According to the sponsor, more than 80 percent of all Swiss publishers are already Digital Ad Trust certified. However, the initiative can only be successful if agencies and advertisers also take into account whether a website is Digital Ad Trust certified or not when booking advertising. Digital Ad Trust is launching an Ambassador program to raise awareness of this issue among agencies and advertisers.

Agencies participating in the DAT Ambassador Program:

• recommend that their customers use a third-party tool approved by Digital Ad Trust for ad fraud, brand safety and visibility measurement,
• encourage their customers - wherever possible - to book only Digital Ad Trust certified inventory,
• inform their customers about potential risks and suitable protective measures,
• Provide customers with a transparent overview (reporting) of booked inventory for network and/or programmatic bookings (Sitelist).
• train their employees involved in display media buying annually with the DAT online training. If the test is passed successfully, the "Digital Ad Trust Pro" certificate is issued.

Advertisers participating in the DAT Ambassador Program:

• book only Digital Ad Trust certified inventory whenever possible,
• question non-DAT-certified publishers and encourage them to become certified as well,
• publicly express their support for Digital Ad Trust, and
• train their employees involved in display media buying annually with the Digital Ad Trust online training. They also receive the "Digital Ad Trust Pro" certificate if they pass the test successfully.

Neither agencies nor advertisers incur any costs with this new program. Supporters can now wear the new "Digital Ad Trust Ambassador Program" label. The agencies Omnicom Media Group, Webrepublic and Konnex have been part of the new DAT Ambassador Program from the beginning.

"I am pleased that with the further development of Digital Ad Trust, agencies and advertising clients can now actively support the initiative," said DAT President Roland Ehrler. "Our new online training is also designed to help raise the level of knowledge among staff members."

Agencies and advertisers can now apply for the Ambassador program at the Website log in.

The Zofingen auction house used to work with paper. Today's demands for an overview and lean processes were less and less satisfied. In order to not only modernize internal processes, but also to offer customers in particular a smart experience and to realistically grasp the entire situation, the company decided to start with an overall analysis.

Procedure and roadmap created

Together with the client, Yoo created an action plan to rank and prioritize the challenges ahead. The first step was to revise the core processes and also transform the digital workplace and the digital ecosystem. The Zofingen auction house is expected to benefit from these automated processes and improved visibility, and decide on actions in other areas as the project progresses.

"We have worked with Yoo to develop a course of action to address the challenges ahead and transform initial areas," said Sander Jongbloed, business owner of Auction House Zofingen. "We look forward to cleverly streamlining processes and making the experience of our customers and employees smarter. This project brings us closer to our vision of positioning ourselves as an innovative company and realizing our full potential."

Responsible at Auktionshaus Zofingen: Sander Jongbloed (business owner). Responsible at Yoo: Daniel Hunziker (User Experience Designer), Daniel Kohler (Digital Transformation Consultant & Software Engineer), Florian Wagner (Project Manager).

The event industry is back and in 2022 it once again brought emotion, joy and discovery to hundreds of thousands of Swiss people - under almost the same conditions as before the pandemic. Flexibility and change are an important part of the DNA of this industry - and the will to use challenges as opportunities are also part of it.

This will be examined more closely at the "360° Entertainment" congress in Andermatt. "We will analyze the trends in digitization, be inspired by innovations in venues and locations, and take a closer look at the musical market, which has been reinventing itself again and again for decades," say the two organizers Hans-Willy Brockes of ESB Marketing Netzwerk and Oliver Niedermann, CEO of Ticketcorner, giving a first insight into the program.

New ways into the future

The meeting is important because during the years of the pandemic, growth in the industry stagnated and a clear strategy for further development is sought. What can meaningful growth strategies look like? So far, the industry has been driven primarily by quantitative growth: more events, more visitors, more revenue. Is it time for a rethink?

