Since the narrow vote on the revised Radio and Television Act (RTVA) in June, discussions about the programming and costs of Swiss television have not ceased. The most vocal opponent, the Swiss Trade Association, recently called once again for a broad public discussion about the content and scope of the public service.

With the "No Billag Initiative" the SRG will now come under even greater pressure. According to the initiators, the federal government should not be allowed to operate its own radio and television stations in peacetime, nor should it be allowed to subsidize them. Instead, licenses are regularly auctioned off to private companies. The petition for a referendum is backed by representatives of the Young SVP and the Young Free Democrats.

No anti-SRG initiative

According to the initiators, the initiative is not directed against SRG, but only against the obligation to pay fees. The company should continue to exist and be able to broadcast programs. However, SRG would have to finance itself in the future - "just like any other company." In order to guarantee media freedom, the state should not finance any media, he said. The fact that the SRG receives billions in annual contributions from the state makes it "dependent on the whims of the Federal Council, which sets the level of fees," it continues.

The initiative must be implemented by the beginning of 2018. Should the vote take place later, the initiative would have to be implemented at the beginning of the following year.

In addition to representatives of the Junge SVP and the Jungfreisinnigen, the committee includes SVP National Councillors Lukas Reimann (SG) and Sebastian Frehner (BS) and Daniel Trappitsch, who has become known for his fight against the animal epidemic law and the epidemic law.

This is already the second popular initiative calling for the abolition of reception fees. However, the initiative "Radio and television - without Billag" did not come to fruition in May. The organization Solidarische Schweiz (SOS) collected only about 9500 signatures. (SDA)

The large selection of social media monitoring solutions with different strengths and an almost unmanageable number of functions still makes it difficult for companies to find the right tool for them. GBI would like to remedy this situation and evaluates the best ten monitoring tools in the Social Media Tool Report based on demo access and a comparison of their results and functions.

The Goldbach Interactive tool report does not claim to be exhaustive, according to the press release, but it does show which monitoring solutions are among the top tools in certain application areas and should be considered in an evaluation. Thus, the report provides guidance for companies that already know their monitoring tool needs, as well as for companies that are new to the topic of monitoring. All of the tools evaluated in the top 10 can be recommended for professional use by GBI. Companies should always decide on the basis of their specific needs which tool they require and not be guided purely by the functions of the tool manufacturers.

You can find the entire Social Media Tool Report 2015 here. You can find the infographic in original size here.

GBI approached a total of 170 tool vendors to participate. 40 vendors showed interest, of which 23 ultimately ended up on this year's GBI shortlist. The best 10 monitoring tools are presented in detail in the Tool Report.

Responsible at Goldbach Interactive/ Authors: Stephanie Wörmann (Consulting Group Leader Social Media), Dominique Lauber (Consultant Social Media), Anwar Assaad (Consulting)
 

Getty Images, the world's leading visual communications agency, published its Visual Trend Report on Wednesday. In the publication, Getty Images highlights the most important visual trends that will shape advertising, design and visual communication in 2016. The trends are identified by an international Getty Images team of visual anthropologists and art directors. They describe the social and cultural visual language of tomorrow and predict which images will appeal most to consumers in the coming year.

The trend analysis is based on a variety of sources exclusively available to Getty Images: professional evaluation of images in advertising; local expertise from Getty Images' teams and clients worldwide; shopping trends derived from the approximately 400 million downloads per year on the Getty Images website; research on popular culture and changing consumer behavior around the world. The trends provide valuable insights for Getty Images' art directors, editors, photographers and video producers. They also inspire, inform and support designers and creative minds around the world.

The trends for 2016 from the visual trends experts at Getty Images (pinboard with sample images for each trend):

1 Divine Living: Brands are focusing more and more on values and conscious consumption is playing an increasingly important role for consumers. Against this backdrop, concepts such as virtue, purpose and interconnectedness are gaining traction in the visual landscape. In our overwhelmingly visual world, brands and storytellers are building their messages on the meaning their product pursues, tapping into our desire for intrinsic and extrinsic value. Pinboard

2. extended human: Technology is changing the way we shape our lives, how we share our experiences with others and how we perceive our environment. This trend looks at how technology is becoming a part of ourselves and challenging our notion of what it means to be human as technology optimizes our bodies, enhances our memory and creative capacity, and provides us with total connectivity. Pinboard

3rd Outsider In: People who push their limits and images that break with convention are becoming more and more accepted. In view of the growing flood of mass images and bundled articles, our desire for special images that take an unusual perspective is increasing. This trend observes outsiders, rebels, eccentrics, non-conformists and anti-heroes who think unconventionally and disturb us. Pinboard

