Ringier Specter, the Swiss exclusive agent of the Corbis photo agency, has expanded its archive by 41,000 images. Three collections have been added: Crush includes emotional images suitable for advertising, among other uses. The Ivy collection contains images of people in various life situations. The Latitude series complements the image archive with animal and snapshots of everyday life. In total, the company now has 71 million images, 300,000 clips and illustrations. The new imagery is available now online available.

New online database and archiving center in Paris
Last week, Corbis opened a center for the conservation of the Sygma photo collection, an archive of documentary photography, in Garnay near Paris. The aim of the facility is to preserve the images of the collection while making them accessible to photographers, researchers, iconographers, historians and creative professionals. Locarchives, a company specializing in the preservation of documents, is responsible for the construction of the facility and designed the archive in collaboration with Henry Wilhelm.
Over 50 million negatives, prints, color slides, and contact sheets are stored in a temperature- and humidity-regulated, airtight environment covering approximately 800 square meters. The most significant images in the collection have also been digitized and placed on the website. The total number of images available online currently exceeds 800,000.

Cédric Gressent, Corbis, shows visitors examples of the images stored in the Sygma archive. (Photo: Yann Dejardin, Corbis)

In total, over 50 million images are stored in 7,000 meters of shelving. (Photo: Yann Dejardin, Corbis)

Jimi Hendrix at the Olympia Music Hall in Paris, January 1968. (Photo: Pierre Fournier, Sygma Corbis)

An American soldier in the Vietnam War, November 1966. (Photo: Henri Bureau, Sygma Corbis)

A young recruit from the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) during the civil war in Liberia, June 1990. (Photo: Patrick Robert, Sygma Corbis).

The Eastern Swiss communications agency Freicom is expanding its management team as of June 1, 2009. Christian Ruppanner takes over the newly created position of Head of Advertising. Born in eastern Switzerland, he completed his training as a federally certified advertising manager after attending design school and later completed a Master of Advanced Studies in Marketing at the University of Basel. The 41-year-old has worked on the client side and in various advertising agencies - the last ten years at Ogilvy & Mather as Senior Consultant and Member of the Executive Board as well as Head of Planning.
Bettina Emmenegger, who has been working as a PR consultant at Freicom since April 2008, will become the new Head of PR and thus a member of the Executive Board. The 38-year-old replaces Marc Reinhardt, who is moving to concert promoter Good News as Head of Communications. Bettina Emmenegger studied business administration at the University of Zurich and completed a Master of Advanced Studies in Corporate Communication Management. After graduating, she worked for a Zurich management consultancy and then spent five years as Head of the Information Office at the HSR University of Applied Sciences in Rapperswil.

As of June 1, 2009, Freicom's management will therefore consist of Reinhard Frei (Managing Director and owner), Ruth Frei (Head of Finance and Accounting, co-owner), Bettina Emmenegger (Head of PR), Reto Küng (Head of the Chur office) and Christian Ruppanner (Head of Advertising). The agency with offices in St.Gallen, Chur, Widnau and Zurich is celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2009.

Caption: Christian Ruppanner and Bettina Emmenegger.

GFS Communications has created a poster campaign for the Tamina Therme, part of the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz. Following the renovation and expansion of the facility, the campaign is intended to draw attention to the reopening on June 12, 2009.

This year, Bedag Informatik is awarding the Eugen for the 18th time. The purpose of the media prize is to promote and support generally comprehensible journalistic works in German, French and Italian on the subject of information technology. The best works by journalists from the Swiss daily and weekly press as well as the Swiss radio and television companies are sought. The deadline for entries is May 29, 2009, and this year's award ceremony will take place in Bern on October 22, 2009. " Details

Publicis Dialog designed and implemented two mailings for Swiss as part of the introduction of the new Airbus A330-300. The mailings are designed to encourage the airline's business and leisure class customers to fly with Swiss more often. Among other things, the redesign of the Airbus was advertised. First Class customers received an original First Class napkin embroidered with their own monogram. Certain target groups are also rewarded with an exclusive gift after completing a certain number of flights.
An incentive mailing in portrait format was developed for business class customers. It consists of a mailing envelope, personal letter with response element and brochure. The mailing recipients receive a flight voucher from Swiss as a reward after completing a certain number of flights during the promotional period.

Responsible at Swiss: Marcel Benz (Marketing Communications), Joe Artho (Direct Marketing & Publishing), Kai Hannwacker, René Hauck (Segment Marketing). Responsible at Publicis Dialog: Monica Meuli, Dolores Baeza (consulting), Oliver Gisi, Eric Fricke (concept/art), Stefan Cramer (text), Philipp Zubler (DTP), Romeo Bucceroni (production).

A First Class napkin, embroidered with the mailing recipient's monogram, is designed to emphasize the personal service and individuality at Swiss.

The business class mailing in portrait format.

It is not easy to lure young voters to the polls. Scholz & Friends European Agenda is trying to do so with funny commercials for the European elections on June 7, 2009. The main message is: "There's always time to vote". One video shows three young men wearing animal masks trying to rob a bank. Nevertheless, they still find time to vote.

In another spot, a screaming blonde storms into the polling station - pursued by an axe murderer who naturally wants to vote himself.

A third commercial shows a cyclist getting off his racing bike and walking to the voting booth, despite risking his lead.

Lesch+Frei Zurich have launched a cross-media campaign for the online health insurance company KPT. This is aimed at the new health platform Vitaclic.ch where Swiss citizens can create their personal health record, including an emergency card. The campaign is the agency's first work for its new client KPT. Lesch+Frei Zurich won the overall account in a pitch.

