Congratulations!

Good things come to those who wait. For the third time in a row, Livio Dainese has succeeded in becoming the new "Advertiser of the Year. Past experience has repeatedly shown that the title is not automatically a foregone conclusion after several nominations. The current ADC President Frank Bodin, for example, needed nine attempts before the readers of Werbewoche voted him "Advertiser of the Year" in 2009.

And so the election was not a walk in the park for Wirz's creative mastermind either. For a long time, it looked like a neck-and-neck race with an open outcome. In the end, Dainese received 51 percent of the reader votes and 43 percent of all jury votes.

In the end, the total score of 47 percent was enough to bring the Egon to Zurich's Uetlibergstrasse with a fairly comfortable lead over fellow competitors Pascal Deville (Freundliche Grüsse) and Daniel Zuberbühler (Sir Mary).

In the 41st year of the award, Dainese is the 45th industry representative to be awarded the title of "Advertiser of the Year" - we feature them all in the "Hall of Fame" on pages 6 and 7. But not all of them have an Egon on their shelf.

This is because the statue, designed by Zurich artist Max Grüter, has only been awarded since January 2002. That year also saw a change in the previously common practice of selecting the previous year's winner in the following year. Dominique von Matt therefore went down in the history of the award as a kind of "double advertiser of the year" (2001 and 2002).

And while we're rummaging through the history books, the name "Egon" was invented by Markus Ruf. "I suggested the name because three-quarters of it consists of ego. And that is sometimes quite pronounced among advertisers," he explained later in an interview.

Ruf was working as a freelancer at the time for Ruedi Wyler - "Advertiser of the Year" 1983, who held the Werbewoche budget at the time and was tasked with finding a suitable name for the new trophy. "The Werbewoche budget" . ... you could almost get a little nostalgic.

So back to the present. Switzerland has another highly deserving "Advertiser of the Year". Not because - as we found out - we both trust the same garage owner in the Aargau province. Not because, after Lück, who chose to live in Aargau, another native of Aargau has now entered the annals of the creative industry - Creative Canton Aargau.

But because Livio Dainese quite simply deserved the title. The highly acclaimed, globally celebrated Migros gnome campaign was merely the conclusion of a great advertising year, which in turn was only the logical continuation of a remarkable career. Dainese does not like to be reduced to either Finn the gnome or Gian and Giachen the ibex. He is concerned with making effective and, above all, popular communication with his team. He wants to approach topics in a completely different way and redefine categories. Preferably on behalf of large, complex and above all paying clients. As CCO, he works creatively on key projects, while at the same time consistently developing the agency as Co-CEO. One gets the feeling that he actually manages to do all of this quite well.

Nevertheless, both Wichtel and Steinböcke are impressive (and rare) examples of how classic advertising can still inspire large parts of the Swiss population without reservation. Even in times of influencer marketing, native advertising and advertising fatigue. If people actively search for commercials on YouTube and leave euphoric comments underneath them, you've probably done something right as an advertiser.

Over the next twelve months, Dainese will represent the Swiss creative industry as a "figurehead" worthy - and in its very own way. We are looking forward to it!

Last but not least, we would of course also like to thank the other two nominees, Daniel Zuberbühler and Pascal Deville, for their constructive and pleasant cooperation during the nomination and election phase. The positive feedback we have received on their nomination suggests that they have been well received: This is probably not the last we have heard of them and their agencies in connection with the "Advertiser of the Year" either. As I mentioned at the beginning, sometimes it takes a few attempts - and it doesn't always have to be nine.

Thomas Häusermann, Editor-in-Chief a.i. Werbewoche