What is your favorite sound? The Hear the World Foundation asks this question to young people with hearing loss in Malawi who have received hearing aids from the foundation. The teenagers provide the answers visually: under the guidance of Hamburg photographer Philipp Rathmer, they photograph scenes from their everyday lives with digital cameras donated by Fujifilm to depict their new world of sound. Notch Interactive designed and implemented the website.

Interested parties are greeted with an interactive video that provides information about the project in an emotional and direct way. Users can experience for themselves in a simulation with different levels of hearing loss what life "sounds like" for people with this impairment. The heart of the website is the "Moments" section. Here, the children talk about their experiences with their newly acquired or regained hearing ability. The "Hear Malawi" section reports on the project. Moving scenes from the everyday lives of Malawi's inhabitants are also shown. An infographic specially prepared for the website shows important facts about Malawi, hearing loss and the cooperation with the local project partners. The website, designed by Notch Interactive, is all about the children of Malawi, for whom Hear the World wants to offer a better future with the "Hear Malawi" project.

Hear-the-world.com/hearmalawi

Responsible at Hear the World: Michèle Meier (Corporate Communications and CSR Manager), Elena Torresani (Head of Hear the World Initiative). Responsible at Notch Interactive: Peter A. van der Touw (overall responsibility), Martin Pfeiffer (Digital Direction), Moritz Capelle (Group Account Director), Alain Gantner (Consultant/Project Manager), Jeff Gerber (Creative Direction), Marco Klein, Philippe Meier (Art Direction), Tobias Fuhlroth (Technical Direction), Diego Morales (Interface Programming), Samuel Blattner (Application Programming). Film production at Filmgerberei Zurich: Maximilian Speidel (director), Flavio Gerber (camera and production).

 

This means a comprehensive expansion of Clear Channel's presence in the shopping center segment, with a focus on digital advertising space. Diego Quintarelli, Sales Director Clear Channel Switzerland, expressed his enthusiasm in a press release: "The agreement with Privera confirms our strategy of expanding our position in the Swiss out-of-home advertising market and in particular our market presence in the growing segment of digital out-of-home advertising. Advertising at the point of sale has been proven to increase sales by up to 36%."

Privera and Clear Channel are currently working together at the 46 evaluated locations to examine how the existing range of advertising space can be optimized and expanded, where possible with digital advertising space. The shopping centers include top locations such as the Métropole in Lausanne and the Neumarkt in Oerlikon ZH.

Digital shopping media opens up new opportunities to connect people with brands when they are out and about and in a shopping mood. Global studies show that 70 percent of all purchasing decisions are made directly at the point of sale. Context, creativity, timing and precise knowledge of the target groups are key factors for the success of advertising campaigns. It is therefore not just about how an advertising medium looks - but above all when and where it is seen. Digital Shopping Media offers the opportunity to convey customized messages and multiple subjects, coordinated in terms of time, date, place and location. Many creative possibilities allow brands to tell their stories using animations and full-motion films. There are also several innovative ways to interact with consumers. Advertisers can discover a new, flexible premium medium that offers completely new opportunities to maximize advertising impact.
 

"The starting position has changed insofar as ProSiebenSat.1 has slightly lost audience shares and Springer has changed its portfolio," said the head of the Commission for Determining Concentration in the Media (KEK), Ralf Müller-Terpitz, in an interview with the Reuters news agency on Thursday. The legal and media expert did not want to comment on concrete prospects for an examination by the KEK. "If it comes to a merger, then we would have to take a very close look at it."

According to insiders, Springer and ProSiebenSat.1 are sounding out a deeper collaboration. The publisher of Bild and Welt already wanted to take over the TV station in 2005. But the deal fell through at the Federal Cartel Office and the KEK, which watches over diversity of opinion. "After all, we initially came to the same conclusions. But that doesn't necessarily have to be the case," said the KEK chairman, referring to 2005/06, when the competition watchdogs had banned the merger because of the threat of market power. The CEC had also refused to give its green light, arguing that the market power of the combined group would have been too great. However, in early 2014, the Federal Administrative Court overturned this assessment. (SDA)

Mercedes and Smart drive new with Wirz

 

After the international reassignment of the Mercedes-Benz and smart accounts, the change in Switzerland follows. Wirz is pleased to be able to look after both mandates nationally with immediate effect. This communicates the agency in a letter. The work includes the adaptation of international communications as well as the development of numerous local measures and campaigns. Wirz CEO Thomas Städeli: "With Mercedes-Benz and smart, we have the opportunity to look after two more very big brands. I'm particularly pleased about the client's clear ambition to make a big difference in the near future."

 

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New PR mandate for 360 Brand Connection

 

International backpack manufacturer Osprey has decided to step up its PR activity on the Swiss market. To this end, the cult brand is enlisting the help of Zurich-based PR agency 360 Brand Connection. The focus of the collaboration is to increase brand awareness. The agency is pleased to further differentiate its portfolio in the sports and lifestyle sector with this prestigious client. "This is another important step in strengthening our core competencies in sports and fashion," says Pirmin Oklé, owner and consultant of the PR agency.

