According to the press release, the Aviga anniversary was all about work-life balance. For one afternoon, employees and partners had the opportunity to learn more about a balanced lifestyle and to get active. To this end, several courses were offered with the themes "inspire yourself" and "treat yourself," in which topic-specific knowledge was imparted on the one hand and sporting and creative courses were available as a balance on the other. In between the courses, guests enjoyed healthy catering that matched the balanced lifestyle framework. The celebration was rounded off with statements that Aviga had produced from its clients, customers and partners in the form of short films in collaboration with the live marketing agency La Folie Erlebniskultur. The somewhat different company anniversary came to an end with an aperitif in the evening sun.

In a joint project between the MCM Institute at the University of St. Gallen and the Tagblatt media, journalists are involved in the development of journalistic offerings in so-called innovation workshops. The resulting concepts not only meet democratic policy requirements, but also economic demands. "Entrepreneurial journalism" is the buzzword of the moment that has been used in recent years to encourage journalists to think more entrepreneurially. Glenn Greenwald (The Intercept), Carlos Watson (OZY) and Hansi Voigt (Watson) in Switzerland personify this rationale by turning their backs on established media brands and shaping the market with innovative projects. In order to survive in a changing media landscape, traditional editorial offices must also find a capacity for innovation that enables them to keep creative minds in the team and bring innovative offerings to the market. To do this, they must take their journalists' understanding of the market seriously and offer them space to deal with change. A joint project between the Institute for Media and Communication Management at the University of St. Gallen and Tagblatt Medien is investigating the potential of such an approach: In so-called "innovation ateliers", journalists are involved in the development of new journalistic offerings. In small groups, they examine the needs of potential users in order to develop innovative concept ideas on this basis. This shows that the entrepreneurial mindset is in place. Realistic ideas with a strong focus on the target group are created, which aim for low-resource implementation. The journalists have long since internalized the entrepreneurial approaches that are preached up and down by the management.

Employee creativity

Even if the result is poured into a product at the end of the day, on the web from moment to moment, journalism is ultimately a service business - and therefore largely dependent on the performance of journalists, who define the product within the scope available to them. In other industries, the integration of so-called frontline employees, i.e. those employees who provide the actual service, into innovation processes has long been investigated - but not so in journalism. This may be due to the traditional self-image of many journalists or the lack of competitive pressure from which the industry has been able to benefit for decades. From the perspective of organizational research, however, valuable potential is being wasted here. After all, it is precisely in changing markets that the creativity of employees is the starting point for all innovation.

Usage here is particularly focused on weekends and relaxed evenings. While the trend on the provider side is still towards Sunday newspapers, on the user side there is a desire for a focus on topics rather than news. A broad target group that longs for background and depth away from the daily changing headlines does not feel that either Weltwoche or WOZ are catering to its needs. In daily journalism, too, many of those surveyed are offended by the short-lived nature of news-driven reporting. They would like journalists to be more active in setting topics, especially on a local level. They call for sustained coverage of topics that are relevant to citizens, which requires journalists to pick up on discussions independently and follow up critically.

Acceptance of change

The attitude of Glenn Greenwald, who sees journalists as activists who stand up for a cause with conviction, goes even further than these interviewed users demand. He has chosen to leave the Guardian in order to stand up for this approach in a new project. Not all journalists choose such a forward strategy in times of far-reaching change, because change always means uncertainty. However, involving employees in the development of new offerings or work processes makes it easier for them to understand the associated change processes and ensures their involvement. The approach of involving journalists in innovation processes can also be applied to tasks other than customer orientation. For example, journalists at the Neue Zürcher Zeitung are working on brand-appropriate forms of online journalism in corresponding workshops. In addition to examining the potential of digital reporting, each workshop also focuses on discussing journalistic and identity-related issues. The commitment of the employees in this project is based in particular on the commitment of the management to realize at least one developed idea from each workshop. The newly launched "Monday Cliché" format, which was created in one of the first workshops, is evidence of this promise. When employees experience that their knowledge and ideas are taken seriously, their motivation to work and their commitment to the company increases. It is not only journalistic organizations that can benefit from this, and not only in times of crisis.

Stephanie Grubenmann

Stephanie Grubenmann is a doctoral student and research assistant at the MCM Institute. Her research focuses on innovation and role change in journalism.

