The Effie Awards Switzerland are organized by Leading Swiss Agencies, the association of Switzerland's leading communications agencies, and recognize the most effective marketing campaigns of the past two years. For this year's edition, 59 jury members selected 34 outstanding campaigns as finalists in the first round of judging. m&k was there and gained various insights from the jury (Markt-kom.com reported).

From these 34 campaigns, 20 jurors have now awarded a total of 24 campaigns with metal in the second round of judging. The judging took place under the direction of jury president Peter Felser and the Effie management.

Which 24 campaigns have won will be m&k will be unveiled in various stages over the coming weeks. The 2024 winners will be celebrated at the award show on November 13. The latest bronze winners are Rod Kommunikation, Thjnk and TBWA\Zürich.

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SOS Children's Village - Ex-Child (category Doing Good/Positive Change)

The "Ex-Kind" campaign was able to: increase brand awareness by 30 percent exceed the donation target by 40 percent and raise over CHF 1.7 million in donations gain 1,300 new donors generate 5,000 quality leads

SOS Children's Villages has a shrinking, ageing donor base. The volume of donations has been declining for years. The number of young donors is too low. However, we all have one thing in common: we were all children once and know that a safe childhood is the most important foundation for life as an adult.

A thought appeal to one's own childhood functions as an empathy trigger and creates the emotional basis for the donation request.

With the word creation "ex-child" and the use of prominent SOS ambassadors as "ex-children", (young) Swiss people are encouraged to get involved for children in need.

The new communication umbrella makes the topic of "childhood" very popular, increases spontaneous Children's Village brand awareness by 30 percent and generates over CHF 1.7 million in donations.

Client: SOS Children's Village

Lead agency: Rod communication

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Edelweiss - Leave. Love. (Category Brand Image)

The campaign achieved a brand sympathy peak and was able to increase bookings by +34.8% compared to 2019. The media costs per booking were reduced from CHF 10.92 to CHF 5.51.

Edelweiss has created a new brand with its "Leave. Love." campaign showed how important it is to understand the needs of the target group. The airline recognized that after Corona, it was not just about where to go, but also about what you want to get away from. The campaign drew people with wanderlust images into the vastness, while at the same time a verbal bracket encouraged them to leave everyday frustrations behind. With success, Edelweiss recorded +34.8 percent more bookings than before coronavirus, while the overall market still only accounted for 74.7 percent of 2019. At the same time, the campaign reduced media costs per booking from CHF 10.92 before coronavirus to CHF 5.51.

Client: Edelweiss Air Switzerland

Lead agency: Thjnk Zurich

Other agencies / companies: Media cutter

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SBB - Youth campaign for public transport. (Category New New)

SBB inspires young consumers to use public transport and exceeds its sales targets by up to 35 percent. Almost one in four buyers had never or hardly ever traveled by public transport before.

Destination Experience: To promote the new, attractive youth offers, SBB is immersing itself in the emotional world of young people with a campaign in the name of public transport. Instead of place names, the iconic blue station signs are now emblazoned with cool terms from the current youth language, reflecting the enthusiasm and freedom that can be experienced together on the move.

"Sheesh": The campaign speaks the language of the target group and shows that SBB understands what moves young people.

With success: the sales targets were exceeded by up to 35 percent and by the end of 2023, one in 10 young people already had a GA Night travelcard.

Client: SBB

Lead agency: TBWA\Zurich

Other agencies / companies: Havas (Switzerland), Visualeyes Jeff, eg+ Worldwide, Kingfluencers

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SRK - Be A Henry! (Category Doing Good/Positive Change)

"Be a Henry!" could motivate over 900 young people, generate over 22,500 landing page views, reach over 4 million contacts on social media, generate almost 40,000 total engagements, record 46 percent more Google searches.

In a "multi-option society", the attractiveness of traditional volunteer work is steadily declining. The Swiss Red Cross is feeling the effects of this, particularly in terms of the lack of young volunteers. People who volunteer today do not want to make long-term commitments, but want to help out quickly and on a short-term, project-related basis. At the SRC, you can do a lot of good with little commitment - and we show that. This makes it easier to get involved in social projects.

