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 information is. They are overwhelmed by the new digital realities. The technical possibilities are there. But there is a lack of strategies for how the various media can be used 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: This has a lot to do with the positioning of the magazine, as it determines who is to be addressed and what the benefits are.
for the target group. This must also be expressed in the shortest version, for example on Twitter. Without a benefit, users will bounce 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

The figures are based on the usage behavior measured in the Net-Metrix Audit web statistics for June and December 2010, with Internet Explorer showing a significant decrease from 55.4% to 49.4%. The most significant increase was recorded by surfing via Mobile Safari, which generated 4.3% of all visits in December, an increase of over 80% compared to June. Conventional Safari and surfing via iApps (applications used on the iPhone and iPad) also increased significantly (from 3.5% to 6.2%). Google Chrome grew from 2.7% to 3.8%, which corresponds to an increase of almost 40%. All other browsers remain below a share of 1 percent. (See chart below)
 
There was no change in the ranking of operating systems either, but here too the shift in favor of mobile devices continued: After the Android operating system was hardly worth mentioning in June with a share of 0.2%, it increased its share to 1.1% in December. The mobile operating system iOS, which includes visits from the iPhone, iPad and iPod, achieved a visit share of 10.2% in December, which corresponds to an increase of 90% compared to June (5.4%). Windows operating systems remain at the top, with their share falling from 80.9% to 74%, and MacOS, which remains fairly constant at 11.8%. The remaining operating systems each have a share of less than 1%. (See chart below)
 
 
 
 

Whether it's lots of presents, Christmas aperitifs, Christmas visits or impossible resolutions: the commercials show in an entertaining way that the most beautiful time of the year is not just a bed of roses. Or, as they say at the end of the commercials: it's nice to have it all behind you. Even better if you still have the Interio sale ahead of you. The commercials can be heard throughout Switzerland from the end of December until February 5.

> Spot 1
> Spot 2
> Spot 3

Responsible at Interio AG: Werner Jakob, Eveline Jakob. Responsible at Neue Lgk: André Benker, Hans Tanner (CD), Antonio Lopez (lyrics), Petra Zehnder, Diana Geissbühler (consulting), Selmi Tonstudio (production).

December 2010: 30.9 percent market share
Swiss television achieved a market share of 30.9% in December 2010. On SF 1, the main edition of "Tagesschau" with its review of the year between December 25 and 31 achieved the highest market share (52.4%) and an average of 716,000 viewers. The "Credit Suisse Sports Awards" on December 12 was watched by 852,000 people (41.5 percent market share) and the "DOK" series "Auf und davon - Die Auswanderer ein Jahr danach" on December 30 was watched by 676,000 people (37.8 percent market share). Sports programs were particularly successful on SF zwei: "The Match for Africa - Die grosse Federer-Charity-Night" with tennis stars Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal had the largest audience with 461,000 viewers on December 21 (26.1 percent market share), while "Ski alpin: Weltcup Abfahrt Männer, Val Gardena / Gröden" on December 18 (356,000 viewers) had the highest market share with 54.3 percent.

Annual balance 2010: 32.6 percent market share
In 2010, SF achieved an average market share of 32.6% throughout the day. Of this, SF 1 accounted for 20.8 percent, SF zwei for 10.0 percent and SF info for 1.7 percent. According to the press release, 2010 was heavily influenced by the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa and the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, which were very well received by the television audience.

Annual balance 2010 Sf.tv: 410,800 visits per day
In 2010, the SF website recorded an average of 410,800 visits per day - 52 percentage points more than in the previous year. SF video starts achieved an increase of 78 percentage points in 2010: Internet users accessed video-on-demands an average of 230,800 times per day. The use of podcasts also increased sharply by 24 percentage points in 2010. An average of 28,000 podcasts were downloaded per day.

Since January 1, 2010, all TV audience figures and market shares recorded by Telecontrol are no longer directly comparable with the previous year's data. This is due to changes in the TV measurement panel: Data collection and data analysis have been modified in order to take account of changes in the media landscape (regional TV licenses) on the one hand and to comply with international media research standards on the other. Information on the changes to the survey system can be obtained from Publica Data.
 

As the U.S. industry portal Cnet reports according to press text, Microsoft filed an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on Tuesday that vehemently opposes Apple's patent claim to the brand name "App Store." The application states that the term is simply too general to be registered only for a specific application from a single manufacturer.

