The strong franc and eroding margins are causing problems for many Swiss companies. What scope for action - beyond cost-cutting - do CEOs and entrepreneurs have in these difficult times? Where does the resilience of companies come from that helps them to restructure their business, enforce prices and keep employees on board? The answer: from the brand. The brand, understood as a management system for appreciation and value creation and not as a cosmetic surface, makes Swiss companies robust.

Victorinox - a real stand-up guy

The best example of this is Victorinox. The family business from Ibach SZ is ranked first in Brandtrust's first ever brand resilience study. Victorinox has proven to be a real stand-up guy: After difficult years, the company has transformed itself in recent years into a global brand for watches, clothing and luggage. With high indispensability, a striking price premium, innovation and loyal brand fans, Victorinox is currently the most resilient brand in Switzerland, followed by Lindt, Ricola, Swatch and Migros.

Graphic: The top 10 most resilient Swiss brands

Protective shield against price erosion

Brands increase price assertiveness, customer loyalty and willingness to recommend. "As a result, they act as a protective shield against the strength of the Swiss franc and price erosion," says study author Achim Feige, Partner at Brand Trust. The study shows which ingredients are necessary for this: genuine Swiss values such as cooperative, family, authenticity, closeness to people, excellence in performance, but also innovation and the idea of 'stubborn' resistance to external threats. "Being indispensable in the lives of customers, thereby achieving a price premium and being 'good' for Switzerland - these are the major optimization potentials for CEOs and brand managers who want to make their companies more resilient," Feige concludes. "New names or hollow creative image campaigns without substance are perceived as cosmetics and drive customers to Euroland."

Note: A Swiss brand is a brand that serves end customers in the Swiss market and is relevant in its sector - regardless of where the owner is based. For this reason, important global challengers such as Google were also included in the study.

About the Brand Trust Resilience Index study

Over the past twelve months, Brand Trust has interviewed over 150 CEOs and top decision-makers from 40 industries in Switzerland, Germany and Austria. This formed the basis for determining the criteria of the BrandTrust Resilience Index. On this basis, a total of 20,000 customers and buyers were surveyed on the resilience of 223 brands, including around 5,600 customers and 65 leading brands from 14 market segments in Switzerland. They were not selected solely on the basis of their brand strength. Resilience factors such as future viability and price premium were also important criteria. The study was led by Achim Feige, Partner at Brand Trust.

 

The central element of this communication concept is the eponymous football hub Welovefootball.ch. On this online platform, everything revolves around the topic of football, from top-class sports, popular sports and the promotion of young talent to sports for the disabled. It combines exclusive background stories from the Raiffeisen Super League, provides attractive ticket offers as well as unique football experiences and offers tips and tricks for young talent.
The key theme "Welovefootball.ch" is accordingly carried consistently through the relevant media. TV commercials and billboards referring to the hub and the member benefit are placed in the football-related media and broadcast formats. Here, the agency relies on humor for the creative idea: The emotional topic of football with its so unique passion is to be implemented and transported for once with lightness and a pinch of humor. Print advertisements and online banners flank the measures, while big screens and LED boards bring the message into the stadium.

Responsible at Raiffeisen: Monika Schäfli, Anja Lapcevic, Dieter Graf, André Stöckli. Responsible at Hug & Dorfmüller: Thomas Hug, Christian Dorfmüller, Sämi Roos, Mario Mühlemann, Spot/Film Production: Encore Pictures. Director: LeMob. Music/Composer: Michael Ricar
Photography: Fotosolar. Editing: Mämä Sykora. Illustration/comics: Andreas Lori. Video production: Sportal Group. Web programming: Prime Digital.
 

A moment's carelessness or a minor mishap can quickly turn into a medical emergency. It's good if one of the approximately 30,000 Samaritans is there and can provide first aid with sound know-how. The proceeds from the collection are used for training and further education as well as for the procurement of first aid materials. Three quarters of the collection revenue remains with the Samaritan associations and cantonal associations, where work is largely done on a voluntary basis.

The Aarau-based communications agency Renzen conceived and designed the collection materials. This essentially includes a poster presence, information flyers and a first aid booklet to hand out to donors, as well as other supporting advertising materials.

