Since 1997, BoB has stood for outstanding communications work in the business-to-business sector from Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

The 22-member jury, made up of experienced B2B specialists from the DACH region, will meet in Nuremberg in March 2022.

More and more public transport users are buying their tickets by smartphone instead of at ticket machines. With the new ZVV app, this should now be particularly uncomplicated.

Whereas previously two separate apps had to be used for ticket purchase and the timetable, the two functions are now combined in one app. In addition, the user interface has been revised and made even simpler. So simple, in fact, that it is now child's play to travel by public transport in Zurich.

The advertising campaign developed by Serviceplan Suisse takes up this promise literally: On the subject, the new ZVV app is operated by a baby. The visual was conceived by the Zurich agency and implemented as CGI by Illusion in Bangkok - baby bacon included.

The campaign has been running since Monday on ticket machine screens and as indoor public transport advertising.

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Responsible at ZVV: Lukas Tenger (Head of Marketing), Peter Schilde (Marketing Communications). Responsible at Serviceplan: Hanning Beland, Günter Zumbach, Carina Kienzle (creation), Victor Borel (image editing), Marcin Baba (executive creative direction), Selma Caglayan, Dominic Häuptli, Edi Walker (consulting), Pam Hügli, Raul Serrat (overall responsibility); Illusion (CGI).

The label "spin doctor" suits him well, says David Schärer, advertiser and co-founder of the agency Rod communication. He is passionate about developing campaigns that are close to his heart and garner media attention.

 

Anna Kohler, m&k: "Advertiser". Is this title still up to date?

David Schärer: I feel quite comfortable with the term. Communicator:in of the year would still be an alternative. But advertising is actually our core business. Advertising for attention.

 

You started with Rod as a threesome, now the agency has joined the Farner agency network. Do you have to defend the boutique approach?

We remain boutique, but Farner gives us much more options in the offer. What makes Rod a boutique is that we have a strong culture, we work with the right people. I still think it's relatively a lot of life time that you spend with your colleagues and colleagues, and it must be right.

 

Are you a service provider or a seducer?

More like seducers. Despite the time we work with funnels, customer journeys, algorithms and performance concepts. We can't miss the aspect of magic. And for me, that has something to do with seduction, because it can move people in the end.

 

Where do you see the reasons for being nominated for "Advertiser of the Year"?

It's probably the entrepreneurial achievement. Rod has now been on the road together for fourteen years. And I believe that in that time we have also succeeded in reinventing ourselves time and again and in creating campaigns that make a difference. When we succeed, we are particularly pleased. Because it means that we've been able to change something with communication.

 

What inspires you?

I try to get involved with things that take place outside the industry. I'm very interested in philosophy and literature. Politics is a passion of mine. I try to read a lot and take input from it and develop my own thoughts from it, which then flow into my work.

 

What bores you?

Related to the job, I get bored when people say, "We've always done it this way."

 

Together with the FOPH Rod the Corona communication designed - how creative could You be there?

I have a hard time with the term creative as a measure of quality here, because it's fuzzy. We don't make art. What we do is purpose-driven, so it should be the answer to a communication problem. I liken the Corona campaign to flying on sight. Always anticipating what is important in the next two weeks. For me, the Corona campaign is an example that you can achieve a lot with what we do.

 

How would you describe your leadership style?

I would say generous. That is a value that is important to me. I want to give people the confidence to take their space for their own ideas.

 

Which accents would you as "Advertiser of the Year"?

The term advertising sometimes has something disreputable about it, and I think that's unjustified. Because it's such a great industry that's also a huge opportunity for young people. And I would use the title to put that in the shop window.

 

Anna Kohler, Editor-in-Chief of m&k and Werbewoche.ch, got to the heart of the three nominees in the "Off The Record" video podcast. Below you will find the interview with all nominees in full length - as a video or audio podcast.

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Campaigns Rod Communication

The new Annabelle - For everything that women are

2019 has media type Annabelle was taken over by Tamedia and relaunched at the beginning of 2021. The launch campaign by Rod Kommunikation has highlighted the new self-image of Annabelle communicates. (To the article on Werbewoche.ch)

Tally Weijl - #fuckexpectations

With "Totally me. #fuckexpectations" the fashion brand Tally Wejl has launched a rebellious campaign together with Rod Kommunikation that shows what it thinks of social expectations. (To the article on Werbewoche.ch)

Ikea Switzerland: A construction manual for going to the ballot box

In the 2020 vote on paternity leave, Ikea Switzerland launched a Yes campaign. Rod Kommunikation has created a typical Ikea construction manual for the campaign. (To the article on Werbewoche.ch)

Federal Office of Public Health: Coronavirus Campaign "How to Protect Yourself

For the FOPH, Rod Kommunikation launched the largest information campaign in Swiss history. Various awareness, solidarity and vaccination campaigns were carried out in 2020 and 2021.

