Hotels.com is one of the many portals through which overnight stays can be booked worldwide. While digital bed brokers are often more of a curse than a blessing for hotels, end customers benefit from transparency and discounts. For example, anyone who has booked ten times with Hotels.com receives a free bonus night in one of the more than 100,000 participating hotels thanks to "Hotels.com Rewards". That's nice, but not so important at this point. Also nice (but more important): The campaign with which the Australian agency Host Sydney is promoting the new features. There's Jeff on the Spanish nude beach, who missed out on benefiting from the 40 percent promotion. And Kate, who not only forgot to register for the new bonus program, but also didn't take the vaccinations very seriously. For example, for the diseases tetanus and jungle fever, which are transmitted by capuchin monkeys. A detail, as it turns out. (hae)

By merging the advertising sales, the three companies say they are also equipping themselves against competition from Google and Facebook in the digital advertising market. While the telecommunications group Swisscom is contributing the marketing rights to its online platforms and Swisscom TV as well as its technological expertise, Ringier and SRG are ceding the marketing rights to their high-reach media offerings. SRG, Ringier and Swisscom each hold a third of the new public limited company. However, the partners have agreed not to disclose the financial details, as stated in the press release. While Swisscom and Ringier are outsourcing their advertising activities to the company, SRG is integrating its marketing subsidiary Publisuisse into the company. The head of the marketing organization, which does not yet have a name, will be the current Publisuisse CEO Martin Schneider. Ringier CEO Marc Walder is to become Chairman of the Board of Directors, while SRG Director General Roger De Weck and Swisscom CEO Urs Schaeppi will sit on the Board.

New company is open and cooperative

The new joint advertising marketing company will also be open to other companies. "We are not a closed club," said Ringier CEO Marc Walder during a conference call at midday. The purpose of the bundling is to strengthen the Swiss advertising market in the face of globalized competition. The reactions from other publishers to the new offer have so far been positive. They have shown understanding for the alliance of the three companies. At the same time, they have shown interest in examining the possibility of cooperation. For the time being, a customer relationship is envisaged for cooperation with other partners, i.e. no admission of additional shareholders. However, Marc Walder hinted that this could change at a later date.

Coincidentally, a meeting will be held on Tuesday with the Swiss Media Association to discuss the merger and its consequences. The SRG's online advertising ban is likely to be an important topic for the publishers. For association president Hanspeter Lebrument, this is central, as he emphasized to the sda news agency. He described the merger of the three companies as an innovative and new solution, provided that the organization is also open to other market participants and that the online advertising ban for SRG remains in place.

The media company Tamedia showed little interest in an initial reaction. "We focus on individual marketing, also in the digital sector. This foundation has no direct impact on our strategy," spokesman Christoph Zimmer told the news agency SDA. Tamedia owns online platforms together with Swisscom and Ringier. "The co-existence of competition and cooperation will increase in the near future," said Zimmer. "The only remarkable thing about this consolidation step is that with Swisscom and SRG, two providers are involved that belong to the public sector," he said. (SDA)

About the reactions

The Swiss Syndicate of Media Professionals SSM welcomes the Merger of Swisscom, Ringier and SRG in advertising marketing. This is a step of importance for the market economy and media policy. In terms of the market economy, the SSM writes in its reaction on Monday to the announced joint venture, there is an opportunity to stop the outflow of Swiss advertising francs abroad. This would benefit the economy and Swiss journalism. In terms of media policy, a cooperation is emerging that could also be the concept for other publishers, it continues. With SRG and the major publisher Ringier, two previously irreconcilably opposed cotractors have found each other.

Syndicom is skeptical

The Syndicom trade union sees the new advertising marketing company as a threat to media diversity. The merger could result in it becoming even more difficult for smaller Swiss media to generate advertising funds. In a statement on Monday, the union therefore demands that Ringier, SRG and Swisscom invest the advertising revenues in journalistic services. Especially with the partners of this merger, advertising money should not be an end in itself, but "must be used to strengthen the quality of journalism, to promote media diversity and media quality and to guarantee good working conditions in all media."