Innovation workshop Customer orientation

In a first step, a specific target group is selected - for example families living in urban areas. Through in-depth interviews and other qualitative survey methods, employees engage intensively with representatives of the target group. The data collected is then analyzed in order to identify key needs. Focusing on a specific need, the second step is to develop a concept idea that builds on the employees' existing skills as far as possible. Finally, the employees go back to the target group and present the developed idea. The feedback from potential users is integrated into the final concept. An innovation workshop lasts at least three days. Ideally, employees from different company divisions/departments are combined in a workshop group.

 

---

"You don't just say you want to do something, you actually do it."

Philipp Landmark, Editor-in-Chief of the St. Galler Tagblatt, in conversation with Werbewoche Editor-in-Chief Pierre C. Meier

 
WW: How did the collaboration with the University of St. Gallen come about
Philipp Landmark: At the Swiss Media Forum two years ago, I got talking to Stephanie Grubenmann and we decided to "do something" together. Later, Stephanie Grubenmann - who had previously worked as an intern at our publishing house - approached us with the specific project and presented the idea to part of the management team.

Is the St. Galler Tagblatt the pilot for a Group-wide story?
I do think that the method and certain findings from these innovation workshops can be transferred to other titles. The NZZ has now conducted similar innovation workshops, also with Stephanie Grubenmann and the people from the MCM HSG institute.

Journalists are known to have a rather critical relationship with editorial market research. How was the project accepted by the editorial team?
Initially, it was as I had expected: a third of the employees ran for cover, a third took note and a third got actively involved. It's a rather unusual project for editors, because very few of them think so intensively about their job. The proportion of those who reserved a time slot despite the workload and time pressure was surprisingly high. The same applies to people's commitment.

Did they try to involve the skeptics?
They did. On the one hand, I declared to the entire editorial team that I thought the project was a good thing, and on the other hand, the management also showed that it was behind the cause. But we didn't force anyone to take part, as that would only have slowed the project down.

Will this project result in regular research?
Now we want to bring the matter to a close for the first time. For me, there are two big learnings from this. Firstly, on a theoretical level: some of the journalists spent one, two or three days thinking intensively about their job and the newspaper. They asked themselves questions like: "What do we actually do? What else could we do?" They reflected. That in itself is a gain. Another valuable side effect is that the employees realize that they are being asked to reflect. It's not as if our job is defined somewhere by God, but we have to think about what it could look like ourselves. In addition, a number of practical ideas have also emerged that have been fleshed out. We have every intention of actually implementing one or two of them in order to explore the possibilities.

Various target groups were surveyed. How were these defined?
It varied. There was input from the university, then there were suggestions from the editorial team, who wanted certain points to be investigated, and some came from me.

Was the publisher also involved?
The publisher was involved and supported the project. However, the thematic issues were largely editorial. However, a publishing idea also emerged - unsolicited, so to speak.

Your conclusion?
Definitely recommendable. Just the fact that you are thinking about what you are actually doing is a good thing. A project like this also creates a certain amount of compulsion. You don't just say that you want to do something, you actually do it. The whole project gives you a certain structure. It also gave us questions that we might not have asked ourselves. Working with Stephanie Grubenmann and her team broadened the horizons of everyone involved. That is a definite gain. If we can now implement one or two projects, all the better.

When will we see the first implementations?
There is an implementation phase. Over the course of this year, we will try out some of the things we have developed. Maybe they won't work the way we imagined them, in which case we'll have to refine them or develop the ideas even further. It's not as if we've developed fundamentally new business models for our media company in two or three days. These are deliberately smaller things. The chosen research approach, in which we ask readers what they actually want, automatically leads us to consider what we can offer them. Then you put something together and let them reflect again. You can achieve something really quickly with a mechanism like this. The interview was conducted by telephone.

Interview: Pierre C. Meier

 

Just in time for the official start of summer, Griesser, the Swiss market leader for blinds and roller shutters, mailed single-family homeowners whose house had not been officially renovated for more than 10 years. The agency at the airport developed a mailing that automatically opened an awning over the depicted terrace. The more than 40,000 recipients were asked to make their terrace suitable for summer in the long term with automatic sun protection from Griesser.

