Our industry is known for promptly adapting something when it seems promising. And prompt in the sense of immediate (as a reaction to something). So it's no surprise that AI has become the big topic in the industry. Customers get carried away with statements like "now we finally don't need an agency anymore" and agencies with "agency XY relies on AI for customer Z". The ordinary employees fluctuate between defiant, panic-stricken and enthusiastic behavior towards the new working tools. They ask themselves: do we have to worry about our jobs? Yep, because AI/KI tools are also creating new jobs. For example, prompt engineers. Which brings us to the second interpretation of the word. But first things first.

With the award-winning article on artificial intelligence by Reto U. Schneider in last September's NZZ Folio, OpenAI, ChatGPT and their siblings had a bigger stage in the German-speaking world for the first time. AI and AI tools have since been ubiquitous in the media and in agencies and corporate marketing and communications departments.

As a reminder, as explained here before: The A stands for "Artificial", the I for "Intelligence" and is pronounced it "Ai-Ei". The abbreviation's little brother is called KI, pronounced "Ka-I" in German, and stands for "artificial intelligence. But anyone who says "Kei-Ei" (and there are quite a few of them) is definitely revealing themselves as an ignorant parroter and actually has to worry about their job. Because parroting is actually exactly what AI/KI tools like ChatGPT, Quilbot, Surfer SEO, Murf, Fireflies, Scalenot, Textplaze and what they are all called are doing now. And they do it better, faster and cheaper. Especially if you feed them right.

Shit in Shit out

Anyone who has ever dealt with statistical data knows: The result of the data is only as good as the task with which it is fed. Or in short: Shit in Shit out. So in order for AI/KI tools to text, research, paint or film, they need a task that is cleverly formulated. And that is exactly what prompt is. In English, the word means keyword, query, or even more German: Eingabeaufforderung.

We know this from Google: The more intelligently something is searched for, the better the search results (once you have scrolled through the paid results, which unfortunately - as unimaginative as SEA sometimes words are auctioned - often have very little to do with the input).

So whoever prompts well in the AI/KI tools will get the best results. That's why the discussions about how good and useful these tools would be are somewhat pointless. Just as idle as the question of how good a team of real employees actually is. Because here too, if you don't formulate the task precisely and don't manage employees well, you can't complain about poor performance in retrospect. So, similar to supervisors or clients, a prompt engineer must know the capabilities, but also the limitations and the weaknesses of his agency, his team or his AI/KI tools in order to elicit a usable or sometimes exceptional result from them. Therefore, those who are good at prompting will hardly complain about the capabilities of AI/KI tools. At most the other way around, because they learn promptly from what we ask them.

---

* 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.

Werbewoche.ch: Ms. Colledani, Mr. Reiser, what prompted Link to carry out continuous brand tracking with the Swiss Brand Observer tool?

Laura Colledani: We have been tracking brands for a long time. We have many customers who ask us for brand tracking once or twice a year, because they want to understand how the brand is received by the Swiss. Nowadays, however, there is a growing need to keep an eye on KPIs such as brand awareness, brand attractiveness, and advertising perception on a continuous basis rather than just selectively.

And you have now condensed this into a data stream, so to speak, throughout the year with the Swiss Brand Observer?

Stefan Reiser: Yes, you could put it that way. From the selective knowledge about the performance of the brand, we are now at a kind of data stream that can be continuously queried by the brands via licenses. This has enabled us to create the largest consumer voting system in Switzerland.

So you buy a license to track?

Laura Colledani: Yes, exactly. We track about 200 companies throughout the year. 2022 was the first year that was fully tracked. We offer the licenses to the companies, and there is a lot of interest.

Can companies only track their own brand?

Laura Colledani: No, those who have a license have access to all 200 brands.

And can you filter that? For example, if you only want to see how the target group between 20 and 30 reacted to a particular campaign. Or only women between 50 and 70?

Laura Colledani: Yes, you can set the various filters and then get the results you are looking for. This is also very exciting for agencies because they can see how a campaign they created for a company is received on the market.

Who exactly do they interview so regularly, what is the composition of the panel?

Stefan Reiser: Link operates one of the largest panels in Switzerland with 115,000 panelists. This represents the Swiss population, and we survey a representative sample from it every week, which creates our Swiss Brand Observer in real time, so to speak.

