Professor Christian Schmitz presented a recent study.Managers and senior employees from sales and distribution were addressed for the Sales Power Conference, which took place for the first time on November 8 and 9 at the GDI in Rüschlikon. The topic was a hit, as Uwe Tännler, President of the conference organization Swiss Marketing Forum, was able to ascertain in front of a full hall during his welcome address on the second day.Professor and presenterProf. Dr. Christian Belz, Director of the Institute for Marketing at the University of St. Gallen, led through both days. At the same time, he presented a "heat map" at both conferences. On the first day on the topic of strategic sales, on the second day on operational sales.Sales management must be oriented to what happens in the interaction between sales and the customer, explained Belz. Strategy and implementation could never be separated. And, "selling is people management."Study First-Line Sales ManagerPeople management is the keyword for the subsequent presentation by Prof. Dr. Christian Schmitz from the Ruhr University in Bochum on "First-Line Sales Managers: Growth and Implementation Impulses on the Last Mile of Sales Management". Schmitz presented the findings of the study of the same name, which he authored together with Christian Belz and Dr. Matthias Huckemann, Managing Director of Mercuri International, and which was recently published.The study shows that team leadership in sales is central to increasing success.High-performing first-line sales managers can increase sales performance by an average of 33 percent.A summary of the study can be downloaded at here as PDF download

Geoff Smith from VivaKi spoke at the Programmatic Advertising Day.After the keynote speech by Geoff Smith (Vice President, Solutions, EMEA VivaKi) and the panel "Real-Time Advertising Market Switzerland", the more than 450 visitors had the opportunity to follow the main topics in the buyer, seller and technology tracks, with the buyer track offering various cases and panels on the topics of mobile, the added value of programmatic advertising for agencies and clients, online net reach measurement and the presentation of a programmatic advertising DACH study following the tried-and-tested "elephant panel". At the same time, following a keynote speech by JC Conti (VP Sales & Account Management Publishers EMEA, AppNexus), sales strategies, ad blockers, header bidding and programmatic video were discussed in the seller track. Finally, the technology track focused on the technical aspects of viewability and brand safety measurement, fraud detection, data handling and the challenges of native advertising.Comments on the event"Once again a top professional event for the entire media industry, which highlights trends and promising solutions for the development and problems of programmatic buying at a high level. The Programmatic Advertising Day is a recipe for success - especially thanks to the cooperation and combined energy of the industry associations LSA, SWA and IGEM"Catherine Purgly (Managing Director LSA)"It became increasingly clear that the road is long and rocky until programmatic advertising works in such a way that everyone is satisfied"Ueli Custer (Managing Director IGEM)"Advertisers need to go digital with their partners. At PAD16 you were able to get an up-to-date picture"Roland Ehrler (Managing Director SWA)Information, videos and presentations can be found at www.programmatic-switzerland.ch can be viewed here. The Programmatic Advertising Day 2016 was organized by the associations IAB Switzerland, Schweizer Werbe-Auftraggeber SWA, Interessengemeinschaft elektronische Medien, IGEM and Leading Swiss Agencies LSA.

