Wirz Communications is gearing up for the future. After a furious end to the year with the acquisition of clients such as Swisscom, PostFinance, Swica and Graubünden, Switzerland's largest independent agency is reorganizing itself at management level. At the beginning of the year, two new members join the management team, which continues to include Petra Dreyfus, Livio Dainese, Fernando Perez and Daniel Ehrensperger.

As early as January 1, 2019, long-time Creative Director Caspar Heuss (pictured right) will be promoted to Executive Creative Director and join the Executive Board. The law graduate completed a text internship at Wirz in 2004 before moving to Berlin and working for nine years at Young & Rubicam and Scholz & Friends, among others. At Wirz, he has been working as a senior CD for quite some time and in this capacity was instrumental in last year's pitch wins. Livio Dainese, Co-CEO and Creative Director of Wirz: "Caspar has proven time and again over the past years that he embodies the typical Wirz qualities excellently: He can turn complex briefings into broad-based, creative campaigns. The fact that he is now supporting us at GL is a great enrichment."

Urs Krucker (left) will join Wirz's management team as Executive Strategy Director on February 1, 2019. Krucker was previously Head of Strategy and Consulting and a member of the Management Board of Y&R Group Switzerland. The HSG graduate also contributes his expertise as a guest lecturer at universities and technical colleges. "With Urs Krucker, we have been able to sign up our absolute dream candidate," emphasizes Co-CEO Petra Dreyfus. "He brings with him a modern understanding of strategy and great experience in the conception and implementation of digital transformation processes. He will thus provide important impetus for the future direction of the agency."

Samuel Christ (below), former ECD, has decided to leave Wirz at the end of 2018 and work as a freelance creative director in the future. In this role, he would like to continue to be involved in creative advertising while also tackling his own projects. Livio Dainese comments: "I look back on our joint successes at Wirz with pleasure. We sincerely thank him for his commitment to GL and his creative engagement on important accounts and pitches for the agency. We very much regret Samuel's departure, but understand his desire for more independence and wish him only the best for his future."
 

In January 2016, Xiaoqun Clever joined Ringier as Chief Technology and Data Officer and member of the Group Executive Board. The division she heads Technology & Data includes the areas of corporate IT, cyber security and the development of Sherlock, a leading digital platform that is able to link data from the Ringier Group's two main divisions, Publishing and Marketplaces, in accordance with the applicable data protection guidelines. It is now being examined whether the Ringier Group's award-winning technology platform will also be offered to third-party customers.

According to Marc Walder, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Partner of Ringier, Xiaoqun Clever has made a significant contribution to the further development of Ringier into a technology-driven media company, particularly with Sherlock, and has thus laid the foundation for the next steps. "I am delighted that Xiaoqun Clever will continue to support Ringier with her expertise in an advisory capacity," said Walder in a statement. 

In addition to her advisory activities at Ringier, Xiaoqun Clever intends to concentrate on her international supervisory board mandates - including at Allianz Versicherungs AG Austria and Maxingvest, the holding company of the operating companies Tchibo and Beiersdorf. "The challenge of achieving ambitious goals and working together with a great team to drive Ringier's development forward has motivated me over the past three years. After successfully completing the development work, the time has come for me to start something new," says Xiaoqun Clever.

Under the leadership of Robin Lingg, Head of Marketplaces, the Group Executive Board of Ringier will further develop the strategy and organization of the Technology & Data division.

The Swiss midlands almost traditionally sink under a thick cloud of fog or snow at the beginning of the year, which also makes January the month with the least sunshine of the year. This cold and wet weather is ideal for awakening people's desire to travel. After all, in other places around the world, the sun is shining right now. To remind people of this and inspire them to travel, Publicis has conjured up an entire sunny sky in Zurich's main train station - in the form of a large installation. An LED sphere with a diameter of 2 meters was suspended in the hall and a large cloth made of "feather silk" was placed underneath. Feather silk is the lightest fabric in the world, and so the 170-square-meter cloth weighs just 845 grams. Even a small breeze is enough to make it float in the air. Fans have been sunk into a platform on the floor, giving the cloth cloud-like movement. And below the hall ceiling, light emitters were placed, which project light moods of tropical destinations onto the sunny sky. 

 

The fact that such a summery mood can make the freezing people in snowy Zurich happy was evident immediately after the installation was set up on Instagram, Facebook and on site itself. Within a very short time, dozens of photos were posted and almost everyone in the station concourse took a few minutes to enjoy the sun and take a few photos of the installation. At #flyswiss or Facebook.com/flyswiss you can see the pictures and until Thursday evening you can still admire the sunny sky "live" in the HB. The campaign was advertised on a cover page in 20 Minuten, on the weather page of 20 Minuten, in banners and on digital posters around the station.

