This year marks the 20th anniversary of the launch of the Graubünden regional brand. Graubünden was one of the first regions in the Alps to enter the competition as a brand. The path from that pioneering project to the present day is lined with numerous milestones and milestones. The umbrella organization of the Graubünden forestry and timber industry created the first product brand, Graubünden Holz, and in 2006 Lenzerheide became the first destination to adopt the Graubünden brand image - a dozen other Graubünden vacation regions were to follow suit.

From 2004, the uniform tourist signage along the main traffic routes ensured visibility within the canton, and in 2008 the advertising ambassadors Gian and Giachen began their triumphal march into the heart of a steadily growing fan base in German-speaking Switzerland. Ten years after their launch, the positioning of the brand was sharpened in 2013 with the brand idea "NaturMetropole Graubünden", which highlights the many contrasts between nature, culture and progress.

Past versus future

To mark its 20th anniversary, the Graubünden brand office dedicated its Brand Day to the tension between the past and the future. Philosopher Yves Bossart received great applause for his philosophical reflections on the phenomenon of time with its dimensions of past, present and future.

An illustrious panel discussion with Urs Wohler, Andreas Rotzler and Hans-Peter Rest looked back on the birth of the regional brand. In conversation with host Gieri Spescha, Managing Director of the Graubünden brand, Brand Council President Andrea Frei emphasized the quality of the broad network of brand partners and licensees. The German futurologist and trend researcher Marcel Aberle presented theses on the Graubünden brand and a "future image for the Graubünden nature metropolis" as the result of a broad trend research. Aberle attests that the Graubünden regional brand has the potential to develop into an "avant-garde region for progress" and a "laboratory region for the future".

In his presentation, cantonal councillor Marcus Caduff used various examples to express his confidence that Graubünden could successfully embark on this path of the future. AI expert and digital entrepreneur Roger Basler de Roca immersed the audience in the current and future possibilities of artificial intelligence and ended his presentation with an urgent appeal: "We need AI ambassadors in companies, schools and administration". Wirz advertising man Livio Dainese gave a tongue-in-cheek account of the success story of the two Graubünden cult bucks Gian and Giachen, while the impressed audience gave stage poet and comedian Patti Basler a long round of applause at the end for her witty and profound Instant Protocol with pianist Philippe Kuhn. An anniversary aperitif with Grisons snacks rounded off Brand Day 2023. A record number of around 200 people from the worlds of business, culture, the environment, politics and society had registered for the event.

The Graubünden brand office with Managing Director Gieri Spescha is managed by Quant on behalf of the Graubünden government. In its anniversary year, the Graubünden brand has over one hundred licensees.

The aim is to appeal to an "increasingly international and digitally savvy audience", according to a press release issued on Thursday. In addition to new lettering, the new look also includes graphic elements and the hashtag "ThePeakToBe".

In addition to "ThePeakToBe", other key messages were also designed in the form of social media-compatible hashtags. The "T" as a design element consists of dynamic lines and is reminiscent of the steel structure of the new directional tower. In terms of color, the brand now shines in blue with red highlights.

The Titlis brand identity is not a temporary campaign, but an independent and sustainable design system that implements the corporate strategy - developed according to the "digital first" principle.

Titlis project as a trigger

The brand image will become visible at the start of the 2023/2023 winter season and, according to the press release, will go hand in hand with the planned architectural upgrade of the Titlis summit. Under the name "Project Titlis", Herzog & de Meuron have designed the extension of the directional tower, a new mountain station and an additional railroad line to the summit. The project is due to be completed by 2029 (SDA/pd/swi)

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Responsible at Titlis Bergbahnen: Norbert Patt (CEO), Urs Egli (Head of Marketing), Fabian Appenzeller (Head of Communications). Responsible at Markenfels: Gernot Honsel (mandate management), Dr. Ulrike Grein (strategy), Taco van der Lujit (creative direction).

Most Swiss companies operate in a competitive environment. Several studies provide empirical evidence that data-driven companies with a high level of analytical maturity are on average 5% more productive and 6% more profitable than non-data-driven organizations. In this competitive environment, it is therefore advisable to focus on the intelligent use of marketing analytics. Those responsible for marketing and communication must not only position themselves for the future due to the external environment, but also on the basis of increasing internal company demands in terms of measurability and transparency in the area of marketing analytics.

