According to estimates, up to five percent of the Swiss population is sensitive to gluten. They need recipes and information that are 100 percent gluten-free. With "Glutenfrei leben" Betty Bossi wants to close this gap: On 52 pages, readers will find more than 20 simple and gluten-free recipes, as well as product and restaurant tips, ideas for outings, exciting information from gluten research and information from medical specialists. In addition, celiac disease sufferers report on how they cope with certain situations in a relaxed manner, even with gluten intolerance.

"For many, gluten-free baking in particular is a challenge, as the flour cannot be replaced 1:1 with a gluten-free alternative," says Nils Heiniger, recipe editor of the magazine. Using different combinations of flour, starch and binding agents, his team tests and optimizes the recipes up to half a dozen times until the result is perfect and the guarantee of success is given at home. There, the recipes then only have to be followed exactly and the quantities precisely weighed out.

Since many readers bake their own bread, each issue contains a "Bread Baking School". The challenging handling of gluten-free bread doughs is easy with the recipes and tips that have been tested several times. As a further highlight in the magazine, the team develops gluten-free variants of personal recipes requested by readers.

Experience from pilot project 

Betty Bossi already launched the first Swiss recipe magazine for gluten-free nutrition two years ago in a pilot project. Now, with an even greater variety of recipes and topics, the new magazine is designed to meet the special needs of people with celiac disease and anyone interested in a gluten-free diet even better.

The magazine is published six times a year in German and French and is available as a single issue at newsstands and as an annual subscription.

Sustainability controlling

• Author: Ulrich Sailer
• Publisher: UVK, 2020
• Pages: 310
• ISBN: 97838253325

Many people are not aware of the importance of controlling in the fight against climate change, certainly not controllers. They often focus on economic success instead of ecological and social progress. This can be lamented or - as Ulrich Sailer has in mind - changed. His book Sustainability Controlling is a systematic overview and provides in detail the currently available tools that make more sustainability in corporate management possible.

Delighting customers with a system

5 steps to customer experience execution. 

• Author: Franz-Rudolf Esch and Daniel Kochann
• Publisher: Campus Verlag, 2019
• Pages: 224
• ISBN: 9783593509952

Under increasing competitive pressure, those companies whose customers are most satisfied are ahead of the game, because satisfied customers are loyal customers. Today, when people talk about transformation in a company, they usually mean digitization. That's important, because it changes the playing field and the rules. But even more important, according to the authors, is the transformation from a product-centric to a customer-centric company. Their book shows how this can be achieved in five steps and is therefore a good guide for managers in customer-facing areas.

Content marketing with corporate blogs

Practical guide for strategy, editing and marketing.

• Author: Meike Leopold
• Publisher: Haufe Verlag, 2019
• Pages: 239
• ISBN: 9783648123980

Blogs are one of the classics of online communication. In the meantime, however, many blogs have become outdated. Often they only convey lukewarmly warmed-up content in dull lead type. There is another way. Lively corporate blogs tailored to the target group make companies and brands tangible, likeable and trustworthy. Of course, this does not come for free, but needs to be comprehensively planned. The book shows how this can be done with its many practical tips.

Getting innovations off the ground

• Author: Erik Nagel, David Griesbach, Stephanie Kaudela-Baum, Pierre-Yves Kocher, Jens O. Meissner, Seraina Mohr and Christian Wunderlin
• Publisher: Versus Publishing House, 2018
• Pages: 140
• ISBN: 9783039092734

Companies need innovations to survive. But what characterizes an innovative company? What culture, structures and processes does it need? Seven lecturers from the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts provide a systematic, practice-oriented overview of the most important fields of action for innovation processes. Much of their ten-point program is not new, and some of it is only touched on superficially. Nevertheless, the book offers a good basis for a quick start in innovation management.

