{"id":224,"date":"2026-08-31T15:16:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T15:16:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wrage-antwort.com\/?p=224"},"modified":"2026-08-31T15:16:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T15:16:24","slug":"3-decades-2-honors-1-happy-man-when-things-come-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wrage-antwort.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/31\/3-decades-2-honors-1-happy-man-when-things-come-together\/","title":{"rendered":"3 decades, 2 honors, 1 happy man: when things come together."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Corona messed up so much, back then. Living in Georgia, working for Leavingstone, all the plans and hopes we had\u2026 We already had tickets to fly to Kazakhstan, plans to go to Uzbekistan, look for ways to connect and grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No need to get into what happened instead. What remained unchanged was the wish to get deeper into Central Asia, go to Tashkent, get a sense of what the market and the community is like, to feel that unique kind of energy that an emerging market can give you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It finally happened. This October, I will be at TAF 2026. Tashkent Advertising Festival. After more than three decades in this industry I have come to the point when an invitation to Uzbekistan means more than a delegate pass at Cannes Lions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What still puzzles me though is that I was asked to be the chairman of one of the juries. Ah, how gratifying is that\u2026 The kind of recognition that makes me think that pursuing a career in advertising wasn\u2019t such a bad idea after all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The last years have already given me an opportunity to be more at ease with the industry. It\u2019s more fun, more exciting, more enriching than most of what happened during the first 25 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s funny. I am still very much able to blow my cap when I am confronted with stupidity, creative lameness and ignorance. No loss of energy. The shift is obvious though. I go to places like TAF to connect, to learn, to speak and to share. Not to shine, hunt for a new title or pray for awards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And to watch and observe. What is different, what is familiar. How people think, how they understand communication, and how they come across as human beings. I love that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It all started when I exchanged my office in Zurich for one in Istanbul. Soon after, I was invited to chair a jury in Lviv, and to speak at White Square in Minsk. Very different planet back then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

White Square has been on my calendar almost every year. Even Corona couldn\u2019t keep me from going, visiting my friends in Minsk in times when the virus wasn\u2019t the only challenge they were facing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And even in these really troublesome years, with the war still raging, I am with my friends at White Square. More than ten times now. This year, they totally surprised me with an award. Recognition for all those years of staying close, no matter what.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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That\u2019s how I finally ended up going to Tashkent. Long lasting friendships, curiosity, and having found a way to be at ease with working in advertising and marketing, finally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My gratefulness goes out to my dear friends at White Square, Alena Ustsinovich and Sergei Savchuk. And to my new friends at TAF, especially Diyor Mirzaakhmedov and Temur Sadi. Plus all the people who have made the last years such a rewarding time. You know who you are. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

See you in Tashkent. It\u2019s worth the trip, believe me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Corona messed up so much, back then. Living in Georgia, working for Leavingstone, all the plans and hopes we had\u2026 We already had tickets to fly to Kazakhstan, plans to go to Uzbekistan, look for ways to connect and grow. No need to get into what happened instead. What remained unchanged was the wish to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","has-post-thumbnail"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wrage-antwort.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wrage-antwort.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wrage-antwort.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wrage-antwort.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wrage-antwort.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wrage-antwort.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":229,"href":"https:\/\/wrage-antwort.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224\/revisions\/229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wrage-antwort.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wrage-antwort.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wrage-antwort.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}