A new American study shows that violent video games do not affect the propensity for violence in children with stable personalities—but they have an even greater effect on those who are emotionally unstable.  
According to a psychological study published in the journal *Psychology, Crime &*, emotionally unstable children are negatively affected by violent video games. To date, scientific studies have yielded contradictory, and often even opposing, results. A small number of studies even concluded that violent video games reduce aggression. The current study involved 125 children—110 boys and 15 girls—with an average age of 14.6 years, who played the first-person shooter game Quake II. Prior to the study, personality profiles were created and the children’s anger levels were assessed. The analysis revealed three distinct groups: The anger levels of 77 children remained unchanged. The anger potential of 22 children nearly doubled. For eight children, the anger level before playing was already as high as that of the 22 children who showed a high level after playing. For these eight children, the anger level decreased after playing, according to Pressetext.de.

Gemi The Goldbach Electronic Media Index shows no surprises for February. The overall market rose slightly by 1 index point to 183 index points. Electronic media saw above-average growth (+2 to 361). Even within the electronic media sector, this February is reminiscent of last year. TV continued to grow by 1 index point to 364. Radio remained steady at 255, as did teletext at 144 index points. In contrast, the Internet outperformed all other advertising media surveyed, with advertising pressure growing by 5 index points (to 266).  
The Gemi is based on data published by Media Focus regarding published advertising and print advertising. Since the AIS advertising expenditure statistics are no longer being maintained, current Adscreen data cannot be published. Since 1993, Gemi has provided information on the indexed performance of various electronic media relative to the overall market.
 

Readership Research: For the past two years, the *Tages-Anzeiger* has been published with a regional edition on the left bank of Lake Zurich. Yet despite all efforts in local journalism, Tamedia’s flagship publication has failed to gain traction there. A comparison of the readership data from Mach Basic 2007/1 with that from 2006/2 shows that the Tagi’s reach in the Horgen district has dropped by 6,000 to 34,000 readers. This 15 percent decline is just barely at the threshold of statistical significance. The situation is different for the Zürichsee Zeitung (ZSZ) and the Thalwiler Anzeiger, which run a joint advertising package and cover the same catchment area as the Tagi split: They were able to increase their readership by 2,000 to 41,000 readers. In the Meilen district on the right bank of the lake, the trends are similar: The Tagi (still without the split edition) lost 2,000 readers, while the ZSZ gained 1,000.

Column: Cheap trends are devastating. Marketing faces the challenge of establishing effective countertrends. «Established travel providers are »helpless in the face of challengers,«» reads the headline in the Financial Times Deutschland. «Many managers feel unable to rise to the challenges,» the paper summarizes, citing a relevant study. These managers have “admitted that they cannot come up with satisfactory strategies to stand up to aggressive online and budget providers.” So it’s the same old story: “Cheap is cool.” And we can’t think of anything adequate to stand up to this devastating trend. Why is this trend—illustrated by the example of travel—so devastating? Because it devalues what is valuable. Wasn’t the journey itself once the destination, and valued accordingly? But this trend leaves no room for the pursuit of quality. And why else are otherwise privileged businesspeople, when traveling, increasingly accepting the role of crammed-in livestock being led to the slaughterhouse? Because this trend relegates the pursuit of sustainability to a naive dead end. Anyone who still wants to offer real coffee on an airplane today seems not to have grasped the profit-boosting power of the Styrofoam cup. And ultimately, this devastating trend instills fear of the future.
Of course, the trend toward low-cost travel means, first and foremost, that more and more people can be anywhere at any time. In this way, we are likely moving closer to what may be humanity’s deeply rooted dream of boundless mobility.
Does the end, then, justify the means? Mobility that knows no spatial, temporal, or social boundaries comes at a price: no real enjoyment, no genuine quality, no sustainable consideration for people or nature. This does not lead to total freedom, but rather to a state of lawlessness, devoid of protection and prospects.
The travel industry executives quoted at the beginning deserve our sympathy for their helplessness. We would deserve and expect the same in our line of work.
A glimmer of light at the end of the dark tunnel could come from two sources: From a technical and methodological standpoint, the first consideration should be part of the marketing toolkit. Where there’s a trend, there must also be room for a countertrend. With the «Stinginess Is Cool» trend, we’re hearing this more and more often. To counter cheap, you have to be able to position the trend as expensive. While this isn’t a bad insight, it’s not exactly groundbreaking, and it certainly doesn’t yet serve as a guiding principle for action.
The second line of inquiry is more substantive in nature. Isn't there a great deal of ambivalence in the vision of boundless mobility?
For many, boundless mobility has long since come to mean a loss of grounding, a sense of floating in limbo. Philosophers speak of «non-spaces» and are referring, for example, to airport lounges. Always on the move and never having arrived. Addressing the human need for the opposite of this experience of suffering holds the potential for a valuable brand concept. A sense of security as the core idea behind a «travel brand.» A sense of security as a service offered before and during the trip, at the destination, and also during the return journey and after arriving home. It should be obvious that this doesn’t come cheap.
What also strikes any modern-day traveler is that boundless mobility, combined with thousands and millions of like-minded people, almost inevitably leads to a sense of isolation. Anonymity in the crowd, as a phenomenon of modern mobile societies, has been well documented. So why not offer a sense of belonging as an antidote? Community as a brand concept in the travel industry. This shouldn’t be as cheap as possible, but as heartwarming as possible—and thus valuable to many.
And finally, those affected often perceive unlimited mobility as a threat to their mental and physical health. What globetrotter or frequent traveler isn’t occasionally troubled by the quiet fear of a heart attack during a flight or of contracting a life-threatening illness at the (wrong) destination? Of course, this might sound cynical, but still: health is likely to be the most valuable, quality-driven, and sustainable brand concept in the mobility industry of the future. And this concept ranges from the now-well-known wellness paradise as a travel destination to the still largely overlooked need to connect the site of an accident anywhere on the globe with treatment facilities at the world’s centers of excellence. With local ambulances, we used to think in terms of just a few kilometers and minutes. With the air ambulance, we’re already thinking on a larger scale. Now we’re facing the global leap: No matter where in the world a life-threatening illness strikes me, within a few hours I’ll be at one of the world’s recognized healthcare centers. Who would even think about money when faced with this prospect? Who would still want it to be as cheap as possible?
Jürgen Häusler is CEO of the Interbrand, Zintzmeier and Lux Group in Zurich and an honorary professor at the University of Leipzig.

