Car At Fiat, the signs are pointing to a new beginning. When it comes to new media, the competition is actually a long way behind the Italians. 
 Things did not go well for Fiat for a long time. The Turin-based car manufacturer missed out on customers, was in the red and had the image of producing cheap but unreliable small cars. Now Fiat is back. Since brand boss Luca De Meo took the helm of the company, the Italians are back in business. This is shown by the sales figures and market quotas. But the company also has nothing to fear from the competition on the Internet and on cell phones.
No car company is currently using the web and wap as cleverly as Fiat. The development in the mobile communications sector can be observed. Together with Microsoft, Fiat has developed the Blue & Me Bluetooth system. This allows drivers to make phone calls easily and provide musical entertainment.
National banner campaignFiat is also going full throttle on the cell phone display. Fiat Switzerland has recently become the first major brand to launch a national banner campaign. The campaign is running on all high-traffic mobile sites in Switzerland. These include sunrise.ch, 20min and cash.ch. Fiat is advertising the Turbodays from September 7 to 17. This is about the launch of new turbo engines for the Punto and Bravo models. The car manufacturer booked 120,000 page impressions with Goldbach Media marketer Activemobile, which specializes in mobile advertising ("Werbung im Taschenformat", WW of 22 August 2007).
The Onemotion agency is behind the interactive presence of Fiat Switzerland. Fiat has been relying on the agency's services since 2005 and is continuously expanding its mobile presence. The Swiss branch of the Turin-based car manufacturer wants to use the mobile Internet as an additional channel to make information about the brand and its cars accessible to young buyers. Mobile advertising is a further step in this direction alongside SMS and the Wap portal.
Although the development of the Internet in cell phone format is still in its infancy, the Italian car manufacturer is already setting a high standard within the industry and compared to all other offerings. "Fiat's presence is unique," says Mike Weber from Activemobile. Fiat is way ahead because the car manufacturer doesn't just limit itself to displaying information, but consistently seeks interaction with users in all possible channels. In addition to a wide selection of downloads, Wap surfers can access a dealer search, use the direct dial function to contact the dealer by telephone, order catalogs or book test drives with new models. In addition to free downloads, Onemotion also offers a mobile game. The game called "Lauberhorn", which is also available as a flash game on the Internet, is already in its second round this year and has been extremely successful in terms of in-game branding for the Panda 4×4. The mobile game version has already been downloaded over 20,000 times.
Cell phone advertising is establishedFiat Switzerland's Head of Marketing Wilfried Karl wants to focus more on the future medium of cell phones: "You can compare it with the situation in the mid-90s, when many companies dismissed an Internet presence as unnecessary and banner advertising as useless. Today we know that both are established in the marketing mix. We don't want to struggle in the mobile sector."
The successes prove Fiat's pioneering strategy right. No other car manufacturer is currently experimenting as skillfully as the Turin-based car manufacturer. Car giants such as Ford or Toyota in the USA and BMW in Germany are also launching campaigns with the aim of incorporating the cell phone. But only sporadically, according to Martin Hochuli from Onemotion. "We are not aware of any car manufacturer that links the cell phone with content as consistently as Fiat."
For Fiat, the consistent strategy is paying off. Since the launch of the banner campaign, the company has recorded a high number of hits. Above all, information about models is requested. Every day, at least three catalogs are ordered or test drives booked via the mobile Fiat portal in Switzerland. Another key figure indicates that Fiat is on the right track with its mobile strategy. According to Activemobile, the click rate for the current banner campaign is 2.5 percent. This is two percentage points higher than on the Internet.
Another reason for the high number of hits is networking. Fiat's mobile offering is well positioned in the Google search engine and in the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia, which contributes to the fact that not only users from Switzerland access the Mini-Web, but visitors are registered from all over the world. Martin Hochuli: "Users from Sweden to South Africa visit the portal or use the download functions on the Internet to send pictures to their cell phones." Fiat Switzerland collects an average of 100 addresses per day.
