Strong brands have rough edges. They polarise. Our Brand Building team knows how to develop strong brands. In order to always be able to offer our clients the latest industry insights in this area, the team always keeps up to date in terms of brand development, brand management/strategy and brand personality. Most recently, Michael, Team Lead Brand Building at CUBE bc, gained new insights for the work with our clients at the seminar "Strategic Brand Management: How to give brands a future" at the W&V Academy.

All facets covered: the complex construct "brand"

There are many levers in brand management to build brands, to develop them further and even to establish them. The W&V seminar covered the entire spectrum of brand management, showed how the different disciplines interact and gave the participants helpful tools for their work in the field of "brand". The seminar covered topics such as the definition of a brand identity, the development of a brand strategy as well as ways to make a brand tangible internally and externally.

Lectures, best practices & exciting discussions - it's the mix that makes it

The contents of the seminar were dealt with in different formats: in addition to lectures in which the speakers looked at topics from a scientific perspective - e.g. "The Unfaithful Customer and the Future of the Brand" by GfK - the practical perspective was covered by means of best practices (e.g. "Strategic Brand Management" using the example of Nürnberger Versicherungen). Discussions such as with MINI Germany on the topic of "How to give brands a future" rounded off the seminar.

For Michael, the dialogue with the speakers and participants was the highlight of the seminar: "In addition to the many new contents that one received from the lectures, the discussions with the other participants and the exchange of their experiences were particularly instructive for our work at CUBE brand communications," Michael explains. The field of participants consisted of employees at agencies as well as employees from marketing departments of large companies at various levels. In addition, the participants covered the B2B as well as the B2C sector due to their working environment. "Due to the mixed field of participants, each topic was looked at from different points of view," says Michael.

The INSTART group is a new association of highly specialized companies with origins in the automotive sector. In addition to the technology companies e.telligent (electromobility), digitalwerk (autonomous driving) and IP Camp (big data), we complete the group of companies as the lead agency for marketing and communication. In addition, the company INSTART consult as a Digital Shared Service Center is part of the group of companies.

With its technology companies e.telligent, digitalwerk and IP Camp, the INSTART group unites topic-specialized, competent and independent technology companies in order to act synergetically on the market. The technological focus of e.telligent, digitalwerk and IP Camp is aligned with the current leading technologies (electromobility, autonomous driving and big data) of the automotive market. The services of the INSTART group include software application development, product development (hardware and software) and engineering services. The software products developed in-house (e.CoSys, Mercury, RED) by the INSTART group are used both by customers and within the group in the area of process engineering and data analytics.

The digital shared service provider INSTART consult supports the companies of the INSTART group in the areas of finance, human resources and IT management. CUBE brand communications, agency for brand communication, is responsible for the marketing and communication services of the individual companies as well as the INSTART group as a whole. Thanks to the services of INSTART consult and us, the technology companies of the INSTART group are able to focus completely on their core business and successively deepen their technology expertise.

The INSTART group currently employs a total of 180 people at six international locations with a sales volume of approximately 15 million euros. Customers include the VW Group, BMW, Daimler, Bosch and Continental, all key players in the German automotive industry. In the medium term, the INSTART group will offer its expert solutions in the industry, agriculture, aerospace and medical sectors.

Anyone who has to come to the office during the current phase because an activity cannot be completed from the home office must document their presence. This is the only way to carefully track the contact persons in a Corona infection case.

Let's face it: manually signing in the list doesn't really do 2021 justice. For this reason, the colleagues from digitalwerk in Regensburg have developed their own web application for digital registration. With Contact Trace, check-in as well as check-out is easily done via smartphone. The scan of a QR code as well as the registration in the company account is done within a few seconds. External visitors can log in with their Apple or Google account.

This simplifies the process not only for our visitors and our team. In the case of a Corona infection at CUBE brand communications, we would be able to provide the health department with the relevant attendance records with just a few clicks to trace the contact chains.

Also interested? digitalwerk makes Contact Trace available to all companies that want to digitalize their documentation requirements. Contact details at www.digitalwerk.de/kontakt

 

For the first time in its company history, the owner-managed agency CUBE brand communications from Ingolstadt, founded in 2018, was awarded for its employee-oriented management. This is the result of the ranking of FOCUS-Business together with the employer evaluation platform Kununu.

Since the start of operations in January 2018, the internationally operating agency CUBE brand communications has set itself the goal of offering its employees an above-average positive working environment.  Clearly defined management guidelines and attractive employee benefits are an essential part of the company strategy.  "Our first agency award is something very special. The award is confirmation of the employee orientation that has been firmly anchored in our agency since day one," says Managing Director and co-owner Dr. Michael Schilhaneck, who is delighted with the award and is certain: "As an agency for brand communications, it is our task to inspire our customers. We can only achieve this if our own employees are inspired.”

