The newspaper combination "Cityplus" of the two titles St. Galler Tagblatt and Neue Luzerner Zeitung launches the online advertising pool "Cityplus-Online" on May 1, 2007. Web2com is marketing this online combination exclusively. According to the web2com press release from Monday, the print combination of the St. Galler Tagblatt and the Neue Luzerner Zeitung has shown that the advertising market is looking for efficient offers. For this reason, the two newspaper titles are now combining their websites Tagblatt.ch and Zisch.ch online with "CityPlus-Online". This will provide ideal advertising coverage for central and eastern Switzerland.
Web2com is a consulting and service company for online and mobile marketing that reports directly to Publigroupe. Its core competence lies in consulting, planning and handling online advertising, search engine and mobile marketing as well as in the conception and implementation of cross-media campaigns. The company also markets and mediates various Swiss websites.

 The Services division at Cinecom is facing its biggest internal personnel change to date, according to a company press release. The personnel change was triggered by Isabella Samek, the previous Head of Sales Administration, who is due to become a mother this summer and is therefore leaving Cinecom. Karin Bardohl, previously Head of Marketing & Media, is taking on the role of Head of Sales Administration. She is the new head of the team and will be inducted into her new area of responsibility with immediate effect. Karin Bardohl, who has been with Cinecom for two years, previously worked for various media agencies and represents Cinecom on various specialist committees. Manuel Siciliano is her successor in the Marketing & Media division. He worked for Carat Switzerland and Radiotele for many years before joining Cinecom last summer to work for 3+. Sabrina Bösch will take over the vacant 3+ Marketing & Media department. She has been working at Cinecom for five years, most recently as Team Leader TV Scheduling. She is therefore familiar with the various opportunities and services offered by 3+.
Cinecom is currently in talks with new employees for the TV scheduling department, which is to be further strengthened.

 The two online media Usgang.ch and Partynews are merging to create a platform that optimally combines the energy of the two partners, the two companies write in a press release. With over 90,000 registered users and around 700,000 visitors per month, Usgang.ch is one of the largest Swiss nightlife websites. Partynews.ch supports the partner in French-speaking Switzerland, where Usgang.ch is now represented with its own region. The Partynews.ch domain will be redirected to a sub-region on the Usgang.ch website specially set up for the magazine. Usgang.ch is a medium for urban lifestyle on the Internet. The website illustrates nightlife with photo galleries and provides information about events. Usgang.ch was launched in 2000, making it one of the first online media in Switzerland. Founded in 1993, Party News is today one of the few scene magazines in Switzerland. Every month, the magazine reports on the latest music, fashion and multimedia.

 After nine years of service, Gyula Sövegjarto (Demoscpope), president of the Central Switzerland Advertising Club, said goodbye. The General Assembly elected Ivo Knüsel (Publimedia), the current Vice President, as the new President. Nathalie Acklin (Arbiz) succeeded her as vice president. The meeting also elected Carmen Marfurt (Demoscope) and Daniel Truttmann (Handelszeitung Fachverlag) to the board. Sonja Baumann will resume her board duties in September. In addition, the Advertising Club elected Otto Meier (CEO Publipresse) and former president Gyula Sövegjarto as its honorary members.

 At the beginning of June, Buchdruckerei Wattwil, which belongs to the St. Galler Tagblatt, takes over Druckerei Fuchs. The Toggenburger Nachrichten, published by Druckerei Fuchs, will remain editorially independent. The takeover is part of the succession plan for Druckerei Fuchs, according to an SDA news agency report. Three members of the Fuchs family are leaving the company. The new owner will take on seven of the remaining eight employees. The position of one printer will be eliminated.
The Wattwil-based company is integrating the printing operations. According to SDA, however, Toggenburger Nachrichten will remain editorially independent. The local newspaper, which has strong roots in Upper Toggenburg, will continue to be published as before. The two permanent editors will also be able to keep their jobs. The local newspaper has a circulation of 4,500 copies.  

 
The search and information service Search.ch is launching the Euro 2008 category on Map.search.ch. Search.ch is endeavoring to continuously expand its existing services up to the start of the European Championships and is in constant contact with the cities and various contact points to this end. According to a press release from the company, users can also play an active role. For example, it is possible to report missing information in a blog. Anyone wishing to offer private accommodation or organize football parties can use the new drawing tool on the website to create a drawing of their offer free of charge. 

 
Sevenone Media is now offering video advertising on Myvideo.ch. By means of geotargeting, Swiss users will be delivered Swiss advertising material. Sevenone Media's first customer is Peugeot, which will be running TV commercials on Myvideo.ch from Monday. According to a statement from the online and multimedia marketer, Phillip Marquard, Head of Advertising at Peugeot Switzerland, said that video advertising is a very welcome addition to the range. Peugeot also uses every commercial broadcast on TV in the online area.

