The German agency Serviceplan is going to great lengths to revitalize its presence on the Internet: With immediate effect, one of the largest network-independent advertising agencies in the country is going on air with its own web TV channel. On the Sp-tv.de website, users will be able to choose between three broadcast formats: DOQ-TV provides background reports on topics from the advertising industry, Ad TV shows the best advertising clips and After Work TV allows a look behind the scenes at the Serviceplan agency. The channel aims to shed light on life behind the agency's daily routine, putting the spotlight on people who have distinguished themselves through extraordinary achievements.
SP-TV's TV offering is rounded off by the Ad TV format, which shows the best of Serviceplan's advertising. TV commercials and their making-ofs can be seen, as well as spectacular guerrilla campaigns and outdoor advertising.
With its web TV offering, Serviceplan wants to underline its claim as an innovation agency, the agency writes in a press release. "What we want to show with this is not only our technological expertise but also our creativity in dealing with the new medium," Managing Director Florian Haller was quoted as saying. SP-TV stands as a signal of innovation for the Serviceplan brand.

This year, Vogel Szenemarketing is celebrating its 10th anniversary. The agency, based on Seefeldstrasse in Zurich, is managed by founder Joko Vogel and partner Christoph Waeber.
Vogel Szenemarketing is active in the areas of idea development, communication management and scene marketing. Its client portfolio includes Nestlé, the McGregor Fashion Group, Coca Cola and Microsoft. The agency is part of the Compresso network.

The Snowboard Garage has been advertising with the brand promise "Born to board" for years. The latest advertising motif from the BMB agency is now intended to show unconditional devotion to virgin deep-snow slopes and is resolved with the slogan "Born to board", writes the BMB advertising agency in a press release.
The motif appears at the start of winter as an advertisement in trend and snowboard magazines. It is also used for poster advertising and BTL campaigns.
The Snowboard Garage, with branches in Zurich, Thalwil, Lachen, Davos, Flims and Laax, has been offering everything to do with snowboarding for over 20 years.
Responsible at Snowboard Garage: Beat Gattiker (owner). Responsible at BMB: Flavio Meroni and Neven Kissenpfennig (Art Direction), Christian Baertschi and Marion Schwager (Consulting), Sam Bolleter and Ruth Meier (Realization). Photography: Thomas Ulrich. Image processing: Patrik Rohner.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg presented his latest product in Europe this week. With the Connect technology, external websites can access the platform's information, as the NZZ writes on Friday.
To date, this function has been accessible to 24 partners worldwide; in a few months' time, Connect will be open to all developers as an interface. In this way, Zuckerberg plans to further expand the platform's position as a hub.
In Europe, only the German ticket manager Amiando uses the Connect function. Amiando customers can use it to communicate with their Facebook contacts about ticket sales and discounts.
The social networking site Facebook has over 100 million members worldwide. Following the reopening of the headquarters in Dublin, Zuckerberg is planning two further branches in Germany and France, as he mentioned to .ch.

The Zurich agency Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett has created a campaign for the Stellen-Anzeiger that focuses on passive job seekers. The subjects show people with dream jobs who, despite ideal working conditions, take a look at the Stellen-Anzeiger: Both the lifeguard, who has the best prospects in his profession, and the football star surrounded by cheering fans are interested in the job advertisement. Even the Queen finds out whether there is a better job for her.
The three subjects will be used as posters in Zurich and the surrounding area, as advertisements in the daily and Sunday press and as cinema slides.

Responsible at Tamedia Stellenmarkt: Michael Kohlas (Marketing and Sales Manager), Nicole Zintl (Product Manager). Responsible at Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett: Cornelia Wenk (AD), Barbara Hutter, Maren Beck (text), Martin Spillmann, Peter Brönnimann (CD), Andy Stäheli, Martina Fäh (consulting), Suzana Kovacevic (artbuying), photographer: Tobias R. Dürring, image processing: Rorbert Staudinger.

The dispute between the Ticino state radio station RTSI and the government of the canton of Graubünden appears to be calming down: As was announced on Thursday, Radiotelevisione della Svizzera italiana intends to increase its reporting from Graubünden.
Following pressure from the Graubünden cantonal council, the Ticino side is now planning to increase the number of staff in Chur, where three RTSI journalists currently work. Following a meeting with director Dino Balestra in Lugano on Thursday, Graubünden cantonal councillor Claudio Lardi told SDA that RTSI will endeavor to fulfill some of the requests in the foreseeable future.
The cantonal government's main concern is that the RTSI should provide more information about events and happenings from the whole of Graubünden and not just from the Italian-speaking southern valleys. To this end, correspondent positions should be created in the German- and Romansh-speaking valleys.
At the beginning of September, the Graubünden government took a strong stance towards the RTSI in order to emphasize its earlier demands.

The Zurich agency Weber Harbeke announces new personnel additions: Since October 1, 2008, Giovanni Pucci has strengthened the team as Managing Partner and Christina Zvecevac as Account Director.
According to Dr. Rudolf Farner, Pucci's professional career led him via Wirz Werbeberatung, NCK, Marsden, Hartmann FCB, Leo Burnett, Pucci, Burkhalter to Pucci, Sulzer. Most recently, he was Managing Partner at Kunde & Co Pucci Sulzer after the merger with Kunde & Co.
Christina Zvecevac started her career at Philips (Switzerland) and TBS Identity Zurich. Most recently, she worked as a marketing communications planner at Kunde & Co Pucci Sulzer.
With the new employees, the agency also gained five new clients: Fiat Group Automobiles Switzerland SA with Lancia Automobile, Illva SA with Disaronno and Corvo Wines, Graubünden Festival with Snow & Symphony and Art & Symphony, Migros Genossenschaftsbund with Photo Service and M-Cumulus.

