In addition to his role as Head of Farner Bern, Michel Grunder also heads Farner Industries & Practices, Farner's cross-market and cross-location specialist disciplines. With this bundling of expertise by communication discipline and industry, which is unique in Switzerland, the agency creates consulting expertise and the foundation for innovations that decisively differentiate Farner Consulting in the market.

Michel Grunder joined the Mediapolis agency in 2006 after studying philosophy and history. Mediapolis Bern and Zurich were taken over by Farner in 2008. In the years that followed, Michel Grunder gradually rose within the company, first from project manager to consultant, then to senior consultant and in 2011 to site manager of Farner Bern and thus a member of the Farner Executive Board. Michel Grunder focuses on mandates at the interface between business, politics and the media in the infrastructure, public service and food industry sectors. In addition to clients from the Bern area, he and his team primarily serve nationally oriented organizations and international companies.

Roman Geiser, CEO & Managing Partner of Farner Consulting: "We are very pleased about Michel Grunder's commitment. This is an important building block for the further development of the agency and the successful and growing Bern location". Michel Grunder: "I am looking forward to taking on additional responsibility as a partner within the agency as a whole, in addition to expanding the Bern site. The agency is developing rapidly in line with its multidisciplinary consulting approach and I look forward to making an even greater contribution to this".

The partnership of the company now consists of: Christian König, Chairman and Partner; Jacqueline Moeri, Partner and Market Area Manager; Daniel Heller, Partner and Market Area Manager; Urs Knapp, Partner and Market Area Manager; Roman Geiser, CEO & Managing Partner; and now Michel Grunder, Partner and Market Area Manager Bern.
 

"If you approach something with joy and self-confidence, you will also be successful", former football star and speaker Alain Sutter convinced the guests during his presentation. Because: "Motivation doesn't come from the coach, but from yourself."
"Communication design with joy, that is also our credo. Whether customer, supplier or employee: it should be a pleasure to work with and at Frontal," added agency director Roger Wermelinger, who founded Frontal with Bruno Steffen and René Häfliger in 2004. Today, Frontal is the largest web and brand design agency in Central Switzerland. Almost 30 graphic designers, web and marketing specialists look after clients from the region and the whole of Switzerland. Names such as Ramseier, Diwisa, Kronospan, Kambly, SGV, Hostettler and Suva are among them. It was only at the beginning of September that Frontal integrated the agency Studio One from Ruswil into its team (Werbewoche.ch reported). "And we want to continue to grow," says Wermelinger. "But always with moderation. And with joy." The evening was hosted by Eveline Schwegler. Musical entertainment was provided by Lucerne singer/songwriter Henrik Belden.

Large image

 

With a colorful imagery and emotional variations of the new brand claim "More travel. More worth.", The House Agency is drawing attention to the new Ebookers loyalty program "Bonus+" as part of a brand refresh. This gives customers up to five percent cash credit on every booking, which can be redeemed immediately for hotel stays, and allows them to enjoy exclusive benefits. The House Agency is supporting the launch with an extensive and integrated online and offline campaign, which simultaneously arouses the desire to travel and provides information about the advantages of "Bonus+".

The announcement will be made via a TV spot that will be broadcast in German- and French-speaking Switzerland. The launch campaign will also be supported by print ads and ePanels as well as eBoards at heavily frequented thoroughfares in Zurich, Bern, Basel, Lucerne, Geneva, and Lausanne. Digitally, IAB and mobile banners promote the loyalty program. In the run-up to the campaign, The House Agency was also responsible for strategic media planning and media buying in the mobile and display sectors.

In the implementation of the display and mobile campaign, the maximum unduplicated reach was planned through a combination of national and regional news titles. To support the campaign objectives, various large-format advertising media were used at the start. In a second phase, the campaign will be optimally extended by standard IAB advertising media. Technical support, such as the company's own ad server, contribute to the achievement of objectives.

