Best of Print Advertising The advertising hits 2002 from the Advertising Index of the market research institute Demoscope
In cooperation with the market research institute Demoscope, Publimedia presents the readers of WerbeWoche with an excerpt of the results from the Advertising Index (AX Print) five times a year. This index (see box) is a module of the Market Radar and measures the popularity of advertising subjects. In the top two rows are those subjects that achieved the greatest acceptance in the relevant psychographic target group (see wind rose). The three subjects that performed best among the entire sample, i.e. among all four target groups in total, in the 1st quarter of 2002 are shown under the heading "Top Three".

A new management structure at the Basel Media Group focuses on efficiency and on northwestern SwitzerlandBy Daniel SchifferleAfter a lengthy restructuring phase, the Basel Media Group (BM) has spruced up its management structure for the road ahead. However, the focus on northwestern Switzerland does not mean that ambitions for the national publishing market have been definitively buried.
Simple structures, short decision-making channels, clear areas of responsibility - the Basler Media Group is giving itself a new look per
June 1, a radically new management structure. No fewer than 29 points comprise the restructuring measures, which had already begun in spring 2000 and reached their conclusion with the sale of Jean Frey AG at the beginning of February. "Two and a half turbulent years in which the Basel media group has undergone fundamental change," writes CEO Beat Meyer in the in-house magazine Net Spezial.
The background to the restructuring: too many business units were making too high losses. "The entire Basel media group had lost a lot of substance, both financially and structurally," writes Net Spezial. According to Meyer, the main problem was "the many duplications in the various business areas and activities, as well as numerous companies that were not part of the core business". These have now been eliminated.
Under the unchanged leadership of Chairman of the Board Matthias Hagemann and CEO Beat Meyer, activities are now divided into three areas: "Media," "Production" and "Services.
The "Media" division with Basler Zeitung, Baslerstab, the various local gazettes, specialist media, audiovisual media and service companies reports directly to CEO Beat Meyer. The "Production" division with the Basler Zeitung printing center, the companies of Birkhäuser+GBC AG, Schnelli AG and SyncMedia Global Processing is headed by Daniel Merkel. The "Services" division reports to CFO Peter Wyss. It comprises the IT, Finance, Human Resources, Real Estate, Infrastructure, Quality Management and Central Purchasing divisions.
After the reorganization, the Basler Mediengruppe comprises a total of 17 subsidiaries in addition to the parent company Basler Zeitung. The Group also has significant holdings in six other companies.
The most lasting correction to the strategy came with the sale of Jean Frey AG, which sealed the company's withdrawal to northwestern Switzerland. The new goal for the near future is to focus on a multi-channel strategy with newspapers, local radio and the Internet, as well as cooperation with local television.
More profit expected for the current fiscal year
But Meyer says that concentrating on northwestern Switzerland does not mean that the company's publishing ambitions in the national market are definitely buried. "If an opportunity arose somewhere that proved to be right and important for our company, we would seize it." For the moment, however, he says, northwestern Switzerland clearly has priority. "We want to increase the circulation of the Basler Zeitung again, and the entry into Radio Basilisk is keeping us busy," says Meyer.
Nevertheless: The annual financial statements, which will be completed at the Basel media group at the end of June, should be better than last year. "We expect a profit that will be greater than the 1.1 million Swiss francs of the 2000/2001 financial year," Meyer reveals. Sales will be around 420 to 430 million Swiss francs. In the previous year, it amounted to 512.2 million Swiss francs, which already meant a decrease of 24.2 million Swiss francs.

