Customer Story: A&B

A&B is a unique publication launched by one creative agency, KIRMES, in support of their very distinctive service: corporate audio branding. Among their notable projects is a strategic soundscape implemented for a café in Cologne, leading to a 21% increase in profits – an impressive testament to the power of their unique auditory branding approach.

As part of our ongoing Customer Story series, we sat down with Thorsten Kirmes, founder of KIRMES and A&B. He shared how Issuu enables them to advance the conversation on sensory branding in Germany while showcasing their innovative work and industry-related interviews with audio brands and experts.

Welcome, Thor! Can you first tell us about your organization and what you do?

Our organization, KIRMES, is based in Germany and specializes in corporate audio. Essentially, we visit businesses and brands to understand their auditory identity across various touch points. We delve into sensory branding and marketing, areas that haven’t been widely discussed in Germany - which is what inspired us to start our own dialogue on the subject.

About 18 months ago, amidst the pandemic, we launched a publication named A&B. We initially shared it as regular PDFs but, after discovering Issuu, we were able to streamline our operations, allowing us to track clicks, incorporate ads, and conduct interviews with industry leaders, thus creating a richer, more engaging experience for our readers.

Our use of Issuu doesn't stop there. We recently realized we could also utilize Issuu to showcase our credentials interactively, as an alternative to the traditional, flat PDF format. Issuu's Video feature enables us to embed audio into our publications, offering a more immersive perspective on our work for potential clients.

One of the most fascinating applications of our expertise was a music consulting project for a café in Cologne. We collaborated with a university on a study that aimed to prove that a strategic change in the soundscape could drive more profits. By curating an appealing soundtrack, which could be played from morning to night, we managed to increase the café's profits by a substantial 21% solely through music implementation.

Issuu is the perfect tool for us, providing unique opportunities to communicate and present our work effectively. It's been a very rewarding journey so far.

How did you initially discover Issuu? 

My first encounter with Issuu was quite interesting. I was lucky enough to be featured in a renowned German publication called Turi2, which is a highly recognized marketing publication here. Turi2 was using Issuu for its magazines, which quickly piqued my interest. The platform looked impressive, so I decided to try it myself. It was a simple yet exciting discovery made through our industry connections; a fortunate stroke of serendipity, you could say.

How do you typically share your publications with your audience?

Our approach to sharing our publications has a creative twist. We've designed a unique tool that resembles a credit card, complete with an Issuu-generated QR Code. Whenever we participate in trade shows or similar events, we share these cards with our business contacts. The QR code leads directly to our Issuu publications, allowing our audience to conveniently access our work. This tactic also provides them with a tactile memento they can take anywhere, adding more perceived value to our magazine.

For face-to-face interactions, these cards have proven to be quite effective. Beyond in-person events, we also leverage LinkedIn, our primary business channel, where we publish either Articles or the entire Issuu publication to engage our online audience. The combination of physical and digital distribution strategies helps us connect with our readers in a memorable way.

Which features do you use the most within Issuu’s platform?

Apart from the QR Code, we also use Issuu’s Video feature. Considering we are audio experts, we're more inclined towards the audio aspect of it, which is why we've devised an approach where we Embed a video within the publication, but only with audio. It involves a static image, usually a brand logo, with sound playing in the background.

The Statistics feature has proven to be tremendously helpful, too. We use it to understand how many people are actually reading our publications, the amount of time they spend flipping through them, the links they interact with, and the pages they visit within our publication. It's a truly insightful tool. We rely on these metrics in order to refine our publications for better audience engagement. We always compare these numbers with our Google advertising efforts, enabling us to see how clicks and costs align with conversions on our page. This, along with a deeper analysis of engagement on the Issuu publications, enables us to track and optimize our digital strategy.

The Articles feature is another valuable one we use within Issuu’s platform. Being a B2B company, we've noticed that around 80-90% of views on our Issuu publications come from desktop computers. However, when we share Articles on LinkedIn, it enables people to conveniently view them on their phones. We’re happy that Issuu allows us to provide an easy, mobile-friendly reading experience to our audience.

Explore our Publishers page to discover all the ways you can easily publish, share, and promote your work with Issuu.