Efforts to transfer Stewi in its current form to new hands, which have been ongoing for some time, have unfortunately failed, according to a statement on Thursday. As has been known since last year, the company headquarters would have had to make way for a new building anyway, while the Stewi building in Winterthur's Grüze district is being demolished.

Now, "for health and age reasons", the owners no longer felt able to continue the company at a new location. The former family business Stewi had been sold to the two new owners Lorenz Fäh and Stephan Ebnöther in 2017. The two marketing specialists planned to bring the traditional company back to its old heights.

However, price pressure from all sides, accompanied by the aftermath of the Corona pandemic, has now "significantly influenced" the decision to close the business, the statement continues.

Hope dies last

However, there is still a glimmer of hope for the company's cult product, the "rotary dryer": Stewi is currently in talks with potential buyers who want to take over elements of the company and keep the well-known name alive.

Until the end of 2023, Stewi will continue to serve its customers through the familiar sales channels and directly at its headquarters in Winterthur, according to the statement. A final furnishings and remnants sale will then take place in the fall after production has ceased. (SDA)

On the occasion of the 10th anniversary, YouTube creators from all over Switzerland met on Thursday in Zurich at the invitation of Google to celebrate together, network and gain insights into current YouTube trends. In addition to a panel discussion with various video creators and a knowledge transfer on "YouTube Shorts", the focus for the 30 or so participants was on personal exchange with the other creators.

Ten years of YouTube.ch

Google Switzerland Country Manager Christine Antlanger-Winter on the anniversary: "Since the launch of YouTube.ch in the first half of 2013, we have achieved a lot and the local 'YouTube Creator' scene has developed positively. More than 3,000 channels from Switzerland now have more than 10,000 subscribers - a respectable year-on-year growth of 15 percent. Creators are making a significant contribution to the fact that today around 6.5 million people in Switzerland already use YouTube every month."

Versatiles Creator existence

The Swiss YouTube community is diverse. The two YouTube creators from saturday.and.sunday summarized their motivation to get involved with YouTube.ch at the event on behalf of the community as follows: "With just one video on YouTube, we have already earned 1,700 Swiss francs without having entered into a cooperation with a brand. Simply because YouTube is the only platform in Switzerland that has understood that we, as creators, are partners of the platform and not simply consumers. YouTube understands that the platform is also relevant thanks to creators like us, and it therefore also pays compensation for the work behind a video. At the same time, YouTube allows us to do what we enjoy. We can put up long videos or super-short clips like YouTube Shorts. Also thanks to the versatility of this creative platform, we stay exciting, gain new followers, and can reach an audience all over Switzerland and far beyond from our living room, so to speak."

Facts and figures about YouTube in Switzerland

* Status: December 2022
** Status: December 2021

In addition to La Liberté the newspapers La Gruyère, La Broye Hebdo and Le Messageras the company announced on Thursday. Merged are three companies that until now published the various titles.

In addition to the newspapers, the new corporate unit will reportedly also include the marketing and communications departments, which serve the advertising and reader markets. In total, 190 employees are involved.

The aim is to exploit synergies and promote cooperation between the newspapers, according to the communiqué. All newspapers would retain their editorial independence, their own editors-in-chief and their own premises.

Declining advertising revenues

Joining forces will allow the development of joint projects, the company said. The company will invest 1.6 million Swiss francs in a new production system. This should make it possible to publish content consistently on digital channels first in the future.

From the beginning of next year, the four newspapers will also have new websites and new apps. From July 1, they will have a joint online editorial team. It will consist of 11 employees sharing 8.4 full-time positions.

The background to the reorganization is the impact of digitization on the media. One would have to develop - initially without additional revenues - very expensive new tools and work processes, quoted La Liberté the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the media group, Martial Pasquier.

Advertising revenues fell from 16.1 million francs in 2019 to 13.9 million francs last year, according to the article. The innovations should make it possible to tap into new revenues from advertising and subscription sales. (SDA)

For the first time in more than 35 years, someone who is not a journalist will have a say in the entries, according to a Thursday communiqué. Normally, only media professionals are allowed to decide on the submissions to the Epica Awards.

AIJE - short for the AI Jury Experiment - will be conducted on the sidelines of this year's Epica Awards, and the results will not count toward the official awards. The AI will make its judgments on the submissions based on text. The texts are summaries of the projects that agencies must submit with their entries.

Thus, the AI can only assess the idea per se, but not its execution. In the first phase, the AI will limit itself to categories that include technology and digital media. It will compare and evaluate all ideas in each category. The AI's evaluations will be conducted over several iterations and then averaged, which should ensure a more robust and reliable evaluation of ideas.