Felix Dammann is now second Creative Director at Sulzer SutterHead of the week "Subtle humor can have a more lasting effect".
He still likes living in Winterthur, even though this city is not a Mecca for advertisers. Felix Dammann's career path shows how someone from the former locomotive city can nevertheless enter the competitions in Cannes and New York at full steam. Because everyone wanted to be a graphic designer when he was young, he was unable to find an apprenticeship and had to start out as a typeface and advertising painter.
With self-designed flyers and CD covers, as well as a year of preliminary courses at the Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Applied Arts), it then worked out anyway at a "so-called advertising agency" in the Eulach city. Dammann designed brochures for classic Winterthur companies. Because that seemed too narrow for him creatively, he switched to Diego Bally in Zurich, where he did an internship "mainly in packaging design". It finally worked out with classic advertising as an AD assistant at Mike Krüll in Wallisellen. During this time, the young graphic designer also won his first prize at the ADC creative school. "Come anyway!" was the school's self-advertisement. Dammann has illustrated all the famous advertisers who were teachers at the creative school at the time.
The provocation had an effect. A job as AD at Pucci Sulzer and later at David Honegger followed. In three years, during which the agency mutated into Jung von Matt, the AD has won several awards at Cannes Lions, finalist Cresta, shortlist Clio or finalist Eurobest. He is proud of his campaign for the Zürcher Oberländer, "the regional newspaper of world format". Dammann's latest work includes a spot for the SBB featuring boys spitting on the tracks.
"I love it when my ads are not extremely loud, but come across with a more subtle effect." Subtle humor also fits better with the shift in society, he says, where advertising needs to get a little smarter again. "You can demand a little more from the viewer."
After eight weeks as a stay-at-home dad, Felix Dammann has now set himself new goals at Sulzer Sutter. In the long term, he wants to do even more creative advertising there and also increasingly take care of new business.
He also wants to live his private philosophy in the agency: Have a zest for life and organize himself in such a way that the balance between work and private life remains in the right proportion. "With the necessary leisure, good results come automatically."
Felix Dammann, who doesn't need a hobby because he has a job that "accompanies him all the time," prefers to recharge his batteries while enjoying family life with his young daughter. Andreas Panzeri

The first issue of the new Weltwoche was practically sold out after a short time.NewsWeltwoche almost sold out
On Friday, 1000 copies of the magazine, which was published on Wednesday in a print run of 200000 copies, could still be delivered to the largest sales outlets in Switzerland. Almost the entire print run had already been sold on the day of publication, Weltwoche publishing director Uli Rubner told the SDA news agency. In the first phase of the relaunch, Weltwoche will continue to appear with 200000 copies, Rubner explained. At the last Wemf certification, the old Weltwoche showed a paid circulation of 85000 copies.
New orders for dCTRLThe Zurich-based Internet agency dCTRL reports two new clients: The law firm Zimmerli, Wagner & Partner has commissioned dCTRL to update, support and redesign its website, which is planned for the summer. The Zurich-based law firm specializes in patents, trademarks and design and counts Skim.com, Freitag, NZZ and SF DRS among its clients. On behalf of the Pro Helvetia Foundation, dCTRL has recently been in charge of the website for the Galerie 57/34.0 km cultural project, which takes place around the Gotthard and Lötschberg tunnel construction sites.
popular AD-games Advertising games that can be downloaded free of charge from the Internet enjoy a high level of acceptance among users: 54.6% of participants in an online survey are in favor of so-called ad games. Print advertising is even more popular (60.8%), while banner ads (45.3%) and TV commercials (36.5 %) come off badly. At the bottom of the list of annoying forms of advertising are ad games (50%). 57% are annoyed by print advertising, 69.6% by banners and 88.2% by TV commercials. The study can be downloaded at www.bifak.de/projects /adgames.htm.

