The strong increase in viewer numbers in the video segment and the demand from the advertising industry for moving images have prompted the Blick Group to launch its own digital channel, Ringier announced in Zurich on Wednesday. Among other things, the focus will be on national reporting and breaking news - previously the domain of SRF television.

Cooperation with CNN

In the international news business, Blick TV is teaming up with the globally active American news channel CNN. This collaboration gives Blick TV access to CNN content for the Swiss and Liechtenstein markets. It also gives the station access to CNN's global news network.

With Jonas Projer, who most recently served as head of the talk desk and host of Swiss TV's "Arena" program, Blick TV is getting a well-known draw. Projer will lead the Blick TV team as editor-in-chief. He will take up his post on May 1, 2019. Two TV studios will be directly integrated into the News Room at the Ringier Press House in Zurich. The News Room will be remodeled accordingly in the coming months.

Further increase in operating profit

The Ringier Group closed the 2018 financial year well in a difficult media environment. As in the industry as a whole, a strongly growing market for digital marketplaces was offset by significantly declining revenues in the traditional distribution, advertising and print businesses. Revenues at Group level stagnated at just over one billion Swiss francs.

Ringier improved its operating profit for the fourth time in a row. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) increased to 113.0 (previous year 110.6) million Swiss francs. This corresponds to a margin of 11.3 percent. The digital share of Ebitda increased by 5 percentage points to 71 percent - a top figure in the European media environment. (SDA)
 

Most recently, Florence Mayor worked for nine years at the international brand agency MetaDesign in Zurich. Prior to that, she was Head of Corporate Communications at Mövenpick Holding for many years, where she was responsible for the communication of the transformation of the internationally active group of companies. 

Avadis is a provider of comprehensive services for Swiss pension funds. The company employs around 130 asset and pension specialists in Zurich and Lausanne. With the Avadis Investment Foundation, it manages the largest independent investment platform for pension funds in Switzerland. In total, Avadis and the foundations it manages manage around CHF 16 billion for over 120 Swiss pension funds.

Wednesday's proceedings involve an article published by the View on December 24, 2014. In it, the tabloid showed the then Zug Canton Council members Spiess-Hegglin (Greens) and Markus Hürlimann (SVP) with their names and pictures, and ran the headline: "Sex scandal involving SVP politician: Did he ravish her?"

This article was followed in the View and other media dozens of articles on what might have happened between Spiess-Hegglin and Hürlimann at the Zug Landammann celebration. What exactly had happened was never legally clarified. Numerous View-articles have since been deleted from the Swiss media database SMD.

Spiess-Hegglin wants the cantonal court to find that the View had violated her personality with this article. The life of the then 34-year-old wife and mother had been shamelessly shaken by Ringier on Christmas Eve 2014, her lawyer said.

For the lawyer it is clear that the View had reported on something that was not relevant to the public. The newspaper had made a story out of a legally unresolved matter, had exposed her client and had violated the protection of victims.

The lawyer also described Spiess-Hegglin, who today campaigns against hate on the Net, as a strong woman. She had pulled herself out of the swamp by her own hair, she said. However, this new life of the former politician was not self-chosen, but forced upon her by Ringier and its sexist reporting, she said.

Spiess-Hegglin demands an apology from the media company. This should be printed in large letters on the front page of the View and also published online. This kind of satisfaction could help repair the damage to her client's reputation, the lawyer said.

Spiess-Hegglin is also demanding 25,000 Swiss francs as financial compensation. Furthermore, the View no longer be allowed to report on the events of 2014. This is to protect the woman from new polemics, it was said in court. She also reserves the right to sue for the return of the profits Ringier made from its reporting on her.

Ringier's lawyer asked the court to dismiss the case. The View had reported correctly at the time and had not committed any violation of privacy. Privacy is not absolutely protected; there is also freedom of opinion and freedom of the media.

