Internet holds its ground again in the calculation month of September with an increase of nine index points 753 (744) compared to the previous month and thus remains on a growth course.

The other media show an overall downward movement: After a sustained upward trend, TV again lost one index point 647 (648) and radio recorded a decline of two index points 407 (409). A loss of three index points 733 (736) can be seen in the digital out of home sector. With the loss of another index point 51 (52), advertising pressure in the teletext sector also remains in decline.

The overall market remained at the previous month's level with 237 index points, while the advertising print for electronic media as a whole declined by one index point to 646 (647).
 

The creators of the "SagesderSchweiz" campaign launched at the beginning of October for the Swiss Media Association must have thought the same thing. They went into the fast lane and created a campaign with a modern twist. 480 advertisements in two months. It is set to be one of the biggest print campaigns in Switzerland. Is this campaign on track? It's too early to predict. The goals are ambitious: Print is to be brought into the conversation as an emotional, highly regarded online composite medium in order to halt the decline of print.

The campaign is powerful and progressive. 480 print advertisements in eight weeks - you're in the realm of advertising giants. Leading advertising and social media professionals were also brought on board. With ContentFry, an extremely sophisticated tool also performs the aggregation work. And the idea? Wringing opinions from people in public is en vogue, and the hashtag as a symbol provides the right impetus for cross-screen media consumption.

But there are also points of criticism. Allow me to make a comparison: hashtags, microsites and aggregators without campaign editors behave like a carriage without a horse. The traction of this type of campaign depends on how everyone involved gets involved once the campaign has started. 13 followers with 0 following and 7 tweets as of 20.10.14. Not enough traction. During the World Cup in Brazil, I took a close look at the advertising strategies of participating brands and gained three insights into how to bring traction to modern, cross-media campaigning.

The first insight - boosting your own presence

If you want to motivate people to take action, you should set a good example. In Persönlich you can read that Mr. Wanner, member of the executive committee of the Swiss Media Association, will not be posting a statement. Pete Cashmore is the founder and CEO of Mashable, an extremely successful news portal. Mashable is gaining ground worldwide, particularly in the Connected Generation segment, which is of interest to advertisers. One reason for its success is the presence of Pete Cashmore as a person and the presence of Mashable as a brand on all social media channels. To date, I know of no truly successful example where a hashtag has been at the center without also having a strong presence of its own, at least on Twitter or Instagram. A social home base like this is essential. The majority of the World Cup brands analyzed pursued a three-pronged strategy. Catchy hashtags, strong social media profiles and lively social media hubs were used. The hubs included web-based microsites for desktop users and mobile apps for smartphone/tablet users. I think we need both today. Ultimately, however, this decision depends on the context in which the exchange should take place: Is it on the move, stationary, private, professional, etc.? It is often a mix. At #SagesderSchweiz, "only" the strong integration of its own social media profiles is actually missing. But it is relevant to success. Twitter in particular can be used to give such campaigns additional momentum via influencers - I'm thinking of all the permanent and freelance journalists in the press who are very active on Twitter by profession. However, such activation only makes sense from your own profiles. There is also another argument. In the run-up to the World Cup, Adidas opened its own product profile @Brazuca on Twitter for the Brazuca match ball. During the World Cup alone, the number of followers more than tripled. Adidas can now use these followers for future campaigns. Adidas is pursuing the same product profile strategy for its Töggeli shoe models. It is a form of advertising sustainability.

Second insight - working with triggers

This is where we open the advertising propaganda box. With technological development and the growing diversity of media, the arsenal of available effect drivers (Neudeutch: triggers) has also grown steadily. One of these is the cooperation approach used in our present campaign. Print readers become online users by contributing something. The reward is a few square centimeters of presence on newsprint that is seen thousands of times. A second trigger is the event approach. We inject campaigns with topicality. We differentiate between events that can be planned and events that occur spontaneously. Halloween and Santa Claus Day can be planned. Why not a #daysofSwitzerland series as - for example - Samichlausversli? There is even an official name for the impact technique with spontaneous events: newsjacking. This involves specifically looking out for stories that are making waves on Twitter, Facebook or elsewhere on the web and that fit into your own context. Newsjacking requires two things, and both are generally essential for digestible social media advertising: open eyes and hearts for the true interests, needs and sensitivities of your own stakeholders as well as quick-wittedness with a little pinch of mischief. Adidas started the World Cup with over 1000 ready-made contents. They were prepared for many things. However, spontaneous events performed best. For example, the hammer goal by Colombian top scorer and Adidas shoe wearer James Rodriguez.

Third insight - setting up a campaign editorial team

Once the hashtag, microsite and social media aggregator are up and running, the actual campaign work really begins. The #SagesderSchweiz campaign does have an editorial committee. However, its main task is to sift through the messages and approve those that suit the creators for publication. However, anyone who ventures into social media territory or explicitly directs others to do so must engage in relentless work on individual moments of impact. Every post is the result of hard work. However, this work is more reminiscent of the work done in newsrooms than the work we know from the creative departments of traditional advertising agencies. Stories need to be launched, conversations need to be held, their impact and progress monitored and the setting constantly adapted. Online and social media are both 24/7 businesses. You have to be able to seize the moment, and this sometimes happens after work or at weekends. Sony, Adidas and FIFA operated publication centers to keep their World Cup appearances going. You need a good infrastructure, talent, rules and, above all, uncomplicated development and decision-making processes. Are we really late?

Beat Hürlimann

Are we really late? Answers to the question and opinions on the article are very welcome at www.huerlimanncc.com.
 