U.S. Internet researchers end dispute over patentsThe U.S. Internet researchers Jupiter Media Metrix and NetRatings have drawn a line under their patent dispute. Jupiter had accused NetRatings of infringing its patents by measuring web usage through software on consumers' computers. Now NetRatings is buying said patent rights from Jupiter for $15 million and licensing them back to Jupiter at a cost. In addition, NetRatings is taking over Jupiter's customer contracts for Internet usage measurement in Europe, as well as "certain related assets." The deal is said to have no impact on Switzerland. Jupiter is represented here by MMXI Switzerland, which is part of 80% of IHA-GfK and 20% of Jupiter subsidiary MMXI Europe. IHA managing director Peter Hofer could not confirm whether the investment was among the assets sold. The business of MMXI Switzerland will not be affected by the identity of the minority shareholder, he said, as the company works directly with Jupiter in the USA in the technical area. (sm)

The approximately 50 members of the Swiss Film and Video Producers (SFVP) have elected a new board. The new president is Andres Brütsch, owner of Topic Film, who replaces Urs Wäckerli. In the future, Wäckerli wants to devote more time to his "culture factory". In the fall, Wäckerli will open a bar with gallery and concert venue in the Lebewohlfabrik in Zurich, where corn plasters used to be manufactured.Brütsch has also "coincidentally" become president of the "Zurich for Film" association. This increased commitment, however, has nothing to do with an over-night tendency toward association bureaucracy. "No one seeks out these offices," says Brütsch. Having benefited from the association's work for around 20 years, he has now simply "run out of arguments for refusing such responsibility."
At SFVP, Brütsch sees his goals primarily in image improvement. "Our image is not bad, we don't have one at all," he believes. There is still too little recognition of the professional qualities that Swiss film producers have to offer. In addition to the president, Christoph Müller of Frame Eleven, Zurich, who has also been newly elected to the board, will also participate in the "Image Improvement Taskforce".
Upcoming tasks awaiting the fresh management crew include the organization of the "EDI Competition" for the best commissioned and commercial films. More delicate is the cultivation of relations with the TPC, because on the one hand the SFVP wants to continue to maintain a good relationship with the client SRG, on the other hand it is an open secret that the outsourced production center of Swiss television is pressuring commissioned filmmakers with cross-subsidized competitive prices.
It's hard to tell how the industry is doing at the moment. "Some are doing great, others are doing lousy," one hears. What is certain is that with the four large postproduction centers in Zurich - Primetime, Werk, Video Online and Ultra - there is an oversupply that cannot continue in the long term. Andreas Panzeri

Sales negotiations dragging on, RMB Germany insolventThe future of RMB International, the Belgian cinema, TV and radio marketer, and its European network remains unclear. It is true that RMBI spokesman Eric Gouder de Beauregard stated as late as May 3 that the contract between RMBI and French electronics manufacturer Thomson Multimedia for some ten RMBI subsidiaries could be signed on May 4, or at best on May 6. But that was not the case - so the date was postponed to Wednesday, May 8. However, this date should be treated with caution, as there was already talk at the beginning of April that the contract would soon be signed. Negotiations have been going on for at least three months. Thomson Multimedia has so far remained silent on the matter (WW 8/02 and 13/02).
Part of the RMBI network, the subsidiaries RMB Switzerland and Austria, is being negotiated separately - and has been since the beginning of the year. An agreement has already been reached there, according to reports in the industry. Gouder, for his part, speaks of "almost finished," but because several negotiating partners are involved, it will take a little longer. Matthias Luchsinger, CEO of RMB Switzerland, did not want to comment on this last Friday - and went on vacation.
In the meantime, however, RMB Germany, which as a former RMB subsidiary had already been separated from the RMBI network and sold at the end of 2001, has filed for insolvency. Andreas Goebel, Director National Sales, confirmed this to the trade journal Media&Marketing and described the measure as purely precautionary. In any case, the business operations of Germany's second-largest cinema marketer would continue. One of the reasons for the insolvency was a sum of money that RMBI still owed its former subsidiary.
That makes one prick up one's ears. Is RMB Switzerland also on such shaky financial ground - regardless of current or future ownership? "I don't give any information about RMBI's internal accounting," says Luchsinger. However, he points out that since the beginning of the year, a holding company called RMB AG (where Luchsinger is a member of the board of directors) has been inserted between RMB Switzerland and RMBI, which is why RMB Switzerland is better secured than RMB Germany. Furthermore, RMB Switzerland has no outstanding invoices with the insolvent RMB Germany.
Luchsinger also cast doubt on the fact that RMBI still owes money to its former German subsidiary. "I would point out that despite its poor financial situation, RMBI is neither bankrupt nor insolvent. So if there are outstanding invoices, they can be claimed in the normal way. Why is RMB Germany not doing this?" Markus Knöpfli

