With a rattling, hissing hand organ, the Lung League and Astra Zeneca are working together to draw attention to breathing problems. Just in time for World Asthma Day on May 1, the Lung League and Astra Zeneca are releasing a new commercial for which the advertising agency SFLB is responsible. According to a press release from the pharmaceutical company and the advertising agency, the aim is to raise public awareness of asthma. The main role in the advertisement is played by a "Schwyzerörgeli", which instead of a cheerful melody only emits a whistling sound reminiscent of the labored breathing of an asthmatic. At the end, it is mentioned that over 500,000 people in Switzerland suffer from asthma.

The Alstom Journalism Prize will be awarded this year on May 3 in Baden. Since 2002, the transport and energy giant Alstom has been recognizing exceptional journalistic achievements and, as every year, the industrial company Alstom will be showering journalists with prizes worth a total of 25,000. The awards recognize exceptional achievements and contributions that deal with the economic, social, ecological, technical or scientific significance of energy and its generation, transmission and use. An independent jury consisting of personalities from journalism, science, business and politics decides on the winners. The main criteria are the quality and originality of the journalistic contributions.
The French group employs 60,000 people in 70 countries worldwide, including 4,000 in Switzerland. In Switzerland, Alstom is represented by the Power Systems, Power Service and Transport sectors, and Alstom's energy sectors are also managed worldwide from Switzerland.

After just over two years, the publishing director of the Sonntagszeitung is leaving the Tamedia Group. Nothing is yet known about her successor.42-year-old Carolin Thoma is giving up her position as publishing director of the Sonntagszeitung to take up a new challenge in the media industry, according to a press release issued on Monday. The federally certified advertising manager entered the publishing industry in 1991 and worked for the business newspaper Cash and the women's magazine Annabelle, among others. Thoma completed an international Executive MBA in Media and Communications at the University of St. Gallen at the beginning of 2004 and became Publishing Director of the Sonntagszeitung in February of the same year.
The Sonntagszeitung would like to thank Carolin Thoma for her dedicated and successful work and wishes her every success for the future.

 
Vegetarians are fighting carnivores and stealing Swiss meat in a new campaign to make it more animal-friendly, and the initiators of a new animal rights website are taking the meat lobby to task. The operators of Schweizerfleis.ch write in a press release that they are not exploiting the body parts, but portraying the victims. They condemn the new Schweizer Fleisch campaign as animal exploitation propaganda and transform it into animal and vegetarian-friendly slogans; for example, "Not suitable for vegetarians" is changed to "Not suitable for the ethically underprivileged" or "Guaranteed without vegetable fats" to "Guaranteed without compassion". Perhaps vegetarians feel vindicated by this, but the so-called carnivores are probably more likely to be inspired by the bacon than the decapitated pig.  

The new contact person for the travel industry at Österreich Werbung in Zurich is Angela Bortenschlager. She succeeds Teresa Krenn, who is returning to Vienna. Angela Bortenschlager is responsible for marketing and additionally for press relations in French-speaking Switzerland. She comes from the strategic market management department for international markets at Österreich Werbung headquarters. Previously, Bortenschlager worked as a management consultant in an international consulting company. Raffaela Gruber, also transferred to Switzerland from the headquarters, is now in charge of Research & Development. She succeeds Guido Barsuglia, who has moved to Seco in Bern. The focus of her duties is on market research and target group marketing.

 The Handelszeitung publishing group, which is part of the Axel Springer Group, is taking over Amiado with immediate effect. The company operates Students.ch, the largest Swiss online portal for students, the leading student portal Friendz.ch, the international offshoots Students.de and Students.at and the Web 2.0 community Amiado.com. The current Managing Director Adrian Bührer will continue to lead the company as CEO. Technical Director Frank Renold will also remain with Amiado in an unchanged role. Ralph Büchi, Managing Director of the Handelszeitung and Jean Frey publishing groups, will take over as Chairman of the newly appointed Board of Directors. Adrian Bührer expressed his satisfaction with the transaction in a press release. He believes that in Axel Springer, Amiado has found a strong partner that will underpin its market leadership in Switzerland in the long term and support its international expansion. Around 80,000 people visit Students.ch every month and with 70,000 registered members, the site is the largest online portal for students in Switzerland. It offers a wide range of services. These include advice on studying, a housing market, job offers and tips on where to go.
The parties have agreed not to disclose the terms of the acquisition.

