The intergenerational project aims to reorganize the transport system and tap into development potential. As a first step, the ambassadors developed "why" messages, reinforced them visually and made the technical master plan accessible to citizens.

Other communication tools included a digital 3D model, a fan brochure sent to all households, a Storyteller app for target group-specific presentations by the municipal authorities, a survey to determine public opinion and information events for those directly affected.

In second and third place are OK Boomer and Flugscham for German, féminicide and flygskam for French, sciopero delle donne and 5G for Italian, and diaspora and unda verda for Romansh. "These words have shaped the discourse in Switzerland in 2019 - scientifically proven in the text database and confirmed by the choice of language creators," explains ZHAW linguist Marlies Whitehouse, operational head of the Word of the Year Switzerland project.

 

Romansh for the first time 

In 2017, the ZHAW Department of Applied Linguistics took over responsibility for choosing the Word of the Year. Since then, the election has been multilingual, research-based and interactive. In collaboration with the Lia Rumantscha, the Word of the Year Switzerland in Romansh has been chosen for the first time in 2019.

For each language, the choice leads through three stages: Researchers analyze the Swiss discourse database Korpus Swiss-AL and determine for each language the twenty words that were used more frequently or significantly differently in 2019 than in previous years. Then a jury of language professionals selects the three most distinctive words from this list, from audience suggestions, and based on their own experience. Finally, the researchers show how these words developed in language use in Switzerland in 2019 and what social changes they represent.

The four juries each consist of around ten linguists from German-, French-, Italian- and Romansh-speaking Switzerland. The Department of Applied Linguistics at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences ZHAW in Winterthur is responsible for the database and project management.

 

1st place: Climate Youth

In serious concern, young people in Switzerland are calling for something to finally be done about climate change. And they have bite, clout and stamina like Greta Thunberg: time and again, they bring tens of thousands onto the streets for a climate strike. Many of them want to initiate a rethinking process on a broad front and jointly find ways out of the climate crisis, together with politicians, scientists and the population. Because the young people know: The climate concerns us all and it determines what their future will look like.

 

2nd place: OK Boomer

Short and decisive. OK Boomer is the response to when a person from the baby boomer generation makes derogatory and condescending remarks about the opinion of a younger person. It has appeared sporadically in recent years and spread rapidly from October, triggered among other things by an interjection in a climate debate: a baby boomer interrupts a young speaker, who acknowledges with "OK boomer." Killing phrase or demand for respect? One thing is certain: Old and young want to be heard and taken seriously.

 

3rd place: Flight shame

To fly or not to fly? Flight shame will be a topic in 2019; the word describes the shame of not foregoing air travel despite climate change. The word "Flugscham" combines the desire to travel with the climate crisis, globalization sets its ecological footprint, and air miles bonuses interlock with remorse. The figures on travel above the clouds speak for themselves: the number of airline passengers is rising steadily worldwide. Meanwhile, flight shame is spreading everywhere, among baby boomers and climate youth.

The short-term spike occurs between September and November, writes the Federal Customs Administration in a press release on Tuesday. During these months, import figures soar by up to 20 percent.

However, this will not stop the decline. According to the Customs Administration, imports of books fell by 35% between 2008 and 2018, from CHF 703 million to CHF 454 million. In the same period, a decrease of 46 percent was observed for magazines: from 402 to 219 million francs.

Although the development of exchange rates and falling prices when crossing the border had a positive effect on Swiss imports, the decline in value is largely due to the reduced import volume (books: minus 28 percent, magazines minus 44 percent), writes the customs administration. The reasons for this are thought to be changes in reading habits, the emergence of e-books and online publications.

The two most important suppliers of books and magazines are Germany and France. Italy is one of the three most important suppliers of magazines. When it comes to books, however, the southern neighboring country is only in fourth place behind the UK. China has made a leap forward. In terms of books, the Asian country has moved up from sixth to fifth place, overtaking the USA. (SDA)
 

However, this result should be interpreted with caution when assessing the actual impact of the use of information and communication technology on school performance, according to the report of the Conference of Education Directors on the Pisa report. The way in which digital devices are used in the classroom is also likely to play a decisive role.

