Marco Spies Co-Founder, Partner

Marco Spies is Co-Founder and Strategy Partner at think moto. He is the author of Branded Interactions and numerous other specialist articles on the topics of digital marketing, interaction design and conversational AI. Marco Spies was an honorary professor for Branded Interactions and Flexible Identities at HAWK Hildesheim. Marco regularly speaks at conferences and specialist events in Germany and abroad.

Biography

Marco Spies studied German, English, Philosophy and Media Studies at the Universities of Trier and Stirling/UK. From 2000-2010 he worked in renown agencies as a UX designer and creative director (Pixelpark, Neue Digitale, Peter Schmidt Group) and as a freelance digital consultant. In 2010, he founded the design and innovation agency think moto in Berlin together with Katja Wenger. There he is responsible for strategy and innovation. Consulting projects for Audi, Continental, Lufthansa, Miele, bulthaup, Continental, the City of Freiburg, Salama bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation Abu Dhabi, TÜV Rheinland, Volkswagen and many more.

Marco Spies is the author of the standard work on digital brand management Branded Interactions – Creating the Digital Experience (Thames & Hudson, 2015) and co-author of Branded Interactions – Marketing through Design in the Digital Age (2020, with Katja Wenger), which has been published in several languages. Branded Interactions combines methods from design thinking, UX design and brand strategy to create a framework for the development of brand-specific digital products and services.
More about Branded Interactions.

Marco Spies regularly gives lectures and courses in German and English. Teaching assignments include the substitute professorship for interface design at the HTWG Konstanz (2009) and the honorary professorship for flexible identities at the HAWK Hildesheim (2017-2020).

Main areas of activity: Advising companies and organizations on strategic positioning, digital transformation, brand management, innovation, agile design management, design process definition, cultural change and the use of artificial intelligence to improve dialogue with stakeholders.

Research areas: Post-growth economy and economy for the common good, futures thinking/speculative futures, the influence of artificial intelligence on the world of work and everyday life, linking digital and socio-ecological transformation. In 2022 Development of Spherical Branding, an approach to branding in the post-growth economy, which he presented for the first time in February 2023 as a keynote speaker at the Kundenopplevelsdagen in Oslo. Planned publication in 2024: Spherical Brands – Brand management in the post-growth economy (Hermann Schmidt Verlag, Mainz)
More about Spherical Branding.

 



Publications on Branding and UX

Book publications and contributions on the subject of brand and UX

Spies, Marco und Katja Wenger. Branded Interactions. Lebendige Markenerlebnisse für eine neue Zeit. Verlag Hermann Schmidt Mainz, 2018. (Engl.: Branded Interactions. Marketing Through Design in the Digital Age. Thames & Hudson, 2020)

Spies, Marco. Branded Interactions. Digitale Markenerlebnisse planen und gestalten. Verlag Hermann Schmidt Mainz, 2012. (Engl.: Branded Interactions. Creating the Digital Experience. Thames and Hudson, 2016)

Spies, Marco. „Infinity Loop. Das Logo im digitalen Zeitalter.“ In: Logo – Die Kunst mit dem Zeichen, Museumskatalog, MMK Ingolstadt. 2016

Spies, Marco. „Marken formen. Living Styleguides.“ In: form – The Making of Design, Nr.267, Sep/Okt 2016

Spies, Marco. „Usability und Marke.“ In: designreport, Ausgabe 06/2015

Spies, Marco. „No Brand is an Island – Touchpoint-orchestrierung und Customer Journey Mapping“ In: Andreas Baetzgen und Jörg Tropp (Hrsg.): Brand Experience – mit Strategie und System zum Touchpoint Kunde, Schäffer-Poeschel 2015.

Spies, Marco. „Hinter den Spiegeln – und was Marken dort zu suchen haben.“ In: form – The Making of Design, Nr.258, März/April 2015.

Spies, Marco. „Good Times for a Change – Markenführung im Transformationszeitalter.“ In: Thomas Heun, Stephanie Dänzler (Hrsg.): Marke und digitale Medien – Theorien und Positionen, Springer Gabler 2014. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-658-03298-2_8

Spies, Marco. „Marken im Dialog. Branded Interactions.“ In: GRID, Nr.1, Oktober 2012.

Mentions and Interviews

Mentions of works/interviews (selection)

Kreuz, Peter. „Interview mit Katja Wenger und Marco Spies.“ In: Die 99 besten Wirtschaftsbücher. Branded Interactions – Marco Spies u. Katja Wenger. https://beste-wirtschaftsbuecher.com/die-99-besten-wirtschaftsbuecher/branded-interactions-marios-spies-katja-wenger/

Spies, Marco und Stefan Wölwer. Interview. „Das Digitale ist immer nur vorläufig.“ In: Interactions Design. HI-REG News 04/17.

Schlossmacher, Mirko. „Interview mit Marco Spies – flyiin.“ In: Netzwirtschaft, Mai 2017.  https://netzwirtschaft.net/interview/interviewmit-marco-spies-flyiin/

Husemann, Jonas. “Minimum Viable Branding.” Dieser Artikel ist eine Zusammenfassung eines Vortrags von Mario Spies und Stéphane Pingaud auf der CXI 2016 in Bielefeld, Deutschland. Er wurde erstmals veröffentlicht bei Metathinking. https://medium.com/@Jonas.Husemann/minimum-viable-branding-11258b956d68

„Minimum Viable Branding für flyiin“, 6-Seiten Case Study, PAGE 08/2016.