The Ingolstadt-based company places particular emphasis on a joint, cross-team cooperation, mutual appreciation of managers and team members and the identification of the team with the agency's services and culture. Attractive office space in extraordinary building complexes with a professional barista coffee machine, modern workplace equipment and special flair form the basis of the working environment. Flexitime accounts, unlimited employment contracts as well as opportunities for further education complete the employee benefits at CUBE brand communications.  Team events such as afterworks, visits to sporting events (including FC Ingolstadt 04, ERC Ingolstadt, DTM races) as well as an annual summer party, a Christmas party and a skiing trip have established themselves as standard in the agency culture and are to become a permanent fixture at CUBE brand communications again after the Corona pandemic.

“Against the background of our agency launch in 2018, the award as one of the top employers of medium-sized businesses in Germany is of particular importance to us. This proves that we as an employer do not have to hide from long-established medium-sized companies", Schilhaneck proudly explains. While the Corona Pandemie, which CUBE brand communications as an agency with focus on services in the event industry has hit hard, the employee-oriented company management is given an even greater importance, Schilhaneck continues. The management is putting a lot of effort into transparently presenting the rapidly changing legal regulations and their effects to colleagues in this difficult phase of the company. In spite of the current circumstances, CUBE brand communications continues to aim to consistently expand employee orientation within the framework of the agency strategy, Schilhaneck said, because the agency obviously wants to rank among the top employers in Germany in the next year again.

The ranking of the top employers (SME) was provided by FOCUS-Business in co-operation with the employer evaluation portal Kununu. In total, the business magazine analyzed over 950,000 companies and more than four million comments and evaluations.  For the evaluation, companies were considered which have an average rating of at least 3.5 to 5 stars and a recommendation rate of at least 70% with a number of employees between 11 and 500. The ranking can be seen in the special issue of FOCUS-Business "Arbeitgeber des Mittelstands".

The mobility turnaround is progressing with great strides. The automotive industry is going on a model offensive, especially in the field of electro mobility, politicians are setting strong incentives and the energy industry is expanding the charging infrastructure. "Now we are really getting started with e-mobility. At this crucial point, it is important to take potential customers along on this new technology path and at the same time give them access to their first driving experiences. We already offer a modular e-driving program for this purpose," says agency founder Frank Fichtner. 

The added value and fascination of the new leading technology made tangible
CUBE brand communications is an internationally operating, owner-managed agency for brand communications with a special focus on driving experience services. It has a high level of technical and organizational competence in the communication of driving experiences and technology innovations. Among other things, CUBE bc markets an modern driving experience center in Bolzano with various track sections and integrated charging infrastructure, and in some cases acts as the organizer itself. All this is incorporated into the new offer. "With our modular e-driving program, we accompany and support the market players so that they can gradually introduce their customers and target groups to the added value and fascination of the new lead technology of electro mobility," says CUBE co-owner and managing director Dr. Michael Schilhaneck, summing up the concept.

Three modules tailor-made for the entire Customer Journey
Three e-driving day units form the core of the new offer. The basic module eConfidence follows the motto "Try to Buy". The focus here is on explaining the new technology in conjunction with concrete initial driving experiences for newcomers and potential buyers. "In this way we create the basis for the problem-free and carefree use of the new technology in everyday life. All module contents are aimed at building trust", explains Schilhaneck. Special attention is paid to the various loading and payment options as well as target-oriented route planning. Schilhaneck is sure: "All in all, many convincing and lastingly effective aha-moments are pre-programmed."

Under the motto "Improve to Rebuy", the second module eAdvantage focuses on customers who already have experience with e-mobility. The aim is to confirm their enthusiasm for electric driving and to convince them to buy an electric vehicle. The participants deepen their technological knowledge and learn in a playful way to fully exploit the added value and efficiency of advanced electric mobility.

"Pretty electric, pretty exciting" sums up the claim of the third module, ePerformance. It aims to emotionalize, fascinate and enhance the image of electromobility. "By experiencing maximum electric driving dynamics, the construction-specific characteristics of e-vehicles can be discovered in a fascinating way. At the same time, this always impressively reflects the current product and market developments in the field of e-mobility," explains Dr. Schilhaneck.

With all the experience and expertise of e-vehicle pioneers
The modular E-Driving program, so the CUBE managing director further, takes up the entire "Customer Journey" and the in each case phase-specific customer needs in the content design and translates these into learning and experience modules meeting demand. "We have developed our concept with trainers and instructors who are very experienced in e-mobility, but also with e-sales pioneers. And we differentiated our concept across brands and products and through comprehensive feedback from test persons", reports Schilhaneck. "In this way, our e-driving program systematically opens up the full meaning and sustainability of the new technology. This is a real added value - for all e-market players, B2B and B2C".

