This writes the Sunday newspaper in its current issue. In the Hildebrand affair, Weltwoche had obviously "run a campaign influenced by the SVP", which was also directed against state institutions. Christoph Darbellay (CVP), Christian Levrat (SP), Fulvio Pelli (FDP), Hans Grunder (BDP), Martin Bäumle (Green Liberals) and Ueli Leuenberger (Greens) are unanimous in saying that it is now necessary to clarify who is behind Weltwoche and what role Christoph Blocher may be playing there. Some are even thinking of creating a "Lex Weltwoche" to force all media to be transparent.

According to the Sonntagszeitung, the initiative for this politically remarkable closing of ranks comes from liberal circles. Last week, FDP National Councilor Otto Ineichen initiated talks between the party leaders on the fringes of commission meetings. The aim is to draft a joint declaration next week and to put Weltwoche under such pressure that it must also disclose any loan guarantees.
 

SRF Director Rudolf Matter has launched "Project 55" at Leutschenbach, as the NZZ am Sonntag writes. By May 2012, 60 employees divided into working groups are to search internally for savings potential amounting to CHF 55 million. The money saved is to be invested in new programs. Andrea Hemmi, Head of Corporate Communications, told the NZZaS that "serial and fictional in-house productions such as a crime series, productions in information, sport or multimedia". The offensive is said to be related to the sharp drop in viewing figures for Swiss television, which is therefore dependent on new successful programs. Already announced was a Crime series with Mike Müller.

Monday, January 23, 2012, marks the first day of Joiz programming to feature just one artist: Kool Savas. Highlights of the day will be the rapper's visit to the show Knack Attack from 5:30 - 6:30 p.m. and a one-hour concert from 7:00 - 8:00 p.m., broadcast live from the joiz studios in Zurich Oerlikon.

Not only on the TV, but also in the studio, fans of Kool Savas get their money's worth. Joiz, in cooperation with partners, is giving away over 30 seats in the studio for the concert.
 

At the turn of the year, Dotpulse unveiled a new feature for its customers and friends: The Morse code app «morsmors» for iPhone and Android sends and receives messages via light pulses. With «morsmors,» you can communicate even when you’re in a dead zone or an area without Wi-Fi. The app converts text into light pulses using the camera flash and can convert the transmitted light pulses back into text.

You can find the original New Year's greetings—including a piece of advice from Frank Zappa and a link to the app—at here.
 

Clients, architects and marketing and branding experts who have realized projects in Switzerland or for Swiss companies are invited to participate. The regulations and the tender documents are available at www.marketingarchitektur.ch ready for download. The deadline for submissions is now February 29. The nominations will be announced in March.

On April 20, the award for built, three-dimensional corporate identity will be presented for the third time at the KKL Lucerne. The creative and obvious combination of marketing and architecture creates buildings and spaces that represent a brand externally and at the same time create identity internally. The award recognizes the achievements of the client, marketing/branding specialists and architecture in equal measure.

"Award Marketing + Architecture 2012": Call for entries launched

Seven of the 23 sectors of the Swiss advertising market recorded lower advertising pressure in 2011 than in the previous year. The greatest reduction in advertising budgets in the classic media was recorded by the financial sector. In 2011, banks and insurance companies reduced their advertising activities by around CHF 24.4 million (-8.1 percent). The advertising pressure of the cosmetics industry was not quite as pretty in 2011. After five years of continuous growth, it reported a decline again for the first time in 2011 (-5.3 percent; -20.0 million Swiss francs). At the end of 2011, advertising pressure stood at 360.8 million Swiss francs. All in all, the signs for this industry are not so good for the coming advertising year.

Although the financial and cosmetics + toiletries sectors are currently somewhat weaker, the Swiss advertising market as a whole is still on course for growth, following a brief dip in 2009. The biggest year-on-year increase in advertising pressure was achieved by the telecommunications sector. Advertising volume in Swiss francs rose by over CHF 66.9 million (+32.0 percent) to CHF 275.9 million in 2011. It is noteworthy that over 56.6 percent of this volume was spent solely on mobile advertising (subscriptions & rates, devices and additional services). The second largest growth of over CHF 38.3 million was achieved by the "Initiatives + Campaigns" sector. This was achieved due to political advertising in the 2011 election year.

While the daily, regional weekly + Sunday press media group again lost a few percentage points of the advertising market pie this year, the TV media group again gained share. With a share of 31.7 percent, TV took the biggest slice of the advertising pie in 2011. With only one percentage point difference (30.7 percent), the "daily, regional weekly + Sunday press" slipped to second place among the most important advertising media in Switzerland for the first time in the annual analysis.

You can find the entire study here.
 

