The media controller
As Head of Business Development at Publisuisse, Reto Hufenus has found the perfect blend of all his talents.
worked, he lacked marketing. When he was in a
marketing department was creative, then he lacked finances. Now
he has both at the national marketer for advertising time and ideas.
found in a job. "The ideal symbiosis, although it is almost kitschy
sounds." Reto Hufenus studied business administration in St.Gallen with a focus on
studied tourism and transport. At the same time he played in a
pop band with. Despite many performances, he could not make a living from it. So
he financed the university additionally with a job, which was for many
is considered a dream job. Hufenus worked as a presenter at the Schaffhauser
television, he created his own contributions and helped build this
station founded in 1993.
Because then with the completion of his studies also his inner "realist
had "broken through," he told the microphone both on TV and at the
Music Stage Goodbye. Instead of show business in the provinces, he was lured by a
Job with global flair. Swissair was looking for a trainee for the
Marketing. Since Hufenus had already once considered entering the
advertising industry, this change seemed ideal to him. From 1995
he worked for the airline for three years.
For marketing, the first thing to do was to provide in-flight telephony via a
prepaid card to be clarified. Hufenus made a market analysis and saw
then that this "gives a catastrophic bill". Thus was the
Phone card history before it was launched. Calculations therefore
for the cat? No, because with this work, Hufenus has made the best possible case for
the controlling department. There, they were just looking for a new man who could
was able to assess projects correctly. And Hufenus dared to take the step in
the new world.
Although naked numbers still interested him little when he was studying,
he soon realized that controlling "is very different and has a lot to do with
management and ideas". You look in everywhere, because it
is about project assessments and not just accounting. "Strategic
elements are becoming increasingly important, and controlling has a lot to do with the look
into the future." In the area of sales management, Hufenus has been in the
succession got to know the airline business in a wide variety of facets. "It
was nice at Swissair." Nevertheless, the time still seemed
somewhat premature, here already his last job before retirement
to have found. In 1998, he left for a trip to South America.
After landing back in the professional world, he was lured by a
Adventure job as head of controlling at the still half-baked
RTL ProSieben Switzerland television project. "I still remember how we together
with the managing director Mario Aldrovandi full of excitement for the
We were waiting for the concession. Then suddenly everything happened very quickly." From
from nothing, an infrastructure for broadcasting had to be built up
become. 70 people were hired ... And half a year later.
already released again.
However, this had a lasting effect on his interest in the media business. Together
with two partners from the television project, Hufenus founded a
"Agency for new communication" with the promising name
"SatisFactory. And the satisfaction at work has increased
actually set.
As one of its first projects, the agency managed to give the
Airport operators Unique, Swissair and Swisscontrol developed an idea called
"Hub Radio" for sale. To solve the problem with punctuality at the
airport should be a priority among the employees.
be better communicated. "SatisFactory" has sent to all participants 25
000 small radios distributed and awarded a concession for a
terrestrial radio trial for three weeks broadcasts around
Punctuality designed. Roman Kilchsperger hosted a morning show.
90 volunteers were selected as
Amateur reporter and DJ trained. For this purpose the agency also gleiste a
Online monitoring of the project on. "We worked with the means
of infotainment," Hufenus recalls. Besides portraits of
employees and their approach to punctuality, the imaginative
Communication also worked with jazz concerts in the lunch cafeteria.
"Media have to attract people," says Reto Hufenus.
content for Bluewin, for example, with the daily editorial
Accompanying "Big Brother" on TV 3 brought further experience for
the agency, before Hufenus - in the meantime with family - decided for
a more secure career with a banking project.
As CFO, he controlled the development of a bank-wide
transaction system, but in the end no one wanted it.
"I was really happy then," says today the constant commuter between
Marketing and Finance, because a longer-term future with the bank
he could not imagine it after all.
A bit more "on air" again as Head of Controlling at
Radio DRS. Here, the media man no longer found his way to a microphone,
back to its roots. In an archive, the former
Pop musician actually recovered his then first CD. Three
Hufenus experienced "very exciting years" at the radio station, before the
call to Publisuisse reached. Head of Business Development: "This is
it!", he told himself. And anyone who has seen his varied curriculum vitae
will follow this - with a lot of curiosity for future developments.
can agree.
Hufenus needs to clarify what can be done in terms of marketing both technically and
is legally possible. "Certain areas in new media are
still politically sensitive. You run into headwinds in the industry," knows
er. The task here is to sound out where Publisuisse will be active in the future.
wants. He says his new employer is also open to the marketing of
media event organizers outside the parent company, Hufenus says: "We
want to grow horizontally with other TV broadcasters - but also
vertically with business areas outside of classic television and
Radio." - The Message is the Business.
Andreas Panzeri
