The Bern-based advertising agency Contexta has developed a comprehensive campaign for the launch of the Swisscom Natel liberty mezzo subscription. The images are intended to show that thanks to the included data allowance of 250 MB per month, you can surf a little more with your cell phone. Natel liberty mezzo is thus advertised as the right surfing subscription for all those who surf, e-mail and make phone calls on their cell phones every day. The message "surf more" is communicated throughout Switzerland by means of advertisements. Posters, online advertising and measures at points of sale also complement the campaign.
Responsible at Swisscom (Switzerland) Ltd: Thomas Ulrich (overall responsibility), Roger Renfer, Patrizio Pivirotto (advertising management), Daniel Röösli (marketing communication) and Sake Goekbas (online communication). Responsible at Contexta: Bene Abegglen and Moritz Staehelin (creative direction), Florian Brand (art direction), Patrick Ryffel (text), Patrick Fawer and Sam Divers (graphics), Nadine Borter (overall responsibility), Christian-Kumar Meier (consulting management), Susanne Kuhn, and Audrey Arnold (consulting). Photography: Giovanni Castell, Hamburg. Image editing: Patrick Rohner. Internet: Atfront, Peter Eisenegger, Daniel Landolt. Media: Mediaschneider, Zurich.

The advertising company Bürgi & Partner changes its name. On January 1, 2009, Curt Bürgi and his wife Anita Bürgi sold their shares to the third founding partner and managing director, Andi Schaerer. As of next year, the agency will continue to operate under the name Schaerer und Partner.
Bürgi & Partner started in 1999 with the three founders Curt Bürgi, Anita Bürgi and Andi Schaerer. Today, the Lenzburg-based full-service agency consists of a team of around 20 employees.

For the first time, six Swiss students have received the internationally recognized Master in Journalism. The certificates were awarded in Hamburg. In Lucerne, there was also the diploma from the Swiss School of Journalism MAZ.
The master's program was made possible by the cooperation between the Swiss media training center MAZ and the Hamburg Media School (HMS), as the MAZ announced in a communiqué on Monday. The first year of the course will be spent in Hamburg, the second in Lucerne.
Through the cooperation, the students have benefited from the network of the MAZ as well as from the contacts of the HMS in the media metropolis of Hamburg, the statement continues. The course is supported by renowned publishers, the SRG and German broadcasters, and various associations.
The following received a Master's degree: David Bauer (SonntagsZeitung), Lilly-Anne Brugger (Mittellandzeitung), Regina Castelberg (Tamedia Newsportal), Olivia Kühni (Tamedia Newsportal), Simone Schmid (NZZ am Sonntag) and Regula Zehnder (Radio DRS).

The journalists' association Impressum reacts to the decision communicated today by Tamedia to abolish the editorial independence of the Bernese daily newspaper der Bund and to cut jobs in the process. It calls on Tamedia to consider the financial situation of the entire publishing house and not just that of individual titles. If there is no pressure on the company as a whole, media diversity in the regions - especially in the capital - must take priority, the statement says. The largest Swiss association of media professionals considers Tamedia's decision to be premature. The media company is thus living up to its journalistic responsibility.
Impressum calls on both project groups and the steering committee consisting of Charles von Graffenried, Pietro Supino and Martin Kall to actively involve the editors concerned in the initial phase of project planning. The Journalists' Association recalls the statement issued by the Press Council on 13 July 2008, which grants editorial offices the right to be consulted on projects that involve a fundamental change to their organization. This is particularly the case when journalistic content is affected, it continues. Impressum calls on Tamedia to give preference to alternatives that guarantee the editorial independence of the Confederation, even if these are less economically interesting.
The media union Comedia wants to use the time until a decision is made to hold talks with the affected editorial offices, as spokeswoman Stephanie von Arburg told SDA. It is a matter of journalistic issues and the preservation of jobs.

Oswald Siegfried Werbeagentur (OSW) has designed a business-to-business campaign for its client Toppharm Apotheken to recruit new members for the association of independent pharmacies. The testimonial ads are peppered with personal quotes from Toppharm members. These are intended to illustrate the advantages of the association compared to a pharmacy chain, the agency wrote in a press release on Monday. The advertisements will appear this year and next year in specialist pharmaceutical media and on the Internet.

Responsible at Toppharm: Judith Lanz (Head of Marketing and Communication). Responsible at OSW: Michael Oswald (AD), René Fisch (text), Nadine Siegfried (consulting), Fotoatelier Siegfried (photos).

