For the first time, Winterthur Insurance's household contents and personal liability insurance policies are being marketed via the Swissclick iSolutions affiliate network. This means that the campaign is implemented simultaneously on several hundred Internet platforms - target group-specific and optimized for effectiveness. A tracking system makes it possible to determine the effect of the campaign at any time and optimize it daily if necessary. Cost-per-order, i.e. the costs incurred by the insurance company for a quotation request or for a contract, was chosen as the metric. Swissclick iSolutions is not only responsible for the campaign as a marketer, but also as an online advertising agency. This included conception, creation of the advertising material, definition of the media strategy and scheduling.

The Bern-based advertising agency Cosmic has designed a new image for Kursiv, a general contractor for illuminated lettering, textile and digital printing. This was implemented for the first time in the newly designed 16-page image brochure with a large proportion of images. The agency has also made the website clearer and more user-friendly. To ensure that the new cursive look attracted maximum attention, it was communicated at a customer event. Guests were welcomed to a commercial building in Bern's city center with a banner the size of the façade.

The Zurich-based advertising agency Malstube has produced two TV commercials to accompany the Piazza.ch campaign, which has already been launched and advertises the online marketplace with disappointed gift recipients. These are intended to draw attention to the simple way of getting rid of unloved gifts quickly and profitably. The two commercials, which were shot in collaboration with Viva TV at the client's request and have been shown on TeleZüri since December, complement the print, radio and online campaign.

Germany had filed a lawsuit in an attempt to have the harmonization of EU legislation on advertising and sponsorship for tobacco products declared partially null and void. The argument was that the wrong legal basis had been chosen with the requirements to harmonize the internal market. However, this argument did not hold water with the European Court of Justice. And Germany's economy must now reckon with considerable losses (see ). The ban affects tobacco advertising in the press, on the radio and on the Internet. Advertising on posters and in cinemas will remain permitted. Tobacco advertising has been banned on radio and television in Germany since 1974. The Freedom for Advertising Association now fears that market communication will migrate to non-public areas and could imagine private cigarette parties or cigarette clubs.

"Reflex" is the name of the new magazine from EPF Lausanne, which is available on newsstands in French with a print run of 15,500 copies. The English-language edition will follow in February with 5,000 copies, which will then also be available in German-speaking Switzerland. Two issues are planned for 2007. Reflex is 80 pages long and is dedicated to topics from science and innovation. The first issue will focus on the two topics of high-tech and security. The magazine is being produced and realized by the Geneva agency Largeur.com.

Every year, the Christian world faces the problem of finding the right card for Christmas and New Year - for friends, relatives or business partners. By E-Mail fluttered the advertising week on Tuesday a particularly creative suggestion into the house: The sausage letter. Because only of it one could cut oneself a disk. The manufacturer, the butcher's shop Böbel in the German Gerorgensgmünd-Rittersbach, is not embarrassed about marketing arguments. It promises a "surprise in the mailbox," and: Astonishment guaranteed. And vegetarians have also been thought of: the motifs are simply made of gingerbread or cheese. The sausage letter is simply nothing more than originally designed, vacuum-packed sausage in postcard format.
It's all about the sausage, says the butcher, and that may well be true for their world. But whether the culinary gift idea will be as well received by loved ones or as a Christmas greeting to companies as the manufacturer promises may be doubted. After all, the "Christmas sausage" trend that the traditional Franconian butcher's shop would like to see does not even exist among those for whom Christmas is sausage.

Next February, the first cosmetic yogurt will be launched on the market under the brand name "Essensis". The yoghurt is said to have a positive effect on skin hydration - while eating, mind you. It will initially be launched in France, Italy, Spain and Belgium. The rest of Europe is still being considered. The yoghurt "Activia" from the same manufacturer, which is said to have a digestive regulating effect, is no longer entirely new. This yoghurt was recently launched on the market in China.