In the application that Microsoft submitted to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the company argues that "App Store" is a very generic term. It is representative of a whole range of different retail services that use app platforms as a distribution channel. If the trademark rights were awarded to a single provider, competing companies would no longer have any chance of using the term for their own offerings, which would in turn result in competitive disadvantages, Microsoft criticizes.

Less than a week after launching its own App Store in 2008, Apple had already attempted to secure trademark rights to the "App Store" term. However, a final decision by the U.S. patent judges is still pending.
 

The Executive Board now consists of three people: Paul Grau, founder and CEO, Jean-Claude Bruhin, COO and Claudio Rotter. According to a press release issued on Wednesday, the expansion of the management team is intended to coordinate processes and the individual broadcasting channels within the Star TV editorial team. At the same time, internal and external communication will be optimized and continuously expanded.
 
The corporate restructuring will make it possible to meet the growing demands of the market, the statement continues. Star TV is thus making the leap from a traditional TV channel to a future web-based news and entertainment channel.

Everything that defines Léger is summed up in the new brand claim "Der leichte Genuss," the agency writes in a statement. On the other hand, this message is also conveyed audiovisually to the target audience: The new TV spot dramatizes the characteristics with ease - namely by means of floating Léger products.

Banners accompany the campaign in the virtual world. On websites with an affinity for the target group, they highlight the Léger property with floating pack shots. The film and the online measures have been on air since the beginning of January.

Responsible at the Federation of Migros Cooperatives, Zurich: Marc Engelhard (Head of Marketing Communications Directorate), Renate Korfmacher (Head of Brand and Label Management), Bettina Huwyler (Project Manager Brand Management). Responsible at Advico Young&Rubicam, Zurich: Markus Gut (CCO), Fabienne Marcolin (AD), Marietta Mügge (text/concept), Susan Baumgartner, Rémy Müller, Rea Rageth (consulting), Benedikt Bitzi (strategy), Cem van der Schaar (FFF). Pumpkin Film Zurich (production), Matteo Bonifazio (direction). OMD Schweiz AG (media planning).

The focus of the design was on the photography of pure and undamaged raw materials, the agency writes in a statement. The packaging consists of a plastic blister that lets you look at the product and a label with the brand design. For the launch, the design was created for a chocolate and a blueberry muffin. Since the two muffins are intended for people who eat "on the run," they were given a distinct and flexible naming concept: "Eat me now" and "Enjoy me now." The names are intended to encourage spontaneity and immediate enjoyment.

Responsible at Schoch&Sonders: Roman Sonders (Strategy & Concept), Dominik Schoch (Design & Concept), Annina Benz (Project Management), Judith Bühling, Dominique Ghilardi (Design).

Hoffmann will support Managing Director Rainer Kupper as Head of Management & Key Accounts, Codoni as Head of Consulting & Key Accounts. Both employees have been working as PR consultants at the agency for two years and have contributed greatly to the company's success, according to a press release issued on Wednesday. Sandra Donat, former Deputy Managing Director of Ex-Photopress, returned to the team at the beginning of the year.
 

The star photographer had read about the majority of women in the Swiss government in the New York Times. It was immediately clear to her: She wanted to photograph these four female politicians. Lacombe, who has already taken portraits of US President Barack Obama, the Clintons and the Dalai Lama, also shot the cover photo for Annabelle. This is the first time the four Federal Councillors have ever been pictured together. The group and individual photos, taken in subtle black and white, were taken at the Bernerhof and are part of a larger contribution to the introduction of women's suffrage in Switzerland, the 40th anniversary of which is on February 7. Uvek spokeswoman Annetta Bundi says that the four Federal Councillors agreed to take the group photo because of the special significance of this anniversary for Swiss women.

After nearly 50 informative and extensive broadcasts, viewers have a wealth of expertise, which is why Werbewoche and STAR TV assign you the role of juror.

Humor, celebrities or music, what appeals to you? Take part in the voting and determine the "Campaign of the Year," currently in "Die Werbewoche" on Star TV on Thursdays at 7:45 p.m. or as a stream on Startv.ch.

The cash injection of 340 million euros from Murdoch's media group News Corporation agreed in the summer will be increased to 400 million euros. The money is needed to support the positive business development of the past quarters, Sky announced on Wednesday according to the news agency SDA. Murdoch has already had to pump fresh money into the listed company four times since he joined in 2008.

Sky gained 131,000 new subscribers in what is usually the strongest fourth quarter of 2010. This is significantly more than the 39,000 in the same period last year. At the end of the year, the company formerly known as Premiere had a total of 2.653 million paying customers.