Wirz Corporate has taken over the branding and overall communication of the commercial law firm Schellenberg Wittmer. With the aim of raising the profile of the Schellenberg Wittmer brand in the market and promoting its recognition, the agency has revised the existing brand identity in recent months and redesigned all of the law firm's communication media and measures. The basis for the realignment was a series of workshops involving the managing partners.
As part of a continuing collaboration, Wirz Corporate is supporting the law firm, which employs around 110 lawyers and a total of over 200 staff at its Zurich and Geneva offices, in the conception and implementation of all communication activities.

The Zurich advertising agency Exxtra Kommunikation has realized a poster for Bacardi-Martini, which advertises Bacardi Rum at the exit doors of the toilet area of clubs and bars. The image campaign could be realized despite strong restrictions for alcohol advertising. The posters can be seen from now until July 15, 2009 in selected locations in the largest Swiss cities.

Responsible at Bacardi-Martini Switzerland: Sibylle Valeggia (Marketing Director), Roman Küng (Senior Brand Manager), Christian Bülte (Junior Brand Manager). Responsible at Exxtra Communication: Dieter Hofmann (CD), Benny Goldstein (AD), Ma-rietta Mügge (text), Rémy Müller (account director), Nathalie Jakober (account executive), Jo-nathan Heyer (photography), Stephan Riederer (image editing) . Media: UniversalMcCann, Hatay Sanchez. Posting: Face, Miriam Mayer.

Last Saturday, the Swiss Marketing Award was presented for the first time in Bern. The award honors the best up-and-coming marketing professionals. The nine best examination graduates were presented with the award. The winner is Zurich-based marketing specialist Stefanie Brauchli, who with a grade point average of 5.4 came out on top among the 522 new marketing specialists with a federal certificate. Starting in the fall, Swiss marketing specialists will also be able to obtain European certification.
The professional examinations are organized by the examination commission on behalf of the Federal Office for Professional Education and Technology (OPET) and conducted by Swiss Marketing. The sponsors are the industry associations GfM, KV Switzerland, Swiss Direct Marketing Association and Swiss Marketing.

Motivation injection for young professionals
In the future, the Swiss Marketing Award will be presented annually to new marketing professionals in Switzerland, in order to give young professionals an injection of motivation on their way, Andreas Balazs, president of the responsible examination committee, was quoted as saying in a statement on Tuesday.

The winner of the Swiss Marketing Award: Stefanie Brauchli.

The internet communications agency New Impact has redesigned the Sanitized portal. The relaunch focused on communicating customer benefits and user guidance. The globally active company based in Burgdorf, Bern, is active in the field of antimicrobial finishing and material protection for textiles and plastics.

After losing the marketing contract with the publishing house Edipresse, the advertising marketer Publicitas is now cutting 89 of its 139 jobs in Lausanne and Geneva. 70 employees will be made redundant at the end of the year and six will take early retirement. 27 of the employees who are being made redundant have already been offered a job by Edipresse, as Publicitas announced on Tuesday. Measures are planned for the other 56 employees to mitigate the consequences of the redundancies.
The Publigroupe subsidiary had already held out the prospect of job cuts in March when Edipresse withdrew its order. Edipresse, which recently became a subsidiary of Zurich-based Tamedia, will market all of its newspapers and magazines itself from the beginning of 2010. Publicitas will continue to work with Edipresse on a non-exclusive basis.

Condom manufacturer Durex relies on the expertise of the BSSM advertising agency. In a competitive presentation, the advertisers from Basel were able to convince those responsible at SSL Healthcare Switzerland and win the budget for condoms and lubricants. Initial work will be implemented over the next few weeks.

SRG must make savings. The Board of Directors has decided on a savings package for 2010 that should reduce the annual accounts by an average of CHF 30 million by 2014. The package includes a pay freeze for staff next year, with salaries to be frozen at the end of 2009. The package also includes an investment freeze and the sale of properties.
In principle, jobs are not affected, and SRG does not intend to change its program offering for the time being. A fee increase is not planned for 2010.

