She claims to have a pioneer and nonconformist mind. “With everyone going to New York, London and Berlin, I prefer to discover lesser known lands”. 28 year old Simone Pengel thus decided to settle in Moscow, Russia. For almost three years there, she’s been managing a small photography agency named after her that’s growing more and more famous.
A bridgehead between Switzerland and Russia, this Basel citizen promotes young Swiss photographers with a confirmed status in the field of advertising such as Thomas de Monaco and Jochen Arndt.
Her business clients can be found amongst the country’s largest women’s magazines: Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, Cosmopolitan for fashion series but above all amongst companies like Russki Standard and Gazprom who hire her services for their communication.
A true self-taught person, Simone Pengel worked in the film production business in Switzerland after getting her degree.
From editing to managing, she was involved in all aspects of the radio and television field before leaving for Russia in 2004. “During the first six months of my stay, I learnt Russian and travelled.
I forced myself to make as many contacts as possible. In order to be satisfied.
I had to collect about twenty business cards a week half of which had to be useful to me professionally.” To that end, she criss-crossed the town’s clubs, receptions, bars and restaurants.
Photography? “I’ve always soaked in this branch of the media as my family use to practice it a lot as amateurs. An agency working with freelance photographers doesn’t require that much of a capital to start up with. Abroad, the risk is hard to estimate.” Besides, the beginnings weren’t that easy. “Competition is almost non-existent in Russia, but whereas going through an agency seems quite natural in Switzerland, in Russia you need to convince people of the usefulness of the intermediary’s work”.
A networking wiz, young Simone Pengel from Basel opened a photography agency in Moscow three years ago.
This is her take on the expansion of advertising in Russia.
She claims to have a pioneer and nonconformist mind. “With everyone going to New York, London and Berlin, I prefer to discover lesser known lands”. 28 year old Simone Pengel thus decided to settle in Moscow, Russia. For almost three years there, she’s been managing a small photography agency named after her that’s growing more and more famous.
A bridgehead between Switzerland and Russia, this Basel citizen promotes young Swiss photographers with a confirmed status in the field of advertising such as Thomas de Monaco and Jochen Arndt.
Her business clients can be found amongst the country’s largest women’s magazines: Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, Cosmopolitan for fashion series but above all amongst companies like Russki Standard and Gazprom who hire her services for their communication.
A true self-taught person, Simone Pengel worked in the film production business in Switzerland after getting her degree.
From editing to managing, she was involved in all aspects of the radio and television field before leaving for Russia in 2004. “During the first six months of Whilst expanding rapidly, Russia’s advertising market remains embryonic as far as its structures are concerned.
Large companies often design their own promotion techniques themselves without mandating advertising agencies as is done in the West. “This often implies the absence of an artistic director and the lack of a general vision concerning the field itself.” Simone Pengel regrets the Russian advertising business’ overall conservatism. “I believe one doesn’t trust the consumer’s intelligence enough”. With every contract, she thus tries to bring a more creative touch to the realisation. But she doesn’t delude herself. She chooses her photographers essentially for their nerves and their flexibility “as Russians always want to change something during the project2.
Her success can be seen through the hiring of a business colleague, something completely unthinkable at the beginning.
“In three years time, I will hand the business over to her to bring up my children in Zürich” she confides.