 
Christian Lüscher
Fiat with new brand emblem 
In order to preserve the ailing traditional brand
the Group changed its logo at the beginning of this year. Since Fiat was founded in 1899, the brand logo has been redesigned 15 times. With the market launch of the new Fiat Bravo, the Turin-based group said goodbye to the circular logo with a blue background and silver lettering and switched to red. The symbol designed by Robilant Associati is reminiscent of the famous Fiat sign that was emblazoned on the front of Fiat vehicles from 1931 to 1968. Brand boss Luca De Meo commented on the change: "In this decisive environment of dynamic development, we want to make a statement and also renew our brand logo. It stands as a signal for revitalization." Experiment with IP-TV 
Abarth
is a car tuner belonging to the Group. In order to revive the legendary brand, Fiat is working on gaining a foothold in the IP-TV sector. The idea: in the foreseeable future, Fiat wants to show rally races on www.abarth.tv. In addition to the ambitious TV project, work is also to continue and expand on the Internet. The 3D configurator at fiat500.com for the Cinquecento, which will soon be seen on Swiss roads, already shows the direction in which the presentation is heading.

 
Employee magazine Unilever has been consistently focusing on its "Vitality" mission since 2004. Zoom supports this process. 
The change began in 2004. Unilever, the global food and care products manufacturer, committed itself to a radical renewal process. The Group's new mission, which is also reflected in the revised corporate design, is called "Vitality": Unilever wants to improve quality of life with "better", i.e. healthy products and as a responsible company. For end consumers and for employees. This includes the environment in the sense of sustainable management of raw materials.
This already outlines the communication challenges. How, for example, does the end consumer in the supermarket find out which product is good for them? Or in relation to employees: how should information about "Vitality" be communicated in the national companies? First and foremost, the mission must be brought to life and experienced by the employees themselves.
The employee magazine as a source of informationUnilever's Swiss site is located in Thayngen. The 800 employees there are confronted with pieces of the Vitality puzzle every day. Be it through the new logo, the "Fit&Well" menus in the canteen or leaflets providing information about a healthy lifestyle, sporting activities, etc. Anne Zwyssig, Head of Communications: "It is important that our employees recognize the benefits that they too can derive from Vitality. Vitality is much broader than it appears at first glance. Our employee magazine Zoom, which we publish in collaboration with CP specialist Yesway AG, is an important tool for raising awareness."
The most important function of Zoom is to explain connections. Because as omnipresent as Vitality is in Thayngen, the various pieces of the puzzle have to be put together to form a whole. The employee magazine takes on this bracketing function and adds further facts to the impressions experienced in the workplace. "The topic of vitality is worthy of regular cover stories. It is exciting for us in Thayngen to find out how the mission is lived out in other national companies - and why we do certain things this way and not differently here," explains Anne Zwyssig. Together with Unicef, Unilever is trying to create better hygiene conditions in Asia, Latin America and Africa, for example. This also includes access to clean water and better nutrition. It is not immediately obvious that there is a connection to the sports club subscription for employees in Thayngen. Zoom explains and reports on both aspects of Vitality.
Lack of space signals relevanceBoth visually - Yesway AG consistently implemented the new corporate design in its design concept - and in terms of content, the Vitality mission runs like a red thread through the employee magazine: "Of course, we don't check every topic for its connection to Vitality during the internal editorial meeting. But the mission is present and flows into many articles," explains Anne Zwyssig. The internal editorial committee is made up of an equal number of employees from all departments, plus the editors from Yesway. This guarantees that the magazine reports directly from the company. The specified topics are then processed into articles by Unilever employees - who have the necessary insider information - together with the Yesway editors. Layout and print preparation are completely outsourced to Yesway. "The medium is relevant for the employees. We also notice this in the fact that we could always publish more articles than there is space for," says Anne Zwyssig.
A good three years after the launch of Vitality, it can be said that the vision is alive and well. One reason is certainly that Vitality brings added value to everyone involved and creates a positive environment in which people enjoy working. The employee magazine Zoom has actively contributed and continues to do so.
Michael Frischkopf
Yesway AGYesway AG specializes in editorially prepared corporate publications - for example employee magazines, customer newspapers, annual reports, newsletters and websites. The agency is the general contractor responsible for the concept, editing, design and implementation of Zoom, which is published three times a year in German. Further information can be found at www.yesway.ch.

 
Cross-media corporate publishing is increasingly developing into cross-media publishing. Traditional communication tools and conventional media will not disappear, but will be supplemented by new online media. 
