When advertisers still made ads
Agencies Fifty years ago, André Berner founded Werbe & Verlags AG. The Zurich-based pioneer looks back.
Agencies Fifty years ago, André Berner founded Werbe & Verlags AG. The Zurich pioneer looks back. "Advertising is not just publicity where you write that something costs 5 francs. Advertising works with ideas and strategy." This insight was known only to insiders when André Berner entered advertising with his first agency in 1955. Together with Viktor Cohen, the head of Advico in Zurich at the time, he came up with the idea of founding a company with the promising name Informaktion. "It was a composition of information and action. We were doing what is now called event marketing." The first thing Berner did in those pioneering days was to develop strategies for milk utilization from eastern Switzerland. He supervised these creative "actions" on the side, because in his main job Berner was "head of advertising - as they used to say back then" at the Zurich office of Hollywood producer Paramount.
Curiosity as the driving forceThe 79-year-old originally studied architecture. But because his father was editor-in-chief and publisher of the "Schweizerische Filmzeitung," André Berner had to - or rather was allowed to - work as a reporter in addition to his studies, interviewing the film stars from Hollywood who were increasingly traveling to Switzerland. "My father was a shy guy. I was very curious. So these meetings with the stars naturally fascinated me."
Alfred Hitchcock, the "Gone with the Wind" producer David O. Selznik and many other screen greats regularly used Switzerland as a base for their promotions throughout Europe at that time. Shortly after the war, Zurich was able to offer the best infrastructure of all surrounding countries, spared from bombs, with its airport and the Dolder Grand Hotel.
His good manners with the stars earned André Berner a job as advertising manager at Paramount in 1947. He earned 750 francs a month in those days. When his bosses in faraway America didn't want to see that a small pay increase was due after a few years, Berner told his Zurich boss: "Then they won't notice in New York if I take Wednesday afternoons off in the future!" André Berner used the time he gained, which was soon joined by Thursday and Friday afternoons, for his own activities.
Apart from the brief interlude with the Informaktion at Advico, the founding of Werbe & Verlags AG on January 27, 1955 was to become his most enduring project in the field of advertising. The idea was: a common poster for all Zurich cinemas. The Zurich Cinema Association wanted to limit the experiment to six months. One cinema owner deliberately put the wrong start times in his ad. When the audience promptly wanted to storm the cinema at the wrong time, the association was convinced of the effect of this new type of advertising.
Today, the agency on the fourth floor of the Corso building in Zurich provides this collective advertising not only for cinemas but also for theaters and concerts. In addition to the posters, the so-called magnet has come as a collective advertisement in various newspapers. Some activities are also running in Winterthur, Basel, Bern and Lucerne. As a further diversification, Werbe & Verlags AG today also supplies all Tamedia newspapers as well as several publications in Germany with the daily columns for the TV and radio program. On the Internet, the Berner company, which was transferred to son Thomas in 1994, is present with Agenda www.kulturinfo.ch. The agency employs 18 people. In the graphics department, 90 percent of all cinema ads for Switzerland are designed. Junior boss Thomas Berner is now also president of the Zurich Cinema Association.
It was "not necessarily only in America" where André Berner found the know-how for such ideas early on. Still, he likes to remember an advertising course he took in New York in 1956. "We were received like kings because Swiss poster graphics were very famous at the time. Donald Brun, Herbert Leupin ..."
From 1957 onwards, expert discussions about advertising took place regularly at the "Weissen Kreuz" near Stadelhofen station. Together with friends such as the graphic artist Fredy Sigg, André Berner founded the "very first advertising club in Zurich. They met once a week for lunch.
André Berner also founded the Zurich Jazz Festival in 1951. Ueli Prager and his Mövenpick were involved as sponsors "or patrons, as they were still called back then". Because the gastronomic pioneer Prager was impressed by Berner's ideas, he also offered him a job as head of advertising. But Prager's start of work with his entourage at six in the morning was not André Berner's style. As a person of evening entertainment, he preferred to rediscover his knowledge from his architectural studies. Berner was responsible for the remodeling of legendary night clubs such as Joker in the Kongresshaus, Red House, Kings Club and Mascotte in Zurich. In Lucerne, Bern or Montreux, he has restyled the casinos.
As an architect, he often preferred to agree on a profit share of five percent on the additional turnover after the renovation rather than a fee, so he later became co-owner or at least a member of the board of directors of various pubs. He owned the Mascotte in Zurich from 1955 to 1985, before Berner was able to sell the storied pub below his current office to Freddy Burger.
From 1968 to 1984, André Berner realized the Zurich Fashion Ball. In 1968 he created the Prix Walo with Walo Linder, then head of entertainment at Swiss Radio Beromünster.
"But these things were always just hobbies. I knew that the advertising agency was the stable part of my work. Something like that could also be carried on by my son one day," says André Berner. Nevertheless, he sees himself as an outsider in the industry. "Because the company name has the word 'publisher' in it, I've never really been accepted into the advertising scene - because as an advertiser, you're not allowed to be a publisher yourself."
But this is probably no longer written so clearly in the textbook at the courses in New York that André Berner once attended.
Cultural advertising in red, green and blueIn 1955, André Berner received the first signed contract back from a cinema owner to promote his idea of a joint poster
of all Zurich cinemas. Today, after 50 years, in addition to the red posters for Cinema, green posters for concerts and blue ones for theaters stand out everywhere throughout the city of Zurich. At the same time, Werbe & Verlags AG is present in all important newspapers with the collective advertisements Magnet for Cinema, Theater, Museums and Concerts.
The idea of collective advertising for Cinema has also been realized by the agency in Winterthur, Basel, Bern and Lucerne. The theater posters are also available in Basel.
