Together with APG|SGA, the agency set out to find "perfectly imperfect" poster sites for this campaign for the Meier Garden Center in Dürnten and the surrounding area. Each subject was carefully matched in advance to the location and the existing sprawling greenery. The interplay between the poster and the real environment places the autumn cut directly in the target group's field of vision.

"When I received the request from Ingo, I was convinced that such poster sites didn't exist in Switzerland. The agency proved me wrong with a few sample photos," says Peer Kleinfeldt, Key Account Manager at APG|SGA Switzerland. "Some of these locations are on hiatus or cannot be 'gardened' for other reasons. So we went to great lengths to make this unusual poster idea possible and to find suitable poster sites."

The APG poster sites are normally in a well-kept condition - some were even cut during the poster site scouting. So it was important to be quick, flexible and attentive. Together with the gardening professionals, eleven poster sites were finally selected according to correct gardening criteria and the shoot was carried out with real employees and the appropriate cutting tools. JCM Werbedruck ensured that the posters were perfectly timed.

"We wanted a seasonal campaign that would make our range of services known in the region," says Christian Rauser, Head of Marketing at Garten-Center Meier. "We think the idea of merging a poster with reality as a third dimension is brilliant. And the fact that our own employees can be seen tackling the posters was very well received both internally and externally. We also received appreciative feedback from the green sector."

The campaign is being extended to social media and supplemented with interactive elements to increase its reach. Among other things, gardening enthusiasts can look forward to the "Hedge Hiding" competition: vouchers can be found hidden in hedges around the garden center.

The campaign has been running for several weeks now and will continue into the winter months, as trees and shrubs can be pruned until the end of February, depending on the species. From March onwards, it will be bird protection time again.

Responsible at Garten-Center Meier: Christian Rauser (Head of Marketing). Responsible at Ingo Zürich: Michael Gallmann, Marika Magnuszewska, Jan Saurer, Jael Abderhalden, Julia Staub (Creation), Susi Martin (Project Management), Katharina Seiler (DTP), Swen Morath (CEO/CCO).

As a partner of Aletsch Bahnen AG, Feratel Schweiz AG markets a diverse and interesting range of high-quality advertising spaces (Big Poster, F12P, Entry Poster at the turnstiles, Big Flags branding and floor branding). In addition, individual special implementations at highly frequented locations round off the offer.

Valentin König, CEO of Aletsch Bahnen AG, says: "We have a friendly, loyal, professional and successful partnership with Feratel Schweiz AG. We look forward to continuing to realize interesting and innovative advertising projects together with Feratel Schweiz AG."

"Your bank for more"

Rod uses ZKB's diverse engagements to tell the stories behind the engagements and to capture them with great emotion - from euphoric laughter to silent amazement and rapturous applause. ZKB is a bank for more than just banking transactions.

Making commitment visible

The latest campaign from Rod is visually in line with ZKB's jointly developed image and highlights the many benefits for customers. They not only benefit from great experiences, but also from discounted admission, free seat upgrades and many other exclusive offers.

The campaign can be seen online, on social media and advertisements as well as OOH/DOOH. The campaign kicks off at the Schauspielhaus Zurich, followed by the Casinotheater Winterthur, Zurich Zoo and many other engagements.

Responsible at ZKB: Jan-Hendrik Völker-Albert (Chief Marketing & Communication Officer), Dominique Friedli (Head of Corporate Citizenship), Cornelia Grüninger (Senior Project Manager Advertising & Campaigns), Tania Cambeiro Antelo (Project Manager Corporate Citizenship), Daniel Locher (Senior Brand Manager). Overall responsibility for conception, creation and realization: Rod Communication. ProductionNavada GmbH, Mariska van Lavieren, Alexander Wyssling, Laura Šerić; Photography: Francesca Allen (Laird and Good Company); DOP: Carmen Pellon Brussosa; Editor: Noa Röthlisberger; Music: Pablo Nouvelle; Soundmix/Design: DubDub Studios; VFX: Das alte Lager; Media realization, image editing and color grading: blish, Media: Webrepublic.

