Blog & Inspiration

Im Wettbewerb um die besten Arbeitskräfte bieten immer mehr Unternehmen ihren Mitarbeitern hochwertige Büroausstattungen, denen ein ebenso individualisiertes wie gesundheitsförderndes Konzept zugrunde liegt. Guido Hensel, CEO des Büromöbelausstatters Delta-V, erklärt uns, wie Unternehmen durch ergonomisch gestaltete Arbeitsplätze die Gesundheit von Mitarbeitern optimieren und damit Mehrwert generieren können.

For many companies, the topic of digitalisation is becoming existential – particularly for the firms that fail to acknowledge this fact. One might also debate whether the topic should be referred to as digital transformation, or what disruption of the markets means in the individual case. The theoretical debate, however, offers little to gain, and mainly an opportunity to lose. To lose time and market share, for instance. What are the topics businesses are tackling instead, what are possible points of departure, and what recommendations are there, based on experience?

This is like Christmas Day for Porsche enthusiasts: one Porsche after the other in a large courtyard located in San Pedro, California, the range of colours reminiscent of a rainbow – although the typical pastel hues of the 1960s and the bright colours of the 1970s seem to dominate the palette. These masterpieces are exclusively historical Porsche motorcars featuring legendary air-cooled engines. Surrounding the dazzling array of vehicles is an equally colourful mix of visitors, made up of business people, Hollywood celebrities, motor sports legends, auto mechanics and guy-next-door Porsche fans. We are at ‘Luftgekühlt’ (Air-Cooled), an absolutely unique Porsche event that celebrates these classic vehicles with their air-cooled engines.

The W Hotel Barcelona is one of the most striking sights on the coast of Barcelona. Its iconic sail form and the breathtaking view of the sea is unique and saw the hotel set new standards from the beginning. Now all rooms and suites have been redesigned and the first W Sound Suite in Europe has been opened. A dedicated music studio, one of four in the world today, which is taking bookings from professional artists, studio musicians and producers as well as hotel guests. The leading idea of the W Sound Suite comes from DJ White Shadow, who works closely with the W Hotels. The Chicago-based producer is mainly known for his work with Lady Gaga.

Der Name Mercedes-Benz steht für erstklassige Fahrzeuge. Eine perfekte Produktkommunikation ist daher verpflichtend. Ein Redesign war für die Mercedes-Benz Schweiz AG der Auftakt, die Technologie des Preislistensystems neu aufzusetzen. Der PIM-Experte Stämpfli implementierte mit mediaSolution3 (mS3) die passenden Systemkomponenten und sorgt für das komplette Datenmanagement der Preislisten.

Bei E-Commerce-Software herrscht bisher eine Zweiklassengesellschaft: auf der einen Seite mittelständische Nutzer von günstigen, aber unflexiblen Standardprodukten, auf der anderen die großen Player mit kreativen, aber sündteuren Individuallösungen und Frameworks. Symfony durchbricht diese Trennlinie – und macht flexiblen E-Commerce allen verfügbar.

Andres Dickehut, CEO des Marketing-Dienstleisters Consultix, hat sich für Das Produktkulturmagazin auf Spurensuche nach den Trends im Digitalen Marketing begeben. Seit 1994 berät er internationale Kunden im Bereich Customer Engagement, eCRM, Customer Lifecycle Management und E-Commerce. Mit der Eigenentwicklung ProCampaign® steuern Marken punktgenau und datenschutzkonform alle Kampagnen aus einem System heraus.

A supermarket with no queues at the checkout – but with lots of high-tech and sensors in the shelves. The amount due is simply debited online upon leaving the store. No more annoying queuing at the checkout. The online retail giant Amazon is currently experimenting with this in the US. The first cashless Amazon Go test store is already operating in Seattle, home to the company’s headquarters.

To not only listen to music, but to feel it – that is the vision of the Berlin start-up Lofelt, the creative minds behind the Basslet bracelet. They have been working on the prototypes since 2014. In 2016, a Kickstarter campaign was followed by an international breakthrough. It gathered 600,000 euros and, much more importantly, numerous press reports.

Just be relaxed and keep the slippers on when you go out, suggests the London label mahabis, which offers slippers with separate outer soles. Comfortable slippers in a lovely Scandinavian design are thus transformed into stylish outdoor footwear and vice versa.

