Television SF info offers itself as a platform for educational TV. The educational TV demanded by cantonal education directors could start soon, at least one channel with the best quality is available: SF info. "SF info is largely unused during the day, but it would be ideally suited for educational TV," says Hans-Jürg Deutsch, Managing Director of publisher Presse-TV (PTV). Last week, he was instructed by the PTV Board of Directors to submit a corresponding proposal to DETEC and the directors of education.PTV - like SF DRS - holds a partial license for SF info. "SF DRS should therefore also agree," says Deutsch. However, while SF DRS is only allowed to repeat info programs there - free of advertising and sponsorship - PTV would be allowed to produce its own content for SF info and also acquire advertising and sponsorship for it. However, due to the low reach of SF info and a lack of money at PTV, this option has so far remained unused; PTV merely repeats its SF 2 programs. "Educational TV could sail under the PTV flag, which would have the advantage that sponsorship would also be possible," says Deutsch. According to Deutsch, it has not yet been discussed whether PTV would also provide the educational TV content.
You can read what SF-DRS Director Ingrid Deltenre thinks of this proposal and of PTV in general from page 29 onwards.

Beverages The Bern-based advertising agency Contexta has decided to discontinue its collaboration with the Valser mineral water brand at the beginning of 2005, stating that it does not agree with the brand's new strategic direction. Valser was taken over by Coca-Cola Beverages in the fall of 2002. Contexta writes that it understands the changes. "However, we also feel that under the current circumstances there is a lack of trust and a lack of common ground for further successful cooperation." Contexta has been supporting Valser for over 15 years. Coca-Cola wants to sell Valser more abroad as a premium brand in the high-end gastronomy sector.

Press Since Tuesday, colporteurs - including editor-in-chief Klaus Madzia - have been distributing the commuter newspaper News, developed by the Handelsblatt publishing group, in the Frankfurt metropolitan area. According to Madzia, the answer to Springer's quality tabloid Welt Kompakt with a circulation of 25,000 copies is aimed at "the technology and consumer-oriented iPod generation".

Agencies Almost everything is new at Favo. On September 11, the advertising agency Favo, which was previously based in Arlesheim in the canton of Baselland, moved into new premises in Basel. The move to Zwingerstrasse, just a five-minute walk from the SBB railroad station, was celebrated with an event in the new, still empty premises - and with a refreshed logo. However, there are no personnel changes at the agency, which is managed by owner Alice Stümcke, and CD Hinrik Wachsmuth cites two reasons for the move to Basel: On the one hand, the proximity to the Basel train station, and on the other hand, Favo wants to increasingly approach Basel companies again in addition to its existing national clients.
Hand in hand to success
The new open-plan office and the new look reflect the Basel advertising agency's in-house philosophy, in which consulting and creation are on the same level and work hand in hand. "At our agency, the creative team doesn't just take the client briefs from the consultancy and develop them independently, but both sides constantly compare notes during the development process," says Hinrik Wachsmuth. The aim is not only to provide the customer with exactly what they want, but also to develop their approach even further.
Markus Knöpfli

