Alinghi fans can take a close-up look at the America's Cup champions' winning boat at a "boat show". Publicis has realized numerous advertising media for the tour, which is stopping off in Bern, Zurich, Lausanne and Geneva: from advertisements and hanging posters to e-boards and banners to a mega poster on Zurich's Bellevueplatz.

On September 8 and 9, the Alinghi boat will be on the Sechseläutenwiese in Zurich. Some of the sailing champions themselves will also be present. The gangway offers an impressive view of the 26-metre America's Cup Class racing yacht. And exclusively in Zurich, a true-to-original mainsail (220 square meters) will be on display next to the boat and the interactive zone, on which visitors can write messages and congratulations for the team. This sail will later be auctioned off for a good cause.

The Bern-based advertising agency Contexta has won the mandate for the Swisscom Group's umbrella brand communication in a multi-stage competition. Contexta already holds the budget for Swisscom Fixnet. According to a press release, the Bern-based agency won the contract on account of its development-capable communication platforms.

The Zurich communications agency Neutral renames itself with its old brand Glamour Engineering. The agency managers were encouraged to take this step by their new partner Erich Baumgartner. During his last years as managing director of the Lowe Lintas GGK advertising agency in Zurich, he said he had fond memories of Glamour Engineering. "The name Neutral worked for two years, but did not exude the same aura," Michelle Nicol Managing Partner of the agency, explains the name change to Werbewoche.
Glamour Engineering was founded in 2001 by Rudolph Schürmann and Michelle Nicol. Previously, Schürmann worked as managing and creative director at EuroRSCG Switzerland, AY&R, WHS. Nicol has worked as an art historian, curator and journalist. The Zurich-based company aims to provide contemporary brand management and creative marketing communications. In doing so, they focus on a cross-cultural way of thinking and working and see themselves as a "thinking reactor". Today, Glamour Engineering works for brands such as Sunrise, Swarovski, DaimlerChrysler and FDP Switzerland, among others, and employs seven people.

The Thurgauer Zeitung and the St. Galler Tagblatt are currently in negotiations about a possible collaboration. According to the rumor mill, the two competitors want to be able to exchange the respective regional pages, among other things. The news agency SDA also reports that the St. Galler Tagblatt, which belongs to the NZZ Group, wants to close its editorial offices in Weinfelden and Kreuzlingen. At the Thurgauer Zeitung, which belongs to the Tamedia Group, the editorial office in Amriswil may be threatened with closure.

The general manager of the St. Galler Tagblatt, Hanspeter Klauser, confirmed to SDA that negotiations were underway. He did not want to give any further details. However, nothing has been signed yet. Meanwhile, the Thurgau cantonal council is calling for talks with the two media companies. It seems concerned about a possible split. If Thurgau were to be divided between the two newspapers, a split in politics, business and culture could be expected. The government also fears that this could lead to job losses. Furthermore, from a competition law perspective, it is questionable whether two competitors can divide up a journalistic area by agreement.

As of October 1, Marcel Gamma, Head of Department at the Aargauer Zeitung (AZ), is moving back to the Internet: He is pooling his web, marketing and media experience and starting as a content expert and web editor at Getunik. The Zurich-based web service provider has clients from Switzerland and abroad such as UNHCR, ZKB, Swissmem, Roger Federer, Sporthilfe, WWF and Oswald. Before joining AZ, Gamma worked for WWF International, Bluewin and Radio DRS.

The editor-in-chief of the Thurgauer Zeitung, Andreas Netzle, wants to enter politics: he is standing for election as mayor of Kreuzlingen on November 26. The 47-year-old is being put forward by the non-party committee Aufbruch Kreuzlingen, as reported by the news agency SDA. Netzle is the only candidate from outside the town running against five local candidates. As an independent, he wants to be a mayor for the whole population. Netzle has been editor-in-chief of the Thurgauer Zeitung since 2001 and previously held the same position at the Solothurner Zeitung for five years.

