Best Trends: Media needs impact; creation should stir emotions. In the past, agency roles were clearly allocated. What’s changed? Why does media have to be creative now, too?

Matthias Brüll: The number of advertising messages has increased disproportionately in recent years. And they all address similar target groups. The challenge is to stand out and stay in people’s minds – against the general trend of budgets that are not necessarily getting any bigger.

Max Schöngen: I also believe that the split of responsibilities is still relatively clear: we make media that has to have an impact. With creative media, there is just one additional task for us to accomplish. With the fragmentation of the media landscape and the proliferation of channels, we have many more touchpoints to work with. And at Mediaplus, we know exactly what people are interested in and what makes them tick. We can build on this and develop plenty more smart creative media ideas.

Best Trends: Innovation has always been a core component of the Mediaplus DNA. What role does creative media play in this context?

Matthias: While many media agencies think of innovation only in terms of technological solutions, we have always tried to differentiate ourselves through our creative thinking and the development of powerful media solutions. With Max as Global Creative Lead and our 'BÄM Collective' of around 50 creatives, we now have a team dedicated to this discipline across our agency locations.

Max: Innovation is a philosophy – it describes how to do things and how to do them differently from before. For us, creative media is an expression of innovation. And I really believe that all Mediaplus colleagues are innovative in their own way. That is what we aspire to. A strategy can be innovative, but a research team from Mediaplus Insights can also be innovative because they are constantly breaking new ground in order to really understand consumers and what motivates them.

Best Trends: Creative media is a fixed organisational unit within the agency. How has this area developed in recent years and what’s next?

Max: When I joined Mediaplus in summer 2022, we started to build up the ‘BÄM Collective’ across all communication disciplines in Germany – in eight agencies across four locations. This was successively rolled out in April 2023. More than 50 employees in 13 countries now invest 20 per cent of their working time in the collective. They continue to invest the remaining 80 per cent of their time in their client teams, which means they are constantly exposed to new ideas from the market. The fact that we work internationally – from Dubai to Europe to the USA – is a real asset. Different cultures come together to consider a briefing or an idea. This is how the team comes up with completely new, innovative ideas. Working across disciplines and national borders is also extremely relevant to our international clients. This is something we want to further expand in the future.

Best Trends: What does it look like when you work together across international borders?

Max: Initially, we only worked with our client Deichmann in Germany. This is a prime example of how an account can be successfully rolled out to five other European countries – with an overarching, global strategy. We build on this and implement individual ideas in each country – always based on market insights.

Best Trends: Mediaplus has always been at the forefront of national awards and rankings. Now came the big accolade: Best Independent Agency, third place for ‘Agency Overall’ in the global Media 100 WARC ranking. How did you make the leap to the international stage?

Matthias: Two things are very important to us: first, that we build a true group of pure-play Mediaplus agencies in different markets that think the same way, are connected by common clients, and work with the same tools and the same vision. This puts us on an equal footing with other networks that may be larger than us in terms of client volume. The second is differentiation: for us, this is the aforementioned innovative drive that is clearly measurable and visible in specific client solutions. In pitches, we present ideas that are different: we build on a strong strategy, which is then creatively implemented. This is certainly one of the reasons why we have grown so rapidly in recent years and currently have a 90 per cent success rate on pitches this financial year.

Max: You also need a bit of humility when it comes to the task at hand, you need to stay grounded after rankings like these. It's important to focus on the clients, not the rankings. Ultimately, it's about finding the best, most efficient solution for brands – and that requires international teams.

Best Trends: Speaking of pitches: Mediaplus also took first place in the Comvergence New Business Barometer and in RECMA’s Compitches ranking. What role does the creative team play in this?

Max: Essentially, the creative team is involved in all major pitches from start to finish, especially internationally: from the strategic development – the guiding light – to the layout of the pitch presentation to the consistent language. This means that creative media is not just the cherry on top. We really try to weave creative thinking into the strategy in order to achieve spikes in impact.

Best Trends: The Cannes Lions Festival is just around the corner. Last year, you catapulted yourselves to number six in the Cannes Creativity Report as Media Network of the Year. What are your hopes for this year?

Max: I’m a little cautious when it comes to making predictions, but I’m optimistic that we’ll achieve a good result. We’re well positioned with our case mix – from socially critical issues to clever targeting, we have everything covered. Animal Alert is a great example: there are lots of earthquakes in Peru – dogs can sense them early on. This is why we’ve equipped 137 dogs in Lima with collars that provide us with data. If a certain number of dogs get up at the same time, people in the area are alerted in real time with digital out-of-home measures and via radio.