Anyone involved in business should be knowledgeable about finance. So far, so uncontroversial—and that’s exactly how Marcus Schögel begins the conversation. But then he shifts gears: The president of the Society for Marketing and professor at the University of St. Gallen (HSG) believes that the demand—which has grown increasingly vocal in recent years—that marketing must speak the language of finance in order to justify its place within a company is misguided. Finance, he argues, is merely a functional perspective on a company—no more and no less than the sales perspective. The fact that this single perspective has become dominant has to do with shareholder value and the quarterly performance reports of publicly traded corporations. According to Schögel, marketing has allowed itself to be co-opted in a way that does not help when it comes to understanding how to manage a company over the long term.
A feature that doesn't come into play until later
Schögel’s objection is fundamental. He argues that stock-market-driven companies are driven by quarterly results, and some even admit that they think too short-term to be able to plan for the long term. So why, of all things, should marketing be subordinate to a discipline that only comes into play once the deal has already been made? He emphasizes that this has nothing to do with an inflated ego, but rather with logic: it simply makes no sense for a single function to dominate all the others.
It all starts with the customer
For Schögel, every business starts with the customer. He cites Peter Drucker, his academic mentor, and the Balanced Scorecard pioneers Kaplan and Norton, who all agree on this point: First, you need a customer who pays—«before I can count the peas.» He attributes the fact that things often work the other way around in everyday practice less to conspiracy than to systems. He expressly refuses to promote a theory circulating on social media that IT providers had early on declared marketing to be an internal corporate enemy. What is verifiable, however, is that with the introduction of ERP systems, the key-figure logic of accounting was pushed to the forefront—researchers like Thomas Davenport have described this. But if a company’s information base is built on accounting metrics, its business model will also be primarily mapped through financial figures. This is evident even in executive training: first strategy, then finance, then HR—and eventually, at the very end, marketing.
No more excuses—but no worship of numbers either
Does that mean marketing tends to resist measurement? Schögel admits that the claim that impact simply cannot be expressed in numbers has a long tradition in marketing—but today it mostly serves as an excuse. There’s now a database for almost everything. The real question is whether a data point is valid and reliable and actually reflects what one believes. As an example, he cites the Net Promoter Score: Hardly anyone measures satisfaction anymore; everyone measures the NPS—even though the metric often doesn’t reflect what it’s supposed to. Data is also retrospective; it says nothing about the future, but it helps us understand the present. Analytical skills, a sense of what’s expensive and what’s affordable, calculating media investments—none of this is rocket science, but rather a necessity. The more interesting question, however, isn’t «Marketing, what do you contribute from a financial perspective?» but rather: What does Finance do, what does Marketing do, where do the two intersect, and how can we develop this further together?
The CMO belongs at the table
This puts Schögel on the management team. A CEO, as he understands the role, facilitates a committee that develops strategy collectively—and in doing so, deliberately gives marketing not just a little, but significant room to operate. He knows plenty of CEOs like that. On the other hand, however, there are those—mostly finance-minded executives—for whom marketing is primarily a cost center that produces «colorful cardboard.» He would recommend that they familiarize themselves with the marketing mindset—because it helps them understand that there are long-term benefits that can be monetized, just not today, but only in the future. And what is the common language that CFOs and CMOs should find? It’s, says Schögel, «business model speak»: a shared understanding of value proposition, structures, operating model, revenue streams, and technologies—always from the perspective of what competitive advantage a company is striving for and how it converts that into money. Because making money remains the goal. «I don’t make a penny,» he quips dryly, «from counting peas.»
From Title to Attitude
The fact that the CMO title is becoming less common—Schögel points to a decline from 71 to 66 percent—worries him less than one might expect. The debate is over twenty years old; BMW, too, had once abolished the CMO role and distributed its responsibilities among the other board members. It wasn’t the role itself that was eliminated, but simply a redistribution of the work. Today, the roles have different names: a Chief Commercial Officer is responsible for revenue and growth, with «growth» being nothing more than the modern form of growth marketing. A company in Basel, on the other hand, has a Chief Customer Officer in charge of marketing and IT—without being any less market-oriented as a result. Whether someone is called a CMO or a Growth Officer, or whether a CEO simply calls himself “customer-centric,” ultimately doesn’t matter to him, as long as the focus is on the customer and that’s what sets the company apart from the competition.
A Matter of Courage
Anna Kohler counters this: The discussion about impact and relevance has been going on for years, and yet surprisingly little has changed. Many brands nodded in agreement but then played it safe. Schögel sees two aspects to this—a question of courage and one of paying close attention. Instead of simply copying best practices, he says, we need to ask what truly contributes to differentiation. He cites the well-known 60/40 rule from Les Binet’s impact research: About 60 percent of resources should go toward long-term brand building, and 40 percent toward short-term sales promotion. In reality, however, up to 86 percent flows into short-term digital measures—and the least goes toward the brand. Those who focus solely on return on advertising are aiming for very short-term effects, and no one knows for sure whether these even work in today’s media landscape. He has a clear answer to the ongoing debate over reach versus relevance: Relevance has always been key; reach is merely a nice-to-have. When a «big corporation from Mountain View» advertises that it owns the most important search engine and the best video platform, it reminds him of the 1990s, when ARD and ZDF boasted about being at the forefront and *Bild* cited a million readers who couldn’t possibly be wrong. The same arguments—now grounded in financial considerations. The question driven by Generative Engine Optimization, on the other hand, leads back to the core: Who are we, and what do we want to be relevant for?
