In 2006 the advertising agency EN GARDE from Graz was founded. Since then, the team has worked on numerous projects with renowned clients such as GRAWE, JKU – Johannes Kepler University Linz, Center West or A1, but also ambitious smaller and medium-sized companies such as FritzFritz or Haindl Mühle. At the CCA Venus Awards 2023, the Graz-based agency made it onto the shortlist six times with a nomination and won three prizes. The Special Award for Creative Lead of Styria, Bronze for an innovative poster series for GRAWE and Bronze for an experimental photo project for FRITZFRITZ.

What are your processes for being so successful?

The main thing is to get to know the customers, it’s a people-to-people business. Knowing what moves the other person, where they want to go and who they are. If the chemistry is right and you have the same values, the likelihood that something great will come out of it is naturally higher. We are not always the classic service provider, but rather on the artistic side, so we do our own thing. Of course, with the goal of fulfilling the wishes of our customers. And then just let off steam, creative madness, not being shy, being courageous, the customers have to trust and get out of their comfort zone. Dare to do something that no one has done before.

You mentioned your artistic approach. How do your works and your approach differ from others?

Our works advertise without being advertising. I think it is precisely this unusualness that makes them so interesting. My father is a sculptor and chose the artist’s life. I am such a mixture, I also have the pragmatic and the economic in me. Of course you can develop advertising strategies and target-oriented ideas, but at some point you’ve seen it all. It gets interesting when you try something different that doesn’t so clearly suggest the advertising strategy behind it. For me, it’s always an expression of the soul. Of course, it has to suit the customer, but the intrinsic life of the soul also resonates in art. And that is then translated for the customers. An artist does his work to a certain extent for himself, because it is important to him to express that. The advertiser makes the service purely for the customers. There’s a briefing, it gets done. And with us, there’s just a lot of my artistic side that resonates. It would be my wish that all customers would get involved, but we’re still working on that.

How do you handle it when there are problems with customers or someone doesn’t want to engage with the process?

Different. There are better and worse scenarios. Recently, a project got off to a difficult start, but we then found a consensus very quickly. Both understood the briefing – which was called “art project” – very differently. For me, it’s something quirky, off the beaten path. For others, it might simply be a better website or a better poster. But then we said relatively quickly that we’d talk about it. What do you want? We can fulfill that. We then switched more to the service role. And the nice thing was that it still went well for everyone involved. Everyone was happy. With some it goes better, with some worse, with me included. With me, too, it can sometimes be difficult. (Laughs)

Since its foundation in 1972, the Creativ Club Austria has pursued the goal of representing and presenting the best of the Austrian creative industries. Once a year, experts present the CCA Venus Awards to honor work that is exemplary in its discipline and sets standards. Creators and clients are put in the spotlight. The CCA Venus Award is Austria’s most important creative prize. In 2023, a total of 1,285 entries were received throughout Austria.

Please tell us something about the project for FritzFritz, which was nominated several times on the shortlist and for which you were also awarded bronze.

This was the project I believed in the most last year. I already sensed that this was something very special. It started with months of getting to know each other, workshops, working together, understanding each other’s fears and concerns and also their goal. It was a long process with a good foundation of trust. We made a series, a lookbook with quite extravagant imagery and photography, but also text, layout and poster design. It’s not everyday, that has to be said. Of course, I wish people would dare to do that more often. A classic example on the threshold of art. And there was an extreme advertising effect in the target group of people with an affinity for art. We picked them up exactly where they are, namely in this art bubble.

Your project for GRAWE was also awarded bronze. What was so special about it?

Grawe has been doing very bold stories with us for years. Here, of course, the gap between the youth brand and the board level was more difficult. You can’t do the very weirdest thing, but still dare to do something. The strategy phrase was “The most uninteresting thing in the world,” so of course it was very piquant to position ourselves that way. Our story was that young people have other things to do than deal with police – and we played on that. We helped them and took away the uninteresting stuff. The cool thing about the campaign was that there was no branding on the posters. There were only sensational headlines on them – but without sensation. We played with the fact that there has been a lot of negativity around pandemics and war for years. That was cool in Graz. Posters that have no recognizable advertising value. We attracted a lot of attention.

What went through your head when it was announced that you had won Creative Lead Styria?

I was totally overwhelmed. Of course I wanted it, and of course it’s the strategic goal for our positioning as a creative agency. But realistically … it has been really bad. If you just claim it yourself it’s always difficult and you make yourself vulnerable. But when you’re actually awarded the title and you can relate to that, that’s cool. But I also have to say, comparing yourself is kind of the death of self-worth I think. It’s always very unhealthy for everyone involved. We have a very good quality in Styria and I think it doesn’t matter who wins more statues or less. I am honored, of course, but I would like it even better if we talked more with each other and strengthened the location together. We are all in the same boat, once he wins and once he wins, that’s how it will always be.