"FIGUGEGL pulled strings for decades".

1. what inspired you to enter the advertising / communications industry?
Good advertising of the GGK Basel. And that you can see and show your own "product".

2. the best testimonial ever?
Mörgeli and Jositsch in the VBZ, if this passes for a testimonial. Or, as a classic, the Jägermeister campaign of the GGK.

3. does the advertising industry receive enough appreciation for its work?
As an employee of an advertising agency, we are ranked just behind insurance agents in terms of the prestige of professions. But it's a good way to make a living.

4. name a campaign that has recently caught your eye in a positive way - but did not originate with you.
Time and again the campaigns for Hiltl, by Markus Ruf and Danielle Lanz. They rightly received the ADC Evergreen this year.

Where do you see the biggest challenge for the advertising industry at the moment?
How we can sell the true value of an idea profitably. And how we can get the greatest benefit for our customers in the digital world.

6. what is it impossible for you to do without?
Beautiful objects like watches that don't let me rest, good art that moves me, or jogging shoes that keep me on my toes.

7. which advertising campaign from your childhood left a lasting impression on you?
FIGUGEGL. For the younger readers: "Fondue isch guet und git e gueti Luune." A campaign by Gisler + Gisler, which pulled strings for decades.

8. what do you think about adblockers?
In the past, there were "stop advertising" stickers on the mailbox, today it's adblockers and tomorrow something else again. With intelligent and surprising advertising in the right media channel, we can continue to reach the target groups.

9. was there a moment in your life when you thought: Wow. This is awesome. And it's from me!
Yes, when I - then as CD/AD at Demner & Merlicek in Vienna - got silver at the ADC of Europe for an Austrian election ad in the 90s. "Go vote! Others do it too." 20 years later, the ad is more relevant than ever.

10. Do you fall for advertising? When?
Fall in not, but I like to be seduced or surprised.

11. which advertising should be banned?
Stupid, which does not take consumers seriously. And telephone advertising.

12. what qualities make you a good advertiser?
The listening, the reducing and the sticking to it. In cooking, the best funds are created with good ingredients and long cooking. It's pretty much the same with advertising.

13. what would you work for free?
A few years ago, I switched sides for a week and was allowed to work in the kitchen at Stefan Wiesner's, the "Hexer" and top chef with 17 Gault Millau points, in Escholzmatt. It was very impressive to see what he does and how much work and love goes into it. More than in many an advertising agency.

Urs Schneider graduated from the School of Design in Basel and subsequently worked as an AD and CD at Atelier Jaquet in Bern, GGK in Basel, ASGS / BBDO in Zurich, among others, before joining Demner & Merlicek in Vienna for three years in 1991. In 1994 he founded, together with Roger Berthoud, the Schneider, Berthoud advertising agency in Basel. In 2008, it merged with smp to form BSSM Werbeagentur. Urs Schneider is managing director and co-owner of the 14-strong agency. He is married and has two grown-up sons. Major clients include Basellandschaftliche Kantonalbank, Doetsch Grether, Haecky Import, Kestenholz, Otto Hofstetter, Spielzeug Welten Museum Basel and Universitätsspital Basel.

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

Implementation 13 Questions: Thomas Häusermann