What AI Sees in a Very Matter-of-Fact Way
Both agree that the AI transformation is forcing the industry to engage in precisely this kind of self-reflection. Schögel doubts that someone who puts together a clever campaign in five minutes using Claude or ChatGPT is providing the kind of quality the market truly needs. Above all, however, he rejects the convenient narrative that AI is the realm of values and humanity. An AI doesn’t look at a map of values. It evaluates, in a cold, hard-nosed way, which data points best represent a company—and those aren’t the self-declared values, but rather what’s found on high-reputation platforms like Wikipedia, in press releases, on company websites, and in customer reviews. His colleague Dennis Herrhausen put it aptly: These days, AI sits right next to you as a member of the buying center. The AI evaluates what can realistically be found, while humans overlay their preferences on top of that. This dual evaluation gives rise to an old yet new obligation: to reflect on whether one actually has a functional performance advantage that makes the product unique—and how to convey to the person presented with five options the specific feature that tips the scales in favor of the purchase.
Imagination as a Required Course
«You need both,» says Schögel, «and it’s absolutely essential.» Today’s CMO must have a firm grasp of financial data and metrics and be able to explain where the levers of influence lie. There’s no getting around it. At the same time, he refers to a text from the 1970s: «The Marketing Imagination» by Harvard professor Theodore Levitt. You need the fundamentals, but you also need imagination—a sense of how to fit into a culture. He explains the current boom in cultural marketing by noting that many companies have become estranged from their target groups and subcultures. An Amazon web store with the company’s own logo is not enough; a creatively designed flagship store, on the other hand, sets a company apart. At the HSG, they therefore consciously venture into the creative realm: Students collaborate with agencies and learn what creative processes look like—a demand that agency professionals had been making for years and which he believes is correct. For him, the best students are those with openness, drive, and a unique flair—a mix of creative thinking, curiosity, and a strategic perspective that recognizes that it’s not the fancy Instagram post that drives business. This is developed through project work, group settings, and a three-day boot camp, from which students emerge exhausted but full of joy and a “twinkle” in their eyes. Those who neglect this quickly end up in a place where “operational chaos replaces intellectual calm.”.
Schögel's Advice to a CEO
What advice would he give to a CEO who wants to lead his company into the future in a credible and creative way? “If I had a formula,” Schögel jokes, “I wouldn’t say it out loud”—and responds with examples. Hilti realized as early as the 1960s that its products were too expensive for retail sales, and so it learned to think from the customer’s perspective: direct sales, on-site product development, open innovation, and collaboration. No member of the executive board has ever been able to bypass sales, so discussions there revolve more around customer problems than anything else. He also mentions Jura, the manufacturer that consistently stays close to its customers with its fully automatic coffee machines and doesn’t let itself be distracted by capsules, as well as Stöckli—companies that are all heading in the same direction.
Kohler notes that it is no coincidence these are not publicly traded corporations—and asks whether customer focus isn’t a luxury reserved for those who don’t have to justify themselves on a quarterly basis. Schögel disagrees: It is not a luxury, but a strategic decision. Cooperatively run institutions, an insurance company, a cantonal bank like the one in Graubünden—they are all geared toward avoiding short-term pressure to perform. One of these CEOs once told him that he had the luxury of being able to focus on the customer—and in the same breath corrected himself: It’s not a luxury, but the core of the strategy. And so the conversation ends where it began. After all, it is precisely companies that are not driven by shareholder value that can often demonstrate most convincingly just how financially successful they are. The CEO in question is a virtuoso when it comes to financial metrics—he knows exactly why and how he uses them.
Perhaps that is the real answer to the wrong question. It’s not that marketing needs to learn the language of finance. Both sides need to speak the same language—that of the customer.
The podcast episode on Spotify
You can find Marcus Schögel's article here.
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The problem becomes clear when you ask a simple question. "We always start by asking participants when they last talked about humor in a serious setting," explains Andri Hinnen, Co-CEO at Zense and co-leader of the course. "The answer is usually never. That's exactly where the failure lies - not in a lack of awareness, but in a lack of skill."
Humor is generally considered an innate talent, not a strategic capability. If you're funny, you become a comedian - the others just work at the bank. Accordingly, existing offers focus on stand-up comedy and not on business communication. "People used to think that entrepreneurship was innate," says Hinnen. "Today it is taught systematically. It's the same with humor - it's a tool that can be learned."
