A new collaboration that first expresses itself with a simple, direct claim. "Salt. Smart. Swiss." Two words that summarize the positioning of the "new" provider: the brand offers the Swiss - according to the communication - the most attractive offers on the market, with values such as customer proximity, simplicity and generosity.

Values that can be found in the campaign developed by M&C Saatchi, which shows the Switzerland of today: an increasingly mobile, innovative Switzerland that wants to use its cell phone more and more and everywhere. The five TV spots by director Indra and the visuals by photographer Lorenz Richard for the poster campaign illustrate this idea of a Swiss population that is always online, sharing every moment of its life. The whole in a light, lively and rhythmic tonality, always from the perspective of a cell phone.

The cell phone has become a way of life, and M&C Saatchi's campaign skillfully translates this obviousness.

Responsible at Salt: Andreas Schönenberger, Sabine Kuszli, Anthony Chabin. Responsible at M&C Saatchi: Olivier Girard (Creative Director); Bérengère Hours, Vincent Schäublin (Artistic Director); David von Ritter (Copywriter); Florentine Baron Pailhès (Director of Client Services). Director: Indra. Photographs: Lorenz Richard. Retouching: Dominique Piccinato. Production House: Edith.

The digitalization of communication is clearly seen as an opportunity. Social media has established itself as an important factor in the management of communication tasks. However, companies need communication governance in order to be able to manage all levels of communication in companies efficiently and professionally. This is shown by the initial results of a comprehensive survey of leading Chief Communications Officers (CCO), the members of the Harbourclub. The results are a further development of the "CCO Compass", which was launched a year and a half ago in collaboration with the GFS Bern research institute. The Harbourclub is a Networkwhich brings together the CCOs of the most important Swiss companies and organizations.

With the "CCO Compass", the Harbourclub takes an in-depth look at digitalization and its impact on communication. At the beginning of 2016, the Harbourclub conducted a survey among its members for the first time to delve deeper into trends and changes in the communications sector. The result was a practical assessment of the value contribution and understanding of communication by CCOs in Switzerland.

Companies need communication governance

In the survey, heads of communication clearly advocate a clear concept for managing communication with guidelines and defined processes, responsibilities, topics, channels and stakeholder groups, aligned with a company's vision, purpose, strategy, organization and culture. 68 percent fully agree with such communication management. Only 13% disagree that communication can be better managed with governance. However, there is still a gap between agreement and actual implementation in the company. This is because less than half (46%) of CCOs already have a clearly defined and practiced control element.

Heads of communications expand their influence on company management

83% of CCOs stated that they had more personal influence on reputation communication than three years ago. According to their own assessment, not a single member lost influence. This reflects the steadily growing importance of communication on strategy, brands, products, perception and culture in the age of digital upheaval on all fronts. The trust of managing directors and CEOs in their communication leaders is becoming a success factor. It is not only the personal influence of CCOs that has increased; the CCO Compass survey shows that 93% also provide communications consulting services "partially" or "fully" to other areas of the organization beyond top management.

Digitalization with more opportunities than risks

40 percent of CCOs in Switzerland clearly see more opportunities in digitalization and give it an even 10 on a scale of 1 to 10. The average score is a high 8.6 points. Although the opportunities of digitalization have been recognized, companies do not yet seem to have fully adapted to the new communication requirements. Only 20 percent of companies have a dialogue strategy to deal with the changes in communication brought about by digitalization. However, 40 percent have recognized the signs of the times and are "working on it". Still 30 percent do not have a dialog strategy.

No other stakeholder group has driven the change in communication as much as customers. 88% of respondents also see them as the main drivers of the last three years from a corporate communications perspective, followed by employees (78%). The media (53 percent) lag far behind. From the CCOs' perspective, investors/capital providers (13 percent), politics/authorities (8 percent) and trade unions (3 percent) have little influence.

Social media and visualization create attention

Communication managers are meeting these increasing challenges with the help of one channel in particular: social media is increasingly being used for these purposes by 78%. The internet in general is gaining in importance for 53%, followed by relationship management/networking (45%) and traditional media relations (40%), which is used to a much lesser extent. Social, personal exchange with customers and employees still reaches 33%, personal discussions 23%.

The battle for attention has increased with the additional communication channels. Today, 58% of communication managers invest "significantly more" in the visualization, emotionalization and simplification of content. Still 40 percent spend "slightly more" on this than three years ago.

Trust in communication remains high

In the course of the digitalization of everyday life, companies in Switzerland are extremely aware of transparency, honesty and credibility. 73% of heads of communication state that these attributes are very important to management and senior management. 23 percent describe them as "high". CCOs have a more differentiated view of the impact of digitalization on communication in terms of trust. Only a quarter believe that transparency, honesty and credibility in communication have "increased significantly" as a result of digitalization, 45% rate this as "somewhat increased", while just under a third see no change in the last three years.

The Harbourclub's "CCO Compass" survey includes a practical examination of the topics of governance, digitalization, status and communication sovereignty, change and future viability of communication departments and their heads of communication. The further results will be published in the course of 2016.