Responsible at the Swiss Samaritan Federation: Stephan Hoenner (Head of Marketing and Communications), Sarah Berchtold (Project SamSam). Responsible at Renzen Communications: Achim Kaufmann (AD), Patricia Belser (graphics), Dieter Zobrist (consulting), Roland Marti (text).
 

Customers benefit from additional local know-how and networks and thus from more effectively managed campaigns.

The demands on a good campaign are increasing more and more. Today's campaigns must be fast and agile. The trend towards digital communication measures and social media is setting new standards and demands broad-based and integrated campaign concepts. Interaction with the defined target groups - often on site - is still crucial.

Local know-how has a more targeted effect

With a new approach, the Farner agency strengthens this principle. Successful campaigns focus on regional and local conditions and integrate them into an overall strategy. Thanks to regional, professional structures, needs in opinion-forming can be better identified and relevant stakeholders on the ground can be informed in a more targeted manner. Changes that require adjustments to the campaign concept are registered more quickly. Regional bases enable rapid and effective responses.

Farner relies on regional bases

Together with professional partner agencies in the cantons, Farner, the most trusted campaign agency, is breaking new ground and building its own national campaigning network. Roman Geiser, CEO of the Farner agency, is pleased about the new partnerships: "The goal of our campaigning network is to be able to offer, together with our partners, a professional, constant network that can be used in campaign work in a targeted manner and at any time. In doing so, we want to implement processes in campaign work even more effectively and respond to customer wishes and target groups with customized products and services."

Nationwide coverage guaranteed

The Swiss Campaigning Network will be launched this summer. Professional communication service providers from all over Switzerland are involved. Campaigning.farner.ch (audited by Farner for standards/processes), which will work closely with Farner Agency's regional Campaigning Hubs in Zurich, Bern, Lausanne and Geneva. For Roman Geiser, one thing is clear: "The Swiss Campaigning Network enables campaigns that have an impact where decisions are actually made: Locally, in dialog and thus close to the people!"

Celebrities from left to right: Pia Grønning, Christina Hendricks, Oliver Russel, Lucky Blue Smith, Noah Becker, Binx Walton, Caroline de Maigret

With the onset of autumn, the wardrobe also changes - towards clothes that bring many great sides of sharing and passing on. We might buy the same sweater as our best friend, recommend a special jacket to a friend, or lend our gloves to a complete stranger because their hands are colder than ours. With this in mind, the Share Your Style campaign interacts with customers, driven by its own manifesto:

Share.
Show us who you are.
Pick your signature style and make your mark.
Wear your favorites and let friends wear them.
Go ahead post an outfit pic or post a million.
Be an inspiration.
#shareyourstyle

The campaign's unusual mix of diverse famous faces, brings an inspiring variety of personalities to showcase the many different styles Zalando has to offer. Actress Christina Hendricks, musician and artist Noah Becker, model and Instagram star Lucky Blue Smith, French model and author Caroline de Maigret and characterful models such as Pia Grønning, Oliver Russel, Werner Schreyner, Chin Hsi and Binx Walton share their individual styles.

"Together with campaign director Jonas Åkerlund, we wanted to capture the joy of fashion and sharing. In the campaign, we show that fashion is for everyone, from small to big, from classy to pregnancy-ready, from trend items to basics - for young and old. And all these styles can be discovered at Zalando!" says Carsten Hendrich, VP Brand Marketing Zalando.

The Zalando Share Your Style campaign launches on August 30, 2015 in Switzerland, Germany, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, UK, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland. It will be seen on global platforms, print ads and billboards are also planned. On Zalando.de, customers can expect a digitally enhanced campaign on which creative, impactful content can be found continuously, inviting them to share.

A special feature of the platform is the Instant Feedback app. It is made for those moments when friends are not available at the moment to express their opinion about a certain garment. To buy or not to buy? Just share the picture in the Share Your Style community and get instant feedback.

