Since January 2008, Manuel Grille has been strengthening the sales team at Sprüngli Druck, based in Villmergen, Aargau. Grille worked for ten years in field sales at Sticher Printing in Lucerne. After completing his training as a key account manager, he was assigned the task of providing individual support to key customers. Grille also completed training at the technical school for the graphic arts industry and is a federally certified technician TS. At Sprüngli Druck, which provides new media services in addition to print products, he will work in close cooperation with the management in key account management, according to the company.

 From 2008, the APG long-term study Poster Performance Index PPI will include the new SPR+ performance values based on the new basic research of Swiss Poster Research Plus. The qualitative advertising impact, i.e. recall, brand recognition and favorability, will be measured. To this end, ten survey waves will again be conducted in the Bern and Lausanne conurbations.
In addition to national poster campaigns, out-of-home campaigns from eAd - poster ads on animated eboards in train stations in the largest Swiss cities - will also be scrutinized for the first time, according to a press release issued on Monday.

 Valora Media is now offering subscription solutions in addition to wholesale and retail sales in the press market. The new subscription service offers publishers a call center with an integrated customer relationship management system solution, according to a statement issued on Monday. Valora Media also offers subscription marketing solutions in the areas of outbound telemarketing, direct marketing, online services, bundles and trade fair services. All customer information is recorded and made available to the publisher's sales team.
The aim of the new subscription offers is to support domestic and foreign publishers in acquiring new customers, retaining customers and winning back former customers, according to the press release.

 "Actionitis" is damaging the Swiss retail trade. According to a study by the University of St. Gallen, profiling is therefore the order of the day in future. This should be achieved by offering added value. According to Thomas Rudolph, professor at the University of St. Gallen, price promotions would hardly generate any new customers and would not increase the overall demand for goods. The same amount of goods would be sold for less money, resulting in lower turnover.
This trend should be countered by creating a "profile through added value". The added value concepts must be communicated in an emotional, transparent and understandable way. Rudolph cites Nespresso with its strong emotional appeal as a successful added value concept.
For large and complex companies such as Migros with its numerous subsidiaries, it is difficult to establish a clear profile. This is easier for smaller companies.
More than 5,000 randomly selected people in German-speaking and French-speaking Switzerland were interviewed for the study from mid-September to mid-October 2007, providing information on the food, furniture, sports, textiles and consumer electronics sectors.

 
An astonishing finding was published in the Sonntagszeitung. The paper conducted an interview with Walter Krämer, the founder and head of the German Language Association, which has been campaigning for the preservation of German and against its replacement by English since 1997 and now has around 30,000 members. When asked how successful his efforts to eliminate unnecessary Anglicisms have been, Krämer said: "Our efforts in advertising have been very successful. However, we cannot take sole credit for this. Studies have shown that the majority of people don't even understand English slogans. Since then, almost all new advertising slogans have been in the national language again." That's in Germany. In Switzerland, people obviously understand English better. Go Fiala, go.

 The Zurich radio station Radio 24 has announced its listening figures for the past year. In 2007, Radio 24 recorded a daily audience of 278,200 listeners over the age of 15 from Monday to Friday, which corresponds to a market share of 2.7 percent. Throughout the week, Radio 24 achieved a market share of 2.6 percent among the over-15s. From Monday to Sunday, 262,500 people tuned in to the radio station every day. This is 4,900 listeners less than in the previous year. According to these figures, Radio 24 is still the most successful private station in Switzerland. According to the press release, the top ratings in the Radio 24 program are achieved by the information hours (12.00 to 13.00 and 17.00 to 18.30) and the morning show "Ufsteller" (06.00 to 09.00).

 
McCann Erickson has been working with XL Capital, one of the world's largest industrial insurers, since 2003. For the sixth year of the campaign, the agency has created six new motifs, which in turn are intended to visualize the insurer's strength in terms of financial security and coverage. The new motifs increasingly focus on industry-specific topics such as aviation or telecommunications and their products. In addition to the international brand campaign, the motifs are also being used by XL Insurance for product advertising in specific countries. They were again realized by the well-known photographer Tom Nagy in Osaka, Singapore, Chicago, Barcelona, Belgium and Austria:
/ / / / / Responsible at XL Capital:
Roger Scotton (VP Corporate Communications), Barry Brewer (VP Marketing) and Andrew Vigar (Regional Manager Asia). Responsible at McCann: Kathrin Aebersold (consulting), Sandra Panchard (consulting), Tom Kees (art director), Kzurich (production), Universal McCann (media) and Urs Jaermann (overall responsibility).

