The Appeals Commission for Competition Issues has lifted the ban on the
Competition Commission regarding the participation of the Berner Zeitung (BZ) in the
Commuter newspaper 20 Minuten canceled. This was announced by Espace Media Groupe. In 2003, the Bern-based media company wanted to acquire a stake in 20 Minuten Schweiz AG together with Tamedia via the jointly controlled Express Zeitung AG. The Bernese would have held 17.5 percent, Tamedia the rest. Almost at the same time, major upheavals took place in the Bern media center. Espace Media Groupe acquired a stake in its main competitor at the time, Der Bund. In January 2004, the Competition Commission approved the merger of the former competitors in the Bern marketplace, but at the same time prohibited the Berner Zeitung from acquiring a stake in 20 Minuten. The Competition Commission argued that this would give the group a dominant position in the Bern market.

The Appeals Commission has now overturned this Weko decision. It based its appeal decision mainly on the fact that other types of media and advertising media as well as potential market entrants have a sufficient disciplinary effect. However, it has imposed a condition on Espace Media Groupe not to apply for the concession for the Anzeiger Region Bern in future. Albert P. Stäheli, CEO of Espace Media Groupe, is both satisfied and relieved by the decision, according to a press release: "Although we correctly assessed the market potential of a commuter newspaper at an early stage, we had to stand idly by for three years as 20 Minuten stirred up the market because of the Weko's rejection. The most recent market development has now confirmed what we argued in vain to the Competition Commission three years ago, namely the foreseeable market entry of other free newspapers."

Subject to a possible appeal by the Competition Commission to the Federal Supreme Court, the Berner Zeitung can now implement the participation agreements, which have been suspended for three years, with retroactive effect, according to the press release. The Competition Commission is currently in the process of carefully examining such an appeal, explained Patrik Ducrey, Deputy Director of the Competition Commission, at the request of SDA.

The Basel agency Crome Communications is launching the SBB brand RailCity with the new claim "The largest shopping center in Switzerland". The agency, which has already been supporting RailCity Basel for four years with promotions, events and classic communication at regional level, was recently able to secure the budget for the RailCity umbrella campaign for the whole of Switzerland in a competitive presentation. Crome Communications is developing a communications concept for SBB's shopping and service concept with shopping centers in the train stations of seven Swiss cities, including advertising series, promotions, posters, event ideas and radio spots.

(pr) The imminent merging of interactive media presents marketing and advertising professionals with a completely new problem: they must be careful not to fall behind consumers when dealing with the new media. The online marketing company web2com, which belongs to Publigroupe, and the Swiss Association of Advertisers (SWA) are therefore organizing a symposium on the topic of "Communication advantage with interactive media" on June 7 at the Lake-Side Casino Zürichhorn.

Moderation:
Irene Ackermann, Project Manager Electronic Media at Tamedia AG
Speakers:

Futurologist Dr. Eike Wenzel

Alexander Sollberger, CEO of MOBILEtechnics

Harald Fortmann, CEO of 24/7 Real Media

Ueli Weber, Managing Director of web2com AG

Dietrich Boelter, Managing Director of A&B.face2net

Michel Juhasz, CEO of Assai Interactive

Reception from 13.30 h, start of the event at 14.00 h. Info and registration until May 20, 2006 at the latest (limited number of places).

As part of the Cannes Advertising Festival, the ADC/BSW Creative School organized a creative competition on the subject of "Safety for children in road traffic". The jury made its decision on May 4. First place went to Fernando Pérez, AD, (Lowe AG) and Iris Alder, Text, (Lowe AG). Second place went to Alischer Makarow, AD, (Jung von Matt/Limmat AG) and Samuel Christ, Text, (Jung von Matt/Limmat AG). Third place went to Sebastian Hugelshofer, AD and Text, (Lowe AG) and Nives Teskera, AD and Text, (Lowe AG).
The five best teams of two will travel to this year's Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, where they will take part in workshops and presentations. The winning team will also compete against the best creative teams from around the world in the "Young Creatives Competition". Alischer Makarow won the special prize donated by Cinceom. He will receive a week of further training from top creatives at the renowned "Roger Hatchuel Academy" in Cannes. 

Graphic designers, art directors and copywriters from Switzerland under the age of 28 were eligible to participate in teams of two. A total of 137 proposals were submitted by 94 young Swiss creatives. All works will be exhibited at Keystone in Zurich from May 5 - 12, 2006.

