Scholz & Friends Zurich wins a Gold World Medal in the "Guerilla Advertising" category, a Silver World Medal in the "Consumer Products" category and a Finalist Certificate in the "Best use of Media" category at the 2008 New York Festival International Advertising Awards. In particular, work for the Strebel truck driving school and the Swiss House of Magic was honored. According to a press release, this is the first time that the 20-strong creative agency Scholz & Friends Zurich has been the most successful agency in Switzerland in a competition. The European Scholz & Friends Group won a total of seven gold, eight silver and ten bronze awards.

 
Corinne Freymond will take over as Head of Advertising & Direct Marketing at Migros Bank on July 1. The 33-year-old succeeds Cinzia Sartorio, who is taking a "creative break" after 13 years in various roles within the marketing department at Migros Bank, according to a press release.
Freymond is a qualified Head of Marketing Communications. She can look back on around ten years of communications experience on the agency and client side, including three years as Head of Direct Marketing at BMW Switzerland. Most recently, she worked at Migros Genossenschafts-Bund as project manager for supermarket/consumer market communications.

 
Nicolas Sarkozy, France's temporary monarch, was the victim of a nasty case of lese majeste on Tuesday. A few minutes before an interview on public television France 3 on Monday evening, a working sound technician apparently failed to greet him. Sarkozy was indignant and rebuked him. "It's a question of education," he salivated with a grim, presidential grin. "If you're invited, people could at least say hello to you." Then, after an artist's pause, "Incroyable!" and "c'est grave, hein!" escaped him. Of course, the scene is already a hit on Youtube. Perhaps the attack on the honor of the first fidget spinner in the country was actually deliberate, since Sarkozy's plans to abolish advertising on public television and radio had triggered fierce protests among the employees there. His failure, however, can really only be commented on with the words of an equally important statesman, former Federal President Moritz Leuenberger: "Nei, das isch doch ein Scheiss, oder? What a shit!!! He has no idea or...! He's making up some kind of nonsense."

 
In its recently published "Annual Report 2008", the Swiss Press Council reviews the past year and takes stock of its own work. Last year, it concluded a total of 63 complaints with a reasoned opinion. The three most frequent complaints it had to deal with last year were violation of the principle of fairness, violation of privacy and unjustified naming of names. Four to five cases each were dealt with. In two cases, the requirement to separate editorial and advertising content was disregarded. In total, the Press Council upheld 25 complainants in part or in full.
Some of the rejected complaints wrongly assume that the medium is obliged to print letters to the editor. The view that the Press Council prescribes a duty of objectivity and balance cannot be eradicated either. "The main obligations demanded by the Journalists' Code are respect for privacy, fairness and transparency," the annual report states.
The Press Council repeatedly rejects complaints because the parties claim contradictory facts without providing any evidence, as reported by SDA. The Press Council itself cannot demand evidence or summon opposing parties.
 

 The communications agency Thomas C. Maurer & Partner, founded in mid-2001, is to be converted into a public limited company. The new Maurer Partner Communications AG will retain its headquarters not far from the Bundeshaus on Marktgasse in the center of Bern, as announced by the previous sole owner Thomas C. Maurer. Rolf Portmann, former Director of the Bernese Trade and Industry Association HIV, has been elected Chairman of the Board of Directors. Former Zurich National Councillor and television journalist Anton Schaller and healthcare consultant Peter Itin from Basel are also members of the Board of Directors.
Maurer Partner Communications currently employs a team of three people. The agency specializes in strategic communications consulting, media relations and public affairs. It also manages the office of the professional register of the Swiss Public Relations Association SPRG.

 The Bern-based agency Hofer Kommunikation is expanding its management team as of July 1, marking a generational change. The long-standing co-owner Ute Kopplin retired at the end of June. The new management of the agency, which was founded in 1950, now consists of four members: In addition to Adrian Wyss, the previous partner and Head of Marketing/Strategy, these are Creative Director Daniel Scheuzger, Claudia Bucher, Consulting and Head of Services, and Barbara Perriard, Head of PR. Before joining Hofer, Scheuzger worked for Springer&Jacobi, Ligalux and Fischer Appelt in Hamburg. Bucher found his way to Bern from Filmpromotion in Zurich. Perriard has been with Hofer since June. The former Ogi advisor and long-time Secretary General of FDP Women Switzerland was brought on board as a PR professional to expand public affairs in a targeted manner.