Media Freedom Action: "Highly Problematic"

The association Aktion Medienfreiheit criticizes the closing of ranks of SRG, Swisscom and Ringier. The participation of SRG and Swisscom is highly problematic, because these are state-dominated companies. These companies have a state mandate to fulfill, he said. "It is not acceptable for SRG and Swisscom to enter another field in which private companies are already active," the statement said. Before SRG ventures into further private fields, it needs a definition of the public service. The federal government, which is Swisscom's majority shareholder, also purchases most of its IT services from Swisscom. At the same time, it regulates the media and telecommunications market, awards licenses to the SRG and is responsible for collecting reception fees for television and radio. Aktion Medienfreiheit therefore senses general regulatory problems. There is a danger "that broadcasters who are not marketed by the new organization will have to expect poorer and more expensive access to broadcasting through Swisscom TV. President of Aktion Medienfreiheit, founded by bourgeois politicians, is SVP National Councilor Natalie Rickli. She is on the management board of Goldbach Media, the marketer of advertising space for various private TV and radio stations.

Goldbach itself also commented on the cooperation between Ringier, Swisscom and SRG in a statement, but will only comment once details are available. The construction opens up various questions in the advertising and distribution market that still need to be answered, it said only. (SDA/hae)
 

For over 60 years, Helvetas has been working to improve the living conditions of disadvantaged people in rural regions. The focus of its activities is on project work in Africa, Asia, South America and Eastern Europe. With around 1400 employees, Helvetas is active worldwide in areas such as water, agriculture, education, etc. To give supporters a better understanding not only of Helvetas' work, but also of its attitude, Spina's Civil Voices has created an impressive commercial that will be shown on television for the first time this month.

Responsible at Helvetas: Stefan Stolle (Head of Communications and Fundraising); Matthias Herfeldt (Team Leader Communications).Responsible at Spina's Civil Voices: Miriam Fischer (art director); Sarah Bertschinger (consulting), Lorenz Spinas (overall responsibility); copywriters: teamwork. Responsible at Tally Ho!: Tom Kolinski (Director, Editor); Pascal Walder (Cinematography); Simon Huber (2nd Camera); Meret Wirz-Burger (Producer); Great Garbo (Music); Dominic Frei (Color Grading); Manu Gerber (Sound Design & Mix).

Since Monday, Leodan, a new financial institution, has been active in the Swiss market, offering customers a mix between online and private banking. Serranetga was tasked with reflecting this uniqueness in the bank's communications. Starting with the positioning, the agency developed a communication concept that aims to sustainably increase the awareness of the brand and the value proposition in the target group with a constant stream of exciting and up-to-date content.

In addition to cooperation with trade magazines, the communication measures include native ads, social media activities and online ads. All measures refer to the portal Leodan.chwhich is more reminiscent of a financial blog than a classic bank website. The website addresses a wide range of investment-related topics and makes them accessible to potential and existing customers in a simple way. The visual flagship of the new website are twelve investor types, which - rather atypically for a bank - are depicted as animals. The creator of the visuals is Spanish photographer Yago Partal, who achieved international fame with his zoo portraits.

Pascal Frei, COO of Leodan, on the collaboration: "We deliberately chose Serranetga during the agency evaluation because it was able to offer everything from positioning to the communications concept and media strategy to creation and technical implementation from a single source."

Leodan Private Bank offers clients a mix between online and private banking. Serranetga was tasked with reflecting this novel approach in the bank's communications.

The appearance of the Leodan.ch portal is more reminiscent of a financial blog than a classic banking website.

The visual flagship of the new appearance are 12 investor types, which - rather atypically for a bank - are depicted as animals
 

On August 20, 1990, Swiss television broadcast the information program "10 to 10" for the first time. This week, SRF is showing the gems from the archive. The first editorial director, Jürg Wildberger, will comment on them together with former presenters Walter Eggenberger and Jana Caniga.

Protagonists such as Moritz Leuenberger and Christoph Blocher also have their say. From Monday to Friday, August 17 to 21, 2015, you can see how they view the events of that time from today's perspective in a series. It will be broadcast at the usual time of 9.50 pm on SRF 1.

In the past six months, an average of 437,000 viewers watched the program. With a market share of over 30 percent, "10 vor 10" is still SRF's second most-watched information program after "Tagesschau".
 

