Blatter has been caught up in a situation for which he is likely only minimally responsible, he explains in the *Handelszeitung*. «The U.S. also waged a similar PR war of annihilation against the Swiss banks,» says Landmann. It’s clear that the U.S. wants to get rid of FIFA. We just don’t know yet what they want to replace it with. «Perhaps with an organization in which the U.S. has veto power.»

However, FIFA is just one of many PR disasters Switzerland has experienced in recent years. In the Sika case, too, no one can make head or tail of it anymore. «Why not just present each side’s position objectively for once? That’s what I find lacking in the Sika affair.» Landmann mentions the FIFA, banking scandal, and Sika cases in connection with his new book on «Disaster Communication.» In it, he describes the battle for public opinion in high-profile criminal cases involving bankers, executives, and serial killers.

Disaster Communication (from *Werbewoche* 1/2015)

Failed crisis communication can quickly turn into a disaster—or even a matter of survival—for companies and individuals who are in deep trouble. Public interest is always particularly high when those involved want anything but to draw that interest to themselves. How do those affected communicate «correctly» in such a situation? Traditional approaches based on public relations and advertising principles do not prove effective. Valentin Landmann’s new book, *Save What Can Still Be Saved*, addresses how to deal effectively with the media in a crisis.«

Valentin Nikolai Josef Landmann is one of Switzerland's best-known criminal defense attorneys. He made a name for himself as a lawyer for the Hells Angels, sex workers, and other marginalized groups, as well as for police officers, politicians, executives, and bankers.

Landmann teaches criminal defense at the University of Lucerne and is neither an advertising executive nor a PR professional. But he is accustomed to salvaging what can still be salvaged in the worst media situations. In this book, he shares the knowledge he has gained from over 30 years of experience, drawing on numerous real-world examples. (afh)

Valentin N. J. Landmann: Saving What Can Still Be Saved: Disaster Communication. With a foreword by Sacha Wigdorovits. 152 pages, hardcover. CHF 34.—. ISBN 978-3-7272-1465-3. Stämpfli Verlag.

According to the press release, she also advises clients such as Victorinox, Credit Suisse and Migros on conception and strategic direction. With the communications expert, Namics is meeting the high demand from clients for high-quality and target group-specific content that contributes to image building and lead generation, among other things.

Lars Holthusen, Partner and Head of Content and Campaign at the Swiss full-service digital agency, said in a press release: "Content is a decisive success factor today. At Namics, we have been advising our clients on web content, developing content strategies and concepts, training our clients' editors and producing content for eight years now. In order to do justice to this complexity, we rely on experienced consultants and journalists in our team, which we are continuously expanding."

Digital transformation for the content industry

McLaughlin has over 15 years of experience as a journalist and communications consultant specializing in digital transformation, branding and audio-visual storytelling. She has worked for Die Zeit, Handelsblatt and Die Welt as well as for TV media such as N24 and RTL. The communications graduate gained experience as a consultant at companies such as Emi Music, Egmont Media Group, Holtzbrinck and over 5 years with her own media agency RedCat Media in New York. The 38-year-old studied Social and Business Communication at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK, formerly HdK), Media Arts and Production at the University of Technology in Sydney and Media Management at the Steinbeis School of Innovation and Management. She is bilingual (German-English) and speaks fluent French and Spanish. She is the co-author of "Der Mensch als Marke", "Leadership in Modern Times" and "7 Tugenden Reloaded".
 

"Everything in life can be tried, but not retirement life. The new campaign 'Proberentnern' makes it possible to experience exactly that," says Elke Guhl, Chief Marketing Officer at Swiss Life. The content marketing campaign is designed to raise Swiss awareness of rising life expectancy and put their own ideas about living a longer, self-determined life to the test. In addition to cross-media advertising measures and content for all stakeholders, Jung von Matt/Limmat also created the platform Proberentnern.ch.

We are living longer and longer and staying young longer. Consequently, the concept of age must also be redefined. "Swiss Life wants to give people in Switzerland orientation, inspiration and food for thought," Guhl says. "Proberentnern" ties in with the highly acclaimed campaign "Wir leben immer länger" ("We are living longer and longer"), with which Swiss Life and Jung von Matt/Limmat launched the discussion on rising life expectancy a year ago.

