In a competitive presentation, the Basel agency Mrg has been awarded the mandate for the newly conceived Weiterbildung Basel trade fair. The fair will take place for the first time from May 2 to 4, 2008. Mrg is developing a suitable design concept including a logo. The campaign starts with an exhibitor folder and advertisements. The visual will be used on other advertising materials such as the website. Continuing Education Basel is already the fourth trade fair that the agency is promoting for Swiss Exhibition.

For the youth session, SFLB staged the dissatisfaction that politics often leaves behind among young people in an astonishing and provocative way: With a paint attack on the Federal Palace and a simultaneous call to take a stand for the future at the Youth Session. The motif appears as a mailing, advertisement and poster. Potential participants will also receive color spot stickers with the suggestion to place them where they see and experience grievances. The next Youth Session will take place in September this year. According to the press release, it gives young people from all over Switzerland the opportunity to take politics into their own hands for once. Anyone who is "dissatisfied with the world of today" can get involved here for "the world of tomorrow" and make their opinion known to the public.

 The Catsky & Partner agency is being integrated into Euro RSCG Zurich. Owner Claude Catsky will join his new employer as Creative Director. He will take his existing clients with him. However, the name Catsky & Partner will no longer exist. "We are gaining a highly creative mind", said Frank Bodin, CEO of Euro RSCG Zurich/Geneva, to Werbewoche. "I greatly appreciate his work. Catsky has performed consistently well over the years". They already knew each other from their time together at McCann-Erickson, and Catsky has been working part-time for Euro RSCG for some time. "We therefore know that we can work together. Agencies are fragile entities and the chemistry always has to be right." With Catsky & Partner, they are taking over a creative brand.
"I have been thinking about such a move for some time and have now found the right partner in Euro RSCG Zurich," comments Catsky on the takeover. "Frank Bodin is one of the greats of Swiss advertising, his name stands for the consistent creative quality for which he is always at the forefront. In addition, we have known and appreciated each other since our time together at McCann-Erickson". Catsky is therefore convinced that his decision was the right one. As a small agency, it has not become any easier to survive in a highly competitive market. He also firmly believes that we can achieve more together.

 If your wallet is stolen, your vacation is far from over: this is the message that Contexta conveys for Swiss Bankers Travel Cash. The reloadable Travel Cash card can be used to conveniently withdraw cash anywhere in the world. In the event of loss or theft, the card is replaced free of charge worldwide. The new TV commercial gets to the heart of these benefits: a young couple sits on a bench by the sea and enjoys the view. They don't realize that a thief is sneaking up behind their backs. And then it happens. Unseen, the thief steals the Travel Cash card from the young man's jacket pocket and disappears. No problem, seconds later a courier rushes up, puts a new card in the jacket pocket and drives off. The couple were completely unaware of any of this: As the two have been traveling with the Travel Cash card, they are simply enjoying a carefree vacation.

 
Zurich journalist Thomas Haemmerli blogs as a guest author for NZZvotum. The communications professional and co-founder of Votez.ch writes for various media and recently made a name for himself as the director of the documentary film "Sieben Mulden und eine Leiche".NZZvotum, the political blog of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung and NZZ Online, has found a new blogger in Thomas Haemmerli, according to a communiqué. The Zurich native, who works as a journalist and columnist for various media, has had a hand in writing and conceptualizing several referendum campaigns. In addition to his campaign work, Haemmerli also acted as a neutral vote catcher in the political arena. The online platform Votez.ch, which he co-founded, tries to persuade urban voters to go to the polls. He also recently made a film about the life of his late mother.
Ten years after NZZ Online was founded, the NZZ media portal has been given a new look. According to the press release, the contemporary and tidy appearance is intended to help users find their way around quickly. NZZvotum is a platform for users who enjoy debating, led by politicians of all stripes. The Mayor of Zurich, Elmar Ledergerber, recently discovered the blog medium through his involvement with NZZvotum. He has even recently started a video blog on his own homepage.

 As Sonntagsblick was able to discover, the SVP is once again entering the election campaign with a provocative poster. Three white sheep (nice Swiss people) stand on a Swiss flag and push a black sheep (the bad foreigner) over the edge. The Werbewoche editor immediately falls in love with the sheep and wants to save it. According to Sonntagsblick, the SVP is planning a broad-based campaign; the party has never had such a large print run before. The campaign will be launched on the national holiday, August 1, as it should be: all Swiss households will then receive signature sheets with the SVP "deportation initiative". Foreigners who do not abide by the law should be deported. And as usual, the first reactions from fellow politicians are not long in coming. SP National Council candidate Daniel Jositsch expresses his shock in Sonntagsblick, while CVP National Councillor Brigitte Häberli says that we have had to put up with more worrying subjects from the SVP. For the Werbewoche editor, it is clear that not only has the SVP already produced worse posters, but from her point of view, it has even gone completely wrong: The black sheep has turned out to be really cute, a real popular figure, nobody wants to throw out something so sweet, that's not possible. Poor creature! And that brings us back to the seriousness of the matter: it's exactly the same with many young foreigners, they are often poor creatures too, disoriented, hopelessly overwhelmed by a culture that is foreign to them and a society that is fixated on consumption.