WW: For many, it would be a dream job. You're getting out. Why didn't you renew the contract you were offered at Leo Burnett as creative director for all of Europe?
Martin Spillmann: Yes, it is indeed a kind of dream job and a very special honor for a Swiss. They were three exciting years that I will always remember fondly. I have felt a lot of joy in this job for three years. But I haven't become three years younger either. Lately, however, the desire for independence has grown in me. To be able to dispose of my time independently. From this point of view, I can imagine that there are a lot of other things in life that I still want to experience and discover. I am ready for something new.

You've collected a lot of air miles. What else have your three years on the road brought you?
Above all, it was great to get to know all these exciting people in the different agencies. Being able to work with creatives across Europe, getting to know the different mentalities - but also seeing that other people in other countries have much bigger problems than we do.

For example?
That there really is much less money invested in advertising than there is here. That many are doing very badly economically. I think of Portugal, for example. There I met a large capacity of super creative people. But these top people have to work for salaries that we can't even imagine. An art director earning 1,000 euros a month or a star CD getting 3,000, and that in an EU country with European living costs. I had to admit that: It's a bit like a land of milk and honey here.

How must one imagine your everyday life, or a week as a CD somewhere in Europe?
I spent a lot of time discussing the work with the creatives. I also organized so-called "Kreatage" everywhere, something I had already introduced at Spillmann Felser Leo Burnett in Zurich. In the morning, the whole creative team is briefed on a specific task and teams are formed. Then the individual groups have a day to develop their ideas. In the evening, the results of each team are presented and discussed and the best ideas are proposed to the client. Sometimes the client is even present during the whole time. Even big customers. I did this with Fiat in Turin, for example. There, we remixed teams from all over Europe and brainstormed. Then we decided directly with the customer what to pursue further.

Were there some big campaigns under your leadership during that time?
In the end, it's more about giving impulses. The big things are worked out afterwards. The "Kreatage" are above all valuable in terms of recognizing and promoting talent. You can see which people come up with good ideas, which teams work well, and who can present their ideas well.

How often were you on the road?
If I look at it as a job, it wasn't very many working days. But it still became a lot because every trip has to be prepared. On top of that, there's the shifting of locations. Even if it's just one or two "Kreatage," you spend about a week on such an assignment, including pre- and post-processing. So I lived more abroad than with my family in Zurich. In addition, I participated in many juries. That's when I was on the road for the Leo Burnett network. This spring, for example, I spent a week in Belgrade for the Cup and a week in New York for the New York Festivals. In addition, there were the quarterly internal juries of the so-called Global Product Committee GCP of Leo Burnett, a meeting of the world's best creatives from the network, which takes place alternately on a different continent. At this meeting, which also lasts about a week each time, all of Leo Burnett's work created worldwide is judged and graded under the direction of global Chief Creative Officer Mark Tutssel. The last of these meetings I attended was in Buenos Aires, home to one of the most creative agencies in the network.

Were you also able to live out an old longing with these trips? After all, you worked as a CD at Young & Rubicam in New York when you were young.
Normally, you don't spend much time in a foreign city after work because there's a family waiting at home that you long for. That's why I usually wanted to get back home quickly. But yes, I like to travel. As soon as I'm in one place for a long time, I get restless. Traveling is inspiration for me. At the moment, though, I'm looking forward to being back in Switzerland.

Now you're quitting Leo Burnett. But you remain loyal to advertising. In what form?
I have gained experience over many years, both creatively and in building a business. Now I remain faithful to advertising in that I want to make this experience available to those who are interested in it. I will be happy to help them, now for example Serviceplan, where I am joining as a board member. But what I will still enjoy doing is developing concepts and ideas myself. So I'm not ruling out the possibility of carrying out one or two projects in the future, either on my own, with Peter Felser or with Serviceplan.

So no "goodbye to advertising"?
Not a radical one. I want to be open to new things in the coming period. I will be involved in various areas, culturally, for example. And above all, I will also cultivate what I have neglected in recent years. I have a pile of books that I have bought but not yet read. I also want to take more photographs and pick up where I left off 20 years ago. There are many things that excite me, so I don't want to work more, but less.

At Serviceplan, you again come across Peter Felser, who is Chairman of the Board of Directors there. "Never change a winning team?
On the one hand, my entry has to do with Peter Felser, and on the other hand with the people who run Serviceplan operationally, Christian Baertschi and Raul Serrat, whom I know from previous joint work, and Christian Sommer. But it's true: It's fun to be able to pull together with Peter Felser.

Do you see Serviceplan as an agency model for the future?
I think so. Basically, it will never be any different than that at the heart of good communication must be a good idea. This idea is more and more media-independent. You develop an idea for a brand and not for a specific medium. Afterwards, it's great if you have all the disciplines in-house that can implement the idea in a channel-relevant way. Whether in the PR department or digitally, Serviceplan has everything under one roof.

You could have stayed with Leo Burnett or Alpha 245 in VR: Why go to the competition?
I've already been through the expertise I can bring to Serviceplan twice: first with the set-up of Young & Rubicam in Zurich or later with Spillmann Felser Leo Burnett. There I certainly gained certain experiences that are now useful for an agency like Serviceplan, which is in the same phase of development. Of course, I could have stayed on the board of directors at Leo Burnett. But there comes a time when you have to tackle something new again.

To what do you attribute the success that you have already brought two agencies to the top?
Mainly on good people who felt comfortable together with me and Peter Felser and understood that we have a common goal and can achieve it together. It needs a lot of people to play along. The circumstances and the time must be ripe for it.