In a multi-stage pitch, the Blue Spirit agency was able to secure Wesco's entire communications budget. The decisive factor for the positive decision in favor of the Schlieren-based agency was above all the strategic and conceptual approach, writes Blue Spirit in a press release
The first measures at BtB level should be visible before the end of the year. Wesco is one of the leading Swiss companies in the areas of kitchen ventilation, cleanroom and filter technology and has been on the market for over 30 years.

The Biel-based press illustrator Barrigue is planning to publish a new satirical magazine for French-speaking Switzerland next year. As reported in Thursday's edition of the Bieler Tagblatt, he is in negotiations with the Biel printing company Courvoisier. However, the die is not yet cast as far as the printing company is concerned, emphasizes Barrigue. The launch should take place in time for the Geneva Book Salon at the end of April 2009. In addition to Barrigue, the magazine team includes satirists such as Thierry Meury, Laurent Flutch and Vincent Kohler. It will one day be published with a circulation of 15,000 copies. "In my opinion, this magazine will fill an important gap in the Swiss media landscape," continued the illustrator, who worked for the daily newspaper Le Matin for 29 years. The magazine will be published weekly.

One in four companies in Switzerland intends to hire a marketing agency with greater expertise in digital media in the next 12 months or has already done so in the past year. This is shown by the results of the latest "Agency of the Future" study, which was conducted on behalf of the global consulting firm Sapient in collaboration with Redshift Research. The study involved 500 companies with more than 1,000 employees in England, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands and Switzerland. In Switzerland, 100 companies were surveyed, as Markus Spiller from Sapient explained to Werbewoche in an interview (see next print edition of Werbewoche on October 16). According to the study, the use of digital media will increase the most in Switzerland compared to other countries, together with Germany. With an expected growth rate of 42% (compared to the current 14%), Switzerland has the second highest growth rate of all the countries surveyed.
In a country comparison, Europe still lags behind the USA when it comes to digital marketing. However, the considerable growth rates also show that companies are increasingly focusing on interactive and digital channels in their marketing and are also demanding this expertise from agencies.
In a European comparison, Swiss companies currently have the least confidence in their current agency when it comes to digital media: 35% of the companies surveyed were unsure whether their current agency is well positioned in the area of digital/interactive. In Germany, for example, the majority of companies are confident that their current agency is well equipped for interactive and digital media (65% extremely confident).
Creative services (83%), understanding consumer behavior (68%) and branding (58%) are among the top three requirements for agencies in Switzerland, as in the other countries. Interactive/digital ranks fifth on the priority scale, but has already overtaken direct marketing, for example, and is only just behind print media.
Increased use of "pull" interactions and virtual communities
In order to get in touch with their consumers, 75% of marketing professionals expect agencies to use "pull" interactions - for example online communities such as Facebook - instead of traditional "push" campaigns. The study shows that the interest of marketing professionals in the use of social networks is currently lowest in the UK (22%), while companies in Switzerland (42%) and Germany (35%) see the greatest potential in marketing via social networks.
(Image: Markus Spiller, Group Account Director Continental Europe at Sapient)

Europe is changing, the borders are falling. As a result, the tasks of the Swiss Border Guard Corps will shift significantly in the near future. Instead of sitting in warm cubicles looking at passport photos, the uniformed officers will soon be doing much more forest and meadow work. But there is a shortage of people for the new tasks. As the newspaper Sonntag reported, new people are already being sought in French-speaking Switzerland with elaborate advertising spots. Soon, advertising is to be carried out on a grand scale. A national campaign is planned for next year. And if this does not bear fruit, they are even considering recruiting applicants from abroad. What is most interesting, however, is the way in which the spots are advertised: Chases in speedboats and cars, spectacular drug finds, shootouts, hand-to-hand combat, adrenaline rushes. In addition, there is driving, electronic music and a fast editing technique. The viewer feels reminded of action movies and computer games. A questionable presentation.

Click here for the questionable commercial

The Zurich public transport company VBZ has produced a podcast entitled "Money and Spirit in Zurich", which takes streetcar and bus passengers to around 20 important buildings and places in Zurich and gives them an insight into the history of the city. The launch campaign was created by the Ruf Lanz agency. The example of Alfred Escher shows that even old Zurich residents can still learn something from this podcast. The Alfred Escher monument on Bahnhofplatz was fitted with the typical white iPod earphones for this purpose.
The motif will now appear full-page in the public press and as a poster on the back of many streetcars and buses.
Responsible at VBZ: Heinz Vögeli (Head of Corporate Communications), Ursina Wirz (Project Management). Responsible at Ruf Lanz: Markus Ruf, Danielle Lanz (CD), Marcel Schläfle (Art Direction), Markus Ruf (Text), Michèle Leibacher (Consulting). Photography: Sven Germann.