29 October 2024
At smartclip, our people always come first. In an industry where every day (OK, every hour) brings new opportunities and challenges, their passion and happiness are central to our success. That’s why we established our Ministry of Wellbeing, a committee of smartclippers dedicated to improving the working lives of all our colleagues and ensuring every aspect of smartclip fully reflects our people-first approach.
One of the committee’s most recent initiatives was creating our first smartclip Yearbook, which was handed out to smartclippers at our 2024 offsite. Inspired by American high school yearbooks, the smartclip Yearbook is all about helping our smartclippers feel connected, which — as a company with multiple offices and teams, often working remotely — is always a top priority. Embodying our company culture and adding to other initiatives such as our offsites, smartweek, and Strategy Days, the Yearbook gives smartclippers an opportunity to get to know the many facets of smartclip and the people that power it, whether that’s taking a stroll down memory lane with our founders, finding out what makes their fellow smartclip teams tick, or getting some travel or culinary inspiration from their colleagues.
The full Yearbook is available to all our current employees and new joiners — here’s a sneak peek at some of its highlights:
Our origin story
Roland Schaber and Jean-Pierre Fumagalli, founders of smartclip, tell the story of smartclip’s origins, the leap of faith they took when starting the company, how it became a pioneering force in Addressable TV, and how acquisition by RTL Deutschland was the perfect fit for smartclip’s future. Our Co-CEO, Dr Oliver Vesper, who joined the company just after it launched, takes up smartclip’s story following acquisition until our recent transition to a purely tech-focused company, and Thomas Servatius, also Co-CEO, shares more about the smartclip spirit and why, in today’s fast-moving, complex adtech industry, taking a positive approach to change is central to our future success.
Creating a buzz
We reveal why the hornet has become our spirit animal and how this small but potent disruptor embodies the smartclip ethos. Fearlessness, speed, agility, adaptability, and collective strength are all key qualities when it comes to achieving our goals of championing the European TV industry, challenging the larger Silicon Valley giants, advocating for a free and open internet, and driving the whole industry forward. And we’re proud to share those qualities with the fierce and tenacious hornet (although they can keep their insect-based diet 🤢).
What makes our teams tick
Getting to the heart of smartclip, the Yearbook celebrates the multiple teams that keep us at the top of our game, including Platform Support, the “Kubernetes in the Cloud: Nerds, People & Culture, Engineering, and many more. We introduce each team, sharing their motivations, key memories, and hidden talents, and revealing plenty of fun facts about everyone along the way. We’re certainly a varied bunch with diverse hobbies and passions — from a scuba diver, skydiver, sailor, and singer, to an astrophotographer, chiropractor, sneaker collector, and kimchi maker, you’ll find them all at smartclip!
Giving back to our community
Life at smartclip isn’t all about the 9 to 5, and our smartclippers regularly volunteer in their local communities — whether that’s as part of our Social Day initiative or through longer-term commitments or special events. Our Yearbook looks at the many ways our colleagues have given back, including volunteering at the Special Olympics in Berlin, working shifts for the Animal Ambulance service, becoming a lay judge, or lending a helping hand at local non-profits.
Diving into hornet life
Nothing connects people more than food, so we asked smartclippers to share their favourite recipes, with contributions including Stefano Matteucci’s pasta dall’Italia, Dikachi Chizim’s Nigerian meat pie, Su Gao’s savoury Japanese pancakes, and Ioannis Petridis’ traditional Greek revani cake. We found out where our hornets like to fly, with travel tips gathered from holidays in Italy, Uruguay, Pakistan, Philippines, Tanzania, Guadeloupe, and more. And as no smartclip initiative would be complete without getting into the party spirit, we interviewed event organiser extraordinaire Silvana Fiermann, smartclip’s former Executive Assistant, to get a glimpse into what it takes to make our legendary parties a reality.
We’d like to say a big ‘thank you’ to everyone on the committee for creating the Yearbook and to all the many smartclippers whose contributions made it possible.
If you’d like to find out more about becoming a smartclipper, get in touch — who knows, maybe we’ll see you in our next Yearbook…
Lee is the Marketing Specialist Europe at smartclip and is responsible for content writing, editing, social media, and creative support across the department and company. Originally from the United States, Lee graduated from the University of Cincinnati, where she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Electronic Media. Before joining smartclip, she has worked with various organisations managing social media accounts and assisting in the video and audio production processes.
Lee Richter
Marketing Specialist Europe
