Kunst meets Stefan Kirmse
With pen computers, tablets, pads and digital ink, Wacom is making the world a whole lot more creative – especially in Corona times. Stefan Kirmse, Senior Vice President Corporate Brand & Communications of the Düsseldorf-based driver of innovation, spoke with VIVID publisher Rainer Kunst during a running session through the media harbour about his job mission and the importance of creativity in this crisis.
Left:
Name Stefan Kirmse
Job Global Brand Activist
Company Wacom
Right:
Name Rainer Kunst
Job Publisher of VIVID
During our run there were fewer people out and about than usual due to Corona. How have you experienced this special time since March and what has the situation done to you personally?
Corona makes me think about how much we live in a comfort zone of society and have ignored previous warnings. Now we’re still shocked that something like this can happen. I am an optimist and hope that we can learn from this. And it shows me once again how important it is to get involved and do things yourself. Job-wise, the situation gives me more freedom – I can organize my day my-self and don’t have to stand in traffic jams in the morning, which I find positive. Nice moments are currently rare because of the contact restrictions, for example for my parents who live in a dementia or rather retirement home. It can be scary because you are suddenly confronted with questions that you didn’t ask yourself before. Thank God, many people are learning to appreciate how important the little things in life are – for example the small local shop around the corner. And it turns out that in business you don’t have to fly to Japan for 2 days to see a presentation – it also works well digitally.
Creativity is part of Wacom’s DNA. What does this term mean to you personally?
When you work for Wacom, you quickly realise that you can combine your professional and personal mission – to be creative – very well. We make the world a more creative place for all people, and the digital transformation a bit more human. This is something that drives me personally. I think it’s great that I can implement things here that are very important to me as a person, also in my job. That is probably also the reason why I have been with the company for 18 years, because the intrinsic bond is very strong.
“We make the world a more creative place for all people, and the digital transformation a bit more human”
How can creativity help us through the current difficult times?
Creativity helps us tremendously at the moment, there is hardly a better tool for crisis management. We are currently forced by a virus to question all kinds of things – be it our environmental policy, our working life, our shopping behaviour. There are many things we now have to approach differently. This raises questions: How can we redefine our society, how can we redefine values? This is all creativity in the broadest sense. Creativity can also help us to deal with the difficult situation better: For example, it can be a distraction or create positive feelings, for example when you draw, paint, do crafts or do something in the garden – you experience this value particularly in social interaction. Creativity is the most important value to overcome the crisis.
Wacom is a major supporter of the Düsseldorf creative industry, for example with the format “Creative mornings” and also with VIVID. How do you currently experience this industry and its people?
To me it seems they mostly keep a positive attitude, al-though many creative people are struggling economi-cally. I find that very impressive. At Wacom, we call this “dare to create” – we’re not going to give up, we’re going to make something of it, we’re going to fight. That’s how I experience it in Düsseldorf and also in the whole creative world. I think other industries can learn a lot from this.
In what way?
Many industries are not reacting adequately to this unprecedented situation. If you take the aviation industry, for example – they need a new mission and not a cost-cutting strategy. It is also interesting to see how retail will change as a result of the pandemic and how branded companies will want to make their brands tangible when they have fewer or no shops. So, it is all about building alternative worlds of experience. Corona simply brutally shows what has been missed so far and forces us as business people to rethink. Only those companies that change creatively and quickly will survive.
COVID-19 is altogether a booster for the digitalisation or use of digital tools in Germany. How has the pandemic affected your business?
We are noticing this dramatically because our sales are currently rising. A lot of people are talking about agility, now it is in demand. Our growth area at Wacom is currently the digitalisation of schools, keyword Digital Ink. Of course, this development also has a major impact on our organisation and business planning. But the core of our brand business will always be technology leadership with products for creative professionals.
Stefan Kirmse
•Diploma in Business Administration/
Bayreuth and MBA/USA
•Sales & Marketing at Wilkinson Sword
Solingen and Warner Lambert
•Marketing Manager D-A-CH at Ericsson
Mobilfunk and WILA Leuchten
•MD and founder of Kohtes & Kleves
Startup Consulting
•Since 2002 Marketing Manager and later
Brand Head at Wacom
Places of professional accomplishment:
Solingen, High Wycombe near London/UK, New Jersey/USA, Düsseldorf, Tokyo and Portland.
Personal passions: Architecture, design,
travelling and experiencing foreign cultures
Our VIVID theme this time is sustainability. In what way is Wacom sustainable?
Sustainability in terms of sustainable customer relations is essential for Wacom. You can’t be the market leader by just making good products, but by cultivating long-term customer relationships and developing new solutions and technologies from this partnership. The same applies to our employees, and here too we are committed to long-term relationships. As far as the ecological aspect is concerned, we can become even better – for example in the area of packaging. That is what we have on the agenda.
Wacom moved from Krefeld to Düsseldorf four years ago. What does this new location mean to you?
The move was very significant because it goes hand in hand with a completely different corporate positioning – from hidden champion to a proudly visible company with an open space office landscape and a new culture. Düsseldorf is a very creative city for me, so it fits very well. As a medium-sized company, we can do things here that we might not be able to do in London or Paris. And we can work much more closely with creative people. In this respect, the move has brought us forward as a company. Many of our employees have also learned to appreciate this by coming to Düsseldorf. •
About Wacom
Wacom’s vision is to bring people and technology together through intuitive input technologies. Wacom has become the leading manufacturer of interactive pen tablets and displays, digital pens, digital ink and solutions for storing and processing digital signatures. Founded in 1983 and with its headquarter in Japan (Tokyo Stock Exchange 6727), Wacom operates globally. Subsidiaries and local offices worldwide provide marketing and sales in over 150 countries. The European activities are managed from Düsseldorf.
Words: Tom Corrinth
Pictures: Frank Beer