Innovator's Playbook

Develop products and services that customers love.

• Author: Nathan Baird
• Publisher: Wiley-VCH, 2021
• Pages: 320
• ISBN: 9783527510603

Most innovations flop. This could be dismissed as a systemic risk, but Nathan Baird disagrees. He sees mistakes in craftsmanship, false ambition and inexperience as the causes of failure. What goes wrong in the early stages of an innovation project cannot be fixed later. Baird covers the entire innovation process in his book, but pays particular attention to the beginning. A recommended read for all innovation managers and product developers.

B2B - or not to be?

The path to sales success and profitable growth.

• Author: Manfred Aull
• Publisher: Springer Gabler, 2020
• Pages: 215
• ISBN: 9783658294069

If you want to be successful in B2B sales, you have to proceed systematically and in a structured manner and always stay on the ball. Manfred Aull, himself a successful salesman for many years, explains in detail and in a practical manner how this can be achieved. In addition, he provides the reader with a wealth of techniques and tools, such as emotionally intelligent negotiation or the tabular target customer radar. Sales employees and managers can use the book as a comprehensive guide for their work.

The art of the good argument

• Author: Anthony Weston
• Publisher: Reclam Publishing House, 2020
• Pages: 159
• ISBN: 9783150112861

Anyone who wants to convince others needs good arguments. This is especially true at a time when debates are becoming increasingly irrational and aggressive. The author uses numerous examples to show how arguments should be structured, what distinguishes good arguments from bad ones, and what kind of argument is most likely to work in which context. Even if you have heard much of this before, there is still something surprising. A practical and entertaining book for all who want to convince skillfully.

Brandtelling

Storytelling that connects brands and people.

• Author: Matthias M. Mattenberger
• Publisher: Campus Verlag, 2021
• Pages: 224
• ISBN: 9783593513799

Economic success is no longer enough these days. Customers and employees expect companies to assume social responsibility. And that's exactly what can be conveyed most easily through stories, says Matthias M. Mattenberger. He explains the importance of films, stories and narratives for companies in an entertaining and clear way. He gives many examples and leads the reader step by step to his own brand story. The book is interesting for everyone who wants to use storytelling for their marketing and wants to implement the first steps with little time.

The international search marketing conference for experienced online marketing professionals will take place at several hubs spread across Europe, which attendees will visit virtually or on-site. At SMX Advanced, no time is spent on basics and all SEO and PPC sessions are fast-paced, Q&A-loaded and focused.

The conference hub in Zurich will be hosted by Blueglass Interactive. CEO Raphael Bienz will moderate the event and Head of SEO & Content Nicole Treipl will act as roundtable moderator. Among other experts, she will lead the discussion on "Page Experience Optimization: how to establish and measure holistic quality beyond core web vitals".

The detailed agenda and tickets for the 2-day conference are available at Smxadvanced.eu available.

The customer magazine Prio presents itself with a contemporary, fresh design and varied current topics. With the new name, Swiss Post wants to send a signal: Customers have priority.

The first issue takes readers on a hike to the Berne-Lucerne border region and to the Emmental Meringue Mountains - because Swiss Post is the main partner of the Swiss hiking trails. The magazine also talks about the career (dis)opportunities for women at PTT and their chances at Swiss Post today. The Prio also accompanies a trainee on her delivery tour through Lucerne, sheds light on Swiss Post's diverse climate protection measures and provides an entertaining postal universe with a postal quiz, a boxing stamp collector and Patti Basler's guest column.

The first Prio is published on Monday and then appears twice a year with a circulation of 1.8 million copies in German, French and Italian. The customer magazine is distributed to all households without a "stop advertising" sticker on the mailbox. It can also be subscribed to free of charge at Post.ch/magazine.

Responsible at Swiss Post: Dieter Röösli (Art Director); Claudia Langenegger (Editor-in-Chief).