For the Ringier lawyer had View rightly reported on the incidents. Spiess-Hegglin and Hürlimann had been presidents of their respective parties and had belonged to Zug's political prominence. She had reported him for an alleged sexual offense, and he had been placed in pre-trial detention. A cantonal councillor had put a cantonal councillor in prison, he said, summarizing the facts from the point of view of the View together.

The Zug prosecution authorities dropped the case against Hürlimann. The lawyer concluded that the sexual offense therefore did not exist. View had not invented the crime, he said. The question about the desecration in the article was not a violation of personality, he said.

For Ringier, Spiess-Hegglin is less a victim than a perpetrator. The lawyer accused her of celebrating self-pity and being covetous. It was she herself, she said, who was keeping memories of the 2014 scandal alive through her presence on social media. The verdict of the cantonal court should be available in about two months. (SDA)

The two digital agencies already offer all disciplines of digital communication on the market. With the merger, the existing competencies can be offered in greater depth, technological solutions can be driven forward more strongly, and innovative strength and creativity can be further expanded, according to a statement.

"With Balz Lendorff, we were able to gain a strong, customer-oriented integration figure for the management of Plan.Net Suisse, who will accompany the two teams together into the digital future," says Christian Baertschi, CEO of Serviceplan Group Switzerland, explaining the merger of Netvertising and Plan.Net Suisse.

Balz Lendorff founded Netvertising in 1995. The owner-managed agency develops, implements and manages digital solutions and projects for clients and brands such as ITS Coop Travel, Swiss Cheese, SV Group and Coop Pronto. Netvertising is a member of the industry associations SIMSA and Leading Swiss Agencies. Thomas Pohl, who has been Head of Technology at Netvertising for many years, joins the management team of Plan.Net Suisse.

"The merger enables us to accompany customers even better into the digital future and to offer holistic communication solutions. Together with my team, I am looking forward to this new challenge and the new colleagues in the House of Communication," says Lendorff, explaining his decision to lead Plan.Net Suisse with over 40 employees and to be part of the international Plan.Net network with over 1,350 technology specialists.

"Quality and innovation are typical Swiss values that distinguish .swiss," said René Dönni Kuoni, Vice Director Bakom. "Both factors stand for security and trust and are becoming increasingly important in business as well as in the digital world."

.swiss Internet addresses are allocated and operated exclusively by the Swiss Confederation. Only companies with a physical place of business in Switzerland can register for it and thus appear. This is increasingly making .swiss a seal of quality for products and services from Swiss companies and organizations that is easy to understand worldwide.

Since 2001, the Best of Swiss Web Award has annually honored the outstanding web projects of their year. The aim of the award is to promote transparency and quality standards in the Swiss digital and communications industry. With up to 500 competition entries and around 1000 guests, Best of Swiss Web is one of the most important Swiss industry awards.

This year, the BoSW awards ceremony will take place at the big awards gala on April 17 at the Samsung Hall in Zurich. At the gala, the "Advertiser of the Year" of the Advertising Week and the Crossmedia Award was presented by Goldbach.

The House is working with Swiss Life to develop a new integrated campaign approach with a focus on digital channels & presences. From strategy and creative design to implementation and operation - in all service areas, the specialist teams from The House and Swiss Life work very closely together in co-creation mode. The agency is also responsible for strategic media planning, buying and management. The first works will be on display in the coming months.

2019 holds a round anniversary in store for Bauknecht. The household appliance manufacturer is celebrating its 100th birthday this year. And Inhalt und Form is celebrating along with it. During a pitch process, the agency was able to prevail over the competition and win the budget for the anniversary campaign. The agency will accompany the jubilarian with off- and online measures. So that the anniversary can also be celebrated properly. The first works will be on display in April. This much can already be revealed: It will be fluffy.

