Outlawz Food landed a quickly sold-out hit in the festival summer of 2015 with its vegan kebab. The young company from Bern is active in the field of meat substitutes and has set itself the goal of making vegan products the standard rather than the alternative.

In order to achieve this, Outlawz Food now wants to communicate its attitude and philosophy more strongly to the outside world. The company is supported in this by Hella Studio from Bern. "For us it was clear from the beginning that we wanted to take this step with Hella Studio. They have the credibility as well as the necessary competencies to position our brand nationwide," explains Dario Hitz, CMO at Outlawz Food.

Kasper Kobel, Creative Director on the current status of the project: "From product packaging to the website, we are creating a link between attitude, appearance and philosophy with the new visual identity. And make them visible, fresh and eye-catching - matching the corporate DNA of the innovative brand."

In Hella Studio's 360-degree concept, a pair of eyes becomes the central element. This is not only integrated into the new logo, but also makes eye contact with customers on the new packaging. "With the original pairs of eyes of all employees, we simultaneously convey transparency and local proximity of Outlawz," says Kasper Kobel.

The campaign will be launched gradually so as not to have to replace existing products and packaging - which is also in line with Outlawz Food's sustainability philosophy.

Responsible at Outlawz Food: Kevin Schmid (CEO & Co-Founder); Dario Hitz (CMO & Partner). Responsible at Hella Studio:  Joëlle Lehmann, Kasper Kobel (concept, design and photography), Inyourface, Laura Marti / Maria van Harskamp (text), Cutout Studio, Philippe Moesch (animation).

Brands are more than just a lettering or a logo. They embody an entire identity and are thus an important component of corporate success. The Swiss Brand Congress 2023 is dedicated to the current challenges in brand management. The demands on brands have changed.

Topics such as how to deal with new trends like veganism and sustainable consumption, the climate suitability of brands, or how to make the shift from a linear consumer journey to an omnichannel journey will be discussed. With keynote speeches from 75 speakers in twelve forums, the congress will provide ideas for successful brand management.

Sizes of the brand world

At this year's Brand Congress, international big names from the world of brands will be giving presentations. Prof. Dr. Tomczak from the University of St.Gallen will introduce the topic with his lecture "Disruption of Brand Management! Godo Röben, former managing director of Rügenwalder Mühle, will talk about the transformation from meat processor back to brand and how to make it climate-compatible. Sarah Manseck from Henkel Consumer Brands will talk about channel diversity as a gamechanger and how to reach customers at the right touchpoint and with the right message.

Representatives of brands such as IWC, Coop, Google, Bayer, Siemens, Hilti, Twint, SBB, Rivella, among others, will speak about strategies, brand management and new technologies. "We are happy to have gained Swiss Post as a Presenting Partner from this year on and with its complementary support to further develop the Brand Congress in an inspiring way", says Stephan Feige, organizer and managing director of Htp St.Gallen.

23 hours program

The latest trends will be discussed on two main stages. The organizers will have a "Tech & Digital Stage" ready for this purpose, where the spotlight will be shone on topics relating to marketing automation, marketing and advertising technology with special forums and top speakers. On the "Strategy Stage", brand management in channel diversity, positioning, disruption in brand management and new payment models will be discussed.

The Swiss Brand Congress is the industry meeting place for brand decision-makers, service providers and media representatives. It is organized by ESB Marketing Netzwerk together with Htp St.Gallen and the University of St.Gallen. Registration is on Brands-congress.ch possible.

In addition to expanding its workshops and sales locations, Wedobike is focusing on its digital touchpoint. The company likes to share its knowledge with its clientele. To ensure that this is also increasingly communicated and perceived on the web, the focus is on a well thought-out user experience. To meet the growing demand for e-bikes with diverse products and services, the Yoo agency helps streamline processes and build interfaces between ERP and e-shop. This should enable customers to find their way around more intuitively and eliminate manual processes.

In the next digitization step, front-end optimizations will be incorporated to significantly enhance the user experience and help position Wedobike even more strongly as a competent specialist. In addition, organic growth will be supported with new systems in order to be able to scale in the near future and thus be even fitter for the requirements of the market.

"To keep up with increasing product complexity, the digital touchpoint needs to become even more informative and clear," said Sascha Renz, CEO of Wedobike. "We work every day to provide visitors with a unique customer experience on our website and in our stores."

Responsible at Wedobike: Sascha Renz (CEO), Philip Kessler (Sales Manager). Responsible at Yoo: Daniel Hunziker (User Experience Designer), Florian Wagner (Consultant & Project Manager), Björn Bühler, Daniel Kohler, Sébastien Closs (Software Engineers).

In "SBB - a political story about deep red figures and a green future". by Hansjürg Zumstein, the SBB CEOs Benedikt Weibel, Andreas Meyer and Vincent Ducrot talk about their respective activities at the top of the company and show their current life situation in parallel. In the archive material, Federal Councillors and counterparts from the respective eras also have their say.

