The endurance runner
Werner Bosshard is retiring at age 62 and looks back on 41 years at Advico Young & Rubicam.
Werner Bosshard retires at 62 and looks back on 41 years at Advico Young & RubicamCall today, take the job the day after tomorrow. That's how the world of work still worked when Werner Bosshard received his diploma from business school in 1965. As he hadn't given any thought to what he might become during his time at school, his first job came about unexpectedly. He became an invoicing clerk at a tropical fruit importer. Soon, however, he "couldn't see the bananas anymore". What next? A former German teacher, who happened to have an acquaintance at Advico, knew what to do. Why not advertising? After a job interview - call today, work the day after tomorrow - Bosshard moved to Gockhausen. "It was a key experience to feel the creative spirit in an agency. Here I no longer experienced work as a duty, but as something creative: designing and having fun at the same time." 41 years in Gockhausen began with this enthusiasm.
The advertising agency Advico was founded in 1947 by Victor Cohen and moved to Gockhausen in 1958. When Bosshard joined the company in 1965, it was already one of the largest in Switzerland, with offices in Wiesbaden and Milan. Bosshard started out as an advertising assistant in Gockhausen, caught up on his training "on the express train" - and was able to pass his exams at the newly founded Sawi in 1969. This was followed in 1973 by a diploma in advertising management, also on the first course of its kind in Biel.
Provins, Galactina and Biomalt, General Motors, Novelectric household appliances, Riri zippers and Bic ballpoint pens - with the now famous commercial in which a ballpoint pen scribbles the logo - were Advico clients at the time. Bosshard's most important budget eventually became the banking company. "For 25 years, I invested 80 percent of my time for this client," says Bosshard proudly. He helped shape all the changes at SBG as well as the development of Swiss banking advertising.
Bank advertising was still in its infancy at the time. At most, "small inserts" were tolerated. In the 1960s, Advico became a pioneer with the first TV commercial. Later, bank advertising on TV was banned. "A political story, to protect the smaller institutions that couldn't afford it." So Advico and the banking company switched to the movies.
Bosshard remembers a commercial with Ueli Beck, who was still young at the time. While bowling, a film dialog ended with the sentence: "But I wanted to say one more thing: I've always had good experiences with Union Bank of Switzerland." "Es Bankkonto sött me ha" became a catchy tune in a TV campaign for the Bankers Association. That was the time when payday was still handed out in cash in your wallet.
Bosshard also became a pioneer for his client with the first Swiss bank advertising abroad. Full-page advertisements in Time magazine, "many older bank managers no longer understood the world" - is that what the bank needs?
When Bosshard started with bank advertising, there was only one advertising manager and one assistant at the bank. In the end, it was a marketing department with several dozen specialists.
Advico has been in charge of advertising with the bankers for all these 25 years and was also responsible for the corporate design, for example when the logo with the red bordered cross was changed - SBG horizontally, UBS vertically - or later the horizontal U. This was introduced without a great deal of designer fuss, as was customary at the time. SBG President Robert Holzach simply said: "I want this!" - and the U became the logo.
During his time at AY&R, headhunters also contacted him several times. However, the work at Advico was so varied that there was enough variety for Bosshard even without a change. The later CEO and co-owner Bruno Widmer "is also largely responsible" for Bosshard staying at the agency for so long. "He kept my back free so that I could work creatively. The atmosphere and the human collaboration were ideal."
Advico merged with Young & Rubicam in 1989. For Bosshard, it was "one of the few successful mergers where two cultures came together and were able to merge within a very short time". Advico stood for a large and financially sound agency with strengths in consulting, for which Werner Bosshard was responsible. Young & Rubicam tended to attract young people. "The average age fell by ten years during the merger," says Bosshard. In return, the new people brought a correspondingly young spirit, coupled with "a bit more chaos".
During this phase, Bosshard and his team also acquired other major clients such as the telecom services division of Swiss Post. Over the next four years, the work for this client ultimately became the focal point of Bosshard's classic advertising consultancy. At first, the senior consultant "didn't even want to realize" how more and more budgets were being allocated to new teams. But then the veteran advertiser found a completely new twist.
It was at the beginning of the 90s when the whole desktop area became more and more of an issue. It was the transition from gluing and drawing to working with computers. We didn't yet know how this technology would develop. But Bosshard already had the visionary idea that all these new jobs could be rationally bundled in a "factory".
For 15 years, he built up this spin-off within the agency into a functioning service. Four people became eight desktop operators and three production operators. "What used to be outsourced was now handled at the Factory for typesetting, retouching and repro." Bosshard also managed his own orders for annual reports, corporate design and smaller budgets in his factory. His last task was the design and realization of many printed materials for the aid organizations Bread for All and Fastenopfer.
Such creative work has enabled him to "retain many highly qualified people at the company who would otherwise have left for boring routine computer jobs".
With such reflections on his personnel management, Bosshard wants to look back on his time at Advico with pride. Not only he, but also many of his employees have stayed a lot longer than average in this good climate.
And now?
