In the course of a multi-stage competitive presentation, Heineken commissioned the Zurich advertising agency ViznerBorel with the communication of the Heineken budget. In addition to the pitch presentation, the agencies were intensively tested over a period of two months and commissioned with real projects, as the agency reports. Strategic understanding, creativity, service and cooperation with the team were assessed.

"Original homemade" and "baked with love", the Bernese creative agency Maxomedia is giving away a different Christmas biscuit every day until the end of December 2006 as a calorie-rich thank-you gift. The whole thing arrived at the editorial office of Werbewoche in snappy American packaging as "Maxo Deluxe - 31 very fine varieties". Together with a small booklet in which one learns that each individual employee is responsible for one of the cookie creations. Over-sugaring or not: the cookies (almost) all have imaginative names: Ladies' Man, Ragamuffin, Ritalin, Tinnitus or Hugo. Contrary to the rather disturbing descriptions of some Guetzli creations - one is even said to contain testosterone! -, it smells from the package just as the nutritional table promises: totally like Christmas.
Maxomedia is also proving that cookies are a great way to get people to switch from offline media to the web: Meanwhile, a competition is running on the Maxomedia website in which the public alone decides which of the "Maxo Deluxe" creations will make it to the Super Cookie. Those who are still tempted after the vote to prove their skills in - no, where do you think! - can win a keyboard vacuum cleaner to free their keyboard from the Guetzli crumbs.

The Zurich-based communications agency Prime Communications is expanding its growing Marketing Communications division with the appointment of Patrick Knaus (36). Knaus leads an interdisciplinary consulting team with a focus on advertising and marketing communications and will join the overall consulting management team in January 2007. Most recently, he was a member of the management team at Advertising, Art & Ideas, where his responsibilities included managing the consultancy and strategic planning. Previously, Knaus worked as a consultant for the agencies Catapult, Euro RSCG, Bosch and Butz as well as Wirz Werbeberatung. Prime Communications currently employs 30 specialists in public relations, advertising, brand identity, corporate publishing and online communications. Its client portfolio includes mandates from around 30 companies, some of which are internationally established.

Alexander Jaggy and Michael Rottmann were named «Communicators of the Month» for the Swiss TV commercial. The Swiss Advertising Association (SW) presented the award to the creative minds at the Zurich-based advertising agency Jung von Matt/Limmat with a level of enthusiasm rarely seen: «A true little masterpiece. Original and mysterious. The broad spectrum of potential customers is depicted in everyday scenes, with the protagonists humming along to the background music for a few bars… A graceful and apt execution full of rapturous poetry… One of the most compelling things we’ve seen on our screens lately,» the SW explains in its decision.

Analysts from the financial advisory firm Merrill Lynch and the advertising agencies ZenithOptimedia and GroupM are predicting a decline in spending on the global and US advertising market in 2007. According to the Wall Street Journal, shifts to new media such as the Internet and the fragmentation of target groups are cited as reasons for the slowdown in growth. Online advertising expenditure is growing due to advertising on online video and social networking sites, according to the analysts. Traditional media will suffer from increasing price pressure in the coming year. This is due to the fact that the Internet offers new, cheaper advertising opportunities. In Germany, too, the trend in 2007 is clearly moving towards Internet advertising. As a rule, German companies would invest around 80 percent of their advertising budget in traditional media and 20 percent in online advertising. Norman Wagner, Director of Marketing and Sales at Thomson Media Control, told Pressetext.ch that at least one company has indicated that this ratio will be reversed in the coming year.
According to Merrill Lynch and GroupM, the rapidly growing US spending on online advertising will cool down somewhat in 2007, but is still expected to remain in the double-digit range. ZenithOptimedia, on the other hand, predicts an increase in spending from 25 percent this year to 29 percent in 2007.

Gabrielle Keller is no longer editor-in-chief of the Neue Zuger Zeitung with immediate effect. Keller took over the management of the largest regional edition of the Neue Luzerner Zeitung AG in 2004. Keller told Werbewoche that she had originally intended to run the paper as a "newspaper critical of the authorities" for at least five years. Her work had led to departures from the editorial team, irritation among politicians and unrest in other circles. As this "unrest" had not calmed down and had taken on an unexpected dimension, she had decided to end her term of office prematurely, according to Keller. It is still unclear who will succeed Keller, Erwin Bachmann, Delegate of the LZ Board of Directors, told Werbewoche. The succession plan for the position of editor-in-chief will be publicly advertised. Since Monday, December 4, Sven Gallinelli, deputy editor-in-chief of the Neue Zuger Zeitung, has been managing the regional newspaper on an interim basis. He is supported in this role by Jürg Aregger, chief reporter, and Marco Morosoli, editor city/region. Founded in 1996, the Neue Zuger Zeitung has a circulation of 20,357 copies and is read by 44,000 people every day.

