Matthias Breitschaft was born in the beautiful Münster. During his studies in cultural studies and media economics he worked as a freelance copywriter and finally got to know and love planning at J. Walter Thomson in Frankfurt and Ogilvy in New York, where he was also employed as a freelancer. He started his career at Publicis Sasserath Brand Consultancy in Frankfurt. From 2002 to 2006 he was in charge of top-class clients such as Nestlé, Renault and Deutsche Bank and was responsible for setting up a new location in Hamburg. In 2006, Matthias Breitschaft joined Jung von Matt in Hamburg, where he worked as a strategic planner and later as a Senior Strategic Planner and others In 2009 the change to the Scholz & Friends Strategy Group in Hamburg was responsible for the development and implementation of national and international brand and communication strategies of major customers such as the BILD newspaper, Ferrero, Mercedes Benz and OBI. First as Strategy Director, then as Executive Strategy Director after two years, he was also responsible for leading B2B and B2C customers nationally and internationally, such as Commerzbank, Vodafone, TUI, Henkel Automotive, XING and Zeit Online. In addition to his leadership role, he was also involved in human resources development and the development of an innovation offering of the Strategy Group. Matthias Breitschaft regularly gives lectures and seminars, i.a. at the Miami Ad School, the Texterschmiede, the Kunsthochschule Wandsbek, the Hochschule Fresenius and the btk.In October 2014 Matthias Breitschaft joined the Hirschen Group as a strategist. Together with Vincent Schmidlin he founded VORN Strategy Consulting in the spring of 2015. Here he supports national and international clients in matters of planning and brand management as well as around the topic of digital transformation and its effects on people and brands. In August 2018 change as Managing Director to the Serviceplan Consulting Group.

Achim Rietze is Head of Brand Planning DACH at the ZOO. Google’s creative think tank for brands and agencies. A global unit that helps brands to find new, innovative uses of Google’s platforms and technologies. The ZOO is home to all types, from creatives and strategists, to technologists and producers, working collaboratively with agencies and marketers. Before Achim started at Google, he founded the strategy department at LLR, a Jung von Matt spin-off, that directly won 9 Lions at Cannes in the first year and became “Newcomer Agency of the Year 2009” in Germany. Throughout his career he worked at the global agency network Y&R, before joining Jung von Matt in 2006—according to the Big One the “Most-awarded creative agency across all media and the world“ in 2007. He’s worked over 12 years in planning and has brand management experience on global clients like Mercedes-Benz, Unilever, Philip Morris, Panasonic and Subway. The 39-year old strategist has an obsession for pop culture and people, their deeper needs, and how brands can become part of their conversations and lives. One example of this: LLR brought the hero of all handymen “MacGyver” back on screen with their branded entertainment campaign for Mercedes-Benz Vans “MacGyver and the New Citan.” Achim has been engaged at the Account Planning Group Germany for many years. Lastly as member of the board, representing the interests of the planning community in Germany. Achim believes in planning as creative thinking based on information and has been awarded with a total of 27 effectiveness awards including 10 GWA Effie, 12 AME, 3 New Media and 2 Marketing Club Awards. He lives in Hamburg, loves a good tennis match and sweet buttermilk pancakes with blueberries and crispy bacon.