Being an attractive employer has always been important for attracting and retaining the best employees. But with the shortage of skilled workers in many industries, this issue has become even more important. If you work in an industry that is struggling with staffing problems or is generally struggling to recruit sought-after specialists, employer branding is particularly important.

Meanwhile, there are some providers that shed light on the issue with ratings or awards / labels by (former) employees. Providers such as Kununu or Great Place to Work give (former) employees a voice. But what does the general public actually think about various employers?

Employers are always brands as well. Sometimes they appear under the same name both as an employer and on the sales market as a corporate brand, such as Swiss Life or Freitag. Other suppliers have a more complex brand organization and are active on the market with family brands, for example Beiersdorf with Nivea or Eucerin, or subbrands - the Rivella Group with Rivella, Focuswater or Enertea by Rivella can be mentioned here.

Google No. 1 out of 120 brands

No matter what the brand strategy: One of the best awards is the most positive possible perception of a brand among the population. If a poor employer brand is added to any shortage of skilled workers, it becomes even more difficult to find qualified employees in the marketplace. A brand may be perceived as good or even excellent by its current or previous employees, but this does not necessarily mean that this image also (strongly) exists in the population.

For more than three years, YouGov's continuous brand tracking, the BrandIndex, has been measuring - among many other key figures - the (employer) reputation of 120 brands among the Swiss population. YouGov has been the parent company of the market research company Link since the end of 2021 and monitors thousands of brands worldwide with its BrandIndex. In Switzerland, more than 10,000 online interviews are collected per year and brand as a result, which include answers to the question of whether respondents would be proud to work for a particular brand or whether it would make them uncomfortable.

Around 30 brands from the 4 sectors of automobiles, banks/financial service providers, insurance/health insurance companies and online brands are currently being monitored. In both the full calendar year 2022 and the first two-thirds of 2023 (up to the end of August), Google is ranked first, followed by Mercedes-Benz, Raiffeisen, Audi and Mobiliar. Four automotive brands are represented in the top 7 with Porsche (rank 6) and BMW (rank 7).

In the case of Google, the younger the respondents, the higher the initial net score. To obtain this net score, those people who would be proud to work for this brand (positive) are offset against those who would be uncomfortable (negative) (positive - negative = net score). Recently, however, the ratings by the different age groups have converged. The very young (18- to 24-year-olds) give Google a significantly lower reputation in 2023, which is still ongoing, than they did at the beginning of 2022 and would accordingly no longer be quite so proud to work for the online giant. In this case, the poorer rating results from a decreasing proportion of positive ratings, with the negative proportion remaining consistently low at around 6 %.

Overall, other tech brands such as Instagram or Facebook also showed a decline among the young as of the end of 2022. However, the starting level of the latter two brands was already lower, which is why they were able to lose correspondingly less. Facebook remains the least popular social media brand for the under-25s (rank 120).

A look at other industries shows: While Mercedes Benz managed to hold on to second place out of 120 in both the calendar year 2022 and the first eight months of 2023, Raiffeisen Bank moved up three places in the same period and is now in third place. 18- to 24-year-olds express the most pride when it comes to working for the bank. The financial services provider that scores second best is Twint. In May reported m&k advertisingweek.ch already benefited from its excellent reputation. in the Swiss population. This is also reflected in its reputation as an employer. In the two-thirds annual ranking, the mobile payment provider is in eighth place, a position it already held in 2022. Among 18- to 24-year-olds, Twint is now in first place (rank 4 in 2022).

No surprises at the lower end of the scale

At the other end of the scale is Credit Suisse, which was recently completely taken over by UBS. The score of -28 for January to August 2023 is massively lower than in 2022 (-11). In the previous year, the outgoing big bank was still ranked 27th. UBS has also lost ground and is 24 places lower in the 2023 temporary ranking (January to August) than in 2022 (new ranking 101 with -0.4).

To classify these numbers: A score of 0 means that there are the same number of people who say they are proud as there are people who would be uncomfortable working at this brand. A score of -100 would mean that all respondents would be uncomfortable working at the former big bank, a score of +100 that all would be proud.

The situation at Uber is not rosy either: With its two brands Uber and Uber Eats, the service provider is represented twice in the Bottom 5, i.e. among the five brands that score worst in terms of employer reputation. With Twitter (new "X"), Facebook and Snapchat, three social media brands are also in the bottom ranks. And while Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Porsche and BMW are very well received, Dacia and Fiat are the two automotive brands respondents would be most uncomfortable working for.

