Currently, the company is not able to verify and validate the content of political advertising. The sale of political ads will therefore be suspended at the beginning of 2020, it said.

The Swedish streaming service has many users in the USA. They often use the ad-financed free service.

Information on how much revenue Spotify generates from political advertising was not available. However, the industry medium Advertising Age reported that the Republican Party of U.S. President Donald Trump and Senator Bernie Sanders, who is running for the U.S. Democratic presidential nomination, among others, had placed ads with Spotify. The streaming service, which has 130 million users worldwide, is seen as a way to reach young voters.

Concern about disinformation grows

Ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November 2020, there is growing concern about disinformation campaigns and the spread of misinformation. Trump himself repeatedly spreads false or misleading information.

The major Internet companies have reacted to this in different ways. The short message service Twitter has largely banned political advertising. Online giant Google announced in November that it would not allow individualized voter advertising. Accordingly, targeted political advertising will only be possible on the basis of broader criteria such as age, gender or zip code.

Facebook, on the other hand, wants to continue to allow political ads. The online network argues that users and journalists should check ads for their truthfulness. (SDA)

Manfred Strobl, CEO of Mediaschneider, is looking forward to serving the health insurance company: "Mediaschneider wants to set new strategic impulses in consulting and create real added value thanks to the technological possibilities of our Hoy."

"With Mediaschneider, we have an innovative and dynamic partner at our side who stands for target and customer-oriented communication. Particularly in the digital area, we want to jointly exploit new opportunities and set strong impulses," adds Simon Neuner, Head of Marketing & Communications at Helsana Versicherungen.

For the current campaign, the films "Waterfall" and "Flamenco" were developed based on specific locations and activities to show the different types of vacation adventures that Ebookers customers could experience.

"The online travel sector is very crowded and we wanted to find a way to stand out," says Maryse Gauthier, Director of Brand Marketing at Ebookers. The mascot is intended to emphasize the uniqueness of the brand.

Eboo made its debut on December 30, 2019 and will be shown in Switzerland, Finland and England. The two commercials will be shown on YouTube, social media and various TV stations in German-speaking and French-speaking Switzerland.

It's certainly happened to everyone that their stomach starts rumbling at an inopportune moment. In a library, for example, this can be particularly unpleasant. In the TV commercial, a librarian - anxious to keep things calm - takes the initiative and brings the gentleman concerned a bottle of Carmol, which is supposed to provide immediate relief.

"We wanted to show an everyday situation spiced up with a bit of humor," says Remo Civatti, Managing Director at Silverspot "If a smile crosses the client's lips at the end, we have achieved our goal," adds Creative Director Nicolas Vonlanthen.

The TV commercial has been broadcast in German, French and Italian on various channels since the beginning of January 2020.

Perfect conditions prevailed in practically all winter sports regions in Switzerland over Christmas and the turn of the year. "It was the best festive season in the past ten years," said Peter Reinle, Head of Marketing at Titlis Bergbahnen in Central Switzerland, on Sunday when asked by the Keystone-SDA news agency.

The first few days of January were also very well attended, although concrete figures will not be available until the end of the year. The region recorded 110,000 guests throughout December. According to Reinle, this is four percent more than in the previous year and 13 percent more than the five-year average.

Reinle cites the excellent snow conditions and the "fantastic weather" at high altitude with fog in the lowlands as reasons: "It was blue above and gray below." The festive days were also ideal. This allowed winter sports enthusiasts and sun-seekers to sacrifice just a few vacation days for a long bridge.

Sunbathing instead of shivering

Eastern Switzerland is also satisfied. According to Katja Wildhaber, around 13,000 guests flocked to the Flumserberg ski area in the canton of St. Gallen over three days. "This density is very special," said the marketing manager of the mountain railroads on request.

Although there were only sixty centimetres of snow at an altitude of 2000 meters, the conditions on the slopes were impressive thanks to artificial snowmaking. Around a third of the slopes on Flumserberg can be covered with snow. According to Wildhaber, sunshine and mild temperatures also meant that guests were able to enjoy the days without having to shiver.

Also on foot in the glacier area

The Glacier 3000 region in the Bernese Oberland can also look back on a strong festive season. The number of guests was the same as last year, said Glacier 3000 boss Bernhard Tschannen on request. Despite good natural snow and the area being fully open, the lifts still had capacity, said Tschannen.

The reason for this is that, due to its altitude, the area is particularly popular when conditions are worse down below. In recent days, however, winter sports enthusiasts have also found good conditions in Gstaad or Les Diablerets, so that the rush has been better spread out. Forty percent of guests in the glacier area were pedestrians, says Tschannen. The area does not communicate specific figures.

