"Cheers!" has been heard a lot in recent weeks. Dry January takes this slogan in its most literal meaning. With "Cheers, Santé, Salute!" pleads the campaign for a healthy awareness in dealing with alcohol. The ultimate goal is not even to give up alcohol completely, but to have the courage to try it out for yourself and take a closer look at your own drinking habits.

The visuals for the campaign are intended to show that you can toast with more than just beer, wine and alcoholic long drinks: You have the best conversations over a cozy cup of coffee, you can also get to know your new love over a glass of OJ at the brunch buffet and those who warm their souls with punch instead of mulled wine also keep a clear view on the slopes.

Once again, the campaign aims to motivate people to get involved - without any admonishing fingers, but with a zest for life and cheerfulness. It is visible on social media and is also being distributed to the public with colorful stickers, bicycle saddle covers and posters.

Frank means open, sincere and honest. The new name is also intended to reflect the agency's attitude. "We want to move brands and companies forward through openness. Because in our understanding, openness not only means being honest and transparent, but also consciously choosing clear and direct words, allowing ideas and sometimes breaking new ground. This gives rise to creativity and innovation," explains Ramon Alder, Creative Director and Co-Owner of Andfrank.

According to Nico Strässle, Managing Director and Co-Owner of Andfrank, the new owners consistently focus on clear and competent marketing and communication solutions: "What counts for us is what works. Even if it sometimes takes courage to stand up for something or ask more questions than the other person would like".

"With 21 motivated employees from various specialist areas of the communications world and the expansion of our range of services, we can react even faster to changes and trends in the market in order to create campaigns that resonate and have an impact. This allows us to take our clients further," adds Kathrin Summerauer, also Managing Director and Co-Owner. The core teams of the two existing agencies will remain in place and will be strengthened by additional experts. Andfrank will be led by Florian Bieniek, Ramon Alder, Nico Strässle and Kathrin Summerauer. The former owner and Managing Director of the Content agency, Monika Wiedemeijer, will remain with Andfrank in the role of Senior Advisor and on the Board of Directors.

Andfrank's customers include brands such as A. Menarini, A. Vogel, Biogen, Frankenspalter.ch, Grajo, GSK, Janssen, Joya Shoes, Lidl, Louis Widmer, Mepha, NovoNordisk, TopPharm and Sanofi.

With her creative talent, consulting expertise and great commitment, Martina Stadler has made a significant contribution to the development and success of the agency in recent years, according to a press release. Stadler is now taking on a management role at Tells Söhne, thereby confirming her long-term commitment to the agency. Her "passion, willingness to learn but also her acceptance within the team" make her the ideal addition to the management team, which previously consisted of the two founders and business partners Iwan von Rickenbach and Matthias Schnüriger.

ERZ offers "meaningful jobs". Because the jobs at Entsorgung + Recycling Zürich are not only exciting and meaningful, they also impart a great deal of knowledge. The young professionals are given responsibility right from the start. And they work as a fully-fledged team member from day one.

"Our aim was to convey the diversity and benefits of an apprenticeship at ERZ to young career starters in a simple, authentic way," says Daniel Irniger, Personnel Marketing + Recruiting Specialist at ERZ. "During the filming, we had a tight schedule but also a lot of fun with our apprentices," says Xavier Nietlisbach, Vocational Training Manager.

The entertaining film offers an insight into the everyday life of the learners. In just two days of filming, a target group-focused video was created that is used on various channels.

Responsible at the City of Zurich, Recycling + Disposal (ERZ): Daniel Irniger, Xavier Nietlisbach. Responsible at Agentur Koch: Motion unit.

As SWS Medien announced on Friday, Koller will be joining the editorial team of the Willisauer Boten and take over as Editor-in-Chief on January 1, 2025. The 47-year-old Koller is a business economist and historian.

Koller worked as an editor for both the Seetaler as well as for the Willisauer Boten. He has been working as a communications specialist since 2015. He is also a research assistant at the cantonal Department of Justice and Security.

