It all started with a simple and strategically relevant idea: the Swiss education system, highly admired internationally and an important pillar of the economy domestically, has a fundamental problem. While academics can be easily classified internationally thanks to the Bologna reform with their Master's and Bachelor's degrees, this has so far been denied to their colleagues who obtain their diplomas and professional certificates on a part-time basis. "This," says Swiss Marketing President Uwe Tännler, "has been on our minds for a long time. And in the fall of 2007, we decided that there had to be an improvement in this area."
The first step was to seek membership of the European Marketing Confederation (EMC), which was achieved in spring 2008. This was followed by the second, more important measure: striving for Europe-wide recognition of Swiss qualifications. A request that led to a certain amount of travel diplomacy on the one hand and a lively exchange of data on the other. After all, in order to be able to assess Swiss qualifications at all, the EMC first had to know them, had to know in which subjects and according to which principles they are examined in this country. So data was sent to the EMC's headquarters in Brussels. For each examination, a bulging folder was sent from Olten to the Belgian capital, as well as a lot of e-mail correspondence, of course. "A process," says Peter Petrin, Vice President of Swiss Marketing responsible for education, "that can be compared to a quality management test. The question was, quite simply: 'Are we good enough'?"
Milestone for higher vocational education and training
Brussels checked what the Swiss had sent in. They also met again and again. Tännler and Petrin took part in six EMC board meetings and met in Brussels, Prague, Toulouse, London, Edinburgh and once again in Brussels. Always with the aim of making the Swiss qualifications suitable for Europe and positioning them as well as possible in the relevant grid, the European Qualification Framework EQF. European suitability is not only important for professionals who want to work somewhere between Palermo and Hammerfest one day, it also plays a role at home. "In the human resources departments of Swiss companies, there are often foreign employees who are not familiar with the local education system," explains Petrin. Or there are Swiss academics who - due to a lack of personal experience, for example - are unable to assess the value of on-the-job training or are unable to assess it properly. Petrin sees the fact that it has now been possible to anchor the Swiss qualifications on a chart that is valid throughout Europe as a "milestone for the entire Swiss higher vocational education and training system". Brussels has clearly answered the question of whether Swiss qualifications are good enough: Yes. Yes. Oui. Si. And, very importantly, the Swiss qualifications can now also be adequately translated into business language. For example, the graduate marketing manager becomes a marketing director at level seven in the European grid, which corresponds to the rank of a master's degree. Graduate sales managers - sorry: sales directors - are ranked at Bachelor level. As a militia organization, the EMC did not take the easy way out when classifying the Swiss qualifications in the European grid and verified the data submitted within a reasonable period of time.
Around 8,000 talented professionals with entitlement
What was conceived in the fall of 2007 and therefore took a total of two years, ultimately went very smoothly and quickly. "On September 12, 2009, we received the verbal okay from Brussels, and two days later we already had the written agreement," says Tännler. Swiss Marketing is also particularly proud of the fact that it was able to resolve a "major sticking point". The European certificates are not only valid for current graduates, but for all professionals who have graduated in one of the five certified fields (see also second article). In other words, marketing and sales professionals the size of a small Swiss town now have the opportunity to obtain a European Certificate. In the last ten years - up to the end of 2008 - no fewer than 4,200 marketing planners (now marketing specialists), 1,800 sales coordinators (now sales specialists), 1,300 sales managers and 370 marketing managers have passed their examinations in Switzerland. Around 8,000 talented professionals who can now say: Europe, here we come!

