Stagis søger to praktikanter til efteråret 2013 med følgende profiler:

• Corporate branding, kommunikation og kampagner
• PR, kommunikation og sociale medier

CORPORATE BRANDING, KOMMUNIKATION OG KAMPAGNER

Har du behov for praktisk erfaring med corporate branding, kommunikation og kampagner? Savner du et solidt indspark til din teoretiske læring? Ønsker du et praktikforløb, som fokuserer på opbygning af corporate brands? Dette praktikforløb hos Stagis handler primært om at arbejde med praktisk gennemførelse af kommunikations- og corporate brandingprojekter, hvor du som praktikant skal assistere vores projektleder. Du kommer desuden til at deltage aktivt i den daglige drift af virksomheden, og afhængigt af dine ønsker og kompetencer skaber vi et forløb, hvor du indgår i projekter, der matcher dine interesser. Opgaverne spænder vidt, men tager udgangspunkt i virksomheders behov for at kommunikere identitet.

FOKUSOMRÅDER:

Deltagelse i udvikling af begivenheder, oplevelser og events - Kundemøder, kortlægning af projekter og konceptudvikling - Projektkoordinering og planlægning af begivenheder og kundeprojekter - Skrive tekster til web og tryk, fx artikler til nyhedsbreve og blog - Assistance for konsulenter og projektledere på kundeprojekter

PR, KOMMUNIKATION OG SOCIALE MEDIER

Vil du prøve din teoretiske læring af i praksis? Ønsker du at udvikle dig gennem et praktikforløb, som fokuserer på PR og opbygning af corporate image?

Dette praktikforløb handler primært om at arbejde med den praktiske gennemførelse af kommunikations- og PR-projekter for både Stagis og vores kunder. Som praktikant kommer du til at assistere vores projektleder ved at arbejde med pressemeddelelser, nyhedsbreve, kontakt til redaktioner og strukturering af kilder og medier. Du vil fra første arbejdsdag blive inddraget i arbejdsopgaverne og få ansvar for specifikke håndteringer af opgaver. Du vil også indgå som medhjælp i flere andre projekter i forbindelse med kortlægning og udvikling af vore kunders identiteter og design.

FOKUSOMRÅDER:

Kommunikation (intern og ekstern) for både Stagis og kunder - Mediehåndtering på baggrund af vores projekter for kunder - Stagis' egen profil på sociale medier og blog - Håndtering af administrative opgaver ift projekter i huset- Udvikling og formidling af projekter for organisationer.

FOR BEGGE PRAKTIKFORLØB GÆLDER

ANSVAR OG AKTIV LÆRING

Vi forventer, at du deltager i hverdagen på lige fod med os andre. Både du og vi får det største udbytte gennem aktiv deltagelse – ved at du ikke kun ”ser med”, men også selv laver fejl og succes’er. Du bliver tilknyttet to medarbejdere i Stagis og vi udbetaler praktikløn.

For at komme i betragtning til disse praktikpladser skal du være i gang med en overbygningsuddannelse på et universitet eller en handelshøjskole, hvor du studerer kommunikation, markedsføring eller branding. Du skal have interesse for branding, kommunikation og PR – og kunne arbejde både selvstændigt og i et team. Vi forventer, at du taler og skriver korrekt dansk.

PRAKTIKANT I STAGIS

Hvis du vil være praktikant hos Stagis i efteråret 2013, så send din ansøgning og CV til

praktikant@stagis.dk. Fristen for ansøgning er 10. maj 2013. I dit CV må du gerne inkludere al din arbejdserfaring, også selvom det ikke har relation til kommunikation eller markedsføring. Find information om Stagis A/S her.

Vi glæder os til at høre fra dig!

In a previous blog post One man, 366 logos, I took a closer look at the Swedish designer Fredrik Lundwalls retouch of several well-known brand logos. Lundwall challenged himself to redesign an existing logo each and every day throughout 2012, and the result of his work was numerous potential face-lifts to a variety of both old and new, international and regional brand logos.

In the blog post I tried to raise a discussion on the extent to which companies can change their logos over night. In my opinion logos can be improved over time, but there are some considerations that must be made in advance. A great example of this is Roskilde Festival, who recently decided to redesign their logo.

As a more or less neutral outsider with only one appearance on the grass fields of Roskilde, my personal opinion about the ongoing adjustments to the logo is predominantly positive. I think that the changes have adjusted the logo to an industry endlessly influenced by shifting trends, and I have my doubts about the 1973 editions ability to embrace the concept of the festival today.

