The lockdown was a caesura - especially for the film industry. But what better way to re-motivate oneself, to get one's career back on track, to intensify one's productions again, than the prospect of the prestigious and film-promoting Edi.20 award?

As every year, the Swiss Commissioned and Commercial Film Award Edi. will be presented. The categories Commercials, Corporate Communications and Branded Content will be judged. In addition, the Special Edi. will be awarded as a special prize. The deadline for submissions is August 31, early bird discounts are available until July 31, 2020.

To ring in the end of the Corona break and call the industry to renewed vigor, Cavegnwerbung has developed a visual motif for this purpose, which dramatizes the idea of the wake-up call positively, strikingly and in keeping with the Edi: An alarm clock, with a clapper in the typical shape of the award.

The image motif will be used for the Call for Entry and later on other advertising material related to the submission.

Wirz Partner Holding now has four new co-shareholders - two of them from the Wirz Communications agency, a new partner from Wirz Activation and a new partner from Wirz Brand Relations (Wirz Public Affairs). With this step, the group, whose history goes back to 1936, is once again underlining its independence, writes Wirz in a statement.

Alain Eicher

Executive Creative Director and member of the management team at Wirz Communications. His clients include Switzerland Tourism, WWF, Graubünden Ferien and Migros. Before joining Wirz BBDO, he was Creative Director at Jung von Matt/Limmat.

Urs Krucker

Urs Krucker has headed the strategy team at Wirz Communications since the beginning of 2019. As Executive Strategy Director, he is a member of the management team and works for clients such as Suva, Swisscom, Migros, Swica, SBB and Kieser Training.

Barbara Dürst

Barbara Dürst has been Managing Director at Wirz Activation since November 2019. Her path led her via positions in classic and direct marketing agencies to Bally Switzerland and International. She then left her mark on the OgilvyOne agency in Switzerland for 18 years, ten of which as Managing Director.

Christoph Caviezel

Studied law and has worked in the communications sector for around 25 years. As Director Wirz Public Affairs, he has been responsible for political communications consulting since mid-2019. His clients include cantonal and municipal administrations, the SAC, IG Schweizer Pharma KMU, Suva and numerous private-sector companies.

The immediate impact on the personnel situation was less pronounced than in Germany and Austria, and only a small percentage of Swiss companies anticipate a sustained reduction in personnel requirements. Home office is likely to remain an option for a large proportion of companies even after the pandemic.

For the study, Xing surveyed around 1,150 HR managers and HR professionals from Switzerland, Germany and Austria between mid-May and mid-June on the impact of the Corona pandemic on HR work in their companies. The most important results:

Swiss companies well prepared for home office

Compared with Germany and Austria, Switzerland was well prepared for the lockdown. A third (32 percent) of the companies here state that home office was already possible at any time before the crisis. In Germany, this was the case for only 25 percent of companies, and in Austria for 20 percent. The vast majority (85 percent) of the Swiss companies surveyed also state that home office and remote working will continue to be possible after the Corona crisis. In Germany, only 73 percent and in Austria 79 percent of companies say this.

Impact on workforce planning lower than in Germany and Austria

The Corona crisis has turned many things upside down. Despite this, almost half (47 percent) of the companies surveyed in Switzerland state that the pandemic has no current or short-term impact on their HR planning. This means that the short-term impact in Switzerland is lower than in Germany and Austria, where only 35 and 34 percent of companies, respectively, see no change.

Three out of four companies have hired new staff since the outbreak of the crisis

New employees have started work at 73 percent of the Swiss companies surveyed since mid-March. This puts Switzerland slightly ahead of Germany with 69 percent and Austria with 63 percent. Almost three out of four companies from Switzerland (73 percent) also plan to hire new staff by the end of the year.

Swiss companies invest in employer branding

42 percent of the companies surveyed from Switzerland state that they are investing more heavily in building up their employer brand in the wake of the Corona pandemic. Such investments have decreased at 26 percent. In Germany and Austria, the situation is reversed: The proportion of companies that are reducing their investments in employer branding is predominant.

Xing Switzerland Managing Director Robert Bertschinger says: "Our results show that Swiss companies are thinking sustainably about the topic of employer branding and are maintaining or even increasing corresponding investments in the majority of cases. We also see this as a sign of confidence with regard to the future personnel situation. In addition, conscious investments in the employer brand make sense in times of crisis, as employer branding also works internally and can serve as an important tool for communicating with existing employees."

