Bankers can be so romantic. The UBS TV commercials make you feel like you're in a Rosamunde Pilcher movie. The address is very personal, even if the balance is already somewhat disturbed in the claim: You and us, You & Us. For us, it's about more than just money. Our relationship is like a real relationship in which you are at the center. Your wishes are read from your lips. Shareholders and customers who want to ease the pain of their losses should take a look at the campaigns on the bank's website. There they will find loving encouragement, romantic pictures and relaxing music. The world of relationships at UBS is still rosy here.
The current financial crisis shows once again that the banking world speaks with many tongues: investors' pockets fill themselves, employees can count on high bonuses, and innovation in the industry means risky juggling with hopes and other people's money. Small customers provide the play money with their savings. In advertising and in advisory discussions, banks always want the best for them: to build up intimate relationships between individual customers and advisors, as UBS puts it beautifully. Bernhard Eggli, Head of Brand Management, relies on the togetherness of client and advisor. Of course, crises are not foreseen in the campaigns. With You & Us, UBS is formulating a promise, says advertising manager Mark Roeder, but only the bank employees can prove in their daily contact with clients that this promise is kept.
In a crisis, the culprits are quickly found. Luzerner Kantonalbank, for example, points to the responsibility of bank customers, who were informed about the risks. From their perspective, however, the focus is on advisors who sell supposedly safe investments with capital protection. The role of advisors, on the other hand, is not as simple as a UBS advertisement makes it out to be. In day-to-day contact, customers experience their advisors more often as salespeople than as helpers. Banking ombudsman Hanspeter Häni explained in an interview with the Aargauer Zeitung: "According to mandate law, the advisor must advise the client what they would do in their place." And he notes: "Does a bank really want to accuse its customers of having too much trust in personal advice and therefore not studying the factsheets carefully enough?"
Does a bank really want to accuse its customers of placing too much trust in it? The banks themselves should face up to this criticism. The advisors on the front line implement the management's instructions, while customers are guided by the image of the institution, its basic attitude and its track record. The bank's strategy determines its day-to-day business and its communication conveys this at all levels, from the TV commercials to the language used by advisors. Communication can therefore not shirk its responsibility if the products and services do not meet expectations.
The banks are reacting strangely quietly to the current situation. Small customers are not at the center of crisis communication, and only a few are being proactive: Berner Kantonalbank, for example, feels "morally obliged" to its customers. It wants to assume liability for Lehmann's capital protection products. Other banks are seizing the opportunity and communicating their security-oriented investment strategy. On the websites of the big banks, the focus is still on the well-being of savers. The CS campaign deals with change in a particularly meaningful way - not its own, however, but that of its customers. In its current commercials, CS promises: "You think about moving moments. We also think of solutions that help you move forward."

A new software for copying DVDs is causing a legal dispute. Six Hollywood studios filed a lawsuit against multimedia specialist Real Networks on Tuesday. In proceedings before a district court in Los Angeles, they accuse the company of illegally circumventing copyright protection with its new Real DVD software and are demanding a suspension of sales.
The plaintiffs, including Walt Disney, Warner Bros, Fox, Universal City Studios, Viacom, Paramount and Sony, fear that users will be able to copy copy-protected DVDs unchecked with the new software. Real Networks has now filed a counterclaim with a court in San Francisco and is insisting on the legality of the software.
The multimedia manufacturer emphasizes that the new software only allows consumers to play their legally purchased DVDs without a DVD drive. Real DVD, which has been on the market in the USA since Tuesday, makes it possible to create a copy including copy protection on the PC. Real Networks said in a press release that it was disappointed that the film industry was following in the footsteps of the music industry.
"RealNetworks knows its product violates the law and undermines the hard-earned trust that has grown between America's filmmakers and the technology community," the Motion Picture Association of America countered in a statement.