Responsible at Griesser, Aadorf: Alfred Imbach, Head of Marketing; Fabienne Hürlimann, Marketing Services; Melanie Eberle, Marketing Services. Responsible at Agentur am Flughafen, Altenrhein: René Eugstair (Creative Direction); Dominique Rutishauser (Art Direction); Valeria Hörler (Graphics), Miriam Egli (Text/Consulting).
 

They know local.ch well and are aware of the company's potential, he said in an interview published in the online edition of the newspaper Finanz und Wirtschaft on Friday. The fairness opinion of Publigroupe's Board of Directors is not yet available. However, Schaeppi does not believe that it will come at a significantly different price. Whether there will still be much resistance from shareholders is "difficult to say", he says. "It is part and parcel of takeovers that certain investors want to drive up the price." According to Schaeppi, Swisscom wants to bring together Search.ch, Tamedia's search service, and Local.ch, in which Swisscom already holds a half stake, "and create a strong Internet offering for small and medium-sized companies". "The online directory services offer our customers added value and have great potential.
growth potential."

The financial impact of local.ch is currently still manageable, but Schaeppi sees potential. The takeover will not change Swisscom's business in purely financial terms. The EBITDA contribution of Local.ch currently amounts to CHF 40 million; if Swisscom holds the entire company, it will be CHF 60 million. francs.

"Strategically, however, local.ch is a very interesting company because of the potential of internet-based services. We therefore expect significant EBITDA growth in the future," said Schaeppi. A good week before the end of the first half of the year, the Swisscom CEO also confirmed the outlook for 2014 as a whole, stating that the Group expects
sales of 11.5 billion francs and EBITDA of 4.35 billion francs. "We
are right on target," said Schaeppi about the second quarter. (SDA)

Image: Keystone

On November 13, 2013, the Blick newspaper ran a front-page story about a letter to the editor written by the former secretary of SVP politician Christoph Blocher. Among other things, she wrote that Hildebrand had left his wife out of greed. Hildebrand then appealed to the Press Council. He argued that the article violated the principle of fairness. The Press Council has now ruled in Hildebrand's favor on the main points, as it announced on Friday. The Blick had colported the insinuations of Blocher's former secretary without really distancing itself from them, criticized the Press Council. With lurid headlines in the indicative, the allegations were presented as facts and inflated, although it was only a matter of personal speculation. Blick had claimed to the Press Council that the article had been written as a result of a misunderstanding between production and author. In addition, the editorial team had corrected it the following day. In the view of the Press Council, however, the article was not corrected, but "only turned further and shifted from the personal to the political corner of the rumor mill". In doing so, Blick had violated the duty to tell the truth as well as the duty to hear serious accusations, to correct them and to protect privacy. (SDA)

"The Tagblatt brand is firmly anchored in the region and beyond and stands for reliability," wrote Daniel Ehrat, General Manager of Tagblatt Medien, in an interview in the special supplement. The first edition of the St. Galler Tagblatt was published on January 2, 1839, as can be seen from an article in the supplement. Among other things, it reported on a house fire in the "Bleichele" district of St. Gallen and a nationalist-patriotic uprising in the suburbs of Liège. According to Basel historian Mischa Suter, the newspaper landscape at the time was in some ways comparable to today's media world. It was characterized by a colourful babble of voices, constant copying of each other and loud polemics.

Today, the St. Galler Tagblatt, the Thurgauer Zeitung, the Appenzeller Zeitung, the Wiler Zeitung, the Toggenburger Tagblatt, the Rheintaler, the Werdenberger and Obertoggenburger and the Ostschweiz am Sonntag are all part of Tagblatt Medien.

The various newspaper names of the association are in a slightly bolder font than before. The subtitle "Die Nordwestschweiz" is now "nordwestschweiz". The Aargauer Zeitung last revised its appearance in September 2010. The new layout reflects the zeitgeist of modern newspaper design, writes editor-in-chief Christian Dorer in the Saturday edition: "It looks elegant and serious, but still not boring." The editorial team had to decide what was important and appeared large. In the new, hierarchically structured layout, the headlines are therefore larger and the topics selected by the editorial team as relevant are presented more extensively. For example, the topic of the day is presented in large print on the second and third pages. The news texts are shorter.

