After the "Inscription New Customer Mailing" developed for Volvo Switzerland had already won awards at Cannes Lions Direct, the Swiss Dialog Marketing Prize and the ddp German Dialog Marketing Prize, it has now also reached the final round of the 2006 DMA Echo Award.
The jury had to evaluate over 1000 submissions in 12 categories. Only 24 percent of the submissions made it through the first two rounds of judging, with the third round taking place at the end of July. The awards ceremony will take place on October 17 at the DMA Conference in San Francisco.
The purpose of the mailing was to publicize the new equipment line on three Volvo models. The launch mailing with enclosed tartan fabric was sent to external addresses in January 2005. Instead of the expected response rate of 1.4 percent, around 18 percent of those contacted responded.

The comprehensive intermedia advertising impact study conducted in Switzerland by Publisuisse in close cooperation with Advico Young & Rubicam, Media Focus and Prof. DR. Klaus Neusser from the Institute of Econometrics at the University of Berne, allows the conclusion to be drawn: advertising on television achieves the best effect!
The study comes to the following core conclusion: the higher the proportion of television in the media mix, the higher the brand value. This means that the 100 most successful brands in 2005 had an average television share of 40 percent in the media mix. This share decreases in step with the decrease in brand value.
The study shows that brands that have increased their TV share of advertising expenditure have seen above-average growth in brand value. Brands that have increased their print share show below-average development. Matthias Gehrig from Media Focus explains the result as follows: "The evidence that TV is superior to other media types in terms of advertising impact must be described as overwhelming in its entirety." The results show, among other things, that the most successful brands give television a very high weighting in their media mix. In other words, the higher the brand value, the higher the proportion of television in the media mix. The chart above shows that the 100 brands with the highest brand value in 2005 had an average share of television in the media mix of 40 percent. This proportion falls steadily as the brand value decreases. The study proves that television is effective and outperforms other media types in terms of its impact on brand evaluation. It also shows that television advertising has a substantial long-term impact on brand perception and that the effect is immediate. This means that brand perception can also be changed in the short term.
The study is based on a comprehensive data fusion between the advertising statistics of Media Focus and the BrandAsset Valuator study by Advico Young & Rubicam, the largest brand study in Switzerland. Various economic methods were used to compare the split of advertising expenditure (TV, print, billboard, other media) for 583 brands with the various elements of brand value (differentiation, relevance, esteem, familiarity, brand stature, brand vitality and brand value). In addition to purely descriptive analyses and simple correlation analyses, the rigorous multivariate methods of modern time series analysis and econometrics were also used to identify the impact effects.
Publisuisse plans to publish more detailed information on the study and its results at the beginning of fall.

Out-of-home advertiser APG has installed the first Rollingstar200L street-side rotating machines in central locations in Zurich, Basel and Bern. The surfaces can be covered with three subjects that change at regular intervals. Thanks to the technology used, the motifs are presented in one piece and without being cut up. APG intends to install the illuminated posters only at highly frequented and optimally visible locations in the major cities. The offer includes 135 spaces. In Zurich, for example, the Rollingstars can be seen at Bellevue, Bahnhofplatz and Bürkliplatz, in Basel at Aeschenplatz, Schützengraben and Nauenstrasse and in Bern at Bundesgasse, Theaterplatz and Bärengraben. The new advertising medium was tested for the first time in RailCity stations in 2004.

The discounter Lidl plans to have opened at least 20 stores in Switzerland by spring 2008. By the end of 2008, it should have 40 stores. It is expected that Lidl will be around 30 percent below the current price level; Aldi is currently on average 7 percent below Swiss retailers. Lidl has already secured 90 building sites in Switzerland. As reported by the Sonntagszeitung newspaper, Aldi and Lidl are expected to engage in merciless battles for price leadership in Switzerland in three to five years' time.

The Swiss Press Association and Valora Press & Books are conducting a test with six three-wheeled mobile sales outlets from July 1 to September 30. The "Swiss Press Bikes" present newspapers and magazines on a stepped platform. The bikes will be used for the first time on Zurich's busiest streets and squares.
What was successfully implemented in Frankfurt last year is intended to boost sales in Switzerland during the summer slump. Newspapers and magazines are to be brought and sold to where the readers are at this time of year. The bikes only circulate around Zurich's lake basin and between the main railway station and Bahnhofstrasse or Niederdorf when the weather is fine. The sales staff were recruited in cooperation with the social services of the city of Zurich. And the new sales channel managed by Valora does not cause any other additional inconvenience, according to a press release.
If the test is successful, the "Swiss Press Bikes" will also be used in other Swiss cities from next year.

