According to a press release, the administration of the Migros-Genossenschafts-Bund MGB on Thursday determined the successor to Jörg Zulauf, who is now retiring at the age of 64. 47-year-old Isabelle Zimmermann was elected to the MGB general management. The handover of the baton is scheduled for January 1, 2022.

Isabelle Zimmermann has worked in a wide variety of finance functions at the internationally active Hilti Group in Schaan, Liechtenstein, since 2004, currently as Head of Corporate Audit and Risk Management. Previously, she was CFO of Hilti Germany and the Central Europe region from 2013 to 2019. Zimmermann holds degrees in business education (Mag.rer.soc.oec.) from the University of Innsbruck, among others, as well as a federal diploma in auditing from the Bern Chamber of Trustees.

After the Corona-related cancellation in 2020, a Screenforce Day will take place again on Thursday, May 20 from 10:00-11:30 am. In 90 minutes, participants will gain insight into the most important topics of the Swiss TV future. The event is presented by Screenforce Switzerland, with German TV presenter Wolfram Kons leading the program.

Participants will receive the latest information on Replay Ads, which will be launched in 2022, as well as on the latest developments in national and international media research - and what this means for Swiss advertisers. An exciting real-life case will be used to show how TV worked in a new launch in the Swiss B2B market. Also presented will be this year's Screenforce study, which shows the relevance of advertising during the crisis. As an addition, German media scientist and author Dr. Martin Andree will speak for the first time on the topic of artificial intelligence in marketing creation - a presentation with shocker potential.

The Registration is now possible, participation is free of charge.

The figures suggest that this puts the first quarter 19 percent behind the 2020 figure - and as much as 40 percent behind the 2019 figure.

Vehicle industry more active in advertising even without Autosalon

In March 2021, the automotive industry will again have to do without the Motor Show campaigns. Last year, this meant a year-on-year decline of 41.1 percent. In March 2021, the industry is able to significantly increase its advertising pressure again to 36.1 percent, which is at a similar level to previous years. The industry can also place two products in the top 10: both campaigns are from car dealer Amag and focus on out-of-home advertising.

The tobacco industry can also increase its advertising print in March. While it was already one of the few sectors with an advertising increase in March 2020 (+24.2%), this year it can even increase its advertising pressure by 173.2 percent in March. The biggest trigger here is the campaign for Philip Morris' Iqos tobacco heating system.

Construction, Industry and Furnishings is the last industry to record over 20 percent increase in advertising print in March 2021 (+22.5%).

Six sectors reduce by over 20 percent

While Leisure, Hospitality and Tourism was still in first place in the industry list last year, it has to settle for tenth place due to the crisis (YTD). After last year's 40 percent decline, March 2021 also shows another decline (-22.4%). The easing in April will possibly provide the industry with a slight recovery.

The financial sector is also reducing its advertising pressure by 33.8 percent in March 2021. The decline in advertising pressure extends across all product groups - from investments to pensions. Advertising for basic products fared the best (-9.6%).

The list of industries that reduced advertising print by more than 20 percent is completed by transportation (-58.1%), events (-48.1%), media (-34.0%) and services (-25.7%).

Outlook

Last April saw the sharpest drop (-40%) in the Swiss advertising market. So next month will show how the next relaxations will affect the advertising market in April 2021.

After last week the shortlist was announcedthe winners of this year's Clio Awards have now been announced. With Ruf Lanz, CR Kommunikation and TBWA\Zürich, three Swiss agencies are also among this year's winners.

Clio Awards 2021

Award list of the Swiss agencies

Ruf Lanz won bronze in both the "Poster" and "Photography" categories for the campaign "The Art of Transporting Art" for Welti Furrer.

CRK was able to secure bronze in both the "Design Craft - Animation" and "Billboard - Out of Home" categories. Together with Roof Studio, CRK even won silver in the category "Film Craft - Animation". The animated film "The eventful life of Rosemarie" was awarded silver and bronze, and the campaign "Take Over" also won bronze.

After TBWA\Zurich was able to snatch two shortlist places in the categories "Illustration" and "Print" with the poster "Field" for McDonald's, the campaign now received another bronze award in the latter category.

Since 1845, Schulthess has wanted to simplify everyday life for its customers by finding new ways to do things. This goal should also be made clear visually across all communication measures. Under the mantle "Turns with joy", the Schulthess website now also presents itself in a modern guise. The name says it all: the new website is playful in a circular way and has a lot of movement. Despite a lot of content, it scores with a great overview and literally brings the claim to life.

Over 1000 subpages and many animations

One of the main requirements of the new appearance was to show the aesthetics, functionality and user-friendliness of Schulthess also on the new website, which contains over 1000 subpages. Visually streamlined and based on a completely new wireframe concept, every user is now guided intuitively, receiving all the answers to their questions in no time at all. The visual trademark of Schulthess equipment - the reduced design of the angular and chrome-plated doors - also runs through the entire website, accompanied by numerous animations designed to keep the user happy. To underline the premium quality of Schulthess machines, the big words of the headlines and the wide-ranging, SEO-optimized content are also used in an ambiguous sense. The facelift of the logo completes the realignment of the corporate identity, which is now being driven forward by Rosarot through the design of further brochures.

