Global Player
Volker Straube has restructured Mediaedge:cia Switzerland, expects double-digit growth, and is pleased that his network has now been recognized as one of the best globally.
Volker Straube has restructured Mediaedge:cia Switzerland, expects double-digit growth and is delighted that his network has now also been voted the best globally. This is a rare achievement: Mediaedge:cia has been named "Global Media Agency of the Year 2006" by trade journals Advertising Age and Adweek at the same time. With global growth of 20 percent, the year was also the best in the history of the network in economic terms. For Volker Straube, CEO of MEC Switzerland, this shows that his agency has chosen the right strategy. "Our global development strategy, from a traditional media agency to a modern communications agency, has also been confirmed by the market." The MEC network is now represented in 79 countries and is "in a top position in each of these markets", Straube is proud to say.what is the basis for such success? For the majority of branded products, communication and therefore media is the second largest investment after manufacturing costs. "Communication must therefore also deliver a return on investment," says Straube. The consultants at his agency therefore ask the following questions for every task: Who do I want to say what to, when and where? What situation is the consumer in in order to absorb which messages? And how do I measure the result at the end?
Over the last five years, MEC has continuously expanded its consulting services and thus its holistic project management with such approaches and has long since become more than "just" media planning and purchasing. "We have changed the business model," says Straube. In addition to Consumer Insights, Communications Planning and Digital Interaction, the company also offers the communication channels Event and Sponsorship. However, the traditional media business at MEC "remains the core business and will continue to account for more than 50 percent of the business in the medium term". But new approaches such as direct search - "if you can still call it new, because the Internet and its communication possibilities have been around for over ten years" - will have a significant impact on the future development of the entire media landscape.
"Growth will primarily be driven by digitalization, which corresponds to social individualization on the one hand and leads to further media fragmentation on the other," says Straube. "We are restructuring our business model accordingly, step by step." For MEC, the areas of digital/direct/search and entertainment/sports/sponsorship/events will therefore play a much greater role in communication in the future. Straube also sees the topics of content and trading as being closely linked. MEC therefore also sees editorial content as an important form of communication. "But not clumsy product placement, but intelligent placement concepts. Because only a credible and harmonious integration into editorial content is accepted by the consumer and is therefore also effective." Another area is retail. Communication at the point of sale is extremely important. MEC wants to extend traditional communication there, "because the act of buying ultimately takes place at the POS".
However, Straube believes that the fastest-growing area in the near future will be online. MEC is therefore consistently preparing for the challenges of tomorrow's digital world. The entire online sector is now also very well developed in Europe and can already account for a good ten percent of advertising expenditure in the media mix. In Switzerland, however, the figure is still less than two percent, although penetration rates and usage intensities are in some cases higher than in the USA. "Mr. and Mrs. Swiss are very interactive. But the problem is that the advertising industry has not yet recognized these new communication opportunities," concludes Straube.
The CEO of MEC analyzed the Swiss market carefully when he started in July 2004. He then merged five companies, three locations in Lausanne, Bern and Zurich and at least two cultures, both functionally and operationally, to form today's Mediaedge:cia Switzerland. "Make one strong agency" was his objective. "You can merge the figures quickly on paper, but in practice it takes more effort until you have a common philosophy and organization as well as processes that work together."
Straube realized that "the headquarters in this country had to be in Zurich". So he moved the back office from Bern to Zurich, restructured MEC here, and in March 2005 everything moved to a new building in Wollishofen with WPP's sister agency MindShare. The new GroupM back office with finance, IT and trading was set up here on the basis of the former MEC back office in Bern. In October 2005, Kinetic, the first outdoor media agency in Switzerland, was founded on this basis. And in December 2005, the MEC front office in Lausanne was relocated from the suburbs directly to the city center.
In January 2006, MediaCom, also a WPP sister agency, was integrated into the existing GroupM organization as a third media agency as a logical development of this plan.
The next step was to found MEC Global Solutions in April 2006 with offices in Zurich and Lausanne. "Clients such as Novartis or ABB no longer have to be coordinated worldwide from London, but instead directly on site, such as Novartis International, based in Nyon." As the first Swiss agency, MEC can now use its international network to support a globally active client around the world in Switzerland.
With the founding of MEC Interaction in the fall of 2006, the next step was to strengthen MEC customer consulting with special online expertise. MEC now also offers full online services in Switzerland.
Straube is currently in the process of founding MEC MediaLab as a further unit. The aim is to further expand the MEC offering in the areas of consumer insights, return on investment and communications planning.