Social networks are considered the invention of Web 2.0, but that's not the case. Social networks have always been the foundation of the Internet, only they were called something else back then. In the early days of the Internet, there were newsgroups, then soon chat rooms. Those were actual social networks, too. They all served the same purpose, namely for people to find other people with the same interests, to exchange ideas with them and to network. This ranged from scientific newsgroups to sometimes perverse sex topics. Although there were no pictures and the content was tedious to read, these were the precursors of today's social networks. Web 2.0 made it possible for Internet users to put their own content online, thanks to simple applications. And content of any form: Texts, images, videos, etc. People can now link directly to each other, talk to each other, invite each other to their circle of friends and keep their own contacts up to date. This is done effortlessly because changes are automatically updated in the entire circle of friends.
Today, social networks are the shooting stars of the Internet. In addition to the big sites like MySpace, Facebook, Xing and StudiVZ, there are an infinite number of social network sites. A study by Datamonitor shows that around 42 million Europeans currently use social networks. The growth of the sites is gigantic; it is expected to increase to more than 100 million in the next few years. MySpace has 250 million members worldwide, Facebook 125 million. The sites are also booming in Switzerland. Facebook has 600,000 members in this country. Social networks have become an important factor for commercial communication. Through the immense networking, brand images can be hyped up or destroyed within a short time. This and much more could be learned at the recent Exchange event of the advertising agency group Y&R.
But what fascinates me about the phenomenon of social networks is something completely different. The participants on these sites indulge in absolute exhibitionism. They reveal all the details about themselves voluntarily and without being asked. This ranges from professional skills and views on business-oriented sites to the most intimate details. Details that the same people would probably be reluctant to divulge or even hint at in a personal conversation. The supposed anonymity of the Internet, or rather the closed circle of users, makes people feel safe. After all, it's just the two of them. The boundaries between private and professional details dissolve; you're in a glass house 24 hours a day. Worldwide and forever, because the Internet forgets nothing. This makes the efforts of data protectionists seem very unworldly.
Pierre C. Meier, Editor-in-Chief
[email protected]

There were some new features in the 2008 annual report rating: from this year onwards, the HarbourClub, the association of heads of communications at major Swiss companies, is not only responsible for the award ceremony, but also for the overall implementation of the rating and the coordination of the three juries.
The criteria for the evaluated annual reports were redefined (see "Which annual reports were evaluated", below) and the number of evaluated reports was reduced to around 130. What is most striking, however, is that interest in the Swiss annual report awards has reached a peak. With almost 200 participants, almost twice as many communication managers took part in the event as in the previous year. However, the name of the overall winner of the annual report rating remained the same as last year.
Straumann becomes overall winner for the second time in a row
It was a bit of a surprise that Straumann was able to repeat its success from last year. The theme of its 2007 annual report was kissing. However, Straumann was awarded the gold medal not only because of its emotional imagery, but also because the company succeeded in making it a pleasure to read. Anyone who has no idea about dental implants or oral tissue regeneration products will know what this business is all about after reading it. The figures section is also written in a way that is understandable for laypeople and provides a quick overview.
Second place also went to a repeat offender: Novartis once again impressed with the previous year's concept, as the company manages to reconcile complexity, seriousness and the presentation of its own success and make its sophisticated business accessible to an interested public
Third place went to Credit Suisse. Finally, a financial services provider made it to the top again. Although the image concept and design were not particularly praised, the 1.2 kilogram work, consisting of five parts, is well structured and fulfills the legal requirements on the one hand and the expectations of good "value reporting" on the other. The jury particularly praised the fact that CS had succeeded in summarizing the most important information on 64 pages in a separate, clearly structured section, the "Annual Report".
Mediocrity of the design
The design jury pulled off a coup. For the first time, it did not award a clear first place, but honored five companies ex aequo. Bank Coop, Basler Kantonalbank, Migros, Valora and VP Bank all received a diploma. According to Peter Vetter, Coande, head of the design jury, the reason for this unusual assessment: "There is a general tendency towards mediocrity. Behavior without risk seems to be the order of the day. There is a lack of courage to realize something new and unforeseen. Or to make a concise statement, to present yourself in a distinctive way."
Always better in terms of content
The development looks more positive when assessed according to content criteria. Over the last few years, the quality of the information provided has gradually increased and transparency for investors has also improved. Progress has been particularly marked in the areas of risk analysis and value-oriented corporate management. Prof. Rudolf Volkart from the Swiss banking institute and his project manager Benjamin Wilding awarded the first prize for value reporting to Georg Fischer after extensive analysis by students at the university. UBS came second, followed by St. Galler Kantonalbank. The conclusion of this year's annual report rating: content beats form.
Andreas Jäggi