The Epica Awards will release the results along with the official list of winners on December 8, 2023.

Nicolas Huvé, Operations Director, clarifies, "Our experimental AI juror is not part of our main jury and we don't intend to replace the journalist:in. But it will be fascinating to see if the results will be similar."

The Epica Awards were founded in 1987. It is the only award in the creative industry that is judged by the press. Today, the jury is made up of more than 200 media professionals from trade and consumer magazines in over 60 countries. Submissions are open from the beginning of July until October 6.

Hirslanden offers its patients and customers integrated, comprehensive care tailored to their individual needs. New Marketing communication is geared even more consistently to the company's corporate orientation..

"The new brand umbrella allows us to consistently establish our vision - to improve the quality of life of every individual and society - in marketing communications," explains Marco Dettling, Head of Brand Management at Hirslanden. "We convey our core messages with emotional stories that show life situations in which Hirslanden plays a supporting role for people's individual health. In other words: for all the consequences of life."

Conceptually and visually, Hirslanden deliberately plays with the double meaning of the word "episode. Thus, the campaign is visually based on the well-known streaming platforms - for example Netflix or YouTube. In addition, an arc of tension is deliberately established between the brand, headline and image. The description of the moment as a single "episode" in the running text serves as a resolution.

Motivate with themed campaigns

The range of medical services offered by Hirslanden is wide. In addition to general care and emergency medicine, "Orthopedics and Sports", "Hirslanden Baby", "Cardiac Medicine", "Cancer Medicine" and "Neurology" are focal points. Accordingly, the wealth of topics to be communicated is also very diverse. With the claim of being able to use the brand platform sustainably in communication, adaptability was an important cornerstone in the development.

"In the future, the national theme campaigns will be developed under the new brand umbrella. With our integrated theme campaigns, we want to motivate people to take active control of their health and take the necessary steps to optimize their health and quality of life," elaborates Nadine Büchler, Head of the Topic Team. "We show that we are there as a partner to help people make good decisions on all health issues - from prevention, diagnosis and treatment to aftercare."

First use case: "Orthopedics and sports campaign".

The "Orthopedics and Sports Campaign" in June and July 2023 is the first campaign in the new logic: The messages were developed by the campaign team together with the clinics and are now played along the entire marketing funnel and across all relevant communication channels: Ads, awareness stories, social media, and national and regional landing pages are consistently linked. The focus is always on the message: "For all the consequences of life."

Responsible for Hirslanden Communications: Nadine Büchler & Marco Dettling (Campaign Co-Lead), Nadine Hug, Giulia Raths, Yannick Girkes, Denise Zobrist, Dominique Braunwalder, Dominic Pugatsch (Head of Communications). Creation partner: Stories, Patrick Viert (Strategy & Concept), Studio Rasumowsky (Art Direction), Dieter Boller (Text).

In 2008, the Westside shopping and experience center designed by New York star architect Daniel Libeskind opened its doors in the west of Bern. Now, 15 years later, it is time to celebrate the anniversary together with as many visitors as possible. The starting signal is given on Friday with an LED countdown, followed by ever new activities, which finally culminate in the anniversary days from October 26 to 29 with their numerous events, which were conceived by the event marketing agency Emotion.Company and implemented in cooperation with Commit It.

A campaign by Komet is already designed to put the greater region in a festive mood. The The campaign motto "We celebrate with... and with you" makes consumers part of the anniversary celebrations. At the same time, this textual style allows the various attractions to be elegantly integrated and the individual subjects to be appropriately illustrated. A golden anniversary logo in Westside's typical frame shape is also intended to lend the whole thing something festive.

All these design elements can be found on the one hand in the various analog and digital media as well as the advertising materials and surfaces in the Westside itself, including huge facade posters. On the other hand, they decorate the anniversary streetcar, also designed by Komet, which runs on various Bernmobil lines and draws the attention of Bern's residents to the Westside anniversary.

Responsible at Westside: Peter Gosteli (Center Manager), Martin Welti (Head of Marketing Communications), Caroline Häuselmann (Deputy Head of Marketing Communications), Maria Stalder, Sandra Steffen (Marketing Communications). Responsible at Komet: Jeff Gerber (CD), Daniel Müller (Text), Claudio Parente (AD/Graphics), Timo Brandt (DTP), Corinne Hert (Client Service Director), Claudia Shatri (Senior Consultant). Event Agencies: Marc Zehnder (Emotion.Company), Marc Käser (Commit It).

Transa was looking for a long-term partner to support the company in the development of the new e-commerce platform on a strategic, conceptual and technical level. The central requirements here were the linking of content and commerce. Based on a new content strategy, Transa wanted a scalable and user-friendly CMS and a new visual identity that would match the brand's identity.

