"I don't have a computer"
As a copywriter at Soldini Bienenfeld, Michael Barney is getting closer to the clients again.
As a copywriter at Soldini Bienenfeld, Michael Barney is moving closer to the customer again. 20 years of service in advertising have convinced copywriter Michael Barney: "I still have GGK in me." This agency virus was implanted in him in Hamburg in 1981, "when Paul Gredinger had his many rabbit hutches everywhere". In addition to GGK, he also worked at Lintas in the Hanseatic city and in between at Saatchi & Saatchi in Frankfurt.He came to Switzerland in 1998 because he worked as a freelancer for
J. Walter Thompson invented the claim "Be Inspired" at a pitch for Siemens' first small cell phone. But this was not his first trip to Zurich.
There was also a specialist magazine called Das Schaufenster. It featured the best shop windows in the world - including those of the Globus department store in Zurich. "It would be nice if I could work in Zurich one day," thought Barney. And he stayed. Not as a decorator, but as a copywriter.
In fact, it was many years ago that Barney learned the trade of window designer from scratch in Herford, East Westphalia. With his knowledge of the visual impact of beautiful windows, he then wanted to become a graphic designer. However, when he intended to transfer to art school, it was discovered that he suffered from a green-red color weakness. Barney had to reorient himself and joined an agency as a junior copywriter, also working temporarily as a cartoonist - "always in the Herford/Bielefeld area", as the copywriter emphasizes. But as soon as he arrived in Hamburg and was taken under the wing of the GGK grandees, the first prizes followed - and in 1982 he was appointed to the ADC Germany.
His most important stations in Switzerland were three years at
Lowe GGK and before that a year at TWBA in Küsnacht. It was there that he met Frank Bienenfeld and Mark Soldini in 1999. The copywriter has now picked up where he left off after his team at Lowe was cut. He is looking forward to the new challenge. At Soldini Bienenfeld, Barney wants to take more personal care of his customers again. It also suits his style that he still writes his texts by hand - with a fountain pen, of course. "I don't have a car, a computer or a cell phone," he reveals - perhaps the most important reason why he won the pitch for the Siemens cell phone. And he does not deny that he somehow cultivates the aura of a writer with this characterization. "I am a flâneur. I love street cafés and people-watching."
But he never wants to realize his dream of writing a great novel, which is probably the dream of all copywriters. A great word of honor - although he could: The former lecturer at Texterschmiede in Hamburg has also written countless columns for the German trade magazine Horizont and later for Werbewoche, in which a mysterious "beautiful Claudine" adored by Barney kept readers guessing as to who she was. Today, he is happy to lift the veil on the beauty, but only a little: "After three years, I've just met her again," he smiles.
When he is not using his pen for advertising, he is writing letters under his pen. He has established a ritual for this: Every Saturday he writes at the Brasserie Lipp. Every Sunday he goes to the Grand Hotel Dolder. He writes to his 84-year-old father in the large hall. He describes this gradual process of crafting his thoughts while writing as "his daily training". Exercises that he considers necessary, especially for his understanding of his profession, and from which a little contempt for the current fixation of CDs on images can be heard: "The written word conveys just as much emotion as a picture," he says, recalling the effect of the claim "Stinginess is cool", which has already become a catchphrase.
Also likes to stroll through the hearts of beautiful women: Lyricist Michael Barney.
J. Walter Thompson invented the claim "Be Inspired" at a pitch for Siemens' first small cell phone. But this was not his first trip to Zurich.
There was also a specialist magazine called Das Schaufenster. It featured the best shop windows in the world - including those of the Globus department store in Zurich. "It would be nice if I could work in Zurich one day," thought Barney. And he stayed. Not as a decorator, but as a copywriter.
In fact, it was many years ago that Barney learned the trade of window designer from scratch in Herford, East Westphalia. With his knowledge of the visual impact of beautiful windows, he then wanted to become a graphic designer. However, when he intended to transfer to art school, it was discovered that he suffered from a green-red color weakness. Barney had to reorient himself and joined an agency as a junior copywriter, also working temporarily as a cartoonist - "always in the Herford/Bielefeld area", as the copywriter emphasizes. But as soon as he arrived in Hamburg and was taken under the wing of the GGK grandees, the first prizes followed - and in 1982 he was appointed to the ADC Germany.
His most important stations in Switzerland were three years at
Lowe GGK and before that a year at TWBA in Küsnacht. It was there that he met Frank Bienenfeld and Mark Soldini in 1999. The copywriter has now picked up where he left off after his team at Lowe was cut. He is looking forward to the new challenge. At Soldini Bienenfeld, Barney wants to take more personal care of his customers again. It also suits his style that he still writes his texts by hand - with a fountain pen, of course. "I don't have a car, a computer or a cell phone," he reveals - perhaps the most important reason why he won the pitch for the Siemens cell phone. And he does not deny that he somehow cultivates the aura of a writer with this characterization. "I am a flâneur. I love street cafés and people-watching."
But he never wants to realize his dream of writing a great novel, which is probably the dream of all copywriters. A great word of honor - although he could: The former lecturer at Texterschmiede in Hamburg has also written countless columns for the German trade magazine Horizont and later for Werbewoche, in which a mysterious "beautiful Claudine" adored by Barney kept readers guessing as to who she was. Today, he is happy to lift the veil on the beauty, but only a little: "After three years, I've just met her again," he smiles.
When he is not using his pen for advertising, he is writing letters under his pen. He has established a ritual for this: Every Saturday he writes at the Brasserie Lipp. Every Sunday he goes to the Grand Hotel Dolder. He writes to his 84-year-old father in the large hall. He describes this gradual process of crafting his thoughts while writing as "his daily training". Exercises that he considers necessary, especially for his understanding of his profession, and from which a little contempt for the current fixation of CDs on images can be heard: "The written word conveys just as much emotion as a picture," he says, recalling the effect of the claim "Stinginess is cool", which has already become a catchphrase.
Also likes to stroll through the hearts of beautiful women: Lyricist Michael Barney.
Andreas Panzeri