Now, for the first time, Link has presented an award, or rather two awards. Based on data streams, they have determined which brands received the most attention from the Swiss population in 2022. This is the Swiss Brand Observer Top Brand Award 2022which is awarded in the categories "Innovation," "Brand Attractiveness" and "Corporate Social Responsibility. Another award was presented for the brands that have developed most rapidly in 2022, working their way into the hearts of the Swiss:inside, so to speak. These brands received the Swiss Brand Observer Top Mover Award. Can brands also win both awards?

Laura Colledani: Could, but it didn't happen now the first time. But of course you can win in several categories.

The winners have now been informed and can purchase the online seal for an additional fee, which certifies that they are Top Brand 2022. Will this be used actively?

Laura Colledani: Yes, the reactions are positive and the understanding is there among the companies to contribute financially so that they can carry this seal of approval. And of course there is also a physical award that the company can put on the shelf (laughs).

But no award night?

No, that's not planned, but who knows - maybe it will develop. We are only at the beginning of the journey.

 

 

Victorinox has existed as a company for more than 130 years and has Switzerland and its cultural assets in its DNA, so to speak: precision, tradition and elegant understatement. For Sapera Studios, this was an important basis for the new comprehensive illustration system, which is intended to strengthen the consistency and brand perception of the traditional brand.

The illustration system was implemented in a two-day workshop and the designers were trained to use the system independently. The illustrations can be seen on the website, in catalogs and at headquarters, among other places. The company's long tradition is also reflected in the extensive visual material on the history and development of Victorinox. For Sapera Studios it was clear: Victorinox needs a style that makes the brand clearly recognizable and at the same time is an extension and modernization.

Based on the existing brand identity, an elegant design was created: Icons and illustrations with clear lines and precise shapes. Illustrations, e.g. of people, remain without details, technical illustrations depict objects in a simplified, precise and clear way - with high recognition value. The guideline precisely defines the parameters that make up each infographic, icon and illustration - and how thick the outer line is, for example, which colors are used when, how objects are abstracted.

Advertisingweek.ch has talked to the responsible persons from both sides about the new illustration system:

Veronika Elsener, CMO Victorinox AG

Werbewoche.ch: Ms. Elsener, why did you decide to launch the Illustr.ation system to be revised?

Veronika Elsener: Most recently, there were numerous different styles that had evolved generically over the past few decades, based more or less on the existing brand design. The lack of consistency and brand recognition were two key issues that prompted us to tackle this project. The urgency also increased due to the increased use of illustrative elements at key contact points with our customers. The new illustration system, coherently derived from the existing corporate design, now creates brand recognition and thus contributes to a consistent brand experience.

What were the particular challenges here? 

We first carried out an as-is analysis, which proved to be very complex due to the very wide range of application fields and diverse styles. The first step was to structure the amount of data and gain an overview. From this, we derived the underlying needs and defined the future fields of application. We deliberately reduced these fields of application to a sensible minimum. They will only be used if they provide informational added value and not for "decorative purposes". It was also challenging to create visual consistency across all elements - icons, illustrations and infographics - and styles. For example, we work with three different illustration styles that are used depending on the context, but should still be perceived as visually consistent.

What new values does the Victorinox brand stand for, and to what extent does the new illustration language help to bridge the gap between tradition and the future here?

A brand functions like a lighthouse in that it enables trust, orientation and differentiation. It must be managed in a contemporary way, i.e. adapted to the changing requirements of the market, customers as well as the competition, while remaining true to itself. Our global operations, five product categories and different distribution models call for a brand strategy that ensures relevant, consistent and benefit-oriented communication. This is especially true in the context of the increasing number of direct customer touch points such as social media, website or own stores. The willingness to look for simplification and structure in a complex environment while remaining "consistent" is central to this task. This is also reflected in our new illustration language. Based on the existing brand identity, a minimalist and structured design for icons and illustrations was defined, with clean lines and precise shapes and a reduced color palette, derived from our corporate design. In this way, our illustration language not only remains contemporary, but also ensures a high recognition value at the same time.

 

Katrin Kolossa, Owner and CEO Sapera Studios:

Werbewoche.ch: Ms. Kolossa, what were the particular challenges in developing Victorinox's new illustration system?

Katrin Kolossa: One challenge was to define a style that would stand for Victorinox's broad product world as well as for the various application areas across the board, while at the same time addressing the specifics of these individual areas. We solved this with the categorization into icons, infographics and, above all, the distinction between emotional and technical illustrations.

The new illustration language was developed on the basis of a joint needs analysis, writes Sapera Studios on its website. What were Victorinox's expectations and specifications, and what was Sapera Studios' need in this case?

