The neutral creatives
Michelle Nicol and Rudolph Schürmann, along with their agency Neutral, are part of a new generation of advertising agencies that prioritize content.
With their agency Neutral, Michelle Nicol and Rudolph Schürmann belong to a new generation of advertising agencies that value content. They started four years ago: Neutral. The name, which is associated with noble values in our country, has a pragmatic meaning. "We treat every medium and every idea equally." Neutral not only knows how to play the finer instruments, but also occasionally takes a club out of the cupboard. "We can be pretty loud," says Chief Creative Officer Rudolph Schürmann. Nevertheless, the former glamor engineers - the agency was once called Glamour Engineering - are regarded as the agency with a connection to contemporary art. Neutral often works with protagonists from the art world for campaigns. "They are the latest image makers," says Michelle Nicol. Conventional advertising often copies the visual arts. It is "better to work with the original". For Sunrise Mobile Broadband, for example, Neutral is currently creating a commercial with "Mr. Punk" Malcolm McLaren. The former manager of the Sex Pistols is now a cultural impresario and film producer.
And Bindella terra vite vita has just launched a new website with photographic subjects by Sam Samore. The US artist's visual journey generates emotions for the catering company. The opening image: a large pair of lips. There is also a making-of video with a soundtrack by Step B.
Culture and media - Michelle Nicol was already playing with this connection at university. She published on the subject of fashion in Weltwoche, Self Service and Welt am Sonntag. She regularly reported on fashion shows in Paris for "10 vor 10" on Swiss television. In the process, she has built up an illustrious network. As a result, Neutral can now count Cartier International in Paris among her clients. Likewise Swarovski - Neutral has a consultancy mandate for a new international venture in the field of art, fashion and goods.
For Michelle Nicol, art comes before fashion and trends. It was already clear to her at the beginning of the 90s "that the connection between fashion and art was becoming more and more obvious". And advertising is the third element in this conglomerate. "In the transparent society, imitation and simulation are over. Messages have to be authentic. We want to tell a real story. That differentiates us." If artists are involved, their contribution is not primarily a work of art, but simply good work.
Today, Nicol is Managing Director at Neutral. "Anyone who has realized exhibitions can also manage an agency," says the creative. She gained experience at the first Berlin Biennale in 1998. She also worked as a curator in Bordeaux at the CAPC and at Milano Europa 2000. She designed an exhibition on the subject of beauty for the Museum Ludwig in Cologne. "Allegories of Beauty" was also the subject of her thesis.
And Rudolph Schürmann? After his business baccalaureate in Lucerne, neither law nor St. Gallen interested him. He was more interested in visual communication at the Lucerne School of Arts and Crafts. He then studied fine art in Düsseldorf and "still smelled the spirit of Joseph Beuys". Schürmann decided against a career as an artist because he appreciated the speed of advertising.
Schürmann, a creative who likes to express himself with images and words, joined the newly founded WHS as a copywriter. This was followed by Impuls, Young & Rubicam, later Saatchi&Saatchi and finally Euro RSCG. His mission here was to "put the agency on a creative course". With Orange, Euro RSCG won the "Campaign of the Year" in 1999. Schürmann is still proud of the fact that he invented the claim "Do You speak Orange?" back then. His various creative awards have earned the ADC member an appointment to the jury in Cannes as well as Eurobest London.
Schürmann became self-employed in 2000. He worked with freelancer Nicol for the first time on a brand development project for Philip Morris. The project did not come to fruition. But they realized: "We can work well together." The joint agency was founded in 2001. Today, Neutral employs seven people. The agency currently lives in a "brutalist concrete building" from the 1960s. However, the agency needs space to grow. Neutral is therefore moving to the Maag site. London or Berlin were also considered as locations, "but Zurich is ultimately in the center of Europe".
In addition to Zurich Financial Services, Windsor and Art Basel, important clients of Neutral include the FDP Switzerland. Founded in 1848, the party is "the oldest brand in Switzerland", says Schürmann. The brand that brought Switzerland from a confederation of states to a federal state. The new campaign now once again takes forward-looking visions as its model with the "constructive Swiss cross" as its emblem.