Even though there is an increasing easing of restrictions, bricks-and-mortar retail is reopening and the lockdown has been overcome for the time being, Germans are still increasingly shopping online. 58% of them currently store online on a regular basis - just as many as during the lockdown (58%). So why change anything? More than two thirds of German consumers (67%) are quite satisfied with their online shopping experience in recent months. Only 3% of them complain about a negative shopping experience.

Nevertheless, there is potential for improvement: 30% complain about slow or faulty product pages, 26% about checkout processes taking too long and 26% about complicated store layouts during the lockdown. Overall, the vast majority of German consumers have preferred online marketplaces such as Amazon or eBay (57%) for online shopping in recent months. Retailers' own websites (10 percent) and brands (3 percent) are lagging behind and are used much less frequently. This is the result of the current "Adobe Online Shopping Trends 2020", for which over 1000 German consumers were surveyed in July 2020.

Vacation trips are canceled: Germans beautify their homes

The most popular products that clearly dominated German online shopping during the lockdown were clothing (56%), electronics (33%) and non-prescription medicines (30%). Compared to the period before COVID-19, online purchases in the areas of food (+54%) and non-prescription medicines (+47%) in particular increased significantly during the lockdown. In the coming months, Germans are planning to buy DIY (21%) and gardening (20%) products to improve their homes. Obviously a direct consequence of the reduced desire to travel: 52% of Germans will not be traveling this summer, but will be spending their vacations at home. Those who want to travel despite the restrictions prefer to stay in Germany (29%) or drive their own car (68%). Only 23% are planning to fly this year.

"Online retail can confirm the trend of recent months and is becoming the standard of our new normality. Anyone who understands their customers' customer journey and can offer seamless interaction at every touchpoint has a clear advantage," says Christoph Kull, Vice President and Managing Director Adobe Central Europe at Adobe. "For companies, expanding their digital customer relationships and sales channels is therefore a direct investment in their own business resilience and future."

VAT reduction has hardly any sales-promoting effect

Price, time savings and distance from others are the main reasons why people continue to rely on online shopping. At the same time, consumer behavior is generally being reflected more strongly: 44% of respondents in the Adobe survey say they have become much more aware of their shopping habits since the lockdown. More than one in two (57%) would like to support German companies in particular with their online purchases or make a contribution to environmental protection. Price (54%), time savings (52%) and distance to others (50%) are the main reasons why people continue to opt for online shopping. The reduction in VAT has little influence on purchasing decisions: Due to the current price reductions, only one in ten Germans (10 percent) are buying more food and electronic items. In all other product categories, the sales-promoting effect of the VAT reduction remains in the single-digit percentage range.

According to the survey, the majority of German consumers (53%) plan to spend the same amount on gifts this year as in 2019, while just under a third (32%) even plan to increase their budget. After a difficult start, this prospect of high sales in the most important quarter of the year is a relief for many companies and retailers.

How Corona has affected consumers

An international comparison of 15 countries and regions shows that the coronavirus crisis has led to greater thriftiness in many places. Not so in Germany: only 28% of Germans have reduced their monthly spending since the outbreak of the pandemic, while France (33%) and the UK (49%) are saving significantly more.

Consumers spent most of their money on digital entertainment (44%), food (43%) and electronics (31%) - in other words, on things to keep them busy at home during the lockdown.

Even if they are not deterred from shopping, consumers still want to avoid crowds. The majority (52%) are therefore shopping online more than last year; many consumers are using eCommerce for the first time. This change in behavior will continue in the second half of 2020 and offers retailers the opportunity to attract new target groups to their online channels.

Online wins

The vast majority of Germans (65%) will shop online during the Christmas period. Almost half of them (48%) will do so from a mobile device. Online and mobile strategies are therefore more important than ever for retailers.

"In-app tracking and efficient reward strategies are now mandatory for companies if they value their mobile channel," says Stefan Bernauer, Country Manager DACH at Rakuten Advertising. "With in-app tracking, advertisers can track conversions in the app and optimize their campaigns for app users. This allows companies to better understand how their customers shop on mobile and optimize the consumer experience more easily."

