So if you want to read faster, you just have to click on the banner application next to the NZZ article. The entire text is now automatically loaded into the Speed Reader. Then set the reading speed and off you go: All the individual words in the article are played back one after the other in a rapid sequence. In this way, texts can be grasped and understood by the reader twice to three times as quickly as if they were read normally. This is what scientific studies show, the agency said in a statement on Thursday.

To try out the Speed Reader, simply select any article on Nzz.ch in the Switzerland section and click on the Speed Reader banner. Or watch the case film:

Responsible at Renault Switzerland: Florian Huettl (Director Marketing). Responsible at Publicis: Thomas Wildberger (CCO), Ralph Halder (ECD), Lars Blöchlinger, Alexander Kreuzer, Jo-Wayne Peacock (Art), Marianne Zweifel (Text), Michael Fretz, Sandro Ducceschi (Programming), Ingrid Zumkehr (Consulting); Responsible at NZZ.ch: Stephan Peter (Key Account Manager).
 

I'm not stupid!" is what every advertiser would like to claim. But Media Markt was quicker and has been using this catchy slogan for years. You may or may not like such blatant advertising. The fact is that the claim works, because all consumers want to be "not stupid" - and so the whole world shops at Media Markt. A pleasant side effect is that there is hardly anyone who doesn't know the claim, and no one who couldn't relate it to the electronics giant. Advertising can't get any better than this. And not really either.

Nevertheless, Media Markt thinks it can now, as a Christmas present, so to speak, be a new slogan. That's courageous, especially when something has worked well. But courage is only the first step. After all, how can you cleverly follow up on a claim that has really taken off? The solution is: Don't reinvent it, but cleverly reformulate it. And this is how it works: Media Markt is linked to "not stupid. And if you're "not stupid," you're - of course - "not stupid. Of course, you could also say "smart", "clever" or "clever". That would even be more correct. With one drawback: "Stupid" does not appear in it. So now it's logical to say: "The world belongs to the stupid!" and "The stupid want more power for less money at Christmas. An absurdity? Quite the opposite. Media Markt has not only found a way to further compose its message, "unblöd" is also entitled to be voted word of the year - or rather un-word. Although this thing with power and money is a completely insubstantial statement (right, you'd already forgotten?!), it's still suddenly much better to be "unblöd" instead of just "nicht blöd". Only advertising can do that.

A good imitation is half the battle

Media Markt is, of course, not the first company to try to be remembered with the help of a grammatical rule violation. Coca-Cola's "unkaputtbar", which accompanied the introduction of the plastic bottle from 1990 to 1992, is unforgettable. It remains to be seen whether Media Markt has managed a similar feat with "unblöd". But in any case, the company can continue its brand and advertising strategy for a while longer. Which is certainly not stupid. Competitor Conrad with its uninspired "Hohohol Dir die coole Technik!" looks pretty old next to it. Spirit (= dumb) is cool, indestructible and undead after all.

Besides, the fact that the world belongs to the stupid gives us a little hope. And we can all use that, just before Christmas.

WW: What has been your biggest surprise in your hundred days at the helm of PubliGroupe?
Arndt Groth: (reflecting) That was with the Publicitas team, where the average age was much younger than I had expected. And the willingness to change was also much more pronounced than I would have expected.

That's positive - because from the outside, Publicitas is actually a restructuring case - not in the sense of bankruptcy law, but in terms of the depth of the measures that need to be taken...
...I wouldn't call it a restructuring case, but in any case Publicitas is still facing drastic changes because we still can't say that the turnaround has been achieved.

In your presentation for the Investors' Day, there is a slide that says Publicitas, or Media Sales, is only a quarter ready for 2020. Since the traditional advertising markets are declining, does that mean that Publicitas will be three quarters smaller?
Our share of the traditional newspaper business will continue to fall. However, this quarter was due to the fact that we had not yet positioned ourselves properly and lacked a clear strategy. In recent years, we have mainly acted reactively and reduced costs in order to stem this loss. We need to become more proactive...

They will certainly reduce the number of branches in the country. From how many today?
...that's still well over thirty. The aim is to centralize. And then it depends on the individual negotiations with the publishers as to which physical presence on site we will continue to maintain.

In your documents you also refer to the "portfolio sales approach". What exactly do you mean by that?
In future, we will not only be able to operate monothematically with each individual title. Customers expect to be able to book at least a portfolio of newspaper titles or, even more broadly, magazines, cinemas, out-of-home or even digital or, ideally, mobile solutions.

But your typical local contract partner is a single publisher, and they want to sell their product above all else...
...yes, but even regional customers, where the downturn is not as severe as in the national press, are increasingly expecting a different offer than we used to have. Even a local garage knows that it can no longer reach its customers with a newspaper ad alone.

Your local contract partners hardly ever offer this variety of products themselves. Why should they be interested?
In a product development from Publicitas, Ad4MaxGeo, we bundle the reach of local and regional newspapers with the regional reach of Google and Facebook. This product has been very successful and proves that such solutions lead to higher overall sales for publishers than "print standalone solutions". And it enables sales staff in the regions to approach customers with a different product approach.

In your documents, you also talk about a new IT solution. What is that about?
On the one hand, this involves our infrastructure in terms of the normal order processing of print ads in the back office area. This is the replacement of our old Pub2000 system in order to become faster and more efficient. And then we want to go beyond the actual print infrastructure and add automated trading options for digital media. This will enable us to offer all our partners, not only publishing and portal partners, but also agencies and customers, an end-to-end solution.

Does this also mean that there will be automated trading opportunities, so-called programmatic buying, for print products?
Yes, it's not just about digital winning, but also about digital business models finding their way into the handling of traditional media. Of course, the processes for advertising orders are not yet perfectly digitalized at the moment. But the planning approach is very similar, and that's why I see the whole thing happening in exactly the same way for other types of media, including newspapers and print. We hear from our Publimedia and AdMarket customers, a processing system, that print booking, processing and monitoring is now almost better and more efficient than online.

How specifically are you already moving in this direction? Is it just about the back office or about bringing programmatic buying to the front?
We are taking one step at a time. The first is now the launch of the premium supply-side platform from Publicitas, "The Mark". We then want to systematically expand this into other areas. That is the goal.

Is programmatic buying the same as Real Time Advertising (RTA)?
No, that is a very important point. And many people haven't understood that yet. Programmatic buying or automated action is the basis, and real time advertising is the finishing touch. The first is linking supply and demand via a platform, which works for all types of media. Meanwhile, RTA, i.e. real-time processing, is only possible online. In many markets, this is not yet available in this form because data is a mandatory prerequisite. And if this is not available, I can still do programmatic buying, i.e. automated trading, but real-time advertising is not yet possible. In most cases, we should therefore not be talking about real-time advertising, but rather enabling our partners to get started with programmatic buying.

