Sobu is the recommendation platform of Swiss Post. It works on the principle of "buy - share - profit". As a registered user, you can earn money every time you make a purchase through recommendations by sharing the online purchases you have made on your social networks. When friends store at the same online store, you get a credit. As a rule, this is 5-10 percent, with each store determining the amount of the credit individually.

A business idea with potential

Sobu has been around for almost three years. But until now, almost no one knew about the platform. "Last year, we had an awareness level of 0.6 percent - even though we are the largest recommendation platform in Switzerland with 120 stores and the business idea is ingenious," Roberto D'Elia, Head of Sobu at Swiss Post, is convinced. "True, neither peer-to-peer nor affiliate nor cash back is anything new," he admits, "but this is the first time these three trends are being combined in Switzerland, and social media is also being incorporated." A gfs survey last year showed that the business idea, with 1.2 million users, actually had more potential than it was currently exploiting. "That led us to launch a broad-based campaign across all channels instead of communicating exclusively through the online channel, as we have done in the past. We also want to reach these 1.2 million users," says D'Elia.

Real ambassadors

The advertising agency was commissioned with the first major advertising campaign for Sobu across all channels. "The challenge was to explain the complex, innovative product in a campaign," says Creative Director Frederick Rossmann, describing the initial situation. "You can't avoid describing the entire Journey - but how do you do that? We finally had the idea of working with real ambassadors who use the platform themselves. These demonstrate the huge potential of social media for Sobu on- and offline during the course of the campaign."

Casting à la DSDS

The first phase of the multi-stage campaign started back in May 2015, when ambassadors for Sobu were sought via online channels and print ads. Over 300 people put themselves forward for the public vote. 30 of them were then invited to a live casting in the second stage to prove their talent as ambassadors. "A celebrity jury, which included The Bachelorette's Frieda, got to grips with the participants à la Dieter Bohlen," says Werbeanstalt managing director Reto Dürrenberger. The casting was finally won by Pascal, Nicole, Sandra, Denja and Joël. For them, the battle now goes into the next round. Their goal: to get as many people as possible to shop in the same online stores. The winner will be the one who has earned the most money with Sobu by the beginning of December.

Films as the centerpiece

The five ambassadors are now getting a lot of support. The nationwide campaign for Sobu was launched on Thursday. At the heart of the campaign are five TV commercials - one for each ambassador. They can be seen throughout Switzerland on the country's largest TV stations. The advertising agency has tailored the five spots specifically to the five ambassadors: dancing, singing or shouting, in them they take their posts out into the real (offline) world to really promote their online purchases. "The surprising thing is that the people in the spots are not actors. They are absolutely real. What they show in the spots, they have also done in real life," Rossmann emphasizes.

"The ambassadors are now responsible for the micro-campaign, so to speak," explains the creative director. To this end, they have a Facebook profile, which makes them public figures (so they get celebrity status), and a small budget for further advertising measures. In addition, they can rely on the support of the advertising agency: The agency's experts advise them when needed. "However, there is no compulsion to discuss measures with us. The ambassadors are free to design their own campaign as they wish. In return, they receive a small sack money from us," says Dürrenberger.

There is hardly any spamming

Do you like real friends spamming you with ads? No - but that doesn't happen either, D'Elia assures: "We can rely entirely on the customers for that. They are selective about what they post. Because otherwise they quickly have no friends and thus no way of earning money. Experience shows that customers share a maximum of 2-3 products from a shopping cart of 10. If they share, it has a high impact for that."

The campaign will last until the beginning of December 2015, and whoever has earned the most money by then will emerge as the winner and be paid ten times their winnings. The cash back is a central element of Sobu. However, the ambassadors' main motivation is probably not the money, but the publicity. How else do you get your own TV commercial?
 

The scientific analysis shows that the quality on the entry pages of Watson.ch is above average compared to the online arena. The news site is positioned between the national quality sites and the news sites of the free and tabloid press. Blickamabend.ch on the other hand, recorded its lowest quality score since the implementation of quality scoring in 2010, falling behind even Blick.ch in terms of quality. These results are presented in a Brief report from the as yet unpublished 2015 yearbook. 

The jury members for the Eurobest Festival of Creativity, which will take place December 1-3, 2015 at the Arenberg Theater in Antwerp, Belgium, have now been announced. Jury members from Switzerland are Dennis Lück, FCB Zurich in the Film, Print and Print & Poster Craft category, Samuel Textor, Freundliche Grüsse Zurich in the Direct category, Christian Haas, Raffinerie Zurich in the Design category, François-Louis Noel, M&C Saatchi Geneva in the Creative Effectiveness category and Annette Häck, Rod Kummunikation Zurich in the Healthcare category.