At the same time, the continuous reshaping of the hallmark of Roskilde has been a great way to create attention/buzz about the festival - and there has been lots of activity on their social media platforms due to the latest face-lift. Within days from the launch, the first passionate supporter uploaded a picture of the new canopy tattooed on his leg on the Roskilde Festival Facebook-page, which has been a breeding ground for numerous discussions and dialogs about the new logo.

The canopy and the logo

With the new logo Roskilde Festival has kept true to their “original” 1978 logo, in which the orange canopy was unveiled. Apart from operating as the visual trademark of the festival, the canopy also plays an important part in the history of Roskilde Festival. Originally, the canopy was produced for the Rolling Stones’ European Tour in 1976. In 1977 Roskilde Festival spotted the canopy on a photograph from the NME coverage of the Hyde Park Queen concert in London. It was love at first sight and in 1978 the orange canopy was unloaded to the fields of Roskilde. After Roskilde Festival 2000 the original canopy retired due to abrasion. The following year a new and slightly larger model was introduced, and the orange canopy has been synonymous with the Roskilde Festival ever since.    

Since 1971, the festival, which is one of the largest of its kind in the Northern Europa, has kept on fine-tuning their logo, and the canopy, which is the hallmark of the festival, has yet again been reshaped.

 The timeline below shows the progress of the Roskilde Festival logo.

Through the past years Roskilde Festival has received quite some critique on their musical profile, which has been rather fuzzy, according to both music reviewers and a large part of the festival crowd. Therefore, the logo face-lift might herald a new era in the history of Roskilde Festival. Based on the line-up for this year’s festival so far, this is exactly what the festival aims to do.

In terms of the new logo I think it suits Roskilde Festival very well, and as long as they stay true to the canopy and the orange colour, they can keep on fine-tuning the logo.

What do you think about the face-lift of the logo? Is Roskilde Festival moving into a new era? Feel free to share your thoughts.  

The magazine Hotel&Restauration has published an article on authenticity in the industry of hotels and restaurants. Nikolaj Stagis points out that even though authenticity can seem a bit abstract it is really just a matter of companies being good at defining who they are and what they are good at. He mentions the Danish restaurant Noma and the Hotel Mandarin Oriental in Bangkok as excellent examples of truly authentic companies within the industry. Read the article or watch a video with Nomas CEO Peter Kreiner, who gave a talk at the launch event for "The Authentic Company" in February 2012.

Last year on New Year’s day 2012, a creative Swede decided to challenge himself by forming visual facelifts to logos of numerous renowned brands.

Inspired by a photographer, who photographed himself every day during a one-year period, Frederik Lundwall, designer and creative director, decided to reconstruct an existing brand logo each day throughout 2012. To make the challenge even harder Frederik set up a short time limit for his work, allowing him to use only one hour a day modifying the logos.

In the name of sharing, Lundwall has provided 366 companies and brands with a new perspective on their logos. All they have to do is visit Frederik’s website. I admire Frederik’s graphical work; especially the rework on Hestra, KPMG and Boxer, and the re-creations has surely drawn attention to Frederik and his work. The question that pops up in my mind is, to what extent these companies, if it was in their interest, could take the new logos to heart?  A company logo contains so much more than the visual identity, so how straightforward is it to change the logo of a company or brand over night? What do you think?  

Our logo didn’t come across Frederik’s creative hands, and despite the risk of bringing our designers on my neck, I gave myself the Lundwall-challenge, and here is my shot on how the makeover of the Stagis logo could have turned out. 

I have 87 apps on my Smartphone. Believe me, I counted them. For some this might seem like an abnormal amount, but I use them all. These apps give me instant and often very well structured access to news, weather, sports, search engines, social media networks, cloud-services, photo-apps, games and much more. I also have access to my email accounts. My phone is my digital tool of choice, and my computer is now mostly used for work related tasks, and not for random browsing online. 

This development in preference is trending not only with me. A 2012 report done by the market research agency Nielsen shows that the U.S. market (which is comparable to the European market) has experienced a huge growth in users connecting to the Internet through mobile devices. While the amount of unique users connected to the Internet with a PC is down 4 % compared to 2011, the amount of unique users connected via mobile web is up 82 % and connections made through mobile apps is up 85 % (Nielsen, 2012). This is evidence of a shift in user preferences and a result of a growing Smartphone and tablet market. Companies and organizations alike should therefore pay close attention to this trend turned tendency. 