Zurich-based full-service agency Panta Rhei and Geroldswil-based integrated communications agency Top Line Marketing are entering into a strategic alliance. The two companies, which specialize in the tourism sector, will act as general contractors for clients in future, as Persoenlich.com reports. The aim of the strategic alliance is to be able to offer customers a comprehensive service package. In future, the aim is to produce everything from a single source, from briefings to events, advertisements, web banners, e-newsletters and journalist trips. The two companies, which also have offices abroad, bring together more than 20 PR, marketing and advertising specialists. They also have a network of around 20 partner agencies in the PR, advertising and marketing sector in Europe, overseas and in Asia.

The blog, which had critically scrutinized the commuter newspaper 20 Minuten since February 2005 and commented on it without mincing its words, is a thing of the past. The end of the Watchblog on December 12 comes as a surprise - the blog had only won gold at the Swiss Blog Awards in May (see ). At the Watchblog, whose creators have always remained anonymous, "declared 20-minute fans" explained 20 minutes at a time. From February 2005 to December 12, 2006, a lot has accumulated, which the author has compiled for posterity under the synonym Der unmündige Leser (see
http://pendlerblog.blogspot.com/2006/12/best-of-pendlerblog.html
). Another nice thing about Bilans after 22 months of the commuter blog: "Thanks to our quality control, 20 Minuten was able to increase its readership by 70 percent from 782,000 to 1,339,000."

The Zurich advertising agency Publicis has created seductive print subjects for the Scandinavian designer fashion chain Melvins Fashion. For the campaign launch of the boutique for young designer fashion, two motifs were developed that show two women in erotic positions. Only when you look very closely do you realize that they are one and the same person. Under the motto "Love yourself - there man or woman at least knows what woman or man has! When in doubt, damn hot clothes!" Publicis advertises sexy fashion from Scandinavia.

The deadline for submitting bids for Germany's largest TV group to a London investment house was Tuesday afternoon. The investors led by US billionaire Haim Saban want to sell a majority stake in ProSiebenSat.1. A purchase price of around EUR 3 billion is being discussed, but no further details are known. The Turkish media group Dogan and consortia consisting of the financial investors Permira and KKR, as well as Apax and Goldman Sachs, have appeared as bidders. Dogan and Permira/KKR are said to have submitted a definite bid.
The interest of the Turkish media company, which publishes the daily newspaper Hürryjet among others, was received with particular interest. This is because the Axel Springer Group holds a 25 percent stake in Dogan TV. Springer had tried in vain to take over ProSiebenSat.1 at the beginning of the year and failed due to resistance from the Cartel Office. A few days ago, Dogan also announced its intention to take a German partner on board in the event of a successful bid and to sell it up to 25 percent of the shares.
According to reports, the owners want to decide before Christmas and possibly even at the end of this week or the beginning of next week who will be awarded the contract for the company with the channels ProSieben, Sat.1, Kabel eins and N24.

Traffic on the 107 Wemf-accredited sites increased significantly in November 2006 compared to the previous year. Overall, page impressions increased by 24 percent, visits by 17 percent and unique clients by 22 percent. As announced by Wemf AG für Werbemedienforschung on Tuesday, 140 websites measured and certified their access data in November 2006, five of them without third-party advertising. The websites 20minuten.ch, Annabelle.ch, Basilisk.ch, Dasmagazin.ch, PartnerWinner.ch, Radio24.ch, Schweizerfamilie.ch, Sprechzimmer.ch and Telezueri.ch are new additions. A total of 107 websites can be analyzed over the last twelve months and in some cases even longer back. Net-Audit in NovemberIt is noticeable that the dating sites have the longest dwell time now that winter is slowly approaching. Swissfriends.ch leads the rankings with an average time spent on the site of 14:30 minutes. This could be due to the recently launched campaign to increase awareness of Swissfriends.ch in German-speaking Switzerland (see
). However, Partnerwinner.ch with 11:53 minutes and Singles.ch with 11:08 minutes also have a considerable length of stay.Tamedia's network grew strongly in November compared to the previous month. This is due in particular to the success of 20minuten.ch, as the site recorded 59.9 percent more page impressions in November. Among the individual media sites, Oltner Tagblatt recorded 22.3 percent more PIs compared to the previous month, while Computerworld Online increased by 20.4 percent. The website of the French-speaking Swiss women's magazine Femina lost 24% PIs despite its relaunch in October (see
).