For years, the number of digital projects in the communications and advertising industry has been increasing, while the technical offering in this country has lagged behind. Complex projects, high quality requirements and diverse technologies: the dynamics of the market demand agile clusters and flexible technical resources.
The answer to the increasing demand is Serious: the tech agency for digital craftsmanship at the highest level. Since January 2018, the well-coordinated team in Zurich and Lisbon has been offering solutions tailored to the business needs of agencies, startups and companies. "With Serious, we complete strong ideas with technical expertise. We strive for long-term partnerships and offer our customers Project Development across the board: from consulting to coding," explains Andrea Dätwiler.
Serious was founded by Station. The spin-off operates independently with its own network and customer base. It stands out from the creative agency through its positioning, focus on technology and team composition.
Lean and Agile
Already in the first months, Serious was able to realize projects for Amnesty International, Bligg and M-I-Systems - further projects are already in the pipeline. The lean structure is to be maintained in the future: "Depending on the requirements, we can guarantee our customers the best system solutions thanks to dynamic upsizing and downsizing of the team," says Andrea Dätwiler. The industry-experienced project manager takes over as Managing Director Zurich, together with Enrico Bozzolini as Technical Officer Zurich and Carlos Martinho as Development Lead Lisbon. Board members and founders are Patrick Stoll and Osiris Roost.
In keeping with the motto "Act local, source global", the company is also joining forces with the Portuguese team. "Lisbon is currently the hotspot of the tech and start-up scene. By working with talented developers, we bring this innovative drive to Zurich," says Enrico Bozzolini, explaining the advantages. And he continues: "We know our customers and their products best. As an interface, we take on the project as well as the technical lead and are available on site to advise our customers."
"We use agencies in particular as partners"
Werbewoche: What's behind the name "Serious Work"?
Andrea Daetwiler: With the connecting big S, Serious and Station show the family relationship. However, the company name Serious Work primarily conveys that we take our craft seriously - in particular the role as a partner - but do not miss a healthy wink.
How is the positioning of Serious different from that of Station?
While Station combines the ABCs of digital success and offers a total package for direct customers through the development of applications, branding and content, Serious's services are aimed at agencies and start-ups that require technical services. Thus, we focus on partnerships within a technical framework: Consulting, design and implementation of technical solutions of all kinds.
What can Serious do that Station can't?
Serious acts flexibly and quickly and thus aligns projects to specific customer needs without maintaining fixed structures. Interdisciplinary know-how is available at any time thanks to the many years of experience of all team members and a network of partners.
What are the advantages for an agency to work with Serious rather than Station?
Serious can offer attractive conditions and lean processes thanks to its small team and agile setup, so as a partner we particularly benefit agencies that offer the service to their clients, as well as small, innovative startups and companies with the need for scalable collaboration. And while Station is creatively very strong, Serious specializes in technical innovation and is happy to leave the creative lead to others.
How did the Lisbon location come about?
Lisbon is the European hub for the tech industry, the Silicon Valley of our continent. The level of education is high, people speak English very well and have a strong drive for technical innovation and quality, which perfectly complements our team in Switzerland.
What are the advantages for Serious of having an offshoot in Portugal? Is it also about personnel costs?
We see international teams as a working model of the future, broadening our horizons and taking pressure off the tight labor market in Switzerland. As Lisbon - as mentioned - offers a strong start-up scene with an active and very well educated tech scene as well as a pool for ideas and talent. The cost savings in terms of personnel costs are there but small and therefore negligible: On the one hand, we work together on projects as an international team and do not outsource them completely; on the other hand, Lisbon is no longer an insider tip as a tech hub - this job market is also becoming more competitive.
What all falls under the term "digital craft"?
We combine many years of experience in the development and project management of all types of digital implementations. Our craft is consulting, conception and implementation (coding) of tailor-made solutions for our customers. We specialize in the latest technologies and maintain a lively exchange with the industry. Constant further education is another indispensable prerequisite to be able to work out modern custom tools for our customers.
How should the agency develop? Is expansion planned or do you want to stay small and lean?
We are constantly expanding our partner network to offer our customers know-how from the best source. The core team of handpicked specialists in Lisbon and Zurich will remain in place to maintain the lean processes. Due to the numerous project inquiries, however, growth cannot be completely ruled out.
Interview: hae
Serious has developed a modern web design based on large portraits and the new album artwork by Formeldrei. The reworked content forms a coherent overall picture of the artist Bligg. Fans and interested visitors will find all the important information and - thanks to the integration of Linkfire - can listen to and buy singles and albums on their preferred platform. The consistent integration of social media elements rounds off the website.
Serious is responsible for the concept, the web design, the development of the front and back end as well as initial content management. The Website was implemented on a self-developed PHP/Laravel-based CMS. This allows great flexibility in terms of customization and scaling. The frontend was developed decoupled and uses Node.js technologies such as Nuxt.js and Vue.js with server-side rendering. According to the press release, this setup ensures optimum performance with perfect responsiveness on all device sizes.
Responsible at Bligg / DreamStar Entertainment: Lara Bliggensdorfer, Marco Bliggensdorfer, Ben Moser. Responsible at Serious Work:Andrea Dätwiler, Diana Mota, Carlos Martinho, Enrico Bozzolini. Responsible at Formeldrei: Moritz Adler.