Mother of all advertising parties
It's the mother of all parties: the Egon Awards and the Advertiser of the Year celebration.
It's the mother of all parties, the Egon Awards and the Advertising Person of the Year party.By Andreas Panzeri and Beat Fritsch This year, the award was presented for the 25th time. The mega party took place at the X-tra Limmathaus. More than 1,800 guests had registered for the event, and several more may have joined them during the course of the evening. "Pushed" is correct, because there was a jostling at times, especially in front of the meat pots and wine barrels. The numbers, which were passed around in the television stations, went even up to 2500 persons. Correctly read: TV stations! An intimate celebration among advertisers has never drawn so much semi- and real-official coverage. And not just in the news block as short fodder.
Tele Züri already reported on the election of Dominique von Matt in the 7 p.m. news, followed the next day by a detailed portrait recorded at his agency. Star-TV followed up with a short report. SF DRS put the icing on the cake in its "Schweiz aktuell" program on Thursday evening. Not only was the ZVV campaign from Publicis, chosen by SI and Tele readers, honored in detail - following the feature, there was even a live broadcast from the X-tra to over 700,000 Swiss households, where the Advertiser of the Year 2001 and also WerbeWoche Editor-in-Chief Samuel Helbling were able to do a little PR for the entire industry. This is unprecedented for an advertising party!
The hall was so packed that even "Schweiz aktuell" presenter Christoph Baumgartner and his cameraman could hardly get through. And with more than 2000 guests, it was impossible to find everyone. The party is slowly taking on a dimension that almost makes you think. Because the entrance is coveted like nowhere else. As one heard from many present, this is to be owed to the date at the beginning of the year. The WdJ party is always the first major event in the industry after New Year's Eve. In many places, the knights of expense pull out their agendas during the chance encounters in the course of the evening in order to schedule the lunches and dinners for the first quarter. After all, things are supposed to be looking up again this year, if you believe the economic experts. Also with the expense budgets. And that way, at least Zurich's in pubs won't go down the drain, too.
The guests were offered a lot. It all started in the entrance area. At the bar of Buchs-Druck, the printers of WerbeWoche, the first welcome drink was served one meter from the checkroom. Meanwhile, a promoter from Spamnetradio was handing out meat loaf in a Vac-Pack. The mustard is available at www.spamnetradio.ch, where advertisers can now have their auditory canals clogged. It's definitely worth a listen, if only because it's the first advertising radio station in Switzerland. Sponsor Facts, on the other hand, came up with a crypt-like outlet: In a concrete pedestal, Dominique von Matt's footprints were clearly the deepest compared to those of his competitors Frank Bodin, Claude Catsky, Markus Gut, Daniel Matter and Martin Spillmann. An advertiser of the year leaves visible traces. As, incidentally, did Doctor Mai-Ling, the figurehead of DM service provider Trendcommerce. He looked down on the crowd of guests from an oversized banner.
It got crowded for the first time on the stairs towards the buffet. Here, those who wanted to go up collided with those who sat down on the steps to eat quite uncomplicatedly. The hall was already crowded after a very short time, and seats were scarce anyway during the whole evening.
Fortunately, we didn't run out of liquids. It is already a tradition that all drinks at the Advertiser of the Year are free. They are always generously paid for by the sponsors. And the partygoers make even more generous use of this. In the "cellar vaults" of the X-tra there was also a veritable casino with a bar and six or seven gaming tables, sponsored by RMB and Qualiclick.
Jean-Claude Bruhin, Christoph Morach and Roger Baur went to see for themselves what was going on. It was rumored that the evening was quite lively at the bar of this casino. And at the gaming tables, too, the advertisers indulged in nothing but fun for once with the donated chips.
At the bar behind the stage, where at least during the award ceremony one could still enjoy a drink in peace and without crowds, the people from Marc Schürmann's promotion agency Mosaik served spicy drinks with Trojka vodka. After the award ceremony, however, the calm at the bar was soon over. The bar was stormed when those present realized that the stage no longer belonged only to the Advertiser of the Year and his guests, but was open to all. And on a stage you do not need to ask the advertisers twice. Especially not when there's a bar on it.
In the meantime, Dominique von Matt's wife Jolanda had arrived with their daughter. For the VIPs and their companions, enough space had been thought of in the backstage area with their own supply of drinks. However, dad Dominique still had to give a few interviews before the family could proudly sit down next to him.
