In its 25th collection, the LZ Christmas campaign achieved a great collection result: The readers of the Lucerne Newspaper and their regional editions donated a total of 5,377,439 Swiss francs. This means that the 5 million mark was exceeded for the first time, as CH Media writes in a statement. In addition to the donation result, there was also a record in the number of donors. A total of 18,970 donations were made. Once again, the collection was supported by many companies, but the majority of donations came from private individuals.

"It exceeds all our expectations. Especially in a year in which a great deal has already been donated to other collections because of Corona, our region is once again demonstrating its unique solidarity in favor of the LZ Christmas Campaign," Bettina Schibli, President of the LZ Christmas Campaign Foundation, is quoted as saying in the press release.

How welcome this help is is shown by the total of 3645 applications that have been submitted via social institutions and social authorities. Already more than 3000 could be examined by the advisory board and most of them could be answered positively.

64 million francs collected since foundation

The LZ Christmas campaign, which celebrated an anniversary with its 25th collection, has collected a total of around 64 million Swiss francs and dealt with more than 44,000 requests for help since it was founded in 1996. According to CH Media, this makes it by far the most successful collection by a Swiss newspaper. (pd/swi)

An app is to be piloted under the name "Mr Pick Up", "which will enable customers to order menus and products from the Migros restaurant online and then pick them up themselves on site", as a Migros Aare spokeswoman told the Handelszeitung confirmed.

The company does not give a concrete launch date. It is still in the development phase. The new service should also work when the restaurants are closed.

As Creative Director, Ballmann supports the Graubünden-based film production team led by managing directors Marco Schwarz and Fadri Comps. "With his wide-ranging experience and creativity, Jonas Ballmann complements our team perfectly. We look forward to taking our productions to the next level in terms of quality and creativity with him," explains Marco Schwarz.

30-year-old Jonas Ballmann has a Master's degree in film from the Zurich University of the Arts ZHdK and has already demonstrated his skills at various media companies such as SRF, Energy and B&B Endemol Shine. He has taken part in national and international festivals with numerous film projects, some of which have won awards.

This gave Association President Pietro Supino announced on Wednesday at the VSM's virtual Epiphany meeting. Wabel is currently publishing director of the Schaffhauser Nachrichten.

Wabel told the livestream that he sees the association's main task as creating a framework in which the private Swiss media can function and practice independent journalism.

According to Supino, Wabel has a "solid background in our industry". In addition, his "feu sacré" in the application process made him enthusiastic about the cause. (SDA)

Wengen was not short of interested parties for an advertising arch, such as exists at the Hausbergkante in Kitzbühel, Austria. "But this is out of the question for us," Wengen OC President Urs Näpflin told the newspaper at the beginning of the year. Bernese Oberland.

The key point, where the ski racers make a long jump, lives from the breathtaking alpine backdrop. And the Wengen team didn't want to spoil it with advertising.

Näpflin's cancellation was connected at the time with a smoldering dispute with the national association Swiss Ski over the financing of the Bernese Oberland racing classic. For a while, the future of the Lauberhorn races was even on the line.

Swisscom secures advertising rights

Following an intervention by Sports Minister Viola Amherd, Swiss Ski and the people of Wengen found a solution last May. The basis of this agreement is not only financial support from the region and the canton of Berne, but also improved TV marketing for which Swiss Ski is responsible. This also includes the advertising arch on the Hundschopf.

Swisscom has secured the advertising rights to the arc, as the telecom group announced on Wednesday.

"Both parties took a big step toward each other in the spring. The relief was great on both sides at the time. Now we are delighted that Swisscom, a long-standing Swiss partner, has acquired the rights to the archway at Hundschopf," Urs Näpflin is quoted as saying in the statement.

Diego Züger, deputy managing director of Swiss-Ski, is also pleased, according to the statement: "With the archway at Hundschopf, an important and forward-looking step forward has been taken in terms of marketing the Lauberhorn race."

