The focus is on the corporate color blue, a new font family and tailor-made pictography. The first visible result is the new Mediaschneider.com website.

Responsible at Mediaschneider: Urs Schneider (owner), Claudia Mühlebach (management), Stephan Küng (management), Christine Brodbeck (external project management). Responsible at Studio Roth&Maerchy: Martin Roth (concept, creative direction, text, video), Monica Märchy (concept, illustration, pictography), Nicolas Schaltegger (concept, graphic design, screen design), Gilbert Nigg (programming), Pablo Kirschke (animation graphics), Domenico Ferrari (audio), Yves Räber (voice).
 

"Silvio Weilenmann (59) describes himself as an "agency director. Despite the communications successes he has achieved over almost 30 years in the PR and event business, the Zurich native has remained modest. The most important thing for him is to have good people around him: "Other people fascinate me, and I take great pleasure in interpersonal contact," says Weilenmann. "There are quite a few personalities who have shaped me and shown me new dimensions, because in a PR agency you have to deal with many different people from whom you get new impulses every day. I am grateful for that. The love of people is almost the most important thing I need for my business. Because dialogue works on the basis of it."

Weilenmann is proud that he never set up a business model for his agency, calculated a budget or fixed a strategy. "I never had what everyone says you absolutely need," he says. "And we've never had the difficulties that a lot of other small agencies have. For 28 years, F+W never had any financial problems - I'm particularly proud of that. In the process, I simply did my job every day with motivation and the greatest possible flexibility." Of course, with seven employees, F+W is "es kliises Budeli," the PR specialist admits: "You know your expenses and which clients you can generate which revenues with. And you sense immediately when things aren't going so well and can react flexibly. "But perhaps Weilenmann is simply a good businessman. In any case, he is an unwavering optimist for whom the glass is always half full and never half empty. "Even in difficult phases, I woke up in the morning and had the feeling that things were moving forward," he emphasizes. "And then it always did. Somehow."

Take off with tourism

Weilenmann was born 59 years ago in Zurich and spent his childhood and youth in the small city on the Limmat. After commercial training in a Zurich trading company and subsequent travels, jobs and language study trips, he studied tourism in Western Switzerland from 1976, later moving to Bern. It was during his studies that Weilenmann met his future wife - and for the two of them, Berne was the compromise between Montreux and Zurich. After graduating, Weilenmann works

Weilenmann worked for five years as head of media at the Berne-based tour operator Airtour Suisse. In 1983, he set up his own PR and event agency, F+W Communications.

Weilenmann quickly receives mandates from the tourism industry. With his communications experience in the travel industry, the 32-year-old fills a gap in the market: In the early 1980s, there was still no one in Switzerland who understood PR in tourism. "That was the reason why I founded F+W together with my partner at the time, Fritz Friedli," Weilenmann recounts. Friedli and Weilenmann soon parted ways, but Weilenmann still continues to run the agency under its founding name. And why not: from the very beginning, the "F+W" brand has stood for ideas and quality in the tourism industry.

Over the years, orders from other industries are added. "Tourism is the most beautiful industry, but not the most lucrative," Weilenmann says with a wink. "To cushion the economic risk for the agency, I also acquired mandates from other industries. In addition, new employees joined us from time to time, bringing new impulses and contacts with them." Today, F+W handles a wide range of mandates from the consumer goods, leisure and tourism industries, as well as from associations and public authorities, including for the International Alpine Symposium Interlaken, for Odlo International, Romantik Hotels & Restaurants Switzerland, WankdorfCity, the French haute cuisine brand Bonne Maman, the Swiss Metal Union, for the Leaders Club Switzerland, the Casino Kursaal Interlaken and the Emirate of Dubai. Weilenmann and his team have expertise in PR and event management, from consulting to conception, copywriting and project management to event planning and organization.

