Nominated for "Advertiser of the Year": Andrea Bison, Thjnk Zurich
With speed and passion, the Thjnk agency owner shows how much fun a career as an advertiser can be. She also sets clear boundaries for the protection of her own employees.
In 2016, Andrea Bison came to Switzerland with her family to co-found Thjnk Zurich. Just four years later, the agency counts numerous prestigious accounts and ranks second in the current creative rankings. Building an agency from nothing that is in the mix is reason enough for the "Werber des Jahres" jury to nominate the Swiss-German consultant luminary Andrea Bison as "Werberin des Jahres 2020".
Andrea Bison and her agency partner Alexander Jaggy started out with a vision that was anchored in the business plan: "We wanted to create a place where people enjoy working." In Zurich's Kreis 4, the two have succeeded in doing just that. 15 permanent employees - sometimes joined by freelancers - work together here at three long tables in a light-flooded loft with industrial charm. Only the two glass conference rooms have doors. Short distances as well as honest and open communication are emphasized. In addition to moments of concentration, there is always a good laugh and a good exchange of ideas. Andrea Bison says, "I love this pace we have." She works with her team on an equal footing and as partners - and would like to see a correspondingly respectful approach from customers as well. This sometimes includes ensuring that the days off over the turn of the year are not taken up with project work under any circumstances, even if customers demand it. The "Thjnkler" appreciate this. "They know that there is a kind of protective wall here that is not crossed."
Consultant with heart and soul
When a project inquiry comes in, the management team, which now consists of three people, sits down to discuss how to proceed. The three advertisers - in addition to Andrea Bison, the creative Alexander Jaggy and the strategist Gordon Nemitz - thus bring their area of expertise into the planning right from the start. Andrea Bison is responsible for consulting. She has looked after numerous clients in her career, both small and large international ones. "I have the ability to put myself in customers' shoes," she says. It is her responsibility to ensure that the projects work in terms of capacity and finances.
Andrea Bison exudes enthusiasm when she talks about her profession. The advertiser and mother wants to show the next generation of advertisers, especially women, how much passion and enthusiasm can go into long years in the communications industry. "Today, I see my working time much more as a lifetime," says the elective native of Zurich. "I do my best to ensure that this lifetime we spend together as an agency is as good as possible for everyone."
Campaigns Thjnk Zurich
Ochsner Sport
With the communication platform "Switzerland is our sports ground", Thjnk created an idea that not only changed the brand in terms of communication, but also led Ochsner Sport into a transformation process on all levels. From the campaign to the customer magazine, from the logo to the store design, from the POS plate to the promotion.
Edelweiss
With "Been there. Done that", the agency has led the airline out of the shadow of its big sister Swiss and given it a clear, differentiating image that is aspirational for vacation travelers. In addition to the popular campaign, Thjnk repeatedly launched innovative ideas that helped establish the brand in the hearts and minds of the Swiss.
Credit Suisse
The "Why not?" campaign focuses on entrepreneurs and speaks from their souls, without any empty advertising promises. With success: never before has a communication from the big bank generated so much attention and business.
Werbewoche: What was your first thought when you heard about the nomination for "Advertiser of the Year"?
Andrea Bison: I didn't expect it at all and was thrilled. I was honestly surprised because the agency almost still feels like a start-up. It makes me proud that our work is held in such high regard in the industry and the market after such a short time.
What would you want to achieve as "Advertiser of the Year"?
I hope to be a role model for women to find their place in the industry, even as mothers. And in doing so, bring great talent into the industry, keep it there and inspire it to go its own way - if it wants to, even to the top. On the other hand, I want to make people want to advertise. And not just with advertising itself, but also with the image of the agency as a place of creative work. A place where bright and creative minds meet, enjoy working together and find room for development and evolvement. This also means that I want to strengthen the agency's role as a partner and not as a service provider. Because eye level must also allow professional experience and opinion to ultimately create the best result.
What does advertising mean to you?
Believe it or not - as a teenager, I already decorated my youth room not with posters of pop stars, but with advertising subjects from Chanel, Vogue and Benetton. And I recorded commercials so that I could watch them over and over again. A highlight back then: "First time, first love" by Coca Cola. To this day, the passion hasn't left me.
Where do you see the biggest current challenges in the advertising and communications industry?
The more-for-less and everything-in-shorter-time culture gets to me. And the associated perceived - and perhaps actual - loss of value of our creative work.
