Interviews, insight & analysis on digital media & marketing

Interviewing the Interviewers: Volker Ballueder

In NDA’s  Interviewing the Interviewers  series, we catch up with some of the best interviewers in our industry, from journalists to independent content creators, turning the tables to find out what makes them tick.

Volker Ballueder is an adtech veteran. He recently left Dentsu Aegis Network to focus on his consulting and executive coaching business. He’s previously worked at companies including Dataxu, Agenda21 and Rocket Fuel.

He launched his ‘Stories of Success‘ podcast in 2018, which “tells the stories of successful individuals, their habits, experience and gives you a chance to learn from the best.”

Who was the most inspirational person you’ve interviewed? 

For my podcast there have been so many inspirational people I interviewed. It is always hard to pick just one. If I had to, probably Chris Baldwin alongside Heidger Marx.

The former is an inspiration on how to create something from nothing, while teaching and helping others to succeed. An amazing mentor and business person.

The latter, Heidger, is a mindfulness trainer with SAP. Inspirational, as this is something every company should have. Someone who goes around the company helping people to be in the here and now, resulting in happier employees, more revenue and long-term staff retention and ROI.

What’s not to like?

What are your biggest hopes and fears for the media industry in 2019?

I believe there will be more consolidation in the market. That means more bigger companies. However, those larger ones are constantly restructuring, and facing competition from the outside.

This is true for agencies and consultancies, as it is for tech companies and telcos. So where are we going with adtech, martech and digital marketing? I guess that’s anybody’s guess with how the agency and consultancy worlds are merging.

We all have to take a step back and evaluate the opportunities properly. That’s what Ballueder Partners does. We are looking at the market situation, auditing the marketplace in relation to clients’ positioning and finding the sweet spot. We then help by strategically positioning them for growth, educating and coaching the executives and  teams to drive down the right value proposition.

What was your biggest personal industry highlight so far this year

Really the above. In every market there is an opportunity. The key is to find that sweet spot and that’s where our opportunity comes in.

It’s about creating the thinking space. This doesn’t only mean doing leadership coaching, mindfulness training and positioning. The holistic approach, the all-encompassing aspect of the business needs to be mastered mindfully.

That’s where the future lies.