Internet addresses on .sucks or .fail are ideal for showering companies with frustration or malice. Swisscom, for example, will never be dragged into the mud on Swisscom.sucks. The company registered this domain itself, as spokesperson Olaf Schulze explains. The telecommunications company has also blocked Swisscom.fail and Swisscom.wtf.

However, there is not a block option for every domain extension. This leaves companies with no choice but to register unpopular domains themselves in case of doubt. In addition to the effort involved in keeping track of all the new endings, this is sometimes associated with considerable costs. In addition, problems can also arise with harmless endings. For example, third parties can secure domains relating to a company and then sell them to the authorized party at a high price (cybersquatting). Or the domains can be used for campaigns against the company.

Swiss companies take different approaches

In Switzerland, companies are dealing with the new situation in different ways. Swisscom, for example, is taking a reactive approach overall - due to the insane variety of possible abuses, as the telecom provider explains. The procedure with Swisscom.sucks is an exception. In principle, the company observes what is going on and intervenes if necessary. It is not clear whether the large number of new domain names is more of a curse or a blessing.

The airline Swiss is currently gathering experience and considering whether monitoring is needed. However, the airline wants to concentrate on the most important brand domains. Migros writes on request that it uses external service providers for monitoring and intervenes consistently if necessary or in the event of abusive registrations. Overall, the retailer wonders whether the flood of new endings is really justified by a corresponding demand and brings added value. In addition, the whole thing causes effort and therefore costs. Competitor Coop is somewhat more optimistic. The company writes that there are some interesting new domain endings. Coop is also supported and advised by service providers when it comes to monitoring.

Trademark Clearinghouse should create clarity

However, ICANN has not failed to notice that Internet domains are subject to a great deal of abuse. For this reason, it has created a contact point for the protection of trademark and name rights on the Internet in parallel with the introduction of new domain extensions. It began operating in March 2013 under the name Trademark Clearinghouse. Rights holders can enter their trademarks in a central database at the institution. They can then assert their rights to domains with their own brand names when each new domain extension is launched ("sunrise period"). An entry in the Trademark Clearinghouse can also be useful after the sunrise period has expired. If a third party wants to register a domain that corresponds to a trademark in the database, a warning will appear. If the third party registers the domain anyway, the rights holder will be informed. Coop, for example, benefits from this mechanism in Switzerland. Swisscom and Migros have also protected their master trademark with the ICANN institution. Swiss is currently carrying out clarifications and is in the process of registering its main trademarks.

Opportunity still little used in Switzerland

Overall, however, only a few companies in Switzerland appear to be using the services of the Trademark Clearinghouse. To date, the institution has only recorded more registrations from four countries than from Switzerland. However, in terms of figures, only around 1500 of the 40,000 or so entries originate from an organization in Switzerland. In comparison: the Swiss trademark register currently comprises around 235,000 valid trademarks, of which just under 150,000 entries are for an owner with an address in Switzerland. This does not include trademarks protected abroad whose protection has been extended to Switzerland. (SDA)

Organic farming starts with the soil. For example, the soil is fertilized purely organically. As a result, the soil has a significantly higher biodiversity, which in turn makes it more nutritious and loosens it up. And every fifth year, the fields lie fallow for regeneration. No wonder, extremely healthy, tasty vegetables grow from such soils.

At the POS booth, customers can experience the organic soil up close.

Responsible at Bio Suisse: Jürg Schenkel (Head of Marketing), Flavia Müller (Project Management Marketing Communication Events). Responsible at Leo Burnett Switzerland: Pedro Moosmann (AD), Martin Arnold (text), Johannes Raggio, Pablo Schencke (CD), Michael Gassler, Ingrid Zumkehr, Andrea Aegerter (consulting), Suzana Kovacevic (art buying), Rico Rosenberger (photographer), Goldschnitt/Flurin Müller (model making).
 

Whereas in 2013, 14 people were blinded by laser pointers, in 2014 there were already 38 cases. And the trend is rising. Such laser attacks can be nasty to the eye and in the worst case lead to blindness. That's why VBZ is now going on the offensive with a concise campaign - designed and realized by Ruf Lanz. On advertisements and posters, the VBZ drivers are shown in martial protective gear. Because if the sneaky laser attacks don't stop, they will soon have to drive around like this.

At Vbz.ch/stoplaser the entire population is also involved and called upon to take direct action. With a picture generator, everyone has the opportunity to symbolically become a driver. All they have to do is place a portrait picture of themselves in the appropriate position. The message is: "Whoever endangers the VBZ driving staff also endangers me." To openly express solidarity, the generated image can be published on one's own social media channels or used as a profile picture.