A representative survey by Marketagent shows that 91 percent of respondents who currently work at home, or who could do so at least in theory, will do so in the future. 55 percent of professionals for whom home office is possible would like to work half their workload or more at home. This means that between one and two million people in Switzerland will have to rethink their future mobility solution in the coming weeks.

For this reason, just one day after the last relaxation by the Federal Council, SBB launched a nationwide campaign that addresses in a practical and concrete way what moves Switzerland: On the one hand, the advantages over the road are recalled with a wink of the eye and it is transparently shown how we can travel safely again thanks to the latest public transport protection concept.

On the other hand, a nationwide subscription advisory service was launched to help people find the best public transport subscription for their new office or home office situation by phone, at the counter or online.

The campaign was developed within a short time and in close cooperation between the agency and the client. The cross-media campaign and the offer of subscription advice remain present until the new normality has settled in.

Responsible at Swiss Federal Railways: Reto Meissner (Head of Marketing Communications), Sabine Weyeneth (Communications Manager), Cyrill Kilchenmann (Communications Manager); Daniel Haldi (Campaign Manager); Esther Heinzen (Campaign Manager); Corinne Schneeberger (Media); Urs Schlunegger & Urs Plattner (Production). Responsible agency: Contexta. Photo: Jonathan Heyer, Caspar Martig.

The "mobile natives" are making their way into road traffic, whether on foot, on a bike or in a car. They have grown up with smartphones and never go a day without using the Internet. They use them excessively, countless times and for several hours a day. Mobile natives are "always-on." "This generation is particularly affected by serious accidents as a result of their high propensity for distraction," knows prevention expert Serkan Yalçinkaya of RoadCross Switzerland, the non-profit foundation for road safety.

"Cell phone in your pocket"

Experts agree: The smartphone is increasingly the main reason for inattention in road traffic - and of course not only among young people. "Unfortunately, accident statistics do not always record the reason for distraction in an accident. But in the case of smartphones, we assume that the number of unreported cases is very high," explains Reto Cavegn, former managing director of the TCS Zurich section. That's why the RoadCross Switzerland foundation is now launching a prevention campaign against this life-threatening carelessness on the part of many road users.

The campaign is aimed specifically at teenagers and young adults. The message is simple and clear. In traffic, the motto is: "Put your cell phone in your pocket. Whereas earlier campaigns focused more on car drivers, this appeal is also aimed in particular at pedestrians who pay attention to their smartphones instead of the traffic situation and thus risk serious accidents. The fact that the smartphone in traffic has become an increasing danger in everyday life is also shown by the recent announcement by Google: The company wants to integrate a function called "head up" into the mobile operating system. This function will occasionally prompt users not to use their smartphone while walking and to concentrate on their surroundings.

Solidarity action with influencers

"For the launch of the prevention campaign, we were able to win over numerous Swiss influencers," explains Serkan Yalçinkaya from RoadCross. They support the RoadCross appeal in solidarity and without compensation. On their profiles, they publish stories with a selfie filter with a crash effect that was specially developed for the campaign and the message "Put your phone in your pocket.

Kevin Lütolf, one of the best-known influencers in Switzerland with around 550,000 followers, is no exception: "Since I'm always in contact with my customers and my community, my eyes are often on my cell phone. I try to be more in the here and now and to devote my attention to my surroundings - especially when I'm out and about in the city, because that's where accidents often happen because of cell phone distractions. With RoadCross' campaign, I want to make my community aware of this danger and prevent such accidents."

The filter is available to all social media users on Instagram and Facebook, so that they in turn can spread this message on the social networks. At the same time, a digital advertising campaign with emotional stories - staged with the popular style elements of social media - on Snapchat and Instagram raises awareness of the potentially dire consequences of an accident.

In addition to this content, which is strongly aimed at the young target group, the campaign will also be present with posters and other measures. Starting in the fall of 2021, a VBZ streetcar will also travel through Zurich with warning content; VBZ is providing this advertising space free of charge.