And do you see this as an important future aspect for media sales? When? In three or five years?
This should be the case in a maximum of three years. However, the proportion of automated trading will never reach 100 percent. My guess is that we will reach 60 or 70 percent relatively quickly in the online sector. In addition, there will continue to be a premium segment with significantly higher CPMs, and this will continue to require personal sales in the long term.

Can you then handle the business centrally, or do you still need regional branches?
It is true that we are striving for automation and centralization in certain areas, especially in back office functions, but also in many cases in sales, in order to make this portfolio approach possible. However, this does not mean that we will no longer operate regionally in the future. We already have very, very profitable marketing partnerships in the regions today. And if a contractual partner says they are prepared to continue to provide us with this exclusivity in marketing, but we still have the entrepreneurial freedom I mentioned, then there is nothing to stop us continuing to operate in the regions. It is undoubtedly clear that in a declining market we will always be more efficient with the organization of a Publicitas than a publisher in its region, in its canton. I therefore assume that we will continue to have a very, very close relationship with publishers in the future.

What does the development towards comprehensive automated trading processes mean for media agencies?
Our idea is to provide agencies in particular with tools so that they can book not only digital advertising but also various other channels through us. In many cases, these tools serve to simplify booking and planning and also to reduce costs on the planning side.

Let's switch to the online sector, which is closer to you. The keyword here is currently RTA. How do you see this developing in the long term? Will only two or three big players remain and divide up this business?
There will certainly be several providers. Competition stimulates business, and so all market participants welcome the fact that there are several providers and not just one monopolist that dictates prices and technology. There are now three big ones from the US, and then there is a leading provider in Europe, and that is Improve Digital. One of the reasons why we chose Improve Digital [note: PubliGroupe completed the acquisition of 85 percent of the Dutch company Improve Digital in mid-December] is the realization from the last few years, especially from the development of Digital, that we have a different view of things in Europe. Be it the issue of data protection, be it the consideration of customer interests. European providers have increasingly reflected these wishes and have not necessarily rolled out a uniform technology for the sake of optimization and efficiency. And having a provider here that is in the same time zone and has its development team in Europe is a huge advantage.

What is "The Mark", which we have already mentioned briefly? Is this your private exchange solution for RTA?
Publicitas developed this product within the p-Digital department. "The Mark", based on the SSP technology from Improve Digital. With "The Mark", Publicitas will in future market the digital inventory of media providers using the real-time process and give advertisers the opportunity to buy digital inventory in an automated and data-driven way. Our subsidiary Local.ch is one of the first companies in Switzerland to use Publicitas' real-time advertising solution, enabling it to monetize and manage its digital advertising inventory even better. But of course it is up to each individual publisher to decide for themselves whether they are big enough and want to do this themselves.

To what extent are you aiming to become possibly the only private exchange in Switzerland in which all publishers participate?
Of course, that is where we are heading. And it would certainly be good for the market in Switzerland if that were the case. We'll have to see whether that actually happens, and I don't want to make this claim to be the only one. But it would certainly be good for the market. And "The Mark" would be suitable for it.

How do you see prices developing? In Switzerland, we have a special situation with cheap cross-border traffic, which is increasingly undermining the high prices in Switzerland.
You're absolutely right, this should drive the speed with which Swiss content providers open up to the topic of real-time advertising and programmatic buying. I would like to initiate a study from our company, but also together with the IAB, to really test campaigns with market research that run with German publishers and on Swiss sites. The assumption is that conversions are higher and branding effects are better on Swiss content compared to others. If we can prove this, then the higher price is justified.

However, this does not answer the question of price trends... As long as this is not proven, prices will continue to fall over the next few years because customers will tend to book cheaper content. Prices in Switzerland will come under pressure due to bookability and comparability with other countries.

Publishers are generally very cautious about RTAs, especially in Switzerland, because they fear that prices will come under pressure if they participate. Isn't it much more the case that if they don't participate, prices will come down all the more? Is that how you see it?
Absolutely yes. We see in all tests that CPMs soar with real-time advertising...

...because of the "B"the bidding... ...because of the "B" and because of the added value of the data. Then the only question is whether there is enough volume, otherwise you have a high CPM but few impressions, and then of course that doesn't help either. But the mechanics work in any case.

Now you have mentioned an important keyword: data - in America it is on a par with providers and consumers in the entire RTA structure. In Europe and Switzerland in particular, there are still interesting development opportunities, and you are very well positioned to become a data provider thanks to your market position.
Yes, I think we are very well positioned. In Europe, we actually have the situation that there is almost no provider that makes data available for campaigns. It's completely different in the USA, where there are companies like BlueKai and others. We have an enormous amount of data available within our Group. And we see this competitive advantage not only through our companies like Local.ch, but also through a company like Zanox, which has access to a wealth of information every day through billions of anonymous data points. Because Zanox, as a performance provider, is heavily involved with merchants, we know what users are interested in and what they buy. And we will continue to refine this data in the future. However, we still need to do our homework. Simply having access to data is not enough; we also need to build a data management platform.

And this is where you want to focus your activities - also as a data exchange?
Absolutely. Data exchange would then mean that we sell data to third parties. However, there are so few providers in this market because there is not yet a functioning business model for it. This is secondary for us because we want to use the information within the Group. Making it available to agencies or end customers is a key advantage in order to develop a USP and make campaigns successful with this data.

How far along are you? I'm sure you'll be buying in and not developing it yourself.
We are currently licensing a tool. This is Visual DNA, an English company that we work with and that helps us to use this data. It is very important and essential for the future to have such a data management platform in-house. That is the linchpin for success.

How do you rate social media when it comes to communication and advertising?
Social media is a major challenge in the digital sector. This is due to the three-way split: paid media, earned media and owned media. There is a tendency among advertisers to develop owned and earned as much as possible. Earned and owned come very close to us as a company that is close to content. With Denon, for example, we have an offering in our portfolio that comes from the corporate publishing sector and therefore also creates content that is relevant. This will definitely be an important building block in our medium-term digital strategy to offer such editorial services to customers and advertisers.

Speaking of content: Are you a newspaper reader? What do you read?
I am a newspaper reader. I'm still a fan of my regional newspaper, the Hamburger Abendblatt, as I only moved at the beginning of the year. And I read the NZZ, but on the iPad. I am a passionate Financial Times Germany reader and very much regret the end of the FTD [note: the interview took place on December 7, 2012, the last day the FTD was published] and will now get used to the Handelszeitung.

