The agency at the airport has created a new motif for Swiss Air-Rescue Rega. The agency was already involved in Rega's not-yet-patronage campaign in 2007. This campaign forms the basis for the latest creation by the Altenrhein advertising agency for French-speaking Switzerland.
Responsible at Swiss Air-Rescue Rega, Zurich-Kloten: Walter Stünzi (Head of Communications), Maria Betschart (Communications Assistant). Responsible at the agency at the airport, Altenrhein: Miriam Egli (consulting), René Eugstair (CD), Dominique Rutishauser (AD), Benita Sutter (graphics), Patrick Lindner (text).

Microsoft and several other major US media companies such as Yahoo, CBS and Hulu have joined forces with the Publicis subsidiary Starcom Mediavest Group (SMG). This was reported by Pressetext on Thursday. The aim of the partnership is to increase revenue generation in the online video advertising sector. SMG's main aim is to find a uniform standard in this potentially promising sector. In order to put this into practice, the advertising alliance known as "The Pool" will be testing five different online advertising formats in focus groups over the coming weeks, according to Pressetext.ch. The two formats that perform best will then be used on the websites of the participating companies.

Despite the difficult economic situation, seven out of ten Swiss companies want to maintain or increase their spending on PR, advertising and events. This is the result of a survey of the 500 largest companies conducted by PR agency Farner. With a value of 68 (68 percent of companies want to maintain or increase their budgets at the same level), the annual Farner Communications Index is at the same level as in 2003, according to a press release.
With a value of 62, companies in French-speaking Switzerland are only slightly below the Swiss average of 68, but the motives for their behavior differ significantly from those in German-speaking Switzerland. 24 percent of companies in French-speaking Switzerland state that their needs have changed (German-speaking Switzerland: 16 percent), and 42 percent have changed the resources available to them (German-speaking Switzerland: 18 percent). What both parts of the country have in common is that they most frequently stated that they spend between 6 and 10 percent of their communications budget on public relations. However, there are also companies that state a figure of 30 percent or more.
In 2007, the Farner Communication Index reached a record value of 92. However, the trend over seven years is still slightly positive, according to the press release. Although companies are budgeting more cautiously, communication continues to enjoy a high priority.

The winners of the «Das kann nur ein Inserat» competition have been announced. On Wednesday at 9 a.m., 85 campaigns—comprising 368 creative pieces—were on the judges« tables, submitted by 39 teams, including many from French-speaking Switzerland. By 11 a.m., only ten campaigns remained—those deemed good enough for the shortlist. From these, the jury selected the two winners by 1:30 p.m.: the campaign »An Ad Always Delivers, Anywhere and Everywhere,« by Advico Young & Rubicam and Bettina Klossner of OgilvyOne, as well as the campaign »An Ad Is More Than Just Advertising” by Silvio Seiler of Wegelin & Co, Private Bankers. The Swiss Press Association will announce the winners on Thursday evening.
The competition was held for the first time under the motto «Not a single topic, but an entire campaign.» The two winning teams will each receive a prize of 10,000 francs. In addition, they will receive a fee for the implementation. Furthermore, at the invitation of Publicitas Publimedia, they will travel to London in May to participate in Best Yet.
The two winning concepts will now undergo the standard campaign optimization and implementation process. The ads for the first campaign will begin appearing in May 2009, with over 500 placements in approximately 100 newspaper and magazine titles.

(Note: The Basel-based agency Gruner & Brenneisen AG—represented on the shortlist by Art Director Rémy Kohler—has changed its name. It now operates under the name Brenneisen Communications.)

An overview of all projects, available as a PDF download

The winning entries:

For around four weeks now, the bookshop at Hamburg's main railway station and airport has been able to print out 700 newspapers from more than 70 countries around the world. The process is called "Print on Demand", as reported in the weekly newspaper Die Zeit. Customers can browse the range on a computer screen and then order the desired print from a salesperson. Each newspaper is printed on beige-grey, relatively sturdy paper in A3 format. At the end, the desired newspaper is stapled together.
200 of the 700 titles are available in the computer's cache and can be delivered within a few minutes. However, if the buyer requests an unusual newspaper, printing can take up to 20 minutes. In this case, the data must first be downloaded from the editorial server. The same data is available that the editorial offices also send to their printers, which gives the New York Post, for example, a time advantage: If you print out a copy in Hamburg at nine o'clock, it's three o'clock in the morning on the East Coast and the newspaper is only just being delivered.
Valora Retail, which operates the bookshops at the main railway station and the airport, is satisfied with the results so far. According to Adrienne Schmidthals, press spokeswoman for Valora Retail, sales in both Hamburg branches are in the four-digit range. If the newspaper printing service continues to be well received, the company plans to expand the offer to other major cities in Germany.

The Swiss Railway and Transport Staff Association (SEV) has launched a new members' magazine entitled Kontakt.sev. According to SDA, the new magazine will be produced every two weeks and is intended to give the union a uniform appearance throughout Switzerland. Until now, a different newspaper has been published at different times in each language region. In German-speaking Switzerland, for example, it was called Arbeit & Verkehr and was published weekly.
The previously separate editorial teams will be merged into a joint editorial team. According to Peter Moor, Head of Communications and Editor-in-Chief, the focus will be on current affairs at SEV, general trade union topics in Switzerland and abroad as well as transport and social policy.
The SEV wants to appear more "dynamic and modern" in the future and move closer to its members. The new magazine should be an important step in this direction.

