CMO OF THE YEAR 2018: KARSTEN KÜHN
Karsten Kühn
Chief Marketing Officer at Hornbach Baumarkt AG
This year’s “CMO of the Year 2018” title was awarded to Karsten Kühn, Chief Marketing Officer at Hornbach Baumarkt AG. The decision was made during a meeting of the “CMO of the Year” jury that lasted several hours. Ten finalists had previously been identified by the “CMO of the Year” Council via an online survey.
Karsten Kühn was presented with the award on the evening of Innovation Day, at a Gala event held at Munich’s Alte Bayerische Staatsbank and attended by approximately 300 guests. Following a presentation speech, Brand Manager at Deutsche Telekom and “CMO of the Year” 2016 Hans-Christian Schwingen handed the trophy over to its proud winner.
The nominees for the “CMO of the Year” award 2018 were (in alphabetical order):
- Dr. Martell Beck, Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe
- Jürgen Herrmann, Ritter Sport
- Andreas Jung, FC Bayern
- Melanie Kämpermann, Elbphilharmonie
- Karsten Kühn, Hornbach
- Claas Meineke, EDEKA
- Yvonne Piu, Birkenstock
- Bernd Rützler, Kärcher
- Alexander Schlaubitz, Lufthansa
- Dr. Jens Thiemer, Daimler
KARSTEN KÜHN, CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER AT HORNBACH BAUMARKT AG:
“I’m pleased to have received this recognition from my colleagues, and also see this award as an acknowledgement of the great work produced by the entire Hornbach team. Together we are working on further strengthening Hornbach’s position as a DIY centre – consistently, but always with a twinkle in our eye.”
THE JURY’S VERDICT
The speaker for the “CMO of the Year” jury is Horst von Buttlar, Capital Editor-in-Chief. The jury member’s explained the reasons for the decision as follows:
Horst von Buttlar
Capital Editor-in-Chief and jury spokesperson
“Hornbach’s campaigns have come to be synonymous with DIY advertising. They are intelligent, entertaining, and unmistakable, with slogans that keep finding their way into everyday usage. Since 2014, Karsten Kühn has been one of the driving forces behind this marketing approach, which amounts to far more than just a single successful campaign: with good storytelling and content marketing, as demonstrated most recently in its “Sweat it Out” campaign, Hornbach continues to cause a stir within a competitive market as a top creative performer. It also enjoys great success with its customers, who demonstrate great satisfaction with Hornbach, and for whom the campaigns are proving their success all the way to the checkout.”
IMPRESSIONS OF THE AWARD GALA 2018