In recent years, corporate publishing has developed into an important part of corporate communications. Whereas in the past, communication or marketing departments often had to produce customer or employee magazines under adventurous conditions and with little budget, today professionally produced magazines are at the heart of corporate communication. Corporate magazines have a high journalistic standard and present themselves in an appealing, professional layout - making them hardly inferior to magazines available at newsstands. In recent years, the company's own publications have proven their worth in retaining customers and employees. Using the classic communication mix, a company has been able to reach its target groups effectively via a professionally produced magazine. But now a new development step is on the horizon.
Danger of the "information tsunami "The rapid technical development of electronic media has dramatically changed society's communication behavior. The new diversity of mass media not only enables information to be disseminated more widely, but also offers information providers numerous platforms. Recipients are now in danger of being swamped by "information tsunamis". What remains when the wave recedes? -Nothing that can still be used and total overload! The important is no longer distinguished from the unimportant, and at the same time the trust and credibility of the sender is lost. The information is ignored.
Although companies have recognized the possibilities of the new media, they usually only use the new channels additionally. They do not check whether they complement the media already in use or even compete with each other. They become part of the "information tsunami" and are ignored.
Cross-media publishing creates added value Modern corporate publishing means offering individually tailored cross-media packages by intelligently combining and linking different media - for both internal and external use. A cross-media communication strategy helps companies to stand out from the crowd of competitors and (hobby) information providers. Messages are placed in a comprehensive and targeted manner. In this way, a company manages the balancing act of reaching its customers and employees individually and credibly using mass media.
With cross-media publishing - the intelligent combination of traditional and new media - companies have the opportunity to address target groups in a multimedia format and thus retain customers and employees more quickly and comprehensively. Print products can still be read regardless of time, place and technology. They also remain consistent - in contrast to online media, which are constantly changing in favor of topicality. A cross-media strategy therefore leads to added value for the company and ultimately also for its target groups.
New perspectives in internal communicationCross-media publishing is becoming increasingly important, especially in internal communication. Although internal communication is considered important in many companies, it is often only given secondary importance. Employees are bombarded daily with unstructured electronic circulars, presentations, databases, documentation, memos or minutes, for example. Information from the cafeteria or via the "latrine route" becomes more relevant than the CEO newsletter because it is received more quickly and with less effort. This can have serious consequences, especially when dealing with changes or difficult situations. In addition to the regular employee magazine or newsletter, the internal flow of information can be structured by using online media on the intranet. The opportunity for open exchange - e.g. via an internal blog - can also strengthen employees' trust in the company.
Andreas Merk, Senior Consultant, Medianovis AG, Kilchberg

 
Political advertising The new RTVA with its ban on political advertising has barely come into force before this provision is to be watered down: in the run-up to federal votes, parties and committees will in future be allowed to advertise their causes in the programs of SRG and private radio and television broadcasters. This is provided for in a draft law that the National Council's Political Institutions Committee submitted for consultation last week without dissenting votes (with two abstentions). Political parties will not receive any advertising time before National Council elections or cantonal and communal votes. What is surprising about the proposal is that the new Radio and Television Act (RTVA), which has only been in force since March, contains an explicit ban on political advertising in broadcasting services. It is not actually advertising in the true sense of the word, explains Franz Zeller from the Federal Office of Communications (Bakom). "Parties and committees would not have to pay anything for the broadcasting slots. The law would oblige broadcasters to air the spots free of charge," says the media lawyer.
The place for this provision is not primarily the RTVA, but the law on political rights. The Political Institutions Committee drew up this preliminary draft on the basis of a parliamentary initiative for "fair voting campaigns" by National Councillor Andreas Gross (SP) in 2003. According to the Political Institutions Committee, political spots should be permitted by law again in future.
The politicians have negotiated further measures directly with SBB and the Federal Chancellery to help "improve the formation of public opinion and will". These include free advertising space in the major railroad stations and space for the parties to present themselves in official publications.
UBI and Bakom examineThe framework for broadcasting the political spots, which are limited to a duration of 30 seconds, is tightly defined and already regulated in detail in the preliminary draft. SRG channels to be specified by the Federal Assembly as well as private radio and television broadcasters with a fee share would then be obliged to broadcast the voting spots produced and financed by parties and committees. In extremis, this means that an alternative left-wing local radio station would also have to broadcast the SVP advertisement on the deportation initiative. If a broadcaster has doubts about the legality of an advertising contribution, it can appeal to the independent complaints authority UBI.
