Zurich agency Weber Harbeke is joining the Image Partners Network, a European network of independent marketing and advertising agencies. This network of mostly owner-managed agencies sees itself as a counterweight to multinational networks, according to a Weber Harbeke press release. As no financial investments are made, the members retain their full independence. In this way, local clients are given cost-effective and efficient access to an international network. Image has only one partner agency per country. The admission of Weber Harbeke as the Swiss representative was confirmed by all members in Antwerp on October 19, 2007.

 In October 2007, 162 websites had their access data measured and certified with Net-Metrix-Audit. This represents a new record number of participants. Among the websites operated by the media, the Tribune de Genève emerged as the winner in percentage terms: it increased its unique clients by 36 percent and its visits by 41 percent.
In absolute figures, the online portal 20minuten.ch recorded the strongest growth in unique clients and visits among the media sites last month: It achieved growth of 12 percent in both categories. These are the new figures from Net-Metrix Audit.
Bluewin.ch recorded the strongest growth in absolute terms among the sites covered by Net-Metrix. The following sites are new: Butter.ch, Facts 2.0, Gesundheit-sprechstunde.ch, Konsum.tv, Lemenu.ch, Motorshow.ch, Radio Zürisee and Swissmilk.ch.
A total of almost 138 million visits were measured for all published websites in October. On average, around 9 pages were accessed per visit. A visit is defined as a visit to a website that is not interrupted for more than 30 minutes. If a user returns to a website after more than 30 minutes, a new visit is counted in the system.
A trial of strength between 20minuten.ch and Blick Online What had already been rumored has now been confirmed: 20minuten.ch has overtaken Blick Online in terms of page impressions. The portal of the free newspaper recorded 83 million page impressions, the tabloid's site 75 million.
The picture is different for unique clients: Blick Online leads with 1,240,000, ahead of 20minuten.ch with 1,225,000 unique clients. These are the new figures from Net-Metrix-Audit.

The above figures had already been published on blogs due to an information leak (see
). Last January, 20minuten.ch was already just ahead of Blick Online with around 61.5 million page impressions (60.7 million). Peter Wälty from 20minuten.ch is delighted with the new growth: "Page impressions are not reach figures. But they are relevant to sales when it comes to advertising". He is particularly delighted that his portal has seen a 12 percent increase in unique clients: "That is extremely pleasing! This means that we have practically quadrupled our reach since the new launch in February 2006. We are obviously on the right track: the expansion and restructuring of the editorial team has paid off immediately."
Marco Castellaneta, Ringier Group spokesman, comments as follows: "Blick.ch remains the leading, most-visited and widest-reach media site in Switzerland. The key figure page impressions is not decisive for the advertising market in particular. Blick is the leader in all key figures such as unique users, unique clients, visits and the ideal combination of these values. The measurements must also show the same results over a certain period of time; one-off fluctuations are not statistically relevant. As the most-used Swiss media site, Blick.ch continues to focus on high-quality and interesting content on news, sport, people, lifestyle and entertainment, multimedia, interaction and innovation."
Net-Metrix also points out that the key figures Visits and Unique Clients are best suited for comparing the performance values of different websites. Unique clients are the number of different computers from which a particular website is accessed.

The number of advertising spaces booked on Google stagnated in October and remained more or less at the September level. There were still 17 companies per search query. Click prices also remained stable and fell by 1 centime, as has always been the case in recent months. The October figures from Angelink yourposition's Swiss Adex show that the number of advertising spaces booked on Google rose by almost 10 percentage points from September to October last year. This year, the increase amounted to just one point. What is particularly striking this year is the reluctance of insurance companies, which bring up the rear of all sectors. The only sectors that saw a significant increase are unlikely to have Christmas business in mind: Cultures,Science and Research.

Three Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett campaigns have been nominated for the finals of the New York Global Awards, which recognize the world's best healthcare communication, according to a press release from the Zurich-based agency. The TV commercials with FC Münchwilen for the generics manufacturer Helvepharm, the "Schwyzerörgeli" TV commercial for Astra Zeneca and the "Past" commercial for the Zurich Aids-Hilfe are nominated. Whether it will be enough for gold, silver or bronze will be announced at the end of November. Healthcare work from 32 countries was submitted to the Global Awards this year.