Did your complete withdrawal also have to do with wanting the new people at Leo Burnett to feel freer and develop independently?
Clearly, unequivocally. It would also be the case that certain changes are not made in an agency because the new people think it's not in line with the founders. There was a phase where I accompanied this agency, even after the sale of our shares. Peter Felser and I stayed on the board of directors until we were sure that Leo Burnett Switzerland could continue to run independently and our successors gave us a clear signal that they wanted to do it independently. Now the new management team can and should set their own accents and give the agency their personal signature.

Would a move to a large company on the client side also have been an option?
I don't think so. To be honest, I've never imagined moving to the client side entirely. A position in a large company at the level at which I now worked for Leo Burnett in Europe no longer appeals to me. I don't want to become a commercial traveler who is always on a plane. The years fly by, and at some point you realize: I've missed something. Especially on the private side. My goal is to spend more time with my wife and less time with a company.

But you will not become an early retiree?
No. The word early retiree is too early. In addition to my work as a creative on the board of directors of Serviceplan, I will remain on the board of ADC Switzerland and as vice president at the European ADC. I would also like to pass on my knowledge to the next generation, which is why I will continue to work as a lecturer at the Hochschule für Wirtschaft in Zurich and at the ADC Creative School. Some jurying will probably stay as well.

Other possible tasks?
Things that do something good for humanity. That sounds pompous or even like Miss Switzerland. But it should be things that want to make a difference. Or I can use my skills to help someone who wants to make a difference in their field that benefits everyone. At Spillmann Felser, we were involved in the vote to save the Cabaret Voltaire. Something like that would be fun for me again. Here I could let my network play and also give back something of the happiness I have been able to enjoy in recent years.

Interview: Andreas Panzeri

Martin Spillmann at an ADC Europe workshop with Young Creatives (top) and at an ADC Europe workshop for "Seniors" (bottom). (Photos: private / Teaser image: Andreas Panzeri)

A Swiss makes a career in Europe. Martin Spillmann started with an education as Graphic Designer at the Kunstgewerbeschule Zurich. He worked as an AD/CD in various agencies in Switzerland and also as a CD at Young & Rubicam in New York. In 2002, together with Peter Felser, he founded Spillmann Felser Leo Burnett. In all these jobs Spillmann became one of the most awarded creatives in Switzerland. In 2004, he was named "Advertiser of the Year." In 2012, he sold his SFLB shares to Leo Burnett and became creative director of this network for all of Europe.
 

Big data, i.e. the use of large amounts of data to gain insights and competitive advantages, is regarded as an important technology of the future, which will significantly change our lives in the future with the Internet of Things, as sensors are constantly supplying more data everywhere (see Werbewoche 18, 10.10.2104, p. 22ff). While there are government funding initiatives in the USA and the EU, there are no such initiatives in Switzerland. Is this why Switzerland is missing the boat? Werbewoche conducted a survey of large Swiss companies to find out how they currently deal with big data. The most striking result of this research was the extraordinarily large number of refusals - but perhaps this was actually due to the fall vacations (or all the other reasons given) and not an indication of not wanting to reveal any gaps here. Nestlé's statement is an example of this: "We are closely monitoring and analyzing developments in the field of big data. The handling of our data is an internal matter that we generally do not comment on. For competitive reasons, we also do not provide any information on our internal organization. We ask for your understanding."

The two major distributors Migros and Coop are probably the most obvious candidates for the use of big data, not least because of the Cumulus and Supercard loyalty cards. Migros media spokeswoman Martina Bosshard confirms: "We have the opportunity to quickly evaluate large amounts of data and gain insights from it." Such evaluations are primarily carried out as part of the Cumulus customer loyalty programme in order to be able to make personalized offers to customers, to improve the product ranges in the stores or to evaluate new locations for stores. In addition, customers can be informed quickly and directly in the event of a recall. Coop media spokeswoman Nadja Ruch also states: "Big data has also been an issue for Coop for some time. " Marketing and Supply Chain Management in particular are dealing with it, and there is a department in Marketing that is responsible for the corresponding, diverse data analysis. The insights gained in this way flow into location planning, product range planning in individual stores or pricing and promotion design, for example, which ultimately benefits customers. Big data analyses are also increasingly being used for customer-specific communication and to offer customers tailored benefits.

Rail, Swiss Post and Swisscom make it ...

Big data has also arrived at large state-affiliated companies. Oliver Flüeler, Head of the Media Office at Swiss Post, does not want to go into detailed questions, but basically states: "In contrast to the USA, Switzerland is still in its infancy when it comes to big data. " There are initial approaches not only in logistics, but also in the e-commerce sector, for example. Sepp Huber, Head of Media Services at Swisscom AG, is more forthcoming. He reports that the telecoms giant has set up a big data competence center and is trying to use big data technologies to optimize internal processes, improve the state of its infrastructure and thus reduce investment costs, position new types of services on the market and also facilitate research in this area. SBB also has a big data project that is part of the IT department, as Stephan Wehrle, Head of Media Office, explains. There are various potential applications in the individual divisions, particularly in the area of maintenance. He mentions, for example, the evaluation of measurement data from diagnostic vehicles and the analysis of faults in locomotives and vehicle doors. However, big data can also make the work of analysts much easier when it comes to traffic projections, evaluating services and planning services.

