McCann Erickson brings in Beat Mühlemann and expands

The rumors have come true: Beat Mühlemann is to become the new CEO of McCann Erickson, as Chairman of the Board Helmut Sendlmeier confirmed to Werbewoche. "I am very pleased. Beat Mühlemann is a very experienced man and he was our preferred candidate." The leading figures in the management team of the two Swiss agencies also opted for the former Migros advertising manager, Sendlmeier continued: "I have rarely experienced such chemistry - they all raved about each other."
In addition, McCann Erickson is currently setting up two new units in Switzerland, Momentum and MRM. The international agency network already operates both units in countries with larger advertising markets. "The aim now is to complete the offering in Switzerland," explains Sendlmeier.
Momentum offers services in the areas of promotion, sponsorship, events, branded entertainment and retail. The Swiss version will be based in Zurich and will start with three or four people. "We want to start small and with high quality - if large customers come on board quickly, we will naturally grow faster. In Germany, Momentum also started with just a handful of people and now has around 60 employees." The second new unit, MRM, specializes in digital and dialogue marketing. It will probably be based in Geneva in this country and will also start small. "The development potential is also huge, with 170 people now working at the German MRM," emphasized Sendlmeier. The two new disciplines will not have their own heads for the time being, but will be managed directly by Beat Mühlemann. With the expansion, McCann Erickson wants to be able to offer clients all services from a single source.

"People are amazed at how big we are "With the new CEO and the two new disciplines, McCann Erickson is now set to take off. Sendlmeier emphasizes that the two Swiss agencies were already bigger than many in the market thought. "I often heard that people didn't realize how big we were. Or that there are around ten blue-chip companies among our clients." He is aware that many people had the impression that McCann Erickson was trolling. "There was a lot of false information. Perhaps competitors fanned the flames. Once it was said that six CEOs had been in and out of our office in the last ten years - when in fact there were exactly two." However, Sendlmeier explains that he doesn't want to sugarcoat things: "Perhaps we should have done more PR and informed the market more actively." But now everything is in place: Beat Mühlemann is due to come on board on July 1 and a good team has been put together with Timo Kirez, Yannick Chevailler, Susanne Jungbluth and Monica Fischer. They are still looking for a Creative Director.
Given the development of the new units, Beat Mühlemann will hardly be bored in his new post. He will receive support from Sendlmeier, who is responsible for McCann Germany, Austria and Switzerland. However, he defends himself against the accusation made last year by outgoing CD Peter Rettinghausen that McCann Erickson is being trimmed to fit the orientation of the Frankfurt agency: "That's a low-level, clichéd assessment. I help the Swiss agencies, but I don't dictate," is how Sendlmeier describes his role. In the end, the Swiss management team was also the deciding factor in the selection of the new CEO. According to Sendlmeier, six people were evaluated: "At the beginning, I asked Swiss friends if they would consider us suitable. We took our time with the selection, as we had announced. In the end, Beat Mühlemann was our clear favorite."
Carole Scheidegger