The race for the Swiss Star Packaging Award 2009 is open. Designers, marketing experts and schools have until August 6, 2009 to submit innovative Swiss packaging solutions.
The jury's selection process is a two-stage process. In the first round, nominees in various categories are selected from all the entries and the final Swiss Star winners are chosen in a second round. The veil will not be lifted until the awards ceremony at Lenzburg Castle on October 22, 2009.
Further information and registration documents are now available here available.

Until May 10, 2009, students can register on the NZZ website with a Online game test their strengths in their studies. Eliminating opposing fellow students through the numerus clausus, avoiding professors who only talk to students in a time-consuming manner, not getting caught under the scrubbing brush of the cleaning staff, running through the library - and collecting as many ECTS points as possible is the order of the day.
The NZZ's sarcasm is appropriate in the current situation, according to a communiqué from the Association of Swiss Student Bodies (VSS). Studying without thinking, learning without research and university education as a narrow-gauge highway to the fastest possible Bachelor's degree is becoming more and more of a trend in a time of overcrowded universities, also for financial reasons. The NZZ had summed up current trends with its game. According to the association, they hope that those responsible in the university landscape will not only play this game during their lunch break, but also do something to ensure that chasing ECTS points does not become a reality for students.

Lukas Stuber, also co-founder and co-owner, and Beat Muttenzer, who is now also a partner in the agency, will remain on the management board.

Ebay is acquiring the online retailer Gmarket for 1.2 billion dollars, making it the market leader in South Korea. According to the online auction house, it has already secured 67 percent of its Korean competitor. According to Reuters, Ebay announced on Thursday that this included the stakes held by major shareholders Yahoo and Interpark, which together held 39 percent of Gmarket. The US company is offering the remaining shareholders 24 dollars per share, which represents a premium of 20 percent on the recent closing price of Gmarket shares.
South Korea is the world's sixth largest online trading market and more than ten million users are registered with Gmarket, a retailer specializing in fashion. Ebay wants to merge Gmarket with its South Korean subsidiary Internet Auction, whose strengths lie in trading electrical and sporting goods. The competition authorities have approved the takeover subject to conditions.

The young full-service agency Samcom from Eastern Switzerland has a new website that is all about the weather. The website reacts to different weather situations just as quickly as the agency itself and makes astonishingly precise forecasts, according to a press release. After all, this is modern communication: knowing today what will happen tomorrow.

The media agency Mediaxis-MPG has appointed Urs Keiser as its new CEO. He will be in charge of Mediaxis-MPG and B6 Brand Emotion in Zurich-Schlieren from May 1, 2009, according to a press release. Owner Peter Hofstetter will be responsible for the further development of the company. Due to the increasing complexity of the media landscape and the strong growth of Mediaxis-MPG, his future focus will also be on maintaining relationships with media partners, the press release continues.
After completing his studies in St. Gallen, Urs Keiser worked as a key account and media manager for Procter & Gamble Switzerland, where he managed the advertising budget. As Head of Marketing at Feldschlösschen Getränke, he was responsible for around a dozen beer and soft drink brands. During the last six years at UBS, Keiser was in charge of the Key Club customer loyalty program and the regional marketing units in Switzerland. For two years, he also served on the board of the Swiss Advertising Client Association (SWA), where he headed the print specialist group.

Saatchi & Saatchi and Publicis Modem have won a major new client: Hewlett Packard has opted for the two agencies belonging to the Publicis Group in an agency evaluation, according to a press release issued on Thursday. Saatchi & Saatchi will be the lead agency for all brand communications for PSG, HP's division for PCs and mobile devices, for the Europe, Africa and Middle East regions. Publicis Modem will be responsible for digital communications in the future.
The pitch was led by Richard Pinder, COO Publicis Worldwide and Pedro Simko, Chairman of Saatchi & Saatchi in Switzerland and Emea Chief Marketing Officer.

In collaboration with the agency Frei, Partner, Maxomedia has created a platform for the economic promotion of the canton of Schaffhausen. The aim of Einkleinesparadies.ch is to present Schaffhausen as an attractive region in which to live and work.
The platform and the entire image campaign are intended to draw the attention of families from the greater Zurich area in particular to the advantages of Schaffhausen.
Visitors to Einkleinesparadies.ch find themselves in a 3D living room, which symbolically represents arguments in favor of moving to Schaffhausen: For example, the affordable housing, the quality of life in manageable conditions or the child-friendly environment. If you move the mouse over the symbols - such as the building plan on the coffee table or the picture on the wall - further information on the topic appears.

The Agentura da Novitads Rumantscha (ANR) is taking over two employees of the Romansh daily newspaper La Quotidiana, which is published by the Südostschweiz media group. The ANR Board of Directors approved an agreement to this effect on Thursday.
The takeover will take effect on May 1. In addition, a third member of the newspaper's staff will be taken on part-time, as ANR announced. The agency now has 815 full-time equivalents. The editors work at eight locations in Graubünden as well as in Uznach SG and Bern.
ANR also supports the weekly Pagina da Surmeir with CHF 100,000 per year. Its articles are available to all ANR customers. The ANR was founded in 1996 to support the Rhaeto-Romanic media and to preserve and promote the language. It is financed by cantonal and federal contributions.
In addition to La Quotidiana and Pagina da Surmeir, customers include Posta Ladina, the Engadin weekly newspaper and the Romansh electronic media. The 2008 annual accounts closed with a surplus of CHF 18,000 on expenditure of around CHF 1.05 million.

The internet company Google has extended its lead in search queries in the USA. According to SDA, the market research company Comscore reported on Wednesday that Google's market share in March amounted to 63.7 percent of 14.3 billion search queries in the USA. Rival Yahoo, on the other hand, lost ground slightly, reaching 20.5 percent compared to 20.6 percent in February. Microsoft achieved a 0.1 percent higher share of 8.3 percent.
Yahoo and Google wanted to enter into an advertising alliance in 2008, but this failed due to resistance from the antitrust authorities. Former Yahoo boss Jerry Yang also rejected a takeover offer from Microsoft for almost 50 billion dollars. According to reports, Yahoo wants to lay off hundreds of employees again. The plan could be announced as early as next Tuesday when the quarterly figures are presented, according to a person familiar with the matter.

In the current Coop TV commercial, Ivo Adam gets his hopes up with his attractive neighbor. Viewers can now watch online on a Microsite
decide how the spot should continue. The agency Namics, which belongs to Publigroupe, developed the online strategy and implemented the microsite and the various advertising measures. A Facebook fan page is also intended to help spread the campaign and encourage users to vote.
The commercial with the chosen ending can be seen on the Internet from May 11.

The TBWA/Zurich agency has brought Manuela Zwald on board as Client Unit Director. Since April 1, 2009, she has been responsible for clients such as Mars, SBB, Sony Playstation, Wander and various pharmaceutical clients and leads a team of 18 employees. According to the press release, the qualified marketing communications manager has over 16 years of communications experience on both the client and agency side. Before joining TBWA/Zurich, Zwald worked for five years at UBS Investment Bank Switzerland as Head Product Promotion and member of the management team. In this role, she was instrumental in setting up the product advertising department. Prior to that, she worked at JWT+H+F as Unit Head and Managing Director for various clients in the consumer goods and pharmaceutical industries.