13 Questions for... Hanspeter Schweizer

1. what would you most like to promote?

For Neil Young's Pono sound system.

2. what was the most fun lunch partner?

Sigi Feigel (†2004): intelligent, modest, humorous, witty, human, committed.

3. what do you personally think about the effect of advertising?

There are. Our campaign for IWC, for example, generated a 23 percent increase in sales, according to the CEO at the time, and he attributed this solely to advertising.

4. What inspired you to enter the advertising/communications industry?

My first big love, at 15: She didn't fall for my courtship for three years, despite 360 Campaigning, Full Year Mental Availability, Showrooming and Agile Marketing.

5. if you had not become an advertiser - what then?

Food Scout maybe.

6. is the opinion true that you can't grow old in agencies, or is that a prejudice?

It's true. You can't grow old in agencies, only stay young.

7. what do you see as the biggest challenge for advertising at the moment?

To be paid appropriately for the work that goes into a good campaign.

8. do you think you deserve the salary you earn?

Yesterday in any case. For today, I don't know until tomorrow.

9. a buzz word that gets on your nerves?

Earned Media. Because it's often purpose-less quantitative bragging.

10. can you tell us a little secret?

Tomato sauce for the very lazy (the recipe comes from Marcella Hazan): 500g of canned tomatoes (crushed with the back of a wooden spoon), 1 peeled onion in 2 halves, 75g of butter and a little salt simmer gently in a pot for 45 minutes. Divine.

11. which advertising medium do you find abominable?

Polo shirts with big logos.

12. what are you determined to achieve?

Finally again the 19:06 streetcar from Laubegg

13. which websites do you regularly use privately?

Cook more beautifully: Mimithorisson.com. Listen to new: Plate tests.com.

Hanspeter Swiss has been Creative Director at Wirz Werbung since 1998. Before that, he worked for several years as a copywriter and concept developer, first at Advico Young & Rubicam, then at Wirz, where he is now responsible for Migros' campaigns, among others. Hanspeter Schweizer is a member of the Art Directors Club Switzerland and a lecturer at the ADC/BSW creative school.