The Federation of Migros Cooperatives (FMC) has commissioned the Zurich agency Flowcube Communications with its product and brand PR. According to the press release, the mandate includes the evaluation, planning and realization of product PR projects in addition to individual measures. The agency also acts as a point of contact and coordination for internal and external inquiries in this area. This is done in close cooperation with those responsible in the FMC's Strategic Communications and Market Development departments.

 For once, French President Nicolas Sarkozy is not making headlines because of his liaison with Carla Bruni. He is planning to abolish advertising on public television in his country. If the state wants a public service, then it must also secure the necessary funding, he announced, an announcement that has provoked mixed reactions in France. Sébastien Danet, president of the media agency ZenithOptimedia, for example, is anything but enthusiastic, according to the Frankfurter Allgemeine. He fears that the government's plans could destabilize public broadcasters and the market as a whole.  
The president of the public broadcaster group France Télévision, Patrick de Carolis, on the other hand, welcomes the plans. This would give public television a stronger identity. However, the missing revenue must be compensated for, he adds. And this will be a few euros - French public television is 40 percent financed by advertising revenue.
Several newspapers also reported on Wednesday about the possible privatization of one of the public broadcasters if the loss cannot be offset. This question will inevitably arise, "Libération" quoted from government circles.
It remains to be seen whether someone in Switzerland will also come up with this original idea at some point and perhaps peeing will soon have to be postponed until after the movie.

 From the logo to the customer magazine to the website, everything at ÖKK now bears the same signature. Futurecom has realized the new website for the health insurance company. This was designed in close collaboration with the agency Advico Young & Rubicam, which also developed ÖKK's corporate identity.  
Responsible at ÖKK:
Stefan Schena and Mario Theus (overall strategic responsibility), Marc Kaufmann (web project management), Venanzi Vinzenz (communication responsibility), Peter Werder (text responsibility) Responsible at Futurecom Interactive:
Martin Sauter and Thomas Steiner (Consulting), Katja Gradenegger (Art Direction), Cornelia Vecellio (Design), Daniela Schori (Concept), Markus Marti and Marcel Marty (IT).

Marketing obituaries remain free of charge in the Solothurner Tagblatt. Anyone wishing to place an obituary in the five splits of the Berner Zeitung (BZ) will pay one to two centimes more per millimeter according to the new rate documentation. The only strange thing is that there is no rate for obituaries in the Solothurner Tagblatt split. The price is available "on request", it simply says. But insiders know what's behind it: the ST is probably the only Swiss newspaper to publish obituaries free of charge, even in 2008. "The ST continues to offer obituaries free of charge because they are valued reading material," confirms Christopher Wehrli, spokesman for the Espace Media Groupe.This form of marketing has a long tradition at the ST and is now in its seventh year. The reason: the number of local obituaries is considered an indicator of how well a title is established. And the ST has been laboriously trying to establish itself in WG 32 since 2001 - against the Solothurner Zeitung. Wehrli says that the number of obituaries has increased with the launch of the ST large edition last year, but without giving specific figures. (mk)

Column The SonntagsBlick has set up a "Readers' Council" because the newspaper wants to become even better. We would already be satisfied if Ringier's Sonntagsblatt was mediocre again. Let's take the SonntagsBlick magazine for example. Under the leadership of the new editor-in-chief Marc Walder, it has undergone a relaunch, as the old magazine was a flop with the advertising industry. There were always reports that were worth reading and a journalistic standard was recognizable. Now the magazine has to please advertisers above all. But what is left of journalism? On the first sixteen to twenty pages as much as in the NZZ luxury supplement Z - Die schönen Seiten des Lebens. In other words, almost nothing. But what shines in the upper middle-class drawing room is far from shining in the lower middle-class parlor. Z has style, and even leads to insights. After all, we learn a lot about excellent craftsmanship and the really expensive and unusual things in the world of goods, about precious stones and gold and silver. We can't buy luxury, but it's nice that we were able to take a look at it. And it's all on glossy paper, carefully and aesthetically designed, with a generous layout.

The SonntagsBlick magazine, on the other hand, is published on thin paper, but with a layout that pretends to be generous but is reminiscent of the trophy collection in old printer's boxes. And so it comes as it must: The magazine has nothing to say and therefore needs Cervelat celebrities.
Toni Vescoli, for example, who is now entitled to a pension, is allowed to fill the "My style" section to announce his new record, for example by presenting a book in one sentence, showing a guitar he has received as a gift and so on. Scrap and junk instead of gold and silver that has accumulated over a lifetime. The following sections are called "fashion", "beauty", "notes", "game" and are thematically arranged purchase recommendations, including the name of the supplier and price. And the journalism? After all, an "editor" is responsible for these pages.
Of course, you can also look on the bright side. Where there is a lack of journalistic substance, the little text by blue blood expert Helmut-Maria Glogger on "my man of the week" - namely Prince Harry - appears to be a striking journalistic achievement: "No one has stood his ground in the fight for life, love, vice and against his own liver like the redhead from the Windsor-Mountbatten family."
SonntagsBlick-Magazin is the name of these stapled color pages, "SchrottBlick-Magazin" would be more accurate. The following people stories in the style of Schweizer Illustrierte do little to change this. Even a report on the workers
in the Gotthard Base Tunnel follows the basic rule of Ringier's celebrity magazine: the people portrayed must smile at the camera. They are accompanied by exclusively positive bylines such as: "The gold necklace is my lucky charm." You could almost think that tunnel workers earn their money without sweat or dust - like editors-in-chief when they're not playing tennis or golf.
By the way: The "SchroBli" "does not want media professionals, but attentive, committed readers". Note: Media professionals read neither attentively nor with commitment! But what are the benefits of the Readers' Council members' commitment? "They get to know the editors and Editor-in-Chief Marc Walder (42)." We have no doubt that there are people who will enjoy it. And yes, there are discussions and "sometimes a social event - and of course always food and drink." Of course! After the third Cüpli, even a readers' council cares little about journalistic quality. Since information is increasingly being distributed free of charge, publishers are once again selling their readers. Sometimes for fools.
 
