It was already announced in June 2020 that Head of Communications Patrick Matthey will leave TX Group (Werbewoche.ch reported). Now Ursula Nötzli will take over as Head of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations at TX Group from April 1, 2021. In her new role, she will report directly to President and Publisher Pietro Supino.

Nötzli is currently Head of Communications at ABB Switzerland. Previously, she was Head of Group Content & Social Media in the IR, Corporate Communications, Branding & Marketing department at Credit Suisse. Also in communications, she held senior positions at Credit Suisse's Global External Asset Management and GAM Holding. Previously, she worked as a business journalist for Finance and economy and for six years for the New Zurich Newspaper. She holds a doctorate in economics and an MBA from the University of St. Gallen.

Carmen Schmid succeeds Daniela Siebertz, who has taken maternity leave after four years with the airline and will then take on a new challenge.

Schmid is a qualified marketing and PR specialist with a federal certificate. She started her career in tourism in Tour Operating at Kuoni and subsequently worked in various positions, including at HRG, Swissair, Belair and Helvetic Airways.

The reorganization was completed at the end of 2020. Hueber took up his position in 2019 with the task of reorganizing the communications department.

Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis thanked Hueber for his "great work and tireless commitment," according to the communiqué. The media office will have a new head.

Hueber joined the FDFA from the Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate. From 2005 to 2011, he was spokesman and deputy head of communications at the Department of Defense (DDPS). Before that, he worked as a journalist and editor, including for the news agency SDA, now Keystone-SDA. (SDA)

"During the coronavirus pandemic, people are at home more often and spend more time on their smartphones. As a result, their social media idols also get more attention. Companies can use this effectively for themselves, but they need to make sure that the influencers are right for them. Micro-influencers with slightly fewer followers who offer content in the form of stories instead of standard advertising are particularly exciting. This form of marketing will continue to be very important in the future," explains marketing expert Felix Murbach in an interview with the news portal Press release.

Klear conducted a survey of more than 5,000 influencers from the USA, the UK and Germany for the report. Sponsored Instagram stories increased by around 32 percent between 2019 and 2020. Marketing activity on TikTok increased by a full 130 percent. Generation Z, aged between 18 and 24, is becoming increasingly important for influencer marketing. This target group has contributed to a nine percent increase in advertising campaigns. 34% of marketing was aimed at them, which represents an increase of 3% compared to 2019. (pte)

Especially in winter, a vitamin D deficiency occurs in many. Madonna's TV commercial is meant to counter the winter dreariness with a joyful "boo" and get everyone in a positive mood.

The spot has been on air since Saturday and will be seen on Swiss TV, selected online platforms and social media over the next few weeks.

With around 6.5 million items sold, Ricardo turned over nearly 30 percent more than the previous year, TX Group announced Monday. About two-thirds of the items sold were already used.

The number of newly registered members also increased by almost 30 percent year-on-year. The number of members thus exceeded the 4 million mark for the first time. (SDA)

In recent years, the internet has shown many examples of how social media can be used for good or ill. From influencers teaming up to make good things happen, to the example of former US President Trump using social platforms to stir up unrest. Social influencers* have come to the fore in many ways in recent years. It has become clear that, on the one hand, influence means power, but at the same time it also brings responsibility.

The influence of social media and its actors on society is steadily increasing. At the same time, this power, or rather the responsibility that comes with it, is not taken seriously enough, as the lack of clear guidelines around social influencers and influencer marketing in Switzerland shows. This is where Anja Lapčević, CIO of Kingfluencers, and Barbara Fry Henchoz would like to start, and have therefore, together with influencers and experts from various fields, developed the "Conscious Influence Hub. launched. The non-profit association aims to develop common guidelines to promote the values of respect, empathy and transparency in the field of influencer marketing on social media.

The hub works independently of Kingfluencers in terms of content and is intended to function like a think tank. Influencers should be able to ask questions and receive solutions to stimulate conscious behavior in social media and online in general. The multidisciplinary advisory board includes influencers and university professors, as well as people from NGOs and for-profit companies.

According to the agency, one of the association's most important initiatives is the introduction of the Conscious Influence Code of Conduct. The code of conduct encourages influencers to act with respect, empathy and transparency in social media. It is intended to be a tool for all members of the community to act more responsibly.

