The central communication platform for the campaign is a jointly developed South Africa Guidewhich has its own microsite on www.SecretEscapes.de is published. In it, South African Tourism and Secret Escapes portray the travel destination with various editorially prepared topics. In addition, the campaign includes the placement of display banners on the Secret Escapes website, a newsletter mailing with a focus on South Africa and the distribution of the campaign via Secret Escapes' social media channels. The cooperation is rounded off by exclusive South Africa travel offers that the online portal for affordable luxury travel is putting together exclusively for this campaign.

The second Swiss Digital Fundraising Study has been published in time for the international GivingTuesday on November 29. It examines the digital donation behavior of the Swiss. In terms of the total donation volume, the proportion of digital donations rose from 2,24% in 2014 to 2,55% in 2015. That is a growth of 13.9 percent. Marco Zaugg, CEO of RaiseNow, comments: "The positive trend from the previous year has been confirmed. We have once again seen double-digit growth in the proportion of digital donations, even if this does not fully meet our expectations." The analysis of more than twice as many organizations as last year (20 in 2015, 13 of which were certified by the Zewo Foundation, compared to 9 organizations in 2014) confirmed the continued low share. To calculate the digital share, the digital donation volume (just under CHF 6.7 million) of 20 Swiss aid organizations was compared with their total private donation volume (over CHF 262 million).The second Digital Fundraising Study Switzerland confirms trends that were already indicated in the first edition of the study: Credit cards continue to be the most popular payment method among the Swiss for online donations and donations are made throughout the day, i.e. during work and leisure time. The days of the week with the highest average donations last year were Wednesday (CHF 130) and Sunday (CHF 127): www.raisenow.com/dfs16

For five years now, Branders has been presenting exciting, distinctive and fascinating brands and their creators in its online magazine The Brander. Following "The Brander - Brands and their Makers" and "The Brander - Food Edition", the third edition of selected reports is now being published in the form of an elaborately designed coffee-table book. The new edition of "Marken und ihre Macher - Creators of Brands - The Brander" presents 17 exciting personalities in German and English in detailed and exclusive interviews, paired with high-quality photography and generous photo spreads.Whether Laurent Goblet from Hermès, Rob Melville from McLaren, Giovanni Anzani from Poliform, Nenad Mlinarevic, Chef of the Year 2016, or Michael O'Keeffe from Aesop: they are all united by the passion and conviction with which they shape and move their brand. They are united by the will to create - from the big to the small. And they show us that even in today's world, the courage to take a gap, absolute identification and love for an idea, coupled with a great deal of perseverance, can turn a seemingly conventional product into a unique brand.The book is available online and in bookshops. All stories also appear on thebrander.com.

Women in particular are on Twitter at the last minute: over 60 percent of them use Twitter in the last few weeks before Christmas to find inspiration and creative ideas for the perfect gift and to exchange ideas with others. The gift categories of films, music or games (39 percent), clothing/accessories/jewelry (38 percent), perfume/cosmetics (31 percent) and electronics/household appliances (27 percent) are particularly popular. Purchases are primarily made online: Three quarters of German Twitter users (75 percent) order their Christmas gifts online. In 2015, there were more than 2.4 million tweets about Christmas alone on Twitter in Germany.

New Year's Eve and good intentions for the new yearAfter the festive season, it's time for German Twitter users to relax: 50 percent of them want to stay at home after the Christmas holidays and relax before getting straight to the party preparations for New Year's Eve on Twitter. The New Year's greeting is of course a must: at midnight on the dot, the number of tweets skyrockets and multiplies compared to the day's activity. In addition to all kinds of good wishes, good resolutions for the New Year are also shared on Twitter: 36% of German users make a firm resolution to get back into regular exercise. A further 35% want to pay more attention to healthy eating in the coming year (according to the Twitter Insight Survey #Christmas2015).

