Together, Gujer, Müller, and Zielina will form the new NZZ executive board, according to a statement.

Eric Gujer, the current head of foreign operations, will take over the post with immediate effect, the NZZ Media Group announced on Wednesday. He succeeds Markus Spillmann, who stepped down at the end of 2014. Gujer has been with the NZZ for nearly 30 years. In 1986, he started as an intern and freelancer. Later, he reported from abroad: among other things, he was a correspondent for the GDR and also reported for some time from Moscow. Born in Zurich, Gujer studied history, political science and Slavic studies at the universities of Freiburg im Breisgau and Cologne. According to the statement, he is an expert on the EU, Germany, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. He has also made a name for himself as an expert on international strategic issues and terrorism, among other things. Eric Gujer has headed the foreign affairs department since 2013. His current appointment was made with the involvement of management and editorial representatives, the statement said. Since Spillmann's departure, a three-person committee had led the editorial team on an interim basis.

During the discussion about Spillmann's successor, unpleasant side noises had arisen when it became known that the NZZ board of directors had set its sights on Markus Somm, the publisher and editor-in-chief of the Basler Zeitung. For many, Somm, who is close to the SVP, was unthinkable as editor-in-chief of the NZZ, which is clearly affiliated with the FDP.

Trio forms editor-in-chief

The entire new NZZ Editorial Board comprises three people: Eric Gujer, Felix E. Müller and Anita Zielina. Müller, born in 1951, is editor-in-chief of the NZZ am Sonntag. His responsibilities will be expanded and upgraded, according to the announcement: He is now a member of the Executive Board and additionally responsible for all magazines and periodicals. Zielina was deputy editor-in-chief of Stern Online in 2013/2014. The online journalist will be editor-in-chief of New Products at NZZ from the beginning of May. Zielina was born in Vienna in 1980, where she also studied law and political science.

According to the announcement, Gujer will be responsible for the journalistic guidelines of the NZZ and the associated products under the NZZ brand. Müller is responsible for the journalistic direction of NZZ am Sonntag as well as NZZ's existing and planned magazines and periodicals. Zielina's responsibilities include existing platforms such as NZZ.ch and the Austrian offering NZZ.at, as well as the conception and implementation of new
Products. (SDA)

For the 4th time, 160 exhibitors will be showing current works ranging from urban art, graffiti, illustration and typography to mapping and 3D. Chief curator Shark deliberately wants to show all trends in visual design, including digital. In cooperation with Pro Helvetia, Grafik15 has therefore initiated a spectacular showcase, #SwissGames @ Grafik15.

With contributions from six art academies, twelve studios and 60 designers and producers. The largest ever showcase on this topic in Switzerland. And one of a total of five special exhibitions. International star guest and keynote speaker is ex-professional surfer and graphic icon David Carson ("The End of Print", 1997) - he is also present in the exhibition and will also give a lecture on his work on Friday, March 13 at 8 pm. He achieved worldwide fame in 1997 with his book "The End of Print".

The world of Swiss graphic design is colorful - and dynamic. And it has a long tradition in Switzerland. The precise, minimalist style of the 20th century has inspired designers all over the world and has not lost any of its relevance to this day. Not just any font, but THE font par excellence is even named after our country, Helvetica. It is therefore not surprising that many Swiss names can still be found among the world's best typographers today. Even if we can no longer speak of a uniform Swiss style, hardly any other nation has so many good visual designers and such a large visual output as Switzerland.

Thanks to the Internet and the digitalization of our society, the boundaries between graphic design and related disciplines - such as art, illustration, but also games and 3D - are becoming increasingly blurred. Categorizing products has become almost impossible these days. That's why Grafik15 is more than just a graphic design exhibition - it shows all facets of visual design. We call it a showcase for graphics and new media.

At Online catalog The graphic15 provides an overview of all exhibitors.

More info: Graphics-switzerland.ch

Raffle: Werbewoche.ch is giving away 3×2 tickets!

Send an e-mail with your name and company by March 12, 4 p.m. to [email protected]the lot decides.

The winners will be notified by email and added to the guest list. Good luck!