Responsible at Ebookers: Matthias Thürer (Marketing Director Austria, Germany,
Switzerland), Britta Beisheim (Regional Brand & Communications Manger). Responsible at The House Agency: Peter Trüb (CD), Daniele Pucci (AD), Katrin Kuhrmann, David Roth (text / concept), Jasmin Kaltenegger (online production), Stephan Suter (media / partner), Nico Podgorny (consulting / partner).

The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) had received a large number of complaints from consumers claiming that they were receiving unsolicited advertising calls from Primacall despite having a star rating in the telephone directory. The company had called those affected in order to expand its customer base in the area of fixed network telephony. Many of those called had also claimed that Primacall was creating a risk of confusion with Swisscom's services. After a warning issued to the company by Seco in November 2012 had no effect, the authority filed a civil action against Primacall with the Commercial Court of the Canton of Zurich on December 19, 2013. In the further course of the proceedings, Seco and Primacall reached a settlement with the involvement of the Commercial Court.

Call only with express consent

Primacall had thus undertaken to respect the star entry in the telephone directory and also the will expressed by potential customers in writing or verbally not to receive advertising calls. The express consent for advertising calls from Primacall remains reserved. The settlement leaves open what is to be understood by express consent, it continues. In the event of a dispute, both Seco and Primacall could take legal action before the Commercial Court. Primacall also undertook not to acquire any new customers or to have them acquired on its behalf without repeatedly informing the persons called in the advertising calls that they would retain the Swisscom connection if they accepted the offer and would make new calls for the other services at the expense of the defendant using the preselection method.

Primacall must pay publication

In addition, Primacall must expressly state in the advertising calls that it is acting in its own name and independently of Swisscom. Primacall must also pay the costs arising from the publication of the settlement for a maximum of CHF 8,000. Primacall offers fixed network telephony services using the so-called preselection method. Primacall customers make calls with their fixed network telephone on the company's account, but must continue to pay the Swisscom connection fee of CHF 25.35. (SDA)

Teaser image (background): Keystone

Valeriano Di Domenico has been on board Freshfocus from the very beginning. He is taking his next step in his professional life and has decided to work on a freelance basis. Di Domenico will continue to shoot images for Freshfocus as a freelance photographer. He will leave Freshfocus as an employee at the end of October 2014.

Marianne Mischler has also been part of the Freshfocus team from the beginning. After more than three years, Marianne Mischler is also leaving the company at her own request. She has decided to take on a new challenge and will in future work as picture editor at the Neue Luzerner Zeitung. She will take up her post on October 1.

New on board with immediate effect is Claudia Minder. She essentially takes over Marianne Mischler's tasks and ensures the administrative flow in the office. She will also be employed as a photographer. Minder has already completed an internship at Freshfocus and is now moving into a permanent position.

Raphael Hühnerfauth is back in Switzerland and new at Freshfocus after his stay abroad at the photo agency Photothek.net in Berlin. Among other things, he worked as an official photographer for the German Foreign Ministry and accompanied the delegation on trips abroad.
 

Rail travelers now benefit from a modern, responsive booking platform with detailed route information, images and videos. Tickets for travel on Switzerland's largest Alpine railroad can now also be booked via mobile devices.

Rediscover the Rhaetian Railway digitally

With over ten million customers a year, the Rhaetian Railway is Switzerland's largest Alpine railroad. Now the company is setting new standards with Rhb.ch new standards: Travelers benefit from the modern, user-friendly booking and information platform, which considerably simplifies the booking process and thus gets them to their destination even faster. The relaunch gives the rail company a far-reaching competitive edge in the market. With the multilingual orientation of the website, long-distance markets such as China and Japan are also taken into account.

True to the guiding principle "Fascinatingly different on the road", the RhB's unique routes are now also becoming a digital experience. With the new website, RhB is pursuing a completely new goal: moving away from a simple corporate presentation to an emotional and individualized travel experience. "With our new website, we offer our customers completely new ways to discover the fascinating Alpine landscape. Trip planning is now an emotional, intuitive and varied process - all on one platform," explains Reto Schmid, Head of Marketing Communications & E-Business at RhB. "The new website meets the latest market requirements, addresses a larger target group and is designed to increase the attractiveness of the Rhaetian Railway."

