Inflight Magazine of Brussels Airlines

Branding Berlin

As the German capital continues to evolve, its unique cultural backdrop is proving a perfect breeding ground for a new wave of ‘microbrand’ businesses. Kevin Braddock meets some of the city’s mini marvels

Every capital city has its symbolic, instantly recognisable tourist trinket. In The Big Apple it’s the ‘I ❤ New York’ cap, while London has the Harrods bag. And Berlin? A city famous for its avant-garde, countercultural bohemianism, some say you’ve never really ‘done’ a Berlin weekend without returning home with a ‘Wasted German Youth’ T-shirt.

It may sound like something you wouldn’t want your kids wearing – or a slogan that’s guaranteed to offend your folks – but this garment and its parent brand, owned by New Zealand-born Paul Snowden, is singularly expressive of the city’s liberal attitude to hedonism. Now five years old, Wasted German Youth is a natively Berlinische outfit that grew out of an art project. And like other emerging Berlin microbrands, it was born in the creative demi-monde of nightclubs, salons and squats that sprang up after reunification in 1990.

As the cliché goes, Berlin is poor but sexy – and tourists like it that way. According to Berlin Tourism Marketing, visitor numbers grew about 12% in 2010. Key among the city’s attractions are products of the culture industry: a thriving underground of bars and clubs (including Weekend, Berghain, Tausend and Soju), boutique fashion labels (Lala, Kaviar Gauche and Esther Perbandt) and innovative print and digital media projects (highly-regarded culture revue 032c, fashion biannual I Love You, alternative tourism portal www.SlowTravelBerlin.com), along with countless independent art galleries, all imbued with Berlin’s spirit of liberation, experimentation and regeneration.

The art of business

The city may lack the financial clout and consumer spending power of, say, London or New York, but its affection for fashion, music, art and media is suited to incubating creative entrepreneurial projects, according to Paul Snowden. “Berlin is such a creative city,” he says. “Small brands make the place. I always say, if you took the club culture out of Berlin, the city would collapse.” And low rents – accommodation can typically go for a third or a half of its London equivalent – permit space and time for creative development.

Wasted German Youth, Snowden says, “Lives from the do-it-yourself, punk-rock attitude. In London or New York, a business would need to make money from the start, whereas this is an art project that became a business.” And it’s grown into a significant, recognisable brand that exports the city’s mystique beyond Berlin: retailing clothing, accessories and merchandise to a generation of ravers, hosting events, syndicating design and collaborating with like-minded brands.

Snowden’s recently opened shop on Memhardstrasse in Mitte functions as a showroom, gallery and studio in one. Visitors are often perplexed upon entering the premises: to look, buy, or just hang out? What’s true is that the hard sell doesn’t necessarily work in low-key, occasionally anti-commercial Berlin. “Berliners have a laid-back attitude – you have to be very careful about how you position a brand here,” Snowden explains. “People wouldn’t buy something if it was over the top. Aesthetically, Wasted German Youth is very in-your-face – but we don’t do aggressive advertising. The marketing is viral, with stickers and clothes, and the brand works to market itself.” Wasted German Youth is a kind of physical social network; the T-shirt is an emblem of identification and belonging. Snowden adds, “People come here to say, ‘I was in Berlin, I was raving and now I’ve got the T-shirt’. I see it as the perfect unofficial tourist item, and we’re selling something of Berlin.”

Well connected

As in any city with a creative heart, virality and networking are key to successful business; in Berlin, who you know is as important as what you know. Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are among the most powerful marketing tools. “While the website speaks for itself, Facebook is very important,” explains ex-London entrepreneur Liz McGrath, whose Bangbangberlin.com portal offers ahead-of-the-curve news and commentary on the city’s music, fashion, clubbing and arts scenes. BangBangBerlin began life in 2006 as a magazine, but McGrath quickly saw that dotcom offered greater potential for talking to the city’s mobile, digitally literate young community, alongside offering an inside track for visitors. “Berlin inspired me and Berlin is the brand – we couldn’t have created this anywhere else,” she explains. “London, for example, is too big and expensive, with a lot of established media. Here, we’re filling a gap and offering a cool perspective that wasn’t there before.”

The brand is growing fast, with sponsors lining up to create under-the-radar fashion, music and art events in 2011, while its network comprises a creative constituency of some 15,000 young consumers. McGrath adds, however, that while Berlin is a highly polyglot city, entrepreneurs shouldn’t expect to instantly succeed without some degree of cultural and linguistic integration. “Learning at least basic German is a must for starting a small business. Sure, almost all Berliners speak fantastic English, but they will respect you more if you make the effort to learn their language.”

Bookish buzz

Of course, not everything in Berlin happens after hours; the city’s reputation as a locus for high art attracts culture vultures as well as party animals. London-born Sharmaine Lovegrove’s Dialogue brand, launched in 2009, functions as a pop-up bookshop, online bookstore and literary network, offering talks and events that bring avid readers into contact with key German- and English-language figures in the book world. Nevertheless, audiences in Berlin can be difficult to engage. “There are 3.5 million people here but there’s a lot going on to engage the population.” As a consequence, entrepreneurs “really have to know what they’re doing, what their business is and what their goals are. It’s an easy process to become a businessperson in Berlin, but once started, it’s your knowledge, passion and drive that will keep it going. You really have to create a huge buzz of enthusiasm around what you’re doing.”

