Off on a promotional trip!
Daniel Donati has renamed his company Code_Agentur to ZürichTokio and plans to focus more on traditional advertising.
Daniel Donati has renamed his company Code_Agentur for Communication to ZürichTokio and plans to focus more on traditional advertising. All forms of communication make use of codes. That’s why «Code» was the ideal name when freelance designers Daniel Donati and Reto Gehrig joined forces as a creative duo ten years ago. The agency grew rapidly: by 2001, Code already had seven employees. That same year, Daniel Donati and Reto Gehrig were ranked 40th by the SonntagsZeitung in its highly regarded «Heads of the Year» list. This recognition was sparked by a campaign for the Migros Culture Percentage, a CD cover for the newly famous Lovebugs, and several awards won right off the bat when Code first submitted work to the ADC. For example, they won a gold award for the fashion book “The Skin I’m in.” Thus, Code evolved into a success story with 14 employees, international renown, and exciting clients—and yet this Code is no longer valid.
«If you stand still and rest on your laurels, you’ll get your butt scratched,» says Daniel Donati. At the same address and with mostly the same team, he has now launched a new agency called ZürichTokio. He realizes that such a relaunch could lead to «misinterpretations» in the industry. But: «There has to be movement—that fits our concept.»
Building a new company is «much more exciting than running an existing one» for the current sole owner, Donati says. He therefore didn’t mind the decision to wipe out the brand recognition he had built up in one fell swoop. «Ten years ago, the goal was the right one. Today, it’s no longer the case. Now we want to break new ground.»
With the ZürichTokio brand, Donati aims to create a new world of its own. After all, that’s exactly what the company does time and again for its customers. The focus here isn’t primarily on Tokyo, even though, for Donati, Tokyo «has been setting the standard in design and technology for 20 years.».
Rather, the entire ZurichTokio brand is based on the concept of travel. There are several reasons for this: For one thing, the agency has a very cosmopolitan character, and it draws inspiration from all over the world. And second, the creative process is like a journey: You have a destination in mind, set out on the journey, and are then constantly driven forward by curiosity and a thirst for discovery. This means you’re always on the move, constantly searching for new perspectives and interesting possibilities.
For every project, every client, and every product, ZürichTokio aims to create a unique world of its own. Accordingly, the agency’s guiding principle is: «creating new worlds.» They’ve only come up against the limits of the new name once, Donati says with a smile. That was when Ryo Kawaguchi, the Japanese graphic designer who works for him, answered the phone for once and identified himself as “ZürichTokioRyo.”.
While Donati’s work used to be primarily graphic in nature, ZürichTokio is now set to become «more comprehensive and a bit broader and bigger.» «We have top talent and great potential. We now want to fully tap into that and leverage it with more full-service offerings.» Donati thus hopes to be able to apply what has proven successful as a design concept on posters to radio commercials or TV spots in the future.
Using visual imagery that «gets right to the point,» the long-established agency has already produced classic advertising campaigns for Manor, Swiss Olympics, and Xbox. A project for Mercedes-Benz in Stuttgart is serving as a pilot campaign for accident management across Europe. In the area of branding, Donati’s team has just designed a new logo for Swiss television’s *Rundschau* and *Reporter* programs.
The agency, which has traditionally been design-focused—12 out of 14 employees were graphic designers—is now set to become more professionally diverse. However, ZürichTokio intends to remain particularly strong in the area of the young target audience. After all, this consistently attracts young employees from all over the world to the agency. And they always have the latest trends up their sleeves. «We want to bring this potential into traditional advertising,» explains Donati.
Andreas Panzeri
«If you stand still and rest on your laurels, you’ll get your butt scratched,» says Daniel Donati. At the same address and with mostly the same team, he has now launched a new agency called ZürichTokio. He realizes that such a relaunch could lead to «misinterpretations» in the industry. But: «There has to be movement—that fits our concept.»
Building a new company is «much more exciting than running an existing one» for the current sole owner, Donati says. He therefore didn’t mind the decision to wipe out the brand recognition he had built up in one fell swoop. «Ten years ago, the goal was the right one. Today, it’s no longer the case. Now we want to break new ground.»
With the ZürichTokio brand, Donati aims to create a new world of its own. After all, that’s exactly what the company does time and again for its customers. The focus here isn’t primarily on Tokyo, even though, for Donati, Tokyo «has been setting the standard in design and technology for 20 years.».
Rather, the entire ZurichTokio brand is based on the concept of travel. There are several reasons for this: For one thing, the agency has a very cosmopolitan character, and it draws inspiration from all over the world. And second, the creative process is like a journey: You have a destination in mind, set out on the journey, and are then constantly driven forward by curiosity and a thirst for discovery. This means you’re always on the move, constantly searching for new perspectives and interesting possibilities.
For every project, every client, and every product, ZürichTokio aims to create a unique world of its own. Accordingly, the agency’s guiding principle is: «creating new worlds.» They’ve only come up against the limits of the new name once, Donati says with a smile. That was when Ryo Kawaguchi, the Japanese graphic designer who works for him, answered the phone for once and identified himself as “ZürichTokioRyo.”.
While Donati’s work used to be primarily graphic in nature, ZürichTokio is now set to become «more comprehensive and a bit broader and bigger.» «We have top talent and great potential. We now want to fully tap into that and leverage it with more full-service offerings.» Donati thus hopes to be able to apply what has proven successful as a design concept on posters to radio commercials or TV spots in the future.
Using visual imagery that «gets right to the point,» the long-established agency has already produced classic advertising campaigns for Manor, Swiss Olympics, and Xbox. A project for Mercedes-Benz in Stuttgart is serving as a pilot campaign for accident management across Europe. In the area of branding, Donati’s team has just designed a new logo for Swiss television’s *Rundschau* and *Reporter* programs.
The agency, which has traditionally been design-focused—12 out of 14 employees were graphic designers—is now set to become more professionally diverse. However, ZürichTokio intends to remain particularly strong in the area of the young target audience. After all, this consistently attracts young employees from all over the world to the agency. And they always have the latest trends up their sleeves. «We want to bring this potential into traditional advertising,» explains Donati.
Andreas Panzeri