Upen Varanasi discusses the changing dynamics in Master Data Management and Product Information Management solutions. B2B customers want to gain insights and be able to measure the impact of the technology solutions they chose for their business. Data Management is the foundation of leaders who have pivoted to lead their company with a data-centric strategy. Central to this strategy is a Next-generation Master Data Management and Product Information Management which will provide Relevance and Insights to business in addition to Trusted data. As business continue to meet consumers in near real-time basis, they are looking at harnessing these interactions to gain critical insights and provide relevant information to their consumers. B2B customers want to be able to manage this explosive data growth with a scalable, feature rich Data Management solution that provides the best user experience.

If you know in advance when a traffic light will turn red or green, you will drive more relaxed and efficiently. Audi is the first car manufacturer to connect with the urban surrounding – an important step towards autonomous driving. This service is called “traffic light information” and it is supposed to optimise the traffic flow, save time and treat the environment with care.  Audi of America cooperates with a number of cities in North America to install the car-to-X  technology. Further US cities are to follow and there is a plan to implement the system in Europe, too. We talked with Michael Zweck, Senior Development Engineer at Volkswagen America, about this proactive project.

Smart watches, rings, handbags or jackets – where wearables are concerned, a lot of things have happened in recent years. Still, fashion and retail seem to find it difficult to cooperate with the tech business. Liz Bacelar, however, has managed to do just that right from the beginning, and she is regarded as pioneer in the field. Her brand Decoded Fashion combined tech founders and designers to bring the world of fashion and intelligent clothing closer together.  In March, she will introduce her new company, The Current, with which she wants to impart innovative ideas, start-ups and technology to the fashion industry.

In a career of almost 50 years as a photographer, he captured the German elite of acting and music - Jim Rakete. Many great international personalities too, trust him and his sense for what truly makes a portrait. With us he spoke about the beginnings of his professional life and how important the matter of the right moment is to him.

Time is a magical thing. Sometimes we feel it racing past, and sometimes it seems to stand still. But what if the time could suddenly catapult us into entirely different spheres? If we could let time literally intoxicate and sprinkle us? We can ...

Two big names and at the same time two legends with a bit of common history. In 1969, Zenith presented the famous Chronograph El Primero. In the same year, the British car manufacturer Land Rover introduced the prototype of the first luxury off-road vehicle: the Range Rover, which went on the market in 1970. Dedicated to the pioneering spirit of the founders and in honour of two legends that changed the world of watches and car manufacturing significantly, the two traditional brands now join half a century later in an unusually comprehensive partnership to make ‘El Primero Range Rover Special Edition’.

At the end of the 19th century, someone stepping into ‘Abercrombie & Co’, a small shop on the waterfront in downtown Manhattan, would have found him- or herself in the midst of a large selection of expensive and in some cases quite exotic outdoor and sports equipment. The shop had everything – from tennis shoes to snake-proof sleeping bags and hunting rifles for big game. David Abercrombie had established the company on 4 June 1892, and one of his regular customers, wealthy New York businessman Ezra Fitch, soon became his partner.

It is important to exploit synergies whenever time and resources become increasingly scarce. This not only rings true for the topic of production, but also when looking at the distribution of content. For the latter, a corporate newsroom is often the ideal solution. It permits the most diverse topics to be spontaneously addressed, centrally coordinated and publicised in a timely and targeted manner.

Art has always been collected by private individuals but also by companies. Just think of the Medici with their Florentine family empire, or of today’s large and medium-sized companies. Art stimulates creativity in a business, shows a sense of culture and displays economic power. But still, most people have never heard of all these corporate collections that are often not accessible to the general public. Some of these collections are used for representation and marketing purposes or, at least, can be admired by customers, such as the collection of management consultant Roland Berger.

Through digitalisation, the world has become smaller. The multitude of online distribution channels and social media at our disposal today also means we can communicate in various ways with more people in more time zones simultaneously. For a standard campaign, an average company uses at least eight different distribution channels nowadays. This new age of communication offers the modern marketer diverse options, but poses challenges as well – personalisation and localisation.

The Swiss fashion and lifestyle label Strellson has recognised and dealt with the growing importance of social media for company’s communication strategies for a long time. This June, they opened the world's first online shop, where you cannot pay with money, but with likes. We talked with Mehmet Arici, Marketing Director at Strellson, about the innovative idea and marketing of the future.