A – The three specialists Fare, Halfar and mbw organised a new kind of customer event for their partners on the promotional product market, by staging the Summit Meeting on September 11, 2025, for the first time. The focus wasn’t on key figures, product shows or financial reports – it was about personal relations, getting to know each other (better) and joint experiences. “The basic idea was to take a more emotional approach. At the same time, we wanted to show that we are not anonymous addresses, by putting the people behind our companies in the spotlight,” stated Günter Schmidt, Sales Director and authorised signatory at Fare, who provided the initial impetus for the event.
What followed was a co-production, which begun with the customer service staff of the three JCK subsidiaries visiting 13 leading Austrian promotional products distributors personally to present them with an invitation package. The no-show quota was zero – all 13 companies invited attended the Hotel Aviva make friends in Afiesl, Upper Austria on September 11. The beautiful resort offered the perfect setting for the programme, which the hosts had planned for the day.
Jan Breuer, Kathrin Stühmeyer-Halfar, Armin Halfar and Volker Griesel (f.t.l.) revealed personal insights into their careers as entrepreneurs during the “chat on the alps”.
The four Managing Directors Jan Breuer (mbw), Volker Griesel (Fare), Armin Halfar and Kathrin Stühmeyer-Halfar (both from Halfar) gave open, private and moving insights into their careers, philosophy and motivation during the “chat on the alps” – including amusing photos from their childhood and youth. In this way, in addition to many other anecdotes, the guests learned that the founding pair of Halfar worked on hand-written orders using a sewing machine in a loft, that Volker Griesel already started selling discarded umbrellas at town festivals in the 1970s or that Jan Breuer already posed as a model for mbw catalogues as a schoolboy. A very different, yet all the more authentic company presentation.
Teamwork: Building a soapbox car, followed by a race.
The subsequent team-building campaign was– quite literally – moving: Under the directions of the adventure agency, AdrenalinConzeptz, six randomly chosen teams each built a soapbox car, which they took part in a race with afterwards. The special feature: umbrellas, bags and ducks had to be incorporated into the soapboxes. The gold medal for the best time and the most successful vehicle ultimately went to the team of the “Bag tacticians”.
After a beer tasting of the hotel’s own brewery, the day was brought to a perfect close with an evening in traditional dress, Austrian delicacies and live music.
Both the hosts and their customers can look back on an intense day full of connecting moments. And the “summiteers”, who attended the event, not only know their suppliers but also their market companions and colleagues a lot better too. In times when cooperation, exchange and openness are more important than ever, the industry can only profit from such initiatives.
//Till Barth
Fotos: Till Barth, © WA Media
