⚪️ Andreas Koch’s Post

🫧 20 years ago, I designed a tote bag for O2 Telefónica Germany. 𝗧𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝗜 𝘀𝗮𝘄 𝗶𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗜𝗥𝗟. As I drove around a corner in Hamburg today, I recognized a guy walking down the sidewalk with "my" bag. How nuts? I kindly stopped him and asked him where he got the bag. »From o2, but that was many, many years ago...« 𝗬𝗲𝗽, 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝟮𝟬. ❤️🔥 In that split second, I felt the #joy #enthusiasm #motivation and #energy of the Junior in his first job at a top branding agency, designing a simple tote bag. Strangely enough, I remembered every detail of the job. How I bought different kinds of sand to find out the best "simulation" of a beach (bird sand won), how I wrote the letters with my fingers in the sand (maybe 50+ times), how I photographed it (100+), how I photoshopped the composition with the beach background in different perspectives over and over. It was just a simple bag design, no deal for a branding agency or a brand like O2. But for this Junior 20 years ago — it was. 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝗺 𝗜 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗻 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗻? 🫴 Today, I would rate the design: failed, go back to zero! Hard to get the message, bad typography, bad use of brand elements, bad material…blabla. But obviously, it doesn't really matter in this case. 🫴 For me, it's not just a reminder to pay attention to the little things. Much more, it's a reminder to me as an entrepreneur to step back and see things in a longer timeframe, before making judgments. This guy today has kept this simple bag for 20 years. I mean, it could have saved the planet hundreds of plastic bags. The brand may have been subconsciously part of this guy's shopping routine. But yes, it's still a simple bag. 🫴 Over the last 20 years, I've managed thousands of branding projects around the globe. For many of the best brands around, worth many millions of dollars. But this simple bag has a special message for me — it represents #joy #passion and #purpose. 🫴 My belief is that even if you can't see the bigger effects of the seemingly useless things you do during your career — if you do it with passion, you will get something in return. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗴𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱. So, I can advise with full conviction to the #nextgen of Juniors who are aiming for the biggest, most challenging, and of course most visible projects: 💯 always value what you do and go full send! Doesn't matter how small the task seems at the moment. I'm not 100% sure if I thought much about the message on the bag, or if it was a brand claim at that time. However, it seems like a pretty good fit recommendation for this summer 🫠. 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗖𝗔𝗡 𝗥𝗘𝗟𝗔𝗫.