Using the power of the brand
to advance great companies

In Berlin, BLC experts Dr. Simone Maier Begré, Director Organisational Design Consulting, and Bastian Schneider, Chief Strategy & Business Development Officer, showed on the 20th creativ verpacken dialog how to make your organization fit for tomorrow's customers. Customer centricity is a key skill today, which should be trained consistently and which an organization can only develop together.

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Customer proximity is the great strength of small and medium-sized companies. In times of digital transformation, however, new ways must be considered to make this strength effective in the digital media in the long term. "It makes sense to look beyond one's own nose and look for the solution in increased cooperation with one or more marketing partners. For many SMEs this can be an intelligent and up-to-date way to ring in the future in marketing, branding and communication and to inspire customers in the long term," says BLC expert Bastian Schneider, Chief Strategy & Business Development Officer at BLC, in his article in KMU Magazin No. 6.

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On June 19, 2019 gateB invited together with its partner BrandMaker to a Business Breakfast at the Westhive in Zurich. Experts shared and discussed with the participants their experiences with the use of marketing technologies. In addition to efficiency gains, more agile teams and more effective customer processing are also possible. Mirko Holzer, CEO BrandMaker, showed how Marketing Resource Management will change organizations, which possibilities will open up through the intelligent linking of workflows, data, and assets, and what needs to be taken into account. Roman Sonders, Global Head of Marketing & Communications Café Royal, and Janna Oppelt, Brand & PR Manager Café Royal, explained how to successfully roll out a brand using a brand portal. Shankar Narayanan, Director Digital Platforms UBS, shared his experiences with BrandMaker technology and showed how it makes marketing processes more efficient and compliant. René Affolter, Director gateB, concluded with the Dos and Don'ts in the selection, implementation and management of marketing technologies.

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On 06.06.2019, the 15th Eastern Switzerland Personnel Day took place in St. Gallen on the topic «Employers on the applicant bank - ways to increase employer attractiveness». The Eastern Switzerland Personnel Day is one of the most important personnel conferences in Eastern Switzerland. BLC expert Bastian Schneider, Chief Strategy & Business Development Officer beim BLC, presented together with other experts such as Florian Wassel, founder/co-owner of TOWA Digital and freicom towa digital, Katharina Lehmann, owner/chairwoman of the board of directors of Blumer-Lehmann AG, Simon Graf, specialist in recruitment at Post CH AG, Dr. Oliver Haas, entrepreneur, author and founder of Corporate Happiness, and Karin Egle, President of FEP, member of the Patronage Committee for Eastern Switzerland Personnel Day, first-hand experience.

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How do financial service providers use the potential of data and technologies to make customer advisory services better, faster and more personal in the future? On June 04, 2019 gateB together with Finalix invited financial service providers to the Business Leader Breakfast at Four Points by Sheraton in Zurich. Moderated by Rob Holub, a renowned speaker and TV and film producer, renowned speakers presented current insights and concrete digitization examples from practice. The founder and head of the think tank W.I.R.E., Dr. Stephan Sigrist, reported on the expectations of the digital generation in the financial sector. Nicolas de Skowronski, Head of Advisory Solutions and Member of the Executive Board at Bank Julius Baer, uses digitisation specifically where it can support the bank's business model. Simon Schneider, Manager Finalix, together with René Affolter, Director gateB, presented methods and processes for strategic, relevant and efficient content creation and distribution. Dr. Stefan Piel, Program Manager Omnichannel Management at UBS, used the digital channel of UBS Wealth Management Online to present the increasing client expectations and the associated demands on the bank.

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For companies, digitization is both an opportunity and a risk. The risks are often stressed: the digital tsunami. The destructive force. But digitalization can also be interpreted as the perfect wave on whose ridge it is possible to ride long and far. Especially in the area of customer centricity. «Today, customer centricity should be interpreted as the ability to repeatedly provide value-added products and services for customers, » says BLC expert Dr. Simone Maier Begré, Director Organisational Design at the BLC, in her article in KMU Magazin No. 4/5.

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«Customer centricity is now a vital skill that affects the entire organization. It has to be trained again and again if you don't want to lose it.» One of many insights from the first BLC Denk:Morgen with Simone Maier Begré on #customercentricity.

The lively mixture of inputs, workshops and discussions worked very well. The participants took valuable insights back to their companies. We are pleased that our first offer in the consulting field of agile organizational development met with such a positive response.

Save the Date: 2nd Denk:Morgen, September 10, 2019.

At this year's SAS Forum on 11 April 2019 in Zurich's Kaufleuten, everything revolved around the topic of "Artificial Intelligence in Financial Services". In addition to PostFinance, Commerzbank, Deloitte and Consortix, gateB was also invited to share its know-how and experience in this area. The BLC expert Marco Wyler, Director gateB, showed in his lecture how the efficiency of marketing measures has steadily increased in the course of technological innovations and how traditional mass communication with customer segmentation has been replaced by target group marketing. Today, companies are in the predictive marketing phase. By using real-time data and incorporating all channels and customer journeys, ever more accurate forecasts can be created which enable early (re-)action and offer customers personalised support.

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At this year's fun match hockey game on 02 April 2019, the ice hockey professionals of the Brand Leadership Circle in the Bosshard Arena/Zug again fought hard fights. The fans enjoyed an exciting game. The fight was very balanced for a long time, but in the end the team Ice on a stick won against the team ARCTIC AD-VICE with a narrow 8:6. The two teams let the evening end with a spaghetti chat in the Legends Club.

The success of a business is based on differentiation from the competition. Good strategies attach importance to building up distinguishing features. Why though is it so difficult to implement this knowledge in practice? What benefits can the brand provide? The BLC expert Bastian Schneider, Chief Strategy & Business Development Officer, answers these questions in his column in the KMU (SME) Magazine No. 3.

