Marketing has become increasingly important in recent years, particularly due to topics such as digitalization, sustainability and product meaningfulness. The "CMO of the Year" award recognizes the Chief Marketing Officer of the Swiss economy. Nominees are people who are particularly committed to their brand, focus on customers and their needs, show foresight in the area of sustainability and are also role models as managers. These are people who move outside their comfort zone, create something new and generate real added value for the company and consumers.

This year the jury sent Joséphine Chamoulaud from Smile, Jan De Schepper from Swissquote, Christian Gut from Stöckli Swiss Sports, Nathalie Noël from V-Zug and Saskia von Moos from Intelligentfood Switzerland. Saskia von Moos won the "CMO of the Year" award against her strong competitors.

Successful head of marketing

Winning the title of "CMO of the Year" is part of Saskia von Moos' personal success story: she has been working at Intelligentfood Switzerland for around ten years and has been Head of Marketing and Product Innovation since 2018. Under her leadership, the El Tony Mate brand has established itself on the market and triggered a real hype for mate drinks. "Our goal was to revolutionize the energy drink market," says von Moos. Her passion and innovative strength have played a key role in establishing El Tony Mate as the most dynamic brand. The intelligentfood Switzerland company has already won the "Brand of the year" title twice.

The award ceremony took place on Thursday evening at an exclusive gala dinner in the Papiersaal Zurich. The evening was hosted by Vanessa Meier. Guests were given exciting insights during the keynote speeches by Sven Labenz from Serviceplan Culture and football expert and former national team player Rachel Rinast on the topic of "Beyond advertising: the influence of cultural marketing on brand loyalty".

The CMO of the Year is an initiative of Serviceplan Group Switzerland in partnership with Admeira, APG, Meta, m&k, Persönlich and the University of St. Gallen. A jury of 23 personalities from the fields of corporate management, marketing, research, media, HR consulting and teaching nominates potential candidates. These nominees are analyzed and evaluated by the Institute for Marketing & Consumer Insight at the University of St. Gallen. Based on the work of the University of St. Gallen, a maximum of six nominees will be shortlisted for the award.

Founded in 2021, FFV Basel has set itself the goal of offering young women and girls with a passion for football an instructive environment and setting up competitive teams. Around 150 female players in six teams have the opportunity to live out their passion for football through FFV Basel. Great importance is attached to the sporting and personal development of the players. With qualified coaches, professional training conditions and a standardized training concept, each player receives individual support.

The new vehicle underlines the club's commitment to promoting women's football in the region and beyond. It is also intended to symbolize the departure and ambitions of FFV Basel.

The Basel-based agency Kreisvier Communications has been a sponsor of the Basel Women's Football Association since the very beginning. "Supporting the FFV organization is a matter close to our hearts and underlines our general commitment to the advancement and empowerment of women," says CEO Alexandra Vatansever. And CCO Natasha La Marca hopes that the bus will "motivate many ambitious girls and women to express themselves through sport, believe in themselves and chase their dreams."

Responsible at FFV: Tanja Imhof (trainer). Responsible at Kreisvier Communications: Lisa Apolloni, Melsa Dogan, Andula Swendrowski (consulting), Amaru Eslava, Sven Kahler, Ramon Niederhauser, Christian Martin, Samuel Knaus, Natasha La Marca (creation), Imke Fichtner, Sybille Gundry, Manuel Bortolin (DTP), Häfelfinger Werbetechnik AG (production). Responsible at IVY Filmstudio: Lauro Jenni (producer, director, editor), Ian Offenfuss (director of photography/drone).

A video on the Holistiq website highlights a worrying fact: around 74 percent of deaths worldwide are due to chronic diseases caused by modern lifestyles. This realization was the impetus for Eric Laudet to take a closer look at the most pressing health problems of our time.

The founder of the TCMZentrum in Zurich is now pursuing a holistic vision with Holistiq: the online clinic offers individual, science-based health plans to specifically address the causes of illnesses. To this end, natural treatment methods are combined with evidence-based medicine that is specifically tailored to the patient. The team develops customized treatment plans and online coaching programs based on the patient's individual biomarkers and lifestyle factors.

