Many industries and companies complain that customers are becoming less and less loyal. The price is a little lower, the offer a little more tempting - and loyalty is gone. In today's fast-paced world, is it still possible to build lasting relationships with customers? What does it take for people to voluntarily commit to a company?
These topics are discussed in the new edition of the Brown Bag series and various facets of purchasing behavior are examined against the background of psychological findings. Of course, it also shows how loyalty can still be achieved by customers today. The "Brown Bag Series" format launched last year by the HWZ Hochschule für Wirtschaft Zürich, Swiss Marketing Forum and AZ Konzept is aimed at managers in marketing and communications and is intended to impart specialist knowledge at university level with practical relevance.
Prof. Dr. Michael Grund, Head of Dept. Marketing & Business Comm. of HWZ, Sandra Mottola, CMO of RIMUSS and Silvia Beyeler, CMO of SOS Children's Villages will be present.
More information is available here, you can register here. The talk will take place as a webinar on 6/6/2023 from 11 am to 12 pm.
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On April 18, the KKL Luzern will once again open its doors for one of Switzerland's most important marketing events. One thing is already certain: There will be a lot to discuss. For example, how media professionals are dealing with the biggest upheaval since the invention of printing.
This year's motto of the event: Focus. Because when more and more is possible, less and less becomes feasible. This requires a sharp focus - away from what is possible and toward what is necessary.
Industry in upheaval
Digitization, social media and a rapidly decreasing attention span mean a huge upheaval, especially for the media industry. Under the direction of moderator Urs Gredig, seasoned media professionals, including Susanne Wille (SRF Kultur), Matthias Ackeret (Persönlich) and Michael Wanner (CH Media), discuss how they are dealing with the biggest challenge since Johannes Gutenberg.
The highlight of the Marketing Day this year is once again the presentation of the Marketing Excellence Awards. 15 creative and successful projects are competing for the "Oscar" of the marketing industry. Last but not least, Marketing Day is a "Day off from the Office". The perfect opportunity for participants to make contacts and exchange ideas. In addition, numerous exhibitors present the latest innovations in the industry in the Networking Zone.
You can find the detailed program of the Marketing Day here.
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Marketing Day returns to the KKL Luzern on April 18, 2023. After a three-year break, the Swiss marketing scene will once again meet face-to-face on April 18 for the annual industry gathering at the KKL Luzern. This year's motto: Focus. Because although digitization is opening up unprecedented opportunities, excellent marketing still requires a sharp focus: away from the possible and toward the necessary.
The event will feature various keynotes, presentations, talks and breakout sessions. Five keynote speeches will shed light on the topic of focus from different perspectives.
Annette Felicitas Häcki, Managing Creative Director at Jung von Matt Limmat, explains how radically focused purpose marketing can transform entire companies. And "Marketoonist" Tom Fishburne bridges the gap between old-school thinking and modern marketing technology with his cartoons. The supporting program will once again be led by SRF presenter Kiki Mäder.
In addition, the Marketing Excellence Awards will be presented again this year as part of the Marketing Day. 15 creative projects are nominated in the categories of large companies and SMEs. (Werbewoche.ch reported).
Throughout the day, participants will also have the opportunity to network with other marketing professionals in the Networking Zone and learn about the latest innovations in the industry from numerous exhibitors.
The detailed program of the Marketing day is under Swissmarketingforum.ch to find. Tickets are now available online.
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Good news for the marketing and sales industry: Marketing Tag, with the presentation of the Marketing Excellence Award, is back in action after two years of live absence due to the pandemic. As the largest Swiss industry event, Marketing Tag 2019 was held for the last time at the KKL Luzern. Difficult times followed, and not only for the event industry. But the new beginning is approaching in big steps. The sponsor of the Marketing Excellence Award and the Sales Excellence Award will be AZ Konzept. This is an important step for the future of both awards and will have an impact on the entire industry. Anna Kohler and Johannes Hapig, Co-Editors-in-Chief of m&k advertisingweek.ch, talked to SMF President Uwe Tännler about Marketing Day 2023.
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The interdisciplinary jury headed by Sven Reinecke from the Institute of Marketing at the University of St. Gallen put numerous exciting and innovative submissions for the Marketing Excellence Award through their paces. The decisive factors for nomination are holism, innovation and success. Also important are the future prospects of the submitted projects. Budgets play at most a secondary role.
The 2022 vintage features a wide selection of well-known brands and special niche cases.
