Robertson to run UK Scholz office

Kate Robertson, Bates Europe’s business development director, is to

set up a London office for Scholz and Friends, one of Germany’s top ten

agencies.

The office, which will open this autumn, will initially service German

clients expanding into the UK and some conflicting business from its

Bates network parent.

But Robertson said: ’It’s not our intention to enter a market as

important as the UK to be a German post box. Our intention is to become

a major UK player.’

She is close to securing premises in central London and to hiring a

senior creative from a major UK agency as her creative director.

The London office is expected to begin life with a nucleus of five staff

- all of them Britons - with the likelihood of numbers rising to 20 by

early next year. Media buying for the operation is likely to be handled

by Zenith Media.

Scholz is regarded as one of the most successful and profitable jewels

in the Bates Europe crown, with business that includes BMW’s domestic

account and Tchibo, the coffee manufacturer. At one time, Bates chiefs

discussed the possibility of using Scholz alongside Australia’s Campaign

Palace as the basis of a second-string global network.

Last year, it moved from being a Bates subsidiary to a network in its

own right in order to resolve a conflict between Reemstma, the German

cigarette manufacturer which accounts for 25 per cent of Scholz’s

dollars 350 million billings, and the dollars 200 million of British

American Tobacco global business handled by the Bates network.

Scholz has ten offices around the world. But Peter Schoning, the

agency’s managing partner, said: ’There’s no point in having a European

network if we’re not in London.’

He added: ’We’re client driven and we’re at a stage when opening in

London makes sense financially from a servicing point of view. We have

several clients which have promised us business if we move to the UK.’

This article was first published on Campaign