Interview: Christoph J. Walther
 
In a nutshell
Arndt Groth has been CEO of PubliGroupe since September 1, 2012. Born in Hamburg, he previously held various management positions, initially mainly on the publishing side at the Georg von Holtzbrink and Handelsblatt publishing groups. Since 1998, he has worked for leading Internet companies and marketing organizations with a digital focus, such as DoubleClick in Germany, InteractiveMedia, a marketer for digital media, and the globally active marketing network Adconion. In addition to his operational tasks, Groth has been President of the BVDW (Bundesverband Digitale Wirtschaft), one of the strongest industry associations in Europe for interactive marketing, digital content and interactive value creation, since 2003.

Newspaper publishers are running away from advertising customers and subscribers, first of all to the Internet. A lot of newspaper content is free there and advertising prices are low. However, the mobile use of their content is far worse from the publishers' point of view - because advertising revenues are even lower in the mobile sector. As a result, publishers are losing subscription revenue and even more so advertising revenue. This is why publishers are looking for a new business model. "We don't have it yet," admitted the outgoing Tamedia CEO Martin Kall in an interview with NZZ am Sonntag at the beginning of December.

At the same time, he said what direction the industry is currently looking in: "Advertising revenues are not enough, so we are now trying the paywall on the Internet." Two surveys conducted by Werbewoche confirm Kall's statement: the survey on advertising rates published in the last issue of Werbewoche shows that only a quarter of newspapers are venturing an open increase in advertising rates for 2013. Several have even stuck to the same page price for ten years. However, the second survey now available shows that more than half of the newspapers are planning a paywall or another form of paid content - or have already introduced one. Many prefer the "classic" variant: Whether via PC or cell phone - the title's own articles are only freely accessible to print or online subscribers. In individual cases, a small selection of own articles is activated. The current survey also shows that two thirds of all newspapers are increasing their subscription rates as of 2013 - and not for the first time: some do so annually. In other words, publishers are going easy on advertising customers and are increasingly taking the money from readers.

The "old aunt" is downright cheeky

Of the 60 titles and 17 subscription combinations surveyed here, only 26 kept their subscription price at the previous level. All the others are adding between 0.8% (Le Nouvelliste) and 15.1% (Finanz und Wirtschaft, FuW). In absolute figures, there are surcharges of up to 50 francs - as in the case of the aforementioned FuW, which now costs 382 francs. Those who want to combine the St. Galler Tagblatt with the new Ostschweiz am Sonntag will also pay CHF 50 more than before from March 1. The NZZ follows in second place, exceeding the CHF 600 mark with a surcharge of CHF 33 and now costing CHF 628 per year. Its subscription price development is remarkable: in 2009 the NZZ subscription still cost 488 francs, since then it has been raised by over 30 francs annually - since then the price has risen in four steps by a total of 140 francs or 29%. This makes the NZZ the title that most radically explores its users' willingness to pay. The "Old Aunt" is approaching the highest subscription price in this country to date, that of the western Swiss business newspaper Agefi, with huge leaps: its annual subscription costs 700 francs - although it has remained constant for years. Incidentally, the Tages-Anzeiger also charges more every year: since 2009, its subscription has increased by 21% or 77 francs from 364 francs at the time.

Two other titles that are asking their readers to pay significantly more in this round are the Südostschweiz Glarus and Gaster See editions: their subscriptions are increasing by 29 and 30 francs to 322 and 339 francs, while Südostschweiz Graubünden is leaving its rate unchanged at 353 francs. This shows that In Chur, they are working towards a uniform subscription rate for all editions. Incidentally, the biggest price increases in French-speaking Switzerland are to be found in Tamedia titles: 24 Heures, Tribune de Genève and Le Matin semaine will cost a uniform CHF 429 from 2013, CHF 20 more than before. The situation is also special in north-western Switzerland: Basellandschaftliche Zeitung and bz Basel are taking a confident stance and for the first time are charging ten francs more for their subscriptions than their competitor Basler Zeitung.

Newspapers also cost more at the newsstand

Users are also being increasingly challenged financially when it comes to single copy sales. Although the Wochenzeitung remains the most expensive newspaper at CHF 6 per newsstand copy, the FuW, which now costs CHF 5.50, is already hot on its heels. It is followed at some distance by the Basler TagesWoche (CHF 5). The Rheintalische Volkszeitung is making the biggest price increase: it is raising its EV rate by one franc or 50% to 3 francs. Others, such as the Nouvelliste and the Zürcher Oberländer, will now cost CHF 2.50, 25% and 50 centimes more than before respectively. The Walliser Bote and Sissacher Volksstimme are also charging an additional 30 centimes. Most other titles, including the Tamedia titles in French-speaking Switzerland, are adding 20 centimes at the kiosk, with a few adding 10 centimes. Incidentally, with its 20% surcharge, Volksstimme now costs 1.80 and is no longer the newspaper with the cheapest EV rate. La Quotidiana, which has kept its newsstand price at CHF 1.60, now holds the record for the lowest price, followed by Boten der Urschweiz, which continues to cost CHF 1.70. There is something special to report from French-speaking Switzerland: Le Temps and La Liberté are reducing the price of their Saturday editions by 11% and 5% respectively. A Saturday edition of Le Temps now costs CHF 4.20 instead of CHF 4.70 at newsstands, while La Liberté now charges CHF 3.70 instead of CHF 3.90 on the same day.

Three pricing strategies for e-paper and app

In the online sector and especially in the e-paper segment, three strategies are emerging among publishers. Agefi, for example, sees itself as primarily responsible for providing the respective content on various channels - on paper, as an e-paper, on the website or via an app for mobile use. Users can choose what they want, but they always pay the same subscription price. The second approach is more common with smaller newspapers: Online access to content - especially via app - represents an additional expense for them, which they also charge extra for. Volksstimme, for example, charges its print subscribers an additional CHF 50 if they also want to use the new app. Similarly, Bote der Urschweiz and La Gruyère charge print subscribers an additional CHF 20 and CHF 30 respectively for using the e-paper.

The third philosophy is that digital subscriptions and often apps are cheaper than print subscriptions because there are no printing and distribution costs. However, there is no consensus in the industry as to how much these costs amount to. Most reductions compared to print subscriptions are between 20 and 35 percent, but Blick, SonntagsBlick, Zürichsee Zeitung, Le Nouvelliste, Tribune de Genève and La Liberté also grant discounts of up to 50%. Others are stingier: for example, the e-paper of the Rheintalische Volkszeitung is just 1% cheaper than the print subscription, while the Freiburger Nachrichten is 11.5% cheaper, the St. Galler Tagblatt 13.4% and the Bund 17.8%.

The "ideal" tariff for the digital subscription is still pending

It is also interesting to note that some e-paper titles are still looking for the ideal subscription price. This is indicated by some steep price changes. For example, 24 Heures, Tribune de Genève, Le Matin semaine, La Liberté, Le Nouvelliste and La Regione Ticino have reduced their e-paper subscriptions by between 46% and 49% as of 2013, while Quotidien Jurassien and Südostschweiz am Sonntag have reduced theirs by 33%.

