In recent years, Michael Näf has held various senior management positions in national and international environments, establishing, managing and implementing business units for classic and digital offerings.

His many years of experience in sales and marketing in well-known companies in the media industry, as well as his digital skills, will actively help shape the sales and services of trade media and develop them accordingly.

As Managing Director of Hype, the communications specialist supports national and international companies from a wide range of industries. He can also boast a number of competition successes for his work at the agency at the airport, such as the Swiss Dialog Marketing Prize and the Xaver Award.

Daniel Steiner acquired his journalistic know-how as an editor at the St. Galler Tagblatt, as editorial manager at Blick am Abend Ostschweiz and as deputy editorial manager at 20 Minuten Ostschweiz. He is responsible for PR activities and media relations at the trade association SVIT Ostschweiz.

New media spokespersons for Swiss International Air Lines: Michael Stief and Marco Lipp (l.t.r.)

Stefan Vasic will take over as Head of Sponsorship & Events, Social Media and Tourism Partners at Swiss in February after five years as media spokesperson. Florian Flämig is leaving the company after just over seven years to take up a new challenge outside Swiss.

Michael Stief is currently self-employed in the field of visual storytelling, having previously worked in business development at Xovis. From 2011 to 2016, he was employed by Flughafen Zürich, most recently in the role of Senior Media Spokesperson. He also has many years of experience as a cabin crew member at Swissair and Swiss. The 43-year-old Swiss holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Corporate Communications from the Zurich University of Applied Sciences ZHAW and will succeed Stefan Vasic on February 1.

Marco Lipp worked for seven years at Swiss Re Group in the areas of Media Relations, Internal & Leadership Communications and Social Media. From 2008 to 2012, the 34-year-old worked as a cabin crew member at SWISS. The 34-year-old Swiss holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Communications from HWZ. Lipp will start as Florian Flämig's successor at the beginning of April.

"I am delighted that in Michael Stief and Marco Lipp we have been able to recruit two new colleagues who not only have broad communications experience but also have jet fuel flowing through their veins," says Daniel Bärlocher, Head of Corporate Communications. "I would like to thank Stefan Vasic and Florian Flämig for their great commitment to SWISS. Thanks to their professionalism and efficiency, they have contributed a great deal to the high quality of the media office. I wish them continued success in their professional and private careers."

The media spokesperson team, headed by Karin Müller, still includes Meike Fuhlrott and Sonja Ptassek.

As in previous years, advertising print falls again in December after reaching its highest level for the year in November. Over the year as a whole, gross advertising print is up 2.4 percent year-on-year in 2019.

The development of advertising print in the overall market as of December 2019.

December does not change industry rankings

The last advertising month of 2019 brings no more changes in the industry ranking. This means that, as in the previous year, the Leisure, Hospitality & Tourism sector is responsible for the highest advertising print of all sectors in 2019. The leading industry in terms of advertising increased its annual advertising print by almost 12 percent year-on-year. This is remarkable, as it is the third-highest percentage increase of all industries. It is also the first industry ever to break the 700 million barrier.

The service industry follows in second place with a large gap of almost 75 million Swiss francs (gross), increasing its advertising print by 7.4 percent compared to 2018. As in 2018, the bronze medal goes to the financial sector, which also increased slightly year-on-year (+2.3 %) and for the first time generated gross advertising print of over 600 million gross Swiss francs.

No major fluctuations compared with same month of previous year

The tobacco industry, which is not allowed to advertise on television or radio in Switzerland due to the legal situation, has the lowest advertising pressure of all industries, with an annual advertising pressure of just under 14 million gross Swiss francs. In percentage terms, however, the tobacco industry can increase the most of all industries in 2019.

Mainly driven by e-cigarette advertising, the industry's advertising print is up 124.1 percent compared to 2018. In addition to the energy sector (+15.4%) and the leisure, hospitality, tourism sector (11.9%), personal demand (+11.1%) also increased its annual advertising print by a double-digit percentage.

