Interested parties can book participation for three or four days or register for the entire festival. The complete package entitles participants to take part in over 50 seminars, 20 workshops, film screenings and exhibitions, four award ceremonies and two gala events.
 
The festival has some new features this year. For the first time, in addition to the shortlist exhibitions, all shortlisted films submitted in all categories, provided they have been made available, can be seen at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes. An app for iPhone, iPad and Android will also be available shortly. This will include the festival program, a map of Cannes, live updates of the winners, full social media integration, news, photos, videos and the online networking tool "Cannes Connect", which will only be available to 2011 participants from April 2011.
 
The organizers also announce the launch of an MBA-level program for young marketing and brand managers working in a client company. The program is sponsored this year by Wunderman. It aims to strengthen the knowledge of the meaning and importance of creativity and its positive influence on brand communication. The study program takes place directly in Cannes and lasts one week.
 
Entries can be submitted online starting Thursday, January 27, 2011. Further information and registration: www.canneslions.com.
 

Mr. Tännler, you're not a big fan of looking back. So let's keep it short: Which seeds from 2010 will really take root in 2011?
Last year, the implementation of our new corporate identity, which was accompanied by the relaunch of the Swiss Marketing website, was certainly groundbreaking. This seed will now indeed continue to sprout. At Swissmarketing.ch, we can now offer our members - whose number rose by 15 percent in 2010 to over 3,700 members - a truly modern website that reflects the core elements of training and development, know-how transfer and community.

Community is a good keyword: In the first few days of the new year, we already heard about a cooperation with the business network Xing. What exactly is going on?
We have indeed succeeded in doing a great thing. In the first quarter of the new year, we will launch a community platform on Xing that will enable our members and alumni to maintain contacts, exchange experiences, and receive information about marketing-related events. Xing is a highly professional technological platform that connects over ten million members worldwide and is also the leading player in Switzerland. Now our community is also becoming really strong online. Xing is an invaluable tool when it comes to knowledge transfer.

You could have built and organized the community through your own website?
That would have been possible, yes. But we didn't want to reinvent the wheel in this respect. It is better for Swiss Marketing and especially for the members to network on such an accepted career portal.

How did the collaboration with Xing come about?
That was a very spontaneous thing. In November, I read in the Handelszeitung that Robert Beer was going to be the new country manager for Xing Switzerland. So I simply gave him a call. We met, had a good and inspiring conversation - and within two weeks the matter was clear. Incidentally, Xing has also been given the status of an official association partner for three years.

When you talk about technology today, the keyword "community" is soon followed by the buzzword "app. What does Swiss Marketing have up its sleeve?
The iPhone and iPad are already very widespread devices in our community today. That's why we will indeed launch a Swiss Marketing App towards the Swiss Marketing Day on March 8. Of course, again with a focus on knowledge transfer, education, community and some innovative features. Our online partner Webgearing.com is really getting into the act.

Stichwort Swiss Marketing Day: How are the registrations for March 8 in the KKL Luzern going?
We are currently on course for the previous year. The lively registrations that are already coming in show me that this day has found its acceptance. March 8 has already been entered in red in the agendas of many places. Of course, there will be many last-minute registrations again this year.

Around Swiss Marketing Day, companies and individuals have the opportunity to organize their own customer events or workshops. How is that received?
We already offered this in 2010, but are pushing it more strongly this year. Specifically, in 2011 a well-known company - unfortunately I'm not allowed to mention the name yet - will make prominent use of it for the first time. Surprise - come to Lucerne, you will be amazed.

Will there be any innovations in the look and feel of the Swiss Marketing Day?
But sure, we remain true to our innovative reputation. In particular, the entire networking area is undergoing an actual upgrade. The newly designed lounge-style networking area has much more style and is inviting for informal meetings. This is another step in the right direction: to make Swiss Marketing Day a hotspot for inspiring encounters. Of course, also with an attractive culinary offer.

Speaking of culinary delights: Do you like to go out to an Asian restaurant?
I'd love to go to a Japanese restaurant or a Chinese restaurant, sure. Why do you ask?

