The McCann Erickson agency in Geneva has implemented the latest promotion for Nestlé's "Fitness Cereals" breakfast cereals. The Sunday Brunch competition launched for this purpose offers 20 potential winners the prospect of a Sunday brunch for six people in a luxury hotel.
The promotional idea is communicated via various channels: on-pack, online, with advertisements and a 7-second tag-on. The commercial was produced by Gb Studios and directed by the Geneva agency.

To the spot
To the microsite

The agency Pepr (Peter Eberhard Public Relations), which was launched in Oetwil am See on January 1, 2008, was able to add several new mandates to its existing client base in the first few months of its existence. New clients include Bühler (Uzwil), Fibrelac (Vevey), KV Zurich Business School Weiterbildung (Zurich) and Expense Reduction Analysts ERA (Zurich), according to a press release issued on Monday.
The agency, managed by founder and owner Peter Eberhard, is primarily active in the areas of corporate communications, crisis communications, financial market communications, editorial and copywriting as well as communications coaching for industrial and service companies.

The editorial team of the Zürcher Kirchenblatt Reformiert is to be professionalized according to the wishes of the sponsoring association. Due to the upcoming reorganization, Matthias Herren, editor in charge, is leaving the four-person editorial team at the end of the month.
The separation is by mutual agreement, the sponsoring association announced in a press release. Herren had played a key role in shaping the Kirchenbote, the predecessor of the Reformierte Zeitung, since 2002. He also contributed a great deal to the development of cross-cantonal cooperation in the current Reformiert newspaper. It is not yet clear what the new editorial structure will look like, announced Rolf Kühni, President of the sponsoring association, when asked by SDA. Until now, the management has changed periodically.
Until the end of 2007, the Kirchenbote was published by the Pastors' Association of the Canton of Zurich. Since the beginning of 2008, a special association consisting of delegates from the Reformed Church Synod, the Pastors' Association and the Church Council has been responsible for publishing the Reformed Newspaper, which appears fortnightly.

As of October 1, Swiss Television SF, together with Swisscom and Télévision Suisse Romande, is expanding the TV offering for cell phones launched in 2006. "SF Tagesschau 100 Sekunden" will be expanded to include the weather report "SF Meteo 60 Sekunden" and a "Sport Flash". The weather service offers up-to-date weather forecasts four times a day, while the Sport Flash provides information on events from the world of sport three times a day in German and French.
The current 40,000 or so subscribers to "SF Tagesschau 100 Sekunden" will receive the "News and Sport" service automatically and free of charge. New subscribers can obtain the news service for two francs per day or nine francs per month. This service is available to all Swisscom customers with a UMTS or EDGE-capable cell phone.

Swiss mountaineers Ueli Steck and Simon Anthamatten saved the life of a colleague in the Himalayas. For their "selfless rescue action", the two alpinists received the Prix Courage 2008 from the magazine Beobachter on Friday.
Every year, the Prix Courage honors people who act with particular courage and selflessness. Steck and Anthamatten did not hesitate to risk their own lives for their colleagues in need, said writer Franz Hohler in praise of the two at the award ceremony in Zurich's Schiffbau on Friday evening.
This year's audience award went to 50-year-old Monika Schmid from Illnau-Effretikon ZH. The readers of the Beobachter honored the parish leader for her criticism of the Catholic Church's handling of pedophile priests. Schmid took a clear stand in a television appearance on "Wort zum Sonntag" - as a result, her term of office in the Catholic Church was extended by only one year instead of three. The audience award is endowed with 10,000 Swiss francs.

The founder and chairman of the organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Robert Ménard, is stepping down. He will resign from his post next Tuesday to "do something else," he announced Friday, according to SDA.
The 55-year-old Frenchman founded the organization, which campaigns worldwide for press freedom and against the suppression of journalists, 23 years ago in Montpellier in southern France. His successor will be 35-year-old Jean-François Julliard, who has been with RSF since 1998.

It must have blown the minds of the crew of the small but fine underwear manufacturer Zimmerli of Switzerland when they found out: David Beckham is wearing Zimmerli. And not at home in the garden playing with his sons and spouse, no, officially in the Beckham 2009 calendar. An employee of the company tracked down the suspicious pictures on the online platform of 20 Minuten. The company is quoted in the Sunday newspaper as saying that it is considering how to exploit this good news in a legal way. The fact that shortly after the good news was delivered, the first doubts (Is it perhaps a Beckham lookalike? Or even an undershirt from another manufacturer?) emerged, Michael Sarp, head of Zimmerli's parent company v.Nordeck, cares little: One is quite happy, everything else does not matter.

So far so good. But there's a small catch: our British beauty is under contract with Emporio Armani Underwear. The deal is said to be worth 28 million euros. At Armani, however, they don't seem too impressed by Beckham's alleged infidelity: "Zimmerli? Honestly, that doesn't mean anything to me," said a press spokesman at the company's headquarters when asked by the Sunday newspaper. However, he promised to look into the matter - but first he would have to get hold of the calendar. You'd have to be a press officer at Armani...

