In conversation with
Stéphane and Oliver
This month, Stéphane Coruble and Oliver Vesper share their favourite contents, as well as their vision and hopes for 2023.
What’s your favourite TV show or series at the moment?
Stéphane: I’m a TV and video addict, either live or on demand. On-demand is a blessing! It’s so convenient to pick and choose what you want to watch, when and where!
I just finished a cool action-crime-spy series on Netflix called the Night Agent from Sony. It’s dynamic and has great cliff-hangers. I’m also watching Liaison, the latest Apple Original series with the French actors Vincent Cassel and Eva Green. The plot is taking place in multiple countries including Middle East, France, UK and Italy. It reminds me a bit of RTL AdAlliance locations ☺️
And it’s ot a series but last week I watched a streamed concert at the movie theatre with my wife Catherine: Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres concert, live from Buenos Aires. Really incredible moment and such a great and positive concert!
Oliver: I have somehow stopped a bit watching series on the various VOD platforms, don’t really know why. Maybe, I’m just too exhausted in the evenings 😊. However, I am a big fan of Ina’s Nacht, running on a public broadcaster (oh dear). It’s produced out of a pub at the harbor in Hamburg (I can recommend all colleagues to go there, once they are over, but keep in mind it is a very small pub, super nice and traditional).
I’m also back again in my old Star Wars “fever” as I allowed my son Vito (5! Don Vito 😊) to watch it – of course against any (and many!) pedagogical advises. But I think it’s ok (it didn’t harm me) and I do watch it together with him. We have finished Episode 4-6 and just watched Episode 1 last Sunday morning. Episodes 2 and 3 are a bit gloomy, I think. Vito keeps on going to ask when is the next, but I am hesitating a bit (allowed for 12 yo+, maybe next Sunday 😉).
What’s the most adventurous thing you’ve ever done?
Stéphane: One great memory was with ma son Florian – we did the world longest zip line in a city. It was so scary, high, and fast. But what a cool moment together (and movie!).
Oliver: Against many of my colleagues or Stéphane 😉, I am a very boring guy when it comes to adventurous things. My principle is always “quality time”, and this can be sitting in a vineyard with a good bottle in the wine regions of Germany or Austria – yes, South Africa or France would also be nice. Or just sitting at a kiosk with a can of beer in my hand. If the quality fits in a certain moment, then the rest is not that important for me. I don’t need more for myself. As my daughter (Nova, 12) demands more “adventurous things”, I might do (or be forced to do) more “fancy” things in the future… I will ask Stéphane for advice 😊
What’s the most interesting place you’ve ever visited, and why was it so memorable?
Oliver: I do like the complementary of Hamburg, where I live, and Vienna – same size, full of quality, lots of culture, but very, very different cities. We will spend more time down there next to HH privately. As my kids are half Austrian, I hope they tap into the Austrian culture too, and maybe Nova will study in Vienna at some point… I’d find that pretty cool.
Stéphane: Over the years I have been able to travel a lot and to visit many places in the world. Not only thanks to my job, but also because we love traveling as a family. I think one of the best places we went to and enjoyed the culture, the people, the place, the food, the opportunities… was Bali. It’s where we spent our honeymoon and we came back there a few years after with the kids who loved it (and where we tried to learn surfing). An amazing place, I love the Indonesian culture!
What’s the most memorable concert you’ve ever been to?
Stéphane: Definitely Coldplay Music From the Spheres live in WEMBLEY last summer 22. So huge, positive, colourful! A really good concert and what a band!!! Also, a few weeks ago, I was supposed to go to see Stromae, a great Belgian artist that we’ve been following for years now. It was unfortunately cancelled but I’m very much looking forward to the next opportunity.
Oliver: Not a big concert fan (too noisy 😉), but Axwell Ingrosso at Ushuaia Ibiza and Udo Lindenberg in Hamburg were great.
What do you listen to on the way to work or back home?
Oliver: Believe me or not, I like silence in private or sports moments, even when I am traveling! I can look out of the window without any noise and either think of nothing or dream a bit 😌. I neither have a favourite artist or radio show (in the morning, silence please!), nor podcast. Only thing is, when I relax on our terrace, e.g. on sunny weekends, I do like Ushuaia Ibiza radio style of music with sun and wine in combination. In seldom moments I do listen to classic radio in the car…
Stéphane: When I’m in Luxembourg, I take my car (or motorcycle in summer) and I try to get a hold on the world news, listening to a live news radio like France Info. For a longer trip, I’d listen to my Spotify playlist (I’m addicted since forever!), made of songs I Shazamed – usually Dance, Electro, RnB, and pop. The latest is the playlist I made during my last holidays, where a DJ was playing remastered version of pop and rock classics including The Cure, Coldplay or Elton John, mixed with sound from Bakermat, Calvin Harris or Avicii.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
Stéphane: I remember a couple of advice from my old boss in Belgium. One of them was : “Try not to be too impatient.” Something that I learned over the years and sometimes am still working on.
The other is more of a self-advice: “Believe in yourself and what you want to achieve. Believe in others. Seize the opportunities. Be curious and adventurous. Have fun.”
Oliver: Hard work pays off. I do believe in that. I am not a jealous guy at all, e.g. if friends of mine inherit things, houses, or money. I don’t care at all. I am really happy for them instead. I have a deep trust in myself to get things right on my own. Sometimes you don’t feel it at a certain moment that “hard work pays off”, but in the long run I really believe in that. And my mother always told me: “Boy, always think positive” 😊
“If you are going through hell, keep going.”
Winston Churchill
*Oliver’s favourite famous quote: “It simply works, job-wise, as well as in your personal life 👀”
What’s your favourite sport or activity?
Stéphane: I love skying, but I don’t practice often enough I must admit. I also love water sports including speed board (I have my license) and jet skiing but obviously not so often either. I also go to the gym every week. I mostly do cardio as I need to sweat, take the pressure out and try to lose all the food I’ve been eating during the week – I love to eat!
Oliver: I have far too much weight on at the moment, but I do run a lot. The next half-marathon is on June 25th, right after Cannes again, just like last year – which lead into the worst time so far ever 🥵 But I didn’t stop! Never ever stop, you have to fight to never stop, this is important! Then the time is second priority and you are happy afterwards.
When I am not traveling, I try to attend a CrossFit class once a week, preferably Lifting. But this is very challenging if you are not doing it regularly (like other colleagues, I realize we do have quite a few CrossFitters). But I need sports to free my brain, fit or unfit, I have to do it!
What’s your biggest hope or wish for 2023? What would you like to have accomplished by the end of 2023?
Stéphane: What else than successfully finalize our 3 companies’ merger into the great opportunity that is RTL AdAlliance? I really believe our strategy and positioning is right. But time is a constraint. We need to master it to structure ourselves in a way that allows us to focus on the business and on the opportunities that are coming. It’s not easy everyday but I’m looking at the big picture and our perspectives moving forward really motivate me.
Oliver: I really hope that we can accomplish our merger roadmap so that we can leave some things finally behind us and concentrate even more on the business side of things. We have so many ideas to go after, really… Also, I am looking forward to seeing RTL AdAlliance’s flags all over Europe 😊. At the same time, I am lacking a bit of balance for myself, but I will manage.
Stay tuned for the next internal interview! 👋