Andreas Palm is the new Marketing Manager at the software company Hiflex in Aachen. According to a press release issued on Tuesday, he will take over the previous responsibilities of Karola Thews, who left the company in November 2008.
The 28-year-old began his career as a media designer at Zeitungsverlag Aachen. He studied media economics while working and was jointly responsible for the company's marketing activities in the marketing department of an international plant engineering company.
As an internationally active software company, Hiflex develops solutions for the automation of commercial and technical business processes in the graphic arts industry.

This Thursday, Mexico will play against the USA in the World Cup qualifiers. Unfortunately, Mexico has not won a single one of its last ten away games against its oversized neighbor. Now they need a little help. Although the Mexicans lead in the head-to-head meetings with 30 wins compared to 15, the USA have made up a lot of ground in recent years. The USA are a power, especially at home. As 20 Minuten Online writes, a Mexican sports newspaper now wants to break the spell with the help of voodoo dolls.
Small needles are distributed to the dolls to prick the American dolls in the places where the opposing players should be injured, or at least suffer injuries. The aim is to achieve the first victory on American soil since 1999. The sponsor "Blockbuster" doesn't really believe in magic either - but it's a good way to have fun, according to the spokesman with the typically American name Mauricio Munoz.

The American news magazine Newsweek is about to undergo a radical relaunch. As the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported on Tuesday, speculation has been circulating for months that Newsweek wants to move away from the traditional business of a news magazine. Instead, the magazine wants to become more opinionated and more unconventional in its choice of topics. A more educated audience is to be targeted and the subscription price is to double. The appearance will also change. The relaunch is planned for May.
The background to this rejuvenation is said to be the crisis in the print media in the USA: News magazines are struggling - Time is losing circulation, US News & World Report has been converted from a weekly to a monthly magazine. Newsweek, which was founded in the 1930s, has been making losses for some time now. The magazine is owned by the Washington Post.

The Zurich-based communications management agency has won two new clients: the innovation platform Atizo and the online store Saychocolate.ch. Vibrio is designing the PR measures for start-up communication for both companies. Vibrio places a particular focus on media relations.

Futurecom, the interactive agency belonging to the Young & Rubicam Group, has won the Baselworld trade fair as a new client as part of an agency evaluation. According to a press release, over 2,000 exhibitors presented their new products and collections to around 100,000 visitors at the largest event in the watch and jewelry industry in 2008. 2,981 journalists from all continents reported on the 36th World Watch and Jewelry Show.

The Zurich-based media and Internet agency Update has implemented a new website with a dedicated event site for Health Promotion Switzerland. This marks the start of the countdown to the 20th World Congress of the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) in July 2010, according to a press release issued on Tuesday.
In addition to a modern design, the most important criterion for the general overhaul of the website was ease of use. Both visitors interested in health topics and the administrators of the content should be able to use the four-language site with confidence. This is achieved through "matrix navigation", which leads users to the topics, tips and tools relevant to them in just a few clicks.
The website was named one of the "200 best websites in Switzerland 2009" by the Swiss Internet magazine Anthrazit.
Responsible at Health Promotion Switzerland: Susanne Gäumann (project manager). Responsible at Update: Oliver Arnoczky (project manager). Design: Markus Hasler. Programming: Simon Carisch.

Publifutura, a subsidiary of Affichage, has been awarded the contract to market 484 billboards in Milan. The contract was concluded for five years. Publifutura has thus succeeded in strengthening its position in the northern Italian outdoor advertising market, according to a press release.

On the 50th anniversary of his expulsion from Tibet, the Dalai Lama has been awarded the German Media Prize 2008. The spiritual leader of the Tibetans accepted the award on Tuesday in Baden-Baden.
As the jury explained, the Dalai Lama had achieved a "worldwide presence" in the 50 years of his exile and had influenced the lives of people all over the world. In his laudatory speech, Hessian Minister President Roland Koch said that only with the Dalai Lama was there a chance of peaceful understanding between Tibet and China. The peaceful path that the Tibetan people had chosen for their struggle for cultural and religious autonomy was decisively due to the spiritual leader.
The German Media Prize was created in 1992 by the company Media-Control. The jury is made up of journalists and publicists. Previous winners include former German Chancellors Helmut Kohl and Gerhard Schröder, the late French head of state François Mitterrand, the anti-apartheid campaigner and former South African President Nelson Mandela, as well as former US President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary.

From February 10 to 23, 2009, Migros will be showing its Italian side. To communicate this, a 32-page mix of magazine and catalog on the subject of Italian cuisine is being published. This so-called "magalog" entitled Bella Italia was produced by the Zurich agency Weber Harbeke.
Bella Italia is distributed free of charge in all Migros stores with the corresponding product range and also appears as a supplement in the weekly and monthly press in German, French and Italian-speaking Switzerland, as well as in a partial edition of Migros magazine. Another booklet on the subject of Easter is already in the works.
Responsible at the Federation of Migros Cooperatives, Zurich: Wolfgang Schuster (Project Manager Market Development), Monika Storchenegger (Project Manager Seasonal Focus), Ramona Faggi (Junior Project Manager Seasonal Focus). Responsible at Weber Harbeke, Zurich: Thomas Harbeke, Max Weber (CD), Christian Sidow (text), Isabelle Linsi, Evelina Melchiori (AD), Michael Kaelin, Sibill Zellweger (AD), Dominik Abt (consulting). Photos: Martin Hemmi. Styling: Aleli Leal. Food styling: Christian Splettstösser.

Suva has a new media spokesperson. The 36-year-old Helen Fleischlin replaces Barbara Salm, who is now responsible for communications at Migros Kulturproduzent. Fleischlin was previously Communications Officer at the Swiss Catholic Women's Federation SKF and completed a Master of Advanced Studies in Corporate Communication Management at the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland.

The US industry magazine Adweek has named Omnicom subsidiary OMD the global "Media Agency of the Year 2008". The agency had successfully completed its restructuring after a difficult year in 2007 with major budget losses. This was reported by Werben & Verkaufen on Tuesday.
The turnaround has come, among other things, with the development of an effective customer management system that allows marketing and media plans to be adapted easily and, above all, quickly. The Adweek jury also praised the expansion of strategic support for global budgets, enabling clients to better network their measures worldwide. OMD has also invested heavily in its digital expertise. The agency has impressed with various global online campaigns.
OMD Switzerland has been Migros' new media agency since February 1, 2009 (see Migros now works with OMD ).