Because Swiss Marketing also has something cooking with the keyword "wok".
That has its correctness. Whereas wok here does not stand for a Chinese continuously curved pan, but for "wheel of knowledge", if you will. Even though we are still at an early stage, I can say that we are working on a "marketing Wikipedia" here. The result will be a knowledge pool that covers all areas of modern and future-oriented marketing. Let us surprise you!

What else will be new in 2011?
These days, Member Cards will be sent to our members for the first time. These offer the advantage of being able to log directly into the protected member area on the website with a one-time code. This card still offers a lot of potential. I could imagine that the member card could be used to gain access to events or that this clever piece of plastic could one day be used as a credit card. We can also make a good move in Ticino in 2011, where we already have around 140 members. The cari amici will now receive the relevant magazine Ticino Management, which will further strengthen our offering in Ticino and could allow us to gain new members in southern Switzerland. In 2011, we are also working together with the Theodora Foundation for the first time. We were looking for a suitable charity partner for a long time and have now been able to launch a very meaningful cause with this foundation, which makes life easier and sweeter for children in hospital.

What else is going on at the technological level?
Worth mentioning here is the cooperation with the two companies Emarsys and Nemuk. These email service providers are new association partners, they bring our email marketing to a higher level. This prevents spam and allows us to address more specific target groups. Emarsys/Nemuk also provide these services for Ebay, the world's largest auction house - so the company is just good enough as a partner for Swiss Marketing.

You are brimming with optimism.
But sure. Pessimism is a foreign word for me.

Many augurs see a few storms coming in 2011. The flabby euro, which will weaken our exports. Or the crisis states in southern Europe. Or the economic situation in the USA, which is difficult to assess.
I don't know any fear in this respect. It's simply a matter of keeping your ship on course and sailing through the wind, waves and weather. Of course, it may not be possible to achieve double-digit sales and profit growth every year, so you have to remain realistic.

What are you hearing from members in this regard?
Roll up your sleeves and really step on the gas. In difficult years, practitioners are in demand, not theorists. Practitioners such as those trained at our training institutes and then awarded by Swiss Marketing with one of the titles now also recognized internationally thanks to the European certificate. The highest asset for me as an entrepreneur is always the staff. If you challenge and develop your people properly, you can deliver top performance. That was already true in 2010, and it will be even truer in 2011.

 

As part of its Annual General Meeting on January 12, 2011, AWS Daniel Hofer (pictured above) was elected as the new president of the association. Hofer is CEO of Affichage Holding and since 2008 has presided over the IAA Swiss Chapter. From 2006 to 2010, he worked for the NZZ Media Group, where as a member of the Executive Board he headed the Zurich Publishing Division. Vice President will be Jürg Rötheli, since June 2010 CEO of Clear Channel Outdoor. Further members of the committee are Satu Hilty, Marketing Director at Clear Channel since November 2010, Markus Ehrlewho will assume the role of Head of Marketing and Business Development at Affichage, and Beat Holenstein, head of partner and product management at Affichage.

 
 
In addition, the office was relocated from Bern to Giesshübelstrasse 4 in Zurich. New managing director is Oliver Achermann (pictured below), Head of the Corporate Center of Affichage Holding. The current AWS Managing Director Othmar Casutt will assist him in a transitional phase until June 30, 2011, according to a statement issued on Thursday.

Affichage streamlines management structure
 

 

I saw that my husband's business was going badly," says Rita Koller (name changed). But it was only when the debt enforcement officer turned up at her door with a payment order from a supplier for 12,000 francs that she really realized the seriousness of the situation. "Now I'll probably have to cover these debts with the inheritance I recently made," worries Rita Koller. "I wish we had agreed to separate property."

Rita Koller's fears are unfounded. In principle, one spouse is not liable for the debts of the other. Only in the following two exceptional cases does one spouse have to pay for the debts of the other:

1. if the spouse has declared to the creditor that he or she is jointly liable. Main example: jointly signed loan agreement.
2. if it concerns the family's day-to-day needs such as food, clothing, small household items, minor repairs or normal health expenses such as health insurance premiums or deductibles. Both spouses are always jointly and severally liable for such expenses. This means that each spouse can be sued individually by creditors for the entire amount.

