On Tuesday, BrandTrust hosted its traditional New Year's aperitif in Zurich and presented the results of the international study on the impact of digital transformation on luxury brands. Around 50 clients and friends of the house discussed what luxury means in the age of digitalization and what luxury brands need to do to remain attractive to millennials in Europe's largest hotel suite at Atlantis by Giardino.

The Royal Residence at the Atlantis by Giardino hotel in Zurich is the largest hotel suite in Europe. It was designed especially for the royal family of Qatar. Normally, it is not open to the public. For the management consultancy BrandTrust, the hotel made an exception; and thus provided a fitting setting for the discussion of the latest study with Philippe Frutiger, director of the Giardino Hotel Group, Christine Hutter, founder of Moritz Grossmann, a luxury watch brand from Germany, and Klaus-Dieter Koch, luxury brand expert and founder of BrandTrust.

The third luxury study by BrandTrust shows that wealthy Swiss people prefer immaterial luxuries, such as free time, to material luxuries (see chart below). Travel is the most important luxury: as a way of escaping constant accessibility and switching off mentally. It is virtually the new No.1 luxury good. The Millennial generation in particular equates travel with a luxurious and fulfilling lifestyle. "It's about something they can't just buy at the store: Experiences and adventures. Personal encounters and human closeness take on a special significance for Millennials in an increasingly digital world," explains study co-author Klaus-Dieter Koch.

The market volume of luxury goods is proving to be enormously robust and steadily growing. The luxury industry seems less susceptible to fluctuations compared to other industries. Nevertheless, the third BrandTrust luxury study shows that a lot has happened in the last six years: For Millennials, Instagram accounts of luxury brands are very important. Experiences that are "Instagrammable" will become a highly differentiating brand touchpoint in the customer journey in the future. The more unique and brand-specific such experiences are designed, the higher the appreciation for the brand. The monobrand store in an exclusive location - still number 1 on the importance scale today - will become significantly less important in the next few years and fall to number 13.

"Millennials want unique items, something personal - even when it comes to watches," says Christine Hutter, founder of Moritz Grossmann, luxury brand from Glashütte. "Hotel brands are becoming less important, and the self-dramatization of customers is increasingly taking center stage. As a result, people themselves are becoming brands," explains Philippe Frutiger, director of the Giardino Hotel Group.

"Luxury brands need to know the movie Millennials are making about themselves and plug into it. That's how they become relevant to the future generation of customers," explains Klaus-Dieter Koch, luxury brand expert and founder of BrandTrust.

Klaus-Dieter Koch, author of luxury studies and Managing Partner of BrandTrust with the team: Johanna Otto-Erley, Sarah Bömer, Benedikt Streb and Eva Wandhoff (from left).

"The accusations of the competition are false and far-fetched," he said in an interview with the Keystone-SDA news agency on Wednesday on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Rather, in his view, Swisscom is at a disadvantage. In relation to the number of customers, the Swiss telecom group can only bid for fewer frequencies for the next mobile communications generation 5G than its competitors, Schaeppi said in Davos.

This is because the regulator has defined the award criteria in such a way that Swisscom cannot bid for frequencies in line with its market share of around 60 percent. The frequency per customer is what matters, Schaeppi said.

This is because customers all use cell phones about the same amount. Swisscom's networks would then be much more heavily loaded, which would be a competitive disadvantage, Schaeppi repeated arguments already familiar to Switzerland's largest telecommunications group.

Swisscom now wants to wait for the spectrum auction and, if necessary, comment on it later. However, 5G networks must now be built urgently. Delaying this would not be good for Switzerland.

Sunrise, on the other hand, had criticized that the current auction rules would lead to a cementing of Swisscom's market power and a restriction of competition. The maximum limit of frequency blocks that a single bidder would be allowed to acquire was too high.

This would allow Swisscom to secure around half of all the frequencies that are important for the upcoming next mobile communications generation 5G. That is why Sunrise is calling for a restriction on the maximum limit that a group can bid for. Salt also finds the bidding restrictions far too loose.

If the Federal Communications Commission Comcom sticks to the planned design of the frequency auction, Sunrise is threatening to take legal action against the outcome of the auction before the Federal Administrative Court. This would significantly delay the introduction of the new 5G technology.

