Jesus, Mother Teresa and Gandhi are dining in heaven at a sumptuously laid table. Also sitting at the table is an unknown no-good who has just returned from his surf and party trip from Australia. Naturally, the three want to know how he made it here. It was easy - he just clicked on the right banner on the Internet.

If lives can be saved on the Internet, Jesus naturally wants to know how it works. To do so, he doesn't shy away from dealing with a medium that is completely unknown to him. But the heroes of the story look pretty old on the screen. As a digital native, you're just a little bit ahead of the previous generations - even if you don't have much else going for you. (sis)

Werbewoche has been awarding the title of "Advertiser of the Year" at the beginning of February every year for over 35 years. It is voted for by the subscribers of Werbewoche. A final round of nominees is put forward by an "Academy" of all previous "Advertisers of the Year". This list of "established names" is supplemented by the editorial team of Werbewoche with new faces.

The media acceptance of the election and the numerous requests for expert commentary on current advertising topics show that the "Advertiser of the Year" presented by us is perceived as an opinion leader for Swiss advertising and as an "ambassador for the industry".

However, the declining sponsorship income became an ever greater problem for us. As a result, the costs for the event could only be covered to a small extent by sponsors.

This raised the question for us of how - and whether - it should continue at all. As we felt that the "Advertiser of the Year" was an important industry event that should continue to take place, we looked around for partners. When the opportunity arose for us to hold the award ceremony on the evening of the now established Swiss Brand Congress, we decided to go for it. The Brand Congress is organized by the European Sponsoring Exchange and htp St. Gallen, a spin-off of the University of St. Gallen specializing in marketing consulting.

In 2014, the award ceremony will therefore take place for the first time as part of the Swiss Brand Congress and the "Night of the Brand" on June 5 at the Dolder Grand in Zurich. This will be an exciting addition to the Swiss Brand Congress. On the same evening, the Campaign of the Year award and the new "Brand Manager of the Year" award - which recognizes special achievements by a marketing manager - will also be presented. I am delighted that the "Advertiser of the Year" award will also be presented in the coming years.

Pierre C. Meier, Editor-in-Chief
 

Matthias Graf, CEO Burson-Marsteller
PR Jury

Nothing works without PR
Eurobest 2013 showed once again: Without PR, a campaign is only half a thing. However, the PR jury rubbed its eyes in amazement: In the PR category, the prizes were mainly won by advertising agencies. Of course, on the one hand Eurobest is a creative festival that is mainly attended by advertisers. In addition, consumer campaigns that focus on effects and visual power - the domain of advertising agencies - are mainly submitted for such awards.

To score points at events like Eurobest, you need a wow effect. That's what the award-winning PR campaigns have, and they show that the merging of the disciplines of PR, advertising, film and media produces outstanding integrated campaigns. But so far, advertising agencies seem to have understood better than PR agencies how to drive this integration.

However, it is not primarily advertising elements that make an integrated campaign a winner, but the PR elements. This is shown by the PR Grand Prix winner "Why don't you come over" by GMP Advertising/Bucharest: A political topic is creatively taken up and turned into a witty counter-campaign, with resounding success. Pure PR, underpinned with thought models from advertising, scattered across the online community, broadly placed on the media agenda by print and TV. Implemented by... an advertising agency. This must wake up the PR agencies! Because they have it in their hands to lead the discipline of integrated campaigns thanks to PR tools. With creativity - and with wow factor!

My personal favorite: "We are David Bailey" for Samsung. 

Sarida Bossoni, Agency Producer Jung von Matt/Limmat
Film Craft Jury

Being part of the jury for Film Craft at Eurobest in Lisbon was a great experience for me. There were really many excellently crafted works.
This made the decision for us jurors sometimes extremely difficult and has led to some interesting and insightful discussions within the jury.

An exciting debate arose, for example, on the subject of casting in the "Premium by Jack and Jones" campaign. In this case, the following question had to be clarified:

Was Christopher Walken already in the agency script and thus set, or was he suggested for the film by the director? In other words, was it a casting performance, yes or no? We finally defined the question for us like this: Does the casting make the film better? We were able to unanimously answer "yes" to that. (Editor's note: The director, Martin Werner, has written in the Interview with Werbewoche told more about the background and the film shooting).

My personal favorite from the category "Film Craft" is the Film "The Lover" for Come4.org, which also received the Grand Prix. 

Nicolas Noth, Executive Managing Director, PHD Switzerland
Media Jury

What I take away from Eurobest is the memory of a wonderful week in Lisbon. As a juror, I was particularly pleased to see that transmedia approaches now seem to be state of the art. People are moving away from traditional advertising and implementing the storytelling approach on all channels. The Milka campaign (Grand Prix Media) shows that the approach can go much further - even to the point of adjusting the production chain (a piece was removed from each chocolate bar). I believe it would therefore be consistent to sooner or later abolish the singular categories at the awards and to evaluate campaigns holistically.