Prevention I Since 2000, Suva and the Swiss Council for Accident Prevention (bfu) have been working together to promote bicycle helmet use. With success: The helmet usage rate is rising year after year. Last year alone, the percentage of cyclists who voluntarily wear a helmet increased. The prevention campaigns by Ruf Lanz have also contributed to this success. 
In 2007, the creative team once again came up with a striking dramatic concept. The new poster and ad campaign uses two bicycle helmets to illustrate that, after an accident without a helmet, sometimes all you can do is pray. This is not an advertising exaggeration, but unfortunately a reality: Last year alone, around 1,500 people suffered head injuries—some of them severe—in bicycle accidents.

 The Board of Directors of SRG idée suisse has promoted Alex Hefter to a member of the SF Executive Board. The Head of Design was previously a member of the extended Executive Board and, with this promotion, now gains voting rights. The Design Department possesses the expertise across a wide range of visual communication disciplines to ensure that SF and its programs have a compelling visual presence. As SRG announced in a press release on Tuesday, the division has been an independent department since April 1; previously, it reported directly to the Director of Television.

 The Grey agency from Baden has won a pitch and is now part of the illustrious Euro 08 circle. Since the beginning of March, Ferrero has been part of the exclusive circle of four Swiss sponsors of the European Football Championship. The Grey agency was commissioned by Ferrero to implement this partnership in a promotion with sales impact, as the agency writes on Tuesday.

 The world conference of public broadcasters will take place in Lugano this year. The organizer, SRG SSR idée suisse, is expecting around 1400 participants for Input 2007. Moritz Leuenberger will open the conference on May 6, according to the SDA news agency. The participants will be visioning a total of 80 hours of television programs. However, the conference is primarily a place for producers and directors to exchange ideas. In addition, the organizer will also host discussions and evening conferences on various topics. The first Input took place in 1977 on Lake Como. Last year, the representatives of the television companies met in Taipei. In 2008 and 2009, the meeting will take place in Johannesburg and Warsaw respectively.

 The internet giant wants to reduce its dependence on internet advertising once and for all. Together with satellite TV operator Echostar and Astound Cable, Google is entering the lucrative television advertising market and will launch an initial test in the USA, according to a press release from Pressetext. Google wants to implement its Adsense advertising concept from the Internet on television. The global TV advertising market has an estimated total volume of around 50 billion dollars. A market that Google does not want to miss out on. By entering the TV business, the company wants to reduce its dependence on the success of advertising on the Internet. Google's new service will enable advertisers to track the success of their campaign in real time and react quickly to the success or failure of TV commercials.

 Uncle Ben transforms from a servant to a businessman with a dark business suit and cufflinks. The Uncle Ben brand dates back to a time when white managers in America were not afraid to advertise using clichés of black men. But in recent times, the uncle has appeared less and less. Nowadays, in the age of political correctness, Masterfoods is probably a little ashamed of the logo from the 1940s. Uncle Ben looks like a servant of a rich planter family and somehow that doesn't quite fit in with the 21st century. For this reason, Masterfoods is transforming the rice brand's logo and making the uncle fit for the next century. It transforms the servant into the president of the brand. Ben keeps his bow tie, but gets a dark Bussines suit. And to make sure the image is completely polished, anyone can visit the president's office at Unclebens.com and get an insight into how the servant has changed. 

 
The General Assembly of the Zurich Public Relations Society (ZPRG) has elected Christian Wick as its new President. He replaces Alfredo Schilirò after four years. With around 600 members, the ZPRG is the largest PR regional association in Switzerland. Christian Wick is the founder and owner of Wick PR Kommunikationsberatung in Zurich. He has worked in the PR industry for almost 20 years. In addition to his professional activities, he has worked as an examination expert at the Swiss Public Relations Institute and at the Institute for Applied Media Sciences at the Winterthur University of Applied Sciences.
The Annual General Meeting also elected Myriam Ziesack, Peter Müller and Luca Roncoroni to the ZPRG Board.

 Weber Harbeke communicates for the Grand Casino Baden in an ambiguous way. Every Wednesday and Thursday, visitors to the casino can experience an entertainment dinner with lots of extras. The offer includes an aperitif, a 4-course menu with various games, free entry to the Grand Jeu, plus chips worth 15 francs and all for just 69 francs. Unreasonably cheap, writes Weber Harbeke in the press release, which is why they have packed the clear sales argument into an ambiguous advertising campaign.