If you stroll through the streets and clubs of a city - in our case Zurich - you will see many people who look alike: many wear the same sneakers, the same jeans, the same handbags. Why is that? Apparently it's the media, fashion and lifestyle magazines, TV channels, but also friends and acquaintances who tell people what's cool and trendy at the moment. But you can also get inspiration from other sources: New York journalist A. J. Jacobs spent a year letting a book dictate his actions. For twelve months, the writer, who works for the American magazine Esquire, lived strictly according to the commandments of the Bible. He let his hair and beard grow, coated his shaggy hair with olive oil (Solomon 9:8: "Let not your head lack ointment"), prayed several times a day, played the harp and horn and tried to escape the provocative advertising campaigns in the Big Apple by wearing blinders ("Thou shalt not covet", Exodus 20:17). Devoting a year exclusively to advertising week must be much more enjoyable...
Jacobs has already distinguished himself in the past with self-experiments that are light years more radical than those of Magazin-Küng. He became famous with his bestseller "Britannica and I", in which he recounts his experiences reading through the encyclopaedia.

The separation between the music arm of the Japanese electronics company Sony and the German media group Bertelsmann has been completed. The Japanese have acquired the 50 percent share in the Sony BMG record company for around one billion euros.

The Internet companies Google and Yahoo are postponing their controversial advertising partnership. The companies announced a short delay last Friday.
The background to this is the ongoing investigation by the authorities. Talks with the antitrust authorities are continuing, the two online giants said, according to a report by SDA. Some advertising companies and competitors such as Microsoft are against the partnership because it could restrict competition.
Yahoo had announced the cooperation in view of the takeover attack by Microsoft. At the start of the cooperation in October, ads sold by Google were initially to be placed on some Yahoo websites in the USA and Canada. Yahoo would receive a share of the revenue.
Google dominates the online advertising business. The two companies have a combined market share of around 80 percent in internet searches in the USA. The companies announced the agreement in June, but postponed its implementation for around three and a half months to give the authorities time to review it.

The TV broadcaster Premiere shocked the stock market with the announcement of a loss and the admission of excessive customer numbers.
At the end of last week, the pay-TV station's share price fell by 52.75 percent. This came after Premiere announced last Thursday that the broadcaster would have to reduce its customer base by 940,000. They had either never activated their subscriptions or their contracts had expired. Premiere actually has a good 2.4 million direct subscribers and just under 1.2 million customers via various partners.
The subscription broadcaster also announced an operating loss for the current year. After taxes, interest, depreciation and amortization, a loss of 40 to 70 million euros is expected. The channel - a customer of the Vaud-based TV encryption specialist Kudelski - continues to struggle with a loss of customers due to blackouts.

The Tages-Anzeiger is rethinking its strategy in view of its sharply reduced circulation and readership figures. As the Sonntag newspaper writes in its October 5 edition, editor-in-chief Hartmeier is considering discontinuing the city of Zurich split (6th Bund). It is conceivable that the city split could be merged into the "Zürich" bundle, Hartmeier told Sonntagsblatt.
The changes are likely after the publication of the Wemf figures revealed that the Tages-Anzeiger has by no means improved its position over the past year. The newspaper lost 9.1 percent of its readers within a year. At 487,000, it has fallen below the half-million mark for the first time. The circulation is 213,738 copies. Hartmeier cites the many single households, the free papers and the increasingly intensive media substitution towards the Internet and commuter newspapers, especially among young people, as reasons for this.
In addition, the Tages-Anzeiger's regional concept does not appear to be paying off. While the Tagi is losing readers on Lake Zurich and in the Zurich Unterland and Oberland, the traditional regional papers are remaining stable or even increasing slightly. There are reportedly fears that one of the three papers that have been merged into a newspaper group - Oberländer, Unterländer and Zürichsee-Zeitung - will soon be taken over by the Tamedia Group.
As Tamedia spokesperson Christoph Zimmer told Werbewoche, the option of discontinuing the "Stadtsplit" and merging it into the "Zürich" bundle is also a journalistic consideration. According to Zimmer, readers from outside the city would also like to read stories from the neighborhoods. A merger would serve these people. Zimmer emphasizes, however, that nothing has been decided yet and that they are still thinking about it. There are also no plans to cut jobs in the merger scenario.

Ringier is not taking long to act: A few days after Dominic Geisseler announced his departure, the Group management is appointing a new editor-in-chief for its illustrated magazine. The 46-year-old Nik Niethammer will head the editorial team of Schweizer Illustrierte as of December 1 of this year. Niethammer has already been a reporter for Schweizer Illustrierte and a member of the editorial team at Blick. In 2004, Niethammer took over as head of the magazine division at Sat.1 in Berlin. Most recently, as editor-in-chief of Sat.1, he was responsible for the entire news and magazine division.
Niethammer is currently working in a project team on the development of a print publication with which Ringier - in competition with the Tamedia product "20 Minuten Friday," which will be launched at the end of the month - wants to reach a young and urban audience.
It was only on Wednesday last week that it became known that Dominic Geisseler would be leaving his post as editor-in-chief.The break between Geisseler and Switzerland's biggest publishing house came about, according to the statement, "because of differing views on the future journalistic orientation of Schweizer Illustrierte. Ringier magazine boss Urs Heller will lead the paper on an interim basis until the beginning of December.