My personal favorite was "Sky Livespots". The pay TV channel ran commercials with live images. On various free TV channels, the Champions League was broadcast during the commercial breaks, which was currently running on the pay TV channel. This is an organizational and technical masterstroke. What better way to advertise a sports channel? And: Sky recorded a significant increase in subscription orders.

SKY Livespots - case film from serviceplan group on Vimeo.

Unfortunately, I found the quality of the digital campaigns almost shameful. Many were downright mediocre. It can be assumed that specialized agencies are not particularly interested in submitting. Incidentally, media agencies were also sparsely represented, which is a shame. By participating, they could position themselves as providers who intelligently implement creative approaches.

Ralf Kostgeld, Creative Director Ammarkt
Film and Print/Print & Poster Craft Jury

Europe's most valuable currency: ideas.
In a time when everyone offers everything in abundance, creativity is also becoming increasingly important for the economic success of many companies - regardless of whether it's a small firm or a top international brand. In today's information tsunami, the only way to stand out from the crowd and create desirability is with the most creative communication, marketing or business ideas. Unless - as we know - you have an enormous media budget.

And if these ideas are particularly spectacular, you ideally benefit from free press coverage. Sometimes even worldwide. This year, an unusually large number of successful campaigns for brands such as Volvo, Geox, Milka Schokolade, Jack&Jones and Expedia in almost all categories demonstrate this. Including my personal favorite, the clever PR campaign "Why don't you come over"which overnight became the biggest image campaign of all time for Romania and attracted international attention.

Another worldwide "talking piece" was created just a few days ago by my Eurobest jury colleague Andrea Stillaci with his French agency Herezie. A spectacular 9 x 30 meter long Luis Vuitton suitcase as an exhibition pavilion on Moscow's Red Square. Therefore, after a week with many convincing works and in line with the good pre-Christmas consumer mood, I recommend: Invest in good ideas.

Grischa Rubinick, Creative Director Publicis
Direct and Promo & Activation Jury

Eurobest 2013, the European vestival of creativiti.
It was a great honor for me when I got the message to be allowed to judge at Eurobest. After all, it was my first international judging. The jury group in the categories "Direct and Promo & Activation", of which I was also a member, consisted of 13 people from all over Europe.

The criteria to be evaluated were as follows: Creativity 30, Strategy 20, Implementation 20 and Results 30 percent. 

In my opinion, the biggest challenge was not a lack of experience on the part of the jury or indecisiveness, but simply the language barrier - which after all affected almost half of the jurors. In larger discussions on complex works, which sometimes lasted up to 30 minutes, the same people therefore always argued.
After two days and 15 hours of judging each (without daylight, but with cold pizza), we had to decide on one Grand Prix candidate per category.
Even though it wasn't easy: The way I see it, the right contenders were allowed to cheer at the end: KBC Bank "The Gap in the Market. and Geox "7 Days of Rain.
Geox is also my personal favorite. It's a simple product demo, implemented in a surprising and fresh way.

Johannes Dörig (AD, Leo Burnett) and Niels Schäfer (AD, Wirz)
Young Creatives Integrated Competition

What was your motivation to participate in the award?
It's extremely exciting to be able to work on a briefing outside of the normal agency structures for once. You are your own CD, so to speak, thinking, conceiving, discarding and designing everything yourself.
The special thing about the Eurobest young talent competition is that you get to compete against teams from all over Europe. This is an extremely appealing opportunity to prove one's skills.

What was the biggest challenge?
The biggest challenge was certainly the time pressure. Creating an integrated campaign in just under 24 hours is not easy or commonplace in itself. Being in direct competition with 18 other teams doesn't really simplify the task.

What do you take away from the competition?
Of course, unforgettable impressions that motivate us to think in larger contexts in our everyday work. And many wonderful memories of the contacts with the Young Creatives from all over Europe.

Your favorites at the Eurobest?
Niels Schäfer: Geox "7 Days of Rain, Volvo Trucks "Live Test as well as Hornbach "The Hornbach Hammer.
Johannes Dörig: Geox "7 Days of Rain" .

Also on site was Publicitas, the official Swiss festival representative. Finally, Sibylle Widmer draws her personal conclusion. 

Sibylle Widmer, Manager Marketing Communication Publicitas

The visit to the Eurobest Festival was an educational and inspiring experience with a great selection of presentations and workshops. The presentation "Dancing with Failure" by Tor Myhren (President & Worldwide CCO Grey), in which he showed how the agency managed to become one of the most awarded agencies again, impressed me personally. Likewise the Independent Agency Showcase with The Newtons Laboratory Greece and Bruketa&Zinic. It shows that creativity can make a big difference even in crisis situations and with little money. The festival was a place of inspiration and networking for me.
As the Swiss representative of the festival, Publicitas was responsible for the nomination of the Swiss jurors, among other things. A huge thank you to all the jurors and to our Young Creative Team.

The gold awarded Publicis campaign for Garnier is for me one of the best works I saw at the festival. One of my personal favorites is also "The Opel Sky Surprise"which brought the Austrians the first Grand Prix in history.