The "Eurobest Festival of Creativity" will welcome jury members from all over Europe from December 1 to 3, 2015, who will evaluate and award the best European creative works. The overview with all jurors and jury presidents are here available for download. Further information on the three-day festival can be found at Eurobest.com. The deadline for submission of works has been postponed to October 9, 2015. 

Banners lead to the microsite Three Million Readers.ch. And those who look closely there will not only discover interesting target groups, but can also win attractive prizes - if they find the few non-readers who have snuck in. The online campaign runs on advertising and marketing portals.

Responsible at Migros Media: Rolf Hauser (Publishing Director), Patrick Rohner (Head of Media and Marketing Services), Theresa Wuitz (Marketing Manager Online). Responsible at Leo Burnett: Vanessa Mermoud, Anna Leudolph, Fabian Windhager (creation), David Fischer, Pablo Schenke (CD), Isabelle Meier, Ingrid Zumkehr (consulting), Erasmo Palomba (art buying); Cut-Up (film production), Gregor Brändli (direction), adresult (programming).
 

Anyone who enters the number of the pick-up invitation on the Swiss Post website or scans the printed QR code with their cell phone via the Swiss Post app can decide for themselves when and where they want to pick up the missed item.

To communicate this service, Swiss Post carried out a live action on the weekend of September 5 and 6. Thirty converted postal parcels drove through Lucerne's busy city center in search of their recipients. They rolled nimbly past the feet of passers-by (piloted by 30 professional model car drivers).

Thanks to a large selection of prepared gifts, random people could be suitably surprised - the packages stopped in front of them, opened and handed over flowers for lovers or bones for dogs.

The spontaneous reactions were captured on film:

Responsible at Post Logistics: Ruth Mathias (Head of Communications), Martin Gonzenbach (Head of Marketing and Online Communications), Monika Dellenbach (Online Manager Marketing Communications). Responsible at Jung von Matt: Alexander Jaggy (Executive Creative Direction), Pablo Schencke (Creative Direction), Alain Eicher (Text), Marco Dettling, Roman Meister, Roman Mösli (Consulting), Deborah Herzig (Art Buying). External partners: Simon Nagel (direction), Valentin Altorfer (props), White Horse Music (music).
 

Consumers spent a total of CHF 13 billion on media and entertainment. The Swiss market therefore grew more strongly last year than in 2013 (+2.7%). And the outlook apparently remains intact: According to the study by PWC Switzerland, growth of 2.2% to CHF 13.3 billion is expected for the current year.

In the current year, the TV and print markets will suffer the most from the strong franc, according to a press release issued by the company on Friday. Cinema, cinema advertising and the film business (filmed entertainment) are expected to continue to decline, but digital sales are likely to increase. The consultants also expect an annual growth rate of 2.2 percent for the following years. In 2019, turnover is therefore likely to rise to CHF 14.6 billion.

As the consumption of content is much more important to users than owning it, platforms that aggregate content, streaming and subscription models continue to gain ground, the study states. According to PWC, the producers of content - whether games, films, music, newspaper articles or magazine features - are thus taking a back seat and have to find their market position anew. For media companies, this means that cross-format competition is growing with every digitalization push - especially from sectors outside the industry.

According to the consultancy firm, networking is the key to the further development of the entire industry and offers huge potential for existing platforms - across all media and on all devices. Games, music, films, articles from various newspapers and magazines, accessible on one platform, are currently the preferred way of using media.

 

The same situation can be perceived very differently by several people. This is true, for example, of the room temperature: if it is just pleasant for one person, it is already in the red zone for another. The 4-zone temperature control system advertised in this poster campaign helps to prevent disputes about heating while driving. (sis)

"Mom, I'm thinking about moving out."
"Where to?"
"Why?"
"Can I have your bedroom?"

"Grandma will be staying with us for a while."
"When?"
"Why?"
"How long?"

"I broke up with Kate."
"Man, I'm sorry."
"It was about time."
"Is her number still the same?"

 

Swisscow 2015 is opening its doors these days. The three-day festival will also celebrate the 125th anniversary of the organizer, the Swissherdbook cattle breeding association. Swisscow 2015 offers a rich program with cattle breeding competitions, a farmers' market, brunch and many show acts.

