500 days before the opening match on June 7, 2008 in Basel, UEFA presented the official slogan for Euro 2008 on Wednesday. Uefa Director General Lars-Christer Olsson believes that this slogan sums up everything that the tournament represents. In an address to all those involved, he said: "A slogan that sums up what the UEFA European Championship 2008 can offer: emotions of all kinds, joy or disappointment, relaxation or excitement right up to the final whistle." More than one million spectators are expected to attend the 31 matches in the stadiums, with a cumulative television audience of eight billion. Before then, twelve qualifying match days will be held to determine the 14 nations that will be in the draw for the final round on December 2, 2007, alongside the two host countries Switzerland and Austria. Tickets go on sale on March 1.

The Zurich agency Sensus PR has been awarded the mandate for the investor relations and public relations activities of the Medisize Group. Medisize is a leading developer and manufacturer of medical and dental healthcare products. Sensus PR has been supporting and accompanying the listed company since 2006 and has recently also been responsible for the annual report, other printed materials, regular and ad-hoc event communications, the website and national and international media relations.

CGC Consumer Generated Content, or CGC for short, is all the rage in the US advertising scene. The 2007 Superbowl, America's most popular sporting event, is dominated by the latest advertising trend, which means that the average consumer, equipped with a digital video camera and a good idea, can reach the upper echelons of media and advertising companies, provided he or she delivers a professionally realizable proposal for a piece of content. Consequently, this means that following the video mania on YouTube and MySpace, advertising is now also being made by the consumers themselves. The big question here is how to involve the customer in the creation process in such a way that both the company and the consumer can benefit.one of the first companies to successfully implement this strategy is Nike with its Converse shoe model. Two years ago, American Apparel also used photographs taken by some of its artistically talented fans for advertising purposes. And the youth channel Current TV, which was set up by former Vice President Al Gore, announced a competition among viewers to submit commercials for companies such as Sony, L'Oréal and Toyota. "The consumer has to become part of the creative process," says Paul Bennett, Chief Creative Officer of the design agency Ideo in Palo Alto. "They do a better job than we do."
So it's no wonder that the 2007 Superbowl, the annual final of the National Football League (NFL) and America's most popular sporting event, is also dominated by the latest advertising trend. In the run-up to the Superbowl, three companies announced competitions in which participants could make suggestions for the creation of an advertising clip: Frito Lay's Doritos chip brand, General Motors' Chevrolet and the NFL organizers themselves. Each of the companies had created certain guidelines to ensure that, despite a potentially amateurish presentation, the clips still looked professional without appearing vulgar or obscene.
Control with advertisersChevrolet and the NFL only wanted suggestions, which were then produced by their agency professionals. Only Doritos allowed consumers to submit a finished movie. No wonder, since the placement of a single 30-second spot this year cost an unprecedented 2.6 million dollars. "The advertisers did end up having control over everything, so it's not very risky," says Chris Allen, vice president for national broadcasting at agency GSD&M. "And CBS is very careful about what goes over the airwaves anyway." CBS, which is broadcasting this year's Super Bowl, hit the headlines three years ago when Janet Jackson exposed a breast during the intermission show, making media history with the title Nipplegate.
The main prize for the winners of the competition is that their work will be shown during the Superbowl. However, Doritos added another 10,000 dollars on top. The Superbowl is by no means an ordinary advertising event. After all, 80 to 90 million viewers usually tune in, a record number in the age of audience fragmentation. "Viewers watch the commercials just as closely as the game," says John Condon, Chief Creative Officer at Leo Burnett. "It's an unprecedented opportunity for any advertiser." For the agencies, the creation is a particular challenge, as they want to create a memorable spot for their product that will get the audience talking.
This is becoming increasingly successful, especially in the Internet age, as the commercials are widely discussed for weeks before and after broadcast in blogs, trade journals and online communities. The beer company Anheuser-Bush in particular, which is advertising together with PepsiCo for the 21st time this year as part of the Superbowl, is looking to attract the predominantly young, male audience to the screen with funny stories. "Humor is a trend that comes back every year, as is the immense production effort that goes into it," says Condon. "You want to make sure that the clips stick in the customer's mind." This remains true in the age of consumer-generated content.
Breakthrough into big businessHowever, the final selection shows that the CGC can certainly be professionally organized. It is evident time and again that many of the participants are filmmakers or marketing professionals who want to break into big business. Nevertheless, the films are produced with far less effort than conventional advertising clips. A Dorito commercial entitled "Live the Flavor", in which a driver eating potato chips while driving almost flattens a passer-by and sex bomb who is also munching on potato chips, cost 15 dollars. In view of the 380,000 dollars it costs to produce an average TV commercial - not to mention the extras that Hollywood stars usually demand for their involvement in Super Bowl clips - that's a tidy sum.
For the initiators of the competitions, the idea has already paid off, as there were already countless newspaper and magazine articles to read in the run-up to the event, providing General Motors with the perfect opportunity to address the hard-to-reach young people. The decision was made not to open the competition to the general public, but exclusively to college students. "Chevrolet has always been interested in connecting with the education sector," says Kelly O'Neill, advertising manager at Chevrolet. "So it was both a communications strategy and a business strategy for us."
However, the idea has not met with unqualified support from the advertising industry. "The fact that agencies and large corporations are turning to customers is the death of traditional sales and marketing strategies," sighs Mark Stevens, CEO of the marketing company MSCO. "Next thing you know, GM will be asking customers to weld their own cars."
Gerti Schön

