The NZZ and NZZ am Sonntag are making sure their readers don't run out of clothes for the World Cup by launching a jersey ordering campaign. "So you'll be well dressed for an evening of TV at home, a visit to the football bar or the day after at the office," the two newspapers promise online. The jerseys are available in the colors of seven nations. The print and number can be personalized. Subscribers pay 49 francs, non-subscribers 59 francs. The latter also benefit from the lower price if they order a trial subscription at the same time.

Like the Swiss PR industry, the German PR industry is also optimistic about the future. According to the PR Journal's turnover ranking, last year brought surprising and strong growth for the industry. The fee-based turnover of PR agencies increased by 11.4 percent from EUR 298.2 million to EUR 332.3 million. The number of employees also increased by 8.2 percent. The average per capita turnover increased by 2,000 to 105,000 euros. The trend is clearly continuing, with double-digit growth expected for the sector in 2006, said Gerhard Pfeffer, Editor-in-Chief of the PR Journal. This is because the top 20 agencies reported a 12.4 percent increase in fees in 2005. The general upward trend in the industry is particularly evident in the job vacancies. Agencies are desperately looking for people.

US broadcaster NBC Universal is testing whether shorter commercial breaks can make both viewers and advertisers happy. The NBC Group's cable channel USA Network is running a test: the commercial breaks, which previously lasted between two and four minutes, have been shortened to one minute. Only two 30-second spots are shown at a time, as reported by Netzeitung. The trial is intended to show whether the audience pays more attention to the individual commercials with shorter breaks. If the test is successful, advertisers will probably push for shorter commercial breaks. TV stations, on the other hand, could compensate for the losses with higher prices. This could break the long-standing trend of squeezing as much advertising as possible into an hour of television programming.

The contracts, which were still in the negotiation phase at the end of February, have now been finalized with RTL and ProSieben. The Betty remote control, which enables a new form of interactive television with its 4 buttons and mobile phone-like display, will therefore be available on SF1 (individual programs), SF2, RTL and ProSieben. Betty will go on sale on a large scale from the beginning of May.

German publishers sold 1.3 percent more consumer magazines in the first quarter of 2006 than in the same period last year. This is the sixth consecutive quarter in which the circulation of general-interest magazines has increased, according to the VDZ Association of German Magazine Publishers. However, developments in the individual segments varied greatly. The current magazines segment recorded a decline of 0.4 percent. Der Spiegel lost 3.6 percent, but remains the best-selling title with an average of 1.055 million copies. In second place is Stern, whose circulation fell by -3.1 percent to an average of 1.019 million copies sold. Neon (+28.5 percent) and Cicero (+24.4 percent) gained ground. Business magazines recorded an overall circulation increase of 8.6 percent, while Gala (-6.8 percent) and Bunte (-3.2 percent) were among the losers. Among women's magazines, a 7.8 percent increase in monthly magazines was offset by a 4.9 percent drop in fortnightly magazines and a -3.3 percent drop in weekly women's magazines. TV program guides gained 7.5 percent and lifestyle magazines gained a total of 6 percent in circulation. The circulation of youth magazines is also on the rise again, increasing by 12.2 percent, which the VDZ attributes to the hype surrounding the teen band Tokio Hotel, among other things.

Swiss Television (SF) is offering a well-rounded program to coincide with the World Cup. SF's strategy: a wide-ranging football program in the run-up to the World Cup with shows for everyone, whether classic football fans, typical football haters, children, after-work fans or event enthusiasts. Swiss television wants to position itself as a World Cup broadcaster. Next, on April 25, the new major football event series "Der Match" will be broadcast on Tuesday evenings at 8 p.m. until May 30. In it, 18 ambitious men fight for a regular place in the celebrity team. In the end, the result is a match against seasoned former national team players, which will be broadcast live on SF2 on June 1 at 8 pm. This will be followed by a World Cup special on SF1's "Eiger, Mönch und Maier" on May 22, followed by the "World Cup Countdown" on SF2 on the same day. From May 27, SF 2 will be reporting in full on the World Cup preparation matches and from Thursday, June 1, almost everything will revolve around football with football films on SF1 and SF2. On June 3, "Musicnight" will take a closer look at the World Cup from a musical perspective, and on June 8, the President of FIFA will be interviewed. Live reporting and the World Cup studio will start on Friday, June 9. On June 19, when the Swiss football team plays Togo, the cooking show "al dente" will round off the football experience with a World Cup TV menu. But SF is also producing a football film: the romantic comedy "Flanke ins All" is expected to be broadcast this year.

Swisscom Fixnet Bluewin has conducted a representative online survey of almost 1,000 Bluewin TV 300 customers. As expected, the respondents are more interested in consumer electronics and 25% of them already own a flat screen. Television consumption tends to be higher than the average. For 20 percent of those surveyed, television use has increased since the purchase of the device. According to a Swisscom press release, most users appreciate the opportunity to "make their television consumption more intelligent". The electronic program guide, which allows users to program recordings with a single click, is cited as an example. It was also noted that although it is mostly men who rent the hard-disc recorders, the devices are very often used by women and children. Obviously, the women and children in Swiss living rooms decide which programs or films are consumed and when.

