In the second edition of the AY&R AdCademy at the end of May, around 40 students from the University of St. Gallen (HSG) gained practical experience in advertising.
In a one-week workshop, the students worked as 'mini-agencies' to develop an image and product campaign for the fictitious client St. Gallen Insurance. The aim was to create a campaign that positions the insurance company as independent and accessible without falling into clichés. During the workshop, the teams worked at Advico in Gockhausen and were accompanied by experienced creatives and strategists, according to the agency. The highlight of the AY&R AdCademy was the final competition presentation, in which the work of the mini-agencies was evaluated in terms of innovative strategy and creative implementation. The "Bad luck is human" campaign was the winner. The AY&R AdCademy is a joint project of Advico Young & Rubicam and the University of St. Gallen under the direction of Dr. Caspar Coppetti (Advico), Prof. Torsten Tomczak and Prof. Jürg Manella (HSG). The aim is to provide future marketing professionals with a sound understanding of good and effective advertising.

For the past 20 years, the reel has featured the 50 favorite commercials for the Cannes Advertising Festival. Around half of them win gold, silver or bronze. The Grand Prix winner has been on the Predictions reel every year so far. This year, for the first time, candidates for a Titanium Lion (cross-media/advertising innovations) can also be found on the reel. The reel by Leo Burnett impresses with many elaborate blockbuster spots in cinema quality. The battle between Nike and Adidas at the World Advertising Championships in Cannes will be of particular interest, predicts Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett in the communiqué. While Adidas outperformed Nike last year, there are strong films from both this year. This year, a Swiss commercial has also made it onto the list of the 50 Cannes favorites: the "Photographer" commercial by Wirz for Mobiliar.
The Cannes Predicitions reel will be shown on Wednesday, June 14 at 7 p.m. in the Studio Bellerive at Condor, Kreuzstrasse 2 in Zurich. The event is free and open to the public, but the number of seats is limited. Registrations should be sent to an:[email protected] by June 10.

The Vorarlberger Nachrichten was named Daily Newspaper of the Year 2006 at the 59th World Newspaper Congress in Moscow. According to the jury, quality journalism, innovative strength, multimedia and profitability were the decisive criteria for success, as reported by Der Standard. The jury also praised the newspaper's citizen participation models, which reach almost 70 percent of Vorarlberg residents during the week and more than 80 percent on Saturdays. This is only the third time that the prize for the best daily newspaper has been awarded. The previous winners were the Polish Gazeta Wyborcza (2004) and the Thai paper Kom Chad Luek (2005).

The citizen journalism project «Readers‘ Edition» by the German «Netzeitung» went live on Tuesday: The first articles by ordinary people can be read at Readers-edition.de. The site publishes not only journalists but anyone who «knows more than the others.» The sections available include Politics, Business, Local News, Sports, Web & Technology, and Miscellaneous. The pages are managed by «moderators,» who also provide images to accompany the texts—or, conversely, write texts to accompany submitted images. Readers are encouraged to rate the articles on an ongoing basis. The article with the highest rating will then appear on the homepage.

The media agency network Connect Alliance will market the platforms of the media company Qatar Media exclusively in Europe. This is the first time that Qatar Media has ventured outside the Gulf States for its advertising space. The Doha-based group represents the Al Jazeera Network, Qatar TV, QBS Radio and Sout Al Khaleej as well as all outdoor media in Qatar. In addition to the well-known Arabic-language channel and several sports channels, the Al Jazeera Network will also include Al Jazeera International, an English sister station that will report from Doha, London, Washington and Kuala Lumpur, from next September. However, the launch has already been postponed several times; last April, the launch was announced for June, followed by a postponement to the fall in May. Connect Alliance comprises six European media agencies. The Swiss partner is Affinity-PrimeMedia in Savigny.

TV ratings are available for every World Cup match. From June 12, Publica Data will be sending the previous day's viewing figures for German-speaking Switzerland (rating in thousands, persons 3+) to all interested parties every day from Monday to Friday. In addition, Publica Data offers the opportunity to estimate the TV ratings for all World Cup matches on its website. According to the press release, there are great prizes for those who have guessed the correct ratings.