Zense had already tested the practice in the business world before the HSG course. In a humor workshop with Swiss as a pilot customer (pun intended), the concept was tested for the first time with executives and communication managers. The three-day HSG course now turned it into a structured curriculum. The main moderators were Andri and Gieri Hinnen, authors of the books "Reframe it!" and "Change it!". Guest lecturers were comedienne Vanessa Lépine, who opened the closing gala of the 2021 Montreux Comedy Festival, and director Mats Frey ("Tschugger", whose short film "Eddy" reached over 42 million YouTube views).
As part of the course, the students produced humorous short films on classic business topics, which were then combined into a single film. The aim behind this is to establish humour capital as a strategic asset that organizations can systematically develop.
"Humor Capital is a future skill," Hinnen is convinced. "In a world where AI is taking over more and more, the specifically human element is becoming more important - including humor. Organizations that don't dare to do this will lose connectivity."
Soon also for companies
Following the successful implementation at the HSG, Zense plans to make the offer available to companies. Zense - Reframing Complexity is a consultancy and agency based in Zurich and Berlin. Since 2013, it has been helping companies, start-ups, public institutions and cultural and academic institutions to rethink complex content and communicate it effectively.
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As a knowledge and study partner, the IMC-HSG thus accompanies all developments around the Marketing Tech Monitor developed by Marketing Tech Lab, including its live event, the Marketing Tech Summit.
A development that benefits the target group of D-CMOs / CMOs: Through the worldwide network of marketing connections of the University of St. Gallen, the activities, previously focused on the DACH region, are expanded globally. The IMC-HSG supports and advises MTL primarily in quantitative and qualitative surveys as well as in the evaluation and derivation of recommendations for action.
Around 1,600 marketing managers in DACH are surveyed annually for the Marketing Tech Monitor benchmark study. At the Marketing Tech Summit, which took place for the 5th time this year, a large number of best practices examples were presented by experts from all industry segments and discussed with the professional audience.
"Looking forward to cooperation"
IMC-HSG, a leader in research and teaching in the fields of marketing management and consumer behavior, brings its extensive expertise to this collaboration.
Prof. Dr. Marcus Schögel of IMC-HSG says: "The Marketing Tech Monitor is THE standard work for marketing decision makers in the DACH region. The exchange between academic research and practical experience will help both sides to develop innovative and effective solutions for all marketing technology challenges. We are very much looking forward to working with Marketing Tech Lab."
Dr. Ralf Strauß, Managing Partner Marketing Tech Lab GmbH and Chairman European Marketing Confederation, adds: "We feel honored and confirmed in our claim to have been approached by the University of St. Gallen as one of the most renowned universities worldwide for this purpose. This cooperation enables us to expand our recommendations for action from the DACH region and to offer innovative solutions in the field of data-driven marketing and sales worldwide in the future."
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At the "CINEMA - It Matters" event at Blue Cinema Corso in Zurich, Christof Kaufmann, CEO at Weischer.Cinema, emphasized the importance of cinema as an advertising medium. In doing so, Kaufmann spoke positively about the current state of cinema, citing, "Cinema is back and more alive than ever." He explained that the numbers are practically back to the level of 2019 and that this is reason to rejoice.
He stressed the need to continue to promote cinema and to make advertisers aware are that cinema is back with numbers similar to 2019. Kaufmann pointed to successful films like Barbie that have made marketing history, and stressed that cinema is still an important media category that should be integrated into the moving image mix of the advertising industry.
Referring to the importance of cinema in today's world and the role of branding, Kaufmann said, "Especially in times when now, I think, brands and branding are important again, we can simply make a very significant contribution within the communication channel." Research findings were also presented, including research from the University of St. Gallen that examined the impact of cinema, TV and YouTube as an advertising medium. Kaufmann concluded his presentation with a message to disseminate the findings from the research and to adapt marketing measures based on these findings.
CEOs want advertising to have a tangible effect on sales. But the mere correlation of advertising and sales does not take into account the many other factors that influence beer sales, such as weather, distribution and events. To measure the quality of advertising, "flow" has been analyzed - the ability of a medium to put consumers in a receptive state. In the University of St. Gallen study mentioned earlier, different channels were compared and it was found that cinema achieved the best advertising impact due to its higher "flow." In summary, "flow" measures the quality of advertising and influences its effectiveness, but it cannot be considered equivalent. Nevertheless, it enables the comparison of advertising impact in different channels. More about the study in the Werbewoche interview with Sven Reinecke and Sven Kännler from the University of St. Gallen.
Christian Tingler, media researcher at Weischer Germany, spoke about the emotional impact of cinema in advertising, emphasizing its importance in the media mix. He conducted a study that examined the effect of cinema attendance on the audience and the impact on advertising. This presented the "effective CPM" as a measure of advertising price relative to impact. The conclusion was that cinema should be part of every media mix because it enhances emotional impact and appeals to hard-to-reach audiences. Good cinema spots take advantage of the medium's many possibilities, from emotional approaches to quiet creations. The recommendation to the creative industry is to produce high-quality, well-crafted spots, as they work well in cinema as well as on TV.