From metaverse to sustainability

New collaborations with sponsors and the media are discussed. For the first time, a separate forum is devoted to the topic of musicals. ESG criteria and sustainability as a growth opportunity are examined in detail. And new technologies are also making their way into the wide-ranging program. These range from the Metaverse to blockchain in band t-shirts. Oliver Niedermann from Ticketcorner will present a new approach to music marketing with "Sunrise Starzone".
In addition, well-known Swiss artists:inside such as musician Baschi, the snake woman Nina Burri and Freddy Burger, the longtime manager of Udo Jürgens and many other artists, are expected on stage and give impulses for the industry.

At the industry meeting on March 28 and 29, 60 speakers will discuss the latest developments in eight forums. The congress is aimed at event organizers, sponsors, advertising companies, event service providers, managers, media, marketing and consulting agencies, and event venues. 360° Entertainment is organized by Ticketcorner and ESB Marketing Netzwerk at the Radisson Blu Hotel Reussen in Andermatt.

Both Bernexpo Groupe and the Gurtenfestival have put the pandemic behind them and operated successfully last year. Now the two Bernese organizers are entering into a multi-year partnership. Joint concert series are planned, which will take place each winter/spring on the Bernexpo site until the opening of the New Festival Hall.

"We are not only united by our passion for music and culture, but also by the streetcar line 9. We face each other in opposite directions on both sides of the city and both want to grow, expand and inspire our community," explains Rolf Bähler, director of the Gurtenfestival. "We are both burning for the live industry and have a great common interest in music and culture. Both Bernexpo Groupe and Gurtenfestival strive for constant transformation and therefore a common cause is only logical," adds Tom Winter, CEO of Bernexpo Groupe.

Bernexpo Groupe is already teaming up with event partners and planning a musical summer at the Bernexpo site. In addition, the Group is about to enter a new era with the imminent construction of the New Festival Hall - after the BEA 2023: The generational project will give the congress and event city of Bern a new platform with national and international appeal.

In the next ten years, Olma Messen St. Gallen wants to increase its sales by a third from 30 to 40 million Swiss francs - and that in an industry that is undergoing transformation. "The need for live communication is definitely back," Thomas Scheitlin, Chairman of the Board of Olma Messen St. Gallen, told the media. For 2023, 112 events are already fixed - including five own and three guest fairs.

The strategy adopted in the fall of 2021 focuses on the further development of the trade show business. Another central element is the expansion of the event business. In addition, new sources of revenue are to be tapped.

The company sees opportunities above all in trade shows that are either developed in-house or purchased. A first example is Gastia, a trade fair for the hotel, gastronomy and catering industries, which has been announced for the first time for April 2023. "We will stick to our core business," said Scheitlin.

Name sponsor wanted

There has been a consolidation of trade fairs for the general public, and a regionalization of trade fairs. Immo Messe Schweiz will no longer exist in its current form. The topics of construction, renovation and energy are to be given more weight at Offa and Olma in the future.

The event business is to be further expanded. The new Hall 1 will open up new possibilities for this from March 2024, said Christine Bolt, Director of Olma Messen. The exhibition area will thus increase from today's 30,000 to 43,000 square meters. For the years 2024 and 2025, Hall 1 is already at 50 percent capacity, she said. During the upcoming Olma, part of the almost completed hall could be used for the first time.

A name sponsor is still being sought for the new hall. "We are looking for a partner who shares our values and the values of Eastern Switzerland," says Christine Bolt. Depending on the package, the sponsorship should bring Olma Messen several hundred thousand francs.

Olma AG controversial

Olma Messen had run into financial difficulties as a result of the Corona pandemic. Last March, the company had announced a loss of 3.3 million Swiss francs for the 2021 financial year. At the same time, measures were announced at the time to get the company back on track.

The plan is for the Olma Messen Cooperative to be converted into a joint-stock company in April 2023. The share capital is then to be increased by 20 million francs by spring 2024. So far, 6 million francs have been collected. Share subscription will start at the end of February.

