Stellenanzeiger Wirz shows Alpha.ch how even underachievers can put their talents to better use. 
Challenged enough at work or already a candidate for Alpha? A wide-ranging survey of Swiss executives at the beginning of 2007 revealed an interesting fact: by far the most frequently cited reason for dissatisfaction in the workplace is a lack of challenge. For Wirz and Alpha, the No. 1 Swiss platform for management jobs on the Internet, this result became the hook for their advertising. They didn't want to work with the status arrogance so often seen in communication in this segment, nor did they want to dramatize the status symbols that were once considered cool but are now outdated.
The solution to this advertising balancing act, in which the ads have to be tough enough to entice people away but still remain nice to the bosses placing the ads, was sought in the realm of intelligent humor. The subjects are based on the realization that ambitious people in unsatisfactory work situations do not simply surrender to office sleep, but live out their ambition in a different way.
The campaign was conceived by CD Thomas Kurzmeyer and AD Andrea Reinhart, implemented in two TV commercials with Markenfilm Schweiz and director Andreas Hoffmann as well as in three print motifs with Dutch photographer Arthur Mebius. Incidentally, the backdrop for the modern office in the glass house was not the imposing Wirz building, but PricewaterhouseCoopers in Oerlikon.
Andreas Panzeri

 
Annual reports Bilanz and a HarbourClub jury put the best annual reports on the podium. 
In most companies, work on the next annual report is already in full swing. Countless meetings are held to discuss how it should be structured, which photo concept should be followed and what should be presented, which data it should contain, which design concept and scope are appropriate - and so on. The overriding question is always: What do the users of our report want?
For the first time this year, a jury has been created for the overall assessment of the best Swiss annual reports, which includes professional users of annual reports alongside the presidents of the design and value reporting juries. They come from the fields of auditing, journalism, corporate communications and business communications. These people are able to say what customers expect from a report, what makes it good or bad overall. We have therefore filtered out the ten most important criteria that must be fulfilled for a good annual report from their discussion. The order of the criteria below is arbitrary and says nothing about their relative importance. In practice, they are closely interlinked anyway.
A good annual report ...1. ... discusses the businessThe discussion of the company's own business is the real purpose of an annual report. Some companies do this particularly well. "In the case of Novartis, it was impressive how the company was able to place its own business in a larger context," says Gaby Tschofen, Head of Corporate Communications at Barry Callebaut, praising the pharmaceutical multinational's report. For example, a text about the pharmaceutical giant's blood pressure therapy begins with a numerical overview of the global extent of the problem of high blood pressure. In the case of the winner Straumann, Tschofen is impressed by the dental implant manufacturer's explicit approach to the issue of product safety, which is particularly vital for a medical company. Despite the refreshing texts and images, the company succeeded in maintaining the seriousness required for this business. Journalist Anne-Marie Nega-Ledermann sees another example of Nestlé's successful communication of its own business in the report on water management that accompanies the food multinational's annual report: "The report shows the problems that arise worldwide in this area and ventures a look into the future." At the same time, Nestlé uses the example of water to explain its business principles in a comprehensible way. A good annual report must not present the company's profession in an uninspired way. It needs more: the report should arouse interest in the business or ideally even inspire.
2. ... conveys the corporate values and cultureIn addition to the business, an annual report should also convey the values of the company and its culture. Although this is closely linked to the communication of the business itself, it deserves a point of its own, as the discussion has shown. Peter Vetter, Chairman of the Design Commission, praises Migros' "unconventional report", for example, because it is "extremely coherent with the values and corporate philosophy" of the two-million-member cooperative. It is very understandable that the report is aimed specifically at a younger audience: "This audience will determine the future of Migros."
The report by tour operator Kuoni also praises the values shown: "With its very appealing image concept, the company has not only captured the focus of tourists and shown beautiful beaches," emphasizes communications specialist Andreas Jäggi, "the company has also shown sensitivity and respect for the foreign cultures to which it offers trips." The explicit presentation of the basic ethical attitude and so-called corporate citizenship in the texts of second-placed Novartis also came off very well: "Many others are still lacking something similar," points out Professor Rudolf Volkart, President of the Value Reporting jury.
3. ... is credibleAn annual report can be well written, proclaim ethical principles and have a hip design: If readers do not recognize the company behind it, the report is still bad because it is not credible. What credibility means, on the other hand, is shown by the statement made by Gaby Tschofen about the orange giant: "This is Migros as I know it, as it strongly corresponds to my own impression of the company." In its design, language and information, the Migros annual report bears witness to the people-oriented and people-owned company that this cooperative group ultimately is. Tschofen added that Kuoni is less exemplary because the travel company's report does not adequately address the internal changes of the past year, "although the company has really been shaken up". Credibility therefore includes addressing significant events in a company's financial year, even if they are unpleasant.
4. ... introduces peopleAn annual report should not only convey business and data, but also bring the people who are related to the company closer - such as employees or customers. If they are depicted or represented appropriately, the company is communicated particularly effectively. This criterion also emerged in several votes during the debate on various reports. "SBB makes a noticeable effort to respond to its own employees, which I particularly liked in addition to the successful discussion of strategy in the report." Philipp Hallauer, Chairman of the Board of Directors of KPMG Switzerland, commented. Nestlé is mentioned as a negative example. Peter Vetter, president of the design jury, regrets that the food multinational's report once again looks more like a "product catalog". As recently as 2005, the company emerged as the overall winner of the balance sheet rating - partly because it had succeeded extremely well at the time in using employee portraits to convey an impression of how international and in how many cultures the multinational is active.