Before the monsoon sets in, a very special melody resounds in some parts of India: people long for coolness, the fields for water. To invite the rain and influence nature, people sing the melodic "Raag Megh Malhar" - an emotional, mystical chant that brings the atmosphere, joy and beauty of the rainy season to life. Artists perform the "Raag" at rain festivals, concerts and ceremonies - and since the end of last year, the rain has even been singing the song itself: This is made possible by a giant poster measuring more than 200 square meters from the tea brand Taj Mahal Tea, which hangs in Vijayawada in eastern India.

"Outdoor advertising is one of the model students when it comes to CO2 emissions."

It is the largest billboard in the world that can interact with the environment - and even earned a place in the famous Guinness Book of Records last September. The highlight: the billboard, which was developed together with the agency Ogilvy India, plays the traditional song with every shower using special strings and a clever arrangement of weights that fill with rainwater. This is not only guaranteed to attract attention, but also impressively demonstrates that outdoor advertising and the environment can obviously complement each other perfectly.

Fresh air oasis in the city

Whether it's analog posters that clean the air and absorb pollutants, digital outdoor advertising with a self-sufficient power supply from alternative energies, giant planted posters and facades, poster tarpaulins made from recycled ocean plastic or bus shelters that attract bees: Whether analog or digital, the industry is extremely creative when it comes to the climate. With Goldbach Germany as its marketing partner, the start-up Green City Solutions offers moss filters for advertising spaces that filter the smallest particles such as fine dust, viruses, bacteria, but also odors and gases from the air and enrich it with oxygen. The evaporative power of the mosses cools the air by a few degrees Celsius. This turns the digital advertising media into small oases of fresh air in the middle of the city.

"Every second less that has to be produced, uploaded and broadcast saves energy - and budget."

Mediaplus and Climatepartner recently calculated the CO2 emissions of individual media types, according to which outdoor advertising is considered one of the more environmentally friendly channels compared to others. In figures: According to this calculation, out-of-home (DOOH) produces 5 to a maximum of 80 grams (large surface area) of CO2 emissions per 1000 contacts, compared to around 280 grams for online moving images and around 9000 grams for newspapers (Nordic format), for example. For Markus Ehrle it is clear: "Out-of-home advertising is one of the model students when it comes to CO2 emissions." By this, the President of the Swiss Outdoor Advertising Association (AWS) means not only the medium itself, but also its differentiating and informative character: "Advertising campaigns also enable more ecological products to find their markets. For example, out-of-home advertising investments by brands in the field of electromobility increased significantly in 2023."

OOH in the media mix

A study by the German Outdoor Advertising Association (FAW) and the consultancy Bynd has investigated how environmental sustainability affects the media mix - and whether budget shifts in favor of outdoor advertising have an impact on the ecological footprint. The result: for given budgets, there was a simultaneous improvement in the carbon footprint as well as the impact on various KPIs when OOH was added to the media mix. According to the study, even a slight increase in OOH can ensure a lower-emission media mix without significantly reducing the impact on the KPIs. For the industry, it is therefore clear that every euro that is shifted from other media to OOH is also a euro for the environment.

One-to-many medium

And word is getting around: "The topic has only now really caught on with advertising clients - also thanks to the initiatives of the Swiss Advertising Clients Association (SWA), which is committed to sustainability in marketing and communication," says Markus Ehrle. After all, the medium has good arguments in terms of its carbon footprint: as a one-to-many medium, outdoor advertising reaches thousands of people with one poster or digital spot - and not just one, as is the case with other channels. Providers are also making an effort to make their business model as sustainable as possible. APG|SGA, for example, has been using 100% green electricity since 2012, covers purchased electricity for buildings, electrical advertising media and vehicles with renewable energy and has photovoltaic systems on some of its premises. The company aims to achieve net zero emissions by 2035. Sustainability is also a major issue for Ströer; the outdoor advertising group's strategy even landed it in the final of the German Sustainability Award, Germany's largest award for companies that act sustainably.

"The pressure on advertisers to be as 'green' as possible in terms of their marketing measures is increasing."