... and the insurance companies too

Insurance companies have always tried to optimize their risks with statistical calculations. So it comes as no surprise when Michel Liès, CEO of Swiss Re, said at the annual meeting of reinsurers in Monte Carlo in mid-September: "Big data has the potential to fundamentally reshape the (re)insurance industry and even the economy as a whole." The ability to work with large amounts of data could help to obtain early indications of incidents that are difficult to predict and have a major impact, so that these indications can be dealt with in greater depth. Ultimately, it is the art of risk assessment that counts, and this valuable quality can be supplemented, but never replaced, by big data. According to Nicole Horbelt, Head of Media Relations at AXA Winterthur, there is also "great potential in the use of big data", particularly in order to address and serve customers in a more needs-based and targeted manner. For example, to address them with the right solution at the right time. However, she also notes: "We are at the beginning of this journey and are currently identifying the best areas of application. " And at Baloise Switzerland, Urs Bienz, Head of Operations & IT and member of the Executive Board, reports that big data is already being used in various areas, particularly in research and development, pricing and insurance fraud. Big data is used by selected specialists in the specialist areas and IT, and the results are made available throughout the company. Meanwhile, Martin Läderach, Head of Communications Switzerland at Swiss Life, does not talk about big data, but explains that the company does not rely on huge collections of data, but on "smart information". However, the goal is comparable to big data: The focus is on clever analyses of internal and external data, which should provide new insights regarding customers that are "of critical relevance for our specifically tailored products and offers".

Big data is also a topic of the future in the financial sector. However, while Raiffeisen and Vontobel declined to participate in the Werbewoche survey and UBS remained silent, CS reported: "We are closely monitoring current developments on the topic, but from the bank's point of view we cannot contribute anything concrete/already implemented on the topic." Diego Wider from the press office of Zürcher Kantonalbank was more specific: "Data is an important asset for us, so big data will also become more important." Above all, new insights are expected from big data technologies. For example, efficient analysis of big data can lead to competitive advantages or increases in earnings. A future focus of Zürcher Kantonalbank's IT programs will therefore also be in the area of business intelligence for the systematic analysis (collection, evaluation and presentation) of data in electronic form.

Gas turbines around the world send data home

The answers from Siemens Switzerland show that big data is particularly important in industry. Benno Estermann, Head of Public Relations, emphasizes that the Siemens Group's overall strategy is very much focused on the three growth areas of electrification, automation and digitalization. The growth area of digitalization also includes activities in the area of big data in particular, "where we are very present". The strategy for big data and the corresponding basic research are being developed in the central research department in Munich. Siemens has already been working on developing corresponding products and solutions for several years. The starting position for this is "very good", as the company has access to many important data sources, such as turbines, automation systems, computer tomography or building and traffic control systems. Estermann cites these examples of the use of big data: data provided by sensors on the condition of machines and industrial plants can be combined with error messages and statistics from quality assurance. This enables intelligent monitoring systems to detect faults at an early stage, defective components can be replaced and problems rectified before machines break down. For example in power plants: Motion sensors record measured values on turbines that indicate component wear and transmit them to a computer system. This analyzes the data and sounds an alarm if critical threshold values, such as the maximum permissible temperature in the combustion chamber, are exceeded. Today, 8,000 gas turbines around the world already provide online data about their condition to a Siemens data center, where unusual patterns are detected and imminent failures are indicated. In medicine, big data algorithms can discover the correlations between data from diagnostic imaging devices such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and doctors' findings and then derive treatment recommendations from this. Another concrete example is the "Remote Services Platform" from Siemens: 300,000 systems are already connected to this platform, including machines, trains and computer tomographs. The aim is to monitor these systems and enable greater availability. UPC Cablecom can also benefit from the technology and expertise of the Group abroad when it comes to big data. However, press spokesman Andreas Werz reports that no big data software or technology is being used as yet, although this is planned for a later date. This will primarily involve the evaluation of usage data in order to identify which systems or products are being used and in what form. For example, telephony over the time of day or television behavior. This will be used to identify technical problems and improve the stability of the service.

Too many experts soon?

To be able to practice big data successfully, you need suitable specialist staff. If you are part of an international corporation, you can benefit from the groundwork done at the parent company, as is the case at Siemens, for example. The challenge remains to familiarize specialist staff in Switzerland with big data tools and to develop appropriate training and further education courses. The general complaint is that there is a shortage of IT specialists. At Coop, media spokeswoman Ruch notes that the job profile for these people has changed in that people need to have the usual knowledge of marketing, but should also have expertise in statistics and an affinity for IT. According to the Migros media spokesperson, the company has "very competent specialists in-house" in the field of data analysis. However, it could well be "that recruitment will become more difficult in the future". Urs Bienz, who is responsible for Operations & IT at Baloise Switzerland, reports: "The search for suitable employees for the specialist areas and IT is proving very difficult. Unfortunately, too few specialists are being trained. This, coupled with rising demand, is leading to a difficult situation on the labor market." Swisscom spokesperson Huber, however, has a different assessment of the labor market situation: "The demand for data scientists will increase, but the supply is likely to exceed the demand."

Christoph J. Walther
 

Television is one of those things. Regardless of whether you like to watch a lot or only occasionally, the disappointment is always the same: Most of the time, there's only crap on, and when something good comes on, the commercial breaks tear apart any narrative thread and thus the pleasure of watching. The icing on the cake are annoying product placements. Anyone who really likes to watch movies should therefore switch to pay TV, rely on ZDFneo - or turn off the box altogether and go to the movies again.