Responsible at Schulthess Maschinen: Nicole Thier (Head of Marketing), Yunus Akgül (Online Manager). Veresponsible at Rosarot: René Karrer (Creative Direction), Labinot Gashi (Digital Direction), Isabelle Niemann (Digital Consulting), Pascal Knill (Consulting), Florian Fleischmann (Art Direction), Andreas Steiner, Jonas Hartmann (UX), Fabio Montefiori, Stephanie Steimer, Flavia Hänni (DTP), Dirk Schilling (Text).

Every year, the BAK organizes the competition "The Most Beautiful Swiss Books". It honors outstanding achievements in the field of book design and production and focuses in particular on works that express contemporary trends. The 19 most beautiful books of 2020 were selected by the BAK on the recommendation of a five-member jury chaired by graphic designer Gilles Gavillet. From June 24 to 27, 2021, the books will be shown in an exhibition at the Helmhaus in Zurich and will subsequently be on display at other locations in Switzerland and abroad.

Jan Tschichold Prize goes to Krispin Heé

Since 1997, the BAK has been awarding the Jan Tschichold Prize to a personality, group or institution for outstanding achievements in book design. The prize is awarded on the recommendation of the jury and independently of the "Most Beautiful Swiss Books" competition. This year, the Jan Tschichold Prize, endowed with CHF 25,000, goes to Krispin Heé.

Heé was born in 1979. She has been working independently for over ten years. Her books have won several awards as "most beautiful Swiss books" and stand for a book design that is visually very diverse and always precise in its realization. "Lily Keller", "Art Décor" and "Die Verwandte" won awards in the 2015, 2016 and 2019 competitions and are evidence of a strong artistic direction that nevertheless treats the content with respect and avoids personal effects in order to emphasize the identity of a project. The jury acknowledges this commitment and demanding attitude.

The Jan Tschichold Prize will be awarded to Krispin Heé on June 24, 2021 as part of the vernissage of the exhibition "The Most Beautiful Swiss Books 2020" at the Helmhaus in Zurich.

The competition "The most beautiful Swiss books" is an instrument of the Federal Office of Culture that honors the quality of book design in Switzerland and brings it closer to the public. The competition is open to exponents from the fields of design, publishing and printing. Around 400 titles are submitted to the Federal Office of Culture each year. A five-member international jury selects the most beautiful Swiss books of the respective year. The competition captures trends and recognizes tendencies in contemporary book design and production, while at the same time creating a far-reaching historical memory.

Till Könneker, a Bernese maker with Musk's output, wants to Enabling Office (AFE), which is to find alternative forms of cultural funding and offer creative artists an uncomplicated financing alternative. The Office for the Future (AFZ), which has already been researching contemporary issues for several years, and the AFE are to work together under the umbrella of the Office of the Offices, which is also to be newly launched, the OFFICIAL'S OFFICEThe new system will be used to achieve apparent bureaucratic flights of fancy.

For Könneker, Hella Studio brought AFE and AMTAMTAMT up to launch level conceptually, visually and textually. The task was to reconcile the many ideas, starting with the naming and ending with a set of graphic design elements:

Bitmap fonts, icons and images shredded by a dither effect allow to communicate the whole family of the new offices in a concise brand system with maximum flexibility. Thus, Hella Studio was not only able to develop vessels for the first media campaigns such as the video campaign "Einfach ist das Künstlerleben" or the non-game on the AMTAMTAMT homepage, but also to lay the foundation for a sustainable and coherent brand communication.

Responsible at AFE: Till Könneker (Initiator). Responsible at Hella Studio: Joëlle Lehmann, Kasper Kobel (concept and design), Daniel Lerch (text, concept and technical implementation).

"Some of the most pressing challenges cannot be solved alone. They require a collaborative approach to develop sustainable solutions for society and the economy. We see collaborative innovation as key to creating systemic change and unleashing the potential of the digital age to solve today's challenges." This is the core mission of the Digitalswitzerland-developed "Leap Digital Demo Day".

The final goal is to launch a project that will be a win-win situation for all organizations involved as well as for society.

Hyperraum already defined the cornerstone for the visual communication of the event three years ago. At that time, it took place without Corona and under the name "Demo & Pitch Day" at the Kraftwerk in Zurich. The third edition took place on April 20, 2021, exclusively digitally via live stream.

These new circumstances has Hyperspace consciously into the key visual. The new way of working created by Corona - with virtual get-togethers - often results in funny reactions and unexpected moments, which was summarized and visualized with a playfully illustrated face. Various cut-outs in the webcam windows combine to create a new collaborative look.

Furthermore, processes were visualized in the form of infographics and new projects were summarized in icons. The goal was to always make the core idea of the project quickly understandable. The style is deliberately illustrative, but at the same time graphic and clean, which should help to a simple understanding of the subject.

