Out of 4860 submissions, 83 came from Switzerland - three of them were shortlisted today, Thursday. Advertising Week congratulates the following three spots, as announced by the Cannes Press Center:
Category Travel, Transport & Tourism Spillmann / Felser / Leo Burnett with the spot "WM 2006" for Switzerland Tourism.
Category Banking, Investment & Insurance Wirz/BBDO with the spot "Photographer" for Schweizerische Mobiliar
Fundraising & Appeals category Ruf Lanz for Mühlehalde Home for the Blind "Featuring Worldhits". This is the same spot that already won Ruf Lanz a Golden Lion at the Direct Lions. Overall, Switzerland's performance in the film category is not good, but average at best. In view of this result and the apparently strong international competition, it is doubtful whether it will be enough for a Lion. The winners of the Film Lions will be announced on Saturday evening - Werbewoche is hoping for Swiss precious metal.

15 media spokespeople have successfully completed the Professional Media Relations postgraduate course at the MAZ - the Swiss School of Journalism. The course covered both technical and strategic media knowledge. This includes effective media copywriting, setting up and networking an efficient media office, competent appearance in front of the microphone and camera, communication in crises and issue management, according to a press release. The postgraduate course in Professional Media Relations is offered by the MAZ in cooperation with the Zurich School of Business HWZ and the Swiss Public Relations Institute SPRI:
Christoph Aebischer, Economic Development Canton of Fribourg
Adrian Baumann, CSS InsuranceGery Baumann, Swiss Air-Rescue REGAAnja Ebener, Hallwag Kümmerly+Frey AGManuela Heim, Swiss Greina FoundationAndrea Kippe, Pro JuventuteTobias Lux, UBSTheres Meyer, Weissgrund KommunikationThérèse Morell, Credit SuisseMarcel Perren, Valais TourismJulia Pilgrim, Liechtenstein State AdministrationRené Schärer, Vescal Roman Sidler, Geberit InternationalManuela Speck, Dr. Peter P. Knobel Peter P. Knobel Sabine Wenger, Küsnacht

Marc Lüpold joined the sales team of the consulting and service company for online and mobile marketing Web2com as Account Executive on June 1, 2006. In his new role, he will focus exclusively on customer support in all areas of online marketing. Lüpold has spent the last two years at PMC Print Media Consultants as a communications consultant. The expansion of the sales team is due to the continuous increase in online and mobile activities.

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 race organizers opened the qualifying for the Tenth Grand Prix of Zurich. Sascha Kieslinger, Art Director rotor and Alexander Gessert, Creative Director and co-owner rotor.Maurizio Scarpa of Sfax hairstylist welcomes two beauties to the paddock.Christine Roth, the former Marketing Manager of Freitag Lab enjoyed herself together with Daniel Kistler of Ringier.Ludwig Dörr, the former advertising director 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 battled for thousandths of a second to qualify for the race on the rotor Speedway at Club Zukunft.The subsequent race was held in pairs in a knockoutsystem 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
Support: Kathrin Fischer
Good Job: Urs Bühler
 Dates that have been fixed for years have been thrown out of kilter. Because the Swiss evening takes place on Thursday, Reiner Roduner from Absolutturnus had to hold his barbecue invitation on Wednesday. However, this caused a scheduling conflict with the Massive Music party.
However, Reini's Mougins garden is always nicer than the crowded Dutch beach. And that's why the advertising week was limited to a small jump to the barbecue party after the hard seminar day.text & photos: Beat Fritsch
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Host: Absolutroduner

Fredy Greuter is the new head of NZZ Online. He succeeds Martin Breitenstein, who moved to the news magazine "Facts" in May and took over the newly created position of Head of Politics. Greuter has worked for the "Neue Zürcher Zeitung" since 1994. Until now, he was head of the stock market team in the NZZ's business section. Prior to that, he worked as a staff member at the construction technology group Hilti. In addition, Heidi Blattmann, previously Head of the NZZ Science Group, has been promoted to Head of the Science Department. This is linked to the upgrading of the Science group within the NZZ to an independent department.

The Zurich PR agency Jenni Kommunikation and the IT marketing house Lindholm, which specializes in marketing for IT companies, will be working together in future. This will enable companies to benefit from the many years of experience and in-depth knowledge of the IT market of both partners in their market presence. The aim of the strategic partnership is to offer customers a broad range of services in market cultivation as required. Jenni Kommunikation specializes in corporate and product communication for clients in the information and communication technology markets. IT-MarketingHouse Lindholm supports IT companies (VARs, integrators, specialist dealers, ISVs, distributors, manufacturers) in marketing and sales.

The Bernese Foundation for Radio and Television has awarded prizes to four programs. The RGB Prize of the Bern-German-Freiburg-Upper Valais Radio and Television Cooperative in the amount of CHF 5,000 was awarded to the three-hour live broadcast "Breakthrough on the Lötschberg" from April 28, 2005, which the jury declared to be of "historical significance". In addition, the team of the TV program "Schweiz aktuell" had achieved an enormous technical and journalistic feat. In addition to the RGB prize, three other programs were awarded CHF 3000 each: The documentary "Der Höhenflug des FC Thun" for Regionaljournal Bern, the report on the rockslide on the Stierenegg above Grindelwald for "Schweiz aktuell" and "Die Retortenstadt La Chaux-de-Fonds" for DRS 2. For over 20 years, the foundation has honored above-average radio and television programmes that deal with topics from the cantons of Bern, Fribourg and Valais or make an important contribution to understanding between German-speaking Switzerland and Romadie.

