Tele Züri reports a positive development in its market share. In the advertising-relevant target group of 15- to 49-year-olds, the Zurich regional television station achieved an average market share of 6.3 percent in prime time from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. in the first half of the year, according to a press release. Compared to the first half of 2006, when the share was 5.8 percent, this represents an increase of 8.6 percent. In June, the station reached a peak value with an average market share of 7.2 percent among 15 to 49-year-olds. Compared to the same month last year, the share rose by 44%.
According to the press release, the most successful programs in the first half of 2007 were the magazines "Lifestyle" and "SwissDate". With an average rating of 170,000 people, the "Lifestyle" program recorded an increase of 7.8 percent compared to the first half of 2006. For the dating show "SwissDate", the increase amounted to 4.0 percent.

The Hear the World magazine has won a Best of Corporate Publishing (BCP) Award. With the magazine of the same name, the global Hear the World initiative of hearing aid manufacturer Phonak, which aims to promote awareness of hearing and hearing loss, has launched a glossy magazine on the subject of hearing for the first time. The magazine was first published in German and English in January 2007. At the awards ceremony on June 27, 2007 in Munich, the magazine won the B-to-C category in the non-profit category. The competition is the largest of its kind in Europe and is organized annually by the Forum Corporate Publishing (FCP) under the patronage of Federal Minister of Economics Michael Glos. This year, a total of 580 corporate publications were submitted in 27 categories.

 The umbrella organization Schweizer Werbung (SW) has named Sacha Wigdorovits, publisher of the upcoming free newspaper .ch, as communicator of the month. SW spokesman Piero Schäfer commented on the choice in a statement: "The main topic of conversation at the Publishers' Congress is already clear: three days before the print media industry meets in Lucerne on September 20 for the glamorous annual meeting, Sacha Wigdorovits' new free newspaper .ch will be published, and I have to say that I admire the neo-publisher and envy him a little for his courage. It's been around 30 years since Sacha and I first met as reporters.
He was working for the Tagi, I was working for the NZZ, and nothing at the time indicated that he would one day become an editor himself. The years have shaped him, he has gained a lot of self-confidence and built up a fine network. And I'm convinced that he'll get this thing off the ground. Another question is that of distribution. It will soon become clear whether this will really work, because the idea stands or falls on this, even if .ch can put pressure on 20 Minuten and Blick in terms of content. Whatever the case, Wigdorovits is the 'man of the hour' on the scene and will undoubtedly be the 'man of the congress' in Lucerne. And he is already SW Communicator of the Month."

 What Weltwoche spread as a personnel matter is nothing more than a rumor: Tages-anzeiger.ch is to be expanded into a national news network together with Basler Zeitung and the two Bern-based Tamedia titles. Baz publisher Matthias Hagemann said on request: "Of course we have to look at how we position ourselves online. We will certainly look into a clever project that allows us to retain our independence." But there is neither a concrete project, nor is anything ready for discussion, he said. Tamedia spokesman Christoph Zimmer was also tight-lipped on the subject. He only said that former magazine editor-in-chief Res Strehle was responsible for the further development of the web platforms and that the online sector was undoubtedly "a very important project" for Tamedia.

 A new Swiss job portal for the media, communications and marketing industry has been online since Monday. The Job-Source.ch website was initiated by HR consultancy Hans Hofmann & Partner and offers job advertisements as well as tips for successful applications and a self-test for job seekers. Barbara Wieser is the managing director and Nadya Roth is the account manager. In July and August, the advertisements are still free of charge; the definitive pricing will be communicated in August. However, apprenticeships will always remain free of charge. There are currently around 140 jobs online. It is important to the Job-Source.ch team to have a direct line to the industry: they regularly visit industry events, take photos of visitors and then show them on the website.

 German TV giant ProSiebenSat.1 is considering launching new channels in Germany following the takeover of media group SBS. These could include a special theme channel for women, ProSiebenSat.1 CEO Guillaume de Posch told Welt am Sonntag. SBS operates successful women's television channels in the Benelux countries and the music channel The Voice in the Scandinavian countries. ProSiebenSat.1 is now examining whether these could also be models for the German market. De Posch also wants to produce German TV formats for the SBS stations after the merger. So "Popstars" may soon be flickering across the screen in Belgium or Sweden.

Until July 8, a bar lounge called "La boite qui roule" will be located at the Schifflände in Uster. This is the trial run for Jean Nouvel's Expo restaurant planned for this location. According to a press release, the bar lounge is already a huge success. Studio Geissbühler has created an overall appearance for the project in a Francophile style: from basics such as the naming, posters and flyers to beer mats, invitation cards and T-shirts.
A special food and drink concept was developed by Gastronomics for "La boite qui roule". All products have a French name. For example, the drinks are called "Pierre, la bière", "Theo, le thé" or "Lou Lou, la limonade". The drinks are freshly mixed for the restaurant and are available in unique packaging.
Nadine Geissbühler of Geissbühler Studio is the daughter of Domenic Geissbühler, whose posters for the Zurich Opera House have won several awards. His opera house work has been shortlisted for the ADC Awards every year since 2003, winning silver in 2003 and bronze in 2004 and 2007.
 

