In the 2012 issue of the pleasure and lifestyle magazine "Graubünden goes out", the latest two Volkswagen motifs can be seen this week. Once again, the creatives from KSB Krieg Schlupp Bürge create a reference to Graubünden's nightlife in the ads. This time the focus is on the Volkswagen SUVs Touareg and Tiguan with 4MOTION, both ideal for going out in the mountains. As is natural in a family, the taller one gives the shorter one some well-intentioned advice. And as is just as natural, the smaller one responds in an emancipated manner.

Responsible at Volkswagen Switzerland: Sandra Grau (Head of Marketing), Giselle Vaugne (Head of Communications) and Sina Neuhaus (Project Manager). Responsible at KSB: Creative Direction: Uwe Schlupp; Text/Concept: Samuel Knaus; Art Direction: Charles Blunier; Graphics: Yves Kellenberger; Consulting Management: Christoph Bürge; Consulting: Marco Serratore.
 

There are many advertising film festivals - but the Spotlight concept is unique. Where otherwise the industry keeps to itself, here the consumer is literally in the driver's seat. Equipped with digital voting devices, the Spotlight audience awards its own prizes. And in this way, they show the expert jury, which judges separately, where the consumer's hammer hangs.

Two major competitions and three format categories: the festival challenges its audience and the expert jury of over 20 creatives in the voting - it shines a spotlight on all forms of current moving image communication. The festival comprises the Spotlight main competition for professionals and the refreshingly unconventional Spotlight Students competition for young talent. Entries can be submitted for both competitions in the categories TV & Cinema and Web & Mobile for advertising on the Internet and on cell phones. In addition, there is the prize for Best International Adaptation for professionals and, for the first time in 2012, the Cases category, in which not only commercials but also other cinematic advertising formats can be submitted and supplemented with accompanying information. This new category is judged exclusively by the expert jury. With the Spotlight Vision Award, the festival also created an extraordinarily forward-looking prize five years ago. The Spotlight science partner, Pforzheim University of Applied Sciences, provides its own jury, which analyzes the entire field of submissions and identifies the most visionary spot of the festival.

Submissions online at www.spotlight-festival.de. The registration deadline is February 3, 2012.
 

He will leave his post at SRF as early as February, SRF announced on Monday. The 46-year-old journalist André Marty has worked for Swiss radio and television since 1996. The Valais native started as an Italy correspondent, later worked for "10 vor 10" and for six years - from 2004 to 2010 - was Middle East correspondent based in Tel Aviv.

In 1998, Marty received the Central Switzerland Journalism Prize for research on real estate speculation, in 2006 he was named Reporter of the Year, and three years later he received the Catholic Media Prize. After returning from Tel Aviv, Marty worked as an editor and presenter for the "Tagesschau" news program.
 

The website features anniversary offers, an online competition and various information about the company's 130-year history. The website was created by the agency Guave Studios from Au (ZH) for Pfister to mark its 130th anniversary. It is presented in the predominantly red color scheme that is already familiar from Pfister.

Responsible at Guave Studios: Sandro Wellenzohn (CD, Design), Martin Muther, Gebhard Nigsch, David Fritsche (Development). Responsible at Pfister: Carlos Friedrich (Head of Marketing), Olivier Utz (E-Commerce & Online Marketing).

The jury, consisting of 20 members from advertising, culture and design, has made its choice. The 28 nominees in the five categories are now known. Although the year 2011 was marked by elections and there were accordingly many submissions with a political background, there are no political subjects among the nominations. The winners of the Swiss Poster Award 2011 will be honored on March 8 at Komplex 457 in Zurich.

You can find the nominated posters here.

>The starting signal for the Swiss Poster Award 2011 has been given

Carla Hirtler takes up her position with a clear vision of progressive design. Managing Director André Heller describes the Lucerne native as a stroke of luck: "Carla challenges us to focus more on new forms of graphic design in addition to typographic projects. We are particularly impressed by her skills as an illustrator."

The 25-year-old completed her Bachelor's degree in Visual Communication (specializing in Graphic Design) at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts in 2010 with top marks. She also honed her multimedia skills by producing videos and electronic music, particularly during her stay in Berlin.

From left: Robert Meier (co-owner), Carla Hirtler (graphic designer), André Heller (co-owner, managing director)

It was probably in the air that the book autumn 2012 would also bring one or the other title on the subject of the Basler Zeitung. Not only, but also because the Basler Zeitung will celebrate its 35th anniversary this year on January 31. Hardly any other Swiss newspaper has caused so much discussion in such a short time. (Even its founding made headlines back then, when BaZ was launched in 1976/77 as a merger product of the tradition-rich Basler Nachrichten and the National-Zeitung).

At the Buch Basel book and media fair next November, Christoph Merian Verlag will present a book of just under 300 pages that pays tribute to the controversial development of BaZ. The title: "Challenged - the history of the Basler Zeitung". The editor is Walter Rüegg, former director of Swiss Radio DRS and now a lecturer at the Institute for Media Studies at the University of Basel.