Digital devices, if students used them for activities unrelated to learning the subject, such as chatting with friends or surfing the Internet, could become a distraction factor, with a reduction in actual learning time.

This assumption also seems to be confirmed by the Pisa data: The students who performed significantly better in the tested areas were also the ones who stated that digital devices were only used by teachers in the classroom. If, on the other hand, digital devices were only used by students, this was associated with the lowest performance.

Despite investments in recent years, there is still a need for action in Switzerland with regard to the use of digital devices. It is important not to act with one-off special budgets, but to invest continuously in the use of digital technologies in schools. The focus should not only be on the purchase of equipment, but also on the training and continuing education of teachers and the creation of innovative teaching materials, the report continues. (SDA)

The 22-year-old Valeria Konecna studied journalism and communication science with a focus on business administration at the University of Vienna. She then got to know the entire spectrum of digital marketing communication at two companies for digital transformation and online business in Austria. She is just as familiar with content marketing, performance marketing and social media marketing as she is with strategic storytelling, social listening, multi-channel campaigns and analytics.

As a representative of Generation Z, she also has valuable qualifications that are important for Eurotax's "Digital First" approach. Konecna speaks German, French, English, Slovakian and Czech.

The BOE, international trade fair for experiential marketing, will be the meeting place for the event industry on January 15 and 16, 2020. Around 600 exhibitors from the fields of event organization and equipment as well as exhibition stand construction will present themselves. In total, the organizers of the BOE 2020 again expect around 11,000 visitors, which confirms the status of the BOE as a leading international trade fair.

High Touch

"The BOE has established itself over many years as an absolute meeting point for the industry. With its focus on technology, it is now hitting the nerve of the times," explains Sabine Loos (pictured), General Manager of the Westfalenhallen Group of Companies. "The new information and communication technology allows the event industry an ever more extensive linking of data, services as well as services and thus enables ever new show concepts and increased interactivity," says Sabine Loos.  

 

High Tech

Halls 4 to 8 are divided into seven themed areas - Safety & Security Forum, Technology & Scenography, MICE Forum, Culinary Stage, Digital Forum, Career Hub and Acts on Stage - so that visitors can find their way around more easily and reach the desired areas more quickly. There, exhibitors will once again present highlights from the fields of event management, equipment and trade show construction.

The leading international trade fair will once again be accompanied by an exciting and informative program that will provide visitors with impulses for the entire coming year. For international visitors, the makers of the BOE offer the "ZOI" app, which records lectures and converts them into multilingual transcripts.

 

Forum Program

The Safety & Security Forum offers individual security solutions for every type of event, while the Technology & Scenography lecture format sheds light on how trade fair visitors can stage their trade fair presence in a distinctive way.

The MICE Forum offers many exciting discussion and information formats on key industry topics, such as Pecha Kucha presentations, which use only presentations without text. The Culinary-Stage offers creative ideas for the culinary supply of guests, at the Digital Forum top speakers from the event and digital industry will speak. At the BOE Career Hub and the Forum event, young professionals will find information about the event industry. At Acts on Stage, various performance artists show how their skills can enhance any event. In the associated Acts on Stage workshops, artists, agencies and planners can further educate themselves.

Boe-messe.de

The fourth and last Marketing Talk in 2019 was also by far the most successful: Thanks to over 120 visitors, the MK and Werbewoche team was pleased to announce that the event series has now established itself in Zurich. In contrast to other industry events, the aim of the Marketing Talks is to provide guests with professional input, but above all to inspire them - and to allow them to network afterwards in a relaxed and informal atmosphere.