Picture from left to right: Daniel Scheuzger, Adrian Wyss, Claudia Bucher, Barbara Perriard

 The village of Champagne in the canton of Vaud, with a population of 700, is continuing its battle over its place name. In France, the village-based Flûtes bakery Cornu has been banned from using the word "Champagne" on its packaging since a French court ruling in April. Cornu has appealed against this. The Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI) has now ruled that the "De Champagne Suisse" trademark is compatible with Swiss law and does not contravene the bilateral treaties with the EU or the agreement with France on designations of origin. The Cornu bakery has now registered this trademark in Bern.
The winegrowers of the Vaud village had to give up the name "Vin de Champagne" in 2004 due to the bilateral agreements between Switzerland and the EU and redesign the labels and advertising material. Since then, they have been fighting for recognition of the former name.

This lady will be the envy of many: Nicole Achermann from the canton of Zurich was cast as a supporting actress in a Nespresso commercial with George Clooney. At the end of May, the coffee company invited members of the so-called Nespresso Club to apply for the casting for two supporting roles. According to a press release, 7,200 people from five countries applied within nine days.
In addition to Achermann, the winner was an Austrian. The two took part in the filming in Milan from June 17 to 19, 2008. As expected, Achermann, 33, from Zurich, is enthusiastic about the leading actor Clooney: "During these days of filming, I experienced George Clooney as very open and accessible, as a person full of humor and wit and unbeatable professionalism," enthuses the mother of two children.
The "What else" spot is being produced by McCann Worldgroup Paris. It will be shown in selected European countries from November 2008. A print campaign featuring images by photographer Sam Jones will be launched at the same time.

 The publishing house Axel Springer Schweiz is now offering a combination of advertisements for the Swiss TV magazines Tele and TV Star as well as the subscription magazine Beobachter. This was announced by the publisher on Monday. The combination will enable advertisers to reach 1.55 million net readers, it added. The combined price for one page is 39,000 Swiss francs, and the changes in advertising sales also entail personnel changes: Sandra Peiti, advertising manager of Beobachter, will also take over as advertising manager of the TV magazines. Patrick Knecht, the previous advertising manager for TV magazines, is leaving the company at his own request.

 The American department store chain J.C. Penny publicly distanced itself from a commercial that won bronze in Cannes. It declared that the commercial had been made without its knowledge and had never been shown on television (see ). Now the production company behind it, Epoch Films, has lost the Lion. It has offered to withdraw the competition entry of its own accord, reports Adage.com. Cannes Festival director Philip Thomas told the American industry magazine that he was very happy with this solution. The J.C. Penny spot will now be removed from the list of winners. It had caused a stir - not only because the client says he knew nothing about it and thus exposed the work as fake. But also because the commercial could suggest that J.C. Penny approves of teenage sex, which is apparently not at all what the department store chain wants. J.C. Penny's in-house agency Saatchi & Saatchi explained that they were not responsible for the clip, but Epoch was.

 
The Lowe advertising agency, part of the Draftfcb/Lowe Group, dramatized the opening of the new Mini Center at Garage Häusermann in Aarau with a wet idea. As Mini is known for its go-kart and soapbox feel, the creatives made reference to this. For the first wave of the opening campaign, Lowe developed print subjects and direct mailings with real Pustefix soap bubble sachets. Further measures are planned for the second wave in the fall.responsible at Mini Switzerland:
Patrick Cupelin (Head of Mini Switzerland), Patrick Käser (Managing Director, Sales Manager Häusermann AG). Responsible at Lowe: Matteo Lonati, Janine Rietmann (consulting), Florian Birkner (CD), Frédéric Nogier (AD), Ivan Madeo (text/concept). Reto Saluz (production), Melanie J. Auerbach (art buying), Sandro Diener (photo), Linus Schneider (image editing).

 In Schaffhausen, a ban on advertising and the sale of tobacco products to young people was rejected. Heinz Rether (Oekoliberale Bewegung ÖBS) had called for the sales ban in a postulate. The cantonal council rejected the proposal on Monday by 32 votes to 24. Rether unsuccessfully campaigned for a regulation based on the neighboring cantons of Zurich and Thurgau. Although all parliamentary groups agreed that smoking was harmful to young people and that prevention measures were necessary, a legal ban was disputed. In addition to the sales ban, René Schmid (ÖBS) and government councillor Ursula Hafner-Wipf also called for a ban on advertising tobacco products. However, there was no majority for this.