The annual investment volume of advertising companies in Switzerland amounts to an impressive CHF 6.5 billion in an overall market analysis as at 2021. It is therefore highly relevant to examine to what extent and how professionally this considerable investment in brand awareness, customer relationships, customer knowledge, brand values and ultimately sales is planned, implemented and, above all, evaluated by companies.

The results and findings presented here are based on 106 responses from advertising companies in Switzerland. Of these, 75% are large companies with more than 250 employees. They represent 10 percent of the above-mentioned market volume.

Four target dimensions

Within the top 5 marketing and communication goals of companies in Switzerland, there are 4 goal dimensions that are directly related to the topic of marketing analytics. The objective of improving the customer experience through multi-/omnichannel orchestration along the customer journey ranks second. In this respect, the survey participants have recognized the internal and external pressure to act and want to set priorities in the field of marketing analytics.

The companies surveyed distribute their overall budget more or less equally between online and offline media. This means that appropriate planning, evaluations and resource allocations must be made using marketing analytics across digital AND analog channels along the customer journey.

 

 

This is where a serious problem becomes apparent, as only a small majority of survey participants within the digital ecosystem tend to evaluate the respective customer journeys across channels. Companies evaluate the interactions between analog and digital channels to an even lesser extent. In this respect, the degree of coverage of systematic evaluations within the digital and analog ecosystem must definitely be increased and considered in an integrated manner along the customer journey (cross-digital, cross-platform, cross-device, cross-channel).

 

 

Otherwise, the effectiveness of marketing analytics is severely limited and the aforementioned objective of improving the customer experience through multi-/omnichannel orchestration cannot be achieved in this form.

Five areas of expertise

The analytical maturity level of advertising companies in Switzerland was systematically analyzed along 5 areas of expertise and, depending on the maturity level, assigned to either the mastering, developing or starting phase.

The level of cultural maturity is already very positive and can be assigned to the mastering phase. The importance of marketing analytics is largely recognized and top management also demands and promotes a culture of data- and fact-based decision-making. The cultural maturity level achieves the best result overall.

 

 

In terms of governance maturity, the majority of important regulations, such as dealing with data protection regulations or preventing functional silos, have been implemented. On the other hand, potential for improvement, such as the creation of cross-channel integrated KPI systems, is clearly recognizable. The governance maturity level achieved the second-best rating overall, which also corresponds to the mastering phase.

The maturity level in terms of organizational and personnel requirements achieves an average result and is allocated to the Developing phase accordingly. Important optimization potential can be seen in the creation of independent marketing analytics teams or the integration of external expertise for the development and implementation of analytical models. The organizational/personal maturity level achieves the third-best result overall.

The maturity level of technology and data is also average (Developing). There is still considerable untapped potential in the provision of internal and external data in a highly available customer data platform or in automated, cross-channel and cross-platform data collection. There is also considerable potential for improvement in the provision of high-quality and error-free data. Overall, the maturity level in terms of technology and data achieves the fourth-best result. Although the companies are otherwise very broad and diversified in terms of their marketing technology stack, there is a shortfall in terms of marketing attribution. The marketing technology stack must be defined, orchestrated and implemented in a strategic context and taking into account the customer journeys to be addressed. Redundancies and silo structures must be avoided. This is the only way to effectively exploit the performance and innovation potential emanating from the technology level.

Lots of potential for improvement

There is a lot of potential for improvement in analytical methods and models. It can be stated that companies make little use of forward-looking, predictive analysis models. Marketing mix modeling is also used modestly in practice by the survey participants. Furthermore, there is still considerable untapped potential in examining the interactions between the channels. Analytical methods and models achieve the fifth best result overall, which can still be assigned to the developing phase.

Across all 5 areas of expertise and survey participants, advertising companies in Switzerland are at the end of the developing or transition to the mastering phase. Almost 30% of the companies can be assigned to the mastering phase in all areas of expertise, 50% are mainly in the developing phase and 20% of the companies are in the starting phase. In an international comparison, primarily with the USA, it can be concluded that Swiss companies are quite advanced and competitive in terms of the maturity of marketing analytics across all 5 areas of expertise as at 2022.

