Winkreative

Global. Branding, Design & Content

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Winkreative was founded in 1998 by Tyler Brûlé. The business began as an intelligence-driven creative agency spun off from his magazine Wallpaper*, the iconic global style guide. The launch was a natural response to advertisers’ demands for more bespoke advertising solutions to run in Wallpaper*and other like-minded titles.

Within two years Winkreative had grown a substantial client base that included Selfridges, RJ Reynolds, Warner Music, Saab, Banana Republic, Stella McCartney, Kurt Geiger and Prada Sport, with services spanning brand strategy, advertising and custom publishing. The company also opened an office in New York.

2001 was a breakthrough year for the agency after it won the commission to create a new brand identity for Switzerland’s national airline. Winkreative laid out an ambitious manifesto designed to shake up the global air-travel market, from special cabin lighting designed to make passengers look better to the redesign of Zürich Airport. With an obsessive attention to detail, the company’s work for Swiss has won both international acclaim and a number of industry awards. At the same time, the agency completed a management buyout from Time Warner, becoming an independent company with headquarters in Zürich.

In the following years Winkreative built on this global platform with a new office in Tokyo, an expanding international network of correspondents and a continued focus on branding, design, content, publishing, interactive and advertising projects. The client base grew to include Bally, British Airways, Marks & Spencer, Bombardier, Gianfranco Ferré, Nokia, Sky News, TAG Heuer, TOTOand American Express.

Today, with over 40 multilingual staff, the agency serves 23 active clients in 11 countries across a broad range of industries, all united by a premium position within their respective sectors. Winkreative will continue to base compelling creative solutions on a commitment to editorial quality, global knowledge of what will seduce consumers, and anticipation of their future needs.

Tyler Brûlé
Founder

Born in Canada and based in the UK for the past 15 years, Tyler Brûlé began his career as a reporter for the BBC before turning to print journalism, writing for The Guardian, Stern, The Sunday Timesand Vanity Fair.

In 1996 Brûlé launched Wallpaper*, a title that became a publishing success, going on to sell in over 50 countries. The magazine won numerous awards for its design, international relevance and use of typography, and in 2001 Brûlé became the youngest ever recipient of the British Society of Magazine Editors Lifetime Achievement Award.

In May 2002 Brûlé sold his stake in Wallpaper*to focus on Winkreative, the full-service branding and design agency he set up in 1998. The agency is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Swiss parent company Winkorp AG, which Brûlé founded in 2002. The award-winning agency is distinguished by its international focus and global reach.

In 2005 Brûlé made a return to his broadcast roots with Winkontent, the editorial and TV production arm of Winkorp, creating two television series for BBC Four. Both presented by Brûlé, The Deskexamined the media from a global perspective while Counter Culture looked at how societies are reflected by their shopping habits.

In February 2007, Brûlé launchedMonocle, the second ground-breaking publication of his career. It is an international briefing on current affairs, business, culture and design. Published 10 times a year, Monocleis a global media brand that combines print, web and broadcast components.

Brûlé is also a regular columnistfor the Financial Times.

Management Group

Jerry Fielder
CEO

After reading Economics at university, Jerry found the lure of advertising more attractive and joined the American agency Benton & Bowles. In 1983, he began working for Leagas Delaney, the new London-based creative start-up. Jerry stayed with the agency for 20 years, becoming its Chairman in 1992 and working as part of the small team that bought the company back from the Abbott, Mead, Vickers Group. Jerry also led the process of building the group globally, setting up offices in San Francisco, Paris, Dusseldorf, Rome and Hamburg.

In 1993 he was invited to join the board of Jazz FM PLC and then Hed Kandi Records in 1999. Becoming part of the team that floated the station, he undertook a major public re-financing and sold Viva FM to Mohammed al Fayed over the course of six years. Jerry left Leagas Delaney in June 2002 to set up a number of niche businesses, including an interior design company and a marketing consultancy. He then became a non-executive director on the boards of The Newspaper Marketing Agency and the successful European media company, Farrar Media International.

In November 2003 Jerry joined Winkorp AG as its new Chief Executive.

