The tour will take place on January 24, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., at the World Trade Center Zurich-Oerlikon, Leutschenbachstrasse 95, 8050 Zurich.

This year, according to the announcement, 760 campaigns were submitted for ADC judging (previous year: 755). The ADC awards ceremony will take place on Sunday, January 30 at 5:30 p.m. (doors open at 5 p.m.) at the Schiffbau in Zurich. It is open to the public and free of charge.
 

The team of Hans Siegwart (CD) and Markus Bircher (strategy) will finalize and produce the new communication appearance of the Tamedia publishing product in the next few weeks, according to the announcement. The corresponding campaign will start this spring.

One of the special talents will be on the winners' podium on March 20, 2011.
as announced by Swiss Radio and Television (SRF) on Friday. The two presenters Andrea Jansen and Sven Epiney will then announce the result of the public vote.

DGST is modeled on the show "Britain's Got Talent", which made singer Susan Boyle famous. DGST is looking for talents such as dancing, singing, magic, animal training and acrobatics. The participants only have to fulfill one criterion: They have to win over the jury and, above all, the audience.

In the first four episodes, which will be broadcast from January 29, SRF will show the recording of the casting in December, in which the 24 tickets for the semi-finals were awarded. From February 27, eight of the talents will then compete in three live shows to reach the final. The votes of the TV audience will also be decisive here.

According to the press release, the team includes Frank Bienenfeld for radio spots, Lukas Bernays from Audiorelation, Riccardo Signorell from Signorellfilms.com, Roswitha Menke for creative techniques, Claudine Traber for research, Sonja Brunschwiler for editing, Stefan Vogler for marketing and communication tools, Corinne Dubacher for social media and Stefan Meier, alias Direktmeier.

The first module of the course is held in Zurich, Bern, Basel and Lucerne and is led by Cathrin Moser, Adverba, and Myriam Holzner, Kürze&Würze. The second module of the course can be completed in Bern and Zurich.

Franziska Hidber, Silberfeder, Fatima Vidal, Managing Director of Schreibszene Schweiz and Paul Girard, Girardtext, are responsible for the overall management of the copywriting courses. Literary writing is supervised by Fatima Vidal.

This article by Anne-Friederike Heinrich comes from the current print edition of Werbewoche.

WW: Four of you have launched the label "Medien-Macher" (Media Makers), under which you bundle and pass on your CP knowledge. What do you want to achieve with it?
Roland Kaufmann: Digital media present us with new challenges, not only for companies but also for print shops and PR and CP agencies. We want to help our customers serve the increasingly diverse communication channels and manage their content in an uncomplicated way. To this end, Binkert Druck works with the Woodwing editorial system, from which print, online, social media, and apps can be fed with content. Content is created centrally in the Content Station and used individually for publication in the various media channels. We have sought competent partners for the content, with whom we now offer very professional solutions for CP on all channels under the label "Media Makers".

You will present yourself as the new "CP competence team" at an after-work talk in Zurich on January 27.* Is there a great need for support in dealing with digital media?
Thomas Heusser: Oh yes. We had expected about 30 registrations, but in the meantime there have long since been more than 100. It is mainly communications managers from companies who are taking part.
Christoph Kohler: In our day-to-day work, we notice time and again how great our customers' need for clarification is. They are overwhelmed by the new digital realities. The technical possibilities are there. But there is a lack of strategies for how to use the various media creatively, efficiently, and in the interests of the brand.

Many publications can already be read on the iPad, and many media makers are using Kooaba or experimenting with augmented reality. How can customer and employee magazines benefit from the new technologies?
Gotsch: In the same way. When content is pushed to more channels at the push of a button, it can be very interesting for a company if done strategically right: It reaches more customers and generates more customer leads. The more channels available, the greater the chance of reaching target groups. So far, one team has done print, another web, and then Twitter people have been built up. That doesn't work. We need a central office from which all channels are managed. We have the right tool for that.