Contrary to its current mode of operation, the UBI would not only become active after a broadcast has been made, but beforehand. Bakom would also have a supervisory function. The officials from Biel would have to check whether a commercial product was being advertised in an inadmissible manner in the political message. It is also precisely regulated who is allowed to produce such an advertisement. On the one hand, these are the parties with parliamentary groups in the Federal Parliament as well as initiative and referendum committees. The Political Institutions Committee also goes into great detail when it comes to regulating repetitions: The frequency of broadcasts is determined in proportion to the party strength.
Walpen points to autonomyThe SRG is skeptical about the whole project. The majority of the public is satisfied with the coverage of elections and votes. The SRG therefore sees no need to provide the parties with additional platforms, according to the explanatory report on the proposed legislation. Nevertheless, the SRG has submitted proposals to the State Policy Committee that are intended to address the concerns of SP National Councillor Gross' initiative. These range from the introduction of daily "elephant rounds" with the party presidents to the increased broadcasting of parliamentary debates on SF-Info.
But that is not enough for Andreas Gross and his fellow campaigners (see interview). They want direct access to the broadcasters. However, as SRG CEO Armin Walpen explained at a meeting with the parliamentary delegation, this would contradict the constitutionally guaranteed independence of the state and autonomy of the SRG in its programming.
Still a long way to goIt is anything but clear at present whether voting advertisements will ever be seen and heard on Swiss radio channels. It may be some time before the law "on the participation of political parties in the opinion-forming and decision-making process of the people" comes into force. Affected and interested parties have until the end of November to submit their comments on the preliminary draft. The Federal Council then has until summer 2009 to draw up a draft for submission to Parliament, which will then decide on the introduction of political spots on radio and television. If the bill does not fail before then, there is still the possibility of a referendum.
Nick Lüthi
See interview with Andreas Gross

 The search engine company Yahoo is buying the Californian online advertising network Blue Lithium for 300 million US dollars. With this acquisition, the Internet giant aims to strengthen its position in the advertising sector. Yahoo is thus catching up with rivals Google and Microsoft, which are also investing heavily in online advertising. With this acquisition, Yahoo boss Jerry Yang said that the company intends to offer customers comprehensive data analysis, advanced targeting and innovative media buying strategies in the future. With 145 million monthly users, Blue Lithium is the fifth-largest US advertising network and the second-largest in the UK. The company uses data from 145 million consumers around the world to enable advertisers to better target advertising on websites.

 
Ursula and Jörg Huggenberger want to use the Euro Youth Card<26 neben sinnvoller kultur, mobilität, kommunikation und konsum auch werte wie verantwortung toleranz fördern. 
Over 330,000 young people in Switzerland cannot put their money on the wrong card. And every year, Europe's largest "organization for young people" continues to grow and rejuvenate with around 50,000 new members. More than 20,000 are added each year because the under-26s have taken out a youth account with UBS or an insurance policy with MobiJeunes. Thanks to Sunrise or 20 smaller, national partners at Euro<26 mitmachen und profitieren. um was geht es?
"There is a good network of organized youth support in Switzerland. Active young people are involved in this participatory work. At Euro<26 kümmern wir uns um die «passive masse», erklären geschäftsführer ursula und jörg huggenberger. das zielpublikum sind damit «normalos», morgens sieben pflichtbewusst zur arbeit fahren, am weekend ihren verdienten fun haben – aber sonst nicht weiter als pfadfinder täglich gute taten vollbringen oder für höhere weihen bei einer casting-show üben.
The Federal Office of Culture decided in 1985 that "something meaningful" must nevertheless be offered to this consuming majority. The "Year of Youth" was being celebrated, and the European Council of the time had just taken the initiative to introduce a pan-European card for young people. Such passe-partouts for discounted culture were already very popular in Holland and France, for example. With the help of Flavio Cotti, then head of the FDHA, Switzerland became the fourteenth country to join the EYCA (European Youth Card Association) Euro<26 beigetreten. die schweizerische arbeitsgemeinschaft der jugendverbände (sajv) hat das projekt erarbeitet und 1991 in stiftung sfjk überführt.