This comprehensive vision should also be reflected in Holistiq's brand identity. To achieve this, the Foundry team immersed itself in the business model, the specific requirements of patients and the growing demand for precise medical solutions.

"We realized that the prevention and longevity startup industry often focuses on general recommendations, while we at Holistiq are focused on specific, scientifically validated therapies for specific medical problems," explains Foundry founder Sacha Moser. "This differentiation is crucial to show that we provide real medical care."

In joint workshops, a brand was developed that clearly stands out from the tonality, content and aesthetics of traditional healthcare while emphasizing Holistiq's scientific rigor and medical focus. This is also reflected in the brand name "Holistiq" - it combines the idea of a holistic approach with a clear focus on medical precision.

In addition, the Holistiq identity was strategically integrated into sub-brands such as TCMZentrum, which is now known as Holistiq TCM. A design system was also developed that exudes both seriousness and modernity.

"Foundry developed a visual language that combines scientific clarity with a contemporary aesthetic - visible on the redesigned website, in the brand video and on Holistiq's social media channels," says co-founder Jamil Odeh.

Responsible at Holistiq:  Eric Laudet, Jamil Odeh, Dr. med. Julian Weingärtner. Responsible at Foundry: Ruben Lopez Mata, Nitin George, Phila Helen Oppel, Susann Boutry Kompa, Amy Hien, Leon Marenbach, Sacha Moser.

A real estate company has been commissioned to examine and evaluate "a possible real estate transaction", CH Media wrote in a press release on Thursday.

Michael Wanner, CEO of CH Media, is quoted as saying that the company does not want to tie the financial resources to the property, but rather invest in its core business and in the further development of its media offerings. The newspaper printing business remains part of the core business.

CH Media prints daily and weekly newspapers at its site in St. Gallen Winkeln. The property also contains office and storage space. The media company uses most of the industrial space itself, while the majority of the office space is leased to third parties.

In 1999, the St. Galler Tagblattwhich now belongs to CH Media, the former Huber & Suhner AG plant in St. Gallen Winkeln. A new newspaper printing and forwarding center was subsequently built on the former factory site. (SDA/swi)

The four new members of the ZJP expert jury follow author Lisa Feldmann and journalist Hansi Voigt, who stepped down from the jury for statutory reasons, as well as Nina Jecker from the Basel Newspaper and Reza Rafi, editor-in-chief of the Sunday Viewwho announced their resignation.

The expert jury, headed by President Christina Neuhaus from the NZZconsists of a total of seven journalists. In addition to the new members Fröhlich, Hürlimann, Jacoby and Schütz, these are Doris Kleck from CH Media and Paula Scheidt from the NZZ on Sunday.

Cedric Fröhlich works as a reporter for the Bernese Newspaper and The Covenant. He was awarded the Zurich Journalism Prize in 2024.

Brigitte Hürlimann has been with the magazine since 2018 Republic where she works primarily on legal topics and in court reporting. She won the Zurich Journalism Prize in 1994 and 1999. In 2019, she received an honorary doctorate from the University of Bern.

Simon Jacoby is the founder and editor-in-chief of the online magazine founded in 2015 Tsüri.ch. He is also a founding member and co-president of the association Medien mit Zukunft.

Dirk Schütz has been editor-in-chief of the business magazine since 2008 Balance and is the author of several specialist books.

New member of the Board of Trustees

Daniel Andrés Egli is a new member of the Board of Trustees of the ZJP; he is Head of Coordination at Ringier Media Switzerland and also the day-to-day manager of the View-newsroom. He succeeds Sermîn Faki, also from Ringier.

Award ceremony in May

The Zurich Journalism Prize 2025 will be awarded on May 13. The prize is one of the most prestigious awards for media professionals in Switzerland. The Zurich Journalism Prize Foundation is supported by the media companies CH Media, NZZ, Ringier and Tamedia.

Google has averted a bill in the US state of California that would have required internet companies to pay levies to local media companies by pledging millions of dollars in payments. The agreement will see almost 250 million dollars invested in journalism over the next five years, according to the bill's initiator, California Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks. The money is to come not only from Google, but also from the state.