Which annual reports were evaluated?
The 2008 annual report rating included the 2007 annual reports of the 100 companies with the highest market capitalization, the 50 most important companies in terms of turnover, the 25 largest banks and the 10 largest insurance companies. Companies that do not publish an annual report were not included.
How was it chosen?
Professor 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, ten 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 2008 annual report rating.
The rating brochure
Interested parties can download the PDF of a 36-page brochure on the annual report rating at www.harbourclub.ch. It includes detailed rating lists and the covers of the best 60 Swiss annual reports.

The winning annual report:

The publishing house Anzeiger Luzern is planning to operate under a single brand. To this end, the two titles Luzerner Woche and Anzeiger Luzern will be merged and published under the name Anzeiger Luzern on Wednesdays and Fridays from the beginning of next year.
The editorial content of the free Central Swiss newspaper Luzerner Woche will be retained and expanded in the Wednesday edition of the new Anzeiger. The Friday edition is to become an advertising paper with concise content for the Lucerne city area, according to a press release from the publishing house.
Editorial content will be shifted to the Wednesday edition, while ads of any size can be placed on Fridays. According to the press release, the company wants to focus on smaller businesses, retailers and private individuals.
At the same time, the internet portal Goodday.ch will be switched to Anzeiger-luzern.ch.

A trend is slowly but surely developing into a boom: more and more advertising with moving images is only being shown on the internet. In the USA, the advertising money spent on Internet spots is already higher than the media spending on traditional TV spots. Although the display sizes in advertising banners are still limited at the moment, it is only a matter of time before things change here too.
In Switzerland, Unikat already regularly advertises with such small films "in normal web banners", as Managing Director Jan Maurer explains at the Zurich agency. Recently, an example of the recruitment of a mattress test sleeper campaign could be seen online. The Swedish furniture manufacturer Ikea advertised this test exclusively on the Internet with banner films. The medium offers the decisive advantage over the classic TV commercial that the "call to action" is immediately integrated. "So you can register directly for the mattress test," explains CD Daniel Meier at Unikat.
Another example of spots that were only designed for Internet banners are two current kitchen banners from Ikea. "Such films have to have a simple structure, as the sound in banners can only be switched on optionally and the image size is limited for technical reasons," says Reto Salimbeni at Manifesto Films, where the banner spots for the Ikea kitchens were realized. This dramatizes the fact that high-quality kitchens from Ikea have an incredibly low price and that the 25-year guarantee is unique. Such an offer inevitably makes you wonder: is it real? "It is, in the truest sense of the word or the image," confirms Marketing Manager Carlos Friedrich at Ikea Switzerland.
And the moral of the story: the click rate for these moving mini-spots is twice as high as for "normal" banners.
Andreas Panzeri

