After winning the international pitch in November 2006, Metzgerlehner created the Audéo world for Phonak based on the concept of its partner agency Kirshenbaum Bond and Partners. It features self-confident and charismatic testimonials that are not limited by anything, especially not by a hearing impairment, the agency writes in a press release. The testimonial campaign has been running worldwide since June. The focus is on the USA, France, Switzerland, Germany and England. In addition to the advertisements, the agency has developed brochures, flyers, trade fair stands and promotional tools. Phonak also placed a billboard with an Audéo motif in Times Square in New York. Metzgerlehner also realized an advertising spot for the international market. This is the first in the entire hearing aid industry and shows moments in life when hearing is particularly important.

The Publicis and NZZ managers have filled the existing NZZ word mark with content in order to create an umbrella brand with a clear message from the broad spectrum. For the first time, the brand makes a cross-product promise and unites the individual products into a larger entity: To an intelligent diversity, writes Publicis in a press release. This intelligent diversity is also the strategic core of the two new umbrella brand subjects, which stylishly and aesthetically translate the wide-ranging NZZ expertise.

 The advertising agency Advico Young & Rubicam is losing its mandate from Sunrise. This was confirmed to Cash Daily by management board member Lukas Tenger. Sunrise wants to break new ground in terms of branding and advertising, as the Handelszeitung reported last week. The telecommunications company Advico has therefore given notice. The advertising agency is now expected to cut jobs, the free business newspaper continues. Within the company, there are fears that around a third of the 45 jobs will be lost. The Sunrise mandate would result in the loss of an estimated five million francs in gross income.
Advico won the entire budget of the telecommunications company in 2004; Wirz was previously responsible. Over the next few weeks, other agencies will be vying for the mandate. According to Cash Daily, several creative workshops from Germany are among them.

 In response to the sale of the 40-percent stake in Bund Verlag, the media union Comedia has leveled accusations against Freie Presse Holding and the NZZ, claiming that the two companies have shirked their journalistic responsibility toward the long-established Bern-based newspaper *Bund*. The sale dramatically intensifies media concentration in the Bern market. «Espace Media Groupe is becoming the undisputed top dog in the federal capital. The Bern model—with two independent newsrooms under one publishing umbrella—could soon turn into a Bern media melting pot where there is no longer any room for diversity of opinion,» Comedia continues. This must be prevented.
The media union is therefore calling on Espace Media to fulfill its journalistic responsibilities. The editorial staff of *Der Bund* must be guaranteed the necessary resources so that journalists can continue to produce an independent, high-quality newspaper and thereby contribute to a diverse Bernese media landscape.

 The publishing house Espace Media Groupe is taking over 100 percent of Bund Verlag, which publishes the Bernese daily newspaper Bund. According to a statement from Espace, the change in ownership comes about as a result of the NZZ subsidiary Freie Presse Holding selling its 40 percent stake. It is thus exercising its contractually agreed put option. In the press release, Espace Media Groupe regrets the withdrawal of Freie Presse Holding from Bund Verlag. Espace Media will exercise its right to purchase the 20 percent of the share capital held by Publigroupe and thus acquire 100 percent of Bund Verlag.
At the same time, the resignation of Councillor of States Hans Lauri as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bund Verlag was announced. Charles von Graffenried, former member of the Board of Directors, will take over as Chairman.
In a press release, Freie Presse Holding justifies its sale by stating that the forthcoming takeover of Espace Media by Tamedia will result in changes.
The successful further development of the "Bern model" is strongly influenced by Tamedia's activities in the regional markets. As an example, Freie Presse Holding cites the announcement to further increase the circulation of 20 Minuten in Berne and to launch another newspaper in the major metropolitan areas. By ceding its stake, the NZZ subsidiary wants to enable Tamedia to integrate the two-title model into its overall strategy.
Espace emphasizes that the "Bern model" with the two newspapers Berner Zeitung (BZ) and Bund will be continued under the same economic and journalistic criteria within the framework of the new shareholder structure. The operational management of Bund Verlag, which was already the sole responsibility of Espace Media Groupe, will not change.
For its part, Freie Presse Holding emphasizes that the coexistence of the two newspapers has worked well in the Bernese market after great efforts. In the press release, however, it does not miss the opportunity to remind Tamedia of its promises: "FPH hopes that Tamedia, as it communicated in the media information on the takeover of Espace Media, will give the "Bern model" and thus also the Bund a firm place in its strategic orientation."
Espace Media was acquired by Tamedia in May. The purchase is still pending with the Competition Commission.

 Gauloises commissioned the Goldbach subsidiary Activemobile Media to implement an SMS service that allows students to send each other anonymous SMS messages as part of parties for the Blue Spot promotion. Each user receives a nickname and is photographed, according to the Activemobile press release. Following the party, the new members will be published on the Lignebleue.ch website. Members can also send each other text messages on this site. The concept consists on the one hand of the SMS service and a dedicated website. On the other hand, a Blue Spot Lounge is set up at each party, to which only students who register with Blue Spot in advance have access. Users are identified by a blue wristband. This signals to all party visitors that the respective student can be reached via SMS and that their nickname and photo are published on the Blue Spot board. The SMS service allows students looking for contact to make a first step towards others and thus reduce the inhibition threshold.

