Swiss Olympic is launching a new campaign to promote its «Cool and Clean» program. The Bern-based agency Republica was commissioned to handle the campaign. Through «Cool and Clean,» the country’s largest national prevention program, Swiss Olympic aims to inspire young people to participate in fair and clean sports. To this end, according to a press release, the Bern-based advertising agency Republica came up with slogans such as «One smokes weed—the other scores» and created visuals that feature prominently in the ads and posters for the new campaign.

 Five shortlist places were awarded to Swiss agencies in the "Media" category in Cannes. Publicis was nominated twice for Die gelben Seiten (once in the sub-category "Commercial Public Services" and once for "Best Use of Magazines"). Walker won two places for Amnesty International (in the sub-category "Charities, Public Health & Safety, Public Awareness Messages" and for "Best Use of Outdoor"). Draftfcb/Lowe is also nominated in this category: for Artesanos Camiseros.

TV doctor Samuel Stutz will present the TV show "Gesundheit-Sprechstunde" for the last time on July 1.The presenter of the TV show "Gesundheit-Sprechstunde", Samuel Stutz, has terminated his collaboration with Ringier, according to a press release from the publishing house. The TV presenter, who was a doctor and also worked for the magazine of the same name, has contributed a great deal to the development of the Health Unit over the past 18 years.
Stutz caused a lot of controversy in the TV program. The programme, which presents health information in a popular way, often caused a run on doctors' surgeries because many viewers thought they recognized symptoms of the diseases described.
TV doctor Samuel Stutz is ending his collaboration with Ringier to do something completely different. What exactly he will do in the future is still completely open, according to the SDA report. The possibilities range from setting up his own clinic to a major national campaign. The focus will certainly be on the "urgently needed" improvement of public health literacy.
One last edition of "Gesundheit-Sprechstunde" can still be seen: The pre-recorded program on the topic of pain will be broadcast on July 1.

 Axel Springer Verlag is to take over Ringier's TV program guides, which are up for sale. This was reported by the German news magazine Spiegel. Springer will pay around 30 million euros for the four magazines in Switzerland, including Tele and TVvier, according to negotiating circles. According to Spiegel, the purchase agreement has not yet been signed, but this should take place towards the end of June. Ringier's eight television magazines in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania, on the other hand, are not expected to go to Axel Springer, but probably to Hamburg-based Bauer-Verlag. Ringier does not want to comment on this news: "No comment", Priska Wolfensberger from the media office of the Zurich publishing house simply told Werbewoche. Similarly, according to Spiegel, Axel Springer rejects rumors of a major merger despite its growing links with Ringier. The German publishing giant recently acquired the subscriber base of Ringier's business magazine Cash.
A few months ago, Axel Springer also expanded its position in Switzerland with the takeover of Jean Frey. However, Ralph Büchi from the Handelszeitung and Jean Frey publishing group did not comment on the Spiegel report: "We do not comment on market rumors as a matter of principle," he told Werbewoche.  

 Marc Görtz, Christoph Bauer and Andreas Schaffner are members of the Executive Board of Ringier Publishing Switzerland as of July 1, 2007. Marc Görtz heads the Electronic Media division. This newly created division includes the Television and New Media departments. Görtz's career steps include the business newspaper Finanz & Wirtschaft, Cash-TV and the TV channel Sat.1 (Switzerland), in which Ringier holds a 50 percent stake. He has been Managing Director of RingierTV since 2005. Götz succeeds the 67-year-old Hans Jürg Deutsch on the Executive Board. The former head of Ringier's television activities will remain on the Group staff as an advisor to CEO Martin Werfeli. In addition, he will continue to oversee certain tasks such as the management of the Health Unit and the management of PresseTV.
Christoph Bauer (36) will be a member of the Executive Board as Head of the Business Media division. He will continue to drive forward the expansion of the Cash media network. Christoph Bauer has been working for Ringier Wirtschaftsmedien since July 2006. He previously worked for Bertelsmann and NZZ. He replaces Thomas Trüb on the Executive Board. In future, he will concentrate on the Asia/Pacific division and the New Media division at Group Management level.
Andreas Schaffner has been responsible for the newly created Services division (Ringier Print Adligenswil and Publishing Logistics) since February 2007. 44-year-old Schaffner is now also a member of the Executive Board. Schaffner has held various positions at Ringier since 1995, including Technical Director of the Winterthur printing plant. He has been Managing Director of Ringier Print Adligenswil since 2005.

In Europe, advertisers are increasingly turning to large-scale advertising formats to reach their customers. This is why Adlink relies exclusively on the rectangle advertising medium for the Superpool, among others. By far the most popular forms of advertising are the leaderboard and the rectangle MPU (Messaging Plus Unit). This is the conclusion of a study published in May by the EIAA (European Interactive Advertising Association) and OPA Europe (Online Publishers Association Europe). It examined the use of different advertising formats throughout Europe on the European online network of all participating EIAA members by evaluating over 300 billion ad impressions on the members' websites.
Leaderboards and rectangles are characterized by their large surface area. These formats account for 35 and 33 percent of all advertising media examined and increased their share in the second half of 2006 by six and seven percentage points respectively at the expense of traditional forms of advertising such as the full banner or the wide skyscraper.
According to the Adlink communiqué, the company uses the rectangle advertising medium exclusively for the high-reach Superpool, which bundles the most popular Swiss websites into one offer. The fact that the rectangle medium is also ideal for streaming ads is another plus for this form of advertising.

