The Alliance of Swiss Advertising Agencies ASW has a new chairman. At the Annual General Meeting on Friday, Michael Waldvogel from Idfx in Wädenswil was unanimously elected as the new President. The new Vice President is Roland Friedl from Friedl.id com in Weinfelden. Roger Bosshart from Dynamite Advertising in Cham was elected to replace Diego Bally, who stepped down. The two Board members Benno Frick and Andy Ruf were also confirmed. Diego Bally was appointed as the new Honorary President.
 
In a short inaugural speech, the new President announced that during his term of office he would be focusing in particular on the positioning, presence and maintenance of the ASW brand and the new CI/CD, promoting exchanges between the members of the network and promoting the interests of the ASW to the outside world.
 
PICTURE: New ASW Presidium, from left to right: Roland Friedl, Michael Waldvogel, Claude Hitz, Peter Grob.

 Rupert Murdoch's company News Corp. has increased its influence in the pay-TV channel Premiere. News Corp. announced in New York on Monday that it now holds a 25.01 percent stake. The group had previously held just under 23 percent. However, Murdoch is facing headwinds with the takeover: the EU Commission wants to investigate his stake in Premiere. It is examining whether the acquisition of shares gives the media mogul too much power in the company. Following Murdoch's broad-based investment, Premiere also announced an expansion of the Supervisory Board from three to six members. The subscription broadcaster has recently been struggling with problems with black viewers and is hoping for a boost in subscribers following a change to its encryption system in the second half of the year.

For its long-standing client Energy Zurich, the Zurich agency Ruf Lanz had the stars literally move in with the listeners in the award-winning 2006/07 audience campaign. On typical Zurich doorbell signs, the names of Madonna, Robbie Williams and Gwen Stefani suddenly appeared alongside completely normal names. According to the motto: "Energy Zurich brings the stars to your home".
In the follow-up campaign, the creative agency is now taking the stars to where people like to listen to the radio just as much: in the car. Suddenly Madonna, Kylie Minogue or Lenny Kravitz are sitting in the back seat - recognizable in the rear-view mirror. Thanks to Energy Zurich's good contacts, the stars were happy to give their consent to this advertising campaign, according to a statement from the agency. The "Stars in cars" campaign can be seen on posters and advertisements in the Zurich area from the end of May.
Responsible at Energy Zurich:
Dani Büchi (overall responsibility), Pascal Frei (marketing management). Responsible at Ruf Lanz, Zurich: Danielle Lanz, Markus Ruf (Creative Direction), Marcel Schläfle (Art Direction), Gian Marco Juon (Consulting), Jonathan Heyer (Photography), Stephan Riederer (Image Processing).

 The commuter newspaper 20 Minuten has rejected an advertisement from the Swiss Federation of Trade Unions (SGB) on the naturalization initiative. The ad shows well-known SVP exponents who are dubbed "sinister patriots". In red letters it says: "They want to destroy our constitutional state". And the text reads, among other things, "they are blackmailing a democratically elected Federal Councillor". Marcel Kohler, Managing Director of 20 Minuten, confirmed a report in the Sonntag newspaper at the request of SDA that the advertisement had been rejected. He defended the rejection: "Blackmail" is a criminal offense. The commuter newspaper did not want such advertisements. That was the main reason for the rejection. The newspaper would have accepted the advertisement with textual changes: instead of the word "destroy", the advertisers should write "weaken", instead of "blackmail" they should choose the wording "put under pressure".
The SGB did not respond to either and speaks of "political content" censorship in view of the rejection. It is shameful for 20 Minuten publisher Tamedia to believe that the unrestrained SVP of all people should be protected from an advertisement, criticized the trade union federation in a press release on Monday. Incidentally, the same advertisement appeared in Blick without objection.
Marcel Kohler did not accept the SGB's accusation that 20 Minuten has no problems with racist or discriminatory advertisements from the SVP. These were also looked at very closely and just last week the SVP had requested a correction in another case, which was accepted.
The controversial advertisement:

 Last year, Radio 105 and Rexona Girl held a casting to find the Rexona Girl 2007. The winner was offered a one-year contract as a presenter on 105hitradio - the web station for young girls. The 17-year-old Tiffany Pfister from Zurich emerged as the winner of the competition and became the official voice of the station. At the same time, she is now the face of the current Rexona campaign. Now the casting is entering the next round: the search is on for the Girl 2008, and Rexona Girl has extended its contract with Radio 105 for this purpose. This year, the casting will also be held on the web TV channel 105hittv.ch for the first time. There, the young girls have the opportunity to present themselves with a short video clip and then face the users' vote. Once again, a contract as a presenter worth CHF 10,000 is up for grabs.