Elon Musk and his brands: not crowd pleasers

A lot has happened at X, the former Twitter, in recent months: the takeover by Elon Musk, the dismissal of a large part of the workforce and thus thousands of people, various changes to the platform itself, including the introduction of the Twitter Blue subscription, and more. Twitter was accordingly hardly mentioned positively in the media. Besides Credit Suisse and Uber Eats, the social media platform is the only one of 120 brands to have a double-digit negative net score in (employer) reputation in the first eight months of 2023.

Musk's oldest "child" Tesla, on the other hand, experienced the biggest crash. In 2022, Tesla was increasingly in the headlines in a negative light, with thousands of electric cars having to be recalled several times due to hardware or software errors. While Tesla was still in 32nd place in the entire calendar year 2022 and clearly in positive reputation territory with just under 9 points, the brand has since fallen by more than 60 ranks and is now in 95th place with a net score of practically zero after the first two-thirds of 2023. At least the downward slide reached its temporary low point in February, and the reputation has since stabilized (so far) around +/-0.

Method profile

• Population: Swiss resident population aged 18 to 79 years
• Time series analysis: per month approx. n=850
• Rankings: per year approx. n=10'400 interviews per brand, per 8 months (2023) pro rata
• Confidence interval for total sample: max. +/- 1% (at 1 year).
• Research method: online interviews
• Quotation / weighting: interlocked by age, gender and region
• Panel: YouGov Online Panel
• Survey period: 01.01.2022 to 31.08.2023
• Contact: Link Zurich, Matthias Biedermann (Research Consultant)

The award winners were able to receive their certificates from jury president Hans-Peter Nehmer on Thursday evening in Zurich. The Swiss Annual Report Rating is held annually by the HarbourClub - Chief Communications Officers. Around 170 people took part in the event.

The rating includes the annual reports of all listed companies represented in the SPI. The list is supplemented with the companies of the 50 companies with the highest sales, the 15 insurance companies with the highest premium volume and the 25 banks with the highest balance sheet total and comprises 236 companies in 2023.

This sample was evaluated successively by three juries. First, by the Value Reporting jury of the Institute for Banking and Finance at the University of Zurich, headed by Alexander F. Wagner; second, by a Design jury under the patronage of the ZHDK and headed by Jiri Chmelik Noir Associates. Then, a final jury headed by Hans-Peter Nehmer, President of HarbourClub and Head of Corporate Communications at Allianz Suisse, judged the twelve best annual reports - print and online - selected by the preliminary juries.

"When preparing the annual report, the best in the ranking always have the 'big picture' in mind. Documentation is the duty, emotion the free skate. If both are skilfully combined, there is a lot to be gained. With the target groups as well as in the annual report ranking," explains jury president Hans-Peter Nehmer. "Swiss Post has managed to do just that with flying colors, making it the overall winner. The 14 members of the final jury saw the common thread, the storyline 'We are developing tomorrow's public service today' excellently implemented - in the big picture and in the details. In the language category, they even awarded Swiss Post's annual report the special text prize. The convincing sustainability reporting also received top marks."

In addition to the knowledge partners University of Zurich, the Zurich University of the Arts and the IAM MediaLab of the ZHAW, the Center for Corporate Reporting is now an official knowledge partner of the Swiss Annual Report Rating and thus increases the expert knowledge about the reporting of Swiss companies.

An advisory board has also been created. Its main task is to ensure the quality, topicality and further development of the rating. In the sense of a sounding board, the advisory board reflects the external impact that the HarbourClub as organizer and the expert juries as assessment bodies trigger and makes corresponding recommendations. Its constituent members are Dr. Andreas Jäggi, Communications Consultant, Leandro Künzli, Valuation and Modeling Expert and Jürg Trösch, Publishing Expert Reporting.

In time for the cold season, the Tilsiter cheese brand from eastern Switzerland is launching a strong, spicy fondue made from Tilsiter Extra with a subtle hint of wine. Fresh and ready to prepare.

The launch campaign has matured at Ruf Lanz and draws entirely from the product: a Tilsiter loaf from the maturing cellar becomes a fondue caquelon. The striking fusion serves up the message fresh and fast. On posters in F12, F200 and F24 formats and on social media.

