Werbewoche presented 20 campaigns in an online vote. Our readers were able to rate the spots with scores between 1 and 5. A great deal of use was made of this option.

Place 1 Swiss fruits

Since summer 2009, they have been advertising healthy food from Swiss agriculture in TV commercials. During this time, the good-natured Bernese mountain dog Barry and the snappishly cheeky goose Hans have become real audience favorites. Daniel Meier knows that school classes regularly request background material on the two advertising characters. The creative director invented the cute creatures in his advertising agency Unikat in Küsnacht. The films are being realized by Zurich-based Manifesto Films. Director Reto Salimbeni can rely on purposefully trained animals for the shoot. Only the "talking" is animated on the computer. The dog and the goose are dubbed by well-known voices. Hans Ruchti plays Hans and singer Endo Anaconda mumbles Barry. The 16 spots so far have all been shot on the Mattenhof in Emmental.

As an accompanying measure, Unikat also opened an "Öpfelchüechliweg" near Grindelwald in the Bernese Oberland last summer for the hiking-loving public. There, a lot of knowledge about apples can be acquired in a playful way. On this adventure trail, hiking families can listen to short stories by Barry and Hans using their cell phones. These episodes, penned by Daniel Meier, are also available as a 75-minute radio play on a CD. Manifesto produced the CD together with Sony Music. The CD has become the number 2 most successful children's radio play from Sony Music in 2012.

Making-of the spots from the production of Manifesto Films.

There is an "Öpfelchüechliweg" at Grindelwald. Barry and Hans can also be heard in the radio play on a Sony CD.

Place 2 Pro Infirmis
 

The campaign with the "disabled" mannequins for Pro Infirmis by Jung von Matt/ Limmat has already won several awards. Gold at ADC and also at EFFIE this year. In addition, nails at the ADC in Germany and pencils at the One Show or bronze at the Goldbach Crossmedia Award.

On December 3, 2013 - International Day of Disabled People - abnormal mannequins were in action in the windows of five fashion stores on Zurich's Bahnhofstrasse (Modissa, WE Fashion, Schild, PKZ, Bernie's). The figures were created to scale and by hand as three-dimensional images of Miss Handicap 2010 Jasmin Rechsteiner, radio presenter and film critic Alex Oberholzer, track and field athlete Urs Kolly, blogger Nadja Schmid and actor Erwin Aljukic. A case film has subsequently been able to generate over 14 million views. All measures wanted to draw attention to the fact that disabled people are a normal part of society.

Place 3 Suva liv

Since 2002, the creative agency Ruf Lanz has been responsible for the prevention campaigns of "Suva Liv". The offer brand stands for leisure time safety. The guiding principle of the creatives: Involve without moralizing. Because prevention can quickly be perceived by the public as lecturing. Only if you succeed in communicating the message in a surprising way and without pointing the finger can you achieve the necessary acceptance. Ruf Lanz's Suva-Liv campaigns have repeatedly won awards from expert juries both nationally and internationally. "And the most important jury in the world, the audience, has already chosen three of our Suva appearances as Campaign of the Year," Markus Ruf and Danielle Lanz are pleased to report. The spot, which was available for voting on our platform, uses convincing scenes to visualize the fact that around 45,000 accidents happen on Swiss football pitches every year. This is shown with a whole stadium full of injured people. As an antidote, there is a new Suva risk test.

 

The Advertising Personality of the Year award is one of the social highlights on the Swiss agency scene's agenda. The creatives chose their "king" for the first time back in 1977. This year, the title was awarded for the 37th time. The industry leader of the year was chosen by the subscribers of Werbewoche. A final round of nominees were put forward by a kind of "Academy" of all previous advertisers of the year. After last year's winner Peter Brönnimann from Leo Burnett Switzerland, the nominees for the current title were six nominees for election. Geri Aebi as a seasoned CEO of a large agency, the strategist Regula Fecker, Michael Hählen as a representative for SME communication, Michael Hinderling for digital, Alexander Jaggy for a comprehensive full service and Philipp Skrabal for a creative with a desire for change.

Advertiser of the Year (Photo: Thomas Stuckert)

Pierre C. Meier, Editor-in-Chief of Werbewoche, is delighted that the Advertiser of the Year is also perceived by the public and the media as an "ambassador for the industry". "The media acceptance of our choice and the numerous requests for a specialist commentary on current advertising topics show that our Advertiser of the Year is perceived as an opinion leader for Swiss advertising."

