24 August 2026
smartweek is one of our primary forums for internal knowledge sharing. By turning our own colleagues into instructors, we ensure that critical expertise doesn’t stay siloed within a single team, but is shared across the company to help everyone work smarter and stay aligned. This year’s sessions were all about the practical side of AI and pulling back the curtain on the systems that power our technology.
To get us all on the same page, Thomas Servatius, Co-CEO, opened the event with a comprehensive update on our strategic priorities. Gloria Eichler, CPO, then pivoted the conversation toward our Road to Total Video project, effectively bridging the gap between high-level company goals and the technical evolution we spent the rest of the week exploring.
Scaling AI Across our Workflows
A major theme this year was the transition of AI from a novelty to a core utility. Alex Tramp, Senior Product Education Manager, and Danielle Petway, Senior e-Learning & Product Communications Manager, demonstrated this by showing how our Product Education team is integrating AI to automate manual tasks, build custom tools, and scale knowledge across the company.
Taking this a step further, Tino Michael, Senior Data Scientist, pushed us to think about the future of autonomy. By exploring Model Context Protocol (MCP) tools, skills, and agent harnesses, he showed us how we can move past static interactions and build AI assistants that can actually execute tasks independently. The ‘builder’ spirit reached its peak with Markus Hube, Head of Tool Ops, who demystified the Incubator. During his session, he gave us a practical masterclass in AI app development, tracing the journey from a scribbled-down concept to published tool.
Demystifying the Machine
For many of us, the interworkings of ad delivery can feel like a labyrinth. Several sessions during the event were dedicated to mapping that territory and teaching smartclippers more about the product they build and maintain each day. Tim Höhne, Director Ad Delivery, led us through the entire “Impressions Journey” — from booking and adGen to adSelect and final delivery — while Volker Jung, Head of API Engineering, guided us down the “happy-path” an ATV OpenRTB creative takes from DSP to ad server.
We also took a look at the Forecaster. Simon Gabriel, Senior Product Manager Data, and Benno Kayser, Business Product Manager – Demand, broke down exactly how it’s built and what each component actually does, while highlighting the specific challenges of replacing one of its major parts without breaking the system. To round out the technical deep dives, the Data Engineering & Ad Delivery team (Jonas Neubacher, Data Analyst, Julia Dullin-Ansar, Technical Project Manager, Nadine Blanke, Technical Product Owner, Riccardo Scheider, Technical Product Owner – Delivery, Tim Höhne, and Wilhelm Penske, Data Engineer) shared a few insider tips on the platform. Through a few quick quizzes, they revealed some of the essential tools hiding under the hood of smartx that we should all probably be using.
Intelligence, Security, and Well-being
As we scale our technical capabilities, we’re also rethinking how we handle information. Aurelie Bombrun, Senior Manager Product Education, Shira Leffel, VP Marketing & Product Education, and Stefano Mateucci, Head of AI Products, introduced “Enterprise Knowledge”, the latest standalone Sidekicks product designed to turn proprietary organisational data into secure, AI-driven intelligence.
Alongside the technical deep dives, we made sure there was plenty of space for movement and socialising. Juliane Ritzler, Office Manager & Team Assistant, hosted a feel-good fitness break that served as an energy reset for everyone involved. The connection continued in our local offices, where colleagues got together for breakfast and group session viewings, making the most of the week to reconnect and share a few laughs in person.
Closing the Loop
The week wrapped up with some final words from Sonja Schuster, Head of Learning, Development & Culture, and Miriam Blockhaus, Manager Learning, Development & Culture, marking the end of another successful smartweek. Thanks to everyone who volunteered to host a session and share their knowledge with the team — it’s these exchanges that keep us innovating. See you at the next one.
Sonja Schuster is Head of Training and Development for the Human Resources team responsible for defining and implementing smartclip’s learning strategy to further develop smartclip employees. With more than ten years of experience and her M.A. in Sociology and Psychology, she supports smartclip as a consultant, coach, trainer, and change manager. Sonja is guided by the principles of systemic coaching — a holistic approach towards the development of people on the basis of humanistic psychology.
Sonja Schuster
Head of Training & Development smartclip Europe
Miriam is an Intern in Human Resources and has been a working student with smartclip since May 2021. Her work mainly focuses on the area of Training and Development to further develop the smartclip employees. Miriam is currently finishing the last semester of her bachelor’s degree in psychology with a focus on business psychology.
Miriam Blockhaus
Intern HR Training & Development
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