It is also important how the management is presented - and that those responsible appear early on in the report. The fact that the CEO of St. Galler Kantonalbank, for example, is only introduced on page 56 of the report is not well received by the expert jury.
5. ... arouses emotionsThe discussion always revolves around the feelings an annual report triggers in a jury member. In particular, the overall winner Straumann was clearly praised by everyone on the basis of this criterion. Every few pages in the first part of the report there is a full-page picture of a smiling face of a man or woman. The teeth are clearly visible each time. The way in which the dental implant manufacturer is able to arouse sympathy for its business among readers is very well received: "They have succeeded in creating a tangible link between the product and its significance for human life," says Andreas Jäggi.
"This approach is ingenious," comments Philipp Hallauer. No one sees it differently. The Novartis report is also praised for its emotional content, especially because of the images of illnesses: "The cover image alone is so emotionally powerful, it almost overwhelms you," says Gaby Tschofen. In contrast, the report by SBB, which came third in the overall rating, was criticized. Here, the emotional communication of the core business shows shortcomings: "The joy of travel hardly comes across," criticizes Andreas Jäggi. The report is too technical.
6. ... is comprehensibleAn annual report should be easy to understand for a wide audience and especially for those who are not familiar with the special features or complexities of a company. How well this has been achieved is also the subject of much discussion in the jury's assessment of the reports. SBB, in particular, was praised: "This public company presented a very transparent and easy-to-read report," emphasized Peter Vetter. "The examples of SBB and Migros show how highly complex topics can be communicated well." Vetter sees the Novartis report as a contrast to this: "The information is too complex, anyone who really needs the data will get it elsewhere and doesn't need this book."
However, the jury is not unanimous on this point. Andreas Jäggi vehemently disagrees with Peter Vetter: "The Novartis report is written in good language and is very easy to read; even the figures section is well explained, even for non-experts." There is agreement that good readability is a key criterion.
7. ... is a pleasure to read "You either read an annual report like a book, or you can't consume it," says Peter Vetter. Overall winner Straumann scored particularly well in this criterion: "This report starts to communicate with me right from the cover, and the text in the report also captivates you," says Gaby Tschofen. "Even the first few pages decide whether you want to read on." Migros also scores particularly well in terms of reading enjoyment: "You could read this annual report on the train for sheer pleasure and also enjoy looking at the pictures," enthuses Andreas Jäggi.
8. ... gets to the pointAn annual report is a pleasure to read, especially if it is not unnecessarily pompous. In this respect, Novartis was criticized in the debate, although its report was ultimately voted second best. "The wealth of information that comes at the reader here is like a hammer," criticizes Rudolf Volkart. "Many people will capitulate to documents with such a large scope and level of detail." The SBB report and Straumann's report, on the other hand, are particularly praised for their short and targeted texts. Anne-Marie Nega-Ledermann would have liked the Novartis report to have been divided into several sub-reports, but this met with little approval: "Everything in a single book is better," comments Phillip Hallauer. This opinion is shared by the vast majority of the jury members. The fact that Nestlé wrote its own book on water management to accompany the report caused some to shake their heads: After all, the water business is part of Nestlé's core business. By splitting it into several reports, a company makes it difficult for readers to clearly recognize the core messages.
9. ... can be read from any point in the textA good annual report also depends on how well it is organized and structured: Philipp Hallauer has words of praise for the reports from Straumann and Novartis: "With both, you clearly know where you are within the annual report on every page." Important for this are headers or footers on each page that refer to the chapter and possibly even - as with Novartis - to the chapters before and after. But other elements can also be helpful, as the example of Novartis also highlights: "Each major chapter is introduced very well and clearly," says Gaby Tschofen. The fact that Novartis summarizes the most important points in a box highlighted in yellow at the beginning of each chapter is also well received: "If you read these short texts, you've already got the gist of it," she says.
10. ... also depends on the companyThe judgment of an annual report also depends on the conditions under which it is prepared. These can be related to the size of the company and the resources available. This is clearly evident in the assessment of Straumann's report: "The fact that a company the size of an SME has produced such a good report is particularly impressive," says Professor Volkart. Peter Vetter expresses it not much differently: "The fact that this small company can achieve such quality would be reason alone for an award." The difference in size between Straumann and Novartis, for example, is indeed striking: the dental implant manufacturer employs 1,500 people, Novartis over 100,000.
The complexity of the business to be presented can be a difficulty when creating an annual report. Straumann also scored points in this respect - arousing interest in dental implants is more challenging than advertising the products of a travel agency such as Kuoni.
One challenge that companies with previous successful annual reports in particular face is to maintain the high level. Last year's surprises are no longer a draw this year, but care must be taken to ensure that the report follows on from previous years. Peter Vetter puts it this way: "A company must give its reports consistency and yet continue to develop them." It will be interesting to see how Straumann, Novartis, SBB and others will accomplish this task next year.
Markus Diem Meier
These are the best annual reportsOverall rating1. Straumann
2. novartis
3. SBB
Category Design1. Valora
2. SBB
3. migros
Category Value Reporting1. UBS
2. roche
3 Thurgauer Kantonalbank