Prostate cancer is the second most common cause of cancer-related death in men. Despite this, prostate cancer is still a taboo subject. One reason for this is that screening is still associated with an unpleasant procedure. Today, the disease is easy to detect by means of a blood test in the crook of the arm and, if diagnosed in time, can also be treated well, writes Jung von Matt/Limmat, the advertising agency of the Prostate Cancer Research Foundation, in a press release.
The current campaign aims to promote this medical issue in a very striking way. The taboo is addressed with the three subjects. The message: as many men as possible in the risk group should make themselves available for a prostate cancer test in the crook of the arm.
Responsible at the Prostate Cancer Research Foundation: Thomas Lautenschlager (Managing Director), Prof. Dr. med. Franz Recker (founder of the foundation). Responsible at Jung von Matt/Limmat: Alexander Jaggy (Creative Direction), Patrick Beeli (Art Direction), Samuel Knaus (Text), Ariel Zumstein (Graphics), Erasmo Palomba (Art Buying), Remo Brunner (Consulting), Gerhard Merzeder (Photography), Detail AG (Image Processing).

A lot is happening in the distribution market for Swiss magazines and newspapers: As announced on Thursday, Swiss Post is taking over early delivery from the NZZ Group and Tamedia, Valora is reviewing the newsstand market, indirect press promotion is being implemented and subscription cards are being reinvented.
All of this will be the subject of a conference organized by the Media Institute entitled "The last mile of the newspaper". On Wednesday, October 8, Ueli Eckstein from AZ Medien, Thomas Egger from Berinfor, Ulrich Hurni from PostMail, Wolfgang Schickli from Valora and Media Punkt Managing Director Sacha Wigdorovits will meet in Zurich for a discussion. At a panel discussion, they will present and discuss current trends in the distribution of print titles with industry representatives.
The conference will take place on October 8 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Hotel Unterstrass in Zurich.

To mark "German Unity Day", Radio 24 dedicated its morning show "Ufsteller" to Germans. As a gesture to the German citizens living in Zurich - the city's largest group of foreigners - presenter Patrick Hässig spoke exclusively High German for once in his morning show from 5 to 9 a.m. on Friday.
When this was announced on the station yesterday, Switzerland's tense relationship with its big neighbor was revealed once again: "We have received several dozen emails," Radio 24 program director Karin Müller told 20 Minuten. "I already have to listen to enough High German in Zurich, I don't want to put up with it on the radio," wrote one listener, while others even announced that they would boycott Radio 24. There were also numerous positive reactions. "The topic is extremely polarizing," Müller told the commuter newspaper.
Radio Energy Zurich had a similar experience last year when the station employed the German Katrin Wilde as a presenter: after a few weeks, she returned to Germany head over heels.
Presenter Hässig hopes that his show will contribute to international understanding. His show on Friday morning included an interview with a member of the Bundestag, sketches by comedian Otto and songs from the New German Wave.

This fall, SBB is launching a new Half-Fare travelcard with an integrated Visa card. SBB is promoting its new offer with a campaign by Euro RSCG Zurich and the slogan "Pay with your Half-Fare travelcard".
The aim of the campaign is to advertise an additional service for regular customers, writes SBB in a press release. The image of a combination of train travel and shopping was implemented in posters on which train attendants are also employees in the shoe store or restaurant.
The campaign for the Half-Fare travelcard with free credit card will start in October. In an initial phase, brochures at points of sale and train stations as well as mailings will be used. Posters and advertisements will also be placed later.
Responsible at SBB: Marta Kwiatkowski (Head of Customer Management), Colette Manella (Head of Communications Customer Management), Nadia Gunzinger (Project Manager Communications). Responsible at Euro RSCG Zurich: Jürg Aemmer (Creative Director), Barbara Strahm (Art Director), Christian Schirmer (Text), Grit Böhme, Samuel Huber (Graphics), Sebastian Zeuner, Walter Tagliaferri (Consulting), Roman Emunds (Strategy), Caroline Webb (Art Buying), Edi Burri (Production), Frank Bodin (Overall responsibility).

Brand Republic announced the winners of its annual coolest brand survey this week. Apple's iPhone took second place behind Aston Martin, followed by Apple itself, Bang & Olufsen and You Tube.
British car company Aston Martin has been voted the most stylish brand of 2008/09 by Brand Republic and over 2,500 voters. Several thousand brands were listed for the survey before being classified according to style, innovation, originality, authenticity and attractiveness.
Aston Martin's new DBS V12 model, which featured in the latest James Bond film "Casino Royal", was the main reason for its victory.
Bang & Olufsen, which has a technology and design partnership with Aston Martin, has developed a sound system for the car, as the hi-fi manufacturer announced in a press release.

A new amber beer, Oberländer Bräu, has been created in the Zurich Oberland. The Matter & Gretener agency has now created a label for the new product, having already developed a new look for Goldküsten Bräu at the beginning of the year.
The label shows Oberland hills, lake landscapes, furrows and the sun in the colors brown, blue and ochre, writes Braukultur.
A pub brewery for the Oberländer Bräu is still under construction, with an opening planned for summer 2009. The beer could then be consumed in the same building in Bubikon where it was brewed.
Responsible at Braukultur: Lars Hovind, Manuela Hovind, Patrick Bloch (owner). Responsible at Matter & Gretener: Daniel Matter(Creative Director), Karin Beerli (Art Director), Simone Frei (Consultant).