For all of this, Weilenmann employs six people - and, if necessary, experts from the network he has knitted together over 30 years. "I have always tried to keep our organizational structure lean. That's why I have a small basic team and bring in the right specialist for each project," he says. "As a PR guy, I'm horizontally oriented, which means I know a little bit about a lot of things, but a lot about a few. I have the communicative knowledge and the overview; for specialist topics, I work with external people."

Fascination Dubai

Dubai is a particularly exciting mandate for F+W: "We are the tourism and business representative of Dubai in Switzerland and Austria," explains the agency head. "My colleague Michelle Pétermann handles the two European economic markets and promotes tourism in the vibrant destination. Six years ago, the emirate was looking for a Swiss agency to represent Dubai abroad. With our concept, we were able to prevail over the very large Swiss agencies. The chemistry was simply right."

F+W is also responsible for the management and PR of Romantik Hotels & Restaurants Switzerland and Leaders Club Switzerland. At Romantik Hotels, Weilenmann is in the front line: He takes care of the marketing and communications activities of the 25 Swiss establishments and is the central point of contact for the media. At Leaders Club, a network of hospitality professionals, Weilenmann's colleague Yvonna Schindler manages the business. As the club's office, F+W provides impetus and organizes various events. Weilenmann is also intensively involved in the recruitment of young people for the Swiss Metal Union SMU: "We want to interest young people in metal construction and are looking for motivated and suitable metal construction apprentices for the SMU," he explains. "Bligg is the figurehead of the national young talent campaign, behind which F+W is the lead agency."

Perspectives in oil

In August, Weilenmann will turn 60. "An important moment," he says, meaning that it will soon be time for something else. Another round birthday is coming up in 2013: F+W will be 30 years old. For Weilenmann, that's the right moment to stop. "I'm going to go to the south of France and produce olive oil, that's my second life," says Weilenmann, and a liberated laugh betrays his huge anticipation of this step. For over 20 years, the "Agentürlileiter" has built up an estate in Provence together with his wife. There he not only accommodates guests, but also wants to produce exclusive olive oil in the future. "Together with some partners, I will develop an oil brand and later import the products to Switzerland. That's my vision."

Weilenmann's exit from the agency in two years is not a vision. The PR professional has already resigned from his various presidencies, supervisory and board memberships, communicated his departure and is on the lookout for a successor. "I definitely don't want to be stuck in here a bit more and there a bit more, stay a bit more and always be available if there are problems," he says. "Sometimes in life you have to say, 'Now I've seen this and now I want something completely different.' That's why, in 2013, I'm gone." That fits with the quote Weilenmann placed on the R+W website to characterize himself: "You don't discover new parts of the world without losing sight of the old shores."

Nevertheless, Weilenmann is not leaving F+W with flying colors. Before that, he is still taking his time to look for his successor. He envisions an entrepreneurial personality with the courage to take risks and lots of ideas, a flexible, motivated and life-affirming person who can hold a team together, promote and lead it. In other words, someone exactly like himself.

Anne-Friederike Heinrich

 

"Dear Mrs. ...", the online letter begins in a friendly manner. "Are you one of those bargain hunters and price hunters? Then watch out: From now on, we're giving you up to 75% off selected fashion trends and living ideas in our online store! So don't wait too long and go stalking right away!" So we went stalking to find out exactly what you get when you order a "gentleman" in an offer that is subdivided with the titles "dresses, swimwear, shoes, shirts, blouses, men, living and accessories". I wonder if the "men" are as small as in the picture? Or even inflatable? Unfortunately, the test order was a bitter disappointment: if you click on the "Men's" offer, you can choose between shoes, shirts and other clothing. Why these clothing items are not listed under the respective titles "Dresses, swimwear, shoes, shirts, etc." remains a mystery. But now we know: Heine has a 75 percent discount.
 

The (provisional) conclusion of the series of mini case studies on the use of social media is not about the big names and the high-flyers, but about examples that are less prominent in the WEmad.org rankings. Because these can be just as successful in their respective environments - even if they don't have huge fan numbers.