The highlights of the new website

The new concept aims to inspire customers through images, videos, and an experience map and thus involve them more in the decision-making and booking process. For example, customers can use a Customized Google Map to virtually track the booked travel route and at the same time also see leisure activities in the region. This gives travelers a whole new feature to help them plan their trip and provide a diverse range of offers. The entire website is responsive. The continuously increasing number of mobile accesses made it essential to develop a content concept and a responsive website, through which the customer can get inspired and process the ticket booking. In addition to rail tickets and seat reservations, thanks to the use of Transport.opendata.ch, travel from a Swiss train station can also be handled via Rhb.ch can be planned and booked with the online timetable. By means of intelligent data evaluation, targeted marketing measures can also be carried out following the booking in order to increase customer loyalty.

Another highlight of the new platform is the ticker for the current operating situation - this informs travelers about disruptions and roadworks, thus giving customers the opportunity to reschedule their trip. "We have many more ideas, such as the introduction of e-mail tickets that customers do not have to print out for their trip. We will develop and implement these together with Unic," says Reto Schmid.

In the public tender for the project, Unic was awarded the contract and took on the challenge. In collaboration with RhB, Unic developed the modern website concept. In consulting, conception, design, implementation, digital analysis as well as hosting and operation, Unic applied its wide-ranging expertise and provides RhB with a competitive, contemporary booking platform that attracts new customers, builds long-term loyalty and increases online sales. The Responsive Design was tested in the Unic Device Lab and enables optimal display on any mobile device. By setting up the project management according to SCRUM, a very close, cooperative and transparent collaboration between those responsible at RhB and Unic was created. The backend functionalities with interface technology for ticketing and seat reservations were implemented by Elca and Infosystem Wil. The texts were written by the PR agency Panta Rhei. Süsskind Grafik from Chur is responsible for image selection and editing.

 

The practice roundup of the Zurich University of Applied Sciences ZHAW Social Work offered insights into the fields of action of social work. Selected organizations around the Toni-Areal presented themselves on a walk-through, 100 square meter aerial view. Further information was displayed on double-sided printed hanging displays directly above the ceiling.

The presentation was supplemented by a film in which protagonists made statements about everyday problems. The organizations portrayed offer support for the difficulties addressed. Through the calm, expressive images and the short sound sequences, the film captivated the viewers without constantly filling the room with sound.
"The practice roundup gave an exciting impression of how diverse social work is all around us," explains Christine Zürn, responsible for communications at ZHAW Social Work.

Responsible at ZHAW Social Work: Christine Zürn (Head of Marketing and Com- munications), Priscilla Troxler (Project Manager Marketing and Communications). Responsible at Evoq Communications: Adrian Schaffner (concept and consulting), Nicola Lutz (project management), Hannes Rellstab (cartography), Gerome Morf (design), Daniel Villiger (camera, editing). Implementation: Diprint, Urdorf.
 

The background to the dispute is the payment of Suisa contributions for the "Stars for Free" events. Suisa is demanding more from Energy than the 300,000 francs that a Swiss radio station has to pay on average per year for the music rights. Energy boss Dani Büchi does not want to pay the surcharge for the concert events. According to Suisa Director General Andreas Wegelin, Büchi is fundamentally wrong. It is unacceptable for Energy to generate revenue from music events while the composers of the music receive nothing in return. In order for composers to be remunerated, there are calculation rules negotiated with the organizers' associations. As Büchi explained to the newspaper, there are now differences of opinion with Suisa regarding the events for which tickets are not available to buy. Energy is giving away tickets for all events (Werbewoche.ch reported). Büchi therefore had an appeal lodged against the debt collection. If Suisa persisted with its position, the Energy events would be in danger, said the Energy boss.