Conversely, there are apparently also titles that previously offered their EPaper subscriptions at too low a price - they are increasing their prices significantly. These include Freiburger Nachrichten (+41.1%), La Gruyère (+30%) and St. Galler Tagblatt (+22.8%). The three-tier subscription model of Le Temps is also striking: The print subscription costs CHF 504, the e-paper subscription CHF 384 and the app subscription previously cost CHF 360. However, the latter was reduced by 66.7% to 120 francs in 2013, which is why it is now 76% cheaper than the print subscription. Does the calculation still add up? The Neue Fricktaler Zeitung's approach is also special: its print and e-paper subscriptions each cost 184 francs, while the app subscription costs 240 francs, i.e. 31% more.

Markus Knöpfli

Table: Subscription and kiosk rates 2013 (PDF)
 

The distribution of the emergency watch by Swisscom also opens up a completely new environment, the agency said in a statement on Thursday. After all, it is the only watch among thousands of cell phones. The testimonial campaign developed by Wirz Werbung also makes use of this fact, which is intended to play out the emotional component by means of advertisements, banners, brochures and various other measures: "Through the everyday nature of the situations in which our testimonials find themselves, the campaign makes the relevance of the watch clear: in an emergency, it functions as a cell phone - if necessary - but ideally it remains a beautiful accessory," says Philipp Skrabal, ECD of Wirz Werbung.

The subjects depict situations that many people take for granted, but are intended to give the testimonial in the picture a sense of security and self-confidence.

Responsible at Swisscom Smart Secure Living: Marianne Tamborini (Head of Product Management Smart Secure Living), Reto Weber (Senior Project Manager Care), Kathrin Hausammann (Senior Communications & Marketing Specialist). Responsible at Wirz Advertising: Philipp Skrabal (ECD), Hanning Beland (AD), Christian Imfeld (graphics), Bianca Kury (text), Karin Krummenacher, Flurin Hardt, Fabiana Imhof (consulting), Gordon Nemitz (strategy).

In no other industry are there probably as many freelancers as in advertising - external copywriters, graphic designers, photographers and many more. Freelancing is attractive for both the client and the freelancer. The client gains know-how and work resources that he does not have, but which he can quickly get rid of in this form. The freelancer appreciates the independent work. This loose collaboration, which is not explicitly regulated by law, has its pitfalls - especially for the client. From a legal point of view, a freelancer is not an employee, but an independent contractor. A freelancer is not integrated into the client's work structure and is not subject to the client's right to issue instructions. Where, when and how they work is entirely up to the freelancer. If this is not the case in a specific instance, it is probably not freelancing, but an employment relationship. This distinction between freelancing and an employment contract is legally relevant in various respects, not least with regard to social security issues.

Even if creatives dread formalities and experience shows that they are happy to throw advice to the wind, it is highly recommended to agree a written contract with the freelancer. The important points of such a contract include the most specific possible description of the assignment, the fee, including a clear expense regulation, a clause stating that the freelancer is self-insured, regular reporting for longer projects, a clause on the confidential treatment of data of the client's customers and, if applicable, the freelancer himself, possibly a non-competition clause and, in the event of disputes, the place of jurisdiction and the applicable law, especially in international relationships. In contractual relationships in creative industries, it is particularly important to regulate the ownership, licensing and further development of intangible assets such as texts, photographs, graphics, illustrations and multimedia content. It should be explicitly regulated whether the client receives full ownership of the freelancer's services or only a license, i.e. a right of use. If the latter is the case, it should be noted that the client cannot transfer more rights to the freelancer's services to its customers than the client has received from the freelancer. In practice, the question repeatedly arises as to who owns the rights to the further development of the freelancer's work and whether further development or modification of the freelancer's services is permissible at all.

The greatest risk for the client with freelancing is that a compensation fund may not recognize it as such, but instead classify it as an employment contract and can therefore demand social security contributions from the supposed client for up to five years. If the client has employed many supposed freelancers over a long period of time, this can lead to an enormous financial burden. If you are not sure whether the collaboration is really freelancing or an employment contract, you can contact the local compensation office*.

Ueli Grüter
 

The Zurich-based agency already manages several publications in the fields of sport and mobility. It is thus further expanding its activities in content management and corporate publishing, according to a press release from the agency. The editorial team around Raphael Briner and Stephanie Günzler will therefore be strengthened to three people in the new year. All Viva editors have years of experience and up-to-date training in the areas of print, online and social media.

The official organ of the AGVS, the Swiss Automobile Industry Association, is published eleven times a year in German and French with a circulation of 12,400 copies.
 

After the end of the 2012 financial year, Christoph Bauer will hand over the management of the company to Peter Wanner. Wanner will manage AZ Medien on an interim basis until a new operational head is appointed. Bauer's departure comes as a surprise, said Peter Wanner in an interview with Werbewoche. It will therefore take one to two months to find a successor just before Christmas. However, not much will change in the meantime.

The three years under Bauer's leadership were "very successful", according to a statement from AZ Medien. The restructuring of the company in just one year was followed by the acquisition of Tele Züri and Tele Bärn the following year. In the current year, in addition to the market development in Basel and the launch of "Nordwestschweiz", many new projects were initiated and successfully completed. The Board of Directors regrets his departure, the press release continues.
 

WW: Serviceplan Suisse is launching on the day of a possible end of the world. Are you optimists?
Florian Haller: We think December 21, 2012 is an ideal date for the beginning of a new era.
 
Does this start from zero?
Christian Baertschi: No. I'm bringing my agency BMB, which I founded in 2005, into the creation of Serviceplan Suisse. BMB is fully functional and thirsty for us to do more. We also have interesting clients who are happy about the new perspective. Sacha Moser is not coming alone, but with a well-coordinated and strong creative team. We will certainly start with 22 permanent employees. But we are still looking for more employees.
 
Is the time good for such a personnel search?
Sacha Moser: There are many attractive employers. But when a Serviceplan Suisse is founded, it's a very attractive topic, especially when you look at how Serviceplan is taking off at the moment. On the one hand, the growth, a fantastic 18 percent last year. The second point is creativity. Serviceplan has continuously positioned itself superbly and has just moved up to No. 1 in the German creative rankings of Werben & Verkaufen magazine. Serviceplan has thus "knocked off the throne" of long-time winner Jung von Matt, as the headline of the trade magazine puts it.
Florian Haller: I'm a little proud of that. It's an important issue for me that we are not only considered a successful agency, but also a driver of innovation in the industry.
 
Therefore, more interesting people will also change?
Moser: When my colleagues heard about this project, some of them applied immediately, of course. I'm glad that we can continue to work as a creative team in this constellation. When you've built up a constellation like this over a long period of time, it's very valuable.
 
