The Zurich agency Publicis has launched a new campaign for Swiss in Germany. It advertises the low-cost flights from Hamburg, Berlin, Hanover and Stuttgart to Switzerland, which take place several times a day. The advertising campaign consists of advertisements and posters as well as witty radio spots in the form of short language lessons in which Germans are encouraged to repeat the Swiss dialect.
Swiss radio spot, lesson 6
Swiss radio spot, lesson 8
Swiss radio spot, lesson 12
Responsible at Swiss: Marcel Benz (Head of Marketing Communications), Christine Moch (Manager Advertising), Corinne Weishaupt (Advertising), Stefan Anetzeder (Advertising). Responsible at Publicis: Martin Denecke (CCO), Peter Rettinghausen (Creative Director), Ralph Halder (Creative Director), Denis Schwarz (Art Director), Stephan Lanz and Myriam Mojon (Consultants).

Four posters in the colors of the Federal Council parties are the focus of the campaign for a Yes to the hemp initiative on November 30. The initiative committee wants to symbolize the fact that the proposal, albeit in a modified form and a few years earlier, was actually once supported by all parties.
(See below for pictures of the posters)
"You know that our model is practically identical to the model proposed by the Federal Council in its message in 2001," said Geri Müller (Greens/AG), National Councillor and Co-President of the non-partisan "Yes to the hemp initiative" committee, to the media in Bern on Monday. "At the time, the Federal Council represented the four major parties. That's why we designed our poster campaign in the style of the major parties."
Not only the colors and typography are reminiscent of the appearance of the parties, the campaign also advertises with the principles of the four Federal Council parties, applied to the hemp issue. For example, the poster in the colors of the FDP (blue, white and black) advertises with the slogan "Stop Prohibition State - Yes to the Hemp Initiative".
The posters are not signed by the parties. "We don't want to make a fake," said Müller. While the FDP and SP support the hemp initiative, the CVP and SVP reject the bill.
The four subjects can be seen individually, but also together on one poster in a global format. The concept was developed by the initiative committee together with the communications agency Arnold. Inhalt und Form from Stäfa.

In a statement, the Press Council has rejected a complaint against the Swiss Press Agency SDA. A reader had approached the supervisory body because, in his opinion, the anonymity of the Swiss person responsible for the accident had not been fully preserved in the reporting on an accident in Italy. Although neither name nor picture were published, other details such as age, dual citizenship or place of residence would have allowed the person concerned to be identified, according to the complainant.
The Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Journalists actually states that neither the name nor the characteristics of a person may be published if they are involved in legal proceedings, as in this case. The Press Council countered this by stating that the personal details were not unimportant for readers' understanding. Moreover, identification outside the circle of family and friends as well as his professional environment was hardly possible.
The person responsible for the accident had caused a collision between a bus and a streetcar in Milan with his off-roader. A 52-year-old woman died and 26 people were injured.

The headquarters of "The World's Finest Clubs" (WFC) in Zollikon has commissioned the Berlin branch of PR agency Stöhlker & Partner with the management of its German operations. The agency is now in charge of sales and communication for the limited-edition member card throughout Germany.
"The World's Finest Clubs", a network of over 70 exclusive clubs, bars, restaurants and hotels in 15 countries, was founded in Zurich in 2003 by Patrick Liotard-Vogt and partners with the aim of providing frequent travelers with uncomplicated VIP access to a worldwide network of exclusive clubs. These include names such as the Armani Privé in Milan, the Pink Elephant in New York, the Baby! in Munich and the Club Rotes Cliff in Kampen on the island of Sylt.

The Ogilvy agency network is celebrating its anniversary tomorrow, exactly 60 years after it was founded. More than 15,000 employees in around 120 countries are taking part in a "virtual party" to toast agency founder David Ogilvy, as the agency announced on Monday.
Ogilvy first tried his hand as a chef, salesman, diplomat and even a farmer. It was not until he was 39 that he started his career as an advertiser and founded the agency "Hewitt, Ogilvy, Benson & Mather" in New York. During his career, he created advertising texts, slogans and headlines for Guinness, Dove and Schweppes, among others, which became world-famous classics.
He created probably the most famous headline for Rolls-Royce: "At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock". The copywriter believed in innovation and change - standing still was a thorn in his side. As an author, he wrote the two legendary books "Confessions of an Advertising Man" and "Ogilvy on Advertising", which are still read in the advertising industry today.

Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett has created a mini-campaign for the Swiss Radio DRS radio play tour to draw attention to the offer during the course of the spectacle. The round trips with SF DRS's own productions run on Fridays and Saturdays. The radio play cruise can still be experienced on Lake Lucerne on September 26 and 27 and ends its cycle the following weekend on Lake Zurich.
The creative agency relied on posters in bookstores and flyers available at the shipping companies and in tourist and cultural centers.
Responsible at SR DRS: Béatrice Merlach (Head of Communications and Marketing), Adrian Jordi (Head of Listener Services), Michèle Hess (Head of Marketing), Marlies Schüpbach (Marketing). Responsible at Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett: Diana Rossi (text), Katja Puccio (AD), Peter Brönnimann (CD), Noemi Schmid/Andy Stäheli (consulting), Sebahat Derdiyok (art buying), Marc Wetli (photographer), Felix Schregenberger (image processing).

The German tabloid Bild gives the public a glimpse into its editorial offices for a month. At the morning editorial conference, a member of the editorial team or a guest from the worlds of politics, business, sport or culture will review the previous day's edition. And from Monday, all visitors to Bild.de will be able to watch this ten-minute review as a video. In order to give it a little marketing boost, Bild has invited German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier as its first guest. Commenting on the campaign, Bild editor-in-chief Kai Diekmann said: "Public criticism of the paper will bring us closer to our readers." It's probably the other way around, but it will certainly be entertaining. From today Monday on Bild.de.

This week, SVP National Councillor Natalie Rickli will submit a parliamentary initiative to reverse the mandatory fee for Internet TV and cell phone radio that has been in force since September 1. She told the NZZ am Sonntag that it was unacceptable for computers and cell phones to be treated like conventional reception devices. This would turn the fee into a tax for everyone.
Thomas Rudin, spokesman for the reception fee collector Billag, expressed his surprise at the initiative. Firstly, 95 of private individuals and companies already pay fees, and secondly, the question of equal treatment arises, he told the Sonntagsblatt. Rickli disagreed, saying that a radio or TV set is purchased with the aim of receiving such programs. This is not the case with a computer or cell phone.
(In the picture: Natalie Rickli / Picture: Keystone)

Bülacher Zeitung, the name for a daily online media platform and a printed newspaper published on Fridays, is set to launch on Monday. Buelacherzeitung.com is to be a complete daily newspaper for the town of Bülach on the Internet, according to a press release. The project is supported by the Ü50-Journalisten association and will be financed exclusively through advertisements. The web and print content will be produced by a three-person editorial team.
The print edition of the Bülacher Zeitung is published every Friday with a circulation of 10,000 copies. It is intended to record the information published on the Internet portal for the previous week and offer a preview for the following week. In addition to the news section, the web portal will offer services in the areas of tourism, gastronomy, leisure, business and events.

In the eighth brand ranking conducted by Interbrand and Businessweek, five Swiss companies have made it into the top 100 of the world's most valuable brands. Nescafé is in 28th place with a "brand value" of 13.05 billion dollars, followed by UBS in 41st place with 8.74 billion dollars, Nestlé in 63rd place with 5.59 billion dollars, Rolex in 71st place with 4.95 billion dollars and Cartier in 79th place with 4.24 billion dollars. Of these, UBS was the only one to record a loss in value of minus 11 percent.
List on the website of the Best Global Brands 2008
Coca Cola remains the undisputed number one in the overall ranking. It was even able to increase its value by 2 percent to a total of 66.67 billion dollars. IBM and Microsoft follow in second and third place with 59.03 and 59.01 billion dollars respectively. Eight of the top ten places are occupied by US brands. Only after General Electric (GE) comes the most valuable European brand, Nokia, in fifth place with 35.94 billion dollars.
The big winner on the list is - how could it be otherwise - the internet giant Google with a 43% increase in value and a rise of ten places to 10th place. It is followed by Apple and Amazon on the winners' list with 24% and 19% increase in value respectively. Among the losers are, also unsurprisingly, mainly financial companies such as Merrill Lynch (now sold), Morgan Stanley and Citi.
The best newcomer in the ranking is H&M. With a brand value of 13.84 billion dollars, the Swedish clothing manufacturer immediately took 22nd place. Other newcomers to the ranking were Thomson Reuters (44th place), Blackberry (73rd place), Ferrari (93rd place), Armani (94th place), Marriott (96th place), Fedex (99th place) and Visa (100th place).
The 100 most important brands once again increased in value in 2008: Their total value rose by just under five percent compared to the previous year to around 1.21 trillion dollars. (2007: 1.16 trillion dollars). The ranking "The Best Global Brands" lists the 100 most valuable global brands with a value of at least 3.3 billion US dollars.

