Istvan Balint Portrait
Leadership Phase
AI Strategy Talks
Google Summit Stage Presentation
Mito Presentation
The Introduction

Hi,
I'm István.

I'm an agency lead and digital media expert who loves combining thinking with doing to solve complex business challenges.

See what I do
How I Got Here

Structure + smart work.

I started as a PPC expert at Mito Group, leading a small team of 3. Early on, we realized the best work happens when we combine systems with client understanding. So, we started builing automated reporting, campaign frameworks, and testing protocols that let us scale efficiently.

That foundation led to a breakthrough in 2017: our team won Nokia's global media tender. We went from managing local campaigns to coordinating 300+ projects annually across 150 countries with €5M in ad spend.

Over five years, I scaled the team from 3 to 17 experts. But the real growth was in capability — putting Mito on the map in the global agency space and establishing relationships with regional and international brands across multiple markets.

3 → 17
Team scale
150
Countries
20+
Clients
5M EUR
Annual media budget
Nokia Times Square Takeover
Decathlon Retail Backdrop
Fizz.hu Brand Backdrop
The Body Shop Retail Presence
Wigo Carsharing Mobility
Euronics Retail Presence
Office Shoes Retail Presence
Cetelem Financial Services Backdrop
Global Tech & Scale

Coordinating Global Narratives

For Nokia, we managed 300+ projects annually across 150 countries. We orchestrated a global rebranding campaign with synchronized activations in 50 cities, including a digital takeover of Times Square.

Sole worldwide media partner for 5+ years
Retail & Engineering

Profit optimization works like engineering

For Decathlon, we connected inventory data, product feeds, CRM, and media strategy into one automated system. The result: 10-15% profit increases every year since 2018.

20× ROAS through systematic engineering
Brand Building & Trust

Balancing performance with brand

Fizz.hu needed to launch a new marketplace against dominant competitors. We reached 4.5 million people (65% of population) and tripled revenue in three months.

Market leadership through strategic scale
Purpose-Driven Commerce

The Body Shop (CEE)

A brand that proves business is a force for good. We represented this principle while navigating pandemic restrictions and multiple countrywide closures in 2020.

Integrated loyalty programs for 100k shoppers and optimized product feeds for cross-channel performance.

83% profit increase YoY (2019-2020)
Mobility & Rebranding

Wigo Carsharing

Transforming the global Share Now brand into Wigo, Budapest’s local leader. Challenge: maintain trust while completely shifting identity across OOH and digital channels.

Achieved 76% target reach and 4 million digital reach with high frequency in key urban hubs.

Successfully launched as the recognizable local leader
Retail & E-commerce

Euronics (HU)

Scaling Hungary's electronics giant. When we started, online was less than 10% of total revenue. I developed a full-funnel strategy and automated reporting systems to support growth.

Optimized budget allocation across channels and integrated complex product feeds for 35,000+ items.

118% revenue growth; 8th largest webshop in HU
Retail & Multichannel

Office Shoes (CEE)

Built a digital strategy connecting online performance with in-store sales across 22 locations. Developed a multichannel framework and integrated real-time inventory monitoring.

Optimized product feeds and customer data imports to improve campaign accuracy across retail and e-commerce channels.

40–60% online profit growth year-over-year
Finance & Performance

Cetelem Bank (HU)

Leading performance media strategy and campaign optimization for four years. I integrated TVC media planning with precision digital tactics to maximize personal loan applications.

The focus was on a full-funnel approach, ensuring brand awareness from television spots was effectively converted through optimized performance channels.

5–10% steady annual market share growth
What I Do Now

Redesigning how marketing works.

I came back in 2025 as AI Professional Lead at Mito Group with a clear mission: redesign how we work.

Now we run market research in hours instead of days. We optimize campaigns through agents and automated demand forecasting combining Google Flights data.

90
Pages Localized
38
Focused Experts
Thought Leadership

Proven Results,
No Hype.

Invited by Google to the CEE Agency Summit to showcase innovative strategies to 800+ industry leaders. My focus is always on what works, not what's trendy.

View Presentation
What I Believe

Part engineering,
part human.

Marketing at scale is an engineering problem—structured processes and data architecture. But it's also human. You need empathy to translate systems into clear strategies.

Teams beat individuals. The work I'm most proud of is what I enabled other people to accomplish through better systems.