Power does not disappear in self-organized structures – it shifts to the informal level.
Shadow hierarchies emerge through affiliation, networks, reputation, and informal communication spaces.
It becomes problematic when influence is no longer transparent, approachable, or shapeable.
The structured meetings of self-organization are the central tool for making influence visible.
The most important step: address patterns early, concretely, and without blame.
Even when roles and decision-making processes are clearly defined, influence in everyday life does not arise through formal channels alone. This is precisely where informal patterns emerge that can be more powerful than the official structure.
Shadow hierarchies are informal power and influence structures that operate alongside or beneath the official organization. They do not arise through roles or formal decisions (governance), but through factors such as:
long-standing membership or organizational knowledge
personal networks and proximity to decision-makers
professional reputation or rhetorical strength
informal communication spaces
similarity in background, demeanor, or perspective
Because they are invisible – and because they often come with good intentions: efficiency, protecting the whole, experience, responsibility. This very invisibility makes them difficult to address, particularly for employees who are not yet part of informal networks. Such structures therefore have an excluding effect, even when no one consciously intends to exclude anyone.
Holacracy – the self-organization model that Unic has been practicing since 2017 – creates clear roles and decision-making spaces. Yet even here, such patterns often appear subtly: decisions are informally prepared, tensions resolved bilaterally, or initiatives quietly discouraged. This easily creates a gap between the aspiration for co-creation and the actual experience.
It becomes problematic where influence is no longer transparent, no longer approachable, and no longer shapeable. What matters is whether informal structures make participation more difficult, silence individual voices, or stifle good ideas. For self-organized companies, this is particularly relevant because such dynamics contradict the commitment to distributed responsibility and shared decision-making.
Not everyone experiences an organization in the same way. Some people feel a great deal of room to shape things, while others are more aware of invisibility, barriers, or informal influence.
These differing perceptions are not a contradiction that needs to be resolved. They are an indication that experience depends strongly on context, role, background, networking, and psychological safety. Anyone who wants to strengthen self-organization should create spaces where experiences can be named, tensions raised, and patterns reflected on together.
Self-organization provides us with effective tools – but only if we actively use them:
Raise tensions where they belong. The designated formats of self-organization – at Unic, these are Tactical and Governance Meetings – are not a formality. They are the central means of making influence visible and shapeable. Unused formats are the breeding ground for informal power.
Make influence explicit. When someone strongly shapes or steers things, it is worth asking: in what role? With what purpose? With what mandate? Transparency reduces informal influence.
Understand facilitation as a protected space. Good facilitation ensures that volume, status, or routine do not dominate – but rather the process. It protects quieter voices in particular.
Name power rather than taboo it. Self-organization is not a power-free system. But it only works well when we make power visible, discussable, and distributable.
Speak up when it arises. If you notice such dynamics, it helps to address them early, concretely, and in the appropriate setting – not as an accusation, but as a contribution to shared development. Only then does it become possible to understand different perceptions, make blind spots visible, and continue developing your own form of self-organization.
How well do you know the tools your organization provides for raising tensions?
How often do you actually use them?
What holds you back?
And what do you need to do it more often in the future?
Shadow hierarchies are not a personal failure and not evidence against Holacracy. They are an indication of where we as an organization still have room – and a responsibility – to learn. When we make them transparent, we can shape things together and harness the potential of all employees. This sometimes takes a little courage and the willingness of everyone to get involved and shape the future together.
]]>Power does not disappear when hierarchies are removed. But it becomes shapeable. And that is the decisive difference.
-- Sandro Dönni, Principal Transformation Consultant
The ICT sector causes at least 1.7% of global greenhouse gas emissions – roughly on par with aviation.
Sustainable websites are faster websites: energy efficiency and performance go hand in hand.
15 concrete measures from architecture, frontend and operations measurably reduce the digital footprint.
Sustainability encompasses three dimensions: ecology, economics and social accessibility.
Even simple steps such as consistent caching or optimised image formats save considerable amounts of data over time.
The digital transformation offers enormous opportunities. Yet at the same time, its energy demand continues to rise unchecked. Many discussions revolve around AI and productivity – while the ecological impact of global IT infrastructure continues to be underestimated by many. Studies estimate the ICT sector's share of global greenhouse gas emissions at a minimum of 1.7%. The aviation industry, often criticised for its emissions, accounts for around 2% globally – placing the ICT sector in a similar order of magnitude. At the same time, figures in the digital space are only very limitedly measurable. The last comprehensive estimates predate the AI boom, meaning today's energy demand is likely significantly higher than the available figures suggest.
Websites are also becoming increasingly data-intensive: the median mobile website stood at 960 KB in 2016, rose to 1,885 KB in 2020, and had already reached around 2,666 KB by April 2026. Larger websites require more data transfer. They place greater strain on end devices and infrastructure. And they lead to longer loading times.
This becomes particularly relevant where network infrastructure is less developed or devices are older. Sustainability therefore also means designing digital services to function as efficiently and resource-consciously as possible – regardless of device or location.
Tools such as Website Carbon attempt to calculate a website's CO₂ emissions based on the data it transfers. The results are approximations – but they create awareness.
One example: the page you are currently viewing achieves a B rating, is "cleaner" than 83% of all tested websites, and generates around 0.09 g of CO₂ per visit. This indicates that optimisation potential exists – and that even small improvements have a measurable impact.
A key lever lies in the choice of hosting provider. Many data centres continue to be powered by non-renewable energy. Sustainably operated infrastructure is therefore a powerful tool for reducing the ecological footprint of digital services.
However, hosting is only part of the equation. Energy is also required for the transmission and rendering of content. Those who develop or operate digital services have numerous opportunities to actively reduce consumption.
"The energy consumption of digital services does not end in the data centre. Every request, every data transfer and every rendering on the end device contributes to the overall resource consumption."
-- Roman Domke
Senior Application Engineer, Unic
As developers: our shared responsibility for the digital carbon footprint
As developers, we find ourselves in a dilemma. On one hand, we want to create inspiring products for our clients, help them open up markets and sell products in innovative ways. On the other hand, we cannot avoid seeing ourselves as co-contributors to an ever-growing global challenge. The science is clear: sustainability can only be achieved through shared responsibility and consistent action.
Sustainability does not begin with hosting alone. Energy can also be saved and performance improved in design, architecture, frontend and backend development.
One important principle: sustainable websites are generally also faster websites. They offer a better user experience, have a positive impact on Core Web Vitals, and thereby improve visibility in search engines and AI-based answer systems.
