Despite sales growth, the Zurich-based media group Tamedia earned less in the first half of 2007 than in the previous year. Investments in new publications and expenses for the discontinued Facts magazine led to a decline in profits. Tamedia recorded the strongest growth in the electronic sector. In its accounts, the publishing house distinguishes between continuing and discontinued operations. The latter include Facts and Radio Basilisk.
Net profit including discontinued operations amounted to 51.2 million francs, 2.1 per cent lower than a year ago, as Tamedia announced on Thursday. Excluding Facts and Radio Basilisk, which is to be sold by the end of the year, profit rose by 8.3 percent to 57 million francs.
Sales increased by 5.5% to CHF 373 million thanks to the good economic situation. The operating result (EBIT) improved by 2.5 percent to 64.4 million francs.
The economy had a positive impact on business. Print advertising expenditure benefited from strong economic growth in January and February and increased significantly. Following a decline in April, however, growth was significantly weaker in the second quarter of 2007. Sales of job advertisements increased again thanks to the continuing fall in the unemployment rate.
Online platforms grow Tamedia, formerly a traditional print publisher, recorded the strongest sales growth in the electronic sector: sales in the continuing operations rose by 15.8 per cent to CHF 28.0 million, primarily thanks to strong growth in online activities. According to Tamedia, Alpha.ch and Jobwinner.ch were the main contributors to this growth. Investments in the online platforms 20minuten.ch, 20minutes.ch and Piazza.ch led to an increase in operating expenses. Radio 24 was able to increase its turnover in the first half of 2007, while it had to be content with a constant turnover. Tamedia is looking for a buyer for Radio Basilisk. The station is therefore classified as a discontinued operation.
Sales up thanks to free newspapers In the Newspapers division, the media company's most important segment, sales rose by 7.1 per cent to CHF 269.9 million. In its press release, Tamedia attributes the increase to growth in job advertisements, Finanz und Wirtschaft, 20 Minuten and 20 minutes. The free newspapers therefore appear to be continuing to perform well. The costs for the commuter newspaper 20 minutes, included for the first time for six months, and the investments in the regional editions of the Tages-Anzeiger also led to a considerable increase in operating expenses. The operating result before depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) therefore fell by 0.2 percent to CHF 51.6 million. In contrast, the Tages-Anzeiger was able to record a slight increase in sales thanks to the regional editions.
Annabelle recorded a decline in earnings The Magazines division increased its turnover by 4.6 percent to CHF 39.8 million. While the women's magazine Annabelle recorded a decline in profits, Schweizer Familie once again reported an improvement. The TV program guide TVtäglich suffered a slight decline in sales and profit. EBITDA in the Magazines division fell by CHF 0.7 million to CHF 5.5 million. Tamedia reports the discontinued news magazine Facts under discontinued operations.
Services The Services division recorded sales growth of 5.0 per cent to CHF 127.3 million. According to Tamedia, the Bubenberg printing center and the Zuvo delivery organization contributed to the positive development, significantly increasing both sales and profits. In contrast, commercial printing suffered a decline in sales.

On Friday and Saturday, Basel's Radio X will broadcast the program from the station's stage on Barfüsserplatz. Bands such as Navel and Kitchen will be playing live, as well as discussions on youth political issues. The Basel youth and culture station has been actively involved in this largest youth event in the region since the first edition ten years ago. As Radio X announces in the corresponding press release, the station also runs the large bar on Barfüsserplatz.

 The Zurich-based media group Tamedia is satisfied with the results published on Thursday for the first half of the year "in line with the circumstances". As Chief Financial Officer Christoph Tonini said, the company was in line with its own expectations. In the second half of the year, the planned new free newspaper will have an impact on the accounts. Despite sales growth, the publishing house earned less in the first half of 2007 than in the previous year. The level of consolidated sales for the year as a whole depends heavily on when the acquired Bern media group Espace Media is consolidated. Espace will probably be included in Tamedia's accounts from October 1 or November 1, Tonini told the news agency AWP. The publishing house achieved a turnover of CHF 250 million last year.
The Newspapers segment will face the greatest burdens in the second half of the year. On the one hand, the launch of the new commuter newspaper planned in collaboration with the Berner Zeitung and Basler Zeitung will play a role. Tonini expects the newspaper to be launched in November. Decisions are to be made by the end of this week.
In addition, the start-up investments for the new free newspaper L'Essentiel planned in Luxembourg will also have a negative impact. For the other three divisions, Magazines, Electronic Media and Services, the CFO expects the margins achieved in the first half of the year to be maintained.
Tonini was not satisfied with the start to the second half of the year: "July and August did not go well and fell short of our expectations." The growth of the job market and the national elections in October should continue to provide a tailwind in the remaining months of the year.

