"Do we really need digital?"

In his presentation, Thomas Koch questioned clients' obsession with digital and expressed criticism of the role of media agencies. In high spirits, President Roger Harlacher welcomed some 300 guests on Tuesday afternoon at the annual meeting, extending a special welcome to the 14 new SWA members who had joined since the last general meeting. There was spontaneous applause for: Banque Pictet, Group Mutuel, Swiss Recycling, brack.ch, the Automobile Club of Switzerland, Amplifon, Swissquote, the Swiss Fruit Association, FRANKE, Dabso, Les Ambassadeurs, Parship, Brita, and Continental Suisse. Harlacher went on to explain the SWA’s five most important tasks—advocating for advertising freedom and media transparency, realistic media research, Europe-compatible pricing, and expanding members« expertise—and then moved on to the topic of the day. »Clever Data and Clever Communication are more important than Big Data. This often leads to Clever Business. And today, Clever Business is usually closely linked to Clever Communication,« said Harlacher, using »Uber” as an example to illustrate how the taxi industry has been disrupted. Founded in Silicon Valley as recently as 2010, Uber is now active in 68 countries and 370 cities and is highly successful.

 Tamedia's Digital InitiativeHe then turned the floor over to the conference moderator, Matthias Ackeret, editor-in-chief and publisher of *Persönlich*. Ackeret introduced the first speaker, Christoph Tonini, CEO of Tamedia AG, who was pleased to report that 2015 had been his company’s best fiscal year to date. He explained how a private company can best cope with disruption through constant adaptation and improvement: In 2004, Tamedia still consisted primarily of the *Tages-Anzeiger*, Switzerland’s third-largest daily newspaper. Today, the media outlets Tages-Anzeiger, 20 Minuten, Newsnet National, Tamedia Classifieds, local.ch, search.ch, ricardo.ch, homegate.ch, tutti.ch, and others form a digital portfolio with extensive reach. It’s remarkable that the traditional titles Tages-Anzeiger and Tribune de Genève have still managed to increase their total reach. And «20 Minuten» now reaches a whopping 60% of the Swiss population. The latest highlight was the successful launch of the #12 app in the fall of 2015: the 12 best articles from Tamedia’s media outlets brought together in one app every day.«Your media plans still look just like last year's!»Thomas Koch, "Mr. Media" from Germany and doyen of the German media world, said in his presentation "The end of media as we know it": "We're talking about disruption today - and it's about time. Our world is in a state of upheaval. Unfortunately, advertising is not quite ready for it. And certainly not media strategies. Hand on heart: your media plans still look like last year's!". Koch lamented that, in view of the collapse of their usual structure, the media are only beating on each other, that everyone is breaking into the business model of the others, and suggested: "We urgently need a discussion - along the lines of: 'Is this digital, or can it go away? Do we really need digital? The best thing is to have this discussion before digitization and its algorithms destroy everything of value in a blind rage that we possibly wanted to and should preserve!" Silicon Valley on the ElbeKonstanze Kossack of the Hamburg-based innovation consulting agency Futurecandy demonstrated in her presentation «Digital Transformation» that the future is already here. And this is despite the fact that, in her experience, the question «Quo vadis, digital?» has not yet been fully internalized in German executive suites. Sure, everyone says, «Of course, it’s coming»—but that’s usually as far as it goes! A digital “Edeka” ad by the consulting agency, which recorded 4.3 million clicks in two days, shows that it’s actually possible. The company’s concept for Vodafone’s booth—the CeBIT Oculus Project, which mainly consisted of a virtual reality LTE game for visitors—also gained attention.

The innovation consultant addresses all questions related to future work technologies and the opportunities that can already be harnessed today—from «Smart Life» to „Connectivity“ to the «New Technology Wave.» Anyone who listens to Ms. Kossack will soon become firmly convinced that the real Silicon Valley isn’t in California, but on the Elbe River. Controversial Discussion Surrounding AdmeiraDuring the subsequent roundtable discussion with Matthias Ackeret (in person), Christoph Tonini (Tamedia), Martin Schneider (Publisuisse), and Thomas Schwetje (Coop Switzerland), the discussion—as was to be expected—focused on disruption in the communications sector and the planned joint venture between SRG, Ringier, and Swisscom («Admeira»). It is one thing that the wheel of time in the media cannot be turned back and that the joint advertising platform opens up new multi- and cross-media avenues. The SWA is also aware that such an advertising alliance likely has its drawbacks. Nevertheless, the association welcomes the innovative offerings and the competition for advertisers. However, the political arguments put forward by Tamedia CEO Christoph Tonini—that state-owned and semi-state-owned companies, such as the license-fee-funded SRG and Swisscom, should not simply create a fait accompli—cannot be dismissed out of hand. The next legal decision on this matter now rests with the Federal Administrative Court, after WEKO and UVEK had already given the project the green light.New and previous board members in SWAImmediately prior to the annual meeting, the association held its 67th General Assembly. At the meeting, Andreas Schönenberger, CEO of Sigvaris, was reappointed as a member of the Executive Board for another three-year term. Newly elected to the Board were Mr. Roman Reichelt, Head of Marketing and Communications at the Migros Cooperative Federation; Mr. Thomas Schwetje, Head of Marketing/Services at Coop Switzerland; and Mr. Marc Werner, COO and member of the Executive Board at Swisscom. These three gentlemen replace Oliver Schwegmann (L’Oréal), Marc Engelhard (Migros), and Jürg Pauli (Swisscom), who are stepping down from their positions for professional and personal reasons.Finally, the president thanked the entire Board of Directors, Director Roland Ehrler, and the team at the secretariat for their tireless efforts during the 2015 anniversary year.