The complexity of Victornox itself is another challenge in such a task. On the one hand, this carries over to the complex, diverse world of images and areas of application, as well as to general structures and processes. Perhaps the most important question here is: How do you manage to combine the traditional core of Victorinox with a further development of the design language without compromising the brand identity? For the For us, working for a Swiss company also meant very carefully and thoroughly studying and familiarizing ourselves with the culture and design history of Switzerland.

In what ways does the new illustration language pay tribute not only to typical Victorinox brand values such as precision and elegant understatement, but also to the brand's tradition?

The tradition of the Victorinox brand is reflected in various aspects of the design language. These range from rather subtle to very prominent elements. For example, the grid for the icons was developed on the basis of the Cross & Shield, the Victorinox logo. Here, the influence of tradition is subtle. In contrast, the Victorinox red is an elemental and very visible part of the tradition. The right use and combination of the color were essential for maintaining and reinforcing the brand identity.

---

Agency: Sapera Studios. Creative Lead: Taisia Tikhnovetskaya. Project Lead: Wibke Günther.

 

 

A new award for Switzerland's top brands: for the first time, the market research institute has honored the top performers of 2022 with the "Swiss Brand Observer Top Brand Award 2022" and the "Swiss Brand Observer Top Mover Award 2022".

Last year, the Swiss Brand Observer, the largest continuous brand tracking system in Switzerland, examined and evaluated 200 brands from seven industries. The top performers in the categories "Innovation," "Brand Attractiveness" and "Corporate Social Responsibility" have now been honored for the first time by Link with the Swiss Brand Observer Top Brand Award 2022.

Not only the financial value

Companies that excel here show that they are able to develop innovative products and services, build a strong bond with their customers and assume social responsibility. The Swiss Brand Observer Top Brand Award 2022 thus recognizes not only the financial value of a brand, but also its long-term impact and contribution to society.

This year, Link is also presenting the Swiss Brand Observer Top Mover Award 2022 for the first time, honoring those brands that have developed particularly positively over the past year, especially in comparison with their competitors. Specifically, brands with a particularly positive development in the areas of brand consideration and customer satisfaction are awarded, whereby both key figures are included in the calculation in equal parts. The Swiss Brand Observer has been tracking 26 KPIs of relevant brands from Switzerland on a weekly basis since September 2021 - the past year 2022 was the first complete measurement year.

The winners at a glance

Top Brand Award: Category Brand Attractiveness - Top 3

• Financial service providers: 1. Twint, 2. Neon, 3. Raiffeisen
• Health insurance companies & insurances: 1. Die Mobiliar, 2. Swica, 3. Helsana
• Telecommunications & Entertainment: 1. Wingo, 2. Netflix, 3. Swisscom
• Online retailing: 1. Galaxus, 2. Digitec, 3. Orell Füssli
• Stationary trade: 1. Migros, 2. Coop, 3. Ikea
• FMCG Brands: 1. Zweifel, 2. Lindt, 3. Ovaltine
• Providers & service providers: 1. SBB, 2. Swiss, 3. TCS

Top Brand Award: Corporate Social Responsibility Category - Top 3

• Financial service providers: 1. Raiffeisen, 2. cantonal banks, 3. PostFinance
• Health insurance companies & insurances: 1. Die Mobiliar, 2. Suva, 3. Helsana
• Telecommunications & Entertainment: 1. Swisscom, 2. M-Budget Mobile, 3. Netflix
• Online trade: 1. Migros online, 2. Coop online, 3. postshop.ch
• Stationary trade: 1. Migros, 2. Volg, 3. Coop
• FMCG Brands: 1. Rivella, 2. Ovaltine, 3. Zweifel
• Providers & service providers: 1. SBB, 2. Postbus, 3. TCS

Top Brand Award: Category Innovation - Top 3

• Financial service providers: 1. Twint, 2. Raiffeisen, 3. Revolut
• Health insurance companies & insurances: 1. Die Mobiliar, 2. AXA, 3. Helsana
• Telecommunications & Entertainment: 1. Netflix, 2. Swisscom, 3. Disney+
• Online retail: 1. Galaxus, 2. Digitec, 3. Brack.ch
• Stationary trade: 1. Migros, 2. Ikea, 3. Coop
• FMCG Brands: 1. Doubt, 2. Nespresso,3. Ovaltine
• Provider & service provider: 1. SBB, 2. Mobility, 3. Uber

