Andreas Rücker took over as Managing Director of SodaStream Switzerland on July 1. The 38-year-old has been with the company for over three years, most recently as Sales Director for Germany and Austria. Before that, the German-born Andreas Rücker held various marketing and sales positions at Danone in Munich.

Rücker completed his education at the European Business School in Oesterich-Winkel, at Thammassat University in Bangkok and at the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Mexico.
 

Launched in early 2019, Schweizwerk in Zofingen, a specialist in work and fall protection, is the partner for anyone working at height with its altitude training center, 1000 square meter training hall, innovative products and tailored training and education courses.

The Aarau agency Blueheart accompanied Schweizwerk from A to Z and ensured a stringent and stylish appearance from the CI/CD development to the stationery and image brochure to the website.

The company has a history of over fifty years and has now introduced a new brand identity. LEM operates in the field of electrical measurement technology and develops solutions for energy and mobility.

The global megatrends of renewable energy, mobility, automation and digitalization, which have a strong demand for electrical sensors, are driving change at LEM. Zurich-based agency SNK and Geneva-based agency Cabinet Privé de Conseils (CPC) joined forces to work closely with LEM's management on the new identity. Together they developed the strategic brand identity, the communication strategy, the new brand design and the new claim "Life Energy Motion". All materials were tested at the client's global offices to ensure cultural acceptance.

Together with the client team, SNK and CPC developed the concept, content, and design for the 2018-2019 Annual Report and Financial Report, as well as event communications and media for the global internal brand launch, and communications materials for the external launch, investor relations, and the Annual General Meeting. SNK designed and developed an online brand portal with tools and guidelines for LEM. Further rollout and implementation will take place successively.

The aim is to sensitize the public to look and react, but not to put themselves in danger. Police officers explain how to do this in various videos.

From cyberbullying, sexual harassment and accidents on the highway to blackmail and domestic violence: police officers are confronted with these and similar crimes on a daily basis. But those who keep their eyes and ears open often witness a conflict or crime themselves - even in their own environment. Looking the other way or reacting incorrectly can have serious consequences. This is precisely where the national campaign "Showing civil courage - but how?" by Swiss Crime Prevention, which it has implemented with practically all cantonal and the largest municipal police forces.

"Civil courage is not about mindlessly risking your own life. The important thing is to look out and be helpful in all kinds of everyday situations," explains Laura Brand, project manager at SKP. "The police cannot and should not be everywhere, which is why they rely on the help of the public," Brand continues. In numerous videos on various crimes, members of the corps from all over Switzerland explain exactly how they can help.

Showing civil courage often means calling the emergency number: "Calling 117 is something out of the ordinary for most citizens. But this is precisely how they provide us with important information that we need for our work," says Florian Schneider from the St. Gallen cantonal police, who is taking part in the campaign himself.

The videos also provide access to the daily work of police officers, which also includes topics such as illegal pornography, burglary protection and radicalization. The campaign aims to reduce the inhibition threshold in the population to contact the police and help without putting themselves at risk. (pd)

Stefan Heini has been responsible for Helsana's media office for the past three years. He is a proven communications expert and has many years of experience as a media spokesperson. Prior to his more than seven years at Helsana, he worked for a global company, in a PR agency and in journalism. Stefan Heini holds a master's degree in journalism from the University of Zurich and a master's degree in finance from the University of Leicester. "I am very pleased that with Stefan Heini we have been able to gain a dedicated and experienced communications specialist for CH Media," says Axel Wüstmann, CEO CH Media.

With immediate effect, Admeira's programmatic trading and direct business will be handled by the AT&T subsidiary's ad server and supply-side platform (SSP). Since the beginning of the year, the Admeira and Xandr teams have been working closely together to complete the migration. In particular, the seamless transition during ongoing business proved to be particularly challenging. This also included the integration of Admeira's various booking tools and the implementation of the private marketplace business on the Xandr SSP.