Angelink: We don't use Facebook with great economic calculation, but spontaneously," says Markus Gabriel, owner and creative director of the crossover agency Angelink AG, which specializes in online and social media marketing. The aim of the Facebook page is to "make the human side of the company tangible" and also to increase the reach of web posts. They enjoy the "Facebook playground" and run the page "more for fun than for marketing". In a small company, this is primarily a matter for the boss, but the rule is: "Everyone can, no one has to." This means that nothing is planned and Facebook serves "as a vessel for spontaneous ideas that are then given a home and would otherwise peter out". And this also has a positive effect, as Gabriel concludes: "Some people who didn't know us before now think we're worth recommending."

Comparis: "We had to learn that our core competencies of health insurance and insurance are not topics that easily work in social media," says Dominique Candik, summing up the experience to date. As Online Marketing Manager at the comparison service Comparis, he is also responsible for all content, appearances and functions in the area of social media. In the beginning, it was not yet clearly understood that the sole dissemination of news via these new channels "basically does not correspond to the nature of social media". Today, the company is trying to offer a good mix of information and entertainment. The aim is to "specifically promote dialog with our users in order to create added value". There are four fan pages on different topics on Facebook, but "the potential here has certainly not yet been exhausted". On Twitter (786 followers) and YouTube (250,000 views), however, the company can "show good figures". However, the company is not only interested in quantitative targets (number of fans), but also wants to "communicate qualitatively well above all". Comparis therefore relies on funny and entertaining clips to explain the rather dry content in order to appeal to users more through emotional content.

Hostpoint: The leading Swiss web hosting provider (according to its own information) has engaged Thomas Brühwiler, who has been known as "BloggingTom" in the online scene for years and has the relevant expertise and contacts, to manage its social media presence. For him, "pure information distribution via social channels as an advertising slingshot is an absolute 'nogo'". Instead, the dialog with existing customers and new prospects is "very diverse" and ranges from information on services to support requests. So far, the main focus has been on establishing Twitter as a communication channel. After the summer vacations, there will be increased activity on Facebook, as the company has "deliberately taken its time". He emphasizes that Hostpoint actively participates in the community and has supported the bi-monthly pokeRT social media party in Zurich as a presenting partner from the very beginning. Because, says Brühwiler, "we believe that 'social' is not just limited to online."

Aeropers/SwissALPA: When the pilots' negotiations with Swiss over a new collective labor agreement stagnated last fall, the pilots' staff association launched a social media presence, as board member and press spokesman Thomas Steffen reports. "We are very satisfied", because "very quickly" there was "a considerable number" of fans on the Facebook page, and the blog is also read and quoted by the media. In this way, the company was able to ensure that the true facts were reported and not simply the employer's account. On the other hand, the company learned from Swiss when setting up and operating its social media activities, but sought advice from an experienced professional. Steffen cannot put a figure on the amount of work involved in social media, "because a lot of it takes place in our free time".

ASIP pension fund association: "Social media is an important channel for us to maintain a direct exchange with parts of the interested public, but also to bring our information, which actually affects the entire population, directly and unfiltered to the public without major costs," says Peter Metzinger from Business Campaigning Switzerland, who manages the site on a contract basis and spends 15 full-time equivalents on it. The social media commitment was triggered by the federal vote on the adjustment of the conversion rate in March 2010, when, according to Metzinger, "massively false information about the second pillar was spread". A pilot project was therefore launched in May 2010 with the aim of increasing traffic on the www.mit-uns-fuer-uns.ch website and encouraging the public to contact ASIP directly with questions. It is "not so easy" to produce interesting content from the pension fund world every two to three days, which is why Metzinger draws on daily media and web monitoring and picks out the most interesting articles, comments on them or uses them as an opportunity for his own contributions. "The biggest challenge is getting enough attention and stimulating dialog. For many people, the topic of pension funds is too distant and not emotional enough." But things are going well: "We have managed to generate just as much traffic as we had directly before the vote, when interest in the topic was very high among the population. On Twitter, we're well on the home straight with important political opinion leaders following us."