The two new advertisers of the year were awarded the "Egon" trophy. The little man with an oversized mouth as a megaphone was designed by Swiss artist Max Grüter. The trophy is a small nod to the fact that advertisers are often said to have (too) big a mouth. The "Egon" was presented for the first time this year as part of the "Night of the Brand" as the festive conclusion of the Swiss Brand Congress at the Dolder Grand in Zurich. As a double victory was not planned for the Egon production, the two winners will have to make do with a miniature version for the time being. The large award, produced for the first time by 3D printers and slightly revised this year, will follow.

On this evening, attended by many personalities from the business and communications sector, the "Campaign of the year" award. The entertaining show was hosted by Miriam Rickli with naturalness, charm and spontaneity. In addition to the two awards presented by Werbewoche, the "Swiss Academy of Marketing Science Award" and the "Rigour & Relevance Award" for outstanding achievements in scientific marketing research were also presented afterwards. Feldschlösschen CEO and jury member Thomas Amstutz promised free beer on the Bundesplatz if Switzerland reached the World Cup final. Realistic or not - the audience responded to this news with thunderous applause. (pd/hae)

Advertiser of the Year 2014:

Regula Fecker is one of four partners at the Rod Kommunikation agency. The strategist already won the title of Advertiser of the Year in 2010. She is jointly responsible for the current "Love Life - Regret nothing" campaign as well as other popular campaigns such as "Slow down. Take it easy." Her work for the current SBB campaign is also highly visible. In addition, the Miami Ad School graduate is passionate about researching the Swiss advertising industry. Regula Fecker was elected to the SRG Board of Directors in 2012.

Alexander Jaggy has been working in advertising for 24 years. He is Executive Creative Director and co-owner of Jung von Matt/Limmat and has been with the agency since 2001. Previous positions include BBDO Zurich, GGK Zurich, Springer and Jacoby in Hamburg, Jung von Matt Hamburg. Alexander Jaggy is a board member of ADC Switzerland and a member of ADC Germany. He is also a graduate of the Berlin School of creative leadership. Alexander Jaggy and his team can currently be seen in various projects for Migros, Max Shoes and Graubünden.

WW: You were already "Advertiser of the Year" once in 2010. Anyone who holds this title is also considered a Swiss "advertising ambassador". Has your message changed since then?
Regula Fecker: First of all, I am simply delighted with the recognition from the industry for the work that I have been able to do with Rod together with my partners for seven years. My message is still the same - a claim for me, for Rod, for the industry, a commitment to the clients, namely "A Bigger Bang for the Buck".

You were - among many other things - a singer in a rock band in your youth. What has remained of the rocker?
Alexander Jaggy: At least not the long hair - music is still an important part of my life. The most essential thing in a band is team spirit. Nothing works without it. I try to spread this spirit every day in our agency. Since my time on stage, I've had a certain fearlessness when it comes to performing. That's why I'm hardly nervous before presentations. Once you've had to sing regularly in church halls in front of a handful of critical audience members, almost nothing can rattle you.

Does advertising offer creative people more opportunities to develop today than in the past?
Fecker: Yes, I think so. In terms of content, concept, technology, media - a playground of new possibilities lies ahead of us. But that's precisely why we need to force ourselves to keep things simple now more than ever!
Jaggy: Clearly yes. It also has to do with media behavior. It's no longer linear - newspaper in the morning, radio at lunchtime, television in the evening. We watch TV programs when we want and get news via social networks. At the same time, the variety of new communication options is increasing. There's no question that this is very demanding and time-consuming. But it also makes working as a creative a thousand times more interesting.

However, it has also become more difficult to reach an increasingly fragmented target audience. Should creatives leave this task even more to the search engines in future?
Jaggy: Technology is now so firmly interwoven with our lives that it is almost impossible to separate the real and virtual worlds. The big challenge will be to provide the audience with the right information in the right place. Search engines can help us to locate target persons, but the offer still has to come from the marketers.

More and more "younger" media are being used in advertising. Where do you see the opportunities and challenges for a creative who has grown up with double-sided ads and cinema advertising?
Jaggy: It's not the medium that matters, but the idea. If you have good ideas, you will still be a sought-after creative in ten years' time. No technology is capable of writing a strategy or developing a campaign. That's why it's increasingly important these days to switch off the computer and switch on the brain.

Advertising used to finance social reporting in our media. This model is being phased out. How do you see this development?
Fecker: The model is not quite dying out either. But consolidation is taking place, the small and niche players are dying, diversity is dwindling. For media brands today, it is vital to retain as many people as possible, as this keeps them attractive for advertisers because they can reach many people at once. 20 Minuten has been doing the best job of all the print media in Switzerland for years.
Jaggy: The media are still primarily financed by advertising. However, the cake is distributed differently. Today, investments tend to be made in digital and electronic media. Journalism is ultimately in the same predicament as advertising: customers are no longer prepared to pay appropriately for clever ideas and good craftsmanship. Quality has to pay again.

