"It is once again confirmed that the advertising industry prefers proven forms of advertising in economically difficult times," company CEO Klaus Kappeler was quoted as saying in Tuesday's communiqué. Sales of online advertising also slumped by 18 percent. Goldbach sells online advertising in Switzerland, Austria and parts of Eastern Europe and the former Yugoslavia.

At CHF 62 million, however, the online division accounts for less than 15 percent of the Goldbach Group's total sales. The company, which is based in Küsnacht on Lake Zurich, continues to generate four-fifths of its sales from the placement of radio and TV advertising in Switzerland, Austria and Romania.

In Switzerland, Goldbach markets, among other things, the advertising windows of the German TV stations Sat1, ProSieben and RTL, but also the private TV station 3+ and numerous local radio stations. Sales generated with radio and TV advertising rose by 4 percent in 2012 to CHF 352 million. In the third division, which comprises conceptual and technological services for advertising on the Internet and mobile devices, sales fell 3 percent to CHF 38 million.

Goldbach expects that the convergence of television and interactive mobile communications, which can currently be observed, should cause demand for services in the Internet area to rise again. In addition, the decline in revenues from online advertising has already slowed significantly in the second half of the year. Goldbach will publish its earnings figures at the beginning of March. (SDA)
 

Short TV reports on important football matches and other major events will continue to be available to all TV broadcasters. This was decided by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg on Tuesday. The background to this is a legal dispute between the TV broadcaster Sky Austria, which had spent several million euros on exclusive rights to the Europa League between 2009 and 2012, and the public broadcaster ORF. The pay-TV broadcaster failed with a lawsuit against the obligation to provide other broadcasters with images practically free of charge.

Sky Austria had argued in court that the EU rules on short reporting violated the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. The rights to property and entrepreneurial freedom are guaranteed there. However, the highest EU judges ruled that Sky Austria's property rights to the exclusive football images were not violated. It is true that the EU directive, which also stipulates the right to short reporting, restricts the freedom to conduct a business. However, this was justified and proportionate.

The Court found that "the exclusive commercialization of events of great public interest is currently on the increase and is likely to significantly restrict the public's access to information about those events". Short reporting pursues "an objective in the public interest, since its purpose is to safeguard the fundamental right to freedom of information and to promote pluralism".

The situation is similar in Switzerland, where legislation also provides for the right to short reports on public events. Even if a television station has the broadcasting rights for an event, other stations can report on it. However, the duration of the reports is limited. The provisions apply in particular to sporting events.(SDA)
 

Muther, 29, worked for Publicitas Publimag for four years, most recently as key account manager, AZ Medien announced on Tuesday.

According to a press release, this is the second time that Valencia Kommunikation has been commissioned to create an online game for Swisscom. The agency was responsible for all the work: from conception to graphics and text to web-based programming in a desktop and a mobile version.

The competition is set in a virtual house, which is intended to bring the world of Swisscom to life and in each of whose ten rooms a competition question is hidden. The Swisscom house is inhabited by Priska and Paul Priorité. In line with the main prize, a week's skiing vacation including an overnight stay in a hotel, the contest participants follow the Priorités' vacation preparations over ten rounds of the game and learn interesting facts about Swisscom's offerings.

The competition is currently running and is exclusively for Swisscom Priorité customers who have been personally invited to participate.

Media are not allowed to evaluate everything that journalists overhear in the public sphere, as the Press Council announced on Tuesday. If, however, the persons concerned are public and the content of the conversation is of public relevance, publication is permitted.

Snatched up information for the gossip columns

On May 6, 2012, Der Sonntag reported in its "Newsroom" column on a conversation between Filippo Leutenegger and Christoph Blocher that had taken place on an Intercity train between Zurich and Bern. The packed train had not stopped the two politicians from having an "audible" conversation about the Basel newspaper. "A Thurgau journalist sitting nearby became a forced listener," Der Sonntag wrote.

A short news item published by the Solothurner Zeitung on May 19, 2012, also falls under the heading "Picked up". It was about the magazine Schweizer Soldat, which had praised the secondos in the army and described them as "capable cadres". The Solothurner Zeitung wrote: "So far, a nice article," a DDPS spokesman for Ueli Maurer's Defense Department (DDPS) said to his seat neighbor on the train yesterday. The only thing was that the author claimed that the percentage of rejected secondos at the security check for recruits was strikingly high according to "initial surveys"; many were not entrusted with a weapon. The DDPS employee was even more annoyed that the article drew the attention of an AZ journalist to the topic. Based on his research, the author had to make a confession: A survey on rejected Secondos does not exist at all." (Summary: SDA)

No unfair methods

Both Der Sonntag and Solothurner Zeitung used information picked up in a train compartment to fill their political gossip columns. However, according to the Press Council, they did not use unfair methods, because anyone who overhears conversations in a train with other passengers is neither conducting undercover research nor does he have to introduce himself as a journalist. Moreover, the conversations were not about purely private matters, but about content relevant to the public, according to the Press Council.

Background information on this case can be found in the PDF format can be downloaded.

