Some of the best parts of the Havas culture can be found in Frankfurt, as it is a very sociable and team-oriented group. Below are a few of the best things that stand out in my mind from my 4 weeks in Frankfurt.

Hard-working People doing Great Work

While I’ve been here, I had the opportunity to meet with people from all different specialties / middle office teams including Socialyse, Mobext, Affiperf, Content and Analytics. I also sat with the Forward team, a group solely dedicated to the Telefonica account (a large Telecom company here in Europe) that does some creative things in OOH. Most recently, they won an industry award for the Best Media Idea in a Public Space for the O2 Gaming Traffic Light.

In the digital space, Telefonica was one of the first teams worldwide to start using Havas’ new Client Trading Solution, and they are working pretty heavily with most of the internal teams.

Aside from some of the more granular similarities and differences, media is media no matter where you are in the world and it’s nice to share this common understanding with international counterparts across the globe.

Always learning, evolving, and striving to be Better Together

The HM International team has done a great job of pushing their clients to be more programmatic and digital, and educating them on the right ways to do it. This month, I was able to help create a strategic proposal for one client to shift to a heavy digital media plan for their upcoming campaign, with more advanced targeting and a personalized creative approach. We crafted a strong story to make the case for why they need to go in this direction and to showcase all the great things Havas can offer.

The team here in Frankfurt is always trying to learn from others and evolve the way things are done, which will keep our clients happy and keep us at the forefront of the industry.

Some differences I have seen so far, that other offices can learn from, are that they have a multi-faceted Socialyse team that not only handles paid social, but also community management, influencer programs, and content creation. They recently spun off the content group into a dedicated Havas Content team, which also manages branded content programs for clients. I think this would be a great addition to most offices, especially in the US, where branded content is such a hot topic for most clients.

Many people here were interested in learning about the way things are done in another office, and to continue to evolve the way things are done in Frankfurt, so I had a number of great conversations about this with different teams. There is a strong global mindset here, which will only help Havas become a stronger force worldwide!

One team, one dream!

Everyone is extremely team-oriented in the Frankfurt office. For example, getting coffee and lunch together as a team is a regular thing.

There is one team that gets coffee together every morning, and always brings a cup back if someone is unable to make it. I also got the chance to have lunch with a few different teams, as they often make an effort to leave the office and sit outside to eat as much as possible. Too many of us in NY are eating quickly at our own desks when we’re busy (including myself), so we should make the effort to go outside more and enjoy the fresh air!

Thanks again to everyone in Frankfurt for being such great hosts! That includes my coach, Henrik, and the rest of the HMI team who I worked with and got to spend some time with outside of work (Christina, Paul, Xu, Felix, Alba, Rebecca, Nina, Nathalie, Julia, Franzi, and more). Also Sabine and Christina in HR, and all the other teams who let me sit in with them for a day!

Danke für alles, und ich werde euch alle vermissen!

Havas Culture Stretches Across the Globe was originally published in havas lofts on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

PROGRAMMATIC IS KING. We all know the industry is shifting more towards programmatic display and video in recent years, but I’ve noticed Frankfurt has done a nice job of incorporating it into many of their clients’ media plans. For the HM International clients, there are a couple that are 100% programmatic, and others that are 50% or more. For one of the presentations I worked on this month, we recommended that about 50% of the budget be spent in programmatic (but in reality it’s probably more since the Mobile plan included some programmatic), in an effort to show how we could be more efficient, and create a more personalized approach from a creative perspective.

SHORT FORM VIDEO. In only 3 weeks in Germany, I’ve been served a number of video ads that were 10 seconds or less. Possibly more than I’ve seen in the US in the past 3 months. We all know there is a shift happening towards shorter video ads, especially on mobile devices, but it seems to be catching on a little quicker here. The Mobext and Affiperf teams here say they continue to push clients to submit shorter video assets, which will only improve user experience, and in my personal experience, it does help break through my extremely short attention span…

Now for some cultural differences I’ve experienced during my time in Frankfurt…one I had to learn the hard way…

BE PUNCTUAL. Germans follow procedure, and are very punctual. They arrive on time to meetings, and the meetings start on time. Unfortunately I can’t ALWAYS say this about me and some my NY colleagues…maybe it’s the workload that catches up on us sometimes, or a prior meeting running late, but it’s not so uncommon to start a meeting a little late back in NY…

Once a month there is an agency wide meeting very similar to our Town Hall in NY, where they serve a big breakfast to the whole agency, starting at 9:30. At breakfast, they speak about New Business updates, HR updates, and more (same as our Town Hall in NY).

One thing they do here every month is have the new hires introduce themselves and say a few words, so when my team and I were running a little late, and arrived at about 9:32, they were well into the presentation and were already calling my name to come up and speak! So needless to say I was a little flustered, but I took the microphone, said a few words, and ended it with two of the only German words I knew at the time (guten tag), which got a little laugh from the room (let’s just assume they were laughing with me, not at me…).

FRANKFURT IS THE MELTING POT OF GERMANY. This is the first year Frankfurt is participating in the Havas Lofts program, but they actually have their own version of an international exchange program that they’ve been doing for a few years now where an employee is hired into the program, they spend 2 years rotating to a different team every 3–6 months, including other countries! In NY, Socialyse is hosting Katharina right now, and Mobext will be hosting Elena next month, so make sure you find them and say hi!

