Head of the week: The top strategist
David Allemann is the new managing director of Advico Young & Rubicam, with the goal of establishing the agency as the number one in its field.
David Allemann is the new Managing Director of Advico Young & Rubicam with the aim of establishing the agency as number one.
For David Allemann, advertising is "the rock'n'roll of the business world". What does that mean? In his opinion, only in a few other industries, such as the music industry or film, do creative ideas create "so much emotional value for consumers and commercial value for companies at the same time". And it is precisely this mix of business and creativity - the rock'n'roll - that not only fascinates the new Managing Director of Advico, Young & Rubicam, but also makes his professional commitment particularly enjoyable. Another premise: After a certain time, it has to be "always something new" for him. He sees this as another advantage of the fast-paced advertising industry.
David Allemann actually studied law. "I also found architecture exciting, but I saw the tough daily battle for the best design solution with my parents," he says today, as both his mother and father worked as successful architects. During his studies of laws and regulations, however, the youngster was attracted to something new. Together with a few friends, Allemann founded the party organizer "use it!", which is still active today.
Despite the countless parties associated with it, for professional reasons as it were, he completed his studies - only to discover something new straight away.
Hardly anyone was more familiar with the Internet when Allemann was given the opportunity to build up the Internet agency Futurecom for AY&R as part of the start-up team in 1996. At the time, few believed in the coming revolution of how advertising and the completely new technology of the Internet could be combined. But after just one year, the Futurecom adventure, which started with three pioneers, had 25 people.
David Allemann's success led to an appointment at the parent company AY&R as Group Account Director. In Gockhausen, he was entrusted with responsibility for major client projects. He was attracted to this entry into classic advertising because this work constantly involves solving new tasks with new problems from a wide range of industries. "That fascinates me."
Nevertheless, even in this role, his curiosity was not finally satisfied. A further development opened up for him at McKinsey. David Allemann worked for the renowned management consultants for just over two years, until 2002, as a strategy consultant. As an advertiser and lawyer among engineers, managers and financial experts in the team, he was mainly involved in projects in the areas of marketing, media, telecommunications and banking. "I was given the opportunity to broaden my spectrum and perspectives once again. I was lucky enough to be involved in many growth projects," he says, praising this time. As his greatest success at McKinsey, he says with a wink that he met a doctor as his future wife in the McKinsey consulting team.
David Allemann gained his knowledge as a strategist "in the best possible way", namely "in practice". For him, AY&R has always had a leading strategy department and a strong consultancy. "I benefited from that and from my colleagues." He later learned at McKinsey how to achieve a corporate goal using business management methods in addition to marketing. He was also able to attend an MBA program at McKinsey in the USA and supervise various projects abroad.
Allemann himself teaches as a guest lecturer at the MBA of the University of St. Gallen HSG and at the ADC/BSW Creative School. What interests him about his subject of strategy is the fact that it involves a strong focus on the future. "You have to know a goal in order to formulate a strategy. Not a status quo, but the question: what will happen in a year, in five years - and what is the best way to get there?"
After three years back at AY&R, where he most recently headed the strategy department, he will now be "responsible for the further development" of Advico Young & Rubicam as Managing Director, together with the two CDs Dani Comte and Urs Schrepfer as well as Lukas Tenger, who is new to Gockhausen and was previously Unit Head at Publicis.
"The agency has been in a spirit of optimism for three years. A lot has happened during this time, both in terms of new business and the great talent that has joined us. We want to solve the most challenging communication tasks for companies with creative strategies and campaigns." The aim is "to become the number one creative agency again".
In addition to Sunrise, AY&R has just acquired the Campari portfolio "with all its great traditional brands" and the Swiss Ski Association as new customers.
Allemann believes it is important for the agency to have "a
discussion at eye level". You don't just want to advise on how an advertising campaign should look, you also want to find out: What is the customer's real problem? How can we use effective communication to help solve it? AY&R has also just presented an expanded latest edition of the Brand Asset Valuator brand study on this topic (see page 9).
The new study component "Y&R Buying Steps" analyzes what the brand does in the buying process.
In his private time, David Allemann likes to live out his passion for architecture and design in his own home. He also tries to take at least three weeks off every year and travel far away. Most recently, he was in Burma, a "country that has not yet been discovered by tourists and is still very spiritual".
