Three quarters of Swiss companies still rely on classic print advertising such as advertisements. However, new forms of advertising are attracting increasing attention. That is the conclusion of a comprehensive GfK study commissioned by the Zurich advertising agency Webguerillas. Social media marketing in particular has become established. More than one in three companies includes this alternative form of advertising in its repertoire. While recommendation marketing is still used by a quarter of the marketing managers surveyed, only one in ten has already gained experience with guerrilla marketing or viral concepts. Newer disciplines, for example app marketing or idea generation projects (crowdsourcing), have not yet established themselves.

According to the Webguerillas study, however, companies want to rely more on alternative advertising in the future. Here, too, social media marketing has the highest priority: one in five companies has not yet used this form of advertising, but plans to do so. Around ten percent of companies want to use blog marketing, search engine optimization, recommendation marketing or APP marketing in the future. Alternative forms of advertising are seen primarily as a supplement to conventional advertising. More than 80 percent of companies are investing in new forms of advertising, but the budget for this is small: as a rule, investments are below 5 percent of the total marketing budget. However, those responsible anticipate an increasing willingness to invest in alternative advertising. The strengths of new forms of advertising are seen in addressing new target groups and generating additional reach.

Companies are cautious about user-generated content. The most widespread are comment functions, which 40 percent of companies use, and sharing options. Only one in six or fewer companies use voting, blogs, forums, tagging or wikis. There is also a need to catch up with social media: Less than a quarter of Swiss companies, for example, have a social media strategy or offer their customers exclusive insights.

Webguerillas, a full-service agency for alternative forms of advertising, also conducted the same study in Germany: Thus, new forms of advertising are generally used less in Switzerland than in Germany. This applies in particular to social media marketing, mobile marketing, blog concepts or viral concepts. On the other hand, print advertising, sales promotion and direct marketing are more popular in Switzerland. Half of German companies also spend up to 20 percent of their budget on alternative advertising, while only a third of Swiss companies have a similar budget.

The Zurich-based creative agency Design Labor was commissioned to redesign the website. Zoran Bozanic, Managing Director: «Simple, clear, user-friendly, and timeless design—that was our client’s request. We implemented the technical aspects using Contenido/CMS. The corporate identity (CI/CD) was also revised along with the new website.»

Person in charge at GL Funds: Andrea Lenzi, Project Manager. Responsible at Design Labor: Zoran Bozanic, Web Design; Tobias Peter, Programming; Mergime Raci, Logo Design.

The user has to find out which letters are hidden behind the empty fields and thus guess the solution word before the stick figure - representing the player - is hung on the gallows. In his search for the solution, however, the player experiences a nasty surprise: whenever he guesses a correct letter, the stick figure continues to be drawn. If he types in the wrong letter, nothing happens. In other words, the game suddenly works in reverse and the player is punished if he uncovers a part of the solution. - He gets closer to death with every correct answer.

The player is thus made aware of what happens to many journalists in the world: they are persecuted, tortured and often killed in their search for the truth. The more they find out, the more dangerous it becomes for them. The Hangman banner game appears in the appropriate environment: on the websites of all major Swiss newspapers and news portals.

Link to the banner.

Responsible Reporters Without Borders: Bettina Büsser. Responsible at Advico Y&R: Martin Stulz, Dominik Oberwiler (CD), Patrick Bucher (concept/text), Oliver Glutz von Blotzheim (AD), Sandro Tissi (graphics), Marcin Kolonko (Flash), Pascal Trütsch (consulting).
Media: Mediaschneider.
 

Claudia Bossert (47) takes over the management of the newly founded TV station family of AZ Medien. Bossert is a qualified PR consultant and worked in various functions at Swiss Television for more than 20 years. She will take up her new post on July 1, 2012 at the latest.

The TV station family will be organized into four divisions with immediate effect: Tele Züri programming, Tele M1 and Tele Bärn programming, marketing, and technology and production. Markus Gilli (56) remains Program Director and Editor-in-Chief of Tele Züri. Marc Friedli (46), previously Managing Director of Tele M1, is now responsible as Program Director for Tele M1 and Tele Bärn, together with the Editors-in-Chief Stephan Gassner (Tele M1) and Matthias Lauterburg (Tele Bärn). Andrea Haemmerli (44), Managing Director of Belcom AG, will take over regional advertising marketing for Tele M1 and Tele Bärn as Head of Marketing in addition to her previous duties. Peter Canale (53), previously Head of Operations and Technology Tele Züri, is responsible for the newly created Technology and Production division in addition to his previous duties.

