A picture taken in Beirut after the Israeli attacks on Lebanon has been named the best press photo of the past year. US photographer Spencer Platt photographed a group of wealthy young people in a convertible. The picture was taken immediately after the ceasefire was declared. The jury for the World Press Photo Award in Amsterdam said that the photograph showed the complexity and contradictions of real life. The picture leads the viewer to take a closer look. The 10,000 euro prize will be presented to the winner in April. More than 78,000 photos were submitted for the competition. The entire winners' gallery can be viewed at Worldpress.com.

The jury, chaired by Fredy Collioud, selected the subjects for the shortlist from over 650 posters submitted. Prizes are awarded in the categories "Culture", "Public Services" and "Commercial". With four nominations each, Publicis, Ruf Lanz and Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett are the favorites. The Swiss Poster Award will be presented at the APG Poster Night on April 19, 2007.  
Culture category Zurich Opera House (K.D. Geissbühler); Théâtre Saint-Gervais Genève: En attendant la grippe aviaire (BLVDR atelier de création, Daniel Kunzi); Cartoon Museum Basel (Scholz & Friends Zurich); Schauspielhaus Zurich: Amphitryon (Raffinerie); Heineken Schweiz AG : Corporate Stars (Publicis); Weltrecords: Dark Angel (Publicis); Zürcher Kammerorchester: Apéro Konzerte (EURO RSCG Switzerland).
 
Category Public Services Multiple Sclerosis (Advico Young & Rubicam); Street magazine Surprise: Homeless (Publicis); Petition: No firearms at home (Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett); Amnesty International: Not here but now (Walker advertising agency); SUVA: Winter sports prevention: Tooth row (Ruf Lanz); Foundation for social youth projects: Glacé (Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett).
 
Category Commercial M-Budget (Exxtra Kommunikation); Juwelier Kurz: Ich bin schön (JWT+HOSTETTLER+FABRIKANT); Jobwinner (Wirz Werbung); SMP: Milchjunge (Advico Young & Rubicam); Renault F1 Clio: Spiegelungen (Publicis); Migros: Glasklar (Publicis); Virus: Kopfhörer mit Nagel (Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett); Hotel Dolder Waldhaus: Tea cups (Ruf Lanz); VBZ: Knabenschiessen (Ruf Lanz); Airport Outlet Zurich: Ballermann (Ruf Lanz); Die Wochen Zeitung: Papagei (Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett); BMW: Love curves (Jung von Matt/Limmat); Bucherer: Perlen für jedes Budget (Jung von Matt/Limmat); John Lay Electronics: Chamäleon (Jung von Matt/Limmat).

A new study by Double Click identifies search engines as the advertising market of the future. In order not to lose out internationally, a study advises combining search engine marketing and optimization. 
Search engine marketing is the fastest growing area of the European online advertising market. Last year, for the first time, more money was invested in search engine marketing than in traditional online ads, according to "The European Search Engine Marketing Landscape" by Double Click. In order to be successful in Europe, the study recommends that marketers take greater account of the differences between countries. Search engine optimization techniques are still not widely used in Europe. Like American marketers, European marketers need to develop a long-term strategy that takes into account both paid search and better findability.

The TV auction show "The Ricardo Show", which starts at the end of April, will be hosted by Eva Camenzind. The show will be broadcast monthly in the Swiss window of the private TV channel Sat.1 on Fridays at 8.15 pm.  
The 26-year-old from Basel worked at TeleBasel before moving to Swiss Television (SF) in 2001. She can currently be seen there in the program "konsumTV", as the SDA writes in a press release on Friday. In the program, which is sponsored by the Swiss online auction provider Ricardo.ch, celebrities make offers that are auctioned off by TV viewers during the show. This takes place via SMS, telephone or the Internet. The show is produced by RingierTV.