The television station U1 TV is looking for "politically interested students and citizens to participate in the referendum against the new RTVG" in its program magazine Free TV. However, as project manager Peter Kölbel told Werbewoche, it has not yet been decided whether U1 will definitely go down the direct democratic route. Other interested companies and groups had considered the chances of success to be too low and had therefore dropped out. A number of people have already responded to U1's job advertisements. "It now depends on whether we can get a powerful team together," said Kölbel. However, the decision to go or no-go does not only depend on whether the required 50,000 signatures can be collected: "It would also be okay for us if we can only collect 30,000 signatures - the main thing is that some citizens and politicians have thought about the issue again," said Kölbel. The main motivation is to do something about the injustice that the new RTVG contains: "We want to show the Swiss people that the RTVG is a deal between the SRG and the big publishers." For the U1 project manager, the referendum would be an "act of desperation" over a legal text that he considers "indecent". "With the new law, the SRG will continue to receive 96% (over CHF 1,000 million per year!!!) of the fee money. 4 percent (around 44 million francs) is to go to private local media and 0 percent (zero francs!!!) to free, independent national radio and TV stations. This model is highly unfair and unworthy of a democracy," reads the text of the referendum, which was already printed on the back of Free TV. This should be made clear to voters - and also that they should expect new fee increases: "Since the SRG is now to cede part of the fees to private publishers, it is obvious that it will try to get this money back by increasing the fees." According to Kölbel, U1 TV itself does not want to benefit from the fee money. However, the broadcaster does not like the fact that the SRG can cash in twice: via fees and through the advertising that flickers across the screen on SF.The problem, according to Kölbel, is also that the Swiss are too little informed about politics. U1 plans to remedy this: from the June session of the Swiss parliament, there will be two hours of live coverage from the sessions, and prime time at 8 p.m. will also focus more on politics. "We only want to report, not comment. We will offer the parties a platform to defend their positions," said Kölbel. This proposal was received with open arms in the capital, whether in the administration, among politicians or in the media offices. "We are also convinced that SF will subsequently be forced to change its reporting accordingly." For Kölbel, there is no question that the dry parliamentary business will be of interest to viewers: "We have already done this in Berlin and received sensational reactions." It is clear that this will not be a program for millions - "but for the opinion leaders."
Carole Scheidegger

The director and film producer Samir is this year's recipient of the Aargau Culture Prize of the AZ Medien Group, endowed with 25,000 francs. The award recognizes an innovative filmmaker who has not only created outstanding works of his own, but has also contributed to the current success of Swiss film as a producer and politico-cultural activist, according to a press release. The prize will be presented to Samir from Wohlenschwil in the canton of Aargau at a ceremony in August. The Aargau Culture Prize has been awarded eight times to date.

In its second reading on Wednesday, the Grand Council of the Canton of Thurgau banned billboard advertising for alcohol with more than 15% alcohol by volume and for alcopops. Poster advertising for tobacco products is also affected by the ban. The Grand Council also stipulated that tobacco products may no longer be sold to under-16s. According to the SDA news agency, the adoption of the law was controversial, with the FDP and SVP in particular describing it as a "patronizing advertising campaign". There were also doubts as to whether the ban would have an impact on the consumption of tobacco and alcohol by young people. The Council did not follow the proposal of the Gründen and SP, who wanted to extend the advertising ban to all alcoholic beverages.

Blick will be published in a subtly modified look from Wednesday: "In new colors, with partially different fonts and a slightly different page structure", as the Ringier newspaper writes. Colors are to be used more: "Sometimes red or blue, sometimes pink or yellow or brown." However, anyone who thought the tabloid was already colorful will only notice the changes in the color concept at second glance. The colors are used in particular to guide readers: Interactive elements such as surveys and competitions will be purple in future. The story of the day is now always placed on pages two and three. This is followed by a new news page, on which Nico's caricature has a permanent place. In another change to the paper's structure, Eliane Schweizer's sex advice has been moved further forward; it is now on page 15 of the Wednesday edition. From now on, readers can read the promises of the daily horoscope in the Sportbund alongside the puzzles.
Culture has been relegated further to the back; it has its new place after the Life&Style section. Jürg Ramspeck's column has moved from its previous position on the last page and can now be found more prominently next to the weather. The last page is now entirely reserved for People and Glamour. Blick provides entertainment-oriented readers with more reading fodder, for example in the form of a daily page with tips on going out. In addition, "Sounds", a double page with music tips, now appears every Friday.

Just in time for spring cleaning, Publicis has come up with a special trick for Migros' "Glasklar" window cleaner: the APG poster frames contain nothing but a bottle of "Glasklar". This is not a revolution in poster advertising, but an absolutely clean product presentation by the Zurich advertising agency Publicis for the most effective glass cleaner of its client Migros.