The magazine Bestpicture, illustrated with images from the Swiss photo agency Keystone, has been published for over a year. In addition to the photo spreads, guest authors are also regularly featured. For the upcoming issue, the "Big Five" Swiss advertising agencies have joined forces, according to a press release from Keystone: Markus Gut (Advico Young & Rubicam), Markus Ruf (Ruf Lanz advertising agency), Martin Spillmann (Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett), Pius Walker (Walker advertising agency) and Frank Bodin (Euro RSCG) will write the introductions to the five photo spreads. They are also responsible for the image content. The next issue will be published in a print run of 13,000 copies in the second week of July.

 
A little football party called Euro 08 will soon be taking place here in Switzerland. The inhabitants of our country are preparing for it in various ways: Some are spending hundreds of francs on Panini pictures, others are attaching little flags to their cars, buying the special edition of Kicker football with the pinboard or trying to rent out their guest room to foreign fans. However, no one else is preparing for the big sporting event as conscientiously as the people of Bern, who will soon be welcoming the Dutch national team and their fans: Simon Moser's morning show on Radio BE1 will be practising Dutch with listeners every day. Since May 26, the station has been broadcasting the crash course "Dutch for beginners" at 07:50 every morning. Dutch teacher Ghislaine Goetschalck translates useful phrases such as "How do I find the Eichholz campsite" into Dutch - so that the guests can understand. The aim of the broadcast is to give the city of Bern the image of the friendliest host city in a humorous way and to convey to Dutch guests that they are welcomed with open arms in the capital, BE1 program director Dominique Hofer announced in a press release on Wednesday. The mediation was successful: It was at the beginning of this week when Moser and his weather fairy Monika Buser suddenly received an unannounced visit to their studio on Optingenstrasse in Bern. A Dutch journalist was at the door and wanted detailed information about the story that had apparently been making waves in the Netherlands for several days. The Sunday newspaper Telegraaf, as well as the radio stations Radio Den Haag and Radio 3 FM and even some Belgian stations have already reported extensively on the campaign. Perhaps the Bernese will even manage to get some Dutch fans interested in staying longer and visiting attractions such as the "ui markt" and the "beeren trog", i.e. the "Zibelemärit" and the bear pit.

 
Premiere Global Services (PGi), an international provider of a complete portfolio of solutions for digital communication, has strengthened its Swiss team with the addition of Roberto Troisi and Antonio Sirera. Key Account Manager Roberto Troisi is a federally certified sales coordinator with many years of experience in the areas of acquisition and key account management. Antonio Sirera, who is responsible for business in Switzerland, previously joined the PGi team. Before joining PGi, he co-founded Saptool GmbH, Baden, and worked for more than three years at Océ (Schweiz) AG. Sirera has a degree in business administration. He reports directly to Arnd Hungerberg, Vice President Central and Eastern Europe, who joined PGi seven months ago.

 
Transport Favo has developed a very special campaign for SBB Cargo. 
"How do you manage to communicate your services credibly?" SBB Cargo and the Basel-based advertising agency Favo asked themselves. The creative team's solution: By communicating your services in a tangible, emotional way and with a direct added benefit. Translated into the media, this means direct interactivity is required. "Print alone can only do justice to this task to a certain extent. It works differently in the online world," Favo is convinced, which is why the microsite www.cargomagazin.ch was developed based on the Cargo logistics magazine concept. It is the centerpiece of a new campaign. Here, interested parties can find reports, video interviews with customers, exciting photo galleries, useful e-tools, the online edition of the logistics magazine Cargo, specially compiled dossiers and company portraits.
The online concept is cleverly and effectively accompanied by advertisements in the largest daily and weekly newspapers in Switzerland. Favo was commissioned by SBB Cargo to create informative images of these references. This is SBB Cargo's customers speaking. These include Migros, Pistor and Swiss Steel. You can find out how thousands of tons of scrap travel across Europe to produce new components for the automotive industry. Or how the large number of bakery ingredients arrive at the bakery late at night so that the fresh breakfast rolls are guaranteed to be on the table the next morning. The advertisers are convinced: curiosity is aroused to find out and experience more at www.cargomagazin.ch.
The campaign is of course based on a very specific background. There has been a lot of media coverage of the developments at SBB Cargo in recent months. "The aim now is to focus on SBB Cargo's performance, beyond the emotionalized discussions about the rail freight company," emphasizes Hinrik Wachsmuth, CD at the Basel advertising agency Favo. So it makes sense that the Basel advertisers did not create a glossy image campaign, but an integrated campaign in which print and online measures complement each other perfectly and "generate real added value for customers, stakeholders and SBB Cargo", says Adrian Kohler - Head of Marketing + Communication at SBB Cargo. "The useful tools and other live reports make our services, which are indispensable for the Swiss economy, visible and tangible," says Kohler. Customers and the market are already reacting positively and employees are proudly referring to the new communication.
The plan is to gradually integrate the Cargo magazines into the CMS system. In future, this will ensure that informative and useful knowledge in and around SBB Cargo is made available to customers and interested parties. The vision is to develop www.cargomagazin.ch into an informative and up-to-date source of information for experts, just as the Cargo magazine is already today as a print medium.   
Andreas Panzeri