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Information on all nominees, the "Advertiser:in of the Year" election and a full-length video interview can be found at here. The online election will start on Tuesday, October 19, 2021 via newsletter. All subscribers to the Werbewoche and m&k newsletters are eligible to vote. Register here for free. The final winner of the "Egon" trophy will be determined 50/50 by the newsletter readership and the "Advertiser of the Year" jury.

In 2016, Maurizio Rugghia, together with Daniel Zuberbühler and Florian Beck, founded the agency Sir Mary. Previously, he was Managing Director and Partner of the agency Serranetga - now Equipe - for five years; other professional stations were Serviceplan and Assai/Wirz. Maurizio Rugghia is married, father of two children, and lives with his wife. Family in Zurich.

 

Anna Kohler, m&k: "Advertiser". Is this title still up to date?

Maurizio Rugghia: I don't necessarily see myself as a typical advertiser. More as an entrepreneur with a flair for digital and communication. What is still good advertising today? TV commercials, TikTok channels or even the latest product feature? The term is changing.

 

There were five of you when you started Sir Mary, and now the agency has over 40 people. Were there any growing pains?

For us, it's "Power of Creativity rides with Power of Data" and that takes people. So we have always seen growth as an opportunity. Our challenge: We want to think innovatively and digitally networked, and still deliver quickly and easily. This combination is difficult to reconcile, and at the same time it is the great need of our customers. To achieve this, we invest a lot in our culture and people.

 

Are you more of a service provider or a seducer?

I would say both. Advertising is a symbiosis between magic, emotions and data. But who are we doing it for? For people - and people are emotional beings. If you as a brand can't trigger emotions, can't manage to seduce, then there will be no sales. Every customer journey starts with desire.

 

What do you think are the reasons that you are nominated for "Advertiser of the Year"?

Because the agency model with which we entered the market five years ago has been confirmed. Because we have been able to grow quickly and continue to serve clients who have been with us since the beginning. And because we are able to solve complex tasks for well-known brands. That makes us very proud.

 

What inspires you?

Free space. For me, that means unscheduled, task-free time. You need that for good ideas. That's what I tell my children when they complain about too little program. Enjoy the boredom!

 

What bores you?

People who don't ask questions. Interacting with so many different, talented people is a privilege of our profession. We all need to listen more.

 

How would you describe your leadership style describe?

I try to express my wishes as clearly as possible. With an almost unshakable faith and trust in people's abilities and good will.

 

Which accents would you as "Advertiser of the Year"?

We need to ask ourselves much more intensively how we can use digitization to solve our customers' communication problems and further develop our business model. This requires a broader transfer of know-how within the industry and an open approach to answers. I am committed to this.

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Campaigns Sir Mary

CSS "Hello Life

With "Hello Life", the Zurich-based agency Sir Mary has created a new positioning for CSS Insurance. The extensive launch campaign aims to inspire people to deal openly and positively with their personal destiny. (To the article on Werbewoche.ch)

Share your Fire Alliance

Original jerseys in which Swiss sports greats such as Roger Federer, Nicola Spirig, Kariem Hussein and Co. made sports history became 100 exclusive, handmade designer shirts. This Sir Mary campaign marked the launch of Allianz' global Olympic partnership. (To the article on Werbewoche.ch)

Allianz Global "Spark Confidence

For the digital activation, Sir Mary teamed up with various athletes who talk about their personal successes and failures in content pieces - and about who helped them on their way to more self-confidence. (To the article on Werbewoche.ch)

Samsung "Fold

Samsung "Epic Mode

BfU "Don't Mess It Up"

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Information on all nominees, the "Advertiser:in of the Year" election and a full-length video interview can be found at here. The online election will start on Tuesday, October 19, 2021 via newsletter. All subscribers to the Werbewoche and m&k newsletters are eligible to vote. Register here for free. The final winner of the "Egon" trophy will be determined 50/50 by the newsletter readership and the "Advertiser of the Year" jury.

Five years ago founded Andrea Bison with Alexander Jaggy Thjnk Zurich. Before that, she worked in Hamburg at Jung von Matt, Springer & Jacoby, Kempertrautmann and Thjnk. She has been nominated for Advertiser of the Year for the second time. A Swiss by choice, she is the mother of three children and lives with her family in Zurich.

 

Anna Kohler, m&k: "Advertiser". Is this title still up to date?

Andrea Bison: I would be in favor of a new title. The term "Werber" doesn't really encompass everything we do anymore, and it seems outdated. Apart from that, it would be good if we got away from German to pick up more on French-speaking Switzerland as well, and preferably gender-neutral as well. Agency Person(s) or Agency People of the Year, for example. That would also make it possible to award several people at the same time, who in the past have gone away empty-handed.

 

You founded Thjnk Zurich together with Alexander Jaggy. Now the agency is over 20 people strong. Growing pains?

Our goal has always been healthy, qualitative growth. But always with an eye on creativity. That is the core around which everything revolves. We try to manage healthy growth through culture, but also through the experience we brought with us when we started. We try to guarantee the quality that we have and to pass it on to the others and to live it in the team.

