Serkan Isik, 33, from Zurich, previously worked as a project manager at the Zollikon-based PR agency Richterich & Partner. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science ZFH in Communications from the Zurich School of Economics. Isik gained twelve years of insurance experience at Zurich Insurance Company and Swiss Life. From 2007 to 2010, he worked as a consultant for the SDA subsidiary News Aktuell.
 

Wine is the conduit to the experience and makes the moment perfect for the connoisseur. The «Ambassadeur Nüesch» concept—which the agency developed as an event concept for Nüesch Wines—also revolves around this core element.

Each of the newly designed communication materials addresses a very specific situation. They engage all the senses and open up new worlds for discovering wine. In addition, the agency has developed a new corporate design for Nüesch Weine.
 

Look here, see what I have to tell you!
The mere idea of how many different ways pictures appeal to us every day is seductive. They speak of harmony, elegance, humor, desire, but also of loneliness and fears. They tell stories and convey happiness as impressively as fate. Their words are angles, sharpness, contrast and mood. A colorful and incomprehensible world of motifs and actors. Created in one place and in one moment from reality, images tend to be boundless and timeless in the course of their reproduction. The statement as a visual message and its power help art, advertising, journalism and kitsch to achieve success. Images used in visual communication and media should have a targeted effect, move, inspire, inform, stimulate, motivate and, in extreme cases, unconsciously influence the opinion and behavior of the viewer. But what is it that speaks to us and touches us, even if only fleetingly, for a lifetime? It is the character of a picture, which is created by the uniqueness and relevance of the motif and the sophistication of the presentation and fitting. The optimal development of a picture's message is achieved by using it appropriately for the medium, and its effectiveness is in constant tension with its surroundings.

It is the image specialist who sparks the viewer's longing and arouses their emotions by projecting desirable or ideal images. Empathy, imagination, aesthetic flair and craftsmanship are required. With a great deal of sensitivity and experience, the relevant elements of the images are enhanced and distortions are toned down. As a result, the image statements become louder and irritating background noise disappears. Depending on requirements and with the necessary foresight for later use, various editing techniques and methods are used.

First, defects such as image noise and other obvious flaws are eliminated. Then the image is optimized in line with the subject, for example by shaping image depths, enhancing highlights and determining colors. Or refined by setting highlights, smoothing transitions or accentuating details. If required, the specialist can also create compositions from several images by emphasizing elements, masking parts of the image and combining them into a new image. And through the skillful use of various filters and individual adjustments to the lighting, shadows, structure and colour, the composition remains hidden from the viewer. The most sophisticated form is creative retouching, in which the image is enriched by artificial elements created by the retoucher.

If it is also possible to create a repetitive image DNA through certain processing schemes and patterns, visual worlds are created that lead from a fleeting encounter to a relationship with the viewer. The power of recognition depends to a large extent on the style of the image, its continuous fascination and the credibility of its message. Apart from artificial effects, good image manipulation ensures naturalness, distracts from the processed area and prevents the viewer from feeling manipulated. Inconsistencies are noticed immediately, and the biggest challenge is not to change the authenticity of an image through the density of digital interventions. And although digital technology today offers incredibly effective tools, post-processing has by no means become easier. The complexity of the tools requires a routine that can only be developed and maintained through daily use.

What is a good picture and what value does it have?

Mixed feelings prevail in the market. Since digitization, new, unimagined paths have opened up; in the creation of images themselves, in the processing and refinement of images and in the management of images, their use and distribution. However, this creative segment, which is characterized by individuality, is increasingly drifting into pure mass business. This is not a matter of denouncing cheap retouching from all over the world, but of endangering a high-quality and formative image culture. Because the lower the hurdles to creation and quality standards, the less responsibility and professional understanding, the more anonymity and dilettantism, the greater the risk of a loss of visual value. However, similar to the Polaroid movement, image culture has the opportunity and the right to grow together with technological development, despite visual frugality and visual understatement in the online sector. The charm of analog photography, the aspiration and the pursuit of refined perfection of the image should be in no way inferior to the appeal of economy and visual overload. Ready to successfully replace the word in the future. Florian Walz, CEO, Daniel Straumann AG
 

125 newspaper titles from 28 countries have been awarded membership of the International Newspaper Color Quality Club (INCQC). This is the seventh time that Ringier Print has won this international award for Blick's print quality, according to a press release from the media company. With this club membership, Ringier Print is one of the selected newspaper printers for the years 2012 to 2014 that meet the highest quality standards in terms of printing results in an international comparison.