Top Mover Award

• Apple Pay
• KPT
• Play Suisse
• Salt
• YouTube Premium
• Ricardo
• Jumbo
• avec
• Ricola
• Volvic
• Lotus
• comparis.ch
• JobScout24

The Swiss Management Association, which emerged in 1961 from the Institute of Management Sciences (BWI) at the ETH, is by its own account the most important association of leading decision-makers in Swiss business. It is committed to ensuring that Switzerland's business leaders are at the forefront of global competition by virtue of excellent corporate management. At this year's General Assembly, new board members and a new president were elected: Nora Teuwsen and Thomas Amstutz are new members of the SMG board and Sarah Kreienbühl is the new president. This gives women a majority on the SMG board for the first time.

The new members of the SMG Board

Nora Teuwsen has been Chief Executive Officer of ABB Switzerland Ltd. since August 2022. She holds a master's degree in law from the University of Zurich and is admitted to the Swiss bar, as well as an executive master's degree in European and International Business Law from the University of St. Gallen. Previously, Teuwsen held various positions at SBB, most recently as Group General Counsel from 2013 to 2019. In 2019, she founded Beyondlegal, a consulting firm for legal departments. Nora Teuwsen is also a member of the board of trustees of the "Menschen für Menschen" foundation and a member of the board of directors of Raiffeisenbank St. Gallen. Thomas Amstutz has been CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Feldschlösschen Getränke AG since 2012. After graduating in business administration from the University of St. Gallen (HSG), he joined Unilever and worked as Brand Manager in Zurich and as European Innovation Manager in Paris. From 1998, Amstutz served as Hero's Marketing Manager and took over as General Manager of Hero Switzerland in 2001. From 2005 - 2008, he already headed Feldschlösschen Getränke AG as CEO before serving as CEO of Brasseries Kronenbourg in Paris for four years and simultaneously holding the office of Chairman of the Board of Directors of Feldschlösschen Getränke AG.

Sarah Kreienbühl is the new president of SMG

Lukas Braunschweiler, member of the board of directors of various companies, hands over the office after the maximum term of 8 years as member of the board, 5 years of which as president. Under his aegis, close networking between business, science and young entrepreneurship was driven forward and suitable platforms were created for this purpose. Likewise, SMG's operations and appearance were consistently digitalized and ways were found to reach and network members with new forms and offers even under the restrictions of the Corona pandemic. Sarah Kreienbühl was elected president after a 1st term of 4 years on the board: "Especially in these exciting as well as challenging times, we would like to offer our members a platform for inspiration and networking to take advantage of opportunities together - for a strong Swiss economy." Sarah Kreienbühl will become a member of the Executive Board at Kuehne + Nagel International AG and CHRO with additional responsibility for sustainability as of April 1, 2023. Previously, she was a member of the General Management of the Federation of Migros Cooperatives for five years and led, among other things, the areas of HRM, corporate communications, and social commitment of Migros Group. From 2004 to 2017, she was globally responsible for HRM at Sonova (formerly Phonak) as a member of the Executive Board, and from 2012 additionally for the management of Corporate Communications, Corporate Branding and Sustainability. Since April 2022, she has been a member of the Board of Directors of Rieter Holding AG and Chairwoman of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee. In line with rotation after two terms of office totaling eight years and great commitment, Urs Riedener, CEO Emmi Group, Emmi Management AG (until the end of 2022), has also stepped down from the SMG Board. Marco Gadola, Chairman of the Board of Directors, DKSH Holding AG, Kamila Markram, CEO and co-founder, Frontiers, and Monika Rühl, Chairwoman of the Executive Board, economiesuisse, were confirmed for a second term of 4 years. Source and further information: SMG

This article originally appeared on m-q.ch - https://www.m-q.ch/de/schweizerische-managementgesellschaft-smg-mit-neuer-praesidentin/

From summer 2023, the Matterhorn may no longer be used on the packaging or in the logo of Toblerone due to the relocation of production from Bern to Bratislava. The Swissness rules that determine this will also mean that the lettering will have to be changed from "Toblerone - of Switzerland" to "Toblerone - established in Switzerland".

The media response to this has caused quite a stir, especially among the Swiss population. According to LINK's Swiss Brand Observer (the largest continuous Swiss brand study), the Swiss population's perception of Toblerone in the media has increased more than tenfold in recent weeks.