 

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Ticketcorner wins bid for the Ski World Cup 2017

In 2017, the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in St. Moritz will once again be a major sports event in Switzerland. Ticketcorner has been commissioned with the ticket marketing. The basis for the event concept is largely based on the successful edition in 2003, although the concepts will be developed further considerably. As an additional focus, the organizing committee is placing emphasis on sustainability and innovation. "These criteria were an important factor in the decision to award the ticketing to Ticketcorner," explains OC President Hugo Wetzel. Visitors will benefit from a special service: Instead of a normal ticket, they will receive a "Skicard" with an integrated chip. On the one hand, this card gives ski fans access to the finish area; on the other hand, online ski tickets for mountain railroads in the Engadine can also be booked onto the Skicard. Thanks to the cooperation of the tourism organization and mountain railroads "Engadin St. Moritz Mountains" with Ticketcorner, the chip card will remain the key to Engadin skiing fun as well as door opener for various events even after the 2017 World Cup. For Wetzel, other advantages were decisive: "Ticketcorner offers us support in the organization and provides us with its sales and marketing channels for event marketing".

 

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APG|SGA continues to market advertising space in Shopville

The City of Zurich will conclude the new lease agreements for commercial advertising space with APG|SGA in the municipal ShopVille at Zurich's main train station. The outdoor advertising company will thus continue to have the exclusive right to manage and further develop existing analog and now also digital poster offerings in the heart of Zurich. In the first phase, a total of eight City ePanels (80 inches) and two City eBoards (7 square meters) are planned. In its bid, APG|SGA impressed not only with its financial offer, but also with its solution concept regarding the integration of the digital screens into the existing, high-quality environment of the ShopVille. The ePanels and eBoards will be positioned in a prime pedestrian location and will ideally enrich the existing portfolio of digital products at Zurich Central Station. In a second phase, further analog and digital implementations are planned in the ShopVille, which is open all year round with around 180 shopping and catering options.

It's not just lions being awarded, prize winners being celebrated and rosé bottles being decanted at the 8th Cannes Lions Festival. In addition to new and less new innovations and insights, brilliant ideas are also discussed and ingenious, novel technologies are presented. One of these is the resurgent concept of product integration. In Cannes, Advertising Week explored the fine line between promoting art and using art to cultivate an image. In addition to Al Gore, Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein, "Kim" Kardashian and Monica Lewinsky also honored the lion celebration. For the visit of US reality TV participant Kimberly Noel "Kim" Kardashian West, the press were advised not to ask her any overly personal questions. Kardashian is a prime example of how a person can be transformed into a public figure and a brand at the same time - and thus become a kind of image tool: Has US reality TV propelled her into celebrity heaven, or has she given reality TV a new boost through her participation? Or both at the same time? Kardashian reflects a burgeoning branding gimmick. Instead of a sports ambassador promoting a brand, collaborations are emerging between musicians, entertainment TV and brands. However, in-content advertising is also a balancing act - on the one hand there is the conscious promotion of art to cultivate the image of the corresponding brand, on the other hand there is the risk of penetration and a flattening of works of art that are only produced for the purpose of in-content advertising. David Guetta, DJ and own brand, Ted Mico, COO of Mirriad, and Danielle Lee, "Digital and Emerging Media Executive", have expressed their views on this.

Promotion of art or flattening of content?

Music is a big part of what is shared on social platforms today, what users talk about. This was confirmed by Danielle Lee at the IAB workshop "Liquid Creativity" in Cannes. She is Head of Digital and Development Media at Vevo, a music video and entertainment online service for various platforms. As Lee says, Vevo has already recorded two billion views in 2015. Product integration into existing music videos is an important aspect of this. She believes that more and more fans of musicians and their videos expect brand and content to match when it comes to product integration. In concrete terms, this means that every brand must reach the audience in such a way that the content exactly matches the interests of the brand and target group. Against this backdrop, the question arises as to whether musicians will have to align their work in the future so that their content matches the target groups of the brands that like to promote them. And it seems that a large audience already expects product placements or trend references from their preferred artists. However, a collaboration between musicians and corporate brands does not mean that the artist bends their ideas and musical realization to suit the brand. Or does it? In Cannes, various presentations and workshops focused on the question of whether and how content providers can position and brand themselves in collaboration with a preferred brand. This creates a mutual dependency between the company or product brand and the artist. There is a danger that an independent musician could quickly be turned into a means for advertising purposes. David Guetta, DJ and a brand in his own right, vehemently disagrees. In Cannes, he charmingly expressed this to Publicis CEO Maurice Lévy. He describes how to avoid being dependent on a brand and that a suitable collaboration can do more good than harm to the musician. David Guetta is a brand in his own right, both as a DJ and as a person. He built up the mainstream Guetta brand from the underground, as he says. Club owners and radio stations did not want to play his music and the police closed down his events. So he organized raves at secret locations and sent out detailed information at the last minute. This direct communication with his fans was also the basis of his future social media strategy. According to Guetta, creativity and authenticity serve as the basis for his image design. He only enters into collaborations with brands that support him in what he already does. For example, he was happy to work with the champagne brand Mumm. This brand supported him in making a music video for "Dangerous" - not a bad thing for Mumm either: the video has around 85 million YouTube views. Guetta would not enter into many other collaborations if he could not credibly represent that such a product is part of his character. According to Guetta, a collaboration should be a success for both parties and the content has to be right. That is what he does in the area of co-branding.

"Branded entertaining" - towards purpose-driven content?

