It's lonely at the top
Creative Rankings: Publicis is by a wide margin the most creative agency in Switzerland. Ruf Lanz has surged up the rankings and taken second place, ahead of last year’s titleholder, AY&R.
Creative ranking Publicis is the most creative agency in Switzerland by a huge margin. Ruf Lanz storms up the rankings and takes second place ahead of last year's title holder AY&R.
Necessity is the mother of invention, they say. The anonymous author of this proverb is unlikely to have been an advertiser. For him, creativity is cyclical. He is not only proven right by the fact that the proportion of highly creative work decreased in the poor order year 2002 as the volume of advertising fell. It was often the clients themselves who held back with daring image presentations. After all, they do not want to give the impression that they are throwing consumers' money out of the window on advertising during the economic downturn. Agencies are similarly careful and selective when choosing which competitions they want to take part in - if only because of the often expensive entry fees, which force them to make an internal pre-selection.
There is another indication of the creative dry spell caused by the economic situation: the number of works submitted to practically all creative competitions fell significantly this year. Although their organizers tried to limit the decline by extending submission deadlines, offering earlybird discounts or introducing new categories. In Cannes, five percent fewer entries were submitted. At the ADC of Europe competition, the jurors evaluated fewer entries than in 2002 - just like at the Swiss counterpart. At the last Eurobest, the number of entries submitted fell by ten percent.
A spokeswoman attributes the fact that the participation curve in the latter competition for the upcoming event is once again showing a marked upward trend not to the long-awaited upturn, but to the increased chances of winning: instead of the Trophy and Grand Prix, the winners will in future receive bronze, silver and gold awards - in addition to the Grand Prix. However, very few people are dazzled by these additional prizes. Just being there counts for nothing these days. After all, only the trophies in the company showcase fulfill the asset function for the agency.
More international honors
So how is the creativity of Swiss advertising agencies faring? According to the strict judgment of the juries, it has decreased - also in relation to the number of entries. While the ten most creative Swiss agencies collected well over 3300 points at the 14 competitions recorded in 2001, a year later the figure was just over 2900, leaving just 2575 points this year (-22% in two years). Of course, Swiss creativity is always better received at international festivals. Measured against the total award cake of the top ten agencies, the proportion of foreign points rose from 16 (2001) to a respectable 23.5 percent in the current year. Bean counters would concede that the positive development is not due to the trophy haul, but to the increase in shortlist and finalist nominations. This performance at international competitions is particularly important for network agencies, as there is fierce competition between the agencies themselves. The most creative Swiss agency Publicis, for example, experienced this when its Managing Director Creation Markus Gut was invited to the prestigious international Creative Meeting. David Droga, Worldwide Creative Director of the Publicis Group, only invites strategically important agencies to the creative meeting.
However, the biggest contribution to improving the image of Made in Switzerland advertising was not made by the frontrunner, but by Euro RSCG, which was also the only Swiss agency to win a Lion in Cannes. However, this was not enough to defend its fourth place from the previous year. Jung von Matt/Limmat secured this place with a tremendous performance. CD Alexander Jaggy on the exploit: "The investments in manpower seem to be bearing fruit. Unlike in the past, we are now also winning awards for major clients." There is also a jubilant mood at Eidmattstrasse in Zurich, where Ruf Lanz has more than doubled its award points, putting it ahead of Advico Young &Rubicam (AY&R). "I didn't expect us to come second in the creative ranking of the important national and international awards with just nine noses. What I'm particularly pleased about is that we didn't score points with handicraft work for small customers, but almost always for our 'real' customers. And more often than average with our films," says agency co-owner Markus Ruf. Danielle Lanz is elegantly cautious: "Second place will be difficult to defend when the large agencies are fit again. In the long term, we see ourselves among the top six in Switzerland. We are not planning any offshoots such as Ruf Lanz Direct, Ruf Lanz Editorial or Ruf Lanz Anyway that will count."
AY&R only dropped two places in the table, but the appearance of a wadded-up fall is deceptive. The agency had to accept an enormous drop in points. CD Daniel Comte puts this down to the brain drain that the Gockhausen agency experienced in 2001. "When the former management left, many projects had been completed. We have been working on new ones since 2002, but they are only gradually going on air," he says, making it clear that his agency will soon be a force to be reckoned with again.
McCann-Erickson CEO David Honegger reacts with disillusionment to the ranking of his agency, which was in fourth place last year and is no longer among the ten most creative in this year's list. He freely admits that he is "speechless at the pitiful result, even though we still see ourselves as very creative". Making the McCann-Erickson brand sexy for customers and employees was Honegger's turnaround target a year ago when he took up the position. He assures us that we are now working even harder towards this goal.