Last November, the cantonal council and also the St. Gallen city parliament decided to waive a loan of CHF 8.4 million each. In the February session, the Cantonal Council will once again consider the matter in a second reading. The SP does not want Olma AG. The opening of the Olma trade fairs to the general public could be solved in another way than with the conversion into a public limited company, they criticize. (SDA)

At ETH Zurich, moderator Reto Lipp discussed with participants Monika Bütler, Gerd Scheller, Christian Dorer and Michael Herrmann how the media, politics and business are tackling the so-called "trust deficit".

At the beginning, the focus was particularly on the Corona pandemic and its impact on trust in institutions. Political scientist Michael Hermann, however, put the division of society that had been conjured up into perspective: "The vote in November 2021 showed that direct democracy works like group therapy." Economist and former vice president of the Covid scientific task force Monika Bütler also confirms this: "I sense a strengthened trust in science, even if rejection has accentuated at the same time."

For Christian Dorer, editor-in-chief of the Blick Group, the pandemic showed one thing above all: "When there is an extraordinary need for news, the majority fall back on the classic media." And Gerd Scheller, CEO of Siemens Switzerland, noted that the pandemic had taught both business and society valuable lessons about crisis management.

"Corona Leaks" in Focus

The panel discussion focused on the so-called "Corona Leaks," which evidenced a lively e-mail exchange between Ringier CEO Marc Walder and Alain Berset's head of communications Peter Lauener. Dorer in particular, who is part of the Ringier Group along with the Blick Group, had to take a stand on the issue. He made it clear that the information did not come from his own carpet department, but was researched by himself.

Dorer also defended the general course of Corona's reporting: "The View has a tendency to exaggerate. But when reality is already so crazy, we can't add to it. That's why we've advocated a responsible course." But he also acknowledged mistakes made over the past three years, "But not the ones we're being accused of now."

When asked whether a boss could not know what his communications manager was up to, Gerd Scheller had a clear answer: "I think it's possible that Alain Berset didn't know everything. At Siemens, we try to cultivate a culture of trust, and not everything is signed off."

Trust needs dialogue

Scheller emphasized that dialogue is important in order to be able to build trust in the first place. Monika Bütler agreed: "You have to cultivate semi-institutionalized exchange between science and politics in order to better manage crises." This, she said, had just been impressively demonstrated by Corona. And Michael Hermann once again underlined the strength of direct democracy for dialogue: "Opponents of vaccination had the opportunity to make their opinion heard. Within a very short period of time, they had referendums, but then failed. In Switzerland, we don't simply wipe away different opinions as we do in other countries."

This was announced jointly by the BNJ and Gassmann media groups on Wednesday. According to their own statements, they want to join forces to ensure the continued existence of high-quality local media in the French-speaking region of the canton of Bern. The German-language program Canal 3 is not affected.

The existing RJB and Canal 3 radios will be combined in a joint venture owned equally by the two media groups. They will broadcast a joint program under the name RJB. The main broadcasting studio will be located in Tavannes, with a city studio remaining in Biel.

The combined editorial offices could provide a better public service for the small region, according to the justification. The merger is also a reaction to the decline in advertising revenues.

Only one concession left

In addition, preparations are being made for the new award of licenses, which the federal government is planning for January 1, 2025. Only one radio license is still planned for the Biel/Bienne-Bernese Jura region.

The cooperation between BNJ and Gassmann does not end with the radio stations. Also the editorial offices of the newspaper Journal du Jura and the online platform Ajour.ch will become part of the new overall editorial team. The merger is to take place gradually in the first half of this year.

The goal is to work with Ajour.ch to provide an indispensable information and entertainment platform for the people of the Bernese Jura and Biel. The platform was launched in March 2022 and already includes the content of the Gassmann Group's media brands.

