The international advertising festival in Cannes is introducing a new category: From next year, award hunters will be able to apply for Design Lions. Brand design as well as product communication and development are to be awarded, as the organizers announced. This means that there will be ten categories of Lions up for grabs in Cannes in future: In addition to Design for Press, Outdoor, Film, Media, Sales Promotion, Cyber, Direct, Titanium and Radio. The jury president in the new category is already set: Rodney Fitch, Chairman and CEO of Fitch Worldwide, will chair the committee. The Design Lions will be awarded on June 18, 2008.

A TV commercial by Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett dramatizes the fact that Kiditec is the toy that fulfils the many wishes of children. The commercial shows children fulfilling their typical childhood dreams - but in the adult world. One boy climbs into a locomotive and drives off with it. Another steers a crane, and a girl speeds off in a car. Parents are advised to fulfill their children's wishes quickly before the little ones take matters into their own hands. In the second part of the commercial, all the wish objects appear, recreated with the Swiss building and construction toy Kiditec. The clip has been running in all three language regions since the beginning of November.

Responsible at Kiditec:
Olaf van der Lely (President), Wilfried Grichting (CEO), Martin Burgener (Director). Responsible at Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett: Martin Spillmann, Natasha La Marca, Maren Beck (Creation), Pam Hügli, Ivana Giannakis (Consulting), Sebahat Derdiyok, Bettina Sorg (Agency Producing). Film production: Caramel Pictures; Will van der Vlugt (Director), Peter Zeven (Producer).

 
As part of a prevention campaign, Publicis created and realized a poster and a postcard for the Zurich Blue Cross against drinking and driving. The poster aims to link the result of a car accident directly to its cause: the subject shows an accident vehicle that has been compressed into a wreck in the form of a high-proof bottle (Absolut Vodka). The warning line: "Absolutely deadly". The subject for the direct mail shows a glass of water in which a blue cross dissolves like an Alka-Seltzer tablet. According to the press release, the motivation for the Blue Cross prevention campaign is the still high rate of traffic accidents caused by alcohol; one in five accidents involves alcohol.

Responsible at Blue Cross (Canton of Zurich): Stephan Kunz (Managing Director), Frank Plopa and Henrik Viertel (Communications and Fundraising). Responsible at Publicis:
Markus Gut (CCO), Daniel Kobi (AD), Sandro Tissi (graphics), Albert Matzinger (text), Roy Spring (text), Christina Hengstmann (art buying), Margrit Weber (consulting), Cilgia Lang (consulting), Felix Schregenberger (retouching) and Marc Latzel (photography).

 On January 1, 2008, LZ Fachverlag takes over Diagonal Verlag in Mellingen and with it its print product Elforum, a monthly trade journal in the field of electronics and electrical engineering. Company founder and sole shareholder Klaus Bucher is selling Diagonal Verlag because he wants to secure its future before he retires. He is convinced that in LZ Fachverlag he has found the ideal partner for the successful continuation of his trade journal, as was reported in a press release on Tuesday. The merger will take legal effect on January 1, 2008. Elforum, which has been on the market for several years, will in future be produced by Multicolor Print, which, like LZ Fachverlag, is a subsidiary of LZ Medien Holding. The merger will not result in any personnel changes. The core editorial team headed by Klaus Bucher will remain responsible for the publication of Elforum at the Mellingen site.
LZ Medien Holding AG, which also owns the Neue Luzerner Zeitung, currently has 519 employees who share 429 jobs. It achieved a turnover of 138.5 million francs in 2006. Diagonal Verlags AG employs five people. The magazine Elforum has a certified circulation of 13,300 copies.

