As 2:30 rolled around, 5 co-workers and I gathered at the elevators in the Ministry building and then filed into the Ministry car waiting to pick us up. Destination: Invest in Germany - the Federal Investment Promotion Agency headquarters on Friedrichstrasse in Berlin. Why were we all leaving in the middle of the day to go across town for a short meeting? Today was the unveiling of the new corporate logo of Germany Trade and Invest (the merger of Invest in Germany and the German Office for Foreign Trade). After weeks and months of wrangling and poor logo after poor logo presented by the contracted ad firm, it was finally decided to allow employees to come together and produce it themselves. Today, they wanted to make sure the Ministry (us) approved of the logo they came up with before they presented it to their respective organizations. A prescreening, if you may.
After a brief presentation by a young man who had been on the design team, the new logo appeared on the next powerpoint slide and the room went quiet. Did we like it? Yes! It was a sophisticated, 3D logo which worked well. Since there is an embargo on the information, I cannot tell you what the logo is but you'll see it soon.
So what is so interesting is not necessarily the logo, but how the logo came to be. As I mentioned, the ad firm they had on retainer was worthless and time was winding down before the Jan 1, 2009 merger. We needed a logo, bad. Management had the foresight to allow young, interested employees from both organizations to come to Berlin, essentially lock themselves in the building for a day or two, and emerge with the new logo. So that's what happened. No bickering from the ingrained management, no stonewalling of ideas by stubborn employees. Essentially the end result was that these young employees acheived in one day what the management of the companies could not in months. Brilliant!
I see this as a positive first step both organizations are taking at becoming one. What better way to inspire and "pull" the staff together than a successful logo? I know it may seem superficial to focus on a logo, but I think the message sent will be the necessary seed that will be vital for both organizations to grow together as one.
Curious about the logo I saw? Check http://www.invest-in-germany.com/ in the coming days and let me know what you think!
Side note:
This award-winning poster with model Claudia Schiffer was a huge success at the 2006 Football World Cup. This poster, along with others, plastered Grand Central Station, inviting potential investors to Germany. This framed poster also hangs on several walls at the German Federal Ministry of Economics where I work. My coworkers are proud of this marketing success.
Little known fact:
My office chose Claudia Schiffer at the time after Heidi Klum (also a famous German model) asked for a very large sum of money to pose for the shots. Claudia did these free of charge. How patriotic. It was also her idea with the flag.
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