Mediaplus is pursuing a global data strategy that efficiently connects markets and drives AI-enabled processes. In an interview with Horizont, our Global CEO Matthias Brüll and Karin Immenroth, Global Chief Data Officer since November 2024, explain why a new data infrastructure is crucial, what role automation plays and why we are not afraid of market consolidation.
Why did you create the position of Global Chief Data Officer?
Brüll: Data is the basis for all our communication disciplines here at the House of Communication, but especially in media. It's about addressing target groups in a personalised and selective way and understanding them better in real time. The basis for this is the use of global data. That's why we've created this high-level position, where all the threads of data organisation and activation come together.
Making data more usable is on the agenda of just about every media agency. What does transformation mean for Mediaplus?
Brüll: Transformation actually affects almost all areas of the agency, but it starts in our insights department. What used to be research in the media agency is being rethought and made usable for everyone. Every area where it makes sense will have an AI and data focus. Under Karin's leadership, around 200 people in our group are working on data, data availability, visualisation and technological set-up, both nationally and internationally.
Karin Immenroth: My main task is to develop a global data strategy and organisation that covers all our markets, large and small. We need to provide the best possible service to our global customers and to do that we need to connect all our markets properly to our ecosystem. To do this, we have now brought together several disciplines. On the one hand, everything that is classically research and analysis. This will be called Mediaplus Data in the future. On the other hand, everything that falls under Business Solutions, which is the central data and technology for our business, such as the data infrastructure and the booking system.
That sounds like a major restructuring.
Immenroth: It is actually more than a restructuring; it is a far-reaching transformation with the aim of broadening our global offering and making the work of our employees more efficient. We want to make data available globally for the entire route. I like to think of myself as an evangelist, so I talk to a lot of people - both internally and externally - and one of the things I do is allay people's fears. Of course there are. Gen AI is changing the world for each and every one of us. We have to embrace it and make sure that our teams are embracing this change.
Brüll: The biggest challenge is to move from the planning-oriented approach of the past few decades to a solutions-oriented approach, where decisions are made based on data that is available almost in real time.
„It is a far-reaching transformation with the aim of broadening our global offering.“
Karin Immenroth
What does this approach look like?
Immenroth: The vision we are currently realising is the development of a comprehensive global data platform. We already work with global data, but it takes more effort than it should because our data infrastructure is not yet seamlessly connected. We already have a wealth of insights, some of which are already being shared, but there is room for improvement. And there is a lack of cross-border analysis, which is extremely important for global clients. That's why data infrastructure is one of my top priorities.
There are different approaches to building a data infrastructure. What is your approach?
Immenroth: We are a highly decentralised company and that has to be reflected. So we are building a hub-and-spoke structure that works differently from a central data lake. In the hub we have all the global market data, for example Statista data, which provides a strategic overview. In addition, there are data sources such as CRM data, media usage data and audience data. Our markets are connected to the hub by spokes. This will be the focus for the next three to six months. At the same time, we are working to ensure that the markets have a better local data offering.
Does that mean you will be entering into more partnerships with data providers?
Immenroth: In the future, we will rely even more on (data) partnerships to develop innovative solutions, offer our customers even deeper insights and tap new value creation potential.
What investments will this require?
Immenroth: Building successful data partnerships requires targeted investments in technology, data protection and expertise. It is not just the financial component that is crucial, but above all the strategic focus to create maximum value for all parties involved.
What are the benefits of this structure?
Immenroth: Clients are often reluctant to put their data on a large agency platform. We can connect clients like a spoke: the data stays with them and we establish a technical connection that allows us to work with the data we need to extend a campaign or set up analytics. We do this using the data mesh approach. This allows us to leverage the strength of the centralised hub and the strength of decentralisation by connecting countries to our hub through a kind of network. The approach is transparent and ensures greater efficiency - time that we can use to provide better advice to clients and build data products faster.
Increasing efficiency always sounds good. In the end, it usually means doing more work with fewer people.