Responsible at Leap/Digitalswitzerland: Guillaume Gabus, Stephanie Tauber Gomez (Co-Lead Leap), Jan Friedli (Project Manager). Responsible at Hyperspace: Tobias Aeschbacher (Project Lead, Graphic Designer & Illustrator), Vincent Grand (Graphic Designer & Illustrator).

"We were hit hard, but less hard than we feared because the second half of the year was even better." This is how Ringier CEO Marc Walder summarized the pandemic year 2020 at the virtual media conference on Thursday.

Operating profit before depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell to CHF 84.4 million last year. In 2019, it had still amounted to CHF 114.1 million. This corresponds to a decline of 29.7 million francs. Sales also fell significantly - from CHF 984.8 million to CHF 953.7 million.

On the one hand, this was due to the slump in the advertising market, which other media companies are also struggling with. On the other hand, Ticketcorner owner Ringier suffered particularly from the fact that no events took place. "Ticketcorner experienced a full braking to zero, until today," said Walder.

The digital marketplaces were also mixed, particularly the job platform Jobscout24. The economic uncertainty led to a drop in fluctuation among Swiss companies, resulting in far fewer job advertisements being published.

However, individual Ringier companies achieved higher sales precisely because of the pandemic - such as Geschenkidee or the food delivery company "Bistro.sk" in Slovakia, which Walder says is now the market leader.

Corona pandemic costs two years

Ringier was able to absorb a considerable part of the pandemic-related loss of revenue through cost-cutting measures. Nevertheless, the EBITDA margin fell from 11.6 to 8.8 percent last year.

According to Walder, it will take two or even more years for Ringier to return to the level of profitability that was planned in the pre-corona period.

Ringier, on the other hand, had a good year in terms of journalism because the pandemic triggered a great need for information. "The platforms experienced an incredible boost," said Walder. The figures have risen massively, including those of paying readers. Walder is now determined to keep these good figures up, even when coronavirus is over. (SDA)

Almost 140,000 companies had to pay a levy for radio and television in 2020. They did so reliably and on time: At the end of the year, 98 percent of the claims had been settled, as can be seen from the annual report of the Federal Tax Administration (FTA).

The collection system has been shown to run stably even in times of crisis, according to the report published Thursday. Revenues amounted to around 185 million francs. This is more than in 2019 (around 174 million francs).

During the months of March and April, the tax authority refrained from sending invoices due to the Covid 19 situation. These were then sent to the companies in May.

Companies subject to VAT in Switzerland with a worldwide turnover of at least CHF 500,000 are automatically subject to the radio and television tax. The tax administration is required to prepare annual financial statements and an activity report. (SDA)

Since 2006, Alexander Schill has played a leading role in expanding the strong market position of the independent agency network through innovative creative performance. Today, the Serviceplan Group has more than 24 offices in 17 countries. Schill has brought Serviceplan to the forefront of national and international creative rankings. His work has received several international awards.

In the footsteps of Ami Hasan

"Creativity is a 'higher good' with an amazing power to change society. But that should not be in the interest of business people. That's why I'm committed to ADCE as one of the few strong non-profit creative businesses in the world," Schill comments on his arrival. He sees creativity as a "superpower" that helps make problems visible. "Visibility is key for me. We can only change the things we can see and understand," he adds. "So my main focus will be to focus on that very message: Let's use creativity to bring issues - for social good or for brands - to the forefront of society and consumers."

As a member of the global WARC Council, jury president at numerous creative festivals around the world such as Cannes Lions, CLIO, NYF, D & AD, Eurobest and a regular keynote speaker, Schill has become a strong voice for boundless creativity and measurable impact, according to an ADC statement. He studied at the Berlin University of the Arts and has won more than 80 Cannes Lions to date. In 2021, he was named the third most awarded CCO in the Drum World Creative Rankings.

Philipp Griesser brings twelve years of experience in digital business, both on the corporate and agency side. At Dept, he has worked on organizational development and introduced agile ways of working over the past two years. As Commercial Director, he has commercial responsibility for client relationships in the executive team.

At the same time, Dept is strengthening the Growth & Client Relations area and, with a co-head, wants to ensure that both growth and client relations topics are equipped with sufficient management power. As Head of New Business, Isabell Voss is now responsible for lead generation, marketing, sales operations and new customer acquisition. Together with Philipp Griesser, she heads the 16-strong team that also looks after sales and consulting.

For Dept founder Lukas Stuber, this change is a round thing: "Since 2003, back then as co-founder of Yourposition and with the later entry into Dept, I have experienced incredibly exciting years. Today, we have an excellent position in the Swiss market and as part of Dept, we are also successfully active internationally. Now, after more than 17 years, the next generation is ready here in Zurich with Isabell Voss and Philipp Griesser." After a sabbatical, he focuses on sales, strategy consulting and representation in his role as Founder at Dept and takes care of a number of employees as a mentor.

The Executive Board of Dept Zurich is composed as follows:

• Beat Muttenzer, Managing Director
• Tobias Scholz, Director Digital Marketing
• Karin Taheny, Director Finance
• Philipp Griesser, Commercial Director