The guerrilla from Sihlquai
Thomas Back founded the below-the-line agency Streuplan in 2004. Today he employs ten permanent employees and forty freelancers and looks after high-caliber clients with campaigns ranging from the subtle to the groovy. And Streuplan is on course for growth. Not exactly everyday news in the lull.
Thomas Back (33) likes things to be clean and tidy - not only in the agency, but also in his projects. That's why not only the black marble worktop in the kitchen shines at Streuplan, but also the business. Streuplan specializes in below-the-line advertising (BTL). BTL means addressing your target group directly and personally using unconventional communication channels. The advertising measures are also undercover and are not always immediately recognizable as advertising. However, Back and his team do not want to advertise "through the back of the chest into the eye": "We see BTL as an indispensable part of every campaign. I'm not a fan of taking consumers by surprise through the back door," says Back. "That backfires. The more clearly and transparently a company says 'we're advertising, we want to sell', the more successful a campaign will be. There's no point in deceiving people."
This approach has already won over customers from A for Apple to B for Beiersdorf and C for Credit Suisse to Z for Zweifel. And all this without Streuplan ever having advertised its services. The agency looks after a total of 14 large and medium-sized companies that are well-known in the Swiss and international arena. In addition, advertising agencies regularly involve Streuplan in their projects as a specialist for BTL: "We are always on board with campaigns from Wirz in particular, but we also work with Assai, Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett and Matter & Gretener." Back prefers to be at the table from the very first meeting: "Projects run best when everyone involved is on board from the outset. Above all, it is important that those responsible for BTL and traditional advertising work closely together and draw up the media plan jointly. Print, radio, poster and TV advertising and BTL measures must be coordinated. This is the only way for a campaign to be effective."
Of trees and cows
Streuplan masters the entire BTL range: the agency does ambient, conversational and cross-marketing, runs guerrilla and viral marketing, has expertise in product placement, sponsoring and sampling, understands mobile and point-of-sale marketing, builds communities and organizes events and promotions. Thomas Back loves the night-and-fog campaigns that convey their messages with a wink and still deserve the name guerrilla. In 2008, the agency worked with Wirz to hang coconuts in the trees on Bahnhofstrasse for Kuoni. A poster with the slogan: "What's wrong here?" was emblazoned on the trunk. Anyone who didn't notice the mistake was clearly ready for a vacation. Around Euro 08, Streuplan put brown cows in red robes for Mars. On their bellies, the cozy ruminants bore the message: "Hopp. Power to the fans." Unfortunately, guerrilla advertising like this is rare, regrets Back. "Many companies lack the courage to pull off such campaigns, even though they have a strong brand and good products. A little more cheekiness and self-confidence would be nice."
Often all it takes is a clever idea that demonstrates a keen eye for the target group: On the Nivea website, young girls can design a top entirely according to their own ideas. The best design is selected, mass-produced and sold via the Chicorée fashion chain. The campaign hits the mark, as many young women dream of becoming a star and making it big. With the "Be a top designer" promotion, they see their chance. The campaign is the most successful online campaign of the Beiersdorf cosmetics group worldwide and was developed and implemented by Streuplan. The design tool has been running in Switzerland for several years.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating
Streuplan is also strong in sampling and product testing. The agency cooperates with fashion store chains, associations and hundreds of other advertising partners, where it regularly places products to try out. Streuplan has just devised a promotion for a new Nivea deodorant: Volunteer testers are encouraged to compare the new deodorant with their previous one right under the armpit - one on the left, the other on the right. "We want to convince people, not promise them the blue sky," explains Back. "And the best way to do that is to let people try out the new product." Streuplan also operates close to the consumer in mobile marketing: "In the past, if you wanted to take a test drive, you went to the car dealer. Today, you see a poster with a dashing convertible, send a text message and receive a serious offer for a test drive within 24 hours. Back and its ilk make sure that this works. Streuplan is working flat out on MMS services. "However, MMS campaigns are not yet really accepted," admits the Streuplan boss. "They simply cost too much and are usually more complicated to implement than SMS or online measures."
