But young talents? They are clearly outnumbered. And women? Above all, they can shine again as the stars of the films on the red carpet. Like Nicole Kidman, for example, who will open the festival on Wednesday evening, May 14, as the Monegasque princess in "Grace of Monaco".

Despite all the criticism, the film festival on the Côte d'Azur still manages to live up to its reputation as the most important and glamorous festival in the world. After all, no other film festival attracts so many international stars. Even in the secondary sections, new works by directors are screened that many other festivals would have liked to have had. These include the directorial debut "Lost River" by Hollywood beau Ryan Gosling.

But back to the competition, where this time political and socially critical themes stand out among the 18 entries. Robert Pattinson tries his hand at a satire on Hollywood alongside Julianne Moore in David Cronenberg's film "Maps to the Stars". Ken Loach explores the life story of an Irish communist in "Jimmy's Hall" - supposedly the 77-year-old's last film. Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne have Marion Cotillard desperately fighting for her job in "Deux jours, une nuit".

Old master and "wunderkind"

Tommy Lee Jones has signed Hilary Swank and Meryl Streep for his second directorial work, the western "The Homesman". Michel Hazanavicius, who recently caused a sensation in Cannes with the premiere of "The Artist", is now also striking a more serious note: "The Search" is set in the former war zone of Chechnya. Jean-Luc Godard ventures an experiment in 3D with "Adieu au langage". The 83-year-old's work is the first Swiss film in eleven years to start in the main competition at Cannes. With "Sils Maria" by Oliver Assayas, a Swiss co-production is also in the running.

However, Xavier Dolan may also outshine his competitors as the youngest contender and take home the main prize, the Palme d'Or, on May 24. With the family drama "Mommy", the "Canadian wunderkind" is already presenting his fifth feature film - at the age of 25.

Film from Mauritania nominated

Of the 18 films in competition, eight are from Western Europe and five from North America, three of which are from Canada. One film from Mauritania ("Timbuktu", Abderrahmane Sissako) and works from Argentina, Japan, Turkey and Russia were also nominated.

Women are poorly represented this year; only two films by female directors can be seen in the competition. However, there is one trump card from a female perspective: New Zealand director Jane Campion ("The Piano") has been appointed jury president. (SDA)
 

In each case, the advertising and media agency, as well as the client, were awarded prizes. A total of 24 jury members from the client side, from advertising and media agencies, as well as from teaching and research, judged 93 campaigns under the direction of Torsten Tomczak (Director of the Research Center for Customer Insight at the University of St. Gallen).

Once again this year, entries were submitted for the awards in the following six categories: services/trade/media, financial services/insurance, international, culture and social affairs, food and beverages, consumer goods and durables.

Gold winner

Silver winner

Bronze winner

The gold, silver and bronze winners at a glance:

The list of nominees can be found at Effie.ch
 

President Anita Schweizer welcomed members to this year's General Assembly of the Public Relations Society of Eastern Switzerland/Liechtenstein (PROL) at the University of Applied Sciences in St.Gallen. The almost 30 participants approved all of the board's proposals and were able to take note of the association's healthy finances. Thanks to the cooperation with the neighboring regional groups of the German and Austrian PR Associations, the PROL was also able to network across borders. As a result, members benefit from a broader range of services. The PROL is also planning to cooperate with the Kaufmännischer Verband Ostschweiz. There was a change on the Board of Directors at the Annual General Meeting: Victor Rohner stepped down after almost ten years of service. The new Board member is Pascal Tschamper, Head of Communications at the University of Applied Sciences St.Gallen. Lisa Brunner has taken over from Urs Weishaupt, who stepped down as auditor. Insights behind the scenes at the University of Applied Sciences and a networking aperitif rounded off the event.

The members of the PROL Board of Directors (from left): Cornelia Lutz, Prof. Emil Annen, President Anita Schweizer, Pascal Tschamper, Ursula Trunz and Iwan Köppel. Missing from the picture is Vice President Dominik Joos))

The Radio Pilatus website now appears in a completely new look. The user is addressed more strongly by the images, finds better prepared news and entertainment topics and benefits from more easily accessible services. In addition, the site has been optimized for use on portable devices. Associated with the changeover is a new way of working for staff from the editorial, moderation and sales/marketing departments. The presentation of content on the website Radiopilatus.ch allows for many more possibilities, especially in the graphic area, which are consistently used. In addition, the new website facilitates and promotes interactivity.

With its expansion in the mobile and online sectors, Radio Pilatus is not only targeting people with a particular affinity for technology. Usage behavior in the mobile and online sector has changed massively in recent years among a very broad section of the population, without consumers and media professionals being fully aware of this. Particularly in the case of news and service topics, the website takes on an important function in that, for example, pictures can be viewed or tickets can be purchased. This will not result in any significant changes to Radio Pilatus' programming. The proven program structure will be retained.