Seven daily newspapers from six European countries have joined forces in the Leading European Newspaper Alliance (Lena) to pool their journalistic expertise and promote quality journalism in Europe. The publishers of the daily newspapers have appointed Javier Moreno as the first coordinator of the alliance. The Spaniard was editor-in-chief of El País from 2006 to 2014.

Among other things, Lena is committed to strengthening the formation of public opinion throughout Europe. This is because the members share a number of common values regarding the importance of quality journalism for the structure of open and democratic societies as a basis for economic progress and social justice. The alliance aims to ensure an editorial, technological and economic edge for its members and will therefore select suitable cooperation partners for this purpose.

One focus of the collaboration is the development and exchange of editorial content. For example, each member will make selected articles available on a shared platform, which the other members can use as needed. In addition, interviews, features and commentaries will be created specifically for simultaneous publication in all Lena publications. Furthermore, Lena members will implement joint digital development activities in the future and establish a staff exchange program. This program is intended to give journalists as well as other staff members the opportunity to learn about working at other newspapers and thereby expand their skills.

Lena is also intended to contribute to the Europe-wide exchange of ideas. The plan is to bring together experts and decision-makers from politics and business at events that address key issues in the development of Europe. Javier Moreno, director of Lena: "This alliance will contribute to a truly profound transformation of our newspapers through content creation and digital as well as business developments that would not have been possible otherwise - for the benefit of our readers across the continent."

The alliance is subject to antitrust approval by the relevant competition authorities.

Compared to its competitors, Mercedes-Benz is the clear leader in the sum of all KPIs. In terms of virality - i.e. the independent dissemination of brand content - Honda is ahead. After Mercedes-Benz and Honda, Seat from the Amag Group is in third place in the overall ranking.

This is the result of a brand analysis by the digital agency Webguerillas Zurich. Last year, it examined the Facebook profiles of Audi, BMW, Fiat, Ford, Honda, Hyundai, Jaguar, Mercedes, Mini, Opel, Renault, Seat, Skoda, Toyota, Volvo and Volkswagen.

To this end, twelve different KPIs such as response rate or relative growth were evaluated for the respective Facebook fan pages and condensed into four meaningful core values: "Brand Punch" shows the brand's own engagement on the social web. "Brand Awareness" provides information about the size and activity of the brand community. "Brand Applause" stands for user approval - for example through likes or shares. And "brand amplification" refers to the virality of the content, i.e. how quickly or easily the content spreads online. The study period was the last twelve months.

Mercedes is in pole position in the overall ranking. On a standardized scale from -1 to +1, the brand achieved an overall score of 0.56. The Daimler brand prepares the content of the fan page best, has a clear, stringent, glossy visual language and the best overall response values of all the car brands examined. The car manufacturer uses content on its Swiss Facebook page that is best received by its competitors across all the values "Brand Awareness", "Brand Applause" and "Brand Amplification". Mercedes often activates its community with question posts and has clearly understood the principle of engagement, as Webguerillas writes in a press release.

Second place in the overall Facebook ranking goes to the Japanese car brand Honda. With currently over 17,000 fans, the Facebook community is even smaller (Audi has the largest Facebook fan page with almost 110,000 fans) than that of its competitors, but they deliver new content almost every day with a visual language that is well received. Honda is also currently the fastest to respond to user posts in terms of reaction time and response rate. In terms of "Brand Applause" and "Brand Amplification", the Japanese are even ahead of all other car brands, including Mercedes-Benz.

Seat is in third place. The prepared content is well received, is well liked and shared and the fan page has grown considerably in the last year. Seat's engine only stutters when it comes to "Brand Applause". On the other hand, Seat is convincing in terms of the response rate - i.e. how often user posts are responded to. Fiat impresses with the fastest response time to posts from the community.

Jaguar, Skoda, Toyota, BMW, Mini and Renault in the midfield

The brands in the midfield are committed, but do not do so with the same success as the frontrunners. Jaguar and Skoda seem to have understood the principles of virality. But that is as far as it goes. In the other areas, it is not possible to score points. BWM, for example, has the most active community with the second largest Swiss facebook page, but is unable to score points in the other categories. Mini and Renault have good scores in the "Brand Punch" category, but only receive an average response to their content.

