Marking Haniel’s 250th anniversary, facts and fiction ensured that the history and philosophy of the corporate group was brought to life in a series of bespoke events with a clear corporate design and identity - ranging from an exclusive gala evening to an open-air festival attended by thousands of visitors from Duisburg.
Duisburg-based Haniel celebrated its 250th birthday in 2006. The group contacted facts and fiction to implement series of events for various target groups in cooperation with the Haniel team and its long-standing business partners. The task was to bring the history and individual philosophy of the Haniel group to life. Our first step was to put together a ‘value compass’ to steer the overall direction of the individual projects. This oriented itself primarily on the themes of preservation and renewal, tradition and change, global reach and regional loyalty - values central to Haniel.
We developed a series of projects based on these criteria with events tailored to various audiences: a stakeholders’ meeting, gala evening, a matinée, excursions, a staff day, an open air festival and a Haniel exhibition and family history. This culminated in an overall portfolio reflecting the group’s complexity and philosophy.
The first events took place within the inner circles of the company, while later activities were aimed at larger audiences. The stakeholders’ meeting and gala evening were aimed exclusively at the Haniel ‘family’, whilst senior representatives from industry and politics attended the matinée. The finale, a spectacular open-air festival, was open to the entire city of Duisburg.
The Haniel anniversary project was one of our longest and most time-intensive undertakings with an overall duration of two and a half years. A long wait, but worth it: the reactions of the company, the public and the press were unanimously positive and the project took away the silver award at the Galaxy International Awards for Product and Service Marketing.
