I'm sorry to disappoint you, dear readers. The following story is somehow not at all Christmassy - but all the more curious. But read it for yourself:

A British woman accidentally swallowed a felt-tip pen a quarter of a century ago. How this happened is a long story - and is unlikely to interest anyone here. For 25 years, nobody believed her - even X-rays showed no evidence of a felt-tip pen. Then, when the abdominal pain suddenly got worse and worse and the lady became thinner and thinner, she was examined again - this time with a CT scan. Lo and behold, the doctors discovered a "linear foreign body" in the woman's stomach. After a lengthy discussion, the doctors finally decided to remove it. Which they did (of course, the foreign body turned out to be a felt-tip pen). One of the doctors had the original idea of trying out whether the pen would still work after 25 years. And indeed it did - at least it was possible to write "Hello" on a piece of paper. And everyone was happy: the doctors because they had operated successfully and the lady because she was relieved of the abdominal pain - and perhaps also because she could finally hold her felt-tip pen in her hands again.

With a large dose of imagination, this could also be a Christmas story - at least somehow. Or maybe not. Be that as it may, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a lively and successful start to 2012.

(Source: Spiegel.de)

Following the takeover of Tele Bärn by AZ Medien, the two regional broadcasters Tele M1 and Tele Bärn are moving closer together, according to a statement issued on Thursday: Claudio Bonaria will in future be responsible for advertising sales for Tele Bärn and Tele M1 - together with the field sales teams in Aarau and in Bern. For five years, Bonaria worked as a video journalist and presenter at Tele Bärn. For just under four years, the 37-year-old from Bern has held various sales positions at Espace Media - including Key Account Manager and, since March 2010, Deputy Head of the Audiovisual Advertising Department.
 

The Sandman is known to help all children and adults fall asleep. But who helps the Sandman to fall asleep? Quite simply: a bed from Finetra, the specialist bed store in Affoltern am Albis. KSB Krieg Schlupp Bürge tells this simple story with the new motif, which is now being used as an advertisement and poster.

Responsible at Finetra: Besim Bulica. Responsible at KSB Krieg Schlupp Bürge: Uwe Schlupp, Flo Wacker (CD), Nina-Britt Rauer, Samuel Knaus (text), Anita Kummer (AD), Joel Gessler (graphics), Photo: Jonathan Heyer. Image processing: Patrik Rohner. Set construction: Karin Frey. DTP: Bettina Beyeler. Consulting: Marco Serratore.

The initiative includes newsletters, social media, window and store decorations, as well as gift bags and cards, the agency writes in a statement. Its centerpiece is the Christmas story of Albert the Goose: a word gift from Freitag to customers, loyal fans - and himself - that develops over five newsletter episodes. The author is Jürg Halter aka Kutti MC.

One of Freitag's specifications was to create an environmentally friendly, recyclable gift packaging for purchases during the Christmas season, taking into account the brand values. &Söhne solved this task with an idea borrowed from the manufacturing process of Freitag bags: the key visual with Albert the goose was "broken down" into nine parts as a star cut and printed as individual subjects on classic Migros paper bags. Using a sophisticated folding technique, the bags can be folded by the store staff to the size that fits the respective product. The opening sentence of the Christmas story can be read on the back of the bag - as a teaser for the entire story. Golden goose stickers serve as a bag closure and are intended to provide Christmas warmth.

Photos of the shooting with the goose are on Friday.ch to see.

Responsible at Friday: Pascal Dulex (Manager Marcom) and Olivia Jäggi (Specialist Marcom). Responsible at &Sons: Tobias Weber (CD), Baptiste Planche (consulting), Heike Gross (text/consulting), Véronique Cuennet (AD), Vasco Bickel (AD); Peter Hauser (Fotografrafie).

During the next few weeks, according to the agency, an overarching communications concept will be developed based on the central idea developed by Rod. A first focus is to be seen as early as spring 2012. With the communication concept, SBB wants to manage the overall brand more consistently and communicate all of the company's services across divisions. The course for the new communication will be set in the next few days. Resources will be deployed on a selective basis, as David Schärer from Rod told Werbewoche. However, SBB will maintain its existing relationships with agencies.

