The largest brand study in Switzerland is based on a database of over 1100 brands and conducts around 1000 intensive surveys via the market research institute GfK. Consumers between the ages of 18 and 74 are scanned. The survey analyzes 128 different values. The study was launched in 1995 and has been conducted annually since 2006. This year, for the first time - due to the modern curiosity of today's media - "the strongest brand in Switzerland" is also being calculated. Migros has made it. It has become the strongest brand in three out of four dimensions, such as "likeability". Only in the area of "differentiation" did the - extremely multi-layered - company fail to score any super points.
Competitors Coop and Denner are not among the top 20, but Coop has been catching up by around 10 places every year since Hansueli Loosli took the lead, as Caspar Coppetti, Chief Strategy Officer Y&R Group, was able to explain as head of the Valuator study. In addition, Migros sells many more products under its own orange brand, whereas at Coop, consumer favor is spread across an almost unmanageable number of branded products on the shelves.
Before Migros in the current study, Nespresso and Google were the big climbers in the last research. Tilsiter fell out at the time and is now back in. A "yo-yo" brand was Swatch, which was in last year and is now out again. Ragusa, Lego and Kellog's are also currently out. Only a few foreign brands such as Coca Cola, Ikea and Nivea can hold their own against the Swiss power brands. Knorr and Magnum are newcomers. From Switzerland, the traditional brand Lindt also made it into the top 20 brands.
"All the brands in the top 100 are very strong brands. Anyone who makes it into the top 20 is considered a superbrand in Switzerland," said Urs Krucker, Project Manager Customer Insight. It is striking that 15 of the top 20 brands are food brands. This is logical, as we come into contact with them every day when shopping. Bank logos are also on the rise again. Here, regional banks are performing better as brands than the globally active ones. PostFinance is clearly on the rise.
CCO Markus Gut was able to read from the study just how efficient anti-cyclical advertising can actually be, using Axa Winterthur as an example. The insurance company increased its budgets by 33% during the last crisis and was able to increase its brand strength by a third.
Far removed from the status they still had "in the good old days", car brands are valued today. Modern citizens no longer define themselves by a Mercedes or BMW. Brands that are rated more attractively are SBB or Mobility.
A return to Swiss virtues
The study shows a synchronized trend: not only Swiss brands are very popular with Swiss consumers. Swiss values are also more in demand than ever. "The need for security has increased and the willingness to take risks has decreased," says Coppetti. When it comes to Swiss values, there is a return to traditional Swiss virtues such as duty, diligence and reliability as well as community and family values. The "mainstream" type currently has the best chances. The "reformer" is having a hard time at the moment. This critical type of person has the lowest scores in the current study since the introduction of the Valuator. However, it is reassuring to note that environmental awareness and sustainable responsibility in consumption have already become generally demanded "mainstream" today.
The financial crisis and political attacks from abroad made for turbulent times last year. In response, the Swiss seem to be returning to Swiss values and virtues. According to Valuator, security in the community is becoming more important than in previous years. Family, security and home are once again more central concerns for the Swiss. Agreement that married couples should have children is on the rise (+5% agreement), as is agreement that a woman is "only happy and fulfilled" if she can provide her family with a harmonious home (+8% agreement). Duty, diligence and reliability are also values and virtues that are gaining in importance among the Swiss population.
The return to these values also explains part of Migros' success. The orange M stands for community values, carries many local products in its range and also offers a crisis-resistant price/performance ratio.
As expected, downaging is also on trend. The most important brands for people over 50 in their respective categories are Mini, Ikea and Danone, which are otherwise classified as youthful.
As expected, the Internet is the most important medium
The Internet is the most important medium for the Swiss, followed by cell phones, TV and radio. This is shown by the results of the largest Swiss brand study, BrandAsset Valuator by the Young & Rubicam Group. In Switzerland, 44.6 percent of respondents rate the Internet as "very important" from a personal perspective, closely followed by cell phones (44.0), TV (35.6) and radio (29.9). With the rapid spread of the mobile Internet, the two media are increasingly merging: More and more Swiss people are constantly online.
However, there is a clear generation gap when it comes to internet use. While 61.3% of 18-34 year olds consider the internet to be very important, the figure for 34-64 year olds is 36.4%. In the over 64 year old segment, the internet is only very important for 26.0%. It should also be noted that the Internet is increasingly combining all the functions of other media. You can read your newspaper, watch TV or listen to music online via your computer.
The crisis calls for relevant information. Infotainment is losing some of its importance. Media brands that stand for journalistic quality, such as Tages-Anzeiger, NZZ am Sonntag, SonntagsZeitung or Finanz und Wirtschaft, have therefore benefited from the crisis. Blick or 20 Minuten are perceived as "less important" or are stagnating. Several digital brands are outperforming established brands. The Google and Bluewin portals as well as the social media platforms YouTube and Facebook and the iPhone are finally establishing themselves as cross-generational digital power brands.
Andreas Panzeri

