Scholz & Friends Vienna Hires New CMD Christian Hellinger

Christian Hellinger joins creative agency Scholz & Friends Vienna as creative managing director (CMD) as of September 1st, 2025.

He is the latest addition to the management team, alongside Markus Mazuran, who became chairman of Scholz & Friends Vienna in April. The design unit will continue to be led by Roland Radschopf.

Christian is the current president of the Creativ Club Austria (CCA), Austria's largest association of representatives from the creative industry, and a member of the Art Directors Club of Europe (ADCE).

As the joining CMD, he aims to strengthen Scholz & Friends Vienna’s creative output and drive innovative communication solutions for the entire group.

Christian said that he wants to help the agency remain “future-ready” and “appealing to creative talent” while keeping the “human factor” front and centre.

He added: “Through state-of-the-art AI tools like WPP Open and the exclusive partnership with Austria's leading AI specialist, Michael Katzlberger, we are establishing a creative and work setup where AI is not only a core part of the organisational framework but also an integral aspect of the daily workflow – fast, efficient, and continuously evolving.”

Matthias Spaetgens, chief creative officer of the Scholz & Friends Group and professor at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, thinks, “Christian Hellinger is an outstanding creative with an impressive sense for brands and people. Matthias added: “He is not only a remarkable enhancement to our Vienna team but also a creative thought leader who will bring new impulses to our entire agency group beyond Austria.”

Christian Hellinger comes from WienNord Serviceplan, where he worked as managing director, partner, and chief creative officer until August. The projects he was responsible for have regularly been honoured at national and international festivals, including CCA, EFFIE, Golden Drum, Eurobest, and ADC*E. He and his team achieved significant successes with “A Few Degrees More” for the Vienna Leopold Museum, one of last year’s most awarded projects in Austria and the country's most successful case at ADC*E 2024.

In 2024, Christian Hellinger was elected president of the Creativ Club Austria. Additionally, he taught for six years as an external lecturer in Advertising at the Institute for Journalism and Communication Science at the University of Vienna.

Scholz & Friends Vienna manages international brands, including Mazda Europe and Microsoft, as well as well-known Austrian clients such as Ski Austria, Hirter Bier, and the Austrian Lottery. The agency is also a global competence centre for the Brand Asset Valuator (BAV), one of the world’s leading brand studies.