The winners will be announced at the Marketing Day, which will take place on Tuesday, April 18, 2023 at the KKL Luzern. The special prize and the audience award will also be presented at the same time.
More focus
The theme of the next Marketing Day is "My Marketing Agenda 2023: Focus." When more and more is possible, less and less becomes feasible. The biggest challenge: "To run the business and to change the business at the same time".. Excellent marketing therefore only succeeds with a sharp focus.
Around 30 marketing professionals will discuss how to master the digital transformation and focus on what is necessary. Visitors can expect a highly concentrated program with keynotes, keynote speeches, break-out sessions, media talks, SME talks and, above all, plenty of time for face-to-face discussions.
Marketing Excellence Award 22: The nominees
Category large enterprises
- Bühler: The most satisfying production lines
- Involved agency: K16
- Migros-Genossenschafts-Bund: V-Love plants Switzerland
- Involved agency: Wirz Group
- Swisscom: Revolution in new customer acquisition
- Involved agency: TLGG
- Switzerland Tourism: No one upstages the Grand Tour of Switzerland
- Involved agencies: Wirz Communications, Sir Mary
- Volg: For the love of the village and its associations
- Involved agencies: Metzger Rottmann Bürge Partner, The Generation Media, Agentur Koch
- Yuh: Launch of the Yuh App
- Involved agency: Cavalcade
- Credit Suisse: CSX: Catching up
- Involved agency: Thjnk Zurich
- Twint: Innovation of Parking
- Integra Biosciences: Accelerate your career - together with Integra
- Involved agency: Brand core
Category SME
- Rimuss & Strada wine: revitalization of the Rimuss brand
- Involved agencies: Hochspannung Kommunikation, Pointbreak, Uxinio, Dialogify
- Valais Association of Master Builders: "Build your future" Big Valais
- Involved agency: Schnyder Werbung
- Hotel & Conference Center Sempachersee: Rebranding through innovation and transformation into a place of opportunities (in today's VUCA world).
- Involved agency: Seowieso
- André Koch: Repanet Suisse - The competence network for the car body industry
- Graubünden Holidays: Graubünden Ferien - vacation destination number 1
- Involved agency: Wirz Group
- Maestrani Swiss chocolates: Revitalization of the Lovebrand "Minor
- Involved agency: Rembrand
Currently, tickets can be secured at the preferential price of 490 instead of 690 Swiss francs. More info on Swissmarketingforum.ch.
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The "Brown Bag Series" format launched in June by HWZ Hochschule für Wirtschaft Zürich, Swiss Marketing Forum and AZ Konzept is aimed at executives in marketing and communications and is intended to impart specialist knowledge at university level with practical relevance.
In recent years, many companies have found that their marketing strategies are only partially suitable for situations in which the framework conditions change radically: Pandemic, war, problems in the supply chains - hardly any company was really prepared for these challenges.
At the same time, customers expect companies to deliver on their performance promises, to take a stance on political and economic issues, and even to optimize their performance with innovations.
The talk will discuss how marketing strategies can be better aligned to uncertain times and how sustainable growth and innovation can be achieved even in this environment.
The moderator is Esther-Mirjam de Boer, CEO and owner of GetDiversity. Participants in the panel are Tanja Herrmann, Managing Director of the influencer and social media marketing consultancy WebStages, Cécile Moser, Head of Marketing & Communication at Jelmoli and Tobias Thut, Head of Marketing & Sales, Member of the Executive Board of Pilatus-Bahnen.
The live stream will take place on Tuesday, August 23, from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Further information on the entire brown bag series can be found at the HWZ websitewhere you can also register for free.
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Marketing and communication are subject to a rapid pace and the social upheavals of our time, in which rules change quickly and the established must give way to the new. Lifelong learning and the repeated acquisition of new skills are essential in the marketing industry. In such a time, orientation is of great importance in order not to miss any changes in direction and trends.
For this, HWZ, Swiss Marketing Forum and AZ Konzept are now offering a free series in live streaming format. Applied science with strong practical relevance is presented in one-hour sessions. The compact series is intended to help executives gain competent professional orientation and in-depth knowledge and to show new paths through the marketing jungle.
"The last few years have shown that there is a need for well-founded and equally short formats for knowledge transfer and exchange. The Brown Bag Series responds to this need," says Michael Grund, Head of Department for Marketing & Business Communications at HWZ. Marcel Weibel, OC member of Swiss Marketing Forum, adds: "With this partnership and the online format, we have optimal conditions, in addition to the Marketing Day, to offer all managers concrete practical knowledge with direct implementation."
