Herman Sailing International Seas

Herman is Slovenian, but has been sailing, with strong oars and tall masts, on the seas of worldwide communication. Our work is persistent, connected, targeted. We quickly surpassed the “digital first” way of thinking and kicked it up a notch to a “multi-world” approach. We develop new knowledge and creative solutions, such as new media and content platforms, digilog events, digitization of traditional public relations, new tools and activation of Gen-Z, building and managing employer brands, B2B adrenalization, e-commerce and UX experience, business strategic transformations, and so much more. That’s why we can navigate international waters well-equipped with a mosaic of knowledge.

Designing campaigns for international markets requires an understanding of a different playbook than the approach tackling local markets. When designing such campaigns, the core concept must be more universal and connect with audiences of varying nationalities and cultural backgrounds. A fact of life in Slovenia may not be relevant for someone in any other country. Care must be taken when writing copy: phrases, rhymes, proverbs, word games can all work well in one language but fall flat in translation. Universal and translatable concept is essential.

Hisense is a Chinese electronics brand that owns the Slovenian brand Gorenje. They have been present in Western European markets, specifically selling ovens, for two years and now they wish to bolster their operations with a communication campaign. They launched and international competition to decide on which firm to use for the campaign, and Herman & Partners won. 

The target group for Hisense ovens are young people equipping their home kitchen for the first time. The Millennials generation presents a unique challenge, because they are foodies who like to share what they cook and eat on social media, yet they spend less time in the kitchen than older generations. Lack of time, living and eating on-the-go, glorification of cooking in pop culture are all factors in this. So the communication challenge was to convince this younger generation to overcome initial fears and tackle everyday cooking challenges in a relaxed, introductory way. Hisense ovens help with this, thanks to their simple interface and user-friendly approach. The main message of the campaign was “Cook like a rookie, eat like a chef.”

The campaign is designed for several markets in Western Europe: Italy, Germany, France, the UK and Spain.

Fortuna Entertainment Group is a sports betting and gambling company operating in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Romania and Croatia. Their focus is football.

During the EURO 2020 football championship, the company wanted to strengthen the emotional connections between fans and their two brands, Fortuna (in Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania) and PSK (in Croatia). To this end, they organised an international competition in which agencies from different countries in the region prepared their communication proposals. Herman & Partners won the commission. We designed the TV ad “Excitement starts with Fortuna” as well as a visual image for the campaign.

The project was based on two insights built around the fact that each football match takes place simultaneously in two venues: between the players on the field and between the fans in the stands or in front of their TV screens. This latter encounter is where Fortuna comes in, making the experience of each match more intense.

The campaign has been running since June 2020.