Brüll: Yes, a data structure and AI like this makes people's jobs easier. But we are far from having fewer people. We're seeing overwork everywhere, it's getting more and more and faster and faster. As a media agency, 95 per cent of the work we do is not seen by the client because it is being processed. I would like to see 50 per cent become visible and for only 50 per cent of it to need to be processed manually. We have a huge operation with almost 1,000 employees in Germany alone. The goal has to be to have more time to guide customers through the complexity.
„Yes, a data structure and AI like this makes people's jobs easier. But we are far from having fewer people."
Matthias Brüll
Immenroth: One example of how we do this is the 'magic button'. Every week we produce reports for major customers such as BMW. This used to take four hours per branch - and BMW has 27 branches. We have now reduced this to 20 seconds of fully automated report generation. Our employees notice the relief immediately. All the planner has to do is look at the data in the finished presentation and add his or her own insights. We are now rolling this out to other customers and, of course, to other routine workflows.
Speaking of BMW, the budget is currently split between Mediaplus and Dentsu and is now being put out to tender in its entirety, with the idea of working with just one network in the future. What is the status of the pitch?
Brüll: We are working on it. I can't say much at the moment. The process will take until the summer. We are in really good shape and want to win the pitch. We are already working with BMW in an end-to-end system with the Marcom Engine. From asset production to dynamic delivery of assets, CRM and social. Media is a very important component in this system, so I think we have a very good starting point.
2023 was a successful year for new business. How do you see 2024?
Brüll: The last fiscal year 2023/24 was more successful than I have ever experienced in an agency. We brought in a lot of volume that we first had to consolidate. So it's natural that we're seeing a flattening out of new volume in the current financial year. We're still doing better than most agencies and have won multinational accounts like Bosch in 38 markets. Or Gardena, which is equally important for us. We have a number of major pitches in the pipeline. I am convinced that we will be able to complete them successfully.
Net or through acquisitions? You bought the Total Media Group in 2024.
Brüll: That was in April 2024, and the purchase was already consolidated in the 2023/24 financial year. On this basis, our forecasts for 2024/25 also show double-digit growth.
Are you planning further acquisitions?
Brüll: We are now very well positioned in the UK. We will expand our presence to a House of Communication and not just a media arm. We are getting stronger and stronger in the US, but we want to become even bigger there as a group. That will be another interesting area that we will be looking at closely this year.
The merger of Omnicom and Interpublic is imminent. What does this mean for the Magna Global Mediaplus buying group with IPG Mediabrands?
Brüll: We see this merger as a stroke of luck for us, because we believe that the two players will be very busy over the next two to three years. Interpublic is being taken over for a lot of money, so the capital market expects a lot of efficiency - and so do the clients. We are staying out of that arena and taking care of our clients. We have a long-term contract with Magna Global that cannot be terminated.
„Agency size and buying power will become less important. The currency will be how close you are to your customers and how well you understand them."
Matthias Brüll
What happens after that?
Brüll: You can't really cancel the contract for the next two years. So we won't see any changes in 2025, and we can take our time to look at scenarios for what comes after that. Either we form a buying group again, which could take a variety of forms. There are already interested parties. The second scenario is that we go it alone, we're big enough for that.
But if the conditions aren't right, you're out of the running. Even if Mediaplus has grown, without IPG it will lose purchasing power.
Brüll: Of course you need buying power. But when you talk about bidding systems, the role changes. According to the association ‘Die Mediaagenturen’, 50 per cent of the media volume is already with the large American platforms. 70 per cent of the media volume goes to digital advertising, with traditional media still accounting for 30 per cent and linear TV only 11 per cent. We see the big battle being for traditional spend, especially on TV. The big networks are trying very hard to continue to feed their business model. But that's not going to be the future. The future will be how competitive we can be in digital buying. The currency of sheer size and buying power will diminish. One currency will be how close you are to your customers and how well you understand them.
Thank you, Juliane Paperlein, for this interview! Published in Horizont on 6 March 2025.
