Networks Markus Gut is moving to Young & Rubicam, where he will head the group together with Andreas Widmer. 
A new agency group is being created in Switzerland: Advico Young & Rubicam, Futurecom interactive and Wunderman are merging in terms of personnel and organization to form the Young & Rubicam Group Switzerland. The management duo of the new group is formed by Andreas Widmer, previously CEO of Futurecom and Interactive, and Markus Gut, previously Head of Creative at Publicis. In addition to Widmer as CEO and Gut as Chief Creative Officer, the entire management team of Advico Young & Rubicam consists of Lukas Tenger (Consulting), Caspar Coppetti (Strategy), Felix Kündig (CFO) and Philipp Skrabal (Executive Creative Director). Edgar C. Britschgi, the former CEO and Chairman of Advico Young & Rubicam, will remain Chairman Young & Rubicam Switzerland and Chairman Young & Rubicam EMEA Retail Practice. Britschgi led the agency for five years.
The brands of the Young & Rubicam Group, Wunderman (dialog), Allaccess (events & promotions), Exxtra (retail) and Futurecom (interactive) will continue to operate under their existing names and with the same management teams. "All major traditional advertising agencies are currently undergoing strategic realignment. They are all looking for ways to meet the digital transformation. We bring online, dialog and advertising to the same level for our clients.
e together," explains Widmer. Markus Gut, who is leaving Publicis after 13 years (see: ), says of his new challenge: "We want to develop holistic creative ideas for our clients that can be implemented in the classic and new digital channels in a medium-appropriate way. I see this new integrated model as our only chance of remaining at the top in the future. "Carole Scheidegger?

 Three weekly newspapers in the Mittelland are joining forces for the regional advertising market: The Wiggertaler, Landanzeiger and Niederämter Anzeiger are entering the market together as of October 1, 2007 with the advertising combination "Power One1 im Mittelland". The new advertising pool has a total circulation of 78,358 copies. All three weekly newspapers involved are official advertisements that are distributed to all households. According to the three titles, an advertisement in the new combined publication is estimated to reach well over 100,000 readers in around 60 municipalities.
The "Power One1 in the Mittelland" combination covers the Wiggertal with Zofingen, the entire area between Aarau and Olten, the Aarau area and the side valleys of Suhren-, Wynen-, Rueder- and Uerkental. The publishers manage the advertising themselves. Advertisements can be placed with one of the three houses and at any Publicitas branch.