 Last but not least, there is some sparkling news to report: Sparkling wine can be called "Nuttendiesel" without being discriminatory. The Fair Trading Commission has rejected a complaint to this effect, which had argued that the name of the beverage sold via the Internet was discriminatory against women.
However, the Fair Trading Commission does not see it that way. As Marc Schwenninger, legal secretary of the commission, told 20minuten.ch, the committee only assessed the "Nuttendiesel" brand. This was not discriminatory. Advertising for the product was not up for discussion. "The Fair Trading Commission has considered that the term Nuttendiesel for sparkling wine has become so naturalized that it has lost its discriminatory character. Hooker diesel does not carry a discriminatory message in the vernacular," said Schwenninger.
Well then, cheers - so that the sparkling wine is well received by the vernacular. And that it can come up with more than just a provocative name that takes up the time of the Fair Trading Commission. 

 
After winning a pitch, the Zurich event agency Grünbaum Koblasa Livingmedia has been awarded the mandate for the creation and realization of the Zürcher Kantonalbank's staff party. Livingmedia prevailed over five agencies in a competitive presentation, according to a statement on Tuesday. The ZKB-Personalfest will take place in summer 2008 in Zurich. A total of 4500 guests are expected.

 
In a multi-stage evaluation process, the Young & Rubicam Group was able to prevail over other agencies and retain the GE Money Bank account previously won by AY&R. The bank will therefore not only remain with AY&R as an account, but will also be able to access the group's integrated online and dialog expertise in future, according to a press release issued on Tuesday. The presence of Advico Young & Rubicam, Futurecom interactive and Wunderman as a group also proved to be an advantage in the pitch, as the bank prefers a broad range of services from a single source.

 
The online TV channel 105TV, which was launched at the end of September, is putting 105 Fun TV into operation as its tenth specialty channel. The new online TV channel features curious and funny video clips, according to a press release issued on Tuesday. These run in an endless loop, but users can also watch them individually at any time. 105TV has also added short commercials to its program. A further, eleventh channel is reserved for special programs such as reports on the careers fair. In the coming weeks and months, 105TV is planning further special-interest channels and special programs on various topics as well as moderated programs.

 The 20 Minuten website and the nightlife portal Tilllate.com are jointly launching a web radio pool. The offer includes the three stations of Tilllate.com and the radio channel of 20minuten.ch. Advertising customers can book a joint package for the duration of a week. The radio spots are played into the program of the unmoderated music channels, as Marc Lottenbach, Head of Sales at 20 Minuten Online, told Werbewoche. Around 20 spots per day are broadcast on the station, which are primarily intended to appeal to a young, urban target group. According to Lottenbach, Switzerland's first web radio pool is intended to raise awareness of web radio among advertising customers. Up to now, interest has primarily been on the user side. Now the two partners want to secure a permanent place in radio media plans with this pool.

 
The Zurich agency Publicis has won silver in the "Design - Point of Purchase" category at the London International Awards (LIA). The Dd6 distance golf club from Wilson is advertised with a "giveaway", a golf ball that reads: "If found return to Wilson Staff Dd6 Distance Driver owner". There are a few blank lines underneath so that the ball owner can write their address. This communicates the potential of the distance driver in a humorous way. Publicis Switzerland was nominated a total of four times at the LIA (see ).

 
Radio 1 has appointed the editorial team: Sandro Brotz will become head of the editorial team and Iwan Santoro will be his deputy. The 38-year-old Sandro Brotz worked at Radio Zürisee and Radio Z. He then worked as a TV journalist at TeleZüri, Rundschau and RTL/ProSieben Schweiz. He has now been at Sonntags-Blick for more than seven years, where he was deputy editor-in-chief and head of news for a long time. He says of his new job: "Making radio is rock'n'roll. Roger is a boss who dictates, but also lets you do it - I'm looking forward to that." 37-year-old Iwan Santoro has worked at Radio Thurgau, Radio Zürisee and Radio 24, including four years as editorial director. He has also reported from the Federal Parliament for numerous private radio stations. According to Schawinski, the recruitment of these two proven journalists demonstrates the ambition to achieve a leading position in the information sector of radio programming.

 
In a competitive presentation, the Lucerne-based watchmaking company Carl F. Bucherer has decided to collaborate with the Küsnacht-based creative agency Unikat. The collaboration began in the summer, according to a press release. The project involves an international consumer book, which is due to be published in the first quarter of 2008.