With plenty of room for improvement

However, as described above, there is still plenty of room for improvement. The central fields of action are primarily to be seen in the competence fields of technology and data as well as analytical methods and models. As these five areas of expertise are highly interdependent and interrelated, they must be considered in an integrated manner and orchestrated holistically. Several studies have empirically proven that data-driven companies with a high level of analytical maturity are more successful than companies with a low level of analytical maturity. It therefore makes a lot of sense to invest specifically in the further expansion of marketing analytics areas of expertise and in their orchestration.

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Christian Kleiner, Entrepreneur, Strategist, Innovator, business accelerator and enterprise agile coach. With a passion for customer/benefit-centered business models. Kleiner has extensive experience in designing and implementing sophisticated strategies and international programs with significant revenue/cost impact.

The year 2023 has been and continues to be characterized by crises that repeatedly present the economy with enormous challenges. It's no wonder that many market participants are rather cautious about future expectations and are treating investments with caution. CMOs sit at the central levers of companies and have a good sense of where the marketing journey is heading in the future. Their professional assessment serves as a valuable seismograph for the business mood in companies and agencies, documents the most important trends and formulates relevant requirements.

The three key findings of the current "CMO Barometer", which was conducted in eleven countries in September this year, provide an outlook for the marketing year 2024:

• 34% of international CMOs (DACH region: 28%) are optimistic about 2024, while 40% of the decision-makers surveyed (DACH region: 32%) even expect marketing budgets to increase.
• The use of new technologies, above all AI, will be THE top topic in marketing in 2024. Successful companies and brands will create connections between artificial and emotional intelligence in the future.
• The most important skill for CMOs will be openness to trends and new technologies. Marketing teams must become high-performance organizations. Clients expect a challenger mindset from their agency partners.

More than half of the CMOs surveyed see artificial intelligence, machine learning and marketing automation as the key marketing trend in 2024. The country comparison clearly shows that the equipment of marketing teams will vary from market to market: The UK and the Netherlands, for example, are focusing on greater relevance with the right formats rather than creating new processes and structures. In contrast, there is international consensus on the two dominant marketing trends in 2024: AI and sustainability.

Compared to the last survey, the CMOs surveyed at the time still tended to mention general leadership skills in terms of strengthening future viability. For 2024, the study revealed that prudence, foresight and implementation skills will be in demand in the future. The results of the comprehensive study also show that CMOs will have to be even more managers of complexity in 2024 than before.

Expectations of agencies are complex

The barometer also reveals very clear findings with regard to customers' expectations of their communication service providers. In 2024, agencies must have a challenger mindset at eye level in order to recognize customer challenges and solve them proactively, strategically and creatively. The expected impetus and the required skills are broadly diversified.

For the University of St.Gallen, which worked together with the Serviceplan Group for the first time on the implementation and evaluation, its Executive Director, Professor Dr. Sven Reinecke, outlines what he considers to be the relevant formula for success in marketing: "Marketing excellence = marketing strategy x craftsmanship x creativity. All three elements require constant further development in order to continuously lay the foundation for top performance."

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The "CMO Barometer" is a comprehensive, annual international study conducted by Serviceplan Group. This year, the University of St.Gallen was also involved for the first time. Based on an online survey of marketing managers from companies of all sectors and sizes, a total of 767 CMOs from Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the UK and the Middle East took part in September 2023. The marketing professionals exclusively share their assessments for the marketing year 2024.

 

The scheduling tool Doodle has analyzed the results of a global survey to show how the way we meet will have changed in 2023. The company surveyed around 2,500 entrepreneurs, managers and executive assistants worldwide. The work was supported by the Department of Applied Psychology at the ZHAW.

The most important results

Europeans plan their meetings further in advance, while North Americans hold shorter meetings. And while the US and Canada are still enthusiastically using digital meetings, which we have all used extensively during the COVID-19 pandemic, Europeans are returning to the office more quickly. Meetings that are scheduled more than a month in advance usually last an hour or longer. In Europe, almost two thirds (67 percent) of meetings lasted longer than an hour. 30 minutes to an hour was the second most common duration, accounting for around 29 percent of meetings.

Further findings: The later the invitation is issued, the shorter the meeting lasts. The longer the meeting lasts, the more likely it is to take place in a physical location. And the more people attend a meeting, the longer it lasts.

The complete results are available here.

