Following a successful rebranding 24 months ago from "Kieser Training" to "Kieser", the company is entering 2025 in the DACH region with a new brand claim and communication presence.

For the brand claim, Kieser and Zimmermann Communications were inspired by company founder Werner Kieser. The visionary coined the phrase "For me, strength means life" and thus provided the basis. Regardless of our age, life requires strength - both physically and mentally. If you have a strong back, you are ready for challenges, but also for the good things in life. Strength means self-determination and longevity. The new brand claim "Strength for life" expresses exactly that.

The new communication formula "There comes a time when you need Kieser" highlights the need to "do" something. Studies show that our muscle mass begins to decline from the age of 25. "Health restrictions, physical deterioration and problems with the musculoskeletal system occur in particular with advanced age and a corresponding lifestyle. In an ageing society, it is therefore all the more important to strengthen muscles early on. No matter what age you are, it is never too late. The campaign aims to show honestly and directly how much we rely on our muscles to stay mobile and enjoy a high quality of life. At some point in everyone's life, the moment comes when everything speaks in favor of strength training with Kieser," explains Sabrina Mehri, CMO at Kieser.

Through different people and different moments in their lives, the campaign uses three films and six key visuals to show how important strength is in everyday life. "We deliberately looked for moments that seem ordinary and simple at first glance. For example, carrying your child to bed or walking up a flight of stairs that we have already done countless times. However, after an injury and the associated muscle atrophy or simply due to our age, these stairs suddenly seem insurmountable," explains Mehri. "We are put in a situation that each of us has already experienced in our own way."

New image world

Kieser and Zimmermann Communications have also developed a new visual concept for the new campaign. Together with the two photographers from "Anntheo", a new visual world was created in a Kieser studio. "When designing the visual language, we deliberately moved away from the classic fitness industry and integrated elements from the automotive and fashion world," explains Christoff Strukamp, Creative Director of Zimmermann Communications.

Here, too, the reason lies in the uniqueness of the Kieser brand. All studios have their own interior design, which is strongly influenced by the Bauhaus style. The aim here was to give space to the Kieser interior, which is reduced to the essentials and follows the motto "less is more". It consists of white walls, the typical wooden parquet flooring in combination with the open engineering and metallic robustness of the Kieser machines. This was united in a visual concept without losing the focus on the people. "At the same time, we added colors such as beige and gold tones to the color scheme - in addition to the existing white, silver and blue tones - to create an even more harmonious visual world that is warm and inviting," continues Sturkamp.

The young photographer Lena Hogekamp worked on the campaign visuals outside the studios. "Lena quickly manages to give images the intimacy and emotionality we were looking for to show how important mental and physical strength is to have power for life," explains CMO Mehri. The protagonists from commercials and photos are identical everywhere to ensure stringent storytelling across all channels.

The campaign can be seen on TV, on posters, in newspapers and magazines as well as in digital and social media. It will also be used by over 140 studios in the DACH region in local and regional campaigns and measures. A new website will also go online in the course of the year.

Responsible at Kieser: Sabrina Mehri (CMO and member of the Executive Board). Responsible at Zimmermann Communications: Christoff Strukamp (Creative Direction); Sophie Güntensperger (Text); Julia Hofmann, Nico Hediger (Art Direction); Dominik Mätzener (Management Consulting); Lara Cavelti (Project Management); Rolf Zimmermann (Overall Responsibility & Strategy). Film production: Company Production Zurich. Director: Stefan Künzler. Producer: Michael Gloor. Photo production: VisualEyes. Photo: Lena Hogenkamp, Anntheo.

Galledia already has a broad portfolio of business-related publications and well-known business events. In addition to m&k and Markt-kom.com also titles such as the Organizer and Real Estate Business as well as events such as the Rhine Valley and Thurgau Business Forums, the Eastern Switzerland Personnel Day and the Greenovation Summit. The new business platform "Business Class Ost" bundles these contents and events.

On the website Businessclassost.ch and in a daily newsletter, the most important information for SMEs and managers in Eastern Switzerland is aggregated and made available.

Investment in journalism

SMEs and commercial enterprises regularly complain that they are hardly noticed by the media. "We want to close this gap," says Martin Oswald, Head of Galledia Regional Media and responsible for "Business Class East". The new service is an experiment. "The media industry is in crisis, so we have to be innovative and try out new things. An offer in the business sector seems very promising to us," emphasizes Oswald.

In Eckhard Baschek, Oswald was able to recruit an experienced business journalist for the project. Baschek worked for a total of 20 years for the Handelszeitung, was editorial director of K-Money and provides training in crisis communication. According to Baschek, "Business Class East" is starting with a daily newsletter. However, the service is to be expanded step by step.