4. messthetics: Messthetics stands for the rejection of predictability and is a counter-reaction to the perfection that is so often presented to us in the advertising industry. In a hectic, uniform market, Messthetics offers a completely different photographic approach. The images are messy, dirty, sweaty, animalistic, beautiful and ugly. This trend stems from our urge to free ourselves from the purity and predictability of everyday life and revel in the originality of the human creature. Pinboard

5 Silence vs. noise: From a stylistic perspective, 2016 will be a year of visual extremes, great contrasts and strong contradictions. Silence vs. Noise can be seen as a counterpoint to Messthetics. The images are simple and minimalist and offer clients the chance to develop similar messages - concise and uncomplicated, but beautiful to stand out from garish images. Both the composition and the colors follow the motto "less is more". The images are often calm and understated. As a welcome contrast to a world flooded with visual stimuli, they have a great impact. Pinboard

6 Surreality: Photographers are using new image processing techniques to create playful and often surrealistic images. These images often look like modern versions of the psychedelic images from the 1960s and are also influenced by dreams, the subconscious and the original surrealism. The desire for the surreal and unexpected is strong - a backlash against a decade characterized by authenticity and realism. Pinboard

Andrew Saunders, Senior Vice President, Creative at Getty Images, says: "The trends identified by our creative team create a common denominator for the year ahead. They stimulate a dialog about what is driving the evolution of culture and our visual language. Consumer behavior, which ultimately influences the visual language in advertising and culture, was a particularly important factor in identifying these visual trends for 2016. The trends emphasize the paradox that modern consumers face - the desire for extremes and the yearning to be outside the mainstream on the one hand, and the desire for community and engagement for the good of society on the other."

Pamela Grossman, Director of Visual Trends at Getty Images, adds: "Every year we look forward to publishing our Visual Trends Report - and this year more than ever. The future has never been so exciting and it's captivating to see where visual language is heading. We live in exciting and turbulent times where consumers are looking for partners to accompany them on their journey. Increasingly, they are turning to brands that deliver commercial and social or spiritual value. The 2016 visual trends show where consumers are and where they are looking. We are excited to see how these trends will be expressed in visual communication next year."

 

The acquisition also enables the FBM Group to expand various business areas. Michael Büchel, founder of Andreas and Conrad, will remain involved in the agency. According to the statement, it is the ideal opportunity for FBM Group to expand its strategic business areas of "people management" and the placement of moderators and speakers. The merger will enable Andreas and Conrad to cooperate with the various departments of FBM Group.

Christoph Bürge, COO FBM Group (l.) and ichael Büchel, founder and co-owner of Andreas and Conrad

Christoph Bürge, COO FBM Group, is convinced: "Andreas and Conrad are an excellent fit for our group and I am pleased that we are strengthening ourselves in the area of mediation with the acquisition of the people agency. We are going "back to the roots" here: Freddy Burger laid the foundation for his unique career with the placement of artists almost 50 years ago. That's exactly where we're picking up again." Michael Büchel, founder and co-owner of Andreas and Conrad, is also pleased with the new constellation: "Freddy Burger and his FBM Group have always been a great role model for me and their professionalism has always impressed me. With the FBM Group, we have found the best possible partner for a continued successful future."

The FBM Group has been active in the event industry for over 40 years and covers up to 300 events annually. The group is divided into three divisions: FBM Entertainment, FBM Gastronomy and FBM Communications. Today it consists of 20 different companies and has 350 employees.

Andreas und Conrad is the largest people agency in Switzerland. It places and represents presenters, comedians and speakers. The agency is also the point of contact when an advertising ambassador is needed for a brand or product. Andreas und Conrad advises both companies and advertising agencies, accompanies the selection process and leads the negotiations.

 

In addition to the ever-increasing relevance of data, the focus is on the transformation to the Internet of Services, the automation of all segments of the digital value chain, connected commerce and the digital world of work characterized by the elimination of conventional forms of organization.

The BVDW trends in the digital economy 2016 in detail:

The Internet of Things is leading to an exponential increase in data

The increasing number of networked end devices is leading to a rapidly growing database. Across business models, the collection, analysis, use and management of data will become increasingly relevant, as will the aspects of data protection and data security. The growing database will also make it much easier to map the customer journey across all channels and devices, offering all market participants and consumers themselves considerable added value in the future.

The Internet of Things is becoming the Internet of Services

As data-processing mobile devices and other connected things become more widespread, new business models based on the principle of "pay what you do" will become established. Sharing economy services in particular will experience a further boost as a result. End-to-end digitalized processes are the basis for automatically individualized services that meet the needs of consumers.