Going mobile is going where your audience is. This is by no means a bold statement considering the market research mentioned above. Further research done by e.g. Mobile Marketing Association suggests that companies on average stands to gain an 85 % increase in consumer engagement as a result of adapting their website to mobile usage or creating an app. Additionally, the research claims that companies benefits from added consumer engagement seen as an increase in sales. 

The evidence is all pointing in the same direction. Companies must start, if they haven’t already, to adapt websites to mobile usage or even create apps to service their customers. I am a firm believer that all companies must surrender to at least adapting their website to mobile use. This is a question of usability. If your users have easy, well structured access to your site no matter the device used, they will stay longer and more often than not repeat their visit. Apps are on the other hand not an equally important channel of communication for all companies to utilize. Based on observation, an app should be created only by having identified a specific consumer demand for a key service, or as a branding campaign. An example of a service app is mobile banking. Here users are able to check accounts, transfer money on the go etc. In terms of campaigns, Nike has on of the most succesful mobile apps out there with Nike+. The app engages users to compete with each other on fitness achievements. Another succesful campaign is Coinoffers by McDonalds in Denmark, which gives users the opportunity to collect coins through QR codes and recorded sound bites, that can be exchange for free burgers at one of the company’s restaurants. Both campaigns embrace gamification as a tool of deliverance and both are designed to inspire play, fun and feelings of community when using them. Gamification is not right for every company considering services offered, but giving the users a sense of community and added brand value is. 

The point is that your consumers, the users of mobile sites and apps, are growing in numbers, and they are waiting for you to go mobile. Whether creating an app, adapting your site to be optimal for mobile use, or both, going mobile is a tool for companies to ensure future brand engagement.

Corporate branding, projektledelse og kampagner

Har du behov for praktisk erfaring med corporate branding, kommunikation og kampagner? Savner du et solidt indspark til din teoretiske læring? Ønsker du et praktikforløb, som fokuserer på opbygning af corporate brands? 

Dette praktikforløb hos Stagis handler primært om at arbejde med praktisk gennemførelse af kommunikations- og corporate branding-projekter, hvor du som praktikant skal assistere vores projektleder. Du kommer desuden til at deltage aktivt i den daglige drift af virksomheden, og afhængigt af dine ønsker og kompetencer skaber vi et forløb, hvor du indgår i projekter, der matcher dine interesser. Opgaverne spænder vidt, men tager udgangspunkt i virksomheders behov for at kommunikere identitet. 

Fokusområder

• Deltagelse i udvikling af begivenheder, oplevelser og events
• Kundemøder, kortlægning af projekter og konceptudvikling
• Projektkoordinering og planlægning af begivenheder og kundeprojekter
• Skrive tekster til web og tryk, fx artikler til nyhedsbreve
• Assistance for konsulenter og projektledere på kundeprojekter

The municipality of Thisted in Denmark has a lot to offer, and the citizens are realizing the potential of hosting a World Cup for Windsurfers.

”While a number of municipalities in Denmark engages with expensive - and often ineffective - advertising, Thisted municipality and the other partners in the project are so lucky to have a resource in a bunch of dedicated surfing enthusiasts” - Nikolaj Stagis explains to the local newspaper Nordjyske.dk.

An intiative called Cold Hawaii is the organization behind the yearly World Cup for Windsurfers and as the name indicates, the wind is ideal and the temperature is…shall we say ”refreshing”?

The success was founded with "Cold Hawaii Masterplan" in 2006 and 2007, and has proven to be an invaluable investment for the parties involved in the project over the past year. The excellent results achieved in 2010 - 2012, suggest not only that the area's strengths has been defined and translated into relevant, distinct activities, culminating in Cold Hawaii PWA World Cup. They also suggest that here is a cluster of dedicated enthusiasts and partners who have managed to take the long haul. Both to serve their own dreams, but also to serve the area's image and growth. Too many branding and image campaigns are too vaguely based on the municipalities and organizations who aim to succeed. Often, the campaigns and projects get redefined, altered or simply forgotten, and the organizations are left with a wondering of why money was wasted and the effect did not materialize. 