An interview in the newspaper 24 heures on Saturday has reignited the debate about the new packaging for the traditional chocolate. According to the SDA news agency, Sabrina Letourneur, project manager for the Cailler line at Ateliers Jean Nouvel, told the newspaper that Nestlé was responsible for the choice of packaging material. Nestlé had brought the PET material to the Ateliers. The architects had raised the issue of waste and recycling. But Nestlé declared that the architects were not responsible and that they would take care of it themselves. However, Letourneur's statements were then denied in a communiqué from the Nestlé press office. The statement said that Letourneur had not been aware that she was being interviewed. Atelier Nouvel is proud of its work for Cailler. Jean Nouvel himself also expressed his astonishment to "Le Matin Dimanche": "I can't imagine that one of my employees would have said something like that."
Nestlé Switzerland boss Nelly Wenger defended the relaunch in SonntagsBlick. Wenger does not want to speak of a failure for the newly launched Cailler, despite declining sales in recent months. She told Sonntagsblick and Le Matin Dimanche that 2005 and 2006 could not be compared, as one of the most important sales channels had been lost in Denner. Sales to other customers, however, were in line with expectations, according to Wenger: "Frigor continues to record double-digit growth." The targets for the year as a whole could be achieved, perhaps even exceeded, provided the Christmas business develops in line with expectations.
Wenger also remains calm in the face of criticism from employees in an anonymous internet blog. Their job is to put the company back on the road to success: "This requires major changes, which will undoubtedly be perceived as a burden by some employees." On the other hand, Wenger promised improvements in view of the accusations regarding the use of non-recyclable plastics in chocolate packaging. The PET volume of the packaging is to be reduced by 12 to 40 percent, depending on the product.

For the third season of the hit show "Musicstar", Swiss television wants to team up with Sony BMG. Sony BMG will publish and market the CDs and support the winners of the show with a contract to launch their careers, according to a press release from Swiss television. Sony BMG has the necessary know-how, which has been acquired not least through its involvement in "Deutschland sucht den Superstar". Swiss television attaches great importance to the sustainable promotion of young talent. Thanks to the excellent work of Universal Music, artists such as Baschi and Daniel Kandlbauer have succeeded in gaining a firm place in the local music scene.

This year, the Midas Awards for Financial Communication will be presented in New York for the sixth time and the Global Awards for Health Communication for the 13th time. According to the organizers, the deadline has been extended from 30 June to 14 July.

On behalf of Blick, a 5-part CD set with folk music was produced, which will be distributed exclusively by Blick from July 29, 2006. The project is called "Blick auf die 100 grössten Ländlerhits aller Zeiten". All the tracks have been re-recorded and the tour will follow in September, according to a press release from Volksmusiknet.ch.

The Pfizer Journalist Award 2007 is looking for journalistic contributions that deal with the topic of "Beauty through medicine". According to the call for entries, more and more people are dissatisfied with their appearance and are helping nature along with the help of medicine. Diets, facelifts, hair transplants, breast augmentation and liposuction are also attracting media attention. Entries for the Pfizer Prize on these topics must be scientifically sound, but written in language that is also understandable for laypeople. Individual articles, series or sequences of articles as well as radio and television reports published for the first time between April 1, 2006 and March 31, 2007 are eligible. The closing date for entries is April 15, 2007, and the prize money for the first prize-winning articles is in the region of "several thousand Swiss francs", according to a Pfizer communiqué. This year's prize from the pharmaceutical company went to Anne Kauffmann, editor at the French-speaking Swiss daily newspaper 24 Heures, for a series of articles on the subject of "bird flu".

Edipresse AS Romania launches the home decor magazine Elle Décoration. The Romanian version of the monthly magazine, which was first launched in France in 1987, is published under license from Hachette Filipacchi Medias. This is the 23rd issue of Elle Décoration. The magazine is described by the publisher Edipresse AS Romania, a joint venture between Edipresse and Axel Springer, as the number one style magazine for a beautiful home. It aims to show its readers how to furnish their homes in a trendy and stylish way. According to the publisher, the majority of readers are between 25 and 49 years old, better educated, live in cities and have a good income. The first issue of the Romanian Elle Décoration will be published in September with a circulation of 25,000 copies. The editor-in-chief is Ileana Raducanu, who has been working for the Edipresse Group for seven years. The magazine will be publicized with a three-month advertising campaign. The Edipresse Group is headquartered in Lausanne and publishes over 160 newspapers and magazines in 18 countries including Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Romania and China.

CVP member of the Council of States Bruno Frick is to become Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Radio Central Group. This includes the two stations Radio Central and Radio Eviva as well as the marketing company Centriva AG. Frick replaces the previous Chairman of the Board of Directors, Hans Bisig, after 10 years in office. The Board of Directors also includes Managing Director Alfons Spirig, Erich Herger (Gisler Druck AG and Urner Wochenblatt), Peter Mattli (former member of the Uri cantonal government), Hugo Triner (Triner Druck AG, Schwyz), Matthias Jenny and Heinrich Aebli.According to a press release, Radio Central had 156,000 listeners a day in the last financial year, rising to 7th place among Switzerland's 47 private radio stations. This makes the station the most successful radio station with a core area in the peripheral and mountain regions, the press release continues. Radio Eviva recorded 82,000 listeners.