The aim is to protect young people in particular from falling into debt. During the fall session, the Council of States had adopted stricter rules than those previously approved by the National Council. With regard to the details and enforcement of the ban, the National Council has now, by a majority vote, endorsed the Council of States’ proposals. The National Council unanimously granted the Federal Council the authority to intervene if it deems the industry’s agreement to be insufficient. In doing so, it followed the recommendation of its Economic Affairs Committee, which had aligned itself with the Upper House’s position on this point.

A separate motion by National Council member Christine Bulliard (CVP/FR) to reconsider this resolution stood no chance. It was rejected by a vote of 103 to 79, with one abstention. Representatives of the FDP and SVP argued in vain that this would grant the Federal Council a power that was «excessive and unnecessary,» as Andrea Caroni (FDP/SG) put it. The representatives of the FDP and SVP also lost on the question of the minimum duration required for a loan to be subject to the new provisions—albeit by a very narrow margin. The National Council approved the Council of States’ proposal to bring express loans under the Consumer Credit Act by a vote of 94 to 92, with 3 abstentions.

One point of disagreement remains, however: By a vote of 91 to 87, the National Council rejected the Council of States’ proposal that fines for violations of the rules be imposed not only for intentional acts but also for negligent ones. The bill will therefore return to the Council of States.

Two cantonal initiatives from the cantons of Basel-Landschaft and Geneva—one calling for better protection of young adults in training under the Consumer Credit Act and the other demanding a ban on consumer credit advertising and improved creditworthiness assessments—were tacitly rejected. The commission had recommended, by a vote of 13 to 0 with 10 abstentions, that the two cantonal initiatives not be pursued. The amendments to the Consumer Credit Act take into account the demands of both initiatives. (SDA)

Image: Keystone
 

According to the announcement, Newsexpress will serve as a service center that will primarily produce breaking news, short news agency reports, photo galleries, and live tickers. Through Newsexpress, Tamedia’s news platforms will share news that is also available free of charge in a similar format on other media websites. The daily newspapers’ independent editorial teams will then create reader-specific added value through in-depth coverage.

Newsexpress is intended, in particular, to expand news coverage during off-peak and late-night hours and to provide readers and users with up-to-date news as early as the early morning hours in the future. This expansion of coverage meets readers’ needs, as—thanks to the growing number of mobile devices—usage of news platforms peaks as early as 6:00 a.m. and does not level off until after 9:00 p.m.

Peter Wälty will take over as head of Newsexpress in German-speaking Switzerland in addition to his role as deputy editor-in-chief and head of digital development at 20 Minuten. In French-speaking Switzerland, the team will be led by Philippe Favre, who will take on this role in addition to his duties as editor-in-chief of 20 minutes. Following the successful launch of Newsexpress for internal clients, a collaboration with external clients is also being considered in the medium term. Closer coordination among the editorial IT teams is also planned for the medium term.
 

With its jet of water up to 140 meters high, the Jet d'eau in Geneva is one of Switzerland's landmarks. Geberit Aquaclean, the Swiss shower toilet, used the famous water fountain for a refreshing ambient campaign. A specially produced F4 billboard was placed on the shore promenade of Lake Geneva in such a way that the Jet d'eau could be seen through its cut-out - and its water fountain thus became the shower jet of a Geberit Aquaclean shower toilet.

Responsible at Geberit International: Daniela Koch, Campaign Manager Geberit Aquaclean. Responsible at Y&R Group Switzerland: Markus Gut, Dominik Oberwiler, Susanne Weeber, Natasa Maricic, Jeremy Küng, Kim Witmer (creation), An Le (3D, DTP), Renée Weber, Kerstin Schnyder (consulting).

 

The short feature film "Gipfelstürmer," with which the Swiss salt works convey everything worth knowing about salt, wins the highest possible Master of Excellence award. In addition, the film receives an Award of Master for the best screenplay.

Also receiving an Award of Master is the animated film "The salt experts in brief", in which the Swiss salt works present their range of services.

A Master of Excellence and the special Award of Master for the best image design are awarded to "Bucherer Craftsmanship". The five poetic short films for Bucherer are a declaration of love for craftsmanship and part of the new website.

The European Corporate Media competition is held annually and took place for the 26th time in 2014.

 

Switzerland’s first campaigning agency, founded in 1997, cited the inability to agree on a new name as the reason. Philipp Maderthaner, the founder of the Campaigning Summit Vienna, reportedly insisted on the concept of city summits, which, according to the organizers in Switzerland, doesn’t make sense there. The rift occurred when the Vienna-based agency took over the Swiss organizers’ Facebook page and stripped them of administrative rights for nearly two weeks.