No drastic reductions in advertising pressure across industries

6 out of 21 sectors reduced their advertising print compared with the previous year. However, the declines are manageable, with no sector showing a double-digit percentage drop in gross advertising print. The strongest decrease was recorded by the initiatives & campaigns sector, with a drop of 8.7 percent. The Beverages (-5.6%), Fashion & Sports (-4.3%) and Food (-2.5%) industries also have lower advertising than in the previous year. Events (-1.5%) and Construction, Industry, Furnishings (-1%) generate almost identical advertising pressure in 2019 as in the previous year.

Advertising pressure in the sectors with year-on-year comparison.

The top 10 advertisers and most advertised products as well as services (excluding assortment and image advertising) in December 2019.

The top 10 advertisers and most advertised products as well as services (excluding assortment and image advertising) in 2019.

Media Mix

The integration of Search data, Desktop (January 2017) and Mobile (July 2017) into the Media Focus advertising statistics has led to a significant increase in the share of Internet in the media mix. Since January 2018, Search data has also been collected for French-speaking Switzerland (Search share: 85% DE/15% FR).

The media mix of the overall Swiss advertising market will change only slightly in 2019 compared with the previous year. There is merely a shift in print advertising print towards internet advertising. Internet advertising thus accounts for 40 percent of annual advertising print, which corresponds to an increase of 4 percent compared with 2018.

At the same time, print media are losing 4 percent of the pie and still account for around one-fifth of annual advertising print. Out-of-home advertising accounts for 10 percent of annual advertising print (+1 %), while radio advertising still accounts for 2 percent (-1 %). TV and cinema advertising were able to maintain their shares.

The Publicis Group continues to develop its "Power of One" strategy. Having already merged units such as Leo Burnett, Saatchi & Saatchi or, more recently, the digital agency Notch Interactive at Stadelhofen to form Publicis Communications Zurich, the operational merger with Publicis Media is now taking place - under the leadership of CEO Thomas Wildberger.

"In order to ensure closer and more flexible cooperation in the service of clients, the Publicis brand will become the central platform through which all clients of the various Publicis agencies can access the group's complete portfolio of services, from creation to media and technology," says Thomas Wildberger, who at the same time announces that the new structure and thus the Publicis Group at Stadelhofen will also be led by a new management team.

In addition to Thomas Wildberger, the board includes former Notch shareholder Peter van der Touw as Chief Operating Officer, Edgar Magyar as Chief Financial Officer and Dirk Lux as Chief Media Officer.

Nicolas Baddour, CEO Publicis Communications, based in Lausanne, and Alexander Haldemann, CEO MetaDesign, will continue to report directly to Justin Billingsley, CEO Publicis Group DACH.

Evelin Wachter, Dirk Lux and Maria Brinkmann (from left)

Dirk Lux leads Publicis Media

The media arm of the Publicis Group with the established agency brands Zenith, Starcom and Performics will be led by Dirk Lux from March 1. Lux has already been in the service of Publicis Media in Germany for seven years. Until 2019, he led Zenith, the network's largest media agency in Germany, as CEO and then moved to Publicis Media as Chief Growth Officer for the DACH region. In his new role as CEO of Publicis Media Switzerland, Lux reports directly to Thomas Wildberger.

Reporting to Lux are Maria Brinkmann and Evelin Wachter, who have made a significant contribution to the success of Publicis Media in recent years and who will serve as Managing Directors with immediate effect. Brinkmann will assume responsibility for Zenith as Managing Director, while Wachter will become Managing Director of Starcom and Performics and also retain her function as Head of Digital for all media agency brands. Guillaume de Grave will take over the management of the Publicis Media office in Lausanne, also reporting directly to Lux.

Dirk Lux is convinced: "With the new structure, we finally have the setup that more and more customers want: Competent, holistic and pragmatic consulting - without annoying silos."

Reduce complexity for customers

"Marketers need partners who exemplify marketing transformation and do not operate in entrenched silos," explains Thomas Wildberger, CEO of Publicis, adding, "In the last three years, we have already taken important steps with a view to change on the customer side and brought many of our units closer together. The reason: We want to reduce complexity for our clients by bringing together the best from across the network. In this way, we can offer individual, modular and scalable services that are easy to use and flexible. With the merger of Communications and Media, we are now igniting the next stage of Power of One and thus create a setup with which we can respond quickly, flexibly and even more extensively to customer needs. I'm all the more pleased that we were able to win Dirk Lux for Switzerland, someone who is not only an absolute expert in the field of media, but who is 100 percent familiar with our way of working and has already used it successfully several times."