Here are the 15 most important areas where we as developers can take action to optimise the delivery and display of digital services and products, and thus save energy:
Use modern transfer protocols and Content Delivery Networks (CDN): Modern CDNs today deliver web content via HTTP/3 as standard, which is supported by all major browsers and providers such as Cloudflare, Fastly and Akamai. Compared to HTTP/2, HTTP/3 enables faster loading times – particularly on mobile and unstable networks (around 8% on desktop and 3.5% on mobile). The most important lever here lies not in frontend code, but in choosing a contemporary infrastructure. By delivering content from geographically close locations, loading times, repeat transmissions and thus energy consumption per page visit are reduced.
Use modern compression methods (Brotli, Gzip, Zstandard): Compressing text resources such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript remains a key lever for reducing the amount of data transferred. Alongside Gzip and the more efficient Brotli, Zstandard (zstd) is increasingly gaining traction – it operates at a comparable compression rate but significantly faster than Brotli, and has been supported by CDNs such as Cloudflare since 2025. Browser support is well advanced, with only Safari currently lacking native support. Regardless of the method used, it is advisable to statically compress assets during the build process to avoid additional computational load on the web server and save energy.
Use server-side rendering with an intelligent caching strategy: With server-side rendering (SSR), pages are generated as HTML on the server and delivered to the browser, thereby reducing the load on end devices. Modern developments such as Partial Hydration, Islands Architecture or React Server Components further reduce the amount of JavaScript required, as only interactive components are delivered. Combined with an upstream caching system or static delivery via a CDN, a page does not need to be re-rendered on every visit.
Think carefully about code splitting: Even with modern transfer protocols such as HTTP/3, code splitting remains relevant. Its primary benefit lies in reducing the amount of JavaScript that needs to be executed initially. When only the code required for the currently displayed view is loaded, the parsing, compilation and execution work in the browser is reduced. This has a positive effect on loading time, interactivity and energy consumption on the end device.
Set long-lived cache headers: The longer static assets such as JavaScript, CSS or images can remain in the browser cache, the fewer requests and data transfers are needed. Established best practices such as content hashing in file names make it possible to safely use very long cache durations, as files automatically reload when they change. In addition, immutable headers (Cache-Control: immutable) ensure that unchanged assets are not re-requested at all. This reduces network load, speeds up page visits and lowers energy consumption on both server and client side.
Use lazy loading and Intersection Observer: Resources should only be loaded and executed when they are actually needed. For images and iframes, this can most easily be achieved today using native lazy loading, which is supported by all common browsers. In addition, the Intersection Observer API makes it possible to start – or deliberately pause – computationally intensive actions such as animations, videos or JavaScript logic only when content enters the visible area. Modern browser features such as content-visibility: auto go a step further by skipping rendering and layout calculations for content that is not visible.
Optimise images with responsive images and automated delivery: Images are one of the biggest drivers of data volume on the web and should be consistently optimised. Responsive images ensure that end devices only load the image sizes they actually need, while modern formats such as AVIF (around 95% browser support in 2026) significantly reduce file sizes compared to JPEG or WebP. Current web performance guidelines recommend automating image optimisation through build processes or image CDNs rather than doing it manually, in order to always deliver the most efficient variant for each browser and device.
Provide a dark mode: Dark mode divides opinion. Some people love it, while others find reading light text on a dark background uncomfortable. What is certain is that dark mode has a positive effect on energy consumption for OLED screens: real-world tests showed between 7–9% lower consumption during typical use. This effect does not apply to LED screens.
Prevent reflows: Not every reflow results in a layout shift visible to users, but it does cause additional computational work in the browser. Modern browsers now automatically mitigate many issues, such as pre-reserving space for images and media. Nevertheless, avoidable reflows frequently occur due to dynamically loaded content, JavaScript-based layout changes or complex animations. On mobile devices in particular, this can consume a noticeable amount of energy.
Use service workers: Service workers make it possible to store resources and content in a controlled cache, thereby avoiding repeated network requests. The greatest benefit arises with web apps or progressive web apps, particularly when these need to be usable offline or are used on a regular basis. In such cases, loading times, network usage and repeated parsing and compilation work can be significantly reduced.
Build a design system: A design system helps to centrally define and consistently apply reusable components, layouts and styles. This avoids redundant code, duplicate assets and inconsistent implementations that negatively affect performance and maintainability. At the same time, a solid design system makes it easier to maintain performance, accessibility and sustainability standards across all pages.
Reduce third-party scripts: Third-party scripts (analytics, ads, social media widgets, chat tools) are often the biggest energy consumers on a page. They generate additional network requests, CPU work on the end device, and frequently run in the background independently of user behaviour. Regular audits are therefore all the more important to assess which scripts actually provide value and which are dispensable. Where possible, third-party functions should be loaded with a time delay, loaded conditionally, or replaced with lighter alternatives.
Use the Speculation Rules API for intelligent prefetching: The Speculation Rules API makes it possible to preload or even fully pre-render future page navigations in the background. Users experience near-instant page transitions as a result, meaning less waiting time and therefore less active device time. This is currently supported primarily by Chromium-based browsers.
Optimise fonts: There is also significant potential when it comes to fonts. By using the WOFF2 format – which is 30% smaller than WOFF thanks to Brotli compression – subsetting to only the character sets actually needed, and using variable fonts, file sizes can be reduced by 80–95%. Anyone who does not need to convey specific branding through fonts can avoid additional downloads entirely by using a system font stack.
Embed videos efficiently: Videos are the largest consumers of data on the web and deserve special attention. Autoplay should be avoided, or at least restricted to muted playback when visible. For embedded YouTube or Vimeo videos, the facade pattern is recommended: instead of immediately loading the full iframe – YouTube's embed alone brings over 500 KB of scripts – only a static preview image is initially displayed. The actual player loads only on click. Web components such as lite-youtube-embed make this easy to implement and improve the Largest Contentful Paint by 500–800 milliseconds.
This list is not exhaustive. At a technical level, the Carbon Aware Computing approach goes one step further: computationally intensive tasks such as builds, imports or batch processes are deliberately shifted to time periods or regions with a high proportion of renewable energy. The Carbon Aware SDK from the Green Software Foundation provides concrete tools for operating digital services not only efficiently, but also in a climate-conscious manner in terms of time and geography.
Sustainability does not end with technical delivery – it also encompasses how digital services are used and what downstream processes they trigger. In the field of e-commerce in particular, clever user guidance and subtle prompts can encourage more sustainable decisions: for example, by informing customers that additional delivery attempts or express deliveries consume more energy.
