The new media agency Mitlinks has had new management since the beginning of the year. Patrizia Lehmann has been at the helm of the company since January 1. Patrizia Lehmann has a degree in business informatics and previously worked as a consultant, concept developer and project manager for various communications agencies. The previous managing directors Christian Klinner and Romano Strebel are withdrawing from the operational business, but will continue to support Mitlinks in an advisory capacity with a reduced workload. Their main focus will then be on expanding the daily Ron Orp newsletter, which they launched four years ago.

 Football fever is on the rise: there are only 130 days to go until the start of the European Championship finals in Austria and Switzerland. The ball magic starts on June 7, 2008. On Monday, Uefa launched the official promotional tour in Basel. At the start of the "Euro Experience Tour" through 13 cities in Switzerland and Austria, Uefa officials presented the genuine new 60 cm tall and eight kilogram silver Euro Cup in the world's largest inflatable tour tent. It is worth around 25,000 Swiss francs. Guests at the spectacle can also have their photo taken with the winning pot, according to an official statement. The 40 by 60 meter tent will house 140 cinema seats as well as interactive multimedia stations and a fan store. Among other things, final goals from the European Championships since 1960 and portraits of the eight venues can be seen.
After Basel (-3.2.), the tent moves to Geneva (7.-10.2.), Zurich (21.-24.2.), Bern (28.2.-2.3.) and Lausanne (6.-9.3.). After crossing the border to Innsbruck, Linz, Klagenfurt, Salzburg and Graz, the tour will then move on to Lugano (May 1-4) and Lucerne (May 8-11) before ending in Vienna during Euro 2008.

 Since 1998, the agency network Saatchi & Saatchi has presented an "Award for World Changing Ideas" every two years. The award, established by creative director Bob Isherwood, aims to draw attention to world-changing innovations and honor exceptional ideas. This year's nominees include a Swiss company: Lifestraw, headquartered in Lausanne, has developed a portable drinking water treatment device that filters out bacteria, viruses and parasites. It can be used to treat drinking water for one person for a year. The other nominees are: Acuset IV Controller (New Zealand), Crossbreed Collapsible Wheel (UK), One Laptop per Child (USA), PerspectaRAD: 3-D Display for Cancer Treatment (USA), Printing Skin and Bones (UK), Restoring Sight to the Blind (USA), Speaking Books (South Africa), Village Phone (USA) and Wadsworth Brain-Computer Interface (USA).
The winner of the 100,000 US dollar prize will be announced on Thursday, February 21, 2008 in New York. The prize money will be paid out 50 percent in cash and 50 percent in marketing consulting services from Saatchi & Saatchi. The jury consists of Edward de Bono, Peter Gabriel, HRH Prince Hassan, Malcolm McLaren, Carolyn Porco and Philippe Starck.

 SRG is examining the possibility of merging Swiss Television and Radio DRS. Employees of the consulting firm McKinsey are clarifying the synergy potential of a merger. The model is Ticino. Radio and television were already merged there in 1974, and the cooperation has been intensified over the past year. clarifications are currently underway, confirmed Viktor Baumeler, Chairman of the Board of Directors of SRG Deutschschweiz at the request of SDA in a corresponding report in the NZZ am Sonntag. Consideration is being given to this under the title "Media Convergence".
A merger of Schweizer Fernsehen and Radio DRS would merge the administrations. The construction of a new radio center in Leutschenbach is also under discussion.

 
The jury of the Swiss Effie 08 competition has completed the first round of judging under the leadership of jury president Ralph Büchi. Of the 107 campaigns submitted, 40 were nominated for the second round. In the first round of judging, each of the 27 jury members assessed 38 cases. According to the press release, the sole aim of this first round was to assess the impact of the submitted campaigns in relation to the defined objectives.
On March 5, the jury will meet and decide which of the 40 campaigns will be awarded a diploma or an Effie in gold, silver or bronze based on the creative implementation and the score from the first round.
The cases nominated for the second round of judging are listed on Effie.ch. You will also soon be able to register there for the award ceremony on March 8 in the studios of Swiss television.

 After the Egon and the ADC cubes, there is now a third award in a row: a drawing by the artist Matto. This prize was presented to soprano Rachel Harnisch by the Plenum VS association. Harnisch was thus named the honorable "Valaisan of the Year 2007". "With her singing, Rachel Harnisch always succeeds in touching people to their very core, including me when I attended one of her performances," said jury member Patrick Rohr, explaining the decision.
With this award, the Plenum VS association honors Valais personalities for outstanding achievements. According to a press release, this is the first time a woman has received the award. However, this is not really all that sensational, as this is only the second time the prize has been awarded. Last year, National Bank President Jean-Pierre Roth received the award.
But who cares whether the Matto artwork hangs in a woman's or a man's dining room - what really matters is that Switzerland is once again one award richer.

