Appendage of the economy
Noted: A “Grand Old Man” of Swiss advertising is surprised that he ever believed in its wonderland. And at the same time, he is bidding farewell as a columnist for *Werbewoche*. Farewell, our fellow man, our brother!
Column A grand old man of Swiss advertising wonders why he ever believed in its wonderland. And at the same time says goodbye as a columnist for Werbewoche. Adieu notre semblable, notre frère! It was only a few years ago that I was convinced that Jules Verne would find advertising there in his "Journey to the Center of the Earth". A few years earlier, of course, it was journalism. Today I know that neither is the center of the world. I'm no longer even naive enough to want to assume a new center.
But it's interesting how you experience advertising once you've left it behind. What was once the great theater stage for dramas of Shakespearean proportions, where advertising atriums were created and perished, where kings fought bloody battles and every hiccup of a court jester became an industry rumor, looks more like the theater on the Winkelwiese from a distance.
The unspectacular truth is: In the big wide world of business, nobody is actually interested in the colorful appendix called advertising. It's progressive if you can even spell the word marketing. The gentlemen in
The people on the carpet are busy doing other things. What used to annoy me to no end now seems completely understandable to me. There are simply more important issues than the next campaign, let alone the size of the logo on the poster.
My God, when I think today of how we argued at the ADC judging sessions about the originality of a flyer in some mailing, what Socratic discussions the judging mode triggered and how we fought for every bronze nomination, I am not only overcome with nostalgia, but also almost a little emotion. I remember how we almost had to send for the Cardiomobile for Ernst Meier because of an Arosa poster, how Jean Etienne Aebi stood up so threateningly that the room temperature dropped noticeably, and how Reini Weber, with the ingenious strategy of a chess player, deliberately praised or punished competitors before his work was judged.
If I still had an advertising agency today, I would certainly be a lot smarter. Above all, I would follow three maxims. Firstly, I would see advertising not as an end in itself, but as a subordinate tool of marketing. Secondly, I would focus exclusively on my client's problems and not on my own or those of my employees. Thirdly: use marble cubes exclusively as paperweights. Or as a bookmark in a Jules Verne novel.
> Walter Bosch was editor-in-chief of Blick, Ringier manager and co-founder of the advertising agency Bosch & Butz. Since selling the agency in 1998, he has been an entrepreneur and, more recently, a member of the Board of Directors of Swiss.
But it's interesting how you experience advertising once you've left it behind. What was once the great theater stage for dramas of Shakespearean proportions, where advertising atriums were created and perished, where kings fought bloody battles and every hiccup of a court jester became an industry rumor, looks more like the theater on the Winkelwiese from a distance.
The unspectacular truth is: In the big wide world of business, nobody is actually interested in the colorful appendix called advertising. It's progressive if you can even spell the word marketing. The gentlemen in
The people on the carpet are busy doing other things. What used to annoy me to no end now seems completely understandable to me. There are simply more important issues than the next campaign, let alone the size of the logo on the poster.
My God, when I think today of how we argued at the ADC judging sessions about the originality of a flyer in some mailing, what Socratic discussions the judging mode triggered and how we fought for every bronze nomination, I am not only overcome with nostalgia, but also almost a little emotion. I remember how we almost had to send for the Cardiomobile for Ernst Meier because of an Arosa poster, how Jean Etienne Aebi stood up so threateningly that the room temperature dropped noticeably, and how Reini Weber, with the ingenious strategy of a chess player, deliberately praised or punished competitors before his work was judged.
If I still had an advertising agency today, I would certainly be a lot smarter. Above all, I would follow three maxims. Firstly, I would see advertising not as an end in itself, but as a subordinate tool of marketing. Secondly, I would focus exclusively on my client's problems and not on my own or those of my employees. Thirdly: use marble cubes exclusively as paperweights. Or as a bookmark in a Jules Verne novel.
> Walter Bosch was editor-in-chief of Blick, Ringier manager and co-founder of the advertising agency Bosch & Butz. Since selling the agency in 1998, he has been an entrepreneur and, more recently, a member of the Board of Directors of Swiss.
