The discussion in chatrooms is absolutely comparable to other forms of interpersonal communication, according to the ETH press release from Thursday. The ETH researchers, led by Frank Schweitzer, Professor of Systems Design, thus refuted the common opinion that all inhibitions fall away in anonymity.

For their work, the scientists analyzed the discussion contributions - the so-called posts - that users published under a pseudonym in various chat channels for just over a month. Over 2.5 million posts from more than 20,000 users were included in the analysis.

The scientists assigned each individual post to an underlying emotional mood: from negative to neutral to positive. To do this, they used a sophisticated computer algorithm that evaluates key words and the context in which they appear. According to the ETH Information Service, the topics of the chat channels examined were diverse. They ranged from football and computer problems to politically tinged questions such as hemp cultivation.

In the analysis, Schweitzer and his team found that the majority of users "tended to express positive emotions" in their posts, regardless of the topic of the channel. This obviously corresponds to human communication behavior. It is interesting that people maintain this behavior even under the protection of a pseudonym. According to the researchers, the majority in the chats express themselves positively even when responding to negative comments from other discussion participants. Overall, a remarkable consistency of emotions can be observed. Only a minority of users are emotionally unstable. And the group of notorious complainers with consistently negative posts is even smaller.

Programs with emotional intelligence

Among other things, the scientists want to use models to find out how new Internet mass phenomena with a strong emotional component come about. Examples of this are campaigns such as those that have been conducted via Facebook in recent years, according to the press release.

The researchers' findings could one day be incorporated into computer programs that react independently to emotionally charged discussions in chats and reduce tensions. It is also possible that the programs could recognize depressive disorders in users and mediate in emotionally charged conflicts.

The ETH study on emotions in online chats is part of the European research project "Cyberemotions", in which computer scientists, social psychologists and physicists from nine European universities are working together. The aim of the project is to understand how people communicate emotions in the virtual space of the Internet and in doing so
influence each other. (SDA)

(Image: Keystone)
 

We all know what it's like: if you ask your mother what she wants for Mother's Day, you often hear things that you can't buy, that are "only" of sentimental value and are usually unaffordable or impossible for her daughter or son. The best alternative is therefore a bouquet of flowers.

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Responsible at Fleurop: Jörg Beer (CEO), Monika Kessler (Head of Marketing Service). Responsible at Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett: Diana Rossi, Simon Smit (Text), Reto Clement (AD), Peter Brönnimann (Executive CD), Daniela Steffen, Rebecca Krausse (Consulting), Erasmo Palomba (Art Buying), Hastings (Sound).

 

In addition, he writes about womarketing on his blog at. Mrwom.com. Mr. Wom relies on a holistic word-of-mouth approach that goes beyond word-of-mouth campaigns: "To bring the right product to the right people in the right way at the right place.

Mark Leinemann was most recently responsible as Marketing & Sales Director ad interim for the marketing of the Word of Mouth Marketing Platform Buzzer.biz in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
 

This writes Tagesanzeiger.ch on Friday. Marquard is thus withdrawing from the German magazine market. The transaction is subject to approval by the Cartel Office. The two parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price. Publisher Jürg Marquard will continue to own Marquard Media International in Zug with its subsidiaries Marquard Media Poland and Marquard Media Hungary.

(Image: Keystone)
 

This year, for the first time, the competition was held without an age limit (previously: 40 years). A look at the list of winners shows that around a fifth of the winners are over 40 years old. This ratio is also reflected in the entries. Works from the following areas have won: Graphic Design (7), Fashion and Textile Design (4), Photography (4), Products and Objects (3), Mediation (2).

> To the winners (PDF)

The Federal Design Competition is Switzerland's oldest funding instrument in this field. As early as the end of the 19th century, the Confederation - integrated into the promotion of art - occasionally awarded prizes for applied art. In 1917, it drew up special measures to support designers. The primary aim was to promote the economy after the end of the First World War. Well-designed products that were able to promote the quality of the Swiss economy at home and abroad were to be awarded prizes. The promotion of design thus became a federal task. It recognizes that design is both a cultural and an economic asset.

Together with other measures, the Federal Design Competition forms the foundation for sustainable design promotion by the Confederation. In addition to the competition prizes, the Confederation also awards the Grands Prix Design to renowned Swiss designers who have already created a highly acclaimed body of work. The acquisition of design objects, exhibitions and publications form a consistent package of federal measures in the interest of the quality and reputation of Swiss design.