The investment group led by US billionaire Haim Saban sells its majority stake in ProSiebenSat.1. The majority shareholders are using a financial transaction to do this without giving up shares. German Media Partners, in which the investors' shares are bundled, announced on Wednesday that it intends to use the stake as collateral for debt financing of EUR 1.25 billion. The transaction is expected to be completed in June. The proceeds will be distributed among the investors in the group. The transaction is being managed by the investment bank JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank. No further details were disclosed. German Media Partners holds 50.5 percent of the shares and 88 percent of the voting rights in ProSiebenSat.1. Saban's group of investors joined the TV group around three years ago after the Kirch Group went bankrupt and invested an estimated EUR 525 million in several tranches for the majority stake.
In February, the sale of the ProSiebenSat.1 Group to the Axel Springer publishing group failed due to opposition from the German Cartel Office. In this sale, Saban's group would have received around EUR 2.5 billion for its entire stake.

For around three weeks, the gay and lesbian event station CSD Radio has been broadcasting in Zurich on 90.1 MHz, on the Cablecom network throughout German-speaking Switzerland and via the Internet. One week before the end of this year's broadcasting period, the station's makers have drawn a positive balance, as they write in a press release. As in the past five years, the number of listeners has increased over the course of the broadcasting period. The commissioning of their own antenna on Nordstrasse has also massively increased the broadcasting area. Previously, it only covered the city of Zurich. The variety of programs has been well received by the audience, the press release continues. These include formats such as "NightChat", the pop parade "Hossa", an evening "Celebrity Talk" and a morning show called "Breakfast". The Christopher Street Day parade, which will take place in Zurich on June 10, will also be a clear highlight of the broadcasting schedule this year. The station will offer a warm-up party for this event as well as broadcasts from the parade and the subsequent party. Finally, CSD Radio will broadcast from the Tour de Suisse on the last day of broadcasting, June 11. Together with other gay and lesbian organizations, the station will be represented at the second stage finish in Einsiedeln with its mobile broadcasting van.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is launching her own video podcast. The message for mobile device enthusiasts will go on air for the first time on Thursday, June 8, 2006 at 4 pm. The first podcast will deal with the football World Cup, followed by short videos on mostly political topics every Saturday. "In future, we want to explain the politics of the Federal Government, motives, background to decisions and objectives with short video messages every week towards the weekend," said spokesman Thomas Steg according to Stern.de. A three-minute contribution is planned every week, which will be available at www.bundeskanzlerin.de. As Steg told the media, Merkel is the first head of government to use this technology.

A TV channel for the little ones has been on air in the USA since May 11. BabyFirst TV is aimed at an audience aged between six months and three years. The paid channel, which costs 9.99 dollars a month, aims to offer an interactive service for children and parents to use together, as the NZZ writes. The ad-free offer consists of over forty formats and categories, 80 percent of the content has been produced specifically for BabyFirstTV, according to the organizers. There are also cooperations with DVD labels and a subsidiary of the bookseller Barnes & Nobles. The educational thrust of the individual contributions is communicated to parents using various symbols. This tells them, for example, whether a program is intended to encourage them to try out the five senses or introduce them to the world of numbers. The launch of the new channel was not without criticism; numerous child psychologists expressed concerns. According to the NZZ, Sharon Rechter, co-initiator of Baby TV, countered this with the statement that children consume television and at least have a bonding experience when they do so with their parents. A study by the American Kaiser Family Foundation confirms that TV consumption is high. It shows that 68% of children under the age of two watch television regularly and 26% even have a TV set in their bedroom.

FCB Leutenegger Krüll has redesigned the website www.stopp-werbeverbote.ch for the Alliance Against Advertising Bans. The intro to the site shows various images from the campaign launched by Schweizer Werbung SW/PS on behalf of the Alliance Against Advertising Bans. For some time now, this has been used to draw attention to events that are at risk due to advertising restrictions. New advertisements, posters and cinepictures have now been added for the cantons of Thurgau and St. Gallen, which are currently affected. Among other things, the website provides information on the arguments against advertising bans. In addition, a map of Switzerland shows the current state of the political debate in the various cantons.

The canton of Aargau wants to present itself in the best light with an image film on DVD and provide a tool for location marketing. The film is intended to create a good first impression for international investors, for example. According to a press release, the film succeeds in presenting the diversity and beauty of the canton in just a few minutes. The canton's nature, leisure, research, education, transport and economy are all featured. The promotional DVD was produced on behalf of Aargau Services, the canton of Aargau's location marketing department. It was financially supported by Aargauische Kantonalbank, AEW Energie AG and Jost AG. Interested parties can obtain the DVD free of charge from Aargau Services.