Even under more difficult conditions, journalists are doing high-quality work. This is demonstrated by the rich spectrum of strong articles submitted for this year's Zurich Journalism Award. The jury has now made its shortlist from the 160 texts submitted. The following contributions are among the ten nominees:

• Andreas Babst, Completely Knocked Out (New Zurich Newspaper)
• Katharina Bracher, Sacha Batthyany, "Bin doch erst 13" - "All the better!" (NZZ am Sonntag Magazine)
• Flurin Clalüna, Two Friends (New Zurich Newspaper)
• Thomas Schifferle, Bianca and Brigitte (The magazine)
• Christof Gertsch, Mikael Krogerus, The Magglingen Protocols (The magazine)
• Christopher Gilb, Scratching the Image of the Corporate Savior (Lucerne Newspaper)
• Stefan Keller, Hot summer nights with snow angels (WOZ The weekly newspaper)
• Christoph Lenz, The Climate Disgrace of Visp (The magazine)
• Daniel Ryser, "A Murderous System Creates Itself Before Our Eyes" (Republic)
• Marlon Rusch, The Beaten, (Schaffhausen AZ)
• Michael Schillinger, Janique Weder, Would you buy this hotel? (New Zurich Newspaper)

Three of these works will be awarded the Zurich Journalism Prize of CHF 10,000 each at the award ceremony on August 30. In addition, the jury has nominated three works for the Newcomer Prize of 5,000 Swiss francs:

• Fabia Bernet, The Story of a Forgotten Life (Zürcher Oberländer)
• Meret Michel, The House at the Crater (Republic)
• Samuel Tanner, Faith and Power (NZZ am Sonntag Magazine)

One of the three works will be crowned with the Newcomer Award. Due to corona, the award ceremony will not take place until August 30 in Zurich's "Kaufleuten".

New product cycles, such as for care products from Nivea, are around three years. Sebastian Johnston's company Vivere needs only eight to ten weeks for this. The company analyzes the search behavior of customers, for example on Amazon, and develops new products on the basis of this. This has now resulted in over 800 products - from pet supplies to beauty. True to the motto "what the customer is looking for, he will buy," completely new products are conquering the market.

m&k: Sebastian Johnston, normally you develop a product first and then bring it to market. You follow the exact opposite path. Why?

Sebastian Johnston: We are a data-driven company. We generate our product ideas by evaluating search queries on Google and marketplaces like Amazon. We quickly realize that many product ideas are totally obvious, but no one offers anything suitable. For example, many people are searching online for a product to repel snails. On the market, however, there is almost only poison or traps for killing snails. This gives rise to the idea: let's develop a remedy that deters and drives away snails without killing them. And ten weeks later, we start selling the finished product via the appropriate digital platforms and marketplaces under a brand that we have also developed.

So you develop data-driven consumer goods. How does that work? 

To interpret the search data correctly, we have developed special algorithms. If the algorithm points to an interesting idea, we sit down together and analyze the data: How big is the market for this idea, really? And does the product fit with one of our existing brands, or do we need a new brand with an independent range? In addition, the product must also fit our values: All our products are cruelty free, sustainably produced, recyclable, vegan, without microplastics. And we have to be able to carry out all the development steps right through to marketing ourselves. To this end, we have set up automated and flexible production facilities at our company site in Hamburg. It's important that everything happens quickly: The first clues in the data must be turned into a concrete product idea as quickly as possible, which then goes into agile development and testing as quickly as possible to create a market-ready product.

When you identify a trend. What steps follow?

As soon as the analysis of customer preferences in search engines and online marketplaces reveals a pattern, Vivere assigns a development team to it. For each team, researchers, product designers, project and product managers systematically work through a catalog of questions together with supply chain experts and marketing specialists: What is behind the search trend that the data shows? Is it a short-term fashion or beauty hype, such as might arise around an event like the Coachella festival? Is what the search data is showing a sustainable trend that is just beginning - or is it already flattening out? If you coordinate all the interfaces and set up the processes digitally right from the start, it works very well and only takes a few days or weeks.

Vivere brings consumer goods to market six times faster than other manufacturers, why? 

We are so fast because we can. And because this is the future of Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG). New customer needs are emerging, and we are the first to recognize them and then serve them directly. Speed is crucial for us. Unlike traditional consumer goods manufacturers or retailers, we have the grace of late birth. We don't have to drag along or change old processes and habits. We have redesigned all processes and workflows from scratch, automated a lot of things and designed the interfaces between the individual development steps so that everything flows. We haven't built silos, but rather put small, cross-functional teams on new brands and products from the start. We don't have to take production cycles and decision-making bodies of partners into account because we have everything on site ourselves: the expertise, the resources. We bring everyone together and then it runs, from sprint to sprint.

