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We are Pioneers, a creative agency for retail transformation. Set up in 2014 as a one-stop-shop for all things retail, we continually deliver inspiring customer experience and outstanding services to brands. From four founding project managers we have grown into a multidisciplinary team of 70 people.
Let us quickly walk you through our history, who we are, and what we do—that seems like an appropriate way to begin our relationship.
Martin Baumdicker had been an experienced and award-winning marketing creative before setting out to conquer the retail world. He began his journey into entrepreneurship with a €3250 budget. A credit of €30k made the room he worked from look like an office, turned a table into a computer desk, and an old couch into a bed for what turned out to be many sleepless nights. There had been no clear strategy, no real structure, just the ambition to get rid of boring shops once and for all.
We started out with Nike as our first client, a brand whose vision we share to this day. The work with Nike allowed us to build a team in less than a year, diversify our services, and, most importantly, build confidence in our strength as a team.
It was a memorable year with unbelievable amounts of hard work and risks. We attracted new people and brought new skills to the team. Some of them are still with us—looking at you, Clarissa and Lukas. Thank you for making it all the way!
And then there were 13.
When all of them sat at the table, they would discuss weather, politics, work, and what the name of the company should be. Trying to grasp our DNA in a cool brand name, we visited the whole spectrum of weird names: from Tree House Marketing to Solid Rocks Marketing to The Fulfillers; to Maximise Marketing to Space-Time Pilots to Point of Action.
2016 was an excellent year for the company. All the hard work landed us an MVB Start-up of the Year prize, which was a significant boost for us. That year, we also won The North Face as client and have been creating and executing great concepts together ever since.
Since our company had been so preoccupied with growth and the many projects we were handling, we decided to deliberately take a step back and figure out what we wanted to achieve—not just as a company, but also as the team within in.
Long and honest discussions led to our Creativity and Operational Excellence manifesto.
We believe in retail, and we understand its promise and potential. We create concepts, and we bring them to life, to cultivate memorable experiences for people and brands. We are architects of a new retail reality, enablers of genuine, purposeful human interactions, served by tech innovation. We are designers of exciting customer journeys and impressive physical spaces.
We set out to create and nurture a company culture that would allow people to build valuable products and services to achieve long-term sustainable growth. Operational excellence is a working system that cultivates leadership at all levels, encourages a problem-solving attitude and a flexible mindset.
We’re proud to have this mindset visible in our work.
Our quest for inspiration and creativity led us to Berlin, the most lively city in Europe. Our Creative Lab has grown into an international, versatile team: A colourful mix of Lebanese, Romanian, Indian, and German spirits, all coupled with Berlin’s progressive and experimental power.
And hello, Levi’s. Welcome to the Pioneers universe.
Since the beginning of the year, Pioneers has been a part of GWA, joining forces with a selection of other leading agencies. This is a dream come true for our founder, who won the first *Junior Effie Award* 15 years ago and consequently became a part of the Junior GWA.
“The prize had completely changed my life, it was an amazing, almost groundbreaking experience, that set me on this entrepreneurial, advertising career path.”
As always, Pioneers are building exciting new projects and products, among them a presence on social media! Follow us and keep an eye on this blog for updates of how the story continues.
