Representatives of the OSCE visited Switzerland for three days in June with a view to the federal elections in October. In a report published in the Berner Zeitung on Tuesday, they subsequently recommended sending a team of experts to assess the legal framework and implementation of e-voting. A thorough review of e-voting could be useful, especially as the use of e-voting is to be expanded in future elections, according to the report. In discussions held by the OSCE in Switzerland, concerns were expressed about e-voting, including data protection.

However, it has not yet been decided whether the OSCE will send a team of experts to Switzerland. A spokesperson for the responsible OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) said in response to an inquiry that they were planning to comply with the recommendation, but that this would depend on additional funding from the OSCE participating states. Discussions on this are still ongoing. In the elections this October, voters living in Switzerland will be able to participate in the National Council and Council of States elections via e-voting for the first time - the cantons of Geneva and Neuchâtel have submitted an application to the federal government. 13 cantons (AG, BS, FR, GE, GL, GR, LU, NE, SO, SG, SH, TG, ZH) want to offer Swiss citizens living abroad who are entered in their electoral registers the opportunity to cast their vote via the Internet.

Criticism of lack of transparency

In their report, the OSCE experts once again criticize the lack of transparency in party financing. As Switzerland has not implemented the OSCE's long-standing recommendation to improve transparency, sending election observers to deal with this issue would not help, as the report states. Apart from party financing, however, the experts have hardly anything to criticize. All interviewees had full confidence in the electoral authorities, they write in their report. No fundamental concerns were expressed regarding the campaigns, media coverage or the registration of candidates. The OSCE representatives said they had spoken with representatives of the authorities, political parties, the media and civil society during their visit to Switzerland. (SDA)

Image: Lu.ch

APG|SGA puts digital shopping e-panels into operation for the first time in Central Switzerland. The first eight 70-inch e-panels will be installed in the Pilatusmarkt shopping center in Kriens at premium locations in the middle of the mall. Pilatusmarkt comprises a bright mall with a Coop Megastore and 47 other stores on a generous sales area of 21,500 square meters as well as 1325 covered parking spaces. The fourth-largest shopping center in Central Switzerland generates sales of 135 million francs.

Continuation of the digital strategy in French-speaking Switzerland too

With the Manor shopping center in Marin and Belair in Yverdon-les-Bains, APG|SGA has acquired two further properties for its shopping network in western Switzerland (in addition to the existing Centre Quartz in Martigny). The malls will each be equipped with four Shopping E-Panels. This will provide advertisers with exposure opportunities in the French-speaking part of the country.

APGISGA currently operates a range of 231 digital, large-scale advertising media in all communication areas (city, event, mountain, rail and shopping). Beat Holenstein, Head of Partner & Product Management, comments: "The successful market entry in the shopping communication space is a prime example of APG|SGA's digital strategy. Digital advertising media are only used in absolutely premium locations with the aim of offering our advertising customers a strong presence on the one hand and offering contractual partners customized solutions for their information needs on the other. Advertising customers also appreciate the possibility of flexible booking: thanks to state-of-the-art technology, advertising messages can be optimally targeted on the Shopping ePanels shortly before the purchase decision is made."
 

Maxomedia created the communication concept and implemented a wide range of measures. TV spots illustrate the benefits and use of the Swisspass card in a simple and understandable way. At the same time, static key visuals focus on the variety of means of transport and convey the message in an entertaining and direct way. In addition to the TV spots, the campaign will mainly be used out-of-home and online.

The SwissPass is intended to make traveling even easier for customers in the future; thus, the partner services are to be continuously expanded. For this reason, particular emphasis was placed on a flexible concept that allows further adaptations in the future. The SwissPass was introduced on August 1, 2015, and will now gradually find its way into the wallets of public transport users - mainly when existing season tickets are renewed.
 

Responsible at SBB: Reto Meissner (Head of Marketing Communications), Marco Serratore (Team Leader Consulting Marketing Communications), Franziska Kellenberger (Head of Dialog Marketing Communications), Franziska Pasqua (Media Planning). Responsible at Maxomedia: Bernhard Herzig (overall responsibility), Reto Schild (creative director), Mike Keller (consulting), Virginie Schneider (consulting), Daniel Rödel (art direction). Responsible at Shining Pictures: Olivier Egli (director), Stefan Bircher (producer), Jonathan Heyer (photography), Patrik Rohner (image editing).

"With Samuel and Cyrill, I have found the ideal people for this step. Both are leaders in their field and know Jung von Matt from the ground up. It gives me great pleasure to work even more intensively with Cyrill and Samuel in the future," says Roman Hirsbrunner, CEO of Jung von Matt/Limmat.

