"Being good at design won't be enough anymore"

1. what would you most like to promote?
An outdoor brand.

2. do you think you deserve the salary you earn?
Somehow you never feel like you're earning too much. But you have to balance that against the satisfaction and passion you get from your job. And there are very few people I'd want to swap jobs with.

3. do you fall for advertising? When?
I tend to fall for brands. In my outdoor hobbies, I'm all too happy to be seduced by the coolness of a brand.

4. what do you think about owned media?
A lot. In today's information overload, owned channels - e.g. a blog - play a central role. No "Earned" without "Owned

Have you ever thought about leaving the advertising industry?
I recently turned 50, which begs the question of whether you want to reorient yourself once again. But I like what I'm doing. But maybe I just don't have the courage to try something completely different again.

6. why don't you conform to the usual clichés of an advertiser?
I don't think I spend enough time on golf courses and aperitifs, but all the more in the forest and in the mountains. But maybe that's the new advertising cliché?

7. what do you never want to have to hear about yourself?
That I do not understand my customers and do not act in their interest.

8. what role do awards play in the advertising industry?
In my opinion, they are overrated. And they create the wrong incentives. Agencies spend a lot of time and effort trying to get attention and prizes for projects that are as "nice" as possible. In doing so, they distort competition and cloud the view of what is essential - the impact.

9. what is it impossible for you to do without?
Here's to weekends off from work as much as possible.

10. What inspired you to enter the advertising/communications industry?
My job after graduating from high school as a jack-of-all-trades in a print shop. Graphics attracted me more than law or business.

11: Why would you advise or advise your children not to seek a career in advertising/communications?
I actually advise them to do so, because it is simply exciting and versatile. But I also advise them to prepare well for the upheavals in the industry. Being good at design or text will no longer be enough in the future.

12. when is there a bad mood in your agency?
When we lose a pitch despite great commitment and enthusiasm and the reasons are hardly comprehensible.

13: Where do you see the biggest challenge for the advertising industry at the moment?
I don't think we've all fully grasped just how big the upheavals are that we're facing. The classic agency business models are no longer any good. And even if hardly anyone says so, no one really knows what digitization will mean for our industry.

The father of two Christian Sutter comes from Obwalden and has founded the Zurich agency Evoq Communications Founded in 2007 together with Adrian Schaffner. In 2013, Sutter and his partners launched Evoq Germany in Cologne and Evoq Labs Zurich. The owner-managed and independent advertising and communications agency employs around 30 permanent staff in the areas of design, consulting and programming. Its clients include SBB, UPC, RWE and Generali.

The "13 Questions" appear both online and in the print edition of Werbewoche.

Implementation 13 Questions: Thomas Häusermann