The style expert

He is considered a cool dog. One of the advertisers who could pass for a designer, says a former work colleague about Lukas Frei. He appreciates beautiful things and is also very interested in culture, says another. An exceptionally good AD, a quality fanatic, a thoroughbred creative. Top styled, with a pocketkerchief in the breast pocket of his jacket, Frei sits in his office on Förrlibuckstrasse. White in white, a small stereo system is placed on the large oval desk. At the moment, no music is playing. But when Frei is working, the small speakers provide a fine carpet of sound. Reggae, dub, rocksteady, lots of black music in general, but also classical music or alternative rock.
 
The former Creative Director of Jung von Matt/Limmat is to help Scholz & Friends Switzerland shine more creatively. In contrast to Germany, where the network is based and is one of the top creative addresses, Scholz & Friends has so far only partially succeeded in landing in Switzerland in creative terms. On the one hand, the agency, which was previously under German management, was not perceived enough as a Swiss address. On the other hand, the emphasis under former CEO Wolfgang Steinhaus was on consulting. The creative side of the business was a drag. Several changes at the creative helm were the result. With Martin Samsel, who moved from Jung von Matt/Limmat to Scholz & Friends a good year ago and took over as CEO in October, and Frei, who joined in November as managing director of creative, the turnaround is now to be mastered.
 
Frei and Samsel are a proven duo. For the past eight years, they have worked together on several clients at JvM/Limmat and previously collaborated at McCann Erickson Zurich. A consultant and a creative who get along well. Not a matter of course, says Frei with a smile.
 
Samsel is the strategist, the communicative consultant who likes to tell stories. Frei, on the other hand, is more reserved. Samsel describes him as a disciplined and committed creative who acts thoughtfully. He is always insanely well prepared for presentations, he says. A self-confident type who doesn't fall over at the first headwind, but remains steadfast and pursues his goal.
 
However, Samsel also paints the picture of a creative who likes to explore distant countries on his motorcycle and, in contrast to his well-planned everyday life, prefers to drift there - alone, independent, without plans or structure. When Frei is asked about this, he offers insight and begins to talk about his countless trips to the Caribbean. Not for too long, but he reveals that in his early 20s, after art school in Basel, he spent six months in Jamaica painting signs for bars and restaurants. Frei was taken with the vibe. The way people interacted with each other, how they made a lot out of little thanks to their creative improvisational talent. Be it in music, in their very own street style or in pragmatic business ideas to survive. A culture in which he immersed himself quite deeply.

But in essence, such adventures are among the things Frei doesn't like to flaunt. He likes to share them with friends. For others, he lets them shine through. For example, by noting "extensive travel" in his profile or "Jamaican patois" in his language skills. Frei and Samsel are two different characters who nevertheless have a lot in common. Not only when it comes to the orientation of the agency or the definition of quality. And that's exactly why they work so well together. "The total package is better than the sum of its parts," Frei says. Samsel is then also the reason why CD decided to leave JvM/Limmat, which meant a top address for him until the end. "I had reached a point where I was open to a new environment." With Samsel, he had been able to imagine starting his own agency for some time.

In a way, this has now become reality. The management team at Scholz & Friends has been completely restructured. At the same time, Samsel and Frei are taking over the agency in the knowledge that they have a strong international brand behind them. They maintain a collegial exchange with the German offshoots. For special tasks, they make unbureaucratic use of the power of the family network, especially the 35-strong strategy group or the specialists in CI/CD issues. But also the classic creation team, if necessary. Nevertheless, the agency, which is comparatively small by German standards with just under 50 employees, is valued by its large colleagues in the north, says Frei. "Our work is followed. We're not the little sister who has to be helped because she got hit in the head at the Chindsgi." Scholz & Friends has already seen its first successes in acquisitions since Frei's arrival. At the end of the year, the agency won the two-stage pitch from Engadin St. Moritz and is currently working on a summer campaign. It has recently worked for Credit Suisse, Sunrise, FC Basel, Opel and Emmi.

For the future, Frei would also like to have clients from the fashion and lifestyle sector, among others, for which he has a high affinity due to his past, when he worked for clients such as Max Shoes and Bucherer. Frei places the highest graphic and photographic demands on his work. In particular, the creative loves to evoke emotions with strong images. For Bucherer, he has staged "the most beautiful moments in life " lavishly and expressively, but with a playful lightness. For an SBB image campaign, he relied on the power of images and virtually dispensed with classic SBB elements. No logo, no trains, no tracks.

But for Frei, it's not just the creative output that counts, but also the environment in which the work is created. "At Scholz & Friends, I have the opportunity to create a culture for the first time," Frei is pleased to say. He wants a working atmosphere that is characterized by high quality thinking without losing sight of fun. He thus subscribes to the Scholz & Friends credo "tough on the job - friendly on the job." Frei believes that the commitment of employees is valued. Frei constantly reminds himself of what he himself can contribute to this. "It's partly small things, such as the feedback culture: when a presentation is over, I tell the team in detail how it went. Or I write another email in the evening. It's extremely important that the team gets signals like that." Promoting young creative talent is a major concern for Frei, who teaches at the ADC's BSW creative school on "how to deal with photography and photographers." Already at his last place of work, he has repeatedly been able to inspire talented people - from graphic design, among other fields - to pursue a career in advertising. He knows how to discover and build up creative talent.

In concrete terms, for example, Frei's promotion of young talent means that he ideally awards a wild card for a junior team on every job. The young creatives should contribute conceptually, not just be the extended arm of the AD or CD. "We want our graphic designers, junior copywriters and interns to be part of the daily business. This is an extra expense for the CD, but from my point of view it is a worthwhile investment. In addition, we will also be training a graphics apprentice starting this summer." Time and again, Frei wonders what it was like for himself back then, as an assistant and later as AD. What did he like about his superiors at the time, what bothered him? The creative tries to empathize with his employees, to respond to characters and to promote the creatives according to their abilities. "Some are more robust, others more sensitive. You have to take that into account. One AD is strong in concept, the other better in execution, works well with a photographer. You have to use people in a way that makes them feel comfortable." Samsel also talks about Frei having a sensorium to perceive the moods within a group. At the moment, Frei is busy, among other things, with the harmonious integration of the digital department into the company. He wants to put an end to the "garden-variety thinking" that sometimes occurs when advertisers with a traditional background meet online specialists. "The online unit should not act like a 'small company within the company' but be an integral part of the agency, so that an intensive knowledge transfer on both sides is a matter of course," says Frei. "This is already working excellently in the meantime."

Frei himself, who went through the classic agency route, is gradually continuing his education in digital media. For example, he attended the Hyper Island Masterclass in Digital Media in London. He studies cases from companies in order to have the right answers for questions that arise in daily life with customers. What does social media mean? What can it do, what can't it do? For which customer does which platform make sense, which doesn't?

In his private life, on the other hand, he uses social media restrictively, as is right for him. He is careful about his privacy. His posts on Facebook can be counted on one hand. After all, not everyone needs to know the next time he breaks away from his daily work routine and discovers distant countries for himself.
 
Isabel Imper