 

More articles on the topic:

The precious metal statistics at this year's Eurobest

The Swiss works that made it onto the shortlists are

Interview with director Martin Werner about the films for Jack & Jones

 

Christoph Seiler, Managing Director of SLS Illusion & Construktion in his workshop in Schwerzenbach. In the background is a miniature model of an old town. The little houses will soon be seen in an advertising campaign.

In the beginning there was a book: "Industrial Light & Magic". This thick illustrated book described how a motley group of independent creatives worked together to make illusions come true. They worked for George Lucas. Their craft was called "The Art of Special Effects." And the studio was in Hollywood. "It was my dream back then to fly there one day and just say hello to the director of 'Star Wars,'" Christoph Seiler begins his account of how he found his profession. It never came to an encounter of the third kind with George Lucas. Nevertheless, the dream of film decor and such a craft collective, where different self-employed people work together in one creative place, has become reality. "Actually, I'm now doing exactly what I used to dream about. Simply in Schwerzenbach instead of Hollywood," Seiler can proudly show himself today on a tour of his workshop.

A set builder for the film, a freelance theater painter, a photographer, a boat builder and Christoph Seiler's company SLS Illusion & Construktion share a spacious hall complex behind the train station. "We are organized as an arts and crafts pool, where you can also work together if you feel like it and need to," explains Seiler. However, the largest share in the crafts paradise is unmistakably rented to SLS. Christoph Seiler has also set up his own carpentry, painting and metalworking shops for his constructions.

Theme worlds for the shopping center

Although massively scaled down, a cutely recreated row of houses in the hall immediately catches the eye. "This is the decor for a photo shoot. We may already show it to the advertising week. But the client for the advertising campaign still wants to remain secret," explains Seiler. At the same time, he proudly draws attention to the many playful details that can be discovered in the model construction on the little houses. In a hall next door, Jesus is currently being rasped. The replica of the Rio landmark is to be a full eight meters high. The figure is made of incombustible foam and a supporting plastic jacket. It will be cut into eight pieces like a sausage so that the figure will fit into a truck during transport. The imposing statue will become the new landmark of an exhibition with the theme "Brazil" next spring in the Glatt shopping center instead of Rio. "The Glatt shopping center has been one of our biggest customers for a long time. Every spring, a new themed exhibition is launched there in cooperation with Atelier Stenz. We also regularly supply the Christmas decorations," Christoph Seiler later shows samples of his Illusion & Construktion work in a book that could well rival the volume "The Art of Special Effects".

For example, the decorative structures for a Japanese garden in the Glatt appear very artistic. An illusion for the "Holland" theme exhibition was particularly elaborate. Not only did a windmill with a turning wheel have to look like the real thing, SLS also recreated a 25-meter-long "real" canal with three usable ships. The Glatt has three large malls of 200 square meters each. "A lot of material has to be used in each case, even if the decorations may seem small to visitors at first glance, " Seiler says. A ship's bow on the theme of "Cruises" reached up to the ceiling at 13 meters. A lighthouse on the theme of the North Sea was the same height.

In all these ideas, the safety aspect plays a very important role. It would be a disaster if the water in the canal suddenly spilled out and flooded the stores in the shopping center. "That's when you're jittery after the set-up, wondering if everything will actually go smoothly." When it came to decorating for "Brazil," static and fire-police specifications were a challenge. "Which materials should be used? How do you protect the structures? How to comply with the strict regulations of the fire police? Each time, creative ideas have to be reconciled with official specifications. An important part of Christoph Seiler's work is therefore searching for, developing and testing a wide variety of materials for his illusions. "Every order also brings a new invention ", Seiler can chat from his toolbox.

The model and the career counselor

The current managing director of Illusion & Construktion started with an apprenticeship as a machine mechanic. "But as soon as I graduated, I knew there were even more exciting professions." Even during his apprenticeship, the young man occasionally worked as a model. It was on these occasions that Christoph met stylist Uschi Stähli. And when Seiler wanted to earn some money "quickly and as casually as possible" before recruit school, he naturally first asked for a photo job. Such a job was not immediately forthcoming. But the stylist tipped him off that Condor Films was looking for a lighting technician. Seiler got an appointment with Martin Fueter and was then immediately hired as a lighting technician for two years. "Before the interview, I quickly went to a career counselor. I had to find out what a lighting technician actually does and should be able to do." In 1980, Christoph Seiler found working in film such an exciting world that he "wanted to work every weekend. So the agreed upon two eventually turned into four years. During this time, Seiler has lit at least 200 TV commercials. And outfitted more and more as well. "At that time, there were no companies that made decor buildings. This work was always done by the lighting technicians. If a film for Maggi soup needed a kitchen, for example, we went to Ikea. We also constantly freshly wallpapered the studio. And my favorite thing was making props. Especially with the animated films with single-frame switching that were still common at the time, it fascinated me to invent and build possible ingenious little aids."

