Candid media agencies M2|OC and STROOM integrated under the name STROOM in early July. CEO Samantha Catsburg talks in this interview with Adformatie about what that means for the agency and its clients, and how STROOM is betting on the new category Mediacommerce.
How did the industry react to the announcement that M2|OC and STROOM are becoming one?
'For customers there are many benefits, from more capacity in the team to new knowledge. And I don't think it was actually a big surprise in the market that we're making this move.'
When did the realization dawn that integrating would bring (even) more benefits?
'We first met with management in January. Heading into the spring, we looked at how we can make sure we are the strongest as agencies. What do we need and then what is the best choice? For certain clients, like Fleurop for example, we already had an integrated team and of course we were already sisters within a knowledge platform. Even though you can position yourself well alongside each other, sometimes we saw overlap in services. Then you actually want to connect that very strength to be able to put together the ideal team per client, where you can hook up colleagues from the other agency. So this is ultimately a logical outcome, quite apart from the fact that there are always emotions around choosing a name.'
Stroom is obviously a very strong name, and M2|OC had not been around that long.
'Yes, but that doesn't take away from the fact that you still have history attached to it. Because the names M2Media and Online Company are now completely gone. Last year M2Media and Online Company merged. You still always feel some emotion with this kind of move.'
What does the integration mean for staff?
'We really looked at what the new setup of the agency should be and then how we sit with the capacity of the agency. All the former MT members also went with us. The goal was not to cut into that. What it does mean for some teams is that we no longer have to fill vacancies. We saw that at Stroom we had slightly more room for consultancy. And at M2|OC we had more room in performance marketing and search. So when you put a team side by side, you see that it complements each other very nicely.
'A nice bonus is that we don't have to look for people again; your new colleagues understand how to deal with customers and are often in the same building, in Amsterdam or Rotterdam. We also just keep those two locations.'
Stroom is betting on the new category 'Mediacommerce'. How did this new proposition come about?
'Many agencies have partly a focus on brand building and looking more at the mid- and long-term with clients and partly they focus on the performance piece. And those teams do tend to be fairly separate. With us, the performance team was traditionally in Online Company, where our media agencies had a little more focus on brand building. They do look at performance with us, but it's not the core. We now offer a fully integrated client team. And of course that's evolving. So it's not like we already have a totally perfect Mediacommerce-operation in place today. But we are training our consultants to really release the heritage.'
And what is the idea behind it?
'The idea behind it is that we can quantify media effort into ultimately concrete results attributable to media: accountable media. Every euro invested must pay off and contribute to growth. Certainly the client board wants assurance that everything in media and marketing can also be charged back. Except that most brand-oriented media are rather diffuse and therefore difficult to quantify. But for that problem we have a powerful solution with our Mediacommerce proposition, unique in the Netherlands. Through integration, we can link short-, medium- and long-term effects. We quantify everything, but keep a down-to-earth view, because quantification can do a lot, but of course it is not the panacea for the entire marketing policy.'
Do your consultants have to be able to do everything then?
'In the long run, yes, in terms of medium types as we know them today. Suppose you are a performance consultant now, in the future you will also have to know how radio and television planning works. And especially what impact that has on your performance channels. Because it is no longer feasible or desirable for any client to look at only one of the two sides. Knowing what branding campaigns do for performance is important, but it's also smart to keep thinking from your performance campaigns about how you can link to the brand. So don't stay very isolated in your search campaign, but also look for that connection to what else the customer is doing. How can it reinforce each other?
'We include this in the development of our consultants and in this we train the consultants based on what is needed for them. For the specialists, they will continue to support the consultants from their specialty, this way we maintain our specialist knowledge while our consultants develop a broader view.
"Suppose you are a performance consultant now, soon you will also need to know how radio and television planning works. And especially what impact that has on your performance channels."
Samantha Catsburg
So brand building and performance must come together.
'If you only invest in performance campaigns, eventually your pond is emptied and you haven't provided new breeding. Hence, we said: that's actually the piece where those two worlds meet. With brand campaigns you build the brand and increase demand, and with performance campaigns you capture demand. But you actually want those two to touch like two gears to complement each other well. We have now given it the first name Mediacommerce . With that we have opened up the category.'
'Candid is an international network and wants to grow further. Are you also deploying this Mediacommerce proposition internationally?
'We also deploy media for clients in Belgium, Germany and occasionally France. Only really being able to service a client internationally as a network agency we don't; if a client has a question around the entire European market, we can't help them now. If they ask us very specifically to do something on the German market, we can. That's manageable. On a lot of channels, we can do that just fine from the Netherlands. Candid is looking at opportunities to expand abroad, until then we have a focus on Dutch customers who occasionally have a "European" question.'
What is it like for yourself to become ceo of a suddenly bigger club?
'It was not necessarily the ambition when I changed jobs at the time to become ceo. When I wanted to return from Publicis to a local agency, it became Stroom. Because I didn't know it yet and thought it could bring me something. Once I was at Stroom , the company accelerated quite forcefully, especially also because of the developments around Covid. I've been lucky enough to grow with it. And I just really enjoy learning things. Each time I got the chance to pull just a little bit more towards me. When, after Covid, customers dared to invest more and more, I was able to shift gears from Candid: how can we do that and what is needed? In doing so, I unwittingly grew toward the role of managing director of Stroom .'
So is the step to ceo also easier to make?
'It feels kind of logical to me, while of course it's still a different role. And it will also take some getting used to. My role now for an even bigger team will also mean I have to make some more choices. I think that's going to be the biggest quest. What choices do I make, where can I stay well involved? I really enjoy staying involved with clients. But we really have a lot of them now; more than a hundred. I can't see them all anymore.
Looking back, it went pretty organically and I almost rolled into it without realizing it, but through hard work. By the way, it has come full circle because I once started in this business as an intern at M2Media.'
More than a hundred customers. No doubt that means there are conflicting customers among them. How do you resolve that?
'Yes, we have those too. We have the luxury of having dual customers in several industries, you could also say.Partly we absorb that through location. We already had that at Stroom. Some customers were serviced from Team Rotterdam, others from Team Amsterdam. But there is also overlap in Amsterdam. Last month, for example, we won ONVZ, but we also have Univé as a customer. These are serviced from separate business units. We took customers into that as well and asked them what they need.
'It should never be the case that you lose a customer because you win a new one in the same category. I think that's always where the challenge lies when a customer asks a question like that. How do you make sure you serve the customer well, but also keep your colleagues involved?'
This article appeared eeder on Adformatie.