As a Master of Communication Sciences, Simon Eberhard has worked for many years as a communications consultant and specialist journalist, most recently as Editor-in-Chief VSE of Bulletin SEV/VSE, the leading trade magazine for the Swiss electricity industry. In Simon Eberhard, Haustech has succeeded in recruiting an expert with outstanding editorial skills and in-depth knowledge of specialist journalism, according to a press release from AZ Medien.

The specialist magazine Haustech serves as an important source of information for managers in the energy and building technology sectors. The editorial team takes a critical look at all relevant topics in the industry and guarantees up-to-date reporting.
 

Those affected include money lenders who demand repayment within 60 days. In the USA, the measure is also aimed at loans with an annual interest rate of 36 percent or more. In essence, it is about so-called payday loans - loans that are automatically paid off with the next salary. However, customers of these offers often end up in a cycle of debt, as the interest rates are usually horrendously high. "This change is designed to protect our users from misleading or dangerous financial products," explained Google. Ads for mortgages, car loans, student loans or credit cards are therefore not affected. In future, users looking for small loans will only see them as search results - but no longer as advertisements. Consumer advocates welcomed Google's announcement. Wade Henderson from the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights explained that this would label small loans "like explosives and tobacco as dangerous products". (SDA)

"Ezekiel's Dream" is a six-minute virtual reality film about everyday school life in the village of Songambele. It centers on 11-year-old student Ezekiel and his teacher Selena. The film takes the viewer to Ezekiel's home, to Selena's geography lessons and to the schoolyard, where 900 children sing the school's song. In this way, it is possible to experience at first hand how the Pestalozzi Children's Foundation is committed to providing the children of Songambele with a good education and thus a future full of prospects.

The virtual reality experience is shown in the context of the special exhibition "Tanzania 360°", which the Pestalozzi Children's Village in Trogen opened on its 70th anniversary two weeks ago. This Monday, Federal Councilor Didier Burkhalter was a guest and immersed himself in "Ezekiel's Dream" with VR glasses.

Remo Schläpfer, Head of Media & Campaigns at the Pestalozzi Children's Foundation: "We don't just want to tell our donors about our projects abroad, we want to make them come alive. Virtual reality is perfect for this: The viewer feels as if he is actually on site in Tanzania. It's not for nothing that VR is called "the ultimate empathy machine.""

Ezekiel's Dream" was conceived and implemented by Bandara. The Zurich-based virtual reality content studio was founded in 2015 and has since implemented 360° content for various well-known brands, including Cailler (on behalf of the Jung von Matt agency), Samsung (on behalf of Equipe) or Switzerland Tourism (on behalf of SMLY). In addition, the young company recently streamed an event live in 360° for the first time in Switzerland in collaboration with Yoveo.

For the 360° effect to work, the trailer should be viewed in a current version of Chrome or Firefox. On the smartphone, the Youtube app is required.

Subscribers to the three daily newspapers can choose whether they want to read their newspaper on paper or find out about regional news digitally around the clock via the newspapers' apps and news portals.

The three daily newspapers completely revamped their digital presence a year ago and have been steadily expanding it ever since. In the initial phase, this service was available free of charge, but is now reserved for subscribers. Readers of the digital offerings who do not yet have a subscription have the option of taking out a traditional newspaper subscription or one of the new digital subscriptions after receiving six free articles per month.

"More and more readers are appreciating these new opportunities, as shown by the sharp rise in the number of users of our digital offerings", said Benjamin Geiger, Editor-in-Chief of the three daily newspapers, in a press release. "Our joint print and online editorial teams guarantee that the same content can be read on all channels in the same quality. This work costs money and has therefore always come at a price in the form of the subscription fee."

Walter Tagliaferri joins from Havas Worldwide Zurich, where he spent the last eight years as Client Service Director and member of the Executive Board, contributing significantly to the agency's success.

Walter Tagliaferri is a resounding name in the Swiss advertising landscape. He is considered a proven advertising professional. His many years of experience in marketing and communications include both agency and client work. In each case in leading positions. He is a trained advertising and marketing professional and has completed numerous courses at universities, such as the Executive MBA Marketing Program at the HWZ Zurich and most recently the Strategic Marketing Management & Digital Media Program for Executives at the renowned Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Commenting on his new role, Tagliaferri says: "Alpha 245 is a young and successful agency with great clients and a very dedicated team. My goal is to continue to accompany Alpha 245 on this course and to provide new impulses. I am definitely looking forward to this great challenge."

With the integrated training portal Medizinonline.ch, its numerous specialist journals and intensive social media activities, the publishing house addresses the "medical professionals" target group directly.

Helen-Deborah Maier will take over editorial responsibility for the publishing house Prime Public Media (PPM) on May 1, 2016 and is a member of the publishing management team. Maier is an economist and has many years of experience in corporate management, marketing, communications and PR. She completed her economics degree and doctorate at the University of St. Gallen and then worked in leading management positions in both the healthcare and financial industries. Maier is also a lecturer at the University of St. Gallen.