BT Switzerland is strengthening its team with the addition of sales and marketing strategist Axel-Christoph Hinze. The British company, which has been based in Switzerland for 15 years, supports global companies in implementing cost-optimized solutions across the ICT infrastructure. Axel-Christoph Hinze (40) will assume the position of Director of Marketing and Business Development for Switzerland, Austria and Greece. He will also become a member of the BT Switzerland management team.
Hinze holds a degree in International Business Administration and has many years of international management experience in sales, marketing and public relations for leading global IT solution providers. Previously, Hinze was a member of the management team at CA Switzerland, where he was responsible for sales management.

The Windisch-based agency Merkbar is launching a new beauty customer magazine. More than Beauty is aimed directly at customers of hair studios, cosmetic studios, nail studios, fitness centers, wellness hotels and retailers, as detailed in a press release. The magazine introduces new products and presents the latest beauty trends in photo galleries. However, the celebrity factor is also intended to appeal to the target group and thus generate more advertisements. Interviews offer an insight into the lives of celebrities and their closets. The magazine will be published four times a year with around 20 pages.

The AZ Medien Group has created the new position of Sales Manager in the Crossmedia/Key Account division. Evi Bosshard will take over the new function as of March 1, 2007. Since 2001, the business economist has worked for the regional television station Tele M1 as area sales manager. With this new position, the AZ Medien Group wants to continue to pursue its multimedia strategy of networking the various media and services, according to a press release.   

René Worni on shared Sunday pleasures No, nothing has been decided yet, but the deal is as good as done: AZ publisher Peter Wanner will launch the seventh edition of his Mittelland Zeitung. In the media equalizing basin between Basel, Bern and Zurich, we will soon be talking about the Aargau media autumn. One might think that Wanner likes to launch the autumn fashion collections at the same time. In any case, the time has been ripe for some time. After it was said that the Sunday press had already reached its zenith, its advertising profits (2006) are up six percent on the previous year. According to Wemf statisticians, last December alone was over seventeen percent higher for the Sunday press than the previous month. This will probably also pay off for the Mittelland Zeitung, the third-largest paper in the country.
However, as tried and tested as the Sunday business is, it is not entirely without. So far, it has only proven itself nationally, with content from independent editorial offices and under its own brand. The seventh edition of Südostschweiz already shows that Sunday newspapers are sucking up topics in the region and making the Monday paper look thin on the ground. During the week, the editorial team already produces stories to feed the Sunday edition.
The considerations from Falkenstrasse to penetrate the regions with the NZZ am Sonntag are irritating. Theoretically, the NZZaS would have to take the NZZ's network of correspondents under its wing and salvage what can be salvaged regionally from the Saturday news hole into Sunday. Tschutten, for example. This looks like complicated contortions that don't really fit in with the renowned NZZaS.
The latest confirmation of intentions from Aarau, on the other hand, will certainly further intensify the tone between Basler Zeitung and Basellandschaftliche Zeitung (Matthias vs. Mathis). Because as early as this fall, bz publisher Mathis Lüdin, the fearless Wanner ally, will be taking the Sunday edition of the Mittelland Zeitung to the gates of Basel. If anyone has to fight, it's not the NZZaS, but BaZ publisher Matthias Hagemann, ideally with a BaZ on Sunday.
René Worni, Editor