Sustainability encompasses far more than ecological factors. It also concerns economic and social responsibility. We should therefore design digital services so that they are:
efficient and resource-conscious (ecology),
cost-efficient to operate and further develop (economics),
accessible to all people – regardless of device, ability or infrastructure (society).
Sustainable digital value creation only emerges when all three dimensions are taken into account.
Sustainability encompasses not only ecological aspects, but also the dimensions of economy and society. Truly sustainable digital services only emerge when all three areas are considered together.
-- Lukas Kocherhans
Sustainability Ambassador, Unic
Often the greatest effect comes from many small optimisations. Even switching to modern image CDNs or consistently applying caching strategies can save considerable amounts of data – and thus CO₂ – over the course of months.
Companies bear a decisive responsibility towards the environment, the economy and society. Digital services are no longer a peripheral factor – the way they are designed has real-world consequences.
Sustainability should today be consciously integrated as a quality feature in the planning of websites, applications and digital ecosystems. Efficient, performant and resource-conscious solutions make ecological sense. They improve the user experience and secure long-term competitiveness.
Would you like to know where your digital platform stands today? We will analyse the biggest levers for a more sustainable and higher-performing implementation together – get in touch with us.
]]>The open rate remains stable at 24.1% – attention is achievable in the inbox.
The effective click rate drops by 1.7 percentage points: relevance after opening becomes the critical bottleneck.
Consumer goods is the biggest climber in 2026: +48.1% effective click rate without increasing frequency.
Tourism (51.2% open rate) and culture (36.5% effective click rate) set the industry benchmarks.
Those who send more frequently must segment more precisely – relevance beats volume.
Over 350 billion emails are sent worldwide every day. The competitive pressure in the inbox is enormous. And yet email remains the only digital channel where companies can operate with complete independence: their own data, direct access to their target audience, no platform algorithms in between.
That is no small detail. It is a strategic advantage – especially in an environment where social networks are reducing reach and data protection requirements are increasing.
The 2026 benchmark is based on 4.0 billion anonymised emails from 1,022 senders in the DACH region, sent via the Inxmail platform between January and December 2025. The analyses are based on the median – robust against outliers and therefore more realistic for market comparisons.
Almost one in four mailings is opened. The level remains stable – the decline is just 0.3 percentage points. Opening remains achievable. The attention is there.
The first interaction is becoming more selective. Recipients open – but they only click when the content is truly relevant. Those sending generic messages are the first to lose out here.
This is the most critical figure in the report. It measures how many opened mailings actually result in a click. The decline of 1.7 percentage points is significant. It shows: even after opening, the content must be convincing. Relevance is not optional – it determines impact.
The strongest signal in the report comes from an unexpected industry. Consumer goods increases the effective click rate by 48.1% and the click rate by 20.3% – without sending more frequently.
At 3 mailings per month, the sector is far below the media sector's peak of 25. The results are better nonetheless. This demonstrates what is often underestimated in email marketing: quality and timing beat volume. Consumer goods provides the proof in 2026 that growth is possible even in a challenging market environment – when the message fits the target audience.
Tourism holds the highest open rate of all industries: 51.2%. More than one in two emails is opened. Culture leads in click rate (17.3%) and effective click rate (36.5%). Both sectors send significantly less than fashion (21 mailings/month) or media (25 mailings/month).
The difference does not lie in frequency. It lies in emotional relevance. Tourism and culture mailings arrive when they are expected – with content that sparks interest rather than filling inboxes.
Financial services: strong open rate, critical bounce rate
With an open rate of 31.3%, the sector is well above the overall average. One warning sign remains the bounce rate of 1.3% – the highest of all industries. This points to list hygiene issues. Those who do not regularly clean their distribution list are putting deliverability and sender reputation at risk.
Industry: efficient, but with untapped potential
A 27.4% open rate with just 2 mailings per month – that is efficient communication. With an effective click rate of 12.6%, the sector falls below the level of comparable B2B areas. Those who invest in content relevance here will see measurably better results.
Public sector: solid foundation, leverage at the conversion stage
An open rate of 26.3% and 5 mailings per month demonstrate a stable foundation. The effective click rate of 11.6% signals that many recipients open but act less frequently. When content is more closely tailored to specific occasions and needs, the conversion rate increases here too.
The 2026 benchmark delivers a clear message: success belongs not to the loudest senders – but to the most relevant ones. Those who send more frequently must segment more precisely. Those who send less must make a stronger impact.
Strong open rate, weak effective click rate?
The content after opening is not convincing. This is a content and targeting issue, not a frequency issue.
Bounce rate above 0.5%?
List hygiene is urgent. Outdated addresses cost you deliverability and credibility.
Frequency above industry average, click rate below it?
Send less, segment more precisely.
We will analyse with you where your email performance stands in comparison to your industry and which levers make a concrete difference. Get in touch – an initial conversation is well worth it.
Image: Mariia Shalabaieva on Unsplash
]]>Starting point: 17 languages, 38 locales, a global marketing team of 30 people, an editorial process involving Word exports, emails, and manual copy-paste.
Lever: AI Actions in Contentful handle the first translation draft. Field-level localization keeps content consistent across all markets.
Result: 600 translation hours saved during replatforming.
Key insight: AI translation doesn't deliver miracles — it delivers a reliable first draft. That's exactly what global marketing teams need.
Context: The new platform unifies the website and eShop on a single codebase — Contentful provides the content layer. Localization is one of several levers enabled by the new architecture.
As a Swiss specialist in fastening technology, Bossard supplies OEMs around the globe — 3,300 employees, 82 locations, and over one billion Swiss francs in annual revenue. At this scale, a single language workflow simply isn't enough. You need one that works across 17 languages, 33 locales, while maintaining technical precision.
In practice, this used to look like this: an editor exported the article to a Word document. Sent it by email to a translator. Got it back. Proofread it. Copied it into the CMS. Multiplied by 17 languages, multiplied by dozens of pages per month.
From our project work, we know: people don't work too slowly — system boundaries are the problem. Every interface between steps costs time and quality. Every system boundary is a breaking point.
Together with Bossard, we built a new digital platform that unifies the website and eShop on a single codebase. Contentful serves as the central content layer. Field-level localization means in practice: product names and technical designations remain identical worldwide, while marketing copy is adapted per market. That's the structure B2B distributors truly need.
On this foundation, AI translation presents itself as an obvious option. Because only when content is cleanly structured can AI deliver reliable results.
Contentful's AI Actions translate master content into all target languages per entry at the click of a button. No integration, no additional tooling. The editorial team reviews the draft, adjusts nuances, and approves it.
