D – On May 6 and 7, 2025 the Hamburg Exhibition Centre was transformed into the epicentre of the digital marketing world again. With, according to the official figures, around 67,000 visitors, 1,000 exhibitors and over 800 international speakers, the OMR Festival is one of the biggest industry events in Europe. In the midst of this flood of digital innovations, an analogue highlight set special accents: The Hapticologist – The Center of Seven Senses.
Display windows, screens, illuminated accesses, real plants in a green light, colourful rubber ducks, cups, bags and co. from the Hapticologist merch collection – merch and haptic advertising media was presented with great attention to detail at the OMR Festival at an elaborately designed stand that was arranged in the form of a stylish bar. Coffee and colourful signature drinks enticed the visitors to engage in discussions at the bar, where they learned how they could implement branded products for their marketing and employer branding. Two DJs, who really rocked the place during the stand party on Tuesday evening, helped accentuate the stylish bar scene in The Hapticologist.
In this way, The Hapticologist presented itself as the green oasis of haptic advertising in the midst of a digital jungle at the OMR. “The booth stands out,” said Simone Stuhler from the Volksbank in Göppingen, “which isn’t easy at the OMR.” And for Maykel Kheyo from MediaMarktSaturn the Hapticologist stand was “one of the highlights at the OMR.”
An alliance comprising of 13 companies from the promotional products industry are behind the idea to present haptic advertising via the merch collection of a cocktail bar: These included eight leading suppliers and manufacturers Halfar, Kalfany Süße Werbung, Karl Knauer, Mahlwerck, mbw, Prodir, Toppoint and uma as well as the three creative promotional products agencies cyber-Wear, Global Brand Concepts and Kolibri. In the PSI, one had found a strong project partner with a connection to the Bar Convent in London and Berlin via the joint parent company, RX. WA Media GmbH is supporting the campaign as a media partner with its brand HAPTICA®, which the Managing Partner, Michael Scherer, is delighted about: “A fantastic group has come together here to bring haptic advertising forward as a marketing genre in the digital world with the help of The Hapticologist. We have been blowing the trumpet of haptic advertising and merchandising to the industry customers with our HAPTICA® brand projects for many years. Which is why we are supporting the concerns of our partners. The Hapticologist booth at the OMR Festival shows what is possible when industry players work together.”
Together the group demonstrated the concentrated power of haptic advertising and set a statement in the digital marketing world: Haptic advertising is not a dusty, old branch of business, but indeed an integral part of modern marketing.
To underline this point, The Hapticologist had also organised a masterclass with Olaf Hartmann (Multisense Institute), a leading expert for multisensory technology and brand management as well as a guided tour of the show. Based on concrete examples, these formats aimed to provide the visitors with an insight into the significance of haptic advertising in the digital era.
The fully booked masterclass entitled “More Sense for Stronger Brands” met with a great response. In his captivating lecture, Hartmann presented amazing brand research findings and demonstrated the huge potential of multisensory reinforcement in brand communications. Subsequently, the two guests, Ulrich Klenke, Chief Brand Officer at Deutsche Telekom, and Sören Zinner, Director Global Sponsoring & Merchandise at Schaeffler, highlighted examples from business practice.
During the guided tour on the next day, Steven Baumgaertner, CEO of cyber-Wear, who had already hosted the masterclass the day before, initially led the group to the stand of Leuchtturm1917 – a retail and B2B brand that promotes haptic thinking. The stand of Porsche was the next port of call. The car brand forges licences and cooperations with strong brands for its fan collections and corporate wear. At MediaMarkt’s stand one learned how the company positions itself as a love brand of the electronic trade using a wide selection of merchandise.
Baumgaertner, who was one of the driving forces behind The Hapticologist, came to an enthusiastic conclusion at the end: “We nailed it! We certainly satisfied our claim of bringing the best bar in the world to Hamburg. The feedback is sensational. The fact that 13 companies came together in this form is an absolute novelty for the industry.”
Armin Halfar, Managing Director of the bag manufacturer, Halfar, was overwhelmed by the response: “We didn’t have any expectations about what would happen. We wanted to present quality. We succeeded in achieving just that and the mood was thoroughly positive.” And Petra Lassahn, Director of the PSI, said: “The concept worked out even better than we’d imagined. It is a remarkable sign that fellow competitors from the industry worked together here to create awareness for haptic advertising. It was great fun.”
In an era when digital marketing dominates, The Hapticologist impressively demonstrated that haptic advertising is not only holding its own, but that it can also set new impulses. The combination between multisensory experiences, creative presentation and an expert exchange was a total success and it became clear: The haptics of the physical world and the digital universe complement each other nicely. Thanks to The Hapticologist, the OMR Festival 2025 offered promotional products a stage to demonstrate this to a wide audience.
//Andreas J. Haller