Art Direction: Zalando
Creative Director: Chang Lin (Zalando)
Film Director: Jonas Åkerlund
D.O.P: Pӓr Ekberg
Music: Junip - "Howl
Styling: Susie Coulthard
Executive Producer: Alexander Schild
Post Production: Slaughterhouse
Photographer Stills: Alex Reyes Knight
 

The channel is planned as a full channel with a 24-hour program of films, US series and telenovelas, as the Pro Sieben Sat.1 subsidiary Seven One Media Switzerland announced on Wednesday. There will explicitly be no teleshopping. Instead, primetime will begin daily at 8.00 pm. In future, the channel also wants to focus on Swiss productions. "We already have a great deal of production expertise and a large number of formats that run successfully on Sat.1 or ProSieben Schweiz," said Andrea Haemmerli, Managing Director of Seven One Media Switzerland, in the press release. Puls 8 positions itself as "modern, smart and urban", the statement continues. The core target group is 20 to 49-year-old women and men who run a household. For the media group, the launch of the TV channel is the next logical step in expanding its market share, as it writes. Puls 8 is also a good addition to the channel family in terms of content. (SDA)

It’s bitterly angry, unsettling, and depressing—and, in true Banksy fashion, it holds up a mirror to society: the anti-amusement park Dismaland. «Dismal» means gloomy, grim, and bleak. The street artist opened this art project on August 21 in the English resort town of Weston-super-Mare, in a former water park. The exhibition runs through September 27 and features, in addition to his own creations, works by 58 artists, including Jenny Holzer and Damien Hirst.

The park has sparked worldwide media coverage and is being celebrated online. As always, whenever Banksy does something. The rush for tickets has been correspondingly intense—Dismaland is set to offer 4,000 people a day a bleak form of entertainment. Anyone wanting to buy tickets had to expect long wait times online—in the run-up to the opening it was speculated, the slow Website is part of the exhibition concept. August is completely sold out, which isn’t surprising given that tickets cost 3 pounds. So advertising wouldn’t be necessary at all. Nevertheless, Banksy posted a full-fledged commercial on his YouTube channel on Tuesday. It makes you want to go. (hae)

The operating result (EBIT) fell by well over 30 percent to 8.5 million francs, as detailed in a press release issued by the NZZ Media Group on Wednesday. Sales fell by 2.7 percent to 227.5 million francs, mainly as a result of lower printing revenues. In addition to the persistently difficult environment in commercial printing, the sale of the Appenzeller Druckerei also contributed to the decline in turnover. Added to this is the closure of the Schlieren printing center, which has already resulted in fewer third-party orders being processed.

In the reader market, sales remained stable at CHF 77.5 million. As the number of digital subscriptions developed positively according to the press release, the decline in print subscriptions was almost offset. Income from the advertising market fell by 1 percent to CHF 97.8 million. In the print advertising market, the discontinuation of the minimum euro exchange rate in particular led to a decline in orders. Thanks to the increasing importance of the conference business, other income rose by 2% to CHF 27.6 million.

Total expenses decreased by 1 percent to CHF 219.0 million compared to the same period of the previous year. The decrease was mainly due to lower printing costs, the positive effects of the euro exchange rate in this case and the lower depreciation requirement as a result of the closure of the Schlieren printing center.

As the NZZ Media Group assumes that the print advertising market will continue to decline, it intends to concentrate on its journalistic strengths, as the statement continues. This includes the launch of new products such as the recent NZZ Geschichte, the NZZ Selekt app, the youth newspaper NZZ Toolbox and NZZ.at, the digital pay service in Austria. (SDA)

In his newly created role, Michael Ludewig will take over the management of the Administration, Layout, Producers, Image, Infographics and iPad departments and coordinate their deployment in the Blick Group newsroom. The appointment is part of the current reorganization of the newsroom. The 58-year-old will play a central role in the further development of convergent workflows and the organization of ongoing change processes.

Wolfgang Büchner, Managing Director of the Blick Group, said in a statement: "I am very much looking forward to working with Michael Ludewig. With him, the Blick Group has gained one of the most experienced editorial managers for its digital offensive. In his roles as country office manager, head of domestic operations and head of international operations at the German Press Agency, Ludewig has repeatedly distinguished himself as an excellent organizer of modernization processes. As managing editor in the Blick newsroom, he is the ideal person for me."

Michael Ludewig has worked for dpa since 1997 and has been a member of the editorial team since 2006. He graduated from the Henri Nannen School and then worked for various publications in Germany, including Stern. He is married and has a daughter.

