Crossmedia’s Kamran Asghar and Martin Albrecht on Acting Like a Perpetual Start-Up

Albrecht who is Germanborn and Kamran Asghar who is PakistaniAmerican established Crossmedia Inc in the US in 2000 after they worked together at Ogilvy ampamp Mather in New York amp160This created a separate US operation to work with Crossmedia GmbH in Germany established earlier in 1997 by Markus Biermann in Damp252sseldorf Hamburg and BerlinCrossmedia now has over 500 employees in seven offices in the US the UK and Germanyamp160 Asghar CEO oversees North America out of New York amp160Albrecht orchestrates international operations out of London while Markus Biermann focuses on Germany as its CEO The three founders operate as a single unified leadership teamI recently sat down with Kamran Asghar and Martin Albrecht in New York for a MediaVillage interviewMichael Farmer amp160Gentlemen Crossmedia is more than 20 years old amp160Can you really call this a perpetual startupMartin Albrecht amp160Fair question amp160When you consider the pace of change in the past 20 years if youamp8217re not rethinking your approach to clients on a perpetual basis youamp8217re going to fall behind Perhaps this is easier for an independent company like Crossmedia run by three culturallydiverse founders who started from the bottom and who think like one even though weamp8217re split geographically amp160We run this as a single global media agency with no silos and a clear vision amp160The only way we can do this effectively is if we are always deciding what to keep and what to change just like a startupFarmer amp160Give us an exampleKamran Asghar amp160Early on we reaffirmed our German policy of having all our income come from client fees we would not keep rebates or engage in the buyingreselling of media for our own account amp160Years later with increased US procurement pressures on fees and margins we could have changed this policy to enhance margins becoming nontransparent like many other agencies but we never considered this at all amp160We wanted to continue to be able to tell clients that our advice was unbiased and that our selfinterest would never get in the wayWe concluded amp8220weamp8217ll have to get even better at our base business to make money transparentlyamp8221 and that is what we have done amp160We train our people to solve client brand problems rather than simply plan and buy media amp160Ironically industry fee and commission pressures motivate us to focus on how to improve our quality year after yearFarmer amp160How did digital and social developments affect your thinkingAlbrechtamp160 The promise of being able to amp8220personalize everythingamp8221 was an industry temptation that Kamran and I struggled with amp160We knew that our clients would want to jump into this with two feet even though there were some fundamental questions that needed to be resolved Is the audience big enough in size and value to segment usefully amp160Is there really a strategic reason to speak to different groups of customers differently amp160If so can we do this without adding unnecessary complexityamp160 As often as not we were counseling our clients about the need to be thoughtful and conservative about messagespecific segmentationamp160 We could see the potential for a lot of wasted media spend chasing fragmented and lowvalue media targets amp160We did not want to be giving lowvalue advice for the sake of increased client spend and feesFarmer amp160Given all the targeting and spend today why are brands underperforming in the marketplaceAsghar amp160In too many cases clients and their media agencies have mixed up metrics with goals amp160There is too much micromanaging and optimization of metrics and too little thought and effort about what actually drives improved brand growth amp160Spend we believe is overly fragmented and misdirected amp160Siloed client executives are busy and happy looking at their spreadsheets showing improved metrics but brands continue to languishFarmer amp160Where do you see Crossmedia in five yearsAlbrecht amp160Definitely still independent amp8230Asgharamp160 amp8230 and still struggling with amp8220whatamp8217s the right answer for clientsamp8221 just like a startup amp160Weamp8217ll be much larger of course but weamp8217ll retain our singlecompany worldwide culture just like the consulting firms amp160Weamp8217ll still call ourselves a amp8220media agencyamp8221 but one that is always under constructionCartoon at topamp160amp160Aaron Bacall The New Yorker The Cartoon Bankamp160 With permissionClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writersamp160amp160

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Crossmedia’s Kamran Asghar and Martin Albrecht on Acting Like a Perpetual Start-Up

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Michael Farmer

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Crossmedia’s Kamran Asghar and Martin Albrecht on Acting Like a Perpetual Start-Up

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