The Press Council has upheld a complaint against the Tages-Anzeiger and the Zürichsee-Zeitung. They had wrongly mentioned the name of the apartment owner in their reporting on a Dignitas end-of-life apartment. In his complaint to the Press Council, the apartment owner had stated that the mention of his name was absolutely irrelevant for factual reporting. Representatives of the Tages-Anzeiger and Zürichsee-Zeitung took a different view. The complainant had not rented or offered his apartment for sale to just anyone, but to Dignitas, the Tages-Anzeiger defended itself. The discussion was of great public interest, the Zürichsee newspaper stated. The owner of the apartment was not an accidental victim of the incident, but a key player.
According to a press release issued by the Press Council on Friday, the interest in the public debate on euthanasia and the actions of Dignitas is undisputed. However, it is questionable whether the name of the owner should really have been mentioned. The naming of the owner did not provide the readership with any significant additional information.

 The Commission for Fair Trading (FC) has published 15 cases dealt with by the third chamber on its website following the expiry of the appeals deadline. They include complaints against the use of the Swiss cross in advertising, an anti-fur campaign and appeals on grounds of sexism. One complaint against the use of the Swiss cross was dismissed, according to a press release issued by the SC on Thursday. The use of the Swiss cross is unfair if at least 50 percent of the production costs are not incurred in Switzerland. This was undisputed in the specific case, which is why it was not deemed unfair.
A complaint against an animal protection association in western Switzerland was also dismissed. It had denounced the wearing of fur on posters with reproachful slogans and compared fur-wearing people to monsters. However, according to the third chamber of the LK, not every disparaging statement is unfair. For this to be the case, it must be "unnecessarily hurtful", which is not the case here.
However, one case of sexist advertising was deemed unfair: the manufacturer of a plant protection product advertised with an unclothed and only partially covered woman - according to the LK, there was no natural connection between the plant protection product and an unclothed woman. However, other complaints against sexist advertising were rejected, such as the one against advertisements for a music bar in which erotic dancing took place during Shrove Tuesday.
Other cases concerned misleading contract forms and harassment by fax and telephone, which were condemned by the LK as unfair.

Ringier has appointed a new Head of Television: Mathias Ruch will take over the management of Ringier TV from September 1. The 32-year-old succeeds Hannes Britschgi, who moved to Sonntagsblick as Deputy Editor-in-Chief in April. Marc Görtz, Head of Electronic Media, will manage Ringier's television division on an interim basis until Ruch takes up his post.
Mathias Ruch co-founded the Bern-based company Faro TV in 2001 and ran it as Managing Director for six years. After selling the company, which produced programs such as "Joya rennt" and "Celebrations", Ruch took care of the founding and development of start-up companies.

 
The Metadesign agency has created a new brand identity for the company Medi. The mandate ranged from the conception of the appearance to the implementation of all applications such as packaging, brochures and online presence. According to a press release issued by the branding and corporate identity agency, the new image links all business areas of the manufacturer of medical aids and thus strengthens the overall brand. The implementation is taking place in stages.

 
The new Head of Marketing and Education at Zurich Zoo is Markus Rege. He will take up the new post on September 1, 2008, replacing Anna Baumann. After five years at Zurich Zoo, she has been appointed as the new Director of Goldau Nature and Animal Park. Rege is a geographer and qualified marketing manager. He has worked as Head of Marketing at Switzerland Tourism since the beginning of 2006. Previously, he was Vice President Marketing & Communications at Swiss and Head of Advertising at Swissair.

 Publigroupe's Board of Directors was reconstituted at its first meeting following this year's Annual General Meeting on April 30. Chairman remains the Lausanne lawyer Philippe Pidoux, Vice Chairman is the economics professor Jean-Pierre Jeannet. The Audit Committee will be chaired by Christian Budry. The Nomination and Compensation Committee is chaired by Peter Brunner. The Strategy Control Committee is chaired by Pascal Böni.