More and more brands and content creators are working together. Musicians, entertainers and artists rely on brands to support or even pay for their work. This blurs the boundaries between quality content and brand promotion. Advertising Week spoke to Mirriad CEO Ted Mico about this in the wake of the Cannes Lions Festival.

WW: What was your impression of this year's Cannes Lions Festival?
Ted Mico: What pleased me the most was the speed of change. Advertising is completely dependent on people's attention; the most expensive and difficult thing in the world is getting the attention of potential customers. The whole advertising industry is based on it. So we try to stay agile on all sides. The changes are practically forced on them by the consumers. Because no consumer is not attentive if advertising does not hit the content they are interested in. We use the brands specifically where people are already paying attention.

Mirriad places advertising and brand image where they actually get attention - in content. That sounds like flat, purpose-driven content.
We still talk about "branded content", but this is actually the wrong perspective. It makes no difference whether content is branded or not. There is either good content or bad content. Content is either entertaining or boring. So as long as content provides entertainment, it works for both the brand and the consumer. One day, the term "branded content" will disappear because it will become less and less important.

Does this mean that in future, creatives will attract the attention of brands and adapt to them in order to be able to realize their own work at all?
We're living in an economically challenging time for content creation, so I think content owners are probably going to have to look more for brands to support their shows. To do that, they'll probably have to look more for in-video advertising. Brands need to be part of a culture - be it music or TV or video - to understand the meaning of the audience and to become part of what people are doing today. So I think content creators will try to attract brands, but I also think brands and agencies need to attract storytellers. The distinction between the two is blurring and Mirriad is accelerating this trend.

Do you think the Beatles would have taken part in in-content advertising?
With the right brand, probably. And as long as all four members had agreed. What I mean is: Paul McCartney allowed Lexus to sponsor one of their concert tours, but he had set certain conditions, including an alternative to leather seats - he was vegan - and he got what he asked for. Are there artists who don't want to work with brands? Definitely. You almost can't imagine Radiohead or the Beastie Boys as part of a mainstream brand campaign. If people want to make money by putting brands in their content, we run that process painlessly, but that's their choice.

When do the interests of a brand and a musician match?
Our technologies enable us to create works that fit together very well. But the content has to fit right from the start. Brand and content should pursue the same goal. We don't produce a video that is completely built around the brand. The whole thing should be a good collaboration. Otherwise, the result is a work that matches the brand but not the target group, or vice versa. Nobody gains anything from that.

How does this work without compromising the artist's credibility?
I think it's quite easy to do, there are many good examples of this already. Our research says that if it looks like it's always been there, if it looks integrated and authentic, the results for brand recall are much higher than if the whole thing clearly comes across as advertising. If you don't know whether it was already there or whether we put it there - persuasive advertising, so to speak, less direct and clumsy. Fitting into the content is the new way to stand out.

Less direct, but more subversive.
Your words, not mine.

What was Mirriad's first in-content campaign?
That was with Karcher on the Discovery channel and with Tresemme on the Sky channel.

Interview: Ursina Maurer 

Christer Clerwall (Karlstad University, Sweden) presented a total of 45 test subjects with texts that had been generated partly by computers and partly by journalists. Respondents rated the machine-generated texts as slightly "more informative," "more accurate," "more trustworthy," and "more objective," but also "more boring," while the journalists scored high on "coherence," "clarity," and "reading pleasure" - but overall these differences were "not significant."

Hille van der Kaa and Emiel Krahmer (both Tilburg University in the Netherlands) specifically investigated the credibility of "robot" texts and surveyed 232 Dutch people, including 64 journalists. Interestingly, the ordinary citizens surveyed gave computers and journalists equally good marks in terms of credibility and expertise. Only the journalists attested more trustworthiness to their own profession than to their robot colleagues. But this is probably only the tip of the iceberg. In times when there are already four to five PR people for every journalist in the U.S., selecting from the media releases supplied is even more important than writing articles. Algorithms are also increasingly taking over this selection in search engines and social networks, and media experts such as Caitlin Dewey (Washington Post) and Walter Quattrociocchi (Institute for Advanced Studies, Lucca) are worried that our view of the world could become very one-sided in this way - simply because the algorithms only provide us with what we want to know, and not what we should know.

Nikki Usher (George Washington University), however, gives the all-clear. In her view, the problem of "selective perception," i.e., the fact that we prefer to consume media offerings that confirm our prejudices, is and remains our problem as media users and not that of the search engines and social networks that supply us with information. Their algorithms are much more complex than the Cassandra callers generally make them out to be. For example, the Google News algorithm favors certain news items, such as those provided by large editorial departments like The New York Times, or offers that contain more context, for example in the form of original quotes, or even particularly current news. In principle, the people responsible for Google News would strive to offer the "best possible news selection" in a similar way to professional journalists - only with the help of algorithms that respond to user interests.

Critics often overlook what "algorithms that filter news have in common with conventional news selection processes": "For a long time, newsrooms were also something like 'black boxes' - staffed by journalists who decided on the top stories of the day behind impenetrable walls." Nonetheless, of course, the door remains open for manipulation and remote control when giant corporations like Google or Facebook decide centrally on the use of algorithms - and can thus program worldwide what Chen Cheng in Singapore, John Sixpack in Tennessee and Mrs. Hinz and Mr. Kunz in Appenzeller Land get to see, hear and read. Nor do we necessarily share the optimism of some researchers that the use of robots in newsrooms could free up resources for more important tasks such as research. Clerwall sees it more realistically as "a way for media companies to save on staff."

