Such advertising calls have already been prohibited for four years. On April 1, 2012, the revision of the law against unfair competition came into force. This has remained toothless, because since then many call centers have migrated abroad, "and not necessarily to neighboring countries," as Sara Stalder, Executive Director of the Foundation for Consumer Protection (SKS), said.

Chäpslipistol instead of two-handed sword

Only reputable call centers remained or comply with the new rules. These threaten people with a custodial sentence for harassing them with unsolicited advertising calls, with an asterisk in the phone book to protect them from this. Only companies that already do business with "asterisked" people are still allowed to call. Nevertheless, the other companies also called - in the morning, in the evening, on weekends. Previously, only those who had a landline phone had to expect an advertising call. But now it also affects cell phone users. The number on the display is from Switzerland. But the callers are based abroad, because companies abroad are also allowed to acquire Swiss telephone numbers. For law enforcement, it is often impossible to determine who the black sheep are.

Complaints doubled

Those affected no longer like to put up with annoying telephone advertising, as figures from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) show: in 2015, complaints doubled compared to the previous year to around 28'000. Seco issued warnings to 4 companies and filed criminal charges against 28 as a result. Orders or sentences were issued against a further 5. In 12 cases, however, the judiciary had to throw in the towel. Seco itself can take action against the telecom providers and threaten them with legal action. On several occasions, for example, Seco managed to get a Swiss provider to withdraw "misused telephone numbers" from a call center, as it writes on its website.

Law should get teeth

Consumers are fed up. Unwanted advertising calls are "perceived as a nuisance in large parts of the population," write the Swiss consumer organizations on Wednesday in their communication on the round table. The anger was also heard in Bern: In the current revision of the Telecommunications Act, the rules against advertising calls are to be tightened. From Stalder's point of view, it is no coincidence that the telecom companies are now offering a hand: "The planned tightening of the rules against advertising calls also has a chance with the conservative-dominated parliament," said the SKS head. In the meantime, the companies are also feeling the anger of the victims and have to fear for their reputation - as the call center industry did before. The industry itself wants as few rules as possible. The Round Table in particular "is a good example of how there's actually no need for regulation, because the players find a solution themselves."

For call: forward

The telecom companies cite the fact that they are obliged by law to transfer all calls. In response to the objection that this obligation conflicts with the ban on unsolicited advertising calls, Swisscom spokesman Armin Schäedeli said: "The providers can't distinguish which callers have an existing customer relationship and which don't." And thus what is allowed and what is forbidden. Since last fall, they have been working together on a solution: on one side of the table sat the SKS, the Alliance of Consumer Protection Organizations, the Federal Office of Communications and SECO, on the other Salt, Sunrise, Swisscom, UPC (formerly Cablecom), VTX and the call center industry association Callnet.ch. Result: Sunrise, Swisscom and UPC promised to look for a solution. Swisscom is expected to be able to offer one by the end of the year, UPC in a year. It will probably take longer for Sunrise.

When call money

The companies want to offer customers tools that enable them to activate filters against unwanted advertising by phone. Developing this takes time because they want to "offer as much protection as possible," Swisscom said, explaining the long duration. The filters would have to cover all use cases. Consumers have already had to wait four years. During that time, telecom companies have made money from advertising calls, as they do with all other calls. (SDA)

The story told by the serious speaker would actually be anything but funny. Rather tragic and alarming. Would be. But even. You can't blame Daniel Baumbach when he tells of the absurd case of the couple who seem to have a somewhat "sporty" approach to alcohol - and succumb to an infectious fit of laughter. (hae)

IAB Europe announced these figures at the Interact conference in Lisbon, the figures of the latest survey of the Adex Report.

Online advertising spend rises to record level in Europe - and outstrips TV

According to the Adex benchmark study, the European online advertising market has grown by a net EUR 30 billion in the last ten years to a total of EUR 36.2 billion. This means that TV was surpassed for the first time (Spendings TV 2015 33.3 billion euros). All the countries involved in the Adex study reported positive figures, twenty of them in double figures for the second time.

Strongest growth drivers mobile and moving images

In the European online advertising market, the growth drivers continue to be mobile (growth rate +60.5 percent) and video (+16.7 percent). This is exemplified by the "advanced" markets of the UK and Ireland, where almost 50 percent of all online advertising expenditure is spent on mobile advertising.

Switzerland in the TOP 10 for the first time - growth thanks to display advertising

The Swiss online advertising market grew by 18.7 percent to EUR 0.824 billion in 2015, moving up to 10th place in the overall rankings. The display channel even grew by 21.5 percent in this country. Switzerland is also strong in moving image advertising - with a share of 25.1 percent, Switzerland ranks third in Europe.
 

