The weekly newspaper Die Vorstadt, which previously belonged to the Tagblatt der Stadt Zürich, is now owned by Echo-Verlag, publisher of the Quartierecho. According to a press release issued on Wednesday, the sale will result in a termination of the contract. According to the corresponding communiqué, the sale will secure the future of the neighborhood newspaper and maintain journalistic diversity in Zurich North. Vorstadt is published every Wednesday in districts 11 and 12 with a circulation of 35,800 copies as a supplement to the Tagblatt der Stadt Zürich, which is majority-owned by Tamedia
belongs. The Quartierecho is also published fortnightly as a daily supplement in the city districts 1, 3, 4, 5 and 9. The two titles will appear together from mid-August with a combined circulation of 85,500 copies. Vorstadt can look back on an eventful history. It was founded in 1957 by Ernst E. Büchi and published by Büry-Verlag until 1996, then taken over by Zurich SVP party secretary Karl Schroeder, sold to Zürcher Unterland Medien in 1999, finally acquired by Tagblatt der Stadt Zürich in 2005 and has now found a new home at Echo Verlag.
 
 

 On August 11, the Love Mobiles will roll around the Zurich lake basin for the 16th time. It goes without saying that the Street Parade is not an intellectual event. But with this year's motto "Respect!", the event committee has outdone itself in terms of platitude. Techno has always had simple answers to complex questions. Nevertheless, the parade mottos are an annual highlight of dullness. The media release, pardon the expression: sermon, is a vague rant. Respect, one word fits all: in keeping with its tradition as a demonstration for peace, joy and pancakes, it makes an original plea for respect towards one's fellow human beings - non-violent coexistence for a better quality of life. But the slogan can just as easily be applied to the zeitgeist of individualism: respect for yourself, your dreams and your inner voice - a little esotericism always goes down well - and respect for your own health. Then, spelling it out, it is said that it is all about the abuse of drugs and alcohol, the parade is far too beautiful to simply drown or spike. Fighting drinkers and pill-poppers go home! The parade organizers say nothing about the fact that many people can only get through the day on booze or psychadelic drugs, or that they recognize the deeper meaning of the slogan - but ok, abstention is probably more advisable. Last but not least, the parade stages itself as a green event and demands respect for nature. And that really is sheer mockery, but fortunately the representatives of the fauna in the pissed-up Lake Zurich can't read any more than the deaf pigeons and disturbed rats.

In the graphic arts industry, only those who can keep up with the technical demands of the times in addition to providing perfect service have a chance. The provider who is already looking beyond the boundaries of the present must of course appear to be an even better choice, writes Grey in a press release. Läser AG, one of Switzerland's leading packaging producers, sees itself in precisely this innovative position. Grey developed a print campaign that combines this future-oriented positioning with a striking implementation idea. Which the campaign headline then summarizes as follows: Whatever the future brings, we print and package it.The fictitious glimpse into the future brings a salami yogurt in the first print motif. The motif will be used in selected trade press titles (print and communication). Further advertisements will follow.

What do freedom, responsibility, justice, tolerance, happiness and success mean to the Swiss? These questions are at the heart of the FDP Switzerland's presentation of its movement for an intelligent, open, growing and just Switzerland, according to a press release. The four Swiss projects were implemented by the Zurich agency Glamour Engineering in a wide-ranging poster campaign and a brochure, which also has a strong presence on the FDP Switzerland website.

At Stadt24.ch you can now find out about events in the city and region of St.Gallen. The online newspaper reports from Monday to Sunday on topics from politics and business, sport and culture, society and club life.
Wortwerk Medien launches and operates the online newspaper. The agency has already been running a regional Internet newspaper, Appenzell24.ch, for eight months. The success in Appenzell prompted the media agency to expand in St.Gallen, Wortwerk Medien writes in a press release. In addition to the city area, the municipalities of the agglomeration are also served.
An editorial team of six is responsible for Stadt24.ch. It researches, edits and publishes incoming reports, conducts interviews and gathers opinions and reactions. In this way, the online newspaper will develop into a complete, fully-fledged daily newspaper for the St.Gallen region. In keeping with the medium, Stadt24.ch will focus primarily on speed and topicality: Events will be published as soon as they become known, with subsequent research providing in-depth information.stadt24.ch will focus on interactivity and dialogue with readers, clubs, organizations and associations in order to take full advantage of the Internet. They can send the editorial team reports, event information and pictures, which are then published. Stadt24.ch is free of charge for readers. The service is financed by the sale of advertising banners. With Stadt24.ch, ten years after the end of the daily newspaper "Die Ostschweiz", the operators also want to ensure an expansion of media diversity in the St.Gallen region.