Advertising Day! After three years of this event taking place in Zurich, including various general meetings (AGMs), a real and alternative excursion was finally on the agenda again.By Beat Fritsch Bern was the destination. Sawi-GV, Idée-VfW-GV and SW-GV were on the agenda - these AGMs are the defining meetings of the "Etats généraux de la communication" in Switzerland.
This was noticeable in the number of visitors and customers: Already on the way to the Museum of Communication, where the Sawi AGM was held at ten o'clock in the morning, familiar faces could be seen in the streetcar. Fredi Schwab was sitting next to us. Two seats further back was his opponent Jürg Siegrist. Was another verbal battle for SWA positions about to begin? And, remarkably, the same pairing as at the AGM of the Alliance of Swiss Advertising Agencies ASW, which was reported on here a week ago?
Not on this day! One united peacefully on all sides in the auditorium of the museum - or at least one behind the other, like Siegrist Jürg exactly one row of seats behind Schwab Fredi. Which in any case had no influence on the Sawi AGM, which was attended by Jürg Engi, among others. At lunch, Siegrist emphasized that the board alone was responsible for filling the SWA directorship, and not the SWA AGM - appeal or not!
In order to bring this story to a definitive conclusion - because all those present continued to speculate - here is the current situation as it was communicated shortly before the editorial deadline in a statement by SWA President Gérard Stalder: In the "Causa SWA", 24 members demanded an extraordinary general meeting at which, according to the statutes (nolens volens), they had nothing to say (see also page 24). The Board of Directors now consequently informed these members that they had had absolutely nothing to say. And it went on to say that there was a legally signed agreement for the CEO who had been invited out and one for the CEO who had been invited in.
Incidentally, the current managing director will continue to oversee individual projects (Suisa, RTVG) on behalf of the SWA, accompanied (yet again!) by a member of the board or the new managing director. This will ensure that SWA's interests are safeguarded in both cases, writes the SWA president. Aha, Schwab is good enough for that again! These are high-wire acts, such as those performed by the other Schwab of Davos with the WEF. The only question is what the escort service is supposed to do there. Seriously, now: The story really seems to be over! That was satire! We are not at Fifa. That's why we keep quiet right away. And later, we'll still be speculating about the amount of the severance payments in the SWA dispute.
Which brings us to another conflict. That of ex-Federal President and Federal Councilor Moritz Leuenberger with SW host and Council of States member Carlo Schmid-Sutter. As a magisterial guest, Leuenberger was the invited keynote speaker on Advertising Day. One expected a verbal exchange of blows with the SW president, who also serves as commissioner of the Astag Brummis. However, the confrontation did not even have the explosive power of a mediocre Asti Spumante - and even these bottles rarely explode. Leuenberger and Schmid rather enjoyed the grape juice served in a quiet corner of the Kornhaus cellar, talking about who knows what, but not traffic policy. Federal Berne even whispered that the SW president and the transport minister, who at times operated against his interests, were on excellent terms in private. This symbolically concludes the coverage of the advertising day in the tradition of the Swiss Confederation and takes us on to culture.
For years, the former power station of Zurich-Selnau has repeatedly hosted top-class exhibitions, performances and events. The Office of Energy offers hospitality to legendary events such as Volts & Visions, conceptual artists like Garda Alexander, or last Friday's Magazine Photo Prize. The Magazine Photo Prize has been steadily growing in the process. Now in its fourth edition, it has already found a permanent place on Zurich's cultural agenda and is also considered a coveted photographer's award. Not only the works shown, but also the guest list is convincing. A not insignificant number of advertisers were present at the Sihl. Reini Weber or Yvonne Boller from WHS and Ralph Hermann from the management of Jung von Matt/Limmat. And various Andis, such as media specialists Andi Gedenk and Andy Lehmann, ADC specialist Andi Prokesch and SonntagsZeitung editor-in-chief Andi Durisch.
In the course of the program, magazine editor-in-chief Res Strehle was joined on stage by the now definitively elected new city councilor Elmar Ledergerber. Still announced as a city councilor, he left no doubt about the election outcome during the interview: "Siegenthaler will not be elected - the rest is open!"
Her choice seemed unexpected for photographer Maya Dickerhof. She was very happy about the main award of the evening. But the attention during the presentation was attracted by the deaf simultaneous translator, who stood next to the speakers during each announcement. During her manual presentation in sign language, which was followed with fascination by everyone present, there was an almost reverent silence in the hall.
Beat Fritsch