The strong diversification of communication through the multitude of digital media and channels as well as the technical possibilities have not only led to higher complexity, but also to marginalization. The growing number of possible touchpoints has meant that less and less care is given to each one, giving the impression that an average or even below-average effort is sufficient in each case. Budgets have to be distributed over more and more measures, so that increasingly not only faster, but also cheaper implementation is required - most recently again fueled by Corona. If, as a result, there is a lack of appreciation for creativity and ideas and work no longer takes place at eye level, then we run the risk of losing valuable talent for our industry. Because it's not just Gen Y and Z who don't see this as fitting into their image of a job that should make sense in their lives.
Another area of tension arises from the new opportunities arising from the ever-increasing flood of data. They will permanently change our work. In addition to the ethical questions to which we will have to find answers, we as an industry will have to prove time and again, even more than ever before, that creativity cannot be replaced by data. Gary Vaynerchuk once aptly described what this means for day-to-day work with the task of constantly encouraging "Team Heart" and "Team Brain" to work together.
What are you particularly good at - and what do you let your team take the lead in?
I find it difficult to describe myself. My partners and co-workers see me as a mixture of sleuth and mediator with a good feeling for people, ideas and situations. They describe me as the diplomat and good for negotiations. And someone who can keep calm and maintain an overview even in the hectic day-to-day business of an agency. I have complete trust in my team, so I let them do everything. Of course, I'm there to support them when they need me. My goal is to empower others and help them move forward.
Personally, it is especially important to me to always have a reason to laugh and not to take everything too seriously. Humor, a certain freedom from fear, and experiences and fates in life that have shown me what is really important help me to better understand things. That's why I also like to question - not always to the delight of others.
What have been your career highlights since spring 2019?
After only three years, I'm delighted with the agency's creative results, with first place as the best Swiss agency at Cannes Lions 2019 and second place in the Werbewoche creative rankings. I am particularly proud of the ADC gold in the supreme discipline of film for the Pro Infirmis film "Alle sind gleich. No one is more equal" - a special work that got under your skin and for me is bigger than advertising.
We also scored internationally with gold and silver at the One Show in New York. It may come as a surprise, but I also experienced a highlight during the Corona period: teamwork at its best.
Who or what has had a particular impact on you professionally?
As a Swiss by choice, I have been living in Zurich for four years now and find it very exciting to get to know Switzerland as a market professionally as well. The daily collaboration with my partners Alexander Jaggy and Gordon Nemitz has left its mark on me.
At the start of my work in creative agencies, Jean-Remy von Matt's tireless and boundless personal commitment to the better result impressed me and anchored in me the "can't do, won't do" principle. Coupled with the smart, clear and disarming thoughts of Holger Jung, the two were an unbeatable duo that impresses me to this day. At Springer & Jacoby, it was the unmistakable, strong and lived culture and the guiding principles and leadership principles, which are still brilliant today, that shaped my way of thinking, attitude and working. I experienced the ability to focus and release energy most impressively with André Kemper. He sharpened my sense of ideas and showed me the power of emotions - in advertising and in working on them. Networking and connecting people with each other and the enthusiasm for ideas and new solutions was embodied by Michael Trautmann and conveyed to me as a force. Experiencing and helping to shape the dynamic growth of kempertrautmann, which was still a start-up when I joined, demanded flexibility and responsibility and fostered courage and a view of the big picture.
A total of twelve years of car advertising for the three big premium brands BMW, Mercedes and Audi have not only shaped my driving skills and passion for cars, but also trained me hard to work with very high demands and requirements from all sides. Besides the overall responsibility of the customer Audi together with my longtime partner Gerrit Zinke at Thjnk, the development of Leo's Thjnk Tank is one of the most challenging stations. Developed as a plan during the pitch, we built a custom agency in Munich from scratch after winning the budget for the client McDonald's, as a joint venture with Leo Burnett, from corporate design to processes, culture to teams, all in no time and in parallel to the creation of the first campaign.
The consultant Andrea Bison founded the owner-managed Swiss agency of the Thjnk Group together with creative Alexander Jaggy. The 46-year-old has been working in the advertising industry all her professional life. Even as a child, she collected advertising ads and recorded TV spots on video. She studied business administration with a focus on advertising and communications, completed internships in Munich and Frankfurt, and worked as a consultant at well-known agencies in Hamburg. Today, the German-Swiss native, who grew up in Kassel, lives in Zurich's Kreis 8 with her husband, their two sons aged 5 and 7, and her deceased daughter in her heart.
Information on all nominees and the "Advertiser of the Year" election can be found at here. The online election will start on Wednesday, September 16, 2020 via newsletter. All subscribers to the Werbewoche and m&k newsletters are eligible to vote. Register here for free. The final winner of the "Egon" trophy will be determined 50/50 by the newsletter readership and the "Advertiser of the Year" jury.
7 Questions for Andrea Bison