The new creation from Perrelet is a watch for nostalgics. With its 48 mm red gold case, black bezel and alligator leather strap, the Perrelet Turbine Sheriff is a real eye-catcher. The transparent back reveals the in-house automatic movement, the Perrelet P-331 caliber.

Instead of the turbine rotors typical of Perrelet, a black sheriff's star with golden tips adorns the dial When the rotor turns, it appears: the Wild West as we know and love it from American films.

At the Only Watch charity auction, forty renowned watch houses are offering a unique watch for sale for the sixth time in a row. The proceeds from the unique pieces will go to the Monegasque Foundation against Muscular Dystrophy as a financial contribution to research into Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

The watches will be shown for the first time from September 23 to 26, 2015 in Monaco, at the most important yacht show, the Monaco Yacht Show. The watches will then go on tour through Europe, the USA and Asia before being auctioned in Geneva in November 2015. Perrelet will be supported by the Bern-based agency Gretz Communications.

 

The owner of Troy Shoppe Jewellers in Calgary, Canada, didn't see anything wrong with the slogan (which he didn't invent himself, by the way, but copied from another jeweler); his own employees would have laughed at it. Some customers, on the other hand, found it less entertaining.

The jeweler doesn't understand the excitement. But as it can't be in his interest to upset the ladies, he has now replaced the slogan with the flattering and politically correct message: "

 

The women's rights organization Feminism Calgary, which got the ball rolling, welcomes the change. According to spokesperson Sandra Wong, the old slogan was understood by many as a gag. In certain life situations, however, it could be misunderstood and hurtful. 

Brand expert Thomas Otte, on the other hand, has scathing words. In an interview with Pressetext, he describes the idea of sexism itself as a brand that is particularly strong and therefore "no longer tolerates individual deviation from anything or anyone. Only decent trivialities are allowed." (sis/press release)
 

198 million Internet users already use ad blockers on a regular basis. This is causing 21.8 billion dollars in lost revenue worldwide this year. According to a study by Adobe and Pagefair, this figure is set to rise to 41.4 billion next year, as the NZZ am Sonntag writes.

In Germany, one in four internet users apparently already uses adblockers to eliminate advertising. In Switzerland, which is not mentioned by name in the study, the figures are likely to be lower. Tobias Zehnder, co-founder of Webrepublic, estimates this figure at around 10 percent in an interview with NZZ am Sonntag.

New Apple operating system exacerbates the problem

From this fall, the popularity of ad blockers in Switzerland could increase rapidly. Apple will allow ad blocking programs for its popular Safari browser for the first time in its new iOS9 operating system. It is likely that only the browser will be given the function to suppress advertising under iOS9. "Apps from Facebook, Twitter or newspapers are not affected," says Zehnder. Nevertheless, it is clear to him: "If the use of ad blockers were to increase exponentially, free offers on the internet would soon be a thing of the past." 

Lehmann convinced of consumer interest in advertising

According to NZZ am Sonntag, the advertising industry is still relaxed. "I don't believe that ad blockers will prevail in the long term because they have an all-or-nothing effect," media consultant Andy Lehmann is quoted as saying in the article. "Most consumers are definitely interested in good campaigns or attractive offers."

Only good advertising can slow down adblockers

According to the article, omnipresent and annoying advertising is also a question of price. "The contact price for 1000 people is CHF 5 to 30. On television or in print, it is 60 to 140 francs," Zehnder is quoted as saying. Because it costs so little to advertise on the Internet, many people opt for quantity rather than quality. Zehnder is therefore calling for "a rethink among companies that advertise on the Internet and among companies that offer such advertising platforms." Only if the price and willingness to pay for quality reach increases and agencies receive more money for strategy and implementation will Internet advertising become less disruptive. (NZZ am Sonntag/sis)

Survey (column on the right): Do you use an adblocker?
 

The 40-year-old has a broad network and many years of experience in key account management. He was previously Head of Advertising Market at Newsnett, where he was jointly responsible for establishing the company in the advertising market. 

As Sales Manager, Buzzi will be the point of contact for national and regional customers for Adextra's advertising offering. The advertising offering includes display and mobile advertising formats, as well as integrated promotional spaces and newsletters on platforms such as Sbb.ch, Ricardo.ch, Car4you.ch and Homegate.ch.