André Kemper (left) and Tonio Kröger founded the Berlin agency Antoni in 2015.
(Photo: Antoni)
Dusseldorf That doesn’t happen too often: The two advertising managers André Kemper and Tonio Kröger received the renowned Horizont Award for the second time on Wednesday evening – something like the Oscar of the German advertising industry. The two advertisers, who jointly founded the Antoni agency in Berlin in 2015, were honored for their pioneering work in the field.
With Antoni, Kemper and Kröger had “launched a new agency that quickly made a name for itself and is now one of the best-known advertising service providers in Germany,” judged the jury. With their approach of founding a tailor-made, exclusive unit for each customer, “Kemper and Kröger helped the Customized Agency model to break through in Germany,” the reasoning went on to say. Media managers such as Tom Buhrow from WDR and Stephanie Caspar from Axel Springer are also part of the committee, as is Vodafone Marketing Director Gregor Gründgens.
The agency started with a loud bang: When Mercedes-Benz was looking for a new creative partner in 2014 and even a month-long selection process did not produce a result, the Kröger / Kemper duo got in touch. Together with the then Mercedes marketing director Jens Thiemer, who has since hired from competitor BMW, the plan took shape: The two advertising strategists founded an agency – initially with Mercedes-Benz as the only customer. Customized agency is the name of agency models that are tailored to the needs of advertisers. The name Antoni was a combination of the two first names of the founders.
At this point in time, Kröger and Kemper both looked back on long-term advertising careers. Kröger had previously worked as CEO of the network agency DDB, which belongs to the US advertising group Omnicom. Kemper had raised the Hamburg agency Kemper-Trautmann with Michael Trautmann, which was later to be renamed Thjnk. In 2014, both advertisers wanted something new – the entrepreneurship adventure.
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But the industry initially resented the two advertisers for their involvement with Mercedes-Benz. After all, some well-known agencies had been spurned by the car manufacturer at the previous pitch – and now had little understanding for the new agency solution.
Avoid dependencies
Kröger and Kemper were not deterred by criticism from their own industry. In 2015 you built a medium-sized advertising agency out of the ground within a few months. Antoni now has around 170 employees – from 25 nations. And there will be even more employees in the coming months. In agency circles one speaks of a doubling of the company size. Kröger does not want to confirm the rumors, however.
The fact is: Kemper and Kröger decided to completely sell their young agency this summer. Antoni changes hands and will move under the umbrella of the American company Omnicom in the future. At the same time, the US network will in future be the first point of contact for all Mercedes-Benz advertising. Antoni – as the future Omnicom subsidiary – will be in charge of the project.
This expands the influence of the Berlin agency. Competing agencies like Publicis from France will obviously receive fewer marketing tasks from Mercedes-Benz. The group had specially opened a subsidiary named Emil – only for Mercedes-Benz – in Berlin.
However, it was always important to Kröger and Kemper not to depend on just one customer. They won other companies as customers, including the confectionery manufacturer Katjes, the cleaning brand Kärcher, the bed start-up Bett1 and the telecommunications group Vodafone. For each of these companies, Antoni set up separate, separate units.
However, other agencies have also recognized the trend towards customized agencies. Serviceplan, Germany’s largest owner-managed agency, set up its own units for the coffee roaster Tchibo and the telecommunications brand O2, for example.
More: Mercedes advertisers take part in the start-up ID League