"Maybe I would have become a cheesemaker"

1. you could swap your smartphone with someone else's for a day. Would you? And if so, with whom?

Yes, of course. Preferably with Christian Constantin. Then he can answer my media inquiries in French and I can buy a few good players for FC Sion.

2. what does not come to the office under any circumstances?

Agency dog. I'm happy to leave that to all the other cool agencies. And fennel.

3. what advertising should be banned?

Partly political advertising. Because, unfortunately, more and more voting committees are leaning on the SVP's fear-focused communication. This permanent negativism, the hurtfulness and the exclusion are annoying.

4. was there a moment in your life when you thought: Wow, that's great! And it's from me!

Yes, my two children. There is nothing better or comparable.

5. if you had not become a PR professional - what then?

Cheese maker or Maître de Fromage. Or maybe a mountain guide or diplomat ? Who knows.

6. is the opinion true that you can't grow old in agencies, or is that a prejudice?

You do get old, but probably just faster. And the hair sometimes stands on end before it falls out completely.

7. what is impossible for you to do without?

On cheese. And sometimes, in the middle of the afternoon, on a large pack of original Zweifel paprika chips.

8. what do you think about owned media?

Fortunately, these are becoming increasingly important. They create a counterweight between editorial media coverage and the dynamics of social media. They are a great opportunity for companies and enable them to share their own content and engage in direct dialog with target groups. The right content strategy and journalistic implementation are the be-all and end-all.

9. what do you never want to have to hear about yourself?

He treated me from above. I firmly believe that all people deserve respect and honest treatment.

10. What inspired you to enter the communications industry?

The entry was very coincidental. It was planned that I would go to Paris for a year to an international organization as a research assistant with a federal scholarship. Three weeks before I was due to start, however, the people in charge in Paris realized that Switzerland was not a member of the EEA and that I was therefore not allowed to work in Paris. The head of communications of the organization then said in an uncomplicated way that I should simply join him in the press office and travel back to Switzerland regularly. So this year abroad came about after all and I was allowed to build my first website in 1998.

11. why don't you conform to the usual clichés of an advertiser?

Because I'm a PR person through and through.

12. when you have an idea, how do you know it is good?

That usually comes out of the gut all of a sudden.

13. what do you think about adblockers?

Fortunately, there are. Then you can read the editorial part in peace.

Before Kilian Borter founded Open Up in 2001 together with Urs Thaler, he was a press officer at a major bank and headed the corporate publishing and event PR department. He studied economics and political science at the Universities of Bern, Zaragoza and Maryland. At Open Up, Kilian Borter mainly handles mandates from the financial sector and the telecommunications industry. His focus is on strategic communications consulting and the implementation of corporate communications measures. The communications and PR agency currently has twelve employees and is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year. The agency, which is owner-managed by the two partners Kilian Borter and Melanie Schneider, advises its clients on all aspects of public relations. The focus is on strategic communications consulting, development of content strategies, brand positioning, corporate publishing, media relations, online PR and internal communications.

The "13 Questions" appear both online and in the print edition of Werbewoche.

Implementation 13 Questions: Thomas Häusermann