Responsible at RoadCross Switzerland: Stéphanie Anne Kebeiks, Mike Egle, Patrizia Koller, Serkan Yalçinkaya. Responsible at Farner Group: Philipp Skrabal, Jonas Brändli, Bruce Roberts, Mathias Kröbl, Lea Schindler, Martin Hofer, Constanze Fristensky, Lisa Widmer, Lisa Steger, Jill-Nadine Reuvener, Pedro Velasquez, Ennio Cadau, Ceng Dirlik, Sibylle de Marin de Carranrais, Andreas Rageth, Lukas Günter, Alina Leiendecker. Responsible partners: Vincent Dixon (photography), 360WeAre (Instagram crash filter development), Thomas Schoerghofer (website programming).

Until 2020, 250,000 copies of the folic acid magazine were still printed and distributed throughout Switzerland. Now, education is being promoted on a separate online magazine. The reason for this: the personas mainly inform themselves about health topics electronically.

Madonna has a new Knowledge platform designed to convey knowledge in a fun way - depending on the topic and access via text, image, podcast, video or information graphics.

Just like a printed copy, every online edition of Faktor-F should be unique. Every year, a different illustrator takes care of that. This year it's the internationally active Swiss illustrator Pascal Staub aka Grafilu.

Responsible at the Swiss Folic Acid Foundation: Erich P. Meyer (Managing Director), Maria Walliser (President of the Foundation Board), Prof. Dr. Kurt Baerlocher (Head of the Scientific Advisory Board). Responsible at Madonna: Massimiliano Madonna (direction & concept), Eva Jäger (graphics & UI design), Iluska Gras (editorial & concept), Ladina Uhlmann (project management & author), Urs Zwyssig (author & concept), Pascal Staub (illustration), Guido Henseler (video production), Alexandra Koch (recipes), Yannick Owen (author), Marius Wenger (author).

Via Marketplace, users of the social network can privately buy and sell goods from each other. According to the EU Commission, it wants to clarify whether Facebook is exploiting its position in other markets for this service in an anti-competitive manner. If competing companies advertised their services on Facebook, Facebook could come into possession of commercially valuable data and then use it against competitors, the suspicion goes.

Facebook believes the case is unfounded. "We will continue to cooperate fully with the investigation to show that it is baseless," the U.S. company said. Regarding the allegations, it said only: "We continue to develop new and better services to meet the evolving demand of people who use Facebook. Marketplace and Dating offer people more choice, and both products operate in a very competitive environment with many large providers."

The EU Commission nevertheless sees reason for an intensive investigation. "Following the conclusion of its preliminary investigation, the Commission cannot rule out the possibility that Facebook is distorting competition in the field of online classified advertising services," the Brussels-based authority said. For example, Facebook could derive accurate information about user preferences from the advertising activities of its competitors. This information could then be used to optimize Facebook Marketplace.

Huge amounts of data collected

"Facebook is used by nearly three billion people each month and has a total of nearly seven million advertisers," Verstager said. "The company collects vast amounts of data about the activities of users of its social network and other services, and is therefore able to target specific groups of customers."

The Commission will investigate in depth whether Facebook has an unfair competitive advantage thanks to this data, she said. "We must ensure that data is not used to distort competition in today's digital economy," the Commission vice president stressed.

The review will also look at whether Facebook Marketplace's embedding in the social network constitutes "tying" that could allow Facebook to hinder or exclude competing online classifieds services. This could be a violation of rules against anti-competitive agreements between companies, it added. The proceedings are being conducted in an open-ended manner.

The U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) also launched an investigation into Facebook's use of data on Friday. They will try to cooperate, the commission further explained. (SDA)

Swiss International Air Lines has appointed 34-year-old Stefan Vasic as its new Head of Marketing, effective July 1, 2021. In his new role, Stefan Vasic will be responsible for Swiss marketing communications in Switzerland and the implementation of all marketing measures within the framework of the global Lufthansa Group marketing strategy. In his role, he will report to Caroline Drischel, who has been holistically responsible for the customer experience along the entire travel chain in the combined areas of "Brand Management & Marketing Communication" and "Product Management" since February 1, 2021.