All of this collected information also feeds into the www.kulturinfo.ch website.
Defying the short-lived nature of the industry with Werbe & Verlags AG: André Berner and son Thomas.
André Berner, Hazy Osterwald, Walo Linder and Stapi Landolt (from left) inventing the Prix Walo.
Lilo Pulver with André Berner during one of the numerous interviews for the Schweizer Filmzeitung.
Andreas Panzeri
Curiosity as the driving forceThe 79-year-old originally studied architecture. But because his father was editor-in-chief and publisher of the "Schweizerische Filmzeitung," André Berner had to - or rather was allowed to - work as a reporter in addition to his studies, interviewing the film stars from Hollywood who were increasingly traveling to Switzerland. "My father was a shy guy. I was very curious. So these meetings with the stars naturally fascinated me."
Alfred Hitchcock, the "Gone with the Wind" producer David O. Selznik and many other screen greats regularly used Switzerland as a base for their promotions throughout Europe at that time. Shortly after the war, Zurich was able to offer the best infrastructure of all surrounding countries, spared from bombs, with its airport and the Dolder Grand Hotel.
His good manners with the stars earned André Berner a job as advertising manager at Paramount in 1947. He earned 750 francs a month in those days. When his bosses in faraway America didn't want to see that a small pay increase was due after a few years, Berner told his Zurich boss: "Then they won't notice in New York if I take Wednesday afternoons off in the future!" André Berner used the time he gained, which was soon joined by Thursday and Friday afternoons, for his own activities.
Apart from the brief interlude with the Informaktion at Advico, the founding of Werbe & Verlags AG on January 27, 1955 was to become his most enduring project in the field of advertising. The idea was: a common poster for all Zurich cinemas. The Zurich Cinema Association wanted to limit the experiment to six months. One cinema owner deliberately put the wrong start times in his ad. When the audience promptly wanted to storm the cinema at the wrong time, the association was convinced of the effect of this new type of advertising.
Today, the agency on the fourth floor of the Corso building in Zurich provides this collective advertising not only for cinemas but also for theaters and concerts. In addition to the posters, the so-called magnet has come as a collective advertisement in various newspapers. Some activities are also running in Winterthur, Basel, Bern and Lucerne. As a further diversification, Werbe & Verlags AG today also supplies all Tamedia newspapers as well as several publications in Germany with the daily columns for the TV and radio program. On the Internet, the Berner company, which was transferred to son Thomas in 1994, is present with Agenda www.kulturinfo.ch. The agency employs 18 people. In the graphics department, 90 percent of all cinema ads for Switzerland are designed. Junior boss Thomas Berner is now also president of the Zurich Cinema Association.
It was "not necessarily only in America" where André Berner found the know-how for such ideas early on. Still, he likes to remember an advertising course he took in New York in 1956. "We were received like kings because Swiss poster graphics were very famous at the time. Donald Brun, Herbert Leupin ..."
From 1957 onwards, expert discussions about advertising took place regularly at the "Weissen Kreuz" near Stadelhofen station. Together with friends such as the graphic artist Fredy Sigg, André Berner founded the "very first advertising club in Zurich. They met once a week for lunch.
André Berner also founded the Zurich Jazz Festival in 1951. Ueli Prager and his Mövenpick were involved as sponsors "or patrons, as they were still called back then". Because the gastronomic pioneer Prager was impressed by Berner's ideas, he also offered him a job as head of advertising. But Prager's start of work with his entourage at six in the morning was not André Berner's style. As a person of evening entertainment, he preferred to rediscover his knowledge from his architectural studies. Berner was responsible for the remodeling of legendary night clubs such as Joker in the Kongresshaus, Red House, Kings Club and Mascotte in Zurich. In Lucerne, Bern or Montreux, he has restyled the casinos.
As an architect, he often preferred to agree on a profit share of five percent on the additional turnover after the renovation rather than a fee, so he later became co-owner or at least a member of the board of directors of various pubs. He owned the Mascotte in Zurich from 1955 to 1985, before Berner was able to sell the storied pub below his current office to Freddy Burger.
From 1968 to 1984, André Berner realized the Zurich Fashion Ball. In 1968 he created the Prix Walo with Walo Linder, then head of entertainment at Swiss Radio Beromünster.
"But these things were always just hobbies. I knew that the advertising agency was the stable part of my work. Something like that could also be carried on by my son one day," says André Berner. Nevertheless, he sees himself as an outsider in the industry. "Because the company name has the word 'publisher' in it, I've never really been accepted into the advertising scene - because as an advertiser, you're not allowed to be a publisher yourself."
But this is probably no longer written so clearly in the textbook at the courses in New York that André Berner once attended.
Cultural advertising in red, green and blueIn 1955, André Berner received the first signed contract back from a cinema owner to promote his idea of a joint poster
of all Zurich cinemas. Today, after 50 years, in addition to the red posters for Cinema, green posters for concerts and blue ones for theaters stand out everywhere throughout the city of Zurich. At the same time, Werbe & Verlags AG is present in all important newspapers with the collective advertisements Magnet for Cinema, Theater, Museums and Concerts.
The idea of collective advertising for Cinema has also been realized by the agency in Winterthur, Basel, Bern and Lucerne. The theater posters are also available in Basel.
All of this collected information also feeds into the www.kulturinfo.ch website.
Defying the short-lived nature of the industry with Werbe & Verlags AG: André Berner and son Thomas.
André Berner, Hazy Osterwald, Walo Linder and Stapi Landolt (from left) inventing the Prix Walo.
Lilo Pulver with André Berner during one of the numerous interviews for the Schweizer Filmzeitung.
Andreas Panzeri