The jury consisted of the Creative
Directors André Benker, Simone Fennel, Valentina Herrmann, Alexander
Jaggy and Hans Tanner as well as the university lecturer Richard Feurer
(Zurich) and Andréas Netthoevel (Bern).the winners are:

1st place: Fernando Pérez, AD, (Lowe AG) and Iris Alder, Text, (Lowe AG)
2nd place: Alischer Makarow, AD, (Jung von Matt/Limmat AG) and Samuel Christ, Text, (Jung von Matt/Limmat AG)
3rd place: Sebastian Hugelshofer, AD and text, (Lowe AG) and Nives Teskera, AD and text, (Lowe AG)
4th place: Matthias Günter, AD and copywriting, (Publicis Werbeagentur AG) and Isabelle Hauser, AD and copywriting, (Publicis Werbeagentur AG)
5th place: Anneka Beatty, AD, (Fisch.Meier.Direkt AG) and Andrea Heierli, AD, (Fisch.Meier.Direkt AG)

The hunt for the Aargau/Solothurn Media Prize is on. This year marks the ninth time that the prize, worth CHF 10,000, has been awarded. It is awarded for special achievements in the field of regional journalism in the cantons of Aargau and Solothurn. The prize money is divided into CHF 5,000 for contributions in print journalism and CHF 5,000 for contributions in electronic media and can be awarded to one or more prize winners. Entries must deal with topics from the cantons of Aargau or Solothurn and must have appeared in media based in these cantons. The requirement is that the contributions are no longer than two newspaper pages or 30 minutes of broadcasting time. They must be from the period between September 12, 2005 and September 9, 2006. The closing date for entries is September 12, 2006.

Daniel Wüthrich wants to mix a harmony between art and commerce with his Hastings Tonstudios in Zurich and Geneva.He was ahead of his time. "Hall K" was
the name of his band. That is, it was actually not a real
Band. "More performance," Daniel Wüthrich recalls of his music.
He "played" the electronics. Tinkering in the background with the technology and
"Preparations in the recording studio" have made the current owner of the Hastings
studios in Zurich and Geneva were already more interested than in
to be the center of attention on a stage. That was the phase when he was in
in the late eighties the F+F Art & Media School in Zurich.
visited

But because Switzerland was a bit too Helvetic for his art,
he emigrated to Germany in 1990. In the studio Tonleiter in
Düsseldorf went the hip scene with musicians around "Kraftwerk"
in and out. Wüthrich was allowed to work there as a sound assistant. Because one
but ultimately has to make a living from his art, he also learned here
Mixing commercials. The valuable practical experience has
him a job as a sound technician at the Swiss radio station
Studio Z in Zurich brought in.

In the meantime, a sought-after specialist in all areas of audio technology,
he dared to start his own business in 1993. Pistorio & Wüthrich
was founded. When his partner found happiness in another industry
Daniel Wüthrich got back in touch with his old friends in the
Germany. There, the Hastings Audio Network belonged to
studios in Düsseldorf as well as Hamburg and Berlin have become a good
Sound. In 1998, Wüthrich also joined Hastings as a partner.
affiliated. "We are not financially intertwined. We profit
but from the network with the exchange of technical know-how and a
common database for voices," he explains the system. In the network
one person is full-time only for the maintenance of this database
employed. Separate files are recorded from each speaker. The files
Partly very renowned voices from international theater and film
are not exclusively tied to Hastings, however.

In Zurich, this casting is done by Wüthrich's business partner,
Life partner and mother of a common child cared for. Frances
Belser is the indispensable soul in the recording studio. "We are united by a
similar resume," explains the trained actress. Also
Belser has been working with unconventional art at the Dimitri School in Verscio
started. Later she played at the Theater Basel, before she moved to Paris
wanted to expand her training in classical acting as well.
Soon she was invited to France's legendary Théâtre du Soleil by
Ariane Mnouchkine. Later, Belser had himself trained in New York as a
Scriptwriting train. This was followed by his own scripts and finally
Music. With self-composed
songs, she toured the U.S. for about six years before settling in 1995 in
returned to Switzerland and here finally Daniel Wüthrich
got to know.

This relationship with the New York scene has also made it easier for
Hastings now for a series of internationally deployed spots from
the Publicis agency for Zurich Financial with "the best voices" from
America could work together.

"More interesting voices than the usual" - Hastings can do that, too, thanks to
a new passion of Daniel Wüthrich. At the "Monolog
Festival" by Christoph Marthaler in 2001, Wüthrich and
Belser inspires performances at the Zurich Schauspielhaus
looked at. "Fascinating elocution - but often only in front of 65 people and
just for a single performance," the two enthuse. And so
Daniel Wüthrich finally founded the company with Matthias Kratzenstein.
together a second company with the beautiful name of Sprechtheater:".