Because word of Seiler's special skills soon got around among cameramen and directors, he was able to start his own business after four years at Condor. After another nine years as a freelancer for lighting and special effects, Seiler founded a company together with a flatmate. The third member of the team was a set designer from the Neumarkt Theater. Together they became a growing competitor for the then dominant "Glanz & Gloria ". Soon the company employed six people. With the size, however, the interests also became different. Part of the team preferred to work for the theater and was able to furnish customers such as the "Opera Factory" with decorations. "My world remained more the film", Seiler makes it short, why the collective finally broke up. Those who remained continued to make theater. The more "decorative" Seiler, Lang and Stern called themselves SLS Illusion and Construktion from 1996 on.

The start-up was able to set up its first workshop as a subtenant with a boat builder. In keeping with the style, he ran a shipyard in Zurich's shipbuilding district. When Christoph Marthaler set up his theater there, SLS found a new interim solution in Puls 5. "We need very large, but still affordable halls for our assemblies," says Seiler, describing the odyssey of how his company, including the boat builder, has now found shelter again in a former Implenia workshop in Schwerzenbach, even after the conversion of Puls 5. Since then, the company structure has also changed once again. Christoph Seiler is now the sole owner and managing director. There are currently six permanent employees. Silvan Kuhl is responsible for design. Markus Eberhard and Philipp Angst are responsible for planning. Vinzenz Vetter and Dimitri Dürr are in charge of the carpentry and workshop. In addition, there are about 20 freelancers per year, each for special jobs.

Important mainstay in gastronomy

An important role in the SLS portfolio is the design and development of restaurants. Here, too, the aim is to create the most atmospheric world possible for guests. Theme-based décor is often in demand, such as an Italian, Japanese or Mexican interior. Christoph Seiler is even more grateful for orders where the designers are given as free a hand as possible to "tell a story". An ambience where guests are amazed and think, "Wow, I've never seen anything like this before!" In this regard, Seiler loves it when the idea behind the design is not seen through at first glance. In the Coco Grill & Bar on Bleicherweg in Zurich, he has been able to hide elements faithfully copied around the theme of the "third-class section of the Titanic " in the conversion of the former sewing studio of Saint Phil in this sense. As a reference to the nearby Paradeplatz, a few "handmade " gold bars were also built into the walls of the wine cellar. "It just had to be awesome," was the brief of the restaurateur, for whom SLS has also designed the streetcar station, Fischers Fritz or the new Schober in Zurich.

A whole series of attractive reference objects can also be found in Lucerne. Among the most unusual recent works is the "Schmiedstube " in Bülach. Seiler is particularly proud of a bar in Singapore that SLS had the pleasure of creating last year. Whether this is the beginning of an expansion of the company from Schwerzenbach into the wide world, Seiler only wants to comment with a smile for the time being. Background work and design In advertising, the illusionists at SLS are repeatedly asked by photographers to design special surfaces as backgrounds for pack shots. Especially Silvan Kuhl as originally trained stage painter leads the design and realization of such orders.

Seiler still sees room for improvement in the area of shopfitting. As a side effect, however, these orders have already resulted in a few pieces of designer furniture. "After all, all of our creations are unique. In the case of some particularly successful pieces, we are considering whether we could produce them in larger series." In this way, SLS already distributes a series of exclusive bar stools and a table made of concrete. These design works have meanwhile helped Christoph Seiler to take over "Deseiler".

A task of a very special kind for SLS was the implementation of a film decor for "Cargo". For this first Swiss production in the genre of science fiction, the interior of a space freighter had to be recreated or, more precisely, futuristically "pre-built". The décor was brought to life in Winterthur in a hall of 3500 square meters. It was not only a financial gamble, but also an artistic challenge as to whether SLS should embark on the adventure in space. But it was also a chance to somehow make the original dream of working for George Lucas come true after all. Simply in Winterthur instead of in faraway Hollywood. The motion picture received recognition. The spectacular set "blew everyone away," and director Ivan Engler and producer Marcel Wolfisberg have since moved on in their careers thanks to this bold first feature.

And what's next for SLS? As in the past, Christoph Seiler wants to continue to focus primarily on the broadest possible versatility in the future. "There are phases when many new restaurants are built. Then again, more advertising is needed. With big films, financing can often drag on for several years. That's where it's best to stay flexible. " To grow even further in terms of personnel is also not a goal. Even though he is now a bit busier than before with management and marketing tasks, Christoph Seiler says: "I wasn't born to be a business manager and I want to be able to continue to be in the workshop and have fun working and creating ever more amazing illusions." And, of course, he is determined not only to be able to occasionally shovel some time off for his life partner and his three children.

Andreas Panzeri

The canal with real ships was recreated for the Glattzentrum.

Restaurant buildings also include "Schober" in Zurich.

You can find more photos in the print edition or in the e-paper 22/2013

 

User-centered design, on the other hand, not only improves usability but also enhances the security of your investment, since the website meets visitors’ expectations and needs. With our training and experience, we are well-equipped to understand which of the website visitors’ wishes and requirements need to be met. Since these requirements are constantly changing, relying on intuition alone is no longer enough to capture their attention and goodwill. One must employ the methods and approaches of user-centered design to achieve a high level of usability for the website. In particular, it is essential to identify the different visitor groups (personas) and understand how they perceive, think, and interact. The insights gained regarding content, interaction preferences, and other factors enhance the quality of the website, as it more closely aligns with users’ needs, expectations, and understanding. Generally, user-centered design reduces implementation costs, as unnecessary development efforts are identified and eliminated early on.

