Stefan Schütte becomes the new CEO of Saint Elmo’s

Stefan Schütte has been in charge of the Saint Elmo’s agency group since 1 September 2021. The expert for integrated communication joins the agency from the Serviceplan Group and replaces Thomas Knauer as CEO and spokesperson of Saint Elmo’s.

Munich, 30.08.2021. In his new function, Stefan Schütte aims to strengthen the Saint Elmo’s brand and boost the visibility and growth of the agency group. The top agency manager has many years of management experience. Before joining Saint Elmo’s, he held the position of chief integration officer of the Serviceplan Group, where he assumed a key role in developing Serviceplan from a local Bavarian agency into Germany’s market leader and an international player in the agency sector. Responsible for all German creative agencies in the Serviceplan Group, Stefan Schütte made a decisive contribution to their development and laid the cornerstone of their success. The expert in integrated brand building has also looked after the communication of numerous international customers, including Sky, BMW, Hipp and Consorsbank.

Most recently, Stefan Schütte was CEO of Serviceplan Group’s House of Communication New York and was responsible for the brand launch, set-up and integration of the new offices into the Group. In less than four years, he was able to establish himself on the US market and successfully merge with the renowned American creative agency Pereira O’Dell. Now it is Saint Elmo’s turn to benefit from his international experience in performance-oriented brand management.

Referring to his new role and vision of the future, Stefan Schütte states, ‘Just as Saint Elmo’s fire heralds tremendous energy, I want Saint Elmo’s agency to energise brands and make a decisive contribution to their growth and success in the future. As a strong, compact, hyper-agile unit simultaneously backed by the power of the Serviceplan parent brand, we can create a unique provision in Germany and beyond.’

After fifteen years at the helm of Saint Elmo’s and a total of 30 in the advertising sector, ten of which were spent in a management role at BBDO, predecessor Thomas Knauer decided it was time to leave the agency to concentrate on private projects. As CEO, managing partner and agency director, he has marked the agency quite unlike any other since its foundation in 2001. Under his leadership, Saint Elmo’s grew into a multi-channel agency with three locations that was integrated into the Serviceplan Group. The digitisation of the agency product was particularly important to him and has become a decisive part of the agency’s integrated customer projects today.

Referring to his successor, Thomas Knauer says, ‘Stefan Schütte is an experienced and strong leader who has everything required to successfully guide Saint Elmo's: drive, charisma and know-how. I am delighted to know that the future of the agency is in capable hands.’

Ronald Focken, who is responsible for the Saint Elmo’s Group in Serviceplan, says of the change of leadership, ‘With this change at the helm of Saint Elmo's, the agency’s 20th anniversary sees a new course being set for its future. Throughout his career, Stefan Schütte has repeatedly shown that he is adept at creating synergies between different disciplines. As an expert in establishing business areas and driving growth, he is exactly the right person to lead Saint Elmo’s into the future. Saint Elmo’s should continue to leave its own fingerprint on the agency market in the future and these qualities are crucial to making this happen. The aim is to get the agency into the top ten ranking within the next twelve months. After his decision to leave the agency, I’d like to wish Thomas Knauer all the very best and thank him for the productive time we spent together.’