The creative ranking of Advertising week m&k shows how Swiss agencies fared at the most important national and international creative awards. The ranking will be published in the first print edition of m&k in the new year and online at Advertisingweek.ch published.

"Woohw!" instead of "Swiss Poster Award"

There are a few changes for this year's ranking. The "magic formula", which was last updated in 2018, will see a change of award. As the "Swiss Poster Award" has been replaced by the "Swiss OOH Award" as part of the "Woohw!" industry event, the latter will be included in the creative ranking. The points are counted as follows:

• Campaign of the Year: 12 points
• Gold: 8 points
• Silver: 5 points
• Bronze: 3 points
• Shortlist: 1 point

Otherwise, all awards will be considered for this year's creative ranking with the exception of the Effie Awards Switzerland, which will not be held again until 2024. In addition to the main competitions - D&AD, One Show, ADC*E, Eurobest and ADC Switzerland - there are also five international and five national competitions to choose from again this year. Agencies can count their three best results from these awards towards their points from the main competitions.

New input conditions

Another significant change concerns participation: in order to ensure better comparability over the years and a more accurate result, agencies that have participated in the past five years will automatically be included in the ranking. If an agency has not entered or won any of the awards that count, but was listed in the ranking in previous years, this will be noted accordingly.

Agencies that have not actively participated in the last five years but have won or been shortlisted for at least one of the relevant awards are also automatically included in the ranking.

This changes - in part - the concept of the "debt to be discharged", which m&k advertisingweek.ch has followed so far for the implementation of the creative ranking. Agencies are still welcome to complete and submit the participation form themselves so that they have control over their points distribution from the outset. For those agencies that do not submit a form, but are included in the ranking in accordance with the criteria mentioned above, the counting will be carried out by the sponsors - the points distribution will always be in favor of the agency.

Download form

Please download the current form. On the left side (main competitions, green) enter as many award wins as possible, on the right side (5+5 competitions, yellow) select the three awards that give you the most points.

Download form Creative Ranking 2023

The same rules apply as last year.

• Only the highest award given counts if a campaign has won multiple awards (for multiple individual subjects) in the same jury category.
• Only one award will be credited per category and campaign.
• Work in which a substantial contribution to the work comes from Switzerland is eligible for points. If a Swiss agency submits work for a foreign agency, the latter is not eligible to participate.

Please return the filled out form by December 22, 2023 at 12 noon at the latest to [email protected] and [email protected].

Important: Please inform the responsible person at the agency if they do not see the call. We have sent the form directly to the agencies that automatically participate according to the new conditions. However, as responsibilities vary from year to year, it is still possible that the form may not reach the right person.

This year, a total of 963 works from 28 countries were submitted, according to a press release from the Art Directors Club of Europe. Of the 43 Gold Awards presented, one goes to Wirz for the Migros beer in the Integrated & Innovation category. The agency also won bronze twice: in the Print & Outdoor category, also for Migros beer, and in the Film & Audio category for Switzerland Tourism's Grand Tour of Switzerland.

This year's other winners include Bellprat Partner, Foundry, Freundliche Grüsse, Ruf Lanz, Stories, TBWA\Zürich and IWC Schaffhausen

CH Media, known for its regional media titles, and Audienzz, a specialist in digital advertising, have intensified their collaboration. From January onwards, they will be operating a joint marketing strategy. The joint offering will give advertisers access to the combined reach of both companies.

The cooperation between CH Media and audienzz also aims to offer advertising customers a broader range of advertising formats.

Remo Baumeler, CEO of Audienzz, emphasizes the importance of this partnership for strengthening its position in the Swiss advertising market. With a focus on technological innovation and an expanded product range, Audienzz aims to offer greater reach and customized advertising solutions.

CH-Media CCO Tarkan Özküp emphasizes that the combined forces generate proximity to the market and can therefore respond better to the needs of customers.

With this draft law, the State Council is implementing a motion by the cantonal parliament, which called for an annual subscription to a newspaper for all young citizens.

Around 3700 people could benefit from the digital subscription offer over the next few years, the State Council wrote in a press release on Friday. Prerequisite: they must apply for such a subscription.

The aim of the measure is to sensitize young adults to regional and cantonal issues and at the same time support the titles of the regional press. The latter are in a difficult economic situation, emphasizes the State Council. (SDA)

With the variably applicable campaign claim "Häsch d'App, häsch...", the advantages of the ZVV app as a whole as well as individual channel features can be pushed, promotions supported and new products, such as the current market test "ZVV-Bonus", advertised under the campaign umbrella.