Responsible at VBZ: Heinz Vögeli (Head of Corporate Communications), Elina Fleischmann (Project Management). Responsible at Ruf Lanz: Markus Ruf, Danielle Lanz (Creative Direction), Marcel Schläfle (Art Direction), Laura Hofer (Graphics), Florian Birkner, Markus Ruf (Text), Pascal Trütsch (Consulting). Photography and image editing: Rico Rosenberger. Online implementation: dreipol GmbH, Marco Huber, Lukas Martinelli.

Ex Libris announced on Thursday that customers can use the service without a subscription and pay by credit card, Cumulus vouchers or gift card. Customers can rent or buy films via their Ex Libris account. The offer is supplemented daily by new films and series from America. In the case of TV series, the latest seasons would be available for purchase 48 hours after the first broadcast in the original language. Ex Libris is facing price pressure due to the lower euro exchange rate and ongoing digitization. Last year, sales revenues fell by 10.3 percent to 126.2 million Swiss francs. By comparison, sales in 2010 had still amounted to a good 200 million Swiss francs. In contrast, business with sales via the online store developed positively last year and increased by 7.2 percent compared to 2013. In particular, purchases made with a mobile device increased strongly by 60 percent. With the publication of the annual figures, Ex Libris had already announced that it would implement the next step in its online strategy.

The expansion of online business with video on demand certainly promises growth: According to figures from the Swiss Video Association (SVV), video providers earned 55.2 million Swiss francs last year from the sale and rental of videos over the Internet - that's a fifth more than the year before. However, more and more providers want to get involved in the business of television via the Internet. Swisscom, UPC Cablecom, Netflix and Apple are vying for viewers' favor with on-demand movies and flat-rate offers. (SDA)
 

On the subject:
 

Ex Libris to enter video streaming (8.7.2015)

The October issue is now available on newsstands, and subscribers will find it in their mailboxes as early as this week. Eurosoccer magazine was once founded in anticipation of Euro 2008 in Switzerland and Austria and was taken over by IMS Sport in December 2010. The magazine appeared nine times a year and published 80 pages of stories and background information about Swiss football. From now on, the readership of the magazine of the Swiss Football League Foot joins it.

The name change is a consequence of the publication's focus, according to the statement. For almost five years, it has focused on national football and Swiss players abroad. Although the magazine sometimes features stories on international football and takes a close look at a foreign star in each issue, the name Eurosoccer no longer matches the content. As in the past, Foot will continue to focus primarily on the Raiffeisen Super League and the Brack.ch Challenge League.

Since the award's inception in 1996, the competition has demonstrated the continued vibrancy of digital brand communications. This year, last year's trend continues: Idea, content, concept, solution and usability are the touchstones against which the still strongest submission categories of website, portal, microsite are measured.

The Clear Channel Online Booking Tool is a self-explanatory web platform that enables small and medium-sized companies to put together a poster campaign themselves online and book it immediately. All availabilities of the advertising spaces are displayed in real time and the locations can be viewed via Google Street View. The customer can use a simulator to preview his poster online. GBI realized the entire booking platform - conception, screen design, technical implementation and video production in four languages.

For Swisscom, GBI provided conceptual development, technical implementation and design of the Online Annual Report 2014 was carried out. The requirement was an optimal structure and clear user guidance, responsive in three languages. The company brochure, the annual report, the sustainability report and the financial report were designed online in an appealing design and with optimal user guidance.

Credits - Clear Channel Project

Responsible at Clear Channel Switzerland: Oliver Schönfeld (Marketing Director). Responsible at GBI: Marc Leuenberger (Consultant); Daniel Unger (Creative Director); Sébastien Gerber (Art Director); Dominic Zach (Digital-Conception); Florian Mäder u. Bunni Khun (Frontenddeveloper); Jan Steffen (Backenddeveloper); Maurus Gross (Videoproduction); Brigitte Mayr u. Oliver Kuhn (SEA) .

Credits - Project Swisscom

Responsible at Swisscom: René Flückiger (Multimedia Project Manager). Responsible at GBI: Alain Ryser (Consultant); Daniel Unger (Creative Director); Raphaël Liechti (Senior Art Director); Sébastien Gerber (Screendesgin); Dominic Zach (Digital-Conception); Susanne Fankhauser u. Florian Mäder (Frontenddeveloper); Jonathan Droz u. Steffen Gudis (Backenddeveloper); Sonja Eberlin (Testing) .

Among the topics discussed will be programmatic TV, data-driven advertising on TV, the importance of MCNs and the future of trading in the moving image. High-ranking speakers such as Caspar Schlickum (CEO Xaxis EMEA) and Bob Hoffman (author of the book and blog "The Ad Contraria") give rise to expectations of interesting insights and discussions.