Region with great potential

Eastern Switzerland is home to over 86,000 companies and 1.15 million people, around 600,000 of whom work in an SME. The "Business Class Ost" platform is aimed at managers who are interested in HR and company news from the region.

Paying members can secure a package consisting of tickets for events, subscriptions to magazines and invitations to exclusive CEO talks. In addition, "Business Class East" is also planning a practical training series in future.

The platform uses Scope. The SaaS solution for digital communication makes it possible to organize content efficiently and publish it on various channels.

Hager develops customized solutions for commercial and residential buildings and provides reliable and safe energy distribution to successfully meet the challenges faced by customers in the areas of energy transition, management and distribution. Under the claim "Together, we create solutions for commercial projects", Studio Thom Pfister shows what teamwork at Hager looks like in a brand film.

"Studio Thom Pfister has masterfully managed to unite our core themes and bring them to life with creative clarity. The campaign shows its impact in an international environment," says Martin Soder, Vice President MDS & Project Business.

The international social media campaign will start in spring 2025.

Responsible at Hager Group: Martin Soder (Vice President MDS & Project Business); Linda Signer (Program Manager MDS). Responsible at Studio Thom Pfister: Thom Pfister (Creative Director), Roland Zenger (Art Director), Ursula Rytz (Consulting and Project Management), Daniel Hackiewicz (Senior Designer), Sharon Moor (Graphic Design), Marianne Schoch (Consulting and Production), Oliver Hallberg, Priska Fuhrer (Film, Photography, CGI), Recording studio: Nice Noise.

The FE Agentur has developed a website in close cooperation with the Canton of Aargau's location promotion agency, which is intended to appeal to international investors, Aargau companies and those interested in setting up a business. The platform has a dynamic user interface and an interactive map that shows research and education as well as innovation funding opportunities in Aargau. With modern API interfaces, the website also provides continuously updated information and is intended to strengthen the digital presence of the Canton of Aargau.

Digital business card

The new website is intended to position Aargau as an economically attractive location and present relevant information clearly. At the heart of the website, the interactive map visually highlights the innovation promotion landscape. With this digital solution, companies can see important locational advantages and offers at a glance.

Furthermore, an image film is currently being produced that presents the advantages of the location from the perspective of internationally successful companies that have their headquarters in Aargau.

Responsible for location promotion: Jelena Teuscher (Marketing Project Manager). Responsible at F/E: Luisa Villiger, Simeon Meder (consulting), Robin Schärer (web design), Danusha Kuchtova (text support), Karin Renold (concept). Programming: Opten. Photography: Photo Basler.

The Gornergrat Bahn in Zermatt brings thousands of tourists from all over the world to the Gornergrat every day. A marketing campaign aims to further strengthen the awareness and positioning of the Gornergrat Bahn. To this end, CRK has developed a creative concept that presents the Gornergrat Bahn as the gateway to the Gornergrat adventure mountain.

The experience begins with the Gornergrat Bahn

Eleven short videos are at the heart of the campaign. These were also adapted for analog formats. Topographical highlights and offers on the Gornergrat are shown from the perspective of a drone flying from a Polaris train of the Gornergrat Bahn. At the end, the drone lands in the hands of a tourist. The playful POV perspective underlines the message: the Gornergrat Bahn takes you to your personal active or culinary experience.

Broad playout

The videos and images will be played out across various platforms over the coming months: social ads, Google ads, programmatic ads and organic social media posts will ensure a broad digital presence. This will be supplemented by collaborations with influencers, print advertisements in magazines, cinema spots, billboard advertising, screens at train stations and railboards along the Gornergrat Bahn route. The first five videos can already be seen on the Gornergrat Bahn YouTube channel.

Responsible at the Gornergrat Bahn: Hana Mustafi, Estelle Kummer, Yaël Nater. Responsible at CRK: Caroline Hulliger (project management), Filip Wolfensberger (creative director), Thomas Meyer (art director), Manuel Kaufmann (graphics), Gina Messerli (project management). Film production: Birdviewpicture.

The aim of the mandate is to support companies, especially SMEs, in the coming years in the consistent implementation of the Energy Strategy 2050 and the achievement of the net-zero target by 2050 and to motivate them to plan energy efficiency and decarbonization measures.

Scholz & Friends impressed with an integrated marketing and communication concept that positions SwissEnergy as a "navigator" and competent supporter for the diverse sector-specific needs of the Swiss economy. With orchestrated measures from the areas of umbrella communication, community management, CRM and impact measurement, Swiss companies are accompanied along their customer journey on their individual path to net zero. The aim is to provide the necessary information, advice and funding opportunities from SwissEnergy and also to involve industry associations and partners.

