The agency from Zollikon, which specializes in direct marketing, is an official brand partner of UBS. "As a result of good work" is how the UBS certificate describes the award that Alex Schmid Direct is now delighted to have received. "We have been working together in the area of direct marketing for just over six months and now we have already received this award," comments Alex Schmid on the agency's success.

Most of Germany's major magazine publishers are definitely on board with the new advertising rates for their most important titles. It has been clear for a few days that seasonal advertising rates are coming (see:
Germany: magazines introduce seasonal advertising rates). As Horizont.net now reports, it is now clear that almost all major German publishers are participating in this new regulation with most of their important titles: Axel Springer with Bild der Frau, Hörzu and TV Digital; Bauer and Gruner + Jahr with all their major titles; Burda with Bunte, Focus, Freundin, TV Spielfilm and Superillu; and Spiegelverlag with Spiegel and Manager Magazin. The illustrious absentees from this list include Condé Nast, which publishes Glamour and Vogue, MVG with Cosmopolitan and the quality paper Die Zeit.The fears of the advertising industryA total of 157 out of around 700 publications will show advertising prices differentiated by month or price zone from next year. The aim of the new regulation is to make better use of the publications' capacity and optimize revenues by reducing prices in weak months and increasing them in strong periods. This approach has long been common practice in the television business.  
The introduction of seasonal prices led to heated debates in specialist circles. The advertising industry feared hidden price increases without corresponding proof of performance. The predicted increase in advertising rates for next year is 2.4 percent, which, according to the Association of German Magazine Publishers (VDZ), corresponds to the level of the previous year when adjusted for inflation. For Holger Busch from VDZ, this is good news: "In view of the uncertain economic outlook, price stability is the right signal for advertisers when planning their budgets".

It's here, the new Austrian daily newspaper. The tabloid-format newspaper Österreich went on sale today, Friday. The first edition comprises 64 pages in the main section, 32 pages in the provincial supplement and two enclosed glossy magazines, as reported by Sda. The paper costs 50 cents per issue at newsstands and 30 cents per issue with a subscription, making it the cheapest daily newspaper in Austria. During the week, the paper is published with a circulation of 250,000 copies, while up to 600,000 copies are distributed at weekends. 180 journalists work in Vienna alone.
Young, entertaining paper based on the US modelAustria is mixing newspaper and magazine sections based on the USA Today model. The new newspaper's target group is 20 to 49-year-olds, "a younger, educated" readership, according to the publisher. The new title is intended to meet the "need for information that also provides orientation and entertainment", explains editor-in-chief Claus Reitan. Austria's 17th daily title is thus entering into direct competition with the tabloid Kronenzeitung and the mass-circulation Kurier. (see
Austria: Fellner-Zeitung from September)The newspaper is a cooperative of the Austria Presse Agentur. The paper is financed by a consortium of eight Austrian banks with loans amounting to 50 million euros and a term of 13 years. The publisher is the well-known Viennese publisher Wolfgang Fellner.  

On Friday, 37-year-old Jean-Marc Sandoz took up his position as the new deputy editor-in-chief of the French-language daily newspaper 24 Heures.
He will thus support the new Editor-in-Chief Thierry Meyer, who will take up his post on September 9, 2006 (see "24 heures" with new Editor-in-Chief).Since the end of the 1980s, Jean-Marc Sandoz has completed a varied career path. In addition to his various editorial activities, including at 24 Heures, he has also excelled in other media professions. He was an art producer and radio broadcaster until he specialized in the Internet ten years ago. He is responsible for the Radio Suisse Romande website and that of the Paléo Festival in Nyon. The Webdo and Matin sites were also created under his management, after which Sandoz moved to the Vaud Cantonal Bank, where he was responsible for the communications department. He returned to 24 Heures a year ago.

The cross-media portal for media planning - Mediasearch.ch - is moving from the patronage of the Swiss Press Association to operation by PubliGroupe. As of August, the advertising broker PubliGroupe will take over the Mediasearch.ch portal, which was launched three years ago. As announced by the Swiss Press Association on Friday, this move is intended to lay the foundations for the expansion of a comprehensive cross-media information offering. At the end of the third year of operation, the financing guaranteed by partners and patrons for the operation of the portal was coming to an end. After examining various options, PubliGroupe was chosen.

More than 300 telecommunications companies are currently working on IPTV, television via the Internet. Rapid growth in broadband connections and sales is expected. A new study by Accenture is now available. Together with the Economist business magazine, 302 decision-makers in the media and technology industry worldwide were surveyed in spring 2006. The results According to the study, providers do not expect significant sales for around three years. Because high investments have to be made in infrastructure, technology and content, IPTV is expected to come onto the market as a package with other media offerings. Triple play is one of the key words here: the combination of television, telephony and broadband Internet. Providers see video-on-demand as the biggest revenue generator. The network operators among the providers in particular hope that this will increase customer loyalty (22%) and increase the number of broadband connections (31%). 85% assume that low-cost package solutions will determine whether customers can be won over to the new service. "Television via the Internet poses major challenges for telecommunications, media and electronics companies," says Dr. Nikolaus Mohr, Managing Director Communications & High Tech at Accenture. "Ultimately, the successful companies will be those that are the first to develop a profitable business model. The provision of high-quality content, the delivery of the best quality and excellent customer service are the factors for success." Further information on the study: www.accenture.com/iptvmonitor1

The Zurich publishing house reports a very pleasing development for the first half of 2006. Sales rose by 14.2 percent to 366.5 million Swiss francs, while the operating result increased disproportionately by 21.8 percent to 75.7 million Swiss francs. Consolidated profit rose by a quarter to 52.3 million Swiss francs, as the company announced on Friday.
Job advertisements were particularly profitable and online media also continued to develop positively. Private radio stations performed below average and the electronic media presented a mixed picture.