Samuel Christ has worked as Creative Director for Jung von Matt since 2012. He has been responsible for numerous award-winning campaigns at the agency. After graduating in law, Christ began his creative career at Springer&Jacoby in Hamburg, and has since worked at Jung von Matt/Limmat in various positions. Christ is married and father of two children.

Cyrill Hauser has led the now ten-strong PR team at Jung von Matt since 2013. The 33-year-old has been responsible for numerous award-winning PR campaigns over the past seven years. Cyrill Hauser is married and holds a bachelor's degree in communications and an MBA in marketing.

The Jung von Matt/Limmat management team consists of the following people:

Roman Hirsbrunner, CEO
Samuel Christ, Executive Creative Director
Cyrill Hauser, Executive PR Director
Alexander Jaggy, Executive Creative Director
Matthias Städeli, Client Service Director
 

The layout of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung was last revised in 2009. The fact that the content and design are now being relaunched is due to changes in reading habits, according to a press release. The project managers conducted numerous surveys to find out more. It became apparent, for example, that reading time is increasing towards the weekend. The Neue Zürcher Zeitung will meet this need with an additional weekend edition. Editor-in-chief Eric Gujer: "We are expanding our core competence as the leading Swiss opinion paper and will offer even more background information, debates and reports in future."

Colette Gradwohl, Deputy Editor-in-Chief and project manager for the relaunch of the print newspaper: "In focus groups and surveys, our readers were able to comment on layout drafts, content weighting and visual language. Based on this feedback, we have not only revised the content of our newspaper, but have also given the layout a more accentuated, yet still factual and elegant design. This makes the newspaper even more reader-friendly." The logo of the "Neue Zürcher Zeitung" remains in the original Fraktur - a reference to the 235-year-old tradition of the newspaper, which is one of the oldest titles in the world.
Detailed information on the new website will be announced by NZZ with the launch on August 21.

The Netherlands is of particular importance within ST's international market portfolio: the traditional priority market ranked eighth among foreign markets in terms of overnight hotel stays in 2014 (after the Gulf States and ahead of Belgium) and will continue to shape the future of tourism in Switzerland with its more than 680,000 overnight hotel stays. With the discontinuation of the minimum euro exchange rate, the Dutch market environment remains challenging, regular guests are being targeted and differentiated and specialized marketing is being pursued. ST is therefore all the more pleased to have Philippe D. Clarinval (40), a convincing successor to the previous Country Manager Corinne Genoud. The 45-year-old left Amsterdam at the end of April 2015 to take over as Market Manager for the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Clarinval has used his solid academic hotel management training, including an MBA, in businesses all over the world. After various managerial assignments in Asia, the Swiss-Belgian dual national was most recently Managing Director of the Omnia Mountain Lodge in Zermatt and thus back in his native Switzerland. Philippe D. Clarinval is characterized by his multilingualism (German and French as mother tongues), his extensive international hotel industry experience and his knowledge of tourism as well as his personal proximity to the Benelux region.

Clarinval will take up his new position in Amsterdam on December 1, 2015.

As young people today often look for more than just party and beach on their vacations, the campaign shows young protagonists in various emotional vacation videos that also convey an individual and adventurous vacation feeling outside the hotels and nightlife. Filming took place in the sought-after Mediterranean destinations of Ibiza, Mallorca, Ayia Napa and Mykonos. The refreshing spots are supported by the slogan "Check out - New Places," which appeals to the adventurous spirit of young people and conveys both a "I'm off then" feeling and a call to explore new paths.

Moving images are a suitable means of showing Hotelplan's wide range of products and services for the young target group in all their facets, while conveying as many emotions as possible. Because these play an important role in vacation planning. Because online bookings are now the most important point of contact for Hotelplan with the young target group, the most recent campaign focused primarily on online channels. The videos are used as pre-rolls and TV spots.

Responsible Hotelplan at: Manuela Byland (Manager Branding & Sponsoring). Responsible at Jim & Jim: Fabio Emch (overall responsibility), Tobias Bonfanti (project management). Responsible for spot production: Hillton.
 

The Board of Directors has appointed the 56-year-old as the new Managing Director as of August 1, 2015. "With Peter Keller, we have been able to attract a performance and results-oriented leader to Swiss Marketing. We are convinced that his strong customer focus and expertise will have a positive impact on our professional and trade association and look forward to a new, joint chapter," Uwe Tännler, president of Swiss Marketing, said in a statement. At Swiss Marketing, Peter Keller's responsibilities include the association's operations and the development and implementation of its business strategy. Keller most recently held the management of an SME in the technology sector. He also looks back on a long career with the Schindler Group, where he was Managing Director of Schindler Aufzüge Aarau between 2004 and 2010. In total, Keller has more than 20 years of management experience in the areas of executive management, sales, marketing and service.