Home page of the new booking tool from Tamedia Advertising.With the new Booking Tool Tamedia Advertising enables customers to enter and place their online advertising in Tamedia's digital advertising network easily and without prior knowledge. The network covers all Tamedia websites and includes titles such as 20min.ch, annabelle.ch, tagesanzeiger.ch, 24heures.ch and many more. With the booking tool, Tamedia Advertising is specifically targeting SMEs with smaller budgets, offering an alternative to bookings on Google and Facebook.Targeted advertising, little wastageIn the booking tool, customers have the option of targeting their advertising according to a self-defined language area. This reduces wastage and makes the tool particularly attractive for small and medium-sized companies and regional event organizers. Reporting provides information on how often the advertising is clicked on. The customer defines their booking volume of between CHF 250 and a maximum of CHF 5000 in advance, billing is based on the number of clicks and payment is made simply by credit card.

Travelers are increasingly booking their trips online.only those who understand their customers' expectations, proactively enter into dialog with them at the right moment, and use the communication medium of choice - digital devices - to do so, will secure a long-term customer relationship. iAdvicea platform for conversational commerce, shows what exactly matters in the online customer experience in tourism.Vacations are mostly booked onlineTourists are on the move on all online channels and decide for themselves when and how they want to contact a company. According to the digital association Bitkom, 63 percent of Internet users already book their vacations online, and just under half (48 percent) at least occasionally check travel and online comparison portals before booking. So the tourism industry has long been earning its money online, too. In addition, consumers are increasingly obtaining information via mobile devices. The proportion of travel searches on smartphones is currently estimated at 40 percent. The comparison and purchase phase is therefore crucial.Online customer engagement is a must-have in the travel sectorA travel plan usually requires the consumer to do research and comparisons in advance; the actual conclusion of the purchase can take a long time and is often well thought out. And even during the trip, tourists want to be able to contact their provider or use one of its services. Consumers therefore increasingly expect a functioning and personalized customer approach. Three quarters use real-time channels in the travel industry for immediate and personal advice. 13 percent also agreed with the statement that they are more likely to book with tourism companies that offer a personal online customer approach. Consequently, credible and individual communication across all channels is becoming increasingly important.Many companies in the tourism industry are therefore focusing on the conversational commerce trend, which integrates communication across all real-time channels, such as chat, call, voice, social and messaging, into the customer approach. Case studies show that this type of communication increases purchase completions, increases shopping cart value, and makes consultative visitors more satisfied. An analysis of iAdvize's customer data revealed the following average scores after engaging with a potential customer:

• a conversion rate of 9.6 percent
• an average shopping cart value over 1,112 euros
• 93 percent average satisfaction

Compared to most other tools, email offers a variety of success measurement options. Nevertheless, one third of the companies surveyed in this study (34 percent) do not collect any KPIs at all when measuring the success of email tracking. The most commonly collected success factors are open rate (41 percent) and click-through rate (39 percent) - followed by delivery rate (26 percent), conversion rate (24 percent) and unsubscribe rate (22 percent). Click-through rate (18 percent) and bounce rate (15 percent) are taken into account less frequently. "It is really surprising that the opening rate, as the fuzziest key figure, has the highest observation rate here," says André Görmer (Mapp Digital), Chairman of the Email Focus Group at the BVDW. The open rate is still seen as the most important reference KPI. "Yet the click rate, for example, provides much clearer insights for evaluating the success of email communication," explains Görmer. However, the insights are rarely used for campaign optimization: More than half of the respondents (52 percent) state that decisions regarding the implementation of email marketing campaigns in their companies are not made on the basis of KPI-based reporting.Unchanged high importance in the media mixEmail is stronger than its reputation: it is perceived positively by marketing decision-makers to an above-average degree. While only 42 percent of all respondents agree with the statement that e-mail campaigns still have the same significance in the media mix as they did two years ago, the figure for marketing decision-makers is significantly higher at 69 percent. "Those who use e-mail professionally in dialog marketing appreciate its quality and potential - unfortunately, this reputation has not yet been established on a broad scale," notes André Görmer. Nevertheless, there is room for improvement: More than half (57 percent) of marketing decision-makers say there could be more key performance indicators for email marketing. In addition, most classic KPIs in email marketing are associated with a high degree of fuzziness (marketing decision-makers: 69 percent; total: 35 percent).

