WW: Did you return to the industry because you saw a need or because life without advertising wasn't exciting enough for you?
Peter Leutenegger: BSW President Peter Felser asked me to take on this role. I was very pleased about that. The BSW is something that interests me and always has. I have time and a good network and can contribute my accumulated industry experience. The commitment is certainly mutually beneficial.

Did you already know when you sold your agency that there would be something within the industry again later on?
I led a relatively quiet and comfortable life for two years and knew that I would start something again at some point. At first, my main plan was to travel and explore the world. I wanted to live in a different country for three months every year. Learn the languages, experience the cultures. I would have been interested in Argentina, Spain, Italy. That fell through, or at least was postponed. Instead, I took on a few mandates for companies that I advised within a very narrow framework. No advertising. I showed these companies how to organize themselves, how to approach and select an advertising agency. But I didn't accompany them through a pitch. I have also advised advertising agencies, I am a commercial judge and I have a mandate in the cultural sector.

In which division?
I am on the board of the Rigiblick Theater. My agency used to do the advertising for this fantastic theater and continued to do so after I left the Draftfcb/Lowe Group. After I left the agency, I was elected to the board of the Theater Rigiblick association.

What is your connection to the theater?
At FCB Leutenegger Krüll, we supported Theater Neumarkt for five years. Then Daniel Rohr, then an actor at Neumarkt, took over the Rigiblick as theater director. Because he is a likeable guy, I wanted to help him make his theater known. We created the corporate design, program flyers, theater posters, etc. In the meantime, I became treasurer of the Theater Rigiblick association and am responsible for financial monitoring. Today, the Rigiblick has a budget of over a million francs and has become quite a complex operation. Incidentally, most of the money is generated by the theater itself, with a lot of work by the multi-talented Daniel Rohr. I also make sure that everything runs smoothly from an organizational point of view.

You also wanted to have more time for sport after selling the agency. How is the training going?
Yes, that's right. When you run an agency, you hardly have any time for yourself and I missed that. I could only marvel at how others apparently found time to jog for two hours every morning, read two books a week, go to the opera and attend the most important theater performances. They are also the perfect husbands and fathers. How do they do it? I never found time to do all that. After the sale, I wanted to catch up on a lot of things. Since then, I've been going to the opera, concerts and museums more often in addition to the theater. It's really exciting to simply have time for myself. I've also played golf, more badly than well, and I've been riding my mountain bike again. Nevertheless, something was missing again.

So you want to know again?
I was approached on the basis that I know the market and the market knows me. The experience from my agency life was also helpful and positive. I can also act relatively freely and really do what the Management Board and I think is right. I am and always have been an independent spirit. Of course, you could ask yourself why I'm doing this. I'm also wondering why I'm sitting in the office doing an interview in this beautiful weather instead of enjoying the sunshine by the lake. But it's an exciting and interesting industry that I like to stay connected to.

You were already President of BSW leading swiss agencies from 2004 to 2006. Now you are the new managing director. What can you expect?
The industry in general has changed a lot. It has become tougher. There are many new players on the market. Many new agencies are being founded, especially outside the traditional advertising sector. However, the cake itself has not grown to the same extent. We have noticed that the industry is doing decently well today and that the BSW agencies representing the top level are even doing very well. Much better than the average. But if we want to keep our distance, we have to become even better in the future. To do this, we will have to do a lot for our members within the association and we will certainly have to raise our profile in the market as BSW.

Against the foreign competition?
No, on the inside. There are always new providers in the communications industry. There are always providers in the media who are trying to get into the agency business. That's why we need to raise our profile and "sell" our advantages better. If you can unite the best agencies under one roof, then you can say it a little louder. The profiling strategy is therefore my most important concern that I want to implement at BSW. I will certainly not just be a nice managing director. I will act with more emphasis. But let's not forget that I am not the president. The policy and strategic goals come from the Board and the President. I work together with the Board and implement what is decided there. I am "only" the executive.

You wouldn't have been interested in a new agency?
No, going back to an agency was never an option. I did that for thirty years. It was exciting. But enough is enough now. And I believe that my agenda should now be determined by me and no longer by my clients. My agenda has been filled with the wishes of my clients, which is normal for an agency boss, but not always amusing. And that brings us back to the topic at hand, namely that I still want to pursue my extra-professional interests despite working. So never again an agency.

Where do you see potential construction sites at BSW?
We have no real construction sites. Walter Merz has done a good job. I just want BSW to have a higher profile in the future than in the past. This includes training as well as the aforementioned self-profiling. And we have to think about whether we want to remain alone as an association on Konradstrasse. Perhaps it would be better if we merged organizationally with one or more associations? In a relatively small industry or market, there are several associations that all maintain their own infrastructure. Is that still in keeping with the times? Incidentally, I have no reservations about so-called competitor associations and could imagine an organizational merger there too. I am open to all sides.

You already work together with others during your training.
We do not work primarily as a BSW, but as a sector primarily with the Sawi and the HWZ. That's a good thing and it works. What we need to do more of, however, is internal association training and more exchange of experience. This is another way in which BSW agencies can differentiate themselves. Training and education exclusively for BSW members or making know-how resources exclusively available to BSW members is an issue.

