The "Hear the World" campaign for Phonak has won the International Sponsoring Award 2008, presented by the sponsoring association Faspo, in the Innovation category. The global initiative links sponsorship, media relations, events, grassroots activities and corporate publishing in terms of timing and content, according to a statement on Thursday. Music serves as a universal language that conveys the theme of hearing in a positive way. Hear the World contributes to creating and promoting awareness of the topic of hearing. The campaign receives celebrity support from official ambassadors such as Franka Potente, Bryan Adams and Annie Lennox.The award ceremony took place on January 15 on the occasion of the Faspo Sponsoring Association conference in Hamburg. A jury of experts from business and science evaluated sponsorship concepts from Germany, Austria and Switzerland for the 15th time.

 Advertisers spent less on advertising in the daily press in December than in the same month last year. The Publicitas index fell by 0.1 points to 98.1 points, one of the reasons being commercial advertising, which developed only hesitantly, as Publicitas announced on Thursday. This was despite the fact that automobile importers and major distributors in particular had made "considerable investments".
Real estate advertisements also fell, while the job advertisements index improved by 1.3 points to 196.2 points.
Over the year as a whole, the index recorded growth of 4.6%. According to Publicitas, the reasons for this are the continuing "boom" in job advertisements and the political advertisements placed in connection with the national elections in October.

 Every year, the Advertiser of the Year is chosen from six nominated, outstanding personalities in the advertising industry. For the marketer Cinecom, this is of course an important and beautiful event, but also a difficult situation: After all, it is not only the six nominees who are important to it, but all people from the advertising industry. So on the one hand, the marketer wants to congratulate Pius Walker on his well-deserved election. And to give a little consolation to all those who were not elected or not nominated. For this purpose, Cavegnwerbung has created an ad that gives everyone a little consolation with a big wink. And, of course, congratulates the newly crowned Advertiser of the Year warmly on his "Egon". The subject can be seen in the current advertising week. There, Paron, Radiotele and Multicolor Print also offer their congratulations to Pius Walker.

 The Ringier media company is celebrating its 175th anniversary this year. The company is celebrating its anniversary in Switzerland and eight other countries under the motto "What moves people". To kick off the anniversary year, Switzerland's largest media company presented the book "Ringier bei den Leuten" (Ringier with the people) by publicist Karl Lüönd in Lausanne and Zurich on Wednesday. On over 500 pages, the book describes the development of the small Zofingen book printing company into a multinational media company. Ringier celebrates its big official birthday party in Switzerland on May 16, 2008 with partners, customers and guests from politics, business, culture and society. On May 17, 2008, there will be a party for the employees. Ringier is also celebrating its anniversary in China, Vietnam, Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia. The anniversary program also includes activities for readers, the international online competition "Destination Ringier" and the "My Ringier Story" project, which invites employees and retirees to tell their own personal story.
For publisher Michael Ringier, the anniversary is an opportunity to look back on what Ringier has achieved over the past 175 years and to learn from its successes and mistakes for the future. "Our company is 15 years older than the Swiss federal state. In this 175-year history, Ringier has always managed to compensate for difficult situations with successful innovations or activities."

 Last year, Pius Walker and his Walker advertising agency were named "Newcomer Agency of the Year 2006" by the German Advertising Yearbook. Unfortunately, the Swiss were left empty-handed in this year's competition: The title goes to the Hamburg agency Reinsclassen. It positions itself as an "agency for language". The jury praised its unique selling point in the highly competitive advertising market. The two founders, Armin Reins and Veronika Classen, have been implementing the credo "Language makes brands - language sells" together with an 18-strong team since February 2005. The jury of the Yearbook of Advertising can also award a newcomer prize for the Switzerland/Austria region, but is not obliged to do so. There were no merits for Switzerland this year, but the publishing house Econ-Verlag is calling on the Swiss to submit numerous entries next year.

 Just in time for the relaunch, the tabloid Blick will be in the letterboxes of more than half of subscribers earlier than before from March: In the metropolitan areas of Berne, Basel, Aarau, Lucerne, Zurich and St. Gallen and in other larger German-speaking Swiss cities, Blick will be distributed from 5.00 a.m. and by 6.30 a.m. at the latest from the beginning of March 2008. In this way, subscribers will be able to "read the freshly printed Blick at the breakfast table or take it with them on their way to work", according to Ringier. Early delivery will be carried out by Swiss Post from Monday to Saturday. The announced early delivery can be seen as a reaction to the free newspapers: If Blick arrives earlier than before, subscribers may take the tabloid with them on their way to work instead of a free newspaper. Ringier Group spokesman Marco Castellaneta responded to a question to this effect as follows: "Blick is already very strong in areas outside the city; thanks to early delivery, Blick should now also conquer readers in the cities. Early delivery is therefore clearly part of the forward strategy."
Blick will be published with a new concept from March. The paper is to return to the one-bundle concept, become more comprehensive and "magazine-like" and feature more exclusive content, as publisher Michael Ringier said on Wednesday's "10 vor 10" program. They are also considering adding a women's magazine to the new Blick once a week.
Ringier has been working on the relaunch of the tabloid newspaper under the project name "Blick 2010" for over a year. The aim is to halt the decline in circulation of what was once Switzerland's largest newspaper. The paper currently has a circulation of 240,000 copies.

