Just in time for the awakening of spring, the new Lindt chocolate line is on the Swiss shelves. The Zurich brand agency Schoch&Sonders has created and implemented the design concept and the packaging design for this line, according to the agency.In the first few months of the year, Schoch&Sonders has also been able to win additional clients, the statement continues. Soon, the agency will be able to present its first work for Unilever, Delica and Vif Fitness Club.
 

 
Since the beginning of the week, Niki de Saint Phalle's angel sculpture in Zurich's main train station has had competition. A gigantic Cupid has made himself comfortable in the large hall. Covering an area of over 300 square meters, the bringer of love hovers opposite the meeting place in front of a romantic evening sky. Instead of the classic bow and arrow, however, the angel holds a fully automatic machine gun in his hands. The love messenger has had to upgrade since he has been on the road for the dating agency Swissfriends.ch. According to a press release from its advertising agency, the website is the largest Swiss dating site with just under 100,000 members and is thus not entirely uninvolved in the love luck of the Swiss.  
For the artwork of the giant poster, the Walker advertising agency collaborated with the artist group Psyop in Los Angeles. The American 3D specialists produced, among other things, the multiple award-winning Coca-Cola film "Happyness Factory.
 
Responsible at Swissfriends.ch:
Yvan Vuignier (Head of Marketing), Robert Palm (CEO). Responsible at Walker Advertising Agency: Massimo van der Plas (Art Direction), Joep de Kort (Text), Marianne Friedli (Design), Pius Walker (CD). Artwork: Kylie Matulick, Todd Mueller (Psyop), Beni Kägi, Pablo Kirschke (Frame eleven).  

 
In Switzerland, around 11,000 people suffer whiplash every year. In most cases, this is a direct result of a traffic accident with a rear-end collision. Those affected suffer from permanent headaches, visual disturbances, dizziness, concentration problems and tinnitus. In around a quarter of cases, health problems persist and in around 10 percent of cases, the consequences of the accident lead to disability or partial disability. It is not uncommon for those affected to fight for acceptance of the consequences of their accident on various fronts: with insurance companies, in medical treatment, at work or even in their personal environment. Reasons enough, therefore, to bring the subject of whiplash injuries to the attention of the general public.  
In cooperation between Patrick Lienert and his former employer Draftfcb, a poster campaign has now been created on this topic. Lienert, himself a whiplash sufferer, initiated the campaign in his role as Vice President of the Whiplash Association. In addition, Volvo has become a partial sponsor that is ideally suited to the topic.
 
Responsible at the Whiplash Association:
Evalotta Samuelsson (President), Susanne Kohler (Managing Director). Responsible at Draftfcb: Roland Jaeggi (AD), Reto Saluz (Production), Melanie Auerbach (Art Buying), CD/Consulting: Patrick Lienert; Photo: Sandro Diener; 3D Composing: Deny Fousek; Image Editing: Pixelprinz, Linus Schneider; Hair/Make-up: Vikon Bassil; Printing: Setaprint; Media: Initiative; Sponsoring Volvo: Sascha Heiniger (PR Manager), Eveline Bauert (Marketing Manager).

 Swiss television reported a market share of 34.3% for April. Compared to the same month last year, this corresponds to an increase of 2.2 percentage points. According to the press release, the market shares for early evening (plus 2.2 percentage points), main evening (plus 2.1 percentage points) and late evening (plus 4.1 percentage points) are significantly better than in the previous year. Compared to the 2007 annual average, SF is still 0.5 percentage points behind with an average market share of 33.0 percent up to April 2008. "SF Meteo" was the most visited service on Sf.tv in April with 1,904,700 visits. This means that this online platform recorded more than twice as many visitors as in the same month last year. In April 2008, Sf.tv users accessed around 1.6 million SF videos, an increase of over 65 percent compared to April 2007. In terms of podcasts, SF recorded around 418,200 downloads last month.

 Paparazzi lurk around every corner and in every bush, and nobody can defend themselves against them. Not even Heike Makatsch and her young daughter. However, Makatsch was a little too brazen in her attempts to get rich from the nasty snappers. The actress and presenter demanded the equivalent of 57,000 francs from Heinrich Bauer Verlag for the fact that two newspapers published by the publishing house had printed pictures of her and her then eight-week-old daughter walking in Berlin last year. The judges dismissed her lawsuit on Wednesday. Although the print was unlawful, it did not constitute such a serious violation of personality rights that such high damages would be justified, the judge explained. Makatsch's lawyer had argued that the images primarily violated the personal rights of the child. A settlement proposed by the judge, according to which the publisher was to pay the actress 12,000 francs and she in turn was to donate half of this to a charitable organization of her choice, failed. Makatsch now has to pay the legal costs as well as her daughter. Perhaps Makatsch should use a Michael Jackson-inspired cover-up tactic for her next child.

 
The software giant Microsoft, which has come under pressure following its failed acquisition of Yahoo, wants to close the gap on arch-rival Google with the social networking platform Facebook. As the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing well-informed circles, the company from the US state of Washington intends to realign its strategy in the online business. Analysts believe that a takeover of Facebook can no longer be categorically ruled out in the long term following the Yahoo failure. 
According to initial information, there have been no informal preliminary talks between the Facebook management around CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Microsoft's investment bankers regarding the exploration of a complete takeover. Nevertheless, the software giant has sent the first discreet signals, according to the US news portal AllThingsD. Although neither company has yet commented on the rumors, many analysts believe that there is growing evidence of a serious takeover plan by Microsoft.
 
