A tree, a sky, and always a whole world - more precisely, a new brand world - this is what the leading company for brand strategy, brand design and brand communication, KMS TEAM from Munich, creates and designs for its international clients. In order to symbolise growth and change, KMS TEAM created a museum for Audi, the basic architectural idea and exhibition design of which was based on the notion of a tree's annual rings. And the spectacular trade fair stand of O2 Germany at the CeBIT show, which offered memorable audiovisual experiences and was the starting point for the extremely successful brand launch, was crowned by a specifically designed shining 'sky'. KMS TEAM always delivers a strong and above all holistic brand concept planned down to the smallest detail. The agency has been providing clients from different business fields - among them Porsche, Lamborghini, MAN, 7 World Trade Center, Deutsche Pfandbriefbank, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen, Deutsche Rentenversicherung, Diakonie, Stiftung Warentest, Saturn, Pinakotheken Munchen, O2, Vodafone, Pro SiebenSat.1, and adidas - with strong brand appearances for 25 years.
For its successful creative accomplishments in the conception of corporate and brand identities KMS TEAM has received more than 50 accolades in the red dot design award alone - they can look back on many years of success, which are now crowned by the unique honorary title for continuously above-average design accomplishments. "Receiving the title 'red dot: design agency of the year 2009' is the most wonderful distinction we could have wished for our company's 25-year anniversary," says KMS TEAM founder Michael Keller, commenting on the announcement of the design agency of the year. The conferment of the official title and the presentation of the "Stylus" touring cup will be the spectacular highlight of the awards presentation of this year's "red dot award: communication design" on 9 December in the Casino Zollverein gala hall on the premises of the "Zeche Zollverein" World Cultural Heritage site in Essen, Germany.
From a Design Firm to the Leading Company for Brand Strategy, Brand Design and Brand Communication
As early as 1984, Knut Maierhofer and Michael Keller founded the design firm; together with the third co-owner, Christoph Rohrer, and Armin Schlamp they still work as managing directors today. KMS TEAM now has more than 85 staff in the disciplines Consulting/Strategy, Corporate Design, Communication Design, 3D Design, Event Design, Interactive Design, Motion Design, Speech/Text, Financial Communication, Prepress, and Production. The team idea expressed in the company name is a high priority: "In order to provide integrated communication, holistic thinking is required as well as real expertise in every single discipline. Thanks to our talented staff, the best in their respective fields, we can design and implement holistic visual identities. Together as a team we reach a level which could never be achieved by one person alone," says Knut Maierhofer, describing one of the company's most important principles.
"We call the basis of our mode of thought and practice 'Depth Design', a term which illustrates that we consider all strategic and design aspects of brand development in our work and combine them with one another in overarching processes," reveals Knut Maierhofer, explaining the company's aim to tailor an ideal design concept for every single client, which is based on an intensive learning process. While in many agencies the creative phase takes place after the strategy consulting process, at KMS TEAM strategy, creative phase and communication start simultaneously. "Admittedly, this requires a high level of coordination, but by doing this we think and work in holistic dimensions, and that is precisely our secret of success," explains Christoph Rohrer. "Depth Design means to us developing a solution which has really been thought through to the end," resumes Maierhofer, "and that guarantees really sustainable, long-term results for years." The fact that KMS TEAM places great value on holistic dimensions also becomes apparent in the history of the company's development: this year, the KMS MINDSHIFT consulting subsidiary was founded. This was a step that resulted from the insight that in order to promote, anchor and activate brand awareness an additional focus in organisations has to be on the areas of staff development, team development and organisational development, and that step directly links to the 'Depth Design' term. Furthermore, the clearly increased demand from the US was responded to with the opening of an office in New York at the beginning of 2009.
The Award
"Time and again companies notice that good design makes a crucial contribution to commercial success. Since not only product design but also communication design plays an increasingly important role and we are convinced that design quality is measurable, we decided last year to begin to award the title 'red dot: design agency of the year', a title with international status," explains Professor Dr. Peter Zec, president of the red dot design award. "For many years KMS TEAM has delivered perfect concepts and designs of strong brands for clients from different areas and thus managed to win over the independent jurors every year," says the design expert, explaining the selection of KMS TEAM as design agency of the year. For its excellent design work in a range of areas KMS TEAM received the red dot 43 times, 8 times a "red dot: best of the best", and in 2001 the most coveted award, a "red dot: grand prix".
The Exhibition in the Red Dot Design Museum
A cross section of sophisticated top achievements from 25 years will introduce the successful company in a special exhibition specifically created for this occasion. This exhibition will be on show parallel to the winners' exhibition "Design on stage - winners red dot award: communication design 2009" from 10 December 2009 to 10 January 2010 at the red dot design museum in Essen. The exclusive vernissage of both exhibitions will take place on 9 December 2009 following this year's awards presentation of the "red dot award: communication design", the red dot gala.