 
As the new CEO, Remy Fabrikant wants to reposition JWT+H+F as a creative agency and bring it back into the rankings. 
Remy Fabrikant. He currently has a black eye, but that doesn’t mean he’s naively stumbling into the future. Nor is it any indication that he and Andy Hostettler broke up after an argument. «I got this black eye playing soccer. I was rammed during the Baden Cup. In any case, it wasn’t Andy. Our split was handled very amicably. Why do people part ways after years together? It’s a natural process. We’d been a team for a total of 17 years. Hostettler said right at the start of our journey together that he’d do it for five years at most. It turned out to be a few more—even ten years with a joint agency. And after such a long time, everyone has the right to make their own plans for the future and put them into action. »The split is a win-win for both of us,” explains Remy Fabrikant.
Of course, at first he wondered whether, after the «H,» the «F» in JWT+H+F should also be dropped. But it’s hard to give up «a baby» that you’ve raised yourself. The next step in his career—taking on full responsibility as CEO—was never Fabrikant’s dream, however, but “just a logical step.” And a very unusual one at that—in a network like JWT. “For Americans, a creative person serving as CEO is normally unthinkable. That’s understandable in their culture, where agencies have 700 employees or more. They’re led exclusively by experienced managers.”
That’s why the overseas partners flew to Zurich immediately and «checked everything.» And they discovered that Remy Fabrikant «isn’t just some clueless creative.» After all, he also holds a degree in e-commerce from the University of St. Gallen and ran the agency with Hostettler as equal partners. «I inevitably had to deal with numbers.» Hostettler was in charge of consulting, while Fabrikant handled the creative side.
Under Fabrikant’s sole leadership, the creative division is set to take on even greater importance in the future. Fabrikant wants to «reshape» JWT+H+F «into a creative agency.» While Thompson isn’t exactly known for creative excellence, its strengths lie more in serving large international network clients. «I can’t help it—given my background. In the future, JWT+H+F will be neither a consulting agency nor a service agency,» explains Fabrikant, who, as a creative, also wants to bring his company «back into the rankings.» That won’t be possible this year because, in addition to the reorganization, he first had to focus on acquiring new clients. Seven have already been secured, including Nokia International, “where we can also make a very strong local contribution.”.
Mike Krüll is already serving as Creative Director at the newly formed agency. The agency is still looking for additional staff. But whether copywriter, art director, creative director, or consultant: At Fabrikant, everyone not only pulls in the same direction, but also works at the same table. The first model, which stood in the spacious, open-concept loft studio in Zurich’s Maag Areal, was 17 meters long. Because, over time, too many detours were taken whenever copywriters and consultants wanted to communicate with each other beyond just across the tabletop, the long table was split down the middle and a service station was set up in between. The idea behind the table: Basically, at JWT+H+F there should be none of those unproductive turf wars between creative and consulting—the kind he had to witness time and again during his long career in advertising.
Remy Fabrikant’s career runs like a common thread through the history of Swiss creative agencies. It all began with an apprenticeship as a stage painter at the Zurich Opera House. His goal was not so much to be close to the world of opera as it was to spend his time meaningfully until he was ready for the School of Applied Arts. There, although he was only a student in the graphic design program, Fabrikant won the European Poster Award. That, combined with his above-average final grades, earned him his first job offer. Rudi Külling from Advico wanted to train him to become an art director.
After four years, Fabrikant was poached by Otti Schuhmacher. «Back then, it was a small agency that had won an incredible number of ADC awards. That fascinated me,» Fabrikant recalls. He himself won awards there one after another, including two gold awards—one for a film featuring Keith Haring and another for fashion posters. After three years, the creative AD, Reini Weber, was poached by Jean Etienne Aebi to join what was then the hottest agency around. Fabrikant stayed for a year and then moved on to Basel together with Weber and Martin Denecke. There, he played a key role in the restructuring of the old GGK Basel until the agency «was in full bloom.» When GGK was sold to Aloys Hirzel, Reini Weber and Yvonne Hodel decided to open WHS Basel together with John Schmid. At the same time, Fabrikant received an offer from Wolf Rogoski to reopen GGK International in Paris. He accepted the tempting offer and stayed for three years. During this time, he managed major international clients such as IBM and Swissair.
Reini Weber and Yvonne Hodel didn’t give up and brought Fabrikant back to Zurich. There, he was to set up WHS Zurich on Aemtlerstrasse together with Andy Hostettler. Fabrikant recalls that at the time, he «didn’t really like» Hostettler—whom he knew from GGK—«very much.» Nevertheless, thanks to numerous creative awards, the Zurich branch quickly took off. So rapidly, in fact, that after a few successful years, Andy Hostettler and Remy Fabrikant felt “it was time for an equity stake.” But Weber wouldn’t hear of it. So the two of them, together with the former S of WHS, John Schmid, founded a new agency in Basel under the acronym S+H+F. Among the first campaigns created at the new agency were those for Passugger and Lindt & Sprüngli, which are still relevant today.
Fabrikant had always been convinced that being part of an international network allowed one to gain more from international expertise. This eventually led to a connection with Peter Erzberger, a former GGK employee and Paul Gredinger’s right-hand man. At the time, Erzberger was heading up JWT Frankfurt and was looking for a new management team for JWT Zurich. Fabrikant and Hostettler—who had since parted ways with John Schmid—were to take over the small «shop» and get it up and running. They agreed, but on the evening before signing the contract, during their first visit to JWT Zurich, they encountered «a total disaster.» The agency’s location—a carpet warehouse. The numbers—deep in the red for years. «And we’d shut down our agency in Basel for a pile of junk like this,» recalls Fabrikant, who is still amazed today by his own sense of adventure. That’s how JWT+H+F was founded ten years ago. Despite the bad omens, not only did they land several new clients in the very first year, but they also turned a profit. «We were able to win back all our key clients,» says Fabrikant. Things really took off when they won the Siemens international account. Based in Zurich, Fabrikant served as the global Creative Director.
«Actually, I’ve done just about everything in advertising—except be a CEO,» Fabrikant remarks. Anyone who knows him knows that Fabrikant thrives on a challenge and always achieves his goals.
Andreas Panzeri