Matthias Keller, CEO of Patterson Entertainments, gave an exciting talk about cinema and shared three pieces of wisdom. First, "Cinema Strikes Back" - Cinemas are recovering very well after the pandemic, with successful movies like Barbie and Oppenheimer. Second, "One Size Fits All" - cinema as a community experience where emotions are shared. Third, "Streaming vs. Cinema" - Both mediums fulfill different needs, similar to cooking food at home, ordering food, and eating at a restaurant. The thesis is that those who consume moving images do so in different forms, and cinema is comparable to going to a restaurant. More in-depth on this in the video conversation with Matthias Keller.
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Sustainability is not a new issue for companies. But in the face of climate change, the massive decline in biodiversity, and the fact that many people want to maintain or improve their standard of living while no longer disregarding global supply chains and the rights of previously disadvantaged groups, companies are focusing even more on sustainable business practices.
It is not only what they "do" that is important, but also what they "say" - how they communicate about their sustainability activities and how that is received by Swiss consumers.
In order to learn more about the status quo of sustainability communication in Switzerland, Publicis Groupe Switzerland, Grownate and the Institutes of Economics and Ecology as well as Marketing and Customer Insight at the University of St. Gallen HSG joined forces - and published the "Swiss Consumer Perception of Sustainability" report - or Scopes Report for short - on Tuesday.
Who has a lasting effect, who doesn't?
For the quantitative part of the report, 5,555 people from all over Switzerland were asked which dimension of corporate sustainability - ecological, social or economic - is most important to them. They were also asked to say which companies already make a particularly sustainable impression on them. On the latter question, companies characterized by "Swissness" such as AXA Switzerland, Ricola, Victorinox, V-Zug and Zurich Insurance Group scored highly, while online mail-order companies such as AliExpress and Wish were far behind.
In their verdict, consumers considered it important above all that companies are committed to the environment - in other words, that they prioritize the ecological dimension of sustainability. The social and economic dimensions of sustainability are less important to Swiss consumers, probably because they are "less tangible" in everyday life.
Nevertheless, they must not be neglected in corporate communications under any circumstances, otherwise there is a risk of a dangerous imbalance - and the accusation of "greenwashing," which now represents a veritable business risk. For companies in Switzerland, the Scopes Report shows, sustainability communication is about one thing above all: balance.
What challenges are corporate executives experiencing?
In the qualitative part of the report, managers from companies in various sectors (such as the beverage, food, construction and transport industries) reported on the sustainability issues with which they address the public - and which are more reserved for internal communication. These experts pointed out how important it is to differentiate between the interests of consumers ("How is recycling done?", "Are the lights switched off at night?", ...) and the interests of B2B clients ("Are the sustainability criteria for a potential partnership guaranteed along the entire supply chain?", ...); otherwise, any communicative effort would miss its target. According to the experts, it is also advantageous for companies to cooperate with NGOs or external stakeholders that already enjoy an excellent reputation in the field of sustainability - because this "rubs off". In contrast, certificates and labels, according to the sober conclusion of the interviewees, would have relatively little impact: Because there are so many of them, consumers are usually unable to judge what they mean. This puts certificates and labels in B2C communication into perspective.
Further details on the Scopes report are available for download in the complete version at Scopes.report.
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The prize honors the best dissertation of all marketing professors of the University of St.Gallen of the last two years for relevant, problem-oriented, substantial and innovative results. It is endowed by Starrag with 10,000 Swiss francs.
Starrag is thus setting an example: In addition to its technological innovation in the construction of machine tools, new forms of cooperation with customers are just as crucial in order to jointly realize solutions and productivity advances.
In her research, Iris Schmutz diagnoses the reality of pricing in industrial companies and shows that the existing, normative models of price management fall far short. Pricing is associated with high time and action pressure as well as internal and external uncertainties, and in companies many responsible persons and areas are challenged in the process. The results are a typology of how to deal with price information and innovative solutions for professional and successful pricing processes in companies.
Methodologically, the quantitative study is impressive, the organizers say, but an accompanying price panel with price experts from well-known industrial companies was also particularly productive. The work provided valuable insights for companies wondering whether investments in their pricing are worthwhile and, if so, where and when they should invest. These insights are important for pricing managers themselves, their superiors, as well as for strategic corporate management.
The Institute's St. Gallen Marketing Day, which was attended by around 90 participants, dealt with current and forward-looking topics. Examples include the integration of sustainable strategies at traditional providers, brand reputation, data strategy and privacy, scenarios for metaverse, and trends in customer behavior.
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Werbewoche.ch: Why is Wirz launching the Competence Center for Sustainability?
Livio Dainese: We are basically more of a silent agency. We prefer to do. But since we have already done a lot in the field of sustainability communication, we know about the uncertainty of companies regarding the "how". The public eye rightly looks critically at products, offers and services that write sustainability on their foreheads.
How did the collaboration with HSG come about?
