Marketing managers from world-renowned companies such as Assa Abloy (security technology), from leading building communication technology company S. Siedle & Söhne or from façade specialist seele met at the Ruess Group’s agency offices in Stuttgart’s West End to discuss digital transformation.

Markus Eiberger, Project Partner at the consultancy firm in the construction and real estate sector Drees & Sommer, reported in his opening speech on the advantages of Building Information Modelling (BIM) and the associated transformation of the construction industry. Eiberger pointed out that the construction sector, compared to other branches of industry such as mechanical engineering or agriculture, is still very “undigitalised” and therefore extremely unproductive. “This will change a lot in the coming years with BIM or the increased use of 3D printing,” of this Markus Eiberger is certain. The value chains of the construction industry will also change with digitalisation. There are already many new players (start-ups) on the market today, and large digital groups such as Google, IBM and Alibaba from China are also expanding their activities in the construction industry.

Digitalisation also brings with it major changes for marketing – as well as new opportunities. Event hosts Steffen Ruess and Markus Rahner, both Managing Partners of Stuttgart-based marketing agency Ruess Group, highlighted this fact several times. Above all, the evaluation possibilities of digital channels can be used to generate knowledge about the customer – a new field, especially for B2B companies, since they usually do hardly any market research. With manageable analytical effort, marketing managers today can determine how customers and prospects react to brands and products. Customer knowledge therefore returns to the communications department and with it a new level of customer centricity. Steffen Ruess is convinced that in the B2B sector it is necessary for communication and sales to increasingly act as a team throughout the customers’ purchase decision process.

The co-organiser of the Marketing Day, Bauverlag, also discussed how to reach the target groups in the construction industry – such as architects and planners – In the age of digitalisation. Katja Reich, editor-in-chief of the DBZ architectural journal, in tandem with Sarah Centgraf – Head of Digital Innovation at Bauverlag – explained the channels through which a publishing house reaches and inspires its readers today. For Katja Reich, it is clear that print is still important and (for the moment) the core product of the DBZ media brand. A high-quality magazine stands for relevance and communication with the reader eye to eye. Over and above print editions, activities such as newsletters, websites and events are becoming increasingly important. The communication formats are currently supplemented by webinars and podcasts.

In an extremely entertaining lecture, Markus Kirchmair, Head of Marketing Prolicht, highlighted the successful interaction of offline and online marketing measures. The Tyrolean lighting manufacturer mainly uses its impressive presence at trade fairs as a lead generation machine, but cleverly links these with supporting digital communication measures on Facebook or LinkedIn.

Even print documents with a high-quality tactile design continue to make a significant contribution to the marketing mix at Prolicht. Especially in communication on social media channels, Prolicht’s quick reaction time combined with daring to publish humorous content pays off successfully. Markus Kirchmair also gave the guests some insight into the agile working methods of the team and the marketing tools used.