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1982: The first private university in Germany. Today: Intense competition with over 160 competitors. Clarification of the brand question has never been so important. What does the University of Witten/Herdecke stand for? What makes it special and forms the core of the UW/H brand? A university-wide project group has promoted brand development and conducted many individual interviews and workshops with various members of the university. The result: valuable insights into UW/H's self-image, its culture, its mission for the future - but also into upcoming challenges.

At this year's UW/H alumni meeting on 30 March 2019, BLC expert Bastian Schneider moderated the workshop "Elite? Anthro? do-gooders? Branding at the UW/H - first results and further sharpening". The results of the brand building process were shared with the alumni and valuable impulses for the future were developed.

Put yourself in the customer’s place. Change your perspective. Be more agile and inspire your customers. In the interactive «Think: Morning» workshop, we will support you in the next step to greater success through customer centricity. With input, interactive sessions and individual tasks, you will learn the principles of customer centricity and how to define the next steps on the way to your customers of tomorrow. We look forward to welcoming you there!

Discover more. Please register with Laura Straub by March 29, 2019!

Brand-oriented management is also the basis of forward-looking value creation in times of digital transformation. What, though, are the key principles of such brand-oriented leadership? The BLC expert Bastian Schneider, Chief Strategy & Business Development Officer, comments on this key issue in his column in “KMU Magazin” No. 1/2.

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The BLC as a successful model of transformation! Victor Hotz AG was still purely a printing company 20 years ago. Today, the Brand Leadership Circle is a living ecosystem of consulting companies where ca. 120 employees cover many forward-looking competences and services – from branding and communication, data-based and automated marketing, to business and innovation development for traditional companies and start-ups from Crypto Valley Zug. In the course of our own business transformation, we at the BLC learnt a lot about how to navigate a company through digital change. On 20.02.2019 Bastian Schneider, Chief Strategy and Business Development Officer, responsible for future development of the BLC, let the Swiss Marketing Club Zug take a look behind the scenes.

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Switzerland has an above-average number of companies which are international leaders in performance and quality. Often, however, the quality and performance with which they present themselves is below average. Increasing digitization means that the brand image of the niche players is moving into the spotlight of globalization. “That is why consistently conveying the strengths of their business to the outside world through their brand image is becoming more and more a factor for success for hidden champions. Only in this way can the brand develop its full power,” says the BLC expert Selina Zeder, Brand Consultant at Hotz Brand Consultants, in her article in “KMU Magazin” No. 1/2.

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At the heart of every strong brand is its self-image. A strong concept, giving meaning to all that the company does. The cornerstone for everything that people ought to experience with the company, giving direction to all relevant experience drivers – from behaviour and culture of the employees, product design, configuration of services, to audiovisual appearance and communication. It is therefore crucial that this cornerstone is thoroughly understood by a wide variety of stakeholders. The BLC expert Patrick Ensslin, Brand Experience Director at Hotz Brand Consultants, gives his views on this issue in his article in the specialist journal “Organisator” No. 1-2.

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What is blockchain actually? Why has it become such a big story? How could it change the world? Today, at the 1st Friday Lunch & Learn, BLC expert Joanna Pawluk - Senior Blockchain Marketing Consultant at BLC for Ventures - gave her colleagues a fascinating insight into the crypto world of tomorrow.

The WEF is in Davos and so are we. At the pop-up event of CV Labs and Crypto Mountain, we had many positive discussions and introduced the new range of services from BLC for Ventures. Based on experience gained over the past year, we have refined our offers in marketing, branding and communication and have aligned them even closer to the needs of blockchain and technology start-ups.

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As usual, the Brand Leadership Circle started the New Year with a swing, at our traditional «Start of the Year Party». This time the theme was: «Tropical Dinner & Dance». On January 18, 2019 we danced the night away at the Giardino Verde in Zürich amongst tropical flowers, plants and trees. We are now going to transport this positive energy into our daily work where, once again, we have big plans!

«If I have had positive experiences with a particular package design, I am very likely to choose it again. My confidence in the brand is reconfirmed whenever I come into contact with it. A hundred percent on brand. Familiar. Different from the others. A package design that doesn’t see itself as the packaging of an object, but as part of the brand and brand experience. Functional and aesthetic. Something that does not lessen the experience, nor try to outdo it. No complicated milk caps or seals. But nor should there be any blatant promises which are then not fulfilled», states the Brand Leadership expert Bastian Schneider in the specialist journal creativ verpacken 7/2018.

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In this year’s Swiss Marketing Leadership Study by the Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Robert Schumacher, the Brand Leadership expert and gateB Director, explains in his paper «Learn to learn! What to look out for with data-based marketing projects» why these in particular lend themselves to an iterative approach, along the lines of: Think Big, Start Small, Grow Fast. «Data-based projects involve constant testing, assessing and learning», according to Robert Schumacher.

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Yesterday, the first meetup of our client SIX and their Digital Exchange SDX took place in the CV Labs in Zug. After having announced to build a complete end-to-end and fully integrated digital asset trading-, settlement and custody service, it was important to SDX to be sharing the current state of the development with the community. This way, the two worlds have been bridged a first time with many more encounters to come.

Thank you Valerio Roncone, Sven Roth and Ivo Sauter for sharing your insights!

On 27.09.2018 Calydo and gateB held their 3rd Relevance Afternoon at the Brand Leadership Headquarters. The event was dedicated solely to the communicative opportunities of a digital hub and the question of how companies can use digital touchpoints to give customers and users an optimal brand experience and how best to strengthen their customer relationships. Calydo and gateB examined this important topic with the participants in two workshop sessions and were able to share their interesting experiences. Using a smart content strategy and intelligent digital touchpoints (such as the company website), the attendees learnt how to devise a concept geared towards business objectives. In addition, they generated actual use cases which both challenged and evaluated their own digital presence.