 
At an event in Zurich's Kaufleuten, the editors and publishers of Sonntags took stock of the launch of the newspaper, which was first published on September 16, 2007. 
According to a press release issued by AZ Medien on Wednesday, publisher Peter Wanner is very satisfied: expectations have been exceeded in terms of both the journalistic impact of the product and the volume of advertising. Following the start-up phase, a second phase is now underway, Wanner announced: Due to the good response in the national market, Sonntag can now also be subscribed to in Zurich via early delivery. Bern and Basel will follow in the fall. In addition, from the fall, the Sonntag will also be available as an individual subscription in the Mittelland; until now, subscribers to the Mittelland Zeitung have only been able to subscribe to the integrated subscription.
Readership figures were also presented for the first time. Sonntag reaches 364,000 readers, according to an interim evaluation by Mach on behalf of Wemf (survey period October 2007 to March 2008). The trend is rising, as Christoph Marty, Head of Key Account, explained. In the Mittelland/North-Eastern Switzerland region, Sunday is clearly the number one on Sundays. Sonntag already sells an average of 6,500 copies at newsstands.
The title also got off to a good start on the advertising market, where the budget figures were exceeded. On average, 16 commercial pages were booked. The job market combination with the Saturday edition of the Mittelland Zeitung also led to additional income. The Sunday edition was originally planned to break even in year three; however, publisher Peter Wanner explained that the new product is already in the black if half of the job market income is included.

 
Competition If you're looking for creative minds, you have to come up with something. A standard job advertisement was therefore out of the question for the St. Gallen advertising agency Vitamin 2. So it booked a poster site in the underpass at St. Gallen main station to strengthen its graphics department. Since Monday, 454 yellow Post-it notes have been emblazoned on it to encourage graphic designers to create an original application. "We have established ourselves as an agency with fresh ideas. Anyone who wants to work for us should also have this ability," explain agency owners René Kappeler and Jan Hasler.

 
Football Axpo, title sponsor of the Swiss Super League and advertising partner of Köbi Kuhn, is also supporting the Zurich Fan Mile during Euro 08. The Zurich agency Departement was commissioned to develop a campaign for this commitment that communicates the football cause authentically and contributes to a positive sense of community during the European Championships. With the slogan "A country under power" and a pointed text campaign, Axpo is entering the European Championships.

 
Nutrition Exxtra Kommunikation launches a new TV commercial for the Migros light brand. 
Light products are on the rise. However, it is often assumed that they cannot keep up with conventional products in terms of taste due to the reduction in fat. The products in the Weight Watchers line, for example, have to fight against this prejudice. These products offered by Coop are positioned as a competence brand for weight control. In contrast, Migros wants to focus more on indulgence with its light products. For this reason, the products must also "meet high taste standards" during production, according to the company's own advertising for the Léger products.
Exxtra has now dramatized this message in a film. Its commercial was preceded by a repositioning in which all Migros' light brands (above all Slimline) were integrated into the Léger competence brand. This includes not only low-fat dairy products, but also around 90 everyday products that are reduced in fat, carbohydrates and calories: from cheese and cold cuts to puff pastry.
For the Léger commercial, the aim was to consolidate this positioning and dramatize the brand promise of "enjoyment without regret", but without "presenting weight control in a negative context", according to CD Dieter Hofmann.
The Léger spot by Exxtra Kommunikation therefore pays particular attention to the pleasure scene: a young couple is eating Léger dishes on a roof terrace when a thunderstorm rolls in. The patio door is caught by a gust of wind and slams shut. The couple would be trapped - if they weren't slim enough to escape between the bars to the neighboring terrace with the open door. To emphasize this stroke of luck, an antenna struck by lightning falls onto the breakfast table.
If the main characters in the new Migros commercial were not so slim thanks to the consumption of Léger products, they might have been killed by the antenna - this is the punch line of the film, in which Exxtra Kommunikation gets to the heart of the brand promise "For indulgence without remorse" in a surprising way.
The spot runs in two waves from May 12 to June 10 and from August 25 to October 5.
Andreas Panzeri