 Neue Ideen, the home magazine, will be published for the first time next Friday with a circulation of 722,000 copies and will be sent by post to all residents of single-family homes in German-speaking Switzerland. Hasenfeld has created a 7-second commercial for the magazine. It will be broadcast Tuesday to Thursday at prime time, between Tagesschau and Meteo on SF1, as well as on various private and regional stations.

Marianne Weibel is the new Client Service Director at Mrg. According to the agency's press release, Weibel is an experienced new addition to Mrg's management team. She has gained experience as a consultant in well-known Swiss agencies and later as co-owner of a five-person agency. Weibel was an advertising consultant at Lang Gysi Knoll in Berne from 1996 to 1999. She then headed a team of four at the Zurich advertising agency Honegger von Matt until 2001. In 2001, she and a partner founded Agentur01 in Berne. Here she was responsible for consulting and numerous entrepreneurial tasks for over five years.

 The US Federal Trade Commission has launched a preliminary antitrust investigation into the takeover of Doubleclick by Google. The investigation began at the end of last week. Antitrust experts expect a decision from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in a few weeks as to whether the investigations will be further intensified, according to a press release from Pressetext Switzerland. Google is convinced that the deal will work out.
The purchase of DoubleClick in mid-April brought both data protectionists and competitors such as Microsoft onto the scene, who filed a complaint against the deal with the FTC. Google stores the search terms entered by users, while DoubleClick tracks which websites users visit. Combining this data would give one company, more than any other, access to more information about consumers' internet activity, the complainants argue.

 Shortly before its birthday, the Swiss private television channel 3+ is already up for sale. As the news agency SDA writes in a report, the Board of Directors and program director Torsten Prenter said that 3+ is not actively looking for a buyer and that they are in no hurry to sell. Prenter went on to say that 3+ is a healthy company. 3+ began operations on August 31, 2006. According to the company, the channel achieved a market share of 3.2 percent last month in the target group of 15 to 49-year-olds, which is important for the advertising industry. In the first few months, the station recorded an average market share of 2.1 percent. The station employs 30 people in Schlieren. According to Prenter, the station is not making any major losses. Revenues are expected to be in the double-digit million range. Prenter holds a ten percent stake in the company, while the majority of the station, 89 percent, is in the hands of founder and managing director Dominik Kaiser.

 The Press Council assessed two cases of research on young people. One was published by the Tagesanzeiger in November and involved six named and photographed young people who reported on their alcohol consumption. The mother of one of the young people mentioned lodged a complaint with the Press Council. She complained about a violation of privacy and the integrity of the investigation. The Tagesanzeiger argued that the pupil was capable of judgment and had consented to the publication. The Press Council partially upheld the complaint. The interview had been permissible without further ado. But because the topic and the circumstances of the questioning had obviously stirred up the young people's desire to provoke, restraint would have been appropriate. The Press Council concludes that the Tagesanzeiger should have published the statements without photos and names. In another case, a journalist from Radio 24 called a teenager on her cell phone last November to ask her about sexual abuse at a school in Seebach. However, she refused to give any information. One day later, she received another phone from Radio 24, but as she had saved the number, she did not answer the phone. Her mother lodged a complaint, alleging a violation of privacy. In this case too, the Press Council partially upheld the complaint. Although a single call does not constitute unlawful harassment, the radio station should have respected the student's clear wishes.

The advertising agency has created a new logo for the Swiss Pharmacy Association. It has dynamized and refreshed the logo, making the famous snake disappear. As the agency writes in a press release, it has designed new communication measures for Pharma Suisse with the aim of communicating the strategic realignment of the association and its members to the outside world. Pharma Suisse specialist pharmacies are competent service providers in the healthcare market. The advertising agency has made the disappearance of the snake in the new logo a theme. How it has shed its own skin due to the current market situation with the major goal of shedding the old to make room for the new.

 Times are not easy for the postal service. Letter carriers used to be on the road every day with trailers full of letters, whereas today they have fewer and fewer letters to deliver. SMS and emails are to blame. More and more people are sending emails, pushing the importance of letters into the background. Letters will disappear more and more, people think. But the latest study by Swiss Post concludes that they will never disappear completely. After all, personality is synonymous with letters and a letter is always nicer and more personal than an email. At least that was the view of three quarters of those surveyed. Which means the letter carrier can probably keep his name for a long time to come, at least as long as people continue to value personality and beauty.