The private TV channel 3+, based in Schlieren near Zurich, is showing the American series "Samantha Who?" starring Christina Applegate for the first time in Switzerland. Applegate plays Samantha, an accident victim suffering from amnesia: after eight days in a coma, she wakes up with no memory of her past, family or friends. However, she soon begins to realize what kind of person she must have been before the accident - one with more enemies than friends.

 Saatchi & Saatchi Simko has won numerous awards in Cannes for its Voltaren campaign for Novartis: a Bronze Lion for Campaign with five pieces in the Outdoor category and a Silver Lion for Campaign with four pieces in the Press category. This raised some eyebrows, as the campaign credits list the Saatchi & Saatchi agencies in Milan and Frankfurt. The work was submitted by the Swiss agency Saatchi & Saatchi Simko. Is it taking credit for someone else’s work? «Novartis encouraged the Saatchi Network to make a collaborative effort for Cannes. The best creative pieces were then selected and submitted to Cannes,» said Kaspar Loeb, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Simko, in response to a query from Werbewoche. «The award-winning work is a collaboration between agencies in Germany, Italy, and Switzerland. However, the creative director in charge and leading the project was Olivier Girard of Saatchi & Saatchi Simko.» The Swiss agency submitted the work to Cannes because it manages the global brands Lamisil, Fenistil, Otrivin, and Voltaren for Novartis Consumer Health. The campaign had not been seen in Switzerland until now. The case caused a stir, just as some people had been upset in January over the ADC Gold award for Jung von Matt/Limmat. At that time, the issue was the accusation that two of the three award-winning commercials had been created by the German agency Jung von Matt. «We were involved in the creation of the Voltaren campaign,» Loeb emphasizes. «That’s why it doesn’t particularly bother me when people accuse us of taking credit for someone else’s work.» However, the agency deliberately chose not to proactively publicize the win and left the announcement of the Lion haul to the trade press. This was different from the case of the Bronze Promo Lion for Voltaflex: «Saatchi & Saatchi Simko developed that work entirely on its own,» comments Loeb.

 There has been relatively little movement in Google's advertising program since Christmas. In May, however, the number of booked advertising spaces shot up sharply and click prices also continued their upward trend. While in April the trend seemed to be consolidating that Adwords were being displayed in significantly lower numbers than in 2007, the picture changed dramatically in May: with significantly more than 17 text ads per search query, the level of last November was almost reached, and the increase since April is around 24 percentage points. Dating agencies as well as the tourism and clothing industries were the most advertising-friendly Google customers in May. Click prices also rose for the second time in a row - from CHF 1.65 to CHF 1.68 per click.

 Roger Schawinski's station Radio 1 has published listener figures after its first 100 days of operation. According to figures from Publica Data for the period from March 17 to the end of May 2008, the station reaches 110,000 listeners per day. The average usage time in the Zurich conurbation is 53 minutes per day. The market share in German-speaking Switzerland is 1.1 percent. The figures relate to usage from Monday to Sunday, as Schawinski explained when asked by Werbewoche. The media man describes the launch as a success. He pointed out to the media on Thursday that Radio 1's broadcasting area of 354,000 inhabitants is only around a third of the size of that of Radio 24 and Energy Zurich with 1,212,000 people. In the period from March 17 to the end of May 2008, 251,000 people tuned into Radio 24 every day, compared to 197,000 for Radio Energy Zurich and 177,000 for Radio Zürisee.
The average daily usage time for Radio 24 from Monday to Sunday was 58 minutes in the period surveyed. Radio Zürisee was listened to for 50 minutes and Radio Energy Zürich for 45 minutes.
The average age of Radio 1 listeners is 46. At Radio Zürisee it is 44 years, at Radio 24 it is 42 years and at Radio Energy Zürich 39 years. Radio 1 is therefore, as targeted, the radio with the oldest clientele, it was reported on Thursday.
Licensing decision after the summer vacations As the licensing decisions have not yet been made in Bern, it remains to be seen whether Radio 1 will receive a license and can therefore remain on air. The decision should be made after the summer vacation. Schawinski hopes that his station will receive the large license (Zurich-Glarus area) and thus have the same coverage area as the competition at present. However, Radio 1 has also applied for the smaller Zurich area (No. 24) as an alternative.
Calmness in the name dispute The dispute over the name and slogan with Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) has still not been resolved. RBB considers the slogan "Only for adults" to be a plagiarism and therefore wants to go to court. The German media company also believes that Radio 1 should not be broadcast on the Internet. As Schawinski said on Thursday according to SDA, he is taking the whole matter calmly. He had only recently sent another mediation letter regarding the name issue. The demand regarding Internet distribution is intolerable for him.

