Peter Werder is the new head of corporate communications at ÖKK Kranken- und Unfallversicherungen, headquartered in Landquart. He succeeds Therese Spescha, who started her maternity leave in December. As Head of Corporate Communications, Werder is responsible for both internal and external communications at ÖKK Kranken- und Unfallversicherungen. Previously, he worked as a journalist and on the agency side - among other things, he was in charge of the Wirz Group's online communications. At Bütikofer&Company and Jung von Matt in Zurich, he worked as a consultant in the areas of media relations, crisis communications, branding and web.

The Zurich agency Futurecom has redesigned the existing website for the Swiss branch of the pharmaceutical company Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. The result is a website that provides comprehensive information for both doctors and patients. The redesign is intended to strengthen the company's communicative presence in Switzerland, as detailed in a press release. The new website contains in-depth background articles on therapeutic areas, detailed product descriptions and information on Wyeth's research activities. Although the clear and concise design is based on the international appearance of the parent company, it has found its own unique visual language adapted to the Swiss market. For the homepage, Futurecom created a dynamic header with newly formulated guiding principles for positioning the company.

The Landbote and the Thurgauer Zeitung are founding the newspaper association "Die Nordostschweiz" on April 2, 2007. Harbingers of the cooperation were already making the rounds at the end of November 2006 (see Crossfire of interests
), the details of the cooperation are now known: The cooperation provides for a joint editorial office in Winterthur and the bundling of the joint publishing business in Frauenfeld. According to a joint press release, the two newspapers want to further expand their leading role in north-eastern Switzerland and ensure their journalistic independence in the long term. The cooperation will affect 3.2 jobs.  
Creation of a joint editorial team The joint editorial team will cover domestic, foreign, business, culture and sport. Colette Gradwohl, editor-in-chief of the Landbote, will be editor-in-chief of the joint editorial office based in Winterthur. Reporting on regional politics, society and business as well as regional sport and culture will continue to be carried out to the same extent by two independent editorial offices in Frauenfeld and Winterthur. The successor to Andreas Netzle, who will move into politics on June 1, 2007, as Editor-in-Chief of the Thurgauer Zeitung will be announced during the first quarter of 2007.
The approximately 150,000 readers of the Landbote and Thurgauer Zeitung will have around seven more pages to read every day in future. There will also be more news and background information from Switzerland and abroad, business, culture and sport. The visual appearance of the two complete newspapers will be aligned as of April 1, 2007. Like the Landbote, the Thurgauer Zeitung will now be published as a 4-bundle newspaper.
Changes in the advertising market At the same time as the launch of the joint mantle, the two publishing houses are bundling their publishing and advertising business in Frauenfeld. Thurgauer Medien, the publisher of Thurgauer Zeitung, will be responsible for subscription management, insert editing, marketing, pre-press and sales. Urs Bucher, previously publishing director of Thurgauer Zeitung, will take over the management of the joint publishing business. Felix Walder will manage the Landbote publishing house.
From January 1, 2008, national and regional advertising sales for the Landbote and the Thurgauer Zeitung will be handled by Thurgauer Medien. The Landbote's management contract with the advertising marketer Publicitas will be terminated on December 31, 2007. A new sales team will be set up at the Landbote headquarters in Winterthur to ensure that sales are anchored locally.
As part of this cooperation in the advertising market, the two titles will launch a new job supplement and a new real estate market for northeastern Switzerland on April 1, 2007.
Companies are looking for solutions for affected employees The establishment of the editorial office in Winterthur and the bundling of the publishing business in Frauenfeld will result in the relocation of editorial and publishing positions in both newspaper companies. A total of 3.2 jobs will be lost. The employees affected by the relocations will be looked for other jobs within the two companies. The companies intend to offer socially acceptable solutions in the event of redundancies.
The Thurgauer Zeitung, published by Huber & Co, is owned by the Zurich publishing house Tamedia, which also publishes the Tages-Anzeiger. Tamedia has a minority holding in Landbote. The Landbote currently has a circulation of 37,000 copies. The Thurgauer-Zeitung has a circulation of around 41,000 copies.