Daily newspapers Edipresse merges 24 Heures with La Presse - and claims the whole of Vaud for itself Loud cries of protest in the summer put a stop to the proposal by consultancy firm Publicom to expand economic area 12 around Lausanne at the expense of Fribourg and Valais. Wemf, as the client, decided to review the reclassification of the economic areas (EAs) and put it on hold for the time being. Smaller publishers in particular had opposed the reclassification. They suspected that the Lausanne media group Edipresse was plotting to give its titles more weight in the advertising market, but in March 2005 Edipresse embarked on a different strategy to conquer the Veveyse, Broye and Monthey. The publisher is expanding its Lausanne daily newspaper 24 Heures into a newspaper for the Greater Vaud region. To this end, the regional papers La Presse Riviera-Chablais and La Presse Nord-vaudoise-Broye are integrated into 24 Heures. Edipresse already took over their publisher Corbaz in 2002.
Publishing director Pierre Buntschu emphasizes that the papers will not simply be merged. Rather, a completely new newspaper is being created, which will be launched under the well-established 24 Heures brand. The new 24 Heures will be published with four regional split editions. Two will replace the La Presse titles in Riviera-Chablais and Nord-Vaudoise-Broye. As before, 24 Heures will dedicate a third to the cantonal capital Lausanne. The fourth is a completely new launch. It will cover the La Côte region west of Lausanne up to the cantonal border with Geneva.
Edipresse is thus even reaching beyond the controversial large WG 12. Nyon, the westernmost tip of Vaud, belongs to Geneva's WG 11 both currently and in the Publicom proposal. At the same time, 24 Heures is poaching on the territory of its competitor Hersant. The French publishing group publishes the regional newspaper La Côte, based in Nyon. Editor-in-chief Jacques Poget, however, denies that 24 Heures is seeking a confrontation with Hersant. But the paper feels just as committed to its readers in the Côte as to those in the other regions, he writes in the announcement of the relaunch.
Critical voices
Edipresse tries to parry criticism of its expansionist ambitions by pointing to its proximity to readers. Critical voices were quick to emerge - especially in the Fribourg daily La Liberté, which had already taken the sharpest shots at the new WG division. "Our region is losing something that united us," La Liberté quotes the district prefect of Yverdon, Pierrette Roulet-Grin. René Perdrix, honorary prefect of Grandson, regrets that after the merger of the newspapers, there is now only one interlocutor in addition to local radio and TV.
Pascal Broulis, Vaud's Director of Finance, is concerned about the interregional aspect. He fears that readers will have to limit themselves to information from their region in future if they only receive the respective split edition. Roulet-Grin also expects that cantonal cohesion will now be more difficult to achieve. "But I hope that the necessary resources will be made available to provide genuine regional information."
Edipresse wants to leave no doubt about this. The publishing house has endowed each split edition - including the one in Lausanne - with its own local editorial team, including editor-in-chief, sports reporters and photographers. The local editorial team is responsible for the second edition of the new 24 Heures. The central editorial team at Edipresse's headquarters in Lausanne, which will continue to be headed by Jacques Poget, will provide the general editorial content. This structure means that no jobs will have to be cut despite the merger. On the contrary, a number of new appointments are possible, writes Poget.
New design for 24 Heures
Of course, more reader service is not the entire background to the relaunch. According to Poget, the decision was based on an in-depth study into the future of the regional press. This came to the conclusion that a merger of the strengths of 24 Heures and the La Presse titles offered the best opportunities - both in the reader market and with local and national advertisers.
The new 24 Heures will also have a new design. The existing red logo will be retained. However, it will probably change color in the editions for Riviera-Chablais and Nord-vaudoise-Broye. According to the online service Largeur.com, tests have shown that blue - La Presse's corporate color - is very popular with the public. The new layout is being developed by newspaper designer Martin Dixon together with art director Marc Borden; a first draft is already available. The Briton Dixon was already responsible for the design of 24 Heures in 1999. Numerous publications in French-speaking Switzerland bear his signature, including L'Illustré, Bilan and Le Matin.
24 Heures will not only share the designer with its sister newspaper Le Matin, but also the editorial system in future. Edipresse will be introducing a joint IT solution for all its titles next spring. This is also the reason why the Vaud region will have to wait until March for the launch of its new, large daily newspaper.
The newspaper for the WG 12 plusBack in 1999, 24 Heures underwent a relaunch with the aim of establishing itself as the newspaper for the entire canton of Vaud. However, this was only partially successful. The main distribution area remained the Lausanne region, where the paper now has a reach of 52.8 percent. The figure for the whole of WG 12 is 45.7 percent.
The new 24 Heures is breaking up the WG 12 in several places. With Nyon and La Broye, it gnaws at the catchment area of Geneva and Fribourg. However, these regions are politically part of Vaud. In Veveyse, on the other hand, the newspaper extends into the canton of Fribourg, and in the Monthey area into Valais.
The circulation of 24 Heures is 88500 copies. La Presse Riviera-Chablais sells 24,000 copies and La Presse Nord-vaudoise 12,600 copies (excluding large print runs). Its competitor La Côte, into whose territory 24 Heures is entering with a new split edition, sells just under 14,000 copies.
The new distribution area of 24 Heures is called "WG 12 plus".
The regions marked in yellow are those where Edipresse reaches beyond the Lausanne economic area.
Stefano Monachesi

Food The advertising agency Metzgerlehner has won the Bell Group as a new client, beating three competitors in a pitch. Metzgerlehner is realizing a comprehensive image campaign for the Basel-based meat company, focusing on TV and print. The first works will be seen in November.