Shortly after this photo shoot, the shortlist author was elected president of the "Idée-VfW - Association for Advertising Communication" - not entirely unexpectedly. After all, he had fought the election campaign in this column, and that for three years! What wonder that exactly these lines are slightly ironically colored.
Who else in the communications scene gets together for presidential meetings or otherwise cheats their way to the top, we locate at a wide variety of events. Do you already have something exciting to report? Pick up the phone (01 296 97 98) or hit the keyboard (in [email protected]). For event tips and more shortlist pictures: www.werbewo che.ch

Olivier Girard is head of the creative team at Simko GenevaHead of the week "Small network agencies are just letterbox companies"
Olivier Girard rejects the prejudice that good advertising work is only done in Zurich. He therefore sees his challenge at Simko, Geneva, primarily in bringing in the experience he has gained at major agencies in Paris, nota bene with the great master Jacques Séguela, at Euro RSCG, and in New York. And finally, Simko has enough national and international mandates to give the creative team the opportunity to prove its expertise. Olivier Girard sees the fact that Simko is invited to pitch with agencies in London, Paris and Milan as a further indication that good communication work is being done in French-speaking Switzerland and especially in international Geneva.
After Girard had worked for Bozell, McCann and Euro RSCG in Geneva and had also worked for a short time as a freelancer for Publicis, Lausanne, Pedro Simko brought him into his agency as a freelancer for the client Tag Heuer.
Part-time work has now become a full-time job with responsibility for the creative team. Olivier Girard sees the advantage of working for small and medium-sized agencies in the direct contact with clients and the creative freedom.
Working in a large agency with a renowned network is only really interesting if it is a lead agency, otherwise these network agencies are just letterbox companies that carry out adaptations and do little creative work. He knows this from his own experience.
Even though Girard is a passionate advertiser and loves his work, he still maintains a certain distance from advertising. Advertising is actually something very superficial, he says, putting his creative work into perspective. He became particularly aware of this during a six-month trip through Africa. It was then that he realized that there were far more important things in life than making a product appealing to people, he muses today. He describes himself as an advertising and consumerist who is rather difficult to influence.
In fact, Olivier Girard, who once dreamed of becoming a car designer, could well imagine working in a skilled trade, such as carpentry. At least that way he would create something lasting, he dreams. However, he lives out his great private passion as a screenwriter for crime thrillers. He has just completed a screenplay that has met with lively interest in the USA, he reveals in passing. Anita Vaucher

