Zurich New York return via Puerto Rico
As CD, Sacha Moser and his team at Publicis want to make "swiss made" advertising with an international claim from Zurich.
Here, you can only stare at the next wall of houses. In Zurich, you have a view of the lake," Kaspar Loeb tried to convince his ideal candidate Sacha Moser. That was in New York in 2005. Loeb was CEO at Publicis Zurich. Moser was senior AD at Young & Rubicam New York. The meeting took place in Moser's Manhattan office. "With a fascinating view of Madison Avenue," Moser smiles today. Nevertheless, he was lured by the prospect of a new challenge on Lake Zurich. He was ultimately persuaded by the argument that Publicis wanted to increasingly serve international clients from Zurich in the future.
The wide world, that was Sacha Moser's horizon by now. Before his five years in New York, he worked for two and a half years at Y&R in Puerto Rico. This was not just a satellite office of the network. The U.S. Free State on the Caribbean island also served as a missile base for international campaigns by American multinationals for all of Latin America. "Puerto Rico was a top agency in Y&R's network," Moser looks back.
Having landed in Stadelhofen, Sacha Moser now wants to use his experience to help Publicis reach new heights since 2005. "I'm proud of the fact that we were able to get through the last few years, which were not easy for the entire industry, without any major waves of layoffs and got off to a dream start in 2010. Now, after the economic success, we also want to step on the gas again in the creative rankings," says the CD. Sacha Moser has already been able to prove several times in his career that goals are not just pious wishes for him.
After a trial apprenticeship at the age of 14, Sacha discovered his vocation for advertising. He consistently sought his way first through the School of Arts and Crafts. When his passion for photography became more and more professional, a study trip to Paris seemed to be the most sensible way to go. But his father, a banker who was keen on security, wanted to see an apprenticeship first. Or at least an appropriate contract. Sacha studied the newspaper, examined a few advertisements and then called DDB without further ado. He liked their work and "would like to do an apprenticeship as a graphic designer," he said on the phone. On the spot, it was a matter of arguing why the apprenticeship contract had to be signed by his father before the overnight train to Paris.
After completing his apprenticeship, a brief interlude with Rainer Kuhn and his iconic Friends followed before "a great offer" from Advico fluttered onto the table. "I knew there was still a lot to learn. And this agency was able to offer me the best teachers at the time with Martin Spillmann, Mathias Bapst and all the other cracks." Today, Moser considers it a particularly fortunate opportunity that he was also able to learn the film trade from scratch with Hansjörg Zürcher. He was promoted to AD at the age of 23 and was able to shoot with director Michi Fueter in Arizona and Los Angeles.
With the ADC Creative School, we also went to Cannes for the first time. The parties there are legendary. You meet the most interesting people in the industry. Most of the time, it's just small talk. But when an AD friend from Puerto Rico introduced him to the highly acclaimed creative director of Y&R Puerto Rico, the young colleague wanted a little more. "I don't know what convinced her. But she finally believed me that I really wanted to work with her." True, it took another six months for the transfer to be approved. "Although the network welcomes such transfers: No one waits for you in these hot spots. You really have to want it badly," Moser knows.
This knowledge was already known to him from a completely different scene. Sacha has been with the same woman since his apprenticeship as a graphic designer. He got to know the Dutch woman, who studied in Düsseldorf, during skiing vacations in Vorarlberg. "Typically on the last evening." And so, of course, after two weeks, a visit to Germany was in order. Because Sacha was already an apprentice, "once again he was in the office too long," he missed the plane. But because at that time he was also working on the side as "the youngest swing manager" or shift leader at McDonald's, and shortly before that he had also been involved in setting up the first box store on Zurich's Bahnhofstrasse, the 19-year-old had no problem getting into a cab. "Dübendorf?" the chauffeur asked. "Düsseldorf," Sacha replied and paid 1,700 francs. Of course, his later wife couldn't do much against so much decisiveness coupled with infatuation.
The hotel manageress also accompanied the advertiser to Puerto Rico. Because she was not allowed to work there, Paulien cared for wild stray cats and later exported the cute little animals by plane to the east coast of the USA. Meanwhile, her husband shot one commercial after another. "Movies are the most important medium in Latin America because there are very few newspapers there," Moser confirms. Accordingly, since such mundane spots were not allowed to cost much more than an ad, the AD often did all the work himself, from handheld camera to editing and a soundtrack on his Mac. "It was valuable for me to learn that too much reverence for the medium of film, as we like to do in Switzerland, is not always creative for the result." One of those spots for Colgate cost only $10,000. But it won a spot on the shortlist at Cannes. For the cats in Puerto Rico, the success was fatal. Sacha Moser was soon transferred to the headquarters of Y&R in New York. There his wife was allowed to work in the hotel again, namely in the legendary Royalton.
At Y&R New York, 2,000 people were working at the time. The budget for Colgate-Palmolive alone was $600 million per year. Within this budget, Sacha Moser led a team as Senior AD. Later, as CD Art, he also worked for Dr Pepper, AT&T or Dannon USA. For these clients he also managed many film shoots and photo shoots in the USA and other countries around the world. The celebrity spots with Anastacia and Cyndi Lauper, for example, were fun. He was also able to realize a long-awaited teenage dream, a video clip with LL Cool J and Run DMC, for the successful Dr. Pepper campaign.