For quite some time, there has been a twilight of the gods in editorial offices: For decades, journalists were used to reporting only on the unemployment of others without being affected by it themselves. Since the turn of the century, at the latest, this has changed thoroughly. Computer programs and algorithms are likely to dramatically accelerate job losses in editorial departments once again - and then presumably not even stop at the editorial suppliers, the PR industry.

Stephan Russ-Mohl heads the European Journalism Observatory at the University of Lugano.

Literature tips:

Christer Clerwall (2014): Enter the Robot Journalist, in Journalism Practice 8:5, 519-531. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17512786.2014.883116?journalCode=rjop20#.VZJDR6QwKH4

Hille van der Kaa/Emiel Krahmer (2014): Journalist versus news consumer: The perceived credibility of machine written news, Tilburg University. https://pure.uvt.nl/portal/files/4314960/cj2014_session4_paper2.pdf

Caitlin Dewey (2015): http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/06/03/if-you-use-facebook-to-get-your-news-please-for-the-love-of-democracy-read-this-first/

Nikki Usher (2015): Who's afraid of a big bad algorithm? In: Columbia Journalism Review,.June 11,http://www.cjr.org/analysis/whos_afraid_of_a_big_bad_algorithm.php

 

What does a web solution cost? What must it be able to do? And above all: What additional costs and services should be included in the price? These questions cannot be answered uniformly. This is why agencies are often confronted with requests for quotations for which the client does not want to specify a budget in advance. The classic pitch approach is thus lost. Clients receive quotes, which they then use to request cheaper quotes from other agencies. This so-called offer dumping is mainly due to the exceptional expert knowledge of the programmer: the customer often cannot see the full scope of a website or the extent of subsequent costs and additional services that were not included in the basic offer. It is therefore a good idea to ask various agencies for quotes and compare them.

Lack of budget framework

The problem for the agencies, however, is that without a budget or clear content specifications, it is difficult for them to estimate what options the website should include or how expensive the whole thing may become. Especially with medium-sized and large web projects, it is very difficult to precisely define the exact amount of work and every expense. "We have no transparency," says the agency. Agency A may offer the optimum, agency B apparently the same, but cheaper. However, shortly after the launch of said website, the customer may realize that small details are missing - which can be expensive, depending on the details. Due to the sometimes very complex programming of a website today, even seemingly simple details can become a huge job. This difficulty not only puts the industry in a bad light, but may also force agencies to submit applications with the risk of being undercut. Now you could argue that this is a free market economy, and you would basically be right. However, quality is often lost in this way. After all, how could an offer that is underbid almost to zero deliver the necessary quality? A start-up, for example, which is not subject to wage pressure but is looking for references, could undercut the offer to almost zero in this game, but at the same time usually lacks the entrepreneurial experience, comprehensive marketing and media know-how. A concrete example: A request from a customer for the conception, creation and production of a relatively comprehensive e-shop solution (including a tool for product comparability in 7 subject areas) in Typo3 was followed by the client's information that an offer from an agency was already on the table for "under CHF 15,000". Is there already a lack of creative effort and perfection in the execution, or can such an offer be implemented without further ado - and above all as a reliable and satisfactory project? Or can this be solved by outsourcing parts of the production to the cheapest countries? According to industry experts, such solutions are not uncommon. "They are based on a lot of after-hours work by freelancers and production (programming) in Asia, for example in India," says the agency. The majority of such solutions may be cheap, but the bottom line is that they are very expensive - because such offers become "pipe-dumpers" on the market. Is this really bid dumping, or is the client simply reliant on such an approach in the impenetrable jungle of programming? Ten of the leading Swiss digital agencies have commented on the problem.

Customers in the IT jungle

All ten Swiss web agencies surveyed stated that they were confronted with requests for quotations without a budget for web-based solutions. According to the agencies, this often occurs in almost every pitch and every comparison of offers. This is often due to a lack of know-how to cover all the critical points of a web project. In addition, clients usually do not specify a concrete budget, so that this can only be determined during the process of clarifying requirements. As customers often do not yet know exactly what they want or what the implementation of their idea will cost, a clear cost estimate is only possible after these clarifications. This means that the specific requirements are often not known in advance, but are only defined in the initial phase of the project. On the agency side, however, it is also suspected that some clients may use this uncertainty to compare the prices of the offers. However, this is probably rarely the case.

