Zurich and Bari are 1300 km apart, two hours and twenty minutes by plane. For a Swiss brand shooting a summer campaign, that distance has become the most important number in their production budget.
Why south, why now
Three structural reasons.
Light. Zurich light from May to September is excellent but predictable. Southern Italy light is dramatic, golden, almost editorial. A campaign that needs to feel warm shoots warm light, not "Zurich in July with a warm grade."
Locations. A Swiss brand brief usually wants a mediterranean setting it cannot find at home. Masseria, whitewashed town, olive grove, coastal cliff. None of these exist in Switzerland in any photographable form.
Cost. Honest fact: a 5-day production in Puglia, with mostly local crew, lands at 40 to 60% of the equivalent Swiss production. Not because crew is paid less, because logistics are simpler. No 4-hour van shifts, no €1200 per day catering, no vineyard-as-luxury-prop premium.
What stays Swiss
The creative direction. The art buyer. The talent contracts. The invoicing currency (CHF if the brand prefers). The legal frame (Swiss law applies if both parties agree).
That last one matters. A Swiss brand briefing an Italian production wants the contractual ground they know. We sign productions under Swiss law when the client requests it, even though we operate in Italy. Invoicing in EUR or CHF, client picks.
The brief stays Swiss. The execution gets Mediterranean.
What goes Italian
The crew. The locations. The catering. The permits. The casting (mostly).
Casting Direction is where it gets specific. A Swiss brand briefing a Mediterranean campaign wants Mediterranean faces. Our talent base is built for this, 107 talents, 67 women and 40 men, most from the Mediterranean basin. When a Zurich agency books, they get the right look on day one.
The production logistics
A typical Zurich-to-Puglia brief runs like this:
The creative team flies into Bari (or sometimes Brindisi) the morning of the technical scout. Pre-production has been remote, Zoom calls, decks shared on Notion, contracts signed on Adobe Sign. Two days of on-the-ground prep, three days of shoot, half-day wrap.
We handle everything below the creative layer: permits, scouting, crew, equipment, talent on set, transport, catering, wrap reports, supplier reconciliation. The Zurich team handles direction, styling, art buying, brand approvals.
By Friday evening the campaign is in the can. The creative team flies back Sunday. The wrap report is in their inbox Wednesday.
Where Moi sits
We are the production company for international brands shooting in Italy. Most of our incoming briefs come from Switzerland, Germany, France, and the UK. Most shoots happen in Puglia (our home ground), but we operate across Italy and selectively in the wider Mediterranean.
If you have a summer brief that wants Mediterranean execution without losing Swiss organization, the answer is to brief us. Honest answer in one working day.