 As reported by the Sonntagszeitungen, Jürg Marquard is leaving Sascha Wigdorovits' free newspaper project .ch. The Zug-based publisher's involvement apparently failed because there was no agreement on the balance of power. Although Marquard decided against getting involved, he was replaced by the Innsbruck-based Moser publishing family, the largest free newspaper publisher in Austria, which also includes Phonak man Andy Rhis among its investors. According to Wigdorovit's statements to the Sonntagszeitung, the project is therefore not at risk. However, Sonntagsblick speculates that the budget could be cut to an estimated 50 to 60 million francs. And this significantly reduces the project's chances of success, as industry experts put the capital required to challenge the supremacy of 20 Minuten at around CHF 100 million.

 Thanks to private investors, the new "Schweizer Sport-Fernsehen" is set to flicker into Swiss living rooms in the fall, thus saving U1's broadcasting slot. Under the leadership of former FDP National Councillor Peter Weigelt, the new program aims to cause a sensation with handball, volleyball, basketball and floorball in the U1 slot, according to the Sonntagszeitung newspaper. Cablecom actually wanted to remove U1 from the analog network at the end of the year - a decision that would be reversed if the license application submitted by Weigelt on Friday is successful. Cablecom spokesperson Hans-Peter Nehmer confirmed this to the Sonntagszeitung. The 2.5 million project will be financed through sponsorship and advertising. In addition to the Swiss sports federations, an illustrious group of investors, including entrepreneur Giorgio Behr and Credit Suisse manager Urs Rohner, is behind the proposal. The equally prominent advisory board includes the wife of UBS boss Ospel, Adriana Ospel-Bodmer, ComCom president Marc Furrer and UBS chief economist Klaus Wellerhoff. According to the Sonntagszeitung newspaper, the aim is to attract other personalities such as Denner boss Philippe Gaydoul, Ernesto Bertarelli and Peter Sauber to the Council. The sports marketing agency Sportart, which owns all relevant TV and marketing rights, will act as the partner company. In turn, U1 and the poster company Affichage each hold a 25 percent stake in the agency
U1 is working flat out on its plans. Up to six hours of sport a day are planned for the future. The aim is to create a platform for those sports that receive too little attention on Swiss television (SF), which is increasingly focusing on the top sports of football, ice hockey, skiing and tennis. The aim is to stop the vicious circle in which many sports find themselves - low TV presence leads to fewer sponsors, lack of sponsors means little promotion of young talent. In order to slow down this development and offer an alternative to mainstream sports, the new channel aims to offer daily live broadcasts of handball and floorball matches, as well as talks and magazines to raise the profile of these sports among young people and in the advertising market. To ensure this, U1's reach is to be increased to three percent with the new sports programs.

 The telecommunications company and the marketing company Sysmar have been reprimanded by the Fair Trading Commission for violating direct marketing regulations. The companies had contacted customers who had protected themselves against advertising with a star entry in the telephone directory. According to the Sonntagszeitung newspaper, Sysmar had wanted to blame Tele 2. However, the Fairness Commission took a different view: anyone who engages in telemarketing must ensure that this is done legitimately - even if it is done on behalf of others. The decision is controversial because, according to insider information from the Sonntagszeitung, data records are widely used in the industry, regardless of whether they contain a label for unsolicited advertising or not. Marketing companies receive these data records from their customers. It is now clear that marketing companies and their customers must take action, otherwise calls for a ban would sooner or later be heard again.

 The US web service provider Advertising.com has published the results of an online survey on the expected Christmas business in 2007. The study predicts another strong season for online Christmas shopping. 84 percent of the 502 respondents plan to spend as much or more money online than last year. In addition to the survey, Advertising.com also analyzed advertising performance data generated between November 23 and December 23, 2006. According to the study published on Pressetext, the buying cycle will be considerably longer this year: 50 percent of respondents stated that they will start their Christmas shopping in October or even earlier. In contrast, in 2006, 44 percent of respondents wanted to start shopping in mid-November and 15 percent only in the last two weeks of December.
To take full advantage of the long buying season, Advertising.com President Lynda Clarizio advises advertisers to leverage their marketing tactics for each stage of the consumer buying cycle - such as online video to increase awareness or search engine marketing to drive traffic. Other interesting study findings: Respondents cited cheaper prices as the main reason for shopping online. Consumers also used the Internet specifically as a search tool: almost three quarters of survey participants visit an average of two to five websites before making a Christmas purchase. In addition, 18 percent even spend a week or two searching before making a purchase.

The Zurich agency for digital media and print has developed a new corporate design for the Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (SFIVET). Following a decision by the Federal Council, the institute was spun off from the Federal Administration and will in future operate as an independent university institute. It therefore had to be given a completely new visual identity. In addition to developing the basic elements of the design, the brief also included creating comprehensive documentation of the design concept for the various applications. As the institute is represented at three locations in Lausanne, Lugano and Zollikofen, all applications were implemented in three languages.

 Swisscom intends to delist its shares from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) this year and deregister the company from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The company justifies the move with the low trading volume in the USA, the relatively high administrative costs and the recent simplification of deregistration by the SEC.  
As the Swiss telecom giant announced in a communiqué on Friday, it will still be possible to approach certain US investors in private placements despite its withdrawal from the NYSE. The deregistration from the SEC exempts Swisscom from reporting under the US Securities Exchange Act and exempts it from the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxely Act (SOX), as Netzwoche writes. SOX was passed and enacted in 2002 as a result of the Enron scandal. However, Swisscom wants to maintain the current standard of corporate governance and transparency towards shareholders, which is guaranteed by the stock exchange regulations that apply to the Swiss telco anyway.