SRG is extending its cooperation with Swiss Sports Television (SSF) by four years until the end of 2012. SSF has been on air since fall 2007. SRG and SSF work together on a program level as well as on a production and distribution level. Both sides benefit from this, as do television viewers, according to a joint press release issued on Tuesday.
Commenting on the continuation of the cooperation, SRG Director General Armin Walpen writes that SSF's coverage of Swiss team and fringe sports complements the SRG sports programs, which focus more on top events. For SSF, on the other hand, the cooperation with SRG guarantees fringe sports greater attention from a broad audience.

The National Council's Telecommunications Committee (KVF) wants to know exactly how the collection system for radio and television fees works. It has ordered a report from the Federal Council by the end of the year which, among other things, should also show alternatives to Billag, as President Andrea Hämmerle (SP/GR) announced on Tuesday.
The KVF had taken up a parliamentary initiative by Natalie Rickli
(SVP/ZH), which wants to reverse Bakom's decision to charge fees for radio and television reception via cell phone and Internet from September 1, 2009.

The Federal Office of Public Health FOPH is issuing a new invitation to tender for the tobacco prevention campaign for the period 2010 to 2012. It is based on the National Tobacco Prevention Program NPT 2008 - 2012, which was adopted by the Federal Council on 16 June 2008. The advertising budget for the entire campaign amounts to around CHF 10,500,000.
An agency is being sought for the mandate "which presents the optimal innovative strategic approach to ensure that non-smoking continues to be taken for granted and that the objectives of the NPT 2008 - 2012 are optimally supported", as the FOPH writes in a press release.
The existing agencies By Heart and CR Kommunikation will continue the current Bravo campaign in an optimized form this year. From 2010, however, a completely new campaign is to be launched that supports the objectives of the national program, as Albert Gemperle, project manager for the tobacco prevention campaign, told Werbewoche.
After nine years of a tobacco campaign with the same agency, the office had to consider a new tender, Gemperle continued. This is because the Federal Law on Public Procurement requires competition to be strengthened, the economic use of public funds to be promoted and equal treatment of all providers to be guaranteed.

The deadline for agency applications is March 23, 2009.
Invitation to tender (PDF)

The political magazine Cicero from the Ringier publishing house is undergoing a brand extension at the end of February. From February 26, the new title Cicero Portfolio will be available at newsstands for the first time. The magazine is designed as a monothematic magazine dedicated to a current political topic. As a background magazine, the new issue is designed to be collected by its readership. In addition to in-depth texts, the title will be enriched with service elements, graphics and charts, according to a report in the industry magazine DWDL.
The subject of the first issue is the new US President Barack Obama. The magazine should be on newsstands by the beginning of May. The print run is 50,000 copies. If successful, the magazine could be published two to four times a year.

The Goldbach Media Group is presenting the Crossmedia Award for the fourth time in a row. The competition, which is relevant in Werbewoche's creative ranking, honors overall campaigns that stand out from classic campaigns thanks to their cross-media networking and innovation. The award is endowed with CHF 10,000 and honors campaigns that were published or implemented between April 2008 and March 2009.
The award is intended to reward new, creative ways of marketing products and brands and promote the use of innovative cross-media solutions, according to a press release issued on Tuesday. Interested parties can register for the competition at Crossmediaaward.ch until April 17, 2009. The winners will be selected by an independent jury of experts from the advertising and media industry.
The Goldbach Crossmedia Award will be presented for the first time this year at the Crossmedia Award Bash, which will take place on May 19, 2009. In addition, the three winners will be able to present their case studies to a wide audience at the Mediarena on May 27, 2009.

The 2009 expert jury consists of:
Marco Taborelli (Marco Taborelli Consulting); President of the jury
Geri Aebi (Wirz Advertising)
Regula Fecker (Rod Communication)
Urs Renner (Optimedia)
Urs Schneider (Mediaschneider)
Jürg Siegrist (SWA-ASA)
Philipp Skrabal (Advico Young & Rubicam )
Walter Tagliaferri (Euro RSCG Zurich / Eurad)
Dominique von Matt (Jung von Matt/Limmat, BSW advertising agency)
Franziska von Weissenfluh (Berner Zeitung)
Marc Werner (Swisscom Fixnet)

WVC Communications has been entrusted by Euro Garantie with the complete repositioning. The ASW advertisers from Bubikon will design the entire corporate identity of the warranty specialist for used and new cars. The logo, stationery and brochures for dealers and consumers as well as the website will be redeveloped. The first results are to be presented this spring. The redesign of the POS and the creation of an image brochure will follow in a second phase.
Euro Garantie is based in Pfäffikon SZ and works with over 3,000 sales partners in Switzerland.

