Every month for the past twelve months, an ADC Switzerland member selected his or her five favorites from all the new TV spots in the Publisuisse spot database. Of these five favorites, the audience selected the monthly winner in an online vote. In the end, all the monthly winners competed against each other for the annual prize. Once again, the audience votes counted in the online voting.

The clear winner was the Suvaliv soccer spot, in which an entire stadium is filled with injured soccer players. With 47 percent, it garnered more than twice as many votes as the second-place spot, Swisscom Replay (18.5 percent). In November 2014, the Suvaliv soccer spot had already won the Gold-Edi, the highest Swiss award for commissioned films. The spot was conceived by the Ruf Lanz agency under the creative direction of Markus Ruf, and realized in close collaboration with the film production company Stories - with Michael Fueter as director and Yves Bollag as producer.

The Barbie sales figures look anything but rosy and are in in free fall. To end the sales slump, Mattel has introduced the new doll "Hello Barbie" at the North American International Toy Fair. Barbie 2.0 can not only speak, but above all listen and learn the behavior of the owner through voice recognition software. Meaning: The doll can have a conversation with a girl that "makes sense" - the follow-up question builds on the last answer, for example. A Mattel employee demonstrates a possible conversation:
 

The catch: the dummy transmits the call data via WLAN to the company's server. There, they are evaluated and analyzed. This is supposed to help improve the quality of the installed software. Angela Campbell, a law professor at Georgetown University in Washington, sums up the problem: "If I had a small child, I would be very concerned that his confidential conversations with his doll were being recorded and analyzed. She is one of the initiators of the Online petition, which wants to stop the doll. And Susan Linn, head of the responsible initiative "Campaign for a commercial-free childhood" to the Washington Post: "Children who use Hello Barbie are not just talking to a doll, but directly to a toy company whose only interest is financial."

Mattel Germany sees no reason for concern at the request of Mirror OnlineThe doll in question would not be available in Europe anyway. "Children in the U.S. have a completely different way of dealing with social media issues. What would cause outrage in Europe is not viewed so critically there," a spokeswoman said. All right, we're reassured. (hae)

The "Espresso" report focused on the sale of a dietary supplement costing around 600 francs to a woman over 80 years old. According to the UBI, a consumer magazine may denounce abuses in telemarketing in an advocacy manner. However, in its review, the UBI came to the conclusion that the sales pitch in the article was inaccurately portrayed. Neither had the saleswoman promised the customer a "miraculous cure", nor had she "grossly negligently" recommended that she forgo medication. According to the UBI statement, the journalistic duty of care was violated in that Radio SRF did not report transparently and fairly on the sales talk. The deficiencies identified had significantly impaired the overall impression and made it impossible for listeners to form their own opinion about the sales pitch.

In contrast, the UBI unanimously rejected complaints against two television programs. The complaints concerned the report "New drones for Switzerland" by the political magazine "Rundschau" and the program "Sternstunde Philosophie" by SRF television on the subject of "Nationalism and populism - where is Switzerland headed? (SDA)

Y. A. from Basel is demanding 84'000 francs from Yanez. The reason given is "old contracts", but as the newspaper knows, the story has a different origin. Y.A. was insulted in 2013 in the online forum of "Kassensturz" by another user - but the post was not immediately deleted by the editors. As a result, the woman filed a criminal complaint in Zurich. However, the application was not pursued further by the public prosecutor's office.

In the summer of 2014, Yanez received the unfounded debt collection. Although it is abusive, it remains visible in the debt collection register. The woman did not attend a conciliation hearing at the civil court in Basel. In order to get rid of the debt collection anyway, Yanez filed a negative declaratory action. If the claim of Y. A. is not substantiated by the end of March, the Maz director will be rid of the troublesome debt collection. (hae/SaS)
 

The Group generated sales of CHF 157.1 million with media consumers, CHF 3.4 million more than in 2013, as announced on Friday. This increase is partly due to the takeovers of Wiler Zeitung and Alttoggenburger in eastern Switzerland. However, the increase in digital subscriptions was reflected to a far greater extent. The Neue Zürcher Zeitung and NZZ am
Sunday, the number of digital subscriptions rose by 49 percent to around 16,600. The flip side of the coin was the situation on the advertising market, which subsidizes reading material for consumers. Advertising revenues at the NZZ Media Group fell by 2 percent. Compared to previous years, however, the decline in income slowed. Printing revenue also declined, falling from CHF 62.3 million in the previous year to CHF 59.3 million in 2014. This was due to overcapacity and price pressure, according to the press release.