Around one in three people also remember hearing negative news about Toblerone. "This means that important image criteria such as the perceived Swissness of Toblerone as well as consideration as a critical behavioral indicator for future sales have fallen to a new all-time low in the Swiss Brand Observer," says Stefan Reiser, Managing Director Marketing Research LINK (note: the Swiss Brand Observer has been surveyed weekly since September 2021).

Study shows: Sales could decline

To further analyze the possible consequences of the now necessary adaptation of Toblerone and its packaging, LINK also conducted a representative study in German-speaking Switzerland from March 10 to 13, 2023. The participants saw and evaluated either the Toblerone logo in the original with Matterhorn, without mountain or with a generic mountain.

"The results show that Toblerone faces major challenges in maintaining its current market position, at least in Switzerland," says Dr. Steffen Schmidt, Director Marketing Science & Agile Insights LINK, who is responsible for the study. According to his estimates based on the study, there is a current risk for sales that instead of 46.7 % of Swiss people buying Toblerone at least once a year, only 24.1 % will do so in the future - at least when viewed in the short term with the accompanying critical media response without appropriate marketing adaptation.

Positive associations are revealed

The reason for the declining appeal is that without the Matterhorn, Toblerone loses a great deal of associative power in all the brand dimensions studied. Critical for the success of the chocolate brand are, among other things, a significantly reduced taste expectation, the decreased perceived social customer benefit, a decreased willingness to recommend and to buy as well as the strongly lower tradition perception after the removal of the Matterhorn.

The brand protection software provider Sentryc GmbH, based in Berlin, conducted a qualitative survey in 2022, in which companies from the IT industry, construction and mechanical engineering, the automotive industry and the financial services sector, among others, took part. According to the survey, the annual damage caused by product counterfeiting is mostly between one million and 50 million euros. More than 60 percent said that copies of their products had already been in circulation, which poses a potential risk to end customers. The good news is that thanks to the active use of brand protection software, fraudsters detected a not inconsiderable proportion of the counterfeits.

Four currents under observation

As expected, the real and digital worlds will merge even further in 2023. As a result, consumers will encounter more and more online spaces. But the further development of virtual shopping also opens up new avenues for plagiarists. This poses a challenge to brand manufacturers, the industry and those involved in trademark law. Four essential developments and the resulting courses of action are summarized in the following currents developed by Sentryc GmbH.

• Stream 1: Creator with Counterfeits: Fakes in Social Commerce: Due to the growing popularity of social networks such as Facebook, Instagram and Facebook, companies are increasingly selling their products directly via these channels and implementing dedicated social commerce strategies. Hyped products promote their own shopping dynamics. Coveted products advertised via social media attract counterfeiters. The accounts of the product pirates - social bots controlled by software algorithms - use the same hashtags as the sellers of the originals to draw attention to their fake products and fake stores. Superapps such as WeChat or Aliplay also offer room for imitators. In addition to messenger functions, these apps cover e-commerce and payment features. Due to their almost closed system including payment processing, they serve as a lucrative platform for counterfeit products. Pirate copiers exploit the complex and non-transparent structure of this app for their own purposes. Superapps have so far been found primarily in the Asian region, but the path to the German market has already been mapped out. To provide support from the political side, the EU is planning a new law with the Digital Services Act (DSA). The regulation obliges platform providers to establish the identity of traders and ban illegal, reported products. It calls on manufacturers to take targeted measures themselves to protect their brands in all relevant countries. They are supported by brand protection software that monitors social media and reports suspicious products.
• Stream 2: Fakes and Brand Abuse in the Metaverse: In the meantime, many brands are pushing into Web 3.0 and establishing presences on various platforms. The metaverse offers brand manufacturers enormous sales potential, but some of the new design spaces must first be opened up from a legal, regulatory and social perspective. In terms of cybercrime and fraud, they are more defenseless and vulnerable to damage than other digital platforms. Closing security gaps is of great importance. How can the next stage of the Internet be sustainably secured? It is imperative that intellectual property owners seek legal advice on whether to register their trademarks for virtual products and services, for example. It is also advisable to monitor online environments for infringements. Because monitoring various platforms involves considerable effort, far-sighted companies allocate a legal budget for the Web3 in addition to a marketing budget.
• Stream 3: Deliberate purchase decisions for counterfeits: A recent study says that especially 26-32 year olds would buy counterfeit products. (1) Reason: the lower price. By buying counterfeits, consumers accept lower quality. Even if the knowledge about a purchased counterfeit is available, the complete knowledge about the phenomenon of plagiarism rarely resonates in the purchase decision: From the supply chain to the procurement of raw materials to distribution, people and the environment suffer from the precarious conditions, and end consumers ultimately feel the qualitative and health consequences. In order to counteract the threat to human rights, climate protection and health and to bring about a change, comprehensive information is provided to educate buyers. Legally, the responsibility lies with the manufacturer and brand owner. That is why Nicole Jasmin Hofmann, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Sentryc GmbH, recommends including detailed information on the consequences of counterfeit products in your brand communication. The information is spread via press relations, articles on websites and partner online stores.
• Stream 4: Risk management will play a greater role in business: In the risk field between cyber incidents, loss of reputation as well as fraud, trademark infringements play an increasingly large role. Companies know that plagiarism and brand abuse have an impact on sales. In order to avoid corporate misjudgement of the risk, internal transparency is becoming more important. The following assumption applies here: As soon as a product is in demand on the market, there is an economic interest in copying it. It is therefore important to take advantage of the many technical, mechanical and process-related options available as early as the production stage in order to make counterfeiting more difficult. Distribution of production steps among different production sites, unique identification features such as watermarks, and software- and AI-supported monitoring of trading places and sales markets represent some of the methods. Companies should check whether they are doing everything they can in terms of security and due diligence to prevent fakes, and critically question their risk management and prevention measures. Legal departments should also pay more attention to this topic in the future.

