Over the past few days, various media outlets have reported the discovery of a collection of pornography by Franz Kafka. According to his biographer Reiner Stach, however, this report is merely a marketing ploy for a book by the British author James Hawes. "It is not a discovery. These magazines are not a porn collection," Stach told the German press agency DPA. The fact that Kafka had owned magazines with pornographic images was nothing new, nor had Kafka previously been considered chaste or holy. Referring to the forthcoming Hawes book, the Times had written that Kafka's pornography was now being taken out of the closet. "The whole thing strikes me as an unbelievable marketing stunt that works," said Stach. The existence of Kafka's magazine collection, which should not be thought of as the hard pornography of today, has never been concealed by biographers.
However, Stach himself could not resist a marketing reference on his own behalf: He will also be writing about the magazines in a forthcoming book.

 "Don't leave me this way", sings an abandoned tuft of hair sadly at the edge of the sink in JWT+H+F's latest TV commercial. It performs for Priorin, a product from agency client Bayer Switzerland that promotes hair growth and thus prevents hair loss. The task for the creative team at the Maag Areal in Zurich was to present the psychologically complex topic of "hair loss in women" without fear or horror. What is shown is not a lady in her prime mourning the loss of her hair, but a poor, sad tuft of hair. The 30-second TV commercial can already be seen on TV.
Responsible at Bayer Schweiz AG:
Susanne Erles (Group Brand Manager), Anita Hilgers (Brand Manager). Responsible at JWT+H+F: Remy Fabrikant (overall responsibility/art direction), Mike Krüll (CD/text), Vanessa Lehmann-Spalleck, Petra Nigg (consulting). Frame Eleven (animation & production), Simon Piniel (illustration), Jingle Jungle (composition and sound).

In addition to the change in the post of Head of Radio, Publicitas announced another personnel change in an important position on Friday: 39-year-old Patrick Knecht will now take over as Head of Cinema National. Knecht succeeds Jean-Claude Bruhin, whose departure from Publicitas Cinecom was announced at the beginning of July. Patrick Knecht has been selling media advertising space to local, regional and national clients since 1995. First as Head of Advertising TR7/TV-Star at Jean Frey and since 2007 as Head of Advertising TV Magazines at Axel Springer Switzerland. Knecht will take up his position on August 18 and will then report directly to Tim Dührkoop, Head of the Electronic & Interactive department at the new Publicitas. In his new role, he will be responsible for the sale of advertising in almost 500 Swiss cinemas to national advertising clients and their agencies.
There was no word yet on Jean-Claude Bruhin's professional future. In the press release, CEO Thomas Bargetzi thanked him for his many years of service to Cinecom. Bruhin had worked for the cinema marketer in various capacities for 17 years.
Picture: Jean-Claude Bruhin

Marc Görtz, who was previously Head of Electronic Media at Ringier, is leaving the media company at his own request at the end of September. "It's time for something new," explained Görtz at the request of Werbewoche. The media professional was Managing Director of the Ringier subsidiary Sat.1 Switzerland for several years, Managing Director of RingierTV since 2005 and was a member of the Executive Board from July 2007, where he was responsible for the then newly created Electronic Media division with the Television, Film, New Media and Radio departments. When Marc Walder takes up office as Head of Ringier Switzerland, the former management divisions Electronic Media and Business Media will be merged to form the new "New Media" division, which will be headed by Christoph Bauer, a member of the Executive Board. Görtz would therefore no longer have been represented on the Executive Board. "Such reorganization phases open windows for personal changes," explained Görtz, who could have continued to be responsible for the Electronic Media division. "I am now looking at various interesting options, but nothing has been decided yet."
From September 1, Christoph Bauer will directly manage the two radio stations Radio Energy Zurich and Radio BE1. The New Media division also includes RingierTV and Ringier WebCenter, which will be managed by Mathias Ruch.

 The Swiss music channel Viva will not be taken over by the sports television channel SSF. SSF owner Peter Weigelt has decided not to purchase the entertainment channel, which belongs to the American conglomerate Viacom. "We don't see any added value in buying the music channel," Weigelt told Tamedia Newsnetz on Friday. This means that SSF will have to make do with the partnership with the analog special-interest channel Star TV for the time being. For the time being, the media entrepreneur will therefore bury his plan to go on air with a full program in partnership with more than 30 sports associations as early as next year. at the beginning of July, Weigelt was asked by a Zurich consultancy firm whether he was interested in buying Viva Switzerland (see
(http://www.werbewoche.ch/newsmail080703_weigelt.werbewoche) The American entertainment group Viacom wants to separate from the Swiss MTV offshoot. Viva itself has only recently strengthened its personnel for a further musical future. In addition to head of music Jubaira Bachmann and the Rapperswil Rose Queen Linda Gwerder, Clemens Lützen from Lucerne will be presenting clip segments in future (see
, http://www.werbewoche.ch/newsmail080716_viva.werbewoche). According to the Group, the station continues to be profitable.

 The human rights group "Reporters Without Borders" called for the release of all political prisoners in China via a pirate radio station in Beijing on Friday, and also called on China's government to ensure freedom of expression and freedom of the press. The 20-minute broadcast on VHF frequency 104.4 also included interviews with Chinese dissidents who have found refuge abroad.
The organization announced that it had broadcast the programme in Chinese, English and French via a small transmitter at 8.08 a.m. in the morning. This was exactly twelve hours before the opening of the Olympic Games in the Bird's Nest Stadium in Beijing. The fact that the Chinese authorities had refused visas to ten members of the organization did not prevent them from making their voice heard in China, the organization said. The program could be heard in several districts of Beijing. The Chinese authorities were accused of detaining several dozen journalists and internet users.