As most agencies only cover a certain budget range in a meaningful way, it would usually be valuable for potential clients to provide information on the size of the budget. How the individual agencies react to requests for quotations without a budget range and what attitude they adopt varies greatly in this case:

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Detailed information from the agencies on quality features and additional services as part of the initial offer (PDF)

IT suppliers from Europe, Asia and overseas

One company has responded to the pricing problem with a business idea. With the IT outsourcing platform It-suppliers.com, the client has access to over 2500 IT service providers worldwide. The outsourcing brokerage platform for IT projects is now also available in Germany. Clients of all sizes can find IT companies from all over the world specializing in the entire spectrum of IT services. The client only needs to advertise their project on the platform, including budget and time frame, and then waits for applications from IT companies from Eastern and Western Europe, Asia or overseas, who boost their business via Itsuppliers. com to boost their business. In order to simplify this search, the system searches for the best service providers for the respective client and suggests them on their own initiative. It-suppliers.com also guarantees the completion of the project. If the client is not satisfied with the progress of the project, he will get his money back, according to the company. The platform receives ten percent commission per project. As the founder of It-suppliers.com, Igor Putrenko, explains, he attaches great importance to secure and professionally completed IT projects. Therefore, no freelancers are placed via the platform, but only service companies that can guarantee such a realization. To ensure this, clients evaluate the collaboration with the respective service provider according to proven online symbols, which other clients can assess at first glance and use as a basis for their own contract award. "We work with investors in Europe and the USA who are totally convinced of the potential of our idea," says Putrenko. In addition to SMEs, start-ups in particular are interested in working with It-Suppliers.com. Outsourcing does not appear to be a priority for the leading Swiss web agencies, but there is no denying that this business idea has a certain potential - at least for start-ups. As far as orders handled by web agencies are concerned, however, demand still appears to be low. Almost all of the Swiss web agencies surveyed said: "A project like this generates unnecessary follow-up costs for the agency", "the focus is on the quality of the end product", "as an agency, we work across borders ourselves", "we use synergies and partnerships", or simply: "no". Unless the agency commissioned does not offer the technology requested by the client in-house. But even then, the savings are often much lower than expected. This is also confirmed by Gerry Reinhardt, Manager Content and Social Media at The House Agency: "The consequences and responsibility levels of near- and offshoring should be generally known by now. Whether such resources should play a role within a project can be decided according to rational criteria." Martin Sauter, Chief Knowledge Officer of the Y&R Group Switzerland, explains what these criteria can be: "Relocating programming to Eastern Europe in particular is now an integral part of the business model of many Swiss digital agencies in order to remain competitive. However, this only makes sense for larger and relatively technical projects."

Ursina mason

In future, Key Account Manager Tony Mandingorra will work closely with media planner Céline Landert to advise and support the growing international client network.

Tony Mandingorra will take over Key Account Management International Sales on August 1, 2015. He has many years of experience in Out of Home Media, speaks five languages and is ideally qualified to manage the international customer network. Mandingorra had already worked for APGISGA in 2004, including as Key Account Manager for "eAdvertising", which specialized in digital advertising space at the time. "We are delighted that Tony Mandingorra is taking over KAM International Sales and bringing his many years of outdoor advertising experience and high service orientation to the growing international business," says Juan Manuel Fernandez, who is responsible for the overall management of Key Account Management at APG|SGA. Mandingorra succeeds Manuela Ivone. She is taking on a new challenge in the media industry and will leave the company at the end of July 2015.

Céline Landert joins KAM International Sales from Sales East on September 1, 2015. She will take over media planning from Dorit Hirsch, who is changing her area of responsibility within APG|SGA and will become Head of Marketing Communications at APG|SGA, Allgemeine Plakatgesellschaft AG, on August 1, 2015.
 

The Hiltl ad was the respondents’ favorite (20.0%) and stood out the most from other ads (16.6%). In unprompted recall, it ranks only in the middle of the pack (39.7%), which is nonetheless remarkable given the company’s strong local presence. Respondents remembered the Coop-Zeitung ad (64.9%) and the Avia ad (59.5%) best. The Migros ad for Anna’s Best scored
Unaided recall was 50.8% for Migros, but only 9.8% for its Anna’s Best brand. According to respondents, the Thomy ad was the best fit for the brand (21.4%). The pet-themed ad also achieved good brand-fit scores. Many of the respondents felt that it was a good fit for the brand (17.8%). Ford falls in the middle range; its ad ranks in the middle in terms of overall appeal (6.6%), as well as in terms of brand fit (5.2%), Uniqueness (5.6%), and unaided recall (45.3%). Swizly, along with the ad for Engadin St. Moritz, has the second-highest overall appeal (15.6%).

In this article, Werbewoche presents the overall awareness figures and the top-box ratings for the key attributes. The online survey was conducted by Marketagent.com. (uma)

View the detailed results report (PDF)

The subjects surveyed:

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Details on the research question and methodology can be found at Advertisingweek.ch, Webcode Impactcheck.

The case must be reopened before the Federal Patent Court, the trademark judges in Karlsruhe ruled on Thursday. The Federal Patent Court had applied too strict standards for the protection of the trademark. It is now to conduct a new survey to determine the percentage of consumers who automatically see the blue color as a "product identifier" of Beiersdorf. Beiersdorf has protected a dark blue shade with the designation "Pantone 280 C" for body and beauty care products since 2007.