Stailamedia is a silver sponsor of the event and will be represented by Jochen Witte, a panelist who will contribute his expertise on the topics of programmatic TV and data-driven advertising in the DACH market. With this participation, Stailamedia strengthens its positioning as a competent partner in the European market. Stailamedia has already been present in the German market since the beginning of 2014 with an office in Munich. The company now also has an office in Vienna to better serve the Austrian market. The headquarters have been in Zurich since the company was founded in 2010. "We are delighted to be on board as a Silver Sponsor at the most important European video advertising event. This participation is another important step in our European expansion strategy," said Michael Baum, CEO of Stailamedia.

Newvideofrontiers.com

With the photo shoot, where the products were put in the right light, the basis for exciting creations has emerged. The reduction to the essentials, namely the bags, has proven successful. The result is beautiful shots with a lot of character, which can currently be seen in various media applications.

Responsible at Lady Leather Goods: Barbara Tschanen (owner). Responsible at Koch Communication: Philipp Koch (consulting), Marc Schadegg, Stefan Jandl, Monika Beerli (creation). Photography: Alessandra Leimer.

A wide range of advisory and support services as well as sports and cultural activities reinforce the success of integration. The strategic goal is to overcome the boundaries between the primary and secondary labor markets. In order to complete the transformation from a "workshop for the disabled" to a modern integration center in terms of communication, Festland was commissioned with a comprehensive rebranding. The clear positioning as a social enterprise sums up the current role of the 86-year-old organization. The interaction of social and entrepreneurial added value is also expressed in the V of the new logo.

In addition to the brand logo, printed matter and lettering, Festland developed the Internet platform Valida-sg.ch and a company newspaper. The website, implemented with TYPO3 CMS, is optimized for mobile devices and has a PDF creator that automates the creation and distribution of documentation. The newly created "Valida Zeitung" reports on the social enterprise several times a year. Other measures designed by Festland include advertisements, event mailings and the trade fair stand for OLMA 2015.

The imagery was created by photographer Axel Kirchhoff. Among other things, it can be seen in a digital audio-visual show, which presents Valida and its three business areas (Work & Training, Living & Leisure, Production & Services) in pictures and sound.

According to the press release, Annette Stüdli was fascinated by the media from an early age. In her first professional years, she worked as an editor first at Radio Zürisee, then at the former DRS1 and DRS3. This was followed by positions as marketing and communications manager with the city of Zurich and in the private sector. Her most recent position is as Marketing and Communications Manager for the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. SRG Zentralschweiz, a grassroots organization of SRG SSR for the six cantons of Central Switzerland, has 4'000 members.
 

Nevertheless, the election poster is and remains the means of choice; it virtually imposes itself on the person driving or walking past. Big heads and empty phrases dominate. Is this the way to win over the electorate?

Even if they don't please, they still catch the eye. In this type of media, beauty is not primarily in the eye of the beholder. It is other criteria that count. The creators ask themselves questions such as: What catches the eye? What is the eye-catcher of the poster? What emotions are to be aroused? Which people or objects are depicted - opponents, victims, affiliates, enemy images or heroic figures? Are symbols used? Which colors (party colors?) dominate? How long is the text? What type of text is used - information, argument, slogan, appeal? What is the text/image ratio? And: What political and social attitudes does the poster illustrate? What is the intention? What fears, hopes are to be addressed or aroused, what overall impression is to be achieved? Aggressive, dramatizing, dynamic, arguing, caricaturing?

Poster design is demanding, especially under the maxim that wants to be fulfilled: "reduce to the max". In the past, political protagonists of all stripes smiled or threatened mainly from Litfasssäulen, the pillar-like poster sites that are no longer often seen in Switzerland. It was different in the thirties, especially in Germany. Adolf Nazi blotted these pillars all over with his propaganda messages. They were an important aggregate in Goebbel's arsenal of agitation. And unfortunately, they worked. Unfortunately, very much so.

In the age of social media

Although the advertising media and the communication channels available have changed considerably, the election poster continues to play its significant role in the parties' campaigns. This year, for example, potential winners and losers smiled and smiled at passers-by or motorists at the cantonal and national level. Heretical question: Is this advertising still in keeping with the times? In the age of social media?

The new channels have gained in importance, no doubt about it: Facebook, Twitter & Co. allow a more selective target group approach. However, experts are certain that these channels alone will not win a pot of gold, let alone an election campaign. However, in the right combination with other media, they can have an impact, especially with younger voters. And, importantly and correctly, social media can be used to spread personal election recommendations - recommendations from acquaintances and friends in personal exchanges are just as effective, if not more effective, than the posters on the side of the road and on the cemetery wall.