You are constantly expanding your product portfolio. How many products are added per month? And where are the limits - i.e. which products would you not include in the portfolio?

The consumer goods industry works slowly and with little digital. Vivere exploits this innovation potential by working without intermediaries, developing products in a radically data-driven way, and making an uncompromising commitment to sustainability. We are launching one or two new brands every month with up to 50 products, and each quarter we aim to open up a new sales market. With this, we plan to double our sales in the next year.

Briefly, a few more numbers. How big is your Vivere team by now and where do you see the company in the near future?

Our team consists of 80 people from over 15 nations who enjoy developing new brands and products with a lot of creativity and freedom and also implementing them immediately. To do this, the management team uses all its experience from the consumer goods industry, e-commerce, product development and marketing. We are all driven by the goal of turning the traditional consumer goods industry upside down with new sustainable products.

How brand management works in turbulent times is the topic at the Swiss Brand Congress. Switzerland's largest industry get-together will take place on June 16 as a hybrid congress in Zurich. More than 30 experts from national and international success brands will be on stage in 10 forums. Sebastian Johnston will speak in Zurich about the completely new understanding of brand management.

Sometimes in workshops, it feels like you're in a diving camp. Yet the Swiss communications industry is an inland body of water, not an ocean. People dive for all they're worth, even though very few people know where this neologism comes from. Not always, when English terms - in this case deep dive -If the word is taken over, it succeeds. In this case, because the new word creation also brings things together linguistically that have long belonged together methodically. Dive or deepen were the terms that had been stored in our vocabularies until now.

People inevitably learned to deepen their knowledge at school or in their studies - be it knowledge, skills or competencies. Those who deepened their knowledge gained knowledge that was tested (or not) at the end of the journey and rewarded with a degree. Whether this knowledge was understood was of no interest to anyone. Immersion, on the other hand, was considered something one was allowed to do in one's passions. Music, sports, theater, literature were ideal for this. The grades in these subjects, if there were any at all, were secondary. What counted were opinions. Those who dived into areas where nothing counted were smiled at mildly and wished good luck if they went in that direction professionally.

The end of MINT VS. MUSE

Thanks to digitization, hearts and minds have now merged, and the mix of so-called STEM subjects - mathematics, computer science, natural sciences and technology - and artistic skills has given rise to things that changed the world: Apple pioneered the successful mix of STEM and MUSE in the early 1980s.

So today, the blending of the two verbs is not surprising, because "abtiefen" refers to the symbiosis between knowledge and opinion, in order to find out exactly which 50 percent of marketing and communications expenditures make a difference. "It doesn't work" are responses from the supposedly ignorant, fought with rows of numbers, click-through rates, dwell times, access information. If we just bombard these ignorant people with facts long enough, they will eventually give in.

But mostly opinions are made long in advance and affinity or aversion remains uninfluenceable even with facts, because incompetent people unfortunately also lack the competence to recognize their incompetence. This is called the Dunning-Kruger effect. So going into depth with endless charts of analytics data is of little use if clients tend to decide "on gut instinct". Or to put it another way: It's no use showing up at meetings loaded with oxygen tanks if the other party prefers to travel with a snorkel and diving goggles.

* Benno Maggi is co-founder and CEO of Partner & Partner. He has been eavesdropping on the industry for over 30 years, discovering words and terms for us that can either be used for small talk, pomposity, excitement, playing Scrabble, or just because.

The shortlist for the ADC Awards 2021 is long. "Those who do not find themselves here may be annoyed and resolve to do better from now on," writes ADC Switzerland in a statement. Those agencies that are on the shortlist can now hope for one of the coveted ADC cubes.

"It is in the nature of winners' podiums that they only offer space to a lucky few - all the more reason to cheer the winners of the Bronze, Silver, Gold, Evergreen Cubes and Student of the Year," said Frank Bodin, Jury Chairman and President of ADC Switzerland.

ADC Awards

The shortlist 2021

For the five videos, the occupational groups were selected by the project manager building automation, service technician, electrician, automation technician and chief electrician. "Our goal was to create a holistic concept that explains the complex occupational groups of electrical engineering in a child-friendly and emotional way," explains Tim Stief from Witwinkel. Children of Burkhalter Technics employees were asked: "What does your dad do?". In answering, the children gave free rein to their creativity and invented new business areas for Burkhalter Technics. Suddenly, daddy was no longer a service technician, but a "juice technician".