Ringier Print has also been a member of the "Star Club" since 2010. All newspaper printing plants that have successfully participated in the INCQC competition at least five times are admitted to this club. The International Newspaper Color Quality Club has been organized by Wan-Ifra as a global quality printing competition every two years since 1994.
 

The separation is by mutual agreement. This was announced by Santésuisse on Thursday. Pfenninger has decided to pursue a new career outside the industry association.

Urs Pfenninger succeeded Felix Schneuwly as Head of the Policy and Communications Department at Santésuisse on November 1, 2011. In this role, he was responsible for the industry association's communication strategy and public affairs.

Until Pfenninger's successor has been appointed, Paul Rhyn will take over as Deputy Head of the Politics and Communications Division with immediate effect. (sda)
 

> To the photos (PDF)

When it comes to the television of the future, the key words are not "three-dimensional" (3D) or "high-definition" (HD), but smart TV. This is the name given to the connection of TV sets to the Internet, for which the rather unwieldy terms hybrid TV or connected TV are also used. This makes TV part of the online world, opening up new markets, especially for advertising. Anyone who communicates professionally must be prepared to use TV as a communication channel in a different and new way.

TV sets have long since been used for more than just receiving broadcasts. Increasingly, these are being consumed on a time-shift basis, thanks to hard disk recorders or centralized services provided by network operators. In addition, game consoles, Bluray players or home theater personal computers are connected to TV sets in many places. This not only makes it possible to play back one's own digital video and music collection, but also to retrieve content from the Internet. However, the installation effort is sometimes great and the comfort limited. With Smart TV, the Internet is now to be seamlessly integrated into HD televisions, and information from the Internet is now to be easily accessible even in the armchair with the remote control in hand: not only the usual information portals, but above all video-on-demand services such as YouTube and the like, as well as photo and music services together with gaming or social media offerings. The often bored zapping through the eternally same channels is now being replaced by contemplative surfing in the vastness of the Web with its sheer boundless diversity.

This is shifting the business models in the TV market. The TV screen is becoming a distribution channel, and instead of coverage, the focus is increasingly on target groups. Just as with smartphones and tablets, content is also being marketed on TV screens via pay apps. The biggest and most concrete market opportunity is opening up for video rental services. Using an app, they offer movies for download or streaming for good money. Such services have hardly gained a foothold here yet, but in the USA, a third of all Internet traffic at peak times is attributable to the leading video provider Netflix. But niche providers are also being given new opportunities. As a showcase example, Samsung has joined forces with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra to launch the world-famous orchestra's Internet service, the "Digital Concert Hall," for smart TV, which has been available since 2005. With this app, live concerts, recordings or background information can be accessed for a monthly fee of 14.90 euros. If it's not a matter of direct revenue, apps are used for promotion and/or brand management. Audi and Red Bull, for example, have launched their own smart TV apps to inform and entertain their respective clientele.

New rules of the game apply

It is becoming clear: In the battle for the favor of the audience in front of the TV screens, a new round with new rules of the game has begun. There are many opponents, and all signs point to a protracted war of attrition that will hinder rather than help the acceptance and spread of the new possibilities among audiences.

The potential losers are obvious: TV stations whose structures are geared to traditional linear TV consumption. If the audience has endless alternatives thanks to smart TV, they will inevitably continue to lose reach. That's why they are trying to bring their own smart TV variant into play and are relying on HbbTV.

