The PR company Weber Shandwick is opening new branches in Poland, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina and establishing new partner companies in Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia-Montenegro, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. "For our international customers, this expanded network represents an expansion of their geographical growth and operational opportunities. And for our local customers, it opens the doors to the world's leading communications network," said CEO Harris Diamond. The company is cooperating with the McCann WorldGroup to expand its network. Like the Lowe agency group, Weber Shandwick is part of the Interpublic Group advertising company. While Lowe has come under massive cost-cutting pressure, Weber Shandwick appears to be prospering.

After three lean years, Swiss PR agencies have returned to growth. In 2005, fees rose by 2.9 percent to CHF 61.5 million. However, the difficult situation of previous years has left its mark, the Association of Public Relations Agencies (BPRA) announced on Friday. Seven agencies no longer appear in the statistics. Of the 19 agencies organized in the association, 13 have already joined an international network or a PR group. It is difficult for small agencies to keep up with the increasing competitive pressure and the five largest public relations agencies have a market share of 67 percent. Farner Consulting remains at the top in terms of net fee income, followed by Burson-Marsteller. Peter Bütikofer & Company is in third place. According to a survey by BPRA, the outlook for the current year is intact. Three quarters of all agencies have received significantly more inquiries for new business in the past six months. You can read more about the BPRA members' meeting in Advertising Week 16 of April 27, 2006.

Blick editor-in-chief Werner De Schepper is now also taking care of his employees' physical well-being: He wants to take five people from the editorial team out for a meal every one to two weeks, as he writes in an internal e-mail. The highlight is that the group will be randomly selected. He is thus adopting an idea from Migros boss Herbert Bolliger, who invites ten employees to lunch in the canteen every week. At Blick, too, it will be decided by lot who takes part in which round table. The venue will be the Inside canteen. De Schepper insists that eating with him is compulsory and is already looking forward to the rounds with "layout artist next to sports editor next to culture editor next to secretary".

Lowe Worldwide wants to drastically reduce its membership base. According to the industry service Persoenlich.com, 47 of the 83 agencies are to be shed. In total, Lowe Worldwide, which belongs to the Interpublic Group, will retain just 36 agencies. This includes six subsidiaries in which the network has a minority shareholding and a further ten in which other Interpublic Group agencies have a stake. Lowe Switzerland is also affected by the downsizing. According to Persoenlich.com, agency head Kurt Schmid is currently negotiating with Interpublic. Schmid has received an offer to buy the agency alone or together with other partners as part of a management buyout. Lowe Worldwide currently holds a 92 percent stake in the Swiss subsidiary. Whether the agency will also be given a new name in the event of a takeover is currently unclear. According to Schmid, the option of a management buyout would eliminate the high fees that the Swiss subsidiary has to transfer to the parent company every year. In addition, as a subsidiary of an agency listed on the New York Stock Exchange, Lowe Switzerland is subject to US law. All sales and earnings figures are strictly monitored from the USA, which means less flexibility for the agency. In addition to a management buyout, it is being discussed whether the Interpublic Group will reduce its current shareholding to a minority stake. According to Persoenlich.com, the parent company has given Schmid until the end of July to decide on one of the alternatives.
According to CEO Curdin Janett, the Swiss agency McCann Erickson, which is also part of the Interpublic Group, is not under the same pressure as Lowe. "The various members of IPG are being treated completely separately," he told Werbewoche. The pressure to cut costs at Lowe is therefore not automatically spilling over to McCann. Of course, the agency based in Geneva and Zurich also has to meet the requirements of the parent company, but these are absolutely within the bounds of what is feasible and comparable with the objectives of any healthy Swiss agency. The services to be provided to the international McCann Worldgroup network also have an impact. "But what counts most is what we get in return: We are very satisfied with what we get in return, be it in terms of people who support us, tools or help with international pitches," says Janett. It is a healthy relationship. Accordingly, Janett has no desire to remove his agency from the network.

The Creative Marketing Service agency in Ehrendingen is now responsible for all communication measures for the KMU Swiss Event. The event will be held on May 18, 2006 and will focus on the topics of growth and expansion. The list of speakers includes German Ambassador Andreas von Stechow, National Councillor Peter Weigelt and Thomas Borer. The Creative Marketing Service team reinforced the press work and designed advertising material.

