According to the Maz annual report 2023 published on Thursday, the financial investments, which recorded considerable losses in 2022, were able to recover slightly and record a profit of just under CHF 250,000. Despite this improvement, however, this profit was not enough to fully offset the previous year's loss: The Maz closed last year with a loss of around 96,000 francs.

According to the school, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, the journalism courses were very well attended. The courses in the field of communication also met with broad interest. The school recorded high booking numbers in the fall in particular.

The annual report also shows that Maz was able to extend the rental agreement at its current location in Lucerne, but gave up one of the three originally rented floors. The remaining two floors were converted during the summer at a cost of over 800,000 francs.

Because the media industry is still undergoing a process of transformation, the School of Journalism launched a strategy process, as Foundation Board President Felix E. Müller writes in the annual report. At its core, this process pursues the question of how the Maz should react to current and future developments in the media sector, but also in the communications industry. (SDA)

SBB wants to halve its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to 2018. To achieve this, the public transport company is focusing on more than 200 sustainability projects. Under the motto "a touch greener", SBB now wants to demonstrate its commitment to sustainability.

But attractive offers are needed to ensure that commuters and leisure travelers actually opt for the most climate-friendly means of transport. Under the motto "a touch better", SBB is making it easy for people to get on board - for example with the new Half-Fare PLUS, with over 2000 sustainable vacation and excursion offers or with a large number of supersaver tickets with up to 50 percent discount.

The national campaign "A tad better. A tad greener." carries both messages across the media in Switzerland and aims to ensure that Switzerland not only knows that rail remains the most climate-friendly mode of transport, but also uses it.

The campaign was launched in mid-April.

Responsible at SBB: Matthias Bütler (Head of Marketing and Market Development and member of the SBB Passenger Transport Market Management Board), Sandro Borrelli (Head of Marketing), Sinja Müller (Project Manager), Stephanie Rudin and Nora Grunder (Campaign Managers); Responsible agency: Contexta; Film production: Tuna Productions. Directed by: Cadmo Quintero. Camera: Antonio Paladino. Music: Spacetrain. Sound: Gregor Rosenberger (Dubdub). Media: Havas.

Consumer Protection has been taking consistent action against greenwashing since the summer of 2023, the foundation announced on Thursday. Following the complaints against eight euphemistic environmental advertising messages that were approved by the Fairness Commission at the time, six companies have adapted or deleted their advertising.

Telecoms provider Swisscom, on the other hand, is playing for time according to the consumer protection organization. And Elite Flights has shown itself to be "unreasonable" according to the information provided. Although the company no longer advertises its helicopter flights as "climate-neutral", it is now advertising them as "environmentally friendly".

Misleading advertising

Consumer protection criticizes that the company is ignoring the recommendation of the Commission on Fair Trading and has filed a criminal complaint. The foundation is of the opinion that "environmentally friendly" is also misleading when advertising helicopter flights.

Elite Flights offers sightseeing flights with landings at wineries, sightseeing flights with glacier landings, "excursions abroad" and business flights, among other things. The flights are certified CO2-neutral, according to the company's website. Elite Flights did not respond to a request for comment from the Keystone-SDA news agency by midday on Thursday.

New reporting platform

As Consumer Protection also announced, it is setting up a reporting platform for greenwashing. This was prompted by numerous complaints from the public about often misleading advertising messages. Consumer Protection is reviewing the reports and following them up.

However, the problem is of a fundamental nature, the foundation wrote. In Switzerland, there is no regulation for environmental advertising. Only legal requirements for advertising messages in connection with climate neutrality, environmental friendliness and sustainability can ensure that consumers are not misled, the consumer protection organization stated. The EU is further ahead in this respect: if there is no proof of environmental claims, they are prohibited. (SDA/swi)

The first step was to focus on strategic measures to optimize conversions. The support includes account management, including classic SEA steps such as keyword research, technical setup, close controlling and ongoing optimization of all ads.

In order to generate learnings and make them quickly visible, all data sources are combined on a dashboard tailored to BLKB in order to generate cross-channel insights and allocate the budget in a success-oriented manner.