How is Serviceplan positioned today?
Florian Haller: We are an agency group that is very expansive, generating around 200 million euros per year. There have been three phases in the company's development. The first was in Munich, where an advertising agency was turned into a "House of Communication. That means: everything under one roof from a single source. This is how we are positioned in the market today with Serviceplan, Mediaplus and PlanNet. The second step was to move out of Munich to Hamburg and Berlin. Hamburg is a Siamese twin to Munich. Berlin is a special agency, where we do political communications. The third step is now to move forward internationally. On the one hand, this is driven because it is a business opportunity. On the other hand, it's also driven because our clients are demanding more and more international know-how. And it's also a bit of fun for us, because it's just great to have people from different countries with different languages and their often different understanding of communication in a joint agency.
 
What role does Switzerland play in this international expansion?
Haller: Switzerland is of course a very important market for us. Firstly, because it is an interesting economic area. There are a lot of international customers here who also do international communication. Great brands. But it is also a matter of the heart for me to establish a great agency concept in Switzerland. Our vision here is to build a "house of communication" in Zurich.
 
That will also call itself?
Haller: I still have to pay attention there. Maybe the term doesn't quite fit in a multilingual country. But it is the strategic vision - with creation, media and online under one roof. We have already entered into an alliance with Mediaschneider. The big part that we've been missing in Switzerland so far is a creative agency. We're very happy that we've found two partners in Sacha Moser and Christian Baertschi, with whom we can build up this agency here.
 
Baertschi and Moser become partners?
Haller: Partner is very important for us. Sacha and Christian are not employed managing directors in Switzerland, but are substantial partners who hold a large part of the share capital themselves. The partner model is an important success factor for us. This means that we are not managed by the stock exchange or by any financial investors. We are managed by ourselves, by managing directors who always hold a substantial proportion of the shares. We want to do the same in Switzerland.
Baertschi: An important success factor in addition to this participation is also the integration that actually works. It's true that everyone has been working on this for some time now. But I can say from experience that nowhere does it really work as it should. In contrast to Serviceplan. Here, with its mainstays Serviceplan (creative), Mediaplus (media) and PlanNet (digital), the Group has three brands that are among the market leaders in their field.
 
Zurich relies on access to the German network? Baertschi: Yes. Of course, we have access to the know-how that exists in the German market. That is very valuable, especially in the digital area. That gives you a different starting position than when you argue that you have "everything under one roof" because the person who does a bit of dialog also designs the Flash animation at the same time. Which is often a bit of the reality. We have the situation here that in the small Swiss market, hardly any agency can really build that up themselves. People always say that Switzerland is lagging behind in digital development. But one reason is that everything is ten times smaller. There can be less investment.
Haller: This integrative approach is certainly a key growth driver of our 18 percent at Serviceplan last year alone - in a market that is actually saturated.
 
Is that why Serviceplan has its sights set on other countries?
Haller: We are already present with agencies in Austria, in Milan for Italy, in France and Dubai. Last year, we also participated in an agency that took us to Moscow, India and South Korea. If you want to do an inter national business, you have to cover the most important economic areas as well and have your competence locally.
 
Are there already other customers in Switzerland than these from BMB?
Baertschi: The interest has not yet been confirmed statistically. But we are in the middle of several pitches. I had to inform our customers, and they had priority in the information. The reactions are quite positive. Here comes the integration issue again. Customers are quickly seeing the benefits. For many customers, this whole fragmentation has become a nagging issue: What do I give to which agency? We also notice this in pitches. All of a sudden, there's a digital agency in the round, a traditional agency, and suddenly another specialized agency. This means that customers no longer know what to give to whom. This decision is taken off the client's hands when they can draw on Serviceplan's entire pool.
 
Moser: When it was already partly leaked, we received inquiries. The fact that we are a partner-led network is very positive and appealing. It's a completely different way of working in terms of commitment. The whole responsibility is assessed differently. You also see the customer's problems as an entrepreneur and try to solve them together. You can see that in Switzerland and also in other markets that the owner-managed agencies in this industry approach things more freely. As a rule, they are also the more creative agencies.
 
So no long consideration for entry?
Moser: We did an interview just a few months ago about Red Lion. At the time, I was very happy with the situation and it got off to a very good start. We were able to do some nice campaigns. There was practically nothing that would have taken me away from there. But a constellation like the one Serviceplan is offering me now only comes along once every ten years, if at all. A new brand entry - and I can even get involved myself.
Haller: That was a very decisive point for us. The question: Why did it take you so long to set up a creative agency in Switzerland? The reason is because it's not easy to find partners with whom you can build such a company together and with whom you want to do so. That's what sets us apart from other agencies. We don't want to send someone from Berlin, Hamburg or Munich to set up a Serviceplan branch here in Switzerland. We want to work with someone to really build up an agency. That's what will make us successful in the end.
 
Was a headhunter used?
Haller: We have evaluated ourselves. Of course, we talked to several people, as is necessary. But in addition to the professional component, the human component always plays a very strong role. We are not a financial construct; we also have to work together and have fun doing it. That was a very important issue for us in addition to the professional qualifications.
 
Did you already know each other well?
Moser: Christian approached me. That wasn't very long ago. But we now know each other very well. I was also very impressed by the fact that Christian has been successfully running an agency since 2005. In the last few years, there have been many new agencies, but many more have had to close down again. Christian with BMB has managed this wonderfully. With this set-up and the international partner, it's a completely different perspective. But it's certainly a very solid basis.
Baertschi: Why Sacha Moser? When the first discussions with Serviceplan took place, the list of possibilities was not insanely long. Sacha has proven that he can do very outstanding work on large and difficult clients. That's a quality that very few creatives really bring to the table. Add to that: In the field of moving image, there is no one in Switzerland who brings so much experience to the table. And the coming developments will take place in the moving image sector.
 
What will the division of labor be?
Baertschi: We are both partners. I certainly have consulting and strategy background, Sacha creation. We'll give each other a bit of a talking to. Haller: I sit on the Board of Directors. But I have no operational responsibility. They don't need me there.
 
There are many creative people from Germany. How Swiss will Serviceplan Suisse be?
Haller: We don't want to install a branch of a German agency here, we want to be a Swiss agency here. That's why the idea can't be that we now do the creation in Germany, but that there has to be a local setup. It has to be strongly Swiss. People of all nationalities can come, and Germans are certainly not unwelcome. One strength is: We can breathe very strongly. We are a manageably large team here for the time being. But of course we can react very quickly, pull together people from the network and very quickly handle large tasks and projects. These people can also come from Italy or France.
 
Where will the agency be located?
Baertschi: At the moment we are at BMB at Seefeldstrasse 307, but we will be moving in the first half of the year and are about to sign the contracts for the new premises.
 