The Lausanne-based agency Agence Trio wins a competitive tender put out by the City of Lausanne to redesign the cultural internet portal. In future, hundreds of sub-pages will present the most important cultural information as well as the entire program of the numerous events. The new concept includes a new content structure and will be integrated into the City of Lausanne's official website in the spring. Culture has traditionally played an important role for Lausanne, as it is one of the city's four communication themes.

Under the motto "Don't give up - realize your dream!", Oliveda is holding a network marketing competition in 2007. Because, as we all know, ANYONE can be successful in this field - at least that's what the wellness provider and manufacturer of all kinds of olive tree products claims. The only prerequisites for success are the necessary dedication, a large portion of hard work and, of course, the right coaching - all without major financial outlay (that goes without saying). And voilà - you are successfully self-employed! The competition starts on January 10, 2007. During 360 days, motivated people can learn how to run a successful network marketing business. And everyone has the same chances, at least according to Oliveda. Whether long-term unemployed, academics, bakers or secretaries; everyone can win the competition. The common goal: to have an organization of at least 1000 active partners by the end of the year. Those who don't give up may even end up on television. According to Oliveda, several German TV stations have already expressed interest in filming the Olive Tree Battle. And with a bit of luck and, of course, a lot of hard work and commitment, any one of us could soon present the 1000 partners and win the competition. Unfortunately, it remains unclear what there is to win; probably the entire product range of the olive tree: olive leaf, olive oil, olive puree, olive butter, olive wax and olive stones.

The Zurich agency Matter & Gretener has designed an impressive campaign for Züri Rauchfrei, the tobacco prevention agency in the canton of Zurich: Advertisements and posters show a morgue in which two dead people lie covered up. A text box made the cause of death clear: "Smokers are gambling with their lives. The haunting subject was staged by South African photographer Michael Meyersfeld.

In the last four months, The Gate Communication has won five new mandates. A leading group in the marketing of electronic, interactive and mobile media decided to work with The Gate Communication following a multi-stage selection process. The mandate covers the group and its companies. In October, the agency won the new directory assistance service 1818 and has since been managing the launch PR campaign and media relations for 1818, which aims to succeed 111. Since the fall, The Gate Communication has been advising a school authority on crisis communication and media relations in connection with a rape case. A cantonal hospital has also been receiving communications support from the agency since September. And two months ago, two companies decided to work with The Gate Communication to provide communications support for their merger. These mandates complement the clients acquired in the first few months in the areas of finance, medicine, entertainment and education.

Trimedia Communications Switzerland is simplifying its corporate structures and fully integrating Com.factory, which specializes in design and corporate publishing, at the beginning of the year. With this integration, Trimedia is responding to growing customer needs for integrated communications consulting and implementation, according to a press release. The Trimedia.Comfactory brand will continue to operate as a service brand for the time being. Martin Zahner, CEO of Trimedia Communications Switzerland, comments on the new structure: "Many of our clients are increasingly looking for services from a single source, from corporate communications consulting to the design and realization of business stationery. At the same time, we can simplify our structures even further and speed up decision-making processes." Trimedia Basel - formerly Com.factory - is a 15-strong team of specialists for concept development, graphic design, web design and programming as well as editorial services. It will support its existing clients at the same location with the same team and at the same time become increasingly active for Trimedia clients. The Basel office will continue to be managed by Dr. Axel Rienitz, who is also a member of the management board of Trimedia Communications Switzerland. 