 The independent radio station Fréquence Banane in Lausanne has been taking care of the young musical talent in the country for years. Together with other sponsors, the station organizes the band competition "Battle of the Bands". McCann Erickson designed the poster for this event, which will be seen in Fribourg, Geneva, Lausanne, Neuchâtel and Sion.  

Responsible at Radio Fréquence Banane:
Marco Brienza, Nicolas Favrod-Coune, Jeanne Dubuis. Responsible at McCann Erickson: Timo Kirez (CD), Angelo Sciullo (AD), David von Ritter (text), Cecilia Campeas (consulting).

 On Saturday, advertisements from the Berne Declaration (EvB) will appear in the Tages-Anzeiger supplement Das Magazin - although the NGO had to change the original text. The EvB will announce the Public Eye Awards in Davos. As can be read in the weekly newspaper (Woz), the advertisements show Claudia Nielsen from the Alternative Bank, Bastien Girod from the Green Party and cabaret artist Patrick Frey with their noses upturned. Flies buzz around them. The original text from the Spinas-Gemperle agency reads: "Certain corporations stink to high heaven". However, these words were too provocative for the magazine. Editor-in-chief Finn Canonica is quoted in Woz as saying that they wanted high-quality advertisements and that it was not acceptable for others to be insulted in an advertisement. In addition, "stinks to high heaven" is simply too pubescent.
The EvB had to negotiate with the magazine and an agreement was reached: instead of "...stink to high heaven" it now reads "...act uncleanly". And instead of "vielerorts", it now reads "mancherorts". With this new version, the EvB is now welcome at the magazine after all. As an NGO, the EvB pays half the normal rate for advertising.

At the behest of the Federal Supreme Court, four advertising screens in Zurich's Niederdorf district must definitely go: the judges in Lausanne have approved a decision by the Administrative Court against the operator City Lights.
City Lights installed the screens in showcases in three historic properties in Zurich's old town over the course of 2005. On the monitors, still images alternated every 10 seconds with advertisements for companies based in the buildings as well as for other stores and businesses.
But then the city intervened. After a legal back and forth, Jürg Knecht, head of City Lights, turned to the Federal Supreme Court. The court has now rejected his appeal. According to the Lausanne judges, the screens require planning permission. The monitors would emit light immissions over a large area and the light signals could also be changed quickly. This requires a permit.
In its decision, the Administrative Court had rightly protected the city's strict standard for third-party advertising of the disputed type in the old town streets. There was also no evidence of unequal treatment in comparison with similar installations outside the so-called "old town core zone" or with billboard advertising.
Last March, the Federal Court ordered the screens to be switched off as a precautionary measure. After the operating company failed to comply with this request immediately, the city had the power to the monitors switched off (see
).

 Toblerone, one of the best-known Swiss brands, is celebrating its 100th birthday. The chocolate was first produced in Bern's Länggass district in 1908. Starting on Friday, an exhibition will tell its story in Bern's Kornhaus. It will run until February 23. Afterwards, the exhibits on the history of the world-famous chocolate triangle will go on tour through Switzerland. To complement the exhibition, Kraft Foods, the current manufacturer of Toblerone, is publishing a 200-page anniversary book. One of the authors is Andreas Tobler, grandson of Toblerone inventor Theodor Tobler. A celebration is also planned for the anniversary year.
Advico Young & Rubicam ranked Toblerone among the twenty strongest brands in Switzerland last year. As in the early days, Toblerone is once again produced exclusively in Bern: In a factory on the outskirts of Bern-Bümpliz.

 The prices for the daily delivery of newspapers and magazines that are not entitled to press subsidies may be increased as of January 1. This has been agreed between Swiss Post and the price watchdog. According to the Swiss Press Association, Swiss Post will refrain from increasing rates for parcels delivered over the counter and for parcels and letters sent abroad. However, the rate increase of around CHF 20 million for newspaper distribution was approved.
In late summer, the Swiss Press Association submitted a petition to the price watchdog and objected to both the retrospective inflation surcharge of 4.4 percent for titles with press subsidies (see
) and against the announced tariff increase for the press without funding. 

The Lowe agency, part of the Draftfcb/Lowe Group, has realized the first campaign for its client Cablecom. It brings all kinds of furnishings such as lamps, chairs and plants to life. After all, it is only human that the whole home wants to participate in Cablecom's entertaining offers, according to a press release issued on Thursday. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Responsible at Cablecom:
Oli Bergmann (Head Marcom & Brand), Anna-Marie Siroka (Marcom Specialist Broadband). Responsible at Lowe: Keith Loell (CD), Sebastian Hugelshofer (AD), Dominique Wegmann (Text), Rolf Jeger, Kirstin Brand (Consulting), Kurt Schmid (Strategy), Melanie Auerbach (Art Buying); Photographer: Scheffold & Vizner.