Death speaks High German

Dennis Lück, Chief Creative Officer at Jung von Matt, put on the most creative and courageous performance at the annual meeting of the Swiss Advertisers Association (SWA). Dressed in a dark robe and armed with a scythe and a good dose of humor, he took the stage as Death himself. First, he noted, "You will have guessed - Death speaks High German." Then he elaborated on the evening's motto: "Something has to die if something new is to emerge. Transformation without death is not possible."

The Grim Reaper also brought along six theses on how to do it right: 1) The gods must die. The creative director becomes the creative moderator. 2) The idiots must die. Because creativity is measurable and tools are becoming increasingly important. 3) Advertising must die. Companies don't need advertising, they need "purpose," meaning purpose to which they can devote themselves. 4) Culture must die. More important than talent and professional skills is spirit among employees. 5) The target group must die. In the age of personalization, you don't need a target audience, you need a target person. 6) Fear must die. If you are perfectly prepared for everything, there is nothing to fear.

At the end, he changed the motto of the evening: Lück turned the question "Transform or Die?" into a clear announcement: "Die. And Transform."

Before Lück's turn came, other top-class speakers first captured the audience's attention. In keeping with good tradition, SWA President Roger Harlacher opened the annual meeting as host and provided information about the association's work. Despite many challenges on numerous fronts, he said, the association had again been able to achieve important successes last year, most recently in a compromise negotiated with WEMF on readership research.

Commenting on the evening's motto, Roger Harlacher said, "The topic of transformation is omnipresent. Companies are massively challenged to change, otherwise they will be changed." At the same time, he pointed out that the transformation of communication goes hand in hand with a transformation of technology: digitalization, robotization, AI/machine learning, biotechnology/cyborgs - these new technologies are changing consumer behavior. At the same time, Harlacher warned against sleeping through these developments: "The new has come to stay. So it's not a matter of if, but when and how communication will be adapted."

SWA Director Roland Ehrler welcomed SRG Director General Gilles Marchand as a surprise guest. Marchand explained that SRG is also undergoing a fundamental transformation process. Three main priorities are being set: More distinctiveness in programming and corporate attitude, more cooperation with partners, and more efficiency.

On SRG's role in the advertising industry, Marchand said, "We play an important role, not only because we have a good reach, but because we try to bring the Swiss audience together. We work for everyone - for a sense of we, and you can't put that impact in just an economic dimension."

Asked why people should advertise with SRG, Marchand replied: "Because it allows you to reach the Swiss - not only quantitatively, but also qualitatively. We offer a very good, qualitative background. If companies join this idée suisse, we can work together very well."

Patrick Dixon, English futurist and Chairman of Global Change, showed in his energetic presentation that you often only have to look really hard to see where small improvements can have a big impact: From the roughly 18% of all links on the web that don't work at all, to advertising that simply annoys consumers. He identified a lack of trust as the industry's biggest problem. Customers don't trust companies and their messages. "Sell them the truth," is therefore his advice.

In addition, he expressed his conviction that "The future is about emotion." Emotion and trust are therefore the most important factors for the future. Knowing the future is not the problem at all, according to Dixon. If you follow the current trends, you know where the journey will take you. Much more decisive is the question of the right time: "Future-debates are not about what is going to happen but about the timing. Not what, but when."

Christof Baron, Global Head of Media at Sanofi, presented impressive examples of how far digitization has already progressed in the health care industry: from digital pills that send data to smartphones to care robots in nursing homes. What was science fiction yesterday is reality today. "Digital media have become the main artery of our lives."

And according to Baron, the human-machine relationship will become even more intensive in the future: From the "media web" to the "Internet of Humans." This also changes the role of agencies: "Marketing communication is a complex ecosystem, comparable to the human organism." What the industry needs are "system thinkers" who understand this ecosystem, not "silo planners.

The stage stars of the SWA Annual Meeting 2019: (from left to right) SWA Director Roland Ehrler, JvM advertiser Dennis Lück, SWA President Roger Harlacher, moderator Miriam Rickli, speaker Patrick Dixon and Sanofi Media Head Christof Baron. 

SWA President and Zweifel CEO Roger Harlacher put the guests in the mood for the evening.