The Free Democratic Party (FDP) is going into the next elections with a new logo. On Monday, the new design with a three-dimensional Swiss cross and the claim "FDP. We Liberals" will go online on Monday. The FDP wants to become a young, sensitive, urban and women-friendly party, said party president Fulvio Pelli in Bern on Friday, according to SDA. In order to renew itself, Switzerland's encrusted political system needs a renewed FDP with a fresh image. The FDP also wants to inspire optimism and not spread fear of the future. The FDP wants to tackle four areas: intelligent Switzerland, growing Switzerland, fair Switzerland and open Switzerland. These values must be "liberally" charged, said marketing manager Rudolph Schürmann from the Zurich agency Neutral. The FDP wanted to get away from the "Rösslistumpen image" and described the Swiss cross as one of the best "brands". Kaspar Loeb, Managing Director of the advertising agency Publicis, described this as correct, but rather when talking about Swiss chocolate. Similar to the CVP, which also used the Swiss cross last summer, Loeb believes that the FDP's logo change points to a lack of direction among the center parties. The manifesto "A Switzerland on the move - a successful Switzerland" appears in a new design in an enzian dark blue with the signature "FDP We Liberals, PRD Les Radicaux, PLR I Liberali, PLD Nus Liberals". The red and blue circular signet with a white square inscribed on it disappears.

Hardly any other Swiss commercial has had such a high profile as the World Cup film for Switzerland Tourism by Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett. The commercial is currently causing a sensation around the globe, according to Peter Brönnimann from the Zurich agency. It features attractive guys working in an idyllic landscape - including Mister Switzerland and organic farmer Renzo Blumenthal. They are supposed to lure the wives of football-mad men to Switzerland during the World Cup. TV stations in the USA and Canada have ordered the film, last week it was shown on news programs in China and Japan, on Thursday the story became the most used click on Spiegel-Online. A worldwide Reuters feature was widely reprinted and the British BBC has also placed the topic prominently on its website; the spot was the subject of the Times, the Guardian and the Daily Telegraph, the Dutch De Telegraaf, the Corriere della Sera, Bild.de, Stern.de, Cosmopolitan and the Kronezeitung. On Friday, the story was on the front page of Le Matin. According to Brönnimann, SFLB and Switzerland Tourism are naturally delighted that the film has been well received worldwide - and obviously not just by women.

Jürg Engi, long-standing director of the Swiss Training Center for Marketing, Advertising and Communication SAWI, will be leaving the operational management at the end of April. This was one of the central topics at the members' meeting in Zurich on Friday. Engi wants to clear the way for a comprehensive realignment of the structures, as stated in a press release. After a short break, however, he will continue to work for SAWI as the responsible head of various important projects. Executive Board members Cedric Hinderberger, Director of SAWI in French-speaking Switzerland, and Manfred Kranich will form the Executive Board from May 1. Georg Stoller, 59, will take over as Chairman of the Executive Board on an interim basis. Stoller has over 30 years of management experience in the management of Publicitas Basel and Publicitas General Management. According to the press release, the SAWI Board of Directors will make every effort to fill the position of Chairman of the Executive Board as soon as possible. Internal and external candidates are being examined and evaluated for the position. In addition to the personnel situation, the financial situation was also discussed: after a difficult phase, there are signs of a significant improvement in the course of business, the statement continued. However, another setback was reported in financial terms. However, this was significantly lower than in previous years. The current booking figures for the courses on offer suggest a further recovery. The SAWI has also made great efforts since last summer to optimize its business activities and organization. These measures are also beginning to take effect.
 
In most sub-segments, the training center is facing massively increased competition. The President of SAWI, Hans-Peter Rohner, once again called for more competition on a "level playing field". Today, the SAWI is in competition with universities of applied sciences and universities. Thanks to cross-subsidies, the latter can offer courses at lower prices.
 
The General Meeting also took note of the Board of Directors' plans to finalize the location issues (currently three training centers in Zurich/Dübendorf, Biel/Bienne and Lausanne) before the end of this year. These will involve cooperation issues with other partners and optimal space utilization concepts. At the beginning of April, Manfred Kranich announced that SAWI would be moving its headquarters to Zurich, which gave rise to controversy.

When it comes to weblogs, many media companies are
dependent on external parties. Roger Fischer's company Kaywa is based in Switzerland.
is the first port of call for this. WW: Why do you recommend that publishers "enrich" their Internet portals with weblogs?
Roger Fischer: Most
Media underestimate that their readers, listeners or viewers
have something to say. And when it comes to special topics, media users are
often better informed than the journalists. Does the audience have the
possibility of communicating via weblog, this also creates a closer
Binding. One example: Since the German regional newspaper Trierischer
Volksfreund has such an offer available, people linger around
seven times longer on the website - because they are not only
but can also produce content themselves.

WW: Weblogs
and mass media sometimes follow very different rules:
here the individual writer with a strict first-person perspective, there the
objectivity. Why should the two get along?
Fischer: Also
the mass media are familiar with writing from the first-person perspective, one
Just think of columns. Precisely because of the first-person perspective, these
texts are read. Weblogs are no different. Secondly
the best journalists are either unable to get there or only with a great deal of time.
certain information. If freelance correspondents or
When citizen journalists fill this gap, it increases their appeal.
Of course, the one or other weblog post has to be researched and
be edited.