Already the eleventh audio book is delivered in these days. The
CD launch of "God is a DJ" with Bibiana Beglau and Falk Richter
will take place on May 13 at Zurich's Theaterhaus Gessnerallee.
The audio books are delivered throughout the German-speaking world by
Seemann Henschel, Leipzig and Berlin book publishers. "A booming
genre," says Daniel Wüthrich. 11000 silver discs with his
productions have been pressed so far. For "Bartleby, the Scribe" with
Ueli Jäggi won "Sprechtheater:" in March 2004 in the category "Best
Interpretation" won the German Audiobook Award. The monologue by
Herman Melville goes back to a production by Isabel Osthues at the
Zurich Schiffbau back. "Staging and not just reading" - that is
the concept with which Wüthrich has been able to sustain the success of its
Audiobooks explained.

This diversification of Hastings is of course only possible thanks to the already
existing infrastructure for commercials and other AV productions
possible. Thanks to this artistic "sideshow," it succeeds in
Frances Belser, also in the German-speaking world again and again exclusive
To win voices for commercial recordings. The actor Armin
Rohde, for example. "You can't just call a star like that
for a commercial," Belser knows. But because Rohde is for spoken theater:"
just now "Oedipus" by Sophocles and Friedrich Hölderlin at Hastings
has also established the best contacts here in the meantime.

Just as important as the connection to such stars in Germany and the
German-speaking Switzerland is, for Wüthrich, a proper selection of voices in the
Welschland. To be able to guarantee this service, its Hastings
opened a second studio in Geneva in 2002. This is operated by the
Carole Armour, who is "very well rooted" in the French scene.
A decisive factor, because too often spots in Switzerland would still be
from Zurich "without the right feeling for the French ears
produced," says Wüthrich, who works as a lecturer at Sawi.

At its headquarters on Baslerstrasse in Zurich, Hastings offers three fully
expanded studios "with all the technology that is common today," including
also a newly constructed large-capacity studio for cinema mixing digital
5.1. another specialty is a studio for music recording. Here
Wüthrich sees further potential in the future. Composed music.
Anyone who remembers the beginnings of Wüthrich and Belser could be
at this goal also hear an intermediate tone after the melody "Back to
the roots".   

Andreas Panzeri

Publishing Forum The VSD provided information on standardization, color management and the development of PDF/JDF.
want to produce quality, there are two subject areas that
the standardization on the one hand, and on the other hand the
Color management. That would be a preliminary first conclusion
of the Association of the Swiss Printing Industry (VSD)
organized forum event, which took place on 26 April at the Kongresshaus in
Biel was carried out. However, and this was the question that the
event: How to standardize and which color management system
is to be used?

The day's event provided answers in two ways:
On the one hand, the approximately 160 visitors were able to inform themselves at lectures
or in a unique way in Switzerland to date.
Exhibition to show products and solutions on site. From
software-based color management systems and calibratable
monitors, output workflows and digital test forms through to
proofing solutions and even a color management-integrated press control station, the range of products and services presented by the 22 exhibiting companies was very comprehensive.

Appeal for standardization
An important part of the forum were specialist presentations on proofing processes,
workflows and standardization in the printing industry.
Michael Adloff, who works for the German
Vignold Research and Technology Group. As
He considers the ideal path to standardization to be "all means and methods that
compliance with stable and reproducible (repeatable)
processes". These standards are usually defined
by national or mostly international committees, organizations or
associations (ECI, Ugra, BVDM etc.). These develop, for example
"coloration standards", define ISO standards or establish the
corresponding means of control (e.g. MedienStandard Druck 2004, bvdm
Gray Control Strip, Ugra/Fogra MiniTarget [as a further means of control, the VSD has a
new "Visual Print Reference" test form developed with partners
presented]) was available. Adloff was surprised that these
control methods are often ignored. The fact that it takes a very long time to
standardizations can be assumed, which is proven ten years after
standard 12647, which is now slowly gaining acceptance.
compliance with such standards is now coming from the clients," knows
Adloff from experience.

Just how difficult it is to create color-accurate proofs was revealed by
Florian Süssl, MetaDesign Berlin and board member of the ECI
(European Color Initiative), on the basis of a presentation he gave before his speech
practical example. Süssl, together with the VSD
selected print shops, a reference print and "proof according to
Figures" (PDF/X-3 data, ISO 12647-2:2004; MedienStandard Druck 2004)
implement. Of the eleven proofs submitted, seven made it to the
Ugra/Fogra specifications do not. "Good reference prints," Süssl put into perspective
the sobering result, "are very rare." Conclusion:
Standardization is necessary, but does not yet guarantee
error-free production.   