 So now it's happened - Beni Thurnheer's marriage is broken, his wife is gone. And our "Schnurri der Nation" is all alone, with no wife to share his table and bed. But it doesn't have to stay that way. Blick and News thought so too - both of them, probably independently of each other, came up with the amusing idea of possible successors for Beni's exes. Blick, for example, suggested presenter Anna Maier, pop singer Maja Brunner, Miss Switzerland Amanda Ammann, referee Nicole Petignat or even pop starlet Kylie Minogue. The news editors limit themselves to four ladies: Politician Chantal Galladé, astrologer Monica Kissling, actress Heidi Maria Glössner and - also a referee - Nicole Petignat. Incidentally, the latter is the only one to be nominated by both newspapers; if that's not a sign! Both newspapers made one mistake: they didn't take Beni's words seriously. A few days ago, in an interview with Blick, he clearly stated that he certainly had no intention of taking on any younger woman. Goodbye Ammann, Galladé, Maier and co. Well, Mr. Thurnheer, perhaps you should think better about what you say next time - even if it sounds good.

 Never before has the interest of Swiss television viewers in a football tournament been as great as at Euro 08. 941,000 people watched the matches on average, which corresponds to a market share of 52.8%. By comparison, the live broadcasts of the group matches at Euro 04 in Portugal were watched by an average of 688,000 people (40.0% market share). The eight group matches on the previous evening were watched by an average of 819,000 people (53.5% market share), while an average of 1,023,000 viewers tuned in for the matches on the main evening (52.3% market share).
The Swiss national team matches attracted a particularly high level of viewer interest: an average of 1,583,000 viewers (72.6% market share) watched the three matches on SF zwei. The opening Euro match between Switzerland and the Czech Republic on June 7 was watched by an average of 1,610,000 viewers (79.2 percent market share). The Switzerland-Turkey match was watched by an average of 1,652,000 viewers (75.3 percent market share). The Swiss national team's third and final match against Portugal attracted an average of 1,487,000 viewers.

 
Basler Zeitung Medien apparently wants to move forward in the digital world: it has created the new "Digital Strategy and Development" division and put Manfred Messmer in charge of it. As operational head of the subsidiary BZM Online, Messmer is responsible for the strategic and conceptual planning of a comprehensive and implementation-oriented online strategy for the entire company, as detailed in a press release issued on Thursday: Basler Zeitung, Baz.ch, Baslerstab, Radio Basel 1, local newspapers, Presse TV and Cityforum. Messmer will also be a member of the advisory board of Newsnetz and will represent the interests of BZM in this joint project of Tamedia, Espace Media and Basler Zeitung.
Manfred Messmer worked as a journalist for BZM from 1980 to 1986, most recently as editor-in-chief of Doppelstab. He then founded the PR agency Messmerpartner. Since July 2007, Messmer and Basler Zeitung Medien have had a personal mandate relationship, which has now been extended to include online activities. In his function, Messmer is a member of the management of Basler Zeitung.

 
SF editor-in-chief Ueli Haldimann and four other employees of Swiss Television will not have to appear before the Zurich District Court this week after all. The trial date has been postponed. The five people are accused of "unauthorized recording of conversations etc". The case concerns hidden camera recordings in the practice of a Zurich plastic surgeon, which were broadcast on "Kassensturz" in December 2006 and February 2007 (see: ) The trial has not been canceled, but postponed, as the district court announced on Wednesday according to SDA. The reason for the postponement was that the defendant's counsel had resigned his mandate. This was the result of a petition by the victim's representative. According to SF spokesperson Urs Durrer, the other side wants to examine whether the proceedings should be extended to the SF legal consultant. The latter had provided SF with legal advice in the controversial case. Until this question has been clarified, the date of the main hearing remains open.