The spectrum auction is scheduled to begin shortly. Exactly when is unknown. According to the company spokesperson, Swisscom is not allowed to provide any information on this before and during the award procedure. (SDA)

This is reported by the Handelszeitung. The background to this is that the requirements for Swiss casinos to obtain an online gaming license are high: 3 million francs for each license per location and at least 20 percent of equity from gross gaming revenue. Not all locations in Switzerland currently meet these requirements, according to the newspaper's research.

The casino association says: "The capital requirements are accepted." Only large casinos such as Swiss Casinos and Grand Casino Baden are determined to launch an online offering in the second half of the year. With the exception of Casino Interlaken, which is expecting "12 to 15 million gross gaming revenue in the second full financial year", none of the casinos are willing to comment on investment costs and revenue expectations.

As previously announced, the two Digital Advertising Services divisions of Tamedia and Goldbach Digital Services will be merged from March 1, 2019. Sylvia Epaillard and Alexander Horrolt will take over the overall management of the new Digital Advertising Services unit in a dual leadership role.

"With Sylvia Epaillard and Alexander Horrolt, we have two strong leaders who complement each other perfectly. They know both the challenges of the market and the two companies very well. As a management duo, they can make a significant contribution to bringing together the two corporate cultures of Tamedia and Goldbach," says Michi Frank, CEO of Goldbach and member of Tamedia's Management Board, explaining the decision to appoint a dual leadership team.

Sylvia Epaillard took over as Head of Digital Advertising Services at Tamedia in mid-2015, having previously been responsible for technology and product development. She previously worked for the gaming publisher Miniclip and for Google in Dublin, among others. Sylvia Epaillard studied language and communication sciences and computer science and completed her Executive MBA at Insead Business School at the end of 2018.

Alexander Horrolt has been Managing Director of Goldbach Digital Services since mid-2015. Prior to that, he was Managing Director of Goldbach Audience and Sales Director TV at Goldbach Media. The television and online expert has also worked at Cinecom, Publicitas and IP Deutschland, among others. Alexander Horrolt studied sports and business administration and has various business and management qualifications. 

The online stores of electronics retailers Brack, Digitec, Interdiscount, Media Markt, Melectronics, Microspot, PCP and Steg Computer & Elektronik were tested. A well-functioning web store is based on several pillars. Important factors are ease of use, good search and product selection, and fast delivery. On the positive side, almost all of the retailers tested have done their homework in these areas. However, PCP's store is no longer up to date. Although the retailer has a wide range of products, the presentation is old-fashioned. The store already looks cluttered on a large PC screen, and the overview is quickly lost on a small smartphone display.

Free shipping of products is part of the good tone of many online retailers (also in other industries). However, buyers should always look carefully: Because free shipping does not apply everywhere, regardless of the value of the purchased product. At Brack, Digitec, Interdiscount and Microspot, for example, the postage costs are only waived for purchases of around 50 francs. According to our random checks, the lowest prices are at Microspot and Steg. However, this can change quickly, since the retailers constantly adjust their prices.

Content marketing is on everyone's lips, and not without good reason. Additional buyer's guides, workshops and videos are intended to give customers a much more comprehensive picture of the products. In addition, this is how online stores bind visitors to their site, as they no longer just stop by to make a purchase. Digitec is clearly ahead here: no other retailer offers such a wealth of product tests and videos. But the competition is not sleeping: Brack, Microspot and Interdiscount have also started to integrate such "editorial" additional services into their stores.

300 million people around the world are colorblind. They see certain colors such as red or green poorly or not at all. With the SeeColors app for QLED TV, Samsung is launching a revolutionary TV experience for people with color vision deficiency. For the first time, they can see the lush green of a meadow or the bright red of a sunset on the screen. Thanks to SeeColors, the full beauty of colors can finally be seen by many. The communicative rainbow is provided by Jung von Matt/Limmat in collaboration with Shining Pictures.

In the movie "Madame Rouge" on Seecolors.samsung.ch the viewer experiences the special story of a woman who leads a completely normal life. With one small exception: some people simply don't see her. The story was conceived and realized together with Shining Pictures.

To publicize the app, the agency also created advertisements inspired by the Ishihara vision tests. The Japanese doctor Ishihara invented the well-known color charts in 1917, which are still used today to diagnose color vision deficiencies. Hidden in the advertisements are emotional scenes that are now visible to everyone thanks to Samsung SeeColors. The SeeColors app is available free of charge on Samsung Smart TVs and in the Google Play Store.