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Despite Corona, the 24h race of Spa-Francorchamps could be held again this year. In the context of the largest GT3 race in the world, we supported our customer Audi Sport customer racing in the organizational realization of the event.

Besides the responsibility of the reception counter in the Audi Sport Hospitality our colleagues took care of the access control to the lounge. Especially important this year: a reliable and accurate control and compliance with all Corona-related security measures and distance regulations. Thanks to their activities, our colleagues contributed to the smooth running of the event in Spa.

We would like to thank Audi Sport customer racing for the trust they placed in us.

The company prolignis, with its headquarters in Ingolstadt, is an internationally operating energy provider specialized in the planning, construction and operation of biomass power plants.

We from CUBE brand communications supported the expert for energy management with our team Brand Building in the context of a communication campaign. The focus of the campaign was to promote a new "HolzEnergieWerk" in Southern Germany. The use of biomass for energy production contributes significantly to climate protection. The advantage, apart from the conservation of increasingly scarce fossil fuels, is the fact that the use of biomass for energy generation does not release more carbon dioxide than was previously absorbed by the plants.

Since we moved into the light-flooded offices in Gaimersheim/Ingolstadt, our office has been continuously developing. In addition to the many new, modern meeting rooms and meeting corners, the opening of our new café and kitchen marks the next major milestone in our headquarters.

The kitchen offers everything an employee's heart desires: cooking facilities, weekly changing fresh fruit, water dispensers as well as a large counter where the coffee from our Italian coffee machine can be enjoyed especially well. The café in our office has now become a social centre for our team members. Joint cooking sessions during the lunch break, a short small talk over a good cappuccino or the get-together after work - everything takes place in our new kitchen!

"With our café, we have created a place for all team members to relax between working hours. At the beginning I was not even aware that our team members were developing culinary skills," says a satisfied managing director Dr. Michael Schilhaneck happily and adds: "Maybe I'll have to follow suit here! The team should be pleased. We remain excited!

"Electrification", "digitalization" and "autonomous driving": these lead technologies have been shaping the entire automotive industry for years. However, the new added values of these megatrends are met with many questions on the part of potential customers. At present, the automotive market does not yet offer sufficient answers to the many open questions. This is precisely where our newly developed modular eMobility driving program comes in.

In order to make the most of the advantages and potential applications of electromobility, driving experience providers, car dealers and operators of driving experience and driving safety centers must gradually introduce potential customers and interested parties to the new lead technology. With our newly developed eMobility driving program, which builds on each other, we offer different learning content for different target groups at different stages of the purchase cycle. When developing the program, we worked together with experts in the field of electromobility - instructors and trainers - as well as with sales pioneers in this field. The focus during the concept phase was on a cross-brand and cross-product approach to the topic. The defined program content was further differentiated through extensive feedback from test persons and consistently aligned with the respective customer journey.

With the newly developed modules, CUBE brand communications aims to make a significant contribution to the purchase or re-purchase of electric vehicles. At the moment we are in the final stages of program completion. The final launch of the program is at the beginning of November.

After two years of cooperation with EDAG aeromotive, we can now look back on the projects implemented together with the specialist for air mobility. As the lead agency for marketing & communication, we have accompanied the Ingolstadt-based service provider from the aerospace sector from its first communicative steps, through the many different measures implemented of our model-based branding process, to the joint development of a corporate vision. 

 "At the beginning of the cooperation, the initial focus for us as an agency was to create the necessary infrastructure for EDAG aeromotive, so that we could implement targeted communication measures", explains project manager Michael Angermüller. "By designing a professional homepage, we gave the client a figurehead that clearly presents the essential information about the company, its services, references, and career opportunities to the relevant target groups such as customers, potential applicants, and the public," Angermüller explains. With the news portal set up, the website also forms the base for regular communication about the company's developments. The periodic communication about, among other things, current as well as newly won projects, internal developments and the various entry possibilities is a main component of the branding process of CUBE brand communications. With the regular reporting, we pursue the goal of creating transparency with regard to the company's development towards our clients' target groups. 

 In order to achieve the jointly defined goals (increase brand awareness & employer branding), a communication strategy was implemented using various marketing channels: In addition to public relations work, appearances at trade fairs and communication via the website blog, relevant updates on EDAG aeromotive were also distributed via the social media channels facebook and LinkedIn. EDAG aeromotive's employees are the central starting point for increasing its attractiveness as an employer. Together with EDAG aeromotive, platforms and measures have been defined which are aimed at the needs of the employees: as sponsor of the ERC Ingolstadt, EDAG aeromotive regularly raffles off unique spectator seats among its employees on its own fan balcony in Ingolstadt's Saturn Arena. Unusual team events such as excursions to the Jochen Schweizer Arena for body flying or the annual summer party (including virtual reality experience and a visit to the beer garden) are also organized in line with employee preferences. 