Jörg Huggenberger, who has been involved in this project since day one, still thinks it's "an extremely rewarding task". In the meantime, together with his wife Ursula and an operating company downstream of the foundation, which can better manage the organization and its risks. "It's like Expo02: the federal government registers a need. Thanks to the private sector, it was later possible to finance the idea," the two explain.
For the companies involved, such as Mobiliar (15 years), Sunrise (10 years) and UBS (3 years), the 15 young employees at the Bern-based Euro<26 office is conducting a kind of «trend research into meaningful everyday support for young people». Without insurance, a young person can quickly get into trouble, and without a bank account, nobody can pay their wages these days. But even with the less obvious necessities of culture and commerce, Euro<26 den jungen konsumenten einen sinnvollen zugang öffnen.
With a promotional team of 250 students, 800 kilos of sunscreen are not only distributed at open-air concerts every year, for example, but also actively applied. This advertising for Nivea is a meaningful campaign against skin cancer under the patronage of the Cancer League. Crest condoms and half a million free notons distributed at concerts also combine advertising with education. The mobile "sans-i-bar" serves free sweet cider from the fruit association, "because it is more effective than simply preaching against alcohol". A further 100,000 "highly coveted party bags" are used at festivals as a container for sampling products that leave virtually no waste behind, as the cool bags are now regarded as collector's items.
"If you want to advertise with us, you have to actively give something back to young people," explains Ursula Huggenberger. Other partners must also be "vitally interested not only in promoting consumption, but also in providing low-threshold prevention".
In return, the employees of Euro<26 für ihre partner – «die wir bewusst nicht sponsoren nennen» die trends kommende entwicklungen zu finden. industrie will am markt vorbei produzieren. «wenn man bei den jungen dabei sein will, muss augen offen behalten», meinen huggenbergers. jede woche einmal tauschen sich «alten» im büro deshalb mit ihren trendscouts aus. diese suchen supermarkt, club oder vor der kinokasse immer wieder ergründen: wie entwickelt bekleidung, das mobilitätsempfinden, qualitätsanspruch freizeitverhalten?
For this special task of market perception around Euro<26 muss überall der begriff «sinnvoll» mitschwingen: sinnvolle kultur generieren, sinnvoller konsum, kommunikation und mobilität.
As a thank you to the young people who provide the important impetus for the future in this market research, card holders can now shop at a discount at 2,000 acceptors. The Body Shop gives 10 percent, as do many bicycle dealers, hairdressing salons and fashion boutiques. The card entitles you to discounted open-air passes and free admission to 150 of the best museums throughout Switzerland.
Increasingly important instruments for Euro<26 auch die kommunikationsmittel. vor drei jahren hat man mit einer agenda für berufsschüler angefangen, inzwischen gibt es den attraktiven terminplaner «uni-versum» studenten oder «daher!» in auflage von 20'000 jährlich rekrutenschulen. eine website informiert über aktionen aus kultur und konsum. das magazin twen bietet dem slogan «have a good time!» viermal im jahr unterhaltung information schweizer landessprachen. dazu kommen themenhefte ohne werbung wie 2007 zum beispiel twenkarriere, twenferien twenwohnen. diese magazine werden ab 2008 einem didaktischen teil hinterlegt, lehrer auf intranet ihren unterricht abrufen können.
So far, Euro<26 mehr soft-themen behandelt. nachdem die akzeptanz bei der jugend bestätigt ist, will man sich auch vertieften problemen rund um werte und bildung zuwenden. «wir haben den animationsteil im griff, ebenso niederschwellige prävention. jetzt wollen wir in tiefe gehen», verrät ursula huggenberger. geplant sind 2008 neben einem relaunch des twen-magazins wieder themenhefte, aber diesmal mit wie zum beispiel «häusliche gewalt», «toleranz», «verantwortung» «respekt».
With all these means of communication, it is more than just a professional advantage that Ursula Huggenberger is a trained graphic designer who also used to work for Brigitte in Hamburg. "The visual also plays into behavior. Beautiful aesthetics can also awaken our young people's general sense of beauty and thus culture," she is convinced.
Jörg Huggenberger found his approach to young people as a sales manager not only through marketing training, but also through character building in 1968. As part of the Euro<26 sieht sich der «berufsjugendliche ersten stunde» inzwischen als eine durch viele erfahrungen gewitzte vaterfigur.
