The Zurich-based communications agency was able to prevail in a competitive presentation and has now been commissioned with the opening activities of the new IKEA Spreitenbach.  
It was 33 years ago that the first IKEA store outside Scandinavia opened in Spreitenbach. It was the beginning of the Swedish furniture store's worldwide triumph. Now the traditional IKEA store in Spreitenbach is once again setting new standards and opening one of the group's most modern stores. With a sales area of 34390m2, IKEA leaves nothing to be desired. All the products in the range can be found in the new showroom. The IKEA catalog in reality, so to speak.

After a real boom, virtual casino operators have run out of luck. The industry leader Partygaming also came crashing down this week. The reason: the new legislation in the USA.  
Back in 2005, the online casino Partygaming, based in Gibraltar, went straight into the FTSE-100 index. Now it's game over, as online gambling was banned in the USA a week ago. As a result, the virtual casinos have lost four-fifths of their customers and turnover in one fell swoop. The share prices of Internet casinos have fallen accordingly. Those of Partygaming, for example, lost sixty percent of their value within a week, and dividends have been canceled for this year.
 
Although the legality of the business in the main US market has always been questionable, the decision by the US Congress came surprisingly quickly. However, Partygaming is not completely finished, but an abrupt change of course is necessary in terms of corporate strategy. From now on, the Internet casino will be hunting down weaker competitors and trying to lure European and Asian gamblers to the virtual gaming table. This will not be a walk in the park, as the Handelsblatt comments, as these are more difficult markets and the business is politically unpopular.

Following the example of the French Bordeaux or Beaujolais, Vaudois wine is also to become a brand. The plan is for wine from Vaud to be marketed under the uniform Vin Vaudois brand from next year onwards. This year's grape harvest has gone well so far, a confident Robert Crüll, head of the Vaud winegrowers' office, told SDA. The improvement in the weather over the last few days means that we can expect a wine on a par with the great vintages.
 
A trump card in the communication and marketing of Vaudois wine will be a new uniform marketing strategy under the Vin Vaudois label, as Crüll announced this week. In the presence of the two patrons of the 2006 vintage, Miss Switzerland 2005 Lauriane Gilliéron and State Councillor Jacqueline Maurer, he appealed to the 5,600 vineyard owners and 750 winegrowers to join forces for the common brand. The Vin Vaudois brand is to be launched next year.

Life50Plus, the media package for over-50s, is forging ahead: with a 23-year-old music and entertainment director and presenter castings for the online TV Life50plus.eu.  
The British publishing house, whose European headquarters are in Rafz, has announced the appointment of Nicolas Graf from Winterthur as Head of Music and Entertainment. At first glance, the 23-year-old appears to be a somewhat cautious choice, as Life50Plus is primarily aimed at a more mature target audience with its magazine and Internet radio. However, the publisher is confident: Nicolas Graf is a trained music teacher and, despite or perhaps because of his young age, he will fulfill this important task at the station perfectly.
 
As the next step towards the start of test operations on Life50plus.tv in December, Life50Plus is looking for presenters. Applications for the casting, which will take place on December 1 and 2 in Schaffhausen, can be submitted by November 15 by e-mail to [email protected].

Last year's growth was fabulous: 243 percent more visitors. However, if you take young people as a trend barometer, then it could be that MySpace has already passed its zenith.  
The trend is clear: while the proportion of teens aged 12 to 17 fell from almost 25 percent to around 12 percent within a year, the percentage of 35 to 54-year-olds - not exactly the trendsetters of the virtual world - increased by 8.2 points to a total of 40.6 percent of all users. The pattern is repeated: there was also a slight decline of 1.7 percent among 18 to 24-year-olds, while there was an increase of 6.2 percent among 24 to 34-year-olds.
 
Whether MySpace can survive without the teens is unclear. But branding experts agree: if MySpace doesn't manage to stay hip among the young trendsetters, it will be difficult. And so the question already arises: Has Myspace already passed its zenith? Older visitors are demonstrably less active in the community, as last month's figures show: 12 to 17-year-olds spent an average of 260 minutes on MySpace and viewed 808 pages. In contrast, 35 to 54-year-olds only spent 179 minutes on MySpace and visited 560 pages.
 