The Board of Directors of the AZ Medien Group has appointed Ueli Eckstein as Chief Operating Officer (COO) as of January 1, 2007 at the request of the publisher and company management. As Head of Print Media, Eckstein continues to be responsible for the AZ Medien Group's highest-revenue division and is deputy to the CEO. The AZ Medien Group has continuously developed into a multimedia company in recent years. At the same time, the strategic tasks to which the publisher and CEO, Peter Wanner, wants to devote more time are expanding. At the same time, he will relieve himself of the operational business, as AZ Medien announced on Monday.
As COO, Eckstein will be responsible for the Print Media, Cross Media Marketing, Print and Logistics, Electronic Media and the Corporate Communications/Projects and Human Resources departments. The editor-in-chief of Aargauer Zeitung and Finance/Controlling remain the responsibility of the publisher.
Eckstein has been with the AZ Medien Group for ten years. In 1997, he joined the Aargauer Zeitung from the SonntagsZeitung as publishing director, where he significantly developed the reader market and advertising market areas. In 2001, he was appointed Deputy CEO and has since taken on numerous other management tasks.

OMD Switzerland is starting the new year with an expanded group structure. The newly established OMD Sky and OMD Digital units complement the existing Zurich units OMD City and OMD See as well as the OMD unit in Geneva. The expanded structure takes account of the strong growth over the last three years. OMD Sky primarily covers the areas of strategy and planning and is headed by Dominik Hofstetter, who has been with OMD since 2004 and was promoted to Managing Director on January 1, 2007. Under the leadership of Hans-Georg Bardohl, OMD Digital will bundle all competencies that focus on strategy formulation, planning, purchasing and evaluation of online communication media. The former Central Buying is now called Opera and is headed by Beat Krebs. Christof Kaufmann, CEO OMD Switzerland, is convinced that smaller, specialized units can better meet the increasing customer demand for individuality and flexibility. In addition, the transfer of expertise and know-how within the units of OMD Switzerland will be accelerated and simplified.

Südostschweiz is launching a large print run in the town of Rapperswil-Jona on Tuesday, January 9, 2007. This is published on Tuesdays and is distributed to all households. Südostschweiz was designated as the official publication organ by the newly merged town of Rapperswil-Jona at the beginning of 2007. An additional circulation of around 13,000 copies is planned, as the publisher announced on Monday. This will increase the total circulation of the Südostschweiz Gaster and See edition together with the Glarus edition from 23,000 to around 36,000 copies. Advertising rates remain unchanged. Together with the regional editions of the Tages-Anzeiger on the right and left banks of Lake Zurich and in the Zurich Oberland, as well as the March-Anzeiger and Höfner Volksblatt, the new large circulation in Rapperswil-Jona will result in attractive combination opportunities in PresseKombi 27. Advertisers of Pool27 - a combination of Obersee Nachrichten and the Südostschweiz regional editions Glarus, Gaster and See with a new total circulation of almost 100,000 copies - will also benefit from the new large circulation. The advertising rates for the combined offers will also not be increased for 2007.

Around 2,000 guests, including more than 1,000 publishing house employees, will toast the 60th anniversary of the news magazine Spiegel in Hamburg on Monday, January 8. They are also celebrating 60 years of investigative journalism in Germany. The first Spiegel was published on January 4, 1947.  
With the birth of the news magazine, investigative investigative journalism was also established in Germany. Under the aegis of legendary founder and editor Rudolf Augstein (1923 - 2002), the editorial team uncovered numerous scandals in Germany's post-war history. Augstein's motto was "clearing up without regard for losses".
 
Just ten years after its launch, the magazine made press history: with a report on NATO's inadequate defense concept, the editors angered Chancellor Adenauer, who accused Der Spiegel of treason. In the course of the affair, editor-in-chief Augstein spent three months in custody, but had to be released due to a lack of evidence. The case was dropped and the then Minister of Defense, Franz Josef Strauss, was forced to resign under pressure from the outraged public. Der Spiegel became the "assault gun of democracy", as Augstein put it. In the 1980s in particular, the magazine made headlines by uncovering numerous political scandals. These included the Flick party donation scandal and the Barschel-Pfeiffer affair.
 
Stefan Aust has been editor-in-chief of the magazine since 1994. Spiegel has an average circulation of over one million copies per issue.