APG has appointed a new member to the management team at its Zurich branch: Beat Nievergelt will take up the position of branch manager on January 1, 2009. Robert Vego will take over as Head of Key Account Management on December 8, 2008. The two will succeed Beat Holenstein, who will be responsible for the national Marketing & Acquisition division as of January 1, 2009, as well as deputizing for APG Managing Director Ivan Schultheiss.
Beat Nievergelt, a long-time APG employee, will be put in charge of the Zurich branch, writes the poster company in a statement on Monday. The 39-year-old federal sales manager has held various management positions within the Affichage Holding subsidiary and most recently served as head of branch sales in Zurich.
Robert Vego will take over as Head of Key Account Management as early as December 8, 2008. Before joining APG, the 34-year-old was, among other things, Marketing and Sales Manager at Alcan Airex in Sins, as well as Sales Manager and Member of the Executive Board at Publicitas in Basel.

Weber Harbeke launches the second festive issue of Più magazine for Migros. After the first special edition was dedicated to baking and decorating, this issue focuses on culinary delights and gift-giving. The aim is to demonstrate Migros' product range expertise. Traditional recipes from Swiss festive cuisine such as pâté, ham and fillet in pastry are featured on around 24 pages. The old recipes are interpreted in a contemporary way with special spices and sauces, the agency wrote in a press release on Monday. The Sélection range will also be given a place in the magalog.
Più will be available in all Migros stores from December 1, 2008. It will also appear throughout Switzerland in the weekly and monthly press and in a partial edition of Migros magazine. Further issues for the coming year are already in the works.

Responsible at the Federation of Migros Cooperatives, Zurich: Wolfgang Schuster, (Project Manager Market Development), Miriam Fuchs (Project Manager Seasonal Focus), Isabel Läderach (Junior Project Manager Seasonal Focus). Responsible at Weber Harbeke: Thomas Harbeke, Max Weber (CD), Christian Sidow (text), Evelina Melchiori (AD), Michael Kaelin, Sibill Zellweger (graphics), Dominik Abt (consulting), Biglife-Production (photos), Christian Splettstösser (Foodsyling).

After a break of around six months, the crisis-hit Swiss bank UBS has been running half-page testimonials with UBS clients in Swiss daily newspapers since last Wednesday. The tenor of the testimonials: "Thanks to our many years of good cooperation, we stand by UBS despite the difficult situation.
According to the Sonntagszeitung, the campaign has triggered a storm of enthusiasm among other UBS clients, who now want to take part in the campaign. According to the newspaper report, UBS has decided to have Publicis design twelve more subjects. And the advertising budget will be increased from one to two million. The campaign will run until January.
If UBS's financial situation does not deteriorate further, the big bank intends to launch a product-related campaign at the beginning of the year alongside the client testimonials. This will advertise investment topics such as home financing and retirement provision.

Ticino publishers want to join forces and have founded a holding company for this purpose. TImedia Holding includes the publishers of Corriere del Ticino and Giornale del Popolo as well as the Lombardi family. The latter controls the television station TeleTicino. According to the communiqué, the holding company intends to acquire shares in Ticino media companies and establish support companies. Synergies are to be exploited in administration and operations management.
TImedia also aims at "innovative multimedia" that includes print, radio, TV, web and mobile telephony. The holding company is being formed around a "hard core of five publishers" who have long worked together - Corriere del Ticino, Giornale del Popolo, TeleTicino, Radio3i and the online portal Ticinonews.ch. The new holding company has a capital of three million francs. Of this, Corriere contributed 46 percent of the capital, Giornale nine percent and the Lombardi family 45 percent. The Chairman is Fabio Soldati, and the CEO will be Ticino's CVP Council of States member Filippo Lombardi.

The communications agency Rod has developed an advertising campaign for World AIDS Day for the international aid organization Médecins Sans Frontières. The campaign will be used in 19 countries. It aims to draw attention to the fact that 1.7 million HIV-positive children worldwide have no access to antiretroviral drugs. Governments and donors must therefore ensure that more children have access to diagnosis and treatment, according to a statement from the agency. Without treatment, half of all children with AIDS die before their second birthday.
Responsible at Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF): Stephan Grosse Rüschkamp (MSF Drug Campaign). Responsible at Rod Communication: Maurus Zehnder, Sascha Borsai and Petra Hiltenbrand. Photography: Jonathan Heyer. Styling: Karin Frey, Rod Robinson. Image editing: Stephan Riederer.

In an interview with the Sonntagszeitung newspaper, SRG's Director General said that he expects advertising revenues for 2008 to be around six percent lower than budgeted. "We are expecting advertising revenue of CHF 297 million this year, which is CHF 18 million less than budgeted." Nevertheless, the overall result will be better than expected. With sponsorship and fee income exceeding the budget and cost savings made in 2008, SRG is expected to end the year with a deficit of only CHF 28 million instead of CHF 57 million.
Walpen also said that he did not expect any fee increases in the next two years. He also announced a continuation of the austerity measures. Walpen was skeptical about merging television and radio under one brand. Although this is an option that SRG is examining, he personally is rather against it. With regard to television director Ingrid Deltenre, Walpen does not believe that she will leave in the near future, as he said. Statements to this effect in an interview would probably not have been meant that way.