Pandemic fails to ease shortage of skilled workers

A clear majority of the Swiss companies surveyed (62 percent) expect the shortage of skilled workers to remain a major challenge over the next twelve months. In Germany, only 53 percent are of this opinion, in Austria 58 percent. Around a quarter (26 percent) of Swiss companies believe that staffing requirements will increase over the next twelve months. 14 percent expect a short-term decline in staffing requirements, which will level out again in the foreseeable future, and 15 percent anticipate lower staffing requirements in the long term.

Swiss companies see implementation of New Work well advanced

The term New Work can be used to summarize the various facets of the structural and value changes in our working world. Companies are responding to this development with new working and management models, among other things. Of the Swiss companies surveyed, 20 percent consider this development to be already very advanced within their own organization and state that the principles of New Work are being fully lived out and that corresponding measures are being further expanded. For Germany, this figure is only 9 percent, while in Austria it is 11 percent. A further 30 percent of companies in Switzerland state that they live the principles of New Work to some extent, and 18 percent are not yet involved with New Work, but are planning to introduce corresponding measures in the future.

Robert Bertschinger: "New Work is highly relevant among the Swiss companies surveyed. With the need for flexible working in terms of time and location, certain aspects of New Work also came more into the spotlight in the course of the pandemic. However, living New Work also requires a corresponding mindset that brings values such as trust, agility and transparency to the fore. We hope that the impetus provided by the pandemic will also be able to promote such cultural aspects."

Carmen Viudez, Head of Product Management, Oliver Schibli, Director Business Development, and Martin Radelfinger, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Managing Director ad interim (from left).

Since January 2020, AdManufaktur has been offering individual, performance-oriented marketing solutions as a subsidiary of the Goldbach Group in Switzerland. These are based on the media and advertising assets of the TX Group network, Goldbach and Neo Advertising and range from TV, digital video and audio to 20min Paid Posts and Out of Home. Since its founding, the company has already been able to successfully implement various campaigns for performance-oriented clients and agencies, according to a statement on Thursday.

Ongoing campaign optimization thanks to attribution platform

The specially developed TV to Web attribution platform enables the coordinated use of performance-oriented TV advertising in combination with classic performance-oriented digital advertising measures. All marketing activities are continuously optimized and mapped on individual customer dashboards. In this way, the performance of the advertising measures used, from TV to paid posts on 20min.ch, for example, can be optimized on the basis of data from the sales funnel with a view to the return on ad spend. Since the beginning of the year, AdManufakur has acquired customers such as Luma Delikatessen, Mway and the Fachwerk agency.

Experienced team of two

Following Carmen Viudez, who has been Head of Product Management at AdManufaktur since the beginning of the year, Oliver Schibli has now been recruited as Director Business Development. Together, the two bring more than 40 years of experience in the digital industry on the agency, client and publishing side.

This was decided by the Finance Commission by 22 votes to 2 with one abstention, as the parliamentary services announced on Thursday. Otherwise, it will largely follow the decisions of the Council of States on indirect press funding.

In the summer session, the Federal Council decided to increase the federal contribution to indirect press funding by CHF 50 million to CHF 120 million per year. Proposals for cuts failed in the Finance Committee by 18 votes to 7. (SDA)

The idea for the campaign was already in place shortly before the lockdown. But then host Burkhard Wolter and his team focused even more on "Human by Nature". The fascination of the Waldhaus Flims Wellness Resort is its location in the middle of the largest hotel park in Switzerland, surrounded by nature. In four videos, employees show how they are connected to the region and what there is to discover and experience in and around the Belle Epoque grand hotel from 1877. In addition, a poster campaign was recently launched in the city of Zurich.

The Human by Nature campaign is accompanied by special offers for families, couples & friends, athletes and companies. Included are added values such as free transfer from and to Chur train station or free parking, a tablet in the room with access to over 1000 e-magazines and e-newspapers or the free stay of a dog in the owner's room.

The campaign was developed in-house and the videos were produced by Dieregie.tv, Zurich.

"Rien ne va plus" - that was the Corona-related slogan in many places in recent weeks. The Grand Casino Bern was also shut down during the lockdown. Those responsible have used this challenging period to reposition Grand Casino Bern. The main focus will continue to be on the gaming clientele, but the nightlife crowd is now also expected to enjoy the excellent gastronomy and special events.

In a pitch, Republica together with the event agency Evenjo convinced with a deliberately exaggerated idea. The Grand Casino Bern is staged as a unique event temple in an equally surreal and sensational way. "We threw the existing elements together in a new way," Republica art director and branding specialist Thomas Mischler explains of the creation. "It was a step-by-step process over various stages - logo, new design, imagery and graphic elements including a new claim." The result, he says, is now a more playful, glamorous and lighter branding.

