business4you
Family

It's a hot Italian summer's day in Calabria, 2003, when Andrea asks Patricia, with a sketch of an idea in her hand, if she would like to set up a company with her. Patricia has to sleep on it, but the next day at the breakfast table she says: "We'll do it!" On October 13, 2003, the two start up in a 12 square meter office with their own laptops. Patricia unplugs the coffee machine at home and plugs it back in at the office. It doesn't matter, as they spend more time in the office than at home anyway. They write their credo on a flipchart, which still applies today: "We don't want to satisfy customers, we want to inspire them!"

On February 13, 2004, Patricia and Andrea decide to transform business4you into a legal entity and a limited liability company respectively. One of their first customers was Soreco AG, which is still one of their customers today.

After realizing that there was no optimally suited telemarketing service for SMEs on the market that could also be used to follow up customers with few contacts, business4you decided to offer this with its own Communication Center. The first employee is Bettina Blaser. She helped to set up this area and is still in charge of it today.

Andrea and Carmen Daetwyler meet for the first time at a sushi dinner in Biel. As a colleague was running late, the two spent an hour chatting animatedly about their favorite topic: marketing and communication. That same week, Carmen joins business4you, where she is still head of the project team today.

After working with external partners and freelancers in the graphics department for a long time, business4you decided at the end of 2007 to bring this area in-house. business4you started with one graphic designer in 2008, and by the following year there were already two and one apprentice. One of them is Margitta Sanz Janssen, alias "Maggie", who is still team leader today.

In 2009, the strategic decision is made to also develop online marketing in-house. Rabit Saciri is one of the first employees. Today, he is responsible for the support of all online projects. The online marketing department currently has 15 employees. business4you is proud of the expertise and expert know-how it has been able to build up in this area. An absolute highlight is the simultaneous launch of the eight center-specific websites of the Migros Aare Cooperative in July 2014.

business4you has decided to maintain a development team not only in Switzerland, but also in Vietnam. Thanks to the close friendship between Andrea and Renato Stalder, then CEO of Soreco AG, the idea was born to set up a joint development team in Ho Chi Minh City. Frank Thelemann now leads the local team, which has become an important part of business4you.

Two became ten, then twelve: at Easter 2010, the dozen business4you employees are complete! As a thank you, customers receive a dozen colorful Easter eggs, carefully wrapped by Patricia. In the same year, business4you GmbH is converted into a public limited company.

An employee's idea is realized and the team trip to Barcelona from September 17 to 19, 2011 becomes a reality. It will be a cool event with memories that you will never forget!

An old factory building in Pieterlen that had been converted into offices served as business4you's headquarters for a long time. The practical thing about this was that the marketing agency was able to continually rent additional rooms over the years as soon as more space was needed. In December 2011, however, it became too cramped: the entire workforce moved into the new building at Grenchenstrasse 5a in Biel.

To finally show customers, business partners, family and friends the new premises, business4you invites them to an open day.

business4you never misses a reason to celebrate, especially not when it comes to its 10th anniversary. To mark the occasion, a big anniversary party with over 500 invited guests will be held at the Kulturfabrik (KUFA) in Lyss in August 2013!

When the opportunity arose in May 2014 to integrate Andreas Joder's fantastic graphics team into its own graphics department, business4you did not hesitate for long. The marketing agency is proud of the motivated addition to the team.

Based on the conviction that digitalization offers immense new opportunities and possibilities in the area of marketing and communication, business4you has decided to set up the new "Consulting & Concept" team. From business4you's perspective, the digital transformation will be so important in the future that it founded its own subsidiary in July 2015 to strengthen the team. The subsidiary will be managed in terms of talent management by Linus Rudolph, a long-standing employee, head of the "Consulting & Concept" team and new partner.

The Friends & Family BBQ takes place in August 2015. The employees of business4you invite their family members, partners and friends and celebrate a nice summer and barbecue party with them.

2015 is a year with many positive organizational changes. On the initiative of Andreas Koloska and Linus Rudolph, the idea of the business4you Campus is born. In addition to a mobile project office, a library-living room and quiet workstations, a pool table, a "Töggeli box" and a bar are of course a must. The two of them spent many evenings and weekends working with Matthias Graf to implement the idea until the campus was "ready for occupancy" in October.

After Andrea's legendary Christmas speech, the business4you crew enjoy a delicious fondue chinoise with all the trimmings and then transform the new campus into a dance floor to the beats of the DJ. After the gin and vodka have been drunk, the hard core heads for Biel's city center, where some continue partying until dawn.

Under the leadership of Junior Project Manager Amélie Evard, the business4you online magazine goes online in June. Specialist articles on topics such as social media, technology and marketing are prepared and published. The "Agency life" section takes a look behind the scenes at business4you and also reveals internal secrets. We hope you enjoy browsing through the magazine and find the various specialist articles exciting and helpful.

Covid has shown us how quickly everything can change. And how quickly we can act as a team. We changed processes overnight, developed new offerings and became even closer as a team. One of these services became legendary: online stores for small businesses within 24 hours. We improvised, learned, optimized - and gained experience that is still relevant today. 2020 has changed us. It has made us faster, bolder and, above all, even more solution-oriented.

What began in 2003 with the conviction that we want to inspire customers is still our DNA 20 years later. For our 20th anniversary celebration, we invited all the employees who have been with us over these two decades. We celebrated a fantastic party together with great enthusiasm. At the same time, we wanted to say a special thank you to our current team - twelve months of small, personal surprises. And one thing is certain: we are already looking forward to the 25th anniversary celebration.

From their third year with us, all employees have the opportunity to do a work placement with our team in Vietnam. They spend two to four weeks working on site in our office in Ho Chi Minh City and then discover the country on a trip.

Karin Gerber also took advantage of this opportunity and promptly fell in love with this impressive country and the wonderful people there.

We have been taking part in HubSpot INBOUND for almost ten years. Even during Covid - digitally back then - and live on site again since 2023. For us, this week is pure inspiration every year. We condense new trends, technological developments and best practices, translate them into concrete opportunities for companies and bring them back to Switzerland. The exchange with international experts shows us every time where marketing, sales and service are heading - and what opportunities AI opens up. We traditionally share all our findings at our Digital User Group in October. This means that not only we, but also our customers, benefit from the head start that this inspiring week in the USA brings every year.