The microblogging service Twitter will not be swallowed up by anyone for the time being. As co-founder Biz Stone emphasized on US television, his company wants to remain independent.
Recently, wild rumors had been circulating about the price and takeover bids from certain computer giants. Among others, it was reported that Apple, Google and Microsoft had signaled great interest. There were repeated reports of offers amounting to 700 million dollars. However, Stone emphasized on the US television show The View that the company wanted to remain independent and concentrate on developing new features.

Tine Edel

"I see spaces and places as stages on which people can be staged"

Ms. Edel, you were nominated for the photography prize in the advertising photography category - did that surprise you? Yes, it is after all a very prestigious prize and you don't get your hopes up at first. Before the nomination, I also went to the event where all 460 works were exhibited; most of the photographs were very strong, especially the editorial ones. You have submitted photographs for a company calendar. Do you mostly work in the field of advertising photography? I mainly work as a theater photographer in St. Gallen. Apart from that, I have also photographed for a magazine, or I receive

occasional commissions, such as those for the company calendar. Incidentally, in this work I was very free to take the photos as I imagined them. The client gave me carte blanche. The creative freedom contributed a lot to the result.
Do you pursue a specific theme in your photography?
The portrait is at the center of my interest. I also see spaces and places as stages on which people can be staged, which has a lot to do with my work in the theater. Photographing performers on stage trains the eye in a very specific way. If I didn't work in the theater, the work I deliver wouldn't be what it is.
So far I've only seen the photo with the caveman in front of the gas station. It looks strangely posed, the elements in the picture just don't seem to fit together.
The caveman is not perfectly disguised, the disguise is visible. Despite the furs and hair, you still get the impression that this is a completely normal person from the 21st century. The picture plays with this. That is why the light has been left natural, it is not fairytale-like, which could have brought the different elements together into a harmonious whole. The picture admits that it is an illusion.
What does this work mean to you?
I made a point with these photographs, somehow everything is right, which is why I submitted them. But without the freedom that my client gave me, this would not have been possible.
What do you hope to gain from the nomination - apart from the prize in the advertising photography category?
It's a social event, you'll be able to see and talk to other photographers. It will certainly be a nice meeting place.
Interview: elk

Project title: In the scrapyard
Category: Advertising photography
Client: Calendar for the company Solenthaler Recycling AG
Agency: Mainland St. Gallen
" All submitted photographs

Jonathan Heyer

"I prefer to work on large sets and with large structures"

Jonathan, were you surprised to be nominated for the Swiss Photography Prize? Difficult question... I was surprised that I was nominated with this work. I submitted a total of three works, and to be honest, Cleandent's work was my favorite. It had already won bronze at the ADC in the photography category. So I was a little, well, as I said, surprised. What work do you enjoy the most? What I mainly do: commercial photography. I've had a studio for five years and that's what I enjoy the most. I put a lot of heart and soul into my business. In addition to classic advertising photography, I also take photos for NZZ am Sonntag and Z magazine, mostly in the fashion or style sector.

Are you pursuing other projects alongside your work, are you thinking about certain topics?
I recently shot two video clips, one for Marc Sway and one for Richie, formerly Plüsch. But those are exceptions. I actually do exactly what I want with my studio. I prefer to work on large sets and with large structures, because the possibilities for staging are widest there.
In the nominated work, you took three pictures for the Migros label Terra Suisse. When I saw them for the first time, I wondered what was photographed and what was computer-generated.
The pictures with the hare, the frog and the weasel consist of two shots, a background photo and a studio shot. The background photo shows an unaltered landscape as it presents itself to the eye. In the studio, on the other hand, the animals and other elements of the foreground were photographed. The two layers were then brought together, naturally on the computer.
All three, rabbit, frog and weasel, are depicted in rather unnatural poses - the rabbit and the weasel are visibly relaxed, crossing their front legs behind their heads...
Yes, it was quite a job to get that into the box. The rabbit and the weasel are stuffed specimens, the frog was modeled. Getting them into the desired position, which also looks believable, was a huge job. Not least because we had the rather unusual problem that it was not easy to find taxidermists who wanted to show the animals in an unnatural pose...
All in all, a considerable effort was made.
Yes, Migros had very high standards for the images: they had to show surreal worlds and at the same time very beautiful nature. Furthermore, no monocultures were to be depicted, i.e. pure wheat or vegetable fields, but rather diversified agriculture in order to do justice to the Terra Suisse label, which stands for products from diversified, nature-friendly agriculture. Avoiding monocultures was very important. In order to emphasize diversified agriculture more strongly, animals and plants that are protected species were also selected.
What do you hope to gain from the nomination - apart from the prize in the advertising photography category?
It's nice to see my name mentioned again, which is of course also a kind of advertising for me. And it's also nice to see the photos so big again.
Interview: elk

