Brand messages become experiences

A lot has changed at Rufener in recent months. After more than two decades of success in 45 countries around the globe, the event agency founded in Zurich in 1990 has said goodbye to the restrictive addition of "events" to its brand. The profile has been sharpened and the focus has been redirected to three different divisions. The event sector was expanded to include the disciplines of creation and consulting.

"Rufener has long since been offering its customers expertise in creation as well as consulting in strategic planning and integrated communication over and above its core competence in event management," says Jennifer Somm, explaining the strategic move. The economist from the previous management team was newly promoted to CEO in charge as of June 1 and launched the re-branding.

A newly designed corporate identity, including a new website, further reinforces the new orientation. Three defined corporate colors clearly highlight the agency's three service areas: events, creation and consulting. This development is also reflected in the personnel composition. In addition to event managers, the 30-strong team also includes an increasing number of strategically experienced concept developers and designers.

"Rufener wants to position itself as a partner in all areas of live communication, because we see encounter communication as a comprehensive discipline," explains Jennifer Somm.

When Schoscho Rufener founded the company, his agency was one of the first in Switzerland to act as a general contractor. Clients had just one point of contact for purchasing catering, entertainment, technology and location. Later, Rufener also became the first event agency in Switzerland to establish its own creation department. "We saw that creation is an important part of letting a stringent identity emerge. You can certainly score points with the customer if the implementation on the set is perfect. But creation and consulting are added values that are essential today," Somm knows. A tailor-made solution therefore also includes a sound understanding of the brand values. "Only when we have extracted that can we also create something that brings the expected return on investment for the client," Somm says. "Anyone can put out a few cüpli. But we want to create something sustainable that substantially strengthens the brand."

In this sense, Rufener no longer sees the general contractor model as the sole USP for the future. "Former suppliers have now developed from caterers to general contractors themselves. Numerous large companies have also set up their own competent event departments. But what is missing in many events today are the ideas as well as a strategic background." Below-the-line is a growing budget item. Responsible integration of these measures into the overall communications mix is therefore called for here. In this interplay, Rufener wants to increasingly appear with strategic competencies in the future. "In this context, we also offer our consulting services without a mandatory contract for implementation. We see ourselves more and more as an agency for creative and strategic consulting."

Jennifer Somm has been working at Rufener for five years. Her background includes an education at the University of St. Gallen. Her studies at HSG provided a good foundation. The degree in finance and accounting was an important basis for Rufener's current managing director for management tasks. "In my first time at Rufener, HR as well as finance and accounting were placed with me. Areas that tend to get short shrift in agencies." Step by step, this was to become more. Just as it has always been part of Somm's working style.

While still in St. Gallen, she did an internship on the side at "10 vor 10" and was later able to earn her degree as a desker at Schweizer Fernsehen. "I was allowed to follow the news from all over the world all day and summarize what was important for the editorial team." Later, she realized small contributions herself as a freelancer. After graduation, she was "torn" about whether she wanted to stay in television. "But I was only 24 and felt I should do something else."

An ideal opportunity for further development arose at Burson Marsteller. In the agency for political and business lobbying, Jennifer Somm not only found a boss in Iwan Rickenbacher from whom she could learn a great deal, but also her mentor. "I was always lucky to meet someone who firmly believed in me and at the same time gave me all the freedom to develop myself." After all, she says, work is the most fun "when you can spend your whole life learning and progressing."

But life also has other things in store. For example, the birth of her daughter. And because Jennifer Somm has learned in her previous jobs that people here "have to be 200 percent committed if they really want to be there," she has decided that a career in the media and a toddler are not compatible for her.

The suitable alternative was to work as a teacher. At the high school in Zug, Jennifer Somm taught business administration and law. "This employment brought with it a structured day with free time that could be planned." Also, the lively discussions with adolescent middle school students were a valuable experience. Still, for Somm, a maker, lecturing became somewhat one-dimensional over time. "My passion for being able to discover new things fell flat. In addition: in the meantime, dealing with the way young people think was also covered more and more at home. I was served enough in this regard by my own daughter - setting limits, keeping rules and allowing freedoms."

Jennifer Somm increasingly felt she wanted to apply those skills with adults and in a larger organization. "I like to lead and most of all inspire a team so that we can achieve something together." That, she said, is also what defines her qualities. "I come into the office every day and always have new ideas. Then I stand in creation and try to motivate people to turn it all around again and maybe start from scratch, because everyone feels: there needs to be an even better solution here."

She had philosophized about such an attitude to work with Schoscho Rufener at a chance meeting. "He then thought that he could actually always use someone like me. So he took the risk, even though I didn't have any event experience to show."

The experience soon followed. When Schoscho Rufener retired to the Board of Directors after the sale to Messe Schweiz Group, Jennifer Somm joined the Executive Board at the same time. "We discussed various models and then decided that, in addition, creation would be based with me. That sounds like a big balancing act. But it's exactly the facet that makes up our offering. In the end, creation also needs a great deal of precision - especially with the large budgets that we manage at Rufener. And conversely, finance also needs a certain amount of creativity."

Jennifer Somm is convinced that all employees in her agency are "individualists" and should be managed and encouraged accordingly. "As an event manager, you have to take on a lot of responsibility at a young age. A 30-year-old has to lead a catering team of several dozen people at an event with 3500 guests. On top of that, there's the technology and the supervision of the artists for the show acts." That's where matured trust helps more than control. "However, it's important that we have clear objectives and know where we want to go - with an event, but also with our agency."

Andreas Panzeri