An app recognizes which food is good for us at the moment.With the help of facial recognition, it distinguishes between six different emotions. The app has been developed in collaboration with the British delivery service Just Eat It provides a more accurate and objective assessment of mood than self-assessment," says Charles Spence of the University of Oxford. Often, people can't and won't communicate what they're feeling. "There is already growing evidence that emotional mood has a significant impact on taste and smell perception," Spence explains.Mood changes tasteAccording to the expert, mood and emotional states influence the sensory aspects of taste. This also leads to the fact that after a breakup often nothing is eaten or the food no longer tastes as good as in phases of well-being. The app detects anger, fear, joy, surprise, sadness and disgust. If a person is angry, for example, a calming food such as dark chocolate or nuts that contain magnesium are suggested.People who are excited are more likely to be suggested something that regulates blood sugar. These include vegetables and whole grains. "On the one hand, our mood determines which food we choose. On the other hand, the particular food can also help us be happier, more energetic, relaxed, focused as well as motivated for the day," describes nutritionist Ruth Tongue.

Euroshop - a brand with great appeal.The retail trade fair was founded in Düsseldorf 50 years ago in response to the upheaval in the retail landscape caused by the self-service concept. Since then, EuroShop, which takes place every three years, has developed into the world's leading retail trade fair.In demand like never beforeThe trade fair, which takes place in Düsseldorf from March 5 to 9, 2017, is more popular than ever among exhibitors. Interest from abroad is particularly high. A good five months before the start of the event, the space booked for EuroShop 2014 (116,579 m²) had already been exceeded with around 120,000 m². To ensure that the trade fair can still meet the strong demand, EuroShop will comprise 18 halls for the first time in 2017 instead of the previous 16.Exhibitors on waiting list"Exhibitor demand is enormous, so much so that there is now even a waiting list. We are expecting around 2,500 exhibitors at EuroShop 2017. This development impressively confirms that our new concept of 7 experience dimensions was the right step and has been very positively received by the industry," reports Elke Moebius, Global Head Retail and Director EuroShop at Messe Düsseldorf. "As the world's leading trade fair for the entire investment needs of the retail sector, EuroShop is of enormous importance for the industry. Many exhibitors deliberately align their new products and their product ranges with the EuroShop dates," Moebius continues.The seven dimensions of experienceThe seven experience dimensions of EuroShop 2017 are structured as follows: POP Marketing, Expo & Event Marketing, Retail Technology, Lighting, Visual Merchandising, Shop Fitting & Store Design and Food Tech & Energy Management. Last time, EuroShop featured four experience worlds, and the extensive range of products and services on the exhibitor stands will be complemented by proven, high-caliber forums with practical contributions. These include the EuroShop Architecture & Design Forum, the EuroCIS Forum, the POPAI Forum and the OmniChannel Forum, as well as the ECOpark Forum and the new Expo & Event Forum, all of which will be simultaneously translated into German and English and can be used by trade visitors free of charge without prior registration.Award ceremoniesThe highly coveted EuroShop Retail Design Awards for the world's best store concepts will once again be presented at the same time as EuroShop in 2017, as will the prestigious Retail Technology Awards Europe (reta). The reta honors the excellent and innovative use of information technology in retail. Both awards are presented jointly by Messe Düsseldorf and the EHI Retail Institute.Online and trade fair appAnyone who wants to find out more about EuroShop and plan their visit to the trade fair can now do so even more conveniently: following a relaunch, the EuroShop portal not only has a new design, but is also fully responsive. The current exhibitor database, which is updated daily, is already online and the ticket store for EuroShop 2017 is also online. The EuroShop app, which is available for both IOS and Android, provides an additional service during the trade fair: using geofencing, it provides EuroShop guests with the most important information as soon as they arrive at the airport, train station or trade fair parking lots.

Search.ch simplifies the lives of Swiss users by offering them a central search for all their needs. The House's current campaign stages this with a striking visual. The message: search.ch is a search for everything. search.ch's fresh, colorful and modern appearance focuses on the three most popular services of the Swiss brand: the telephone directory, tel.search.ch, the weather forecast, meteo.search.ch, and the map service, map.search.ch. Numerous online and offline media are used - from various digital ads to ePanels, advertisements and posters.

