On Monday, the Zurich Cantonal Council took up the debate on the new health law. However, the decision on the main point of contention, how far a ban on alcohol and tobacco advertising should go, was postponed until next Monday.  
The Health Act regulates the so-called health policy aspects of the healthcare system. These include provisions on professions, complementary medicine, funeral services and preventive measures for alcohol and tobacco.
 
According to SDA, a possible ban on tobacco and alcohol advertising was at the center of the debate. The SVP, for example, insisted on freedom of trade and independence from the state. However, it was fine to ban tobacco and alcohol advertising on public property. The SP, on the other hand, called for a ban on advertising. According to Peter A. Schmid (Zurich), this should apply to public property and private property that is visible from such property.
 
The Commission for Social Security and Health (KSSG) wants to introduce a ban on billboard advertising for tobacco, alcohol and other addictive substances with a comparable risk potential. A majority of the KSSG is in favor of a ban on advertising on public and visible private property. A minority, on the other hand, wants to restrict the regulation to public areas.

The pharmaceutical company Helvepharm from Frauenfeld is one of the cheapest suppliers of generics on the Swiss market. In their image advertisements, Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett use medicine blister packs to show where Helvepharm saves money. One package, for example, is reminiscent of a golf green and makes it clear that with generics from Helvepharm you are not paying for the CEO's expensive hobby. Because Helvepharm is, as the claim finally resolves, a modest pharmaceutical company.

Schweizer Illustrierte is launching a football lifestyle magazine for Euro 2008: Goal will be published for the first time on April 2 and is expected to reach one million readers.  
However, Goal focuses less on goals, goalkeepers and tactics and more on the private lives of Swiss stars and Europe's best footballers. Goal is not just for die-hard football fans, but for everyone who wants to turn Euro 2008 into a nationwide party.
 
Goal will be published four times a month in 2007 for free with Schweizer Illustrierte, and monthly in 2008 until the European Championships. Urs Heller designed the magazine together with Marc Walder and Thomas Passen and heads the editorial team.

The new Swiss private TV channel 3+ is the young Swiss television. SF's lawsuit against 3+ demanding a precautionary ban on the claim "das junge Schweizer Fernsehen" was dismissed by the Zurich Commercial Court.  
An out-of-court solution or settlement between the parties was not reached. The Zurich Commercial Court therefore made the decision.

The SRG marketing organization Publisuisse is facing a new task: from the middle of this year, it will market the 15 partner radio stations of the Swiss Radio Pool (SRP). To this end, Publisuisse and the SRP broadcasters are founding the joint company Media Sense. This company will be responsible for marketing and managing the Swiss Radio Pool's offerings. Publisuisse will hold 51% of the share capital in the new company and the Swiss Radio Pool stations 49%.  
The Swiss Radio Pool put the contract out to tender. Publisuisse's marketing concept ultimately won the race because it best met the objectives pursued, as detailed in a press release. With the entry of a new strong partner into the radio market, it is hoped that radio as an advertising medium will participate more strongly in the growth of the advertising market in future.
 
However, Publisuisse will not market the advertising time of private radio stations alone: The system is based on an open brokerage model. This means that other marketers can continue to broker the Swiss Radio Pool offers.
 
Not all reactions to this new collaboration are positive. Klaus Kappeler, CEO of Goldbach Media Group, told Werbewoche: "We at Goldbach Media are not the only ones who are astonished by the decision that a public-sector marketer without radio advertising expertise should manage the Swiss Radio Pool."
 
 

With immediate effect, IP Multimedia (Schweiz) AG is exclusively marketing the newly launched Swiss advertising window of Cartoon Network. A total of ten television channels are marketed by IP. The marketing organization now optimally covers the children's segment in German-speaking and French-speaking Switzerland with the TV channels Super RTL and Cartoon Network.  
Cartoon Network's Swiss advertising window will be available from February 26 and can be booked immediately with IP Multimedia. The French children's channel achieves the best market share in French-speaking Switzerland among children aged 3-14.
 
IP Multimedia is a private marketing organization in the electronic offline media TV, radio, adScreen and Teletext. Its services include media planning, marketing and placement, booking, processing and controlling for the private TV stations Cartoon Network, MTV, M6, ProSieben, RTL, RTL II, Super RTL, TVM3, VIVA, VOX and lokal TV as well as for all Swiss private radio stations. In addition, IP Multimedia exclusively markets Energy Zurich.

Because of the broadcast of soap operas in children's programming, the Spanish-language, American broadcasting group Univision must apparently pay a record fine. The U.S. Communications Commission (FCC) has reached a preliminary agreement with Univision for a fine of $24 million, according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Univision had wrongly passed off telenovelas as part of an educational children's program. The station group's lawyers, however, argued that their program teaches children a lot about friendship, love and kindness. The FCC Commission still has to approve the settlement that has now been negotiated.