While the children describe the fathers' activities, the dads' hand movements are shown at work. "With the warm, hearty opening, you also want to know the end, it builds up suspense," explains Christian Bertschinger, Managing Director of Burkhalter Technics. For recognition value in the interview sequences, various props were placed in Burkhalter yellow. A special prop was a UPS toy car, which was redesigned in the Burkhalter CI/CD. The children recognized the car immediately and had great fun with it.

The videos are now being used to put the spotlight on the professional groups at Burkhalter Technics. Potential applicants should thus be made aware of the work at Burkhalter in an emotional way. Two of a total of five videos have already been published on the Burkhalter Technics LinkedIn channel.

Responsible at Burkhalter Technics: Christian Bertschinger, Sabrina Brunner. Idea & Concept: Tim Stief, Gian-Andrea Lüthi. Director: Tim Stief. Camera: Gian-Andrea Lüthi. Sound: Florian Hillner. Visual Effects: Timon Graber. Concept and editing of social media: Christian Greder.

The footage was filmed in a specially built set over two days. A lot of attention was paid to artistic details, so that the viewer gets the feeling of the good old TV series. For this format lives above all through the tensions and entanglements of a wide variety of characters who clash at the central scene of the action. Like in the blood donation center, where everyone is welcome - regardless of origin, hair color, gender, political or culinary preferences, musical taste, and so on.

No matter how different blood donors are, they all have one thing in common: saving lives is in their blood, and those who do it demonstrate character.

Jensen&Heitz are responsible for the cinematic realization, the animations are by Ahoi Motion.

Responsible at Blutspendezentrum Basel: Heidi Brönnimann. Responsible at OSW: Michael Oswald (creative direction), Jonas Sispele (concept/text), Corinne Engler (consulting). Responsible at Jensen&Heitz: Nicolas Heitz. Animation: Ahoy Motion.

"Our decision to choose CRK and Aroma as Swissgrid's new lead agency was not only based on their understanding of Swissgrid's initial situation and framework. The creative execution as well as the high competence in digital communication were also convincing," says Michelle Roth, Head of Communication & Stakeholder Management at Swissgrid.

"We wanted to show that we can fill the role of a lead agency, but that we also bring ideas and enthusiasm to the table in order to communicate the wide variety of topics related to Swissgrid's tasks to very different target groups in a gripping way. This is important, because the reliable and economical supply of energy - and of that, more and more electricity - has long since ceased to be a niche topic for experts, but belongs at the top of the public agenda," adds Oliver Wimmer, partner at CRK and head of mandate for the agency community.

Aroma and CRK have been working closely together for several years on various mandates and projects, including Energie Schweiz's multi-year "renewable heating" campaign or the National Climate Day, which will take place on May 27, 2021.

Responsible at Aroma and CRK: Oliver Wimmer (Head of Mandate and Strategy), Philipp Hänggli (Deputy Head of Mandate), Max Eschler (Multimedia Production), Lena Klein (Art Direction), Geraldine Neeser (Consulting), Louise Riis Ruggaber (Brand Design), Moritz Staehelin (Creative Direction), Mauro Testerini (Creative Direction 3D), Christina Utz (Digital), Monika Wüthrich (Corporate Publishing).

"Attitude good, performance good" headlines a paid Facebook ad by the NZZ. "From happy Swiss pigs" reports an article of the 20 minutes. Behind both is a collaboration with the lobby brand "Swiss meat". Such paid partnerships between media and animal products lobbies are commonplace today, Animal Rights Switzerland writes in a statement. The lobbies would have thanks to industry and tax money more than enough funds left for it. A reprimand from the Press Council only occurs in exceptional cases when an advertisement is not declared as such.

In animal protection, one knows the problems that can arise from connections between media and lobbies. "The industry can simply buy attention, the non-profit animal protection has no money for it," says Céline Schlegel, co-director of Animal Rights Switzerland. This, she says, creates a one-sided discussion. "This also influences the political debate around animal protection, and in the end the animals suffer," Céline Schlegel continues. How animal protection issues are reported on and who has their say is therefore absolutely crucial.

For media professionals who want to report critically and independently on animal welfare issues, Animal Rights Switzerland now publishes a list of recommendations. It is about a wide range of topics: About paid lobby advertising, but also about animal stereotypes, about interest groups in animal protection, about legal vocabulary and about the portrayal of animal rights activists. 20 problematic examples from Swiss daily newspapers are addressed. "We are not denouncing anyone, but we want to raise awareness of the problem and point out what critical media professionals are already doing better than others," says Céline Schlegel. We also want to make it easier for editors to set guidelines for themselves.