This word monstrosity from the technician's office refers to the possibility of sending smart TV content with the digital TV signal, usually not the information itself, but a link to it. This can refer, for example, to supplementary videos in the Internet media library of the respective broadcaster or, in the case of a commercial, to a more detailed presentation. HbbTV is not the first attempt to modernize teletext, which is now 30 years old, and it is still unclear to what extent this technology will be able to establish itself. Since the International Consumer Electronics Fair last fall, broadcasters in Germany in particular have ramped up Hbb- TV offerings, and more and more end devices are also supporting this standard. In Switzerland, the HbbTV rollout at SRG seems to be delayed, as this issue is part of the ongoing dispute between publishers and SRG over online advertising (cf. dispute over the "red button"). Network providers also have little to like about smart TV. They are busy winning customers for their digital TV offerings (IPTV) in order to retain them with their bundles of offerings with telephony and Internet access (so-called triple play). This business is currently booming here, with growth rates of between 35 and 40 percent. At the end of March, more than 1.142 million households were watching digital TV from cable network operators, according to the industry association Swisscable, and a further 655,000 households were receiving digital TV services from Swisscom. Telecom companies must fear that smart TV will hamper this business and at the same time entail expansions in the network infrastructure, for which price premiums can hardly be enforced. In the U.S., for example, there is a trend toward "cable cutting": Cable TV is being canceled, and TV content is being obtained only via video portals on the Internet, some of which are operated by the TV broadcasters (e.g., Hulu). In the process, viewers are accepting cutbacks:

The content is not all equally available online, which can be particularly important for live sports broadcasts, or for transmission, which can sometimes get bogged down (which is why this pure form of smart TV is unlikely to become a mass trend in quality-consumed Switzerland). Instead, the TV menu is enriched with content from the Internet that is only available online (e.g., on YouTube) and is often recommended via social networks. With their set-top boxes, network providers actually have a platform for generating additional revenue with digital content from the Internet. But there are hardly any initiatives for this, so this business is left to others.

New sources of revenue are opening up

Equipment manufacturers: It is primarily the manufacturers of TV sets who are pushing smart TV. On the one hand, because they expect better sales opportunities in the highly competitive consumer electronics market, and on the other hand, because they hope for new potential sources of revenue. For example, there is "LG Smart TV," "Philips Net TV," "Samsung Smart Hub," "Sony Bravia Internet Video," "Panasonic Viera Connect" and "Toshiba Places." All these platforms are usually connected to an app store, where currently there are several hundreds of apps to choose from, and to enjoy them, in most cases, knowledge of the English language is an advantage. Because today the TV apps have to be newly developed for each of these platforms, consolidation is foreseeable and necessary here. For example, Europe's largest consumer electronics manufacturer Philips has already formed a smart TV alliance with its Asian competitors Sharp and LG, as well as German TV producer Loewe. Service providers: Internet heavyweights Google and Apple are also in on the action. They launched their products (Google TV and Apple TV) as separate products some time ago, but did not achieve a breakthrough with them. They are primarily interested in extending the existing platforms (Google Play and iTunes) to the big screens in living rooms.