The appeal "Be a Henry!" revives the founding spirit of original influencer Henry Dunant and brings his vision to life via social media ads and new influencer content. The SRC social campaign encourages over 900 young people to get involved with the SRC. "Be a Henry!" even activates so many people that it has to be paused.

Client: Swiss Red Cross

Lead agency: Rod communication

 

 

 

Gemini Live, Google's AI assistant, is now available in over 40 languages, including German and French for the first time. This extension makes it possible to hold conversations in your own language and make even more intensive use of Gemini's many functions. Users can also choose between ten different voices to customize the assistant.

What makes Gemini Live so special is the ability to have natural conversations - almost like talking to a friend. Whether discussing ideas, preparing presentations or coordinating everyday tasks - conversations with Gemini are effortless using voice control, without the need to type.

One particularly practical function is the integration of other Google apps. For example, Gemini Live can search for the lasagna recipe from Gmail, record the ingredients in the notes and enter suitable times for shopping directly in the calendar. Or it can ask for a concert flyer, check the date in the calendar and create a reminder to buy tickets. In the future, Google is also planning to make Gemini Live multilingual on devices - conversations can then be held in up to two languages simultaneously.

From 15 October 2024, YouTube will be opening up new opportunities for the creation and monetization of short videos. Creators will then be able to upload videos up to 3 minutes long in shorts format - in both square and vertical format, usable via the YouTube Studio app or desktop.

Important to note: Shorts that were uploaded before this date remain unchanged and monetize via Watch Page Ads, provided the creator is already part of the YouTube Partner Program. New videos in the 1 to 3-minute format will soon also be monetized via Shorts Ads and count towards the requirements for partner program qualification.

It will take a few weeks until these longer shorts are visible on all YouTube interfaces, according to a corresponding message from YouTube to the Creators Community. This means that there may be a delay before new videos are displayed as shorts in the channel and recorded in YouTube Analytics.

Particular attention should be paid to the use of music and visually protected content in longer shorts. If copyrighted material is included, the video will be blocked. However, this does not result in any penalties, and creators can remove the protected material to make the video accessible again.

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles gave the starting signal for a new vanlife brand at the Caravan Salon Düsseldorf: "California". With an extended range of lifestyle accessories, tailor-made events and the California app, the brand is opening a new chapter in the world of campervans. At the center of this launch is Swiss musician and snowboarder Pat Burgener, who has been recruited as an international brand ambassador.

The New California, which Burgener unveiled at the presentation, comes to the market with state-of-the-art technology and a wide range of equipment. The model, which is based on the Multivan platform, not only offers more comfort and space, but also a plug-in hybrid drive with 4MOTION, which enables a range of up to one hundred kilometers in pure electric mode. Perfect for Burgener's nature-loving lifestyle, who in future will travel the beaches of Portugal as well as the Alps of his home country in the California.

Pat Burgener himself is delighted: "It's impressive how flexible the new California is. With the second sliding door, I can experience the surroundings even more intensively." He will also use the New California, which serves as his mobile home, for his first European tour as a solo artist.

The collaboration with Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles has a special significance for Burgener, as he is already an ambassador for the all-electric ID. Buzz. However, the European cooperation gives his commitment a completely new dimension. Marco Niggli, Head of Marketing at VW Commercial Vehicles Switzerland, is delighted: "Pat embodies the freedom and spirit of discovery that characterize the California. His energy and versatility are the perfect expression of the brand."

 

Swiss Olympic and Dynoptic Partner AG are reaffirming their collaboration and extending their partnership until the end of 2026. As an official partner, Dynoptic will continue to ensure that Swiss athletes can see clearly in the future. Since 2009, the association of owner-managed specialist opticians has been supporting Swiss Olympic with free contact lenses and care products from its own brand "Lensy by Dynoptic" - a valuable contribution that the athletes appreciate.

Cyrill Woodtli, Head of Team Partnerships at Swiss Olympic, is delighted: "Dynoptic has been making an important contribution to supporting Swiss sport for many years. We are delighted that this successful partnership is being continued." Martin Schütz, Managing Director of Dynoptic, is also optimistic about the future: "With our services, we want to help ensure that Swiss athletes continue to have the best visibility - for more success in sport."

