The Zurich agency Schoch&Sonders has three pieces of news to announce at the end of the year. Firstly, the agency has moved to Binzstrasse in Zurich and is now at home in the "Supertanker" property, which offers a creative environment with plenty of growth potential and an ideal transport location, the agency announced. Previously active in packaging design, Schoch&Sonders is expanding its area of expertise and repositioning itself as a brand agency. According to the press release, brand management is now more than ever at the center of its activities. However, packaging design remains an important area. Thirdly, a new client, Aldi Suisse, has been added to the portfolio. Schoch&Sonders is developing a product line for pesto in different variations for them.

 With this issue, the Werbewoche Newsmail says goodbye to the Christmas break. We will continue to report on news from the communications and media industry on Werbewoche.ch this Friday and from January 2, 2008. The first Newsmail after the break will appear on January 3. The first issue of the printed Werbewoche in the new year will be in your mailbox on January 10. We wish you a Merry Christmas and all the best for the New Year.

 The marketing group Publigroupe is taking over the Dutch marketing and media services company Schreiner & Van Bokkel Group (S&VB). Publigroupe holds 98 percent of the capital, with the remaining 2 percent remaining with the management. With this acquisition, Publigroupe intends to strengthen its international position in the growth market of "Marketing Services" and expand its range of services in the digital and electronic sector. With 90 employees, S&VB manages an advertising volume equivalent to around CHF 190 million and is active in the planning and marketing of offers in print, electronic, digital and outdoor media in the Netherlands. The company will become part of Publigroupe's "Digital & Marketing Services" division and is expected to significantly increase the marketing group's international sales. Publigroupe also appears to be in a buying mood: according to the press release, it intends to grow further through targeted acquisitions in selected foreign markets.

 The completion of the realignment and merger of the Publigroupe divisions Publipresse, PPN and Electronic, Digital & Interactive Media to form the Mediasales marketing organization has resulted in personnel changes at the Lausanne-based company. Stefan Staub, project manager, is leaving the company at his own request at the end of the year, having held various positions at Publigroupe for 25 years. In the 1990s, he was a member of the Executive Board of Ofa Orell Füssli Werbe AG, where he headed the Magazines and Specialized Publications Division. From 1997 to 2001 he was CEO of the then newly founded Publimag and at the same time a member of the Executive Board of Publipresse.
After a one-year private stay abroad, Stefan Staub was responsible for Publigroupe's entry into electronic and digital media marketing from 2003 to 2006 as a consultant for strategic projects and later as "Electronic Media" project manager.

 Publigroupe subsidiary Publimag has taken over the marketing of the Teleclub program magazine with immediate effect. It replaces Cinecom, which previously marketed the magazine. The Teleclub program magazine is published monthly with a print run of 80,000 copies. It informs subscribers about programs, entertainment, events and stars.

 Internet companies Microsoft, Yahoo and Google have settled a legal dispute in the USA over advertising for illegal gambling in exchange for millions. The US Department of Justice had accused the companies of allowing advertising for providers of illegal online gambling and betting companies on their websites. According to SDA, the three companies agreed to a settlement totaling 31.5 million dollars. Microsoft will have to pay the lion's share: The software giant will pay 21 million dollars. Google will have to pay 3 million and Yahoo around 7.5 million dollars.
The payments will settle the legal dispute without the companies acknowledging any guilt. According to the three companies, they stopped advertising years ago. The cases under investigation date back to the year 2000.

 The specialist media publisher Mobil will have a new Managing Director from January 1 next year. Lorenz Brügger is the new man, who previously headed the sales marketing division of the Berner Zeitung and the publishing house of the Solothurner Tagblatt. In his new role, he will be responsible for the publications Automobil Revue/Revue Automobile and Moto Sport Schweiz/Moto Sport Suisse. The 39-year-old will also be in charge of the advertising and readership market in the print and online sectors. Brügger will play a key role in the strategic business development of the mobile media.
Lorenz Brügger joined Espace Media Groupe in July 2002 as Head of Sales Marketing for the Berner Zeitung and in this role was also responsible for the titles Thuner Tagblatt, Berner Oberländer, Solothurner Tagblatt and Bund. In 2003, he also took over as Publishing Director of the Solothurner Tagblatt.
From now on, the Mobile Specialist Media division will no longer be part of Espace Media Groupe, but will be assigned directly to the Media Switzerland division of owner Tamedia.