Discounts and free shipping 

Companies and retailers are most likely to win over consumers in Germany with discounts and offers. Free shipping convinced 26% of respondents, while "2-for-1" offers worked for 22% - a significantly above-average figure in a global comparison. When considering the type of offers, retailers should bear in mind that half (48%) of consumers buy for three to five family members over the festive period. Discounts and promotions aimed at families will therefore be worthwhile.

"Retailers and companies can rely on affiliates to reward consumers for their shopping so that it doesn't stop at one purchase," adds Bernauer. "AI-supported tools can be used to display personalized offers that respond to consumers' past behaviour. This creates an individual experience and further motivates consumers to buy."

German consumers still intend to shop predominantly within Europe during this important shopping season (51%). The main reason for not shopping internationally is the high shipping costs (65%), but concerns about possible complications with returns also play an important role here (35%).

100 representatives of the US marketing industry took part in the survey. A quarter of them responded to the crisis, but felt "paralyzed" in the process and were unsure about how to proceed. Nine percent wished they had responded differently to the situation. Twelve percent did little public relations work during this time because they "didn't see a role for their brand in the world."

According to analysts at Forsman & Bodenfors, however, brands in particular can benefit from the coronavirus crisis. "Hard times are driving consumers to seek information and confidence through media content. Generation Z, in particular, is watching a lot more online video. Resilient brands that have something to say are now finding an attentive audience," the ad agency says.

Silence hurts brand

Saying something is of utmost importance, according to Forsman & Bodenfors, because silence in the coronavirus crisis hurts a brand. Analysts estimate that inactivity will reduce corporate revenues by eleven percent throughout 2020. The advertising agency advises marketers to define a real purpose and motivation for their brands so that customers take them seriously when they make a statement. In addition, transparency and the use of digital technology are also important at this time, it says. (pte)

A good one in two US marketers boycotted social media giant Facebook in July. This is shown in a survey by Digiday . In the course of the #StopHateForProfit campaign, companies such as the ice cream manufacturer Ben and Jerry's and the sporting goods company Adidas refuse to continue paying for advertising space on the platform. According to the brands, Facebook is doing too little to stop hate and incitement on its own platform.

Protest rather symbolic

Digiday conducted the survey of 104 media agency representatives. 56 percent of respondents say their clients no longer pay for advertising space on Facebook. However, this step is only rather symbolic for the agencies. 55 percent believe that the boycott will not result in any meaningful changes.

In fact, #StopHateForProfit has hardly damaged Facebook's bottom line. "Some wrongly assume that our business depends on a few larger advertisers," CEO Mark Zuckerberg said. In July, the company said profit grew ten percent compared to the same period last year.

Brands already return

Although Facebook's reputation has suffered from various scandals in recent years, many marketers still can't get away from the platform. According to Digiday, 41 percent of brands will return to Facebook as early as August. Another 26 percent will follow at the end of the third quarter and 13 percent will wait until the end of the year. (pte/hae)

Using machine learning, the system can identify four of the five personality traits from the psychological "Big Five" model: Open-mindedness, perfectionism, sociability and emotional sensitivity.

"Like a digital footprint"

"The accuracy of the predictions is similar to that of digital footprints on social media platforms. This shows that information can only be gathered from passively collected behavior patterns on the smartphone," the developers write. They also warn of how easy it is to collect personal data outside of social networks.

The scientists collected data from 624 volunteers. They focused on the factors of communication, listening to music, the use of apps, the frequency of smartphone use and the mobility of users. They then used this data to train the algorithm.

Danger to privacy

Apart from the personality trait empathy, the system can predict all characteristics from the Big Five model based on smartphone usage. Although this is an important finding for psychological research, it also shows the risk of privacy violations and the precise targeting of specific target groups. (pte)

Protein products are in vogue. This is why the Emmi Energy Milk High Protein product range is also being expanded: the protein drinks are now also available with Whey protein, a high-quality whey protein for optimal muscle building.