CP publications are usually aimed at existing customers and are free of charge. If a company then sets up Twitter and Facebook accounts to go with them, it's all about customer loyalty. That's good - but can social media also be used to acquire new customers, and can Kooaba and augmented reality be used to increase sales?
Gotsch: For example, as soon as a company provides content on Twitter that interests people, they will follow it. Then the company stays in people's minds. The goal is achieved as soon as a potential customer contacts the company. At that moment, of course, the company has to be ready and respond in a customer-oriented way. The same applies to the web: If the web presence is constructed in such a way that customer inquiries arise, the goal has been achieved.

What is your recommendation? Should every company that publishes a customer magazine provide an online version of it, and preferably also an app, cooabize the print version, and be active on Twitter and Facebook? For whom is what recommended?
Kohler: There is no blanket answer to this. The solution varies from customer to customer. One thing is certain: The communication habits of consumers, readers and users have already changed, and they will continue to change in the future. Ninety-eight percent of twelve- to nineteen-year-olds have a cell phone, and three-quarters of them use social networks more than four times a day. These are the customers of tomorrow, and I'm not sure they'll ever pick up a newspaper again. Neither our customers nor we can do anything about this development. We have to go along with it.

Then you are concerned about the customers of tomorrow?
Kohler: Not only. In Switzerland, IT expertise is generally high. So, depending on the target market, it's already a question of customer loyalty. This is particularly important in markets where the USP is not as strong. For example, in the case of health insurance companies, which today people change quickly with an eye to costs. In this context, a relevant customer magazine or a credible presence in social media can be crucial. After all, corporate publishing allows the company to actually reach customers - provided the customer expects added value from the corporate publishing product. An unattractive magazine, a loveless newsletter, these are very likely to end up in the trash box. A Facebook account that is simply opened without anything happening there will soon be dead. But if you want to emotionalize your brand, you have to use the diversity of the media in line with the market. The media maker of tomorrow is no longer a soloist, but a conductor who coordinates various instruments with each other - without necessarily having to play them himself.

Often, not even expensively produced customer magazines succeed in retaining consumers. How does a company have to behave on Twitter and Facebook in order to be successful? What could strategic CP in digital media look like?
Heusser: That has a lot to do with the positioning of the magazine, because that's where it's determined who is to be addressed with what and what the benefit is for the target group. This must also be expressed in the shortest version, for example on Twitter. Without a benefit, users will jump off again immediately.
Gotsch: No matter on which channel the company communicates: The reader must have added value. Today, messages are quickly clicked away. That's why a company has to ask itself two questions: First, whether it has content that adds value to a particular target audience, and second, on which platform it can best reach its target audience. Highly technical content, for example, doesn't lend itself well to Facebook, but perhaps some articles can be tweeted. Or make an app out of it.
Kohler: Not everything makes sense for everyone. A construction company, where employees are mostly on site, doesn't need an employee magazine that only runs on the intranet. A bank that is concerned about discretion will think twice about a Facebook presence.

Communicating via social media can also backfire - Twitter and Facebook are difficult to control ...
Kohler: Correct. You have to expect that criticism will come, that a customer will complain about the poor service, for example. And that's legible for everyone. But today's customers are networked with each other anyway and exchange information. If they do so directly with the company, then the latter at least has the chance to defuse the conflict by responding quickly.

A company has a print and online magazine, an app, broadcasts web TV and is active on Twitter and Facebook. Should the way recipients are addressed always follow the corporate wording, or can and must it vary depending on the medium?
Kohler: How a company speaks is part of its identity. Therefore, a company should distinguish itself from the spontaneous by a uniform language standard,
heterogeneous comments of its readers.
Gotsch: And in the case of web sites, of course, it is necessary to work with the keywords so that the site can be found by searchers using search engines.

How central is social media for brand management?
Kohler: It depends on the industry in which the company operates. For lifestyle companies that appeal to a young target group, social media are
very interesting. Because in the future, the brand core will be defined less and less on the drawing board in the executive suite, but will develop interactively in dialog with fans and communities. Nike, for example, doesn't just decide what the next sneaker will look like, but discusses it with its customers. In this way, the company learns a lot about the needs of its clientele. If a company has a well-functioning Facebook page for a lifestyle product, there is no need for market research. You just have to look at what is being discussed, what is being clicked on the most, and who or what is being most
has the most friends. And then you can align your brand with that.

