Samantha Catsburg: ‘the worlds of brand building and performance should intersect’
This interview was published on Adformatie.
Candid media agencies M2|OC and STROOM were integrated under the name STROOM at the beginning of July. CEO Samantha Catsburg discusses what this means for the agency and its clients, and how STROOM is focusing on the new category of Mediacommerce.
How did the industry respond to the announcement that M2|OC and STROOM were merging? ‘There are many benefits for clients, from increased team capacity to new knowledge. And I think it wasn’t a huge surprise in the market that we took this step.’
When did you realise that integration would bring even more advantages? ‘We first sat down with the management in January. As we moved towards spring, we looked at how we could position ourselves strongest as agencies. What do we need, and what is the best choice? For certain clients, such as Fleurop for example, we already had an integrated team, and we were already sister companies within a knowledge platform. Even if you can position yourself well next to each other, we sometimes saw overlap in the services. Then you actually want to connect that strength to form the ideal team for each client, involving colleagues from the other agency. So, this is ultimately a logical outcome, aside from the emotions around choosing a name.’ STROOM is, of course, a very strong name, and M2|OC wasn’t around for that long. ‘Yes, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t some history attached to it. The names M2Media and Online Company are now completely gone. Last year, M2Media and Online Company merged. There are always some emotions involved in such steps.’
What does the integration mean for the staff? ‘We really looked at what the new setup of the agency should be and how we are doing with the agency's capacity. All former MT members have come along. The goal wasn’t to cut back there. However, for some teams, it means we no longer need to fill open vacancies. We saw that at STROOM we had a bit more capacity in consultancy, and at M2|OC we had more in performance marketing and search. So, when you put a team next to each other, you see that it complements each other beautifully. A nice bonus is that we don’t have to search for new people again; your new colleagues understand how to deal with clients and are often in the same building, in Amsterdam or Rotterdam. We are keeping those two locations as well.’
STROOM is focusing on the new category 'Mediacommerce'. How did this new proposition come about? ‘Many agencies partly focus on brand building and looking more at the mid to long term with clients, and partly they focus on the performance side. And those teams are often quite separated. In our case, the performance team traditionally sat in Online Company, where our media agencies focused a bit more on brand building; they do look at performance, but it’s not the core. We now offer a fully integrated client team. And of course, it’s still developing. So it’s not that we have a perfectly working Mediacommerce operation today. But we are training our consultants to really let go of the heritage. The idea is that we can quantify media usage into concrete, media-attributable results: accountable media. Every euro invested must yield a return and contribute to growth. Especially the client’s board wants the assurance that everything in media and marketing can be accounted for. Only, a large part of brand-focused media is quite diffuse and therefore difficult to quantify. But for that problem, our Mediacommerce proposition offers a powerful solution, unique in the Netherlands. Through integration, we can connect the effects in the short, medium, and long term. We quantify everything, but we remain pragmatic, because while quantification can do a lot, it’s not the magic solution for the entire marketing policy.’
Do your consultants need to know everything? ‘In the long term, yes, regarding media types as we know them now. Suppose you are a performance consultant now, you will also need to know how radio and television planning works. And especially what impact that has on your performance channels. Because it’s no longer feasible or desirable for any client to look at just one side. 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 connect with the brand. So, don’t stay isolated in your search campaign, but also look for that connection with what else the client is doing. How can it reinforce each other? We include this in the development of our consultants and train them based on what they need. Specialists will continue to support the consultants from their specialism, thus maintaining our specialist knowledge while our consultants develop a broader perspective.’
So brand building and performance need to come together. ‘If you only invest in performance campaigns, your pond will eventually be fished empty, and you haven’t cultivated new growth. Hence, we said: that’s actually where these two worlds intersect. With brand campaigns, you build the brand and increase demand, and with performance campaigns, you capture the demand. But you actually want these two to interlock like gears to complement each other well. We are the first to name it Mediacommerce. With this, 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. But we don’t serve clients internationally as a network agency; if a client has a question about the entire European market, we can’t help them now. If they specifically ask us to do something in the German market, we can. That’s manageable. We can handle many channels well from the Netherlands. Candid is looking at opportunities to expand abroad, but until then, we focus on Dutch clients who occasionally have a “European” question.’
How is it for you to become the CEO of a suddenly larger company? ‘It wasn’t necessarily the ambition when I changed jobs to become CEO. When I wanted to move back from Publicis to a local agency, it became STROOM. Because I didn’t know it yet and thought it might bring me something. Once I was at STROOM, the company was forced to change rapidly, particularly due to developments around Covid. I was fortunate to grow along with it. And I just really enjoy learning new things. I kept getting the chance to take on a bit more. When clients dared to invest more again after Covid, I was able to switch within Candid: how can we do that, and what is needed? This unconsciously led me towards the role of managing director of STROOM.’
So does this make the step to CEO easier? ‘It feels logical to me, although it’s still a different role. And it will take some getting used to. My role now for a larger team will also mean I have to make more choices. I think that will be the biggest challenge. What choices do I make, where can I stay involved? I enjoy staying involved with clients. But now we have really many; more than a hundred. I can’t see them all anymore. Looking back, it happened quite organically, and I almost slipped into it without realising, but by working hard. Incidentally, the circle is complete because I started in this profession as an intern at M2Media.’
More than a hundred clients. That undoubtedly means there are conflicting clients. How do you solve that? ‘Yes, we have those too. You could also say we have the luxury of having multiple clients in various sectors. We partly handle that through location. That was also the case within STROOM. Some clients were served by the Rotterdam team, some by the Amsterdam team. But in Amsterdam, there is overlap too. Last month, for example, we won ONVZ, but we already have Univé as a client. These are served by separate Business Units. We have also involved clients in this and asked what they need. It should never be the case that you lose a client because you win a new one in the same category. I think that’s always the challenge when a client raises such a question. How do you ensure you serve the client well while keeping your colleagues involved?’
More information about STROOM: www.stroom.com