Rysm's Founders Buy Their Agency Back From WPP's Hirschen Group
Rysm's founders Benjamin Minack and Andreas Nickel have bought their 250-person agency back from WPP's Hirschen Group in a management buyout — a bet that AI now lets independent shops compete with the global networks they once needed.
An agency goes independent again
Founders Benjamin Minack and Andreas Nickel have completed a management buyout, taking full ownership of their agency back from the Hamburg-based Hirschen Group (part of WPP). The deal was announced on 27 August 2026. The agency had belonged to Hirschen since 2009.
Founded in 2004 in Frankfurt (Oder) and rebranded from 'Ressourcenmangel' to 'Rysm' earlier in 2026, it employs roughly 250 people across a Berlin headquarters and five further German offices, with clients including DHL Group, Subway, DAAD and KBV.
Why now — and why it matters
The deal value was undisclosed, and Minack confirmed the buyout required an external financing partner. But the reasoning is the headline: he framed independence as newly viable precisely because AI now lets smaller shops compete with the networks on capability.
That is a genuinely significant claim. For two decades, the pitch for selling to a holding company was access to scale, tools and international reach. If AI collapses the capability gap between a 250-person independent and a global network, the strategic logic of consolidation weakens.
The independence bet
Independence buys agility and culture but costs you the network's balance sheet and buying power. Historically that trade favoured scale for anything data- or tech-heavy. The Rysm buyout is a wager that the trade has shifted — that nimble beats big when the tools are democratised.
It also runs against the prevailing tide. While Omnicom, WPP and Publicis race to consolidate, a well-known German agency is deliberately walking the other way. That contrast is the story worth watching over the next year.
What this means for marketers
For clients, the independent-versus-network choice is being re-priced. If AI lets a mid-sized shop match a network's technical firepower, the reasons to pick the independent — senior attention, agility, a single P&L with no cross-sell agenda — get more compelling.
The practical takeaway: when reviewing agencies, test the capability claim directly. Ask a smaller shop to show its AI-enabled workflow against a network's. You may find the gap that once justified paying network rates has quietly narrowed.
Quick FAQ
What happened with Rysm?
Founders Benjamin Minack and Andreas Nickel completed a management buyout on 27 August 2026, taking the roughly 250-person agency back from WPP's Hirschen Group, which had owned it since 2009.
Why did they buy it back?
Minack framed independence as newly viable because AI now lets smaller agencies compete with global networks on capability — the buyout required an external financing partner, with the deal value undisclosed.
Who are Rysm's clients?
They include DHL Group, Subway, DAAD and KBV, served from a Berlin headquarters and five further German offices.
For twenty years, the reason to sell your agency to a network was access to scale and tools. Rysm's founders are betting AI just erased that gap. If a 250-person independent can now match a network's firepower, the whole logic of consolidation starts to wobble — and that's worth watching. — Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing
Rysm's buyout is a contrarian bet against the merger wave: that AI has narrowed the capability gap enough for independents to rival the networks — and win back the clients who value agility over scale.
When did you last test whether an independent agency could match your network's technical firepower — or are you still paying network rates for a gap AI may have closed?
If you would like to know more about this topic, please contact us on danieln@merxmarketing.co.uk
Sources: HORIZONT, Tagesspiegel, W&V, Leadersnet.
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Written by Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing Ltd and Marketing Minute
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