 
Publishers At the newspaper publishers' congress at the KKL in Lucerne, the focus was on Google and the free press.  
No, Swiss publishers do not want to leave the field to the search engine just like that and allow it to publish editorial texts tel quel on its Google.news service without objection - even if (for the time being) only the entry aids.
The most important congress topic besides the free press at the annual meeting of publishers at the Lucerne Art and Congress Center was preceded by several meetings between the publishers' association and Google - in an unencumbered tone, but still without results. The search engine should recognize the infringement of copyrights and pay compensation accordingly, the publishers demand. At the lectern, however, the country manager of Google Switzerland, Andreas Schönenberger, did not address such problems, but instead promoted his company's services and business models, in which he would love to involve the publishing houses.
In response to the question of who has the upper hand in such negotiations, given the market power of the group, Schönenberger said that it depends on the commitment of the publishers themselves. They must have an interest in generating traffic, which in itself represents a value on the Internet, said the Google man, referring to the New York Times, which has recognized this value and radically stopped using paid content.
Without the publishers' journalistic content, Google would not even exist, countered publisher president Hanspeter Lebrument. Such votes may make it clear that the rapprochement between the parties is still a long way off and that the publishers have perhaps not yet fully grasped the dimensions of Google. This also blurs the question of who should set the pace for whom. At present, it is more likely that the courts will decide on Google.news and copyrights. On the fringes of the congress, PubliGroup CEO Hanspeter Rohner spoke of a monopoly defense debate. In comparison, the way publishers and Google deal with each other abroad is far ahead.
Forecasts on free newspapersAs expected, the other main topic was the war on the free press this fall, which has made Switzerland the market with the highest proportion of free newspapers per 1000 inhabitants. The topic was also pushed by .ch initiator Sacha Wigdorovits, who had launched his new free newspaper just two days before the congress and had it distributed in front of the KKL. How many free titles can the market tolerate and which of the paid newspapers will be hit hardest? Currently probably those in the media triangle of Basel, Berne and Zurich, said Norbert Neininger, publisher of Schaffhauser Nachrichten. However, he does not see the attack on the paid daily newspapers primarily in terms of content, but through the price in the advertising market. "The cake may be getting a little bigger, but there are more people who want a piece of it."
Ralph Büchi, CEO of the Handelszeitungs Group and Jean Frey Verlag, spoke of a gold-rush atmosphere and appealed to the innovative strength of publishers. Because a fifth free newspaper is simply no longer an innovation. Büchi gives a single free newspaper a chance in the market in the long term.
For Christian Müller, CEO of Vogt Schild AG, the publisher of the Solothurner Zeitung, the free press is a temporary phenomenon that will only last five to seven years. Müller recalled the "social responsibility" of publishers of free titles, some of whom had practically devalued their journalists to a "vehicle for the distribution of advertising". In contrast, Solothurn relies on readers who value the work of journalists.
Tamedia CEO Martin Kall did not agree with this view and countered that the 1.2 million readers of 20 Minuten would hardly be satisfied with just journalistic junk - among them more academics than among the NZZ readership. With an attitude like Müller's, the basic needs of the readership and thus an important social development are being ignored. Seen in this light, it is easy to defend a monopoly and leave the work to others. For Kall, the question is not one of either-or between different models, but there will always be everything.
Finally, Hanspeter Rohner expressed the suspicion that one or two free newspaper projects were targeting market structuring and that the market would therefore normalize again sooner or later. One free newspaper will survive in Ticino and one in French-speaking Switzerland. "In German-speaking Switzerland, one free newspaper and a derivative system from a daily newspaper group will remain." Rohner understands this to mean the free paper as a promotional product for a daily newspaper or electronic media, i.e. for an entire media group, which could also be interpreted as a subtle allusion to Cash daily.
René Worni
Industry get-together with strong media responseThis year's Publishers' Congress
was met with above-average media coverage due to the numerous new launches of print products. Video contributions on the Internet also shone for the first time at the industry's navel-gazing event. In keeping with the times, students on the MAZ master's course accompanied the congress as journalists and processed their impressions in a video blog. Some press reports revealed that hardly any of the congress participants publicly spoke out against the free press, including the President of the Swiss Confederation, Micheline Calmy-Rey, who, while speaking out in favor of political journalism and the greatest possible diversity of opinion, nevertheless described the free newspapers as "not without value and meaning". (rw)