As the debts of Rita Koller's husband are business debts and Rita Koller has not co-signed anything, she is not liable for these debts.

The matrimonial property regime under which a married couple lives is irrelevant for debt liability. In other words, even if Rita Koller and her husband had agreed on separation of property, the above would have applied with regard to liability for debts.

The matrimonial property regime only plays a role in the division of marital property, for example in the event of the death of a spouse or in the event of a divorce. If - as in the case of Rita Koller - the business belongs to the husband who built it up during the marriage, he must pay her half of the value of his business in the event of a divorce under the normal matrimonial property regime of participation in accrued gains. This can cause him serious financial difficulties. With a separation of property regime, on the other hand, he would not have to pay his wife anything. For Rita Koller, on the other hand, this can mean an upsetting result, for example if she has given up her own paid employment in favor of the household and children, has kept her husband's back free and he has put all his energy into his business. The agreement of a separation of property - often wrongly seen as a solution to avoid liability for the husband's business debts - should therefore be carefully considered or financial compensation for the disadvantage (usually to the wife) should be agreed.

Do you need legal advice?
The Beobachter Advisory Center offers you and your employees expert advice by telephone on legal issues relating to your company - 6 months for just CHF 99. Order the consulting package for SMEs at www.beobachter.ch/kmu or 0800 83 0800.

Book tip
Further information can be found in the Beobachter guidebook "Trau dich! Das gilt in der Ehe", by Karin von Flüe, 38 francs, 224 pages, paperback, 1st edition, April 2009, Beobachter-Buchverlag, ISBN: 978-3-85569-414-3.

 

New location, fresh spirit: for the latest graduation ceremony, the newly qualified marketing managers were celebrated in Lucerne for the first time in 2010. On the seventh floor of the Astoria design hotel, 64 talented individuals received their diplomas at the end of November. The ceremony was accompanied by music from Roland "G-Sax" Graf and his A Pure Acoustic Trio. There was no sign of November depression: the ceremony in the Penthouse Bar was characterized by optimism. After all, examination director Peter Gilli had good news for the graduates: "Marketing managers are masters of their trade - with the very best opportunities on the job market!"
Just one day later, the next celebration took place in Swiss-Marketing-Land. At the Victoria Jungfrau, one of the jewels of the Swiss haute hotel industry, 142 new sales managers were presented with their diplomas. The celebrity host was Kurt Aeschbacher, who presented the event with flair. Also on the program: Zurich magician Roberto Giobbi and German management consultant Peter Kreuz, who impressed upon the audience "creativity, initiative and passion as the key to success". Jean-Paul Zürcher, President of the examination board, gave the young sales managers a piece of wisdom that would fit into any bon mot repertoire: "An investment in knowledge still pays the best interest." Even if the saying of the legendary US statesman Benjamin Franklin has been around for over 200 years: It has never been as valuable as it is today.

The trio of graduates who took the Marketing Manager winners' podium in 2010
stood (from left to right): Rolph Ziegler, Beatrice Fuchs, Carlo Iellamo.

Summit meeting in Lucerne (from left to right): Claude Dubois,
Head of Audit Swiss Marketing, Uwe Tännler, President
Swiss Marketing, Marc Heim, Audit Chairman, Peter Gilli, Audit Manager.

Well cleared: Martin Huber, winner of the
Swiss Sales Award 2010.

In a good mood: Jean-Paul Zürcher, President of the Examination Committee, with
Kurt Aeschbacher.
 

You can see how Stucki, despite a live weight of 140 kg and a height of almost 2 meters, is literally blown away by the XXL promotion weeks at Lidl. The spots featuring "Stucki Chrigu" - as he is known in wrestling circles - were again produced in close collaboration with Manifesto Film. Different XXL offers are attached to each of the two spots, which are broadcast during the corresponding promotion periods.
 