At another bar, Gebi Schregenberger acted as a calming influence. The Grand Old Man of the industry enjoyed simply watching the pretty assistants dance, undisturbed by stressful shop talk.
Although he will probably have to wait another year or two before he is officially awarded the title of "Advertiser of the Year," Martin Spillmann was delighted at the crazy party. For the photo, Rita Spillmann proudly let herself be photographed with her Martin - how can one be comforted more beautifully - for the shortlist. Although not yet a wife, a charming Claudia smiled at us; she wants to marry Werner Schlatter from Media-Daten-Verlag soon, as she revealed to the WerbeWoche team. And the third marriage; Marzio Frei of Moneycab and Iris Mettler are also rumored to be getting married soon. The two have already inquired whether the shortlist photographer could also be booked for a wedding celebration, but he usually declines with thanks. Because he doesn't photograph divorces either...
IPM CEO Michi Frank was in a good mood. After a lengthy tug-of-war, he was finally able to let loose with the western Swiss advertising window on M6, even if full coverage is still a bit of a problem. Sebahat Derdiyok from Blood Sweat & Tears moaned about the crowds in the stairwell. The crowd was also a bit annoying for Helen Gerber, who only had one elbow free for the melee at the buffet because of her plastered arm. Also only briefly in the crowd: Bettina Bussey from Primetime, who once again forgot to organize the annual Christmas dinner of the Ringier alumni club. Private plans for the future were revealed by Tarkan Özküp. The former RMB sales manager wants to take care of a proficiency diploma first before a professional reorientation. In the midst of the hustle and bustle, we also met Özküp's former boss, RMB CEO Matthias Luchsinger, together with Markus Cavegn. The latter seems to be on good terms with his activity as an independent CD. In the WdJ number of WerbeWoche, he was the author of two advertisements. Next to the former advertisers of the year, Ruf Lanz, whose double-entendre has a strikingly similar appearance to that of Cavegn. Advertising, like art, has the unfathomable ability to create visual analogies. Which is why advertising should definitely be considered an art form! Later that evening, when the X-tra was opened to the general public, the advertisers adjourned to the cozy lounge with cognac and cigars for such and other high-strength discussions.
Beat Fritsch and Andreas Panzeri
Tele Züri already reported on the election of Dominique von Matt in the 7 p.m. news, followed the next day by a detailed portrait recorded at his agency. Star-TV followed up with a short report. SF DRS put the icing on the cake in its "Schweiz aktuell" program on Thursday evening. Not only was the ZVV campaign from Publicis, chosen by SI and Tele readers, honored in detail - following the feature, there was even a live broadcast from the X-tra to over 700,000 Swiss households, where the Advertiser of the Year 2001 and also WerbeWoche Editor-in-Chief Samuel Helbling were able to do a little PR for the entire industry. This is unprecedented for an advertising party!
The hall was so packed that even "Schweiz aktuell" presenter Christoph Baumgartner and his cameraman could hardly get through. And with more than 2000 guests, it was impossible to find everyone. The party is slowly taking on a dimension that almost makes you think. Because the entrance is coveted like nowhere else. As one heard from many present, this is to be owed to the date at the beginning of the year. The WdJ party is always the first major event in the industry after New Year's Eve. In many places, the knights of expense pull out their agendas during the chance encounters in the course of the evening in order to schedule the lunches and dinners for the first quarter. After all, things are supposed to be looking up again this year, if you believe the economic experts. Also with the expense budgets. And that way, at least Zurich's in pubs won't go down the drain, too.
The guests were offered a lot. It all started in the entrance area. At the bar of Buchs-Druck, the printers of WerbeWoche, the first welcome drink was served one meter from the checkroom. Meanwhile, a promoter from Spamnetradio was handing out meat loaf in a Vac-Pack. The mustard is available at www.spamnetradio.ch, where advertisers can now have their auditory canals clogged. It's definitely worth a listen, if only because it's the first advertising radio station in Switzerland. Sponsor Facts, on the other hand, came up with a crypt-like outlet: In a concrete pedestal, Dominique von Matt's footprints were clearly the deepest compared to those of his competitors Frank Bodin, Claude Catsky, Markus Gut, Daniel Matter and Martin Spillmann. An advertiser of the year leaves visible traces. As, incidentally, did Doctor Mai-Ling, the figurehead of DM service provider Trendcommerce. He looked down on the crowd of guests from an oversized banner.