 The Neue Luzerner Zeitung will be published with a Sunday edition from fall 2008. The Board of Directors of LZ Medien Holding made the corresponding decision on Friday, the media company writes in a press release. The seventh edition of the newspaper and its head pages in Central Switzerland will be delivered to all subscribers. It will consist of six thematically organized bundles.
The Sunday edition takes account of the growing importance of Sundays in the reader market, the press release continues. While there is less time available for reading during the week, reading on Sundays is gaining in quality. There has also been a shift in the advertising market in recent years, including to the Sunday market.
The new newspaper will be the sixth Sonntagsblatt in German-speaking Switzerland after Sonntagsblick, Sonntags-Zeitung, NZZ am Sonntag, Sonntag and Südostschweiz am Sonntag.

  This year's ADC Awards took place on Saturday evening at the Toni-Molkerei in Zurich. Of the total of 1081 entries, 234 received awards: 164 shortlisted, 53 bronze, 12 silver and 5 gold. With three gold awards and the "Agency of the Year" award, the Jung von Matt/Limmat agency was the big winner of the evening. Werbewoche shortlist author Beat Fritsch was present at the awards ceremony and the party staged around it. Take a look at
the pictures.

 
National team coach Köbi Kuhn is to become Denner's new advertising medium. According to Sonntagsblick, the advertising contract includes appearances in television commercials and is not limited to the time of the European Championships. In addition, the contract will continue even if the 64-year-old is no longer the national team coach, and the deal was arranged by Denner boss Philippe Gaydoul. Kuhn is a typical Swiss, down-to-earth and modest, Gaydoul is quoted as saying in Sonntagsblick. In addition, the fact that he often walks around in red makes him likeable - red like the Swiss flag and the Denner logo.

This year's ADC Awards took place on Saturday evening at the Toni-Molkerei in Zurich. Of the 1081 entries, 234 received awards: 164 shortlisted, 53 bronze, 12 silver and 5 gold. The big winner this year is advertising agency Jung von Matt/Limmat: it won three gold awards in the film category and is "Agency of the Year". There was also gold for Ruf Lanz and Studio Achermann. Walker Werbeagentur, which was successful at the ADC last year and won international awards, did not make it into the top ten agencies this year.
The jury was very strict in its judging, as the ADC announced. It continued its strategy of judging according to international standards and primarily according to quality criteria rather than quotas. The rare top works can therefore be more clearly distinguished from the good works, it added. However, it has become correspondingly more difficult to win the precious metal - apparently the agencies' healthy ambition has been awakened.
The gold cubes The gold winner of the evening, Jung von Matt/Limmat, won the hearts of the jury with three films. The jury voted unanimously and without hesitation for gold for all three spots, as they announced.
All three gold spots by JvM/Limmat advertise cars: the film "4matics" for Mercedes Benz amazes with the absolute synchronicity of the actors, perfect timing and, finally, a pinch of mischief. Rarely has a product advantage been presented in a more plausible and winning way, said the jury.
"Gas can blues" for Smart, on the other hand, is a vignette film of the finest quality with an impressive resolution. The animations are used sparingly, but all the more perfectly. And the supporting element, a specially written blues with catchy tune potential, carries the film from A-Z and fascinates for just as long.
Finally, the third film, "The Race" for Mercedes Benz, is "storytelling at its best". And at the same time the best proof that the testimonial genre does not have to come across as chummy and boring.

Gold was also awarded in the posters category. Ruf Lanz scored here with the work "Gigantic construction projects" for Ricardo.ch. According to the jury, the posters make it clear what the cheerful, carefree "advertising exaggeration" of a relevant product advantage means in the best case: a lot of attention from the public on the street and a lot of traffic on the Ricardo.ch website.

Gold was also awarded for an outstanding achievement in the photography category: The photo series "Season Preview" for the Schauspielhaus Zurich by Studio Achermann GmbH shows that Zurich does not have to hide behind world cities such as London, Paris or Berlin in this area either, but on the contrary creates highlights, the jury found.