Confiserie Bachmann is widely known in Basel. The family business is now in its third generation and has developed into a Basel institution over the decades. Since it was founded 75 years ago, Bachmann has operated its bakery in the heart of Basel's Old Town and serves its customers in three stores with cafés in central locations in Greater Basel. As the Basler Leckerli are a very popular pastry and are therefore offered by many manufacturers, the owners of Confiserie Bachmann Yellow asked for support.

Strategic positioning

To determine the strategic positioning of the brand, the creative agency Yellow first analyzed the market and conducted street surveys to find out consumers' preferences regarding Basler Leckerli. Based on these findings as well as the history and special features of the traditional company, Yellow's specialists defined the field for the brand positioning and the brand story.

The first operational measure was developed from the brand essence "Baslerischte Basler Leckerli". It builds on the results of the blind tasting in the streets of Basel and invites the public to try it. The regionally rolled-out campaign relies on classic advertising in and on Basel streetcars as well as on a website including an online campaign and posts on social media. Due to the strategic orientation of Basler Leckerli, the designers at Yellow also revised the packaging in parallel with the communication concept.

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Responsible at Confiserie Bachmann: Lisa and Aurel Bachmann. Agency: Yellow, Basel.

Using joint branding workshops, the Basel agency Modulator developed the brand strategy and defined brand-specific cornerstones such as naming, visual language and storytelling for the Breast Center Rheinfelden. At the design level, this was followed by the conception and realization of letterheads, illustrations, testimonial videos, brochures, give-aways and mailings. Last but not least, the website offers affected women, their relatives and referrers a comprehensive range of services including a community area. 

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Agency: Modulator AG, Basel; Client: Breast Center Rheinfelden

Anna Müller, Project Manager MACH Consumer and Maria-Isabel Koch, Project Manager MACH Values, presented an interesting Black Friday case where they used data to develop a comprehensive campaign. The potential analysis started with MACH Consumer, which made it possible to easily analyze characteristics and behaviors. During the target group analysis, they discovered that the focus was primarily on a younger audience under the age of 40 with great interest and price sensitivity.

The target group was found to be hedonistic, consumerist, well-informed about products and tech-savvy. The media strategy focused on personalized approaches, with online and stationary retail playing an important role in the electronics sector. The use of social media, video streaming, television streaming and out-of-home media was emphasized to reach a mobile target group. Print titles and local radio stations were also relevant despite the online affinity of the target group.

The advertising campaign was to contain playful elements that would appeal to the target group, which had a high affinity for games of chance. The presentation of discount codes in scratch cards and the integration of wheel of fortune apps were possible approaches. The data provided insights into the target group's behavior and enabled a targeted approach.

Werbewoche editor Beat Hürlimann concluded by asking whether the existing tools were being used sufficiently. Maria-Isabelle Koch emphasized that access to the information provided is high, but that there is always potential for further use, especially by advertising clients who may not yet have recognized the full potential of the power studies.

"What makes your holidays even sweeter?" The communications and marketing department of the auditing and consulting firm EY in Switzerland has come up with a special answer to this question: The first GenAI Bakery. The QR code that gives access to the new mobile app can be found on a digital - and limited edition printed - Christmas card: An artificial intelligence-based "bakery" where everyone can bake their own "festive biscuits".

In the Dall-E-based solution, various criteria can be defined using free text input: What should the shape of the cookie be? A little heart, a star or a spaceship? The flavor and decoration can also be freely determined. The result is an AI-generated photo of the desired pastry. The "Bakery" was developed in collaboration with Festland AG.

Every picture unique

To generate the biscuit photos, the AI bakery does not rely on an existing image database, but creates a unique photo of the desired cookie with each new input and learns continuously during this process. "Our GenAI bakery is designed to bring generative AI technology to life. There's a lot of talk about it - why not try it out and use it right away?" says Thomas Sucic, Head of Brand, Marketing and Communication at EY in Switzerland.

The aim of this playful use is to actively apply GenAI and thus learn directly and gradually how to use the technology correctly.

The abbreviation of the word laboratory is quite popular at the moment. Why is that? Two reasons seem obvious: helplessness and a willingness to take risks. The former leads to almost excessive use of language with zero output. The second would actually be the original description of the place that serves as a place of work and research for experimental scientific work in the natural sciences and medicine.

On the former: In our industry, we are used to excessive use of language. We use linguistic trampoline jumps all the time to emphasize a job, a product or a service and make it appear more attractive. Whether as a superlative ("the best offer ever") or as a pleonasm ("benefit now and get a free gift") or a combination ("the most innovative idea").