Swiss agencies applied for fewer awards in 2003.
Luca Aloisi
Necessity is the mother of invention, they say. The anonymous author of this proverb is unlikely to have been an advertiser. For him, creativity is cyclical. He is not only proven right by the fact that the proportion of highly creative work decreased in the poor order year 2002 as the volume of advertising fell. It was often the clients themselves who held back with daring image presentations. After all, they do not want to give the impression that they are throwing consumers' money out of the window on advertising during the economic downturn. Agencies are similarly careful and selective when choosing which competitions they want to take part in - if only because of the often expensive entry fees, which force them to make an internal pre-selection.
There is another indication of the creative dry spell caused by the economic situation: the number of works submitted to practically all creative competitions fell significantly this year. Although their organizers tried to limit the decline by extending submission deadlines, offering earlybird discounts or introducing new categories. In Cannes, five percent fewer entries were submitted. At the ADC of Europe competition, the jurors evaluated fewer entries than in 2002 - just like at the Swiss counterpart. At the last Eurobest, the number of entries submitted fell by ten percent.
A spokeswoman attributes the fact that the participation curve in the latter competition for the upcoming event is once again showing a marked upward trend not to the long-awaited upturn, but to the increased chances of winning: instead of the Trophy and Grand Prix, the winners will in future receive bronze, silver and gold awards - in addition to the Grand Prix. However, very few people are dazzled by these additional prizes. Just being there counts for nothing these days. After all, only the trophies in the company showcase fulfill the asset function for the agency.
More international honors
So how is the creativity of Swiss advertising agencies faring? According to the strict judgment of the juries, it has decreased - also in relation to the number of entries. While the ten most creative Swiss agencies collected well over 3300 points at the 14 competitions recorded in 2001, a year later the figure was just over 2900, leaving just 2575 points this year (-22% in two years). Of course, Swiss creativity is always better received at international festivals. Measured against the total award cake of the top ten agencies, the proportion of foreign points rose from 16 (2001) to a respectable 23.5 percent in the current year. Bean counters would concede that the positive development is not due to the trophy haul, but to the increase in shortlist and finalist nominations. This performance at international competitions is particularly important for network agencies, as there is fierce competition between the agencies themselves. The most creative Swiss agency Publicis, for example, experienced this when its Managing Director Creation Markus Gut was invited to the prestigious international Creative Meeting. David Droga, Worldwide Creative Director of the Publicis Group, only invites strategically important agencies to the creative meeting.
However, the biggest contribution to improving the image of Made in Switzerland advertising was not made by the frontrunner, but by Euro RSCG, which was also the only Swiss agency to win a Lion in Cannes. However, this was not enough to defend its fourth place from the previous year. Jung von Matt/Limmat secured this place with a tremendous performance. CD Alexander Jaggy on the exploit: "The investments in manpower seem to be bearing fruit. Unlike in the past, we are now also winning awards for major clients." There is also a jubilant mood at Eidmattstrasse in Zurich, where Ruf Lanz has more than doubled its award points, putting it ahead of Advico Young &Rubicam (AY&R). "I didn't expect us to come second in the creative ranking of the important national and international awards with just nine noses. What I'm particularly pleased about is that we didn't score points with handicraft work for small customers, but almost always for our 'real' customers. And more often than average with our films," says agency co-owner Markus Ruf. Danielle Lanz is elegantly cautious: "Second place will be difficult to defend when the large agencies are fit again. In the long term, we see ourselves among the top six in Switzerland. We are not planning any offshoots such as Ruf Lanz Direct, Ruf Lanz Editorial or Ruf Lanz Anyway that will count."
AY&R only dropped two places in the table, but the appearance of a wadded-up fall is deceptive. The agency had to accept an enormous drop in points. CD Daniel Comte puts this down to the brain drain that the Gockhausen agency experienced in 2001. "When the former management left, many projects had been completed. We have been working on new ones since 2002, but they are only gradually going on air," he says, making it clear that his agency will soon be a force to be reckoned with again.
McCann-Erickson CEO David Honegger reacts with disillusionment to the ranking of his agency, which was in fourth place last year and is no longer among the ten most creative in this year's list. He freely admits that he is "speechless at the pitiful result, even though we still see ourselves as very creative". Making the McCann-Erickson brand sexy for customers and employees was Honegger's turnaround target a year ago when he took up the position. He assures us that we are now working even harder towards this goal.
Swiss agencies applied for fewer awards in 2003.
Luca Aloisi