Business Campaigning Switzerland: Metzinger is a pioneer in the use of online communication tools. He blogs and is active on social media channels himself, using the in-house development seReive to post on several channels simultaneously. He comments critically on the current development: "I see an unhealthy hype in the last year and a half, which makes me fear that it will be followed by a big disappointment." Because: "Firstly, too many companies and organizations do not have a proper social media strategy and secondly, they are not aware of how huge the cultural change in the company has to be in order to be able to use social media properly so that it really pays off." Although there are many providers with strengths in the operational area, there is too little strategic know-how.

Christoph J. Walther

 

The TV sector benefited the most from this development. This is according to the "Global Adview Pulse" report. Corporate investment in the TV channel increased by 11.9%. Among traditional media, the market share increased by 65.3%, which is an increase of 1.8 percentage points compared to the previous year. Internet advertising is not included in the study.

In the United States, expenditure climbed by almost six percent to around 27 billion US dollars between January and March 2011. Although TV, radio and magazines grew, newspaper publishers had to cope with a drop of ten percent. In Western Europe, sales fell by a comparatively low 1.6 percent. While advertising expenditure by companies in Greece fell by a whopping 20.7 percent, the markets in Turkey (up 12.9 percent), France (up 11.6 percent) and Norway (up 10.2 percent) recorded strong growth. Global growth was driven by the Asia-Pacific region (up 12.4%), Latin America (up 11%) and the Middle East/Africa region (up 10.4%).

However, it is not certain that these figures will remain constant. The Egyptian advertising market collapsed almost completely during the democracy movement in spring, with a 51.3 percent drop in spending, according to Horizont.net on Thursday. Many experts would expect the advertising climate to deteriorate anyway.
 

At many sites, hardly anything archaeological is to be seen. This writes the BAK in a press release. Therefore, the cell phone application informs in three minutes per site about what lies under the ground or the water level. At the same time, a picture of the pile dwellers' everyday life is drawn. The "Palafittes-Guide" covers 53 of the 56 Swiss pile-dwelling sites, which Unesco inscribed on June 27 as the eleventh Swiss site on the prestigious World Heritage List.
 

January: New year, new layout. Zürcher Oberländer, Zürcher Unterländer, Anzeiger von Uster and the Zürichsee Zeitung also appear in a new look.

February: From Saul to Paul.Roger Schawinski returns to Swiss television. Starting August 22, he will have a weekly talk show on SF1, which will be broadcast on Monday evenings.

March: Upswing. Google invests in Switzerland and rents another building to create space for 300 additional employees. Anniversary: The first issue of the Landbote appeared on March 24, 1836. On March 24, 2011, it appeared with an anniversary supplement that reviews the history of its origins and its 175 years.

April: Exit. Affichage decided to terminate its business activities in Greece with immediate effect and hand over its operations to a Greek competitor.

May: Fight. From September, the French broadcaster TF1 is to broadcast its program with its own advertising window for French-speaking Switzerland. With the market entry of France's largest private broadcaster, French-speaking Switzerland is in for an "earthquake," says Gilles Marchand, director of the French-speaking Swiss radio and television station RTS.

Anniversary: The Handelszeitung celebrates its 150th anniversary on May 11, 2011. It is accompanying the 150th anniversary with an extensive special editorial supplement.

Competition. From the end of August, Der Sonntag will appear with an edition of both Basel. Rumors. Ever since Moritz Suter bought the Basel newspaper Baz at the end of November 2010, there have been rumors about where the Crossair founder got the money. The SonntagsZeitung has found circumstantial evidence that former UBS boss Marcel Ospel is the secret backer. Neither Ospel nor publisher Moritz Suter deny this.

June: Courage. Giacomo Salvioni, publisher of the daily newspaper La Regione Ticino, is launching a free commuter newspaper for Ticino together with the media association 20 Minuten. The new commuter newspaper, called 20 minuti, is scheduled to appear on September 14, 2011 and will be distributed mainly via newspaper boxes. The initial circulation will be 36,000 copies. 20 minuti is published by the company 20 minuti SA, which is owned half by Giacomo Salvioni and half by 20 Minuten AG.