News: JCDecaux Plans Major Deals
The French outdoor advertising group JCDecaux aims to strengthen its market position through a major international acquisition. According to a report by Dow Jones Newswires, CEO Jean-François Decaux cited the outdoor advertising divisions of Viacom and Clear Channel as potential candidates. Decaux noted that for both companies, outdoor advertising is not part of their core business. The group also plans to make acquisitions in Germany or the United Kingdom.
Hersant and His Denials The France-Antilles Group, part of the French media conglomerate Hersant, has established a holding company in Fribourg as the new owner of the French-Swiss daily newspaper *La Côte* and its sister publications *L’Express* and *L’Impartial*. The new ESH Editions Suisses Holding SA has a share capital of 3 million Swiss francs and is chaired by Philippe Hersant. Immediately after the holding company was established, the Fribourg daily La Liberté announced that it was not for sale. A denial also came from the Corbaz Group, which publishes the daily newspaper La Presse.
Baz Reorganizes: Following the completion of a comprehensive reorganization phase, the Basel-based media group is adopting a new group structure effective June 1. The various business activities will now be organized into the divisions «Media» (headed by CEO Beat Meyer), «Production» (Daniel Merkel), and «Services» (CFO Peter Wyss). As before, the entire group will continue to be led by Board Chairman Matthias Hagemann and CEO Beat Meyer.
New Left-Wing French-Swiss Monthly Newspaper A new monthly newspaper titled *Pages de gauche* has been published in French-speaking Switzerland since Wednesday. The paper is aimed at SP members and activists in social movements. The 12-page *Pages de gauche* has a budget of 40,000 francs. In its first year, the paper will be financed by donations.

Black humor does not necessarily have to be evil. In any case, this turtle seems lovingly protected and escapes the possible fate of being driven flat. Why? Because it crawls safely to the next lettuce leaf thanks to its bicycle helmet. And because it adheres to the Suva warning "Wear a helmet at all speeds. Even on short journeys." she adheres to it. The motif was developed at McCann-Erickson. Claude Catsky (CD), Charles Blunier (AD) and Roger Keller (consulting) outed themselves as animal rights activists.Cannes integrates Direct Lions into the festival. The Cannes advertising festival is dispensing with a separate event for the newly created direct marketing competition after all. The Direct Mail Award and the Cyber Lions will be integrated into the advertising festival from June 14 to 22 and awarded on the eve of the closing gala.
Theater I: L'ombelico del mondo. Belly buttons seem to inspire advertising creativity in a very special way: After JvM/Limmat for Panasonic and Glamour Engineering for the Mittelland Zeitung, Bonaparte is now also putting a navel at the center of its communication for the Theater an der Winkelwiese. However, the team around CD Guillaume Borel has helped Mother Nature a bit and conjured up an oriental crescent moon navel on paper with a few tricks of the trade. The occasion for the navel show is the Swiss premiere of the play "The Arabian Night" by Roland Schimmelpfennig.
Panoramic dismisses media agency R. J. Palmer. The ailing U.S. agency group Panoramic Communications, in which PubliGroupe has held a majority stake since last year, is parting ways with its media specialist R. J. Palmer. Panoramic had acquired Palmer three years ago, according to a report by Advertising Age. Now the agency is buying itself out again for an undisclosed cash sum. With billings of $553 million, R. J. Palmer is No. 17 in Advertising Age's U.S. media rankings. It contributed nearly half of Panoramic's total billings. According to the 2001 annual report, PubliGroupe intends to divest the loss-making Panoramic Group.
WOZ has a new target group. For bruises, sprains and contusions, a policeman in full riot gear recommends "Original Dr. Andres Wallwurz Salbe". The ad appeared in the WoZ. Huh? Do policemen like to read the WoZ now, and should they find out there with which ointment they can care for their May 1st bruises? Or is the WoZ the ideal medium when an advertiser wants to reach members of the black bloc without much wasted coverage? The demonstrative advertisement has attracted attention. Of course, it is also striking that the agency Advico Young & Rubicam, which placed this Wurz ad exclusively in the WoZ, is currently also allowed to do a campaign for the not exactly rich weekly newspaper.
Three agencies form Content Company. Three agencies from the Zurich area jointly offer communication services under the Content Company brand: the web and communication agency Update AG, Zurich, the advertising and design agency Brönnimann & Berchtold, Dietikon, and the concept, text and editorial agency Heini Lüthy Kommunikation, also Zurich. The range of services extends from publishing to advertising and branding to web solutions. The focus is on the journalistic creation of content and its media-appropriate implementation in print or electronic form. The Content Company is a "virtual company" in which the three partners retain their independence.
Theater II: C(l)a breakdown. A photo of the Schauspielhaus against a threatening stormy sky has been adorning various APG billboards for days. What looks like a teaser by day is revealed in the dark of night: the H of the inscription "Schauspielhaus" is the only letter that does not light up. "Schauspiel aus" - not a prank by the Zurich SVP, but a new image campaign from Publicis. The appearance is intended to attract more visitors to the loss-making Zurich Schauspielhaus and make the theater itself more popular. In addition to the posters, a cinema spot produced by Wirz & Fraefel is used as a means to an end, which also dramatizes the "small" neon sign glitch.
Little dirge on AIDA

