Wabco looks back on a 150-year history. During the acquisition by automotive supplier ZF, the question arose as to whether ZF should integrate the acquired Wabco brand in order to strengthen its own brand and market position, or whether the Wabco brand should be continued in order to avoid customer irritation and maintain the brand value created.

Brand Equity Leverage Effects 

Based on a brand equity transfer analysis conducted by Jung von Matt/brand identity, the Wabco and ZF brands were compared. In the case of a brand integration and a planned re-branding of Wabco to ZF, positive brand equity transfer effects were found in the brand redeployment model. Due to the high brand strength of ZF, the brand and business fit of Wabco and ZF, and a strong integration management, customers and stakeholders assessed the integration positively and remained loyal. Brand value is thus not destroyed, but rather capitalized and ultimately increased.

Based on these results, Jung von Matt/brand identity developed and planned scenarios for brand integration and re-branding. In the early summer of 2020, the Wabco brand was finally integrated into ZF and the appearance was changed to ZF. In individual, defined areas, such as product levels or the aftermarket, the Wabco brand will be continued.

Sovereign signaling

In the course of brand integration, the ZF signaling was also adapted to the corporate design introduced in 2017. The ZF sign no longer appears on a surface, but is presented as a free-standing logo. Jung von Matt/brand identity developed the design concept for the near and far signage and implemented it with the signage specialist Kaufmann in Ulm. By day, the logo appears in ZF blue; by night, it visibly glows white. The new signaling is intended to complete the ZF brand design with a sovereign symbol for intelligent mobility and automotive technology of the future.

With DAB Display Ads, the advertising image appears on the DAB display, regardless of the radio station that is currently playing. The aim is to reach all car drivers in Switzerland, as well as passengers.

According to the Swiss Federal Statistical Office, around 1,031,000 cars on Swiss roads are currently equipped with digital audio broadcasting. Up to 300,000 more such vehicles are added every year. The Federal Council has decided to completely replace terrestrial analog radio FM with DAB technology by 2024. For the launch of the DAB display ads, TheIndustry and network operator Digris have teamed up. The latter distributes 60 percent of all Swiss DAB radios.

First customers already on board 

The insurer Smile.direct, the coffee manufacturer Lattesso, and the lakeside clinic Brunnen are already running national campaigns. Joséphine Chamoulaud, Head Marketing & E-Commerce at Smile.direct: "As a digital insurance company, we are always looking for new, innovative ways to reach our customers. With TheIndustry's DAB Display Ad, we see great potential to pick up Swiss motorists at the right place at the right time."

Those responsible at Latesso also see the potential of the new advertising measure: "With the innovative DAB Display Ad from TheIndustry, we bring the message directly into the car as the best break recommendation. Thus we animate with our message (clean & safe) purposefully to the purchase with the next stop at the gas station , explain Erich Kienle, General manager with Latesso.

The median salary of media professionals at the time of the survey in February 2020 was CHF 7,333, as the SGB wrote in a press release on the study on Thursday. This is around CHF 800 more than the median salary of all people employed in Switzerland according to the 2018 federal wage structure survey. However, CHF 7333 is only slightly more than in the corresponding study on the situation of media professionals from 2006.

This resulted in a median salary of CHF 7,200. This means that 50 percent of participants earned more, while the other 50 percent earned less than this amount. However, the figures from the new study are only comparable to a limited extent because an above-average number of SRG employees and many more freelancers took part in 2020 than 14 years ago. Nevertheless, the new study allows meaningful conclusions to be drawn, according to the authors.

The study shows that SRG employees earn the highest media wages at CHF 7,900, followed by those in specialist publications (CHF 7,633), the association press (CHF 7,333), online publications (CHF 7,279) and print media (CHF 7,143). Far behind are employees of private TV and radio stations with a median salary of CHF 5526.

800 francs more salary thanks to CLA

The evaluation also clearly demonstrates the value of a collective labor agreement (CLA) for wage levels in the industry, according to the study. Media professionals without a CLA earn on average 800 francs less per month than employees covered by a CLA. The study concludes that a CLA would have a stabilizing effect on lower wages in particular.