The distribution planners also know their way around media creation: With a keen nose and the necessary specialist knowledge, they develop ideas as to which media their clients could still earn money with. The fact that airlines could sell advertising space in loudspeaker announcements or in live commercials played by the flight attendants are just two of Back's ideas.
At universities, Streuplan employs so-called brand ambassadors. These are usually marketing students who regularly drum up publicity with targeted campaigns. "At Easter, for example, we hide Apple products throughout the university, and at Christmas we offer a kind of Advent calendar with a chance to win," explains Back. "The campaigns follow a plan that we work out with our customers beforehand."
A feel for people
Thomas Back is a trained psychiatric nurse. He is good at empathizing with people and their needs. It's not that difficult, he says, you just have to look closely: "Why, for example, are giveaways always distributed at Zurich main station? There are dozens of train stations in the canton. Passers-by in Zurich get something pressed into their hands every day, they don't even care anymore. Wouldn't it be cleverer instead to have a quick chat with a lady or gentleman at Freienbach station, who are always at the platform a few minutes early anyway, and hand them a product sample? Then they get on the train to Zurich and have 15 minutes to get to grips with the product and our message."
Back and his team scrutinize every step they take with the question of whether and how their campaigns work. They not only want to create funny and exciting campaigns, they also want to prove to their customers that the measures work. Back has just hired a neuropsychologist. He is familiar with the direct and indirect effects of advertising and will support Streuplan in measuring success and developing new communication tools in the future. "We try to understand consumers," explains Back. "We want to know what makes people tick when they walk into Migros or the Coop and what they expect from companies and products."
Advertising through the front door
Thomas Back ended up in advertising by a roundabout route. After training as a psychiatric nurse and working in psychiatry for three years, he longed for a new challenge. In 2000, he joined Face, an agency for communication design. "Face was a pioneer in the development and marketing of ambient media," says Back. However, clients wanted more: integrated overall concepts, bolder advertising that left the classic paths and brought added value to those being advertised. "Face was unable to fulfill these wishes," recalls Back. "But I was interested in this area. That's why I founded Streuplan." In 2004, Streuplan was the first agency to combine BTL with classic advertising. Today, the creatives are either hired as BTL experts or they take on the development of a campaign as a general contractor, from the idea to consulting and conception through to implementation in classic and BTL, including performance measurement. "With our own in-house creative department, we have recently been able to design the promotional materials, advertisements and online presence for the concepts we develop ourselves," says Back. "This meets a major need of our direct customers."
Thomas Back taught himself the knowledge he needs as an advertising guerrillero. Nine years ago, there was no training, let alone in-depth reading material on BTL. "I gleaned a lot of theoretical knowledge from the Internet, often visited America and looked at how they do it there," says Back. "I also owe a lot to my first customers. They had courage and trust in me. This allowed me to gain experience and learn a lot while implementing projects."
Involving consumers
Streuplan has had great success with its way of appealing to consumers - despite the flood of advertising that inundates us every day. Back's secret: "Consumers know exactly what they want and what they don't want. That's why companies need to involve their customers and ask them: How do we reach you? How do you want to be addressed? Do you want a poster or a newsletter? Do you want to test products before you buy them? Do you expect vouchers, discounts? Companies need to find out all this about their customers. It takes a little courage, but on this basis a successful campaign can be developed - and a lasting relationship with the customer can be built."
Thomas Back counts finding the right employees for Streuplan as his greatest success to date: "It took me a lot of time and energy, but now I have ten super motivated and creative minds. And with Oliver Schwab and Christoph Oertli, who recently joined the company as partners, the agency management is now also excellently organized." Back is only satisfied when everything fits together one hundred percent.
