Dorten studios creative consultancy

Bosch
Global Impressions2011

How do you make a portrait of a global company? How do you reduce the complexity, and tear down the restraints of space and time? With the help of 125 photographers, telling the story of the gigantic company in 125 pictures taken at 125 locations. In one single – global – second.

The story begins in 1886. In Stuttgart, where Robert Bosch opens the “Werkstätte für Feinmechanik und Elektrotechnik” (Workshop for precision and electrical engineering). Decades of innovation and expansion follow. Bosch weaves a net spanning the globe. Connecting 300,000 people in over 260 locations. And then there is 2011. The year of the 125th anniversary. A moment to pause. To think about the past, to prepare for the future. But where is the contemplative space that could nurture such thoughts? A space that portrays the company and its almost incredible diversity? Bosch is everywhere and nowhere. Intangible despite its omnipresence.

Try capturing that. A company that is almost intangible. Almost. We detect the smallest common denominator that links all Bosch employees around the globe: Time. And we send out 125 photographers, to capture Bosch 125 times. All over the world. In one and the same second. 11am sharp, Central European Time.

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Locations and people are united in this tiny fraction of time. We tell stories that are special, surprising and even moving. About Bosch. With Bosch. By Bosch. 125 times. The stories and photos together make up a book written in 26 languages, published on the occasion of the 125th anniversary with a print run of 450,000. Distributed to every single Bosch employee, personally. The title: “1 sec. Global Impressions of Bosch”.

Bosch calls the book and the accompanying measures “the most successful internal communication campaign of all time”. Thousands of Bosch clients regard this as something typical for Bosch: authentic, precise, like a clock-work. The gist is always the same: People would have never guessed just how diverse Bosch really is.

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BMW Group
The Next 100 Years2013

BMW is turning 100. An historic achievement. But also a unique opportunity to penetrate the collective consciousness even more. In an age of technological and cultural change this means above all switching perspective and actively training your focus on tomorrow. Over the space of a year, the BMW Group and Dorten develop a strategy and a slogan for the future. For the next 100 years: “THE NEXT 100 YEARS”.

There is more to BMW than just BMW. There is the company, the BMW Group. And there are the brands BMW, BMW Motorrad, Mini and Rolls-Royce. What they share: a success story that could have scarcely been predicted back in 1916. And so there can be no question: This anniversary is cause for celebration, for a major international event. A Big Bang.

But we won’t stop there: Anticipating and claiming the issues of tomorrow in an emancipated way, tapping into synergy effects and positioning the BMW Group in the long-term as an intellectual trailblazer. As “The driving force of mobility”.

We develop a communication strategy for the business and brands with distinct roles: In the future the BMW Group will position itself as a visionary innovator, prepare the public for the issues of tomorrow’s world of individual mobility. In turn the brands will make these pre-communicated issues of tomorrow visible and tangible, create identification and covetousness.

Whilst some think ahead, others are acting ahead. In practical terms this means that with its Next Agenda the BMW Group will spark discourse, bust prejudices and scepticism, incite anticipation and enthusiasm. At the same time, the brands will visualise all of this through products and services and make this come alive in the different brand characters. In a nutshell: brands and company alike interplay and mutually benefit each other in a lasting way. The activities marking the anniversary are closely intertwined with the strategy process, Maximilian Schöberl, Head of Communications at the BMW Group reports.

The dialog with society gives rise to lasting added value – for the next three generations no less. Happy birthday BMW!

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BMW Art Guide2012-2016

Sponsorship? Typically a cash transaction in exchange for image enhancement, without the sponsor actually contributing anything to the content itself. So who ultimately spends a fortune just to drown unnoticed in a sea of corporate logos? Atypically: Together with the art collector’s platform Independent Collectors, Dorten developed a brand new collaboration for BMW, raising the brand to a level alongside the most important private art collections worldwide.

Many premium brands are now jumping at the chance to enhance their image by association to the worlds of art, design and architecture. Which is good, especially for the creative individuals working within these areas. For the companies however, it’s often a one way street. More often than not, their commitment is limited to run-of-the-mill sponsorship, where a lot of money is charged for modest logo-placement. How can a brand contribute distinctive content that isn’t easy to copy?