Responsible at Swiss: Bernhard Christen (Head of Marketing), Judith Schulte (Head of Marketing Communication Campaigns), Cornelia Späth (Manager Campaigns), Philipp Schad (Manager Campaigns/Brand PR). Responsible at Publicis: Patrick Suter, Michael Brauchli (Creative Direction), Marvin Hugentobler, Anatole Comte (Art Direction), Dominik Locher (Graphics), Sandro Looser, Flavio Alraun, Anna Magnaguagno (Consulting), Thomas Wildberger (CEO). Responsible at Prodigious: Sarida Bossoni (Art Buyer / TV Producer), Stefan Rüegg (Head of Video Production), Pierre Copsey (Video Producer). Partners: Auviso (Technical Partner), APG|SGA (Promotions Partner), Lichtwerk GmbH (Electrical Partner).

The daily reach on radio was almost 2.6 million people, while demand for audio and video content on the web increased again. This was announced by SRF on Thursday. According to the press release, SRF 1 scored points with the audience with up-to-date information - especially on the weather -, background reports, entertainment and in-house produced films and series. 

Swiss top performances in sport ensured record-high viewing figures: Switzerland's group match against Brazil at the World Cup in Russia became the most-watched television program since the introduction of the new measurement system with an average of 1.6 million viewers. 

The ice hockey World Cup final between Switzerland and Sweden was watched by an average of 1.1 million people, Beat Feuz's victory in the Lauberhorn downhill race was watched by 921,000 people, and Roger Federer's match point to win his 20th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open was watched by 873,000 people.

 

Radio and online also popular 

Almost 2.6 million people listen to one of the six SRF radio stations every day. This corresponds to a market share of 54.6 percent. Every week, 79% of people in German-speaking Switzerland tuned into SRF radio at least once. 

Audience interest in audio and video content on the web has increased. On average, 9 livestream or on-demand offerings were launched per second in 2018. The SRF web offering reached almost 2.8 million users per month (+12%). Users showed the greatest interest in content on major sporting events. 

 

Looking to the future: sport, circus, elections 

Major sporting events are also coming up in 2019: From February 4 to 17, SRF's sports programs will be all about the Alpine World Ski Championships in Åre, Sweden. 

Even before the competition weekend on August 24 and 25, when over 270 wrestlers will compete for the crown of wrestling king in Zug, the SRF program will focus on the Swiss national sport. 

SRF's program highlights in the new year include "Dynastie Knie - 100 Years of the National Circus". In a mixture of fictional and documentary segments as well as archive footage, the story of the Knie family is told - including all the highs and lows. The two 90-minute films will be broadcast at the end of November. 

In the second half of the year, SRF radio and television information programs will focus on the federal elections on October 20. There will be twelve hours of live reporting on election Sunday itself. (SDA)

Wolf Röcken has been working for the BZ Berner Zeitung since 2003. He is currently head of the regional newsdesk and heads the online editorial team. Previously, the 42-year-old was, among other things, head of the City of Bern department and, as head of news, was responsible for the BZ's main section and its cooperation partners. He holds a degree in contemporary history and journalism from the University of Fribourg. 

"My aim is to continuously adapt and improve news production for all BZ channels. To this end, we are reorganizing the BZ's editorial team," explains Simon Bärtschi, new Editor-in-Chief of the BZ Berner Zeitung since 1 January 2019, in a press release.

Stephan Dietrich is responsible for editorial planning. He is also head of the Bern Sport department. Together with Wolf Röcken, Stephan Dietrich is head of news at the editorial office in Bern and is responsible for the weighting and selection of stories for all digital channels and the newspaper.

In addition to Wolf Röcken and Stephan Dietrich, the editorial management of the Berner Zeitung will continue to include Chantal Desbiolles (Head of the Emmental/ Oberaargau department), Michael Feller (Head of Bernese Culture), Stephan Künzi (Head of the Bern Region department), Philippe Müller (Head of the Canton of Bern department), Stefan Schnyder (Head of the City of Bern department) and Franziska Zaugg (Head of BZ Forum). The partner newspapers in the Oberland, the Thuner Tagblatt and the Berner Oberländer, are managed by Stefan Geissbühler.

Despite all the dynamism and fascination with digitization, printed media remain "the most important source of information for the democratic formation of opinion," said the Tamedia Chairman of the Board of Directors at Wednesday's meeting in Zurich.

However, due to declining volumes, distribution costs per copy were rising disproportionately, which was jeopardizing the economic viability of the most important media offering. It was therefore "important that the indirect press subsidy for newspapers be expanded from today's 30 to 120 million Swiss francs annually".

Supino accuses Swiss Post of already charging too high costs in the initial situation due to its monopoly position and "non-transparent pricing". "In doing so, it is passing on the financing of its basic service mandate to the publishers and ultimately the newspaper subscribers."

