Heads of the week: Under high voltage
Matthew Katumba and Alex Taiganidis believe the time will soon be ripe for the concept of their high-voltage agency to be distributed via satellite.
Matthew Katumba and Alex Taiganidis believe the time will soon be ripe for the concept of their high-voltage agency to be distributed via satellite.
When a client wants to work with Hochspannung, they deal directly with the two CDs from briefing to realization to acceptance. "This personal contact sets us apart from other agencies," believe the advertisers at Hochspannung. Although they did not want to put their name to their label, Matthew Katumba and Alex Taiganidis are the two heads of the agency in every job. "Clients know exactly what they're getting because they know us." They consider this "proximity" to be one of the most important basic ideas in their concept. For planned growth, those responsible for high voltage therefore do not simply want to hire more people at their headquarters. The idea of proximity should also be guaranteed in other markets with the model of satellites, each with its own managers. "Why not even abroad?" say the founders of Hochspannung. They see Berlin as a realistic possibility. "The synergies would certainly be interesting."
The fact that Katumba and Taiganidis are always involved in the entire process of their advertising work certainly has something to do with the history of their agency. The two friends started their agency five years ago not only as a team of two and without employees. Even before that, the boys Alex and Matthew had already experienced many activities as a duo. They grew up together as teenagers in Zurich's Kreis 3 and 4 districts and also played in the same rock band. Their first joint business project was a falafel stand on Zurich's lakeside promenade back in 1990. "We wanted to use it to earn money for our vacations in Greece after our apprenticeship," the two remember. The idea worked, and the mobile snack bar was the first of its kind alongside René's ice cream stand, which is still legendary today.
Before he was lured into the world of advertising, Alex Taiganidis completed a commercial apprenticeship. Not just anywhere, but at a private bank. The atmosphere spurred him on to higher things. Taiganidis completed the necessary paperwork to enter university at the Cantonal Matura School for Adults and then studied Japanese Studies and Philosophy. "That probably had something to do with my girlfriend from China at the time," he says. But because Japanese wasn't quite his thing, he followed a call from Matthew Katumba to Metzger Lehner Bricola in 1997 and started there as a junior copywriter. After this entry into advertising, the two moved on to Seiler DDB as a team. When Matthew Katumba was brought to Expo.02 by a headhunter as Creative Director Publications, Taiganidis also moved on to Guye Benker. "This contact came about through the creative school."
When self-employment followed with great excitement, Taiganidis made another attempt at university for a degree in philosophy at the same time. However, as more and more jobs came in, he finally had to give up the double burden.
Matthew Katumba's path into creation began with graffiti. His passion for spraying was later steered in a more structured direction at the Carat advertising agency with an apprenticeship as a graphic designer. Katumba found his first job in advertising through Markus Cavegn at GGK Basel. "I jumped out of the frying pan into the fire," he remembers those days, when creative people could often only sleep "under the table" in the graphic design studio when an important pitch was due. Katumba later moved to the GGK branch in Zurich and also worked as a freelancer for a while. Matthew gained further experience in post-production at Crambambouli, his brother Andrew's film production company. Hochspannung later managed the election campaign for the National Council on his behalf. It was not enough to win a seat. However, the campaign "If more and more Swiss people feel like Negroes, then we finally need a real one in the National Council" made it into Time magazine. There was a little more Swiss communication before that with Metzger Lehner and finally around the Expo, before Hochspannung was founded.
Matthew Katumba said that after the Expo, the orders would come "automatically". In the end, the national exhibition turned out to be a popular success. As Creative Director, Matthew had been able to build up a large network of contacts during this time and also learned how to present projects and ideas to important and often very large committees. However, the good references as CD at the Expo did not bring short-term success in advertising, and so Katumba and Taiganidis had to relearn how to "actively approach customers" as self-employed people. But even then they were convinced: "We have a right to be on the market." - And this has since been confirmed by their customers. "Many inquiries now actually come almost automatically." The agency is currently working on a broad campaign for Tele Züri and Radio 24. An important client at the beginning was Phonak.
Katumba and Taiganidis are still proud of winning a pitch for Finanz und Wirtschaft, where they were able to manage the newspaper with the campaign claim "Ohne geht's nicht" for three years. "This idea shows that Hochspannung has also become strong in the development of strategic messages." A recent pitch win in this sense is the budget for Züri Werk. And if a pitch doesn't work out, "you also have to learn to motivate yourself and your employees in the face of such disappointments".
At the first Christmas dinner during the economic crisis in the advertising industry, the crew from Hochspannung did just that with a bratwurst and a can of beer. At a stand in the freezing cold, the creative minds dreamed of a better future. A few weeks later, 2004 turned out to be "a super year" for the young agency. The duo soon had to give up their sublet in the basement of the Jingle Jungle recording studio and look for larger premises for their work. Today, seven people work at Splügenstrasse 9 near Enge station. Tom Fäh has joined the management team as head consultant. Hochspannung has developed into a full-service agency. The creative groove of a still unconventional start-up is also reflected in the somewhat special architecture of the new office. Where there is high voltage today, there used to be a garage. It is particularly practical in summer that the wall in the meeting room still functions like a large garage door and can be raised when the weather is nice. Now in its fifth year, this still brings a breath of fresh air to the brainstorming sessions at Hochspannung - even though the two bosses are now not only grown-up entrepreneurs but have also become family men.