In a multi-stage pitch, Dreifive prevailed as the new digital lead agency for the global electronics manufacturer and will now be responsible for Switzerland and Austria. The mandate includes cross-border social media communication on platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube, as well as the associated content production, multilingual community management and social listening. In addition, Dreifive provides support for blog articles and CRM texts.

The focus is on the continuous development of the channels, the implementation of a country- and channel-specific social media strategy, the creation of storytelling and performance-optimized content, and the active integration of trends and innovations. In the process, the areas of content marketing, data-driven paid media, and creation will be coordinated with each other and the focus will be on close cooperation between the cross-country teams.
In the future, Dreifive will support Samsung Electronics Switzerland and Austria in matters of social media communication and conception with regard to current developments, the strategic orientation and development of digital channels, as well as the design and implementation of country-specific and state-of-the-art campaigns.

"It was anything but easy to find an agency that not only understands the two target markets, but also recognizes the synergies between creativity, data and performance and can actively integrate them into our marketing strategy," explains Alexander Decurtins, Head of Digital Communication Samsung Electronics. "Dreifive convinced us with innovative ideas, high strategy and planning expertise, and a very well thought-out communication concept."

The EqualVoice initiative launched by the Ringier Group is committed to making women more visible in media reporting and giving them the same voice as men. Publisher Michael Ringier and CEO Marc Walder chair the project, which was initiated by CFO Annabella Bassler.

The Advisory Board of the EqualVoice initiative has now been expanded to include 42-year-old Regula Bührer Fecker. The Zurich native has twice been crowned Advertiser of the Year (2010 and 2014). She is the author of the book #Women's Work, in which she gives young women specific tips on how they can successfully assert themselves in their careers (Werbewoche.ch reported). The mother of two is committed to the advancement of women and launched the inspirational platform #Women's Work, which she mainly uses on Instagram to find mentors.

In her agency podcast "Rodcast", she regularly talks to various personalities from the media and advertising industry. At the end of last year, she spoke to Ladina Heimgartner, Head of Global Media at Ringier, about the EqualVoice initiative, which she had heard about from Annabella Bassler, CFO at Ringier. Bührer Fecker will now be joining the initiative herself from February: "I am committed to making women's contribution to our society even more visible. Our media are the key to this. That's why I think EqualVoice is a strong and valuable initiative that I want to support wholeheartedly."

The EqualVoice Advisory Board consists of:

• Simona Scarpaleggia (Global CEO at Edge, Board Member at Autogrill and Board Member at Hornbach)
• David Allemann (CEO and Co-Founder On)
• Nicole Burth (Member of the Executive Board and Head of Communication Services at Swiss Post)
• Ingrid Deltenre (Media Manager and Board Member)
• Christiane zu Salm (Media Entrepreneur and Advisor)
• Franziska Tschudi Sauber (CEO Weidmann Holding AG)
• Tanja Grandits (star chef and awarded "Chef of the Year 2020")
• Carolina Müller-Möhl (President of the Müller-Möhl Foundation)
• Sabine Keller-Busse (President Personal and Corporate Banking and President UBS Switzerland)
• Pascale Baeriswyl (Diplomat and Head of the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations in New York)
• Yann Borgstedt (entrepreneur and founder of the Womanity Foundation)

The focus is on expanding the ESG Reporting (Environment - Society - Governance) business area developed jointly with the parent company Eurospider Information Technology. Wirtz, a dual Swiss and German citizen, studied economics in Cologne and continued his education at Harvard, Berkeley and MIT. He spent 15 years in market and media research, including as CEO, and brings extensive entrepreneurial experience in implementing digital business models. He has also held various other executive and leadership roles in digital startups, consulting and large enterprises.

As part of #lokalloyal, contact lens wearers were made aware of the benefits of personal advice in an optician's store with a nationwide poster campaign. The shutdown in spring 2020 has changed the everyday lives of many wearers. With the loss of wearing options, many have reduced their wearing behavior during this time and increasingly ordered contact lenses online. In turn, visits to the optician were associated with uncertainty and questions about hygiene measures. This is why Johnson & Johnson Vision Care launched the #lokalloyal campaign and now a native ad campaign on safe contact lens wear.

Opticians as part of the campaign 

The posters for the #lokalloyal campaign were displayed for several weeks from mid-August 2020 at over 100 locations in the cities of Geneva, Lausanne, Bern, Lucerne and Zurich. The campaign was also visible on DOOH screens in selected cities. The locations were all in the immediate vicinity of an optician. Farner was responsible for communication with the opticians: they were informed via mailings before the campaign went live. The poster campaign was also planned and implemented by Farner.