The taillights

The Opel, Volkswagen, Audi, Hyundai, Ford and Fiat brands struggle with low values in the area of content resonance. Opel, for example, impresses with its many additional options in its own Facebook tabs, where fans are offered their own Spotify list, but scores poorly in all resonance values. Fiat has the lowest score in the area of "Brand Awareness" (size and activity of the brand community). In relation to the number of fans, the content of the Fiat facebook page is shared relatively infrequently.

In summary, it can be said that facebook is well established among car brands as a means of communicating with their own fans. All brands were able to achieve growth in their community. "However, as the analysis shows, not all brands manage to do justice to their fans or produce content in such a way that it is well received by the community and activates the fans and allows them to have their say," says Dino Ceccato, Managing Director of Webguerillas Switzerland

The cooperation between the two agencies is expected to result in a mutual expansion of competencies and to extend the network and awareness to the respective markets. According to Claudio Rotter, Managing Partner Serviceplan Public Relations Suisse, the mandate support of Malaysian clients in Switzerland is of particular interest. Swiss Markus Helbling, founder of Clue, who himself worked in Switzerland for a long time and therefore knows the industry here very well, is looking forward to the partnership: "With Serviceplan Public Relations Suisse, we have found the ideal partner to expand our public relations expertise in the Swiss market. The House of Communication and the Serviceplan Group behind it also enable integrated and cross-disciplinary cooperation throughout the DACH region."

SIX and Postfinance, as providers of e-bill, were looking for an agency to update the appearance of e-bill as part of a pitch. Ogilvy One prevailed in the pitch and gave e-bill a new face: The logo, font and icons have a fresher design. The website E-bill.ch was converted to a Responsive One-Pager. It carries a more generous, contemporary design with a tidy navigation, an entertaining explainer video in focus and a more present placement of the search functions.

To communicate the benefits of e-bill and attract new customers to the simple payment method, a campaign was created - with an emphasis on online. The advertising message communicates the main advantages of e-bill in question form, which is always followed by the same answer: E-bill. This is also included in the Trueview video, an important part of the communication. The typical situation of manually entering the invoice reference number is shown. The answer? With e-bill, it's easier, faster and more convenient.

The digital media agency Neo@Ogilvy ensures that the goals are achieved as cost-effectively as possible - with appropriate placements of performance and Google ads as well as the TrueView video. The campaign was launched at the beginning of March, and further waves will be placed throughout 2015.

Responsible at SIX Paynet: Ulrike Eckardt, Senior Specialist Marketing & Communications. Responsible at Postfinance: Marco Kohler, Marketing Private Customers; Erich Jans, Market Communications. Responsible at Ogilvy One: Sandra Pellny, overall responsibility; Luca Faes, consulting; Benjamin Franken, CD; Christoph Perner, Karl Badde, art/design; Simone Paulzen, concept/text; Claudia Scheuber, media; Oliver Schaus (it.x), website programming.

On April 21, Cablecom will switch off 16 of the current 21 analog TV channels in the Basel region, as the company announced on Tuesday. SRF 1, SRF zwei, SRF Info, Telebasel and Joiz will remain available in analog form until April 27. These channels will also be switched off on Tuesday, April 28. Cablecom currently provides a good 70 digital TV channels unencrypted. While digital customers should not notice the analog switch-off, existing analog customers will have to take action: Anyone with a newer TV set with a DVB-C tuner can bring in the 70 digital channels with a channel search. Most sets manufactured after 2010 have such a digital cable tuner built in.

On older devices without a DVB-C tuner - tube sets or early LCD TVs - you can only watch digital programs with a converter. Cablecom provides one such converter per household free of charge; however, this does not provide high-definition (HD) pictures. You can also buy a converter - or a modern television.

