In its latest edition, Schweiz am Sonntag provides an overview of the highest viewing figures of the past year. The Swiss national team's round of 16 match against Argentina came out on top: 1,506,000 viewers watched the Swiss team's bitter elimination. The last time this figure was reached was eight years ago, when Switzerland also lost in the round of 16 at the World Cup in Germany.

Switzerland vs. Argentina: Top odds with a bitter aftertaste (Keystone)

The million mark was broken four more times in 2014: for the remaining three Swiss matches and the World Cup final between Germany and Argentina. All Swiss matches reached over 1.2 million viewers, the preliminary round matches against Ecuador and Honduras even reached over 1.4 million.

As the first "football-free" show, the "Tagesschau" on January 5 achieved top ratings: 942,000 viewers watched the arrival of Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky in Switzerland - around 300,000 viewers more than the half-year average. The series "Der Bestatter" with Mike Müller was also a ratings hit - 837,000 viewers tuned in for the start of the second season. With 773,000 viewers, the entertainment show "Swiss Awards - Die Millionen-Gala" was watched by almost as many people as the Lauberhorn downhill race (784,000). SRF will announce the market shares on January 13. (hae/SaS)
 

As a news wholesaler, SDA today works behind the scenes of the media business. This was not always the case during the 120 years of its existence. From 1931, the SDA was a fixed part of the daily lunch ritual in Swiss parlors for many years. "You are listening to the news of the Swiss Dispatch Agency," it sounded - exactly after the 12:30 p.m. time signal - from the nation's radio receivers. Like the Beromünster station, the SDA news is history. Since 1971, SRG broadcasters have been organizing their own information. As co-owners, however, they still obtain their basic news requirements from the agency. The same is true for the newspapers.

Journalist Henri Rossier, newscaster in French for the Swiss Dispatch Agency, SDA, photographed in 1944. (Keystone/Photopress Archive/Str)

Against foreign dominance

It was also Swiss publishers and journalists who, dissatisfied with the press' dependence on foreign countries, resorted to self-help in 1894. They founded the "Syndicate of Swiss Newspapers" to "elevate their news service. The goal was to establish a national news agency. At that time, the large foreign "telegraph bureaux" had divided the market among themselves. They dictated prices at will, and often their telegrams were colored according to national interests. Local readers even had to learn about events within Switzerland from Paris or Berlin. Accuracy sometimes fell by the wayside. "Don't tell a Havas story," was a saying - the name of the French agency became the epitome of fairy tales and untruth in the vernacular.

On September 25, 1894, the constituent general meeting of the Schweizerische Depeschenagentur AG took place in the Bern Casino, and on January 1, 1895, the SDA was able to begin operations - initially with ten employees in the "Hauptbureau" on Bern's Spitalgasse as well as in Basel, Zurich and Geneva. The Bernese newspaper Bund commented on the event with the words: "No country has such a widespread press as Switzerland. We owed it to our dignity and our independence to create our own telegraphic service for our papers, a Swiss control."

The news ticker and teleprinter in the premises of the Swiss Dispatch Agency SDA in Bern, taken in July 1979 (photo: Keystone).

Trilingual basic service as core business

For the domestic market, a network of permanent and freelance correspondents was gradually built up. News from the rest of the world was and is sourced by sda from its foreign partners. At the beginning, there was a German- and a French-language service; the Italian editorial office was added in 1915. In times of war, sda became the hub of European news exchange. From 1939 to 1945, its reports were among the most listened to radio news in Europe. In the 1950s, the telephone news service followed. With the advent of the Internet in the 1990s, it evolved into the multimedia online service. Over time, other special services were added, such as the regional services, the people service with soft news and the sda-direct archive service. However, the core business of sda is still the basic service with the domestic, foreign, business and culture sections.

At the headquarters in Bern and at the other twelve locations, around 160 journalists write about 170,000 reports a year in German, French and Italian. What their predecessors produced in text during SDA's first year of operation in 1895 now leaves the "conveyor belt of reality" (former Federal Councilor Kaspar Villiger) in about two days.

SDA employees in the editorial offices in Bern (Image: Keystone)

Shareholdings of SDA

Sports events are covered by Sportinformation (Si), a wholly owned subsidiary of sda. The sda Group also includes news aktuell (50 percent), the financial news agency AWP (50 percent) and the photo agency Keystone (40 percent). In total, the group has a good 300 full-time positions. (SDA)
 

BSSM with even more spirit in the portfolio

BSSM now manages the Vecchia Romagna brand. The know-how in dealing with the Swiss guidelines for alcohol advertising and the industry experience persuaded Haecky Import AG to let BSSM advertise the Italian brandy. Vecchia Romagna is the number 1 brandy in Italy and the most popular brandy in Switzerland. The noble brandy from Bologna is new to the Reinach-based trading company's range and is to be given a new look off- and on-trade. The first results will be seen in spring 2015.