Visitors should be able to quickly find their way around the website, access the product they’re looking for with just a few clicks, and place an order easily. This goal can only be achieved if users are involved in the development process. Through analysis and testing, they generate insights that can be used to model the website’s features, navigation structure, and design elements according to the persona’s mental model. If the website’s features are visualized and specified using mockups before the screen design phase, design and implementation costs can be kept low, and the quality of the website is maximized for the persona. Prerequisites for applying and implementing the methods of user-centered website development include expertise in user-centered design, interaction design, screen design, and programming.

At first glance, the user-centered design approach described here appears to increase the conceptual and financial effort required. Nevertheless, the benefits outweigh the costs: The website aligns with visitors’ habits, which in turn increases the conversion rate. This ultimately leads to investment security and a higher ROI.

Imre Sinka

 

Whether indoors or outdoors, the swimmers relaxed between competitions at four different venues of the Swiss Swimming Championships in the I gelati Lounge, which was created by the event agency Marbet on behalf of Midor. The Allacess promoters treated the athletes to refreshing ice creams, which the participants could win in a game of chance. The agency made the announcement in a press release on Thursday.

Responsible at Marbet: Lorenz Arni (Junior Project Manager). Responsible at Allaccess: Brigitte Schäffer (project manager).

 

The election of Lisa Bourdon, a 27-year-old from Vaud, to the National Council on the Women’s Party ticket was one of the surprises of the federal elections in late October—and the new National Council member was already making headlines during the winter session: She demonstrated her political talent with a motion—co-signed by 72 Council members from all parties and regions of the country—calling for the rapid introduction of transport drones. In it, she calls on the Federal Council to authorize this mode of transport, which is already widely used abroad, in Switzerland as well. To help Switzerland catch up as quickly as possible, the purchase of standardized landing stations by interested private individuals should also be subsidized for two years. And to address the safety concerns repeatedly raised by drone opponents, the Federal Council should take the lead in establishing a national drone police force in collaboration with the cantons. Bourdon is thus taking up a cause that is gaining support among ever-broader segments of the population and the business community. Experience from other countries shows that this makes life easier and reduces transportation costs. Many people do not understand why Switzerland has fallen behind in this area.

Flashback: Drones had been in use by the military—specifically the U.S. military—for quite some time, but it was in late November 2013 that their use for delivering goods was first presented to the public. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos succeeded, through a remarkable PR maneuver, in showcasing his project on the legendary American TV news program 60 Minutes. Although Bezos' project announcement was nothing but «hot air,» the strategy paid off in full, and at the time, the topic of drones continued to dominate the media for weeks and sparked the imagination in conversations. Many dismissed it as a mere PR stunt and overlooked the seriousness of the project, which has since long since become a reality.

Back then, e-commerce was still limited to the ordering and payment process—delivery was a separate process and took a day at best, just as it still does for us today. As early as August 2012, eBay had launched «eBay Now» in San Francisco, a delivery service that delivered items from participating merchants to customers' homes within an hour. In the years that followed, the service was aggressively expanded to other major metropolitan areas in the U.S. and competed with several startups that sought to build a business around same-day delivery of online orders. And just two months before Bezos« appearance, Google had launched »Google Shopping Express” in the San Francisco metropolitan area—the so-called Bay Area, which includes Silicon Valley. Anyone who placed an order with participating local retailers via the Google app had their goods delivered to their doorstep within three to five hours for a fee of five dollars. Everyone liked this: customers, who could use their time for other things, and Google, which gained even more data on its users’ purchasing behavior and thus gained an edge in the advertising market. Initially, the goods were delivered by Google’s own drivers, until, five years ago, more and more states began allowing the use of self-driving delivery vehicles. As early as 2010, it had become known that Google was conducting research on autonomous vehicles—a special type of robot—and in 2013, the company expanded its robotics activities and acquired eight companies in the robotics sector. Thanks to its early involvement in robotics, the search engine giant has long since become a robotics giant itself and is constantly testing new approaches to automated delivery in combination with self-driving vehicles.

Problems with pirate drones have declined significantly

Meanwhile, Amazon focused on its outstanding capabilities in logistics and the operation of distribution centers. Initially in the U.S., but also in other countries, Amazon built such fulfillment centers near major metropolitan areas, where goods are stored and shipped using sophisticated logistics. Amazon Prime Air—as Bezos called the air delivery service even back then—made perfect sense: When first announced, the self-flying octocopters had a range of about 15 kilometers and could carry just under 2.5 kilograms of cargo. Eighty-six percent of Amazon’s deliveries fell within this weight limit and could therefore—at least in metropolitan areas—be delivered within 30 minutes of an order being placed. Yet Bezos made it clear at the time of the announcement that numerous issues regarding safety and reliability still needed to be resolved before the system could be put into operational use. Bezos considered obtaining approval from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to be the biggest challenge. But the enterprising visionary did not foresee that some of his trigger-happy compatriots would, to this day, take pleasure in shooting his drones out of the sky. On the other hand, problems with pirate drones—which steal cargo from transport drones mid-flight—have declined significantly since the police began operating their own drone network.

