Sandra Loibl — Executive Creative Director, Serviceplan Munich
Sandra talks to TheNextGag about how things are getting more complex, how Burning Man inspires her and why print is still not dead yet.
Sandra Loibl is an Executive Creative Director at Serviceplan Munich in Germany.
Sandra started as a designer in a tiny agency in a tiny town in Bavaria. Next, she studied Communication Design in Nürnberg at the Georg-Simon-Ohm Universty in Nürnberg. After receiving her diploma, she moved to Munich and started as Art Assistant at Serviceplan Munich. And there she stayed. Now, as Creative Director, she works for accounts like Sky, BMW Motorrad, HiPP, Consorsbank and many many more.
Sandra is a member of the Art Directors Club Germany and has won more than 100 national and international awards like Cannes Lions, LIA, Eurobest, Clio, ADC, NYF, One Show, D&AD ...
Last December, Serviceplan created, in cooperation with Serviceplan Health & Life, the ”Reverse Poems” long-copy print campaign for Blue Cross to address addiction.
THENEXTGAG: IN THE ERA OF VIDEO AND SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS, ARE COPY-HEAVY PRINT ADS STILL A THING ?
SANDRA LOIBL: For years we’ve been hearing: print is dead, print is dead! Meanwhile, the first people who proclaimed this are also dead. Also, all the short-lived social posts are long dead, while a great print ad still lives strong in our memories. And to be honest: Can you imagine “Reverse Poems” on a sticky banner? Exactly. Some things just need the right stage to give their best performance.
Some ideas are completely boring as a film, but work fantastically as a print ad.
TNG: WHAT MAKES YOU PICK A MEDIUM (TV, RADIO, OUTDOOR, DIGITAL) WHEN WORKING ON A CAMPAIGN ?
SL: This is where I don’t go too crazy. I look for the well-known and reliable indicators: the target group and their habits. I ask myself the questions “What makes people feel they are being addressed the right way and how?”
Sometimes, it’s also the idea which demands a certain type of media or format. Some ideas are completely boring as a film, but work fantastically as a print ad. You have to get a feeling for it and decide, which type of media makes the idea shine brightest.
TNG: WHAT IS THE ONE PIECE OF ADVICE THAT YOU KEEP GIVING TO YOUR CREATIVES ?
SL: ORGANIC. First and foremost, this piece of advice relates to a healthy diet, but it also matters to me when it comes to advertising: our work has to be authentic, clear and genuine.
TNG: WHY DO YOU THINK THAT SERVICEPLAN IS ONE OF THE BEST PLACES IN GERMANY TO DO GREAT WORK ?
SL: Here at Serviceplan, we are all connected by the will and the passion to create, shape and coach fascinating brands. That’s how we make them profitable, and create emotions in people’s minds and hearts — simply, Best Brands. In my opinion, this journey is inseperably connected to innovative communication. Everybody working for our agency strives to find new ways to reach people’s hearts: creatively, technologically or from a media point of view. And ideally, all combined. That’s exactly what I aim for.
TNG: HOW HAS ADVERTISING EVOLVED SINCE YOU STARTED ?
SL: Everything changes — always. And everything becomes more complex. For example, back in the day we took way more care choosing the right paper since everything was printed. Today, we only count the number of pixels. You can either condemn this development or make the best out of it.
TNG: IS THERE AN AD CAMPAIGN THAT YOU SAW IN 2017 AND REALLY LIKED ?
SL: Definitely the subway-pattern sneaker by Jung von Matt for the Berlin public transport authority BVG. They turned the ugly seats designed in Berlin nostalgic-chic into a must-have fashion item. A wonderful product idea. I always like it if a simple advertising-idea can create an object of desire. Finding a new and cool way to advertise. It’s fun. And that’s how it’s supposed to be. We should entertain people and continuously provide them with new reasons to fall in love with a brand.
TNG: WHERE DO YOU FIND INSPIRATION ?
SL: On a 10k run before going completely exhausted to an art gallery, while meeting good friends on top of a mountain and taking the best of them to Burning Man to finally watch a film by Fatih Akim.
Their real fascination only emerges from the combination of text and visual.
TNG: DO YOU STILL BELIEVE IN THE ART DIRECTOR/COPYWRITER DUO ?
SL: Yes, I do. It’s like Ying and Yang. It’s the combination that creates things we wouldn’t be capable of by ourselves. You can complement and inspire each other — and sometimes even stand each other.
This creates amazing ideas. The “Reverse Poems” are the best example. Their real fascination only emerges from the combination of text and visual.
TNG: WHAT ARE THE DAILY OBSTACLES THAT APPEAR WHEN WORKING IN AD AGENCIES AND THAT YOU WOULD WISH WERE REMOVED ?
SL: The only obstacle you have to overcome during the daily agency life is yourself.
TNG: WHAT CAN WE WISH YOU FOR 2018 ?
SL: While I like the extreme and the norm-breaking in advertising, I can happily live without it in real life. So, let’s all wish that extreme thoughts and ideas in the USA, Europe and also Germany will never gain the upper hand. We should all make sure this never happens.
Sandra Loibl
Executive Creative Director
TheNextGag offers ad professionals an up-to-date calendar showing upcoming deadlines of the major global ad awards competitions and rankings of campaigns, brands, agencies and creatives in a beautiful mobile site.
TheNextGag | Obsessed with Creative Advertising