Project title: Rabbit, frog and weasel completely relaxed
Category: Advertising photography
Client: Poster and advertising campaign for Terra Suisse / Migros
Agency: Exxtra Communication
" All submitted photographs

Maurice K. Green

"I live from commercial photography, I need my own projects"

Ms. Grünig, were you surprised to be nominated for the Swiss Photography Prize? Yes, very much. I've already entered work three or four times, that's part of it for me as a photographer, but so far none of them have been nominated. Of course, it depends a lot on the people on the jury, who either like the pictures or not. And a lot of work is entered every year. I was at the preview day and the selection was huge. That's why I was so pleased. This time you have entered a self-promotion for your studio community - in which area do you usually work? I've been self-employed for 16 years now and do a lot of reportage work, including

For example, I write about regions and their culinary specialties. I often work together with the magazines Salz und Pfeffer or Buon Gusto. From time to time I also photograph architecture and interior design. I work wherever there is something to do with people and life.
Do you also pursue your own projects in addition to your commissioned work?
Yes, and that is very important to me. I live from commercial photography, I need my own projects. In other words: I earn my living from my commissioned work - I have two children - and my private work always provides important impetus for commissioned work. It is very important to me to have a place where I can live out my own ideas without external demands. However, my private projects, which I then also exhibit, usually take a long time.
What themes do you explore in your own work?
For example, for a year I accompanied the nuns in the Müstair convent, who otherwise do not allow outsiders access. In return, I repeatedly visited the convent for a week or a few days and photographed how these old women go about their daily lives together. There was something very archaic about it. Pro Helvetia also gave me the opportunity to work in Cairo for six months. For the first three months I photographed for myself, then I accompanied students from a photography class with whom I did a project about their families. Teaching and working in the Arab world had a huge impact on me. That was ten years ago now, and I'm thinking about repeating the same work. But that will take time.
You have entered a self-promotion for your studio community. How did this come about?
The four of us have shared a studio for 15 years, but have never presented it to the outside world. From this we developed the idea of the creatures, which were all to be made up of materials lying around - nails, film tapes, CDs, power cables and so on. We then printed postcards with the photographs of the creatures.
The description of your work says that the photographs were taken in the moment, without preparation. They look almost a little too good for that.
Yes, that is perhaps a little misleading. Of course, the location and lighting design were deliberately chosen, although I only used daylight and a lamp. Nevertheless, the aim was to show the creatures as if they had suddenly appeared in the office. The photos should appear everyday, almost random.
What do you hope to gain from this nomination - apart from the prize in the advertising photography category?
The nomination alone is a huge honor for me. It is also a confirmation of my many years of work, which has always been accompanied by uncertainty. What do I hope for? I'll be surprised. The nomination is the most important thing.
Interview: elk

Project title: Creatures
Category: Advertising photography
Client: Postcard series, self-promotion / Ateliergemeinschaft Ottostr. 17, Z
" All submitted photographs