Exhibition and documentation

As of June 4, 2012, all works that have been invited to the second round of judging will be available. They are available online at Swissdesignawards.ch can be viewed here. The winning works will be shown in an exhibition at the Museum Bellerive in Zurich from October 26, 2012. The winners can choose between a cash prize of CHF 25,000, an internship or a studio residency abroad.

> To the jury members (PDF)
 

Prime was responsible for the concept and editing of the Rose d'Or festival newspaper, wrote reports and interviewed celebrities, festival partners and organizers. In collaboration with Ringier Print, an "appealing layout with expressive images and varied content" was created, according to the press release. The festival newspaper, with a print run of around 450,000 copies, was enclosed with Blick and distributed to households in German-speaking Switzerland. Prime was also responsible for the journalistic content of the Festival Guide.

Prime also supported the Rose d'Or Festival with a variety of communication measures: from the creation and realization of advertisements for various publications, to the design of carrier bags, façade banners, flags, photo walls, flyers, cinepictures and counters, to the complete signage of the festival.

Responsible at Rose d'Or Festival: Markus Helbling (Festival Director), Claudia Spörri (Manager Communications). Responsible at Prime Communications, Zurich: Claudio Rotter (overall responsibility), Nadine Neufeld, Nicole Tschanz, Luisa Ricar (consulting/editing), Stefanie Huber, Erwin Lötscher (AD / DTP).

In the Grisons mountains, every child can still be a real child, the agency said in a press release. 615 bathing lakes, 1,000 peaks and countless child-friendly activities make Graubünden the largest playground in Switzerland.

This summer, the two most famous people in Graubünden are also experiencing this first-hand, as the story goes. Young Reto is keeping his father so busy that Gian is probably already longing for the peace and quiet of the night. Incidentally, this year's event not only offers relaxation for the parents but also for the family budget. After all, children up to the age of twelve stay for free in over 150 hotels.

Responsible at Graubünden Ferien: Gaudenz Thoma (CEO), Gieri Spescha (Head of Corporate Communication), Mike Frei (Brand Management & PR), Manuela Michel (Head of Product Management). Responsible at Jung von Matt/Limmat: Livio Dainese, Fernando Perez (CD), Andy Lusti, Alain Eicher (text), Maurus Zehnder (AD), Aude Kohler (graphics), Deborah Herzig (art buying), Nicolas Schoberth, Florence Studer (consulting), Cyrill Hauser (PR), Elefant Studios (animation), Jingle Jungle (sound design), Hannes Kutzler (photography).
 

PR-Schwegler has specialized exclusively in the health/medical sector since it was founded in 1987, as the BPRA writes in a press release. The agency is headed by Peter R. Schwegler and Sonia Fröhlich de Moura.

The General Meeting also unanimously elected Andreas Hugi, Managing Partner at the Bern-based agency Furrer.Hugi&Partner, as a new member of the Board of Directors. Andreas Hugi replaces Eliane Birchmeier. Christian König, CEO of Farner Consulting, Martin Zahner, CEO of Yjoo Communications and Reto Wilhelm, Managing Director of Panta Rhei, are also members of the Board. The association is chaired by Roman Geiser.

 

Optimedia, Zenithmedia, B,G, Media, Zed Digital and Medialogics - the second-largest Swiss media agency Zenith Optimedia, which belongs to the Publicis Group, has so far appeared on the Swiss customer market with several divisions. These differed primarily in terms of client structure: while B,G, Media primarily serves national Swiss clients, ZenithMedia and Optimedia, for example, focus on international clients and on contact with other network agencies. This has now largely come to an end: as of June 1, the agency will appear with only two names: Zenith Optimedia remains the umbrella brand and at the same time the contact for international network customers, B,G, Media as an established Swiss brand still stands for the support of national customers. The latter has recently been placed under the management of the previous consulting group manager Jonas Eliassen.

A competence center for all media, for research and purchasing

However, the changes not only affect the customer-facing area, but also the back office. The previous teams in the individual divisions will be eliminated. All the threads and all the media and research expertise will now come together in the new competence center, the head of which will be announced soon. Whether print, electronic media, out-of-home or digital, whether media buying or research - everything will come under one roof. "We are forming something like a newsroom with about 40 of our 66 employees, says Brigitte Gubser, CEO of Zenith Optimedia for the past year and a half. The center is also complemented by Performics, a network-owned agency for integrated performance marketing, she adds. "Real-time performance measurement is an absolute must today, especially when serving large international clients," Gubser commented. The remaining 26 people will stay on as account management consultants for national and international clients. Nothing will actually change for the clients - they will generally be served by the same consultants as before, he added.