Jürgen Franck

Luxury Since April, the Zurich-based
JWT+H+F realized the "very me" image campaign for the very Italian
Pianegonda jewelry company in glossy magazines around the world
to see. The jewelry manufacturer is as unconventional as it is atypical.
also the campaign. After all, Pianegonda wearers are supposed to have something different
be people. The advertising presence expresses that the brand
characterful, individual and passionate, for
Personalities "who do not allow themselves to be enslaved by trends".
So if you notice eccentric, nervously twitching people in the future, it could be
the jewelry - don't panic.

Advertising market
II Gross advertising investment in the electronic media was as follows
In March 2006, the index remained at the February level of 166 points. The
Goldbach Electronic Media Index (GEMI) shows for TV, radio, Internet
and Teletext together recorded a short-term decline from 318 to 316
Points. While the other electronic media lost points across the board,
the Internet grew strongly. With growth from 173 to 177
points, the Internet is the clear winner in terms of the increase in
Gross advertising expenditure. TV and radio advertising both lost ground in March
2 index points each. While TV fell from 324 to 322, radio dropped from 249
to 247. Teletext also suffered a loss. Its
Index has fallen from 153 to 152. The GEMI is published by the advertising marketer
Goldbach Media. The index is based on published data
by Media Focus for advertising investments in Switzerland. (rg)

René Worni on the trend towards intermedia editing: The New York Times and previously the Wall
Street Journal have done it. Wolfgang Fellner with his
Austria" has announced the multimedia daily newspaper project and
Axel Springer Verlag has also recently announced: Print and
Online editorial team should merge with each other. Editors and
Editors sit at a veritable monster desk, a kind of
journalistic Oval Office. They, like the crisis team during
a catastrophe or like hoarse brokers shortly before the close of trading,
what news and stories have been published and what has already been published on
the websites in advance.

In the case of Axel Springer Verlag, the two companies are merging at the same time.
Editorial offices of his Berlin print titles: Köppels Welt inclusive Welt
kompakt, Welt am Sonntag and Berliner Morgenpost. The journalistic
From a dramaturgical point of view, day-to-day business gains even more importance.
Intensity. Imagine the throng of media professionals at the
long counter. Everyone writes for everyone. Each and every one tries to
story. It's only a matter of time before the
Battle at the cold buffet is coming. In the general crowd, the
editors-in-chief. In the case of Springer, they bear the sole
Responsibility for maintaining the journalistic profile of the individual
Title.

Here in Switzerland, Bern is in the process of gaining initial experience with
Monsterdesk. Goal: to become the best regional newspaper in Switzerland.
make. As we know, the departments have disappeared and the readership
is oriented towards "today" about relevant topics. If there is a lack of thematic
depth, you are referred to the Internet. The editor-in-chief duo
Michael Hug/Markus Eisenhut are certainly risk-tested: Hug, for example, as
Facts co-author in the alleged Villiger affair in the middle of the
90s and as head of the Espace-Kampfblatt in Solothurn, Eisenhut
as head of 20 Minuten and
20 minutes. BZ wears monsters - an exciting experiment with
uncertain outcome. Whether a future Bund editorial team will also work on the
Monsterdesk will take a seat?

René Worni, Editor

As Publisuisse announced on Wednesday evening, sales in the 2005 financial year remained at the previous year's level (CHF 324.4 million) at CHF 324.6 million. In the television sector, the lack of major sporting events was reflected in a turnover of 305.1 million and a drop of around one percent. The television and radio sponsorship business areas and the cooperation with tele news combi developed very positively with sales of 19.5 million and an increase of 22%. Publisuisse's operating income amounted to CHF 307 million (-1 percent compared to 2004) and net profit after tax to CHF 3.4 million. Publisuisse's share of gross advertising expenditure in the television sector amounted to 57.5 percent.
For 2006, Publisuisse, as the marketer of SRG SSR idée suisse channels, claims that its short and medium-term development will be strongly influenced by the legal, economic and technological framework conditions and explicitly mentions the new RTVA and the structure of the RTVO. The "TV - Medium of the Future" project has been launched in order to be able to assess the impact of technical aspects on the medium of TV as a commercial communication platform in the best possible way. From the beginning of May 2006, information on the results will be provided step by step. In the fall of 2006, Publisuisse will present an impact dossier with all the results, background reports and development forecasts.

As the Zurich publishing house Tamedia wants to expand its cross-media offering, a new position of cross-media planner has been created and filled by Sarah Hammami. From May 15, the 36-year-old will be responsible for cross-media projects and campaigns for advertising clients. She will also act as a consultant for Tamedia's sales teams and develop cross-media offers for the advertising market together with the decentralized sales offices. Hammami is a qualified advertising manager and has 12 years of experience on the agency side. Before joining Tamedia, she was deputy managing director of Mediaxis-MPG in Zurich.