A lot is happening in the field of digital out-of-home advertising - DOOH - in particular: screens are becoming more powerful and require less power, are more durable, are renewed more frequently and are switched off more often at certain times. And: "Thanks to programmatic, DOOH has not only become even more efficient, but is also much more environmentally friendly in this area than the other channels that can be booked and controlled automatically," explains Nadia Abou El Ela, Managing Director of the Institute for Digital Out of Home Media (IDOOH), an interest group for digital out-of-home advertising. "Whereas with one-to-one media, a new booking and playout process has to be initiated for each individual contact and the spot has to be loaded onto each individual device, a single spot broadcast on a DOOH screen generates numerous contacts." There is also another way in which CO2 can be saved relatively easily with moving image media: by shortening the length of the ad. "Every second less that has to be produced, uploaded and broadcast saves energy - and budget. With the ideal spot length of ten seconds, DOOH is already doing well here," explains Abou El Ela.

Record year for DOOH

These advantages are well received: According to the latest Nielsen advertising trend for 2023 (in Germany), DOOH can look back on a record year and was able to increase sales by a quarter compared to the previous year. The average market share of digital advertising media within out-of-home advertising has also risen to 41%. Is this rise due to the medium's pleasing ecological balance? Not necessarily, says Nadia Abou El Ela: "In fact, the positive eco-balance of DOOH compared to other media channels does not yet seem to have penetrated the market everywhere. We see a need for clarification, especially among some traditional media agencies and advertising clients. This assessment is also confirmed by the poster media agencies: although demand for digital out-of-home has risen significantly in recent years, this growth cannot be clearly attributed to the eco-balance of the medium. Rather, other important factors such as costs, reach, targeting options and general market conditions are likely to have had at least as great an influence on bookings to date. However, we are convinced that we are only at the beginning of environmentally conscious media planning and that the topic will rapidly gain relevance."

Climate-neutral advertising increasingly important

This is confirmed by the "Green Media 2.0" study by Annalect. According to the study, climate-neutral advertising is becoming very important for 40 percent of the marketing managers surveyed. For Abou El Ela, the to-do for the new year is therefore clear: "We need to capitalize on this momentum and present DOOH even more clearly as an environmentally friendly alternative." IDOOH is therefore planning a new "Green DOOH" working group for 2024, which will develop economically viable solutions on how each individual industry participant can become climate neutral or at least offset their CO2 emissions. In addition, solutions are to be found on how the entire industry can reduce its footprint.

And soon this will no longer be a nice-to-have, but for more and more companies sustainability reporting will become a real obligation. The pressure on advertisers to be as "green" as possible in terms of their marketing measures is increasing, says Nadja Abou El Ela, "and they will pass this on to the advertising and communications industry, which will then no longer be able to avoid DOOH as one of the most environmentally friendly media.

Horizon, the leading poster company in Valais, announces in a press release its partnership with the association La Main Tendue / Die Dargebotene Hand. The association is dedicated to providing support to people who are experiencing loneliness and hardship in our society. Horizon will provide La Main Tendue / Die Dargebotene Hand with free billboard space to raise public awareness of the NGO's causes.

"We are deeply touched by the extraordinary work that Die Dargebotene Hand does to combat loneliness and provide vital support to people who depend on it."Philippe Barman, Head of Sales and Marketing at Horizon, is quoted as saying. "As a major player in communications in Valais, we have a responsibility to use our poster network to promote human values and social initiatives that make an effective difference in people's lives."

After submitting their Out of Home campaigns, creatives, agencies and advertisers are evaluated by an independent jury of experts. This consists of 14 personalities from advertising, culture and design. The shortlist of the expert jury will be announced at the end of June 2023. Nominees will not only have the chance to win the main "Poster of the Year" prize, they will also be invited to the big awards ceremony at StageOne in Zurich on September 13, 203. Here, the winners in six different categories (Culture, Commercial National, Commercial Local & Regional, Digital Out of Home, Out of Home Innovations and Public Service) will be announced and awarded a trophy in gold, silver or bronze.

Award ceremony with big party

All nominees receive a diploma that recognizes originality, implementation of the advertising message and creative execution. The award ceremony, which is attended by around 500 invited guests, is followed by a big party. Afterwards, the winning campaigns will be disseminated in a media release and on various channels. Analog and digital campaigns created by an agency, a graphic design studio, individuals, freelancers or a company responsible for the concept in Switzerland or the Principality of Lichtenstein are eligible. Works that were posted or broadcast between January 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023 can still be submitted online until June 7, 2023.