The “BMW Art Guide by Independent Collectors” is the first guide to private, yet publicly accessible art collections all over the world. While traditional sponsorship restricts the company to the role of an “enabling partner”, BMW and the Art Guide set new standards for future cooperation’s between corporations and the world of art and culture.

In autumn 2016 the fourth, extended edition of the Art Guide was published. Made up of 256 collections – both small and large, well known and the completely unknown. The concise publication takes the reader to over 43 countries and 180 cities – often off the beaten track.

The Art Guide’s refined, unpretentious design and its pioneering role have been well received by the media. It has established itself as a standard publication for the international art world and is available in the art section of every bookstore. It’s well on the way to becoming a “Michelin Guide” for private collections.

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Felss
Shortcut Technologies2010 – 12

Felss: One holding company, six locations, four countries and a multitude of products, machines and services. We discover simple maxims in complex technologies and give them a universally understandable language.

Founded all the way back in 1905, Felss has been producing metalworking machines and different components for over a century. Its main buyer – the automotive industry. In 1988 Felss Rotaform is established, later it is joined by Felss Burger. Felss grows and expands – into Switzerland, the US, China. A global network, bespoke customer service and highly specialised expertise. And a holding company that has grown organically boasting many individual success stories. But lacking that one shared corporate culture.

Dorten recognises an ever-recurring and perplexing principle: thanks to scores of smart, unconventional solutions, Felss is able to make more out of less and as such to improve efficiency in many respects. A highly complex paradox, higher mathematics, squaring the circle. Or, as we call it: shortcuts.

We make this visible in the new claim: “Shortcut Technologies”. Bold, because shortcut could also be interpreted as cutting corners. Felss and Dorten harness this moment of confusion, and reinterpret it in the vein of an agent provocateur: Since time immemorial the company had been on the spot to explain products, machines, processes and itself. Now the claim invites you to engage in an open conversation about it.

To pinpoint the quality features shared by the Felss world as a whole, we develop a benefits alphabet – out of abbreviations or tags – which the individual companies realign their portfolios to. A process of corporate self-discovery. This allows us to give all the divisions of the international holding company a common language and makes previously undetected connections visible.

In concert with employees, copywriters and photographers we go one step further and write their own “shortcuts stories” with them. Content creation, which can be understood as an internal gelling process and at the same time is harnessed for external communication. Communication straight to the point. 2 in 1. Shortcuts.

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Bosch eBike Systems
Ride your eWorld2014 – 15

All over the world the eBike is being celebrated by politicians and urban planners alike as a trailblazing example of future-proof mobility. Bosch recognised the potential of the eBike and in 2009 set up a dedicated eBike Systems segment. As lead agency Dorten accompanies the young product division’s rise to market-leader status.

Thanks to mature and reliable technology from Bosch, in the space of just a few years the niche product transformed into an appealing, all-rounder lifestyle object for all generations, opening up new opportunities in the fields of sport, work and everyday life. Today, one bike in ten sold in Germany is an eBike. Managers are pedalling their Pedelecs to the office, tradesmen are swapping their vans for cargo e-bikes.

Since early 2014, we have been busy designing and refining the communications strategy for Bosch eBike Systems. We set perception goals, define topics and refine messages. We capture those personal moments at the human-machine interface when things click – when a spark lights a fire: emotionally, accessibly, credibly. The focus shifts from one application to the next as if by magic – bringing along new stories.

Convinced of the usefulness of the technology and the relevance of this subject, we find it easy to communicate the fascination it exudes. We position the system not only as a contemporary answer to the issue of urban mobility but also as a new dimension in off-road sports opportunities. Spreading driving pleasure and lifestyle, we are supporting the launch of a new and fully networked generation of eBikes and drumming up enthusiasm among manufacturers, specialist dealers and end customers for the topic of connectivity. In all of this we stage Bosch as a trailblazer for the entire industry and a driver of the Internet of Things. In sum: we present the world of Bosch eBike Systems in a way that prepares the ground for emotional access to the brand promise Technology for Life.

