At this year’s Publishers« Congress in Lucerne, Martin Kall, head of the Distribution Department at Schweizer Presse, reiterated that, from the publishers» perspective, the postal service must be liberalized. In the tariff negotiations to date, the postal service has shown itself to be unyielding. The publishers had been “up against a brick wall,” according to the Tamedia CEO. Kall expects that alternatives for the delivery of newspapers and magazines will be available in three to four years. By that time, the postal market should be liberalized, as the publishers wish.

 Alfa Romeo commissioned the Zurich agency Scotti to bring its lifestyle brand closer to women. Scotti developed a life event concept: this fall, the Ladies Styling Apéro, hosted by Luisa Rossi, will be held for women only. Supported by the Italian label MaxMara, she presents styling tricks, basics for every wardrobe, tips on fashion, make-up and hairstyles and provides insights into the trends of the coming season. The styling road show will travel to 20 Alfa Romeo showrooms throughout Switzerland from September 24 to November 6, 2007. The tour will be promoted through advertisements in the press, dealer advertisements, mailings and posters. Responsible at Fiat Group Automobiles Switzerland SA:
Maurizio Melzi (Head of Marketing), Maria Curto (Head of Advertising); responsible at Scotti: Nina Scotti (overall responsibility), Ivan Scotti (CD), Michel Hitz (AD), Florian Schumacher (graphics), Mathias Zimmermann (text); Media: Josi Bauer (Starcom Adplus)

 There appears to be a rapprochement between the trade unions and publishers on the issue of the Press Council. Until now, the trade unions have been opposed to publishers having a seat on the Press Council because they broke off negotiations on a collective labor agreement. The fact that the publishers' association is not represented on such a body is an exception in the European context. Now the fronts appear to be softening. In November, the trade unions will decide whether they want to open the door to the Press Council for the Swiss Press Association. The publishers have also backed away from their previous demands: They always wanted equal representation on the board, now they would also be satisfied with three seats. Markus Dütschler, President of Impressum Bern, praised the good discussions with publishers at the publishers' congress in Lucerne. Guido Blumer, publisher of the Winterthur Stadtblatt, is overseeing the negotiations on behalf of the publishers' association. He said that despite the positive talks so far, he feared that the union base might not agree to the proposal.
Dütschler also called on the association "not to hide behind the president". The background to this statement is probably that association president Hanspeter Lebrument is considered an opponent of a collective labor agreement. Dütschler went on to say that the publishers had previously pursued a "landlord-style wage policy".

 In the USA, TV viewers are largely critical of a controversial reality show called "Kid Nation". In the series, 40 children aged between 8 and 15 live for 40 days without parents or teachers in a ghost town in the US state of New Mexico. What actually sounds like a child's dream - no nagging moms and dads, no school - is rather difficult for some. "I think I'm dying here because there's nothing at all," complained eight-year-old Jimmy in the first episode. The camera watched him as he lay on the floor crying from homesickness. In the end, Jimmy decided to leave the project. The other children continued with the sometimes hard work - from building wells to cleaning toilets. In the run-up to the show, critics had accused the producing broadcaster CBS of exploiting children and violating the protection of minors. The TV critics are not enthusiastic for other reasons: the show is simply boring. "Watching the show was as much fun as looking after tired children who have eaten too many sweets," said The Boston Globe newspaper after the launch on Wednesday evening. The show seemed like a real world monitored by invisible adults, said the New York Times. The children would probably be better off at scout camp than being burnt out in a Big Brother format in the desert.

 Ringier has been working on a relaunch of the tabloid Blick for some time now; the project is called "Blick 2010". So far, however, the publisher has not wanted to commit itself to when the revised version will be launched on the market. At least it seemed as if the project should be completed before the eponymous year 2010. There was talk of "the first few months of next year". Well-informed sources now say that the new Blick should see the light of day in the first week of March 2008. However, this is too slow for the publisher, who would like the relaunch to take place in February. However, this is not possible, as the editorial system is being changed, according to insiders at Dufourstrasse: they want to work with Woodwing and Indesign. The changeover seems to be taking longer than planned.
According to reports, the revised paper will return to the one-bundle concept. It is conceivable that the back page of the newspaper will also be the front page of the sports section - just as the new free newspaper .ch already does. After all, former Blick head of sport Marcel Siegenthaler is now the man responsible for sport at .ch.
Ringier Group spokesman Marco Castellaneta did not want to confirm this: Ringier will provide detailed information about the "Blick 2010" project after its completion at the beginning of 2008, he said.

 Zurich-based media company Tamedia will launch its next free newspaper in Luxembourg rather than Switzerland. On October 10, the commuter newspaper L'Essentiel, which Tamedia publishes together with Luxembourg's Editpress, will be launched. The paper will be available in train stations, buses, administrative offices and businesses. The circulation is over 60,000 copies, which corresponds to one hour's printing capacity of Editpress, said Tamedia spokesman Christoph Zimmer on request. According to the Luxembourg newspaper Tageblatt, the target audience consists in particular of the more than 100,000 employees who come to work in Luxembourg from countries close to the border. The layout of the French-language L'Essentiel is very similar to that of 20 minutes, which is published by Tamedia in French-speaking Switzerland. Under the leadership of Editor-in-Chief Denis Berche, a 30-strong team will produce the newspaper.

