Here they are then, the “Famous Last Words” that are supposed to reflect 13 years of JTI Dagmersellen.
Was everything better in the old days? Well, the share-of-market figures definitely weren’t. The mood in the team? Maybe. Although? Even back then, hire-and-fire was already the order of the day. Proof? I started in February 2013 and the enthusiasm in the boardroom on my second working day was very tense, because Marketing Director Sabrina Andreoli did not seem to be in the good graces of the marketing first-liners. And sure enough: a few days later, as a JTI rookie, I was reporting not to the Marketing Director, but directly to General Manager John Aurlund, as she had been reassigned back to Italy.
GMs? I survived four…
There was John Aurlund, the Norwegian gentleman who constantly stressed that he never wanted to see his face on page one of a newspaper. And who absolutely had to have two 2.50-metre-high camels in his garden to impress his neighbour, who had placed a 2-metre Swiss plastic cow in his. Then there was Martin Griffiths, the South African tough guy who kept saying: “We can’t buy anything from a better share of market, we need real growth.” With his wife Lindy he was a very welcome guest at events and festivals, and hardly missed any of them.
Then came Andy Reay, actually Andy ROI, because everything was ROI, return on investment. ROI here, ROI there. If you asked him anything, the counter-question came immediately: “What’s the ROI?” And then came Olesja, who was supposed to wake up the quiet and introverted people of Central Switzerland.
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What characterized Olesja – or rather her time – was the view that everything had to be exploited in the media. Instagrammable here, TikTok there. It was less about content, more about the show. So when I reported neutrally and professionally on the Kiss trade event at the Hallenstadion on Workplace, I received a message from her just a few minutes later telling me to delete the post immediately, rewrite it and use as many emojis as possible. That’s how you did it nowadays. OK, got it – from then on I, too, became a bit of a peacock and put on more of a show, standing out at the Christmas parties with my red-gold-black-pink jackets. But it wasn’t the first time I had stood out with my clothes: years earlier, for example, during my first week I wore a tie every day and was then kindly but firmly informed by Muriel Mathis that this really wasn’t necessary. Or the time I got to read the riot act to Kathrine Decorzant on 6 December dressed up as Samichlaus. Of course I wasn’t Santa, I was the HAMI-Chlaus; Sarah Teass has called me “Hami-Kloos” ever since.
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Was everything better in the old days? When I think about teamwork, I believe yes. Kathrine managed to get everyone in the marketing team to prepare something for Fridays (OK, there was no working from home back then), which really brought us together. One person baked pastries, another organised a Tibetan BBQ in the JTI garden, and I gave a basketball training session in the gym.
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I miss that sense of togetherness – the team spirit – because with the Instagram era and “Me, Myself and I” came the urge for certain people to constantly put themselves in the spotlight and distract from the real substance, or to just look at what other markets were doing and copy it with as much pomp as possible. Smoking in a shopping centre? “Michael, why can’t we do that? They do it in Poland too.” Or quickly projecting a huge message somewhere for five minutes like in Milan? “Michael, why can’t we do that in Switzerland?” Or spending over 500 francs at the last minute on porcelain tableware so that the Geneva delegation wouldn’t have to eat directly from the Sprüngli tray during their ten-minute meeting in the Zurich flagship store. I could tell countless stories.
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Bosses – I had a few. Good ones and others. The best boss I had was Ralf, who, due to his allergy to polo shirts and dress shirts, “had” to wear T-shirts all the time. And although we weren’t convinced by each other at the beginning, after a settling-in period we worked together almost like an old married couple; each of us instantly knew what the other meant. Mutual respect. I’ve missed his knowledge since he left – whether it was the latest brilliant IT trick or adjusting complex Excel files within minutes. Not to mention the bags full of wonderful bakery products every Friday. Or the virtual apéros at 4 p.m. on Fridays. And whenever there was something to be done in Marketing or Sales that no one considered their responsibility, he did it, bridging both departments.
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Was everything better in the old days? Yes, when I think about the brilliant trade events we had back then. Winston Authentic in Zurich – brilliant. Winston XPression in Emmen – cool, even though some English-speaking colleagues couldn’t understand the jokes of Swiss comedian Beat Schlatter. Kick-off at the Bürgenstock Hotel? Really awesome, and then the request that everyone design their own pair of Nike Air shoes in JTI look. That’s teamwork.
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Was everything better in the old days? No, because the best team I had wasn’t back then, but now, with Salome and Nadine. Two highly professional event personalities who joined JTI right after Covid. We did the onboarding at my place, because JTI still didn’t let us into the offices. Every day we met at my home in Kloten, each of us in a different room; we cooked together, we discussed things together, we went to events together, we had meetings at one o’clock in the morning at festivals because some official wanted to limit the decibels in our village. One in the morning, cold and rainy. That bonds you. In this spirit, thank you, Salome and Nadine, for these fantastic moments in my life that are indelibly etched in my brain. And we know that the three of us would walk through fire for one another.
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Was I always the perfect manager? Probably not. I too had to part ways with two female employees during these 13 years. A decision that always scratches at your own ego. But I have tried, over these 13 years, to be a committed and reliable partner for JTI and for our partners. Someone who stood out with his sometimes grim Greek facial expression. Others called it Mischa’s poker face.
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Am I grateful? Absolutely. Nowhere else will I ever have such a marketing budget again to be able to implement ideas. Do I miss JTI? Definitely – except for the 200-kilometre commute from Kloten to Dagmersellen-Downtown. The family-like, local-global atmosphere with lots of cool people working here day in, day out. Thank you all for accepting me the way I am.
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Were there also things I still haven’t understood to this day? Yes, for example why a warehouse in Dagmersellen has to be closed for one week per month for inventory. One week per month = 12 weeks per year = 3 months. Three months per year for inventory? Folks, we flew to the moon 50 years ago; there has to be another way. Or what I still don’t understand is that certain people in Dagmersellen still believe that the team of Salome, Nadine and me only worked on festivals in the summer. Nope, we were already working on the Kick-off and Man’s World in January, and on 31 December we wrapped up Salto Natale. In other words, this team has been working from early January to the end of the year for many years now.
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So, was I a good employee? Somehow probably yes, because for 13 years I worked to make sure that end consumers saw and felt our brands and that JTI’s market shares grew and grew. And what I had embroidered on my shoes back then has now come true: mission accomplished. That’s why those shoes are being hung up on the proverbial nail today.
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How would JTI employees describe me? A golf-playing “Züri-Schnurre” – a Zurich chatterbox – often with a cigar in his hand. The one whose first major project was a smoking room (at the Hallenstadion) and who will end with his last project – also a smoking room, the one on the 3rd floor.
I hope you like it – and if not, then so be it. And to express this in closing with a song title as well, I’ll go with Frank Sinatra: “I Did It My Way.”