Responsible at BLKB: Julius Reinartz (Business Owner Online Channels | Martech & Analytics), Remo Dahinden (Head of Digital Channels & Martech). Responsible at Dreifive: Rafael Müller (Senior Digital Advertising Consultant), Moritz Egger (Digital Advertising Consultant), Michael Weber (Digital Advertising Consultant), Jolanda Kessler (Head of Digital Advertising| Partner), Daniel Waibel (Lead Analytics & Data Consulting), Joscha Mittmann (Junior Analytics & Data Consultant), Markus Goldmann (Head of Data Optimization| Partner).

The digital financial magazine The Market offers analysis and classification of developments and trends on the international financial markets, including recommendations for action. According to its own information, the medium is very successful in Switzerland. Now The Market Germany German investors with an extended thematic focus and a special emphasis on German companies.

"The Market is a success story. In the five years since it was founded, we have exceeded expectations," says Mark Dittli, founding partner and Managing Director of the online medium, which is part of the NZZ company. "By expanding into the German market, we want to continue our sustainable growth." The existing editorial team will be expanded by four people for Germany-specific reporting. The new employees all report from Germany and are therefore geographically close to the market.

The financial journalist Mark Böschen takes over as Managing Editor. He was previously editor at the Manager Magazine in Hamburg. Until 2010, he reported as a correspondent in the Geld+Börse department at the WirtschaftsWoche on the financial market from Frankfurt. Between 2001 and 2008, he was responsible for the Financial Times Germany active.

Embroidery on cotton or linen fabrics is a typical craft tradition that has its roots deep in Switzerland's rural and farming history. In the current campaign for "Miini Region", the embroideries created the new visual identity of the Coop brand, which is based on the distinct regionality of our country. This is also expressed in the new Miini Region logo, which makes stronger reference to Swissness. One of the four cloverleaves now bears the Swiss cross on a red background.

The embroidered headlines, written in a total of nine Swiss dialects, also referred to the brand's strong regional focus at the respective poster and DOOH display locations. After all, the most important ingredient in the products is "Love from the region".

"The use of embroidery for the new Miini Region branding created wonderful analogies. The traditional Swiss craftsmanship is symbolic of the love of detail and the passion that our producers invest in the Miini Region range together with us," explains Luca Schwarz, Head of Advertising Own Brands/Image at Coop.

The posters and DOOH as well as carrier bags and POS materials have been on display in German, French and Italian throughout Switzerland in recent weeks.

Sele has been with Wemf for nine years. In the He became a member of the Executive Board on May 2023 and has since helped shape the strategic development of Wemf. Dr. Hoffmann, who holds a doctorate in media research, is responsible for the Data & Tools division and will continue to be responsible for the operation and further development of Wemf statistics, databases and tools as well as implementing new innovative development projects in the Technical New Business division. Wemf's management will in future consist of Dr. Jella Hoffmann and Dr. Marc Sele.

Bernasconi began his career at Wemf in 2007 as CEO. Pioneering projects during his tenure include the launch of the web-based data portal Next>Level, the introduction of the Product Consulting and Ad-hoc Research divisions, the implementation of the agency tool Agency.OS, the acquisition of the company Immediate and Wemf's investment in Intervista, as well as the co-founding of NET-Metrix. Last year, he stepped down from his position as CEO and acted as Deputy CEO.

Ringier Media Switzerland, whose new French-speaking Switzerland unit was announced in April 2024, is introducing the "Digital, Innovation & Marketing" department in Lausanne. The department will work closely with the editorial offices in French-speaking View, L'illustré, PME and GaultMillau work together. Several teams will be responsible for managing the content distribution strategy, creating new multimedia formats and promoting brands. Journalists will also be supported in understanding and introducing technological innovations, such as artificial intelligence.

Manon Bornand, 35, will take over the management of the "Digital, Innovation & Marketing" department at Ringier Médias Suisse romande on June 15, 2024. Bornand holds a Master's degree in Journalism and Communication from the University of Geneva and held various positions in the fields of communication, events and social networks before joining RTS in 2017 to create an offer for young viewers. There, she was involved in the launch of "Tataki", for which she is still co-responsible today. The format now has more than 2.5 million subscribers on its various platforms.