Neutral has streamlined the umbrella brand and introduced the sub-brand "We Liberals". "This would be ideal as a party brand later on," say the political advertisers.
Neutral is working with Sunrise Live for a rather different audience. Here, spots featuring rap and slam poets have been created for a young audience, which will advertise the Internet on cell phones from mid-June. The pilot project for Internet TV, which Neutral has developed together with Goldbach Media, is similarly progressive. Lifestyle, art and news are combined to create an "intelligent tabloid".
Andreas Panzeri
And Bindella terra vite vita has just launched a new website with photographic subjects by Sam Samore. The US artist's visual journey generates emotions for the catering company. The opening image: a large pair of lips. There is also a making-of video with a soundtrack by Step B.
Culture and media - Michelle Nicol was already playing with this connection at university. She published on the subject of fashion in Weltwoche, Self Service and Welt am Sonntag. She regularly reported on fashion shows in Paris for "10 vor 10" on Swiss television. In the process, she has built up an illustrious network. As a result, Neutral can now count Cartier International in Paris among her clients. Likewise Swarovski - Neutral has a consultancy mandate for a new international venture in the field of art, fashion and goods.
For Michelle Nicol, art comes before fashion and trends. It was already clear to her at the beginning of the 90s "that the connection between fashion and art was becoming more and more obvious". And advertising is the third element in this conglomerate. "In the transparent society, imitation and simulation are over. Messages have to be authentic. We want to tell a real story. That differentiates us." If artists are involved, their contribution is not primarily a work of art, but simply good work.
Today, Nicol is Managing Director at Neutral. "Anyone who has realized exhibitions can also manage an agency," says the creative. She gained experience at the first Berlin Biennale in 1998. She also worked as a curator in Bordeaux at the CAPC and at Milano Europa 2000. She designed an exhibition on the subject of beauty for the Museum Ludwig in Cologne. "Allegories of Beauty" was also the subject of her thesis.
And Rudolph Schürmann? After his business baccalaureate in Lucerne, neither law nor St. Gallen interested him. He was more interested in visual communication at the Lucerne School of Arts and Crafts. He then studied fine art in Düsseldorf and "still smelled the spirit of Joseph Beuys". Schürmann decided against a career as an artist because he appreciated the speed of advertising.
Schürmann, a creative who likes to express himself with images and words, joined the newly founded WHS as a copywriter. This was followed by Impuls, Young & Rubicam, later Saatchi&Saatchi and finally Euro RSCG. His mission here was to "put the agency on a creative course". With Orange, Euro RSCG won the "Campaign of the Year" in 1999. Schürmann is still proud of the fact that he invented the claim "Do You speak Orange?" back then. His various creative awards have earned the ADC member an appointment to the jury in Cannes as well as Eurobest London.
Schürmann became self-employed in 2000. He worked with freelancer Nicol for the first time on a brand development project for Philip Morris. The project did not come to fruition. But they realized: "We can work well together." The joint agency was founded in 2001. Today, Neutral employs seven people. The agency currently lives in a "brutalist concrete building" from the 1960s. However, the agency needs space to grow. Neutral is therefore moving to the Maag site. London or Berlin were also considered as locations, "but Zurich is ultimately in the center of Europe".
In addition to Zurich Financial Services, Windsor and Art Basel, important clients of Neutral include the FDP Switzerland. Founded in 1848, the party is "the oldest brand in Switzerland", says Schürmann. The brand that brought Switzerland from a confederation of states to a federal state. The new campaign now once again takes forward-looking visions as its model with the "constructive Swiss cross" as its emblem.
Neutral has streamlined the umbrella brand and introduced the sub-brand "We Liberals". "This would be ideal as a party brand later on," say the political advertisers.
Neutral is working with Sunrise Live for a rather different audience. Here, spots featuring rap and slam poets have been created for a young audience, which will advertise the Internet on cell phones from mid-June. The pilot project for Internet TV, which Neutral has developed together with Goldbach Media, is similarly progressive. Lifestyle, art and news are combined to create an "intelligent tabloid".
Andreas Panzeri