There’s no doubting, however, that for visitors and residents alike, there’s excitement in the Berlin air. Lovegrove says, “Everyone I speak to outside of this city always says, ‘Oh Berlin, I love it there!’ That’s great to hear – as long as there’s a buzz around Berlin, I can keep challenging my business to engage in the most exciting aspects of the city.”

Starting small

Advice from the experts for would-be microbrand entrepreneurs

Be mobile, flexible and open to collaboration. Sharmaine Lovegrove says, “Enjoy the flexibility and mobility of the city – host events in a variety of venues and collaborate with other businesses where you have the potential for shared customers.”

Personal engagement is vital. Lovegrove says, “Talk to everyone you meet about what you’re doing.”

Content remains king. Liz McGrath says, “Publish high quality, along with high quantity. Opinion is key now.”

Get used to red tape and a paper chain when setting up a brand. Lovegrove: “Expect things to move slowly when dealing with bureaucracy, which you will be.”

Stay close to your roots. Paul Snowden says, “The brand must be credible – buyers have to believe it’s authentic.”

Innovate in your product range. Snowden: “There’s always going to be someone behind you who’s interested in what you’re doing, and someone ahead of you looking for the next trend.”

Don’t wait to be given permission – as Snowden says, “Just go for it.”

FR Made in Berlin

Ville en perpétuelle évolution, la capitale allemande se singularise toujours autant par sa vivacité culturelle : un terrain de prédilection pour les entreprises de ‘micromarques’. Un reportage de Kevin Braddock

Pour certains, vous n’avez pas vraiment « vu » Berlin si vous ne ramenez pas un T-shirt « Wasted German Youth » dans vos bagages. Cette marque est particulièrement représentative de la singularité de la ville et de son libéralisme extravagant. A l’instar des autres micromarques réputées de Berlin, celle-ci est née dans le milieu des clubs de nuit et des squats apparus après la réunification de 1990.

« Berlin est une ville hyper créative, » confie son fondateur Paul Snowden. « Les petites marques de niche s’imposent… A Londres ou à New York, un business doit être rentable dès son lancement. Nous, nous avons d’abord démarré un projet artistique qui est devenu un business. » Wasted German Youth fonctionne comme un réseau social physique où le T-shirt est un emblème d’identification et d’appartenance.

Mais les sites des réseaux sociaux sont également de puissants outils de marketing. « La place de Facebook est très importante, » selon Liz McGrath, une ex-Londonienne, qui a lancé le portail Bangbangberlin.com : une masse d’infos pointues sur la scène in de Berlin à destination de quelque 15.000 jeunes consommateurs. « C’est Berlin la marque – nous n’aurions pu créer ce projet nulle part ailleurs. »

En effet, Berlin attire les fans de culture et de sorties : l’enseigne Dialogue de Sharmaine Lovegrove fonctionne à la fois comme librairie, magasin en ligne et réseau littéraire. « Il y a 3,5 millions d’habitants ici, et nombreux sont ceux qui s’impliquent dans la dynamique urbaine, » souligne Lovegrove. « Rien n’est plus simple que de lancer un business à Berlin, mais au bout du compte, c’est votre savoir-faire, votre passion et votre énergie qui vous permettront de durer. »

NL Bijzonder Berlijn

Met de voortdurende evolutie die in de Duitse hoofdstad aan de gang is, is deze unieke culturele setting een perfecte broedplaats voor ‘micromerken’. Kevin Braddock brengt verslag uit.

Er wordt gezegd dat je Berlijn niet echt ‘gedaan’ hebt zonder thuis te komen met een T-shirt van ‘Wasted German Youth’. Dit kledingstuk en het merk erachter is het kenmerk van de ruimdenkende houding ten opzichte van hedonisme. Zoals andere opkomende micromerken ontstond het in de nachtclubs, salons en kraakpanden die na de eenmaking in 1990 opdoken.

“Berlijn is zo’n creatieve stad,” zegt oprichter Paul Snowden. “Kleine merken vormen de basis… In Londen of New York moet een zaak onmiddellijk winst maken, terwijl dit een kunstproject is, uitgegroeid tot een zaak.” Wasted German Youth is een soort fysiek sociaal netwerk – het T-shirt is een symbool van identificatie en ‘erbij horen’.

Sociale netwerksites zijn ook krachtige marketinginstrumenten. “Facebook is erg belangrijk,” zegt voormalige Londense onderneemster Liz McGrath. Haar portaalwebsite Bangbangberlin.com brengt nieuws voor een netwerk van 15.000 jonge consumenten. “Maar het merk is Berlijn – we hadden dit op geen andere plek kunnen waarmaken.”

Berlijn trekt zowel cultuurliefhebbers als fuifbeesten aan: het merk Dialogue van Sharmaine Lovegrove is een pop-up boekhandel, een online winkel en een literair netwerk. “Hier wonen 3,5 miljoen mensen, maar er gebeurt veel om de bevolking voor zich te winnen,” aldus Lovegrove. “Ondernemer worden in Berlijn is gemakkelijk, maar eens je gestart bent, is het je kennis, passie en gedrevenheid die je zaak succesvol maakt.”

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