Stefanie Mager Brand Consulting provides for expert advice in brands and brand communication.

AI.STARTUP.HUB Hamburg (https://www.aistartuphub.com/), an incubator initiated by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, promotes the successful growth of AI startups in northern Germany with an entrepreneurial approach that connects leading startup and AI players with business, academia, and research. Participants in the program gain access to a network of mentors consisting of experienced entrepreneurs, experts, and investors. I am part of the mentor cluster for brand, story, and sales – with the goal of providing founding teams with the necessary strategic tools to become visible and connectable in the market. One of these startups is Nera (https://nera-ai.de/) – an ambitious company from Hamburg that is rethinking web development with AI and a strong user focus. Nera has set out to simplify the creation of digital products – for people with no prior knowledge as well as for experienced developers who want the support of an AI-powered platform. As part of the AI.STARTUP.HUB program, I mentored founder Hamed Yousefi in the development of a strategic marketing plan: Together, we worked on a situation analysis, marketing goals, marketing strategies, and part of the marketing mix: brand policy – with the aim of raising awareness of Nera for its technical excellence and benefits. Hamed Yousefi writes: “I have participated in various coaching sessions on marketing, but the way you use different tools and methods, your inspiring ideas, and your commitment are truly impressive. Thank you very much for the great cooperation and your support." We wish Hamed and his team every success – and are delighted to have made a contribution to Nera's exciting journey.

In May and June 2024, I worked as a senior lecturer at Zhejiang Wanli University in Ningbo (China) as part of a long-standing, trusting cooperation with the Sino-German Joint Institute under Vice Dean Prof. Dr. Stefan Waller. Prof. Waller, who holds a doctorate in philosophy, researches and teaches at the interface of brand and cultural theory. Among other things, he has been accepted into the national “High-Level Foreign Expert Recruitment Program” and the “Yongjiang Talent Introduction” project, has led several German-Chinese cooperation projects, and has been honored in Ningbo as a “Camellia Friendship Ambassador” and with the “Westlake Friendship Award for Foreign Experts” from Zhejiang Province. I had already taught Public Relations and Content Marketing at the Institute in digital format during the winter semester of 2022/2023. The on-site assignment in 2024 deepened our cooperation with the aim of making international perspectives tangible more directly. I lectured two Chinese classes in Brand Management – in English, interactively and with a practical focus. The main topic of the lectures consisted of brands as cultural systems with a high degree of adaptability – especially at the interface between the Chinese market and the global perspective. The courses combined theory with case studies and reflections from practice and were embedded in an intensive intercultural exchange. Prof. Dr. Stefan Waller describes my teaching as follows: "Stefanie Mager combines strategic thinking, applied experience in brand development and communication, and a high level of intercultural sensitivity. Her teaching methodology is scientifically sound, practical, and dialogue-oriented. Students benefit academically and appreciate her motivating, attentive manner, which enriches her courses both in terms of content and on a personal level. We look forward to continuing to work with her." Since 2015, I have been teaching international bachelor's and master's classes at Universities of Applied Aciences on a regular basis and have supervised over 50 bachelor's and master's theses to date. I would like to express my sincere thanks to Prof. Dr. Stefan Waller and the team at the Sino-German Joint Institute for their trust and inspiring collaboration – and I look forward to future joint projects.

Stefanie Mager Brand Consulting works for industrial clients and the academia. Why we combine? Because we think that it is through an appetite for both, business challenges and fresh, application-oriented knowhow that we – and new talent successfully deliver in today’s VUCA world. Briefly speaking, we consider lifelong learning as a fundamental source of our – and thereby our clients’ sustainable success. Through a fortunate event, our viewpoint on the matter “lifelong learning” expanded: We were chosen to join a project for the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL), one of the eight educational institutes of UNESCO Worldwide and part of the United Nations (UN), which represents the UN's fundamental positions on the topic. Teaching an international masterclass at the Brand University of Applied Sciences, my colleague Michael Kress, my assistant brand manager Jasmin Bei and myself reflected on UNESCO's global priorities – and, on this basis, developed concepts for the UIL’s public relations as well as their social media activities with the students. Our partner Katja Römer, Communications Officer at UIL, commented, "I was impressed by the students' detailed analysis of our work and the ideas they built on." We thank Ms. Römer and the UIL for a meaningful exchange and good collaboration on lifelong learning.