It was only in October 2007 that Redmond acquired a small stake in Facebook for 240 million dollars. This meant that the company, which had once started out as a student project, suddenly had a market value of 15 billion dollars. Insiders attribute Microsoft's interest in Facebook to its profitability. After 150 million dollars in 2007, a profit of between 300 and 350 million dollars is expected for 2008. Gates announced after the drama surrounding the purchase of the Internet company Yahoo that there would be no more joint cooperation with Yahoo and that both companies would go their own ways with immediate effect.
 
Previously, Microsoft had tried in vain for three months to convince Yahoo boss Jerry Yang to invest the last 47.5 billion dollars (Advertising Week reported, see
). Meanwhile, Google and Yahoo have confirmed the conclusion of a test partnership, which is seen in the industry as a sign of longer-term cooperation in the advertising business. The fact that Microsoft is now flirting with Facebook has led to rumors of further acquisitions by the software giant. As Microsoft has announced its intention to focus on an "independent strategy", smaller start-ups in particular are being considered. As Microsoft has emphasized in an internal letter to staff that it wants to invest in the online services division, the online community portal MySpace, operated by News Corporation around media mogul Rupert Murdoch, is also considered a possible takeover target.

 
Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation more than tripled its profits in the last quarter. The reasons for this were a strong TV business and a billion dollar profit from a share swap with competitor Liberty Media. On the bottom line, the media group with holdings all over the world earned 2.69 billion dollars in the first three months of the current year. Sales rose by 16 percent to 8.75 billion dollars, News Corp. announced on Wednesday evening in New York. The operating result increased by 16 percent to 1.4 billion dollars. 

In the financial quarter ended March, the Group benefited from a swap with its US competitor Liberty Media to the tune of 1.7 billion dollars alone. Murdoch gave up a 40 percent stake in the satellite TV operator DirecTV and received Liberty's 16 percent stake in his News Corporation in return. The TV division benefited greatly from the broadcast of the Super Bowl. The division increased its operating result by more than half to 419 million dollars and was the division with the highest turnover at 1.8 billion dollars (+15 percent). The cable network business with the news channel Fox News increased its profits by 17 percent to 330 million dollars. In the film division, however, sales and profits fell significantly after box office hits in the same quarter of the previous year. 

The huge empire of the 77-year-old Australian entrepreneur Keith Rupert Murdoch includes numerous TV channels, the Californian film studio Twentieth Century Fox, the online network MySpace, Jamba and, in recent months, the Wall Street Journal and a 23 percent stake in the German subscription channel Premiere.

 The brand and communications agency Evoq in Zurich has announced a new addition to its team: Corinne Basler will support the creative team as a graphic designer. After completing her training in Aarau, Basler worked at various agencies, including Maxomedia and Renzen & Partner. She then worked for several years at Interbrand Zintzmeyer & Lux in Zurich, where she looked after international clients in brand development with a focus on online and interaction.

 Jelmoli Bonus Card, issuer of the gold Visa Bonus Card, has commissioned Lesch+Frei with its communications. According to a press release issued on Thursday, the Zurich-based agency won the budget in a competitive presentation at the end of April and is already implementing its first direct marketing measures.

 
The National Police of the Principality of Liechtenstein is celebrating its 75th anniversary. To mark the occasion, the exhibition "Insight into the Files" is being presented at the Liechtenstein National Museum. It is intended to give the public an understanding of the history of the National Police and a lot of information about the investigative work. Freelance AD Mathias Marxer has realized a campaign for this in cooperation with freelance AD Gregor Schneider. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Responsible at the National Police of the Principality of Liechtenstein:
Tina Enz and Alexandra Schädler. Responsible at the Liechtenstein National Museum: Norbert Hasler and Arthur Brunhart.Responsible at Mathiasmarxer.li: Mathias Marxer (Art Direction/Concept). Responsible at Gschart: Gregor Scheider (Art Direction/Concept).

 Basel-based M&D Computer-Beratung und -Support AG has been providing services for the labor market since 1978. At the beginning of summer, M&D is launching new software for personnel service providers. The Basel-based Oswald Siegfried Werbeagentur (OSW) is announcing this with three mailings, which in turn draw attention to three films. The first film has already been released and the other two will follow at monthly intervals, according to the press release. The villain Blofeld, known from the James Bond films, plays the leading role in the first film. His sinister plan is to usurp the new software in order to bring it to market himself. 
 
Responsible at M&D:
Benjamin Leuzinger, Ralf Mouttet. Responsible at OSW: Michael Oswald (AD), Nadine Siegfried (consulting), René Fisch (text). Camera: Brian Goff. Sound: Baselcitystudios.

 With the show «Lollipop,» Radio Basel 1 is expanding its children’s programming. Starting May 11, the local radio station will air a mix of topics every Sunday from 8 to 9 a.m., featuring interesting facts and personal experiences by and for children. According to a press release from the station, each episode will also feature a fairy tale. The show is hosted by Daniela Rohr, who collaborates with Martin Hicklin, among others. Since last fall, Hicklin has been writing a Q&A column in the weekend supplement of the Basler-Zeitung. Following the premiere of «Lollipop» on Pentecost Sunday, Radio Basel 1 will air a special edition of the show on Pentecost Monday.