If a Swiss company wants to emphasize its Swissness in a global market, it must align its overall image and communication measures accordingly. This is precisely the challenge that the Swiss agencies Sichtfeld (Solothurn) and Texpertise (Bern) have mastered for Swissqual: The new corporate design and corporate image emphasize the company's independence and its corporate principles of expertise, customer focus and Swiss engineering & design.

Swissqual was acquired by the German family-owned company Rohde & Schwarz in 2012. As a long-standing specialist and key player in benchmarking and testing mobile network providers, it was important for the company to maintain its independence and Swissness despite the takeover and to continue to position itself as a Swiss high-tech company in a global telecommunications niche market. This task was fulfilled by Sichtfeld und Texpertise together with Swissqual's marketing department.

Global local

The interdisciplinary team of design, video production as well as conception and communication focused on Swissness and global locality to emphasize that Swissqual develops its products locally but distributes them internationally. Architecturally appropriate locations were chosen for the photo shoots, for example the Westside in Bern, which specifically reflect the functional and modern design of Swissqual products.

The new Website is geared to the fast-moving mobile telephony market. Regarding the website, David Oreiro, managing director and creative director at Sichtfeld, says, "We deliberately built the site to be modular and flexible, ensuring long-term evolution and rapid adaptation to new market conditions."

Responsible at field of view: David Oreiro (Managing Director and Creative Director). Responsible at Texpertise: Stéphanie Giovannini (English- and German-speaking communications specialist). Responsible at SwissQual: Guido Grolimund (Marketing Manager) and Massimiliano Mannelli (Head of Marketing and Portfolio Strategy).

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This automatically entered them in the competition for five travel vouchers worth CHF 1000 each. Kuoni Switzerland and the commuter newspaper 20 Minuten have now awarded prizes to the best creations.

The top 5 vacation slogans from contest participants:

In January 2015, Kuoni Switzerland launched a nationwide campaign with the slogan "Bye bye gray, hello wow". With linguistic lightness and images of longing, the Kuoni brand thereby positioned itself as accessible and universal for all customers. The public was given the opportunity to write their own vacation slogans based on the campaign slogan. The second word in each case could be replaced by an own creation, the words "Tschüss" and "Hallo" were given.

A jury of experts and 20 Minuten readers selected the best slogans from all the proposals submitted. The jury was made up of marketing experts and editors and, in a first step, selected the 15 best texts. In a second step, the readers of 20 Minuten chose their top 5. The selected winners will each receive a travel voucher worth 1000 Framlem. In addition, their vacation motto will be featured on 20 Minuten Online and reach a wide audience.

"The response to the campaign has exceeded our expectations. We received over 21'000 creative and humorous vacation mottos from participants," says a delighted Claudia Herkert, Head of Marketing at Kuoni Switzerland. Posters served as the campaign's lead medium, accompanied by print and online advertisements, promotional materials in travel agencies, social media, a separate website and e-mail newsletters. The competition is one component of the overall campaign "Bye bye gray" and was designed in collaboration between Kuoni and Serranetga.

Publicist operates throughout Switzerland and covers a wide range of communication needs, from strategic consulting and digital PR to classic media work, copywriting and coaching.

The founder of Publicist PR & Communications is Harry H. Meier. After more than 15 years in communications on the client side, he knows the needs of demanding clients. Meier, who took his first steps in communications at Geneva-based luxury watchmaker Patek Philippe, was responsible for public relations for automotive brands Audi and Seat, among others, and most recently for Allianz Suisse. For Audi, he also served as press spokesman for product and technology in Germany.

"I'm often asked where I see the opportunities for my agency," says Meier and immediately gives the answer: "I'm very well networked in French-speaking Switzerland and often commute back and forth between Zurich, Lausanne and Geneva. Being active throughout Switzerland is therefore not just an empty phrase for me, but a lived reality. First and foremost, my clients benefit from this." Publicist PR & Communications has a broad network of partners, according to a statement. This enables the agency to offer the appropriate solutions for all communication needs.