Prof. Dr. Johanna Gollnhofer: We act as a sparring partner. As a university, we do not, of course, offer any consulting or services, but we help to give the topic a sound, theoretical foundation. We benefit from the agency's know-how and Wirz can theoretically support its workshops on sustainability communication. We are working with Wirz on a study on the topic that will be published next year.
So what are the biggest sustainability challenges that customers face?
Dainese: A company has to make a choice. They often put on clothes that don't fit them perfectly. Consumers see that immediately and then the company is not credible. Only ruthless honesty can help. That's where we help.
Gollnhofer: It is always a process. What company is 100 percent sustainable? But if my consumers believe that I'm making a sustainable effort, then they view it positively. But if they don't believe me, then they quickly accuse me of greenwashing. It all hinges on this pivotal point of credibility.
Gollnhofer: You also have to ask yourself what is relevant for my target group. Sustainability is a word that everyone defines differently. For some, sustainability means animal welfare. For others, sustainability is more about production chains. Customers have to ask themselves, what are the sustainability goals that fit well with my brand and are also relevant to my target segment? It's about breaking down the abstract word into something concrete.
Is the topic of sustainability still on the corporate agenda? At the moment, completely different topics dominate reality.
Dainese: Of course, the focus has shifted at the moment. You can see that. But the commitment remains. Personally, it's incredibly important to me that we all keep at it. There will always be crises, without minimizing the current situation, but that can't exempt us from taking action.
Let's come back to the Wirz Competence Center? What do you offer customers with it?
Dainese: On the one hand, we offer workshops where you learn how you can, want and should position yourself. That's a crucial foundation, but positioning alone doesn't move anything. We can also provide the communication. This is where we make the difference, because we know exactly what works out there and, above all, what messages and tonality the target groups respond to.
AK: How do you feel about the word sustainability?
Dainese: The word is omnipresent and means everything or nothing. I think the big difficulty in communication is how do you talk about sustainability without it seeming heavy and giving people a guilty conscience? That's the big task of communication, to get across the essence of what the brand wants to say so that I, as a normal person, understand it and want to participate.
Gollnhofer: I agree. Sustainability is transported seriously and with difficulty. And we all know how to motivate people. Through lightness, through wit, through fun. I have the feeling that brands often lack the courage to approach the whole thing in a more playful way.
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Most recently, Achim Podak worked for Swiss radio and television SRF for around 15 years, including as editor, producer, and editorial and division manager. At SRF, he was instrumental in expanding science reporting and was responsible for numerous collaborations and special formats such as the national project "Dataland" or the science focus "SRF Menschmaschine". "It is a privilege to be able to become part of such an excellent and vital organization as the HSG. Communicating science clearly is more important than ever. I want to work together with a strong team to achieve this," says Achim Podak. "We are very much looking forward to our new colleague, who brings with him many years of journalistic experience and has already realized many exciting, successful formats," says Adrian Sulzer, Head Corporate Communication at the HSG.
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Metadesign is to use the mandate to express the brand's claim to leadership even more strongly in the future. To this end, the brand presence will be modernized and aligned with the requirements and demands of a digitalized world. In addition, the numerous users of the brand will be given simple tools to communicate consistently and coherently across the board. The first results will become visible over the coming months.
Valérie Horner-Diem, Head of Branding and Marketing at the University of St.Gallen: "We are increasingly competing internationally with the University of St.Gallen. We need to express our unique positioning with a dynamic yet consistent brand experience. We are delighted to have MetaDesign, an internationally renowned partner, at our side to challenge and support us in this process."
Lukas Eiselin, CEO Metadesign: "The University of St.Gallen occupies a unique position in the educational center of Europe. We are pleased to clarify this position with the brand and to carry it into the future."
The University of St.Gallen was founded in 1898 as a commercial academy. Metadesign is a global brand consultancy with offices in Beijing, Berlin, Düsseldorf, Lausanne, New York, San Francisco and Zurich, which has been serving brands such as Apple, Bucherer, Didi Chuxing, Die Mobiliar, Four Seasons, Intel, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Krebsliga Schweiz, New York Philharmonic, NZZ, Swiss Life and Volkswagen since 1979.
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The ranking is compiled every two years by the University of St. Gallen in cooperation with the Leipzig Graduate School of Management. The SonntagsZeitung publishes the results published on September 22 in the current issue. In each case, 15,000 inhabitants throughout Switzerland are surveyed.
The top positions are naturally occupied by organizations with a public welfare-oriented service mandate: Rega, Spitex, Pro Senectute, Paraplegic Foundation, Red Cross, AHV, Pro Infirmis, Suva, Reka, Salvation Army and Caritas.
Migros, the first profit-oriented company, is ranked 12th. The retailer is held in high esteem by the population, not least because of its cooperative organization and the Migros Culture Percentage. Its main competitor, Coop, is ranked 19th, while other cooperatives such as Volg (17th), Mobiliar (18th) and Landi (22nd) also perform well. Geberit is the first purely private company to appear on the list, in 28th place.