Anne-Friederike Wilhelm
In a nutshell
Thomas Back
* 27.7.1976 in Münsterlingen
1994 - 2000 Training and
Working as a psychiatric nurse
1998 - 2000 Higher technical college/management in healthcare
2000 - 2004 Face AG for communication design, Frauenfeld
since 2004 Streuplan AG, Zurich
This approach has already won over customers from A for Apple to B for Beiersdorf and C for Credit Suisse to Z for Zweifel. And all this without Streuplan ever having advertised its services. The agency looks after a total of 14 large and medium-sized companies that are well-known in the Swiss and international arena. In addition, advertising agencies regularly involve Streuplan in their projects as a specialist for BTL: "We are always on board with campaigns from Wirz in particular, but we also work with Assai, Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett and Matter & Gretener." Back prefers to be at the table from the very first meeting: "Projects run best when everyone involved is on board from the outset. Above all, it is important that those responsible for BTL and traditional advertising work closely together and draw up the media plan jointly. Print, radio, poster and TV advertising and BTL measures must be coordinated. This is the only way for a campaign to be effective."
Of trees and cows
Streuplan masters the entire BTL range: the agency does ambient, conversational and cross-marketing, runs guerrilla and viral marketing, has expertise in product placement, sponsoring and sampling, understands mobile and point-of-sale marketing, builds communities and organizes events and promotions. Thomas Back loves the night-and-fog campaigns that convey their messages with a wink and still deserve the name guerrilla. In 2008, the agency worked with Wirz to hang coconuts in the trees on Bahnhofstrasse for Kuoni. A poster with the slogan: "What's wrong here?" was emblazoned on the trunk. Anyone who didn't notice the mistake was clearly ready for a vacation. Around Euro 08, Streuplan put brown cows in red robes for Mars. On their bellies, the cozy ruminants bore the message: "Hopp. Power to the fans." Unfortunately, guerrilla advertising like this is rare, regrets Back. "Many companies lack the courage to pull off such campaigns, even though they have a strong brand and good products. A little more cheekiness and self-confidence would be nice."
Often all it takes is a clever idea that demonstrates a keen eye for the target group: On the Nivea website, young girls can design a top entirely according to their own ideas. The best design is selected, mass-produced and sold via the Chicorée fashion chain. The campaign hits the mark, as many young women dream of becoming a star and making it big. With the "Be a top designer" promotion, they see their chance. The campaign is the most successful online campaign of the Beiersdorf cosmetics group worldwide and was developed and implemented by Streuplan. The design tool has been running in Switzerland for several years.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating
Streuplan is also strong in sampling and product testing. The agency cooperates with fashion store chains, associations and hundreds of other advertising partners, where it regularly places products to try out. Streuplan has just devised a promotion for a new Nivea deodorant: Volunteer testers are encouraged to compare the new deodorant with their previous one right under the armpit - one on the left, the other on the right. "We want to convince people, not promise them the blue sky," explains Back. "And the best way to do that is to let people try out the new product." Streuplan also operates close to the consumer in mobile marketing: "In the past, if you wanted to take a test drive, you went to the car dealer. Today, you see a poster with a dashing convertible, send a text message and receive a serious offer for a test drive within 24 hours. Back and its ilk make sure that this works. Streuplan is working flat out on MMS services. "However, MMS campaigns are not yet really accepted," admits the Streuplan boss. "They simply cost too much and are usually more complicated to implement than SMS or online measures."
The distribution planners also know their way around media creation: With a keen nose and the necessary specialist knowledge, they develop ideas as to which media their clients could still earn money with. The fact that airlines could sell advertising space in loudspeaker announcements or in live commercials played by the flight attendants are just two of Back's ideas.
At universities, Streuplan employs so-called brand ambassadors. These are usually marketing students who regularly drum up publicity with targeted campaigns. "At Easter, for example, we hide Apple products throughout the university, and at Christmas we offer a kind of Advent calendar with a chance to win," explains Back. "The campaigns follow a plan that we work out with our customers beforehand."