Before he had to retire, Bosshard wanted to find a meaningful environment for his talents. For the next three years, he will work 50 percent of the time as school president in Meilen. "The changes in the school, the demands on teachers and young people in today's world - there are many tasks ahead," he says.
And an unrealized dream? Werner Bosshard has that too. He has long been interested in Far Eastern religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism. He has already flown to India several times for a short trip. At some point in the next two years, the early retiree "definitely" wants to travel to India for more than three weeks for the first time.
Andreas Panzeri
The advertising agency Advico was founded in 1947 by Victor Cohen and moved to Gockhausen in 1958. When Bosshard joined the company in 1965, it was already one of the largest in Switzerland, with offices in Wiesbaden and Milan. Bosshard started out as an advertising assistant in Gockhausen, caught up on his training "on the express train" - and was able to pass his exams at the newly founded Sawi in 1969. This was followed in 1973 by a diploma in advertising management, also on the first course of its kind in Biel.
Provins, Galactina and Biomalt, General Motors, Novelectric household appliances, Riri zippers and Bic ballpoint pens - with the now famous commercial in which a ballpoint pen scribbles the logo - were Advico clients at the time. Bosshard's most important budget eventually became the banking company. "For 25 years, I invested 80 percent of my time for this client," says Bosshard proudly. He helped shape all the changes at SBG as well as the development of Swiss banking advertising.
Bank advertising was still in its infancy at the time. At most, "small inserts" were tolerated. In the 1960s, Advico became a pioneer with the first TV commercial. Later, bank advertising on TV was banned. "A political story, to protect the smaller institutions that couldn't afford it." So Advico and the banking company switched to the movies.
Bosshard remembers a commercial with Ueli Beck, who was still young at the time. While bowling, a film dialog ended with the sentence: "But I wanted to say one more thing: I've always had good experiences with Union Bank of Switzerland." "Es Bankkonto sött me ha" became a catchy tune in a TV campaign for the Bankers Association. That was the time when payday was still handed out in cash in your wallet.
Bosshard also became a pioneer for his client with the first Swiss bank advertising abroad. Full-page advertisements in Time magazine, "many older bank managers no longer understood the world" - is that what the bank needs?
When Bosshard started with bank advertising, there was only one advertising manager and one assistant at the bank. In the end, it was a marketing department with several dozen specialists.
Advico has been in charge of advertising with the bankers for all these 25 years and was also responsible for the corporate design, for example when the logo with the red bordered cross was changed - SBG horizontally, UBS vertically - or later the horizontal U. This was introduced without a great deal of designer fuss, as was customary at the time. SBG President Robert Holzach simply said: "I want this!" - and the U became the logo.
During his time at AY&R, headhunters also contacted him several times. However, the work at Advico was so varied that there was enough variety for Bosshard even without a change. The later CEO and co-owner Bruno Widmer "is also largely responsible" for Bosshard staying at the agency for so long. "He kept my back free so that I could work creatively. The atmosphere and the human collaboration were ideal."
Advico merged with Young & Rubicam in 1989. For Bosshard, it was "one of the few successful mergers where two cultures came together and were able to merge within a very short time". Advico stood for a large and financially sound agency with strengths in consulting, for which Werner Bosshard was responsible. Young & Rubicam tended to attract young people. "The average age fell by ten years during the merger," says Bosshard. In return, the new people brought a correspondingly young spirit, coupled with "a bit more chaos".
During this phase, Bosshard and his team also acquired other major clients such as the telecom services division of Swiss Post. Over the next four years, the work for this client ultimately became the focal point of Bosshard's classic advertising consultancy. At first, the senior consultant "didn't even want to realize" how more and more budgets were being allocated to new teams. But then the veteran advertiser found a completely new twist.
It was at the beginning of the 90s when the whole desktop area became more and more of an issue. It was the transition from gluing and drawing to working with computers. We didn't yet know how this technology would develop. But Bosshard already had the visionary idea that all these new jobs could be rationally bundled in a "factory".
For 15 years, he built up this spin-off within the agency into a functioning service. Four people became eight desktop operators and three production operators. "What used to be outsourced was now handled at the Factory for typesetting, retouching and repro." Bosshard also managed his own orders for annual reports, corporate design and smaller budgets in his factory. His last task was the design and realization of many printed materials for the aid organizations Bread for All and Fastenopfer.
Such creative work has enabled him to "retain many highly qualified people at the company who would otherwise have left for boring routine computer jobs".
With such reflections on his personnel management, Bosshard wants to look back on his time at Advico with pride. Not only he, but also many of his employees have stayed a lot longer than average in this good climate.
And now?
Before he had to retire, Bosshard wanted to find a meaningful environment for his talents. For the next three years, he will work 50 percent of the time as school president in Meilen. "The changes in the school, the demands on teachers and young people in today's world - there are many tasks ahead," he says.
And an unrealized dream? Werner Bosshard has that too. He has long been interested in Far Eastern religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism. He has already flown to India several times for a short trip. At some point in the next two years, the early retiree "definitely" wants to travel to India for more than three weeks for the first time.
Andreas Panzeri
