The Executive Board of ETH Zurich has appointed Verena Schmid Bagdasarjanz as the new Head of ETH Corporate Communications. She will take up the post on July 1, 2006 and succeed Rolf Probala, who is retiring early at the end of 2006. Schmid Bagdasarjanz currently runs her own agency for corporate and financial communications. From 1997 to 2001, the 46-year-old was Head of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations as well as a member of the Executive Board of ESEC, a semiconductor company. Schmid Bagdasarjanz's previous activities included PR consultancy at a communications agency and Head of Media Relations at a charity. She holds a doctorate in history, is a federally certified PR consultant and has completed further training in business administration and corporate finance.

On Valentine's Day, the Glattbrugg-based M&M Media agency presented an award for the best supplier presentation in 2005 for the first time. "You also use a presentation to promote your product. That's what gave us the idea for this award," says Rolf Suter, Managing Director of M&M. In 2005, a total of 66 marketers and publishers presented at M&M. The agency came up with the idea of having its employees fill out a feedback form. This was sent to the presenter unadorned. The almost consistently positive response gave M&M the idea of choosing the best presentation of the year. In the evaluation, the quality of the presentation itself, the technology and also the speaker were assessed. General criteria such as quality, enhancement of skills, practical relevance and professional competence were taken into account.gold for the best presentation in 2005 went to Markus Popp from Tilllate. He managed to convey all the relevant information within a very short space of time. The decisive factor was that he was not only very likeable, but above all that he did not present in technical jargon. Silver goes to Yvonne Künzle and Jean-Claude Plüss from Tamedia and Schweizer Familie and bronze goes to Astrid Tellenbach from IP Radio. M&M intends to continue with the practice and present the award again next year.

The Cannes International Advertising Festival (IAF) appoints Thomas Engeli, Senior Copywriter at Fisch.Meier.Direkt, to the Direct Marketing Jury. For Matthias Luchsinger, Managing Director of Cinecom and Swiss Representative of Cannes Lions, his choice is also a tribute to the largest Swiss DM agency. The agency's performance is apparently also perceived internationally, Luchsinger informs. In addition to Engeli, Jürg Aemmer of Euro RSCG and Alexander Jaggy of Jung von Matt/Limmat will represent Switzerland as jurors in Cannes. The advertising festival will take place from June 18 to 24, 2006. In addition to the categories Film, Print, Outdoor, Cyber, Media, Direct and Radio, this year the category Sales Promotion will be awarded for the first time.

44 percent of Germans read them, 17
percent use one or more titles regularly. The male and
Younger target group uses monothematic magazines about their hobby
The strongest: 49 percent of men are among the users, while
The figure for 14 to 29-year-olds is 53 percent. This is the result of a study by
TNS Emnid Mediaforschung, which surveyed around 1,300 German residents for
the use of market-oriented and target group-oriented
specialty press.
For 58 percent of readers, the suggestions and ideas contained in the magazine are
practical tips is the strongest reason to choose a monothematic title.
read. 56 percent put "fun" in second place. The comprehensive
For half of the users, information about the respective hobby is a
another important feature.
Interesting product advertisements in the magazine are viewed by a quarter of readers.
perceived positively, significantly more frequently by men (31 percent) than
of women (22 percent). 34 percent of regular users rate
ads are positive, with occasional or infrequent readers it is
26 and 17 percent respectively. A fifth of those surveyed also appreciated the
The booklet also contains interesting event information. As many
say that they save costs with the special interest sheets because
valuable tips about purchasing, membership or other
Procurement received.

Food giant Nestlé wants to dust off some of its brands with the help of Jean Nouvel, starting with the traditional Cailler brand. In recent months, it has pushed ahead with reforms and reviewed its own brands, explained Nelly Wenger, who has been at the helm of Nestlé Switzerland for around a year. She described the brands as "the most valuable assets Nestlé has". In the current year, Wenger wants to give the
Companies with significant brand and product innovations
secure a place at the top. With a conventional
customer-supplier relationships would not be possible, explained the
former Expo Director General. Among other things, the plan includes
Updating and dynamizing brands and productsReinventing the Cailler universeHowever, Nestlé has already unveiled one major innovation: French star architect Jean Nouvel and top Spanish chef Ferran Adrià were brought in to revamp the Cailler brand. The aim was to adapt the visual appearance and the recipes. With the "Manger le monde" concept, Nouvel has "reinvented the Cailler universe", according to the press release. This concept is based on the three dimensions of new experiences, the enchantment of everyday life and rituals. Cailler wants to play with the mythology of chocolate, its history and tradition. The brand is now operating under the name "Cailler of Switzerland", in true Swissness style. Nestlé Switzerland is spending around 10 million Swiss francs on the new Cailler image. The Cailler classics Frigor, Femina, Ambassador as well as the branch and the bars will go on sale from the end of February in an aesthetic developed by Nouvel. New developments from Ferran Adrià's culinary research laboratory will be added to the range in the fall.
According to Swiss television's Tagesschau, Nestlé is also considering its own Cailler stores. Mövenpick is also planning a new design in addition to new ice cream varieties. Next year, the Thomy and Frisco brands are to be given a general overhaul.