Dynamic advertising sheet

The advertising sheet is equipped with LED light. The area can thus be used for different messages. The previously static logo placement can now be replaced with different content in different languages.

The Bernese Oberland World Cup weeks start on Friday with the races in Adelboden. The Lauberhorn races will take place from January 15 to 17. Both events will take place without spectators due to the corona pandemic. (SDA)

Andreas Philipp has been Head of Digital & IT at Groupe Gassmann in Biel, which publishes the Bieler Tagblatt newspaper, among others, since 2014. Over the past six years, he has been responsible for setting up various digital projects and developments within the Biel media group. He has also successfully built up digital marketing within Groupe Gassmann.

At Infel, he will take over the management of the Zurich office in addition to his main role. He has been with the agency since the beginning of December 2020.

The campaign dramatizes the worldwide effects of climate change and links global challenges with local conditions. What affects Antarctica, what affects Greenland, Shanghai, Namibia or Australia, always affects Basel.

The campaign ties in directly with Basler Kantonalbank's commitment as the main sponsor of the special exhibition "Earth at the Limit" at the Natural History Museum in Basel. The campaign promotes the BKB Sustainable Investment Solution and the BKB Sustainable Asset Management Mandate, which are designed to reduce the carbon footprint of financial investments by 50 percent.

The campaign focuses on digital, programmatic formats that are flanked by ads, posters, TV spots, e-screens, mailings and a megaposter. The broad-based campaign has been running since Monday in the greater Basel area.

The new traffic light system is centrally located on Glarnerland.ch and is simultaneously displayed on the websites of Sportbahnen Elm, Braunwald and Kerenzerberg as well as on the destination websites Elm.ch, Braunwald.ch and Glarusnord-walensee.ch. If a capacity overload at the Sportbahnen Braunwald or Elm - or both - becomes apparent, this will also be signaled in Näfels, Netstal and Schwanden directly on the road by the Glarus cantonal police.

This service is intended to help guests plan their visit to Glarnerland as straightforwardly as possible. In addition, it actively helps to prevent masses at the major leisure providers and potential hotspots.

In fact, around 15 percent of the cards Evoq received dealt with the pandemic. Particularly noteworthy - and at the same time the winner of this year's competition - is the Christmas mailing from the Zurich agency Ergo. With the Corona memory "Augenblicke," Ergo Communication playfully and entertainingly addressed the omnipresent mask faces and the communication made more difficult as a result, Evoq writes in a statement.

"We primarily perceive the eyes of the other person; facial expressions and emotions have to be guessed," Ergo writes. The game can be used to practice whether eyes and a statement match. The colors of the playing cards help. The Evoq jury was also convinced by the fact that the game idea works particularly well in the family and in small circles - a corona-conditioned setup that will probably continue for a while beyond the festive season, unfortunately. The agency wins the prize, which comes with an Epiphany cake, for the second time after 2018.

Corona compliant judging

The judging of the Christmas mailings that arrived at Evoq in recent weeks took place under special circumstances. The jury of several members met via video conference and a representative at the agency, who had to hold the approximately 100 cards individually in front of the camera.

Less Christmas mail - because of Corona?

Compared to previous issues, Evoq has received less Christmas mail this year. According to the agency, it is unclear whether this has to do with the increasing tendency to digitize festive greetings or, once again, a Corona-related change in behavior.

The cooperative Neue Kleinbasler Medien had decided to publish the traditional newspaper Bird Gryff for economic reasons, Birs Forum Medien and the publishers' cooperative announced in a joint media release on Tuesday.

The Birs Forum Medien publishing house in Basel-Landschaft, based in Arlesheim, is taking over the publishing rights to the Bird Gryff and, from March 2021, will act as publisher of Basel current appear, the statement continues.

