As Joint Managing Director at McCann-Erickson, Susanne Jungbluth wants to make the agency more attractive for creatives with exciting new clients. 
McCann Erickson is in a state of upheaval. "The McCann brand needs to regain its grip and visibility in Switzerland," says Timo Kirez. After various changes in the management team, the Hamburg native is now Chairman and Chief Creative Officer for both offices in Geneva and Zurich. In the current BSW ranking, McCann-Erickson is in 7th place, while in the creative ranking of Werbewoche, the agency with 63 employees is currently no longer represented. To change this, the agency is now focusing on new people.
Yannick Chevailler, who was brought in from Tamedia, is Managing Director in Geneva. In the larger Zurich office, Monica Fischer and Susanne Jungbluth are Joint Managing Directors in a dual role. Both women are responsible for their own consulting group.
Monica Fischer has been working at McCann in Zurich for two years. Previously, she was responsible for Deutsche Bank at the same network in Frankfurt and was therefore brought to Zurich for the implantation of the new client Credit Suisse.
Susanne Jungbluth initially worked at McCann in Geneva for two years and moved to the Zurich office six months ago. Her main task here is to boost new business.
The role of CEO for the whole of Switzerland has not yet been filled. "We are looking, but are taking our time until the right person is found," explains Susanne Jungbluth. The Munich native would like a Swiss partner who is even more "rooted in the local market". She herself is married to a Swiss man and has many Swiss friends from the time "many years ago" when she often worked as a model for Bolero and Annabelle in Zurich.
The current advertising team of Kirez and Jungbluth know each other from Hamburg, where they both got their start in the industry at Jung von Matt. She later moved to Switzerland for personal reasons, where she met Timo Kirez again by chance. She initially worked for him in the French office for 18 months. Then she wanted to move to Zurich because of the "more Munich-like mentality". On this occasion, McCann also "relocated the German-speaking Swiss clients at the same time".
McCann's Geneva office has attracted more creative attention than Zurich in recent years. A work from Geneva for Radio Fréquence Banana, for example, will appear in the next Lürzer's, "although it did not receive a cube from the Swiss ADC", as Jungbluth regrets. As far as Zurich's creative successes are concerned, more development is needed here again. This also applies to advertising on its own behalf. "The structure was not communicated enough internally and externally. Now a clear image must be created again and it must be made attractive to work with McCann - both for clients and employees."
A new CD creative team is currently being sought for Zurich. "We need to get back on the pitch lists," says Jungbluth, who is responsible for new business, and is proud that the Zurich team has just been invited to three important pitches.
Of course, in an agency that is part of one of the largest international networks, adaptation work is also carried out, which might deter a few particularly creative advertisers from being hired. However, in the large budgets for Credit Suisse and Mastercard managed by Monica Fischer, more than half of the ideas were developed "originally and in-house". In addition, one of Susanne Jungbluth's declared tasks is to find even more local clients in the future. Recently, this has already included Terre des hommes, for whom McCann created an idea with the fairy tale subjects, "which was then even copied". A similarly creative campaign was designed for Das Magazin at the end of last year. "There are various smaller projects in the house. But we're still missing the big bang," says Jungbluth, a campaign that not only gets things rolling for the end consumer, but also within the communications industry. "Good work means that good people want to come to us. This in turn generates growing interest among potential customers."
Existing key customers include Microsoft, Lufthansa, Credit Suisse, Opel, Mastercard and L'Oréal.
Despite the reorientation, McCann-Erickson wants to retain the advantage of being present in both German-speaking and French-speaking Switzerland. "We want to grow in both locations." In Switzerland, McCann-Erickson now also wants to offer a full service again, after having used international services for certain areas for a while. McCann will soon also be offering MRM Worldwide in Switzerland, its specialist for online, data mining, content management and relationship marketing. The below-the-line unit Momentum Worldwide will cover the areas of trade marketing, events, promotions and sponsoring. This department will be "pulled up" by Monica Fischer.
Susanne Jungbluth is a Gemini and therefore, according to her horoscope, "a very communicative person". She entered the world of media in Munich with an apprenticeship at publishing house bookseller Hugendubel.

