Portrait of Livio Dainese, newly crowned "Advertiser of the Year

"I don't know what I'd be if not an advertiser," Livio Dainese says, taking a sip from his coffee cup. "I think something along the lines of concept, too - screenwriter, maybe," he says, grinning. Dainese ended up in advertising "because I don't want to tell or give anything to the world, otherwise I could have been an artist." His broadcasting awareness is not as pronounced - in private, perhaps even more so. "There, I already pass on something: to my children - at least I try." Dainese's twins, Jael and Leal, recently turned nine. "They're pretty sassy - but I'm OK with that. No honestly: my kids are great people," says dad Dainese.After a foray into business administration and a degree in Media Arts and Sciences from the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland, Dainese, who was interested in new media, began his advertising career at an online agency. "Soon after, I started working with Fernando Perez." A creative marriage that has endured ever since - and is second to none. "For me, on the whole, the work was always fun, had and often has something playful," says Dainese, whose "fun" has earned him co-headship of Wirz in addition to numerous awards.

What Dainese appreciates about the advertising industry is "all the fun people," not just in Krea, he says, but across all agency departments. "Our industry is a gathering place for people who 'bizz en Flick weg händ' in a very positive way. 'Findi guet'."

People - be they comedians, actors or IT people - are also the most important of Livio Dainese's sources of inspiration. He also finds unfamiliar cities and places, and new things in general, inspiring. "I take in all these inputs and process them - after all, I don't know in advance which idea could be a solution to which problem." His work, he says, is just that: finding solutions to problems. Something he is very good at, he thinks.

Masterpiece or crap

What makes good advertising, he said? "It has to be based on a truth from the market, and then that creative leap has to happen. That's something I often miss in the advertising I see. You can see the core of the matter, but it hasn't been translated creatively; it's this 'turning intelligence into magic' (John Hegarty) that either happens - or doesn't."

That's why he finds the increasing interactivity and thus the proximity to the audience super: "The fact that the consumer suddenly has a say is just cool, it saves us from producing crap and thinking it's a masterpiece."
Speaking of crap and masterpieces, there are a few works in his portfolio that he is not at all proud of, at least in retrospect. Or that he even finds really "crappy". "We have a weekly Krea meeting at Wirz, and there's a section there called 'Crimes from the Past,' in which you have to show works that are really bad, one after the other. For this section I would also have to contribute a film - I just unfortunately can't find it anymore, because fortunately it was made pre-YouTube. It's really bad, the idea is crap, the realization is a disaster - just bad from A to Z!"

To find the other, the good examples from Livio Dainese's creative kitchen, you don't have to search. "Recently we've just been pretty lucky, I think. With M-Budget, for example, or with the Migros Christmas commercial. That was clearly also a lot of work, but when you then get international attention and recognition, that's very cool," says Dainese, who would like to work even more internationally in the future. "Looking after brands internationally from Switzerland, that's what I'd like to do - and advertising for cool bikes," he says, grinning.

Ideas come to the creative sometimes at 3 o'clock in the morning. "I've now gotten into the habit of writing down these free ideas - usually they're extremely sh ... lecht the next morning or I don't understand them anymore. But sometimes there's something useful in them," he says. How many good ideas the world has to thank Livio Dainese's bicycle for is unknown - but some will probably end up on the bike account. However, cycling is not only productive in terms of ideas, but also a blessing for his entire environment, because: "I can't sit down somewhere and just calm down - that would drive me crazy! I also can't sleep in. If I don't move enough, it's bad for everyone around me. For me, cycling is like yoga - even if I don't know what yoga is like - it calms me down," says the ex-musician, grinning. And just: "Every now and then I also have a good idea while 'zabbele'."

Livio Dainese likes to work in commotion, in a café, on the train, "somewhere where there's something going on, but to which I don't have to actively contribute. He doesn't need concentration for ideas, rather a state of limbo. "It's only when I get down to filing, fine tuning, that I need the quiet. Then I lock myself away, hide in my closet."

No excuse for bad ideas

What does the co-CEO of Wirz dislike? "I don't like meetings where everyone has to play a role and therefore you don't get anywhere. That time could really be used more wisely!" And the time it takes to get an idea on the table that you can live with is often unpleasant, he says. "Finding ideas is by far not only fun, but sometimes really uncool and exhausting. It certainly doesn't help that I'm constantly dissatisfied with what I'm doing." Either this dissatisfaction is due to having high standards - or simply because you're too bad and don't realize it yourself, the advertiser flirts. "I get quite annoyed with those who are quickly satisfied with their work. Unless they're just insanely good, which happens sometimes. Then they get on my nerves too, simply for another reason ..."

Being satisfied with an idea too quickly, he says, runs the risk that the idea has not yet been sufficiently tested and developed. "If you're going to advertise, you should do it really well," Dainese maintains, adding, "Sometimes it's a fine line between unnecessary dribble and the all-important nurturing and development of an idea. The longer, the more I already think there's a lot to 'good enough beats perfect.'" Livio Dainese's standards for advertisers and their work are nevertheless high: "Everyone has diarrhea from time to time, but there's no excuse for heaps of bad ideas. You can always do a good idea! Even if the circumstances aren't the best - then you just have to try harder."

Nora Dämpfle