For TeleZüri, Tele M1 and TeleBärn, a harmonization of the hourly programming grid is planned for the course of the year. The existing focus on news and information formats during the first half hour will remain unchanged. Each of the three stations will continue to produce news and information formats independently for their respective audiences in the editorial offices in Zurich, Aarau and Berne. The second half hour will feature joint talk and entertainment formats with a regional focus. This concept ensures that existing, successful formats are developed further, journalistic quality is improved and the independence of the editorial teams is preserved. As the first joint format, Tel eZüri's successful "SonnTalk" will be broadcast on Tele M1 from March 1, 2012 and on Tele Bärn from July 1, 2012.

At the same time as the harmonization and further development of the program grid, synergies will be realized in the area of production and the technical studio infrastructure at the Aarau and Bern locations. As a result, 9 employees will have to be laid off, leading to a reduction of 6.9 full-time positions. The concept of three studio and production locations in Zurich, Aarau and Bern will be retained.
 

38-year-old Martina Fehr was the first program director of Radio Grischa/ Radio Engiadina and held this management position for around four years. She had previously worked as an editor at the station. Fehr will remain with the radio station until a suitable successor is found.

Works from all categories will be judged and awarded by specially appointed juries from June 17 to 23, 2012 in Cannes (FR). As an addition to the festival, the "Young Lions Design Competition" will be held for young creatives. The works in the 15 categories "Film," "Press," "Outdoor," "Direct," "Media," "Cyber," "Radio," "Promo & Activation," "Titanium & Integrated," "Design," "PR," "Film," "Creative Effectiveness," "Mobile" and "Branded Content & Entertainment" can be submitted now at canneslions.com by March 9, 2012, with the exception of the "Creative Effectiveness" category by February 17, 2012.

New among the 15 categories is the "Mobile" category and the "Branded Content & Entertainment" category. The "Mobile" category honors the work that can best be presented on a mobile device, such as an app or on the mobile Internet. Creativity, applicability, relevance and results are judged. The Branded Content & Entertainment category recognizes the work that successfully demonstrates how a brand, independently or in conjunction with a content producer or publisher, develops entertaining and profitable content for the target audience.

New in 2012 - in addition to the existing print, cyber, media, film and marketing competitions - is the "Young Lions Design Competition". This is open to young designers who are active in a specialized design activity, for example as graphic designers. In teams of two, the boys - up to a maximum age of 28 - are to work on a special project devised as a task by a charity or non-profit organization.

To help this year's entrants, a selection of video submission tips are available on the Cannes Lions 2012 website. These include short films and advice from last year's winners.

Water shortages are a growing problem in the countries of the South. And the cause of hunger and malnutrition. High in the Andes at over 3400 meters above sea level, the lack of water has a particularly bad effect: The soil is infertile and small farming families suffer from hunger. But now the inhabitants of San Carlos de Chuquira in Ecuador have taken a bold decision: With the help of SWISSAID, the courageous aid organization, they are building a 15 km long water pipeline in the dangerous terrain of the high Andes. As soon as the irrigation system is in place, the smallholder families will be able to harvest vegetables from their fields three times a year, double their income and beat hunger.

Lesch+Frei Zurich has come up with an impressive image on the subject of water shortages: The close-up of a tear in the eye of a child from the village of San Carlos de Chuquira is accompanied by the following text: "Unfortunately, this water is not enough to make the soil fertile. The motif was successfully tested in the fall and now forms the emotional core message for SWISSAID's current fundraising campaign with posters, direct mail and direct mailings. All advertising materials will be in use from mid-February.

Responsible at Swissaid: Werner Küng, Head of Information and Fundraising, Pia Wildberger, Website and Magazine. Responsible at Lesch+Frei Zurich: Thomas Lüber, CD, Susanne Gehrig, AD, Irene Stutz, Consulting, Barbara Meier and Désirée Guzzo, Polygraphy.
 

Lucerne has much more to offer than the Chapel Bridge, especially in winter. The Lucerne tourist region would also like to be perceived as an attractive travel destination by younger tourists. The target group in question belongs to the Internet generation. The online photo contest "Big In Lucerne" collects & promotes the sharing of photos taken by visitors to the Lucerne tourist region in winter. Incentives for participation include a photo fee of CHF 2500, awarded by a jury of 5 experts, as well as prizes for the public in the form of shopping vouchers worth CHF 200 to 500. Ambitious amateur or even professional photographers are just as welcome as occasional photographers on the move with their smartphones. The public prizes are awarded on the basis of online voting. Votes are called "Loves" at Big In Lucerne. The pictures with the most "Loves" win. Facebook likes are not relevant for the voting. Nevertheless, they are important for
the participant to spread his image and for the viral distribution of the campaign.