 

Are you a service provider or a seductress?

Even the most amazing seductress wants to get a good result in the end (smiles). In this respect, you can't take it apart. But of course it's very much about magic, all the more so because you can quickly get lost in the performance issue and then everything is only analyzed and judged soberly and according to figures.

 

Where do you see reasons for being nominated for "Advertiser of the Year"?

We've managed to create great campaigns for some very exciting brands that have really made a difference. That's our primal drive, to accompany brands on their journey and to give shape to them through ideas, and in the end to touch people with them.

 

What inspires you?

I'm especially inspired by children, because they don't have scissors in their heads yet. I think it's insanely great how they think. Children don't see any boundaries at all.

 

What bores you?

Smart alecks and know-it-alls. When someone thinks he already knows everything and is not open to new ideas, thoughts and inputs and is not willing to question things and see them differently.

 

How would you describe your leadership style?

Authentic, because that's who I am as a person, and that's why I'm very open and transparent with everyone. And secondly, I see myself as a coach for employees and for the team. My goal is to enable people to live out their talents, develop them and give them the space they need to make things happen.

 

What accents would you set as "Advertiser of the Year"?

The topic of equality is a big issue of our time. And I don't just mean the role of women and men. I think that we do not yet sufficiently exploit and perceive our role as communicators and the responsibility to be able to influence and change things through this. That is where I would like to set accents.

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Campaigns Thjnk Zurich

Edelweiss "Leave. Love"

With the new brand identity "Leave. Love" for the airline Edelweiss, the follow-up campaign to the Effie Silver winner "Been there. Done that." has been launched. (To the article on Werbewoche.ch)

Credit Suisse "Sure it's possible"

For the start of the European Football Championships, Thjnk continued the campaign for the CSX app for Credit Suisse. (To the article on Werbewoche.ch)

Ochsner Sport "Runtime

To encourage Switzerland to run, Ochsner Sport has launched a running podcast that you can only listen to if you are running yourself. Thjnk accompanied the launch with a campaign. (To the article on Werbewoche.ch)

Ochsner Sport "Share the fire

Ochsner Sport is a premium partner of the Swiss Olympic Team and, in conjunction with Thjnk Zurich, launched a campaign featuring well-known Swiss athletes for the Olympic Games. The campaign showed how they prepare for the Games. (To the article on Werbewoche.ch)

Denner "Everything there. Always close."

Hearty: For Denner's current TV campaign, Thjnk Zurich sent a baby to the supermarket to fetch milk. (To the article on Werbewoche.ch)

Helsana "Long live life

To launch the collaboration between Helsana and Thjnk, the agency created an image campaign for the health insurer that juxtaposes two contrasting emotions. (To the article on Werbewoche.ch)

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Information on all nominees, the "Advertiser:in of the Year" election and a full-length video interview can be found at here. The online election will start on Tuesday, October 19, 2021 via newsletter. All subscribers to the Werbewoche and m&k newsletters are eligible to vote. Register here for free. The final winner of the "Egon" trophy will be determined 50/50 by the newsletter readership and the "Advertiser of the Year" jury.

In this interview, they show their colors. What inspires them, what about their management style, which ads have had the greatest impact on their careers? And what would they tackle as "Advertiser:in of the Year"? Andrea Bison from Thjnk, David Schärer from Rod Communication and Maurizio Rugghia from Sir Mary are available to answer questions.

Your vote counts! As Subscriber:in our newsletter you can vote from Tuesday, October 19, to Monday, October 25, for the "Advertiser of the Year" 2021/22. All information about the award and voting is available at here.

The audio versions of the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcast and other audio platforms (Podpage):

How are your brands perceived by consumers in your competitive environment? Are you reaching the desired target with your advertising campaigns? These and other questions are relevant to marketing decisions, and the new Swiss Brand Observer provides the answers.

In conversation with m&k Stefan Reiser, Managing Director Marketing Research at Link, and Prof. Dr. Reto Hofstetter, Professor for Digital Marketing at the IMA, present the innovative tool.

 

m&k: What makes the Swiss Brand Observer so unique?

Stefan Reiser: The tool is the first of its kind and uses 2,000 representative interviews each week to continuously measure consumer perceptions of the Swiss brand landscape throughout the year. A large number of brands from various segments are examined. This provides marketers with a comprehensive picture of their own brands, competing brands and new, emerging brands, and enables continuous measurement of success in the relevant marketing environment.

Reto Hofstetter: This weekly representative survey is unique in Switzerland. For the first time, managers have the opportunity to compare their own marketing expenditures with a point-in-time evaluation and to analyze the success of the measures in a modern approach.

 

Which brand characteristics are queried?

Reiser: The study offers more than 20 of the most relevant KPIs from the customer's perspective - for example, brand awareness, consideration, customer satisfaction, and willingness to recommend. Furthermore, topics such as sustainability, "Swissness", and advertising and PR perception are surveyed.