Conclusion: Stay one step ahead of product counterfeiters

To prevent losses due to counterfeit products, manufacturers and brand owners must take active action against plagiarism. In-house legal departments or criminal charges may help in the aftermath, but the copy is already on the market. As the results of the above-mentioned study show, a rethink is currently underway in terms of reviewing the market situation and enforcing product and brand rights. It is now important to continuously monitor the online market and new channels in order to stay one step ahead of counterfeiters.

(1) https://www.ey.com/de_de/forms/download-forms/2022/07/ey-studie-produktpiraterie

Source: Sentryc

This article originally appeared on m-q.ch - https://www.m-q.ch/de/wohin-entwickelt-sich-der-markt-mit-produktfaelschungen/

[caption id="attachment_19406" align="alignnone" width="680"] Development of management standards over time, schematic representation (selection). Sources: Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences, TIMS, SQS[/caption].

ISO 9001 for quality management, ISO 14001 for the environment, ISO 27001 for information security, ISO 50001 for energy management: virtually every discipline has its own management system. Quite a few companies operate these systems side by side. The result: a high level of documentation and sometimes redundant - sometimes even contradictory - information. It's obvious that you don't burst into raptures when another audit is due.

One solution is offered by so-called integrated management systems (IMS). Such a system combines the requirements of several "large" management systems such as those mentioned above. Another advantage of such IMSs lies in their uniform systematics, which is based on the Harmonised Structure (HS) and also takes into account the process landscapes of the respective organizations. Processes, responsibilities and documentation are thus regulated across all topics and departments.

There are many examples of how companies work with IMS in practice. However, there is hardly any research work on the application of IMS in German-speaking countries. The Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences, in collaboration with SQS, the Swiss Association for Standardization (SNV) and other partners in the DACH region, now wants to change this situation. In a first phase, a survey of as many companies as possible will be conducted. Their results will then be evaluated by the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences and country-specific results will be derived. In a further phase, focus group workshops will be held with selected survey participants. Good practice examples for the use of IMS will then be developed from these.

SQS and SNV will be responsible for communicating these results and examples of good practice in Switzerland. You too can benefit from them! However, the prerequisite is that the quality is guaranteed by a large number of survey participants. Therefore, you as a reader are also invited to participate in the survey. Participation takes 30 to 45 minutes. In doing so, you will be making a contribution to creating research-based foundations for reducing complexity through integrated management systems. To make doing business easier.

Click here to go to the survey: https://survey.questionstar.com/9a3f5782

Additional background information: https://www.sqs.ch/de/blog/mit-systemintegration-zur-komplexitaetsreduktion

This article originally appeared on m-q.ch - https://www.m-q.ch/de/warum-und-wie-sie-ihre-managementsysteme-integrieren-sollten/

Train passengers, commuters and all other station visitors now have a new advertising option from Tamas Media: eye-catching red boxes that can be found at more than 140 train stations throughout Switzerland. There are 260 boxes in total, 220 of them in German-speaking Switzerland and 40 in French-speaking Switzerland. The boxes can be filled with magazines, journals or other printed advertising material.

