The leading Swiss hip-hop website Aightgenossen.ch is expanding its offering with a clever new feature. After launching its own online television channel, Aight.tv, a good six months ago, on which the latest video clips, greetings from artists and short interviews can always be seen, the hip-hop experts are now enhancing their channel with real-time images. Together with their partner Kyte.tv, the Aight comrades have developed a solution that allows them to produce live broadcasts from practically anywhere in the world. If a UMTS or WiFi network is available, the website staff can now even broadcast a concert in Australia or Africa live on Aight.tv using a video cell phone. In addition to live broadcasts from open airs and concert halls, interviews, backstage reports and features are also planned.
The second innovation in connection with Aight.tv concerns the currently extremely popular community platforms Facebook and Myspace. The hip-hop website, which itself has a large community with its active forum members, is now offering its channel there as an application. You can now install the channel as a window on your profile.

Walter Tagliaferri joined Euro RSCG Zurich as Client Service Director and member of the Executive Board on April 1. He has many years of experience in marketing and communications on the agency and client side in senior positions, as Euro RSCG announced.
After joining J. Walter Thompson over 20 years ago, he worked at Wirz Werbung, Weber, Hodel, Schmid, Zurich and Lesch+Frei Werbeagentur, where he worked for a total of 11 years, most recently as Managing Director Consulting. During this time, he was also involved with BSW Leading Swiss Agencies as a member of the admissions committee. After a brief stint at Ruf Lanz, Walter Tagliaferri decided to get to know the client side at Manor in Basel. As Head of Marketing Communications, he was involved in the launch of the new brand positioning.

 OMD can defend its place at the top of the Gunn Report: The trade publication once again placed the group first in its annual ranking of the most creative media agencies. Mindshare is in second place. It is followed by BBDO, which has worked its way up from last year's 14th place. In fourth place is Universal McCann, followed by Starcom Mediavest, Carat and Mediacom. Among the networks, OMD and BBDO parent company Omnicom tops the list. In second place is Group M. As last year, Publicis is in third place and Interpublic in fourth. Aegis is in fifth place and Havas in sixth.
The Gunn Report also recognizes the most creative clients in terms of media. Nike is at the top of the podium here. The sporting goods giant was honored at 18 international festivals last year. The second most creative media client is Coca Cola, followed by McDonald's and Adidas. Fifth place is shared by Axe and Nissan.

 
To mark this year's Christopher Street Day, an event radio station is once again going on air. The project is being carried out as part of the Zurich street parade for gays and lesbians and is aimed at a mixed audience. The radio's motto is "Feel the difference". However, the focus of the content is on sport. In view of Euro 08 and the Summer Olympics in Beijing, homosexuals in Switzerland are celebrating the "Lesbian and Gay Year of Sport" this year.Queertunes will be broadcasting from May 17 to June 1, 2008 on the Cablecom cable network in German-speaking Switzerland and, if technically feasible, also in French-speaking Switzerland and Ticino. In the Zurich area, the radio can also be received on FM on the 96.9 MHz frequency. A caravan stationed at the In-Bar Daniel H. in Zurich serves as the studio. A big party will be held there at midnight on May 16 to mark the start of broadcasting.
The event radio station is run by the Queertunes association. With this year's commitment, the association is building on the success of Radio Queertunes in 2007.
Volunteers of any sexual orientation can take part in Radio Queertunes. Support is needed in areas such as presenting, editing, advertising, graphics, sponsoring and technology. Interested parties can send a letter of motivation with a CV to [email protected]. Foreign-language presenters are also welcome.

 The Berlin-based media agency Kircher Burkhardt has been awarded a new contract from Switzerland. The weekly newspaper Weltwoche commissioned the German creatives to redesign its online platform. The new website should do justice to the "unique character" of the paper, said Roger Köppel, editor-in-chief and publisher. Kircher Burkhardt's clients include Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, Financial Times Deutschland and Welt am Sonntag. The redesign of Weltwoche.ch should be completed this fall.

The interim boss is taking over the management of 20 Minuten Online for good: Hansi Voigt has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of the free newspaper portal by the Tamedia Board of Directors. He will take up the post on May 1. Voigt had been editorial director and deputy editor-in-chief at 20 Minuten Online since fall 2005. When his predecessor Peter Wälty was appointed head of the new online network last October, Voigt took over the position on an interim basis (see
). Before joining Tamedia, the 44-year-old Voigt was head of copywriting at Beobachter and deputy editor-in-chief of Cash and the business newspaper Internet-Standard.