How do you use Facebook, Twitter and the like in your private life?
Fecker: My private use of social media is completely irrelevant. In our job, you should never draw conclusions about others from yourself.
Jaggy: "I like."

Successful advertising today has to break the rules, according to a recent trend study. What rules have you ever broken?
Fecker: The best thing to do is to take a look at our new LOVE LIFE campaign from Rod ... Oh, it's a joy to see how my partner David Schärer's ingenious PR strategy works and breaks all the rules! And we have no regrets.
Jaggy: My old companion Pius Walker and I once offered a client a lot of money to realize one of our advertisements. We were so convinced by the idea that we put all our savings on the table, a little over 10,000 Deutschmarks. Fortunately, the customer nobly rejected the money and placed the ad anyway. A win-win situation with slightly blackmailing features. I admit that.

You were also trained for your management role at Jung von Matt at the Berlin School of creative leadership. What did you learn there?
Jaggy: The Berlin School was a stroke of luck for me. And I am eternally grateful to Michael Conrad for giving me the chance to take part in this course. I was able to learn about creative leadership from the best in the business. I also got to travel the world, made many new friends and my English improved. I vividly remember a sentence from the dean of Northwestern University: "The optimist invented the plane. The pessimist invented the parachute."

You also trained at the Miami Ad School. What did you learn there?
Fecker: How important it is to present and sell your own ideas well. You can't delegate that. In Miami, we had to present a campaign in English against 6 other teams in front of 50 people every Tuesday evening. I hated it: sweating, losing my voice, sheer panic. Until a lecturer said to me: "You know what? Nobody in this room wants you to fail. Because that's just unbearable to watch."

You both worked abroad for a long time. What did this recent experience away from Switzerland bring you?
Jaggy: Immediately after my time at GGK Zurich, I went to Germany. The move abroad made me more open and competitive. Springer & Jacoby was my personal steel bath. Tough in the matter, human in my dealings. The philosophy of the three Es - Simple, Exact, Imaginative - still shapes me today.
Fecker: I left as a junior and came back as a senior.

You also founded your own agency when you were still young. What do you think about this decision today?
Fecker: I am extremely proud of what David Schärer, Oliver Fennel, Pablo Koerfer and I have achieved together with our team over the last few years. And the clients we are now able to work for as lead agency - BAG, Baloise, Erdgas, Hotelplan, LAAX, MINI, Migrolino, Mobility, Sinalco, SBB, 20 Minuten ... good brands, good people, a great privilege.

What do you like about working at the head of Rod Kommunikation?
Fecker: I'm not at the top, that's Pablo Koerfer, our Managing Director. But to come back to your question: I like the fact that we have fast processes, are unbureaucratic and that I personally don't manage, but also work for our customers myself, solve their problems and find out directly what has worked and what hasn't.

Regula Fecker is not the only one who has founded her own agencies. Was that never an idea for Alexander Jaggy?
Jaggy: Having my own agency is not an issue at the moment. I am very happy with my environment at the agency. We have a strong crew together and still want to achieve a lot. As a partner in the agency, I'm content with the J in JvM for the time being.

What do you like about working as an ECD at Jung von Matt/Limmat?
Jaggy: What I enjoy most of all is working with people. On the agency or client side. I no longer make a big distinction. I like the versatility of my job. And I like complex tasks. It's like solving a puzzle without being able to look up the solution. There's something appealing about that.

The agencies have large steamers and maneuverable speedboats. What are the advantages of the two models?
Jaggy: I only know of a few speedboats that have remained consistent. These agencies deserve the greatest respect. However, you need talent and capacity to be able to handle certain projects. And that is only possible with a critical mass.

Where do you see yourself in ten years' time?
Fecker: On a farm in the Zurich Oberland with a barn converted into a workspace: one leg in the vegetable garden, one leg in business.
Jaggy: To be honest, I have no idea. Maybe I should consult Mike Shiva.

Suppose we want to realize a home story with the "Advertiser of the Year". What can we show or reveal and what not?
Jaggy: You won't get a picture of me in the bubble bath. Apart from that, I'm relatively relaxed.
Fecker: Why don't you accompany me for a day on the SBB through Switzerland, then we'll be "on the road at home" together. We would drink a lot of coffee, talk and observe and analyze Switzerland. That's probably as close to a home story as I would let you get.