Competitive pressure

The procedure was agreed with the Telebasel Foundation, which emerged from the Basel Cable Network Foundation. In other regions, the switchover was also carried out in two stages - this gives customers a few days to react if they notice the switch-off before there is nothing but analog screens. According to Cablecom, the digital switchover to date has gone "according to plan and successfully". Customers in Basel will be informed of the upcoming switchover by means of letters, e-mails, brochures, etc. as well as tickers at the affected stations. Incidentally, the Bern region is also being converted at the same time as Basel (Werbewoche.ch reported). Cablecom has been working on digitizing its offering for a good 15 years. The associated switch-offs of analog channels have repeatedly caused problems. Thanks to competition, more and more digital channels - also in HD - can now be received unencrypted, i.e. at no extra cost in addition to the cable connection.

According to UPC Cablecom, it currently has over 1.4 million customers in Switzerland for its TV, Internet and telephony services. The company's own cable network supplies two million households and companies nationwide. The company was unable to provide information on its market share in the region. Cablecom currently operates the former Balcab cable network in Basel and will take it over completely from the foundation in 2028. The foundation, which was established in 1988, owns the Basel cable network and holds the broadcasting license for Telebasel. Incidentally, the first digital channels were fed into the Basel network in October 2000. (SDA)

The decisive factor in the choice of the new campaign was an implementation that comes across as fresh and high-impact, according to the statement. "We had in mind a campaign that would quickly convey the theme of Easter. Because people like to tinker and decorate at this time of year, we picked up on this in the campaign," Creative Director Tommy Schilling tells us. This then gave rise to the new "egg" catchers for Easter 2015.

As with the previous Christmas campaigns, Valencia is again featuring children in the visuals. All in all, the three motifs "Easter bunny", "Easter egg" and "Easter chick" characterize the new Easter look. The Easter motifs can be seen on all advertising media, from POS measures to posters, shopping bags and advertisements. They also appear on the cover of the Easter magazine, which is also being produced by Valencia and gets readers in the mood for the Easter season with recipes and inspiration.

Responsible at Coop: Thomas Schwetje (Head of Marketing/Services), Sacha Zuberbühler (Head of Advertising), Carole Burri (Project Manager Advertising), Oliver Johnson (Head of Digital Marketing), Fabienne Schneeberger (Digital Marketing), Karin Heliopoulos (Head of Media) and Stephan Küng (The Whole Media). Responsible at Valencia Communication:
Tommy Schilling (Creative Director), Béa Otto (Art Director), Daniel Nussbaumer (Junior Art Director), Sebastian Refardt (Senior Copywriter), Diana Aberkane (Senior Account Director), Tanja Krismer (Junior Consultant), Serdal Aktas (Polygraph Team Leader) and Patrick Hublard (Polygraph).
Photo: Tobias Dürring, Styling: Claudia Schilling (Set and props), Ruth Bugmann (People) and Franziska Fitze (Hair/Make up).
 

It all began on January 16, when the Hotel Alpine Lodge Saanen-Gstaad advertised on its front page that it sold "the best burgers far and wide".

On January 23, the answer from the competition follows immediately: Basta by Dalsass, the restaurant of the gourmet hotel Bernerhof Gstaad, lays claim to the title of burger king of Saanen:

The burger chefs at the Hotel Alpine Lodge are not about to let the claim that they don't have a fork stick against the Basta burger sit on its head. In the follow-up advertisement on January 30, the non-existent selection of the competition is specifically attacked:

In their advertisement from February 6, the burger lovers at the Bernerhof rub the competition's noses in the fact that they deliberately focus on quality rather than quantity. What's more, the fries at Basta are deep-fried in olive oil - you start to get hungry just reading about it...

The battle for supremacy in the Saanen burger issue, which has now degenerated into a veritable "burger war", spills over into the editorial section of the newspaper on February 10. The two hoteliers lack any objectivity in their pleas - an idea of the newspaper. Thomas Frei from Basta summarizes conclusively in his text: "The hamburger at Basta by Dalsass is better. Basta. Not because the restaurant has 15 points. But simply because it's better." And Alpine Lodge boss Günter Weilguni writes that his competitor cultivates "the experience of boredom" with its single burger.