Spring is the time for spades and shovels: planting and sowing is the order of the day. The Jung von Matt/Limmat agency has developed a radio campaign for Obi in which the DIY store is positioned as the green thumb's best friend.
The 7-part commercial series runs under the name "The world in 7 days!". In it, Obi calls for a kind of private Genesis and strictly adheres to the great model of the divine creation of the world. In terms of content, all topics from the first day, with the creation of light and shadow, to the seventh day, on which we should rest, are celebrated. But the agency has also tried to take creation into account formally: there are special spots for every day of the week from Monday to Sunday.
The commercials have recently been broadcast on various Swiss private radio stations.
Responsible at Obi Switzerland: Margrit Østergaard (Head of Marketing), Fabienne Auer (Marketing Assistant). Responsible at Jung von Matt/Limmat: Michael Rottmann, Alexander Jaggy (Creative Direction), Thomas Ammann (Text), Dominic Daeppen, Ariane Sonderegger (Consulting), Erasmo Palomba (Art Buying). Recording: Jingle Jungle.
Spot 1
Spot 2
Spot 3
Spot 4
Spot 5
Spot 6
Spot 7

The agency Scholz & Friends Berlin has developed a campaign for the organization Reporters Without Borders under the motto "Without press freedom, victims remain invisible", which focuses on the consequences of a lack of independent reporting. At the heart of the campaign is a 30-second TV spot that can be seen on several TV stations across Germany and online.
> To the spot
To mark International Press Freedom Day on May 3, 2009, Scholz & Friends Berlin also designed an installation in front of the Brandenburg Gate: the shredded clothing of abused people was placed in a wire cage. The victims themselves remained invisible.

Installation in front of the Brandenburg Gate.

Following Spain's lead, France now wants to do the same: the Spanish government is planning to ban advertising on the state broadcaster TVE. This would mean that the broadcaster would lose around half of its revenue.
As the Austrian newspaper Standard reports, the losses are to be offset by payments from telecoms groups, private broadcasters and a levy for the use of radio and television frequencies. Furthermore, TVE will not be allowed to spend more than ten percent of its budget on sports rights in future.
Last year, the broadcaster generated around half of its substantial profit of 1.2 billion euros from advertising.

At the general meeting of the Association of Leading Advertising and Communication Agencies in Switzerland, which took place this year at the Park-Villa Rieter in Zurich, BSW President Frank Bodin appealed to agencies and advertising clients and called on them to focus on treating each other fairly and respectfully in these difficult economic times. According to the press release, Bodin urged his members and industry colleagues to follow the Code of Ethics all the more now and to demonstrate an attitude of fairness, respect and solidarity within the industry, towards the public and towards advertising clients. At the same time, however, he also appealed to clients to reward high professional quality fairly despite economic pressure. It should not be the case that agencies are only judged on price and not on ideas and quality of work, said Bodin.
No creation for small pitches
For pitches with a budget of less than CHF 300,000, the leading agencies in Switzerland want to offer only an agency presentation with a project-related discussion in future and dispense with creative proposals. This is intended to avoid nonsensical costs for both agencies and clients - agency expenses for pitches with creative proposals range between CHF 50,000 and CHF 120,000 and a pitch absorbs enormous internal time and personnel resources for clients.
Transparent fee models for media agencies
Media agencies operate in a difficult business environment between the high demands of clients on the one hand and their inadequate remuneration on the other, as well as falling media prices and increasingly fierce competition from media providers. In order to guarantee clear regulations and fair framework conditions in this environment, the BSW is promoting the "Code of Conduct for the Media Business", a policy paper signed jointly by advertising clients, publishers, marketers and media agencies in the bsw leading swiss agencies. The association also wants to eliminate legal uncertainty regarding remuneration models and develop proposals for a pricing structure for the media in a commission.
Advertising bans and advertising ethics
As part of the "Forum Freie Kommunikation", which will be presented to the interested public in early summer, the BSW wants to engage in dialog between the parties involved and emphasize the social responsibility of agencies in the context of advertising freedom. Sustainability, the environment, society, charity, changing values, etc. are issues that agencies deal with on a daily basis. A "Corporate Responsibility Guide" is currently being compiled, which will also be available to the public.
Training and further education even in difficult economic times
Even though many agencies are forced to make savings in this area, the BSW considers the promotion of know-how in the industry to be the key to quality and success. The association's own further training program has been adapted to the economic reality: Cooperation, shorter seminars and shorter distances should enable all members to attend the seminars.
Tested agency quality as investment security for clients
From fall 2009, all members will undergo a quality check every two years. The certification will be carried out internally by a neutral body. The aim is to create a quality label and seal of approval as investment security for clients. The agencies are thus committed to updating and promoting quality. With the new system, agencies wishing to join the association will also be put through their paces even more thoroughly.

