17.05.2021

Students of the TU Ilmenau develop regional brand "Thüringer Bogen"

Students at TU Ilmenau have made a significant contribution to developing an umbrella brand for two Thuringian counties. In the future, the regional brand "Thüringer Bogen" will support the PR and marketing activities of the districts of Gotha and Ilm-Kreis both visually and in terms of content. The work was developed in the context of a seminar of the Bachelor's degree program in Applied Media and Communication Science in cooperation with a professional PR agency.

In the summer semester of 2019, the regional management of the districts of Gotha and Ilm-Kreis had given 34 students the task of developing strategies to raise the profile of the region and an associated umbrella brand. Thus, as part of the practical seminar "Berufsfeldorientierung PR", the students of the Applied Media and Communication Science course competed against each other for four months in six competing up-and-coming agencies to come up with the best communication concept. They were supported by two lecturers from the Public Relations and Technical Communication Group at TU Ilmenau and by Ninette Pett, Managing Director of the PETT PR agency in Gotha.

Die siegreiche Nachwuchsagentur „4iMAGE“ (v.l.n.r.): Lea Neumann, Regionalmanager Christian Schmidt, Ninette Pett von der Agentur Pett PR, Christoph Baecker, Josua Cersovsky, Leon Blonsky, Carolin Schmidt vom Regionalmanagement, Elisabeth Wagner-Olfermann vom Fachgebiet Public Relations und Technikkommunikation und Johanne KramerTU Ilmenau
The winning junior agency „4iMAGE“ (v.l.n.r.): Lea Neumann, regional manager Christian Schmidt, Ninette Pett from Pett PR, Christoph Baecker, Josua Cersovsky, Leon Blonsky, Carolin Schmidt from regional management, Elisabeth Wagner-Olfermann department Public Relations und techn. communication und Johanne Kramer

In the final pitch, the six groups presented their PR concepts in short presentations. The winner was the up-and-coming agency "4iMAGE": Christoph Baecker, Leon Blonsky, Josua Cersovsky, Johanne Kramer and Lea Neumann. The creative consideration of the geographical location of the three regional core cities Gotha, Arnstadt and Ilmenau had inspired the students to create the regional brand "Thüringer Bogen" and the corresponding logo. The new brand and the corresponding website https://thueringer-bogen.de are now the central communication medium for the regional management, which wants to position the region as an economic and living region. The aim is to attract companies and skilled workers and bind them to the region.

In addition to the "Thüringer Bogen" regional brand, the five students, together with the other up-and-coming agencies, also provided valuable ideas for future PR campaigns, for their wording, i.e. for the language used in public relations, and for the design of the website. Christian Schmidt, regional manager in the "Thuringian Arc", is pleased with the result: "We are very happy that we have a strong local cooperation partner in the TU Ilmenau, which supported us in the branding process. The students demonstrated a lot of creativity in an ideas competition and came up with the brilliant idea for the joint regional brand of the districts of Gotha and Ilm-Kreis."

The seminar "Berufsfeldorientierung PR" of the Public Relations and Technical Communication Group is offered every year in the Bachelor's degree program Applied Media and Communication Studies for students of the third and fourth semester. In the winter semester, students gain insight into the theory of PR campaigns, and in the summer semester they put what they have learned into practice by working for real clients. In recent years, students have gained an insight into professional practice at the global company Jenoptik, Erfurt/Weimar Airport and the Erfurt-based company SAE Schaltanlagenbau. In the process, the clients repeatedly implemented concepts of the students of the TU Ilmenau or incorporated their ideas into their projects.


Contact

Elisabeth Wagner-Olfermann
Department of Public Relations and Technical Communication
+49 3677 69-4635
elisabeth.wagner-olfermann@tu-ilmenau.de