 
Trade fair During the last event, more than two thirds of all exhibiting companies were in favor of shortening Paperworld to four days. From 2009, the fair will therefore be held over four days with a new sequence of days from Saturday to Tuesday. With the additional change in the sequence of days, Messe Frankfurt will continue to offer national and international buyers two consecutive days to visit and place orders, despite the shortened duration of the fair. The dates for Paperworld 2009 have already been set: Saturday, January 31 to Tuesday, February 3, 2009.

The Ruf Lanz agency has prepared a guerrilla campaign for Hiltl with a big ladle. The vegetarian restaurant in Zurich has come up with a new specialty: In the Hiltl cooking studio, groups of 15 to 20 people can cook for themselves in a relaxed atmosphere, accompanied by the Hiltl chefs. Afterwards, you can enjoy the meal together and invite friends to join you. Ruf Lanz is promoting this offer with a guerrilla campaign to get Zurich cooking: Oversized cooking ladles have been placed in numerous fountains, so that the fountains suddenly look like woks, bowls or soup bowls. The clouds of steam come from dry ice cream. A sticker informs the puzzled passers-by: "Zurich is cooking. At the Hiltl cooking studio. www.hiltl.ch".
Responsible at Hiltl House:
Rolf Hiltl. Responsible at Ruf Lanz: Danielle Lanz, Markus Ruf (Creative Direction), Lorenz Clormann (Art Direction), Torsten Maas (Text), Michèle Leibacher, Gian-Marco Juon (Consulting).