What are the first targets in Switzerland?
Haller: We don't want to get carried away with goals in the area of numbers. The only goal is first of all a strategic one in terms of content. We want to be a serious major agency here with the set-up from communications that makes us unique. We want to create campaigns that are innovative, that people talk about, that show new approaches. Those three things have to come to pass. But we are not pressed by time.
Moser: One important goal is to become the most attractive employer in our industry. We also want to manifest this with the location. We want to have room for maneuver. In Germany, this is very well exemplified. It is very important to us that we create an extremely attractive location for our employees. So that creativity can be fully developed there.
Haller: That is one of our strengths in Germany. People find an ambience with us in which they feel comfortable. In a survey last year, we were voted the most popular employer of all German advertising agencies. That makes us proud, because it's an important issue. On the one hand, it's a labor market issue if you want to attract young people who you have to compete for. That's even worse in Switzerland. But it's also a matter of making people feel good about themselves. That creates a culture of cohesion.
Moser: This closes the circle to the owner-managed agency. In such an agency, it's much easier to implement something like this.
Interview: Andreas Panzeri
 

Serviceplan Suisse
 
Christian Baertschi studied business administration in St. Gallen and started his career in management consulting. After additional training as a strategic planner, he gained many years of national and international experience at Advico Young & Rubicam and Spillmann Felser Leo Burnett. Here he worked as a member of the management team since the company was founded. In 2005, Christian Baertschi founded his own BMB advertising agency with ten employees in Zurich Seefeld.
Sacha Moser graduated from the School of Applied Arts and did an apprenticeship as a graphic designer at DDB. At the early age of 23, he became an AD at Advico. He worked for two years as Senior AD at Young & Rubicam in Puerto Rico and was Senior AD and Associate CD at Young & Rubicam in New York before being appointed CD at Publicis back in Zurich in 2005. In the summer of 2012, Sacha Moser was entrusted with the leadership as CD of the newly founded spin-off Red Lion, before now being confronted with the opportunity to found his own agency.
Florian Haller is one of the managing partners of the Serviceplan Group. He is one of the handful of Swiss who have made a career as an advertiser abroad. Haller studied in St. Gallen and also did "a bit of involuntary" military service here. He worked for five years in Geneva at Procter & Gamble before taking over the management of Serviceplan in Munich, founded by his father Peter Haller in 1970, in 2002. Florian broke up the one-location policy. Today, Serviceplan is also present in Hamburg, Berlin, Bremen, Zurich, Vienna, Paris, Dubai, Delhi, Seoul, Moscow and Beijing. During Florian Haller's time, fee revenues have increased from 54 to around 200 million euros in just eight years. At the German Media Awards, Florian Haller was named "Media Personality 2010.

She is a publisher, agency owner - and networker. Together with a team of five corporate specialists, Manuela Stier designs corporate identities and communication solutions for SMEs - from individual measures such as an employee magazine or annual report to the overall concept. "The best thing is to create a new corporate identity on white paper," explains the agency manager.
 
If Stier Communications is to position a client in the market, the first step is to identify the company's values. What does a company stand for? And how does it act? The agency then makes these values visible. Not only externally, but also internally. "Many companies save on the internal employee magazine first. That's wrong!" The potential of employee branding is too often neglected. Stier believes it is important to give your customers a face through storytelling. Technology companies in particular often try to distinguish themselves through products. But: "We've known for 20 years that you can't position yourself through a product alone." Stier points to a magazine with pipes, screws and other building materials on the cover. "No company can stand out from its competitors with this." In this case, Stier advises not to present individual components, but to show what is subsequently created from them. After all, a building evokes more emotions than a few pipes.
 
The PR consultant and sales manager founded the agency 18 years ago. She originally focused on technology companies because they "weren't doing anything yet" in terms of positioning. More and more service companies, banks, associations and publishing houses were added to the portfolio. Today, Stier Communications is responsible for the overall concept of the BWB Group and Archi FM Verlag, among others. The agency designed the CD manual used worldwide for Brugg Pipe Systems.

Networked in the entrepreneurial world

Stier has maintained its down-to-earth attitude over the years. The credo is to be as close to the customer as possible. This is also embodied by the company headquarters in Weiningen near Schlieren. Surrounded by typical SMEs, including an architect, an office furniture manufacturer and a heating and plumbing company, the agency is located in a small industrial district. The PR woman also intensifies contact with the business world by publishing the business magazine. The magazine, which is published three times a year, is an author's journal in which business representatives shed light on a current topic from an entrepreneurial perspective and pass on their practical knowledge. With the magazine "by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs", Stier, as a small agency, wants to make its communication expertise tangible for potential customers. "You can read theory everywhere. We show entrepreneurs how their peers act," says Stier.
 
Her two roles as editor-in-chief and agency owner are intertwined. If Stier senses in contact with customers that a topic is of concern to entrepreneurs, she makes it the subject of the next business magazine. When she noticed that established companies are often skeptical about new media, she conducted a study on "Social media in corporate communications" together with a German agency and then presented the results in the next issue. Conversely, the business magazine is a showcase through which the agency demonstrates its skills. "Discreet self-promotion", as Stier calls it. And a means of getting in touch with interesting people and further expanding her extensive network - she currently has 1,300 contacts on Xing. Time and again, she succeeds in attracting well-known business representatives as authors. Guest contributions have already come from Petra Jenner, Country Manager Microsoft Switzerland, Pierin Vincenz, Raiffeisen Bank, and Carolina Müller-Möhl, Müller-Möhl Group. However, the fact that Stier publishes a magazine as an agency owner is not universally welcomed. When she launched the magazine six years ago, she was often told that she was not a publisher. Today she says with pride: "I am an enthusiastic publisher."

Present on all channels

Over the years, Stier has succeeded in anchoring its brand among entrepreneurs with the business magazine. In print, in the new media, at events and on television. On Wirtschaftsmagazin. ch and on the "Unternehmer" app, more than 700 articles by company managers are now available. Each issue is also accompanied by the "Unternehmertalk" broadcast on Tele Top, in which business representatives discuss the topic of the current issue. Entrepreneur events and a free entrepreneur app complement the active entrepreneur platform. Her latest project is a commitment to a charitable foundation for people with rare diseases in Schlieren, with which she organized the first business magazine charity event for children with rare diseases in October. And it goes without saying that the entrepreneur is using all communication channels to publicize her project. The charity event was filmed by Tele Top and subsequently broadcast on various websites and shared on the social web. Anyone who is somehow connected to Stier is constantly provided with news. Guaranteed.
 