With a circulation of over 52,000 copies, Tierwelt is the largest weekly magazine for animals and nature in Switzerland. Now it has published its Website revised and completely redesigned.

At the heart of the platform is the latest news from the world of animals - from pets and farm animals to wild animals. In addition, the editorial team has built up a searchable library of several hundred advice texts that give pet owners valuable tips on how to treat their pets.

Every Thursday, selected articles from the current print edition of Tierwelt are also made freely accessible on the website. And anyone interested in the small ads market can browse through several hundred offers every week.

The new website was realized in collaboration with the digital agency Previon Plus from Aarau.

Using Bluetooth technology, passengers can take part in the competition until February 6. In addition, at the end of the campaign, a YB jersey signed by all players will be raffled off among all participants.

In order to participate in the competition, passengers must manually activate the Beem function in the apps of 20 Minuten or Bluewin and allow access to Bluetooth, location and microphone. Afterwards, the 20 Minuten app must be opened in the YB streetcar. A Beem banner then appears in the newsfeed with the hint to participate in the sweepstakes. Tapping the banner opens the Beem platform, where the corresponding content is displayed.

The agency now serves the clients Kantonspolizei Zürich, Swiss Malaria Group as well as Login Berufsbildung der SBB. The first works will already be on display in the coming weeks.

The company from Bendern in the Principality of Liechtenstein produces individual design furniture. The sofas are available in every conceivable design, color and material. In order to show buyers from various furniture stores the possibilities of Designwerk and to familiarize them with the young brand, the agency from Altenrhein was commissioned in a first step to create a visual framework and to design a new website. Further measures are to be seen shortly.

The collection campaigns reward all customers who collect points. The theme was brought to the point in text and images. The campaign is present at over 340 locations throughout Switzerland.

Previously reported the Wall Street Journal, the team that was supposed to work out the ad plans had been disbanded.

WhatsApp has long been struggling to find the right business model. The WhatsApp founders originally categorically rejected any advertising and wanted to finance the chat service via a subscription fee of one dollar per year. But then they sold the company to Facebook in 2014 in what ended up being a deal worth around $22 billion. The online network - which finances itself almost exclusively with advertising - was banking on a free WhatsApp and took its time thinking about how to earn money with the chat service.

Current plans include asking companies to pay for additional functions when they communicate with their customers via WhatsApp. Work is also underway to introduce a payment function in several countries.

Internal disputes over ad plans are seen as a key trigger for the departure of WhatsApp founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton, who had initially stayed on board after the acquisition by Facebook. (SDA)

New in the management of Asperger: Marius Deflorin and Noé Robert (f.l.t.r.)

"I am very much looking forward to this new, meaningful task. Over the next few weeks, we will be working intensively on our positioning and realigning the agency. With my experience of the last few years as a brand specialist, we are steering the agency towards an integrated future. That's why, for example, the areas of motion design and brand experience will be further expanded," says Noé Robert.

At Process SNK, he was responsible for various brand strategy projects, brand creations and their implementation for larger mandates. His clients included national and international companies such as EKZ, Mercedes Benz Trucks, VBZ and Denner. Previously, he established and managed a branding agency.

Also new is Marius Deflorin as COO. He was previously Creative Director and later COO of Imaculix and responsible for various film and digital productions in Switzerland and abroad. His clients included car and watch brands as well as consumer electronics companies such as Audi, IWC, Samsung, Coca-Cola and the Zurich Film Festival.

With around 50 employees in the areas of strategy, design, digital and programming, Asperger is one of the medium-sized agencies in Switzerland. As the name suggests, Asperger differentiates itself with a social component. In its in-house talent factory, the "Asperger Academy," highly gifted young people with Asperger syndrome are trained to become the professionals of tomorrow.