Welcome to the GWA Marketing Stage

Those who manage brands must also know who is helping them.

The GWA brings together Germany's leading communications agencies and offers guidance through the agency jungle.

The Marketing Stage is all about this:

What makes for good brand communication? And who really masters the craft?

Together with the GWA Eastern Region („Eastern Ideas Planet“), the GWA Tech & Innovation and Sustainability Forum, as well as the GWA Young Board The GWA will be hosting its own stage at the MACHN Festival for the first time.

Look forward to speeches and panels on AI, sustainability, performance and creativity, successful campaigns and fresh perspectives for companies, decision-makers, marketers, agencies and young talent.

Highlight:

The GWA Marketing Stage is also a stage for the exclusive premiere of the new GWA AI White Papers, which GWA board member Nina Ireen Haller will introduce on 3 June.

What is the GWA?

The The GWA is the association of leading communications agencies in Germany.. Its member agencies stand for a special range of services and high quality standards. Membership is only granted to those who meet specific quantitative and qualitative criteria. Of particular importance is the ability to make substantial contributions to the brand management of clients. The GWA thus provides advertisers with guidance in a complex market.

What does the GWA do?

The GWA supports its members’ agency management through agency-specific services and by providing training and professional development for agency staff. The exchange of ideas among members across the various GWA platforms also helps to ensure high standards of quality.

The GWA and its member agencies are the point of contact for „Marketing Effectiveness“ – with permanent knowledge exchange and the annual presentation of the Effie Germany Award.

Important because?

A network of 154 member agencies, over 20 specialist forums where experts exchange best practices, develop standards and drive central industry topics such as marketing effectiveness, sustainability, AI and diversity.

As a strong voice for the industry, the GWA advocates for fair competitive conditions and social responsibility, and makes the value contribution of its member agencies visible to advertising companies and the entire communications industry.

GWA Speakers

Nina Ireen Haller
Managing Director
Muehlhaus Moers &
GWA Board Member

GWA AI Study 2026: From Insight to Application. What Needs to Be Done Now

„The MACHN Festival is the perfect place for us to unveil the new GWA AI white paper for the first time.”.

This is where entrepreneurial spirit, small and medium-sized enterprises, the creative industries and future technologies come together.

This is precisely the connection highlighted in the study: AI is no longer merely a matter of efficiency, but is fundamentally transforming value creation, business models, skills and collaboration between companies and agencies.

“We have deliberately chosen to publish the white paper in Leipzig. The study looks not only at the market average, but also at differences in maturity, expectations and the pace of transformation.”

Ina von Holly
Managing Partner & Co-Spokesperson
WE DO communication & GWA Sustainability Forumt

Is the communications industry a climate killer? How our ideas shape the world

Industry responsibility, advertised emissions and creative impact  

What we promote gets bought – and what gets bought determines our carbon footprint.

In this panel discussion, we will explore the enormous leverage of the marketing industry: after all, the true environmental footprint of a campaign lies not in its production, but in the demand it fuels.

Together with our guests, we will discuss the radical shift from climate driver to solution provider and question the responsibility behind every creative impulse.

Franka Mai
Managing Director, Strategy and Founder
THE GOODWINS & Co-Spokesperson GWA Forum Sustainability

Is the communications industry a climate killer? How our ideas shape the world

Industry responsibility, advertised emissions and creative impact  

What we promote gets bought – and what gets bought determines our carbon footprint.

Together with our guests, we will discuss the radical shift from climate driver to solution provider and question the responsibility behind every creative impulse.

Jonas Kratz
Data Strategist
Jung von Matt & GWA Young Board

The next chapter of the creative industries

Three structural forces are currently reordering the creative industry: infinite supply, eroding attention spans, and collapsing trust.

The creative middle class is in danger of being swallowed up by AI. We'll take a joint look at the industry and what will be important for brands, agencies, and young creatives in the future.

Sabine Hüttner
Key Account Manager
Genesis Advertising Agency

When AI can do everything and nothing. The power of other images.

No one can escape the flood of AI-generated imagery. It's obvious, isn't it? What actually happens if ethics and attitudes don't even allow you to fire up the AI generator in the first place?

Uninspired emptiness or a multi-award-winning campaign on an uncomfortable subject that sets standards? You'll have to see the answer.

Michael Rotzsch
Team Lead, Performance Marketing & Platforms
zebra | group

The Amazon Trap: Between Ads, Sales, and Dependence

Amazon is a strong sales channel for manufacturers – but rarely without side effects.

Using a direct example from the producer's perspective, I will show what pitfalls arise when products are sold on Amazon and what effects this has on retail and specialist trade.

Supplementing this, I will outline the fundamental differences between Amazon Ads and Google Ads and what companies need to consider if they want to understand Amazon not just as an advertising channel, but as an independent sales system.

Agnieszka Paul
Consultant
DSCHOY

Employer branding doesn't fail due to strategy, but due to a lack of consistency.

Companies today know how employer branding works. And yet, the desired effect is not achieved. Why?

Because the real problem isn't communication – it's leadership.

While campaigns, EVPs and career pages are being optimised, the crucial questions often remain unanswered: Which decisions are being avoided? Which contradictions are being tolerated? And what is truly lived out in everyday life?

The keynote shows why employer branding is not a communications project, but a leadership task. Clear, direct and without excuses.

Sven Wicke
CEO
Diemar Jung Zapfe

Leverage for Orchestrated Visibility: Audience Profiling and Channel Strategy

The best campaign only unfolds its value when it reaches the right target audience.

In his keynote, Sven demonstrates how to identify relevant B2C customers and why the optimal balance of affinity and reach is crucial. He explains why media-independent planning is the foundation for efficient budget allocation.