Corina Sulzberger, responsible for Online Marketing Projects at Bossard, puts it plainly:
With AI Actions, we can automatically translate existing content in a few clicks. It's key to getting the first draft fast – and that's super helpful.
Custom translation rules. Bossard has defined product names and brand terms as "do not translate" for the website. This ensures that article numbers, product names, and technical terms remain identical across all markets — a must when buyers research across national borders.
SEO and alt text as a byproduct. The same AI generates meta descriptions and image alt texts. This sounds minor, but it scales enormously. Accessibility and search engine visibility come along almost as a bonus.
An important note from our experience: For legal and regulatory texts, professional translation remains necessary. For all other content, AI delivers a solid draft — saving specialist translators time for genuine quality review.
The real lever wasn't just translation at the click of a button — it was the question: Which locales actually need to be maintained independently?
We therefore worked with 17 primary languages (without fallback) as the linguistic backbone, and built market locales with fallback on top of that.
Result: AI delivers the first draft where it has the greatest impact — and local teams step in selectively, rather than having to maintain every market variant from scratch.
The second lever is automating handoffs. Clear workflows are essential — otherwise even the best AI stalls, approvals get stuck, and processes slow down.
For global content, the workflow is deliberately started manually — so that content is created, translated, and approved: reliably and on schedule.
Global content is created and reviewed in the master language (EN).
AI Actions generate translation drafts for the target locales.
Local teams proofread and approve per market (Market Validity).
Authorized personnel then publish the content (role- and rights-based).
Each approval triggers the next step. No one needs to remind, follow up, or escalate. On the technical side, we automated the publish process: every time content is published in Contentful, a build is triggered. The new content is live within minutes — no IT ticket required.
Bossard deliberately keeps governance lean — with two clear areas of responsibility: creating and managing globally (content creation/review/translation) and approving local content (proofreading per market).
From our projects, we know: governance rarely fails due to too little control. It almost always fails due to too much complexity. Two roles are enough — as long as each role has a clearly defined area of responsibility and the tools reflect the processes.
Metric | Result |
Translation hours saved during replatforming | 600 |
Primary languages (without fallback) | 17 |
Contentful locales (editorially maintained) | 33 |
Locales ≠ markets: 33 encompasses all actively editable locales in Contentful, including market variants/fallback structure.
The savings figures are taken from the Contentful case study on Bossard: contentful.com/case-studies/bossard
The real value, however, lies not in the one-time savings. It lies in the new scalability: entering new markets now means configuring a locale, running content through the pipeline, and reviewing it locally.
From our work with Bossard, we take away five principles that we recommend to every B2B distributor before a content or platform project:
Localization is an architecture topic, not a tooling topic. Bolting on a plugin is short-term thinking. Anchoring localization in the data structure — think field-level localization — is sustainable and creates the foundation for genuine scaling.
AI belongs in the workflow, not alongside it. Standalone translation tools offer isolated time savings. AI integrated into the content workflow changes the way teams work.
AI needs clear rules. At Bossard, technical terms were configured as "do not translate." That's not magic — it's structure. Without explicit exceptions, AI will translate what it shouldn't.
Keep governance lean. Two clearly defined roles work better than five blurry ones — as long as each role has an unambiguous area of responsibility and the tools reflect the processes.
Content audit before migration. Carrying old, flawed content into a new system is costly. Better: run a content audit in parallel with the migration — it pays off twice over, including in translation costs.
Anyone selling internationally can no longer afford to handle content manually. The Bossard case shows how AI translation, clean content structures, and clear governance work together. The question is no longer whether AI belongs in the translation workflow — but when, and with what architecture.
We support B2B distribution companies in the DACH region from evaluation through migration to ongoing operations. Talk to us about your case — we're happy to share what has worked in our projects.
]]>Digital transformation rarely fails because of technology – it fails due to a lack of vision and leadership.
The GVS Group demonstrates: a cooperative B2B retailer with 12 partner companies and over 40,000 products is shaping change from within.
Four principles make the difference: vision before roadmap, digitalization as a cultural project, responsibility within the company, human-centered commerce.
The guide summarizes the insights from the K5 presentation 2026 – available for free download.
New projects, new tools, new roadmaps – but no clear direction. Those who start without a target vision end up optimizing existing problems instead of shaping the future. Platform competition, AI disruption, and margin erosion demand more than actionism. They demand a clear stance.
Together with the GVS Group, we experienced what it means to leave actionism behind and instead pursue a visionary, framework-driven approach. Four principles made all the difference.
]]>AI verändert Content-Arbeit grundlegend: Nicht als Ersatz für Redakteur:innen, sondern als Hebel für Geschwindigkeit, Konsistenz und Skalierung.
Die grössten Gewinne entstehen nicht durch Tools, sondern durch neue Rollen, klare Prozesse und eine Kultur, die Experimente erlaubt.
Unternehmen, die AI-Workflows systematisch einführen, reduzieren den redaktionellen Aufwand pro Content-Piece nachweislich von drei bis vier Stunden auf 45–90 Minuten.
Der entscheidende Erfolgsfaktor: Human-in-the-Loop, AI liefert die Struktur, Menschen liefern die Perspektive und sichern die Qualität.
Content-Erstellung an die gesamte Belegschaft zu delegieren ist ein Risiko: Ohne redaktionellen Check entstehen Markenstimme- und Qualitätsverluste.
Unic begleitet Organisationen vom Pilot bis zur produktiven Skalierung: Prozessdesign, Tool-Auswahl, Team-Enablement.
Das Bild kennen Marketing-Verantwortliche inzwischen gut: ChatGPT oder ein ähnliches Tool wird im Team eingeführt. Einige Mitarbeitende nutzen es begeistert, andere meiden es. Niemand weiss, was erlaubt ist. Qualitätsstandards werden nicht eingehalten. Nach drei Monaten ist das Tool wieder Randnotiz.
Das Problem liegt selten an der Technologie. Es liegt am fehlenden Rahmen.
AI-Transformation im Content beginnt nicht mit dem besten Prompt. Sie beginnt mit der Frage: Welche Aufgaben soll AI in unserem Redaktionsprozess übernehmen und welche nicht? Diese Entscheidung braucht Führung, nicht nur IT-Freigaben.
AI im Content-Bereich entfaltet seinen Wert an klar definierten Stellen. Die Studie «The State of AI in Content Marketing 2025» von Ahrefs zeigt: Die wirksamsten Anwendungen sind Themen-Brainstorming (76 % der befragten Marketer), das Erstellen von Gliederungen (73 %) und das Überarbeiten von Entwürfen (67 %). Was alle drei gemeinsam haben: Sie betreffen die Vorbereitungsphase. Den Teil, der erfahrungsgemäss am meisten Zeit frisst, aber am wenigsten sichtbar ist.
