For a coffee with Rob

WHO ARE YOU, WHAT DO YOU DO?

I am a copywriter and creative director. I come up with advertising campaigns, write texts for websites, and conceptualize videos.

OPTIONATA’s WRIST CHECK: WHICH WATCH ARE YOU WEARING TODAY?

WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT IT?

It has something rustic, Alpine, which I have always been drawn to. And it carries a story within it that I unfortunately can no longer fully uncover. No one is alive anymore who could tell it to me. Which gives it a very special charm.

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST REAL WATCH AND WHAT STORY IS BEHIND IT?

For my confirmation, my grandmother gave me a stainless steel watch with a digital display. I think it was a Seiko. That thing was really trendy back then. Hey, and from my grandma! Damn, where is it actually? I mean the watch.

WHAT DO YOU STILL USE ANALOG FOR? OTHER ANALOG TICKS?

Once a week I treat myself to a newspaper. Not a digital edition, but actually printed. A celebration for me.

WHAT DRIVES YOU?

The desire to create. To bring something new into being. Deep in my limbic system, it surely also involves recognition.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT YOUR JOB?

There was once a slogan for Lego bricks: "A new toy every day." That's roughly how my job is for me: always different. I love that.

WHICH TOPICS ARE MOVING YOU PARTICULARLY RIGHT NOW?

In the face of great challenges, humans are currently in the process of finding themselves anew or again. It's all about identity. Richard Precht impressively summed it up in his essay "Artificial Intelligence and the Meaning of Life."

WHAT TRENDS DO YOU SEE FOR OUR FUTURE?

The end of constant self-optimization. And a new way of doing business that is not defined by growth. Even though the idea is certainly not new.

WHICH CHARACTERISTICS DO YOU PARTICULARLY VALUE IN A PERSON?

When it counts, being able to rely on that person. A very German virtue, then. And: when they make me laugh.