With its takeover bid, Swisscom would like to acquire 100% of Fastweb shares. The Italian broadband provider was the first provider worldwide to launch a fully IP-based broadband, voice and TV service in 2001. 
Fastweb has a major head start in the field of new technologies, among other things. As it explains in its press release of March 12, Swisscom wants to benefit from this experience in order to develop, expand and market the latest generation of multimedia services.
The broadband market in Italy has very high growth potential. Even though Swisscom has stated that it intends to focus its activities on its home market of Switzerland in future, the acquisition of Fastweb would give it a clear competitive advantage. What is certain is that the Fastweb brand, which is well positioned in Italy, will be retained, as the technologically leading broadband telecommunications company has over one million customers in 130 cities.
In return, the Swiss telecoms company would support Fastweb's plans to operate as a virtual mobile operator without its own network infrastructure in Italy.

E-Bay Switzerland has entered into an exclusive cooperation with Web2com for the marketing of online advertising. Advertising can now be placed on the online marketplace and potential advertising partners will be given access to the Swiss version of E-Bay. According to the joint press release from E-Bay Switzerland and Web2com, "attractive and innovative advertising offers" are to be developed and offered to the advertising market in future. Swiss Post and Migros Klubschule, for example, are already making use of this.
With 33 million page impressions and around 700,000 unique users, E-Bay.ch is one of the Swiss websites with the widest reach. To date, it has successfully financed itself with listing fees and commissions. web2com AG was formed in 2005 from the merger of Publimedia Webadvertising and Publicitas Webservices and is therefore a strong partner for E-Bay Switzerland in the area of online advertising.

GMT Communications Partner III LLP acquires the construction activities of Springer Science+Business Media. As GMT is already active in the field of construction information, the B2B activities are to be allowed to pursue opportunities in this market in a more targeted manner and with increased support.Springer's construction division (B2B Construction) offers business-to-business information and solutions for the construction industry in several European countries and includes companies in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Central and Eastern Europe. Springer has announced that Springer Science + Business Media Schweiz AG will be sold in this country, with the exception of Media-Daten AG, which also includes Werbewoche. This will be integrated into Springer's B2B Business, Technology, Transport division.
GMT, which specializes in the media and communications industry, is already a shareholder in Docu Group AG, which is also active in the field of construction information. With B2B Construction, GMT is expanding its activities in this area.
GMT plans to appoint Peter Schmitz as CEO of B2B Construction. He is currently responsible for the Docu-Group business. Stefan Rühling, current Executive Vice President of B2B Construction, has decided to leave the company and Monica Sawhney, currently CFO/COO, will continue to hold this position.

In recent days, Werbewoche has already reported on the move of Trimedia and the EU into the virtual parallel world. Now Publicitas International Switzerland also boasts in a press release that it is the first business unit of the worldwide Publicitas Promotion network to open a branch on the "6th continent".  
More and more companies and organizations are marking their presence in Second Life. Who doesn't wish for all the possibilities that a newly created life offers? At the same time, the question arises as to whether these can actually be taken advantage of. Maybe everything is just a temporary "hype", like the Tamagotchis, various miracle pills or Snakeboards. The future will show - because this has already begun in the second life.

The NZZ wants a bit more of everything: more order, more content and more culture. To achieve this, it is improving its reader guidance, designing a new front page and expanding its range of content.  
More order The redesigned front page will in future cover more current topics from domestic politics, business, culture, science and sport, as the NZZ explained in a press release. On the page information bar, the most frequently requested pages with a service or section character will be specially marked. The revised "NZZ kompakt" page offers readers a quick overview of current events and the content of the issue. An alphabetical page overview of all the companies covered in the Wirtschafts-Bund will also serve to guide readers better in future.
 
More content The various focus pages and permanent supplements of the NZZ will also be reorganized thematically and structured more clearly. In future, these will appear daily as a separate bundle. The exception is the Monday edition, which is reserved for the non-weekly supplements such as "Bildung und Erziehung", "Studium und Karriere" and now "Architektur und Design", the special supplements and once a month the magazine "NZZ Folio". The new "Mobil - Digital" supplement will appear on Tuesdays, with topics relating to the application-oriented aspects of mobility, followed by the usual "Research and Technology" supplement on Wednesdays and a redesigned "Travel and Leisure" supplement on Thursdays. On Fridays, there will be a "Dossier" section with a focus on social, political or cultural issues.
 
More culture There is a new daily "Zurich Culture" page with short tips on cultural events. The new feature film page will appear on Thursdays. The magazine "Z - Die schönen Seiten" will in future be included with the Saturday edition ten times a year. Finally, the NZZ will publish three pages of readers' letters per week instead of two. The journalistic offering will be supplemented by the Friday edition of "NZZ Domizil" for real estate advertisements and the Saturday edition of "NZZ executive" for executive jobs.

This fall, the Golden World Awards will be held in London for the 16th time. Companies, associations, private institutions, NGOs and government agencies are invited to take part in the competition, which is organized by the International Public Relations Association (IPRA) as every year. This year, participants will compete with their PR campaigns in 25 categories such as "Crisis Management", "PR on a Shoestring" and "Environment".
Regional, national and international PR campaigns are admitted to the competition. The jury consists of recognized experts and the campaigns are judged according to the criteria of issue, research, planning, execution and evaluation.
Since Cohn & Wolfe won an award for their "A Heart for Life" campaign in 2004, no other Swiss participant has been honored at the Golden World Awards. Interested parties can register now until May 2.