Sabine Vandenbroucke
CFO

Sabine joined Winkreative in 2005. As CFO and board member, she has contributed to the successful management buy-out of Winkreative AG in 2006. Sabine is also in charge of acquisitions for the Winkorp Group and is COO of its publishing arm. She spends her time working equally between the head office in Zürich and the creative hub in London.

Prior to joining Winkreative, Sabine held senior positions across a number of industries from recycling to electricity and lived in Germany and France. Born in Belgium, Sabine studied Commercial Engineering and Philosophy at university. It was during this period that Sabine found her commercial vocation – working in exciting entrepreneurial environments. She speaks four languages and holds an MBA degree from INSEAD.

Steve Teruggi
Operations Director

During the ten years with Winkreative, Steve has facilitated the agency’s development of innovative brand communications that unite strong creative with custom editorial content. As Operations Director, Steve bridges client services and creative direction, ensuring strategic objectives are met with creative, editorial and design quality.

Steve has experience working with a broad range of international brands, where he has led skilled project teams to conceptualise and implement ideas in print, online and broadcast media. Specialist areas of expertise include online content strategy and destination branding where Steve is currently involved in projects in Portugal, Malaysia, Brazil and the United Kingdom. Achievements to date have been recognised by D&AD, Creative Review and Design Week. Steve is also a member of BAFTA.

Maurus Fraser
Design Director

Maurus Fraser has been with Winkreative since 2000, having worked in the luxury, fashion and transport industries for over 10 years previously. As Winkreative’s Design Director, Maurus heads up the international, multidisciplinary design team and has been responsible for design on the most prestigious projects, from the branding of SWISS to the repositioning of Nokia Fashion phones, and from the establishment of global fashion brands to iconic branding in the exclusive Swiss private banking sector.

Prior to working at Winkreative, Maurus worked as an Art Director for several years in New York, leading the design operations for cosmetics brands including Elizabeth Arden and Valentino. Maurus is a graduate of internationally renowned post-graduate university, the Royal College of Art where he gained a Masters Degree in Graphic Design and Art Direction.

Ariel Childs
Development Director

Helping clients develop successful creative and business strategies is Ariel Childs’ expertise. 

As Creative Director of Wallpaper* magazine, Ariel worked alongside Tyler Brûlé to pioneer a new approach to luxury advertising that blurred the lines between editorial and brand identity.

After 7 years at the magazine, she moved to leading contemporary art and design auction house Phillips de Pury & Company to oversee its entire communications strategy, including media relations, advertising and events.

Before joining Winkreative in 2009, Ariel was a creative consultant for two luxury hospitality brands as well as for German lifestyle title Allegra.

Whatever the sector – destination, technology or retail  our clients want to do everything in a better way, she says. I help them achieve that goal.

Nicoletta Pedano
Account Director

Nicoletta started work in the luxury industry at an early age and has spent the last 17 years developing her skills and experience. She speaks four languages fluently: German, French, Italian and English. 

She started her career at Bally as a management trainee, where she was directly exposed to the full luxury goods development process from production, procurement and logistics, through to product design, development, sales, finance and marketing. Nicoletta spent a total of 10 years at Bally, advancing from marketing assistant to Head of Store Planning, where she oversaw a team of design and executive architects.

This experience provided Nicoletta with an insight into the world of luxury goods and a full understanding of the principles that govern consumer seduction, knowledge that continued to evolve since she began at Winkreative in 2002. After the successful launch of the Swiss agency headquarters, Nicoletta moved on to direct all interior and fashion projects for Winkreative.

Contact Us

Zurich

Nordstrasse 18

8006 Zurich

Switzerland

t__+41 (0) 443 687 000

f__+41 (0) 443 687 001

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London

20 Boston Place

London NW1 6ER

UK

t__+44(0) 20 7725 4343

f__+44(0) 20 7725 5711

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New York

611 Broadway, Suite 632

New York NY 10012

USA

t__+1 212 673 1333

f__+1 212 673 3131

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Tokyo

Omotesando Hills

W305 Zelkova Terrace

4-12-20 Jingumae

Tokyo 150-0001

Japan

t__+81 (0) 3 5475 1215

f__+81 (0) 3 5475 1216

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