Pedro Simko
Nominated for the 2008 Advertiser of the Year.
Pedro Simko is CEO at Saatchi & Saatchi Simko in Geneva. With 92 employees, the second-largest agency in Switzerland will also open a branch in Zurich at the beginning of 2008. Kaspar Loeb will then become the new CEO for both locations. Pedro Simko will remain Chairman of the Board and take on important tasks in the international network. He will become Chief Marketing Officer for Europe, Middle East and Africa and thus a member of Saatchi & Saatchi's four-person European Management Team. For Kevin Roberts, CEO Worldwide, Simko embodies the ideal combination of a "creative advertiser and a visionary entrepreneur who is very success-oriented." Simko sits on Saatchi & Saatchi's Worldwide Executive Board in New York and has influence over the network's global development. Marketing specialist Pedro Simko entered the advertising industry in 1991 and founded Simko Advertising Agency in Geneva during the recession. He is half Argentine and half Austrian, completed his MBA at Harvard, worked at Procter & Gamble and was marketing director at Jacobs. The boom of his own agency begins in 2002, when Simko wins Cardinal, Carlsberg and Rolex. In 2004, Simko merges with Saatchi & Saatchi and wins the worldwide advertising for Voltaren or Nestlé's Cereals Business, in 2007 also the worldwide launch of Carlsberg light. Well-known Swiss clients are Orange, Seat or Happy Bett.