"Manon's vision and her digital talent will give our media in French-speaking Switzerland a new dynamic and strengthen their visibility and modernity. Her in-depth experience in attracting new target groups will be invaluable for the further development of our young medium Blick," said Thomas Deléchat, Managing Director of Ringier Médias Suisse romande, commenting on the new appointment.

In her new role, Manon Bornand will join the Management Board of Ringier Médias Suisse romande. The full composition of the Board will be announced shortly, according to Ringier.

However, there are significant differences in salary development between media outlets and PR agencies, as the survey shows. While 44 percent on the agency side have not received a salary increase, only 24 percent of PR professionals in companies have had to make do without a salary increase in the past twelve months.

More than half of the media positions received at least a moderate salary increase: As many as 58 percent saw their salary rise by less than 2 percent, which corresponds to the average inflation rate for 2023. Among PR agencies, only one in four benefited from an increase below the inflation rate (25%).

There are also significant differences on the agency and company side when it comes to salary adjustments in line with inflation, with PR agencies being the big winners here: Around a third of communications professionals in PR agencies (31 percent) can look forward to a salary increase of more than 2 percent. This corresponds to a salary increase that is above the average inflation rate of the past year. In contrast, only 18% of PR professionals in media agencies stated that they had received a salary increase above the inflation rate.

Majority satisfied with salary

Despite the rather stagnant development of salaries, the majority of respondents are satisfied with their current salary: very or rather satisfied: 51%, satisfied/neutral 24%. Only one in four PR professionals is rather or very dissatisfied (24%).

But there are also clear differences in satisfaction between companies and PR agencies: over half of respondents from media outlets said they were very or fairly satisfied with their current salary (55%). On the agency side, however, the figure is only 44 percent.

Salary negotiations tend to be more difficult

When it comes to asking for a higher salary, the majority of respondents believe that salary negotiations will be neither easier nor more difficult this year (43%), or that they will become tougher and more or definitely more difficult (41%). Despite this fear, only 18% of respondents are considering changing jobs if their salary does not develop as they would like. This means that 53% - and therefore the majority - will remain loyal to their current employer despite some dissatisfaction with their salary. A further 29% are undecided and might change jobs if their salary still does not meet their expectations.

Additional training opportunities and leisure time desired

If communications professionals could wish for additional benefits from their employer in addition to a higher salary, external training opportunities are at the top of the list. But the desire for additional vacation days is also high.

The top 5 desired additional benefits this year:

• External training courses 49%
• Additional vacation days 47%
• Home office options 20%
• More flexible working hours 16%
• Possibility to work in other EU countries 8%

At the PR Trend Monitor survey by News Aktuell and PER in February 2024, 49 PR specialists and executives have from companies, organizations and PR agencies in Switzerland took part.

Mark Zuckerberg has a new goal: he wants to make his Facebook company Meta the number one in artificial intelligence. The in-house assistant Meta AI is to become the "world's leading AI service in terms of both quality and usage", the Facebook founder announced on Wednesday. At the same time, Zuckerberg warned investors that the AI offensive would be expensive with investments in software and technology - but that it could take years for the company to earn money with it.

Wall Street was shocked to hear such AI ambitions: The share price plummeted by a good 15 percent in after-hours trading, although the advertising business continued to run at full speed in the past quarter. Two and a half years after Zuckerberg had the company renamed from Facebook to Meta in order to emphasize its focus on the loss-making virtual "metaverse" worlds, the prospect of another upheaval seems to be making investors sweat with fear.

Zuckerberg seeks the trust of the stock market

Zuckerberg's speech in a conference call with analysts came across as a bid to gain the trust of the stock market. He pointed out that the Facebook Group's approach of first building services that are popular with users and only then thinking about making money has worked time and time again. Among other things, he sees business opportunities in communication between companies and their customers on meta platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

Zuckerberg also envisions "AI agents" that, unlike today's chatbots, not only answer individual questions, but could also take on more complex tasks for users that require their own action and research in the background.

