In this way, the beauty of fellow human beings is cultivated in the same way as I am, the agency said in a statement. More than 555 poster sites were made available for this campaign, where people could pay a personal compliment to the person of their choice. The response was huge: there are now suggestions for 9,752 unique posters to admire on I-am.ch. There were over 220,000 visits, more than 1 million page views and 14,000 registrations for the newsletter. And over 53,000 votes were collected via Facebook, Twitter and e-mail - because whoever was able to motivate the most friends and acquaintances secured "their" poster site.

The compliments from the participants were as varied as the people who took part. There were compliments to best friends, colleagues, moms, dads and children, as well as those from newlyweds, married couples and loyal friends. Since this Monday, more than 555 unique posters with compliments have been hanging throughout Switzerland, translating the campaign idea "Make someone more beautiful with a compliment" into the words of the end consumer.

Here are some compliments that have been implemented on posters:
- With every day that passes, you become even more beautiful.
- Your laugh - stunning! Your eyes - radiant! You - irreplaceable.
- Believe in yourself. You are beautiful.
- Compliments to the most beautiful girl in the whole world.
- You bunny soooo beautiful Hamschterbäggli!
- You look so cute when you bring my coffee to bed every morning!

Over the next few months, I-am.ch will be hosting further activities relating to beauty care. For example, tutorials on the style channel, competitions and opportunities to test new I am products.

TV spot Stefan:

Advico Y&R was responsible for the conception and realization for the Migros Cooperative Federation, Burson Marsteller for PR and OMD for media.

With the start of the "Early Bird" phase, designers, agencies, freelancers and companies are invited to submit their projects and face the judgment of the international Red Dot jury. From corporate design to print advertising and online - the most innovative campaigns and graphic works from the world of communication design are being sought.

"Inspire the world" - this is the motto under which the global creative scene is invited to submit their work for the Red Dot Award.

The Red Dot: Junior Award is also intended to promote young creative talent once again: students and young professionals have the opportunity to win the Red Dot: Junior Prize, which is endowed with 10,000 euros, and thus lay the foundation for a successful career. For the first time in 2014, trainees from the design industry are also invited to enter their work in the competition.

Red Dot in Berlin

This year, Red Dot is once again celebrating in the German creative metropolis of Berlin: on October 24, 2014, the competition winners will be honored at the Red Dot Gala in the magnificent Konzerthaus Berlin. Afterwards, the who's who of the scene will celebrate late into the night at the Designers' Night, which is also the vernissage of the winning exhibition "Design on Stage", at the Berlin in-location "ewerk".

Until April 30, participants can benefit from the early bird registration conditions. Regular registration will then start from May 1 to June 2. The Latecomers phase is the last opportunity to register for the competition; it ends on June 27, 2014.
 

In a licensing procedure, DETEC examined whether the licensing requirements are also met after the transfer and whether the station is able to provide the performance mandate of a youth radio station under new ownership. Both are given, DETEC announced on Friday.

With the broadcast, Roger Schawinski becomes the owner of two radio stations. According to the Radio and Television Act, a broadcaster may own a maximum of two licensed radios. Nothing stands in the way of the transmission, writes DETEC. Radio 105 can therefore continue to be received via FM frequencies. It will be broadcast from the studio of Radio 1.

The reason for the transfer was the bankruptcy of Music First Network AG in January. In the last round of bidding, the Zurich bankruptcy office had awarded Radio 105 to Roger Schawinski. He had to beat out the youth station Joiz and the youth portal Toasted.ch, both of which had previously outbid him.

According to DETEC, the effects of the approval on the two appeal proceedings still pending before the Federal Administrative Court regarding FM licenses in Aargau and southeastern Switzerland are currently still open. (SDA)
 

The Swiss bank's e-banking service impressed the more than 100 jury members in several categories, winning two gold buoys in the Technology and Mobile Web categories and securing one silver and four bronze medals in other categories - and was consequently also voted "Master of Swiss Web 2014" thanks to its high popularity with the Saalp audience.

It was not difficult for the jury to choose "UBS e-banking". The members explained: "UBS's comprehensive e-banking tool shows a determination and spirit of optimism that many competitors lack." The jury praised the numerous services and possibilities of the investment, integrated into a well-structured web offering. "Numerous usability features and their consistent use contribute to a consistent surfing experience," said the jury in its statement.

