Michal Tocek took over as Head of Marketing at Hyundai Suisse on October 9 and is also responsible for Public Relations. Tocek was most recently Head of Marketing Communications for the MINI car brand at BMW Switzerland for more than four years, during which time he played a key role in the introduction and development of the MINI brand. Previously, he worked for the Swiss Association of Raiffeisen Banks and Unilever, among others.

"The last issue" is written in white and black on the front cover of the current street magazine Surprise No. 139. This is the Surprise managers' way of drawing attention to their financial difficulties. The magazine is in danger of going out of business. It is costing more and more to look after the sales staff. As a result, the magazine is short of around 200,000 francs this year, reports the SDA. If no donor is found, the project will have to be scaled back or even discontinued. Last year, the Arbeitslosenzeitung spent around 615,000 francs on looking after its sales staff. The company was able to cover two thirds of this amount itself through magazine sales. "We are dependent on donations for the rest," explains Surprise Managing Director Michele Alvaro.
The situation is serious. Either the magazine continues to grow, as the current support costs can only be covered with even higher income from street sales. Otherwise the project would have to be scaled down or even abandoned, says Alvaro. Surprise mainly looks after unemployed young people who have no prospect of an apprenticeship, drug addicts, alcoholics and the mentally ill. The support includes accompanying discussions, help with visits to the authorities and everyday problems as well as psychological counseling.
Surprise offered around 700 unemployed people a job last year. According to the company, 140 were able to develop their personal skills. 24 even found work in the free market economy. The sales staff generated 2.2 million francs from magazine sales. Half of this, i.e. 1.1 million francs, went directly into their pockets.
Surprise was founded in 1997. The street magazine, which aims to entertain "but not only", has been published twice a month since December 2003 and is politically independent. The magazine wants to continue to draw attention to the shortcomings of the Swiss welfare state, but also to "the (still) undiscovered raisins of the cultural scene". To do this, the magazine needs donations. The Zurich advertising agency Publicis recently drew attention to the street magazine with an original cinema spot (see
).

Walter Langenegger, a journalist from eastern Switzerland, is joining the City of Bern. He has been appointed as the city's new communications officer for the media, according to the city's communications department. Langenegger previously worked as the domestic editor of the St. Galler Tagblatt. He will take up his post in February 2007.

Runway 34 Restaurants AG has commissioned marketing and PR specialist Patrizia Haller to further consolidate and raise the profile of the restaurant at Zurich-Kloten Airport among various target groups. Haller had already launched the restaurant concept in a first step in Switzerland by means of PR. Runaway 34 wants its guests to experience the fascination of flying and traveling up close, according to a press release.

The Zurich-based production company Snap Film, which has so far concentrated on producing commercials, is expanding its range of activities. In its 3rd financial year, Snap Film is now also offering the production of corporate films. The orders are currently being realized with director Stefan Jung. However, other directors will also realize corporate projects in the future, according to a press release. The first corporate film was produced for the Hirslanden private hospital group. Snap Film recently attracted attention with its viral marketing creative competition (see and ).

The Mobilbonus.ch leisure portal service was further expanded and jointly promoted by Euro RSCG Dialog and Maxomedia in a broad-based, integrated campaign. The aim of the campaign was to increase awareness of the portal and to encourage Half-Fare travelcard holders to register online or renew their travelcard. Around 900,000 Half-Fare travelcard holders were asked to register in an offline mailing. A prize draw with lucky numbers, which also act as a personalized secure key for online registration at Mobilbonus.ch, is intended to attract customers to the online platform.

Neo Advertising, the Swiss company for digital advertising marketing at the point of sale (POS), has acquired DAN Media (Digital Advertising Network). The company specializes in digital advertising media and their marketing. It provides advertisers in Canada and the USA with a network of 65 shopping centers with giant high definition screens. The screens are located in the food courts of 55 of Canada's most prestigious malls, as well as in 10 other malls in New York and Los Angeles in partnership with Clear Channel Outdoor. Neo Advertising was founded in 2003 by Christian Vaglio-Giors and Alexandre de Senger and is now the Swiss market leader in digital point-of-sale advertising and is represented in Germany, Spain and Belgium.

Six weeks after its launch, the daily newspaper Österreich publishes its first figures. According to its own figures, Österreich reaches more than 1 million readers per issue. In surveys, market researchers determined a reach of 1.12 million readers per issue, which corresponds to a market share of 16.5 percent. Austria is therefore number two behind the Kronen-Zeitung with a market share of 45 percent. The new daily newspaper in tabloid format had already caused unrest among other newspapers before its launch, as Austria's price of 50 cents is far below that of its competitors. However, according to a report in the Financial Times Deutschland, Managing Director Gert Edlinger does not believe that Austria could trigger a price war. Rather, Edlinger fears that rivals will react with lawsuits, such as the publisher of two online platforms, Hans Böck, who has applied to the Austrian Patent Office to have the name deleted (see ).

According to DETEC's proposal, Switzerland will be divided into 13 regional TV coverage areas with fee shares. For local radio stations, practically everything will remain the same. In order to obtain an answer to the question of what the regional coverage areas should look like, DETEC has opened a public consultation. According to the DETEC communiqué, the planning guidelines will reshape the television landscape. There will be fewer licenses, but 13 larger areas for professional TV stations, which will receive a share of the fees. The 13 areas include the large conurbations. In the Zurich area, the fee share will finance program windows for Schaffhausen and Glarus. In eastern Switzerland, the draft envisages a uniform coverage area from Winterthur to the St. Gallen Rhine Valley. In western Switzerland, Vaud and Fribourg as well as Neuchâtel, Jura and Bernese Jura will each be combined into one coverage area. As a bilingual region, Biel will remain a separate area.
The amount from the fee pot that the broadcasters in the individual areas will receive will only be announced when the licenses are put out to tender. According to DETEC, this will not be the case until summer 2007 at the earliest. Television broadcasters are expected to receive a share of the fees from 2008.
VHF radio stations in a spirit of continuity Local radio stations are only undergoing a gentle adjustment, the statement continues. The FM radio landscape is the result of 20 years of development, which has led to the current coverage areas. The planning guideline aims to promote the competitiveness of commercial stations in the conurbations. Local radio stations from peripheral regions will be given access to the nearest agglomeration where they do not yet have this. There is practically no change to fee splitting.

SRG SSR idée suisse has commissioned SFLB with a campaign for DAB radio stations. DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting) did not achieve the expected breakthrough this year and is now to be anchored in the population. To this end, the Zurich-based creative agency Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett designed the key visuals, which will soon be seen on F12 posters, in advertisements and animated in cinema commercials.
 

As of December 1, 2006, Felix Walder will head the publishing house of the Winterthur daily newspaper Der Landbote on an interim basis. He is taking over the position due to the forthcoming maternity leave of publishing director Denise Pernet. Walder has held management positions at publishing houses and advertising companies for more than 20 years, according to the company. He will continue to be supported by Jaqueline Ort in the area of reader marketing and Andrea Liechti in the area of sponsoring.

Tequila, the Zurich-based agency, is now promoting the Pestalozzi Children's Village in Trogen, Appenzell, which was founded 60 years ago. The mandate for the Swiss non-profit organization primarily involves the acquisition of donations. New donor and benefactor mailings will be realized. These are to be accompanied by flanking measures in various media, according to the sister agency of TBWA\Zurich. The agency's online specialists are also planning a new type of donation tool for the Pestalozzi Children's Village to attract corporate donations. The work will be on display from the second half of January.