Building Visibility from the Ground Up: AFBS’s Strategic Communications Transformation

Context

The Association of Foreign Banks in Switzerland (AFBS) represents the interests of foreign banks and financial institutions operating in Switzerland. With a broad mandate in advocacy, industry development, and public dialogue, AFBS seeks to significantly elevate its visibility, strengthen its voice within the financial and political landscape, and build an engaged digital community. At the start of the collaboration, AFBS had no structured communication setup in place, making the project a true build-up from scratch.

Challenge

The task was to establish a coherent and impactful communications strategy that would work across media relations, public affairs, and digital channels, with a focus on LinkedIn. The challenge lay in building a presence that reflected the association’s relevance and expertise, while also engaging stakeholders and members in a credible and consistent way. This meant starting with a clean slate, developing the right content and media positioning, and establishing a digital community from zero, all while continuously adapting the approach to meet evolving strategic needs.

Approach

Brand Affairs supports AFBS in all external communication areas. A content marketing workshop, including marketing experts from member institutions, brought the team together to align on voice, audience, channel mix and thematic pillars. From day one, a clear strategy was established, which is continually re-evaluated and refined through monthly calls to ensure agile project management. PR and media relations efforts focus on identifying key media outlets in Switzerland, building a media distribution list and establishing relationships with journalists. Press releases are disseminated widely and anchored by carefully crafted story angles and media hooks aligned with AFBS’s positioning.

To enhance AFBS’s digital presence, a dedicated LinkedIn strategy was implemented, including the creation of tailored content and ongoing performance analysis. A digital dashboard allows monitoring KPIs, complemented by regular communications updates. In the area of public affairs, access to relevant industry platforms and associations is being built through targeted networking and parliamentary events in Bern.

Project

Communications

Industry

Banking

Partner

Country

Switzerland, International

Implementation

August 2024, Ongoing

Contact

BRAND AFFAIRS AG

Markus Kramer

Lucas Mörgelin

Luca Zagorski

Result

In the first year of the collaboration, AFBS achieved significant progress across all communication areas. Media relations resulted in 72 published articles, with a total reach of 7.9 million and an earned media value of nearly half a million CHF. During the same period, on LinkedIn, the number of followers more than tripled from 500 to nearly 1,600, with more than 86,000 impressions and 2,500 reactions. Engagement rates reached an impressive 14 percent average, marking the success of the platform’s rapid growth from zero. Today, AFBS benefits from a holistic and agile communication ecosystem, actively supported by a growing community and a continuously evolving strategic framework.

"Working with Brand Affairs has been transformative for the AFBS. It helped creating awareness for the importance of communications for a trade association. The integrative approach and the broad range of experts at hand through the Brand Affairs key account manager helped deploy consistent activity in various fields such as media relations, public affairs, digital communications, interaction with members and other stakeholders. Collaborating with Brand Affairs has allowed us to engage significantly with our members and stakeholders. The results speak for themselves, and we look forward to continuing this successful partnership."

Raoul Würgler

Secretary General, AFBS