Golden buoys in the Zurich night sky

Of the 396 projects submitted, ten received a gold award, 28 a silver award and 44 a bronze award. Swisscom won gold in the Digital Branding Campaigns category with "All eyes on the S4". "An extremely witty idea and successful implementation" was the jury's praise for the promotional event.

The "Mobiliar Performance Campaign 2013" also won gold in the Digital Performance Campaigns category. The jury was completely convinced: "With this campaign, Mobiliar succeeded in generating an above-average number of leads in the urban regions of Zurich and Geneva. A strong concept with a very successful implementation."

In the Public Affairs category, the winner was "Public Eye Awards", whose campaign website particularly impressed the jury with its "beautiful design and best usability". However, "Interhome" had the best usability of the evening and was awarded gold in the Usability category for the relaunch of its booking portal. "The intuitive navigation and the carefully implemented interaction model make the booking portal a first-class user experience," said the jury in its statement.

With "Minimania", Migros achieved one of the company's most successful promotions and, according to the jury, "contributed to achieving tangible record results, particularly in the web and social media area." The jury awarded the project gold in the online marketing category.

In the newly defined Business category, the real estate marketing company "Casasoft.net" came out on top and won gold. The jury praised the business model for having "internalized the web DNA."

The most innovative project of the year, and therefore the winner in the Innovation category, is the "Digital Newspaper Holder" from the Neue Zürcher Zeitung. The jury found the idea "great, inspiring, terrific." In this year's special category Move - Moving Image on the Web, "Pro Informis Mannequins" took gold. The jury was delighted: "Impressive and with wonderful music, this film has generated over ten million clicks. A masterpiece."

The jury did not award any projects gold in the Creation category this year. "A lot of very good work, but no absolutely outstanding wow project" was the jury's verdict.

You can find the complete list of all gold, silver and bronze winners here on this website. 

Honorary award goes to Bea Knecht 

The 2014 Honorary Award went to Bea Knecht, co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Zattoo, the Zurich-based live web TV provider. Bea Knecht's special achievements include co-founding one of the first live TV providers (players) in the world. Together with partners, she combined three innovative industry challenges into a single business model: Third-party exploitation of TV signals, innovative streaming technology and a software-based multi-platform.

Thanks to Bea Knecht's great personal commitment, a financially independent and successful European company based in Switzerland has been established. With broadcasting rights for more than 150 channels and around 3.5 million registered users, Zattoo represents Switzerland as an innovative country with leading mobile and stationary broadband coverage.

The laudatory speech for the honorary award winners was given by another media pioneer: Roger Schawinski paid tribute to the work of Bea Knecht in an original speech.

Price, premiums and discounts are a common norm in the automotive market when making a purchase decision. VW, on the other hand, wants to convince its customers with arguments. "We want to be perceived as a leader in the field of quality," explains Head of Marketing Bruno Ueltschi. Together with VW Commercial Vehicles Switzerland, the communications agency ViznerBorel has worked out the brand's future strategic orientation and communications platform with this in mind. In workshops, a sustainable differentiation of the positioning has been found, with which the defined core values are now to be transported.
 

With the claim "The best investment", VW Commercial Vehicles will in future present itself strategically both internally and externally. A positioning that, on the one hand, pays off on the reliability and economy of the vehicles and thus on the business factors. On the other hand, it is also the best investment in the employees, in a reliable partnership, in ecological commitment and thus overall as the best investment in the future.

ViznerBorel, the long-standing agency of VW Commercial Vehicles Switzerland, has created a new campaign for this. It is based on the legendary campaign for the VW Beetle by DDB, where Bill Bernbach made advertising history in 1968 with the claim "It runs and runs and runs". At Vizner- Borel, this is now cleverly adapted to commercial vehicles: "It works and works and works." And because this can easily last for decades with the quality of a VW commercial vehicle, the creatives have "parked" the vehicles in their subjects in a correspondingly distant future.

The results were extremely elaborate implementations that were realized with the help of specialists: In close collaboration and under the direction of ViznerBorel, concept artists "built" individual buildings, entire sceneries, flying drones, impressive landscapes and new worlds. In the process, they succeeded: The scenes are set in the future, but still allow us to recognize our familiar Switzerland with a bit of a wink, which comes into its own especially in the TV spot with the view of Lake Zurich from Horgen in the direction of Pfäffikon.