Interview via chat: Andreas Panzeri

Nothing against trophies, which are more or less artfully designed and regularly awarded to the best advertisers and brands. But many a competition in the industry would benefit from a realignment. Fresh, sustainable concept additions bring more momentum, greater interest - and also more entries. The German Dialog Marketing Association (DDV) has just completed a relaunch par excellence. The jury for the Dialog Marketing Prize (ddp) evaluated not only the creativity but also the efficiency of the campaigns. A first fresh cell cure that is not yet finished. In the next stage, according to jury chairman Michael Koch (gkk Dialog), Swiss and German dialog campaigns will be able to enter the competition several times with one submission.

"We are still in the planning phase," Michael Koch told Werbewoche. But the great response to the new ddp 2014 has encouraged him and the DDV board. After 32 years, the DDV had caused a stir in the industry with the announcement of its annual competition. The ddp 2014 had to excel in two areas: firstly in creation and implementation, and then in strategy and results, i.e. efficiency. The agencies had to deliver concrete figures and response results. That was new. DDV President Patrick Trapp is self-confident: "The ddp no longer submits to the dictates of the artificial separation between creation and efficiency. It is in a position to actually reflect the reality of advertising." In fact, the dialog association was able to report a 50 percent increase in entries at the recently celebrated ddp awards gala in Berlin. 353 campaigns entered the race, including numerous creations from Switzerland. In the separate D-A-CH category, campaigns from Austria and Switzerland have been judged separately for decades. Taking into account the new efficiency rating, Wirz Wietlisbach won 1× gold, 1× silver and an award, as reported. The St.Gallen agency am Flughafen won 1× bronze and an award.

Perhaps there will be even more efficient dialog creation Swiss made at the start of ddp 2015. Because these are the plans of jury president Michael Koch: 

- a jointly coordinated, standardized submission procedure. The strategy, results, idea and implementation are described once - and the campaigns are then launched in both Switzerland and Germany.

- a jointly coordinated campaign ticket. The agencies pay once and the submitted dialog campaign starts twice, in Switzerland and in Germany. The German-language joint idea is also conceivable with the campaigns from Austria, says DDV juror Koch. In any case, he has already received positive signals from the Swiss association. Dialogue marketing could thus gain further international renown. More specific details will be discussed in the coming meetings. "In any case," says Koch, "we have brought the ddp back to its former greatness." The acid test has been passed with flying colors. Let's hope that the planned German-Swiss Dialogue Oscar becomes a reality. Perhaps the disappointed Jean-Remy von Matt can be brought onto the jury for this international project. After all, the agency boss and jury president in Cannes was recently rejected as an honorary member of the Swiss ADC.

Peter Ehm Germany

 

In terms of awareness, the Audi ad from the advertising agency Advico Y&R came out on top, followed by the ad for Ohropax from the advertising agency Komet and the ad for Creabeton from the advertising agency Virus Ideenlabor. In the uniqueness criterion, the ad for Helvetas from the Spinas Civil Voices agency came out on top ahead of the SonntagsZeitungs ad from Advico Y&R and the ad for Ohropax. The ad for Ohropax came top in the Brand Fit criterion, followed by the ad for Swiss Casinos St. Gallen from the agency Inhalt & Form and the ad for Helvetas. In terms of likeability, Helvetas wins ahead of Ohropax and the VBZ ad from the Ruf Lanz advertising agency.

The Advertising Week Impact Check, May 2014 (PDF)
Detailed results (PDF)
 

Baumeisterhaus" is written in large letters on the facade of the architecturally stylish building at Sempacherstrasse 15 in Zurich - the residence of Brandpulse, one of Switzerland's leading branding agencies. The building is called "Baumeisterhaus" because, in addition to Brandpulse, the Association of Master Builders also has its headquarters here.

WW: The vocabulary "master builder's house " spontaneously leads to the metaphor "master builder " when entering the house, then to the question whether branding agencies are the "master builders of the brand". Mr. Ramseier, to start with - what constitutes good branding in the first place, in a nutshell?
Thomas Ramseier: Branding plays an increasingly important role in modern brand management. This is because branding helps - taking customer needs into account - to differentiate a brand holistically strategically and formally in the competitive environment. The challenge for a brand today is to successfully hold its own in a market environment with increasing competitive pressure, while maintaining similar performance quality and decreasing margins. And so our agency brochure clearly and unmistakably states: "Undifferentiated market cultivation and vague communication are the cause of the interchangeability of brands. And: 'Me-too concepts' are the killers of stand-alone brand values. "

The Swiss poet Gottfried Keller wrote a novella called "Clothes make the man". It is about a journeyman tailor who, despite poverty, dresses very well and stacks up. What about brands - is well packaged (dressed) also well sold? Is branding as simple as getting tailor-made clothes?
In my opinion, identity-oriented brand management is not about the question of whether the brand is well dressed. Rather, it is about the question: Is the brand properly dressed - occasion-related: tuxedo, suit, jeans? Brands stand for values with the goal of being attractive to certain target groups. For some, jeans are more attractive than a tuxedo. That's exactly the point. Good branding is comparable to tailor-made clothing. Branding is about creating an individual, unique look for the brand. Something off the rack is interchangeable. However, successful branding differs from tailoring in one respect: we can't just focus on the brand, its stature and body shape in the manufacturing process. It's about relevant differentiation. Therefore, we must also know the stature and body shape of competitors in order to clearly differentiate ourselves from them. And we need to know the needs of customers to achieve relevance.

