Since January 1, 2008, Coop Versicherung has borne the new name Smile.direct. The German design agency Ideenhaus accompanied the gradual changeover and created the name and the complete brand design for the new umbrella brand. Coop Versicherung has been concentrating on the direct sale of insurance solutions for private households since 2002. In order to make this focus visually clear, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Nationale Suisse opted for an independent brand. Possible irritation on the part of long-standing customers was prevented by a strategically planned, gradual changeover, according to Ideenhaus.
To this end, the product brands Smile.home for home and household contents and Smile.car for car insurance, developed and designed by Ideenhaus, were launched at the beginning of 2007. Since January 2008, they have been present on the Swiss market as product brands under the new, independent umbrella brand Smile.direct. When developing the name and design, Ideenhaus, under the leadership of Creative Managing Director Julian Schäfer, focused on the target group of LOHAs (Lifestyle Of Health And Sustainability), the agency continued. The keywords "direct, fair and affordable" anchored in the brand strategy are to be conveyed with the new design.

 The three partners Publisuisse, Swiss TXT and Microsoft are turning viewers into producers of TV commercials. With "Pitch it", they are launching an online platform on which TV viewers can upload, view and rate commercials they have produced themselves. A briefing provided by an advertising client serves as a framework for the spot production. As an online platform, "Pitch it" is intended to combine the Internet and traditional television advertising and provide a basis for creating a community interested in TV advertising, according to a Publisuisse press release. The first campaign on the portal revolves around football. It is being realized in collaboration with the project organization Öffentliche Hand Uefa 2008, Standortmarketing Schweiz and was launched on Monday. Since the beginning of the year, video clips have been shown on SRG channels and in cinemas in the four host cities of Euro 08, in which Swiss people express their anticipation of the biggest sporting event ever held in Switzerland.
From Monday, the TV audience will be invited during the SF and TSR commercial breaks to produce their own video clips with their own personal message about the European Football Championship and upload them to Pitch-it.ch. All the spots produced can be viewed and rated there. The winning spot chosen by the jury of viewers will be broadcast several times during the week in the SF and TSR commercial breaks. The Public Sector Uefa Euro 2008 project organization, Standortmarketing Schweiz, is giving away vacations in Switzerland worth a total of CHF 5,000 to the viewers who voted.
"Pitch it" is based on a partnership between Publisuisse (concept and market development), Swiss TXT (development and operation) and Microsoft (software supplier).

It was officially announced at 4 p.m. on Monday: Oskar Sager has been appointed the new Head of Marketing at Migros. This makes the 51-year-old one of the most sought-after contacts for new business hunters in the advertising industry overnight. The printing company Maxiprint.ch and the Walker advertising agency moved quickly after the news was announced: The day after the press conference, new business managers in 1,700 advertising agencies already had Oskar Sager's brand new business card on their desks. Together with the greeting message "Good luck with your new business", the freshly printed card is enclosed in an inconspicuous envelope. The sender of this campaign is Maxiprint.ch with the claim "Nobody prints faster" - the positioning developed by the Walker advertising agency was once again emphasized: The idea was found, approved, produced and delivered in less than 24 hours. "The customer and the advertising really fit together here - both are fast and fresh," Pius Walker commented on the campaign to Werbewoche. He and his small team adapted an original Migros business card and Maxiprint.ch took care of shipping. The retail giant will also be surprised by the speed of the congratulations: "We couldn't even inform Migros yet, everything happened so quickly," says Walker, who clearly had a lot of fun with the campaign.
Responsible at Maxiprint.ch:
Ingo Grünig, Marcos Gonzales, Erwin Bachmann. Responsible at Walker Werbeagentur: Marianne Friedli, Nik Hodel (Art Direction). Pius Walker (text).

 In the days of Züri Woche, the society column "Notizen zu Namen" (Notes on names) was a must for those of standing and name. There were people who would have paid up to 10,000 francs to appear in this city gossip with their name and picture. Of course, such deals were never consummated - and so Züri Woche eventually folded. Now the "Notes on Names" have risen like a phoenix from the waste paper. The whispering stories are published every Monday in the Tages-Anzeiger, Bund Zürich. Yes, precisely in the competition, where people used to like to make fun of these notes with abysmal malice. The ready-to-pan supplement is produced by Eugen Baumgartner and his Eugencom.
The celebrities are given a good kicking by none other than Hildegard Schwaninger, the grand old lady of posh gossip who still seems young with her writing. In the very first issue, she serves up the hot news that the Silk King has married Andi Stutz. A Russian. And a woman to boot. You can always find out more at Notizenzunamen.ch.

 
After six years as head designer, Philipp Schubiger is leaving the Zurich agency Musqueteers at the beginning of February. He wants to develop personally and professionally in new ways, according to a press release issued on Friday. It was a difficult decision to leave this familiar environment, Schubiger said. Until a replacement is found for the position of Head of Design, Managing Director Michael Egloff will take on this role on an interim basis. 