Sponsoring The new media magazine Anthrazit has gained Credit Suisse as a new key partner, and from September the "Leben Digital" section of Anthrazit will also be dedicated to the topic of finance, in particular online banking. These pages will be produced by the editorial team in cooperation with Credit Suisse. In addition to Credit Suisse, ARP Datacon, Cablecom, Littlebit, Motorola, Switzerland Tourism and Swisscom Mobile are key partners of Anthrazit's knowledge section.

Newspapers The independent Geneva daily newspaper Le Courrier is facing a mountain of debt and this year's deficit could be as high as 200,000 francs, announces editor-in-chief Marco Gregori. Together with last year's losses, the deficit will rise to around 300,000 francs. Le Courrier therefore runs the risk that 2005 will be its last year. Le Courrier is run by a non-profit organization and operates with a budget of 4 million francs, according to the news agency SDA.

Outsourcing Tamedia is outsourcing its IT services to Swisscom IT Services from October, with the agreement stipulating that Swisscom will take on around 50 employees of the Zurich-based media company. T-Systems Switzerland, which had already been awarded the contract in spring, will lose out. Tamedia revoked the contract in August because T-Systems' prices had proved to be realistic.

Wemf organized the 8th Swiss Media Research Day in the Technopark, and for once in the morning - otherwise there would have been a clash with the screen-up, which interests media planners just as much as MACH. Around 500 guests were keen to hear what the media researchers had to say and made the pilgrimage to Zurich's Westend. Wemf's top executives told the audience a lot of old news, except that the sample weighting had been adjusted to the last census and that a comparison with the previous year was not possible for large circulations because of a new survey model.
The main topic of discussion during the breaks was that 20 Minuten has overtaken Blick as the strongest newspaper. This topic is likely to keep heads turning for some time to come.
Full house also prevailed in the halls of the Abaton at Cinemax and the penthouse lounge Hard One, where this year's Screen-up took place. The event allows a first look at the series and feature film highlights of the next season, and gives TV planners and their bosses an initial overview of the best environment in which to place spots next year.
In addition to these screenings, there were also some booths in the individual foyers for the stations' self-presentation or advertising offers, which, however, seemed a bit lost. The people responsible for the U-1 TV station had a particularly nice flash of inspiration at their screen-up outlet. The U-1 advertising material was placed in the old Metropol newspaper dispensers, with the U-1 logo in the form of the London Metro icon replacing the second O on the Metropol logo. A prime example of intelligent advertising recycling. Of course, one wishes the station a somewhat longer life than the commuter newspaper, which as we all know has passed away. If the U-1 dispensers, which are often the subject of discussion due to staff fluctuation, are not in use for long, another candidate for their use is already in sight. The advertising Swisspool successor called Metropool could then simply replace the U-1 logos with a double-O.
In addition to the OC, which is made up of representatives of the various marketers, Kim Hilario and Baschti Walz from the event agency Freak Productions were also responsible for the organization of the screen-up. After the two of them set up their own business last winter, the place has really taken off after an initially slow start. One could not complain at present really about lacking extent of utilization, let Kim Hilario announce. In any case, Freak Productions has made a good impression with its Screen-up business card.
Free choice was the motto for the following evening program. At aperitif time, Hard One, the lounge on the top floor of the Abaton, filled up continuously. It was a great place to discuss and make appointments for the evening. On the one hand, there were two exclusive previews to choose from at the Abaton, and on the other, IP Multimedia invited guests to Kaufleuten for the big MTV/RTL-2 party with an exclusive VIP area on the gallery. Even before the event, there was a lot of publicity. The fact that Melanie Winiger would give insights into a new MTV broadcast was just one argument. Various IP employees said that there would also be a very hot surprise guest, but they were not allowed to reveal anything about the name. In some cases, the solution to the well-kept secret leaked out nevertheless under the seal of absolute secrecy. The person in the know would then reply to such secrecy: "I know, I know, but I'm not allowed to reveal anything either - just this much: you can put it in your coffee and it's not liquid!"
Correct, the speech was about Zucchero
Sugar Fornaciari, who appeared on the Kaufleuten stage as a Surprising Act. With a short but impressive performance, he brought the hall to the boil. Besides seeing and being seen, good gossip was the top priority at Kaufleuten. The fact that the three beauties Melanie Winiger, Simone Bargetze and Nadja Schildknecht were sitting at a table in the restaurant's garden got around relatively quickly in the hall. This had to do with the fact that on the Kaufi stage that evening the show 6Pack, conceived by IPM and realized by Eqal Productions, was presented. The whole team of presenters was present for this.
