The consulting group for publishing and media Karlen-Consulting from Ostermundigen strengthens its team. Since the beginning of February 2007, Ms. Danielle Collatz complements the consulting team. The engineer for the graphic industry brings experience in the areas of media informatics and crossmedia. Over the past 15 years, Karlen-Consulting has built up a reputation in the consulting fields of corporate development, cross-media and e-business, media informatics and IT for media companies, as well as technology and organizational consulting in the Swiss and southern German media world. The Karlen Group also includes Interpublicum, which specializes in editorial and publishing consulting.

 A fund specializing in European stocks subscribes for shares in Capital Communication. As a result, the Zurich-based communications company gains an investment of 625,000 euros. To this end, Capital Communications has carried out a capital increase. Capital Communications intends to use the money raised from the investment to develop new business areas. Listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange is one such area. In addition, Capital Communications is in the process of building up expertise and resources to provide small and medium-sized companies with access to the capital markets, the company wrote in a press release on Tuesday. Demand in this segment is currently very high and Capital Communication is ideally equipped thanks to its experience in providing communications support for listings. Capital Communication has been a financial communications service provider based in Zurich since 2004. The company covers all tasks in connection with IPOs, fundraising and all financial communications.

Kraft Foods Switzerland has commissioned the agency JWT+H+F to create an individual advertisement for the launch of Mastro Lorenzo Intenso coffee beans. The creatives at JWT+H+F were tasked with communicating the special suitability of the aromatic coffee for fully automatic machines, according to the advertising agency. JWT+H+F developed the subject of the fire-breathing fully automatic machine. The concise visual is also verbally supported by the headline, which surprises with a metaphorical phrase.

A majority of leading PR professionals in Switzerland expect communication budgets to increase in the current year. They anticipate an increase in the region of five percent. A quarter even anticipate an increase in the double-digit percentage range. These are the findings of the 2007 industry survey conducted by the Professional Register of the Swiss PR Association SPRG. Once again, the industry is looking to the future with optimism. It also expects prices for its services and salaries in the PR industry to remain largely stable compared to the previous year.  
The traditional industry survey, which the SPRG has now conducted for the fourteenth time, shows that PR offers will cost the same. However, the comparison also shows that the price ranges are set to narrow significantly. According to the survey, deviations from the average due to extremely cheap offers as well as very high prices have clearly decreased.
 
Gross annual salaries in the PR sector are expected to remain virtually unchanged compared to 2006. Only the figures in the secretarial sector are below those of the previous year. A certain degree of standardization can be observed in the top segment. The salary band here has become narrower and more than two thirds of respondents earn between CHF 130,000 and CHF 180,000 per year. A similar picture can be seen in the hourly rates, which were surveyed for the first time last year. The average values have fallen slightly in the lowest segment (from 110 to 100 francs). In the upper segment, they have risen slightly and now amount to CHF 280, compared to CHF 275 in the previous year.

 WPP Team Alfa has won the international mandate from Alfa Romeo. Advico Young & Rubicam has been looking after the budget in Switzerland since the beginning of the year. The mandate covers all areas of marketing communication, the agency writes in a press release. From the repositioning of the brand to classic campaigns and bellow-the-line measures. Initial work can already be seen. For example, the TV commercial for a new type of limited slip differential, which advertises driving fun in the desert on snow, ice and tight bends.

Sandoz wants to do something good for the Swiss population and is transforming billboards into walking fitness offices. Switzerland should stay healthy and its people should keep fit every day. The generics manufacturer itself provides the best tips for this with its new poster messages such as "Jog home from here", "Don't carry suitcases" or "Push back all shopping carts standing around". With slogans like these, Sandoz is calling on the Swiss to actively improve their own health and prevent ailments instead of swallowing generics from the pharmaceutical giant.  
However, Sandoz is not only drawing attention to its own benevolence for Swiss health with tips, but also with gifts. Mountain bikes, sneakers and frisbees, among other things, can be found on 200 poster sites throughout Switzerland. Passers-by are asked to take the sports equipment away from the poster site and exercise immediately to do something for their health. Malicious tongues could now be wagging that Sandoz is already rubbing its hands in glee at all the scuffles over the sports equipment and accidents with it, thanks to all the generic sales.
 
The advertising agency was responsible for the clever campaign.

