Holtman is one of the oldest exhibition companies in Germany and the world. In 1950 the brothers Wilhelm and Walter Holtmann sowed the seeds for the modern company when they established a carpenter's shop. Their proximity to the trade fair in Hanover and the workshop's reliable craftsmanship formed the basis for the first exhibition orders by well-known exhibitors.

By the 1960s, exhibition construction was already becoming an important basis for the company. By then, Holtmann was building stands for trade shows in Frankfurt, Berlin, Milan, Poznan, Paris, Moscow, London and Budapest. Over a period of three months, Holtmann built 18,000 m² of roofing and 18,000 m² of flooring and ceiling elements for what was then the largest exhibition hall in the world: Hall 1 in Hanover.

In 1971 the Olympic Committee commissioned Holtmann as the main contractor for the construction of the entire Olympic sailing competition in Kiel. The whole Olympic Village, with more than 3,600 m² of halls, was built over five months, ready to use with all heating, ventilation and lighting installed. Further complex jobs followed, as well as increasing numbers of national and international trade fair shows for well-known companies.

At the start of the 1990s, the second generation gradually took over the management of the Langenhagen company, in the form of the industrial engineer Claus Holtmann and the business manager Jürgen Holtmann. That decade saw a series of other major construction projects. Over a construction period of just three months, Holtmann played a major role in completing the information stand at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, Europe's biggest building site. Another highlight of that decade was the Deutsche Telekom trade fair stands, which were becoming increasingly sophisticated.

In 2000 the World's Fair took place in Hanover, marking the start of new challenges for the Holtmann company which exceeded everything prior to that in terms of size and complexity. Holtmann was in overall charge of two of the largest individual projects assigned by the Expo. These were firstly the production of the entire themed park at the heart of the Expo, whose 11 displays filled 5 entire exhibition halls, and secondly the fulfilment of all the multiservice complexes, with a floor space of 40,000 m².

Since the Expo 2000, a whole new field of business has thus been added to the range of services offered by Holtmann Messe+Event, examples of this new skill being pavilions at subsequent world fairs such as the Expo 2002 in Switzerland, the Expo 2005 in Aichi, Japan, and that in Shanghai in 2010, as well as the construction of showrooms and museum buildings. Text: ©Holtmann/Edited

In Holtmann, like many other traditional or large company, despite significant changes in the company since 1950, corporate identity did not exist seamlessly. The logo had not changed years and brand strategy was not up to date. Maybe because they were more focused on company development, employees and annual turnover.

The main issue was the incompatibility of the previous brand with the current personality of the company. This brief was a careful balancing act, a huge weight of heritage and tradition that must be respected but also a modern, and forward-thinking company, operating in the here and now.

My job was to balance past 70 years, present and create a visual language and identity to carry them into their next 70 years.

As a brand consultant at Holtmann, I sought to preserve the company's traditional values and create a modern and attractive face for the future.

My suggestion was the integrated corporate design, and using the unique feature of the company, year of established, as the USP in the main company message. Custom logo with modern design, color palette combines anthracite and white colors as the main color and orange as the accent colors, custom and modern typography and style. In (naming) message system, the Meese+Event was removed from the main claim, and Holtmann since 1950 was created.
In brand architect system Holtmann since 1950 set as a master brand , and holtmann, mesomondo, expomondo and other sister companies arranged as a sub brands.

And in the end, the uniform design of the company, with a unique and custom style, each of which reminds the other.

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