Actually, only one question remains: Doesn't the name remind you too much of the Zurich advertising agency Publicis in font and tone (depending on the language)? In response to an inquiry from Werbewoche.ch, Meier explains that he is "well aware" of the problem. However, he considers the risk of confusion to be "relatively low," especially since he operates in a different business field with PR. In addition, the logo is clearly different. However, he is not quite sure yet: "Maybe it will be completely different in the end, which I don't hope for....". We'll stay tuned. (pd/hae)

It's a scene we've seen (at least it feels like) hundreds of times in Hollywood movies: A father takes his daughter to the airport and sends her off not only on her first trip to Europe or to college far away, but into adult life. Letting go is the motto. Last good advice, shed a few tears, don't forget to call, be brave... and goodbye.

A theme that Toyota has staged emotionally, patriotically and with a surprising twist for this year's Superbowl commercial...

...and which is now being satirized bitterly by the American cult show "Saturday Night Live" with actor Taran Killam and "50 Shades of Grey" star Dakota Johnson.

"ISIS - We'll take it from here Dad" ("We'll take it from here, Dad") is the message in the supposed commercial for the terrorist organization Islamic State. The terrorist responds to the request to take good care of his daughter with a caring "Death to America".

Toyota is probably not very happy about the version, which is spreading faster than the original with over 620,000 clicks in 24 hours: Toyota pick-ups can be seen in most of the pictures of the atrocity organization - PR that the car manufacturer would probably be only too happy to do without as an exception. For this reason, Toyota has deliberately made the lettering on the loading area of its Hilux model much smaller. The Hilux is considered to be one of the most robust pickups around and is therefore driven all over the world. Even by people with whom one would not really want to be associated, but who are nevertheless constantly shown in the media.

The clip has already sparked a fierce debate online and caused a shitstorm of major proportions for actress Johnson. In America in particular, many people seem to be of the opinion that IS slapstick crosses every boundary of good taste. Nevertheless, the majority of YouTube viewers seem to think that there are far more inappropriate ways to counter the unbearable cruelty than humor. (hae)

The number of applicants was large. An international jury of experts had to award the seal of approval for excellent design from among almost 5'000 entries from 53 countries. Process prevailed in the Brand Identity category with its work for Marché Mövenpick Restaurants. The innovative restaurant concept combines the strengths of the Marché and Mövenpick brands. Mövenpick values such as enjoyment and sophistication are combined with the naturalness and freshness of Marché in an urban ambience. On Friday evening, the responsible teams from Marché International and Process Zurich were presented with the award at the festive awards ceremony at BMW Welt in Munich.

Praise also in Taiwan

Marché Mövenpick's appearance has also attracted attention in Taiwan: Brain Magazine, the country's best-known branding and advertising magazine, recently awarded prizes for the best design developments. Marché Mövenpick made it to sixth place. According to Brain Magazine, at Marché Mövenpick "... the brand strategy is successfully communicated through a clear and consistent design language. It is recognizable in all implementations in an impressive way - from the menu card to the packaging concept."

Other Swiss winners:

In addition, Sunrise is providing the cabs with the Take Away max data subscription free of charge, according to a statement. Sunrise thus enables the guests of the airport cabs to surf the Internet on board at LTE speed (4G) on a mobile basis without charging their own data volume. Stickers next to the side door of the car and inside the vehicles draw passengers' attention to the new service. To use the Wi-Fi connection, passengers simply have to type in the password provided inside the car.

"Especially on longer journeys, free and fast Internet access is very important to our passengers," says André Küttel, Managing Director of the 7×7 cab company. "We are delighted that we can now offer this service to our customers thanks to Sunrise's support."

Sunrise is equipping all airport cabs with Wi-Fi devices, i.e. the vehicles of the two cab companies operating at the airport, 7×7 and 444. Timm Degenhardt, Chief Marketing Officer of Sunrise: "We are pleased to be able to provide free and fast Internet access to the passengers of the airport cabs and thus increase our visual presence at Zurich Airport at the same time."
 