"Letters and more" is the new claim of Post Mail. The key visual of the new image is the yellow Post Mail dove. This symbolizes the transport of messages and emotions to business and private customers throughout Switzerland, according to a media release.  
With the campaign launched, Post Mail aims to position itself as an innovative company in the letter mail sector that can do more than just accept, sort and distribute letters. Post Mail's portfolio ranges from digital franking solutions to document management and comprehensive direct marketing. The e-area offering is also part of this.
 
At the end of February 2007, the yellow Post Mail pigeon premiered on megaposters in various Swiss train stations. In March and April, the first major wave of advertising will start up nationwide.

Weblogs are universally praised as an indispensable tool for the external presentation of a company. A regular online diary creates loyalty to the company and ensures a high degree of transparency. The Volkswagen Group proved the opposite last week.  
For almost four weeks, it was kept quiet that they were paying comedian Hape Kerkeling to fill a weblog for VW as Horst Schlämmer - and achieve great success with it. Kerkeling's fictional character quickly became a hit with his "I'm getting my driver's license now". The deputy editor-in-chief of a provincial newspaper played by Kerkeling regularly publishes short films in which, for example, he wants to buy a car or sits in a driving school car for the first time with his driving instructor. Schlämmer often praises this very car - a VW Golf.
 
The blog would hardly have become so iconic if it had been clear from the start that it was advertising. Those responsible at Volkswagen seem to know this. They initially reacted hesitantly to an inquiry from the Süddeutsche Zeitung and postponed the answer with reference to specialist departments. Then the company praised itself at length for this "viral idea": "Volkswagen has staged an innovative marketing campaign of this kind for the first time and, with Horst Schlämmer as one of Germany's most popular and best-known comedians, has implemented it perfectly so far." Whether this calculation will continue to work out is unclear. If it is clear that it is just a funny ad, readers on the Internet will probably react accordingly.

It was launched last October 2006, and last Sunday it came to an end: the regional Sunday newspaper Hamburger Abendblatt Sonntags from Axel Springer is being discontinued. There was no potential for the project on an attractive economic scale. The Sunday edition of the Hamburger Abendblatt was intended as a defensive measure against the seventh edition of local rival Hamburger Morgenpost. Springer has now concluded that the impact on competition is so minor that it is not necessary to further protect its own market share. As can be read on Horizont.net, with 44,000 copies sold, the Springer title even outperformed the Sunday edition of the Morgenpost, which sells an average of 38,000 copies on Sundays.

Over 13,000 internet users have joined the Shutdown Day initiative. The organizers Denis Bystrov and Michael Taylor want to find out whether a day without computers would still be possible in this day and age. The day of action will take place on Saturday, March 24, 2007.  
Because the business world would grind to a halt without computers, the initiators decided on a Saturday. They are calling on computer users all over the world to take part in their experiment, to spend a day without a computer and instead meet up with friends or enjoy nature. "I myself spend a lot of time in chats instead of meeting up with my friends in person," Taylor told Pressetext.at. On the Shutdownday.org website, you can already indicate whether a computer-free day is conceivable for you and what you intend to do instead. Over 13,000 Internet users from all over the world have now joined Bystrov and Taylor's initiative. Only a good 2,000 users have reported that a computer-free day is out of the question for them. The site offers the opportunity to publish video documentation of their activities without a PC. The organizers also refer to Microsoft boss Bill Gates, who prescribes computer-free times for his children.

From 2009, new examination regulations will apply to qualifications in marketing, sales, advertising and PR. As early as August 2007, the first MarKom admission exam will be held via the Internet, in which the basic subjects to be completed together will be tested and career starters can test their basic knowledge in these specialist areas.  
With the MarKom admission exam, the initiators have embarked on a new path: the exam, which is offered twice a year in three languages, can be taken online. The four-hour exam includes various questions on basic knowledge in the areas of business and law, marketing, direct marketing, sales and distribution, advertising and public relations. In addition, MarKom has developed a zero-series question platform for the training institutes that will be offering courses from spring onwards for candidates to take the exam.
 
As Markom adds, the activities in the areas of marketing, sales, direct marketing, advertising and public relations have many points of contact. The association, which was founded in 2002 and is supported by the relevant industry associations, the employers' association and KV Schweiz, has therefore been looking for harmonization possibilities. Potential for adaptation was found in the examination regulations, examination material and guidelines. The cooperation is now based on the new, standardized job profiles and the new examination regulations valid from 1 January 2009, both at the level of professional examinations (with a federal certificate) and higher professional examinations (with a federal diploma).