Insight Out: Marketing at Rügenwalder Mühle by CMO Steffen Zeller
What does bold marketing with substance mean? Steffen Zeller, Rügenwalder Mühle’s Chief Marketing Officer, talks about strategic transformation, measurable success, and why innovation never works without consumer insight.

Marketing’s Boldest Voices: Steffen Zeller from Rügenwalder Mühle shares his insights
“Be Bold. Move Forward.” DMEXCO’s motto for 2025 is a call for more courage and focus. Not the kind of courage that is loud, but courage that creates an impact. Not progress that plows ahead blindly, but progress driven by strategy. This is exactly the kind of mindset that defines marketing at Rügenwalder Mühle under Steffen Zeller’s leadership, which makes him a clear candidate for our new series, “Insight Out: Marketing’s Boldest Voices.”
Zeller has been Chief Marketing Officer of the long-standing German company since 2021 and has played a pivotal role in its transformation into one of the most innovative brands in the food industry. In our interview, he explains why good strategic marketing always begins with analysis, how genuine innovation works, and why consumers should always be the central focus.
About Steffen Zeller
Steffen Zeller has been CMO of Rügenwalder Mühle since October 2021. In this role, he oversees the brand’s strategic orientation and its further development. Prior to joining the company, he was European Marketing Director with a focus on plant-based proteins at Nomad Foods Europe, where he helped establish the Green Cuisine brand, among other projects. He has also worked for Iglo and Kraft Foods – later Mondelēz International – in various roles. Steffen Zeller has a university diploma in Business Administration and an MBA in International Management, which included semesters in Regensburg, Oxford, and La Rochelle.
Imagine you had to start your marketing campaign from scratch tomorrow – with an unlimited budget: What’s the first thing you would do differently?
Steffen Zeller: “Even in that situation, I’d still follow the conventional approach: analysis, strategy, and then determine our operational tactics in the form of the famous and fundamental 4 Ps. Of course, it would be even more fun with an unlimited budget! And despite what I said, I might already have a few ideas in mind …”
How can you tell whether marketing transformation is really making a difference?
Steffen Zeller: “This question is actually very easy to answer: Marketing transformation has to be measurably successful! That means that transformation is successful when our KPIs are moving in the right direction – a successful one. For me, that means first and foremost increasing our penetration in the category as a market leader and simultaneously continuing to expand our market-leading role. In terms of brand equity, I’m mainly thinking of unaided and aided brand awareness, but also of the image items that make up our ‘mill score,’ an internal term that refers to the windmill in our logo, but naturally, it’s secret.”
Where do your best ideas come from – when you’re not in marketing mode?
Steffen Zeller: “My favorite way to find inspiration is looking at campaigns or activations in other categories that excite me and are proven successes. For me, the most crucial questions are: Why is this campaign or activation so successful? And would something similar also work in our category and for our brand? The ideas I’ve developed in this way have always worked really well – even before I joined Rügenwalder Mühle.”
What message would you like to send to your colleagues throughout the marketing business?
Steffen Zeller: “Quite simply, one of our biggest mistakes is still thinking that we are the consumers.”
Bold enough to measure: How marketing at Rügenwalder Mühle works
Rügenwalder Mühle’s marketing under Steffen Zeller’s leadership is defined by the courage to change and the ability to make this change measurable. Transformation doesn’t mean jumping on the bandwagon of the latest trends. Instead, it’s about helping to shape new developments through strategy, consumer insight, and a clear KPI logic.
Zeller proves that “Be Bold. Move Forward” is a practice that has to be lived. Those who want to be brave don’t need brash campaigns. What they need instead is a clear understanding of where their brand stands, which direction it should grow in, and what exactly success looks like.
For Rügenwalder Mühle’s marketing strategy, this means strategic further development based on genuine insights, being open to inspiration from other sectors, and being ready to question established paths. This is the only way to achieve progress with a long-term impact.
Want to hear more daring voices like Steffen Zeller’s? Then join us at DMEXCO 2025. Be Bold. Move Forward. Get your ticket here.