Hans Stutz is a freelance journalist.
 

 AZ-Medien publisher Peter Wanner announced the launch of his own free newspaper on the occasion of the launch of the Tamedia paper News. This will be launched in May, reports Cash Daily. A project group is already working hard on it. The boards of directors of AZ Medien and the Mittellandzeitung partners are to make a decision by the end of January. The new free newspaper must be a daily part of the Mittellandzeitung so that it can be produced by a small team and subscribers to the paid newspapers do not drop out, Cash Daily continues. However, it has not yet been decided how this task will be solved.

Fitness The Favo agency in Basel flexes its muscles for John Valentine. 
Who doesn't know it - the John Valentine Fitness Club? Originally, the chain also had locations in Zurich, Bern and Spreitenbach. In the meantime, Switzerland's first and oldest fitness and wellness club has concentrated on its home market of Basel. Here, however, with great success. Today, many Basel residents swear by the personal atmosphere, the first-class equipment and the comprehensive wellness and fitness offer right in the heart of Basel.
To gain even more followers, John Valentine now swears by the Basel advertising agency Favo. Under the direction of CD Hinrik Wachsmuth, the agency has developed a rather surprising appearance with a new umbrella concept. This can be found on posters, advertisements, streetcar posters and radio spots. All subjects focus on one message: "Fitness in the middle of the city". Because only John Valentine offers strength training, sauna, wellness, massage, whirlpool and hydromassage right in the city center and all under one roof.
When entrepreneur Toni Mehmann planned the first fitness center under the John Valentine label in Spreitenbach in 1968, he was still dismissed as a crank. Later, the industry pioneer built over 100 fitness and wellness facilities worldwide with the aim of leading "the stressed information society to a health-conscious feel-good society". This trend also developed its muscles in Switzerland. In 1998, there were already 700 such fitness oases. But John Valentine was increasingly under pressure from new providers such as Kieser and Migros.
Today, the industry's growth is considered to be the largest in the tourism sector. In the past two years, the number of spas worldwide has doubled.
Andreas Panzeri

 
PrintOnline The digital data courier is once again able to reduce its prices slightly, although the trend towards direct booking discounts is causing additional work.The advertising volume in the press continued to increase last year. Although the December figures are still missing from the VSW advertising statistics, the print sector recorded growth rates of between 1.7 percent (regional weekly press III) and 20.5 percent (business press) up to November, depending on the title group. Only two press categories suffered a (slight) decline in total volume, and the digital data courier PrintOnline (POL) also felt the upturn. This hub between advertisers and agencies on the one hand and publishers on the other was able to increase its transmission performance again in 2007 - by around 5121 advertisements or 4 percent to a total of 130,962 advertisements. The proportion of small advertisements (less than 311 square centimeters) was around 58 percent. Last year, over 1000 customers sent advertisements via POL.
POL was founded in 1997 by Publicitas, Tamedia, Ringier and NZZ, each of which holds a 25 percent stake in the "Network for Print Data". The main aim of the non-profit company is to make the handling of print advertising easier for advertising clients. The Datenkurier is therefore not financed by the customers, but by all the publishers who are supplied with advertisements via POL. However, POL passes on its surpluses to the publishers in the form of rate reductions. Since POL was founded ten years ago, the non-profit company has been able to reduce its fees several times - most recently a year ago.
POL Managing Director Kurt Obrist has now also announced a gentle price reduction for the new year: POL will waive the fee of one franc per transmitted megabyte in future. The elimination of this fee will be partially compensated by an increase in the rate per advertisement. Large publishers who pay an annual connection fee of CHF 15,000 will now be charged CHF 11 instead of CHF 10 per advertisement. Smaller publishers who waive the affiliation fee will now pay CHF 31 instead of CHF 30 per advertisement. If the advertisements are smaller than 311 square centimetres (half a tabloid page), large publishers will now pay CHF 7 (previously CHF 6) and small publishers CHF 19 (previously CHF 18). Overall, publishers will still have to pay 3.5 percent less for POL services in the new year, says Obrist.
A trend of recent years was also confirmed in 2007: although classified ads continued to rise, POL was only able to benefit from this to a limited extent. The reason: they are increasingly being placed via Publiconnect, Scout24, Unio or Prospective, the specialized providers for online and print classifieds markets - bypassing POL.
POL is also feeling the effects of the trend among publishers to increasingly free themselves from dependency on P, go it alone and grant a direct booking fee (DBE). The latter is intended to serve as an incentive for agencies to book directly with publishers instead of via the P. But this has its pitfalls. But this has its pitfalls. "No self-directed publisher has direct interfaces to POL, only the P does," says Obrist. This means that it is technically easier for clients to book self-published titles via P than if they do it directly. This is because P's own booking system contains all of the publishers' data - publication dates, regional holidays, colors, size - information that a direct booking customer must first enter. "This leads to communication problems and duplicate orders more often than before," says Obrist. He doesn't want to dramatize the situation. "But we do have to make a lot more additional clarifications these days."
Nevertheless, POL does not envisage any rate increases for publishers with DBE. The solution is more likely to be new software - one with a standardized interface for data exchange. "Both P and POL are working on this," says Obrist. The first test installations are in operation. In future, it should therefore no longer matter whether a title is owned or leased by P - and whether it grants a DBE.    
Markus Knöpfli