 In connection with the proceedings in Germany against the former ex-Aegis managers Aleksander Ruzicka and David Linn, a first conviction has been handed down. The Wiesbaden Local Court has issued a penalty order against a former high-ranking employee at Aegis Media in Germany: Manuela Rasmussen was sentenced to one year's probation for "aiding and abetting serious breach of trust" in a total of eight cases. A fine of 10,000 euros was also imposed, as Horizont.net reports. Rasmussen had testified against Ruzicka and Linn at the beginning of March during her questioning in the main trial and incriminated them both heavily: Rasmussen said that she had noticed irregularities in the use and capitalization of free TV spots from the agency pool. As a result, she had received special payments of around 430,000 euros, which trial observers regard as hush money, according to Horizont.net. Following the questioning of Manuela Rasmussen, Ruzicka's defense had repeatedly pointed out that it did not consider the witness and her statements to be credible. Rasmussen's case was dealt with in separate proceedings.

 The Jungfrau Zeitung is getting a new management team. Samuel Günter, previously deputy editor-in-chief, and editor Beat Kohler will now lead the paper together as a dual leadership team. They are taking over from Urs Gossweiler, who wants to concentrate on his role as publisher again with immediate effect and in particular on the cooperation with ProSieben on the "Funky Kitchen Club". Gossweiler took over as editor-in-chief last September (see
). He is responsible for directing the cooking show "Funky Kitchen Club". Managing the publishing house and acting as editor-in-chief at the same time seems difficult: "I'm wearing too many hats at the moment," said Gossweiler in a press release. At the beginning of the year, he gradually handed over the internal processes for which the Editor-in-Chief is responsible to his deputy Samuel Günter and Beat Kohler. The two will now not only assume internal management responsibility, but also overall responsibility for the newspaper. Samuel Günter's professional background includes the Oberländische Volksblatt, the Berner Zeitung and Radio Berner Oberland. Since July 1, 2003, he has been working for Gossweiler Media as editor for politics and business in Interlaken. Beat Kohler is a journalistic career changer: after teaching as a secondary school teacher for four years, he moved to Gossweiler Media in July 2001, where he mainly deals with economic and political issues. According to the press release, the two new editors-in-chief want to maintain the newspaper's positioning as a forum newspaper and also intensify the online platform with web TV reports.
There has also been a change in the editorial team at the Jungfrauzeitung: Patrick Hirschi is the new editor-in-chief and the editorial team is now based in Meiringen. Hirschi previously worked as an editor at the Freiburger Nachrichten.

 Once again this year, around 200 young advertisers registered for the federal planner marketing communication professional examinations. 174 candidates from German-speaking Switzerland and 22 candidates from French-speaking Switzerland took the exams in March and April. At 77 percent, the pass rate for candidates is almost 10 percent higher than last year. This means that an excellent final year of candidates can be sent off into professional life under the old regulations. Next year, the examination will be conducted in accordance with the new regulations and the title "Federal Communications Planner" will be awarded for the first time. This means that the title of the professional examination of the higher professional examination, from which the "federally certified communication manager" emerges, has been adapted. The requirements remain the same with the new regulations. However, the core competencies of graduates will continue to lie in communication planning and in the areas of media and production. The Markom preliminary examination must be completed for admission to the examination. According to the Swiss Advertising Association, the rising number of participants shows that the federal professional examination continues to provide a good entry into the advertising industry.