The entry in the commercial register on July 23 is a real eye-opener. The company In-Media AG was founded in Basel, whose purpose is described as follows: "To carry out all activities in connection with the production and distribution of media products of all kinds and in particular in the publishing business (publication of newspapers and magazines and electronic media products)". Particularly piquant: Markus F. Hof is registered as Chairman of the Board of Directors, Ulrich Hurni as Vice Chairman and René Brahier as Managing Director.
The three gentlemen are no strangers to the distribution business. Hof is Director and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Direct Mail Company (DMC), the 50 percent Swiss Post subsidiary that handles the early delivery of the free newspaper .ch and is active in unaddressed daily delivery in several regions. Hurni is Chairman of the Board of DMC and several other distribution companies, where he represents Swiss Post. Finally, Brahier is Managing Director of the DMC offshoot DMB in Biel.
In-Media is therefore a wholly-owned DMC subsidiary and thus virtually a granddaughter of Swiss Post. But why are the logistics companies DMC and Swiss Post suddenly turning their attention to the publishing business? Some publishers will be reminded of Deutsche Post, which has been giving publishers there a real run for their money for months with its project for a nationwide free newspaper owned by Swiss Post. Is Swiss Post planning something similar? Does it want to make publishers compliant in view of the upcoming liberalization of the postal market?
Ulrich Hurni waves his hand vigorously. "No, nothing like that," he says, "we have no intention of publishing a magazine." In-Media is merely concerned with optimizing the DMC sales process. Everything else can be found out from Markus F. Hof, who came up with the concept. Hof, however, remains silent. Despite several inquiries from Werbewoche, he did not reply.
René Brahier, his managing director in Biel, is more forthcoming. In-Media AG, which he will soon be managing, has been publishing a "magazine in mini form" called "In-" since August - a four-page, color folder in tabloid format. "In-" is published twice a week and serves DMC as a cover for the various brochures it distributes in the unaddressed daily delivery. The folder is intended to bring a little more order to letterboxes and increase awareness of the advertising material, says Brahier. At the same time, it also makes the distributors' work easier because the folders are put together by machine in advance.
Brahier describes the editorial concept of "In-" as follows: Each folder is monothematic and somehow topical. The first issues were dedicated to fruit drinks, city shopping, the Olympics, weather and people. Short, timeless snippets of information, large pictures and lots of response options in the form of photo submissions, competitions and ticket draws - that's the "In-" pattern. The website www.in-online.ch has already had over 120,000 contacts after just three issues, says Brahier proudly.
The IST advertising team in Tenniken (BL) is responsible for the content. Whereby "In-" can be booked in whole or in part by advertising customers. In such cases, the IST advertising team follows their specifications: A competition, a recipe, a fashion piece - everything is fitted in. According to Brahier, the corresponding tariffs are still in preparation. The first step is to gain experience, he says. MediaData can be found at www.in-media.ch, the website for customers. The folder is currently being distributed in a print run of 110,000 copies in the Thun region and the Basel area, two areas in which DMC is active. However, Brahier plans to introduce the folder throughout German-speaking Switzerland by the end of 2009 and also have it distributed by other delivery companies. "In-" would then reach one million copies per issue - more than 20 minutes. There are also plans to expand into other language regions. In terms of printing, the folder could also grow to eight pages - depending on demand. And perhaps by then the mini-magazine will also be accepted by letterbox owners with stop stickers. But that is still up in the air. One thing is clear: for the time being, "In-" is simply intended to usher in a new era for direct marketing. However, it has a lot of additional potential.
Markus Knöpfli

Prevag takeover not an issue for Competition CommissionIn June, Swiss Post took over the company Prevag, which is active in addressed early delivery in north-western Switzerland, from Basler Zeitung Medien. Swiss Post now has a monopoly in this business and in economic area 31. This is why the industry association CEP&Mail approached the Competition Commission (ComCo). It demanded that takeovers of delivery organizations and other logistics companies by Swiss Post must be subject to supervision by the Competition Commission. However, the Competition Commission's decision was negative. "The Prevag takeover is not subject to notification under the Cartel Act," says Comco spokesperson Patrik Ducrey. This would require a minimum annual turnover of CHF 100 million, for example. Ducrey: "Prevag is a long way from that." (mk)

On the occasion of the Cannes Premiere 2008, Publicitas Publimedia published a catalog with all the award-winning advertising campaigns. On Thursday, the new sixth edition was presented at the Cannes Premiere in the former freight station in Zurich.
All the advertising campaigns that won bronze, silver, the Gold Lion and the Grand Prix at the Cannes International Advertising Festival are illustrated in the 160-page catalog. The publication is supplemented with all Swiss entries. As always, the BOP is published in German and French.
The BOP - Best of Press catalog was produced in collaboration with Persönlich Verlag. The printing was realized by NZZ Fretz.