The AI features of the new Galaxy Z Flip6 offer Samsung users completely new possibilities: Circle to Search revolutionizes Google search, Live Translate translates calls into different languages in real time and the AI-powered Photo Assist makes almost anything possible within seconds when editing images.

To familiarize Switzerland with these new possibilities, Sir Mary has set up an interactive campaign in which users can playfully use the AI features themselves without needing a Samsung device.

At the heart of the campaign is the activation film, in which an odd, wise AI Grandmaster brings the features to life. In a world inspired by Asian martial arts films from the 80s, he uses the AI features in a humorous way - effortlessly getting rid of a few problems.

The digital spot takes users to a landing page where they can put their own AI skills to the test. The Grandmaster guides users through an interactive test consisting of three puzzles based on the activation film - giving them the opportunity to gain their first hands-on experience with the new features of the Samsung Foldables. Only those who prove themselves to be worthy AI Grandmasters in the test will have the chance to win.

The campaign has been running on all relevant digital channels since Wednesday.

Responsible at Samsung: Toni Koller (Director Marketing Mobile & CE), Fabian Fehr (Head of Marcom IM & CE), Allan Haverman (Head of Marcom IM). Responsible at Sir Mary: Adrian Merz (Executive Creative Director), Katrin Espelage (Creative Director), Leandro Disler (Art Direction), Jodok Meier (Copywriting), Paul Gutjahr (Art Direction), Jacqueline Willimann (Senior Account Manager), Tino Elsener (Strategy Director Digital), Nicolas Hostettler (Managing Director), Film production: doity Production GmbH, Lars Timmermann (Director) Landingpage: Sugo.digital; Media: Nicole Caviezel (Senior Digital Account Manager), Mariya Madorin (Senior Digital Account Manager), Iona Jefferies (Digital Account Director).

"In recent years, Simone has not only developed the agency in terms of brand strategy, but also structurally. She can lead teams, design processes and workflows, establish clear structures and anticipate strategic brand topics for the future. She will therefore make a significant contribution to ensuring that we are even more efficient and precise for our clients," said Managing Director and agency owner Ralph Hermann in a press release. "Her appointment as Deputy Managing Director is a logical consequence of her personal development at the agency. I wish Simone every success in her new role and look forward to working with her even more intensively."

Following Audienzz's expansion into Germany with the acquisition of German online marketer Netpoint Media in 2023, the Swiss digital advertising specialist is also becoming active in Austria and thus in the entire DACH region. The Audienzz subsidiary Zulu5 has already been operating successfully in Austria for four years. This established network now forms the basis for the expansion into the Austrian market, Audienzz writes in a press release.

André Eckert has been responsible for Audienzz's Austrian business as Business Development Manager Austria since the beginning of July 2024. The 54-year-old digital expert has many years of experience and expertise in business development and media marketing. Among other things, he was President of the International Association of the Digital Marketing and Advertising Industry (IAB) and Vice President of IAB Austria, Country Manager at AutoScout24 and CEO at Russmedia Digital.

"Great potential"

According to Audienzz itself, the marketing of Nzz.chthe future marketing mandate of Finance.at as well as existing mandates from news and topic portals such as Exxpress.at or Boomer.at has a reach of around 1.5 million unique visitors per month in Austria. In terms of advertising marketing, the company is initially focusing on the News, Finance, Family and Style segments. In addition to advertising marketing, Audienzz offers various software solutions.

"We see great potential in the Austrian market, both with our software solutions and in advertising sales", Remo Baumeler, CEO of Audienzz, is quoted as saying in the press release. "Thanks to our presence throughout the DACH region, we can offer publishers and advertisers added value. In André Eckert, we have found the ideal person for our expansion into Austria."

The average daily reach of linear radio in the first half of 2024 is 72% of the population aged 15 and over throughout Switzerland. A comparison of the language regions reveals familiar patterns: while the genre reaches almost 4 in 5 people per day in Svizzera italiana (78%), this applies to just 2 in 3 people (67%) in Suisse romande. In German-speaking Switzerland, this figure is slightly above the national average at 73%.

These regional differences can also be observed if the reach is not considered on a daily basis, but over an average week. In this case, radio has a weekly reach of 97% in Svizzera italiana and 93% in Suisse romande. At 95%, German-speaking Switzerland also lands between the two smaller regions.