The dispensers are located in select, high-traffic areas, thoroughfares and eye-catching locations. According to Tamas Media, they provide one million contact opportunities per day. There is also the option of placing a poster that draws attention to the content.

Less wastage

Commuters help themselves to the boxes. This increases the quality of contact and reduces wastage, according to Tamas Media. For a uniform appearance at the station, the red boxes were grouped together with the blue "20 Minuten" boxes wherever possible. The boxes can be occupied on a weekly basis. The filling quantity and duration depend on the customer's needs.

Tamas Media GmbH will now be responsible for marketing the boxes and for the entire control of the display. Tamas Media is the operator of a health platform with a public magazine, which is also distributed via the red boxes.

 

Switzerland defends its title as European champion in returning products ordered online. Internet shoppers returned 28 percent of parcels to the sender last year. The rate of returns continues to rise, even though more and more retailers have introduced a charge. This is shown by the new E-Shopper Barometer from Geopost, a study conducted regularly in over 20 European countries.

The proportion of returned parcels in Swiss online retail has more than tripled in five years. While the rate was 8% in 2017, it was already 28% according to the latest representative survey by Geopost - one percentage point more than in the previous year and another European record. On average, e-shoppers in other European countries only returned 14% of parcels. Portugal has the lowest rate at 6 percent. The statistics include all regular e-shoppers who order products online at least once a month. They account for 90 percent of the volume in e-shopping.

Obligation to pay for returns

Returns are on the rise, even though online shoppers are increasingly encountering obstacles: Only 45 percent found it easy to return packages last year. In the previous year, the proportion was 53 percent, and in 2019 it was as high as 62 percent. A similar trend can be seen in the other countries surveyed. Various large retailers have now introduced a charge for returns, at least for smaller order quantities. However, the e-shopper barometer also points to an opposing trend: there are more and more options for returning packages. 38 percent of online shoppers generally no longer use post offices for this, but a parcel store or a post office box.

The renewed rise in the returns rate in 2022 indicates that this is not a temporary development as a result of mobility restrictions. This also applies to online retailing as a whole: four out of five e-shoppers in Switzerland now shop online, over half of them regularly. These figures rose during the pandemic and have remained constant since. Online orders for fresh food and beverages increased sharply during the pandemic - here, too, there was no significant downward trend after the Covid measures were lifted.

 

On the basis of a study conducted by the market research institute Link Advertisingweek.ch In the past few months, we have already discussed trends and developments in the 2022 brand and advertising performance of brands from the Finance and insurance sector as well as from the Retail and consumer goods industry reported. Exclusive data on 25 brands in the telecommunications and entertainment industry is now also available. This results from around 13,000 interviews per brand and year.

Awareness score: Swisscom leads

The highest average awareness score in 2022 was recorded by the Swiss telecommunications company Swisscom at around 95 percent - but the highest absolute increase in awareness compared with the end of 2021 was achieved by competitor Quickline (+ 8.0 percentage points), followed by Prime Video (+ 6.9 percentage points) and Yallo (+ 6.7 percentage points). Over time, it can be seen that Quickline was able to crack the 30 percent mark in terms of awareness score in September 2022, which is in line with the Introduction of a nationwide subscription offer is likely to go hand in hand with this.

Consideration and trustworthiness: Swisscom dominates again, Netflix beats Disney+

After Swisscom leads in awareness, the brand also leads clearly in the next funnel stage, consideration, with around 45.5 percent and is in first place. In second place is streaming provider Netflix with 36.6%, which is more than twice as strongly considered as competitor Disney+ with 17.6%.

Swisscom also leads the list in terms of trustworthiness with 51.7 percent - this is particularly clear here, as second place, occupied by Netflix, is much lower at 15.3 percent. In particular, the direct competition in telecommunications, such as Sunrise (14.1 percent), M-Budget Mobile (13.6 percent), Salt (9.0 percent) and Coop Mobile (6.7 percent), perform significantly worse here. This once again underscores the special standing that Swisscom seems to enjoy among the Swiss population.

Media perception: Netflix reaches peak value regarding peaks

The picture is somewhat different for special customer satisfaction - i.e., satisfaction within the company's own clientele: Although Swisscom ranks fourth here with 58.5 percent, it is outperformed by its own sub-brand Wingo (first place with 76.6 percent) as well as Netflix (67.2 percent) and Net+ (66.9 percent). The two streaming platforms Sky Show (+ 9.5 percentage points) and YouTube Premium (+ 9.0 percentage points) recorded a significant increase in the absolute change in customer satisfaction, while competitor Prime Video, for example, posted a significant minus (- 9.1 percentage points). The latter could be related to the Increase in own subscription prices in July 2022 have to do.