Decline in sales in core business slowed

Overall, the Zurich-based media company generated sales of CHF 471.1 million with its four divisions, which is significantly less than in the previous year. At that time, the books still showed 482.4 million francs. The main reason for this was the sale of the delivery business in 2013, which is why Group CEO Veit Dengler stated in the press release: "We have slowed down the decline in turnover in our core business in recent years". In terms of the divisions' profits, the operating result of Medien NZZ with the flagship NZZ was CHF 0.9 million in the red after a profit of CHF 8.3 million in the previous year. With a plus of CHF 11.1 million, the regional media fell short of the 2013 result (CHF 12.5 million).

The Group earned millions of francs before interest and taxes from media-related activities. The Moneyhouse business information platform was added to this division in January. In return, the delivery business disappeared. In the specialist media and printing segment, operating profit halved to CHF 2.6 million, with the specialist media performing well. Newspaper and commercial printing, on the other hand, suffered greatly from overcapacity and price pressure. The Group is therefore closing its printing center in Schlieren in the middle of the year. A maximum of 125 employees are out on the street - a redundancy plan has been drawn up. The NZZ and its Sunday edition are printed by competitor Tamedia. The NZZ printing plants in Winkeln SG and Adligenswil LU will remain in operation.

Conversion on track

Operating expenses remained virtually unchanged at CHF 451.1 million. The company saved on materials and distribution, but invested in editorial offices and technology. As a result, operating profit before interest and taxes fell from CHF 30.6 million to CHF 20 million. In general, the Group says it has made progress in transforming itself from a traditional newspaper publisher into a media company with a target group-specific offering on all channels. The Group aims to generate growth through new products and services in Switzerland and other German-speaking countries.

In its outlook, the media group announces that it will continue to drive forward its strategy with a focus on its core business. The necessary investments will continue to have a negative impact on the operating result in 2015, but will bear fruit in subsequent years. (SDA)

 

The company has not disclosed the exact amount. Tamedia spokesperson Christoph Zimmer told the news agency SDA on Friday that "Book a Tiger" will soon be coming to Switzerland. However, he was unable to give an exact timetable. "Book a Tiger" was founded in Berlin in April 2014 and, according to its own information, only places legal and experienced cleaners. (SDA)

Picture: Bookatiger.com

Spurred on by an appeal to the entire clientele, interested parties came forward for a casting. The most striking character heads were professionally put in the right light in the studio. Now they are making their rounds on the streets of the region as stars of Kestenholz and attracting attention. The advertising campaign at BVB and BLT runs for a whole year and the subjects are changed on a rolling basis.

Responsible at Kestenholz Holding, Pratteln: Stephan Kestenholz (overall responsibility); Katrin Schneider (marketing). Responsible at BSSM Werbeagentur, Basel: Urs Schneider, (CD); Pascal Rehmann (AD); Jonas Schneider (graphics); Hannes Müller (text); Philipp Buser (consulting). Photography: Tobias R. Dürring.

The goal is to bundle strengths and competencies, Tamedia wrote in a statement on Friday. For the time being, no layoffs are planned, Tamedia said when asked. However, this cannot be ruled out. The editorial team consists of about twenty journalists. Sport-Center is headed by Christian Despont, the current chief sports editor of Le Matin, Le Matin Dimanche and the online portal Lematin.ch. (SDA)

The 35-year-old Lucerne native has several years of professional experience as a teacher and editor. Laura Barchi is responsible for copywriting and production at media-work. She puts the finishing touches to written work with a flair for design. After completing her education at the teacher training college in Hitzkirch, Laura Barchi worked as a teacher for twelve years. She studied history at the universities of Bern and Lucerne and then worked as a local journalist for the Sempacher Woche.

The agency Media-Work supports companies and associations in dealing with the media as well as questions of internal and external communication. This includes manual work, such as writing and editing clear and comprehensible texts, but also consulting and conception, for example in the co-design of concepts, campaigns and strategies for media relations. Media-Work also produces graphics and infographics, designs print and online products and supports companies with their online presence.

Thanks to Naturaline, Coop is the world's largest supplier of organically and fairly produced cotton textiles. Naturaline stands for 100% fair production, 100% organic cotton, 100% transparency and 100 percent CO2 neutrality. Naturaline thus offers clothes with which women, men and children can look good and feel good. The range also includes textiles for the bathroom, bed and kitchen. As well as a Natural Cosmetics line. KSP's campaign runs in print, at POS and with brochures.

Responsible at Coop: Thomas Schwetje (Head of Marketing/Services); Sacha Zuberbühler (Head of Advertising Coop); Ursula Künzle (Head of Advertising Coop City); Christof Braun (Project Management Coop); Sonja Hunziker (Project Management Coop City); Karin Heliopoulos (Head of Media). Responsible at KSP: Uwe Schlupp, Anita Kummer (creative direction); Virginia Waldburger (graphics); Flavia Meyer (consulting management); Jacqueline Lima (consulting); Manuela Pasanen (DTP); Astrid Grosser (photography).
 

