Man with an ear for music
As a new partner at Jung von Matt, Alexander Jaggy wants to continue to be perceived as a doer and not as a power player.
find something surprising with Alexander Jaggy: "Yes, there are
and occasionally a rock CD of mine at the flea market. The
I saw the last one at the Very Nice Prize of 1.50 francs",
confirms the Executive CD and new partner at Jung von Matt/Limmat.
However, the detour into music was only "a brief dream in a
other world".
The multi-award-winning creative never really wanted anything serious.
other than advertising. Nevertheless, Jaggy does not play golf and can
don't smoke cigars either. "This clichéd advertising environment
does not interest me. I only know what good advertising
needs," he says. Namely: "A lot of hard work and perseverance in order to
to be able to bring inspiration to the floor."
Not a man of power but still a man of action, defines Jaggy
therefore spontaneously changed his mind as the new co-owner of a
large agency. Not as a patron, but as a representative of the young
generation of managers, he wants to work in partnership with his teams as far as possible.
and look for good solutions.
His career in advertising began with a trial apprenticeship at a
graphic designer in Zurich. The latter sent him to the entrance exam for the
Preliminary course at the School of Arts and Crafts. At the age of just 14, Alexander
but was not accepted among the more than 600 applicants. One
The alternative was business school. During this time, however
successful posters continue to catch my eye. So has
Jaggy placed an advertisement in Advertising Week after completing his commercial diploma:
"Junior copywriter or consultant assistant seeks ..."
Today he laughs: "You can see how quickly things could have gone wrong.
Just because someone wanted him as a copywriter first, his career
finally caught the right turn-off. He was hired at
an offshoot of BBDO after a 45-minute conversation about music and
Football. "That's how it went in 1990."
After recruit school, he continued at GGK Zurich. Here Jaggy
I met Pius Walker, who was a graphic designer at the time. Together they formed
They are a junior team surrounded by many as yet unknown colleagues who
are among the top names in Swiss advertising today. Jaggy and Walker too
wanted to know. After two years at GGK Zurich, the team
applied to Springer & Jacoby in Hamburg. With a rented
Europ-Car full of household goods, the duo traveled north in 1994, took
in a shared flat and was then allowed to live in the "third unit" - as the
Springer & Jacoby's various offshoots are numbered - a
Form a team.
Because their work was convincing, Walker was appointed AD and Jaggy was appointed
Copywriters continue as a team in the fourth unit for the Mercedes budget
and were promptly entrusted with the budget. The rapid success in the
abroad made the two of them brave. Now they wanted to do it in London too
try. Without a concrete job, they crossed the canal, completed
continued as a team 33 interviews "with all the big names". Then, after four
months, she lost her savings. But one experience richer, she returned
one returns to Hamburg, this time to Jung von Matt. Walker later moved to
set off on a trip around the world. Jaggy stayed in Hamburg and got
finally had the chance to conquer London after all. He was to
there as a copywriter for Springer & Jacoby, helping to set up a London office.
to open.
With the Swiss-German-English-Norwegian team, Jaggy has
London won the Daimler-Chrysler pitch with 80 million dollars. It
could well have continued. When, after two years, his wife
also came to London from Springer & Jacoby in Hamburg
was expecting a child, another change was needed. The
young family realized that London was more of a thing for singles.
or was a dual earner.
During this phase, Jung von Matt made him just the right offer.
for Zurich. Here Dominique von Matt searched for the
his partner's departure a new CD text. Since April 2001
Jaggy is now here and has already made a difference at the agency. In Zurich
he no longer misses the buzzing life of London. The many
But he still has fond memories of comedy stages and pubs.
"I certainly also have a certain looseness from this time after
Zurich," he says.
This helped him to rebuild the Jung von Matt/Limmat agency,
because teams with different cultures work together to find a solution
had to look for. "At the beginning, many people had the Honegger family groove
von Matt missed." The unit matured when they found themselves in the creative ranking
was able to shimmy to the front. Bluewin was won and stayed. With Julius
Bär and SBB have developed a "gratifying collaboration".
Success with large and relevant budgets: even a gold medal at the
ADC for Panasonic led the agency to 7th place in Jaggy's first year.
One year later, it was already fourth in the creative ranking. "That has
encouraged many people that economic efficiency can also be achieved with creativity.
can be connected," he says.
Like Dominique von Matt, Jaggy is concerned that, in addition to the
top management level, the agency also has a solid second level,
where the next generation can mature into later tasks. Around the
Think Tank on the Limmat today employs 60 people, including a
Webunit, PR and a dialog department, which was launched at the beginning of the year.
is.
Andreas Panzeri
