Blue. Our Slightly
Different Form
of Welcoming.

Blue. And silent. It was probably completely silent in that small Austrian chapel where the Christmas carol "Silent Night, Holy Night" was played for the first time in 1818. One imagines churchgoers listening devoutly, but perhaps they gradually joined in the singing as well.

When "Silent Night, Holy Night” is intoned during a Christmas service in the year 2019, then it becomes loud and lively. Many voices form a harmonious community, and even the children can sing along. This song is familiar to us, as it triggers a reflective and solemn feeling and is often the highlight of the worship service or the Christmas mass. Everywhere in the world, people sing this Christmas song in over 300 different languages. read more...

Blue. Like the sky over Abu Dhabi. The Louvre in Abu Dhabi, sparkling white and situated directly at the waterside, lets the sun's rays glitter through its domed roof. The architectural masterpiece and the first museum with a universal claim in the Arab world opened its doors in November 2017.

Up to now, the Louvre was something unique and irretrievably connected with Paris. The Louvre is the epitome of museum experiences, the most visited museum in the world and home to the world-famous Mona Lisa. This makes the Louvre the prototype, so to speak, of a strong cultural brand. read more...

A Short Digression on the Colour Blue. We have not only designed our logo for “Employee Brand Management” in blue because blue is such a beautiful rich colour – our associations and ideas regarding this colour go much further than this, so please accompany us on our short digression.

The flag of the United Nations (UN), characterised by its blue background, the globe and two olive branches, symbolises the UN’s basic concern: the whole world united in peace. For 70 years now, the United Nations has provided a forum for resolving conflicts... read more...


Blue. An Emotion. The wavelength and with it also its frequency influence the colour of light. In the visible spectrum, blue is represented within the area from 380 up to 500 wavelengths (nm), starting from deep purple up to greenish blue. Successive contrast reveals that yellow is the complementary colour of blue. read more...


Blue. The Colour of Peace. When founding the European Union, one of the main concerns was peaceful coexistence. As prophesied in the Sermon of the Mount, ”Blessed are the peacemakers,” so is a peaceful Europe also expected to ensure prosperity and stability. The EU is 60 years old now, and we can look back at the longest period of peace in European history. Nevertheless, the EU is weakening with an increasing number of Eurosceptics and the first withdrawal being negotiated. On the other side, more and more Europeans express that the EU and its principles are important to them. Many Europeans have realised that a life in peace, freedom and democracy cannot be taken for granted and everyone has to make a contribution. read more...

 

„Oh, good Earth, good Earth!” whispered Bill Anders, astronaut on the Apollo 8 mission, while orbiting the moon on Christmas Eve 1968 in order to take photos of Earth. At the triumphant moment of their flight to the moon, it was not the exploration of the moon’s surface but the discovery of our planet from a distance, which became a lasting experience for the human race. From today’s perspective it must be mentioned that the crucial factor of this Apollo mission was the view of Earth!

The reports and pictures provided by the astronauts have taught us a lot about our planet. Astronauts describe this blue drop in the endless void of space, which is just a small globe that seems to shine out of itself, as bewitchingly beautiful, oppressively lonely and very vulnerable. This mission to the moon has made us aware of our tininess and the preciousness of our planet and has changed our view of the universe.

Soon after the publication of the photos of Earth, the Club of Rome was founded. Many people consider the pictures of our fragile and isolated planet to be the trigger of the environmental development that has chosen the “blue planet” as its symbol. As the astronaut Anders formulated vis-à-vis a newspaper, “We came all this way to discover the moon. And what we really did discover is Earth.”

At this point, why are we writing about the Apollo mission?

This is because the Apollo astronauts conducted brand dialogues. Thereby they have changed our awareness for Earth, shaped an image and allowed stakeholders and people to participate in their emotions, while having caused actions to protect our planet. This is what brand dialogues can achieve when they are filled with live, stories and truthfulness. They are man-made “markings,” which integrate experience with specific achievements. Brand dialogues are meta narrations, which as communication processes reach the minds and the hearts of people!

„One cannot not communicate.” Whether a group of colleagues has a conversation in the lift or staff canteen, a sports mate tells stories about the company or children report on their parents’ jobs at school... All of this conveys messages and teaches brand values – not only mere sales negotiations and consultations.

The communication researcher Paul Watzlawick was absolutely right: one cannot not communicate. For this reason, brand formats are a decisive management and conditioning tool that can be used to tactically influence brand management.

People make brands! If employees are supposed to do this purposefully and successfully, you have to provide them with instruments and formats, which can be thematic (products, service, image) or target group specific (employees, clients, business partners, markets, stakeholders) or can be realised on different platforms (promotion, hotlines, websites, newsletters, blogs, chat rooms, communities).

The principle is that dialogue quality beats dialogue breadth and accordingly client meetings in brand quality are more effective in the long term than a flood of information provoked by marketing activities. In the future, such formats carrying value propositions in addition to performance promises will become more important!

Client retention will be replaced by client contact. Clear dialogues and honest communication are essential for developing brand formats.

Occupational groups determine the brand radius. Let us take the example of the service technician who is employed by a big machine tool maker. He is on site at the client’s facility, when a sold machine is set up, installed and put into operation. He supports with briefing the staff, performs inspections, in case of an emergency, he carries out repairs, and he provides clients advice and tips by telephone. In doing so, he comes into contact with different employees of the client company, starting for example with the gatekeeper to the industry mechanics to the senior engineer.

Of course, our service technician is not only in charge of a single client and his machine, but for a large number of different clients who sometimes do not even work on the same continent, never mind the same country.

Now visualise the number of contacts and interactions our service technician has within one year. The result would be a chaotic network of numerous junctions and contact points. We can describe all of these points as markings, which brings us to the “brand” issue.

Each of the service technician’s client contacts leaves branding relevant brand traces, which together amount to the brand radius.

As one can see from the service technician’s example, a brand image sometimes impacts a huge radius at multiple contact points.

Persons responsible for brand management should be aware of their brand’s radius and manage this in a targeted manner. Occupational groups determine the brand radius. In particular regarding service, the radius is often very large, which companies should view as an opportunity.

When service technicians are acting as brand ambassadors and leave permanent brand traces within their radius, then, for sure, the strategy, “the second machine is sold by the service,” proves to be successful.