For the fourth time since 2019, Graubünden Holidays CEO Martin Vincenz welcomed the industry to a Graubünden Tourism Day on October 2 and 3, 2024. Around 160 representatives and service providers from Graubünden tourism attended the presentations and panel discussions on the topics of artificial intelligence (AI) and sustainability in tourism at the Arosa Sports and Congress Center. Cantonal Councillor Marcus Caduff emphasized at the opening that the various challenges must be tackled together.

Between fascination and danger
Keynote speaker Roger Basler de Roca provided an introduction to the conference topic of AI. According to the digital entrepreneur, we could actually also talk about "creative inspiration". AI is like a creative spark that ignites new ideas and inspires innovative solutions. "The machine is artificial, the intelligence comes from humans."

Manuel Altermatt, Software Engineering Manager at Google, gave a more critical outlook on AI, even though he is generally a great advocate of the new technology. AI in the hands of abusers could be devastating. "This will undermine the human trust system as we know it," said Altermatt. What's more, unintended consequences of the use of AI are more critical than "malicious" AI.

Philosopher and publicist Ludwig Hasler categorized the topic from a social perspective. AI would take the relationship between man and machine to a new level. "The crucial question is what we want with AI." Referring to Immanuel Kant, he named sleep - or regeneration and dreaming -, hope and laughter as the three things that make humans superior to machines.

Using AI responsibly

Rainer Karcher, CEO and founder of Heartprint, built a bridge from AI to sustainability, the second major conference topic at the Graubünden Tourism Day. The key is to use responsible AI, he said. In terms of sustainability, AI can be used to mitigate climate change as well as to optimize the use of resources. He cited the enormous energy requirements of the new technologies as a problem.

Short presentations by various service providers gave an insight into current applications and projects at the Tourism Day. The company Fair unterwegs specializes in environmentally friendly travel experiences in Switzerland, Travelise offers surprise trips to steer guests, and Cirkel Supply promotes the circular economy through rental ski clothing. From Chiping comes the first "intelligent" golf ball that doesn't "get lost". Equally innovative is Skip's first active hiking pants with a built-in electric motor.

The Digital Tourism Trend Radar 2024 from Inside Labs provides a comprehensive analysis of the current and future impact of data and technology on the tourism industry. At the Tourism Day, AI lecturer Gion Sialm from the University of Applied Sciences Graubünden provided specific guidance for efficient prompts. Representing the NextGen Tourism Board of the Graubünden Tourism Alliance, Jamie Rizzi from the Hotel Schweizerhof Lenzerheide said: "We want to help shape the future of the tourism canton."

How far along is tourism?

The need for a more sustainable approach has been recognized in the tourism industry. In Arosa, the impact of tourism is considered in all dimensions - on nature, society and the economy, said Claudio Föhn, Head of Arosa 2030. According to Philipp Niederberger, Director of the Swiss Tourism Association, the conditions for a more sustainable development of the travel industry in Switzerland are good. Martina Hollenstein Stadler, Project Manager at Graubünden Ferien, called for sustainability to become the standard.

Pascale Berclaz, Director of Made in Bern, Janine Rupf, Head of Marketing Zurich Tourism, Karin Seiler, Managing Director of Tirol Werbung, and Martin Vincenz, CEO of Graubünden Ferien, discussed whether cities or Alpine regions have the edge. There is no clear-cut answer; aspects such as mobility, added value and acceptance of tourism among the population can all be weighed in the balance. "It is important that we see the city and the countryside as a whole experience," explained Pascale Berclaz.

A "must-plus" for the economy

Sustainability also offers new opportunities in other sectors of the economy. Johanna Gollnhofer, Director of the Institute for Marketing and Customer Insight at the University of St. Gallen, called it the 60 percent potential - the proportion of people who have a "green attitude" but do not act accordingly. For the broad masses, the classic customer benefit must be at an advantage with more sustainable offers.

Vanessa Rueber used the example of Patagonia Switzerland to underline the fact that prioritizing environmental sustainability also works from a company perspective and does not come at the expense of profitability. "In everything we do, we pay attention to how we do it," said the Community Marketing and Impact Manager of the outdoor sports apparel company. Products are measured and improved strictly according to sustainability criteria.

