TASK INVOLVED The Volkswagen subsidiary ŠKODA wants to double worldwide sales to 1.5 million vehicles by 2018 with the help of an image correction and a new, holistic presentation scenario.

IDEA ŠKODA is positioned as a family and performance-for-value brand within the portfolio of Volkswagen brands. This positioning and the brand core, “Simply Clever”, were retained but distinctly intensified and optically freshened-up. A design principle was derived from “Simply Clever” and the redesigned ŠKODA front bonnet grille which – in combination with a fresh new green as house colour – marks the entire brand image. A self-confident brand presentation scenario that stands on its own now prevails: from the redesigned word/picture brand on the business card straight through to the automotive company’s overall design. This further development in positioning is particularly visible in the new, highly expressive showroom architecture.

SUCCESS The new brand presentation scenario celebrated its premiére in the spring of 2011 at the Geneva International Motor Show and received a great deal of attention from the industry. A subsequent dealer survey found that 85 per cent of dealers rated the new brand presentation scenario as excellent. The international roll-out in the key markets Europe and Asia has already begun.

TASK INVOLVED The Duty Free & Travel Value Shops from Gebr. Heinemann, a trading company operating on an international scale, were supposed to be positioned as a perceivable retail brand with its own performance commitment in worldwide airport travel commerce.

IDEA The name Heinemann traditionally stands for international travel commerce. And employee identification with this family-run enterprise is high as well. As a result, Heinemann was retained as the brand name and refitted with a new brand design. From the word/picture brand to shop design and on to worldwide retailing mechanics, everything follows a clear-cut design and structural specification. In addition, the brand was positioned using the special competencies ‘personal’, ‘surprising’ and ‘service-oriented’. A variety of activities makes it possible for the customer to experience them with each and every contact.

SUCCESS Sales revenue has been growing continuously since the brand concept roll-out in 2008: In Hamburg alone, sales have tripled since the relaunch. The average sales receipt at all other branded shops rose by 10 per cent. All of this makes Gebr. Heinemann the market leader worldwide. What’s more, the new brand story is winning over new locations and customers internationally, too. Even the already high values for staff loyalty were able to be notched up again by 20 per cent.

TASK INVOLVED Sennheiser, a company with a wealth of tradition, leads the world market with its products. The point now was to hone the worldwide brand profile at this decentrally managed enterprise, adapt the profile to match the standards of a quality and innovation leader, and then make that profile visible.

IDEA The product portfolio was restructured and given more clarity as the basis for an image correction. A comprehensible nomenclature and colour system communicate the new segmentation across all media in a standardised, dynamic and high-quality manner. A design concept was extrapolated from the brand’s premium claim that encompasses all elements: from the business outfit to packaging, straight through to modular design at the PoS and trade-fair booths. Binding guidelines enable global activities to be controlled and steered at a central level.

SUCCESS The new PoS system has achieved increases in sales ranging from 144 to 700 per cent since the relaunch. Within the last 2 years Sennheiser has reported double-digit growth and was able to expand its European market leadership. In addition, the new packaging concept is reducing the complexity of the materials used for packaging, which thus reduces costs substantially, too.

TASK INVOLVED The mobile communications market is extremely dynamic. The fusion of the companies freenet AG and mobilcom was the kick-off for diverse development steps at the resulting new company. These steps were supposed to be accompanied in terms of the brand and design strategies.

IDEA Syndicate has accompanied mobilcom-debitel since 2006 as lead agency with responsibility for the integrally holistic brand and design strategies. A comprehensive design & brand concept was developed for the initial fusion of mobilcom and freenet. This concept was readapted to the company’s ensuing evolutionary phases again and again, then set forth in its brand strategy.

SUCCESS A flexible design & brand concept made it possible to successfully integrate all of the company’s expansion steps into the brand image in a conclusive way. Today mobilcom-debitel is a distinctly visible player on the murky, diffused mobile communications market, and has currently positioned itself as the third-largest provider in Germany.

TASK INVOLVED Numbered among the largest shopbuilders in Europe, the Austrian Umdasch Shopfitting Group is split up into two corporate brands: Whereas UMDASCH places its focus on the non-food sector, Assmann specialises in the food sector. The different core competencies of these two brands were supposed to be able to be experienced at one jointly held booth at EuroShop 2011, the industry’s key leading international trade fair.