The WAGO Group is one of the internationally leading suppliers of connection and automation technology as well as interface electronics. In the field of spring clamp technology, the family-run company is the world market leader. In 1951, the business started with something seemingly inconspicuous: the spring clamp. But what a difference it makes! Do you know the effort it takes to screw cables to the new ceiling light overhead via a luster terminal? Can you imagine the relief an electrician gets from a secure clamp that works like this 100 times a day: Pull the lever up, insert the conductor, push the lever back down - done? Practical WAGO solutions have since become industry standards time and time again: controlling an entire building electronically requires many connections, so distribution boxes were developed. These are to be supplied electrically: the control cabinet was added. But where is the connection to decarbonisation? Ultimately, it's about electricity. Electricity is difficult to store. So power plants produce it - e.g. for entire cities - in excess of demand, possibly consuming resources unnecessarily in order to cover it in every case. What if the exact demand could be determined from the control cabinet via digitalisation/controller, so that cities and industry could save CO₂ and protect the environment? This is exactly what WAGO makes possible: 8,500 employees ensure safety and efficiency at the highest quality level in the manufacturing industry, marine and offshore, building technology, energy technology, the automotive industry, lighting technology, railway technology and in the process industry. We are proud to have contributed to the purpose and success of one of the fastest growing medium-sized companies in Germany: As part of a team working in partnership, we systematically charged the brand story/brand narrative with core messages of the company, enabling even more effective communication towards customers and employees.

Not new: Creating and performing a brand innovation AC with a focus on entrepreneurship and marketing. Moderating versatile professions gathering to work on an all new topic and case, this time: Business economists, computer scientists, a literary professional, a geologist, marketers, a logistician, industrial designers and a psychologist. For the third time, but still new: We were meeting only online from Albania, Bosnia, China, Colombia, France, Germany, India, Iran, Kosovo, Malaysia, Nigeria, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, Turkey and the Ukraine. We introduced and used a shared workspace my colleague David Dumont had created with Zoom, Google Docs, Drive and Hangouts… plus aimed to create a personal atmosphere. It was astounding how much everyone learned from each other in two days. Ngozichukwu Mbakamma from Nigeria said: “Amazing. I was glad to be a part!” The AC demanded a high and persevering degree of mindfulness, but Corona, you could not tame those teams’ success!

The Artificial Intelligence Center Hamburg (ARIC) e.V. is Hamburg's interdisciplinary, application oriented innovation center for AI, bundling cross-industry and cross-topic expertise. Contributing knowledge to AI-based processes and promoting ethical and compliant AI, fairness, explainability, robustness and security of AI systems are parts of their work. Their members include the Free and Hanseatic Town of Hamburg, universities and colleges, research institutions such as start-ups, SMEs and corporations. In the context of a master class supervision, convincing B2B services communication strategies for further brand awareness for ARIC, positive brand familiarity towards the association and the topic of AI, and brand consideration to guide potential members on to the hub were created. The team thanks ARIC founder and CLO Jan Schnedler for a challenging, exciting collaboration.

Sharing views with successful, congenial people is smart and inspiring. That´s why Stefanie Mager regularly invites customers or colleagues, like the marketing strategist Thorsten Stradt, into her lectures for Brand Management students of the „Brand University“. Amongst others, he founded the brand "Otto Group" and supported OBI and A.T.U. as CMO. Thank you for your insightful advice, Thorsten!

Schwarzkopf, a member of Henkel, is not only known as one of the three largest hair cosmetics brands in the world. The family also runs "Can Axartell", an organic winery in Mallorca that is reviving the island's agricultural roots. Its latest creation is "Velomar" – a fresh drop reminiscent of sunny days on the beach. On behalf of the Brand University of Applied Sciences, Stefanie Mager coached international master's students as part of a practical project. Read more about the positive customer feedback on cleanly derived, creative market entry concepts of the young colleagues – and don't hesitate to contact us to prepare the successful market launch of your innovation!

We have emerged a recruitment marketing training for the State Institute for Teacher Training and School Development (LI). The LI, which is assigned to the Authority for School and Vocational Training of the Free and Hanseatic Town of Hamburg, ensures the continuous education of teachers and the quality of schools and teaching throughout the city state. In Germany, “shortage of teachers” has become a buzzword. According to the Federal Statistical Office, the gap between required and existing teachers will double within the next five years. Hamburg’s 900 educational institutions may now start to outline their versatile assets and benefits to onboard the active dialoge and recruit fitting professionals, dedicated to ensure the continued top-training of meanwhile 200k pupils.

It was exciting to collaborate with the ambitious colleagues of Landor, Hamburg, who supported Dialog Insurance, member of the Generali Group, to make the extension and digitization of their B2B services visible. The new, category-unique, repeatedly rewarded design shows the strength of visual communication: To make complex topics more graspable. Thank you for a great brand management task to Andreas Gruss and colleagues, as well as to the team of Dialog.

Stefanie Mager is happy to having contributed to the development of the corporate brand Visable. Visable is both: A long-established company and a part of the platform economy: Part of Visable is « Wer liefert was », Germany’s, Austria’s and Switzerland’s leading B2B marketplace. Further internationalization and a growing portfolio of online marketing services laid the foundation for a common addressor, enabling medium-sized enterprises to become more visible online throughout Europe. Thank you to the team around Doreen Schlicht and Michael Schimming.