«We could see no signs, for the time being, that Switzerland’s role as a partner and host country is to be strengthened,» said Christoph Gebel, head of the Entertainment Department, today, Friday, following a meeting with officials from ZDF and ORF. SRF has also been pursuing a strategy of producing its own programs and event series on Saturday evenings since 2011 and is therefore suspending its collaboration on «Wetten, dass ..?» until further notice.

During the in-depth discussions in Mainz, SRF was presented with the complete plans and concepts for «Wetten, dass ..?» for the first time. «Our partners at ZDF and ORF are working intensively on the further development of this flagship entertainment show and believe in the future of the 'Wetten, dass ..?' brand,»said Christoph Gebel. «We will now follow the next steps with great interest and revisit the question of a renewed collaboration on 'Wetten, dass ..?' over the course of the coming year.”
 

A three-dimensional Kitkat bar measuring 2.70 meters, integrated into a backlit Mega Poster, jumps out at passers-by in the train stations of Zurich and Lausanne. The latest APG|SGA Mega Poster project aims to whet the appetite for a break with the chocolate bar.

This form of advertising was developed in close cooperation with Nestlé and the media agency Optimedia. APG|SGA Mega Poster was in charge of project planning and coordination, while long-time partner Richnerstutz took care of production and installation. Various materials from metal, wood, canvas to LED were used. The implementation can be seen in Zurich and Lausanne until May 20.

In the center of Winterthur, opposite the main train station and the old town, a new shopping, living and working environment is currently being created in the form of the Archhöfe. The visual appearance comes from Crafft: The agency is responsible for the entire brand identity. In addition to the development of the corporate design, this also includes the conception and implementation of the Website, of information brochures, advertisements and other means of communication.

Responsible at Crafft: Michael Rütti (CD), Patricia Pazin (AD), Sarina Langloh (project management). Responsible for Halter developments: Pascal Welti (overall project management), Antje Feiter (project management marketing), Marco Streuli (project management)

A billion cans of Coke with a sketch of a dancing Jackson are to be launched on the market. There will also be promotional films and a download campaign with Jackson hits.

The occasion for the campaign is the 25th anniversary of Jackson's successful album "Bad". The album was released in August 1987 and has sold more than 30 million copies. Five singles reached the top 100 and Jackson and Pepsi had a lucrative advertising partnership for decades. (SDA/DPA/DAPD)

(Image: Keystone)

With a brand value of 11,101 million francs, the Nescafé the most valuable Swiss brand, as Interbrand writes in a press release. It follows in second place with 7,313 million francs Roche. In third place with 6,825 million francs Novartis one.

The branded goods manufacturer Nestlé is represented with a total of three brands - Nescafé (1st place), Nestlé (5th place) and Nespresso (13th place) - are represented in the ranking and are therefore also winners. Together, the brands of the Vevey-based food group are worth CHF 19,085 million.

Six brands at once - Omega, Swatch, Longines, Breguet, Tissot and Rado - The Swatch Group is the most valuable watch brand in the ranking, with a cumulative value of CHF 6,502 million. A total of 16 watch brands are among the most valuable brands in Switzerland. This means that the watch industry dominates the ranking. Rolex and Omega secured a place in the top 10 with CHF 6,275 million and CHF 3,137 million respectively. Ten of the other watch brands represented make up the midfield in the ranking. "The strong presence of watch brands is not surprising," explains Michel Gabriel, Managing Director of Interbrand Zurich. "Because brands like Rolex, Omega or IWC continuously create their own brand worlds for their products and thus offer their customers sustainable emotional added value."

The financial services sector is also strong: eight banks and three insurance companies are among the Best Swiss Brands 2012. "Despite enormous value adjustments by leading institutions, the top ranking of Credit Suisse and UBS above all through its continued clear brand strength," says Michel Gabriel. Credit Suisse and UBS take 7th and 8th place with CHF 3,748 million and CHF 3,481 million respectively. The Cantonal banks benefited from the loss of trust in the big banks and ranked 11th with a brand value of CHF 2,332 million. They scored particularly well with their direct proximity to customers, their down-to-earth attitude and their local roots. With Julius Baer - In the Swiss market - in 15th place with CHF 1,748 million - the claim to excellent services backed by expertise and trust ensures real added value. With Vontobel In 19th place, another bank has made it into the top 20, consistently delivering on its brand promise of "performance creates trust".

Most pure B2B brands are not represented in the ranking as they have too little presence among the general public. By presence here, we mean that the brands leave a lasting impression on the general public through product or service branding or through communication that is close to the end consumer. Schindlerthe elevator and escalator manufacturer, or Sika with their specialty chemicals, also in the B2C sector, meet precisely these requirements.

The ranking at a glance

The content concept developed by Yjoo focuses on a total of five reports. They visualize and describe various cooperative models throughout Switzerland. The articles show the very different ideas and visions that can be implemented with the philosophy of a cooperative - from village shop chains to sailing ship sharing.

Yjoo won the contract for the annual report in a competitive process and produced the first report for the 2011 financial year. The agency was responsible for the design concept and its implementation, including the reports.

Beat Lauber is also Delegate of the Board of Directors of Mengis Druck und Verlag in Visp. Lauber closes a circle, according to a statement on Friday. When Curti Medien launched Hochparterre in 1988, he was its publishing director. Benedikt Loderer and Köbi Gantenbein set up their own business in 1991 and bought the title from Curti Medien. Lauber remained associated with the magazine as a friend. Now, after 20 years as Chairman of the Board, Loderer has retired and Lauber will be the first outsider to preside over the company, whose shares belong entirely to the employees. Köbi Gantenbein continues to serve as editor-in-chief, publisher and majority shareholder.