The first quarter of this year saw strong growth in the wearable market. Like the Figures from the market research company IDC 19.7 million units were sold, around 67 percent more than in the same period last year. This is around 67 percent more than in the same period last year. IDC divides the market into two segments. The first is basic wearables. No third-party apps run on these devices. Here, sales rose by 65 percent to 16.4 million units. The second, significantly smaller segment is smartwatches. Around 3.2 million units were shipped in the first quarter. This is twice as many as in the same period of the previous year.

No changes at the top

Fitbit dominates the basic wearables segment with a market share of around 30 percent. The Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi is in second place with a share of around 23 percent. Behind these manufacturers, there is a very fragmented field of manufacturers. No provider has a market share of more than 5 percent. Apple is the undisputed leader in smartwatches. According to IDC, Apple sold 1.5 million units in the first quarter. This corresponds to a market share of almost 50 percent. Samsung follows in second and third place with around 21 percent and Motorola with an 11 percent share. (Web Week)

 

As a member of the Executive Board, he reports directly to Bodo Kipper, CEO Ricardo.ch. Yannick Laclau has been Head of Venture Development in Tamedia's Digital division since 2014. Previously, he worked as a digital strategist and in business development at various startups and media as well as telecommunications companies in Europe and South America. He also founded a real estate classifieds portal and successfully managed it for several years.

Bodo Kipper, CEO Ricardo.ch, in a statement: "Yannick Laclau has already been supporting us at Ricardo.ch in various projects since the end of 2015 and I am delighted that we have been able to fill the position of Chief Product Officer with him. He brings many years of international experience as a digital strategist in the online sector and will contribute significantly to the further development of Ricardo.ch."

Known for its advertising campaigns with damage sketches, Schweizerische Mobiliar is one of the oldest private insurance companies in Switzerland. As part of a brand refresh by Metadesign, the website was also relaunched at the beginning of April 2016. Supertext edited all existing content for the insurance and pensions sections as well as for the brand portal (intranet), wrote new content and translated everything into French and Italian.

This major project began with a casting of four copywriters. On the basis of sample texts, Mobiliar decided on a copywriting duo that matched the style and know-how of the planned guide and product texts. Supertext put together teams of two to four translators and proofreaders to translate the new texts.

Seraina Heierli, online communications specialist at Mobiliar: "Our timing was extremely good: we completely redesigned the content of our website in just six months. Thanks to the support of Supertext, our texts are now consistent and in line with our new corporate wording - even in the language versions."

In the previous year, only 15.8 million francs were raised, according to the third study on the Swiss crowdfunding market by Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, which was published on Tuesday. Data from 31 crowdfunding platforms was taken into account. In total, over 90,000 people provided financial support for crowdfunding campaigns last year. This method of fundraising can be used to finance various projects via platforms on the internet. These include, for example, small loans, but also participation in a start-up, the co-purchase of a property or the financing of a photo book. Crowdfunding projects therefore have an enormously wide range. What they have in common is that, as a rule, many people make an often small amount available and thus enable the realization of a project. The central element of all forms of crowdfunding is direct, internet-based communication between donors and capital recipients. According to the study, there were over 30 platforms in Switzerland at the end of 2015. By April 2016, this figure had even risen to around 40.

Loans increase the most

The crowdlending category, which lends money at interest, grew the most. It grew from 3.5 million to 7.9 million francs. That is an increase of 127 percent. "This strong growth is mainly due to the market entry of platforms that enable not only private individuals but also SMEs to access loans via crowdfunding," explained co-head of the study and finance professor Andreas Dietrich. For SMEs, comparatively large sums of money flow, which drives up the volume. The crowdsupporting/crowddonating category, in which money is given in exchange for goods or services or simply donated without consideration, increased by 60 percent to 12.3 million francs. This means that crowdfunding/crowddonating is still the largest category of crowdfunding. The cultural and creative industries accounted for CHF 5.5 to 6 million of this figure. Crowdinvesting, which provides money in return for a stake in a company or real estate, was driven by investments in real estate, among other things. It increased by 54% to 7.1 million francs. (SDA)

You know them from the big football stadiums of the world: the chants of the fans when they cheer on or celebrate their team. Which football fan doesn't like to sing loudly about their team? And which football fan wouldn't like to be the creator of a legendary fan song? This is exactly where the promotion developed by Scholz & Friends for digital radio marketer MCDT comes in. The Swiss national team can use all the support it can get for a successful participation in the European Championship. That's why digital radio offers fans the opportunity to support the national team personally. On the platform Fan-radio.ch you can write a message of greeting to our European Championship team and win the ultimate vehicle for die-hard Swiss national team fans: The seven-seater DAB+ Fan Van. But so that you don't just support the Swiss national team on the street, the best fan greetings will be sung loudly by a choir of hardcore fans in the studio and spread via radio stations and FB posts.