GEMI In the Goldbach Electronic Media Index, TV advertising pressure continued to grow in November, increasing by 9 index points to 420 (411) and continuing to drive growth in the advertising media. Radio again experienced a slight drop of 2 index points to 254 (256), while teletext fell by 7 index points to 133 (140). Internet, on the other hand, continues to show steady growth with 3 index points to 251 (248) following the review and revision of the 2005 data deliveries. Electronic media recorded a strong overall increase of 7 points in the month under review, exceeding the 400 index point mark for the first time. The total of all media covered by Media Focus grew by 1 index point to 195. The index initiated by Goldbach Media for advertising pressure in the overall market and the electronic media is based 100 percent on the Media Focus data collected and published monthly.
 
 

Television The crux of the matter with TV advertising, which not only faces the technical threat of increasingly sophisticated devices for skipping commercials, but also biologically induced ignorance as a result of human pee breaks, is well known. However, advertisers are not standing idly by in the face of this development. One possible solution to save the commercial breaks was shown last Saturday on the RTL channel. In the "ultimate chart show", 50 hits followed each other seamlessly every minute, interrupted only briefly by equally super-fast edited comments from celebrities on the hits shown. However, the attentive observer noticed that the show also had two completely boring hangs. As if they had run out of ideas, presenter Oliver Geissen and his guests suddenly chatted for minutes on end in a completely boring manner - in the middle of the otherwise very fast-paced concept. A director's mistake? Or perhaps a new trick to get viewers to pee before the previously abused commercial break? (pan)

Christmas greetings For some, these are days of contemplation in which advertising is deliberately avoided. Other agencies outdo each other with creative Christmas cards, and the gleis7.ch Advent calendar attracted customers to SBB's youth platform gleis7.ch with prizes worth a total of over 30,000 francs. This is the second time that Maxomedia has designed such a virtual Advent calendar for SBB. Every year during Advent, Ruf Lanz also surprises its customers with a special Christmas mailing. This year, the management was presented as candles (image 6). Danielle Lanz, Markus Ruf, Michael Gassler and Thomas Schöb were cast in wax with great attention to detail and elaborately painted by hand.
The gift from Werbeanstalt Schweiz AG (2) was a practical one. They sent us a pair of black socks with their logo and the accompanying text "For pleasant progress". Textiles were also provided by the communications agency Unikat (3), namely a T-shirt as a "unique gift" for the "unique collaboration". Another practical gift from Publicis was a creatively designed parking disk. Sheets of paper that can be crumpled up to make practical snowballs for an "indoor snowball fight" were sent to us by the Bern-based agency Polyconsult.
 
Culture, the Euro RSCG gave away a free ticket for a concert evening of your choice with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra. This is supported by Frank Bodin's agency with a "cultural percentage". A CD plus an invitation to the
Bird's Eye Jazz Club sent us cr basel. TBWA\ also showed its musical side (1). Accompanied by a camera team, around 50 TBWA\ employees marched from Grossmünster via Paradeplatz to the National Museum, singing and collecting for the Salvation Army. The documentary can be seen at www.tbwa.ch.
Agence Trio (4) also surprised us with a movie. It showed Santa Claus visiting the agency. The trend towards funny viral films was followed by +Söhne in Winterthur (5). Richly decorated but rather crass, the sons appear as disguised fir trees that are cut down by the Christ Child.
Andreas Panzeri

 The publishing house Axel Springer has been given the green light by the German Cartel Office for the complete takeover of the internet portal Bild Online. The media group announced in December that it intends to buy the 37 percent stake previously held by Deutsche Telekom. Following the takeover, the online presence of Germany's largest newspaper will also be given a new name: The previous name Bild.t-online.de will disappear and the portal will simply be called Bild.de. In addition, the Internet offering is to be expanded. The first steps in this direction have already been taken: A video offering was added in November, followed by a relaunch in December. According to Springer, online advertising revenues rose by more than 40 percent in 2007 following a realignment of marketing.