11 percent more guests in Graubünden

The Graubünden mountain railroads had already announced record-breaking figures for the festive season balance sheet on Tuesday - albeit with restraint. This is because, as is well known, the accounts are only settled at the end of the season. Nevertheless, the mountain railroads were able to make significant gains by the end of the year.

Compared to the previous year, guest numbers rose by 11.1% and transport turnover by 9.2% thanks to the glorious weather and excellent piste conditions. In a comparison of the past five years, turnover even increased by almost thirty percent. The Bergbahnen Graubünden monitor comprises 23 companies or ninety percent of Graubünden's transport turnover.

History in Valais

Anzère in Valais even reported a "historic record". Over 5000 guests flocked to the area on each of the four days, said Sébastien Travelletti, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Télé Anzère, when asked by Keystone-SDA. The previous record was 4800, set last winter. Anzère also set a daily record: on December 30, 5700 winter sports enthusiasts made their way up the mountain.

Verbier in Valais has also seen a rush and an increase for three years in a row. Laurent Vaucher did not provide specific figures when asked. However, the director of Téléverbier reports excellent snow conditions and lifts that have all been open since mid-December. (SDA)

Every year, Christmas and New Year's cards arrive at Evoq around the holidays. And every year, the number of purely physical mailings decreases. So it's no surprise that this year Freitag won the Prix Carte de Noël with an online and offline concept.

According to a press release, Freitag convinced the Evoq jury with the idea of a Thank you card for the New Year in the form of a truck sheet. This was sent as a picture by e-mail and is real from 2020 with the first names of all recipients of the Christmas mailing on the way.

The e-mail sent to the greeters reads: "In January, when all the other Christmas cards have been read, eaten or drunk up and have to make their way from the desk to the trash, our thanks to you with your first name will be harnessed to a Planzer truck to then make its rounds through Europe for a few years - until we are finally allowed to cut bags out of it. In this way, Freitag manages to be present for several years and does not produce any waste. The rolling map was designed by David Keller from Freitag Lab.

Simple, sustainable cards dominate

According to Evoq, this year's analysis of the holiday greetings, which took place during the judging process, brings to light some interesting aspects. In contrast to previous years, no typical Christmas color such as green or red stood out in the mailings. Many cards are very simple, with a large proportion of white or black. As with the winning idea, sustainability is a top priority. For example, one dispatch is equipped with a small aluminum box that can be used several times for snacks. Another card mentions that for every recipient at MyClimate, the CO2 equivalent of a Christmas tree - including ornaments - is donated. And another dispatch calls on people to leave the fir tree in the forest.

In terms of motifs, the obligatory stars, Christmas trees and Christmas balls were once again in high demand. Two-thirds of the retailers relied on illustrations, a quarter on photography and a few used purely typographic solutions.

What was even more noticeable this year was the communicative opportunity that companies missed with their festive greetings during the holiday season. Increasing digitization, on the other hand, would offer the opportunity to make a positive impression on addressees with real experiences, creative verses and sustainable messages.

Stepping down with immediate effect: Sunrise CEO Olaf Swantee. (Image: Sunrise.ch)

André Krause, the current chief financial officer, has been appointed as the new head of Switzerland's second-largest telecom company, Sunrise announced Friday. Swantee will continue to support him until the 2020 annual general meeting in April to "ensure a smooth leadership transition," according to a statement. Swantee served as Sunrise's CEO for nearly four years.

The new CEO Krause has been with Sunrise since 2011. As chief financial officer, he drove Sunrise's IPO and the subsequent sale of its cell towers, according to the release. Before joining Sunrise, the German national had been chief financial officer at Telefónica O2 Germany.

No information on Kurer successor

No details are given in the media release regarding the succession of Chairman Kurer, who will remain in office until April 2020. In addition to Kurer, Vice Chairman Peter Schöpfer will also not stand for re-election at the Annual General Meeting. The Board of Directors "regrets the decision," the release states.

Kurer has been chairman of the telecommunications company's board of directors since April 2016. In doing so, he has "successfully overseen the transformation of Sunrise," according to the statement. The departing Vice Chairman Schöpfer was, among other things, significantly involved in the IPO of Sunrise in 2015, according to the statement.

In recent months, Kurer has come under heavy criticism in connection with the unsuccessful UPC takeover. There has been repeated speculation in the media about his resignation and an ongoing search for a successor. Before his time at Sunrise, Kurer was known to the public as a member of the UBS Group Executive Board. In 2008/2009, he succeeded Marcel Ospel as Chairman of the Board of Directors at the major bank.

