Rock in the surf
Regula Weyermann is joining Burson-Marsteller as a senior consultant. She will oversee corporate and financial communications for major clients.
Regula Weyermann becomes a Senior Consultant at Burson-Marsteller. She is responsible for corporate and financial communications for major clients and once attended interpreting school in Geneva. But just translating what others say was not Regula Weyermann's thing. The desire to "formulate her own thoughts" led her to journalism. After a stint in the foreign desk at SDA, she was soon writing her own articles - as a correspondent for the Berner Zeitung in French-speaking Switzerland. She enjoyed the international world there. Even as a student, Weyermann worked for the UN. Later, as a journalist, she reported on international conferences from the UN and was able to follow Federal Councillors, important entrepreneurs and heads of state at close quarters.
"I was always interested in finding out what was going on in the world." So the journalist dreamed of a job as a foreign correspondent. As there were long waiting lists at the newspapers, she took the plunge as a freelancer. Weyermann followed her partner, who was called to Nairobi on business. However, articles about Africa were "hard to sell". Nevertheless, her time on the black continent was valuable: "I admire the people there, how they struggle through life."
Back in Switzerland, Weyermann was in the mood for something new. She was in charge of public affairs for the Association of Development Organizations. She took another step in the direction of PR at Kuoni. She became Head of Communications Switzerland. Even as a student, she accompanied groups around the world as a tour guide for the tour operator.
When the post of Head of Corporate Communications at Kuoni became vacant a year later, Weyermann was once again one of many applicants. Internal and external communications, maintaining media relations, organizing conferences, answering journalists' inquiries - these were all part of her duties for six years.
She also became Head of Marketing Communications at the listed company. In this role, Weyermann was responsible for Kuoni Switzerland's advertising. She proudly remembers the big advertising campaigns "Holidays where you forget everything" or the brown people at Helvetic-Tours who could stay "longer on vacation". She would not have invented these campaigns, of course, "but helped them achieve a breakthrough internally".
The manager also learned a lot during this time when launching a new brand. "Reisen netto" still functions as a direct sales brand whose products are distributed via newspaper inserts, among other things. As head of the project team, it was interesting to determine the marketing mix.
Crisis communication was also a challenging chapter at Kuoni, for example during the attack in Luxor in 1997. As there were no model cases for such events, all communication measures had to be developed on the job. In the meantime, lessons have been learned and appropriate tools have been developed both at the federal level and in the travel industry and insurance companies.
During her time as Head of Communications at Kuoni, she succeeded in achieving "credibility both internally and externally", says Weyermann happily. In 2002, a dispute between the Chairman of the Board of Directors and the Board of Directors kept the spokeswoman in the media for months. No sooner had this crisis been overcome than the travel industry was shaken by the attack in New York and then by the grounding of Swissair. For the media spokeswoman, this was "a moment to reconsider", even though she really enjoyed her time at Kuoni.
Weyermann moved to Swiss Radio DRS. At the headquarters in Basel, she worked for a year as a member of the Executive Board for Communications and Marketing.
With all this experience in her rucksack, she was now tempted by the offer from Burson-Marsteller. Several clients with completely different topics and tasks are waiting for her communications support. She is delighted "to be able to work with leading minds in the communications industry on a daily basis". In the internationally networked agency, there is a lively exchange with colleagues all over the world. "This brings together a great deal of expertise."
Strengthened by crises in the travel industry, Regula Weyermann is looking forward to the dialog with leading minds in the communications industry.
"I was always interested in finding out what was going on in the world." So the journalist dreamed of a job as a foreign correspondent. As there were long waiting lists at the newspapers, she took the plunge as a freelancer. Weyermann followed her partner, who was called to Nairobi on business. However, articles about Africa were "hard to sell". Nevertheless, her time on the black continent was valuable: "I admire the people there, how they struggle through life."
Back in Switzerland, Weyermann was in the mood for something new. She was in charge of public affairs for the Association of Development Organizations. She took another step in the direction of PR at Kuoni. She became Head of Communications Switzerland. Even as a student, she accompanied groups around the world as a tour guide for the tour operator.
When the post of Head of Corporate Communications at Kuoni became vacant a year later, Weyermann was once again one of many applicants. Internal and external communications, maintaining media relations, organizing conferences, answering journalists' inquiries - these were all part of her duties for six years.
She also became Head of Marketing Communications at the listed company. In this role, Weyermann was responsible for Kuoni Switzerland's advertising. She proudly remembers the big advertising campaigns "Holidays where you forget everything" or the brown people at Helvetic-Tours who could stay "longer on vacation". She would not have invented these campaigns, of course, "but helped them achieve a breakthrough internally".
The manager also learned a lot during this time when launching a new brand. "Reisen netto" still functions as a direct sales brand whose products are distributed via newspaper inserts, among other things. As head of the project team, it was interesting to determine the marketing mix.
Crisis communication was also a challenging chapter at Kuoni, for example during the attack in Luxor in 1997. As there were no model cases for such events, all communication measures had to be developed on the job. In the meantime, lessons have been learned and appropriate tools have been developed both at the federal level and in the travel industry and insurance companies.
During her time as Head of Communications at Kuoni, she succeeded in achieving "credibility both internally and externally", says Weyermann happily. In 2002, a dispute between the Chairman of the Board of Directors and the Board of Directors kept the spokeswoman in the media for months. No sooner had this crisis been overcome than the travel industry was shaken by the attack in New York and then by the grounding of Swissair. For the media spokeswoman, this was "a moment to reconsider", even though she really enjoyed her time at Kuoni.
Weyermann moved to Swiss Radio DRS. At the headquarters in Basel, she worked for a year as a member of the Executive Board for Communications and Marketing.
With all this experience in her rucksack, she was now tempted by the offer from Burson-Marsteller. Several clients with completely different topics and tasks are waiting for her communications support. She is delighted "to be able to work with leading minds in the communications industry on a daily basis". In the internationally networked agency, there is a lively exchange with colleagues all over the world. "This brings together a great deal of expertise."
Strengthened by crises in the travel industry, Regula Weyermann is looking forward to the dialog with leading minds in the communications industry.
Andreas Panzeri