 

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Primcom takes over PR mandate for Costa Cruises

Zurich-based agency Primcom has been awarded the mandate for Costa Cruises' public relations activities. The cooperation starts immediately and includes the handling of the German as well as the French-speaking Swiss market. PrimCom supports and accompanies the implementation of the company's communication strategy and is responsible for national media relations. The Italian shipping company has its own sales organization in Switzerland, based in Zurich. General Manager has been Mary Stefanizzi since December 1, 2014. Costa Cruises currently has a total of 15 ships. Costa Diadema, the newest member, joined the fleet in October 2014. The new Costa flagship has 1862 cabins and in its first season cruises year-round from Savona in the western Mediterranean.

 

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Zürichsee Werbe AG now markets Tec21, Tracés, Archi

As of January 2015, Zürichsee Werbe AG, a subsidiary of Zürichsee Medien, will market the products of Verlags-AG der akademischen technischen Vereine: the three architecture and engineering journals Tec21 (German), Tracés (French), Archi (Italian), as well as their joint website Espazium.ch. Publishing Director Katharina Schober is very pleased about the new collaboration: "Zürichsee Werbe AG has many years of experience in marketing trade and specialty magazines. As a new and exclusive partner, it will bring a breath of fresh air to our business, but without changing the tried and true."

Zürichsee Werbe AG is one of the most important players in advertising marketing for trade and special media. It manages over 40 titles in the print and online sectors. With the acquisition of Verlags-AG's media, Zürichsee Werbe AG is expanding its portfolio to include three more relevant trade magazines from the construction and housing segment in Switzerland and internationally. The three sister trade magazines Tec21, Tracés and Archi are the official organs of the Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects SIA. They address architects, engineers, developers, planners, investors, project managers and public administrations throughout Switzerland and beyond its borders. The trilingual website Espazium.ch is an independent product of the publishing company. In addition to the content of the trade journals, it publishes additional online content and thus optimally links the digital and printed information.

 

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Goldbach Media markets French channel 6ter

The French free TV station 6ter will be broadcast with its own Swiss advertising window from January 1, 2015, and will be marketed by Goldbach Media. 6ter can be received digitally on Netplus and UPC Cablecom at the national broadcast launch and broadcasts its program in HD quality. The channel is broadcast in HD quality and its distribution is being steadily expanded. Caroline Schöfer, Managing Director 6ter: "We are delighted that 6ter is also being launched in Switzerland just two years after its launch and is developing accordingly. For 2015, we have many new additions to the program with exclusive series, new in-house productions as well as many well-known blockbusters, fiction and documentaries for the whole family."

Alexander Duphorn, CEO Goldbach Media, is pleased to strengthen the channel offering in French-speaking Switzerland with the new channel 6ter: "The French TV market has experienced a major commercial upswing in recent years. 6ter has already become the No. 1 HD channel in France via digital terrestrial reception (DVB-T) among the target groups HHF 20-49 years and people 25-34 years, just two years after the channel's launch, and its family-oriented programming is a great addition to our French portfolio."

 

More and more people are actively organizing their leisure time. This development also has a downside: the high number of accidents. Suva's Suvaliv brand is committed to improving safety in leisure time. In its prevention campaigns, it focuses on sports with high injury potential and high accident costs. 30 percent of all sports accidents in Switzerland are winter sports accidents. Accordingly, Suvaliv is involved here with various measures: from the "Slope Track" app to on-site events. One of the most striking measures is the campaigns in the ski resorts. These have been created by Ruf Lanz for many years and have repeatedly won awards for their creativity and posterity.

The latest subject shows a snow crystal composed of those bones that are often damaged in winter sports accidents: Shin bone, femur, humerus, ulna & radius and clavicle. Because snow sports quickly lose their magic if you risk too much. The subject is used on posters and advertisements.

Responsible at Suvaliv: Susan Huber-Brun (Head of Advertising + Communication SuvaLiv), Samuli Aegerter (Campaign Manager Snow Sports). Responsible at Ruf Lanz: Markus Ruf, Danielle Lanz (Creative Direction), Isabelle Hauser (Art Direction), Markus Ruf (Text), Dave Schellenberg (Graphics), Colette Magnin (Consulting), CGI: Tobias Stierli, Flaeck.ch.