The legislative initiative was modeled on laws in Canada and Australia. Regional media in the USA in particular are struggling with falling advertising revenues, while advertising dollars are migrating online - to Google and the Facebook group Meta, among others. Wicks pointed out that more than 100 newspapers have disappeared in California alone in the past decade.

According to Wicks' office, Google will pay $15 million in the first year to a new fund at Berkeley University, $5 million to an AI project and $10 million to existing journalism programs, the newspaper reported Mercury News. Payments of 20 million dollars are planned for each of the next four years.

The state of California will pay 30 million dollars in the first year and 10 million dollars in each of the following years into the UC Berkeley journalism fund. It initially remained unclear what other amounts make up the total of almost 250 million dollars. (SDA)

Stefan von Niederhäusern most recently worked for Bernexpo Groupe as Head of Controlling. Prior to that, he worked for Scout24 and Swisscom.

Von Niederhäusern is delighted with his new role as CFO at Nau Media: "The company's development since it was founded has been remarkable. I am impressed by the innovative strength and the speed with which the product pipeline is being worked on," he is quoted as saying in a press release.

The initiative from the ranks of the SVP specifically demands a change to the municipal regulations: the municipal authorities should use clear, understandable and legible language and refrain from using special characters within individual words.

The City of Zurich updated its regulations on linguistic equality, which had been in place since 1994, in 2022. In the process, the previously permitted internal I in "MitarbeiterInnen" was removed again. Since then, either "Mitarbeitende" or "Mitarbeiter*innen" may be used if required.

"What is a farmer?"

Texts with a gender star are difficult to understand for people with a migration background who are learning German as a foreign language, the initiative committee has now criticized. In addition, this star also creates incorrect forms, said Stefan Urech from the SVP in the council debate. He referred to terms such as "farmers" and "doctors". And he asked: "What is a farmer? What is a doctor?"

The FDP also expressed reservations: This language dictate would lead to incomprehensible, unclear language and thus to misunderstandings, said Yasmine Bourgeois. In addition, an asterisk does not make the world a better place - it depends on attitude and values.

However, the Liberals were not entirely convinced by the "Bye bye gender star" initiative: "We want neither a ban nor a compulsion." However, a motion to this effect appeared to have no chance in the Council, which is why the FDP supported the SVP initiative after all.

Hardly negative feedback

The Zurich City Council spoke out clearly against the initiative. It pointed to "relative application difficulties in implementation". This is because special characters that should be banned within a word include not only a (gender) asterisk, but also hyphens or diacritics such as "ï", "ç" or "ž".

He went on to say in his application that he had received very little negative feedback on the revised regulations from the public and employees. And there is no known case in which a text was not understood correctly because of an "*".

By deliberately allowing the gender star, the administration is showing "that it recognizes and respects non-binary and trans people", said City President Corine Mauch of the SP. The regulations only apply to official communication. The people of Zurich, businesses or the spoken language are not affected.

Memories of the "Fräulein"

The majority of the municipal council took a similar view to the city council. The language should include everyone, said Urs Riklin from the Green Party. A language that includes everyone does not harm anyone, added Anna-Béatrice Schmaltz, also from the Greens.

Ann-Catherine Nabholz said that the GLP, with its "progressive vision of society", did not understand why a cultural battle was being waged over the little star. The language was changing and the "Fräulein" could be overcome without any problems.

Corine Mauch also noted that "typographic signs for a trans-inclusive language have long since arrived in everyday life". She cited job advertisements and advertising, for example. "Language is a living thing, it evolves with our society."

After around an hour and a half of debate, the FDP, SVP and Center/EPP parliamentary groups voted in favour of the initiative in the final vote. Those from the SP, Greens, GLP and AL rejected it. The date of the vote is not yet known. (SDA/swi)

McDonald's and TBWA\ Zurich celebrate the return of the original burger in a 360-degree campaign with a nostalgic retro look.

The name is a tribute to the burgers that were sold at the newly founded McDonald's restaurant in Illinois USA in 1955. With its rustic recipe, the 1955 promises the "authentic taste of yesteryear".

