Exclusive Interview with Andre kempe CEO of Admiral Media

1. What hurdles did you face before you started your career?

I believe most of us struggle with finding the right path to start any career. We somehow stumble into some jobs and make our way, but very few of us know where to start. For me, I at least knew what I was good at and which industry interested me the most. This made my life easier, finding a first job.

2. What do you hope to accomplish within the next year?

My company Admiral Media started as an app marketing agency. Still, I want to slowly transition it into a digital marketing agency, delivering amazing results on any platform – app or web. A transition from an app marketing agency to a full-service performance marketing agency as we see many of our clients ask

3. Tell us about an accomplishment that shaped your career?

When I helped Trademob in Berlin, later acquired, becoming a top-notch mobile app marketing agency, I think I learned a lot about running an agency. When I was Head of Performance Marketing for LOVOO, the biggest German dating app back then, I learned a lot about recruiting and motivating teams. I think those 2 career steps defined my later development a lot.

4. Which celebrity are you most inspired with?

David Ogilvy. His books inspire every marketer, no matter if you are performance or brand-oriented. Both sides can learn from his words.

5. What is the best and the worst part of being a CEO?

I think the best part is equally the worst part, sometimes. You have to make decisions daily that have a tremendous impact on the business on the life of your colleagues – positive or negative.

6. What is the biggest challenge you have faced in your career? How did you overcome it, and what did you learn from it?

The biggest challenge was to leave a well-paid and safe CMO role in my home country to relocate to South Africa and become the Head of Marketing of the biggest food delivery business down there. It made me nervous about leaving such a great job and team and leaving everything behind to live in a country I wasn’t familiar with.

My wife was a great support in overcoming my undecidedness and being braver. I learned that I should make some decisions with more ease and let things happen – if you are engaged and love what you do, things will naturally happen and positively order themselves.

7. What do you think about the qualities a leader should have?

A lot of energy and patience. The biggest challenge as a leader is not winning clients or making business partners happy but motivating your colleagues to work with you together on the same goals. You are nothing without a great team around you, taking the workload off your shoulders without you even recognizing it. If you can build and keep a team like this, you can be sure your company will succeed.