The appearance and especially the website no longer do justice to the positioning of the company. The best way to find out how a company is perceived from the outside is to ask the target group. This is exactly what Mosaik did. The team contacted numerous architects about how they perceive Huber Windows, how they go about looking for a window manufacturer, and what they expect from the window manufacturer's website. The answers produced a coherent picture for the concept, according to a statement.

As a result, Mosaik and Eighty Nine created a new corporate design. The logo was changed only slightly to ensure recognition. The same applied to the letterheads. Eighty Nine designed lettering for the vehicles and signaling for the new building. The new website Huberwindows.ch invites with emotional photos, functionally and in terms of content it is completely geared to the needs of architects. It offers a specific login area where architects can download measurements, for example. All elements position Huber Fenster from the visual, content and functional aspects as what the company is: a strong premium brand.

Concept/Process support: Mosaik. Concept/design/production: Eighty Nine. Text: Sarah Peter-Vogt.
 

According to the press release, La Zoupa is the highest culinary art for warming up. The range includes 30 soups and stews. La Zoupa cooks everything itself. According to home recipes and using only fresh ingredients. The only preservative La Zoupa uses is ice. The ready meals are freshly prepared and flash-frozen. For all those who pay attention to healthy eating and want to eat something good quickly. La Zoupa is available in the freezer section of selected grocery stores. The Scotti advertising agency has now produced a series of new POS posters to increase presence and awareness at points of sale.

Responsible at La Zoupa: Ivan Scotti. At Scotti advertising agency: Patricia Meneghin, (consulting); Sandjay Deng (art); Peter Rettinghausen (CD and text).
 

The new rules are now scheduled to take effect Jan. 30 instead of Jan. 1. Facebook told its users Wednesday that anyone using the service after Jan. 30 would automatically agree to the updated terms and conditions, data policy and cookies policy. In addition, Facebook users then agreed to be shown ads that are compiled based on their browsing behavior both on Facebook and outside the network. Among other things, Facebook wants to tailor advertising more closely to individual users. For this purpose, for example, information about pages visited and apps used will also be evaluated. Until now, Facebook has created advertising profiles for its users based on their activities on the network itself. Now, apps and websites used outside of Facebook will also be included. This has already been the case in the USA for several months.

Advertising displayed

For example, someone searching the Internet for deals on their next vacation might see ads for travel displayed on their profile the next time they visit. If someone buys a stereo system over the Internet, ads for speakers or other accessories will most likely be displayed on their Facebook page. Anyone who does not want this to happen should be able to turn it off. The announced in November new rules had met with criticism from data protectionists. The Dutch data protection authority launched an investigation and asked Facebook to postpone the rollout in mid-December. The innovations are part of the first update to Facebook's privacy rules in about a year. New additions are to include provisions for payment services and purchases on the Facebook platform. This involves payment data such as card numbers, but also information about purchases. It will be possible to delete information about individual items purchased.

A new section called "Privacy Basics" is intended to better explain to users how Facebook works, it said. With the creation of the new section, the actual data usage guidelines were streamlined at the same time. Facebook has more than 1.3 billion users worldwide. The world's largest online network finances itself almost exclusively through advertising. (SDA)

The National Museum in Zurich closed 2014 successfully with around 227,000 visitors. This is more than 30,000 people more than in the previous year (2013: 196,228). The museum owes the great interest on the one hand to the thematically broad exhibition program: from fairy tales to the current Press photography to historical focal points, which the house was able to set with exhibitions such as "1900-1914. Expedition to Happiness". The Zurich agency Studio Marie Lusa designed the advertising materials for this exhibition (Werbewoche.ch reported). At the beginning of 2014, the successful exhibition "Good to Print - Art and Advertising at Wolfensberger" was extended by months (Werbewoche.ch reported). For the exhibition "Great Cinema," curator Walter Keller searched through 300 Swiss feature films for the most telling scenes possible from everyday Swiss life (Advertising Week Print reported). 

On the other hand, the Landesmuseum strengthened its presence with a new website also online, thus opening the virtual gateway to the museum with more images and a better overview of events and exhibitions. Finally, the National Museum Zurich is always exploring new visitor groups with potential. Guided tours are now offered in Russian, as this group of visitors is also increasingly visiting the National Museum individually. In addition, the structural engineering work on the extension was completed on schedule in 2014 and work began on the interior, according to a statement.
 