René Plug, Chief Data and Technology Officer at Admeira, says: "The collaboration with Xandr brings us and our advertising customers and agencies additional benefits. First and foremost, campaigns are played out holistically. In addition, with this technology we have laid the foundation for developing innovative and advertising-effective data products that meet the needs of our customers - and ultimately increase their campaign success."

In addition to more control and transparency, Admeira is to benefit from integrated marketing of its online advertising spaces through the partnership with Xandr. Yield management in particular enables a holistic view of demand in real time. Brand-safe programmatic access via the Xandr SSP is also expected to create sustainable added value for media buyers.

Using Xandr's advertising technology, the marketer will deliver advertising formats such as display, native and video across desktop and mobile. In addition, as part of their partnership, both technology companies aim to further develop the marketing offering for connected TV, traditional TV and in-app.   

"With Admeira, we were able to win one of the leading marketers in Switzerland as a partner, which makes us extremely happy and confirms our work," explains Marius Rausch, VP and Managing Director Central Europe at Xandr. "Together, we have thus taken the first of further steps in the development of innovative solutions for efficient and transparent digital marketing in Switzerland."
 
Xandr is additionally strengthening its commitment in Switzerland with this collaboration. The advertising technology company is an adtech partner of Digital Advertising Services (Tamedia and Goldbach) and Audienzz, and only recently announced the establishment of additional resources in Zurich.

In addition to the ad server and SSP, Admeira also relies on Xandr's global omnichannel buying platform Xandr Invest for Audience Extension. Following the acquisition by AT&T in August 2018, AppNexus' advertising technology now forms the platform technology behind Xandr, AT&T's advertising and analytics company.

Medication should be easily and safely accessible for everyone - no matter where or with which device. However, anyone who orders their medication online is subject to the legal regulations governing the online trade in medicines and is bound by a complicated ordering process. To make this process as simple and intuitive as possible, Greenliff has developed the PrEP store developed a solution

With the store, Apotheke Schaffhauserplatz is breaking new ground in the healthcare sector and has defined the following guiding principles: Simplifying the purchase of medication, providing information about the uses and risks of the medication and networking with relevant doctors and information points.

"The project is a milestone in the digitalization of our pharmacy. Greenliff's claim 'Designing Digital Future' immediately appealed to me, because that's exactly what we're doing with the PrEP store," says Thomas Kappeler, Managing Director of Apotheke Schaffhauserplatz. 

The Greenliff team completed the project in just two months, working in parallel on UX design, front-end and back-end. 

"Usability tests with the target group helped us to gain new insights and continuously improve the store in line with customer needs," says Dominique Hufschmid, Head of Digital Product Design at Greenliff. 

The landing page of the PrEP store and the digital purchasing process are tailored to the user. Simplicity and user-friendliness were at the forefront of the store's development. The user is guided step by step through the purchase process. Orders are integrated directly into ProPharma's data management system, allowing Apotheke Schaffhauserplatz to process the orders.

Since the new Gambling Act came into force, only online casinos licensed in Switzerland have been allowed to operate. Grand Casino Baden acquired one of the four coveted licenses and is the first Swiss online casino to go live with Jackpots.ch. The launch campaign starts this week. The focus is on "Jack Pots", Switzerland's lucky charm, and his buddy "Lucky", the piglet.

A combination of animation and illustration as well as a real world was chosen for the realization, which bridges the gap between real gaming fun and a digital environment.

Fastr is responsible for the naming, claim, character, positioning and communication concept. The campaign starts with a TV campaign and can then be seen on various online and offline channels.

The source material for the artistic realizations were photographs of various theater, dance, performance and music productions from the current festival programme. The photographs were edited by Monique Baumann.

"We are delighted that we were able to work with the internationally renowned artist Monique Baumann this year. Her intuitive and analog way of working is a perfect fit for Theater Spektakel," says Art Director and Designer Marcus Kraft. 

The campaign was implemented in all digital and print media and builds on last year's redesign of the corporate identity.

"This year's campaign is the logical continuation of the path we took last year: the program is at the heart of the communication. At the same time, the collaged implementation of the subjects gives the campaign a new and fresh look," says Matthias von Hartz, artistic director of the Zürcher Theater Spektakel.