Economic activity is above all psychology, because ultimately it is people's fears and hopes that cause economic fluctuations. It is understandable that shortly after the September 11 attacks, then New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani urgently reminded Americans not to forget to spend money. In a television interview at the end of September, the U.S. vice president did not even bother to exercise restraint in his choice of words. He hoped, Dick Cheney said, that Americans would "poke their fingers in the eyes of the terrorists" by buying stocks, doing their shopping in the usual way and not allowing themselves to be diverted from their way of life.
The appeals and advertising messages - even if garnished with patriotic appeal - had little effect. The slogan "Buy our country out of the crisis" didn't do much for U.S. citizens. Which is surprising, because the concepts behind these thought models have long since been empirically disproven: Consumers tick differently than the stage models of advertising effectiveness research suggest. Because these do not do justice to the complexity of social communication processes. Consumers decide for themselves whether an advertising message is relevant to them. If he doesn't want to, the advertising can struggle no matter how hard it tries: it fizzles out without any effect. Ultimately, the events in people's lives determine whether they are willing to listen to and read the buy-me messages. The twilight of the gods has long since taken hold of the step models:
A swan song to the AIDA formula and new findings from impact research can be found starting on page 16. Samuel Helbling, Editor-in-Chief

In addition, Felix Dammann joined the creative team at the Zurich-based advertising agency Sulzer Sutter in early May as the second creative director alongside Francis Sulzer. Dammann, who previously served as art director at Pucci Sulzer and Jung von Matt, will also become a member of the executive board. At the same time, Client Service Director Peter Krebs has been a shareholder at Sulzer Sutter since the beginning of the year. However, the agency is losing Art Director Norbert Brunner, who will be moving to TBWA Switzerland at the beginning of August.
The Favo advertising group in Arlesheim has a new owner. Following the death of agency founder Werner Vogel in March, Alice Stümcke is taking over the company.
Sandra Wüst has been working as PR Coordinator at Ford Switzerland since March 1.
Peter E. Renggli, 42, head of marketing and communications, is the new head of corporate communications at Comparis.ch, an online price and rate comparison service.
The advertising agency Advico Young & Rubicam (AY&R) has reorganized its executive management. Edgar C. Britschgi will serve as CEO and Delegate of the Board of Directors. Felix Kündig will assume the role of Chief Financial Officer, and Hansjörg Zürcher will continue to serve as Creative Coach. He will be supported by Creative Directors, who are expected to be appointed in the coming weeks. AY&R is also strengthening its team with David Allemann, who is returning from McKinsey as Group Account Director, and copywriters/concept developers Alexandre-Michel Hoster and Jan Krohn.
Michael Rütti joined the Zurich-based agency Inform in mid-April. He supports agency head Daniel Schneider in the areas of strategy development and consulting.
Advertising consultant Mireille Strüby is starting her own business. Her company, Joblounge, offers recruitment consulting and placement services for clients in advertising, PR, and marketing.