You emphasize the importance of benefits and added value. Can a company then also decide not to get involved in social media or offer an app or an online presence, while its competitors focus on being there?
Heusser: Yes, "wanting to be everywhere" without a strategy is even dangerous. Companies should not think that they can use all channels for the same money just because it is free to set up an account or send out a newsletter. Social media activities in particular are counterproductive if they are not properly maintained. There is nothing sadder than an orphaned Facebook page where the company places a message every three weeks. An interactive page needs someone to respond to criticism and questions every day. That's the only way to create interaction. If you really want to use Facebook and Twitter for brand management, they are not free, but costly to maintain and develop creative concepts.

You state that corporate communications will have to become more journalistic in the future if they want to hold their own with consumers. Why?
Kohler: Because the media noise is very great. The variety of media and the amount of data that individuals have to process every day are constantly increasing. In this environment, you have to make yourself heard: through precise, emotional language, through sustained quality that creates reading expectations. That is one thing. The other is that today's consumer can no longer be taken for a fool. He has access to a wide range of knowledge and exchanges ideas. That's why they want authentic, honest information. Marketing texts full of sunshine are untrustworthy and interchangeable. In the future, there will perhaps be less writing, but better: I would also recommend this goal to companies: "few but roses. Since the crisis, there have been a few journalists on the market who can write well.

Do you recommend that companies employ their own staff for their CP activities in social networks? Or can the communications department still take care of this - when there are already editorial systems that simplify the work so much?
Gotsch: If a company has a serious goal with CP, then it must also employ people who care about it in full value. Saving the editor just because the reader pays nothing for CP is not a good idea.

What opportunities does CP have through digital media?
Heusser: I am convinced that CP in general will become more and more important in the future, especially compared to advertising. Most of us are already quite unreceptive to classic advertising messages today. CP offers an interesting alternative because it meets the consumer's need for information. CP delivers relevant insights and in-depth information in an unobtrusive way. Digital media now make it possible to provide this information in a tailored and individualized way.

You emphasize that you have to understand digital media in order to be able to use them in a targeted way. What have you understood that has not yet reached many companies and agencies?
Merchant: CEOs and communications managers are inundated with new communications opportunities, but don't yet know whether they should use them for themselves, and if so, how. Of course, we don't have a ready-made strategy either, we are also entering new territory. But we combine a lot of know-how from PR, CP, design and technical implementation and can thus offer joint assistance.

Do you think digital media will one day replace printed customer and employee communications?
Heusser: Certainly in parts, but it depends on the goals of the company. What is clear is that in the future, every annual report will also have to be offered digitally. It makes sense to produce an annual report only online if the main focus is on the figures, quick access and distributing the data to many people. For Migros, this was definitely the right decision; it saves the company a lot of money. But if you use your annual report as an image tool, you should continue to publish a print product. There will continue to be annual reports whose image section comes in the form of printed reading books, such as the one from Swisscom. The figures section can be accessed online. Separating the image and figures sections is a very intelligent way of doing things. Then you can serve the needs of your target group in a customized way.
Merchant: In the print shop, we haven't noticed any big changes yet. A lot of money is still spent on printed annual reports. But we are curious to see how this will change in the next few years.
Kohler: Companies and corporate publishers are in a learning process. There has been a lot of change in recent years. It's not so common to work in a profession where magazines were produced in the same way for 50 or 100 years. And now publishing has taken on other dimensions in a very short time. Even professionals have to make extreme changes if they want to still be around in five years. Those who stand still will soon no longer exist.

Interview: Anne-Friederike Heinrich

*Tip: free after-work talk
Six months ago, the four interviewees developed the "Medien-Macher" label. Under this umbrella, they pool their CP knowledge and pass it on. On the topic of "Strategies for Print, Web and Apps in Corporate Publishing," they are holding a free after-work talk. It will take place on January 27 from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Zurich's Restaurant zum Grünen Glass. Registration at

www.medien-macher.ch
www.binkert.ch
www.brandaffairs.ch
www.heussercom.ch
www.zmartcom.ch

With a clear strategy and a convincing cross-media concept, Euro RSCG Zurich was able to prevail in a competitive presentation at Swiss Post International, the agency wrote in a press release on Friday. Swiss Post International's new sector communication is intended to underline the strategic realignment of sales activities to specific sectors and highlight the added value for national and international customers. The first implementations, including advertisements, mailings, online and brochures, will be seen in Switzerland and abroad this spring.