To set the scene for this journey through time, the campaign brings the greatest icons of the rock'n'roll era into the present in a 20-second TVC featuring Elvis and Marilyn Monroe.

The subjects of the national campaign also convey the original McDonald's flair of the 1950s and stage the return of the burger with a classic and minimalist look.

Responsible at McDonald's: David Smadja (CMO), Severine Caspard (Marketing Manager, Brand & Strategy) Morgane Zillweger (Senior Marketing Consultant). Responsible at TBWA\Zurich: Manuel Wenzel, Reto Clement, Monelle Kanza, Mathias Bart, Patrick Milles (Creation), Marion Schwager, Maryna Pavilchkova-Meier, Kinga Hadobas (Consulting), Nicolao Garcia-Negrello (Motion Design), Agnes Meier (Head of Production), Toni Rubera, Noemi Rubera (DTP);. Responsible at Stories: Yves Bollag (Executive Producer), Michèle Seligmann (Head of Production), Meret Früh (Producer), Nicola Tröhler (Director), Fabian Vettiger (DOP), Céline Bindy (Editor), Lutz Forster (Colorist), Torin Pocock, Natalie Lauren Woodward (Cast), Jingle Jungle (Audio Postproduction).

The 24 stores in Switzerland will remain closed from Thursday and the online store will be deactivated, according to a press release issued by the company on Wednesday. Initially, the news portal 32Today reported on the end.

"With a heavy heart, we had to apply for the opening of bankruptcy proceedings for Weltbild Verlag GmbH on 21.08.2024," Weltbild addresses customers on its website. The employees have been released from their duties as of Thursday and no longer have to attend work, according to a letter to employees obtained by the news agency AWP.

Swiss part was profitable

The bankruptcy is all the more regrettable because the Swiss subsidiary had always been "a successful and profitable part" of the Weltbild Group, Weltbild Switzerland writes in the communiqué.

However, dependencies on the German parent company and the rapid escalation of the situation in Germany would have left no other option but to file for bankruptcy.

No more support from Germany

The background to this is the insolvency of the German parent company. This will now be finally liquidated at the beginning of September. The high costs in the operating business, particularly in the areas of IT and marketing, had made it impossible to continue the German parent company profitably in the face of strong competitive pressure.

However, with the rapid demise of the parent company, the systems required for continued operations in Switzerland would no longer be available. Similarly, no further services could be obtained from the parent company. "Without these prerequisites, which were still in prospect until recently", the company would no longer be able to realign itself independently in the coming months. This is all the more true because talks with existing and potential investors have not borne fruit.

In June, it was reported that the insolvency of the German parent company had no consequences and that business was continuing to run smoothly (m&k reported). The processes at Weltbild Switzerland were set up in independent structures parallel to the processes in Germany, according to the statements made at the time. (SDA/swi)

How annoyed we were back then when pitches suddenly filled our everyday lives at the beginning of the 90s. When contracts were no longer awarded on the basis of sympathy or gut instinct, but through agency evaluation or tendering. "We're pitching" was suddenly the order of the day, rather than "I've got a good feeling" - this not only sounded more contemporary, but also signaled the end of coziness. It was a time when increased interaction with English-speaking markets meant that bankers became bankers and many Swiss technical terms and customs were replaced by Anglo-Saxon ones in everyday life. The marketing and advertising industry is known to be particularly susceptible to Anglicisms. Chemistry Meeting" is no exception. Agencies offer it, including an integrated tool for booking an appointment for it. Well-intentioned - but in the end, it's the clients who have to request such a meeting, ideally instead of a pitch, worst case following a pitch. These are already associated with enough work for little or no money. For some time now, the aim of pitches seems to be to get as many ideas presented as possible, only to then not know what you actually want. Most likely a mix of everything good, but that doesn't work, so in the end the same people always win. Either those with the best relationships with the decision-makers or those with the lowest prices. It really used to be easier and less of a business waste. Back then, when customers still had a "good feeling".

