The Swiss Outdoor Advertising Association (AWS) can look back on a successful 2025. At the general meeting held on February 4, 2026, in Zurich, the focus was on joint industry marketing, media research, and the political framework. The industry makes an important contribution to high-quality analog and digital outdoor advertising solutions in public spaces.

Out-of-home media outperformed other media in 2025—a trend that is expected to continue in 2026. The association views the future of this medium positively: Out-of-home advertising enjoys a high level of acceptance among the general public, reaches mobile and young target groups, and, as the last true mass medium, has the most favorable carbon footprint of all advertising media. Furthermore, it stands out in cross-media comparisons thanks to its attractive price-performance ratio.

Screen7 Strengthens the Association

Screen7, a young DOOH startup, is joining the Swiss Outdoor Advertising Association (AWS). The company supports the AWS’s goals of further developing the outdoor advertising market across its entire spectrum. A total of ten outdoor advertising companies are now members of the AWS, working together to promote high-quality and efficient analog and digital advertising solutions.

Focus on the Political Framework

The association’s activities in 2026 will focus in particular on opposing bans and restrictions on outdoor advertising. Organizations and individuals can join the group initiated by the AWS, «Per poster»Join for free and use your voice to support the poster. The «Pro Plakat» online platform plays a central role in this effort, serving as a reference for advertisers, agencies, policymakers, the media, and the general public.".

Strong Category Marketing

AWS continues to engage in strong category marketing. This includes, among other things, the industry event «WOOHW!», which will take place in Zurich on March 4, 2027, under the joint sponsorship of the AWS, and will feature a conference and the presentation of the «Swiss Out of Home Awards.» In addition, the AWS contributes to the cross-border trade magazine «OOH!». The free e-paper is published four times a year and provides information on developments in the out-of-home media sector in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

At the General Assembly of the AWS on January 28, 2025 in Zurich, key decisions were made for the future of out-of-home advertising. Tom Gibbings (Goldbach Neo OOH) will take over as Vice President, while Christoph Marty (Goldbach Group) will step down from the Board but remain available in an advisory capacity. The re-election of the Executive Committee around Markus Ehrle (APG|SGA) confirms the course taken.

In 2025, the industry is focusing on resistance to unnecessary advertising bans, the expansion of independent media research and sustainability initiatives. Generic marketing will also be strengthened: the industry event "WOOHW!" will take place for the third time on September 4, 2025 and will include a specialist conference and the presentation of the "Swiss Out of Home Awards". The AWS will also continue to be involved in the trade magazine "OOH!".

The market is proving robust: according to Media Focus, Out of Home Media grew moderately in 2024, despite the difficult environment. The high reach, acceptance and carbon footprint make outdoor advertising a sought-after solution for advertisers. The trend towards sustainability continues - both in terms of materials and the energy supply for (D)OOH spaces.

All members of the Board of Directors were unanimously re-elected at the AWS Annual General Meeting: Markus Ehrle (President, APG|SGA), Christoph Marty (Vice President, Goldbach Neo), Beat Holenstein (APG|SGA), Robert Furger (Goldbach Neo) and Gregor Zimmerli (Aktiv Werbung).

The two companies Excom Media and Smadooh Media are new members of the Swiss Outdoor Advertising Association. They support the intentions of AWS to further develop the analogue and digital outdoor advertising market with regard to topics such as media research, training, digitalization and generic marketing. As a result, a total of nine outdoor advertising companies are now committed to high-quality and efficient analog and digital advertising solutions in public spaces.

Successful outdoor advertising year 2023

According to AWS, the upward trend in out-of-home media from last year is set to continue this year. The category enjoys "a very high level of acceptance among the population" and has the "most favorable CO2 balance" of all advertising media. In addition, out-of-home media also reach young, mobile target groups and offer an attractive price/performance ratio in an intermedia comparison.

This year, the association intends to focus on combating bans and restrictions on commercial advertising, contributing to transparent and provider-independent media research and highlighting the high economic added value of out-of-home advertising. In addition, there will be increased generic marketing. This includes the industry event "Woohw!", which will be held in Zurich for the second time in September 2024 under the joint sponsorship of the AWS. The AWS is also involved in the transnational trade magazine OOH!. The free e-paper is published four times a year and informs advertisers, agencies and creatives about developments in out-of-home media in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

The competition is open to teams of all sizes. It is open to analog and digital campaigns created by an agency, a graphic design studio, individuals, freelancers or a company responsible for the concept in Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein. The competition runs in six categories and is free of charge.