Frankfurt is a very international city. It’s easy to see, not only from the people working here at HM, but also from the different areas of the city, where you have a number of different cultures being represented through the cuisines, shops, cafes, entertainment, etc. The diversity definitely brings a character to the city, which is probably a reason why 25% of the population is originally from outside of the EU, and more than one-third are originally from outside of Germany.

So to sum up -- stop being late to meetings, and go buy Rosetta Stone to learn another language! :)

2 media trends, 2 cultural learnings was originally published in havas lofts on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Over the past two weeks, I’ve really started to integrate into the team, working not only with HMI, but also with the different specialties on a few different projects.

For Casillero del Diablo (a wine brand also sold in the US), I helped put together a small media plan in Switzerland that directly targeted shoppers of specific grocery stores, which included a geo-fenced mobile plan as well as OOH.

For Israel Tourism, I’ve been helping create a higher level digital strategy for the European markets that focuses on heavier programmatic, mobile, and native video, with more advanced targeting.

I got to work with some really smart, hard-working people from the Mobext, Affiperf, and Socialyse teams. I also got to see some of the other great work they are doing at the agency. Socialyse here in Frankfurt has a big community management team as well, working on some large accounts in Germany such as Hyundai.

I’ve also been impressed with everyone’s ability to speak multiple languages, and switch back and forth with ease. I’ve met people on the team from Mexico, France, Spain, Denmark, India, and more, and they all speak at least 3 languages fluently, switching back and forth between emails, phone calls, and in-person conversations, depending on who they are talking to. The US should learn from this and start teaching a second language when kids are young!

Quick side note — the German keyboard doesn’t look so different, does it? I didn’t realize until I started typing that a number of keys are out of place or different, so I would look at my screen after typing and see a ton of typos…so it’s been fun getting used to this (at least the numbers are in the right place):

Outside of work, I participated in the JP Morgan run with the Havas Media team, which was held last Tuesday in Frankfurt. For those of you who know me well, you will know I am not one who runs for fun. Don’t get me wrong, I am fully capable of running…

…But in reality, I’m a little more like this…

No one here would let me off that easily though, so I ran the whole thing with a few people from the HMI team, and am glad I did! The city was lively with people out on the sidewalks cheering us on, playing in a drum line or band, or just raising a beer from their seat at a pub. I also got to see parts of the city I otherwise might have missed. It’s a little hard to take a clear photo while running, but here’s what I was able to get:

Havas had a large group participate in the run, which was followed by a BBQ at the office where Jan Altmeyer (the head of Socialyse here) grilled some chicken, steak, bratwurst, corn, and more.

5.6 km is a lot for me after zero preparation/warming up, so I was a bit sore the next day (ok, the next 3 days), but it was definitely worth it!

Lastly, two Fridays ago was my first time at TGIF. No, not this:

TGIF is HM Frankfurt’s Friday happy hour. Every Friday at 5 they have a little party out on the terrace which includes beer, wine, and snacks. Very similar to the NY office’s very own Bar 8!

One request NY: can we please invest in one of these outdoor terraces?? :)

T.G.I.Frankfurt was originally published in havas lofts on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

I arrived last weekend and had a few days to explore the city on my own. It’s a fairly small city (then again, everything seems small compared to NYC) so it was easy to walk around to a few of the main areas. I explored Sachsenhausen on my first day which is full of the traditional bier gartens, serving brats and apfelwein, then my second day walked into the main area of the city which felt a little more like NYC (more people, more cars, more tall buildings).

Frankfurt even named their financial district Mainhattan, after the Big Apple and the Main River (pronounced “mine”), which flows right through the middle of the city, and provides some great views:

My first day at the Havas Media Frankfurt office was Tuesday (Monday was a national Holiday) and I quickly learned that everyone is welcoming, friendly, outgoing, smart, and hard-working — the same exact attributes I see in NY every day. It’s great to see that the Havas culture I know and love extends all the way across the Atlantic!

I am working with the Havas Media International team, who work across several Global accounts such as Hugo Boss, Israel Tourism, Chiquita, and more. Say hi to my office mates!

To sum up my first few days, here are a few things I’ve learned so far:

1. Germans are very friendly people. Everyone I’ve encountered so far has been welcoming, patient with my lack of knowledge of the German language, and willing to be my free personal tour guide while I am in Frankfurt (a waiter one day was telling me places to visit and said to come back any time I had questions about the city or where to go).
2. Brats & Brot. Everywhere. All the time. Germans here in Frankfurt love their food (as do I), and there is a lot of it. There are many different cuisines to indulge in here, since Frankfurt is such an international city, but the classic German cuisine consisting of meat, bread, potatoes, beer…sounds heavy, doesn’t it? It is. A plate of bratwurst, sauerkraut, potatoes, and brot (it means bread) will only run you about 7–8 euros in many places, which is a dangerous thing because of how filling it is…but it’s delicious! Especially the green sauce!
3. Apfelwein and Currywurst might take a little time to get used to... Apfelwein is the local drink that Frankfurt is famous for. To my unrefined palate, it tastes like apple juice, just less sweet. Currywurst is a plate of sausage, and french fries, covered in mayo, ketchup, and curry spices. It’s filling (surprise, surprise) but actually was more tasty than I expected. Had to try them both at least once!
4. The beer is delicious. Obviously.

I’m excited to continue this German adventure with my Havas colleagues and learn as much as I can before returning to the States!

So until next time…Auf Wiedersehen! Bis bald! Tschuss!

Brats, Brot, & Beratung was originally published in havas lofts on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.