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BMW i
MR PORTER Edition2016

The London concept store Mr Porter teams up with BMW i to create an unusual special edition and includes the i3 as its first and only car in its product range. Dorten showcases it both fashionably and timelessly at once.

The concept of the Concept Store is long since established. The London online store Mr Porter – with 170 target countries and 25 million views per month – is one of the most successful of these hybrids combining department-store and boutique which arrange clothing, footwear and sportswear, travel accessories and cosmetics into sophisticated compositions in a digital shop window.

Alongside jackets and sneakers are natural hair shaving brushes, Leica cameras and leather-covered earphones, chess sets and manicure sets. Mr Porter provides the stage for more than 300 designers, including Alexander Mc Queen, Raf Simons or Givenchy. And: marking its 5th anniversary, now for Benoit Jacob, head designer of the BMW i3, too.

What might seem surprising at first – an i3 amidst clothing and accessories – at second glance is a logical next step: The exterior and interior of the Mr Porter edition both contain all kinds of fashion cues, artisanal details and ingenious surfaces. Class and meticulous attention to detail. Like a tailored suit.

Dorten develops the creative concept for the BMW i3 shoot and in tandem with the Berlin based photographer Amos Fricke creates an extraordinary visual world. Stripped away to the essentials, both contemporary and classic at once.

Together we showcase logos, leather, seams, wood and a fine gloss “brushstroke”, a tribute to the pinstripe. With the highest precision we thus strike a balance between pin-sharp clarity and artistic abstraction. Oscillating between matt and gloss, between the reflection of light and shade, between brilliant colour and subtle hues.

Photography so delicate you can almost reach out and touch the object yourself. And a sporty car that proves that it, too, can knock ‘em dead in an elegant outfit.

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Uzin Utz
Die Zukunft unter uns2010 – 11

The forgotten sector of construction chemistry. And a big anniversary. Which we are not just celebrating with a fabulous party but with relevant content. On the occasion of the 100th birthday of Uzin Utz we are taking a close look into the future of flooring. Finding a diamond in the rough.

Relevance, visibility. Often enough they’re no more than empty shells, over-used in any form of communication. But if we are to fill these terms with life, they will become a commitment, the most important goal of any brand communication. The “Hidden Champions” of the global market – how can they step out of the shadow? How can they become champions? Without the “hidden”?

The construction chemistry specialist Uzin Utz AG has more than 1,000 employees and is the world market leader in the sector of floor construction. This means invisibility in more than one sense of the word. The products are “low interest” and are applied beneath the flooring materials. In the year marking its 100th anniversary, Uzin Utz senses a historic opportunity and prepares for a gigantic leap into a new self-image. And builds a time machine.

The opportunity becomes “The Future at your feet”. A global collaborative workshop exploring the future of flooring. Over 40 internationally selected specialists from the sectors of architecture, science, medicine and art are let loose to come up with ideas, to give impulses – and to bend the laws of natural science if necessary. We do everything to create a playground as big as possible. A flush of innovation.

This is followed by the construction of seven concept prototypes that show what the floor of the future could be. How it could look, feel, or function. Could. Because each of the seven studies makes one thing clear: The concept of the floor is full of unharvested potential.

On its 100th birthday, Uzin Utz opens the door to its workshop for the future and, in the form of a grand exhibition, presents the current state of the studies. Additional types of media are being created: a website, two books, a campaign and more. But most importantly: Uzin initiates a discourse. A discourse so persistent that the exhibition is touring to this day, enthusing visitors from a variety of sectors.

Meanwhile “The Future at your feet” has developed into an established research and development platform and into a strategic component to move this middle-sized company ahead. In a nutshell: it has paved the way for Uzin Utz.

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BMW
The Sense of Movement2015

“The Sense of Movement”, a book that curates and documents exceptional artist’s journeys. And in doing so itself becomes a moving object.

