The Zurich PR agency Senarclens, Leu + Partner is strengthening its management team and appointing Brigitte Manz-Brunner as a new partner as of January 1, 2009. Brigitte Manz-Brunner, who holds a degree in agricultural engineering from ETH, has been working as a consultant for the company since June 2001. She implements technology-oriented projects and advises organizations and companies on educational issues, promotion of young talent and acceptance of technology. She is also responsible for expanding the agency's activities in French-speaking Switzerland.
Brigitte Manz-Brunner began her professional career in research at Sandoz (Novartis). She then spent 15 years managing projects in the areas of promoting young academics, university marketing and continuing education at ETH Zurich.

Public television in France has had to make do with less advertising since Monday. From 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., there is now a ban on advertising for the France Télévisions broadcasting group. France's head of state Nicolas Sarkozy had pushed through the abolition of advertising on public television. From the end of 2011, there will be no more advertising on public broadcasters.
Experts expect broadcasters to lose hundreds of millions of euros in advertising revenue in favor of private broadcasters. The losses are to be offset by levies on landline, mobile and online providers and private broadcasters.
Critics see the reform as a "gift" from Sarkozy to the owners of French private broadcasters, some of whom are among his friends. Not only can they hope for higher revenues, but the new law also allows them to place more advertising blocks, as private broadcasters are now permitted nine minutes of advertising per hour instead of the previous six.
Legally, the law on the advertising ban is still pending in parliament. Although the National Assembly has approved the plan, a decision in the Senate is still pending. It will discuss the project on Wednesday, with several representatives of the government majority opposing the abolition. The board of directors of the public broadcaster France Télévisions had decided on its own initiative to implement the first stage of the advertising ban from Monday, regardless of the parliamentary procedure.

"Only an ad can do that," the competition for young creatives up to age 28, was held for the third time in 2008. At the end of the competition, the Swiss Press Association called on the public to vote. Some 25,667 readers cast their votes, one third by coupon and one third via the Internet. The public voted diametrically differently from the jury: "Jürg Marquard" (jury: 1st place) only made it to 11th place with 908 votes, "Geduldig" (jury: also 1st place) received around 2,249 votes and came in fourth. André Hermetschweiler's and Patrick Hoffmann's "Stille Örtchen" (Cosmic advertising agency, Zurich) was chosen as the winner. With 6,369 votes, the subject received almost twice as many votes as the next-ranked subject "Ein Inserat hat keine Sendepause" by Nik Hodel and Martin Arnold (pictures of the subjects below).
Winning teams traveled to Stockholm
Around 196 works were submitted, compared with just 86 ideas last year. The jury, consisting of ADC members, placed the works "Jürg Marquard" by Martina Kunz and Michael Holzgang (In flagranti Werbeagentur BSW, Lyss) and "Geduldig" by Patric Franz and Patrick Ryffel (Freiburghaus und Partner BSW, Bern) in the first two places. "Jürg Marquard" drew attention to the favorable contact prices of advertisements with the likeness of the major publisher - "Geduldig" played with words. The two winning teams traveled to Stockholm in the spring at the invitation of Publicitas Publimedia for the "BestYET - Best Young European Team," a competition for young creatives at the European level.
Several innovations in 2009
In the previous three creative competitions, participants submitted individual subjects, from which twelve ideas were selected and realized - and each received a fee of 5,000 Swiss francs. The competition formula has been changed for the 2009 competition. Participants submit an entire campaign. The best two ideas are rewarded with 10,000 Swiss francs each as a prize. In addition, the two winning teams will be commissioned to realize their work and will receive a maximum of 30,000 Swiss francs each. The closing date for entries to the 2009 competition is January 12, 2009. The judging will take place on January 21, 2009 under the direction of ADC jury chairman Andreas Prokesch, and the awards ceremony will be held one day later - with an aperitif and an exhibition of all the submitted works. Further information on the competition can be found at Swisspress.ch.

The jury 2008
Andreas Prokesch (jury president; copywriter, text trainer)
David Allemann (Vitra)
Matthias Freuler (Wirz)
Lilo Killer (Art Buying / FFF)
Ruth Mathias (Coca-Cola)
Michael Rottmann (Jung von Matt/Limmat)
Patrick Suter (Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett)
Diana Strebel (Interbrand Zintzmeyer & Lux)

The jury 2009
Andreas Prokesch (jury president; copywriter, text trainer)
Petra Koerfer-Bottignole (freelance)
Tom Seinige (Jung von Matt/Limmat)
Philipp Skrabal (Advico Young & Rubicam)
Patrick Suter (Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett)
Michael Gassler (Ruf Lanz)
Reto Meissner (SBB)
Markus Ehrle (NZZ and Chairman of the PG Gattungsmarketing Verband Schweizer Presse)

The two winning subjects of the public voting

Subject: Quiet place (André Hermetschweiler/Patrick Hoffmann; advertising agency Cosmic Zurich)