 
Responsible for Unique communication agency:Martina Mädler, Patrick Lienert, Daniel Meier (creation), Claudio Gentili (consulting). Media: Mediaxis. Responsible for Manifesto Films: Shannon Mildon, Daniela Berther (production), Reto Salimbeni (direction).
 

The basic version of the portal will remain open and accessible free of charge. The result is an information platform that reports on the most important events in the region almost around the clock and offers multimedia added value to the print edition, according to a press release. In addition, the current issue of SN is now available both in the form of individual articles and as a complete e-paper. The digital archive continues to offer access to all SN articles since 2000 and is supplemented by content from other Meier + Cie. Schaffhausen media. The latest news from Radio Munot as well as the latest news program from Schaffhausen television will be available as a web stream. The platform also offers a daily overview of events in the region and is also a marketplace for real estate, job, vehicle and "treasure trove" offers. SN's digital offering will now also be available in the form of an application for iPad and iPhone.

In a competitive presentation, Contexta prevailed and won British American Tobacco, based in Lausanne, as a new customer, according to a statement. Contexta is now responsible for the Gauloises and Davidoff Cigarettes brands in the Swiss market.

Another new addition to the portfolio is Swisscom SME: Contexta developed a new communications offensive for Swisscom's SME business unit. Another new B2B client is the business customer division of SBB, which commissioned Contexta to develop a new communications presence.
 

With a brand value of CHF 4,050 million, Credit Suisse is the most valuable Swiss banking brand according to the ranking. UBS follows in second place with CHF 3,850 million. In third place is Kantonalbank with CHF 2,218 million.
 
Nik Stucky, Global Practice Leader Brand Valuation at Interbrand, commented on the result, saying that Credit Suisse's ranking shows how crucial consistent brand management is for success. The crisis has not left Credit Suisse unscathed. However, thanks to the consistent strengthening of the brand, trust was regained much more quickly during the crisis. Stucky is particularly positive about the fact that Credit Suisse is focusing on the client and not on itself or its products.
 
Stucky puts a question mark behind the realignment of UBS. It remains to be seen to what extent this and the radical departure from the old values will be credible and sustainable. According to Stucky, the cantonal banks benefit from their local roots, direct proximity to customers and sympathy. The surprise in the ranking: Post Finance came in 8th place with a brand value of CHF 888 million despite not having a banking license. Stucky: "Even though it has emancipated itself from Swiss Post, the values of the umbrella brand - reliability, security and trust - still radiate from it."
 

Ranking list (in millions of francs):

1.  
2. 1st Credit Suisse 4,050
3. 2. UBS 3,850
4. 3. cantonal bank 2,218
5. 4. Julius Baer 1,619
6. 5. vontobel 1,169
7. 6. raiffeisen 975
8. 7 Clariden Leu 912
9. 8th PostFinance 888
10. 9th Union Bancaire Privée 571
11. 10. Liechtensteinische Landesbank 301
12. 11th Bank Sarasin 260
13. 12. EFG International 236
14. 13th Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild 224
15. 14 LGT 204
16. 15 Valiant 188
17. 16 Migros Bank 175
18. 17 Cornèr Banca 123
19. 18 New Aargauer Bank 95
20. 19 BSI 58
21. 20. clientis 36

 
 
Further results of the study can be found in the January 14, 2011 issue of Bilanz.

To the ranking  
 
The ranking "The 20 most valuable banking brands in Switzerland" lists the 20 most valuable banking brands with a value of at least CHF 35 million. Using financial analysis, Interbrand first calculates the income that is likely to be generated in the brand's business area over the next five years (economic value added). Public data is then used to determine the importance of the brand for the purchase decision or for the respective business. In this case: how important is the brand when deciding on a bank. The result, i.e. the expected brand earnings, lies in the future. A brand is assessed as strong or weak on the basis of further market research data such as awareness or esteem. The sum of these discounted earnings results in the current value of a brand. The brand value listed therefore corresponds to the present value of the expected future earnings, which are exclusively attributable to the presence of the brand.
 
