WerbeWeischer Switzerland reduces the Young Lions to the Media Young Lions
Starting next year, WerbeWeischer, Switzerland’s representative at the Cannes Lions, will scale back its participation in the Young Lions competitions. This is not a cost-cutting measure, CEO Christoph Kaufmann told Werbewoche.ch.
Christof Kaufmann, CEO of WerbeWeischer Switzerland (Photo: Weischer.Media)
So in the future, the focus will be on the Media Young Lions. This means the search for the best up-and-coming works for the categories film, print and digital will no longer be pursued for the time being. The companies WerbeWeischer Schweiz and Weischer.Media are making this decision for strategic reasons, as they wrote in a statement on Tuesday. The focus of the promotion is to be more closely aligned with the core business, they said.
However, the decision does not affect all other measures and events that Weischer carries out as the official representative for Cannes Lions in Switzerland. These will all continue to take place. These include, for example, hosting the Night of the Lions and the Swiss Barbecue. Werbewoche.ch asked Christof Kaufmann, CEO of WerbeWeischer Switzerland, why the other youth categories were dropped.
Werbewoche.ch: Christof Kaufmann, isn't the decision first and foremost simply a cost-cutting measure?
Christof Kaufmann: No, it's a strategic realignment of the representative office. This has nothing to do with saving money, we are simply focusing on other measures such as the Creativity Matters presentation. Here we show the latest trends and winning cases of the festival to associations, customers, agencies and universities/universities. We have already had very good experience with this and will continue to expand it.
As the Swiss representative of the entire Cannes Lions, don't you feel a fundamental obligation to promote all the up-and-coming categories?
There are no requirements on the part of the festival, and many representatives do not run any young talent competitions at all. We will continue with the Media Young Lions, as there is a lot of overlap with our core business. In addition, we are sending a student to Cannes as part of the Roger Hatchuel Foundation. Our commitment in Switzerland in terms of young talent lies increasingly in lectures on the Cannes Lions Festival at various Swiss universities and training centers as explained above. Furthermore, we represent the medium cinema in all further education committees of the LSA, IGEM, SAWI etc. by the way also in the Romandie.
You write that the focus of promotion is to be more closely aligned with the core business. For example, isn't the film category also strongly linked to WerbeWeischer's DNA?
As a sales organization, our core business is the sale of cinema advertising inventory. Our commitment but also approach to the market has always been focused on addressing advertisers and media agencies.
The decision to save on young people might not go down well in many places. Do you fear a loss of image as a representative?
As already mentioned, this is not a cost-cutting measure but a strategic realignment of our measures.
What is your track record so far as a Cannes Lions representative? Is the commitment to WerbeWeischer worth it?
WWCH AG maintains this commitment with conviction and looks forward positively to the new 2020 vintage.