IDEA Under the motto “À la Carte – serving ideas and solutions”, the theme of cooking became the central leitmotif for the entire trade-fair presentation scenario. The shopbuilding systems from both brands were depicted as ingredients thereby, their services as recipes, and the customised full-scale solutions as ready-to-serve menues. A generously spaced restaurant area with open kitchen and lounge bar formed the communicative centrepiece of both exhibition areas; star chef Sarah Wiener pampered the guests and visitors with culinary creations.

SUCCESS With over 50,000 attending in 4 days, the UMDASCH trade-fair booth turned out to be a magnet for visitors. A multitude of valid business contacts and new business was able to be attributed directly to the trade fair. At the same time, the trade fair represented the starting signal towards changing the entire Corporate Design.

TASK INVOLVED In the course of market shifts on the German filling-station market, the German Tamoil Group has realigned itself and developed an expansion strategy. In the future the Tamoil brands GO and SB-Tanktreff are going to be consolidated within the HEM brand, too. The product brand HEM was supposed to be repositioned and a holistic design system developed to accomplish this. The goal is a joint uniform market presentation scenario for 500 filling stations under the HEM umbrella.

IDEA The new claim “Hier stimmt der Kurs” (‘Rates are spot-on here’) for the positioning as a B-brand with a promise of cost effectiveness hits the nail on the head. On the other hand, the basic prerequisites for success are the distinct visibility of HEM filling stations in their surroundings and an overall presentation scenario that effectively supports the positioning. Which is why a new brand image involving striking, highly contrasting colours and a modern form language were derived from this positioning. Positively attuned, fresh and dynamic, from the word/picture brand to the form language at the filling stations, the new brand image signalises brand quality at a reasonable price.

SUCCESS The figures testify to the fact that the new course set by HEM is literally ‘on course’. The company is heading towards expansion. Investments in the double-digit millions are being planned to enact the new design concept at all existing HEM filling stations.

TASK INVOLVED In addition to around 800 shop outlets of its own, Tchibo operates roughly 8,400 depots at food retailers. A new modular PoS furniture system was supposed to be developed for further expansion that enables even sales personnel with no experience in the field to offer a presentation of coffee and non-food products in a manner typical to the brand.

IDEA A material and form language was extrapolated from the brand and brand colours into a modular system for the new PoS generation. A modular building-block principle guarantees compelling deployment for all commercial formats within food retailing. The system accentuates known brand codes, yet simultaneously guarantees that the Tchibo Corporate Architecture stands alone. Depending on the retail format and space requirements, the different setup formats can be expanded unlimitedly.

SUCCESS Due to the newly developed PoS system, the claim “Jede Woche eine neue Welt” (‘A new world each week’) receives an eye-catching stage that provides the Tchibo brand with a modern, self-reliant presentation scenario. The system has been in use unchanged since 2005.

TASK INVOLVED Tchibo wrote retail history with the claim “Jede Woche eine neue Welt” (‘A new world each week’). Yet even so, the success attained in non-food business outshined perception of the brand itself. A balance was supposed to be brought back to the triad consisting of coffee, serving counter and non-food, and a greater focus shifted to the brand’s (core) competence in coffee.

IDEA “Back to the roots” is the guiding idea for designing the shop outlets. Both spatially and in terms of atmosphere, the competence in coffee takes the foreground in the style of a specialised shop. Brown wooden floors, bar stools, dimmed, focused lighting and highly detailed settings for coffee create not only a new look & feel but an atmosphere to feel good in. The non-food world of merchandise so important to customer volume and revenue is integrated as an area of its own set in a reserved tone.

SUCCESS Initial tests have shown that the concept is being received by customers very positively: The average sales receipt at the redesigned shop outlets ends up distinctly higher than prior to conversion or the way the shops were characterised before. Implementation of the new retail concept by 2015 is scheduled for all 820 Tchibo shop outlets.

TASK INVOLVED Following the major success of the first NIVEA store in Hamburg, in which the brand is presented exclusively on 3 floors, the flagship-store concept was now supposed to be optimised further and developed to apply to a multiplication strategy for new sites and store space.