The cities of Berne, Basel and Zurich want to put a stop to the proliferation of distribution boxes for free newspapers. Instead, a collection box system similar to a letterbox system is planned, where each newspaper will have its own but uniformly designed compartment. As reported by the Bund, this decision was made at a meeting of representatives from the cities of Zurich, Bern and Basel. There are various reasons why those responsible are annoyed by the now numerous newspaper boxes: they all differ in shape and color and would thus impair the cityscape and the work of the cleaning services. Their anchoring in the asphalt also destroyed the road surface. The city association is responsible for the design of the planned collection box system. The costs for construction and installation, however, are to be borne by the newspaper publishers. "They currently pay an annual fee of 500 francs for each box," Beat Hofer, deputy head of Bern's civil engineering inspectorate, told the federal government. "Whether the new stands can be financed via this fee or whether the costs are to be paid separately has not yet been decided." But the timetable is clear: the collection boxes are to be installed in a year's time.

The use of such a newspaper box collection stand is also planned in Basel, as Raffael Poller, deputy head of the urban design department for public spaces, told Werbewoche when asked. "A prototype is currently being developed in Zurich. It is an unfinished system with a heavy but mobile base. The required number of boxes can be hung in it," said Poller. His department in Basel has been tasked with developing a "functionally and aesthetically satisfactory" solution for the newspaper boxes. It will be based on the concept from Zurich, but its own attempt still has to be approved by the cityscape commission. Once this has been done, the publishers of the free newspapers will be contacted. The concept should be available at the beginning of 2008.

 The online edition of 20 Minuten is following suit and expanding its TV offering on the web: While the daily program "Blickpunkt" has been available on Blick Online since yesterday, the commuter newspaper now offers a weather show online. A people program is also in the pipeline and is due to be launched at the beginning of November. Like the existing news programs on 20minuten.ch, the new formats will flicker across the screen in a new multimedia player, which the crew has been working on recently.
The weather show will be hosted by Peter Wick and updated twice a day. The planned people show will feature Swiss celebrities as well as international stars and starlets - so Britney Spears will also appear alongside Baschi. "We rarely have moving images of Swiss celebrities. Then we have to work with virtual animations of photos," explained Peter Wälty, head of the online editorial team, to Werbewoche.
The program will consist of both in-house work and film material from various agencies. "We will certainly send our own team to major national events such as the Miss Switzerland competition," says Wälty. It is not yet clear whether a presenter will lead through the program or whether a voice-over will provide commentary.
A mix of in-house productions and agency material also determines the existing range of web TV programs on 20 Minuten. The newsflash, which 20 Minuten updates three times a day, is produced by the online editorial team itself. Other contributions are bought in from Reuters.
Wälty does not believe that TV programs will replace text articles on his news site in the future: "TV formats are expensive to produce and therefore take longer to produce. But speed is a killer criterion on the Internet," says the online boss. In future, he and his team want to focus primarily on interaction and networking. "Instead of trying to copy traditional television, we want to exploit the possibilities of the Internet: A text contribution can be enriched with a commented 15-second spot, a program can be linked with commentary functions, dossiers or a survey".
The fact that Blick Online, still the most visited media site in Switzerland, is now also doing web TV doesn't seem to worry Wälty too much: "We would basically welcome it if we finally had a real competitor". In terms of orientation and target audience, they are in a similar segment, "but I often find the weighting of Blick Online difficult to understand: Now, on Tuesday lunchtime, the top news item on Blick.ch is 'Hugging banned at US schools'. Meanwhile, we open with 'Bomb alert in Basel', which is somehow more relevant for the reader". The entire relaunch of Blick Online obviously doesn't make too much of an impression on Wälty: "It's very pleasing that Blick has apparently been completely freed of annoying advertising to celebrate the launch. But all in all: a new hose for old wine. What's more, some of it looks familiar from somewhere else."
Wälty is more interested in the competition that will soon be coming from his own company: The Tages-Anzeiger wants to set up an online news network together with the Basler Zeitung and the Berner Zeitung. "If you add up their individual users, you already have a relatively high reach," said Wälty. "However, it remains to be seen how the market will actually behave," said Wälty. He could not yet estimate whether the three sites with the bundled reach would be attractive for the advertising market.

