The ABC Awards are a globally unique design and industry competition which incorporates the entire world of mobility, from best practice in communication to commercial and individual transport as well as groundbreaking innovation. “The journey to fully electrified and digitised transport is still a long one,” said Lutz Dietzold, CEO of the German Design Council, in regard to the latest areas of focus, “The rule to remember is that the more useful the innovation and the more user-friendly the design, the more quickly something will be accepted. The mission behind the ABC Awards is to raise the visibility of these new initiatives and to identify trends.”
The honorary award
Each year the jury presents the “Brand Manager of the Year” honour. This year the choice was made in favour of Dutch industrial designer Taco Carlier. Together with his brother Ties, Taco Carlier established VanMoof, a legendary bicycle workshop which has successfully doubled its production each year for the last five years. As VanMoof’s Chief Executive Officer, it is Taco Carlier above all who is ushering the company to a digital future thanks to his revolutionary ideas and vision. Carlier’s ideas and solutions and intuitive sense for the market have caused many people who were previously not bicycle customers to start thinking seriously about cycling being a mode of transport.
The special-category winners at a glance
- “Agency of the Year”: FACT GmbH – Automotive Advertising
- Brand of the Year”: Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) AöR
- “Team of the Year”: studiokurbos GmbH
- “Innovation of the Year”: Apex.OS
This year’s “Agency of the Year” award was claimed by advertising agency FACT, which has helped carmakers and companies do publicity for over 20 years and is now beyond doubt one of Germany’s leading automotive experts. The jury anointed Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe, Berlin’s public-transport operator, as “Brand of the Year”, after having completed an unparalleled image transformation with a campaign using the slogan “Weil wir dich lieben” (“Because we love you”). “Team of the Year” was awarded to Studiokurbus, a design studio founded in 2013 which has long since become the first choice for many well-known German and international brands. APEX has received the “Innovation of the Year” award for its comprehensive “Apex.OS” operating system platform. Also among the prize-winners in the competition’s three categories were automotive companies as well as agencies that stood out for their exceptional work in design and brand communication. The successful projects range from success stories in brand communication to commercial and individual transport as well as groundbreaking examples of micromobility and Mobility 4.0.
All the winners of the ABC Awards 2021 can be found at: www.abc-award.com/the-winners.html A list of the winners is available to download at: bit.ly/3xJJJDF
The ABC Awards
The ABC Awards are a strong public stage and key forum for the successful design of our future mobility. It is a driving force for lucrative connections between designers, industry decision makers and businesses. What’s more, it offers the award recipients a platform spanning multiple media.