2022 JUROR
Marcel Alexander Wiebenga
Howl
Co-Founder + Partner // Ads
Amsterdam
Marcel Alexander Wiebenga (Rotterdam 1978) is a former drummer and percussionist who conquered a modest place in music history during the mid-nineties and early 2000s. He recorded and toured the globe with bands such as Oil and Das Oath, in his downtime organizing various dance events as LLIK in his then hometown of Rotterdam.
Marcel joined the Amsterdam-based music agency Sizzer in 2008 as employee number 1 and quickly became Strategy Director and Partner to grow the company to a 20+ person venture with satellite offices in Berlin and NY. As Strategy Director, he oversaw music production and licensing of 1000+ commercials for Heinkenen, Martini, Diesel, Audi, and Mercedes, winning over 50 international advertising awards.
All the while, Marcel was traveling the planet to discuss music and brands related ideas on panels and stages like Amsterdam Dance Event, Adfest, Epica, Sync Summit, and Cristal Festival.
In 2018 Marcel left Sizzer to focus on new endeavors. In 2021 together with old bandmate and former Sizzer Managing Director Nicholas van den Doel, Marcel launched Howl, a music agency focusing on strategy and meaningful music usage for brands. Marcel and Nicholas also founded Ringo, a data-first, tech-driven platform that simplifies the music licensing processes.
Marcel works and enjoys life out of Amsterdam. He is an early-stage investor in Europe’s first Urban Winery, Chateau Amsterdam. He goes kickboxing three times a week and writes his “Bi-weekly-ish newsletter on Music, Tech, Advertising, More Music, Culture, and even more Music” that goes out to more than 4000 people from the creative community.