Recherche und Themenfindung: AI analysiert Keywords, extrahiert Fragen aus Support-Tickets und identifiziert Lücken gegenüber Wettbewerber-Content.
Briefing-Erstellung: Strukturierte Briefings entstehen in Minuten statt Stunden, inklusive Suchintention, Zielgruppe und Gliederungsvorschlag.
Erster Entwurf: AI liefert eine lesbare Rohfassung, die Redakteur:innen mit eigenen Erfahrungen, Beispielen und Haltung veredeln.
Meta-Daten und SEO-Optimierung: Titel, Description, Alt-Texte. Routineaufgaben, die AI zuverlässig und konsistent übernimmt.
Content-Recycling: Ein Artikel wird zu LinkedIn-Post, Newsletter-Teaser und Social-Snippet. AI übernimmt die Transformation.
Was AI nicht ersetzt: den fachlichen Tiefgang, die eigene Perspektive und das redaktionelle Urteilsvermögen. Content mit echter First-Hand-Erfahrung erzielt laut HubSpot-Daten 2,5-mal mehr Backlinks als zusammengefasste Fremdinhalte. Dieser Wert entsteht durch Menschen, nicht durch Modelle.
Unternehmen kaufen AI-Abonnements ein, ohne zu definieren, wie die Arbeit danach aussieht. Das führt zu parallelen Workflows, inkonsistenten Outputs und einem Team, das sich unsicher fühlt, ob es gerade «richtig» arbeitet.
Ein nachhaltiger AI-Rollout im Content beginnt deshalb mit Prozessdesign. Gemeinsam mit dem Redaktionsteam klären wir bei Unic folgende Fragen:
Welche Content-Typen produziert das Team regelmässig?
Blogartikel, Newsletter, Social Posts, Produkttexte, Projektreferenzen. Jeder Content-Typ braucht einen eigenen AI-Workflow.
Wo entstehen die grössten Zeitverluste?
Oft ist es die Recherche oder das Briefing, nicht das Schreiben selbst.
Welche Qualitätskriterien sind nicht verhandelbar?
Markenstimme, Faktencheck, redaktionelle Freigabe, diese Haltepunkte müssen explizit in den Workflow eingebaut werden.
Wer ist verantwortlich für was?
AI-Workflows brauchen klare Rollen: Content-Strategin, Prompt-Owner, Reviewer, Freigabe-Instanz.
Erst wenn diese Antworten vorliegen, macht die Tool-Auswahl Sinn.
Das wirksamste Modell für Content-Teams: AI liefert 80 Prozent der Arbeit, Menschen bringen die restlichen 20 Prozent. Und genau diese 20 Prozent sind das Entscheidende.
In der Praxis sieht ein solcher Workflow folgendermassen aus:
Phase 1 – Strategie (Mensch): Content-Verantwortliche definieren Thema, Zielgruppe und Ziel. AI unterstützt bei der Keyword-Analyse und schlägt Suchintentionen vor.
Phase 2 – Briefing (AI + Mensch): AI erstellt ein strukturiertes Briefing auf Basis des Themas. Redakteur:innen ergänzen eigene Insights, Projekterfahrungen oder Kundenperspektiven.
Phase 3 – Entwurf (AI): AI generiert eine Rohfassung auf Basis des Briefings. Diese ist lesbar und strukturiert, aber noch nicht publikationsreif.
Phase 4 – Veredelung (Mensch): Redakteur:innen schärfen Einstieg, Haltung und Beispiele. Fakten werden geprüft, Ton wird angepasst.
Phase 5 – Optimierung und Distribution (AI): AI erstellt Meta-Daten, Social-Varianten und Newsletter-Teaser. Freigabe erfolgt durch den/die Redakteur:in.
Teams, die diesen Ablauf konsequent leben, berichten nach dem ersten Monat von einem deutlich reduzierten Aufwand pro Artikel, ohne Qualitätsverlust, sondern oft mit gesteigerter Konsistenz.
Was dieser Workflow nicht bedeutet: dass Redakteur:innen überflüssig werden. Im Gegenteil. Sie werden in diesem Modell zu dem, was sie schon immer sein sollten: Qualitätshüter:innen, strategische Denker:innen und inhaltliche Autorität. Die Routine verschwindet, das Urteilsvermögen bleibt und gewinnt an Gewicht.
Technologie ist der einfache Teil. Der schwierige Teil ist die Veränderung der Arbeitsweise.
Redakteur:innen, die jahrelang komplett selbst geschrieben haben, müssen lernen, AI-Output zu bewerten und weiterzuentwickeln. Das ist eine andere Kompetenz als das Schreiben selbst. Marketing-Leiter:innen müssen akzeptieren, dass «AI-unterstützt» nicht «minderwertig» bedeutet. Und Unternehmen insgesamt müssen einen Raum schaffen, in dem Experimente erlaubt sind. Inklusive der Möglichkeit, dass ein Workflow nicht auf Anhieb funktioniert.
Pilotprojekte statt Grossrollout:
Ein Content-Typ, ein Team, ein Zeitraum von sechs Wochen. Erkenntnisse auswerten, dann skalieren.
Prompt-Bibliotheken aufbauen:
Bewährte Prompts werden dokumentiert und geteilt. So entsteht institutionelles Wissen statt Einzelkönner:innen.
Qualitätsstandards explizit machen:
Was macht einen guten Artikel aus? Diese Antwort muss schriftlich vorliegen — als Grundlage für AI-Briefings und Review-Prozesse.
Erfolge sichtbar machen: Wenn ein Team dank AI in sechs Wochen doppelt so viele Inhalte produziert, gehört das kommuniziert.
Ein Missverständnis, das sich hartnäckig hält: AI-Einführung bedeute, dass Unternehmen weniger Redakteur:innen brauchen. Das Gegenteil ist richtig. Wer AI-gestützte Content-Prozesse einführt, braucht Menschen mit redaktionellem Urteilsvermögen mehr denn je, nicht weniger.
Was sich verändert, ist die Art der Arbeit. Redakteur:innen schreiben weniger von Grund auf. Sie steuern, prüfen und entscheiden. Sie erkennen, ob ein AI-Entwurf die Markenstimme trifft. Sie beurteilen, ob ein Argument trägt. Sie merken, wenn eine Zahl nicht stimmt oder ein Beispiel am Thema vorbeigeht. Diese Kompetenzen lassen sich nicht automatisieren. Sie werden durch AI-Einsatz wertvoller, nicht obsolet.
