The Research Institute for the Public Sphere and Society (Fög) analyzed the reporting of six selected newspapers on the SVP's immigration initiative in recent months. The results show that the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper, which is considered to be left-liberal, has the largest pro overhang: out of a total of 76 published articles, 51 reported in favor of the initiative (pro overhang: +13). A second Tamedia medium, 20 Minuten, also had more positive than negative publications (pro overhang +3).

According to the study, Le Temps (number of articles: 115, negative overhang: -29), NZZ (98/-38) and Blick (49/-24) positioned themselves against the initiative. Fög director Kurt Imhof told Schweiz am Sonntag that support for the initiative has been growing in recent weeks, and that there is a "low level of reflection on the effects" and a "lack of an enlightened horizon". The frequent criticism voiced in reader comments that politicians and the media are playing down the problems of immigration has led to "overcompensation in the description of the problem".

The Tages-Anzeiger denies the pro-course to Schweiz am Sonntag. According to Daniel Foppa, Head of Domestic Affairs, addressing the problems is not the same as taking a Yes position. In addition, the methodology of the study is "adventurous". However, he confirms that there were pro votes within the editorial team - a first for an SVP initiative. However, the majority of the editorial team were clearly against the initiative.

Kurt Imhof also explains the growing media skepticism towards immigration by saying that media professionals are themselves plagued by fears of decline due to the "rapid deterioration of their career prospects". A thesis that is also supported in the article by Das Magazin author Daniel Binswanger: Journalists are confronted with a real decline in their standard of living, which has reduced their immunity to SVP rhetoric. The personal consternation has caused important counter-arguments to fade into the background. (SaS/hae)
 

Publicis: Environment Arena new in portfolio

Just in time for the new year, Umwelt Arena Spreitenbach has decided to rely on the services of Publicis for its overall communications. Conceived and financed by entrepreneur Walter Schmid, the Umwelt Arena Spreitenbach opened in August 2012 and deals with all facets of modern life: from renewable energies and electric drives to novel construction methods and materials, visitors can learn everything there about the environmentally friendly solutions of today and tomorrow. The first results of this collaboration are expected to be on display in Switzerland at the end of February.

 

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TBWA\Zurich: New lead agency for Sunrise

Switzerland's largest private telecommunications provider is relying on the agency in Zurich Seefeld with immediate effect. TBWA\Zurich was able to prevail in a pitch thanks to brand strategy considerations and convincing creative concepts. The first works will be on display in spring.

 

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Advertising agency: six-fold increase in customers

Werbeanstalt Schweiz starts the new year with six new clients: Swiss Milk Producers SMP, Linkgroup, Paramediform, ViiV Healthcare, Jacobs Foundation and Pulmonx.

 

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Three new customers for Wapico

Wapico, an advertising and communications agency in Bern, is starting the new year with three new clients. Théâtre Vidy Lausanne entrusts the agency with all its communications activities, as does the AHV compensation fund of the canton of Bern. For Mountain Twister, a lemonade made from apple and non-alcoholic beer from Rügenbräu, Wapico can handle a number of tasks.

The accommodation establishments of Saas-Fee are primarily in the foreground in this respect and want to change from accommodation establishments to reception centers for those wishing to enter. "In doing so, we are in principle addressing everyone outside the Free Holiday Republic of Saas-Fee. Valaisans and Swiss who want to recover from the fiercely fought referendum on the immigration stop, as well as Europeans who, for once, do not want to be subject to Swiss residence restrictions," the initiators say. For them it is clear: Saas-Fee has not reached the limits in terms of immigration. "The boat is far from full! We have enough capacity in our hotels and vacation apartments, sorry, of course reception centers. If necessary, we also open the wellness facilities and convert the deckchairs into sleeping places, so that those willing to enter do not have to be turned back."

Apparently, the breakaway Alpine republic in the Saas Valley is not taken entirely seriously by the political scene in Switzerland. At least, this is how the dry refusal of those responsible for Swiss politics to make a statement can be interpreted. "We give no comment!", is there in the typical Swiss diplomat slang to learn. "They do what they want in Bern. Then we'll just do what we want," is how the initiators in Saas-Fee put it in a nutshell.

Besides the touristic statement that Saas-Fee as a tourist resort wants to prove its cosmopolitanism and its loyalty to international guests and employees, there is also the concern about the future of tourism in Switzerland behind the call of the Free Holiday Republic of Saas-Fee. Labor shortages, cost explosion in labor recruitment, loss of image abroad and the associated threat of a decline in overnight stays loom if the initiative is accepted. This sword of Damocles must be avoided.

Should the Free Holiday Republicans actually implement their idea, sanctions from the federal government cannot be ruled out. "No comment," is the word from government circles. Behind closed doors, however, there are rumors of sealing off and closing off the access routes. "No problem," say the initiators. "After all, we have our own EU border in the south. If the old Valaisans managed to leave the country there centuries ago, it will also be possible to come to us that way today." Already, pitchforks and scythes are being sharpened and snow catapults are being brought into position to lend weight to this right of free entry and exit. It seems that the indomitable Gauls are now called Saasers. Affaire à suivre!

