john allen

What john allen does

John Allen AG is a privately held Swiss full-service creative agency founded in 2009 and headquartered in Schlieren (Zurich area), Switzerland. The firm is named after Jimi (John Allen Hendrix) and operates with a compact team of approximately 10 people led by partners Chris Hanselmann (Creative Director), Sheril Hanselmann (Production Manager), and Lorenz Bohler (Director). It specializes in Factual Entertainment, brand strategy, integrated campaigns, TV production, documentaries, commercials, native advertising, and live experience design across TV, digital, and event channels.

The agency's core offerings span four service pillars: Strategy (ideation, storytelling, media strategy, omni-channel experience design), Kreation (TV commercials, native advertising, web/UX/motion design, social media content), Campaigning (integrated campaigns, programmatic distribution), and Show Production (factual entertainment TV, documentaries, web series, and show scenography). Its flagship output is the Happy Day TV show for SRF, described as the most successful TV show in Switzerland with over 40% market share in the advertising-relevant target group. Technical production capabilities include an ARRI Multicam System with Instant Colorgrading deployed at Openair Frauenfeld 2024 (the first festival worldwide to broadcast all mainstage shows live using this technology), CGI and visual effects for scenography (e.g., 400m² LED surfaces), and 4K HDR Dolby Atmos concert film production. Other notable productions include Eurovision Song Contest 2025 (EBU), Game of Switzerland, ESC Mania, Deep Dating, Red Bull BC One, Red Bull Symphonic, Lucerne Festival campaigns, and commercial work for Heineken, Evian, UBS, PostFinance/yuh, Streuli Pharma, and Switzerland Tourism.

John Allen generates revenue through project-based professional services engagements, with quote-driven pricing and no publicly disclosed rates. Its go-to-market is sales-led and relationship-driven, anchored by a long-standing SRF partnership and recurring work with international brands such as Red Bull, Heineken, UBS, and PostFinance, plus festival/event partners (Live Nation, First Event AG, Just Live) for Openair Frauenfeld. The customer base spans broadcasters, enterprises, government bodies (Switzerland Tourism, SRF), and nonprofit/cultural institutions (Lucerne Festival, HEV Schweiz), diversified across at least 14 named clients. The firm is privately held with no disclosed institutional investors, parent company, subsidiaries, or funding rounds, and is governed by its partner team.

Name

john allen

Legal name

John Allen AG

Website

https://johnallen.ch

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Short description

John Allen AG is a privately held Swiss full-service creative agency founded in 2009 and based in Schlieren, Switzerland, specializing in Factual Entertainment, brand campaigns, TV production, documentaries, and live experience design for Swiss broadcasters and international brands such as Red Bull, Heineken, UBS, and SRF.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Creative Agency Services

NAICS

Advertising Agencies (541810), Motion Picture and Video Production (51211)

SIC

Services-Advertising Agencies (7311), Services-Motion Picture & Video Tape Production (7812)

akta.pro primary industry

Integrated Full-Service Creative Agencies (MPAAAAAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Activation/Experiential Creative Agencies (MPAAAAAO), Content Production (Video, Design, Copy, Studio) (BPAFAAAF)

Keywords

• Creative agency services
• Factual entertainment production
• TV show production
• Branded content creation
• Live event production

Headquarters

HQ city

Schlieren

HQ country

Switzerland

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Creative Agency Services: Full-service creative agency providing strategy, concept development, production services for TV shows, documentaries, advertising campaigns, and live experiences. Revenue generated through project-based professional services for brands and broadcasters.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

John Allen AG is a full-service creative agency that produces Factual Entertainment television shows, documentaries, branded content, commercials, and live experiences for broadcasters, brands, and events. The agency provides end-to-end services from strategy and creative concept through production and scenography, working with clients such as SRF, Red Bull, Heineken, UBS, and Lucerne Festival. Core flagship output is the Happy Day TV show, Switzerland's most successful TV show with over 40% market share in the advertising-relevant target group.

