Remo Christen joined the Matter & Gretener consulting team at the beginning of June. The 39-year-old is a qualified marketing communications manager and has worked for agencies such as Publicis, Lowe and Sulzer, Sutter. He also gained experience on the client side - with Orange when the telecoms provider came to Switzerland in 1999.

Following an agency evaluation, A-Welle, the public transport fare network in the Mittelland region, has once again opted for the Lenzburg-based communications agency Schaerer und Partner. The agency developed the current corporate design, including vehicle design, bus stop and ticket machine design as well as passenger communication.
Schaerer und Partner has already communicated for various public transport companies, for example for the opening of the Glatttalbahn line 10. The agency has also worked with SBB, Postauto and ZVV on major projects such as the Swiss Wrestling and Alpine Festival and the opening of the Zurich western bypass.

Tie Break, an earthly relationship comedy with heavenly conflicts" is the title of Charles Lewinsky's play, which premiered at the Casinotheater Winterthur in June. It is about a married couple in crisis who find their way back to each other with the help of two guardian angels. In order to make this witty subject matter stand up to advertising, Publicis has come up with a motif that is not only fun as a theater poster, but also as a short TV and cinema spot and as an e-board: It shows a male and a female ring finger, whose wedding rings are pulled out as if by an invisible angel's hand - and up into the air, where they remain floating like two halos.

> To the spot

Responsible at Casinotheater Winterthur: Paul Burkhalter (overall responsibility), Markus Sulzer (advertising management). Responsible at Publicis: Ralf Kostgeld (CD), Valentin Cheli (AD), Simon Müller (graphics, illustration), Vera Schmid (art buying), Derya Derdiyok (TV producer), Bojana Taraba (consulting). Production: Yogi Parish (film production), Hastings Zurich (sound).

TBWA\PR has won three new client mandates. The agency unit is now advising the online TV platform Zattoo on sales and marketing issues. In addition, the Henrici coffee house, which opened in Niederdorf in 2009, is responsible for all aspects of media relations as well as supporting the visual implementation. Finally, the agency is responsible for media relations and the acquisition of sponsors for the Zurich Tango Week association, which is holding its 13th Tango Week from July 25 to August 2, 2009.

Responsible at TBWA\PR: Ingrid Notter and Stephanie Mück (consulting), Dominique Magnusson (graphics).

Schaffhauser Fernsehen (SHf) has a new managing director and a new editor-in-chief. Stefan Wabel succeeds Klaus Winiger as interim managing director. Wabel worked in the publishing management of Schaffhauser Nachrichten. The new editor-in-chief Noëlle Guidon succeeds Patrick Caprez, who became media manager of the Schaffhausen police in May. Guidon previously worked part-time at the company while completing her training at the MAZ in Lucerne. She previously worked at Schaffhausen's local radio station Munot, which - like Schaffhauser Fernsehen and Schaffhauser Nachrichten (SN) - belongs to Meier & Co. AG.

New broadcasting concept
On June 22, SHf launches a new broadcasting concept. From Monday to Friday, it will provide information on the most important events in the region with the program "Schaffhausen aktuell" from 6 pm. This is followed by the program "Heute im Gespräch". From this date, the programs can also be accessed on the Internet immediately after broadcast.

The Swiss television magazine TV-Star has gone under the layout knife at Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett. The magazine has been published with a revised design since May 27, 2009. The magazine is now younger and fresher, writes the agency in a press release on Tuesday.

Responsible at Axel Springer Schweiz AG: Jörg Tobuschat (Publishing Director), Marie-Anne Cobigo (Deputy Publishing Director), Sandra Peiti (Head of Advertising Market), Jasmin Basalan (Junior Product Manager).
Responsible at Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett: Martin Spillmann (CD), Diana Rossi (text), Sebastian Krayer, Moritz Stillhard (AD), Andrea Staub, Rebecca Krausse (consulting).

Ketchum, one of the world's largest PR agencies, and Pleon, a European communications consultancy, are merging. The head office will remain in New York, the new European headquarters will be in Düsseldorf. The agency will operate globally under the Ketchum brand and in Europe as Ketchum Pleon. The integration of the two partners, which is now underway, should be completed by the end of the year.
Raymond L. Kotcher remains Senior Partner and global CEO for Ketchum. Timo Sieg, previously Chairman and CEO of Pleon, takes over as CEO for Europe and becomes a member of Ketchum's Global Executive Committee. David Gallagher becomes Senior Partner and President Europe and continues as CEO in London. Mark Hume takes over as CFO for the European region. Jon Higgins, Senior Partner at Ketchum and CEO International with responsibility for the combined business in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, will lead the European integration together with Joachim Klewes, Senior Partner at Pleon.