The pitch win was based on a strategic approach that adopted the USP of brick-and-mortar retail as the common thread for Transa's web solution. The goal was to seamlessly transfer the advice and expertise of the employees in the stores to the digital platform and to meet the customers online just as well as in the stores. At the same time, the platform was to inspire with new outdoor visions and educate and inform with broad product knowledge.

In the pitch, Dept presented ideas and features that stringently reflected this vision. The strategic approach, the structure of the new platform and the implementation ideas convinced Transa. Dept also scored in other aspects: The Dept team proved that it understands Transa's values and identity and operates on the same wavelength. The design, which is fresh, reduced and yet approachable, as well as Dept's approaches to developing the content strategy also coincided with Transa's expectations. The chemistry was also right between the two teams.

The implementation is agile and includes the visual conception, UX & UI design, the development of a content strategy as well as the technical conception and implementation. The technical implementation is based on the MACH approach with Dato as the headless CMS. "We developed a strategic approach that focuses on the authentic presentation of Transa's brand and identity while enabling a seamless connection between content and commerce," explains Yann Wanner, Head of New Business at Dept.

For several years now, the Swiss Club for Science Journalism SKWJ has relied on a combination of German-speaking and French-speaking Swiss in the presidency. This tradition will be maintained: At the AGM in Geneva last week, Stephanie Schnydrig, science editor at CH Media, and Michael Balavoine, editor-in-chief of Planète Santé, were elected to head the association. Both had previously served on the board.

During the Corona pandemic, science journalism experienced a heyday, according to a statement. It is important that this appreciation continues in the long term. In times of artificial intelligence, global warming, the biodiversity crisis, and the increase in civilization-related diseases and mental illnesses, science journalists continue to need their critical and constructive voices. For this reason, the SKWJ is committed to sustainable, strong, high-quality and independent science journalism in Switzerland. "Equally close to our hearts is that the SKWJ offers a broad and exciting network that brings together journalists from all parts of the country and where aspiring female journalists can make their first contacts in science journalism," says Stephanie Schnydrig.

Schnydrig and Michael Balavoine replace Martin Amrein as president and Huma Khamis as vice president. Both Amrein, who works in the Knowledge department of the NZZ on Sundayand Khamis from the French-speaking Swiss radio station RTS were active on the board for a total of nine years, four of them in the presidency. Among other things, they advocated science journalism on behalf of the board in open letters and in various media appearances, pointing out its importance and the danger of too much mixing between PR and journalism.

In addition to Schnydrig and Balavoine, the board of the SKWJ also includes freelance science journalist Samuel Schläfli and Helga Rietz from the ETH AI Center. Marion de Vevey, science editor at the University of Lausanne, and Keystone SDA science journalist Céline Elber were also newly elected at the AGM.

There will also be a change in the General Secretariat: After six years, Christine D'Anna-Huber will pass on the baton to Emiliano Feresin, who will take over as Secretary General in October 2023.

The SKWJ was founded in 1974 and will celebrate its 50th anniversary next year. Today, the association has around 380 members. In addition to journalists, the SKWJ also has associate members from the communications sector.

To mark World Refugee Day, Swiss running shoe specialist On has released "The Right to Race," a documentary that follows Dominic Lokinyomo Lobalu's remarkable journey from stateless refugee to elite athlete. The story of courage, hope and friendship is meant to inspire us to rethink the meaning of belonging and representation.

What does it mean to have an identity - not only as an athlete, but also as a human being? That is the question that has driven the long-distance runner Lobalu from war-torn southern Sudan all the way to the snowy mountains of Switzerland. There, he is now fighting for the right to run races and represent his new homeland on the world stage.

Award-winning filmmaker Richard Bullock wrote the screenplay and directed the film in collaboration with Hungry Man Productions. Featuring recent footage and archival footage dating back to 2017, the short film depicts Lobalu's efforts to represent Switzerland at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest and next year's Olympic Games in Paris. For although the elite athlete can take on the best in the world, he is currently excluded from official refugee teams. For Swiss citizenship, on the other hand, he must wait up to ten years.

The 30-minute film, which celebrated its world premiere on Tuesday's World Refugee Day, focuses on the extraordinary relationship between Dominic Lobalu and his Swiss coach Markus Hagmann - grown out of their shared love of running. Lobalu's struggle to be recognized as an international competitor for his new home country by "World Athletics" and the negotiations with the sport's governing body, which continue to this day, become increasingly important as the film progresses.

The film challenges us to rethink our notion of national identity and belonging. Negotiations with the sports governing body become increasingly important in the course of the film.