People who use linear radio stay in front of their receivers for an average of 111 minutes. The radio listeners with the greatest endurance live in German-speaking Switzerland, where the duration of use amounts to 116 minutes. The Svizzera italiana is in second place in this discipline with 111 minutes and the Suisse romande has the lowest daily usage time per listener at 95 minutes.

Compared to the first half of 2023, demand for radio stations' linear offerings is largely stable. In terms of daily reach, the genre lost one percentage point, while the average weekly reach remained unchanged at 95%. The duration of use per listener, which was already measured at 111 minutes a year ago, is also stable.

The Mediapulse radio research covers the linear use of radio programs across all analog and digital distribution vectors. For reasons of research economics, however, this does not include linear radio use via headphones. On the other hand, the time-shifted or on-demand use of radio offerings is not included.

Is the development of Emotional Artificial Intelligence still in its infancy? Or is research much further along than expected - and is widespread application in everyday working life already a reality?

One thing is certain: machines - regardless of whether they are AI tools such as ChatGPT - do not feel emotions. But simply put, they are able to "read" emotions. Be it through our choice of words, our tone of voice or our facial expressions.

In short, the vision of AI tools that are not only fast and "intelligent", but also empathetic and capable of responding to human needs, is a realistic goal.

Market research with empathy

The panel on "Emotional AI", which will be held as part of the first "Davos AI Bootcamp", will focus on applications that are already being used in everyday life - for example in marketing and advertising.

For example, emotional AI tools are used in market research to analyze consumers' reactions to advertising campaigns. Other tools can capture emotions in real time by analyzing facial expressions and body language. Among other things, this helps advertisers to optimize their campaigns and better tailor them to the target group.

Support in psychiatry

Emotional AI is also being used successfully in the healthcare sector. For example, to monitor emotional states and the mental health of patients in general.

Emotional analyses provide therapists with valuable insights to adapt treatments. For example, the tools use speech analysis to recognize emotional states and monitor changes in patients' mental balance.

The panel discussion on "Emotional AI" will be chaired by university professor Dr. Ivo Hajnal. The detailed program with the panel experts will be published on the Landing page of the Swiss Text Academy Foundation continuously updated. Interested parties can register here for the Davos AI Bootcamp.

This article was written as part of a media partnership between m&k and the "Davos AI Bootcamp"

The Effie Awards Switzerland, organized by Leading Swiss Agencies, the association of Switzerland's leading communications agencies, honors the most effective marketing campaigns of the past two years. The this year's shortlist According to the sponsors, the program includes an "impressive selection of campaigns that stand out due to their innovative approaches and measurable success".

The judging was carried out by a high-caliber jury headed by jury president Peter Felser together with jury chairs Sonja Kingsley-Curry, Anne Muhl, Gordon Nemitz, Simon Rehsche and Katrin Schmid. Each campaign was judged against strict criteria that focused on both campaign effectiveness and creativity.

The evaluation process for the Effie Awards takes place in several phases and is internationally prescribed. In the first round on June 27, more than 50 jury members viewed the submitted dossiers and evaluated them independently of each other. Video reporter Beat Hürlimann from m&k advertisingweek.ch accompanied this first phase of the adjudication (Werbewoche.ch reported).

Only those campaigns that achieved a certain number of points secured a place on the shortlist and thus progressed to the second round. In the second and final round at the beginning of September 2024, the winning campaigns will be selected by a second jury. The winners will then be announced in October and the Award Night will take place on November 6, where this year's Grand Effie winner will also be announced. This will be chosen from the previously announced Gold Cases by a Grand Jury.

Yes, it's almost vacation time. And despite widespread flight shame, airports will once again be overcrowded. The queues, which are supposed to be controlled with barrier belts, will, as always, blur into uncontrolled masses of people and suitcases far beyond the designated rows, resembling an overeaten anaconda, sluggishly barely moving.

Queues at check-in, security or passport control are a nuisance. Fortunately, we no longer have to go to the airport for check-ins if we are still flying. We can do this conveniently online and via our cell phone. But not only that, we no longer even have to go on vacation for check-ins, we can do it every day or every week in our everyday working lives. The term has become so popular that we no longer even know where we originally wanted to go because of all the check-ins.

