Be it campaigns, lookbooks or image videos for clients such as AIGNER, COMMA, HALLHUBER, CAMPUS, CODELLO and SPORTALM: Janvier Burger & Stasch agency exudes competence in everything relating to fashion and lifestyle. This year we welcome Nick Stasch, the agency’s partner & director, as a member of the SCREENings panel of judges as well as an UPDATE 13 guest on 25 October at Ritz Carlton Berlin. And even though JB&S has been a GoSee member for many years, we are more than happy to take this opportunity to thoroughly interview the fashion expert.
You changed to Janvier Burger & Stasch from Marc O’Polo. How did you get into fashion? And what do you like about it?
After completing my studies I worked at .start agency in Munich for eight years, where I was in charge of budgets for Burger King, Yahoo, Germanwings, Mini Cabrio and E.ON amongst others. I was always passionate about fashion and lifestyle, but I only really learned how exciting this field of the industry is and which characteristics it has at Marc O'Polo.
As Marketing Director at Marc O'Polo I had the chance to work with amazing creatives and stylists (internal and external), leading photographers (such as David Sims, Indlekofer & Knoepfel, Mikael Jansson) and wonderful models (like Malgosia Bela, Anna Jagozinska, Anja Rubik, Natasha Poly). I couldn’t have asked for a better introduction to the fashion world.
I already worked with my partners Alexandre Janvier and Oliver Burger previously as an agency and we were certain that we wanted to further develop the agency together. Thus I joined the team as an equal partner and we focused even more on fashion and lifestyle. In the last two and a half years we have tripled our staff and more than doubled our revenue.
I like the seemingly endless creative force with which the industry changes each season, constantly reinventing itself and setting new trends – and that goes far beyond the clothing. No other industry has so much influence on so many different areas and no other industry has such fast product life cycles. Creative fulfilment agglomerates on all levels – from designers to stylists and hair and make-up specialists to photographers and campaigns for the fashion labels.
You look after exciting clients in the high-end fashion industry. What is the collaboration with each of the brands, their marketing people and stylists like?
The process of developing a campaign is very individual to all of our clients. The basis of any campaign is always the brand, which we want and have to satisfy. If the campaign is nice, but doesn’t fit the brand or doesn’t bring it forward, then that doesn’t help anyone.
We then get a central theme from the design of each of the collections – often this happens in the development phase. We go on to construct the idea for the communicative production with corresponding suggestions for the creative design as well as for photographers, models and all the rest. In terms of styling, some of our clients already know which looks they want to define as the ‘brand’s look of the season’ early on. Other clients are looking for a bit more support and consult various stylists, who work out the best outfits previous to and during the shoots.
What are the criteria for selecting photographers for the individual campaigns, look books and campaign videos?
The team’s selection of photographers always depends on the idea for the production. The photographer’s style should fit the brief. This way you can really utilize their strengths. We just produced a very high-quality still shoot with Magnus Rossander from Sweden for the new HIRMER premium section. He worked so well with stylist Richard Andersson and they were the perfect team for our production idea of the ‘new style’ for HIRMER STUDIO Journal.
Of course we have also consistently used the same photographer for a specific client (such as Markus Jans for AIGNER and Annemarieke van Drimmelen for HALLHUBER). This has the advantage of establishing a solid image world for the brand and creates something new each season, while maintaining the same familiar look.
Which designers and brands are you drawn to at the moment?
First of all I am interested in our clients, because we cover a broad range of fashion and lifestyle aspects. Luxury brands such as AIGNER, premium brands such as COMMA, a vertically growing fashion brand such as HALLHUBER or a scarf specialist like CODELLO. And let’s not forget the retail section with houses like OBEPOLLINGER, HIRMER, FÖGER as well as the VALUE RETAIL GROUP, which we advise together with häberlein&maurer.
The fashion market has so many different facets and brands. I am always curious and look out for innovative and established concepts and brands on my many travels and trade fairs, and I constantly discover new things – that is what fashion is all about. In general I especially like brands that follow a linear concept but never forget to adapt, change and stay interesting for the consumer at the same time.
Are there any brands you would like to work with and what is the plan for the future of JB&S?
There are many brands we would like to work with. We currently look after clients from the fashion and retail industry with over 20 employees and a network of freelance staff. We were able to win a few clients from adjacent segments like perfume (Designer Parfums), jewellery (SWAROVSKI) and interior (BETTENRID) last year. This shows us that we have a lot of potential beyond the fashion world, especially in industries that are close to fashion and are naturally integrated into many fashion brands as classic licensing ranges.
You often produce in New York, is this because of the models there or because of the production conditions?
Even though NYC is a great city for productions, it is on a par with many other cities or places we shoot at. We are not set on anything – our motto is: what is the concept and where can we best put it into action. This could be a villa in the South of Spain, a castle in England, a hotel in Palm Springs, a club in Berlin or a rooftop terrace in New York. For studio productions it makes sense to see where the team and models etc. are from, to keep the production costs to a sensible level. We like to approach the planning process with the budget in mind, because we want to deal with our client’s money in a respectful way.
And would an office in New York be of interest to you? Or are there alternatives?
At the moment we are able to plan and implement all productions well from here, regardless of where they take place. Like I said, we’re not necessarily fixated on NY. For example, we look after our client NOVOMANIA in Shanghai (‘the’ fashion trade fair for denim, sport and streetwear and contemporary fashion in Asia) completely from our Munich office. If anything we’d consider an office in Switzerland or Berlin. Currently we are actually looking for a larger space in Munich though, in which we can grow even more.
Do you only work with big names or would, say, our SCREENINGS photographers, which you will be evaluating as part of the 2013 judging panel, stand a chance?
We are very open. Our art buying department has appointments where young and new photographers can apply with their work (just email artbuying@jbs.me). I also always like to discover new talent on GoSee. Our art buying department always keeps us and the team in the loop and we have multiple projects on which we are working with young talent.
SCREENINGS is looking for inspiration in the sense of photographers whose visual language makes an impression on us. Where do you get your inspiration?
I draw inspiration from travelling, books, exhibitions, conversations, the Internet… from everywhere really and from everything I do.
We will see you in Berlin at UPDATE 13 for the final judging panel deliberation. What do you think you can expect?
Great work by young photographers, interesting co-judges and inspiring conversations.
Eight one(or two)-word-questions in August 2013 :
Favourite city – I like lots of cities. Stockholm, New York, Los Angeles, Berlin, Paris, Munich, Hong Kong. Every city has its own unique character and exciting contrasts. I moved around a lot as a child, therefore I am not bound to one place. I live on the foothill of the Alps – so I have the best of both worlds: the calm and quiet of the mountains and the excitement of city life.
Favourite airline - Lufthansa
Best airport – My favourite airport is the Innsbruck airport. You can park directly at the gate, there are never any queues and you can walk to the airplane. It’s very charming.
Restaurant – I was lucky enough to eat in two of the best and most extraordinary restaurants in the world: Tantris in Munich and Noma in Copenhagen. Two completely different restaurants, but both have an unbelievable passion in common, with which they indulge their guests. It’s not a daily pleasure for me, but one that’s definitely worth the investment.
Holiday destination – our mountains where I live. It’s an unimaginable source of energy in the summer as well as in wintertime.
Bar - Victoria Bar in Berlin and Goldene Bar in Munich.
Hotel - THE PULI in Shanghai and HINTERBÄRENBAD in Kaisertal
We say thank you for this interesting conversation and are very much looking forward to seeing Nick in person on 25 October at the Ritz in Berlin.