Following a pitch, PostMail has commissioned OgilvyOne Zurich to develop a two-stage mailing campaign. It is intended to raise awareness of the direct marketing service range among users and provide information about the offering. This has been structured and divided into different areas such as products or know-how, according to a press release. The first part of the mailing contains a teaser card in the form of a personalized billboard. This is followed two days later by the main mailing, which has been designed to resemble a boarding card cover. In addition to a letter, an eight-page brochure with an integrated competition and a reply collection envelope, this contains a set of around 30 boarding cards with all the services offered by PostMail, including the vouchers.  

According to a readership study commissioned by the French-speaking Swiss media group Edipresse from Wemf, the commuter newspaper Le matin Bleu has 218,000 daily readers in French-speaking Switzerland. Its reach is 26.1 percent in Geneva and 25.7 percent in Vaud. 22.3 percent of under 34-year-olds read the free newspaper regularly, with a high affinity of 137 (compared to the average of 100). It is also interesting to note that the proportion of women among Le Matin Bleu readers is higher (52%) than that of men (48%). This makes the paper "the first daily newspaper to have more female readers than male readers", according to a press release.
The Wemf interim evaluation for Le Matin Bleu is not part of Mach Basic 2006-2, which will be published on September 12. Unlike Mach Basic, which collects reach data over the course of a year (in the case of Mach Basic 2006-2 from April 2005 to March 2006), this interim study covers the first six months of this year. The figures for Le Matin Bleu, which was launched on October 31, 2005, will therefore not be comparable on a one-to-one basis with the reach of other titles in Mach Basic.
Markus Knöpfli

The Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) is launching an afternoon edition in January 2007. However, as Werben und Verkaufen writes, the "Süddeutsche Zeitung Primetime" will initially only be available to Lufthansa Business Class passengers. It will be available to read on the planes from 4 p.m., with the editorial deadline being 2 p.m. In terms of content, the paper offers the most important news from politics and business. The topic of the day is also supplemented with analyses, background reports and short features. The sports, culture and special topics sections complete the content. Süddeutsche Zeitung Primetime" is produced by its own editorial team. It replaces the Handelsblatt News in the evening, which has been distributed to business travelers for ten years.

The Zurich publishing group Jean Frey AG is adopting a new corporate structure. Following the sale of Weltwoche, the aim is to create optimal conditions for the future of the other publishing titles Beobachter, Bilanz and TV-Star. For this reason, the individual titles are to be given their own legal personality, Jean Frey announced on Thursday.
Filippo Leutenegger, Delegate of the Board of Directors and CEO, outlines the advantages in a press release: "Our securities are positioned independently. Their legal independence increases the entrepreneurial responsibility of the management. This will strengthen the earnings power of the securities."

TV-Star is already published by its own company, TR7 AG. Beobachter and Bilanz will now each have their own publishing company by spring 2007. It remains to be seen whether the titles will be able to assert themselves more flexibly and efficiently in the Swiss magazine market as intended.

The Eurobest creative competition
has opened the submission period. European advertisers can participate
in the categories "Radio", "TV/Cinema", "Print", "Outdoor", "Interactive
Advertising" and in the two new divisions "Direct" and "Integrated". On
interested parties can submit their work for the competition on the award website.
submit. The deadline is October 6. The finalists will be available from October 5.
The winners will be announced on December 7 during the interactive award ceremony.
Show announced.

The Zurich regional TV station ZüriPlus will be broadcasting its program digitally on Cablecom's Zurich networks from mid-2007 at the latest. The two companies announced this in a joint press release on Thursday. This brings to an end two and a half years of wrangling (see ZüriPlus fights for space on the Cablecom network). According to the press release, the two parties want to underline the importance of television digitization with this solution. In recent years, ZüriPlus could only be received on Cablecom-independent cable networks in eleven Zurich municipalities. The regional broadcaster had made several submissions to the Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC) in an attempt to be connected to the Cablecom network. It is now satisfied with the digital solution. As ZüriPlus Managing Director Peter Steinmann confirmed at the request of Werbewoche, he would have preferred an analog solution. However, with this solution he hopes to improve the economic situation and use the resources for the future program - instead of costly legal proceedings.