Three newcomers strengthen Polsan's communications team. Cynthia Ringgenberg, a journalist from Swiss television, joins the agency. At SRF, she worked as an editor, producer and presenter for various news and culture formats. As a multimedia professional, she will strengthen conception and implementation at Polsan, especially in online communication and social media, and bring her know-how in media relations to the agency.

Oliver Frei also joins the agency. He previously held various management positions at the Pro Juventute Foundation and recently completed his master's degree in communications at the ZHAW with an analysis of the referendum campaign on the corporate responsibility initiative. Frei has a broad background and knows what it means to position oneself successfully in an NPO environment. At Polsan, Oliver Frei takes on mandates in communications and association management.

With Alexandra Walpen Kyburz, the agency has also gained expertise in event organization. The trained hotel manager also knows the political field very well and at close quarters: She worked for several years in the general secretariat of the CVP - or today the center - and most recently in the public affairs department of Mobiliar.

"We are very pleased that the three of them have chosen us," Sandra Hügli, partner at Polsan, was quoted as saying in a statement. "They bring a concentrated load of media expertise and NPO experience from different perspectives to us, and thus exactly what we were looking for in our positioning."

With the merger, Polsan is expanding its mainstay in communications and positioning itself as a full-service agency for all aspects of public affairs. In the future, Polsan will offer political strategies and concepts, lobbying, communications and association management from a single source. In addition, the agency and its 25 employees now have a second location in Zurich, bringing them closer to their clients in northern and eastern Switzerland.

"The merger is an important strategic decision," says Reto Wiesli, founder and partner at Polsan. "It allows us to combine our expertise in politics with the additional know-how and experience in all communication disciplines under one roof." This allows Polsan to offer everything it takes for professional public affairs work, from analysis to strategy to implementation. "And we are becoming even more agile and faster in the process," Wiesli is pleased to say.

The step is underlined by a new agency appearance. What remains is the name Polsan and one of three dots, which is to be understood as a statement. In the future, Polsan wants to appear more outwardly, through its own events and a stronger presence in social media. "We want to campaign for social and political issues that are important to us personally. Having a stronger external presence helps us push these," says Yvan Rielle. "We want to be an agency that puts profile over profit, with an attitude that we live and show." Values, he says, are a key driver of both the three partners' and the employees' commitment. "It's about social responsibility, transparency, respect, integrity and justice." The agency's thematic focus remains on health issues, children and youth policy, and social and educational concerns.

Majority of mandates from the non-profit sector

"We also want to make concerns heard that do not have a big lobby and are not backed by financially powerful interests," explains Sandra Hügli-Jost. Most of her previous mandates, like those of Polsan, therefore come from the non-profit sector. "The agency's core values should also be expressed in the way we organize ourselves. Together with the employees, we are repositioning the agency, and we want to orient ourselves to New Work concepts, to the idea of self-organization with a high degree of participation and consensus as a decision-making principle."