At the beginning of the event, Anna Kohler, the journalistic director of MK and Werbewoche and host of the evening, outlined the thoroughly serious topic: It was about crises - and the possibilities of dealing with them (for example via communication). In other words, something that everyone is familiar with from their everyday professional life, but probably also from their private life.

Anna Kohler began by formulating some of her own thoughts on how something new can be started out of crises: "It is a matter of throwing off ballast, throwing illusions overboard and then, in the best case, taking the steps honestly, gratefully and courageously that are needed to perhaps even grow beyond oneself," said the publicist.

Then came the input presentation by Dr. Alexander Haldemann, CEO of Metadesign. The brand agency has been helping clients such as Apple, VW and Swiss Life to present themselves to the outside world since 1979. It is clear that this also includes dealing with crises: "Today, customers are no longer just recipients of brand messages, but also transmitters and multipliers," said Haldemann in his presentation.

Mature customers therefore mean a lot of work for brands - because their feedback, expressed publicly, can cause a lot of damage. Communication in crises must therefore primarily be aimed at restoring trust. If used wisely, the brand core can serve as a kind of "anchor" that companies can hold on to.

The fireside chat then brought together two men who had themselves had to live through the most serious crises in recent years: Former mega-CEO Thomas Middelhoff and Fr. Klaus Mertes SJ, the rector of the Jesuit College of St. Blasien and Germany's most prominent abuse investigator.

Thomas Middelhoff had a life most people only dream of: As CEO of Bertelsmann and KarstadtQuelle (later Arcandor), he earned millions, dined with heads of state and flew around the globe in a private jet. But then "Big T," as the media and colleagues called him, took a nosedive: Arcandor's bankruptcy was followed by court proceedings and finally a three-year prison sentence for embezzlement and tax evasion. Released from prison in 2017, he radically turned his life around. In his bestsellers "A115 - Der Sturz" and "Schuldig: Vom Scheitern und Wiederaufstehen," Middelhoff takes a hard look at himself, also blaming his fate on the arrogance and greed that had him in their grip for many years.

Did he expect to become one of the most sought-after speakers on the subject of failure, moderator Johannes Hapig wanted to know from Thomas Middelhoff. His answer: "No. And I wouldn't have wished it either." Nevertheless, according to the former mega-CEO, his life is more fulfilling and more beautiful today than it used to be. He has time for himself, has real hobbies for the first time and uses his experience to warn young people against making similar mistakes.

P. Klaus Mertes SJ is the director of the renowned Jesuit college and boarding school in St. Blasien in the Black Forest. But he gained notoriety for the post he held before: as rector of Canisius College in Berlin, where in 2010 he triggered the first major wave of revelations of sexual and physical abuse of young people at church (and later non-church) educational institutions in Germany. While civil society and German politics hold Mertes in the highest esteem, he is - even today, ten years later - discredited and shunned by conservative circles within the Catholic Church as a "fouler of the nest".

Would he, whose crisis communication demanded numerous heavy sacrifices of himself, do everything the same way again? Mertes answered without hesitation, "Yes, of course!" and earned a prolonged round of applause.

A traditional feature of the Marketing Talks is the musical setting, which is usually provided by young, innovative artists. This time it was Arthur Henry, multiple Swiss beatboxing champion.

Finally, the fourth Marketing Talk came to a close with an aperitif. The guests took the opportunity to talk personally with the speakers and to make new contacts among themselves. And many were already sure: They will be back for the next Marketing Talk in March 2020.

In the hotly contested Swiss Internet market, the challenge was to successfully communicate UPC's new Giga portfolio, which enables gigabit-speed surfing throughout the entire distribution area with immediate effect. UPC TV and the 100-day right of withdrawal were also important elements of the campaign.

On the one hand, the slogan "Where Gbit/s so what?" was intended to draw attention to the new speed and nationwide availability in a playful way. On the other hand, a clear and comprehensible design language was deliberately created for visuals and moving images with a spreading beam in the UPC colors - the "Beam".

