The Goldbach Electronic Media Index (GEMI) shows that the electronic media have made a promising start to the year. They recorded growth of four index points to 359 (355), as detailed in a press release. The overall market also showed a slight upward trend of one index point to 182 (181).  
According to the press release, all January figures confirm the trend from 2006: Internet again shows the highest growth with an increase of 5 index points to 261 (256), but TV with 4 index points to 363 (359) and radio with 3 index points to 255 (252) are also making progress. Teletext maintained its level of 144 index points.
 
The Goldbach Electronic Media Index (GEMI) is based on the data published by Media Focus for published advertising and advertising pressure. The GEMI provides information on the indexed development of the various electronic media in comparison to the overall market since the introduction of the first advertising window in 1993.
 
Goldbach Media is responsible for marketing electronic, private media in the areas of TV, teletext, radio, adScreen, Internet and mobile, with a focus on Switzerland and increasing importance in Austria.

Austria's former finance minister Karl-Heinz Grasser does not want to see himself naked in Vanity Fair and has therefore announced a lawsuit against the glossy magazine. The current German edition of the magazine has apparently used photos unlawfully, as can be read on netzeitung.de. The photos were taken during a photo shoot for the January issue of the Italian L'Uomo Vogue and some of them were only intended for private use.

Top Jobs, the specialized job exchange of Scout 24, is addressing its target audience directly with new advertising subjects. The entire campaign was conceived, created and realized by Maxomedia. Since fall 2006, Top Jobs has been drawing attention to itself with a pointed advertising campaign.  
Two new subjects will now follow: the topic of vacant management positions will be presented briefly and concisely in print advertisements and online advertising material. This allows the target audience to see at a glance where most vacancies for managers and specialists are on offer.

Unknown persons made a bad joke in the Bernese Seeland on Sunday night: they placed a billboard on the A6 highway near Schüpfen - a giant croissant with a concrete base. A motorist promptly crashed into the croissant. According to the Bern cantonal police, the strangers must have brought the advertising object onto the highway in a vehicle at around 4.30 a.m. and placed it in the normal lane. As reported by the SDA, shortly afterwards several drivers were apparently able to avoid the billboard and alerted the police. At 4.40 a.m., however, a female driver crashed into the oversized croissant on the foggy stretch of road. The front of the vehicle was badly damaged, but no one was injured. The victims probably did without a breakfast croissant that Sunday.

René Schenker, television pioneer and first director of TSR television in French-speaking Switzerland, died on Friday in Genthod at the age of 86. He headed TSR between 1958 and 1973, and then the radio and television of French-speaking Switzerland until 1985. TSR announced his death in a communiqué on Saturday evening, according to SDA. Schenker, who was born on July 20, 1920, first made a career as a singer. In 1947, he joined the radio in Geneva, where he made it to deputy director. In 1952, he launched a Geneva television station as an experiment. After a stint at the BBC in London, he continued to work for Geneva Television until it became the official Swiss television station in French on November 1, 1954. In 1958, the television pioneer was appointed the first director of TSR television in French-speaking Switzerland. From 1973 until his retirement, he served as Director of TSR and French-speaking Swiss Radio.

On Saturday, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung included the new magazine Z for the first time. In this publication, which appears ten times a year, the NZZ editors devote themselves to the finer things in life, as can be seen from its first issue. The lavishly designed magazine covers topics such as international fashion and design as well as developments in the world of jewelry, watches and cosmetics (see
). Other articles are dedicated to good food, golf or yachting, as Philipp Meier and Jeroen van Rooijen, the editorial directors of Z, write in the editorial.  
The launch of the lifestyle magazine is part of a restructuring announced in the fall (see
). Among other things, the nightlife magazine NZZ Ticket was discontinued and replaced by an Internet platform. The newsrooms of the newspaper and online portal have been brought closer together, writes SDA am Sonntag. The Z magazine is included in the Saturday edition of the NZZ and the NZZ am Sonntag.

The US media group Walt Disney has lost the battle for the rights to Pooh the Bear.  
Sometimes, even in a globalized world, David wins. On Friday, a federal judge in California ruled in an expedited trial that the company's claims against Stephen Slesinger were unjustified, said defense attorney Barry Slotnick. Slesinger will now focus on his claims for damages, copyright infringement, breach of contract and underpayment of royalties. The company also wants to sue the Disney Group for compensation amounting to more than two billion dollars (around 2.5 billion Swiss francs), as reported by SDA. The heirs of Stephen Slesinger, who bought the US rights to Pooh the Bear from author A.A. Milne in 1930, are accusing Disney of defrauding them of hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties. Slesinger had granted Disney licenses for the brand since 1961. The granddaughter of the original author, Claire Milne, had tried to regain the rights to her grandfather's honey-eating creation with the help of Disney.

The Zurich agency is back with advertising that is good for the head. There are many remedies for headaches, but few are as humorous as Algifor-L. Even the headline campaign from Matter & Gretener is good for the head. The campaign for the drug developed by Vifor has been running very successfully since 2005 and will also help to ensure that Algifor-L's sales profits give the competition a headache in 2007.

A few days after communications manager Riccardo Franciolli, the media coordinator of the Locarno International Film Festival has also thrown in the towel.  
Patrizia Pedevilla announced her resignation at the end of the month on Friday. Pedevilla told the news agency SDA that she was stepping down due to differences of opinion with the artistic direction of the festival. She cited the same reason for her resignation as Franciolli, who is responsible for communications.

On May 1, 2007, Lutz Bandte replaces Amos Kotte as Managing Director of Callwey Verlag. Bandte was previously one of the managing directors of Weka Media. Kotte is leaving at his own request, but will remain loyal to the publishing industry.  
In Lutz Bandte, the traditional publisher Callwey has been able to recruit a man as Managing Director who has already worked successfully in large publishing houses. After studying business administration, the 44-year-old initially worked for Otto Versand before moving to Weka in 1996, first as sales and marketing manager and later as publishing director. He has been Managing Director of Weka Media since 2004.
 
According to a press release, the outgoing Amos Kotte has played a key role in ensuring that Callwey can continue to operate independently as a successful company. In the eight years that he has been in charge, he has not only guided the publishing house through the media and construction crisis with great care, but has also opened up the company to other revenue streams in addition to the magazine and book business.

Swiss newspapers benefited from higher advertising revenues in January. Following continuous growth in the final quarter of 2006, the Publicitas index on the development of advertising expenditure in the daily press rose from 93.8 to 94.5 points. According to the Publicitas press release on Thursday, job advertisements are responsible for the good figures, but the other advertising categories also contributed to the positive development. Car importers and banks in particular placed more advertisements in January. Only real estate advertisements lagged behind the market trend, with the corresponding sub-index falling from 96.7 to 96.3 points. In contrast, the sub-index for job advertisements rose from 158.0 to 162.1 points.

Good news for the BSW agency Lowe: following an extensive competition presentation, it has been commissioned by BMW Group Switzerland to handle brand and retail communications for the BMW and MINI brands. Work on brand communication will begin in the next few weeks, while Lowe will take over retail communication from early summer this year. According to the agency, Lowe is currently putting together teams and recruiting the best possible people for these demanding tasks. Following the merger with the advertising agency Draftfcb to form the Draftfcb/Lowe Group in January of this year and the move to new business premises in Wallisellen-Zurich, Lowe is now back on the upswing.