However, only print media employees in French-speaking Switzerland benefit from a CLA. There is no CLA for print media and their online products in German-speaking Switzerland or for private audiovisual media. According to the press release, those with a CLA generally have better salaries, clearer working hours and less wage discrimination.

The financial situation of freelancers has clearly deteriorated compared to 2006. Here, the median salary fell from just under CHF 7,000 to CHF 5,600. According to the study, only one in five is able to invoice the actual time spent. 4 out of 5 freelancers surveyed work with flat rates.

Extrapolated over a year, women in the media earn between CHF 1,900 and 3,100 less than their male colleagues. The gender pay gap is smallest at SRG.

Pressure, uncertainty and existential fear

In terms of working conditions, the study shows increased deadline pressure. Media professionals often also work in their free time and uncertainty is increasing. 60 percent of freelancers and a quarter of permanent employees are worried about their current order situation or their job. Nevertheless, the vast majority of those surveyed still identify strongly with their work, according to the study.

The last time media associations and the SGB conducted a survey of media professionals on their salary and income situation was in 2006. The new survey was conducted online. Over 1600 media professionals took part. All questions related to the situation in February 2020, i.e. before the pandemic.

43% of participants worked for SRG at the time of the survey, compared to 21% 14 years ago. SRG employees are therefore slightly overrepresented in the new study. Compared to the 2006 study, the proportion of freelancers and online media professionals is higher. (SDA/swi)

In the second quarter, Sunrise was able to increase sales very slightly by 0.3 percent to CHF 456 million despite the week-long lockdown. However, adjusted operating profit before depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) decreased by 1.4 percent to CHF 163 million.

On balance, however, net income fell by 17 percent to CHF 21 million, as Sunrise announced in a communiqué on Thursday. The significant decline was due to higher amortization and taxes as well as exchange rate effects.

Roaming revenues slumped

The closure of most of the stores had a negative impact on growth because fewer subscriptions were sold in the stores, said Group CEO André Krause in an interview with the AWP news agency on Thursday. At the same time, however, there were fewer cancellations by customers. This was compensated for by above-average sales via the Internet and the customer service hotline.

Sunrise gained new customers in mobile subscriptions, TV and Internet business. By contrast, the bloodletting in prepaid continued, as customers continued to switch to subscriptions. In addition, prepaid sales were affected by the massive drop in the number of tourists due to the pandemic and the temporary closure of stores.

Moreover, Sunrise had virtually no roaming revenue during the lockdown because the borders were closed due to Corona. Business with corporate customers also suffered.

Thanks to a good start to the year, Sunrise increased sales by 1.5 percent to CHF 915 million in the first half of the year as a whole. Adjusted EBITDA even climbed by 2.2 percent to CHF 331 million. Net income, however, fell by 29 percent to 43 million francs. The diver is to blame for an extraordinary profit in the previous year, which had pushed up the 2019 half-year result.

Back on track for growth

Group CEO Krause expressed his satisfaction. Sunrise had come through the lockdown phase very robustly and was now back on track for growth. Business with residential customers had returned to normal with the easing.
Business customers, on the other hand, were still below the normal level. In the meantime, roaming revenues have picked up again because people are traveling more during the summer vacations. However, it will probably not be possible to make up the shortfall completely by the end of the year.

Krause therefore expects that only the lower end of the EBITDA target of 675 to 690 million Swiss francs will be achieved in 2020 as a whole. The Group CEO is sticking to the sales target of CHF 1.84 to 1.88 billion.

By then, the sale of Sunrise to UPC owner Liberty Global for CHF 6.8 billion should have been completed anyway. Joint integration planning will start in September, he said. Because of the restrictions imposed by competition law, the focus will be on topics relating to organization and processes, said Krause. Product planning, prices or market campaigns, for example, are not an issue, because UPC and Sunrise continue to be competitors in the market.

The cooperation with Salt to expand fiber-optic connections is already on hold, as the situation has changed completely as a result of the planned takeover and the merger with UPC. The situation will be analyzed after the billion-euro deal has been concluded and then a decision will be made on how to proceed, said Krause.

