The foundation stone for the Road to Blue was laid around a month ago. The road from the TV commercial (see below), which already has over 150,000 views on YouTube, is now being expanded for the first time. In a logical continuation, the visuals that emerge from the road markings in the film will be brought to the streets of Switzerland.

The first in a series of guerrilla graffiti was placed on Rosengartenstrasse on January 20. One of the busiest streets in Zurich. With over 56,000 vehicles per day, the emissions are visible in the form of deposits on the walls of the buildings. This makes the façades the perfect medium for the Road to Blue visuals, which create a strong contrast with their clear visual language. Sprayed on with environmentally friendly and washable chalk spray.

So far, the route has led through the campaign website, various online and social media platforms as well as showrooms and events. And soon through 20 commuter towns throughout Switzerland. To be continued.

Responsible at Amag Switzerland: Oliver Stegmann (Head of Brand VW PW, Director); Sandra Grau (Head of Marketing VW PW, authorized signatory); Nathalie Mösch (Head of Marketing Communications VW PW, authorized representative); Sina Neuhaus (Advertising Specialist VW PW). Responsible at KSP: Sascha Borsai, Benny Goldstein (creative direction); Kevin Zysset (art direction); Florian Kech, Lea Baldinger (graphics); Fabrizio Bonifazi (text); Roman Tanner (DTP); Rémy Müller (consulting management) Franziska Saxer, Nina Stebler (consulting). Sivex (implementation).
 

This makes Rod the only remaining Swiss agency at the World Advertising Efficiency Awards. The prevention campaign of the Federal Office of Public Health, the Swiss AIDS Federation and the Swiss Sexual Health Foundation against HIV is still competing against three other outstanding campaigns worldwide. Whether Love Life makes it onto the winners' podium will be announced in May.
 

Ameawards.com

The existing management under the leadership of Philippe Blatter will remain unchanged, as Infront, based in the tax-friendly city of Zug, announced on Tuesday. Philippe Blatter is a nephew of the controversial president of the world football association Fifa, Sepp Blatter. The top management also includes sports commentator and former professional footballer Günther Netzer. When asked by the news agency SDA, Infront spokesman Jörg Polzer said that there would be no changes in the operational area. According to a statement, Dalian Wanda will hold 68.2 percent of the Infront shares in future. Three other unnamed investors will take over the remainder, as the Reuters news agency learned from circles within the Chinese group. Dalian Wanda is China's largest real estate group and owns the country's largest cinema chain.

Infusion for expansion wanted

Last September, it was announced that the Swiss company Infront was looking for a new owner after three years in order to raise fresh money for its expansion strategy. The financial investor Bridgepoint bought Infront over three years ago, with the price estimated in financial circles at a good 550 million euros at the time. "We are confident that we can support Infront in its goal of becoming the number 1 in global sports marketing," Wang Jianlin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Wanda Group, is quoted as saying in the press release. With the purchase, Jianlin, one of the richest Chinese, hopes to further develop Chinese sport and raise its profile worldwide.

Infront was bought out of Leo Kirch's crumbling empire in 2002. Prior to the takeover by Bridgepoint, the coffee dynasty heir Andreas Jacobs had held the majority of the shares. Initially, Infront had lived primarily from the sale of the rights to major tournaments of the world football association to television broadcasters. However, the company has since broadened its spectrum, for example to include World Cup competitions in six winter sports and motorsport racing series. It also markets the television rights of the German and Italian football associations and the clubs Werder Bremen, 1. FC Köln, AC Milan and Inter Milan. Last year, Infront achieved a turnover of 800 million euros.