„Pixel und Dot Computerpunkte“, Interview mit Clemens Hoffmann in der Sendung Matinee auf SWR2, gesendet am 8.3.2015

Papenfuß, Moritz. “Experteninterview.” In: Team Experience Design – Wahrnehmung und Etablierung von Interaktionsgestaltung in der Volkswagen Konzern IT. Master-Thesis, Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaft und Kunst Hildesheim, 2014. http://moritzpapenfuss.de/thesis/

Spies, Marco. 5 Fragen an think moto zum Thema Ausbildung und Bewerbung. Designmadeingermany, 2014. http://www.designmadeingermany.de/2014/51935/

Jochum, Emanuel. “Expert Interview.” In: Dynamic Branding – from the fixed logo to a dynamic world of experience. Master-Thesis  an der Zürcher Hochschule der Künste, 2013. http://master.design.zhdk.ch/projekte/dynamic-branding/

Spies, Marco. “Interview.” In: Design quo vadis?. form – The Making of Design, Nr. 250 (Jubiläumsausgabe), November/Dezember 2013. https://staging.thinkmoto.de/design-quo-vadis-interview-mit-marco-spies-in-der-form/

DDC Jahrbuch 2011. Award für Gute Gestaltung für atelierkontrast.de

Spies, Marco. „Praxisbeispiel adidas.“ In: Maria Grotenhoff und Anna Stylianakis. Website-Konzeption. Von der Idee zum Storyboard. Bonn, 2002.

Interview. Interkulturelle Hürden. In: Internet World, Januar 2002.

Other Publications

 

Blog: Brandnewthinking.de (unregelmäßige Fachartikel zu den Themen Digitale Markenführung, Interaction Design, Human Centered Design, seit 2011). Marhttp://www.brandnewthinking.de/author/marco-spies/

„Scharf wie’n Terrier macht se!“ In: Rudi Schweikert (Hrsg.): „Da war ich hin und weg“ Arno Schmidt als prägendes Leseerlebnis. 100 Statements und Geschichten. Wiesenbach, 2004.

„Ich bin kein Mensch, der den einfachen Weg geht…“ Ein Gespräch mit Jürgen Ploog. In: Jürgen Ploog: die letzte dimension. Ostheim/Rhön 2002. Das 30-seitige Interview mit dem deutschen Cutup-Schriftsteller führte ich anlässlich der Frankfurter Buchmesse am 7.Oktober 1998.

Research Projects in Conversational AI

Commercial and research projects in the field of Conversational AI (selection)

Audi Voice Assistant -Strategic vision. Project to define the personality and key parameters for Audi’s future in-car voice assistant, 2018.

Audi AI First. Development of an AI-based prototype for voice-based navigation in the vehicle. Research project in collaboration with Paragon Semvox and iNTENCE, 2019.

Audi Club of Progress. Development of an immersive installation for the launch of the new Audi e-tron A6 in 2025. An AI-generated voice of the vehicle guides through the installation at four stations, 2024.

Adaptive Music for In-Car. Concept study for software that generates ambient music for the journey in real time based on vehicle data, 2020.

BioNTech chatbot ecosystem. Development of a chatbot as a central contact point on the website for all communication around the introduction of the anti-Covid vaccine, as well as development of a bot-based app for the preparation and follow-up of sales appointments, 2021.

Lexoffice Lui – Sales and support chatbot for Lexoffice. 2019-2022 (First use of an LLM-based hybrid bot)

Voice Interaction in Virtual Reality – Building an intuitive, fun and safe learning environment with Unity and Cognigy for innovative industrial trainings, 2022.

LLM-powered generative storytelling demo for children. Concept study for the Carlsen publishing house. 2023.

Moody – the Grumpy Bot – https://medium.com/@thinkmoto/what-if-chatbots-are-annoyed-by-us-users-47b105d769a1

Publications on Conversational AI

Interviews, talks and publications with thematic reference to communicative AI

BoldWay – Pionier*innen im Design – Podcast von Studierenden der HTW Berlin: „Conversational Design mit Manja Baudis und Marco Spies“ 15. März 2024. https://tinyurl.com/2s3adkjw

Hellweg, Henriette. „Interview mit Marco Spies.“ In: Marke und Interaktion. Wie führende deutsche Markenagenturen Brandings für digitale, interaktive Medien gestalten. Bachelorarbeit an der Hochschule Bielefeld. https://markeundinteraktion.henriettehellweg.de/?p=258

Mobile Interactions now – Podcast von Jean Shin/tyntec: “Mobile Interactions now, Marco Spies, think moto. Pt1 & 2.” Oktober & November 2020. https://tinyurl.com/3bnzjhs2

Marco Spies: Conversational Commerce – Branded Chatbots. Vortrag auf der Moonova Konferenz (online), 22.2.2022.

Spies, Marco: Bot Personality & Conversational UX. Impulsvortrag anlässlich des IGP Dinner, Berlin 2020.

Spies, Marco: Designing Branded Conversations. Vortrag beim Conversational-Meetup von LivePerson, Berlin 2019.

Spies, Marco and Katja Wenger. Branded Conversations. With a foreword by Robert LoCascio, founder of LivePerson and Eternos. Offprint, Verlag Hermann Schmidt 2019.

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