The topics offered are dedicated to central challenges of marketing:
- Branding: Brand Leadership, June 21, 2022
- Marketing Strategy: Inbound vs. Outbound Marketing, August 23, 2022
- Customer Behavior: Neuromarketing, September 20, 2022
- Content Marketing: Storytelling, October 18, 2022
- Strategic Media Planning: Online vs. Offline, November 15, 2022
- Marketing Automation: Trends, Skills and Tools, December 13, 2022
Further information on the entire brown bag series can be found at the HWZ website.
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The two awards will be presented at the Marketing Day and the Sales Power Event respectively. Tarkan Özküp, Managing Director AZ Konzept and CCO of Watson, says: "The Swiss Marketing Forum has thrived on personal encounters, expertise and marketing power for over a decade. Supporting this format and putting it on a stable footing after its suspension due to the pandemic is what drives us. The format convinced us on all levels."
SMF President Uwe Tännler says of this strategic partnership: "Joy reigns. A big step for the Swiss Marketing Forum. AZ Konzept, embedded in the ecosystem of AZ Medien AG, offers us a colorful bouquet of services to catapult our messages around Marketing Tag and Sales Power to new heights".
AZ Konzept is a marketing and consulting company that enables end-to-end content marketing solutions for its customers. AZ Konzept is a subsidiary of AZ Medien AG, which operates watson and holds 50 percent of the media company CH Media.
Swiss Marketing Forum is an association in the field of marketing and sales and organizes the events "Marketing Tag" and "Sales Power" with the presentation of the Marketing Excellence Award (MXA) and the Sales Excellence Award (SXA).
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On October 21, numerous interested parties from the industry made themselves comfortable in front of their computers throughout Switzerland. The program included the presentation of the Marketing Excellence Awards. Around the award ceremony, there were presentations and insights into the marketing work behind the scenes. Prominent guests were also present.
The jury around Sven Reinecke awarded the golden arrows for excellent marketing. The winners convinced with well thought-out concepts, a lot of creativity, high-quality implementation at all levels and demonstrable success.
Gold for Geberit in the large company category
According to the jury, Geberit International and Jung von Matt Limmat worked out a repositioning that turned the professional brand for specialist tradesmen into a broadly positioned B2B2C brand. The result: an increase in reputation, 20,000 leads from the online campaign and a growing market share. For this achievement, the project "The Best of Two Worlds" was awarded Gold in the category of large companies.
LMS wins in the SME category
In collaboration with the Creative Intelligence Society, Lenzerheide Marketing and Support has launched a kingdom for bike fans. New trails, a spectacular film, an app and a clever content strategy were developed for the "Bike Kingdom" idea. The team has thus set an important course for the future and turned the winter sports resort into a successful summer destination as well. This earned them the award crown in the SME category.
The special prize for a drama without drama
Switzerland Tourism's YouTube hit "No Drama" starring Roger Federer and Robert De Niro has beaten all records. Although not a single advertising franc was spent in Switzerland, the film made the whole country smile. The campaign also met with a great response worldwide, generating 800 million media contacts. The special prize for a special marketing performance with the tennis Hollywood double deservedly went to Switzerland Tourism and Wirz Communication.
A grinning crowd pleaser
"Insurance without blah blah blah" from Smile and Equipe has captured the heart of the audience. With a likeable concept and consistent implementation across all channels, Smile has clearly left the competition behind in terms of both growth and awareness. The audience award goes to the direct insurer.
Live execution planned for next year
According to the organizers, Digital Marketing Day will be held live again on June 9, 2022. Although this year's online version was a success, the glamour and direct contact with the audience were missing, according to the organizers.
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Prizes are awarded for changes in marketing that have demonstrably ushered in above-average market success and improved opportunities for the future. The 14-member jury, headed by Prof. Dr. Sven Reinecke from the Institute of Marketing at the University of St. Gallen, has set to work.