 
 
 
 

What really makes the Swiss happy? The answer is "vacations", as various studies have shown. And no one has taken more Swiss people on vacation in the last 75 years than Hotelplan. Over 20 million customers have already been sent on vacation. "So no one makes more Swiss people happy than Hotelplan," Rod Kommunikation concludes for an advertising campaign, thus relying on the luck of the horoscopes just in time for the turn of the year. According to the MACH study, Hotelplan customers have a pronounced weakness for horoscopes. Rod has therefore developed the Astroplan digital campaign for the tour operator, which aims to guarantee lucky vacations for 2011. Customers can compare their own star sign with that of a travel partner and a digital application on web banners and the website suggests one of the 30 offers created especially for Astroplan. Singles select their star sign and the desired destination, and ideal travel partners from their Facebook friend list are immediately suggested. If the result does not match the ideal constellation in the horoscope, the user is notified. Of course, the lucky vacation can be booked directly on the website. Astroplan was developed in collaboration with the digital agency Serranetga and the astrologer Monika Kissling, known as "Madame Etoile". It makes sense that she published her book "Wie werde ich glücklich?" in November 2010. pan

 

The scent of freedom. This and similar promises have been used in cigarette advertising for ages. Yet everyone knows that even two packets of smoky Peter Stuyvesant in a living room will never give off the scent of the big wide world, but at most the stench of it. And even a whole carton of Marlborough Gold won't turn an addicted chain smoker into a cowboy riding freely out onto the prairie or a successful Formula 1 driver. So why not launch a cigarette on the market with a genuine brand promise? This new product is called "Smoke Free" and is advertised with the slogan "No cigarette is better".

Rarely has a package without content been able to trigger as much discussion in the media as this content-free campaign by the Federal Office of Public Health. However, this assessment should only be understood in a positive light, as one of the most important logistical goals of a prevention campaign today must be to generate maximum media coverage - and thus engagement with the topic - from a minimum budget. Although the budget for the FOPH's new tobacco prevention campaign is not small, at just under CHF 10 million by 2012, it is considerably higher than the previous CHF 3 million per year. "Zero, niente, nada" or "wasted taxpayers' money", croaked the first critics in online surveys in a digital smoker's voice. But with the proportion of the population that smokes having fallen to 27% in recent years, it cannot simply be claimed that these investments by the FOPH have gone up in smoke.

A real challenge that would have left a creative in the good old days with an infinite number of ashtrays full of half-smoked cigarettes to come up with a strategic idea on how to further strengthen the success of the generally prevailing anti-smoking movement. Wirz relies on a similar tonality to the already well-received "Love Life" instead of "Stop Aids" campaigns. Instead of deterrent images "against" a weakness in the human system, "Smoke Free" also wants to build more meaningfully on the positive effects that occur when you can give up smoking. "The horrible images on cigarette packets leave most smokers cold," says CD Thomas Kurzmeyer, who is part of a large team at Wirz. This approach of dramatizing the negative consequences of smoking in anti-tobacco campaigns is certainly legitimate, "but it has now been done so often that there is evidence of a certain blunting of this type of communication," Kurzmeyer believes. And at a time when smokers' freedom is more restricted than it used to be, there is even a danger that a certain solidarity effect could arise even on the part of non-smokers "if smoking and smokers are attacked too brutally", strategist Gordon Nemitz also believes. The new prevention campaign, which was developed by Wirz Werbung together with the FOPH, is therefore pursuing a different strategy. It does not want to focus on the disadvantages of smoking, but on the advantages of not smoking.