Shareholder resistance

In February 2019, Sunrise announced its intention to acquire cable network operator UPC Switzerland from Liberty Global for around CHF 6.3 billion. However, the purchase had met with massive resistance from shareholders, who had criticized the high purchase price in particular and opposed a capital increase.

Due to the lack of support from important shareholder circles, Sunrise management had to cancel an extraordinary shareholders' meeting in October for the capital increase. The purchase agreement with Liberty Global was then terminated in November. The costs for the failed deal amounted to 120 to 125 million francs for Sunrise. (SDA)

Andrea Bergmann has already been working as Coop's media spokesperson for four years and most recently also took over as deputy for the department. The 37-year-old studied business administration and worked for several years at Interdiscount before joining the Coop media office, where she was responsible for media relations, among other things.

29-year-old Rebecca Veiga has been media spokesperson at Coop since April 2019 and will take over as deputy head of the media office in January 2020. Most recently, she worked as media spokesperson for Zurich Airport.

Marilena Baiatu joined Coop as media spokesperson in July 2019. Previously, the 31-year-old worked as media spokesperson at Zürcher Kantonalbank and was most recently responsible for communications at Fotomuseum Winterthur.

In the future, 44-year-old Patrick Häfliger will also strengthen the Coop media office as media spokesman. He has been with Coop for 13 years, currently in the Coop communications department for the Northwestern Switzerland-Central Switzerland-Zurich region, where he is also media spokesman.

From January, Fabienne Wernli will also be supporting Andrea Bergmann's team as project coordinator. The 31-year-old already completed an internship at the Coop media office during her studies.

For 20 years, entrepreneur and communications consultant Stefan Grob built up his PR agency Complecta from St.Gallen and led it as owner and managing director. Now Complecta and Advery have merged.

Nothing will change for Grob's customers - they will continue to be served by Grob and his team as before. In the future, however, they will benefit from the additional services Advery offers. "Before, I was running a PR agency. Unlike Complecta, Advery is a full-service agency - that is, the entire spectrum of communication services is offered, for example, design, websites, online marketing, photography and text creation," explains Grob.

Agency with social attitude

Advery is also a training company that gives around 15 apprentices with mental or physical difficulties the chance to train as graphic designers, media technicians or in photography. "This is unique in Switzerland and I am very happy to be able to run this agency with a social attitude," says Stefan Grob. Whenever possible, the projects try to involve the young professionals and in this way prepare them for their work in the first job market.

Over the past two months, Grob has been preparing the merger of his company with Advery and has already been involved in various projects. "We were able to convince the Office of Health of the Canton of Zug during a competitive presentation," reports Grob proudly. The team around the new agency manager convinced with a participatory approach for the creation of a Awareness campaign on adolescent mental health. 

For the past five years, Marius Maissen has been Head of Communications and Politics and a member of the Executive Board of the JardinSuisse business association. With the nationwide poster campaign "ihr-gärtner.ch", Maissen promoted public awareness of the green sector with various subjects. He was also responsible for the association's cooperation with the SRF gardening program "Hinter den Hecken". At a political level, Maissen initiated the JardinPolitique project back in 2014, with which he connected parliamentarians throughout Switzerland with the green sector.

With his new agency Maissen Consulting Maissen aims to represent the interests of companies, NGOs and associations. The agency develops long-term communication strategies based on issue and stakeholder analyses and implements them with the help of a broad network of suppliers from the communications and media industry.

In times of smart technologies that largely do the thinking for us humans, it is becoming increasingly difficult to imagine how we used to get along without Alexa and Co. Ellen DeGeneres and her wife Portia de Rossi feel the same way.

The current Amazon commercial shows scenes from other times, but they speak a different language. Alessa, Alexei, Al and others remind us that it was all very well without AI - or was it?

The New York agency Droga5 is responsible for the entertaining time travel through the Middle Ages, early modernity, the Wild West and early industrialization, which will be broadcast during the Super Bowl.

The campaign aims to immerse customers in a winter wonderland that offers fun and opportunities to linger while it trickles and snows everywhere. 

The "Jubelkugel" app game has also been developed. And anyone who would like to have their photo taken on the carriage can have their picture immortalized in a snow globe. 

OSW developed all advertising materials and was responsible for consulting. Emotion.Company was responsible for the implementation of the decoration and event marketing.

Off- and online advertisements, an inside branding in the streetcar, POS advertising material in the center itself, a mailing to the neighbors of the St. Jakob Center and a facade megaposter on Nauenstrasse will be used.