Michael Hermann (38) has been Head of Marketing and Advertising at Engeli & Partner Verlag, publisher of Nebelspalter, KMU Magazin and Innovation Management, since January 2007. After holding various positions in the publishing industry, Hermann was most recently Head of Advertising at Weltwoche.

The Swiss consumer magazine K-Tipp is starting 2007 with a refreshed look and new opportunities for advertisers. According to the publisher, the magazine will be "airier and with more white space". In addition, the blue K-Tipp logo should appear "fresher and more elegant". Thanks to the slightly larger font, K-Tipp should also be easier to read from now on and fewer bars should make the magazine "noticeably lighter".  
In addition, K-Tipp now offers advertising customers the opportunity to place text ads on half pages in a section of the magazine. The surcharge for this offer is 10 percent.

The communications agency Polykomm, based in Lucerne, has taken over the communications activities of Alfred N. Becker PR. The new company is active in trade fair communication, communication consulting, project management and training. The managing director and majority shareholder of the communications agency is Albert Schwarzenbach, while Alfred N. Becker remains a shareholder in the new company. Consequently, Schwarzenbach is leaving the management of Messe Luzern. In future, however, he will continue to work for the exhibition industry on a mandate basis.

The Cash Group launches Mediakit, a new information and calculation portal for the advertising industry. The online portal contains all the information on the individual products and presents the innovative advertising options. The aim is to guide advertising customers through the world of the Cash Group and keep them informed about seasonal promotions and special offers. The platform will serve as a basis for customer advisors to create customized, interactive presentations.  
The portal includes tools such as the calculator, product brochures, price lists and much more. The Calculator can be used to calculate both simple and complex communication solutions within the Cash products. The attractive multichannel packages are new to the range. These packages enable the simplest handling for cross-product communication. The Cash Group sees this tool as a further important step in the expansion of its multimedia offering strategy, as detailed in a press release.

Beat Holenstein (38) has been a new member of APG's Executive Board since January 1, 2007. Holenstein was appointed to the Executive Board due to the increasing importance of key account management and the Zurich location. He has held management positions at APG since 1996, has headed the Zurich branch for six years and has also been in charge of Key Account Management since 2004. With this measure, APG intends to consistently intensify its motto of market and customer proximity, as stated in a press release.

The Zurich agency Euro RSCG has created a farewell advertisement for SBB boss Benedikt Weibel, who stepped down at the end of 2006. They were inspired by the words of Federal Councillor Moritz Leuenberger, who wanted a "Weibel clone" as his successor. The advertisement is intended to aptly combine the old and new activities of the retired railroad boss. From 2007, Weibel will be responsible for all the Confederation's tasks at the 2008 European Championships. Just as with SBB, Weibel now has to distinguish himself in numerous positions as Mr. Euro 08. The clone subject appears in the SBB newspaper.

Open Text, provider of enterprise content management software, has filled two strategically important positions with Thomas Eberhart and Andreas Mai as of January 1, 2007.  
Thomas Eberhart (46) has taken over the position of Program & Product Manager Obtree at Open Text as of January 1, 2007. Eberhart will be responsible for the overall business planning and technical management of the Livelink WCM Presentation Server (Obtree C4) worldwide and, in cooperation with the development department, will define the strategic product definition and development with regard to the global corporate strategy. Hermann has been Partner Sales Manager at Open Text (formerly IXOS Software) since February 2004 and previously held management positions in marketing, sales and engineering at Microsoft Switzerland, Systor and Sun Microsystems, among others.
 
Eberhart's position as Partner Manager has been seamlessly filled by Andreas Mai (39). His responsibilities include both support and the further development and expansion of the existing partner network in Switzerland. Mai has been employed by Hummingbird, which was acquired by Open Text, since mid-2005. He was previously responsible for FileNet Switzerland as Senior System Consultant and Director Presales and Solutions.

The reigning Mister Switzerland, Miguel San Juan, is not only newly in love, but is now also launching his own wine selection. The limited-edition «Sélection Miguel San Juan» will be unveiled on Friday in Fribourg at the Caveau de la Bourgeoisie and features three exclusive Spanish red wines. Why isn’t Mister Switzerland launching Swiss wines? Just so Ferris Bühler Communications can promote the exclusive event with an exotic title—«Miguel San Juan’s Vino con Corazon»?  
«Join the San Juan family and Paolo Basso—the 2000 runner-up in the Sommelier du Monde competition—in celebrating their passion for Spanish wine this evening, and discuss fine wines and the New Year with Switzerland’s most handsome man and the invited VIP guests,» Ferris Bühler continues to promote this «exclusive» event. Anyone who isn’t drawn in by these words—because, if anything, would much rather be advised by the best Sommelier du Monde of 2000, might still be enticed to Fribourg by the fact that this event supports Dr. Beat Richner’s hospitals in Cambodia—or that Miguel San Juan will be accompanied by his girlfriend Susanne for the first time.

The cantonal government of Schaffhausen is calling for a separate Schaffhausen TV coverage area. It therefore rejects the federal government's proposal to assign the canton of Schaffhausen to the Zurich coverage area.  
The federal government's proposal weakens the independent region of Schaffhausen, as the government states in its consultation with the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC). Only a separate coverage area would enable a TV program that takes into account the characteristics of this region.
 
If the Federal Council does not grant Schaffhausen its own TV coverage area, the cantonal government wants an information window to be set up for the canton of Schaffhausen. In addition, Schaffhausen must also be taken into account in the remaining coverage. However, sufficient, earmarked funds would have to be made available for the information window. The fee money allocated to the Zurich region coverage area would have to be used for this.
 
Double supply  
Under no circumstances should these funds be used to finance television for the powerful economic metropolis of Zurich, the cantonal government emphasized. He also called for a dual supply for the canton of Schaffhausen. Although Schaffhausen primarily has strong economic and cultural links with Zurich, it also has strong links with Winterthur and eastern Switzerland. A territorial overlap with the coverage area of Eastern Switzerland was therefore appropriate.
 
The Government Council is also demanding that the coverage area of Radio Munot be extended to include the entire district of Andelfingen. The second important commuter axis Schaffhausen-Eglisau-Bülach should also be included in the coverage area of Radio Munot. Finally, the government supports DETEC's proposal for a license for Radio RaSa.

Anyone who would like to judge at the ADC is invited to the World Trade Center on Monday, January 22, 2007. From 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., interested parties can get an idea of the 1000 or so entries submitted and make their own personal assessment. The doors of Leutschenbachstrasse 95 in Zurich are open.

The Crbasel advertising agency won a competitive presentation and was awarded the contract by the Department of Health of the Canton of Basel-Stadt. The department has made the topic of "healthy body weight" its health promotion focus for 2007. The core of the activities is an awareness-raising campaign aimed at the entire population of Basel. Crbasel's concept, which has a wealth of experience in social marketing, convinced the committee headed by Dr. Carlo Conti and Dr. Thomas Steffen. The first advertising material should be on display from May.

Just a few days after the merger in Baden, the Grey agency came out on top in a competitive presentation. The company Teo Jakob, an exclusive furniture store with headquarters in Bern and nine branches throughout Switzerland, felt that Grey best understood and implemented its strategic goals. As a result, Teo Jakob awarded all communication tasks to the Neu-Baden-based advertising agency. The first national and local measures, covering the entire spectrum of promotion, literature and classics, are planned for spring 2007.