Subject: Broadcast break (Nik Hodel; Publicis advertising agency/Martin Arnold; Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett
since 2008: Walker advertising agency)

The two winning subjects of the jury

Subject: Jürg Marquart, Readers' Prize (Martina Kunz/Michael Holzgang; In Flagranti Werbeagentur BSW)

Subject: Patient (Patric Franz/Patrick Ryffel; Freiburghaus und Partner BSW)

Link to the rest of the subjects

The financial crisis doesn't even seem to be stopping at the sex trade. The gloomy situation is intensifying competition even in the world's oldest trade. And what better way to win the favor of punters than with a giant ad in a high-circulation newspaper? That's what a Thurgau establishment probably thought and dug deep into its pockets for a full-page ad in Blick. The brothel in eastern Switzerland paid around 23,000 Swiss francs for the fun. The ad shows the girls of the nightclub and has the headline: "Crisis in the whorehouse? No trace of it in Thurgau contact bar".
Managing director Barbara Fitz hopes to position herself as a "top-serious nightclub" with the publicity campaign. The big advertising campaign is seen in the scene as a challenge to the competition. Now other brothel owners are also thinking about making a big splash. Franz Kempf from La Vie in Herden, for example, says that advertising is extremely important...

Tamedia is acquiring a stake in the job search portal Jobsuchmaschine.ch. The cooperation with the job portals Alpha.ch and Jobwinner.ch, previously operated by the Zurich publishing house, will result in the second strongest job platform network in Switzerland in terms of advertisements and reach. The advertisements of Alpha.ch and Jobwinner.ch will now be integrated into the Jobsuchmaschine.ch offering and the job portals will be linked to each other.
In a first step, Tamedia acquired a 20 percent stake in the Bern-based job search engine AG at the end of 2008, which was previously fully owned by the founders. An increase in the stake to 49 percent is planned for 2011, with the remaining 51 percent to be acquired in 2013. According to Tuesday's announcement, the parties have agreed not to disclose further details of the investment.
Founded in 2000, the job search portal Jobsuchmaschine.ch is based on a search robot that searches hundreds of company websites, websites of recruitment consultants and job platforms of other providers for new vacancies every day. Jobsuchmaschine.ch reaches 101,000 unique clients in Switzerland (Wemf NET-Audit November 2008). Jobsuchmaschine AG also operates the fee-based job portal Jobengine.ch and the information service Jobmonitor.ch for personnel service providers.

At the Epiphany Conference of the Swiss Press Association, publisher president Hanspeter Lebrument once again lashed out. This time it was the Confederation's turn. Lebrument believes that freedom of the press in Switzerland is under threat from the state. The economic crisis, criticism of the media and conflicts between publishers are the breeding ground for state intervention, he said on Tuesday in Zurich's World Trade Center.
Three examples illustrated this trend. The early delivery of newspapers is once again firmly in the hands of the state. The major publishers had sold their majority shareholding to Swiss Post. Such a strong signal of re-nationalization has rarely been observed. However, state influence has also increased in the central media sector. Numerous publishing houses were eagerly awaiting October 31, 2008. On this day, the Leuenberger department awarded the radio and TV licenses. The private sector could only operate this business today with a great deal of regulation, good monitoring and control.
State media monitoring center?
As if that were not enough, the state has also expressed its resentment about important content in the media. For example, Zurich professor Kurt Imhof, supported by Federal Councillors Leuthard and Merz, sharply criticized the media in the Schmid/Nef affair and called for a media monitoring office. However, the Swiss press had done a good job in the Schmid/Nef affair in particular, said Lebrument. The danger that neutral media monitoring could lead to restrictive state measures could not be dismissed out of hand.
Lebrument described the economic outlook for publishers in gloomy colors. Since last autumn, a strong storm has been sweeping through the industry - with a slump in sales, a lack of advertising, staff cuts and unpromising budgets for 2009. In this context, Lebrument criticized the business editorial offices. They had stood idly by and watched the economy drift on. This had contributed to the crisis. The business press had not sufficiently fulfilled its role as watchdog.
(Pictures: Keystone)

As of January 12, 2009, SF Info can be received throughout German-speaking Switzerland via digital terrestrial television (DVB-T). This completes the range of Swiss television programs available via terrestrial broadcasting, as previously only the four SRG channels SF 1, SF 2, TSR 1 and TSI 1 could be received via DVB-T transmitters in German-speaking Switzerland.