The positioning remains the same for all protein drinks: "The great-tasting, healthy protein drink around sports activities." It was important for the implementation in the communication that the drink seamlessly integrates into the existing product range and, on the other hand, stands out sufficiently as a novelty.

The new spots will be used on TV, online and as a social media campaign.

Sir Mary is starting from scratch for Polestar. In order to get to one hundred quickly, the Zurich agency will have a wide range of tasks, from launch campaigns, test-drive events, and communications around the opening of new "Polestar Spaces." The goal is to quickly make the brand known in Switzerland and to bring the Polestar 2 electric hatchback sedan to Swiss roads. To do this, Polestar is relying on a holistic digital customer journey.

"Launching a new car brand in Switzerland - you don't get such a comprehensive task every day. The fact that Polestar is outperforming all others in terms of sustainability, innovation, and driving pleasure makes us proud mandate holders," says Daniel Zuberbühler, co-founder and Client Service Director at Sir Mary.

Sascha Heiniger, Head of Polestar Switzerland: "The market for electric cars is highly competitive, fast and still very new. That's why we need an agency that thinks and works like that. We are convinced that we have found the ideal co-driver in Sir Mary."

Polestar was introduced by Volvo in 2015 as a tuning forge. In 2017, Volvo announced that Polestar would start producing high-quality electric cars under its own name and brand in the future. Polestar is jointly owned by Volvo Cars and its parent company Geely. For a deposit of 1000 francs, the Polestar 2 can already be reserved. If one changes one's mind, the deposit will be refunded without further ado.

New addition to Monami: The agency, based in Zurich and Chur, is expanding its management team - and bringing Fathima Ifthikar on board. Ifthikar built up the social channels at UBS, where she was most recently Head of Social Media, and will bring her experience to Monami in a multifaceted role from August.

Thus, on the one hand, Ifthikar will look after clients directly as a senior consultant, but on the other hand, together with Stefan Erdin and Tim Schaerer, she will also be responsible for various internal processes at Monami. "After many years on the client side, I am very much looking forward to being with an agency for the first time," says Ifthikar.

Currently, the daily newsletter is on pause. From Monday, August 10, 2020, we will again provide you with daily news and background stories from the world of advertising, marketing and media. If you are on vacation in July: Have a good rest and enjoy the time off from work. To everyone else: Hold the fort, we'll be back at it soon. Our editorial offices will be occupied again as of August 3. Merci for your loyalty!

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The 11th edition of the Annual Report Symposium - organized by the Center for Corporate Reporting - was held completely digitally for the first time. The event was moderated live from the traditional venue - the GDI Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute in Rüschlikon near Zurich. Over 300 registered experts from the fields of communications, investor relations, finance, sustainability and governance followed the plenary presentations and best practice sessions with first-class speakers via livestream and engaged in lively discussions in the chat.

At the end of the symposium, the most important findings were summarized in the "Wrap-up and Virtual Networking" and discussed live with the community in a video meeting. Using cameras and microphones, numerous reporting experts joined in and networked with each other.

"Impact - nothing else matters" - the guiding theme, which was addressed and highlighted in a variety of ways in the program, opened up a number of questions in advance: What is the purpose of a company and what is it responsible for? How can companies holistically understand and manage the economic, environmental and social impact of their business activities? And how can they credibly demonstrate the impact of their core business at a strategic and operational level?

The five most important findings of the Annual Report Symposium 2020 are

• The topic of "impact" belongs on the agenda. "Impact" can be managed through long-term planning and the implementation of traceable processes.
• ESG issues must be addressed, the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) implemented and integrated into reporting.
• The top management level must deal with sustainability issues, act as role models and carry and live the messages.
• In reporting, priorities must be set and the objectives and target groups that the reporting should reach must be defined.
• The potential of digitalization is to be used for the creation, automation and distribution of valuable content.