Maier is taking over as Editor-in-Chief from Lena Geltenbort-Rost, who left the company at the end of April.Together with the editorial team, she will continue to develop the PPM publications Hausarzt Praxis, Cardiovasc, Info Onkologie & Hämatologie, Info Neurologie & Psychiatrie and Dermatologie Praxis and will be responsible for the digital distribution of these established media brands, as detailed in a press release.
 

Sarah Nettel, Head of Public Relations UPC Austria, will additionally take over the media spokesperson role in Switzerland with immediate effect. Bernard Strapp, Media Spokesperson UPC Cablecom, also takes over the spokesperson role in Austria. For French-speaking Switzerland, Julien Grosclaude joins the team with immediate effect. UPC is thus focusing on regional contacts in the respective national language, combined with national and international topic setting, according to a statement on Wednesday.

Sarah Nettel has represented UPC in public since July 2015 and previously worked in PR and strategy consulting and as group press officer for Siemens and ÖBB. Bernard Strapp has represented upc cablecom in public since February 2015 and previously worked as media spokesman for Swiss radio and television SRF. Julien Grosclaude joins the company as a new member. He was most recently personal advisor to the Mayor of Geneva. Marc Maurer, media spokesman and Head of Public Relations in Switzerland since September 2014, has decided to leave the company at his own request after more than five years. Roland Bischofberger has overall responsibility for corporate communications at the Austria/Switzerland regional company.

It doesn't always have to be flowers. Jumbo thanked strong mothers with posters and online banners. Women who are able to lend a hand or who also work with their hands. Symbolically with a nut as the subject. In practical terms, with a voucher that was handed over to customers at the checkout together with a thank-you card before Mother's Day.

Responsible at Jumbo market: Jérôme Gilg (CEO), Fabian Rauber (Head of Marketing). Responsible at Alpha 245: Patrick Senn, Patrick Beeli (CD), Patrick Bucher (text), Barney Rees (AD), Stephanie Rüegg, Inma Mendiola (consulting), Barbara Häne (DTP), Walter Tagliaferri (overall responsibility).
 

For the study "Smart City: Essentials for City Leaders", the experiences of 25 cities, companies and start-ups were compiled, all of which are pioneers in this field. It suggests specific tools that cities can use to become smarter and more innovative. As a provider of digitalization services in Switzerland, Swisscom wants to use this study to demonstrate its commitment and expand its expertise in the areas of the Internet of Things and smart data, as Swisscom wrote in a press release on Wednesday.

Like all other economic sectors, the public sector is not exempt from digitalization. The use of digital technologies brings with it new challenges, but above all represents an opportunity. In this context, Swisscom is demonstrating its expertise in project support, enabling public authorities in particular to improve or create new services for citizens, optimize city administration, reduce energy consumption and offer a better urban quality of life. In short, digital technologies enable cities to transform themselves into "smart cities".

Increasing the chances of success for smart city projects

The attractiveness and benefits of smart city projects are well known. However, cities often lack the structures and skills to manage the complex implementation and evaluation processes, the press release continues. The study "Smart City: Essentials for City Leaders" aims to close precisely this gap. It offers an analysis tool, the "Smart City Piano", with which the various projects can be evaluated on the basis of three pillars. Firstly, the process offers the opportunity to assess the potential of projects. Secondly, it enables optimal preparation of the framework conditions of the project, in particular the aspects of political regulation. Finally, the tool provides important practical information so that the implementation of the project can be managed under optimal conditions.

The study also examines the main reasons for cities to implement smart city projects. The results will be implemented by Swisscom's consulting teams. According to Blaise Vonlanthen, Head of Consulting at Swisscom, there are many lessons to be learned from the study: "Smart City Piano is an evaluation tool that enables us to provide cities with effective and structured support in their digitalization considerations. In this way, we can help cities to focus on the most relevant projects and increase their chances of success".

Project support through to implementation

Swisscom has already demonstrated its expertise in the field of smart city management. In Pully (VD), for example, it is developing an urban mobility monitoring center in collaboration with the city to improve the planning of infrastructure facilities and increase the attractiveness of the city center. "This analysis tool completes Swisscom's range of services. It allows synergies to be exploited by combining the various solutions and integrating several city departments," emphasizes Raphaël Rollier, responsible for Swisscom's Smart City programme.

For those who want to see how "Smart City Piano" is used in practice, a demonstration will take place on May 31 on the campus of the Lausanne University of Technology (EPFL) during the "Swisscom dialogue expérience" conference. The topic of intelligent luminaires will also be discussed, which can be used to reduce electricity consumption, optimize maintenance, manage traffic and track water meter consumption.

All urban areas, regardless of their size, can find answers in the "Smart City: Essentials for City Leaders" study. The "Smart City Piano" is being used for the first time in the Aigle region at the suggestion of the "ecovillages" association. In this way, innovative "Smart Village" projects relating to tourism, transport and energy are likely to be developed and implemented.

Study "Smart City: Essentials for City Leaders"

Registration for the "Swisscom dialogue expérience 2016" conference