 Postmail presents its various franking options in a personal way on the Internet. Two real actors advise customers seeking advice in a virtual service center in three national languages and in sign language. The campaign has been well received by customers, said Max Leuenberger from Swiss Post's Marketing Communication department. Over 8,000 visitors have been recorded so far. "We wanted to bring a rather dry topic to life," says Leuenberger. Anyone who goes to Postmail.ch/frankieren will find face-to-face contacts in a virtual service center. The receptionist Laura - played by an actress - greets the customer. If you want to know more about her individual suggestions for a franking solution, you can beam yourself into Engineer P.'s development laboratory, where he explains the features and benefits clearly. An interpreter can be shown for the deaf.
The virtual appearance was managed by the Zurich agency Atelier Olive. The film content was recorded in German, Italian, French and sign language in the studio. The virtual 3D world in which the actors move was created on a computer. According to Leuenberger, no similar appearances are currently planned at Swiss Post.

 On Tuesday afternoon at 2 p.m., the Facts workforce sat down for an hour. They are calling on the management of Tamedia to take their demands for a decent and negotiated social plan seriously. The media union Comedia wrote in a press release that Facts employees had already twice demanded negotiations with the management for a social plan. However, Tamedia has only agreed to a meeting on Tuesday evening. The staff of the news magazine Facts now fear that the social plan negotiations will be put on the back burner. For this reason, the staff called on the publisher not to hold non-binding talks but to enter into serious negotiations. According to an inquiry by Werbewoche, Tamedia is making concessions to the employees by, among other things, extending the notice periods or paying salary compensation for a maximum of eight months. Tamedia's press officer, Christoph Zimmer, also commented on the unions' accusations that the publisher had set a very short deadline for Facts employees to participate. A longer deadline would have had the disadvantage that Facts would have had to continue production. The affected employees would have been uncertain about their professional future for the entire period and would not have known whether they should accept any new job offers.

 The Swiss media reacted cautiously to the Swiss Spiegel split. For the NZZ and the Tages-Anzeiger, the issue was a disappointment. It was aimed more at German than Swiss readers. The selection of articles may be exciting for Germans, "but they have already been written several times by local papers", according to the Tages-Anzeiger. For the Bund, it is clear that the supplement is no substitute for Facts. The most clichéd of all clichés had to be used for the cover picture. All in all, the Extra is amusing for the Swiss, but has no great insightful value, according to the Bund. In general, the individual papers agree that Der Spiegel still lacks its own Swiss editorial team for a serious Swiss edition. 

 A study conducted by the Swiss Press Council on its own statements has produced sobering results. In the study, the Press Council examined how journalists evaluate the work of the Press Council. Only eleven percent of 1329 respondents from 152 editorial offices stated that the opinions of the Press Council were an internal issue. The majority of respondents stated that they only heard about the statements through the media. Only half of them learn about them through agency reports. Although 77 percent of respondents are aware of the statements, only 50 percent rarely or never read them. Nevertheless, nine out of ten respondents know that the Press Council is available to readers and media professionals as a complaints body for media ethics issues. 89 percent are familiar with the declaration of the duties and rights of journalists. In German-speaking Switzerland, only 65% know the name of the President of the Press Council, Peter Studer, and in French-speaking Switzerland only 24%. The other members of the board are rather unknown, except in French-speaking Switzerland, where 64% were able to provide further names.
The majority of respondents rate the Press Council as competent, active and practical. However, 42% are of the opinion that the body has too little public presence.

 The publishers of the Mittelland Zeitung have decided: The Sunday edition of the Mittelland Zeitung will indeed be called Sonntag. Werbewoche had already reported that this was the favored name candidate (see ). According to the press release, the Sonntag figurative mark will be supplemented with the abbreviations of the individual newspapers in the Mittelland network (AZ for Aargauer Zeitung/LT for Limmattaler Tagblatt, OT for Oltner Tagblatt, SZ for Solothurner Zeitung, ZT for Zofinger Tagblatt and bz for Basellandschaftliche Zeitung).
A double branding has been developed for the newspaper, which will be published for the first time on September 16 with a circulation of 240,000 copies: the overarching national brand (Sonntag) in conjunction with the regional sub-brands. A decision on the design of the newspaper head and the various pages of the Sunday edition is expected to be made in mid-July.
At the same time, the Mittelland Zeitung has announced another addition to its editorial team. Peter Burkhardt has joined the business editorial team of the Sunday edition. The 37-year-old has been business editor at the Neue Luzerner Zeitung since 2005. He previously worked at One, the international employee magazine of Credit Suisse, and from 1992 to 2000 at the Berner Zeitung.

 
Sick people should also be cared for on the Internet. At the very least, outgoing TV doctor Samuel Stutz is setting up an Internet practice. Less than a week after announcing his retirement as presenter of the TV show Gesundheit Sprechstunde, Samuel Stutz has committed himself to the Internet. Stutz wants to help patients with a virtual practice and advise them via MP3 and cell phone, as he announced in an interview with Schweizer Illustrierte. A smart move by the TV doctor, because the future screams Internet and since the Internet is teeming with viruses, he certainly won't be able to complain about a lack of patients.