European certificates: what you need to know
Anyone dealing with the subject of further training will always be wise to ask about the return on investment. In this respect, the Europa certificate performs excellently. All the details on a paper that is a "strong buy".
For whom is the Europe Certificate suitable?
For Swiss marketing and sales professionals with a federal certificate, for dipl. marketing managers HF, for dipl. sales and marketing managers.
What are the benefits of the European Certificate?
A first-time comparability within the European framework. And thus more job opportunities at home and abroad.
How do Swiss qualifications rank in the European Qualification Framework (EQF) table?
You have achieved a high value, see chart.
What do these EQF levels mean anyway?
This means that educational qualifications are assigned an international value in a European grid. See also chart.
How long is the European certificate valid?
Indefinite.
I graduated a few years ago. Am I still entitled to a European certificate?
Yes, the European certificates can be issued back ten years.
What a shock! Marketing planners and sales coordinators are not even on the EQF list!
Calm down. These titles have since been changed to "Marketing Specialist" and "Sales Specialist". If you have completed one of the previous qualifications in the last ten years, this qualifies you for the corresponding European certificate.
How much does the Europe Certificate cost?
For marketing specialists with federal diploma and sales specialists with federal diploma: 240 francs. For dipl. marketing manager HF: 350 francs. For certified sales managers: 480 francs. For dipl. marketing manager: 560 francs.
Is this some kind of membership fee that is annual?
No. It is a one-time fee for an unlimited period of validity of the European certificate.
How do I get one?
The European certificate can only be ordered online. Address: www.marketingplus.ch. To be paid either by credit card or by invoice (surcharge of 20 francs).
Do I have to be a member of Swiss Marketing to get a European certificate?
Recipients must either be members of Swiss Marketing or another professional association that belongs to the sponsoring organizations. In other words: Gesellschaft für Marketing GfM, Verkauf Schweiz, Schweizer Werbung, Schweizer Direktmarketingverband SDV or KV Schweiz.
But I am not a member anywhere.
You can also apply for membership at the same time as you order the European Certificate.
How long does it take from receipt of payment to receive my Europe Certificate?
Four to six weeks.
And if I have more questions now?
Then call. During office hours, to the secretariat of Swiss Marketing in Olten, phone 062 207 07 70.

Peter Petrin, Vice President Swiss Marketing, Francis Petel, Chairman European Marketing Confederation, Uwe Tännler, President Swiss Marketing (from left).

In the Awareness criterion, the campaign for Bell by the Rod advertising agency comes out on top, followed by the Schild campaign by Vizner Borel and the campaign for Lancia by Weber Harbeke. Ruf Lanz's Hiltl campaign wins the Unique-ness criterion, followed by Euro RSCG's campaign for Zurich Ballet and Wirz's Bilanz campaign. In the Brand Fit criterion, the Lancia campaign comes out on top, followed by the Zurich Ballet and the 105 One-o-five campaign by JWT + H + F. In the Likeability criterion, the ad for Hiltl wins ahead of the Zurich Ballet and the Bilanz Tier campaign.
> To the results at a glance
> To the detailed results
Question and methodology
Method: Computer Assisted Web Interviews (CAWI).
Instrument: Online interviews via the Marketagent.com reSEARCH platform.
Target group: web-active people from German-speaking Switzerland between the ages of 14 and 59.
Sample size: n = 500 net interviews, random selection by quota.
Survey period: 22. 09. 2009 - 29. 09. 2009.
Questions:
We introduced you to some ads at the beginning of today's survey. Which of these ads do you remember? Please name the advertising companies or the brands advertised. (Awareness)
In your opinion, to what extent do these ads stand out from other advertising in newspapers, magazines and journals? Please rate each from 1 (= does not stand out at all) to 6 (= stands out very much). (Uniqueness)
To what extent do these ads fit the image you have of the respective brands/companies? Please rate each from 1 (= does not fit my image of this brand at all) to 6 (= fits my image of this brand very well). (Brand Fit)
To what extent do you like the following ads? Please rate each from 1 (= I don't like them at all) to 6 (= I like them very much). (Likeability)
The values printed are in each case the top box ratings "stands out very strongly", "fits very well with my image of the brand", "I like it very much". The remaining values can be found on Werbewoche.ch. The author of the representative study "Werbelieblinge der Schweiz" is Marketagent.com Switzerland, which specializes in online market research and has a registered panel of 20,000 willing respondents in German- and French-speaking Switzerland. Marketagent.com Switzerland is a subsidiary of the leading Austrian market research company Marketagent.com online reSEARCH GmbH and the Swiss communications agency Contract Media AG.