When the chemistry is right

Perhaps a chemistry meeting will actually help us to get there again. The aim of such a meeting is to give the parties and people involved the opportunity to get to know each other and to check the interpersonal chemistry and determine whether there is a good personal and cultural match ("guez Gfühl" or "cultural fit"), which is the basis of any successful collaboration. The more insecure and incompetent the client, the greater the number of agencies that are invited to pitch. The more self-confident and courageous the client, the smaller the selection and the greater the chance that they will choose the chemistry meeting route.

But chemistry? Wasn't that the subject we all failed to pay attention to at school? The word comes from the ancient Greek "χημεία" (chēmeía) and actually refers to the science that deals with the properties, composition and transformations of substances.

What the hell does that have to do with an agency evaluation? Awarding a budget of millions (if they even still exist) on the basis of a one-hour meeting? One that could possibly only take place online? No. But it would be very simple. By getting people from the client and agency together, who should then effectively do the work together and solve a task together at such a meeting. That way, each side can feel what makes the other tick. How briefings are formulated and understood, how problems are recognized and solved. A task that is not known in advance, but is set during the meeting. Once from the client to the agency. And vice versa.

After all, chemistry is also the study of substances and the chemical reactions that transform them into new substances. At a meeting like this, it quickly becomes clear whether these new substances are any good or just produce smoke. So instead of just exchanging pleasantries and bragging at the Chemistry Meeting, let's try some real work. It's worth it. And saves work. And money. But it takes courage. And that is urgently needed, if you look at the soft-pedaled results of the agencies evaluated through pitches.

* Benno Maggi is co-founder and CEO of Partner & Partner. He has been eavesdropping on the industry for over 30 years, discovering words and terms for us that can either be used for small talk, pomposity, excitement, playing Scrabble, or just because.

Visitors were able to try out new games at the stands and talk to developers. There were long queues at the Microsoft Xbox areas, Ubisoft with its game "Star Wars Outlaws" and Capcom with "Monster Hunter Wilds".

In the coming days, the crowds at the public fair will probably be even bigger; Saturday is already sold out. The trade fair ends on Sunday. In 2023, 320,000 people attended the industry event.

The presence of major US technology companies is striking. For example, the series "Secret Level", which will be released on Amazon Prime in December and combines different worlds from the gaming world, was presented at the opening show Opening Night Live. The Netflix game "Squid Game: Unleashed" is also being promoted at the trade fair.

VR games want to get out of the niche

There are also innovations from the virtual reality sector: the action game "Batman: Arkham Shadow" is being advertised and can only be played with the Quest 3 VR goggles from Facebook parent company Meta.

It has long been expected that this visually promising area will emerge from its niche, but VR games have not really become a blockbuster yet. Ultimately, this is a kind of chicken-and-egg problem: there is little demand because there are few applications, and there are few applications because demand is weak.

However, VR goggles, which used to be outrageously expensive, are now available for less money, so it is possible that mass business is gradually beginning to emerge. With the Batman game, at least a new attempt is now being made.

Games business worth billions

Gamescom is mainly attended by young people. The stand of "Civilization", a strategy game from the studio Firaxis, is almost nostalgic. It is already the seventh edition of the classic game, which will soon be re-released. The first edition of Civilization was released in 1991.

Computer and video games are a billion-euro business: last year, people in Germany spent almost ten billion euros on games, hardware and online services. In the first half of this year, the business, which had experienced a strong growth spurt in the coronavirus years, weakened. Overall, increased costs and weaker demand are weighing on the industry, which has scared off investors.

Gamescom is an international event, with German developers playing only a minor role - only around five percent of the money spent on games in Germany is spent on games developed there.

In Germany, around 12,400 people work in the games industry at around 950 mostly small companies. The industry association Game, which organizes Gamescom together with Koelnmesse, is calling for more government support.

Association sees growing interest

According to games boss Lars Janssen, the industry has good prospects. Interest in games is on the rise, says the association representative.

It's not just young people who play on consoles, computers or smartphones. "There are more and more people in their 50s or 60s who are still playing games or even starting to do so."

The games in the industry are so diverse that completely different interests can be served. Janssen is also head of the Deck 13 studio, which has released action games such as "The Surge" and "Atlas Fallen". (SDA/swi)