Andreas Panzeri
When a client wants to work with Hochspannung, they deal directly with the two CDs from briefing to realization to acceptance. "This personal contact sets us apart from other agencies," believe the advertisers at Hochspannung. Although they did not want to put their name to their label, Matthew Katumba and Alex Taiganidis are the two heads of the agency in every job. "Clients know exactly what they're getting because they know us." They consider this "proximity" to be one of the most important basic ideas in their concept. For planned growth, those responsible for high voltage therefore do not simply want to hire more people at their headquarters. The idea of proximity should also be guaranteed in other markets with the model of satellites, each with its own managers. "Why not even abroad?" say the founders of Hochspannung. They see Berlin as a realistic possibility. "The synergies would certainly be interesting."
The fact that Katumba and Taiganidis are always involved in the entire process of their advertising work certainly has something to do with the history of their agency. The two friends started their agency five years ago not only as a team of two and without employees. Even before that, the boys Alex and Matthew had already experienced many activities as a duo. They grew up together as teenagers in Zurich's Kreis 3 and 4 districts and also played in the same rock band. Their first joint business project was a falafel stand on Zurich's lakeside promenade back in 1990. "We wanted to use it to earn money for our vacations in Greece after our apprenticeship," the two remember. The idea worked, and the mobile snack bar was the first of its kind alongside René's ice cream stand, which is still legendary today.
Before he was lured into the world of advertising, Alex Taiganidis completed a commercial apprenticeship. Not just anywhere, but at a private bank. The atmosphere spurred him on to higher things. Taiganidis completed the necessary paperwork to enter university at the Cantonal Matura School for Adults and then studied Japanese Studies and Philosophy. "That probably had something to do with my girlfriend from China at the time," he says. But because Japanese wasn't quite his thing, he followed a call from Matthew Katumba to Metzger Lehner Bricola in 1997 and started there as a junior copywriter. After this entry into advertising, the two moved on to Seiler DDB as a team. When Matthew Katumba was brought to Expo.02 by a headhunter as Creative Director Publications, Taiganidis also moved on to Guye Benker. "This contact came about through the creative school."
When self-employment followed with great excitement, Taiganidis made another attempt at university for a degree in philosophy at the same time. However, as more and more jobs came in, he finally had to give up the double burden.
Matthew Katumba's path into creation began with graffiti. His passion for spraying was later steered in a more structured direction at the Carat advertising agency with an apprenticeship as a graphic designer. Katumba found his first job in advertising through Markus Cavegn at GGK Basel. "I jumped out of the frying pan into the fire," he remembers those days, when creative people could often only sleep "under the table" in the graphic design studio when an important pitch was due. Katumba later moved to the GGK branch in Zurich and also worked as a freelancer for a while. Matthew gained further experience in post-production at Crambambouli, his brother Andrew's film production company. Hochspannung later managed the election campaign for the National Council on his behalf. It was not enough to win a seat. However, the campaign "If more and more Swiss people feel like Negroes, then we finally need a real one in the National Council" made it into Time magazine. There was a little more Swiss communication before that with Metzger Lehner and finally around the Expo, before Hochspannung was founded.
Matthew Katumba said that after the Expo, the orders would come "automatically". In the end, the national exhibition turned out to be a popular success. As Creative Director, Matthew had been able to build up a large network of contacts during this time and also learned how to present projects and ideas to important and often very large committees. However, the good references as CD at the Expo did not bring short-term success in advertising, and so Katumba and Taiganidis had to relearn how to "actively approach customers" as self-employed people. But even then they were convinced: "We have a right to be on the market." - And this has since been confirmed by their customers. "Many inquiries now actually come almost automatically." The agency is currently working on a broad campaign for Tele Züri and Radio 24. An important client at the beginning was Phonak.
Katumba and Taiganidis are still proud of winning a pitch for Finanz und Wirtschaft, where they were able to manage the newspaper with the campaign claim "Ohne geht's nicht" for three years. "This idea shows that Hochspannung has also become strong in the development of strategic messages." A recent pitch win in this sense is the budget for Züri Werk. And if a pitch doesn't work out, "you also have to learn to motivate yourself and your employees in the face of such disappointments".
At the first Christmas dinner during the economic crisis in the advertising industry, the crew from Hochspannung did just that with a bratwurst and a can of beer. At a stand in the freezing cold, the creative minds dreamed of a better future. A few weeks later, 2004 turned out to be "a super year" for the young agency. The duo soon had to give up their sublet in the basement of the Jingle Jungle recording studio and look for larger premises for their work. Today, seven people work at Splügenstrasse 9 near Enge station. Tom Fäh has joined the management team as head consultant. Hochspannung has developed into a full-service agency. The creative groove of a still unconventional start-up is also reflected in the somewhat special architecture of the new office. Where there is high voltage today, there used to be a garage. It is particularly practical in summer that the wall in the meeting room still functions like a large garage door and can be raised when the weather is nice. Now in its fifth year, this still brings a breath of fresh air to the brainstorming sessions at Hochspannung - even though the two bosses are now not only grown-up entrepreneurs but have also become family men.
Andreas Panzeri