WW: In
Switzerland, two current weblog success stories play out in the
French-speaking Switzerland, as the examples Bondyblog from Hébdo and BleuBlog from Le
Matin Bleu show. Are there regional linguistic differences?
Fischer: The
Bondyblog from Lausanne's Hébdo gives the Parisian banlieue a voice,
fantastic! At BleuBlog, it's more a question of mentality. We
The German-speaking Swiss are not particularly talented at dealing with
language. Generally speaking, the Romands are also more communicative.
This trend is also reflected elsewhere: in France, there are
there are around 2.5 million people who keep a weblog in
Germany is only 400,000.

WW: Are weblogs a possible way out of the weakening online business for publishers?
Fischer: Weblogs
bring higher online usage, a longer time spent online and a
better search engine positioning. This allows online advertising space
more expensive. But nothing comes from nothing. You have to
position itself strategically and either occupy a clear niche or
then build a real community.

Interview: Nick Lüthi

CtP At Ipex, Agfa Graphics will be exhibiting in the
As part of a technical demonstration, a functional chemical-free
Printing plate for CtP systems with violet laser diodes. This chemical-free
violet printing plate from Agfa Graphics, the printing plates are printed using
of a "photopolymerization". After violet lasers have
print images, they cannot be affected by any chemical
processes can no longer be impaired or changed. Before the
cleaning step, the printing plates are only preheated in order to
to stabilize and harden the print image. Subsequently, the
non-printing surfaces reliably in the course of a rubberizing step.
cleaned.

Despite its affiliation with the Mittelland Zeitung, the bz is not isolated in its home region of Baselbiet.
The hat trick, the combo between Basellandschaftliche Zeitung (bz)
Sissacher Volksstimme and Neuer Fricktaler Zeitung (NFZ), is apparently
despite the bz connection to the Mittelland Zeitung also in 2007
continued. This was the outcome of an initial meeting that the three
publishers before Easter. "We agreed to find a solution
how the Hattrick, which was terminated by bz as a precautionary measure, will be maintained
can be realized," says Walter Herzog, Chairman of the Board of Directors of NFZ.
"That's the case, we'll probably stick to the hat-trick," confirms
also bz publisher Mathis Lüdin. However, he does not rule out "that
there could be "background noise from Basel". This refers to the Basel
Zeitung Medien (BZM), which holds a 21 percent stake in NFZ, and
after the bz connection to the Mittelland Zeitung countermeasures
had announced. The BZM could, for example, influence the NFZ,
thus definitively canceling this hat trick and making the bz regional
isolated. However, Herzog makes it clear that the BZM representatives on the NFZ Board of Directors
would not have demanded punitive action against the bz. And he leaves
that he would not accept such a request "after 35 years of
cooperation between the three newspapers". Continue
One thing is certain: if BZM actually refrains from using the NFZs for its own
interests, this would undermine the still young partnership.
between Rheinfelden/Frick and Basel.    
Markus Knöpfli

An increase of 4.9 percent and a turnover of 5.115 billion euros for 2005. The RTL Group's annual report for 2005 confirms this. 4.001 billion of this is attributable to the Television segment. Euro, the content production segment 1.022 billion Euro and the radio segment 242 million Euro. EUR 242 million to the Radio segment and EUR 85 million to the company's other business areas. The net profit for 2005 amounted to EUR 616 million. According to the company's annual report, the position of RTL Group, which is largely owned by Bertelsmann, has improved, particularly in the UK. There, the television channel Five, which is now 100 percent owned by RTL, recorded the highest annual revenue growth of 25 percent to €370 million among terrestrial TV channels in the UK. In France, too, the TV station M6 has grown with its locally produced programs. Its share of the advertising market in the television segment amounted to 23.2%, the highest level in its history. In Germany, RTL Group's largest market, business conditions were the most difficult according to the annual report. However, although the German channel RTL lost viewers, it remained the market leader in its target group. A strong performance by the associated German television channels VOX and Super RTL secured the television group's leading position in Germany. However, the increase in sales amounted to only 1.72%, with annual sales for Germany amounting to 1.858 billion euros. euros.
RTL Group's new areas of activity include Russia. Investments in Portugal were also expanded. Overall, the Group's German activities account for 32 percent of sales, which corresponds to a decrease of 20 percent compared to 2003. The French business segments account for 35 percent of sales in 2005, while all other markets account for 33 percent.
RTL Group is the largest European TV, radio and production company with activities in eleven countries and holdings in 34 television and 34 radio stations. In Germany, RTL Group owns the TV channels RTL, RTL 2, VOX, Super RTL and N-TV.