Responsible at KPT Krankenkassen: Reto Egloff (Member of the Executive Board), Maya Burri (Head of Marketing). Responsible at Lesch+Frei: Thomas Lüber (CD), Matthias Kadlubsky (AD), Susanne Fürst (consulting), Patrick Naef (strategic planning), Barbara Meier and Désirée Guzzo (polygraphy). New Media: Station, Patman and Pasquale Li Voti. Photography and image processing: Pixelpolish, Jonathan Heyer and Stephan Riederer.

The St. Gallen marketing agency Cactus has realized a campaign for Bernina with various below-the-line measures and a website. This is intended to draw attention to the product launch of a new steam ironing system with a ceramic soleplate and infrared heat in Switzerland and Austria.

The day that every advertiser marks thickly on the calendar has a simple name: Advertising Day. It is a day when members of the association meet to exchange ideas, draw resolutions and argue about bans. This year it took place in Chur, which with its 5000 years of settlers is the oldest Swiss city. The day of the General Assemblies - as the event could also be called - was marked by changes and changes.
Advertising on your own behalf
From now on, Stefan Wyss, editorial director at the trade journal itself, will take over the Comm-on-Steuer, while Christian Staub will take over his previous position as co-president. The latter now wants to step back because of the large amount of work that the position entails. At the SAWI AGM, there was also talk of stepping down. Hans-Peter Rohner, as former president, looked back on the 40-year history of the marketing school, which is made up of supporting and individual associations. He spoke of the "great competition" that SAWI has faced since its founding. In spite of its fellow campaigners, however, it has been able to continue to exist up to the present day. The withdrawal from the sponsorship of Swiss Advertising (SW) and the Swiss Marketing Club (SMC) was also discussed. Rohner considered this to be "new but clarifying for the school, because the new distance makes it more independent in the market. The former president was clearly relieved when he announced that the economic environment for SAWI had improved. As a result, it had been able to reduce old burdens in the past year. According to the auditors, the turnaround had even been successful. Speaking of a successful turnaround, Otto Meier was confirmed as Hanspeter Rohner's successor, as had been assumed. Four SAWI students then beat the advertising drum for the school. On stage, they extolled its qualities and advantages. Among them was a certain Dwayne Toyloy, who, as it turned out, is the father of the reigning Miss Switzerland. What a coincidence.
In May everything is new
Swiss Advertising also made a change at its general meeting. Carlo Schmid-Sutter will step down at the next general meeting in 2010. His successor, Council of States member Filippo Lombardi, will take over the chairmanship of the association. Those present thanked both with relieved smiles and abundant applause. From now on, advertising figurehead Frank Bodin will grace the SW Board with his accession, and will do so for the next three years. So will Christian Kauter, who is in charge of APG's fortunes. The SW elected him as another member of the board. Unfortunately, he was unable to attend the meeting in person. I wonder if it was so late at the APG Posternight, which took place the night before. Urs Schnider, the former editor-in-chief of Media Trend Journal, is moving to SW to take over Piero Schäfer's post as head of communications. We wish him good luck and success.
Media fight for the trust of readers and viewers
And the best for the end: Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf took the stage as a political heavyweight - even if her stature seems rather dainty - and addressed clear words to those present: Several studies showed that the population did not quite trust the media. As a politician, she was anything but pleased about this fact. The consumer is extremely important, she said, and the media, which form the fourth estate, have a responsibility to the state. Whether the Federal Councillor's clear message has had any effect will probably be seen next year at the latest. That is, when Advertising Day 2010 takes place.
(Text: Adriana Zilic, Photos: Elisabeth Real)

Reto Rüedi, most loyal Comm-on member, Alessandra Finazzi, board member Comm-on, and Rolf Ruch of Raverta Marketing (from left).

Michèle Leibacher (l.), a Comm-on board member for four years, and Kim Osinga, also a board member.

Frank Bodin (l.), new SW board member, with Peter Leutenegger, outgoing board member.

Urs Schnider (l.), newly responsible for SW communications, with former SAWI president, Hans-Peter Rohner.

Councillor Martin Schmid, Federal Councillor Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, and Carlo Schmid, SW President (from left).

René Hürrlimann (l.), SAWI Honorary President, with Otto Meier, new SAWI President.

The German sports television channel DSF is accusing the new Swiss sports television channel SSF of surreptitious advertising. According to the Sonntag newspaper, DSF lawyer Georg Gremmelsbacher filed a complaint with the Federal Office of Communications on Friday. He had previously reported Cablecom for removing DSF from its program. The background to this is the decision by the Federal Office of Communications that DSF must make way for Swiss sports television on the analog network from July.

Advertising revenues in the Swiss press are falling ever more sharply: In April, the Publicitas Index, which measures advertising expenditure in the daily press, fell by 2.4 points to 82.3 points, according to SDA. This is the lowest value since measurements began in 1992, although the early Easter holidays also contributed to this low, as Publicitas announced on Friday evening. In the previous year, the press had published two more issues.
The decline in April affected all advertising categories with the exception of supplements, which only did not lose volume thanks to advertising by department stores. Large advertisers in particular placed fewer commercial advertisements, such as car importers. The financial sector in particular dispensed with occasional advertisements, and there were also fewer political advertisements.
The job advertisements sub-index fell by 9.2 points to 154.2 positions, while the real estate advertisements sub-index lost 1.8 points to 63.3 points.

The general meeting of the Swiss copywriters' association Script also took place on Advertising Day. The members present elected Roger Hausmann as the successor to Stephanie Hugentobler, who successfully led the association for six years and will continue to be involved with Script. Stephanie Hugentobler has been living and working on Djerba since the beginning of 2008. As she is no longer able to represent her fellow copywriters locally, she has stepped down as President, as detailed in a press release. However, she will continue to be involved in Script as a board member. Roger Hausmann is a registered copywriter, managing director of the writing workshop in Winterthur and won the Swiss Text Award in 2008.