Ein gut funktionierendes AI-gestütztes Redaktionsteam produziert mehr Content in gleicher Zeit, mit gleichbleibend hoher Qualität. Es ist kein kleineres Team — es wird ein effizienteres.
Mit der Verbreitung von AI-Tools entsteht in vielen Organisationen ein verlockender Gedanke: Wenn jede Person im Unternehmen mit wenig Aufwand Texte generieren kann, warum dann nicht gleich alle schreiben lassen? Fachexpert:innen verfassen ihre eigenen Blogartikel, Vertriebsmitarbeitende schreiben Social Posts, Produktteams erstellen Landingpages.
Diese Demokratisierung klingt effizient. In der Praxis ist sie ein Qualitätsrisiko.
AI erzeugt keine schlechten Texte mehr, aber sie erzeugt ohne menschliche Führung auch keine guten. Und «gut» im Kontext von Unternehmenskommunikation bedeutet: konsistent in der Markenstimme, faktisch korrekt, rechtlich unbedenklich, strategisch auf Ziele ausgerichtet. Diese Qualitätsdimensionen kennt ein Sprachmodell ohne Kontext nicht. Sie kennen sie auch die meisten Fachexpert:innen ausserhalb des Redaktionsteams nicht. Jedenfalls nicht in der Kombination, die publikationsreifer Content braucht.
Was sinnvoll ist: Fachexpert:innen als Wissensquelle einzubinden. Sie liefern die Substanz: Projekterfahrungen, Einschätzungen, Zahlen. Das Redaktionsteam formt daraus den Artikel. Dieser Prozess ist keine Einschränkung der Beteiligten. Er ist Qualitätssicherung.
Eine klare Empfehlung: Content, der im Namen des Unternehmens publiziert wird, durchläuft immer einen redaktionellen Check durch ausgebildete oder erfahrene Redakteur:innen. AI kann den Aufwand dafür drastisch reduzieren, aber nicht ersetzen. Wer das vergisst, riskiert nicht nur Qualitätsverluste, sondern auch Reputationsschäden, die sich mit keinem Sprachmodell reparieren lassen.
Unic bringt für diesen Transformationsprozess zweierlei mit: Expertise in Digital Marketing und Customer Experience sowie Erfahrung aus Projekten, in denen AI-Workflows in reale Redaktionsprozesse integriert wurden.
Diagnose: Wir analysieren, wie das Content-Team heute arbeitet: Prozesse, Rollen, Tools, Qualitätsstandards. Wo entstehen Reibungen? Wo liegt ungenutztes Potenzial?
Prozessdesign: Gemeinsam entwickeln wir AI-Workflows, die zur Organisationsstruktur passen. Kein Copy-paste von Best Practices, sondern massgeschneiderte Abläufe.
Tool-Auswahl: Wir helfen dabei, aus der Fülle verfügbarer AI-Werkzeuge diejenigen auszuwählen, die zum Stack, zum Budget und zu den tatsächlichen Anforderungen passen.
Enablement: Wir schulen das Team nicht nur im Umgang mit Tools, sondern im neuen Rollenverständnis: Was bedeutet es, mit AI zu arbeiten und was bedeutet es, gut mit AI zu arbeiten?
Messung: Wir definieren gemeinsam, was Erfolg bedeutet und wie er gemessen wird. Produktionszeit, Content-Volumen, Lead-Qualität, Freigabezyklen.
AI verändert, wie Content entsteht. Es verändert nicht, warum er entsteht. Guter Content schafft Vertrauen, beantwortet echte Fragen und spiegelt die Haltung einer Organisation. Diese Eigenschaften kommen nicht aus einem Sprachmodell. Sie kommen aus dem Wissen, den Erfahrungen und der Überzeugung der Menschen, die dahinterstehen.
Was AI ermöglicht: Dass diese Menschen mehr Zeit für genau das haben, statt für Recherche, Formatierung und Routine-Optimierungen. Das ist keine Automatisierung von Content. Das ist eine Befreiung von allem, was Content bisher aufgehalten hat.
Sprechen Sie mit uns, wenn Sie wissen möchten, wie ein AI-Rollout in Ihrem Content-Team konkret aussehen kann und welche ersten Schritte sinnvoll sind.
Scrum Poker is our de facto standard: it turns estimates into conversations – and that's its value.
The Three-Point Method deliberately accounts for uncertainty – ideal for proposals and early project phases.
Estimation quality comes from good architecture, shared experience, and honest retrospectives – not from a variety of methods.
Focus beats breadth: teams that master two methods estimate more precisely than those with many half-known ones.
It's a familiar scene: a refinement session is going well, the user stories are clear – and then comes the question of effort. The estimates are all over the place. Someone says 2 hours, someone else says 2 days. What follows isn't a conversation about complexity, but an implicit negotiation until everyone settles on an average that no one actually believes in.
The problem is rarely the method. It's the absence of a shared language. And that's exactly where a good estimation method comes in – not as a tool, but as an invitation to discuss.
Scrum Poker – also known as Planning Poker – solves this problem elegantly. All participants choose a card simultaneously and reveal it at the same time. Whoever estimates "5" while everyone else is holding "13" has to explain why. That moment is precisely the value of the method: it makes differences visible before they manifest themselves in flawed timelines.
At Unic, we have established Scrum Poker as our shared estimation language. We never mandated it – it wins people over on its own merits, for small sprints as well as larger estimation rounds. Once you've experienced it, you instinctively reach for it again.
There are situations where Scrum Poker reaches its limits. A project hasn't started yet. User stories exist only as rough ideas. A proposal still needs to be submitted. This is where a different way of thinking helps.
The Three-Point Method – also known as PERT estimation or the Three-Time Method – doesn't ask for one number, but three: How long in the best case? In the realistic case? In the worst case? From these three values, a weighted estimate with a transparent range is produced. Clients immediately understand how confident an estimate is – and can make better decisions about whether they want to carry a risk.
The method makes visible what a point estimate conceals: that uncertainty is not a flaw, but a piece of information.
We surveyed 28 professionals from our backend and frontend teams internally. In addition to method preferences, we were interested in the open-ended comments – and these delivered the most relevant insight.
Our conclusion is clear: the choice of method is secondary. What matters are three factors:
Clear architecture and good project design from the outset – Those who estimate a well-thought-out task estimate more precisely. That sounds obvious. But it also means: those who invest early in the initial design will estimate more precisely.
Methods that fit the context – No framework suits every situation. Scrum Poker works during an active sprint. The Three-Point Method fits in the early proposal phase. Knowing this means reaching for the right tool at the right time.