«Switzerland is too small for city summits, and a name like »Campaigning Summit Zurich« tends to discourage people from Basel and Bern from attending the Campaigning Summit. To bring the event—which we have heavily subsidized up to now—into the black, the name change was essential,» said organizers Peter Metzinger and Lorena Valentini Metzinger in a statement. The name change, as well as numerous updates to the concept, stem from an analysis of feedback and numerous discussions with participants. “Since the contract with Vienna did not give us the freedom we need to address the participants’ needs, we had no choice but to terminate it in the participants’ best interest,” said Mattia Bütikofer, who developed the new concept.

According to the contract, the local organizer bears the full risk, while the Campaigning Bureau Vienna receives all the data.

 

In an interview with the US weekly magazine Time, Zuckerberg said he was frustrated that "a lot of people" increasingly saw advertising business models as being out of step with customer interests. "I think that's the most ridiculous notion."
Among other things, Zuckerberg was responding to a comment by Apple CEO Tim Cook that customers are ultimately the product when it comes to free ad-financed services, but this is completely different at Apple. "Our business is not based on having information about you. You are not our product," Cook said at the presentation of Apple's new privacy policy. Cook's comment was primarily aimed at Google, but also applies to Facebook's business model. Facebook was recently accused of marketing its customers as a product by its new Facebook competitor Ello.

Zuckerberg used the interview to attack Apple for his part. "Do you think that because you pay Apple something, you're suddenly in line with them? If that were the case, Apple would make its products much cheaper," said the Facebook boss. Facebook's idea is to connect everyone around the world. "You don't do that by having a service that people have to pay for." (SDA)

Image: Keystone
 

With Sarah Meier, the Swiss Red Cross has gained another prominent and credible figure as an ambassador. The former figure skater will support various Swiss Red Cross projects both in Switzerland and abroad.

«I volunteer for the Red Cross because it allows me to do my small part to help people who aren’t as fortunate as I am,» says Sarah Meier. Meier, who was named Swiss Athlete of the Year in 2011 and, after winning the European Championship title, went on to perform only in shows like «Art on Ice,» has already completed her first assignment for the SRC: She visited village clinics in Bangladesh that the SRC supports with equipment and staff training.

Salome Stäuble, who is responsible for the SRK ambassadors in the SRK Marketing Department: «With Sarah Meier, we’ve been able to make a meaningful addition to our team of SRK ambassadors. Sarah Meier is a truly well-liked figure, and she is deeply committed to sharing some of her good fortune with others through social engagement. We are very pleased that she has decided to get involved with the SRK.»

Photos: Keystone, Redcross.ch
 

The agency prevailed in a multi-stage pitch for UBS' e- and mobile-banking communications. UBS's award-winning mobile banking app sets new standards in terms of security and user experience. In order to make the advantages of mobile banking tangible, the bank worked together with Serranetga to develop a communication concept that is versatile and can therefore be used in a wide range of communication measures. Instead of simply promoting new features of e- and mobile banking, the individual user is provided with information that is precisely tailored to his or her knowledge and skills.

In addition to placements on UBS' in-house e- and mobile banking sites, display and social ads are used.

In order to make the advantages of mobile banking tangible, UBS and Serranetga have developed a communication concept that can be used in a variety of ways and for a wide range of communication measures.

Click here for the microsite: Ubs.com/mobile

Responsible at UBS: Andreas Kubli (Head of Multichannel Management & Digitization) Daniel Hünebeck, Julia Stefanides (Multichannel Management & Digitization | Client Dialogue Management). Responsible at Serranetga: Maurizio Rugghia (Managing Director), Florian Beck (ECD), Tino Elsener (Senior Consultant), Matthias Ziegler (Text), Florian Bosshard (AD), Julia Miller (Screendesign).

 

After growth of 5.1 percent in 2014, there will be an increase of 4.9 percent in 2015 and 5.6 percent in 2016. For the first time, the global media agency group also looks ahead to 2017 in its latest "Advertising Expenditure Forecast," where growth will slow slightly to 5.2 percent. The reason for this is the three major cyclical events that will give the advertising market a particular kick in 2016: The Olympic Games, the presidential election in the USA, and the European soccer championship.
 
The most important driver of the global advertising market is mobile, which will attract more than half of the additional advertising dollars between 2014 and 2017. Over the same period, investment in mobile advertising will grow by an average of 38 percent annually, thanks to the continued growth in mobile penetration, improvements in advertising formats and variety, and technical innovations in the targeting of cross-device campaigns.
 
Nevertheless, advertising investments are disproportionate to mobile media usage. In the U.S., they will account for 6.2 percent of the advertising pie this year. At the same time, Americans spend 23.3 percent of their time using media on mobile devices. Interestingly, it is social media that is now driving mobile display advertising.