The existing TV apps still show little sign of the future commercialization of the TV screen, and advertising and paid apps are still the big exception. However, these two business models, familiar from smartphones and tablets, are also at the forefront of smart TV. Samsung, the largest South Korean conglomerate, stands out with its energetic forward strategy. Together with other manufacturers from South Korea, Taiwan and China, Samsung has won significant market shares in the TV market in recent years with low prices. And in smartphones and tablets, the South Koreans are in a clinch with Apple, which is not only being fought out on the market, but also in courts with patent challenges. In the smart TV business, Samsung is now apparently doing everything it can to stay ahead and is trying to gain as large a market share as possible even before Apple starts its long-awaited entry into the TV business with its own TVs. Samsung mentions an average annual growth rate of 90 percent for smart TV, and industry observers assume that more than half of the TV sets with large screens sold in Germany are now Internet-capable, even in the low-price segment. Now Samsung has become the first major device manufacturer to reveal its ambitions as a player in the advertising market. First, at the beginning of the year, it launched "Samsung AdHub for Smart TV" as a vehicle for advertising on smart TV devices, and this was followed at the beginning of April by the announcement of "Samsung AdHub Market," which extended the advertising platform to cell phones and tablets. To this end, Samsung entered into a cooperation with OpenX Technologies Inc, one of the world's leading providers of digital advertising technologies. This will create a marketplace for targeted advertising on all three device platforms, which is scheduled to begin operations in the second half of the year. Concepts previously known from online advertising, such as targeting and real time biding, will thus also be applicable to advertising on TV screens. And Samsung can hope to generate revenue from this as well as from sales revenue from the app store, for example when purchases are made and paid for by remote control. Samsung is thus trying to position itself on an equal footing with Apple (iAds) and Google (AdMob), and it will be interesting to see what alliances and market definitions emerge. Apple will probably want to maintain its own demarcated world, but Google will have to work hard to bring the Android-based Google TV into the market. Will Samsung continue on its course to build an independent advertising platform and find more partners to do so in order to steal Google's thunder? Or will Google be able to rally powerful partners, including perhaps even Samsung, around it? Will Apple be able to build on the success of the iPhone and iPad with television sets? And what level of acceptance will smart TV enjoy in our country - with the public on the one hand and with the advertising industry on the other? Christoph J. Walther

Dispute over the "red button
The NZZ can boast of having launched the first Swiss smart TV app. As Manuel Küffer, Head of NZZ Network & Classifieds, told Werbewoche, it was launched in collaboration with Samsung in anticipation of the International Consumer Electronics Fair last fall. Since then, it has been installed around 20,000 times. However, the number of active users is far lower, but those who read the NZZ on the TV screen call up significantly more pages compared to normal web users. Smart TV was "not the first priority", and the main aim was to gain experience with it. For the time being, the effort is minimal: the app was created in-house, the company uses its own news feeds for the content, and the app has not been advertised so far. Küffer is considering an update and would like to see videos and possibly more topical issues so that it can act as an alternative to teletext. However, there are no concrete plans.

Tamedia is also on board with smart TV and is represented on the Samsung platform with an app for 20 Minuten. "In the medium term, further apps are conceivable," says company spokesman Christoph Zimmer. In view of the "still very low" usage, offers on TV platforms are primarily "an investment in the future" at the moment. As in the smartphone market, the effort required to develop a separate app for each technical platform is "considerable. Nevertheless, the company is interested in offering its own content on various platforms, and so the launch of smart TV offerings could also be "imagined in the medium term" at Newsnet.

At the Blick Group, smart TV is "on the project list," according to Caroline Thoma, managing director of the Blick Group. Blick will be present, but the timing is still open. This is because the company does not want to offer the simplest solution, but rather the most attractive offer, which must be suitable for television. SRG's response on the subject of smart TV is conspicuously scant: "SRG has launched hybrid TV projects; the first services are in internal test operation," says company spokesman Daniel Steiner, referring to the fact that the management will discuss and decide on "decisive steps for implementation" at the beginning of June. After all, the foreign service Swissinfo.ch was the first SRG SSR enterprise unit to launch a TV app for Panasonic and Samsung devices in six languages in mid-April. Steiner confirms that SRG is also using HbbTV in its pilot projects. This bothers publishers, who have been disputing with SRG for some time about its commitment to the online sector. As Urs F. Meyer, managing director of the Swiss Media Publishers Association, confirmed on request, HbbTV is part of these negotiations. The publishers want to prevent SRG from using HbbTV for advertising. Specifically, the issue is the use of the "red button" that can be used to call up HbbTV information on the remote control. To encourage viewers to do so when the opportunity arises, a corresponding symbol can be superimposed on the picture. And this is precisely what publishers are fighting against: SRG should not be able to commercialize the use of the red button for advertising and thus steal advertising money from private TV media companies.