Dalian Wanda on course for overseas expansion

The takeover by Dalian Wanda comes at a time of aggressive overseas expansion for the Chinese group, which is diversifying with a series of acquisitions. The conglomerate has announced three major investments outside of China since the beginning of the year. In Europe, the acquisition of the Madrid landmark Edificio España made headlines last June. The 117-meter-high building in the Spanish capital was acquired by a Dalian subsidiary. In January, the group acquired shares worth 45 million euros in the Spanish football club Atletico Madrid. With its expansion policy, the Chinese want to increase turnover to 163 billion dollars in five years. (hae/SDA)

With the takeover by Tamedia, the Ricardo Group returns to Swiss ownership. With its investment in the Ricardo Group, Tamedia aims to strengthen its position in the Swiss online market. The media group is expanding its digital portfolio, which already includes offerings such as Doodle, Homegate.ch, Jobs.ch, Trendsales and Zattoo, to 13 companies that are active in several European countries as well as North America in addition to Switzerland. Christoph Tonini, Chief Executive Officer of Tamedia: "The investment in the Ricardo Group is a decisive strategic step for us. We want to further develop the core business of the Ricardo Group thanks to network effects with our own media such as 20minuten.ch and, among other things, exploit synergies between the fast-growing classified ad platforms Olx.ch and Tutti.ch." By joining forces, Autoricardo.ch and Car4you.ch aim to create a strong alternative to AutoScout24 in the car market.

Ricardo.ch was founded in Baar, Zug, in November 1999 and has belonged to the South African media group Naspers since 2008. Over the past 15 years, Ricardo.ch has become one of the strongest brands in the Swiss online market. With over 2.3 million registered members and over CHF 660 million in merchandise sales, Ricardo.ch is the clear leader in the Swiss e-commerce market. Christian Kunz, CEO of the Ricardo Group, sees great potential in the acquisition: "As a leading Swiss media company, Tamedia brings not only the strategic focus but also unique synergies to jointly write the next chapter in Ricardo's success story."

The Ricardo Group, headquartered in Zug, employs around 190 people in Switzerland and a 30-strong development team in France. In 2014, the company generated sales of around CHF 40 million. A very profitable core business was offset by investments of a similar magnitude in the expansion of Olx.ch, Autoricardo.ch and the launch costs for Ricardoshops.ch.

According to the announcement, the purchase price is 240 million Swiss francs. The transaction is subject to approval by the Swiss Federal Competition Commission.
 

On November 23, "Reporter" portrayed the controversial hotelier (Link to the film). The president of the Pro Üetliberg association did not agree with the film at all. In her opinion, the report was one-sided and embellished. Untruths had gone unchallenged. She turned to the ombudsman Achille Casanova. According to the SRG-D newsletter, Marius Born, head of the SRF "Documentaries and Reportage" department, stated in his statement that it was a portrait of the "notoriously controversial protagonist". The aim was to "trace his personality".

According to ombudsman Casanova, it was permissible to give the portrayed Fry the opportunity to comment on the conflicts with nature and heritage conservationists as well as with the legislator from his point of view. For the individual program, objectivity does not mean "balance in the sense of presenting all points of view as equally as possible". If a topic is approached from a certain angle, this must be made transparent and the essential facts must be conveyed correctly. This was the case with the "Reporter" program. In addition, the report "clearly pointed out Fry's conflicts with the law and the concerns of nature and heritage conservation on several occasions". (SDA)

"Forward to more life satisfaction" is the brand promise. We express this by showing people who are reintegrated into their everyday lives after treatment, caught red-handed in quiet contentment. Because patients with mental disorders need to find their footing again via clear structures, we make structures tangible in a figurative sense and show materials that combine in a unique way in the architecture and landscape design of the Wyss Private Clinic to form an easily perceivable whole. The new appearance is now online at Private clinic-wyss.ch.

Responsible at Klinik Wyss: Peter Zingg, Medical Director; Wilhelmina Zwemer, Nursing Director; Adrian Gehri, Director of Services and Operations; Cendrine Gafner, Marketing and Communications Manager. Responsible for strategy, conception and realization: In Flagranti Communication, Lyss.
 

The data from the classifieds platform Olx.ch, which belongs to Ricardo, can be used in a variety of ways: For example, it could be evaluated what is searched for, when and how. This information could be further used in the placement of advertising or product innovation, Lang, a business consultant in the field of e-commerce, told the news agency SDA. With Ricardo's auction platform, money could be earned through fees for transactions, and with the online shopping portal Ricardoshops.ch, which was only launched in September, profit could be made from trading margins. In addition, the takeover would allow synergies to be exploited within Tamedia, for example with the media company's other digital platforms.