With so much action, it sounds convincing that MEC will once again achieve "significant double-digit growth this year", as Straube indicates, who has been responsible for the further development of all WPP media agencies in Switzerland as CEO of GroupM in addition to his role as CEO of MEC since April 2006.
Before Straube was appointed to Switzerland, he worked for three years as Managing Director of Mediaedge:cia Frankfurt. From 1993 to 2001, he worked as a member of the management board of the media agency MindShare Frankfurt, formerly Ogilvy & Mather. He began his media career in 1990 at Young & Rubicam Frankfurt.
Andreas Panzeri
Over the last five years, MEC has continuously expanded its consulting services and thus its holistic project management with such approaches and has long since become more than "just" media planning and purchasing. "We have changed the business model," says Straube. In addition to Consumer Insights, Communications Planning and Digital Interaction, the company also offers the communication channels Event and Sponsorship. However, the traditional media business at MEC "remains the core business and will continue to account for more than 50 percent of the business in the medium term". But new approaches such as direct search - "if you can still call it new, because the Internet and its communication possibilities have been around for over ten years" - will have a significant impact on the future development of the entire media landscape.
"Growth will primarily be driven by digitalization, which corresponds to social individualization on the one hand and leads to further media fragmentation on the other," says Straube. "We are restructuring our business model accordingly, step by step." For MEC, the areas of digital/direct/search and entertainment/sports/sponsorship/events will therefore play a much greater role in communication in the future. Straube also sees the topics of content and trading as being closely linked. MEC therefore also sees editorial content as an important form of communication. "But not clumsy product placement, but intelligent placement concepts. Because only a credible and harmonious integration into editorial content is accepted by the consumer and is therefore also effective." Another area is retail. Communication at the point of sale is extremely important. MEC wants to extend traditional communication there, "because the act of buying ultimately takes place at the POS".
However, Straube believes that the fastest-growing area in the near future will be online. MEC is therefore consistently preparing for the challenges of tomorrow's digital world. The entire online sector is now also very well developed in Europe and can already account for a good ten percent of advertising expenditure in the media mix. In Switzerland, however, the figure is still less than two percent, although penetration rates and usage intensities are in some cases higher than in the USA. "Mr. and Mrs. Swiss are very interactive. But the problem is that the advertising industry has not yet recognized these new communication opportunities," concludes Straube.
The CEO of MEC analyzed the Swiss market carefully when he started in July 2004. He then merged five companies, three locations in Lausanne, Bern and Zurich and at least two cultures, both functionally and operationally, to form today's Mediaedge:cia Switzerland. "Make one strong agency" was his objective. "You can merge the figures quickly on paper, but in practice it takes more effort until you have a common philosophy and organization as well as processes that work together."
Straube realized that "the headquarters in this country had to be in Zurich". So he moved the back office from Bern to Zurich, restructured MEC here, and in March 2005 everything moved to a new building in Wollishofen with WPP's sister agency MindShare. The new GroupM back office with finance, IT and trading was set up here on the basis of the former MEC back office in Bern. In October 2005, Kinetic, the first outdoor media agency in Switzerland, was founded on this basis. And in December 2005, the MEC front office in Lausanne was relocated from the suburbs directly to the city center.
In January 2006, MediaCom, also a WPP sister agency, was integrated into the existing GroupM organization as a third media agency as a logical development of this plan.
The next step was to found MEC Global Solutions in April 2006 with offices in Zurich and Lausanne. "Clients such as Novartis or ABB no longer have to be coordinated worldwide from London, but instead directly on site, such as Novartis International, based in Nyon." As the first Swiss agency, MEC can now use its international network to support a globally active client around the world in Switzerland.
With the founding of MEC Interaction in the fall of 2006, the next step was to strengthen MEC customer consulting with special online expertise. MEC now also offers full online services in Switzerland.
Straube is currently in the process of founding MEC MediaLab as a further unit. The aim is to further expand the MEC offering in the areas of consumer insights, return on investment and communications planning.
With so much action, it sounds convincing that MEC will once again achieve "significant double-digit growth this year", as Straube indicates, who has been responsible for the further development of all WPP media agencies in Switzerland as CEO of GroupM in addition to his role as CEO of MEC since April 2006.
Before Straube was appointed to Switzerland, he worked for three years as Managing Director of Mediaedge:cia Frankfurt. From 1993 to 2001, he worked as a member of the management board of the media agency MindShare Frankfurt, formerly Ogilvy & Mather. He began his media career in 1990 at Young & Rubicam Frankfurt.
Andreas Panzeri