The silver cubes The jury awarded twelve silver cubes. Due to the tough judging process, silver can be classified as a very high award at an international level.
In the category "Ads":
"Scent tree" for Mercedes Benz by Jung von Matt/Limmat
"Chainsaws" for Suva from Ruf Lanz
In the category posters:
"Optical zoom" for Leica from Young & Rubicam Group
"Chainsaws" for Suva from Ruf Lanz
In the category Film:
"Rollercoaster" for Zurich Chamber Orchestra by Euro RSCG Group Switzerland
In the Radio category:
"Everything softer" for CP helmets from Young & Rubicam Group
In the Direct Advertising/POS/Events category:
"Bfu Easter egg campaign" for Suva by Ruf Lanz
In the category Ambient Media:
"Floor drawings" for furniture from Wirz Werbung
"Backwards" for truck driving school Strebel by Scholz&Friends Zurich
In the category Photos/Illustrations:
"Children's book" for Licht im Dunkeln by Young & Rubicam Group
In the Digital category:
"Check-your-lovelife" for Stop Aids from Euro RSCG Group Switzerland
In the overall campaign category:
"Sponsoring" for Helvepharm by Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett
Together with their clients, the 28 agencies in the balance can look forward to at least one place on the shortlist. Agency of the Year is Jung von Matt/Limmat, closely followed by Ruf Lanz.
The top 10 Swiss advertising agencies, ranked by points:

As the ADC notes, Switzerland seems to be turning from a print country into a film country: Out of 16 shortlisted films, three works managed to be awarded a Gold Cube.

ADC Switzerland took the changed times into account with the "Ambient" category. Silver was awarded twice and bronze five times. This year, for the second time since 2006, the ADC gave big ideas that had to make do with small budgets a special chance with the "Low'n'no-Budget" category. Four bronze cubes were awarded here, but no silver and no gold.
The newly defined "Digital" category, on the other hand, was a slight disappointment, according to the jury. Only 1 silver and 3 bronze would underline the fact that the average Swiss level in this category is still well below what the experienced web user is used to from international work.

Special prizes from the Collegial Juries and the Press Prize As in the previous year, the most renowned minds from the fields of strategy, consulting, media, direct marketing and realization, according to the ADC, were invited to become members of the Collegial Juries and serve on the jury. They awarded four special cubes:
In the Creative Strategy category:
Overall "Sponsoring" campaign for Helvepharm by Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett
In the category Creative Campaigning:
Overall campaign "M'08 Fan Championship" for Migros by Publicis advertising agency
In the Creative Production category:
Film "Lotto" for Rega by Walker advertising agency
In the Creative Media category:
Overall campaign "Juventus" for Juventus Schools by Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett.
The Press Prize was also awarded. A jury of five editors-in-chief met under the patronage of the general sponsor Publigroupe. The winner of the Press Prize 2008 is "Fahrplanwechsel" for SBB by Jung von Matt/Limmat

The judging criteria The ADC Switzerland judged according to the following criteria:
10. world class
9. new standard in advertising
8. new standard in the category
7. excellent in execution
6. fresh idea
5. innovative strategy
4. cliché
3. not competitive
2. destructive
1. frightening
Levels 5 - 7 are the basic prerequisites for a work to make it onto the shortlist and then perhaps be featured in the ADC Yearbook. Works that exceed level 7 are awarded a bronze, silver or even gold cube.
You can find out more about the judging process in the next issue of Werbewoche (No. 4/2008).
The award-winning works can be viewed on the ADC website.

 The Eastern Swiss communications agency Freicom welcomed two new faces to the team at the beginning of the year. Andreas Küng has taken up his position as PR editor/ copywriter. He studied German language and literature, philosophy and history in Zurich. After completing his studies, he worked as a journalist for Bilanz-Online, the St. Galler Tagblatt and the Rheintaler, among others. Sabine Reinecke also joined the agency on January 1. She heads the KMU-Campus association, for whose management Freicom is responsible. With a doctorate in business administration, she has been working in the field of further education for over 10 years and has experience as a communications and seminar manager, according to Freicom.
On February 1, Judith Eisenlohr will also take up her position as Exhibition and Events Project Manager. She has completed a postgraduate course in event management at HSW Lucerne and was an event coordinator at the University of Zurich and Credit Suisse.

 The executive committee of the SRG Audience Council has expressed irritation at the prominence Swiss television is giving to the current role of the SVP. It considers the emphasis placed on this topic to be inappropriate. It recommends that program makers question their own role in shaping the topics covered and maintain their usual sense of proportion, the SRG announced. By contrast, the majority of the Viewers« Council is enthusiastic about the shows »Lovecheck« and »Einstein.« SF’s dating show »Lovecheck« is described as exciting, humorous, and fast-paced. The program fulfills the licensing requirement to distinguish itself from commercial offerings in terms of quality. By targeting a younger audience, SF is filling a gap. While some council members felt that »Lovecheck” does not make a substantial contribution to the reputation of Swiss television, they acknowledged that the show has its place.
This was the second time the Council had commented on the science magazine program «Einstein.» Compared to its initial review in June 2007, progress had been made, particularly in terms of the program’s profile and presentation. However, the entertainment aspect of the program still predominates too much. The Audience Council therefore calls for greater scientific depth and stronger ties to science and research.