Lucerne is shown from the perspective of numerous residents and visitors. The photos are diligently shared and commented on and always lead back to www.biginlucerne.com. After 2.5 days, Big In Lucerne already has over 100 participants with a total of more than 220 photos, which have generated more than 1700 likes and show Lucerne in winter mostly from its most beautiful side.

More information at: biginlucerne.com

Responsible at Lucerne Tourism: Lukas Hammer (Director Marketing & Sales), Sybille Gerardi (Head of Communications & PR), Fabian Appenzeller (Communications & PR), Cyril Schenker (Project Manager E-Marketing & IT), Fabio Schwarz (Content & eCRM Manager) Responsible at Clou Kreativagentur: Albi Christen (idea/concept/text/CD), Christian Bachofer (idea/concept/graphics/AD) Responsible at Netnode - pure Drupal: Lukas Fischer (programming), Remko van Hoof (project manager).

WW: Why do you need a specialized company for advertising on mobile devices?
Sandor Laczko: Mobile works differently than online. If you want to book advertising on smartphones and tablets in Switzerland, you won't be completely happy with the big marketers. Established marketers such as Goldbach have large teams, but none for mobile operators. Mobile budgets are still much smaller today. So you have to work much harder to generate the same turnover. This means that in a company that markets both PC online and mobile, there is a great risk that mobile will be neglected. That's why we said: We'll jump into this niche and focus 100 percent on mobile with Adello. This is the only way to guarantee our customers that we are really doing everything we can to ensure the best mobile offering.

How big is this market niche?
If you look at media usage, you realize that smartphones and tablets have become part of everyday life. Mobile use is not a vision of the future, but already a reality. Over 2 million iPhones in Switzerland speak for themselves. PWC estimates the market potential for mobile advertising in 2012 at around CHF 25 million. Mobile is expected to grow by around 35% annually until 2015, while the same study expects growth of 5.7% in the online PC sector. Since 2010, more smartphones and tablets have been sold than PCs and notebooks. In the medium term, advertising expenditure will go to where the usage is, namely mobile advertising.

Others will also want to jump on the bandwagon.
We are the first. As pioneers, we have also built up a lot more know-how, tried out technologies and tested their successful application many times over. Today, we work with tools that have not been offered by anyone else on the Swiss market to date. In addition, we have already deliberately ramped up our team. Our employees are well networked in terms of sales and have been able to build up the necessary experience in operations. When market demand increases, others will have to rush to train inexperienced people. We are prepared for high growth because, as the market leader, we already have the resources for it.

Who is already an Adello customer?
We receive new inquiries every day from all sectors and with completely different objectives. A few examples are M-Way, a Migros subsidiary that specializes in electromobility. In the education sector, for example, the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland, where information on courses was successfully communicated on tablets. We did this with the SonntagsZeitung newspaper. We spread other campaigns throughout the entire Swiss publishing landscape. Last year, we realized a performance campaign for Helsana that ran across several platforms. In such a case, someone in the operations team optimized the placements daily based on their success. With response rates around 5-10× higher, performance marketing on mobile is particularly exciting for smaller budgets on the one hand, while on the other hand it usually reaches a different target group than online campaigns. Mobile advertising ideally complements existing marketing activities.

What are the advertising formats on offer?
In addition to standard formats such as banners and full screens, we also offer innovative formats, some of which are exclusive to us. As a marketer who is committed to "having the best offer", we also need the best technology. We can already layer video over content today. The app is still visible in the background. Our advertising can react to how I hold my cell phone or - thanks to geo-targeting - where I am. Such possibilities are new in Switzerland. There are now almost no limits to creativity. We have noticed that there is currently strong demand for moving images (TV videos) among all the formats on offer. We are naturally happy to be able to master this and future formats.

Does Adello develop such techniques itself?
We have decided that we need to work with international partners in order to be market leaders. We are therefore delighted to have an exclusive technology partnership for Switzerland. Interview: Andreas Panzeri
 

The Costum Content Council (CCC), the American association for corporate media, was impressed - and paid tribute to the product from faraway Switzerland: a few weeks ago, T Magazine, which Infel AG produces for Ernst & Young, was presented with the prestigious Pearl Award in Gold at Guastavino's, an exclusive New York event venue.

