The Aargauer Zeitung (AZ) and the Mittelland Zeitung (MZ) are to publish a Sunday edition for the first time on September 16. This was announced by AZ publisher Peter Wanner. However, the final decisions are still pending. The plans are well advanced, but "not yet nailed down", AZ editor-in-chief Peter Burri told the news agency SDA. The final decision by the boards of directors of the partners in the AZ-Verbund Mittelland Zeitung is expected at the beginning of March. The aim is for all partners to participate, said Eva Keller, Head of Corporate Communications at AZ Medien Group, when asked by SDA. The planned Sunday edition will have a circulation of 200,000 copies.
Since 2002, the AZ has been supplying the Mittelland Zeitung section to the Solothurner Zeitung, the Oltner Tagblatt, Zofinger Tagblatt and the Limmattaler Tagblatt and, since September 16, 2006, also to the Basellandschaftliche Zeitung. With a total circulation of 210,275 copies, the MZ ranks 3rd among newspapers for sale in Switzerland.

Since January 1, 2007, the Federal Administration has had a new, uniform image. In two years of work, the former jungle of over 80 logos and individual appearances was cleared and transformed into a contemporary corporate design.  
A major project, as a few figures illustrate: 37,000 employees of the Federal Administration received templates for business correspondence on their PCs; a standardized range of almost 30 envelope types was created from a good 1,000 different envelopes; hundreds of Internet pages received the new corporate design and were adapted to the legal requirements regarding accessibility for the disabled; new lettering was affixed to 500 buildings. Around 20 specialists from the departments and a further 300 implementation officers from the various administrative units worked on the new CD. The project incurred a total of CHF 7.5 million in external costs; however, the majority of the work was carried out with internal resources.
 
At the end of 2003, the Federal Council decided to stop the proliferation of logos and independent appearances of the departments and offices. All administrative units were to be given a uniform appearance. The logo now consists of a combination of the Swiss coat of arms and the four-language designation Swiss Confederation.

The company has relented in the conflict over Google Earth depictions of British troop camps in Iraq. The current map material has been replaced by older images from before the war in Iraq. This is according to several Google Earth users and the British IT portal The Register.  
The Daily Telegraph reported last weekend that insurgents were planning attacks on British camps using map material from Google Earth. Corresponding documents had been seized during house searches. The accusation that map images can be misused by terrorists is not new. However, Google Germany does not want to accept this accusation: "Google Earth has been downloaded over two million times. The overwhelming majority of users use the program for purely peaceful purposes," Google spokesperson Stefan Keuchel told pressetext. Google Earth is also not the only source for such image material. Keuchel also emphasized that Google Earth had also proven its worth in the past during disaster relief operations, such as Hurricane Katrina or the earthquake in Pakistan.

On January 1, 2007, a new booking option for radio advertising was created in the Bern region. The radios BE1, BeO (Bernese Oberland) and Emme can now be booked together or two at a time in modules. This flexible and customer-oriented option is unique in Switzerland, according to the providers. Customers are thus offered an advertising solution with freely selectable area coverage and high performance values at the usual pool conditions. According to the radios involved, the pool is to be kept as lean as possible in administrative terms. This means that any variant can be booked at any radio station. The prices are published by the respective radio stations.

The governments of the cantons of St. Gallen, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, and Thurgau are calling for a unified television coverage area in Eastern Switzerland. The three cantons disagree with the territorial division proposed by the federal government.  
According to the SDA, all three cantons reject the federal government’s proposed expanded coverage area for private radio and TV broadcasters. This is because it additionally includes the four Zurich districts of Andelfingen, Pfäffikon, Winterthur, and Hinwil. According to the Appenzell government, there are no close economic or cultural ties between the cantons of Eastern Switzerland and the Zurich districts, so the division makes no sense. Only in western Thurgau would an overlap with Zurich make sense. Furthermore, there are concerns that the numerous planned licenses will further impair reception of SRG programs in the Appenzell Vorderland and the St. Gallen Rhine Valley.

In collaboration with the weekly magazine Automobil Revue, eight regional stations in German-speaking Switzerland have launched a joint program. The program for discerning car enthusiasts will be broadcast weekly from March. Jennifer Ann Gerber has been recruited as presenter.  
The 10-minute program is produced by a TV editorial team headed by Hannes Stark and Reto Wettstein at the Telebärn studios in Wabern. A new vehicle model is tested in the main feature. In addition, the automobile experts from Automobil Revue will be on hand to give car enthusiasts tips and advice. The third part of the program is a tabloid segment. The presenter is 25-year-old Jennifer Ann Gerber, who has already worked in various presenting jobs from Radio 32 to Adrénaline.
 