Moneyland.ch has examined the fees, exchange rates and services of the new smartphone banks and compared them with traditional banks. The result shows that exchange rates and fees are significantly lower at most smartphone banks, putting traditional banks under pressure.

The British smartphone banks Revolut and TransferWise, the Swiss smartphone banks Zak and Neon and the five major Swiss banks UBS, Credit Suisse, Raiffeisen, PostFinance and Zürcher Kantonalbank were examined in more detail. In addition, the three Swiss "free credit cards" Migros Cumulus-Mastercard (Cembra Money Bank), Cashback (Swisscard) and Coop Supercard (TopCard) were also included in the credit card comparison. Services, functions, fees, exchange rates and total costs for various usage profiles were compared.

Conclusion: The foreign neobanks Revolut and TransferWise impress with favorable exchange rates and user-friendly processes. However, neither is yet a complete replacement for Swiss banking services. As they do not offer a Swiss account, employers and other companies cannot transfer money. They are particularly worthwhile as an additional credit card alternative for low-cost purchases and cash withdrawals abroad. Disadvantages include lower security without Swiss deposit protection and, in the case of Revolut, a greater lack of transparency.

The Swiss smartphone bank Neon performs significantly better than the traditional banks in the private account and banking package comparisons for adult customers, but only has average exchange rates. Bank Cler's smartphone app Zak is slightly more expensive than Neon in terms of fees and even more expensive than average in terms of exchange rates. For young people and students, the traditional bank offers are generally still the cheapest solution.

In general, it can be said: With Revolut and TransferWise, innovation is mainly coming from abroad, although Swiss start-ups such as Neon are also jumping on the bandwagon. "In the short term, smartphone banks will not put traditional banks under pressure. In the medium term, however, Swiss banks will have to be careful not to fall behind," says Benjamin Manz, Managing Director of Moneyland.ch. "In particular, the expensive foreign currency fees charged by traditional banks are likely to come under increasing pressure."

The credit card conditions of traditional banks were also compared with the cards of smartphone banks. Card management fees, processing fees for foreign currencies, exchange rate costs (Swiss francs versus euros) and any credits for purchases in Switzerland amounting to CHF 5,000 and abroad amounting to EUR 1,000 over the course of a year were taken into account.

The British provider TransferWise was the cheapest for this profile with total costs of CHF 3.95, followed by Revolut with CHF 7 (purchases during the week) and CHF 12.60 (purchases at the weekend). The big Swiss banks bring up the rear. However, the ranking can also look different depending on the profile.

International smartphone banks do not yet offer a valid alternative to a Swiss bank account. Neither Revolut nor TransferWise offer Swiss deposit protection. In the worst (albeit unlikely) case of bankruptcy, it would probably be difficult to recover the money from the foreign smartphone banks.

However, Moneyland.ch carried out an account comparison of the costs of payment transactions and debit cards ("EC cards") from Swiss smartphone banks and traditional banks. The result: for adults, the smartphone bank Neon is the cheapest solution for the profile examined - with total annual costs of CHF 30 per year. The smartphone bank Zak charges CHF 90 per year for the same profile.

Larger traditional banks are significantly more expensive at 160 francs upwards. However, there are also traditional banks that are significantly cheaper for the profile examined, above all the Freiburger Kantonalbank (salary account: CHF 69) and the Appenzeller Kantonalbank (CHF 76). Here too, the ranking can look markedly different depending on the user profile.

Also interesting: For young people and students, traditional banks are often still the cheapest solution when it comes to special offers. Larger banks also often offer better conditions for young people and students than the Swiss smartphone banks Neon and Zak.

Depending on the usage profile, bank packages at different Swiss banks are cheaper than a combination of individual products such as a private account, credit card and debit card at the same bank. For this reason, a comparison with bank packages was also carried out, taking into account, among other things, purchases in Switzerland and abroad with the credit card, cash withdrawals with the debit card, payment transactions and savings account interest for an amount of CHF 30,000.

