Adlink continues to expand its expertise in media planning and hired Simone Schmitt as an Internet Consultant at the beginning of the year. She joins the team led by Stefan Suter (Chief Sales Officer). Schmitt, who holds a degree in business administration, most recently served as project manager for the online division at the media agency Mediascale GmbH.

The Goldbach Electronic Media Index (GEMI), published on Thursday, once again shows strong growth in advertising spending on electronic media. The index is up sharply by 6 points.  
At the end of the year, advertising spending in electronic media saw another strong surge. While all media tracked showed growth of 2 index points, the GEMI climbed 6 points from 349 to 355. Once again, TV stood out as the growth driver with an increase of 7 points. The Internet also saw a marked increase in December, gaining 6 index points. The index for Adscreen advertising rose by 1 point to 233, while radio gained 2 points and ended the year at 252 points. Only teletext, which had still managed to gain ground in November, fell by 1 index point to 144.
 
GEMI's annual financial statement is as follows:
 
TV + 34 index points, Radio + 1, Adscreen + 59, Internet + 78, Teletext – 19, All electronic media + 32, All media + 14
 
The GEMI is based on data published by Media Focus regarding advertising investments in Switzerland and on the WEMF's AIS advertising expenditure statistics for Adscreen, with an index of 100 in December 2004.

Integrated campaigns and outstanding ideas will be judged at the 2007 Cannes Lions within a single competition category—the Titanium and Integrated Lions. This year’s jury is chaired by Alex Bogusky, Chief Creative Officer at Crispin Porter & Bogusky. Bogusky joined Crispin & Porter in 1987 as an art director and was promoted to creative director just five years later. Under his leadership, the agency blossomed into one of the most award-winning advertising agencies and was responsible for campaigns for Ikea and Burger King, among others.

A reorganization of Viva Schweiz is intended to ensure the channel’s long-term survival in the Swiss media landscape. Following Giovanni Zamai’s appointment to replace Asta Baumöller on the executive board, additional positions are now being filled. A total of nine positions are affected by the various measures, according to a press release; however, it is unclear at this time exactly which positions are involved and whether these changes will result in layoffs.

As the December data from the Advertising Index Switzerland (AIS) show, December was a strong month for advertising. Revenue totaled 340 million francs, representing a 14.3 percent increase compared to the same month last year.  
The following industries have invested significantly more in advertising than they did in December of the previous year:
– Traffic + 53 percent

– Cosmetics/Personal Care + 38.8 percent
– Pharmaceuticals/Healthcare + 27.3 percent
– Politics/Economy/Government/Industry + 23.3 percent
– Watches/Jewelry + 23.0 percent
– Finance/Insurance + 21.6 percent
– Tobacco products + 20.7 percent
– Clothing/Shoes + 14.8 percent
– Media + 13.0 percent
– Tourism/Leisure + 12.3 percent
– Eyewear/Photography/Optics/Hearing + 11.9 percent
– Housing/Home + 11.8 percent
– Food + 11.5 percent
– Beverages + 10.5 percent
 
The only industry that invested less was this one:
 
– Services – 18.6 percent
 
Advertising spending in other industries fluctuated by no more than 10 percent above or below the advertising spending for the same month of the previous year. Detailed data is available for download at Wemf.ch.

After a total of twelve successful years at Viva, Asta Baumöller, the current managing director of Viva Switzerland, is leaving the network. She is being succeeded effective immediately by 28-year-old Giovanni Zamai.  
Baumöller, now 40, took over as head of Viva Schweiz in 2002. Under her leadership, Viva Schweiz flourished. In 2004, the station broke even and closed out 2006 as its most successful year since its launch. The music channel regrets Baumöller’s resignation but is confident that it has found a worthy successor in Giovanni Zamai. Zamai has been with Viva Schweiz since 2002, most recently as programming director, according to the channel’s press release.

Although the Internet is being used more and more, only a few people use it to obtain political information. In this area, TV, radio, and newspapers continue to take center stage. However, interest in coverage of politics and the economy has generally declined in recent years, as shown by the latest Univox analysis. Three-quarters of those surveyed have access to the Internet, but only half use it occasionally as a source of political information. The Internet is used daily by 29 percent of people; ten years ago, that figure was just three percent.
By 2002, readership of the newspaper had declined rapidly, but has since stabilized. Television viewership has also been on the rise again since 2002; in this area, the SRG has been able to hold its own against foreign channels. In contrast, the SRG has suffered a steady loss of listeners to private local radio stations.
Only 26 percent of those surveyed are interested in politics. In 2002, 40 percent of respondents had rated their interest in politics as very strong. The author of this study, Heinz Bonfadelli of the Institute for Journalism at the University of Zurich, attributes the declining interest in politics to the shift toward a more individualistic society that is increasingly focused on the market and entertainment, while politics and the economy are taking a back seat.

The youth radio station 105 increased its listener numbers for the fifth consecutive year. Radio 105 saw a 74 percent increase compared to the previous year. According to a press release, 105 made significant gains in the area of stream downloads; in December 2006, the youth radio station reached a record high of 800,000 downloads.

The Basler Zeitung (baz) has appointed Matthias Geering (47) as its new Editor-in-Chief. The Board of Directors has thus decided to fill the position, which has been vacant since the end of 2006, internally. Geering succeeds Ivo Bachman, who resigned at the beginning of September due to health problems. Matthias Geering began as a freelancer in the sports editorial department of the baz during his studies at the ETH-Zurich. Until the mid-nineties, he was a permanent member of the editorial team in all departments of the baz, after which he became deputy editor-in-chief. In 2004, the father of three children was appointed deputy editor-in-chief.

Thursday’s emergency meeting regarding the massive number of misdialed calls to the fire department due to the change in the directory assistance number yielded one main conclusion: There are no simple solutions. Effective immediately, a technical call filtering system will be implemented: in the future, callers who dial additional digits after 118 will no longer be automatically routed to the fire department. It was also decided to conduct an analysis of the numbers dialed in error—further solutions will be developed based on these findings. In addition, the automated message for calls to the now-invalid 111 number will be improved. Furthermore, the owners of the new directory assistance numbers starting with 18 must design their advertising messages in such a way that there is no risk of confusion.
However, as the SDA reports, a long-term solution is likely to come only with the introduction of the single European emergency number 112 in Switzerland as well. According to Sauser, there is no timeline for consolidating the numbers for the police (117), fire department (118), and ambulance service (144). This discussion has yet to take place with the emergency services and the cantons.

The creators of bkanal.ch, the first multimedia entertainment magazine for young adults, are introducing a completely revamped version that, according to the press release, will be more appealing not only to young people but also to advertisers. Bkanal.ch promises to become an audiovisual platform featuring lifestyle topics in the areas of sports, fashion, and music for young adults. 

Starting Thursday, residents in the Lukmanier Pass region will be able to receive SRG radio programs on FM for the first time in history. New transmitters are being brought online to close the reception gap. The existing FM stations had not previously provided full coverage of the area, according to a report by Radio e Televisiun Rumantscha on Wednesday, as relayed by the SDA news agency. The new programs, as well as RSI 1 and DRS 1, will be broadcast on eight frequencies alongside Radio Rumantsch. Car radios equipped with a Radio Data System will automatically tune in to the new frequencies.