With "Proberentnern," those responsible have created a content marketing campaign for all age groups. At the heart of the campaign are the documentaries: Four young people try out how varied and pleasurable life in old age is by living with retired people for a limited time. The result is four surprising, cheerful, but also thought-provoking films. For example, Benjamin's (22) ideas of everyday life as a pensioner are turned completely upside down by Charles Eugster (96), a highly ambitious sportsman and professional.

In addition to the documentaries, visitors to Proberentnern.ch will find interactive and entertaining content about living a longer, self-determined life. Not only are the four protagonists and renowned Swiss author-filmmakers portrayed, but visitors can also playfully determine their own age type in a quiz. Anyone who wants to slip into the slippers of exciting seniors for a few hours can register for one of the five experience events in February and March.

Jung von Matt/Limmat designed and produced various application measures on TV and online (banners, YouTube pre-roll, social ads, sponsored content) as well as all content for the platform. In parallel, a storyflow for internal communication and the company's own channels as well as various media relations measures were developed. The four documentaries were launched exclusively as a premiere at the 51st Solothurn Film Festival. Leading Swiss filmmakers accompanied the project with their expertise. Swiss Life has been committed to Swiss film since 2008 as the main sponsor of the Solothurn Film Festival. The selection of the protagonists in the four documentaries was based on the four age categories of the GDI study "Digital Ageing - On the way to an ageless society", which was commissioned by Swiss Life. This outlines the possible scenarios for the ageless society and proves that the survey participants have a false idea of age.

Responsible at Swiss Life: Elke Guhl (Chief Marketing Officer) ; Stefan Erhart (Head of Brand Experience); Patrick Comboeuf (Head of Digital Experience); Martin Läderach (Head of Communications Switzerland); Andi Giger (Events & Sponsoring Manager) ; Anina Senn (Marketing Manager). Responsible at Jung von Matt: Alexander Jaggy (Executive Creative Direction); Pablo Schencke, Marco Zimmerli, Samuel Christ (Creative Direction); David Hanselmann, Annina Walker (Art Direction) ; Mateo Sacchetti (Text) ; Tanja Jablanovic, Andrea Klainguti (Graphics & Screendesign); Simone Jehle, Sam Sherbini, Fiona Gottwald, Jan Rohleder, Sebastian Suter (consulting and project management); Joël Frey, Daniela Chiani, Cosima Lang, Annika Mentel, Liên Burkard (media relations, influencer marketing, event conception as well as content and storyflow); Ralf Brändli, Simon Caminada (technology); Sarida Bossoni, Evelyn Schneider (art buying). External partners: Plan B Film (production) Chris Niemeyer, Nicolas Steiner, Barbara Kulcsár, Christophe M. Saber (director); Jingle Jungle (recording studio); ZipMedia (media); Webrepublic (media).
 

Teads, the pioneer of native video advertising and a global monetization platform, released a comprehensive, global study on Wednesday that reveals why internet users actively block online ads. Unfortunately, Switzerland was not included in the study. According to the study, which was conducted in collaboration with Research Now, intrusive and forced ads are the main reason people install ad-blocking software. For three out of four Germans, disruptive advertising is the main reason for using an ad blocker. For 48 percent of those who have installed ad blockers, forced video ads are the most intrusive of all ad formats.

Additional results for Germany:

Pre-roll video: One in two Germans (52 percent) who have installed ad blockers describe pre-roll videos as the most intrusive of all advertising formats.

Inconsistent formats: 66 percent of respondents find intrusive ad formats the most annoying. For 80 percent of users, pop-up ads are the main reason for using ad-blocking software.

The Power of Choice: 57 percent would reconsider installing ad-blocking software if they could skip ads right from the start. 49 percent might not install ad blockers if they could close the ads.

Word-of-Mouth: 45 percent of users who have ad blockers installed on their cell phones, and 42 percent of those who use them on their desktops, learned about them through personal recommendations.

The browser makes all the difference: 59 percent of respondents who actively use ad blockers in Germany do so on the Firefox browser. On the Chrome browser, the figure is only 48 percent.

Mobile Ad Blockers: On cell phones, men and women use ad blockers in equal measure (50 percent each). 69 percent find mobile ads more intrusive than desktop ads.

«People around the world have spoken out against intrusive ad formats, and the global solution is to give users a choice,» says Rebecca Mahony, CMO at Teads. «The growing prevalence of ad blockers is a wake-up call for the advertising industry. We must take consumers» desire for advertising that respects their online experience seriously.« For the study, Teads surveyed more than 9,000 people worldwide across the following three groups: users with ad blockers on desktop/laptop computers, users with ad blockers on mobile devices (smartphones and tablets), and users who are familiar with ad blockers but have not yet installed them. The Teads study »Why People Block Ads” was conducted in the largest advertising markets, including the U.S., Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Argentina), and Europe (the U.K., Germany, Spain, France, and Italy).

