The new commercial from advertising agency AY&R aims to make it clear that only appliances that are switched off are truly fireproof. Electrical appliances cause the most domestic fires in Switzerland, namely around a quarter of the 21,000 fires that occur each year. Time and again, people are killed because the appliances can ignite at any time in a completely unpredictable manner. The safest way to prevent such ticking fire bombs is to always switch them off completely.
This is dramatized in AY&R's new commercial for the Fire Prevention Advisory Service (BfB): In the middle of the night, men in combat gear storm an apartment, drag a couple who have just been asleep outside and have a bomb disposal robot drive into the house. There it switches off the television, which is in standby mode, completely.
 
The commercial was filmed with a special task force of the German police (SEK) and a real bomb disposal robot. It will be shown in Swiss cinemas from December.

The Biel-based film production company Twin won the "Exellece of Master" award from the media controlling platform Corporate Media in Munich with the film "Strom ohne Grenzen".  
The elaborate image film was produced by Twin on behalf of the Graubünden-based energy company Rätia Energie in high definition (HD) format. Urs Frey (project management) and Christoph Frutiger (camera direction) were responsible for the production. Corporate Media is considered the most prestigious film competition in the German-speaking world.
 
In contrast to other festivals, the juries work according to an elaborate, objective evaluation system. Each entry is analyzed individually for its media and communication impact. The awards were presented on Friday, December 8, at the IHK Academy in Munich.

The advertising agency from Lyss has two changes to report: Mirjam Staudenmann and Yves Kamber have moved from the client side to the agency side.  
23-year-old Mirjam Staudenmann is a qualified marketing communications planner and previously worked in the communications department of the Bern and Biel School of Design.
 
28-year-old Yves Kamber joins the advertising agency from Atupri health insurance. At In Flagranti, he works as a marketing communications planner for clients including Gebäudeversicherung Bern and PostLogistics.

In a multi-stage competitive process, the Zurich multimedia office Future Connection prevailed and won the Tonhalle Orchestra as a new client.  
The tradition-steeped Tonhalle Orchestra commissions the Zurich agency with the relaunch of its website, with the concert calendar in particular being optimized and expanded. In addition, concert tickets can now be purchased directly via the website. The new Internet appearance is to make the music experience of the Tonhalle orchestra better noticeable and to address increasingly also a younger target group, as Future Connection communicates.

Hellman & Friedman, the largest external investor in Europe's largest publishing house, and Springer Group CEO Döpfner sold substantial blocks of shares. 
Financial investor Hellman & Friedman (H & F) and Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner have sold ten percent of the publishing group's shares for a total of 441 million euros. According to Springer, the fixed unit price was 122 euros, which was at the lower end of the offer range. The buyers were almost exclusively institutional investors from Germany and abroad. The shares opened at 123.75 euros on the stock exchange on Thursday. With 3.6 million shares, all of the offered shares were placed.
 
H & F has thus also allocated the placement reserve of 340,000 shares. The investor has thus halved its stake to 9.4 percent. H & F acquired the shares three years ago.
 
Springer Group CEO Döpfner sold 211,000 shares for a total of 25.7 million euros. He is parting with some of his shares in order to finance the purchase of the shares, which he had at a preferential price of 77 euros in the summer of 2006, writes the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Axel Springer Gesellschaft für Publizistik remains the majority shareholder with a stake of a good 50 percent.

The website of WEMF AG für Werbemedienforschung has recently been given a new look: the layout has been refreshed and the content revised.  
Clearer, more structured and more colorful: this is how the new WEMF website presents itself to visitors. The aim of the redesign was to make the pages clearer and more colorful and to present them in a new structure. This can already be seen on the homepage, where the studies and statistics are now assigned to different categories, upcoming events are announced, visitors have access to the evaluation program for WEMF studies, orders can be placed and interesting facts about the company can be found. The new website was designed by Update, an agency specializing in the planning and implementation of websites.

Under the slogan "I love my Mac. I wish it came in green", the environmental organization has launched an international campaign. The aim is to put pressure on Apple to stop using toxic, environmentally harmful substances in the production of its devices and to introduce a take-back system for electronic waste. As Greepeace emphasizes, it is not a campaign against Apple, but one for a better Apple. With the campaign, the environmental protection organization is generally advocating a more responsible approach to the gigantic quantities of computer and electronic waste that are produced every year. The aim is "green electronics", in which hazardous substances are not created in the first place, as campaign manager Zeina Alhajj from Greenpeace International explained to Technology Review. The campaign is accompanied by a study on the current behavior of major manufacturers, the Green Electronics Guide. On December 6, Greenpeace presented the second ranking, and Apple landed in last place.
Since 2003, Greenpeace has been demanding that manufacturers of electronic devices refrain from using harmful substances (such as lead, cadmium, beryllium and mercury, the plastic PVC and brominated flame retardants) during production. During the manufacture and disposal of electronic devices, workers, mostly in the Third World, come into contact with these substances - for example when dismantling the copper cables - and the environment suffers permanent damage as the substances are not biodegradable.