The opinion page is given a prominent place. It now appears on the last page of the first newspaper bundle with national topics and sport. The second bundle is devoted entirely to events in the respective cantons and regions.

In addition to the Aargauer Zeitung, the Solothurner Zeitung, Basellandschaftliche Zeitung and Limmattaler Zeitung are also published in the Northwestern Switzerland media network. The Oltner Tagblatt and Zofinger Tagblatt also belong to the association as partners. (SDA)

The Swiss Party of Swiss filmmakers in cooperation with ADC has already become a successful event in Cannes in its fourth edition. With a glass of rosé and your feet in the sand, it's easier to network. Almost all of the familiar faces showed up. In the relaxed atmosphere right next to the waves, pitches and the successes of the competition were in the background for a few hours. The Swiss industry celebrated their common goals at this "world championship" of advertisers and some directors and producers could also already report exciting contacts for international assignments. "Yes we Cannes." (pan)

The hosts: Swissfilm Association. Peter Beck and Rita Kovacs.

The Swiss representatives of Cannes Lions: CEO Alain D. Brandle, Andrea Küpfer from Publicitas, Sibylle Widmer.

Had a lion to celebrate. Cris Vaccariello and Martin Hubschmid from Sunrise, Mia Zumsteg, WirzFraefelPaal.

Cello Schnyder and Stefan Fraefel, WirzFraefelPaal.

Frank Bodin, Havas, Emel.

Martin Stulz, Markus Gut, Y&R.

Oliver Schönfeld, Ann-Catherine Rüegg, Clear Channel.

Christian Baertschi, Christian Sommer, Serviceplan Suisse.

Silvana Pellegrini, Rudi Haller, Solig & Hallerfilm.

Lionel Baldenweg, Great Garbo, Stefan Bircher, Shining Pictures.

Lion to inflate: The new symbol for the Cannes competition?
 

Photos: Andreas Panzeri/Advertising Week

The company recently launched the new coffee drink Caffè Lattesso Espresso, which has an amaretti pastry in the lid - the ideal wake-up kiss to go with the espresso. Accordingly, the coffee drinker in the commercial has his Amaretti stolen by a pretty lady, but receives a kiss from her to wake up and start the day on a high note.

Responsible at Lattesso: Erich Kienle (overall responsibility), Karin Kägi (responsible for marketing). Responsible at Jim & Jim: Fabio Emch (overall management), Tobias Bonfanti (production management/concept). Responsible at Hillton: Tobias Bonfanti (director/editor), Pierre Castillo Bernad (cinematographer), Jan Wittrowski (lighting), Jingle Jungle (sound design).
 

In a joint project between the MCM Institute at the University of St. Gallen and the Tagblatt media, journalists are involved in the development of journalistic offerings in so-called innovation workshops. The resulting concepts not only meet democratic policy requirements, but also economic demands. "Entrepreneurial journalism" is the buzzword of the moment that has been used in recent years to encourage journalists to think more entrepreneurially. Glenn Greenwald (The Intercept), Carlos Watson (OZY) and Hansi Voigt (Watson) in Switzerland personify this rationale by turning their backs on established media brands and shaping the market with innovative projects. In order to survive in a changing media landscape, traditional editorial offices must also find a capacity for innovation that enables them to keep creative minds in the team and bring innovative offerings to the market. To do this, they must take their journalists' understanding of the market seriously and offer them space to deal with change. A joint project between the Institute for Media and Communication Management at the University of St. Gallen and Tagblatt Medien is investigating the potential of such an approach: In so-called "innovation ateliers", journalists are involved in the development of new journalistic offerings. In small groups, they examine the needs of potential users in order to develop innovative concept ideas on this basis. This shows that the entrepreneurial mindset is in place. Realistic ideas with a strong focus on the target group are created, which aim for low-resource implementation. The journalists have long since internalized the entrepreneurial approaches that are preached up and down by the management.

Employee creativity

Even if the result is poured into a product at the end of the day, on the web from moment to moment, journalism is ultimately a service business - and therefore largely dependent on the performance of journalists, who define the product within the scope available to them. In other industries, the integration of so-called frontline employees, i.e. those employees who provide the actual service, into innovation processes has long been investigated - but not so in journalism. This may be due to the traditional self-image of many journalists or the lack of competitive pressure from which the industry has been able to benefit for decades. From the perspective of organizational research, however, valuable potential is being wasted here. After all, it is precisely in changing markets that the creativity of employees is the starting point for all innovation.

