The representatives of Facts employees, the trade unions Comedia and Impressum and the media company Tamedia have agreed on a binding social plan for the employees of the discontinued Facts magazine. The social plan is to be signed in the course of next week. The agreement was reached after three rounds of negotiations on Friday evening. In the negotiations, Tamedia met the demands of the negotiating delegation on various points, according to a statement from the publishing house. For example, benefits were made more flexible in favor of the employees. With the social plan now agreed, the approximately CHF 3 million that Tamedia had set aside as a cost ceiling for voluntary benefits will probably not be exhausted.
The Facts employees have approved the redundancy plan by a large majority. With this approval, they and the representatives of the trade unions are withdrawing their request for an extension of the consultation procedure. The social plan covers the approximately 64 employees affected by the discontinuation of Facts.

 
In the current issue of the trade journal Schweizer Journalist, Patrik Müller, editor-in-chief of the Sunday edition of the Mitteland Zeitung, holds out the prospect of a prime-time battle with the existing Sunday newspapers. The first issue of the simply titled Sonntag will be published in mid-September. In the run on the primeurs, Patrick Müller sees the competitive advantages of his paper in the agreed cooperation with Le Matin Dimanche. The 32-year-old has already worked with Le Matin Dimanche's editor-in-chief Michael Danthe during his time at Sonntagsblick. The two editors-in-chief will conduct joint interviews and exchange texts for their papers. Peter Rothenbühler, columnist at Le Matin Dimanche, will also write weekly texts for the Aargauer Sonntagszeitung.
However, Sonntag is not intended to become a pure prime-time newspaper, but rather to position itself on the market as an innovative print product independent of its competitors. One of the more daring ideas is to print a weekly text from Matin Dimanche in the original French. A page for primary school children is also planned, based on the American model. The general formula with which Müller wants to lead the new newspaper to success is: "Lavishly prepared, but well done."

 Swiss Post and Credit Suisse have each won a gold award at the Best of Coroporate Publishing (BCP), the award for corporate communications. Swiss Post received the award for its Direct Point newsletter. The agency responsible for the publication is Petra Hasler Marketing-Kommunikation. Credit Suisse won gold for its stakeholder magazine Bulletin. The magazine, which has a circulation of 150,000 copies, is designed by Arnold Design. The major bank was also delighted to receive three silver CPCs: for the magazines One, Bonviva and Global Investor. The Process agency was responsible for One, while Arnold Design was responsible for Bonviva Primafila and Global Investor.

 In protest against a possible takeover of the financial paper by Australian media mogul Rupert Murdoch, around 200 journalists stayed away from work on Thursday.  
According to the SDA, around a third of Wall Street Journal journalists went on strike to express their conviction that publishing freedom does indeed depend on the owner. Murdoch wants to buy the Dow Jones media group, which also owns the Wall Street Journal, for five billion dollars. After initial resistance, the owner family Bancroft has now entered into negotiations with Murdoch. Much to the displeasure of journalists, who do not believe the media tsar's promise that journalistic independence would be preserved after a takeover.

 18 media spokespersons successfully completed the postgraduate course "Professional Media Relations" at the Swiss School of Journalism MAZ in Lucerne, refining their technical and strategic media knowledge. This includes media-effective copywriting, setting up and networking media outlets, competent appearance in front of the microphone and camera, communication in crises and issues management. This postgraduate course is offered by the MAZ in collaboration with the Zurich School of Business HWZ and the Swiss Public Relations Institute PRI.
Certificates received:
Marc Andrey (PostFinance), Markus Clerc, Sandra Ehrensperger, (KPMG), Rebeca Garcia (UBS), Mario Gsell (eXpresso), Simone Jeanne Isermann (Credit Suisse), Doris Krummenacher (AND consulting), Thomas Lüthi (Helsana Versicherungen) Erich Maag (Zurich City Police), Philipp Nessier (UBS) Martina Peter Bitschnau (EMPA), Dominique Eva Rast (WWF), Priska
Sameli (Hewlett-Packard), Roland Schuler (Pro Natura), Madeleine Steiger (BBT Bundesamt für Berufsbildung u. Technologie), Sandra Streit-Dick, Reto Trottmann (Schutz & Rettung Zürich), Mirjam Würsch-Geiger (Grün Stadt Zürich)

 The German media entrepreneur Christiane zu Salm has been appointed to the Board of Directors of Ringier Holding. Born in Mainz, she is a proven expert in the field of electronic media and joins the top committee of Switzerland's largest publishing house. The 41-year-old was Managing Director of MTV Europe from 1998 to 2001 and was then CEO of Euvia Media. In 2007, she founded the investment fund "About Change Ventures", which invests in digital media and advertising companies. As a successful entrepreneur in a promising market, zu Salm was named "Global Leader for tomorrow" at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2002. As Ringier writes in a press release, it is hoped that her expertise in the electronic media market will make an important contribution to the successful development and expansion of the publishing house's digital media. Christiane zu Salm joins the existing Board of Directors of Ringier Holding, which consists of Michael Ringier (Chairman), Dr. Uli Sigg (Vice Chairman), Oscar Frei, Jan O. FrØshaug and Dr. Hans-Olaf Henkel.