Until his retirement, the 62-year-old Calivers will work as an editor for the paper on a reduced workload. Willisauer messenger will remain active, as the press release went on to say. He has held the position of Editor-in-Chief since 2009. Editor-in-chief of the Seetal Messenger remains André Widmer. (SDA)

Lüthi's new role involves the further development of YouGov's existing business activities in Europe, the Middle East and India. His task will be to coordinate the company in the economic region as it continues to grow and to further expand the company's success.

Benedikt Lüthi took over the position of General Manager DACH at YouGov in January 2022 and at the same time held overall responsibility for the business of the Swiss market research institute Link Marketing Services, which was acquired by YouGov, until February 2023. Prior to his time at Link, Lüthi gained several years of management experience as CEO and board member of medium-sized companies and worked as a consultant at Roland Berger, a leading strategy and restructuring consultancy.

The 51-year-old will take up his new position on Monday, as announced by the FDJP on Thursday.

Washington previously worked for SRF Radio, where he was most recently Head of Service, Team Leader of the Saturday Review and Federal Parliament Editor. From 2014 to 2019, he was SRF radio correspondent in Brussels.

Agnès Schenker and Christoph Lenz, who were in charge of the FDJP's communication service under Elisabeth Baume-Schneider, are moving to the Department of Home Affairs together with their boss, according to the communiqué. (SDA)

In addition to ten issues of the print magazine Forbes In Switzerland, Forbes is also expanding its long-established initiatives "Forbes Under 30", "Money" and the "Forbes Women's Summit". In addition Forbes and Faces From 2024, the two companies will jointly develop a fourth focus, the "Luxury Summit".

In addition to marketing the print magazine, the events and the digital platforms Faces Forbes Switzerland with lifestyle content for the magazine and website.

Stefan Berger and Patrick Pierazzoli, who have been publishing the lifestyle magazine Faces will contribute their expertise. Fairlane Consulting will also be appointing Pascal Konrad as Sales Director Forbes Switzerland will take the lead in marketing. Philipp Boksberger, who brings many years of management experience to the role and worked for Forbes who was CEO of the Chinese European International Business School CEIBS, among other things, has been Managing Director since the end of 2022. Forbes Switzerland on board. In addition, Klaus Fiala, Editor-in-Chief and Co-Publisher of the German-language edition of Forbes, will return to Zurich in 2024 to sustainably develop and expand the site as Editor-in-Chief Switzerland.

The first issue of 2024 will be published at the end of February.

Non-alcoholic drinks have become increasingly important in recent years with the megatrend towards conscious and healthy living. Migros supports this development by offering its customers an extensive range of non-alcoholic drinks. True to the motto: Fine and varied drinks - without alcohol, but with taste and lots of fun. This is shown in four commercials for TV and online advertising, in which drinking "without" is just as much fun as "with".

Recipes from the trendy bartender

Wirz also developed the storylines and measures for social and influencer content: Zurich scene bartender Timmey created three Migros mocktails, which are presented in videos and can be remixed at home. In addition, a broad influencer campaign on all popular platforms encourages people to drink alcohol-free in "Dry January".

The campaign is running throughout Switzerland in "Dry January".

Responsible at Migros: Giovanna Colucci (Campaigning), Simone Blaser, Christian Keller (Media), Thomas Blumer (Social Media). Responsible at Wirz Group: Caspar Heuss, Matthias Fürst, Jan Kempter, Florian Siegrist, David Offermann, Laura Schädler, Nina Riesen, Julia Keller, Erasmo Palomba, Nadja Kilchhofer, Naomi Meran, Tim Lieberherr, Muharem Alagic, Céline Bürgler, Christina Wellnhofer, Giovanni Bucca, Yussef Serrat, Günther Prächt, Robin Schuler. Responsible for production: Stories (Film Production): Nicola Tröhler (Director); Nino Michel (Director of Photography); Yves Bollag (Executive Producer), Alexander Wyssling (Producer), Edoardo Moruzzi (Head of Post Production); Wolfang Weigel (Editor); Simon Hardegger (Colorgrading); Postoffice, Amsterdam (VFX); Jingle Jungle (Soundtrack); Adrian Frutiger and Fabian Sturzenegger (Music). Responsible for Media: Dynamo team of Dentsu International Switzerland. Responsible for influencer cooperation: Kingfluencers.