For the shooting of the four subjects as well as the filming, a female android as well as the tools and machines were built in 3-D respectively in original size and all outfits were specially designed and sewn for the models. The photographed material was integrated by the Carioca company in Bucharest with the worlds created in 3-D programs. The film scene with a dialogue between the driver and the android was first shot in the studio by Manifesto Films Zurich, then combined with the future world created in the computer. The film was directed by Reto Salimbeni.

The four print subjects visualize four series in typical areas of application for the number 1 among light commercial vehicles: assembly and service, gardening, logistics and construction. The ideas were subjected to a pre-test among the target group. The customers "obviously wanted to trust VW as far as the idea of a future is concerned," says Guillaume Borel. But the CD is also convinced that such a campaign "can only be presented credibly by the number 1.
 
Andreas Panzeri

At the same time, the military can use them to "specifically" eliminate suspected terrorists or spy on demonstrators without having to leave their own country. But what significance will drones have in the future? Are they "the next big thing" or the final nail in the coffin of international legitimacy and privacy? At SXSW in Austin, Texas, the topic was eagerly discussed, as this technology seems to be well on the way to becoming mainstream.

Basically, two main lines of discussion can be identified in the debate: the use of drones by the state and their use by private individuals or companies. It is striking that there is still no regulation in either case and that Europe is one step ahead of the USA in this area. For example, the EU has allocated 50 million dollars for the development of UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) for emergency response, while in the USA no department of FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) owns a drone. However, there is also an ethical dimension to the use of drones by governments: nations are developing weapons that are becoming increasingly autonomous. Critical voices have therefore said that it is a matter of time before the weapon itself can decide who it wants to take out. The omnipresent issue of privacy is also at the heart of the discussions here. The much-heard argument "why should I worry if I'm not doing anything wrong?" is too short-sighted in this context. As we know, governments change and new laws are passed. Nowhere is there a guarantee that they will always be in our favor.

The live demo of a teaser drone dominated the discussion on private use. "The Chaotic Unmanned Personal Intercept Drone" (Cupid) is a prototype equipped with a stun gun with a power of 80,000 volts. By comparison, the teasers used as police weapons generally have 50,000 volts. The drone on display can be aimed at a person, at whom the robot then takes aim.

William Hurley, designer of the Cupid, sees the main application of his product in home surveillance, as the Cupid can stop burglars. This saves the owner from having to pursue the intruder with a weapon. "Does anyone have any idea how many parcels Amazon delivers every day? Will we still be able to see the sky for all the drones?" Noel Sharkey asked his audience at the panel discussion "Drones: Policy, Privacy & Public Safety" in Austin. As crazy as these questions sound, we will probably have to wait until 2019 before drones can be used in transportation. However, widespread use in agriculture or construction can be expected as early as 2016.  

Manuel P. Nappo, Director of Studies CAS Social Media, Management HWZ University of Applied Sciences in Business Administration Zurich. www.fh-hwz.ch/smm
 
 

Heimgartner was elected by the SRG SSR Board of Directors at the request of the SRG.R Regional Board. She will take up the post of Director on August 1. She is currently Head of Markets and Quality at the SRG Directorate General in Bern. As Director, Heimgartner will also be a member of the SRG Executive Board, as SRG wrote on Presseportal.ch on Thursday. Several qualified candidates of both genders responded to the job advertisement.

The election was unanimous. Oscar Knapp, President of the SRG.R Regional Board, said this on Thursday at the media orientation in Chur, according to SDA. For reasons of personal protection, it was not possible to go into more detail about the other candidates. However, he emphasized that "the best" had been chosen.

The choice is obviously not entirely unproblematic in terms of language policy. This is due to a lack of regional balance. After all, the president of the regional broadcaster SRG.R, the editor-in-chief of RTR and now also the director belong to the Ladin and Engadin groups respectively. According to SDA, Oscar Knapp said that quality could not be sacrificed for the position of RTR director just to solve a regional problem.

Ladina Heimgartner succeeds Mariano Tschuor, who is stepping down from the Board of Directors after five years. He will move to the SRG Directorate General in Bern in October. There he will take over as Head of the Markets and Quality department.