Christian Kern, vice president of the Neue Kleinbasler Medien cooperative, spoke of a good solution when asked by the Keystone-SDA news agency. In the difficult situation in the media landscape, it was a matter of joining forces, he said. One of the journalists and the sales consultant will continue to be employed by the new magazine, he said. How many layoffs will be made is not yet clear, he said.

IG Kleinbasel regrets the change

The IG Kleinbasel, for which the Bird Gryff served as the official body, took note of the news with great regret. The IG will now have to think about whether the planned integration is an acceptable solution, said its president, André Auderset, when asked.

The Bird Gryff has a history of around 70 years. Until the beginning of 2020, the newspaper was published in tabloid format every fourteen days. During the Corona crisis, it appeared only once a month. (SDA)

"Election campaigns must pick up undecided voters where they stand. Thanks to social media, it is now very easy to take a differentiated view of voter groups and recognize exactly which issues they are dissatisfied with. Candidates can join forces with them in a targeted manner. Only once a consensus has been reached can they escalate or attack the content without being off-putting," communication expert Christian Scherg told the news portal Press release.

The researchers used data from the 2016 US presidential election to create a computer model that simulates social media users. The system analyzed the influence that political campaigns, personal opinions and social contacts have on voters. The results showed that extreme advertising scares away people with moderate views.

Fanatics scare off friends

Loyal supporters of a candidate, on the other hand, become more extreme themselves through aggressive campaigning, which is also reflected in their social networks. Fanatical voters can even put off their personal friends if they are politically more in the middle. And politicians who are too aggressive often fail to appeal to the masses and lose voters.

According to the computer model, however, even moderate people can end up in bubbles if they are only open to opinions that are similar to their own. The researchers warn that this leads to strong polarization and two extreme echo chambers facing each other that do not change their views. (pte)

Switzerland Tourism (ST) drew the only national balance of the festive season (Christmas to and including January 3, 2021). In it, tourism businesses in the Alps report many enthusiastic Swiss guests on the slopes and in the vacation destinations. Nevertheless, the mountain regions expect a drop of 11 percent in hotel room nights and 26 percent in visitor frequencies, such as day visitors for winter sports.

Large minus despite numerous local guests

Many mountain regions report numerous local tourists, in German-speaking Switzerland often also from French-speaking Switzerland. In French-speaking Switzerland, on the other hand, it was mainly guests from their own language region and the surrounding area. As in the summer, the establishments in many places recorded Swiss guests who were vacationing in Switzerland for the first time.

Guests conspicuously often spent their time away from the ski slopes on hiking trails, snowshoe trails and cross-country skiing trails. According to information from the sporting goods trade and sporting goods rental, cross-country skiing experienced a real boom. In addition, more families than usual were out and about. All of them - especially in the current situation - did not want to miss the beneficial effect on body and mind of a winter day in the snow.

The most striking change in booking behavior for these holidays was the numerous cancellations and rebookings, often at very short notice. The majority of bookings were also made at very short notice and often only for shorter stays.

Very good and broad acceptance of the protective measures

According to information from the industry, the extraordinary measures and restrictions in the context of the pandemic were mostly well received by guests: 83 percent of those surveyed said that their guests reacted positively to the protection concepts.

However, it was often necessary to appeal to the guests' discipline, which was only possible with additional personnel. This and the implementation of the protective measures led to not inconsiderable additional costs for the tourism service providers.

Appreciated the new Switzerland Tourism Website with its overview of open restaurants, leisure facilities and ski resorts in the cantons. It was ST's most-visited website over the festive period and played a key role in helping guests make plans for excursions in the Swiss winter, even at short notice.

Little optimism for the sports vacations

The outlook for the sports vacations gives little cause for optimism. In the mountain regions, the current booking level for hotel room nights in February 2021 is -38 percent compared to the previous year. Operators of tourist destinations and attractions in the mountains also expect frequencies to be one-third lower than in the same period last year. In particular, the absence of events, group excursions and school camps is likely to have an impact here.