As Head of Brand & Communication at Neumarkter Lammsbräu, Kathrin Englmann-Moosburger is an expert for consistent brand management and charging brands with credible storytelling. As a manufacturer of sustainable organic beverages for several generations, Neumarkter Lammsbräu as a brand stands for living values and taking responsibility. We talked to Kathrin Englmann-Moosburger about authenticity and why a brand cannot always be everybody’s darling…
Kathrin Englmann-Moosburger, thank you for taking the time to be here today! Which brand was your childhood favorite and why?
Lego was my favorite brand as a child. What fascinates me about it to this day: Lego offers almost endless possibilities for creativity and you can always develop your “projects” further. In addition, it is almost indestructible. I just fetched my things from the attic for my little daughter.
And which one is it today?
If you ask me about my favorite brand today: I think it is fundamentally important that brands consistently stand for values and do good things, but still don’t neglect enjoyment and fun. I think we have managed to do that quite well at Lammsbräu.
What are your most important “lessons learned” for successful brand management?
Authenticity and transparency are clearly important. Standing up for your convictions and implementing concepts holistically and consistently. This also includes having the courage to not always be everybody’s darling.
What do other divisions expect from a Brand Manager / Brand Management Team?
In short: Communication at the pulse of time. Specifically: That we help carry the story of the brand, its philosophy and the commitment behind it to the outside world and to bring it closer to people in an authentic way.
How do you think different target groups differ in terms of their brand loyalty?
I’d rather talk about the connecting element: In my opinion, true brand loyalty can only develop and stabilize if you constantly show an attitude and stand up for it in everyday business life. It’s about really living your values and making them comprehensible and tangible. Only if you keep at it in this respect will you be credible and take people with you in the long term. We at Lammsbräu, for example, are committed to traditional artisanal, future generation-friendly and fair food production. We are consistently moving forward in this respect and try to make our entire community, from employees to customers, more and more aware of these issues and encourage them to participate. That makes sense. Our employees are proud to work for such a company and our customers can experience what our brand and our products ultimately stand for: a future worth living.
How does the Corona crisis affect your work as Head of Brand and Communication?
Like most companies, we paused briefly at the beginning of the crisis, put concepts and plans to the test and readjusted them where necessary. Then, relatively soon, it was mostly a matter of involving our employees in particular as much as possible, despite the home office situation, and taking them along with us. Especially in departments like production or logistics, not all employees were part of that digital network yet. We have now changed this within a very short time, which opens up additional opportunities for us in the Brand and Communication department to address our customers.
What role does digitalization currently play in the brand department? How do you see this development in the future?
Digitization offers great potential both internally and externally. For example, it allows us to take our customers and employees on a brand journey and make topics that are important to us even more tangible for everyone. Among other things, we rely on lively reports on the cultivation of our raw materials, background reports and interviews. At the same time, we provide our employees with tools that enable us to support them as brand ambassadors. In our daily work, digitization has received a huge boost in the last six months through the home office situation. For many, it was a different way of working, sometimes a different work culture, a different mindset. As a manager, tact and sensitivity were initially important here, because not every employee was immediately hooked on this new opportunity to virtually coordinate with colleagues etc., and perhaps even felt overwhelmed at first. That has changed. The enormous potential is indisputable, especially when it comes to working flexibly in a team and combining family and job in the best possible way – I speak as a mom from my own experience.
If you did not work for Neumarkter Lammsbräu, which brand would you like to work for and why?
I am quite honest, I don’t even ask myself that question. I feel very comfortable here and we don’t run out of interesting challenges and ideas.