According to the inventors of the Common Good Atlas, it is not enough for companies to run their core business successfully and efficiently, thus paying wages, suppliers and taxes. "The concept of value creation must be expanded beyond the purely economic," says Peter Gomze, ex-rector of the HSG and patron of the project, to the SonntagsZeitung. And study leader Timo Meynhardt: "Without social acceptance, the efficient completion of the core business will no longer be possible in the future".
A kind of warning to companies that score poorly in the public's favor and seem to have little credit when it comes to their commitment to the common good. For example, Marlboro ranks last, Nestlé plummets compared to 2017, and the media brand View is ranked 105, in direct company with controversial companies such as Syngenta, Tamoil and Glencore.
In general, it can be seen that the contribution to the common good in Switzerland has become smaller. Only ten organizations - including the Swiss soccer champions BSC Young Boys and the major bank Credit Suisse - improved their performance compared to 2017. In contrast, other companies - in addition to Nestlé - are really dropping off. Raiffeisen, for example, or tech giants such as Amazon, Facebook or Apple. "Executives should see this decline as a warning that requires at least as much attention as the regularly threatened shrinkage of the workforce," says Timo Meynhardt to the SonntagsZeitung.
| Rank | Organization | Note | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rega | 5,55 | Association/Foundation |
| 12 | Migros | 5,06 | Cooperative |
| 16 | SRF | 4,96 | Public company |
| 19 | Coop | 4,84 | Cooperative |
| 28 | Geberit | 4,63 | Company |
| 29 | 4,63 | Public company | |
| 30 | New Zurich Newspaper | 4,63 | Company |
| 34 | Swisscom | 4,55 | Public company |
| 42 | Tages-Anzeiger | 4,45 | Company |
| 75 | 4,00 | Company | |
| 83 | 20 minutes | 3,86 | Company |
| 86 | Apple | 3,81 | Company |
| 92 | Youtube | 3,59 | Company |
| 102 | 3,14 | Company | |
| 103 | Amazon | 3,14 | Company |
| 105 | View | 3,04 | Company |
| 110 | Marlboro | 2,26 | Company |
GemeinwohlAtlas 2019: Key facts
- Switzerland is still very concerned about the common good in Switzerland. As in the 2017 survey, 73 out of 100 respondents are concerned that too little attention is paid to the common good in Switzerland.
- In general, the Swiss population penalizes large corporations in particular; these have particularly lost ground in the ranking compared to 2017.
- It is astonishing that the perceived contribution to the common good of most organizations has fallen. Besides Nestlé (-14.89%), Coca Cola (-13.17%) and FC Basel (-10.00%) in particular have suffered massive losses.
- The winners of the year are BSC Young Boys (+7.27%) and Credit Suisse (+5.19%). Furthermore, Lidl (+2.36%) and Aldi (+1.96%) can report slight improvements compared to the GemeinwohlAtlas 2017.
- Once again, the top group is made up primarily of public or cooperative organizations or nonprofit organizations with a Swiss background.
You can find the entire common good atlas including all detailed results at Common good.ch.
Advertising Week: Influencer marketing is on everyone's lips. But who is considered an influencer anyway?
Martin Faltl: You often hear the phrase, "Everyone is an influencer." But an account that is relevant enough for brands to be interested in it has a certain number of followers, depending on the thematic niche.
Many companies determine how much they'll pay for a post based on the number of followers in particular. In your opinion, does that make sense?
The number of followers is actually a big driver for price determination. From my point of view, it doesn't necessarily make sense, or in other words, it shouldn't be the only factor. Basically, companies should consider several quantitative factors. Reach is a useful criterion, to be sure. But the engagement of posts is much more relevant than the mere number of followers. There are also qualitative criteria, such as how the content fits the client and what collaborations already exist.
Nevertheless, an astonishing number of brands still blindly trust agencies - without taking a look at the actual audience data of their followers themselves.
About a year ago, SRF Data investigated the influencer world and found that one in three followers was not genuine. Has anything improved for the better since then?
Yes, the awareness of the clients has increased. Today, they increasingly rely on data when selecting influencers. Nevertheless, a surprisingly large number of brands still blindly trust agencies - without taking a look at the actual audience data of their followers themselves.
How do you recognize fake influencers or fake followers?
Profiles that are not backed by a real person can be recognized by unnatural post behavior, but also by googling a person. Every real person with many followers also leaves other digital footprints and can show not only five Google results. Fake followers can also be identified using a chart analysis. This shows whether the follower growth shows unnatural jumps. SRF has also published its code, which is available to anyone to perform analyses themselves.
A recent study by the e-commerce network Bazaarvoice shows that more and more users doubt the authenticity of influencers. Many have the impression that influencers specifically take advantage of an easily impressed audience and are also too materialistic. Do you have any solutions for how influencer marketing can remain credible in the long term?