For adults, the smartphone bank Neon is also the cheapest solution for the profile examined, with total annual costs of CHF 49.50 per year. This is followed by PostFinance's Private Account Plus at 106.30 francs, the Zak smartphone bank at 122.50 francs, Zürcher Kantonalbank's Inclusive Silver package at 164.80 francs, UBS's Individual package at 178.25 francs, Credit Suisse's Bonviva Silver at 200.35 francs and Raiffeisen's Private Account Plus at 224.80 francs.

Moneyland.ch has analyzed the exchange rates in Swiss francs (CHF) for the euro (EUR), US dollar (USD), British pound (GBP), Swedish krona (SEK) and Thai baht (THB) over four key dates. 

TransferWise offers interbank exchange rates for all currencies examined at no extra charge (processing fees are added, however). Revolut also offers interbank rates, but not for the Thai baht (surcharge of around 1 percent). Revolut also charges more expensive rates at weekends (main currencies with a surcharge of 0.5 percent, others such as Thai baht with a surcharge of 2 percent). Swiss smartphone banks did not offer any particularly favorable rates for card transactions on the surveyed dates. In terms of exchange rates, Neon was on a par with the traditional banks surveyed, while Zak from Bank Cler offered even more expensive rates.

For example, the Swiss franc-euro selling rate showed the following average surcharges at traditional banks for purchases made abroad with a debit card: PostFinance 1.18 percent, Raiffeisen 1.49 percent, UBS (debit cards): 1.67 percent. Revolut and TransferWise, on the other hand, had no surcharges (0 percent), while Neon had a surcharge of 1.69 percent and Zak even 2 percent. By comparison, the credit card surcharges for Viseca were 1.69 percent and 1.63 percent for Swisscard. In addition to the exchange rate surcharges, there are other fees depending on the transaction type and bank. For the US dollar and pound, the surcharges were similar to those for the euro, while for the Thai baht they were significantly higher. The surcharges in ascending order (without additional foreign currency fees) were as follows for the Thai baht: TransferWise 0 percent, Revolut 1.18 percent, PostFinance 1.50 percent to 1.73 percent (depending on the ATM), Neon 1.66 percent, UBS debit cards 1.80 percent, UBS credit cards 2.29 percent, Viseca credit cards 2.35 percent, Swisscard credit cards 2.50 percent, Raiffeisen 2.54 percent and Zak even 5.00 percent.

Traditional Swiss banks offer both credit cards and debit cards ("EC cards"). Depending on the type of use, one or the other card is the more favorable solution. For example, Swiss credit cards should generally not be used for cash withdrawals, as otherwise high fees will be charged. The new smartphone banks such as Revolut, TransferWise and Neon, on the other hand, generally rely on a single card for all applications. For example, unlike conventional debit cards (such as Maestro cards), the Mastercard debit cards from TransferWise and Neon can also be used to make online purchases.

The two foreign smartphone banks TransferWise and Revolut in particular offer a number of functions that are not yet common among Swiss providers. These include real-time notifications directly at the time the card is used, extensive configuration options for using the card - for example, blocking the magnetic strip or the contactless function - or a system with several currency pots. "For payments in online stores, stores and restaurants, TransferWise and Revolut are now an alternative to the established Swiss cards," says Ralf Beyeler from Moneyland.ch. Surprisingly, however, the smartphone banks are not yet focusing heavily on mobile payments: TransferWise and Neon do not yet support mobile payment systems. Zak plans to support all common mobile payment systems in July. Swiss banks, on the other hand, mainly rely on Twint as a mobile payment solution.

The new motifs show various Swiss farmers highlighting something special about their activities, such as the round-the-clock checking of their cows by radio chip or the milk vending machine on the farm that sells fresh milk - also around the clock. 

In order to implement the positioning "Close to you" subtly and in a harmonious atmosphere, the models in the pictures are shown in natural light and with a great closeness.
 
While the "home story" shows the product in a relaxed situation at home, emphasizing the comfortable and natural look and feel of the lingerie line, the "roller skate story" presents the product in a more fashionable urban setting.