World class made in Switzerland

His world is the rapidly expanding universe of animated film. Around ten years ago, Gian Klainguti and Oliver Conrad began to attract attention with innovative music videos, commercials and short films. The two, who are now 33 years old, founded their company with the nourishing name Kompost in New York in 2004. In the meantime, they mainly serve their clients from Binz in Zurich. Three years ago, the creative start-up from Switzerland was allowed to realize the McDonald's campaign "Happy Meal" with Spaceman Stu. The three spots have been broadcast from coast to coast in the USA and have also earned Kompost three nominations for an "Annie". This award is considered the "Oscar" for animated films. "We competed against Dreamworks and Psyop in this competition. As a small start-up, we naturally felt deeply honored among these giants," says Gian Klainguti.

International agents

But how did Kompost get such a commission in the first place? "We are one of the few Swiss studios represented by an agency in Los Angeles as well as a second global agent. They are invited to pitches and then pass the job on to us if they deem us suitable. Then we deliver a treatment that presents possible implementation concepts, animation-related story ideas and visualizations. If we're lucky, we get the contract," says Klainguti, explaining the procedure that is used less often by Swiss filmmakers. This work, also otherwise somewhat off the beaten track, got its start because Klainguti had an American mother in addition to his Grisons father. Thus, during his film studies in Zurich, the aspiring director regularly commuted to New York. There Oliver Conrad studied Fine Arts in Communication Design. Together, the two exiles found themselves working on various projects. These jobs grew steadily and eventually led to the founding of their own company in the Big Apple.

The first successes came with animated music videos. That led to contacts with New York advertising agencies. "Often the budgets for animation were only $1,000. But we still wanted to do something and almost never said no to a project. There's no other way for a newcomer to gain a foothold in this industry," recalls Klainguti, who in the meantime slid more and more into the role of producer alongside Conrad as CD. A two-room apartment in New York served as the studio, where they also cooked and slept at the same time.

Then the budgets slowly increased to five- to six-figure sums. "With that, we were able to implement more and more of our ideas as imagined. But New York remained a tough school, and that taught us a lot. Especially the high quality standards that prevail here within the industry. We have taken this with us." Even back in Switzerland, the specialists at Kompost always want to measure themselves against other countries and the qualities offered there. That's probably why the studio continues to be invited to international pitches, even though its "headquarters" have since been moved from the American advertising mecca to a loft in Binz. "In this environment, we have to prove ourselves against competitors from London, New York or Berlin. That's what makes it interesting. " The company's New York branch has been retained, however, because "sometimes a client wants us to handle their project locally." For such orders, those responsible are always happy to travel to the States for the necessary time. "In the meantime, however, the trust has been confirmed, so that they also let us realize orders from the USA in Zurich. Because the most important thing is to be able to deliver on time while meeting the highest quality standards."

This is now also appreciated by customers such as Samsung, WWF, UBS, Swiss Life, Migros and Swisscom. For Samsung, Kompost was able to implement a globally deployed project as part of the London Olympics. "For this campaign, we were able to shoot together with David Beckham and Jamie Oliver. With them, we realized ideas that go far beyond traditional TV spots with interactive effects and gaming options for the Internet. Such concepts are increasingly in demand," says Gian Klainguti, analyzing a booming trend in the industry.

Support from Edi

The constantly larger and more complicated orders have also required investments in new dimensions. From the founding cell in New York to a spacious open-plan office in Binzstrasse with around fifteen workstations, a ping-pong table and upholstered corner for brainstorming, and, as the centerpiece, a server room for a whole battery of high-performance equipment. The breakthrough in Switzerland was helped by some Edis for their music videos and, last but not least, a post-production for the Swisscom commercials for the series "Viva Casa" by Stories. For these Stories out of the set-up box, Kompost contributed the visual effects. It continued with commissions for Migros and their "Twistymania" or the successful animations for "Snacketti" by Zweifel.

"Since we have worked mainly for international clients, most of the work on our website at the moment comes from abroad," explains Klainguti. These projects are strikingly often dominated by animated figures. ≪In Switzerland, however, we offer the entire technical spectrum in the field of animation: elaborate 3-D spots, 2-D animations, infographics, animated product and educational films, as well as interactive animations for the web and apps. The development of characters and their physical realization in 3-D printing as well as illustrations for print campaigns are also one of our strengths.≫ Kompost will therefore be launching a new website in the next few weeks, ≪where we will present our entire range of services≫.

Agencies come primarily for classic commercials. Direct customers ask more for corporate and image stories. ≪We then develop the concept ourselves in collaboration with these customers. We are allowed to bundle entire packages with our ideas≫, is how Klainguti describes his studio's comprehensive range of services. However, animation will remain the focus of the work in any case. As a film production company, Kompost also knows how to combine live action with animation. The specialists see themselves not only in the role of implementation partner, but also increasingly use their technical and creative knowledge as a consulting partner. ≪In Switzerland, we often find that customers still have some reservations about animation. In this case, we see ourselves more as a partner who helps find a creative solution. We always take a close look at the concept before deciding on an implementation option. Sometimes clients absolutely want images in 3-D, even though 2-D could be used to create something much more appealing and better suited to the communication objective in question.

The style of Kompost is driven more by the staging idea than by the technique. ≪As a producer, I want to push the artists in our work so that they can carry their ideas through to the end and the ideal ideas are not washed away as far as possible.≫ At the same time, however, Gian Klainguti is present abroad a lot at congresses and observes the new technical possibilities there very closely. ≪You can't sleep in the area of this innovation in the digital world, which will soon be presented on a daily basis.

Klainguti sees a positive future for the animation industry. ≪Digital advertising and communication content is becoming increasingly important, and animated content can be multiplied particularly well and easily in this area.≫ Computer animation also offers huge potential in the creative staging of communication content. The advantages lie in the more effective and customer-oriented presentation of complex information, for example in animated infographics. Animation also creates an independent communications presence that is clearly differentiated from the competition and stands out better in the general flood of communications, for example a character as a likeable brand ambassador. This is illustrated by the Grand Prix winners at Cannes Lions 2012 (Chipotle ≪Back to the Start≫) and 2013 (Metro Trains ≪Dumb ways to die≫) - both animated campaigns. The Zweifel-Snacketti spot animated by Kompost also received top marks in the Werbewoche impact check. Furthermore, Klainguti also sees potential for interactive stories. ≪We don't just want to offer an image film, but create our own new worlds and drive the audience into them.

One of Kompost's goals, synchronized with the development of integrated advertising, is its sustainable impact. ≪Thinking about stories in the long term. Not just creating a spot, but first developing a new world, bringing a character to life in it, and then letting this package play out across a wide variety of media and levels.≫ In the area of self-advertising, Kompost also works consistently with the means of storytelling across new worlds. This is demonstrated on the Facebook page with its own webisodes. The mini-stories, which were created more as a gag, already have over 35,000 fans. Kompost is doing a different kind of self-promotion at TEDx Zurich. A year ago, Gian Klainguti was not only a guest speaker at this ≪Zeitgeistkarussell≫ der neuen Denker ≪und schragen Vogel≫ (carousel of the spirit of the times), which took place in Studio 1 of SRF. Since then, Kompost has also designed the entire corporate identity of the future-oriented event as part of a sponsorship.

Andreas Panzeri