It is important to recognize the commercial interest in such "studies". There are also studies of influencer marketing platforms where the result is: influencer marketing brings 13 times more return on investment than all other marketing measures. That's not true, of course. Basically, however, I can imagine that the credibility of influencers suffers if suddenly every post is "sponsored by". Clients ruin the influencer landscape for themselves by not paying attention to qualitative criteria in the selection process. Ultimately, credibility is only a question of selection: It is best to choose an account that is not completely commercialized.
Clients are ruining the influencer landscape for themselves by not paying attention to qualitative criteria in the selection process.
Meanwhile, more and more money is flowing into influencer marketing. The consulting firm Goldmedia estimates that the roughly 30,000 digital opinion leaders in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland generated sales of 560 million euros in 2017, and that the figure will continue to rise. Do you think this development of more and more money being put into influencer campaigns is justified or hype?
The ratio of influencer marketing to the rest of the media budget is still vanishingly small. The shift is happening much slower than expected because many brands are too comfortable to try something new. At the same time, the communication budget should be distributed according to consumer attention - and there is a lot of catching up to do for many brands. The disadvantages of TV budgets are only not discussed because they have been around for a long time. At the same time, it is not possible to measure what de facto comes back. The figures are much less precise and are based more on estimates than in influencer marketing. Accordingly, the distribution of the budget is unjustified.
How can you measure success in influencer marketing?
At the media level, you can measure how much attention a campaign has received in the form of interactions. If you choose campaign formats that are associated with tracking links, if you give out discount codes or link to a landing page, you can measure actual traffic to a store or conversion to a product purchase.
What can companies expect from their influencers - and what not?
One should expect professionalism. If you contractually agree on a cooperation, it should of course be adhered to. However, this is not always the case. You should also be able to expect that the influencers deal with the brand in order to deliver good quality. There are big differences in this regard. If you have had a bad experience with certain influencers, you should obviously not work with them in the future. But companies also need to understand that content creation means work and should be compensated accordingly. It is important to allow influencers creative freedom and to plan enough time for content production. It happens time and again, for example, that customers reuse content for print or digital extensions without consulting us. That is not very appreciative. So it's not just brands that can expect more professionalism from influencers; it's the same the other way around.
How do companies find the right influencers for them?
If a brand is looking for very large influencers who resemble classic testimonials, they are known in a small market like Switzerland anyway. But if you're looking for smaller, more specific niche influencers, you can use tools. There are various providers for this in the European region.
Companies should take a long-term approach to working with influencers and treat them like an important stakeholder in the company - not a billboard.
What typical mistakes do companies make in connection with influencer marketing?
This may sound trivial, but the biggest mistake is that a basic strategy is often missing. Many companies don't think about what purpose they are pursuing with their program. Because influencer marketing is a hype topic, an arbitrary campaign is quickly launched. Without thinking about the long-term concept behind it and how influencers can be used for products outside of the campaign. Yet there are good opportunities to collaborate outside of a simple product placement campaign. For example, some brands solicit feedback from influencers on their products or even develop, brand and market products together. Influencers are experts in their topic area, so such an approach makes sense. The fact that many companies do not yet recognize and implement this is a mistake. Companies should design their collaboration with influencers for the long term and treat them like an important stakeholder of the company - not like a billboard.
Are there any peculiarities in the Swiss influencer market that companies should be aware of?
The biggest peculiarity is the language. Many Swiss influencers produce content in High German or English. Accordingly, most of their followers live outside of Switzerland. If a company only wants to work the Swiss market and only goes by the number of followers, this can lead to poor budget allocations. Because the actual target group is much smaller than expected.
What is the situation here in Germany with the labeling obligation? In Germany, the case involving the Berlin fashion blogger Vreni Frost has shown that, legally speaking, the issue can become a minefield.
In Switzerland, too, there is a labeling obligation when you advertise products with content. However, as far as I know, this is rarely checked in practice. Nevertheless, I would advise every brand and every influencer to label more rather than less in order to protect themselves. Also because I think consumers are already jaded anyway. Labeling is so omnipresent that the negative effect is small. We often make the mistake of underestimating consumers. Of course they understand that it's advertising when products are prominently displayed.
The first influencer training course in Switzerland starts on October 19. Cost: 5,000 francs. In your opinion, is there a need for such training?
No, I don't think so (laughs). Success comes to those who are to some extent artists. These are people with a great intuitive understanding of content. They experiment a lot and learn quickly. I don't think you can bundle this knowledge in a systematic way and teach it theoretically. It would make more sense to have course packages on legal and business-relevant topics for influencers who are already active. You don't become an influencer through a certificate, but through social validation of other people. And you can't acquire that in a course room, but only in the real world.
There are stories of dropouts who find the constant pressure of having to be an ever-glowing online personality too much, such as Zurich fashion blogger Aleks Nikolic. On the other hand, it is also apparent on the user side that following ever-happier posts can make people depressed. Does an ethical discussion also need to take place in connection with influencer marketing?