A brand is like a personality, as the textbooks say. More than ever, brands need a brand core, an identity, a soul. But for brands to prevail, they must first meet a few fundamental requirements: consistently high quality and guaranteed quantity. That is an old truism. But what else is there to consider?
Today's understanding of brands goes much further: brands are unmistakable images that have to be anchored in the customer's mind. We live in an age of supply explosion. More and more offers at constant demand. Strong brands manage to provide the potential customer with an argumentation why he should buy a certain brand and not the competitor's product. This argumentation is mainly based on a differentiating brand idea and a differentiating brand appearance. In my opinion, purely value-based concepts are passé. Differentiation can only be created through a clear brand promise that is relevant to customers and a unique, attractive brand appearance - in my view, the mere listing of values that leave room for interpretation is no longer sufficient today. 

We live in a world of abundance and me-too products. Does that make your agency's service even more significant? In the past, brand owners created their brands on their own. Mr. Maggi, for example. And Henri Nestlé and so many others ...
Branding agencies have the ability to support the client in strategic and formal differentiation. It's all about positioning in this interchangeable competitive environment they address. Positioning always means focusing on a few things and leaving out many things - even important ones. Sometimes an external partner can do this better - due to a more objective distance towards markets and brands.

How do you have to address today's consumers? Do different "rules" apply than in the past? Has the consumer become emancipated?
A paradigm shift has taken place in the last ten years. In contrast to the past, consumers today are globally networked. They have unlimited options in their buying behavior. They check out and compare different offers in both local stationary stores and online stores. Authenticity is therefore becoming more important. However, digitization also leads to more anonymous relationships with brands; these become less tangible. In the future, brands will have to be showcased more strongly at non-digital touchpoints. Experiential consumption is in the foreground today. Customers want to be entertained before, during and after shopping. This situation is leading to an aestheticization trend even in mass markets. Or how else do you explain concepts like Apple or Nespresso stores?

Today we often speak of the schizophrenic or hybrid consumer. Sometimes a luxury good, then again cheap fast food ...
True. But that's nothing new. Modern marketing has been talking about this for twenty-five years. Today, we've already moved on; we're seeing an increase in the intrinsic benefit dimension: the brand triggers hedonistic enjoyment and stands for lifestyle and self-expression. People want to do something good for themselves; the brand is no longer an exclusive symbol of prestige and distinction. What has happened? A blending of premium and discount offerings is taking place: Concepts like Migros Selection, Lagerfeld for H&M or Massimo Dutti, etc. are available to all. Massimo Dutti, for example, offers average, low-priced clothing (similar to H&M or Benetton). Massimo Dutti's retail stores, on the other hand, embody high quality in the style of an English tailor. There are exciting times ahead for brand manufacturers.

The "young old" target group - does it even exist? Isn't there rather an age discrepancy?
Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones will be 71 in July. A twenty-year-old can be more conservative than a seventy-year-old. In my opinion, sociodemographic criteria in segmentation have done their duty. Today, it's all about value-oriented attitudes. Modern brand management is about aligning the brand for a value-oriented group. Regardless of age or school education.

The unpredictability of lifestyles - how do you deal with it? SPIEGEL recently published a cover story on the subject of "Consumption renunciation - have less, live happier". But that doesn't make a branding agency happy?
The theme of "going back" to sustainable living is the logical consequence of the consumerist excesses of the past twenty years and the growing awareness of resource scarcity. The pendulum is swinging back. But I don't believe that total consumerism will become a conflagration. There have always been dropouts: Diogenes, Niklaus von der Flüe, Martin Heidegger or the hippies. But don't worry, consumption will continue in the future, just in a different way. Brands are challenged to deal with this issue. It's about creating attractive concepts for people with a sustainable value orientation. As the owner of a branding agency, I don't have to worry about that. Because for these kinds of concepts, it will still be necessary to create strong, differentiating brands in the future.

