Pumpkin has produced a TV commercial for Toyota Japan in collaboration with the Tokyo-based agency Hakuhodo. It was shot on the wide, smooth beaches of Normandy. Two rivals engage in a fierce race, only to meet at the end with icy expressions, as if in a duel. Only one Toyota Vellfire was used for the commercial by director Nico Beyer; all other models were created as reflections in post-production. The exciting thing about the realization is the Far Eastern aesthetic and narrative language, which differs greatly from European habits, the film producers wrote in a press release on Tuesday.

> To the spot

Responsible at Toshiya Kono: Hakuhodo inc (CD), Masashi Iguchi (Hakuhodo Products, Executive Producer), Tomohiko Kawanishi (Hakuhodo Products, Producer), Kana Wakabayashi (Producer). Production: Nico Beyer (Director), Sonja Brand (Pumpkin Film, Executive Producer), Katrin Wilken (Line-Producer) Caroline Kukura (Pumpkin Film, Communication &Sales). Postproduction: Jan Heinze (Pixomondo), Claudia Brand (Pumpkin Film).

Spongebob - anyone who thinks of a children's program and a stupid yellow sponge head is on the wrong track. Behind the cartoon character is a gigantic advertising machine. The magazine Advertising Age published the data on Spongebob's tenth birthday. Spongebob Squarepants, owned by the children's channel Nickelodeon and 700 license partners worldwide, is worth a whopping eight billion dollars. An unbelievable amount of fan merchandise is flushing money into the coffers every day.
To mark the anniversary, the advertising professionals have also developed further ideas on how to market Sponegbob even better: Celebrities have been gifted with 12-carat diamonds from a limited-edition collection, while for ordinary people there is a collection of sparkling earrings, necklaces and rings. The pieces of jewelry are to be sold for between 95 and 350 dollars. A cooperation with Walmart and Burger Kind has also been entered into. As the crowning glory, Spongebob will be the first animated figure in the Madame Tussauds wax museum.
What is the key to success, what makes Spongebob - who, by the way, even President Obama thinks is great - so irresistible? Spongebob's bonus is its "cross-generational approach", according to the article in the trade journal. Spongebob is not only popular with young children, but also with college students and adults. According to Judy McGrath, CEO of MTV Networks, Spongebob's success is primarily due to his unwavering optimism. Apparently no one can resist it.

(Image source: Madametussauds.com)

Crossmotion Media Engineering is expanding its design department for cross-media communication tools with an additional employee. Eugen Danzinger joined the team in June as an art director and specialist in motion graphics. Danzinger has many years of experience in the fields of 2D/3D animation and compositing. Crossmotion Media Engineering develops cross-media communication tools with a focus on moving images. These include audiovisual media for corporate and marketing communication, for information and training purposes, for the visualization of processes with 2D and 3D animation, for websites with moving images and complex interactive web applications.

Many Blick readers had to do without their paper on Monday morning. The newspaper was delivered late or not at all throughout Switzerland. The reason for this is a fault in printing plate production at the Adligenswil LU printing plant. However, as Ringier writes in a press release, subscribers with early delivery should receive their copy by twelve o'clock at the latest.
As an apology for the late delivery, an advertisement with a coupon for a free copy of Blick or Sonntagblick will appear in tomorrow's Blick. The e-paper is also available free of charge today on Blick.ch.

Blick has kept its promise to deliver more hard-hitting "investigative" tabloid journalism. Recently uncovered scandal in the online edition - brace yourself - Mister Switzerland André Reithebuch is illegally advertising alcoholic drinks. The lurid title "Mixing, excreting and licking" reveals the urgency of the incident. "What's going on with Mister Switzerland from Glarnerland?" is written further down. Yes, what was going on? Reithebuch had been helping out at the bar in a club in Biel. His first offense: The logo of a well-known beer manufacturer was printed on his shirt collar. Second faux pas: André drank a few rounds himself, which inevitably led to the third mishap - a young blonde sipped a shot from Reithebuch's navel. The Mister Switzerland organization does not view the incident quite as narrowly as the journalists. Urs Brülisauer told Blick.ch that it goes without saying that André Reithebuch mixed drinks during his appearance and had nothing to do with alcohol advertising. Dear moral watchdogs, stay on the ball.

Neue Lgk has realized a campaign for the sugar factories Aarberg + Frauenfeld to publicize the new product range "Sucrisse". The advertising campaign highlights the advantage of liquid sugar - its solubility. The new brand is being launched via Migros. The associated campaign is currently focusing on the Migros magazine, seasonal cuisine and billboards in and around Migros stores. In the fall, the campaign will be supplemented by a commercial, accompanied by a national billboard.

Responsible at Zuckerfabriken Aarberg + Frauenfeld: Josef Arnold (CEO), Beat Gerber (Head of Marketing and Sales), Sibylle Studer (Product Manager). Responsible at the New Lgk: André Benker (CD), Valentina Herrmann, Dominic Beyeler (AD), Lukas Schmid (text), Alfredo Trasatti, Sabina Siegrist, Raphaela Brühlmeier (consulting). Art buying: Beatrice Mächler. Photography: Hans-Ruedi Rohrer. Illustrations: Christian Kitzmüller, Syd Brak. Image editing: Felix Schregenberger.

A pirate party was founded in Switzerland on Sunday. The party's goals include defending the right to privacy, reforming copyright law and restricting "harmful monopolies". Free access to knowledge, culture and media must be promoted. The state must become more transparent and human rights must also be strengthened. The Pirate Party Switzerland (PPS) was established primarily via the Internet. The 124 founding members elected 24-year-old computer science student Denis Simonet as president.
The first Pirate Party was founded in Sweden in 2006. It won 7.1% of the vote and one mandate in the European elections in June. The German Pirate Party achieved 0.9 percent. According to Denis Simonet, the Swiss Pirate Party should also take part in a cantonal parliamentary election as soon as possible.

The program mandate of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation states that the SRG promotes understanding and exchange between the different parts of the country. However, this is contradicted by the latest study conducted by the University of Fribourg on behalf of Bakom. The information programs of La Première devote just four percent of their reporting to the other language regions - two percent to German-speaking Switzerland and two percent to Ticino. The same applies to DRS 1, whose news programs devote three percent of their coverage to French-speaking Switzerland and one percent to Ticino. At 44%, reporting on foreign countries is in first place at Radio DRS.

The application deadline for the CREA Credential Award has been extended. Agencies from German-speaking countries have until August 31, 2009 to submit communications materials and campaigns.

The Swiss television channel 3+ increased its market share in the second quarter by 62% compared to the previous year, reaching 4.7% in June, its highest figure since the start of broadcasting. The average market share was 4.2 percent in the time slot between 8 and 10.29 p.m. among 15 to 49-year-olds, according to a press release from Publicitas. This made the channel the fifth most-watched TV channel in German-speaking Switzerland after SF1, SF2, RTL and Pro7.

An international competition will be held again this year at the Fantoche animation film festival. 927 animated films from 51 countries were submitted, 39 entries from 27 countries were selected for judging. Among them are two Swiss films: "Tôt ou tard" by Jadwiga Kowalska (winner of the Swiss Film Award for Best Animated Short Film 2009) and Georges Schwizgebel with "Retouches". Awards are up for grabs in a total of seven categories.
This year's jury is composed of internationally renowned animators, artists and producers: Abi Feijó (Portugal), Lauri Faggioni and Caroline Leaf (USA), Thomas Ott (Switzerland) and Tatia Rosenthal (Israel). Fantoche will take place in Baden from September 8 to 13, 2009.