Startbahnwest has developed a promotion for Carlsberg that revolves around fun and games in the sand, with the Carlsberg Football Beach Party taking place on August 20 at City Beach in Basel at the heart of the promotion. At the beach party, guests will also have the opportunity to test their soccer skills against those of Stephan Meier and Dejan Stankovic. The two national beach soccer players also appeared in front of the camera as models for the promotion.
Startbahnwest designed posters, counter displays and lucky draws for the Swiss gastro promotion, which are used in over 1000 Carlsberg bars. The agency was also responsible for designing the promotional website. In addition to information about the promotion, the website also contains beach soccer videos, information about the Swiss CityBeaches and an entertaining online game. Tickets for the Carlsberg Football Beach Party will be raffled off via both the restaurant and the website. The event will be further advertised in the summer as part of a media cooperation with Blick am Abend.
Responsible at Carlsberg: Esther Stalder (Brand Manager), Lukas Porro (Brand Manager). Responsible at Runway West: Branka Vodopija, Chantal Weibel (consulting), Gesine Dittrich (art direction), Christian Baur (graphics), Natasa Maricic, Dominique Wirz (text). Photo: Alex Colle. Hair and make-up: Michèle Oberholzer. Web: Onemotion, Martin Hochuli.

Swiss brands and Swiss values are very popular with Swiss consumers. The 20 strongest brands now include the traditional Swiss brands Lindt and Tilsiter. In terms of Swiss values, there is a return to traditional Swiss virtues such as duty, diligence and reliability as well as community and family values. The most important medium for the Swiss is the Internet, followed by cell phones, TV and radio. This is shown by the results of the largest Swiss brand study, Brand-Asset-Valuator by the Young & Rubicam Group.
Migros is the strongest brand in Switzerland for the first time. Last year, Nespresso and Google were the big climbers. Tilsiter fell out then and is now back in again. Only a few foreign brands such as Coca-Cola, Ikea and Nivea can hold their own against the Swiss power brands.
A return to Swiss virtues
The financial crisis and political attacks from abroad made for turbulent times last year. In response, the Swiss seem to be returning to Swiss values and virtues, according to Caspar Coppetti, Chief Strategy Officer at the Young & Rubicam Group. According to Valuator, security in the community is becoming more important than in previous years. Family, security and home are once again more central concerns for the Swiss. Agreement that married couples should have children is on the rise (+5% agreement), as is agreement that a woman is "only happy and fulfilled" if she can provide her family with a harmonious home (+8% agreement). Duty, diligence and reliability are also values and virtues that are gaining in importance among the Swiss population.
The Internet is the most important medium
In Switzerland, 44.6 percent of respondents rate the Internet as "very important" from a personal perspective, closely followed by cell phones (44.0), TV (35.6) and radio (29.9). With the rapid spread of the mobile Internet, the two media are increasingly merging: More and more Swiss people are constantly online.
However, there is a clear generation gap when it comes to internet use. While 61.3% of 18-34 year olds consider the internet to be very important, the figure for 34-64 year olds is 36.4%. In the over-64s segment, the internet is only very important for 26.0%.
Media brands that stand for journalistic quality, such as Tages-Anzeiger, NZZ am Sonntag, SonntagsZeitung or Finanz und Wirtschaft, have benefited from the crisis. Blick or 20 Minuten are perceived as "less important" or are stagnating. Several digital brands are outperforming established brands. The Google and Bluewin portals as well as the social media platforms YouTube and Facebook and the iPhone are finally establishing themselves as cross-generational digital power brands. pan

