Markus Berger, previously Head of Communications and Media Spokesperson at the major Swiss tourism project, Andermatt Swiss Alps AG in Altdorf, will succeed Daniela Bär as Head of Corporate Communications at ST on November 1, 2016. Bär had left the organization at the end of July. As Head of Corporate Communications, Berger will lead a team of five for ST, as well as assuming the role of media spokesperson. At ST, the Corporate Communications department is part of the management staff.
Skilled communicator with leadership experience.

Markus Berger from Graubünden has a broad and well-founded expertise in public relations (PR) and media relations. His excellent track record also includes an Executive MBA from the University of Zurich with a focus on reputation management, many years of management experience and, in particular, in-depth knowledge of destination and tourism communications. Prior to his work in tourism, the 51-year-old was Director and Head of Studies at the Swiss Public Relations Institute (SPRI) as well as PR Senior Consultant and Managing Director at BPR Communications in St. Gallen.

In 2016, the Tellspiele Altdorf present themselves as a visually stunning theater spectacle. Herger Imholz has worked out a special idea for this. At the Tell plays, the hero is not only William Tell, but the community. Therefore, the 80 players were integrated into the corporate identity with an elaborate portrait shooting. These striking subjects now adorn the billboards of Switzerland. Accompanying booklets, flyers, postcards and advertisements were designed.

The young German director Philipp Becker and his international team take the legendary narrative into account and rediscover Tell in an imaginative way. Players of all ages, supported for the first time in the history of the Tell plays by their own festival orchestra, use visually stunning scenes to jointly pose the questions of freedom, homeland and what makes a person a hero, relevant then as now.

Responsible at Tellspiel- und Theatergesellschaft Altdorf: Barbara Bär-Hellmüller (President), Thomas Brunner (Vice President, Marketing), Philipp Becker (Director, Overall Management), Gerhild Steinbuch (Text). Responsible at Herger Imholz: Yves Herger (Creative Direction), Jasmin Zurfluh (Graphics), Andreas Schuler (Polygraphy).
 

Gamescom, which has been taking place in Cologne since Thursday, is the world's largest trade fair for interactive consumer electronics. The exhibitors' need to stand out from the crowd is correspondingly great. Ubisoft has managed a PR stunt: The game developer claimed to have developed a virtual reality device for the nose for the release of the game "South Park - The Spectacular Trial of Tears." "Nosulus Rift" was said to be capable of realistically recreating the farts that are obviously very central in the game, thus giving the player the ultimate gaming experience. The web was quick to agree: a funny advertising idea, nothing behind it.
 

A mere publicity stunt? Not at all. The "glasses" developed by Buzzman actually exist at the Ubisoft booth. And lets visitors smell the subtle scent of rotten eggs. This is shown, for example, by the report of the enthusiastic Daily Star Journalistswho has tried out Nosulus Rift. One of the many media representatives and game experts who have now tested the PR stunt and found it to be more than genuine enough. However, Ubisoft does not want to go into series production with the device. After all, no one will probably want to try it out more than once. Even if it had a flower meadow in it. (hae)
 

The honorary committee, chaired by Peter Stücheli-Herlach, Head of the Research Center for Organizational Communication & Public Relations at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), honored the following donors for their outstanding corporate communications projects:
 

Input	Project
AXA Winterthur	"AXA Newsroom"
Credit Suisse	"EURO 2016 campaign"
Hotz Brand Consultants for Swiss Post	"Mission Statement Post Offices & Sales"
Jung von Matt/Limmat for Swiss Post	"The Yellow Tour"
City of Winterthur, Department of Social Affairs	"A Winterthur Christmas Story"
Swiss International Air Lines	"Fleeting of the Boeing 777 / C Series."

Who of these nominees will additionally win the main prizes and thus the award trophies will be announced and justified during the twelfth award ceremony on Thursday, September 8, 2016 from 17.30h at the Zurich Club Escherwyss.

 

Hanspeter Lebrument, publisher of Somedia, is retiring as President of the Swiss Media Association. He celebrated his 75th birthday in June this year. "I took over the presidency of the publishers' association from Hans Heinrich Coninx 13 years ago, and I am delighted to be able to hand it over to a successor now. The most important thing for me was that I was able to convince Pietro Supino to take over this office. I consider it a stroke of luck for the importance of the publishers' associations that Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner in Germany and Tamedia publisher Pietro Supino in Switzerland could be won as presidents of the publishers' associations," says Hanspeter Lebrument about his retirement.

