"London calling" has already sung The Clash. At the moment, Kaltwasser Kommunikation intensively communicates with its network partners in Prague, Oslo and Milan via telephone, Skype and Teams. The communication agency with headquarters in Nuremberg currently handles international customer projects mainly via Microsoft Teams and appreciates working together on presentations and Excel sheets and sharing the results in real time simply via the screen.”
When one of the former Foreign Ministers of Great Britain congratulates the agency on its thirtieth birthday by video message, it is proof of a long tradition of international relations and intercultural cooperation. Together with the former PR agency of British politician Jeremy Hunt, Kaltwasser Kommunikation founded the "InterPR" network in the 1990s. During the information technology boom, the owner-managed member agencies served many international clients worldwide. For example the first global satellite-controlled telephone network Iridium or the spectacular marriage of the companies Uunet and Compuserve in Las Vegas.
Alliances with owner-operated partner agencies
Kaltwasser Kommunikation founded an independent agency network as early as 1994 in order to serve its customers across national borders. Even then, it was already operating in 14 countries in order to establish a broad international presence and implement global customer projects in several countries. "Our owner-managed agency network offers our clients localised PR know-how in their core markets. This enables us to provide them with sustainable advice on all public relations issues, which is becoming increasingly important in a globalized world. After all, each country has different requirements for communications work due to its regional mentality and the different political environment," says Brigitte Kaltwasser.
International client work with local expertise
The cooperation is characterized by a trusting and collegial approach, always with a focus on long-term partnerships. The aim of these agency alliances is to provide current and future clients with an international orientation with experienced local partners and to continue to offer the convenience of a central contact person. The lead agency coordinates the countries and thus ensures uniform and consistent communication. In this way, communication strategies can be tailored to the individual countries and clients benefit from close regional contacts to relevant media and influencers on the ground through local expertise. Conversely, Kaltwasser Kommunikation also supports multinational companies of its network partners to act in Germany in a publicity-effective and communicative way. Dian Wahlen, founder of the Antwerp-based PR agency Leads United, which she later sold to Lewis PR, fondly recalls the InterPR meetings and the joint support of international clients: "To this day, I am impressed by the friendly relationship between our PR agencies and Kaltwasser Kommunikation's passion for PR.”
Transnational exchange with network partners
Even though Kaltwasser Kommunikation can currently only exchange information virtually and not personally, the communications agency is pleased about the cross-national exchange by means of telephone and video conferences as well as the joint customer work with its current network partners in Europe in the current Corona situation:
- HL Com in Paris for the Benelux countries and France: Since its foundation in 1989, the PR agency has specialized in media relations and digital communication with a focus on the IT and telecommunications industry.
- Nelson Bostock Unlimited in London for the UK: The communications agency has been advising corporate and technology brands for more than 30 years.
- in marketing GmbH in Zurich for Austria and Switzerland: The full-service agency provides communication services for IT and high-tech companies.
- DoubleVi in Milan for Italy: The management and communications consultancy advises not only classic media relations, but especially companies undergoing change or transformation.
- PR.Konektor in Prague for the Czech Republic and Slovakia: Marketing communication and creative concepts for numerous industries are the specialty of the Prague PR agency.
- Coxit in Oslo for Scandinavia: The PR agency applies its ten years of communications expertise to clients in the fields of technology and IT as well as mobility, software and construction.
Depending on the client's needs, Kaltwasser Kommunikation also works with other PR agencies on international projects, thus constantly expanding its worldwide agency network as required.
The colleagues at Kaltwasser Kommunikation also attach great importance to language skills and intercultural competence, so that they can communicate effortlessly in Czech, Spanish, Italian and of course English. Franconian, Bavarian and Berlinerisch anyway.