After more than ten years with Swiss television, Eva Wannemacher is now leaving the network and, with it, the program «Kulturplatz,» as SRF announced on Friday. Until further notice, Nicole Salathé will host «Kulturplatz» alone. The second hosting position will be advertised.

Wannenmacher became known to a wide audience between 1998 and 2000 as the host of «10vor10.» After a stint at other networks, the Zurich native began hosting «Kulturzeit» on 3sat in 2003 and also hosted the trivia show «DENKmal» from 2004 to 2008. In addition, she regularly conducted interviews for 3sat with authors at the Leipzig and Frankfurt Book Fairs and hosted the Days of German-Language Literature in Klagenfurt on several occasions. Eva Wannenmacher has hosted «Kulturplatz» since its first broadcast on September 1, 2004. In March 2010, she took maternity leave and gave birth to her third child in May.

(Image: Sf.tv)
 

With Vanilla.ch, Ringier is the first company to introduce cashless payment by smartphone in Switzerland, according to a statement. Since the middle of last year, sales outlets and online stores have enabled the payment method via Vanilla.ch and more are being added all the time. A business-to-business commercial was produced so that the fast and convenient payment option can soon be offered on a large scale with the best coverage.

Responsible at Ringier (Vanilla.ch): Patrick Baumberger (CEO - Vanilla), Christian Moos (Marketing). Responsible at Guave Studios: Sergio Herencias (director), David Frische (producer), Philippe Merk (music) Postproduction: Guave Studios.
 

Making of "Vanilla.ch - B2B Commercial from Guava Studios on Vimeo.

This was announced by the FOM on Friday, according to SDA. The 57-year-old has worked as head of the media office of the Swiss Agency for Therapeutic Products Swissmedic since 2008. He was previously head of the press department at the Federal Office for Radiation Protection. Gross succeeds Jonas Montani, who has been working as migration attaché for European policy in Brussels since the beginning of December.
 

This was announced by the FDJP on Friday, according to SDA. From May 2005 to the end of 2010, the 46-year-old headed the communications service of the Aargau cantonal government. Prior to that, she worked in communications for PR agencies and associations. Stähli succeeds Brigitte Hauser-Süess, who succeeded Federal Councillor Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf in the Department of Finance on November 1, 2010.

Two and a half million Swiss people are active on the social media platform Facebook, where they have gathered their circle of friends and acquaintances and spend a large part of their online activities. Now more and more companies are setting up Facebook pages that followers of their products can join as fans and thus be provided with relevant news. This opens up advantages ranging from customer loyalty to sales, which appear particularly tempting for media companies: they can get in touch with their readers and listeners, who not only contribute content, but above all help to increase the reach of the media websites by clicking on messages.

As an overview by Werbewoche (see table) shows, almost everyone who is anyone in the Swiss media landscape is represented on Facebook and Twitter. Because radio stations can respond immediately to reactions from the audience, social media channels are particularly well suited to responding to listeners and at the same time retaining their loyalty to the station. Radio Energy in Zurich and Bern and DRS3 as well as Radio Pilatus, Argovia and Basilisk are leading the way. Among the print titles, 20 Minuten is well in the running, while traditional titles are far behind, have only just been launched or are hard to find.

A survey of leading editorial offices shows that although much is still in the trial-and-error phase, using social media channels is increasingly becoming part of everyday life for many editors and journalists. More and more editors are paying attention to how their articles are received on social media platforms (likes, re-tweets) and are consciously aiming for such reactions. The approaches differ: at DRS3, the status updates are written by those who appear as authors, while at 20 Minuten the main Facebook page is primarily managed by the community manager and at NZZ such a position will be filled from March 1. At the Berner Zeitung, the online editorial team and the BZ Forum (responsible for reader dialog in print and online) publish articles and deal with reader contributions.