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For the «Solve Food Waste» Challenge (by SIX), held during the «Open Food Data Meets Smart Kitchen» Hack Days in Zug, the gateB Team succeeded in developing a fully functioning Minimal Viable Product (MVP). The judges rewarded the Team with the second place.

For an MVP, a functioning App had to be developed which would intelligently manage the food products in the home by, for example, dynamic calculation of the expiry dates of individual foodstuffs and highlighting those that were likely to perish in the short term. In addition, recipe suggestions were called for which would make use of the foods near the end of their shelf life. Dynamic calculation of expiry dates is possible through Machine Learning, where the accuracy improves with each and every entry.

The Team now has the opportunity to do further work on the project with the backing of V-ZUG and SIX.

The «Open Food Data Meets Smart Kitchen» Hack Days were organized by opendata.ch, V-ZUG, SIX, gateB, and other partners from September 7-9 in Zug, where engineers, developers, agricultural and nutritional experts, academics, and data specialists gathered together to develop new innovations towards a transparent and sustainable food system.

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The 2018 Digital Summit for SMEs was held in Zurich on 29.08.2018. This event is an initiative to support the digitization of SMEs in Switzerland. With over 300 experts it offers on the spot consulting, specialist in-house courses and workshops for companies on many aspects of digitization, block chain, IoT, AI, social media, marketing, and process optimization. The objective is to provide unbiased support for SMEs so that they can make optimal use of the potential of digitization: for their customers, business partners and employees. The Brand Leadership specialists Bettina Schoch, Managing Director of Calydo, and Robert den Otter, Director Digital Consulting at Calydo, presented their experiences during a study workshop on the subject.

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How can we use the potential of technology and data to streamline and improve customer relationships? On August 29, 2018 around 100 marketing, communication and digital experts participated in the gateB Business Breakfast at Four Points by Sheraton in Zürich. Moderated by Bastian Schneider, Chief Strategist at BLC, several well-known speakers presented their current insights and specific examples of digitization from practical experience. The futurologist Nicklas Bergman talked about the 10 global technology trends and their impact on business and society. Jérôme Koller, Head of Data & Analytics at Mobiliar, provided us with an impressive insight behind the scenes of the oldest insurance company in Switzerland. Alexei Kounine, Head AI Selligent Marketing Cloud, spoke about the useful roles which artificial intelligence can already play in marketing. Robert Schumacher, Director at gateB, gave us a «tour de force» through his key findings from a wide variety of consulting projects. In the subsequent panel discussion, speakers and participants explored the day’s topics in more detail, resulting in many lively exchanges.

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The motto for this year’s BLC Super Friday on 24.08.2018 was «Creating together. Progressing together.» After kick-off and pizzas, in different specialist groups and based on key questions, the Brand Leadership Circle members gateB, Calydo and Hotz Brand Consultants developed the future training programme of the BLC Academy: What will change in our working world? How can we inspire our clients now and tomorrow? What skills should we develop in order to be successful in the future? At BLC there are many specialists in many different areas. With the BLC Academy we want to learn from each other and with each other even better than we do now!

After the «Results-Vernissage» in the Hieronymus Manufactory, we all gathered by the lake in Hünenberg for the BLC Summer Party with a delicious barbecue, and music by DJ SKOR. Many thanks to everyone for their great participation! It was a lot of fun.

How does brand leadership succeed in the digital age, with Generation Y and dynamic development processes? And why has AXA Winterthur in particular invested all its efforts into becoming a modern brand? These were questions discussed by Mélanie Gujan, Head of Marketing Communications at AXA, and Brand Leadership Circle expert Alex Herrmann, Strategy Director at Hotz Brand Consultants, during the “ComImpact” conference on 05.07.2018 held at the HWZ (Zurich University of Applied Sciences in Business Administration).

The «ComImpact» conference at the HWZ (Zurich University of Applied Sciences in Business Administration) presents the latest off- and online findings from the world of marketing and business communication.

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digitalswitzerland is a joint initiative by businesses, the public sector and academia; Its objective is to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in Switzerland, with the focus on digital transformation, so that Switzerland becomes a leading digital hub.

The Brand Leadership company gateB will use its know-how and many years of digital experience to assist with the following issue: how can large – as well as small – companies use the potential of technology and data to structure their client relationships more intelligently, faster and better? The data scientists, marketing professionals and technology specialists at gateB support national and international companies in the areas of Customer Intelligence, Marketing Analytics, Campaign Management, Marketing Operations, Multichannel Publishing and Marketing Automation.

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The Crowdfinders Ltd event «Who’s Who in the Zoo?» took place in London on 28.06.2018. «Who’s Who in the Zoo» is a dynamic, stimulating and informative event for investors, businessmen and companies seeking appropriate backers. An important topic was Blockchain & Crypto. The Brand Leadership Circle expert Lukas Hotz, Director Ventures, together with other experts Thomas Reveillon, Project Manager & Roadshow Leader at CHAINEUM, J-L. Senent, „Chainging“ the World at Orbi Network, Elie Boudara, Chief Blockchain Officer at Trecento Blockchain Capital, William Orde, Investment Manager at Oxford Capital and Linda S. Leaney, CFO at Globcoin, all presented their first-hand experiences.

Occupying centre stage at this year’s SAS Forum at the Dolder Grand Hotel, Zurich on 30.05.2018 was the issue of how IoT, KI & Co. come into everyday business. More than 400 people took part in this event, arguably the most significant Analytics Conference in Switzerland.