 "It is a nice confirmation of our performance as a marketing agency and at the same time a sign of confidence that we were able to support EDAG aeromotive, after the obligatory tasks in the initial phase of the cooperation, in strategic issues such as the development of a corporate vision," says Managing Director Dr. Michael Schilhaneck, describing the positive development of the cooperation. According to Schilhaneck, this is the highlight of the collaboration.  

 We would like to thank EDAG aeormotive for the trust they have placed in us, and for the partnership and cooperation over the last two years! 

At the beginning of the Corona pandemic, the management team focused on the health of CUBE employees, securing business operations and regular communication with the team about the approach during the crisis. While the immediate needs were successfully mastered, our Managing Directors also consciously looked into the future with the goal of strategically developing our agency. In this very intensive phase, the management team defined a new strategic business field with the future field of (driving) programs for the new leading technologies of the automotive industry.

The new leading technologies provide innovative products and features in the automotive sector. However, these are not (yet) selling themselves. Potential customers must first be convinced of the added value and gradually introduced to the new technologies. Equally innovative new offers and marketing forms are needed to overcome this hurdle. From the point of view of CUBE brand communications, every marketing and communication instrument of the automobile manufacturers will have to make its contribution, and consequently also a platform such as Driving Experience. While the previous focus was on emotional, dynamic brand experiences for customer loyalty, in the future the instrument will also have to contribute to new customer acquisition and sales promotion by communicating the new technological added value and LEAD generation. Doing the new without leaving the old - that is the current challenge of the Driving Experience industry! Exactly here we start with our considerations and are currently working on the marketability of a corresponding basic program, which will be expanded modularly according to market approach. The challenge is big, because the solution requires the combination of different expertises: Driving Experience, eMobility, ADAS, Big Data, Digital Services, as well as marketing and brand understanding. Through our membership in an innovative group of companies with startups in the new leading technologies, we serve these interfaces and have implemented them in our cross-functional everyday work for a long time.

The Corona crisis has hit our entire society and the working industry very hard. The effects are particularly far-reaching, especially for the event industry. As an agency for brand communication with major projects in the event sector, we at CUBE brand communications are directly affected by this. However, we also see this crisis as an opportunity to develop our agency.

In the sector of experiential marketing, our scope of services was very limited when we were commissioned as lead agency of the Audi driving experience center due to the temporary closure of the customer center. After the restart, our team will gradually increase the activities again. Also the project planning of our second major project in this business area as exclusive event partner of Safety Park South Tyrol was influenced sustainably. After we made the foundation for the independent marketing of brand-neutral Driving & Riding programs last year, the market approach is now delayed due to the prolonged crisis in Italy. Only in our division of brand building we have implemented the planned marketing & communication services for our clients e.telligent, digitalwerk and the INSTART group almost without restriction. In the high-tech working environments, our customers were less affected by the Corona pandemic. So we were able to continue working almost without capacity restrictions.

"First of all the most important thing for us in this difficult situation was that all our employees are in the best of health," explains Managing Director and co-owner Dr. Michael Schilhaneck. In order to best protect the health of the team during this time, the management developed a comprehensive hygiene concept right at the beginning of the crisis. The concept included the protective measures to be observed in the office premises and also regulated the presence and absence of individual employees. Thanks to the laptops and smartphones and our digital working structures, the transition to the home office wasn’t a challenge.

"At the same time as ensuring the health of our employees, the management's focus was on safeguarding our business activities," says founder and Managing Director Frank Fichtner, looking back on the initial phase of the Corona pandemic. The signs of the crisis were recognized early and the company reacted immediately to the negative development of the situation by applying for short-time work for a large part of the team, Fichtner continued. The rapid decision to use the short-time working model was a central factor in the continuation of business operations.

From the beginning on the management also attached great importance to regular communication within the team in order to create transparency as well as understanding for this exceptional situation. "Given the fact of the continuously changing framework conditions, our task was to take away the team's worries and fears regarding the unprecedented short-time work situation", Dr. Michael Schilhaneck explains the communication rounds. Fichtner finds also words of praise for the staff: "At this point, I would like to express great praise for the team's patience and discipline during this extreme situation. Every member of staff recognized the seriousness of the situation and behaved in an exemplary manner. This shows how well we function in this hard time." Fichtner was very pleased with the positive entries on the employer assessment platform kununu: "This is the confirmation that we did the right thing during this difficult crisis."

One aspect of crisis management that should not be underestimated was that during this time, the Managing Directors consciously turned their attention to the future, in order to work intensively on the development of CUBE brand communications. In addition to further trainings of selected employees, a new strategic agency business field was identified. This is the future-oriented field of (driving) programs for the new leading technologies of the automotive industry. The aim of the programs is to contribute the acceptance of new products and features in the target groups.