But wait. Experts at the Wisconsin School of Business have now discovered that product placement and commercial breaks are not quite as useless as they may seem to viewers: product placements during a film reduce the number of people who switch over or switch off during the commercial break. According to the authors of the study, the reduction depends on the type of product and the timing of the product placement in relation to the subsequent advertising. Specifically, if the product placement and the actual advertising come from the same brand, five percent fewer viewers switch off than if different brands are advertised. The greatest synergy between product placement and advertising occurs when the placement and the advertising tout the same brand but different product categories. With this combination, the loss of viewers can be reduced by almost eleven percent.

The study does not provide any information about why this is the case. It's likely that TV viewers who don't switch off or on don't even notice that a commercial break is running. Because if it's always about the same brand, there's a kind of thread that holds the whole thing together. It's true that you're no longer watching a feature film, but an advertising film - but your brain cells don't dance Sirtaki and you still know the next day that the "film" was somehow about Nivea. The study results also fence off two playgrounds for advertisers: one is more targeted product placements, the other new ways to increase advertising reach. But: Even a reduced loss remains a loss.

A great loss and our main topic in the past three weeks was the unexpected death of our editor-in-chief Pierre C. Meier. Pierre and I were able to produce just five issues of Werbewoche together. Far too few. The worst and probably best thing in such situations is that things have to go on. Not somehow, but well. There are big footprints that PCM has left behind. To avoid sinking into them, we are taking new paths - but the direction will remain the same: to provide competent, crisp and critical information about our industry.

Anne-Friederike Heinrich, Editor in Chief

[email protected]
 

Since the middle of this week, Mr. and Mrs. Swiss can experience one-to-one how it feels to put a top model in the right light. Serranetga launched an interactive cover shoot for Samsung as part of the "Just Alpha" campaign, in which users press the shutter button themselves. The highlight: The winning photo actually makes it onto the cover of the "20 Minuten Friday" issue on November 14, which is published during the Zurich Fashion Days. And this is how you get involved: At www.alpha-cover.ch, the user finds himself on the set of a photo shoot. Everyone is ready, only the photographer doesn't show up. Now it's up to the user to set the scene for international top model Ronja Furrer. He chooses between different poses and outfits and shoots high-resolution images in real time with a single click. Once he has the perfect picture in the can, he can edit it and submit it as a potential Friday cover.

The "real" shoot with Ronja Furrer and the well-known Swiss stylist Philipp Junker took place three weeks ago. Subsequently, the high-resolution film sequences were synchronized with the online videos in such a way that each click can be assigned to the correct image to the millisecond. In this way, each of the approximately 6300 video frames becomes a potential cover.

The campaign will be promoted via interactive online advertising media, social media channels and - as part of a cooperation with 20 Minuten Friday - print ads as well as editorial content. pan
 

A nursing profession is tough, because it requires not only specialist knowledge but also a great deal of social and emotional competence. This is precisely what makes nursing jobs so attractive. The traditional image of the nursing profession with the selflessly self-sacrificing "nurse" is long outdated.

In Flagranti conveys this message with three new subjects on Spitex, long-term care and psychiatry, thus continuing the successful campaign. In the process, the target group of young professional voters is addressed with various out-of-home and online measures at their touchpoints.

Responsible at BZ Pflege: Encarnación Berger-Lobato. Responsible for strategy, concept and realization: In flagrante delicto. Photography: Regula Roost.

 

Note: You can find the subjects in the Online article to the campaign.

The bureaucracy needs to be dismantled instead of built up," says Sigi W. "Everyone is just staring at their cell phones," says Paul S. "Be open and laugh more! From now on, we'll be talking turkey in Switzerland.

Since October 7, the fiery red subjects with the hashtag have appeared in German, French and Italian in many Swiss newspapers and magazines. And this is how they are created: anyone living in Switzerland can share what moves, annoys, embarrasses or delights them on the specially created microsite www.sagesderschweiz.ch or under the hashtag #Sagesderschweiz on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. In this way, you can become a testimonial for the new poster campaign of the Association of Swiss Media as early as tomorrow. Any kind of statement is permitted that does not violate the boundaries of good taste, i.e. is racist, defamatory or slanderous. A small editorial team selects the statements that will ultimately become advertisements.

Reach everyone efficiently

The entire campaign, devised by Leo Burnett, will run until 2017. In the first phase of the campaign, the association plans to run 480 advertisements - the largest print campaign ever seen in Switzerland. #Sagesderschweiz replaces the "Only an ad can do that" (DKNEI) creative youth campaign, which ran for ten years.

The core target group of #Sagesderschweiz is the advertising market. As with DKNEI, the Swiss Media Association wants to use the new subjects to draw attention to the fact that print advertising still has a high impact and achieves high reach. The association and the agency are accompanying the campaign with mailings to representatives of the advertising market, in which study results underpin how much print moves people, markets and brands. The first proof that print works is provided by the campaign with the help of the general public. With Sigi W., Paul S., and Larissa B., for example. And the effect that suddenly everyone is interested in their opinions.

The fact that the print subjects are fed with statements collected online and in social media is intended to show how strongly the media have already grown together. For successful advertising, all channels must be used - and print is a very important part of the overall media mix. That's why Isabelle Meier, consulting group manager at Leo Burnett, doesn't find the hashtag irritating as a central element of a print campaign: "It was important to us that the inhibition threshold to participate in this campaign is as low as possible. That is given with the hashtag. "The website and hashtag are also just a collection point for the statements, which are then placed in print again - which in turn shows how the media can complement each other in their effect.