Hofstetter: The study's KPIs are based on scientifically sound concepts. Technical key figures such as visits or CTR are thus supplemented by further important information on brand perception. We are convinced that this will have a positive impact on marketing decisions. In addition, the data will provide exciting insights for future research projects in digital marketing.

 

How does the tool work for end users?

Reiser: Users can analyze the results of the surveys at any time via a self-service dashboard within the scope of their license by target group, over time, and for their own and third-party brands. The data is automatically updated in the dashboard on a regular basis and is thus permanently available to marketing managers. In the dashboard, there are predefined application areas such as brand funnel, brand image, brand positioning and advertising & PR perception as well as individual evaluation options. In addition, it is possible to create favorites with preferred filter combinations. Thus, users are able to provide answers very quickly when management demands quick answers, e.g., how a current campaign is performing or what impact a media scandal is having.

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You can find out more about the Swiss Brand Observer at Swiss-brand-observer.ch.

m&k: Wolfgang Beltracchi, while we are talking here in Lucerne, Mr. Beltracchi, a hundred kilometers away the "Art Basel" is just being dismantled ...

Wolfgang Beltracchi Ah, okay.

 

From your reaction I conclude that you have not looked at the fair?

No. First of all, I don't have time. Secondly, I don't do that to myself.

 

At the latest since your 2016 performance at the fairgrounds, you're not so popular there either, I would imagine?

At that time, we had rented rooms in the hotel across the street and showed my own pictures there. Only three or four days, until the beginning of the fair - then we were sold out and already dismantled again. But at the VIP opening of Art Basel, we stood on the fairground with eight people, all wearing T-shirts with the inscription "I Am Not The Real Beltracchi". We didn't move, didn't speak to anyone. Nevertheless, we were insulted - the head of the German Gallerists' Association even came to me personally to say some very savage things to my head. That was quite funny (laughs).

 

The gallery owner's anger was probably not only directed at your performance - but also at your past activities?

Yes, exactly. And the fact that I exist at all. That's enough for "them". Then of course they also saw that my own pictures were already all sold. And that also made them angry. By the way, we filmed the performance with a French crew and took photos. The photos went around the world. Saturday in the Le Monde was a report on Art Basel, a double-page spread, so (makes a sweeping motion with his hands) a large photo of Beltracchi, and so (moves hands again) a report about me. It was mentioned in passing that Art Basel is also taking place right now and a few artists are there (laughs). However, not another word was said about them.

 

It seems like you have a knack for crashing parties.

All the big TV stations approach me every time before Art Basel, or Art Cologne - and want to walk with me through the fair; do an interview with me while I walk through the fair. I don't do that. Because that can end quite badly. I can only imagine that it can end really badly.

 

Are art fairs an "appealing" place for you because they exemplify the nature of the market? Or because you may do little with the works shown there?

I once said to my wife in front of a stand of a large gallery: "Look at what is shown here first. Actually, you could get a container now, throw all the junk in there, that would not be noticeable at all. Wouldn't it?" And then the gallery owner was standing behind us and realized that. She also knew us (laughs loudly). I also know from an employee of a gallery there that they sent one of their artists just one day before the opening to "produce" something else. He then stole two garbage cans and packed them at the stand. Someone even bought them for expensive money. True story.

 

You can make money with garbage?

You can make money with it. Ultimately - as far as your comment about the trade show performance is concerned - I won't do that again. I did it once to show them, look, I'm still here. And I make a lot of money with my art, without you. I don't need you. I don't need all your hype. You know, I've always been like that. I'm one of the few artists who doesn't need this art market.

 

Do you still meet true collectors at art fairs, true passion, or is it all just business?

Of course, there is such a thing. Collectors who are really passionate about their objects. And I didn't say that everything at trade shows is junk. That is certainly not the case. I have a few collectors who are really addicted. I have already said to one of them: "No". He bought several paintings and then wanted to buy another one, and then I said, "No. Now is good. Think it over for two weeks and then we'll talk again."

 

But you prefer this passion to the pseudo-intellectualism that you attribute to large parts of the art industry?

That's the worst thing anyway. Pseudo-intellectualism and educational arrogance go hand in hand.

 

It's not the heart that decides what pleases - it's the head that decides what should please: Why do many recipients allow this reading of art to be forced upon them?

I don't know either. The Swiss are perhaps a bit different. But the Germans are not only obedient to the authorities, but also ignorant of education. That's the highest good for them: education. And if someone has an academic degree, at least that was always the case in the past, then they listened to him. He was right anyway. And that is still ingrained in people somewhere. And the more complicated and incomprehensible the chatter is, the more people believe it. Most people can't even imagine that supposedly smart people can talk so stupidly that you don't understand anything anymore. And that's what is taken to such bizarre extremes in the art industry.

 

So you prefer to spend time with people who have nothing to do with the industry?