The idea of delivery drones didn’t actually originate with Bezos, even though he garnered the most publicity for it. The tech world had been fascinated by the concept long before that, and it was a Silicon Valley startup, Matternet, that played a key pioneering role. Just as Bezos anticipated difficulties with the FAA, the pioneers at Matternet also found it challenging to introduce drone technology in First World countries with their high level of regulation. As a result, civilian drone technology first took flight in developing countries. This is remarkable because new technologies—such as cell phones, laptops, and so on—had always been introduced first in the First World, and only after the high development and rollout costs had been covered did they spread to the Third World. In many respects, developing countries were predestined to help drone technology achieve its breakthrough. For one thing, there were hardly any regulations governing the operation of such drones in these countries, and for another, transport drones were immediately accepted by the population because they made useful improvements possible. This was because there were often hardly any roads, and even those were not always passable. Although a modern telecommunications infrastructure had been established in many of these countries—allowing, for example, a nurse at a remote health clinic to discuss a diagnosis with a doctor—the necessary medication could only reach the patient after a long delay. That changed as soon as the Matternet infrastructure was in place: Just as cellular networks are divided into many individual cells, each with an antenna, the Matternet concept features docking stations distributed throughout the entire service area. Here, drones can be loaded and unloaded, and, most importantly, they are automatically supplied with new batteries. This technology is now fully developed, and autonomous transport drones meet extensive safety requirements: They detect other flying objects, such as birds of prey and skydivers, and take evasive action.

The «Lindenbaum Disaster» Nevertheless, transport drones are still not permitted in Switzerland because the Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA) continues to have safety concerns. As is well known, the «Lindenbaum disaster» from 2019 continues to have an impact here, causing officials to act with excessive caution. At that time, Swiss Post was running its own high-profile project for «made in Switzerland» cargo drones. The aim was to make a good impression on the Federal Council and the general public, so they sent a Swiss Post drone carrying a care package to Trachselwald in the Emmental, where the Federal Council had planned a stop at a farm during its annual outing. During its landing approach, the drone got caught in a linden tree and crashed into the snack buffet that had been set out—allegedly because one too many salami slices had been packed, causing the transport weight to be exceeded. The Swiss Post project was then buried in the graveyard of ambitious Swiss homegrown developments, where similar projects from earlier decades (nuclear reactor, jet aircraft, telecommunications system) had ended up. The Post project also suffered from the drone fiasco at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH). As recently as ten years ago, researchers at the Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Systems (IRIS) were among the world’s leaders in the field of autonomous drones. But just as in the early days of computer technology, ETH lost this leading position as well. Once again, many of the researchers left Zurich, taking their expertise with them to the U.S. West Coast—to Google and Amazon—where they were offered more attractive working conditions than in drone-hostile Switzerland. Here in Switzerland, arguments about safety and privacy are repeatedly brought to the forefront—for example, by the Association of Bike and Pizza Couriers. But given the success of delivery drones abroad and the benefits they offer, such fears no longer hold much sway with large segments of the population. As early as ten years ago, Matternet estimated the cost of a 10-kilometer drone flight at just 25 rappen—an unbeatable price given a gasoline price of 4.40 francs and notoriously congested roads in a Switzerland with more than ten million residents.

Looking back today, it’s clear that an opportunity was missed ten years ago to make Switzerland a leading hub for autonomous drones. This is in contrast to the U.S., where the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held its first hearings on civilian drone use as early as 2014, which subsequently led to legislation that paved the way for today’s widespread use and successful commercialization. Nothing of the sort happened here, and as a result, Switzerland lags behind even developing countries in the use of civilian drones. It is to be hoped that the policymakers working with Lisa Bourdon will now succeed in bringing about a rapid shift in thinking and a breakthrough in this area.

Christoph J. Walther

In the absence of a DeLorean DMC-12 equipped with a working flux capacitor, the correspondent had to rely on a glance into a crystal ball for this report, but is looking forward to having the necessary equipment for future time travel.

 

What we’re talking about today: If you’re a professional critic who has to watch and evaluate commercials every day, there’s no getting around all the junk out there. Advertising airtime, for example, is unfortunately too often wasted or worn out by too many repeats, which turns the intended effect into a negative one.

To reiterate: 90 percent of advertising falls flat. Either the message is too complicated, too long, or placed in the wrong medium at the wrong time—all for a lot of money. I’ve already discussed many examples and pointed out the flaws in various advertising messages. I know I reach a lot of readers, but why isn’t anyone listening to me? It’s so simple. To convince someone of your cause or the benefits you offer, you first have to communicate that message clearly, and if you want to make it even more impactful, you need to present it in a creative and memorable way. That can’t be that hard. But apparently, there are problems.