In Thy it has worked out differently. The project to promote and market Thisted Municipality as "Cold Hawaii" exudes that there is a partnership between the municipality, community organizations and local enthusiasts who are passionate about surf sports, to nature and to attract a world championship in windsurfing. These are the enthusiasts who make the project heartfelt and authentic - and which enables the humble fishing village of Klitmøller to make an impact on a much larger scale than we are used to seeing. The trick, of course, is to realize the value in the development that has already taken place, and ensure that it continues and becomes even greater. The more the municipality grow their authentic identity, the greater synergies, credibility and garnering between all the parties involved.

Click on the links above and read more about the initiative that puts Thisted and Thy on the world map while creating a strong incentive for the whole municipality to take part and identify with the activities that surrounds the World Cup. Read Nikolaj Stagis' blog on the success of Thy here (in Danish!).

Need more information on how to discover and realize authenticity in your organization? Go to www.nikolajstagis.dk or read more about other cases here.

Friday night it was officially announced that Copenhagen is awarded the title of European Green Capital 2014. The title is awarded by the European Commision in Bruxelles and given once a year to the city in Europe that shows the most initiative and innovation in creating green, sustainable solutions for cleaner and healthier city life.

Copenhagen competed with 19 other cities in Europe for the award. Three cities were selected to present their bid in front of a jury in Bruxelles. Frankfurt Am Main, Bristol and Copenhagen were the final three candidates.

Stagis’ role in Copenhagen’s bid for the award was to help the Municipality of Copenhagen to put into words and images the many great green initiatives and innovative solutions that Copenhagen offers its citizens. The end result was a great presentation; although deciding on which green activities and initiatives to include in the hour-long presentation was a difficult task – Copenhagen really has so much to offer in this regard. For instance, Copenhagen has a unique central heat distribution, we are becoming the no. 1 city in the World in terms of using the bicycle to get around the city, and the city is developing new recreational areas to make life in Copenhagen greener and easier.

Through a workshop and several meetings with the Technical and Environmental Adminstration of Copenhagen, Stagis helped to concentrate the many green initiatives and solutions into a concept which provided a red thread through the presentation. The concept, which we named ”Sharing Copenhagen”, describes not only the green solutions and the benefits to all Copenhageners, but more so the actual way the City of Copenhagen works in creating a better, cleaner, healthier and greener city. The Municipality of Copenhagen has a unique approach to making the green growth happen: Whenever there is a problem to be solved, they try to find a solution that will work in several ways. For instance, there is a growing problem with traffic congestion (just like so many other big cities) and the solution doesn't only solve congestion - it also aims to create long term health improvement, more green areas, less air pollution and lower cost. That's why the streets close to my house at Dronning Louises Bro has wider bicycle lanes than car lanes. It helps more people bicycle and less people to choose the car. So, the way we solve problems in Copenhagen is by thinking "smart" solutions across several boundaries. The other strength that is important in Copenhagen is our ability to share. We share ideas, we get people to participate, and the city is open to share solutions with the rest of Europe. We thought "sharing" was a key concept in the way Copenhagen works. And certainly an important part of the role Copenhagen takes on in 2014.

I am really proud and happy that my team has helped Copenhagen (and all you copenhageners!) claim the title as European Green Capital 2014. I think there are so many things that we can share and teach to other cities in Europe, and around the World. Although I might be a little biased, I believe that it is well deserved. First of all it is well deserved by the team that did an extraordinary effort during May, developing the concept and preparing the copy and design for the presentation for Bruxelles (well done, Marc, Søren and Michael!). Secondly, I think it's well done by the City counsil and everyone in Copenhagen. We look forward to 2014 when Copenhagen will have many great activities celebrating the city’s year as the greenest, most livable city in Europe. We might not be the biggest city or the biggest country, bu we should still participate in being a role model that others can follow.

Here is a selection of the 66 slides of the one hour-long presentation that was delivered by the director of, and his colleagues from, the Technical and Environmental Adminstration of Copenhagen in Bruxelles:

There is an article on the award on Danish newspaper Politiken.

Last week I had the pleasure of speaking at a conference at Copenhagen Business School (CBS) together with my good colleague and dear friend, professor Majken Schultz. As always it was a great experience to share my theory and experience with an interested and engaged crowd, who were keen to learn more about how to create value in a company by using authenticity to grow a passionate brand.

I have lectured at CBS a number of times, however this was the first time after the launch of my new book Den autentiske virksomhed (“The Authentic Company”). I was delighted to share the podium with Majken, who was my supervisor back when the book was still a dissertation in 2006. The whole experience brought me back to where it all started – it has been a wonderful and exciting journey to where Stagis and I stand today. A journey that included visiting owners and managers of companies such as LEGO, Hästens, Alessi, Absolut, Ducati and BMW.