One highlight is the award ceremony for the winning entries in a short film competition. The only condition for participation: the protagonist of the film must be a cow. Republica was commissioned by Swissherdbook to design and shoot the viral clip to promote the competition. The Bern-based creative agency was able to recruit a particularly ambitious actress for the leading role in the film.

The short clip was used as a viral and online film in the run-up to Swisscow 2015. In addition to the film, Republica also created the key visual, the competition platform and other measures to promote the event.

Responsible at Swissherdbook: Ursula Gautschi (Head of Communications), Simon Langenegger (Project Manager). Responsible at Republica: Marge Fellerer (Creative Direction) Andreas Szentkuti, Daniel Kunz, Sebastian Kenney (Script and Text), Tom Wyss (Consulting), Cheese & Chocolate Film (Production), Martina Lory (Voice of Marylin).

 

 

She will move from Radio SRF 3 to television at the beginning of next year and, after a familiarization phase, will take over from Gianluca Galgani, who is returning to "Rundschau".

Simona Caminada grew up in the Surselva region of the Grisons Oberland, where she completed her schooling up to A-levels. This was followed by a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism, communication and film studies at the University of Zurich. She then went on to study at the University of Hamburg and the MAZ Media Training Center in Lucerne, graduating with a Master of Arts in Journalism in 2012.

Simona Caminada gained her first journalistic experience at the Romansh daily newspaper "La Quotidiana". The 29-year-old made her debut at SRF at the end of 2009 as part of internships in media relations and on the editorial team of "Tagesschau". From mid-2011, Simona Caminada worked in various positions at SRF Radio. She first worked as an editor at "Regionaljournal Zürich Schaffhausen". She later moved to Radio SRF 3 as a reporter, where she has also been helping to shape the background magazine "Input" as a presenter and editor since October 2014.

 

For 150 years now, Henniez has been a part of everyday life for all Swiss people: at work, with friends, with their families, whether they’re working hard or relaxing, and as they experience moments of joy, big and small. This mineral water accompanies the Swiss in their successes, both now and in the future.

The brand and the agency chose Alejandro Toledo as the director to depict scenes from life in today's successful Switzerland. The film will air on TV and online this fall.

Responsible at Henniez: Detlef Schattner (Director of Sales & Marketing), Christophe Kienberger (Senior Brand Manager), Natacha Kemball (Brand Manager). Contact at M&C Saatchi: Olivier Girard (Creative Director), Bérengère Hours (Art Director), David von Ritter (Copywriter), Francesco Solari (TV Producer), Fanny Rannaud (Account Manager), Chloe Rioux (Junior Account Manager), François-Louis Noël (Strategic Planning). Production: Edith Films.

Bakom is very pleased with this, says spokeswoman Caroline Sauser. Although no specific figures have been given as a target, the registration applications received so far show that there is interest in the .swiss extension. Initial fears that the new domain extension might not take off have been allayed. Sauser cannot say which domain is the most contested so far. The launch phase will run until November 9. After that, Bakom will publish a list in which the domains applied for can be viewed - as well as who has submitted a candidacy for the domain in each case.anyone who does not agree with a particular allocation can subsequently get in touch and express an interest in the domain themselves, for example. However, if an application received during the launch phase correlates with a trademark registered in the Trademark Clearinghouse, the trademark owner will certainly receive the corresponding domain, as Sauser says. (SDA)

On the subject:

New domain .swiss: Secure rights?
 

Coveted: Already over a thousand applications for domain extension .swiss

A new, more modern look for Le Temps. As of Thursday, the newspaper offers the following innovations:

Responsive Design Website

Letemps.ch becomes "responsive", i.e. also more readable on mobile devices, and thus offers more reading comfort. The website generally convinces with even more diversified content. The new layout focuses on images, videos and animated infographics.

Increased presence in the social networks

Le Temps is also strengthening its presence on social networks and promoting dialog with its readership. A new blog has also been integrated, providing Le Temps with an attractive platform for interesting debates.

High quality, innovative newspaper

From October 1, Le Temps will be published in a new bundle on weekdays. This gives the editorial team even more flexibility to package current events in an exciting way. The core will be information from politics (national and international), business and culture. These sections will be supplemented with sports, current culture, society and science.

Le Temps Week-end

On Saturday, Le Temps strengthens its offer with Le Temps Week-end. This second bundle will focus on culture and books, as well as other topics such as history, philosophy, private life, education, health, lifestyle, media, gastronomy and travel.