
World´s leading trade fair IFAT 2022
18. May 2022
Partners in Mission abcr
30. June 2022Unbelievable and wonderful: We received two German Brand Awards
This year's winners of the German Brand Award, one of the most important German Brand Awards, have been chosen.
And we are among the winners!
The renowned prize recognizes companies, agencies, service providers, and marketers from all sectors, as well as non-commercial and governmental organizations, that stand out from the competition with exemplary brand management, sustainable campaigns and exceptional marketing projects.
Wasser 3.0 gGmbH received the coveted gold award for the Wasser 3.0 brand in the category Excellent Brands: Chemical Industry and was also named Newcomer Brand of the Year. The jury said:

“Microplastics and micropollutants are not only a problem in the oceans, they have long been a threat to rivers and lakes and thus also to our drinking water. Wasser 3.0 gGmbH - a non-profit company founded in May 2020 - has developed an innovative process that removes micropollutants from water. In order to make the company popular, a corporate brand was created with ›Water 3.0‹, which sums up the underlying intention in terms of form and content. A brand work that is convincing down to the last detail, which cleverly combines information with emotion and thus receives a high level of attention.”
With perseverance and conviction to an impactful brand
For over 10 years we have been working on solutions for water without microplastics and micropollutants. Very early on in our research projects, we realized how important it is to communicate transparently and understandably when it comes to issues affecting society as a whole. Building on scientific publications, we have relied on additional non-scientific formats that are suitable for everyday use right from the start. This not only enabled us to reach many people, but also to place the issues of water, water pollution, microplastics, that are so important to us, in an accessible way -and always in a scientifically sound manner. Science communication as marketing, marketing as science communication.
Another very important component is our educational and awareness-raising activities - because water and wastewater concern us all. And because microplastics and micropollutants in our waters have become environmental problems that need solutions. Today.
In all work environments, we act both in depth and with foresight and networking. On the one hand, this systemic approach enables us to bundle facts and create references and, on the other hand, prevents us from getting lost in “the little things". Because solutions to climate and environmental crises need to be located in the "big picture" of today's society with its consumption and production logics, and at the same time require sound knowledge of natural and environmental sciences and technology. Our goals are measurable and effective contributions to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. To achieve this, we constantly move between a meta-level and a love of detail.
Silke and Katrin - The dream team at the forefront
Initially, Katrin was quite alone with her new approaches to scientific communication. For the past four years, Silke has been the perfect counterpart. There have been many heated discussions, alignments corrected, and new approaches evaluated, repeatedly tested and rethought.
By combining the natural and environmental science perspective of Katrin with the cultural anthropological and communication science impulses of Silke, a contrasting, energetic and creative structure came into being. Both bring many colorful puzzle pieces to the table. Even if it looked like a big chaos at first, it soon became apparent: everything fits together almost perfectly.
With the development of our own digital-real education space WASoMI and the - once again ;) - re-launch of the homepage in May this year, the two brought Wasser 3.0 to a new level. With UNLOCK POTENTIALS, all offers for water without microplastics and micropollutants got a common framework. The name says it all and is almost emblematic of many years of development work on a technological and scientific level, but also on an entrepreneurial and not least on a personal level - looking back and looking forward. Greentech meets Social Business.
Perspectives and change of perspective - when pieces of the puzzle become a whole
In recent years, helping hands have crossed our path time and again. Right from the start, in 2013, when Katrin started the first cooperative research projects at the university, there were the first points of contact with marketing and the people behind it. With the company abcr GmbH from Karlsruhe, not only was a long-standing companion, sponsor, supporter and cooperation partner found at that time, but people from the marketing department supported Wasser 3.0 with our first steps of external communication. With Gordana Graf, we have found a person who not only stands 1000% behind us and our actions, but who also supports and enriches us again and again with expertise and tackling.
Our graphic designer Susanne Schmaus has also been on board since 2013. She developed the corporate design with us. Through her "paint job" we have created the visual recognition values of Wasser 3.0 as a brand.
In the big change year of 2018, when Katrin left the university and Wasser 3.0 had not yet been founded as a non-profit startup, Katrin was pointed to a call for proposals by the Süddeutsche Zeitung (a big thanks to Anna Weiß for this impulse). There was a call from a freshly assembled mastermind group from Munich. Christine Berliner, Evelyn van Kempen, Saghi Sayyar and Daniela Golik offered their experience in marketing, strategic branding and press relations to help a project of the heart get off the ground and gain more visibility. We won the tender and were able to draw on their expertise over a period of eight months. This was an important building block on the way to today's Wasser 3.0 and we are very grateful for everything the four of them (plus Konrad in the background) did for us.
In 2020, Serdar Dogan and Mario D'Aquila joined us. Serdar, a creative filmmaker and video producer from Karlsruhe and Mario D'Aquila as (excuse the choice of words) an old marketing hand from near Offenburg. Once again, worlds and different perspectives met. They say that friction creates warmth, and that's exactly what has happened so far. Both are involved in many projects - Serdar behind the camera, Mario as a watchful observer and impulse giver.
We are infinitely grateful for every person who we met and who accompanied us on our journey with Wasser 3.0. Some have stayed, others have disappeared. But one thing is clear, each and every one has helped put important pieces of the puzzle in place.
The two German Brand Awards are a milestone, a terrific award for outstanding work and an inventory.
Of course, we will remain true to ourselves and our motto in the future, because "A path is made by walking it".