First measures already implemented

Various measures were already implemented for the reopening on June 6. These included an opening campaign, signage, lettering, visualizations and signaling of the entrance area, measures for the web and social media channels including audio and video as well as newsletters, brochures and public reports. Starting in July, Republica will implement numerous other measures in a second step, including an Al Capone campaign, which pays off on the gastronomy offer at the Grand Casino Bern. In August, a completely revamped website will be launched.

In its decision published on Wednesday, the Press Council considers it legitimate that the Republic published the interview as evidence of contradictions under discussion. In principle, however, research interviews may not be published without consent.

The investigative journalist had filed a complaint because the online magazine published the correspondence without his consent and distorted have published.

According to the Press Council, at least one question and the corresponding answer were missing from the publication. In addition, one of the editorial changes was relevant to the content, so that it could have influenced the impression of the readership.

"We regret the blurbs and errors" became "We regret the identified blurbs". The Republic had thus violated its duty to edit sources correctly, according to the Press Council.

A central component of the journalistic craft is the reproduction of spoken or written sentences. A quote may certainly be shortened and even rearranged to clarify what has been said. However, the Press Council's Declaration of the Duties and Rights of Journalists states in paragraph 3: "(...) You do not suppress important elements of information and do not distort facts, documents, images and sounds or opinions expressed by others(...)." Against this rule, the Republic violated. (SDA/swi)

The New Fricktaler Newspaper adds another Swiss regional title to Goldbach's portfolio. In addition to the print edition, which appears three times a week, Goldbach Publishing also markets its digital offering and thus becomes the point of contact for national and supra-regional customers.

The newspaper looks back on a 160-year tradition and reports in particular on topics from the economy, politics and society in the region. The editorial office in Frick is responsible for the Upper Fricktal, the editorial office in Rheinfelden for the Lower Fricktal. On Tuesday and Friday, the print edition reaches 15,000 readers. The large circulation on Thursday is distributed to all Fricktal households with 80,000 inhabitants. In addition to the print edition, the information is also available digitally on TV screens, via mobile app, on the Internet or as an e-edition.

In today's fast-paced world, the demands on education providers are changing. Accordingly, STF has transformed itself into an education service provider offering agile, modular study programs, from HF to Bachelor and Master degrees. In its strategic reorientation, the STF Swiss Textile College has also created two new business areas - "Incubator & Makerspace" and "Think Tank & Consulting" - in addition to the existing "Education" field.

Modular campaign

This year's campaign is based on the theme "Upgrade Yourself," which reflects each area and each course. Analogous to the personalizable degree programs, the modular campaign allows for a lot of leeway: whether on or offline, the staircase-shaped layout keeps taking on new forms by shifting the colored, geometric elements without losing its recognition value and consistency.

Furthermore, the staircase rising from the bottom left to the top right suggests the students' potential opportunities for advancement. The modular structure also makes it possible to incorporate visuals so that, depending on the purpose of the communication media, the STF premises, the students or machines can be staged. In this way, the advertising agency confidently spans the arc to all important marketing measures as well as touch points at the STF.

Most recently, Vanessa Marr held the role of Head of E-Commerce at Localsearch. In her new role, she joins the Executive Board and reports directly to CEO Stefano Santinelli. Before joining Localsearch in 2018, she worked for companies such as Microsoft Switzerland, Goldbach Media Group and Adello Group. Marr holds a Master of Arts (MA) from the University of Zurich in journalism, sociology and law.

As of July 1, 2020, Localsearch's Executive Board will consist of Stefano Santinelli (CEO), Max Eggenberger (Chief Sales Officer), Frank Huber (Chief Business Development Officer), Ingo Kopido (Chief Information & Technology Officer), Oliver Krähenbühl (Chief Financial Officer), Vanessa Marr (Chief Marketing Officer), Monia Vidi (Chief Human Resources Officer) and Thomas Wiechert (Chief Operations Officer).

They lead the Basel agency Kreisvier into the future: Christian Jost, Michael Schmidt, Alexandra Kellenberger and Thomas Bauer.

Effective July 1, 2020, Michael Schmidt will take over as head of creative and strengthen the management team in the role of chief creative officer. Previously, he worked for years at Scholz & Friends Berlin and most recently as creative director and partner at Wirz Communications, where he was jointly responsible for excellent work, according to the statement. In addition to his creative and conceptual strengths, he brings a wealth of experience in the retail sector, the release continues

Also effective immediately is Alexandra Kellenberger as Managing Director. With her in this new role, Thomas Bauer as Chief Technology Officer and Michael Schmidt as Creative Director, the management team around CEO Christian Jost is ideally positioned for the future, writes the agency.