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Eric SCHOEFFLER
ECD | HAVAS
Eric entered the Ad-business in 1994 at a midsize independent agency in Cologne called Westag. He was the king of the color copier for a while, but luckily 5 years later he managed to leave the agency as Group Head Art.
In 1999 he joined DDB in Düsseldorf. As Art Director Eric worked on clients such as Henkel, Schwarzkopf, AXA and Volkswagen. In 2004 he was appointed to the Board of Directors. As ECD and Managing Director of DDB Düsseldorf he helped to attract new clients like Diesel, Ebay, Premiere (Sky) and Pernod Ricard and helped to start a new creative area for DDB in Düsseldorf winning the first lions for this office.
In 2011 Eric was asked to become Chief Creative Officer with the task to form and lead a new agency born out of the fusion of DDB and Tribal with 4 offices in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hamburg and Vienna. With his open and inquisitive nature he positively influenced new fusion of digital and creative. During his leadership DDB Germany he managed to win 52 Lions for clients like Volkswagen, Ikea or Deutsche Telekom. In 2013 he was appointed to the DDB Global Creative Council.
In 2016, after 17 years with DDB Eric decided to join Havas as CCO Germany and ECD Europe.
Eric is member of ADC Germany, D&AD, One Club and FC Bayern Munich (for those who really want to know). He served on most big international juries like the Cannes Lions, D&AD, Clios, Andys, Lynx and AdStars, to name just a few. Eric is a father of two girls, a vegetarian and a vinyl junkie.
questionnaire
1. What was your very first job? What does it feel like to look back at it now?
I really don´t know. It was child labor. But in a good way.
2. Please describe, in your own words, what your job is and what work it entails.
Psychologist. Tamer. Coach.
3. How did you discover that the creative world was right for you? Was there a time in your life that you credit to this discovery?
I was lucky that my parents didn´t push me into something “safe”. And since my talents were more rooted in sports and arts I decided between those two. During my career I was always pretty committed and reliable on the one hand, on the other hand I was always lucky that there were some good people that promoted me.
4. In your constantly growing and expanding industry, how do you find inspiration to keep your work fresh, innovative and relevant?
the best thing in our industry is that you work with young people. And they will keep coming with stuff you don´t even know it exist.
5. If you had to pick one piece of work or project that you are most proud of, more for the creative work and innovation it required, rather than its recognition or industry “success,” what would it be?
Move on. A two hour long road movie featuring Mats Mikkelsen. it was one of the very first and serious attempts into branded entertainment and it was so much more. On top it made my hair turn grey.
6. Which creative disciplines do you commission most, and are most interested in seeing more of and why? Which of these disciplines are you most interested in seeing at CONNECTIONS? (ie photo, film, production, social, experiential, vr, cgi, animation etc)
It will always be the one that is willing and able to surprise me.