Places with the names Crea-, Idea-, Innovation-Lab are such pleonasms, because Lab = research site. Creative processes = research work. Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, a superlative so to speak. At least for scientists, but they don't read this column. After all, it's just us here. So: creative work is research work because creativity is associated with the ability to create and understand new things that have never been seen before. But if you look at Swiss advertising today - whether printed, digital, moving or social - the results of the work are diametrically opposed to the use of the word lab. Nothing new versus many word creations with the prefix Lab. And every room and non-room in every company in the industry is referred to as a "lab" or as such.

Like the rabbit before the snake

Regarding the latter: the willingness to take risks. In economically difficult or extremely successful situations, it would be appropriate to take risks instead of freezing in helplessness and fear like advertising bunnies or guinea pigs in front of the crisis snake. Companies that invest in workplaces and work models for experiments in their most successful times, instead of paying out fat salaries or dividends to managers and shareholders, usually remain successful in the long term. However, those who stick to the status quo in times of crisis for fear of loss, or worse still, revert to old patterns, are doomed or, to use the expression, will be eaten. It doesn't help if, in this helplessness, furniture is rearranged, walls are painted and Post-it notes are bought in all colors to transform the empty offices of redundant employees into labs.

Because although a lab is a place, it is ultimately more of a mindset. Or where did all the product ideas, marketing concepts, blockbusters or bestsellers come from before everything was a lab? From garages (according to the legends), cubicles (those cramped one-and-a-half-square-metre open-plan office boxes) or from experimental minds.

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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.

ST includes the markets of Greater China (mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan), Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand), Korea, India, Japan and Australia/New Zealand under the Asia-Pacific region. In 2019, the last "normal" year before the Covid-19 pandemic, these markets accounted for 11.3% of all hotel overnight stays registered in Switzerland, according to the FSO. ST estimates that this market share is not expected to rise to a similar level again until the end of 2024 or 2025.

Significant industry and international marketing experience

Sandra Babey has been selected as the new Head of Market Group Asia-Pacific from several applicants as part of a regular selection process. The tourism specialist has many years of global expertise in ST marketing.

As a qualified hotelier-restauratrice and graduate of the Swiss Hotel Management School in Lucerne, she worked as Marketing & Sales Manager at the Hotel Wilden Mann in Lucerne. In 2009, she joined ST in international tourism promotion as Marketing Manager for ST in Spain, where she took over the overall management of the Iberian market (Spain and Portugal) in 2013.

"Sandra Babey will take on the new role of Market Group Head Asia Pacific in addition to her responsibilities for Australia and New Zealand and is now also part of the extended management", explains Simon Bosshart, Head of Markets East and member of the ST Executive Board. "Her main task is to support and guide the store managers from this region in planning their activities and implementing the ST strategy. As a member of the Market Group Management team and the extended Executive Board, she also has a strong voice in ST's strategic market orientation."

Babey will take up her additional role and seat on the EMT on January 1, 2024. Her predecessor Sara Roloff will leave ST at the end of 2023.

The Ilgenhalde Foundation offers education, housing and therapy to people with cognitive and multiple disabilities from childhood to adulthood at three locations. In order to make its services and values tangible in all communication measures, it has given itself a new image. The foundation now presents itself to its stakeholders as a professional, committed and contemporary player.

The refreshed design retains the four basic colors in a less garish form and strengthens the foundation brand as a modern umbrella brand. To this end, a claim was developed: "Enabling development". The website, which has been completely restructured and rewritten, serves as the new main means of communication. Stakeholder groups are now addressed with fresh images and videos. For example, short films provide insights into the various job profiles. This strengthens HR marketing and positions the foundation as an attractive employer.

The Zurich agency Art.i.schock defined the key strategic principles of communication for the foundation's new image. Based on the new communication concept and the overall redesign, the agency implemented not only the website but also image and advisory flyers with insert cards, created a social media concept and initiated an adaptation of the LinkedIn channel.

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Responsible at the Ilgenhalde Foundation: Marco Camus (Executive Board), Stephie Smith (Marketing), Christiane Roth (President of the Board of Trustees). Responsible at Art.i.schock: Nadine van den Berg (consulting, project management), Sylvia Brüggemann (concept), Lukas Koller (graphics).