(Image: Cortis & Sonderegger)
 

With a recycling rate of over 80% for PET bottles consumed at home, Switzerland is one of the world leaders. But far too many PET bottles still end up in the bin when people are out and about. Studies and surveys have shown this: Everyone wants to recycle correctly. But everyone also has an excuse: "Whenever I want to dispose of my PET bottle correctly on the go, there's no PET box nearby." Yet there are over 50,000 PET collection boxes in Switzerland.

By combining real-time gaming with mobile and online platforms, a mix is offered that is intended to reach the core target group of 15 to 35-year-olds. According to the press release, all others will be reached by the high density of teaser communication in the poster, print and online sectors alone.

Responsible at Comqed/Metzgerlehner, Erlenbach/ZH: Tomas Rozas (CD), Bettina Dührkoop (Strategy), Roman Steinacher (BGL), Anna-Lea Michael (Consulting), Philipp Stamm (AD), Mark Berger (Online), Ursula Trottmann (DTP), Mario Müller (Production). Image processing: Detail. Responsible at PET-Recycling Switzerland: Jean-Claude Würmli (Deputy Managing Director), Lukas Schumacher (Head of Marketing), Sabrina Wirz (Communications).

Mobiliar's customers can once again look forward to 2012, the agency said in a statement: Thanks to the cooperative anchoring, they will participate in the success in the form of a premium reduction. And this amounts to the sum of 120 million Swiss francs across all policyholders over the next 12 months.

For this occasion, Wirz Werbung developed a campaign that ties in directly with the 2011 communication. Once again, the white parcel with the red bow serves as a symbol for the profit-sharing scheme. This time, however, instead of one huge package, many small packages are brought directly to the customer's door. The campaign consists of five films with 34 individual sequences, which can be found in various forms on numerous advertising media: In advertisements, on posters, in mailings, and give-aways as well as on 3D installations and measures for the general agencies.

Responsible at Die Mobiliar: Christoph Ott (Head of Advertising & CI/CD), Sarah Pittet (Project Manager Advertising). Responsible at Wirz: Philipp Skrabal (CD), Raul Serrat, Marco Zimmerli (AD), Hanning Beland, Benjamin Staudenmann, Paul Labun, Stefanie Wolf (graphics), Bianca Kury (text), Yves Rückert, Stefan Schmid, Amir Ferhatbegovic (consulting). Technology: Sam Sherbini. Directed by: Ernst Wirz. Film production: Wirz Fraefel Paal: Stefan Fraefel, Gabi Benz.

Anyone who surfs religious websites on the Internet puts their computer at greater risk than the average Internet porn consumer - computer viruses are three times more likely to lurk on religious sites than on sex sites. Now that's good news. For all porn consumers anyway.
This interesting fact was brought to light by the US computer security company Symantec. Sites with sexual content are not even in the top five most dangerous websites, but only in tenth place. So these things are much better than their reputation.

Incidentally, the company suspects that the operators of erotic or pornographic sites have a financial interest in offering their customers virus-free sites so as not to alienate them. Makes sense. Why the religious sites don't seem to have too much interest - it doesn't have to be financial - in offering people virus-free surfing remains an open question.

(Source: Sueddeutsche.de)

So what could be more obvious than to bring in Urs Schneider, the experienced media captain and current advertiser of the year, as the leading figure," asks Formeldrei in a press release. The campaign includes advertisements in the business and communications trade press, online banners, print brochures, presentation measures, an appearance on Mediacompass.ch and an almost two-minute trailer from Leguan. In the fast-cut, 3D-animated movie, a ship ploughs through the storm and finds its destination in the harbor thanks to the compass. With the well-known voice-over by Patrick Linke (RTL) and matching dramatic music, Leguan impressively realizes the campaign idea as a movie. The trailer was shown for the first time at Publisuisse Mediavision on April 24, 2012.

Responsible at Publisuisse: Oliver Hofer (Head of Sponsoring/Communications), Reto Burkhalter (Head of Communications), Claudia Wildbolz, (Project Manager Communications). Responsible at Formeldrei: Moritz Adler (CD), Christian Wüthrich (text/concept), Marco Mesot (consulting/concept), Patrick Ochsenbein (consulting), Photo: Christian Grund, Zurich . Film production: Leguan Productions, Uetikon am See; Matthias Lenke (consulting / project management), Marc Ambühl (producer), Sascha Kämpf (Pixelbar/Leguan.ch), Jan Anthamatten (Pixelbar/Leguan.ch), Patrick Böhler (Audio-net / Leguan.ch).

Topicfilm moved to Saatlenstrasse 261 in Oerlikon at the beginning of April 2012. The company is now located in the immediate vicinity of Boost Postproduction, Eglifilm, Cinegrell and Tonstudio Z. This door-to-door situation makes it possible to react more quickly to the needs of customers and offer an even better service within this infrastructure, according to a press release issued on Thursday. This is in response to increasing cost pressure.

Carole Sonderegger has recently joined the team. After studying visual communication, she worked as an assistant producer at Visualeyes International. She then completed an internship at Boxoffice SRF before joining Topicfilm as a production planner.

In addition, Topicfilm is now offering photographer Thomas De Monaco as a director in Switzerland. According to the press release, De Monaco has made a name for himself with campaigns in the luxury and fashion segment, for which he has received various international awards. His portfolio includes clients such as Armani, Dior, Rolex, IWC, Audi and UBS, and many of his works have been published by Amica, Vogue and Wallpaper.

(Image: Film still from Thomas de Monaco's showreel)