People who present their lives better than they are and present only a curated excerpt to their fellow human beings have been around long enough. Advertising is also nothing new. For me, therefore, it does not open up any new ethical questions. Of course, we can have an ethical discussion about the social media landscape in general. But that would go beyond the scope of this interview.
Interview: Ann-Kathrin Kübler
The interlocutor: Martin Faltl is a psychologist and has been conducting research at the Institute for Customer Insight at the University of St. Gallen since 2015. As part of his work, he investigates interpersonal relationships in social media and their impact on consumer behavior. In addition, he heads the research and strategy department of the influencer marketing technology provider Reachbird.
This article first appeared in Werbewoche 17/2018, October 19, 2018, focusing on influencer marketing.
At Influencer-check.ch, everyone can gain insight into the ranking, which weights seven indicators determined by experts from science and practice from over 10,000 Swiss influencers - instead of the mere number of followers - in the evaluation algorithm. The current top 3 of the ranking: Roger Federer, Ivan Rakitic and travel blogger Mango Butterfly.
About two years ago, the topic of influencer marketing rapidly gained momentum - in the meantime, budgets for influencer marketing are a fixed part of the annual marketing budget of the majority of Swiss companies. Influencers are people who regularly create publicly accessible content in social media with which they influence the behavior of their followers. They are the opinion leaders of the Millenials and Generation Z.
With influencers as advertising media, companies are reaching a young target group that is increasingly spending time on social media instead of in front of TV or other traditional media. In times of ad blocking software, the relevance of advertising ambassadors on social media whose posts are not affected by this continues to increase. Moreover, according to several studies, buying recommendations from people like influencers enjoy higher credibility than those coming from brands. Even if the influencer posts are recognizable as advertising messages.
Algorithms capture over 10`000 Swiss influencers
With the increasing purchasing power of the target group with an affinity for social media, influencer marketing will continue to gain in importance in the future. Influencers on Instagram are particularly interesting for the advertising market because this platform, along with YouTube, is the most frequently used in Switzerland in the young target group up to the age of 24.[1] As a result, the communications agency Jung von Matt/Limmat and the influencer marketing platform Reachbird, in collaboration with the University of St. Gallen, decided to develop a Swiss influencer ranking based on seven indicators determined by a survey of experts from science and practice (see box on page 2). "Successful influencer marketing combines the characteristics of the brand with the product USP as well as the influencer DNA. This intersection creates authentic and relevant content. Thanks to the algorithm, we are better at selection," says Cyrill Hauser, Chief Client Officer of Jung von Matt/Limmat.
The monthly magazine, which is published free of charge on Influencer-check.ch The ranking analyzes more than 10,000 Instagram influencers with more than 1,000 followers. The cumulative gross reach is over 96 million followers. In addition to the top 10 influencers overall ranking, newcomers with less than 5,000 followers are also listed in a separate section. The initiators also highlight one of a total of 14 Reachbird influencer categories each month and create a separate ranking of the most successful influencers in specific topics such as fashion, sports, travel, food or technology. Also available on the website: the most successful campaign posts of the past month in terms of engagement (likes and comments).
The current top 10 overall ranking is a colorful mix with athletes such as Roger Federer or Ivan Rakitic, fitness influencer Debora Gabriella Cicciolina, Le Grand JD from the French-speaking part of Switzerland, who is best known for YouTube, or the account @swissposters, which photographs posters with eye-catching graphic design on Swiss streets.
Not only the number of followers determines success
The central concern of all those involved was that the ranking should not be based solely on the number of followers of the influencers, but that seven indicators should determine the evaluation algorithm. Martin Faltl, research associate at the University of St. Gallen, explains: "Many other rankings are based purely on the number of followers of the accounts or attribute great importance to this value. With our ranking, we offer an alternative that approaches the actual influence. That we have succeeded in doing so is shown by the fact that the top 10 includes both very large accounts like Roger Federer, but also much smaller influential accounts." Thus, despite having half as many followers as Ivan Rakitic, Roger Federer is ahead of the FC Barcelona footballer in the ranking.
As the February ranking proves, you won't find only the typical Swiss celebrities, who also have a high profile outside of Instagram, nor exclusively the big Instagram stars in the current ranking. Julian Freese, Chief Marketing Officer of Reachbird, comments: "Especially the very big accounts experienced a significant drop in followers in January and had a very high share of promotional posts. This had a big impact on the ranking, which rewards a growing community and a low number of ad placements."
These 7 factors determine the Swiss Influencer Ranking:
- Average engagement rate (ratio of number of comments/likes to number of followers)
- Comments / Like Ratio (ratio of number of comments to number of likes)
- Followers / Followed Ratio (ratio of number of followers to number of accounts the influencer follows)
- Mentions (how often the influencer was tagged by other profiles)
- Ad / No-Ad Ratio (ratio of the number of posts with ads to the number of posts without ads. Few ads are positive for the ranking).
- Follower growth rate (change in number of followers within one month)
- Sentiment of comments (analysis of the sentiment by means of emoji evaluation in the comments).