"Social Media" and Stress at the SWA Annual Meeting.

SWA President Roger Harlacher welcomed more guests than ever at this year's meeting, as well as a whole host of new members - Sanofi-Aventis, Helvepharm, Bico, Schuler St. Jakobskellerei, Tchibo, Bank Vontobel, Estée Lauder, Hug and Zürich Tourismus. What everyone wanted to know at the moment was the impact of "social media" on communication and consumer behavior, according to an SWA release on Thursday. The meeting therefore focused on questions such as: "How do we use the new opportunities efficiently? And is success even measurable? Are they salvation or just hype?"

Moderator Dirk Schütz, Editor-in-Chief of Bilanz, introduced Frank Mühlenbeck, Managing Director of the German Institute for Communication and Law on the Internet, as the first guest speaker. In his presentation "Social Media - Perspectives of a Media Revolution," Mühlenbeck explained the success of social media by saying that thousands and thousands of people can be reached within a short time - and that people trust other people much more than companies and institutions. Above all, it is not only information that is transmitted in these contacts, but also emotions. But companies must integrate social media holistically throughout the entire value chain if they want to be successful with it. And they will no longer be able to afford to neglect social media.

Leila Summa, Social Media Director of Migros, said quite openly in her presentation "In online dialog with customers - and now?" that Migros had already given up control in social media because it was never possible in the first place. Migros follows the lead principle in its use of social media: Listen, Experiment, Apply, Develop. Listening is the most important thing. Gottlieb Duttweiler had deliberately used his first Migros trolleys not just as sales vehicles, but to engage in conversation with customers. That became increasingly difficult in a large company. Today, customers talk to each other and engage more intensively with the products than was ever possible with advertising.

In the panel discussion on the future benefits of TV advertising between Martin Krapf of IP Deutschland, Martin Schneider of Publisuisse and Markus Faschang, CEO of l'Oréal Switzerland, moderator Dirk Schütz had expected sharper controversies than actually took place. No wonder: TV advertising, so often pronounced dead, is thriving - partly because social media are a communication medium but not an advertising medium per se. In this respect, they are not really competition for TV advertising. But the interdependence of TV and social media is becoming important. After all, Facebookers and Twitterers are also TV viewers. In any case, the classic "30" commercial will be around for a very long time.

Rapper Stress took to the stage for the finale. Reto Lazzarotto, CEO of the management and concert agency Gadget and Stress' manager, explained where money is made in the music business - by no means everywhere. Stress himself had a lot to say about brand management - after all, he studied economics and worked at Procter&Gamble before devoting himself entirely to his music. He has 85,000 Facebook fans, and they tell him loudly and clearly and quickly what they like and what they don't like so much. And addressing advertisers, he said, "When you market artists, the artist and the brand have to go together, otherwise it doesn't work for either side."

SWA board members elected
At the ordinary general meeting, which immediately preceded the annual meeting, the two board members Werner Bärtschi (Subaru Switzerland) and Stefan Nünlist (SBB) were confirmed in office by acclamation for another 3 years. In place of Mrs. Danièle Michel (Nestlé), who had resigned for professional reasons, the director of the Mondo publishing house, which also belongs to Nestlé, Mrs. Kim Hoose was unanimously elected to the board. Flavio Caligaris, Contry Manager Coca Cola Switzerland, a representative of the beverage industry, was also unanimously elected to the Board.