With clever intent, it uses the resources of the tobacco industry. The campaign began with the launch of a fictitious cigarette. The only cigarette that doesn't harm, doesn't kill, doesn't poison anyone. The only cigarette that really makes you free and independent. And which - logically - is not a cigarette. Around this core idea with the new "Smoke Free" brand and the key visual of the empty pack, there will soon be a whole series of measures. In the initial phase, communication will focus strongly on the new product. It also establishes the claim "No cigarette is better". This will be popularized with a TV commercial that is styled like a real launch commercial for a new cigarette brand. In addition to posters and advertisements, there is also a promotional team that distributes the deadly sample packets in clubs and bars, just like in real life. However, these packs are filled with good tips. Two further commercials, which are designed in the style of "real" advertising, visualize what they can do for non-smokers. Andreas Panzeri

The print subjects for the teaser advertise an empty pack. This is followed by a creative parody of "real" cigarette advertising. The three cinema spots (below) were realized by Wirz with Markenfilm and master director Laszlo Kadar. There is also a website from Assai Dialog + Digital - www.smokefree.ch.

 

A video from Time, which is currently circulating on the internet and - not least - being passed on in the form of Facebook entries, illustrates just how big a power Facebook has become: Minute by minute, 510,000 comments, 232,000 messages and 136,000 photos are uploaded to the world's most successful and largest social network, the "like" button is clicked around 383,000 times and 99,000 friend requests and 74,000 event invitations are sent - and with each of these mouse clicks, the network operator collects valuable data that enables advertisers to reach their target groups increasingly without wastage. In the USA, Facebook has now overtaken Google.

What is "sin Uhl" to one person is "sin Nachtigall" to another. For the old media, not only for the "wooden medium" of print, the outlook at the start of the year is rather gloomy: advertising continues to migrate to the internet, but hardly to the websites that offer high-quality journalism. This continues to be cross-subsidized primarily by subscribers to traditional print media - or, in the case of public service offerings, forcibly financed by taxpayers, although the lion's share of the concession money is spent on expensive soaps, shows and sports rights, but not on foreign correspondents and journalistic excellence.

As expected, Murdoch's attempts to date in the UK and several media companies in France to introduce payment systems are proving laborious. The work of convincing people that independent journalism (and press freedom!) are worth something and must therefore cost something has probably only just begun. The willingness to pay that has been destroyed over the past twenty years by free gifts cannot be "sustainably" reversed in just a few months. Especially as those publishers who are determined to do so find themselves in a prisoner's dilemma. Their competitors hope to be able to keep their - then mostly mediocre - journalistic offerings on the market solely financed by advertising, at least as long as the competitors' payment barriers drive more users into their arms.

Anyone who shows signs of weakness in predatory capitalist societies must expect the powerful to follow suit. In view of the many economically weakening press and TV empires, it is hardly surprising that freedom of the press is increasingly being trampled underfoot: Not only in China and Russia, where we would expect this to be the case anyway, but also closer to home - in EU countries such as Hungary, where a pretentious head of government is abusing his two-thirds majority in order to curb the media, and in Italy, where an age-stubborn, autocratic and overpowering media mogul is probably reluctant to resign from his post as prime minister primarily because, without the protection of his high office, he will be targeted by law enforcement authorities from the day he steps down until the end of his life. However, it is certainly not helpful when respected representatives of the "fourth estate" such as the Guardian, Spiegel, Le Monde and El País cooperate with Wikileaks to show the diplomatic routine of a world power from the inside and, above all, to circulate gossip instead of ultimately disclosing illegal information. The Reuters Institute in Oxford has reminded us of the small difference that matters: What is "in the public interest", i.e. really in the public interest, belongs in the public domain. This includes not only the classic Pentagon Papers, whose publication by the New York Times and Washington Post marked the beginning of the end of the Vietnam War, but also the video of a US Army attack on civilians in Iraq, which Wikileaks published some time ago.

In the case of the last Wikileaks series, however, the media could at best claim "the public's interest" as a motive for publishing the secret documents. They acted in the interests of an ever-curious public - and in doing so may have done more harm than good to the public interest of democracies and perhaps even the global community. The acclaimed "Pro Am" cooperation, the collaboration between media professionals and amateurs, in which many internet gurus see the future of journalism, turned into "Pro Crime", a cooperation between self-important journalists and criminals who both claim to be above the law. In other words, a collaboration between data thieves and data stealers.

The media themselves are also contributing more than a mite to the dismantling of press freedom: Anyone who does not handle such a precious commodity responsibly need not be surprised when it disappears.