How can a medium that is supposed to be inconspicuously designed have great potential as a branding element? Stefan Lieberherr - a trained and qualified typographer - investigated this question in his diploma thesis "Branding durch Typografie - Das Potenzial der Schrifttwahl zur Profilierung einer Marke" (Branding through typography - the potential of typeface selection for brand profiling), which he wrote last year at the Hochschule für Wirtschaft in Zurich (HWZ). The diploma thesis explains and proves the potential of typography and font choice for profiling a brand.
Precisely because a good typeface is defined by its unobtrusiveness, it often falls short. In some corporate design projects in which the author has been involved, the value of an individual typeface was recognized but not implemented. In trained marketing slang, there was talk of uniqueness and differentiation, but the font choice was still oriented towards Helvetica, Frutiger, Times or even Arial. Mainly because these fonts are already pre-installed on all computers. This decision disregards a central element of the branding and gives away its effect.
Anyone who has been to London knows the feeling when they see the first signalization of the Tube. While the airport still has an international appeal, the Tube's lettering looks like a sign of arrival or coming home. Initially, the London Underground marked its stations with huge lettering on the facades. It wasn't until 1908 that managing director Frank Pick developed the first visual concept with designer Harold Stabler. This resulted in the logo with a circle and crossbar. In 1916, Edward Johnston stepped in for the first revision, also commissioned by Pick. Johnston also created the sans serif typeface Johnston RailwaySans, which, like the logo, is still in use today with few modifications.
From the Tube to the Times of London to Kuoni Travel, the author's employer, one thing is true: type has an impact. And typography works. The fact that this only takes place in the reader's subconscious is not fundamentally doubted. But the author pleads for a more differentiated approach.
He argues that consumers notice typefaces that are used specifically for branding purposes, and they will remember the company that appeals to them again. "Provided the typeface used - or at least its application - can be memorized," the author writes. "It's surprising, then, that typefaces are often not consciously selected and used."
This statement is indirectly supported by the fact that in works on the subject of branding, the basic elements of communication, typeface and typography, eke out a shadowy existence. Why are such an important element and its effect simply given away in branding? This question also preoccupies the numerous experts interviewed for the thesis, both in Germany and abroad.
Of course, the success of a brand cannot be attributed exclusively to the typefaces used, but there are nevertheless quite a few examples that speak in favor of this. If one believes several studies that have examined international cosmetics advertisements, the Optima font was used almost without exception. On the one hand, it is a pity that the same typeface is always used, but on the other hand, it confirms that it is the typeface used to communicate that matters and that certain typefaces suit certain industries. If this were not the case, you would find the usual font mix of Helvetica, Futura, Times or Courier in cosmetics advertising. But when an entire industry relies on this one typeface, it is almost impossible for consumers to find a brand that differentiates itself. The best-known cosmetics brand is the exception and confirms the potential of its own typeface: Nivea. A success that is largely based on the typeface. In 1930, Metroblack served as the inspiration for Nivea's logo, and in 1992 it evolved into an entire typeface, Nivea Bold. Like no other brand, Nivea has relied on the expressiveness of five letters since the 1930s. This was only possible because, without exception, Nivea avoided following advertising trends and consistently made sure that its typography was internationally recognizable.
The appearance of Mercedes Daimler-Benz has been more or less unchanged for almost 12 years, which creates a consistent and stable effect and inspires confidence. The typeface also reflects a noble and value-conservative attitude. Kurt Weidemann was able to convince the management back in 1985 that a typeface with a few cuts was not enough. In Corporate ASE, A stands for Antiqua, S for Sans and E for Egyptienne. Within the ASE typeface family, each of the three families with their weights has a specific area of use: the classic Corporate A for continuous text, the S for headlines, short advertising messages or informational texts in small print, and the E with a technical feel, which is intended for the commercial vehicle sector. In the meantime, those responsible at the time regret that they did not license the typeface exclusively for themselves. Consequently, any company can make these fonts their own, which of course minimizes the value of a corporate font.
For some brands, however, the ideal value takes precedence over the monetary value. In the age of globalization, language variants are in great demand. The characters of a font should also radiate the same values in Cyrillic, Arabic, or Chinese applications. Porsche Design takes care to ensure that even a Cyrillic display retains the familiar appearance of the typeface. This is of central importance for a company's globally uniform appearance.
"Brands need character to stand out from the competition. This can of course be acquired or supported by the choice of typeface," notes the accompanying lecturer, Max Meister. It is therefore incomprehensible that competitors use different colors, logos and visual language, but at the same time use the same or at least very similar-looking fonts.
"Communication is language, language is type, and type is typography. Just as you can't hit the right note with words, typographic design doesn't work if it doesn't harmonize with the message of a text or the image of a company," the author states in his work. Typography can be used in a targeted manner and serves as a carrier of messages of all kinds: from AHV numbers and love letters to advertising copy and the core values of corporate strategies. And this not only through the statement of the letters alone, but also quite specifically through the selection, arrangement and design, in other words by means of typography and typeface. Because fonts have "feelings" and can also convey them.
Apparently, only a few agencies have mastered the art of typography: As a reference, the author examined the SonntagsZeitung of February 15, 2009 and found 13 larger advertisements, but only just 5 differed in their fonts. A similar situation can be observed with the magazine of February 14, 2009: nine advertisements with likewise only five fonts that can be distinguished from each other. It should be noted here that even the typographically trained eye of the author had to look twice to recognize these differences. With a Helvetica or at least very similar font, Audi, BMW, Jeep, Hyundai, Teleclub, Cablecom and Orange vie for the reader's attention in the advertisements in question. It is highly doubtful whether the reader will notice any difference to Univers, Frutiger or Gill, which are used by Peugeot, SwissLife, Raiffeisen, AXA Bank, Sunrise and Schweizer Berghilfe. Therefore, it must be assumed that these advertisements present themselves to the layman as if they were designed with the same typeface.
This is all too often ignored in daily work. Yet the practical implementation of this insight, which is substantiated in the thesis by means of theory, numerous examples from the business world, and a historical excursus, is of great interest to both clients and branding agencies. For the latter, it is certainly also lucrative.
Stefan Lieberherr and Max Meister