In 2013, Daniel Richter and Tal R set off for Greenland with other artists and a group of scientists. On a three-masted sailing ship to the remote island of Ella. The title of the film capturing their journey: “Expedition To The End Of The World”. It shows the navigation through the ice massif. How researchers discover a species. Perhaps even the meaning of life – as they say themselves. At any rate: pure inspiration.

In retribution for a storm’s destruction of strategically important bridges, legend has it that in the 5th century BC King Xerxes of Persia punished the sea with 300 lashes. Between 2011 and 2012, the Berlin artist Julius von Bismarck picks up the pre-Christian subject, travels and metes out lashes to the sea, mountain summits and monuments under the heading “Punishment”– to the point of exhaustion.

In her works, US resident Shirin Neshat addresses the complexity of gender and identity, of tradition and modernity in Islamic countries. “Rapture” is a video piece with a deliberately vague style, which shows women in natural surroundings, men in built spaces. A view from outside of the culture that is both her own and foreign at once.

Three examples from the book “The Sense of Movement”. They give a sense of the artist’s journey that can be so many different things: an expedition, an experience on the edge, romance, martyrdom, exile. Quite apart from the infinite possibilities in space and time. What all the journeys seem to have in common though: a certain degree of unpredictability, of unforeseeable encounters and coincidences. A rhythm composed of speed and deceleration. Of stagnation and flow. A sense of being in the thick of it all.

“The Sense of Movement” harnesses the subject of the artist’s journey, examines it from near and far, in the past and present without aiming to be a complete, finished compendium. Far more, it is a free, even eclectic anthology of the different forms of journeys and their art. Off the beaten track. An open book.

We want to bring this insight to life in the book, too, in the way we read it, observe it and leaf through it. So we follow a non-linear structure, for the content and the design. Just like how for many artists works develop out of a process, the chapters are not decided on in advance either, but defined as they emerge from the artistic material. Each project has its own individual layout. Pictures do not comply with a rigid structure, they can be big, small, can continue over the binding if they want. Stretched out over double pages, they make you stop and pause for a moment, make you look out and beyond.

And so the publication does not just present a selection of 70 artist’s journeys in a vivid and informative way. Its structure and design with its own very unique rhythm – constantly switching back and forth between intimacy and distance – make the feeling of travelling come alive for the readers themselves.

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Welt Kompakt
Restless planet seeks new journalism2011

Welt Kompakt has opened itself up to the Internet. The aim: winning back the internet-savvy audience. But is it even still possible to transform online users into newspaper readers? We orchestrate a campaign illustrating the melting pot the Internet is mutating into.

The world is changing. It always has been. But now it is changing so fast and in so many ways at once that it’s hard to keep up. Driven by a medium that literally is breathtaking. It’s a digital 24-hour drive-in: in, quick, upload, share. Information without latency or restrictions. Everybody can have a go. Everything exists – simultaneously: a bomb attack in the Middle East, whilst the Meier family are celebrating the birth of baby Amelie, while people in the Ukraine are throwing rocks to overthrow the government, while people in India are throwing coloured powder, in observance of a traditional rite. Focusing on everything all at once, until you overload. A phenomenon asking to be contemplated. A topic for Welt Kompakt – and Dorten.

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We took the daily flush of news and – borrowing the musical concept of sampling – developed an unusual campaign. “Afghanistan. Superstar. Fashion Week. I Like.” In collaboration with the New York-based artist Peter Sutherland we created 18 print adverts and poster motifs, not really fitting the definition of advertising anymore. Like the TV adverts, all these motifs use the same subline to lead the audience to Welt Kompakt: “Restless planet, looking for new journalism.”

Journalism that deconstructs traditional methods. What would that look like? We show it in Welt Kompakt itself: Following our recommendation, the editors dare to experiment. Every day they publish a double-page that obeys the same rule as the Internet: There are no rules.

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Volksbank Ulm-Biberach
Perpetuating progress2013

The financial crisis had its upsides, too. Trust is building again where it once came from: at home. A bank which is closely connected to the region sides with its home and discovers 15 cases of extraordinary potential – in the economic, social and cultural sense – where no-one would have expected it.