The high life probably could have gone on forever. But "New York is not necessarily a city for families," says Sacha Moser. When the second child registered, the creative director and his wife were faced with the alternative of investing "an unreasonably large sum for a halfway suitable kindergarten" in the Big Apple or swapping the New York scene for a boring dormitory somewhere in the countryside. Neither seemed as tempting to the young family as the Publicis offer of a "life with a lake view" in Zurich, where their relatives are.
Andreas Panzeri
The wide world, that was Sacha Moser's horizon by now. Before his five years in New York, he worked for two and a half years at Y&R in Puerto Rico. This was not just a satellite office of the network. The U.S. Free State on the Caribbean island also served as a missile base for international campaigns by American multinationals for all of Latin America. "Puerto Rico was a top agency in Y&R's network," Moser looks back.
Having landed in Stadelhofen, Sacha Moser now wants to use his experience to help Publicis reach new heights since 2005. "I'm proud of the fact that we were able to get through the last few years, which were not easy for the entire industry, without any major waves of layoffs and got off to a dream start in 2010. Now, after the economic success, we also want to step on the gas again in the creative rankings," says the CD. Sacha Moser has already been able to prove several times in his career that goals are not just pious wishes for him.
After a trial apprenticeship at the age of 14, Sacha discovered his vocation for advertising. He consistently sought his way first through the School of Arts and Crafts. When his passion for photography became more and more professional, a study trip to Paris seemed to be the most sensible way to go. But his father, a banker who was keen on security, wanted to see an apprenticeship first. Or at least an appropriate contract. Sacha studied the newspaper, examined a few advertisements and then called DDB without further ado. He liked their work and "would like to do an apprenticeship as a graphic designer," he said on the phone. On the spot, it was a matter of arguing why the apprenticeship contract had to be signed by his father before the overnight train to Paris.
After completing his apprenticeship, a brief interlude with Rainer Kuhn and his iconic Friends followed before "a great offer" from Advico fluttered onto the table. "I knew there was still a lot to learn. And this agency was able to offer me the best teachers at the time with Martin Spillmann, Mathias Bapst and all the other cracks." Today, Moser considers it a particularly fortunate opportunity that he was also able to learn the film trade from scratch with Hansjörg Zürcher. He was promoted to AD at the age of 23 and was able to shoot with director Michi Fueter in Arizona and Los Angeles.
With the ADC Creative School, we also went to Cannes for the first time. The parties there are legendary. You meet the most interesting people in the industry. Most of the time, it's just small talk. But when an AD friend from Puerto Rico introduced him to the highly acclaimed creative director of Y&R Puerto Rico, the young colleague wanted a little more. "I don't know what convinced her. But she finally believed me that I really wanted to work with her." True, it took another six months for the transfer to be approved. "Although the network welcomes such transfers: No one waits for you in these hot spots. You really have to want it badly," Moser knows.
This knowledge was already known to him from a completely different scene. Sacha has been with the same woman since his apprenticeship as a graphic designer. He got to know the Dutch woman, who studied in Düsseldorf, during skiing vacations in Vorarlberg. "Typically on the last evening." And so, of course, after two weeks, a visit to Germany was in order. Because Sacha was already an apprentice, "once again he was in the office too long," he missed the plane. But because at that time he was also working on the side as "the youngest swing manager" or shift leader at McDonald's, and shortly before that he had also been involved in setting up the first box store on Zurich's Bahnhofstrasse, the 19-year-old had no problem getting into a cab. "Dübendorf?" the chauffeur asked. "Düsseldorf," Sacha replied and paid 1,700 francs. Of course, his later wife couldn't do much against so much decisiveness coupled with infatuation.
The hotel manageress also accompanied the advertiser to Puerto Rico. Because she was not allowed to work there, Paulien cared for wild stray cats and later exported the cute little animals by plane to the east coast of the USA. Meanwhile, her husband shot one commercial after another. "Movies are the most important medium in Latin America because there are very few newspapers there," Moser confirms. Accordingly, since such mundane spots were not allowed to cost much more than an ad, the AD often did all the work himself, from handheld camera to editing and a soundtrack on his Mac. "It was valuable for me to learn that too much reverence for the medium of film, as we like to do in Switzerland, is not always creative for the result." One of those spots for Colgate cost only $10,000. But it won a spot on the shortlist at Cannes. For the cats in Puerto Rico, the success was fatal. Sacha Moser was soon transferred to the headquarters of Y&R in New York. There his wife was allowed to work in the hotel again, namely in the legendary Royalton.
At Y&R New York, 2,000 people were working at the time. The budget for Colgate-Palmolive alone was $600 million per year. Within this budget, Sacha Moser led a team as Senior AD. Later, as CD Art, he also worked for Dr Pepper, AT&T or Dannon USA. For these clients he also managed many film shoots and photo shoots in the USA and other countries around the world. The celebrity spots with Anastacia and Cyndi Lauper, for example, were fun. He was also able to realize a long-awaited teenage dream, a video clip with LL Cool J and Run DMC, for the successful Dr. Pepper campaign.
The high life probably could have gone on forever. But "New York is not necessarily a city for families," says Sacha Moser. When the second child registered, the creative director and his wife were faced with the alternative of investing "an unreasonably large sum for a halfway suitable kindergarten" in the Big Apple or swapping the New York scene for a boring dormitory somewhere in the countryside. Neither seemed as tempting to the young family as the Publicis offer of a "life with a lake view" in Zurich, where their relatives are.
Andreas Panzeri