Extracts of the results at global level:

In Germany, where Adblock Plus is developed, the motivation to block intrusive ads is very high, at 72 percent of those surveyed. At the same time, 83 percent would not use ad blockers if ad formats allowed them to choose whether to view them.

Respondents in the USA expressed the strongest opposition to intrusive ad formats. 74 percent cited this as their main reason for blocking ads. In Italy, 60 percent agreed.

The largest group of respondents who would not block ads if they could choose whether or not to see them was found in Mexico and Spain at 89 percent each.

Argentine are most annoyed by pre-roll video ads. Fifty-seven percent of them rated pre-roll ads as very disruptive. Instead, they prefer native video ads within articles; only 13 percent found these to be very disruptive.

Teads« main advertising format, »inRead," places video ads within the editorial section of a website, where the video is visible and the user has the option to watch it or skip it.

The full Teads study, «Why People Block Ads,» can be here can be downloaded.
 

"For two years we tried to convince Andy Borg to work with us on the show," says SRF entertainment boss Christoph Gebel in the Swiss TV magazine Tele. The background: ratings had dropped so much since 2013 that ARD wanted out. ORF and SRF did not like to resign themselves to this, but tried to adapt and freshen up some things. The goal: to win back the audience, to save the traditional show. "But Andy Borg," says Gebel, "has always resisted change." In November 2014, Borg spoke out against rejuvenation (Werbewoche.ch reported). Only then did they resort to the most radical means, the New launch 2015 under the name "Stadlshow" with the hosts Francine Jordi and Alexander Mazza.

While the ratings were good in Switzerland and Austria, the show failed with German audiences. Consequence: the end. The question remains: Would it have been possible to turn things around if Andy Borg had pulled together with the broadcasters?

In January 2016, Borg told the German newspaper Bild-Zeitung who he saw as the culprits for the end of the show: "Clearly those who made the decision to make 'Stadl' younger. Because that was a decision against the viewers." The latter, he said, knew exactly what they wanted and didn't let anything be dictated to them. (hae/Tele)
 

For Swiss International Air Lines Ltd., its presence at the Lauberhorn races has for years been a first-class opportunity to celebrate its ties to Switzerland, the mountain world and skiing. Until now, this was primarily possible locally and on site. With the newly created film, Swiss now invites the population in Switzerland and beyond to immerse themselves in the middle of the action. And to experience the feeling of the unique event with a long tradition at first hand.

The potential of 360° films is still too little exploited today. And it was precisely this that the agencies Foundry and Kids, together with the film production company Feit, used to set new standards in this genre. "That Swiss shared this vision with us right away showed a lot of courage to innovate, also in communication. And the fact that Patrouille Suisse was also involved made us even happier," says Sacha Moser, Foundry's founder and creative partner.

In combination with the unique content around the Lauberhorn race, an orchestrated story has been created, which tells the legendary stories with brand-new camera technology: The film begins with an intro that provides a panoramic view of breathtaking mountain scenery. You are in the middle of it all at once and the highlight of the film soon follows: the air show together with the Airbus A321 and the Patrouille Suisse. The viewer gets the unique opportunity to see behind the scenes. The cameras in the Airbus and also in one of the patrol's jets make it clear how spectacularly and hair-raisingly the aircraft fly through the mountain landscape around Wengen. The view from the passenger jet cockpit of the fleet dynamically changes to the view of a ski racer, who continues the story over Hundschopf and Minschkante. All the way to the finale in the finish area of the Lauberhorn race with all its spectators. The user can view all the shots from every conceivable perspective. The film can be watched countless times and you always discover something new. It's as if you were flying along, riding along, cheering along.

Filming was done with no less than four 360° camera kits (six to ten GoPros each) in jets, on helmets, on ropes, on skis, helicopters, drones and much more. It's a technical challenge that ultimately reflects Swiss' innovative leadership. "Our first 360° video had to be something very special and not fit in with the classic versions and approaches," says Marco Brütsch (Manager Marketing Communication Campaigns), adding, "All the more reason for us to be delighted to present viewers with a unique experience around our involvement in the Lauberhorn race, not only technically but also in terms of content. And at the same time to follow Swiss' passion for unique and new ideas."