 
Now, at last, the French are also allowed to fill up on energy and drink themselves wings: For twelve years, the energy drink produced by the Austrian company Red Bull was banned in France. Now, the ban has been lifted after a long back-and-forth. On Friday, Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz and French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde signed an agreement to this effect. The French health authority had banned the marketing of the energy drink in 1996 because the substance taurine contained in it was classified as a dangerous substance by the food authority. There had never been any evidence of the drink's toxicity, the Ministry of Economic Affairs now emphasized with surprising insight, recalling that Red Bull has already been sold in 25 of 27 countries in the European Union. Now Denmark is the only country in the Union, and the only country in Europe besides Norway, that is reluctant to sell it.In France, Red Bull must now put a notice on the cans saying that the drink could harm children and pregnant women. Right from the start, there have been repeated discussions about the health hazards of the yellowish drink. In Switzerland, too, the company had to wait a long time for approval. In the end, however, this was more beneficial to the business: even today, the brand benefits from the image of its former illegality. Today, however, this image is maintained by a sophisticated marketing concept that focuses on small, innovative events and word-of-mouth advertising. Even the smallest extreme sports events and illegal parties at unusual locations are readily supported by Red Bull. At the beginning of next year, Mateschitz even wants to launch his own satellite TV channel. The channel, which still has no name - rumor has it that the name ÖTV is being sought - will exclusively broadcast high-quality cultural programs. In 2005, the company spent a third of its total revenues on marketing - three times as much as is usual in the consumer goods industry. So now, 21 years after the market launch of the drink often referred to by averse tongues as "gummy bear pudding," France is also to be whipped into a taurine frenzy as quickly as possible. 

 The media company Tamedia has increased its stake in the nightlife platform Tilllate.com by 15 percent to 35 percent. As the publishing house announced in a press release on Monday, the two partners have agreed to increase Tamedia's stake in Tilllate Switzerland more quickly than originally planned due to the successful cooperation. The early increase in the shareholding will allow Tilllate Holding to accelerate the planned expansion in Switzerland and abroad. The increase in the stake by a further 14% to 49% is to take place as planned at the beginning of 2010. The parties have agreed not to disclose the terms of the transaction. The Tilllate.com platform was founded in 2000 and reaches 459,000 unique clients in Switzerland according to the Wemf Net-Audit of April 2008. There are 200,000 registered users on the portal. Tamedia acquired 20 percent of the share capital of Tilllate Switzerland on July 1, 2007 (see
). Tilllate Switzerland employs around 35 people, with an additional 350 photographers working in Swiss nightlife every week.

 Bilanz will be published with a new layout and magazine structure from May 23. The magazine is expanding its reporting on the Swiss and international corporate landscape with a new corporate section. The Trends section, which is also new, bundles the topics of economic policy and the economy. The Invest section is being expanded and offers investors more service in all investment matters. The Luxury section contains information on all aspects of lifestyle and, according to a press release from Bilanz owner Axel Springer Schweiz, the refreshed layout is intended to be more modern and varied. It was created under the direction of the new art director Wernie Baumeler. Opening pages for each section are intended to make it easier to get into the larger articles, while more graphics present the information more clearly.
The business magazine Bilanz celebrated its 30th anniversary at the end of 2007. Today, the fortnightly magazine has a Wemf-certified circulation of 38,660 copies and a regular readership of 223,000. You will find more information on the new Bilanz and an interview with Editor-in-Chief Dirk Schütz in the next issue of Werbewoche No. 20/2008.

Metzgerlehner Worldwide Partners has launched the 2008 barbecue season for Bell with a campaign in three phases. The focus is on football, parties and, of course, Bell's barbecue specialties. In addition to the first of a total of three TV commercials and a nationwide advertising campaign, the Bell Barbecue campaign is now being accompanied by many other measures. As a life-size POS stand, the barbecue chef invites customers to a barbecue party in shopping centers and at petrol stations. Free barbecue brochures with tips and recipes are available. Consumers can also find information about barbecuing at Bell.ch.
Responsible at Bell AG, Basel:

Davide Elia (Head of Marketing/Communications), Micha Roth (Project Manager Marketing/Communications), Ramona Bornèque (Project Manager Advertising). Responsible at Metzgerlehner Worldwide Partners, Erlenbach: Felix Dammann (Creative Direction), Marco Lehner (Strategy), Heike Gross (Text), Janine Aebischer (Art Direction), Noa Zimmermann (Graphics), Thomas Hinderling, Deborah Stucki, Karin Schweizer (Consulting), Giovanni Bucca (Production), Jonathan Heyer (Photography), Pixelpolish (Image Retouching), Frank J. Estermann (Panam Film, production), Alex Kirschner (sound), Südlich-t (post-production).