The CCC has been presenting the Pearl Awards since 2004 and has made them one of the most prestigious prizes for corporate publications worldwide. "The Gold Award confirms our journalistic concept of presenting complex content on tax and financial topics in an understandable way and at a high level - for a very demanding international specialist audience," says Dr. Alfred Raucheisen, Head of Marketing and Communications at Ernst & Young Emeia Tax, the tax consulting division of the global company.

T Magazine, designed and produced by Infel, the leading Swiss corporate publisher, also has a global reach: The high-quality content is supplied by specialist journalists and correspondents from all over the world and supervised by English-speaking editors. There is also a wide-ranging network of photographers. The publication's target group is just as international: business leaders from the entire Emeia region, from Europe and the Middle East to India and Africa. The magazine is published in two different editions: The full version is sent to the largest companies in the region as a customer magazine, while a version with leaner content is enclosed with the Financial Times - most recently in the January 25 issue, just in time for the start of this year's World Economic Forum in Davos. The English-language booklet was available there in good time for morning reading via the FT carrier medium. As a full-service provider, Infel also manages the global print logistics and ensures precise distribution in the Emeia markets. In line with international standards, T Magazine has long been more than just a printed magazine - it is a complete media family, as Elmar zur Bonsen, Publishing Director at Infel, explains. This includes, for example, its own web portal: the online platform ey.com/tmagazine offers additional content to the print edition, animations, videos and a wide range of tax-relevant information from all over the world via a news stream.

The latest addition to the ever-growing T-Magazine media family is the iPad version, which has been enhanced with multimedia features and the latest bulletins. It combines print and online, all in one app, and thus unites the best of both worlds. Alfred Raucheisen from Ernst & Young: "In combination with the digital offerings, T Magazine is now a highly regarded journalistic flagship."

Patrick Steinemann

Media for international business leaders: In addition to the print editions and the web portal, T Magazine now also includes an iPad version with multimedia features and up-to-date reports.
 

WW: Where will Urs Schneider put Egon?
Urs Schneider: In the conference room. It's not just me who is responsible for the performance, we are a team. I see myself as an employee and certainly don't take the Egon home. It stands next to the other things like our Effie or the media awards.

Mediaschneider has already won many prizes. What does the title "Advertiser of the Year" mean?
I never thought I would be "Advertiser of the Year". I'm not a creative, I'm in the bean counter department. I don't actually do much creative work. Except for the tailor-made strategies and media plans for our clients. That's why the choice came as a surprise to me.

Today, media planning also requires a creative view of things.
Plus minus. Media has gained in importance. The channels have multiplied. There are also unusual ideas in the media. There may be a central media idea that can be implemented later. But in the end, you can't say who invented it. We discuss a strategy and alternatives that can be examined. But the decisive idea comes from creation.

What brought you into this world of advertising?
I did a commercial apprenticeship at P. It used to be an institution. My teacher was René Gyr, the director of the Baden branch at the time. In the beginning, I actually spent more time on bookkeeping. I was already aiming for a federal diploma as an accountant. I then had to make a decision: Do I want to be an advertiser or work at a bank? I then decided to train at Sawi and obtained a federal diploma as an advertising assistant. I then went to work for a media broker. This first job was a stage in London.

Why London?
I'm relatively good at math, but I also wanted to improve my English. In London, practically nobody at the agency spoke German and I had to communicate in English. However, they quickly realized that thanks to my German and French, I could be trusted with the media contacts for Germany, France and the eastern states. I was able to do my job as a media planner very well and had a great time in London.

Did you like this international level?
Yes, I would have liked to stay in this international scene, but then I returned to Geneva and worked at P for three years from 1975 and was promoted to head of media. After Geneva, I was made a good offer at Publicitas Zurich. That was the reason why I stayed in Switzerland in the first place. I seriously toyed with the idea of going abroad again.

Was it a mistake that you didn't go?
I would probably have had other prospects. Instead, I graduated from Sawi as an advertising manager. Then I got an offer at Publimedia, a "think tank" of P, where we were responsible for training P employees and looked after various mandates from publishers. I gained a lot of practical experience there. From there, I became Head of Marketing at P Zurich. For ten years, I was promised that I could one day take over the management. I had a good time with Hans Ro¬senast, the director at the time. I learned from him how to manage people. But the promises of the General Management were not fulfilled and so, after a total of 25 years at P, I left and moved to Ringier. I first worked at Blick Verlag. I had to bring the poor advertising sales back up and was advertising manager for two years. I actually got the advertising pages back on track and became Key Account Director at Ringier. It was the first such position in the history of the publishing house. That was in 1993 and I had a great job. Max Wiener showed me how to look after large customers properly and successfully. I also had to look after the most demanding customers. That's how I came into contact with Wolfgang Mecklenburg. It was a wonderful and interesting time at Ringier. With Oskar Frei, I was again lucky enough to have one of the greatest bosses. He gave us a lot of freedom. He didn't tell us how to do things, just where we wanted to go. That had a huge impact on me.

