The Cannes Lions advertising festival will apparently soon be under new ownership: the London-based Guardian newspaper group and the investment company Apax want to jointly take over the entire B-to-B business of Emap Communications, to which Cannes Lions previously belonged. Apax and the Guardian Group have founded the company Eden Bidco for this purpose. As Horizont.de writes, the buyers and Emap have reached agreement on the deal. The purchase price for Emap's B-to-B division is said to be the equivalent of around 2.2 billion Swiss francs.

 The company Fotorotar in Egg, Zurich, has been operating under the name FO Print & Media since the beginning of the year. The new public limited company comprises six independently managed business divisions. In recent years, Fotorotar, which was originally only active in the printing sector, has established a range of services that are only indirectly related to the production of printed matter, according to a press release. The business areas include, for example, Internet services, the creation of security-relevant securities, address databases, logistical services and web-to-print solutions. These rather neglected services have developed into serious revenue drivers. For this reason, a structural adjustment was necessary. The division heads form the management board, which is chaired by Jürg Konrad. The two owners Otto Brunner and Jürg Konrad are on the Board of Directors.

 Before Christmas, the Jung von Matt/Limmat agency announced that its collaboration with Swiss would end at the end of March 2008. The airline is now looking for a new agency for classic advertising in a pitch. Independently of this, Euro RSCG Dialog & Digital will continue to work for Swiss. It is responsible for all direct marketing and below-the-line measures for Swiss. "Our dialog unit, Euro RSCG Dialog & Digital, has already been working for Swiss in the area of dialog for several months," says Euro RSCG CEO Frank Bodin in response to an inquiry from Werbewoche about a report in the Handelszeitung. The business newspaper writes that Euro RSCG has obtained part of the Swiss budget. "Euro RSCG Dialog & Digital is the airline's official agency for direct marketing and below-the-line", the agency boss explains. The fact that Jung von Matt/Limmat and Swiss are parting ways has "nothing whatsoever" to do with the budget win, as Bodin emphasizes: "Swiss employs various agencies for traditional advertising and dialogue marketing. It keeps these fields strictly separate," explains Bodin. "We are already very busy at work. Euro 08 in particular will bring many exciting projects."

 The labor dispute between screenwriters in Hollywood, which has been going on for weeks, is coming to a head: the writers' union WGA has announced that it will strike at the Golden Globes ceremony on January 13. The Golden Globe Gala is being organized by the production company Dick Clark Productions, it said. And there will be a strike against this company because it also exploits its authors. So this year we will probably be looking in vain for screenwriters walking the red carpet. But the organizers have even worse things in mind: the gala could be hindered by a picket line, which could put many stars in conflict. And lo and behold: Actress Glenn Close has already declared her solidarity with the WGA - she would never break through a picket line.
The Golden Globes organizers can only hope that one or two stars will be willing to cross the picket line. Tom Hanks and Johnny Depp, at least, will probably enjoy breaking the chain - their current projects are also blocked by the writers' strike.

 
On January 8, 2008, the Media Institute's Epiphany Conference will take place for the 10th time. Around 400 personalities from the media and communications industry will meet at the WTC Zurich to kick off the new year.  
This year's speakers include Pietro Supino, Chairman of the Board of Tamedia, Peter Rothenbühler, Editor-in-Chief of Le Matin, Manuel Dähler, Director of Mediapulse, Klaus Kappeler, CEO of Goldbach Media Group and Dominique von Burg, President of the Press Council from 2008.
 
This year, however, there will not only be debates and presentations, but also celebrations: The Media Institute is celebrating its 20th anniversary. The Media Institute's alumni club, the association of publishing professionals, is also turning 20.
The program and further information can be found on the website of the Media Institute.

