The curious

"When I was in China, I made an interesting observation: I found myself continually and involuntarily trying to read the characters in the streets. Even though, of course, I had no chance of understanding even the slightest thing. But after a few days, as if by magic, an inkling crept in of what certain signs might mean. For example, because one and the same sign appeared again and again at certain places, at an intersection, at a shopping center. I realized that it could mean something like the middle or the center. I began to understand without anyone saying anything. Fascinating, right?"

Werner Schaeppi's world is psychology. He is passionate about how we perceive, process information and communicate. Not only privately when traveling, but also professionally. As an advertising psychologist, he researches how the target group reacts to a campaign, how a brand is perceived. He examines the positioning of companies, advises clients on how to increase the impact of their communication or provides clients with insight into the motives of their customers. Schaeppi is involved in research and realization at the same time. On the one hand, he is involved with the market research company MRC Research & Consulting, which he founded in 1991. On the other hand, he is a partner in the advertising and PR agency Creafactory, where he works with graphic designer Sonja Gilg and architect Mark Gilg and a team of twelve people to communicate for politicians, public authorities and SMEs.

MRC and Creafactory run as independent labels. Nevertheless, the companies are closely interwoven - and united under one roof. In the multi-story Bachstein building near the Zug train station, the know-how from research and practice flows together. To this end, the two companies swap employees from time to time. When Creafactory conducts group discussions with involved parties for a construction project, it borrows MRC's market researchers. "They can do that off the top of their heads." If MRC has a real estate research assignment, the researchers bring in Mark Gilg. Schaeppi's interest in advertising and communications was sparked in childhood. His mother worked as a graphic designer for Lindt & Sprüngli and had a studio at home, and his father was a marketing director. "The craft was practically laid in my cradle." While studying social psychology and linguistics, Schaeppi had already accepted small advertising assignments.

Researcher and realizer
After completing his dissertation, he nevertheless ended up not in an agency, but in research. He took over the management of the market research institute Ipso-Explora. For several years, he was mainly involved in communication studies. An exciting experience, according to Schaeppi. Over time, however, he missed the other part of communication, the creative one. He not only wants to discover new things, but also to realize new things. Schaeppi feels that the fact that he can combine both today is ideal. "For me, communication has always been something bidirectional. It has to flow both ways." That means not only sending out, but also capturing what arrives on the other side. So at Creafactory, it can happen that the graphic designer presents his work to the target audience and asks questions. It's a good experience for any professional, says Schaeppi. To learn what works, what doesn't, what is perceived. After all, the untrained layman's eye is not always as taken with the latest design trend as the professional. With its combination of psychology, architecture, design and PR, Creafactory has a special positioning. "We are quite an exotic among agencies," says Schaeppi. Creafactory is often commissioned to implement new corporate presences. For example, from the health insurance company Klug (formerly the company health insurance company of Landis & Gyr). In discussions with customers and in workshops with employees, the company's USP was defined: Individuality. "It's true that every health insurance company claims to be individual. With Klug, however, it's true - for logical reasons: The health insurance company is small and local, and each customer has his or her own personal advisor," Schaeppi reasons.

This aspect was not only implemented visually in the corporate design, but also made tangible in the customer advisory service. "A customer has to notice already in the email or during the first phone call that it is not a standard handling, but an individual consultation." In addition to communication for public authorities, mandates from the construction and real estate industries are an important mainstay of Creafactory. In this area, Schaeppi and Gilg have already handled a number of projects. For example, Creafactory was responsible for the conception and implementation of communication measures for a large construction project of a housing cooperative and acted as an advisor to the cooperative. An aging housing estate in the Baden/Wettingen region had to be demolished and rebuilt. 127 apartments. A delicate touch was required. "We had great respect for the reactions of the residents," explains Christoph Bernet, managing director of Bau- und Siedlungsgenossenschaft Lägern Wohnen. "We were glad to have an experienced consultant at our side who had solutions ready for various scenarios. Werner Schaeppi's suggestions were practical and could be implemented well." The focus was on dialog with the residents.

Creafactory's idea was not to inform them in writing, but to explain to them at an event in small groups the reasons for the demolition of the settlement. All the facts were put on the table, but at the same time it was explained how to proceed. During the discussions, the residents were given the opportunity to voice their concerns and were also able to contribute their ideas and wishes for the new settlement. The residents' input was recorded and fed into the briefing for the architectural competition. "It's a very different mechanism than receiving a letter in the style of ", says Schaeppi.

Sensitivity was also required at the Schindler company, for which Creafactory designed and implemented a political communication campaign. This involved a major real estate project in the community of Ebikon, which required the approval of the population at the ballot box. Creafactory used an open information policy to gain acceptance. The measures ranged from fireside chats and a poster campaign to the formation of an independent pro-committee with proponents who stood up for the project with their faces and names. The mandate required not only analytical skills and know-how in real estate, but above all the ability to deal with residents' opinions and concerns. So it was Werner Schaeppi's psychological background that led Schindler to award the contract to Creafactory, as Stephan Jud, Director of Schindler Management, explains.

Schaeppi attaches great importance to the practical benefits of research. "The focus is always on the question of what the results are for." At MRC, the work is primarily consulting-oriented. For example, MRC clarified for one of the largest Swiss companies whether it could simply swap its traditional name for an English one. Or they check for a financial service provider whether a new sales concept has a chance with consumers. Methodologically, they often resort to group surveys or workshops. "We also do classic market research, 2000 telephone interviews about a detergent. But sometimes ten intensive conversations are more productive," says Schaeppi. The importance of quantitative surveys is also no longer as high today, he says, because many companies already collect data themselves. "Most of our customers are more likely to look for explanations for what they observe."

Understanding the environment
Schaeppi likes to get to the bottom of things. Perhaps his analyses of the "meaning of life," which he published in the book "Braucht das Leben einen Sinn? Although the publication "was written at a time when people typically have a midlife crisis," the trigger was not a personal crisis of meaning, but a job. Schaeppi was to develop the specific appeal for an anti-drug campaign. The client's idea: tell people to do more sports. The psychologist had his doubts: "People who take hard drugs have a different concept of life. You can't pick them up that way. You have to argue from their point of view. And to do that, you first have to find out what function drug use serves in their lives. And to answer that question, you have to know in general what people live for. What do they want out of life? What goals do they have?" That's how the idea of looking at theories of meaning came about. Has the researcher found an answer for himself? "My motivation is to a large extent curiosity." Schaeppi wants to understand his environment. For some time now, he has been dealing with issues surrounding developments in society. How is the Internet changing the area of relationships, the way we live together? How has our living behavior changed?

Research is done not only for the sake of knowledge, but also to gain new orders. After all, social changes always require new products and new services. Schaeppi not only responds to customer inquiries, but also actively approaches companies with suggestions. The psychologist would find it appealing, for example, to advise a political party. "The diffuse party world has a lot to do with the fact that parties are unsettled in their self-discovery process." Strict schools of thought that set the course no longer exist. Whereas parties used to take over the dialog between citizens and the state, today they want to have a direct say - but just not always, only on certain issues. In this new worldview, the parties have not yet found their place, Schaeppi is certain. "Accompanying the parties in the process of self-discovery and then communicating to the target group would be a highly exciting task."

"We can direct our activity however we want. That's great!" Work should always be driven by interest, a philosophy that has strongly influenced Schaeppi at Creafactory and MRC. "Without personal inclination, I would struggle to work for clients - even if it was lucrative," he says. "Our work has a lot to do with desire. That's what makes us strong."

Isabel Imper