Via Myvideo.ch, advertising clients from Switzerland can currently achieve around 200,000 contacts per month in the form of video views from Swiss users. The moving image advertising of the commercials is automated via Sevenone Media's ad server. This makes it possible to plan campaigns, control reach and monitor success. Sevenone places the video ads exclusively in front of professionally produced video clips from the following environments: Music videos from cooperation partner Sony and television programs.

The future is not orange, it's green. Even the Bild tabloid has now realized this. If the stories are bad, then at least only the reader should suffer, not the rainforest.
So far, the Bild newspaper has done nothing good for the environment. Trees were sawn down so that the paper had, if not intellectual, then at least material content. Now, however, all gossip lovers can indulge in their vice and save the rainforest at the same time, because Bild is now offering green electricity in cooperation with the electricity provider Lichtblick.
So that the oh-so-concerned Bild readers can reduce their personal carbon footprint, they are advised that "Bild-Ökostrom" is the right thing for them. As with the trial subscription, there is a starting credit and the newspaper also protects one square meter of rainforest for every month a new customer subscribes. So at least you don't have to worry about a paper shortage any time soon, that's for sure...
Nota bene, it would be just as effective, if not more effective, if Bild readers stopped breathing. Given the correlation between the number of people on earth and the level of CO2 emissions, the rainforest would be far better served. In fact, a recent study recommends producing fewer people if we want to protect our ecosystem. Green electricity? Unnecessary. Picture readers? Likewise.

 Xerox has developed the Docucolor 242, 252 and 260 systems for applications ranging from commercial high-speed printing to color-accurate office applications in in-house print shops or design and marketing agencies. This launch underscores Xerox's leadership in the color market. According to Infosource, Xerox was the market leader in Western Europe in 2006 for color-capable multifunction copiers and printers with a speed of at least 40 pages per minute. Compared to the previous year, this market grew by 218 percent in 2006. This is much stronger than the overall market growth for A3 multifunction printers (+48 percent). The new Docucolor range offers features and performance levels previously found in high-performance production machines - and at a fraction of the footprint and cost, writes Xerox in a press release. The new DocuColor products are an excellent approach for print service providers looking to capture a share of the lucrative color printing business, writes Valentin Govaerts, Senior Vice President, Xerox Europe in a statement. The systems are also an excellent choice for companies outside the graphics industry that want outstanding print quality and speed without having to pay the price of high-end systems.

The three new Docucolor systems are available through Xerox sales partners and can be purchased with Pagepack and eClick service contracts for small and medium-sized businesses as well as large enterprises. These contracts include consumables and maintenance, enabling the customer to reduce overall office expenditure through better control of running costs.

 The Annual General Meeting of the Alliance of Swiss Advertising Agencies last Friday dealt with the election of the new Board of Directors. It elected Claude Hitz from Ergo Communication as the new President, Michael Waldvogel from Idfx as Vice President and the former President Andy Ruf as Past President without any opposing proposals. Allianz also confirmed the two Board members Diego Bally and Benno Frick. The Annual General Meeting elected Roland Friedl as a new member of the Board of Directors.

 Around 200 young advertisers registered for the federal marketing communication planner exams this spring. 159 candidates from German-speaking Switzerland and 20 candidates from French-speaking Switzerland ultimately passed the exam. The pass rate this year is a good 68 percent, which is only slightly lower than last year (69 percent), writes the Swiss Advertising Association in a press release. This means that 121 candidates passed the exam. Three women are at the forefront; Nicole Schnell, Karin Weigelt and Deborah Zedi all achieved the top grade of 5.0. By successfully passing the exam, all new marketing communication planners have proven that they have mastered the main subjects of communication planning, media and production. In addition to these disciplines, the basics of integrated communication, marketing and advertising management were also important in the minor subjects.

The Red Dot Design Award is presenting itself to the Arab world for a month. With a special exhibition at the International Design Forum in Dubai, Red Dot aims to strengthen the perception of design as an economic factor in the Middle East.
The first International Design Forum (IDF) will take place from May 26 to 29, 2007 and will focus on design in the Arab and global context. As a partner of the organizer, Red Dot will play an important role within the Arab congress. With its special exhibition at the Madinat Jumeirah Hotel in Dubai, Red Dot wants to actively promote local designers and expand its own presence in the Arab world. In addition, design expert Professor Dr. Peter Zec, initiator of the Red Dot Design Award, will give speeches on the topics of "Design as an economic factor", "Design institutions" and "Design for a globalized world".
The Red Dot Design Award is one of the most traditional and renowned design competitions in the world. Following the special exhibition in Dubai, the award-winning products will also be on display at the Red Dot Design Museum in Essen from June 26 to July 23, 2007.