In any case, I enjoy meeting people who are not like those described above. These can also be people who nevertheless have a lot of knowledge. I had one here who wrote many books about the Renaissance - Professor Bernd Roeck from Zurich. The man has a real clue, not only about history. And then it's fun. It's like talking to the philosopher Sloterdijk and he says, "Well, we can discuss it, but you don't have enough books to talk to me. (laughs) That's real intellect, there's something behind it. That's simply true. But this chatter that many members of the art business give off, this stupid chatter about art that isn't art at all - I just find it ridiculous. And it always only serves sales and business.

 

Are online sales platforms and new forms of communication now helping to democratize the art world?

The assumption is not entirely wrong. I have sometimes said that in recent years, because I think we are in a process of evolution as far as art is concerned - and a very rapid one at that. What has happened in the past twenty or thirty years is this: Through digitization and all the computer stuff, which I don't really know anything about. (laughs)... more and more people have begun to occupy themselves with art. To study art. But they don't learn how to draw in their studies - the professors haven't been able to do that for a long time - they don't learn any craft. But that's not a bad thing, because computers are taking over little by little. And in ten years' time, the computers will perhaps make the better art. The more beautiful pictures. They're not ready yet.

 

But there are two hearts beating in your chest - on the one hand, you lament the loss of artistic craftsmanship. On the other hand, you say that computer art is on the rise - and you sound quite conciliatory!

Yes, you are right, of course. But I am a living anachronism. I'm old now, slowly coming to the end of my life. And I've mastered my craft. But there are hardly any people left who can do what I can do. A pity? Yes, that is a pity. At the same time, it's a fact. Young people today use technology, use computers, to not only simplify their work on art - they create with it. Their understanding of creativity is different from the one I have. Everything has its time, doesn't it?

 

What is the source of your creativity?

First and foremost, the knowledge. About the art of the past. And literature, music, everything that goes with it. We have maybe five thousand books here, or even more, all about art. We collect them. We buy books practically every week. Because that's important for us. You can't find that on the net. You have to look, you have to search, you have to look. That's important for every new project. The knowledge that you accumulate. What you deal with, what you learn from again and again. That is a good foundation. Then there's the ability - the skill. You have to work hard to acquire the ability to make this art. It took me at least ten years.

 

But your "absolute eye", or as you call it, your "genetic defect", did you have before?

I have always had that. Whereby I would be careful with the term "absolute eye". There was this American gallery owner, Richard L. Feigen. And he wrote a book about the art industry around the turn of the millennium. In it, he claimed that he had an absolute eye. He could see immediately whether something was a fake or not. What can I tell you ... he had several pictures of us. So that's done with the absolute eye (laughs).

 

Today, you are also sometimes asked for your expertise when museums or collectors suspect forgeries, right?

I was sent a photo here asking if I had painted the picture of Carlo Mense, a German expressionist. I only have to look at it once. Then I know: This is no Carlo Mense. Because Carlo Mense could not paint as well as the picture looks.

 

But it's no Beltracchi either.

It is also no Beltracchi. I did paint a Mense once. But this (holds a photograph up to the light) is a picture that he did not paint. I can see that right away. After all, the people who sent it to me think I could paint such a great picture. Well, that's nice.

 

You say you can put yourself into pictures - become one with them and thus also with the handwriting of the other artists. Is that an uplifting feeling, or does it cost you strength above all?

I already had this way of seeing as a child, without noticing it right away. I grew up on the edge of a forest, and I was six when I first noticed that there were cars. So I was very influenced by that environment. It was quiet, I didn't experience much, nothing bothered me. And then we moved away, to the Rhineland, and I was exposed to all this... life. At that time, I immediately started sleepwalking. Every night. I couldn't process all these external impressions. Because I have such an extreme capacity for absorption. And it took me years as a child to shut that down so that I wasn't always so look. Today my wife says to me, "You're not seeing anything again!" I keep tripping over things. I run into things somewhere. Why? Because I don't look "properly". The moment I start to look properly, it strains me terribly. And then it floods me and it becomes almost too much for me. I can't go to a museum and look at all the pictures at once. I go there and look at one. Or two.

 

That sounds really exhausting - but it also led to your first "career".

What I can do through that is: I can recognize the handwriting in a picture. When I look at a picture, I know how he or she did it. How did he or she move? That's what I always say: Painting comes from movement and time. When I now look at (points to the left with his hand) I have a completely different stroke and style than when I do the same (points to the right with his hand) I do it with the other arm. Or I do it with the other arm, then it's different again. All of this becomes handwriting. Like when you write a letter. Movement, time, material - and that's how a picture is created. And when I stand in front of it, then I see that. Then I can assimilate that. I take that in. I don't even have to look at it consciously, I just look at it. And then I can paint that painter. No matter which painting.

 

Media always like to look for easy narratives. You've been branded a "master forger" - but the work you do seems to me to transcend forgery by far. A bit like Mozart, who had an absolute ear back then, but knew how to evade all social conventions ...

Musicians actually approach me frequently. I am also often invited by musicians, or they write to me. There are quite a few musicians who have written pieces for me. From rap to chamber music, everything. Because they draw these comparisons.

 

Does art have a meaning?

