The Publishing and Production division of NZZ AG is strengthening its internal organization. Regula Meili-Gasser will take over the newly created position of Head of Marketing Online as of July 1, 2006 and will be responsible for all conceptual and marketing-oriented aspects in the online area. According to the communiqué, the publisher's online activities will be realigned and expanded. Meili-Gasser has been Head of IT New Media at NZZ AG since 2001. New product management positions will also be created for the various platforms. Kurt Busslinger will be responsible for communications and sales at nzz.ch. René Senften, previously Software Developer at NZZ IT Online, will succeed Regula Meili as Head of IT Online. Andreas Häuptli will hold the newly created position of Product Management Publishing Projects and will report directly to the Publishing Director. He has been Head of Reader Market Communications at NZZ AG since 2003 and will develop and integrate cross-product and cross-divisional publishing projects in his new role.
Armin Padeste will head the NZZ Lesermarkt Contact Center from mid-July. He previously gained experience in telemarketing at TELAG Communications AG and Tamedia AG and previously held a corresponding management position at Sunrise as Head of Telesales.

A promotional gift from Doris Leuthard's 1999 election campaign has become part of the Aargau Historical Museum's collection. The CVP had distributed shower bags with the words "refreshing Aargau" on them. The promotional gift from the campaign for the federal elections is an "object with a connection to history", said museum director Daniela Ball on Friday in response to a report in the Aargauer Zeitung newspaper. It is important that the history of the shower bag is also documented. In 1999, the Aargauer Zeitung newspaper wrote an article about the unusual advertising campaign with the headline "The election hit: showering with Doris". The headline became a catchphrase and was also repeatedly quoted in the media in the run-up to last Wednesday's Federal Council election. The CVP Aargau distributed a total of 20,000 copies of the bag with Leuthard's colorful image during the 1999 election campaign. Leuthard had stood for the Council of States and the National Council. The people elected her to the National Council.

The Swiss Association of Branded Spirits criticizes the decision of the Bernese Grand Council on alcohol advertising. It is "hypocritical and inefficient" to give preference to advertising for alcoholic beverages under 15 percent by volume. The advertising ban only covers 17% of alcoholic beverages consumed and ignores wine and beer. The association also criticizes the de facto equation of tobacco products and alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are legally foodstuffs and are not harmful to health when consumed in moderation. Tobacco, on the other hand, is associated with the problem of passive smoking.

Almost 60 percent of German PR agencies expect higher turnover than planned in 2006. This is the result of the latest PR trend monitor conducted by the DPA subsidiary Newsaktuell.de together with the PR agency Faktenkontor. According to the study, one in four agencies anticipates an increase in revenue of more than ten percent. Press agencies are comparatively more cautious. Only just under 21 percent expect PR budgets to increase. The Monitor is published once a quarter to highlight trends and developments in the communications industry. To this end, press officers and PR professionals are asked what budgets they are calculating with, what current concepts look like and what strategies they are planning for the future. A total of 2426 people took part in this year's second PR Trend Monitor.

The "most beautiful picture" is being hunted for in the picture hunting competition organized by Zurich-based image agency ImagePoint. Every few days, a new clue is published on Imagepoint.biz to make it easier for participants to find the "most beautiful" picture. The hunted photo is hidden in the database, which contains more than 300,000 images. The image can be searched for using the same tools that are available to ImagePoint customers: Keywords, categories, color search, etc. The main prizes are three Nikon digital SLR cameras. The first 100 participants will also win an image package with 5 selected web images from the searched shoot - including the valid usage license worth 20 EUR/28 CHF per image. ImagePoint organizes the picture hunt at irregular intervals as an interactive competition to introduce participants to the picture archive in a fun way.

The Hamburger Abendblatt is the first German daily newspaper to launch a cross-network WAP portal for cell phones. The new portal provides free access to results and information on the soccer World Cup as well as other news from the worlds of business, politics, sport and local affairs. "We will gradually expand the WAP portal into a comprehensive mobile guide for Hamburg," said Florian Kranefuss, Managing Director of the publishing house, in a press release. Further free features are planned, such as a telephone directory and pharmacy emergency services, as well as free download services for photos and audio files.
The technology behind the portal is new: access to the Hamburger Abendblatt's mobile service is provided via a free telephone number and therefore works independently of the network operator. With the free call via cell phone, the phone number and cell phone type are identified and the user receives a personal link via SMS as access to the WAP portal.

The media company Thomson is buying the business news service AFX News from the news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP). AFX News is a European real-time news service headquartered in London. The deal is expected to be completed in July and will be reviewed by the supervisory authorities in Germany, the two companies announced. However, they have not yet disclosed the purchase price. In Switzerland, AFX News holds a 30 percent stake in the business news agency AWP. The remaining shares of 35 percent each are held by the German Press Agency (DPA) and the Swiss News Agency (SDA). AWP employs 19 journalists and achieved a turnover of CHF 4.6 million last year.