The campaign is based on six 15-second commercials that were designed and implemented specifically for online and social media. For offline advertising, six additional print subjects were realized, which are used on hanging boxes and window stickers in streetcars and buses as well as on F200 posters.

The basic campaign with four images to promote the benefits of the ZVV app has been running since the end of October. From the end of November, the subjects will follow specifically to publicize the new "ZVV bonus".

Responsible for Zürcher Verkehrsbund ZVV: Peter Schilde (Marketing Communications); Pascal Rechsteiner (Head of Strategic Business Areas); Corinne Boner (Head of Strategic Business Area Regular Customers). Responsible for Zimmermann Communications: Christoff Strukamp (Creative Direction); Lara Cavelti (Project Management); Julia Hofmann (Art Direction); Sonja Zimmerli (Art Direction); Rolf Zimmermann (Overall Responsibility). Production: Studio Nord, Nadja von Burg (director, production); Valentin Kathriner (director, camera, post-production).

For the sixth time, the Zurich-based media and communications research and consulting company Publicom examined the performance of the media in shaping public opinion in Switzerland and presented the results in the "Media Monitor" before. It did so on behalf of the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM).

According to the study published this week, the television channel SRF 1 lost 19% of its opinion power compared to the previous year. The decline for Facebook was 13%, for 20 minutes 12 percent. The French-language SRG TV channel RTS 1 and the German channels ARD and ZDF also lost shares in the double-digit percentage range. The same applies to Watson.ch.

The New Zurich Newspaper increased by ten percent, YouTube and Instagram by three and seven percent respectively. The reach and therefore the opinion power of the short video app Tiktok increased by 69% - although still at a low level overall, according to the study.

Overall, the cumulative opinion power of all 176 media brands and social media channels analyzed decreased by just under seven percent in 2022 compared to the previous year. As large brands in particular suffered from this decrease, the gap between larger and smaller media brands has tended to close. This is "a good sign" for diversity of opinion.

Traditional media continue to crumble

In the latest report, Publicom also writes that a multi-year comparison shows a shift in opinion power shares away from the traditional media types of print, radio and TV towards online and social media.

"This means that ever larger parts of the opinion market are increasingly moving away from the direct sphere of influence of Swiss media promotion." Digitization and the associated, primarily age-related changes in media use must become the focus of politics, regulation and business.

Last year, Publicom reported that online had overtaken television as the most influential media genre for the first time (Werbewoche.ch reported). (SDA/swi)

In order to be able to play at the top digitally in the future, Swiss ice hockey runners-up EHC Biel-Bienne has redesigned its website together with the Biel agency Campfire. Ehcb.ch realized. This is the first step towards a digital ecosystem that will offer a cross-channel experience for business customers and fans.

Based on the comprehensive digital strategy developed in advance, the new website acts as a digital platform that can grow with the club's strategic goals and the needs of its fans in the long term. The redesigned website is intended to become the central point of contact for everything to do with the club. To this end, for example, the "Spirit" youth section has been fully integrated into the website and each team has its own section.

In addition to the dynamic visual design and a focus on moving images, the redesign aims to impress above all with its user-centered approach. Particular emphasis was placed on clarity and simple user guidance. Access and the structure of the pages and content have been fundamentally optimized and the navigation has been designed to be scalable for future growth. New overview pages and sections offer relevant content for fans as well as search engines - from stadium visits to tickets and subscriptions.

The revised Gamecenter is a central element that offers an overview of all matches, rankings and statistics in addition to a live ticker. The integration of a technical interface to the National League enables automatic updates and makes manual content maintenance superfluous. In addition, the entire match schedule has been digitized and offers many helpful functions in addition to the focus on ticket sales.

Future plans include the integration of additional websites, the expansion of the ticket and merchandising stores, the creation of a B2B and B2C customer portal and a new mobile app.

Responsible at EHC Biel-Bienne: Daniel Villard (CEO), Thomas Burkhardt (Marketing Director), Vanessa Lüthi (Communication Manager) and Dominic Wyssbrod (Marketing Manager). Responsible at Campfire: Frank Salathé (Strategy and Product Ownership); Michèle Bash (Client Partner); Dirk Unger & Biliana Roth (Design); Patric Martin, Pius Caduff, Daniel Vasile, Thomas Wüthrich & Marc Birkner (Development); Gaby Meier (Testing).