Shared learning from comparing plan versus actuals – Estimates don't improve through more methods. They improve through honest retrospectives: What did we estimate? What did it actually turn out to be? What can we take away from that?
Estimation is not a one-time act. It's a learning process – and teams that nurture it get better. Not because they master more methods, but because they systematically draw on their own experience.
We have drawn a clear conclusion: our internal method framework focuses exclusively on Scrum Poker and the Three-Point Method. We have removed the other methods from our framework.
This achieves three things:
Clarity – No method zoo that nobody follows.
Comparability – Estimates from different teams become easier to understand.
Shared language – Project management and development are talking about the same thing.
Those looking to build methodological knowledge will find proven expertise with us – not a textbook.
Are you thinking about how to build or sharpen estimation skills within your team? Get in touch – we'd be happy to discuss it in a brief conversation.
]]>HORNBACH becomes Digital Commerce Champion 2026, Betty Bossi runner-up.
Betty Bossi wins the Sustainability Feature category with "Green Betty" and places second through fifth in five additional categories.
Three of the award-winning platforms have been long-standing Unic partners: HORNBACH, Betty Bossi, and Switzerland Travel Centre.
The evening yields three observations for commerce decision-makers – on sustainability, end-to-end journeys, and productive AI use cases.
On 20 May 2026, the Digital Commerce Award jury recognised Switzerland's best online shops at StageOne in Zurich-Oerlikon. The champion title goes to HORNBACH – for its consistent omni-channel presence and features such as in-app store navigation.
Second place goes to Betty Bossi. The jury nominated the platform in six categories and crowned it winner of the Sustainability Feature category with "Green Betty". It also earned a shared second place in Mobile Experience and third place in AI Integration.
Switzerland Travel Centre also made the podium – placing second in Customer Support. In doing so, the jury recognised several platforms that Unic has supported for years.
The jury gave a clear rationale for recognising "Green Betty": Betty Bossi embeds sustainability directly within the context of recipe search. A scale from 1 to 5 shows, at the moment of decision, how environmentally friendly a dish is. Behind the scale lies a holistic life cycle assessment by ZHAW – factoring in seasonality, resource consumption, and emissions.
Today, Betty Bossi evaluates more than 3,000 recipes on bettybossi.ch in real time – for around 1.5 million users per month. Sustainability doesn't stay confined to a strategy chapter here. It takes effect where the purchasing and cooking decision is made.
The question for your setup: Which of your sustainability claims hold up live in the shop – and which only exist on a strategy slide?
Betty Bossi competed across six very different disciplines – from Category Leader to AI Integration to Customer Support – and placed in the top five in every category. This is only possible when recipes, magazine content, products, and sustainability ratings all come together on a single platform. We observe this beyond the award in our own projects too.
Where content systems and shops operate in separate worlds, users lose the thread – precisely where conversion happens. Those who integrate search, content, and sales into a single end-to-end journey gain versatility as a by-product, not as a special effort.
The question for your setup: Where are you artificially separating content and commerce today – and which steps in the customer journey are being lost as a result?
The trophy in the AI Integration category goes to Hockerty, with predictive body measurement, virtual try-on, and style advice. The impact is tangible: customers see before purchasing how a suit fits them – and return items less often. The service team gains time for the complex cases. Betty Bossi comes in third – with an AI-powered search that brings together recipes, products, and magazine content in a single results view.
Both examples show: the jury does not reward the boldest AI ambition. It rewards the productive use case with a measurable impact on a relevant metric.
The question for your setup: Does your most productive AI application today deliver a measurable contribution to conversion, service costs, or return rates – or does it remain a demo?
Three of the award-winning platforms have been long-standing Unic partners: HORNBACH, Betty Bossi, and Switzerland Travel Centre. What they share is less a single technology than a way of working. Continuous development within well-established teams, with a focus on the next visible user experience improvement.
Awards recognise individual features. What usually makes them possible are teams that get better step by step over years. The award was submitted in each case by the client team – the trophies belong to HORNBACH, Betty Bossi, and Switzerland Travel Centre.
Which sustainability claim do you currently stand behind live in your shop – not in your annual report – and how do you demonstrate its impact?
Where does the boundary between your content system and your shop lie – and what value disappears in that gap?
Which metric proves the value of your most important AI use case today?
Which of these three questions resonates most with you? Write to us – we'll bring it into an initial conversation.
]]>Overall ranking: Rise from position 40 to position 34
E-Commerce sub-ranking: In the top 10 for the first time, jumping from position 11 to position 9
Growth sub-ranking: Position 8 among the fastest-growing agencies with revenues of at least €2.5 million
Revenue increase: +15.3 percent. One in three agencies in the market, by contrast, is losing revenue.
Consistency: Steady improvement since 2014, from position 105 to position 34 today
Unic Germany has been participating in the ranking since 2014. Since then, we have continuously worked our way forward from position 105. Despite a challenging market environment, we continue to strengthen our position.
The 2026 ranking reveals a market in transition. The combined fee revenue of the 129 listed agencies stands at €2.377 billion, just 0.9 percent above the previous year. The number of employees has declined by 2.88 percent. More than one third of all listed agencies report negative revenue growth.
In this environment, we are growing by 15.3 percent. This places us among the approximately 20 percent of agencies achieving revenue growth of at least ten percent. In the sub-ranking of the fastest-growing digital agencies with revenues of at least €2.5 million, we reach position 8.
Our growth is no coincidence. Companies are looking for partners who genuinely bring together CX, UX, and technology. And who can deliver demanding digital projects in collaboration with technology partners such as Spryker, SAP, Sitecore, and Contentful. That is precisely where our strength lies.
Our growth is no coincidence. Clients are looking for partners who genuinely bring together CX, UX, and technology. And who can deliver demanding digital projects in collaboration with technology partners such as Spryker, SAP, Sitecore, and Contentful. That is precisely where our strength lies.
Gerrit Taaks, Partner at Unic
Our positioning is particularly evident in the E-Commerce sub-ranking. We improve from position 11 to position 9, entering the top 10 for the first time. This leap underpins our strategy. We deliver B2B and B2C commerce projects together with composable commerce partners such as Spryker and SAP.
Our clients in Germany include, among others, Hornbach, Magenwirth, LAYHER, ROSEN, Giesecke+Devrient, and the Plansee Group.
The market is consolidating. The ten highest-revenue digital agencies now account for 57 percent of total fee revenue. In 2023, that share stood at just 43.5 percent.
At the same time, mid-tier agencies are losing ground. The revenue share of positions 11 to 50 has fallen from 42.2 percent (2023) to the current 33.7 percent. Even within the top 50, the range is wide. 25 percent of these agencies grew by more than ten percent, while 50 percent saw revenue decline.
