The secret of successful media investments and the future of online marketing.

An interview with our managing directors, Andy Stevens and Markus Baier.

uniquedigital has branches in London and Hamburg. What does the collaboration between the British and the German teams look like?

Markus Baier:  Basically, we are working together all the time and it´s fun. It´s always interesting to learn how our British colleagues do the job - and bring together the best from both worlds.

Andy Stevens: From our very first meeting, I think it was clear we were like-minded. There were differences in the technologies we were using and in the experiences, but we have used those to grow stronger as a union. In fact, it is fairly clear that the whole is much better, much stronger than the individual parts.

You won Sky in a pitch against three large digital media companies. Why do clients choose uniquedigital?

Andy Stevens: We did win Sky. We are very proud of that fact. In online marketing, it all comes down to people and tools. We`ve worked hard with our DARWIN suite, the Media Management Tools set, that improves the efficiency and maximizes the opportunity for our clients. Having the tools is one thing, the people behind it is what drives it. And our people are fantastic. They are passionate, driven, enthusiastic, knowledgeable. And that is very contagious. When we meet our clients, they are infected by this enthusiasm, and that´s what´s proving to be very successful in our relationships.

Online marketing in three sentences: How would you explain to your grandmother what you do for a living?

Andy Stevens: When I tell people what we do, I am often confronted with: “Are you responsible for all those annoying banners and pop-ups?” Actually - no! Our competition can take the responsibility for those. What we do is: We deliver the appropriate messages in front of interested customers at the most convenient time.

What´s your advice for companies investing in online marketing?

Markus Baier: The most crucial advice is to answer the following questions: Which channels do I have? Which ones am I already using? And how do I use these channels in the most efficient way?

Andy Stevens: I fully agree. I think it´s the integration of the search, the display and the affiliate channels. The internet is a fully accountable medium and the opportunity to test and learn and further develop those campaigns is paramount to a successful campaign.

What makes a campaign international? Can you simply translate key words - or are things a bit more complicated?

Andy Stevens: A lot more complicated than that. At uniquedigital we have an international team, that are running campaigns across 25 countries currently. They are fluent in 14 languages and I think it´s the on-the-ground local market knowledge that is providing the success of the international campaigns.

What are the main differences between the German and the British market?

Markus Baier: The fact that Google-accounts are internationally standardized and independent from particular markets enables us to develop common strategies – especially bidding-strategies. Only the implementation in the particular language is done individually.

What will online marketing look like in the future?

Markus Baier: I am absolutely convinced that the share of online marketing in media spending will continue to grow. More and more content will be accessible via the internet, which is a great advantage. It opens up a complete new range of opportunities – for companies as well as for us as an agency.

Andy Stevens: One thing we can be certain of: The internet will continue to be fast-moving, it´s gonna continue to be exciting and an interesting place to be. I think the customers ultimately are going to decide what it looks like in years to come and it´s up to us as agency to keep up with this, to understand, to listen to our customers to make sure the campaigns remain relevant.