Successful start for 20 minutes Newspaper sales rose by 13.6 percent to CHF 252 million. The operating result increased by 32.7 percent to 51.7 million. In particular, the launch of 20 minutes in French-speaking Switzerland exceeded expectations. The costs for the launch in Geneva and Lausanne were more than offset by the positive development of job advertisements, the positive development of Finanz & Wirtschaft, the magazine, SonntagsZeitung and 20 Minuten, writes the publisher.

Thanks to the growth in job advertisements, the Tages-Anzeiger was able to defend its leading position in the print advertising market.

The Magazines division also performed well, with sales up 8.3 percent to CHF 47.7 million thanks to higher sales of Annabelle and Schweizer Familie. Annabelle was able to extend its leading position in the women's magazine market despite tougher competition. Facts, which has not yet been able to benefit from rising advertising sales, remains a problem child. The operating result (EBIT) improved by 88.6 percent to CHF 4.5 million.
Below-average development in radio stations Only the electronic media division did not post a positive operating result. Despite a 7.1% increase in sales to CHF 27.3 million, operating income before depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell by 90.3% to just CHF 0.3 million. Investments in online activities as well as below-average radio performance had a negative impact here. Radio 24 and Radio Basilisk generated poor figures. TeleZüri also had a negative impact. 20 Minuten Online and the job portal Jobwinner.ch performed positively.

The Zurich agency Heads is supporting General Motors Suisse in its efforts to deepen the relationship between employees and retail partners. The measures are intended as an incentive to work together to make the Saab, Opel and Chevrolet product portfolio a success. The internal branding developed by Heads includes the magazine "Speed&Spirit". It informs readers four times a year about goals, challenges and opportunities in market development. In late fall 2005, Heads created the motto "Together. Move. Win.". According to the communiqué, retailers and employees successfully implemented it in the first half of 2006. After years of declining sales, GM Suisse regained market share in the first half of the year.

Daniel Schaffo has joined the advertising agency WVC Communications AG in Bubikon as a new partner. He is expanding the agency's range of services to include marketing and brand management, as detailed in a press release. Together with Kurt Wettstein, he will lead the agency as a member of the management board. Schaffo studied economics at the University of St. Gallen. He then worked in management positions at branded goods companies such as Omega, Odlo and Falke.

With the "Highwaystar F12", poster marketer APG is launching another innovation: three-square-meter wide-format panels at highly frequented freeway entrances and exits.
It will be launched in the cantons of Zurich and Basel with 2 networks of 26 billboards each and in Ticino with a network of 13 billboards each. There are also plans to expand the offer in other cantons. According to APG, the billboards have a viewing angle of 45 to 90 degrees to the viewer or are located in a traffic jam or intersection area.
All new features can be found at
www.apg.ch/publikationen
As of January 1, 2007, APG will also be adjusting prices in line with general inflation. On average, inflation will be offset by 1.5 percent - on the F200, F200L, F200LR, F12 and F12L formats. The price for the F4 format will be increased by CHF 0.10. The price for the large format will not be adjusted.

German households with digital television reception watch 100 minutes less television per day than households with a conventional connection. This is the result of a study by Buhl Data Service. Users with conventional TV have a daily consumption of 230 minutes. With digital reception, the TV time is around 130 minutes, as reported by Heise.de. The reason for this is the low level of zapping, which hardly works with several hundred channels. Instead, the 3,000 households surveyed use electronic program overviews to plan their TV evenings. Despite the huge range of channels on offer, digital television does not encourage endless television consumption. Therefore, according to Heise.de, the hopes of the advertising industry regarding Digi-TV will probably not be fulfilled.

The Zurich daily newspaper from Tamedia, the Tages-Anzeiger, has a new advertising agency: Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett. After a careful evaluation, those responsible at the Tages-Anzeiger decided in favor of the creative forge as the new lead agency. TA Advertising Director Dominique von Albertini and Publishing Director Rolf Bollmann explained in a press release: "With SFLB, we will have one of the strongest agencies in terms of creativity and strategy. We are convinced that its impulses will lead to distinctive and innovative communication solutions". The first measures will be to advertise the regional splits of the Tages-Anzeiger - in the fourth quarter of this year.as Dominique von Albertini explained to Werbewoche, the advertising budget was put out to tender again as part of the newspaper's strategic realignment - which is linked to the regionalization. There could be no question of a change of advertising agency, as there had been a quasi "agency-less situation" since the end of the fourth quarter of last year. The contract with the creative agency Jung von Matt/Limmat, which had been in place since spring 2004, was terminated when Maili Wolf took over from Rolf Bollmann as publisher.

However, the current focus is on implementing the newspaper's new regionalization strategy (see
Tages-Anzeiger has the green light for regionalization).
Kathrin Fischer