"A lot of marketing knowledge learned in the past needs to be unlearned"

Sir Mary is one of the high-flyers on the Swiss agency scene. In 2016, the former management of Serranetga founded a company on Zurich's Bertastrasse that wanted to do everything differently. And has been doing so ever since. With success: Sir Mary managed to acquire several major clients within a very short space of time. The first official accolades from the industry followed in 2018: co-founder and partner Daniel Zuberbühler was named "Advertiser of the Year" nominated - and IAB Switzerland named Sir Mary "Digital Agency of the Year" at the D:Pulse digital marketing conference (Werbewoche.ch reported). The award was given to "an agency that is at the cutting edge of technology, business and advertising", as stated in the explanatory statement. Together with Managing Partners Daniel Zuberbühler and Maurizio Rugghia, co-founder Florian Beck continues to lead the agency to the top as Chief Creative Officer.

Advertising Week: Your personal highlight of 2018?

Florian Beck: The sparkle in my wife's eyes on October 5.

Which Swiss campaign did you particularly remember in 2018?

The consistently authentic design of the current Sunrise Young campaign. I can't remember anything else for the life of me.

What has been bothering you this year?

1. the World Cup without Italy, Holland and Germany.

2. the constant buzzword blah-blah about innovations, AI, blockchain, automation, etc., which mostly just serves the self-dramatization of those who believe they have to pretend to have a clue. It would help everyone involved more if they simply started by making good advertising that reaches the consumer in a targeted way. Whether technology-supported or not. Regardless of the channel. Customers don't give a damn about any of that.

In your opinion, which topic particularly shaped the advertising industry in 2018?

The same as in previous years. The fear of new technologies. Instead of trying to understand them, see them as an opportunity and then use them creatively, we are still barricading ourselves far too much behind old, supposedly eternal truths.

A key trend for 2019?

See next question/answer.

What is the biggest challenge facing the advertising industry in the coming year?

Finally realizing that a lot of marketing knowledge learned from the past that has worked so far has to be unlearned again. Because today is no longer yesterday. This applies to agencies and clients alike.

What makes you confident that 2019 will be a good year?

That I will learn from my mistakes for next year. And the fact that we at Sir Mary now have the team and the customers together to achieve really great things. Anything can happen.

2018 is drawing to a close. Time to look back once again - and to venture an outlook for the coming year. Werbewoche asked representatives of the Swiss advertising industry. They have all left their mark on the creative industry in one form or another. All interviews can be found in the current Werbewoche 20/21 of December 18, 2018.

Interviews and text: Thomas Häusermann