The universe "Reto Meyer

Basel, Klybeck quarter, urban with industrial charm, up-and-coming and lively. The first thing you notice when you visit the new location of the new Yellow agency is the huge Thomy lettering on the facade. "On the other side of the building hangs a huge plot of a mustard tube, which we know from advertising," says Reto Meyer with a smile. The Basel native likes it here: brick walls outside, industrial nostalgia; inside, lots of light, lots of air, few walls. Yellow only moved in four months ago, and the agency didn't exist before that. At least not in this form. Even though the company is still very young, it can look back on decades of history. It evolved from WS Kommunikation, which has existed since the 1980s, and BSSM Werbeagentur, which was founded in the 1990s. Reto Meyer is responsible for the fact that the two became Yellow. "It was unusual and challenging to have your own agency advise you on brand development. But I'm completely convinced by the result," says Meyer, laughing and leaning back.

The path to "Yellow" was exciting, he says. "The proximity to Dieter Meier and his band 'Yello' is not entirely coincidental," says the CEO. "In the course of the branding process, we developed the character traits that should characterize the future agency. In the process, avant-garde, cosmopolitan, creative, successful and musical emerged. Qualities that, in my view, Dieter Meier embodies". And that was the bridge to Yellow. "Yellow is also the color of communication, stands for openness, joie de vivre, creativity and curiosity. In the first phase, Yellow was indeed yellow. "This was too obvious to a colleague from the international agency network of which we are the Swiss representative." And because Yellow doesn't want to deliver the obvious, the color was questioned. After a brief period of multicoloring, they came across yellow's complementary color via the "think outside the box" property: violet. "After all, the color is not so simple: you love it or you hate it. Red and blue, fire and water, tension. Branding, however, is not a question of preferences, but is logically based on the brand values," says Meyer.

At home in Basel and the world

He has ambitious goals with Yellow: "We belong to the Leading Swiss Agencies and we want to fulfill that claim. But more in terms of creativity and quality and less in terms of size. Yellow has a rich portfolio of clients, but is likely to add a few more. His team is highly motivated and is looking forward to new exciting opportunities to prove its potential. Yellow has just strengthened its creative power with the experienced concept designer Marietta Albinus. The digital division is also set to receive personnel growth soon. "But we don't want to become a digital agency," Meyer holds firm, "but remain a strategic creative agency that can offer the whole package." And not just regionally: "We're at home in Basel and think our location is great, but we have a clear national focus and can also handle international mandates through our network."

From advertising assistant to CEO

The CEO was fascinated by advertising from a very young age: "According to my parents, I liked to watch a lot of commercials as a child. I made a game out of trying to guess the brand as quickly as possible from the commercials. You could say that the whole media and communications industry fascinated me from an early age," says Reto Meyer. After graduating from business school, he decided against studying and learned to be an "advertising assistant" in Biel. "That's when you realize that you're slowly getting older, because today it's called something completely different," he says with a laugh, smoothing his hair. After earning his first spurs at cR Basel, he still wanted to go to university. All the more so because it was possible to major in journalism in Zurich for the first time. "That really appealed to me, and so I began my studies with a minor in business administration and constitutional law. A good combination, because journalism was already very theoretical."

After graduating, which was around the turn of the millennium, the graduate got a "super interesting, but also super chaotic" job. "I worked for the Italian Internet provider Tiscali as communications manager and media spokesperson. That was a jump into the cold shark tank; I had to learn to swim very quickly," Meyer recalls vividly. After this instructive excursion, he went back to advertising as a consultant. To Schneider Berthoud, the forerunner of BSSM. The offer to become managing director of WS Kommunikation enticed him, so he left the consulting job at BSSM again. "I felt like developing the agency, trying new things. WS became my baby, for twelve years I worked in and for this agency." Two years ago, he says, contact was made with BSSM. Its owners Urs Schneider and Hannes Müller were looking for a successor solution. "This allowed me to take over both agencies in quick succession and merge them into Yellow," Meyer concludes about the history of his new agency, adding, "It was an exhausting few months, but rewarding, and the work-life balance is right again."

Hip hop and carnival

The agency head's interests are diverse beyond his new "baby." "I am a very sociable and pleasure-oriented person. But sports are also important to me; for 27 years I played badminton at a solid level, but now I do more endurance sports to clear my head," says the Basel native. And as a true Basler, he still has a hobby that is quite typical of Basel - or is it more of a passion? "I'm a Fasnächtler and have been drumming since I was very young. In the meantime, I'm in one of the biggest cliques in Basel, and I'm active there on the board as vice president." The carnival takes up a lot of space in Meyer's life throughout the year, because: After the carnival is before the carnival. He sees parallels between the carnival and his work, because it is also a "communication task", the respective subject must be played out coherently through the various channels, from the costumes to the lanterns to the slips of paper.

Reto Meyer is also at home in a completely different musical field: "As a 16-year-old, I started djing and had many gigs as a turntablist - yes, with scratching and such," he says with a laugh. As runner-up in the Swiss Championships, he took part in the European Championships in Amsterdam at the age of 18. "I decided against a DJ career for reasons of common sense. The potential to make more of it wasn't very great back then, in 1991," says Reto Meyer. He has never regretted his decision not to pursue a "professional career" and as a part-time DJ he could have lived out his passion in the same way. And he still does it today: "I don't DJ much anymore, and I don't do hip-hop anymore, but electronic music, but I still like to do it. Djing remains a part of me." A part that is also visible in the agency: there is a DJ booth in a prominent position. "Sure, it's also a gag, but it's certainly not just decoration," Meyer says with a smile. There is a lot more to the "Reto Meyer" universe. For example, his enthusiasm for art and design. "My wife works in the arts, we're both very interested in art, and with Art Basel we're at the source, so to speak, which is great," enthuses the father of two daughters, who provide a lot of variety and joy in his life.

Roles, no hierarchies

The importance Reto Meyer attaches to an open, transparent and modern working culture in his agency is not only evident in its setup. It is even more evident in their new organizational structure. "Over the past few months, I have been intensively studying organizational forms of companies because I wanted to get away from the 'classic' - do they even exist? - structures." For the past few weeks, Yellow has been working in role-based teams. Depending on the requirements of the project in question, teams are formed in which each member takes on a specific role or several roles and makes their decisions autonomously. "This system takes a lot of pressure off me; I have more freedom for other tasks. In addition, we are faster this way and can develop our power and potential optimally," says Meyer, who is pleased with the new organizational form. It works very well thanks to clearly defined rules. "The key to this type of organization is that each team is equipped with the necessary talents and each team member is informed about the progress of the project at all times," explains the CEO, who sees this role in a very classic way and defines his tasks accordingly: "The development of the creative agency is my job, and to do that I have to be able to go out and talk to people and tell them what makes the difference at Yellow. That corresponds to my talents. And what could be better than being able to use your strengths for the good of the whole?"

Text: Nora Dämpfle, Photos: Derek Li Wan Po

This article is from Werbewoche 16/2018. The "Head of the Week" section profiles influential minds in the Swiss communications and media industry.