There were presentations by companies from a diverse range of industries and specialist areas, including Coop, dm- Drogerie (chemists), Helsana (health insurance), the Zurich Cantonal Bank, the German Credit Bank, Lufthansa and GlaxoSmithKline.

The Brand Leadership Circle expert Dr. Bernd Fellinghauer, Leader Data Science gateB, showed together with Raphaela Ziegler, Leader Info-Center at the Zurich Cantonal Bank, how gateB digitized non-digital content with the latest text-mining methods. The content consisted of an archive of roughly two million pages, some of which had been handwritten in the 19th century.

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At the Executive Briefing of the Swiss CRM in Zürich the topic this time was the new EU directive on data protection, which became effective on May 25, 2018, and its impact on online marketing. Lukas Bühlmann, Head Digital, Data Privacy & e-Commerce Meyerlustenberger Lachenal AG, Peter Tüscher, Leader Projects Client Marketing & CRM Migros-Genossenschafts-Bund, and the Brand Leadership Circle expert Robert Schumacher, Director Business Development gateB, investigated the best possible ways to contact and inspire clients despite these new restrictions. «The GDPR is an opportunity for marketing teams to reinforce their focus on their clients. This professionalization will ultimately benefit both companies and their clients», reasoned Robert Schumacher.

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The experts from the Brand Leadership Circle together with the founding team of YASAVA and Deiss Consulting Group during a collaborative co-creation kick-off workshop in Montreux. The goal: to kick-start the strategic direction for their new blockchain startup with a positive impact on climate change.

Photochain is an innovative blockchain start-up for stock photography based in Tallinn, Estonia. Using the opportunities offered by new technology, Photochain wants to redefine the rules of the game in the stock photography market: so that originators have full control over their digital images, and so that licensing of and trading with digital images is made transparent, efficient and fair for all participants. Each and every image uploaded to the Photochain database is linked to a photographer or creator, and this link cannot be removed or manipulated.

The Brand Leadership Circle will support Photochain in developing a unique UI/UX - User Experience with the aim of making the process of buying or selling digital images at Photochain as smooth and convenient as possible. Particular attention is paid to the mass market and non-technical users.

In return, Photochain offers the Brand Leadership Circle companies new, innovative access to digital images protected by copyright. This fast, direct and simple access to digital images, graphics and other visual photos protected by copyright is essential for successful marketing, communication and branding projects.

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Blockchain technology is progressing by leaps and bounds. It is growing fast, and is bringing change and driving innovation both in Zug and around the world. On 26.04.2018 the 2nd Blockchain Summit Crypto Valley was held in the Casino Theater Zug. The subject of this conference for Crypto businesses and specialists was: Corporates vs. Start-ups. Programme topics were blockchain in the real estate business, the future of financial management, the role of the government in a decentralized world, and the future of decentralized technologies.

Bastian Schneider, Chief Strategy & Business Development Officer of the Brand Leadership Circle, gave the Communications keynote speech: «Building Brands in a decentralized World» and participated in the subsequent Communications Panel: «Communications & Marketing 3.0 – New boarders, new channels, new speed» - together with Maria Jones, Vice President CoinTelegraph Media Group, José Senent, CEO & Co-founder Orbi Network, and Norina Frey, Senior Consultant Narwal Blockchain PR.

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Data-driven targeting, real-time monitoring of campaign progress, intelligent adaptation to user reactions: During the Relevance Afternoon #2 on April 12, 2018 Calydo, clients and gateB dealt with aspects of smart campaigning. Particular attention was paid to target definition, methods of measurement, and handling dynamic content in smart campaigns. In the 2-hour workshop session, targets and KPIs were defined for a campaign of their own, a test design was prepared and they created their own relevant content. During the subsequent apéritif riche, experiences were exchanged and stimulating discussions held – due in no small part to the interesting mix of branches represented, which ranged from publishing through finance to the textile industry. The next Relevance Afternoon #3 is expected to take place in September 2018!

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How do you innovate out of the brand? — At the Innovation Lab of the Design Management Institute of the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts Alex Herrmann (Strategy Director at HBC), Tobias Baumann (Consulting Director at HBC) and Dominik Streich (Creative Director at HBC) are coaching the students in the development and marketing of new, high-impact products and services. Together with Prof. Jan-Erik Baars and his students, this year they are examining the issue of how the automobile industry can manage to rack up brand enthusiasts in the future. The Innovation Lab will hold an intensive seminar in March and April 2018.

Keyword: Digital Transformation. Digital change will alter processes. Companies in particular will have to face the challenges of continual technological change.

Robert Schumacher, Director New Business Development at gateB, opened the first event of Marketing Natives Switzerland on March 21, 2018 at the Volkshaus Zürich with a keynote address and an introduction to the subject matter. A panel discussion with further well-known experts like Marc-Olivier Pittner - CEO of AdUnit AG, Olaf Kunz - Journalist and Digital Strategist, Paul Meyrat - Head of Digital Transformation FHS Swiss Radio and Television, Karin Taheny - Head of Consulting at Yourposition, and Daniel Scherrer - Head of Communications & PR with digitalswitzerland, completed the programme.

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With «BLC for Ventures» we provide one-stop shop marketing & branding support for blockchain-startups in the crypto valley.

The dynamics in Crypto Valley Zug are trilling. The entrepreneurial potential is enormous. We are located right in the very heart of this vibrating ecosystem. With «BLC for Ventures» we created a new offering highly specialized for the needs of startup companies in the blockchain sector: One-stop shop marketing & branding support. Effective and co-entrepreneurial. From business modeling and tokenomics through to branding, communications and community management to organizing TGE/ICO roadshows. From day one we help entrepreneurs to transform bold visions into reality.

