"Next August will be the last time IWC Schaffhausen will sponsor the Tortour," a spokeswoman for the Richemont subsidiary tells the Handelszeitung. "We are working on a project with a stronger focus on promoting young Swiss cyclists and a stronger international appeal." The Tortour is a race of superlatives. From the start not far from the Rhine Falls, it goes once around Switzerland. The route is 1000 kilometers long. The riders overcome almost 14,500 meters of altitude. They conquer five Alpine passes: Albula, Flüela, Oberalp, Gotthard and Nufenen.

The Tortour is considered the favorite child of former IWC boss Georges Kern. The man in his mid-fifties took part seven times. In the meantime, the manager and bike enthusiast has moved on. He now runs the Breitling watch brand. 
 

"The evening was very inspiring for me, the speaker and the panelists gave us new insights into the world of (self-) branding. And I learned that we should take good care of the Pippi Longstocking in us, because as adults we often try to regain that authentic, but then reason gets in the way," says Anna Kohler, Publishing Director of MK and Werbewoche (pictured below), looking back on the second staging of the Marketing Talks.

As an author and coach (including "Profil macht Karriere", "Sei frech, wild und wunderbar"), Petra Wüst has been dedicating herself to the basics of authentic self-marketing in her Basel practice for more than fourteen years. In her input presentation, she summarized two important pillars of her work: If you want to be successful, you have to learn to sell your skills ("Unique Selling Proposition") on the one hand, and on the other hand, you have to think about what feelings you want to trigger in the people around you ("Emotional Selling Proposition").

After Wüst's talk, the Zurich folk band "Black Cat's Smoking" took the stage and provided a musical interruption to the program. Asked by Anna Kohler afterwards about their self-marketing, the duo said: "We might adapt a bit for a big record deal and listen to the advice of competent producers -.  but always remain authentic. That means: We will definitely never become a new Justin Bieber and a new Taylor Swift."

The following panel, announced as a fireside chat and unceremoniously turned into a pool talk by moderator Johannes Hapig, brought together three very different players: The 2019 "Advertiser of the Year," Petra Dreyfus, the dress maker and trend expert Gerold Brenner, and Serviceplan Suisse CEO Christian Baertschi. In two blocks, the three brand and marketing professionals first spoke about their own careers and the role authenticity has played in them. Gerold Brenner, who made a fresh start in his career at the age of fifty, recalled: "I was no longer creative, I reached a professional dead end. A cut had to be made. Today I am myself - and that is the most important thing."

Christian Baertschi explained that it is also important from the agency's point of view to remain true to one's own values and not to bend: "A collaboration between client and agency must be built on a good foundation right from the start. If you notice that you're not pursuing the same goals, you have to say right at the beginning - even before a possible pitch - that we don't think the collaboration makes much sense at this point."

When the conversation turned to building authentic brands - and thus left the realm of the personal - Petra Dreyfus revealed some of the basics of her work at Wirz: "I'm always asked how authentic I can be, since an agency is a kind of slave to the client. But my experience shows that clients do want authentic answers. They don't pay me to tell them they're great and doing everything right. They want to have a mirror held up to them and hear an honest opinion."

The official part of the Marketing Talks was followed by an informal and inspiring Apéro Riche, which brought not only cool drinks, but also many good conversations and networking opportunities. The second part of this year's MK Werbwoche event series was - despite the summer heat - a positive harbinger of the third Marketing Talks at the end of September 2019 on the topic "Back to the Future. Marketing between AI, Automation and Influencertum."

Tobias Fueter, Stories, Petra Dreyfus, Wirz and Lisa Melnikova, Swisscom (from left) at the aperitif afterwards. The pictures of the event can be found in Werbewoche 6/7 2019 (Text: Johannes Hapig; Thomas Häusermann; Photos: Thomas Häusermann).

Despite outside temperatures of over thirty degrees, the Kosmos Forum was well filled - almost seventy guests found their way to the event. There, in addition to an input presentation by bestselling author Petra Wüst, they also heard a panel that had been quickly converted into a pool discussion with very different players: Wirz co-CEO Petra Dreyfus, clothing maker Gerold Brenner, and Serviceplan Suisse CEO Christian Baertschi.

Markus Gut, one of Switzerland's most awarded creatives, joins the owner-managed agency as a partner and expands the management team. He heads the new Farner Branding unit and, together with Fawer and Bertschinger, is expanding the new business area. Farner Consulting thus comprehensively covers all areas of brand management.

