Interview questions to Henning Strauss - CEO of Engelbert Strauss GmbH & Co. KG, awarded Best Brand Manager of the Year at the German Brand Award 2023

From a workwear brand to a cult brand for workwear – What strategy did you implement to achieve this, what is your formula for success?

A cult brand can only be one if brand management in the company is high on the agenda. The brand must be perceptible down to the last detail and be experienced at all touchpoints. The more this is implemented, the more it is possible to charge the brand with meaning and a high quality of experience. Because in order to generate emotion, you have to create experiences - and give space to seemingly insignificant details. To put it simply: brand programmes feelings onto a logo. It activates all the senses - in strong images, tactile, auditory, online, offline. Of course, the corresponding product must also be present. Just nice packaging is not enough here. Brand management is perhaps the management tool of all. Brand paints a vision of the future that ideally is so appealing that the entire organisation moves towards it. I like to talk about leadership by branding.

Interview questions to reCup GmbH, awarded Best Brand Manager of the Year at the German Brand Award 2023

Fast Food and Coffee-to-go – How did the idea of reusable tableware in the deposit system arise?

Our two founders Florian Pachaly and Fabian Eckert came up with the idea for a reusable system independently of each other during their studies. They both noticed the rubbish bins overflowing with coffee-to-go cups and thought to themselves: "There must be another way". By chance, they came up with their idea of a reusable system to the same person, and so they finally got together and decided to approach the matter together. In November 2016, they started their pilot project for reusable cups in Florian's hometown of Rosenheim, and 50 other partners in Munich followed shortly afterwards. In the meantime, RECUP and REBOWL are available at over 21,000 dispensing points nationwide.

Interview questions for Tomorrow GmbH, awarded Startup of the Year at the German Brand Award 2023.

Sustainable banking rethought - you talk about money as part of the climate problem. What are you doing differently than other banks to do something about climate change?

At Tomorrow, our customers' money protects the planet and fights for a fairer world: for example, it supports the rebuilding of ecosystems, renewable energy, sustainable agriculture and affordable housing. This is the core difference between us and most other banks, as they invest in industries that are anything but sustainable: Armaments, factory farming or coal power.