Frederik Schulz
UX Consultant
RYSM

The end is nigh? How brands can remain visible in the age of AI revolution and zero-click search.

What do brands need to do to be found digitally? The answer to this question has changed radically.

AI summaries eat up clicks, topic research becomes chat dialogues. Content is broken down, recombined, and served directly.

Which brands appear there and which remain invisible is increasingly decided by LLMs. What role do websites still play? And what happens to channels like social media or newsletters?

7 uncomfortable truths about visibility in the AI age – and three strategies against being forgotten.

Markus Simon
Managing Director Film/AI Producer
Sons of Motion Pictures

Meaning beats Making - When everyone can produce, only those who have something to say matter!

It has never been easier to produce films – and yet never harder to tell relevant stories.

AI makes production accessible to everyone, but that's precisely what makes visible what really matters: idea, attitude, and storytelling.

This keynote shows why true creativity becomes the crucial differentiator in the age of machines.

Lucienne Scigala-Drewes
Consultant
RYSM

The end is nigh? How brands can remain visible in the age of AI revolution and zero-click search.

What do brands need to do to be found digitally? The answer to this question has changed radically.

AI summaries eat up clicks, topic research becomes chat dialogues. Content is broken down, recombined, and served directly.

Which brands appear there and which remain invisible is increasingly decided by LLMs. What role do websites still play? And what happens to channels like social media or newsletters?

7 uncomfortable truths about visibility in the AI age – and three strategies against being forgotten.

Leon Kaufmann-Ludwig
Managing Director
BDX MEDIA

Why no one is interested in your social content - and what will make brands truly relevant in 2026

Producing content has never been easier. And never before has so much of it been so irrelevant.

As brands post more, produce faster, and appear on ever more channels, one thing is growing above all else: interchangeability.

The cause often lies not in a lack of creativity, but in a lack of clarity, weak control, and poor alignment.

The keynote shows why social content is failing precisely because of this – and what brands need to do differently in 2026 to not only be visible, but to become relevant.

Martin Waage
Head of Digital Business
Above Karger

Deep Dive into Creative Storytelling with AI

AI can produce content in seconds today – but what's often missing is the crucial element: genuine relevance.

In this talk, you'll discover how creative processes can not only be accelerated with AI but also holistically automated – from the initial idea, through prompting, image and video generation, to the finished creative.

Using concrete examples, this addresses the question of how real storytelling emerges from tool chains – and why authenticity is the decisive success factor.

Because only content with conviction still stands out in AI-driven content overload. A deep dive for everyone who wants to not only use AI but also integrate it meaningfully into their creative work.

Benedict Rehbein
CEO
PIO

"Trust me!": The difficult relationship between sender and receiver

The video evidence is a thing of the past. We have reached the post-truth era.

Not just a good agency, anyone can create deceptively real digital worlds today, with all the advantages – but also all the risks.

Bots, trolls, nudify apps and conspiracy theories are endangering the (social) web and therefore the foundation for respectable, functioning communication with each other. Can our digital society still be saved?

Marin Magic
Content Strategist
RYSM

The end is nigh? How brands can remain visible in the age of AI revolution and zero-click search.

What do brands need to do to be found digitally? The answer to this question has changed radically.

AI summaries eat up clicks, topic research becomes chat dialogues. Content is broken down, recombined, and served directly.

Which brands appear there and which remain invisible is increasingly decided by LLMs. What role do websites still play? And what happens to channels like social media or newsletters?

7 uncomfortable truths about visibility in the AI age – and three strategies against being forgotten.

Daniel Weidner
Managing Director
Revolte Digital Ltd

AI Avatars: Hype or Measurable Marketing Boost? Alternative Without AI Entry: Avatar – A New Efficiency Dawn

The presentation shows how AI avatars are used in marketing to make knowledge, communication, and content scalable.

Using practical examples, it becomes clear how companies can increase efficiency, automate processes, and simultaneously strengthen their brand impact – without losing the human factor.

Moderation

Nina Ireen Haller
Managing Director
Muehlhaus Moers &
GWA Board Member

Jonas Kratz
Data Strategist
Jung von Matt & GWA Young Board

Maylin Vural
Unitlead Strategy
segment & GWA Young Board

Joerg G. Fieback
CEO & Co-Founder
zebra | group & GWA Board

Welcome to Ideenplaneten Ost!

The „Ideas Planet East“ is the nationally recognised brand of GWA-Forums East Region and thus the central platform for all GWA agencies in the eastern region.

It was founded as Location initiative for the creative industries in the East by Oberüber Karger (Dresden/Leipzig), PIO (Leipzig), RYSM (including Berlin/Dresden) and zebra | group (Chemnitz/Dresden).

The following GWA agencies have joined us: Sons of Motion Pictures (Leipzig), Revolte (Chemnitz), DSCHOY (Chemnitz), genese (Magdeburg), Diemar Jung Zapfe (Erfurt/Leipzig) and BDX MEDIA (Leipzig/Los Angeles).

What does the "Ideenplanet Ost" do?

Ideenplanet Ost raises the profile of agencies in the east, fosters networking and exchange, provides inspiration for creative work, and enables joint discussion of location-specific issues.

Through events, formats and regular meetings – both physical and virtual – the Ideenplanet Ost strengthens cohesion in the region and makes the creative power of the East visible nationwide.

One of our missions is to use #Funkkontakt to create a digital platform for the agency and creative sectors in eastern Germany and Berlin – open to interested industry colleagues, including those from non-GWA agencies across the country. There’s a lot going on here in eastern Germany.

We just haven’t „beamed out into orbit“ loudly enough to be noticed yet.