A group of persistent anti-advertising activists have been sentenced to a symbolic fine in Paris: The seven activists have to pay one euro for scrawling slogans on posters, according to the verdict of the criminal court last Friday. The public prosecutor's office had demanded a fine of 500 euros.  
The convicts were highly satisfied. "This symbolic sentence shows that the judge has taken into account what is at stake in our fight," one of the offenders was quoted as saying by the SDA. The activists have dedicated themselves to the fight against the "constant bombardment" of advertising and have been smearing billboards outdoors or in the subway in Paris, as well as in other French cities, for months. Instead of making off with their actions, the "déboulonneurs" (tearers) wait for the police to come and take them away. "Civil disobedience is the only means we have today to move the debate forward," said one activist after the verdict. Instead of the "serious damage to property" complained of by the public prosecutor, the judge only found "slight, joint damage to property by writing on it". However, she also rejected the activists' claim of an "emergency". The opponents of advertising had used this to justify their actions during the trial.

The Federal Council decided on Friday to bring the revised Telecommunications Act and the ordinances based on it into force on April 1, 2007. The revision mainly concerns the unbundling of the last mile and consumer protection.  
According to the law, Swisscom must provide its competitors with the cables of the house connections in return for compensation. The ordinance regulates this unbundling, such as access to local exchanges or distribution boxes, where competitors connect their networks to Swisscom's cables. It will be some time before unbundling is implemented and customers can actually use the competitor offers: the first offers are expected at the end of the year, as Bakom wrote in a press release on Friday.
 
Improved consumer protection The law extends consumer protection for value-added services, i.e. numbers or text messages with higher tariffs. If such a bill is disputed, the connection may no longer be blocked. Furthermore, price caps have been introduced: CHF 100 as a basic fee, CHF 10 per minute, CHF 5 per minute for SMS subscriptions, CHF 400 in total per call or subscription. Providers of value-added services must now be based in a country that allows Swiss customers to take legal action in Swiss courts. Access to erotic services for minors will also be blocked as far as possible. Further measures include the establishment of an arbitration board and a general ban on spam (see
).  
Telecommunications companies are also now obliged to offer a minimum number of apprenticeships. The number corresponds to three percent of their full-time positions.

Advertising expert Roberto Ferrari has joined the team of consultants at the Zurich-based specialist for ambient media and guerrilla marketing as sales manager. Marketing assistant Karin Streuli joins the team of consultants in the office area.  
The new Ferrari in the propaganda stable can look back on various positions in sales and marketing at various agencies. Most recently, he worked at Jean Frey Verlag and was responsible for the advertising market of Bilanz as project manager. In order to meet the constantly increasing demand for ambient media and special forms of advertising, Propaganda is also expanding its team of consultants in the office area with marketing assistant Karin Streuli, as the company announced in its Propaganda Newsletter on Friday.

At the Interactive & Alternative Media Awards at the New York Festival, the work "Condom Street Signs" by Euro RSCG Zurich for the Federal Office of Public Health's "Love Live - Stop Aids" campaign won over the jury. Whether the FOPH campaign will even win another international medal will be announced on April 27, according to the agency's press release.

As every year, a comic competition was held on the occasion of the Fumetto International Comix Festival in Lucerne from March 24 to April 1. The jury nominated 45 projects from over 800 entries on the theme of "The Future" and selected three winners in each category, plus a scenario prize. The winners from Finland, Germany and the USA show that the competition now has international significance, the organizers wrote in a communiqué on Friday. But the Swiss illustrators were also able to impress, above all Tina Schwizgebel-Wang, who has now won Category 2 after coming second last year. For the first time, the winners will be announced before the festival instead of at the awards ceremony at the end of the festival, as was previously the case. This allows the winners to enjoy their well-deserved fame during the festival. The winners are
 
Category 1 (18 years and over): 1st prize: Pauliina Mäkelä, Helsinki / FI
2nd prize: Birgit Weyhe, Hamburg / DE
3rd prize: Brian Weaver, New York / US
Category 2 (13-17 years): 1st prize: Tina Schwizgebel-Wang, Geneva (GE) / CH
2nd prize: Raffael Murena, Emmen (LU) / CH
3rd prize: Miklos Felvideki, Budapest / HU
Category 3 (up to 12 years): 1st prize: Martin Müller, Zunzgen (BS) / CH
2nd prize: Samanta Ferkovic, Basel (BS) / CH
3rd prize: Manuel Kegelj, Wolhusen (LU) / CH
Scenario prize Ramon Häller (category 3), Dagmersellen (LU) / CH
All nominated works are exhibited at the festival and all other entries submitted are presented in portfolios in the exhibition. The audience award always remains a surprise, as it is decided by the visitors during the festival. It will be announced at the award ceremony on Saturday, March 31. The award-winning works can be viewed via the link below.

On March 1, 2007, Roland Enz joined Publimag in Glattbrugg as Head of Marketing and Promotion.  
The federally certified marketing planner previously worked for Publicitas in Lucerne, where he also completed his commercial apprenticeship. After completing his apprenticeship, he worked for a year as a telephone marketing coordinator and since 2002 as an employee of Marketing Services Neue Luzerner Zeitung, as Publimag wrote in a press release on Friday.