Veronika Novak, Deputy Head of Human Resources Ringier Switzerland, has been with Ringier for almost 13 years and leads the team of HR managers. She has been responsible for various areas at Ringier (most recently Magazines, Publishing Media and Operations) and was instrumental in building up the Human Resources services. The 51-year-old previously worked as a lawyer for the law firm Stauffacher und Partner in Zurich and as Head Legal in a financial consultancy. She studied law at the University of Zurich and holds a Master's degree in Human Resources Management.

Christiane Theiss has been Head of HRM AZ Medien since June 2012 and will leave the company as of July 1, 2015. In the following months, she will focus on completing her doctorate.

As the Schwyz-based company announced on Saturday, the change in management marks the final step in the succession plan. Bote der Urschweiz had previously entered into a cooperation with Neue Luzerner Zeitung, which in turn discontinued Neue Schwyzer Zeitung at the end of 2013. In addition, the Triner Medien Foundation was established with the aim of maintaining an independent media company in the Schwyz region.

In addition to publishing director Martin Schmidig, editor-in-chief Jürg Auf der Mauer, head of finance and human resources Roman Betschart, editorial director Christoph Clavadetscher and head of advertising Christof Steiner will join the management board.

Hugo Triner will remain associated with the company. He will remain Chairman of the Board of Directors of the newspaper publishing and printing company and President of the Triner Media Foundation. 

In its home market of Switzerland, sales in the first half of the year were still below the previous year's level. However, the second half of the year brought a pleasing turnaround, the company announced on Friday. Sales in Switzerland rose by 3.2 percent to CHF 298.4 million in 2014. This puts APG/SGA well ahead of the overall advertising market growth of 1.4 percent, according to the press release.

Following loss-making expansion attempts, APG/SGA has significantly scaled back its international business and is now only active in Serbia. Sales there increased by 10.6 percent in local currencies to the equivalent of CHF 12.7 million. Overall, however, foreign sales are 16.3 percent down on the previous year following the market exit from Romania.

Business with mega posters was extremely pleasing in 2014, those responsible told the media on Friday. The expansion of the digital advertising offering remained high on the list of priorities. The introduction of the first animated City ePanels in Winterthur towards the end of the year was an important step in this direction. Group CEO Markus Ehrle puts APG's gross revenue from digital advertising media at more than CHF 20 million.

Higher dividend

APG/SGA was able to reduce its operating and administrative costs by 5.7 percent. Synergies with the fully acquired companies Impacta and Ecofer, which specialize in railroad advertising, contributed to this.

However, there was also an additional payment from the sale of a property in Neuchâtel and an amicable agreement on a put option relating to foreign activities. Net profit increased by 8.4 percent to 51.7 million francs. The dividend is to be increased significantly from twelve francs in the previous year to 22 francs per share. The price of APG/SGA shares rose significantly after the publication of the annual figures. At the close of trading, the share price was up 11.7 percent.

Benefit from elections

APG/SGA remains very positive about the future prospects for the poster medium. However, in view of currency turbulence and the associated economic influences, APG/SGA is refraining from making a concrete forecast for the current year. The company has made a good start to 2015, APG/SGA CEO Ehrle merely told the media.

APG/SGA also expects a positive development from the national elections in the fall. However, various elections and votes also took place in 2014, which is why the effect should not be overestimated, Ehrle qualified.

Ehrle also expects bookings to fluctuate strongly and at short notice again in 2015. The number of bookings already varied greatly from month to month in 2014, said the Group CEO. This ranged from a decline in sales of over ten percent in February to an increase of over 20 percent in the summer months.

In October, he presented the fifth Yearbook of Media Quality, which he had launched, and came to the conclusion that the quality of the Swiss media was continuing to erode. He cited the fact that low quality was being rewarded as the root of the problem and warned that informed democracy was at stake.

"We are not only losing a critical and outstanding researcher and scientist, but also a friend who has accompanied and supported some of us for more than half a lifetime," Mark Eisenegger, Co-Institute Director of the Research Institute for the Public Sphere and Society (fög) at the University of Zurich, told the SDA news agency.

Not afraid of difficult topics

His death is a loss for science, but also for society. Imhof had not shied away from "researching difficult topics and courageously going public with unpleasant findings so that society would learn, for example, that the quality of the media was declining". This ideal, which Kurt Imhof embodied, will be continued by the fög.