Now to the subject of "packaging" and the clothes that seem to make people or brands. Is it really the case that around two-thirds of consumers make their purchasing decisions on the basis of the packaging - and shortly, in front of the shelf? Personally, I have my doubts about that ...
The ultimate goal of any brand is customer loyalty. This presupposes familiarity and trust. If brands are neither known nor trusted, then, yes, packaging would be the only factor in the purchase decision - which would then account for two-thirds of purchase decisions. But hand on heart: is that really the case? Just think about the contents of your refrigerator - there are more or less always the same brands in there ... A much more interesting finding is: We know from empirical studies that touchpoints at the point of sale in retail contribute more than half to the brand experience. If the brand has no other opportunities to stage experiences at the POS - for example, via displays, shop-in-shop concepts, etc. - the packaging assumes an immensely important role in the success or failure of a brand. In this case, the brand must be optimally staged via the packaging and be perceived in an almost ideal way. The key words here are: Form, brand design, haptics, ergonomics, handling, aesthetics, etc.

"Information overload" - a fact that carries weight. What does this mean for a branding agency?
The central goal is a holistic staging of the brand. Information overload now means that it is becoming increasingly difficult to make oneself heard as a brand. The same content and formal messages - promise, logo, colors, image style, typography, symbols, etc. - must be applied as consistently as possible. And this in all manifestations of the brand, on the web, in online advertising - film, print advertising, store, etc., on vehicles and, of course, on packaging. This creates recognizability and helps to be perceived as a brand in the thicket of the information explosion.

Your range of services covers a large number of segments. What distinguishes your agency from an "ordinary" advertising and design agency?
Brandpulse stands for strategic branding. We focus on the competencies of brand strategy (brand positioning and brand structures), brand conception (such as name development and brand design) and 3-D design (such as store and product design). We are also active in corporate communications consulting. The combination of these competencies makes us unique in the Swiss market. We are able to develop and implement holistic brand concepts for our clients, nationally and internationally. www.brandpulse.ch

Interview: Claude Bürki
 
 
In a nutshell
 
Overview: Business areas of Brandpulse

Brand strategy - Brand conception - 3-D design - Corporate communications

Consisting of three companies specializing in the aforementioned disciplines, the Brandpulse Group also offers individual solutions within the respective core competencies or holistic, integrated brand and communication solutions, depending on requirements. The group works on brand development and brand vitalization projects for clients in Switzerland, Germany and Austria. Recently realized brand projects in Switzerland: Migrol, Victorinox, Amavita, Turmix, Weleda, Spirella, Sanitas Krankenversicherung and Migrolino.

Panasonic has developed #speakmusic has initiated a social media movement and now invites all music fans to communicate with each other using individual playlists instead of text messages. The desired text is simply put together with vertically arranged song titles. The recipient can also enjoy the ambience appropriate to the occasion.

The sentences could then be a little bumpy, depending on the offer. But this might give the virtual conversations a little more personality - or leave too much room for interpretation. In the words of #speakmusic:

Speak your mind

Say what you think

Someone understands you

Safe (uma)

 

Over the next few months, it will be strategically realigned and go back on air with a new concept. After the last live broadcast on June 6, there will only be a transitional program consisting of music. From July 6, the station will cease broadcasting altogether.

The financial, technical and personnel situation is currently preventing the continuation of operations, according to a statement from the radio station. In order to be able to resume full broadcasting operations, the station needs additional staff, a new infrastructure and financial support. The managing director of Radio Blind Power, Daniel Schlosser, said today: "It is extremely difficult for Radio Blind Power to obtain financial resources, as in our environment large organizations with more personnel resources and larger budgets raise funds. As a small fish, it is almost impossible to survive in this pond."

Radio Blind Power is therefore now calling on its website, in a video on YouTube and via the crowd-funding platform 100-days.net The radio station is calling on private individuals and companies to support the Internet radio station financially. New volunteers are also being sought. Interested people can get in touch via the Radio Blind Power website, its Facebook page or Twitter account. Interested parties can receive an introduction to the radio trade and the relevant training at Radio Blind Power "on the job" and in specific courses.

At the same time, the radio program is to be repositioned so that it can go back on air with a new concept in a few months' time. "We are convinced that the success story of Radio Blind Power, which we were able to experience until recently, will continue and that Radio Blind Power will be able to make an even greater contribution to promoting integration in the future," said program director Markus Hubacher optimistically today.

Radio Blind Power is supported by celebrities such as the Swiss comedian and TV presenter René Rindlisbacher. Radio Blind Power has trained many young radio presenters over the past 17 years. Several of them now work for local radio stations and other media companies. It has also promoted the social integration of visually impaired and blind people. For example, Radio Blind Power repeatedly reported on open airs. As a result, many of its former and current employees with a visual impairment were given the opportunity to attend such an event thanks to Radio Blind Power.

