Rolf Suter is to become the new CEO of Mediabrands Switzerland. The company, which belongs to the US advertising holding Interpublic Group (IPG), combines the two agency networks Initiative and Universal McCann under one roof. Suter will leave his position on June 1, 2009, succeeding Stephan Küng. He will report to Graham Duff, EMEA President of Mediabrands.
Rolf Suter previously worked as Managing Director of M&M Media in Zurich. He previously worked at Goldbach Media, where he was responsible for the launch of Pro Sieben Schweiz and placed MTV in the Austrian market. Suter also set up Suchtreffer, an agency for search engine marketing. Rolf Suter holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration and completed his Master's degree in Media Management in Berlin.

Ueli Eckstein is to become the new head of Tamedia's Espace Media division. The 56-year-old is currently Deputy CEO and Head of Print Media at AZ Medien. He succeeds Albert P. Stäheli. The timing of the change is still open, Tamedia wrote in a statement Tuesday.
Ueli Eckstein, a trained typesetter, already worked at Tamedia from 1976 to 1997. After joining the accounting department of the then Tages-Anzeiger AG, he was, among other things, a member of the management staff, Head of Accounting as well as Director of Controlling and Deputy Publishing Director of the Tages-Anzeiger. In this function, he was instrumental in the introduction of the cultural association and the "Wir bleiben dran." communication concept. Before joining AZ Medien, Ueli Eckstein headed the publishing house of the Sonntagszeitung from 1995 to 1997.

Urs Schweizer, Head of the Publishing Services Division, is leaving Tamedia at the end of 2009 to join the NZZ Group. The 52-year-old became a member of the Management Board in 2008 following the merger of Tamedia and Espace Media Groupe and had previously worked for Espace Media Groupe for 20 years. From 1993 to 2007, he headed the Printing and Management Services divisions and was most recently Deputy CEO of Espace Media Groupe.

(Photos: PD. Top: Ueli Eckstein. Bottom: Urs Schweizer)

The concert of cuts at the French-speaking Swiss media group Edipresse continues. The publisher announced on Monday that it would be cutting a further 16.5 jobs due to a slump in advertising revenues. The jobs will be cut in the printing, dispatch and administration departments. According to Edipresse, 17 part-time temporary employees, two print shop employees and six employees in the sales department are affected. All are to benefit from accompanying measures.
The media trade union Comedia criticized the renewed cutbacks in a communiqué. Once again, the employees, the members of the staff committees and the trade unions have been presented with a fait accompli. Comedia also writes that Edipresse has not done everything possible to keep the redundant employees in other jobs and is therefore neglecting its social responsibility.
Edipresse had already announced a 20 million savings program at the end of August last year in order to compensate for falling advertising revenues. This was accompanied by a total of 50 job cuts.

The Venetians value their beloved cityscape to the tune of 2.1 million euros. This is exactly how much the drinks giant Coca-Cola offered the financially weak tourist city to place around 60 drinks and snack vending machines in the city over the next five years. Defacing the culturally valuable city, Americanization - but Mayor Massima Cacciari doesn't want to hear any of these dirty words. He defends himself against the accusation made by the Turin daily newspaper La Stampa that he is selling his city to Coca-Cola.
Maurizio Calligaro, head of the mayor's cabinet, is also reassuring: there is no need to worry, the Coca-Cola sign will not be visible next to the works of art by Da Vinci, Michelangelo and Co. in the future either. The vending machines will not be installed in St. Mark's Square or on the Rialto Bridge. So there can be no talk of an "invasion" of vending machines.
The Coca-Cola money will be used to fill the piggy bank for the renovation of the palaces. All for a good cause! Nevertheless, one question remains unanswered: Why exactly Coca-Cola? Wouldn't a famous coffee brand such as Mastro Lorenzo - which is more associated with Italy - have been a better sponsor? This beverage manufacturer could also have set up coffee machines in the city - but they would probably have suffered damage next to the cozy espresso bars.

On February 5, 2009, the jury of the Swiss Poster Award evaluated the submitted poster designs. The best of these were placed on the shortlist, from which the category winners and the Swiss Poster Award 2008 emerged. The F24 and Big Poster formats were also admitted to the competition for the first time.
Under the direction of jury president Othmar Casutt, 17 jury members from the fields of design, photography, typography, and art directors from advertising agencies evaluated 470 poster designs and drew up a shortlist. The winner of the Swiss Poster Award 2008 was selected from this shortlist. The jury also awarded a special prize for creative and innovative solutions in poster advertising.