A feel for people
Thomas Back is a trained psychiatric nurse. He is good at empathizing with people and their needs. It's not that difficult, he says, you just have to look closely: "Why, for example, are giveaways always distributed at Zurich main station? There are dozens of train stations in the canton. Passers-by in Zurich get something pressed into their hands every day, they don't even care anymore. Wouldn't it be cleverer instead to have a quick chat with a lady or gentleman at Freienbach station, who are always at the platform a few minutes early anyway, and hand them a product sample? Then they get on the train to Zurich and have 15 minutes to get to grips with the product and our message."
Back and his team scrutinize every step they take with the question of whether and how their campaigns work. They not only want to create funny and exciting campaigns, they also want to prove to their customers that the measures work. Back has just hired a neuropsychologist. He is familiar with the direct and indirect effects of advertising and will support Streuplan in measuring success and developing new communication tools in the future. "We try to understand consumers," explains Back. "We want to know what makes people tick when they walk into Migros or the Coop and what they expect from companies and products."
Advertising through the front door
Thomas Back ended up in advertising by a roundabout route. After training as a psychiatric nurse and working in psychiatry for three years, he longed for a new challenge. In 2000, he joined Face, an agency for communication design. "Face was a pioneer in the development and marketing of ambient media," says Back. However, clients wanted more: integrated overall concepts, bolder advertising that left the classic paths and brought added value to those being advertised. "Face was unable to fulfill these wishes," recalls Back. "But I was interested in this area. That's why I founded Streuplan." In 2004, Streuplan was the first agency to combine BTL with classic advertising. Today, the creatives are either hired as BTL experts or they take on the development of a campaign as a general contractor, from the idea to consulting and conception through to implementation in classic and BTL, including performance measurement. "With our own in-house creative department, we have recently been able to design the promotional materials, advertisements and online presence for the concepts we develop ourselves," says Back. "This meets a major need of our direct customers."
Thomas Back taught himself the knowledge he needs as an advertising guerrillero. Nine years ago, there was no training, let alone in-depth reading material on BTL. "I gleaned a lot of theoretical knowledge from the Internet, often visited America and looked at how they do it there," says Back. "I also owe a lot to my first customers. They had courage and trust in me. This allowed me to gain experience and learn a lot while implementing projects."
Involving consumers
Streuplan has had great success with its way of appealing to consumers - despite the flood of advertising that inundates us every day. Back's secret: "Consumers know exactly what they want and what they don't want. That's why companies need to involve their customers and ask them: How do we reach you? How do you want to be addressed? Do you want a poster or a newsletter? Do you want to test products before you buy them? Do you expect vouchers, discounts? Companies need to find out all this about their customers. It takes a little courage, but on this basis a successful campaign can be developed - and a lasting relationship with the customer can be built."
Thomas Back counts finding the right employees for Streuplan as his greatest success to date: "It took me a lot of time and energy, but now I have ten super motivated and creative minds. And with Oliver Schwab and Christoph Oertli, who recently joined the company as partners, the agency management is now also excellently organized." Back is only satisfied when everything fits together one hundred percent.
Anne-Friederike Wilhelm
In a nutshell
Thomas Back
* 27.7.1976 in Münsterlingen
1994 - 2000 Training and
Working as a psychiatric nurse
1998 - 2000 Higher technical college/management in healthcare
2000 - 2004 Face AG for communication design, Frauenfeld
since 2004 Streuplan AG, Zurich
Old hands will remember: Mediaplan used to be called "Streuplan" - hence the name of the agency. Streuplan has been a public limited company since June, and Back's partners are Christoph Oertli and Oliver Schwab.
Thomas Back likes to work. And he likes being at home. "When I come out of the office and see my daughter, all stress is gone immediately," says the father of fifteen-month-old Seraina. "There's no quicker way to switch off."