The banking of the future is free. Zürcher Kantonalbank is convinced of this - and is therefore abolishing annual fees for everyday and basic products as of 2024.

A courageous step. And the people in the campaign created by Rod Kommunikation also show courage. With an emotional marriage proposal or a daring leap into the deep end. But just like Zürcher Kantonalbank, they keep it simple.

The result of the renewed collaboration between Rod and ZKB has been on TV and connected TV, online and on social media, on (D)OOH and on a mega poster at Zurich's Bellevue since the beginning of January.

Responsible at Zürcher Kantonalbank:  Alexandra Rahm (Head of Advertising & Campaigns), Dominik Streich (Head of Brand & Creation), Jan-Hendrik Völker-Albert (Chief Marketing & Communication Officer), Colin Bollier (Project Manager Marketing Conception & Planning), Stefan Baumberger (Head PM Basic Banking). Overall responsibility for conception, creation and realization: Rod Communication. Production: Navada, Mariska van Lavieren, Laura Seric. Directed by: Maximilian Speidel. DoP: Sveta Aparina. Photography: Felix Bernason. Music: Pablo Nouvelle. Completion: Blish. Media: Webrepublic.

Management buy-out at Dreifive. Goldbach, the current owner of the digital agency, is selling the company to its management, as detailed in a press release. The takeover is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2024.

"It is a pleasure to hand over Dreifive to the successful management team and wish them a successful future with a continued entrepreneurial Dreifive spirit," said Mark Luck, Chief Strategy Officer at Goldbach and member of the Board of Directors of Dreifive.

The Dreifive management team will now consist of the two managing directors Marcel Oppliger and Sascha Frommhund as well as nine long-standing heads of the agency, the statement continues. In a joint statement, Oppliger and Frommhund commented: "We are grateful that the ownership has made this path possible for us. The management buy-out of Dreifive gives us as a DACH agency the opportunity to continue to plan sustainably and to continue to grow in the future."

Dreifive has offices in Zurich, Vienna, Constance and Munich and employs over 100 people. According to the press release, the agency will continue to be called Dreifive in the future.

The agency, which later became Goldbach Interactive, emerged in 2008 from the acquisition of Orange8, Suchtreffer and Onemotion in Germany and Switzerland. In Austria, the agency was co-founded in 2011 by one of the two current managing directors. It was renamed Dreifive in 2018. The agency's core business includes the areas of search engine marketing, display advertising, social media, creation and production as well as the development of individual campaign concepts.

This article first appeared in Netzwoche.

The Federal Council announced on Friday that emergency organizations must be able to communicate on the move in everyday life and in crises and exchange large amounts of data such as images and videos. The network should also work when the normal mobile networks are overloaded or broken, for example after disasters, a cyberattack or a terrorist attack. A standardized system that guarantees mobile broadband security communication for the Confederation, cantons and third parties in all situations is currently lacking in Switzerland.

The new mobile security communication system (MSK) will use the infrastructure of commercial telecommunications providers and supplement it with elements such as emergency power. This will ensure mobile data communication for the Confederation, cantons and third parties in all situations. With an MSK, emergency organizations could not only perform their tasks better in the event of disasters or terrorist attacks, but could also rely on secure broadband communication in everyday life.

The new network is to be implemented in stages. According to the federal government, this will allow new technological developments to be taken into account.

Replacement of Polycom

The planned MSK is to use the national secure data network (SDVN+) adopted by Parliament in 2019 and gradually replace the Polycom security radio system from 2030.

It is still unclear whether the Federal Office for Civil Protection (Babs) or the cantons should be in charge of the project. For the Federal Council, both are apparently conceivable. It wants to submit both options for consultation. The consultation draft should be available by mid-2024.

There have been several problems in Swiss security communications in recent years. The renewal of the Polycom blue light radio network initiated in 2016 made only slow progress. For example, the high security requirements for the communication system used by authorities and emergency services were underestimated. Polycom was set up by the federal government and cantons between 2001 and 2015. Its operation should be guaranteed until at least 2035. (SDA)