As the year draws to a close, it's time for forecasts and trends. Pegasystems Inc. leading provider of strategic software solutions for sales, marketing, service and operations, shows what will be important in CRM and customer management in 2017.AutomationArtificial intelligence (AI) processes, such as those implemented in Siri or Echo, will be increasingly used in CRM, for example for automated chats. The boundary between personal and automated contacts will become blurred.Channel-less conceptThe boundaries between sales channels are becoming more and more irrelevant; customers are acting regardless of channels and companies must adapt to this - channel-less is replacing the concept of omni-channel.Costs and serviceFirst-class customer service and low costs for back-end operations are no longer mutually exclusive. Sophisticated, digital self-service channels can be used to create an optimal customer experience that is efficient from a business perspective.Pre-emptive servicesUntil now, CRM solutions have been geared towards reacting to customer events and needs. In the future, tools that can anticipate customer needs will become increasingly important. This will enable companies to strengthen relationships with their customers in the long term.Real-time evaluationUntil now, CRM systems have mainly been based on static data. In the future, real-time data streams that are generated on mobile devices or through apps, for example, will play a central role. They will allow better differentiation and personalization of the respective customer experience.Legacy integrationThe existing legacy systems also remain a challenge for CRM. A lot of information and processes are still dependent on systems that were not designed for the modern always-online world, but which are still indispensable for core processes - not least for cost reasons. Companies will therefore have to make greater efforts to integrate the various systems seamlessly.

The spread of programmatic buying is undoubtedly one of the biggest changes in the buying and selling of advertising space in recent years. Initially limited to the online sector, programmatic buying has had such a resonance in recent years that it has revolutionized both traditional media such as radio, outdoor and TV, as well as the buying and selling processes of the entire sector, and the transition has been incredible. In 2012, around 5 billion dollars were invested in programmatic buying worldwide. In 2015, just three years later, the investment was around 38 billion dollars (Source: Zenith Optimedia/United Kingdom - Dec. 2015). It is a change that requires significant intellectual and organizational adaptability from market players, as a large part of the skills acquired to date are being put to the test, and to better understand these changes and their impact on companies, the TBS Group and the Lens Academy have commissioned a Europe-wide study. The study is intended to help research both the level of knowledge of advertisers about programmatic buying and to predict possible future strategies. Almost 1200 marketing/communication professionals from the countries in question took part in the study. Below is a brief overview.State of knowledgeThe study shows that 65% of European respondents are already familiar with the term programmatic buying. In particular, France, Spain and Germany are the countries with the highest level of knowledge, while in Switzerland, Benelux and Italy, expertise in the area of programmatic is still rather low.InvestmentsAmong the respondents, more than 81% of advertisers invest in programmatic buying and 32% say that more than 21% of their budget is spent on digital advertising via programmatic buying. As previously stated, online is not the only medium where programmatic buying is used. More than 74% of respondents who use programmatic buying to purchase their own digital campaigns are also willing to use this new technology to buy advertising space on radio, press and TV, and the interest of marketing, media and communication managers in this new technology is growing.Critical factorsThe factors that can be considered "critical" according to respondents because they could have a negative impact on programmatic buying of advertising space include the following: Inventory quality, lack of quality and media appropriateness guarantee.Business modelsThe technological developments based on programmatic buying have also brought about numerous changes to business models. Until now, there has been a tendency to outsource the purchase of advertising space to external media agencies. 56% of advertisers report that they are leaning towards a hybrid model (10%) or an in-house model (5%).ConclusionThe study shows that the majority of European advertisers are already familiar with programmatic buying and the associated developments. Advertisers are now ready to use this technology when buying advertising space on any medium. The factors that are still considered "critical" are the inventory quality, the lack of transparency and guarantee regarding the appropriateness of the medium. The increasing interest in programmatic buying can be seen as an indicator of an increasingly pronounced adaptability to change. Advertisers are increasingly tending to adopt both 100% in-house models and models that involve close collaboration between media agencies and advertisers.