Stefan Vasic has held various positions at Swiss since 2007, most recently as Head of Sponsorship & Events, Social Media and Tourism Partners. In this position, he was responsible for the entire sponsorship portfolio, partner management, event logistics as well as the airline's social media strategy and newsletter marketing. Prior to that, he was the Swiss airline's media spokesperson for several years. Vasic is a native of Switzerland and holds a Master of Science in Corporate Communications from the University of Rotterdam.

Bernhard Christen, who has headed the national and international marketing department for around eight years, will be taking on new challenges in the future.

The company had previously relied on individual spontaneous stories for content on its social media channels. The challenge was to use simple means to generate more visibility, stay top-of-mind with Swiss consumers, and gain new fans.

Havas developed the idea for a humorous always-on campaign for Ricola's social media channels - Facebook, Youtube and Instagram. In these static posts, stories and videos, a headline and supporting graphic elements each pick up on a current topic. The selected daily or weekly news items are linked to the benefits, the products or the history of Ricola.

Relevance to the target group is the top priority. However, since Ricola's fan base is very broad, Havas plays out each post specifically for a previously defined target group - depending on the current topic.

Responsible at Ricola: Dominique Dresel (Vice President Marketing Europe II), Jost Lingg (Head of Brand & Product Management Switzerland), Lauren Schramm (Marketing Manager Switzerland), Fiona Wägerle (Digital & Brand Experience Manager). Responsible at Havas: Agron Gjini (Account Director), Dimitri Ottiger (Account Director), Christian Meier (Senior Programmatic Consultant), Nicolai Abel (Senior Social Media Consultant), Dominik Brülisauer (Copywriter), Helen Ingold (Junior Art Director).

Jürg Stuker was a partner and held executive positions at Namics for over 20 years until the end of 2020. In parallel, he was involved operationally and as an angel investor in a number of Swiss start-up companies.

Due to his background, Stuker has a great deal of technical knowledge as well as many years of experience in the field of digitalization and communication. He is delighted to be joining the re-elected Ines Pöschel and Florian Teuteberg in forming a committed Board of Directors and actively supporting the Group: "For me, being able to continue such a successful history is both an honor and a challenging task. I look forward to meeting exciting people, having the opportunity to take bold steps, and being creative in the service of customer success."

Schmied and Aebi farewell

Andreas Schmid, who left the company yesterday, had been a member of the Board of Directors since 2010 and led it as Chairman for the last four years. As an entrepreneurial personality and with his large network in business and politics, he had a significant impact on the successful development of the Wirz Group, writes Wirz in a statement.

At the same time, Geri Aebi, who has been a member of the Board of Directors for many years and Vice Chairman since 2016, also retired from the Board on Thursday. In his well-earned retirement, the former CEO of Wirz Communications and the Wirz Group, respectively, will devote himself to all his other offices and social commitments as planned and will remain associated with Wirz as a shareholder.

Four key insights can be distilled from the responses of the 271 top marketers in the "CMO Barometer".

1. digitization in fast motion

Digitization has never before had such a high urgency for CMOs. Not a new topic in itself, it has nevertheless rapidly gained speed through Corona.

2. marketing is done by and for people

Being close to people is key in times of crisis - whether it is being close to your own employees through good leadership or to your clients and their (changing) needs.

3. sustainability does not become a luxury topic

Sustainability communication and brand purpose remain core topics and do not lose weight even in difficult economic times.

4. agility & transformation capability as success factors

Being able to react agilely to changing circumstances and needs is becoming the decisive factor for CMO success. In his own company, the CMO becomes the driver of the transformation agenda.