Swisscom Mobile is acquiring Minick Holding, one of the leading European providers of solutions for mobile Internet portals and interactive applications. The acquisition is intended to enable Swisscom Mobile to expand its activities in a related business area. THQ Inc., a US console game development and video game production company, previously held 50% of the Minick shares via a subsidiary. The other half was held by management and current and former employees. Swisscom Mobile is now acquiring all shares in Minick Holding. No details of the purchase price were provided.
Minick develops and operates mobile Internet portals, multimedia services and messaging applications such as M-Voting, teletext chats, SMS and MMS. The company is also active in mobile marketing and plays a role in mobile video streaming. Headquartered in Zollikon, the company employs 68 people in Switzerland, Germany, the UK and Spain. It was founded in 1994 and has been developing mobile service platforms for network operators, media companies, corporate clients and agencies ever since.

Zurich-based web agency Mitlinks has created a new online store for the Rheinbahn, Düsseldorf's streetcar system. Since the end of November, Rheinbahn customers have been able to book all tickets, subscriptions and round trips via a new user interface and pay by credit card. Delivery is by post. The redesigned web store has been adapted to the new corporate design. 
Mitlinks has been the web agency of Rheinbahn AG since 2004 and fulfills the requirements of public transport with the content management system for Rheinbahn: message management for numerous subsystems, website design, newsletters, online form creation, numerous web stores, Excel connections and more.

The Bern-based advertising agency Maxomedia has created a Christmas campaign for Mobilbonus, the leisure portal for all SBB customers with a Half-Fare travelcard or GA travelcard. Registered users can now take a virtual Advent trip online. Up to 25 friends can be invited. Anyone who accepts the invitation will be allocated a seat by the train owner. A prize is hidden under one of the seats in the carriage! As soon as one of the passengers sits down on this seat, the train owner and his guest each win an instant prize. The aim of this campaign is to attract new members. The graphic design is based on photos of a Märklin model train, which was subsequently animated. The result is a Christmassy visual that is inviting and encourages people to play along.

The largest American Internet platform for advertising, Adcritic.com, currently shows the Walker advertising agency in two top positions. And sensationally, the new Fleurop film only needed 24 hours to reach first place. Not only did the Fleurop spot get the best score within the top 20. The number of downloads of the film also exceeds that of the latest commercial productions from MTV, the sports giant Adidas or the technology companies Sony and Apple. In the Print & Design category, Walker is already in first place with the poster campaign for Amnesty International. Remarkably, the campaign has been in the top spot for six months without interruption. With over 300,000 downloads, the posters are also well ahead on Commercial-archive.com. There they are among the three most highly regarded advertising campaigns of all time. The campaign also attracted attention on Amnesty's website: the number of visitors to Amnesty.ch increased more than twenty-fold after the campaign was launched.

According to the American advertising industry magazine Advertising Age (AdAge.com), the Publicis Group has its sights set on acquiring the Interpublic Group. According to a report by Adage.com, talks about a possible takeover are to take place next week. If this company purchase were to take place, the merger of the two most influential agency networks would create an advertising giant with a market value of around 12 billion dollars, whose client list would even surpass that of the world's two largest car manufacturers.Maurice Levy, CEO of the Publicis Group, however, denies an alleged company takeover to Adage.com. An Interpublic takeover would be the biggest deal to date on Madison Avenue in New York and would even exceed the investment of 4.7 billion that the WPP Group paid for Young & Rubicam in 2000.

The smoking ban passed by the people of Solothurn will come into force at the beginning of 2007. This date was set by the Solothurn cantonal government on Monday, December 4. A transitional period of two years applies for implementation. This means that cultural and catering establishments have until 2008 to set up separate rooms with adequate ventilation for smokers, reports the SDA. The sale of tobacco products to children and young people under the age of 16 will also be banned from the beginning of 2007. The ban on advertising and sponsorship of tobacco products will apply six months later, on July 1, 2007. With this postponement, the canton is taking into account any advertising and sponsorship contracts that have already been concluded.
On November 26, 2006, voters in the canton of Solothurn clearly approved what is probably Switzerland's toughest anti-smoking law with 56 percent of votes in favour (see
). It is based on the three pillars of a smoking ban, a ban on advertising and a ban on sales to young people.