Best of Swiss Web 2012: new record number of participants and serious craftsmanship

With over 400 entries, participation in Best of Swiss Web reached a record high this year. This is a good quarter more than last year and the work of the 84 jury members was correspondingly time-consuming and intensive. At the jury day on February 8, Claudio Dionisio, President of Best of Swiss Web, was delighted with the high level of participation: "The new record number of participants shows the dynamism in the web and mobile market." At the same time, however, he also sees a certain need for action: "The large increase in the mobile and social media sector is not entirely surprising - but it should lead to one or two new categories next year." 

The nine fixed categories varied in popularity among the applicants. The most projects were entered in the Creation (79) and Digital Branding Campaigns (69) categories. The categories Public Affairs (20) and Business Efficiency (28) received the fewest entries. There is a special category again this year: "Silver Surfer: Ctrl, Alt, Delete?" recognizes projects designed for people who were not born with a smartphone. 

68 entries made it onto the shortlist. Although this is only 2 fewer than last year, the ratio of the number of entries to shortlist places has shrunk significantly. While almost 23 percent of all entries made it onto the shortlist in 2011, this year it was just over 17 percent. Does this mean that the judging process was stricter this year, or were the projects less good? If you look at The Swiss web scene is more vibrant than ever before. This can be seen from the new record number of participants in Best of Swiss Web 2012, but the level of craftsmanship was also impressive - the real hits, on the other hand, were few and far between. The jury has made its decision, and the master candidates have been determined. We heard from various quarters that the average quality was quite good. A lot of serious work had been done. The technical quality in particular had now reached a respectable level. However, the proportion of truly outstanding projects - and only those that make it onto the shortlist - is significantly lower than in other years. Daniel Liebhart, one of the gray eminences on the jury, put it this way: "2012 is a year of integration. We had many technically sound projects, but only a few were red hot." 

Less from the "big ones" 

If you draw the circle even tighter and look at the list of master nominees (see PDF), it is noticeable that the dominance of large organizations has decreased somewhat. Last year, this top group was almost entirely made up of large companies or institutions. The role of Migros was striking: it provided no fewer than five of the twelve candidates and was therefore the big pike in the carp pond. 

This year's candidates for the Master's degree are much more heterogeneous in their origins. There are once again three entries from Migros, if you include Ex Libris and its subsidiary Bischofszell Nahrungsmittel AG. Swiss Television and SBB can also be counted among the big names. In addition, the young and wild of the youth channel Joiz also managed to secure a place, as did the road traffic organization Road Cross and Mountain Vision AG with its app for Laax/Flims. What is missing from this year's Master candidates, however, is a pure B2B project. 

Year of tourism? 

It is particularly refreshing that a project like "Holidays without the Internet" by Switzerland Tourism has managed to smuggle itself into the famous dozen. It picks up on the clichés and absurdities of the Web 2.0 hype and is aimed directly at online junkies in the form of an innovative social media campaign. Speaking of tourism: if you absolutely had to have a motto for this year's master nominees, then you could call it the year of tourism. With "Ferien ohne Internet ", Laax & Flims Mobile, Einbündnerung and My Switzerland, four tourism offers have secured starting places for the Master. And with a lot of good will, you could also add the new SBB website to the list. It should also be noted that interactivity on the web continues to grow, the mobile Internet is sprouting up rapidly and gamification is also making headway. 

Something else stood out: Compared to previous years, a remarkable number of traditional advertising agencies were able to come up with interesting projects. This also surprised Claudio Dionisio, who admits that he no longer gave these relics of the old media and communications world much of a chance. "But today, some of them are surprisingly fit in the online world - really agile." 

René Mosbacher 

The winner of Best of Swiss Web 2011: Migipedia - on the right with the
Master buoy the then online head of Migros Leila Summa.