Minimal attention span, fragmented channels, diverse media consumption, the shift from "mobile first" to "voice first" - the demands on brands have never been as complex as they are today. If brands are still to orient and facilitate purchasing decisions, they must be developed "purpose first": with a mission statement and values that also create company growth from within.

Establishment of a specialized branding unit

Brands with "purpose" and a clear value orientation promote all a company's activities. For this reason, the communications agency Farner Consulting is strengthening its branding expertise by founding a unit specializing in branding. 

Brand expert Markus Gut will be in charge of the division at the Zurich location. He will become a partner and member of the management of Farner Consulting as of September 1, 2019. He will be assisted by brand strategist Martin Fawer and designer Fabian Bertschinger as well as the resources of the overall agency. 

Consulting and brand management along the entire cycle 

The three-person branding team assists clients in creating a distinctive brand, its "purpose" and values, in brand design to product & packaging design, in developing integrated brand strategies, in digital branding and brand experience for umbrella, individual and product brands. 

Farner Consulting thus offers the entire value chain of brand management from a single source - from brand development to strategic brand positioning and creative brand communication to specializations such as employer branding. Through close collaboration between Farner Branding and the other units, the agency maintains brands and their "purpose" consistently across all channels.

Three top brand experts for Farner Consulting

Markus Gut has been shaping the Swiss creative industry for more than 25 years. He worked for many years as CCO at Publicis and, as CCO, helped build up Y&R Group Switzerland. Most recently, he served successfully as CEO and partner at Process, a branding agency based in Zurich, Shanghai and Taipei. Gut has been a board member of the Art Directors Club Switzerland for many years, a member of the British D&AD, the International Advertising Association (IAA) and the Swiss Graphic Designers Association SGV. He is also an advisory board member of the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) and lectures as a brand expert at the HWZ, the HSG and the Ad School. Markus Gut is one of the most awarded creatives in Switzerland and has won renowned creative, communication and design awards for national and international clients. 

Roman Geiser, CEO & Managing Partner: "Markus Gut is one of Switzerland's most successful and committed communications experts in the industry. To strengthen our offering for brands, he was my first choice. I am delighted to welcome Markus to our team."

Markus Gut, Partner: "I couldn't resist Roman Geiser's request. Setting up the new Farner Branding division is a unique opportunity for me. In addition, the position offers an optimal mix of entrepreneurship and being part of the number 1 in the Swiss agency market." 

Fabian Bertschinger is a highly endowed designer, creative director and also ADC and SGV member, whose work has been honored with various international awards. He was Head of Design at the Swiss snowboard and skateboard brand "Zimtstern" and Design Director at MetaDesign Zurich. Most recently, he was Creative Director and Member of the Executive Board at Process. He teaches as a guest lecturer on the topics of branding and design at ZHAW, at the University of Basel and at FinTech Incubator F10.

Martin Fawer is a brand strategist and has many years of experience in brand positioning and strategic support for brand development. During his professional career, he has been active in all disciplines of communication and, among other things, supervised the brand relaunch of Orell Füssli as Head of Marketing and Communication. Through his work also on the corporate side, he is very familiar with the clients' perspective. Since 2014, Martin Fawer has been Consulting Director and Member of the Executive Board at Process, where he led the consulting team for brand strategy, brand positioning and brand architecture. 
 

In May 2017, Calanda launched the ice beer brand Glatsch and Publicis was responsible for the entire brand presence (Werbewoche.ch reported). Now the campaign is going into a new round - and ends up in a village fountain in Graubünden. The two main protagonists turn it into a swimming pool without further ado. The now well-known protagonists Sascha Alexander and Fabrizio Daniele test the cooling factor of the village fountain, of course with the help of an ice-cold Calanda Glatsch.

The campaign once again focuses on those who want to escape the summer heat. Starting this week, it will be broadcast on all major TV and online channels in German-speaking Switzerland. Various activations on social media accompany it. Among other things, Calanda is looking for the most original selfie from the favorite fountain. There are prizes to be won - such as an ice-cold Calanda Glatsch refrigerator.

At the same time, the website was also refreshed and now appears in a new design including online store connection. There, of course, you will also find the most important fountain bathing rules that must be observed.

The four partners of the agency resulting from the merger of Process and SNK: Martin Kessler (Process), Armin Niederberger (SNK), Bärbel Fritz (Process) and Oscar Todeschini (SNK) (from left).

