Brave new world

Productions have long since spread their wings to fly beyond the world of theatre. Creators of brand worlds, museums and exhibitions skilfully play on their visitors and target groups emotions with the aid of multimedia presentations.

Balance - a multimedia health exhibition" is successfully touring Germany, devised by the Gmünder ErsatzKasse GEK, an alternative health insurance scheme. Balance is a unique exhibition system created for the first time in this form for the GEK and its partners. In a wide variety of experiments visitors can experience new realms of body awareness. More than 600,000 people have already succumbed to the fascination. Although a road show, the exhibition is growing steadily. At the outset its conceptioners, Dimah Messe + Event GmbH, could manage with 1,600 m2 space, but meanwhile this has risen to between 2,400 m2 and 3,000 m2.
Skilfully staged touring exhibitions have long been an effective way of getting close to the customer. Remarkable, though, is a regular boom in museum and brand worlds, which this year in particular are proverbially mushrooming. July 30 saw the gala opening of the "Lava-Dome" in the Eifel. There, in the town of Mendig, a unique museum with 700 m2 exhibition space has emerged. The scenography and exhibition design were placed in the hands of the agency Milla und Partner from Stuttgart. The ambitious project cost in the region of EUR 2.2 million, EUR 1.5 million of which was funded by a grant from the state of Rhineland-Palatinate and the Mayen-Koblenz district.
The interactive exhibition answers all questions on the topic of volcanism - playfully, impressively and in a form than any layperson can understand. After development lasting almost three years, in 2005 a new form of brand presentation, informative yet emotional, was also created for the food industry with the Dr. Oetker World at the company headquarters in Bielefeld on a floor plate measuring 11,000 m2. Dr. August Oetker put the cost of this investment in the brand at "well into the tens of millions". He said the intended strengthening of the brand was a panacea for the spread of discounters that has taken a hold on so many aspects of life. The company would like to extend a welcome to everyone with a particular interest in the family-run business, the brand, the products or the company's spheres of activity, including business partners, suppliers and all baking and cookery enthusiasts. A key element of the Dr. Oetker World is the brand exhibition concepted by Triad Projektgesellschaft, Berlin, presenting brand themes in a multimedia-based and extremely entertaining way on 1,500 m2.
The World of Steiff is, of course, to be found where Steiff is at home, in Giengen on the River Brenz. It, too, opened this year. The scenography and exhibition design were likewise in the hands of Milla und Partner. On a total area of 2,400 m2 extending over three levels the more than 100 year-old history of the Steiff teddy bear and the company Margarete Steiff GmbH is staged. "Concepting an experiental world for a brand already so emotionally charged that practically every visitor already comes along with mental images and stories, represented a very special challenge from the outset," Johannes Milla, managing director of Milla und Partner and the creative director in charge of the new Steiff World, explains.
Launched only in September, the Erlebniswelt Renaissance aims to recreate the Renaissance experience in all its variety in various arenas. The project is designed as a European network and takes off with six locations in the Weserbergland region, with the Hochzeitshaus (Wedding House) in Hamlin as the centrepiece. The concept features a unique blend of edutainment and science centre, high-tech production and amusement world. This project also called for deep pockets. The total investment works out at around EUR 14 million, put up by the European Union, Lower Saxony state, administrative districts, local authorities and private property owners. The project was developed and staged by the m.a.k. Group, an interdisciplinary creative pool of specialists focusing on the core competences marketing, communication, conception, design, events and architecture.
Set up in 1991, the association Friends of Freudenthaler Sensenhammer set the scene for rededication of the historic building that once housed a scythe factory as an industrial museum. The project was made possible by financial support from the EU fund for the preservation of historical landmarks, grants from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia for architectural conservation and the use of regenerative energy, and most importantly with the aid of the North Rhine Westphalia Foundation, which made by far the greatest contribution, EUR 1.35 million, to the necessary repairs and museum alterations. Other sponsors are the Rhineland regional assembly, the cultural foundation of the Rhenish savings bank and giro association, Leverkusen savings bank, Leverkusen power utilities and more besides. In the industrial museum Freudenthaler Sensenhammer a tour of more than 200 years industrial history awaits the visitor - eventfully staged by the communication agency facts+fiction from Cologne.
Chance:Risiko - Für eine Wagniskultur (Opportunity:Risk - Pro venture culture) - an exhibition by Munich Re in the Haus der Kunst in Munich shows that even insurers can venture to tread new paths in communication. Munich Re is in the business of dealing professionally with risk. In 2005 it is celebrating the company's 125th anniversary with Chance:Risiko.

m+a report Nr.7 / 2005 vom 27.10.2005
m+a report vom 27. Oktober 2005