Smart TV has already arrived in the Swiss advertising industry: The leading marketer, Goldbach Media, for example, also offers placements on smart TV apps as part of the Goldbach Video Network, which focuses on multi-screen advertising. For the time being, this involves pre-roll ads on the Samsung app of the Swiss Internet video store provider Viewster.

The possibly imposed loss of the red button for advertising in a future HbbTV offering from SRG would indeed deprive the advertising industry of a new opportunity for the best possible advertising opportunities. But because HbbTV has not been an issue in Switzerland so far, it is open whether this will ever be relevant. After all, it is quite possible that HbbTV will be overrun by the smart TV wave from the Internet.

Smart TV opens up a wonderful opportunity for private media companies to get beyond licensing requirements and onto the screens in living rooms, where they can leverage new business potential. Instead of being driven by existential fears and calling for bans, they could simply shake up the entrepreneurial spirit again and start producing new innovative content - because smart TV still lacks a real killer app.

From May 29, 2012, anyone interested can easily design a We Parents cover at Wireltern.ch using a photo from their family album. The personalized booklet will then be sent by post free of charge. Each cover will also be entered into the big photo competition, in which you can win a week's family vacation in the south of France, with each voter playing for a family prize every day. The 2nd prize is a credit of 2,500 francs.

From June 1 to 3, 2012, Wir Eltern will also have a stand at the Fam Expo in Winterthur. Visitors to the fair will have the opportunity to pose for their personal family portrait with a professional photographer. They can use this directly for the competition and the individual booklet cover at prepared PC stations.

What it's about: At the beginning of the year, dear readers, I promised to write a column here for once that wasn't a motz. Today I have pulled this joker and write under the heading "Theophil liked this" about the beloved dairy cow Lovely. At the moment, posters with the bike-riding cow mother and her calves in trailers are hanging again. The continuation and creative implementation of the advertising figure cow is a successful piece of good advertising. When I saw this, I had to smile and was happy that the billboard advertising can be saved after all. Sure I liked the H&M bikini girls too, but I'm missing an idea there. So no grin. At most an eye-catcher for the wrong target group.

My praise goes not only to Ruf Lanz's creation, but especially to the clients, Swissmilk, the umbrella organization of Swiss milk producers. Bravo for the belief in continuity. The Ruf Lanz farmer's rule is: "If you bet on the right horse, stay on it until the very end. And even if it's not a horse but a cow, keep going and don't lead it to the butcher."

My theory: I have been preaching for a very long time that the success of an advertising campaign consists of three factors. 1. a precise brief with a simple and clear core message: "Grow big, stay strong." 2. A surprising, entertaining, adaptable and to-the-point creative execution: the clever, human cow. (For our young urban readers, the milk comes from cows that have given birth to a calf and then produce milk almost endlessly). Back to the most important part of my sermon, point 3. Continuity: the dairy cow was invented 19 years ago by Advico, Young & Rubicam. It is beyond my knowledge what happens when a respective agency changes
has happened.

Either the client has defined that he wants new subjects or TV spots on the same basic idea. Or the new agencies have convinced the client that the cow is the "Klu". In any case, the Swissmilk example should be a model for many clients. In the last Motz, I chided Swisscom for choosing exactly the strategy of discontinuity. Not only because it is now seeking its salvation in Berlin. Advertising that has no continuity is wasted money. Who can afford such nonsense? Monopolists!

Anyone who reads my column will have noticed that I always go in the same direction. Continuity, continuity, continuity. There are a few examples other than the cow that prove this is a recipe for success. For example: Freitag, Marlboro, Nespresso, Für a gsunde, tüfe Schlaf, Nei si... Leisi, Figugegl, the Globus red pencil or just the milk cow.

My opener of the week: Dear Lucerne fans, in the end, only the goals count. Butz, FCB fan.