The new organization will be headed by Oscar Todeschini and Martin Kessler as co-CEOs from August. Bruno Manser, Digital Creative Director, will continue to be part of the management team. To complete the management team, a Consulting Director is still being sought, according to the announcement. Communications and branding expert Rolf Schläpfer, current partner at Hirzel.Neef.Schmid.Konsulenten, has been recruited to chair the board of directors. The previous management board members Markus Gut, Fabian Bertschinger and Martin Fawer (Process) as well as Daniel Kraft (SNK) are leaving the agencies at their own request, irrespective of the merger of Process and SNK, in order to pursue new career opportunities. Gut, Bertschinger and Fawer move to Farner Consulting (Werbewoche.ch reported).

The new organization, with offices in Zurich, Shanghai and Taipei, employs 34 people and has core competencies in the areas of brand strategy, digital branding, brand communications and brand experience. The joint reference list includes renowned companies such as UBS, Phonak, SIX Group, EKZ, Migros, Mövenpick, VBZ and Feller.

Martin Kessler: "We have known the SNK team for many years. Oscar Todeschini and I have also worked together before. Although we were direct competitors for years, our relationship was always very trusting and characterized by mutual respect for the technical expertise and quality of the work. This trust and mutual respect also now form the foundation for our future together."

Oscar Todeschini: "SNK has undergone a similar transformation to Process in its history - from a design agency to a comprehensive branding specialist. Together, we will be able to serve certain topics and services that are in high demand in the context of digitalization - especially in the areas of brand development, brand experience and brand management - faster and better."

Both Kessler and Todeschini are convinced that brand management in the future will take place even more in a close partnership between companies, agencies and specialists, and that an agency needs a certain size, an expanded range of services and situational access to the best specialists in the market to be a competent and attractive partner for companies.

Beiersdorf developed the dynamic digital out-of-home campaign in cooperation with the Swiss Cancer League and Clear Channel. Passers-by are informed about the current UV index with live data and sensitized to the topic of skin cancer.

In order to display the different, current UV indices in each city, Clear Channel's booking system simultaneously accesses different weather data. Thus, this campaign has pioneering character in Switzerland and exemplifies the new, creative possibilities of Digital Out of Home.

The awareness campaign will be played out on all Clear Channel screens in the cities of Zurich, Bern, Basel, Lucerne, and Winterthur until the end of July.

In recent years, the sales figures for e-bikes have skyrocketed - but unfortunately, so have the accident figures. This is because e-bikes travel faster than classic bicycles. The higher speed leads to longer braking distances and, in the event of an accident, to a higher risk of injury and death.

Studies by the BFU accident research unit show that: Anyone traveling at 25 km/h on an e-bike needs 18.8 meters to stop. And someone traveling at 45 km/h even needs 40.9 meters to stop (assumption: full braking, reaction time 2 seconds, friction value 0.5).

Ruf Lanz puts the long braking distance at the center of the campaign. In a pointed way, e-bike braking distances are shown that are so long that they cannot even be stopped by obstacles. Be it a fire hydrant, a baby carriage or a puzzled looking dachshund. This succeeds in surprisingly dramatizing the unexpectedly long braking distances while at the same time living up to the claim of BFU and AXA not to advertise with shock images.

The main advertising media are F4 posters in all parts of the country. The BFU network comprises between 6,000 and 8,000 street poster sites, thus guaranteeing high visibility. Exactly where the target group moves.

A safety kit with a suitable giveaway, small posters, flyers and a micro-site with a braking distance test are also used.

Responsible at the AAIB: Jürg Beutler (Head of Communications, Member of the Executive Board), Peter Matthys (Head of Campaigns), Daniel Morgenthaler (Research Associate Traffic Behavior), Andrea Uhr (Research Associate). Responsible at AXA: Benjamin Oberlin (Campaign Manager), Bettina Zahnd (Head of Accident Research & Prevention), Martina Keller (Head of Accident Insurance), Ilona Fäh (Content Manager), Franziska Wildi (Content Manager). Responsible at Ruf Lanz: Markus Ruf, Danielle Lanz (Creative Direction), Mario Moosbrugger (Art Direction), Christian Stüdi (Text), Marc Gooch (Consulting), Armin Arnold (DTP). Photography and image editing: Carioca Studio @Visualeyes International.

Swiss Label recognizes companies whose products have been manufactured entirely or to a sufficient extent in Switzerland. Since the agency's services meet all the criteria, it is the first full-service advertising and web agency in Switzerland to receive the certificate.

