35-year-old Greg Christensen has joined Young & Rubicam Brands Geneva as a copywriter. He joins the Geneva agency from Y&R Chicago and looks back on around ten years of experience in the advertising industry. In his new position, Christensen will work on B2B and B2C mandates, including Pharmaton, Baboo and the World Economic Forum.

To mark its 100th anniversary, the flower broker Fleurop-Interflora came up with something special, and it cost a pretty penny. True to the motto: "We'll use any means to deliver the flowers", it had Swiss celebrities parachute over five selected locations as Fleurop ambassadors. They included ski jumper Simon Ammann, skier Bruno Kernen, former Miss Switzerland Jennifer Ann Gerber, pop singer Paloma Würth and former Mister Switzerland Renzo Blumenthal. They and other helpers presented the numerous onlookers in Arbon (TG), Mels (SG), Meggen (LU), Bellach (SO) and Fribourg (FR) with over 16,000 sunflowers. In keeping with the Fleurop motto "Give joy with flowers", the celebrities not only had to give flowers for hours but also sign autographs, according to the press release. The "Fleurop Angels" landed on football pitches and cow pastures. Nothing is known about any mishaps during landings in the pastures.

As of September 1, all companies and service divisions of the Swissprinters Group will operate under the umbrella brand Swissprinters. According to a press release, the joint brand identity is an expression of the successful cooperation between the companies NZZ Fretz AG, Ringier Print Zofingen AG, Zollikofer AG and Imprimeries Réunies Lausanne SA since their foundation in 2004.
The group's range of services has been continuously expanded through successful cooperation in a highly competitive market, the statement continues. Since their foundation, the four companies have grown together to form a strong unit. This shared corporate spirit is emphasized and anchored by strengthening the Swissprinters umbrella brand.
The new holding brand will refer to the three shareholders Ringier (58.8 percent), NZZ (25.2 percent) and Edipresse (16 percent) in its addition, while the individual companies will carry their former company names as brand additions. The service divisions are uniformly identified with Swissprinter's sub-brands. The Group has an annual turnover of around CHF 360 million and employs a total of 1100 people.

Rodolfo Ciucci, Vice President and Head of Corporate Communications at the Kudelski Group, is moving to the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland FHNW, School of Business, in Olten at the beginning of October 2008. He will be working there at the Institute for Competitiveness and Communication as a full-time lecturer for communication management in education (Bachelor and Master programs), in continuing education (Master of Corporate Communication Management) as well as in consulting and research.
Ciucci has many years of communications experience in management positions at major international companies: Among other things, he was Head of Group Communications at Ciba Specialty Chemicals, Head of Corporate Communications at Swiss Re, Head of Media and Information at Hilti and Head of Information and Public Relations at Patria Versicherungen.

Meier & Cie. based in Schaffhausen sold its 20 percent stake in Huber Print Pack to Huber & Co. in Frauenfeld, which belongs to the Swiss media company Tamedia, on August 20, 2008. Huber & Co. now holds 100 percent of the shares in Huber PrintPack and will merge the companies. Tamedia acquired the publishing house Huber & Co. in the fall of 2005, which publishes the Thurgauer Zeitung, among other things, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Thurgauer Medien.

The draw for the first round of the 2008/2009 Swiss Football Cup will take place on August 22 at the Gurten in Bern. Sport.ch, official media partner of the Swiss Cup, will be reporting live on site on the entire draw. The event will be hosted by Jubaira Bachmann, head of music at TV station Viva. The live TV program will be produced in collaboration with Avedia.
From 11.30 am, the live stream can be accessed directly on Sport.ch and Sportal.ch and the draw for the 64 teams can be followed. For those who are unable to stream, the two internet portals will alternatively offer a live ticker with commentary and background information. Sport.ch and Sportal.ch are the sports platform with the widest reach in Switzerland after Blick.ch and Bluewin.ch. It currently records over 8 million page impressions per month.

Because Zurich Airport is significantly expanding its office real estate sector, a branding concept is required for the new premises. Wirz Corporate was commissioned by the airport operator Unique to develop a uniform labeling concept for the four segments Prime Centers, Office Center, Operations Centers and Terminal. This fall, the Wirz Group subsidiary will carry out the first implementations.

