INNOCEAN Hires Susanne Plümecke to Lead European Business

Susanne Plümecke will take over a European role at INNOCEAN, brining over 20 years of automotive expertise.

Susanne will be leading an agency with 200 employees in Germany and over 400 employees Europe-wide. She will be based in the Berlin office - where she already knows part of the team from the time at DDB - splitting her time between the capital city and Frankfurt, where INNOCEAN’s regional headquarters and main clients are based. She will report directly to Sam (Wooksang) Ryu, CEO and president of INNOCEAN Europe, and will work closely together with the local leaderships in Europe’s big5 markets. 

The Berlin and Frankfurt operation consists of various teams working together in the various aspects of the Hyundai Motor Group communications in the European region. While both offices have historically collaborated, an increasingly integrated planning is bringing the collaboration between these two offices even closer. 

The office in Frankfurt is home to several multidisciplinary teams, including German campaigns, Retail Marketing, Brand Experience and the agency’s Innovation Centre of Excellence, merging its strategy, insight & analytics, media and Adtech activities. This year, it set-up INNOCEAN X, a new spin-off agency specializing in driving experience, motorsport, event, e-sports and content creation in the digital world.  

The Berlin office operates as the Creative Centre of Excellence for European campaigns. The team, led by Gabriel Mattar and Ricardo Wolff since 2018, has scored numerous creative successes, winning 138 awards – six of them a Grand Prix - over the last six years, the latest being the Grand Prix for Good at Cannes Lions this last June. 

Susanne Plümecke says of her decision to join INNOCEAN, “Decisive were the enthusiasm for innovation alongside excellent creativity. Ready-made recipes are a thing of the past. In our industry, one must constantly try new things and I see this at INNOCEAN. I have worked in both traditional and digital agencies with truly innovative business models. Now, I am eager to leverage this experience at INNOCEAN, improving processes and integrating tech and creativity on a new level.”

Sam (Wooksang) Ryu, CEO and president of INNOCEAN Europe, says, “We welcome Susanne to our team with full confidence that she is the right leadership to take our European operation to the next level. She not only brings decades-long expertise for our automotive clients, she is also a proven leader with the operational know-how and the data and digital-driven approach we are looking for to materialise our agency vision”. 

Gabriel Mattar, European CCO, says, “Susanne comes to strengthen our operations across Europe. Her experience will be of incredible value to our current and future clients, as well as to our colleagues. I look forward to continuing to build the INNOCEAN brand together with her. If you have ever crossed paths with her, you know she’s the embodiment of our brand culture. She’s glory over pain.”