Isabel Imper

Cornelia Harder (Draftfcb/Lowe) and Gabriel Peisker (erdmannpeisker) also come from the traditional agency side. The round is completed by Mark Forster (Adello) and Peter A. van der Touw (Notch Interactive). The readers of Werbewoche will decide who will receive the trophy, the Egon, at the end of January. All subscribers will receive a voting card by post. Each subscription counts as one vote. There will be a party in Zurich on January 31. Further information on the event will follow. imp
 

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Geri Aebi, CEO and co-owner Wirz Group
 
With 27 Eurobest awards, gold-silver-bronze at the Epica, a silver lion in Cannes, three silver Effies, twelve ADC cubes, gold medals at the DM and Crossmedia Awards as well as the Corporate Communications Award and a Red Dot Design Award, the Wirz Group's award record for 2012 is impressive. There is also a prize that Geri Aebi is particularly proud of, even though it does not appear in any Krea rankings: Wirz is the first communications company to be recognized as one of the best employers in the country at the Swiss Employer Awards.
 

Geri Aebi, in 2010 you handed over Wirz Werbung to the operational management trio Thomas Städeli/Petra Dreyfus/Philipp Skrabal and have been CEO of the Wirz Group ever since. What have you contributed to the successes?
The trio has now become a sextet with Gordon Nemitz/Daniel Ehrensperger/ Markus Schärer. And I see this as my most important contribution to success: putting together a strong team that wants to achieve as much as possible for our customers in the best Wirz tradition.

You have already been nominated for "Advertiser of the Year" several times. Why did you deserve the title this year?
I see the nomination as a nice snapshot that also honors my entire ten years at Wirz. During this time, we have managed to make a financial, cultural and creative comeback - and as an owner-managed group with 140 employees, this is probably also a respectable entrepreneurial achievement.
 
You have been in the running for "Advertiser of the Year" several times. Commenting on your last nomination last year, you said: "The rare boss combination of business economist and creative proved to be a personal formula for success. " In what way?
An entrepreneurial mind with a creative heart can be a qualified discussion partner for both employees and customers. Regardless of whether it's about strategies and ideas for campaigns, their impact or their remuneration ...
 

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Peter Brönnimann, Executive CD Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett
 
SFLB's new winter film for Switzerland Tourism has won silver twice at the Epica Awards. The Wetterschmöcker spot with Martin Horat on the anthill caused a huge stir this year and was awarded gold for best TV spot at Edi.12, while the "Vokuhila" spot for Sanitas health insurance also won silver. SFLB's top placings in all national and international awards underline the fact that the creative kitchen is really buzzing. In recent years, the agency has consistently been among the top three in the creative rankings. Currently, it even tops the list. Executive Creative Director and co-founder Peter Brönnimann is jointly responsible for this success.
 
Peter Brönnimann, what does SFLB do differently in the area of creation than the agencies that were beaten in the ranking?
 
We are lucky to work for many great brands, for clients who believe in the power of creative advertising. This in turn attracts good people. We all aim to create really popular brand campaigns for our clients. It's great when these are also recognized at awards. But we were just as pleased this year that one of our campaigns made it into the new Globi book - because it's a kind of crowning glory for the popularity of a campaign.
 
Board member Martin Spillmann recently announced his appointment as Executive Creative Director Continental Western Europe at Leo Burnett. What does this mean for you as Executive CD?
First of all, I am very happy for Martin and Leo Burnett. And I'm looking forward to an increased exchange with our European colleagues. According to Martin, there are incredible talents in a wide range of areas who would love to work with us - and we with them.
 
You have already been nominated for "Advertiser of the Year" several times. Why did you deserve the title this year? As much as I like advertising for our clients, I don't like advertising for myself and prefer to let the work speak for itself. But of course I'd love it if the title went to a creative once again, after excellent media planners, managing directors and agency founders have been honored in recent years.

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Mark Forster, founder of Adello

Mark Forster is committed to 100% for digital - especially mobile - media. He also works as an angel investor, consultant and speaker (at the FHNW, HWZ, Swiss Media Institute) and is writing his first book. With Adello, he founded a mobile advertising company four years ago, when mobile advertising was still in its infancy. "We invest a lot of energy in specialist events and the advertising lexicon Adpedia.ch to promote generic marketing for mobile." Today, Adello is expanding and has opened branches in Lausanne, Hamburg and Warsaw. Adello received the "Start-up Award" in 2012 and was named "Digital Marketer of the Year" by the IAB. The mobile specialists implement campaigns for companies such as BMW, Helsana, Migros, Nespresso, Sony Music, Swisscom, UBS and WWF and market mobile offers and apps from publishers such as Ringier.

Mark Forster, less than one percent of the advertising budget is currently invested in mobile advertising (PricewaterhouseCoopers). Bad prospects?
According to the same study, mobile advertising in Switzerland is expected to grow by 36% per year. That is more than a tripling in five years. I don't know of any industry that would consider such growth to be a bad prospect. We can already live with today's one percent. Since Q4/2010, more tablets/smartphones have been sold worldwide than PCs. Advertising will shift in our direction. The only question is whether at +36% per year or more.

Mobile advertising formats that meet with acceptance have yet to be found. Your recipe?
Contrary to popular opinion, acceptance is usually higher than in other media (e.g. Tomorrow Focus). The question is rather how we ensure that willingness remains high as advertising increases. Cheaper & more is not an option. We have to maximize quality in the triangle between consumer, advertiser and publisher. This is the only way to increase satisfaction and move the medium forward. We put a lot of effort into proving the benefits of mobile advertising. We have started to measure and evaluate success factors with our Swiss Mobile Tool/AdCTRL and can now even predict relevance/response. While geo-targeting and retargeting are slowly moving into the advertising consciousness today, we are already developing the technologies for the coming years with AdCTRL.

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Cornelia Harder, CEO Draftfcb/Lowe Zurich

Cornelia Harder missed out on the title of "Advertiser of the Year 1995" by just a few votes after she helped the Swiss milk producers to create the legendary Lovely advertising cow. This year, Harder, now on the agency side, is once again among the contenders. She has been at the helm of Draftfcb/Lowe Zurich as CEO since 2008. The Swiss agency with international network connections employs 40 people and has been looking after the BMW and MINI car brands for years. The client portfolio consists of a mix of consumer goods and service brands such as NIVEA, Eucerin, Cailler, 1818, Swisshaus, Unilever and NPO mandates such as Greenpeace, MS Gesellschaft, Theater Rigiblick, Blindenbund. His work for the Theater Rigiblick is particularly well known. The annual report, staged in the most beautiful theatrical style, was awarded bronze at Eurobest 2012 and won a Silver Lion in Cannes.

Cornelia Harder, what other work are you particularly proud of?
To all the campaigns we have created specifically for the Swiss market. We are particularly proud of the bronze Lion from Cannes and many other awards won by last year's fastest Christmas card in the world for BMW M5. The follow-up X-mas card is brand new and can be admired at www.fastestchristmassong.ch. With over 350,000 YouTube clicks in the first three days, it has already been very successful.

