The survey recently conducted by the Federation of Public Relations Agencies in Switzerland (BPRA) among its members gives grounds for optimism. After a small increase last year, Swiss PR agencies expect fee income to continue to rise in the coming year. More than half of the agencies expect fee income to grow by 3.6 percent at the end of 2006 and by a further 4 percent in 2007. The agencies cite their ability to adapt quickly to changing client needs as a reason for this. They also cite the fact that agencies are being entrusted with increasingly demanding mandates and that they have developed innovative services. However, the positive outlook is dampened by increasing competitive and price pressure on the one hand and extremely hesitant decisions on the part of new clients on the other. According to the agencies, however, growth is being driven primarily by customers from the pharmaceutical, biotech and medical technology sectors, the energy industry, the financial services sector and the consumer goods industry. The construction industry also appears among the growth drivers for the first time. In addition, almost half of all PR agencies noted the growing importance of their clients from abroad. The discipline with the strongest growth is marketing. There are 21 communications companies affiliated to the BPRA.

Four private radio stations in German-speaking Switzerland are planning their own digital private radio station. Radio.ch is to go on air via DAB in the fall of 2007, according to Radio Zürisee and Radios Aktuell, BE1 and Pilatus, which are affiliated with the NZZ Group in Freie Presse Holding. According to those responsible, two license applications with different ownership structures were submitted to the Federal Office of Communications Bakom for media policy reasons. The Radio.ch program will be produced in the studios of the four stations, but will not be a copy of the four stations. An independent program with pop music, news, entertainment, culture and additional multimedia services is planned, according to the makers of the participating stations. Advertising and sponsorship are to provide the financing. The participation of other partners is still open.

Monika Schneider (44) is to become the new advertising manager at KI Media (Konsumenteninfo-Media) in Zurich. She will be responsible for K-Tipp, K-Geld, Gesundheitstipp, Haus&Garten, radiomagazin, Plädoyer and the French partner magazines Bon à Savoir and Tour compte fait of Editions Plus. Schneider replaces Yvonne Müller, who is leaving the publishing group. Schneider was most recently advertising director of Annabelle. She will take up her new post on December 1.

The Union of European Football Association Uefa has created a Uefa Video Service UVS. This enables internet users in 96 countries to watch matches from Uefa matches live on the internet. UVS was developed by Uefa to enable partners to extend their rights and broadcast matches live on the Internet. More than 20 broadcasters worldwide will be able to offer every Uefa Champions League 2006/07 match and every Uefa Cup match live on the Internet from the quarter-finals in April 2007. In addition to the live broadcasts, UVS also offers a comprehensive archive with matches from over ten years. Fans can watch the live broadcasts for an annual fee of around 40 euros or pay for individual matches. Depending on their geographical location, users are offered the live matches that are available in their area.

The "Swiss Poster Award 2006" will be presented on April 19, 2007. The last day to enter the competition is November 30, 2006 and you can register online at Apg.ch - Swiss Poster Award. The Swiss Poster Award was launched in 2004 and has been held annually ever since.
The competition is open to posters that were displayed on public billboards in Switzerland from January to December of the year in question. The best posters will be awarded gold, silver and bronze in the categories "Commercial", "Public Service" and "Culture". The best poster receives the Swiss Poster Award 2006. The jury is chaired by Fredy Collioud from the advertising agency Publicis.

Hans Peter Arnold joins the Swiss investor magazine Stocks as deputy editor-in-chief and editor-in-chief at the beginning of 2007. The forty-year-old has been working for the Berner Zeitung since 1999. Arnold has a degree in agricultural economics and is a business editor. As a member of the management board, he developed the Internet strategies of the subsidiary Bern Online AG. In 2001, he took over responsibility for the Money, Stock Exchange and Consumption section. Arnold is a winner of the media prize for financial journalists.

Wirz Werbung is delighted to have Motorola as a prominent new international client. Around six months ago, BBDO announced that it had won the global budget, and now the official collaboration between Swiss BBDO partner Wirz and local Motorola marketing has begun. The international campaign is now starting with three advertising motifs. Wirz Werbung has adapted these for the Swiss market.

With some delay, Digital Audio Broadcasting (
DAB) was also launched in Central Switzerland on Monday. The Rigi is the most important DAB transmitter site for central Switzerland and has a corresponding range: in addition to the north-eastern Lake Lucerne area around Lucerne and Stans, the agglomeration towns of Emmen and Kriens as well as Lake Sempach and Lake Zug are supplied with DAB from there. In the north, the signal extends from the Rigi to Muri in Aargau and Herrliberg on Lake Zurich. Around 850,000 people in the transmitter catchment area will thus be able to enjoy DAB digital radio and receive the new programs of the DAB bouquet, according to a press release. The transmitter on the Rigi will still be in test mode for the first few weeks.

From Tuesday, 400 Migros stores will be selling trips to Disneyland Resort Paris. The standardized trips include a package for four people with two nights' accommodation and party admission for two days. Travel is not included. A gift box with DVD and travel voucher can be purchased, which can be converted into a trip in Hotelplan branches. There is a choice between a summer and a winter package. Migros is breaking new ground with this offer, as detailed in a press release. It kills two birds with one stone: On the one hand, the gift selection will be strengthened and, on the other, the cooperation with Disney. The promotion is limited in time until Christmas.

The media and advertising group PubliGroupe is having problems with its stake in the Zurich publishing house The Guide Company. Various guidebooks, restaurant guides and event guides have been discontinued and more than half of the 25 employees have left the publishing house since May, reports the SonntagsZeitung. 11 people have been made redundant. In mid-July, PubliGroupe announced that it had increased its stake in the publishing house from 30 to 64 percent (see
). However, the new majority shareholder had obviously not realized how ailing the publishing house was. PubliGroupe was forced to make the redundancies in order to "put The Guide Company on a new footing", as Group Executive Board member Robert Schmidli told the SonntagZeitung.

The Zurich-based creative agency has been awarded the bronze medal in the 47th international "Die Anzeige" competition. The agency announced on Monday that the jury of the oldest and most important competition for exemplary creative achievements in the German-speaking world was impressed by the numerous award-winning campaign for Julius Baer "True to you". The "Die Anzeige" competition organized by CommClub Bayern is open to entries from all German-speaking countries. The entries are judged by a jury of international experts. The submitted advertisements must have been published and the posters must have been displayed. The calls for entries for the 48th competition 2006/2007 will be sent out in mid-June 2007.

The new knowledge program, whose name has not yet been decided, will start in mid-April 2007. It will be broadcast on Thursdays at 9.00 p.m. on SF 1, but Schweizer Fernsehen (SF) has already decided on the head of the editorial team. Elmar Deflorin (50) will head the editorial team from February 1, 2007. Deflorin is currently deputy head of training at SF. Until 2004, he was head of the "Sport Hintergrund" editorial team; before that, he held various positions in the programs "Kassensturz", "time out" and "10vor10". Deflorin is currently also the producer of the documentary series "g&g sucht...".