Following an agency evaluation, Stöckli Swiss Sports decided to work with the advertising agency Bärtschi, Meroni & Bolleter (BMB). The collaboration includes the development and implementation of a TV concept to publicize the product range and establish the new brand name Stöckli Outdoor Sports. According to BMB's press release, the management said that the agency impressed with a campaign idea that was surprisingly unique and took current needs into account in the best possible way. The first results of the collaboration will be on display from mid-November. In addition to the two core products manufactured in-house, skis and bicycles, Stöckli Swiss Sports (formerly Skifabrik Stöckli) sells a wide range of selected sporting goods for various competitive sports.

 Readers from Zurich, the city on the Limmat, may feel reminded of the days when dancing was banned: In Munich, the archdiocese is rebelling against the upcoming MTV Europe Music Awards, which are to be held on November 1 - in other words, on All Saints' Day. "The day is not free so that you can have a party there," said diocese spokesman Winfried Röhmel last week, according to the news agency DDP. Although he sees little chance of preventing the event by legal means, All Saints' Day, as a legally protected "quiet day", is the wrong date for the music station's party. According to the Bavarian public holiday law, public entertainment events are only permitted "if the serious character of the day is preserved". The host of the MTV event is US rap star Snoop Dogg, who says the evening will be "absolutely freaky". It is doubtful that this statement will reassure the church fathers.

 In the first European brand value study, more than 3,000 brand companies in 24 countries and 16 sectors were analyzed. The most valuable brand is the Finnish telephone manufacturer Nokia with 32.3 billion euros, followed by the French luxury goods group LVMH with 29.8 billion euros and the Dutch food group Unilever with 25.1 billion euros. The study was initiated by Novomatic and Raiffeisen and presented by the European Brand Institute in Vienna. Europe's most valuable brand companies (in billions of euros)
1. nokia (32.3)
2. Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy LVMH (29.8)
3. unilever (25.1)
4. Telefonica (23.8)
5. vodafone (22.5)
6th Mercedes-Benz (20.4)
7. Deutsche Telekom (18.2)
8TH BMW (17.2)
9. France Telecom (17.0)
10. inBEV (16.8)

Futurecom Interactive boss Andreas Widmer is to become CEO of the newly founded Young & Rubicam Group Switzerland. He will manage the group together with Markus Gut, the former Head of Creation and member of the Executive Board of the Zurich advertising agency Publicis. Gut is leaving Publicis at the end of December 2007 and will join the Young & Rubicam Group Switzerland as Chief Creative Officer. Widmer will therefore replace Edgar C. Britschgi as CEO of the Gockhausen-based agency. He confirmed this to Werbewoche. Britschgi will, however, remain with Advico Young & Rubicam. Gut worked at Publicis for 13 years, first as Senior Art Director and later as Chief Creative Officer. Together with him, his deputy, Philipp Skrabal, will also move to Advico Young & Rubicam as CD. Publicis is thus losing two outstanding creatives, as detailed in a press release. Creative Directors Ralph Halder, Ralf Kostgeld, Sacha Moser and Tim Hoppin, together with the entire creative team, will ensure continuity in the agency's creative work.
"I very much regret the departure of both of them, this is a significant loss for us," Publicis CEO Fredy Collioud told Werbewoche. "We had had other plans together, Markus Gut would have had attractive positions open to him at Publicis, including succeeding myself". However, he can understand why Gut is now seizing the new opportunity. Gut is also a long-standing friend of Andreas Widmer, with whom he will now be working.

 In an international competition for the Selecta Group's budget, Blue Spirit Communications came out on top. The Zurich-based agency is replacing the previous in-house agency Compass Design and will be responsible for the new development of the corporate design and BTL advertising measures as well as classic communication at Group level. According to a press release, the evaluation was based on a real project in which the agencies had to demonstrate their skills directly. Blue Spirit Communications won the competition thanks to its comprehensive commitment and target-oriented implementation. Selecta is represented in 24 countries in Europe, manages around 150,000 vending machines and generates annual sales of over one billion Swiss francs.

 
Airport operator Unique has commissioned the Weber Harbeke agency to develop a series of radio commercials for southern Germany in order to make southern Germans more aware of the advantages of Zurich Airport. The advertisements will feature the 150 direct destinations served by Zurich and Swiss punctuality, some of them in the Swiss-German dialect. According to the advertising agency, the result is a series of broadcasts that clearly state in German what Zurich is thanks to its airport: a truly international city.
Responsible at Unique (Flughafen Zürich AG): Michael Breuer (responsibility), Emanuela Dancsecs (marketing communication); at the advertising agency Weber Harbeke: Thomas Harbeke and Max Weber (CD), Christian Sidow (text/direction); radio production: Selmi Tonstudio GmbH, Chrigi Grunder and Renzo Selmi.three radio spots:

 The 14th edition of the Publimedia Forum will focus on innovations in newspaper and magazine offerings and «channel planning.» During the half-day event, which will take place on September 26 at the World Trade Center in Zurich, the main question to be explored is whether the new trend in media planning is truly new, or whether it is simply traditional media planning with a bit of cross-media added in. Speakers will include Mark Greenstreet of Carat Insight in London and Manfred Mareck of Research Marketing. In the subsequent panel discussion, Harald Amschler (Head of Research at WEMF) and Dr. Peter Felser (CEO of Spillmann Felser Leo Burnett), moderated by Media Trend Journal Editor-in-Chief Urs Schnider, will discuss the extent to which new survey methods are needed in Switzerland, who should be in charge of them, and how the whole initiative could be financed. 