A video clip is playing on the redesigned lematin.ch website: A couple of Matin editors are talking about their new boss in front of the coffee machine: "First Rothenbühler from German-speaking Switzerland and now a woman!" they moan. This little scene sets the tone with which the newspaper wants to win back lost readers and gain new ones: Irony and impertinence.
Ariane Dayer also has character traits that set her apart. Between 1997 and 2002, the 44-year-old from Valais made a name for herself as editor-in-chief of the Ringier news magazine L'Hebdo with her biting commentaries. "If you want to do political journalism, you need the courage to express your own opinion and dissent," is her motto.
Rich in experience - despite young age
The daughter of former Nouvelliste editor-in-chief François Dayer fell into the magic potion as a child, just like Obelix. She admired her father because he had access to all milieus and the legitimacy to speak to anyone who interested him. This led her into journalism after completing a degree in political science. As editor of the Federal Parliament, she was supposed to write gossip for the Geneva daily La Suisse, but instead she wrote political commentaries. At L'Hebdo, where she became editor-in-chief at the age of 37 thanks to the discreet influence of Frank A. Meyer, she set new standards: with part-time positions, she promoted female journalists, and with the approach of also tackling political issues through the people involved, she gave the intellectuals' daily a touch of a celebrity magazine ahead of its time.
Critics accused her of wanting to turn Hebdo into a "Hebda". Both sides remained silent about the reasons for the break between Ringier and Dayer - a dismissal that mobilized the feminists. Dayer would not be dissuaded from her path: In 2004, she enthusiastically threw herself into publishing the satirical magazine Saturne, a cheeky, beautifully designed magazine that never found a wider audience. After just two years, she had to discontinue Saturne, losing part of her savings in the process - "Totgelacht" ("Laugh to death") was the title of the last issue.
But what is a woman who knows her way around quality and magazine journalism doing at the tabloid Le Matin of all places? Paradoxically, it is precisely her previous approach that seems to predestine her for this task. After all, Le Matin, a leader in the areas of sport, faits divers and celebrities until the appearance of the commuter newspapers, suffers more than any other daily newspaper in French-speaking Switzerland from free competition that focuses on the same topics. The Matin has no choice but to raise its profile, explains Dayer: "Not in the sense of elitist journalism, but in the sense of making more demands on ourselves." For Dayer, this means a newspaper "with more and more in-depth research, more character, more opinions, more debates, more cheekiness, more human traits and more value for readers".
In short, the energetic boss wants to turn the tabloid into a "popular quality newspaper". This includes the new sections that accompany the reader throughout the week, such as psychology, work, health, science and cuisine. This includes publishing an Edito every day, as well as a daily press drawing and a small comic strip by two young artists from French-speaking Switzerland. "The daily dialogue with readers is important to us," emphasizes Dayer: instead of half a page, there is a double page of reader reactions every day, which are designed to be interactive and also incorporate the redesigned website.
Sport and celebrities remain the focus of interest, but Dayer also wants to work with more personal formats in sport. And what about celebrity journalism, which the free competition indulges in? "This is precisely where we want to offer journalistic added value: no longer stringing news together, but analyzing phenomena and discovering trends." In the brand new issue from September 30, we find out, for example, what tennis man Wawrinka takes with him on his travels and why stars and starlets are now indulging in barefoot fashion - the new Matin doesn't always escape the genre's inherent irrelevance.
Targeting committed citizens
The article on the army's helicopters, for example, is surprising and interesting: without increasing the length of the article, which is usual for tabloid newspapers, the journalist manages to provide a maximum of exclusive information and statements. Page 3 is also original, with three short pieces on one political figure each, written in a very subjective commentary style.
Dayer is convinced that the paper will reach a new, additional target audience: Young, urban thirtysomethings "who are keen to play a role as 'citoyens', as committed citizens". And when asked why people should buy the Matin when the Matin Bleu is free, she says modestly: "Two francs twenty to understand the world, that's not too expensive."
Ariane Dayer loves building model sailing ships in her free time. Since becoming deputy editor-in-chief at Matin, she has hardly been able to get around to it: "I've only been struggling with newspaper models for a year now." She still has an unfinished sailing ship on her dresser. The most difficult moment in model making? "Setting the sails." - Bon vent!
Helen Brügger

The new Creative Director of McCann Erickson in Zurich is Armin Korf. In the past, Korf headed the creative department of the TBWA agency and was responsible for advertising campaigns for brands such as McDonald's, Nivea, Sony, Emmi, Nissan and SBB.
As the agency headed by CEO Beat Mühlemann announced on Wednesday, Armin Korf will drive the further development of the Zurich creative team with immediate effect. He thus replaces Timo Kirez, who most recently headed the creative departments of both Swiss McCann branches. The agency is still looking for a creative director for the Geneva location.

