Behind the scenes

Three million francs in annual sales: business is booming at the Digitec Galaxus advertising agency

11/8/2022

Translation: Katherine Martin

Pictures: Christian Walker

The Digitec Galaxus advertising agency is celebrating its third anniversary. It all started with Nina Hoss, who took the helm of the agency with zero sales, zero staff and zero customers. Today, it’s making over three million in sales per year, has three employees and more than 50 clients.

The Digitec Galaxus advertising agency, or DG Agency for short, helps partners deliver marketing campaigns across various channels. Its services include consulting, implementing online marketing campaigns, creating landing pages on its own portals, flyers in packages with specific targeting, and more. DG Agency generated just under 3 million in revenue in 2021. But let’s start from the very beginning.

When Nina started her first day of work in May 2019, there was a blank sheet of paper in front of her with a note: «Why don’t you sell a few marketing services to advertising clients?» The reason? Because requests for packaging inserts, advertisements and sponsoring activities had been fluttering into our inbox on a regular basis. Up until that point, service bundling at Digitec Galaxus had been non-existent.

From the first price tag to the first million

First things first, Nina developed and priced her range of services. While doing this, she didn’t limit herself to online marketing measures: she expanded the array of services to include store displays, package flyers and print ads in the agency’s own publications.

In the beginning, the agency was a one-woman show. «My job involved the whole shebang: developing services, writing quotes and then doing all the reporting and presentations afterwards», says Nina. «At the same time, we had to preserve the independence and credibility of our online shops.» In other words, digitec and Galaxus were to remain free of manufacturer-financed advertising. On our portals, we publish independent editorial content, product news and promotions that offer customers added value. This means Nina has to place her ads on other portals like social media or Google, or clearly label content as «sponsored».

The captain of the agency fleet: Nina Hoss.

Nina can draw on a wealth of experience in her work because Digitec Galaxus does almost all of its own marketing. Only the TV ads come out of close collaboration with a production company. We handle the concept, graphics, media planning and purchasing in-house.

The agency’s first quote went to Microsoft, immediately landing Nina her first customer. «It was a hole in one», says Nina, grinning from ear to ear. Apple, Sony, Samsung, HP, Lego and McDonald’s followed on the heels of Microsoft. Our DG Agency pulled off a real coup with the Italian Trade Agency (ITA) campaign for Italian designer furniture.

Once again the inbox was brimming with enquiries: more and more partners wanted to make use of the agency’s services. 15 months after its launch, the agency smashed the one million revenue mark for the first time.

Never without my team

The specialist press were now starting to take notice of Nina’s agency too. In a Werbewoche article, DG Agency was described as a quasi-agency. Nina, on the other hand, is having none of it: «Quasi? What a description! We run as a complete agency with experts from every marketing discipline.» The agency provides marketing services including the production of advertising materials, media planning and management, and sponsored content creation. Amidst all of this, Nina doesn’t just count on the support of the graphic design, category management and digital marketing teams, but on her now three-strong crew as well. «I’m proud and grateful for the super work that Kim, Wiebke and Irene do. It’s an asset to me, as well as to our customers», says Nina.

Merrily we roll along

Nina has an optimistic view of the future: «We want to keep creating plenty of cool, authentic marketing campaigns with our partners.» And she’s not just talking about the Swiss market: «The north is calling! In August, I’ll be travelling across the Rhine to our German headquarters in Hamburg», Nina reveals. Working with the colleagues based there, she’ll hatch plans for DG Agency to conquer the German market too.

That blank sheet of paper from day one has been pushed for space for a while now. Soon, it’ll take a book to tell the agency’s story.

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David Kübler

Communications Manager

david.kuebler@digitecgalaxus.ch

I'm a communicator and songwriter with a passion for good food, lovely people, adventure and activities involving mountains and water.

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