According to the online marketers who are members of the German Digital Economy Association (BDW), around EUR 885 million was invested in online advertising in 2005. This corresponds to an increase of 60 percent compared to the previous year. A gross advertising volume of EUR 1.3 billion is forecast for 2006. euros is forecast for 2006. The only negative aspect of this development is that, for the first time, there was a shortage of advertising space on some high-reach websites at the end of 2005, as reported by the industry magazine Werben und Verkaufen. The most popular forms of advertising were super banners and rectangles. Thanks to increasing bandwidths, however, there is also a noticeable trend towards moving image advertising such as streaming ads and Flash animations. With sales of around EUR 245 million, search term marketing is in second place. The fastest growing segment has more than doubled with an increase of 123 percent. Search word marketing is also expected to grow the fastest in 2006. Affiliate networks also recorded an increase of 75 percent to a turnover of 105 million euros. Here, advertising is usually placed in a large network of websites with a lower reach. Online services were advertised the most, followed by telecommunications and finance. E-commerce ranked fourth, ahead of the automotive market in fifth place.

The Swiss packaging market has a sales volume of CHF 7 billion. Reason enough to organize a trade fair for packaging in Lucerne. Easyfairs aims to offer an efficient B2B platform and is expecting 1,500 visitors. The trade fair will open its doors on November 28 and 29, 2006 at the Lucerne Allmend exhibition grounds. Easyfairs, based in Brussels, organizes over 40 events on various topics throughout Europe, 20 of which are dedicated to the packaging industry.

Although pay-TV broadcaster Premiere has lost the Bundesliga rights, it can report a positive net result for a full financial year for the first time. After a net loss of 80.6 million euros in the previous year, Premiere achieved a net profit of 48.7 million euros in 2005, which represents an improvement of 129.3 million euros. Earnings before taxes, financial result, depreciation and amortization rose by 73.5 % to 137.5 million euros compared to the previous year. Total revenue increased by 9.1 % to just under 1.1 billion euros. The pay-TV station gained over 310,000 subscribers last year and had around 3.566 million customers on December 31, which corresponds to an increase of 9.8 %. However, according to SDA, experts are expecting numerous cancellations in the summer. Advertising revenues rose by 74.8 % to 59.4 million euros in 2005. According to the communiqué, this was primarily due to rising revenues from TV advertising and direct marketing as well as marketing commissions for the erotic telemedia service Blue Movie.

The revised Radio and TV Act (RTVA) should provide for the supervision of advertising and sponsorship to be carried out by the expanded Independent Complaints Authority (ICA) and not by the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM). This was proposed by the responsible National Council committee, the Committee for Transport and Telecommunications (KVF), on Tuesday in Bern by 14 votes to 4, thereby upholding the original Council resolution. This provided for the UBI, which will in future be called the "Independent Supervisory Authority", to be given comprehensive supervisory powers. The KVF is thus once again opposing the proposals of the Council of States, having initially given in in mid-January. The Council of States, for its part, wants to leave the supervision of advertising and sponsorship with Bakom and only grant the UBI supervisory rights over the editorial content of radio and television productions.The KVF has included a new amendment to the legal protection provisions in the RTVA and the Telecommunications Act in the settlement of differences. Appeals against decisions on interconnection or on publicly tendered licenses in the broadcasting and telecommunications sector should be judged conclusively by the Federal Administrative Court rather than the Federal Supreme Court, according to the communication.
The Radio and Television Act is to be amended in the March session. Fee splitting is also a contentious issue. The KVF wants private radio and television broadcasters to receive a fixed 4% of SRG reception fees. The Council of States is in favor of a flexible solution of 3 to 5 percent.

Radio Vatican is one of the oldest
broadcasters in the world. 75 years ago, the Pope's voice was heard for the first time in
the airwaves, as reported by the Swiss Confederation. With around 400 employees in 40
various language departments, Radio Vatican is today a
media heavyweight. It broadcasts programs in 47 languages and
produces 11,500 hours of radio every year for half a billion
People. With a budget of 20 million euros, the advertising and
one of the largest expenditure items in the budget
of the Papal States, as the Confederation writes further. Vatican Radio is
can now also be received via satellite and the Internet and has
has had a virtual monopoly on original Pope tones for several months.
Last September, Benedict XVI gave the broadcaster the
exclusive rights to his vote on the condition that he simultaneously
build up an archive of records.

Goldbach Media is calling for the second Crossmedia Award to promote networked thinking and action in communication and the innovative use of media. The award is again endowed with 10,000 euros. Silver and bronze will also be awarded this year. The entries will be judged by a prominent jury headed by Dr. Dominique von Matt, as Goldbach Media announced on Tuesday evening. The focus will be on the strategy of cross-media use, the innovation of networking, the promotion of other content and media, the creative implementation, the media- and target group-appropriate staging and brand language as well as the effectiveness. Of course, the overall impression is also decisive. More information on the conditions of participation can be found on the Goldbach Media website. The closing date for entries is April 11, 2006.

The airlines of the
Star Alliance Group have a new magazine
on board: the weekly magazine AsiaNews. It is published by Asia News
Network (ANN), to which 14 newspapers from 12 Asian countries belong.
With 32 pages, AsiaNews is dedicated to the Asian market.
perspective on the topics of politics, business, lifestyle, sport and
company, as reported by Thai News Service. An e-paper version
is available on the ANN website. Sponsors of the
English-language magazine are, in addition to the network, the Swiss
cement company Holcim and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. ANN was founded in 1999
the members exchange their editorial content and share it with each other.
want to provide well-founded reporting on the countries of Asia
make this possible. The 14 newspapers have a combined circulation of 14
million copies. The ANN's daily newsletter reaches almost
20,000 subscribers.