Zuckerberg's big AI plans put the company in greater competition with chatGPT developer OpenAI and other tech heavyweights such as Microsoft, Google and Amazon, who all want to play a leading role in artificial intelligence. At the same time, Meta has the strategic advantage of a base of 3.24 billion users who recently accessed at least one of the Group's apps every day. The company needs to find scenarios that integrate AI into their everyday lives in a meaningful way.

Connected glasses as the "perfect device for AI assistants"

Buttons that activate the AI assistant have been appearing in the meta apps in the USA and several other countries since last week. Zuckerberg also has high hopes for the connected glasses with camera, microphone and loudspeakers developed jointly with Ray-Ban. The AI in the glasses can, for example, answer questions about what a user is currently looking at. "Glasses are the perfect device for an AI assistant because they can see what you see and hear what you hear," said Zuckerberg.

The Ray-Ban glasses were developed in the Reality Labs division, which also works on the "Metaverse" platform and virtual reality (VR) headsets. Reality Labs is a chronic loss-maker in the Metaverse balance sheet. In the last quarter alone, the division posted operating losses of 3.85 billion dollars. This was marginally better than the operating loss of just under four billion dollars in the same quarter of the previous year.

Zuckerberg now argued that since Reality Labs also enriched other services with the AI in Ray-Ban glasses, for example, a better way had to be found to showcase their contribution. There was grumbling among investors for a while in view of the division's years of high losses. But Zuckerberg stuck to his guns - and when the advertising business picked up again after a brief dip, the criticism fell silent.

Outlook alerts the user

In the past quarter, advertising dollars flowed back into Meta's coffers. Turnover rose by 27 percent year-on-year to 36.45 billion dollars. Profit more than doubled to around 12.4 billion dollars.

However, investors found a fly in the ointment in the outlook: Meta predicted sales of between 36.5 and 39 billion dollars for the current quarter. Analysts had expected an average of 38.4 billion. In addition, the costs of the AI offensive are already becoming apparent. Meta now puts the range for expenditure this year at 96 to 99 billion dollars. The previous forecast was 94 to 99 billion dollars. (SDA)

The campaign can be seen on social media, in media networks on various channels and at seven major Swiss railroad stations. It aims to show just how exciting a visit to Goldau is - and the animals themselves prove it. They confidently draw attention to their sometimes astonishing characteristics and abilities. The owl, for example, navigates at night with its ears. The otter, which can hold its breath for up to seven minutes during dives. Or the Carpathian lynx - it runs at speeds of up to 45 km/h when hunting prey. Each subject has an educational character.

After lynx, otter, owl, badger and wolf, further animal testimonials follow in a second wave: the squirrel, the brown bear and the mouflon. "Bühler & Bühler has perfectly staged the essence of our institution, which is so important beyond the region. Because the animals are our real figureheads. We take appropriate care of them through the four pillars of species protection, nature conservation, research and education. Here, people can change their relationship with animals and nature for the better. We want to bring this closer to people - also through appropriate marketing communication," says the zoo.

The Effie Awards Switzerland, organized by the LSA association, will take place again in 2024. The most effective marketing communication campaigns of the last two years can be submitted for the award until the end of May 2024.

The jury members of the first round, who will select the finalists for the second round, will meet under the chairmanship of Peter Felser on June 27, 2024. The jury president will be supported by 5 jury chairpersons. Who will win the Bronze, Silver and Gold Effies will be decided in Jury 2 on September 3, 2024.

The The entire jury consists of over 70 representatives from advertising clients and agencies as well as from science and research. They contribute their experience from different industries, their knowledge and their expertise to the selection of the finalist campaigns and choose the Effie winners and thus the most effective campaigns of the last two years.
"The number and commitment of the jurors is tremendous! And the quality is also impressive. The crème de la crème of the marketing and communications industry is represented on the individual jury panels. Working with such a competent and illustrious jury is interesting and enriching for me," says jury president Peter Felser.

The evaluation is based on the four sections of the submitted case description, for each of which points are awarded. When awarding points, the jury members are required to assess the overall effectiveness of a case based on the following four sections:

• Challenge, context and objectives 23.3%
• Insights and strategy 23.3%
• Bringing the idea to life 23.3%
• Results 30%

The winners of the Effie Awards Switzerland will be announced at the Award Night from November 6 to 24.