Journalists in Switzerland earn an average of CHF 7200 gross per month. Wages are highest in the cantons of Zurich (CHF 7640) and Basel (CHF 7430) and lowest in the canton of Ticino (CHF 6190). Together with the Swiss Federation of Trade Unions, the journalists' associations comedia, impressum, the Swiss Federation of Professional Journalists (SFJ) and the Swiss Syndicate of Media Professionals (SSM) conducted an online survey. The results of the study were published on Wednesday.
The survey shows that journalists' salaries have not kept pace with the positive media economy in the last two years. The survey revealed that wages have stagnated for 35 percent of journalists since 2004, and "as many as eight percent have seen their wages fall", according to the study. The situation for freelance journalists has developed particularly badly. This "worrying development" is closely linked to the termination of the collective press employment contract in 2004.
The study also shows that professional experience is still more important in journalism than formal training. According to the study, media professionals with ten years of professional experience earn a third more than journalists with just two years. On the other hand, the wage difference of eight percent between journalists with a university degree and those without can be considered small.

Event For the first time, Apple did not present any new computers at Macworld - instead, it unveiled the much-anticipated iPhone. Until now, the Macworld keynote, which traditionally takes place in January and at which Apple CEO Steven P. Jobs likes to cherry-pick from the previous year, has mainly been a platform for announcements of new hardware and software. This year's Macworld opening speech was different: no new Mac mini, iMac or MacPro, no faster MacBook or MacBook Pro were presented, nor was any software product introduced or announced. Jobs merely made it clear that 2007 would be "an important year for the Mac". The only "computer" that Jobs conjured up during the two-hour keynote was a set-top box equipped with a Pentium processor and a 40 GB hard disk. iTunes player for the living roomThis device, called Apple TV, has a lot going for it, at least in terms of concept, and is intended to bring Apple products into the living room as well as the computer corner. The receiving station, which is based on the design of the Mac mini, forwards digital content from the iTunes software running on PCs or Macs to a connected widescreen TV. Up to five computers can transmit their videos, photos or music wirelessly via Apple TV to a connected TV or stereo system, providing digital entertainment; one of the five computers can synchronize the digital content with Apple TV. It is operated using the familiar white remote control and an improved user interface, which is based on the previous FrontRow technology that all newer Macs are equipped with.
Jobs proclaimed it a success that, in addition to films from Disney and TV series, movies from the Paramount film studio can now also be purchased and streamed wirelessly to the screen via Apple TV. As with the previous offers, the films are subject to a charge, but trailers for the films can be played for free. However, Apple can only chalk up the deal with Paramount as a partial success, as the company has most likely tried to win over other studios for this video-on-demand-like service in the past.
What is technically interesting about Apple TV is that the TV box also supports 802.11n in addition to the current wireless and WiFi standards IEEE 802.11b and 802.11g. This was only published in January 2007 and is due to be approved in April. Apple is thus once again positioning itself as an early adopter of the latest technologies. As Apple has now confirmed, all Apple computers equipped with Intel chips - with the exception of the Mac mini - already support the new transmission standard, which means that streamed videos can presumably be played smoothly on TV sets.
iPhone = Phone 2.0With the detailed presentation of the iPhone, Jobs let a long-awaited cat out of the bag. The new device is a handheld packed with high-tech ... that can also be used to make phone calls. Because making phone calls is really not the only thing that can be done with it. The iPhone sets a new standard in the field of "digital communication" - both in terms of operation and features. This includes sending short messages (SMS), e-mails (IMAP and POP3) as well as photos that have either been saved, received or presumably taken with the integrated camera (taking photos is a function that Jobs did not show). Mail and SMS messages can be entered and sent thanks to a keyboard that can be displayed. The device can also be used as a fully-fledged browser thanks to a reduced version of Mac OS X and a Safari version. It is not yet possible to say whether and which Internet standards will be integrated at the product launch; however, the display of PDF and rich HTML will definitely be supported. It is to be expected that Java and Flash content will also be playable on delivery or not much later. 
If you look at the operation and the design, then you have to agree with Jobs that he has "reinvented" telephony with the iPhone. The aforementioned two and a half years of development have borne fruit, and Apple has thought of many ways to simplify making calls. The quick access to addresses, the "reverse" linking of websites to telephone numbers, the merging of calls and the "visual answering machine" (which allows you to listen to several recorded voicemail calls individually) are among the highlights of the phone part. Above all, the user is spared unnecessary intermediate steps thanks to well thought-out user guidance. For example, active functions that are not required are automatically moved to the background when a call is made - or the screen switches off as soon as a call is made with the iPhone to save energy.