Shortlist: Evaluation by the expert jury

After submitting their campaigns, creatives, agencies and advertisers are assessed by an independent panel of experts. It consists of 14 well-known personalities from advertising, culture and design. On September 19, 2024, the winners will be announced by category at the awards ceremony at the StageOne Event & Convention Hall in Zurich and presented with trophies in gold, silver or bronze. The main prize is the "Campaign of the Year". All participants receive a diploma that recognizes originality, implementation of the advertising message and creative execution. The award ceremony, attended by around 500 invited guests, will be celebrated at the 2nd "WOOHW!" industry event with a conference, a big stage show and a dinner party.

"Strongly Reduced." by Denner and thjnk Zurich received the top prize "Campaign of the Year" and at the same time won gold in the Commercial National category.

The Swiss Out of Home Award is the largest creative competition for analog, digital and innovative outdoor advertising in Switzerland. A total of 241 works were submitted, 34 of which were nominated by the jury. The first award ceremony took place at the premiere of the Woohw! event, which was organized by the Association of Outdoor Advertising Switzerland (AWS) and supported by APG|SGA, Goldbach Neo, Neo Advertising and Horizon.

The winning campaigns were selected by an independent jury of 14 experts from the worlds of advertising, culture and design. The outstanding winning Gold works showed very different clients and areas of application for Out of Home Media. The variety ranged from vegetarian versions of the well-known "Google Maps Marker" (by Ruf Lanz for Hiltl AG), to the awareness campaign "Always stop when distracted" with unusual parking spaces (by Ruf Lanz for the Accident Prevention Advisory Board BFU), to the cultural poster "Collectomania" (by Erich Brechbühl for the Museum of Design Zurich), to the digital "Assortment Campaign Semantic" (by Digitec Galaxus InHouse for Galaxus).

In no category was the bar as high or as low as in the Out of Home Innovations category. Here, the jury wanted to see unexpected, entertaining and, above all, new ways to advertise outdoors. That's challenging, both for the creatives and their clientele. "Rarely, but fortunately regularly, such a project is found in the submissions. In the current year, however, this was unfortunately not the case and no project was judged worthy of an award by the jury," said Christian Brändle,
Jury President and Director Museum of Design Zurich.

All winners at a glance

Industry event with conference

The industry event started with the conference and the keynote speech by TV business coach Felix Thönnessen. The subsequent round of talks featured Andrea Bison (Co-CEO, Chief Operating Officer & Partner, thjnk Zurich), Nathalie Diethelm (Co-CEO,
Mediaplus Suisse), Markus Ehrle (CEO APG|SGA AG and President AWS), Jeannine Micheli (Head of Digital Marketing & Media, AMAG Import) and Christoph Marty (CEO, Goldbach Neo and Vice President AWS). Under the leadership of moderator Tanya König, the
Challenges and developments in the Swiss communications industry discussed.

Sponsors such as Setaprint, Richnerstutz, Burri Public Elements and Media Focus offered highlights with staging and bars. Sound at dinner and party was provided by "Stereo Kulisse", a danceable house collaboration with digital and analog instruments. The more than 350 invited guests celebrated atmospherically and in good spirits until deep into the night.

During the subsequent panel discussion, Markus Ehrle (President of AWS) and Christoph Marty (Vice President of AWS) will join experts, market players and the audience to discuss relevant questions about the importance and future of outdoor advertising.

In the evening, the Woohw Award Night begins with the presentation of the Swiss Out of Home Awards. Sponsors such as Setaprint AG, Richnerstutz AG, Burri Public Elements AG and Media Focus are also represented.

The parties SVP and FDP, the Parti radical romand (PRR), the GLP as well as the chamber of commerce and industry, the Bieler KMU and the EHC Biel do not want a language obligation in Biel, as representatives:inside said on Friday in Biel before the media. They spoke of an international stand alone advertising ban.

Article 5 of the new regulations says: "All advertisements must ( ..) be designed in the two official languages". Andreas Sutter (FDP), who spoke in favor of promoting bilingualism, was disturbed by this mandatory formulation. For him, an optional formulation would be more appropriate.

For Sutter, it is also unclear how the new regulations could be enforced. In his eyes, it is not even possible, because it is unclear how violations are to be dealt with.

PRR representative Bryan Manzoni also expressed the opinion that bilingualism should be promoted in Biel, but not with these regulations. The economic freedom is to be weighted higher. One could not dictate to the companies how they should advertise.

In addition, the opponents advocate, among other things, the preservation of the freedom of language and art. In their opinion, internationally active companies would no longer be able to present their English-language advertising slogans in Biel. This would result in a loss of advertising revenue in Biel. The Biel City Council approved the new regulations at the end of April. (SDA/swi)

Furthermore, the association wants to focus on the joint fight against unnecessary bans and restrictions on advertising, transparent and provider-independent media research, and highlighting the economic importance of outdoor advertising. In addition, there is an intensified, joint marketing of the genre. This includes, among other things, the industry event "Woohw!", which will take place on September 13, 2023. The fresh concept includes a specialist conference and the presentation of the newly created "Swiss Out of Home Award".

