If you passed through gate A at Zürich airport recently you’ll have seen the NZZ Café – a new collaboration between the Swiss daily newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung and book and magazine distributor Press&Books. “The idea was to pair a café serving local specialities with a smart media concept from Switzerland,” says Peter Hogenkamp, head of digital media at NZZ.

“This creates a meeting point between our newspaper and the readers. We see it as a great distribution opportunity, as passengers travelling through gate A (serving flights to and from the Schengen area) are precisely our target audience,” he adds.

Besides flicking through the latest issue of NZZ, customers can also subscribe to print or digital editions of the daily. The space also offers current book bestsellers plus local and international magazines. The idea of offering a good read and a quality snack in a well-designed environment is not something new, but making it happen is often challenging. The NZZ Café is no doubt a work in progress and will likely inspire copycats at hubs elsewhere.
nzz.ch; pressbooks.ch

San Francisco-born Joey Roth’s analogue speakers are an artfully designed reaction to the rise of digital alternatives. “My goal was to create a sound system that users wouldn’t want to replace for years; more furniture than gadget,” he says. The speakers are made from porcelain, cork, aluminium and Baltic birch.
joeyroth.com

This September over 600 industry insiders head to Miami for Festival of Media LatAm. The likes of Netflix, tech juggernauts Google and Microsoft, plus broadcasters Fox and Discovery Channel will join communications and media firms such as Venezuela’s Cisneros Group and Brazil’s Rede Globo to help strategise next steps in the proliferating LatAm market.

“The market’s up for grabs,” says festival CEO Katharina Pesch. “Regional firms are applying locally successful models on the international market to see what sticks.”
festivalofmedia.com/latam

Founded in 2008 by Alain de Botton and Morgwn Rimel, The School of Life offers books, stationery and seminars worth ruminating on.

What is the importance of having a tactile printed range?
Human beings are creatures of reason and of the senses. If you’re trying to teach, as we are at the School, you’d know it makes sense to get lessons across not just through the rational mind but also through stimulation of the senses.

How can philosophy help us in everyday life and how does the new collection promote this?
Many of our problems are financial, some are health-related, but a lot are caused by emotional issues: we use culture to bring a therapeutic benefit and intervention. We’re interested in consolation and wisdom and are creating a brand around these, which might be a world first.

How did you pick the philosophers to put on the notebooks?
We picked our favourite three scholars. We thought there was something important about having a beautiful notebook (above right) with the word “Schopenhauer” or “Pascal” written on it. These are iconic thinkers whose very names have poetry and resonance.
theschooloflife.com

Game Changers: The Evolution of Advertising
Edited by Peter Russell and Senta Slingerland
A must for industry insiders and outsiders alike, this volume, put together with creative communications awards giant Cannes Lions, explains 150 visual campaigns. From “Just Do It” to more obscure yet influential ads this weighty book has it all covered.
taschen.com