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The specialist for B2C marketing automation and gateB enter into a partnership. Together, they want to help Swiss companies to communicate with their customers data-based, personalized and at the right time via the right channel.

gateB complements its proven strengths in data-driven relationship marketing and multichannel content management with this partnership. "Many customers are not yet exploiting the potential of their data, and are struggling with the challenge of merging the data into a holistic customer profile in order to generate tangible added value at the many touch points. With the Selligent Marketing Cloud, we can help customers to intelligently use their data and analytic insights on their website as well as in their mobile, email or social media campaigns," says Marco Wyler, Executive Director at gateB.

Selligent Marketing Cloud sets new standards in B2C marketing automation: the software solution is characterized by a flexible data architecture, artificial intelligence (AI) and a customer data platform (CDP); it covers all channels in the modern communications mix and has an accessible operating model, even for medium-sized companies. "With Selligent, we have the ideal partner to further strengthen the discipline of relationship marketing in Switzerland," adds Wyler.

Jürgen Neubauer, Selligent Country Manager DACH, commented on the partnership with gateB: "gateB is an established company in the Swiss market when it comes to data-driven and automated marketing. With its long-year experience on the customer side, its integrated approach and its network, gateB is a strategically important partner for us to further open up the Swiss market."

Together, they now want to help companies to make their customer dialogue fit for the challenges of the present and the future. The use of technology and data analysis is essential to communicate with customers individually and accompany them throughout their entire customer life cycle.

These days companies aim to communicate as efficiently and effectively as possible. Digitization and the convergence of communication media are increasing the complexity as well as the technical opportunities. The specialist conference «ComImpact» on July 5, 2018 at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences in Business Administration will present the latest off- and online insights from the world of marketing- and business communication.

In addition to Strategy Director Alex Herrmann of Hotz Brand Consultants, Prof. Dr. Ansgar Zerfass, University of Leipzig and Mélanie Gujan, Head of Marketing Communications, AXA Winterthur, will be the key speakers.

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https://comimpact.ch/

Quo-vadis brand leadership: Where is it today and how should brands be positioned for long-term success? In an interview for „creativ verpacken“ (1/18, p. 32) Bastian Schneider, Chief Strategy & Business Development Officer at BLC, gives his views on the key issues of brand-driven management.

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Wallpaper magazine Design Award 2018 goes to HIERONYMUS! We are delighted to announce that our Sculpture Pen has been awarded «Best Writing Instrument».

As an expression of our creative desire for aesthetic and functional uniqueness, it took us more than 6 years for the development. The only pen of its kind, manufactured from one solid piece of metal and shaped into a blend of two geometric forms which flow smoothly from round to square.

Take a closer look here: http://bit.ly/2De7CLP

gateB attended the IAB Italy Forum in Milan, the leading digital advertising event in Italy, and held a workshop on how to tap into the potential of technology and data to make marketing and communication processes more efficient.

During our workshop, Andrea Küpfer, CMO and responsible for the Italian market at gateB, talked about the advantages of using a content hub to create, update and distribute multimedia content across channels – online and print. Making smart use of technology and data is today a prerequisite to become more efficient in our marketing and communication practices, and to enable marketers to tell stories, focusing on the content and less on its distribution.

Alex Herrmann has been appointed the new Strategy Director at Hotz Brand Consultants, effective 01.12.2017. The Head of Strategy for many years at the MetaDesign Brand Agency and Study Head of the CAS Brand Management and Communication of the University of Berne will assume responsibility in the areas of strategy and innovation.

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gateB enters the Asian market by participating in the largest FinTech festival in the region

gateB participated as an exhibitor under the Swiss Pavilion which was co-organized by Switzerland Global Enterprise and the Swiss Finance and Technology Association (SFTA). Companies in the Swiss Pavilion contribute strongly to the trustworthiness, quality and innovation of the FinTech industry. gateB was also part of the Swiss reception attended by ambassador Thomas Kupfer and guest of honour Jörg Gasser, State Secretary, Ministry of Finance Switzerland. This was gateB’s first involvement in an event in Asia before the launching of its Singapore office in January 2018.

What does an established brand from Germany need to consider when planning a launch in Austria and Switzerland? And how should a marketing organization be structured so that cross-border brand leadership can be successful?

These questions, and other interesting ones on the special features of brand leadership in the DACH countries, are answered by Tobias Baumann, Consulting Director at Hotz Brand Consultants, and Bastian Schneider, Strategy Director at Hotz Brand Consultants, in an interview with Horizont.

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Over the past 10 months, Hotz Brand Consultants has been working with the internationally established VP Bank to strengthen their brand positioning, to make the brand fit for the digital age both visually and in content, and to create a variety of fresh brand experiences together with Calydo.

An exciting project! Find out more

Agile Marketing is one of the hot topics of the year. In their first «Relevance Afternoon» Calydo and gateB show how it works.

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For the 20th anniversary of our annual Open House, our first BLC Night took place in Zurich. It was a pleasure for us to spend an unforgettable evening with over 320 friends from gateB, Calydo and Hotz Brand Consultants with a view of Lake Zurich. More impressions can be found here: www.blc-night.ch

Alumo, producer of finest shirting for respected bespoke tailors and shirtmakers all over the world, enlisted our services to create a new company image. The artisanal manufacturing method used in Appenzell has become a rarity amongst today’s mass production and the brand story is, accordingly, “precious as a mountain crystal”. This was used to create all the brand touchpoints, and the first can now be experienced: the website.

