The presenter Anna Maier is leaving Swiss television at the end of November 2006. She has received an offer from Sat.1 to present a dance show that will be shown on the German private channel during prime time, as SF announced on Thursday. "We are not putting any obstacles in Anna Maier's way and are letting her out of her existing contract", entertainment boss Gabriela Amgarten is quoted as saying in the press release. The 29-year-old Maier joined Swiss Television two years ago from Tele Züri, first hosting the travel show "Einfachluxuriös" and since February 21, 2005 the quiz show "Eiger, Mönch und Maier". SF will provide information about the successor at a later date.

The makers of the Cannes Eurobest competition announced Wednesday the launch of the Dubai Lynx Awards. The awards for advertising from the Middle East and North Africa region will be presented for the first time in Dubai in March 2007. Almost nowhere in the world is the advertising sector growing as fast as in the Middle East and North Africa. If the initiators have their way, the Dubai Lynx Award will give the region a seal of quality for outstanding creative achievements. The entries will be judged by a panel of international and local industry leaders. The first award ceremony will be held on March 19, 2007, as part of the Dubai International Advertising Festival, which has also been newly launched.

The Federal Supreme Court has overturned a decision by the District Court of Zurich: The TV games of chance produced by the company Voice Publishing do not violate the Lottery Act. The controversial competitions were broadcast on Sat.1 Switzerland and Viva Switzerland, among others. Participation was possible via paid telephone calls, but also via the Internet, postcards and WAP. The canton of Zurich filed a criminal complaint with the Zurich governor's office on suspicion of violations of the lottery law. This office ruled in December 2005 that the lotteries were illegal. It had argued that the games of chance violated the Lottery Act due to the lack of equal opportunities. As a precautionary measure, the proceeds were blocked (see
). The district court rejected an appeal and the production company appealed to the Federal Supreme Court. Although the Federal Court did not uphold the federal nullity appeal, it did uphold the appeal under constitutional law. It overturned the decision of the District Court of Zurich, as stated in the ruling published on Thursday, September 6.
The ruling is based on the fact that the TV stations also offered free participation opportunities in their games. It is true that the senders of postcards did not have the same chances of winning as the users of the telephone numbers. On the other hand, it was also possible to take part in the TV competitions via the Internet, according to the statement. It is irrelevant that participation via the Internet and WAP may be more complicated and less convenient than a phone call - even if the organizers probably expect that these means will be used infrequently.

W for Winterthur is the name of a new magazine that will be distributed to households in Winterthur and the surrounding area for the first time on Friday and is published twice a year by the city of Winterthur and the organizations Stadtmarketing Winterthur, Winterthur Tourismus and the City-Vereinigung Junge Altstadt. According to the SDA, the magazine has a print run of 75,000 copies and covers various aspects and developments in Winterthur. Each issue is dedicated to a specific topic, with the first issue focusing on light.

