1SP Agency: Happy, Thankful and Still Ambitious

Just over a year ago, Torsten Oppermann and Markus Oeller founded the 1SP Agency with great vigour and ambitious goals. Oppermann‘s review after the first year is more than satisfactory.

This interview was first published in the 06/2024 print edition of GamesMarkt.

You founded the 1SP Agency just over a year ago (German). How did the first year go and are you satisfied with it?
Torsten Oppermann: Time flies. Who would have thought that we would be able to grow both organically and inorganically so quickly — and healthily? Our team has expanded from 85 to approximately 300 members, all driven by a shared passion for gaming and technology. This enthusiasm is something everyone lives and breathes daily. We recently had our first all-hands party in Berlin, where nearly 280 of us came together to meet old and new colleagues, celebrate the past year, and set the stage for the future. Financially, we just closed the fiscal year and met all our set goals, achieving our planned profitability. This is a great position to be in, honestly, and we are all thankful for it.

The 1SP Agency as an umbrella organization is certainly a bit abstract for many in the industry. How many people work under the umbrella? How many companies are united under it, and in how many locations and countries?
We view 1SP as a “Superagency” of experts delivering in three key areas: Awareness, Sales, and Tech. Currently, we have around ten legal entities operating under the brands of FLZR, INSIGHT, MSM.digital, Studio CO2 (German), and Renaissance PR. This structure gives us a team of more than 300 people, with offices spread across Europe - main hubs in Germany, the UK, Sweden, and Spain. Additionally, we have remote comms teams in North America and tech teams in North Macedonia and India.

"And at the end of the day, let‘s not forget to have a ton of fun while working hard. After all, we work in the best and most fun industry on this planet" - Torsten Oppermann

After a very hot start phase with many acquisitions, things initially calmed down a little in terms of inorganic growth before you surprisingly took over the multi-award-winning Renaissance PR (German) in February. How did the deal come about, and in which areas and regions do you still see growth potential in the short or medium term?
We have not stopped our growth initiatives. Currently, we are focusing on regional expansion with commu­nications and retail sales agencies in Southern and Eastern Europe. We also aim to expand in the area of mixed reality. However, finding the right future family members is not an easy task. So, if you know someone who wants to join 1SP with their agency, send them my way. Other than that, stay tuned! 2024 is not over yet, and we have more exciting plans in the pipeline.

Can you give us examples of campaigns and activities from the past twelve months that you are particularly proud of?
Certainly! Let‘s take a look into our three key service areas:
Awareness: We recently won an international PR account for Tencent, with Renaissance and MSM.digital leading the effort. Our communications teams also supported the launch of the Fallout TV series, which became one of the most-watched streaming hits of the year. Insight recently organized the German StreamAwards live-stream, the go-to event for the German-speaking content creator community. The event had over 260,000 concurrent viewers and accumulated over 72 million viewer minutes.

Sales: FLZR recently started a large retail project for Sony and just won a significant pitch for Lenovo. Studio CO2 has significantly expanded its Amazon storefront activities and is proud to serve EA and other clients, helping them grow on Amazon.

Tech: You might have seen the recent video of Mark Zuckerberg enjoying some mixed reality on a plane when they announced “travel mode” for Quest. We are helping to innovate Inflight Entertainment, soon to be available on select flights with the new Allegris Business Class Suite from Lufthansa. This project, led by our XR unit, MSM.digital AR/VR Labs, involves development, hardware setup and logistics. We are currently putting the finishing touches on the Lufthansa mixed reality MVP Inflight Solution.

How have these or other campaigns that you have carried out benefited from the 1SP agency umbrella? Are there campaigns that would not have existed without 1SP?
We are already seeing a lot of synergies and cross-service activities between the agencies. We can now tackle — and win — cross-regional (global) pitches with a wholly owned setup, not just loose partnerships. As seen with the Tencent account, we recently won, for example. Our clients appreciate our ability to execute campaigns across different services, regions, and languages, leveraging the very specific market expertise we bring to the table.

Our teams benefit from connecting with each other daily, sharing know­ledge and ideas across multiple territories, backgrounds, and experiences. Clients also appreciate having a single point of contact if they prefer, rather than dealing with multiple people.

To put it into numbers: We worked on 8 out of the 10 bestselling video games in 2023. For five of these, we provided services from at least two 1SP Agency units. Additionally, looking at our top clients from 2023 based on revenue, seven out of ten received services from two or more 1SP units. This cross-servicing sets us apart from the competition, as only the 1SP Agency can deliver multi-disciplinary international services with our proven specialized industry experience.

The industry is going through a rather difficult phase with cost and personnel savings. Experience has shown that service providers feel this particularly strongly. As a communications partner for many companies, how are you experiencing the current phase in the market?
We are closely following recent developments and are trying to help our clients as much as we can. What we see firsthand is that everyone is becoming more cautious about budget allocations, with more bud­gets being allocated quarterly instead of yearly. This makes it harder for service providers like us to plan ahead. We will continue to follow our strategy: “Structure follows business” and remain equally careful about our own structure. As of now, we do not see any alarming signals within any of our family members at 1SP Agency.

"We have not stopped our growth initiatives. [...] However, finding the right future family members is not an easy task." - Torsten Oppermann

What opportunities does this crisis harbor, especially for a group like the 1SP Agency?
When I started my first agency, Indigo Pearl, on September 16th, 2001, the world was also in a crazy state. Back then, I said if we manage to help our clients grow now, we will grow with them when the market recovers. The same applies today: We need to serve our clients as best as we can, helping them gain more awareness and reach their business objectives so we can grow together. As 1SP Agency, we can now serve our clients all over Europe, which helps as well.

And finally, a question familiar from job applications: Where do you see the 1SP Agency in three years and where in five years?
Haha, the crystal ball question! We continue our mission to become the number one go-to “Superagency” for games, consumer electronics, and tech in Europe and the EMEA region. We also have the ambition to expand across the pond in a few years. However, as mentioned, “structure follows business.” Step by Step...

The key for Markus Oeller, my Co-founder and Co-CEO, and myself is having a team that is happy and passionate about what they do, helping our clients reach their business objectives. And at the end of the day, let‘s not forget to have a ton of fun while working hard. After all, we work in the best and most fun industry on this planet.

About Torsten Oppermann

For more than 20 years, Torsten has been a specialist for digital brand communications, social media and online marketing. Since 2001, he has been a serial entrepreneur in the communication industry. Torsten was founder and CEO of the agencies indigo pearl (2001 to 2013, merged into Delasocial in 2013), Delasocial (2013 to 2017, sold in 2014)  before investing in and co-founding the agency network MSM.digital in 2018. Prior to this, he filled leading positions in several international companies in the entertainment and toy industry such as Hasbro, Sega, and Computec Media in Hamburg, London and San Francisco.