Absolutely. That would be bad if it weren't so. Then I would be sitting here now after seventy years and would have to say that my life had no meaning, at least in that respect. I have now occupied myself mainly with art. Moreover, a journalist once asked me this question, slightly modified. He wanted to know: "What is true art? I said that "true" art is art that saves lives. That makes life beautiful. Or that simply gives pleasure. For some years now, a man has been writing to me who is completely paralyzed - he can only move his mouth. He said he didn't want to live anymore, but then he saw my series (The Master Forger, 3 Sat 2017, editor's note). and then said that I could do that. I can still do that with my mouth. And then he and his family started to try it out. That's what I told the journalist at the time. I picked out a picture like that, didn't say what was wrong with the man, I showed him the picture and said that this is "true" art, because it saves lives. Oh, he didn't understand that. He didn't want to.

 

He wanted a universal value judgment or some kind of criteria set.

That doesn't exist anyway. And that's also the point. There was once a nice documentary about the "value of art". I'll tell you frankly: There is no value of art, there is only a price of art. You know the price, the painter costs so and so much. That is the price. But that has nothing at all to do with a value. Let's take the Salvator Mundi, we know the price now, 450 million US dollars. What is the financial, real value of this painting? If you ask me: around 10,000 US dollars. Artistically, it's worth nothing anyway, because it's scrap metal. (laughs). But it cost $450 million. That's the price, but it's not the value. And so it is with many things.

 

So the market acts detached from the actual content of the art?

Many people buy art because they see it as an investment, and they pay an inflated price. You have to know one thing: In this business, there are always people who want to sell something above all else. Like everywhere else. They want to sell this art at a high price. And as expensively as possible, in order to earn as much as possible. Simple business. Voilà. Practically everything you see on the market in terms of big events are not controlled outliers. You have to take that with a lot of caution.

 

You mentioned beauty in art, several times already. Can performing art, can images "capture" - even immortalize - beautiful moments?

Yes, definitely. I think it's great that you're bringing this up now. That's one thing I'm very concerned with - the "power of images. That's simply what I call it now. Images have an extreme power. If you can read them correctly and if you can "get into them" ... I experienced that when I was ten years old, that I saw an old master painting in The Hague. My first visit to a museum. It was a winter landscape with lots of people in it, by Haverkamp. And I smelled the fire and heard the children and those skates. It was like a movie for me. I even got cold. And then I went back out with my aunts and thought, "This is why people go to the museum, this is crazy!" I didn't talk about it at all because I thought it was normal. And those are moments that art captures forever. And I was talking about this earlier with a good friend, exactly about this. That we always have moments in our lives that we may not even realize at the moment. But they are extremely beautiful, extremely important. Not important in the sense of money or something like that. No. Important, because they stick with us and are memorable. And when you're fifty years older, you still think of that moment. Or that image. I have thousands of images in my head. Thousands and thousands. I don't know how many images I have stored in my head. And I can call them all up. And then there are so single ones, where I go once. Also in my dreams. That's another defect I have. I can dream consciously. I dream myself somewhere at night. Let's say I go into a picture like that and I'm there. That's like cinema for me. I can direct that, too. And that's why I'm sometimes very tired in the morning. (laughs).

 

Lucid dreams, I believe, is what the experts call it.

I do that very often. And that was absolutely normal for me as a child and also later. I didn't even know that others couldn't do that. But it was never enough for me. This power of images, it's quite crazy. We have so many ideas in our heads about different things. Let's say paradise. If you are a believer and you think of paradise, you have a certain idea. Everybody has a different one somehow. Now imagine that you have a picture that really represents paradise. And you could go into this picture. That's what pictures are capable of! They can take you to another time, to another life. It's quite insane.

 

The writer Peter Kurzeck comes to my mind - here in Switzerland he is rather little known, he also never made the big breakthrough in Germany - who wrote very impressively about how he imagined dying: Like looking at a picture in which a tiny wanderer is walking through a hilly landscape; and all of a sudden, as a viewer, you yourself become this wanderer and walk into the picture, into the light....

That's an interesting idea, it's not new either: all the famous gurus that were around, you know how they all died? They sat down and said, "I'm leaving now." And then they left. And they went somewhere they wanted to go. The spirit just left the body and at that moment the body died. In deep hypnosis you can reach a similar state, into an image, another time. It just gets harder and harder the further away you go, away from your own epoch, your own life. I experiment with such states, with me they always, always have to do with images.

When do pictures reach their limits? The core of mysticism, at least that's what philosophers like Karl Jaspers say, no one can paint anymore, no one can write or say. It can perhaps be experienced, in rare moments, but ...

...perhaps experience, yes. But I can't paint it the way one would have to paint it. And I have painted so much in my life, I should know it (laughs). Leaving the body to go into images - I still do that often. For me, the "normal" consciousness, the "normal" state that we are sitting here now, is very questionable. That this really "is" now. Who is telling me that? It doesn't have to be. It may be, it may not be. One does not know it. One really doesn't know. We coined the term time, we invented it. We used it to create a framework for ourselves.