More than one hundred and twenty managers, communications professionals and students attended the conference. They heard Majken and I speak on authenticity, branding and identity and the value of joining these three elements as a means of creating growth, passion and leadership in the brand of the company.

I started the conference by presenting authenticity as a concept and a tool. I had chosen the two companies Ducati and Noma to illustrate where authenticity has been used successfully to respectively create a turnaround and provide inspiration for a new unrecognized position in the market place. I then elaborated on the three dimensions of authenticity (historical, reflexive and expressive authenticity) and how a company can be rated on these three dimensions in order to discuss possible ways forward for the brand. The discussion that followed had excellent questions and insights from the audience and I really enjoyed the debate. For me it's certainly the most interesting part of giving a talk, when the participants want to know more, discuss the cases and the idea and question to what extend it can be used.

In the second half of the conference Majken explained organizational identity and how this ties to authenticity. One of her most important points in this regard was the fact that identity is at the same time “who we are” and “where we are going” and an ongoing internal discussion in the company between employees, managers and stakeholders to reach consensus on this. Authenticity can be used to create a point of reference for all involved parts.

At the following networking reception I spoke to a bunch of interesting people telling me how their companies are working – or not working – with creating a focused and passionate identity. Many of them told me that they felt inspired by my presentation. Well, I am the one getting inspired by all of you. Every presentation that I give leaves me with loads of inspiration and new perspectives and viewpoints on authentic identity and I often receive feedback that I can use in my future work. I know Majken Schultz had a great time too, so hopefully we'll get back to doing more talks during the fall.

Thanks to everyone who participated at the conference – I look forward to meeting you again sometime. The participants have received emails with a link to our presentations. If you missed it, don't hesitate to send me an email. We might put together a few sound clips and video from the event - until then you can view videos from our conference in February.

”One of the best books in Danish on this subject. (…) The Authentic Company is an interesting book that invite leaders to focus on the company's inner strengths instead of market analysis and spreadsheets”.

The reviewer Henrik Ørholst from the newspaper Berlingske seems to be fond of my book even though he thinks the book has too many pages, and that the language is a bit to academic. I’ve certainly considered shortening the cases and the book in order to make it a quicker read and easier to get an overview. On the other hand, I know that some of the managers from the public sector are happy that I use examples that fit their mindset specifically, and managers from public and private healthcare organizations who appreciate the stories and examples that fit their everyday view of work.

The review is accompanied by an interesting article about the corporate museums, largely using examples from the book. I think the upside of the many pages (about 360 including introduction etc.) is that different people with a different focus can find examples, case-studies, research and knowledge that suit their need. I personally hate professional books that only refer the theory and the numbers – I want the story aswell. What did they do? How did they do it? And in their own words, please... So I’ve included the voices of Jørgen Vig Knudstorp from LEGO, René Rezepi from Noma, Alberto Alessi from Alessi, hoping that when you read the book you get to meet them and find inspiration from them, just like I did when I met them. Even though I largely view organizational authenticity as a strategic way of focusing the business, it is also about personal meetings and the way leaders are able of telling the story about what they did and where they want to bring the organization next.

I am considering making a shorter version of the book by shortening some of the case studies, taking out some of the contextual descriptions of what I call the “meaning society” (meningssamfundet) and focusing a bit more on the possibilities and tools that a manager can use in order to create an authentic company. So maybe by the end of this year or next year Henrik Ørholst get a book on the subject with fewer pages.

Here is a short extract of the review in Danish:

”Bogen har flere eksempler, som alle er spændende. Her finder læseren den utilpassede kok René Redzepi fra restaurant Noma. Her er der opbygget et stærkt brand med udgangspunkt i det nordiske fortælling, hvor der er mad fra vores del af verden, som er i centrum, og iscenesættelsen får alt hvad den kan trække pågodt og ondt. Bedst er historien om den italienske motorcykelfabrikant Ducati, der rejste sig fra ruinerne og blev forvandlet til et succesfuldt brand (…). Sidetallet er oppustet, og det er med til at sløre for budskaberne. Men nårlæseren får destilleret budskaberne, er det en af de bedste bøger på dansk om emnet. Forfatteren har eksemplerne parate igennem hele bogen.”