This does not even mention the iPhone's best feature, the touchscreen. This (Apple more accurately refers to it as the multi-touch display) not only allows simple inputs/confirmations as with a conventional touch panel, but also enables scrolling by dragging your finger on the display. By using two fingers in opposite directions, it is also possible to zoom in and out of images or select sections of web pages. Integrated sensors also detect the position in which the iPhone is held or rotate the image or video in the opposite direction when the device is turned. The normally portrait-format display then immediately becomes a wide screen (3:2 aspect ratio) - making the iPhone ideal for playing videos.
Google and Yahoo! on board The fact that Apple is doing everything it can to give the iPhone a successful launch is underlined by strategic partnerships with Google and Yahoo! For example, Yahoo! is offering free push emails and Google is contributing a special version of Google Earth.
If, as can be assumed, Apple pursues the same strategy with the iPhone as it did with the iPod and first launches a premium product and then gradually adds less powerful and less expensive phones, then the company could develop into a powerful telephone provider within a few years. But for the time being, Apple is being modest: According to Apple, the company wants to win "only" one percent of the cell phone market, which is said to comprise almost one billion devices, in 2008: That would be around ten million devices - which represents a "healthy addition" to the tens of millions of iPods that Apple has sold to date and for which the Group will probably have to reckon with a drop in demand at some point.
Then, and only then, will Jobs' statement at the beginning of the keynote that the iPhone marks the third important milestone in Apple's company history after the Mac in 1984 and the iPod in 2001 be true. When the "iPhone Mini" will arrive, which will perhaps "only" be able to make phone calls, should therefore be a matter of time.
One shortcoming of the iPhone is the stated battery life. The iPhone battery is said to last 5 hours in normal mode and 16 hours in audio playback or iPod mode. The new mobile phone is only partially suitable for use as a pure iPod (with the coverflow technology known from iTunes, which displays the CD covers for selection), because the 4 or 8 GB flash memory (minus operating system) does not really offer little storage space, but is in no comparison to the iPods, some of which are equipped with significantly larger hard disks - and would probably also be too expensive for this with prices of 499 or 599 dollars (Apple Switzerland does not yet have Swiss franc prices).
AirPort upgradesExtremely fast is AirPort Extreme - Apple's wireless receiver station, which was also presented at Macworld but not at the keynote. Like Apple TV, the new network base station benefits from the new 802.n wireless standard, making it around 2.5 times faster than its predecessor in terms of data transmission and giving it a greater range. The new "AirPort Drive" function, which allows connected USB hard disks to be converted into network drives, is particularly practical. This function opens up an interesting possibility for centralized data storage in smaller companies or at home. Like Apple TV, AirPort Extreme will be available in February.
The first 30 years were just the beginning ...After Macworld, Apple is definitely no longer the company it was before the keynote: Jobs immediately changed the name from Apple Computer Inc. to Apple Inc. This makes sense, especially when you look at the latest quarterly results. Of the 7.1 billion dollar turnover, Apple already generates the largest chunk with the music business, accounting for 57 percent (as of January 2007).
Even more can be expected from Apple this year: "The first 30 years were just the beginning ... Welcome to 2007" was written on the Apple website for a short time in the run-up to Macworld and was also emblazoned as a banner above the entrance to Macworld. Classic hardware and software products are to be expected - Jobs himself has already hinted at this. And the patented touch panel allows for further fantasies.   
Macworld ExpoThe annual event organized by IDG
Macworld Expo, which is held in San Francisco in January, is primarily aimed at Apple users. Products and solutions relating to Apple hardware and the Apple iPod are presented and sold there. A highlight of Macworld is the keynote speech, which is usually held by Apple CEO Steven P. Jobs and is always fueled by rumors about possible new products in the run-up to the event. Apple iPhoneiPhone is an all-in-one device developed by Apple,
which combines a cell phone (GSM), a digital camera (resolution: 2 megapixels), a PDA (calendar, notes, clock) and a multimedia player (music and video playback). The mobile phone is compatible with Wi-Fi networks (802.11b/g) and Bluetooth devices. The iPhone can be used to receive push e-mails (agreement with Yahoo!), make phone calls (in the USA exclusively with the TelCo provider Cingular), send text and SMS messages, access websites (modified Safari browser) and use Internet services (Google Maps). According to CEO Jobs, Apple has protected the device from being copied too quickly with more than 200 patents. Sales will start in the USA in June 2007, with the first devices expected in Europe in the fourth quarter. The iPhone measures 115×61 mm, is 11.6 mm thick and weighs just 135 grams. There will be two versions, a 4 GB and an 8 GB model. The 3.5-inch screen has a resolution of 160 ppi.    
Jürgen Franck