 

Aristotle would say you have retained a philosophical wonder in your view of the world.

I am not a philosopher...

 

I would disagree.

...but I have a lot to do with philosophers. I just did a podcast with Richard David Precht. Markus Gabriel wants to visit me here in the studio. Only: All this doesn't go far enough for me. I have this feeling of moving outside of time more and more often. I'm tracing it now, even beyond words and images.

 

Do you feel freer today than before, in your "old life"?

In a way: yes. Not because of the legal process. Not because I don't do forgeries anymore, not at all. That has nothing to do with it at all. I feel freer because I move more freely in my head. And I simply know more, I know more precisely where things are going.

 

Weren't the artists' handwritings, which you virtually imposed on yourself, also sometimes a burden for you?

No. You have to look at it this way, I haven't painted many pictures. Sometimes one, sometimes two or three. Above all, we lived. I've had a great life. Very exciting, quite wonderful. Well, we got a bill afterwards, but when you see fifty years of a great life and then this bill... you can cope with that. Someone who goes to work in the factory every day gets a different bill. Through this story and afterwards, of course, I've met a lot of other people; a lot of interesting people who I like to talk to. Who like to come to me. What luck that is! When we talk, they're often surprised at where it leads - it's not just the art I'm talking about today - but the art or the paintings have somehow opened a gate for me, through which I now look through with pleasure.

 

Have you ever wondered what it is about you that fascinates people so much?

I think, first and foremost, that I am who I am. That I never tell, do or pretend anything that I am not really. And that I treat every person the same. Really everyone. And I also have no false "respect" for whether someone represents this, this or that. It does not interest me. I am only interested in the person and nothing else. And money, no one can come to me with that. With such things, here my yacht and there my airplane and such shit ... with these things I never had anything to do. I always tell people: "I once lived in a fur coat for two years. It was a nice time too." I don't regret that, it was really nice. But today it's fine the way it is. Today, although I'm earning a lot of money with my art again, it could be completely different. That's not what really interests me.

 

You refuse to form your own artistic signature. You want to constantly reinvent yourself in your own art. Not interested in artistic immortality, Mr. Beltracchi?

No.

(Beltracchi's wife, who has been listening from the beginning and commenting in places, intervenes).

Helene Beltracchi: What we actually want to leave behind, again and again, is the pleasure of art. The completely normal way of dealing with it. And that this "deification" finally comes to an end.

Wolfgang Beltracchi: People go to my exhibition and then ask: "Which picture is yours? That one? That's beautiful!" And then I say, oh, that's high praise! They're all mine, but that you ask extra, that's great. Because I actually never, ever paint the same pictures twice. I always start from scratch. I don't find it creative to reproduce myself over and over again.

Helene Beltracchi: Wolfgang is also not annoyed by people. When an exhibition takes place, he stands there; when someone asks a question, he explains it to them in detail and then all of a sudden there are five, fifteen, fifty, a hundred people around him and he keeps explaining. And the people just have the feeling afterwards that they have understood something. And that they had fun with art.

Wolfgang Beltracchi: Do you remember, in Munich, we were there on the last day of the exhibition of Joaquín Sorolla ... a Spanish painter whom I hold in very high regard. And then I met with two or three people there to explain it to them a bit. I was always a fan of this painter. And then when we were in there, I started to say something about the paintings. Why he is called the "painter of light" and how he did it, that everything looks like that. And then first there were ten people, then twenty, then fifty. Then there was a question. And then they all went along, further and further from picture to picture and listened. They didn't read any more of what was written on the funny boards, no. They really wanted to know, "Why is that? What makes this picture by that painter different from that one, and why? How did he do that?"

Helene Beltracchi: No learned art historical knowledge, but just like that.

Wolfgang Beltracchi: No one else can tell you that.

 

Because you are able to describe it "from the inside".

Wolfgang Beltracchi: I see that, I know that. And because, of course, I also know these techniques and how he did it. That's exciting for people, of course. To hear how he actually did it. How long did it take him to paint this or that. I can tell them exactly, to the half hour.

Helene Beltracchi: And Wolfgang always weaves the artists' stories into it. He humanizes the artists. Then they tell about the rheumatic complaints and about this and that ailment, and people realize that these were actually living people who painted the pictures.

Wolfgang Beltracchi: Painted by people for people. And not for art dealers.

 

You mentioned your 3Sat program earlier, in which you portrayed celebrities. Who would you like to paint personally one day, from the present or the past?

Wolfgang Beltracchi: Jimi Hendrix. I would have liked to paint him. I would have liked that.

 

And is there a painting you've always wanted to do but haven't yet?

Wolfgang Beltracchi: I don't know. Well, whereas: There are a few pictures in my head that I still want to paint. There are. There are especially a Picture that I will still paint: I will paint my very own idea of paradise. I've had it in my head for a long time. I don't mean it religiously at all, as it is written in the Bible. I mean a place that is so beautiful and where there are all kinds of things that are also beautiful and peaceful, a paradise. I will still paint that. In any case.