The first pilot sites are already in use: The first site is in Gossau ZH and is installed on stand legs. The second in Kloten, on a wall mount. "These two pilot sites were big milestones for us. We went through the process from building application to installation in different environments and gained important insights from that. We identified potential challenges and stumbling blocks and optimized our project planning accordingly" explains Christian Imhof, COO of Livesystems.

Short term subject change

Philipp Wild, CCO of Livesystems, adds: "The communication needs of companies can change quickly these days. The digitized F12 format offers the great advantage that short-term subject changes can be implemented within a short time."

As a location partner, the contractual partner of Livesystems has its own digital communication channel with which it can play out its own content to walk-in customers. According to Imhof, it is essential that site partners receive concrete added value for making their site available.

A first campaign with Auto Discount Uster has already been implemented.

According to a media release, the 55 eBoards are located at "attractive, high-traffic locations in Switzerland's major train stations" and achieve a reach of 25 percent and 8.5 million contacts over a two-week broadcast period. This makes them the ideal solution for achieving even greater impact with the Ringier Advertising portfolio.

As part of the cooperation, Ringier Advertising will integrate the APG|SGA eBoards, which can be booked nationally, locally and programmatically, into its portfolio of services and offer them to its advertising customers within holistic, cross-media solutions.

"We are very pleased to be working with Ringier Advertising and are convinced that this cooperation can bring significant added value to our joint advertising customers," said Andy Bürki, Head of Advertising Market at APG|SGA. "The eBoard products are an important part of our comprehensive offering in the field of digital outdoor and moving image advertising, and the cooperation with Ringier Advertising will enable us to attract even more advertisers from the print and digital markets."

"For Ringier Advertising, the collaboration with APG|SGA is a great opportunity to expand our advertising offering with this attractive opportunity in the field of digital outdoor advertising," says Thomas Passen, Managing Director at Ringier Advertising. "We are convinced that our advertising customers will benefit from the additional visibility provided by the large-format eBoards in 16:9 format."

Entries can be submitted in a total of five categories: Gold, silver and bronze are up for grabs in the categories "DOOH Classic," "Best Cross-Media Campaign," "Best Use of Data" and "Innovative Use of DOOH," respectively. The "DCC YoungSTARS" competition, which was launched especially for young creative talent, rewards the best work with 1 billion contacts on the participating DOOH networks.

Award ceremony with audience award

An audience award will also be presented at the award ceremony on September 14, 2023 in Düsseldorf. The submission portal is open for agencies, companies and students from now until March 27, 2023.

This jury: Maike Abel (Nestlé), Jo Marie Farwick (Überground), Ekki Frenkler (Mediaplus), Alexander Fürthner (Weischer.JvB), Frank Goldberg (IDOOH), Verena Gründel (W&V), Matthias Harbeck (Saint Elmo's), Dimitri Herber (Bahlsen), Julian Hessel (Sodastream), Ralf Heuel (Grabarz & Partner), Christian Kaeßmann (PLAN), Hartwig Keuntje (FischerAppelt), Arne Kirchem (Unilever), Thomas Knüwer (Accenture Song), Thomas Koch (The DOOH Consultancy), Chris Lotz (Heimat), Andreas Orth (mc R&D) Ineke Paulsen (Meta), Simone Podlich (Cittadino), Christian-Georg Siebke (TV Waiting Room), Stan Skolnik (IU International University), Robert Stahl (Goldbach), David Stephan (David + Martin), Alexander Stotz (Ströer), Andrea Tauber-Koch (Commerzbank), Holger Walsch (Planus) and Frank Youssoffi (Neo
Advertising).

Six companies - including the TX Group - competed for the contract. In November 2017, SBB awarded the contract to APG, against which the losing media company appealed to the Federal Administrative Court.

The judges ruled that the tendering of third-party advertising space was subject to concession law and not to public procurement law. By paying for the space, the successful tenderer would indirectly contribute to the financing of SBB's public tasks.

Scope for selection

For the special use concession, a minimum rent is to be paid irrespective of turnover and an amount dependent on the annual turnover as a percentage. This differs from the constellation that exists in public procurement. According to the Federal Administrative Court, SBB has greater leeway in selecting a concessionaire.

The court rejected the TX Group's complaints. It sees no evidence that information was not passed on equally to all applicants during the renegotiations in the course of the procedure.