In terms of national readership studies, Switzerland is currently in its second generation: since 2000, MACH2 has provided the official reach currency with the LpA value (readers per issue) from around 350 print titles throughout Switzerland; the predecessor study MACH1 with the less precise K1 value was on the market from 1991 to 1999. If everything goes according to plan, MACH3 will report results for the first time in 2012.
For today's study, Wemf commissions 23,500 telephone interviews per year, each lasting around 35 minutes. These are conducted throughout the year (CATI method). The questions ask when the individual titles were last read (for daily newspapers, for example, "read yesterday"). Wemf is retaining this basic design for MACH3 as well, so it remains true to the LpA approach. "The LpA value is still absolutely state of the art in international terms," says Wemf research director Harald Amschler.
Nevertheless, MACH3 will differ from the current study in important respects. This already starts with the contact with the 23,500 interview partners, for which a new multi-stage procedure ("two-part CATI with RDD") is used. Instead of randomly drawing telephone numbers from directories with the aid of a computer, as is the case today, MACH3 uses a random number generator (RDD) to compile the numbers (i.e. also with mobile prefixes 079, 078, 076...) and dial them. If the number is in operation, the corresponding person can be invited to participate in the study. In this way, it is also possible to contact people who can only be reached by mobile phone or who do not have an entry in the phone book.
If the person reached is ready for a MACH3 interview, he or she is asked for his or her basic data (age, gender, place of residence...) and told that in the following days he or she will receive pointing material by mail. The titles to be interviewed are shown with their logo. At the same time, an appointment is made for a telephone main interview, for which the interviewee must use the pointing material to avoid title confusion (e.g. with Le Matin Bleu, Le Matin Orange, Le Matin Dimanche).
In MACH3, however, Wemf no longer wants to survey only the use of print titles, but also that of the associated websites. A pilot project to this end is already underway (see box). However, this poses a problem: the query lists could become too long; in Zurich, for example, around 120 titles already have to be queried. Wemf therefore plans to rotate the order of titles on the list for each MACH3 interview and then shorten it by a third. "We will then add the titles that are omitted in one interview based on the other interviews using mathematical analogy (injection method)," says Amschler.
Wemf now has to present all the details to its board of directors by the end of 2009. Tests are scheduled for next year, and a MACH3-Basic pilot study is also planned in economic areas 43 and 12 (Vaud and Zurich) by the end of 2010, in parallel with the current survey method. Among other things, it should show how much the coverage results deviate from those of MACH2. The first full survey will begin in 2011 and be published in 2012. One thing is already clear, however: although MACH3 retains the LpA value, the results will not be comparable with those of MACH2. Amschler: "Because of the methodological changes, there will be a break in the time series." It is also clear that MACH3 will be considerably more expensive.
Markus Knöpfli

Pilot project for a large intermediate study
Do you read the NZZ only on paper or only online? Do you alternate? Or do you use both the online and print editions on some days? Wemf and Internet research Net-Metrix want to answer this question. They have therefore launched the pilot project "Total Audience" with the aim of recording the total net reach of a print title and its website (=intermedia combination print + website), as well as the contact total (gross reach) and the number of exclusive users (online and print). The prerequisite is that a title is registered with MACH Basic and the associated website with Net-Metrix-Profile. Additional surveys are required for the pilot. For example, Wemf asks NZZ readers whether they also use NZZ online, Net-Metrix does it the other way around with NZZ online users. After a telephone contact, the surveys are carried out by means of an online questionnaire. The results form a kind of bridge, thanks to which (so-called hinge variables) a data fusion can then take place between the two separately running reach studies. Initial results should be available by the end of 2010. The project is not only intended as a test run for MACH3. "It also marks the first stage on the way to a possible large-scale Swiss intermedia study, which will hopefully one day include the media of all relevant media genres," says project manager Lukas C. Gürtler. mk

Two new partners
Wemf currently has the market research institutes Demoscope and Link conduct the MACH2 interviews. For MACH3, it is now bringing in two more: Gfs Zurich and Isopublic. The four companies are forming a joint venture specifically for the study. mk

The street posters unite the atmospheric mountain panoramas of all three areas in the headline "Hochgefühl3", the agency said in a statement. They can be seen immediately on the most important access roads to St. Moritz on F12 street posters.
Responsible at Bergbahnen Engadin St. Moritz : Dieter Bogner (Head of Marketing Services), Michael Kirchner (Head of Product Management). Responsible at Prime: Basil Hangarter (CD), Sven Christinger (Art Direction), Daniel Portmann (Text), Andreas Sedmak, Martina Glaser, Vera Fetz (Consulting).

www.prime.ch
www.best.ch

Ivo Bättig is responsible for the Crossmedia division and is a member of the Executive Board in this role. He has experience in consulting and management. He has worked for Accenture and GenevaLogic, for example.
Daniel Bieri is the name of Maxomedia's new CD. The ADC creative has already worked for various agencies in Switzerland and abroad, including Jung v. Matt Hamburg, DDB Berlin and DDB Zurich as well as Heye Zurich.