At Thursday's AGM, Neo-Advertising CEO Christian Vaglio-Giors was elected to the association's board. In addition, due to the intensified association activities, which would have put increasing demands on the AWS office, the previous managing director Corinne Truttmann has decided to hand over the office to Nadja Mühlemann. Mühlemann is a journalist and has headed the PR and media office of APG|SGA since 2014 and will continue to do so in the future. Previously, she represented the interests of the Swiss Druggists' Association (SDV) in various functions as journalistic manager for ten years.

AWS is the umbrella organization for companies and individuals interested in outdoor advertising in Switzerland. It represents the interests of analog and digital outdoor advertising vis-à-vis the authorities and the public. It is committed to freedom of advertising, freedom of expression and freedom in commercial communication in Switzerland.

To get to the bottom of this question, a study was commissioned from the Link market research institute. This study was used to find out which advertising media are perceived as particularly appealing or annoying and what value is attached to poster advertising by SMEs. In view of the fact that billboard advertising is to be banned in the city of Geneva, attitudes toward bans on billboard advertising were also surveyed.

Advertising sympathy high at OOH

According to the study, while advertising on billboards was rated as likable by 72 percent of respondents, advertising on websites or in apps and advertising on social media achieved only 23 and 22 percent likability, respectively.

Billboard advertising perceived as least annoying

In addition, according to the study, billboard advertising is found to be the least annoying by 82 percent. Advertising on websites or in apps, on the other hand, is considered "very annoying" by more than half of respondents. 68 percent of respondents consider advertising on TV or via mailers to be "annoying" or even "very annoying."

Value of billboard advertising for SMEs

In general, regional billboard advertising is seen as very positive. The statement "I think it's good when regional companies/SMEs draw the public's attention to themselves with billboard advertising" was most frequently found to be true, at 76 percent.

Majority is against billboard ban

According to the respondents, a ban on billboard advertising is out of the question: at 63 percent, a clear majority considers it "not good at all" or "not good" if billboard advertising were to be banned.

Study shows good state of outdoor advertising

The new edition on the assessment of advertising media confirms the high likability and acceptance values of out-of-home advertising from studies conducted in recent years. According to the study authors, the "value of billboard advertising" in connection with advertising activities by SMEs, which was surveyed for the first time, also shows the high appeal of the Out of Home advertising channel among the general population.

The answers to the question on billboard bans would also support the previous thesis: The population appreciates the revitalization of public space through outdoor advertising and clearly opposes a poster advertising ban.

The AWS surveys the value of Out of Home in regular studies. The online survey is conducted in this form approximately every four years and was currently conducted by Link in the period from January 5 to 10, 2022 with a total of 1013 people aged 15-79 (D-CH 759 / W-CH 254).

The data of the advertising statistics published in the last years were based on incomplete data deliveries and showed this year in the area of billboard advertising a sales development which does not correspond to the result of the entire industry, as the association AWS announced on Wednesday. The grouping of outdoor advertising was consequently redefined and the data of the past three years was collected again according to updated definitions. In case of missing data, the data was supplemented with estimates. Below you will find the new definitions as well as the corrected figures.

New definitions

The source is the survey conducted by the association AWS Aussenwerbung Schweiz among its members and other providers of outdoor advertising, as well as by the trade association Schweizer Neonfirmen.
Outdoor advertising is generally defined as anything that the public can see free of charge as an advertising message when it is on public or private property and which falls under the concept of changing third-party advertising. For the statistics, the advertising media were surveyed that are available to the advertising industry on a short-term basis for 7, 14 days, seasonally (posters) or even on a long-term basis for 4 to 10 years (neon signs). For the previously published categories of sports and stadium advertising, as well as "other outdoor advertising," there are no longer any figures available that represent clearly defined segments of the overall market. For this reason, data from these areas is not published. The following four subcategories are shown:

Poster advertising (analog)

All types of posters in F4, F12, F200, and F24 formats on private and public property. In addition, megaposters and poster or special formats in tourist areas and at airports.

Poster advertising (digital)

All display forms of digital, bookable communication spaces (such as eBoards/ePanels and screens >55 inches) on private and public property (incl. tourism areas as well as airports).

Transport advertising

All advertising displayed in and on rolling stock of transport companies, SBB and private railroads, postbuses and private transport companies in analog and digital form (longitudinal, side and rear panels, full-panel advertising, hanging and sliding boxes, banners, info screens, etc.).

Neon advertising

The figures shown here for "Neonschriften" contain the information provided by the Association of Swiss Neon Companies.