Virtual reality brings brand worlds to life.The New York Times has been researching and developing primarily in the field of "visual storytelling" for five years. Up to now, it has relied heavily on infographics and videos. Ten months ago, the Big Apple also began working with virtual reality. The first story portrayed three children who were driven from their homeland by war and persecution - 11-year-old Oleg from Ukraine, a 12-year-old Syrian girl named Hana and Chuola 9-year-old Sudanese boy.Feeling of connectedness"This new film technology enables an uncanny sense of connection with people whose lives are far removed from our own," wrote Jake Silverstein, editor-in-chief of the New York Times Magazine, on the launch of its own VR app. His colleague, Times Executive VP and CRO Meredith Kopit Levien, recently commented on the topic at the dmexco digital trade fair: "Until now, a narrative or a story was the easiest way for us to communicate something. But through VR and other technologies, they could (...) bring a native experience to people and give them the chance to form an opinion and draw their own conclusions."Set of principlesThe Times has developed a number of principles to shape its approach to virtual reality. One of these is that VR does not lend itself to linear stories and plots or sequential narratives. Instead, the user is also the narrator and decides what comes next. The Times has now had 29 VR films produced, which have been viewed a total of ten million times. The engagement rate is really high, with viewers spending an average of six minutes with the content.Enormous opportunities for brandsBut virtual reality is not just a new way of telling stories for publishers. For Lisa Donohue, Global Brand Manager at Publicis Media subsidiary Starcom, VR technology offers enormous opportunities for brands to develop new forms of communication. However, it is important not to think in terms of channels, but to see VR as a storytelling tool. She is certain that almost every brand can expand its storytelling with virtual reality. And she even goes one step further, saying that in her opinion, every brand will need a VR strategy in the future. However, this is not just about brand building, but VR could also have practical benefits for consumers, such as in the automotive sector to simulate test drives.Experience the C-Class with virtual realityThis is exactly what Mercedes Benz in Norway did when they successfully experimented with virtual reality for the launch of their new C-Class. The challenge with the product launch was to get the premium target group, who do not normally go to the dealership for a test drive, to test drive the new C-Class. The clientele for this car is usually very busy and travels a lot. That is why the Norwegians conducted their product campaign exactly where the target group is often to be found and also has a lot of time on their hands: In the VIP lounge at Oslo Airport, the creatives created a place where people could drive the most beautiful routes in Europe in the new Mercedes using VR glasses. The campaign was a complete success. All major media outlets reported on it, and more than 1,000 people tested the virtual C-Class during the four-week period; four times as many people as would otherwise have carried out physical test drives for all Mercedes Benz models together in the same period.Audi also relies on VRHowever, other car brands are also already flirting with virtual reality. Audi, for example, wants to bring its self-developed application for VR glasses to the first dealerships by the end of the year. The so-called "VR Experience" gives tech-savvy customers the opportunity to look inside a headlight or steering wheel and see technologies that would otherwise be difficult to explain in theory.Many areas of applicationUltimately, virtual reality is an opportunity not only for publishers and car manufacturers, but also in the gaming, travel and retail sectors to bring stories, products, technologies and brand messages even closer to consumers. Consumers are likely to embrace the new technology much faster than marketing strategists and will soon take virtual reality for granted. It is now up to companies to use virtual reality to tell stories that awaken new desires, simplify complex issues or strengthen trust in a brand.Author: Nora Feist is managing director of Mashup Communications together with Miriam Rupp (www.mashup-communications.de)the Berlin agency for PR and storytelling. With the philosophy "We love to tell new stories", the agency focuses primarily on clients from the online and mobile sector.