Keep color tone clear

Competitor Unilever had applied for the trademark to be canceled. This special dark blue color had to be kept free for all competitors. The company produces cosmetics under the Dove brand, among others. Beiersdorf has now scored a stage victory with the legal appeal and can hope to be able to continue to claim the distinctive blue of its Nivea cream packaging for itself alone. Unilever counters that Beiersdorf uses the blue color "only purely decoratively as a packaging background" for the white Nivea lettering. Beiersdorf has had the term Nivea protected as a word mark - this is not being challenged in the dispute. The company claims that it uses the color blue as its "corporate color" for skin and body care products and also uses it in its advertising. (SDA)

In collaboration with Radio 24, thirsty and overheated Zurich residents have been able to call the "Radio 24 Refreshment Hotline" since the beginning of June 2015. Whether company, private person, whether at the lake or on the roof terrace. In addition, smaller guerrilla actions are taking place to refresh Mr. and Mrs. Zürcher throughout the summer. For Radio 24 and yootea a complete success. "We are very happy that the people of Zurich have taken up our joint action so joyfully. Yootea stands for refreshment and that's exactly what we wanted to show," says Two Spice's Head of Marketing & Communications, Andrea Pietsch. The promotion is limited to the city of Zurich and will last until mid-August 2015.

Responsible at Two Spice (Yootea): Daniel Kehl (Member of the Executive Board), Andrea Pietsch and Hanna Jackl (Communications & Marketing). Responsible at Radio 24: Barbara Novak (Marketing Manager), Flavia Flüeler (Project Manager). Responsible at Statement: Philipp Brunner, Renato Auer and Roger Gebert (idea and concept).

When mature industry insiders let their thoughts wander into the past of the agency business, blissfully reminiscing, clichés, curiosities, capacities and skills come up. Facts, some of which have been forgotten, some of which are still alive. Memories are not only entertaining, they are also instructive. The continuous change in communication technology and unforeseeable paradigm shifts are constantly forcing us to change direction. How has the way advertisers think changed? Where has the journey gone or is it going? Today, we perceive the seemingly antiquarian facts of the "pre-digital age" almost like a vanity fair. Today, we smile at or envy "advertising" and its former "perpetrators". About the way in which they made a living - glamorously or in low esteem by outsiders. They were always at the bottom of the list of the most popular professions, just above the bottom of the list "used car salesman". And there was even the myth that a well-known French advertiser told his mother that he was a pianist in a brothel, but by God he wasn't an advertiser.

What has changed, what has happened? Curiosities such as the 17.65 percent consultant fee on distribution costs. Spreading plans based on gut instinct, with massive overbooking of TV time. Hard-hitting new business pitches, mostly unpaid, combined with rigorous night work. Brilliant campaigns that were conceived - just in time - the night before the presentation and born under severe time pressure. Marketing strategies concocted in the Kronenhalle ... Clichés like "Nice Life", feet on the desk, whisky bottle within reach, Porsche in the agency's parking lot. Internal hierarchies: cardboard carriers on duty; copywriters who wrote full-page text advertisements that were (still) read; graphic designers who could still scribble by hand ... Pure romance? Old times, good times? New times, dull times?

Participants in the survey: Thomas Krebs, owner of Agentur gestalten AG, Zurich; Curdin Janett, CEO Publicis, Zurich; Manfred Strobel, CEO Mediaschneider, Zurich.

Participants in the survey: Thomas Krebs, owner of Agentur gestalten AG, Zurich; Curdin Janett, CEO, Publicis, Zurich; Manfred Strobel, CEO, Mediaschneider, Zurich. The questions were asked by Claude Bürki.
 