Television advertising Publisuisse is challenging publishers. With a study and vague advertising messages. When the Swiss Press Association meets in St. Moritz this week, the atmosphere is likely to be tense right from the start. This is because the current study by Publisuisse, "Brand value and advertising behavior: An intermedia advertising impact study" (Werbewoche Online reported on the study on 7.9.06), is causing a stir. The reason: Publisuisse claims to have scientifically proven that TV advertising is more effective than print and poster advertising. You don't need to have studied journalism to understand that the study is causing red faces among publishers. After all, in view of the merciless battle for advertising revenue, a study like this can ultimately mean a lot of money. It all began on July 3, 2006, when Publisuisse first announced to the public that it had now been scientifically proven that TV advertising was significantly more effective than print and poster advertising. For the Swiss Press Association, this sounded "very puffery". The association responded on August 22 with a letter to Publisuisse Director Martin Schneider. In the letter, Managing Director Daniel Kaczynski accuses Schneider of Publisuisse advertising a study that could not be critically reviewed due to a lack of information and that the advertising messages (e.g. in the trade press) were without foundation. Conclusion: Publisuisse's approach was unfair.
Diverging opinionsTwo weeks later, last Wednesday, Publisuisse hosted a press conference at the Hotel Savoy in Zurich. In addition to the representatives of the local media agencies, Head of Marketing Toni Vetterli from the Swiss Press Association and the delegates from the publishing houses listened attentively to the authors of the study. Publisuisse's message: "TV advertising has the strongest impact. The highest possible proportion of TV in the mix works best. Ongoing TV investments strengthen brand vitality."
This time, however, Publisuisse went into detail, presenting colorful statistics, providing an insight into the complicated study design and answering a few critical questions. The reactions were limited, and for the majority, the study presented sounded plausible.
Professor Klaus Neusser from the University of Bern, the scientific authority behind the study, referred to the robust figures and explained clearly that the study was not simply pulled by the hair. From here on, the layman would classify the study as true and absolute. Because although this study cannot answer everything, for example to what extent television advertising has an influence on a brand's sales, there are basically no weaknesses. All in all, Publisuisse has presented an interesting study.
The Swiss Press Association and print publishers take a different view. They are scrutinizing the study. As they now have access to the study design, Tamedia, for example, hired specialists from Germany to put the study through its paces.
For publishers, the slogan "Now it's scientifically proven", which Publisuisse has been using to advertise since July of this year, is a thorn in their side. For them, Publisuisse's advertising message sounds more like an incorrect marketing slogan. For the Swiss Press Association and the publishers, it is still too early to speak of definitive proof. "Especially in the field of advertising effectiveness research, the approaches and methods of the studies are very controversial, so that the claim of "scientific proof" seems somewhat daring," writes Daniel Kaczynski in the letter to Publisuisse Director Martin Schneider.
A question of the media mixProfessor Klaus Neusser is, however, convinced of his work and the "scientific proof": "I do believe that the print people don't think the study is that great. But I approached the work with an open mind and the results stand out clearly." Neusser also explicitly states that the media mix is crucial: "A one hundred percent TV focus is not the best solution in many cases." The still-quiet critics see it the same way. However, they do not consider the way in which Publisuisse advertises the study to be correct.
Maja Traber, Head of Marketing Service at Publisuisse, rejects the accusation that Publisuisse was only looking for a connection between brand evaluation and TV advertising. This is because the study focused on analyzing the statistical correlation between the media mix and brand value. Traber: "We were very critical ourselves and were surprised at what the data showed. We wanted to show the added value of TV. But we succeeded in doing so in a critical way."
And what happens next? This week, the members of the Swiss Press Association are meeting in St. Moritz to discuss the next steps. Toni Vetterli: "At the management committee meeting of the Advertising Market Department, the methodology and the conclusions drawn from the study will certainly be discussed and, if necessary, a decision will be made on how to proceed."
And Tamedia wants to be ready in two weeks' time to discuss with Publisuisse on an equal footing.
Even if the Publisuisse study will not turn companies' advertising strategies upside down, one thing is once again clear: the battle for advertising money is in full swing.
Christian Lüscher

Internet Most Swiss media websites grew in August. This is the result of the new Net-Audit figures from Wemf. Blick Online is ahead in terms of visits: Wemf reports around 7.3 million visits to the tabloid's website. However, the growth compared to the previous month is rather low at 3.3 percent. NZZ Online recorded 6.3 million visits and an increase of 7.8 percent. Tagesanzeiger.ch accounted for almost 4.4 million visits, which corresponds to an increase of 6.5 percent, and even before the launch of Cash Daily, Cash Online was able to grow again after posting a loss in the previous month: The Ringier-owned site recorded a good 1.1 million visits, an increase of 19.7 percent. Azonline.ch and 24heures.ch were among the few losers. The former website lost 0.8 percentage points in terms of visits and now has 0.4 million visits. The website of the French-speaking Swiss daily newspaper lost 5 percentage points. (cs)

Religions For the first time since the famous Bild headline "We are Pope", Pope Benedict XVI visited his Bavarian homeland from September 9 to 14, 2006. No wonder, then, that the ARD television station put on a whole series of special programs. To ensure that all these broadcasts were in the best visual care, the communications agency twfe created a special on-air design, "The Pope in Bavaria". This was realized by the Zurich studio Frame Eleven. Marco Fumasoli, former Head of Design at Swiss Television, was responsible on the agency side.