Two departures in the German-speaking management of the Gassmann Group were announced on Tuesday: The editor-in-chief of the Bieler Tagblatt, Lino Schaeren, is going the same way as the head of Ajour.ch, Sophie Hostettler. (SDA)

On Thursday, the agency had fineness to the "FeinTalk" about AI and Machine Learning invited. With 50 people from business, politics, NGOs and authorities and the talk guests Karpi, director and AI comedian, AlgorithmWatch leader Angela Müller and Ateleris founder Simon Felix, Feinheit board president Moritz Zumbühl led an extensive discussion.

During the discussion, developments, opportunities and risks were classified and points of contact were identified. "Precisely because this technology has sunny and dark sides, we do not want to glorify or badmouth the development in any way. As an agency, we want to, or rather must, find solutions together with you for a reflective approach," said Moritz Zumbühl to those present.

Finesse tightens with Ateleris

Based on FeinTalk, a strategic partnership between Feinheit and Ateleris has been established. Ateleris is an independent Swiss software development SME with in-depth experience in the implementation of various machine learning applications. This now optimally reinforces Feinheit's strengths in strategic consulting, visual design and programming of websites and web-based infrastructure, according to a statement from the agency. Together, the two companies aim to enable NGOs, NPOs and also civil society to benefit from machine learning. The knowledge of Feinheit in communication and the practical know-how of Ateleris should enable a more reflective approach to and effective use of Machine Learning. For this purpose, three specific consulting offers will be launched: "AI Assessment - Opportunities and Risks of Machine Learning for your Organization", "Machine Learning Crea Workshop with Expert Input" and "Generative Content with AI Tools for your Social Media Channels".

Google has had an unassailable lead in Internet search until now. Now Microsoft presented a new search engine with artificial intelligence that is supposed to break Google's dominance. This could not only change the balance of power on the web, but also the way people search the internet.

Why are Google and Microsoft suddenly so active in AI?

In fact, Google and Microsoft, as well as other tech companies like IBM and Salesforce, have been working for years to improve their products with artificial intelligence features. The spectrum ranges from the automatic translation of texts to the calculation of travel routes in a navigation app.

However, the topic of AI has gained a whole new visibility since November 2022. At that time, the Californian start-up OpenAI made its AI language models with a text robot available to the public, even though they were not yet ready. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's daring was rewarded. Use of ChatGPT exploded. The system is on everyone's lips.

What's so innovative about systems like ChatGPT?

The basic technology of ChatGPT was developed five years ago, primarily by Google researchers. It involves analyzing huge amounts of text using algorithms that mimic nerve cells in the brain. These "neural networks" can then recognize which words frequently occur together, for example "Hanover," "state capital" and "Lower Saxony. This enables ChatGPT to predict with a high degree of probability which word will occur next in a sentence and thus formulate plausible-sounding sentences.

What is new is that different AI functions can be combined with each other in the process. For example, ChatGPT can be asked to write a specific topic for an entry in a career network such as LinkedIn in English with a length of 300 words.

What specific applications are conceivable?

Systems like ChatGPT can aggregate information from a wide variety of sources. For example, when searching for a travel destination that is no more than four hours away by plane, one does not receive links to offers from travel portals. Instead, the chatbot delivers a text formulated by the AI in which Marrakesh, Lisbon, Faro, Istanbul, Crete and Reykjavík are suggested as possible destinations, each with a brief description.

How has the technology worked for search engines so far?

The leading search engine Google has so far two methods to answer queries. On the one hand, there is the "Knowledge Graph", which is a knowledge pool that Google can display directly using sources such as Wikipedia and many databases. The core business, however, is the display of Internet links that match a search term. The order is decided by Google's algorithm, which is kept secret. An important factor is the popularity of the site, i.e. how often the offer is linked. Parallel to these generic search results, Google displays links paid for by advertisers.

Could Bing become the new Google?

At least that's what Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella hopes. In recent years, Bing has never managed to seriously compete with Google. Google holds a market share of nearly 93 percent worldwide, according to Statcounter.com, while Bing comes in at just three percent. "This technology is going to reshape pretty much every software category we know," Nadella said. This also explains why his company has poured billions of dollars into OpenAI and the rights to use ChatGPT.

