The Federal Supreme Court has ruled that the TV competitions on Sat.1 Switzerland, Viva Switzerland and Start TV, which have since been discontinued, are illegal. It has thus confirmed the revocation of three value-added service numbers by the Federal Office of Communications (Bakom) and dismissed an appeal by the operating company, reports the news agency SDA. As part of the competitions, viewers were asked to dial one of the displayed numbers, whereupon some were called back and could give an answer to the question posed. Meanwhile, it was also possible to participate via postcard, but this was not associated with the same chances of winning. The Lausanne judges described this circumstance as a "lottery-like event". They also criticized the fact that unclear and misleading information had been provided regarding the call fee. In 2005, the Zurich Statthalteramt opened proceedings and confiscated the winnings.

The winners of the weblog competition "The Golden Mouse" were awarded prizes in five categories at Orbit-iEX, each with prize money of CHF 4000 and the "Golden Mouse" award. The weblogs come from all parts of the country. In the politics category, the expert jury awarded the prize to "Une voix pour la Boillat" (www.laboillat.blogspot.com). This blog was created in the context of the strikers at Swissmetall in Reconvillier. It is exemplary for a blog as a means of political communication outside the traditional media.
In the culture category, first prize went to "Bands Magazine" (www.bandsmagazine.ch), a blog music magazine that provides information about bands and their gigs, rates CDs, maintains innovative interview formats and offers concert reviews, among many other things.
The winner in the education category was "Le Semeur" (p7app.geneve.ch:8007/lesemeur), a comprehensive blog on everything to do with education, from the use of blogs in schools to studies on youth and media.
"Le Bondy Blog" (blogs.hebdo.ch/bondy) was chosen as the winner in the Life category. During the unrest in France last year, journalists from "L'hebdo" used this blog to report on life in the small French town. The internationally renowned blog has now been handed over to a team of young bloggers from Bondy.
Bruno Giussani won the specialist topics category with his blog "Lunch over IP" (giussani.typepad.com). In his blog, the Ticino-based technology journalist and author writes eloquently and competently about facts, fundamentals and personal matters relating to technology and society.
The jury consisted of Wolfgang Frei (NZZ, President), Roger Fischer (Kaywa), Peter Hogenkamp (Zeix), Francis Moret (educa.ch), Bernard Rappaz (TSR), Peter Wälty (20 Minuten).
The "Golden Mouse" competition, organized by the Milton Ray Hartmann Foundation, has existed for some time and was originally launched to promote the integration of ICT in education.

The Streun Communications agency has been commissioned to give existing TV and video productions a facelift: Hyundai Suisse wants a more modern and emotional style. Gericke's information films are now being implemented in a fictitious TV program "Knowledge - Technology" and Renault Suisse is launching its video club as the "Renault DVD Club".

Swiss viewers' interest in the UEFA Champions League increased significantly in the 2005/2006 season compared to the previous year. On average, 383,000 viewers with a market share of 22.8 percent watched the matches on the second channel of Swiss television. In the previous year, the figure was 278,000 with a market share of 18.2 percent. The six FC Thun matches in particular received excellent coverage and achieved an average market share of 35.7% (619,000 viewers). The final between FC Barcelona and FC Arsenal was watched by 601,000 people, corresponding to a market share of 35.3%.

The global Greenpeace campaign "SOS World Ocean", in which Greenpeace aims to mobilize over one million ocean conservationists, is being carried out in collaboration with Zurich-based creative agency Lowe. Lowe won the pitch with its cross-media campaign. A total of 7 advertising motifs will be used in Switzerland, Germany and Austria. Posters, banners, radio spots, TV spots and mailings are planned. The first wave in Switzerland starts in May.

The Winter Olympics in Turin not only beat its predecessor Salt Lake City in terms of medals, but also in terms of viewer ratings. As a study by Publisuisse shows, television was by far the most important information medium during the international sporting event. 1,200 people were surveyed throughout Switzerland. The study shows that cross-media partners in particular were able to increase awareness of their brand through their presence at the Olympic Games and on screen. More than two thirds of respondents spontaneously recalled one of the three cross-media partners. The study also shows that media sponsorship can contribute to an enhanced brand image. More than 80 percent of respondents consider the two cross-media partners, who have already been publisuisse's sponsoring partners at previous Olympic Games, to be "very likeable" or "rather likeable". In general, respondents had a positive attitude towards media sponsorship. The survey results are highest for television. 83% think that sponsorship on TV has the best effect and as many as 92% are of the opinion that major sporting events would hardly be possible without media sponsorship. A majority believe that a company can improve its public image.

Swiss Television (SF) has appointed Matthias Aebischer as the new presenter and editor of "Club". He succeeds Ueli Heiniger, who is retiring at the end of July, as reported by SF. Heiniger's role will be taken over by Christine Maier, who will continue to host the weekly discussion program. Aebischer has been presenting the "Tagesschau" since 1999, the "Kassensturz" as a vacation replacement since 2000 and various SF specials and special programs. In addition to his work at the "Club", he will continue to work for the "Tagesschau" and will hold a lectureship in media and communication studies/journalism at the University of Fribourg.

Calbecom is entering the mobile telephony business, transforming itself from a triple-play provider into Switzerland's first quadruple-play provider (TV, Internet, fixed network and mobile from a single source). The Zurich agency Werbeanstalt designed and realized the launch campaign for the new service. With the Cablecom Mobile Connect subscription, calls can now be made to the fixed network for 10 centimes a minute. Accordingly, the 10 centimes also plays the central role in the campaign, which includes advertisements, direct mailing and guerrilla measures.

The new version of the CD-Rom "Regional Shopping Behavior/Commuter Flows - 2006 Edition", in which Publicitas has summarized current consumer and commuter information from the Swiss population, will be published at the end of May. The CD-Rom is designed as a reference work and shows the behavior of consumers in terms of shopping location, type of stores and shopping frequency of various products and product groups. The CD-Rom also lists consumption potential by region and economic area and is a helpful tool for targeted advertising planning. The CD-Rom is available from Publicitas at a unit price of CHF 50.

The St. Gallen agency BPR Communications won a competitive presentation and was awarded a part of the old town of Wil as a client. The Hof zu Wil is to be renovated and modernized and so the relevant working group has commissioned BPR with the fundraising. BPR will draw up a communication and fundraising concept for the architectural monument of national importance. The concept and initial ideas for implementation will be presented in the summer.

The online platform Swissclick is expanding its commitment to online dialog and performance marketing and is creating the independent Swissclick iSolutions division for this purpose. The online agency realizes Internet, mobile and multimedia projects and advises companies on online advertising. Parallel to the expansion, Swissclick is reorganizing the classified markets for cars, jobs, real estate and bargains as well as the web search into the Swissclick classified division. The platform's website was also redesigned as part of the restructuring.

34 young creatives from nine countries gathered in Berlin last week for the "bestYET - best Young European Team" creative competition. Among them were the Swiss Nik Hodel, Achim Kaufmann and Alain Szerdahelyi, who accepted Publimedia's invitation as winners of the young talent competition "Only an ad can do that". The task: to create an advertisement for the sponsor Nike in case the Brazilian national soccer team was eliminated from the World Cup unexpectedly early. The jury was won over by a French women's team; they were awarded a 3-day pass to the advertising festival in Cannes. Read more in the current issue of Werbewoche from May 18, 2006 or at