Apple is expanding its consumer electronics and is now also offering movie downloads via iTunes. In addition, a box called "iTV" is to be launched at the beginning of 2007, which will transfer films, music, photos and other digital content wirelessly from PC to TV.
Apple launched the video business in iTunes just under a year ago - starting with five TV shows. iTunes now offers 220 TV shows from more than 40 channels. Half a million shows are sold every week. Apple is now hoping to repeat this success with feature films.

Apple is launching with Disney productions and is also undercutting the usual price level in the American market of just under 15 dollars per DVD by 2 dollars if the films are pre-ordered. Older films are even available for 10 dollars. However, the downloads are only really worthwhile with a fast Internet connection. Even then, the download still takes half an hour. The service is also due to be launched in Europe next year.

A possible deal between the major Zurich publishers NZZ and Tamedia, which would split Thurgau into two publishing regions, is attracting criticism in Thurgau. SVP cantonal councillor Andrea Vonlanthen is responsible for the fact that the topic was discussed in the council at all. A year ago, he complained in an interpellation that the cantonal government was not sufficiently critical of the sale of the Thurgau newspaper to Zurich-based Tamedia. A few weeks ago, the cantonal government rejected his demands for greater political influence on the media landscape (see
Thurgau cantonal council considers media concept unnecessary). At the time, parliament followed the cantonal government without a murmur. It is now known that the NZZ Group's St. Galler Tagblatt and Tamedia's Thurgauer Zeitung may be joining forces (see
Thurgauer Zeitung and St. Galler Tagblatt are negotiating a cooperation). This development is now giving rise to greater skepticism. In particular, the division of Thurgau into two journalistic territories, which would result in the closure of several local editorial offices, was strongly criticized. The SP spokesperson said that this would lead to a "cider ditch". The planned replacement of entire newspaper pages would lead to journalistic uniformity that would no longer do justice to the political canon and the social obligations of the newspapers, it was said all around. This prompted Economic Director Schläpfer to appeal to the media houses not to close their editorial offices in the regions, reports the news agency SDA.

The Zurich-based creative agency wins the Good Energies budget as part of an agency evaluation. The brief consists of developing the overall image for the rapidly expanding investment company, which is part of Zug-based Cofra Holding. Good Energies' main areas of investment are in the solar and wind energy sectors in Europe, Asia and North America, Matter & Gretener announced on Wednesday. It is fully committed to the three P dimensions: "People, Planet, Profit".

The advertising agency Dynamite Advertising from Cham has staged a new drug from Janssen-Cilag in an attention-grabbing way.
At the medical congress in Interlaken, a travel dossier was sent to Fasch doctors in advance. With the flight ticket included, each doctor was able to choose a destination for their personal consultation at the check-in desk at the exhibition stand: Santorini, Venice or Paris. The interested doctors were directed to an appropriately designed ambience where the consultation took place.
The campaign was about the market launch of a new medication for urinary incontinence called Lyrinel Oros. The campaign demonstrated that carefree travel is hardly possible for people with this problem. On the posters, the burden of an overactive bladder is visualized with a toilet bowl that people have to carry around with them. The product launch campaign is complemented by a variety of advertising materials: advertisements, factsheets and an abstract book.

Euro RSCG has put together an effective advertising package for the traditional and current campaign week of the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) in the red-light district and created a "poster stroke".
As part of the Love Life - Stop AIDS campaign, the advertising package was also put together for the communicatively sensitive task of promoting safer sex in Zurich's red-light district. Since 1999, the local AIDS service organizations have been going into the red-light district as part of the Don Juan project and promoting safer sex. This year, the FOPH is supporting the prevention measure for 230,000 clients with the "Client Week". The campaign week will be held in Zurich, Basel, St. Gallen, Chur, Geneva, Lausanne and Fribourg.
Euro RSCG has created new street signage for this, as well as wild posters and catch covers around the bars and brothels. Another creative idea is the "poster line", which consists of special mobile posters that provide information directly on the street and are a guaranteed eye-catcher.