The agency Trio Communications Marketing is now called Agence Trio. To mark its 75th anniversary, Switzerland's oldest advertising agency is also giving itself a new look, according to a press release. The agency's personality is to be expressed with a new graphic design. Designed by Sébastien Aeschmann, the young creative director, the new graphics give the agency a contemporary, high-contrast touch. The new image can be seen on the website; the redesigned internet portal in the three agency languages.

The Basel advertising expert Dieter F. Wullschleger will take over the management of the free newspaper Baslerstab, which belongs to Basler Zeitung Medien (BZM), on July 1, 2006. The previous managing director, Daniel Weick, is leaving the title after ten years to pursue a new direction, the company announced on Friday. Wullschleger has managed the small Basel newspaper "Vogel Gryff" since 2004. The advertising specialist and federally certified communications manager has been working in the media industry for around 20 years and has been looking after clients in north-western Switzerland since 1995 as the owner of the advertising agency "Die Werft". Wullschleger is now also head of marketing at Basler Zeitung Medien. In connection with this, Dieter F. Wullschleger is also moving his agency's head office to the BZM headquarters on July 1 and increasing his team from three to six employees.

The Zurich agencies FishWishion and TDP Werbungen have redesigned the website of Antonio Stomeo's fruit and vegetable world to mark the company's 50th anniversary. According to a press release, the website now features a concise branding with the start animation of the company's coat of arms, the bald eagle. The site also presents a picture gallery of the fruit trading pioneer and the first story in the "Poesia di Frutta" communication series, which is to be implemented by Branded Entertainment.

The prizes for the Swiss Poster Award 2005 were presented at the APG Poster Night in the Maag Event Hall. The jury, headed by Fredy Collioud, awarded the coveted trophies from over 500 entries. The Ruf Lanz AG advertising agency won the Swiss Poster Award 2005 with the SUVA/BfU bicycle prevention poster, while Sennentuntschi (WA Mixer, Lucerne; Theater Aeternam, Lucerne) took the gold trophy in the culture category. Silver goes to Tito (Atelier K. Domenic Geissbühler, Zurich; Zurich Opera House) and bronze to Oertli-Stiftung (Publicis AG, Zurich).
In the Public Service category, Médecins sans Frontières (Publicis AG, Zurich) took gold, as did Schtifti Skateboard (Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett, Zurich; Stiftung für soziale Jugendprojekte, Zurich), while bronze went to Winterprävention (SUVA, Lucerne; Ruf Lanz AG, Zurich).
In the Commercial category, Smoke-Free Trains, Cowboy/Camel (Jung von Matt/Limmat AG, Zurich; SBB, Berne) won, Silver went to Tea-Time (Ruf Lanz AG, Zurich; Hotel Dolder, Zurich) and Bronze to Flash Porsche (Publicis AG, Zurich; Flash Delivery Services AG, Zurich) and Baileys (Spillmann, Felser, Leo Burnett, Zurich; Diageo Suisse SA, Renens). The detailed documentation can be viewed on the APG website.

The media and entertainment group News Corporation, which is controlled by Rupert Murdoch, generated a net profit of 820 million US dollars in the third quarter, more than doubling the profit of 400 million in the same period last year. The increase was due to double-digit percentage growth in the TV, Cable Network Programming and Magazine divisions. As Rupert Murdoch commented on the results, this quarter saw an acceleration of progress in the evolution of new media. The Myspace.com platform has grown to over 70 million registered users, making it one of the fastest growing Internet sites.

In keeping with the motto "Expand your brand", Migros is now bringing its already iconic budget line with its green and orange design to clothing: shirts, mini-sleeves, trainer jackets, bags, basque scarves and flip-flops - a total of 23 garments and accessories in the retro style of the 70s are planned. According to a press release, the M-Budget streetwear will be slightly washed out, tight-fitting and absolutely iconic. And to ensure that cult remains cult, the M-Budget streetwear is only available in limited editions in the specially created online store and at M-Budget parties.

Just in time for Mother's Day, the program magazine Hörzu will be published on Thursday, 11 May with six Ritter Sport chocolate cubes on the cover. Eleven million chocolate cubes - that's around 110 tons of chocolate - were packed by hand and stuck in blister pockets on the two million or so magazines. According to a press release, everyone involved benefits from the cooperation: Ritter Sport reaches the Winning Generation, readers receive added value and Hörzu proves that it is the "ideal" partner for exceptional marketing measures. Hörzu and Ritter Sport had already collaborated once before in October 2005: Back then, three chocolate bars adorned the program title.