It got crowded for the first time on the stairs towards the buffet. Here, those who wanted to go up collided with those who sat down on the steps to eat quite uncomplicatedly. The hall was already crowded after a very short time, and seats were scarce anyway during the whole evening.
Fortunately, we didn't run out of liquids. It is already a tradition that all drinks at the Advertiser of the Year are free. They are always generously paid for by the sponsors. And the partygoers make even more generous use of this. In the "cellar vaults" of the X-tra there was also a veritable casino with a bar and six or seven gaming tables, sponsored by RMB and Qualiclick.
Jean-Claude Bruhin, Christoph Morach and Roger Baur went to see for themselves what was going on. It was rumored that the evening was quite lively at the bar of this casino. And at the gaming tables, too, the advertisers indulged in nothing but fun for once with the donated chips.
At the bar behind the stage, where at least during the award ceremony one could still enjoy a drink in peace and without crowds, the people from Marc Schürmann's promotion agency Mosaik served spicy drinks with Trojka vodka. After the award ceremony, however, the calm at the bar was soon over. The bar was stormed when those present realized that the stage no longer belonged only to the Advertiser of the Year and his guests, but was open to all. And on a stage you do not need to ask the advertisers twice. Especially not when there's a bar on it.
In the meantime, Dominique von Matt's wife Jolanda had arrived with their daughter. For the VIPs and their companions, enough space had been thought of in the backstage area with their own supply of drinks. However, dad Dominique still had to give a few interviews before the family could proudly sit down next to him.
At another bar, Gebi Schregenberger acted as a calming influence. The Grand Old Man of the industry enjoyed simply watching the pretty assistants dance, undisturbed by stressful shop talk.
Although he will probably have to wait another year or two before he is officially awarded the title of "Advertiser of the Year," Martin Spillmann was delighted at the crazy party. For the photo, Rita Spillmann proudly let herself be photographed with her Martin - how can one be comforted more beautifully - for the shortlist. Although not yet a wife, a charming Claudia smiled at us; she wants to marry Werner Schlatter from Media-Daten-Verlag soon, as she revealed to the WerbeWoche team. And the third marriage; Marzio Frei of Moneycab and Iris Mettler are also rumored to be getting married soon. The two have already inquired whether the shortlist photographer could also be booked for a wedding celebration, but he usually declines with thanks. Because he doesn't photograph divorces either...
IPM CEO Michi Frank was in a good mood. After a lengthy tug-of-war, he was finally able to let loose with the western Swiss advertising window on M6, even if full coverage is still a bit of a problem. Sebahat Derdiyok from Blood Sweat & Tears moaned about the crowds in the stairwell. The crowd was also a bit annoying for Helen Gerber, who only had one elbow free for the melee at the buffet because of her plastered arm. Also only briefly in the crowd: Bettina Bussey from Primetime, who once again forgot to organize the annual Christmas dinner of the Ringier alumni club. Private plans for the future were revealed by Tarkan Özküp. The former RMB sales manager wants to take care of a proficiency diploma first before a professional reorientation. In the midst of the hustle and bustle, we also met Özküp's former boss, RMB CEO Matthias Luchsinger, together with Markus Cavegn. The latter seems to be on good terms with his activity as an independent CD. In the WdJ number of WerbeWoche, he was the author of two advertisements. Next to the former advertisers of the year, Ruf Lanz, whose double-entendre has a strikingly similar appearance to that of Cavegn. Advertising, like art, has the unfathomable ability to create visual analogies. Which is why advertising should definitely be considered an art form! Later that evening, when the X-tra was opened to the general public, the advertisers adjourned to the cozy lounge with cognac and cigars for such and other high-strength discussions.
Beat Fritsch and Andreas Panzeri
joined photographer Dominic Ott in the hustle and bustle of the Advertising Person of the Year awards last week. What went down there can be described as a hardcore party. At times, there was no getting through, and even the shortlist team tried their hand at hand-to-hand combat. With 2000 visitors, the event broke all previous records and set new standards. Fortunately, there are also calmer events now and then.
Where these take place and who attends them will be located in a wide variety of places in the scene. Do you already have something to report? Pick up the phone (01 296 97 98) or hit the keys ([email protected]). Event tips as well as further shortlist pictures are available from
it online at www.werbewoche.ch.