Because all newspapers were suffering from rising distribution costs and the pressure in the advertising market was hitting the big ones particularly hard, Supino's idea was that indirect press subsidies should in future cover all newspapers and early delivery.

Today, the Federal Office of Communications decides which titles are eligible. The main criterion is the circulation:minimum 1000 and maximum 40,000 copies. In addition, the editorial content must be at least 50 percent.

 

Blossoming time for Investigative

With the disappearance of individual titles, job cuts, mergers and joint ventures, 2018 was an eventful year in the media industry. As President of the Swiss Media Association (VSM), however, Pietro Supino attests to the industry's good response to the increasing pressure.

On the one hand, there has been consistent investment in further development and digitization. For example, many professionals have learned programming and how to work with databases. However, we are still "at the beginning of an exciting learning curve. The association wants to be a helpful platform for its members, especially in this transformation phase - from exchanges among colleagues and with experts to events such as the Epiphany conference.

On the other hand, the proven competencies of the media industry are being cultivated despite all challenges and against all fears. Investigative journalism is flourishing, and "longform storytelling" is benefiting from new multimedia possibilities.

If the term "storytelling" comes up, a reference to Spiegel reporter Claas Relotius cannot be missing in 2019. Relotius, said Supino, "vividly reminded us that storytelling is an ambivalent concept.

The fundamental quality characteristics of professional journalistic craft are freedom from error, truth in the sense of completeness, transparency, especially with regard to one's own interests, as well as fairness towards the persons and institutions being reported on.

 

Hopes for login alliance

Like a number of other speakers, Supino addressed the Login Alliance, which was presented at the Swiss Media Forum last September and which Supino sees as an "existential issue.

The plan is for the publishers and SRG to set up a joint login on the web portals. Anyone visiting a platform is to log in with their first and last name, place of residence and other details.

Supino said that registration is standard practice for the powerful global platforms. Now it is a matter of "establishing this standard for the Swiss media industry as well, in order to remain competitive. (SDA)

 

Photo: Johannes Hapig

Harry H. Meier joins Head of Corporate Communications Christos Bräunle as of December 1, 2018. Meier assumes responsibility for Localsearch's external communications. Previously, the 45-year-old worked for various national and international companies as a media spokesperson, PR and communications expert. In recent years, Meier has focused on digital communications and built up solid expertise in the field of digital PR. He is a trained marketing specialist and holds an Executive Master of Business Administration (Marketing) from the University of Applied Sciences in Zurich (HWZ).

 

The review market is growing unstoppably. The individual providers collect more reviews for stores, services and products every year, but the number of review providers themselves is also growing rapidly. In addition, there are aggregated reviews, i.e. those that are fed from multiple sources, self-built systems, review options on social media or in-store, not forgetting the in-house review services of industry giants such as Amazon or Google.

Sovereignty over a company's online reputation is increasingly shifting into the hands of consumers and is moving further and further away from individual companies (with the exception of online giants such as Amazon, who also set the rules for their own rating system themselves).

The decisive factor for consumers in the abundance of reviews is ultimately the question of which ones are genuine and trustworthy. Only these reviews offer real help when making a purchase decision. The trend towards authentic customer reviews, which come exclusively from customers who have actually used an offer or service, will therefore continue.

 

Customer ratings as a large content pinboard

What actually is a customer review? Companies have long been present on social media. Public comments under companies' Instagram or Facebook posts are basically nothing more than customer reviews. Here, too, consumers read and form an opinion. Customer reviews are now more than just the questionnaire that a customer receives by email after making a purchase in an online store.

But the path also leads in the other direction: classic customer reviews find their way into social media in the form of quotes or review profiles, where they form a building block in the store's presence.

A company's online reputation is increasingly fed by various sources such as comments and likes on social media, seals of approval, traditional customer reviews, product reviews or publicly answered questions. It is an interplay of different channels and sources. This is why customer reviews in 2019 are more like a large content pinboard with different posts that overlap and complement each other than a clearly structured chart.

 

Reviews are no longer searched for, but found

It is commonly said that "a user searches for reviews on the Internet". This may still be true for many consumers when they are looking for information as part of a purchase decision. However, as reviews are now available everywhere, the trend is for users to take reviews for granted and simply read them where they are available. This can be Google reviews directly on Google Maps, product reviews on the product page, store reviews on the homepage of a store or review stars in Google Shopping ads.

For this reason, it is becoming increasingly important to keep reviews tangible on all Internet presences of your own products and offers. Not too obtrusive, of course, so that they do not distract from the actual offer, but in such a way that they are easy to find if necessary.

 

Authentic beats robots

The fact that authentic reviews are best received by consumers sounds like old hat. However, the topic is more relevant than ever due to rapid technological developments. Especially in times of artificial intelligence and automated processes, more and more users are longing for offers from "real people".