(Image: Rtr.ch)

Wapico was commissioned with the conception and realization of the project. The first result is a simple logo and thus also a corporate design that meets and reflects the high standards of the house, the agency said in a press release. The agency is also launching a 48-page magazine with space for everything new and interesting from Vidy and, of course, a detailed presentation of the program. Finally, F4 posters and numerous advertisements in and around Lausanne will draw attention to the fact that all kinds of things are going on at the Vidy, such as a new ticketing system.

Responsible at "Vidy Théâtre Lausanne": Vincent Baudriller (Director), Michèle Pralong (Magazine Editor), Sarah Turin (Advertising Manager). Responsible at Wapico: René Walker (creative direction/consulting), Nathalie Cotting, Jan Beyer, Carlo Piller (graphics). Photos: Charlotte Walker.

Buildings are integral parts of our daily lives. They are the expression of a culture. And the vision of a future that focuses on people and their living space." This is what the brochure says under the guiding principle "Shaping a head start together." The high-quality magazine was designed and produced by MetaDesign in Zurich as part of the rebranding of Steiner.

Steiner Group can celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2015. During this time, the former carpentry company has grown into one of Switzerland's leading real estate service providers. Recent prestigious projects include Sihlcity - a dense ensemble of old and new architecture, where a total of four factory buildings have been carefully renovated and combined with new constructions. Another milestone is the collaboration on the Prime Tower in Zurich. The glass tower designed by architects Gigon/Guyer, which has since been decorated with various environmental labels for Minergie and sustainable construction, is considered the tallest building in Switzerland at 126 meters.

In 2010, Steiner Group was acquired by the HCC Group. The takeover by an Indian construction group triggered uncertainties in the market and within the company - Steiner's strategy and organization were revised. To achieve a clear positioning in the market and promote a strong uniform corporate culture, Barbara Fry, Head of Corporate Communications at Steiner- Group since January 2012, launched a comprehensive corporate identity and rebranding project.

Involving process with workshops

It was no everyday task for the creatives at MetaDesign to design a CI for such a general contractor that was as outstanding as it was fitting. The agency in Zurich's Seefeld won the task in a pitch in 2012. One goal in the brief: Steiner should once again be perceived as a quality leader in the development and realization of complex building constructions. Implenia, created in 2006 from the merger of Basel-based Batigroup Holding with Geneva-based Zschokke Holding, is considered the big competitor. Other players in the market are Allreal, Losinger Marazzi and Halter. To reposition the company, MetaDesign first conducted a series of workshops and interviews as part of a participatory process: Discussions were held with executives and experts. In a workshop with a mix of functions and regions, employees searched for common values and visions for Steiner. Customers were also asked in interviews about their perception of Steiner.

An icon of Swiss graphic design

One finding from this research: Collaboration with customers and partners influences the perception of Steiner's quality at least as much as the end product itself - the buildings visible throughout Switzerland. This gave rise to the idea of focusing on these process moments and the associated constructive long-term partnership for the new branding. The slogan for this: "Shaping a head start together." The designers at MetaDesign wanted to make few changes to the distinctive logo, which dates back to the 1940s. The goal was to preserve the character and strength of the lettering while optimizing it to meet the demands of today's media. "We didn't want to simply throw such an icon of Swiss graphics overboard," says consultant Christoph Knecht.

Unusual shades for the industry

An eye-catching renewal are the emotional colors. Hues that were previously unusual in the real estate industry, such as violet, pink, red and blue, are used in the new Steiner world. The colors create the most impact at the company's most important touchpoint, the countless construction walls with which Steiner's "Work in Progress " can be seen on every corner of Switzerland. In addition to the colorful walls produced using digital printing, new flags are also being used around the construction sites. An important means of communicating the new image is the redesign of the print media and the associated creation of a high-quality image brochure. This also includes selected reference projects. These were photographed by Ralph Bensberg. What is striking about these images is that they have been squared with courage, even for fresh perspectives. In an important first step, the new website was launched "internally" in March 2013 with an event for employees. By the time of the external launch in September 2013, workshops had been held for employees in which the new brand identity and the newly defined values were discussed and anchored. Because only what is lived internally can be communicated credibly to the outside world.

Andreas Panzeri

The offers of foreign providers are diversified: Some use Photoshop files to create ready-made HTML/CSS templates so that all you need to do is integrate the dynamic elements. Others specialize in complete web projects and provide entire teams of developers.