Here we go again: shortly after the father disposed of the twenty-volume Brockhaus with the words "there are just as good reference works on the Internet today!", Wikipedia is once again exposed as being very susceptible to sabotage. An Irish student has admitted to having attributed fictitious quotes to the recently deceased composer Maurice Jarre on Wikipedia. Several major newspapers used the false quotes for their obituaries. In an article for the Irish Times on Thursday, 22-year-old sociology and economics student Shane Fitzgerald explained that he had wanted to find out how much journalists relied on the internet for a student research project. He had assumed that at best internet forums or smaller newspapers would fall for his manipulations. But he was wrong: quality newspapers in England, India, America and Australia fell for it. In the Wikipedia entry, the student had put the following words in Jarre's mouth: "When I die, there will be a last waltz playing in my head that only I can hear."

A newspaper advertisement must captivate the reader in less than two seconds, otherwise it will be skimmed over - which advertisers and companies naturally want to prevent. Young creatives are therefore learning how to captivate people in fractions of a second: Eye-catchers are in demand. Year after year, young European talents can prove what they are capable of at the best YET competition. Who has mastered the game of bondage and thus deserves the title of "best Young European Team 2009" is currently being determined in London. On Thursday at 3 p.m. local time, the participating teams received the briefing, and the three winners of the creative competition will be announced on Friday at around 6 p.m. local time. On Werbewoche Online you can read immediately afterwards who has made it.
Fundraising for education
After a welcome address by Robert Ray, Marketing Director of the London Newspaper Society, the competition began, as it does every year, with a detailed briefing on the topic on which the young talents were to design an advertisement. The theme was presented by Stef Jones, the chairman of the jury. This year, the participants have to develop an advertisement for World Literacy Day, which is being organized by Room to Read on 8 September 2009. Room to Read is an organization dedicated to giving children access to education and literature. The advertisement is intended to convey why education is important, especially for children, and to mobilize people to donate to the organization and get them interested in the literature day. What's special about this is that the people addressed by the advertisement can read - the people in question cannot.
The participants have 24 hours to design their advertisement. Because in advertising, it's not just good ideas that count, but also the speed with which you can put them on paper. The fact that the candidates are only allowed to use one sheet of paper and a few pens for their creations is a particular challenge. After all, drawing and manual skills are no longer necessarily part of every advertiser's toolkit. There is an easier way: after a few clicks, the computer spits out the motif just as you want it.
Manual and mental work required
The best YET participants have a harder time. They first have to develop a viable concept in their heads, which they then have to sketch by hand. Those who manage to do this really deserve a prize: although the creation of the best YET winning team will not be professionally implemented and launched as in the "Only an ad can do that" competition, it will be published throughout Europe and the names of the winners will spread like wildfire in all agencies in the ten participating countries. And the icing on the cake: The winning team gets to travel to Cannes for four days, to the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival from June 21-24. The first three winning teams will also receive a certificate for their successful participation in the competition.
Create around the bet
A total of 19 teams from ten countries are competing in London today and tomorrow to show just how powerful advertisements can be. Tomorrow, Friday, May 8, the young creatives will have to present their concept and design in English to the best YET jury and media representatives. They have two minutes to do so. Competing for first, second and third place at best YET 2009:
Belgium
Team 1: Ross McCurrach & Arnaud Bailly, Saatchi
Team 2: Pieter Claeys & Jef Boes, Germaine
Germany
Team 1: Marco Gabriel & Nicolas Ritter, Hochschule für Gestaltung HfG, Offenbach am Main
England
Team 1: Joe Talboys & Alex Allen
Team 2: Enrique Reija & Borja Alvarez
France
Team 1: Paul Kreitman & Alexis Benoit, CLM/BBDO, Paris
Team 2: Charles Lefort & Viken Guzel, BETC Euro RSCG, Paris
Croatia
Team 1: Drazen Novak & Borna Obranovic
Team 2: Klara Simmunovic & Lena Telenta
Netherlands
Team 1: Reinier Gorissen & Marlon Shoudesh from Franquemont
Team 2: Job Damien Bakker & Paul van Raak
Norway
Team 1: Finn Knudsen and Eirik Sørensen, DIST Norway
Team 2: Torkel Bjørnstad Sveen and Eirik Stensrud, Kitchen
Austria
Team 1: Stefan Grigic & Karl Royer, Euro RSCG Vienna
Team 2: Antonia Heydon?Linden & Thomas Schoffman, Euro RSCG Vienna
Sweden
Team 1: Philip Frendberg & Tobias Grönberg
Team 2: Mattis Bernstone & Mattias Johansson
Switzerland
Team 1: Bettina Klossner & Laurie Morard
Team 2: Oliver Schaich & Silvio Seiler
Each of the participating teams was selected by a creative jury in its country of origin as part of a separate competition and sent to London. The Swiss participants are the winners of this year's "Only an advertisement can do that" competition. They will face a top-class international jury with their work:
- Stef Jones, England, Creative Director of Big Al's Creative Emporium, Chairman of the Jury
- Boris Belak, Croatia, Creative Director of BBDO Zagreb
- Frank Marinus, Belgium, Creative Director of TBWA
- Alexander Rudan, Austria, Creative Director of Oglivy & Mather
- Andreas Prokesch, Switzerland, former president of the Art Directors Club, copywriter and text trainer
- Johan Holmström, Sweden, Creative Director of DDB Stockholm
- John Horjus, Netherlands, Creative Director of Concept & Everything
- Gabriel Gaultier, France, Creative Director of Leg
- Tim Stübane, Germany, Creative Director of DDB
- Robert Radoli, Norway, Creative Director of DINAMO
The jury members may advise the teams during their work and give them tips on implementation. However, collaborating with or influencing the creative ideas is prohibited. Swiss juror Andreas Prokesch gave the two Swiss teams some valuable words of advice before the theme briefing: "Let's not take part in the competition as competitors, but as friends. I'm not your boss, I'm your coach - and I'm always available for you, even at three o'clock in the morning." The jury and media representatives are now eagerly awaiting what the young creatives will present to them tomorrow.
Anne-Friederike Wilhelm