The two previous awards Tele-Preis and TV-Star are being merged: On September 5, the two Swiss TV program guides will present the Swiss Television Prize for the first time in Zurich's Maag Event Hall. As Tele and TV-Star announced in a press release, the prize will be awarded in five categories: In the "Lifetime Award" category, the readers of Tele and TV-Star will decide who receives the award. Lilo Pulver, Walo Lüönd and Walter Roderer have been nominated for their lifetime achievement. In the other categories, the prizes are awarded by a jury of experts.
Roeland Wiesnekker ("Strähl", "Breakout") is competing with Joel Basman ("Mein Name ist Eugen") and Joris Gratwohl ("Grounding") for the "Tele-Preis Film", while the satire format "Giacobbo/Müller - Late Service Public" and "Nachtwach" from Swiss Television (SF) are up against "Bauer, ledig, sucht..." for the "Tele-Preis Fernsehsendung".
Rainer Maria Salzgeber ("Sportaktuell", SF), Nik Hartmann ("SF bi de Lüt", SF) and Andrea Jansen ("Bauer, ledig, sucht...", 3+) will decide among themselves who will receive the "TV-Star National" award.
The regional programs "Sara macht's" (Tele Bärn, Tele Tell, Tele M1), "Talk täglich" (Tele Züri) and "Moderatorin hinter Gittern" (Tele Südostschweiz) have been nominated for the "TV-Star Regional" award.

Marco Fritsche from Appenzell is returning to national television: 3+ has hired the 32-year-old to host the new karaoke show "Sing and Win!", which will be broadcast from the fall. The winner is not the most talented person with the best voice, but the one who is most confident with the lyrics and has the most knowledge of music.
Fritsche currently works primarily for the regional broadcaster Tele Ostschweiz, where he has been presenting what the broadcaster calls "Switzerland's earliest late-night show" since the beginning of this year. He achieved national fame as an outside presenter of "Eiger, Mönch und Maier" as well as working for Star TV, Pro7/Sat1 Switzerland and as a VJ for the music channel Viva Switzerland.

This year's RadioDay will focus on the future of the Swiss radio landscape. Illustrious guests have been invited. The head of the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC), Federal Councillor Moritz Leuenberger, will make an appearance in front of the entire Swiss radio industry at the World Trade Center in Zurich. Under the title "Quality is measurable", he will explain to the radio producers in attendance how quality can be measured and why it is of the utmost importance.
Swiss radio advertisers will present their visions under the direction of the editor-in-chief of Werbewoche, Pierre C. Meier. Discussions on the future of digital radio and media convergence are also on the agenda. The day will end with an awards ceremony: the radio station that has recorded the most significant increase in listeners will be awarded the "Radio of the Year" label at the industry event. This will be followed by an aperitif to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Swiss private radio.
RadioDay08 will take place on September 11 at the World Trade Center in Zurich.

Assai Dialog und Digital designs and implements a new online campaign for AXA Winterthur. The aim of the campaign is to publicize the new motor insurance premium for climate-friendly cars. The classic campaign is to be reinforced. The new AXA Winterthur corporate design is being used for the first time.
"Financial security redefined" is the campaign slogan. At the heart of the brand promise is the switch, a graphic element that is to become the distinguishing feature of AXA Winterthur.
For the nationwide online campaign, display advertising is used on websites in the automotive and insurance sectors, as well as on high-reach portals. The campaign includes a microsite with a premium calculator.

Suddenly every animal at Zurich Zoo wants to be a Nubian ibex. The reason: this now rare animal will receive a new, species-appropriate enclosure in October. For the appeal for donations, the Ruf Lanz advertising agency volunteered to create a campaign in which the zebra, the ostrich and even the king of the animals, the lion, want to be a Nubian ibex.
At the Zoofäscht on August 23, the zoo is hoping for the generosity of guests, sponsors, donors and patrons. The biennial festival is also a charity gala and is being held for the eleventh time this year. Once again, the zoo's goal is to create a species-appropriate park for all animals.
Markus Ruf, Creative Director of Ruf Lanz, explains: "When we presented the campaign in the elephant house at Zurich Zoo, the bull elephant gave a trumpet blast at the exact moment we unveiled the first motif." This was generally interpreted as approval, Ruf said in a press release on Wednesday.
Responsible at Zurich Zoo: Bernhard P. Blum (President of the Zoofäscht Züri Association). Responsible at Ruf Lanz, Zurich: Markus Ruf and Danielle Lanz (Creative Direction), Natalie Schneider (Consulting), John Hollander (Illustrations).