Publicis: Thomas Wildberger becomes CCO
Now that the individual communications disciplines have been integrated, Publicis Communications Switzerland is rounding out its creative leadership team: Thomas Wildberger will join the agency as its new Chief Creative Officer on May 2 at the Stadelhofen office.
The top Swiss creative is thus returning to Zurich from Germany after 16 years, the agency writes in a statement. Wildberger began his career at Matter Galbucci Leo Burnett and decided to move into the German market in 1996. As a copywriter at Jung von Matt in Hamburg, he worked for clients such as Audi, Deutsche Post, Noah and SAT.1. Two years later, he moved on to local rival Springer & Jacoby, where he worked mainly for clients such as Lufthansa, Mercedes and Daimler Chrysler. In 1999, he returned to Jung von Matt/Alster as a CD and ran his own box with clients such as BMW, Jever, Noah and Flirtmaschine.de. In 2001, under Oliver Voss and Deneke von Weltzien, he and his team developed one of the most extensive and successful automotive campaigns for BMW's new Mini.
In 2002, Wildberger went freelance and, together with Alex Römer, founded a pure text-to-text freelance team that was fully booked from the first day to the last. They focused mainly on long-term engagements and worked for almost all German creative agencies - including DDB Berlin on Volkswagen, Cayenne on Vodafone and Skoda, and Publicis Frankfurt on Renault. As a logical consequence, in 2007 they founded Römer Wildberger Werbeagentur GmbH, based in Berlin, and won the people magazine Vanity Fair as their launch client. This was followed by other clients such as Berliner Morgenpost, Natural American Spirit, the German University for Continuing Education, the online shoe portal Mirapodo, Die Welt, Welt Online, Axel Springer Media Impact, KaufDa.de and Ferrero.
Thomas Wildberger is a member of the Art Directors Club Switzerland, the Art Directors Club Germany as well as a lecturer at the Miami Ad School in Berlin. In the course of his career, he has won a large number of awards at relevant competitions, including multiple golds at ADC Germany, ADC New York, Die Anzeige, Das Plakat, New York Festivals and LIAA.
With Thomas Wildberger, Publicis Communications Switzerland has been able to complement its creative expertise with a desired candidate, according to the statement. CEO Curdin Janett: "I am convinced that with Thomas we have found the ideal addition to our team, both professionally and personally. We look forward to an inspiring collaboration and outstanding results for our clients."
Thomas Wildberger takes over as head of creation together with the two ECDs Ralph Halder and Roger Rüegger.