China has announced a tightening of its internet censorship. A report on the official news website China.com.cn on Monday states that a nationwide campaign is planned "to cleanse the internet of an ordinary current". Lawbreakers would face severe penalties. The Financial Times reported on Monday that the Chinese government is currently equipping censors with better filtering software to detect banned content.
According to the news website, several government authorities have announced a crackdown on major websites and search engines such as Baidu and Google at a meeting. State television reported that 19 internet operators and sites had not removed "tasteless" content quickly enough and had ignored warnings from censors. It showed images of officials carrying digital devices from an unknown office. There are almost 300 million registered internet users in China, many of them teenagers. Baidu dominates the Chinese search engine market with around two thirds of users. Global market leader Google ranks second in China.
The Chinese Communist Party fears losing control over the information it disseminates and is therefore making great efforts to remove political criticism, pornography and scams from the internet. In view of the cooling economy and a series of upcoming politically sensitive anniversaries, the party is currently stepping up its efforts to suppress dissenting opinions and protests.

An unnamed billboard company has appealed to the Federal Supreme Court over two unauthorized billboard sites in Zurich. This farce came about after the Office for Urban Development, which has to decide on new advertising sites, rejected a planning application for five new poster stands at the beginning. According to the report in the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper, it argued that the stands did not respect the townscape in Doldertal, where they would have been erected on private land.
The Building Appeals Commission, which was subsequently entrusted with the case, considered the poster sites to be less disruptive, especially as the poster company had reduced its application to two sites. It ruled against the city. The next-instance administrative court, however, again ruled in favor of the city, which is why the poster company angrily turned to the Federal Supreme Court, claiming a serious violation of its economic freedom.
Without success. The Federal Supreme Court ruled that the non-approval was in any case only a slight infringement of economic freedom and that the posters visually encroached on the valuable green space. The poster company was ordered to pay CHF 3,000 in court costs. Not really that much when you consider the trivial matter the country's highest court had to deal with.

Buzz marketing agency Vanksen and the advertising experts at TBWA have created a launch campaign with an online module for McDonald's new burger. The aim is to make the latest burger creation called CBO - Chicken, Bacon, Onion - known to a young and urban target group.
TBWA has created a classic TV commercial, which is now being broadcast in lengths of 18 and 10 seconds. Vanksen also developed the website Cbo.ch, where interested parties can put together a personalized 3D hip-hop clip. The lines of text entered in the fields are converted directly into speech using "Text2Speech" technology. Anyone who forwards their own music clip to friends will receive a free Sundae when they buy a CBO menu. This is intended to promote viral distribution and encourage the target group to make a test purchase. Banners on Netlog and Bluewin draw attention to the website.

Responsible at Mc Donalds Switzerland: Jan De Schepper (Marketing Manager), Thomas Truttmann, (Marketing & Communications Director). Responsible on agency side: Vanksen Geneva: Laure Pignat (Account Manager), David Pihen (Associate Director). TBWA Zurich: Martin Friedlin (AD), Tina Kazimir (Account Director), Claudia Beck (Unit Director), OMD Switzerland: Leo Vogl (Media Agency).

The Zurich cantonal government does not have to lobby the federal government for a fourth private radio frequency for the Zurich-Glarus region. On Monday, the cantonal council rejected an urgent postulate by 89 votes to 70.
After Radio Energy was unsuccessful in the awarding of a license in autumn 2008, the SP demanded that the cantonal government should lobby the federal government for an additional private radio license in Zurich. In November, the Cantonal Council declared the postulate urgent by 114 votes, with only the FDP explicitly opposing the proposal at the time.
The Zurich government rejected the SP postulate back in December. The government council is of the opinion that it is impossible for legal reasons alone for the unsuccessful applicant in the licensing procedure to be subsequently awarded a fourth frequency. A repeat of the invitation to tender should also be rejected. The government sees no reason to doubt Bakom's assessment.
Those responsible in Bern must prove that a fourth private radio station has no place, said SP parliamentary group leader Nicolas Galladé. The SP received support from the CVP: it was a matter of preserving media diversity, said CVP parliamentary group leader Philipp Kutter. The Greens were divided in their opinion. The SVP, on the other hand, did not support the request because it had no prospect of success. However, Claudio Zanetti said that he would be happy to sign a letter to the Federal Council with the corresponding demand.

As of January 1, 2009, the management of Cr Kommunikation has been restaffed, as the PR agency announced on Monday. With this step, the management of the agency group at the Basel, Bern and Küsnacht/ZH locations will be spread over several shoulders in order to consolidate existing business areas and develop new competencies. Vérène Gaillard Christen, Anita Gut, Güvengül Köz Brown and Gaby Müller are the new members of the Executive Board with various management functions.
Thomas Löhrer will also become a member of the Executive Board as Delegate of the Board of Directors. He is quoted in the press release as saying that all three agency locations see opportunities for the targeted further development of their own expertise. This applies to traditional areas such as public affairs and design management as well as new areas such as cross-platform multimedia and online communication. Agency owners Stefan Batzli, Thomas Löhrer and Oliver Wimmer will increasingly focus on client support and the strategic management of the agency group.

Anita Good

Gaby Müller

Güvengül Köz Brown

Thomas Löhrer

Vérène Gaillard