Teaser image: Keystone
 

Advertising agencies, service companies and advertising clients who would like to get on the winners' podium with their dialog marketing work can still register for the Swiss Dialog Marketing Award until February 7, 2013. You can find the entry dossier at: Sdv-award.ch/participation

Officials of the SDV partner associations ASW, BSW, SW Schweizer Werbung, SMC, Swissfundraising and VSV traditionally benefit from reduced participation fees.
 

Since the beginning of the year, the new brochure and the new website have been on display: In the middle of it are selected students of the ZGSZ, who were photographed in the Zurich area. In staging the portraits, the agency photographer from TBS & Partner focused on an authentic, approachable and lively visual language. The children and young people not only provide an emotional target group appeal; rather, they represent a specific offer of the center and thus take on an organizing function. Coupled with a streamlined structure and supported by a tidy design, interested parties can find relevant information quickly and unerringly. In this way, the new web and print presence should contribute to anchoring the perception of the ZGSZ among the target groups as a highly specialized and professional competence center.

Responsible at ZGSZ: Jan Keller (Director). Responsible at TBS & Partner: Beat Aeschlimann (overall responsibility), Olivier Mentha (concept and consulting), Gregor Herzig (text), Kathrin Treml (design), Nadia Ermert (polygraphy), Heini Fümm (photography), Katrin Zbinden (project management print), Matthias Schnüriger.
 

Researchers from Humboldt University Berlin and the Technical University of Darmstadt have published another Facebook study (there are already around 20,000). This time they found that Facebook promotes feelings of envy and therefore dissatisfaction. The reason: other users are known to always show the bright side of life. Not only with duckface self-portraits from above, but especially when it comes to travel and hobbies. Facebook envy is therefore more of a leisure envy, while people in personal contact envy each other's skills or careers.

Media researcher Jan-Hinrik Schmidt adds to Faz.net However, he also says that Facebook envy is friendlier than many of his envious colleagues. Although people are envious of friends who are currently in the Caribbean, they are also happy for them. Envious people can react on Facebook by uploading impressive leisure photos themselves. According to Schmidt, this creates an "envy spiral". Because other users only become more envious of the new photos. In the end, everyone is significantly envious of each other.

Hopefully, these research findings, which are quite relevant for humanity, will not deter anyone from becoming a "fan" of the Advertising Week to become. The site is guaranteed to be free of vacation photos. (hae)

Advertising volume December 2012

The titles participating in the advertising statistics reported a total of 102.6 million advertising revenues. This corresponds to a decrease of 12.8% compared to December 2011. Of the 102.6 million, 6.8 million was attributable to job advertisements (-21.3 percent). Real estate advertising (CHF 2.1 million) was down 31.3% compared to December 2011, and commercial / other advertising (CHF 84.4 million) was down 11.6%. Leaflet inserts (CHF 9.2 million) recorded a drop of 10.6%.

The following net advertising revenues were generated for the individual print media categories in December 2012:

Review of the year 2012

With the December figures, the results of the advertising statistics for the whole of 2012 are now available. The titles participating in the advertising statistics reported a total of CHF 1,433.9 million in advertising income. Compared to the previous year, the decrease in franc terms is 11.1 percent.

Of the CHF 1,433.9 million, CHF 121.3 million was spent on job advertisements (-25.5%). Property advertisements (CHF 46.9 million) fell by 12.8% compared to 2011, while commercial / other advertisements (CHF 1,137.8 million) decreased by 10.8%. Leaflet inserts (CHF 127.9 million) recorded an increase of 4.9%.

The following net advertising revenues were generated for the individual print media categories in 2012:

The Swiss sports marketing company concluded the cooperation agreement with the organizer of the series, House of Swiss Golf. With a total of over 600 tournaments in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Birdie-open.com is the largest amateur tournament series in Europe. In Switzerland alone, 140 golf tournaments are held annually with a total of 10,000 participants. All golfers with a course maturity or higher are eligible to participate.

The aim of the new partnership is to upgrade the tournament series, according to the statement. Central to this is the consistent expansion of the Swiss final tournament. From now on, the top 100 golfers in the Order of Merit rankings will qualify for the finals in the fall of each year. The best players of the respective national finals will finally qualify for the international final tournament introduced in 2012. Another task of Infront Ringier will be the development of a new central marketing concept to make Birdie-open.com even more attractive for sponsors.

Teaser image: Birdie-open.com
 

The 42-year-old has held various positions at SRF since 1997, including editor and producer at DRS 1 and DRS 3, head of output at "Aeschbacher", executive producer at "Sternstunden" and head of the Background section at DRS 2. Since October 2010, Kreuzer has headed the convergent Knowledge and Society division of the Culture department. According to the press release, the division includes the radio programs "Kontext", "Reflexe", "Perspektiven", "Passage", "Wissenschaftsmagazin" and "Blickpunkt Religion" as well as "Sternstunden" and "Nachtwach".

Nathalie Wappler, Head of the Culture Department: "Ralph Kreuzer was instrumental in merging the radio and television departments in the areas of knowledge and society. I would like to thank him very much for his tireless efforts over the past two years and wish Ralph all the best for his future exciting projects."

Ralph Kreuzer: "In my 17 years at SRF, I was happy, sometimes annoyed - but certainly never bored. I learned a lot about journalism, Switzerland and people, and these experiences are priceless."