Another reshuffle at Publicitas: Felix "Kili" Kilchsperger is leaving Publicitas Radiotele. His successor as the new Head of Radio will be Urs Haering, who previously worked at Radio Aktuell and Künzler Bachmann Verlag, among others. Felix "Kili" Kilchsperger will retire in the fall, as Publicitas announced on Friday. The fact that he is taking his hat off will hardly come as a surprise to the industry: After Publicitas bought Radiotele and Bruno Oetterli left the company, many expected that Kilchsperger would not stay with the changing marketer forever. Publicitas paid tribute to him in a communiqué: "With 'Kili', a pioneer of private radio is retiring. He made a decisive contribution to establishing radio on the map of the Swiss advertising market and always fought for the medium of radio with heart and commitment. We would like to thank him warmly for this", Thomas Bargetzi, CEO/Sales Switzerland, is quoted in the press release. It is hoped that "Kili" will continue to make his radio knowledge available in his new phase of life, for example as part of the specialist training of employees. The exact date of his retirement is yet to be announced.
Kilchsperger's successor Urs Haering will take up his new role on August 18; in addition to looking after national clients for private Swiss radio stations, he will also market the new Swiss Webradio Pool project. Haering has worked in the industry for around 15 years, including at Radio Aktuell (2003 - 2004) and as Head of Marketing & Sales at Künzler Bachmann Verlag AG (2004 - 2008). In this role, he was responsible for the management and restructuring of Spick, which was acquired by Tamedia. "We are delighted to have gained Urs Haering, a true media professional and doer, with whom we want to put our role in radio marketing back on a sustainably successful footing," said Bargetzi in the press release. Haering will report to Tim Dührkoop, Head of Electronic & Interactive at Publicitas.

 The new people magazine that 20 Minuten is launching together with Annabelle and the nightlife portal Tilllate.com is called 20 Minuten Friday. This was announced by Tamedia on Thursday. The media company announced the new magazine at the end of June under the project name 20 Minuten Youngster (see ). As a result, the nightlife magazine Week will be discontinued. The new magazine will be distributed via the 20 Minuten boxes and other distribution points on Friday evenings from October 31. It is dedicated to people, lifestyle, fashion and trends. The initial print run is 137,000 copies. The editor-in-chief is 20 Minuten boss Marco Boselli.

 Affichage Holding is expanding its position in Greece. In future, it will be wholly owned by Domisi Wall SA and Clear Media, both of which are active in the Greek out-of-home market. Affichage Holding already held 75 percent of the two companies and has now acquired the remaining 25 percent. With this acquisition, all companies cooperating with Affichage Hellas, which is domiciled in Athens, are now wholly owned by Affichage Holding. The purchase price was not disclosed.

 Cablecom's revenue grew by 6.8 percent in the second quarter. The strongest growth was achieved in digital television, where the cable network operator gained 21,600 new customers, according to the quarterly report of Cablecom owner Liberty Global. At the end of June, the company had 321,300 digital TV customers. However, the influx in digital television was no longer as strong as before. Cablecom recorded 47,000 new customers in the first quarter. The initial euphoria has died down somewhat, said spokesman Hans-Peter Nehmer on request. In addition, competition with Swisscom's Bluewin TV has become fiercer and demand for high-definition television (HDTV) has increased significantly. Almost 40 percent of all new orders for digital television in the past quarter were for HDTV receivers. According to Nehmer, this is thanks to the European Football Championship.
Due to the switch to digital TV, the number of analog television customers fell by 17,300 to 1.24 million. This means that the television business, Cablecom's main source of revenue, increased by 4,300 customers in the second quarter.
The company gained 11,900 new Internet subscribers (+3.8%). In telephony, 11,500 new customers were added (+3.8%).

 The six regional publishers who are launching a new online portal together are investing "several 100,000 francs", as Norbert Neininger, Editor-in-Chief of Schaffhauser Nachrichten, explained in his own paper. In addition to his Meier + Cie AG, Neue Luzerner Zeitung AG, St. Galler Tagblatt AG, AZ Medien AG (Mittelland Zeitung), Südostschweiz Medien AG and Zürich Land Medien AG (Zürichsee Zeitung, Zürcher Oberländer, Zürcher Unterländer) have jointly founded a public limited company to launch the News1.ch portal. It is due to start operations in October and will be continuously expanded in the following months.
The return on investment will come from online advertising; the investment phase should be completed after just one year, Neininger continued. News1.ch will be managed by Sam Müller, the former head of online media at Mittelland-Zeitung. The content will consist of "the best from the participating media companies", Neininger continued.
The focus is on regional and local news. Multimedia content is bundled, as the partner publishers are all active in multimedia and have newspaper, Internet, radio and, in some cases, television editorial teams. This is not the only thing the companies involved have in common: "They are media houses that do not belong to Tamedia," Neininger explained to his newspaper. The timing of the announcement of News1.ch will hardly have been coincidental: it took place shortly before the launch of the news network of Tamedia, Espace Media and Basler Zeitung Medien.

 The trade magazine Haustech from Handelszeitung Fachverlag has a new Product Manager: Fabio Caso has been responsible for the advertising market of the Swiss monthly magazine for builders, architects, planners and installers since the beginning of August. The 26-year-old will also support advertising sales for the magazine Bilanz Homes und Casa, a living supplement of the Handelszeitung, as announced by the publisher Axel Springer Schweiz on Thursday. Caso most recently worked as national area sales manager for the free newspaper .ch. He previously worked at Publicitas.