The new Tilsiter fondue is available at Migros and soon also at Volg.

Responsible at SO Tilsiter Switzerland: Sibylle Marti (President & Strategic Marketing), Urs Hänni (Managing Director), Willi Oberhänsli (Marketing Manager). Responsible at Ruf Lanz: Danielle Knecht Lanz, Markus Ruf (Creative Direction), Dave Schellenberg, Mario Moosbrugger (Art Direction), Armin Arnold (DTP), Gian Marco Juon (Consulting Management), Kevin Meier (Consulting Assistance). Responsible at PMC Prezzi Media: Ella Erogul, Sandro Prezzi.

When it comes to recycling, Switzerland is one of the leading nations. But when it comes to returning old cell phones to the cycle, many hesitate. Be it because they are not aware of the benefits of the valuable raw materials for the environment, because they are afraid for their data or because they have simply forgotten about their old devices. "In three social media films, we provide the population with targeted information and clear up prejudices in a playful way," explains Daniel Fisler, project manager at Swisscom.

Close the circle

How the raw material cycle works in detail is shown in an "explanatory token. In order to reach the target group on social media in the best possible way, the spot was shot directly in portrait format 9:16.

"Our aspiration was to create an explanatory video that also works on social media. The 'cycle' was not only the central component of the briefing, it is also the idea for the concept, the film language and the editing," explains the responsible creative director Andy Lusti.

Your cellar: The greenest mine in the world

The co-president of the Swiss Geologists Association explains what treasures lie dormant in Swiss households and why urban mining is more sustainable than conventional raw material extraction.

The independent expert explains the advantages of urban mining and shows how everyone can help the environment. Because only if the old devices are actually returned, the fallow raw materials can be used for new smartphones.

In the third film, users are asked to look for their old cell phones - and the most urgent questions of the target group are answered at the same time.

A harmless quip in the cellar at home turns into a fast-paced hunt for old cell phones through half the city. In addition to valuable raw materials, the two opponents bag numerous laughs. "With ever-changing arguments, the challenge takes many surprising turns and even finds time for some heart fluttering - before the cell phone hunt ends to a big winner: The environment," explains Creative Director Susen Gehle with a smile.

Like the opening film and the campaign subjects, these communication measures were also created by the two creative directors Andy Lusti and Susen Gehle and implemented together with Mcqueen Films. "The biggest challenge was to produce all four spots and the three visuals in parallel. The fact that this worked out so excellently is certainly thanks to the flexibility of everyone involved and the exemplary teamwork," says Clemens Petersson, Executive Producer of Mcqueen Films.

The three spots have been on-air since last week and showcase Swisscom's commitment to the circular economy.

Client: Swisscom Switzerland. Creation & Conception: Andy Lusti, Susen Gehle. Film production: Mcqueen Films. Directed by: Ari Zehnder. Social media: Monami.

Accompanied by Pinktank, the established brand "Heliomalt" gets a rebranding and now wants more than just to return to the Swiss breakfast table. The focus is clearly on everyday life, because people need energy throughout the day.

The chocolate powder has been around for almost 100 years - until now it has been known mainly to older generations. To ensure that a traditional Swiss product did not disappear into oblivion, investors bought the Heliomalt brand and recipe. Heliomalt needed to be revamped to appeal to younger generations. Against this backdrop, a rebranding was needed that would inspire both existing and new target groups alike to drink Heliomalt.

Pinktank supported Heliomalt in this endeavor. The joint creative work resulted in the overarching corporate DNA "Attention... Ready... Energy". The brand is now to stand for energy, joy, power, freedom and modernity. Heliomalt's Power Powder is intended to provide energy that is quickly needed in everyday life.

The new story further resulted in a fresh Design for the websiteThe new packaging design includes a new logo and contemporary packaging designs for the 400-gram bag and the 15-gram sachets. A transparent cutout shows customers what they are buying. In addition, the HelioFant is brought back to life. He acts as a mouthpiece for social media activities.

Responsible at Heliomalt: Management. Responsible at Pinktank: Cordelia Hagi (overall responsibility), Rolf Kleeb (project management).

This week, the Bühler&Bühler agency is fishing with bait in its podcast. After all, it's the selection that decides where the clientele will bite. But in the third episode of "In a Nudgeshell", Hannes Hug, Becca Knobel, and Clemens Fachinger discuss what to keep in mind when fishing for attention and deals.