  The Swiss brand continues to enjoy a good reputation internationally. 7,300 respondents from 80 countries consider Swiss products to be reliable and of high quality. However, they did not rate them as particularly innovative. This is the result of a study conducted by the two agencies HTP St. Gallen and McCann Erickson in collaboration with the University of St. Gallen. Swiss products and services enjoy an excellent reputation worldwide. None of the countries compared - Germany, Japan, the USA and China - are able to surpass the perceived quality of Swiss products. Compared to Japan, however, respondents rated Swiss products as significantly less innovative.
Switzerland as a country is also viewed positively by respondents. The good image is primarily based on Swiss products and services. However, the beautiful landscapes and political stability are also important for the image of the Confederation. Switzerland stands for a high quality of life, reliability and trustworthiness.
Critical assessments are rarer. In particular, they criticize the lack of openness to the world and the high price level. Furthermore, the activities of the financial center are classified as shady and the strict treatment of foreigners is criticized.
The further away, the more clichéd Respondents in Europe, America, Asia and Oceania have a very similar view of Switzerland. The immediate neighbors France and Italy rate the Swiss Confederation the worst. The greater the geographical distance, the more clichéd the assessment.

 
Outdoor advertising Advertising directly to the target group. Who wouldn't want that? A new advertising platform has recently been launched for public swimming pools: Sunlounger.ch. The patented sun lounger system is of great benefit to everyone involved. The bather, the advertiser and the swimming pool operator. No wonder, since various swimming pools in German-speaking Switzerland are already using the innovative system. Sunlounger.ch comprises 14 comfortable deckchairs that are neatly stacked in a space-saving depot station. The latter is equipped with an exchangeable advertising board in F4 format. The "poster stations" are marketed via Sunlounger.ch and produced by Frontwork in Wallisellen. 

 
Telecommunications Erdmannpeisker shows how large companies can benefit from Swisscom products. 
"Finally - Swisscom standard worldwide from a single source." This is the argument that the Biel-based agency Erdmannpeisker can now make for the business customers of its client Swisscom. After informing Swisscom's SME customers about their advantages in an earlier season, another part of this B2B campaign is aimed at large customers.
Erdmannpeisker announces that Swisscom has entered into a new strategic partnership with Verizon Business worldwide since the end of May. A national campaign is to communicate this and position Swisscom as an international partner among Swiss key accounts. Swisscom and Verizon want to appear together in this market and offer outsourcing services and develop products together. With Verizon, the former MCI Worldcom, Swisscom can offer its multinational customers access to what is probably the world's largest IP network and a huge number of service employees.
"We are there for you." The familiar campaign approach of the new Swisscom is perfect - with a small, surprising adaptation - for demonstrating its global reach. For special interest titles, an attention-grabbing small ad was developed in addition to the campaign motif.
Andreas Panzeri

 
For over 50 years, she hasn't aged a bit, she is and was a monument to German-language film, she has appeared on the screens of millions of Germans, Austrians and Swiss at some point, usually at Christmas time - and who doesn't have her "Jooohhh Fraaanzl" in their ears? We are of course talking about Sissi, the Austrian empress in the form of Romy Schneider. Despite her timeless aura, however, a change is in the offing. The story of Empress Elisabeth is being remade for television in 2009 as a two-part movie with the participation of the Italian RAI, ZDF and ORF. The Austrian director Schwarzenberger wants to portray Empress Elisabeth in a different way than before, he speaks of an "emancipation story." "Various people have the feeling that it's time to reinterpret it," he told the Austrian daily newspaper Die Presse. As a Sissi fan, you can look forward to this, but also hope that in ten years' time people will still understand who says "Du Sissi".