To the point: Congratulations
For the 35th time, *Werbewoche* is presenting the «Advertiser of the Year» award. In addition to the selection committee—composed of past «Advertiser of the Year» winners and the respective finalists—readers of Werbewoche were also able to nominate candidates using a “wild card.” Six prominent figures from the Swiss advertising scene were nominated.
The Advertiser of the Year 2012 is Urs Schneider. He is the owner of the media agency Mediaschneider. Urs Schneider was able to accept the trophy named Egon, designed by Swiss artist Max Grüter, at Lake Side in Zurich. It was a clear victory: 31 percent of all votes went to Urs Schneider.
Ten years ago, the federally certified advertising manager founded his own media agency. In addition to teaching at various institutes (including HSLU, SAWI), Schneider is president of the examination committee of the Swiss Advertising Association (SW) and a board member of SW and BSW leading swiss agencies. He is regarded in professional circles and by his students as the "statistics pope" who has the ability to turn this rather dry subject matter into entertaining and instructive hours of discovery.
In second place, with 17 percent of the vote each, are David Schärer of Rod Kommunikation and Roman Hirsbrunner of Maxomedia. In 2007, David Schärer founded Rod Kommunikation together with Regula Fecker, the 2010 Advertiser of the Year, and Oliver Fennel. Roman Hirsbrunner founded Maxomedia in 1996 as a 23-year-old student with Bernhard Herzig. Today he is CEO of the agency and manages around 50 employees in Bern and Zurich.
With 14 percent of the votes, Geri Aebi, CEO of the Wirz Group, came in third. After twelve years at GGK Vienna, Geri Aebi has been with Wirz since 2002.
For the 12th time, a broad jury presents the "Campaign of the Year" award. There were 18 commercials to choose from. In addition to the readership of Werbewoche, viewers of Star TV were once again able to participate in the vote. The jury's verdict was clear: upc Cablecom's spot by Viznerborel, in which Carlos Leal shows how fast surfing can be, was the clear audience favorite: with 34 percent of all votes, it came in first. In second place, with 12 percent of the votes, was the campaign for Orange by advertising agency Publicis. With 11 percent, Swisscom's Sendervielfalt campaign by advertising agency Contexta made it to third place. In fourth place with 10 percent of the vote is the spot "Zwei Bergler entdecken die Stadt" ("Two mountain people discover the city") for Switzerland Tourism by the advertising agency Spillmann Felser Leo Burnett.
Pierre C. Meier, Editor-in-Chief
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