This mixture of current statements by the railroad bosses about their respective times and SRF's archive material on the different eras was particularly appreciated by the jury of the öV-Medienpreis 2022. "You have created a well-rounded work that depicts both three personalities of Swiss railroads and 50 years of railroad history; your film gripped us and didn't let go for a moment," said jury president Peter Moor.

The öV-Medienpreis is awarded annually for high-quality journalism on public transport topics. It is endowed with 1000 Swiss francs.

Shortly after taking over the online service for around 44 billion dollars last October, the tech billionaire had already cut the number of employees by around half in a first step. It had been "painful" to lay off so many people, but without radical cost-cutting measures, Twitter had only had "four months to live," Musk said.

Before the takeover, Twitter made almost all of its business from advertising revenue - for example, when companies pay for their tweets to appear in users' news streams. Musk's purchase was followed by an exodus of ad customers who feared a negative environment for their tweets under the controversial entrepreneur. Revenue halved, as Musk admitted at the time. At the same time, Twitter has to make interest payments on around twelve billion dollars in loans for the takeover.

Musk said in the BBC interview that advertisers had returned or were planning to return. There are more ads again and Twitter has only minimal losses, he added, without giving any figures. Since the company is no longer listed on the stock exchange, it no longer has to publish quarterly reports.

Musk had tried to get out of the deal relatively quickly after the purchase announcement in spring 2022. He pointed to an allegedly high number of automated bot accounts, which meant that the price he proposed was no longer justified. The $44 billion was a hefty premium on Twitter's stock market value at the time.

Twitter management, which initially resisted the takeover attempt but was committed to the interests of shareholders after reaching an agreement with Musk, dragged him into court. Asked if he ended up completing the Twitter purchase only because a judge would have forced him to do it anyway, Musk said in the BBC interview, "Yes, that's the reason." (SDA)

The Smartive agency, with 27 digital experts, has a long relationship with eastern Switzerland and wants to further strengthen its roots in the region. The new location offers the agency the opportunity to work even more closely with local companies, according to a statement. "We are proud to open our second location in St. Gallen and continue our 10-year success story in Eastern Switzerland," said Robert Vogt, co-initiator of the new location.

Since the beginning of the year, Smartive has been working on a wide range of digital solutions at Multergasse 26. Customers include Migros, Zubi and Frontify.

The ProSpecieRara PSR Foundation is committed to the preservation and promotion of varieties threatened with extinction. With "Plant the Rare!", ProSpecieRara wants to encourage gardeners to get involved with these varieties and thus make a contribution to crop diversity. Because rare varieties give pleasure and are important for biodiversity. The Valencia Group supported PSR in the conception and realization of the campaign.

Strategic groundwork

The realization of the campaign was preceded by a lot of strategic work: After an extensive needs analysis of the target group, Valencia worked with PSR in workshops to flesh out the implementation. Long-term social trends were also taken into account: "Environmental awareness has become a social movement that has taken hold of the broad population, just think of efforts to protect the climate or preserve biodiversity. This neo-ecology, as well as increasing individualization, are megatrends that have played a major role in the development of the campaign," says Valencia CEO Michael Gerber.

For the community

This resulted in the "Plant the Rare!" campaign, in which PSR friends can present their favorite varieties online and also show how the corresponding variety grows and thrives in their garden or on the balcony.

Other users can "vote" for these contributions. Those who collect the most votes will be rewarded with one of around 200 garden journals. "We are giving friends of rare varieties the opportunity to report on their experiences and present their own successes to the community," says Anna Kornicker from PSR's management team, summarizing the campaign.

As a second measure, gardening equipment worth 1,000 Swiss francs will be raffled off among all registered users. "With this deliberately low-threshold campaign, we also want to inspire PSR newcomers to our cause," says Kornicker.

The central platform for the campaign is the website Plantdasrare.ch. This is hub for raffle and competition, but also contains a blog with videos and articles of the PSR-Expert:innen around the rare varieties and serves the community as a showcase for their activities.

Everything from one source

The campaign website was developed from scratch by Valencia subsidiary Cab Services and linked to the existing PSR website. This was done using the Scrum method, involving PSR at short intervals for feedback. "The good cooperation with our long-term customer was key to the success of this project. Through openness to new working methods and continuous exchange, we were able to jointly develop a challenging campaign website that exceeded our expectations," says Cab COO Manuel Bloch.

Valencia Kommunikation was responsible for project coordination, the creation of numerous advertising materials, the copywriting of the website and the design of the garden journal. "When graphics, copywriting and web development work under one roof, paths are short and inputs are implemented quickly and straightforwardly," is how Senior Account Director Mirjam Müller sums up the project.

Responsible at ProSpecieRara: Anna Kornicker (Head of Communications, GL member), Simone Krüsi (PR, Social Media), Sava Buncic (Fundraising), Gertrud Burger (Head of Plants, GL member), Philipp Holzherr (Head of Garden & Arable Plants). Responsible at Cab Services: Daniel Nussbaumer (Art Director), Michelle Ciullo (Frontend Developer), Philip Liebel (Backend Developer), Janson Cheeramkunnel (Senior Frontend Developer), Manuel Bloch (Consulting and Project Management Digital). Responsible at Valencia Communication: Tommy Schilling (Creative Director), Mirjam Müller (Senior Account Director), Jasmin Marty (Consulting), Madeleine Knörzer (Art Director), Nionela Katselko (Graphics), Paula Estepa Garcia (Graphics), Sebastian Refardt (Text/Concept), Patrick Hublard (Polygraphy), Carol Damann (Polygraphy).