To be seen immediately on all social media channels:

(Important: For the best 360˚ experience, the links should be accessed via the Chrome browser or the Youtube app. Current Firefox versions should also support the effect).

Youtube.com/watch?v=OHGGMJJrUSw

Facebook.com/flySwiss.ch
Instagram.com/flySwiss

Responsible at Swiss: Judith Schulte (Head of Marketing Communication Campaigns); Marco Brütsch (Manager Marketing Communication Campaigns); Nadja Griel (Manager Social Media & Dialog Marketing); Benjamin Fehrenbach (Social Media Marketing).
 

This is a topic that occupies our society on a daily basis as it becomes more and more at home in the digital world and more and more dependent on it. And a topic that opens up interesting perspectives and opportunities for those responsible for marketing, advertising and sales. As in previous years, the lecture was completely booked out, Ogilvy reported. Gaby Zimmerli, Managing Director of Ogilvy & Mather, was pleased to welcome a total of over 160 guests.

Managing Director Gaby Zimmerli welcomes her guests to this year's customer event
 

Guest speaker Joël Luc Cachelin, trend researcher and managing director of the Knowledge Factory, took the audience on an excursion into the burgeoning countermovement of the so-called offliners, whom he divided into 16 types in his book "Offliner - Gegenkultur der Digitalisierung," published in 2015.

Guest speaker Luc Cachelin describes the concerns of the offliners and sketches a coexistence between digitization drivers and counterculture

He showed that these offliners are committed to multipolar power relations, mutual transparency, a diversity of lifestyles and social integration. In doing so, he emphasized that the offliners' movement is not so much directed against digitization as a whole, but rather against various technical, social, economic and ecological side effects.

According to Cachelin, the offliners could create a certain market balance between users and drivers of digitization in the future. And they enable innovation potential to strengthen the economy and empower society for the digital age. You can find an interview with Luc Cachelin in the next Print edition the advertising week.

From February 2016, the new Swiss flagship, the Boeing 777-300ER (pictured below), will commence regular scheduled services. The new long-haul aircraft will have wireless internet in all three travel classes. Access will be provided via a broadband connection. This will enable Swiss passengers to surf the Internet and send e-mails on their laptops, tablets or smartphones.

Three data packages to choose from

To meet different usage requirements, Swiss offers its passengers a choice of three different data packages. For passengers who want to check their e-mails briefly or visit a few websites, Swiss offers the 20 MB Swiss Connect data package for CHF 9. The 50 MB Swiss Connect data package for CHF 19 is suitable for frequent surfers. This package allows passengers to surf social networks or use the Internet connection for work. Finally, the 120 MB Swiss Connect package for 39 francs gives passengers even greater flexibility. This allows the Internet to be used to almost its full extent (without streaming). First Class passengers receive a free data package with 50 MB. Swiss is currently examining the possibility of making its entire long-haul fleet, including the Airbus 330 and 340 aircraft, internet-enabled in order to better meet customer requirements.

Making calls on board via roaming

As part of Internet on board, Swiss will also activate roaming telephony including SMS and data for a test phase of one year. This is Swiss' response to market research results within its customer base. The prices for these services are subject to the respective contractual conditions between the on-board telephone provider, AeroMobile, and the passenger's telephone provider. Swiss will closely monitor this test phase and carefully review any customer feedback. As the safety and well-being of passengers is of paramount importance to Swiss, roaming telephony will only be permitted on night flights during service hours. As soon as the cabin lights are switched off, use is no longer permitted.

Use on the intercontinental route network

The new Boeing 777-300ER aircraft will primarily be deployed on routes to Hong Kong, Bangkok, Los Angeles, San Francisco, São Paulo and Tel Aviv as of the summer flight schedule.

The money is to go to the National Taxi Union (UNT). It groups together several employee representatives in the industry. The Uber drivers had been accused of behaving like regular cab drivers on the streets and driving around the city in search of customers. Uber actually works by placing orders via smartphone app or regular browsers. Uber France was confronted in court with the accusation that it had not communicated with its drivers at this point. The company, however, rejected this. The drivers were informed that they would have to return directly after a trip in their private cars. Wednesday's court ruling came a day after fierce strikes and protests by cab drivers against increasing competition from private transport providers. They continued their actions on Wednesday. (SDA)

Behind this, however, is the Zurich-based NGO agency Spinas Civil Voices, which has given the outdoor manufacturer a new face on behalf of Greenpeace. With the social media campaign, Greenpeace points out that Mammut uses toxic chemicals to impregnate its textiles - and that a poisonous snake would therefore be the more honest heraldic animal.

