This much should be clear to everyone by now: "gaming" is no longer just an evil that puts a strain on the parent-child relationship. What computer games are capable of today and in which areas of the huge gaming world the most exciting developments can currently be observed were discussed at the Gamehotel Congress in Zurich at the end of last week. What the American Impact Games co-founder Eric Brown understands by "news games" and how he uses the "Play The News" tool developed by his company to transform current news reports into small, contextual "games" was discussed with him in advance by Werbewoche (see "Playing with the news"). However, a number of other presentations and votes also provided exciting information. For example, a Microsoft representative on the panel talked about the very slow but steady development of in-game advertising. If advertising is used in line with the character and look of a game, it is very welcome by consumers, he said. Furthermore, when the special console gaming platform XBox Live was launched, it was discovered that gamers were not interested in playing with complete strangers from all over the world. They want to compete with people they know, said the Microsoft man, pointing to the incredible success of community platforms such as Facebook and Myspace. Finally, the American game developer Chris Hecker gave some insights into the topic of "user-generated content" at an incredible pace and showed how much time and imagination a very large number of gamers are now actively involved in their favorite games - the last example was the title "Spore", co-developed by Hecker, in which you can create your own game character. An exciting world.

Amir Kassaei was elected as the new spokesman of the board of directors of the Art Directors Club Germany at the annual general meeting on October 25, 2008 in Munich. He will thus be at the helm of the club for the next two years. Kassaei takes over the office from Swiss Michael Preiswerk, who chaired ADC for the last four years. Preiswerk will replace Michael Kindler in his role as treasurer.

Michael Preiswerk hands over his position as CEO to Amir Kassaei.

The city of Biel received the "Energy City" label on Monday. With the award, it was rewarded by the Swiss sponsoring association Energiestadt for its efforts in the efficient use of energy. Biel scored well in the evaluation for pedestrian and bicycle traffic as well as public transport. According to the SDA, there is still a need for action above all in the energy consumption of existing municipal buildings. The city of Biel intends to draw up an energy report in the coming months in order to define further measures and priorities. An energy accounting system for properties has already been implemented. New buildings in the city are being built to the Minergie standard.
City President Hans Stöckli and Construction Director Hubert Klopfenstein received the label. It was presented by Ulrich König from the supporting association Energiestadt and Ulrich Nyffenegger from the Office for Environmental Coordination and Energy of the Canton of Bern.

Bruno Ziauddin is moving to Annabelle and, as of summer 2009, will be responsible for reports and portraits as head of copy and member of the editorial team. The 43-year-old was most recently a writer for Weltwoche and a freelancer for various German media.
Ziauddin will replace Barbara Klingbacher, who has headed the Reports department since June 2006 and will go freelance in March 2009. The 36-year-old intends to return to writing and other projects as a freelance author.
Bruno Ziauddin grew up in Zurich as the son of an Indian and a Swiss and studied politics and history in London. He got into journalism through a traineeship at the Zürcher Unterländer and later wrote for the St. Galler Tagblatt, the magazine, Weltwoche and for the magazine of the Süddeutsche Zeitung, among others. Ziauddin has received various awards for his articles on society and sports, including the Zurich Journalism Prize twice. Bruno Ziauddin is a lecturer at the Media Training Center in Lucerne. In June 2008, Rowohlt-Verlag published his debut work "Grüezi Gummihälse," a satirical examination of the emotional relationship between the Swiss and the Germans.

Paolo Placa will take over as head of the Publicitas branch in Aarau on November 1, 2008. The qualified marketing planner and media manager will be responsible for marketing AZ media. In this position, Placa replaces Moreno Cavaliere, who has taken over the management of the newly created Direct Sales department. All other activities and publisher relations will continue to report to the Regional Director Central, René Gehrig.
Paolo Placa has been working as advertising manager of the Mitteland-Zeitung and vom Sonntag since January 1, 2006. At the same time, he started as a member of the management team at Publicitas Aarau. The 34-year-old started his career in 1989 with a commercial apprenticeship at Publicitas Olten. From 1992 to 1997, he worked as a consulting assistant at Publicitas Zurich and then as a junior account manager at Publimedia Zurich. He then moved to Cinecom & Media as an account manager and subsequently managing director. After two years each at Publicitas Data and at Das Beste from Reader's Digest, Paolo Placa moved to the Aargauer Zeitung as advertising manager.