She then worked for an art book publisher "before things really took off in Hamburg". Jungbluth ended up at Jung von Matt, where she learned about consulting "on the job" and then moved back to Munich at the age of 24. At Start Advertising, she found herself "in a bunch of young people who had won everything back then". The hip agency worked a lot for the new TV stations MTV and Pro 7, which ultimately led Jungbluth to commercials. As a producer for Petersen Neumann, she managed the Munich office for six years. Six people worked here alongside twenty at the headquarters in Hamburg. Jungbluth's most important film clients included Mediamarkt, McDonald's and Burger King. However, because spot production is "only one part of advertising" and she wanted to work across the entire spectrum in the long term, she looked to rejoin an agency after moving to Switzerland.
"In advertising, I work with different media. I like having a larger team around me. I'm passionate about leadership and enjoy creating something together with a wide variety of people." However, she finds herself too impatient to work in creation herself. "I am someone who drives the herd. I can recognize who has what talent and then want to give people their chance." Her ambitious goal: "We have to climb into the top three in the creative rankings in the next five years."    

Andreas Panzeri

Andreas Sedmak is the new Account Director and Head of Dialog & Digital at Euro RSCG and is fully committed to the new technology. "We are currently in a phase where we have to expect fundamental changes," says Andreas Sedmak, analyzing the future of dialog marketing. He is also excited about the media: Where are things heading in the online, offline and free title sectors? "The trend shows that investment in the online sector is increasing significantly. Overall, this is still reflected in a small percentage of the advertising pie compared to traditional media. However, with annual growth rates of over 100 percent, investment in online channels and online advertising will already be greater than in the press in 2011," calculates industry expert Sedmak. The opportunity to "actively experience and help shape all these developments" was an opportunity that the experimental media expert did not want to miss out on when he was offered the responsibility of Account Director at Euro RSCG, now in a dual role as Head of Dialog & Digital. Andreas Sedmak is also writing a dissertation on "Radio and television in Switzerland in the age of digitalization". This means he can now combine theory and practice once again, as he has done several times in the course of his short but already varied career.
Andreas Sedmak studied law at the University of Fribourg and minored in media studies. "Maybe a media lawyer" was his idea, as the man with an interest in film, radio and the Internet had already written for school newspapers at secondary school.
He then sought more specific knowledge at the University of Zurich, where he majored in journalism and media studies. Andreas Sedmak largely financed his studies himself. Initially, he worked part-time at Generali and was responsible for various insurance products as a project manager. "That was my first direct contact with dialog marketing," he recalls of this "exciting time to learn". The dialog campaigns back then were already comprehensive across various channels. He sees the telephone numbers shown in the TV commercial as an anticipation or "interactive television in its early stages".
Shortly before completing his master's thesis on the topic of "Performance mandate for Swiss television", Sedmak moved to UBS. He was put in charge of youth marketing at the bank. "That suited the final phase of my studies because I was very familiar with the needs of the target group thanks to my own lifestyle." During this phase, Sedmak worked for the bank during the day and for his studies in his free time. The double burden also regularly cost him his vacations. "There was an interest in combining the two worlds," he says. And notes that, with his two roles at Euro RSCG, he is once again enjoying two things at the same time. "This double professional life is like a common thread in my interests."

A further step in this dual development was his move from UBS to a private bank after completing his studies. At VP Bank, Sedmak was given responsibility as Head of Marketing and Communications. "An extremely exciting task", because he had to oversee all areas from classic campaigns to below-the-line and events. "We were able to build a new brand and I was able to be involved from the very beginning for the VP Bank Switzerland subsidiary in Zurich." The job also brought him into closer contact with advertising agencies. Wirz "sold private banking as art" with this new branding. In this way, Sedmak got to know agency life in all its functions as an outsider on the client side, before at some point the desire arose to switch to the agency side himself.
"I went the other way around. Most people start at an agency and then switch to the client. In my new job, I can now bring the client's perspective to the table much better." The new Account Director at Euro RSCG has "an understanding of how a company works". He knows the rules of the market and knows "how complex the individual departments work on the client side".
Before Frank Bodin brought him to Gutstrasse, Andreas Sedmak started out in a small agency. Here, as a consultant and publishing director, he was to establish the gastronomy magazine "Zürich geht aus" as a title. In the meantime, the ever-growing magazine is also available in Basel and Ticino. He had successfully completed the development work when the publishing director was tempted by an offer from the Young & Rubicam Group. This opened up the opportunity to serve international clients as consulting group manager.
After two years at Y&R, the opportunity arose at Euro RSCG. "The dual role appealed to me, also in light of the current development. Account Director and Head of Dialog & Digital. It fits in with my dissertation."
What he likes about his new job is the freedom to "develop something that doesn't yet exist". Designing creative ideas that help clients and their end customers move forward. "I've found an agency that gives everyone a lot of freedom, is dynamic and implements my idea of advertising: the Power of One. This allows us to provide our clients with the best possible service."
In his private life, Andreas Sedmak also sees himself as a "media person". He zaps through the net and channels and is interested in everything new. He finds relaxation in his private life and in tennis and swimming, where he finds the strength for all challenges.
Andreas Panzeri