When Lorena and I suggested to Philipp Maderthaner and his Campaigning Bureau Vienna to arrange a Campaigning Summit in Switzerland, we did it on the agreement that we would be equal partners. Our agency would take all the risk – meaning effectively pay for the event, because it was clear that it would take a couple of years for such an event to pay for itself – while they would provide the design, website and a bit of support in the beginning. We also agreed that we would drive the international expansion together. It came differently but I don’t want to go into the details. The following media release that we published today tells enough:
Media release 8th December 2014 (German version below)
Campaigning Summit Switzerland ends partnership with Campaigning Summit Vienna
Zurich. As of 9th January, 2015 business campaigning Switzerland GmbH, organiser of the Campaigning Summit Switzerland, has terminated the contract with the Campaigning Bureau Vienna, regulating the cooperation in the execution of the Campaigning Summit Zurich. As the reason Switzerland’s first Campaigning-Agency – which was founded in 1997 – names the disagreement both parties had over the name of the event. Philipp Maderthaner, who initiated the Campaigning Summit Vienna, insisted on the concept of city-summits which, according to the Swiss organisers, makes no sense in Switzerland. But the final straw was reached when the Viennese agency hijacked the Swiss organisers Facebook page and stripped them of all administrators rights for nearly two weeks.
„Switzerland is too small for city-summits and a name like Campaigning Summit Zurich tends to keep people from Berne and Basel from participating in the event. So far we subsidised the event heavily and to write black figures, changing the name was essential” the organisers Peter Metzinger and Lorena Valentini Metzinger conclude. The change of name, as well as many adjustments in the concept are based on the evaluation of the feedbacks and conversations with participants. „As the contract with Vienna didn’t give us the freedom we need to address the needs of our participants, we had no choice but to terminate it”, says Mattia Bütikofer, who developed the new concept.
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Medienmitteilung vom 08. Dezember 2014
Campaigning Summit Switzerland beendet Zusammenarbeit mit Campaigning Summit Vienna
Zürich. business campaigning Switzerland GmbH, Veranstalter des Campaigning Summit Switzerland, hat auf den 9. Januar 2015 den Vertrag mit dem Campaigning Bureau Vienna gekündigt, der die Zusammenarbeit bei der Durchführung des Campaigning Summits in Zürich regelt. Als Begründung gibt die erste Campaigning-Agentur der Schweiz, welche 1997 gegründet wurde, man habe sich nicht auf den neuen Namen einigen können. Philipp Maderthaner, Urheber des Campaigning Summit Vienna, habe auf dem Konzept der Städte-Summits bestanden, was nach Angaben der Veranstalter in der Schweiz aber keinen Sinn macht. Zum Bruch kam es, als die Wiener Agentur die Facebook-Seite der Schweizer Veranstalter besetzte und diesen fast zwei Wochen lang die Administrationsrechte wegnahm.
„Die Schweiz ist zu klein für Städte-Summits und ein Name wie Campaigning Summit Zurich hält Basler und Berner eher davon ab, am Campaigning Summit teilzunehmen. Um den Event, der bisher massiv durch uns subventioniert wurde, in die schwarzen Zahlen zu führen, war der Namenswechsel unerlässlich“, so die Veranstalter Peter Metzinger und Lorena Valentini Metzinger. Der Namenswechsel, wie auch zahlreiche Neuerungen im Konzept gehe zurück auf eine Auswertung von Feedbacks und zahlreiche Gespräche mit Teilnehmern. „Da der Vertrag mit Wien uns nicht die Freiheiten gab, die wir brauchen, um auf die Bedürfnisse der Teilnehmer einzugehen, blieb uns im Interesse der Teilnehmer nichts anderes übrig, als ihn zu kündigen“, so Mattia Bütikofer, der das neue Konzept entwickelte. Laut Vertrag trägt der lokale Veranstalter das volle Risiko, während das Campaigning Bureau Vienna alle Daten bekommt. According to the contract the local organiser carries all the risk while Campaigning Bureau Vienna gets all the data.
Further information:
http://www.CampaigningSummitSwitzerland.com
@campaigning_ch
info@businesscampaigning.com
+41 79 628 61 26
Now that this is done we can continue to focus on providing an even better Campaigning Summit Switzerland on 13th March 2015, based on recommendations and requests by our community and with the freedom to do what needs to be done for our participants, rather than for an Austrian company with their very own goals.
Get your ticket now! Christmas marks the end of (limited) Early Bird tickets.