Radio Zürisee is celebrating its 25th birthday on November 7 and 8 with a big birthday party. In the run-up to the event, the radio station auctioned off its record archive for ten days via the online auction house Ricardo. Around 20,000 singles, 2,000 long-playing records and 1,000 CDs were offered for sale. These included records by Pink Floyd, Nazareth and Madonna. All of the proceeds, around 13,000 francs, will go to the social work of Pastor Sieber, whose communications officer Mark Wiedmer thanked Gerry Reinhardt in the studio.
The private broadcaster also wants to make a splash at the anniversary celebrations. Nationally renowned music stars such as Roots 66 with Polo Hofer, Seven, Sandee, Caroline Chevin, Fabienne Louves, Myron and Kandlbauer will be performing in the Gründfeld sports hall in Rapperswil-Jona. There will also be TV celebrities who learned their trade at the private radio station: Steffi Buchli, Monika Fasnacht, Oliver Bono and Stefan Bürer. They will play their favorite songs at the birthday party and start the warm-up phase for the party as guests on the morning show from October 27 to November 1. Thomas Bucheli, who is now responsible for the weather at the private broadcaster, opened the first morning show on Monday.

The financial crisis is also leaving its mark on the paper industry: Chemie und Papier Holding (CPH) is feeling the effects of companies' reluctance to spend on advertising. The Lucerne-based company is therefore reducing the profit forecast it formulated in the summer.
CPH expects demand for magazine paper to weaken significantly in the normally strong fourth quarter. In addition, investment projects are being canceled in both the USA and Europe as a result of the financial crisis. Sales of molecular sieves are suffering as a result, CPH announced at the end of last week.
The results of the Paper and Silicate Chemistry divisions will also continue to be adversely affected by high energy and raw material costs and the depreciation of the euro. CPH's 2008 operating result will therefore be lower than last year's, according to the press release.

Exxtra is showcasing Migros' Léger products with a print campaign. The advertising measures are a clear challenge to the competitor brand Weight Watchers. After the Slimline products were integrated into the Léger line in 2007, the aim is now to increase brand awareness and rejuvenate the brand image. To achieve this, in addition to traditional measures such as TV commercials and advertisements, Migros' involvement as a sponsoring partner of the Miss Switzerland contest has been intensified.
The subjects show the young Miss Switzerland Whitney Toyloy splashing around with squeaky toys in the bathtub, in a bed of roses or painting her nails. The black and white images are complemented by statements from Miss Switzerland about the Léger products, which are intended to underline the brand message of "indulgence without remorse".
The low-calorie, low-carb and low-fat light products will be featured in various women's magazines and in Migros' own press from now until the beginning of December. In addition to the main campaign with Whitney Toyloy, accompanying measures such as competitions and PR activities will be implemented. Autograph sessions with the reigning Miss Switzerland will also be held in Migros stores.

Responsible at Migros: Sven Guggenheim (Project Manager Communications), Daniel Hasenfratz (Junior Project Manager Communications), Marcel Singer (Head of Category Manager Dairy Products/Eggs), Raphael Meier (Category Manager Cheese). Responsible at Exxtra: Dieter Hofmann (CD), Beat Fedier (text), Denise Lehmann (AD/graphics), Michael Broglin (consulting), Hanspeter Schneider (photography), B,G Media (media).

Tamedia's management has appointed Martin Coninx as Managing Director of the business newspaper Finanz & Wirtschaft. He has headed the publishing house since 2005. In his new role, the 37-year-old will also assume responsibility for the further development of the title's print and online content as of November 1, 2008, and will be the direct contact for the chief editorial team headed by Peter Schuppli. In journalistic matters, the Editor-in-Chief will continue to report to Tamedia's publisher, Pietro Supino.
Martin Coninx studied business administration at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences in Winterthur and trained as a federally certified publishing specialist. After working for three years at the auditing and consulting firm Intercontrol, a subsidiary of Ernst & Young, he completed a stage at the Basler Media Group from 2000. In 2001, he took over as Head of Marketing at the business magazine Bilanz, before joining Publicitas China as Marketing Director in 2003.