Celebrities also join in

Apparently, Leo Burnett's plan has worked. So far, hundreds of people have made statements, including celebrities such as Adolf Ogi, Matthias Sempach and Christa Rigozzi, who were, however, specifically contacted. In addition, exponents who are of particular importance to the advertising market, such as Nadine Borter, Alexander Jaggi or Manfred Strobl, have been approached. Advertisements with statements by these people appear in the trade press. All age groups are also represented, from teenagers to grandmothers. The first statements needed for the launch of the campaign were determined in advance by the agency via street surveys throughout Switzerland. Leo Burnett employees asked random people on the street the question, "What would you say if you were allowed to say something to all of Switzerland?" Most of the people who were asked gave spontaneous answers.

Anne-Friederike Heinrich

On the subject:

Interview with Verena Vonarburg, President of the Swiss Media Association, on the campaign.
 

The delegation of the Foundation Board elected Karin Müller unanimously, as the Telebasel Foundation announced in a press release on Thursday. Her predecessor Willy Surbeck took early retirement at the end of August at the age of 59 after 18 years at the Basel local television station.

According to the press release, the new editor-in-chief impressed the three-member search committee and the election panel with her impressive and wide-ranging track record in the areas of media and communication. Karin Müller began her media career in 1988.

Alongside her studies, she worked as a presenter at a local radio station in Basel and then moved to Radio DRS 1 and 3. Further stages of her career included 3sat TV and the executive floors of Radios Pilatus in Lucerne and 24 in Zurich. Most recently, Karin Müller was Program Director of Hitradio RTL at BCS Sachsen in Dresden.

A new multi-channel strategy is currently being implemented at Telebasel. She is delighted to be able to contribute her experience from 25 years of media work to the station's management team, the new editor-in-chief is quoted as saying in the press release. Change and relaunch processes have always appealed to her.

Telebasel employs around 120 people. The station's offering comprises over 30 programs. Telebasel considers its daily news program 7 vor 7 to be its journalistic flagship (SDA).

The Stifterverein Medienqualität Schweiz (Media Quality Association Switzerland) wants to set up a foundation that regularly evaluates the 50 national Swiss press titles, news sites and TV and radio formats with the highest reach from an independent perspective. Three different aspects will be evaluated: organizational requirements, journalistic output and stakeholder perception. Two million Swiss francs of endowment capital are to be invested to finance the project for at least the three-year period.

Media quality: Andreas Durisch

WW: How exactly should the quality of the media benefit from a rating?
Andreas Durisch: On the one hand, digital communication has changed business models very significantly. This has led to pressure on traditional subscription newspapers, but also on radio and television. That means you have to save money everywhere. On the other hand, you have to work differently today with the changed conditions. This has an overall impact on quality. In addition, the Internet leads to more speed and more channels. This means that if information goes out today that has not yet been checked, which perhaps does not present facts correctly - keyword: shitstorm - then this information is spread much faster today. That's why people say media quality is more important than ever.

Who specifically would access this quality rating as a reference afterwards?
The rating - obtained using scientific methods - is intended to provide a reader-friendly overview of the Swiss media landscape. Thus, people in middle management or even in top management can access it if they are new to Switzerland and still know too little or not at all about the media landscape.

Why doesn't the foundation give the money to individual journalists from the 50 most important press titles and radio and TV information outlets?
The foundation aims to promote quality by rewarding quality. In this sense, the rating should also be an incentive for the individual editorial teams, but also for publishing and media companies, to ensure that their important broadcasting channels and titles perform well in this rating. Our foundation is not about subsidizing the media industry. We have launched a private initiative. And I personally would find it very regrettable if media promotion became a state task. That's also the big debate at the moment, that as soon as the media receive state funding, they lose at least part of their independence. That's why it's important for media quality to be addressed from the private side and thus also promoted.

What is the benefit of a debate on media quality in practice? - Does the study offer concrete approaches to solutions in a second step?
The aim of the rating is a kind of award in the sense of "best practice" - the rating is intended to be exemplary in this sense. As a quality award, the rating should have a positive motivating effect. So it's not about booing the Swiss media landscape, but about showing where quality can be found. Like the Gault Millau points for restaurants or the Michelin stars. The quality of the media is systemically relevant to the quality of public debate. That's why it's a legitimate concern to sit down with academia and stakeholders and raise the question of what quality is and how it is perceived in detail in the Swiss media landscape. And that one also gives feedback to the media entrepreneurs and publishers afterwards. Of course, you can then discuss how and whether you can change things. But a rating can be done in any case.

How do you plan to prevent a quality rating from the Foundation from increasing the pressure on journalists even more, instead of being a motivation for publishers to improve quality?
Unfortunately, this problem cannot be solved with a quality rating alone. The ranking should motivate publishers to invest in the quality of journalism. In concrete terms, this means shaping the framework conditions in such a way that quality is possible. Therefore, journalists must not see this as a means of exerting pressure on reporting, but rather as a motivation to deliver quality.

Media financing crisis: Manuel Puppis

 
A recent survey of Swiss journalists (conducted by the Department of Communication Studies and Media Research DCM at the University of Fribourg) finds that the media financing crisis, triggered by a structural change in the media landscape and economic problems, is responsible for the negative impact on media quality - on journalism and editorial teams. Professor Manuel Puppis of the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Fribourg (research focus: media system and media policy) comments on the influence of the media financing crisis:

WW: How independent are journalists in view of the interests of advertisers, politics and owners in Switzerland?
Manuel Puppis: Basically, freedom of the press is in good shape in Switzerland - compared to authoritarian systems anyway. But of course there are always attempts to influence journalism. A particularly blatant case is certainly the house search ordered by the Neuchâtel public prosecutor's office on journalist Ludovic Rocchi. Accordingly, it is important that the European Court of Human Rights also offers the possibility of appealing Swiss court rulings. In addition to attempts by the state to exert influence, commercial dependencies must also be considered. Important advertising customers can also cancel advertisements in the event of unpopular reporting - and if necessary also exert pressure on editorial offices. Our survey shows that consideration for advertisers has tended to increase over the past five years. Less problematic in terms of content is that advertisers are naturally interested in a suitable advertising environment. To meet these wishes, departments such as lifestyle or travel have been created. And finally, the survey also shows that there is almost no critical reporting on the company's own house. The "scissors in the head" seem to play an important role here.