The "Kulturplatz" program usually has one main theme. The programs with Harald Schmidt will also be monothematic, as SRF announced on Sunday. For example, the topic "The Germans and us" is planned. Harald Schmidt enjoys appearing on SRF. "After so many Swiss have failed on German television, it's about time a German made it on Swiss television," SRF quoted him as saying. (SDA)

Picture: Keystone:

The program has triggered a public debate on how to deal with religions, says Matter. This is a desired effect of SRF programs. However, the TV director does not address the question of whether a presenter who calls his guest "pubescent", a "pompous guy" and even an "asshole" after the show is still acceptable. Instead, Matter refers to the statement by editor-in-chief Tristan Brenn. He had described the "Schawinski" show with Andreas Thiel as "unsuccessful", but did not want to turn it into a fundamental issue. In the talk show, Koran critic and satirist Andreas Thiel was supposed to comment on his controversial Islam article in the Weltwoche. From the very first minute, however, the show was characterized by spitefulness and there was no objective discussion at any time.

"The two scaredy-cats at the top"

As the NZZ am Sonntag knows, SRF employees as well as TV boss Matter and SRG Director General Roger de Weck are generally dissatisfied with the talk show, which has been running since 2011. This naturally raises the question of why the show was not canceled on this occasion. The newspaper asked around at Leutschenbach and wants to know the reason: They were afraid of Schawinski's reaction if he was thrown out. Schawinski was a bitter critic of SRG for decades. Since he has had his own SRF program, he has been much more reserved in his comments towards Leutschenbach - a development that not only Roger Köppel is likely to have noticed. Köppel constantly accuses Schawinski of the sudden SRG mildness in the program "Roger gegen Roger". The SRG bosses don't seem to be in the mood for the old acrimony. The NZZ am Sonntag quotes a television journalist: "Schawinski's unspeakable show remains in the program because of the two scaredy-cats at the top.

Ombudsman has his hands full

The scandal in the interview with Andreas Thiel is keeping the ombudsman busy. According to SDA, Achille Casanova had received 65 complaints by Friday afternoon. All but five of the complaints are directed against the way in which Schawinski dealt with Thiel. According to Casanova, the critics described the interview as "inadequate, provocative, rude, disrespectful or insulting". Next, Casanova must confirm each complaint individually. He will then forward the objections to the SRF editorial team for a statement. Only then will he issue a report on whether a complaint is justified or not. This report must be submitted within 40 days of receipt. (hae/NZZaS/SDA)

 

Thinkbox is the British TV industry association that ensures that TV advertising is and remains popular. It does this, for example, with studies that prove how efficient this form of advertising is. Almost even more convincing, on the other hand, are the TV commercials that Thinkbox places. Because advertising that gives people pleasure is still the best advertising for advertising. And how do you reliably give people pleasure? With dogs, exactly.

That's why Thinkbox created Harvey four years ago. The likeable terrier knew how to assert himself at the animal shelter by unceremoniously playing a commercial about himself to the interested couple (spot "Dogs Home" see below). The work of the agency The Red Brick Road convinced not only on television, but is also on Youtube a million hit. Two years ago, Harvey again played a commercial for his new owner when he wanted to dispose of his beloved stuffed bunny.

Now it's that time again: On Boxing Day, the day after Christmas, when football is already being played again in England, the new Harvey commercial celebrates its premiere. This time, the dog explains via commercial the necessity of letting poodle lady Harmony move in. The arguments convince not only the master, but all of us. Or? (hae)

What happened so far:

 

A mailing to SMEs with a letter, a sign indicating the perfect Christmas gift and a number of flyers including a reply card offered a 10 percent subscription discount for employees. A similar mailing went to doctors and dentists. In this case, the letter offered additional flyers and the stand-up display - and as a thank-you for placing it in the waiting room, a free subscription for one year, which will not only make the visit to the doctor and the waiting time more bearable for the young patients, but even entertaining and educational.

The campaign in the media includes print ads, remarketing banners, Adwords placements and a sales-optimized Landing Page with order form and confirmation e-mail. The campaign will run until December 31, 2014 and, according to the press release, is already showing surprisingly good results, such as an unexpectedly high level of interest among the doctors contacted and high click rates for the Adwords and banners. Accordingly, very good subscription sales are also being registered.

Responsible at Künzler Bachmann Verlag: Roger Hartmann (Publishing Director Spick). Responsible at Match Communications: Michaela Döbeli, Christian Staub, Roland Sennhauser