"Providing new impetus for SwissEnergy's B2B communication with an innovative, orchestrated approach geared towards creative effectiveness is an extremely exciting challenge that we are very much looking forward to," says Mathias Rösch, CEO of Scholz & Friends Zurich.

The collaboration based on the "round table principle" will start immediately with an interdisciplinary team of communication experts from Scholz & Friends Family and the two subcontractors Campaigneers, responsible for community management, and Translingua, responsible for translation services. The first measures will be launched in the course of the year.

With the brand values "Authentic, formative, optimistic, popular and far-sighted", the Swiss Illustrated as a biographer of Switzerland since 1911. To this day, she offers readers stories that touch them and her very own closeness to stars and celebrities.

In the current image campaign, the Swiss Illustrated is now getting even closer and focusing on three Swiss celebrities and the headlines about them. In the TV commercials, presenter Christa Rigozzi, cult singer Baschi and the king of wrestling are confronted with headlines that revolve around their lives. The more concretely the words capture the essence of the story, the more the camera zooms in and literally brings them closer to the viewer.

The three TV commercials with the respective celebrities will be broadcast immediately in several waves on the TV channels of SRF, CH Media and the Seven.One Group stations. The campaign will also be accompanied online and on social media in various formats with short snippets and background stories.

Responsible for Swiss IllustratedMaximilian Börke (Head of Marketing), Silvia Binggeli (Editor-in-Chief SI), Martina Eith (Project Manager), Sabrina Fürst (Brand Manager SI), Andrea Bachofner (Art Director). Responsible at Stories (film production): Rhea Mandanis (Producer), Juliane Taudt (Director), Fabian Kimoto (DoP).

The agency has added another name to its portfolio in the hospitality segment: as of January 2025, Primcom will be supporting the team behind the "101 Best Hotels" ranking with communications for the first "101 Soirée" on March 30, 2025 in Switzerland. The "101 best hotels" in Switzerland and the "101 best hotels" in the DACH region and South Tyrol will be selected - in parallel with the publication of the the ranking in book form.

David Rath and his father Carsten K. Rath, former hotelier and consultant, are behind the renowned ranking and associated guide, which is well established in Germany. The 58-year-old Swiss national is one of the best-known names in the European hospitality industry. "With 'The 101 best hotels in Germany', David and Carsten Rath have created a watertight ranking - the '101 best hotels' will also become the travel bible of the hotel industry in Switzerland," Markus Granelli, General Manager of The Dolder Grand, is convinced.

"We are delighted to be able to support the '101 Best Hotels' with their market entry in Switzerland and thus bring the numerous outstanding hotels and personalities of the Swiss hotel industry even more into the media spotlight," says Sophie Grüber, who is in charge of the mandate at PrimCom. "All the more so as we are ideally positioned with our branches in Germany and Austria to provide media support for the '101 best hotels' throughout the DACH region in the future and contribute to their continued successful development," adds Vanessa Bay, owner and Managing Director of PrimCom in Switzerland.

With the newly created role of Brand Business Manager, Tamedia's media titles in Switzerland are to be positioned even more strongly in the readership and advertising market and brand management is to be professionalized. The newly created Brand Business Management is cross-functionally responsible for the entire profit and loss account of the respective brands and reports to CEO Jessica Peppel-Schulz.

Vanessa Marr will take over as Head of Brand Business Management from January 1, 2025 and is also Brand Business Manager for the Tages-Anzeiger. The experienced marketing expert was previously Chief Marketing Officer at Localsearch, where she drove the digital transformation and brand management of Local.ch and Search.ch. With her expertise in strategic brand development and digital growth, she will play a key role in shaping the transformation of Tamedia's titles.

Katerina Wardakas has held various positions at Tamedia for over eight years. On February 1, 2025, she will start as Brand Business Manager for the BZ Bernese Newspaper and the Basel Newspaper. Her main focus was on digital subscription marketing and branding.

As Brand Business Manager, Chantal de Senger will be responsible for the strategy, management and monetization as well as the brand management of all brands in French-speaking Switzerland from 1 January 2025. She also represents Tamedia as Executive Tamedia WCH.

"With the announcement of our new strategy, we have always made one thing very clear: in order to achieve sustainable growth with our brands, especially in digital, we need new and holistic approaches to monetization. We have created the new role of Brand Business Manager specifically for this purpose," explains CEO Jessica Peppel-Schulz.

As the former Head of Production at Yoveo | Team Farner, Leonie Studer combines many years of experience in management with expertise and a passion for innovation and videos. "I am proud to build on the agency's success, especially after winning the Master of Swiss Web Award last year. With the team, the technologies of tomorrow and our clients, we will make a big difference," says Leonie Studer about her new position.