On the campaign website, you can also listen to all SRF stations and private radio stations and experience the variety of devices and programs on current DAB+ radios.The promotional website went live on May 10. It is advertised via banners, FB posts, TV reminders, radio and at the POS of DAB+ partners Ford and Melectronics.

Responsible at MCDT: Ernst Werder (Managing Partner), Thomas Schnorf (Key Account Manager). Responsible at Scholz & Friends Zurich: Manuela Miksa, Wim Lanz, Franziska Pennington, Christian Vosshagen, Thomas Müller, Lukas Frei (creation) Britta Wild, Romea Lork, Tobias Baumann, Mathias Rösch, Martin Samsel, Tobias Händler (strategy and consulting).
 

Nudity, homosexuality, sex: The "Love Life" awareness campaigns (formerly "Stop Aids") regularly cause red faces. Since 1987, the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), in collaboration with the Swiss AIDS Federation and the Sexual Health Foundation, has commissioned sensational campaigns to highlight the importance of safer sex. The current "Love Life" campaign with the slogan "Fever after sex without a rubber?" draws attention to the issue of primo infection. Primo infection is the term used to describe the early stages of HIV infection, when 50 percent of cases experience the same symptoms we know from getting the flu. Fever, fatigue and night sweats; swollen lymph nodes and sore throat: those affected often do not realize that they have contracted HIV. Yet it is precisely in this phase that the risk of transmission during unprotected sexual intercourse is very high, which is why early detection is particularly important.

To communicate the topic of primo infection as clearly and comprehensibly as possible, Nemuk produced an animated video to complement Rod Kommunikation's poster campaign. Concept and text were created in collaboration with Rod. Particularly challenging were the visual implementation of sexual transmissibility and the logical and temporal link between flu-like symptoms and a possible HIV infection.

To break through the complexity of the topic, the Nemuk creative team used a playful animation style for the explanatory video. The colorful, entertaining design allows the viewer to identify with the rather sober, medical topic without the information losing any of its seriousness. The video was produced in German, French and Italian.

Responsible at the FOPH: Campaigns Section, Prevention and Promotion Section. Responsible at Rod (text & concept): Pablo Koerfer, Nicole Zaugg, Margrit Weber (consulting). Responsible at Nemuk (script, animation and project management): Naomi Meran, Thierry Figini, Konrad Mazanowski.

 

Colgate has always advocated the economical, conscious use of water and has repeatedly attracted attention with clever campaigns on this topic. As a toothpaste manufacturer, this commitment in the name of a good cause makes perfect sense, as many people do not turn off the water when brushing their teeth. This wasted water is certainly at the top of the list of the most pointless wastes of water. All the better if you can remind the sinners when they are sinning. In Brazil - the country is experiencing the worst drought in 80 years - Colgate launched a campaign with Marriot on the occasion of the annual Water Day, developed by the Y&R agency Red Fuse New York. One can only hope that constant dripping really does make the stone hollow and that people will learn. (hae)

After focusing on the dancers in the first three years, dancing animals took center stage in the 2016 campaign. The bear, the lemur, the squirrel and the two monkeys in dance-like movement, as colorful as the festival itself. According to the press release, the posters were very well received by the public, to an extent that surprised even the creators. Due to the high demand, a second edition was printed and sold to the fans. Animal sells.

Zürich tanzt 2016 took place from May 13 to 16. The fourth edition of the Zurich Dance Festival showcased dance in all its facets, moved people and inspired them to join in: The 170 events in total attracted around 17,000 participants, despite bad weather and a ban on dancing in public places on Whit Sunday. At the opening event on Friday and at Dance till you Drop on Saturday evening alone, 2,000 people celebrated and danced at the main station.

Responsible for Zürich tanzt: Catja Löpfe (Artistic Director), Stefanie Gubser (Communication, PR & Production Management). Responsible at Studio Roth&Maerchy: Monica Märchy and Martin Roth (Creative Direction), Eleonora Nodari (Art Direction, Graphics), Márton Dobozi (Webpublishing), Jonas Koutrios (Graphics), Patrick Oberholzer (Image Editing).