The "Free Holiday Republic of Saas-Fee" goes back to the agency Matter & Gretener.

 

Together with the existing partners, Sonntagszeitung and Volksstimme in the region of northwestern Switzerland and Weiler Zeitung, Markgräfler Tagblatt and Die Oberbadische in southern Baden, the Stellenanzeiger now has a circulation of 215'000 copies. The Stellefant is included in the Basler Zeitung on Saturday (previously Friday) as well as in the South Baden newspapers. In the region's Sunday newspaper, the Stellenanzeiger is published as usual on Sunday, and in Baz Kompakt, Neue Fricktaler Zeitung and Volksstimme on the following Tuesday. With this cooperation, Basler Zeitung Medien and the participating publishers want to expand their role in the area of print job ads in northwestern Switzerland and southern Baden, according to the press release.

Now that long-term funding has been secured thanks to this Fabi, we can confidently turn our attention back to the amusing side of public transport. Illustrator October Jones, for example, demonstrates how train travel, which is already very funny, can become even funnier. He holds custom-made drawings over his fellow passengers' heads and shares the resulting photos via Twitter. The principle is reminiscent of the anonymous English commuter who gave other people a new lease of life with folded newspapers ("Last but not least" from 21.04.2013). Since Jones not only draws the heads himself (and extremely skillfully), but also adapts them to suit the respective fellow traveler, his creations have made it to the top of the list via Buzzfeed has now made it onto the big Internet stage. And in the Werbewoche newsletter. (hae)

Advance is a young association that aims to promote women in management positions. The network offers events, workshops, mentoring and advice to women in management positions and equips ambitious female managers with skills and leadership qualities. Today, 40 percent of employees at the NZZ Media Group are women. The company has now set itself the goal of promoting talent and thereby increasing the proportion of women, particularly in management positions, according to a press release. On the other hand, a conscious decision was made not to introduce a quota.

Advance - Women in Swiss Business was founded in March 2013. The nine founding companies include ABB, Credit Suisse, GE Capital, Ikea, McKinsey & Company, PWC, Sandoz, Siemens and Swiss Re.

"GIM Suisse has made very pleasing progress in recent years," says Lukas Zihlmann. "On the one hand, our clients value us as a small, flexible and professional Swiss institute. On the other hand, they also want the wide range of research and industry expertise of an international network. GIM can offer this. Together with Susan Shaw, we want to continue this great development to date."

The new Co-Managing Director Susan Shaw: "GIM Suisse is excellently positioned for the current and future challenges in our industry. We have the know-how, the methodological expertise and an outstanding team to be able to offer innovative and individual solutions." Commenting on the new management structure, Susan Shaw and Lukas Zihlmann say: "We complement each other perfectly and have big plans for GIM Suisse. With joint management of the company, we can divide up the important tasks better, advance our plans and developments more quickly and achieve more. We are both very much looking forward to the challenges ahead and the opportunity to shape the future of GIM Suisse together."

GIM Suisse is an independent subsidiary of the Gesellschaft für innovative Marktforschung with headquarters in Heidelberg and further branches in Berlin and Lyon. With a group turnover of around 30 million Swiss francs (2013), GIM is one of the largest independent and fastest-growing market research companies in Europe.
 

Traditional online advertising - i.e. banner advertising on websites - also increased again. In a statement on Thursday, Media Focus speaks of a plus of 9.4 percent. With sales of 186 million Swiss francs, classic online advertising accounts for around a quarter of total advertising expenditure on the Internet. However, Media Focus identified much stronger growth rates in other forms of Internet advertising. For example, sales generated by advertising in search engines in Switzerland rose by 18.9 percent to CHF 250 million. The share of the total volume is over one third. At 27.4 percent, the volume of affiliate advertising rose even more sharply. This involves advertising appearing in different ways on a website - and the costs are billed on a performance basis, i.e. on the basis of the orders actually triggered by the advertising. Overall, however, this new form of advertising is still insignificant. Further strong growth rates were also recorded for classified ads on job, real estate, and car portals. For 2014, Media Focus expects further growth in advertising sales on the Internet. (SDA)

Media Focus Online Advertising Statistics Report 2013/02 (PDF)

Last year, the tobacco industry invested around CHF 21 million in the Swiss advertising market. These are gross figures, as Jens Windel from the market research company Media Focus explained when asked by the sda news agency on Friday. The sometimes considerable discounts granted as part of an advertising campaign are not yet included.

Bringing up the rear in advertising

This puts the tobacco industry at the bottom of the 24 sectors surveyed by Media Focus. In comparison: according to Windel, a gross amount of CHF 500 million is invested in food advertising each year. In total, spending on traditional advertising media such as TV, print, posters, radio and digital amounted to CHF 4.84 billion in Switzerland in 2013. The "10vor10" program on Swiss television SRF revealed on Thursday that the federal government is planning a comprehensive ban on advertising tobacco products. According to the preliminary draft for a new Tobacco Products Act, which is available to the news agency SDA, advertising in newspapers and magazines, on billboards, in electronic media, radio and television is to be banned. A ban is also planned for advertising campaigns in which cigarettes are sold at a reduced price. The Tobacco Products Act also provides for electronic cigarettes to be treated in the same way as cigarettes. However, sponsorship is still to be permitted, provided the event does not have an international character or cross-border impact. This would mean that open air events, at which cigarette manufacturers have a strong presence, would be exempt from the ban.