After this excursion into the editorial section, the burger war returns to the front-page advertisement. Humbug instead of hamburgers on February 13:

As if two squabblers weren't enough, a third contender for the burger crown also joins the fray on February 20: The Landhaus restaurant also claims to serve the best burger in Saanen.

On February 27, the two competitors Alpine Lodge and Basta by Dalsass are joining forces - at least for a joint advertisement. Readers are invited to decide for themselves which burger tastes best in the 4 for 3 campaign.

On March 6, a half-page article appears in the newspaper Interview with the two opponents.

The denouement: a mock battle orchestrated from A to Z for marketing reasons. Very few people caught the scam. According to the two alleged burger warriors, some employees in particular reacted "violently" to the competition's jibes. However, the campaign had an "extreme" effect on burger sales figures. Understandable. Bon appétit. (hae)

The study by Swiss market research company Argyou of more than 3,600 domestic and foreign industry websites shows that television, food & drink and advertising agencies occupy the top three positions in terms of online industry activity. Among the TV stations, German channels such as ZDF or Pro7Sat1 Online are in the lead. The number of requests for impact data from all providers with portals in all sectors was measured. A Swiss "search engine" measures the impact of the content of all providers by systematically checking what is searched for in over 180 search engines, social media and directories and comparing it with any competitors.

In some sectors, there is a real "spring awakening" in terms of online activities, as websites are often outdated and in urgent need of a refresh. These include the tourism industry and private banks in particular. Many websites are currently being redesigned or rebuilt and made mobile-friendly. Unfortunately, the most exciting content is often lost during the conversion to so-called "dynamic" or "responsive design". The online market researchers at Argyou in Baar are trying to avoid this with their measurements in the interests of the sectors concerned and their customers with appropriate control measurements.
 

E-shops with the widest range and no recession

In terms of volume, e-shops are by far the largest providers of content and products, followed by travel providers with a large number of destinations and offers. In terms of news providers, the electronic media are clearly in the lead. However, newspaper publishers are slowly catching up, particularly with specialist sections and magazines.

Interestingly, due to the strong Swiss franc and the resulting decline in incoming orders from abroad, many sectors finally have time to revise their online presences and e-shops and adapt them to the ever-increasing demands of potential users.

This was announced by Goldbach on Tuesday. In the previous year, however, the advertising marketer had still reported a net loss of 16.1 million Swiss francs after value adjustments had dragged down the result. Sales, on the other hand, increased slightly in 2014 by 1.2 percent to 464 million Swiss francs. Goldbach said it wanted to focus on its core businesses as a marketing services provider in the Swiss, German, Austrian and Polish markets. The company had completed its withdrawal from Russia and Romania, as well as the closure of its agency business in Poland and the sale of its stake in Internet TV provider Wilmaa. The streamlining of the business portfolio had thus been completed. The expenses and value adjustments for these measures led to an extraordinary loss of CHF 4.4 million in 2014, the communiqué said.

In Switzerland, sales increased by 1.5 percent to 394 million Swiss francs. The increase was driven by a growing TV business. The radio business bottomed out and recovered significantly in the second half of the year with an increase of 18 percent. For the current year, Goldbach expects growth in sales from continuing operations and a substantial improvement in net profit. The company said this was due to improved profitability in its core business and the elimination of special costs. (SDA)

Sheila Lucido's biography includes positions at Mediaxis-MPG, Effact and Wirz Werbung. In between, the native Swiss with Italian roots spent a year traveling the world. Melinda Steiner also has a wealth of experience abroad, having made England and the USA her second and third homes respectively. The marketing specialist with a Swiss federal diploma made her first professional steps in the hotel industry as well as in the music, radio and TV business. She also worked for Colt Telecom, Angst + Pfister and Propaganda.

As an ice hockey player, Cyril Schicker was a sports enthusiast before he turned to finance as an investment advisor (Bank Julius Bär, Rothschildbank). Only to later, in the meantime as a business economist FH, gain PR experience at Communicators and slip into the role of editor-in-chief at financialmedia. Ringier also brought him in - as people editor. In addition, the Kunsthaus Zürich, Allianz Insurance and the Bruno Weber Foundation have already relied on his communication skills.