Fresh air from Ämtlerstrasse
The new network agency Spillmann Felser Leo Burnett is making its mark on the Swiss advertising scene
The new network agency Spillmann Felser Leo Burnett is getting involved in the Swiss advertising businessBy Ernst Weber The five senior employees of Advico Young & Rubicam (AY&R), Zurich, who resigned at the beginning of the year, have founded an international network agency. Spillmann Felser Leo Burnett (SFLB) wants to change Swiss advertising, with whose creative level it is dissatisfied.
Spillmann Felser Leo Burnett wants to become a new major Swiss agency, not in a quantitative but in a qualitative sense. Former AY&R executives Martin Spillmann, Peter Felser, Rolf Zimmermann, Peter Brönnimann and Michael Waeber hold a majority stake in the company from 80%. The agency will start on July 1 with 15 employees on the second floor of the former Smart Factory at Ämtlerstrasse 201 in Zurich, which covers around 400 square meters.
With a view to the qualitative intention, and in order to be able to play in the top league internationally, a 20 percent shareholding was agreed with the world's most creative network according to Martin Spillmann. According to Felser, Leo Burnett is relinquishing its stake in its previous partner agency Matter und Partner in order to enter into the new relationship. Almost all relevant international networks had sought a partnership with the new Swiss agency on their own initiative.
Spillmann and Felser would probably have lasted even longer
The five, some of whom had worked together at AY&R for up to 16 years, apparently decided to go independent at the beginning of the year. Spillmann and Felser stand by their original version that no specific incident triggered the collective departure from AY&R. Rather, the formation was motivated by the desire for entrepreneurial self-determination, which had become increasingly urgent over the years.
"Every time you have the feeling that there is an issue that you would perhaps solve differently yourself, you think it would be better to be independent," says Spillmann, CD of the new agency. Felser is of the same opinion: "We could have successfully worked with the previous network for a few more years without any problems or disputes. The desire for entrepreneurial independence is a growing need," says Leo Burnett, CEO of Spillmann Felser. He does not fear that the partnership will restrict his entrepreneurial freedom, not least because Leo Burnett only holds a minority stake and in this sense "is only the junior partner".
The founding members are united by "a belief in the creative product", i.e. the ambition to make a difference again in Swiss advertising, "which has practically not changed creatively in the past five years". With campaigns that "win ADC and Effie gold at the same time".
If you have no customers, you are unlikely to hire 15 employees
While Spillmann and Felser make no secret of their ambitions, they keep a low profile when it comes to employees and mandates.
Felser points out that the agency will only open on July 1. It is therefore too early to talk about employees or even whether some of them have been recruited from AY&R in Gockhausen. As the agency does not yet exist, it cannot yet have any clients, says 48-year-old Spillmann, who himself would like to know which mandates and any international adaptation budgets he hopes to manage soon. A statement that gives the impression of an evasion rather than an answer.
"We have enough self-confidence not to fear that we won't attract customers with our experience," says Spillmann with conviction. And Felser adds: "We've already proven that we don't just plan into the blue. In the past, we have repeatedly managed to replace the loss of major clients with newly acquired mandates."
First of all, no self-promotion is awarded
According to Felser, the business plan is also rather conservative. "Of course we have factored in a lean period," says the CEO. Felser describes himself and Spillmann as the driving force behind the new company. An assessment that is confirmed by the agency name, which leaves the other founding members unmentioned for "purely practical reasons". "If everyone were named, the name would be far too long," argues Felser.
According to the CEO and CD, it is still completely uncertain when the first campaigns by Spillmann Felser Leo Burnett will be seen. According to Martin Spillmann, however, one thing is certain: that it will not be self-promotion for which the ADC will first recognize the agency.
Spillmann Felser Leo Burnett wants to become a new major Swiss agency, not in a quantitative but in a qualitative sense. Former AY&R executives Martin Spillmann, Peter Felser, Rolf Zimmermann, Peter Brönnimann and Michael Waeber hold a majority stake in the company from 80%. The agency will start on July 1 with 15 employees on the second floor of the former Smart Factory at Ämtlerstrasse 201 in Zurich, which covers around 400 square meters.
With a view to the qualitative intention, and in order to be able to play in the top league internationally, a 20 percent shareholding was agreed with the world's most creative network according to Martin Spillmann. According to Felser, Leo Burnett is relinquishing its stake in its previous partner agency Matter und Partner in order to enter into the new relationship. Almost all relevant international networks had sought a partnership with the new Swiss agency on their own initiative.
Spillmann and Felser would probably have lasted even longer
The five, some of whom had worked together at AY&R for up to 16 years, apparently decided to go independent at the beginning of the year. Spillmann and Felser stand by their original version that no specific incident triggered the collective departure from AY&R. Rather, the formation was motivated by the desire for entrepreneurial self-determination, which had become increasingly urgent over the years.
"Every time you have the feeling that there is an issue that you would perhaps solve differently yourself, you think it would be better to be independent," says Spillmann, CD of the new agency. Felser is of the same opinion: "We could have successfully worked with the previous network for a few more years without any problems or disputes. The desire for entrepreneurial independence is a growing need," says Leo Burnett, CEO of Spillmann Felser. He does not fear that the partnership will restrict his entrepreneurial freedom, not least because Leo Burnett only holds a minority stake and in this sense "is only the junior partner".
The founding members are united by "a belief in the creative product", i.e. the ambition to make a difference again in Swiss advertising, "which has practically not changed creatively in the past five years". With campaigns that "win ADC and Effie gold at the same time".
If you have no customers, you are unlikely to hire 15 employees
While Spillmann and Felser make no secret of their ambitions, they keep a low profile when it comes to employees and mandates.
Felser points out that the agency will only open on July 1. It is therefore too early to talk about employees or even whether some of them have been recruited from AY&R in Gockhausen. As the agency does not yet exist, it cannot yet have any clients, says 48-year-old Spillmann, who himself would like to know which mandates and any international adaptation budgets he hopes to manage soon. A statement that gives the impression of an evasion rather than an answer.
"We have enough self-confidence not to fear that we won't attract customers with our experience," says Spillmann with conviction. And Felser adds: "We've already proven that we don't just plan into the blue. In the past, we have repeatedly managed to replace the loss of major clients with newly acquired mandates."
First of all, no self-promotion is awarded
According to Felser, the business plan is also rather conservative. "Of course we have factored in a lean period," says the CEO. Felser describes himself and Spillmann as the driving force behind the new company. An assessment that is confirmed by the agency name, which leaves the other founding members unmentioned for "purely practical reasons". "If everyone were named, the name would be far too long," argues Felser.
According to the CEO and CD, it is still completely uncertain when the first campaigns by Spillmann Felser Leo Burnett will be seen. According to Martin Spillmann, however, one thing is certain: that it will not be self-promotion for which the ADC will first recognize the agency.