Further automation in all areas of the digital value chain

While data-driven automation has already established itself in marketing, in future it will also permeate all other areas of the digital value chain on the basis of a significantly improved data foundation. Increasing automation will meet the growing need for personalization in particular. Be it content that is displayed according to personal preferences or the mass production of customized products made possible by automated processes.

The networked shopping experience becomes real

The interlinking of previously separate contact points between retailers and consumers will increase enormously, particularly due to the growing number of networked end devices on the Internet of Things. The boundaries between stationary and digital retail are becoming increasingly blurred, resulting in an interlocking user experience. The shopping process will be supported entirely digitally, giving consumers a consistent, context-specific user experience.

The digital world of work breaks through spatial and hierarchical restrictions

Advancing digitalization is changing the current world of work and breaking up established structures. Digital specialists are more likely to feel that they belong to highly specialized, cross-company communities than to their own company and question systems of order and hierarchy. The geographical location of the service provider will become less important, while responsibility for an increasingly complex range of tasks will grow.
 

The "Republican Party presidential debates 2016" broadcast on Fox and Facebook took place in August 2015 - and the remix video in question was released at the end of August. However, it took until December for it to go viral. That is, until it was uploaded by a third-party Facebook page called TrapStyle and has been viewed almost five million times so far. Incidentally, the fact that Facebook systematically "tolerates" the distribution of third-party content uploaded to the platform, or delays its removal in a calculated manner in order to "drain" clicks and views during this time, is explained to the social network in the video worth watching. "How Facebook is Stealing Billions of Views" specifically - perhaps more on this later. Fortunately, the original version of the creator is now also available @MikeBeas on YouTube. The Republican version of Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady" whets the appetite for more - we have another Federal Council election to offer... (hae)
 

By reaching this mark, "Schellen-Ursli" has positioned itself as one of the ten most successful Swiss films of the last 40 years. The film will be released in cinemas in French-speaking Switzerland on December 16.

The 300,000th viewer of the film Schellen-Ursli: Jan (right, 7 years old) watched the film with his brother Laurin (left, 5 years old) at the Kinocenter in Chur on Wednesday afternoon, December 9. Also in the picture are the main actors of the movie, on the left outside Jonas Hartmann (Schellen-Ursli) and on the right outside Laurin Michael (Roman). (Frenetic Films/Susi Haas). Jan received a certificate and a gift basket from the sponsor Spar.
 

A clip featuring a four-year-old dancer was the most popular video on YouTube this year. The video, in which Heaven King and several friends dance in New York to the song "Watch Me" by rapper Silento, was viewed 116 million times worldwide. A commercial for the video game "Clash of Clans" came a distant second. The clip featuring Hollywood star Liam Neeson, which was shown at the Super Bowl, the final of the American football championship, was viewed 83 million times. In third place was YouTube star Roman Atwood, who turned his living room into a ball pit. The video was clicked 56 million times - making it more popular than Justin Bieber doing car karaoke and a singing policeman from the Dover Police in the US state of Delaware. (SDA/hae)

1st Silento- Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae) #WatchMeDanceOn by Tianne King

2. Clash of Clans: Revenge (Official Super Bowl TV Commercial) by Clash of Clans

3rd Crazy Plastic Ball PRANK!!! by RomanAtwood

4 Love Has No Labels | Diversity & Inclusion | Ad Council by Ad Council

5th Lip Sync Battle with Will Ferrell, Kevin Hart and Jimmy Fallon from The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

6th Justin Bieber Carpool Karaoke from The Late Late Show with James Corden

7. 6ft Man in 6ft Giant Water Balloon - 4K - The Slow Mo Guys by The Slow Mo Guys

8th Golden boy Calum Scott hits the right note | Audition Week 1 | Britain's Got Talent 2015 by Britain's Got Talent

9th Dover Police DashCam Confessional (Shake it Off) by Dover Police

10th Mean Tweets - President Obama Edition of Jimmy Kimmel Live

Switzerland likes German Youtubers

For Swiss users, 2015 was once again dominated by the German YouTube scene. There is only one non-German Youtuber in the top 10 channels with the greatest growth: Frenchman Cyprien in 9th place. In 3rd place is vlogger Melina Sophie, who came out as a lesbian in mid-2015 and caused a huge stir (and sympathy) in the German-speaking YouTube scene. She had more followers in Switzerland than the two most prominent beauty bloggers BibisBeautyPalace (4th place) and Dagi Bee (6th place). The two big earners are repeatedly criticized for the high number of product placements they unleash on their mainly young audience. (hae)    

Channels that are Switzerland in 2015 the largest increase in subscribers have experienced:

1. Julien Bam
2. Made My Day
3. Melina Sophie
4. BibisBeautyPalace
5. ApeCrime
6. Dagi Bee
7. Shirin David
8. Emrah !
9. Cyprien
10. Dner

Digitization is fundamentally changing entire industries - at an unprecedented pace. In the future, all those companies will be successful that not only recognize the opportunities of digitization, but also immediately take advantage of them and thus reinvent their own future. A new corporate film created and implemented by Serviceplan Suisse for Swisscom Enterprise Customers shows what these opportunities and possibilities can look like.