Trends in marketing

In each case, more than 80 percent of CMOs assume that the marketing trends digital transformation (88%), online/e-commerce (87%) and data-driven marketing (85%) will gain in importance. 86 percent think this about sustainability communications - up from 83 percent last year.

"One might have suspected that sustainability communication would become a luxury topic in times of crisis. The opposite is the case: even more CMOs than in 2020 see it on the rise," says Alessandro Panella, Managing Partner of Serviceplan Consulting Group. "That digital transformation, e-commerce and data-driven marketing will continue to gain importance for CMOs is hardly surprising in a year of such rapid digital acceleration. What's exciting here is: many CMOs, see the pandemic here as a positive accelerator of a long overdue digital transformation in the company."

CMO tasks and everyday life in Corona times

Digitization and the human factor: When asked what they consider to be their most important tasks, digital transformation (36%), fostering team spirit & culture in the marketing team despite remote working (26%) and adapting/optimizing the marketing organization (25%) were the most frequently mentioned open mentions.

Digital and leadership aspects are also at the top of the list of tasks that will become more important: Digitization of marketing was named by 74 percent of CMOs, and fostering team spirit and culture in marketing by 59 percent.

The human factor was also the focus of the responses to the question about the greatest change caused by Corona. Here, the most frequently mentioned open mentions were remote work (62%), lack of exchange with customers/colleagues (28%) and changed leadership (27%).

The future of the CMO

Agility is becoming a success factor: The vast majority of CMOs, 86 percent, believe that the role of the CMO will change. At the same time, a large majority (86%) also see the CMO as a transformation driver and driver of the transformation agenda in the company.

"Agility is the keyword of the hour," says Florian Haller, CEO of the Serviceplan Group. "In these corona-crisis times, when trends and developments - such as digitization - have been rapidly accelerated, adaptability becomes the greatest success factor. CMOs who manage to quickly recognize changes and flexibly go along with them manage successful brands."

For the "CMO Barometer" 271 CMOs/marketing decision-makers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland were surveyed online. The survey took place in February 2021 and lasted approximately 6 to 8 minutes per person. The respondents were asked six questions.

The detailed results of the barometer with a classification of the results as well as further CMO voices can be viewed in the presentation of the study by Serviceplan Suisse.

Serviceplan CMO Barometer 2021

The Audiokanzlei dives into the history of Swiss milk for Swissmilk. On behalf of a new generation of milk lovers, she travels in the "PodCar" directly to the animals, farmers and producers who live from and for milk.

Podcast connects city and country

Celebrating pleasure, tradition and craftsmanship with a "sounding" format? This is the challenge taken up by Dino Giglio, founder and project manager of Audiokanzlei. How important is milk for us Swiss* really? What challenges does the dairy industry face today? And who are the people who make sure that the cows are happy, the production chain remains sustainable and the finished dairy products reach the consumers?

Charles Nguela gets into the rubber boots

As a roving reporter who has had little contact with farmers, cows or cheesemakers, stand-up comedian Charles Nguela learns that cows prefer to be scratched on the forehead and particularly like small, crunchy apples. He also shares his first milking attempts with listeners. In addition, the "Milch" hosts provide exciting background information about milk in expert talks with cheesemakers, tourism experts and star chefs: What is behind the creation of exciting delicacies such as Fribourg Vacherin or wild garlic curd?
Heiko Stegmaier, Head of Editorial and Content at Swissmilk, is looking forward to accompanying the "Milk" podcast journey and reaching new consumers in this way: "By letting the professionals along the value chain have their say, Swiss milk can be examined in a way that even experts can discover something new. The focus is on the innovative power of Swiss agriculture and its emphasis on regionality and sustainability. The industry is brought to life as a podcast with concrete examples.

The podcast series "Milk" was launched at the end of May 2021 and is available both on Swissmilk.ch as well as on platforms such as Spotify, Apple or Google.