The upheavals in the media sector have the strangest consequences. The changes in media consumption habits pose a huge conundrum for many so-called "media experts". How should newspapers counter the loss of readers? How can websites become profitable portals? Can the market cope with another seven hundred free newspapers or should we focus on quality after all? - These are all questions that keep many well-earning media managers awake at night. In times of need, they ask those who should actually know: the consumers, buyers, i.e. the viewers and readers. Not only the Sonntagsblick, but also the German Bild newspaper has a readers' advisory board to help the editorial team out of its perplexity. As the newspaper with the huge headlines reported on Wednesday, the 32 members of the advisory board recently spent two days visiting the editorial team and drawing up suggestions. The colorful mix of laypeople came up with some great recommendations: Please report "more locally on regional celebrities and parties", "devote more space to education and strengthen knowledge topics", "offer all young people guidance for school and later professional life" or "dare to take on old-fashioned topics such as manners, politeness and respect". Let's see what Bild editor-in-chief and tabloid newspaper maker Kai Diekmann knows how to do with such tips.

Its long tradition gives the Swiss living magazine Ideales Heim a special position in the magazine market. The magazine keeps the ideas of the Bauhaus and Werkbund eras alive in a modified form. "Value instead of throwaway culture, practicality instead of design exuberance are the leitmotifs," says publisher Emil Bisig. "Today, the leading Swiss living magazine is more topical than ever: the subject area is simultaneously becoming more popular and more difficult to overlook," says editor-in-chief Hans Georg Hildebrandt.
With five employees, the editorial team of the traditional glossy newspaper is comparatively large. Together with numerous freelance journalists and photographers, the editorial team produces ten issues a year.
To mark the anniversary, the publisher has brought out a 286-page magazine of record size. The cover story revolves around a spectacular property in keeping with the occasion, a villa by architect Philippe Stuebi. Another story revolves around a house by Richard Neutra in Hesse, followed by a project by architect Ana Escalante, who is further developing the "Desert Modernism" coined by Neutra. Stories about the anarchic furniture designer Maarten Baas or the architecture in the new James Bond film "Quantum of Solace" can also be found in the anniversary issue.
The magazine has been given a new layout and is now divided into three sections: an entrance with news items, a middle section with major stories and a tour through the rooms of a virtual house. Editor-in-chief Hildebrandt has tailored a new concept for the magazine, which was implemented by the Zurich design office Beling Thoenen, which is also responsible for the redesign of Schweizer Illustrierte. "Anyone who wants to get to know the names and minds behind the latest ideas can find out more in the Entree. Those who dream of beautiful houses or want to be inspired will find inspiration in the long photo spreads, which are supplemented with plans and information on the construction. And anyone who is about to refurnish their kitchen or bathroom, children's room or home office will find the most exciting products on a tour through the magazine," says Hildebrandt.
Ideales Heim is not Archithema Verlag's only project. Three special publications on gardens, kitchens and bathrooms are published annually under the label, summarizing all the news from the industry. (red)

Marketimpact strengthens its consulting department. To this end, the Bern-based company has hired Bruno Prandi. He will help the specialist for business events, promotions and sales marketing with immediate effect in the areas of conception, storytelling and narrative space design. As Marketimpact writes in a statement on Wednesday, Prandi has event and communication experience and is currently studying to become a scenographer at the Zurich University of the Arts.
Previously, he was Creative Director at Metazona and in this role was responsible, among other things, for staging the opening ceremonies of the Lötschberg Tunnel, the SQS Forum and the Espace Mittelland Entrepreneur Award. He was also the director of the Swiss Economic Forum, Cisco Expo and X-Days for many years.