The Swiss Dialog Marketing Award will be held for the tenth time next year. For the first time, there will be a "Chairman of the Jury" representing the award. Guido Wietlisbach, CEO of OgilvyOne until the end of the year, will take on this role. SDV President Jakob Nef is convinced by the choice, as he explains in a press release: "In Guido Wietlisbach, we have found a chairman whose experience in the direct marketing industry and personality make him the ideal choice for us."
The chairman of the jury will represent the Dialog Marketing Prize externally on behalf of the SDV and will also act as jury president. Campaigns for the 2008 Dialog Marketing Prize can be submitted from December 3, 2007.

 DRS-1 editor Karin Frei has been awarded this year's Prix Radiomagazin. The jury wanted to honor her consistent commitment to quality. According to a communiqué from the jury, Frei's journalism at DRS 1 is true-to-life and courageous. In her reports and portraits, as well as in discussion rounds, she impresses with a successful mixture of intuition and expertise. This earned her the 5,000 Swiss franc prize from the magazine Radiomagazin.
The 38-year-old from Lucerne began her career in 1991 at Luzerner Neueste Nachrichten and Radio Pilatus. She moved to DRS 3 in 1992 and has been with DRS 1 since 1996.

The Swiss Federal Department of Home Affairs and Swissfilm Association are honoring the best Swiss commissioned and advertising films for the eighth time this year with the Edi.07. The award show will take place on November 20, 2007 at Schiffbau Zurich. An aperitif will be served from 17:30, followed by the awards ceremony at 19:00. Anyone wishing to attend this event can register now. The aim of Edi.07 is to promote the creative quality of Swiss commissioned productions. The Edi. is awarded for high cinematic creativity, and a winning film must demonstrate the absolute best performance in all film disciplines. The submitted productions are judged in each category (Commercials, Corprate and Clips&Trailers) by an independent jury consisting of seven experts each from the film, commissioning and advertising industries.

The Geneva agency Saatchi and Saatchi Simko has been selected by the Novartis Eye Care Unit "Ciba Vision" as the international lead agency for Focus Dailies and Air Optix. The creative work has already begun, according to a statement from the agency. The advertising will be visible in countries in Europe, Africa and the Middle East by the end of the year. Some of the work conceived by the Geneva-based agency will also be used worldwide, and this budget win will strengthen Saatchi and Saatchi Simko's role as a European competence center for transnational creation and client consulting, the statement continues. In order to meet the new challenges, the agency will recruit several new communications specialists in the areas of strategic planning, creation and consulting.

The Zurich agency Schneiter Meier Külling designed and implemented the new market presence of the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW). The mandate included the development of the brand strategy and basic brand elements as well as their application to stationery, exterior and interior lettering, the Internet, publications and collateral, as detailed in a press release.In September of this year, the Zurich University of Applied Sciences Winterthur, the School of Social Work, the University of Applied Sciences Wädenswil and the School of Applied Psychology merged to form the ZHAW. According to Silvia Behofsits, Head of Corporate Communications at the ZHAW, the development of a uniform brand with a coherent corporate design was of great importance for the ZHAW as a result of the merger. Schneiter Meier Külling supported the university both strategically and creatively in this process.

Agence Trio from Lausanne and Zurich has won the Lausanne Region Public Transport (Tl) as a client in a pitch against three other agencies. The new communication campaign will be launched in 2008 and is primarily dedicated to customers and employees, according to a statement from the agency. The company's efforts to improve the quality of its services will be highlighted.

 Publicitas has awarded Scholtysik Niederberger Kraft the contract to design its new brand identity. The Zurich-based branding and corporate identity agency won out over five other European agencies in a selection process. The newly designed "Publicitas" brand will be launched in spring 2008. It will incorporate various brands that currently exist in Publigroupe's Media Sales business segment: eight brands in Switzerland and a good two dozen brands abroad. In future, they will operate uniformly under the Publicitas brand (see
). The Media Sales business segment includes Publicitas, Publimedia, Publimag, Mosse, Publiconnect, Radiotele, Cinecom and Web2com in Switzerland and the Publicitas Promotion Network companies in 23 countries abroad. According to the company, the units of the future Publicitas generated sales of over 1.94 billion Swiss francs last year with around 1,950 employees.

And yet another prize is awarded: Tages-Anzeiger journalist Helmut Stalder receives the 2007 "Golden Glasses", the media prize of the Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences (SAGW), which is endowed with 10,000 Swiss francs. Stalder is being honored for his text "125 Years of the Gotthard Railway", which appeared in a special supplement of the Tages-Anzeiger in March 2007, as announced by the SAGW. The prize will be presented on Friday at the Paul Klee Center in Berne, where the "Golden Glasses" are intended to promote dialogue between science and the public. The prize is awarded to media professionals or researchers for journalistic contributions.