The story
The agency was founded in 1970 by Dr. Peter Haller and Rolf O. Stempel. In addition to the traditional advertising area the agency developed other areas of business. So in 1983 “Mediaplus” for media planning and procurement and in 1986 “Facit” marketing research were founded. 1995 Serviceplan was restructured to a business organization with a holding company. In 1997 “Plan.Net” was launched.
1998 Rolf O. Stempel resigned as CEO but remained shareholders. On 1 July 2002 Dr. Peter Haller handed over the position as CEO to his son Florian Haller but remained managing director of the group holding company. Since 2002 Serviceplan operates as Serviceplan Group für Innovative Kommunikation. In 2004 the agency launched the Best Brands Awards in cooperation with GfK, SevenOne Media, Wirtschaftswoche, GWP media-marketing and the German Markenverband (brand association). In 2005, the “Innovation Day” was launched taking place annually. After opening offices in Hamburg in April 2006 and in Berlin at the end of 2007, the establishment of new branches as well as entering into partnerships with other communication agencies continues.
Serviceplan Solutions was founded in 2012 with a focus on implementing advertising for international markets. In March 2016, the Serviceplan Consulting Group was established to advise clients on brand and communication strategy, digital business, and digital transformation.
In 2019, the company’s official name was changed to Serviceplan Group SE & Co. KG, reflecting its international orientation. At the same time, the group introduced a new governance structure with the formation of a supervisory board. The board initially included company founder Peter Haller (who stepped down from the management board), Sybille Stempel (daughter of co-founder Rolf O. Stempel), and former RTL executive Anke Schäferkordt. The current members of the supervisory board are Peter Haller, Anke Schäferkordt, Jerry Buhlmann, and Christoph Jung.
In July 2020, the Serviceplan Group announced that its German offices would become climate neutral by the end of that year, with international locations expected to follow by 2022.
In July 2022, the Serviceplan Group moved from its old headquarters in Brienner Straße to Friedenstraße 24. The new site houses around 1,700 employees. A section of the premises, referred to as the ‘überlab’, is designated for use by external organisations.
In October 2022, the Serviceplan Group began working on Web3 technologies, including blockchain and the metaverse. As part of this initiative, the studio ‘Serviceplan DCNTRL’ was founded, which now operates under the name Plan.Net Studios. Serviceplan Group founded two AI labs in 2024 – in Munich and Silverside AI in San Francisco. By the end of 2024, the agency group set up its own AI agents and the blockchain-based Masumi protocol, which allows AI agents to work together securely and pay each other. In 2025, Sōkosumi was created as a marketplace for AI agents that all companies can use.
From Wikipedia’s article on Serviceplan Group, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4