About XLS
XLS connects partners and enables companies to pay for traditional advertising campaigns and media services with products or services. Given that media budgets are generally always too small and many companies are hampered by stock overhangs that tie up their capital or unutilised production capacities, it makes sense in many cases to capitalise on them by opening up new distribution channels and converting them into additional advertising power.
XLS guides its clients safely through this process, also acting as a partner for media agencies and media marketing companies. All the parties involved should feel comfortable and safe in media bartering. Learn more about media bartering here.
Management
XLS specialises in media bartering and is a market leader in Germany. We see ourselves as an all-rounder for solving different tasks. The two managing directors Klaus A. Westrick and Kai Hesselbach have years of expertise in the industry and have operated on the German market for many years. Since the company was founded in 2000 XLS has developed a distribution system for selling on different products that is flexible and tailored to clients’ individual needs.
Klaus Westrick, who founded the company in 2000, was born in 1966 in Frankfurt am Main, grew up in the Taunus and passed his Abitur exams (A levels) at St. Blasian College in the Black Forest. This was followed by long stints in Madrid, Paris and New York, where Klaus Westrick then completed his broker training.
Until 1995 he worked for well-known banking houses in the securities trading sector before getting into the media industry. From 1996 to 1999 he was the managing director of a bartering company operating according to an American model. By founding XLS, Klaus Westrick decided to adapt this model to suit German market conditions and therefore make it attractive for German firms. Klaus Westrick has three daughters and his interests are motor sport, martial arts, golf and the outdoors.
Kai Hesselbach was born in 1972 and grew up in the Ruhr region. He did his Abitur in 1992 and then studied business administration in Mannheim, majoring in retail management. Since then he has worked for various companies in different sales and marketing roles. His speciality was the automotive and B2B sector.
Kai Hesselbach summarised his expertise in sales and marketing in his book “Gewerbliche Kunden im Blick – Souverän beraten, mehr verkaufen” (“Commercial clients at a glance – expert advice to sell more”), published by Springer Verlag: http://www.springer-automotive-shop.de/shop/buch/verkauf/gewerbliche-kunden-im-blick.html
He is married with two daughters.
Prime Leasing
Prime Leasing GmbH is used for handling and marketing the vehicles processed each year by the XLS Media Group on a bartering basis. The scope of action ranges from individual leasing contracts through traditional fleets and key account business as well as foreign marketing to the well-established business with major car hire firms. Individual and needs based solutions are the specialty of Prime Leasing GmbH.
Tre Torri Verlag
Tre Torri Verlag probably has the most expertise in the luxury goods, food and wine segment of all the publishing houses. It has a broad range of content in this field and a highly sought-after image database. As publisher of the highest-quality wine magazine in Europe “FINE”, which can also be seen as a TV show on NTV, it serves an exciting target group at XLS too.
Besides a large number of successful cookbooks such as “Grillen”, “Beef”, “Enie backt”, “Amador”, “Die Kochprofis etc.”, the range includes other blockbusters such as “Maggi” and “Alfred Biolek”. In all, the content segment offers a wealth of exciting bartering opportunities for XLS.
