The national news agency SDA and the Swiss picture agency Keystone are joining forces in the field of mobile news - they have founded Minds Media Content GmbH in Bern for this purpose. Minds Media Content GmbH will offer image and text information for mobile applications from a single source, as Keystone reports in a press release.SDA and Keystone are convinced that news for mobile devices will become increasingly important in the future. The two companies have now joined forces to offer the simplest possible solutions. Anyone wishing to offer corresponding services for mobile in Switzerland in future can obtain text and images from a single source, Minds Media Content GmbH.
The General News and People mobile offerings already produced today will initially be incorporated into the new company. Over time, however, the offering will be gradually expanded. The production of text and images will remain in the respective companies, while sales will be handled by Minds Media Content GmbH. Which services Minds Media Content GmbH will offer in the future depends on the market and customer requirements. More precise details cannot yet be provided, Walter Grolimund, CEO of Keystone Switzerland, told Werbewoche.
Roderick von Kauffungen (Head of CRS) will take over the management of Minds Media Content GmbH for the time being and will integrate the Minds activities and the Vodafone project, which were previously located at SDA, into the company. At the same time, however, the search is underway for a managing director who will be responsible in particular for examining and launching new offers. The position should be filled by the first quarter of 2007 at the latest, Grolimund told Werbewoche.

Marketing directors pay for their products and the company to be mentioned in editorials and radio reports. As a result, consumers are questioning the credibility of the media. According to a study conducted by PR Week Magazine and public relations firm Manning Selvage & Lee, as reported by the New York Times on Monday, 266 marketing executives were surveyed - almost half said they had already paid to have their products and company name featured in newspaper and radio editorials. Around 46 percent of those who have not yet done so intend to do so in the future.
The results show that it is definitely an ethical issue that needs to be discussed, says Mark Hass, Managing Director of Manning Selvage & Lee. There are many reasons for this new type of product placement: On the one hand, marketing bosses are under pressure to spread the word about their products. On the other hand, the growing number of specialty consumer and business-to-business magazines are struggling to survive - the competition is fierce, so the additional profit from the marketing floors is very welcome.

The Wirz subsidiary Assai has been awarded the online communication mandate by BMC and is realizing a new Internet presence for the 2007 bike season. The new website is intended to implement BMC's brand promise - Style, Passion, Precision - in a media-friendly manner, writes Assai in a press release. BMC is one of the best-known road and mountain bike manufacturers in Switzerland. The Wirz subsidiary Assai is an agency for digital and dialog-oriented communication that works for national and international companies and implements multimedia and cross-media projects.

The media agency Mediaedge:cia (MEC) founds the international coordination hub MEC Global Solutions Switzerland in Lausanne and Zurich. The agency wants to offer Swiss companies that are active in international advertising worldwide network services from their home market. As Head of Global Solutions Switzerland, Huw Jones will immediately lead and expand the teams in both locations. Jones has held various positions in international services at MEC in London since the beginning of 2001. Most recently, as Senior Account Director, he was responsible for the coordination of Novartis, ABB, Star Alliance, Sony Ericsson, Accenture & Visa, among others. MEC already runs international hubs in London, Paris, New York, Stockholm, Milan, Düsseldorf, San Francisco, Hong Kong and Singapore.

An investor group led by media mogul and ProSiebenSat.1 majority shareholder Haim Saban is acquiring the largest Spanish-language US television channel Univision for a good 12 billion dollars. Including the acquired debt of 1.4 billion dollars, the deal is worth 13.7 billion dollars, according to Univision. The buyer group consisting of Saban Capital Group, Madison Dearborn Partners, Providence Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Group and Thomas H. Lee Partners are paying 36.25 dollars per share in cash for the company. Univision has become one of the largest US television broadcasters with popular telenovelas and broadcasts such as the soccer World Cup in Germany. It also operates the largest group of Spanish-language radio stations in the USA. The station's board of directors has already approved the purchase, which is expected to be completed in spring 2007, explained Univision. Now the shareholders and the supervisory authorities still have to give the go-ahead.

As a recent audience survey shows, Switzerland's only bilingual television channel, TeleBielingue, is becoming increasingly popular with viewers. A representative survey conducted by the opinion research institute Publica Data AG Bern in May revealed that 121,000 viewers watch the program regularly (one to seven times a week). This is a new record result. Compared to the viewing figures for 2005, this represents an increase of 15 percent. It was also determined that 77% of viewers watch the program for at least 10 minutes on average and that the channel is watched particularly in the evenings between 7 and 9 pm. The bilingual nature of the program is particularly well received by the population: 96% of those surveyed support this format. Karin Rickenbacher, program director of TeleBielingue, is delighted with these findings: "We are very grateful to our audience for the great interest they show in our work."
The total population aged 15 and over in the Biel, Seeland, Bernese Jura and Grenchen broadcasting area comprises 210,000 people - 88 percent of households can receive the Biel regional broadcaster via the cable network.

Radio spot awards were presented for the second time as part of the Spot Awards. The winner was Jung von Matt/Limmat AG with the "Xmas Story" campaign for the client Swiss International Airlines Ltd. The Spot Awards are organized and presented by radiopower.ch. Around 100 guests attended the event this Monday at the Lake Side Casino in Zurich. Second place went to Weber, Hodel, Schmid, Werbeagentur AG for the "Christmas 2005" campaign for Migros Do It&Garden, and third place went to Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett AG with the "Berndütsch" campaign for Feldschlösschen Schlossgold.
The Spot Award was founded by radiopower.ch and was first presented in 2005. This radio spot competition differs from previous concepts in that only broadcast spots can take part and that, in addition to the expert jury, the opinion of the listeners also plays a decisive role in the distribution of the prizes. The expert jury is made up of representatives from clients, creatives, media agencies, presenters and marketers, radiopower.ch writes in a press release.
Radiopower.ch was launched in spring 2004 by representatives of the Swiss radio advertising pools and the leading marketers Radiotele, IP Multimedia, The Cover Media and Spot-Promotion to promote the private radio genre.