www.maxomedia.ch

With the central message: "Take action against violence", the campaign will be used on billboards and in cinema commercials. Terre des hommes schweiz is also launching an action week in which young people can speak out against violence and take a stand.
The central subjects of the fall campaign were developed by Michèle Minet and Henri Homberger with Hans Peter Brugger in collaboration with Elke Fassbender from terre des hommes schweiz. On the one hand, the statement "Active against violence" stands for terre des hommes schweiz's long-term commitment to the prevention of violence with projects, actors and organizations on the ground in Africa and Latin America. On the other hand, it involves the donors. It refers to terre des hommes schweiz as an institution that has always been active against violence in the most diverse forms and manifestations, regardless of the current situation.
This is also the case with the campaign week this fall, which gives young people the opportunity to take a clear stand against violence and those who use violence with their own statements and actions. The logo for the "Young people against violence" campaign week was also created by Homberger Minet Brugger and expanded to include the double meaning "I against violence".
The campaign starts on October 7 on billboards and in cinemas. The mailing will be sent out on October 12. The campaign week takes place from October 26 to November 1.
Responsible at terre des hommes schweiz: Elke Fassbender (overall responsibility, fundraising, campaign coordination), Sylvia Valentin (coordination of campaign week, domestic projects). Responsible at Homberger Minet Brugger: Michèle Minet and Henri Homberger (design, art direction, conception and coordination, production), Hans Peter Brugger (conception, text), Katrin Haunreiter (photos).

