Strong brands and convincing mission statements: Guest lecture by Cornelius Hummel (MetaDesign)

What is Siemens’ image and how does the online fashion platform Zalando want to be perceived by the public? In short practical exercises, the students were able to find out for themselves into which categories they would classify these and other famous brands such as Tesla, Google or Starbucks according to their image. The so-called “metamap” that Hummel and his colleagues use to develop brand strategies contains, among other things, top categories such as adventure, autonomy or security, as well as subordinate characteristics in each case. It was an exciting thought experiment that the students also enjoyed very much.

The very insightful and lively Zoom session was concluded with further examples – some of which are still ongoing projects. Here, Hummel focused on the development of so-called purpose statements, which are increasingly in demand among large companies. Many brands, such as Telekom or large car companies like Mercedes, no longer just want to represent their products, but also make a contribution to social issues and direct their gaze into the future with their mission statement.

“The talk definitely made me curious to dive deeper into the topic,” said one student at the end of the session. We definitely agree. Many thanks to Cornelius Hummel for his inspiring talk!