Rod Kommunikation was founded in 2007 by Regula Fecker, Oliver Fennel and David Schärer. The 18-member team is the lead agency for, among other things, "Slow down. Take it easy." (SVV/BFU), 20 Minuten, Erdgas, Google, Bell, Hotelplan and Eve by Cardinal. In 2008, the agency was named "Newcomer Agency" in the German-speaking region, and Regula Fecker was voted "Advertiser of the Year 2010". David Schärer is nominated for "Advertiser of the Year 2012".

The Spot consists of around 1,000 individual videos edited together and generated by and with Nivea customers over the last six months. The videos show a dab of Nivea being passed from one customer to the next across the edge of the screen, traveling throughout Switzerland. A total of over 4,000 individual videos were submitted.

With a spot length of 60 minutes, the previous record holder from Japan was beaten by double, as Streuplan writes in a press release. The client Beiersdorf/Nivea and the creators of the campaign, the Zurich agency Streuplan, thus secured the official Guinness World Record.

OMD Switzerland was responsible for the project's media development and management.

The in-house production will be produced and broadcast every three weeks, as Tele Bielingue writes in a statement. The first broadcast will take place from December 22 on Thursdays in the main program after the program "Cinema". The magazine will be repeated on the following Saturday. The magazine is sponsored by Brechbühl Interieur in Nidau, Stadthaus in Biel and Delc, the center for dermatology, cosmetic surgery and aesthetic medicine in Biel.
 

In the first edition of the article series, the twelve most important trends for 2012 are presented, as Publigroupe writes in a press release on Thursday. The twelve authors are involved in various companies within the group, including Zanox, Eprofessional, Publimedia, Namics and Publicitas. They comment on current topics such as mobile marketing, lead generation, performance marketing and online marketing to strengthen a brand.

The central idea of MME (for Marketing. More. Effective.) is to address the effectiveness, methodology and use of advertising media in various editorial forms, it continues. MME is aimed at marketing and communication professionals, advertising experts from all sectors and Publigroupe partners and employees. From 2012, reports, interviews and statistics will be published regularly on the MME pages and announced via the newsletter. Editorial responsibility lies with Publigroupe Corporate Communications. Wirz Corporate in Zurich is responsible for the design, while Denon Allmedia Corporate Publishing in Rapperswil is responsible for the realization of the iPad version and the Internet solution.

MME is now available in three language versions (German, English, French) as an app for iPad in the Apple Store (MME 12 Trends), on the Internet pages of Publigroupe as well as on Marketing-more-effective.com available.

Lisa Impoco, who already held this position for Annabelle from 2008 to 2010, is returning to the women's magazine after an extended maternity leave. From December 2011 to the end of May 2012, she will replace Andrea Blatter, who is currently on maternity leave. From June 2012, Lisa Impoco and Andrea Blatter will share the job and work together on a part-time basis to look after the sales territory of Zurich East and Eastern Switzerland.

In the shower toilet center, Mr. and Mrs. Swiss will find the largest range of all leading shower toilet manufacturers, Publicis said in a press release. In its communication with posters and at the POS, the agency is focusing on the obvious advantages of the product by highlighting the product benefits with an obvious yet surprising analogy.

Responsible at Dusch-WC Center: Dieter Krattiger (branch manager). Responsible at Publicis: Ralph Halder (overall responsibility), Denis Schwarz (AD), Martin Arnold (text), Pascal Herzog (graphics), Sandro Looser (consulting).

This was announced by the Lucerne police on Thursday, according to SDA. Graf had previously been a deputy when he graduated from the Central Switzerland Police School in the fall of 1981 and joined the former cantonal police force. He has been with the criminal investigation department since 1983.

You will receive the first Newsmail of the new year in your mailbox on January 4. The first issue of the printed Advertising Week will be published on January 20, 2012.

We thank you for your loyalty and wish you a relaxing and happy holiday season and a successful New Year.