"The Right to Race" is Bullock's third collaboration with On, who has previously written and directed short films for the brand, including RUN: The Athlete Refugee Team Story and the award-winning animated film Black Ice.

Before focusing full-time on filmmaking, Bullock, whose feature-length films have aired on the National Geographic Channel, Eurosport and the BBC, built an award-winning reputation in the advertising industry. A former executive creative director at 180 Amsterdam, he has worked with agencies including Chiat/Day/Mojo, Hunt Lascaris TBWA, Cliff Freeman & Partners and Lowe Howard Spink.

"The Right to Race" will air in prime time on Tuesday in 53 countries on Eurosport 1. The film will also be shown at major sporting events such as the 2023 World Championships in Athletics and will also be available on Discovery+ streaming services across Europe. The film by On and Hungry Man Productions can be viewed now on the website Righttorace.com be viewed.

Werbewoche.ch was there for the premiere of the film in Cannes and spoke exclusively with the makers.

A total of more than 80 students took part in this year's Junior Agency Award and presented their communication concepts in the university's internal preliminary round at the end of May. The students received active support in the conception and development of their ideas from representatives of LSA agencies.

At Tuesday evening's Junior Agency Award Night at Six ConventionPoint in Zurich, the finalists' campaigns were presented to and chosen by the top-class jury of experts.

The team from the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU) in the Online Business & Marketing major, which was coached by Bühler & Bühler, prevailed over its fellow competitors from the other universities of applied sciences and convinced the jury with its creativity and well thought-out campaign implementation. The audience prize, which was awarded by the spectators present, went to the team from the Zurich University of Applied Sciences ZHAW, which was supported by BCW.

Daniel Fisler, Communication Lead Football Sponsorship at Swisscom, was enthusiastic about the presentations: "The teams showed impressive market knowledge and extensive target group research. All presentations were on a very high level and knew how to surprise."

Networking of universities into practice

The Junior Agency Award aims to promote the practical relevance of courses such as business administration, marketing or digital business management. Dealing with the case study promotes the practical application of theoretical knowledge, increases teamwork skills and offers the opportunity to give presentations in front of a large audience as well as to establish contacts with potential employers. At the same time, the award serves the participating LSA agencies to recruit young talent and the universities to increase the attractiveness of their training programs.

The Bern University of Applied Sciences BFH, the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts HSLU and the Zurich University of Applied Sciences and Arts participated.

Sciences ZHAW. Support was provided by the agencies BCW Global, Bühler & Bühler, Contcept Communication, Die Botschafter, Feinheit Zürich, In Flagranti, Jung von Matt Limmat, Kargo, Mediaschneider, Phd, Polyconsult, Publicis Zürich, Serviceplan, TBWA, Webrepublic, and Wunderman Thompson.

In May, both billboard advertising (+19%) and online advertising (+28%) drove the Swiss advertising market, leading to an increase in gross ad spend to CHF 564 million, media research firm Media Focus reported Tuesday. Compared to the previous month of April, growth was 8.2 percent and 9.3 percent year-on-year.

For the months of January to May, however, advertising print was 6.1 percent below the previous year's figure at 2.55 billion gross Swiss francs, according to the report. The weakest month so far this year was January, with 438 million Swiss francs, down 13 percent on the previous year. The value fell most significantly in March, by 15 percent to 580 million.

By comparison, 2019, the last year before the Corona pandemic slump, passed the CHF 3 billion mark in advertising print during the year in May.

By sector, retail trade consolidated first place in the month of May with advertising print of CHF 69.7 million (+15%). The largest increase was recorded by tobacco goods (+120%), followed by vehicles (+52%) and finance (+47.5%). Telecommunications (-17%), Fashion & Sports (-10%) and Transportation (-9.0%) recorded the largest declines in the month under review. (SDA)

While the previous communication measures focused mainly on athletes, the jointly developed campaign strategy is now aimed at a broader target group. This is because "non-athletes" can also use Peak Punk as a healthy alternative to sugary snacks.

The campaign developed by Family does not aim to please everyone. But with its polarizing subjects, it fits the brand like a glove. In line with its claim "No bullshit inside," the brand communicates the way it sees fit.

The 35 subjects for out-of-home, digital-out-of-home and the accompanying social media campaign have been on display throughout German-speaking countries since Monday.

Responsible at Peak Punk: Roger Wehrli (founder), Thomas Künzler (founder), Remo Sturzenegger (graphics & web). Responsible at Family: Claudio Catrambone (Executive Creative Director), Alexandra Niggeler (Account Director), Marion Gwerder, Severin Binkert (Art Direction) Marc Ambühl, Mery Wunderlin (Editor).