Link to the subjects

The presentation of all Swiss Poster Award prizes will take place at the APG Poster Night on May 14, 2009 at the Maag Event Hall in Zurich.

Shortlist 2008
Culture category
Before the Start, Zurich Ballet Campaign (Eyeworks, Zurich)
Tartuffe, Biel-Solothurn (Atelier Stephan Bundi, Boll)
Boccaccio, Biel-Solothurn (Atelier Stephan Bundi, Boll)
Fidelio, Zurich Opera House (Studio Geissbühler, Zurich)
White Rose, Theater Biel-Solothurn (Atelier Stephan Bundi, Boll)
The Red Zora, Sempach Youth Theater (Erich Brechbühl, Lucerne)
Category Public Services
Zoofäscht (Ruf Lanz AG, Zurich)
Juso Bern (Advico Young & Rubicam Group Switzerland, Zurich)
Health promotion (Jung von Matt/Limmat AG, Zurich)
SuvaLiv (Ruf Lanz AG, Zurich)
Suva Winter Prevention (Ruf Lanz AG, Zurich)
Youth Session (Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett, Zurich)
Commercial category
Cleandent (JWT+Hostettler+Fabrikant, Zurich)
Sonntagszeitung (Advico Young & Rubicam Group Switzerland, Zurich)
Sunday CH (Wirz AG, Zurich)
Volvo Switzerland (Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett, Zurich)
Sport Factory Outlet (Ruf Lanz AG, Zurich)
Abart Music Club (Ruf Lanz AG, Zurich)
Berocca (JWT+Hostettler+Fabrikant, Zurich)
That Suits (Advico Young & Rubicam, Zurich)
Hiltl, European Football Championship (Ruf Lanz AG, Zurich)
VBZ (Ruf Lanz AG, Zurich)
SMP (Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett, Zurich)
Tagesanzeiger 100 posters to keep up with (Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett, Zurich)
Sunday Hillary (Advico Young & Rubicam Group Switzerland, Zurich)
Smart intermediate poster (Jung von Matt/Limmat AG, Zurich)
Eco-Pool Muscle Power (Ruf Lanz AG, Zurich)
Smart tear-off poster (Jung von Matt/Limmat AG, Zurich)
Fictitious construction projects ricardo.ch (Ruf Lanz AG, Zurich)

Jury Members Swiss Poster Award 2008
Othmar Casutt (Management)
Jürg Aemmer (Zurich)
Urs Althaus (house graphics)
Sven Bänziger (Bänziger-Photography)
Christian Brändle (Museum of Design)
Markus Cavegn (Cavegn Advertising)
Erich Brechbühl (Mixer)
Markus Gut (Y&R Group Switzerland)
Ralph Halder (Publicis advertising agency)
Peter Hebeisen (Photographer)
Priska Heger (Sunrise Communications)
Ernst Hiestand (Hiestand+Partner)
Alexander Jaggy (Jung von Matt/Limmat)
Beat Holenstein (APG)
Manuela Pfrunder (visual communication design)
Remy Fabrikant (JWT+Hostettler+Fabrikant)
Markus Ruf (Ruf, Lanz Advertising Agency)
Martin Spillmann (Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett)

Proud Mary is realizing and designing the new campaign for AMAG Retail, which will soon be on display. The agency's strategy is aimed at female customers: almost one in three car purchases today is made by a woman, and around 70 to 80 percent of all automotive purchasing decisions are influenced by women. For this reason, the agency specializing in female target groups was chosen.
AMAG Retail sells cars from well-known manufacturers such as Audi, Porsche, Seat, Skoda and VW.

Cablecom achieved a respectable annual result in 2008. Revenue increased by 4.8 percent year-on-year to CHF 1.098 billion. All digital services recorded growing customer numbers. The fastest growth continued to be in digital television, which recorded an increase of 37.2 percent to 347,000 customers in 2008.
As expected, the number of customers who only use analog TV continued to fall. The number of Internet customers increased by 6.8 percent compared to the previous year to 486,000, writes Cablecom in a press release on Tuesday. With around 309,000 customers, which corresponds to an increase of 7.3 percent, customers were also gained in the telephony segment. In the television segment, the number of customers remained constant at over 1.5 million.