 In January, rumors about alleged purchase plans by Russian investors in Altdorf, the capital of Uri, were circulating in the media. Now it has come to light that it was all just a gag by an Altdorf carnival association, which was uncovered by its inventor, the Altdorf carnival association "Nächstenliebe", in its "Narrenblatt" published on Wednesday. It had leaked a fictitious letter from a Zurich legal advisor to three house owners in the center of Altdorf to the media. In it, Russians expressed an interest in buying. The lawyer also confirmed this to the media.
However, the whole campaign was just a joke, as Ralph Hoerner from "Nächstenliebe" confirmed to the news agency SDA on Friday. The dynamics of the news had probably been somewhat underestimated, said Hoerner. They hadn't expected such a big media impact. However, it was never the intention to harm anyone.
One of the misled journalists sees the action as a bad joke. After all, the Zurich lawyer confirmed in conversation that he had written a letter to the three house owners "on behalf of and representing" the client and had officially registered his interest in buying.

 The Swiss Advertising Association has named radio producers Oliver Scotoni and Miguel Alvarez as communicators of the month. The two will launch a temporary radio station during Euro 08. "Radio 11 - The Rhythm of Football" is the first Swiss private radio station designed for all four parts of the country, writes SW spokesman Piero Schäfer in the citation. Apart from the fact that the idea is innovative, it impresses with the communicative possibility of uniting fans from all countries on one wavelength for a few weeks. If this succeeds, football fans should take home impressive memories of Euro 08: Those of an innovative, communicative and multicultural Switzerland.

 
The cruise company MSC Cruises Switzerland has commissioned the Zurich-based agency Primus Communications, which specializes in tourism, with the PR mandate for the whole of Switzerland. The aim is to increase awareness and anchor the MSC Cruises brand among the public and in the travel industry, as detailed in a press release. The mandate was awarded following the establishment of the independent Swiss branch of the Italian cruise line MSC Crociere on 1 January 2008. Previously, an intermediary company organized the sale of cruises in this country. Last year, the company achieved a year-on-year increase in passenger numbers of around 40 percent.

 
As part of the 175th anniversary celebrations, the entire University of Zurich is presenting itself with a joint image. Heads has developed the anniversary appearance, which is intended to convey the motto "Sharing knowledge" and establish the short form "UZH" that has recently been used. An anniversary design manual developed by the agency enables all faculties, institutes and museums to present the more than forty anniversary events under the same flag. The City of Zurich is also flying the flag: from the official start of the jubilee on February 29, 2008, the city will fly the jubilee flags of its university on Zurich's bridges:
Dr. Katrin Züger (Project Manager 175th Anniversary) and Dr. Christina Hofmann (Delegate for Communication). Responsible at Heads Corporate Communication: Marco Simonetti (CD), Donovan Szypura (graphics), Ralph Hermann, Mike Stillhard and Nadia Francioso (consulting).

The Zurich club Abart is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. Thanks to its manageable dimensions, it can be seen as the living room of Swiss rock lovers. Independent, alternative and rock bands get up close and personal with their fans here. Even Campino and Die Toten Hosen have rocked the small stage at Abart. The fact that you can get much closer to the stars at Abart than at concerts in the big halls and stadiums is dramatized by a pointed campaign by Ruf Lanz to mark the anniversary. The claim: "Get closer to the artist. Abart Club". The subjects appear on two and a half pages in the titles for the public as well as on cultural posters and postcards
Responsible at Club Abart:
Oli Zemp, Christian Gremelmayr. Responsible at Ruf Lanz: Markus Ruf, Danielle Lanz (Creative Direction), Lorenz Clormann (Art Direction), Markus Ruf (Text), Photography: Archive.

 The Swiss People's Party (SVP) is burying its plans for its own daily newspaper. "We are not planning a newspaper at the moment," the new SVP spokesperson Alain Hauert confirmed to Werbewoche, as reported by the free newspaper 20 Minuten. "We will communicate when it makes sense; it doesn't necessarily have to be on a daily basis." The SVP is relying on the existing communication channels and wants to expand on the Internet, for example. In addition, the party does not have the editorial staff for a daily newspaper, Hauert continued. According to 20 Minuten, SVP National Councillor Christoph Mörgeli had said at the "Journalist of the Year" award ceremony that a daily newspaper was "too big a box" and too expensive. Hauert did not want to confirm that the financial aspect was the decisive factor. In September, party president Ueli Maurer announced that the party was considering launching its own daily newspaper in the event that Christoph Blocher was not re-elected as Federal Councillor. "If he is overturned on December 12, we will announce the launch of a daily newspaper the following day. The plans for this are already in the drawer," Maurer told Sonntagsblick at the time. Shortly afterwards, Blocher described the project as a hoax and expressed doubts about its feasibility due to the cost issue. Nevertheless, former SVP spokesman Roman S. Jäggi followed up and declared that they definitely wanted to launch a newspaper (see
). Hauert explained that the wind has now changed in this way by saying that the SVP, as a political party, is obliged to do political work for its voters and does not have the function of a newspaper editorial office. Accordingly, the resources would be used in the existing communication channels and the project of a daily newspaper would be put on ice.

 
As part of its 175th birthday activities, the Swiss publishing house Ringier has launched an online game. The "Destination Ringier" knowledge quiz with questions about the company and Switzerland is aimed in particular at people from those countries in which Ringier is present as a company. The game is only available in the corresponding languages. The winner, who will be determined at the end of March, will win two weeks of 5-star vacations in Switzerland, according to a statement on Friday. To raise awareness of the game, a broad marketing campaign will be launched in parallel in each country where Ringier is present, in various media with a potential reach of more than 500 million contacts in total. Partners of the online game are Switzerland Tourism and the airline Swiss.