Pleon Switzerland
The Pleon C-Matrix Group has two offices in Zurich and Lausanne. 30 employees serve large national and international companies as well as SMEs in the healthcare, information technology, telecommunications, finance and insurance sectors. Pleon C-Matrix's core competencies lie in media relations, crisis & change communication, internal communication, corporate communication & campaigning and marketing & sales communication.

The Tagesanzeiger remains anchored in the districts of Bülach and Dielsdorf. Contrary to rumors, news and stories from the 44 municipalities will continue to be researched locally, the Tagesanzeiger reported on Tuesday. Also the production in Bülach remains. However, there are changes regarding the layout. From autumn, the regional pages will no longer appear in a separate, but in the second bundle. The remaining news from the city and canton of Zurich will appear in all editions as before. Regional sports will be integrated into the sports section and produced in Zurich. This applies not only to the districts of Bülach and Dielsdorf, but to all split areas of the Tages-Anzeiger.

The Swiss television magazine TVtäglich will be published with a new design from issue 25 for the period from June 20 to 26, 2009. The previous design concept from 2005 has been completely developed further. The redesign is also intended to give the Ringier and Tamedia program guide a more modern and fresh look, according to a press release issued on Tuesday.
The new logo now runs horizontally up the right-hand side of the page. Another focus is on the redesign of the daily program. The television overview for a weekday now appears on three pages, with all Swiss channels including radio programs on the double page. If it is a live program, it is marked with a corresponding symbol. The offer is still rounded off with TV tips, either as daily tips or arranged by genre throughout the magazine.

Jung von Matt/Limmat has produced a film for the Migros label TerraSuisse. It is intended to show that TerraSuisse farms deliberately create habitats that enable a variety of species to live in densely populated Switzerland. In addition to biodiversity, the Migros label also guarantees species-appropriate husbandry and good conditions for farm animals.
The film shows animals on a typical TerraSuisse farm. Their behavior is astonishing: the rooster sticks his head into the dung heap to suppress his morning crowing. A goat tells a woodpecker to stop knocking. In the same way, she reprimands a loudly smacking pig. The cows walk around the farmyard in slippers. All for good reason. It's Sunday and the animals want to do something good for their farmer. They let him sleep. Only the church bells rouse him from his rest.

> To the spot

The latest Migros film was also shot by the Vikings. A TerraSuisse farm in Niederwangen, Bern, served as the filming location.

Responsible at the Federation of Migros Cooperatives: Oskar Sager (Head of Marketing), Stefan Erhart (Head of Advertising/Agencies), Sven Guggenheim (Advertising), Sibylle Widmer (Advertising), Ursula Künzle (Media). Responsible at Jung von Matt/Limmat: Alexander Jaggy, Michael Rottmann (CD), Livio Dainese (text), Fernando Perez (AD), Rolf Helfenstein, Fabian Röthlisberger, Michèle Gutmann (consulting), Ilonka Galliard (agency producer), The Vikings (director), Big Fish (film production), Massive Music (music).

The graphic arts company Köpfli & Partner has a new owner. Robert Naville takes over from Dölf Köpfli in the cockpit of the company. Köpfli will remain with the company for at least three more years. Together with partners Urs Buchmann, René Rötheli and Bruno Winkelmann, he continues to sit on the management board, which is now chaired by Robert Naville.
After completing his engineering training, Robert Naville held management positions in various industrial companies and has headed three medium-sized companies over the last ten years. He has broad management experience in the graphic arts and paper converting industries. The company is to remain an independent and owner-managed enterprise, Naville was quoted as saying in a press release on Monday.
The company was founded in 1980 as a small book printing shop in downtown Badem. Eleven years later, it moved to its current location in Neuenhof. Currently, the company employs 37 people.

(Caption: The previous owner Dölf Köpfli.)

Scholtysik Niederberger Kraft (SNK) won the Messe Frankfurt pitch against international brand consulting and creative agencies. The Zurich-based branding agency will be responsible for implementing the new umbrella brand strategy developed in 2008. The company will support Messe Frankfurt with strategic consulting as well as development and implementation activities in the areas of brand management, internal brand implementation, external brand communication and brand controlling.