From routers to mobile phones to artificial intelligence, from countless CeBITs and IFAs with ever new topics and products to a spontaneous press conference with Al Gore at the White House and a brand marriage at the Las Vegas Wedding Chapel to innovative cooking workshops for agile process management. But from the beginning: the past 30 years of Kaltwasser were not only paved with ground-breaking brand building, creative processes and a lot of exchange and communication, but above all with one thing: fun, an extraordinary team spirit and a lot of great encounters.
The beginnings
30 years ago, Brigitte "Gitti" Kaltwasser founded the agency more or less in her living room in Nuremberg - at that time still as "PR Kaltwasser". As a passionate journalist, she had the vision of formulating technical products and new technologies in a way that was understandable, so that they became tangible and usable for a broad public.
In addition, there was a pragmatic reason, which is just as relevant today as it was then, and is still a concern for many young parents. As a mother of two small children, it became increasingly difficult to reconcile very early editorial meetings, evening appointments or spontaneous interview requests with the topic of family. A solution was needed! She found it in her own four walls, when she started writing press releases for IT companies at home and dared to take the plunge into self-employment.
This decision was made at the right time in the right market. Together with the customers BinTec and Kyocera , the era of PR Kaltwasser began. After only ten years, the 50-employee mark had been broken, with the focus on press and media work.
2000s: Communication that moves
At the beginning of 2000 a change came: the high-tech crisis changed a lot. While press trips with the Concorde had been announced before, many PR budgets were completely cancelled. As a PR agency for high-tech topics, this crisis did not leave us unaffected. But we quickly conquered new fields of communication and expanded our range of services: from pure PR and press work to comprehensive communication tasks, which also included public affairs, crisis consulting or online communication.
Things quickly got back on track and in order to be even closer to the major publishing houses and to maintain an even closer exchange with journalists, we opened another office in Munich in addition to Nuremberg.
With these developments, a new logo was of course needed! We also changed our name to "Kaltwasser Kommunikation". And since then we have always made a difference with our communication, the waves came into play. Kaltwasser Kommunikation - communication that moves. The claim was born.
We developed these ideas together with the creative students of the Applied Media Science course at the TU-Ilmenau. For 20 years now, our practical courses "PR Concepts" and "Crisis Communication" have been a fixed part of the TU-Ilmenau's course offerings - a very inspiring cooperation in both directions.
Sustainability becomes a credo
Berlin Calling: In 2006, we opened our capital city office next to Nuremberg and Munich with a focus on public affairs. Since then we have also been at the pulse of politics and associations. Our K5 office is located directly on Kaiserdamm and thus almost opposite Messe Berlin.
But Berlin has also been another milestone for us, as this is where the expansion of our new business unit for sustainability and responsibility communication begins. This is now called Citizen Communication. This is because an important societal paradigm shift has taken place, particularly in the case of major infrastructure projects, and we are increasingly in demand with our sustainable communication skills.
Network expansion in the wake of the energy revolution, new mobility concepts for smart cities or the modernization of water supply - by supporting these major projects, we are making a sustainable contribution to ecological change. For us, however, this also means walking along planned route sections with rubber boots and in rain and snow.
Kaltwasser campus with digital appetizers
The last few years have been wild and marked by much positive growth. That is why we are currently bursting at the seams. Our colleagues commute between the three Kaltwasser locations in Nuremberg on electric scooters. In concrete terms this means three offices with three different functions: 1. peace & concentration, 2. dialogue & teamwork and 3. meeting & workshop - we affectionately call it our Kaltwasser campus.
With the digital transformation that is currently affecting more and more of our customers, we have also rediscovered cooking for us. With "Agile Kitchen" we have developed a completely new workshop format together with a management consultancy and professional chefs to make agile methods tangible and "enjoyable". Since we all love to eat and be together, the idea was born out of our agency spirit.
For four years we have also been rocking the Nürnberg Digital Festival as an official communication partner. With over 340 events, the festival has become a permanent constant in the region. The festival is an important source of inspiration, especially with regard to digitalization. What should be avoided as far as communication is concerned and what shouldn't - we now help many companies navigate through the digitalization jungle.
Staying open and innovative
Meanwhile we at Kaltwasser Kommunikation have been communicating in many disciplines on many channels for 30 years. What has remained: The joy of moving people - and thus companies - through communication. At this point we would like to thank all employees, customers, journalists, partners and friends who have accompanied the agency in this process. We want to continue to look beyond our own horizons in the future and to continue to explore new paths together with you.
Since 1990, we have been able to gather numerous anecdotes and lots of experience - you are welcome to share the best ones with us via Instagram, Twitter or LinkedIn at #KK30. We are sure that you will remember one or the other of the past 30 years. We are looking forward to the exchange.
Your Kaltwasser team