In a nutshell
Stefan Lieberherr successfully completed his Bachelor for Business Communications at the HWZ Hochschule für Wirtschaft Zürich. Today he works in Zurich at Kuoni Reisen AG both as a designer and as a coordinator in the Global Design Team. The Bachelor's degree complements his many years of design experience with strategic knowledge that enriches and substantiates his daily work.
Max Meister is a lecturer in strategic communication and a thesis expert at the Hochschule für Wirtschaft Zürich HWZ (Zurich School of Economics) as well as Managing Partner of Branding-Institute AG.

Durrer is a communications scientist and lawyer and is currently Head of Media and Public Relations at Swiss Television. With his management experience and expertise in public relations, he has important qualifications to promote and further develop Schwyz as a business location, as the State Chancellery writes in a press release on Wednesday.

A web radio station spreads the Cuban feeling over the Internet. Numéro 10 "broadcasts" attractive image advertising for its customer Havana Club via the new medium. Until June 3, the best sounds from Cuba and short reports from Havana could be heard on www.un-poquito.ch.
The temporary web radio station broadcast "hot salsa sound for real Cuban spirit". Numéro 10 found a creative way to advertise its client Havana Club and its alcoholic drinks using this trendy medium. On the web radio, three music genres could be clicked on in a live stream: "Fiesta Cuba Clubbing", "Fiesta Cuba Salsa" and "Fiesta Cuba Reggaeton". The playlists have been compiled by professional radio producers, as Gilles Aeby from Numéro 10 explains. The sounds were mixed with short reports and moods from today's Cuba. The site also included recipes for mixing drinks based on Havana Club rum. As with a "real" radio station, there was of course also a competition. Several times a day, 100 francs could be won via a telephone game. A casting competition was also held to find five salsa dancers. As the videos on the radio site showed, they were intensively trained by a choreographer from Cuba. The troupe is now one of the attractions at the web radio's final fiesta on June 3 in Zurich's Kanzleiturnhalle. The campaign also includes various POS measures. In selected bars, 10,000 Cuban-nostalgic vinyl singles with an exclusive hit by Tony Martinez were "put on".
Andreas Panzeri