 Ad Link, the marketer of Internet advertising space, is expanding its range of easy-to-book theme and target group-focused pools with the newly launched Ad Link Leader Pool. The Leader Pool efficiently addresses the target group of "leaders" and "top leaders" on selected publisher websites. According to Martin Radelfinger, CEO of Ad Link, the new offer takes account of the fact "that the Internet has established itself as the primary source of information due to the accelerated need for information on the part of managers in finance and business." According to Ad Link's press release, the Ad Link Leader Pool makes it possible to reach decision-makers from business and administration with a single placement, whether with standardized advertising media such as the banner or high-impact advertising formats such as the leaderboard or the rectangle.
The following websites are available in the Leader Pool: Bilanz.ch, Cash.ch, Facts.ch, Finanzinfo.ch, Handelszeitung.ch, Nzz.ch, Sonntagszeitung.ch, Tagesanzeiger.ch and Weltwoche.ch.

 With moving images and a new online presence, Schweizer Illustrierte shines in new splendor. The magazine is thus taking a step from an established print brand to a multi-channel media brand. From now on, it will be possible to watch or download short film clips on topics from the current issue of Schweizer Illustrierte. Web TV is intended to complement the current print edition, Ringier writes in a press release. The magazine's online presence is to be further expanded as an interaction and information platform. In this way, Ringier hopes to guarantee the loyalty of its existing readership and tap into new target groups. The website does not compete with the print edition, but rather supports and complements it.  
The agency Previon was responsible for the new website under the direction of Edna Lisak, who is responsible for Schweizer Illustrierte. The web TV and videocasts are produced in close collaboration with Cashdaily Multimedia Production.

On April 1, 2007, family doctors are calling for a virtual demonstration. On the website www.pro-hausarzt.ch, they are campaigning against the lack of new blood and the neglect of politics and health insurance companies. The cross-media public campaign was created by Voser Werbung. The small Zurich agency won over the Swiss Society of General Practice (SGAM) in a pitch. The campaign for the "Day of Swiss General Practitioners" on April 1 uses the image of the general practitioner's tongue examination. The core message is: "Open your mouth for healthy family medicine in Switzerland".
The classic advertising measures such as posters and rail posters have the task of leading as many users as possible to the website. Practice posters and free postcards are also used.

 The application deadline for the new Zurich youth radio station expired today, Monday. Both the revised application from Music First and that from DJ Radio were submitted on time for the FM frequency advertised by OFCOM. The two former lone fighters Giuseppe Scaglione (Radio 105) and Mike Gut, who had previously withdrawn his own application (Radio Max) in favor of Music First, said they had "worked together excellently". Among other things, the collaboration with the Institute for Applied Media Studies (IAM) at Zurich University of Applied Sciences in Winterthur spoke in favor of Music First's application. Music First thus ensures journalistic quality and fulfills an important recurring training function for young media professionals in Zurich, according to a press release from Music First.
DJ Radio is also confident in its press release. DJ Radio is deepening its training concept by collaborating with the MAZ - the Swiss School of Journalism, the University of Art and Design Zurich and Radiowerk.ch. Pupils, students and apprentices should all have the same opportunity to undergo radio training at DJ Radio, explains DJ Radio founder Egon Blatter.
The race for the new Zurich youth radio station is entering the decisive phase. According to a press release from DJ Radio, the Federal Council will probably make a decision in the summer.

 Sat1 Switzerland is launching a new relationship show in collaboration with Schweizer Illustrierte and is exploring the question of who is actually compatible. Anna Maier will host the entertainment show "Say yes! The Persil dream wedding". In the show, couples looking to get married will be put to the test. It starts in May and couples who want to get married this year should apply then, according to the Sag Ja press release. The couple that wins the relationship test at the end of October can look forward to a dream wedding and an exclusive honeymoon. The show's partner is Persil, which is celebrating 100 years of washing this year. Marcel Theiler, Product Manager Persil Switzerland, writes that the project is Persil's way of saying thank you in its anniversary year and supporting young couples who get married and say yes as they take their first step into the future.

 Accelerom Research concludes in a study that corporate publishing is more efficient than conventional advertising. This is shown by the Zurich-based marketing intelligence company's market-representative BrandConnex studies in a wide range of sectors. The increasing fragmentation of media usage and target groups has a direct influence on the effectiveness of communication measures, explained Christoph Spengler, Managing Director of Accelerom, in a press release on Monday. The BrandConnex studies confirm that customer contacts with an individual and journalistic approach, such as articles in customer magazines, are becoming increasingly more important than via mass media.  
Following the changing trends in media usage, the growth industry of corporate publishing is opening up new target groups and new communication channels. Instead of advertising, which threatens to get lost in the mass of information, corporate publishing can have a more targeted effect on consumers and can be prepared and sent out in a targeted manner.
 
BrandConnex uses statistical methods to measure the quantitative and qualitative significance and impact of a wide range of customer contacts. For example, the impact of a consultation can be compared with that of an advertisement, a homepage or a shop window between target groups. At the same time, the measurement reveals the strengths and weaknesses of the respective brand compared to competitors.