At this year's general meeting, BSW President Frank Bodin presented two former BSW presidents and the outgoing SW president with the BSW leading swiss agencies gold badge of honor for their services to the reputation of advertising.
Peter Leutenegger has been a member of the BSW Board since 2001, chaired it in 2004 and 2005, was Chairman of the Admission and Control Commission, the Commission for Politics and Location Promotion and will chair the newly established Quality Control Commission. He was also a BSW representative on the board of Schweizer Werbung SW.
Dominique von Matt has been a member of the BSW Board of Directors since 2002, chaired the association in 2003, was a member of the Admissions and Control Commission from 1998 to 2005 (chair 2001/02/04/05), has chaired the Commission for Agency Services since 2006 and is the new chair of the Commission for Policy and Location Promotion.
Carlo Schmid-Sutter has chaired Schweizer Werbung SW since 1998 and has been one of the most committed representatives of the advertising industry at both association and top political level during this time. He is a staunch advocate of the free market economy and freedom of advertising.

The St. Gallen-based company Aurum Communication, publisher of Kinki Magazine among others, is expanding its marketing team with Cathrin Michael.
Cathrin Michael studied media and communication sciences and journalism in Fribourg and Madrid. After graduating, she worked for two years at the Zurich Film Festival in marketing and sponsorship. She was also co-organizer of the Spanish short film festival FEC Cambrils-Reus near Barcelona.