To the spot

www.brugger.ch

Have you ever received an invoice for several thousand francs and didn't know what it was for? If so, you've probably been taken in by a register shark. This is the name given to companies that try to entice small businesses and the self-employed to make an entry in a business register or to place an advertisement in an information brochure. In both cases, this is supposed to be low-cost advertising. However, the address directories hardly attract any attention. And the brochures are distributed in a small print run of a few hundred copies, if at all. The victims often only realize that they have signed a contract when they receive the invoice. The term is between one and three years, depending on the provider. The price is well hidden in the small print and can amount to several thousand francs.
The fraudsters usually use one of the following methods:
- You receive a form in the post asking you to check all the details of the "desired" contract. You confuse this with a free entry in the official telephone directory and sign a multi-year contract for a business directory.
- They claim on the phone that they have an ongoing advertising contract with you. If you wanted to terminate this, you would have to return a form sent to you by fax. In reality, you are placing a costly order with this fax.
- You receive an invoice that looks as if it came from the commercial register office where you recently applied for a change. By paying the invoice, however, you conclude a contract for a branch register.
If you have been tricked by a register shark and do not pay the bill, you are in for an unpleasant time. First you receive several reminders. Later, a debt collection agency threatens you with debt collection. However, you can defend yourself against this:
- Inform the provider immediately by registered letter that you have been misled and are therefore contesting the contract.
- If you are being pursued, file an objection to the payment order immediately.
- If legal proceedings are initiated, you can comment on the application. Take this opportunity and try to convince the court that you have been tricked. The best way to do this is to submit existing judgments and press articles from the Beobachter and other magazines about the provider.
- If you also wish to take criminal action against the provider, file a report with the police at your place of business for misleading advertising. The police must forward the report to the competent criminal authority.
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Rail for goods - and stations for billboard advertising. Based on the recently presented station study by Swiss Pos-ter Research Plus (SPR+), this advertising spot would be perfectly acceptable. At least if high OTS (opportunity to see) values are the main objective of a poster campaign. The fact is: according to the study, 60 percent of the approximately 2,600 poster sites in the 27 Swiss railroad stations surveyed generate at least 30,000 contacts per week, whereas only 48 percent of the 35,000 street sites in Switzerland achieve this figure. Moreover, top sites with over 100,000 contacts per week only account for 5 percent of road traffic sites, while 14 percent of railroad station sites fall into this category.
The station with the highest proportion (35%) of top sites is not Zurich's main station, but the one in Bern. In general, the poster sites there are very well positioned: 92 percent of the sites receive over 30,000 weekly contacts, in Geneva and Zurich stations the figures are 85 and 84 percent respectively, and in Basel 68 percent of all poster sites. Of course, the stations surveyed also include some with less well-positioned advertising spaces, such as Zug station, where 56% of the spaces achieve less than 15,000 contacts.
However, anyone familiar with the latest SBB figures will wonder whether SPR+ isn't understating things. After all, SBB is talking about 900,000 train passengers a day (or 6.3 million a week), each of whom comes into contact with several poster sites at at least two stations - not to mention the areas that can be seen en route.
In fact, unlike SBB, SPR+ only counts the contacts of people who live in the agglomeration of the station under investigation. For example, the study at Geneva station only included people who are at least 15 years old - and who also live in the Geneva agglomeration. Accordingly, poster contacts of children, foreign tourists and even all Swiss citizens who do not live in the agglomeration of the Rhone city were not taken into account.
Why this narrow definition of the target area? Because the station study is part of the overall SPR+ poster research. As you know, SPR+ has been providing the market with research data for billboards since the end of 2006, but so far only in the street area. This street study is based on the GPS-recorded routes of a random sample of 10,000 people throughout Switzerland. However, in view of the large number of people, poster sites and possible routes, it was not possible to carry out a representative survey for the entire Swiss population for cost reasons. From the outset, SPR+ had to limit itself to the 12 largest agglomerations and also split the survey into individual studies - one study per agglomeration. This meant that in Zurich, for example, only test subjects who also lived in the Zurich agglomeration were used. And as with the station study, only those journeys that were also made in Zurich were of interest. All others would not be representative enough. In other words: the posters actually achieve higher performance values, but SPR+ only shows the "guaranteed minimum".
Nevertheless, there was a gap in the street study: GPS devices do not receive satellite signals indoors, which is why SPR+ was unable to provide contact values for poster sites in train stations, parking lots or shopping centers. SPR+ therefore carried out a separate study, which examined the 27 most important train stations. To be more precise: 27 individual studies were also necessary here to ensure the link with the local road studies. Additional studies for other train stations and shopping centers are to follow at a later date.
The 27 station studies were carried out according to a uniform pattern, which is to be demonstrated at Zurich main station: SPR+ created a route model for each station, showing all turning options (nodes) and route sections. At Zurich Main Station, this includes 147 route sections and 121 turning options as well as 69 special locations such as restaurants, stores and meeting points. Frequency counts were then carried out at all station entrances, platform entrances and other important passages - a total of 2,100 individual counts were made on 46 percent of the routes at Zurich main station. The total counting time between September and December 2008 amounted to 2,431 hours. Because the people counted could not be differentiated according to place of residence, language assimilation and age, the frequencies had to be "adjusted" on the basis of statistical data. They were then extrapolated to the usual weekly frequencies in outdoor advertising. The Munich-based Fraunhofer Institute also used a sophisticated procedure to calculate weekly frequencies for the sections of the route that were not counted.
The next step was to link the Zurich station study with the Zurich street study. This was possible because the GPS recordings showed which test person entered the main station, where they left it again and how long they stayed there. A plausible route was then assigned to each station visitor from the large number of possible routes in the main station. This made it clear, at least in the model, which poster sites they had passed. Similar to the street study, these contacts were weighted very strictly - according to distance, number of posters at the same location and direction of passage (frontal, parallel or away from the poster).
The reach values from the station study are now already integrated into the SPR+ planning tool, meaning that the evaluation of poster campaigns now takes into account not only street space, but also that of the 27 stations studied. However, the price integration of the station areas into the new SPR+-based APG tariff system will not take place until later.
Markus Knöpfli

Regardless of whether it is a street or station study: thanks to the very narrow contact selection and the strict contact weighting, SPR+ probably offers the market one of the toughest reach currencies. This was already decided when Clear Channel Outdoor was still involved in poster research (until 2005). SPR+ can currently only be happy about this strict standard, especially with regard to the station study. This is because SPR+ is now wholly owned by Affichage Holding, the market leader in Swiss outdoor advertising. The station study was also paid for by the Affichage subsidiaries APG and Impacta. What's more: Impacta specializes in poster advertising in railroad stations - and has been the exclusive marketer of SBB poster spaces for years. So while the road study was an industry contract, at least at the beginning, SPR+ only researched the train stations on behalf of Affichage (albeit at the request of agencies and advertising clients). A softer currency would therefore be detrimental to SPR+'s reputation. mk