Development in Europe is characterized by the crisis in the east and the recovery in the south. The southern euro zone, which lost around 15 percent of its advertising investment in the years between 2007 and 2013, is recovering in 2014 and will grow by 5.4 percent in the coming years, above the average in the euro zone, which is 2.0 percent. Meanwhile, tensions between Russia and the West and the conflict in Ukraine are having a clear impact: Russia's advertising market is growing by only 1.8 percent this year, with 1.1 percent forecast for 2015. In Ukraine, the advertising market will actually shrink by 49 percent and by a further 10 percent in 2015. 
 
For the Swiss advertising market, ZenithOptimedia estimates growth of 2.8 percent in 2014. "The biggest drivers for us were TV, with growth of 4.7 percent, and online, with growth of 11.4 percent," explains Zenith Optimedia CEO Beat Krebs. The sustained momentum in the TV sector is particularly noteworthy: "Despite the panel-related decline in measured ratings, customer demand is unbroken - but this is also driving prices up," explains Krebs.

 
Print remains under pressure. While advertising sales of magazines continued to decline in 2014, as in previous years, there was a small respite for newspapers, with a slight increase of 1.2 percent. "I assume that this trend will not be confirmed and that we should already be looking at minus again for next year. Readership will continue to decline and with it investment. Therefore, the next few years could also be rather difficult for publishers," Krebs fears.  
 
Nevertheless, Zenith Optimedia expects the overall advertising market to continue to grow in the following years, with online and TV in particular, but also outdoor advertising, developing positively. A plus of 1.8 percent is forecast for 2015, and the media agency expects growth of 1.7 percent for both 2016 and 2017.
 
Zenith Optimedia has been producing the quarterly forecasts since 1987. They serve the advertising industry as a valuable barometer for planning their media activities and are also used by the media, advertising agencies, management consultants and analysts. Since June 2012, the data on past and future net advertising investment worldwide has been available for the first time in an online database at Adforecast.com is available. Media splits and annual comparisons of all surveyed countries can be displayed and downloaded in graphs and charts. Media genres can also be compared with each other. For customers of ZenithOptimedia agencies, database access is free of charge. Journalists have the opportunity to test the database for one week free of charge. The paid study "Advertising Expenditure Forecast" can also still be ordered at Zenithoptimedia.com.
 

As an agency and general contractor for major events brings Alpha Blue many years of experience and valuable know-how in consulting, conception, planning and implementation. Since its foundation in 2001, AlphaBlue has specialized in the organization of general meetings, conferences, congresses and exhibitions. With easyCOMM, it also developed a communication module specially designed for such occasions, which allows silent communication with all participants in real time and has been used successfully for several years. These features make Alpha Blue a perfect complement to the "Magic Moment Engineers" - the Messerli Group's experts for emotional marketing, live communication and brand experience.

Markus Raschle, Managing Director Alpha Blue, is confident in a statement: "As part of the Messerli Group, we can strengthen our position in the market and benefit from synergies. We are looking forward to the cooperation and can look forward to a successful future with a strong partner behind us."

Andreas Messerli, Chairman: "We are very pleased that we have been able to gain an experienced partner in the field of general meetings with Alpha Blue and thus strengthen our market leadership in this strategically important area. We are convinced that this partnership offers many opportunities for both sides."

To support the cooperation, Alpha Blue is also moving closer to the Messerli Group in terms of space. At the end of January 2015, the team will move its office to the Group headquarters in Wetzikon. With the acquisition of Alpha Blue, the Messerli Group now has a total of nine members.
 

According to the press release, the media studies graduate has been working in the media industry since 1999 and has extensive experience in applied usage research for electronic media. Her positions include the former Swiss private television channel TV3, the marketing organization Publisuisse of SRG SSR and the media marketer Goldbach Media, where she was in charge of all research for TV, radio and digital out-of-home media. At Iakom, she will contribute her many years of experience in market, audience and advertising research applied in practice.

"I am delighted to welcome Siri Fischer as the new project manager at IaKom," says Heinz Bonfadelli about the new addition. "With her wealth of experience in practical media research, she will expand Iakom's expertise in this area".

The Institute for Applied Communication Research Iakom conducts scientifically sound research, prepares expert reports and offers strategic consulting in the field of public communication. Among other things, the independent institute develops and operates its own tools for recording cross-platform media use and social media engagement.

The Iakom team consists of Heinz Bonfadelli, Thomas Friemel, Benjamin Fretwurst, Thomas Plotkowiak, Siri Fischer and Tobias Frey.