Valencia Kommunikation has created a new communication presence for Kuhn Rikon just in time for the Ambiente trade fair in Frankfurt. This is intended to showcase the three new product lines Kinderkitchen, Cook & Serve and Loft. Crisp vegetables underline the culinary expertise of the traditional Swiss brand, the agency wrote in a press release on Monday. One motif shows pots and pans stacked on top of each other, reflecting the playful ease of cooking.
In addition to the product packaging, the Basler advertising agency created various advertising materials such as flyers, booklets, brochures and POS posters.

Responsible at Kuhn Rikon: René ab Egg (Head of Marketing), Denise Herzog (PM Loft, Ceramica, Prestige), Fabian von Selve (PM Kinderkitchen, Cook & Serve, Wok), Tabea Keil (PM Tools). Responsible at Valencia Communication: Michael Gerber (CD), Tommy Schilling (Senior AD), Carlo Tagliavini (AD), Julia Schibler (graphics), Guillermo Garcia, Sebastian Refardt, Patricia Heyne (text), Nicole Metz, Andreas Bornstein (consulting).

Following the successful establishment of the 1414 reader reporters, the newspaper Bild is now calling on all readers, advertising agencies, students and creative people to design advertising for the paper for the first time under the motto "Bild dir deine Werbung" (Create your own advertising). From February 17, 2009, all campaign ideas can be uploaded directly via the Bild.de website.
The entries will be judged by a panel of experts including Jean Remy von Matt, Amir Kassaei and Sebastian Turner as well as experts from Bild's editorial team and publishing house management. The three best proposals for print or poster ads as well as for TV or cinema spots will be professionally realized in the coming months. The winners of each category will receive a fee for their work: 15,000 euros for first place, 10,000 euros for second place and 5,000 euros for third place.
Since the start of the reader reporter campaign in July 2006, more than 400,000 reader photos have been sent in. To date, the newspaper has printed 9,671 of these photos and rewarded the reader reporters with a fee of more than 1.7 million euros. Bild editor-in-chief Kai Diekmann has high hopes for the new advertising competition. A nice side effect of "user-generated advertising" is that readers will engage even more with the Bild brand, Diekmann is quoted as saying in an Axel Springer press release.

The pay-TV broadcaster Premiere can look back on a gloomy year: In 2008, the net loss quintupled compared to the previous year to almost 270 million euros. The company announced on Monday that the result was burdened, among other things, by the costs of eliminating loopholes in the program encryption system, which make it possible to watch black channels. In addition, unlike in previous years, there was much less special income from the sale of shareholdings in 2008.
Turnover rose slightly last year from 937 to 941 million euros. The Group is only forecasting profits for 2011. To get into the black, three to 3.4 million subscribers are needed, said Premiere CEO Mark Williams. Premiere had around 2.4 million subscribers at the end of 2008. The broadcaster lost 12,000 customers in the final quarter.
Media mogul and major shareholder Rupert Murdoch promised the broadcaster a capital increase of 450 million euros last December. This means that Premiere could soon be controlled by his media group News Corp.
In 2002, Premiere barely managed to rescue itself from the ruins of Leo Kirch's bankrupt film and TV group and has only made a small annual profit since then. The largest annual loss until 2008 was incurred in 2003 with 204 million euros.

Cell phone manufacturer Samsung wants to appeal to new target groups with an "eco cell phone". At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the Korean company presented a cell phone that can generate its energy from solar cells on the back. The "Blue Earth" (Blue Planet) cell phone can be charged using natural or artificial light.
After one to one and a half hours in the light, the user can make calls for half an hour. To fully charge the battery, the cell phone must be exposed to a light source for 14 hours, after which the energy should be sufficient for four hours of calls. However, the cell phone can also be charged normally at the socket. According to Samsung, the case is made from used plastic water bottles.
The solar-powered cell phone should be available to buy in Europe from the summer. Competitor LG Electronics also announced an environmentally friendly cell phone, but did not give a specific date.

The officials of the powerful Chinese state broadcaster CCTV ordered a rocket game costing over 100,000 euros to be played in the television tower. However, no safety precautions were taken, as with the notorious Chinese censorship. So the little party in the television building - affectionately called "big underpants" by the Chinese - literally went down the drain. A fire broke out.
Although the officials did everything they could to cover up the self-inflicted fire, the incident did not go undetected. The mishap was a feast for China's most popular blogger Han Han. The entries of the contrarian, who is famous for his mocking comments about the Chinese media and feared by the Chinese media, were immediately deleted.
However, some of his thoughts remained, as fans reproduced Han Han's comments and published them on portals. "How many evil deeds has CCTV committed in the past decades, choosing lies over truth, manipulating public opinion, persecuting intellectuals, distorting facts, concealing wrongdoings, covering up problems and painting false images of harmony?" But Han Han is confident. He hopes that the fire will drive the government to seriously consider giving up the Central Television's monopoly over the news.