The announcement of the job cuts at Radio Fribourg comes in a "very difficult context" for a sector that is struggling with structural difficulties, said Fribourg's Director of Economic Affairs in an interview with the newspaper La Liberté out. He regrets the announced redundancies.

"Unlike others, Fribourg introduced media funding during the Covid pandemic that ran until the end of 2021," recalled Curty. The canton paid out more than 2.5 million francs in aid. As part of immediate measures, the federal government paid CHF 1.6 million to the Fribourg print media and CHF 1.3 million to Radio Fribourg/Freiburg to compensate for losses in advertising and sponsorship.

Reimbursement controversial

"We then actually received requests from Radio Fribourg for additional aid, which we were unable to meet," added the State Councillor. The medium complained on Wednesday about the lack of support from the canton and contested the repayment of an amount of 138,000 francs that had been granted as part of the Covid measures.

After the federal aid was awarded, it emerged that Radio Fribourg had been overcompensated, explained Olivier Curty. "The demand for reimbursement of the excess amount received is a normal procedure that is applied to any type of public aid awarded," emphasized the State Councillor.

On 1 May, Radio Fribourg had already announced that it would have to cut 3.6 jobs after recording a loss of half a million francs in the 2022 financial year. At the end of November, the company announced that it would be cutting a further six jobs. The reduction corresponds to 4.8 full-time equivalents. (SDA)

Despite good arguments, it is not easy for the construction industry to find the right young talent. In order to arouse the interest of GenZ, the focus of the communication was therefore not on career benefits, but on humor.

To target young people, Ogilvy designed a recruitment campaign for Fien Bauunternehmen that humorously addresses a nuisance in the construction industry: Teenagers who, out of youthful recklessness, steal construction site equipment late at night. Instead of getting upset about it, Fien uses this fact as an insight - and recruits potential career entrants. Apparently, they are so interested in construction equipment in their free time that they prefer to take it straight to their "home office". In the opinion of Fien and Ogilvy, those who are so committed are a good fit for the company.

In its implementation, the campaign shows surveillance footage of young people stealing construction site equipment - a crime that Fien now sees not as theft, but as a promotional video. And as a merchandising give-away, expenses are deducted. This is followed by a call to apply directly to Fien online for open apprenticeships.

The campaign can now be seen in the German-Swiss border region: As mugshots on posters and flyers and as a surveillance video on digital posters and social media.

Responsible at Fien Bauunternehmen: Jürgen Fien. Responsible at Ogilvy: Vincent Geller, Jehmsei Keo (concept, text), Dilay Bön, Gabriel Schuster (concept, art), Denis Klook (motion design), Bruce Roberts (executive creative director), Sarah Handschin (consulting), Christine Rainford, Jonathan Schipper (overall responsibility), Christian Bobst (photographer).

Sihlcity has been transformed into a magical Christmas world. Both the mall and the alleyways are lined with crystals made of dichroic glass. Depending on the incidence of light, they glow in a wide variety of colors: magical lights as far as the eye can see. Together with CGI artist Rekode, Karling has developed a film that captures this magical magic of lights and advertises it on DOOH media, video ads as well as social and owned media. Karling also created Christmas murals with a crystal look for Kalandergasse.

Credentials: Responsible at Sihlcity: Gaby Brönimann, Mara Bonorand, Corine Gubler, Michelle Fer-reira. Crystal decoration concept: Bellprat. Realization crystal decoration: Brogleworks. Responsible at Karling: Ingrid Brun del Re, Daniel Serrano, Patrick Suter. CGI reel: Rek0de.

The election of the MVP, the Most Valuable Player, is a familiar ritual after an ice hockey match. But what about the spectators? They also make an important contribution to the success of their club with their support. Feldschlösschen's new ice hockey promotion therefore transfers the award to the stands and selects the MVF, the Most Valuable Fans. This is intended to emphasize how important the support of the fans is for the success of every club.