Lung League satisfied

The Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) was unable to say why the law leaves this access to a predominantly young audience open. How the future regulation should be structured is currently being examined, according to a request from the FOPH. The preliminary draft is currently being consulted with the authorities. Although sponsorship at open air events should continue to be permitted, the Lung League is satisfied with the direction of the preliminary draft. Advertising bans make sense because young people are tempted to smoke through advertising, said managing director Sonja Bietenhard to "10vor10".

The Swiss advertising industry is not happy: the cigarette industry has made great strides in recent years, said Thomas Meier from the Swiss Advertising Association when asked by SDA. "We support good youth protection, but we are against advertising being blamed for everything too quickly." Meier recalls the planned restrictions on advertising for small loans. The proportion of young people who get into debt in this way is very low, Meier points out. "People are pointing the finger at the advertising industry, but the onus should be on parents, for example," he said.

Declining income

Hanspeter Lebrument, President of the Swiss Media Association, rejects the advertising ban outright: "As long as smoking is not banned, it should be allowed to be advertised," he said. The preliminary draft is to be submitted for consultation in summer 2014. The consultation process for the planned increase in tobacco tax has already ended. The Federal Council wants to increase this not least because fewer and fewer people are smoking. These losses could only be compensated for in recent years with a steady increase in tobacco tax. (SDA)

Net-Metrix, the independent Swiss authority for Internet usage research, reports traffic growth of over 1.6 billion mobile page impressions in its mobile publication over twelve months. This corresponds to an annual growth rate of over 85 percent. Within the mobile media category, video is the biggest traffic growth driver, which is linked to the ever-improving performance of devices, faster wireless connections, and declining subscription costs.

Great potential for the advertising industry

Until now, the reach potential of video campaigns on the mobile touchpoint was technically very limited. Three hurdles were responsible for this: First, a "player" that can interpret and play out video file formats is required for the control of video advertising in the source code. Such a player is not available by default on the high-usage content. In addition, it is the mobile operating system (iOS) itself that prevents the automatic launching of video files. For this reason, TV spots could previously only be extended to mobile via IPTV providers (Zattoo, Teleboy, Wilmaa), which was only possible with a time limit (normally ten seconds) in addition to the very limited range. The biggest problem from the user's point of view was that video advertising necessarily covered the editorial content instead of appearing next to it. The result was acceptance problems among consumers.

"Inlay video-stitial" pioneer campaign with Chevrolet

With the inlay video-stitial Adello extends its premium rich media innovations for the algo- rithmic targeting technology "AdCtrl" by a strategically important step. The new advertising template fully solves the existing problem and makes it possible for the first time to exploit the full reach potential for mobile video advertising. As a premiere in the Swiss market, the inlay video-stitial is not placed on top of the editorial content, but in between it. It is equipped with an autostart function, for the first time has no time limit and also supports an optional audio track. Partner for the pioneer campaign is the car manufacturer "Chevrolet" in cooperation with Isobar/Aegis Media Central Services. For the first time, a TV spot is thus brought directly into the daily routine of its target group via the largest Swiss publishers such as 20 Minuten, Blick, NZZ, Teleboy and Cineman. All the familiar tracking and targeting options of mobile advertising (geo-location of users, weather, time, end devices, contact frequency control, retargeting, etc.) can also be applied to the new template of the inlay video-stitial.

Showcase: The "inlay video-stitial" in the live showcase at Static.adello.ch or direct call via QR code.

 

Faster, more modern, more colorful: The new Blick app continuously delivers all the important news from Switzerland and abroad to your smartphone - enriched with numerous features tailored to the individual needs of the user. The app is fed every minute around the clock directly from the newsroom of the Blick Group in Zurich, offers the possibility of free push reports as well as live tickers on the most important news. In the sports live center, major sports events can be followed directly. Operation of the app is to become more intuitive thanks to new navigation and a new, tidier design. All sections can be accessed directly via the navigation buttons.

Additional multimedia elements such as videos and infographics intensify the experience factor. The weather center within the app provides forecasts for locations in Switzerland. The reader reporter function allows users to contact the editorial team directly with their input - and all pictures of Blick's "Star of the Day" are also available on the new app. In addition, the modernized app, which runs faster on all devices, is now available free of charge in the iTunes App Store and the Google Play Store.

According to the agency's press release on Thursday, a simple design was chosen for the company's high-quality range. Large images showcase Kilchenmann's products and services. Great importance was also attached to usability. Business and private customers can find the information relevant to them quickly, clearly and intuitively.

The website is designed to offer added value for visitors: For example, the company's success story has been presented in a new way, and the core values such as "green engineering" and references have been presented in an appealing way. The website was implemented in "Responsive Design" and optimized for use on desktops, tablets and smartphones.

Maxomedia is responsible for the disciplines of information design, interaction design and visual design, for the technical realization of the new corporate website and the implementation of a suitable content management system.