Thomas Zesiger back at Radio Pilatus

On August 1, 2014, Thomas Zesiger will begin his work as Head of Music and Deputy Head of Moderation at Radio Pilatus and will also be heard on the station again. Thomas Zesiger already worked at Radio Pilatus from 1998 to 2008 as presenter, editor and deputy head of music. He also hosted the then chart show "Top Twenty" for many years. He later moved to the Zug-based private broadcaster Sunshine and then to Publica Data as Key Account Manager. The 39-year-old Zesiger is now looking forward to returning to the microphone after a break of several years on the radio. "I particularly appreciate the opportunity to rejoin Radio Pilatus and thus be able to contribute to the programming of the private station with the largest audience in Central Switzerland," says Thomas Zesiger. In addition to his work as presenter and head of music, Thomas Zesiger will be actively involved in the areas of training and planning.

Martin Lindstrom, internationally recognized brand expert from Denmark, devoted his presentation to the future of brands. Martin Schneider, Director of publisuisse, presented the latest findings from the study "Media of the Future 2020" in his input presentation. The study takes into account various perspectives and combines results from expert interviews as well as surveys of consumers and players in the advertising industry. The results show that the proliferation of additional usage devices also continues to increase parallel usage. "Interestingly, however, parallel episodes tend to take place selectively," Schneider explained. "Simultaneous use of TV and the iPad, for example, only takes place briefly in each case and not during important programs," the event host continued.

Roger de Weck, Director General of SRG SSR, delved deeper into the changes in media offerings due to digitization and presented corresponding projects that have already been or will be implemented on SRG channels in the three language regions. Marcus Schögel, Director of the Institute for Marketing at the University of St. Gallen, emphasized in his presentation that successful marketing in the future must take even more account of the entire customer process, from search to purchase to use and repurchase. Interactions should be actively designed, potential should be recognized at an early stage, and finally new paths should be actively pursued. As in the previous year, the event was moderated by Urs Gredig, SRF correspondent for Great Britain.

Following mediavision, the Swiss Effie 2014 Award ceremony took place. During the Effie event, "The Voice of Switzerland" winner Tiziana Gulino provided musical entertainment. With her unique voice and likeable manner, she thrilled the audience. You will find the presentations as video stream or as PDF as well as picture material in the coming week on Publisuisse-mediavision.ch.

After all, the World Cup in Brazil is also a championship for upgrading electronic gadgets. And since you don't want to buy them on the beach in Brazil, there's only one thing to do: save money - "I'm not stupid.
One of the spots from Media-Markt lead agency Ogilvy & Mather is thanks to Horizon.net already on Youtube (uma):
 

Everyone who visits the office at Wülflingerstrasse 36 and leaves their contact details will be entered into the competition. The winner will then have the opportunity to receive services worth up to CHF 3,000 free of charge. The offer ranges from the creation of websites to search engine optimization, online advertising (Google AdWords) and the production of animated videos.

Organizations based in Winterthur will be contacted personally with a mailing and invited for a coffee or a beer after work. In addition, APG posters in prominent locations in the city will attract attention. The microsite Winti-goes-digital.ch serves as an information platform for social media communication via Twitter and Facebook. The campaign runs from May 12 to 16.

The background to the "Winti Goes Digital" competition is the change of legal domicile from Schaffhausen to Winterthur as of May 1, 2014. The agency feels closely connected to its new home port of Winterthur and would like to position itself in the city as an agency with an affinity for the digital world, according to a press release issued on Wednesday.
 

The campaign, which will run for several weeks, calls for blood donations via online and offline channels at national and regional level. It kicks off on May 7 with the distribution of a video in which Christi-an Gross, multiple Football Coach of the Year, demands of his team: "I want to see blood." Christian Gross' exaggerated motivational speech fits perfectly in the context of anticipation for the World Cup, the agency said in a statement.

The final appeal "Donate blood. Rette Leben" ("Donate blood. Save lives") leads to a landing page on which all information about blood donation, the campaign, special events and the current blood donation dates are bundled. The video is distributed via social media channels as well as in direct communication measures. The campaign forum is responsible for the overall concept, the video idea and the texts of the landing page.

The campaign will run for several weeks until the World Cup final in Brazil on July 13. During this time, the regional blood donation services will implement various activities under the motto "Doing good together", such as blood donation days with additional services or "donors recruit new donors" mailings. The concept for these activities was developed with the participation of the various stakeholders.

In addition, ahead of World Blood Donor Day on June 14, the commuter population is invited to donate blood in an extra car at one of five locations in cooperation with SBB Charter.

Responsible at Swiss Transfusion SRC: Dagmar Anderes (Head of Marketing & Communications). Responsible at the Campaign Forum: Martin Diethelm (concept, project management, text), Constance Marschan (project collaboration), Simon Nagel (video: Simonnagel.ch).Responsible for the landing page: Deltacity.net
 

Voila-ma-suisse.ch presented.

Ten vehicles with Streetview cameras are now touring the country from May to October 2014, stopping at a total of 21 locations in German-speaking and French-speaking Switzerland and in Ticino.

As it links the participants' outdoor experiences with the digital world in a sophisticated way, the successful implementation of the campaign depends significantly on the technology. You can find out more about the background from Thursday, May 8, in the current print edition of Werbewoche.