Usage here is particularly focused on weekends and relaxed evenings. While the trend on the provider side is still towards Sunday newspapers, on the user side there is a desire for a focus on topics rather than news. A broad target group that longs for background and depth away from the daily changing headlines does not feel that either Weltwoche or WOZ are catering to its needs. In daily journalism, too, many of those surveyed are offended by the short-lived nature of news-driven reporting. They would like journalists to be more active in setting topics, especially on a local level. They call for sustained coverage of topics that are relevant to citizens, which requires journalists to pick up on discussions independently and follow up critically.

Acceptance of change

The attitude of Glenn Greenwald, who sees journalists as activists who stand up for a cause with conviction, goes even further than these interviewed users demand. He has chosen to leave the Guardian in order to stand up for this approach in a new project. Not all journalists choose such a forward strategy in times of far-reaching change, because change always means uncertainty. However, involving employees in the development of new offerings or work processes makes it easier for them to understand the associated change processes and ensures their involvement. The approach of involving journalists in innovation processes can also be applied to tasks other than customer orientation. For example, journalists at the Neue Zürcher Zeitung are working on brand-appropriate forms of online journalism in corresponding workshops. In addition to examining the potential of digital reporting, each workshop also focuses on discussing journalistic and identity-related issues. The commitment of the employees in this project is based in particular on the commitment of the management to realize at least one developed idea from each workshop. The newly launched "Monday Cliché" format, which was created in one of the first workshops, is evidence of this promise. When employees experience that their knowledge and ideas are taken seriously, their motivation to work and their commitment to the company increases. It is not only journalistic organizations that can benefit from this, and not only in times of crisis.

Stephanie Grubenmann

Stephanie Grubenmann is a doctoral student and research assistant at the MCM Institute. Her research focuses on innovation and role change in journalism.

Innovation workshop Customer orientation

In a first step, a specific target group is selected - for example families living in urban areas. Through in-depth interviews and other qualitative survey methods, employees engage intensively with representatives of the target group. The data collected is then analyzed in order to identify key needs. Focusing on a specific need, the second step is to develop a concept idea that builds on the employees' existing skills as far as possible. Finally, the employees go back to the target group and present the developed idea. The feedback from potential users is integrated into the final concept. An innovation workshop lasts at least three days. Ideally, employees from different company divisions/departments are combined in a workshop group.

 

---

"You don't just say you want to do something, you actually do it."

Philipp Landmark, Editor-in-Chief of the St. Galler Tagblatt, in conversation with Werbewoche Editor-in-Chief Pierre C. Meier

 
WW: How did the collaboration with the University of St. Gallen come about
Philipp Landmark: At the Swiss Media Forum two years ago, I got talking to Stephanie Grubenmann and we decided to "do something" together. Later, Stephanie Grubenmann - who had previously worked as an intern at our publishing house - approached us with the specific project and presented the idea to part of the management team.

Is the St. Galler Tagblatt the pilot for a Group-wide story?
I do think that the method and certain findings from these innovation workshops can be transferred to other titles. The NZZ has now conducted similar innovation workshops, also with Stephanie Grubenmann and the people from the MCM HSG institute.

Journalists are known to have a rather critical relationship with editorial market research. How was the project accepted by the editorial team?
Initially, it was as I had expected: a third of the employees ran for cover, a third took note and a third got actively involved. It's a rather unusual project for editors, because very few of them think so intensively about their job. The proportion of those who reserved a time slot despite the workload and time pressure was surprisingly high. The same applies to people's commitment.

Did they try to involve the skeptics?
They did. On the one hand, I declared to the entire editorial team that I thought the project was a good thing, and on the other hand, the management also showed that it was behind the cause. But we didn't force anyone to take part, as that would only have slowed the project down.

