Heads of the week: Extended management
With Hanna Zimmermann and Sascha Knauer, agency founders Lajos Vizner and Guillaume Borel have added two long-time companions to the management team.
Founded in 2004 as a team of three, ViznerBorel now employs twelve people on the premises of the former Zurich Maternité. Shortly before its fifth anniversary in spring 2009, ViznerBorel is ready for great things. "The tasks we face are becoming more and more complex," says Lajos. "The growing volume of work and the increased demands on our communications solutions require us to step up in positions of responsibility." ViznerBorel is an owner-managed agency. In the words of Lajos Vizner, this also means "that Guillaume and I still want to make a personal appearance with clients. We want to maintain this commitment." With the current volume of tasks, however, this is no longer always possible. The two founders therefore involve Hanna Zimmermann (creation/art) and Sascha Knauer (strategy/consulting), two long-standing and proven employees, in this commitment. They enjoy the trust of the customers and give them the certainty that even in hectic times a competent member of the management is always available for them. "The two of them have been doing an excellent job with us for years. It was an obvious choice to include them in the management team." The attitude of "le feu sacré" was the most important thing for Lajos and Guillaume right from the start. This means: communication in which there is no spark cannot ignite a fire. Following this philosophy, ViznerBorel serves its clients across the boundaries of classical and non-classical communication.
One of ViznerBorel's core competencies is "thinking in solutions". This is evident, for example, in the case of the client Denner, which the agency has been advising for years on the communicative development and repositioning of the brand. "We've come a long way together with the client." Other important budgets include Ikea, Igora Genossenschaft für Alu-Recycling, Schaffhauser Nachrichten, IGSU, Schild, Theater an der Winkelwiese or newly VW Nutzfahrzeuge
Hanna carpenter
After her graphic design class in Basel, Hanna Zimmermann had the desire to gain experience in the trendiest design metropolises. So she soon found herself in the graphics department of Studio Cerri & Associati in Milan, where she was able to be creative for renowned clients such as Ferrari, Prada, Maserati and Pirelli in two years rich in experience. "Each of these jobs was totally different, and I really enjoyed the great creative freedom," she recalls. She gained new experience in a more directive environment the following year in the editorial department of Das Magazin, under Wendelin Hess. "Doing a completely new issue every week within what was nevertheless a very prescribed framework was very exciting for me." In 2001 came her entry into the advertising world. "Wirz was a very good agency to get into this profession, because it covers all the branches of the industry. And I also met a lot of good people there. Among others, Lajos Vizner and Sascha Knauer." One of her works at Wirz that she remembers fondly is the posters for the Lucerne Festival, in collaboration with Max Grüter. One of these subjects was awarded silver at the New York Festivals.
To learn Spanish, her fifth language, Hanna allowed herself six months off in Madrid. But she didn't miss the opportunity to return to Switzerland with the experience of two instructive months as an art director at BBDO Contrapunto in her luggage. As a freelancer, she was then able to work on interesting projects at various agencies. One of them was ViznerBorel. She enjoyed the close collaboration in the team and the good working relationship so much that she soon knew: "I'd join here permanently right away."
Sascha Knauer
Sascha Knauer has been fascinated by advertising since he was a child. After a "down-to-earth" apprenticeship as a toolmaker, which was customary in his northern Bavarian homeland, he earned a diploma in advertising in Nuremberg. Sascha got his start in advertising at Publicis in Munich, where he worked as a consultant for two years and looked after major clients such as Siemens Nixdorf in all its facets. He still has fond memories of the night-and-fog campaign with which they additionally won the mandate for Siemens' Formula 1 sponsorship.
Knauer came to Switzerland nine years ago via Vizner. As a consultant at Weber, Hodel, Schmid, his responsibilities included a German start-up that was later sold to Deutsche Telekom. From here, he also managed Daimler Chrysler Aircraft Engines, another W, H, S client in Germany. He himself describes this time as "a tough and very instructive year in one of the best agencies." The move into strategy came at Wirz, with Cary Steinmann, after having been responsible for new business in a consulting team. Via various freelance strategy assignments and a short detour into the world of direct marketing at Fisch.Meier.Direkt, Sascha Knauer found his way back into traditional advertising with RufLanz. Why did he switch to Ruf Lanz? "Because ViznerBorel didn't exist back then," he laughs.
Andreas Panzeri
One of ViznerBorel's core competencies is "thinking in solutions". This is evident, for example, in the case of the client Denner, which the agency has been advising for years on the communicative development and repositioning of the brand. "We've come a long way together with the client." Other important budgets include Ikea, Igora Genossenschaft für Alu-Recycling, Schaffhauser Nachrichten, IGSU, Schild, Theater an der Winkelwiese or newly VW Nutzfahrzeuge
Hanna carpenter
After her graphic design class in Basel, Hanna Zimmermann had the desire to gain experience in the trendiest design metropolises. So she soon found herself in the graphics department of Studio Cerri & Associati in Milan, where she was able to be creative for renowned clients such as Ferrari, Prada, Maserati and Pirelli in two years rich in experience. "Each of these jobs was totally different, and I really enjoyed the great creative freedom," she recalls. She gained new experience in a more directive environment the following year in the editorial department of Das Magazin, under Wendelin Hess. "Doing a completely new issue every week within what was nevertheless a very prescribed framework was very exciting for me." In 2001 came her entry into the advertising world. "Wirz was a very good agency to get into this profession, because it covers all the branches of the industry. And I also met a lot of good people there. Among others, Lajos Vizner and Sascha Knauer." One of her works at Wirz that she remembers fondly is the posters for the Lucerne Festival, in collaboration with Max Grüter. One of these subjects was awarded silver at the New York Festivals.
To learn Spanish, her fifth language, Hanna allowed herself six months off in Madrid. But she didn't miss the opportunity to return to Switzerland with the experience of two instructive months as an art director at BBDO Contrapunto in her luggage. As a freelancer, she was then able to work on interesting projects at various agencies. One of them was ViznerBorel. She enjoyed the close collaboration in the team and the good working relationship so much that she soon knew: "I'd join here permanently right away."
Sascha Knauer
Sascha Knauer has been fascinated by advertising since he was a child. After a "down-to-earth" apprenticeship as a toolmaker, which was customary in his northern Bavarian homeland, he earned a diploma in advertising in Nuremberg. Sascha got his start in advertising at Publicis in Munich, where he worked as a consultant for two years and looked after major clients such as Siemens Nixdorf in all its facets. He still has fond memories of the night-and-fog campaign with which they additionally won the mandate for Siemens' Formula 1 sponsorship.
Knauer came to Switzerland nine years ago via Vizner. As a consultant at Weber, Hodel, Schmid, his responsibilities included a German start-up that was later sold to Deutsche Telekom. From here, he also managed Daimler Chrysler Aircraft Engines, another W, H, S client in Germany. He himself describes this time as "a tough and very instructive year in one of the best agencies." The move into strategy came at Wirz, with Cary Steinmann, after having been responsible for new business in a consulting team. Via various freelance strategy assignments and a short detour into the world of direct marketing at Fisch.Meier.Direkt, Sascha Knauer found his way back into traditional advertising with RufLanz. Why did he switch to Ruf Lanz? "Because ViznerBorel didn't exist back then," he laughs.
Andreas Panzeri