Pierre C. Meier, Editor-in-Chief [email protected]

This issue of Werbewoche marks the end of the summer break. The next issue will be published on August 12. Until July 22, you will still receive daily information on Werbewoche.ch. Then our online edition will also take a short break. From August 7, we will be back online for you. We wish all our readers a wonderful vacation season. Enjoy a few carefree days!
 

Under the communication platform and headline "Welcome to more agility in logistics", a world of forms was created to dramatize the flexible services of agility. The concept was implemented for the first time at Transport Logistics 2011 in Munich, the second station for design and platform was Breakbulk in Antwerp. In the midst of the mostly cubic trade fair stands, the bold appearance was particularly striking, according to the agency. The concept should be adaptable from a simple roll-up to a multi-storey exhibition stand.

Responsible at Agility: Holger Altvater. Responsible at The Rainmaker Corporation: Daniel Seiler (Strategy). Responsible at Continue: Frank Bernhardt, Matthias Pauwels (design/concept). Text/concept: Ueli Bleuler. Music & Text: Ueli Bleuler. Stand construction: Björn Degenhardt (Mattheis).
 

If the price is not right, there is no need to sell, says Tamedia spokesman Christoph Zimmer. But he is still optimistic that a "positive solution" will be found. CEO Martin Kall is trying to drive up the prices, Sonntag continues. According to Sonntag, a takeover of the Tamedia channels would also be too expensive for the entrepreneurs Giorgio Behr and Peter Weigelt (Schweizer Sportfernsehen). Zimmer is unable to resolve the contradiction with the reasons given at the time for the intended sale of the "radio and television activities". Tamedia wanted to sell these "in view of unfavorable framework conditions and low synergy potential" as well as uncertain prospects with regard to the reallocation of the concessions. This will not change if the Zurich-based publisher keeps the stations. It would also have to build a new studio for Radio 24, which would cost around CHF 2 million.

The result is a complete action plan in three phases. The core message of the new communication is "The bank is there for customers whenever they have time - namely with advisory appointments even outside the usual opening hours, be it at five to seven in the morning or ten to ten in the evening". This service concept is also the guiding principle in the entire opening communication.

It all started with a two-stage teaser campaign with advertisements, posters and online banners. The VIP event and the opening event on Thursday, June 16 and Saturday, June 18, 2011 were intended to gain further sympathy points for the bank. The events offered an insight into all the premises of the new branch and the chance to win 2.5 kg of gold. The core message was once again the focus of the events: several rickshaw-cycle cabs picked people up in Erlenbach and took them to their desired destination. In addition, a croissant was handed out to waiting motorists at the ferry station in Meilen under the motto "This is the summit".

The opening communication was just the beginning - further measures such as mailings, round table discussions and various means of specific product communication will follow. For example, the mailing with the View-Master, a viewing device with which you can look at slides and discover "new perspectives with Bank Linth".

Responsible at Bank Linth: Fredy Geisser, Dieter Benz, Sandra Gilly, Thomas Haas. Responsible at Walder, Advertiser: Sandro Walder (overall management), Tobias Fluck (CD), Sascha Völki (AD), Michael Döös (graphics), Martina Hirzel (DTP), Valentina Röschli/Philipp Ammeter (text), Tanja Büsser (consulting).
 

The campaigns submitted must be cross-media and include at least three different media - two of which must be social media. The winning campaign will be honored at the awards ceremony in Zurich in September. Until July 31, anyone interested can find out more about the submitted campaigns at Facebook.com/awardcc vote. Anyone can also register a campaign themselves. Anyone who submits the winning campaign will receive an iPad and will attend the award ceremony with a companion as a VIP guest.

The Social Media Award is a category prize of the Corporate Communications Award, which is being presented for the seventh time this year. The Corporate Communications Award recognizes integrated communication concepts from companies, agencies, administrations and non-profit organizations.