Essence CEO Christian Juhl Brings A Programmatic Mindset To Traditional Media

While most agencies are still trying to wrap their heads around programmatic, digital agency Essence is expanding into the linear world.

When it launched as a digital agency in 2005, Essence didn’t bother investing in traditional media, said Global CEO Christian Juhl. Instead, it would wait until traditional media became digitized and the market naturally caught up to where the agency was operating. “But while we were waiting, we were missing opportunities to service clients,” Juhl said.

When GroupM consolidated media-buying agencies MEC and Maxus last year, it funneled the savings into Essence so it could expand its services for clients. The shift led to several GroupM clients, including NBCU in North America, Target and British Telecom in the UK, moving under Essence’s purview, along with about 550 employees servicing those accounts.

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