Dirty Dancing" at work is not his style. Gordon Nemitz is referring to divisional thinking, as played out not only in the well-known movie "This is my dance area. This is yours," but also in many agencies. In a climate of "up to here the strategy - from there the creation", good advertising can rarely emerge. The tradition in which Nemitz prefers to work therefore sees the strategist as a "creative planner". A thinker at the interface of the most diverse disciplines, who can provide "the creative inspirations" in the process of design.
Gordon Nemitz started out in 1996 in Siegen near Cologne with an integrated media degree. "You're sure to find a job in the media field," was the feeling at the time. After initial attempts in the world of printed media, however, he found "that it wasn't enough for the Süddeutsche." So he ventured into advertising and joined Scholz & Friends as an intern in the German advertising stronghold of Hamburg. After five months of training in traditional consulting, Nemitz was already promoted to junior, and instead of six months, he enjoyed more than a year at Scholz & Friends. Nevertheless, consulting was not yet the goal of his dreams. At a small but fine strategy agency called &Equity, the German "planning icon" Dr. Cordula Krüger was working - and that's where Nemitz wanted to go. The agency followed the mission statement "Empirical precision and strategic inspiration" and was very psychologically based in its thinking. For Nemitz, the time at &Equity ultimately became the most important planning school. Despite the fascinating time in practice, however, Nemitz also diligently pursued his studies, graduating with a thesis on "Constructivist Identity Formation of the Individual in the Context of Marketing." In somewhat more mundane terms, this is about "community building and marketing." It was important for Nemitz to always commute between practice and college. "Other fellow students didn't know where they wanted to work until the end of their studies, and only did the mandatory internships," argues Nemitz, who "sowed his wild oats" professionally during his studies because he knew where he wanted to go one day. Parallel to his diploma thesis in Cologne, he also worked as a further diversification in a smaller agency, which is rather "to be settled in the area of communication in the room". Here, Nemitz learned how to get people excited about brands and topics beyond the classic channels.
In 2005, the media business graduate switched back to "classic" strategy and joined Karen Neumann's team at Jung von Matt. The time was intense - Nemitz recalls an assignment for which he worked 76 hours in four days - but also very instructive and successful. After two and a half years at the "flow heater" Jung von Matt, a suitably interesting offer followed as Senior Strategic Planner at TBWA in Düsseldorf.
What Nemitz likes about his world of planning is that, as in chess, you can bring your knowledge of the rules and strategies to bear in ever new constellations of the task. Nemitz doesn't want to approach anything with routine. For example, it was "extremely exciting" for him to develop an international marketing strategy for Bosch household machines at Jung von Matt. "It's a job that doesn't exactly generate a lot of enthusiasm among creative people," he says. But he enjoyed the challenge of researching cooking and eating habits for a wide variety of countries, for example, or around the "psychology of washing," which is different all over the world. Or at TBWA, where his task was to emancipate the consumer electronics brand Medion from its Aldi origins. In all these tasks, the strategist's first priority is to "gain a deep understanding of the brand in the competitive environment on the one hand, and on the other, to always take into account the needs and desires of the consumer" before giving input to the creative work.The new Planning Director at Wirz is not completely unfamiliar with what makes consumers in Switzerland tick. At Jung von Matt, for example, he provided strategic support for the Swiss brand Ricola. But he has also spent a lot of time in Switzerland in the past for private reasons.
Moving abroad from Germany one day had long been a plan for Nemitz. England, as the home of Planning, would have been an option. Switzerland, however, was just as interesting, because in fine-semantic strategy one also works a lot with language. Vienna would have been less enticing to Nemitz. "My experience taught me that the Austrian market works similarly to Germany. In Switzerland, on the other hand, you couldn't simply import the communication measures. This newness appeals to me," Nemitz says.
Because the commitment to Wirz is "not a temporary solution," Nemitz has already taken his own apartment in Zurich's Seefeld. That was a happy swap with an advertiser moving away.
The appointment of Gordon Nemitz is also a "fair swap" for Geri Aebi. Simon Walter, Nemitz's predecessor, moved from Wirz to TBWA Berlin in spring 2007. Now, in a castling move, Gordon Nemitz comes to Zurich from TBWA Düsseldorf. The still young, but already highly traded planner makes the director team at Wirz complete again, after CEO Geri Aebi had to lead the agency for over a year without a planning director. Strategic thinking was nevertheless guaranteed during this time, as Aebi explains in the interview below.
On the day when Nemitz met with Geri Aebi for the final negotiations, the city presented itself from its sunniest side. While strolling by the lake, Nemitz finally came to a decision. That, too, was "an asset of Zurich versus Düsseldorf": cycling along the water. Nemitz, who used to work as a bike courier, already indulged in his hobby and circumnavigated Lake Zurich on his racing bike in just under two hours. "That was still relatively flat. But now come the mountain stages," he says of this achievement. And it also keeps him fit for another climb at Wirz.
Andreas Panzeri