The new search platform for users with a need for local information and subsidiary of PubliDirect is realizing a national print advertising campaign with Alborghetti. The full-page ads with the aliens, who know their way around quickly thanks to local.ch, can be seen for around a month in the Sunday and weekly press. A second wave will run in September.
At the same time as the advertising campaign, a search game has been launched on the website where participants can take part in a hunt for fortune. Online advertising, stickers on the front pages of the Yellow Pages books and filler advertisements in the same are used to draw attention to the game and the services of the search platform. You can read more about the new campaign in the current issue of Werbewoche No. 23, read more and vote: Local.ch campaign currently in the Werbewoche AdRating!

After a referendum failed to materialize due to a lack of supporters, the private television station U1 TV wants to launch a popular initiative against the new Radio and Television Act (RTVA). 1,000 signatures have been collected for the referendum since April. In addition, Star TV and Radio 105 dropped out after initially agreeing to participate. For this reason, the referendum will not be held, as project manager Peter Kölbel explained to Werbewoche.
Now, however, the private broadcaster wants to try a popular initiative. "The new RTVA is exclusively for the benefit of public television and private publishers. Otherwise, it is clearly against private television," says Kölbel, explaining the approach. "We will know around October whether we will launch a popular initiative," Kölbel continues. It all depends on whether U1 can find supporters. "We can't do it alone."
Until then, U1 will campaign for the popular initiative with a "broad-based signature campaign on the Internet" and comprehensive political reporting on its own channel.
Before then, U1 will take part in the consultation on the draft for a new Radio and Television Ordinance (RTVO). However, the private broadcaster has no illusions about this: "We will present our arguments, but they will probably end up in the wastepaper basket again," says Kölbel.
Bartosz Wilczek

The Institute of Applied Media Studies IAM at the ZHW has received approval from the Zurich University of Applied Sciences Council to expand its successful postgraduate course in Business Communication and convert it into a Master of Advanced Studies in Communication Management and Leadership. The federally recognized MAS is aimed at communication managers and journalists who have a university degree and wish to expand their skills in the areas of communication management and leadership. The overarching aim of this Master's degree course is to familiarize students with the theories, methods and tools of strategically oriented communication and to strengthen their leadership skills. They should be enabled to plan organizational communication strategically, implement it together with internal and external communication experts and monitor its success. Around 50 lecturers from academia and practice will ensure that the objectives are achieved.

(pr) Xerox supports the development of suitable business models
Xerox has strengthened its service portfolio with two new offerings designed to help print service providers find and successfully implement the right business model for their operation. The new services are called "Digital Readiness Assessment" and "Digital Printing Sales Management Guide." The services are aimed at print shops, graphic arts businesses and corporate departments involved in graphic communications.
With the new "Digital Readiness Assessment" service, Xerox supports its customers in the development of digital applications. In addition, this service makes an important contribution to increasing sales and paves the way for taking advantage of the benefits and opportunities offered by digital printing solutions.
The service first involves a series of consultations conducted with the customer. Xerox then examines 17 relevant elements of each customer's business and compares them to the world's most successful graphic arts companies. Finally, Xerox produces a comprehensive report for management that details, among other things, the top three recommendations that can improve profitability.
Quality management according to Lean Six Sigma Digital Readiness Assessment" is the result of a project based on the Lean Six Sigma methodology. As part of this project, Xerox specialists examined how many pages customers produced on digital production printing systems. The resulting analysis is based on the Lean Six Sigma methodology and leverages new Xerox software and services. The analysis also incorporates information from communications industry experts. Xerox Lean Six Sigma is a data-driven approach to reducing waste and variation within production processes.
New Sales Management Tool To help print service providers recruit and train sales staff to sell digital solutions, Xerox is making its collective expertise in this area available to printers. Based on its own sales methodologies, Xerox's new Digital Printing Sales Management Guide tool provides customers with detailed information on how to train their sales force. The goal is to enable sales staff to better understand customer needs and generate new revenue from digital solutions.
The "Digital Printing Sales Management Guide" provides not only information, but also best practices and procedures that show print and publishing business leaders ways to identify, hire, pay and train salespeople to sell digital printing solutions.
Some of the important strategies outlined in the guide include:
- Planning and training for digital printing solutions and systems
- Leading a successful sales team for digital printing solutions
- Maximizing results in sales 
- Performance-related compensation for sales employees.
The new Digital Readiness Assessment service and the Digital Printing Sales Management Guide are part of the ProfitAccelerator collection. This collection of more than 40 tools, programs and services is the industry's largest offering of support services for digital print service providers.
 
About Xerox EuropeXerox Europe, the European division of Xerox Corporation, markets the full range of Xerox products, solutions and services, as well as related office supplies and software. The main focus is on small to large office environments and the printing and graphics industries. Services include consulting, system design and management, and outsourcing of documents and document-intensive processes.
Xerox Europe also operates manufacturing and logistics facilities in Ireland, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, as well as a research and development center (Xerox Research Centre Europe) in Grenoble, France.

The French-speaking Swiss daily newspaper Le Temps launched a campaign on Thursday to promote the various information channels it uses to bring news to its readers. The daily news is delivered daily via WAP, web, e-paper, PDF, RSS and, of course, on newsprint. The campaign runs under the motto "Le Temps, tout le temps" and was realized by the agency Angebault & Portenier. The spot will only be seen on the big screen from mid-June to September.