Publicis Dialog has created a campaign for direct insurer Zurich Connect to motivate drivers to take out their insurance by phone or online. According to the agency, the focus is on the promise of getting the same protection and security for less money. The aim of the print and online presence is to direct as many interested parties as possible to the landing page and persuade them to request a quote.
The communication mix includes various online advertising media, advertorials, radio spots, a full-page jacket advertisement in Blick am Abend, inserts, a direct mailing in the form of a tab mailing and a self-mailer aimed at reactivating former interested parties.
Responsible at Zurich Connect: Claudia Giorgetti (Head of Marketing Direct), Carola Eckert (Marketing Direct). Responsible at Publicis Dialog: Folker Wrage (CD), Suzanne Friedli (AD), Georg Wirth (graphics), Oliver Gisi, Jakob Schmid (concept/text), Gabriele Knus, René Stettler (consulting), Adrian Häni, Jens Behmann, Philipp Zubler (DTP), Fabio Clerici (image editing), Romeo Bucceroni (production). Responsible at Zed Digital: Patrick Theus, Adrian Zangger (consulting), Pierre Morgadès, Pascal Sonder (programming). Responsible at Optimedia: Christiane Jestädt, Daniel Busenhart.

The Lowe agency, part of the Draftfcb/Lowe Group, realized a print campaign for its client BMW Switzerland. An eye-like corona headlight is at the center of the print subject. The campaign promotes BMW's 4.9 % leasing offer.
Responsible at BMW (Switzerland): Roger Calisi (Head of Marketing Communication). Responsible at Lowe: Daniel Comte (ECD), Roland Jäggi (AD), Boris Beuckmann (text), Rolf Jeger, Alessandra Ira, Gina Armelino (consulting).

The US trade magazine for marketing and media, Advertising Age (AdAge), has named Mindshare Global Media Agency of the Year 2008. The award for the Zurich-based agency comes after a successful and significant year for Mindshare internationally, as the agency writes in a press release. The agency, which is part of the WPP network, restructured its business activities in 2008, transferring 12 agency divisions into 4 clear business areas and anchoring this in a new visual identity.

Although Swisscom generated more revenue last year, it made less profit. Special factors such as the withdrawal from leasing contracts for fixed and mobile network equipment and the sale of subsidiaries had an impact on the result. Revenue increased by 10 percent to CHF 12.2 billion, Swisscom announced on Wednesday. In contrast, net profit fell by 15.5 percent to 1.751 billion Swiss francs.
The CHF 1.1 billion increase in turnover was mainly due to the acquisition of the Italian broadband provider Fastweb. Adjusted for Fastweb and company disposals, the revenue of Switzerland's largest telecommunications group would only have increased by 0.4 percent on a comparable basis. Swisscom's operating profit before depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) increased by 6.4% to CHF 4.789 billion. Fastweb also contributed CHF 366 million to this improvement. On a comparable basis, EBITDA would have climbed by 0.8 percent.
Special factors depress earnings
The 15.5 percent decline in net profit is due to a number of special factors. For example, Swisscom sold its subsidiary Antenna Hungaria in the previous year, which generated a one-off profit of CHF 162 million. On the other hand, the withdrawal from leasing contracts for fixed network and mobile telephony equipment in the first half of 2008 depressed the result by CHF 126 million. Adjusted for the special factors, net profit was in line with the previous year, writes Swisscom.
Fastweb's contribution to Swisscom's net profit is marginal. The Italian broadband provider achieved a small profit of EUR 6.1 million on revenue growth from EUR 1.43 billion to EUR 1.71 billion. This means that Fastweb was in the black for the first time in a financial year in 2008: In the previous year, Fastweb had suffered a loss of 124.7 million euros. However, the net profit is due to the settlement of the dispute with Telecom Italia, which brought the Swisscom subsidiary 30 million euros.
Swisscom does not expect the economic crisis to cause a slump in the current year. It is assumed that this will only have a limited impact on customer demand for telecommunications services.

The merger of Tamedia and Edipresse will lead to major changes in Publigroupe's business model. This was stated by CEO Hanspeter Rohner in an interview with the daily newspaper Le Temps on Wednesday. The advertising marketer intends to sell its 20 percent stake in Edipresse.
According to SDA, Rohner explained that this holding no longer had any strategic value. "However, we are not under pressure and can still hold the shares for some time," he continued. According to Rohner, the effects of the current economic crisis are more decisive for the future of Publigroupe. Edipresse and Tamedia are still expected to contribute CHF 300 million to Publigroupe's turnover in the current year. Next year, when Edipresse markets the ads and advertisements itself again, the figure will be CHF 200 million. According to Rohner, Publigroupe is in talks with other newspaper publishers. The Publigroupe subsidiary Publicitas is currently negotiating contracts with the St. Galler Tagblatt and the Neue Luzerner Zeitung. Both are owned by the Neue Zürcher Zeitung.
The advertising market is currently in decline. Advertising revenues are falling by 20 to 30 percent per month. If this trend continues until 2010, the media will no longer be able to survive in their current structures, explained the Publigroupe boss. However, not all newspapers are equally affected by the crisis. Local newspapers held up better and recorded declining revenues of "only" 3 to 5 percent. In contrast, regional and national newspapers suffered much more.