The consultant becomes a communication specialist

The consultant's job, on the other hand, is undergoing a major realignment at Zenith Optimedia. He is now responsible for strategy and overall planning, and the previously "obligatory" print planning and buying, for which he spent around 50 percent of his working time, according to Gubser, will now be delegated to the competence center. "Our consultants are thus relieved and will have more time for customers in the future." However, cross-media thinking is now increasingly necessary. The consultants will thus become communications specialists who can take advantage of appropriate further training in their own international network, Gubser said.

A little ahead of the development

Gubser justified the restructuring with the increasingly fragmented and thus more complex media world, with the increasing expectations of advertising customers regarding the return on investment, and with the constant cost pressure. Sooner or later, all this forces media agencies to rethink their structures and working methods. Zenith Optimedia is not under time pressure, as various developments in Switzerland have been delayed. "But we deliberately set out in this direction relatively early on and are now evolving from a classic media planning agency into a strategic planning agency with a media approach," said Gubser, summarizing the change.

Incidentally, the entire restructuring at Zenith Optimedia is taking place without any layoffs. However, the Managing Directors of Zenithmedia and Optimedia left the company weeks ago.

Markus Knöpfli

Brigitte Gubser, CEO Zenith Optimedia.

 

Euro RSCG was successful with the radio campaign "Reaction Time" for Peugeot. JWT/Fabrikant won for the campaign "See you later" for Kimberly-Clark a bronze "Pencil".

 

For the Yverdon-les-Bains, la Broye and Vallée de Joux section, an online-only campaign will be streamed in mid-June, the agency said in a statement. Vertbaudet is a children's clothing brand that belongs to the La Redoute group. A 360° campaign will be on air at the end of August 2012.

 

Swiss Marketing is the professional and trade association for marketing experts. Among other things, it organizes the professional and advanced professional examinations in marketing and sales. The examination experts are specialists with an awareness of quality and high educational standards - including their own. This is ensured by the annual further training of experts for the professional examination for marketing specialists in the presentation and communication techniques section of the examination. The event was hosted and organized by Peter Gilli, AGON Marketing Service, Zofingen.

He stood on the table, true to the day's motto "Are you still presenting or are you already fascinating?", and left no doubt as to who was claiming the attention: Matthias Pöhm, the No. 1 repartee coach (Business Inside) and founder of the Anti-Power-Point-Party. He knows what is important when speaking in front of an audience and wants to convey this clearly to the examination experts on this day. He will begin by explaining his own career path, which began with an anxiety attack during his first public speech and led him to become a seasoned public speaking expert.

Tips and tricks

It soon becomes clear that anyone can learn to be confident. A few tricks and - above all - practice are helpful. The so-called pre-declaration was practiced on site in small groups. This is a kind of "Gluschtigmacherli ", which triggers expectations and creates tension in order to focus the listener's attention on the actual message. In practice, it goes like this: "Dear participants, I'm going to tell you something that will change your life from the ground up." This is followed by at least a 3-second pause, which could be described as "fishing for attention", and then the actual message: "Even the worst speakers will soon be among the elite with a public speaking training course."

Another expert tip is: only if the content is delivered in an appealing form will the message reach the recipients in the long term. And this works quite well even with banal content. Concrete instructions for action are also very important. Announcing to the workforce that you need to be even closer to the customer in future does not change any behavior because you have not specified what exactly customer proximity means: Should you hug customers or read their wishes from their eyes? (In this case, a fortune-telling seminar would probably be more appropriate.) A concrete instruction would be, for example, to greet customers with an open handshake when they enter the store, to ask them for their name and what they want. Employees can also implement such concretely formulated instructions.

People are more convincing than technical aids. Power Point presentations are a red rag for the founder of the Anti-Power Point Party.

Power Pöhm instead of Power Point

They may be able to present content with sophisticated technical tricks, but they cannot trigger emotions. "It's not the content that determines the effect, but the feeling triggered when the content is presented," emphasizes Pöhm. The less distracting the speaker is, the greater the impact of the speech. If you show a photo, for example, you should describe the image in words beforehand to create anticipation, excitement and curiosity. Prepared in this way, every photo has a much stronger emotional impact.

What does all this have to do with examination experts?

The examination experts are professionals whose everyday work includes presentations. They are all professionals in this discipline. Nevertheless, the topic is refreshed before each exam. "It is important that the experts - just like the candidates - prepare intensively for this federal professional examination, which is carried out by Swiss Marketing under the supervision of the Federal Office for Professional Education and Technology (OPET)," explains Peter Gilli, Head of the Department. "Today, the experts were once again able to get up to speed professionally, update themselves on the latest developments and gain important insights that will be incorporated directly into the examination paper. That's how it should be."