Bühler & Bühler launched the ten-part podcast at the end of August. Here it goes to the Interview with Werbewoche.ch.

Friday marks the official end of Migros' online service. The pilot project launched by Migros Aare will be replaced by the company's own delivery service Migros Online. The e-food provider Farmy now wants to "step into the breach" and supply the former Mymigros customers, according to a statement.

In order to bring this message to the affected cities and agglomeration areas - the previous delivery area of Mymigros - a clever poster campaign was created. The two different visuals, point to the departure of myMigros in an unexpected and cheeky way.

As stated in an article of the Handelszeitung of Thursday, Farmy wants to take over not only the customers but also the employees of Mymigros. "We are hiring in certain areas and are happy to receive applications from My-Migros people. Proactively, we have written to some of them via LinkedIn," Farmy co-CEO Roman Hartmann tells the Handelszeitung. This is in the areas of marketing, purchasing and IT. However, couriers and logistics employees are also recruited.

Responsible at FarmyDominique Locher, Roman Hartmann, Fiona Lenz. VResponsible for FamilyClaudio Catrambone, Hanja Heuss, Jan Walser, Alexandra Niggeler, Amanda Bossard.

In exactly one month, the women's giant slalom in Sölden, Austria, will kick off the Ski World Cup. SRF accompanies the ski season and shows all races live. The SRF team of experts will be joined by Beat Feuz.

The 36-year-old retired skier, who retired from top-level sport at the beginning of the year, will accompany the ski races as an expert and co-commentator for Swiss radio and television. The Emmental native will make his debut at the microphone alongside Stefan Hofmänner at the downhill races in Zermatt VS on November 11 and 12, 2023.

"Television has attracted me for a long time".

Beat Feuz is looking forward to the new challenge with enthusiasm: "It has long appealed to me to do something with television. I'm all the more pleased to now be able to watch the ski races from a different perspective and to follow and discuss the further development - also of athletes I still know from times we spent together - on site."

The Schangnauer complements the existing SRF team of experts in alpine skiing with Marc Berthod, Didier Plaschy, Stefan Abplanalp and Tina Weirather. The experts will continue to accompany the SRF ski broadcasts on a rotating basis.

At Frontify, Christian Bertschy's responsibilities include managing the product department, being responsible for global product operations - from ideation to market launch - actively mentoring the teams, and cultivating lasting and strategic partnerships.

In his position as Chief Product Officer, he wants to focus on three topics: Innovation, quality and communication. The aim of these three cornerstones is to further increase the efficiency of the teams so that innovations can be tested even faster, more cost-effectively and closer to the market, so that they can then be brought to market quickly in high quality.

"Although I originally planned to found my own startup, Frontify's CPO job posting immediately intrigued me. What particularly excited me was the opportunity to fully invest my energy in a product that already has an impressive track record," says Christian Bertschy about his new role. "Added to that was the welcoming company culture I experienced during the interview process, which only reinforced my decision to join Frontify."

Bertschy has many years of experience in the web development sector. In 2006, he founded the web agency Divio together with a business partner. Later, Divio transformed into a Platform-as-a-Service provider, allowing global customers to run their web applications performantly and without interruption. In 2007, he founded Django CMS, a Python-based content management system.

The 2023 parliamentary election campaign is in full swing. The Swiss parties have been courting the favor of the electorate with their slogans for weeks. Now Content and Form wants to show the Swiss population who the best choice is. That's Aldi Suisse - at least for everyone who wants the best quality at the best price.

The Swiss retailer is using the hype to stir up the election campaign in an entertaining way with its own election campaign. The campaign is not about political office, of course, but about the best price-performance ratio that consumers choose when they go to Aldi Suisse. The election promise: Whoever chooses Aldi Suisse benefits from the best quality at the best price.

Since Monday, the campaign has been centered around two classic election themes showing Aldi Suisse employees instead of politicians, as well as the slogans "YES to fair prices" and "YES to quality for all". The subjects are used in the form of election posters, display ads and social media ads. The campaign is supported, among other things, by samplings, a competition with prizes worth a total of over 30,000 Swiss francs, and a landing page on which the Aldi Suisse election program can be found.

Further campaign subjects with Aldi Suisse products will follow and will be used at the POS and on social media.