 
Company The plastic packaging producer Greiner Packaging AG in Diepoldsau, which belongs to the Austrian Greiner Group, achieved a turnover of 113 million Swiss francs in 2007, 8.3 percent more than in 2006. In 2007, the company invested around 7 million Swiss francs in Diepoldsau in capacity expansions, primarily for premium packaging. A further increase in turnover of around 5 percent is planned for 2008. The company employs 350 people. Within the Greiner Group, Greiner Packaging AG is integrated into Greiner Packaging International, based in Kremsmünster, Austria. This achieved an annual turnover of 351.7 million euros in 2007.

 
The poster contract that the city of Zurich has concluded with the major poster companies will now definitely come into force on July 1, 2008. It will be valid for five years. APG will be assigned 2,080 of the total of 2,200 poster sites on public land for management, while Clear Channel Outdoor Plakanda (CCOP) will receive the remaining sites. An appeal by a third poster company delayed the entry into force by one and a half years. The City of Zurich recently emerged victorious from the resulting legal dispute. With the new contract, APG is the big winner with a share of around 95 percent of the public poster sites in Switzerland's largest city. Before the contract was retendered at the beginning of 2006, it held 75 percent, Clear Channel 25 percent of the public poster sites. When the contract was re-tendered, it looked like a tough battle between the two main competitors (see:
), but this did not prove to be the case. In addition to the 2,080 poster sites, APG will also exclusively market all construction sites on city land. In addition, 25 new locations for city formats F200 and wide formats F12 can be developed on city land. The poster sites will be continuously expanded.

 
For every creative, winning a Cannes Lion is the highest of feelings. But if advertising films are to have a chance in Cannes, it takes more than good ideas and courageous clients. It needs film producers who can produce world-class commercials. The striking poster motif by Draftcb shows the fusion of a hunting rifle with a film camera. The aim is to show that the two Zurich film studios Snap Film and Pumpkin Film are aiming for the same goals as creative agencies when it comes to awards. The poster nicely reaches its target group at a time when many Swiss creatives are once again traveling to the Cannes advertising festival without the prospect of winning a Lion: In the departure hall at Zurich airport, right at the gate. The headline motivates them to win a Lion. Because anything is possible again next year. Let's go lion hunting!

Responsible at Draftfcb: Nicolas Vontobel, Florian Birkner (CD), Sebastian Hugelshofer (AD), Dominique Wegmann (Text) and Melanie J. Auerbach (Art Buying). Elefant Studios AG: Dany Bittel (3-D). Pixelprinz: Linus Schneider (image editing). Clients:
Snap Film and Pumpkin Film, Zurich.

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The Eastern Switzerland Media Awards for 2007 were presented in St. Gallen on Wednesday. Seven journalists were honored, including for the first time an author of a television report. A total of 134 works from 2007 were submitted, divided into five categories: Press photography, radio feature, reportage/background, daily text and new television feature. With his series Gleis 3, which appears once a week in the Thurgau edition of the St. Galler Tagblatt, 35-year-old Daniel Walt won the prize in the daily text category. The best reportage, a travel story from Scotland, was awarded to 49-year-old Michael Hug. Tobias Siebrecht won the Eastern Switzerland Media Prize in the press photography category for his series Coiffeursalon, which appeared in the culture magazine Saiten.
Tanja Köhler and Ronny Nicolussi shared the prize in the radio contribution category. Köhler was honored for her contribution Rescuing the Rhaeto-Romanic people, Nicolussi for Two days that changed Switzerland, a radio contribution about Blocher being voted out of office. Sereina Venzin and Daniel Blickenstorfer shared the prize money in the television contribution category, Venzin for a report from the prison in Chur, and Blickenstorfer for a television contribution "Lai da Palpuogna".