 The Peugeot homepage developed by the Biel-based e-marketing agency Orange8 Interactive received the "Official Honoree" award in the Best Homepages category at the Webby Awards 2008. This award is given to outstanding websites that are not nominated. According to the assessment by the International Academy of Arts and Sciences, the virtual showroom on the Peugeot homepage demonstrates "A Standard of Excellence" and "Superior Quality". The award is the second recognition for the web project following the bronze award at the Best of Swiss Web 2008 in the Creation category. Almost 10,000 projects from over 60 countries were submitted to the Webby Awards - also known as the Internet Oscars - this year. The prize is awarded by the International Academy of Arts and Sciences.

 The Bee Company, a call center belonging to Thurgau-based Premium Communications Holding, is acquiring Mannheim-based SIM Communication Center, a leading German telemarketing provider. SIM employs over 500 people and reported sales of over CHF 20 million for 2007. According to Peter Weigelt, Chairman of the Board of Directors of telemarketer Premium Communications Holding, all SIM employees will continue to be employed. Due to the strong growth of the Group, he assumes that additional capacity will also be required at the Mannheim site in the near future.
Following the integration of SIM, Premium Communications Holding, based in Tägerwilen, now has around 2,200 employees at four locations in Switzerland (Tägerwilen, Lausanne, Zurich and Mendrisio) and three in Germany. Sales of over 120 million Swiss francs are expected in 2008.

  Some days are unbearable without a hearty curse from time to time. If the chain on your new bike falls out on the first ride, the computer can't be outwitted or the salad you've just bought is already mouldy: after a hearty "sh...", it's easier to cope with such unpleasantness. But apparently there are also people who like to swear on particularly funny occasions. At last year's "Live Earth" concert at London's Wembely Stadium, for example, US pop queen Madonna urged tens of thousands of spectators to show their support for environmental protection with the words "Come on, motherfuckers". Other musicians also used the F-word at the same event. However, it is not the stars who now have to answer for this, but the British BBC. It was ordered by a regulatory authority to publicly apologize for the swear words that celebrities had uttered "seriously and repeatedly" during various live broadcasts. Gopferdami, what can we do if bloody Madonna swears all the time, the BBC bosses might say to themselves.

 Click prices for Google Adwords reached their lowest level in 12 months in March. The number of text ads displayed per search query remained at the low level of the previous month. This is shown by the March values of the Swiss Adex from Angelink yourposition. Click prices for Google Adwords have been falling for months: In May 2007, a temporary peak was reached with an average of CHF 1.99 per click; this figure has since fallen to CHF 1.55 - almost 20 centimes less than in February.
At the same time, the number of text ads displayed stagnated: In March, an average of just over 14 different companies were present per search query, which represents a decrease of 0.5 ads compared to the previous month, according to Angelink yourposition. A development that can also be observed in the international environment. According to the US company Comscore, the reason for this is that Google is improving the quality of its Adwords program and is displaying fewer ads than before.

It was announced on Monday that CEO Daniel Strobel is leaving Publimedia. It is now clear where he is going: The 46-year-old is moving to the NZZ publishing house, where he will take on the newly defined role of Head of Marketing Magazines & Specials. This involves the overall management of all publishing activities in the magazine sector, which includes Folio, Fokus, Magazin Z, Campus, Specials and coordination with the recently acquired Swiss Equity Medien, as the publishing house announced. Strobel will report directly to Daniel Hofer, who as a member of the NZZ Executive Board is responsible for the overall management of the publishing and production divisions.
In the NZZ communiqué, Strobel reiterates that he had "a very good time" during his many years at Publigroupe, but that now is the ideal time for a professional reorientation. He is looking forward to tackling the challenges of the future together with some of his long-standing colleagues at the NZZ publishing house.

 The Zurich advertising agency Hochspannung is delighted to have two new clients: Radio 24 and Tele Züri. The first work for Switzerland's oldest private radio station has been on display since this week. Among other things, the morning show "Ufsteller", which has been hosted by Patrick Hässig since last Monday, is being advertised. At the same time, the agency was able to win Tele Züri as a client. A new print and TV campaign is currently being developed for regional television and is due to be launched at the end of April.