IDEA NIVEA stores enable the brand to be experienced in a visual, tactile and optical sense. Even at a distance the famous blue NIVEA tin already signalises close acquaintanceship with care competence. The interior was designed using a wave-shaped, organic form language in order to emphasize the concept of care and well-being. The shop centrepiece is the blue NIVEA sphere. Personal care and beauty consultations take place here in conjunction with a discretion zone for cosmetic applications and massages. An integrated coffee bar promotes communication and invites customers to linger. Alongside the pure presentation of merchandise, the sales area for the assortment including over 500 products is devoted first and foremost to the topic of ‘the product experience’.

SUCCESS The concept for the flagship store in Hamburg was modified successfully and transposed to the new NIVEA stores in Berlin and Dubai. Shortly after their grand openings, the new sites had already developed into magnets for attracting visitors.

TASK INVOLVED In the course of its strategic alignment as a provider of integrated mobility solutions, Deutsche Bahn (‘German Rail’) was looking for new sales & distribution concepts for its retail customer business.

IDEA In order to prove real customer proximity, the railway firm has to leave the train station and present itself where its clientele is: in inner cities and adjoining neighbourhoods. Using “DB Mobility Centers”, a kind of travel agency was developed that translates the characteristic elements of the Deutsche Bahn brand in a spatial sense. The look & feel, streamlining and colouration were derived from the design for ICE high-speed trains. The modular concept can be utilised at varying locations, as well as in a variety of forms (including PoP and shop-in-shop), creating a clear-cut, orientation-generating retail atmosphere for the widely diversified products offered by Deutsche Bahn.

SUCCESS It took merely 6 months for the pilot shop in Frankfurt to reach the break-even point. Authentic new customers were able to be won over, too, and especially the sale of higher-quality products (e.g. tickets for 1st Class) were able to be increased significantly. The new form language at DB Mobility Centers has now been transposed to the classic central “DB Reisezentrum” travel-service counters.

TASK INVOLVED Internationally, Parador is the leading designer brand for high-quality floor and wall design. The new positioning for ‘luxury flooring concepts’ called for a new brand and range presentation scenario at special retailers and in the DIY segment. Above and beyond that, exclusive presentation scenarios at the PoS were supposed to be conceived for the newly acquired licensed brands Esprit home, “Schöner Wohnen” and LAURA ASHLEY HOME.

IDEA By focusing on the essentials the products speak for themselves. The reduced colouration in black & white and an elegant blend of materials reinforce this effect. The modular system enables flexible and blanket-coverage deployment on the market. PoS systems were developed for the new licensed brands that take known brand codes into consideration and present the products in correlation to concrete ‘style worlds’.

SUCCESS The repositioning of the brand occurred at the wrong time. The financial crisis and extreme reservations regarding consumption made a renewed correction in positioning necessary during 2010. The system that had been developed was launched on the market in a simplified version.

TASK INVOLVED JET had established itself as a supplier of inexpensive fuel. With an eye to further expansion, JET wanted to use a new design and a higher-quality image to close ranks with the leading A-brands while retaining its price positioning.

IDEA The image of a filling-station brand is marked first and foremost right there at the pump. The brand’s overall appearance was therefore redefined. A completely new brand design was distilled from a newly designed word/picture brand involving curved ornamentation and the strongly signalling blue & yellow colouring so unique among competitors. From the house typeface to the modular elements within filling-station design, the holistic Corporate Design system now ensures a uniform high-quality appearance and brand image all in one.

SUCCESS Since the relaunch the JET market share has climbed to about 10 per cent. That makes JET the No. 5 on the German market and sets it well apart from the rest as the filling station with the strongest sales revenue per location. The relaunch was upscaled to include roughly 2,700 filling stations in Europe following the success in Germany. What’s more, the new modular concept makes it possible to attain refitting costs that lie significantly below the standard customary to the industry on the whole.

From the idea to the photo

Design processes are mostly very complex. We bank on the advantages virtual modelling has to offer so that, in the end, a result arises that fulfils your expectations 100 per cent. It makes the photo-realistic depiction of products, objects and spaces possible throughout the entire design process. With the help of virtual modelling we are able to display unlimited alternatives using different materials, lighting situations, colours and shapes. Animations can be conducted, spaces entered and products altered as desired. Modifications are possible and visible in a matter of seconds.

What’s more, we can already generate CAD data as the basis for production and factory scheduling as early as the planning phase.