For the campaign, Spina's Civil Voices not only redesigned the Mammut logo and developed corresponding "highly toxic" product designs, but also produced an entire brand trailer in which the new brand congratulates itself on its own honesty. In a peaceful Greenpeace action the Mammut store in Zurich was redecorated in the new "Mamba design".

Petition website

Responsible at Greenpeace: Nicolas Fojtu (Visual Communication Manager), Julia Bangerter (Project Manager), Thomas Stahel. Responsible at Spina's Civil Voices: Lorenz Spinas (Creative Director), Stephan Huwiler (Art Director), Nadin Runne (Consulting).
 

Lovers of old cars and owners of well-behaved dogs agree on one thing: road salt is the devil for their pets. While it encourages and accelerates rusting in the former, it is bad for the latter's paws. The salt settles on the dog's feet and can cause irritation, cracks and inflammation. It is hardly surprising that sooner or later a resourceful salt manufacturer had to come up with the idea of paw-friendly grit. In the USA, Morton Salt sells "Safe-T-Pet" ("An Ice Melt for Happy Paws"). The product consists of 100 percent urea and looks pretty American in its bulky XL packaging:

The campaign, which Blacklist has animated in the style of the old Disney dog classics, is sweeter than the urine bomb. With snow, clumsy dogs and everything that goes with it. 

A good thing after all. And if you believe the Amazon reviewsmost customers are overjoyed with the product. Only one complains that the product has completely ruined his sidewalk. You can't have everything - winter is not a concert of wishes. (hae)

The three partners SRG, Swisscom and Ringier had announced in August 2015 that they intended to market their advertising in print, online, TV and radio in a joint company in the future (Werbewoche.ch reported). Thanks to Swisscom, the new alliance will be able to introduce TV advertising tailored to target groups. The publishers' association vehemently opposes this.

All cards belong on the table

To date, the advertising alliance has not disclosed key elements of the joint venture, namely access to user data, said publisher president Hanspeter Lebrument to the media in Zurich on Tuesday. In order to broadly support their concerns, the publishers commissioned the Olten-based research institute Polynomics to conduct a study. According to this study, there is an acute danger that the alliance will lead to a distortion of competition in the advertising market. Pietro Supino, Vice President of the Swiss Media Association, went one step further. "We must not accept this media and regulatory fall from grace." He said the advertising alliance is a new form of commercialization that is not supported by the Radio and Television Act.

SRG and Swisscom targeted

The Polynomics study, which is based on interviews with around 30 experts from Switzerland and abroad, states that the advertising alliance makes sense from a business perspective. The criticism is therefore not directed against the joint venture, but against the participation of SRG and Swisscom. The state-affiliated companies Swisscom and SRG are pushing into markets where competition is at play. Since they have advantages in financing, they put private companies at a disadvantage. The study concludes that the SRG in particular is facing an intensified conflict of objectives with regard to the public service.

Valuable data treasure

Advertising tailored to target groups is only possible with individual user data. Only those companies that deliver digital Internet and TV services to consumers' homes, smartphones, tablets and computers have such a treasure trove of data at their disposal. The question is who is allowed to use this data. The answer is different for public companies than for private companies. The opinion of the population is basically that public service companies should not use such data for advertising purposes. The study sees politicians as primarily responsible for clarifying the questions of media and regulatory policy.

Search for alternatives

The publishers' association proposes that alternative models be examined. For example, all user and usage data relevant to advertising should be made available to all media on a cost-covering and non-discriminatory basis. Organizationally, this could be done via a joint neutral body, an association or a cooperative that all interested media could join. "Talks about alternatives are imperative. Swiss publishers are ready to cooperate. What is needed now is a halt to the march before the planned advertising alliance creates facts and thus endangers media diversity," said Lebrument.

Federal Council has the last word

He did not believe that the Federal Council would simply wave the advertising alliance through. Media Minister Doris Leuthard had assured him that the joint venture was currently on hold. The Federal Office of Communications plans to present its report by the end of March. The Competition Commission had not previously expressed any concerns. Supino said he was determined to pursue all possible legal remedies should the advertising alliance receive the authorities' go-ahead. SRG and Ringier did not comment on the statements of the publishers' association or on the content of the Polynomics study when asked. (SDA)