360° Media: Webrepublic expands into traditional media planning 

With 360° Media, Webrepublic is entering the field of traditional media planning and expanding its previously purely digital portfolio. In future, the Zurich agency will offer a full service for effective campaigns across all channels. Despite the expansion into analog areas, the motto remains "digital first".

360grad-webrepublic-visual

At a time when more and more advertisers are shifting their budgets to digital channels and the relevance of digital media consumption continues to grow, Webrepublic is taking a step in the other direction: the digital marketing agency is expanding with 360° Media into traditional media planning. "We think about the areas of creation, media and technology together from the beginning to the end of a campaign. This is the only way to create successful cross-channel campaigns that reach the target group - online and offline," says Webrepublic partner Tobias Zehnder, explaining the move. "We are expanding from the digital touchpoints into the traditional world: TV, out-of-home, print, radio and cinema." This makes Webrepublic a full-service agency that offers its customers everything from a single source: Seamless campaigns that cover the entire customer journey - from the poster at the streetcar station to the experience on the website.

 

Increase impact through classic channels

The agency is bringing in the necessary know-how externally through new employees with many years of experience in traditional advertising. These experts will be integrated directly into the existing, previously purely digital media department - programmatic advertising, social media and creation - under the leadership of Joël Meier. This should promote the ongoing exchange of knowledge, which is particularly valuable as traditional media such as TV and out-of-home are also increasingly bookable programmatically, as the agency writes in a press release. Webrepublic also uses the data obtained from digital campaigns to optimize traditional channels: How does the search volume of brands and products change during a poster flight? How do users acquired through TV commercials behave on the website? Which messages on social media generate the most interest?

"Large digital campaigns are complex due to the variety of platforms, formats, targeting and measurement options and require granular strategies. We are therefore convinced that campaigns must reflect the digital complexity before they are extended into traditional media - not the other way around," explains Joël Meier, Director Media at Webrepublic.

"Expanding to 360° media is the logical next step for us"

360° Media becomes a full-service agency. In an interview with Werbewoche.ch, co-founder and partner Tobias Zehnder explains why this step is being taken now of all times.

tobias_zehnder_webrepublic

Advertisingweek.chTobias Zehnder, Webrepublic is now also involved in traditional media planning. How long have you been thinking about this?

Tobias Zehnder: For me, the idea of getting into this area arose very naturally from the development of Webrepublic: we started with search engine marketing in 2009. A lot has happened in the industry since then, with new technologies and platforms constantly coming onto the market. At the same time, we continue to grow and expand our range of services. Our aim as a company is to offer our customers the best marketing and communication solutions. And we see these at the interface of creation, media and technology. Expanding to 360° Media is the logical next step for us: we have been offering digital media planning on Google, Facebook and the like for a long time, and in the last two years we have started to manage individual clients' entire budgets. We are now officially launching this service.

 

2020 is not necessarily the year of "booming" media budgets, especially in terms of more traditional media such as print and linear TV. Your core digital business is doing pretty well, I assume. So I ask myself: why are you venturing into a new line of business now of all times?

Our customers are the focus of this decision: We believe that it represents great added value for them if we can offer them everything from a single source. Instead of working with many individual partners such as a creative agency, digital agency and media agency, our offering reduces the number of interfaces for them. We cover the entire customer journey - from the poster at the streetcar station to the experience on the website.

In the current situation, media such as out-of-home or cinema are naturally not the most booked advertising spaces. Nevertheless, we see great potential in them. Out-of-home and digital out-of-home are - alongside online channels - the last major mass medium with an immense reach across the entire population. TV also remains one of the key advertising channels. And: programmatic booking of TV advertising is becoming increasingly important - this is where we can make targeted use of our experience in digital.

 

Would you like to offer your new service to existing customers as a supplement - or would you also like to acquire customers "exclusively" for media services?

Our credo is and remains "digital first", which is why the media offering should primarily be seen as a supplement to our digital services. We are convinced that campaigns must reflect the digital complexity before they are extended into traditional media - not the other way around. This raises questions such as: What do potential customers see when they google the product following a TV ad? What follow-up communication do users perceive on social media? What kind of content do we need in order to make the most of the interest generated? We use such data obtained from online campaigns specifically to optimize traditional channels.

We are already in intensive discussions with our existing customers about the new possibilities. We have already implemented our first projects this year. However, we are also in the process of establishing new customer relationships with ambitious companies that are keen on innovative advertising projects.

 

How does your new offer relate to the partnership with Wirz, which you announced just a few weeks ago? The path seems to be heading towards a "full service" network with digital, media, creation ...

I wouldn't call it a network now. But yes, we offer a full service because classic and digital advertising can no longer be separated. What is relevant is that the budget is used where the target group is located. Today, these digital media budgets usually account for more than 50 percent of a company's total advertising budget. It therefore makes sense to also offer planning for traditional media.

We want to guarantee the best quality in all areas, and our partnership with Wirz gives us access to their legendary creative expertise. For the expansion to 360° media, we are bringing in some of the know-how externally through new employees with experience in traditional advertising. We are already covering the other part internally with teams in the areas of programmatic advertising, social media and creation. As all of these specialists will be part of the same media team in future, they will benefit from the ongoing exchange of knowledge.

 

Where do you see the strongest competition in the media sector? Independent, specialized players or the big networks and their Swiss branches?

The industry is not exactly huge in Switzerland, so we have decided to focus on both areas: With our digital focus, we are already de facto the largest independent Swiss media agency and are now strengthening this position with our full-service offering. At the same time, this means that we are now an exciting alternative for "network-weary" clients. We will actively play this card.

More articles on the topic