The use of the word check-in began after the pandemic. After employees around the world were supposed to return to their workplaces, employers were astonished to discover that this was not happening. The overpaid office spaces remained empty and the underpaid people continued to stay at home. The personal encounters, the informal conversations or the brief eye contact when passing by remained absent and complicated everyday working life enormously. They were all small check-ins with colleagues in the workplace, long before the term had made it from airports and hotels to the common office space.

Important for cooperation with and without luggage

The term "check-in" comes from the English language and is used in various contexts to describe the process of registering, booking or checking in a stranger to a travel group or accommodation. The term originally comes from the hotel and aviation industry, but has since spread to many other areas.

When checking in at a hotel, guests report to reception to register as arrivals, receive their room keys and complete the necessary formalities such as identity checks. When checking in at an airport, passengers register for their flight, check in any luggage and receive a boarding pass in return, which entitles them to change airside at the airport, i.e. to go to where the perfumes and spirits are cheaper and the planes are ready for departure. The boarding pass also entitles them to board such a plane and travel in a predetermined seat.

Check-ins also exist in the leisure sector for cruises and conferences, whereby the latter is a hybrid between leisure and business. Quite the opposite of the application in technology and software. Nothing is leisure there, even if the offices at Google imply otherwise. There, a check-in can describe the process by which developers enter their code into a central repository after they have made changes. Or in editorial offices, where the fun factor at work has also long since shrunk to a minimum. There, articles are checked in and out and raised to the next status so that the next worker, be it designers, proofreaders, picture editors or whoever, can do their work.

Check-ins are therefore omnipresent and have recently also become necessary in employee management when those who have stayed at home suddenly turn up at the office again and are irritated when HR managers and colleagues ask: "How are you?" In real life, or IRL for short, it's always easier to tell how a person is feeling. That's why there are free check-ins every day at the coffee machine, in the corridor, in front of the meeting rooms, in the canteen, in the toilet or while smoking. And usually without a queue, but with a lot of empathy. Such encounters are nice and sometimes almost feel like a little vacation.

* 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.

At Fust WhatsApp chatbot users can take part in a big TV competition by answering quiz questions correctly and betting on whether the team will progress to the next round in every Swiss match. This gives them the chance to win further prizes. In addition, product recommendations matching the match result are displayed in real time, accompanied by appropriate puns.

The campaign aims to pick up users during the games via second screen on their smartphones, connect them with the Fust brand - and ultimately activate them. According to Dreifive, the average open rate for Fust's WhatsApp newsletter is 91.6% and the click rate is over 71%.

"The decision to use WhatsApp as a communication channel for our European Championship campaign was strategic and well thought out," Silvio Schneider, Head of Marketing at Fust, is convinced. "At a time when mobility and real-time interactions are becoming increasingly important, WhatsApp offers an ideal platform to reach our target group where they already are - on their smartphones. "

Marleen Albert, Head of Social Media at Dreifive, adds: "Fust uses the advantages of WhatsApp communication during a sporting event and can position itself ideally during this time. Thanks to the real-time messages, the messages arrive in an emotional and positive situation, which contributes to sustainable brand building in the long term."

Responsible at Fust: Silvio Schneider (Head of Marketing), Emire Mustafa (Head of Performance Marketing). Responsible at Dreifive: Cheryl Schlatter (Teamlead Social Media Consultant), Julienne Bérard (Junior Social Media Consultant), Montserrat Urbiola Diaz (Digital Arts Designer), Bibiana Schwarz (Digital Arts Designer), Marleen Albert (Head of Social Media). Responsible at Memacon: Moritz Beck (Managing Director).

Under the moderation of young musical talent Cachita, the newly graduated students were honored for their outstanding achievements. Special recognition was given to the best of the year in the various parts of the examination and the overall examination.

The musical accompaniment was provided by Swiss Music Award winner Andryy, who added an emotional touch with his extraordinary voice.

A total of 301 marketing specialists and 214 sales specialists passed the federal examination to become a marketing or sales specialist. The failure rate for both specializations was around 30 percent.

Switzerland is considered one of the most important global hubs for wealth management and banking. This highly competitive market with many asset managers requires not only outstanding products and services, but also a clear and locally focused profile.