Five Reformed church newspapers in German-speaking Switzerland are planning to merge to form a "Reformierte Zeitung". The merger would create a monthly newspaper with a circulation of 820,000 copies. The working title of the new paper is "Reformierte Zeitung". This is not a cost-cutting project. The editorial offices in the regions would remain in place and could make a selection from the available articles. The merger would allow the Reformed press to raise its profile and increase its quality. The editors of the remaining titles will decide over the next few weeks whether to continue working on the merger project. The final decision is to be made next winter. The new press product could land in mailboxes for the first time in February 2008.
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The largest partner in the project is the Bernese Reformed Church Messenger, known as "saemann". The publisher of the paper, the "saemann" association, made the decision in principle on Thursday to develop the merger project and approved a project loan of 100,000 francs, as detailed in a press release. Other partners include the Zürcher, Bündner and Aargauer Kirchenbote as well as the Interkantonale Kirchenbote of the Reformed Churches of Basel-Stadt, Basel-Landschaft, Schaffhausen, Lucerne, Obwalden, Schwyz and Uri.

The Zurich regional TV station ZüriPlus is fighting for a connection to the Cablecom network. ZüriPlus wants to obtain an obligation to connect to the network by submitting a new application to the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM). A procedure to this effect has been pending with the Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC) for two and a half years, although the station, which emerged from the former Hasli-TV, has a broadcasting license for the entire canton of Zurich that is valid until the end of 2008. However, ZüriPlus can currently only be received in Cablecom-independent cable networks in eleven municipalities in the Glattal. The cable network operator Cablecom took ZüriPlus off the network at the end of 2003 after Bakom rejected the obligation to switch it on. ZüriPlus then lodged a complaint with the Uvek.
Peter Steinmann, Managing Director of ZüriPlus, expects a statement from the Uvek in the next two to three months. If the decision is negative, Steinmann intends to submit a new application. The preparations for this have already been made. The new submission envisages a program that is even more strongly geared towards "public service". In addition to regional and cantonal reporting in the areas of information and entertainment, a new regional sports section has been added to the program as well as talk shows in the area of politics. "We also want to dedicate a weekly cultural window to short films in Zurich," Steinmann explains to Werbewoche. "There are an enormous number of original short films in Zurich that are rarely shown on television. With our planned program 'Zürifilm', we want to offer young talented filmmakers the opportunity to show their films to a wider audience," says Steinmann.
This new petition, which Steinmann believes has a higher program value, is unanimously supported by all political parties. A support paper was signed unanimously by the two Zurich Councillors of States and all 34 National Councillors from the canton of Zurich. 140 Zurich cantonal councillors are also of the opinion that ZüriPlus should be broadcast throughout the canton. ZüriPlus has also received a clear endorsement from the Zurich Cantonal Sports Association, which represents over 280,000 sportspeople. ZüriPlus currently employs around seven people at 300 percent. Steinmann hopes to have 20-25 employees again after a positive decision from Bakom.

Following the founding of Swiss Poster Research (SPR+), it has now been given a new website, which is available with immediate effect. The website explains the research concept in detail and transparently, according to a press release. This provides the market with all the information it needs on basic Swiss poster research. The research concept is presented in detail, and models, methods, data inputs and weighting criteria are explained. In contrast to other approaches in Switzerland and abroad, the aim is to provide transparency about the research method and its implementation, according to the press release. The new website also contains a film that illustrates the research. In addition to the current presentation of SPR+, a press review is also available for download.
The transparency created via the website is intended in particular to ensure the neutrality and objectivity of the project. This was an important customer concern after Clear Channel Outdoor Plakanda (CCOP) withdrew from the joint research with APG, according to the press release.

After two subdued years, business is flourishing again at the flower brokerage company Fleurop. As announced at the annual media conference, total sales rose by 3.4 percent to 32.2 million Swiss francs. This growth is due to orders from Switzerland, which were up 4 percent on the previous year. The growth driver here is the Internet: Online orders increased by 12.4 percent. Three quarters of orders now come in via the Internet. According to the press release, this corresponds to a new record. Traditional telephone orders fell by 6.2 percent. The current year has also started well for Fleurop. Sales are currently around 6 percent up on the previous year.

On Thursday, the Basel-Landschaft cantonal council approved the new cantonal alcohol and tobacco law at its second reading. In its first reading on June 8, the cantonal council had decided that poster advertising for alcohol and tobacco should be largely banned (Werbewoche reported). The law provides for a ban on poster advertising for tobacco and alcohol on public property and in public buildings. Private property is also affected if it is visible to the public. This does not apply to advertising for beer and wine. The law also includes a ban on the sale of tobacco products to under-18s, which also applies to cigarette vending machines. In the second reading, the bill fell short of the four-fifths majority required to exclude the mandatory legislative referendum. The final say therefore lies with the voters.
The "Alliance Against Advertising Bans", which fought against the law during the parliamentary decision-making phase, announced on Thursday that it considers the current situation to be relatively favorable and will continue to campaign against it.