In addition to the repositioning, Radio Blind Power plans to develop and launch a new website. Later, reception of the Internet radio station is to be made easier, on the one hand through apps for smartphones. On the other hand, it has been fighting unsuccessfully for several years for inclusion in the cable networks and in the digital offering from Swisscom and Cablecom. There are also plans for distribution via DAB (digital broadcasting of radio programs over the air; successor to FM), which, however, requires additional financial resources.
 

Kern has been responsible for communications at the AFG Arbonia-Forster Group since May 2012. Before that, he headed external communications at Raiffeisen Switzerland for six years. Stefan Kern is well acquainted with telecommunications: from 2003 to 2005 he was PR Manager for Forum Mobilkommunikation.
 
The former Head of Communications at Sunrise, Michael Burkhardt, will resume his work with a reduced workload as of July 1, 2014, after taking time out for health reasons. He is responsible for Public Affairs at the company.

It all started with two incredibly attractive deals. An Israeli billionaire was able to acquire the mining rights to the world's largest untapped iron ore deposit from Guinea's last dictator shortly before he was voted out of office in 2008. The cost: 800 million dollars. A year and a half later, Beny Steinmetz, the name of the electoral genefer who had become rich in the diamond business, sold this license on to the Brazilian mining group Vale - for 2.5 billion dollars. The profit margin of over 300% was adventurous even by African standards and raised critical voices. At the end of 2012, the Financial Times reported on accusations of corruption made by the new, democratically elected president of Guinea against his predecessor and Steinmetz. Shortly afterwards, the non-governmental organization Global Witness, which specializes in raw materials research, provided the first and, as has since been shown, watertight evidence of the presidential suspicions.

Last December, the publicity-shy tycoon, who is now under investigation in five countries, sued his renowned London colleagues. However, due to a lack of evidence to the contrary, he did not - as is usual in such cases with reference to the dreaded British "Libel Law" - sue for defamation or damage to his reputation. Instead, together with three directors of his Beny Steinmetz Group Resources, he is accusing Global Witness of "intentional violation of data protection and personal rights". The plaintiffs are invoking the Data Protection Act, which does not apply if the publication of personal or business data serves a "journalistic purpose". Media professionals therefore enjoy immunity from this article of the law. But does this also apply to an investigative and professionally publishing organization that was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003?

This fundamental question will have to be answered by an inexperienced media law judge in the coming weeks. In doing so, he will set a signal for or against freedom of the press that is likely to radiate from the island to continental Europe. Because if Steinmetz gets away with his hypocritical argumentation, it would have a gagging effect on civil society as a whole. It would then probably only be a matter of time before NGOs could no longer invoke other special journalistic rights that are fundamental to their work, such as the protection of sources. At the same time, many media scholars today also assume that in future even more extensive research will be carried out by activists. "Human Rights Watch, Greenpeace and Global Witness have the same level of expertise, but much greater resources," says Sheila Coronel, Director of the Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism at Columbia University in New York.

Enlightening, advocacy journalism therefore needs them more and more, the complementary forces from the NGO world. The sender is no longer the only decisive factor in defining this central function of power control. Or does an editorial service article about the coolest sunglasses of the season do a democratic society a greater service than a corruption story that has been researched and documented for months, for example about African commodity deals with Swiss involvement? The killer criterion for a journalistic product should therefore not be the payroll on which its author is listed. Politically relevant journalism in the 21st century therefore needs a definition based on content and craftsmanship and not on actors. And a British judge who trusts his civic instinct more than traditional, formal legal distinctions.

Oliver Classen is media spokesman for the Berne Declaration, a development policy organization. He previously worked as a media journalist.

The new location for the studio will be the Meret Oppenheim high-rise building by architects Herzog & de Meuron, which is to be built next to the south exit of the station in the Gundeldinger quarter from 2016. According to an SRF spokesperson, a 20-year lease has been negotiated. The detailed concept for the new Studio Basel will now be developed by 2015.

SRF plans to bring the entire culture department together at the new location in Basel. Due to these convergence plans, an estimated 100 employees from the Zurich cultural departments of radio and television will work in Basel in future. 173 people from several editorial offices and the administration currently work in the Basel studio.

SRF Director Rudolf Matter is quoted in the communiqué as saying that the building offers contemporary conditions for program production and is centrally located for employees and visitors. The current SRF studio, built in 1940 and later extended, is located on the Bruderholz hill in the middle of a peripheral residential area.