 
In this year's annual report rating 2007 of the business magazine Bilanz, Eclat was able to secure top positions with two of its reports. In the overall evaluation, the annual report of the Basel-based dental implant manufacturer Straumann took first place, and in the design ranking, that of the Zurich-based retailer Jelmoli Holding reached fourth place. According to a media release, Annett Wolters, Corporate Communication at Straumann, emphasized at the awards ceremony the comprehensive support provided by the Erlenbach-based agency for brand consulting and communication design. The "ingenious approach," according to jury member Philipp Hallauer, made hearty, honest laughter the theme. In response, jury member Gaby Tschofen told Bilanz, "This report starts communicating with me right on the cover." For the 2007 annual reports, Eclat won two new mandates: Conzzeta and Basellandschaftliche Kantonalbank have chosen Eclat.

 
Neue Lgk Kommunikation has launched a campaign for Greenpeace to raise awareness of the issue of climate change and provide electoral support for citizens. The campaign specifically brings the names of politicians into play who are to be won over to the climate treaty and publishes the names of those who have signed it. Because, as the communication states, which politician can afford not to sign the climate treaty in the face of melting glaciers and polar ice caps? Greenpeace Switzerland wants to ensure that on the weekend of October 20/21, voters only elect politicians who have signed the climate treaty launched by Greenpeace and have thus committed themselves to protecting the climate. According to Greenpeace, it is up to the next parliament to decide whether climate change can still be slowed down, and the campaign will be promoted with advertisements, banners and guerrilla measures such as stickers and text leaflets. The website Klimawahl.ch, launched by Greenpeace, serves as a further source of information, where all the information comes together.
Responsible Client:
Markus Allemann (Campaign Manager) Responsible Agency:
André Benker, Hans Tanner (CD), Reto Schild (AD), Dominic Beyeler (graphics & web design), Lukas Schmid (text), Sibel Erisik (consulting).films for websites (including 20Minuten) and e-boards in Zurich and Bern main stations:

Displays:

Baselcitystudios combines a recording studio with the production of radio and television commercials. This year, the company is celebrating its fifth anniversary. The Oswald Siegfried advertising agency (OSW) has marked the occasion with a campaign that dramatizes the "five years" theme. Advertisements and radio spots are being used. Responsible at Baselcitystudios:

Guy Blattmann and Philipp Steiner (management). Responsible at Oswald Siegfried Werbeagentur (OSW): Michael Oswald (Art Director), Nadine Siegfried (Consultant), René Fisch (Text).

 
The Zurich agency TBS Identity launched a subscription campaign for the Lucerne Theater at the start of the season. The campaign started with a banner stretched across the façade of the Lucerne Theaterhaus offering the building for sale. According to a press release issued on Tuesday, the intention was to reinforce this small provocation with a similar advertisement in the real estate supplement of the Luzerner Zeitung. The subsequent poster series, on the other hand, is intended to focus more on the product: theater as a place of emotions, intense moments and entertaining reflection.
Responsible Lucerne Theater: Dominique Mentha (Director), Judith Bachmann (Head of Public Relations and Media). Responsible agency:
Michael Schädelin (consulting/text), Daniel Leber (CD), Kathrin Sommer (project management), Nadia Ermert (polygraphy).

 Espace Media Groupe is now officially part of Zurich-based Tamedia. The takeover of 80 percent of the shares was completed on Monday. The consequences of the merger have not yet been clarified. The new organizational structure of Tamedia will be decided by the end of the year, said company spokesman Christoph Zimmer on Tuesday. The future cooperation in the service sector will then be defined.
In addition to the completion of the takeover, Tamedia also carried out a capital increase on Monday, the company spokesperson confirmed to SDA in a report by the Reuters news agency. The 600,000 new shares are expected to be listed on the Swiss stock exchange on Wednesday. The capital increase was approved at an extraordinary general meeting at the end of June.

For a long time, the news presenters at Tele M1 and TeleTell were women. Now the two stations are presenting a new, male face. David Kaufmann will present the news program "Aktuell" from October 7. The 24-year-old has been working as a video journalist for Tele M1 and TeleTell since the middle of the year. David Kaufmann worked for Radio Sunshine from 2005 to 2007. There he learned the editorial trade and hosted the morning show, among other things. Kaufmann replaces Sara Bachmann, who hosted the "Aktuell" program for a good four years. In addition to her job as presenter of "Sara macht`s", she will also take over the management of the talk show. According to a statement from the broadcaster, she is therefore saying goodbye to the daily news program "Aktuell".