The reception fees for radio and television will be increased by 2.5%. The Federal Council thus recognizes that the SRG will require an additional CHF 25 million per year. The SRG had claimed an additional financial requirement of CHF 72 million per year. Overall, the SRG had calculated an even higher additional capital requirement of CHF 145 million per year (see
). Television wanted to compensate for around half of this through cost-cutting measures and additional revenue, while SRG intended to finance the remaining CHF 72 million by increasing fees. After examining the application, the Federal Council accepted one third of the request, or CHF 25 million. This corresponds to a fee increase of 2.5 percent. As a result, the annual fee will rise from CHF 450 to CHF 462 from April 1.  
The largest items of the unrecognized additional requirement relate to non-mandatory payments to the pension fund, interest on debt and the planned increase in equity by CHF 7 million. The unrecognized additional requirement therefore mainly relates to financial or balance sheet-related areas, according to a statement from OFCOM. The federal government is confident that SRG can live with this decision.
Consumer protection organizations are positive about the decision. The SP and the CVP are satisfied with the Federal Council's decision to raise radio and television fees by 2.5 percent. The FDP was cautious, while the SVP reacted with incomprehension.

Denis Etienne has been appointed as the new Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the French-speaking Swiss daily Tribune de Genève. He joins Editor-in-Chief Pierre Ruetschi. Etienne will take up his new post at the beginning of 2007. The experienced journalist is currently, and has been for five years, deputy editor-in-chief at the Ringier news magazine L'Hebdo.

The Swiss Professional Photography Prize is now being offered for the ninth time. Three prizes are up for grabs: the magazine photography prize, the most valuable at CHF 10,000, the Sonntags-Zeitung photography prize of CHF 5,000 and the ewz audience prize, which still earns the winner CHF 1,000. The entry fee for the categories "Advertising Photography", "Editorial Photography" and "Fine Arts" is 60 francs, and 90 francs per work in the "Free" category. The closing date for entries is January 15, 2007.
Further information, registration documents and the regulations are available online via the websites below.

Six agencies were able to turn a shortlist place into 16 precious metal awards at this year's 19th Eurobest creative competition. The Walker and Wirz agencies can even look forward to adding another gold trophy to their collection. TV/Cinema: Double gold for Wirz and Walker
Walker was successful with "Party", the TV commercial for Fleurop Interflora for Mother's Day. Wirz was also successful with a TV commercial that has already won several awards: "Photographer" for Schweizerische Mobiliar.
Print: Two bronze medals to AY&R and SFLB, one bronze medal to Jung von Matt
Spillmall/Felser/Leo Burnett secured double precious metal with the "French Fries" ad for Hakle and with "Blackboard" for Helvetas. The same went for Advico Young & Rubicam, who also received two Edemetall awards for two ads for the Multiple Sclerosis Society. Jung von Matt is also represented on the list of winners with "Liberty Zoom" for Panasonic.
Outdoor: Six silver for Walker, two bronze for AY&R and one for Lowe The jury in London was won over by Walker's campaign for Amnesty International. All six subjects of the campaign for human rights were awarded silver.

Bronze went to the two agencies Advico Young & Rubicam and Lowe. AY&R impressed with "Head" and "Lower Back" for the Multiple Sclerosis Society and secured two bronze medals. Lowe scored with "Boundaries" for BSW.
Direct, Interactive, Integrated: Unfortunately no
The Swiss agencies did not win any precious metals in the Direct, Interactive and Integrated categories. None of the Swiss entries had already been shortlisted in the Radio category.

For travelers to Spain it is a familiar sight, for the country itself a national symbol: the Osborne bull, actually the logo of the 200-year-old winery of the same name. Karl F. Schneider is now making sure that it also conquers hearts and palates in Switzerland. The Schlieren-based communications agency is now the Swiss media and information office for the traditional winery. In addition to Osborne-Solaz wines, the range available in Switzerland also includes brandy, port and sherry. As part of the anniversary - the Stier is turning 50 - Kals F. Schneider is launching a competition for Swiss artists, among other things. For further information, please contact [email protected].