If the words “team event” fire your enthusiasm for a high rope course, fun and games in a mountain hut or a treasure hunt, you will unfortunately be disappointed. We went to the Virtual Reality Centre in Zürich. Even though we are normally quite peace-loving, we enjoyed ourselves immensely playing this sweat-inducing laser tag. What we all found fascinating was the adventure game with whole-body tracking. Immersed in a world reminiscent of Indiana Jones, we overcame virtual hazards, solved puzzles, and laughed a lot over our mishaps. So at dinner there was plenty to talk about which will keep us thinking for a long time. After all, this was a form of further training for our Motion and Digital Team – and training has seldom been so much fun.

In our Brand Positioning Forum at the Swiss Brand Conference Hotz Brand Consultants showed together with our partners Admeira and Brand&Levie Worstmakers how to mobilize the brand as the key driver of corporate development.

Digital transformation is causing difficulties for many businesses, and only those with clear positioning can survive. Bastian Schneider, Chief Strategist at the Brand Leadership Circle, explains why it is a mistake for companies to orient themselves on the competition, and describes how Lego is leading by example.

A sales and marketing portal builds the core of operational marketing. Every activity, from conception to the contact with customers and sales partners, are concentrated on a central platform. A marketing portal is essential when it comes to:
• Creation of marketing assets
• Simple and efficient production and distribution
• Automatized sales
• Standardized marketing planning
By using a marketing portal, chief marketing officers see gains in four main areas:
• Shorter cycle times
• Lower costs
• Improved quality
• More marketing

The use of digital tools opens up tremendous opportunities in property marketing. A successful example is the apartment configurator with an integrated BIM interface used in selling residential apartments in the Aglaya Garden Tower. The tool, provides interested parties with online support in selecting apartments and materials. It facilitates the decision to purchase, and generally organizes the selling and building process more efficiently. With its unusual leafy façades, Aglaya is also architecturally a trailblazing project. The entire marketing concept was developed by Calydo, from the naming and the movies through to all marketing touchpoints, including the interaction and usability design for the configurator.

Nowadays, customers expect to interact with brands in real time, through different channels, and to receive a quick and personalized response to their requests.
On top of meeting customer expectations, the creation and use of content over different channels, workflows, and processes must be managed. A multi-channel strategy is essential for companies that wish to survive in our digital age.

There are two main reasons a content hub is a must-have for a successful multi-channel strategy:

• Constant access to insights: By integrating numerous systems – from web analysis to CRM platforms to social dashboards and more – a content hub allows company-wide access to real-time data. This access empowers you to refine customer journeys, develop relevant and efficient communication, and measure the ROI of all actions. Insights gleaned from having access to real-time data are indispensable.

• Intelligent production: As the central repository for all brand assets, information, and tools, a content hub makes distributing to all digital and analog channels painless. Stakeholder feedback and approval speed up exponentially. Branches can locate all assets with ease. The result? Less redundancy, faster content edits and approval, fluid access to various channels – significant savings of time and money.

Read in our latest eBrief how a content hub empowers marketing departments to do the following five things:
• Pool assets
• Design and create dynamically
• Put customers first
• Remove obstacles
• Enable efficiencies

Cleverly used artificial intelligence holds great potential for many businesses to offer their clients considerable added value and create lasting brand value. “But for many companies and brands the subject of artificial intelligence is still a long way off, mainly because, at first glance, they do not see any obvious benefits for them or their clients,” according to Brand Experience Director Patrick Ensslin at Hotz Brand Consultants.

If you look at how sales and marketing teams within Fortune 500 companies get their work done, you’ll see a problem that’s all too common. Sales reps can’t find the latest presentation materials, marketing reps can’t find the templates they need, and external agencies or partners have to email someone every time they need a logo, brand guideline, or other digital assets. This problem slows teams down from getting their work done and can compromise the brand consistency of outward-facing sales and marketing materials.

Marketing leaders have the power to solve this problem.

In our latest eBrief, “6 Reasons to Have a Marketing Portal in 2017,” you can explore how to you accomplish the following 6 things:

1. Ensure brand consistency – Brand consistency only happens when all the messaging and imagery used in sales and marketing programs build a brand up to represent a core set of values and to exude certain emotions. To ensure brand consistency, marketing teams have to control the approval of new messaging and imagery, as well as share approved items across the organization.

2. Make assets discoverable – All pre-approved messaging, imagery, and materials leveraging the messaging and imagery have to be discoverable by the people who need them, on-demand as the assets are needed.

3. Centralize the tsunami of content – Brand consistent materials need to take many different forms, both online and offline. When you add up all the assets being produced for print, advertising, social media, and other key destinations, the amount of content is staggering. When this content is centralized, it becomes far easier to onboard new assets and sunset expiring assets so that teams are always working with the right source materials for sales and marketing programs.

4. Empower self-service localization – Fortune 500 companies operate globally and often, only local teams know how to adjust a sales or marketing asset for their local audience. When marketing leaders empower self-service localization, they’re setting a workflow and framework to make the local adjustments needed without compromising the brand consistency of the adjusted work.

5. Facilitate multi-channel publishing – The purpose of multi-channel publishing is to be present in the physical spaces and online platforms where your audience spends their time. With so many channels where a brand can be present, multi-channel publishing gets your brand where it needs to be with as little manual work as possible.

6. Speed up marketing processes – Marketing is an ongoing process that’s never finished. And no matter how many projects marketing teams complete, it seems as though it’s never enough. Speeding up marketing processes is one way to get more done and be more responsive to the rigorous demands placed on your team.
   With these six accomplishments, your internal and external teams can discover and leverage brand consistent marketing assets on demand. As a result, your sales and marketing programs will run more efficiently and effectively.

