Strategy Days 2022

On the 26th and 28th of April 2022, our second annual “Strategy days” — a company-wide, team-building event — took place both virtually and in-person. As smartweek’s sister event, these two days were dedicated not only to learning more about smartclip’s overall strategy, but also the strategic plans of our partners within the Bertelsmann conglomerate.

The first day kicked off with a presentation by our Co-CEOS Thomas Servatius and Dr. Oliver Vesper. The pair welcomed participants and gave the audience exciting updates, such as the latest financial figures, information about our recent acquisition of Realytics, updates concerning TechAlliance (our new joint venture with Amobee), and upcoming organisational changes due to the recently announced merge of the media division of smartclip with G&J iMS and RTL Adconnect..

After the introduction concluded, Stefanie Jäckel, General Director Strategy & Development at AdAlliance, gave an update on the latest developments within the AdAlliance. She highlighted: “If we just rely on our content and don’t put a lot of effort into tech and data, we  will lose control over content distribution and monetisation. If we let that happen we will also lose control over our value chain.” 

Afterwards, Stefan Kramer, Strategy & Business Development Executive at RTL Group, took to the stage to explain more about RTL Group’s efforts to create “national, cross-media champions” — and the role smartclip plays in their long-term growth strategy. 

After lunch, attendees were delighted to meet Giorgia Nessi, Managing Director Motion Content at Group M in Italy, who introduced Group M Italy and detailed their own strategy and vision. She took time to discuss the strengths of our partnership which centred around a communal sense of trust, reliability, scalability, and profitability.

To highlight the focus on equality and equity within smartclip, journalist and author Alice Hasters educated listeners on the topic of structural discrimination. Sina Wittenzellner introduced and explained the purpose behind smartclip’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) committee before Alice explained that organisations often face problems when attempting to eliminate racism due to our own unconscious actions and historically grown structures. After the discussion participants were welcome to ask Alice any remaining questions they had, fostering an open environment to learn and grow. smartclip is excited to continue on with this important work moving forward!

Day 1 culminated with a casual fireside chat with Jack Bamberger, Chief Commercial officer at Amobee, and Volker Helm, Head of EMEA at Amobee. The pair gave us a comprehensive update on the progress of TechAlliance along with their outlook on next steps and joint marketing strategies. 

The second day was off to a great start with a strategic overview from Giuseppe Bronzino for smartclip Italy, Mirjam Naves for smartclip Benelux, and from Daniel Spangval for smartclip Nordics. Daniel Spangval is the Head of Products smartclip Nordics and demonstrated how to maintain a positive outlook amidst challenges brought on by the global pandemic when he said, “The past few years were a bit of a rollercoaster, but we are still at the amusement park.”

Afterwards, Guillaume Belmas, CEO, and Sebastien Monteil, CTO at Realytics — introduced our new 100% subsidiary — and walked us through the Realytics product portfolio and capabilities. 

They were followed by Christian Schalt, Chief Digital Officer at RTL Radio Deutschland, who  covered strategic topics surrounding the German radio business,  the importance of adtech, and opportunities for further collaboration with smartclip. 

After the lunch break, Eva Messerschmidt, Co-Managing Director RTL+, gave attendees a sneak peak of the exciting new version of RTL Deutschland’s streaming platform which will be launched later in 2022. 

In the afternoon, Daniel Bischoff, Chief Marketing & Operations Officer at RTL AdConnect, joined Dr Oliver Vesper for an update on the “New Unit”. Daniel underlined that all three companies of the new unit, smartclip, RTL AdConnect and Gruner + Jahr IMS, are complementary to each other.

The event closed with a celebratory and much anticipated get-together with everyone who attended in person at the Hamburg office. After years of separation due to the pandemic, it was lovely to spend the days together in person. In September, we will gather again for the next instalment of smartweek. See you there!