Nor had there been any unequal treatment of the same. The award criteria and their weighting had been passed on transparently to everyone. Furthermore, SBB had not unlawfully handled business secrets of the TX Group. The ruling is not yet legally binding and can be appealed to the Federal Supreme Court. (sda.)

The Swiss vitamin water now also offers a drink completely without sugar. After a nationwide OOH offensive, the campaign is currently being played out online in a variety of ways.

The Focuswater brand has recently matured from a start-up to a first-time beverage player: Launched in 2011 as Switzerland's first vitamin water without external financing, Focuswater has established itself in the beverage sector with impressive growth rates and was finally sold to Rivella in 2019. The low-calorie drink thus aims to appeal to the zeitgeist of a broad social class that cultivates a healthy and active lifestyle. Free of artificial additives and rich in vitamins and minerals, Swiss Vitamin Water aims to be a real and tasty alternative to the majority of over-sugared and artificial beverage offerings. Swiss Vitamin Water now also has a drink completely without sugar on offer.

Campaign mechanics with activating messages

For the positioning of Focuswater as the number one Swiss vitamin water and the launch of a new subrange, Rosarot was commissioned for the awareness campaign after winning a pitch in fall 2021. For this, the Zurich creatives turned the existing claim into "Goodbye calories, hello vitamins" to show what you can say goodbye to thanks to Focuswater and what you can say hello to instead. Depending on the consumption of the different varieties, the ingredients of the vitamin water support an activating, antioxidant or relaxing effect and thus a self-determined life with more flow. This principle is consistently continued in headlines such as "goodbye worklife, hello balance," "goodbye calories, hello muscle aches," or "goodbye home, hello adventure. The subjects pick up on this in an action-packed and sports-driven imagery, right down to the yoga pose. Everything is underpinned by a dynamic design that symbolizes water as well as flow and has different color codes depending on the variety.

Tinder style engagement banner

The idea of "Goodbye & Hello" is currently also being taken up in an engagement banner. In the interactive displays, the different Focuswater varieties are presented with a profile including typical emoticons, just like in a dating app. If a match is found, the "date" can be displayed on the Focuswater website immediately get to know better and order directly to your home. This, of course, is where the two new varieties "Push" (orange & lemongrass & caffeine) and "Calm" (rhubarb & raspberry) come into play, with which Focuswater wants to appeal even more strongly to the water drinker category. Compared to the Mainrange, the two new products are completely sugar-free and only lightly flavored. However, the DNA as a vitamin water remains intact.

The entire campaign encompasses a wide variety of channels such as out-of-home, digital out-of-home, social media and is played out on native ads and displays in addition to engagement banners.

Responsible at Focuswater: Sara Bätschmann (Senior Business Developer), Andreas Egli (Senior Brand Manager), Carla Christen (Brand Manager), Caspar Vuille (Digital Marketing Manager); Responsible at Rosarot: René Karrer (Creative Director), Labinot Gashi (Director Digital), Sabrina Huwiler (Project Manager), Antonia Lattarulo (Project Manager), Thorsten Hainke (Senior Text and Concept), Bianca Berger (AD) Marcela Narvaez (Graphic Designer), Fabio Montefiori (Polygraph), Flavia Hänni (Polygrapher).

For the 2022 fall campaign, the umbrella theme is now even broader and communicates specific plus messages of the health insurance company with new humorous outdoor subjects. For example, the reliability and commitment of the employees are backed up with service promises, such as location-independent advice or 24/7 availability in the event of medical problems.

Responsible at KPT: Marc Bissig (overall responsibility), Stefanie Gehrig (campaign management offline), Daniel Knuchel (campaign management digital), Tanja Huber (digital), Natalie Portmann and Beni Meier (text). Responsible at the agencies: Family: Claudio Catrambone (Creative Director/Account Director), Svenja Hässig (Account Director), Severin Binkert, Marion Gwerder, Torsten Maas, Grit Wolany (Concept and Art Director) Production: Stories, Janic Halioua (director), Arthur Mebius (photographer), Emoticom: Patrick Hüttenmoser (Creative Director), Jaana Kaufmann-Bienz (Consulting), Yves Ackermann, Marijan von Allmen, Mathias Habich, Anja Rüfenacht (Art Director), Richard Gehrig (Head of Production), Marc Wyss (Developer), JBW Media: Nina Rolle & Oliver Huber (Media)