From September 7, 2015, there will be a new internet domain related to Switzerland: .swiss (e.g. www.werbewoche.swiss). However, the previous country domain .ch will remain unchanged. So if you already have a .ch address, you don't need to do anything. Why do you need a .swiss address?

The Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM) is of the opinion that the .swiss domain, in contrast to the .ch domain, is clearly associated with Switzerland. The .ch domain is often confused with China, which is why .swiss is a more suitable marketing instrument or label for the Swiss community.

In order to prevent abusive domain grabbing, at least when the new .swiss domain is introduced, only holders of Swiss trademarks and other legally protected signs in Switzerland, in particular companies, holders of foreign trademarks that have registered in the Trademark Clearinghouse and public bodies, in particular cities and municipalities, can apply to register a .swiss domain for their trademark, company, municipality name, etc. during an initial phase from September 7, 2015 to November 9, 2015. During this first phase, the usual "first come, first served" principle for domain names does not apply. The better law and regulation applies. This means that there is no particular rush for this first group during this first phase. However, it should be noted that if there are several applications for the same domain name at the same time, preference will be given to a trademark registered in the Trademark Clearinghouse. However, this only applies to the first phase until November 9, 2015. In addition, registering a trademark in the Trademark Clearinghouse also has the advantage that you receive information from there if someone somewhere in the world wants to register your trademark as a generic domain name, e.g. under .com, .org, .net, but also new ones such as .web, .sport, .marketing, etc.

From January 11, 2016, anyone will be able to register their Internet address under the new .swiss domain. However, it is still unclear how private individuals and sole proprietorships not registered in the commercial register will obtain a .swiss domain at this time and what criteria OFCOM will apply. The planning seems to be on a rolling basis...

However, the answers to important questions are not yet publicly known shortly before the start of the allocation of the new .swiss domain. For example, only shortly before September 7, 2015, the corresponding website of the Bakom Dot.swiss The Swiss registry has announced which accredited registrars (e.g. Switchplus.ch) can be used to apply for an Internet address under the .swiss domain and how much it will cost to reserve the address.

Nevertheless, it can be said at the moment that the fees based on Bakom's wholesale price of CHF 90 per year will probably be significantly cheaper in relation to any subsequent legal disputes with domain grabbers or others who want to snatch up your own brand or company, so that it is worth taking action in the matter, contacting your own legal service or an external trademark lawyer if necessary and securing the rights, even if a company currently has no specific use for the new .swiss domain.

Ueli GrüterLL.M., attorney-at-law, Grüter Schneider & Partner AG, Zurich/Lucerne, is a lecturer in communications law at the Lucerne University (www.hslu.ch) and co-editor of the book kommunikationsrecht.ch. Gsplaw.ch

Bräm brings many years of experience with her: She worked at the "NZZ am Sonntag", worked part-time as a freelance infographic designer for various media and lectures at the Zurich University of the Arts.

Marina Bräm lives and works in Zurich and Sargans. After graduating from the graphic arts class in Biel, she completed her bachelor's and master's degrees at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) in "Scientific Visualization" and "Erkenntnis-Visualisierung". There she was nominated for the ZHdK Promotion Award with the work "Sektion am Rind".

After working as a graphic designer in various advertising agencies, she specialized in the fields of information visualization and knowledge transfer after completing her master's degree. From 2011, Bräm worked for two years as an infographic artist at the Beobachter and Beobachter Natur and during this phase won 2nd place at the DPA Infographics Award with the infographic "Ice under day".

In January 2013, Bräm moved to NZZ am Sonntag and was responsible for the conception and implementation of large infographics. In the same year, she mentored as a subject expert at the Zurich University of the Arts and taught information graphics/visual storytelling as a subject expert at the Bern-Biel College of Design and at the St. Gallen College of Art, Design and Design. In April 2013, Bräm additionally set up his own business. Clients were companies and institutions from the fields of media, corporate design, NGOs, online marketing, teaching, research and science.

At the Tages-Anzeiger and Sonntagszeitung, Marina Bräm and her team face three challenges as a first step, according to the press release: creating a daily infographic focus for print and online, defining convergent workflows and training staff for them, and revising shapes, fonts and colors as the basis for all infographics.