The major Zurich dailies have already relaunched. Blick still has it ahead of it. On October 14 - 50 years after the first edition, which led to the most vehement protests in the Swiss press of the time and among many politicians and opinion leaders - Blick will once again be published in the large broad-sheet format with two frets. The much-maligned one-bundle tabloid format will then be a thing of the past, and sports lovers will once again be able to delve into a separate sports bundle. Back to the roots, then.
Back to the roots, even with the course. The soft-spoken, emancipated tabloid is dead, long live the resurrected hard tabloid. Perhaps a last attempt to halt the decline in circulation figures. Deputy editor-in-chief Ralph Grosse-Bley must and will fix it.
But the new tough course already applies before the relaunch. The reporting on the bloody deed that happened last week in Oberrieden shows this. The family drama has been filling the columns of Blick since Friday. Mostly there are two stories per day, which are continued in the proven tabloid manner. Not only in Blick, but of course also on Blick.ch and in SonntagsBlick.
Since it cannot be assumed that all readers of Werbewoche read Blick, here is a compilation of the relevant titles:
Phase 1: Pity for the victim: "Lung shot! I'm dying, I'm dying ..."
Phase 2: Disgust for the suspected perpetrator: her strange drawings and: "I'm interested in what it's like to die".
Phase 3: What does the environment think: "Fabienne and her mother already moved out twice".
The stories are laid out in time-honored tabloid fashion and have all the aspects that make them a prime example of dead-beat widow-shaking journalism.
There is an apparently intact family, a successful victim (albeit only in a marginal sport) and a pretty perpetrator who also models and hangs out on the Internet. Exciting photos that are made available (zvg, as it is called in the jargon), friends, girlfriends and grandfathers who willingly express themselves.
People forget that today any fool can do research on his own on the Internet. A first name and a nickname are enough to find out everything about the perpetrator and the victim. That's a new unsavory side aspect of the boulevard that perhaps still needs to be taken into account. But the real relaunch is yet to come.
Pierre C. Meier, Editor-in-Chief
[email protected]

Three things were new at the 2009 annual report rating. Firstly, the location: the lecture hall of the Zurich University of the Arts and its 360-degree projection option for the presentation was a worthy setting for the event. Secondly, the awards were presented for the first time for the best online presence of a company and thirdly, the number of evaluated annual reports was increased from 150 to 240. As in the previous year, the HarbourClub, the association of heads of communication of major Swiss companies, was responsible for the award ceremony, the overall implementation of the rating and the coordination of the three juries. The guest speech was given by Prof. Dr. Miriam Meckel, MCM Institute University of St. Gallen. The rating is made possible by the support of Linkgroup, KPMG and Sihl+Eika.
Enabling Conversations
In her presentation, Prof. Dr. Miriam Meckel argued that the traditional printed annual report is reaching its limits. However, this is also an opportunity if it is possible to use online reporting to ensure that all contact groups have central access to the company's reporting and external presentation. The communicative goal must be to provide the data that is necessary for a dialog about the corporate strategy. This means "enabling conversations", which is possible with the means of Web 2.0 in the sense of a differentiated, flexible and participative target group approach.
Kuoni the undisputed winner
As Gaby Tschofen, President of the Readers' Jury, explained, it soon became clear to the seven jury members which of the annual reports belonged at the top: "With Kuoni, we are honoring a company this year that does not see its annual report as a tedious compulsory exercise, but has used the opportunity to present itself in its entirety and with relish." Second place went to last year's third-placed company, Credit Suisse. Once again, the big bank succeeded in providing a well-structured overview of events in the financial world and its own results. Birgit Voigt, President of the Club Zürcher Wirtschaftsjournalisten association, particularly praised the fact that the depth of analysis in the CS annual report was above average compared to other annual reports.
Novartis was again among the medal winners in 2009. This time it brought its long-standing successful concept to third place: a compact annual report in black and white, which succeeds in reconciling complexity, seriousness and the presentation of its own success and making its own business accessible to an interested public.
Kuoni also ahead in the design rating
After the design jury did not award a first place last year, a clear winner emerged in 2009: Kuoni. And so a beaming Peter Brun, Head of Corporate Communications, received his second diploma to the applause of around two hundred guests. Peter Vetter, Coande, head of the design jury, commented: "What Kuoni has achieved this year, not only in the area of the annual report, but in all its communications in general, speaks for a carefully planned, long-term overall strategy." Second place in the design category went to Basellandschaftliche Kantonalbank, followed by Migros, which came third as in the previous year.
Value reporting is gradually improving
For the first time, the specialty chemicals company Sika took first place in the Value Reporting Rating. Its annual report is characterized by a clear and extremely informative presentation of the relevant data and stands out in the area of non-financial information and trend analysis. Roche took second place. This annual report impresses with very good information in all categories, with the best marks being achieved in the explanation of the annual results by management and in the area of sustainability. Syngenta's report, which came in third place, was also rated very highly.
"In recent years, the quality of the information provided has gradually increased and transparency for investors has improved," explained Prof. em. Dr. Rudolf Volkart. It is thanks to his initiative that value reporting found its way into today's annual report rating more than ten years ago. Prof. Volkart chaired the Value Reporting jury for the last time in 2009 and is handing over the baton to Prof. Alexander Wagner from the Institute of Swiss Banking at the University of Zurich.
Online prizes awarded for the first time
For the first time, the evaluation of Swiss companies' online presences was also integrated into the annual report rating. A separate jury of specialists and students from the HWZ University of Applied Sciences in Business Administration Zurich analyzed the same 240 companies that were also included in the annual report rating in an elaborate process. The evaluation criteria were based on a grid that Edition Renteria has been using for ten years. The Schaffhausen-based technology company Georg Fischer took first place in the online rating, followed by Credit Suisse and Roche.
Andreas Jäggi
Which annual reports were evaluated?
The annual reports of all listed companies represented in the SPI were included in the 2009 annual report rating. In addition, the 50 companies with the highest turnover in 2008, the 15 insurance companies with the highest gross premiums in 2007 and the 25 banks with the highest total assets in 2007 (sample of 240 reports).
How was it chosen?
Prof. Rudolf Volkart from the Swiss Banking Institute evaluated the annual reports together with students according to defined content criteria for value reporting. At the same time, eleven experts under the direction of Peter Vetter, Studio Coande, dealt with the design, visualization, typography and implementation of the annual reports and compiled the design jury's ranking list. The addition of both ratings according to ranking points resulted in the top 20, from which the third jury finally selected the overall winners of the 2009 annual report rating.
In-depth information on the topic of the annual report:
Interested parties can download the PDF of a 48-page brochure on the annual report rating at www.harbourclub.ch . It also contains the presentation by Prof. Miriam Meckel and further information on the winners of the individual categories.
On the HarbourClub website you will find a link to the detailed lists of the Design Rating and Value Reporting and to the Bilanz article on the 2008 annual reports.
KPMG's publication "Reading and understanding annual reports" provides a quick introduction and practical help. Questions on the balance sheet, income statement, statement of changes in equity, cash flow statement and notes are answered in a clear way.
The 5th revised edition will be published in the fall of 2009. Pre-orders for the free publication are already possible: [email protected], Fax: 044 249 35 92.