Johnson & Johnson Vision provided the opticians with various advertising materials such as window stickers and posters in the #lokalloyal design. The opticians also shared the campaign content via their own social media channels and in customer magazines. "The opticians were very grateful for the support," explains Thomas Pfeiffer, Marketing Manager at Johnson & Johnson Vision Care. "Over 300 opticians took part in the #lokalloyal campaign and ordered over 10,000 campaign advertising materials."

Johnson & Johnson Vision developed the visual for the campaign in collaboration with the agency Webrepublic, which is also responsible for the social media strategy of #lokalloyal.

Native ad campaign against uncertainties

The current native ad campaign addresses the uncertainties of contact lens wearers in the "new normal". Should they continue to wear contact lenses, even though they catch their eye when inserting or removing them? Wouldn't they be better protected with glasses? The campaign aims to answer precisely these questions and dispel any concerns.

Farner relied on a multi-stage journey model in which contact lens wearers are evaluated with a short survey on the major news websites such as Blick.ch, Nzz.ch, Telezueri.ch, Energy.ch and 24heures and, in a second step, receive the native ad in a targeted manner. This approach should make it possible to reach the very heterogeneous group of contact lens wearers. Farner Invibes Advertising is assisting with the technical implementation of the campaign.

Since 2019, Farner's healthcare team has been supporting Johnson & Johnson Vision Care primarily in its communication with opticians. For example, when launching new products or providing information on new innovations or research trends.

The communications industry is looking forward to the new year with hope: Just under half of all respondents believe that 2021 will be better for them personally than 2020 (49 percent). For one in four, things will stay the same (26 percent), while only one in five believes that 2021 will be somewhat or clearly worse (21 percent). Men are significantly more optimistic than women. While 61 percent of male survey participants expect things to improve in 2021, only 42 percent of female respondents share this view.

«I am grateful for what I have» was the most defining experience of the past year. Looking back on 2020, one in two respondents agreed with this statement (53 percent). Gratitude thus ranked first among emotional states, ahead of concerns about health (46 percent) and concerns about family and friends (41 percent). In contrast, only just under one in five people experienced existential fears in 2020 (18 percent). Only one in seven said the past year made them more resilient (15 percent).

Virtual collaboration instead of an in-person culture and business travel

Collaborating digitally—preferably from home—and, as a result, fewer business trips: For the majority of communications professionals, these workplace trends from 2020 will continue into 2021. Just under two-thirds of respondents estimate that companies will further expand digital collaboration in the new year (64 percent). Nearly as many believe that working from home will continue to increase, while the culture of in-person work will decline (63 percent). As a result, 59 percent of respondents believe there will be fewer business trips in 2021 as well. Moreover, nearly one in four communications experts believes that sustainability will become increasingly ingrained in people’s consciousness in the new year (24 percent).

By contrast, only about one in five (19 percent) believes that work-life balance will improve. Women, however, are more optimistic when it comes to work-life balance. Compared to their male colleagues, nearly twice as many female respondents expect an improvement in this regard in 2021 (23 percent versus 12 percent).

A Positive Work Environment as the Biggest Challenge

Creating a corporate culture with a positive work environment will be the most difficult task for internal communications in the new year. That is the view of 43 percent of those surveyed. Women place significantly more emphasis on this task than men. While half of all female communications experts consider fostering a positive work environment to be the biggest challenge for corporate communications in 2021 (51 percent), only one in three male communications experts shares this view (32 percent).

According to the respondents, other challenges in the new year will include effectively communicating changes within the company (32 percent) and boosting employee motivation (30 percent).

Lifelong learning is more important than a career
Professional development is at the top of the list of career resolutions for 2021: One in three communications professionals wants to acquire new job-related skills in the new year (36 percent). However, 27 percent of respondents explicitly have no career goals for 2021, and just as many want to pay more attention to their work-life balance in the future (27 percent). Fewer communications experts, on the other hand, are aiming for a traditional career path: Only 14 percent plan to advance within their company in 2021. Planning a career change is even less common: Just eight percent want to completely reorient their careers in the coming year. Even fewer respondents are looking to switch employers to advance their careers (five percent).