In terms of advertising perception, Swisscom can again place itself as the winner: In terms of both digital advertising perception (23.7 percent) and offline advertising perception (22.8 percent), it takes first place in terms of average advertising perception in 2022. Sunrise (10.3 percent and 10.4 percent respectively) is the closest competitor here.

However, the media perception is particularly striking: Although the telecommunications company Swisscom scores significantly better in the awareness score and is thus better known than streaming provider Netflix, the latter records a significantly higher relative - in relation to awareness - peak in media perception with a plus of 14.7 percent (Swisscom: 11.2 percent). This peak is in May 2022, which coincides with the media coverage of the revised film law ("Lex Netflix"), which was voted on May 15, 2022.

---

About the methodology of the link study

• Population: Swiss resident population aged 15 to 79 years
• Total sample size: n= approx. 52,000
• Around 250 interviews per brand per calendar week and brand segment; for this annual review, rolling moving averages were formed over the last four calendar weeks in each case, i.e. approx. n=1,000 per data point and brand
• Confidence interval for total sample: max. +/- 3.1 percent (for 50% distribution).
• Research method: online interviews
• Quotation/weighting: by age, gender and region (interlocked)
• Random samples from the Link online panel, 100 percent of which is actively recruited through representative telephone surveys, reaching more than 97 percent of the relevant population; survey participants are excluded from follow-up surveys for at least three months at a time
• Survey period: 1.1.2022 to 31.12.2022
• Project management: Stefan Reiser, Managing Director Marketing Research at Link

The consulting firm Colombus Consulting has published the 7th edition of its annual study on the financial health of European electricity producers. This notes a decline in electricity consumption, which continues to intensify in Europe (EU, UK and CH). At the beginning of 2023, the geopolitical context continues to create tensions in energy supply, despite a decrease in electricity consumption at the beginning of winter. Against this backdrop, power producers continue to invest in renewables to diversify their supply sources.

Dramatic revenue growth for power generators in 2022

"The cumulative turnover of energy suppliers increased by 88 % between 2021 and 2022. This increase is almost ten times higher than that between 2020 and 2021. Profitability, on the other hand, does not follow the same trend," says Samy Belaiba, Energy Consultant at Colombus Consulting. In fact, the cumulative EBITDA of energy suppliers (excluding Fortum) fell by 11 % in the first half of 2022.
This finding applies to all energy suppliers, even if this growth masks major differences. Nine energy suppliers nevertheless perform better on this indicator in 2021, which shows that the other five players analyzed suffered significant losses in 2021. "Alpiq and BKW recorded an increase in turnover thanks to higher prices on the energy markets," adds Samy Belaiba. Valuation adjustments in financial hedging transactions have a strong impact on Alpiq's EBITDA (see chart).

Price fluctuations that benefit neither the producer nor the consumer

The very high volatility of electricity prices that has been observed in recent years does not benefit consumers or producers. Stabilizing the market is a complex equation and Member States have considered several strategies to mitigate the impact of the sudden price increase: Capping the price of gas, funding non-targeted price shields and/or targeted price schemes, opting for the single buyer system, taxing super profits.

The study also concludes that Switzerland's security of supply depends on successfully linking the use of carbon-free production methods. "The current pace of expansion of photovoltaics and wind energy in particular is not sufficient to meet the ambitions described in the Energy Future 2050 plan. The electricity demand resulting from the replacement of fossil fuels in transportation and heat generation will increase by at least 25%, adds Samy Belaiba.

Photovoltaic production, which has increased significantly compared to the previous year, now covers 6.3 % of Swiss demand, although voices are being raised in favor of preserving green spaces. For its part, the development of wind energy is slowing down. Some projects that were started 20 years ago are still awaiting approval from the federal government or the cantons. The stakes are high, as this equates to a cumulative estimated annual production of 493 GWh, in addition to the 1.2 TWh that are in the early stages of the process or planning. "Geothermal energy also has a role to play. It could generate 2 TWh of electricity per year in 2050, but the exploration of suitable sites takes time," concludes Samy Belaiba.

Source: Colombus Consulting

This article originally appeared on m-q.ch - https://www.m-q.ch/de/energiewandel-und-versorgungssicherheit-stromerzeuger-doppelt-gefordert/