The Executive Committee of the Swiss Media Association unanimously proposes to the members the current Vice President Pietro Supino, publisher of Tamedia, to succeed Hanspeter Lebrument as President. Peter Wanner, publisher of AZ Medien, is to become the new Vice President.

Hanspeter Lebrument thus ends his long, extremely active and formative involvement in the Swiss Media Association. Lebrument's presidency included the creation of a legal basis for indirect press promotion and the ban on online advertising for SRG.

Pietro Supino has been a member of the Presidium since 2008 and Vice President of the Swiss Media Association since 2010. "A diverse media offering is central to a direct democracy like Switzerland," says Dr. Pietro Supino. "Good framework conditions for private media, be they trade magazines, national dailies or news apps, are therefore in all our interests. As I already did as Vice President, I will continue to work for this and for media freedom."

The Presidium is also to be supplemented with two representatives of the medium-sized and smaller media houses. Beat Lauber, who serves on the boards of Meier + Cie. in Schaffhausen, the Mengis Group in Visp and the Zürichsee Medien Group, and Andrea Masüger, CEO of Somedia, are proposed for election.

The elections will take place during the General Assembly on September 22 in Lucerne.

 

Since 1849, the Swiss family business ISA Sallmann has stood for the combination of tradition and innovation. In addition to the Basic and Swissline collections, ISA Bodywear regularly sets accents with fashionable collections.

Just in time for the Federal Wrestling Festival in Estavayer, ISA has now launched the Schwinger collection. This includes underwear and pajamas for men and women, cute children's and baby underwear, and bedding in three looks: the classic light blue Schwinger shirt look, with a Schwinger pattern, and as Alpine chic with a silhouette motif.

The Rotkreuz-based agency A4 developed a suitable visual world for the marketing communication, including a photo briefing with bad boys and naturally cheerful women and kids. In addition, the conception and realization of various measures in the areas of B2B and B2C: collection brochure for the trade, B2B and B2C advertising campaign, competition salon, decorative flag, poster. The A4 agency also designed the packaging. The Schwinger collection is available at the Schwingfest directly at the ISA stand BR31 and in the trade.

Responsible at A4 Agency: Adrian Mulle; Graphics: Simone Amrein (concept and consulting).
 

Wooden buildings are in vogue and, thanks to new construction heights, are also gaining visibility in architecturally outstanding lighthouse projects. Wood has overcome its homely image and is now also shaping urban architecture. Timbatec's timber engineers play a leading role in this process and also offer services in the fields of building physics and the development of innovative products. Basel West supports Timbatec in communication and has launched a newsletter documenting the new perspectives in timber construction. The first issue explains why timber buildings in urban areas represent a major upgrade and shows current references from Timbatec. The newsletter is published in German and English.

Responsible at Timbatec Holzbauingenieure Schweiz, Thun: Stefan Zöllig. Responsible at Basel West Corporate Communications: Thomas Aerni (consulting, concept); Stephan Lichtenhahn (text); Frédéric Giger (design); Sinia Brugger (lithography).

 

The electric motors from Swiss manufacturer Maxon Motor are in use all over the world. But not only that: They also orbit the earth and even explore the red planet with the Mars Rover. The latest achievement is an electric motor that turns a conventional bicycle into an electric bike in no time at all. The name: Bikedrive.

To get Bikedrive talked about, KSP created a viral spot. The special thing about it is that it takes place on Mars, where the rover suddenly discovers an electric bike with the Bikedrive motor in the middle of the red landscape during its exploration tour. The NASA operator is audibly amazed and shocked at the same time.

The first version of the spot went online on YouTube as a teaser without a sender. The viral ends abruptly without a sender after the sighting of the bike and the discovery of an alien footprint. Recently, the resolution is online and Bikedrive is presented at the end.

Responsible at Maxon Motor: Michel Riedmann (Head of Marketing/Communications). Responsible at KSP: Uwe Schlupp (overall responsibility); Benny Goldstein (creative direction); Daniel Zehnder (text); Angela van der Sman (consulting management); Mikael Haak (consulting); Federico Dreves, Hauke Hein, Alexander Beim (D.I.E. commercials).

