The new Passugger campaign is a tribute to the poster art of days gone by
Passugger posters created by Walker were unveiled Thursday at the Museum of Design.
The setting could not have been more fitting. The guests, who were invited by Walker and Passugger to the presentation of the new poster campaign at the Zurich University of the Arts in the Tony-Areal, marveled in advance at the graphic masterpieces of the exhibition "Macht Ferien!" on the occasion of the anniversary of Switzerland Tourism during a guided tour by curator Bettina Richter. From Augusto Giacometti to Hans Erni and Herbert Leupin - the Swiss tourism lithographs were respected worldwide and ahead of their time.
Various tourism posters show animal motifs. Squirrels, foxes and, above all, Donald Brun's leaping little lamb on the famous poster "Spring Trips" - in 1945, it stood not only for spring, but also for departure and rebirth after the gloomy war years.
At the subsequent unveiling of the new Passugger campaign by Pius Walker and Passugger CEO Urs Schmid, it was immediately clear that the new posters, on which eight graphic artists around Walker had worked for two and a half years, are a tribute and homage to the heyday of Swiss advertising graphics. The three subjects with fox, hare and owl look deceptively real like originals from the era of the great tourism posters. Animals, beautiful landscapes, coherent design. And even the agency has "signed" in the handwritten style of a great artist.
The customer has always shown a great deal of patience in the process of creation, says Pius Walker, praising the collaboration with Bündner Mineralquelle, which is once again independent thanks to local investors and no longer belongs to the Danish beverage multinational Carlsberg.
Because of the high scattering losses, they don't do much in the area of advertising - but when they do, they do it well, says CEO Schmid, explaining the strategy away from fast-moving and loud communication. "As a brand, we don't want to be among the fast and greedy. Rather, the company sees itself in a niche that it is convinced has a future.
The target group is clearly defined: It is those people and distributors who are interested in the meat, vegetables or water they sell and drink. They enjoy an independent, sustainable source, the beautiful glass bottles - or the attractive, detailed posters.
Incidentally, these will be included in the permanent poster collection of the Museum für Gestaltung. This pleases not only agency head Pius Walker, but also curator Bettina Richter. In her speech, she says that the number of posters that are suitable for the collection and whose archiving is worthwhile from a design perspective has not necessarily increased recently, to put it mildly. (hae)
Responsible at Passugger: Urs Schmid (CEO Passugger), Patrik Hemmi (CMO Passugger). Responsible at Walker: Cornelia Nünlist (Consulting), Roland Scotoni (Art Buying), Catherine Elf (Project Management), Stefanie Huber (Graphics), Sarah Hauenstein (Graphics), Delia Guerriero (Illustration), Willi Oberhänsli (Graphics), Pius Walker (Graphics), Jenny Grundberg (Graphics), Markus Roost (Illustration), Nayara Pally (Graphics). Responsible at the ZHdK: Bettina Richter (Curator Museum of Design), Christian Brändle (Director Museum of Design).