Responsible at Mazda: Matthias Walker (Director Marketing), Giuseppe Loffredo (Director PR), Anne Thorens (Manager Communication & Events), Grégory Mettraux (Product Coordinator), Bastien Junod (Online, CRM & Events Specialist). Responsible on agency side: Remy Fabrikant, Jochen Hennecke, Tina Mons (JWT / Fabrikant), Matthias Wandel, Svetlana Savatic, Christian Vuithier (Mindshare), Donat Grimm, Ivan Kellenberger (Futurecom Interactive), Pedro Llopart, Gaby Zürcher (Premotion), Olaf Grewe and Audrey Liechti (Edelman).

The Eichhof Brewery in Lucerne celebrates its 180th birthday this year. As part of Central Switzerland's history, the company cultivates the region's culture and tradition. To mark its anniversary, Eichhof is now giving something back to Central Switzerland: the brewery's campaign focuses attention on regional culture and promotes regional customs with an anniversary fund of 180,000 Swiss francs. The people of Central Switzerland decide how this donation is to be distributed among Betruf, mask carving, Bödelen and Co. on the anniversary website Onourculture.ch.

Here, the representatives of the customs present their tradition and themselves and report on the goals they would like to realize with the donation. The website offers space for user-generated content and reports continuously on everything related to the customs.

Print advertisements and gastronomic advertising media with the representatives of the customs draw attention to the vote. The importance of promoting regional customs is also highlighted on the radio. The vote runs throughout the summer and ends with a big anniversary celebration in the fall, when the donation is handed over. Accompanying PR measures bring the campaign to life.

Eichhof has brewed a special beer especially for the anniversary, whose name and product design also come from Jung von Matt. Eichhof Kulturbräu is only available during the campaign period and also serves as an advertising medium for the Brauchtums vote during this time.

The campaign is rounded off by a series of posters encouraging people to toast Central Switzerland's culture more often.

Responsible at Heineken Switzerland: Nabil Nasser (Marketing Director); David Kistler (Group Brand Manager); Martin Kürzi (Brand Manager); Jan Freitag (Head of Corporate Communications and CSR). Responsible at Jung von Matt: Alexander Jaggy (Executive Creative Director); Maurus Zehnder, Andy Lusti (Creative Direction); Lorenz Clormann (Art Direction); Maren Beck (Text); Melanie Sellmann (Graphics); Deborah Herzig (Art Buying); Rolf Helfenstein, Simone Jehle, Laila Müller, Christine Bigler (Consulting); Cyrill Hauser, Philipp Bühler, Nicole Hoppler (Public Relations & Content); Pepe Kägi (Production). Natascha Kiefer (DTP); Markus Schärer (Executive Digital Direction); Marco Zimmerli (Art Direction Digital); Tenzin Tibatsang (Screendesign); Oliver Vedolin (Conception); Jonas Grümann (Development Website); Ralf Brändli (Overall Technical Responsibility); Sam Sherbini (Interactiondesign & Project Management); Julia Grass (Project Management); Mirjam Kluka (Photography); Tania Willen/silmä (Image Editing); Filmzimmer.ch (web videos); Esther Michel (web photos).

Adrian Schulthess is joining the "News/Focus" team of the Sunday newspaper from the Tamedia publishing house on August 1, 2014, according to a statement on Tuesday. Schulthess is currently a reporter at the Blick newsroom at Ringier. Previously, he was a reporter at 20 Minuten, among others.

The OECD supports them. The EU supports them. The Federal Council supports it. We are talking about out-of-court dispute resolution or self-regulation by the business community. Because the advantages over the judiciary are convincing: low-threshold access, low costs, fast processing, relief for the courts. The only Swiss institution in the field of consumer law that meets all these conditions is the Swiss Commission for Fairness.

On May 6, CVP National Councilor Christine Bulliard-Marbach (pictured), President of the Swiss Fairness Commission since 2012, presented the new policy paper (PDF download) of the SLK to the media. The occasion for this was the debate of the National Council in their special session on the new Federal Consumer Credit Act (KKG) on May 8. Contrary to the original intention of the parliamentary initiative "No advertising for small loans", the Economic Commission of the National Council WAK-N has, as is well known, proposed in its draft a self-regulation of the industry instead of a general ban. The affected Association of Swiss Credit Banks and Financing Institutions (VSKF) has proposed the Fairness Commission as the arbitration court for compliance with the convention.

Important alternative to going to court

"The SLK is the only out-of-court institution in Switzerland in the field of consumer law that meets the requirements for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) under EU law," explains National Councilor Bulliard-Marbach. "These include independence, transparency, equal composition, adversarial procedure, efficiency and legality." The Fairness Commission enjoys the greatest acceptance far beyond the communications industry and is even recognized as an important authority in doctrine and jurisprudence. "We are convinced," the SLK president continued, "that we can be an important alternative to going to court, not only in the KKG, but also in other areas. In the future, we want to bring this expertise more strongly into the political consensus-building process." For many years now, the Fairness Commission has - in addition to its actual field of activity, the assessment of complaints against unfair commercial communication - successfully acted as a court of arbitration in disputes relating to the advertising of alcoholic beverages and tobacco products as well as direct marketing.