TURBINE
KREUZBERG

The agency Votum becomes Turbine Kreuzberg: a digital agency reinvents itself, with a new name, a new self-image, and the ambition to be perceived as a technology company. The visual design of the new brand was developed by brand agency Stan Hema.

What was missing: a language that thinks the way the team does. A verbal identity that does not feel imposed, but grows from the agency's own self-understanding. No advertising-speak, no tech jargon – but something of their own.

Develop the complete initial verbal foundation for the new brand – as part of Turbine Kreuzberg's agile team. In parallel with Stan Hema's visual design process, I developed attitude, tonality, and guidelines.

Stan Hema had defined a single word as the content filter for all communication: Now.

If it is not relevant now, it does not get published. This is not a campaign, but an attitude – philosophical and practical at the same time. Derived from this: four brand characters (valuable, open, direct, determined) and four benefit dimensions that every piece of content should deliver: participation, results, enthusiasm, relief.

But what does "Now" sound like? What does it mean – not in buzzwords or concept jargon, but in practice, in daily work, on the website, in the words of the team? This was about leading by example. Creating a linguistic culture. Helping the agency find its own voice.

The voice of Turbine Kreuzberg is human. Friendly, yet factual. Direct, but never brusque.

In the briefings and conversations with the team, it became clear: this voice cannot be captured in isolated keywords – but through the tensions it bridges as a mediator and process partner at all times. Leading without being dominant. Guiding. Not charging ahead stubbornly, but moving forward reflectively. Accelerating, shaping. At eye level – as technology experts.

The ambition: making it easy for everyone to understand how the company thinks and works – at eye level, not top-down. The foundation: six dialectical guardrails.

• Helpful, but not ingratiating
• Direct, but not brusque
• Simple, but not shallow
• Confident, but not overbearing
• Humorous, but not silly
• Smart, but not know-it-all

Humour is permitted when it feels natural. If not: stay factual. Clear information always takes priority over entertainment.

Verbal design of every touchpoint with the new brand. Every single one. The entire website down to the smallest detail – home, profile, services, each with its own messaging architecture. But also press releases, trade fair communication, internal documents. Every area where the brand message and verbal identity come to expression.

The collaboration went far beyond the launch. As an extended arm of the team, I developed verbal projects over several years – for the brand itself, and as copywriter and conceptioner for Turbine Kreuzberg's client projects in agile settings:

• Naming "Stuttgart 300": Name development for a 300-sqm satellite space in Stuttgart – five conceptual routes, each anchored in the existing verbal identity, tailored to the mindset of the southern German Mittelstand
• Claim development 2022: At some point, "Now" had run its course – and the need for a new claim emerged. Strategic claim routes for repositioning as a software company – from confident Berlin punk to engineering language. I continue to accompany the process of change and evolution as a conceptual, strategically minded creative.
• Press releases: Communication on strategic personnel decisions
• Trade fair concepts: Verbal conception for appearances at DMEXCO and Internet World
• Client projects: Conceptual and copywriting work for Turbine Kreuzberg's client projects within the agile team

Over more than five years of collaboration, the agile setting and the spirit of partnership at Turbine Kreuzberg meant I never felt like an external service provider – but always like an intellectual and creative sparring partner. I am glad to have contributed to the emergence and maturing of the Turbine Kreuzberg brand.