As a manager, how can you bring advertising art into the marketing of everyday products?
By "advertising art" I don't mean artificial l'art pour l'art, but the art of efficient and successful communication. This is our daily task; to put our clients' brands in the right light and to present them in a surprising, appealing and attractive way.

Draftfcb was not previously known as a creative agency. What has changed?
With a great deal of creativity and tangible results, we are making great strides towards the top of the creative agencies. With the creative team led by Dennis Lück, we have received numerous national and international awards in the last twelve months. In the last ADC ranking, for example, we moved up to 6th place and in Cannes 2012 we even won two Lions, making us the second-best Swiss agency. This confirms that we have definitely achieved the creative turnaround and are ready for the Champions League.

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Gabriel Peisker, founder and CD erdmannpeisker

In 1999, Gabriel Peisker founded the erdmannpeisker agency together with Sybille Erdmann, without a fixed plan or goal. The two got to know and appreciate each other at smart in Biel. What started small is still small today, but with big brands and award-winning work. Together with hundreds of mountaineers, the Biel-based creative agency creates disturbing images in the Alps for the mountain sports equipment manufacturer Mammut. This involvement campaign not only won Effi Gold in 2012, but also the Marketing Trophy, where it also won the Audience Award.
 
Gabriel Peisker, Involvement often seems to be a theme in erdmannpeisker's communication ...
True, but only if it really makes sense. In the case of the new Rivella commercial, for example, it was clear in advance that Rivella, as the "Official Thirst Quencher of Switzerland", would have to implement the campaign together with the Swiss. Rivella has countless fans. They love to be involved. The Rhaetian Railway's heir campaign, where offers from all over Graubünden can be inherited every week on Facebook, has also become a self-runner. As soon as it is posted, dozens of fans like and play along.
 
On the agency website you write: "Objectively speaking, I would have to admit to signs of addiction ..." 
I am actually a person who is free from addiction. But as a man of conviction, I simply love my work!

To what extent are your design and brand origins still evident today?
Brand is still my most important thing - I have simply realized that communication is the most powerful tool to position a brand strongly. Peisker does not leave the bosom flash in the commercial for Flumserberg uncommented. "Flumserberg's customers have long since answered that," he says. "There's been a lot of hype about the commercial." In fact, many users on 20min online have taken sides with the advertisers. The vast majority did not understand the view of two SP politicians who considered the film sexist. The ad and the debate were also picked up in other newspapers: on NZZ.ch, in various regional newspapers as well as in a German and a Belgian newspaper.

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Peter A. van der Touw, CEO Notch Interactive
 
"We are craftsmen of the 21st century." As CEO of Notch Interactive, Van der Touw demonstrates this to his 20 or so employees every day. Although the creative agency with a focus on digital communication thrives on fresh ideas and progressive solutions, van der Touw is convinced that communication is and remains a craft that has to be learned through experience, success and mistakes. Brands such as Denner, Kimberly-Clark, Manor, Search.ch, Sonova and Swisscom rely on the experts at the Zurich-based agency, which was founded in 2010. Van der Touw's approach aims not only to strengthen brand awareness, but also to trigger actions in the recipient that lead to a dialog or a transaction. To this end, the team of the Swiss national of Dutch-Indonesian origin uses familiar and sometimes unconventional tools of modern communication.
 
Van der Touw has already won various industry awards such as the DM Prize, Best of Swiss Web and Swiss Effie. With the "Life Sounds Good" website for the hearing aid manufacturer Sonova, he recently won two more awards; at the Best of Swiss Web 2012, he received the winning buoy in the "Silver Surfer" category and bronze in "Business Efficiency".
 
Peter van der Touw, what is your recipe for success?
"Challenging Existing Standards" - that's what I demand of every employee. The agency motto, which is also emblazoned in large letters next to the agency entrance, is treated like a mantra in our company. We are constantly developing customized and surprising solutions for our clients' communications.
 
And how do you see the further shift in budgets from traditional advertising to the online sector?
The regular and long taken-for-granted use of digital content by society is a fact. It is therefore a logical consequence that more and more budget is flowing into digital communication. However, the new media will not completely replace the "classic" ones. Skilful orchestration of channels is still a decisive factor in successful brand communication. In order to offer a successful "user experience", a clever "user journey" that takes into account the target group, their behavior and the communication objective is crucial.

Switzerland would be among the pioneers," Federal Councillor Doris Leuthard rejoiced two years ago when the new provisions on unfair competition (UWG) were being debated in parliament. The Council of States had just proposed to also ban promises of profits that dubious providers use as a lure for promotional trips or sales events. But that is not enough. In addition to such unfair promises, other business methods have been considered prohibited since April 1. For example:

 Advertising call despite star entry: It does not matter in which directory the entry is noted. The star entry also prohibits the data from being passed on for advertising purposes.

 Online store without identity: The Internet provider does not disclose who he is, nor does he give the postal and e-mail addresses at which he can be reached. In addition, there is no information on how to correct input errors when placing an order, and an order received is not confirmed immediately.

 Directory fraud: In the offer for a register entry or an advertisement, the costs, term, total price, form and distribution of the publication are not indicated in large print, in a clearly visible place and in comprehensible language. It is also forbidden to send an invoice for a register entry or an advertisement without having received an order for it beforehand.

Violations of the new provisions are punishable by prison sentences of up to three years or fines of up to one million Swiss francs. So what applies if you have fallen for an unfair method and have concluded a contract? Does the violation of the new law in any case lead to the contract being null and void and thus automatically dissolved? Or must the person concerned prove that he or she was tricked, for example? The question is disputed among legal experts. It will ultimately be clarified by the courts. Until then, those affected must defend themselves and proceed with a registered letter as follows, depending on the contract:

 Anyone who has ordered something over the phone or bought something on a promotional trip can revoke the contract within seven days.

 If one is mistaken about the identity of the online store, the contract should be challenged on the grounds of mistake.

 Anyone who has fallen for a directory swindler must contest the contract on the grounds of deception and error.

In addition, those affected can file a criminal complaint for unfair competition. In doing so, they can now hope for the support of the federal government. This is because the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) is entitled to file lawsuits against companies with unfair business practices or to file criminal charges if several people are affected. In addition, Seco has the possibility to publish the names of the offending company in order to warn further potential victims. Affected persons should not hesitate to report the swindlers to Seco. The corresponding complaint form can be found at www.seco.admin.ch.

Book tip Legal questions in everyday life The big Swiss legal guide The Beobachter's comprehensive Swiss legal guide answers your big and small legal questions in a flash; straightforward and competent. 352 pages, Fr. 38.-, 3rd edition, 2012 ISBN 978-3-85569-559-1 Beobachter-Buchverlag.