The platforms thinkers

Fernando Perez and Livio Dainese look carefree and happy as they take a seat on Hinderling Volkart's couch. They have pushed aside the countless stuffed animals that were previously scattered on the sofa. Only a small dog keeps Perez in his hand. The window in the background is being cleaned. "Just like every day," Dainese says. "We like it clean," Perez adds.

The two are a well-rehearsed duo. Ever since Dainese and Perez met at Lowe's in 2004 - Perez was AD at the time, Dainese a copywriter - they've been working as a creative team. They share the same approach to work - and the same sense of humor. Not a dull minute goes by with Perez and Dainese. And they know how to infect those around them with their wit. "Their humor is one of the qualities I particularly loved and appreciated about Livio and Fernando," says Keith Loell, for example, who worked with them at Lowe and is now ECD at Gyro in New York. "They made the office a much more pleasant place with their way of laughing at themselves, at me, at life," Loell says. The creative duo has taken only a brief "relationship break" since then. That's how Perez jokingly describes the few months he spent staying with Jung von Matt in Hamburg and copywriting Dainese for Publicis. The time was enough for him to realize: It's much nicer in pairs than alone. As a result, they signed on together at Jung von Matt/Limmat in 2007.

"We think similarly in terms of ideas," Dainese said. "We don't make a big distinction between text and image." When one is excited about a concept, the role of critiquing everything flies to the other. "So we're always examining our creative ideas from every possible angle." Perez has the final decision regarding graphics, while Dainese has it when it comes to the script. Otherwise, they know no division of tasks.

Their creative style is also adaptable, Loell says. "They have a wonderfully flexible voice." Their work doesn't make them identifiable as creatives, he says, but is always tailored to the client in question, to a specific problem. At JvM/Limmat, Perez and Dainese have proven themselves as a creative team with award-winning campaigns. Under their direction, for example, the Facebook village of Obermutten was created, as were the iconic ibexes Gian and Giachen, who in the advertising for Graubünden Tourism sometimes rant about climbers or bikers, and at other times rave about being fathers, while at the same time reprimanding the offspring: "Reto! Hoouf uss dr Naasa!" Since the beginning of February, the two-story agency premises of Hinderling Volkart in Zurich's Kreis 4 have been the new home of Perez and Dainese. While classic creative agencies are strengthening themselves with online expertise, they have gone the opposite way. They are the "classics" who have joined the digital specialists. Why? "Our claim is to offer contemporary integrated communications. Virtually all campaigns today are also conducted on the web. Seen in this light, this step seems only logical to us," the two explain. "Advertising budgets have shifted towards online. From our point of view, the classic part has even become more manageable than the online part."

On top of that, he has an enthusiasm for technology that runs away with Perez from time to time. Once a new gadget has piqued his interest, he can hardly resist. "It always happens in three steps," Dainese reports. "Step 1: Fernando wants it. Step 2: He tries to convince himself that he doesn't need it. Step 3: He buys it. From step 1 to step 3, it takes anywhere from five minutes to two days." Perez tries to justify himself, "Well, the gadgets get me ahead professionally." Dainese can't help laughing, and Perez relents, "Okay, I'd buy that stuff too if I were a butcher."

Beyond the classical

In recent years, Perez and Dainese at JvM/Limmat have steadily expanded their digital expertise. Recently, about 60 percent of their projects for Graubünden took place on the web. The most recent example is the project Webwander.chwhich won an award at this year's Best of Swiss Web. And more and more online projects were also handled for the customer Migros.

So the two are somewhat offended when they are called "classics. Rather, they see themselves as platform thinkers. And they haven't just been that way since the entire creative industry started talking about cross-media, 360° and integrated communication, as former companions tell us. David Schärer, co-founder of Rod Kommunikation, who knows the creative duo from his time at JvM/Limmat: "Livio and Fernando already had a modern mindset back then. They didn't use the same old patent recipes, but thought campaigns in a new way." Philipp Skrabal, ECD and co-owner at Wirz Werbung, who worked with Dainese at Publicis, paints a similar picture: "Even back then, Livio embodied the kind of creative whose ideas work regardless of channel. His creative ideas had storytelling qualities and could be played across all media."

The fact that Perez and Dainese have already realized successful projects in the digital field was the deciding factor for the two agency founders Michael Hinderling and Michael Volkart to bring the duo on board as partners. "Livio and Fernando have internalized the 'digital mindset'," explains Michael Hinderling. "Otherwise, the collaboration wouldn't have gotten off the ground," adds Michael Vollkart. Dainese and Perez bring the classic expertise to the web agency that the digital experts had previously lacked in order to gain a foothold as a full-service provider. Hinderling Volkart has long proven that it knows how to bring together technology, design and user experience. At the Best of Swiss Web, the agency has so far won gold six times, silver five times and bronze eight times, and has made a name for itself with various projects for Swiss radio and television SRF. For example, with the platform "Rousseau" (Jjr2012.srf.ch) or with web documentaries such as "Silk Road" (Silk Road.srf.ch) and "360° Langstrasse" (360langstrasse.sf.tv). Now it's a matter of showing customers that they also have brand management, creation and strategy under control.

As before, Hinderling Volkart will implement classic web projects. The agency has just been awarded the contract for the complete relaunch of the Beobachter.ch platform from Axel Springer Verlag. Perez and Dainese will only be marginally involved in such web work, if at all. But step by step, broader communication budgets are to be added.

The fact that clients are willing to entrust them with projects that go beyond web services is shown by the first pitch wins. The television portal Teleboy, for example, is now relying on Hinderling Volkart's integrated communications concept to promote its services. Zurich Versicherung has its insurance offerings visually staged on the web with interactive videos. "We're preaching to the choir with our integrated offering," says Dainese happily. "Or at least the doors aren't shut insanely tight." Perez agrees, "We definitely don't have to break in."

Dainese and Perez have already become accustomed to the "online mentality," collaborating with web designers, developers and programmers. "The online culture is more collaborative. Everyone has a say in the design phase - even the consulting team has a conceptual influence. And there's much closer collaboration with the customer," Dainese says. "We really appreciate that ideas are not developed by creation and then implemented by technicians. Here, ideas are created with - and from - technology," Perez said. "We sit with front-end devoppers and online designers while brainstorming. These professionals know right away what's technically possible - and what's not." The interplay between creation and technology should not be underestimated in web projects, the creatives are certain. "A film, they say, is 50 percent music. With online projects, it's the technology." The creatives are not satisfied until projects run "Apple-style" smoothly. A word that often crosses Perez and Dainese's lips. Whenever they want to express that technology becomes so easy and intuitive to use that it no longer represents an obstacle, but helps. When communication becomes an experience for the user. This requires brilliance on the part of conception and development. And that's exactly what the creatives are concerned with: "When a carpenter makes a piece of furniture, he wants it to be perfect. Just because communication is less durable, it shouldn't be less perfect," says Dainese. "Communication should never be made cynical."

Dainese and Perez believe they can find the perfectionist approach to work and the passion for creativity and technology at Hinderling Volkart. "People here freak out about their jobs - just like we do. They have an identity crisis when one little detail doesn't work, " Dainese said. "We love working with people like that." - "And the best part," Perez adds, "we have stuffed animals in the agency."

Isabel Imper