How did you become self-employed?
In 2000, I went to this "demanding customer" Wolfgang Mecklenburg. He wanted me to take over his store later. This was a special challenge and I was also able to get involved with M&M. Then came the fateful day when the owner's wife, Edith Mecklenburg, died unexpectedly. We always got on well together. But when Wolfgang Mecklenburg remarried and changed direction, there were no more prospects for me in the team. There was only one option left for me: to set up my own company. I started with two employees and zero customers. I had no income for a year and we lived off our reserves. During this time, my wife Marlise gave me great support. Without her understanding and help, starting my own business would never have worked. I soon found customers who trusted me. The first were Biomed, Erdgas, Manor and Bluewin. Then finally came the grounding of Swissair. This historic catastrophe turned out to be our good fortune on the other side.

Take off with Swiss?
I had previously been in charge of media for Crossair. When the subsidiary became a rescue company, the people in charge really wanted to continue working with me. So we were able to work for Swiss from the very beginning and that has remained the case to this day. It was all a bit of an adventure at the time. Then one thing led to another and we have been able to record double-digit growth rates every year since 2001. During this time, our billings have increased more than tenfold.

In 2007, Mediaschneider acquired a stake in The whole Media Basel and in 2011 in Media Plus in Bern. A strategy to become number 1?
The entire media scene in Switzerland has changed massively over the last ten years. The big international agencies have arrived, including five major networks that have carved out more than 50 percent of the cake for themselves. Now it's even 70 percent. I had to react to this situation. M&M has oriented itself more abroad. I told myself that the media business is fundamentally local. We only generate around 15 percent of our sales abroad. 85 percent is generated here. So we said to ourselves: we want to form a counterweight to the international networks. The only thing I am looking for is cooperation with independent agencies in order to pool expertise and strengthen the quality of our services. With this in mind, I have joined the two agencies. We have thus become a group of independent media agencies. This group is now in fourth place in the Rec¬ma ranking in Switzerland. Together we have 270 million billings and employ 43 people. This allows us to maintain our position, which is very important for us.

Power when negotiating?
Thanks to our size, we have a certain degree of independence and can negotiate conditions with media providers that are just as good as those of the largest international networks. I am convinced that we are also doing a good job in purchasing today, with a clean, transparent business policy. That's what I strive for and nothing else. Of course, the whole thing still needs to evolve. Six years ago, our customer Swiss Airlines told us that we were not the "deer" when it came to online advertising. That's why Swiss wanted to work with PlanNet in Munich. As a result, we came into contact with this specialist agency. It is part of the Serviceplan Group, the largest in-house agency in Germany. They are considered to be the best in terms of quality. So we complemented each other and said: "If we are going to enter into such a cooperation with an agency abroad, then it should be with Serviceplan. I want to make progress with them.

Have you connected with Serviceplan?
I sold 25 percent of Mediaschneider to Service¬plan. On the other hand, I was able to acquire a 25 percent stake in PlanNet. I am very pleased about this step, which will strengthen our know-how and innovative power for the future for the benefit of our customers. This connection also brings customers that we can support for Service¬plan in Switzerland. Of course, we have our own online department. But a partnership with the specialist takes us much further and provides a better basis for the new digital media. These were the reasons why I opted for this mutual participation. I am retaining a majority stake and will continue to do so. I am really looking forward to a successful collaboration.

Interview: Andreas Panzeri

 

The advertising and corporate films that can be submitted for the 2012 flap by February 10 must have been made between March 1, 2011 and January 31, 2012 and have been shown publicly at least once. The award ceremony will take place on March 1, 2012 in Hamburg at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe with the support of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. The Klappe is open to entries from Germany, Austria and Switzerland and is considered the largest competition for moving images in this region. For the first time in the 32-year history of the award, the competition is also open to films from the public relations communications sector. Films that have been distributed on TV stations or online portals without the addition of media budgets are eligible.

You can find more information here.