Andreas Panzeri

 In summer 2007, the Baar-based market research company Argyou entered into a cooperation with the world's second-largest market researcher TNS-Infratest. The company also announces new members of the Board of Directors: Urs Wolfensberger, former MMXI Director and now Vice Director in the General Management of Publicitas; Juhani Anttila, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ascom AG and Roland Brechbühl, Head of the Webfactory at Berner Kantonalbank. Media scientist and company founder Christoph Glauser remains Chairman. Argyou measures the impact of website content by comparing it with content that is actually searched for on numerous search engines. The results of this digital market research should show marketing and communication experts what needs to be changed on websites in order to appeal directly to potential customers, according to a press release.

 Magazine publishers in Germany are increasing their advertising rates by an average of 1.5 percent in 2008. Holger Busch, Managing Director of Marketing and Advertising at the Association of German Magazine Publishers, is quoted in a press release as saying that the magazines want to send a signal to advertisers with this moderate increase and reinforce their position in inter-media competition. For 291 of the 655 titles surveyed, the prices for four-color advertisements remain unchanged or have been reduced compared to the previous year. However, some magazines are also increasing their prices significantly, as Horizont.de reports: The former subscriber supplement Kultur Spiegel, which will be included in the total monthly circulation of Der Spiegel from next year, is increasing its page price by 51.2 percent to 22,500 euros in future. Zeit Campus is also increasing its prices by 49.5 percent to 14,200 euros. Intouch (up 17.3 percent to EUR 14,261), Neon (up 16.2 percent to EUR 16,500) and Instyle (up 9.1 percent to EUR 23,900) are also increasing their advertising rates.

 
Sonntagszeitungen Wirz Werbung places the new Sonntag CH at the center of its target audience. 
"I'll never start anything on a Sunday again", sang Monica Morell in 1973 and this hit song occupied the number 1 spot in the official Swiss hit parade for five weeks. On September 16, 2007, despite the warning, someone wants to start something on a Sunday again. Will the same success be repeated in the hit parade? - If the advertising is anything to go by, many people should have a musical ear for the idea: "Finally a Sunday newspaper that's not just made for Zurich residents" is the headline for Sonntag CH from the AZ Medien Group.Wirz only recently won the pitch for the new Sunday newspaper. And the campaign is already up and running. Advertised as an advertiser campaign, the idea and implementation were so well received by those responsible at the AZ Medien Group that the reader campaign was also won.
Whether SonntagsZeitung, NZZ am Sonntag or SonntagsBlick, they all come from Zurich and view the world from Zurich. "So it's only right and proper that a Sunday newspaper is finally coming onto the market that focuses on the Mittelland," say the strategists of the new Sonntags and have incorporated this attitude as a key point in their beautifully designed advertising.
Inspired by the Romanian artist Saul Steinberg, who achieved world fame with a cover picture for the New Yorker magazine by exposing what he saw as the limited view of New Yorkers from Ninth Avenue across the Hudson River to the Pacific Ocean, the artfully designed campaign for Sonntag CH also looks at world events from Zofingen, Olten, Liestal, Grenchen, Aarau or Solothurn and takes them beyond the horizon. The publisher liked this view of things so much that 5 subjects have become 20. "The fourth - or fifth, to be precise - Sunday newspaper is the first to have a genuinely different slant," says publishing director Sabine Galindo.
CD Matthias Freuler at Wirz is very pleased that he was able to recruit Daniela Kirchlechner, a well-known artist, for the realization, who "lovingly created elaborate works of art in which there is always something new and interesting to discover". The agency is aware that requests for the subjects as posters will soon be coming in from the expected local patriots in Zofingen, Olten and Aarau.
Technically, the graphics were created in such a way that the well-known buildings in the Mittelland were first photographed, then artistically repainted and photographed again three-dimensionally as cardboard objects and presented to the even more abstracted background.
Andreas Panzeri

 Mathias Ruch, who founded the TV production company FaroTV together with Björn Hering in 2001, is leaving the company following health problems and intends to work as an independent specialist in the media and brand sector in future. Ruch and Hering had developed programs such as "Joya rennt" and launched them in Germany and abroad. In April 2006, their company was sold to Condor Films. However, Ruch continued to manage the company. For health reasons, he was absent for a longer period from September 2006, according to a statement from Condor Films. After a period of recuperation, he is now leaving the company at his own request.