Schifferle has more than 20 years of experience in TV entertainment - a total of ten of them at SRF, where he helped develop or was responsible for various formats such as "Happy Day," "Game of Switzerland," "Aeschbacher," "Benissimo," "Wer wohnt wo?", "Der Match," "Stadt Land Talent" and "Darf ich bitten?

During his career to date, Schifferle has also been involved in setting up the media start-up Joiz in Switzerland and Germany. He also worked for various TV production companies in Switzerland and Germany, such as Bbendemol and Brainpool. As owner of the company "Flying Producer", Schifferle conceived and produced formats for various TV and advertising clients. For SRF, among others, the baking show "Myriam und die Meisterbäcker" and the musical experiment "Schwiizergoofe singed mit Orchester".

Radio Top and Suisa have been at loggerheads for years over copyright fees. Because the station and the cooperative could not agree on the correct calculation, Suisa finally made short work of the matter three years ago.

It terminated Radio Top's license as of April 2018. Since then, Radio Top is actually no longer allowed to play any music from the Suisa repertoire. However, Radio Top refuses to comply with this broadcasting ban, claiming that it is arbitrary.

Radio Top has a right to Suisa's repertoire, the station argues. The federal concession stipulates that part of the broadcasting time must be filled with music. If Radio Top did not do this, the station would have its license revoked. Suisa is thus abusing its monopoly position.

Suisa demanded 1.8 million Swiss francs

Suisa, for its part, demanded a total of 1.8 million francs from the radio station in eastern Switzerland. However, the cooperative only arrived at this amount with the help of an estimate based on figures from the Federal Office of Communications.

According to Suisa, Radio Top had not disclosed its income relevant to the tariff "despite repeated requests and reminders". Suisa had also tried to explain to the broadcaster the obligation to pay the fees, but in vain.

At least for the years 2014 to 2016, the broadcaster had therefore violated its legal and collective bargaining obligations to provide information. As a "punitive action," Suisa also doubled the fee owed.

Federal court does not want "punitive action"

The Federal Court has now ruled that Radio Top cannot avoid paying fees. The performance mandate does not release the station from respecting copyrights and thus from paying Suisa the fees for playing the music.

However, the Federal Court does not think much of the "punitive action" by Suisa, i.e. the doubling of the fee, as can be seen from the ruling published on Wednesday.

There was no evidence that Radio Top had intentionally or grossly negligently provided incomplete or false accounts, the Federal Court wrote. Radio Top had justified the missing information among other things with personnel changes and reorganizations.

How much Radio Top must now pay in arrears has not yet been clarified. The Federal Court is sending the case back to the Zurich Commercial Court for a precise determination of the amount of the fee. (SDA)

In the transport company Aare Seeland Mobil (ASM), the passenger TV Passengertv live system is increasingly becoming the standard, according to a statement from Livesystems. Currently, more than 1.3 million passengers a year are informed and entertained on trains along the southern shore of Lake Biel (Biel-Täuffelen-Ins railroad line) using screens from Livesystems. The content supplier for the screens is Nau.ch - in the bilingual section around the Biel region, additional local publishers provide relevant news and information.

According to Livesystems, the number of ASM buses equipped with Passengertv also grew in 2020. In the Seeland region, there had even been a doubling by the end of the year. The new fleet of vehicles was automatically equipped with the screens, which means passengers now see Passengertv programming on a total of 12 ASM buses in the Seeland region.

Expansion on the Oberaargau and Solothurn railroad line

As Livesystems writes, in addition to the Biel region, further growth is taking place on the ASM route network in the regions of Oberaargau and Solothurn. Here, Livesystems could equip further vehicles of the ASM transport company with Passengertv screens. On the Langenthal-Oensingen-Solothurn railroad line, all trains will be equipped with the screens from Livesystems in the course of 2021. This means that by the end of the year, all Aare Seeland mobil vehicles - on rail and road - will be running with Passengertv.

After the integration of the additional screens, according to statements by Livesystems, one advertising message can generate around 18,000 daily contacts, which corresponds to the transport of 6.5 million passengers per year.

The subjects of the image campaign appear in selected media as well as in stores and are aimed at involving and activating customers - as well as drawing attention to the new collection.

The illustrations by Studio Thom Pfister focus on the current mood of the collection and make reference to the images.