Liberty Global wants to take over Sunrise by October 28. After that, the company is to be delisted from the Swiss stock exchange. (SDA)

Under current conditions, it would not be possible to provide a great event experience without posing a safety risk to guests, broadcasters and players, according to a statement issued Thursday.

However, the organizers are working on an alternative concept so that the upcoming TV highlights and insights on market developments can still be shown, it adds. Further information will be announced in due course.

Whether it's investments in hydrogen technology at Auto AG Rothenburg, an innovative mountain railway project such as Titlis 3020, or the digitalization of furniture production at the family-owned company Veriset - many companies from Central Switzerland are continuing to invest in the future right now.

In order to make these changes visible, the Lucerne Economic Development Agency, the Central Switzerland Chamber of Commerce and Industry IHZ and the Lucerne SME and Trade Association KGL together initiated the #VorwärtsAufwärts campaign.

CEOs and entrepreneurs tell of investments

In short film portraits, entrepreneurs talk about the investments they make, regardless of whether it is continuous employee development/expansion of HR or complete infrastructures.

The campaign relies on statements in the form of short videos that reach decision-makers in central Switzerland via LinkedIn and other digital channels. So far, the "Good News" has attracted a very high level of attention and is encouraging entrepreneurs to look positively to the future.

Rocket is responsible for the conception, creation with graphics and video as well as programming and media planning of the campaign.

The half-year result will be impacted by around 120 million francs due to the coronavirus pandemic, Swiss Post announced on Thursday. The operating result (EBIT) amounted to 61 million francs in the first half of the year, which is 208 million francs less than in the previous year.

Although parcel processing set a record, this was ultimately unable to offset the negative impact of the coronavirus on the overall Group result. The operating result of Postlogistics amounted to 108 million francs in the first half of the year, 40 million francs above the previous year's figure.

According to the press release, 17 million parcels were processed in April 2020 alone - never before in the 170-year history of Swiss Post have so many parcels been processed in one month.

In the first half of the year, parcel volumes increased by around 22 percent overall, with Swiss Post sending 87 million parcels from January to the end of June (previous year: 71 million). However, insurance payments and the reversal of provisions in connection with the robbery of an armored car in 2019 also contributed to the operating result.

However, the coronavirus pandemic also accelerated the trend towards digitalization, which is why the letter business suffered a decline of 7.8 percent, according to the report.

Fewer advertising mailings

There was a sharp decline in advertising mail in particular: this led to a fall in income of 72 million francs for addressed letters and items without an address. Postmail generated an operating result of 110 million francs in the first half of the year, down 84 million francs on the previous year.

Payment transactions collapsed in branches

The postal network also suffered losses in its core business due to the pandemic: Payment transactions in the branches fell by 15 percent. Sales of letters fell by 11 percent.

Because 20 million francs were set aside in the previous year due to organizational developments, the operating result nevertheless improved by one million francs. PostalNetwork posted an operating loss of 72 million francs in the first half of the year.

PostBus temporarily reduced its services due to the coronavirus. As a result, transport revenue fell by 17.8 percent compared to the previous year. Operating profit amounted to CHF 393 million after CHF 414 million in the same period of the previous year.

Less profit at Postfinance

According to the press release, Postfinance's operating profit fell by 86 million francs year-on-year to 60 million francs. The main reason for the decline was interest income, which fell by 31 million francs due to persistently low interest rates.

The coronavirus crisis also led to a sharp drop in cash transactions over the counter and at ATMs. Less cash was also exchanged for foreign currencies due to restrictions on travel. (SDA)

Pedaling is particularly worthwhile in September: With Cyclomania, Pro Velo Schweiz is launching a new nationwide campaign to promote cycling, in collaboration with Swisscom and Panter and with the support of Energie Schweiz and the Mercator Foundation.

Velo-Challenge

The campaign will be held for the first time in September, with a total of 19 challenges in 80 communities, cities and regions. Interested parties can now register for the campaign via the free participation app and continuously track their mobility behavior. The most diligent cyclist can look forward to strong calves and attractive prizes.