But because many voters have nothing to do with electronic media, the posters remain red-hot. Not least because these posters can now be produced quickly and cost-effectively in small and medium runs using modern printing technologies (digital printing, inkjet) and reprinted "on demand" when the situation demands it. Situation? Vandals! In fact, all parties, regardless of color, have had to replace many of their posted posters this year, defaced, torched or simply removed by vandals. Even a complaint "against unknown" does not help. Nor is poster abstinence the solution, because, according to a spokesman for the SP, posters are still the most efficient way to reach voters.

Topics or heads?

Media journalist and local politician Ueli Custer is ambivalent about answering this question: "It would be highly interesting to find out what exactly works. A suitable body should be commissioned to investigate this question in a study - what message do voters take with them, what attracts them, what repels them? For example, in one particular year we did nothing at all in terms of advertising - and the candidate won the seat. Another year, again, we did a lot of advertising - and the candidate came up empty. In order to attract attention, it is certainly important to provoke, to polarize. It also always raises the question: how do we advertise, with issues or heads?"

Custer emphasizes that the SVP has the most experience in this regard. The posters of this party are often mediatized. The advertising impact (whether negative or positive) is thus greatly increased. The credo of the agency commissioned with the project: "Campaigns that don't elicit a reaction from the target group are a waste of money. Custer still rates the poster as an economic medium in the election campaign, especially at "wild" poster sites. The others are hardly affordable anymore, he says. Social media and messages on the Internet, on the other hand, are "obscure" for him, are above all the channels of the young parties.

Authenticity as a success factor

In the St. Gallen cultural magazine "Saiten", Ralph Hug described the development of an election poster for Paul Rechsteiner (campaign of 2011 for the seat in the Council of States). "The election was considered a sensation at the time. Was Rechsteiner elected because of the unusual poster? Certainly not. But the poster expressed, in terms of design, the alternative that his candidacy was to represent politically. How did this poster come about? Rechsteiner's team set some goals at the beginning. The most important was that the poster had to fit the candidate's profile. It shouldn't look gimmicky, but should radiate authenticity." The designer Jonas Voegeli, who created the poster, broke the rules and focused on the typography. In doing so, he created a contrast to the person-heavy mainstream graphics.

Dazzling puzzle piece in the media mix

After a sober examination of the advertising impact of election posters, the heretical question arises as to whether they are of any use at all? They are undoubtedly designed to bring voters closer to the candidates. They set striking accents. In the truest sense of the word, they give politics a face. However, sprawling messages that allow a comprehensive opinion to be formed are simply an impossibility.

However, a central, weighty, profane benefit cannot be denied: Election posters remind us every time we drive or walk past them that elections are coming up. That's what they do, redundantly and memorably!

The conception of the content of an election poster is and remains a great challenge. Good election posters are more than selfies in large format, underpinned with toothless slogans and silly puns. Election posters, although not the supreme discipline in election campaigns - like media relations! -, are often merely numerous instead of witty. They are always a dazzling puzzle piece in the media mix when courting the favor of voters. The annoying wave of the fence post at the side of the road - it still works, as it always has. Even if we are already tired of the lettuce and the toothless slogans after the first glance. Apparently, however, not everyone is. One Twitterer wrote, "Election posters are like butterflies. They're beautiful, but they only live for a few days. And after one election weekend, these manifestos of democracy will disappear from the landscape again." Comforting, isn't it?

Claude Bürki is an editorial contributor to various trade journals and co-editor of the Swiss online packaging newsletter "pack's! Previously, he worked for many years as an advertising and PR specialist in well-known agencies and global companies,including Burson-Marsteller and Wirz.

In the typical ÖKK illustration style, the subjects emphasize classic ÖKK core values such as customer proximity, reliability, and fairness. For example, the motif shows an advisor who goes off the deep end and leaves a family in the lurch. Lassitis, a disease that does not exist at ÖKK.

The second subject shows a family hiking, in keeping with the autumn season. Because hiking with the family is the latest trend. But those who want to go high as a family have to dig deep into their pockets. As the number one health insurance for families, ÖKK is therefore sending twelve families on a hiking vacation for four days each. Those who have long wanted to experience an unforgettable hiking trip with the whole family now have the chance to do so until mid-September: at Family hiking.ch. Good luck and have fun over hill, dale and river!

Responsible at ÖKK: Sonja Hofstetter, (Head of Marketing Communications), Marion Grünenfelder (Team Leader Campaigns, Marketing Communications), Sergio Michel (Marketing Communications Assistant), Cornelia Tomaschett (Marketing Communications Assistant). Responsible at Advico Y&R (Member of Y&R Group Switzerland): Markus Gut (CCO), Swen Morath (CD), Susanne Weeber (AD), Natasa Maricic (text), Sebastian Eppler (graphics), Arlena Adrian, Edi Walker (consulting), Daniel Ganahl (illustration).