Gira: architecture communication since 2019, with over 100 reference stories and a newsletter for architects every two weeks

Gira are the ones with the switches and sockets. For architects, the brand is above all one thing: a design decision. Anyone designing a building decides which technology sits in the wall and how it looks there. With hardly any other product is this decision as visible as with the switch.

This raises the questions we have been working on with the Gira team since 2019: how much influence will planners still have on the electrical installation tomorrow? What place does smart building have in the design? And what services do architects expect from a manufacturer like Gira?

The collaboration runs on two fixed beats. Every two weeks, the newsletter for architects goes out with four topics, and a new reference story appears at the same pace. We develop the topics together with the marketing team in Radevormwald; planning, writing and production are with us. One example of the tone: one issue was called »Drinnen sein, aber sich wie draußen fühlen« (being indoors but feeling like you’re outdoors).

On top of that come landing pages, short news items for the website and moving image. For the »Smart Home Kompass« format, we filmed and edited nine videos and 14 reels.

It began in 2019 with a question from Gira: what will architects expect from a manufacturer in future? We reviewed all communication tools and sales channels and turned the findings into a strategy with a roadmap. That assignment has grown into a collaboration that is still expanding:

• 2019: strategy and roadmap
• from 2020: reference stories, now more than 100
• from 2021: a newsletter every two weeks, now more than 100 issues
• 2022 to 2024: the »Smart Home Kompass« video format, filmed and edited by us
• 2023: virtual architecture consultations, a permanent part of Gira’s service offering after the pilot
• 2025: communication around the Architecture Biennale in Venice, with landing pages, on-site content and a special newsletter

We agree the scope afresh every year in an annual review with Gira. During the year, we coordinate topics in regular editorial and strategy meetings. When a topic moves from the editorial plan into a channel, nobody asks any more how Gira sounds.

1. Strategy consulting: target group analysis and further development of how Gira addresses architects
2. Content planning: cross-channel editorial planning for the architecture target group
3. Copywriting: texts for website, newsletter, social media and reference projects
4. Website management: looking after the architecture landing page
5. Trade fair and event concepts: concepts for industry events

Gira is one of the best-known German brands for electrical installation technology. The family-owned company from Radevormwald combines smart building technology with a design standard that architects and planners value.