Andreas Herren and Marco Demont are deliberately stepping back from operational management to give Leonie Studer and her team room for new ideas. At the same time, they will remain closely involved as consultants in order to use their experience and networks for the further development of the agency. In particular, their focus will be on networking Yoveo's expertise even more closely within Team Farner and thus with various communication disciplines.

Michel Grunder, CEO of Team Farner Switzerland, welcomes the change: "The move shows a trust in younger talent that was already in place long before the decision was made. This is just as much a compliment for Leonie as it is for Andreas and Marco for their entrepreneurial flair and vision. The entire leadership of Team Farner Switzerland and I look forward to continuing our close collaboration."

If a person in Switzerland watched TV in the last six months, they did so for an average of 171 minutes per day (viewing time). Applied to the population as a whole (viewing time), this means that every person aged 3 and over has invested 105 minutes in TV viewing on an average day.

Of these 105 minutes, 75 minutes are accounted for by linear TV viewing and 30 minutes by time-shifted viewing. In other words: regardless of all the options available to audiences to organize their TV consumption independently of the TV program, the majority of TV broadcasts will still be used live in 2024.

The latest data shows the familiar patterns in a comparison of language regions. In Svizzera italiana, television achieves the highest relative penetration with a daily reach of 69% and the highest usage volume with a daily viewing time of 140 minutes. In the other two language regions, there is slightly less demand for TV channels. In Suisse romande, the daily reach is 62% and the viewing time is 110 minutes per day. In Switzerland's largest language region, television recorded the lowest figures with a reach of 61% and a viewing time of 101 minutes.

A general trend that has been apparent in TV usage since the end of the coronavirus pandemic continues in the comparison with the second half of 2023. The proportion of people who watch TV on an average day is proving to be extremely stable. The reach value remains unchanged compared to the previous year. At the same time, the Swiss population spends slightly less time in front of the screen, which is reflected in a decrease in daily viewing time of 1 minute.

Research expanded

Until now, the TV research for which Mediapulse is responsible has covered linear and time-shifted TV usage via conventional TV sets (big screens). Since January 2024, the use of TV content via PCs, tablets or smartphones (small screens) has also been integrated into the official usage data, provided the research is supported by the broadcasters.

It should also be noted that the service provider Kantar, which is responsible for TV research, began renewing the measurement technology in the TV measurement panel households in May 2024 and will complete the corresponding technology change by the end of 2025. The new measuring devices will allow even more detailed recording of TV usage, which can lead to better recognition of short contacts and thus to an increase in channel reach. This increase has not yet been

However, the change will be minor, so that the continuity and comparability of the TV usage data remains guaranteed. Kantar and Mediapulse monitor any effects of this change on the measured TV usage data with continuous monitoring and thus ensure its continuity and comparability.

Further results on TV usage in the second half of 2024 can be found on the Mediapulse website.

Companies such as Apple, Swatch and On owe their international breakthrough not only to technology, but also to design and storytelling. They are examples of how creativity is a key factor for success on the market.

But what does it take for companies to give creativity enough space? And make it a top priority? "Companies need travel companions to support them on this journey," says Thomas Aerni, Partner and Lead Strategy at Comm-unity. They need to understand the value chain on the one hand and be able to provide new impetus on the other - and translate it into practicable solutions. "This is precisely why we have developed our new Comm-unity creative collective AG agency model."

Comm-unity is the result of the merger of the agencies Basel West Unternehmenskommunikation, Sagbar, Visuelle Fabrik and Aerni Digital Solutions. The oldest of its roots goes back to 1969, when Albin Kirchhofer founded the predecessor of Basel West. He focused on content marketing early on, which is why Comm-unity describes itself as a Swiss pioneer in this field.

Community instead of hierarchies

"Our cooperation is not a quick fix, but has grown organically through joint projects," explains Aerni. "We are convinced that we gain strength as a collective - through creativity, collaboration, communication and critical thinking."

The four owners Thomas Aerni (Lead Strategy), Stephan Lehmann-Maldonado (Lead Content), Roman Albertini (Lead Design) and Michael Aerni (Lead Digital) make up the management team. Each of them can look back on a successful entrepreneurial career and is an expert in their discipline. "Each of us masters different tools. The art for us is not just to play sheet music, but to improvise as a collective. This is how we often come up with innovative solutions that lead to eureka moments for customers," says Stephan Lehmann-Maldonado. "For us, community means mastering challenges together - instead of creating hierarchies that divide."

The new creative collective works decentrally from several locations - Basel, Aarau, Bremgarten, Rotkreuz and Zurich. "Our model allows us to feel the pulse of the markets better and be geographically closer to our customers," says Roman Albertini.