Prof. Dr. Rudolf Volkart, Chairman of Value Reporting, and Dirk Schütz, Editor-in-Chief of Bilanz.

Members of the readers' jury: Gaby Tschofen, Andreas Jäggi, Lukas Marty and Birgit Voigt.

Prof. Dr. Miriam Meckel, MCM Institute University of St. Gallen.

Highlights from the Zurich Film Festival
The celebrities at this year’s Zurich Film Festival made headlines in various ways. Peter Fonda’s appearance was certainly a positive one. The «Easy Rider» rode through the city with a dozen bikers, promoting Médecins Sans Frontières and generating goodwill for the organization. Later, he made an appearance on the red carpet wearing an «I Have MSF» T-shirt. The agency Rod was behind the campaign.
Posters for a Good Cause
Thanks to its social impact and widespread presence in public spaces, the poster is an ideal medium for conveying social messages to the public. This year’s fall exhibition in the poster gallery of the Museum für Gestaltung in Zurich focuses on messages of global significance and ethical importance. On display are posters from the last 30 years, with an emphasis on Swiss posters. All the subjects call on viewers to take responsibility for our planet. Behind these messages lie not only a wide variety of clients, but also motivations and intentions that differ greatly from one another. Posters created by individual artists on their own initiative are generally committed to raising awareness and aim to bring about a shift in mindset. Posters commissioned by organizations and aid agencies, on the other hand, are intended to prompt direct action by calling for monetary donations or other forms of direct engagement. The rhetoric of compassion often takes center stage, as can still be seen at the museum through January 10.

The strategy magazine is published eleven times a year - a double issue is published in the summer. Among other things, the magazine provides investors with ten model portfolios with specific investment recommendations. These are based on investment styles such as the value, momentum or anti-cyclical approach. According to publisher and editor-in-chief Peter Berger, the focus is on proven key figures from successful investors such as Warren Buffett, James O'Shaughnessy and Peter Lynch.
A Sample issue of the new stock market magazine is now available on the website.