My theory: The client doesn’t understand the advertisers, and vice versa. There’s a gap between the client and the advertising agency or a design team. The client doesn’t have a clear idea of what they want to convey to consumers through advertising. While they do have an idea, they can’t articulate it clearly in a briefing. The agencies’ consultants or account executives then meet with this client. They, too, don’t fully understand what’s in the briefing. But they’re determined to land this job. After all, it’s about income. The creative team is subsequently informed about the new assignment and tasked with coming up with something original yet appropriate. A re-briefing could undermine the relationship with the client. In the end, an ad is produced that the account managers can present to the client as the optimal solution. The consumer doesn’t understand a word of it and switches channels.

The solution to breaking this vicious cycle would be to introduce an intermediary. A neutral party who could serve as a link between both the client and the creative team. I’ve personally overseen a project like this before and found that it led to a more focused, stress-free dialogue for both the client and the agency. Stress is the worst possible starting point. Joy must prevail. As Ogi used to say. Happy holidays.

The highlight of the week is that we're on winter break until January 17.

Theophil Butz, graphic designer, advertising agency owner, source of inspiration, and—for the past three years—also a complainer for *Werbewoche* readers. Please send relevant information to [email protected]

 

It’s the holiday season, and the lines at bookstores are once again nice and long. It’s time to talk about books and the book market—which, as we all know, is the slowest and most cumbersome of all offline media, and so old-fashioned that it leaves every self-respecting netizen in the dust. Not interactive at all—just long texts, and often difficult ones at that. And then there’s this: Last year, Swiss citizens spent a total of about 5.2 billion francs on media content. Of that, 880 million francs went toward books. (Source: Media Budget Study by the Swiss Media Association). In reality, the figure is likely over one billion, since the revenue from online retailers (Amazon & Co.) and downloads is far from being fully accounted for.

A ten-year comparison reveals something astonishing: Despite the media revolution, books have held their ground, as the comparable figure in 2003 was 703 million. The market share has remained stable at just under 8 percent, but—taking into account the aforementioned online distribution channels—it has most likely even risen slightly. The lesson here is: If there is a crisis in the book industry, it is not a crisis of market share (and consequently of public interest), but a crisis of production costs, especially in the book trade. But that would be another story.

What interests me today, amid all this buzz about digital distribution channels, social media, and so on, is this: Where does this enviable stability come from in such an old-fashioned and cumbersome medium? And how is it that companies continue to make significant investments in self-promotion through books—take Basler Insurance, for example, which is distributing 20,000 copies of its anniversary book* to the public these days? Books have a special appeal. In the midst of a throwaway culture, they command respect. Who could bring themselves to tear a page out of a book—or even throw a book away? Books are regarded as carriers of culture. It stands to reason that: Those who truly have something to say—and want to say it as they see fit—are the ones who write, print, and distribute books: calmly, without constraints on format, with the necessary nuance and depth, carefully crafted (i.e., with a view beyond the here and now), and designed to reflect the content. The content itself acquires a certain value simply through its form of presentation.

Most commemorative publications are rectangular and made of paper, but otherwise vary widely. The most common are illustrated non-fiction books, which typically follow two main themes: they relate the milestones of an organization or company to the history of ideas, the history of time, and cultural history. In monographic publications, the editor shares the richness of his thoughts (through a collection of essays, speeches, and columns), his collecting activities, or his skills as a builder with the public. Anthologies range from a birthday book for friends to the classic commemorative volume for academic teachers.

Biographies are the most delicate subject, whether they are written by others or are autobiographies. The opportunity: The subject can contribute their own version of events, reflections, and background information, and is, logically, one of the best possible sources. The risk: The client’s authority is put to the test when working with an author who has self-respect and does not shy away from including unpleasant events, failures, and the like. This requires magnanimity, but it enhances the publication’s credibility and long-term value.

Markus von Escher/Karl Lü.nd: Security as a Principle: 150 Years and a Future for the People of Basel, 336 pages, 900 illustrations, Basel 2013, available in bookstores for Fr. 80.–
 

Lars Völkel will not take up his new position at Franke until he has completed his current role at Nobia. As the new President of Marketing & Sales, he will be responsible for all sales and marketing units within the Franke Kitchen Systems Division—and in this role, he will report directly to Alexander Zschokke, President/CEO of the Franke Group.

As Executive Vice President of Luxury Retail & Professional at Nobia, Lars Völkel is currently responsible for all international operations of the Poggenpohl kitchen brand. Prior to that, he worked for Electrolux Major Appliances Western Europe, and he holds a degree in business administration from Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany.
 

The TV experts from Goldbach Media: Joël Knapp, Jacqueline Sasse, Lorenzo Leutenegger, Christian Zweifel, Remo Hämmig.

