Switzerland Calling
Commentary: If Switzerland doesn't want to become a backwater in the advertising world, it must invest in its up-and-coming creative talent, says Luca Aloisi.
Commentary If Switzerland doesn't want to degenerate into an advertising province, it needs to invest in its young creative talent, says Luca Aloisi.Lowe Switzerland has been invited by mobile phone company Orange to compete for an international image campaign. Certainly, with two other local Orange agencies, Mother from London and Paris-based BETC Euro RSCG, the Zurich-based company faces tough competition. But the Swiss are by no means without a chance: in two previous pitches for smaller international contracts from the same client, they were able to come out on top. However, before a decision is made, the proposals will first be tested in detail.
The Geneva agency Simko has already completed this intermediate step. In the fall, Carlsberg's marketing managers will decide which markets they want to export the Swiss concept to. McCann-Erickson Switzerland also recently landed a seven-figure international account - for CityNightLine, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn. And the image campaign developed by Matter & Partner, Zurich, for No-vartis is currently enjoying a global presence. The market results of the post-test are so successful that the chemical multinational has decided to buy the worldwide rights right away. So much for a brief résumé of the current successes of Swiss advertising.
But the bright side is deceptive. It is with growing concern that we see more and more budgets of Swiss global players migrating to England, France or the USA, foreign agencies taking part in national pitches, while local creatives regularly come away empty-handed from international competitions. Not to mention the long withered and forgotten Swiss agency networks that used to set the style. Seen in this light, the exemplary success stories that we take a closer look at in this issue are certainly not just cases of luck, but nevertheless clear exceptions.
A few weeks ago, Dominique von Matt, co-owner of JvM/Limmat and BSW President, explained in the HandelsZeitung that we actually have everything we need to design European or global campaigns. "Actually", because established values such as the very high level of Swiss education (if we disregard the results of the Pisa study) and our outstanding graphics tradition are in acute danger due to current cost-cutting plans. In contrast to journalism, we have also completely overslept the academization of commercial communication. But without universities there can be no top performance. Lip service and declarations of intent are no longer enough. Otherwise, in the globalized advertising landscape, "Switzerland calling" will only be perceived as a cry for help and not as a defiant, self-confident battle cry.
> Luca Aloisi, Head of Marketing
The Geneva agency Simko has already completed this intermediate step. In the fall, Carlsberg's marketing managers will decide which markets they want to export the Swiss concept to. McCann-Erickson Switzerland also recently landed a seven-figure international account - for CityNightLine, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn. And the image campaign developed by Matter & Partner, Zurich, for No-vartis is currently enjoying a global presence. The market results of the post-test are so successful that the chemical multinational has decided to buy the worldwide rights right away. So much for a brief résumé of the current successes of Swiss advertising.
But the bright side is deceptive. It is with growing concern that we see more and more budgets of Swiss global players migrating to England, France or the USA, foreign agencies taking part in national pitches, while local creatives regularly come away empty-handed from international competitions. Not to mention the long withered and forgotten Swiss agency networks that used to set the style. Seen in this light, the exemplary success stories that we take a closer look at in this issue are certainly not just cases of luck, but nevertheless clear exceptions.
A few weeks ago, Dominique von Matt, co-owner of JvM/Limmat and BSW President, explained in the HandelsZeitung that we actually have everything we need to design European or global campaigns. "Actually", because established values such as the very high level of Swiss education (if we disregard the results of the Pisa study) and our outstanding graphics tradition are in acute danger due to current cost-cutting plans. In contrast to journalism, we have also completely overslept the academization of commercial communication. But without universities there can be no top performance. Lip service and declarations of intent are no longer enough. Otherwise, in the globalized advertising landscape, "Switzerland calling" will only be perceived as a cry for help and not as a defiant, self-confident battle cry.
> Luca Aloisi, Head of Marketing
