The prince of numbers and data

In Switzerland, the scion of an ancient Mecklenburg noble family simply called himself Wolfgang Mecklenburg. The name became the hallmark of a modern division of labor in advertising consulting. Pioneers like Mecklenburg and Robert Baier were the first to carefully and systematically take care of the "boring" part of advertising: media planning, order processing, billing, monitoring. The resistance was fierce, but the idea prevailed.

The prudent father had ensured that his children were able to grow up in safety in Ireland and Hungary during the Second World War. Wolfgang Mecklenburg came to Switzerland and learned the branded goods business at Unilever. He became publishing director of Weltwochelater director of the old Jean Frey-Verlag and realized many successful ideas there. For example, to get the car industry to publish in the free newspaper Züri Leu he created an environment with hundreds of private second-hand advertisements, which he published free of charge. In this way, he created a marketplace for the previously ignored title. It was the heyday of printed advertising. Weltwoche, Annabelle, Sports and Balance skimmed.

At the beginning of the 1980s, Mecklenburg set up his own business. Originally, he wanted to set up a consultancy for newspaper and magazine publishers that promised to process the refined customer data now available for the advertising business on an industry and company basis in order to support advertising sales. He wanted to show publishers how to demonstrate the propensity to consume and purchasing power of readerships. For example, he was able to show the advertising manager of the large furniture store how many readers of newspaper A and magazine B were planning to buy curtains or carpets in the current year using linked consumer and media studies from WEMF (AG für Werbemedienforschung) and other sources.

The idea failed because of the publishers. Everyone wanted the service for themselves. So the young entrepreneur decided without further ado to turn the tables and put himself at the service of the advertising companies. He offered them strategic media planning and developed distribution plans that matched their marketing goals, plus everything that the creatively oriented agencies were less good at: the entire processing service: purchasing negotiations, scheduling, budget control, order execution, quality and billing, complaints, statistics, evaluation...

Media agencies became indispensable guides, especially in the 1990s, when the private television stations with their detailed tariffs, which numbered in the hundreds and were linked to the contact services of individual formats. However, global networks soon became widespread in the business. For many years, Wolfgang Mecklenburg achieved the feat of independently operating his business, which had since expanded to Germany, France, Benelux and Hungary, at times as the largest owner-managed network in Europe. In 1996, the M&M agency group stated that it managed an advertising volume of 800 million Swiss francs. In Switzerland, major clients included car importers Frey and Erb, as well as Fust, Miele, H&M, OBI and many other famous names.

The increasing pressure on fees forced independent media agencies to move into profitable niches. At the same time, however, more and more advertisers liked the idea of the fiduciary consulting boutique for advertising clients. The industry prospered, the pioneer remained discreet in line with his principles and withdrew from the league tables.

Mecklenburg's closest colleague Urs Schneider was long considered as his successor. Family reasons thwarted this plan. Mediaschneider became Wolfgang's most successful competitor. Well into his seventh decade, Wolfgang Mecklenburg remained tirelessly active and true to his traditional profile. He refused to engage in the vain self-promotion circus of the advertising industry and made his mark through performance. He was sometimes boastful, but more often cordial, especially to loyal employees and friends. In his spare time, Wolfgang Mecklenburg was an enthusiastic horse lover and practiced driving. He was held in high esteem in his native East Germany, particularly around his stud farm in Brenz near Ludwigslust, as well as in the small Swiss media world and in the biotope of media agencies.

Karl Lüond