Helene Beltracchi: I don't know how to picture it.

Wolfgang Beltracchi: I will describe this to you once. I need the painting anyway, I have to paint it because that's where I want to go. I want to be able to take people there. So that they have this beautiful experience. I'll always be able to do that myself, but I want to do that with others. Because that's something you never forget in your life.

Helene Beltracchi: Has anyone ever come back from paradise?

Wolfgang Beltracchi: Lene, you can't look at it that way. You're only going there in spirit.  (looks at her) You are here.

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You would like to experience Wolfgang Beltracchi live? Then register now for the Swiss Post Direct Day toAmong many other exciting guests, he will appear there and talk to Rainer Maria Salzgeber about his eventful life.

If you would like to learn more about and from Helene and Wolfgang Beltracchi, we recommend these two books: the autobiographical exposé "Self-Portrait" and "Enclosure with Angels," which contains the couple's prison letters. You can also find more information on Wolfgang-beltracchi.com.

The Humanitas Foundation in Horgen offers adults with disabilities a wide range of work and educational opportunities as well as places to live. Back in spring 2021, Humanitas contacted the Boostr agency from Zwillikon with the idea of producing its own Jerusalema Dance Challenge film together with the foundation's residents and employees. Not to put another Jerusalema film online, but to offer clients and employees an unforgettable community experience.

Boostr has been working for the foundation for several years, producing the corporate images for the annual reports. The agency knows many of the residents personally by name and has been able to build up a good relationship with each individual over the years and experience many emotional stories.

The project was to focus on just one topic: Pure emotion and a beautiful story for the clients of the Humanitas Foundation. A film that covers all areas of the foundation and in which everyone can participate.

According to Boostr, the planning and implementation differed significantly from any other film production. Although clear tasks were assigned, the film production was ultimately characterized by spontaneity and individuality. Concrete dance steps, sequences or choreography were practically impossible to plan - with the exception of the employees. So Boostr simply let the cameras roll and captured the residents' enjoyment of the music.

The result is a film that reflects how well the residents received and participated in the project.

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Responsible at the Humanitas Foundation: Urs Ammann (Managing Director). Responsible at Boostr: Markus Mallaun (camera & editing); Serpil Mallaun (production management).

What does Kaltbach cheese actually taste like? In its current campaign, Emmi Kaltbach asks consumers this question. It turns out that the question is not so easy to answer. Michu, the Kaltbach cave master, knows that too. Because: The strict selection, the maturing in the cave and the special cave brine give Kaltbach cheese its unique character. And this is difficult to put into words. That's why Michu's advice to everyone is: It's best to try the Kaltbach cheese for yourself and indulge in the pleasure of the cheese without any big words.

The difficult question of taste

The brand campaign is a continuation of the campaign launched in 2018 on the refinement steps that Kaltbach cheese undergoes in the cave and through the expertise of the cave masters (Werbewoche.ch reported). In 2021, the focus is now on the indescribable character of the cheese.

During the filming, the consumers interviewed had the opportunity to learn everything about the cheese-making process on a guided tour through the cave, which is several kilometers long. However, three moving image spots are intended to show that this knowledge does not necessarily help in describing the unique taste.

The campaign will be played out online in German and French in different variations and lengths in Switzerland as well as internationally. This includes social assets as well as shoppable ads and YouTube pre-roll ads.

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Responsible at Emmi: Sarah Larwood (Global Category Head), Christian Achermann (Global Marketing Manager), Andrea Banz (Head Brand and Category Management Speciality Cheese Switzerland), Luisa Odermatt (Brand Manager Kaltbach Switzerland), Roland Ziswiler (Head of Operations Kaltbach). Responsible at Jung von Matt Limmat: Philipp Klink, Jehmsei Keo, Tobias Röben (Text), David Hanselmann (Art Direction), Mutasin Grabenhorst (Graphics) Philipp Siegenthaler (Strategy), Andrea Braschler (Consulting), Rob Hartmann (Executive Creative Director), Luitgard Halg (Executive Creative Director), Thomas Steiner (Chief Client Officer). Responsible at Chocolate Films: Michela Trümpi (Producer), Gabi Benz (Line Producer), Lukas Wälli (Camera/Direction), Christoph Menzi (Editing).

Under the campaign claim "Up is better than down," Films from Outdoors stages for the mountain sports and outdoor retailer the great emotions that can be experienced when you're out in thin air and powder snow.

The core of the campaign is a cinema spot that runs in the context of the current James Bond film. This is supported by video flights on various online platforms. To target enthusiasts of specific sports - for example, ski tourers, freeriders, and snowshoers - on social media, there is also a series of specific videos for the respective target group.

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Responsible at Bächli Bergsport: Jan Maurer (Marketing Manager), Gernot Böttinger (Digital Marketing). Responsible for Films from Outside: Tom Malecha (Creative Direction & Photography) Stefan Dux (Camera).