Several market players have withdrawn from the ranking. Others have been absorbed into larger agency groups. At least 42 agencies from the previous year are absent – even as 34 agencies reported for the first time.
Three factors are decisive for us:
Composable commerce and platform expertise. Demanding B2B and B2C commerce projects require partners who can think architecture, UX, and technology as one. That is exactly what we deliver with our partners Spryker, SAP, Emporix, Sitecore, and Contentful.
AI with real impact, not AI as a label. Over 80 percent of agencies claim to use AI. What matters, however, is the actual impact. For us, it is visible in our processes, across the value chain, and in the results we deliver for clients.
Long-term client relationships. Our growth is driven by collaboration with existing clients. Together with them, we continuously develop digital platforms over the course of years. In a volatile market, this continuity is a clear competitive advantage.
For 2026, the industry anticipates a slight stabilisation, but no significant upturn. Pressure on mid-sized service providers remains high. Consolidation and pricing pressure are likely to continue. We are staying the course with a clear positioning: commerce, content, and customer experience (CX). To that end, we rely on technology expertise and a strong partner ecosystem.
]]>Gold in Digital Commerce for Betty Bossi, plus Bronze in Business, Innovation and Technology.
Gold in Business for Switzerland Travel Centre, plus Silver in Technology and Bronze in Digital Commerce.
Bronze in User Experience for ETH Zurich.
Eight awards in total, across three Unic projects.
In the Digital Commerce category, Gold went to Betty Bossi.
Jury verdict: “The new Betty Bossi site connects content and commerce in exemplary fashion. The entire story around the brand, the products and the recipes is told well. Visitor and success metrics show strong results. Betty Bossi is taking meaningful steps to bring content and commerce together.”
Behind the award is a project that started with the customer. How do 2.1 million people a month experience Betty Bossi? Until recently, as three separate worlds: recipes, shop, magazine. A user would find the perfect Spätzli recipe, but not the Spätzliblitz to go with it. She read the seasonal cooking feature – and stopped there. Inspiration and action didn’t belong together.
In 19 sprints, Unic and Betty Bossi resolved this together. Today, recipe, product and magazine feature sit in one single search. Three worlds became one. For users, one coherent experience. For editors, one shared workspace. The technical foundation stays in the background, where it belongs.
For Betty Bossi, the evening ended with four medals. Alongside Gold in Digital Commerce, the jury awarded Bronze in Business, Bronze in Innovation and Bronze in Technology. A podium place in all four nominated categories.
“It feels incredible,” says Julia Wolff, Head of Digital Touchpoints at Betty Bossi, right after the ceremony. “I’m especially glad for the whole project team – so many bright minds worked on this.” For Wolff, the Digital Commerce category carries particular weight: “Digital Commerce is really what Betty Bossi is about. And has been for many years.” She sums up the evening with a simple line: “The evening was the frame for all the work we put into this project.”
Philippe Surber was on the project team from day one, as Unic’s CX Strategist. His view: “This collaboration with Betty Bossi is a true partnership. We didn’t work for Betty Bossi, we worked with them. In a team that was interdisciplinary from the start. Strategy, design, technology, content. All under one roof, working agile. Sprint by sprint. That creates a shared understanding you feel in the product.”
In the Business category, Gold went to Switzerland Travel Centre – the jury recognised the platform relaunch.
Jury verdict: “With the relaunch of its e-commerce platform, Switzerland Travel Centre created a digital experience that seamlessly connects inspiration and booking, with carefully curated travel packages for ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ experiences. Smart process automation increases efficiency and trust. The result: higher revenue, sharply rising hotel bookings and a markedly higher basket value. A genuine alternative to the global travel platforms. Gold, says the jury!”
Behind the Gold is a relaunch that went live in March 2025. The challenge: take on global booking platforms backed by millions of offerings and enormous budgets. Switzerland Travel Centre’s answer: don’t win by volume, win by curation and quality.
At the centre is the customer experience – especially for international guests who arrive with little knowledge of Switzerland. Imagery that makes people fall for the country. Intuitive filters by month, season, region or activity. A lean booking flow that gets guests there in a few steps. Plus the link to the sister platforms swisshotels.com and swissrailways.com. Hotel and rail can be booked in the same flow.
At BOSW 2026, Switzerland Travel Centre had three irons in the fire. Gold in Business, Silver in Technology and Bronze in Digital Commerce. Three awards in one evening.
The numbers back the jury. “Without the strong collaboration between our marketing team and Unic, this wouldn’t have been possible,” says Nadine Eggler, Co-Head of Marketing at Switzerland Travel Centre. “I’m extremely proud of what we achieved on this project.” She adds a concrete data point: “We attribute our 15 per cent revenue increase last year directly to the website.”
For ETH Zurich, Bronze in the User Experience category. Unic has worked with the university since 2018. 2,500 authors maintain more than 700 websites. Unic built a design system for this. It combines consistency and editorial freedom: a unified grid, a structured colour concept, new navigation and an Algolia search with auto-suggest for people, events and content. Development runs in continuous releases on Scrum – without a big-bang relaunch.
Florian Armbrust joined Unic in 2019. On the walls of the Bern and Zurich offices hung strange trophies. Lifebuoys for the best Swiss web projects. A colleague told him at the time: “That’s a big deal.” From then on, his goal was clear.
Seven years later, on 16 April 2026, just before 9 p.m. at “The Hall”: “In the Digital Commerce category, the winner is Betty Bossi.” Florian was Senior Project Manager on the team. His first lifebuoy. He earned it.
Three projects, eight medals. That isn’t luck. It’s method.
Philippe Surber, Partner at Unic, sees more than individual project wins in this: “So many awards in one night. That tells me we’re on the right path. Not with one project, but with an entire mindset. Customer experience first.”
In none of the three projects did technology come first. The starting point was always the experience. How should a user feel on the platform? What decision does a traveller make when planning a trip? What information does a student need quickly? Only then came the question of architecture and framework.
This mindset runs through three industries and three starting points. It’s the common thread in our projects. And it’s reflected in this year’s jury verdicts.
The title “Master of Swiss Web 2026” went to “Swissgrid 24/7”. Betty Bossi finished second and became Vice-Master. That’s the second-best position available.
Unic stays five-time Master of Swiss Web. No other Swiss agency has won more Master titles.
Thanks to Betty Bossi, Switzerland Travel Centre and ETH Zurich for their trust. And to the Unic teams who built these projects.
Want to bring this experience quality into your next project? Talk to us.
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