With over 700 employees, the Kestenholz Group is the largest brand representative of Mercedes-Benz in the region of northwestern Switzerland and southern Baden. With the support of Yellow Werbeagentur, the garage group wants to better coordinate its marketing activities, optimize synergies and more consistently implement the brand's image. As a hub, the creative agency coordinates all activities and is responsible for the creation of all measures in the field of marketing and corporate communications.

Yellow is breaking new ground in the collaboration between client and agency. The responsible marketing managers of the Kestenholz Group are integrated into the respective project teams of the agency. The communication of all projects runs via a common platform and can be viewed by everyone. The up-to-dateness and transparency of the information increases security and efficiency in the processing of orders. "The new form of collaboration makes the paths very short and the process more cooperative." Further, Thomas Kestenholz, CEO Germany of the Kestenholz Group, assumes that projects will run in a goal-oriented and lean manner as a result.

"I am very pleased that we have been able to attract two creative and qualified copywriters to our network," Ruth Hardegger-Wickli, managing director of Etextera, said in a statement. Etextera is one of the largest Swiss copywriting agencies. The company is committed to helping women combine career and family. Thanks to around 20 female editors, copywriters and lecturers with different backgrounds, the agency covers a wide range of topics and text types. The specialists also write texts for print and online.

James has been the lead agency for the Zug fare network for almost two years. In particular the Zuger Pass Plus has been advertised in recent months with many different motifs and entertaining stories in a network map design. But it is not only the unlimited travel within the fare network that makes the Zuger Pass Plus attractive. The price saving of 25% with the motto "Travel for 12 months, save 3 months" also speaks for this popular product. For this reason, James has launched the "Line Savings Plan". For two weeks in January, it will be displayed at all central stops in the fare network.

The Zug fare network was founded in 1992 and is one of the first integrated networks in Switzerland. All public transport services in the Canton of Zug and all neighboring municipalities are combined in the Zug fare network to offer an optimal public transport service.

Ilona Baier is the new Managing Director at Ginetta. Simon Raess is once again increasingly taking care of strategic tasks.

With just under fifty employees in Zurich and Bern, Ginetta is now one of the leading digital agencies in Switzerland. In the future, founder and owner Simon Raess would like to focus even more intensively on the strategic development of the company. That is why he is handing over operational management to Ilona Baier. 

Ilona Baier is a longtime employee of Ginetta and has been instrumental in the digital agency's success, according to a statement. "Ilona is the right person for this role. It's a good feeling to have such a competent person as managing director of Ginetta," Raess explains. Now he is looking forward to being "less involved in day-to-day operations and thus having more time again for strategic tasks," Raess says.

Ilona Baier joined Ginetta in 2015 as Senior Interaction Designer. She holds an MAS in Human Computer Interaction Design and teaches all aspects of digital product development at several Swiss colleges and universities, including HSG St. Gallen. Baier has been taking on responsible tasks at Ginetta for a long time: She has overall responsibility for several successful large-scale projects, provides strategic advice to customers and supports the management team. Founder Simon Raess has systematically prepared her for her new role over the past few years. The change to Managing Director is the next logical step. 
 

In the Direct Marketing category with Swiss Life "Customer for 100 years". The same work also made it onto the shortlist in the "Innovation in Print & Outdoor" category. Also nominated is the "Fine Art Transports" campaign for Welti-Furrer in the Print & Outdoor category. The final judging will take place in March 2019 in New York.

Renato Profico (left) leaves JobCloud and hands over the CEO position to Davide Villa (right).

Villa has been a member of the JobCloud management team since January 2016. He has been Head of Business Development since July 2018. Previously, he was responsible for Product Management and Company Development. His industry experience in HR recruitment management and the job platform business is extensive. For example, Davide Villa was Chairman of the Board of Directors of jobs.ch, CEO of Monster Central and Eastern Europe, Chief Revenues Officer and Senior Vice President B2B of XING, Marketing and Business Development Director at Idealjob (Adecco Group) and COO of Jobpilot. In addition to his expertise in the international recruitment market, he has extensive experience in the further development of fast-growing online companies as well as a track record in the areas of M&A, sales, product development and online marketing. 

The Board of Directors is convinced that Davide Villa will significantly expand the company's footprint in the digital environment. "We are delighted to have gained Davide Villa from our own ranks as an excellently suited CEO for this challenging task in a highly competitive international environment, who will continue JobCloud's success story and achieve its ambitious business and growth targets. The Swiss recruitment market still offers a great deal of potential," said Robin Lingg, Chairman of the Board of Directors, in a press release.