Federal Council decisions required
However, the savings package presented is not enough to balance SRG's finances. Further measures amounting to an average of CHF 40 million per year are needed. To achieve this, an increase in fees is not the only option, the SRG wrote. More advertising revenue could also be generated. The SRG cited liberalization of online advertising or interruption advertising as examples. However, the Federal Council would have to decide on this.
SRG could also be compensated for services that are financed or compensated for by the state in other countries. In this context, she cited as examples the losses caused by waived fees, services for the visually and hearing impaired and the international mandate. Here too, the decision lies with the Federal Council. The SRG Board of Directors took note of the cuts to the program offering. As all SRG channels are licensed, the reduction in services would also have to be approved by the Federal Council.

SRG threatened with high debt
Without countermeasures, SRG's debt would rise to CHF 790 million by 2014. In 2008, debt amounted to CHF 200 million. At the same time, SRG's equity ratio would fall from the current 45% to 12%. The strategically defined limit is 40 percent. Speaking to the media in Bern on Tuesday, Chairman of the Board of Directors Jean-Bernard Münch described SRG's financial situation as worrying.
The media convergence project will be financed independently of the cost-cutting measures from seven synergy projects. Convergence is a prerequisite for securing the future of SRG, the statement continued. However, it is not directly related to the austerity package.

Reactions from the Federal Council
The Department of the Environment, Energy, Transport and Communications (DETEC) welcomes the fact that the SRG is initially focusing on cost-cutting measures that will not have any drastic consequences for its programs. Should the SRG wish to relinquish its involvement in 3sat and TV5, it would require the approval of the entire Federal Council, the DETEC states in a statement. For the head of the department, Moritz Leuenberger, however, an exit is currently out of the question.

The Fédération Romande de publicité FRP now operates under the Publicité Romande brand. The simpler identity was created by the agency Synthes et Newcom SYNC in Lausanne and gathers all advertising circles around its umbrella organization. The institutional structure is also strengthened by the creation of a committee whose members come from all areas of the advertising industry. The operational tasks are entrusted to a directorate made up of Claude Miffon (public affairs), Michel Repond (training), Alfred Haas (arbitration), Jean-Marc Brandenberger (events), Hervé Devanthéry (communication) and Alain Curchod (marketing member). François Besençon is Chairman of the Committee and of the Management Board of Publicité Romande.

Various business partners have outstanding invoices with the now-bankrupt free newspaper .ch. These include, among others, AZ-Verlag, the Swiss News Agency (SDA), the delivery company Direct Mail Company (DMC), the transportation company Hogatrans, and the logistics firm Prisma. The debts are estimated to amount to approximately two million francs. AZ-Verlag has now prepared a liability suit against the newspaper’s board of directors, as owner Peter Wanner told the newspaper Sonntag. The SDA is also considering legal action. Punkt ch, however, rejects the criticism. According to Board Chairman Ernst Buob, the economic developments—including those in the advertising market—simply could not have been foreseen in such dramatic terms.

Künzler Bachmann Medien has acquired the European wine magazine Vinum. With ten annual issues, Vinum provides detailed information about wine as a cultural asset and is published in German, French and Spanish with a circulation of over 85,000 copies. The reports on wine regions, travel and tastings come from editorial offices in Switzerland, Germany and Austria, Spain, Italy and France. The special interest title was founded in Zurich over 25 years ago and was taken over by the German agricultural publishing house in Münster seven years ago.

Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett have developed a motif for the freestyle tour of the Foundation for Social Youth Projects (Schtifti). An oversized skateboard is intended to symbolize the fact that boys are increasingly struggling with obesity. The freestyle tour motivates schoolchildren to exercise more and eat healthily: with freestyle sports such as skateboarding and a cooking team. The motif can be seen as a poster and advertisement from the end of June.

Responsible at Schtifti (foundation for social youth projects): Roger Grolimund (Managing Director), Simon Sennhauser (Communications). Responsible at Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett: Fabian Esslinger (AD), Patrick Suter (text), Martin Spillmann (CD), Ivana Giannakis (consultant). Photo: Rico Rosenberger.