Christian Sommer isn’t afraid of chaos.
Why? Because chaos gives him the opportunity to do his magic. Christian’s magic is brand building and he sources his inspiration from architecture, art, film and music. Christian’s led branding strategy for companies such as Voodoo Energy, an all-natural energy drink that encourages people to form happy moments with friends.
Christian also teaches courses on branding where he emphasizes the importance of stimulating his students and keeping them engaged. Read more about Christian’s life in Denmark including how he stays openminded, what he thinks makes for great marketing and who Christian’s connected to through his page.
Tell us about yourself.
I have always loved television commercials and the creativity within them. The short compact story often built up with music and aesthetic, visual pictures. The essence of a lot of information from the firm behind the product or service told in 30 seconds. It’s beautiful. Building brands is creating simplicity out of chaos. I love chaos.
How did you discover and develop your passion for branding?
My passion for branding comes from all kinds of communication. I love art and architecture. I love music and films. In branding I find all my passions. The art of creating simple and beautiful signs that tell the whole story and at the same time leaves the viewer with a clear understanding of the brand and its role.
What do you think makes for great marketing? Tell us about a project you’ve worked on.
My mission in marketing is clear. Bringing pleasure in to your meeting with brands. It could be a well composed logo, beautiful packaging design, intuitive website, fun television commercial or a perfectly matched typography. After many years of working with brands it is clear that the best brands have the clearest red line in all their communication. Everything is tied together. It all starts with the brand’s own mission. What does the brand fight for and how does it make our lives better? My best example is the brand Voodoo Energy. I helped building the brand from scratch and the mission here was clear. Voodoo Energy brings a more natural energy drink to the market that strives and fights for people to use their extra energy on positive social happenings. Happiness is for me the sums of happy moments.
Tell us about your teaching experiences.
The most important thing I have learned in educational communication is making sure that the students are paying attention. This is done with involvement, enthusiasm and interaction. I always make the students interact in some way in my lessons. When they interact, then they learn faster and it is easier to bring out their enthusiasm. If you can lit a fire in your students, then you can learn them everything. The lessons take place in the students minds, not the teachers.
How do you find balance and what do you like to do in your free time?
Balance in my life comes with balance in my family life. My battery is full when my family is happy and harmonious. I always strive to be openminded, meet new people, see new places, hear new music and try and break a routine every day. In my free time I play golf. A game made to torment my mind. Thats a good thing – I hope.
What has your experience been like using about.me? What are some of your favorite features of ours?
I have had a lot of positive experiences with about.me. I have been connected with one off the biggest and best photographic companies in Denmark and been invited on to their advisory board. Many different people from around the world contact me for advise or a meeting about branding their product or company. The best feature on about.me is big picture that has to tell the whole story. And it often does. The picture tells a story about a person and sends out a lot of information. A big picture gives more details and more information. A big picture talks to our hearts.
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Anna Lizaur is a Marketing Manager with about.me. She graduated from the University of Virginia. Anna is fluent in Spanish and can count to 100 in Chinese.
This is something pretty amazing approach and a rue teacher’s thinking… like thinking out of the box! The idea of creating pleasure with branding is superb.
As an entry level intern in media and communications within the development and marketing department of the organization I am at, I am constantly looking for ways to grow, learn and improve in my understanding and knowledge! “The best brands have the clearest red line in all their communication,” is something I learned through our own rebranding process. We continue to work through this process of rebranding the organization, and I find this article very intriguing and helpful!