Samuel Helbling, Managing Director and Publishing Director of Media-Daten AG in Zurich, is leaving the company at the end of the month. The publishing house also publishes Werbewoche, among other publications.
After holding various positions as a cultural journalist and copywriter, Samuel Helbling began his work in the publishing group in 1995 as editor for marketing and media economics at Werbewoche and was appointed editor-in-chief in 1999. Five years later, he became publishing director of Media-Daten AG Switzerland. In April 2007, he took over the management of the publishing house together with Dr. Laurin Paschek, and in this capacity he was largely responsible for the reorganization and relocation of the company back to the center of Zurich, as well as the relaunch of the flagship Werbewoche. The Media-Daten AG publishing house is the publisher of other titles such as Media Trend Journal, Schweizer Media-Daten and Top 150 Schweizer Medien.
Now that Media-Daten AG and Springer Medizin Verlag AG have already moved into a joint location in September, it is planned to merge them in terms of company law and organization as of January 1, 2009. Until then, Laurin Paschek will remain responsible for the business of Media-Daten AG as Managing Director. As of today, Eleonore Droux, Managing Director of Springer Medizin Verlag AG, will take over the operational management of Media-Daten AG's local staff. As of 2009, Laurin Paschek will continue to act in an advisory capacity for the Media-Daten business in Switzerland as a member of the Board of Directors and will drive forward its strategic development. (PD)

The long-awaited decisions on the disputed licensing areas for regional television and FM radio will be publicly announced on Friday, October 31, 2008, at 10.30 a.m. in Bern. The first announcement by the Department of the Environment, Energy and Communications (Uvek) in July 2008 concerned the non-contested areas.
The radio decision for the greater Zurich region (Region 23) is particularly eagerly awaited. Five radio stations are bidding for three licenses there, including 105züri (Giuseppe Scaglione), Radio24 (Tamedia), Energy Zürich (51% owned by Ringier), Radio 1 (Roger Schawinski) and Radio Zürisee (Radio Zürisee AG).
Bakom spokesperson Roberto Rivola told Werbewoche that the selection process and the reasons for the licensing decisions had been made very precise and that a longer processing time had been accepted. The aim was to prevent objections that could delay the entry into force of the license. When asked whether there were any surprises, he said with a laugh that there were winners and losers.
The Aargau region, where Roger Schawinski is challenging Peter Wanner's Radio Argovia with Radio AG, and the south-eastern Switzerland region, where Schawinski is competing against Hanspeter Lebrument's Radio Grischa with Radio Südost, also deserve special attention among the license areas. It will also be interesting to see whether Matthias Hagemann's Basler Zeitung Medien receives one of the two licenses for the 17 Basel region.

The German weekly newspaper Die Zeit wants to establish itself more firmly in the Swiss newspaper market. From December 4, the paper will appear with two extra Swiss pages. In addition to current events, the editorial focus will be on articles that shed light on Switzerland's special situation in the midst of a Europe that is growing together. The basic question is: How does the independent country deal politically, socially and culturally with the challenges and growing pressure from outside? - "The niche for a liberal newspaper in Switzerland is bigger today than it was a few years ago," says Giovanni di Lorenzo, editor-in-chief of Die Zeit, in a press release issued on Sunday. "We want to examine Switzerland's self-image in particular and measure developments in the country against international standards."
The 40-year-old journalist Peer Teuwsen will be the Zeit correspondent in Zurich and thus responsible for the Swiss edition. He will be supported in the initial phase by Zeit editor Urs Willmann. Until recently, Teuwsen worked as head of the culture and science department at Weltwoche. Before that, he was deputy editor-in-chief of the magazine. Peer Teuwsen is a two-time winner of the Zurich Journalism Prize and is known for being extremely ambitious.
The Swiss edition of Die Zeit is supported by an advertising campaign and various POS activities.