Theophil Butz, once a star advertiser (Ringier), now an inspirer and, as of now, a mothballer. "Not an easy role, but a necessary one, which I perform here every fortnight." Please send any relevant information to [email protected].

Tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of francs are invested to bring visitors to the website. If the desired result is not achieved because the information on the website or its structure does not appeal to visitors, the money is lost. This could have been prevented by analyzing website usage in advance.

An analysis of visitor behavior reveals weaknesses that need to be eliminated before the campaign is launched and also provides important information about the users of the offers and therefore the target group. In particular, unknown needs and functional problems of the website are uncovered and insights into the quality of information and the attractiveness of the offers are gained.

The data for the analysis is provided by tools such as Google Analytics or WebTrends. The prerequisite for meaningful data is the configuration of these tools with a view to the individual online marketing objectives. This requires an experienced web analytics specialist who knows what can be measured and how.

Experience plays an important role in the interpretation of web analytics data. To avoid making incorrect judgments, it is essential to understand how the data is collected. For example, Google Analytics displays the visit time as zero if a visitor only views one page. Converting a page or deactivating a campaign due to such a misinterpretation would be tragic.

While the evaluations of online marketing media (AdWords, display networks, Facebook, etc.) usually end after the reference to the website, web analytics, if configured correctly, documents the origin of visitors and the interaction of the media in the decision-making and purchasing process. The performance of the individual media must not be viewed in isolation. Neglecting this analysis can lead to serious misjudgments, as the consumer comes to the website several times and via different channels during the decision-making and purchasing process.

Removing even the biggest stumbling blocks on the website can significantly increase the conversion rates of a campaign and therefore its ROI. Without analysis, these stumbling blocks remain undetected, which means that a lot of money is wasted on large and small campaigns today and in the future. Imre Sinka
 

> To the results

The online portal ImmoStreet is the market leader in French-speaking Switzerland and now wants to conquer German-speaking Switzerland. Just in time for the beautiful spring weather, the real estate platform is now launching a test campaign that is second to none.

The German-speaking part of Switzerland can use and test ImmoStreet's services free of charge under the motto "Test without risk". For 15 days, ImmoStreet is giving private users a free online advertisement on Immostreet.ch. Anyone wishing to rent or sell a property can benefit from the promotion until June 16, 2012 and register their property free of charge. At the same time, the Numéro 10 agency is launching a large-scale communication campaign for this offer. The campaign will be launched with a TV commercial and a banner campaign. The aim is to make ImmoStreet the leading portal of its kind in German-speaking Switzerland within a few weeks. A budget of CHF 10 million is available for the corresponding advertising pressure. The commercial is aimed at landlords and sellers who want to make their residential property quickly accessible to a wide audience. The unifying element and key visual of the campaign is the moving box. The tried and tested banana box symbolizes the move, which can take place faster than expected if the advertisement is placed correctly. Therefore, as many bananas as possible must be eaten quickly. The film works with stop motion.

Sophisticated search via maps

ImmoStreet owes its leading position in French-speaking Switzerland not least to its technological services, such as an amazingly sophisticated map search. This shows at a glance where and how many apartments are currently on offer. The display is also intended to tempt users to browse a little in the surrounding area in addition to their preferred new place of residence. A simple click on the number above each location opens the door to specific details about the potential new home. There are also other constantly optimized search functions. The search is also possible with an iPhone app.

The aim of offering selected residential properties, continuously integrating technological innovations into the portal and developing innovative services has enabled ImmoStreet to make an easy-to-understand and emotional promise to its customers: "ImmoStreet. ch - faster living." In addition to the TV campaign, the advertising material will also be present on the Internet and in the print edition of 20 Minuten.

For Gilles Aeby at Numéro 10, the strategy of this campaign is for ImmoStreet to make a leading name for itself within a very short space of time by offering the largest number of vacant properties on this portal. And the fastest way to achieve this is, of course, with a correspondingly wide range of free offers for advertisers.

Andreas Panzeri