"It is important for us to make the positioning of Swisscom Enterprise Customers tangible. This applies to our existing or potential customers as well as to our employees, because together we are digitizing the Swiss economy," explains Tim Alexander, Head of Marketing and Communications Swisscom. The corporate film provides a two-minute glimpse into the future and illustrates everything that lies behind the big word "digitization" and what it can bring to companies and customers - namely, many opportunities to make life easier in exciting ways.

Client: Swisscom Enterprise Customers. Responsible agency: Serviceplan Suisse, Team Swisscom. Film production: Markenfilm Switzerland; directed by Laurentius Emmelmann.
 

With this step, the next generation of the Wanner family is taking over management responsibility within AZ Medien, according to a statement on Thursday.

Michael Wanner studied law and economics in St. Gallen and has been a member of the Board of Directors of AZ Medien since 2009. From 2009 to 2012, he held various positions at the Hamburg-based publishing house Gruner und Jahr, most recently as assistant to the CEO. After two years of MPA studies at Harvard Kennedy School, the 33-year-old joined the business editorial team of AZ Aargauer Zeitung in summer 2015. "I am looking forward to energetic support at Watson and to working even closer with Michael Wanner. We can make good use of him in the management team." Hansi Voigt, Editor-in-Chief and Managing Director Watson".

After studying business administration in St. Gallen, Florian Wanner joined the marketing company Belcom as a media consultant in August 2013. Since summer 2014, Florian Wanner has been Key Account Manager at the news portal Watson. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of Radio 24 since 2014. "With the election of Florian Wanner as Managing Director of Radio 24, we are strengthening the radio station's independence in a highly competitive market. Radio 24 will additionally benefit from his experience in the digital business." Roland Baumgartner, Managing Director Radio Medien. A new program director is still being sought for Radio 24.

Switzerland's most popular chocolate is also in high demand at Christmas. And not just in its country of origin: the Migros subsidiary's new Christmas commercial, created by Leo Burnett, tells the story of a Brazilian couple who simply cannot resist the Adoro balls from Frey. The film is supported by posters and advertisements presenting more of the sweet Christmas gifts.

Responsible at MGB/Chocolat Frey: Marc Engelhard (Head of Marketing Communications), Jürg Spring (Head of Private Label Management), Alexander Herrmann (Head of Product Range Communications), Sandra Ammann (Project Manager Product Range Communications) Lara Rohrer (Trainee), Simone Blaser (Project Manager Media). Responsible at Leo Burnett Switzerland: Pablo Schencke, David Fischer, Barbara Hartmann, Vanessa Mermoud, David Hugentobler, Cla Campell (creation), Johannes Raggio, Martin Stulz (ECD), Michael Gassler, Fernando Gort, Tiffany Gaggia (consulting), Suzana Kovacevic (agency producer), Michael Downing (direction), Marcelo Durst (camera), Wanda Germany (film production), Jingle Jungle (sound), Linsi Vogel (photography); OMD (media). (pd)
 

Directly at the start of the new service, titles from Spiegel TV, Studio Hamburg and Fashion TV are available. In the next few weeks, content from other partners such as Prosieben Sat.1 will be made available. Some of the videos will be available "on demand" for the first time in Switzerland.
The new service is ad-supported and free for Zattoo users. Currently, the VoD service is offered on Zattoo.com and within the Windows 10 app. The expansion to the Zattoo apps for iPhone, iPad and Android smartphones and tablets will take place in the first quarter of 2016. In addition, the service will also be rolled out in the Zattoo apps for connected TV (e.g. Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Android TV).

"Streaming TV content on demand is playing an increasingly important role. Until now, content has been distributed in a fragmented way across the various broadcasters' offerings," says Nick Brambring, CEO of Zattoo, describing the current market situation. "Our goal is to offer live and on-demand TV offers from as many broadcasters as possible. We would like to bring together the content of all media libraries with us and thereby offer users convenient access to the extensive range of excellent TV shows."