Jung von Matt/Limmat lives up to the claim "It can be done differently" with a mailing for Migros Bank. This slogan also applies when it comes to the business area of corporate clients. Many bosses, especially of smaller companies, like to be influenced by idiosyncratic studies and adventurous research when making financial decisions, according to a statement by Jung von Matt/Limmat. Migros Bank wants to counter this belief with the power of numbers. Jung von Matt/Limmat has translated this contrast into a mailing: decision-makers are given the choice of whether they want to increase the efficiency of their business with a clown's nose and humor, or whether they would rather rely on the expertise of Migros Bank to take their business further. According to the press release, just under 70 percent of the mailings sent led to a consultation appointment.
Responsible at Migros Bank:
Cinzia Sartorio (Head of Advertising & PR), Kristina Brunner, Daniel Sanchez (Marketing Communication). Responsible at Jung von Matt/Limmat: Tom Seinige (Creative Direction), Axel Eckstein, Fernando Perez (Art Direction), Michael Kathe, Livio Dainese (Text), Alischer Makarow, Christina Baeriswyl (Graphics), Fabian Roethlisberger, Claudio Gentili (Consulting).

 As of January 1, 2008, the publications Hochparterre, Nebelspalter, Surprise and the weekly newspaper WOZ are offering a joint advertising pool with the theme "Eco". The four titles in the eco-pool have a net reach of 476,000 readers and are characterized by a high affinity for the topic of environmental protection, according to a press release. In Mach Basic 2007-2, the readership ranks at the top of the affinity ranking in the area of interest "very interested in environmental protection". The eco-pool is intended to be the contemporary alternative for companies that are committed not only to economic but also ecological interests, according to the press release. Kilian Gasser's advertising acquisition and publishing consultancy will be the official administration and processing office for placements in the eco-pool.

Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett recently secured the butter account and is now focusing a campaign on how natural butter is in contrast to competing plant-based products. According to a press release, butter is a purely natural product made exclusively from milk. This is in stark contrast to so-called vegetable spreadable fats. These are produced industrially in numerous steps and contain additives. The SFLB campaign prints each feature two people who remind us that you are what you eat. For example, the former Mister Switzerland Renzo Blumenthal confesses on a sign: "I eat butter." Next to him is a bodybuilder marinated in tanning cream. His sign reads: "Not me." The headline resolves with the sentence "Any questions?" and refers to the Butter.ch website. The claim underlines the message once again: "Butter. Everything else is not natural."
On the posters and advertisements that are replacing the subjects with the butter woman Sarina Arnold, Fiona Hefti, among others, has come out as a butter lover. They can now be seen throughout Switzerland.
Responsible for butter:
Charlotte Hofstetter (Head of Advertising and Media at SMP), Daniela Schmutz (Project Manager); responsible at Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett: Martin Spillmann (CD), Barbara Hutter (Text), Tabea Guhl (AD), Karin Estermann (Graphics), Regine Hubler, Pam Hügli (Consulting), Bettina Sorg (Art Buying). Photographer: Lozza.

 
Student newspaper With a new concept and layout, the Zurich student newspaper aims to attract the attention of the advertising industry.  
The movers and shakers (from left to right): Steven Goodman (Managing Director Media Association), Florian Frey (Editorial Director) and Mirco D'Angelo (PR and Marketing).
At the end of last year, things were still looking bleak for the Zürcher Studentin, formerly Zürcher Student, which had been published since 1923: After years of maneuvering on the financial precipice, the newspaper, like its sister iQ (Quartalsinfo für Uni und ETH), was on the verge of going out of business. The free papers, produced exclusively by students, were struggling with declining advertising revenues, so that printing costs could barely be paid - not to mention wages. "A doomsday mood was spreading," says Florian Frey, a member of the media association and editorial director of the new ZS. "We laid our cards on the table in December and saw only two options: Either quit or turn 180 degrees, think more commercially and define a new product."
No sooner said than done. Thus, the merger of the two previous newspapers resulted in ZS, the Zurich student newspaper. It retains the traditional name of one of the two newspapers, while taking over the unique distribution channel at Zurich's universities, i.e. mailing to all of the approximately 35,000 students and assistants at both universities. The newspaper will now be published monthly in tabloid format three times per semester with a minimum of 32 pages. The newspaper is printed by Ringier in Adligenswil with a circulation of 36,000 copies.
In terms of content, the seven-member editorial team aims to bring an attractive mix of news, a focus topic and lighter sections. Student topics remain at the center, which is why the magazine also cooperates with the largest student associations, VSETH and the Student Council of the University of Zurich.
"Advertising-wise, two target groups have emerged: The talent group and the student group," says Steven Goodman, business manager of the media association. "The first group targets talented graduates and wants to stay in the conversation with students through advertising; there's a kind of war for talent going on." The second group is looking for students as momentary customers or to establish long-term customer loyalty - for when they start earning good money." In his work, Goodman seeks to talk directly with advertisers. "If the contact is only through agencies, it's harder for us to address the needs of the clients."
A website is to be launched soon, where news will be published alongside the print edition in an independent effort. "The advertising opportunities on the Web will be offered to print advertisers as an added value for now," Goodman says. But the newspaper makers have already thought further into the future, too. "Of course, right now we want to see how it goes with the first few numbers. But growing is clearly an issue," says Frey. Goodman continues: "We have two scenarios: One is growth across the board, for example expansion to HSG St. Gallen or Basel. The other would be growing in depth, expanding the Zurich market and including the universities of applied sciences." When that will be remains open for now. But the first steps toward the recovery of Switzerland's oldest student newspaper have been taken.
Michael Koller

