At merlin & friends, we believe that communication is the key to success. We advise and support the development of a long-term strategy and the implementation of successful corporate communication. Our goal is to ensure that your company’s or organisation’s communication strategy is effective and successful. Our services include the development of operational frameworks, corporate communication strategies, public affairs, internal and external communications – also for special situations such as crisis management and fake news detection.
merlin & friends specialises in consulting in the field of strategic corporate communications. With a focus on crisis management and AI integration, we offer services for
We offer comprehensive strategies and frameworks to ensure your company remains operational and protects its reputation, even in times of crisis. Our experienced team develops operational models and communication strategies tailored to your specific needs. Using modern technologies, including AI, and thorough analysis, we ensure your message is heard and understood.
Our strategies are designed to maximize the impact of a collaboratively developed narrative because we believe communication is the key to success. Working closely with the executive team, strategy department, and corporate communications, we create a long-term communication strategy based on clearly defined success factors and core themes. With our extensive experience, we ensure that your communication strategy is always effective and successful.
Trust is critical to business success, and a crisis can quickly undermine it. At merlin and friends, we know that it’s not just about managing a crisis, but more importantly about protecting trust in your business and in its leadership. We offer a cross-functional approach to crisis management that involves all areas of the company’s organisation and prioritises leadership and those affected by the crisis.
Our crisis consultancy is based on a small and agile team that ensures a rapid response and a high level of expertise. We also offer crisis training to ensure that your communication functions smoothly in an emergency and that everyone involved is prepared for possible scenarios.
At merlin & friends we know that trust in a company is one of the most important factors for successful business. We believe that it is not about the crisis or the issue itself, but about how the crisis is dealt with. We know that a crisis is judged by how it is resolved, not by the fact that it occurred in the first place. We know that it is not about reputation, but about trust in a company’s values and business model. Loss of trust goes deeper than loss of reputation and can ultimately mean loss of business.
We also know that crisis management is a “cross-functional” task, which means that it is not just about communication, but about collaboration between all business units, in which communication must always be involved. Most importantly, we recognise that it is not about every stakeholder, but primarily about managing and dealing with those who are affected by a crisis – whether actually or “felt”. Without those affected, without “victims”, there are no emotions. Without emotions, there is no tension. Without tension, there is no reporting and no crisis. At merlin and friends, we strive to support our clients in managing crises with the highest degree of professionalism, sensitivity and effectiveness. We have set ourselves the goal of protecting trust in our clients.
The development and implementation of the crisis strategy are carried out by a small, agile team of specialists. This ensures a rapid response capability while maintaining a high level of expertise in the crisis situation.
We also recommend regular crisis training to determine in advance whether communication functions smoothly in the event of a crisis and whether all persons and company units involved are practically prepared for the respective crisis scenarios.
merlin & friends supports companies in developing and implementing long-term transformation strategies that ensure stability and sustainable success. Our approach focuses on engaging all relevant stakeholders—from employees and executives to external partners and political actors—early in the process. This ensures that the transformation is understood, supported, successfully implemented, and ultimately embraced by everyone involved.
In our projects, we guide companies step-by-step through the transformation process. We place particular emphasis on ensuring that changes are not only on paper but are integrated into the day-to-day operations of the organization. This approach fosters acceptance of new structures and anchors the transformation for the long term. Our expertise covers strategic advisory in governance, financial communications, change management, and crisis and risk management to ensure a smooth and enduringly successful transformation.
Our goal is to develop individualized, tailored solutions that meet the unique demands and challenges of each company. We help create structures and processes that are flexible enough to respond to future market changes and resilient enough to ensure long-term success.
At merlin & friends, we understand that transformation is truly sustainable and successful only when everyone involved understands and supports the change. That’s why we place great emphasis on transparent communication and strong stakeholder engagement from the very beginning. This approach ensures that change is embraced from within, allowing the company to emerge stronger from the process.
At merlin & friends, we support companies in developing long-term transformation strategies that go beyond simple communication. Our focus is on empowering organizations to build resilient structures and ensure sustainable success that makes an impact both economically and socially.
merlin & friends supports companies and products in increasing their brand success through communication and digitalisation. The collective develops customised brand strategies, including in the digital sector, to maximise reach and appeal to customers emotionally. Together we assess the strengths and weaknesses of your brand, your digital potential, the differentiation from the competition and the target groups. We measure the success of brand development using a holistic approach.
At merlin & friends, we support companies in answering questions that are crucial to the success of a brand. With our focus on communication, we specialise in creating comprehensive brand strategies and frameworks that ensure the full potential of your corporate brand is maximised.
We believe that communication is the key to success and that a strong brand creates an emotional connection with its customers. Our approach to brand management and leadership ensures that the brand remains consistent, relevant and evolves to meet the ever-changing needs of the target audience – whether your business is facing extraordinary challenges, seeking new growth opportunities or planning for the future.
We work with you to create a successful brand strategy that is developed from the brand’s innermost core. We understand the importance of effectively communicating your brand message, so our strategies are designed to maximise your reach. With a comprehensive approach to brand management, we help you understand your brand’s strengths and weaknesses, differentiate it from your competitors, reach your target audience, reflect your values and measure the success of your corporate brand.
merlin & friends professionally supports executives in developing a C-level positioning that aligns public perception, thematic focus, corporate brand and individual positioning profiles. Working closely with the client, we develop a personal narrative that draws on an overarching strategy as a content compass and structure themes by message, personality, channel and format. In addition, we provide analysis and research on other C-level personalities and industry-relevant positioning topics.
Furthermore, we conduct in-depth interviews with the client to test hypotheses, facilitate validation workshops, define personal and industry-relevant focus topics and implement measures to further develop the corporate brand in conjunction with executive positioning – all of which are specifically tailored to the needs of the respective client. Although the media landscape is constantly changing, the importance of media training remains, enabling communicators to focus on the narrative and their own interview objectives, whether they are dealing with traditional journalists, trade reporters, influencers or other relevant stakeholders.
Furthermore, we support other public figures outside the corporate sector. We refer in particular to those who already want to create a purpose-driven narrative with long-term impact during their main career (e.g. in the field of competitive sports).