"If I had to settle on just one single trend in retrospect for 2013, it would definitely be special ads," says Jacqueline Sasse, Sales Director TV at Goldbach Media (Switzerland). The demand for individualized pre- or post-splits, ad-break moves, channel logomorphing and similar effects has never been so high. Goldbach's revenue increases "everywhere in the double digits." All these special forms of advertising show: Advertising and actual TV programming are increasingly merging.

Special advertising formats have already made "an insane leap" from 2011 to 2012, but have now increased massively again in 2013. "Today, with the special advertising format, you can stand out as an advertiser and secure your spot in the desired position," says Sasse, explaining the development. Specifically: a customer can stand out more than others because he can be seen first in the commercial break with a pre-split. A single spot makes the customer even more conspicuous. With such a spot, the advertiser enjoys a unique position with his appearance. With a logo morphing, the brand's icon can be completely merged with the program. "All these are measures for customers who are looking for solutions with which they want to stand out from the competition," also explains Lorenzo Leutenegger. As Sales Director TV at Goldbach Media, he is responsible for "the very many special interest channels" outside the RTL or ProSiebenSat1 groups.

Since SRG stations are only allowed a certain number of interruptions, and these are only allowed after 90 minutes in prime time, the possibilities - desired by law - are correspondingly more limited. "We can offer many more creative ways to enhance advertising with our private stations," Leutenegger says, also referring to the structures of stations from Germany. These often have fixed interruptions already built into their formats, which allows Goldbach Media to also play more individually and thus more exclusively with the more frequent commercial breaks that result. "Because Publisuisse has fewer breaks available due to its structure, they also want to use them as much as possible in their entire length and not need them for creative gimmicks such as the singles spots. In terms of inventory, we have a very big advantage with our windows," Leutenegger is convinced.

With all these special forms of advertising, there are basically three different categories. Firstly, there is sponsorship, the very individual possibilities of which will not be discussed further here. A second type is "exclusive positions. With these, an existing spot does not have to be changed. It runs as it is delivered by the customer. However, it is given a special placement. For example, as a single spot that is exclusively placed embedded between two broadcasts. "With a single spot, almost no viewers are lost, because hardly anyone zaps away when only a single spot is running," says Remo Hämmig, Project Manager for Special Ads at Goldbach Media. Such an exclusive placement in an individual setting can also be achieved if the spot is embedded in the broadcasting logo. As particularly exclusive at 3+, highlighting a single spot is even considered a "tip" by the station.

For Christian Zweifel, Sales Director TV for the ProSiebenSat1 Group, the pre-split and the single spot are "the easiest advertising forms to implement, with which you can achieve a special position in the advertising block without having to change a spot". Pre-splits were one of Goldbach Media's "best sellers" in 2013. A clever addition with this offer: A countdown runs along at the bottom of the picture. This tells the viewer that the spot has only 12 seconds left and that it is no longer worth zapping away. News may not be sponsored. In this case, RTL has therefore come up with a special form of advertising with a pre-split that is specially embedded in the station's news design, for example in the program "RTL aktuell. For this exclusive stand-alone position, all that is needed is to deliver an existing spot, and Goldbach will then adapt it accordingly, as Joël Knapp, Junior Partner Relation Manager for RTL, explains.

Special creations can be summarized in a third group of special advertising formats. Here, an existing spot is subsequently edited by the broadcaster so that it can be integrated as creatively as possible into a commercial break. The individual options are correspondingly versatile - for an opener, for example. It gets a bit more complicated with the "freestyle", i.e. a Move or Move Split, where the spot has to be adapted to the program. With all these creative possibilities, it is important to note that the wording is also constantly becoming more creative. Depending on the station, the offers can therefore also be called openers or trailersplit, for example. The latter would then be embedded in the editorial framework, i.e. in the station design after the station's promotional trailer and thus before the subsequent program section. A diary split is broadcast directly after the program without an advertising separator "in an absolutely unique position" before the commercial break. Here, too, the customer's existing spot must therefore still be individually adapted and thus edited by the broadcaster.

But the effort involved in such editing is said to be worthwhile. "We have between 30 and 40 percent more viewer performance with exclusive placements, because people don't even get to zap away," says Jacqueline Sasse. Special advertising formats thus help build reach in TV campaigns. "Net reach can be built up more favorably with them."
Andreas Panzeri
 

According to the ad, anyone who uses Bellena products will never have to cut back elsewhere again. The ad dramatizes what can happen when you compromise on luxury skincare by featuring a beauty tutorial gone wrong. A tutorial is a particularly effective communication tool for the young, tech-savvy target audience, according to Thursday’s press release.

Responsible at Migros: Marc Engelhard (Head of Marketing Communications), Conradin Schaad (Head of Thematic Promotions), Marta Mielcarek (Senior Project Manager, Thematic Promotions). Responsible at Wirz Advertising: Hanspeter Schweizer (Creative Director), Seung-Yun Oh (Art Direction), Franziska Pennington, Marietta Mügge (Copy), Marion Schwager, Zeno Steiner (Consulting), Fabienne Huwyler (Art Buying). Contact at Panamfilm: Frank Estermann (Production), Stefan Fallucchi (Cinematography).