The Federal Council has appointed Professor Jean-Pierre Hubaux as a new member of the Federal Communications Commission (ComCom). He succeeds Professor Pierre-Gérard Fontolliet, who retired from the Commission at the end of 2006. The 49-year-old Hubaux is a professor at the Faculty of Computer Science and Communication Systems at the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, as announced by the Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC) on Wednesday. ComCom now once again consists of seven members. It takes key regulatory decisions in the liberalized telecommunications market, such as on tenders for mobile telephony licences, on interconnection disputes between providers and on the award of universal service licences.

Competitions The 10th edition of the Spotlight International Advertising Film Festival will take place on March 30 and 31. The show has developed into the largest advertising film festival in the German-speaking world. There is a competition for students and a competition for professionals. The expert jury for advertisers is chaired by Sebastian Turner. In its anniversary year, Spotlight will take place for the first time at the same time as the Creative Industries trade fair for companies in the creative industries (www.creative-industries.tv). The deadline for the competition has been extended to February 2. More information can be found at www.spotlight-festival.de.

Magazine printing AVD in Goldach is replacing a 19-year-old Rotoman C web offset press from MAN Roland with a new Rotoman with Printnet networking this year. A second press, known internally as the Goldiman, will be equipped with the same color control system as the new Rotoman as part of the replacement investment. The investment will give AVD significantly more printing capacity and greater flexibility. Owner and Managing Director Kai Hebel remains optimistic about the print media market. This optimism was one of the triggers for the new acquisition. With around 190 employees, AVD Goldach is now one of the largest print shops in Switzerland. Measured by the number of titles, AVD is even at the top of the rankings. The more than 28 million magazines are all produced in Goldach every year and distributed from there both in Switzerland and abroad.