The relaxation will apply from the beginning of 2017, as can be seen from the newsletter of the Swiss Agency for Therapeutic Products Swissmedic. This means that only painkillers, sleeping pills, tranquillizers, laxatives and appetite suppressants will have to be submitted to inspectors before being advertised on the radio, television or in cinemas. There is a risk of addiction with these medicines: medicines for which a potential for abuse or dependence is listed in the medicinal product information must still be submitted to Swissmedic for a preliminary check, according to a statement to the SDA news agency.

Preliminary examination with disciplinary effect

As a result, pharmaceutical manufacturers no longer have to show Swissmedic advertising spots for medicines that are sold over the counter in pharmacies after a brief consultation. These are products such as cough syrups, sore throat lozenges, nose and ear drops, remedies for nausea and vomiting or gels for sports injuries or bee stings. For Sara Stalder, Director of the Foundation for Consumer Protection (SKS), it is questionable that Swissmedic has softened its own practice. "There is a risk that false promises will increasingly be made in drug advertising," said Stalder on request. The preliminary review by Swissmedic has a "disciplinary effect". Although Swissmedic can intervene in the event of misuse, "by the time the dispute has been settled in the background and the advertising officially stopped, the pharmaceutical company has long since replaced it with a new one and the old one has already had its effect", said Stalder. If the boundary to unfair competition has even been crossed, consumers can also take action against false promises with the Fair Trading Commission. "But by the time the Commission deals with the case, the advertising has already spread its false message." The Fairness Commission is a self-regulatory body for the communications industry. It can only make recommendations, but cannot impose penalties.

More personal responsibility

Swissmedic currently reviews around 50 advertisements for radio, television and cinema each year. The change in practice is a step towards greater personal responsibility for manufacturers. This also applies to the question of whether a medicine has to be submitted for review at all. "It is the responsibility of the originator of the advertising to check whether or not there is an obligation for a preliminary review," writes Swissmedic. Medicines that are only available on prescription may not be advertised in Switzerland. However, all others are. For advertising on the internet, in newspapers, magazines, on posters and electronic billboards, the relaxed practice has been in place since the beginning of 2014.

Internet went first

The reason for the change in practice was a ruling by the Federal Administrative Court in 2013, which forced Swissmedic to relax its policy. Now the Agency for Therapeutic Products itself has gone over the books, because it found that many patients obtain information about medicines primarily on the internet, unless they go to the doctor or pharmacy. A preliminary check in the electronic media (radio, television and cinema) "no longer corresponds to today's social media use", Swissmedic explains the relaxation in its newsletter. SKS Managing Director Stalder "understands" this reasoning, but would prefer the opposite conclusion to be drawn instead of a relaxation - especially in the case of medicines with their risks and side effects. "Drug advertising on the Internet must be regulated to protect consumers," Stalder demands. This is easily possible with online advertising that is placed in Switzerland. (SDA)

The evaluation of a suitable successor for Corporate Communications is underway, according to a statement.

For six years, Aglaë Strachwitz was Communications & Public Affairs Manager at McDonald's Switzerland, where she was responsible for public relations in Switzerland and for the strategic management of the Ronald McDonald Children's Foundation. As Food & Experience Marketing Manager, she is now responsible for product development, offer design, advertising and social media under the leadership of Thomas Truttmann, VP Marketing, Communications, Public Affairs & Supply Chain. Aglaë Strachwitz is also responsible for local restaurant marketing. Her well-coordinated team includes five employees.

The 35-year-old Austrian studied management and languages at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and gained professional experience in marketing and sponsoring while still a student. After graduating, she was the personal assistant of an Austrian parliamentarian and designed and managed two election campaigns for him. Subsequently, she was responsible for marketing, communications and fundraising for the Ronald McDonald Children's Foundation in Austria.

Among other things, Zuber was a member of the management of Norske Skog before working independently as a consultant and then joining Stutz Druck as deputy managing director. The board of directors of Mengis Druck is pleased to have found an experienced industry expert in Kurt Zuber, in order to successfully master the future challenges.