However, Google will not leave the field to its arch-rival Microsoft, with whom it competes primarily in the cloud business, without a fight. One day before the Microsoft event, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced a comprehensive AI product initiative.

What are the issues with using AI chatbots?

The linguistic eloquence of the answers gives the impression that all the facts are also watertight. But this is not the case. ChatGPT repeatedly spits out answers that are fictitious. Even the makers of the chatbot warn against accepting the results unchecked.

Chat systems have particularly great difficulties when searching for people. It can happen that different people with the same name merge into a new virtual person. For example, the system might mistakenly believe that the CSU politician Gerd Müller was also the person who scored the winning goal for the German national team in the 1974 World Cup final.

Can AI bots also be abused?

Yes, this is possible. It is true that providers try to block malicious requests - for example, for instructions on how to build a bomb. But on the web you can see examples again and again of how these blocks can be circumvented.

ChatGPT and its counterpart "Bard" from Google are also suitable for cheating on exams and homework at school and university. So far, there is no effective way to clearly identify AI-generated content as robot text.

Are AI bots getting better and better?

Yes, they will. The opening for mass use of ChatGPT also contributes to the quality improvement. In fact, the creators at OpenAI ask users to rate the quality of the responses. This feedback helps the AI to identify systematic weaknesses and eliminate them. (Analysis: SDA)

Christine Thienemann is to drive the agency group's new business locally, writes Avantgarde in a statement. For her, the professional step means a return: She already worked for the company from 1997 to 2006 - most recently as Group Head at the Munich headquarters. This was followed by positions at BMW Motorsport as Head of Event Services Motorsport and the Leo Burnett agency in South Africa as Business Unit Director Cape Town.

In 2016, Thienemann moved to Switzerland, where she worked for General Motors as Experiential Marketing Manager Europe for the Cadillac and Chevrolet brands. Most recently, she helped build up the Live Lab agency in Zurich as COO and member of the executive board and was jointly responsible for the agency's strategic orientation as well as its operational business.

A boring review. A boring movie. A boring board game. A boring philosophy class. A boring family dinner. A boring instruction manual. A boring soccer game. There are numerous dull moments in everyday life. As an ambiguous parody of monotonous TV documentaries, Numéro10's campaign aims to impart knowledge that is not always useful, but often soporific.

The campaign follows a full-funnel approach in cooperation with Gamned! and leads the user through the different phases of the conversion funnel. In the OLV, the philosophy of the product "Coffee snack for boring moments" is presented. With a Snapchat Lens can interact with the brand in a playful way. Video content creators such as Kikomedy and Geocadiias were commissioned to appropriate the campaign on Instagram and TikTok.

@kikomedy

"Whenever you need a hard nut to crack, So Nuts Coffee will help you. The coffee snack for long-lasting moments." Join us and enjoy a stay at Europa-Park and Rulantica. You can find more information at @sonuts_original #sonutscoffee

♬ Original sound - Kiko Medy

@geocadiias

Qui a déjà passé un mauvais date ? So Nuts Coffee vous empêchera de bâiller et offre un séjour à Europa-Park et Rulantica. Pour plus d'info rdv sur @So Nuts #sonutscoffee

♬ son original - GEO CADIIAS 🥶

Users with the highest engagement are retargeted: they receive vouchers with which they can test the product in selected sales outlets.

As Head of Development, Larissa Bieler will be responsible for the Editorial, Production and Digital Media departments. The area of responsibility includes the development of new teaching materials and formats as well as the revision and further development of existing ones.

Bieler worked for many years at the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, where she was on the editorial staff of the NZZ on Sunday and at the publishing house, where she managed departments and projects in a wide variety of functions, as well as working as an editor and page maker. Before that, she was the federal parliament correspondent for the newspaper Südostschweiz. Most recently, she worked for the cultural organization Nova Fundaziun Origen in the canton of Graubünden.