Product overview

John Allen AG is a Swiss full-service creative agency specializing in branded content, entertainment, and storytelling. The company operates as a unified service-based offering rather than a software platform, providing end-to-end creative production from strategy through execution. Their core portfolio spans four main service pillars: Strategy (ideation, storytelling, media strategy), Kreation (TV commercials, native advertising, web/motion design, social media), Campaigning (integrated campaigns, omni-channel experiences, live experiences), and Show production (factual entertainment TV, documentaries, web series, show scenography). Key productions include the Happy Day TV show (Switzerland's most successful), documentary films for music artists and cultural institutions, concert films in 4K HDR, and large-scale live event productions. The agency works primarily with Swiss and international broadcasters (SRF, EBU), major brands (Red Bull, Heineken, UBS, PostFinance), and cultural institutions (Lucerne Festival, Openair Frauenfeld).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Factual Entertainment TV Production Television entertainment programming including the flagship Happy Day show (Switzerland's most successful TV show with 40%+ market share) and other Factual Entertainment formats produced for SRF and international broadcasters.
• Documentary Production Long-form documentary productions including music documentaries (e.g., Seven at the Apollo), band documentaries (e.g., Hecht – Abenteuer Hallenstadion), and cultural documentaries for clients like Lucerne Festival.
• TV & Web Series Production Television and web series production including game shows, dating formats (Deep Dating), music competitions (Red Bull BC One), and lifestyle programming for broadcasters like SRF.
• Television Commercials (TVC) Television commercial production for brands including Evian (Stan Wawrinka campaigns), Streuli Pharma (Luce D3), and other advertising campaigns.
• Native Advertising Series Fictional native advertising content series such as Baumanns (24 episodes for HEV Schweiz) that combine entertainment with brand messaging.
• Experience Marketing & Live Experience Live event experiences and experience marketing campaigns including multi-media energy shows (CKW), festival productions (Openair Frauenfeld), and brand activation events.
• Show Scenography & Direction Stage design, show direction, and production services for large-scale events including the Openair Frauenfeld (400m2 LED surface) and concerts with advanced ARRI Multicam systems.
• Concert Films Concert film production including 4K HDR Dolby Atmos formats (Red Bull Symphonic with Loredana), multi-camera concert documentation, and live streaming services.
• Integrated Campaigning Services Integrated campaign development including omni-channel experience design, customer journey design, media planning, programmatic advertising, and content distribution.
• Strategy Services Strategic consulting including ideation & storytelling, media strategy, creative concepts, omni-channel experience design, and customer & audience journey design.
• Social Media Services Social media content creation and management including social media advertising and platform-specific content production.
• Web, UX & Motion Design Digital design services including user experience design, web design, and motion graphics production.

Named customers17 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• meltminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAgency partnership for CKW multimedia energy show project. John Allen and melt collaborated on concept and production of the new multimedia energy show.
• FarnerminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAgency partnership for UBS Growth Talks project. John Allen collaborated with Farner to bring together entrepreneurs for peer-to-peer knowledge exchange.
• Madonna-KommunikationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAgency partnership for Streuli Pharma TV commercial project. John Allen co-directed with Madonna-Kommunikation.
• First Event AGcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLong-term partnership for Openair Frauenfeld festival. First Event AG handles event production while John Allen provides creative direction and broadcasting.
• Just LivecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for Openair Frauenfeld creative concept, direction, scenography, and complete broadcasting.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Publicis Groupe (Switzerland): Global advertising holding company with Swiss operations (e.g., Publicis Werbeagentur). Competes for the same brand creative mandates but operates at vastly greater scale across multiple disciplines.
• Havas Creative (Switzerland): Global network with Swiss creative operations. Competes for integrated brand campaigns and entertainment-led content mandates from multinational clients with Swiss footprint.

Regional players

• Atelier Hafen 14: Swiss-DACH creative/content agency with comparable focus on branded entertainment, documentary-style content, and live productions for regional brands and broadcasters.
• Streiff AG: Swiss integrated agency with strong content and event production capabilities. Comparable in being a mid-size Swiss creative agency focused on brands and live experiences in the same geography.

Direct peers

• Wirz Group: One of the largest independent Swiss advertising/creative agencies. Directly competes with John Allen for branded entertainment, campaign, and content mandates for Swiss enterprise and consumer brands.
• Jung von Matt: Major Swiss/German creative agency network. Competes with John Allen for the same Switzerland-based brand and entertainment budgets and operates a similarly broad creative + production offering.
• Farner Consulting: Large Swiss communications agency. Already a partner on the UBS Growth Talks project, but also a competitor for integrated brand and content mandates from Swiss enterprise clients.

Emerging players

• Seed Audio-Visuelle Kommunikation: Smaller Swiss production and creative agency overlapping on commercial and live-experience work. Useful as a niche boutique comp for mid-market project wins in Switzerland.
• C-Lab / Caligola: Switzerland/DACH creative boutique focused on branded content and entertainment-led campaigns. Comparable as a small, premium creative producer competing for high-end branded entertainment budgets.

Others

• First Event AG: Strategic event production partner of John Allen on Openair Frauenfeld. Adjacent rather than directly competitive, but represents the live-event production ecosystem in which the agency operates.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/JohnAllenAG
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/john-allen-ag
• Instagraminstagram.com/johnallenag

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about john allen