In addition to out-of-home measures in the form of megaposters at Zurich main station and in Geneva, as well as streetcar and bus branding, digital out-of-home advertising, TV commercials, online banners, native ads, social media ads, and print ads in various media were also used. In addition, specially branded trucks drove once across Switzerland during the campaign period. 

In the survey conducted in October, 1000 people from German-speaking and French-speaking Switzerland between the ages of 14 and 65 provided information on where they plan to buy presents this year and how much they intend to spend, among other things.

 

A quarter want to spend less, one in seven want to spend nothing at all 

The majority of respondents plan to spend the same amount on gifts as last year (70%). However, a remarkable 24% say they want to dig less deep into their pockets this year. Only 6 percent want to spend more. 

15 percent of respondents also stated that they did not want to give any gifts at all. In a comparable survey conducted by Marketagent.com Switzerland three years ago, the proportion of those who did not want to give any gifts was similarly high at 15.5%. 

 

Gifts are (mainly) bought in Switzerland 

The majority of Christmas spending will remain in Switzerland. When asked where the respondents wanted to buy their presents, 69% answered in stores in Switzerland, 44% wanted to buy presents in a Swiss online store (multiple answers possible). 

Around a fifth of respondents also want to shop on foreign websites, primarily on Amazon. However, only 14 percent plan to buy their gifts in stores across the border. 

 

Food and toys are favorites 

At the top of the shopping list are food and toys (32% and 29% respectively) and perfumes, cosmetics and personal care items (26%), followed by clothes, shoes and accessories (22%) and cash (21%).

 

Online: Men prefer Digitec, women Zalando 

The first choice among online stores is Galaxus.ch (40%), followed by Digitech.ch and Zalando.ch (29% each), Amazon.de/Amazon.com (27%) and Mediamarkt.ch (20%).

While women and men mentioned Galaxus.ch with its full range of products with similar frequency, the situation is different for its sister company Digitec.ch, which specializes in electronics. 39 percent of men said they wanted to buy gifts here, compared to only half of women (19 percent). The order is reversed at Zalando.ch: around a third of women want to shop here, compared to a quarter of men.

Before joining Standing Ovation, Carina Sjöberg worked at FBM Entertainment, where she designed and coordinated marketing and communications activities for musicals, shows, comedy, dance and concert performances, in particular the original Broadway musical "The Lion King". She also spent ten years at Freddy Burger Management Group as Head of Marketing in the Public Events division.

At Standing Ovation, Sjöberg will expand the agency's range of services in the direction of 360-degree communication.

Whether with a casual look, a party outfit or even a suit - anyone who wears the gaudy socks from Swiss startup DillySocks will stand out. In certain situations, however, it is not advisable to stand out.

With this in mind, Serviceplan Suisse has created a campaign that shows that socks attract everyone's attention even in highly unfavorable situations.

Three motifs - static and moving - were realized for the campaign. They were shot by Swiss photographer Jonathan Heyer. The campaign appears on posters, social media ads and in cinemas, and also heralds the start of the Christmas season with a sales promotion.

The agency from Zurich has developed a visual language for Energie 360°'s solutions business, which is intended to communicate the available services in a fresh way: Smart Worlds. 

Based on the motto "Energy is everywhere. Let's use it.", three worlds - one for each target group - were developed. These do not require any external energy supply. The heart of each key visual is an impossible cycle of energy inspired by M.C. Escher. The cycle is intended to reflect the fact that Energie 360°, with its energy solutions, can make even the seemingly impossible possible. The details include various parts of Energie 360°'s offering that are of interest to the target group. Their needs are also taken up in the headlines. 

The campaign has been running in three phases since the end of September, with advertisements in trade magazines, landing pages, LinkedIn and trade fairs. In addition, a mailing is also being used, on which the communicative bracket is taken up: Parts of the mailing are printed with UV-sensitive varnish, which makes the message visible only with sunlight.