Head of the week: "Small network agencies are only letterbox companies".
Olivier Girard is the head of the creative team at Simko Geneva
Olivier Girard is head of the creative team at Simko GenevaHead of the week "Small network agencies are just letterbox companies"
Olivier Girard rejects the prejudice that good advertising work is only done in Zurich. He therefore sees his challenge at Simko, Geneva, primarily in bringing in the experience he has gained at major agencies in Paris, nota bene with the great master Jacques Séguela, at Euro RSCG, and in New York. And finally, Simko has enough national and international mandates to give the creative team the opportunity to prove its expertise. Olivier Girard sees the fact that Simko is invited to pitch with agencies in London, Paris and Milan as a further indication that good communication work is being done in French-speaking Switzerland and especially in international Geneva.
After Girard had worked for Bozell, McCann and Euro RSCG in Geneva and had also worked for a short time as a freelancer for Publicis, Lausanne, Pedro Simko brought him into his agency as a freelancer for the client Tag Heuer.
Part-time work has now become a full-time job with responsibility for the creative team. Olivier Girard sees the advantage of working for small and medium-sized agencies in the direct contact with clients and the creative freedom.
Working in a large agency with a renowned network is only really interesting if it is a lead agency, otherwise these network agencies are just letterbox companies that carry out adaptations and do little creative work. He knows this from his own experience.
Even though Girard is a passionate advertiser and loves his work, he still maintains a certain distance from advertising. Advertising is actually something very superficial, he says, putting his creative work into perspective. He became particularly aware of this during a six-month trip through Africa. It was then that he realized that there were far more important things in life than making a product appealing to people, he muses today. He describes himself as an advertising and consumerist who is rather difficult to influence.
In fact, Olivier Girard, who once dreamed of becoming a car designer, could well imagine working in a skilled trade, such as carpentry. At least that way he would create something lasting, he dreams. However, he lives out his great private passion as a screenwriter for crime thrillers. He has just completed a screenplay that has met with lively interest in the USA, he reveals in passing. Anita Vaucher
Olivier Girard rejects the prejudice that good advertising work is only done in Zurich. He therefore sees his challenge at Simko, Geneva, primarily in bringing in the experience he has gained at major agencies in Paris, nota bene with the great master Jacques Séguela, at Euro RSCG, and in New York. And finally, Simko has enough national and international mandates to give the creative team the opportunity to prove its expertise. Olivier Girard sees the fact that Simko is invited to pitch with agencies in London, Paris and Milan as a further indication that good communication work is being done in French-speaking Switzerland and especially in international Geneva.
After Girard had worked for Bozell, McCann and Euro RSCG in Geneva and had also worked for a short time as a freelancer for Publicis, Lausanne, Pedro Simko brought him into his agency as a freelancer for the client Tag Heuer.
Part-time work has now become a full-time job with responsibility for the creative team. Olivier Girard sees the advantage of working for small and medium-sized agencies in the direct contact with clients and the creative freedom.
Working in a large agency with a renowned network is only really interesting if it is a lead agency, otherwise these network agencies are just letterbox companies that carry out adaptations and do little creative work. He knows this from his own experience.
Even though Girard is a passionate advertiser and loves his work, he still maintains a certain distance from advertising. Advertising is actually something very superficial, he says, putting his creative work into perspective. He became particularly aware of this during a six-month trip through Africa. It was then that he realized that there were far more important things in life than making a product appealing to people, he muses today. He describes himself as an advertising and consumerist who is rather difficult to influence.
In fact, Olivier Girard, who once dreamed of becoming a car designer, could well imagine working in a skilled trade, such as carpentry. At least that way he would create something lasting, he dreams. However, he lives out his great private passion as a screenwriter for crime thrillers. He has just completed a screenplay that has met with lively interest in the USA, he reveals in passing. Anita Vaucher