Will this project result in regular research?
Now we want to bring the matter to a close for the first time. For me, there are two big learnings from this. Firstly, on a theoretical level: some of the journalists spent one, two or three days thinking intensively about their job and the newspaper. They asked themselves questions like: "What do we actually do? What else could we do?" They reflected. That in itself is a gain. Another valuable side effect is that the employees realize that they are being asked to reflect. It's not as if our job is defined somewhere by God, but we have to think about what it could look like ourselves. In addition, a number of practical ideas have also emerged that have been fleshed out. We have every intention of actually implementing one or two of them in order to explore the possibilities.

Various target groups were surveyed. How were these defined?
It varied. There was input from the university, then there were suggestions from the editorial team, who wanted certain points to be investigated, and some came from me.

Was the publisher also involved?
The publisher was involved and supported the project. However, the thematic issues were largely editorial. However, a publishing idea also emerged - unsolicited, so to speak.

Your conclusion?
Definitely recommendable. Just the fact that you are thinking about what you are actually doing is a good thing. A project like this also creates a certain amount of compulsion. You don't just say that you want to do something, you actually do it. The whole project gives you a certain structure. It also gave us questions that we might not have asked ourselves. Working with Stephanie Grubenmann and her team broadened the horizons of everyone involved. That is a definite gain. If we can now implement one or two projects, all the better.

When will we see the first implementations?
There is an implementation phase. Over the course of this year, we will try out some of the things we have developed. Maybe they won't work the way we imagined them, in which case we'll have to refine them or develop the ideas even further. It's not as if we've developed fundamentally new business models for our media company in two or three days. These are deliberately smaller things. The chosen research approach, in which we ask readers what they actually want, automatically leads us to consider what we can offer them. Then you put something together and let them reflect again. You can achieve something really quickly with a mechanism like this. The interview was conducted by telephone.

Interview: Pierre C. Meier

 

A lot has happened in the meantime: In a further stage, the third building complex on construction site E was completed and opened to the public at the beginning of the year. This houses 64 rental apartments, offices, attractive stores and the NEO restaurant/bar.

In a third wave, Vizner Borel communicates the variety of possibilities for lingering, shopping and enjoying with new poster subjects, online measures and the "Europaallee-CityMap".

Responsible at SBB Immobilien for Europaallee: Adrian Bucher. Responsible at Vizner Borel: Lajos Vizner, Guillaume Borel (overall responsibility), Eveline Jakob (consulting), Florian Steiner (art direction), John Leuppi (text), Rainer Schaer (photography), JBW Media AG (media).
 

This is where the split thinking about the advertising industry, and indeed the entire communications world, begins. What is at stake here? About how, when and how much advertising, social media or public relations can take. This is a secret recipe and unfortunately is not written in any book. So my question: Why am I grumbling about bad advertising? Quite simply because I experience it every day, far too much of it. As an outsider to the "big scene", I would like to use this opportunity to encourage advertising managers, advertising directors, creative directors and advertising agency owners not to simply fulfill their tasks to the best satisfaction of the client.

I can only make this encouraging statement because I am confronted with this jumble of hideous and often incomprehensible advertising on a daily basis. As a trained graphic designer, I am sensitive and interested in this tangle and cannot ignore it, so I always succumb to the urge to grumble about it. I have also praised it. Before I decided to criticize fortnightly, I didn't bother with advertising at all. This lack of interest can be found in the average population. Nobody cares and nobody looks. I once saw a Philip Morris consumer in a market research survey who had no idea about the advertising for a product worth 15 million francs a year.

My theory: A new era is beginning here. Imagine that nobody watches advertising any more. And now the task is: How do I get everyone to talk about me? By continuing to advertise in the same rut, perhaps with a pinch of pepper, but at the same pace, or by running advertising that the world is talking about. Sometimes I get the feeling that 90 percent of my advertising spend is thrown away. In any case, I only get around 10 percent, at most! I am an attentive observer because, as a mocker, this is a must for me. On the other hand, I'm also discovering small successes with a campaign that I grumbled about in an earlier column: the new Coop-tschtsch commercials, for example. I'm thinking of the three guys who turn the barbecue into a TV set for the sake of football. An optimization of this campaign. I hope my criticism has helped. I won't be able to write up my post of the week until tonight after the match at 10.45pm.

Theophil Butz, graphic designer, advertising agency owner, inspirer and, for the past three years, also
Motzer for Advertising Week readers. Please send any relevant information to [email protected]