What are the practical benefits of a quality rating?
Studies of media quality certainly help to keep the debate about the social performance of the media going and to point out problems in the Swiss media landscape. A link with structural issues - i.e., the financing of media organizations and media policy - is also very useful in order to be able to discuss causes and possible solutions for the media crisis.

The media funding crisis has clearly worsened working conditions in journalism. What specifically can contribute to solving this problem?
Indeed, our study shows that journalists have little time for research or for cultivating their network. Moreover, the situation has worsened significantly over the past five years, especially at daily newspapers. The less money available to editorial teams, the more difficult it is to produce high-quality and diverse journalistic content. First, of course, new business models are needed, which the newspaper industry is also looking for in all Western democracies. Paywalls or data mining could be possible sources of revenue, but it is still unclear whether these will really suffice. In addition, organizational forms could also be considered to alleviate profit pressure, such as cooperatives or commitments to internal cross-financing from profitable business areas such as online classifieds. Second, journalistic innovations and exclusive content are needed to increase readers' willingness to pay. Third, however, I think it is necessary to think about direct media funding. This does not automatically lead to media dependence on the state and should be discussed non-ideologically. Studies show that there are innovative ideas for funding journalism in Scandinavia, for example. These funding instruments do not simply serve to maintain structures, but explicitly include online platforms. Moreover, Sweden or Denmark are not suspected of endangering press freedom either. In surveys on press freedom, these countries regularly rank better than Switzerland.

Media promotion: Otfried Jarren

The EMEK already made proposals at the beginning of September on how media promotion in Switzerland could be approached in concrete terms: "In the long term, the EMEK believes that it is desirable for the federal government to promote entrepreneurial innovations in the media market, outstanding journalistic projects and applied media research. Because this second type of funding measure requires an organization that is independent of the state, the EMEK proposes the establishment of a foundation. This is a model that has already proven itself in related areas in the form of Pro Helvetia (culture) and the Swiss National Science Foundation (research). By means of this foundation, various promotional measures can be implemented outside the state, with significant participation by the industry." Professor Otfried Jarren, President of the Federal Media Commission EMEK and Prorector of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Zurich, justifies the system change in media promotion and comments on the need to create a quality label within the industry and to choose the path of price agreement instead of competition.

WW: Doesn't a shake-up in funding also mean more pressure for individual journalists, editors or publishers?
Otfried Jarren: That's a discussion we have to have. But I tend to see the opportunities: In the current business, the print media have fewer market opportunities than ever. They have to increasingly take on background functions. Sponsoring an agency makes sense because then more editorial resources can be used for background reporting, analysis and commentary. The function of daily newspapers in particular is background reporting, which serves to provide orientation. Journalism there must be more knowledge-based and qualitatively demanding. Unfortunately, it is not that at the moment. All media also benefit from a broad and good range of agencies, as do new online platforms. A well-made, broad-based agency offering also ensures that reports can be provided from all parts of the country.

Is a quality rating of the media additionally necessary?
Whether rating or analysis, the media industry has a lot of catching up to do in terms of quality development, product differentiation and pricing. However, the era of mass media is over. Something for everyone - that's no longer enough. Product differentiation is needed. In addition, it must be possible to provide, i.e., guarantee, adequate quality on a sustained basis. In journalism, the understanding of quality is still poorly developed, both at the professional and institutional level. To put it bluntly, there is hardly any other industry that makes so little effort to develop quality standards. I don't want to talk about accreditation or certification here - that's out of the question for journalism for me, too. But journalism must recognize that society has demands on it, and it must deal with these demands. Journalism is doing that, the industry is doing that, clearly too little. The debate should be conducted objectively. At the moment, you have to read cheap polemics - that doesn't do journalism any good. The media industry is one of the few that does not set any - or: too few - quality signals. If you want your services to be recognized and you want to be paid for them, you have to communicate your services and their quality. The industry does far too little here. Until now, it has not been used to communicating and justifying prices and services. This deficit is now taking its toll. It is now up to the industry to think about forms of quality management and to enter into a dialog about quality with all stakeholders. In this respect, the time of "naive" production is also over in journalism. It is about quality, which must be recognized, and it is about objectivity and credibility. Here, the media have lost recognition. And journalists must learn that the overall product is as decisive for evaluation as the subscription. Of course, "noble feathers" are also important and formative, but more and more the overall performance is being put to the test. Unfortunately, editorial quality strategies are still a long time coming.

Why, then, has the EMEK not called for such a rating?
The EMEK has not dealt with this. The EMEK has no position on this. Personally, I think that the industry must regulate this itself. Suggestions from outside can be helpful.

