Würzburg/Germany, June 26, 2007
This year's Würzburger WerbeFachgespräche B2B congress, which took place in Germany on Monday, 25 June and Tuesday, 26 June 2007, attracted a total of 300 participants from the world of advertising and marketing. It was the 45th time that the congress had taken place. For the second year in a row, the event was staged at the state-of-the-art Vogel Convention Center which is owned by the event organizers, Vogel Business Media.
There were eleven guest speakers from the world of marketing, PR and advertising addressing the participants at this year's congress, the motto of which was "New markets. New paths. New goals." At the center of all the speeches was the topic of the ever-changing nature of communications and, in connection with this, the new challenges which today's marketing and PR experts have to face.
Claus Wüstenhagen, Chairman of the Management of Vogel Business Media, opened the congress and welcomed the guests before handing over to the first speaker, Fritz Schneider, CEO of Publicis (based in Erlangen, Germany), whose talk was on the "Fields of Communication". In his speech, Mr. Schneider made it clear how important it is to keep communications as simple as possible. Another guest speaker, Ronald Focken, Managing Director of Serviceplan, spoke on the topic of "Communications Strategies at the Turning Point". Starting with the current changes taking place in the world of media, Mr. Focken went on to discuss trends and the related consequences for branding.
The highlight of the first day of the congress was the speech entitled "Lateral Thinking in Business: Innovation Means the Courage to be Different" given by Anja Förster, authoress and managing director of the Heidelberg-based "Labor für Business-Querdenken", a unique organization which researches successfully unconventional business concepts. Ms. Förster presented numerous innovative ideas and encouraged her audience to look at familiar topics in a different way for once. The congress participants found the way in which her presentation and oratory techniques went hand in hand highly inspiring.
Bernd M. Michael, drawing from many years of management experience with the Grey Global Group, addressed the topic of "The Brand Name as a Creator of Added Value in the B2B Market". In his speech, which was the highlight of the second day of the Würzburger WerbeFachgespräche congress, Mr. Michael threw light on how the components of successful branding actually work.
There were further guest speakers rounding off the comprehensive line-up of topics covered, details of which can be found at the following website: www.wwf07.de. These included Dr. Christian Scheier, author and managing director of decode Marketingberatung (a Hamburg-based marketing consultancy), who explained "How Advertising Works" and who presented the latest findings on neuro-marketing. A further speaker, Heike Bedrich, member of the management of Talisman PR (Munich), had a look at the topic of publicity and public relations. She explained how advertising content can be developed and positioned skilfully. The issue of whether guerrilla, viral and buzz marketing methods are also suitable for B2B target groups was addressed by David Eicher, managing director of webguerillas (Munich). Clemens Wesely, from Manning Selvage & Lee in Frankfurt, spoke about "Central Versus Local Communications: Global Brand Communications Need Both." The congress also included a speech on "Lead Generation with White Papers" by Karsten Büttner, from Online Marketing Praxis Verlag (based in the German town of Lübeck). Wolfgang Tittmar, managing director of MaCS GmbH, based in Oberschleißheim/Germany, took the audience along "New Paths in Sales Communications", while Axel Gloger, editor-in-chief of "Trendletter" and economics journalist (based in Bonn), presented a speech entitled "Less is More: Keeping Things Simple as a Strategy for the Future".
Facts about the WWF congress: The 45th Würzburger WerbeFachgespräche congress took place on 25 and 26 June 2007. It was staged at the state-of-the-art Vogel Convention Center (VCC) in Würzburg/Germany, which is also where the first B2B branding & trademark conference took place in December 2006 in conjunction with Germany's trademark association (Markenverband e.V.). The organizers of WWF are Vogel Business Media - one of the leading companies internationally in the specialized journalism sector.
Information about the Vogel Media Group and Vogel Business Media: The Vogel Media Group, based in Würzburg/Germany, is one of the leading media companies with international operations in the realm of specialized journalism and special-interest publications. At the core of its business are Vogel Business Media's specialist media activities in the following sectors: Industry, Automotive & Mobility, Information Technology, Home Entertainment, Law/Tax/Economy and Foreign Trade. As a B2B information provider, the company is centred on a cross-media, comprehensive portfolio of printed publications and online features (among other things, business efficiency websites). The spectrum of services the company offers is rounded off by the sectors of media production, address management, direct marketing, sales & distribution consultancy, book publishing and back-office services.
A further pillar of its publishing activities is formed by Vogel Burda Holding, which is a joint venture with Hubert Burda Media Holding, operating in the sector of computer media within the special-interest segment ("CHIP"). On a worldwide scale, the Vogel Media Group employs 800 members of staff. In Germany alone there are around 650 employees at the company's main bases in Würzburg and Munich, working on the development and production of more than 50 different magazines with a total annual circulation of more than 20 million copies. Internationally, the group produces over 100 publications in total.
If you have any queries, please feel free to contact:
Thomas Emmerich
Event Manager
Vogel Industry Media
97064 Würzburg
Germany
Phone +49 (0)931 418-2545
Fax +49 (0)931 418-2640
Email: thomas_emmerich@vogel-medien.de
www.wwf07.de
