Concentrated power

Make one out of three is the concept for more power instead of dispersal at Freddy Burger. Since November 2010, all the disciplines of integrated communications that were previously handled individually have been offered under one roof in his diversified empire. The services Corporate Identity, Corporate Events and Public Relations are combined under FBM Communications. The services offered range from the conception of a creative communications strategy to effective implementation and efficient success monitoring.

The managing director of the new company is Carmen Schiltknecht, previous owner of Art & Work. "The merger of the three agencies meets the needs of the market," she is convinced. Today's customers want an address that competently offers 360-degree communication and a partner who knows what makes today's customers and their target groups tick. Due to the immediate proximity to the Freddy Burger Management Group with its products in the entertainment industry and gastronomy, especially live communication, which is increasingly desired today, is to gain in importance. Full integration into the FBM Group with the FBM-Entertainment and FBM-Gastronomy divisions should bring further synergies for customers.

Event Schweiz was experienced as a general contractor in the realization of events of any size. The previous managing director Michel Loris-Melikoff will remain with the group as director of the St. Jakob Hall in Basel, which will also be managed by FBM. The other Event Schweiz specialists will all be taken over by Schiltknecht's new merger agency. This also applies to the employees of Publicum pmi. The latter has built up a valuable network over the past 17 years and knows how to work with public relations. After his sale to Freddy Burger, the long-time managing director Thomas Weber will continue to look after the many tasks related to the promotion of Udo Jürgens as a freelancer.

Art & Work, the already very diversified agency of the three merged partners, has been a creative team of women for 16 years, which has already successfully brought communication to the point in the most diverse areas - from brand consulting to corporate identity to coaching. The versatile range of services also reflects the rich experience of Carmen Schiltknecht.

The career of the founder of Art & Work began with a business degree in Stuttgart. Because her mother thought that a "proper education" would bring more, Carmen Schiltknecht also added an apprenticeship as a merchant in wholesale and foreign trade. "Even then, I felt inside that I wanted to achieve more professionally. Whether employed or self-employed, my attitude in all phases was: go forward passionately, realize concepts with a doer's spirit and inspire people with ideas." This attitude was rewarded first with more responsibility, then more pay, and finally with a reduction in teaching hours. "I thought that was great, that you can even change training concepts."

Carmen Schiltknecht came to Switzerland in 1980, following a man for love. But the successful businessman had other ideas for life, for which she was not yet ready at that time. The young woman was still full of professional dreams. So the marriage did not last long.

Back on her own, Carmen Schilt¬knecht applied for a job as a presenter at the newly founded Radio Z. But with her Stuttgart accent, she was only laughed at. With her Stuttgart accent, however, she was only laughed at. But the bosses Hans-Peter Meng and Alfred Fetscherin listened with interest to Schiltknecht's visions of why a radio station also needs listener loyalty - with offers, competitions and events. Thus, a tailor-made position was created for the young German for sponsoring, which was hardly known at the time. Parallel to the job, Schiltknecht did further training as a PR assistant. After a request from a Z client, she spent three years building up the Migros Zurich studio, creating a new type of editorial radio spot two minutes long, and also became deputy PR manager by overseeing an in-house newspaper.

Once again poached - "I was lucky that the right people always approached me" - she later headed the PR department at Adia Interim with first-time professional advertising on the radio as well as a client magazine. During this time, she also earned her diploma as a certified PR consultant.

Carmen Schiltknecht got into business with Beat Curti through the editor-in-chief of the customer magazine Confetti for Phillips. The publisher offered her the continuation of his PR agency Extrablatt after the sponsored youth magazine was discontinued for financial reasons. "An adventure in which I still had to learn a lot until a gray mouse within the Curti Grup¬pe became an important business model."

Schiltknecht won the Good News magazine in a pitch and developed the small format into a real magazine. As more and more large customers were acquired over the course of 16 years, the boss wanted to take a financial stake in the Extrablatt agency. But the offer of a partnership was so expensive that Carmen Schilt¬knecht preferred to do the math: "I built the whole thing up. And what I can do for others, I can do for myself."

So she founded Art & Work in 1995. "We functioned as a niche agency with four employees, but at times were able to employ twelve." As the name suggests, Art & Work has become a program when it comes to the agency's style. "Content is as important to us as design. Conversely, we also have very high aesthetic standards in everything we do."

Five years ago, Art & Work entered into its first partnership with Freddy Burger's group. At the same time, the team moved from Freigutstrasse to Carmenstrasse, into the same building as Publicum and Event Switzerland. Through an increasingly close collaboration, it eventually became apparent how the three agencies could work together to create an even stronger presence. "Freddy Burger knows very well what he has bought with us," Carmen Schiltknecht is convinced. "We are very committed, have a relatively high tempo, an alert mind - and as women have the ability to empathize with others: Where is what needed?" In times when communication is constantly becoming more overarching, "you can no longer think of PR as just PR, nor can you think of brand consul¬ting on its own. In the end, the only question is: What do I do with this brand? What can I fill it with? What impact does such communication have on all employees?" In this overall radius, FBM Communications today wants to "think holistically and offer solutions across all disciplines."

The young agency has just designed and implemented a kick-off event to motivate 800 employees at Helsana. The entire CI was relaunched for the Volketswil furniture center. Many budgets also come from the B2B sector. Carmen Schiltknecht has been working for Fifa for more than five years, most recently with the Freddy Burger Management Group, where she was responsible for the organization, realization and decoration of the entire event surrounding the "Ballon d'Or" in the Kongresshaus. In this job, FBM Communications also worked with external partners such as Aroma.

Only about one third of the orders are to be generated from Freddy Burger's group. This group employs 350 people. Most of them are affiliated to the Gastro division with the Zurich restaurants Sonnenberg, Theater 11, Schifflände, Trattoria and Soul, and Aqua. In addition, there are the Adagio clubs in Zurich and Berlin, as well as Mascotte. "In this division, there is not a large budget available for advertising and communication. A restaurant has to speak for itself with its quality and correspondingly satisfied customers."

More opportunities for creative implementation are offered by the FBM Entertainment division. This includes shows at Theater 11, Musical Theater Basel, and tours and events in rented venues. Carmen Schiltknecht and her team can already contribute their ideas in the planning phase. In preparation is a new edition of "Cats" in the tent or the Zurich premiere of the musical by Udo Jürgens "Ich war noch niemals in New York".

Carmen Schiltknecht sees it as an advantage that, thanks to her proximity to Freddy Burger's activities, she can put together "interesting packages for potential sponsors" for such projects much earlier than other agencies. But she also knows that she has to seek the necessary distance in her private life as well. After all, you work in a leisure industry.

For the past two years, the impresario and his communicator have also been linked as a couple. "That's when it becomes quite important to understand how to put on the most diverse hats." Carmen Schiltknecht likes the fact that she worked intensively with Freddy Burger for three years before they became friends. "For Freddy, it's clear that in me he has someone who is very dedicated, loves the profession and is committed to a cause with all his heart and therefore also with hard conviction." However, this respect works in exactly the same way the other way around. And that's why the power couple doesn't just have endless discussions about upcoming projects, but also space for the necessary leisure.

Andreas Panzeri