VIP-TV inventor and presenter Simone Zikmund and partner Peter Wyss also had news. After Cablecom had put the ZüriPlus channel on hold in favor of U-1, i.e. switched it off, the cult show VIP-TV
for some time could only be followed via the Internet. This has now changed - the fans of upscale trash will be grateful with high ratings. Alternating every two weeks, VIP-TV can be seen daily at 5 p.m. on TeleZüri. Unfortunately, however, without the biting comments of the popular co-host Donna (known from the shortlist). Simone's lapdog has joined the seventh dog heaven and will probably judge the media activity down here from there with some other Very Important Dogs while having a doggy champagne.
Beat Fritsch spent last week in the media business. While the statisticians from AG für Werbemedienforschung presented the latest readership and Internet usage figures at Zurich's Technopark on Tuesday morning, the marketers of the Swiss TV advertising windows showed the next year's programming of their parent stations at the afternoon screenings at the Abaton. Finally, in the evening, there was a mega party at Kaufleuten, hosted by MTV and RTL 2, with Zucchero Sugar Fornaciari as the surprise act.
Having a good laugh after the presentation of the latest figures: Wemf Director René Schmutz (right) with Fred Dietiker from SMP.
As of now, work is already underway on the next MACH: Mirco Marrone, Carine Lins and Harald Amschler (from left) from Wemf.
Karl Lüönd (l.), Head of the Media Institute, jokingly called his counterpart a little bird: Karl Vögeli, Head of Coop Press.
After the Wemf presi: Jean-Christophe Francet, Publimedia, with Francine Bruni of TR7 and Patrick Jola of Jean Frey Verlag (from left).
Sonia Gomez, Petra Zwyssig, Nicole Braschler and Janine Krause (from left) handle media and marketing services at Ringier.
Dominik Lämmler, Stefanie Muratore and Marco Gasser, 20 Minuten (from left), have recently joined Switzerland's strongest newspaper.
Jürg Brauchli , Head of Newspapers Tamedia, 20-Minuten Managing Director Rolf Boll-mann and Stephan Gartenmann, Tagblatt (from left).
Claudia Gillardon (l.), WOZ, with Dani Schnüriger, Tamedia magazines, and Nicole Costa from Migros magazine.
Yvonne Philipp (l.) of Philipp Kommunikation with Marco Reale of Metropool and Annabelle ad manager Monika Schneider.
Thomas Schweizer from the Homeowners Association with Touring ad manager Alfred Blaser and customer advisor Reto Mürner (from left).
Strong in the special interest sector: Bettina Meier and Renato Polentarutti from Springer Science + Business Media Schweiz AG.
The next generation is already waiting in the wings at Tamedia: Matthias Wick, Rahel Bieri and Nina Simonet (from left).
Cinecom CEO Matthias Luchsinger (l.) was once again able to congratulate his in-house advertiser Markus Cavegn on the screen-up campaign.
Peacefully united: Markus Hollenstein (l.), Publi-suisse, Siri Fischer, IPM, and Screen-up OC member Jean-Claude-Bruhin, Cinecom.
At the screen-up, they constantly jetted from one corner to the other in a highly dynamic manner: Michi Frank (l.), IPM, and Klaus Kappeler, Goldbach Media.
Pat Vanek and Cumi Karagülle demonstrated how to recycle old dispensers from other media types at the TV U-1 booth.
IPM Communications Manager Bettina Singeisen at the screen-up with Vanessa Meister and Holger Walther from Publica Data.
Roger Baur (right) drummed up publicity for Cinecom's Plasmedia offering and Martin Radelfinger for Goldbach's Crossmedia.
Walter Weder (l.) of the Media Research Group with Kim Hilario, Freak Productions, and Hardy Lussi, Pro-7-Sat-1-Media.
Mike Neuhaus (l.) and Simone Britschgi of Tanner Communications with Simone Schäfer, Cablecom (r.) and Dave Jäger.
Christof Kaufmann from OMD with Andreas Hostettler and Björn Hering from the TV production company Faro (from left).
They met at the screen-up closing aperitif: Oliver Huber from OMD with Angela Sgura, Managing Director of Sat 1 Switzerland.
Olivier Schmid from the Bernese marketing agency Zauberküche with Beat Krebs, OMD, and Marcel Bosshard, IP Multimedia (from left).
Holding the fort at the Cinecom booth: Sonya Kobler, Verushka Salvo, Tamara Bühlmann and Bernadette Weber (from left).
Simone Bargetze and Melanie Winiger (r.) lend a certain amount of glamour to the new broadcasting feature in MTV's Swiss window.
Eqal Production with Christian Breitschmid (center) and Lea Rindlisbacher is responsible for the realization of 6Pack.
Also appearing on MTV in the new show 6Pack: Model Nadja Schildknecht and sports specialist Chris Bachmann.
Good News: Have finally found a new home for VIP-TV: Simone Zikmund and Peter Wyss of Live Evil Productions.
Cock of the walk: Reader's Digest ad manager Paolo Placa with Marina Panisi (l.) from MGB and wife Sandra Placa.
Made the long way from French-speaking Switzerland: Saverio Progano from Mediaedge: CIA with Jean-Christophe Périchon from L' Oréal Suisse.
Cutting a fine figure at the MTV and RTL 2 party: Viola Schnüriger of BG Media with Kevin Schnell of OMD.
The infamous Trio infernale at Kaufleuten: The brothers Philipp (l.) and Reto (r.) Oetterli with Philippe Picálek celebrating.
Sunny dispositions at the bar: Kaj Schnider from OMD and Judith Brändle, Account Manager at Vizeum Connections.
Hans-Georg Bardohl (l.), consulting group manager at Optimedia Elektronik with Mariella Widmer and Mark D. Seng of IPM.
Patrizia D'Onofrio from Sat 1 Switzerland with Danilo Crisetig, Lesch + Frei, and Jean-Claude Raemy from Primus Verlag (from left).
Markus Popp (l.), Tilllate, with Natalie Schneider and Sacha Baer, toasting his birthday at midnight.