Herbert Grönemeyer likes to get out of hand during his performances, playing and playing and playing. The fact that the fans did not tire last Wednesday at the Stade de Suisse was partly due to the incomparable magic that the German bard conjured up in the stadium and partly to the refreshment campaigns organized by Radio Energy. The 40,000 concertgoers were given citrus pastilles from Fisherman's Friends and songbooks. According to Radio Energy, this ensured that a thousand-strong choir was able to accompany the enduring singer for hours on end. This campaign is a continuation of Radio Energy's artist-specific sponsorship activities - previously, for example, thongs were distributed at the Robbie Williams concert.

 The Federal Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by Corner Bank against Coop's credit card advertising. The bank complained that the card, which had been advertised as "free" for around a year, was not free at all: a fee was charged for cash withdrawals in Switzerland and for services and goods purchased abroad. At first instance, the Aargau Commercial Court had already ruled that Coop had acted unfairly. The action has now also been dismissed by the Federal Supreme Court. An average, attentive consumer would not assume from the advertising for the free credit card that all services and goods purchases offered with this card would be provided free of charge. According to the Lausanne judges, the consumer would rather assume that, unlike other cards, no fixed annual fee would be charged for the Coop card. According to the Basler Zeitung, Corner Bank must pay the court costs of CHF 12,000 and pay Coop compensation of CHF 14,000.

 The suggestions on the readers' letters page come too late: someone wants to pay more for their subscription, another recommends that the paper adopt a more right-wing political stance. But after 637 editions of Facts, it's finally over - the farewell edition was published on Thursday. The editorial team provides a tasty review of the front pages, showing what was most moving: Christoph Blocher (15 times), terror (8 times) and sex (6 times front page topic). 12 celebrities, one for each year of their lives, sing their swan song, and there are also the 12 best cartoons, the 12 biggest sporting scandals, 12 highs, 12 flops, 12 animal stories and a list of the 12 shares that have made the most money in the last 12 years.
In the current print edition of Werbewoche you can see advertising reminiscences about Facts and Cash from the archive.
 

 Ten years after her death, Britain's Princess Diana is still omnipresent. To mark the "Diananniversary", as the sad anniversary is now known, there will be a veritable marathon of remembrance this summer. This includes a huge pop concert at London's new Wembley Stadium, a day commemorating Diana and Charles' fairytale wedding - which ended in an unhappy marriage - and a memorial event on the anniversary of her death on August 31. Diana concerts, Diana stamps, Diana exhibitions and Diana books are flooding the market. A separate word has already been created for the hype: "Di-Mania". Diana, apostrophized by the yellow press as the "Princess of Hearts", is as present in the media world as she was when she was photographed holding hands with Dodi Al-Fayed in a tiger print swimsuit.
Most recently, however, the princess was described as media-hungry and calculating. "Diana no longer controls her image as she was able to do with such cunning during her lifetime," wrote the British newspaper Observer. It is to be hoped that the media landscape will be able to emancipate itself from self-appointed media princesses in the future, without them having to meet a tragic death on a Parisian highway pillar.

 To coincide with the Zurich Street Parade on August 11, IP Multimedia is bringing the "MTV Music 4 Life" party festival in the Hallenstadion to Europe's biggest techno celebration. The marketing organization is thus offering advertising clients a new, attractive opportunity to reach a young target group. With an expected 15,000 visitors, "MTV Music 4 Live" aims to be the biggest party of the Street Parade weekend, as IP Multimedia announced in a press release on Thursday. The spectacle will feature fire performers and stilt walkers and, of course, a world-class DJ line-up. Anyone dancing in the Hallenstadion on August 11 will also be supporting a good cause: five francs from every ticket sold will go to the "Dance 4 Life" AIDS foundation. According to IP Multimedia, further events with the MTV brand are planned, such as an MTV party tour in winter and an MTV New Year's Eve party.

 The new analytics tool «ArgYou»—short for «Arguments for You»—shows the extent to which the content, products, and services on a provider’s website align with search engine queries. The web analytics tool was developed by the Swiss company Arg You in collaboration with the global market research and consulting firm TNS Infratest. As Arg You states in a press release, 85 percent of Internet users rely on search engines to find information about companies and products. Therefore, a website with relevant content is one of the keys to a successful online presence. With the insights provided by the «ArgYou» method, companies should be able to tailor their websites to specific target audiences, focus on specific topics, and align them with the activities of other market participants. Furthermore, as Arg You notes, continuous, targeted measurements can help determine how the profile of potential or existing customers is changing. The analysis tool is already in use in Switzerland and is now being launched in Germany as well.