The hype surrounding Second Life seems to be cooling off: The number of paid memberships in the virtual world fell for the first time in July. According to the latest figures from operator Linden Lab, Second Life lost 5,810 premium accounts in the month. This represents a decline of around six percent compared to June, as Pressetext.ch reports. The falling number of paying members appears to be further evidence of the waning euphoria surrounding Second Life. A recent study by the German market research institute Dialego also shows that, although Second Life is well known, it is only used by a small proportion of people. The online survey on the subject of Web 2.0 awareness revealed that only one percent of Germans regularly devote themselves to virtual life in Second Life. Two percent sometimes and a further six percent rarely spend time as an avatar in the parallel world. On the other hand, 71 percent of Germans are now familiar with Second Life, but 62 percent have never ventured into the virtual world.

 The advertising agency Favo has given Hotelplan Holding a new look. Instead of presenting all company levels in the same look as before, the Basel agency has now visually separated the graphic appearance between the Group and the tour operator sales brands. The group now has a clearly differentiated CI/CD. In addition, an endorsement logo was designed to manifest the affiliation of the individual brands to the Hotelplan Group.

 The largest and most important animated film festival in Switzerland is casting its shadow ahead. The first nine of a total of 333 short films can already be seen on the festival website a week before the start. The program, entitled "Flash & Co.", explores the many facets of animated filmmaking on the Internet. The Fantoche Festival of Animated Film with films from 29 countries will take place in Baden from September 11 to 16.

 Adrian Schaffner is leaving the management of Interbrand Zintzmeyer & Lux to join Evoq Communications in Zurich. At the same time, he acquires shares from company founder Christian Sutter and thus becomes a co-owner of Evoq. According to a press release, this is an important step for the agency in expanding the disciplines of brand development, communication and consulting. Schaffner worked at Interbrand Zintzmeyer & Lux for almost a decade and a half and was responsible for the overall mandate of Deutsche Telekom in Germany in recent years. Prior to that, he built up the group's "Interactive" division and coordinated its national and international activities.

 The copywriter, consultant and crime writer Daniel Hellstern has been an official co-owner of the Lucerne-based dialog marketing agency Ulmann+Partner since September 1, 2007. The collaboration began eight years ago and has contributed significantly to the agency's success, according to a press release. With this partnership, the management intends to consolidate the strategic pillars of Ulmann+Partner's success. These are creativity, innovation and quality, the press release continues.

 Consumer organizations throughout Switzerland are calling for the laws on telemarketing to be tightened. The organizations are proposing that consumers should be able to withdraw from a contract concluded over the phone within seven days. Telemarketing companies should also provide a code number by which they can be identified. Number suppression should no longer be possible for telephone advertisers. The Foundation for Consumer Protection, the Consumer Forum, the Fédération Romande des Consommateurs and the Associazione Consumatrici della Svizzera Italiana have submitted their concerns to the National Council's Legal Affairs Committee. The committee will meet on September 13 and 14 and will discuss a corresponding parliamentary initiative.
The reason for the action is that, in the eyes of consumer organizations, telephone advertising is becoming increasingly aggressive, sophisticated and penetrating. The cases of abuse are increasing. There are many black sheep, said Simonetta Sommaruga, President of the Foundation for Consumer Protection and Member of the Council of States, at a media conference in Bern on Tuesday. The telecommunications companies Sunrise, Tele 2, Cablecom and Econophone are at the forefront of the aggressive telephone advertisers.
Health insurance companies are also included, such as Groupe Mutuel, Helsana and Swica. One of the typical black sheep is the Austrian company Friedrich Müller. For years, this company has been harassing consumers on the phone with false promises of profits.
The practice of aggressive telemarketing companies also has a negative impact on other sectors. For example, opinion research institutes that conduct surveys may also call people with a star entry in the telephone directory. They often react annoyed because they have had enough of calls from companies.
According to Franziska Troesch-Schnyder, President of the Consumer Forum, the abuses have led to aggressive telemarketing becoming the third biggest concern for consumers in recent years.