Metro International's performance in the first quarter was less than satisfactory. The closure of the Polish Metro newspaper, management problems at the Swedish edition and strict regional market conditions in the USA contributed to this, according to a press release issued on Monday, Metro International made a loss in the first quarter. Costs were caused by increased investments in the head office structure (global sales, IT team and higher management) and a 10 percent increase in circulation. In addition, the closure of the Polish edition alone caused costs of 1.7 million dollars.
The reasons for Metro International's high loss are manifold: In Sweden, management left much to be desired and the number of advertising sellers decreased. In Spain, the result was influenced by price pressure in Madrid. In France, the poor result is due to a weakening of key segments of the advertising market. Expectations in the US market were not met due to strict regional market conditions.
Good prospects
The results in Chile, Hong Kong, Portugal and Holland are encouraging and on April 16, the Swedish government granted all free newspapers a five percent reduction in advertising taxes. Metro International continues to invest in new editions in Mexico, Portugal, Sweden, Canada and Brazil, which will initially cloud the results and should be profitable over time. Metro International has been in existence since 1995 and has a readership of over 20 million people.

 Weber Harbeke demonstrates Migros' commitment in an informative and entertaining way. Più, a mixture of informative catalog and entertaining magazine, focuses on Migros' Engagement labels in its latest issue. Migros sells particularly socially and ecologically produced products under the Engagement umbrella label. In addition to an overview of the Migros range of products with the Engagement label, the new Più provides readers with a wealth of background information. This so-called Megalog, a mixture of catalog and magazine, was created by Weber Harbeke. The new Più is available free of charge in all Migros branches and is also published as a supplement in the weekly and Sunday press, as the agency explains in a letter.

The Bookparade is being organized for the first time in Zurich on Monday 23 April. Book enthusiasts are expected to stroll through the city while reading. Just in time for Unesco World Book Day, the Swiss Reading Promotion Association 4xL and the School of Applied Linguistics (SAL) are inviting people to the first Bookparade on Monday. From Zurich main station to the Theater am Neumarkt, you can browse through your favorite book and then enjoy a reading marathon moderated by Urs Heinz Aerni and Martin Weiss at the Theater Neumarkt. Twelve Swiss writers read passages from selected works.
The aim of this event is to highlight the diversity of book culture in Switzerland and to get more people interested in books and literature, according to the bookparade.ch website. Those who are interested gather at the meeting point at Zurich main station at 6:30 pm, armed with their favorite book.

 The management team of Switzerland's largest private radio station will be complete again from June. Radio 24 will have a new Head of Editorial and Head of Presentation. Reto Schärli will be the new editorial director of Radio 24, having previously spent seven years as editor and daily manager at the private radio station. Schärli began his journalistic career at Zürcher Unterländer before moving to Radio 24 at the end of 1999. He replaces the previous editorial director Iwan Santoro, who is taking a break in the USA and would like to pursue a new career, as the radio station writes in a press release.
Andreas Meier will be the new head of presentation. For the last three years, he was head of music at Radio 24. Before that, Meier was a presenter at the same station for five years. He replaces Marc Jäggi, who is moving to DRS 1 as a producer.

 The monthly trend report from Media Focus reveals strong advertising growth in the first quarter. With a new high of CHF 880.1 million, gross advertising investment increased by 11.6%. Radio advertising and advertising in daily newspapers and television saw above-average growth. Only cinema advertising declined in the first three months of the year. The advertising markets for political and charitable campaigns, telecommunications, services and vehicles recorded the strongest year-on-year growth in March, according to a Media Focus report. In contrast, the tobacco, watches and jewelry and IT advertising markets declined sharply. Media Focus describes it as striking that no fewer than eleven car brands were among the thirty largest advertisers in March.

 With harsh words, Federal Councilor Micheline Calmy-Rey takes her own party to task. This makes her the second Social Democrat figure after Franco Cavalli to wash the party's dirty linen in the media.  
Some comrades have had enough: SP Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey criticizes in the Sunday press the "hesitant or uncertain answers" her party gives to questions that concern her. The consequence: devastating election defeats like the one in Zurich. These problems include youth violence, problems at schools, living together with foreigners and the abuse of the welfare state. It is good and right that the SP does not react with populist phrases. There are no easy solutions to these problems. But the Swiss expect clear answers and want to know where the SP stands on these issues. However, the SP lives from the commitment of its members, as it does not have tens of millions of francs at its disposal for advertising like the bourgeois forces. It is a pity that the SP does not succeed in communicating its very serious basic work to the people. But perhaps collecting signatures on the street no longer fits in with today's lifestyle. Whether the public plain speaking of the magistrate is of any use will be seen in the next elections.