 
As part of a redesign of the overall image of Intercantonal Reinsurance (IRV), the Association of Cantonal Fire Insurers (VKF) and the Swiss Pool for Earthquake Cover (Pool), Cosmic Bern (creation) and Cosmic Romandie (consulting) designed the annual reports. In addition to the separate information sections, a visual world has been realized as a supplement, according to a statement from the agency. The visual language shows the theme of the forces of nature: Fire, storm and earthquake damage are photographically staged in places where one would not expect them, the agency continues. By means of projections, posters or printed textiles, they would intervene in private and public spaces and move people.

 
 
 
Responsible at IRV/VKF/Pool:
Christina Rössler-Troglia (Head of Association Tasks), Rolf Meier (Head of PR). Responsible at Cosmic: Thom Pfister (CD), Roland Zenger (Graphics), Suzanne Scherer (Consulting Cosmic Romandie).

 In the coveted film category, Switzerland can boast six nominations in Cannes. There were 65 entries in the race. Euro RSCG is on the shortlist twice, Ruf Lanz, Jung von Matt/Limmat, Advico Young & Rubicam and Publicis once each. Euro RSCG is nominated twice for the "Achterbahn" spot for the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, namely in the subcategories "Entertainment & Leisure" and "Best Use of Music". The film was produced by Virtual Republic in Düsseldorf. Ruf Lanz is on the shortlist with the beach spot for Bico mattresses (category "Home Appliances & Furnishings", produced by Condor Films in Zurich). Advico Young & Rubicam was nominated with a spot for Sport Plausch Wider (category "Retail Stores", production: Pumpkin Film Zurich. Jung von Matt/Limmat enters the race for precious metal with the film "Gas Can Blues" for Smart, which has already won an award at the ADC (category "Cars", production: Markenfilm Berlin). Publicis is on the shortlist via its subsidiary agency Fast Track with a spot for the 3+ program "Supernanny" (category "Publications & Media", production: Pumpkin Film Zurich). The Film Lions will be awarded on Saturday evening, together with the Lions of the second supreme discipline Titanium and Integrated.

 
The Harley-Davidson marketing team has been strengthened: Christian Moser has been appointed Brand Manager of the Harley-Davidson subsidiary brand Buell with immediate effect. The 33-year-old is also responsible for the Parts, Accessories and Motorclothes division, as detailed in a press release on Thursday. The team around Marketing Manager Christoph Haas now consists of Michael Pedratscher (Marketing Event & HOG Manager), Dominique Collet (Marketing & Sales Coordinator) and Christian Moser, who studied journalism and business administration at the University of Zurich. After an internship at a management consultancy, he worked for a pharmaceutical company as a product and brand manager.

 In the Interactive, Media and Direct categories, the jurors in Cannes have chosen the agencies of the year. Three European creative agencies came out on top. The London agency Lean Mean Fighting Machine was voted "Interactive Agency of the Year". Crispin Porter & Bogusky in Miami came second in the same category. Third place went to the winner of the Cyber Grand Prix, the Japanese agency Projector.
"Media Agency of the Year" is the Swedish agency Forsman & Bodenfors, which also bagged the Grand Prix in the Media category. In second place is Dentsu in Tokyo. Third place, which last year went to the Zurich agency Walker, this year goes to Leo Burnett USA in Chicago.
The Madrid agency Shackleton can call itself "Direct Agency of the Year". Second place went to JWT India, which won the Direct Grand Prix with its "Lead India" campaign. Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand took third place on the podium.

 The Zurich agency Matter & Gretener has acquired the car rental company Avis as a new client. According to a press release issued on Thursday, the agency is delighted to be able to add a particularly illustrious name for creatives to its client list. The first work in the field of e-marketing will soon be seen.

 The Zurich agency Jung von Matt/Limmat has landed an important account. As part of a competitive presentation, it won the communications mandate for the Helsana website. With 1.96 million insured persons and a premium volume of 5.3 billion Swiss francs, the group is the leading health insurer in Switzerland, as detailed in a press release. The first work by JvM/Limmat will be seen this year.