What inspires us to come to the office every day and go full throttle. The most important factors are the collaboration with our colleagues and friends and the freedom of scope to become involved and contribute with our individual talents and interests. Our purpose of «Creating Together» hits the mark exactly. This year’s Directors Workshop on April 28, 2017 at the Maiensässhotel Guarda Val in Lenzerheide, was devoted entirely to this topic. For a whole day the BLC Directors and the partner companies worked out how we could shape a successful future together.

What can and should an established, traditional bank be known for today, if it also wants to play a relevant part in people’s lives tomorrow? Hotz Brand Consultants examined this question with and for our client, the Nidwalden Cantonal Bank, and have used our findings to create a unique, contemporary brand identity. We are more than a little proud to have been asked to assist this strong and trusted brand with 138 years of tradition on their path into the future.

Calydo is a consultancy for marketing and communication and part of the Brand Leadership Circle. It was founded in April 2016, and as it already gained a lot of notable clients in 2016, the team could be expanded to 25 employees. At the beginning of 2017 there was a change in the management. Daniel Meier, CEO of the Brand Leadership Circle, who led Calydo since its foundation ad interim, handed over the management to Bettina Schoch (Managing Director) and her deputy Lukas Hotz (Deputy Managing Director).

On March 7, 2017 Strategy Director Bastian Schneider will be speaking on the following topic during this year’s Marketing Day 17 at the KKL Lucerne: “The brand as the driving force in business transformation in a digital world”.

The Marketing Day has been organized by the Swiss Marketing Forum since 1977 and is noted for being the most traditional and important of all Swiss marketing events. Using the theme of “The dead thread – digital turns everything upside down“, Marketing Day 17 conveys the latest marketing expertise and this year, for the first time, will be conducted in a festival format.

Something unique is growing in Risch-Rotkreuz: the gardentower Aglaya with high-quality freehold flats. Starting with naming and key visual, we are making this flagship project noticeable and to come alive throughout all touchpoints. A job that exactly fits us because we think ahead for the future. The teaser website is live already aglaya-rotkreuz.ch.

Since its founding in March 2016, Calydo goes at full throttle on the success path. Thanks to a full pipeline with mandates, we are growing constantly and look forward to new colleagues sharing the passion and joy of our work. New specialists have already joined our consulting, design and copy writing teams. Nevertheless, we are still looking for additional coworkers. Have a look at our faces here calydo.com/ueber-uns. and become a new calydo specialist here calydo.com/jobs.

In his technical paper "corporate development: the future of branding" Strategy Director Bastian Schneider explains how companies can tap the full potential of their brand.

In this years Swiss Marketing Leadership Study Robert Schumacher, Director Customer & Marketing Intelligence gateB and Bastian Schneider, Strategy Director Hotz Brand Consultants, explain how companies can master digital transformation and shape a powerful future.

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At this year's Swiss CRM Forum Robert Schumacher and Carmelo Lantosca premiered the Swiss Data Labs, the ideal Cloud-solution with it’s location in Switzerland. This enables the needed success and agility in the implementation of Big Data pilot projects without making significant up-front investments and therefore rapidly generating added value.

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With the project "Mission Communication for the Swiss Post, Post Offices and Sales", Hotz Brand Consultants was nominated as one of six projects for the Swiss Award Corporate Communications 2016.

Primus Property is a regular customers of Calydo and takes care of real estate marketing and sale in the greater Zurich and Aargau area. Until fall 2017 new housing for young people arises on the former Electrolux site in Aarau. We are supporting this project with ideas, design and content. The website fiftylux.ch is already live and now we are working on a magazine.

Robert Schumacher, Director at gateB and one of the leading experts in the fields data-driven marketing and CRM broaches the hype around big data in his article «The 5 most important requirements of marketing in a digital world» short and concise.

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Currently, we are getting a lot of mandates from the real estate industry. Because this work gives us so much pleasure, we want to share our competence with even more people. Therefore, we are currently running an ad campaign depicting a series of images by Spanish artist Víctor Enrich who perfectly illustrates the uniqueness of our ideas.

Health should be taken seriously. Especially health care. However, services and finances differ significantly depending on what health model you choose. To provide customers understandable information packed in an entertaining format, we made five animation films for Helsana explaining those differences.

Conveying the brand to employees. Nothing’s better for this then getting the knowledge directly from the experts. Therefore Wüest & Partner held its staff day in the Brand Leadership Building, where we prepared a journey through the world of their brand.

Using games and small workshops, 120 employees dealt with the brand identity, the competitioners, the target group, the success drivers and the portfolio of Wüest & Partner.

At the end of the station circuit the staff enjoyed the evening with a DJ and cocktails.

We are working with passion: for our customers and their projects. We regard them as partners and we are pushing each other to top performances. Where can this be proved any better than in a sports event? So the entire BLC has challenged his common customer Wüest & Partner to a competition. We ended in a draw, but started a friendship.

Das SAS Forum Switzerland 2015 findet am 12. Mai im Marriott Hotel in Zürich statt. Das Forum zeigt, wie neue Denkansätze rund um Business Analytics zum Wettbewerbsfaktor für Anwender werden.

PRAXIS UND VISION

Seit 2008 suchen und finden Branchen- und Fachspezialisten auf dem SAS Forum Switzerland Ideen und Inspirationen, um mit Business Analytics und Business Intelligence neue Geschäftswege zu bestreiten. Im Gespräch mit rund 350 Teilnehmern und Experten trifft sich eine Community, die Trends setzt.

Die Mischung aus Best-Practice-Beispielen und Visionen wird auch am siebten SAS Forum im Vordergrund stehen und Konferenzstruktur und Programm prägen. Anmeldung und weitere Informationen zum SAS Forum Switzerland 2015.