 Marius Hagger takes over the management of Ringier Romania. Hagger already worked for Ringier from 1985 to 1995, at Tele, SI, Blick and Sonntagsblick, and later at Tamedia. Most recently, Hagger was responsible for Migros' journalistic activities as editorial and publishing director of the Migros company Limmatdruck. Hagger will take up his new position in March 2008 at the latest. According to well-informed sources, he will report directly to Alexander Theobald, who will continue to represent Romania and Hungary on the Group Executive Board.

The agency Euro RSCG Zurich has developed a TV and print campaign for the Swiss back mattress manufacturer Riposa. In contrast to most other mattress manufacturers, the new image campaign developed by Euro RSCG Zurich does not dramatize restful sleep or beautiful dreams, according to a press release. The strategy focuses entirely on the strength of Riposa, namely the product benefit of a strong back. Thanks to medically tested technology, the mattresses adapt to the body and thus ensure lying comfort. In three TV commercials and corresponding print ads, a wide variety of people show their backbone in just as many different ways by taking a stand openly and honestly. The aim is to show how strong people are thanks to Riposa back mattresses. The film was directed by Alberto Venzago. The TV commercials and advertisements can be seen now.

Responsible at Riposa:
Iva and Walter Schnellmann. Responsible at Euro RSCG Zurich: Frank Bodin (overall responsibility), Petra Bottignole, Axel Eckstein (CD), Dominik Oberwiler, Markus Hammer (AD), Patrick Suter (text), Thomas Hubli (consulting), Maya Iseli (art buying); Alberto Venzago (director), Frank Estermann, Panimage (production).

 On Thursday, a three-person delegation from the search engine company Google met with publishers. The publishers are annoyed that the internet giant publishes articles from media companies on its website. In their eyes, this constitutes a copyright infringement. The publishers want to do everything in their power to change the current situation, as association president Hanspeter Lebrument said. For them, it is essential that Google recognizes the copyright infringement. At the very least, the publishers want Google to obtain permission from the media companies and pay compensation for the publication. Google, on the other hand, wants to make common cause with the media companies and make them offers from its portfolio. The cooperation could include Adwords, sponsored links or Google Map, for example. The media companies are to receive a share of the resulting revenue in line with established Google practice.
The publishers are aiming for each publishing house to negotiate possible compensation individually with the internet company and clarify what content Google is allowed to show. According to Lebrument, a consensus could be reached in the long term. Publishers had previously threatened Google with legal action. Now, however, the climate for negotiations has improved noticeably, even if no concrete results have yet been achieved.
Publisher Norbert Neininger emphasized at the congress that alternatives to Google are needed. He cited the example of the news network planned jointly by Tages-Anzeiger, Berner Zeitung and Basler Zeitung. Together with seven partners, including Südostschweiz, NZZ and Mittelland Zeitung, the publisher of Schaffhauser Nachrichten is aiming to set up its own news portal from 2008.

Last June, the international creative elite met once again in Cannes to select the best ideas in the world. Publimedia's "BOP - Best of Press 2007" now presents the winning entries in the "Advertisements" category. The advertisement for the best advertisements in the world was designed by Matter & Gretener. Responsible at Publimedia:
Alexandra Kasper (Marketing Director), Sabine Tschopp (Head of Communications). Responsible at Matter & Gretener: Daniel Matter (Creative Direction), Dominik Imseng (Text), Bruce Roberts, Max Faller (Art Direction), Martina Schörghofer (Consulting); Photography: Stefan Minder.

 What can an advertisement do? This year, young creatives can once again put the answer on paper. The Swiss Press Association is launching the "Only an advertisement can do that" competition for the third time. As in the last two years, the twelve subjects are to be realized by young creative duos. Teams born in or before 1979 have until December 11 to submit their designs. A jury headed by Andreas Prokesch and seven other ADC members will select the subjects for the print campaign on December 19. The two best teams will travel to next year's European final - the BestYET. This will take place in Stockholm in May. The winner there will travel to the advertising festival in Cannes as a visitor. The campaign is one of the biggest in the Swiss press landscape. The competition is supported by the Alliance of Swiss Advertising Agencies ASW, the BSW Leading Swiss Agencies association, Schweizer Werbung SW and, for the first time, the Art Directors Club and the Swiss Copywriters Association. The media partners are Werbewoche and Publimedia. The Swiss press competition is once again being promoted by Matter & Gretener. The subject can be seen on page 35. Further information on the competition can be found at schweizerpresse.ch.

 The Wirz subsidiary Assai is creating an online game for the battery disposal interest group Inobat, in which the protagonist SchmuddelSepp is punished for illegally disposing of his batteries. Inobat's aim is to raise awareness of battery recycling among the Swiss population. The aim of the game is to stop SchmuddelSepp from illegally disposing of his batteries and to collect as many points as possible in the process. The players deal out blows for incorrectly disposing of the batteries. The reactions of the punished player should motivate them to continue playing. The online game is advertised cross-media. A banner campaign accompanies the poster and advertisement campaign implemented by Wirz Werbung.