The Audience Council praises the high level of expertise of the foreign correspondents of Schweizer Fernsehen SF and Schweizer Radio DRS. There is no sign of any cost-cutting measures. The Council sees room for improvement in the new children's program Tubii.  
In a press release issued on Friday, the Public Council emphasized the credibility, expertise and ability to present facts in an understandable way. However, the Council would like to see an even more concise classification and commentary on events. In terms of content, the most important focal points are covered, but the Council would like to see another weekly magazine with purely foreign reports. The network of correspondents is sufficient, but there are gaps in certain regions. As reported by SDA, the Audience Council does not believe that the criticism heard in public that SF and Radio DRS are gradually reducing their foreign reporting is confirmed.
 
Tubii needs improvement According to the Audience Council, SF's new children's program, Tubii, is suitable for children, but knowledge content in the form of animal documentaries and children's reports is too short. The proportion of purchased animated films is very high.

With 289,000 unique clients, the Swiss classifieds platform Piazza.ch is already one of the top 20 largest advertising-relevant websites in Switzerland. This is shown by the WEMF Net Audit figures published on Thursday for the month of January 2007. 125 advertising-relevant websites throughout Switzerland were examined, according to Piazza. The Piazza.ch portal, launched in October 2005, is already the classifieds platform with the widest reach in Switzerland - an incentive for Piazza to further expand its services in the coming months. With this expansion, Piazza, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tamedia, is responding to the rapidly growing need to buy and sell items and services via classified ads on the Internet.

Spain's King Juan Carlos received the 15th German Media Prize in the presence of one hundred representatives from politics and the media. The 69-year-old king had created the conditions for Spain's peaceful transition to democracy with courage and political vision. He had set the language of the constitution and the rule of law against that of violence and terror. The German Media Prize was first awarded in 1992 to the former head of RTL. Karlheinz Kögel, founder of Media Contol, initiated the prize. Since the first award ceremony, Bill Clinton, Boris Yeltsin and Helmut Kohl, among others, have received the prize. The singer from U2, Bono, received the prize last year.

The cosmic graphic designers from Bern have created posters, a 100-page exhibition catalog, brochures and advertisements for the new exhibition at the Franz Gertsch Museum in Burgdorf with a striking design. Team Bern won the pitch for the design of the advertising measures for the exhibition entitled "Under the Stars" at the end of 2006, according to a press release issued by the firm.

The end of analog television broadcasting is approaching. The SRG will cease analog transmission in French-speaking Switzerland on June 25, and the service will be switched off in German-speaking Switzerland from November 26. This means that anyone who does not receive their channels via cable or satellite will soon have to purchase a new receiver or decoder. According to SRG officials, only eight percent of Swiss households will be affected. If second sets in vacation homes and caravans are included, 27 percent of the population will be affected by the measure.  

The Zurich agency Futurecom has completely redesigned and implemented the bilingual website of the three hotels Baslertor, Victoria and Mercure Hotel Europe in Basel. Visitors to the Balehotels.ch website can gain a first impression of the ambience of the hotels. According to the Futurecom press release, the new identity not only serves aesthetic purposes, but also helps visitors to the website to find their way around, gain an overview and find their way quickly. The company designed and conceived the entire website. Kreisvier Communications is responsible for the content. 

The CEO of Carat Americas, David Verkelin, sits on the Media Lion jury. He has been CEO of the global media agency since 1998. Verkelin is responsible for the market in North and South America, as well as Asia. Under his leadership, the company has developed into one of the largest agencies with over 300 clients. The festival organizers are honored that Verkelin has accepted, according to a statement from the festival. The Media Lions has been honoring the best in media since 1999.

With Bank-now, Credit Suisse is launching a new consumer finance bank. Ideenhaus from Germany, which specializes in value-oriented brand design, created not only the name but the entire appearance of the new bank. Bank-now brings together Credit Suisse's two business areas, credit and leasing. The goal of the independent, product family-capable brand was international comprehensibility and maximum differentiation from the competition, according to the company. Credit Suisse is satisfied with the work of the Ideenhaus: "The Ideenhaus has shown us that creativity is very much capable of moving very closely along strategic lines. We find ourselves and the services of our brand there."