Sustainability is just as holistically anchored in the Graubündner Kantonalbank organization. "Thinking and acting sustainably is part of the consistent implementation of our vision and strategy," says Martina Müller-Kamp, member of the Executive Board. In terms of communication, the aim is to present a holistic, consistent and credible image and also to create lasting memories.

Exclusive insight into guest survey

For the first time ever, results from Switzerland Tourism's new national guest survey were presented at the Graubünden Tourism Day. Over 22,000 overnight guests from Switzerland and abroad were surveyed for the Tourism Monitor Switzerland 2023. The results show the guest structure, main travel motives as well as the touristic strengths and weaknesses of a region. Stefan Künzle, Head of Digital Management, presented the results for Graubünden on behalf of Switzerland Tourism.

Graubünden stands out from its domestic competitors in particular due to its high proportion of sports and leisure guests (71 %). These include an above-average number of regular guests from two clear main markets: Switzerland (63 %) and Germany (18 %). The vacation region's best differentiators include sport, public transport and cuisine. In summary, Graubünden is the number 1 for active vacations in Switzerland. Over a quarter of respondents named winter sports as Graubünden's greatest strength. The biggest "weakness" from the guests' point of view is the price level.

The ASW agency network published guidelines on dealing with artificial intelligence in communications agencies back in fall 2023 (Markt-kom.com reported). These principles have now been supplemented by an everyday guide: the tool-independent, activity-based AI radar.

The decision matrix is intended to ensure that generative AI in particular can be responsibly integrated into everyday agency work and that neither ethical nor legal framework conditions are violated in the process.

"Our intention is to be able to continuously supplement the AI Radar together with the entire industry," says Benno Frick, Managing Director of the agency network ASW. In addition, the AI Radar will be adapted to current case law as required.

The KI-Radar is now available to communication agencies, designers, photographers, audio and video producers and other creators at Ki.asw.ch at your free disposal.

Insurance becomes an issue for young people as they enter adulthood. The new Vaudoise web series takes up the topics of pension provision, household contents/liability and comprehensive cover and presents them in a relaxed way to the young target group. In 20 episodes, you can follow the everyday lives of three flatmates.

Meli, Laura and Sebi experience typical everyday situations in their living room that are directly or indirectly related to the insurance industry. The web series offers insurance tips in a short, simple and entertaining way. "When you move out of your home, you have to take care of your own insurance. It's not so easy to understand why you need household contents/liability insurance, a third pillar or comprehensive insurance," explains Véronique Oliveira, Head of Brand Management at Vaudoise Insurance.

"With the title of the series - Bad Vibes - we show that we understand our target audience. When you're dealing with insurance, it's sometimes seen as something tedious, especially in the event of a claim. With Bad Vibes, we want to convey a memorable and unique message," adds Estelle Payot, Social Media Manager at Vaudoise and project manager. The videos are published on TikTok and Instagram published in French and German via the accounts @badvibes_ch.

Premiere for Vaudoise

The web series was first written and directed in French by Julien Doquin de Saint Preux, Grégoire Leresche and Paul Walther and then translated into Swiss German and realized by director Camille Christen. The faces behind the Swiss-German flatmates are Amanda Verandi, Sira Topic and Sandro Howald.

The agencies Adisfaction-Annex, EssenceMediacom, Havas Media, Mediabrands, Mediaplus, Mediaschneider, Nova Impact, Omnicom Media Group, Publicis Media, Webrepublic and ZipMedia took part in the Teads Agency Cup.

Each team consisted of a captain and a total of five players, who competed against each other in a total of seven matches. The results of the matches were broadcast live. After an intense competition, the Havas Media team ultimately came out on top. Second place went to ZipMedia, with EssenceMediacom coming in third. After the awards ceremony, a toast was raised together and the celebrations continued in a convivial atmosphere.

For the organizer Teads, the first Agency Cup 2024 was a complete success. "The idea for the Teads Agency Cup came about a few years ago when we organized a similar game evening with an agency at an event in our office," explains Claudio Lumbiarres, Managing Director at Teads. "We then asked ourselves the question: Which agency in Switzerland would win a mini-game challenge? We then developed the concept and the games in detail. We are all the more pleased that both the motivation of the teams and the feedback were overwhelming and that everyone took part with great enthusiasm!"

