MRB: Obituary of agency founder Ted Metzger
Ted Metzger, founder of the Metzger/Blatter/Partner agency (now MRB), established in 1982; father of the agency’s current CEO, Silvan Metzger; and creator of numerous national and international campaigns, passed away peacefully on May 17, 2024, after a long illness. An obituary.
The Metzger name has been a constant in the Swiss advertising landscape for over 40 years. After Ted Metzger founded the agency in Zurich's Seefeld district together with his wife Kathryn and creative partner Matthias Blatter, the first issue of the AdvertisingWeek with the headline "Metzger and Blatter take off".
The young, wild agency was quickly able to attract well-known clients: Hotelplan, PKZ, Emil Frey, LaPrairie, Christ, Shopping Center Spreitenbach, Railtour Suisse and Patria Versicherungen all contributed to the fact that the agency soon needed more space and so moved from Zurich Seefeld to Zollikon. This was followed by several name changes to Metzger Lehner Briccola, later Metzgerlehner and today's MRB (Metzger Rottmann Bürge). The Metzger name remains the constant to this day and makes the creative agency probably the oldest independent, owner-managed Swiss agency in family ownership.
Advertiser through and through
Ted Metzger was born in Arbon TG on November 6, 1939, the son of a baker and confectioner. After leaving school, he trained as a typesetter before moving to Zurich, where he worked as an advertising assistant at Amag Schinznach from 1963. At the same time, he completed his basic training as an advertising assistant at the SAWI in Biel. In 1965, he moved to Brüllmann & Contini in Biel, where he worked as an advertising assistant for General Motors Suisse.
Back in Zurich, Ted moved to Magazine zum Globus in 1967, where he headed the advertising department for ten years and also increasingly worked as a copywriter and concept developer. In 1978, he returned to the agency side and became head of the consulting group and a member of the extended management of Adolf Wirz AG. On October 1, 1982, he set up his own business with Kathryn Metzger and creative partner Matthias Blatter and founded the full-service agency Metzger/Blatter/Partner, now MRB.
A person with many ideas
It is with gratitude and great respect that we bid farewell to a courageous entrepreneur, gentleman, aesthete and old-school advertiser - a man with many ideas that still inspire us today. We will always remember his wit, his creativity, his passion for beautiful things and his deep connection with the advertising industry to the end.
Early works by Metzger/Blatter/Partner