APG has published its environmental data for the fourth time after 2001, 2003 and 2005. They provide an overview of the relevant environmental aspects of the Swiss out-of-home advertiser and show the key data in a 5-year comparison. According to the press release, in 2005 it was possible to reduce the environmental impact by a total of 18 percent compared to 2001. The environmental impact per poster was reduced by 10 percent in the period 2001-2005. Expenditure on waste disposal (-44 percent) and materials (-25 percent) fell at an above-average rate. The consumption of heating energy remained the same, while electricity consumption was reduced by 8 percent. A reduction was also achieved in the area of transportation. With 58 gas-powered vehicles, APG has one of the largest fleets of eco-vehicles in Switzerland. This year, the company will procure 25 additional such vehicles and intends to further promote the greening of its fleet.

This Friday, June 30, is the deadline for entries to "The W3 Awards", the annual awards for websites, web advertising and web marketing organized by the International Academy of Visual Arts (IAVA) in Los Angeles. Companies of all sizes can take part and the evaluation of the submitted projects will be completed by the end of September. Participants will be informed of the results at the beginning of October. Further information on the competition can be found on the W3-Awards website. You can also register for the competition there.

On September 1, 2006, Dr. Bernd Schopp will take over from Dr. Tim Dührkoop as Head of Market Switzerland and deputy to Namics CEO Jürg Stuker. Tim Dührkoop is moving to Publicitas in New York. Bernd Schopp has been with Namics since 2002, most recently as Business Unit Manager and since 2005 as Partner leading a team at the St. Gallen office. In addition, Andreas Fischler has been appointed Business Unit Manager and member of the Executive Board. As part of the planned growth, Namics (Deutschland) GmbH is opening its third branch in Munich and the Zurich office is being expanded with a production team.
Namics AG is a PubliGroupe SA company and, with over 160 employees, is a leading provider of professional Internet services in Germany and the largest in Switzerland.

The Swiss television station 3+, launched by Dominik Kaiser, will go on air in September. The Bern-based company Swissmediapartners - Askforit GmbH has now been awarded the contract for the conception and realization of the entire broadcasting infrastructure. Askforit GmbH already has experience in the conception and realization of EasyConcept TVs: it was involved in the planning and realization of the first Swiss music television station Swizz (now Viva Switzerland) in 1999. According to the communiqué, Swissmediapartners is a network for Swiss media know-how. By networking a wide range of specialists and companies, it aims to unite all services relevant to the media and communications industry under one roof.

More than 200 invited guests attended the tenth anniversary of rotor Agentur für Kommunikation. After a first refreshment with food & drinks in the agency's courtyard, 64 racing enthusiasts signed up for the qualifying of the Tenth Grand Prix of Zurich. Whether as a Carrera driver or as a spectator, the excitement went on until the end. After the award ceremony, which was performed by the charming Miss Carrera 2006, DJ Steve McQueen and the unplugged band Los Bandidos led the way deep into the night with their Tequilla Racing Punk.The subsequent race was held in pairs in a knockout system 1 against 1. Between the races, Beat Engeler of Fischer Architekten AG and Martin Hauser, co-owner of rotor, talk shop about the drivers' performances.Great amazement in the VIP grandstand: Bernd Götz of Swiss Re with his wife Inge, Lorenz Hauser, music and events specialist, and Gilles Bachmann of Fauxpas Grafik.Peter Burri, marketing manager of Health Promotion Switzerland coaches his son Tim. Miss Carrera 2006 Oxana Fedorova presented the prizes to the finalists. The runner-up André Becchio was taken comfortingly in the middle. And the winner Oliver Fitze owner Hum Records was happy about the hard-fought Carrera package.Afterwards the racing circus celebrates until the early morning hours the rotor anniversary Grand Prix to the legendary Tequilla Racing Punk of Los Bandidos. Text & Image: rotor
 
Upload: Beat Fritsch
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 That means going all out again, marveling at the closing ceremony with the film and titanium winners, and above all, practicing a lot of patience while waiting in line. That is still a true professional ethic, to stand in line in the sweltering heat and wait for an hour, but usually longer, before being granted admission. A group of Swiss people led by Danielle Lanz, Markus Ruf and Martin Spillmann did it particularly well. They were in front of the Palais so early that they counted only fifty Japanese in front of them. And they were able to queue in the shade. Know how!
Text & Photos: Beat Fritsch
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The race organizers open qualifying for the Tenth Zurich Grand Prix. Sascha Kieslinger, Art Director rotor and Alexander Gessert, Creative Director and co-owner rotor.Maurizio Scarpa from Sfax Hairstylist welcomes two beauties to the paddock.Christine Roth, the former Marketing Manager of Freitag Lab enjoyed herself together with Daniel Kistler from Ringier.Ludwig Dörr, the former advertising manager of Coop Switzerland found time for a lightning visit to Zurich despite his retirement.Music meets film: Phonogen.com founder Rino Meyer poses with Beat Lenherr of panimage.With enough fuel in the tank, 64 drivers fought for thousandths of a second to qualify for the race on the rotor Speedway at Club Zukunft.