Only just over one in ten respondents say that they are not available to the company when they are on vacation (13 percent). Conversely, 87 percent of communicators allow their leisure activities to be interrupted by bosses, employees or customers.

Many PR managers keep their smartphones on for work during their vacations. Two-thirds of respondents say they can be reached by WhatsApp or text message while on vacation (66 percent). In turn, more than half answer the phone when the boss calls or colleagues have questions (52 percent). Fifty-one percent of survey participants also respond to e-mail inquiries while on vacation.

By contrast, only a small minority contact the company proactively. One in ten PR professionals actively writes e-mails (11 percent), and four percent call the office on their own initiative to resolve problems or ambiguities in their absence.

One important reason for being available on vacation is career. 52 percent of communicators hope this will give them better opportunities for career advancement and therefore accept constant availability even in their free time.

The demand for holistic communication concepts is growing steadily. By working together, the two companies aim to incorporate their individual strengths in the field of customer communications into a new overall portfolio, enabling existing and potential customers to benefit from a comprehensive and holistic offering.

Avaloq Outline offers customers customer communication management solutions. It prepares data from banks, energy providers, credit card and telecommunications companies, retailers, real estate companies, publishers, insurance companies or health insurers in such a way that it reaches the end customer in a suitable form via any print or online channel. These can be health insurance statements, telephone bills or bank statements, for example.

Stämpfli is active in the field of corporate and association communications and provides communications services ranging from strategy to distribution. In five service areas, specialists work in an interdisciplinary manner on cross-media customer solutions in the field of analog and digital communication.

Together, the two partner companies can now offer all services from a single source. To this end, Avaloq Outline is building a production center at Stämpfli's Berne site, which can be used by both partners to implement their projects. Transaction data - for example invoices, policies or other business applications - can now be processed in Berne with advertising information in both offset and dynamic digital print inkjet quality. In parallel, Stämpfli is further expanding its expertise in consulting, design and implementation of database-supported and personalized communication solutions.

Jean-Daniel Andrey, Head of Customer Engagement Solutions at Avaloq Outline, explains: "The collaboration is a clear win-win situation, as our portfolios complement each other perfectly. I am convinced that both parties will benefit from significant synergies as a result of the partnership."

Daniel Sinn, Managing Director at Stämpfli, is also convinced of the synergy benefits: "For Stämpfli as a communications company, this partnership is the logical step to expand the integration of all communication channels in its customer solutions. Through personalized addressing and dialog with customers, transaction and marketing processes are increasingly merging. Thanks to our local partner, we can offer existing and potential customers even more comprehensive services under one roof in the future."

In a recently published investigation, Public Eye sheds light for the first time on a business that is as unknown as it is lucrative: the Swiss chemical company Syngenta is exploiting regulatory loopholes in Brazil to sell highly hazardous pesticides used in agriculture. As a result, the pesticides also end up in drinking water and endanger the health of millions of people.

Freundliche Grüsse was commissioned by Public Eye to develop an awareness campaign to draw the attention of the general public to this problem and Syngenta by means of a petition toto stop selling the most toxic pesticides.

The "Pesticide Portraits" were created together with the Brazilian watercolor painter Renato Palmuti: Portraits of four affected people, painted with pesticide-contaminated water. They are representative of the many activists who are campaigning against the massive use of pesticides in Brazil.
 
 

The backgrounds and stories of those affected can be found on the Campaign website be explored. The petition reaches over 24,000 signatures before the end of the campaign. The "Pesticide Portraits" will be exhibited outside Syngenta's headquarters in Basel in August. At the same time, the petition will be handed over to the company.

You can read all about the campaign in the new Werbewoche 5/2019, which will be published on June 28.

"With Liike, our companies, which have been committed to future issues for years - Aroma, for example, for zero waste large-scale events and CRK for renewable energies or environmentally compatible mobility - want nothing less than to improve the world in a sustainable way," is how Thomas Löhrer, Chairman of Liike's Board of Directors, describes the mission.

To this end, Liike designs and implements live and digital communities around the topics of climate, energy, mobility, smart cities and sustainable art, and uses various platforms to shape lively and lasting relationships between companies and communities. In addition, the company offers consulting and project management in the areas of sustainability and future urban development.

Liike CEO Nina Schaller sums it up: "Liike discovers, programs and stages inspiring spaces where engaged people and companies meet: real, digital, virtual, live and outdoor."