The regional department - with over 20 employees the largest department of the Basler Zeitung - is divided into a city team, agglo team and country team. As Editor-in-Chief Ivo Bachmann writes in the Basler Zeitung, David Thommen (38) is the new head of the rural editorial team in Liestal. Thommen started work in May. He was previously head of the Baselland section of the Basellandschaftliche Zeitung. Thommen replaces Martin Matter, who will continue to work as a writer for the Basler Zeitung.
The regional editorial team is also being expanded. Hannes Hänggi (28) will also move from Basellandschaftliche Zeitung to Basler Zeitung and take up his new position on August 1. Susanna Petrin (31), currently local editor at the Thurgauer Zeitung, will join the Basler Zeitung team in October. Daniel Schindler (40) will also join the regional department on September 1. Schindler is currently a presenter at Radio Argovia and has experience in print, radio and online journalism. The team will also be strengthened by a picture editor: Regula Brodbeck (30) will move from Keystone to Basler Zeitung on September 1.

Last Saturday, July 8, 2006, the Art Directors Club of Europe Awards (ADC*E 2006) were presented in Barcelona. One gold medal and two nominations went to Switzerland. One of the 19 gold medals awarded went to the Zurich agency Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett (SFLB) for the PET campaign "Announcements" in the New Media category. SFLB recorded five loudspeaker announcements for the campaign. These were sent out to 500 lifeguards, organizers of open-air concerts, barbecue tournaments and other events, where they were played last summer. In the announcements, individuals are reprimanded for not disposing of their PET bottles correctly. More than 900 entries from 27 countries were submitted for the ADC*E 2006. All entries had previously been awarded prizes by the ADCs of the respective countries. In addition to the gold medals, 80 nominations were distributed, two of which went to Switzerland. SFLB was also successful here and received a nomination for the "Cliff" campaign for National Versicherung in the "TV Commercials" category. Euro RSCG Switzerland was honored in the category "Interactive Media Internet" for "Love Lips" for the BAG/Stop Aids. The ADC*E 2006 Grand Prix went to Saatchi & Saatchi Poland, which had realized a campaign for Amnesty International on the subject of freedom of speech.

Swiss television has achieved record ratings thanks to the World Cup, according to a statement. An average of 1,531,000 people watched the final match on Sunday evening at home, which corresponds to a market share of 67.9 percent. However, matches involving Switzerland achieved the highest ratings during the World Cup: The match between Switzerland and Ukraine took first place with 1.7 million viewers, followed by the match between Switzerland and South Korea, which was watched by almost 1.6 million people at home. According to SF, it is unusual that the number of 1.5 million viewers was exceeded for three match broadcasts during one sporting event. The evening matches at 9 p.m. were watched by an average of 802,000 people, giving a market share of 46.5 percent. SF is also satisfied with the ratings of the World Cup magazine, which was broadcast at 8 p.m. on each match day: An average of 299,000 people tuned in for this, which corresponds to a market share of 21.6 percent. Interest in the multimedia offering also increased during the World Cup: The sports site www.sport.sf.tv recorded around 1.1 million visits last month. The most successful day was June 19 (Switzerland-Togo match) with almost 900,000 page impressions and 85,00 visits.
In the host country Germany, too, King Football drew the crowds
ZDF announced that the broadcast of the semi-final between Germany and Italy achieved a new ratings record on German television with almost 30 million viewers (peak: 31.31 million). More than 25 million viewers watched the World Cup final at home on Sunday evening. This corresponds to a market share of 72.3 percent, according to the media company Media Control. At peak times, up to 31.49 million viewers watched.

Increasingly, thieves from the neighborhood are stealing subscribers' newspapers from their mailboxes. Pressevertriebs GmbH (PVG), which is responsible for delivery in central Switzerland, notes dozens of such cases every year. This is reported by the Neue Luzerner Zeitung. In such cases, subscribers usually complain to PVG, according to Agatha Gehrig, area manager for the city and agglomeration of Lucerne. Follow-up checks then often reveal that it was not the delivery person who was sloppy, but that the newspaper was actually stolen. According to Gehrig, newspaper theft hardly ever occurs in rural areas, but is particularly common in high-rise buildings in urban areas. There, the anonymity among neighbors is greater. According to the NLZ, theft is more common with Sunday newspapers. There are also problems with newspaper theft at the depots where the newspapers are deposited before the distributors distribute them. Newspaper bundles are regularly cut open, often on Fridays. The reason for this is probably that a job advertisement is enclosed with the Neue Luzerner Zeitung on this day, suspects Bruno Vonwil, managing director of PVG. A simple trick can often prevent the theft: A note with the message "Please do not steal newspaper" raises the inhibition threshold for newspaper theft, according to Agatha Gehrig.

