Europe's largest owner-managed agency group Serviceplan Agency Holding has decided to bring renowned brand strategist Vincent Schmidlin on board as its new Spokesperson and Managing Director. French-born Vincent, who was previously a Partner and Chief Strategy Officer at Hirschen Group, will be assuming responsibility at Serviceplan for business development and integration. He is set to take up his new role in 2019, when he will begin working from our House of Communication in Hamburg.

Hamburg, 1 August 2018 — Born in 1971, Vincent Schmidlin spent ten years at Scholz & Friends, and concluded his time there as a member of their Management Board. He was responsible for founding and developing the Scholz & Friends Strategy Group, and was also a Partner of Scholz & Friends Holding Commarco. In 2014 he made the transition to Partner and Chief Strategy Officer at Hirschen Group, where he built up strategic consultancy VORN Strategy Consulting GmbH. From 2009 to 2016, the native Frenchman was Chairman of the Management Board of APG Germany Association of Communication and Brand Strategists e.V.

Serviceplan Group CEO Florian Haller commented: "In Vincent Schmidlin we are gaining a first-rate strategist, who is not only known for his classic brand management and strategic consulting know-how, but is also a highly-regarded figure in innovation management and digital transformation processes."

In his new role as Serviceplan Agency Holding Managing Director and Spokesperson, Vincent Schmidlin will advance integrated solutions between Serviceplan's agencies nationally and worldwide, steer integration with brands Plan.Net, Mediaplus, and Solutions, and develop individualised packages of services for Serviceplan's clients.

As Vincent Schmidlin himself emphasises: "I'm very much looking forward to taking up my new role at Europe's largest owner-managed agency. The profession of brand communicator is transforming rapidly - both at the agency and the client end. If you want to communicate efficiently today, you have to put in place customized systems that can control micro and macro campaigns in real time, with a high level of precision. This demands a radical rethink of cooperation, with 'rugby instead of ping-pong' as the new motto: it's about playing full-contact to get the ball over the line quickly, aggressively, and attentively, rather than pursuing a lengthy back-and-forth process of briefing and rebriefing."

Vincent Schmidlin will be taking up his new position in 2019 alongside Matthias Harbeck (Serviceplan Agency Holding Creative Director) and Tom Wallek (Serviceplan Agency Holding Financial Director). His office will be located at the House of Communication in Hamburg.