The website of the people magazine Schweizer Illustrierte has been gently redesigned. The web TV application has also been upgraded. The editorial team now publishes current and exclusive articles from the world of Swiss celebrities there. Interviews, making-ofs and reports can be seen in addition to the magazine. The videos can be viewed directly on the website or downloaded free of charge as a vodcast.
 
The needs of advertising customers were also better addressed as part of the relaunch. As part of lifestyle video reports and web spots, they now have the opportunity to get involved with SI Web TV.
 
The relaunch was realized by SI Web Director Edna Lisak in cooperation with the technology company Xtendx.

 The SVP National Councillor himself and Swiss Television (SF) are now also being criticized in connection with the dispute between Federal President Pascal Couchepin and Christoph Mörgeli. SF did not have permission to film an interview with Mörgeli in the former Buchenwald concentration camp, the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorial Foundation criticized on Friday. In a communiqué, the foundation writes that the former concentration camp was "quite obviously intended to be functionalized in the interests of Mr Mörgeli for a party-political debate within Switzerland".
According to the foundation, an SF employee gave the impression that he accepted the filming ban when he was informed that filming was not permitted.
However, Volkhard Knigge, director of the foundation, is quoted as saying that a television crew and a politician had disregarded the foundation's rules for protecting the dignity of the site and the victims in an unprecedented manner.
Knigge called on SF to make it clear in a prominent place that the filming was carried out against the expressly stated will of the foundation.

 The Ticino private broadcaster Tele Ticino has increased its audience share in the past two months. This was announced by the marketing company Radiotele, which markets the station exclusively. In January 2008, the TV station achieved a share of 1.8 percent among people aged 3 and over; in January of last year it was 1.5 percent. According to Telecontrol, the share last December was also 1.8% compared to 1.6% in the same month the previous year. According to the press release, the shares measured in the last two months represent a new record in the history of Tele Ticino.

 The American community network Facebook has announced that it will soon be greatly expanding its activities in the form of local language versions. According to the latest surveys, however, German competitor networks such as StudiVZ have nothing to fear from this. 46 percent of the 1000 participants in a survey conducted by the online word-of-mouth network TRND stated that they were not interested in a German version of Facebook. Instead, they stated that they would remain loyal to the German online community even after the launch, Pressetext reports. The German student portal Studivz.net already has 3.45 million unique users, making it the number one social community website in Germany. The creators have already launched further projects with Schülervz.net and a network that is neither aimed at pupils nor students. There is no sign of fear of the American competitor. "We have realized: Once you have decided to join us, you generally stay with us," StudiVZ spokesman Dirk Hansen told Pressetext. Above all, it is important to maintain direct contact with German users.
Facebook now has more users abroad than in the USA. Whereas in September 2006, 93 percent of users came from the USA, the figure is currently only 37 percent. According to its own figures, the Facebook community has around 61 million members worldwide, with 600,000 in Germany and a good 100,000 in Switzerland.
The launch of the local language versions is expected soon. How it will ultimately affect the development of the other community websites remains unclear.

Weltwoche has a new columnist. The 51-year-old sports journalist Klaus Zaugg will now write a one-page weekly sports portrait for the polarizing Zurich weekly. Editor-in-chief Roger Köppel confirmed the appointment of the ice hockey expert to Persönlich.com. According to Köppel, the page, which will start appearing in March, will feature portraits of prominent athletes in the style of Mark van Huisseling's earlier column.Zaugg left the Ringier media company at the end of August last year due to differences of opinion with the editorial board (see
). In addition to Weltwoche, he will also be reporting on sporting events for the Mittellandzeitung and its Sunday edition in future.

 Kurt Blum, Head of Reader Market at NZZ Verlag, is leaving the media company. Blum worked at Falkenstrasse for almost ten years: in 1999 he started as Head of Classifieds Market and took on the task of realigning this market segment with regard to Internet platforms. He then made a significant contribution to the planning and launch of NZZ am Sonntag on the publishing side, according to a press release from the media company. He was later assigned various project tasks. These included planning work for the outsourcing of advertising sales to Publicitas, the launch of the NZZ executive job portal and the optimization of the international edition of the NZZ. Blum has been in charge of reader marketing for the last two years. According to the press release, he has implemented various measures to increase efficiency. The NZZ did not provide any information about his successor.

Millions of people around the world eat potatoes. Reason enough for the UN to declare 2008 the International Year of the Potato. In Switzerland, the Swiss potato industry association Swisspatat is drawing attention to this with the support of the advertising agency Neue LGK, thus continuing its umbrella campaign for potatoes, which has been running since 2002. As before, the images refer to the extensive collection of recipes on the Swisspatat website Kartoffel.ch. However, they now do so seasonally: the target group is encouraged to try a potato dish on certain occasions. The "Valentine's Day" theme is currently in use. Further posters will follow for Easter, August 1st and Christmas. The campaign can be seen around these dates in all major Swiss cities and is supported by a website specially tailored to the potato year, banners and an industry brochure.
Responsible at Swisspatat:
Ernst König, Managing Director. Responsible at Neue LGK: André Benker (CD), Andreas Szentkuti (text), Reto Schild, Sam Diehl (art direction), Silvano Spezia, Claudia Chryselius (consulting).

The advertising marketing group Goldbach Media acquires OnEmotion, thereby strengthening its role in mobile communication. OnEmotion develops and implements marketing concepts for applications on cell phones and handhelds. It also provides technical platforms for mobile applications for direct customers and agencies in Switzerland and abroad. 
 
