rounded off by a 20-minute European Championship quartet. In this game, readers will be managers, coaches and strikers at the same time. The game will be communicated cross-media.