Kargo provided the national Velo-Challenge with a name and a creative appearance. In addition to the catchy key visual, various other advertising media were designed to optimally pick up the desired target group at different touchpoints. The agency took over the entire conception of the campaign setup as well as the control of the different creatives and ads on the various channels.

There were several heterogeneous target groups to consider in communication: Young people, their parents, and young adults in training. Each of these was to be addressed with an individual message and in the appropriate environment. Just as the young people were given arguments for their parents, parents were also given suggestions on how to convince their child to have their own account.

The result is a unified campaign that simultaneously conveys different messages to different target groups. Clever instrumentation in combination with retargeting ensured that the right users were reached at the right place and thus convinced of the benefits of the respective product. Visually, the communication is based on other PostFinance campaigns, but retains an independent look.

Target group specific distribution

Various mechanisms ensured that one target group did not see arguments intended for another target group. For example, the moving image conversion adapts to the attention span of the respective target group generation in terms of tempo, length, music and message.

The campaign can be seen since the beginning of August on OOH, DOOH, in cinemas, on online and social media video ads, display ads and post sites.

In the same period a year ago, the number of videos deleted for violating YouTube's community guidelines was still just under nine million worldwide.

Child protection, unwanted advertising and fraudulent content

In 3.8 million cases (33.5 percent), violations of child protection were the reason for deletion. 3.2 million videos (28.3 percent) were identified as unwanted advertising (spam) or as fraudulent or misleading content. In 1.7 million videos (14.6 percent), Youtube objected to unauthorized nudity or sexual content. Hateful content or insults led to deletion in only 80,033 cases (0.7 percent).

Algorithm supports process

Google employees receive support from a computer program when identifying and removing prohibited content. 95 percent of the videos that YouTube removed in the past quarter were identified by the algorithm and only then checked by employees, according to the blog entry. Forty-two percent of the machine-detected videos were deleted before they were viewed even once, according to the report. 33.7 percent were only viewed up to ten times.

Most of the videos that Youtube deleted for violating its policies came from users in the U.S. (1.02 million), followed by India (827,000) and Brazil (485,000).

Youtube regularly presents the statistics for deleting videos. The Google video platform and other online companies are repeatedly accused of not removing extremist content quickly enough. However, Youtube also has to deal with accusations of deleting too much content. For example, members of the right-wing Alt-Right movement in the U.S. or the Identitarian movement in Germany and Austria complained when individual videos or entire channels disappeared from Youtube. (SDA/swi)

In August, the new Internet provider Twifi on the market. To draw attention to its name, the agency has come up with the following promotion: parents who give their newborn the name Twifia or Twifius will receive free Internet from Twifi for 18 years. Proof of the baby's name will be the civil birth certificate, which parents can upload via the Twifi homepage. Let's see how many parents-to-be are persuaded by this deal.

This puts electronic media well ahead of entertainment-oriented streaming services. For the latter, the increase in importance reaches 31 percent, as Publicom announced on Wednesday based on the MediaBrands study, which has been conducted annually since 2013. The increase for social media was 27 percent, and 26 percent for paid newspapers, it said. Free newspapers and portals have increased by 25 percent.

The Swiss population continues to regard regional, subscription-based daily newspapers and publicly financed radio and television stations as particularly credible, according to Publicom.

The population gave the highest credibility to the SRG medium RTS Radio La 1ère, just ahead of Radio SRF 4 News and Radio SRF 1. Overall, La 1ère is almost on a par with the Fribourg regional newspaper La Libertéwhich leads the nationwide ranking, according to the report. The most credible private radio station is the Bernese-Jurassic station RJB.

More trust in domestic media

In general, the population trusts domestic media far more than foreign media - only the TV station ARD made it into the 50 most credible media brands. The Swiss population continues to regard social media as less credible. This year, Facebook was once again far behind in last place.

Radio usage remains stable

84 percent (previous year: 83 percent) of respondents tuned in to a radio program at least once in a three-month period in the spring. Radio thus reaches more people than printed newspapers (72 percent), social media (59 percent), magazines/magazines (50 percent), streaming services (new: 40 percent) or movie theaters (10 percent). (SDA/swi)