Marco Genepretti has found his dream job as Co-Head of Marketing and Sales at TeleZüri and Radio 24. He became nostalgic for a moment during the World Cup. Many of the stars who drew millions to the screen were once his colleagues. "They were no better than me," muses Marco Genepretti. That was back in the days when the current "Libero" worked in marketing for the two companies TeleZüri and Radio 24 as a dual national and was also allowed to play as a striker in both the Italian and Swiss national teams. U15 - and you were still young then. His father, a seasoned banker, nevertheless preferred his son to switch from his football dream to a commercial apprenticeship at Credit Suisse. What was not lost in the switch, however, was the will to deliver top performances away from the stadiums.
The career changer - from the bank to Tamedia - now wants to prove this in the media. A new team is being formed here. The name Belcom as the advertising marketer of Radio 24 and TeleZüri is to be mothballed. Instead, in-house marketing will be massively strengthened with two new marketing and sales teams. In addition to "builder" Tarkan Özküp, "striker" Marco Genepretti has been at the helm of both separate sales teams as a member of the management board for a few months now. Both are strategically involved and are jointly responsible for budget planning.
Marco Genepretti bubbles over with enthusiasm when he talks about his new job. He has now found his dream job. "The fastest two media and lots of people in a great team where everyone can contribute creatively. In a company where thinking along is even expected." When the editorial team comes up with a concept, the marketing department bundles the ideas and turns them into a strategy. "We are allowed to operate in free structures. And we feel how the product grows every day." As co-responsible for marketing, Genepretti also likes the way he is involved in every step of the process: Idea, financing, production, broadcasting and finally checking whether the customer liked it.
Not only the medium, but also the financing of radio and private television is "very fast-moving", explains Genepretti. If a topic becomes topical and ideally even develops into a series of reports, a sponsor sometimes has to be found within just three weeks. Such sponsorship stories - within the framework of Bakom, of course - are important for TeleZüri because the spots are "almost fully booked" at 78 percent. Genepretti's large network of contacts naturally helps him with this kind of new business. The young manager has also been able to build this up in illustrious circles in the course of his past in the banking world.
His career worked like a "continuous flow heater". After completing his commercial apprenticeship at Credit Suisse, he did not continue in the back office as usual. Genepretti was allowed to join CS in Witikon as an assistant to the investment advisor. "Forced luck" - because he had worked hard for it - stayed with him when his boss changed jobs after six months. Genepretti was allowed to take over the portfolio. "A throw in at the deep end," he looks back. "I had to assert myself." It was a tough time, as many initially distrusted the young snob. "Credibility is the big thing in the relationship with the customer," Marco Genepretti has known ever since.
Two years later, at the age of 23, he was able to switch to private banking within CS. Now he was looking after clients and companies from one million upwards in Investment Consulting. Buying shares, making options - everything had to work even faster. The young banker often had his clients on the phone every day. He also accompanied them to events from the opera to the Formula 1 pits and "learned a lot from these personalities from a wide variety of sectors". It fascinated him to "start a business" with such entrepreneurs quickly, spontaneously and yet in a planned manner. But somehow he also "got into this business too early".
Genepretti was therefore not tempted to move up another customer class for the next few years "and then spend the rest of his life with a nice little house by the lake". Whether team leader or later regional manager: "The business would always have remained the same..."
The original ball artist hoped to broaden his horizons by moving abroad. Genepretti moved to Dresdner Bank. He looked after German customers for their Swiss branch from Zurich. "An intensive and relaxed time", during which he worked more on planes and in cars than in his office. Nevertheless, he lacked the momentum. "At the bank, you don't have the opportunity to go your own way or change a strategy." The ideas come from above. You have security in return, certainly more so than in the media, "where an interesting job is often also an ejector seat..."
It fills Marco Genepretti with pride that he is now co-responsible for the marketing of two channels that he was a passionate fan of at a young age. The offer as a career changer came about because the seemingly restless Genepretti not only completed a degree in business administration at the University of Applied Sciences in Zurich in his spare time alongside the bank.
Another hobby was organizing events. In his mid-teens, Genepretti DJed at Kaufleuten or Rohstofflager, mixing his way into the party scene and also had a hand in organizing the Street Parade and various balls at the Hotel Baur au Lac.
At these companies, the banker not only supplied the sponsors, but also looked after the media. This ultimately brought him into contact with Markus Gilli and Tarkan Özküp. They saw more and more potential in Genepretti as a player - and finally gave him a steep pass. Now they want to score goals together.
Andreas Panzeri