1. what exactly was the fee structure like in the past? And is it still like that today? You simply "take" a percentage of a budget or ... what do fee models look like today - e.g. in your company?
Thomas Krebs, owner of Agentur gestalten AG, Zurich	Curdin Janett, CEO, Publicis, Zurich	Manfred Strobel, CEO, Mediaschneider, Zurich
No, the percentage fee you describe is no longer common for us. With today's campaign models and the consulting and services we provide for clients, this model would not make either the agency or the client happy. Fortunately, our industry has long since left this dusty romanticism behind. Today, we charge for what we do. In other words, the current fee models are based on the work that an agency does for a client. This is fair and transparent. And for everyone.	For a long time, the percentage fee was almost the "standard model" in our industry. Which, of course, also had advantages for customers: offers were directly comparable and costs could be clearly budgeted. But of course, at a time when we are all talking about "earned media", it is no longer applicable in every case. Even 25% at CHF 0 results in 0 francs. What we still advise against is pure hourly remuneration on a project basis. This may be assessable in terms of organization and realization - but how long does it take to find the groundbreaking idea? This inevitably leads to discussions. There are smarter models, for both sides.	Media agencies often still offer "percentages on media volume" - although this is no longer comparable to the "old days". Today, these are low single-digit percentages, often with performance components (e.g. customer satisfaction with the quality of cooperation) and hardly cost-covering for online media planning. Another model is based on time and effort and requires complete transparency about the actual hourly output. And, of course, there are the mixed forms of percentage of effort/success sharing.
2. how do you get new customers today? Do people still pitch, i.e. take part in competitor presentations to which a potential customer invites them, with or without compensation?
Of course, this theater still exists. The public sector in particular is constantly setting an example with the official tenders for its external mandates and contracts. Fortunately, however, other models have become established that are much more cost-effective and meaningful. Many clients seek detailed preliminary discussions with us to find out how we work and think; others simply start with a project order and then see how the collaboration develops. On the whole, clients have become more sober and are less convinced by the glitz of a competitor's presentation and more by honest performance on a day-to-day basis.	There are still competing presentations. And even today, the winning concept sometimes looks very different from the campaign that actually appears. Because the actual work begins afterwards. Which is why an agency evaluation often makes more sense than a classic pitch. After all, it's ultimately about a partnership, where the right team with the right considerations is more decisive in the long term than a spontaneous idea. The fact that we - like all bsw agencies - insist on an expense allowance is intended to protect our industry from pitch inflation. For an agency, a pitch is not simply an offer - we deliver our core product: ideas. A pitch is still a large investment for the participating agencies, and the pitch fee covers external costs at best.	A pitch is usually put out to tender, which means that there is often a so-called short list on which the agencies invited to pitch are listed and have to submit by a certain date - this can also be separated into buying and strategy and include a later presentation. Collaboration is rarely awarded "just like that", although an excellent reputation or great references sometimes allow a decision to be made without a pitch. Compensation for expenses is considered "good standard practice" by agencies accredited in the bsw leading swiss agencies, but is not always required or is sometimes unfortunately not feasible.
3 A big issue today is the media landscape, including social media. In the past, you knew which media were suitable for a campaign even without a computer run-through. Today we have online media. What does that mean for an agency? Call in specialists, outsource work or stick to the traditional?
You are indeed addressing a major challenge for all agencies. The diversity of media and technology has increased to such an extent that it is demanding to be competent in all areas. However, the major challenge has remained the same for years: Namely, the ability to transcend media and technical boundaries, to link several communication measures together for a client and then still convey the right messages in the right implementation. You can't do this with specific specialist knowledge or with external specialists. Only conceptual ability, intelligence and creativity can help. That's what makes good communicators.	Today we have employees with job titles that didn't even exist three years ago. In this sense, yes, we clearly need more specialist knowledge today. However, we have opted for the integrated model, where each customer has their own team - not three teams that they have to coordinate themselves. Our main task has remained the same: the supporting strategy and the media-neutral basic idea. There were times when older advertisers longed for the good old "idea on a beer mat". Good news: this is back in demand today. The basic idea in one sentence, which serves as the basis for all channels.	Tools and training are crucial here, as are the best possible market overview and quality contacts with providers. What's more, today we sometimes question the brief, because we need a briefing with so-called business objectives and KPIs (key performance indicators) that the client wants to achieve together with the agency. Today, a modern media campaign has a clear objective as a guideline, plus business insights, a comprehensive brief and, if necessary, measurement criteria. The media agency responds with a strategy process, efficient booking with the media and controlling of effective performance - all of which is no longer possible without the best employee qualifications and IT tools.
4 Let's move on to skills. In the past, there were the two camps of "consultants" and "creatives". The consultants, known as cardboard carriers, had direct access to customers. The creatives, known as prima donnas, tended to work behind the scenes, dreaming up ideas in a quiet chamber. What has fundamentally changed - has professionalism increased? What about the qualifications of agency employees today?
The qualifications of employees have indeed increased. Anyone who wants to be successful in an agency today must be highly qualified and highly motivated. As already described, the media and technical possibilities have expanded massively, boundaries are blurring and the time and financial pressure on every employee is enormous. Believe it or not, finding highly qualified employees is still one of the biggest challenges. And perhaps at this point I would like to point out to all the small talkers who want to lead our country into isolation by isolating it from the euro: Without the many extremely talented employees from abroad, we would never, ever be able to provide our services. If you want to be "state of the art" today, you have to think internationally as an employer.	It used to take very good consultants and outstanding creatives to develop a really good campaign. And they did exist. Today's complexity simply requires even more specialists. The lowest common denominator remains: They have to be the best in their field. And: they have to work as a team.	The situation is traditionally somewhat different for media agencies. Service providers always have to work with the client. We don't have divas in the background, but planners and consultants who are responsible to the client. At Mediaschneider, employees are continuously trained and educated both online and offline. Our aim is to work with knowledgeable and competent employees who can also establish and maintain good contact with the customer.
5.Today, text is also referred to as "content". In the past, copywriting was never charged separately, it was included in the fee. What role does the text, the copywriter, still play today? People hardly read any more, they say. Or only very short texts and very short words...