How can you get users to interact on Facebook? Facelift has the answers.1. Make sure that content shared from your website looks goodA community thrives on the content shared there, and of course, content is also shared directly from your website. To make this work, you need to ensure that this content looks good when it’s shared on Facebook.„Open Graph“ tags ensure that this works. In addition to all textual elements—such as an eye-catching headline and a compelling introduction—success ultimately hinges on the image that is uploaded to Facebook when the post is shared. The higher the quality and the more relevant the image is to the topic, the more widely it will be shared. A good example of a website that has mastered this strategy nearly perfectly is Social Media Examiner. Here, all content is 100 percent optimized to generate a lot of engagement when shared on Facebook (and other social networks)—and the Social Media Examiner also uses striking images that really stand out in users’ News Feeds.2. Vary the types of content you post on FacebookEven though images promise good engagement rates (provided they’re well done), you shouldn’t rely solely on one type of content. Your Facebook page is ultimately like a newsstand, where every user wants to be addressed in a different way. Therefore, it’s necessary to offer a certain amount of variety. Even a radio program quickly becomes boring if the same genre is played over and over—people love variety, and as a publisher, you need to satisfy that need. So make sure you have a balanced mix. For example, occasionally post content that’s published only on Facebook and nowhere else—this kind of exclusivity acts like a magnet for users. The same applies to plain text status updates. At first glance, this might seem boring, but ultimately, it’s all about the content—if you keep it brief and manage to convey important points concisely and clearly in just a few words, your fans will appreciate it.3. Upload videos directly to FacebookVideos are the new star on Facebook and are giving photos—which used to be the main drivers of engagement—a run for their money. According to the latest studies, videos have a much higher engagement rate than photos and are therefore already being touted as the new silver bullet.That may sound like an exaggeration, but ultimately, videos are indeed very successful when it comes to capturing users’ attention in the News Feed. The reason: A video that automatically plays in the News Feed almost always gets noticed—as a user, it’s nearly impossible to ignore.If your video is also high-quality and offers compelling content, then you’re sure to capture users’ attention. For your community, this means: Offer interesting, engaging, and useful videos—and you can be certain that your engagement rate will increase significantly.4. Add a personal touchEven if you’re active on Facebook as a company or corporation—ultimately, Facebook is all about people. And while you represent a company (or a brand), you yourself are, after all, a person. People don’t buy from logos—they buy from people. That’s why, for example, car dealerships still exist—personal advice is important to many people, and experience over the past few years has shown that, especially when it comes to high-priced products, people are still reluctant to do without personal advice.To reach as many users as possible on Facebook, you need to be willing to reveal a little bit about yourself. It doesn’t have to be a photo of the boss in a bathrobe, and your Facebook fans certainly aren’t interested in what you had for breakfast this morning.However, it doesn’t hurt to give your company a personal touch—high-quality photos of employees who, for example, are responsible for managing Facebook as a channel within the company and who are shown doing their jobs are interesting (because they offer a glimpse behind the scenes). Get personal—but not TOO personal. Find out for yourself what kind of content your target audience likes and what they don’t; as is so often the case, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution here, because the many approaches in Facebook marketing are simply too diverse.5. Actively seek feedback from your usersIf you work with a high-quality mix of varied content, your community will continue to grow. You will then have reached an important milestone—one that will, however, entail further (enjoyable) work. An active community communicates a lot. As a result, you’ll need to become more active yourself to respond to your fans„ feedback on Facebook—if you don’t, your fans will take note of this “rudeness.„There are users on Facebook who just want to vent their opinions, but there are also those who are interested in a constructive exchange. For this reason, it doesn’t matter how many users ultimately react to your content. What’s important is that you pay close attention to the fans who actively engage with your Facebook page. Passive readers are important too, but the “interactive” ones are significantly more important.If you manage to engage these users in a meaningful and mutually beneficial exchange time and again, your community will gradually become higher in quality—which will ultimately inspire many other users as well.Source: https://www.facelift-bbt.com. For more information and a summary, read here.

Presenting the new Marketing Day 2017: Gudio Rumi, Uwe Tännler, and Thomas Volprecht. At the Partner & Friends Networking Event at Kaufleuten Zurich on November 3, Organizing Committee President Uwe Tännler, together with partners, presented the new concept for the Marketing Day.From Event to FestivalLast year, the event drew over 1,100 attendees to the KKL Luzern. The Marketing Day has thus been very successful in its current format. Nevertheless, the organizers have planned a relaunch to further develop the event.From an event to a festival, from a linear conference to an interactive meeting platform that also takes place digitally—that’s how Uwe Tännler described the intended change. Guido Rumi and Thomas Volprecht, both with the event service provider Standing Ovation, presented details of the concept. Roberto Carboni from Hauser & Partner presented initial ideas for flexible spatial design. Thomas Schärer, representing Opera AG, is once again on board for event technology.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6MwGeOm8iIJohn Oliver shows the absurdity of multilevel marketing.British comedian John Oliver is known for his biting analysis. In his late night show "Last Week Tonight", he devoted himself to "multi-level marketing".

The Waldhaus Flims has new offers for Christmas.With its wonderful Christmas decorations, the traditional resort with the largest hotel park in Switzerland offers its guests an unforgettable celebration. The Christmas program offers various daily activities with countless highlights. For example, a torch-lit hike through the snow-covered Flims landscape and the Christmas festivities are crowned by the magnificent Christmas Gala Dinner, which takes place in the festively decorated Art Nouveau hall. Guests can choose the wine for the gala dinner themselves in the hotel's own wine cellar, while the extensive spa and wellness facilities at the Waldhaus Flims, which now offer even more treatment rooms and a completely revamped concept with regional and classic treatments, ensure restful relaxation.