"Franklin Templeton stands for investment excellence, trusting partnerships and innovation. With our new campaign, we want to anchor these attributes with our Swiss clients," explains Denis Tumbuelt, VP & Head of EMEA Marketing at Franklin Templeton. The campaign should also convey that "with our locally grown sales and marketing team, we have remained close to our clients and demonstrate the highest level of service", adds Vanja Brunner, Senior Marketing Manager at Franklin Templeton in Switzerland. Foundry understood Franklin Templeton's values very well and expressed them innovatively and effectively with the campaign, concludes Tumbuelt.

Sincerely Yours

The Foundry team conducted interviews with sales staff and members of investment committees at banks and asset managers throughout Switzerland. Together with the Franklin Templeton team, the results were analyzed with the aim of developing an effective campaign.

With "Sincerely Yours", Franklin Templeton presents itself in Switzerland as a global asset manager with a local marketing and sales team. The marketing measures aim to convey Franklin Templeton's DNA in an understandable and likeable way: Franklin Templeton is a family-run company with a global presence and a broad and innovative offering in all traditional and alternative asset classes.

In addition to the messaging, Foundry also adapted Franklin Templeton's image in Switzerland in order to position and strengthen the brand in the saturated market in a future-oriented way. With a cross-media campaign, "Sincerely Yours" emphasizes the authenticity and proximity to the customer.

Responsible at Franklin Tempelton: Denis Tumbuelt (VP, Head of EMEA Marketing), Christian Leger (Head of Switzerland), Vanja Brunner (Senior Marketing Manager), Vishal Shah (Digital Marketing Director). Responsible at FoundryNitin George (Creative Direction Concept & Strategy) Susann Boutry-Kompa (Client Service Director), Ruben Mata Lopez (Design & Art Direction), Leon Marenbach (Copywriter), Gregor Wollenweber, (Production), Sacha Moser (Overall Responsibility).

Over the next few years, the municipality of Regensdorf will develop into one of the most modern municipalities in the canton of Zurich. In addition to major infrastructure projects, such as the north railroad station, over 2,000 apartments are planned or already under construction. In addition, businesses are moving in and extensive investments are being made in the quality of life within the municipality.

In order to do justice to all these changes in terms of communication and to convey the attractiveness of the municipality to the outside world in a targeted manner over the next few years, the Regensdorf brand was strategically realigned, developed and implemented in close cooperation with the Process agency.

As part of the realignment of the brand, the entire brand architecture within the municipality was sharpened, reorganized and prioritized in terms of communication. The old figurative mark was completely renewed and the entire corporate design was redesigned and redefined across all channels.

This included developing and implementing templates for all communication channels and media, including official documents and templates that are implemented and rolled out within the municipality.

"In times of change and major growth, in which Regensdorf finds itself, it is crucial that our communication is clear, uniform and consistent," says Sandrine Rickli, Head of Communications. "Our new image enables us to meet the communication requirements and convey our messages in an appealing and understandable way."

Responsible at Regensdorf: Sandrine Rickli (Project Lead, Head of Communications), Marco Renggli (Head of Innovation and Development), Fabienne Pfyl (Deputy Head of Innovation and Development), Stefan Pfyl (Municipal Clerk), Sanida Hasani (Executive Assistant Municipal Clerk). Responsible at Process:
Markus Hammer (overall responsibility), Martin Kessler (Martin Kessler Consulting) and Manuela Marty (strategy and consulting), Jasmina Seelig (consulting), Thomas Rütti (design), Pascal Hegemann (design), Timon Gschwind (motion design) Clau Isenring (text) and Wanda Honegger (digital design).

The change at the top of the agency is part of Kreisvier's longer-term planning and will further strengthen the innovative power of the owner-managed agency, according to a press release. Alexandra Vatansever will take the company forward in a targeted manner and develop it strategically in order to continue to make the best possible use of the potential of the agency's more than 50 employees for its clients.

After 20 years, eight of which as Managing Director, the previous CEO Christian Jost is stepping down from operations and management and moving to the Board of Directors. "Alexandra Vatansever and I have worked closely together for many years. I am delighted to be handing over the management of the agency to her now", Jost is quoted as saying. "She brings fresh ideas and is also very familiar with Kreisvier and our customers. This will enable us to continue our success both for our customers and for Kreisvier."