Brand Design & Positioning
Strategy and Target Audience Analysis
Growing and sustaining Brand Equity
Motion Graphics & Animation
High-End Presentations
Ringier is a media and technology company Swiss by nature. The Group includes over 130 companies operating numerous leading media brands, digital platforms and marketplaces. For over 25 years Ringier has published its annual report as a custom art project. Each year an artist is invited to create their own interpretation of the report. However, starting in 2019 Ringier decided it wanted something more than these printed reports to reach its target audience of various stakeholders in new ways.
FS Parker worked with Ringier across visual storytelling, consultancy, and creative support in close collaboration with the Corporate Communications team and CEO, Marc Walder. The result was Speak, a dynamic and engaging event hosted at the Corso cinema in Zurich with the objective of communicating about the company, working together on the industry’s development, and inspiring and motivating employees, shareholders, and all other stakeholders. In front of 700 people in the room plus many hundreds joining online, Marc Walder sets an example as visionary in today’s digital era.
After the success of the previous year, there was no doubt that Speak would continue. However, the worldwide pandemic made big in-person events impossible, so Speak had to adapt and become a fully digital live stream, directly from Marc Walder’s home office. Even under those challenging circumstances, the show went on, and we were able to help Ringier deliver their annual message by bringing facts, data, developments and figures to life and telling relevant and compelling stories with moving images.
With the experience of the previous year, in 2021 Speak was taken to the next level as a digital event, taking full advantage of the technological possibilities. This time, the show took place in a film studio and the presentation was designed around the idea of the online audience participating remotely. From a content, but also from a packaging perspective, Speak is an event with infotainment and sustainable impact, putting the spotlight on various stories from across the company.
In 2022, Speak moved back to an in-person event, and in big style! Taking place at the new Zurich Kunsthaus in front of a giant LED screen, it was a show like one would expect in Silicon Valley. A central topic was the metaverse, how it could develop, and what significance it could have for the public as well as for the media industry. The audience was guided through the themes with a bold and confident visual language, and this year also with digital avatars of the speakers. FS Parker was again responsible for the conception of the event and designed all content of the presentation together with all speakers.
In 2022, our work on Speak 2020 was also rewarded with the European Corporate Media Award.
Taking place at Schwarzescafé in the Löwenbräukunst complex in front of approximately 150 people (plus all those joining online), Speak 2023 was once again a proper spectacle. This year, the central theme was artificial intelligence(AI) and its impact on both the media landscape and the world in general. Also in this year we helped conceive and design the event and deliver another bold and impactful presentation, this time making heavy use of AI-generated images.
Hannes Sigrist-Thompson, Executive Creative Director of FS Parker, says: “What always makes me incredibly happy is the close collaboration with Ringier in the run-up to this show. It starts with lots of brainstorming sessions where the best topics and highlights are picked out and shaped into stories. CEO Marc Walder, despite a busy schedule, takes the time to develop this presentation for his staff and the media industry with a lot of thought. We’re proud to be Ringier’s partner of choice when it comes to delivering key messages in a dynamic and entertaining way.”
