In the spotlight: OWM Germany’s Joachim Schuetz

I was born and raised in… a small countryside town in German region Westerwald. This region is halfway between Cologne and Frankfurt on the right bank of the Rhine.

I studied to become a… nutrition scientist. I am (still) fascinated by biology and biochemistry.

When I started in the advertising/marketing industry… After I finished university, I started my career at Mars in the confectionery business in 1985. At the time, Windows 1.0 was state of the art, mobile phones did not exist, and the weight of a “laptop” was between 4 and 7 kg. The advertising markets were much less complex than today, and media management was a tiny department in full service agencies. Fortunately, this changed fast in the following years.

My proudest career achievement… The German Advertisers Association (OWM) is like a baby to me. When I took over the role as CEO 13 years ago, OWM was quite a small association with limited resources. Today, OWM is a very strong organisation with real power in the German market.


Our priorities are… transparency with a specific focus on the digital ecosystem, helping our members to better manage digital transformation in media and advertising, rebuilding trust between advertisers and agencies, driving market partners to develop a next generation media measurement system and of course to further grow our organisation.

A very specific challenge in the marketing industry in my country… Germany is one of the largest advertising markets in the world, so our challenges are similar to those in the US or in other regions. A big challenge for all our members is to manage digital transformation.

If I could change one thing about the industry today, it would be… increase the speed of change. Many discussions, especially in industry bodies, are too time consuming. We need to become much faster and agile in terms of processes and decisions. Not every topic needs German engineering.

What most people don’t know about me is… during my military service I was able to get a truck driver license and as a student I also worked regularly as a driver of large commercials trucks to earn a living. I loved to drive trucks from time to time as I got older and had this license until the age of 55.


Something about my country… between the coast in the North and the mountains in the South there are so many spots in Germany worth visiting… five cities as a must-see: Hamburg, Berlin, Dresden, Cologne, Munich.

Want to know more about Joachim and OWM Germany? Get in touch with him here.

This is part of a series of monthly interviews with heads of national advertiser associations in WFA membership.