The managing director of the advertising agency Leo Burnett
I’m not sure why I asked for a cup of green tea, when Ulrich Tacke, the managing director of the Leo Burnett advertising agency, offered me something to drink. Maybe because green is the company’s color– the whole office was painted in that color, so you felt surrounded by “green” from all sides. As Ulrich explained to me later, Leo Burnett, the founder of the company, used to grow apples. Thus, sitting with a cup of green tea in front of me and a glass of water in front of Ulrich we started on our conversation.
Ulrich Tacke has worked in advertising for about twelve years already. Moreover, he chose it as the first step in his career right after finishing his studies in international economics. His student years were filled with a passion for exploring, traveling, and communication. “There’s something in me that always makes me move around,” says Ulrich, who has on has lived, studied and worked in his native Germany, Argentina, Great Britain, Poland, and the US. In total, Ulrich has spent four years of his entire career in Germany. He feels rather cosmopolitan but says he still has some of the taditional German traits like orderliness, and the need to plan ahead. “Germans are a more of a planning nation than any other,” he said with a smile.
As we touched on the issue of planning, which is quite rare for Ukrainians, Ulrich acknowledged that it’s truly difficult to plan in Ukraine, especially with clients that are used to making decisions in a hurry. “If you plan, everything unexpected can be met easier. Planning helps to avoid mistakes and some mistakes won’t be forgiven,” Ulrich revealed.
Another thing that makes life challenging here, according to Ulrich, is the difference in understanding how business should be run, though he admits much has changed a lot. What pleases him now is that people always try to find new solutions by themselves and don’t sit and wait for someone to tell them what to do.
Ulrich came to Ukraine in June 2004, right after finishing his contract in New York. According to Ulrich, it was a challenge that he was ready to take. It is absolutely understandable that “after New York, Kyiv was a culture shock,” yet the well-known Ukrainian hospitality and openness compensated the advantages of the Big Apple a lot, he says.
Notwithstanding that Ulrich argued that he won’t make any comparison between the two cities because it would be an unfair comparison, but pointed out the narrow choice of art galleries in Kyiv, and the chaotic traffic. But he says, Kyiv is a beautiful old town and very green.
“Kyiv is like a village. Everybody knows everybody in the ex-pat community,” Ulrich said happily. He and his wife, who is Polish, made a lot of new friends here. “We miss New York but we love Kyiv,”Ulrich said.
According to Ulrich the services of their agency are no different from the work of any other advertising agencies. Still, the local companies say that they don’t need strategic planning and market research work but Ulrich hopes that in future they will understand that it’s not enough only to introduce the product but that they also need to communicate with the consumer. In this field lies the basic concept of their agency: “to make not an ad but an act.” As an example of such politics Ulrich recalled the PR campaign they made for a loan project, during which they’ve set red birdhouses on the trees of Shevchenko Park.
What excites Ulrich in advertising is people and ideas: “There are no machines involved, you can take away my computer but we’ll still be in the advertising agency. It’s all about the brains and the people we have in a company. We work with human beings and their behavior,” he exclaimed.
According to Ulrich there are no stand-out Ukrainian traits that might distinguish the local advertising style. The difference lies mainly in the way the ad is used, he says. “Why should an ad for a Rolex be placed in the street, where 99 percent of people can’t afford it?” he smiled.
Although “Kyiv is not a place for a weekend trip in comparison to New York, where everyone would go for shopping or visit for Christmas,” a number of friends still visit Ulrich and his wife. All of them, according to Ulrich, are amazed about the quality of the restaurants, like Amici Mi, Crepe de Shine, Decadence, Safe, Tiflis, Chocolate, Ani, and Concorde, and wide choice of cuisines.
“The regular way of spending spare time for me now is walking our dog, a Labrador,” Ulrich laughed. He also regularly goes to art museums and galleries and likes to go diving and skiing (he used to be a ski instructor). “Together with our friends we also have a kind of a dinner club, where we meet and cook something new. I’m not an expert in any particular cuisine but I like to mix and make it taste good,” he added with a generous smile.