The starting signal for Energy Basel was given at 5 a.m.: Dominique Heller woke up the people of Basel with the morning show "Energy Mein Morgen". Guests included the Councillors of the Canton of Basel-Landschaft, Adrian Ballmer, and Basel-Stadt, Christoph Brutschin, as well as the successful Basel musician Baschi. There was also an exclusive live broadcast from FC Basel's training camp. The station was thus launched and the new Basel radio era was ushered in.

"We are happy. The launch of Energy Basel has been more than successful. The team has been working around the clock over the last few days and has done an excellent job. But now things are just getting started," says Eva Nidecker, Program Manager of Energy Basel.

The stars also arrived in and around Basel on Friday night. They are greeting their own fans with a large-scale launch campaign. For example, Lady Gaga says "Hi Little Monsters" and Katy Perry addresses her fans as "Hello Katycats". True to the motto: Energy is now bringing the stars to Basel.

ITS Coop Travel is launching the 2012 summer beach vacation season with the promise: "For the cheapest vacations ever". ITS Coop Travel is trying to increase the still low level of awareness with a high TV presence. Accompanying media include ePanels in major Swiss railway stations, rail posters in commuter trains, online banners on various portals and advertisements in the Coop newspaper. The appearance in Coop sales outlets is supported by F4 posters, hanging frames and sound spots. The look of the campaign is adapted to the newly developed communication presence, which was developed by the full-service advertising agency Fünfstern in Basel at the beginning of 2011.

Responsible at ITS Coop Travel: Andreas Restle (Managing Director) and Marcel Eisele (Head of Marketing). Responsible at Five Star: Marcel Krebs (overall responsibility), Sergei Zeitler (creative director), Thomas Schaub (concept), Nicole Senn and Fabian Bieler (creation), Condor Films (production company) and Martin Fueter (director).
 

The campaign was photographed in Glasgow, in the iconic building of the Glasgow School of Art by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and in the Borrowland Ballrooms. Tilda Swinton's Scottish roots also link her to Pringle of Scotland. This is the third time that the Oscar-winning actress has represented the Scottish brand. Jim Lambie, a Scottish artist, is Tilda's shooting partner.

Pringle's Managing Director Benoit Duverger says: "It is inspiring to work with the world's best image makers who are still an insider tip outside the art world - we had a very good collaboration with Neutral Zurich here too." Walter Pfeiffer's portrait art lends the classic picture genre something glamorous and spectacular that corresponds to Pringle's new image in the fashion world.

Responsible at Pringle of Scotland: Benoit Duverger (Managing Director). Responsible at Neutral: Michelle Nicol and Rudolph Schürmann (overall responsibility), Eva Friedli (counseling) and Pascal Hurschler (counseling assistance).
 

Publicitas previously held 25 percent of the shares in PrintOnline. As of January 1, it now holds 100 percent. According to the communiqué, Publicitas is taking over the employee contracts and guarantees all Swiss publishers continued free access to the service.

The publishers had divested themselves of PrintOnline for strategic reasons. They wanted to concentrate more on their core activities. Publicitas, for its part, could complete its digital service portfolio with the takeover.

PrintOnline is a small company based in Schlieren. According to the statement, it is the digital courier between the data producer and the publisher, guaranteeing the fast and secure transmission of print-ready advertisements. (SDA)

The Automobile Club of Switzerland cannot prevent breakdowns. But it can now help its members very quickly in the event of an incident. With an app that is a service and customer loyalty in one: The ACS app locates the damaged member via GPS. The subsequent transmission reports the location, member number and manually entered information on the type of breakdown to the ACS, which can then quickly arrange for assistance.

When developing the ACS app, Blue Spirit also thought about the fact that it is precisely in such moments that all the necessary documents are often never at hand. That's why the ACS app offers the option of saving important documents such as driver's licenses and vehicle registration cards. And of course, the app provides its users with helpful service numbers and information, such as traffic law protection.

The ACS app is under continuous development and is available for free download in the Apple and Android app stores for ACS members.
 

For the past two years, the Art Directors Club Switzerland has invited a guest juror to the judging each year. In each case, the guest is a personality who has made outstanding achievements outside the advertising industry and enriches the ADC jury with his or her creative outside perspective.

2 years ago, film director and Oscar winner Xavier Koller was ADC guest juror, last year it was Boris Blank, co-founder and composer of Yello. For the 2012 ADC judging, Daniel Freitag, co-founder of the cult label FREITAG, could be won as a guest juror. In 1993, the Freitag brothers Daniel and Markus Freitag developed the first bags from old truck tarpaulins, used bicycle inner tubes and car belts. Today, Freitag lab AG, headquartered in Zurich, has around 100 employees.

Daniel Freitag will judge in the Design & Art Direction category on the first jury day.