Meet Robert Bau, a man of many tasks and a clear goal: to raise awareness of why Design Management is such a decisive aspect of business value. Robert teaches at Berghs School of Communication.

Robert Bau was raised in the US, has lived many years in Sweden, and now commutes between Stockholm and London where he resides in bucolic surroundings just outside of town. For several years Bau worked as an in-house consultant and project manager, but in 2005 he became an independent strategist by launching his company Mind Your Table Manners. Today, in addition to working 25% for Ergonomidesign, Sweden’s leading ergonomic design agency. Bau spends his time consulting, coaching, lecturing and writing for a broad range of clients. He is a senior branding-, innovation and design strategist, a business coach for creative agencies, and a mentor to creative entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial creatives. Since 2006 he also teaches at Berghs, an assignment particularly close to his heart: ”I teach too at Hyper Island, Konstfack, Södertörn College, The Business & Design Lab in Gothenburg, The Design College in Umeå, and at conferences all over Europe, but my heart beats especially for Berghs.”

”My calling is to be a kind of Ambassador of Design, and I think of it as a bit like being a language teacher. My courses attract business developers, architects and talented people of all stripes who know how to speak but now wish to really master the language. The courses should result in smart design, but for me the process itself is even more important. Actually, the very word ’design’ tends to send out misleading signals, since it’s not primarily a matter of just creating a pretty surface or fancy function. In my mind design is about providing strategic assistance to help companies cut costs, become more efficient, and increase productivity through employing intelligent design, designers and design thinking. It’s about processes that are well thought through, not about making fetching sketches. Design is pure business value, plain and simple.”

Design Management is the name of a ten-day course spaced over 10-12 weeks at Berghs School of Communication in Stockholm, which includes lectures, workshops, shorter assignments and longer projects, plus guest lecturers from the industry. The course has a three-pronged focus:

• Branding, meaning how to help companies build their brands through a strategic application of design, designers and design thinking, and by overall stressing the connection between brand and design.
• Innovation, meaning how smart design can contribute to the branding process, and how strategic innovation can assist companies in numerous ways.
• Management, meaning a strategy to streamline functions, cut costs and increase productivity by using design, designers and design thinking. What is the connection between design and productivity? What is the unique contribution of design to increased efficiency and sustainability?

”My task is to get the students to take the next , best step in developing their own professional ventures, and I find it incredibly rewarding to help them in this regard. And I know that by thus turning the students too into new Ambassadors of Design, I help strengthen the industry. For myself, teaching is a great opportunity to structure my own thoughts and to test them on others. My course becomes a dynamic feedback loop with colleagues from many different fields, and this also helps me to become a better consultant. During this past spring semester I have seen all of Berghs explore the issue of sustainability, which was the theme for the school’s Final Exhibition. The three great sustainability aspects within design right now are: Eco-Iconic, Eco-Embedded and Eco-Boosters,” adds Robert Bau just as the photographer arrives to take his picture for this article. As he hurries off we’ve learned for sure that design equals business value, it’s as simple as that!

19 students from Johnson & Wales University, Rhode Island, USA are at Berghs for two weeks to take on a brief from Ikea restaurants. Their stay in Stockholm also rewards the students with study visits at Stockholm agencies Prime PR, Lowe Brindfors, DDB and Greatworks. 

Yesterday this year's ned year exhibition kick started at Berghs. A Sustainable Plan, the students' manifestation for sustainability:

One Show's Green Pencil, made out of 100% recycable glass, is aiming to recognize and encourage environmentally responsible advertising. It was initiated to bring attention to advertising campaigns that were not only creatively innovative, but that also communicated a positive message about improving the environment. Amongst all the established agencies who entered in the competition, the Green Pencil was awarded to the Berghs students Jonas Åhlén and Johan Gerdin. They developed their campaign together with Fredrika Stern from the Swedish Graphic Institute.

The brief came from Million Trees NYC and the students' case film Swipe for Million Trees NYC can be seen below.

The students from Berghs were not only successful in the One Show Award, but also in One Show Coellege Competition. Each year a huge number of students enter the competition. This year, 21 out of 93 finalists came from Berghs School of Communication in Stockholm.

The One Club was established in 1975 and is an organization working to promote creativity. Yearly they organize the One Show, one of the world's most prestigious advertising competitions, in the categories; the One Show, One Show Desig, One Show Interactive and One Show College Competition.