Continuous network expansion
Around 25,000 households were upgraded for interactive digital services such as broadband Internet, fixed-line telephony and digital television in 2008. In 2009, the network expansion is to be consistently driven forward and the number of households in two-way networks is to be further increased, the report continues.
Parallel to network modernization, the bandwidth of the existing two-way networks is being continuously expanded. At the end of 2008, over 770,000 households had higher bandwidths - a prerequisite for digital television. 2009 will also see the introduction of the new Docsis 3.0 transmission standard with surfing speeds of more than 100 megabits per second.

Swiss Sports Television (SSF) will be able to broadcast on its own channel from July 1. OFCOM has approved an application submitted by SSF in October 2008 for a must-carry obligation on Cablecom's cable network. Cablecom must therefore broadcast the sports channel as part of a must-carry order for a provisional period of three years in the analog program offering in German-speaking Switzerland.
According to the Radio and Television Act, such an order is possible for up to 25 stations in the analog network of cable network operators. However, according to Bakom, SSF is the first channel to be ordered to be switched on. The decisive factor for the approval was the program concept, according to the Federal Office's communiqué. With its focus on fringe and popular sports, SSF occupies a thematic area that is only partially covered by the existing program offering. The sports channel thus makes a special contribution to media diversity.
SSF sees the yes to its own channel as an "opportunity for Swiss sport". According to Chairman of the Board of Directors and former FDP National Councillor Peter Weigelt, the channel could give Swiss fringe and popular sport even more visibility.
SSF works together with SRG at the programming, production and distribution level. A week ago, SRG extended this Cooperation SSF has been broadcasting via a program window on the Star TV channel since 2007. To date, it has broadcast over 400 hours in 30 types of sport.

The agency at the airport has implemented the current poster advertising for Pitsch Sport. Key visuals were used to emphasize the momentum with which the specialist store provides its courier service. The sportsmen and women almost jump or drive out of the advertisement format.
Responsible at Pitsch SportPeter Pitsch Bernhardsgrütter (owner). Responsible at the agency at the airportRené Eugstair (CD), Dominique Rutishauser (AD & illustration), Désirée Schmid (consulting).

SF Meteo received the Media Award for Meteorology at this year's Extreme Weather Congress in Bremerhaven. Having already been nominated three times and reached the final last year, the weather program from the roof of Swiss television was named the best weather presentation on television this year. As the program is presented in the open air, it conveys a "closeness to the weather" that makes it clearer, more vivid and more comprehensible, according to a press release from the jury.

Thomas Bucheli is very close to the weather on the roof of Swiss television.

Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett created a commercial for Sunrise to advertise the telephone provider's new prepaid flat rate. The commercial explains the principle of the 1-franc flat rate using the example of an order in a restaurant. The mineral costs 1 franc, as does a mineral plus salad, soup, espresso and a dessert - the price always remains the same. The commercial will be shown on television and in cinemas, and advertisements will also be used. Various special promotions are also being planned.

The flat rate is here. from SFLB on Vimeo.

Responsible at Sunrise: Priska Heger (Director Marketing Communication), Peter Schilde (Marketing Communication Manager). Responsible at Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett: Dana Wirz, Peter Brönnimann, Simon Staub, Martin Spillmann (Creation), Rebecca Krausse, Dominik Mätzener (Consulting), Sebahat Derdiyok (Agency Producer). Production: Rudi Haller (Solid & Hallerfilm), Rainer Binz (Director).

Biel's Canal 3 radio station is celebrating its 25th birthday this week. It first went on air on February 29, 1984. The radio producers of the bilingual local radio station explained that it had developed a "tolerant bilingual coexistence" with a German and French-language frequency.
It also recalls the sale of the Canal 3 Foundation to Espace Media Groupe in 2004, against which there were major protests. The local broadcaster has been back in Biel/Bienne hands since the end of 2007.
Canal 3 has received several awards, including the Radio Prize of the Bernese Foundation for Radio and Television and the Culture Prize of the Canton of Bern. The station has twice been named "Radio of the Year".