Andreas Panzeri
For David Allemann, advertising is "the rock'n'roll of the business world". What does that mean? In his opinion, only in a few other industries, such as the music industry or film, do creative ideas create "so much emotional value for consumers and commercial value for companies at the same time". And it is precisely this mix of business and creativity - the rock'n'roll - that not only fascinates the new Managing Director of Advico, Young & Rubicam, but also makes his professional commitment particularly enjoyable. Another premise: After a certain time, it has to be "always something new" for him. He sees this as another advantage of the fast-paced advertising industry.
David Allemann actually studied law. "I also found architecture exciting, but I saw the tough daily battle for the best design solution with my parents," he says today, as both his mother and father worked as successful architects. During his studies of laws and regulations, however, the youngster was attracted to something new. Together with a few friends, Allemann founded the party organizer "use it!", which is still active today.
Despite the countless parties associated with it, for professional reasons as it were, he completed his studies - only to discover something new straight away.
Hardly anyone was more familiar with the Internet when Allemann was given the opportunity to build up the Internet agency Futurecom for AY&R as part of the start-up team in 1996. At the time, few believed in the coming revolution of how advertising and the completely new technology of the Internet could be combined. But after just one year, the Futurecom adventure, which started with three pioneers, had 25 people.
David Allemann's success led to an appointment at the parent company AY&R as Group Account Director. In Gockhausen, he was entrusted with responsibility for major client projects. He was attracted to this entry into classic advertising because this work constantly involves solving new tasks with new problems from a wide range of industries. "That fascinates me."
Nevertheless, even in this role, his curiosity was not finally satisfied. A further development opened up for him at McKinsey. David Allemann worked for the renowned management consultants for just over two years, until 2002, as a strategy consultant. As an advertiser and lawyer among engineers, managers and financial experts in the team, he was mainly involved in projects in the areas of marketing, media, telecommunications and banking. "I was given the opportunity to broaden my spectrum and perspectives once again. I was lucky enough to be involved in many growth projects," he says, praising this time. As his greatest success at McKinsey, he says with a wink that he met a doctor as his future wife in the McKinsey consulting team.
David Allemann gained his knowledge as a strategist "in the best possible way", namely "in practice". For him, AY&R has always had a leading strategy department and a strong consultancy. "I benefited from that and from my colleagues." He later learned at McKinsey how to achieve a corporate goal using business management methods in addition to marketing. He was also able to attend an MBA program at McKinsey in the USA and supervise various projects abroad.
Allemann himself teaches as a guest lecturer at the MBA of the University of St. Gallen HSG and at the ADC/BSW Creative School. What interests him about his subject of strategy is the fact that it involves a strong focus on the future. "You have to know a goal in order to formulate a strategy. Not a status quo, but the question: what will happen in a year, in five years - and what is the best way to get there?"
After three years back at AY&R, where he most recently headed the strategy department, he will now be "responsible for the further development" of Advico Young & Rubicam as Managing Director, together with the two CDs Dani Comte and Urs Schrepfer as well as Lukas Tenger, who is new to Gockhausen and was previously Unit Head at Publicis.
"The agency has been in a spirit of optimism for three years. A lot has happened during this time, both in terms of new business and the great talent that has joined us. We want to solve the most challenging communication tasks for companies with creative strategies and campaigns." The aim is "to become the number one creative agency again".
In addition to Sunrise, AY&R has just acquired the Campari portfolio "with all its great traditional brands" and the Swiss Ski Association as new customers.
Allemann believes it is important for the agency to have "a
discussion at eye level". You don't just want to advise on how an advertising campaign should look, you also want to find out: What is the customer's real problem? How can we use effective communication to help solve it? AY&R has also just presented an expanded latest edition of the Brand Asset Valuator brand study on this topic (see page 9).
The new study component "Y&R Buying Steps" analyzes what the brand does in the buying process.
In his private time, David Allemann likes to live out his passion for architecture and design in his own home. He also tries to take at least three weeks off every year and travel far away. Most recently, he was in Burma, a "country that has not yet been discovered by tourists and is still very spiritual".
Andreas Panzeri
