"The first few weeks were quiet - then suddenly it was Christmas".

In the middle of the Corona summer, the two then Rod Creatives Mona Fluri and Mateo Sacchetti dared to take the step into independence: On July 1, 2020, their own agency "Mona and Mateo" was launched - a courageous venture to make such a decision in uncertain and challenging times. In the meantime, six months have passed, and the young agency has just launched a large-scale sustainability campaign for Basler Kantonalbank (Werbewoche.ch reported). What has changed for the two creatives during this time?

Advertisingweek.chMona and Mateo have been around for six months now. How have the first months of independence gone by?

Mateo Sacchetti: Very quickly and very intensively. The first weeks were quiet. Then the phone rang a few times. Then suddenly it was Christmas.

You launched your agency in the midst of a worldwide pandemic - that certainly wasn't easy. What impact did the situation have on your work?

We didn't really perceive Corona as an additional challenge. We simply didn't have the time to give it much thought. We hope it will stay that way.

What developments have there been with Mona and Mateo so far?

We started as a team of two - without customers and without premises. In the meantime, we have been allowed to work for the Basler Kantonalbank, Ewz and Modissa, among others. In October we moved into a nice, small agency in Gundeli. In addition, Nicole Waldis joined us as a graphic designer in January 2021. We want to grow even more this year, but are deliberately taking things slowly.

Your claim is to offer "new advertising. Have you already been able to incorporate this into your work?

Yes, we think so. Especially in the cooperation we have received appropriate feedback from our customers. This motivates us to keep our standards high and our promise of "new advertising" to our customers. We continue to work hard at it.