Guest feedback on paper is increasingly being replaced by comments on social media.Every year, the number of users on social media grows by double digits. Facebook already has more than 1.7 billion followers, and Google+ already had 540 million followers in 2014. At a global sporting event, such as a soccer match, millions of tweets and comments are sent out; most of them anonymous or personally intangible; many emotional, some unqualified or even provocative and insulting.Social Media MarketingThe tourism and event industries are also increasingly challenged to track and process this uncontrollable flood of opinions and recommendations; in the hospitality industry, TripAdvisor is right at the forefront as an "opinion leader".What is already relatively well mastered is the one-sided use ("outbound") of social media as a marketing tool. That is, for news, teasers, goodies, contests, and sometimes even opinion-forming measures. Switzerland Tourism and many event locations that are active in the entertainment sector are at the top of the game; transport companies, museums and restaurants are still partly in the learning process. But it's all coming very quickly now - using social media as a sales and PR tool is no longer great wisdom.

At Rigi Railways, all feedback is read and liked or commented on / answered in the known social media.How to deal with feedback?It becomes more challenging when it comes to feedback and the return of messages ("inbound"). This data is not triggered by the provider, but comes uncontrollably from the large anonymous mass of participants and visitors ... or even people who were never there in the first place.TripAdvisor is already full of comments on practically every provider, every hotel, no matter how small, every concert organizer, but also every information desk somewhere, every streetcar, every ice cream store and every mountain railroad. While the event industry, including seminar and congress organizers, have mastered their "outbound" activities (search platforms, information, interest group formation, offers, booking platforms, updates, event-related data, exchange of photos and experiences, post-processing, etc.), the management of the "inbound" flood is still quite hand-tied.And yet, every single negative comment, whether qualifying or provoking, can directly deter potential future customers from making a booking. The "dangerous" media are not so much those with a professional background, such as Xing and Linkedin, but the "intangible" contacts on Twitter, Booking.com or TripAdvisor.Permanent monitoringThe solution is a strict monitoring of these most important social media; a daily and selective "monitoring" of what was communicated "inbound". And then: an immediate evaluation and, if necessary, editing of such communications. This gives room for new posts in the companies. The Umwelt Arena in Spreitenbach, for example, has a part-time employee who takes care of its Internet presence and social media maintenance, according to Managing Director Jörg Sigrist. "Our Head of PR & Advertising is also a member of the management team and reports regularly on all activities on social media".Stefan Jost, the Managing Director of the FIFA Museum in Zurich, even personally looks at these virtual comments and explains, "Feedback via any kind of media is extremely important for us. It's the only way we can learn what visitors have experienced and what we can or must improve. Such feedbacks are always just individual opinions, but these are also experiences and in the sum then again representative."

High praise for the Zentrum Paul Klee on TripAdvisor from an event guest."Like" or replyTransport companies are event managers for time; time which company visitors and tourists spend on their railroad or ship. Stefan Otz, the new director of the Rigi Railways, sees it exactly that way and positions the "inbound" social media accordingly high: "All feedbacks are read and either liked or commented / answered. While we can't talk about a flood yet, we have to pay attention. Instagram and Facebook are managed by our "SoMe" manager, and TripAdvisor is handled directly by the operating team. The question arises as to whether every single message on Trip-Advisor, for example, has to be answered? After all, it takes a lot of time and some skill to provide the right answers or comments.Sort out unqualifiedAccording to Jörg Sigrist, the Umwelt Arena team basically responds to all comments or questions. Only in the case of unqualified comments do they sometimes refrain from responding, because according to their experience this only leads to endless dialogues. The FIFAMuseum also follows the strategy of answering all comments. Stefan Jost also sees this as a learning process for his still young museum in the Zurich Enge: "Complaints are often about a lack of understanding on our part or about unclear communication, for example about parking spaces or visitor times.Analyze and actWhat is relevant is that this data from compliments, complaints, evaluations and suggestions is then actually collected and evaluated. Responding to this "inbound" data is one thing; evaluating and implementing it is another. So when it comes to comments on TripAdvisor, all three managing directors agree: these must always be answered; if necessary, just with a small "Thank you for your contribution".More valuable might be to analyze the visitor data as far as possible (origin, gender, age group, self-pay or company invitation; and later perhaps even exact visitor time and length of stay), in order to then incorporate these facts into the services by means of adjustments and corrections. Stefan Jost can only confirm this: "Through the agency Webmark, we regularly collect a market research report on the feedback of all visitors; whether delivered on site or later via social media. With this representative view, we can ensure and then expand our level of service."Author: Daniel Tschudy

