Press
Nijmegen, May 25, 2010

Dutch strategy consultancy champions the power of a relevant brand story

René Bergmans (AB InBev) new partner in UBACHS/full contact

René Bergmans is joining Dutch brand strategy consultancy UBACHS/full contact. Bergmans, award-winning marketeer of such A-brands as Jupiler and Dommelsch (part of AB-InBev), is to be the associate partner of Paul Ubachs who established the consultancy in 2004. UBACHS/full contact specialises in the development of central brand stories for A-brands such as Amstel beer and KUONI.

Brand consultant René Bergmans : ‘25 Years of experience with A-brands have taught me that marketing really boils down to only one thing: define your most relevant story and activate it as captivating as possible among a well-defined target group. It is all about focus: only when you have a strong story can you start thinking about the means with which to tell it in the most gripping way. Often marketeers are too hasty in choosing and applying these means, although it really is the relevant story that is fundamental. It was precisely by focusing on the relevant story that we were successful both during my time with Adidas and AB-InBev.’

Niche
Bergmans recognises this focus with UBACHS/full contact. ‘Paul Ubachs has in the course of time become a real specialist exactly in defining strong brand stories. I know of no other consultancy focusing so clearly on that niche, here in The Netherlands. That Paul after his years with Adidas and LEGO is now also engaged by brands as Heineken comes as no surprise. I am therefore very pleased to have been invited to help growing his niche consultancy.’

Brand Activation
Paul Ubachs, founder and managing director: ‘René is a highly experienced and creative specialist, who has made a name for himself in this field. His work for beer brand Jupiler for instance shows that he can successfully activate a ‘new’ brand on the basis of a central story and the use of smart means. With René’s assistance we will be able to accelerate the realisation of our ambitions : helping even more great brands to get into meaningful contact with their most important audience.’

Dutch Football star Patrick Kluivert
Earlier, Bergmans and Ubachs jointly achieved remarkable success. In the late nineties they were responsible for the marketing communication in the Benelux of the reborn Adidas. Ubachs : ‘Those were tense years in which we were in tough competition with Nike for Dutch market leadership in football. Dutch topscorer Patrickert Kluivert became our trump card. I think it was at that time the foundation was laid for the unique work we now perform for our clients.’

International brands
So far, UBACHS/full contact has worked for such brands as Heineken, Amstel, Lipton, TNT Post, PricewaterhouseCoopers and international cheese giant BEL (including La Vache Qui Rit and Boursin). The consultancy also comprises a separate unit for clients in the public domain.

UBACHS/full contact heeft intussen werk verricht voor merken als Heineken, Amstel, Lipton,TNT Post, PricewaterhouseCoopers en kaasgigant BEL (o.a. La Vache qui rit, Boursin en Leerdammer). Daarnaast heeft het bureau een speciale unit voor opdrachtgevers in het publieke domein en ontwikkelt en activeert het eigen merkconcepten zoals het leefbaarheidsproject ‘De BeestenBende’, gericht op kids.

Short background Paul Ubachs and René Bergmans
Before Paul established his own consultancy he was VP Global Brand Relations with LEGO Worldwide in London. His career started at pr-agency Hill & Knowlton, after which he held several international positions with Adidas. He was, for instance, Adidas’ task force manager for both the Sydney Olympics 2000 and the World Cup Korea/Japan 2002.

René started his career with advertising agencies and held – after his changeover from Adidas Benelux - several marketing and sponsoring management positions with AB-InBev. He was responsible for the word-of-mouth market introduction of Jupiler in the Netherlands, the sponsoring of the Jupiler League, Dommelsch Live38 and the Dommelsch & Music concept, winner of the SponsorRing for 2008 best sponsoring case in The Netherlands.

Check: www.ubachsfullcontact.nl for more information
Mail: rene@ubachsfullcontact.nl
Tel: 06 426 625 57.