SFLB has created a concept to promote the launch of Sunrise's flat rates for mobile subscriptions. The Zurich agency created a TV film, various advertisements and two radio spots for Sunrise's new offer, a mobile subscription with a flat rate of CHF 10 per month. These are intended to show that billing according to usage would be more complicated than a monthly flat rate. "Fixed prices are simpler" is the claim for the new flat rates.
Responsible at Sunrise: Priska Heger (Director Marketing Communication), Peter Schilde (Marketing Communication Manager). Responsible at Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett: Peter Brönnimann, Simon Staub, Dana Wirz, Martin Spillmann (Creation), Rebecca Krausse, Dominik Mätzener (Consulting), Sebahat Derdiyok (Agency Producer). Production: Rudi Haller (Solid & Hallerfilm), Rainer Binz (Director).
To the radio spot 1
To the radio spot 2

"Ariel in the main wash" was her catchphrase. She wore dungarees, a white peaked cap and a red and white checked shirt. Johanna König achieved fame as the advertising character Klementine in the detergent commercials. The cult figure of the German advertising landscape recommended the detergent Ariel from the company Proctor & Gamble on television from 1968 to 1984. Her appearance won her many fans and, with advertising slogans such as "not just clean, but pore-deep clean", the powder was at times the best-selling detergent in Germany, according to wuv.de. After a brief comeback in the 1990s, she was given a lifetime contract by the company, but disappeared from the screen for good shortly afterwards. After training as an actress in Berlin, the Leipzig-born actress first appeared in operettas, musicals and revues. She later also appeared in Heimatfilme and the ARD early evening series Drei Damen von Grill and Praxis Bülowbogen.
Johanna König died on March 3 at the age of 87. But Klementine is far from forgotten. Around 5,700 viewers have already clicked on the Ariel commercial with Klementine as the main actress on Myvideo.de.
Ariel commercial

Zurich agency By Heart is putting star model David Gandy on the billboards for Paul Kehl. The F200 posters are intended to support the fashion brand's confidently masculine image, according to a press release. They will be placed wherever Paul Kehl has its own stores, i.e. in St. Gallen, Basel and Lucerne.
Responsible at PKZ Burger Kehl & Co: Ph. Olivier Burger (owner), Simone Schäfer (communications manager). Responsible at By Heart: Hans Siegwart (CD), Markus Bircher (Strategy, Text), Hans Siegwart (AD), Peter Krebs (Client Service Direction), Maya Baumgartner (Consulting), Dominik Mory (Production Management), Natascha Breu (Realization). Photo: Image: Rankin. Photo catwalk and layette: Philipp Mueller. Litho: RTK, Druck A. Schöb.

Last year, the DRS ombudsman Achille Casanova received 14% more complaints about radio and television broadcasts. At the same time, however, he also rejected significantly more complaints than in previous years. Last year, he received a total of 169 complaints, writes Casanova on Wednesday in the latest edition of link, the magazine of the SRG Audience Council.
Casanova classified only 19 percent of the complaints dealt with as more or less justified. This is significantly less than in previous years. However, he also had to make critical comments to the editorial offices in the case of some rejected complaints. 17 complaints were referred to the Independent Complaints Authority for Radio and Television (UBI) in 2008. Around two thirds of the complaints complained that a programme was inappropriate or had defamed a person, a company or an association.
According to SDA, of the 127 complaints dealt with, 23 related to Radio DRS, 101 to Swiss Television and 3 to both media. There were no complaints about a refusal of access to the program, as newly provided for in the Radio and Television Act.
It was also noticeable that satirical programs with religious themes were also frequently criticized, Casanova continued. However, these complaints were all unjustified.

The communications agency Schneider Communications has taken over the small publishing house Culturebeet in order to publish publications for clients as well as its own books. The specialist publication "Leistungserfassung sozialer Einrichtungen - Subjektbezogene Instrumente für Menschen mit Behinderung", written by Stefan Sutter and Bernhard Schneider on behalf of Curaviva Switzerland, was published at the end of January. The book launch of the art book "George Gessler - A Life in Pictures" will follow on Saturday, March 7.

The Belgian media group De Persgroep is taking over five major newspapers in the Netherlands. De Persgroep is paying 100 million euros for 51 percent of the shares in the Dutch publishing group PCM, the Flemish newspaper De Morgen reported on Wednesday according to SDA.
Like Belgium's highest-circulation daily newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws, De Morgen belongs to De Persgroep. In the neighboring Netherlands, PCM publishes the leading newspapers Volkskrant, NRC Handelsblad and its offshoot Nrc.next as well as Trouw and the country's second-largest newspaper Algemeen Dagblad.

The Wirz-Werbung agency won the pitch for the Migros market development against two other agencies. The budget covers the entire offer level. This includes all promotions, offers and "pork belly" advertisements, including the up to 8-page advertising sections in the Migros magazine. This is a respectably large budget, comments Wirz CEO Geri Aebi. The agency will start work on the new budget immediately and the first results are expected to appear in May.