New umbrella organization for commercial communication

President Filippo Lombardi presented the new logo of the umbrella organization "Kommunikation Schweiz".SW Schweizer Werbung didn't just use its 90th anniversary to celebrate. Together with PS Publicité Suisse, its partner organization in French-speaking Switzerland, the association also fulfilled a long-held wish: a unified, nationwide umbrella organization for commercial communication. The foundations for this were laid four years ago in a letter of intent and a joint visual identity. On 29 May, the birthday of SW President and member of the Council of States Filippo Lombardi, the members of the participating associations agreed to transform themselves into regional language sections and at the same time founded a new umbrella organization under the name "Kommunikation Schweiz | Communication Suisse | Comunicazione Svizzera | Communication Switzerland". It is headed by Filippo Lombardi together with the Vice Presidents Christian Merk (German-speaking Switzerland), François Besençon (French-speaking Switzerland) and Maria-Luisa Bernini (Italian-speaking Switzerland).Broad-based Communications CouncilFrom 2016, the previous boards of SW Schweizer Werbung and PS Publicité Suisse will be replaced by a broad-based Communications Council comprising 23 members. It will act as a mouthpiece for the entire commercial communication sector and will be responsible for all matters for which the previous boards were responsible. In addition to the existing SW and PS Board members, the following individuals have joined the newly created body:- Jürg Bachmann, Head of Marketing, Communication and Public Affairs at the Goldbach Group and President of the Swiss Private Radio Association (VSP)- Maria-Luisa Bernini, owner of Swiss Communication Agency Sagl (Delegate PS Pubblicità Svizzera)- Gilbert Bühler, Gilbert Bühler, Publishing Director Freiburger Nachrichten and Chairman of the Swiss Media Association (replacement for AZ-Medien publisher Peter Wanner)- Markus Ehrle, CEO APG (replacement for Daniel Hofer, Chairman of the Board of Directors and former CEO APG)- Moreno Cavaliere, Sales & Marketing Director Publicitas (replacement for Alain Bandle, CEO Mediaspectrum and former CEO Publicitas)Linguistic regional sectionsThe two previously independent associations SW Schweizer Werbung and PS Publicité Suisse, like PS Publicità Svizzera, have been transformed into language-regional sections by an amendment to their articles of association. The German-speaking Switzerland section will be chaired by the former Vice President of SW Schweizer Werbung, Christian Merk, Head of Governance and Reporting, Zurich Insurance Company Ltd. The new board is made up of the three previous ADC presidents Frank Bodin, Chairman & CEO of Havas Worldwide Zurich, Martin Schneider, Director of publisuisse, and Urs Schneider, owner of mediaschneider AG. The only new member is National Councillor Natalie Rickli, who is Partner Relation Manager at Goldbach Media.Atmospheric anniversary eventSW Schweizer Werbung celebrated its 90th anniversary at Fabrikhalle 12 in Bern together with illustrious guests from the worlds of politics, business, media and communication with an atmospheric Advertising Day. In his opening speech, association president Filippo Lombardi emphasized how important the founding of the new umbrella association was, especially in view of the impending advertising bans. "It will give us stability, particularly in the face of the headwind from health politicians and organizations that is sweeping ever more harshly through our country from Brussels. I am convinced that if we speak with one voice, we will be heard even in the storm." In a witty greeting, Barbara Egger-Jenzer, President of the Bernese Government, then revealed herself to be a fan of apt advertising slogans such as "FIGUGEGL" - for her, as a Bernese citizen, it is of course "BIGUGEGL" - and described the legendary saying "Freude herrscht" ("Joy reigns") by former Federal Councillor Adolf Ogi as the shortest and most apt advertising slogan.Appeal by the media minister to the industry's responsibilityUrs Wolfensberger, Head of Marketing & Sales at the AG für Werbemittelforschung WEMF, then presented the 2014 net advertising sales as a kind of hors d'œuvre. Although they continued to fall last year in a ten-year comparison, the decline had slowed down. While the press continued to lose ground, both electronic media and out-of-home advertising were able to make gains, and philosopher and publicist Ludwig Hasler then gave a subtle speech explaining communication as the constituent of reality - "In the beginning was the word" - which made the conference motto "Without communication, no democracy" seem almost trivial. In her speech, Media Minister Doris Leuthard emphasized the importance of communication for the work of the Federal Council and stressed that the Confederation only restricts freedom of advertising for overriding reasons. As former President of the Swiss Commission on Fair Trading, she always considered self-regulation to be more sensible than a ban. At the same time, she appealed to the industry's responsibility to respect the boundaries drawn in this way.First-time presentation of the Lifetime AwardThe second part of the Advertising Day was a single plea for creative advertising. First, French advertising legend Jacques Séguéla used numerous commercials to show what he, as a "Fils de Pub", understands by this and at the same time stated a lack of creativity: "We need to rediscover hope. And we need to believe in advertising again." Martin Schneider, Director of publisuisse and board member of SW Schweizer Werbung, then contrasted the French examples with a potpourri of the best Swiss TV commercials from the last 50 years. The Advertising Day concluded with the first ever Lifetime Award for exceptional personalities in the advertising industry. The choice fell on Jacques Séguéla, who not only advertised commercial products, but also earned his legendary reputation at the political level with twenty campaigns for presidents.