PK Rück has come of age - and an adult appearance now includes a digital business report. As a basis for this, Process developed a microsite concept that can also be used in future years. In addition, as previously in the printed editions of the annual report, there is an integrated creative concept designed to make visible what makes the company tick.

This year, everything revolves around the life insurance company's 18th birthday and exactly 18 things that play an important role at PK Rück - and that no one would want to do without.

Responsible at PK Re: Christoph Curtius (CFO). Concept, text and implementation: Process. Programming: Dream Production.

What will Switzerland look like in 2050? This is the question addressed by the Space Concept Switzerland. The joint strategy of the federal government, cantons and municipalities for spatial development in Switzerland focuses on thinking and planning in partnership. In recent weeks, work on updating the spatial concept has officially begun, and the new version should be available in 2025.

Based on this, Noord developed a flexible visual language instead of a classic logo to give the concept a clear identity. The new website serves as a platform for external as well as internal communication and is intended to enable professionals and the general public to follow and accompany the process.

At the heart of the website is what is known as "scrollytelling," which uses illustrations from Joni Majer introduces the spatial concept. A timeline with expressive images is intended to make the development additionally tangible. "Noord has succeeded in implementing the topic of spatial development in a playful way," Michael Furger, head of communications at the Federal Office for Spatial Development ARE, was quoted as saying in a statement. "The agency has developed a website on a political topic that doesn't look like a political website."

With the newly produced campaign, Focuswater executives aim to capitalize on and further fuel the brand's momentum in the fast-growing flavored water beverage segment. Alongside Rivella, the vitamin water is the strategic mainstay of the future and, with its concept - lots of vitamins; few calories; refreshingly light taste - corresponds precisely to the needs of an increasingly broad group of buyers. By opting for an awareness campaign with TV as the lead medium, Rivella aims to reach an even broader target group.

The current campaign was developed and produced without a classic creative agency. The implementation for TV commercial and online video advertising was initiated directly with the production company Halsundbeinbruch Film from Zurich. The implementation in the area of OOH and online worked analogously, relying on the agency Burki Scherer. "Time as well as budget were severely limited in this project, which is why we had to find new ways to develop the campaign," says Andreas Egli, responsible brand manager at Focuswater. Despite weather uncertainty during the winter months, it was clear from the start that the shoots would take place in Switzerland. The locations were Zurich, Basel and Walenstadt.

The campaign has been broadcast throughout Switzerland since Monday. A TV spot is planned to kick off the campaign, followed by posters and various placements in online and social media. In line with the brand, the message will be combined with various imagery designed to convey a dynamic and healthy lifestyle full of positive flow.

The swinger newspaper Final round used the almost swing-free time in winter to adapt its website and app presence for iPhone and Android devices, according to a statement. "We worked intensively with our agency to find a solution that fits our many and loyal customers. We are very satisfied with the result," editorial director Manuel Röösli is quoted as saying.

As of now the new website Final course.ch accessible. Also downloadable is the new Schwinger app for iPhone and Android.

The new Final round-The new website is modern and easy to use. In terms of content, the aim is to further establish Schlussgang.ch as the number 1 in the sport of wrestling.

Login area for app

The biggest change is in the still free Schwinger app for users of iPhone and Android devices. In addition, there is a paid online subscription without advertising and with even faster results service. "An online presence on this scale is associated with large costs. To achieve refinancing, we are dependent on advertising revenue," explains Röösli. "At the request of many of our customers, we have added a new page in the login area of the Final roundapp but also created an ad-free area. This is available with an annual online subscription."

As Managing Director for Switzerland, Austria and Scandinavia, Claudio Lumbiarres will be heading up the business of the global media platform Teads in these markets with immediate effect. He has worked in various management positions for the advertising platform since February 2015, most recently in the role of Vice President Sales for Scandinavia, Austria and Switzerland.

Lumbiarres brings strategic sales expertise in the advertising environment to his new role. Among other things, he was already responsible for building up Teads' advertising market in Switzerland and helped the company grow there.

Lumbiarres' goal is to further develop the Teads Ad Manager (TAM) together with his team and to further increase the benefits of the buying platform for customers. In the Nordic countries in particular, Lumbiarres and his team are aiming for extensive growth. The new Managing Director also wants to firmly establish the positioning of the company and the product there.    

"Despite its global orientation, Teads always remains agile and maintains a proximity to local markets. That's exactly what I like about this company," Claudio Lumbiarres is quoted as saying in a statement. "As General Manager for Scandinavia, Austria and Switzerland, I want to continue perfecting this strategy together with my team. My credo here is: Do great things, with great people. People play a key role in shaping this company through jointly developed ideas and innovations. Qualitative environmental marketing combined with sensible advertising technology is just one keyword here."