Together with three other media scientists, Rüegg is in the process of systematically reviewing the highs and lows of the Basel media company and placing them in a larger context. "I'm actually surprised that no one has taken this on until now," says Rüegg, who himself served as publishing director of the Basler Zeitung for a short time in the 1990s. While the NZZ and other Swiss publishers had their journalistic past reappraised on their own, Rüegg and co-authors Christina Klausener, Rahel Walser and Dominic Wirz set out on a journey through history without a BaZ mandate.

In spring 2011, Rüegg and his team began to compile what libraries had to offer on the subject. "It wasn't much, and what little there was was often incomplete and rarely reported objectively," says Rüegg's assessment.

The authors took this shortcoming into account and expanded their research. As media scientists and with the Basel publishing house behind them, they gained access, among other things, to previously protected holdings in the Basel State Archives - and most recently also to the company archives of the Basler Zeitung. In addition, they interviewed about a dozen people - former employees and decision-makers - who were close to BaZ and its predecessor newspapers. Rüegg is certain: "Not only can we draw on new sources, but taken together, these sources above all allow us to look at the facts at hand in a new light."

Follow research on Bazbuch.ch

However, it will be a few months before the results are available to the public in book form. Until then, however, the authors are not working behind closed doors, but want to gradually make research results available online.

Together with the Bernese agency Efentwell, the website was thus created Bazbuch.chwhich went live on Monday. "What the authors needed was a kind of 'research blog' in principle," says Kaspar Kilchenmann, co-founder and one of the two creative heads of Efentwell, explaining the concept. "We took the WordPress idea, enriched it with a few social media tools and packed it into a suitable design." The designers took their cue from the print layout of the BaZ of the 1980s and translated its design ideas to the screen.

In parallel to the website, Twitter and Facebook also play an important role in communicating with the public. "But we don't use these channels to take a stand for or against one side or the other," says Dominic Wirz, co-author and previously a social media researcher, explaining the online strategy. "Instead, we make sure we can bring new voices and perspectives into the conversation - for example, historical sources from the time around the merger." The authors want to approach the work with a scientific, objective claim, even if, from the publishing program's point of view, a writing style that is close to the audience is clearly called for.

About a week ago, the authors demonstrated how they envision this middle ground between media-scientific research fidelity and audience-oriented appearance. When the Tageswoche first printed Basel's obituaries, Bazbuch published a video clip from its research archives on Twitter and Tumblr. The clip showed a Interview with Franz C. Widmer, chief of staff at BaZ from 1977 to 78. In conversation with the authors, he recalled how important the obituaries were for the success of the early Basler Zeitung. Readers initially complained that they could no longer find the obituaries on the first try in the new, thicker BaZ. It was only when a page reference to the "Calendar of Events for the Hörnli" (the name of the large cemetery in the canton of Basel-Stadt) was placed on the front page that "a great deal of calm returned to the readership," Widmer says in the interview. (red)

The book on the Basler Zeitung will be available from Christoph Merian Verlag and bookstores from November 2012.
 

The program, which is produced and broadcast weekly, will undergo some important changes this year. It already relies on strong support from Upc Cablecom. As of 2012, the Homeowners Association of Switzerland and Zurich are now also involved as sponsors. "HEV Switzerland and Zurich is a trustworthy partner that supports us with great experience and extensive expert knowledge. This offers our viewers the opportunity to receive even more exciting information and tips worth knowing from the real estate sector," says Daniel Bruckhoff, Head of Marketing at Homegate.ch. But also the companies Geberit and Feller will enrich the format with various expert contributions this year.
 

Twitter wants to censor certain content in certain countries. If content violates the rules in one country, the tweeted post will be blocked - in other countries, however, with different rules and customs, the tweet should be readable. Twitter recently announced this new change and has brought its users to the barricades: the blocking is being decried as censorship and hashtags such as #TwitterCensored and strikes are intended to show the network that censorship is against the will of Twitter users. Forbes.com also headlines: "Twitter Commits Social Suicide". It remains to be seen how this discussion will end, who will delete their Twitter account and how much censorship will actually take place in the end. Werbewoche, at least, is still happily tweeting away: twitter.com/#!/AdvertisingWeek

 

The Lucerne agency Büro Troxler has developed a commercial for Bad Knutwil. The clip can be seen on Tele 1 and was created in collaboration with Lucerne film producer Till Gmür. In the restaurant, a guest is seen slowly losing patience when ordering mineral water and is then rebuked for ordering his water better from the region than from far away. The idea is to encourage consumers to drink mineral water from the region.

 

The French daily press is suffering. France Soir already had to discontinue its print edition in mid-December, and since Monday there has also been no print edition of La Tribune. After 26 years, the business newspaper has had to discontinue its print edition due to financial problems - but it will continue to exist online. "The newspaper stops, latribune.fr continues" - this Monday, the Paris Commercial Court will decide on the future of La Tribune. According to Sueddeutsche.de, two takeover bids have been submitted.