Just in time for the implementation of its new umbrella brand strategy, APG/Affichage hosted the Swiss Poster Award in the hot summer temperatures of the Maag Event Hall. Only the following coincidences gave the shortlist author something to think about: Gold in the "Commercial" category went to Jung von Matt/Limmat for SBB (on the jury: Dominique von Matt). Silver (VBZ) and bronze (Suva) went to Ruf Lanz (in the jury: Danielle Lanz). The "Public Services" category was dominated by Publicis with gold for Global Fund and silver for Terre des hommes (in the jury: Markus Gut), bronze went to Wyler Werbung for Multimobil (wasn't jury member Dani Lanz once a freelancer for Wyler?). In the "Culture" category, the jury held back a little and rewarded Zug-based DNS-Transport, an interdisciplinary art exhibition team, with gold. Silver went to the graphics class from the Lucerne School of Art and Design. The cultural bronze went to Publicis for the Schauspielhaus (on the jury: NZZ publishing director Tobias Trevisan, whose advertising agency is called, well, what?) The main prize of the evening, called the Swiss Poster Award, ultimately went to Global Fund and Publicis. Which was only logical, as the jury president was Fredy Collioud.
Of course, we immediately and vehemently deny any suspicion of cheating. But one thing is certain. The following jury members did not win anything and therefore demonstrably did not award themselves: Daniel Comte from Advico, Remy Fabrikant, JWT+H+F, Martin Spillmann, SFLB, as well as K. Domenic Geissbühler and Wendelin Hess. Whether out of fairness or a lack of assertiveness, we do not know.
Beat Fritschmitten in the countryside, or so it seems. But this picture was taken in the industrial landscape of the former Maag factory. Beautifully oversized backgrounds like this one could be found there at the APG Poster Night. As the attentive observer will notice, this is a poster from the SBB campaign. Although it won gold in its category, the main prize went to a different subject.
All new at the end of May: Fresh CI for the venerable APG.
Host Christian Kauter proves to Reto Cina (l.) from Davidoff and Jean-Marie Egger (r.) that he has the right cigars.
APG Sales Manager Ivan Schultheiss (l.) with Christian Erni, Futurecom, who is responsible for the new Affichage homepage.
Proud of the new CI and the successful Poster Night: Dani Ettinger, Othmar Casutt, Ruth Bertschi and Roger Möschler (from left).
Enjoying the evening and partying a little: Fredy Collioud, Andreas Prokesch, David Allemann and Remy Fabrikant (from left).
Andres Brütsch (left) from Topic Film and Uwe Schlupp, Krieg Schlupp Springer & Jacoby, were seen engrossed in intensive table discussions.
Gourmets: Bruno Niederberger, APG, with Urs Straehl and Mario Suter from the Academy of Art and Design (from left).
Orange in a tight spot: Roli Ehrler (l.) and Jürg Pauli (r.) from Swisscom put Marcel Benz from Orange in the sandwich.
Satisfied: Winfried Karst and Manuela Krähenbühl from Poster Publicity with Christinger Managing Director Dani Weissbaum (from left).
Silver-plated: Markus Ruf with his customers Heinz Vögeli and Nicolas Adolph from the transport company of the city of Zurich (from left).
Bronze was awarded to Christoph Stuehn from Schauspielhaus Zürich and Publicis CEO CD Markus Gut (right).
Enjoyed celebrating with APG: Livio Padrun from Omega with Renato Schena, Paron/Affichage, and Rolf Bühler from Outdoor Media (from left).
Susanne Baumgartner (l.) and Katja Ehrensperger made themselves comfortable together on the super-comfortable lounge sofas.
Christoph Meier (left) from Carat and Victor Rosser, advertising agency Wacker and Rosser, were clearly in a good mood.
BSW President Peter Leutenegger (left), with Migros advertising manager Beat Mühlemann, looked more critically into the camera than ever before.
Christoph Bürge (left) and Uwe Schlupp were certainly of the same opinion about the APG event.

Last week, tireless partygoers and other curious people from the communications scene flocked to the Toni-Molkerei-Lounge in the Westend - currently one of Zurich's hippest clubsBy Beat Fritsch , where you normally pay a whopping 35 francs to get in. The event was the first Xaver award ceremony, which is presented under the aegis of the Swiss Expo and Eventmakers association to recognize particularly successful events and trade fair presentations.
When an event is coming up at which other events are being awarded prizes, the event makers from the various agencies turn up in corpore. And then the event itself is mercilessly scrutinized and neither criticism nor malice is spared if something doesn't work immediately or even goes wrong. The dear industry - you can't please anyone!
Fuel was poured on the fire right at the start. The entrance area was a little cramped, so the crowds were slow to move in, and even an hour after the doors opened, many guests were still waiting outside. This in turn meant that the actual award ceremony started a little late. As a result, those who were already inside helped themselves to drinks at the bar to bridge the waiting time. This naturally resulted in the noise level in the bar area of the room being so high during the award ceremony that you couldn't hear much of what was happening on stage. Once again, the advertisers showed their naughtiest side and chatted their ears off to each other instead of listening to them.
Viva star presenter Mola Adebisi. They kept the noise level so high that the PA and microphone system simply proved to be too weak.
The alcoholic beverages of all strengths, from sparkling white wine to a triple vodka mix, were much to everyone's delight and were a highlight that easily made up for the negative points. Right from the start, the monitors hung throughout the hall were a real hit. The tickets for the event were sent out via the Internet - the personalized barcode then conjured up the name of the ticket recipient on all the monitors at the admission control, so that everyone in the hall knew that he or she had arrived. "But, but", complained a competent event specialist at the bar, "where is the protection of privacy? If we're going to have an exercise like this, we should have a live camera feed from the red carpet!"
There was also catering. Although it was good, it was served rather late. By this time, most people had already enjoyed their drinks so much that all feelings of hunger were suppressed.
Conclusion, and despite all the criticism: a huge crowd - everyone was there, drinks and a good atmosphere were mutually uplifting, and: The creators of the Xaver Award have probably succeeded in creating a new prize for communication achievements that will have a permanent place in the industry in the future. The jury was competent and the award-winning work deserved the awards. The accompanying party was also not without its flair, but exactly the kind of party that suits the industry's taste.
Beat Fritsch

at the "Event for Events", because that's probably what you have to call an award ceremony for events. Xaver is the name of the prize that was awarded last week in Zurich, and the Xaver party - the first major event after a long break in February - was attended by pretty much everyone who is anyone in the event and party scene. An audience that is quite fond of drinking, but also ungracious when it comes to judging the performance of the competition.
We will locate those who will be seen at future award-worthy or industry-unworthy events at various events on the scene. Do you already have something to report? Pick up the phone (01 296 97 98) or hit the keys ([email protected]). Event tips and further shortlist images are available online at www.werbewoche.ch