 Remo Leupin will become project manager and member of the editorial board at the Beobachter from April 2008. In this role, he will be responsible for the compact supplements and various new projects in the print sector, according to a press release issued on Thursday.43-year-old Leupin previously worked as head of copywriting at the Beobachter, but then moved to Basler Zeitung four years ago. As a member of the editorial board, he played a key role in the relaunch of the paper. Leupin has experience as a journalist, head of production, head of copywriting and editor-in-chief and has recently focused on developing online activities.
Leupin replaces Urs Zanoni at Beobachter, who will take over the management of the Medix Zurich doctors' network in spring 2008 and is therefore leaving the editorial team.

From April 2008, Schweizer Radio DRS will be filling the post of head of its communications and marketing department. At the request of Radio Director Walter Rüegg, the SRG Board of Directors elected 44-year-old Béatrice Merlach. She succeeds Ariane Ehrat, who is moving to Engadin-St. Moritz-Tourismus at the beginning of the year. After studying economics in Zurich, Merlach began her career in the marketing department of Swissair. Further professional stations included Zurich Financial Services and the management position at Spitex Lucerne. Most recently, she was Director of Marketing at Davos Tourism.
As Head of Communications and Marketing, Merlach will be responsible for communications, marketing, sponsorship policy, listener services and the corporate identity of SR DRS. She will also be a member of the Executive Board.

 According to the Goldbach Electronic Media Index (Gemi), advertising pressure in the e-media rose by 7 to 401 index points last November, breaking the 400-point barrier for the first time. Television again proved to be the growth driver: It increased by 9 points to 420. Radio fell by 2 index points to 254, teletext fell by 7 index points to 133, while the Internet enjoyed an increase of 3 index points to 251. The review of data deliveries in the Internet media group has been definitively completed with the revision of 2005, as Goldbach Media announced. The total of all media covered by Media Focus grew by 1 index point to 195.

 The Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM) has submitted 52 radio and 20 regional television license applications for consultation. The full text of the applications can be viewed on the . The hearing will last until February 20. After that, the comments submitted will be submitted to the applicants for a legal hearing. According to OFCOM, the first licenses for the 41 local-regional radio stations and the 13 regional television stations can be expected in early summer 2008. The applications are for 54 licenses which the Federal Office put out to tender in August. By the deadline of December 5, 75 dossiers had been submitted. Three applications have been withdrawn: Canal 29 and Maxxima, both from the Geneva region, have renounced a television and radio license respectively, as a Bakom spokeswoman told SDA on request. In addition, the Zurich-based radio station Alpenrosen has withdrawn its application.

 A stricter ban on advertising unhealthy food has been in force in the UK since January 1. No sweets, chips or other fattening foods may now be advertised to young people under the age of 16. According to official calculations, more than half of all Britons could be suffering from overweight or acute obesity in 25 years' time due to poor nutrition. This is why the British Prime Minister launched a 240 million franc program in October.

The German electronics group Saturn, which wrote advertising history with "Geiz ist geil" (stinginess is cool), is presenting a claim again for the first time - but only a temporary one: The slogan "We hate expensive!" adorns the latest subjects of the current campaign with the headline "Love, hate, madness!". However, the claim will only be used for the current campaign for the time being, as a company spokesperson told Werben & Verkaufen. The spokesperson left open whether it will remain as an overall slogan - as "Geiz ist geil" once was. Saturn has been running a campaign since last fall with the slogan
"We love technology! We hate expensive!". It was created by Scholz & Friends Berlin. A claim such as the one seen in the latest designs was missing from last fall's ads and posters.

 The major German television stations are losing ground. Last year, all major TV stations recorded lower market shares than in the previous year. For the first time in eight years, the average viewing time of Germans fell by four minutes to 208 minutes per day in 2007, as reported by New-Business.de. ARD lost 1.2 percent to 13.4 percent. ZDF's market share fell by 0.7 percent to 12.9 percent. Ranks three to five also suffered setbacks. RTL is now at 12.4 percent, Sat 1 at 9.6 percent and ProSieben, with a rather small drop of 0.1 percent, at 6.5 percent. Only the station Vox was able to significantly increase its share, improving its result by 0.9 percent to 5.7 percent. This was certainly due not least to young program highlights such as "Das perfekte Promidinner" and "Unter Volldampf".