Euro RSCG Zurich has been awarded the contract for a campaign by the Sustainable Performance Group (SPG) and Sustainable Asset Management (SAM) in a competitive presentation. The core idea: in the future, it will become clear that those who invested in SPG shares acted correctly and sustainably. For example, the last petrol station for petrol-powered cars will close in 2032 due to progress in the development of batteries. The sensational news ends by pointing out that SPG shareholders can already benefit from innovative technologies today.
SPG invests in companies that are among the leaders in sustainable and promising future markets such as energy, water, healthy living and resource efficiency. SAM is the investment advisor to SPG and is responsible for the conception and implementation of marketing activities.
The campaign has been running for a few days. Advertisements in financial publications, web banners and the website are being used Zukunftsaktie.ch/campaign09.
Responsible at Euro RSCG Zurich: Frank Bodin (overall responsibility), Axel Eckstein (CD), Nemi Gajic, Alain Picard (text), Rob Hartmann, Sandro Nicotera, Roli Hofer (AD), Isabelle Bühler (graphics), Peter Schäfer (strategy), Dominic Hoegger (consulting). Responsible at SPG/SAM: Katja Breitenmoser (Manager Marketing Communications), Patrick Farinato (Head Marketing Services), Daniel Muntwyler (Secretary of the Board of Directors SPG).

It was announced on Thursday that the Swiss short film "Auf der Strecke" has been nominated for an Oscar. The 30-minute film by director Reto Caffi (pictured) did not receive a cent from the federal government.
The film, which was shot the year before last and stars Zurich actor Roeland Wiesnekker (see picture below) and Catherine Jahnke, is already one of the most successful short films worldwide. The film won several national and international awards in 2008, including the Swiss Film Prize and the Student Oscar.
The plot centers on a department store detective who falls in love with a saleswoman. Unable to show her his affection, he secretly observes her. When he witnesses an act of violence committed by youths against a possible rival, he does not intervene - with fatal consequences. This experience and the tormenting questions of guilt do not let go of the main character. His previous life collapses. This is how the Tages-Anzeiger summarizes the plot.
Significantly, the federal government did not consider the film project worthy of support when director Reto Caffi submitted it in 2007. In Locarno, he also received a rejection. And yet: Even without an Oscar, "Auf der Strecke" may already be the most successful Swiss short film of all time.
The Oscars will be held on February 22 at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. The event will be hosted by the "sexiest man alive", Australian Hugh Jackman.
"Auf der Strecke", 30 minutes, Switzerland/Germany 2007. With Roeland Wiesnekker, Catherine Jahnke. Directed by Reto Caffi, written by Reto Caffi and Philippe Zweifel, cinematography by Piotr Rosolowski. (A film clip)

Until recently, the media knowledge of the head of the Catholic Church was still extremely modest. A while ago, the papal private secretary Georg Gänswein said that he only had a small black-and-white television set on which they occasionally watched the Italian news together. But now, in 2009, Benedict XVI is taking giant leaps into the multimedia future. As of this Friday, the Vatican has its own YouTube channel. This will be constantly fed with new content by Vatican Radio and the Vatican Television Center. The content will include broadcasts of church events, papal announcements and teachings. The channel is intended to serve both devout Catholics and people who are simply curious about what is going on in Rome. In addition, a website dedicated to the Vatican was recently launched, on which the tomb of John Paul II can be constantly observed via webcam.

The Austrian music industry association IFPI Austria has launched an image and product campaign for the music CD. According to the press release, the central message of the initiative is "More in, more on, more on. Music on CD." The aim of the campaign is to draw the public's attention to the various advantages of the CD, such as the booklet with song lyrics and photos of the artists. One does not want to make bad in any case other publication forms such as MP3, Franz Medwenitsch, managing director of IFPI Austria, is quoted by Pressetext. It is rather a matter of positioning the CD more strongly again as a quality product.
The first concrete measures are to be implemented in February and March in cooperation with Media Markt, Saturn and Libro.

A new, more active role for former Cinecom and Condor Films CEO Matthias Luchsinger: with immediate effect, he is taking on the role of Managing Partner at Mediador, the recruitment agency he founded.
With the operational entry of Matthias Luchsinger into the company, Mediador plans to expand its activities in the field of media consulting and executive search, Mediador wrote in a press release on Thursday. The company now also offers project and consulting services for media companies. Mediador has already won two such project mandates since the beginning of the year. According to Luchsinger, further mandates are in the
Pipeline. In addition to his operational commitment and the expansion of Mediador's offering, he will also invest resources in investments and projects in the media sector in future, Luchsinger is quoted as saying in the press release.
Before joining Mediador, Luchsinger was CEO and co-owner of the cinema and TV marketer Cinecom for 14 years. Nicole Steinegger has been Managing Director of Mediador since mid-2008.