However, the fact that the news of Kurt Imhof's death became public so quickly, before all his relatives could have been informed, was upsetting, said Eisenegger. This also encourages the fög to continue its research into the quality of the media with full vigor.

Media as a common thread in the curriculum vitae

Imhof initially completed an apprenticeship as a structural draughtsman and went on to complete his Matura on the second educational path. He studied history, sociology and philosophy at the University of Zurich, researched "Social Crises and the Creation of New Development Patterns" for his degree and completed his doctorate eight years after starting his studies with a dissertation on the "Discontinuity of the
Modernity".

He worked his way up to a professorship from the bottom up: He went through periods as an assistant, was a lecturer and lecturer, National Fund project manager and much more. Since 2000, Imhof has held the Chair of Journalism Studies and Sociology at the University of Zurich and headed the fög until 2012.

The media and their development, their transformation, run like a red thread through his life. As a person who did not shy away from public debate, he caused offense - but also earned praise. The reactions on Twitter on Sunday evening were accordingly. "Didn't often agree with Kurt Imhof - but his admirably stubborn mission for good media will hopefully be sustainable one day," tweeted Philipp Landmark, editor-in-chief of the St. Galler Tagblatt. From the Blick editorial team, newspaper editor Thomas Ley wrote: "I once got to know Kurt Imhof as a professor who gave great lectures. And now I'll even miss his scolding of the media."

Media star of the professorial crowd

In a portrait on his 50th birthday, the former weekly magazine Facts called him the "media star of the professorial crowd", who was always on hand with a "poppy instant message", while his "academic colleagues took days to turn a sentence". Whether on television, on the radio or in print media - Imhof was incisive.

"In Kurt Imhof, sociology and media studies have lost a committed personality who curiously explored and openly commented on social events without mincing his words," said his colleague Ueli Mäder from the Institute of Sociology at the University of Basel on request. In his last emails, Imhof emphasized energetically and impressively how he wanted to fight cancer. (SDA)
 

The movie and series provider Netflix and the music streaming app Spotify are now standard equipment for many Swiss. However, users here not only buy the app diligently - they also finance it generously, according to Schweiz am Sonntag.

Subscription costs in international comparison

At Spotify, a premium subscription costs 12.95 francs a month - a 20 percent surcharge in Switzerland compared to the 9.90 euros that the same offer costs in Germany. Netflix charges 11.90 francs for a monthly subscription here, almost 30 percent more than in Germany, where the same subscription costs 8 euros. Compared to the U.S., users here even have to pay almost 40 percent more for Netflix. And that's despite the fact that the selection in Switzerland is significantly smaller: At the end of 2014, just under 2,000 titles were available on Netflix in Switzerland, while users in the U.S. had access to over 8,000 movies and series.

Justification of the providers

Although neither service employs staff in Switzerland, they do not intend to adjust their prices even after the minimum euro exchange rate is lifted. Costs in Switzerland are high, a Netflix spokesperson told Schweiz am Sonntag. Marketing and content acquisition cost a lot in this country. Similar price differences can be found in Norway, for example. Music service Spotify is also hanging on to the surcharge. "Spotify will not make any price adjustments in Switzerland," a spokeswoman said. Whether the difference is justified or not cannot be judged without a cost analysis, says price supervisor Stefan Meierhans.

How users can save money

However, local users could save themselves the Swiss surcharge. With browser extensions such as Media Hint, Unblock-US or Zenmate, some of which have to be paid for, Netflix can be made to appear to be located in the USA or Germany, says Schweiz am Sonntag. This saves money and opens up access to the larger US offering. Netflix accepts Swiss credit cards for U.S. accounts, only the address entry has to be imaginative.

Netflix prohibits this trick in its terms of use, but it should be legally unobjectionable. Finally, even price supervisor Stefan Meierhans thinks: "If it's really possible," he says in response to a question from Schweiz am Sonntag, "an account abroad is certainly an alternative worth considering." (Schweiz am Sonntag/sis)