The owner, News Corp., is not yet alarmed, as it counted a total of 79.6 million visitors in August - an increase of 243 percent compared to last year. MySpace managers also anticipated the age trend and have started to use the platform for everything from films and TV shows to advertising for soft drinks and cell phones, for the usual mix of service and content - but this also means that the platform is being sold off.

The third edition of the Soundcheck is underway: the sound floodgates on Mycokemusic.ch have been open again since September 28. The first of the fifteen rounds has been completed and three of the 60 original musical creations have made it through to the next round.
 In the first round of the competition, 15,738 people voted to determine the first weekly winners. These are the powerful-voiced Urdorf rockers Ninaus, the indie rockers Disco Rebel from Burdorf and the French ska-poppers from Stan or Itchy.
 

Each week, the three best pieces of music will be pre-selected directly for the final. The weekly winners will also be included in the Coke podcast, which will be hosted by Radio Energy music director Ronny Nenniger and will be available throughout Europe via iTunes. The overall winner of this year's Soundcheck will receive a professional song and video production for their winning song worth CHF 25,000.
Until October 25, up-and-coming Swiss musicians have the chance to upload their own songs as mp3 files to Mycokemusic.ch. All styles are permitted, only cover versions are prohibited.

Print advertising in honor, but television advertising is more efficient. Broad advertising is good, local is better. These are roughly the claims of Cavegnwerbung's campaign for TV advertising in a combined package on eight leading regional stations. And this is how it looks, the latest subject for the Telenews Combi: fast, pointed and with a little wink, as the agency writes in the corresponding message.

Following a review of Elco Papier's accounts, the company became part of Seetal Schaller. The takeover was completed definitively and by mutual agreement on October 3. With this transaction, Elco is now also part of Baumgartner Holding. The holding company's reported cash and cash equivalents increased by CHF 5 million.

Certain professions are more dangerous than others. Journalists often run the risk of talking too much or not sleeping enough. Excessive consumption of coffee, red wine and cigarettes is also a popular misconception among writers. But that's not what Timothy Balding means when he says, "Today, journalism is more dangerous than ever." The CEO of the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) has a sad record to report: with 75 journalists killed, 2006 is already the most fatal year so far in the statistics kept since 1996. According to WAN figures, reporting from Iraq is particularly dangerous. This year alone, 26 journalists have died there in the course of their work. This is not simply due to the inherent dangers of war, but because media professionals in Iraq are being hunted down and murdered. Timothy Balding finds clear words: "These murders are not just attacks on individuals, but on society as a whole.
The perpetrators are rarely brought to justice and the victims often remain nameless and are quickly forgotten. The Norman town of Bayeux and Reporters Without Borders have taken action on the issue. On Saturday, a memorial city for journalists will open in Bayeux, commemorating all those who have been killed around the world during or because of their work since 1944. As visitors walk through the memorial - a landscaped path lined with white stones engraved with the names of those who died - they can bring to mind the 2,000 journalists who have died over the past 60 years because of their profession. And surely one or the other will raise a glass to the fact that there are always enough professionals who are not deterred by anything to tell the truth.

Monica Meuli joined Tequila\Zurich as Senior Account Director at the end of September and will actively support the Tequila\Zurich team in the area of offline direct marketing. She has many years of experience, which she most recently demonstrated at Lowe Direct.

What has long been common practice on Intercity trains will also be introduced on S-Bahn trains in German-speaking Switzerland from 2007: Railposter advertising. This will regionalize a national advertising opportunity. As the saying goes, the wise travel by train - and those who travel by train have time, according to the Wigra Mediatools press release: "Time to read, time to look around". In addition, according to the rail poster marketer, studies show that you can reach almost any target group on the train.
From 2007, the rail posters presented in aluminum clip frames can also be placed in S-Bahn trains in addition to the intercity trains to French-speaking Switzerland and Ticino. This is probably of particular interest to locally operating SMEs, which can now target their advertising more regionally. The offer currently covers the economic areas of Zurich, Basel, Zug/Lucerne, Glarus, eastern Switzerland and Graubünden.

41-year-old Amstutz has been elected as the new Head of Information and Communication by the Government Council of the Canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden. Amstutz will take over from Erich Niederer on February 1, 2007. Amstutz studied German and political science before working as a journalist for various radio stations and newspapers, according to the SDA. After working as a media spokesman for the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), Amstutz set up the office of the National Ethics Committee.