 The Uvek has awarded Music First GmbH a VHF license for a youth radio station in the Zurich region. In doing so, the Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (Uvek) revised its earlier decision from 2004, when it had awarded the license to Music First's competitor, DJ Radio. 15 to 24-year-old radio listeners are the target audience of the youth radio station, according to the tender. The Uvek stipulated that the program must have a youth-oriented music profile and focus its reporting on youth-specific topics. It has now come to the conclusion that Music First fulfills these criteria better than its competitor DJ Radio. Music First initiator Guiseppe Scaglione, who only found out about his good fortune on Thursday, spoke of a "nice Christmas present". "My preferences and priorities have always been youth radio. That's why we fought the longest." The radio producer is now considering withdrawing one of the license applications for RMC Züri or 105züri.
The award of the license marks the provisional conclusion of a process lasting several years. The tender for a youth radio station was opened on May 27, 2003. Of the original five applicants, the company Beril won the tender in December 2004 with DJ Radio. Music First, one of the competitors, appealed against the first licensing decision to the Federal Council. The Federal Council upheld the appeal on procedural grounds. The two remaining applicants, Music First and DJ Radio, were then given the opportunity to revise their applications and adapt them to the requirements of the new Radio and Television Act, which had come into force in the meantime.
The decisive factor for the award of the licence to Music First was that this applicant was able to present a broad-based cooperation with youth-related institutions and organizations in its revised project, the Uvek announced in a press release on Thursday. Furthermore, the more convincingly formulated training and quality assurance concept in comparison to DJ Radio also played a role. Music First plans to work closely with Pro Juventute and the umbrella organization of all youth centers. In addition, initiator Guiseppe Scaglione has come up with an ingenious training concept. In collaboration with the Institute for Applied Media Sciences, young people will be given the opportunity to train at the new radio station.
An appeal against the Uvek's licensing decision can be lodged with the Federal Administrative Court. "We have to expect objections," Scaglione told Werbewoche. "I can't say anything concrete about the time horizon yet. I don't even know when we will be allowed to start." In any case, the company is ready and could go on air in four to six months. However, studios still need to be built and staff hired before then. Regardless of the current decision by the Uvek, Scaglione decided on Monday to relocate his entire radio empire with the cable stations Radio 105 and Radio Monte Carlo from Basel to Zurich.

 As of January 1 next year, Jung von Matt/Public Relations will be entrusted by TUI Suisse with all PR, media relations and strategic brand management tasks. TUI Suisse is a company of the World of TUI, which also includes the brands TUI, Flex Travel, Vögele Reisen and 1-2-Fly. The distribution network comprises 71 own travel agencies.

"What does happiness mean for Swiss children?" asks a new television campaign. The Ferris Bühler communications agency has produced four TV trailers on behalf of the aid organization of the Protestant Churches of Switzerland (Heks), which aim to shed light on the connection between happiness and material desires. Prosieben, Sat.1 and Kabel Eins are making airtime available free of charge as part of their corporate social commitment. The TV commercials show two male and two female teenagers recording their personal happiness in the idyllic snowy landscape of the Swiss mountains. The young people associate happiness with material goods as a matter of course. The commercial concludes with the statement: "Many people have a different understanding of happiness. Heks helps where it is most needed." The aid organization wants to make it clear that happiness for children in poorer countries depends less on consumption and more on more existential things.
The four trailers can be seen daily in the Swiss advertising windows of Prosieben, Sat. 1 and Kabel Eins from December 20 until mid-February 2008.
Responsible at Ferris Bühler Communications:

Ferris Bühler (overall responsibility), Olga Cudakova (creative direction), Franco Di Nunzio (camera/editing), Ruedi Guyer (sound), Christian Strahm (lighting), Markus Tofalo (graphics), Michael Kull (music). Responsible at HEKS: Hanspeter Bigler-Tillison (Head of Communications). Responsible at SevenOne Media Switzerland: Hardy Lussi (Managing Director), Ole Rauch (Head of Marketing).

 Of course, after the disgraceful performance of our national football team, something had to be done. And Köbi Kuhn wouldn't be our national coach if he didn't have the right recipes ready to prepare the team for the difficult tasks ahead at the European Championships in their own country. These days, Kuhn has invited his men to an extraordinary team retreat in the Swiss mountains. A secluded mountain hut is currently serving as a place of contemplation for the stars of the national team. What happens there behind closed doors should actually remain a secret. However, a short film has now appeared on the Natifans.ch website that shows what Mr. Yakin, Mr. Zuberbühler, Mr. Frei, Mr. Gygax & Co. are up to there. It may come as a surprise to some, but the highly-paid footballers also devote themselves to pure biblical teaching just a few days before Christmas. In their nativity play, which was created with the help of voice imitator Fabian Unteregger, the footballers do not necessarily demonstrate any acting talent, but they do provide plenty of entertainment. However, the nativity play has another purpose: the website developed by the company MySign is to develop into a social community platform for Swiss sports fans.

 The online edition of the free newspaper .ch at Punkt.ch is expanding its current reporting on accidents and crime. To this end, it has entered into a cooperation with the operators of Polizeinews.ch. This news platform, a project of the St.Gallen media agency Insomnia, has been publishing all police reports from German-speaking Switzerland practically around the clock, seven days a week since January 2007. On the regional subpages of Punkt.ch, the reports from Polizeinews.ch are now continuously displayed as a news feed. A click on the corresponding news item leads to the full report. According to a press release, the focus on police reports on polizeinews.ch means that news on accidents and crimes will appear more quickly than on other news portals. Readers of Punkt.ch who are interested in crime should now also benefit from this timeliness.