Diego Yanez has headed the Swiss School of Journalism in Lucerne since March 2014. Despite changes in the media, the MAZ brand has been successfully strengthened in the education and training market in recent years. In the Journalism department, sales and earnings have been stabilized at a high level thanks to new offerings. The Communication department has grown continuously over the past years. It employs 26 permanent staff and around 400 lecturers from the field.

"I made the decision to retire early after careful consideration," says Diego Yanez. "I have intensive, exciting years behind me. What I will do after May 31, 2020, is still open. For the time being, I will continue to devote all my energy to the MAZ until my last working day."

Res Strehle, MAZ Foundation Board President: "We very much regret the resignation. Diego Yanez leads the MAZ excellently. We are grateful to him for all the work he has done and still has to do. But we are also grateful to him for informing us early on about his retirement plans. This will enable us to optimally arrange the succession."

The position will be advertised in July 2019. Following a multi-stage procedure, the successor will be elected by the Board of Trustees at the end of October 2019.

Circus Knie has been relying on the services of Future Connection for communication issues since 2002. Thanks to a clear concept and a contemporary design proposal, the Zurich-based communications agency was also commissioned by the circus family to redesign the Website.
 

An emotional imagery and dark colors let visitors feel a hint of the magic that awaits them in the performances already on the Internet. The latest technology was used for the implementation. The new webshop is based on a Shopify solution, which was adapted according to the needs. The new website has been live since the beginning of March - just in time for the start of the tour. With the new appearance, Knie breaks away from the classic circus image and emphasizes its own experience and event positioning.

The authors of the study suggest strengthening cooperation between the creative industries and universities in order to exploit the potential of this economic sector.

458,000 people (as of 2015) work in the creative economy in the Lake Constance region. This corresponds to 9.6 percent of the total workforce. The share of the creative economy in the overall economy in Zurich is well above average at 16.8% of all employees - a total of 142,000 people. The region of Eastern Switzerland is also above average with 10.9%, or 72,000 people. These are the findings of the first creative industries report for the Lake Constance region. It was compiled jointly by the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) and the University of Applied Sciences Konstanz Technik, Wirtschaft und Gestaltung (HTWG) with the Statistical Office of the Canton of Zurich as a practice partner and sponsored by the International Lake Constance University (IBH).

For the creative economy report, both those employed in creative businesses, such as an advertising agency, as well as those employed in creative professions outside of the creative sector, such as a graphic designer in the financial sector, were recorded. Zurich and Eastern Switzerland are followed by Vorarlberg with 8.3% and the German administrative districts of Tübingen, Freiburg and Swabia with a creative economy employment share of 7.8% to 7.2%.

The most important submarket of the creative industries in the Lake Constance region is the software industry with a 41% share of employees, ahead of the advertising industry (24%), book and press publishers (14%) and the design industry (14%). In Zurich and the Eastern Switzerland region, the software industry is clearly overrepresented with 46% of employees. It is the strongest creative sector here, ahead of the design industry and the advertising market.

The authors of the study show that the industry complex has hardly been considered an economic factor in its own right to date. "The creative industries are undoubtedly an important driver of innovation for the entire Lake Constance region," says Markus Rhomberg, Head of the Lake Constance International University of Applied Sciences. "Investments in the creative industries strengthen the dynamics of economic development."

"The report shows how interwoven the creative industries are with other sectors in the Lake Constance region," emphasizes Frank Speier, Chairman of the Economy Commission of the International Lake Constance Conference. He believes that a "regular dialog between the economy, those responsible for education in the region and the creative industries is necessary so that politicians can shape the framework conditions for this booming sector even better". The creative industries report is also a start for this important exchange.

Prof. Christoph Weckerle, Head of the Department of Cultural Analysis and Mediation at the Zurich University of the Arts, believes that highly qualified employees and founders are particularly important for the success of the creative industry in the region: "We recommend coordinating the efforts of companies and universities from the entire Lake Constance region with regard to innovative initiatives and formats." This is "central to attracting talent in this area in order to further increase the visibility and attractiveness of the region internationally".