The services offered by Social Services They contribute to ensuring the welfare of children and to prevention. The counselors are the professional point of contact for all questions relating to the upbringing, nutrition, care and development of children up to the age of 5. In every neighborhood, without prior appointment -
and free of charge to boot. However, there are deficits in the public's perception of the maternity and paternity advice service: outside of the established "classics", weighing and measuring babies, the service is not well enough known, writes the Bern-based agency Grossen Kommunikation in a press release. The information campaign should therefore address all mothers and fathers in the city of Zurich with children up to the age of 5.
The campaign slogan is accordingly: "OK or KO?". In two subjects, everyday situations are dramatized with a twinkle in the eye, which are likely to be familiar to parents of small children. The advice service itself provides the answer to the subjects: "There for you: your advice for mothers and fathers"
The campaign comprises the following communication media: folded flyers (with brief information in French, English, Italian, Spanish, Turkish, Albanian, Croatian, Portuguese, Tamil), tram/bus hangers with dispensers for folded flyers, posters and counter displays with dispensers for social centers, crèches, hospitals, etc.
The measures were supported by the Social Services of the City of Zurich with media work, website updates and internal information.
Responsible at the City of Zurich, Social Services: Guido Schwarz (Head of Communications), Sibylle Mathis (Project Manager Communications). Responsible at Grossen Kommunikation: Daniel Ehrensperger (creation), Karin Grossen (consulting, text); photography: Dominic Fischer.

The new SwissExpress website "has a twin", explains Marcel Krebs from the new advertising agency Fünfstern in Basel. Specifically, the sophistication of this website lies in its structure. Two websites run in parallel on the same basis - that of Swissexpress.travel for business customers and that of Ferieninsel.travel for private customers. The background is the same, but the interface is geared towards the respective target groups.
With this new website, SwissExpress is focusing on even more customer benefits and on a central tool for organizing its own structures. The new website is an actual booking portal for all major tour operators, airlines and car rental providers.
It was already possible to book on the SwissExpress/Holiday Island website. However, the different frames were simply adopted by the various providers. What is revolutionary about these new websites is that the providers only take over the respective data and display it in their own look. "This may only appear to be a detail, but it is of crucial importance when it comes to user guidance and the handling of search engines and masks," say the creative minds at Fünfstern.
In order to provide SwissExpress/Holiday Island customers with this significant advantage, new ground had to be broken in the programming and a number of obstacles had to be overcome. "It involved a lot of pioneering work - but it was worth it for everyone involved." Not least because the new website now also acts as a central link between the various branches. Where customers previously had to visit the various travel agencies on a decentralized basis, the new website offers a central interface.
A call center also serves as a central connecting element, automatically transferring calls to the geographically affected travel agency based on number recognition. Together with the new activation, a newsletter was sent out regularly and a campaign was launched in 20 minutes to significantly increase frequency.
All of these measures strengthen the company's external and internal image - and are intended to create a completely new dynamic that inspires customers and employees.
pan

The Board of Trustees has elected Urban Frye to succeed Robert Ruoff, who has been General Manager for many years. He will take up his new position as General Manager of BaKaFORUM on July 1, 2010. Frye is an expert on the international TV industry and an experienced television producer, according to a Forum press release. In his role as editor and producer for the Klanghotel series on Swiss television, Frye oversaw the international purchasing of programs and many of his own productions, including a 14-hour live broadcast on the subject of William Tell and a major live show to mark the 40th anniversary of the Montreux Jazz Festival. He was a member of expert groups at the European Broadcast Union EBU and was also responsible for the international formats Young Musicians and Young Dancers, the classical counterparts to the Eurovision Song Contest. Four years ago, he took over the reconstruction of the Rose D'Or television festival for entertainment formats. He was instrumental in the production of the new Swiss Tatort series in Lucerne and is currently responsible for setting up the "Filmlocation Lucerne-Switzerland" office for Central Switzerland.
The forum was founded 48 years ago by the SRG together with the European Broadcast Union EBU and is now regarded as the most important specialist conference in Europe for current international developments in television and media programs with educational, scientific and socio-political objectives. Around 200 media professionals from various countries in Africa, America, Asia and Europe work together in a global network at BaKaFORUM.