"Digital platforms save print media business"

Lang therefore considers the price of 240 million Swiss francs for Ricardo to be realistic. In the run-up, however, there had also been speculation about a much higher purchase price. "For Tamedia, the purchase is also a strengthening of its own market position, which also plays into the price," said Lang. For example, Tamedia is creating another counterweight to competitor Ringier with Ricardo's sales platforms. The media houses Tamedia and Ringier are currently the two top dogs in the digital platform business. Ringier owns Autoscout24, Immoscout24 and Anibis, for example. Tamedia owns Homegate, Search.ch and Tutti.ch, for example. "These digital platforms are saving the print media business," Lang said. The entire classifieds market has shifted from print to digital in recent years, he said.

Analysts also assessed the purchase positively. Ricardo is profitable and Tamedia can use it to expand its online portfolio, wrote Zürcher Kantonalbank. The shares of the publishing house increased in value by 7.7 percent by the close of the stock exchange and were quoted at their highest level since June 2011. (SDA)

Tamedia buys Ricardo Group

Since its founding in 2000, the Bern-based agency Visu'l has experienced continuous growth and today employs twenty-two people. In order to continuously develop the agency and tap into new competencies, the management team was expanded to three people as of January 2015. Agency founder Pascal Froidevaux and co-owner Rolf Loepfe now form the management trio of the agency together with Lorena Montanarini.

The 33-year-old has been a communications consultant at Visu'l since September 2014. After holding various professional positions in communications and campaigning, she most recently worked as a consultant and project manager at the Lucerne-based creative agency Velvet, where she was responsible for mandates in the fields of culture, education and the private sector. Lorena Montanarini studied communication sciences, contemporary history and political science in Fribourg, Bern and Rome and later trained in marketing communication and strategic planning. Agency founder Pascal Froidevaux: "I am delighted to have Lorena Montanarini, a proven specialist in strategic brand management, on the management team and am convinced that our clients and the agency team will benefit from the collaboration."
 

Only natural sugar and natural flavors were used for the new recipe. In addition to the new light flavor with a hint of lemon, the packaging and appearance for Rivella Grün were also revised. For the label on the striking green PET bottle, Erdmannpeisker and Rivella staged the naturalness of the new flavor with a light and fresh design. A key visual was developed from the label design with the iconic green tea leaf, which can be found cross-medially in all communication media and brings the positioning "naturally light" to the point.

Communications for the new Rivella Green will launch in early February on TV and in print, and as a promotion along with online and social media channels.

Responsible at Rivella: Andrys Aardema (Head of Marketing Switzerland), Silvan Brauen (Group Brand Manager Rivella), Carla Mathieu (Brand Manager Rivella). Responsible at Erdmannpeisker: Gabriel Peisker and Sybille Erdmann (overall responsibility), Patrick Fawer (art direction), Selina Helbling (consulting); Markenfilm Schweiz (film production), Nemuk (microsite), OMD See (media planning).
 

According to the press release, the future sales manager is a proven industry expert. He managed the advertising market for the Neue Zürcher Zeitung at NZZ Media. Prior to that, he worked for Axel Springer as publishing director for business media and for NZZ as advertising director for NZZ am Sonntag. Due to his roots in the media environment, the 46-year-old will expand the consulting expertise in the market and help shape future developments.

Roman Häring has been working in the newly created role of Media Analyst at Direct Mail Company since October 2014. The focus of his work is the expansion of further media research activities. The MA Strategy evaluation options have already been in use since the end of last year, with more to follow from summer 2015. These objectives will enable us to better analyze and optimize the predictability and impact of our customer activities. Previously, the 30-year-old was a member of management at Publimedia, where he was responsible for managing the key account department for agencies and major clients. He has been a lecturer in media at SAWI for several years.

 

Janiak (SP/BL) considers it questionable that cablecom is moving them down the channel scale behind non-licensed broadcasters with "mostly purely commercial, shallow TV content". The "must carry rule" also applies in the digital age. However, with up to 500 channels, the question of survival for a channel is not whether it will be broadcast, but in which slot. The Federal Council had rejected the motion, citing, among other things, the rapid pace of technological development. In addition, TV consumers could sort the offer themselves. The KVF also believes that additional regulation is not necessary at the moment, as stated in the press release. (SDA)