Responsible at Aldi Suisse: Vanessa Senn (Director National Customer Interaction), Katharina Mähr (Manager Customer Interaction), Michèle Bürgi (Consultant Customer Interaction), Dario Germann (Teamleader Customer Interaction); Martina Macias (Senior Professional Customer Interaction). Veresponsible for content and form: Dominik Stibal (CEO), Karin Estermann (Executive Creative Director), David Hugentobler (Creative Director), Lukas Tauss (Senior Art Director), Manuel Schnoz (Art Director), Bettina Righetto (Group Account Director), Johanna Kilchenmann (Project Manager), Jil Tölderer (Interactive Media Designer). Photography: Nora Nussbaumer (photography and image editing).

Since the beginning of the year, three times more telephone fraud attempts have been registered than in the previous year, as the Swiss Crime Prevention SKP and the Conference of Cantonal Justice and Police Directors KKJPD announced on Thursday. Accordingly, the amount of damage amounted to eight million francs in 2023.

Shock calls are currently very popular. Unknown persons pretend to be doctors on the phone and demand an advance payment for an alleged emergency operation of a family member. Or the fraudsters pretend to be lawyers who want to get their daughter out of custody because she was involved in a traffic accident. Calls from fake police officers have also occurred.

Victims in a state of stress

However, the shocking messages are always untrue. Their aim is to put the victim in a state of stress that makes it difficult to act rationally. In such cases, the SKP and KKJPD advise to end the telephone conversation immediately and to contact the allegedly affected person. Under no circumstances should money be handed over or transferred.

A report to the police is also desired - even if the fraud attempt was unsuccessful. This could also support the difficult and time-consuming investigations. Most groups of perpetrators operate from abroad, which requires cooperation with foreign law enforcement agencies.

The prevention campaign launched by SKP and KKJPD with the motto "Just hang up!" consists, among other things, of a TV spot, posters and social media information. Since they primarily target elderly people, the prevention campaign is supported by Pro Senectute. (SDA)

Johnny Grubenmann and Gaston Filippo have many years of experience in the advertising industry and have already worked with various brands and agencies in Germany and abroad. "Bringing on Johnny and Gaston as creative directors underscores our commitment to creative excellence and innovative approaches to brand communications," executive creative director Rob Hartmann was quoted as saying in a statement. "Both bring impressive creative expertise and a fresh perspective to our team. Their passion for communications and ability to turn innovative and unusual ideas into successful campaigns will add significant value for our clients*."

The paths of Hartmann and the new CD duo already crossed two years ago at Jung von Matt Limmat: "We hit it off right away. Well, where love falls, right. It was almost clear to me that our paths would cross again," Hartmann continues.

After completing his bachelor's degree in "Strategic Design Management", the passionate skater Johnny Grubenmann preferred to leave the designing and managing to others and started at TBWA\Zürich as a copywriter, where he joined the then art director and Romande with Argentinian roots, Gaston Filippo, as a creative partner. In addition to TBWA\Zurich, their joint stations in the last six years include TBWA\Raad in Dubai, Vice Media Group, Jung von Matt Limmat and Sir Mary, where they worked with clients such as McDonald's, Credit Suisse, SBB, Coop, Porsche, Nissan, Ferrero, KFC, Uber, Swisscom, Mobiliar, SRF, Kinderschutz Schweiz, Samsung, Allianz Suisse and Bring! Labs. In addition, her work has won multiple awards at national and international award shows.

The two thoroughbred creatives run their own boutique agency in addition to their 80% part-time employment at Publicis Zurich. There, they use their personal network to implement projects that lie outside the Publicis Groupe client base.

"At Publicis Zurich, we strive to create a modern and open working environment for our employees. This environment should enable creative excellence while promoting an optimal work-life balance," says Matthias Koller, CEO Publicis Zurich. "With us, people should be able to start or expand their careers. Working part-time while founding your own start-up or pursuing your passion - why not!!! In the conviction that this is the only way a company can attract and retain the best talent over the long term, we at Publicis Zurich are consistently pursuing our commitment to a contemporary work culture."

"We are thrilled to be part of the Publicis Zurich team and look forward to putting our creative visions into action with heart and soul. The opportunity to work with the entire Publicis team is an exciting challenge for us," says Johnny Grubenmann. Gaston Filippo adds: "Publicis Zurich is an agency that tackles things with a lot of creativity. And we are proud to make our contribution to the further development of this success story. To create innovative brand experiences, there are no limits to creativity."