The biggest threat to brands is the migration of their core customers. Marketing intelligence can be used to counter this challenge; it is the central theme of the Brand Roadshow 2019, which is being organized by the Serviceplan Group and GfK. The results are based on both GfK studies and a survey of marketers.

General retention behavior in society is growing - for example, the number of weddings has been increasing for years - but in contrast, people's brand loyalty is steadily declining. According to current GfK findings, the churn of existing customers averages 30 percent per year - a fact that many marketers are not aware of. At the same time, however, regular customers account for almost 70 percent of sales.

The Brand Roadshow 2019 is dedicated to this topic. The core message is that it is not enough to simply increase the media budget and thus, for example, the demographically defined reach. Rather, a new type of marketing intelligence is needed, one that focuses above all on advertising impact and planning in real time.

Regular customers are of elementary importance for a brand's sales, as this year's Brand Roadshow shows: not only do they generate 70 percent of sales, they even ensure higher market shares and almost 50 percent higher prices on the market for brands with an above-average share of existing customers. What's more, 75 percent of new buyers make only one purchase. Yet 80 to 90 percent of communications budgets are still spent on new customer acquisition.

If potential new buyers are to be reached, they must be addressed with the same brand values as existing customers - another important result of the marketing event. Therefore, the classic planning process of brand management must be fundamentally changed and the analysis of retention factors must be placed at the beginning.

As part of the annual Brand Roadshow (formerly Marketing Meeting), the Serviceplan Group, together with GfK, offers insights into highly topical issues at various locations in German-speaking countries. Renowned speakers present the latest research findings as well as new tools and practical concepts to expert guests from the marketing scene.

When the last patches of snow are melting in large parts of Switzerland and the first crocuses are rising from the ground, the camelias are already blooming in Locarno and the terraces on the piazza in Ascona invite you to soak up the sun. Enjoying, smelling and relaxing are important keywords for the next Swiss-wide vacation campaign. The popular destination with its famous sights and international festivals also impresses with its warm hospitality. Eating polenta together with locals at the stone table and toasting with a Boccalino and musing on the coziness - as is well known, this is best done in one of Ticino's numerous grotti.

With charm and wit, she is the face of the vacation destination Ascona-Locarno: Christa Rigozzi. This is already the third national campaign with the ex-Miss Switzerland. She has established herself as an influencer and her commitment as a testimonial for the region is warm and authentic. It is precisely these strengths that are highlighted in the new campaign. The focus is on the winning Padrone Pietro. He greets his guests, serves the food, does everything himself and sees himself as the inventor of La Dolce Vita. Everything is believable until Christa comes out of the steaming kitchen in her cooking apron. Pietro is definitely a stroke of luck for the campaign. With him, the Chur-based agency Skipp Communications has found the ideal padrone for the film scene in the picturesque Grotto ob Ascona-Locarno.

Eating, drinking, chatting, enjoying the sun and the lake - La Dolce Vita, that's what the Ascona-Locarno region stands for like no other. That is why it emphasizes these unique advantages in the new campaign. The focus is also deliberately on shorter stays, as a time-out from everyday life. With her seven golden rules of enjoyment, Christa Rigozzi also reminds those at home of the advantages of life in the sunny region with a wink. This addresses the main market of the vacation destination: Three quarters of all overnight guests come from Switzerland. Ascona-Locarno is and remains the ideal place for relaxation and enjoyment for many people in the centers of Zurich, Lucerne and Basel.

Benjamin Frizzi, Marketing Director at Ascona-Locarno Tourism: "Our guests rave about the good food, our grotti, gelati and gazosa, the friendly hosts and the magnificent landscape. That's exactly what we are masters of and that's why we are dedicating the new campaign to our core competence: La Dolce Vita. In addition to being the sunny region, we also want to be the friendly inn of Switzerland."