 
Neuromarketing II Brands are created in the mind. The well-known neuropsychologists Christian Scheier and Dirk Held explain how and why in their new book. 
Pepsi has a problem. Although the sweet drink comes out on top in blind taste tests, Coca-Cola sells much better. The Pepsi test shows that it is not the palate that is the decisive selling point, but the brand. Christian Scheier and Dirk Held get to the bottom of such brand phenomena in their new book "What makes brands successful". Unlike many authors before them, they do not describe the symptoms of influential brands, but analyze the complex processes in the mind. With the help of findings from brain research and psychology, they attempt to unravel the mystery of strong brands. Decisions are unconsciousScheier and Held are not neuroscientists who use colorful pictures to explain the thinking apparatus and how it works. They outlined this to some extent in their last book "How advertising works". In the follow-up work, the authors describe the specific processes and their effect on branding in the mind. The focus here is on the subconscious. According to Scheier and Held, what we do and don't do has little to do with rational decisions. Over 95 percent of our purchasing decisions are made unconsciously. The central drivers of this "implicit" decision-making system are reward and meaning. The appeal of a brand results from their interplay. In principle, Scheier and Held are not revealing anything new here. However, the authors have managed to present the complex subject matter in comprehensible models. Scheier/Held describe what successful advertisers have been doing intuitively for a long time with the help of many interesting practical examples.
Conclusion: At the end of the day, advertising only has to do one thing: sell. To what extent the new book helps advertisers to do this is for the reader to judge. Anyone who has read the last book "How advertising works" can expect little additional information. However, the new book is certainly not one of the many hundreds of other books that repeatedly explain the added value of brands and fall back on meaningless formulas.
Christian Lüscher
 
See also:
Farewell to illusions
What makes brands successful - neuropsychology in brand management. By Christian Scheier and Dirk Held. Haufe Verlag, 230 pages, Fr. 49.90.

 
 

A young discipline Neuromarketing is a young branch of research
which has become more popular thanks to advances in brain research over the last ten years. Neuromarketing combines classic market and consumer behavior with neuroscientific research. This has at least partially invalidated the homo oeconomicus model (WW March 14, 2007, "Werbe-Operation am offenen Hirn"). You can read about the current state of research in the article "Abschied von den Illusionen
" by Werner Fuchs.

 Former Mister Switzerland Miguel San Juan has secured himself a new job: he is the new ambassador for Nissan. At the IAA in Frankfurt, he took his first seat test in the new official vehicle, a 350Z Roadster. Alfonso Albaisa, Vice President Design of Nissan Europe, praised the new ambassador: "Miguel is a self-confident man with a lot of charisma and an independent style. That suits this vehicle perfectly". The communiqué is also full of praise for the ex-beauty king: he is "likeable, intelligent, an aesthete" and during his year in office has become "a trademark for a cosmopolitan, critical and multicultural Switzerland". Miguel San Juan will receive the keys to his vehicle in October. The first appearances together with Nissan are planned for this fall.