The international design prize Red dot Award is entering a new round and is now inviting designers, advertising agencies and clients to submit entries. Anyone wishing to take part in the international comparison should have registered by June 16, 2006. Registration is now open at www.red-dot.de/anmeldung. Registration is now only possible online and the registration fees have been reduced. The design competition has been adapted to the rapid changes in the communications sector and for the first time no longer offers just one "Grand Prix" for the entire competition, but a special award for each category. According to the press release, this will give more creatives the chance to step into the limelight with their work. The highlight of the competition will be the awards ceremony on December 8 in Essen and the special exhibition of the award-winning works.

The Zurich-based agency Flowcube Communications has beaten the competition in a selection process organized by cell phone manufacturer BenQ Mobile. The mandate includes communications consultancy for public relations, including all media work and management of the press office. The Asian multimedia specialist BenQ took over the mobile devices division of Siemens in October. Since then, the company has risen to become one of the top 5 branded cell phone manufacturers worldwide. Twelve cell phones have been launched under the BenQ-Siemens brand since the beginning of the year; the market launch of 30 new mobile phones is planned for the remaining months of 2006.

80 creative people are to be delighted with the World Cup box created by the Heads agency, which contains a personalized original World Cup shirt. Danielle Lanz can look forward to a shirt with the Argentinian version of her name "Lanzetti", Reinhold Weber gets the anglicized "Wayne Reini", Joni Müller becomes the Brazilian "Joninho" and Tom Seinige the Japanese "Sei Nigeki". As Thomas Passen, Head of the Magazine Advertising Market at Ringier, explains the campaign, the aim is to motivate the creative minds of the agencies to shoot their goals in Ringier's advertising space.

The Zurich-based agency for advertising placement and media consulting Schmid Annoncen is joining forces with Xmedia Annoncen from Flamatt, which combines print and electronic media. According to a press release, the cooperation will enable Schmid Annoncen's customers to benefit from the MediaManager cross-media interface, which allows advertisements to be entered around the clock and online-to-print. By entering advertisements on the Schmid Annoncen website, the two partners want to ensure the attractiveness of classified ads in print titles. This should stabilize the advertising business and also expand the customer portfolio thanks to the transfer of know-how.

Swiss Television (SF) shows up to three hours of sport every day. Four editorial teams with over 100 employees are responsible for this, reporting on 60 different types of sport. Last year, the journalists worked hard to produce around 2,900 hours of live, current affairs and background reports, which were broadcast on the SF1, SF2 and SF Info channels, according to a press release. In order to be present at the important events on location, two reporting vans are deployed daily. The "Sportpanorama" on Sunday evenings reaches 466,000 viewers per week and a market share of 36 percent. The daily sports news program "Sport aktuell" is watched by an average of 184,000 viewers (market share 17%). In "Sport Live", Swiss television reports almost daily on events such as the Tour de Suisse, the Football Super and Champions Leagues, Weltklasse Zürich, the Formula 1 and Motorcycle World Championships or, in winter, the Ski World Cup and the Ice Hockey Championships. However, in order to continue to achieve top ratings such as the World Cup qualifying match between Turkey and Switzerland (market share 66.5 percent), SF-Sport must first prevail against competitors for television rights. In the coming weeks and months, contract extensions with national football (cup and national team) and ice hockey associations as well as the Swiss Football League (SFL) are on the agenda, reports the Neue Zürcher Zeitung. In addition, agreements for the broadcasting of the Champions League are to be negotiated with the European Football Association (Uefa). The situation for Euro 2008 is also still unclear.
Meanwhile, the multimedia trend has been making itself felt on the SF-Sport website for some time: During the coverage of the Winter Olympics in Turin, the site reached a peak of almost 500,000 page views on February 20 (men's giant slalom skiing, women's super-G). SF will also report extensively on the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. The channel will now broadcast all related program content in 16:9 format. Various "Live Sport" events are to follow in summer 2006, until finally in 2007 the programs "Sport aktuell" and "Sportpanorama" will also flicker across the screen in the new format.