However, those who get involved on social media platforms primarily help the respective operators to generate more income from the sale of advertising space and - in the case of publishers - help burgeoning competitors. Publishers benefit from additional traffic on their websites (for example, 7.4 percent of 20 Minuten's traffic in November came from Facebook), can strengthen their brands (which is difficult to measure) and receive one or two tips from the public about stories worth publishing and can hope to reach new readers. On the other hand, the additional effort and loss of reader comments, which are increasingly taking place on social media platforms instead of publishers' websites, must be taken into account. As a result, publishers' websites are not only losing (advertising-relevant) reach, but also the increasingly valuable profile data of their users (see Werbewoche 21 of December 2, 2010, p. 29 ff). Because users of social media services create a profile of their interests by selecting their contacts, advertising messages can be played out in a very targeted manner, which is rewarded by advertisers with better prices.

Facebook has long since established itself as a new advertising giant in the USA, but also in Germany. According to a report by the online marketing service provider Comscore for the third quarter, almost one in four online advertising banners in the USA now appears on Facebook (see Werbewoche 20, November 18, 2010, p. 25). In Germany, Facebook delivered 15.6 billion online display ad impressions in the third quarter, more than any other online publisher, accounting for 8.3 percent of all impressions delivered. In the second quarter, Facebook was still in second place, which clearly shows the pace of development. The second and third places are also occupied by social media sites: The German publishing group Georg von Holtzbrinck, which includes the social networks Schuelervz.net, Studivz.net and Meinvz.net, ranks second with 8.7 billion online display ads delivered (equivalent to a market share of 4.6 percent), followed by Jappy GmbH with 8.2 billion ad impressions (4.4 percent). As a look at foreign markets shows, Facebook's advertising revenues are growing faster than the overall online advertising market, which means that the market is being squeezed out rather than expanded.

In Germany, the publishers' association VDZ pointed out the growing importance of Facebook last June and demanded that publishers should receive a share of the advertising revenue generated by Facebook in connection with their content. Among Swiss newspaper publishers, Norbert Neininger from the Schaffhauser Nachrichten in particular has so far clearly articulated the publishers' attitude towards news-gathering newcomers from the digital world and demanded compensation from Google in advance. When asked, he admits that the publishers have not succeeded in defending their rights against Google. It is now "high time" to do so and the issue must be resolved in principle and not with regard to one of the companies. He refers to the postulate for an ancillary copyright that he launched last summer. From Facebook, as well as from Google, he demands that publishers "receive a fair share of the revenue" generated by their content on these platforms.

As a regulation for an ancillary copyright is controversial and therefore a long way off, publishers are likely to rely on the goodwill of the digital dominators with their requests. And they will probably first point out that publishers benefit from their offers and could make use of them themselves voluntarily (as with Facebook) or prevent them (as with Google). However, those who offer their content for free online will hardly be able to do without the reach that comes from these channels.

A look at Germany shows that publishers' own alternatives hardly stand a chance in this situation: although Facebook was late to launch in Germany, the Americans have caught up mightily and overtaken their local competitors, the VZ networks (StudiVZ and others) belonging to the Georg von Holtzbrinck publishing group. Thus, in the epic of the decline of the publishing kings, the episode will be added that they could not help but contribute to their own downfall for the sake of short-term advantages.
Christoph J. Walther

Great variety

Facebook: With Facebook, the main focus is on personal communication with friends and acquaintances. Unlike in foreign markets, Facebook does not yet play a dominant role in online advertising in Switzerland. For public communication by personalities, companies and organizations, there are Facebook pages that you join not as a friend but as a fan.
Twitter: The micro-blogging service (messages are limited to 140 characters) is increasingly replacing the news ticker among heavy users, as news naturally spreads very quickly here and is often the first to be read. On the other hand, reliable user figures are hard to come by; a recent survey for the entire German-speaking region indicates around 20,000 active users in German-speaking Switzerland. Twitter is currently in the process of expanding its offerings for advertisers.
YouTube: Google's video service is the best-known example of sharing, linking, searching and commenting on visual media content.
Other: Social networks in the professional sector such as Xing or Linkin or social bookmarking services such as Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon or purely German-language services such as Linkarena and Oneview are also popular. Mister Wong.