Renato Zveteremich, art director at the Olivetti Advertising Office in the 1930s

Renato Zveteremich was an Italian advertiser (Trieste 1893 – Milan 1951). He is best known as art director at Olivetti’s Sales and Advertising offices in the 1930s, where he inaugurated the ‘choral’ approach to advertising that was to characterise the company’s communications strategy. With a Central European background, Zveteremich joined Olivetti in 1931 after attempts at a literary career and commercial experiences in Italy and Germany. His recruitment was part of the expansion plan launched by Adriano Olivetti, with the opening of the in-house Advertising Service first in Ivrea, later in Milan. Under his artistic direction the Advertising Office in Clerici Street acquired a unique status in Milan, where a modern, multidisciplinary approach to design was first ushered in. Influenced by the rationalist movement, Zveteremich was among the first in Italy to call on young designers acquainted with the European avant-gardes: Munari, Ricas, Schawinsky, Carboni, Veronesi, Melotti, Pintori, Nivola, Figini and Pollini. Zveteremich left Olivetti in 1938 to devote himself to the free profession, recommending Leonardo Sinisgalli as his successor. He worked as an advertising consultant for Farmitalia, Roche, Montecatini, continuing his collaboration with Grignani, Munari and Muratore. He collaborated as a publicist with Casabella and Domus, where he expressed a ‘humanistic’ vision of advertising well ahead of his time, in which commercial promotion and social responsibility were combined. His career was to continue in the post-war period, until his sudden death in 1951 halted new projects that would have installed him among those intellectuals working in the industry who, during the economic boom, carried on a similar approach to corporate communication.