In railroad instead of post office building

For years, several properties had been examined for possible new SRF studio locations. Most recently, in summer 2013, plans to move to the post office building to the east of the SBB railroad station came to nothing despite a preliminary agreement for a ten-year lease. The planned 81-metre Meret Oppenheim high-rise was announced in 2011 under the project name "Stapelvolumen". The 150 million building consists of a six-storey base and a 20-storey tower made up of large, slightly offset elements. 45 percent of the building's 28,500 square meters of floor space will be apartments, 22 percent retail space. According to the spokesperson, SRF wants to occupy a total of around 9,200 square meters on four floors in the Meret Oppenheim high-rise. (SDA)
 

 

On February 1, 1965, advertising flickered across an SRG channel for the first time in Switzerland. Since then, TV advertising has become one of the most successful advertising media. "But television advertising is broadcast, just as it started 50 years ago," says Tobias Asch from Filmwords. Together with his business partner Martin Glauser, Asch has already launched companies and brands such as Cinergy, Cineman and Teleboy. The two pioneers then launched Filmwords in 2012. "The aim of this company is to make television interactive," explains Managing Director Glauser. Such interaction options have so far been used on the TV platform Teleboy and on the specially developed second-screen app Zwap.TV. Filmwords records several thousand social TV activities on these platforms every day. Viewers can connect with each other - directly on the main device or via a second screen - and access further information about the program. "Right from the start, we planned to develop these interactions further in the area of advertising," reveals Tobias Asch. A major project has now come to fruition: Filmwords and Publisuisse, the marketer of SRG SSR, have jointly launched the "Blue Button". The blue button will be activated as part of the "Adtracks" pilot project on the TV platforms Teleboy, Zattoo and Wilmaa.

Reto Hufenus (l.) is Head of Business Development at Publisuisse. Tobias Asch is a partner and CFO of Filmwords.

The extension of the campaign

The Blue Button - other providers such as Swisscom TV offer similar services with the Red Button - is displayed at the beginning of the classic commercial break and signals to the viewer that they can interact with the individual commercials. If the blue button is pressed, an additional window opens on the screen. This provides background information about the TV commercials currently being shown. The keyboard on the PC or tablet can be used, for example, to arrange test drives for a car advertisement or order samples for a cosmetics advertisement. Technically, it is also possible to link online stores directly to TV advertising via the digital platforms.

"As Publisuisse markets the advertising block, we asked ourselves very early on what second-screen technologies mean for traditional advertising. It quickly became clear to us that this system offers the methodology with which we can also accompany a linear program with additional information and interaction in the area of advertising," explains Reto Hufenus, Head of Business Development at Publisuisse. The SRG marketer has therefore started talks with the private pioneers of Filmwords. "We want to be able to offer our advertising interactively before the 50th anniversary of the Swiss commercial in 2015," says Hufenus, who is well prepared for the future. The new services will be marketed via the same channels as traditional TV commercials. "Our sales staff can also offer traditional advertising customers the interactive add-ons." Filmwords is Publisuisse's technology partner for this.

Who owns the media consumer?

Hufenus emphasizes that this innovation does not mean that the classic spot is dead. "It doesn't always have to be either or. But in view of the fact that more and more budgets are moving to online advertising, we are looking for ways in which we can interactively supplement the classic advertising blocks in cooperation with digital platforms," he says, explaining the strategy for how TV advertising can remain attractive in the cross-media age.

More and more viewers are also consuming their TV programs via the Internet. With platforms such as Teleboy, Zattoo and Wilmaa, the business models have turned around. Retransmission is free of charge for the consumer. Refinancing takes place via commercialization on the platform. The digital platforms have become the "gatekeepers" to the consumer. Zattoo and co. can only insert advertising based on SRG programs. "We have to defend ourselves against this," those responsible are aware. "But the solution is not to prevent everything. Working together is the issue, it's cooperation. And as Publisuisse, we must try to continue to participate in the commercialization of our content as a marketer of traditional media in collaboration with competing platform providers. We have to develop new products in order to continue to get our share of the value chain."

The goal is an industry solution

The model that Publisuisse has developed with Filmwords is to be offered on a broad scale. The aim is that a customer does not have to negotiate with each platform individually and design an implementation after booking their classic campaign. "Advertisers should be offered a comprehensive solution as soon as they book their spots. Anyone who wants to design an entire campaign interactively should find the solution for all platforms with the Blue Button, including a uniform price," promises Hufenus. Publisuisse is convinced that only an industry solution can work. "We are now doing the pilot. We are using it to test the synchronization of features and interactive options. We are driving development forward, but always with the aim of achieving a simple solution for everyone. Because we want to strengthen the TV genre."

Andreas Panzeri