So, what's it like with Sir Mary?

m&kFlorian Birkner, how did you come to work for Sir Mary?

Florian Birkner: I still know Flo Beck from the old Publicis days and worked as a freelancer for the agency in its founding year, which worked out super well. The agency ticks differently and it shows that digital nerdism and brilliant ideas go very well together without taking each other's light away. That, in particular, is what I found appealing. When I heard they were looking for a senior copywriter, I immediately contacted Flo.

What did you have from the outside for Impression of Sir Mary?

A good one. It's nice to see something happening in the industry other than the same old personnel and customer merry-go-round. The first thing that strikes you about the agency is its style: the black and white PR images, the website, the luminous colors, the graffiti, and these three founders, who look as if they were cast together in the 90s for a boy band. At the same time, the agency has been really successful over the past few years with notable client and employee growth in the middle of Corona's darkest days. What I've never understood, though, is why they chose such a dumb name, more reminiscent of cocktails than groundbreaking digital campaigns. But fortunately, owners shape
their names and not vice versa.

"...these three founders, who seem like they were cast together for a boy band in the '90s."

Has your impression been confirmed?

Everything is always great in the beginning. But seriously, I was actually a bit nervous during the first few days. What can I expect here? Is everything really as different as it seems from the outside? And am I even in the right place here? Already after the onboarding with Nadine I realized: Yes, it is different. And yes, I'm in the right place. Simply because digital here is not just unimaginative tech stuff that primarily serves as a profiling tool, but is always seen as the best possible means to the best possible end. "We decomplex digital" is more than just a slogan that sounds cool.

Is there anything else that runs differently than in other agencies?

To be honest, what irritated me at the beginning was the fact that it wasn't at all clear to me who was in charge here. Rather, I encountered a team of equals with a wide variety of competencies. I've never worked in an agency where there's no one who has to puff themselves up artificially because everyone involved is aware of their importance to the job. That makes a lot of things easier, and it's not as self-evident as it might sound.

Can you tell us anything else about the office? What is the situation with Sir Mary?

A bit unusual, but quite okay. Here, too, the focus is not on status and show, but on pragmatism and functionality. The agency started five years ago in the "Berta," an office with a bay window, two balconies and six rooms. Pleasantly large and bright, but without the luxury that agencies usually like to boast about, more like start-up groove. The "Q" was rented in the third year, a second office on the other side of the street. You can wave to each other from the balcony and it happens that you change sides of the street to get to a meeting. The "Q" has a different charm than the "Berta". Here, a wall was torn down without further ado and two apartments were combined. The result is a huge room with a long table that can seat 20 people. Workshops are also held here, and in the corner there is a small studio set-up for pragmatic content productions.

Are there also negative things to report?

Ask me again in six months, and I'm sure I'll come up with more. At the moment, the only thing that really bothers me is the so-called carpet room, a meeting room in the Q that has been carpeted all around. Some people think it's stylish, but I find it rather stuffy. I'm also annoyed by the men's room, where the door handle has been loose for weeks, and the graffiti on the walls reminds me of squat parties in East Berlin, which I actually wanted to leave behind long ago. Speaking of parties, at the last agency aperitif, we ran out of beer at 4 a.m. So you have to ask yourself, what happened to the good old glamorous advertising world?

"Some people think it's stylish, I think it's rather stuffy."