For the 25th anniversary issue of the weekly newspaper WOZ, which is always in financial difficulties, the newspaper has come up with a new financing idea. In addition to the usual advertisers, sponsors are now being sought for all the letters of the alphabet. Only if all letters have at least one sponsor can the anniversary WOZ be printed without gaps, according to a press release. The letters are divided into three categories and cost between 25 and 2500 francs. However, the campaign also harbors risks: If there are gaps in the text of the 5 October 2006 edition, the weekly newspaper will not have been able to mobilize enough sponsors among its 113,000 readers.

The new Internet research model Net-Metrix will be in force from spring 2007, as announced by Wemf and SRG on Monday. Net-Metrix is intended to provide the industry with professional tools for media planning and the strategic planning of online media and will be operated jointly by Wemf and the SRG research service. The final decision on the implementation was dependent on the websites' willingness to participate; site operators had until June 30 to register. It was unclear whether the research would come to fruition, as the online industry criticized the costs of the model, among other things (see article in Werbewoche No. 23/06). The number of operators willing to conduct research is now apparently large enough. This means that all three pillars of the new research can now be realized: Net-Audit will provide authenticated access data on sites. Net-Profile will collect information on site users for media planning, and Net-Tracking will create a strategic instrument in the Internet sector. The new research is intended to create a binding and comparable currency for the online sector. Websites that have not yet registered for Net-Profile can do so by July 20, 2006 at the latest. Their data will then also be published in spring 2007. After July 20, participation in the first publication of the Net-Profile study will no longer be possible.

On July 1, 2006, the aerospace company Ruag Aerospace integrated various subsidiaries that had previously operated independently on the market. The main aim of the unified market presence is to improve perception in the international aerospace markets. In addition, the standardization of structures should simplify customer relations and further improve efficiency and profitability. The former subsidiaries Aircraft Service Bern Belp AG in Bern-Belp, Sun Aircraft Services SA in Lugano-Agno, the engineering and production companies HTS AG in Wallisellen, Mecanex S.A. in Nyon and Derendinger & Cie SA in Plan-les-Ouates near Geneva have been integrated. The two German subsidiaries Ruag Aerospace Structures GmbH and Ruag Aerospace Services GmbH in Oberpfaffenhofen near Munich were also integrated into the structures of RUAG Aerospace, but remain legally independent entities. With the integration of the subsidiaries, Ruag Aerospace now has around 2,700 employees at 14 locations in Switzerland and Germany.

The Zurich-based communications agency Open up is celebrating its fifth anniversary and can also look forward to three new clients. To mark the anniversary, the agency has also completely revamped its own website. Since its foundation, the agency has grown continuously and now has six consultants, as detailed in a press release. Open up recently began advising CSS Versicherungen on all aspects of media communication and supporting them in the implementation of specific communication activities. The agency provided support to Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB) with the relaunch of its customer magazine "Zürcher Wirtschaftsmagazin" and has since written regular articles for it. The Lucerne agency Minz Frische Grafik is responsible for the design of the magazine. Finally, the third new client is Giesserei Wolfensberger, for which Open up has been responsible for media relations since the beginning of May.

Igora, the cooperative for aluminum recycling, congratulates the Swiss with an advertisement in Monday's edition of Blick on their world championship title: the aluminum recycling championship. With a recycling rate of around 90 percent, Switzerland is indeed the world champion compared to other countries, according to a press release from Igora's agency ViznerBorel. It remains to be seen whether this will one day be enough for the Swiss to win the football World Cup.

Following a pitch, Ruf Lanz has been awarded the contract to make Migros' sponsorship commitments even better known to the general public. The Zurich-based creative agency impressed with a concept that communicates in a "fresh, surprising and very Migros-like" way, according to Migros' sponsorship manager, Andreas Bühler. Migros regularly sponsors popular events in the fields of sport, music, culture, shows and spectacles. According to Ruf Lanz, the first fruits of the new collaboration will be seen from November.

The American sports manufacturer Nike has commissioned a commercial in Switzerland for the first time. Wirz Fraefel worked closely with the advertising agency Undsöhne and under the direction of Tobias Weber to produce an entertaining 60-second commercial featuring football tricks performed by the two most popular national team players, Philippe Senderos and Dani Gygax. The tricks with the ball are difficult to imitate and take place in an "upside-down world". The new "Football" spot is also intended to prepare for the next football event after the World Cup: The 2008 European Championships in Switzerland and Austria.

The creative agency Publicis was able to prevail in a competitive presentation and will create the new Terre des hommes umbrella campaign. According to a press release, the Zurich-based advertisers came out on top with the most creative ideas and the strongest concept. The children's charity has set itself the task of presenting its work to a wider public and increasing awareness in German-speaking Switzerland with a strong presence. The first works will be on display in the fall.