 
The Zurich-based online dialog marketing company Nemuk acquired three new customers in the first half of 2007: Renault, LeasePlan and Kuhn Rikon. The customer base, which now includes over 50 companies from Switzerland and abroad, also includes Betty Bossi, for whom two e-mail marketing projects were recently realized: A newsletter tailored to the TV program "Al dente", as well as two culinary newsletters for the new "Bossi" product. In addition, the launch of the new website of Elektrizitätswerke des Kantons Zürich was accompanied by a campaign. Nemuk was responsible for the conception, creation and realization of all projects. 

The Swisscom directory assistance service 1811 is now also a switching service. An integrated campaign by Contexta currently aims to demonstrate the practical benefits of this for consumers. The campaign focuses on two commercials in which the well-known characters Nadja Beck and grandmother Bondi from the family sitcom "Beck & Bondi" play the leading roles. The TV and cinema spots are accompanied by online ads as well as a poster and rail poster motif. According to a press release from Contexta, the aim of the campaign is to raise awareness of 1811 in general and Swisscom's new switching service in particular.

Responsible at Swisscom Fixnet AG, Berne:
Thomas Ulrich (overall responsibility), Roger Renfer, Patrizio Pivirotto (advertising management), Nathalie Maibach (project management); responsible at Contexta AG, Bern: Bene Abegglen (CD), Ibrahim Zbat (AD), Daniel Müller, Patrick Dubach (text), Nicole Liebermann, Sarah Dovlo (consulting); responsible at Peek Gmbh (production): Verena Zollinger (producer), Tobias Fueter (director/editing), Fabian Sturzenegger (sound design).

 The new "Blocher TV", which is produced by Schaffhausen Television, has caused quite a stir in the media. The Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM) also wants to look into the matter, as its spokesperson Caroline Sauser told SDA: OFCOM is clarifying whether the program constitutes political advertising. This would be the case if the program had political content and someone paid for it to be broadcast. As Norbert Neininger, member of the Board of Directors of Schaffhausen Television, told Werbewoche, there is no sponsorship for broadcasting the program on television. However, cooperation with sponsors is planned for transmission via the Internet. However, Neininger did not want to name any names yet: "We are only in the development phase of the program".
For the television producer and publisher of Schaffhauser Nachrichten, the controversial broadcast is the starting signal for the development of an internet platform for Schaffhausen television. Due to the new TV coverage areas, the station will no longer receive license fees, as Schaffhausen will in future be part of the Zurich-North-Eastern Switzerland coverage area, which also includes the cantons of Zurich and Thurgau. Although Neininger, together with others such as Ringier and IP Multimedia, wants to apply for the major license, the chances of this are rather slim.
With the internet platform, Neininger wants to be able to distribute programs in a cost-effective way. An episode of Blocher TV costs well under CHF 1,500, as Neininger said. The media frenzy surrounding the program with Federal Councillor Blocher was
he says in amazement. However, in order for distribution via the Internet to function permanently and perfectly, work still needs to be done on the technical infrastructure. Thanks to the coverage of the Blocher show, Schaffhausen Television's platform is now known at a stroke. The program "The Blocher Principle" is broadcast once a week on Schaffhausen television and on Tele Südostschweiz and can then be viewed on the Internet. However, it is uncertain whether Tele M1, which also showed the first program, will continue to participate. According to Neininger, the Mittelland broadcaster will probably no longer show the Blocher show.

 The software and product development company Antrova, founded in 2002, is a new addition to the agency at the airport. Antrova supports and advises companies that are looking for innovations. The aim is also to find clever development engineers on the dried-up job market. Graduates from technical universities and experienced engineers will find out more about the unusual measures in the coming weeks, according to a press release from the Altenrhein-based agency.

 The printing and paper company M-real has launched a campaign to promote its natural paper Tauro. Part of this is a new website at Tauropapier.de, which takes customers on a journey of discovery. According to a press release, the website takes visitors on a safari in South Africa and shows everything they need to know about Tauro. The product is a wood-free, uncoated white fine paper. Since the climate debate at the latest, more and more companies have been opting for uncoated paper in their communication measures, according to the press release. In addition to the website, the campaign for Tauro also includes brochures, advertisements, inserts and sales aids.