A total of 58 project submissions made it onto this year's Shortlisted for Best of Swiss Apps 2024. These submissions are among the best app projects of the year and can look forward to further awards at the Award Night on November 19: Gold, Silver or Bronze.

The app projects that particularly impressed the juries in the ten categories made it onto the shortlist. On the jury day, the committees considered a total of 241 project submissions - more than ever before.

Next Thursday, it will also be announced which apps are in the running for the title of "Master of Swiss Apps". The Netzmedien reader vote for the "Master of Swiss Apps" will then start at the end of October. Anyone who registers by October 28 can vote. registers for the net ticker.

The Best of Swiss Apps Award Night will take place on November 19 at the Zurich Kongresshaus. Tickets can now be purchased at the website of Best of Swiss Apps.

What on earth is that now, many creatives probably ask themselves when clients use this word. It's one of those terms that recipients should learn quickly. But beware, it's also one whose meaning you think you understand, only to be surprised that it means something completely different. The term "marginal utility" comes from the field of utility theories - yes, there really is such a thing. Utility theories are models that describe the choice or decision-making behavior of people.

Decisions that people make depend on the benefits that we attribute to our decisions. For example, customers decide in favor of an agency or one of the three proposals presented by this very agency. They always do this depending on the benefits that this decision will bring them. The focus is often not on annoyance with board members, bosses, colleagues or competitors. The benefit for the cause, on the other hand, usually takes a back seat. Except perhaps when it comes to winning an award. In this case, the benefit can serve as legitimation for both the client and the agency that they have done everything right - even if sales figures claim the opposite.

In theory, a decision rarely relates to one attribute (benefit of a feature) of a selected option, but as described above, usually to a variety of attributes that are considered important. In practice, these can be recommendations from the VR, the boss's buddy, the promise to colleagues or the award potential. Together, these result in the marginal benefit when the actual aim is to optimize the image of a brand, position a company better or sell a consumer good more effectively.

The end of "Nützt's nüt so schadt's nüt"

Diminishing marginal utility is often mentioned at present. This means that with every additional unit of a good consumed, the additional utility value (i.e. the marginal utility) generally decreases. Let's remember the first smartphone: the utility value of this magic thing was initially very high because it combined so many things that we no longer had to carry a laptop, agenda, camera or iPods around with us, just a smartphone. Nota bene, we still call it a phone, although the screen time announcement at the start of the week shows that we hardly need the device for making calls any more. The marginal benefit is therefore becoming more important than the actual utility value.

The fact that this term from economics is now flooding the creative industry is of great benefit to many. This is because it is usually used to determine how many units of a product consumers will buy. Although these are marketing basics, in the creative industry they are usually an annoying element on the way to winning awards for creative and not necessarily useful work. On the other hand, clients of creative agencies use the marginal benefit to optimize their decisions - they consume the agencies' services up to the point where the marginal benefit corresponds to the marginal costs or the marginal benefit decreases. So listen carefully when a customer talks about decreasing marginal benefit. He or she could soon draw economic conclusions from this.

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* Benno Maggi is co-founder and CEO of Partner & Partner. He has been eavesdropping on the industry for over 30 years, discovering words and terms for us that can either be used for small talk, pomposity, excitement, playing Scrabble, or just because.

The Hyatt Regency and the Hyatt Place Zurich Airport The Circle are located in the immediate vicinity of Zurich Airport and are part of The Circle complex. The hotels offer accommodation, restaurants and bars as well as the conference center "The Circle Convention Center".

Comprehensive communication strategy

WeArePepper developed a tailor-made communication strategy to increase the brand awareness and visibility of the hotels and the Convention Center. The

strategy includes regular media releases, the organization of media trips, the development and maintenance of media contacts and the management of the multimedia database.

Increase awareness

The aim of the collaboration is to anchor the hotels and the Convention Center in the consciousness of the German-speaking Swiss public through continuous, targeted communication. In particular, business travelers, group customers and end consumers from the local market are to be made aware of the diverse offers of the hotels, restaurants and bars as well as The Circle Convention Center through targeted PR activities.