Leading a brand can be hard work. Or fun.
It takes time and money to keep a brand up-to-date and relevant – resources that are then lacking elsewhere. We help start-ups, companies and organizations to make their branding clearer and more effective. Because that saves time, money and nerves, every day.
Three Brand Essentials For An Always-on World
There’s no room for good old-fashioned box-filling in communication, and complex sets of rules slow things down.We focus on three brand essentials right from the brand development stage:
A
Brand Narrative
The one, indispensable truth of the brand. What should users remember?
B
Brand Actions
The principles of the brand: What do you act on as a team, every day?
C
Brand User Fit
The reality check for A and B: How does the communication tie in with this?
Focusing on the Brand Essentials helps you to use your brand more easily and efficiently. At the same time, you ensure that the grand narrative reaches people more effectively. This leaves you more room for user engagement and entertainment.
Double Diamond Process
Leaner, clearer, more effective: this applies not only to the result, but also to the way we get there. We work in a process that has been tried and tested and improved over five years. And always in close coordination with your team.
Products
We focus on the things we are really good at. For start-ups, companies and organizations:
- Brand strategy: positioning and brand model for day-to-day work
- Change communication: Change creates resistance. We formulate a narrative and measures that resonate
- Employer branding: talent-focused positioning, through to high-performance job advertisements
- Content strategy: finding the relevant topics for the target group, competitive analysis, strategies for production, distribution and monitoring
- Social strategy: environment and competition analysis, playbooks based on data analysis
- Data analytics: What is the competition doing? Which formats and topics work? Analyses, insights and testable recommendations for action
- Integrated campaigning: Campaign planning from brief to strategy to creation with a view to all channels, from classic advertising to trade fairs to PR
- Copywriting: Is the substance in place? Then everything else is easy. Whether headlines, copy or claims, websites or brochures, films, posts or Christmas cards
- Art direction, photography, film production: we have great people in our network for many things that we don’t do ourselves
Industries and clients
Cases
We have helped founders with their first steps and CEOs with the transformation of their billion-euro companies. We have worked our way through the entire value chain: Product co-developed, strategy defined, campaign managed, performance monitored.
Energy and Environment
Viessmann
Purpose, Comms Strategy, Sponsoring, Kampagnen, Film
In 2017, the heating manufacturer turns 100 and faces three major challenges at the same time: digitalization, climate change and the generational change from Martin to Max Viessmann. With the new purpose, we are giving the change a great narrative and bringing it to the company and the world on all channels.
thermondo
Purpose, Brand Book, Product Story
From 2021, Germany’s largest heating installer will only install heat pumps. We prepare the team for the new tasks with a purpose, among other things. When thermondo expands its product world in 2024 to include PV, electricity storage and smart energy management, we develop the new product story.
Elevion Green
Narrativ, Brand Design, Content Strategy, Broschüre und Mailing
“Every roof can earn money.” Since 2024, the start-up Elevion Green has been helping SMEs to generate their own solar power – and earn money with it in the long term. We’ve been on board from day one. And are helping CEO Florian Resatsch to build up the new brand alongside the new company.
NEEW Ventures
Narrative, Bildwelt, Websites, Digital Marketing
Berlin-based company builder NEEW Ventures is looking for solutions for the circular economy – in the things we throw away every day. We have been supporting the company and its founders since its launch in 2022, developing narratives, imagery and much more for both NEEW and its ventures.
Finance and Startups
amberra
Narrativ, Brand Actions, Naming, Website, Content Strategy
The future of traditional banks is under threat: financial products have become interchangeable. And there is less and less demand for local advice. On behalf of the Genossenschaftliche Finanzgruppe, amberra invests in start-ups and builds new business models that help people in their everyday lives. And we: help build communication.
finleap
Narrativ, Brand Actions
In the start-up world, everyone wants to be a pirate. But the financial system is too important to be boarded and destroyed. The company builder finleap set out to develop finance in a meaningful way. The goal: to give people and companies more access to a regulated industry. Together with the finleap team, we developed the core story in 2020 and formulated it in a purpose.
Years
Name, Narrativ, Website, Digital Marketing
The worst thing about ageing is the uncertainty. What if we have to live with an illness for years? The start-up YEARS offers people the most comprehensive health check of their lives. With all examinations in one day – in a pleasant location above the rooftops of Berlin. Since 2022, we have been helping the team to build the brand and gain initial leads.
NGOs and Politics
NABU Europawahl 2024
Narrativ, Claim, Kampagne
With more than 900,000 members, Naturschutzbund Deutschland (NABU) e. V. is the largest environmental organization in the country. Since 2022, we have been supporting the NABU team in making complex topics easy to explain. Like here in a campaign for the 2024 European elections, which is gaining many fans online and offline.
NABU Bundestagswahl 2025
Narrativ, Claim, Kampagne
Clean air, fertile soils, robust forests: The services provided by intact nature are the foundations that make growth and a good life in Germany possible in the first place. For the 2025 federal election, we are addressing conservative and liberal milieus directly – and appealing to their public spirit.
DP Nationalwahl 2023
Claim, Kampagne, Social Strategy, Film
Luxembourg may be small. But it carries weight in Europe. Since 2013, we have been strategically and creatively supporting the socio-ecological-liberal Democratic Party of Luxembourg. For the municipal and national elections in 2023, we are sending the DP into the race with an emotional claim: “Close to you.”
DP Europawahl 2024
Kampagne, Claim, Film
Europe will be under pressure in many ways in 2024. Not only at its external borders, but also by populist forces from within. For the European elections, we are once again developing a claim and campaign for the DP. In doing so, the DP is making a clear commitment to security and European values.
What Others Say
“I like the boys. Because they’re not afraid of complex tasks. If necessary, you can throw them two sentences over the fence – they always come up with something substantial.”
Florian Resatsch
CEO Elevion Green
“The generational change in the family business is an opportunity for a leap in development. Axel & Hinnerk have been instrumental in creating a spirit of optimism.”
Prof. Dr. Martin Viessmann
Max Viessmann
“Axel & Hinnerk think everything through. Relevance, story, reach. Exactly the kind of support I want as CEO.”
Robin Sudermann
CEO talentsconnect
About and
Substance is our most important requirement for what we do: We work on the basis of reliable data, testing and iterating in every development process. Because without this foundation, even the most beautiful narrative is just that: beautiful. But not effective.
Axel Bergander
Strategy Director
“I believe that two thirds of communication consists of listening. That good is better than new. And that failure is the best teacher. As a copywriter, I have written for practically every medium from beer mats to BMW brand campaigns. As a strategist, I have built successful content marketing portals, among other things. I like media, analytics and storytelling for complex products.”
Hinnerk Landmann
Creative Director
“I learned my copywriting trade at Springer & Jacoby. I was 21, always on the hunt for the next gag. Today, something else comes first for me: what do users need? Since my time as a CD at Viessmann, I’ve been fascinated by great narratives and how they engage people. But I’m also still fascinated by fine copy, with a common thread from the first to the last sentence.”
Contact
and User Relations is a cooperation of
Axel Bergander and Hinnerk Landmann