Founded in 2006 by Mark Forster, the company currently employs 15 people. It has not yet published any sales figures, but is profitable, said Goldbach's Head of Marketing Paul Riesen. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price. 
 
"The Internet and the cell phone are growing together. More and more customers are using interactive media on the move," said Goldbach CEO Klaus Kappeler in a statement on Friday. The Group is hoping for synergies between the newly acquired company OnEmotion and its own subsidiary Activemobile, which is also active in mobile advertising communication.

 The Institute of Management IFU at the FHS St. Gallen is initiating the Brandingstar research project together with the St. Gallen communications agency GFS Communications. The project is a practice-oriented methodology for brand development and management for SMEs, according to a press release issued on Thursday.  
The research project leads from the analysis of the current situation to the target position to concrete recommendations for action for an optimized marketing mix. The development of Brandingstar will be realized in five phases: Theoretical development, market and brand analysis, brand planning and positioning, operational integration and workup of the project
 
In order to carry out the project, four to six medium-sized SMEs are required, the press release continues. IFU and GFS Communications will develop a comprehensive brand concept with each selected company between October 2008 and May 2009. Interested parties can contact GFS Communications, Andreas Felder, Tel. 071 228 40 50, by March 31, 2008.

 Cyrill Treptow will become Project Manager in the Online Development and New Media department of the Media Switzerland division of the Tamedia media group as of March 1. Treptow was previously Head of Online Advertising Market at Tages-Anzeiger, where he was in charge of the news network project. In his new role, he will be responsible for the online relaunch of Annabelle.ch, among other things, and will subsequently take on other projects, according to a press release. Treptow has been with Tamedia since 2004. Before joining the Tages-Anzeiger, the 33-year-old worked at the Chamber of Commerce in Whistler, Canada, and in the e-commerce sector at Telekurs.

 The battle for a youth license in Zurich is entering the next round: Egon Blatter from Zurich internet radio station DJ Radio is now challenging the decision of the Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC) before the Federal Administrative Court. After years of wrangling, the Uvek granted a license for a youth radio station in Zurich to Giuseppe Scaglione's Music First GmbH in December. In doing so, it overturned its earlier decision from 2004, when it had awarded the license to competitor DJ Radio, which Scaglione appealed to the Federal Council. The courts will now continue to deal with the case. Blatter's complaint also prevents Music First from going on air for the time being. Blatter raises various accusations against the decision. Among other things, he is of the opinion that "the foreign control of Radio 105 and therefore of Music First" has been completely "played down" in the Uvek's decision and accuses the authorities of not having undertaken all the clarifications.
When asked by SDA, the Federal Office of Communications (Bakom) said that the question of foreign participation was of course also taken into account when examining the license application. Although an Italian company has a stake in Music First, it does not control the station, said Bakom spokesperson Roberto Rivola.
Blatter also believes that his channel is better suited to guaranteeing diversity of supply and opinion. He underpins his request with a
. This "reveals" the "true reasons" for the concession decision, Blatter promises. In the programme, which is modeled on a regional TV talk show and recorded in Zurich's Palavrion, Blatter accuses the authorities of awarding Music First the concession in order to keep its operator Scaglione quiet. Scaglione has applied for two other concessions in Zurich with other projects. As there will also be a tussle for these, Scaglione, who has been annoying the authorities for years, is now to be appeased with the youth radio station, Blatter suspects. DJ Radio, on the other hand, will lose out in the upcoming license battles: Because it did not want to dance at several weddings, it did not apply in last year's major tender, Blatter explains on Yotube. In December, the Uvek siganalized understanding for Blatter's disappointment. In an interview with Werbewoche, the department called the accusation that they had wanted to keep Music First quiet with the license simply ridiculous. Scaglione's application was simply "a tad better".
Blatter will now take legal action. He says on YouTube that this has been examined "long and seriously with several lawyers". He seems to be pleased that Music First has now been stopped for the time being. A decision by the Federal Administrative Court is unlikely before the end of the year, Blatter writes in the communiqué.
 
Scaglione emphasized that his radio is not financed by an Italian company. Rather, it is simply a minority shareholding of an Italian partner. This has already existed for ten years.
 
He was confident that the complaint would be dismissed. It was a 
"helpless action" with which Music First wanted to wipe the slate clean.

 Former Swissfirst CEO Thomas Matter is suing NZZ Verlag and two NZZ am Sonntag journalists for reporting on the merger of Bank Swissfirst with Bank am Bellevue. He is demanding compensation of 10 million Swiss francs. Matter's spokeswoman Karin Rhomberg confirmed to SDA on Thursday that the lawsuit had already been filed with the Zurich Commercial Court last year, according to a report published in advance by the business magazine Bilanz. Matter considers the sum of CHF 10 million to be a "reasonable part of the damages" that he has suffered.
The Commercial Court also confirmed receipt of the lawsuit on Thursday. However, it is not yet clear whether the action against NZZ-Verlag and the journalists can be dealt with in the same proceedings.
Matter has always vehemently defended himself against the accusations that other shareholders and in particular pension funds lost money in the merger of Swissfirst and Bank am Bellevue in 2005. The NZZ am Sonntag reported widely on the "Swissfirst affair" from mid-2006.
Rhomberg said that no legal action had been taken against other media. The newspapers Blick and Sonntagsblick had explicitly apologized to Matter for their reporting and had given the former banker the opportunity to present his views in interviews.