The pitch situation is always a talking point. What do you think of free pitches?
I don't believe in free competition presentations at all. My experience shows that. An intelligent client is looking for a good agency with a good solution, and that doesn't come for free. That's why he first evaluates agencies without asking for a presentation. If he still can't make a final decision and still wants a presentation from a competitor, then he does this with at most three good agencies, demands top performance and pays for it. There is no such thing as top performance for free. But there are no recipes against the attempt to force agencies to give free presentations. The good agencies are sensible enough not to go along with this. Working out good communication solutions or developing good ideas is very hard work and therefore a pitch that is supposed to show solutions that are also useful to the client is a lot of work. This effort is normally only compensated to a very small extent, even with a large pitch fee. For this reason, it is sensible for a quality agency never to take part in a competitive presentation where more than three people are involved. Otherwise, the effort involved and the chance of winning are not in any reasonably calculable proportion.

Will BSW continue to turn a blind eye or two to offenses?
Within the BSW, we have a code of ethics that all members have accepted and which can normally be relied upon. However, the BSW is neither pitch police nor pitch judge. There are no sanctions that we can impose if someone does not adhere to it. We can only keep pointing out that we have to behave sensibly in the market, otherwise we will ultimately harm ourselves.

A decision was made at the AGM: Groups will now be ranked together for the BSW ranking. Will this degrade the small agencies to extras and drive some of them away from the BSW?
It wasn't about the ranking, but about group membership. It has not yet been decided in detail what will happen with the ranking. It could well be that there will be two rankings. A group ranking and an individual ranking. After all, group membership is not a revolution, but primarily an economic one. Group members can become agency groups in which different agencies are united under one umbrella brand. This allows them to accumulate their gross operating revenues and become members of BSW leading swiss agencies at a lower price. However, the prerequisite is that each individual agency in the group fulfills the admission requirements. Each agency in the group must therefore first be admitted individually and only then can it be cumulated. This does not mean that the smaller agencies are downgraded. On the contrary: smaller agencies can also benefit greatly from the large ones. The argument that the best agencies in Switzerland are in the BSW and I am one of them is also interesting for small agencies.

How do you ensure that the BSW leading swiss agencies are really only the best?
Firstly, we are very rigorous in our screening of applicants. It's not that easy to become a BSW member. The agency needs a good track record. Then we constantly review our members in terms of their performance consistency and we may even have to say goodbye to existing members. This is not easy, but it is necessary if we want to maintain our credibility.

Strong leaders also make Swiss advertising attractive to other countries.
Yes, that is true, but it is only possible if we can fulfill and prove this qualitative leadership. The latter applies above all to multinational companies. If excellent agencies can develop and implement outstanding communication solutions in a country with three main cultures, why shouldn't they do the same for the multicultural European market?

How does the BSW react to new developments in advertising, such as new specializations?
BSW is no longer the association of advertising agencies, but of all good agencies in market communication. That's why we changed our name to BSW leading swiss agencies a few years ago. However, a minimum size and certain qualitative conditions are also required for agencies from non-traditional disciplines. Only then can they be accepted.

How is the BSW reacting to the ongoing monopolization of marketers?
The marketers are dependent on us and we are also dependent on them. Marketers will not want to mess with BSW members. As long as the marketers behave fairly, I don't see a problem. After all, competition stimulates business and quality should prevail in the end. However, the BSW will not remain calm if the situation comes to a head and the playing field is no longer level. But you have to move in line with the market and cannot oppose it. We remain partners on the one hand and competitors on the other.

How are you networked in the area of lobbying?
I simply know a lot of people. It's easier for me if I can call someone and be directly connected to the important people than if I have to fight my way through. But I certainly don't have a better network than Walter Merz had.

With Michael Kamm on the Board of Directors, Western Switzerland will be strengthened. Have the people of Zurich neglected this until now?
We have previously elected members from French-speaking Switzerland to the Board. Hervé Devanthéry was on the Board for a long time and did a good job. Now, with Michael Kamm, new dynamism is coming back into the association. The BSW can certainly become even more important in western Switzerland and this can only be achieved through a good profiling strategy.

How did you get into the industry?
These are always coincidences. I was at Unilever at the time. The former Lintas managed my advertising budget there. Lintas had Bankverein as a very large client and was looking for a consultant for this key client. I came from a business administration background and the Client Service Director at the time, Gerry Heller, thought I was the right man for the job. That's how I got into advertising. After a training program at Lintas Hamburg - with over 400 employees at the time - I came back to Zurich and the world. I was completely overwhelmed. I had totally underestimated the work of a consultant for a demanding client. After a few months, I was fit for purpose. A few years later, I took over the small Dubach agency, later joined by Mike Krüll as a creative partner, the best concept developer I've worked with in my career. Ten years later, we joined forces with Bozell Worldwide, which became FCB Leutenegger Krüll, and then the Draftfcb/Lowe Group, with over seventy people.

How long do you want to work for BSW?
I'm quite busy at the moment. To do my job properly, I first have to dig deep and reorganize myself. Apart from the commercial judge and the Rigiblick, I don't have any other side jobs. Once I have everything under control, we'll see. But it will be a few years.

Interview: Andreas Panzeri