 
Local radio Commercial radio stations in particular will benefit from the future fee-splitting, while alternative stations will fare even worse. Those who have little will be given little. This is - in a nutshell - the policy of the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM) when it comes to allocating the future fee shares for local radio stations. In addition to 13 regional TV licenses (see WW 33/07), Bakom has also put 42 FM radio licenses in 34 regions out to tender, for which interested parties have until December 5 to apply. However, things are a little less comfortable for radio than for local TV licenses. While all future TV licensees are guaranteed access to the local cable networks as well as a share of the fees, the radio licenses only have one thing in common: they grant each licensee guaranteed broadcasting in the form of an FM frequency. In contrast, only around two thirds of the future regions will receive a share of the fees, with 12 of them coming away empty-handed - namely Zurich, Berne, Basel, Geneva (Arc lémanique), Aargau, Solothurn-Olten and the regions in eastern and central Switzerland. The distribution area of Central Switzerland South, where Radio Central currently broadcasts, is particularly unlucky: In future, no more licence fees will be paid here. Whoever wants to broadcast there will now have to manage without a financial boost.
No reduction, but a major intervention in the current radio landscape will take place in the new Arc jurassien entity: here, the current areas of Neuchâtel radio RTN, the Jurassier station Fréquence Jura and Radio Jura Bernois will be combined into a single new coverage area. Two congruent licenses are planned for this new radio area, one with the core area of Neuchâtel, the other with the main area of Porrentruy/Delémont/Freiberge. However, fee money will only be awarded for the station oriented towards Neuchâtel, with the condition that a separate broadcasting window be created for each of the three cantons concerned.
Otherwise, the tender will probably change very little. Except that the fees will be increased. In future, commercial radio licenses with a fee component will receive three to four times the amount that commercial fee-based radio stations received in 2005. However, there are two exceptions: Areas that already receive more than one million francs today (Südostschweiz, Arc jurassien) can "only" expect a doubling of the amount.
Marked increasesThe figures for 2005 are not the most recent, however. Bakom has just published the distribution of fees for 2007 - still under the previous system. However, this already reveals significant increases: The amounts distributed in 2007 are between CHF 30,000 and 200,000 higher than in 2005, depending on the broadcaster. Compared to 2005, when a total of CHF 5.9 million was distributed as part of the fee-splitting system, this year CHF 7.4 million will be distributed to the radio stations.
Based on the 2007 figures, therefore, the cash windfall for future fee-based radio stations will not increase as much as on the basis of the 2005 figures. But even on the basis of 2007, the distribution over the next five years will still be two and a half times higher than today. The fact that the 2005 figures are still primarily used here is due to the fact that the individual broadcasters have not yet published more recent annual accounts. And these annual accounts show that most commercial broadcasters closed the year with a more or less large profit. In this respect, the generosity with which money is already flowing to commercial broadcasters today, and even more so in the future, is astonishing.
Compared to this, the complementary channels are performing poorly. In contrast to the commercial broadcasters, Bakom has frozen the total fee share for 2006 and 2007 at the 2005 level (CHF 1.6 million). Although it is now to be increased by around one million francs, not everyone will benefit from this. On the contrary: in St. Gallen, the fee share for the future general licensee will be more than doubled, in Berne it will only be slightly increased and in Schaffhausen it will even be reduced. It should be noted that of the eight alternative broadcasters currently in existence, three also closed 2005 with balanced accounts and even a small profit.
 Markus Knöpfli
 

Calculation of the new fee componentsThe individual fee components
was calculated by OFCOM as follows: A basic amount covers production costs that are largely independent of the region and covers specific services such as program windows. The second part of the fee share
takes into account the special features of the respective coverage area and is calculated on the basis of location-specific factors such as population figures, data on the economic structure and the competitive situation. These factors reflect the economic conditions for the operation of a radio station in the coverage area. In the case of radio, Bakom weights the basic amount and the economic factors in a ratio of 40:40, with distribution costs accounting for an additional 20 percent.
are intended to give future broadcasters a certain amount of scope for development, but are basically fixed for the next five years. In the end, each broadcaster is allowed a 50 percent share of the fees.

  The publishing house Ringier is planning a new online platform under the working title "Digital Life". Microsoft is a partner in the project. This was reported by Netzwoche with reference to well-informed circles. The official announcement of the new platform is to be made on October 4 during a visit to Zurich by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in his presence. According to Netzwoche, Digital Life is aimed at consumers and will provide information about the possibilities of digital communication.
Ringier, however, did not wish to comment on this announcement:
"We refrain from commenting," said Group spokesman Marco Castellaneta when asked by Werbewoche.