Very close to the fire

The promotion is being carried out in collaboration with SC Bern, a sponsoring partner of Feldschlösschen, and contributes directly to the brand purpose "Feldschlösschen connects": Strengthening the bond between friends and fans and celebrating moments of togetherness. For ice hockey fans, every match is a celebration of their passion - and a cold beer is simply part of it. "With our promotion, we are celebrating the unifying power of ice hockey and Feldschlösschen," says Valencia CEO Michael Gerber. This concept was also well received by the customer Feldschlösschen and its partner SC Bern: "We were impressed by the MVF concept right from the start, as it brings fans into contact with our brand in an authentic and emotional way," says Jérôme Rueff, Brand Director Feldschlösschen.

Behind the scenes with fan photos

The promotion mechanism is based on emotional moments: Fan groups can apply together as MVF with a photo. Be it with a selfie from a cell phone or a picture from a photo booth waiting for fans in the stadium during home matches. The pictures are uploaded to a website and MVFs are regularly chosen from among them. The winners can cheer on their club in exclusive MVF seats directly behind the ice hockey board, including an MVF jersey and drinks voucher. The top pick will also be chosen from all MVFs at the end of the regular season. The lucky ones will experience an SC Bern game in a VIP lounge, including dinner and a meet & greet with SCB players.

An all-round package

Valencia was able to convince the client of the idea and the MVF concept in a competitive presentation and was subsequently responsible for the detailed development of the concept, the creation of all advertising materials and assets, as well as project coordination. "We relied on AI integration for the development of the visuals, which meant we were able to dispense with some of the time-consuming shoots," explains Valencia CCO Tommy Schilling. One of the biggest challenges of the project was the efficient collaboration with various partners and stakeholders: Client, club, promotion agency and many more. This is where Valencia was able to benefit from its many years of experience in project management. "For a job like this, it is particularly important to involve the client and all other partners such as the club or the promotion agency in weekly meetings and to drive the project forward in short sprints," says Roman Bärtschi, Junior Consultant at Valencia.

Omni-channel communication

The promotion is advertised via various OOH touchpoints around the ice hockey stadium: photo booth, fan bench, match advertisements, animations on the videotron and posters. A shoot with SCB players was organized especially for the latter. Online communication takes place via the social media channels of the client and the club. Various assets were created for this purpose, which can be reused by the partners. The programming of the website, including the upload mechanism and connection to the photobooth, was also created within the Valencia Group by the subsidiary Nueva. A software solution specially developed for Feldschlösschen promotions was used, which could be adapted to the project efficiently and cost-effectively.

The promotion started at the beginning of the 23/24 ice hockey season and runs at SC Bern and in a modified form at EV Zug.

Responsible at Feldschlösschen: Jérôme Rueff, Brand Director Feldschlösschen; Kristina Schuhmann, Senior Brand Manager; Patrizia Heinimann, Brand Manager Feldschlösschen; Claude Blatter, Senior Sponsoring Manager Feldschlösschen; Dominique Zingg, Head of Content Studio. Responsible at Valencia Communication: Michael Gerber, CEO, Partner; Tommy Schilling, CCO, Partner; Iraklis Hungerberg, Senior Account Director; Sebastian Refardt, Text/Concept; Roman Bärtschi, Junior Consultant; Amadea Waldmann, Junior Art Director; Markus Brink, Senior Account Director; Michelle Mathis, Junior Art Director. Responsible at Nueva: Remo Brunner, Managing Partner. Responsible at Spool: Mathis Felsche, Project Manager; Marcel Brauchli, Production and Logistics Manager; Kyra Wiederkehr, Junior Project Manager.

With VBZ, you can avoid the stress of traffic during the Christmas season. All you have to do is open the streetcar and bus doors to get through Zurich's traffic maze quickly, comfortably and without having to search for a parking space.

The current VBZ Christmas motif by Ruf Lanz, which arrives just in time for the start of Advent, is intended to visualize this: On full-page advertisements in 20 minuteson posters in all vehicles on the VBZ Zurich line and in animated form in the online media. In addition, the good news will be sent out by VBZ as a printed and digital Christmas card.

Responsible at VBZ: Silvia Behofsits (Head of Corporate Communications), Sherin Madassery (Junior Project Manager Corporate Communications). Responsible at Ruf Lanz: Markus Ruf (Creative Direction), Catherine Martin (Art Direction), Markus Ruf (Text), Armin Arnold (DTP), Gian Marco Juon (Consulting Management), Marc Engeli (Consulting Assistance). Prompt Art & Character Design: Catherine Martin. Image editing: RTK Medientechnik. Motion design: RoDo Works.