How did you become interested in computers and the Internet?

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Martin: My curiosity about networks was piqued by the 1984 film "Wargames." The film's story is about a young hacker who hacks into the US military network via a telephone and acoustic coupler. My father had bought an acoustic coupler for our computer back then. You put the telephone receiver on it and could then connect to so-called "mailboxes" and view or download useful things from the servers, such as programs, games, or interesting facts. Much to my parents' dismay, the phone bill was already exorbitantly high. By the kuwait phone number data time I started university in 1993, we already had a modem, and I, as the 26th student in Giessen (s26), got my first real internet access. Back then, the internet was still so-called "Gophr" services from universities around the world, where you could primarily read scientific publications. The first websites in the modern sense appeared with the invention of the WWW in 1993/94 – that's when I knew, "I want to get involved!"


How did medialis Marketing come about?

Martin: At that time, I was doing a lot with Tobias Ramb, and we often talked about the possibilities of the business model. Dirk came along, developing photos he'd taken for an aid organization during the Yugoslavian war in the basement of our shared apartment. Then we had the idea: Hey, let's start an agency together, since our skills complement each other perfectly!

As a founding member, you initially oversaw the creative department. How did you experience those first years?

Martin: Those were extremely exciting and educational years for me. At that time, there were no degree programs or courses that could professionally impart knowledge of design or typesetting programs. The first large catalogs involved a lot of "learning by doing" and long nights. We had already invested in a drum scanner in 1996 to digitize slides – digital photography didn't exist yet. We then added an "image setter," a device with which we could generate films for the production of printing plates from digital layouts. This allowed us to gain a lot of technical know-how and then market these services to other agencies through our second company, graphXpress GmbH. Starting in 1997, Dirk took over our "production," which he is still responsible for today. It was clear to me right from the start that the internet would be a big thing in the coming years and that my passion could thus become my vocation. Therefore, since the first website project in 1997, I have concentrated fully on what was then still called "new media" and developed this area within our company.