Why is promotion of the media not a matter for the industry?
The press media want and need to finance themselves on the market. However, as we are seeing, they are less and less able to do so. That's why we need to look at the general conditions, with the aim of preserving the market opportunities for the current print media - above all for reasons of democratic policy. We certainly don't need homeland security. But we do need support measures where the industry has weaknesses. This is the case, for example, in the area of research and development. Press publishers in particular have no research and development know-how. But this is necessary in the context of digital offerings. Publishers have always made a lot of money, and they have then imitated or bought up successful new offerings or providers. But this approach has no future. What is needed now are creative technical and economic solutions, including new business models. Support and funding measures for the entire industry are conceivable here. The market is changing; with Google, Twitter or Netflix, new providers and offers are appearing - with consequences for the medium-sized media industry and also for journalism. Competition is good and necessary. But we have to pay attention to the framework conditions if we want to have a media offering that is appropriate for state and democratic policy goals and that is also multilingual.

Interview: Ursina Maurer

WW: The music industry is considered a tough place. Where were the challenges for you?
Oliver Flueckiger: A start-up in the music sector is not only competing with every radio station or with streaming services like Spotify, but above all with illegal MP3 sites. These are hardly punished in Switzerland, are free of advertising and free of charge. Today, most consumers are no longer willing to pay for music. With content that is available everywhere for free, the labels still have to generate sales. This leads to high label costs and correspondingly low profit margins. Complex licensing agreements have to be negotiated, often under American law. In our case, these negotiations took several months: Time that a start-up doesn't really have.

Isn't it reckless to launch an ad-supported music television program?
We had found a niche that I still believe has promise for the future. As part of the business plan, we identified three types of TV consumption. On the one hand, there's classic linear television, which is steadily losing importance and will probably only function in the future during major life events such as a soccer World Cup. On the other hand, there are various on-demand services. Such services as Spotify or Netflix offer a huge selection and can be used flexibly in terms of time. But they have left a gap open. Sometimes you come home and feel the need to just turn on the TV. Still, you want to watch something you personally like. Rayneer was supposed to cover this third area. We were in the process of supplementing the music program with series and feature films.

At the end of 2013, Rayneer received two million francs in a financing round from investors such as ZKB, Wilmaa and various business angels. What were the reasons for the shutdown that took place just under a year later?
Short-term liquidity problems. Two million sounds like a lot of money, but it's not, given the wages, advertising expenses and, above all, the high licensing costs. We were planning another round of financing, where we would have sought a much higher amount. When the liquid funds ran out early on, we wanted to call in a loan that had been planned especially for this case. However, it was unexpectedly not made available to us. Suddenly, we could no longer pay wages and outstanding bills. I had one day to inform the employees about this. In terms of user numbers, we were doing well. 100,000 unique users is not bad for a small country like Switzerland.

The same fate befell the personalized music TV service QTom from Germany in January 2014. The company was unable to find investors to further develop the service.
We were optimistic about the next round of financing. Most of the investors would have been in on it again.

So everything else went well? You must have been aware of the high costs to some extent.
On the revenue side, we were not as strong as we had hoped. We did get 100,000 users a month, but a large proportion of them didn't stay on the channel for long. We reached many of them via Wilmaa. There, for example, we had an extremely large number of users on Sunday evenings at 8:13 p.m., who switched to Tatort two minutes later. They only caused costs for us. One mistake was that we didn't think hard enough about how we could retain them. Instead, we felt compelled to monetize them. Looking back, if I had a bigger budget, I would do it differently. Facebook didn't show ads for years until the platform became indispensable. You have to have staying power.

Did investors put pressure on you regarding monetization?
The marketer, Goldbach Audience, invested indirectly in us with Wilmaa. As a result, we had the ambition to generate revenue quickly. But it would also be insane to go on such a big platform without monetizing the licensing costs. At some point, you also have to try out after how many music videos you can show a spot. We discussed such decisions intensively in the board of directors (which also included Wilmaa founder Thomas Gabathuler, editor's note) and made them together. I supported them. However, we probably would have been better off investing in Facebook advertising instead of TV and not having a media break. That wasn't possible because Media for Equity was part of the agreement with Goldbach.

How should it have continued?
Like Spotify, Rayneer would only have worked internationally. We developed the complex technology ourselves. For the next round of financing, we were looking for ten million to be able to expand into other countries. Not many Swiss start-ups have been able to close such a high financing round in the Internet sector. But in international comparison, it is a relatively low sum. Perhaps the crucial mistake was that we didn't seek more money right from the start. In Switzerland, it is difficult to raise such amounts. People are wealthy, but risk-averse. That's a difficult starting position for a start-up in the high-risk sector.

Interview: Simone Isliker

Rayneer - a three-year success story with an abrupt end

Rayneer was a free personalized music television. After the user logged in via Facebook, Rayneer analyzed his musical taste and automatically created a personal music program for him. Rayneer could be used on a wide variety of devices. The start-up rayneer entertailorment AG was founded in November 2011 by Oliver Flueckiger (CEO, Master of Arts in Business Administration, University of Zurich), Yannick Koechlin (CTO, Software Engineer University of Zurich) and Ronny Nenniger. The internet music channel went live on April 10, 2012. In May 2012, Rayneer won the Venture business plan competition organized by ETH Zurich and McKinsey, and in the following year attracted the Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB) and Wilmaa as investors. In June 2013, Rayneer was awarded the CTI start-up label by the Federal Commission for Technology and Innovation (CTI). As of December 2013, Rayneer had its own channel on the internet streaming platform Wilmaa and was marketed exclusively by Goldbach Audience. At the end of September 2014, Rayneer had to lay off all eight employees. Despite the setback, CEO Oliver Flueckiger does not rule out the possibility of founding another start-up in the music sector one day..