The publishing house Edipresse is focusing on the Internet and is bringing in an aviation expert: In January 2008, Philippe Vignon will become Head of Internet and Digital Development at Edipresse. Vignon is currently Commercial Director and member of the Board of Directors of EasyJet Switzerland. He will take on the role of General Manager of Edipresse Digital and become a member of the Edipresse Group's General Management. Vignon will report directly to Tibère Adler, CEO of the Edipresse Group. According to the press release, the new Digital business unit will be responsible for defining the strategy and implementing the expansion of the Internet and digital media sectors at an international level. The official establishment of Edipresse Digital is planned for January 2008. The business unit will encompass Edipresse's international Internet and digital media activities. The focus of development and launch will be on the services for women, family, health, luxury and lifestyle portals.

 
Licensed radio and TV broadcasters that receive a share of fees should provide free broadcasting time to political parties and voting committees before federal elections. This is what the National Council's Political Institutions Committee (SPK) is calling for in a bill to amend the Radio and Television Act. The bill, initiated by Zurich SP National Councillor Andreas Gross, has been clearly approved by the SPK and has now been sent out for consultation until November 30. The aim of the bill is to better inform and motivate the population before the federal elections, writes the SDA in a press release. In addition, the bill is intended to enhance the status of political parties as traditional opinion leaders in the formation of popular opinion and will and to ensure greater fairness in voting campaigns. For this reason, parties with a strong parliamentary group and initiative or voting committees will in future be able to place advertisements free of charge on certain radio and television programs.
The spots could be a maximum of thirty seconds long and not exceed a total duration of three minutes per day and medium. The broadcasting period would be limited to the weeks from the fifth-last to the second-last Saturday before the referendum. The SRG and private broadcasters who receive a share of the fees would be obliged to broadcast the spots. How exactly the broadcasting times are allocated to the parties, initiative and referendum committees is to be regulated at a later date in an ordinance of the Federal Assembly.

 The German Advertising Yearbook is once again looking for the next generation: agencies from all German-speaking countries can once again apply to Econ Publishers to be named Newcomer Agency of the Year. Agencies founded after January 1, 2005 can apply free of charge until October 12. Up to three agencies will each be awarded the silver megaphones; last year, Walker from Zurich and Con Carne from Berlin shared the honor. The following factors are taken into account for the judging: Date of foundation, quality of work, commercial success and self-promotion. The winning agencies will be profiled in detail in the 2008 Advertising Yearbook and presented at the awards ceremony.
The competition is held every year, but this year is a special one: the yearbook is celebrating its 45th anniversary. To mark the anniversary year, the yearbook will be presented with a new logo and revised layout. The Berlin agency Etwas Neues Entsteht was responsible for the new design.

Radio DRS 2 is getting a new boss: Marco Meier has been elected by the SRG Board of Directors as the new program director of the DRS cultural station. He replaces Arthur Godel, who is retiring next spring. The 54-year-old Meier studied philosophy and theology. He has been head of the "Sternstunden" editorial team at Swiss television since 2003. Prior to this, he was deputy editor-in-chief of the cultural magazine Du for five years. From 1996 to 1998, he was Director of the Media Training Center (MAZ) in Lucerne. The theologian has also worked as a journalist for Weltwoche and the Tages-Anzeiger magazine.

 The organizer of the Oscar film awards ceremony, known to connoisseurs as the Academy, has shown its long arm: It banned the Swiss wine magazine Vinum from awarding an Oscar to the winner of the 2007 Swiss Wine Grand Prix next October. A corresponding announcement in the June issue of the wine magazine caught the eye of a Swiss representative of the Academy. According to the French-speaking Swiss daily La Liberté, the Oscar organizers subsequently forbade the magazine to award an Oscar to the winning wine of this year's Grand Prix. As the name of the little golden man is now unavailable, the Vinum organizers are looking for a new name.
The Academy's lawyers have also threatened to have the next issue of the magazine with a circulation of 100,000 copies destroyed by the courts. Vinum's editors can only save themselves from having their latest publication stomped out by apologizing for using the name Oscar. After consulting its own lawyers, the magazine decided to publish an apology. And will certainly refrain from ever using the five letters O-s-c-a-r in that order in its own magazine again.

Media Wirz and OMD realize a new and cheeky media idea for the Mobijeunes. 
"Shit happens", some in the editorial offices will curse. Many advertisers, on the other hand, will be delighted. The reason for the uproar: advertising across the so-called Chinese wall between publisher and editorial office. For the first time, an advertising campaign specifically addresses the current content of a newspaper, making the editorial content part of an advertisement. "Without having to pay for it - nota bene," says media planner Dominik Hofstetter at OMD. CD Matthias Freuler at Wirz is also proud: "This has never been done before in Switzerland." As part of the existing "Shit happens" advertising concept, Mobiliar uses editorial stories that report on funny, bizarre or tragic-comic events for its youth insurance Mobijeunes. These are succinctly commented on in the editorial space of the newspapers with the "Shit happens" arrow familiar from advertising.
The publishing directors of Blick, Heute and le matin bleu agreed to take part in the campaign. "They generously agreed to take part in this experiment," says Freuler gratefully. For once, it was not the agency that was responsible for the final version of the advertisements, but each individual editorial team. They had a predetermined number of "shit" arrows at their disposal and had to choose the weirdest story of the day shortly before the editorial deadline and "design" an ad from it themselves. Of course, there were certain rules to ensure that no genuinely tragic story was ridiculed with the funny arrow.
Andreas Panzeri

Advertising pool The Tasmanie agency in Lausanne advertises for Ringier Romandie with a parodied detergent advertisement. 
 
