Campaign of the year: "Successful creativity simply grips better".
Jean Etienne Aebi on Publicis Zurich's 2001 Campaign of the Year
Jean Etienne Aebi on the campaign of the year 2001 by Publicis, Zurich "Successful creativity simply works better"
Even though Jean Etienn Aebi has already won many prizes, he is particularly pleased about the Campaign of the Year 2001 award because "it fits into our time in the most beautiful way".
Congratulations on being named Campaign of the Year 2001. How do you feel?
Jean Etienne Aebi: It's almost a bit like 20 years ago, when we won everything there was to win with the Toni Yogurt campaign. With this campaign, we have achieved the ultimate goal that we always strive for: Not only to design new variants within the same strategy, but also to create a new and surprising implementation. You can't do that every year with every client and every campaign. The current appearance for the Zurich Transport Association (ZVV) is based on the same idea as last year's campaign, which worked perfectly. "I'm also a..." has become a catchphrase in no time. In the new implementation, we actually moved the streetcar to the lake and put the ship on the road. People immediately recognized the hook.
And what is the mood at ZVV?
Aebi: They are delighted that this is the first time an advertising campaign that they have launched has made such a big impact. The previous campaign won an Effie, was awarded silver by ADC Switzerland, won a World Medal in New York and received the Public Transport Innovation Award, a competition in which the marketing concepts of public transport companies are compared.
How did the campaign come about?
Aebi: We came up with this idea relatively quickly. It is the result of a wonderful encounter: namely a client who is enthusiastic about creative solutions and demands them, and an incredibly simple and succinct conclusion. The fact that a streetcar says it is not just a streetcar is astonishingly simple in an almost idiotic way. Not even the headline is particularly original. Now that we've seen enough streetcars with "I'm also a ship" written on them, we came up with this trivial "reverse thrust". We said: "Now we'll just show a streetcar crossing the lake" - on double-page spreads and billboards.
Are you surprised that a performance that meets the requirements of the Art Directors Club (ADC) has become Campaign of the Year 2001?
Aebi: No, not at all, and I think it's significant that the campaign has been a hit with both experts and the lay public. I am still convinced that truly successful creativity - and not creativity as an end in itself, not an overwrought gag - i.e. a genuinely original, independent, irreplaceable and astonishing idea, simply works better with the public. It confirms me and everyone else who believes that reduced, concise ideas have the greatest impact. I don't want to get philosophical, but this campaign fits in beautifully with our times because it's fun and funny without being forced or overly gimmicky. I am really pleased that such a generously simple idea has become Campaign of the Year 2001.
Interview: Ernst Weber
Even though Jean Etienn Aebi has already won many prizes, he is particularly pleased about the Campaign of the Year 2001 award because "it fits into our time in the most beautiful way".
Congratulations on being named Campaign of the Year 2001. How do you feel?
Jean Etienne Aebi: It's almost a bit like 20 years ago, when we won everything there was to win with the Toni Yogurt campaign. With this campaign, we have achieved the ultimate goal that we always strive for: Not only to design new variants within the same strategy, but also to create a new and surprising implementation. You can't do that every year with every client and every campaign. The current appearance for the Zurich Transport Association (ZVV) is based on the same idea as last year's campaign, which worked perfectly. "I'm also a..." has become a catchphrase in no time. In the new implementation, we actually moved the streetcar to the lake and put the ship on the road. People immediately recognized the hook.
And what is the mood at ZVV?
Aebi: They are delighted that this is the first time an advertising campaign that they have launched has made such a big impact. The previous campaign won an Effie, was awarded silver by ADC Switzerland, won a World Medal in New York and received the Public Transport Innovation Award, a competition in which the marketing concepts of public transport companies are compared.
How did the campaign come about?
Aebi: We came up with this idea relatively quickly. It is the result of a wonderful encounter: namely a client who is enthusiastic about creative solutions and demands them, and an incredibly simple and succinct conclusion. The fact that a streetcar says it is not just a streetcar is astonishingly simple in an almost idiotic way. Not even the headline is particularly original. Now that we've seen enough streetcars with "I'm also a ship" written on them, we came up with this trivial "reverse thrust". We said: "Now we'll just show a streetcar crossing the lake" - on double-page spreads and billboards.
Are you surprised that a performance that meets the requirements of the Art Directors Club (ADC) has become Campaign of the Year 2001?
Aebi: No, not at all, and I think it's significant that the campaign has been a hit with both experts and the lay public. I am still convinced that truly successful creativity - and not creativity as an end in itself, not an overwrought gag - i.e. a genuinely original, independent, irreplaceable and astonishing idea, simply works better with the public. It confirms me and everyone else who believes that reduced, concise ideas have the greatest impact. I don't want to get philosophical, but this campaign fits in beautifully with our times because it's fun and funny without being forced or overly gimmicky. I am really pleased that such a generously simple idea has become Campaign of the Year 2001.
Interview: Ernst Weber