 
Werbeanstalt Schweiz has taken the Helvetic Tours poster campaign with the motto "Price Pearls" as a theme to draw attention to the Swiss Youth Hostels' own permanent price pearls. In a guerrilla action on Friday, several "sandwich men" moved through Zurich city center as walking poster columns, their posters referring to those of the tour operator. The message: "We also have price pearls: but even cheaper ones. Not only beach vacations, but also mountain vacations: 1 night from 27 francs including breakfast."

Guido Schommer, Secretary General of the FDP until the end of February, is leaving politics for the private sector: He will become Communication Manager at the Swiss subsidiary of the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis. The 38-year-old studied business administration at the University of St. Gallen and worked in the FDP general secretariat for over twelve years. He announced his resignation at the end of February last September. Sanofi-Aventis wants to use him to strengthen its communications competence in the public affairs area. The aim is to strengthen its "image as a responsible provider of medicines and treatments" and to become better known, according to a statement.

 The Zurich advertising agency Hochspannung has acquired several new clients in recent weeks: Züriwerk, Kimi-Krippen and Sihlmed. The agency is currently developing a new overall image for Züriwerk, a Zurich-based organization for the disabled, which will be used at various communication levels from May 2008. The Kimi-Krippen crèche group has commissioned Hochspannung to establish the new crèche model on the market. Finally, the agency is expanding its client base in the medical and healthcare sector with Sihlmed. It is developing all communication media for the health center.

 After months of back and forth, the private broadcaster U1 TV is now disappearing from Cablecom's analog network - at least for the time being. In an interim decision, the Federal Administrative Court has ruled that the network operator does not have to broadcast the channel in analog until a definitive ruling has been made in the matter. On Monday at 8 a.m., Cablecom will therefore remove U1 TV from its analog service and only broadcast it digitally. The high-definition BBC HD program will then be broadcast on the channel from 5 February.
U1 TV is determined to continue on the digital path, as Managing Director Beatrix Schartl told Werbewoche when asked. The station could only return to the analog network if the Federal Administrative Court decides accordingly and thus contradicts a decision by Bakom. In this respect, however, Schartl does not see the chances as too rosy: "After this interim decision, I do not expect an outcome in our favor.
As digital distribution reduces the station's reach and therefore its income, jobs have to be cut (see
). Ten jobs have already been cut because Swiss sports television has switched to Star TV. "We had hired people for the sports productions, but unfortunately we can no longer employ them," says Schartl. There will be further redundancies at the end of January. The chances of the Federal Court ruling in favor of U1 TV in its final verdict are not considered to be too great, even by officials: According to the judges in Bern, the prognosis for the final decision is rather against U1 TV. The channel could continue to be received digitally, even if its reach was lower. The court found that there was hardly any public interest in the distribution of the channel, which mainly consists of value-added, advertising and erotic programs. Cablecom, for its part, has an important interest in using the channel for the transmission of high-definition programs.

 The Zurich-based communications agency Sensus PR has expanded its consulting capacities: Last December, two project managers, Aleksandra Eric and Pascal Rosenberger, joined the team. 31-year-old Aleksandra Eric had been working as a PR consultant and PR specialist at the City of Zurich's Sports Office since 2001. Pascal Rosenberger, 27, most recently worked in corporate communications at ETH Zurich and for Swiss television. He has a degree in journalism from the University of Zurich. Andreas Duffé joined the Sensus PR investor relations team as a senior consultant in January 2008. He most recently held a management position at a German-Swiss agency group. He is also the author of the specialist book "Creditor Relations".
The agency is responding to the increased demand for communication services and recent mandate wins with this expansion in personnel, according to a press release. The budget wins include the medical technology manufacturer Card Guard, which is listed on the SWX Swiss Exchange, and the commercial vehicle manufacturer Iveco.