Detergents are often advertised with buzzwords such as "triple action". This familiar argument no longer seems particularly creative. Unless it is used in the form of a parody and as weirdly as it can currently be seen in a viral campaign. A certain Professor MAX presents the "triple effect" of Ringier Romandie's RomandieMAX advertising pool. The advertising pool in French-speaking Switzerland, which combines L'Hebdo, L'illustré and TV8, is the first in Switzerland to use a viral concept in B2B marketing. The Lausanne advertising agency Tasmanie is responsible for the creation and development of the viral campaign based around the parodic figure of the professor. 
From September, Professor Max will be unveiling his new "triple effect" formula in a three-part series of commercials. In the first spot, the witty fictional character shows advertisers how they can plug their money holes with the RomandieMAX advertising pool. Two further episodes can be seen on www.romandiemax.ch from September 4 and 11.
Ringier Romandie is sending the spots to the agencies by e-mail at the same time to ensure that the media people are aware of the campaign. They will also be shown on the Internet at www.werbewoche.ch. And: anyone who watches Professor MAX closely on the website can win iPods or a wellness weekend in a competition in each episode.
When RomandieMAX was launched in December 2005, Ringier Romandie advertised with unusual campaigns such as sending out barrels and cleaning cloths. Ringier Romandie found that advertisers and agencies reacted very positively to unconventional advertising and not only rewarded creativity with sympathy, but also increased the number of orders.
The triple impact of L'Hebdo, L'illustré and TV8 reaches every second Romand or 78,000 contacts in one go. But more impact doesn't have to cost more money, as Professor MAX knows: the RomandieMAX advertising pool is 18 percent cheaper than advertising the three titles individually. Or - to stay in the language of detergent advertising: a real "savings" for every media budget.
Andreas Panzeri

Insurance Anyone who believes that great cinema classics such as "Jaws" or "Titanic" were filmed without major mishaps will now be proven wrong. In its latest claims sketches, Mobiliar takes a look behind the scenes: Leonardo Di Caprio, for example, is almost killed by a seagull before the big sinking, while Tarzan shows great distress with his liana. Wirz Werbung has created a total of four animated damage sketches especially for Mobiliar's cinema sponsorship commitment.

Distribution press subsidies or not: Swiss Post wants more money from all publishers from 2008 Swiss Post and publishers fought shoulder to shoulder in parliament for the new press subsidies - with the aim of ensuring that at least the small-circulation local and regional press and the non-profit member press can continue to count on CHF 30 million in federal subsidies after 2007 and thus enjoy the same newspaper transport rates. After winning the battle, publishers are now faced with a bitter disappointment: Swiss Post is now requesting a surcharge from the Uvek for all titles that will continue to benefit from press subsidies - an adjustment to the 4.4 percent increase in inflation that has occurred since 2004. Depending on the weight of a title, this only amounts to an increase of 1 to 1.5 centimes per copy. However, for a daily newspaper with a circulation of 30,000 copies, this would result in additional annual costs of around 165,000 Swiss francs. large-circulation newspapers and magazines have been waiting with bated breath to see whether and how Swiss Post will pass on the loss of 50 million Swiss francs in federal subsidies to the publishers. On August 28, Swiss Post announced how it would now like to "accommodate" these publishers by "bearing part of the lost subsidies itself". In response to an inquiry, Swiss Post spokesman Richard Pfister specified that Swiss Post intends to pass on CHF 20 million to the publishers by means of rate increases - provided the price watchdog agrees. At the same time, Pfister quantified the generosity of the yellow giant: From 2008, the latter will not only bear the remaining CHF 30 million, but also the CHF 17 million deficit that press distribution has already caused it to date, despite subsidies - a total of CHF 47 million.
Unclear effectsHowever, the Swiss Press Association does not find this view "at all generous", on the contrary: "Although we do not yet have a clear picture of the quantitative effects of the tariff increase, we doubt that a pass-on of 20 million francs is justified," says association managing director Hanspeter Kellermüller. His reasoning: Press distribution is part of the universal service mandate, which is good business for Swiss Post. In addition, the press makes a significant contribution to the basic capacity utilization of Swiss Post. That is why the alleged deficit of 17 million francs to date is not really comprehensible.
Kellermüller goes even further and demands that Swiss Post reduce its rates. "This is the only way to bring postal prices down to a level that can be expected if further liberalization of the postal market takes hold," he says. The association will also inform the Uvek and the price watchdog of this. At the same time, it is advocating an accelerated liberalization of the postal market. And finally, the association is endeavoring to adapt the current indirect press subsidies in the longer term so that they are no longer tailored solely to Swiss Post and its tariffs, but can also be applied to other logistics providers.
Markus Knöpfli