Green Pencil Award

Swipe for Million Trees NY
Jonas Åhlén and Johan Gerdin (and Fredrika Stern from GI)

Gold in Non-traditional:
Swipe for Million Trees NY
Jonas Åhlén and Johan Gerdin (and Fredrika Stern from GI)

This week Matt Walsh from Crispin Porter + Bogusky’s head quarter in Boulder, US met with Berghs’ students. Matt brought along Magnus Brodd from CP+B to perhaps manage to charm the students to join the agency after finished studies at Berghs.

During the Monday evening, CP+B gave an informational and inspirational speech followed by individual meetings with handpicked students who got a chance to show their portfolios and talk a bit more with the CP+B employees.

The agency was founded in 1988 and the main office is in Boulder, Colorado. Crispin Porter + Bogusky employs over 1000 people and around 400 of them are devoted to digital. They have grown to be a highly ranked digital agency and if you want to learn more about what kind of work they do, read here.

For the second year in a row students from Berghs School of Communication are world-dominating in One Show College Competition. No other school outside the US has as many nominated finalists in the competition.

One Show is the award that yearly honours creativity and advertising. The award is organized by the One Club and is considered one of the world's most prestigious awards in its field. 

Among the 92 finalists in One Show College Competition 19 finalists come from Berghs School of Communication. In other words, the school's students represent 20% of all finalist.

See the full list of nominated finalists here.

In May you have the chance to take a 1.5-day course at Berghs in writing better copy. The structure of Persuasion – as the course is called – is led by award-winning copywriter Gideon Todes.

Are you or your colleagues tasked with writing for your company? You may be a professional copywriter, but more likely you’ve no formal consumer writing training.

Maybe you wrote a few essays at university. Maybe you craft a good blog. Maybe you have a knack with words but no one has ever worked with you to explore how to use text in a sales context?

This course is designed to help people just like you. We'll take you right back to the beginning and look at what makes good persuasive writing. And then we'll piece together the process by which it's done.

We look at speeches by Winston Churchill and Martin Luther King, copy by Saatchi, and a song by Prince to investigate how great writing can persuade and inspire.

You'll learn to structure to your writing and give it real focus so that it's clear, concise and inspiring.

You’ll also learn to bring a strategic approach to every piece of writing you do. And how to bring a sense of tone to it.

Cost
7 900 SEK excluding VAT
9 875 SEK including VAT

For more information and registration
Contact Cecilia Sjödin, c.sjodin@berghs.se.

UNA Sweden has existed for over 50 years. It’s an umbrella organization supported by around 100 national civil society organizations. The main activities for UNA Sweden is to inform, create awareness and opinion, review, fundraise and international cooperation.

“We want to highlight the problem, but emphasize an encouraging attitude and positive vision that change is possible”, UNA’s brief read.

The communication task was to come up with a campaign that focused on the rights of young adolescent girls. Enlightening the important question, increase awareness of girls vulnerability, change attitudes as well as initiating a discussion on basic values among young people.

Hugo Perlskog, copywriter in one of the teams was pleased to dedicate himself fully to such an important task for one full week.

The jury consisted in Pekka Johansson, Christer Gustavsson and Ulrika Lehmann, UNA Sweden. Sue Rowley, Academy of Art University (Berghs Bachelor partner school in San Francisco), Sofia Strömberg, Marco Ortolani, Joakim Thulin and Lotta Blomberg, Berghs SoC.

The jury evaluated strategy, idea, concept and practicability. The presentation was also a factor in the evaluation and the winning team was inspired by Stina Dabrowski’s jumping guests. “Ditt hopp ger hopp”=“Your hope (“hopp” in Swedish means jump) gives hope”. 

The winning idea was based on a film featuring jumping people encouraging money donations by jumping. The team was represented by the following students:

David Prentell, 26 years old took an intro course at Berghs and then did the one-year program Interactive Communication – Digital Director. After one year he was accepted into Berghs internship-year Interactive Academy and is now Creative Planner at AKQA London. Here he answers our questions about life at and after Berghs.

"We are just as happy as we are pleased to announce that Berghs, as the only school in Europe has been awarded a scholarship from The One Club", says Sofia Strömberg, Head of School Berghs.

Varje år delar The One Club ut stipendier till studenter på de skolor och universitet som har utmärkt sig särskilt inom kreativ reklam. Tio andra skolor i världen – utöver Berghs School of Communication, får möjligheten av The One Club att dela ut stipendiet. Samtliga av de övriga utvalda skolorna är amerikanska.