The advantages of outsourcing to a company abroad are obvious: production is cheaper and resources are more freely scalable. Nevertheless, the disadvantages must be taken into account: The task is often not understood and interpreted in the same way due to differences in language skills and quality perceptions. As most outsourcing projects are carried out in English, unequal language skills often lead to misunderstandings when interpreting the task. Queries are not easy, e.g. due to the time difference, direct contact with the developers is rarely possible and often impossible after the project has been completed. As a result, a project often ends in a fiasco for inexperienced companies. If you don't have experience in defining requirements, change management and evaluating the results, it's better to keep your hands off it.

Awarding a project to a partner abroad requires strong project management: the "employees" abroad must be closely managed. For smaller projects, regular coordination by phone or email is sufficient, but for larger projects, the project manager's workload increases exponentially. Personal meetings on site are often necessary. A manageable project such as a landing page can be produced abroad without any great risk. With increasing complexity, however, the risk increases that the project may stray from the actual goal due to the factors mentioned above or that requirements - which we take for granted - are implemented differently than expected and the project ends in frustration. Before awarding a project abroad, the following points, among others, should be checked in order to avoid major problems:

- How important is communication in German?
- Is direct cooperation with the programmers necessary, or is contact with the contractor's project manager sufficient?
- Can the project be specified in sufficient detail in the developer's language?
- Are you prepared to subordinate yourself to your partner's development process?
- Will the end product be developed further and by whom?

Working with a service provider abroad will only pay off over time. It is therefore advisable to proceed step by step in order to gain trust and experience. By bringing quality and technology awareness closer together, a solid basis for successful cooperation is formed over time. If you want to commission a project abroad in a hurry, it will ultimately be cheaper if you implement it with a local partner.

Stefan Bruggmann
 

The latter growled and shook his head. They had already issued a hiring freeze weeks ago. Two sleepless nights later, I was allowed to stay anyway. Frustrated by my unhappy start at the traditional company, I vowed to put in a performance that would prevent the company from ever letting me go again. Unaware that in doing so, I probably laid the foundation for finding myself today, exactly twenty years later, still sitting in a Condor Films chair, to my own astonishment.

My first project at Condor in 1994 was marked by three seemingly insoluble problems: Too small a budget. Too little time. And an idea that could be affectionately described as "virtuoso". Our previous projects of the current year 2014 had almost without exception ... - three problems. A tight budget. Very ambitious deadlines. And concepts that rarely wanted to fit the asking price and deadlines. But in contrast to my first years and attempts in the business, I now know that these three problems can often be solved with a playpen fence and a safety net. The playpen fence are constructive, competitive alternatives. The safety net consists of comprehensible arguments in communication with the customer, who is often sailing hard on the wind himself.
 
A few years ago, I was flown to Dubai for a meeting. The host was wearing sandals. I was wearing a suit with the awareness sewn into it that I was now a producer in the service of Condor. After brief small talk, my younger counterpart asked me: Which school of risk management do you consider more adequate for the film project under discussion? Harvard? Or rather Stanford?
 
That was the first time I really understood why humility and knowledge, along with talent, are the two most important resources in film production. Because where one's own actions are not based on a solid foundation of knowledge, unexpected developments can hardly or only with difficulty be classified and accepted. In many jobs in the communications industry, the search for meaning is part of the job description. The resulting extraordinarily high level of identification with the job is a wonderful thing. But it can also suddenly become a problem in the face of changes in the market and especially in the combination of overconfidence and ignorance. In the worst case, necessary innovations then suddenly become a threat to one's own personality, which migrates home from the office.
 
For some years now, a profound structural change has been shaping the commissioned film industry. That's not funny. But interesting. New opportunities are opening up. The change starts in the head. Just like films, which also start in the head with an idea. That's why the most valuable asset for the film industry is not the camera, but the mind. That's why we should take the greatest care of it, also with a view to Switzerland as a workplace.
 
Kristian Widmer is managing director of Condor Films, founded in 1947. The traditional Swiss company is one of the leading specialists for audiovisual productions from spots to image films to web videos, TV series, branded entertainment.

The new 24/7 program will feature talks, documentaries, comedy shows, live broadcasts and films. In terms of films and series, JEP Switzerland's web TV supports smaller productions such as short film projects. There will also be major live shows such as the recent "Secret Talent" several times a year.

"With the new program, we want to launch an offer that would sooner or later work via cable and digital TV," says TV Director and JEP Switzerland CEO Christoph Marti.