Büchi rejects the Sunday newspaper's accusation that the Energy Group is also known for its poor payment practices. Energy is a very demanding customer and demands flawless services and goods. "A vanishingly small fraction" of the cases could therefore only be resolved through a legal dispute. Out of 1600 creditors in the last two years, only four debt collections resulted in legal action - i.e. only 0.25 percent. (hae)

In an online survey of industry experts, a shortlist of the ten best-known candidates was drawn up in the spring of the year. From this list, a jury of marketing and media experts - including Capital, N-TV and the trade magazine Werben & Verkaufen - selected Germany's best marketing chief based on an assessment of the three dimensions of success, innovation and internationality. The jury decided in favor of Ian Robertson, member of the Board of Management of the BMW Group and responsible for Sales and Marketing, who was presented with the award at an exclusive gala dinner at the Haus der Kunst. He emphasized: "The constant further development of the brand is crucial to BMW's success. We are focusing on as much continuity as possible and are carefully adapting the brand. The clear identity and strength of the brand are the most important foundations for this change." Serviceplan CEO Florian Haller: "BMW has been successful in sales and market share for years. BMW is consistent in brand management. BMW is innovative in its product. And board member Ian Robertson is a great representative of the modern CMO. Congratulations!"

 

As reported by Schweiz am Sonntag, UPC Cablecom owner Liberty Global wants to enter the race for Formula 1 rights. Liberty Global wants the rights for all UPC companies. In the event of an acquisition, not only the Swiss offshoot UPC Cablecom would be affected, but probably the entire Swiss TV market. UPC Cabelcom could offer the content exclusively and thus make up ground on its major competitor Swisscom TV. Swisscom has been successfully offering exclusive sports content in cooperation with its Teleclub subsidiary for some time.

SRG could be the party suffering from this competition. SRG still holds the Formula 1 rights until 2016 and wants to continue showing "the premium product in sports rights" on free TV in the future. According to spokeswoman Caroline Kalberer, the company is aware of Liberty Global's activities and is following them closely so that it can act if necessary. The partnership with the Formula 1 rights holder, which has existed for 45 years, is trusted.

UPC Cablecom told Schweiz am Sonntag that any rights would also be offered to other interested parties such as SRG, Swisscom or Sunrise. However, the question is on what terms. Firstly, UPC Cablecom is in urgent need of exclusive content, as Swisscom has recently had a clear upper hand in the Swiss television business: in the second quarter, Swisscom gained 39'000 paying new customers, UPC Cablecom only 8900. Secondly, UPC Cablecom is in dispute with Swisscom when it comes to exclusive sports content. CEO Eric Tveter recently described Swisscom's handling of sports rights as "outrageous" and "unheard of" (Werbewoche.ch reported). This refers to the exclusive rights of Swisscom subsidiary Teleclub for football and ice hockey broadcasts. According to Tveter, these were only offered to UPC Cablecom "at unacceptable conditions".

It therefore remains to be seen under what conditions UPC Cablecom would share any rights with the competition. In the end, it could be SRG's free TV viewers who suffer - just under 150'000 per race in the current season. (hae/SaS)
 

Passengers usually can't get out of the plane quickly enough after a successful landing, as if it were on fire. No wonder valuables are accidentally left behind. By the time the loss is noticed, it is usually too late and the smartphones, wallets and glasses cases are already on their way to the airport's internal lost and found system. Getting them out again can take time. It would be better to run after the passengers and return the items to them on the spot. A job that is less of an option for flight attendants. The airline KLM has found the ideal person for the job: Sherlock the beagle has recently taken on the role of a friendly, four-legged lost and found office.

The idea does not seem unrealistic. Dogs have olfactory organs that make our noses look like rudiments. They could also be easily trained for the job. But KLM itself probably doesn't believe that such dogs really exist. Although - at least the airline would be in good company. Numerous media outlets, such as Dailymail.co.uk enthusiastic and uncritical of Sherlock. In the meantime, however, it has got aroundthat there is no lost and found dog and that the whole thing is nothing more than a viral advertising campaign. And a successful one at that: So far, KLM has inspired over seven million viewers with the smart beagle. Could Sherlock become a reality after all? The idea already seems to have enough fans...(hae)