"We need to stop thinking in outdated categories".

1. what would you work for free?

If I were allowed to make a film together with Tom Ford. I might even pay something for that.

2. what would you most like to promote?

For better taste, perfection, personal responsibility, joie de vivre and absolute identification with the work.

3. what was the most fun lunch partner?

Giorgio Deluca from Dean & Deluca. His Italian humor is so unbeatable that I couldn't get up to eat from laughing.

4. do you tell other people how much you earn?

No, because I find people who define themselves by money uninteresting.

5 If you hadn't become an advertiser - what then?

Just being an advertiser probably wouldn't be enough for me. I find it extremely exciting to do advertising - but only as part of a holistic understanding of branding. That's why I became a brander. I could also have become an interior designer or a writer - the main thing is that I can do what I love: telling stories and creating entire worlds.

6. is the opinion true that you can't grow old in agencies, or is that a prejudice?

Speed is not a question of age, but of spirit. That's why it's the younger ones who have to dress warmly.

7. what do you see as the biggest challenge for advertising at the moment?

That the boundaries between consumer and brand, content marketing and advertising, online and offline are becoming increasingly blurred, and we need to stop thinking in outdated categories.

8. Does the classic agency model have a long-term future?

I don't think so, and that's why I founded Branders. I believe we need to be more multidisciplinary, more integrated, more agile and faster. And I believe in long-term and holistic partnerships - both with customers and employees.

9. Do you fall for advertising? When?

All the time - especially when it surprises me, moves me emotionally and the message fits the sender. I like that - just like with people.

10. what do you never want to have to hear about yourself?

He is no longer passionate about what he does.

11. what can you not do without?

To loyal people I can trust.

12. why don't you conform to the usual clichés of an advertiser?

Because I don't see maximum efficiency and productivity as the antithesis of creativity, but as its prerequisite. And because I run my agency like a management consultancy and not as a creative commune.

13. when is there a bad mood in your agency?

When our barista is off. Nothing works for us without good coffee.

René Allemann is founder and CEO of the consulting company Branders. Branders creates holistic omnichannel solutions for customized brand experiences for clients.

The "13 Questions" appear both online and in the print edition of Werbewoche. Realization: Thomas Häusermann.