Scholz & Friends is launching a campaign against child abuse for World Children's Day 2008. With an animated TV and cinema spot, the Zurich-based agency is supporting Kindernothilfe's efforts to raise public awareness of the sexual exploitation of children.
The commercial calls on people to support the aid organization in preventing abuse, according to a statement from the agency. Scholz & Friends developed the current commercial together with the animation house The Mills for Switzerland and Germany.
The commercial can be seen online around World Children's Day, which is celebrated in Germany and Switzerland in September and November. It will also be shown on selected TV channels and in cinemas.
Scholz & Friends Hamburg has been working for Kindernothilfe for three years. With the current commercial, Scholz & Friends Zurich is now also supporting Kindernothilfe in Switzerland for the first time.
Kindernothilfe, one of the largest children's aid organizations in the German-speaking world, is active in 28 countries. Its work focuses on combating poverty and providing disaster relief.
Here is the spot for viewing

Vizner Borel has developed a new website for the Swiss Institute of Kinesiology Ikamed. The Zurich-based communications agency also created the new corporate identity/corporate design and designed the 2008/2009 course program for Ikamed.
The Institute of Kinesiology has been training people in various areas of complementary medicine for 20 years. Ikamed also offers training in classical medicine.
Responsible at Ikamed: Lars Sonderegger, Martina Sonderegger-Rotschi, Nadine Portmann-Bollinger. Responsible at Vizner Borel: Lajos Vizner, Guillaume Borel (overall responsibility), Andrea Vizzaro, Patricia Tschumi (consulting), Florian Steiner (art direction), Robi FAzio (DTP), Edurit (website).

Major personnel changes at McCann Erickson: Chief Creative Officer Timo Kirez will be leaving the agency shortly. The Chairman and Chief Creative Officer and the management of the advertising agency based in Geneva and Zurich have decided to end their collaboration. CEO Beat Mühlemann explains why to Werbewoche.
"Timo Kirez has tried to lead the creative departments of both McCann agencies with great determination and commitment. That is an incredibly difficult task," Mühlemann told Werbewoche. He had to manage seven people in Zurich and nine people in Geneva who were working on completely different jobs. "It couldn't be managed like that. That's why we have now decided together with Germany that we need to find a different solution." According to Mühlemann, this means that the offices in Zurich and Geneva will work much more closely together in future. The aim is to utilize the potential of both agencies to a greater extent and to have the creative departments managed by two creative heads who work closely together. Kirez saw the proposal to lead the creative team in Geneva from now on as a downgrade.
Over the past nine years, Hamburg-born Timo Kirez and his team have realized numerous campaigns, some of which have won awards at national and international competitions. He has been instrumental in building up the agency.
Nothing is yet known about Kirez's professional future. His employment with McCann Erickson ends at the end of March 2009. "However, we have agreed with him that he will be free to dispose of his time as he wishes with immediate effect," says Mühlemann. "Timo has a name in Switzerland. He is an ADC member and has worked successfully in Switzerland for many years. I am sure that he will quickly find an exciting position again." His two successors are to be announced in the next few days.
Commenting on the agency's realignment, Mühlemann said: "In future, there will simply be McCann Erickson Switzerland. As we have two strong footholds in Geneva and Zurich, we are very familiar with the different perceptions and mentalities in French-speaking and German-speaking Switzerland. I am convinced that this is extremely interesting for many clients."

The Zurich agency Four is now responsible for Sunrise's offer communication. Four's first task was to develop a modular system to advertise the telecommunications company's hardware offers, current promotions, price plans and quality topics.
Various print advertisements now appear regularly in Sunday newspapers, daily newspapers and magazines. The aim of the advertising is to generate promotional sales.
Additional measures from the concept will be used for future Sunrise Center openings, according to a statement from Agentur Four.
Responsible at Sunrise Communications: Priska Heger (Director Residential Marcom), Anabel Rodriguez (ATL Communication), Eva Sueiro (Channel Communication). Responsible at Four Werbeagentur: Björn Brinkmann, Philipp Sträuli (CD), Sandra Genge, Christian Hansen, Daniel Gerber (consulting).

As Marc Hallauer, Head of Marketing Communications at Baloise, confirmed, the Zurich agency has won a competitive tender and can now dispose of the entire advertising budget. Further information on the collaboration between the insurance provider and the agency will be announced next week after the contract has been signed. According to Hallauer, in addition to the innovative ideas, the integrated proposal from Y&R was particularly convincing.
The Baloise Group, headquartered in Basel, offers insurance and pension solutions in continental Europe. Baloise's strategy focuses on sustainable and profitable growth in preferred target segments, emphasized Markus Gut from Advico in a press release on Friday. Its markets are Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Austria, Croatia and Serbia. The Baloise Group employs around 8,600 people.
A great budget win for CEO Andreas Widmer and CCO Markus Gut of Advico Young & Rubicam, who have been in office for almost exactly two hundred days.