My story
Where I come from, how tech got me hooked, and my years in marketing.
About Erich Holzbauer
My name is Erich and I am a digitalization and marketing professional, currently situated in Vienna, Austria. I have been in the marketing industry for almost 20 years, in different roles on client side and in agencies. I am also an experienced startup founder with a passion for making knowledge-based work easier and less painful. So far I have finished three master-grade studies to broaden my knowledge in business, marketing and organizational topics.
Erich Holzbauer @ DENTSU_GetTogether, Puls4 Studio, 28.7.17
Part one
01 – Early days
Growing up in rural Austria.
The late 80s and 90s gave me a rather unspectacular childhood, with lots of being outside, exploring nature and commuting one hour per day to my grammar school.
02 – Where it started
Tech first, marketing second: from a programmable calculator to blogs, mobile and my first agency job.
Very early I was interested in tech and computers. Somewhere at the age of 9 or 10 I got my hands on a programmable calculator from Sharp, which allowed me to write my first lines of code (in Basic). Nowadays this does not seem like a big deal, but at that time I think it was, when not being born in Silicon Valley.
We got the first computer at home when I was already 15, but this finally boosted my interest in tech. I taught myself programming in Visual Basic and started creating my own software. Getting better during my time at grammar school, I created various games and, as my final examination project, a Photoshop clone with quite some advanced features like masking and layers. I was convinced that I wanted to pursue a career in computer science.
The internet came late into my life. Only at the age of 16 or 17 did we get our first internet access at home. But I learned quickly how to create websites and launched my first private homepage. Creating the website of my school was a first professional step.
During my first study I learned more about web technology and started creating dynamic websites with PHP/MySQL. I also learned the programming language Java and landed a trainee role as a software engineer at Austria’s biggest mobile network operator. Mobile became a big interest of mine and in 2006 I also started a blog on the topic and became a small tech influencer. I had already started a first blog earlier, so this helped me land my first real job after my studies at Europe’s first Blogging and Social Media Agency in 2007, my entry into the marketing world.
03 – Life in marketing
Beginning of 2007 I somehow stumbled into my first agency job and into the marketing world, and somehow I never really got out of it again.
In my last employed role I worked since 2016 within the dentsu network in different agency branches in a client leadership role, for clients like Generali, Beiersdorf, SodaStream, SAP, OMV, Heute, TUI, Vienna Tourism Board, Essity, IKEA, Eni and many more.
Now I have my own small boutique consultancy moweco, where I work with agencies and their clients on strategic and organizational marketing topics. Furthermore I partnered up with a fellow creative from my past agency and founded our own little creative studio dasweil.
Currently my focus in consulting is future-proof and modern marketing and bringing marketing agility into organizations. If you are interested in the topic, let’s connect. If you are German speaking, check out my thesis on this topic and get in touch via moweco.
Not only do I create marketing and campaigns for clients, I am sometimes also part of them, like in this pro bono campaign for the charity Lebenshilfe, which fosters inclusion.
04 – In the media
Campaigns, new business wins and a few mentions of myself in the trade press.
Werbekampagne „Lebenshilfe Wien. Bringt uns weiter“lebenshilfe.wien
Jetzt geht Sodastream für seinen neuen Sprudler Duo in die Werbeoffensivehorizont.net
Juroren des iab webAD stehen festhorizont.at
Schlepp's nicht mit Dir rum!horizont.at
Sodastream will dem Schleppen ein Ende bereitenwuv.de
Schluss mit Schleppenbranchenblatt.at
Isobar ist Leadagentur für die neue Kampagne der Generali Versicherungderstandard.at
isobar setzt erste globale Kampagne der Generali umleadersnet.at
Generali startet erste globale Werbekampagnehorizont.at
isobar feiert pH-neutralen Etat-Gewinnleadersnet.at
Isobar gewinnt Beiersdorf-Etat für Launch-Kampagne in Österreichhorizont.at
Noch nie am Meer?medianet.at
„Heute“ neuer Kunde für isobarmedianet.at
Isobar realisiert „leiwande“ Imagekampagne von „Heute“horizont.at
Holzbauer heuert bei ambuzzador anhorizont.at
Erich Holzbauer neu bei ambuzzadorderstandard.at
05 – Career & education
Career
NowFounder &
consultantmoweco · dasweil · faktry
2021 – 2023Client Service
Director & Local Lead Marketing & Activationsmerkle
2019 – 2021Client Service
Directorisobar
2016 – 2019Account
Directorisobar
2013 – 2016Managing Director
& Foundertaskblitz
2011 – 2013Product Manager
Online Business DevelopmentProSiebenSat1 PULS4
2010Account Manager &
Social Media Consultantambuzzador
2007 – 2010Account Manager
& Consultantvi Knallgrau
Education
2019 – 2021Postgraduate MBAAgile
Organizations & Collective Leadership · Danube Business
School
2012 – 2014Master in Executive
ManagementFH Wien
2002 – 2006Master in Information &
Knowledge ManagementFH Burgenland
Certificates
Industry focus
Part two
Hobbies, travel & books
What I do when I am not working, and a year of travelling.
01 – Passion
My greatest passion is being in nature and enjoying mountain biking.
02 – Travel
In 2022 and 2023 I took a break year to see unseen parts of this world, travelling for months in south east Asia and South America.
Travel experiences03 – Books & more
I love reading and books, mostly on business related topics.
I have also dealt intensively with the question of personal knowledge management. Believing that knowledge should be freely available and not gatekept by anyone, I share some bits of it on this site as well.
Beside my work and projects I am a passionate mountain biker, adventurer, chilli farmer and electronic music fan.