Perhaps the term "text" is a little one-dimensional these days. It's all about developing exciting stories. These need an idea in terms of content and form, a dramaturgy, words, texts and images. It's not simply a case of "Make another slick headline", but rather "What are fascinating ideas?". From this perspective, "text" is perhaps more important than ever. Simply as "content management" and "story telling".	A supporting role in a double sense. Copywriters are very often copywriters/concept developers. And the supporting concept cannot be valued highly enough. Anyone who simply uses all possible channels without a concept is not managing their brand. And then much more content is created than before. In other words, content. Because every new channel needs exactly that. The same applies here: the quality of the content is decisive for the match. Regardless of the channel. With a bad wine, I don't care whether it comes in a hand-corked bottle or a plastic bag. I just don't want to drink it.	I can't answer that from the media agency side.
6 Today, graphic designers practically only work with computer support. They have to be able to work with multimedia. Swiss graphics in the sense of a high-quality "brand" hardly exist any more...
That's not true. There are many very good Swiss designers who are able to produce multimedia designs at the highest level. Of course, the currency is no longer simply called "poster", as it was perhaps 50 years ago. But nothing has changed in terms of high quality.	I would separate the two. Whether outstanding graphics are created by hand or on the latest device makes no difference. We see this in art: the technique used says nothing about the quality. So I can paint just as horrible pictures with oil on canvas as I can when Pixar lets me into their studio... unfortunately I'm just largely talentless. Where I absolutely agree with you: Graphics are unfortunately less appreciated and cared for than they already are. This is regrettable, especially in a country that was a leader in this field.	I can't answer that from the media agency side.
7 This leads to the question of how to deal with the different disciplines: classic advertising, online advertising, PR, sponsoring, sales promotion, etc. Which agency can still find its way around? Does the full-service agency still exist today? Is more external know-how being bought in today than in the past?
See question three. There are thousands of specialists, but hardly any generalists who have the size to deploy and manage all these specialists competently. These people are in demand today more than ever. Gestalten AG clearly positions itself as an agency responsible for directing all disciplines. Regardless of whether we fulfill everything with our own resources. That is not important for the client. What is important is that we can think in all areas and take responsibility accordingly.	This is precisely why we merged Publicis' advertising, dialog and digital agencies into Publicis Communications in 2011 and have been working in integrated teams ever since. Our media agency ZenithOptimedia is also part of the same company. If we want to manage brands with our clients and not just implement measures for them, this is the right way to go. I am personally convinced of this. Nobody on the client side has the resources to maintain disciplinary silos in marketing either. What's more, someone has to be able to see the big picture. If the agencies fail to do this, consultants are needed to keep the various agencies together. Because it is in the nature of specialist agencies to contradict each other. A clear plea for the integrated full-service agency.	The real full-service agency today is more of a network, i.e. a partnership of different agencies with the aim of offering everything "from a single source", i.e. being able to present and implement ONE solution. Consequently, this means that the lead agency must also have good project management skills and work in close cooperation with the other agency partners.
8. the subject of marketing. Some advertisers and advertising clients had little or no idea about marketing. They acted on instinct. Today, advertisers must be able to have a say in marketing matters on an equal footing with the client. Can an agency still influence a client's marketing today?
This is more a question of the client and less a question of the agency. There are clients who involve their agency very closely in marketing. We have already helped design marketing plans and develop products for clients. The results of such collaboration are impressive. If I were the client, I would definitely transfer joint responsibility to my agency. But there are also clients who simply want a specific advertising medium and nothing else. It's like everywhere else in life: "You get what you ask for."	Perhaps both sides used to make more gut decisions. In the successful examples, however, there were simply good people on both sides who met as equals. The task here remains the same: You have to be on an equal footing before you can look each other in the eye.	This is the key to success today, but especially for the future. An agency is included in a joint marketing target agreement and is then also a marketing service provider. It must therefore have a say in a larger part of the marketing value chain and be able to orchestrate so-called consumer touchpoints beyond advertising, i.e. also have an opinion on the packaging or correctly evaluate market research results.
9 Client Relations: Has the relationship with clients changed? If so, to what extent?
I learned something for life at a highly remunerated leadership seminar for managers at Columbia University: "If they don't like you, they will kill you". We work according to this principle every day. Clients have a right to be respected and honored by their agency. Nobody gets angry with their agency. That's why a personal relationship and mutual trust is still the key to success.	As with all the changes we are currently seeing, speed is the biggest driver here too. Key positions are changing more quickly and the respective people have a packed agenda, which leaves less time for talking about God and the world. However, the basic theme in an agency-client relationship is probably still commitment, flexibility and trust in a successful partnership. I think the stories that budgets used to be allocated simply on the basis of lavish meals at the Kronenhalle are fairy tales. There were certainly longer and more intensive personal relationships, but the motto "No performance, no success" certainly applied even then.	The relationship with the client has become somewhat tougher, but not necessarily in a negative sense. The client wants to understand what he can trust the agency to do, and the client wants his return on investment - measured as quickly as possible and possibly certified by an auditor (at least on the media side). The client wants to be surprised, i.e. he wants innovations from the agency and will only rate an innovation as "well-rounded" if it is perfectly integrated - in concert with the other agencies, with media partners and also with measurable data structures. In the end, the relationship with the client becomes much more professional!
10.Where is the journey going? How has the way advertisers think changed?
Anyone who claims to know what's hiding behind the next bush in today's communications jungle is talking out of their ass. Change is the order of the day, and change will continue to occupy us in the future. That is perhaps the only thing that is certain. At Gestalten AG, we believe that the most important thing is to keep curiosity and openness to change alive. Only those who are always quick enough to embrace new things will be fit for the future. Perhaps you could put it like this: "Experience is old school. Newschool is curiosity and courage."	I see three main issues that will continue to occupy us in the near future. 1. the speed:New opportunities arise every week, and you shouldn't wait until you see the best-practice examples of the competition and get annoyed. Try more, be courageous, lead the change. 2. openness:You have to be prepared to engage with new situations, opportunities and people. Collaborations, new forms of work, creating more laboratory situations. 3. the differentiating positioning:Certainly an evergreen, but one that is becoming even more important in an increasingly complex environment. I need to know exactly what my brand is promising and how it intends to deliver on this before I think about the possible forms of communication and how to communicate them. -channels. If you have nothing to say, sheer multiplication doesn't make you any more interesting.	The path is moving away from broadcasting towards contemporary interaction with the consumer. Of course, the broadest possible message "out there" is still needed at a certain stage, but at the same time authenticity and feedback loops as well as sustainability are required. Advertisers and media strategists need to take all of this into account today if they want to create modern brand communication.