In discussions about advertising bans, advocates often refer to a World Bank study according to which restrictions would reduce cigarette consumption by 6 percent.tobacco advertising Piero Schäfer, Head of Communications at the Swiss Advertising Association, took a closer look at the World Bank report and now criticizes "quite a few inconsistencies" in a press release. Although disclaimers are common nowadays for liability reasons, Schäfer is bothered by the fact that the World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data contained in the publication. The three and a half pages devoted to "cigarette advertising" and "sales promotion" proved to be rather vague on closer inspection. They merely quote from previously published studies without carefully identifying them or explaining the methods. With a little Internet research, however, Werbewoche was able to easily locate the studies. They come from the American economics professor Henry Saffer, and some of the authors of the World Bank report were also involved. The report "Curbing the Epidemic : Governments and the Economics of Tobacco Control" is available in English and French at www.worldbank.org/tobacco.

Mark Stahel is to join GGK Zurich at the beginning of January 2005. According to a press release, he will become the advertising agency's third partner alongside Hermann Strittmatter and Fredy Weisser. Stahel was most recently Creative Director of Lowe in Zurich. He announced his resignation at the end of April to take some time out. ...
The Lucerne-based advertising agency Bossard Kommunikation has strengthened its consulting team with Olivia Lombris. As a marketing communications planner, she has been supporting the two consultants Ruedi and Michael Bossard since the beginning of September. Lombris previously worked as a marketing assistant at Mobility Carsharing Switzerland and as a PR assistant at the PR agency Dr. Peter P. Knobel AG.
...
Thomas Maus has acquired a stake in the communications agency Fiechter Demirci. The German national, who lives in Switzerland, previously worked as an independent management consultant specializing in marketing and communications. In future, the Heerbrugg agency will operate under the name Fiechter Demirci Maus & Mann (FDM&M). At the same time, it is introducing a new unit dedicated to the development and improvement of communication strategies. Michael Jäger and the German expert for online market research Holger Lütters will take over the management.
...
The SRG youth channel Virus is expanding its music editorial team from two to three people. The previous music editor Predrag Miskovic is leaving the station. He is moving to DRS 3 in the same function. Marco Liembd and Tamara Steffen, who was already a member of the Virus founding team, are joining the music editorial team. Liembd previously worked as head of music at the Lucerne alternative station Radio 3fach.
...
Martin Schweikert is the new Head of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) at the Farner PR agency. He will continue to expand the division, according to a press release. Martin Schweikert was previously a member of the management team at the Zurich agency L&W Marcom, which specializes in ICT.