Ideally, an event combines the services of a wide variety of people to create an unforgettable and enjoyable experience for the participants. Such an outcome is no coincidence, but the result of thorough planning on the part of an event manager. The author provides numerous instructions and checklists that highlight all aspects of event organization. They can be used directly for your own planning. The collection of checklists is enlivened by practical tips and useful suggestions from the author's wealth of experience.getAbstract recommends this book to all event managers who want to plan their events in a more structured way.getAbstract rating: 7Feasibility: 10Degree of innovation: 3Style: 7Publisher: BusinessVillage GmbHYear of publication: 2015Pages: 243ISBN: 9783869802602

Peter Felser, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Serviceplan Gruppe Schweiz AG, Christian Baertschi, Philipp Sauber and Markus Noder, Managing Director of Serviceplan International.The agency resulting from the merger of the two companies will be called Plan.Net Suisse AG and will employ around 50 people in the fields of consulting and project management, creation, strategy, development, digital marketing and media. It will offer a comprehensive range of digital services under one roof and will be based in the Serviceplan Group Switzerland's new House of Communication, which will be centrally located in Zurich's Seefeld district in November of this year. The new agency will be managed by the previous INM owner Philipp Sauber, who will also be Chairman of the Board of Directors. The name INM will not be retained. "For my experienced team and myself, the merger with Plan.Net Suisse is a great opportunity and the logical step towards a sustainable future in the Swiss agency business. We will not only be able to work closely with the top communications agency Serviceplan, which is also based in the House of Communication, but also with our internationally active Plan.Net colleagues. As a Swiss company, we and our clients will benefit enormously from the approximately 840 digital marketing specialists, as developments and trends from other countries can be picked up and implemented immediately," says Philipp Sauber. "Another important reason for the decision was that the agency is owner-managed and will remain so. This agency model is dynamic, reflects the spirit of the times and has great potential for development," says Sauber, adding that the Serviceplan Group Switzerland is also looking forward to the future together. Christian Baertschi, CEO and partner: "Our aim is to offer our clients the entire range of digital services in-house at the absolute top level. The merger will create an ambitious agency that will present a very attractive offering on the market with its content and employees. I am particularly looking forward to working with Philipp Sauber, whom I know as a very successful entrepreneur with doer qualities. Philipp also brings with him a well-coordinated team of highly qualified people who will further enrich our House of Communication."

Davos is the pioneering community for cross-country skiing.Over the past two years, the municipality of Davos has invested heavily in the cross-country skiing infrastructure. In addition to the expansion of the snow farm, a snowmaking system has been installed to secure the start and finish area on the Bünda, and the new cross-country skiing center will open next December. This underlines the region's position as a leader. Thanks to the snowfarming project, numerous bookings are being received from foreign teams who want to train in Davos and generate corresponding overnight stays, and the FIS Cross-Country World Cup Davos will take place from December 10 - 11, 2016 to celebrate. More information under: www.davosnordic.ch

Phibi Reichling, semifinalist at the 2016 Poetry Slam.At the 22nd German-speaking Poetry Slam Championships in November 2018, around 300 slam poets, publishers and organizers from Germany, Austria, Luxembourg and Switzerland will meet during five days. The German-speaking Poetry Slam Championships will be held in the categories "Individual" and "Team" and will be divided into preliminary rounds, semi-finals and finals. An audience jury determines the winners throughout the competition.Background Poetry SlamIn the modern poetry slam competition, self-written texts are presented to an audience within a time limit (six minutes) without any other aids. The audience determines the winner by applause or with the help of jury panels. There are no formal restrictions. From flaming speeches to funny short stories to thought-provoking performance poetry, you can experience everything at a poetry slam. While the modern poetry competition occupied a small subcultural niche at the first championships in Berlin in 1997, today it is one of the most successful and popular cultural and cabaret formats of all.