Christian Greder is a business journalist with a broad communications background. Most recently, he was Editor-in-Chief of Hotellerie Gastronomie Zeitung, where he played a key role in the development and success of Switzerland's largest gastronomy newspaper. In particular, he also successfully initiated the transition of the more than 130-year-old industry publication into the digital age. According to the statement, he is a proven expert on the Swiss media landscape and a journalist BR with many years of professional experience. He has also completed various continuing education courses at the Media Training Center Lucerne (MAZ). These include the CAS course "Professional Media Work" and "Editorial Management - Leading in the Media.

Christian Greder will take over the publishing management at Medianovis and drive the further expansion of the agency into a multimedia service center for content marketing.

It all began with a TV campaign created by the Achtung! agency, which was broadcast in the Netherlands in April. It showed that Volkswagen drivers have become so accustomed to technical conveniences that they expect the same from the rest of their possessions. #jeverwachtmeer (I expect more). If you have a reasonable command of Dutch:
 

Conclusion: A horse does not have a navigation system - and a baby carriage does not have a brake assistant that automatically intervenes when the vehicle rolls towards an obstacle. Why not? Timo Ros thought it wasn't such a bad idea and posted the objection under the commercial published on Facebook.

The VW engineers reacted and got to work. At the beginning of August, the prototype was presented in an amusing video - also by Achtung! - was presented. The car not only brakes automatically, but also follows its owner and drives independently.

How functional the smart baby carriage really is, whether it was actually developed by VW engineers and whether Timo Ros didn't post his objection on behalf of the agency - we don't know. Presumably nobody would want to put their own child in it anyway, because they would rather have their health in their own hands. Why this should be any different when driving a car, however, is another question... (hae)

Google Search, G-Mail, Google Maps, Google Drive online storage, the Android smartphone operating system with the Google Play app store and, and, and: The list of Google services is growing from year to year. And in its secret labs, the company is working on other products such as a self-driving car or hot-air balloons to provide remote areas with Internet access.

But when it comes to making money in the high-tech circus, Google is more or less just a "one-trick pony", a circus horse that can only do one trick: advertising. Online advertising accounted for 31.5 billion of the almost 35 billion dollar turnover in the first half of this year. That is a 90 percent share. The majority of advertising revenue (24.3 billion dollars) was generated by Google on its own sites, the rest (around 7.2 billion dollars) on websites of business partners. The Google balance sheet only lists one other revenue segment with the rather meaningless title "Other". According to experts, this turnover of around 3.4 billion dollars in the past six months, which Google does not break down further, is primarily due to the fees from the Play Store that Google charges developers of Android apps and entertainment providers. In order to free itself from its dependence on advertising revenue, Google has repeatedly launched initiatives in recent years, such as the provision of paid cloud services. (SDA)

The typewritten manuscript was found by a doctoral student at the University of Kassel in Germany. The text allows new conclusions to be drawn about the origin of the former bestseller, according to the university's announcement on Monday, which was quoted by the news agency DPA. Previously, only a retranslation from English had been known. It was assumed that the original text was lost when Koestler fled from France to England to escape the Nazis in 1940. It has not been conclusively proven whether the original has been found, but there is every indication that it has - including handwritten corrections and additions by Koestler. How the document found its way into the archive remained unclear at first.

Actually looking for something else

He had been looking for something else about Koestler in Zurich, German studies doctoral student Matthias Wessel told the SDA news agency. And then he was given this manuscript from the archive, dated March 1940, which did not bear the title chosen by Koestler but by the archiving office and was named after the novel's main character Rubashov. Wessel now has to study Koestler's letters from the time when "Solar Eclipse" was written, which could provide further information, in Moscow. They were taken there after the occupation of Berlin by the Red Army, having already been removed from Paris, where Koestler lived around 1940, by the Nazis.

Zürcher Europa Verlag important for exiled authors

In Zurich, Europa Verlag was an important address for German-speaking exiled authors persecuted by the Nazis, such as Koestler with his Austro-Hungarian and Jewish background. This could be the reason for the archiving on the Limmat. In his best-known work - "Sonnenfinsternis" ("Solar Eclipse") from 1940 - the once staunch communist Koestler takes a hard line on the Stalinist purges and show trials in the Soviet Union in 1937/38. In Great Britain, he became one of the most important authors in the English language. "Solar Eclipse", the novel in which Koestler deals with his commitment to the left-wing Republicans in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), became a bestseller in English as "Dark at Noon". (SDA)