He now manages and supports various projects in an independent capacity through his own company Rezeptor - Rezepte für die Medien- und Markenwelt. Among other things, he works in business development at the two start-up companies OpenInnovation and Tacooma.

 The former editor-in-chief of the Beobachter and the Basler Zeitung, Ivo Bachmann, is founding a media and consulting company. Bachmann left the Basler Zeitung at the end of last year for health reasons. Now he is back with his own company. Bachmann Medien aims to support publishers, editorial offices, public institutions, associations and private individuals in strategic, conceptual and organizational matters. "Initially, the focus will be on publishing and editorial consultancy at a conceptual level," Bachmann told Werbewoche. His company is not a classic PR agency. Nevertheless, it is conceivable that he could take on media work for non-profit organizations or teach them the right way to deal with the media. Bachmann is aware that this involves a certain balancing act in terms of his company's credibility: "The key is that I won't do everything. I will choose carefully which mandates suit my company and which don't".
The former Beobachter editor-in-chief sees sufficient demand for media consulting: "It's a booming industry". As his company has a relatively broad base, the field is getting bigger for him: "If I only advised Swiss publishers, it would of course soon be exhausted.
Bachmann also plans to provide selected journalistic services. He envisages writing for individual publications from time to time, as well as working on the realization of book projects. In the medium term, he is also planning to set up his own Media Edition to launch new media. Bachmann wants to concentrate primarily on the print sector and is working on ideas for new magazines, but these are not yet ready for the drawing board.
Bachmann also refused to reveal who his clients are: "There is a certain discretion in the consulting business". His company has only just been founded, but he already has orders for concept consulting.
Bachmann Medien, based in Hausen am Albis, is initially a one-man operation. Bachmann works with project-related partners. The company will also be opening a branch in Basel on November 1. Bachmann explained that he will have to make new personnel arrangements by then.
He is not currently drawn back to the daily grind of journalism: "I spent some very good years in journalism and put my heart and soul into it," says Bachmann. But now is a good time to do something new again. Among other things, Bachmann was Editor-in-Chief of the consumer magazine Beobachter and a member of the Executive Board of Jean Frey, Project Manager on the Executive Board of Ringier Magazines and Editor-in-Chief of Basler Zeitung and a member of the Executive Board of Basler Zeitung Medien.
Carole Scheidegger

 
Guest commentary Swiss publishers have a problem with Google, says Andreas Göldi: The fact that search engine giant Google publishes headlines from newspaper articles on its news portal doesn't sit well with the print moguls - even though Google doesn't take full articles, but sends users to the relevant newspaper website. The trade press has recently reported that the Swiss Press Association (VSP) is even considering a lawsuit against Google. In addition, a consortium of Swiss-German publishers is reportedly considering setting up its own Internet service to compete with Google News.anyone following the international media scene closely can only wonder at this confrontational attitude on the part of the VSP. Leading publishers in the English-speaking world have been opening up their online offerings more and more to search engines, especially Google, for some time now. The reason is simple: between 20 and 40 percent of visitors to newspaper websites find this content via search engines. Hardly any publisher can or wants to do without the advertising revenue generated by these streams of readers. Given these realities, why the VSP wants to sue the world's most important traffic supplier remains a mystery. It must be an attempt to participate in the search engine giant's fat profits in some way. However, quite different calibers have already failed internationally.
The project of a Swiss competitor to Google News is also likely to have a hard time. Firstly, this idea comes about five years too late. Secondly, Internet users today demand the full range of news sources, not just the offerings of VSP member companies. And thirdly, online projects driven by consortia and associations have historically not exactly had a high success rate. Industry politics and complicated constellations of interests are the enemies of fast and customer-oriented innovation.
One can only wish the Swiss publishers - and many of their European colleagues, by the way - that they soon learn to accept how the Internet ecosystem works. In the online medium, the value streams are more complex and the competition tougher than in the cozy regional print monopolies. The presence of strong global players like Google may not always be pleasant, but complaining and confrontation will get you nowhere. If publishers want to participate in the rapid growth of the Internet, they should focus on their core competencies: high journalistic quality and regional roots. The web offerings of many Swiss publishers still offer plenty of room for improvement, and not only in this respect.
Andreas Göldi is an internet entrepreneur and is currently working on his next start-up idea in the USA. He blogs at www.medienkonvergenz.com.