 Krieg, Schlupp, Bürge / Springer & Jacoby win the budget of Zurich's public transportation company ZVV. The agency Publicis, which has been working for the company since 2000, will have to hand over the budget at the end of the year, as ZVV advertising manager Hans Wälty confirmed a report by the industry service Persönlich.com. Publicis had developed the very successful claim "I am also...". A lot is owed to this, for example a massive improvement in image and awareness, said Wälty. ZVV has also become more attractive for sponsors. The claim coined by a crew around Jean-Etienne Aebi was recognized by 98 percent of respondents in a supported survey. However, ZVV now wants to say goodbye to "I am also..." for good. In the briefing for the new tender, the participating agencies were left free to decide whether they wanted to work with it. None of the agencies evaluated used the claim. In the past, "I am also..." was very well accepted, but now the wind is a little out of its sails, explained Wälti. Research had shown that the slogan was often not directly associated with ZVV. The new work by Krieg, Schlupp, Bürge / Springer & Jacoby can be expected next spring.

Axel Eckstein joined Euro RSCG Zurich as Creative Director and member of the management board on September 3. The 37-year-old moved from Jung von Matt/Limmat to his new employer. He studied visual communication in Krefeld, Germany, and joined BBDO Düsseldorf in 1995 as a graphic designer. This was followed by nine years as Art Director at Jung von Matt, first in Frankfurt am Main and from 2002 in Zurich. His clients have included Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Manor, Julius Bär, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Telekom. According to Euro RSCG Zurich, Eckstein has won around 100 national and international creative awards in a wide range of disciplines. He has been a member of the Art Directors Club Switzerland and the Art Directors Club Germany since 2005.

 The registration deadline for this year's Talent Screen film competition has expired. According to the organizers, the latest figures are a record: over 500 filmmakers have registered for the Movie Marathon, in which a film is to be shot within 48 hours. The participants in the competition will start at noon on Monday, September 3, at the Uto Kino in Zurich. The 500 filmmakers will probably turn Zurich into one big movie city - so don't be surprised if the streets are blocked by hectic people with cameras and film claps.

 The television channel Star TV is getting a taste of the wide world of modeling: it is taking part in the Elite Model Look Contest, which will be held in Zurich's Maag Event Hall on September 5, 2007. Models such as Gisèle Bündchen, Cindy Crawford and the Swiss top model Patricia Schmid started their modeling careers with this contest and made it to the top of the modeling business. Star TV will broadcast the highlights of the Elite Model Look Contest on Tuesday, September 11, 2007 at 9:00 pm. Backstage shots of the candidates, interviews with celebrities and the most beautiful pictures of the evening will be shown.

 The Spreitenbach municipal council does not want to do without the private television channel Tele Züri. It therefore wants to approach Bakom in connection with the redistribution of the TV coverage areas. With the redistribution of coverage areas, the municipality will be located in the Aargau-Solothurn region. As a result, only Tele M1 may be broadcast in the region via the cable network, according to a statement from the municipal council on Monday. However, the prerequisite for this scenario is that Tele Züri is licensed for the Zurich-North-Eastern Switzerland area and Tele M1 for Aargau-Solothurn.
For the municipal council, the division made by the Federal Council is "absolutely incomprehensible", as the Limmat Valley is clearly economically oriented towards Zurich. With the shutdown of Tele Züri, the municipality would once again be perceived as a peripheral region. The municipal council will therefore do everything in its power to ensure that both Tele M1 and Tele Züri can continue to be received in the future.
Spreitenbach would like to take action together with the other municipalities. However, the municipal council reserves the right to draw the attention of the Federal Office of Communications (Bakom) to the grievance on its own and, if necessary, to request an appealable ruling, according to the press release.
The Schwyz government recently had a similar request. However, the Federal Council rejected the request to make some municipalities in the canton of Schwyz a mixed zone. According to spokesman Bernhard Bürki, Bakom generally wants to avoid double coverage (see
).

 After a lengthy vacancy, the art and culture magazine Du has an editor-in-chief again: the German scholar and folklorist Walter Keller will take over as editor-in-chief in February 2008. Previously, the 54-year-old was a lecturer at the Folklore Department of the University of Zurich, co-founder of the magazine "Der Alltag" and a freelancer for various newspapers and Radio DRS. Since November 2006, he has been working as a freelance curator for the Berlin edition gallery Lumas; he already made a name for himself years ago as one of the most important photography publishers. The first issue of the magazine Du, for which Keller is responsible, will be published in February 2008, as Persoenlich.com announced on Monday; the traditional magazine Du was recently acquired by Persönlich Verlags AG from Thurgauer Niggli Verlags AG. Until 2004, Du still belonged to the Zurich publishing house Tamedia.