Online retailers therefore have to master a balancing act. On the one hand, they benefit from the new technical possibilities, for example to provide customers with tailored offers or save resources. On the other hand, it is crucial to make it clear that there is not just a well-functioning robot behind the website, but people who can also be contacted personally in case of doubt.

There are suitable measures to breathe human life into a website. Retailers can run a blog and respond publicly to customer comments on social media or in the rating profile. Or they can appear with pictures and introduce the employees of the online store. And very important: accessibility. This can be a live chat or a traditional telephone hotline. It is not necessary to be available around the clock and smaller stores in particular cannot afford this. The only important thing is that they communicate when they are available and stick to this.

 

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Almost one in eight people in this country is at risk of financial hardship and thus often social hardship as well. The Christmas season, when we all long for cozy evenings, good food and the security of family and friends, is particularly depressing for less privileged people. While the feast of love is celebrated together behind brightly lit windows, for many loneliness and isolation are even more present than usual. This year's Migros Christmas campaign aims to draw attention to this.

Who would be better suited to sensitize people to the needs of others than Finn, the darling of us all? Over 20 million hearts melted when he discovered last year that he wasn't alone in the Migros store and could celebrate his first Christmas with friends. This year, he's looking for the security that only family can give, and sets out to find his parents.

Finn's message reaches young and old

"Finn is representative of people who feel abandoned," says Roman Reichelt, Head of Marketing Communications at the Federation of Migros Cooperatives. "The story of the Migros elf is so much more than just a commercial. It expresses an attitude - and that's what the Migros brand is all about here." Many are not granted the happiness of a carefree Christmas surrounded by their loved ones, he said. "It is unfortunately a fact that many people suffer hardship in this country as well and are pushed into the social margins as a result. With this campaign, we want to draw attention to this and, together with our customers, collect donations for needy people in Switzerland."

Livio Dainese, co-CEO and creative director of Wirz, adds: "I believe that with the stories around Finn we have created a small world that both adults and children can get excited about. A world that allows us to convey messages in a very emotional way."

Thinking of others - and helping

The donation chocolate bars have been on sale in every Migros branch since October 30 for 5, 10 and 15 Swiss francs. The donations generated from this will benefit the aid organizations Caritas, HEKS, Winterhilfe, Pro Juventute and Pro Senectute in equal parts. Migros also donates an additional one franc per bar sold.

But Finn will not only be featured on the donation chocolates; he and his friends will also be available as high-quality plush figures complete with light-up effect and real "Miep" sound as part of a collection promotion starting on November 27.

Responsible at the Federation of Migros Cooperatives: Roman Reichelt (Head of Marketing Communications), Pascal Schaub (Head of Campaigning & Sponsoring), Conradin Schaad (Head of Sales Promotions), Désirée Strassmann (Deputy Head of Campaigning & Sponsoring), Christina Gelmi (Head of Campaigning), Natalia Durrer (Senior Project Manager Theme Focus), Isabelle Britschgi (Project Manager Theme Focus), Thomas Burri (PL Digital Campaigning & Promotions), Simone Blaser (Deputy Head of Media). Responsible at Wirz: Livio Dainese (CCO), Fernando Perez (Executive Creative Director). Dominique Magnusson, Chantal Heimo, Cornelia Eiwanger, Peter Iten, Lara Klopper (Art Direction). Florian Siegrist, Roger Krage (Text). Elena Gabriel, Lia Bellini (Graphics). Catrin Bewersdorff (Client Service Director), Ella Papadakis, Tanja Höhn, Janine Studer, Sabrina Iseli, Patrik Muntwyler (Consulting). Erasmo Palomba (Agency Producer). Bettina Faessler (Art Buying). Cosima Lang, Antonia Frind (Storyline). Adrian Huwyler, Björn Bippus-Brender, Fery Elghol, Gianluca Reich (XLAB). Giovanni Bucca, Mario Müller (Production). Digital Producer: Sabrina Schönfelder (Digital Producer). Ruedi Boller, Thomas Peller, Désirée Guzzo, Adina Nehrkorn, Ramona Trebucchi, Sonja Jegen, Corinne Räber, Yussef Serrat, Laura Graf (DTP). Rino Frei, Oliver Fäs (image editing). Responsible at Stories: Yves Bollag (Film Production/Producer Stories AG), Daniel Tietz & Dorian Lebherz, Kyra Buchor & Constantin Paeplow (Director), Julian Hohdorf (DoP Camera), Christina Conradi (Editing), Brad Nathan Padgett (ASCAP), Michael J. Yessian (SUISA), Brian D. Yessian (SUISA), Ingmar Rehberg (GEMA), Karin Nyffenegger (Art Department/Styling), Gregor Rosenberger (Sound Design/ Sound Mixing Jingle Jungle), Passion Animation Studios (Post Production).