"Heart Keeps Dancing" was released eight months ago. Despite great response from the public, there is no official music video yet. Is this gap part of the Samsung campaign?
No, but we used this gap. The song "Heart Keeps Dancing" was first launched only in Switzerland. For the international release, the matching music video was then to come.

What did James Gruntz think of the remix idea?
It's always tricky when you want to mess with a musician's sound. James, however, found the idea sensational from the start, went into the recording studio and recorded all the individual tracks and sound elements of the project himself.

It is positively noticeable that everything comes from a single source.
Exactly. That's why the users - to put it nastily - can't mess up the song at all, no matter what they add or take away. The range of sounds is extremely wide. The song is therefore a stroke of luck: it always remains good, no matter whether you mix it in the direction of electronic, funk or in a quieter corner.

The fact that Gruntz has in the meantime received an award on a national level is probably also convenient for the campaign ...
That he was awarded with the Artist Award and as "Best Breaking Act" at the Swiss Music Awards on February 27th - that really made him and us very happy. However, we had not expected or speculated on it ...

Clips from the campaign were already seen at the Swiss Music Awards. Will it eventually become an official music video?
No, but the official remix. In the attached competition, a jury including James Gruntz will select the best ten entries. These will be voted on in cooperation with Blick am Abend. The one with the most votes will appear as Gruntz's official remix on YouTube. The winner will receive a private concert by James, wherever he wants.

What were the biggest challenges during implementation?
On the one hand, convincing a client like Samsung to make such a brand experience the centerpiece of a campaign. Convincing a customer of something they can't exactly imagine what it will look like in the end is always problematic. Especially when you're doing things that no one has done before. On the other hand, it was an elaborate programming story to reconcile so many audio tracks, as each track has video footage behind it. And finally, the shortness of time - that's often the case with Samsung. The final phone usually comes very late, especially the info on what it can do, since usually several development teams are developing several devices. A lot of time passes until it is decided which one will be launched - which is, of course, missing for the development of the appropriate communication in the end.

The current campaign focuses on the GIF function ...
The Galaxy A series is mainly aimed at a young target group because it has many social and selfie features integrated, plus a GIF generator integrated into the camera for the first time. That is special, other smartphones did not have that yet. Because of that, we chose the GIF aesthetic. From that perspective, the challenge was to create a user experience that was right for the target audience - and to make that very experience the centerpiece of the campaign. We didn't want to just create banners and put up some posters.

The hype around animated GIFs has been going on for years - suddenly everyone wants to jump on it?
Yes, but strangely enough, GIFs are only now really catching on. And it's being hyped internationally by Buzzfeed etc. accordingly. But we didn't do it because of the hype, but because I've always thought it was a beautiful (moving) visual language that is extremely popular, especially with the target group. For example, you no longer answer WhatsApp messages with text, but with GIFs. GIFs now have a huge influence on kids' social lives, because they communicate almost exclusively via smartphone. Which is actually a bit scary (laughs). Our generation has grown into it, but for millennials it's normal. That's why it's no longer questioned. I, for example, am happy when I can turn off my smartphone for the weekend, that's a luxury for me.

Assuming this campaign works ...
... which we assume ... (laughs)

... then is Samsung planning to use this concept with other artists, perhaps abroad?
Not yet. Everyone is always skeptical at the beginning. Then, of course, when everything works, everyone has always known (laughs). If we can pursue the project, that would be great. In the meantime, we are being asked directly by musicians who have seen it whether we could also do "such things" with them. It's similar with the "Digital Unpacking" we just did for the Samsung Galaxy S6 launch. We get a lot of feedback from tech leaders who want to know, "Hey, how did you guys do that?" That's where it starts to get really fun again for me. I think right now is the best time to be an advertiser.

Why?
Because you can do things that no one else has done before - and you don't have to implement the hundredth poster idea.

Thanks to the technological possibilities?
Exactly. I have the feeling that in Switzerland, a perhaps rather older or more established generation of advertisers often complains about the times we live in. I did a lot of international and very classically driven work before I came to Switzerland, but I never had any fear of contact with the digital world. Which many others here have. As a creative, I actually think it's a must that you always turn to new things, be curious. Creatively, digital is a land of milk and honey where you can be really creative. And you can't do award fakes. Great digital ideas simply cost too much money and time to simply implement them.

What do you mean by award fakes?
Zombie campaigns made just for the awards. At Cannes and other awards, a lot of the winning work is fake. Simply to show how creative one could be. The client is informed of this, of course. I used to like to do that, too. But now I think if you win awards, it has to be an award for a real job where you had a briefing - and had to go the hard way to get the client excited about it. If you win another award for that, that's great - but not just to promote pseudo-creativity. That has nothing to do with creativity.

Interview: Thomas Häusermann

About the campaign (online contribution)