The program can be seen from March on the following German-speaking regional stations: TeleBasel, TeleBärn, TeleM1, TeleOstschweiz, TeleSüdöstschweiz, TeleTell, TeleTop and ZüriPlus. Attractive combined print and TV offers are available for advertising customers and can be booked from January 25.

Is there anything worse than being called a still-husband? Especially when your still-wife is called Britney Spears? Kevin Federline makes a virtue out of necessity: he is now an advertising star.  
Now you could rightly argue that someone with such a washed-up image is hardly suitable as an advertising medium. Or would you book this loser for your campaign? Probably not - or is Punkt simply the perfect creative twist? It would seem so: According to the internet service TMZ, Federline has been booked by an American insurance company for a commercial. A finished script for the commercial is not yet available. However, it can be assumed that the leading actor will be poking fun at himself and his current life situation - certainly profitable territory for the creatives. The insurance company can leave its claim as it is: "Life sometimes strikes faster than you think. There you go.

According to the balance sheet ranking, the 50 strongest Swiss brands have increased in value: The flagships of the Swiss economy are now worth around CHF 93.5 billion, around 7 percent more than at the beginning of 2006, with Nescafé, UBS and Novartis again occupying the podium positions.  
The remaining top ten in the Interbrand Zintzmeyer & Lux ranking also remain unchanged: Roche, Nestlé, Zurich, Rolex, Swisscom, Credit Suisse and Omega. According to SDA, this can be seen in the pre-print of the study published on Friday in the business magazine Bilanz. The ranking has become more exclusive: The entry ticket to the club of the top 50 brands rose from CHF 38 million to CHF 42 million. The watch brands Breguet (25th place) and TAG Heuer (31st place), Winterthur (34th place) and the fashion chain Tally Weijl (45th place) are new to the list. The brands that gained the most in value were Logitech (+17.1%), Nespresso (+15.6%), Phonak (+14.1%), Rolex (+13.4%) and Bally (+13.3%).
 
The biggest loser is the Basel-based specialty chemicals group Ciba, which fell from 24th to 32nd place. One of the reasons cited for this was the inadequate "communication of difficult messages". The brands Parisienne (-9.9%), Sunrise (-5.1%), Davidoff (-0.3%) and Migros (-1.8%) also lost ground. In comparison with its direct competitor Coop, however, Migros retains the upper hand: with a value of CHF 422 million, it is ranked 22nd, Coop 26th with CHF 310 million. The new Migros subsidiary Denner is ranked 49th with CHF 45 million.

Once again, the Best of Swiss Web Association is looking for the best projects from the Internet and the mobile world. The most successful and professional concepts will be honored with web awards or seals of approval. Projects can be submitted from January 17 to February 12, 2007. The entries will be judged in a multi-stage specialist judging process in eight categories: "Technology Quality", "Technology Innovation", "Creation", "Business Efficiency", "Online Marketing Sites", "Online & Mobile Campaigns", "Usability" and "Public Affairs". A Master of Swiss Web is also awarded for the best and most convincing project overall.
The competition is being held for the seventh time in 2007, on the initiative of Simsa - Swiss Interactive Media and Software Association and Netzwoche. This year's sponsors include Adobe, PubliGroupe, Mircosoft and Web2com. Further information and registration can be found at Bestofswissweb.ch.

For its next underwear advertisement, the orange giant is looking for 18 to 40-year-old singles to model for various TV commercials. From Thursday, January 18, men and women from all over Switzerland can apply. For the past two years, Migros has been using ordinary people instead of professional models to advertise its clothes and underwear. The last Migros model campaign in fall 2006 featured ski instructors in their underwear (see
). So now Migros will be showing singles from their best side: Casting and filming will be carried out professionally, and candidates can apply from today at Migros.ch.

The current head of the newsdesk of the Neue Luzerner Zeitung, Christian Peter Meier, will become editor-in-chief of the Neue Zuger Zeitung from April 2007. He succeeds Gabriele Keller, who left the editorial team in December 2006 at her own request. 43-year-old Christian Peter Meier was born in Zug and is also an experienced journalist and editor. He has worked for the Vaterland and the Luzerner Zeitung. He has now been working for the Neue Luzerner Zeitung for seven years, taking over as head of the newsdesk in 2005. Meier studied musicology, literature and linguistics at the University of Zurich.

SRG SSR Idée Suisse has appointed Daniel Steiner as its new media spokesperson. The previous spokesperson, Simon Meyer, will continue to oversee corporate communications projects. Steiner joined SRG Corporate Communications in November 2006. He has been its deputy head since January 1 of this year and has now been appointed media spokesperson. Steiner has many years of experience in corporate communications and journalism. Before joining SRG, he was Head of Corporate Communications at DHL Switzerland. Before that, he headed the media division of Swiss Olympic for twelve years. He proved himself as a journalist at the St. Galler Tagblatt and the Basler Zeitung, as SDA writes.