 Publigroupe's new Media Sales division, which was created in 2008, will in all likelihood be managed in Zurich. Hans-Peter Rohner, CEO of Publigroupe, confirmed this information to Werbewoche: "I assume that there will be certain geographical shifts in the management of Media Sales from Lausanne to Zurich". After all, the subsidiaries Cinecom, Radiotele and Web2com are already based in the city on the Limmat, as are Publimedia, NZZMedia and other Publicitas companies. The designated Head of Media Sales, Robert Schmidli, currently heads the Publidirect division, which is also domiciled in Zurich. The exact structure will be communicated in September and the plans will be implemented this year. According to Rohner, it is not yet possible to say exactly how many people will move to Zurich. Accordingly, it is still unclear how much the Lausanne site will be decimated. According to Rohner, it is also not yet clear whether the employees working in French-speaking Switzerland will move to German-speaking Switzerland or "look for a new challenge": "We are only at the very beginning of the discussion".
Media Sales will employ around 1900 people worldwide, around 1400 of them in Switzerland. All the sales activities of PubliPresse (Publicitas, Publimedia, Publimag, Publiconnect and Mosse Media), the international Publicitas Promotion Network and the electronic, digital and interactive media managed by PubliGroupe will be pooled in this new division (see
). Rohner firmly denied industry rumors that Publigroupe's headquarters would be relocated to the city on the Limmat. "Our head office has been in Lausanne since 1934, before that it was in Geneva for more than 20 years and in Basel from the very beginning in 1890. There is no question of relocating the head office," said the CEO. However, he can understand how the rumor came about: "Publicitas, which has been integrated into the new Media Sales division, is often equated with Publigorupe from the outside."
However, with Publidirect, Custom Publishing and Digital & Marketing Services, the company also comprises three other divisions. Publidirect is already based in Zurich, Custom Publishing operates in Hong Kong and Digital & Marketing Services has two mainstays, Namics and Zanox, in St. Gallen and Berlin respectively. "It is possible that other companies will be added that are based outside of Switzerland," said Rohner. The aim is to support the strategy of internationalization. "Where the business units have their headquarters geographically plays an increasingly minor role in an internationally oriented company. The distance between Lausanne and Zurich is also short at two hours by train. I travel it myself several times a week," explained Rohner.
 

Carole Scheidegger

All good things come in threes. This is the third time that the Republica agency has been responsible for the design of the big open-air festival on Bern's local mountain. As every year, the 2007 edition was completely redesigned, from the festival logo to the website to the merchandise articles. For four years now, the Bernese advertising agency Republica has been designing and creating the annually changing face of the Gurten Festival. While the last few years were all about the journey to the "Universe of Sound" and Planet G-858 (the Gurten is 858 meters above sea level), this year visitors will experience a colourful mix of early 60s graphics paired with a touch of Las Vegas, according to the communiqué.
The 2007 edition of the festival will also see the comeback of the legendary Waldbühne. For the communication of the numerous acts, Republica and the organizers of the festival have decided to send two visuals into the race: a main motif and a Waldbühne motif especially for the 19 Swiss acts

The Weber Harbeke agency is traveling south with Magalog Più. From July 3 to 16, 2007, the Mediterranean regions will be guests at Migros. Più is also being published again for this occasion. The third 2007 edition of the magalog, a mixture of magazine and catalog, presents Migros' fresh produce range as well as many products for pizza, pasta and more under the motto "Discover the freshness of the south". The magazine section provides background information on southern topics such as espresso, mozzarella, fish and antipasti. Più is distributed free of charge in all Migros stores and also appears as a supplement in the weekly and Sunday press in German, French and Italian-speaking Switzerland as well as in a partial edition of Migros magazine. Weber Harbeke is already working on further editions.

 A dispute about screen advertising is underway in Zurich that has already reached the Federal Court. Jürg Knecht and his billboard advertising company Citylights have installed a glass showcase on a building wall at the entrance to Niederdorf, where a flat screen displays changing advertisements every ten seconds. This does not suit the city. As the Tages-Anzeiger reports, it has asked Knecht to remove the flat screens. This would disturb the historic townscape of Niederdorf. Jürg Knecht has taken the case to the Federal Court. The court has not yet ruled on the case. But at the end of March, it demanded that Knecht temporarily stop the illuminated advertising until the court has ruled. Since then, Knecht has not complied. The Department of Buildings is now demanding that the billboard advertiser immediately turn off the screens. Otherwise, the city will either cut off the power to the display cases or cover and seal them. As department spokesman Urs Spinner told the Tages-Anzeiger, the city fears that Knecht's idea will quickly spread due to the slow pedestrian traffic in Niederdorf, which is interesting for advertisers, and that it will significantly disturb the townscape.
Knecht was not yet able to say at the weekend how he will react to the ultimatum of the city. In any case, the verdict is "threatening his existence". He has reacted insofar as he now carries out the picture change without optical ellipse effect. According to the Tages-Anzeiger, Knecht feels totally in the right and has already installed a similar flat screen in a different location.

The fact that Publisuisse has launched the radio advertising broker Mediasense does not mean that the competition is dead and buried. Radiotele continues to rely on its experienced team and is undaunted in its dealings with Werbewoche: They welcome any kind of competition in a fair competition.After all, the media announcement of the new entrant on the radio advertising agency market prompted Radiotele to issue a communiqué. Customers who are satisfied with the services of their previous agent need not fear that their advertising needs will no longer be covered; there is no reason to question existing partnerships in the cooperation for radio advertising.
When asked by Werbewoche, it was said that a certain amount of uncertainty had spread among the agencies. Although the emergence of Mediasense was taken calmly, the company wanted to defend itself against this climate of uncertainty and first see how it would take action.
Although the radio advertising market is in decline, the newcomer intends to develop it sustainably and increase sales. Radiotele is skeptical: it is not so easy to land new customers and Mediasense will almost certainly soon feel the effects. As a result, it is expected that the company will try to poach customers from other intermediaries.
The Publiplan online booking and processing system is set to revolutionize the radio advertising business. However, Radiotele is unimpressed: the business will continue to be handled via fax and e-mail. The first criteria are service quality, know-how and the ability to respond to individual customer wishes.
 
Natalie Favre