Networking in Berlin: In the wonderful setting of the Kronprinzenpalais, Burda gathered numerous prominent personalities from politics, business, media and society on Tuesday evening for the summer reception.
C3 Creative Code and Content intends to continue leading the market as the most innovative provider of marketing services. To secure this position, it has implemented a new agency model: As of 1 January 2019, CEO Adel Gelbert will install a Group Management Board that will manage the C3 Group’s strategy and bundle all of its key expertise. The Group’s individual sites will retain their autonomy. However, they will be part of a stronger network and will have access to central skills clusters that will be managed group-wide.
A new delivery model – the Client Pod – will enable much more precise and agile team structures to be formed to meet customer needs.
“Around the world, marketing is undergoing a fundamental change that requires companies and agencies to work in a totally new way. Our new positioning and our Client Pod model will enable us to remain on the frontline, actively shaping this change.”
Adel Gelbert, CEO C3 Group
As CEO, Adel Gelbert is responsible for the Group’s strategic direction, as well as group-wide strategic consulting and business development. He will also look after the international sites in Zurich and Prague and the German agency subsidiary Wunder Media Productions. The Talent & HR division, of paramount importance to the agency, will also fall under his remit.
Karsten Krämer, managing director for C3 since 2013 (first Hamburg, then the south German sites), will be appointed Chief Operating Officer (COO) for the entire group. He will also be responsible for the sites in Munich and Stuttgart, Seven C3 in London and the holding PM in Ljubljana. He will initially retain responsibility for operations in Munich. Mr Krämer will also look after the central specialist areas of Performance & Media and Motion, as well as marketing and communication for the agency group.
Christian Breid, who joined C3 as managing director in 2016 from Hoffmann & Campe, will become group-wide Chief Development Officer. He will look after the Hamburg site as well as operations in Berlin. On the Group Management Board, he will also be responsible for the central specialist areas of Tech Consulting & Development and Data & Analytics.
Christine Beardsell has been with Seven C3 in London since 2017 and now becomes Chief Content Officer for the entire C3 Group. A New Yorker by birth, she has specialised in creative digital marketing around the world and has spent her career managing major digital budgets for international brands, most recently as managing partner at Fold 7 in London. She will now focus on further developing C3’s creative profile and enhancing the interplay between creation and content.
Natalie Jupe has been responsible for Finance at C3 since 2017. She will be appointed Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the C3 Group and will expand her remit to include Legal, Compliance and IT. She will also be responsible for the C3 joint ventures Innogy C3 (with Innogy) and B.famous (with BCN).
As Adel Gelbert explains, the agency group’s new management set-up will significantly enhance C3’s profile on the market.
“No other agency in Europe has more experience of organising contemporary marketing – be it in newsrooms, content factories or other agile working models. It is therefore only logical for C3 to reposition itself at the top to build on this leading expertise.”
Adel Gelbert, CEO C3 Group
As well as forming the Group Management Board, C3 will make two important additions to its operational management.
The agency’s largest site is to receive reinforcement from some prominent names: As of 1 January 2019, Franzis Heusel (managing director of BBDO Berlin for eight years) will become managing director of C3 Berlin. At BBDO Berlin, he played a decisive role in new business successes and helped the agency evolve into one of Germany’s most creative companies. Franzis Heusel will join Christian Breid in expanding C3’s Berlin site and will also be responsible for C3 Frankfurt. With many years of experience in creative agencies (such as Jung von Matt), he will be a major driver in developing campaigning at C3.
Switzerland’s Lukas Baumgartner will take over C3 in Zurich on 1 January 2019. Mr Baumgartner has a great deal of agency experience, for example with Euro RSCG (now Publicis), and Young & Rubicam in Switzerland, and will help C3 to realise even more of the Swiss market’s potential.
C3 was borne out of the 2015 merger between Kircher Burkhardt (Berlin) and the Burda Creative Group (Munich) and has played a pivotal role in shaping German content marketing. C3 has since become an international marketing service provider focusing on content. C3 has around 700 employees in 12 locations.