Posters, folders, various templates, diplomas and the website were designed. The Migros Sprint, which is organized by Swiss Athletics in collaboration with the cantonal associations, is one of the largest youth sports projects in Switzerland and offers over 50,000 children aged 7 to 15 the opportunity to get a taste of the competition atmosphere every year.

Responsible at Migros-Genossenschafts-Bund: André Bucher, Caesar Keller (Sponsoring and Event Marketing). Responsible at Swiss Athletics: Ulrich Maurer (Project Manager Young Athletes). Responsible at Teil.ch: Martin Zeiter, Alain Zeiter, Marie-Sophie Pascher (concept, design, realization), Erwin Züger (photography).

The agency worked with Internezzo to program the website in Typo3. The website is an information hub for all prevention activities relating to occupational safety that fall within the remit of the federal government and the cantons. The website provides regular information about ongoing prevention campaigns and aims to encourage employers to take new, innovative measures.
The campaigns presented in the first release relate to the agriculture, building technology, hotel and meat industries. For example, you learn that there is a "rollover simulator" for farmers: In it, participants can experience directly how a tractor crash affects the body and the benefits of safety belts. The simulator is available at trade fairs.
The CR Kommunikation agency was responsible for the entire project management, including the content concept, graphics and editing of the website as well as coordination with Internezzo. The agency continues to support the "Safe at work" project team throughout the entire communication process for the label and the prevention campaigns - from media work and advertising material to social media activities.

Just three days after the iPad craze made huge waves and a few determined individuals pulled an all-nighter just to be among the first to buy one of the coveted electronic toys, nothing is happening in our editorial office. On Monday of all days, when the production of the current advertising week normally reaches its first peak, the disaster begins. First, access to the Internet goes down, followed shortly afterwards by e-mail. The GAU is here!
After the initial excitement has subsided and the necessary measures have been taken or initiated, there is not only time for reflection, but also for writing this column.
The situation is paradoxical: on the one hand, the iPad hype, which to a large extent lives from the constant connection to the all-encompassing and omniscient web, and at the same time the archaic emergency scenario of an editorial team that receives texts by fax or sends them for authorization, approves individual statements by telephone and has pictures delivered by courier, as in times long forgotten. There are no press releases, the only way to find out what's happening in the world is via your personal smartphone, and the Werbewoche.ch website remains as it was on Sunday evening. Thanks to a trick, it was at least possible to publish a breakdown report on the site.
Our private and professional lives are already so strongly oriented towards the Internet that we only realize how the Internet makes our lives easier when we no longer have it. Woe betide anyone who needs a telephone number for a search: The good old telephone directory has long since ended up in the waste paper bin, so you just use directory assistance or annoy all your colleagues. But unlike Google, both the directory enquiries service and your colleagues have to get the question absolutely right, otherwise there will be no answer. No more of the familiar Google phrase "Did you mean blah blah blah". Printed encyclopaedias and dictionaries have been given a new lease of life. Even reference books are being searched for on the back shelf and consulted again for the first time.
Everything takes longer, much longer. We don't even want to think about how the final production will be carried out the next day. Might we even have to deliver the finished print data to the print shop by courier? A quick prayer to the patron saint of the Internet, Isidore of Seville, that everything will run as it should tomorrow. Apart from that, the patron saint is no joke. The good bishop Isidore (*560, †636) was considered one of the most learned people in the Western world in his time. In his encyclopaedia "Etymologiarum sive originum libri XX", he compiled the knowledge of antiquity still available towards the end of the 6th century. Isidore is considered the patron saint of the Internet, programmers and computer users. Thanks to Wikipedia via iPhone!
Who said anything about iPad?