GateB ist wieder mit dabei am Richmond Marketing Forum vom 23. bis 25. Juni 2016. Jedes Jahr treffen sich im schönen Grand Resort Bad Ragaz über 150 der wichtigsten Marketingvertreter von führenden Schweizer und internationalen Firmen. GateB ist seit mehreren Jahren einer der Anbieter, welche am Forum als Supplier teilnehmen um dort wichtige neue Kontakte zu knüpfen und bestehende Kunden zu treffen.

On August 30, 2016 Strategy Director Bastian Schneider will give a speach on brand-oriented business development at this years`s SuisseEMEX, the largest and most important trade fair for Marketing and Communication in Switzerland with approx. 15 000 participants.

Innovative competitors, changing customer requirements, new touchpoints. Brands need constant, resolute development. If they are to remain relevant and successful. If they are to avoid some other brand edging in between you and your customers. But how does a company know in which direction to develop its brand? The possibilities are almost endless. And even when that point is clear: how do we actually achieve the desired development? Which success factors are significant and which challenges will we face?

The Backstage Event with Helsana Versicherungen AG on August 30, 2016 is devoted to the fascinating subject of brand evolution. Based on many years of experience and using a powerful example, we will show you tried and tested methods and solutions for the successful development of brands in the future.

Die letzten Musikklänge sind verhallt – das 16. Open House ist Geschichte. Gestern durften wir mit über 150 Kunden, Partnern und Freunden des Brand Leadership Circle einen wunderbaren Abend in Steinhausen verbringen. Die Atmosphäre war beschwingt, die Begegnungen bereichernd und die Gespräche inspirierend – eine schöne Art, die Zeit zu feiern.

Wir wünschen Ihnen einen schönen Sommer!

As happens almost every year, the EVZ (Zug Ice Hockey Club) made an early exit from the playoffs, in order to make room for the annual highlight of the Swiss ice hockey scene: the Brand Leadership Circle s'Tännli Cup. On Monday the finalists - to everyone's great surprise - were the Ice Princesses and AF14. While AF14 had lost several key players during the year, the Ice Princesses had managed, with the aid of just a few - but very high-quality - transfers, to strengthen their team significantly. The balance of power was instantly noticeable on the ice so that the Ice Princesses were already leading 4:0 after the first period. Even a concerted effort by AF14 in the second period with 3 goals in succession did not unnerve the Ice Princesses and they sorted out their brief dip in form with more goals to lead 6:3 after two periods. In the last period of play, AF14 tried to compensate their inferior play with physical strength, resulting in a tougher stance, fierce checks and even minor brawls. This did not have much impact on the course of play, though: the Ice Princesses won the match decisively by 9:5 and are now the proud holders for a whole year of what is arguably the finest trophy in the sport of ice hockey.

Connect Hearing, Teil der Sonova Gruppe und Schwesterfirma von Phonak, wird den BrandMaker Marketing Planer einsetzen, um in den verschiedenen Ländergesellschaften die Planung zu vereinfachen und zu standardisieren. In einer ersten Phase wird BrandMaker in Deutschland ausgerollt mit dem Ziel, später weitere Länder auf das System zu nehmen.

The name has been decided upon and initial visualizations are taking shape. Before a definite announcement is made and Calydo is presented, though, the Calydos are working frantically to ensure that everything is perfect. To be continued...

In future, the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) will handle all their standardized advertising material (flyers, posters, brochures, etc.) with the BrandMaker System from GateB. All SBB employees, from communication specialists to station managers, will be able to adapt the desired materials within the CI/CD guidelines very easily and without the need for an agency.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts is the global organization for upmarket hotels worldwide. The group includes nine characteristic lifestyle brands like Sheraton, le Meridien, 4 Points, St. Regis, etc. and employs 180,000 people. After a protracted sales phase the moment has finally arrived, and next week is the kick-off for the complete implementation of a marketing and brand portal at Starwood in New York.

With this unique brand and marketing portal, Starwood and their hotels can handle all their marketing and communications activities efficiently, decentralized, and in conformity with their corporate design.

In order to implement this project successfully, we will be working together across the disciplines, will have employees at the location, and will implement the project hand in hand with the Americans. Project managers are Andreas Wirth, Sarah Iskander and Mario Ammann.

Discover at this year's User Conference from numerous companies and end-users how marketing activities can be managed efficiently. High-profile speakers give information about current trends in the marketing technology sector and several workshops allow active participation on topics such as “Local Area Marketing” or “Asset Management”.

This year's event on April 26, 2016 at Four Points Sihlcity in Zürich is on the subject of «Smart Data in Marketing». In the new world of digitization, it is not just a question of transferring traditional material from analogue to digital. The changes are much greater, but so are the opportunities! A glance at our agenda will show you how companies are approaching this challenge.

For example, new insights can be gained by combining various data sources, a promise that Big Data can definitely keep. This is shown in the presentation by Marco Dalla Valle, Vice President, Credit Suisse, in the area of Web Analysis.

However, the challenge of digitization goes much further and also opens up new business areas. Like the new company TELL, consisting of Swisscom, SRG and Ringier, who want to take advantage of the new opportunities offered in the digital world, shown in the contribution by Martin Schneider, designated CEO at TELL (JV project of Swisscom, SRG and Ringier) and current CEO of Publisuisse.

The S'Tännli Cup 2015 with the ice hockey cracks of the Brand Leadership Circle was again richly blessed with tough fights and entertaining capers. The fans in the Bosshard Arena, Zug, enjoyed a classy spectacle in slow motion - with two dozen goals, after all. The match was extremely evenly balanced for a long time, until finally the somewhat greater talents of the Greens (gateB, Victor Hotz, Screen Concept) overcame the rather more amusing playing style of the Violets (Mondays, HBC, Shared Services, Sensorial) and won by 13:11.