 In the "Promo" category, the Swiss were able to secure three shortlist places in Cannes: Draftfcb/Lowe won one for Ascar Daihatsu. Ruf Lanz is nominated twice, namely for Radio Energy and for Sport Factory Outlet.

The Swiss branch of the Danish marketing and communications company Kunde & Co and the Zurich-based advertising agency Pucci, Sulzer are merging. Under the name Kunde & Co Pucci Sulzer, the employees, clients and complementary skills of the two companies will be brought together at Pucci, Sulzer's current location, according to a press release, with Henrik Kattrup and Kasper Munch, the current heads of Kunde & Co Zurich, as well as Giovanni Pucci and Däni Sulzer, the two owners of the Pucci, Sulzer advertising agency, acting as managing directors of the new company. Already in the current financial year, the cumulative gross operating income of the two agencies of CHF 8 million in 2006 is to be significantly increased and further jobs created by the end of the year. According to the press release, the new agency will combine the many years of international branding and marketing expertise of Kunde & Co with the local know-how of a Swiss creative agency.
The Scandinavian creatives
Founded in 1988, Kunde & Co is one of the largest Scandinavian management consultancies for marketing, branding and communication with headquarters in the Danish capital Copenhagen, according to a press release. The company has also had a branch in Zurich for six years. To date, Kunde & Co's clients in Switzerland have included internationally oriented clients such as Geberit, Swarovski, Landis+Gyr, Straumann, Phonak, Merck-Serono and Actelion. The creative solutions have so far been designed and produced by the international team in Copenhagen.
The creative addition in Zurich
Pucci, Sulzer was founded in Zurich in 1985. The creative agency has been developing work for various Migros divisions and products for 20 years. For 10 years, Pucci, Sulzer helped shape the development of the Raiffeisen and Freixenet brands in Switzerland and Northern Europe. Today, Pucci, Sulzer manages advertising budgets for brands such as Assugrin, Disaronno, Freixenet Switzerland and Northern Europe, Kern & Sammet, Lavazza, Lancia, Migros and the Graubünden Music Festival.

The tug-of-war over press subsidies continues: after the National Council reaffirmed for the second time that it considers it necessary to spend CHF 80 million on postal taxes, the Council of States has once again confirmed that it considers press subsidies of CHF 30 million to be sufficient.The Council of States tacitly defied the National Council for the second time on Monday and is sticking to its press subsidy model, according to an SDA report. This provides for CHF 20 million for regional and local newspapers with a circulation of up to 40,000 copies and CHF 10 million for member papers of non-profit organizations with a circulation of up to 300,000.
The National Council, on the other hand, is in favor of Swiss Post receiving a full CHF 60 million a year to grant preferential prices to all newspapers and an additional CHF 20 million to reduce its rates for titles with a small circulation.
If the Federal Council had its way, press subsidies would disappear altogether. At least both councils agree that press funding should continue at least until the end of 2011.

 Success for French-speaking Switzerland in the "Press" category at this year's Cannes Festival: Saatchi & Saatchi Simko was awarded nine shortlist places. The Geneva agency received three for the Eating Disorders Association (AES) and six for WWF Switzerland. Jung von Matt/Limmat was nominated three times for Mini, Euro RSCG Group Switzerland once for Iras Cotis. In total, the Swiss won 12 shortlist places in the "Press" category.

English farmers are fed up with their fields mutating into festival grounds every summer. Their new weapon against musical and narcotic debauchery: The Internet. Before a drug orgy is celebrated in the remote barn or the favorite cows are tipped over by unscrupulous youths and the green pasture is transformed into the scene of the Goa party of the century, the British government recommends reaching for the mouse rather than the pitchfork.
Landowners and farmers are being advised to inspect networking websites such as Myspace to find out where illegal parties are being planned, according to the Times Online. Following the model of a secret service, the dirty investigators are to collect and share information and flyers on the internet, in pubs and at other dubious events such as outdoor village dances or fairgrounds.
Of course, it will not be possible to prevent every party, so relativization and thinking are required. Following the principle of "if you can't beat them, join them", the jokers among the farmers can simply join in the party and the more commercially savvy agronomists can sell home-grown magic herbs and fungi. And if anyone has any of the miracle stuff left over, they can sell it on e-bay.

In an open letter, Comedia and Impressum are calling on the members of the Swiss parliament to retain the indirect press subsidy as proposed by the National Council.The journalists' association Impressum and the media trade union Comedia have written an open letter to parliament calling for the indirect press subsidy to be retained in line with the National Council's model. This provides for the continuation of the postal tax reduction for the distance-independent distribution of press products to the tune of 80 million, with 20 million reserved for the member and local press.
Impressum and Comedia, which together organize around 8,000 journalists, are of the opinion that the jobs of many media professionals are already at risk. A reduction in indirect press subsidies would increase the pressure on the working conditions of media professionals and thus pose a threat to the Swiss quality press.
In addition, it is already difficult for media professionals to carry out their important role in the democratic formation of opinion with the necessary responsibility and care. Working conditions in the print media in German-speaking Switzerland and Ticino have been deteriorating continuously since August 2004 due to the lack of a collective labor agreement in these regions.