Marketing Excellence Award 2021
The nominees
| Category | Client / Project | Project Manager | Involved agencies |
| Large enterprises | Geberit / The best of both worlds | Martin Baumüller, Tobias Mayr | Jung von Matt Limmat, Customer & Co |
| Large enterprises | Federation of Migros Cooperatives / Migros Ice Tea Beats | Philipp Bühler | Wunderman Thompson Switzerland |
| Large enterprises | CSS Insurances / Health365 | Andreas Schrag | Carpathia, Humanoo, SwissCommerce, Sir Mary |
| SME | Oblamatik / Work like Google | Roland Obrist | Brand core |
| SME | Lenzerheide Marketing and Support / Bike Kingdom Lenzerheide | Marc key | Creative Intelligence Society |
| SME | Smile Insurance / The insurance without blah blah blah | Joséphine Chamoulaud | Equipe |
| SME | Switzerland Tourism / No Drama | André Hefti | Wirz, sir Mary |
The winners of the Marketing Excellence Awards, together with the Special Award and the Audience Award, will be announced at Marketing Day 21 on August 19, 2021.
This year's Marketing Tag 21 has two firsts in store: For the first time, the most important event of the Swiss marketing industry will take place in Zurich - and it is the first event in the new and ultra-modern Kongresshaus Zurich.
This year's theme is "Focus. More important than ever!". More than 30 marketing professionals will discuss how they master the digital transformation and focus on what is necessary. A highly focused program with keynotes, keynote speeches, media talk and break-out sessions awaits the guests. The day will be hosted by TV presenters Kiki Maeder (SRF) and Vanessa Meier (TeleZüri) and Matthias Ackeret.
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The pandemic has shown what sales and distribution look like when sales staff have to stay outside and customers are not (physically) allowed in. It will - hopefully - soon be a thing of the past. Even if the view into the future is still blurred, one thing is clear at Online Sales Power 21: many things will be different. Lastingly different. The Sales Power itself was also different, as Uwe Tännler and Paul David Becker emphasized in their welcome address to the participants. The astonishment that 80 percent of all conferences currently take place online resonated. Prof. Dr. Markus Schögel, who moderated the conference and left no doubt that radical and sustainable changes in sales and distribution are imminent, also emphasized that Covid-19 is accelerating digitalization enormously.
What is changing?
The form of selling has changed during the pandemic, as Dr. Martin Baumüller from Geberit emphasized in his presentation. Physical sales will not simply disappear, but digital sales will catch up even more. This is because customers have built up trust in online purchasing and have experienced its benefits over a longer period of time. This was also the opinion of the Online Sales Power participants, as a survey showed: only 30 percent were of the opinion that sales will be primarily physical in the future - in contrast to 70 percent who are convinced that they will mainly take place digitally. Accordingly, optimal customer service should not just be a project, but an attitude, as speaker and successful author Sabine Hübner emphasized.
The shift in interaction channels towards remote selling, hybrid selling and multi-channel was the topic of Prof. Dr. Christian Schmitz from Ruhr University Bochum. Sales representatives will still be needed, because not all customers are sitting at a PC or are very familiar with the technology.
Platforms have become important, emphasizes Klaus Hengstmann. CRM systems are becoming increasingly important for sales. Marketing/sales automation, social media, sales engagement/listening will have a major impact on sales in the future. Samuel Vonrüti from the Vitra project is convinced that the pandemic has accelerated the question of how and where we work, keyword home office. And Dr. Stefan Fraude from Digitec Galaxus sees lasting effects of the pandemic in the increased use of eCommerce channels.
What remains of Sales Power 21
The positive impression is that although no handshake is possible at an online conference, a lot is learned and experienced: Old-school sales will not simply disappear, but there will be new tools, channels and processes that salespeople of the future will have to integrate into their job description. Sales Power 21 itself was a good exercise for this, as online interaction brings technical know-how and routine.
The event's online platform offered a wide range of opportunities to maintain contacts. The professional studio and the presentations, which alternately focused on the speakers and the content of the talks, were very positive.
The next Swiss Marketing Forum events, the Sales Excellence Award in November and the Marketing Day on August 19, will again take place face-to-face.
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The strategy with the three-phase model of the BR: protection phase, stabilization phase and normalization phase, gives hope for better times for the event industry, as Swiss Marketing Forum writes in a statement. The goal is to be able to welcome a minimum of 500 to 600 participants on site whenever possible. In any case, the organizers want to hold the Marketing Day on August 19, 21, it says further. Another postponement is not an option. If the pandemic situation still does not allow visitors to be welcomed at the Kongresshaus Zurich, MT21 will be held entirely digitally, with all speeches, the breakout sessions, the presentation of the Marketing Excellence Award, etc. The event will be held at the Kongresshaus Zurich.
In the meantime, Swiss Marketing Forum is organizing Digital Sales Power 21 on May 19. Information and tickets for this can be purchased at the SMF website can be retrieved.
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