The people’s bank, or Volksbank, a cooperative where people act in the interest of the people. A success story since 1962: The Volksbank Ulm-Biberach joins the cooperative shortly thereafter. 150 years ago – which is a long time. Social reforms, welfare state, security. Within this context, the revolutionary concept of a cooperative bank is almost irrelevant, seems out-dated, conservative – somehow boring, no thrills.

But against the background of the financial and the Euro crisis, cooperative values like community, trust and proximity are enjoying a comeback. As it happens, history is repeating itself. And the Volksbank Ulm-Biberach needs a new, revolutionary impulse. So we start dusting, we put the past into a new perspective and we’re courageous. May we introduce: A Bank that consistently develops its role in society, in the best interests of that society.

The Volksbank is going into the field! Leaving its switchboards, presenting its values and expertise on the streets, to the people – it acts proactively and forthrightly. Dorten turns employees into investigators on a mission: Find innovators and thinkers with ideas that have potential to nurture the regional progress of society. From a pool of almost 100 candidates, 15 are selected by a team of experts and will receive financial and structural support from the bank from now on.

“Fortschritt bewahren” (“perpetuating progress”) – a gift for the region: A thank you for 150 years of trust and proof positive that the Volksbank Ulm-Biberach deserves that trust in times to come. Media and citizens alike are surprised and thrilled by this anniversary project – and by the creativity of the people who work within their region, for the region. Cooperative today.

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Felss
The Patent2007

A dubious patent lawsuit is shaking a medium-sized company to the core. Instead of sitting back and waiting for the judgement, we empower the company to assume the role of an author writing his own story. A lesson in how powerful communication can be. If you let it.

The threat is real and existential. We’re talking about Felss, an engineering company in the Black Forest that has been supplying the global market at a very high level: with a patented and revolutionary metalworking process. It has been brought to a grinding halt by a competitor, demanding a right to use the technology free of charge. Otherwise: patent lawsuit.

What now? Time is running out for Felss, first clients are already cancelling their orders. Countersuit? Expensive, tedious, unpredictable results. Instead: sophistication, paired with charm. In 2007 Felss, together with Dorten, releases the first provincial economic thriller. While the trial is still underway.

“The Patent” is the story of the invention of the process, of how the competitor challenged the patent, of the events surrounding the trial and, naturally, the final verdict. Communication at its best. “Thriller instead of a deluge of lawsuits” says the press in their reports about such a surprising offensive. Even today the book is replacing the standard brochures. The lawsuit? Felss wins it and keeps the patent – not only on moral grounds.

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Welt Kompakt
Concise. Different. Printed.2010

The relationship between online and print is that of a hunter and the hunted. A law of nature? Welt Kompakt is the first German daily newspaper to bury the hatchet and trust in cooperation. Dorten starts a campaign which identifies and poses questions. And therefore is unusually successful.

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The newspaper is in crisis. By the time it gets printed, we have already consumed that content online. For free. Its analogue machinery of information and opinions is sputtering. Or are we the spanners in its works? Welt Kompakt is the first German paper to introduce an Internet section in 2009. Dares to rethink its genre. Turning a foe into a friend.

Dorten develops a completely new market positioning, a new brand strategy and brand communication. We go to the source of the fear, talk to the distracted, the adventurous, Generation Internet. “Kurz. Anders. Gedruckt.” (“Concise. Different. Printed.”) – the new brand promise boldly emphasizes the change of course at Welt Kompakt. A newspaper in an unusually convenient format that doesn’t want to be a competitor, but a printed supplement to online media.

Our questions initiate a discussion all over Germany. And an unusual idea needs appropriate packaging which mirrors the aesthetics of the Internet. Today it’s difficult to understand why in 2009 these images had such a disturbing effect in their printed form. Some people were outright appalled. Hundreds of blogs join the discussion – later also big media like Der Spiegel, Die Zeit or taz – thus multiplying the communicative effect.

Sales and subscriptions to Welt Kompakt rise substantially and market research attests extraordinary brand and advertising effects. According to Axel Springer Verlag, it is one of the most successful campaigns the company has launched in recent decades.

Are we ready for a new paper? Evidently.

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